The Wildest Heart

Mark asked me to dance after a while, but we were stiff with each other. I could not help wondering if his uncle had sent him to me, and I could not quite forgive him for letting Todd Shannon take over, without even a protest.

“Are you enjoying yourself, Rowena?”

I could not resist being sarcastic.

“Oh, but of course I am! How could I not? I dearly love surprises of this nature. To be asked to a quiet private dinner party and find myself presented to all the notables in the territory. It reminds me of my coming-out ball in London!”

Mark had the grace to flush, the dull red creeping up under his tan.

“I swear I knew nothing about it! He had me running fool’s errands all day, until I had barely time to change. And then he announced that dinner was to be a formal affair. But believe me, I didn’t know.”

“You mean that your uncle didn’t confide to you that he planned to have me brought here merely to put me on exhibition? I’ve no doubt he hoped that I would arrive looking a fright, so that I would be made to seem like a frumpish idiot among all his fine friends! That would have suited his purposes, I’m sure! Perhaps he wished I’d be embarrassed enough to turn tail and flee back East!”

“I’ll admit that he has a rather crude sense of humor, but I don’t think he wishes you to leave, Rowena. He’s taken a liking to you.”

“He has a strange way of showing it, then!” My eyes looked coldly into Mark’s. “Or perhaps it’s only this sense of humor you are so anxious to defend that persuaded him to propose marriage to me. Would you like having me for your aunt, Mark Shannon?”

I saw his lips tighten as a strange, shuttered look dropped over his face, making it appear harder and older. “I think you know that’s the last thing on earth I would like,” he said quietly. “But my Uncle Todd is a very forceful man, as you must already have discovered. People usually end up doing exactly as he wants them to do. I was hoping that you would turn out to be different, Rowena. But the choice, of course, is yours to make.”

Why would I have to make a choice? I liked Mark. I had come to look on him as a brother I never had. And he had accepted my rejection of his half proposal like the gentleman he was. His uncle, on the other hand, was a different breed of man. A robber baron—determined, grasping. Used to reaching out and taking what he wanted. But he would not find me as easy as that!

Perhaps because it filled me with anger to find out that everyone, even Mark, believed I would give in to Todd Shannon in the end, on this occasion, I was driven by an almost desperate need to prove my independence. I said suddenly, “Mark, I would like to go home now. Will you take me?”

He looked startled, and, I thought, rather apprehensive.

“But, Rowena, it’s past two in the morning! I thought my uncle had already mentioned it to you. All his guests are to spend the night. Believe me, it’s the custom in this part of the world. I’m sure Marta and Jules will take it for granted that you…”

“If you’re afraid, Mark, then I’ll find someone else to take me,” I said. “Your uncle thinks he can do anything he wants with people. But he shan’t find me a pawn to be moved around and manipulated as he pleases!”

For the first time, I saw anger in Mark’s eyes as he looked down at me. Anger, and a kind of baffled frustration.

?

?But you think I’m easily manipulated, don’t you? I think you’re using me to get back at Uncle Todd, Rowena, and I can’t say that the idea pleases me.”

His sudden perspicacity made me flush with annoyance and embarrassment. Was I running away from Todd Shannon? Would he think so?

I said, “I’m sorry, Mark. You’re right, of course. But I don’t like being bullied.”

He gave a short, unhappy laugh. “I’m sure you won’t allow yourself to be. You’re a strong, self-contained person, almost as strong-willed as my uncle, I think. And I cannot honestly criticize you for thinking me weak in comparison to him.” His fingers tightened over mine for an instant and he said in a low voice, “Until now, you see, I have never felt strongly enough about anything to take issue with him.”

“You mean that you would stand up against him for me?” My eyes widened. I was seeing a new side to Mark this evening, and it made me feel ashamed to think I had been baiting him deliberately, venting my chagrin at his uncle on him.

“I would do anything for you,” Mark said now, his blue eyes suddenly so piercingly bright that they reminded me of Todd’s. “If I knew there was a chance I might win you in the end. Your respect, at least, if not your love.”

The music ended, to my relief, before I could find words to answer him with. What could I have told him? I liked Mark, but I did not love him. I had found that in spite of my dislike for Todd Shannon, there was an odd physical attraction between us that I did not quite know how to cope with. It made me almost afraid.

If he had not swept me again into his arms soon after my dance with Mark ended, asking what we had been talking about with such solemn faces, I might have acted more sensibly. But Todd Shannon made me feel smothered, especially when he dared display signs of incipient jealousy.

“I asked Mark when he would be taking me home, and he informed me it was the custom in this part of the world that dinner guests should stay overnight. Did you order him not to tell me that before?”

It put me at a disadvantage, having to tilt my head far back in order to look into his face, and he made it even more difficult for me by holding me far too closely in his arms.

“You mistake me for a greenhorn if that’s what you think, missy! I just took if for granted someone would tell you, I guess. You’d do the same if you were invited to have dinner with the Bradys, or the Kilkennys. It’s just accepted around here that dinner guests spend the night.” An unholy light danced in his eyes as he grinned mockingly down at me. “What did you think I had cooked up for you, eh? A nice little private seduction? When you get to know me better, you’ll find I don’t believe in sneakin’ around. I’m gonna have you yet, girl, but when I do you’re going to want it as much as I do.”

“You’re the most conceited, arrogant man I’ve yet had the misfortune to encounter! If you think that I…”

“At least I don’t play games, little girl. Ain’t the type to go pussyfootin’ around, wastin’ time on long courtships. When I find what I want, I go out and get it.”