Johanna Lindsey - Brave the Wild Wind

Chase swore softly and set Jessie away from him, holding her wrists in front of her. He looked her over, seeing the alluring curves he had missed before, the way her pants fit like a second skin, the way her shirt strained against her breasts.

“Are you ready to behave now?”

Jessie’s head was lowered, and she seemed subdued. “You’re hurting me,” she said.

He relaxed his hold. The second he did she jerked loose and started running for the house. When he caught up with her, she had reached the porch steps. This time he was fed up. Jessie screamed when he sat down on the steps and pulled her across his lap. She squirmed with all her might, trying to face him, yet he kept pushing her down. She kept screaming.

Rachel heard the yelling, and when she rushed to the porch and saw, she was shocked. “Stop it, Chase!”

With his hands full of a hissing, spitting wildcat, Chase couldn’t turn to look at her. He said angrily, “She deserves it, Rachel!”

“That’s not the way to handle Jessica, Chase.” She came around to face him. “Now let her up.”

Chase stared hard at her, and slowly some rationality returned. “You’re right. It’s not my place to discipline your kid, no matter how much she needs it.”

He let Jessie go, and the moment her feet were planted firmly in front of him, she hauled off and socked him on the nose. He was so surprised that she was able to run past him and into the house before he could react. He growled and got up to go after her.

Rachel caught his arm. “Let her go, Chase.”

“Did you see what that little bitch did to me?” he shouted furiously.

“Yes, and it was no more than you deserved,” Rachel told him sharply. Then she said in a calmer tone, “She’s a young woman, Chase. You can’t manhandle her like you did.”

“Young woman, hell! She’s a spoiled brat.” He felt his nose, and his hand came away smeared with blood. “Is it broken?”

“Let me see.” Rachel felt around the edges and along the ridge and shook her head. “I don’t think so, but you’re bleeding pretty badly. Come inside, and I’ll take care of it.”

Chase stepped through the door, but he did so warily, as if he expected Jessie to be waiting to clobber him again. Rachel saw him looking around and said, “The door to her room is open, so she has probably taken off out the back.”

“If you mean Jessie,” Billy Ewing volunteered, coming up the hall, “she just left on Blackstar.”

“She’s probably going off to sulk,” Chase said.

“Jessie?” Billy scoffed. “Nah, she’s got work to do. She said so, when I asked where she was going. What happened to you?”

“Never mind!”

“Boy!” Billy cried as he turned around and went back down the hall the way he had come. “You never get a straight answer out of grownups.”

Rachel smiled after her son. He was so different from her first child. Having the love of two parents made such a difference. Billy was so good-natured, not at all like Jessica. It was all such a shame.

“You can’t get straight answers out of willful little chits, either,” Chase grumbled.

“What?”

“Did your daughter happen to tell you where she went? When did she get back?”

“Five days ago,” Rachel replied. “And no, she wouldn’t tell me where she’d been. I tried to talk to her, but she accused me of only pretending to be worried, of putting on an act. She said it was none of my business and I’d had no right sending you after her. I really think she was most angry about that, that you went after her.”

“I’m beginning to think your Jessica is perpetually angry. You want to know why she took off that night? It’s because I was here.”

“Did she tell you that?”

“She didn’t have to,” Chase replied. “She happens to be the kid I told you about, the one who sent me off in the wrong direction that day, lying to me. That’s why she left, I’m sure. She didn’t have the guts to face me after she saw I’d made it here after all.”

“But, Chase, you said that girl was with a man, that they were—”

“I know what I said. But that was Jessica, one and the same.” And then he added spitefully, whether he believed it or not, “I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where she was that whole week, with a man somewhere.”

“You’re going too far, Chase Summers,” Rachel said defensively.

“Okay, but what are you going to do about her? You are her guardian, Rachel. Her father left her in your care. Are you just going to let her run wild?”

“What am I supposed to do when she won’t talk to me? She doesn’t believe I care about her. How do I reach her when she hates me?”

“I’ll tell you what I would do.”

“I’ve seen what you would do,” she said sternly. “And that’s not the answer. There has to be some other way.”

“You ought to just find her a husband and get her off your hands. Let someone else worry about her.”

Rachel didn’t answer, but she looked at him thoughtfully. An idea began to take shape in her mind, an idea Jessica wouldn’t have liked at all.

“HAVE you seen my sister?” Billy asked Chase as he joined him on the porch.

“Not since yesterday,” Chase grunted. “At least this time your mother didn’t ask me to go after her when she didn’t come home last night.”

“But she did come home,” Billy said. “It was late, but I heard her come in and go to her room. I missed her this morning. I was hoping she would let me ride with her today.”

Chase smiled at Billy’s enthusiasm. “I take it you like it better here than the city?”

“Well, sure! Who wouldn’t?”

“I kind of like city life myself.”

“But you’ve been out West a long time, at least that’s what Mother said. This is all new to me.”

“And what about your schooling? As I remember, that was one of the golden rules in the Ewing household—thou shalt be educated, or suffer the consequences. Or has that changed now that Jonathan Ewing—” Chase stopped, cursing himself for his stupid blunder. Why had he said that?

“That’s all right.” Billy rescued him. “Father’s been dead three years now. It doesn’t hurt to talk about it anymore. But as for schooling, I wish you hadn’t reminded me. Mother was saying she’ll probably send me back to Chicago soon, since the nearest schoolroom is a day’s ride from here.”

“And you don’t want to go?”

