She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. She was blushing again, but it could just be because of the subject, rather than a lie.
Interesting she called him. She saw him as interesting—artistically. Under the circumstances, that was about as unflattering as she could get.
And he was starting to feel like an ass. So she’d painted a nude of him. Nudes were common. For all he knew, all artists painted them. And while he’d like to see it, it would prove nothing. As usual, Amanda had merely caused emotional turmoil by suggesting otherwise.
He tried to relieve her embarrassment—as well as his own. With a grin, he asked, “You want a model?”
“No!”
He shrugged. “Didn’t think so.” He turned to leave, then paused. “My apologies, Mari. You’ll think about what I said earlier?”
“Absolutely.”
Too strong a word, which meant she wouldn’t. Just as he’d feared, all his chances to win her had died the moment she’d heard that he had made love to her sister.
Chapter 55
“WHAT’D YOU DO, PRESS your ear to the door?”
“Of course,” Amanda admitted, then complained, “My room would have to be across the hall from hers this time, rather than next to it.”
She’d opened her door again the very moment Chad had stepped back into the corridor. He didn’t try to avoid her this time. Actually, she was standing in the middle of the hall, so he couldn’t.
“That does make it hard to eavesdrop, doesn’t it?” he said, his tone sarcastic.
“Yes, unless voices get raised,” she agreed, then raised a brow at him. “What do I have to do, lead you through this step by step?”
“You could try minding your own business, or is that too much to ask?”
“When you’re making such a muck of yours?”
“You made a muck of mine. And you still are. If you were a man, I’d—”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure you would,” she cut in impatiently. “You didn’t ask her, did you? You were supposed to tell her you knew the truth. That’s the only way you’re going to get her to drop her defenses. You can’t get rid of the hurt unless you lay it bare, and you can’t get to that point unless you find it first. She’ll never own up to it on her own. She’s too proud for that.”
“You’re bored again, aren’t you?” he guessed. “Three days with nothing to do until Bridges returns to town. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Just a new scheme for your entertainment because it amuses you to trifle with other people’s emotions.”
She sighed. “I’m trying to help you. If you’d just get over past grievances for a few minutes, you’d see that. I’ve given you the truth. I even told you where to find the proof of what I said. But you didn’t even bother to look at the paintings, did you?”
He sighed. “The painting of a nude isn’t proof of anything, Amanda.”
“Of what?”
“Mari told me she painted a nude of me because she found me an interesting subject. Hardly flattering, and definitely not proof.”
Amanda started to laugh. “Oh my, that’s priceless. She told you about it instead of letting you actually see it. Good for her. Threw you off track and kept you from seeing the real painting. I didn’t think she had it in her, to lie that well.”
“But you do.”
“Sure I do. It’s an art, you know. But occasionally it isn’t useful to lie, and this is one of those occasions. I told you I’m feeling benevolent, so let me tell you about the real painting. She rendered you lying in a bed of straw, in the process of removing your shirt. And looking up at her, your expression is so filled with passion, there’s no doubt you’re looking at a woman. She would have had to be standing over you to have that view. Did she? I only eavesdropped, so I didn’t actually see you two. But the painting says it all, a perfect likeness, even shows a scar near your navel. That’s not something she could have imagined, unless you don’t really have a scar there. Do you?”
“You should know,” he gritted out. “You were the one standing over me.”
Amanda rolled her eyes. “I don’t paint. I tried it once and was so embarrassed by my lack of talent, I never touched a brush again. I’ve always been jealous of Mari’s talent. I admit it. She got all the artistic ability, leaving me none. So I had to create a talent of my own.
“To manipulate people.”
“Yes, how astute of you,” she said dryly. “But wake up, cowboy. That’s not what I’m doing here. What’s preventing you from seeing the truth?”
He gritted out what she was overlooking, “For the simple reason that she would have told me. She wouldn’t have let you get away with such a lie.”
“But she did. Find out why, and you’ll probably find the hurt you need to mend.”
* * *
For the fourth time that day, Chad turned the handle on Marian’s door. It was locked this time. He had no patience left to knock. He slammed his shoulder against the door. It didn’t give.
But he heard from the other side, “Don’t you dare!”
He slammed his shoulder against the door again. Damn door still didn’t give way. But she opened it before he tried a third time and stood there with a furious glare.
“I don’t believe you just did that!” she hissed.
“And I don’t believe you let me think, even for a minute, that I made love to Amanda!”
She caught her breath, stared at him. He walked past her into the room, so angry at that moment that he probably shouldn’t say another word.
He swung around. “You would have let me marry her based on a lie!”
She lowered her gaze from his. “No, I wouldn’t have. I would have spoken up if you’d been forced to go through with that—even though I didn’t think you’d appreciate it, or that it would matter.”
“How could it not matter?”
“If you didn’t believe it. And at the time, I was sure you wouldn’t. But I would have made the effort anyway. There was no point, though, after Amanda married Spencer.”
