Ty and Logan exchanged a look.
"It was too much for Lucifer to carry," Ty said. "I cut it loose."
Janna stiffened. "But that was how you were going to buy your silken la-"
"One more word, Janna Wayland," Ty interrupted savagely, "and I'm going to hand you over to that scalp-hunting renegade myself!" He took a deep breath and struggled to leash his volatile temper. "Anyway, the gold isn't lost. Soon as I'm sure that Lucifer didn't hurt himself on that run, I'm going back for the saddlebags."
Janna wasn't surprised that Ty would risk his life looking for the gold once more, but she yearned to be able to talk him out of it. Hopefully she looked over at Logan. His smile didn't comfort her-it fulfilled the sardonic promise she had first noticed in the line of his mouth.
"So Janna isn't your silken lady after all?" Logan asked Ty. "Damned white of you to save her hide anyway at the cost of all that gold."
The cold, needling edge to Logan's tone didn't escape Ty. Nor did the censure in Logan's eyes, for he had realized that Ty was Janna's lover the first time Ty had called her sugar in a soft, concerned voice.
"Drop it," Ty said flatly.
Logan's smile changed indefinably, becoming almost sympathetic as he realized Ty's dilemma. For years Ty had been pursued by the finest that southern and northern society had to offer; he had turned everyone down in his own pursuit of a dream of the perfect silken lady. Now he found himself hopelessly ensnarled with a wild, gray-eyed waif whose voice could set fire to stone.
Logan leaned over and cuffed Ty's shoulder with rough affection. "Forget the gold, little brother. I'll turn Silver loose on your uncurried mustang lady. In a few weeks you'll never know she wasn't paddock born and raised."
Janna turned her face away, trying to conceal the red tide that climbed up her face as she thought of the unbridgeable gap between silk purses and sows ears. Eyes closed, she held on to Ty, saying goodbye to him in silence, for she knew with bittersweet certainty that he would go after the gold…and she would walk away from the MacKenzies and never look back, freeing Ty to pursue his dream.
"You planning on taking her to Wyoming?" Case asked. Like his eyes, his voice was cool, passionless. He had been watching Janna with measuring intelligence.
Ty turned and glared at Case. "Yes. You have any objections?"
"Not a one."
Ty waited.
"She doesn't want to go," Case added matter-of-factly.
"She'll go just the same."
"Is she carrying MacKenzie blood in her womb?"
If anyone else had asked that question, Ty would have beaten him into the ground. But Case wasn't anyone else. Because Case had destroyed or walled off all emotion within himself, he didn't concede its presence in anyone else.
"She could be carrying my child," Ty said tightly.
"Then she'll be in Wyoming when you get there."
With no warning Case bent over, plucked Janna from Lucifer's back and put her across his saddle.
"Ty!"
"It's all right. Case will take good care of you." Ty smiled oddly. "Don't try running from him, sugar. He's the best hunter of all of us."
Chapter Forty-Four
"They must have magic mirrors in Wyoming," Janna said, looking in disbelief at her own reflection. "That can't be me."
Silver MacKenzie smiled, touched up the dusting of rouge on Janna's cheeks and stepped back to view the results. "It's amazing what three weeks of regular food and sleep can do for a body, isn't it?"
"More like four," Janna said.
Silver's ice-blue eyes closed for an instant as she composed herself; the thought of losing Logan made her heart freeze.
"I'm sure the men are all right," Silver said firmly. "It must have been harder to find the gold than they thought, that's all. Perhaps Ty couldn't remember precisely where he cut the saddlebags loose. You left rather in a rush, from what Case said."
Janna smiled wanly. "You could say that. At least, Ty was in a rush to get away."
"Speaking of getting away…" Silver began, changing the subject eagerly.
A flush crawled up Janna's cheeks as she remembered the night after she had arrived in Wyoming. Case had dropped her rather unceremoniously at the doorstep, told Silver that Janna had come to be combed and curried like a paddock horse for Ty and that she might be carrying Ty's child. Silver had been sympathetic, Cassie had been angelic, and Janna had gone out the second-story window the first time everyone's back was turned.
The next morning a very tight-lipped Case had brought Janna back, set her on the doorstep and told her that she could give her word not to run until Ty came back or she could spend the time waiting for him trussed hand and foot like a chicken going to market.
"… now you know why men like their women dressed in yards of silk," Silver finished. She blew a wisp of moon-pale hair away from her lips as she bent and adjusted the voluminous skirt of Janna's cream silk ball gown.
"What?" asked Janna, distracted by her memories.
"We can't run worth a darn for all the hoops and flounces, that's why. The best we can manage is a serene face and a dignified, very slow exit."
Janna smiled just as Silver straightened. The older woman stared, arrested by the sight Janna made. Her dark auburn hair was piled high in deceptively simple coils, which had been threaded through with strings of pearls. Pearls circled her neck in a delicate choker whose centerpiece was a ruby that had been in Silver's family for three hundred years. Earrings of pearl and teardrop rubies hung from Janna's ears. The ball gown's off-the-shoulder style dipped to a modest point in the front. The hint of a shadow between Janna's breasts was as seductive as the lines of the ball gown were simple. A brooch of ruby and pearls was pinned at the base of the gentle de"colletage. With each breath, each movement, ruby fire shimmered, echoing the secret fire of Janna's hair.
"Shadow of Flame," Silver murmured. "The renegades saw you very clearly, didn't they? You're really quite stunning. The dress looks far better on you than it ever did on me, as do the rubies."
"It's very kind of you to say so."
"The truth is rarely kind," Silver said grimly.
Janna saw the shadows of worry on Silver's face and knew that she was concerned about her husband.
"I'm sure Logan is all right," Janna said. "He's a smart, tough man."
"All the MacKenzies are smart and tough. Even the women. You'll fit in just fine."
There was silence, then Janna said huskily, "Ty wanted something different in his wife."
"Ah, yes, Ty's famous silken lady." Silver saw Janna wince. "Don't worry, he'll take one look at you and see the woman of his dreams. He may be MacKenzie stubborn but he's not stone-blind."
Tears ached behind Janna's eyes at hearing her own secret dream spoken aloud. The hope of having Ty turn to her and see his silken lady was so overpowering that she was helpless against it. That, as much as Case's threat, had held her in Wyoming.
Silver's hand rested lightly on Janna's cheek. "Does he know how much you love him?"
Janna nodded slowly and whispered, "It wasn't enough. His dream…"
"It was the war, Janna. Each MacKenzie responded to it differently. Logan wanted revenge." Silver's mouth turned down in sad remembrance. "He found it, but it wasn't what he thought it was. I think Ty will discover that silk isn't what he thought it was, either."
A call came from the front of the house. Both women froze in wild hope before they realized that it was Case greeting guests rather than Case announcing the return of Blue Wolf and the MacKenzie brothers. But Janna had to be sure. She ran to the window and looked out. The first of the guests were indeed arriving.