A Man to Call My Own

Chapter 17

AMANDA WAS ALMOST TOO confusing to bother with. That was the conclusion Chad reached that morning. Well, almost. But Amanda definitely did seem like two different women, soft and yielding at night, a veritable termagant during the day.

Rudeness must run in their family, he figured. No, that wasn't true. There wasn't a rude bone in Red's body, and she was the Laton sisters' blood relative.

The confusion he was beset with now was his own fault. He should have stuck to his guns and waited until the trip was over before finding out which way the wind blew with Amanda Laton.

He knew from experience that tempers could flare easily when you were doing something you didn't want to do, and he'd overheard enough comments to know that she hadn't wanted to come to Texas in the first place and was hating everything about the trip there.

So her flare-ups of rudeness were actually somewhat understandable, or at least, there was a pretty good reason for them. Once the trip was over, she'd probably be completely different.

But she was so damn beautiful last night, there was just no way he could have restrained himself from kissing her. And she'd tried to rescue him. He was touched by that, never would have expected it from her. She was always so aloof, so indifferent—to him anyway.

But the previous night, she'd melted in his arms. He'd been surprised, delighted, had felt his desire rising, then, strangely—it just didn't feel right. And for a moment, he'd actually wondered why he'd kissed her.

It had nothing to do with the kiss, that had been sweet. It had nothing to do with how easily she'd yielded. It had everything to do with her. She just didn't add up, was too confusing by half, cold as ice one moment, hot the next, as if she were two ... different ... women. No way. Campfire light wasn't very bright, but they'd have to be twins for him to make that kind of mistake—well, hell.

He shouldn't feel poleaxed. He'd seen it coming, just hadn't acknowledged it. Siblings could resemble each other closely, but what were the odds on having so many identical features unless they were twins. Of course they were twins. It was just that one was blind as a bat and ornery as sin. And there was no way he would have kissed that one.

So they were twins. That changed nothing, and still didn't explain his confusion over Amanda. Or maybe it was just him. Maybe he wasn't as interested as he'd thought.

Actually, that was probably the whole problem. He should be interested, but was he? Really? Or did Amanda remind him too much of Luella, a gorgeous outer shell with nothing he liked very much underneath? Which was another reason he'd been waiting for the trip to end before pursuing her, to give her time to relax, or recover—depending on how she looked at it—to setde in and be her normal self again.

He expected a big difference in her attitude in the next few days. She'd have nothing more to complain about. Red's home was Western in flavor, but very comfortable. And she had one of the best cooks in the county working in her kitchen. Once her aches and pains were gone and she was surrounded by comfort and family, he'd find out what Amanda was really like.

He'd seen her worst side—at least he hoped that was as bad as she got, because he'd never seen much worse. He sure was looking forward to seeing her better side.

The carriage rolled up to the Twisting Barb a little before noon, the wagon with the luggage, and Leroy, probably thirty minutes behind them. Chad would have to explain about Leroy. They'd been too far out in the middle of nowhere just to leave him behind. No homesteads close enough for him to walk to if they took his horse to delay him. And the road was not well enough traveled for someone to find him if they left him there still tied up.

But he didn't really expect any more trouble from Leroy, now that they were at the ranch. Someone could take him back to find his horse—Chad hadn't bothered to look very hard for it. And he'd emptied Leroy's guns of ammunition, so he could have those back.

His father must be getting senile, or desperate, to send someone like Leroy after him. Especially when he would have been told that Chad was heading to the Twisting Barb. He couldn't figure out the point of it— unless it was to make a point. Stuart could have easily ridden over to Red's ranch himself, would probably have beat them there—and maybe that's what he'd done. And perhaps not finding Chad there before nightfall last night, as he'd thought he would, he'd sent Leroy to find out why.

But that meant Leroy would have been part of his father's entourage, and Chad couldn't see Stuart wanting that foul-odored old coot riding anywhere near him. Stuart never went anywhere these days without a minimum of four gunmen escorting him, men able to handle any kind of trouble that showed up. But they were all clean and well-mannered, and they worshiped Stuart because he paid them so much.

Red came out on the porch to greet them. She looked nervous as hell. Because she hadn't seen her nieces since they were tykes? Or because Stuart had showed up and had been giving her a hard time over his son's working for her?

Chad hadn't expected to see his father quite so soon, wasn't braced for it, but he had expected to see him in the next day or so, now that Stuart knew he was in the county. He'd allowed him to find out that he was back when he had decided to ride into town, knowing full well that someone would hightail it out to the Kinkaid spread with the news.

A couple of the hands had run up to see to the carriage and help the sisters and their maid down. The spinster was the first up on the porch.

Chad was just dismounting when he heard Red ask, "Which one are you?"

"Marian."

Red seemed to relax somewhat, since Marian also looked nervous, and offered her niece a big hug, "Welcome, Mari. I used to call you that, you know. Do you remember?"

"No, but my mother called me Mari, too," Marian said with a hesitant smile.

"I'm sorry about your father."

"Yes, that was an unfortunate accident."

"But I want you to know I'm very glad to offer you a home here for as long as you want."

"Thank—"

"Is this it?" Amanda cut in, as she mounted the steps. "A ranch house, and a small one at that? I'm expected to live here?"

Red's blush was immediate. Chad winced for her. She was nervous enough, but to be met with such derision was beyond rude on Amanda's part.

Red said defensively, "I know it's nothing so grand as your home in Haverhill, but you won't find too many places out here nicer. My husband put a lot of work into—"

"Not nearly enough," Amanda cut in again. "But I don't know why I expected better, when every town we've passed through out here has been horribly primitive."

Chad had heard enough. Incensed for Red's sake, he was about to burn his bridges by telling Amanda to shut the hell up, but Marian beat him to it.

"Can you refrain from being rude for five seconds, sister dear?" she said with a tight little smile, "Or is that beyond your capabilities?"

Amanda gasped and immediately raised her hand to slap Marian for the insult, well deserved or not. Chad jumped forward to stop her, but he wasn't close enough. It wasn't necessary. Marian had expected retaliation, apparently, and was prepared for it. With a slight shove, she sent Amanda tumbling down the steps and into the dirt.