Say You Love Me (12 page)

Sudie had no idea what was going on but knew she couldn't let Miss Jacie go off with nothing but that piece of jewelry that didn't look like it was worth much.

She took off toward the Blake house as fast as her little legs would carry her.

It was nearly an hour before Sudie returned to the cabin. She was glad to find that Miss Jacie had finally fallen asleep and that she had left the lantern burning on the table by the bed, because she would never have been able to find the satchel in the dark without making noise and waking her up.

Working quietly and quickly, Sudie opened the bag and took out the blanket. She ran her fingers along the edge as she had seen Miss Jacie do and found the opening. Then she stuck the necklace she had taken from where Miss Jacie had left it on Master Blake's desk and stuffed it inside.

Sudie was pleased with herself. She couldn't let Miss Jacie go off without the beautiful necklace. Now she had something to sell, if necessary, to get home on. Sudie didn't know why she had wanted to leave it anyway, but it didn't make any difference now. Miss Jacie wouldn't find it till she was too far away to bring it back.

Reaching the big house, Sudie hurried upstairs and into Jacie's room and closed the door, a little harder than she should have in her haste to get to her pallet in the dressing alcove. Tomorrow morning, she told herself as her eyes closed sleepily, when everybody started asking questions about where Miss Jacie was, she would pretend not to know anything. And come spring, Miss Jacie would be back like she promised, and everything would be just fine.

* * *

Elyse awoke to the sound of Jacie's door closing. She sat up, then reached for her robe at the foot of the bed and padded across the floor. Opening her own door and peering out into the dark hall, she listened for any sound. All was quiet, but now she was wide awake, her curiosity piqued. She was positive it had been Jacie's door she heard, but what was she doing prowling around in the wee hours of the night? Maybe she was planning to see Michael off to Charleston.

Elyse heard the clock downstairs chime four times. Michael would be up soon and stirring about, along with her mother and Cousin Olivia.

Elyse knew she had to find out what Jacie was up to. She lit a small lantern and proceeded down the hall and down the stairs to the foyer. She did not hear anything but continued to look around. Then, seeing that the door to the study was open, she went inside.

Holding the lantern high to light the room, her eyes went to the desk... where she saw the letter. Quickly she sat down to read it, tingling with excitement to realize she was about to discover why Jacie had been sneaking around.

The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile, which spread into a grin across her whole face as she realized with a happy lurch of her heart that this was the chance she had been waiting for.

Jacie was going away. No doubt she and Michael had been having more problems than anyone realized. But if she did come back in the spring, as she had written, Elyse was going to make certain Michael would not be waiting with open arms. Because by spring,
she
planned to be his wife.

She hurried back upstairs to her room, anxious to think about all the details of what must be done to make her scheme work.

And she took Jacie's letter with her.

Chapter 9

Mehlonga was waiting with a horse for her, a beautiful brown mare. There was no saddle, only a woven blanket on the mare's back, but Jacie did not mind; she was a good rider.

"Are you sure of what you are doing?" he asked her. "You can still turn back."

"I can't go back until I find out what—if anything—is waiting for me...
out there
," she answered, pointing west.

* * *

Michael had ordered breakfast to be ready, should anyone want it, even though he knew he would probably be the only one with an appetite at such an ungodly hour. He was surprised to find Elyse at the table. "What are you doing up? Didn't you say good-bye to your mother last night?"

"Yes, but I didn't say good-bye to you." She hoped he did not notice her nervousness, for she was barely able to contain her exhilaration at the knowledge that Jacie had left.

He gave her a light peck on her cheek and sat down. "That's nice of you. Nicer, too, that you're willing to forego a trip home to stay with Jacie. I'm very worried about her, you know. If you could get her mind on something besides her grief, it would be wonderful. Perhaps the two of you can go riding. She loves to ride."

"And jump," Elyse said with a soft laugh, wanting to remind him of the incident Cousin Olivia had told her about and how upset he had been.

"There won't be any jumping. Besides, I fired Newton last night. He's leaving this morning. Now I don't have to worry about Jacie wheedling him into going behind my back to set up hurdles. I've also ordered the equipment destroyed."

He talked on about how reckless Jacie could be, but Elyse was no longer listening, because another idea was forming in her head. So far, all she had done was destroy Jacie's letter so that when Michael discovered her missing he would have no idea as to why. Now she saw a way to make him go into a rage and never want her back.

Before she could ponder further, Michael's words caught her attention. "Maybe I should talk to her again before I leave. Would you mind waking her and asking her to come downstairs?"

Elyse was panic-stricken that she would have to report Jacie missing. If Michael found out, he would go after her and probably find her, because she could not have got very far. "I don't think that would be wise," she said finally.

His brows lifted. "And why not?"

Rapidly the lie tumbled out. "I heard her moving about till all hours. Obviously she couldn't sleep. She's probably exhausted, and we should let her rest."

Disappointed, he had no choice but to agree, knowing it would not be gentlemanly to request her presence after such a bad night. "I just wish I didn't have to leave her now.”

"Stop worrying, Michael. I promise you I'll take care of her." She patted his hand, thrilled, as always, at the chance to touch him.

As soon as the carriage rolled down the driveway in the early morning mist, Elyse hurried to the overseers' cabins, which were situated directly behind the stables. She worried that she would not be able to find Zach Newton but then she saw him leading his horse, saddlebags packed, out of one of the barns.

Zach recognized her as one of Blake's relatives and slowed, wondering what the hell she wanted as she came straight toward him. She was pretty and he liked red-haired women. She had a nice shape, too. He could tell by the dress she was wearing—the waist was tight, accenting her bosom.

