Lionel took a step back from her, then, in a split second, he grabbed a handful of mud from a flower bed and threw it onto the front of her clean dress. Before Chris could speak, he ran out of sight.
Standing, Chris looked down at the front of her dress, then started back to the house.
Unity, taking a pan of cornbread from the oven, looked up. “I take it you met Lionel. Here, honey, sit down and we’ll get you cleaned up. That boy is gonna be the death of us all.”
“I’m sure it’s none of my business, but does anyone ever discipline that child?” She took the wet cloth Unity gave her.
“Till their hands near fell off. When you get as old as I am, you learn that kids are as different as night and day. Some of ’em you can discipline with a look, most of ’em you can discipline with a birch rod—and then there’s Lionel. Nothin’ has any effect on him. Believe me, his uncle’s tried ever’thing.”
“How about gentleness?” Chris asked, wiping at the mud on her dress. “I mean he is an orphan.”
“You ain’t been here long, but you’ll see. Mr. Owen is the gentlest man alive. It breaks his heart when he has to take a rod to that boy. For years, he wouldn’t do it. He kept sayin’ he wanted the boy to feel at home here but I’ve known him since he was a baby.”
Chris wasn’t sure how much Diana was supposed to know, but she had to chance it. “You were with Lionel before his uncle was?”
“I keep forgettin’ that you don’t know about us.”
“If you’ll hand me that bowl of peas I’ll shell them for you,” Chris said.
“Now this ain’t to be usual. You’re family, but for today I’ll let you help. Now, where was I? Oh yes. I worked for Mr. Owen’s brother and sister-in-law; I was there the night Mrs. Laura had little Lionel. That was a happy night. But it wasn’t but a few months later that they was killed in that fire. Lionel was only six months old. Of course everything was left to him, with Mr. Owen to take care of the property until Lionel reached twenty-one. He’s done the best he could, but that boy…” She trailed off, leaving the rest to the imagination.
Chris couldn’t get anymore from the woman and Unity spent the rest of their time together talking about what a wonderful man Owen was and how she was fortunate to be able to work for him. Chris thought that this was every homeowner’s dream, to find a dedicated servant.
At dinner, Lionel came to the table late, his mouth set into a sulky pout. Owen greeted him and introduced him to his cousins, Diana and Whitman, but Lionel just gave them a sullen look and began to push the food about on his plate. Twice, Chris caught him looking at her with especially hostile looks. Both times she smiled at him.
“What a brat of a kid,” Ash said when they were alone in their room. “Has anyone taken a switch to him? And why was he eating with adults anyway?”
“Probably because he owns the place,” Chris said as she hung up her meager wardrobe.
Asher ran his hand along the edge of the wardrobe. “I never thought I could come to love a piece of furniture. Remember the first time I saw you? I told Tynan we shouldn’t be hiding in a lady’s bedroom but he said we had to get to you without your making any noise. We thought you’d be asleep but the bed was empty and we jumped into the wardrobe when we heard you coming back into the room.”
“I don’t want to talk about him.”
“Him? Who? You don’t mean that two-bit gunslinger, do you? I thought you were over him. After what he did at that picnic, I’d think you’d never want to see him again.”
“I don’t. Could we talk about something else? Such as how we’re going to find out what’s going on in this house? What is making that child so miserable?”
“Being spoiled rotten is all that’s wrong with him and if you had any children of your own, you’d know that.”
“And you do have children? So many that you’re an authority on the subject?”
“I know enough to be sure of what I see. He’s been given everything and he expects more. Chris, let’s not argue. Let’s enjoy this time together.” He reached out his arms to her, his hands almost catching her, but she sidestepped him.
“I’m going outside to the garden. I’ll see you later. See if you can make yourself useful to Owen and find out something. We’re here for a story and that’s what I plan to look into.”
Chris left the room with a sigh of relief. She hadn’t given much thought to actually living with a man, of being in the same room with him night after night. But already, she could see the problems that it was going to involve.
Downstairs, she found Owen and Unity looking perplexed. “I’ll take care of it,” Unity was saying. “You just go back to work where you belong.”
Chris bit her tongue to keep from asking what Lionel had done now, but, instead, she politely murmured that she would like to help with whatever was the problem.
“It’s merely one of those household complications that can’t be helped,” Owen said. “But today I do need to get work done before the buyer arrives and I don’t have time to—”
“May I be of help?” Chris asked. “I’ve run my father’s house for years.”
“We can’t ask you…” Owen began, then halted. “Diana, I’d be eternally grateful if you’d help. Unity has her hands full and doesn’t have the time. Five minutes ago, my gardener said he has to go to San Francisco to take care of a sick sister and he’s hired his cousin to run my gardens, only I don’t know this man and it’ll take me days to tell him how I want things kept.”
“Leave it to me,” Chris said. “I’ll take care of everything. Where are the gardeners? The old one and the new one? I’ll get instructions from the old one and give them to the cousin—and I’ll ask for references.”
Owen was looking at her with his head cocked to one side and Chris thought maybe she’d made a mistake. Diana Eskridge was supposed to be a mouse of a woman, not one who took over someone else’s household. But then, men rarely thought anything about housework. A woman could run an army of servants yet a man’d think she didn’t have sense enough to handle a twenty-dollar bill.
