The Rogue (6 page)

“I’ll make sure that you do.”

“What does that mean?” the Major demanded.

“I’m staying home until you’re better.”

“It was one thing for you to leave college to fly home to see for yourself that I’m all right, but it’s
completely unnecessary for you to sit around holding my hand,” he informed her sternly. “I have Holt and Sophie to take care of me.”

Diana wanted to point out that as his only child, it was her right to look after him and not the privilege of some hired help, but the Major didn’t give her a chance to speak.

“I’m turning over the operation of the ranch to Holt. He’s more than capable of handling it now. I’m lucky to have him.” There was no mistaking the admiration and respect in his voice.

“I want to stay home with you.”

“Young lady, you can make me happiest by going back to college and getting your degree. After that, I hope you find an intelligent and ambitious man to marry, maybe have a few children later on. The chances of accomplishing any of those things by isolating yourself out on the ranch is next to impossible.”

“Yes, Major.” But Diana wondered if he would be sending her away if she were his son instead of his daughter.

Diana stayed at a motel in Ely until her father was released from the hospital. She claimed it was because she didn’t want to make the hour-long drive each way from the ranch. The truth, however, was she didn’t want to stay at the ranch knowing Holt Mallory was in charge.

That February, Diana attended a special lecture of her political science class. The guest speaker was a professional lobbyist for Nevada mining interests. His name was Rand Cummings. Tall, extremely good looking, with dark curling hair and blue eyes, he was charming, eloquent, and intelligent. Diana felt an instantaneous attraction to the man, but her experience with Curly had made her wary.

At the end of the afternoon lecture, Diana and a few of the others who had no class afterward remained, ostensibly to ask more questions. Only a blind man would have failed to notice Diana, and Rand Cummings
was not blind. They “happened” to walk to the parking lot together. He asked her out and Diana accepted.

It wasn’t exactly a whirlwind courtship, since Diana was determined not to let her emotions carry her away. Rand met most of the criteria she had set. He was mature, in his late twenties, well established in his chosen profession, and ambitious. He was enough like Curly to arouse her physically, yet he didn’t press her to have intimate relations. During the most heated embraces, Diana sensed his responses were controlled, even when she trembled on the edge of losing hers. His discipline increased her respect for him.

The weekend before her summer break, Rand had driven up from Carson City to spend the time with her. Sunday night was their last evening together. When Rand brought her home, parking the car near her dorm, Diana turned readily into his arms. She abandoned herself to his possessive kisses, in a way testing his control. Before desire could overpower him, Rand was unwinding her arms from around his neck, but he didn’t set her away from him. Instead, he shifted her sideways on his lap and satisfied himself with a leisurely exploration of her neck and throat.

“I’m never quite sure about you, Diana,” he murmured.

There was experience in the sensual way he nibbled near her ear. It sent pleasurable shivers over her skin. Her fingers sought the curling waves of his dark hair to slide through their thickness.

“Aren’t you?” she whispered.

But Rand didn’t seem to find it essential to be sure of her. “You are a beautiful woman. You’ll make an excellent wife for a lobbyist. As a matter of fact, you’d be an asset.”

Diana drew back slightly, eyeing his handsome features through the upward sweep of her lashes. “That sounds very much like a proposal,” she teased.

“It is a proposal. I want you to marry me, Diana,” he stated.

For an instant, she made no response. She tried to see him as the Major would, wondering if he would find in him the same positive attributes that she had found.

“Can you arrange to fly home with me next weekend?” she asked. “I’d like you to meet the Major.”

“I fully intended to, anyway,” Rand said and smiled, “so I can formally request his daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“Not right away,” Diana said quickly. And she hurried to explain: “I’d like him to meet you first and let him have a chance to get to know you, however briefly, before you ask him. Sometimes fathers can become overly critical if they find out immediately.”

“Whatever you say,” he agreed. “When we have his consent,” Rand went on confidently, “we’ll go pick out your engagement ring together.”

