Part 32 (1/2)

That made Daisy angry. He had no right to judge anything she did. He had never done or said anything to make her believe he loved her or would welcome her love. He had walked out of her life. He couldn't expect her to sit around waiting for him to make up his mind.

”I thought you were going to try running your ranch,” Tyler said.

”I'll be taking care of all my wife's business concerns,” Guy told him.

Daisy got madder and madder. If Tyler didn't care about her, she wouldn't let him know she cared about him, either. Her pride wouldn't let her show him one word was all it would have taken. It was a poor bargain, pride, but it was all she had left.

”I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the ranch,” she said. ”I'll probably wait until I hear from Daddy's family.” She didn't know why she kept mentioning her father's family, using them as a s.h.i.+eld between herself and something she couldn't handle just now. ”Or I just may leave it up to my husband.”

Guy patted her hand in such a self-congratulatory manner Daisy wanted to hit him. But she couldn't take her anger out of him. Tyler was the one she wanted to flay alive.

”Now I'll leave you men to talk about killers,” Daisy said. ”I'm late. Laurel will think I'm not coming.”

Daisy managed to cross the lobby, but the minute she started up the stairs, she thought her legs would go out from under her. She had known Tyler didn't love her, but it hadn't been so painful until today. Now she felt physically ill. She stopped on the stairs and leaned against the wall. For a moment she thought she didn't have the strength to go on, but she had no choice. She couldn't go back down there and face Tyler.

She was also mad at Guy. He had said they were engaged to give him leverage against a bigger and more imposing man. She could understand that, but she couldn't forgive it. She wouldn't marry a man who needed to make himself larger by making others smaller. Still, she could see no way out. She felt trapped, cornered.

Tyler Randolph had just made the biggest mistake of his life. No one could ever love him more than she did. Only she couldn't even take satisfaction in knowing he'd someday discover his mistake. He probably would never figure it out.

By the time she knocked on Laurel's door, Daisy's eyes were swimming with tears. Hen answered her knock.

”We were wondering if . . . Is something wrong? Come in. What can I do to help?”

”n.o.body can help me,” Daisy said, allowing Hen to guide her to a chair.

So Zac had been right. Daisy was a fortune hunter. Tyler had known at a glance she didn't love Guy. She was only marrying him because he could give her all the things her mother had talked about. She'd probably have set her sights on him or Zac if she had had any notion how rich the Randolphs were.

Tyler bit back his escalating anger. He had no right to think he knew Daisy's motives. She had known Guy for a long time. Their feelings for each other were bound to be different from any feelings that could have developed between them in nine days.

But if there wasn't anything special between them, why the h.e.l.l had he bothered to come back? To tell her about the killer? Because he wasn't happy with her engagement to Guy? He had no right be get upset over Daisy's coolness toward him. He had given her no reason to think she meant anything special to him.

But she did, and he knew it now. He had known it the moment he saw Guy tuck her arm in his. He had known it more strongly every minute he watched that man talk about Daisy like she was something he owned, that he planned to absorb into himself until there was nothing of her left. Tyler had wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h Daisy off his arm and knock Guy to the ground.

She might not be betraying him -- he had to be honest and admit he'd given her no reason to think there was anything to betray -- but she was most certainly betraying herself. He recognized Guy as the type of man who would expect unquestioning obedience from his wife. He was also the type to consider it his right to be unfaithful. For that Tyler wanted to hit him again.

He had been a fool to come. He should have stayed on the mountains and sent Willie instead. But he knew he couldn't have done that. No matter what came of it, he couldn't abandon Daisy now. She might not love him, she might never love him, she might not want to marry him if she did, but he would not leave Albuquerque until he was sure she was safe.

And free of Guy Cochrane.

”We found out who killed your father,” Regis Cochrane announced to Daisy at dinner that evening. ”Unfortunately, he has left the territory. According to the report the sheriff got, he was headed for Montana.”

”Can't you send somebody after him?” Daisy asked.

”No, but we can notify the U.S. marshals up that way. They'll keep an eye out for him. Other than that, there's nothing we can do.”

”So he'll get away.”

”I'm afraid so. I'm having the sheriff check on Bob Greene. He's always been a stiff-necked old b.a.s.t.a.r.d.” Mr. Cochrane gave her a fatherly smile and a pat on the hand. ”Now you leave all this to me and concentrate on your wedding.”

Daisy was disappointed in Mr. Cochrane. She had placed her faith in him. She had been certain he would find the killer and see him hanged. Even if Bob Greene was the one behind it, the killer had gotten away.

If Tyler had agreed to help her, he wouldn't have given up. He would have followed that man for as long as it took. Any man who would chase after gold for three years wouldn't quibble at a few months spent going to Montana.

But Tyler hadn't wanted to help her.

Chapter Twenty-one.

Daisy sat ramrod straight in the most uncomfortable chair in the Cochrane's parlor. She dreaded this interview. She had gone over what she meant to say several times, but the words never came out the way she wanted. Still, there was no going back. She had paced her room all morning. She had racked her brain for different solutions, but she knew there was no other. She loved Tyler Randolph, fool that she was, and she would never love anyone else. Wealth and all the finer things her mother had taught her to want meant nothing without him. If she married Guy, they would probably be a reproach to her for the rest of her life.

She was scared. She'd never attempted anything like this. Most frightening of all, she would have n.o.body to depend on but herself. She had told herself for years this was what she wanted, but now she wasn't sure.

Guy's entrance scattered her thoughts. She hurriedly collected them again.

”Dolores said you wanted to see me.”

Daisy had asked the maid to find Guy because she didn't want anyone in the family to know. ”I need to talk to you.”

Guy stopped in front of her chair, a smile on his face, his hands held out to her. ”You could talk with me any time. Dolores made it sound so serious.” When she didn't put her hands in his, he dropped his hands and frowned. ”What is it? You haven't fallen in love with someone else, have you?”

Daisy thought it ironic the problem he saw as the most unlikely should be the nub of the matter.

”Not exactly.”

The smile disappeared from Guy's face. ”What do you mean not exactly?”

”Please sit down, Guy. I can't think with you towering over me.”

”I think with you towering over me all the time.” His effort at humor fell flat. He pulled a chair forward and sat down, perched on the edge.

”I can't marry you,” Daisy said before she lost her courage. ”I'm sorry. After all you and your family have done for me, I must seem very ungrateful. But I've thought about it for the last two days, and I can't do anything else.”

Guy looked at a loss for words. ”Why?”

She knew he was going to ask that. She wished she could say that was the way it was going to be and leave without an explanation, but she couldn't. She owed him that much.

”When you asked me to marry you, I liked you very much. I thought I could learn to love you. I thought that was the way things were supposed to be.”

”It is.”

”Then I spent nine days with Tyler Randolph, and I wasn't sure of anything anymore.”

”Do you love him?”