Savage storm (2 page)

Gabrielle bit her lip nervously, the first gesture she'd made which indicated her true emotional state, arid then replied hesitantly. "I buried the aunt who raised me this morning, that is why I arrived at so late an hour. I left my belongings at the front desk downstairs. I was hoping that I would be accepted. I suppose it was foolish of me not to consider what I would do if I weren't, but truly I have nowhere to stay for the night unless I take a small room here at the hotel."

Seeing the concern in Jason's eyes, Clayton kept still, knowing what his partner wanted to do but seeing no way they could take the lovely young woman with them unless one of

the others decided not to go. To have twenty-one women who knew there were only twenty men waiting for them would cause strife for the entire length of a journey that would be difficult at best. No, he wouldn't take her unless for some unexpected reason he didn't meet his quota of twenty tomorrow.

"I'm certain we can find you a hotel room, Miss MacLaren, but if you'd expected to travel with us, is there anyone in Liberty who will take you in should you return?" Jason racked his brain to think of some way to help the striking beauty by his side, but he realized from Clayton's worried expression that his friend would not bend the rules he'd already stated. They'd agreed that one or two extra men would make the competition more keen, but having one or two extra women would be disastrous. It would mean endless bickering for the whole trip and then they'd have to find extra men in a hurry, which would mean they might not be able to maintain the standards set. "If only you had been able to arrive this morning," he offered lamely, sorry he could think of nothing better to say.

"You needn't look so pained, Mr. Royal, after all I am not your responsibility." Gabrielle smiled, trying to cheer him up since he seemed so downcast by her predicament.

Responding to her comment, Jason rose to his feet and offered his hand. "Since you have come to Kansas City to answer our advertisement, you are indeed our responsibility while you are here. I know Clayton has other plans for the evening, but I would be very pleasedif you'd join me for dinner and then I will see that you are given lodgings for the night, at our expense, of course."

Clayton raised his eyebrows in disbelief. The plans they'd had for the evening included playing several hands of poker and then going to one of Kansas City's better-known establishments where entertainments of a far more exotic nature could be had for those willing to pay the price. Since this would be their last night in the city he'd not thought Jason would want to miss those amusements for any reason, but

clearly his partner seemed to think Miss MacLaren worth his time. Clayton decided to play along with the ruse if that was what Jason wanted.

"Yes, indeed, I have several business matters which need my final attention. We will meet in the dining room after the breakfast hour tomorrow morning. Miss MacLaren, if you will join us at ten I can tell you then if we've had any cancellations."

'Thank you. I will be there." Gabrielle turned to look up at Jason Royal. "I would like to have dinner with you if your invitation is a sincere one, but I do not want you to think this is something you must do, like a disagreeable duty which can't be avoided."

Jason broke into the easy grin ladies usually found irresistibly charming as he disagreed. "Miss MacLaren, if I didn't want your company, I would not have extended the invitation."

Offering his right arm, he escorted her from the room and down the stairs to the hotel's elegantly appointed dining room. As soon as he'd placed their order he leaned forward to take her hand—she'd removed her gloves—and turning her palm up, he observed slyly, "Your clothing is very fine, and by the smoothness of your hands I'd say it's plain you've never had to work a day in your life. We have the entire night to talk so tell me the truth as to why you responded to our advertisement because I can't believe all the bachelors in Liberty aren't in love with you. Why would you risk a long and dangerous journey to marry a stranger?"

Gabrielle frowned slightly. "It looks as though I won't be making any trips except for the return to Liberty for the time being, Mr, Royal, so your question is an irrelevant one." She pulled her hand from his and placed it in her lap to avoid any further advance on his part. His glance was still far too direct, and while his interest in her seemed sincere, he made her uncomfortable. She regretted having accepted his dinner invitation.

"Why don't you trust me?" Jason asked, surprised that she'd be so reticent about confiding in him.

"It is not a matter of trust, Mr. Royal, for I was ready to place my life in your hands so to speak. It is simply a matter of my own choosing. I do not intend to burden you with my sorrow."