Between kisses and nuzzling caresses, they discussed the future. Not even to herself did Diana admit that she had avoided agreeing to marry him until after she had obtained the Major’s opinion. She cared for Rand, and his touch was not distasteful to her. He seemed to be all the things she had ever wished for in a husband. But she wanted to make sure the Major approved of her choice.

When she called home the next evening to let her father know she had invited Rand to return with her for the weekend, he didn’t ask any questions. The last week of college seemed endless to Diana, but the flight to Ely was quickened with anticipation.

The Major seemed to have made a full recovery from his heart attack, although Diana noticed on her return that he tired more easily now, and there was considerably more gray in his dark hair. She let him surmise that Rand was someone special without knowing how special and gave him time to form his own impression.

On the last night before Rand was due to fly back,
Diana met her father alone in his study before dinner. They talked for a few minutes in generalities before she asked, “What do you think of Rand?”

“He seems very intelligent and charming. Is it serious between you? I presume it is, since you brought him home.”

“He’s asked me to marry him.”

“And you want my approval,” the Major concluded.

“Yes.”

“What about your degree?”

“Rand and I have talked about it,” Diana admitted. “I’m going to continue, but I’ll carry fewer hours than I do now. It will mean we’ll have to wait a few years before starting a family, but it will give us time together, too.”

“Then I don’t see that I have any objection to put forward. I like him, and as long as you want to marry him, there isn’t anymore to be said, is there?” He smiled.

“No,” she agreed. “Rand is waiting on the porch to speak to you. He wants to ask your permission to marry me.”

“Don’t keep him waiting. Send him in,” the Major ordered with mock severity.

An August date was set for the wedding to enable the newlyweds to have time for a honeymoon before Diana returned to college for the fall term. It left little time to plan the wedding. Her whole summer seemed to be consumed with all the necessary arrangements. It was to be a big wedding, with the reception at the ranch afterward.

Even at the most hectic moments, Diana was relieved that she had something to do. There had been changes at the ranch since the Major’s illness, small changes, but disturbing just the same. Holt and Guy now took their noon meals at the main house. There was a twofold purpose to it. The Major insisted it was senseless for Sophie to try to cook a meal for two.
There was always too much. Plus the noon hour permitted Holt time to confer with the Major and get his advice on any problems that had arisen.

Holt had suggested, on Diana’s return, that the practice be discontinued to give the Major time with his daughter, but it had been rejected as unnecessary. Diana made no comment, but tried to arrange to be elsewhere for the noon meal. She still disliked Holt as intensely as she had before, but she no longer tried to oppose his presence at the ranch and chose to ignore it as best she could.

The weekend before the wedding, Rand flew to Ely to be with her. Diana was at the airport to meet him when his plane arrived on Friday. No words were wasted in greeting as Rand immediately swept her into his arms and claimed her lips in a long, possessive kiss. When he finally dragged his mouth away, his hands remained locked behind her back.

“Have you missed me?” Rand demanded. “It seems like a month since I’ve seen you, instead of two weeks.”

With all the last-minute wedding preparations and gown fittings, the time had flown as far as Diana was concerned. But his statement pleased her.

“When have I had time to miss you?” Diana teased. “You’ve called me every single day.”

He kissed her with hard, punishing force, his dark eyes blazing over her face when he lifted his head. “I had to call you every day or go out of my mind wondering what you were doing and who you were with.”

That hint of jealousy was exciting. “Don’t you trust me, Rand?”

He seemed to force a lightness into his voice. “How am I supposed to know what you are doing when you are so far away from me? You could be seeing some of your old boyfriends, not to mention all those rugged-looking cowboys on your father’s ranch.”

Diana tilted her head back and laughed. “You haven’t taken a close look at the men who work for
us.” Still smiling, she assured him, “Outside of the Major, there is only one man in my life—and that’s you.”

His hold loosened around her as he lifted a hand to lightly stroke her cheek and the outline of her jaw. “You are so beautiful, Diana. I don’t know if I’ll ever trust you out of my sight.”