"You're Mr. Newton, aren't you?"

"That's right." His gaze roved over her, and he hated Blake even more for running him off. There were lots of tasty morsels around Red Oakes, just waiting to be sampled.

"I'm Miss Elyse Burdette of Charleston," she informed him, then recited the story she had hastily invented. "I overheard Mr. Blake saying he had told you that your services are no longer needed here at Red Oakes."

"How does that concern you? Is he sendin' a woman to make sure I'm leavin'?" he asked, snickering.

She ignored his question. "Do you have another job in mind?"

"No," he replied slowly, curiosity piqued. "But I'll find somethin' around here. It's cotton pickin' time, and good overseers are needed. I do happen to be a good one, regardless of what Mr. Blake might think," he added with a little sneer.

That was exactly what she was afraid of, Elyse thought, that he would stay in the area, and she could not allow that. He could not be seen anywhere around, not if her scheme was to work. She handed him a folded sheet of paper.

He opened it and read as she explained, "That's a map showing you the way to the Owen Kernsby plantation in Beaufort, South Carolina. Mr. Kernsby was a close friend of my father. And here is a letter asking him to do me the favor of giving you a job. I am sure he will honor it. The last time I saw him he mentioned he was always in need of good overseers, because his plantation is quite large."

Zach took the envelope but asked suspiciously, "How come you're doin' this? How come you give a damn?"

She gave a careless shrug. "Mr. Kernsby needs workers, and you need a job. What other reason would I have?"

He grinned. "Well, now, that's real nice of you, Miss Burdette." He tipped his hat. "I'll just get on down that way, and I'm sure beholden to you."

She bid him a safe journey and was about to walk away when he said, "By the way, you tell Miss Jacie I appreciate what she did. She'll know what I'm talkin' about. And if she ever wants to find me, you tell her where you sent me, all right?"

Elyse stiffened to think he could be so brazen but was not about to annoy him with a tart response. Instead, she managed to say sweetly, "Why, you can be sure I'll do that, Mr. Newton. I know the two of you are good friends."

She hurried back to the house, waiting till she was out of his sight to start laughing aloud with glee.

It was time, she felt like shouting to the whole world, to let everyone believe that Jacie Calhoun had run away with Zach Newton.

* * *

Texas

Iris went with the others to meet the returning braves. And while wives and children greeted husbands and fathers, Iris held out her arms to the young man she loved as a son.

"Thank God, you're safe," she whispered against his broad shoulder as they embraced. She stood back to clasp his hands and drink in the sight of him. "You must be starved. Come. I will fix you something to eat, and you can tell me everything."

While feasting on roasted elk, Luke described the results of his scouting the past few weeks. He had left the hunters to see what was going on around the forts. "I'm afraid things are getting worse," he told her. "Ever since the Texas Ranger Rip Ford killed Iron Jacket and defeated his band in the spring, the soldiers get more daring. There is much bloodshed."

"And our band only wants peace," she murmured sadly, daring to suggest, "Maybe we should turn ourselves in to the Brazos Reserve before they attack and kill all of us."

"No!"

She jumped at the fierceness of his reply.

His face was a thundercloud of anger. "I would rather die, and have my people die, than go there. The reservations are nothing but a living death. And something else—I learned that the reason the soldiers are able to make so many raids on the Comanche is because Rip Ford was able to convince over a hundred Tonkawa to scout for him after the Texas governor Runnels put him in command of all the state's forces."

Iris was aware that for the past three years, since 1855, the advancing line of settlement in Texas had tightened around the Clear Fork and Brazos reserves. Until his death, Great Bear had been forced to keep the tribe moving to avoid trouble, because they had found themselves caught between two fires: The Indians who wanted war with the white man despised them, and the whites didn't care which tribe was which; they considered them all savages.

"I had hoped," Iris said, "that when we moved after Great Bear's death we could settle in for the winter, but I have a feeling you're about to tell me that isn't possible."

"That's right. We have to move farther north. I stayed at Bird's Fort a few days and found out the Second Cavalry has been ordered to march into the Wichita Mountains of Oklahoma with four companies of cavalry and one on foot. They're setting up a base camp between the Canadian and the Red rivers."

"That isn't far from here," she said, alarmed.

"Not far enough for us to feel safe. I've made the decision to have the camp moved north of the Red, deep into Indian Territory. You will start tomorrow."

Iris and Luke were very close. She knew him so well and now sensed he was keeping something from her. "But there's more, isn't there? Something you don't want to tell me."

He was silent for a moment. He hated to worry her but knew she would fret even more if she thought he was holding back. "It's Black Serpent." He bit out the name.

Iris tensed. For a long time, there had been bad feelings between Luke and Black Serpent, caused by a young maiden named Singing Waters. Black Serpent had chosen Singing Waters for his wife and had followed the custom of giving her father a horse and other gifts. Singing Waters, however, had rejected Black Serpent, for it was her intent to marry Luke.

There was chaos then. When Black Serpent heard of the rejection, and the reason, he had challenged Luke to fight for the girl. But Luke was not interested in marrying her, even though Iris knew Singing Waters had been slipping into his tepee every night for several weeks. Many young Indian maidens went to him, but he never seemed to encourage any of them.

Great Bear had decreed there would be no fight, and Singing Waters's father decreed the horse and gifts from Black Serpent would be accepted and she would marry him, but Singing Waters refused and eventually married someone else, which only added to Black Serpent's humiliation. He blamed everything on Luke, and Iris had always worried there would be trouble between them sooner or later. "What has he done?" she asked warily.