“Diana, I’d appreciate it very much if you’d help me with this. Domestic responsibilities are my downfall.”
Chris gave him a demure smile. “I’d like to help all that I can.”
“Al is waiting in the garden for me with his cousin. I give it all to you.”
Chris was glad for something to do and she went to the garden with a smile. Maybe she’d be able to find out something if she had access to some of Owen’s time. He’d be more likely to tell her something if she were helping him in whatever way she could.
She was walking around a corner when she came face to face with the one man she did not want to see. “You!” she gasped. “Get out of here!” She turned on her heel and started back toward the house.
Tynan caught her arm. “Is that how you treat the new gardener? Will you tell Hamilton that you can’t hire me?”
She stopped and glared at him. “I told you that I never wanted to see you again.”
“And I told you that you were my responsibility until I returned you to your father. I’m not leaving you alone until you’re in his care.”
“You were also to bring me back in love with Asher. I can do that on my own. I’m staying here with Ash and I plan to fall in love with him.”
“Good. Great. Glad to hear it. I wish you both the best in the world, but you’re staying near me too until I personally hand you over to your father.”
“That may be what you think but I’m going right now and tell Owen that you are unsuitable as a gardener. I’ll tell him that you are untrustworthy, that you may use a gun to do the weeding.”
“I hope you do,” he said, starting to walk beside her. “I never wanted to be a gardener anyway. I’ll just tell Hamilton the truth about who you are and we can go back to your father and we never have to see each other again. And I can get my pardon and you can have your wedding to the illustrious Mr. Prescott and I can get my money for pl
aying Cupid. This suits me fine.”
She stopped. “I want to stay here and find out about Lionel. I made a promise to a dying woman.”
“Ah, I see, your promise to someone you don’t know is sacred but my promise to your father isn’t worth anything, is that it?”
“No, you’re twisting my words. You have self-interest in this, I don’t.”
“Enhancing the reputation of Nola Dallas with a story that will break the readers’ hearts isn’t self-interest?”
“Get away from me,” she said but she didn’t walk toward the house any longer. “I am perfectly safe and I don’t plan to get into any trouble. I’ll write a letter to my father saying that you’ve fulfilled your obligations and he’s to give you your pardon and the money. I’ll even pay the money from my mother’s estate. Now, will you go?”
“And leave you here to take care of yourself? If Hamilton is doing something illegal, do you think he’ll stop at violence when he’s been discovered? Someone has to protect you from yourself.”
“Asher can protect me.”
Tynan gave a sound that bordered on a laugh. “And who’ll take care of him? You have a choice: either I stay here as the gardener and keep an eye on you, or we both leave now.”
Chris hid her fists in the folds of her skirt. “How did you find out where I was?”
He moved his face closer to hers. “Through wearing out three horses and two saddles. Lady, I have done nothing for the last few days but follow you and try to find out where you were. I finally got the sheriff to tell me something about it.”
“And what could he know?” Chris asked, glaring at him.
“More than you could guess. He’s heard of Owen Hamilton. The man does some big business dealings, controls a lot of money. You’re not dealing with a simpleton like Prescott who you can wrap around your little finger.”
“I can’t wrap Asher—” She stopped because, walking through the trees, was an utterly beautiful woman with dark hair and eyes, a perfect figure, and a graceful walk that emanated sexuality. “Who is that?”
“My bodyguard. I thought since you could make up a new identity, I could too. Pilar has agreed to be my wife for the duration of this fiasco. I figured with your living with the brave Mr. Prescott, and me with Pilar, there wouldn’t be anymore of what happened in the rain forest. I don’t plan to go back to jail.”
“Wife,” Chris whispered. “Wife?”
Tynan narrowed his eyes at her. “Yeah, the gardener has a wife. Pilar will be helping out in the house and I’ll be out here. Between the two of us, we should be able to watch out for you.”
“Where will you live?”
“In the gardener’s house, of course. Look, Chris, if we’re going to play this until you get your story, we’d better get started. Are you supposed to tell me what to do?”
“I would love to tell you what to do, Mr. Tynan,” she said with a false smile, turning away from him and starting back to the house.
“Don’t you want to meet Pilar?” he called after her, laughter in his voice.
Chris kept walking.
Chapter Thirteen
“Diana!” Asher said sharply. “Your cousin was speaking to you.”
Chris looked up from her plate of food to gaze blankly at Owen Hamilton, for a moment not knowing who he was.
“You can see what a time I have with her,” Asher was saying. “She can be most exasperating at times.”
“Yes, well…” Owen said hesitantly. “How did you get on with the new gardener, Diana?”
Unity set a large bowl of carrots on the table. “Anybody that looks like him can get along with any woman. I’m not sure I ever wanta see Al’s ugly ol’ face again.”
Owen gave his housekeeper a look of reproach.
“He seems to know what he’s doing,” Chris murmured. “I think he’s worked on a farm.”
“I don’t think he’s a farmer,” Lionel said. “I think he’s a robber. I think he robs banks and kills people.”
