Suddenly they heard hurried footsteps and jingling spurs coming across the porch and through the front door.
“Maybe that’s word of Jared,” Carson said hopefully and rushed into the hall. He was struck dumb.
Jared was striding purposefully toward the office. He wasn’t wounded at all. In fact, Carson had rarely seen him so exhilarated. Behind him was Rudy Mendez, his white teeth flashing against the dark complexion of his face, his black eyes dancing. Carson was shocked as always by their resemblance. Standing in the doorway but not coming into the house was Thorn, the taciturn Comanche who had been the boys’ childhood friend and their father’s before them.
“What—” Carson started before Jared interrupted him.
“Carson, you look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” Jared said heartily. “I believe you know my brother and Thorn.” Jared pushed past the flabbergasted man and tramped to the desk, confronting his mother.
“It didn?
??t work, Mother. Your friends from Austin ran off with their tails between their legs. It’s all over.”
Olivia had fastened her eyes on Rudy and her face had paled significantly. “What is he doing in my house?” she gasped. Her voice rose a note or two on the last words. Her agitation was apparent. “Get that bastard out of my sight.”
“Rudy is my brother,” Jared said levelly. “He stays in my house if I say so.” His eyes never wavered from her face, daring her to challenge him.
She looked at him closely then, the truth dawning on her. “It was you, wasn’t it? You were the traitor. You ruined everything for us.”
“No, Mother, I didn’t ruin anything. Hopefully, I helped to save a lot of property and lives.”
“You sound just like your father,” she spat. “Always so full of goodwill and nobility. You were against me all along. Don’t you see, Jared, that you’ve probably set us back for years by this insane high-mindedness?”
Jared shook his head. “No. No, I didn’t. We’ll get our railroad, but not through exploitation and violence. And without the help of Vandiver and his lot.” Jared turned to the stunned man standing behind him. “Carson, you see why I had to go against you, don’t you? We were being manipulated. I had to take matters in my own hands. I think I did what Ben would have done.”
Carson looked deflated and tired and old. He smiled kindly at the young men before him. They were both good men. Honorable. Strong. Ben’s sons. He was proud of them for their absent father, his best friend. “Yes, Jared, I think you did the right thing,” he said, clamping him on the shoulder. The two men stared long at each other. Finally the younger man turned away in embarrassed humility. It was an emotion completely new to him and he covered it quickly.
“Rudy, wait here just a minute. I’ll go tell Lauren the news and then we’ll bed you and Thorn down for the night. I know you’re both exhausted.” Jared was already headed for the door when Olivia halted him in mid-stride with her level, quiet words. “Lauren’s not here, Jared.”
For some reason, her tone and the calm manner in which she spoke set off an alarm buzzing in his head. A great foreboding squeezed his chest.
He turned back slowly and faced his mother. “Not here? Where is she?” His voice was low. Lethal.
“She’s with Kurt Vandiver. They left on horseback about an hour ago.”
“She wouldn’t go anywhere with Vandiver. What the hell are you talking about?” His anger was building.
Olivia smiled sweetly at her son. “Jared, have you forgotten your first impressions of Miss Lauren Holbrook? You thought she was a trollop, an adventuress. I think your hunch has proved to be correct.”
Carson butted in, sputtering, “Olivia, tell the boy why she left. Tell him!” He stared incredulously at the woman whom he had worshiped for over a score of years, as if he were now seeing her for the first time.
“This is none of your concern, Carson,” she declared sharply.
Jared faced Carson, his whole body tense. “Where is she?” he asked hoarsely.
“I don’t know, Jared,” Carson answered honestly, baffled by this twist of circumstances. “Kurt came in here hell-bent for leather about an hour ago. He said that you were hurt critically, and that Lauren should go with him. He hinted that if she didn’t, she might never again see you alive.” He left Jared and walked over to where Olivia sat with her hands folded on the desk. “You knew that Jared wasn’t hurt.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
Jared pushed Carson out of the way and spread his hands wide on the desk as he leaned over it, his face a few inches from his mother’s. “Why did you let her go off with that sonofabitch? Why, goddam you?” He slapped the desk with his palms and the sound exploded like a shot in the air already fraught with tension.
When she answered, it was with the same even tones she had used before. “Lauren has served her purpose. It was expedient for her to be a victim of tonight. That way, no one could blame us if anything went wrong. As it did.” She looked malevolently at Rudy. “Who could blame us if one of our own had been kidnapped and… hurt as a result of the fracas?”
Jared was trying hard to keep the coldness in his stomach from spreading to his entire body and freezing him on the spot. His teeth were clenched as he rasped, “Where did he take her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?!” he screamed.
“I don’t know!” she screamed back.