A Man to Call My Own

Chapter 21

MARIAN WAS BEGINNING TO realize that the people in Texas might look at things differendy than they did back East. The main reason for her earlier embarrassment was because back home even the servants would have scorned such unladylike behavior from two supposedly well-bred ladies. Their contemporaries would have been scandalized. Their father would have scolded her severely and coddled Amanda until she felt better. All of which kept both girls from airing their differences in public, which, sometimes, was a test of patience to the extreme.

But it was so different out here. In two of the towns they'd passed through, she'd seen men brawling in the streets. In one, a gunfight had just finished. But with so many thieves abounding in the area, it was no wonder decent folks succumbed to base instincts. If you had differences, you settled them with fists or guns.

Well, men did anyway. But apparently women could, too, without raising too many brows.

Marian gathered all of this as she listened to Chad and his father "catching up"—they hadn't seen each other for several months. And Kathleen joined in their discussion of cattle rustlers, a small bank robbery that occurred only forty miles away, a gunfight between two of Stuart's cowhands—both survived it, but got themselves fired for it—a horse thief who got himself posse-hanged before he could make it to trial.

She was fascinated that her aunt wasn't the least bit shocked by such occurrences. But then Kathleen was a surprise in many ways.

She wasn't as old as Marian had expected. At least, she didn't look it. Her hair was as bright a red as it had ever been. She wore it in a simple, single braid. Her white blouse and plain brown skirt were without a single adornment. No jewelry, not even her old wedding ring to mark her a widow. But she had a wonderful smile. Who needed fancy lace and ruffles with a smile like that?

With her tanned skin and plain garb, she wasn't the least bit fashionable, but she was a handsome woman just the same. Shapely, too, and in good health. Funny, frank, and relaxed because Amanda hadn't made an appearance yet to stir up tensions, Kathleen was a pleasure to be around. Marian was relieved to find she liked her immensely already.

Surprisingly, tensions rose again without Amanda's help when Spencer Evans arrived as promised to retrieve his borrowed carriage, and so late in the day that Kathleen was obliged to invite him for dinner as well as put him up for the night. She was fresh out of extra rooms, though, what with Stuart staying over one more night, and the girls and their maid staying in separate rooms.

"The bunkhouse will do me just fine, Red," Spencer said, as he made himself comfortable on one of the sofas.

Marian took offense at his calling her aunt Red. Even when she heard Chad do the same thing later and realized it was Kathleens nickname, it made no difference. She disliked the debonair Spencer right off because it was so obvious that Chad didn't like him.

Kathleen was a gracious hostess though, even if she didn't know Spencer that well. Stuart treated him like an old friend, but then she was to find that Stuart treated everyone that way unless they gave him cause not to. Chad barely said a word to him and vice versa, which was probably a good thing. The tension between those two was palpable.

And while it usually pleased Marian to be ignored, as Spencer was doing to her, she found it rather insulting to be so completely ignored, as if he really didn't see her there at all. Most men looked at her, even if their eyes never lingered, but Spencer made a point of avoiding looking in her direction even once.

Fortunately, Kathleen hadn't tried to introduce them, after Spencer said right off that he'd met her niece yesterday. Niece, not nieces. But Kathleen would have assumed he was referring to the one who was present. While it was obvious to Marian that he'd meant the one he was anxiously waiting on to make an appearance.

Amanda was quite late in showing up, so late that Kathleen could postpone dinner no longer—the cook had sent her daughter Rita in three times with odd eye and head signals pointing toward the dining room. Flustered by then—she wasn't used to having so much company, nor keeping them waiting when such appetizing aromas were floating through the house—Kathleen herded everyone into the dining room.

As expected, or at least, Marian knew to expect it, Amanda arrived as soon as everyone was seated. Grand appearances were her forte, after all, and she loved making people wait on her. In her mind, she felt she was worth the wait. Most men thought so, too, unfortunately, and those present were no exception.

It couldn't be denied, though, that Amanda looked exceptionally beautiful. Her hair had been washed and artfully styled. There'd been plenty of time for Ella Mae to press one of her prettier dresses. And she'd slept most of the afternoon.

At any rate, she was all smiles when she announced, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, gentlemen. But you'll understand that after such a harrowing journey, I required a little extra rest."