“No point? No point! Just leave me agonizing over what I thought was the biggest mistake of my life? You were never going to tell me, were you?”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“You know why. I thought you were making love to me, but you weren’t. You thought it was her all along.”
“I told you I didn’t.”
“And I told you I don’t believe you. I was there! Yes, it was me. So you can’t deny you called me by her name. You were sure it was her!”
“Hell, Mari, that’s what this is all about?” he said incredulously. “Yes, for the briefest moment I did get a little confused and thought it might be Amanda. Your boldness just surprised me. But only for a moment.”
As she turned away from him, she saw his shoulders slump. She really didn’t care. Just as on that day in the stable, she was going to say nothing.
Chapter 56
MARIAN WASN’T SURE WHAT to say to him, or if she could even get any words out past the lump in her throat. Was she just supposed to believe him, when all this time she’d been sure he was still pining for Amanda?
Everything he’d said sounded good. Too good. That was the problem. How could she just accept it all when she’d drawn such opposite conclusions? It would mean she’d been an utter fool. That she’d let her difficulties with her sister go too far.
But she did owe him a better explanation than she’d given. She turned back to him—and found him gone.
She caught her breath in surprise. She hadn’t heard him leave. And he’d left with the wrong impression. That wouldn’t do. He’d intruded in her room several times that day, she could do the same to him.
But he’d left the hotel. She began to panic, imagining what he must be thinking. She should just wait for him to return, but she couldn’t. She had no idea where he might be, but she’d find him. He hadn’t been gone that long.
She found him on a corner in the center of town, just standing t
here with his hands shoved in his pockets, as if he’d been doing the same thing she’d done earlier—wandering aimlessly in thought. It was very late in the afternoon, almost evening. Businesses were closing for the day; people were rushing home from work, making the sidewalks and streets much more crowded than usual. It was the heavy traffic that had probably stopped him where he was.
He was drawing curious stares from passersby because of his Western-style coat, boots, and the wide-brimmed hat that Easterners weren’t used to seeing. At least he wasn’t wearing his gun holster. That had been packed away since they’d reached Chicago.
She approached from behind him. At least she’d had the presence of mind to wear her veil again. She’d already seen three people she knew, though they hadn’t recognized her.
A crowded corner wasn’t exactly the ideal place to have a conversation, but no one else was standing still, so she didn’t think they’d be overheard. She was jostled a few times before she got up the nerve just to say what needed to be said.
“The moment the notion took hold that you thought I was Amanda that day, it colored my judgment on everything else.”
At the sound of her voice he turned around. Realizing where they were, he took her arm and started walking, so at least no one passing would hear more than a word or two of what they were saying. “I knew you were angry. I was going to explain, but Amanda never gave me a chance to. I was shocked, more than anything else, when she claimed what she did. I knew deep down that you were the woman I’d made love to, but when you didn’t correct her outlandish insinuations, I didn’t know what the hell to think anymore.”
She started blushing, and told him, “I suppose I didn’t have enough confidence in myself to speak up immediately. I still couldn’t believe that you’d prefer me over Amanda.”
“But I did,” he insisted.
“Let me finish. I wasn’t supposed to be the sister of choice, for any man. For a long time I went through a lot of effort to make sure I wouldn’t be.”
“Why?”
“To prevent exactly what happened. Why do you think Amanda claimed what she did? It wasn’t just about the inheritance. It was because she was jealous that you could want me instead of her. It’s always been that way with her. It’s why I tried to conceal the fact that we are twins. My disguise, the insults, were to make sure men would only notice her.”
“So she might get jealous. That was no reason for you to change your appearance completely and live with that lie indefinitely.”
“I felt it was. You see, it never failed that if a man showed even the slightest interest in me, or vice versa, she’d lure him to her instead, by any means, even making love to him if that’s what it took. And after she rubbed it in my face that he was hers, she’d then cast him aside, inflicting a good deal of emotional pain in the process to punish him for having thought about me in the first place. I didn’t want to see that happen to you.”
“You couldn’t tell me that at the time?”
“That I’d fallen in love with you? No, Amanda had to get married first before I could admit to that.”
He stopped, grinned, tilted her face up to his. “You love me?”
“I didn’t say that, I said—don’t confuse the issue. I’m trying to explain—”
“Darlin’, nothing else matters if you love me.”
She should just accept that, grab her happiness, and to hell with everything else.
“Yes it does. Aside from my feelings, I still don’t see how you could love me, me, when you didn’t even know the real me. It’s just this face, her damn face—”
“It’s time for you to hush up again, Mari,” he said gently and lifted her veil so he could cup her cheek. “You think I don’t know you? You’re the one who showed such concern for me that you nearly chewed my tail off for it when I stood down those stage robbers. You’re the one who showed remarkable courage— or foolhardiness—when you thoughtlessly tried to take on a mountain man four times your size just to help me. You’re kind, you’re considerate, you worry about others’ feelings—maybe a little too much. I admire your gumption; I admire your talent. Actually, I think you’re kind of wonderful. You’re the one I fell in love with, Mari, and before I ever saw your real face, before I knew you were her twin.”