Struck by his own insensitivity, Jason hastened to apologize. "Forgive me, you said you had buried your aunt only this morning, and I did not mean to suggest any disrespect to the woman's memory if she were dear to you."

Gabrielle's eyes filled with tears but she blinked them away. "My aunt knew of my plans and she could not object since I am eighteen and did not require her consent to leave Liberty and go where I chose."

Since she was at least replying to his comments, Jason prompted the lovely young woman to continue. "I wish you could have met a few of the others we spoke with today. Some were impossibly foolish, others so eager to find a husband I think I could have shown them sketches of grizzly bears and they would not have objected. None saw what you did in my drawings, that the men are real, live human beings with flaws as well as virtues who want partners to share their lives. I know them all, and frankly, none seems a fine enough man to win your love."

Puzzled by his comment, Gabrielle didn't realize she had taken his bait as she began to describe her views in more detail. 'There was no mention of love in your advertisement, but life is too difficult to maintain on the frontier without a spouse. What you've offered provides men and women with an opportunity to meet and marry to improve their lives. If love should enter into the bargain, then both will be pleased, but even if it doesn't, both will be far better off than they would have been alone."

Astonished that so attractive a creature would scoff at love in such a fashion, Jason asked quickly, "How can it be that you value love so little? Have you yet to feel its spell?" He

understood love well enough himself, although he had no illusions that he would ever be so foolish as to succumb to its magic. What he enjoyed was the expression of love, which was magic in itself even if the object of his affections was a woman with whom he'd spend no more than one night.

A wistful smile graced Gabrielle's lips as her eyes filled with sadness. '*I have been far more fortunate than most women for I have known a love of such beauty it will fill my heart to the last of my days. I know I will never encounter the same devotion in a man again, nor do I wish to try. My reasons for going to the Oregon country are purely practical ones, Mr. Royal, I am willing to marry an honest man who wishes to have a wife, but I do not expect to find love."

Jason sat back in his chair, unable to comprehend how the amazing young woman before him could come up with two such contradictory statements in so short a span of time. Before he could ask her to explain more fully, their waiter returned to serve steaming bowls of vegetable soup which smelled so delicious they began to eat. When he glanced up, he found his guest was eating with the same hearty appetite he'd shown and he began to laugh.

"Fm sorry, but you're obviously as hungry as I am and the food here is excellent."

Cabrielle returned his smile as she agreed. "I've had no time to eat all day. I was afraid I'd arrive too late to speak with you, which of course I almost did. It didn't occur to me that you would select the women during the day. I thought you'd speak to everyone and then make your choices."

"That was my suggestion, but Clayton felt it would be unfair to make those who'd come a great distance wait all day for our decision. As it turned out, his plan worked fairly well. At least I thought it had until you arrived." Jason watched as Gabrielle brought her silver soup spoon to her lips for a dainty sip. Her manners were as flawless as her appearance, exactly as he had expected them to be. As soon as she had finished he encouraged her to continue her story. "If you've known such a

magnificent love as you describe. Miss MacLaren, why are you not planning to marry that man?"

Gabrielle took a small sip of water; she'd decUned his offer of wine as an extravagance she could not accept. Stalling for time,, she glanced at the others in the room. Most of the hotel's guests seemed to be men, and she suddenly realized several were staring at her most rudely. She looked back at Jason to hide her embarrassment.

"Boys and girls seem to pair off early in Liberty. At least Beau and I knew from the time I was no more than five and he was seven that we would eventually marry. My aunt didn't approve of him for reasons I never understood. She seemed to see only his family's modest means rather than what a fine person he wsis."

"Well, if the woman has died, what is stopping you from marrying Beau now?" Jason asked abruptly, although he hoped she had a thousand compelling reasons to prevent that from happening.