“There are worse ways to go,” Unity muttered before leaving the room.
Asher was watching Chris intently, while she just looked at her food. Thirty minutes later, as everyone was leaving the table, he grabbed her arm. “Come outside with me, I want to talk to you.”
Asher practically dragged her into the garden, out of hearing distance of the house. “All right, who is this robber-farmer? Is it who I think it is?”
“Yes,” she said, “but I had no idea he was coming here. He says I am his responsibility until he turns me over to my father.”
“So now I have to deal with him again. Chris, I hope you aren’t going to make a fool of yourself over him this time. I don’t think it would fit meek little Diana’s image to be seen following the gardener about.”
She was glad for the darkness to hide her red face. “No, I am not going to make a fool of myself again. Besides, he brought a woman with him. He doesn’t want to have any more to do with me than I with him. Now, does that soothe your jealousy? Could we go in now? I’m awfully tired.”
Asher looked at something over her head and then he quite suddenly grabbed her and pressed his mouth to hers. Chris thought it was meant to be a kiss, but it didn’t feel like one. Her eyes were open and his were staring at something behind her. She began to push away from him, but just then she heard someone whistling from behind her and she knew who it was. She grabbed Asher closer to her, trying to put some passion into the kiss. It seemed to work for Ash because his eyes closed and he began to pull her to him, but Chris was only aware of where Tynan was.
“Ah, newlyweds,” Tynan said as he passed them. “It’s so good to see people in love.”
Chris pushed Asher away with some force, put her chin in the air and walked past Ty without a backward glance.
When Asher got to their room, she was slinging sheets onto the narrow fainting couch. “I hate that man! Absolutely, totally, completely hate that man. I wish he’d go back to jail and stay there forever. I’d like to think of him rotting away somewhere.”
“It didn’t look to me as if you hated him,” Asher said stiffly. “It seemed to me that you were trying to use me to make him jealous.”
“Jealous! He said he couldn’t stand to see me with other men, but he didn’t really care. All he cares about is getting that money.”
“Maybe he was jealous after he’d just gotten out of prison and before he’d visited a…a place like Red’s.”
Chris’s eyes widened. “And before he’d moved in with the luscious Pilar.” She pounded a pillow with her fist. “I truly, sincerely hate that man. I wish I’d never seen him before in my life. I wish I never had to see him again. I wish—”
Asher caught her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “Chris, you’re protesting too much. I know a way to put him out of your mind.” He began to lower his head to hers. “You’re obsessed with him because you have nothing else to replace him.” He touched her neck with his lips. “Spend the night with me. I’ll make you forget him. I’ll make you forget everything except us. We’ll be a real married couple and when we leave here, we can go to your father and have a legal ceremony.”
Chris tried to enjoy the lovely way he was kissing her neck. He was a handsome man, he smelled good, there was absolutely nothing at all wrong with him—except that there was no spark. She could have fallen asleep standing up while he was kissing her. As it was, she suppressed a yawn.
“Please, Ash, don’t rush things. I…I’m not sure of myself yet. I’ve just been through something awful with one man and I don’t feel as if I can trust myself with anyone else. Please understand.”
He pulled away from her with a hurt look that made a thread of guilt run through her. She so hated lying for any reason whatever, and she especially hated lying to Ash who’d been so nice to her.
He stepped back. “All right, but I won’t give up trying.”
“I hope you don’t,” she said with a smile. There was no screen in the room, so she opened the
wardrobe door and undressed behind it, all too aware that Asher was lying in the bed watching her. It made her nervous and a little frightened—but it did not make her want to climb into bed with him. She began to imagine how she’d feel if Tynan were lying in that bed, his shirt off, his hands behind his head, waiting for her. Even the thought seemed to make her skin glow.
She took a few deep breaths before she walked out from behind the door. Ash had on a long nightgown and he was watching her like a cat with a mouse. Chris said a soft good-night, blew out the lantern, and climbed onto the little couch. It was hard and uncomfortable, but it was better than the alternative.
She woke the next morning to Asher kissing her face and neck. For a moment, she enjoyed it until she remembered who he was. “For heaven’s sake!” she said, pushing him away. “Really, Mr. Prescott, you must control yourself. I won’t be able to stand this sort of thing every minute of the day.”
“I told you I planned to make you fall in love with me.”
“And you think this is the way? By mauling me at every opportunity?”
Asher stood. He was wearing a robe over his gown and his hair was tousled from sleep. “That’s just what your gunslinger called it: mauling.” He turned away. “Well, today you won’t have to stand my company because your cousin has asked me to drive twenty miles into town to pick up some supplies. You know, Chris, I think the man plans to get all the work he can out of us.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” she asked, putting on her robe before removing the covers from her body. “We are asking him to support us. The least we can do is help.”
“You help in the garden with your outlaw and I get out of the picture. That should suit you just fine.”
“He’s not mine. I didn’t ask him here and I volunteered to help in the garden before I knew he was the gardener. You can’t blame me for any of it. Can’t we have an ordinary conversation? One minute you’re asking me to marry you and the next you’re accusing me of carrying on with another man.”