Diana Palmer - Friends & Lovers 02 - Rage Of Passion.pdf - Friends in love - dana2

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

For my niece

Helen, who sews a fine seam

Chapter One

The telegram crumpled in the slender hand, a scrap of badly used timber that would

have served better as the tree it once was. Pale-green eyes stared down at it,

hated it.

"Is it bad news, Mama?''

Becky's soft young voice broke through the anguish, brought her back to the

reality of the huge empty Victorian house and the plain, withdrawn child.

"What, darling?" Her voice sounded odd. She cleared her throat and helplessly

twisted the crumpled telegram in her hand. "Bad news? Well... yes."

Becky sighed. She was so old for six, Maggie sometimes thought. Her life had been

disordered

Diana Palmer

from the very beginning. An exclusive boarding school hadn't made her an extrovert;

it had only emphasized her painful shyness, made it more obvious.

'"Is it Daddy again?" Becky asked quietly. She read the answer in her mother's

worried eyes and shrugged. "Well, Auntie Janet is coming today," she said with

childlike enthusiasm and smiled. "That should make you feel better."

Margaret Turner smiled back. Her daughter's rare smiles were magic. "So she is,

although she isn't really your aunt. She's my godmother. She and your Grandmother

Turner were best friends. What a nice surprise for us, meeting her last week. She

didn't even know I had you, you lovely little surprise, you."

Becky giggled-one of those sweet sounds that Maggie had heard so seldom lately.

The boarding school was taking its toll on Becky, but there'd been no choice about

it once Maggie went to work. She had no one to keep Becky after school, and her job

meant occasional long hours and Saturday work. That left the child vulnerable, and

Dennis wasn't above taking her away and hiding her somewhere. He was capable of

anything where money was involved. And this newest threat, this telegram, made it

plain that he was going to sue for full custody of Rebecca. He wanted Maggie to

Rage of Passion 9

know immediately that he'd just given his lawyer the green light to go back to

court.

Maggie swept back a strand of her short dark hair, which was very straight,

curving into her high cheekbones. She was slender and tall, a good silhouette for

the clothes that were such a rage this season. Not that she was buying new clothes.

Thanks to her ex-husband's incredible alimony suit against her-which he'd won-and

the fact that her attorneys were still draining her financially, times were getting

harder by the day.

About all that was left was this white elephant they lived in and a relatively

new car-and Becky's trust Maggie's own father had never approved of her marriage to

Dennis, although-at the time-she hadn't understood why. He'd cut Maggie out of his

will entirely, leaving everything in trust for Becky. Maggie hadn't known this

until his death, and she'd never forget the outburst from Dennis at the reading of

the will. Her heart already broken, his callous attitude had taken the last of her

spirit. After that, she hadn't really felt alive at all. She'd kept going for

Becky's sake, not her own.

Dennis had tried to break the will. It couldn't be broken, but there were

loopholes that would allow the administrator of the trust to sell stocks and bonds

and reinvest them. Maggie could imagine

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

what Dennis would do with that kind of control; in no time he'd have reduced Becky

to poverty, robbed her of her inheritance.

As it was, Maggie was working long hours in a bookstore to make ends meet. She

loved books, and the job was nice. But being without her daughter wasn't. She

prayed for the day when she could bring Becky home and not have to worry that

Dennis might kidnap her if she was left with a sitter. It was a good thing that

Maggie didn't have a social life. But even in the days when her family had been

wealthy and she'd had every advantage, she'd never cared for socializing. She'd

kept to herself and avoided the fast crowds. She'd been much like Becky as a child-

shy and introverted. She still was.

"I won't have to live with Daddy, will I?" Becky asked suddenly, and the look in

her big eyes was poignant.

"Oh, darling, of course you won't!" Maggie drew the spindly-legged child close

to her, caressing the incredibly thick hair that trailed down her daughter's

ramrod-stiff back. Becky was all she had in the world now, the most precious thing

she had left; the only thing of worth to come from the six-year marriage that she'd

finally garnered enough courage to end just months before. The instant the divorce

became final, she'd gone back to

using her maiden name, Turner. She wanted nothing of Dennis in her life-not even

his name.

"Never," Maggie added absently. "You won't have to live with him."

That might become a well-meant lie, she thought miserably as she cuddled her

daughter, because Dennis was threatening to take Becky from her. They both knew

that all he wanted was the mammoth trust Alvin Turner had set up for his grandchild

before his death. Whoever had responsibility for Becky had access to that fortune.

So far, Maggie had managed to keep the child out of her ex-husband's hands. He'd

already announced his engagement to the woman he'd moved in with following the

divorce, and Maggie's attorney was worried that Dennis might get the edge in a

custody suit if he had a stable family life to offer little Rebecca.

Stability! If there was one thing Dennis Blaine didn't possess, it was stability.

She should never have married him. She'd gone against her father's wishes, and

against the advice of Aunt Janet. It had been a whirlwind courtship, and they'd

made a handsome couple-the shy young debutante from San Antonio and the up-and-

coming young salesman. Only after the wedding and her subsequent immediate

pregnancy did Maggie learn that Dennis's main ambition was wealth, not a happy mar-

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

riage. He liked women-and one wasn't enough. Barely three weeks after their

wedding, he was having an affair with another woman, mostly as an act of vengeance

against Maggie, who'd refused to stake him in a get-rich-quick scheme he'd

concocted.