She stared up at him in awe. “You really mean it, don’t you?”
He cupped both cheeks now. “I want you for my wife. Will you marry me?”
She threw her arms around his neck. She laughed. “Oh, yes, yes! If you hadn’t asked, I probably would have.”
He laughed as well and started to kiss her, but someone bumped into them with a mumbled apology. Marian was jarred enough to regain an awareness of where they were. This really hadn’t been the place for such a conversation. And she thought she’d recognized that voice. She turned to look, but didn’t see anyone in the crowd whom she knew—and then she did and went very still.
“What’s wrong?” Chad asked.
She looked back at him, her eyes wide. But then she shook her head. “Nothing. Just my imagination seeing things.”
“Bridges?”
“No, it—” She didn’t finish, looked down the street again, frowning. “I know I’m being silly, but let me make sure. I’ll be right back.”
She hurried in the direction she’d seen the man go. Chad was close behind her, but she didn’t wait for him. There was just no way in hell she could be right about who she’d seen, and it would only take a moment to prove it.
She caught up with the man, tugged on his arm to stop him. “Papa?”
He turned around, gave her an annoyed look, then continued on his way, leaving her standing there in utter shock.
Chapter 57
Marian didn’t recall much about getting back to the hotel. Chad must have found them a carriage for hire because she vaguely recalled sitting in one. She was just too dazed. So many thoughts were racing through her mind. How could it be possible? Nothing fit. It didn’t make sense! Everything kept coming back to one glaring fact. He knew her, and still kept right on going.
And he’d spoiled the happiest day of her life. That was the only thing that had happened today that didn’t surprise her. So typical of her father, but so utterly ironic, since for once, he didn’t do it deliberately.
Chad escorted her straight to Kathleen’s room. And her aunt only had to see her face to ask in alarm, “What happened?”
Chad answered, after he sat Marian down on the sofa, “She thought she saw her father.”
“That isn’t possible.”
“I know, but the resemblance must have been close enough to—”
“It was Papa,” Marian interrupted quietly, glancing up at her aunt. “He looked directly at me, not a foot away from me. It was Papa.”
Kathleen sighed. “Well, I can’t say I’m delighted to hear it. The best thing Mortimer ever did for you gals was to the. So he couldn’t even do that right?”
Marian was coming out of her daze. She shot to her feet in agitation. Her aunt had been alone in her room when Chad brought her there, but it was getting close to the dinner hour when the rest of their party would be joining them. Kathleen’s room was larger than the other rooms so a dining table had been set up in it.
“Mandy is going to go crazy over this news,” Marian predicted.
Kathleen disagreed. “She’ll probably be too happy to ask for explanations.”
“I thought y’all buried him?” Chad said.
“We did, but it was a closed casket. I never thought to ask why.”
“So the wrong man got buried, and your father has been missing all this time. Amnesia?” Chad guessed.
“That would certainly explain it,” Kathleen agreed.
“I suppose it would,” Marian added, frowning deep in thought. “Except—he would have had to only just gotten his memory back today, or within the last couple days.”
“Why?”
“Because Albert’s sister is living in our old house, which means Albert is
, too,” Marian said. “Papa probably doesn’t know that yet.”
“And how’d you find that out, when you were supposed to be lying low?” Kathleen asked.
Marian made a face. “I went for a walk. I didn’t intend to go in that direction, I just wandered there aimlessly and happened upon Albert’s sister coming home. But I took precautions,” she added, tapping the veiled bonnet that was still on her head. Then she removed it. “No one recognized me.”
Kathleen nodded, and said, “You know, there’s another explanation that just occurred to me.”
“What?”
“The man you saw might be your father’s twin.”
“He didn’t have one.”
“Maybe he did. They run in our family. And I wasn’t around when he was born, to know one way or the other. There could have been two of them. Our mother was certainly selfish enough, and lacking in motherly love, to have given one of her babies away if she didn’t want to be bothered with two.”
“That’s a bit far-fetched,” Chad said.
“Yes, it is. But crazier things have happened,” Kathleen insisted.
“Except he knew me,” Marian reminded them.
Kathleen blinked, then said in exasperation, “That’s right, you said you were standing right next to him. So what did he have to say about all this?”
“He didn’t stay to chat, and I was too shocked to follow him again. I got his annoyed don’t-bother-me-now look that he always reserved just for me.”
Chad patted the seat next to him on the sofa to lure Marian back down. She obliged, and they both got a raised brow from Kathleen when his arm went around Marian’s shoulder and she didn’t shrug it off.
“There’s more news to impart today?” Kathleen wanted to know.
“Yes,” Marian said, with a slight blush and a grin. “But now isn’t the best time to mention it.
Kathleen chuckled. “Congratulations anyway.”
“For what?” Amanda asked as she sashayed into the room without knocking, Spencer close on her heels. Before she got an answer, she said, “Dinner isn’t here yet? I’m famished.”
“You ate enough for two people at lunch, and the sun hasn’t even finished setting yet. What have you been doing to work up such an appetite?”