Give Me Tonight(63)

"Why?"

She couldn't tell him why. Hastily she racked her brains. "I d-don't know what kind of person you are. I don't know you. I don't think anyone around here does. "

"I could say the same about you. But that's some­thing we can change. We don't have to be strangers. Unless you're afraid of what'll happen if you let me get closer. Is that it?"

She stared at him in confusion, her heart turning over at the soft sound of his voice. "I don't know what to do, or what to tell you—"

"Nothing, for now. Nothing at all." A movement to the left of them caught Ben's eyes, and he glanced at the approaching figure before turning back to Addie with a wry smile. "It looks like we'll have to continue this later."

"Why?"

"Take a look."

May was wearing a distinct frown as she walked toward them. There was no mistaking the perturbation in her voice and on her face. She didn't even look at Ben, but addressed Addie instead, her blue eyes cool and unnerving. "Adeline, I don't like you runnin' off without sayin' a word to me about where you are go­ing. There are people askin' after you, people we haven't seen in a long time. "

"I'm sorry, Mama—"

"My apologies," Ben interrupted. "I shouldn't have taken her aside. Please don't hold Miss Adeline ac­countable for my selfishness."

"I know what to hold my daughter accountable for," May replied, looking at him with displeasure. "And she knows she's keepin' you from the things you should be doing. You were planning on returnin' to the ranch as soon as the wedding was over, weren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then don't let us detain you."

Ben nodded respectfully to her and glanced at Addie with gleaming eyes.

"Good-bye," she said in a hushed voice, her pulse racing.

After Ben strode away, May fixed Addie with a sus­picious stare. "Why is he lookin' at you that way? Something's happened. Has he made any advances to you? Surely you haven't allowed him to take any lib­erties, Adeline.'

"I . . . why . . . of course not," Addie stuttered.

"We were just talking. Why do you seem so set against him all of a sudden?"

"Because I know what kind of man he is. And if you let him, he'll take advantage of you, of your in­nocence, your trust, and especially your vanity."

"Mama—"

"I'm going to speak frankly, out of concern for you. I wondered how long it would take before this conver­sation would be necessary. I knew it would come sooner or later. Ben is a handsome man, and he has a way about him. I understand what an impression he must make on a girl your age. And you're attractive to him for many reasons-your looks, your money, but most of all because you're Russell Warner's daughter. I know Russ likes to fancy Ben as another son, and Ben does his best to take full advantage of that. ' ,

Addie found herself in the unexpected position of having to defend Ben—she, who should have gratefully welcomed any censure of him! "I don't agree. He doesn't need to chase after me or anyone else for money. He's well-educated, and too proud to take ad­vantage of—"

"For all his education, he was a mavericker before he came to Sunrise."

"So was Daddy, once."

"I want better for you than that. And I won't allow a man like Ben Hunter, a man just like your Daddy, to have my daughter."

Addie stared at her in amazement. There was an undertone of steel in May's voice, a strength in her face Addie had never noticed before. Underneath her blond prettiness, there was more purpose and tenacity in May than she'd suspected.

"There's no chance of anything happening between Ben and me," Addie said slowly. "But why don't you want me to marry someone like Daddy?"

"I promised myself I'd do everything in my power to see that my girls had a better life than I did, that you wouldn't repeat my mistakes. Why do you think I insisted on both of you being sent to the academy? Why do you think I've tried so hard to make sure you have manners and fashionable clothes, and an educa­tion? Finally my dream for Caro has come true. She and Peter are movin' out of Texas. But if you're going to be buried here for the rest of your life, away from decent people and civilized places, I refuse to give you away to a man who won't treat you half as well as the cattle he owns. And that's what will happen if you settle for some ranch hand."

"But I don't want a different life from this. I don't want to be pampered and spoiled. I won't care if it's a little bit rougher than folks have it back east—“

"A little bit rougher," May said, her voice catching. "You don't know anything about the kind of life you could have. I was brought up in a beautiful home, among people with gentle manners, in a house with servants. I had my choice of beaus. And I came out here ignorant of the filth, the roughness of these peo­ple, the men wearing guns all the time, even at the dinner table. There are times when I still have to work harder than some of the servants in my mother's home. "

"Mama—"

"The men out here won't shelter you from things no woman back east would ever have to tolerate, the crudity and the work, the county swarming with crim­inals and Indians—"