“You didn’t want to marry Westfield?”
“No! It was a misunderstanding, that’s all.”
He took a step toward his desk. “I gave up somethin’ today because I couldn’t bear the idea of humiliatin’ you.” He gave her a cold look. “I never could abide a liar.” He tossed a piece of paper at her.
Houston bent to pick it up. It was a note, laboriously hand–lettered, that said, I’ll be wearing red roses in my hair today. The name of Houston Chandler was at the bottom.
“Damn you, Lady Chandler! I played fair by you, but you—.” He turned away from her. “Keep the money. Keep the house. You worked for it hard enough. And you won’t have me to put up with. Maybe you can get Westfield to take that virginity that you’re so protective of.” He started toward the door.
“Kane,” she called after him, but he was gone.
Heavily, she sat down on one of the oak chairs in the room.
A few minutes later, Blair came into the room. “I guess we should get out there and cut the cake,” she said hesitantly. “You and Taggert—”
All Houston’s rage came to the surface and she came out of the chair toward her sister with anger in her eyes, “You can’t even call him by his name, can you?” she said furiously. “You think he has no feelings; you’ve dismissed him and therefore you think you have a right to do whatever you want to him.”
Blair took a step backward “Houston, what I did, I did for you. I want to see you happy.”
Houston clenched her fists at her sides and moved closer to Blair, prepared to do battle. “Happy? How can I be happy when I don’t even know where my husband is? Thanks to you, I may never know the meaning of happiness.”
“Me? What have I done except try everything in my power to help you? I tried to help you come to your senses and see that you didn’t have to marry that man for his money. Kane Taggert—.”
“You really don’t know, do you?” Houston interrupted. “You have humiliated a proud, sensitive man in front of hundreds of people, and you aren’t even aware of what you’ve done.”
“I assume you’re talking about what happened at the altar? I did it for you, Houston. I know you love Leander and I was willing to take Taggert just to make you happy. I’m so sorry about what I’ve done to you. I never meant to make you so unhappy. I know I’ve ruined your life, but I did try to repair what I’d done.”
“Me, me, me. That’s all you can say. You’ve ruined my life and all you can talk about is yourself. You know I love Leander. You know what an awful man Kane is. For the last week or so, you’ve spent every waking moment with Leander, and the way you talk about him is as if he were a god. Every other word you say is, ‘Leander.’ I think you did mean well this morning: you wanted to give me the best man.”
Houston leaned forward. “Leander may set your body on fire, but he never did anything for me. If you hadn’t been so involved with yourself lately, and could think that I do have some brains of my own, you’d have seen that I’ve fallen in love with a good, kind, thoughtful man—admittedly he’s a little rough around the edges, but then, haven’t you always complained that my edges are a little too smooth?”
Blair sat down, and the look of astonishment on her face was almost comical. “You love him? Taggert? You love Kane Taggert? But I don’t understand. You’ve always loved Leander. For as long as I can remember, you’ve loved him.”
Houston began to calm down as she realized that what Blair had done, she’d done out of love for her sister, out of wanting Houston to have the best. “True, I decided I wanted him when I was six years old. I think it became a goal to me, like climbing a mountain. I should have set my sights on Mt. Rainier. At least, once I’d climbed it, it would have been done. I never knew what I was going to do with Leander after we were married.”
“But you do know what you’ll do with Taggert?”
Houston couldn’t help smiling. “Oh, yes. I very much know what I’m going to do with him. I am going to make a home for him, a place where he’ll be safe, a place where I’ll be safe, where I can do whatever I want.”
To Houston’s amazement Blair rose from her chair with a look of fury on her face. “I guess you couldn’t have bothered to take two minutes to tell me this, could you? I have been through Hades in the last weeks. I have worried about you, spent whole days crying about what I’ve done to my sister, and here you, tell me that you’re in love with this King Midas.”
“Don’t you say anything against him!” Houston shouted, then managed to calm herself. “He’s the kindest, gentlest man and very generous. And I happen to love him very much.”
“And I have been through agony because I was worried about you. You should have told me!”
Houston took a moment to answer. Maybe she had been aware of Blair’s agony of the last few weeks, but part of her was too angry to care. Maybe she’d wanted her sister to suffer. “I guess I was so jealous of your love match that I didn’t want to think about you,” she said softly.
“Love match?!” Blair yelled. “I think I’m Leander’s Mt. Rainier. I can’t deny that he does things to me physically, but that’s all he wants from me. We’ve spent days together in the operating room, but I feel there’s a part of Leander I don’t know. He doesn’t really let me get close to him. I know so little about him. He decided he wanted me, so he went after me, using every method he could to get me.”
“But I see the way you look at him. I never felt inclined to look at him like that.”
“That’s because you never saw him in an operating room. If you’d seen him in there, you would have—.”
“Fainted, most likely,” Houston said. “Blair, I am sorry that I didn’t talk to you. I probably knew that you were in agony, but what happened hurt. I had been engaged to Leander for, it seemed to me, most of my life, yet you walked in and took him in just one night. And Lee was always calling me his ice princess, and I was so worried about being a cold woman.”
