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Ty looked at the thick, dark lashes, crystalline eyes and delicately structured face of the youth who was much too pretty for Ty's comfort. "Where did you go to school?" he asked roughly.
"On the front seat of a buckboard. Papa had a university degree and a case of wanderlust."
"What about your mother?"
"She died when I was three. Papa told me her body just wasn't up to the demands of her spirit."
The spoon hesitated on the way to Ty's mouth. He pi
Ja
"Papa died a few seasons back," she said casually. "You lose track of time living alone."
"You've lived alone since then?" Ty asked, startled. "The whole time?"
Ja
"Don't you have any kin?"
"No."
"Wouldn't any of the townspeople let you trade room and board for work?"
"I don't like towns."
"Surely one of the ranches would take you on as a cook's helper or fence rider. Hell, if you can tame a mustang, there isn't a ranch anywhere that wouldn't take you on as a mustanger," Ty added, disturbed at the thought of an orphaned child wandering homeless over the land. "You could make a decent living catching and breaking horses for the rough string."
"I don't catch mustangs," Ja
"Most mustangs accept men."
Ja
"Sometimes a man has to do things he doesn't want to in order to survive," Ty said, his eyes narrowed against painful memories.
"I've been lucky so far," Ja
Slowly, as though called back from a distance, Ty focused on Ja
"Not at all. Anything in particular you want to hear?"
"Do you have Romeo and Juliet?"
"Yes."
"Then read to me about a woman more beautiful than the dawn." Ty closed his eyes and smiled. "A well-bred lady of silk, softer than a summer breeze, with pale hair and skin whiter than magnolias, and delicate hands that have never done anything more harsh than coax Chopin from a huge grand piano…"
"What's her name?" Ja
"Who?"
"The silk lady you're describing."
"Silver MacKenzie, my brother's wife." Ty's eyes opened, clear and hard. "But there are other women like her in England. I'm going to get one."
Abruptly Ja
"'But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun…'"
Chapter Seven
That day set the pattern for the next two weeks. When Ja
"Read that verse to me again," Ty said, smiling. "You ran over it so fast I missed most of the words."
Ja
"That's Ecclesiastes," Ty drawled. "You were reading The Song of Solomon and a woman was talking about her sweetheart. 'My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens…' Now what do you suppose that really means, boy?"
"He was hungry," Ja
"Ah, but for what?" Ty asked, stretching. "When you know the answer, you'll be a man no matter what your size or age."
Ja
The thought of Ty's shocked expression if she gave in to temptation restored her humor. It would be worth almost anything to see him shocked. Until that time came, she would have to be satisfied with watching his unease when she leaned too close or casually brushed against him, making him uncomfortable because of "the boy's" closeness.
When Ty saw Ja
That boy is too damned feminine for my self-respect, much less for my peace of mind. I think I'd better take another long soak in that hot pool in the head of the valley. Doubt that it will take the starch out of me, though. I haven't been this hungry since I was fourteen. Dammit, but I need a woman.
Disgusted with himself, Ty came to his feet in a muscular rush. Ja
"Now there is a real lady," Ty said, gazing at the drawing of a woman in long, formal dress and elaborately coiffed hair. "Elegance like that is damned rare. Where did you get this?"
"Papa drew it when Mother was alive."
"This is your mother?"
Ja
"I see where you get your fine bones and…"
Ty's voice died. There was no point in telling the kid that his mouth would have done credit to a courtesan and his eyes were too big and too expressive to belong to a boy of any age. So Ty kept his mind on the drawing and off the fey creature whose skin and hair smelted like a meadow drenched in sunshine and warmth.
"Your daddy was a lucky man," Ty said after looking at the drawing for a long time. "This is a woman to dream on. All silk and sweet softness. After I catch Lucifer and build my own horse herd, I'm going to Europe and court a fine lady just like this. I'll marry her and bring her home, and we'll raise strong sons and silky daughters.''
"Silk doesn't last long on the frontier," Ja
Ty laughed. "That's why I'm going to build my fortune first. I'd never ask a true lady to live in a dirt-floored shack and ruin her soft hands on scrub brushes and the like."
Ja
Ty shook his head, seeing only his dream. "It is in a woman. I'll have my silken lady or I'll have none at all for longer than it takes to pleasure myself."
The words sliced into Ja
"What makes you think that a silken woman would have a man like you?" Ja