“Not alone,” Billy admitted. “But Mother says she can’t leave Jessie alone, either, and Jessie wouldn’t consider coming back with us. I can’t blame Jessie for that, though. I wouldn’t give up this ranch, either, if it were mine. I just wish I could stay here, too.”

“Well, I don’t imagine your mother is eager to part with you.” Chase grinned. “So you’ll probably be around here for a while. Enjoy it while you can.”

“Oh, I will,” Billy replied. Seeing Chase unconsciously rubbing the bridge of his nose, he asked, “What happened yesterday?”

Chase looked at him sideways, ready with a sharp retort. Then he shrugged. Billy meant no harm. “Your sister punched me.”

“Did she really?” Billy grinned, his blue eyes lighting up with wonder.

“I don’t see what’s so funny about it,” Chase said testily, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s not funny,” Billy assured him quickly. “It’s just, well, I mean, she’s not much taller than I am, and here you are twice her size. But then, it’s not so unusual when you consider Jessie. She can do anything.”

Chase shook his head. There was obviously some hero worship there, hero worship of a girl. It was absurd. Did Rachel know about this?

“You like her, do you?” Chase said dryly.

“I sure do. I never even knew I had a sister, not until Mother got that letter, and then she told me about Jessica—I mean Jessie,” he corrected. “She doesn’t like to be called Jessica, you know. And she’s so different! And beautiful. The boys back at home will never believe me when I tell them about her.” His voice dropped. “I just wish she liked me a little.”

Chase drew himself up. “What do you mean? Has she been taking that foul temper of hers out on you, too?”

Billy looked away, embarrassed. “I only wish she would,” he said. “But the fact is, she ignores me. I’ll win her over, though,” he added confidently. “She only tries to act rough because she thinks she has to. I can understand that. After all, she’s only eighteen, and she has to boss men older than she is. A girl’s got to be tough to do that. A girl’s got to be tough just to be a girl, out here.”

Chase sat back in bemusement. All that logic pouring out of a boy nine years old. He was amazed. Every bit of what Billy said made sense. It certainly explained the girl’s attitude. Chase was suddenly seeing Jessica Blair in a different light.

Chase looked at Billy. “How about us going for that ride? As you pointed out, your sister has a ranch to run and is probably too busy to ride with you.”

Jessie was worn out when she rode into the yard late that night. She might have stayed out on the range and gotten an early start the next morning. The roundup of the cattle that would be driven north to fulfill her contracts had started, and work would be long and hard over the next weeks. But Jessie’s curiosity had gotten the better of her, so she rode in, wanting to see if her mother’s friend had moved on.

She knew the answer as soon as she led Blackstar into the stable, for there was that beautiful golden palomino bedded down next to Jeb’s old roan. Strangely, Jessie didn’t know what she really felt. But she was too tired to give it any thought just then.

The prospect of removing Blackstar’s thirty-pound saddle in her exhausted state made Jessie’s movements slow. She lit a lamp and turned him into his stall, sorry Jeb had gone to bed.

There was nothing for it but to get it done and turn in for the night. Though she was starving, she was too tired even to scrape up something to eat. She had left the men just as they were settling down to eat, so she could ride the three-hour journey back to the ranch.

“Can you use some help?”

Jessie started and looked over to see Chase Summers leaning against the railing of Blackstar’s stall. He was dressed in a blue cotton shirt tucked into black pants. His open shirt front revealed a dark mat of curls across his chest. Jessie was struck by his powerful attractiveness and felt a pang of regret that she could never like him.

“I couldn’t sleep, and I happened to see the light go on,” he was saying in a friendly voice, “so I thought I’d come out to see who was still up.”

Jessie made no comment, leery of this sudden overture. She wouldn’t forget what he’d tried to do to her. Why was he being so friendly after she’d socked him? She noted that there was no swelling around his nose, only a slight discoloration that was hardly noticeable. Disagreeably, she vowed to punch him harder next time.

She turned away from him and began unbuckling the cinches, hoping he would go away if she continued to ignore him. But when she began to lift the saddle, he was there beside her. Taking hold, he easily tossed the saddle over the side railing. Jessie didn’t thank him for his help or even look at him as she went about giving Blackstar a brisk rubdown, then seeing to his food and water.

When she had finished, she walked past Chase, still without a word, turned out the lamp, and headed for the house. He fell into step beside her.

“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?” Chase asked softly. When she didn’t reply, he sighed. “Look, Miss Blair, I realize you and I have gotten off to a bad start, but is there any reason to continue that way? I’d like to apologize if you’ll let me.”

Jessie didn’t stop walking, but after a while she asked, “What exactly are you apologizing for?”

“Well... everything.”

“Are you really sorry, or did Rachel Ewing put you up to this?”

Chase winced at the coldness in her voice when she said her mother’s name. Rachel hadn’t been exaggerating. The girl did hate her. He wanted to find out why, but right now wasn’t the time. He finally had her talking to him, and it was best to proceed cautiously.

“I don’t apologize often, Miss Blair. If it weren’t my own idea, I wouldn’t be doing it, believe me.”

“Then you’ll leave?”

Chase stopped short, stunned. “Can’t you just accept my apology?”

“Sure I can,” she said lightly as she continued walking. “But you haven’t answered my question.”

Jessie didn’t wait for him to answer, either. As she reached the back door to the kitchen, she stepped inside. Rachel had left a lamp burning low, and Jessie turned it up.