“And you’re no longer worried about that?” Blair asked.
Houston could feel the color in her cheeks rising. “Not with Kane,” she whispered, thinking of his hands on her body. No, she didn’t feel cool when he was near.
“You really do love him?” Blair asked, sounding as if loving Kane were the most impossible task on earth. “You don’t mind the food flying everywhere? You don’t mind his loudness or the other women?”
Houston caught her breath. “What other women?” Right away, she saw that Blair was hesitating about answering, and Houston had to use all her control to calm herself. If Blair thought she was going to once again decide what her sister should or should not do . . . “And Blair, you’d better tell me.”
Houston saw her sister trying to decide and she advanced on her. “If you even consider managing my life again as you did today at the altar, I’ll never speak to you again. I am an adult, and you know something about my husband, and I want to know what it is.”
“I saw him in the garden kissing Pamela Fenton just before the wedding,” Blair said all in one breath.
Houston felt a little weak, but then she saw the truth of the matter. Was this what Kane was referring to when he said he’d given up something today? “But he came to me anyway,” she whispered. “He saw her, kissed her, but he married me.” Nothing else could have made her happier than this. “Blair, you have made me the happiest woman alive today. Now, all I have to do is find my husband and tell him that I love him and hope that he will forgive me.”
A horrible thought came to her. “Oh, Blair, you don’t know him at all. He’s such a good man, generous in a very natural way, strong in a way that makes people lean on him, but he’s . . . ” She buried her face in her hands. “But he can’t stand embarrassment of any kind, and we’ve humiliated him in front of the entire town. He’ll never forgive me. Never!”
Blair moved toward the door. “I’ll go to him and explain that it was all my fault, that you had nothing to do with it. Houston, I had no idea you really wanted to mar
ry him. I just couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to live with someone like him.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that anymore, because I think he just walked out on me.”
“But what about the guests? He can’t just leave.”
“Should he stay and listen to people laughing about how Leander can’t decide which twin he wants? Not one person will think that Kane could have his choice of women. Kane thinks I’m still in love with Lee, you think I love Lee, and Mr. Gates thinks I’m marrying Kane for his money. I think Mother is the only person who sees that I’m in love—for the very first time in my life.”
“What can I do to make it up to you?” Blair whispered.
“There’s nothing you can do. He’s gone. He left me money and the house and he walked away. But what do I want with this big, empty house if he’s not in it?” She sat down. “Blair, I don’t even know where he is. He could be on a train back to New York for all I know.”
“More than likely, he’s gone to his cabin.”
Both women looked up to see Edan standing in the doorway. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when I saw what happened at the wedding, I knew he’d be in a rage.”
Houston wrapped the train of her wedding dress about her arm. “I’m going to him and explain what happened. I’m going to tell him that my sister is so in love with Leander that she thinks that I am, too.” She turned to smile at Blair. “I can’t help but resent the fact that you thought that I was low enough to marry a man for his money, but I thank you for the love that made you willing to sacrifice what has come to mean so much to you.” Quickly, she kissed her sister’s cheek.
Blair clung to her for a moment. “Houston, I had no idea you felt this way. As soon as the reception is over, I’ll help you pack and—.”
Houston pulled away with a little laugh. “No, my dear managing sister, I am leaving this house right now. My husband is more important to me than a few hundred guests. You’re going to have to stay here and answer all the questions about where Kane and I’ve gone.”
“But Houston, I don’t know anything about receptions of this size.”
Houston stopped at the door beside Edan. “I learned how in my ‘worthless’ education,” she said, then smiled. “Blair, it’s not all that tragic. Cheer up, maybe there’ll be an attack of food poisoning, and you’ll know how to handle that. Good luck,” she said and was out the door, leaving Blair alone with the horror of having to manage the reception of hundreds of people.
Outside the office, Edan caught her arm and led her into the storage closet beside the north porch. He was smiling at her.
“You certainly do make a habit of spying on me,” she snapped, pulling away from him.
“I’ve learned more in two weeks of spying on you than I have in the rest of my life, total. Did you mean what you said about loving Kane?”
“Do you think I’m a liar, too? I’m going to get dressed now. It’s a hard climb to the cabin.”
“You know where it is?”
“I know the general whereabouts.”
“Houston, you really can’t go rushing off up the side of a mountain after him. I’ll go get him, explain what happened and bring him back.”
“No, he’s mine now—at least legally—and I’m going after him alone.”
Edan put his hands on her shoulders. “I wonder if he realizes how lucky he is. What can I do to help you?”
She moved toward the door. “Could you find Sarah Oakley and ask her to come upstairs and help me change?” She paused and looked at Edan speculatively. “On second thought, maybe you could find Jean Taggert for me. She’s the especially pretty lady in the violet silk dress and hat.”
“Especially pretty, is she?” he asked, laughing. “Good luck, Houston.”
Chapter 15
Jean helped Houston dress in record time. She fully agreed with Houston in her need to go after Kane.
When Houston was dressed, they went through the west wing to the housekeeper’s rooms and down that remote staircase. Hidden among some trees, Edan was waiting with a horse laden with four bags of food.
