The Awakening (Montgomery/Taggert 11)

Amanda straightened in her chair. “He was a—” She started to say that he was a frivolous man, but he had cared about her and the way he’d answered the mathematics questions showed he wasn’t uneducated. “He was an unusual man,” she said at last. “Completely unpredictable. One never knew what he’d do from one moment to the next.”

“No schedules, huh?” J. Harker asked, watching her.

Amanda smiled in delight. “Dr. Montgomery doesn’t even understand the concept of schedules. He believes in personal freedom for everyone.”

When she smiled like that Harker was reminded so strongly of Grace that he felt quite weak-kneed. He had carried a grudge against his wife for so long that he’d been able to almost forget about her. How dare she tell him who he could and could not hire! Especially after she’d betrayed him by not telling him she’d been a dancer before they’d married. And he’d bragged all over town about how her family had come across on the Mayflower, then they’d all laughed at him.

But now, looking at Amanda, he remembered Grace’s lean, firm body in his bed. She’d been wonderful in bed but he’d given it up when she’d demanded he fire Taylor. Right now he felt that his stubborn pride had cost him his wife and his daughter.

“Do you know where your mother is this afternoon?” he asked abruptly.

“Why, no, I don’t see her too often.” Not since I asked her advice when I kissed Taylor, she thought, and the memory made her face turn pink.

J. Harker pushed back his chair and stood. “I think I’ll go find her.” He started for the door, then turned. “Maybe you’ll have dinner with me tonight.”

“Yes,” she said, astonished. “I would like that.”

When she was alone in the room, she gave a puzzled look at the empty chair. Somehow, this invitation was caused by Dr. Montgomery. He had caused her to be nearly raped, true, but he’d also brought about her father seeking out her mother and her father asking his daughter to dinner. Of course, she thought with a grimace, he was also the cause of her having to translate Moby Dick into Greek. At least now, with a full belly, she’d be able to get something done. Slowly, she went upstairs to her hot room.

“And you found this in her room?” Taylor asked Mrs. Gunston as he held the torn white satin dress in his hands, the crystal beads glistening in the sunlight.

“I knew she was hiding something,” Mrs. Gunston said in a self-righteous way. “I saw her arm inside the closet, so when she went downstairs I searched. She had it wrapped in tissue paper and hidden inside a hatbox. It’s not a dress you bought her, and you can see that it’s torn right across the front. She’s been doing something she’s not supposed to, and it’s my guess it has to do with that Dr. Montgomery. There’s been strange things going on in this house since he came. I found a dirty plate hidden in her room, and one day—”

“That’s enough!” Taylor said sharply, wadding the dress up in his hands. “You may go now.”

“But there’s more.”

Taylor was getting sick of her sneaking ways. “That’s all. Go now.”

With a grimace of disgust, the big woman left Taylor alone in the library, sliding

the door closed after she left.

Taylor stood still for a long while, staring sightlessly out the windows, and all his old fear came back to him. It was as if everything he’d ever worked for was collapsing about his head. Harker was threatening to kick him off the ranch; Amanda was doing things in secret, possibly with another man.

He looked at the satin dress. When? How? Where? What had she done? Was she so miserable before that she wanted to get away from him?

Yesterday she’d kissed him and he’d been very angry about it, but today he wondered if he should have been. Maybe she needed a different kind of attention than he was giving her. Maybe she needed to be…to be courted.

Amanda was a sensible young woman and she’d never be fooled by the bravado of someone like Dr. Montgomery, but then she was, after all, a woman, and women did like that sort of thing.

What sort of thing? he asked himself. Exactly how did one court a woman? With flowers and candy? He swallowed. Certainly not with Greek translation assignments. Was Montgomery courting her? Was the white dress part of his courting? Perhaps Amanda had ripped it apart, then hidden it until she could find time to discard it.

The more he thought about courting, the more sure he was that he should do it. In fact, he should have done it long ago. He would court Amanda for a few weeks—flowers, candy, hand kissing, all that—then they’d set the marriage date, which would be as soon as possible. After they were married the ranch would safely be his and Amanda would also be his. He’d keep her in his room where he could watch her all the time and she’d never be able to receive beaded dresses from other men.

He wrapped his fist around the dress and the tension began to leave his body. He hadn’t planned on the courting, since Amanda was already engaged to him, but now he seemed to remember that men were supposed to court women, so perhaps Amanda was somewhat disappointed that he hadn’t done so.

When he thought of the engagement, he remembered that he’d never bought her a ring. He thrust the dress in the bottom drawer of the desk, then went outside to the garage. He’d have the chauffeur take him into Kingman and he’d buy Amanda a diamond, nothing gaudy, but something refined and elegant.

Reva Eiler was still smoldering about the dance. It seemed that Amanda Caulden was put on this earth to make her life miserable. Reva’d had a chance at a dream like Hank Montgomery and who shows up but Miss Lady of the Manor, acting as if she didn’t even want to go to a dance with Hank. Ha! Reva thought. Amanda would have done everything she could to get his attention, such as throwing herself at a drunken Sam Ryan, then acting like Sam was trying to attack her. Dear Hank had fallen for all of it.

As Reva started to cross the street she saw one of the Caulden limousines stop in front of the jewelry store and the chauffeur get out and open the back door. Out stepped the man Amanda was supposed to be engaged to—when she wasn’t chasing after Hank, Reva thought bitterly. She watched as the tall, thin, dark man tried the jewelry store door then looked puzzled when it was locked. He went to look in the empty window where Mr. Robbins displayed the jewelry during the week. He was awfully good-looking, Reva thought, and grudgingly admired Amanda’s taste in men.

Quickly, Reva crossed the street. “It’s Sunday,” she said, and the man turned to look at her. Reva felt a little chill run down her back. He was a haughty-looking man, almost as if his spine were steel instead of flesh and blood, but there was something else in there, too, that Reva recognized as a kindred spirit. He looked cold on the outside but she imagined there was passion underneath. He was trying his best to look down his nose at her bright lipstick and the brilliant turquoise hat she was wearing, but she felt his interest in her. Wouldn’t it serve Amanda right if she had a fling with her boyfriend?

“It’s Sunday and the shop is closed,” Reva said again.

“Yes, of course,” Taylor said and looked away from the woman. She was making him feel quite strange. He started back toward the car.