The Wildest Heart

“I ought to slap your face for that, by God!” he swore at me, and I gave a short, bitter laugh.

“Why not? You’ve done everything but rape me!”

“An’ it seems to me like you’re asking for more,” he said slowly, his eyes traveling over me with an odd expression.

“Oh God, you’re impossible! Why don’t we put an end to this whole disgusting episode now?”

“It ain’t over, Rowena, an’ I think you know it. I came here mad, and I guess I made you mad. Maybe I shouldn’t have done what I did. But, by God, it happened, and it’s changed something between us. If you’ll stop acting like a stubborn, spoiled brat, you’ll admit it too!”

Of course I would admit nothing. How could I? I would never give him the satisfaction.

Todd Shannon finally left, angry again, when I retreated into sullen silence and refused to say anything. And as for myself, I spent a miserable night. There was a side to my character I had not known existed, and it frightened me. Was it possible that I had inherited some weakness of nature from my mother? It was frightening to be swept by a sensuality, a feeling of pure lust, that had nothing to do at all with my rational mind! No wonder Todd Shannon was so sure of himself. How pitiful my self-confidence, my avowals of hatred must have seemed to him! All he had to do was kiss me, and after a while I had begun to kiss him back. What was wrong with me?

Shannon’s last, scathing words, repeated themselves over and over in my mind. “For God’s sake, what are you runnin’ from? When you stop hidin’, you just send me word. Until then, gal, I’ll leave you alone!”

How dared he? How dared he insinuate… I felt as if I had barely fallen asleep when Marta brought me coffee the next morning, her round face concerned.

“El señor patron—ah, there is a man who is like a bull when he is enraged! His rages are something terrible, this I know. Only your padre, our good señor was not afraid! Alas, señorita—”

I wondered how much of our encounter she had witnessed. So she pitied me, did she? Even Marta, even Jules, who seemed to tiptoe around the house this morning. I was a “poor señorita.” A helpless female, incapable of standing up to a man.

Well, if I could not conquer through force, I would try guile. Yes, Todd Shannon would realize I was no ordinary enemy, and that he had not scored a victory over me yet!

Todd Shannon had broken my peace, but he had also cracked my shell of lethargy. I began to take more notice of things that were going on around me. For instance, because of the enormous size of the SD ranch, there was a bunkhouse within two hundred yards of my house. Even closer was a small shack which Marta explained had been the foreman’s cabin during the time when my father and Todd Shannon had hardly been on speaking terms. The main house itself, my house now, was shielded by a grove of trees, but I knew that Marta and Jules took it in turn to cook for the men. The horses were corralled a little further off, but it was Jules who always brought my mare around for me, saddled and ready to ride. I had had no formal contact yet with the men, who took their orders from Shannon; however, I planned to change that after a while. For the moment, I wanted to learn more about the ranch itself, and how it was run.

I began to wish that Mr. Bragg would arrive. I needed his advice now more than ever, and he continued to stay away! Why did he have to be so mysterious?

Well, with or without him, I’m going to teach Todd Shannon a lesson, I vowed to myself, and by a strange coincidence, I was helped in this objective by the belated arrival of my luggage from Boston. Mark Shannon drove over himself from the stage depot in a flatbed wagon, his manner diffident.

“I didn’t know if you’d care for visitors or not, Lady Rowena. But I thought you might want the rest of your clothes. I don’t mean to intrude.”

His eyes were a clear, pale blue, and his blond hair gleamed in the sunlight. He was polite, a civilized, educated young man, who had treated me with respect, even if I had looked a fright the first time he had set eyes on me.

When he drove up, I was still wearing a peasant blouse and a full, brightly patterned skirt, but I wore sandals—huaraches Marta called them—on my feet, and my hair was loose over my shoulders, since I had just washed it.

I saw the way Mark’s eyes rested on me, moved away in embarrassment when he caught me watching him, and then came back to me as if drawn by a magnet. Mark Shannon was no shy Western man. I knew, from Corinne’s inveterate gossiping, that he had been quite the young man about town, one of Boston’s eligible young bachelors and much sought after by the girls. I had become used to seeing men’s eyes on me, just this way, but that had been in London, and Todd Shannon had told me scornfully I looked like a peasant woman only a few days ago.

I found myself deliberately smiling at Mark Shannon as I invited him to see my patio. “Jules will see to my trunks,” I said casually. “It was very kind of you to come all this way. Please, I’ve grown lonely, recently.”

He followed me with alacrity. Obviously Mark Shannon was used to women who flirted with him. We sat down together and Marta, smiling, brought out orange juice, naranjada. And we began to converse about Boston, and London, the theater and the opera, books we had both read. Mark, now that the first awkwardness was over, seemed more self-assured. Neither of us mentioned his uncle, nor his visit to me. We laughed and talked easily, and before Mark left we had almost become conspirators together.

He would come early tomorrow to take me riding.

“You can’t possibly see all of the SD, of course, but I can show you enough so you can get a general idea. There’s a map somewhere. I’ll see if I can find it for you.” His blue eyes flattered me. “I have a feeling you’re going to make out just fine, and I’m glad. In fact—” he laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling attractively, “I think you’re going to be a great success. Wait until the governor sees you!”

“Oh?” I lifted my brows questioningly and he gave another rather boyish laugh.

“I was leading up to that! The territorial governor will be visiting Silver City soon. It’s a lot bigger town than Santa Rita, and they’re givin

g a big ball for him. I’d been hoping I’d get the opportunity to ask you, and now I’ve found it! Will you allow me to escort you there?”

“You’re asking me now that my clothes have finally arrived?” I teased him, and he flushed.

“You know that’s not so! I meant to ask you before, but I was waiting until you were ready, I guess.” He gave me a rueful look. “I saw through your disguise, you know! Even in those drab clothes, you were beautiful. The bone structure of your face… I’m something of an amateur artist, you see! That same night, I sketched you without those disfiguring spectacles I was sure you had worn deliberately. And with your hair loose, as it is now. Will you forgive me?”

“How can I not forgive you?” It was my turn to shrug a trifle guiltily. “I had no idea my attempt at making myself inconspicuous would arouse such a hornets’ nest! Your uncle…”

“Uncle Todd is a very unpredictable man. I’m afraid his shocking rudeness showed me up at a disadvantage. I had no idea what he was going to do, and when I saw how he was acting, I didn’t know what I could say to you!”