“That should keep you for a few days,” he said. “Are you sure you want to do this? If you got lost—.”
“I’ve lived in Chandler all my life and I know this area.” She gave him a hard look. “I’m not the bit of fluff people think I am, remember?”
“Did you put the wedding cake in there?” Jean asked Edan.
“In its own sweet little tin box,” he said in a way that made Houston glance from one to the other and begin to smile.
“You must go, and don’t worry about anything here. Just think about your husband and how much you love him,” Jean said as Houston mounted.
Houston sneaked away from the wedding as secretly as she could, considering that she was surrounded by over six hundred guests. The few people who saw her were so astonished that they could say nothing. She’d pulled her hat veil down over her face and she hoped that would confuse some people, but it didn’t.
As she reached the western end of the garden, she nearly ran over Rafe Taggert and Pamela Fenton walking together.
She wasn’t sure if it was shock or surprise, but her horse’s front feet came off the ground.
Rafe looked at her with amusement. “No doubt you’re the twin that married a Taggert, and now you’re runnin’ away.”
Before she could speak, Pam answered. “If I know Kane, his pride was hurt at the altar and he ran away somewhere to lick his wounds. You aren’t by chance going after him, are you?”
Houston wasn’t sure how to act toward this woman who had been loved by her husband. With all the coolness she could muster, her chin quite high, she said, “Yes, I am.”
“Good for you!” Pam said. “He needs a wife with your courage. I always insisted that he come to me. I hope you’re prepared for his anger. It’s quite frightening at times. I wish you all the luck in the world.”
Houston was so astonished at Pam’s words that she couldn’t reply. She was tom between feeling anger at the idea of someone else knowing her husband, and gratitude that Pam was giving her some good advice. And, too, Pam seemed to have given up her hold over Kane. Was Kane the one in love; would Pam not have him?
“Thank you,” Houston murmured as she reined her horse away from them.
She encountered no one else and breathed a sigh of relief when she was past the city limits of Chandler and heading for the country.
The first part of the journey was very easy and she had time to muse on what must be happening at Kane’s house. Poor Blair! She really had meant well. She had thought Houston wanted Leander, so she was willing to make a supreme sacrifice and spend her with a “villain” like Kane Taggert. Perhaps that’s what Kane had sensed, that he was the medicine to be taken by Blair because Houston’d been wronged by her sister.
Of course, what Kane didn’t understand was that none of the guests would think anything about what had happened, except as something to tease about. They would tease Leander because they had known him since he was a child. If Kane had stayed and laughed, all would have been forgotten—but Kane had yet to master the art of being able to laugh at himself.
She rode to the foot of the mountain as quickly as possible and started up the trail that she and Kane had used before. When she reached the place where they’d picnicked, she dismounted and drank some water. Above her was what looked like an impregnable piece of mountain. But Kane’d said that his cabin was up there and, if he was there, she was going to find him.
As she removed her jacket and tied it to the horse, she tried to see a path through the scrub and piñion, trees. It was only after several minutes of walking about, looking at the mountainside from several angles, that she saw what could have been a trail of sorts. It went straight up the mountain, over terraced rock, and disappeared into the trees.
For a moment, Houston wondered what in the world she was doing in such a place as this on her wedding day. Right now, she should be wearing a sa
tin dress and dancing with her husband. A thought which brought her back to the present. Her husband was at the top of this mountain—maybe. Edan could be wrong, and Kane could be on a train to Africa for all anyone knew.
After giving the horse some water, she tightened her hat on her head to give her some protection against the sun and remounted.
The way up was worse than it had looked. At times the trail was so narrow that the tree branches clawed at her legs, and she had difficulty forcing the horse to travel the narrow path. The plants that grew out of rock weren’t like the soft, cared-for plants in town. These trees had to fight for life every day and they refused to bend or give way for a mere human.
A Crown of Thorns cactus caught the side of her divided skirt and tore it, leaving several long thorns in the cloth. Houston paused while she pulled thorns and fat cockleburs off her clothing and a few from her hair. So much for looking her best when she arrived, she thought, as she pushed strands, of hair under her hat.
At one point, the trail took a sharp right, and the sky became hidden by the overhanging trees and rock formations. All about her were mushrooms of bizarre structure and unreal colors. Some were tiny and yellow, some as big as her foot and brilliant red. Large patches of five-inch-tall grasslike mushrooms stood upright on the forest floor.
Always, she was climbing upward, and the air was thinning as the area around her became more and more like a rain forest, rather than the semiarid region that surrounded Chandler. Twice, she had to stop and look for the trail, and once she followed a path for a mile, only to have it end abruptly in a sandy-bottomed cavelike rock formation that had a natural window at the top. The place had an odd feeling about it: half frightening, half like a place where one should attend church services.
She walked her horse out of the rocks and back onto the path, where she again tried riding.
An hour later, she had her first good luck: she found a piece of Kane’s wedding suit caught on a sharp edge of rock. Her relief at finding out for sure that he was indeed at the top of the trail was great. With renewed spirit, she urged her reluctant horse upward.