The burning intensity of his gaze made her uncomfortable. His jealousy was unnecessary. When she gave her allegiance to a man, it was total. Rand was to be her husband. She had been raised with too strict a sense of moral values to not take her marriage vows seriously. Vaguely unsettled by his attitude, Diana shifted his attention from her.

“What have you been doing these last two weeks?” she issued in mock demand. “Did you find a couple of showgirls in Reno to keep you company during the lonely nights? I’m here at the ranch with the Major to keep an eye on me, but there’s no one to watch you. You might be sowing a few last wild oats.”

“But there is a difference, my love.” Rand kissed the tip of her nose. “How I am spending my last, precious days of bachelorhood is none of your business.”

“Chauvinist,” Diana accused with a laugh.

“Now you know the truth about me,” he chuckled and curved an arm around her shoulders to walk to the terminal exit. “Seriously, though, I found out yesterday that a larger apartment is available in the complex where I’m living. I mentioned to the manager that we might be interested in it. My place is rather small. I don’t want us to be rushed into buying or building a home in Carson City.”

Diana nodded in agreement. “I wish there was time for me to see the apartment next week.”

“Don’t worry,” Rand assured her. “The manager promised to hold it for us until we come back from our honeymoon. He owes me a few favors.”

When they had collected his luggage from the baggage claim area, Diana directed him to the ranch
station wagon. She handed him the keys to stow his suitcases in the rear.

“Peggy Thornton, our neighbor, gave a wedding shower for me last week,” Diana informed him. “Wait till you see all the presents! I’ll show them to you as soon as we get to the house.”

“I’m afraid it will have to wait until later, honey,” he said, closing the rear door of the wagon and walking to the driver’s side. “I have some business calls I have to make first.”

“But I thought you came to spend the weekend with me,” she protested.

“I did. That’s why I’m getting these calls out of the way today.” Rand opened the door so Diana could slide under the wheel to the middle of the seat.

“Can’t you forget business this one weekend?” she demanded with faint irritation as he sat in the driver’s seat.

“Not if I want this trip to be a tax deduction, which I do.” He smiled and started the car. “All I have to do is talk to a couple of men at the copper mines and take them to lunch. I want you to come with me so you can get some early practice in what it’s like to be the wife of a lobbyist.”

“Are you sure you want me to come with you? I don’t know all that much about mining,” Diana admitted.

“Darling, you don’t have to.” He slid her a twinkling glance. “All you have to do is look beautiful, smile, and be nice to the men, flirt with them a little. You see, it isn’t going to be hard being married to me.” Rand grinned. “You should be able to do it with one hand tied behind your back.”

“It’s a snap.” Diana was willing to do what Rand wanted, just as she had been willing to do whatever her father had wanted in the past. “The Major is expecting us for lunch,” she remembered.

“There will be a phone at the mine,” Rand stated. “You can call to tell him we won’t get to the ranch until sometime this afternoon.”

Diana’s initiation into Rand’s world was a pleasant one. She wasn’t the least bit ill-at-ease with their men-talk, having been surrounded by it all her life. Occasionally, the discussions about mines and their operation became too technical for her to follow, but they rarely lasted for long. One of the mine operators would notice her silence, smile, and shift the conversation to include her. And Diana remembered Rand’s advice. She was friendly, smiled a lot, and flirted a little.

When Rand finally pointed the station wagon toward the ranch, Diana glanced at her watch. “Your estimate was off. It’s almost four o’clock. The Major was expecting us a little after two. Maybe I should have called.”

“He knows you’re with me. I doubt if he’s worried.” Rand dismissed her concern.

Diana was sitting close to him, her head resting on the seat back. She turned her head slightly to study his profile and smooth good looks. Rand had been fairly quiet since they’d left the mine.

“How did I do?” she questioned softly.

“You were a smashing success.” He slid her a brief, arrogantly smiling look.

The compliment warmed her and Diana smiled. “Wasn’t I supposed to be?”

“Yes, but don’t overdo it,” Rand cautioned.

“Did I?” Uncertainty glimmered in her eyes.

A straight stretch of highway was in front of them. Rand put his arm around her and snuggled her closer to him, kissing her hair.