Spencer and Chad both shot to their feet, stupid looks of bedazzlement on their faces. Even Stuart's mouth dropped open a bit as he stared at the vision before him. Only Marian noticed how their aunt had been deliberately excluded from the greeting—well, Kathleen probably noticed, too.

Amanda then proceeded to hold court there in the dining room. She was at her charming best, which meant she had decided to enthrall every man present, including Chad's father. She probably thought it would be amusing to have both father and son fighting over her.

She was in for a surprise though. Stuart might have been momentarily amazed by her beauty, but it didn't take long to see that he was more interested in the food than he was in a chit young enough to be his daughter.

Marian was close enough to hear him whisper to Kathleen, "Would you be mad at me, Red, if I bribed your cook over to my house?"

"Damned right I would."

He frowned, though it was obviously feigned. "Last night I figured I got lucky. But tonight, well, can't deny it now, this is some of the best grub I've ever eaten. You sure you'd get mad?"

"You can't go stealing a gal's cook, especially when that gal can't cook."

He laughed at her admonishment. "Then I'll just have to mosey on over this way more often, I guess. Hope you won't mind the company."

"Not at all. You're welcome anytime."

Marian noticed the blush about the time she realized her aunt was taken with Stuart. She couldn't tell if he was aware of it or not. The signs were subtle, but they were there: her aunt's blushes when nothing was said to warrant a blush, the covert looks when she thought no one would notice.

God, Marian hoped she wasn't as obvious where Chad was concerned. She probably was, but because no one ever paid attention to her, no one other than Ella Mae was likely to find out. And she was blushing a lot herself, for absolutely no reason other than she'd found herself sitting next to Chad at the table.

Their knees bumped. Their elbows collided. Marian whispered apologies each time, even for those that weren't her fault. He didn't seem to hear though, as he was too busy listening to every word out of Amanda's mouth. She stepped on his foot deliberately. Hard. He even missed that.

Dessert was being served when Chad said in an aside to her, "If I didn't already know how lacking in coordination you are, I'd think I was under attack. Now what the hell are you blushing for? I was only teasing."

Men didn't tease her. She just wasn't the sort anyone would feel comfortable teasing. And besides, she had been attacking him, because it was so obvious that he was going to make a fool of himself over Amanda.

She was saved from answering him because Amanda noticed his attention had strayed for a moment and typically addressed her next remark to him to get it back. Much to Spencer's annoyance, since he'd been trying to hold her attention solely to himself. Amanda definitely had a conquest in him.

Spencer had been telling her about his saloon. Marian found the name of it odd enough to mention it to Kathleen, who was seated to her left.

"Did I hear him correctly? His business is actually called the Not Here Saloon?"

"Yes."

"You don't find that an odd name?"

"No more than some others. The more outlandish the better seems to be the thinking when it comes to naming things out here."

"Now that you mention it," Marian allowed, "I suppose I have seen a few signs that were even more odd on the journey here, so odd, I couldn't imagine what sorts of businesses they actually were."

Kathleen nodded. "In this case, it used to be the No Tea Here Saloon. Descriptive, though unusual in itself. I think old Evans just wanted to make sure his customers wouldn't get confused about what sort of establishment they were in. But a letter or two wore off the sign over the years, the 'E' and the 'A' of Tea to be exact, and when a painter passed through town and was hired to do up a new sign, the fellow had one too many drinks himself before he got to painting, then left town before Mr. Evans got a look at the finished product. But he decided to go ahead and hang the new sign anyway, at least until he could find another painter."

"Which he never did," Marian concluded.

"Oh, more painters passed through town, one even set up shop and is still there. But by then, folks were used to Not Here. And as it happens, there's even a tombstone in the cemetery that reads Andy died Not Here, but over there, or was it yonder? Who knows, except anyone who was also Not Here to notice.' Be a shame to change the name after that was the general consensus."

Marian smiled, "Yes, that would immortalize the name, wouldn't it."

"Not that anyone knew who Andy was," Chad remarked from her other side. "He was just a sod buster passing through who died in the saloon right after the new sign went up. At the time, old Evans was getting a lot of ribbing over the sign, and our local tombstone carver thought he'd join in the fun with the cryptic inscription."

Marian was back to blushing. He'd actually been listening to her conversation rather than Amanda's? Actually, it wasn't that surprising once she thought about it. Amanda might hold a man's rapt attention; but she did it with her beauty, not with a sparkling personality or interesting conversation. Her conversation tended to get boring quickly since it usually centered on herself.