Part 21 (2/2)

”Then relax, Amanda,” he said in the voice of Taylor-the-teacher.

Acting out of reflex from years of being obedient, she slumped against him and put her head on his shoulder.

He snuggled her against him, seeming to be content, while Amanda had the absurd idea that they didn't fit together. She thought she might be too heavy for Taylor's thin body, and she also sensed that, although he said he wanted her to relax, he'd be appalled if she turned to him and caressed his ear with her tongue. She couldn't help thinking of Hank: she seemed to weigh nothing to him as he tossed her over fences and lifted her in and out of cars, and nothing shocked him.

”Are you willing to give me a chance at being your lover instead of your tutor?” Taylor asked.

”Of course,” Amanda said. ”If we are to be married-”

”If!”

”When we are married, we will be l-lovers.”

Taylor chuckled. ”My shy little flower. I will introduce you to love. I don't mean to brag, but I have had some experience.”

Me, too, she wanted to say, but she was sure that wouldn't go over too well.

He held her away to look at her. ”We'll start tonight. I'll pick you up at your Union Hall-I should see where you have your little job-and we'll go to the carnival in Terrill City.”

”The carnival?” Amanda gasped. ”But-”

”Is there something wrong with the carnival? Perhaps you'd rather go somewhere else. A dance, perhaps. A motion picture? We could just walk in the moonlight. Perhaps a moonlight picnic? That would be nice. We could take a chocolate cake. I know how you love chocolate.”

Amanda could bear no more. She got off his lap. ”The carnival will be wonderful. I really must go now to my”-she hesitated-”to my little job. I will see you tonight.”

”No kiss goodbye?” he asked lightly.

She bent forward to kiss him and he put his hand to the back of her head and turned her head to give her a hard, openmouthed kiss while his other hand moved down her arm to touch the side of her breast.

She jerked away from him abruptly.

He chuckled. ”See, I can be something besides a teacher. Go on now. I'll see you this evening.”

Stiffly, Amanda left the dining room. Moments later she was in the back of the limousine on the way to the Union Hall. Now she had everything she wanted out of life: Taylor loved her; he was treating her as an adult and not a schoolgirl, and tonight she was going to a carnival with a man she had loved since she was a child. She was the most fortunate, the luckiest woman on earth.

So why did she feel as if her life were over? Why did she feel like hiding in her room and never coming out?

By the time she got to the Union Hall, her body and face were rigid with unshed tears. The first person she saw was Hank, and for a moment his eyes met hers and caught fire. She looked away.

He came to her desk and leaned over her. ”You're late,” he whispered. ”Out late last night?”

Just his breath on her ear sent chills along her body. ”You may take the time out of my wages,” she said coolly, moving to the other side of the desk. ”Wages which you haven't paid me, I might add.”

Hank moved next to her. ”Has something happened? If that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Taylor did anything to you, I'll-”

”Taylor told me he loves me and he's taking me to the carnival tonight, Dr. Montgomery. I really do thank you for your tutoring of me. It looks as if it's worked perfectly.” She held out her hand for him to shake. ”I will owe you my undying grat.i.tude.”

He looked at her, then at her hand. ”You're quite welcome,” he said just as coolly. ”If you need any more... help”-he looked her up and down in an insolent way-”let me know.” He took his wallet from inside his coat pocket and pulled out two fives and slapped them on her desk. ”For services rendered. Now, are you planning to work or has the rich Miss Caulden more important things to do today?”

”I can do more work in a day than you can in a week,” she said, wis.h.i.+ng he'd just get out of her sight so she wouldn't have to remember kissing him or dancing with him, or making love with him.

”We'll see about that.” He turned away and went to his own desk.

Everyone in the hall had heard, of course. Joe looked at Reva and shook his hand as if to say, hot one. Reva looked away and smiled, but the smile didn't last long. She'd got Amanda away from Hank, but she didn't like to think of that lovely Mr. Driscoll with Amanda. Either man, Amanda couldn't lose. The fact that she had both of them enraged Reva.

Hank knew he was being childish but he couldn't contain his anger at Amanda. She'd always told him the truth, that she only wanted Taylor. She'd wanted to learn about s.e.x so she could entice her fiance. It was just that it had somehow not seemed real. He'd never actually believed she meant to marry that cold, sanctimonious b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

He was slamming papers on his desk and snapping at everyone when Reva glared at him. ”What did you want?” she asked. ”Did you want to marry Amanda? If so, why don't you go ask her and stop making the rest of us miserable?”

”No, I don't want to marry her,” he snapped. ”She's in love with that cold fish Driscoll and besides, she's a little-” Prig? That was no prim and proper miss who danced with him last night. It was no prig who sat on his lap in the cleaning closet. And the woman who begged him to make love to her...

”Haven't you got any work to do?” Hank snapped at Reva, then when she turned away he grabbed her arm. ”Go to the carnival with me tonight?”

Reva rolled her eyes. ”Amanda is going to the carnival with her fiance, so you just happen to show up with another woman. Right?”

”You want to go or not?”

”Why not?” she said in disgust. ”It can't be worse than my other dates with you. Hank, when you leave, this town is gonna curl up and die from boredom.”

Amanda was glad for all the work Dr. Montgomery piled on her, and she was sure some of it was contrived, but at least it kept her from thinking. She went to lunch by herself, and for the first time since she'd met Hank, she wasn't hungry.

When she got back to the Union Hall, two men had got into a fight over a very pretty young woman and one man had plunged a knife into the other one. There was an hour's chaos while the doctor and the sheriff were summoned.

The sheriff wanted to put Hank in jail.

”He caused it and he's gonna pay,” Sheriff Ramsey said, reaching for Hank's arm.

”Unless you have some proof-” Hank began.

Amanda stepped between the two. The sheriff was a short, thick man with a neck as big around as his head and he'd had the nickname ”Bulldog” since he was a child. Amanda had often seen him talking to her father. ”Dr. Montgomery had nothing to do with the fight,” she said.

Sheriff Ramsey gave the utmost respect to Amanda because her father secretly paid him a monthly stipend for ”extra” protection. ”Miss Caulden, I don't know what you're doin' here, but this man is a menace to our peaceful community. He wants to start a war between the pickers and the ranchers. I hear he's givin' out guns, and here's proof he's supplyin' 'em with knives.”

Amanda was a bit bewildered at this, her first real taste of prejudice. ”No one has supplied any guns or knives, and I can a.s.sure you that all we're doing is telling people that they have a right to join a union.”

”Miss Caulden, if you'll pardon me for contradictin' you, all these people want is bloodshed.” He looked at Hank and pointed. ”And yours'll be the first blood that's shed.” He looked back at Amanda. ”I advise you to get out of here before somethin' awful happens. I'm goin' right now to speak to your daddy. I'm sure he don't know what you're gettin' yourself into.” He turned and stomped out of the hall, two men carrying the wounded picker behind him.

Amanda turned to Hank. ”What did he mean, bloodshed?”

”Some people believe that the only way to have a union is with violence. They think no one in the world listens to problems until you first get their attention, and the best way to do that is with a little blood being spilled.”

He was watching her intently as he saw her digest this information. She'll probably run back to her books and her safe little world now, he thought.

”But if we explain to these people about unions, we can form one without violence.”

”Forming a union is easy. It's when the unionists present their grievances to the owners that the anger starts. How do you keep the owners from laughing at a pet.i.tion?”

<script>