As she replied, Gabrielle's thoughts turned inward. She could see Beau clearly in her mind. He'd been tall and blond, with rich, warm brown eyes that had always been filled with love when he'd looked at her. He was quite the finest-looking man she'd ever seen, as handsome as a prince. "My aunt did all she could to discourage our romance, all to no avail. We planned to wait until I turned eighteen and then be married whether she'd give us her blessing or not. Our dream was to go to Oregon and build a small farm into an empire. I know it sounds incredibly foolish, but that was our hope."

"It is not in the least bit foolish to have dreams. Miss MacLaren." Jason was mystified now. He wanted her to come to the point, but he did not want to be so rude as to demand that she did. If he pressed her, he felt she'd simply stop speaking and then he'd never learn what had happened between her and Beau. "What happened to that dream?"

Gabrielle found his deep voice and tender tone very soothing. The glance she'd found so unsettling only moments

before seemed sympathetic and she was sorry she'd misjudged him, however briefly. "Beau had an opportunity to go on ahead. An uncle of his was moving his family to the Willamette Valley and he invited him to go along. That meant we'd be separated for a time, but if Beau could find land and begin building our home before I arrived, we thought it would make our decision to marry seem less impetuous. They began the trip in early spring when the rivers were the highest, and while fording the Platte his uncle's wagon snagged upon something—a tree branch, a boulder, it's not known what. You must know the route well. Two of the youngest children were swept into the water and Beau dove in to save his cousins."

"Was he successful?" Jason asked in a whisper, suddenly knowing how the story was going to end and dreading the tragedy he knew would come.

"Yes. He got them to the riverbank where others took the children to safety, but he was swept away by the current. They were unable to recover his body. That is what pains me most, that he does not even have a grave I might visit, for we had always thought we'd spend our lives together and be buried side by side." Gabrielle looked down as tears began to roll silently down her cheeks. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to tell that story—not ever—to anyone. I beg you not to repeat it."

Jason pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the weeping young woman, thankful he had a freshly laundered one to offer. "I give you my word on it, I will never tell a soul that story. Did your aunt blame herself for Beau's death? Had she allowed you two to marry, then your young man would not have been with his uncle."

Gabrielle looked up; she'd dried her eyes and had forced lierself to adopt a calm facade no matter how wretched she felt inside. "It is difficult for me to even begin to describe my aunt's reaction other than to say it was unabashed glee. It would never have occurred to her to accept the responsibility for his death, nor should she have, for surely our fate is in God's hands alone."

"Of course," Jason agreed promptly. Religion of any type was not something he'd contemplated seriously, but he could accept her view as the true one since it seemed to give her comfort. "And you still wish to seek your fate in Oregon, is that it?"

"Yes." Cabrielle paused while the waiter returned with their entrees. She had been given as large a serving of roast beef as Jason and was certain she'd never be able to finish it all despite her earlier hunger. "Everyone in Liberty knows I was Beau's girl, and I can't bear the way people there look at me now. It's as though he died only yesterday rather than a year ago; their pity is so clear in their gaze. If I live there until I am one hundred I will always be that poor Cabrielle MacLaren whose fiance died so tragically. I have no hope of having a happy life there, and now that my aunt is dead, there is absolutely no reason for me to stay."

Jason chewed the succulent roast beef slowly as he watched her cut a tiny bite from her meat. They would spend the entire night dining if she continued to eat so fastidiously, but suddenly he didn't care. He was content simply to be with her, to share her pain as he'd never shared another woman's grief. "To say I am sorry does not seem to be nearly enough. Miss MacLaren. Since you want to go so badly, I will see if I can't arrange for your passage somehow. I am taking a large number of people this time. If there is no room for you with the young women we interviewed today, then I will simply find space somewhere else."

"Can you really do that?" Cabrielle's tears had made the blue of her eyes even more vivid, and now her gaze was not only rapt but fascinating as well.

Laughing, Jason nodded. "I am the wagon master, Miss MacLaren. The entire wagon train is my responsibility, and what I say goes or people are invited very quickly to take their wagons elsewhere."