She sighed over her daughter's silky hair. Dennis, she'd discovered, had a

vindictive nature, and it had grown worse as time passed. His affairs were legion.

She'd tried to leave him, and he'd beaten her up. It was the first and last time.

She'd threatened to go to the police, with all the scandal that would have raised,

and he'd promised in tears never to do it again. But there were other ways he'd

been able to get back at her, especially after Becky came along. More than once

he'd threatened to abduct the child and hide her if Maggie didn't go along with his

demands for more money.

In the end, it had been because of Dennis that she'd moved out and filed for

divorce. Dennis had brought one of his lady loves into the house and had been

cavorting with her in bed when Becky had come home unexpectedly and found them.

Dennis had threatened Becky, warning her not to tell what she'd seen. But Becky was

spunky. She had told. And that very day, Maggie had moved with the child back to

her old family home in San

Antonio. Thank God her parents had held on to the house even after they'd moved to

Austin.

Dennis, meanwhile, had cut his losses and stayed in Austin, where he and Maggie

had lived together for the six years of their disastrous marriage. Once the divorce

had become final, he'd initiated a grueling lawsuit-with Maggie's money, ironically

enough-and had ultimately been granted visitation rights.

Well, she wasn't giving up her child to that money-grubbing opportunist. She said

so, frequently. But Dennis's forthcoming remarriage could cause some devilish

problems. She didn't quite know what to do, how to handle this new development

"Couldn't we run away?" Becky asked as she drew back. "We could go live with

Aunt Janet and her family, couldn't we? They own a real ranch, and Aunt Janet's so

nice. She said after she visits us, we could visit her and ride horses-"

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Maggie said quickly, forcing down the image of

Gabriel Cole-man that swam with sickening intensity before her eyes. He frightened

her, colored her dreams, even though it had been years since she'd seen him. Even

now, she could close her eyes, and there he was. Big, lean, rawhide tough. All man.

Dennis wouldn't dare threaten her around Gabe, but Mag-

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

gie was too frightened of him to ask for sanctuary. It was a well-known fact that

Janet and her son didn't get along. Maggie had enough problems already without

adding Gabe's antagonism to them. He didn't care for her. He thought of her as a

bored socialite; he always had. She was prejudged and predamned in his pale eyes.

She'd never stood a chance with him, even in her younger days. He hadn't given her

a second look. Once, she'd wanted him to. But after Dennis, she'd had too many

scars for another relationship. Especially with a man like Gabriel, who was so much

a man.

"But why can't we?" Becky persisted, all eyes-green eyes, like her mother's.

"Because I have a job," Maggie said absently, smoothing the long silky hair of

the little girl. "Well, except for this month-long vacation I'm getting while

Trudie is in Europe. She owns the shop, you see." Trudie had decided that Maggie

needed some time off, too, and she'd closed up shop despite the loss of cash. It

was one of many reasons that Maggie loved her friend so much.

"Then can't we go home with Aunt Janet? Oh, can't we?" Becky pleaded, all but

jumping up and down in her enthusiasm.

"No, and you mustn't ask her, either," Maggie said shortly. "Anyway, you have

one more week

at school before vacation. You have to go back and finish out the semester."

"Yes, Mama," Becky sighed, giving in without a fight.

"Good girl. Suppose you dash out to the kitchen and remind Mary that we're to

have an apple pie tonight in Aunt Janet's honor," she added with a smile.

"Yes, Mama," Becky agreed, brightening. She ran, skirts flying, out of the

immaculate living room with its wing chairs and Chippendale sofa- beautiful relics

of a more graceful age-down the long hall toward the spacious kitchen.

The house had been in Maggie's family for eighty years or more. It was here that

she and Dennis had spent an occasional weekend with her mother after her father's

death from a heart attack, but she didn't mind the memories as much as she would

have minded losing the homeplace. She touched the arm of the sofa lovingly. Her

mother had sat here in happier days, doing embroidery, while her father had

sprawled in the big armchair on his visits home-and they'd been few, those last

years, because as an ambassador his duty had kept him away.

Maggie's mother had traveled with him until ill health had forced her to remain

in Texas. She'd died within six months of her tragic loss, swiftly

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

following the husband she'd adored. Maggie often thought that such love was a rare

thing. Certainly she hadn't found it in her marriage. She wondered if she ever

would find it. She was much too frightened to take the chance a second time; the

risk, to Becky, was even greater than the risk to herself.

She studied her slender hands quietly, drinking in the subtle scent of lavender

that clung like dust to the old furniture. A knock on the door disturbed her

thoughts, then the knob twisted and Janet Cole-man breezed in.

"Darling! Oh, it's so hot outside! Why I keep an apartment in San Antonio I

don't know, when I could have gone someplace cold."

Like a white-haired whirlwind, Janet embraced the younger, taller woman with a

deep sigh.

"You must love the city; you've had that apartment ever since I can remember."

Maggie smiled, drawing back to stare down at the older woman in the chic gray suit.

"I've got my nerve, haven't I, inviting myself for dinner." Janet laughed. "But

I couldn't resist it. It's been so many years, and to run into you out of the blue

in that department store! Shocking, to think I didn't even know about Becky! And

here you'd been married for six years, and getting a divorce..." She shook her

head. "I miss your mother so much. I have no one to talk to these

days, with the girls away from home and Gabe so business oriented. And," she added

quietly, "I'm hardly ever at the ranch these days myself. I've been in Europe for

the past seven months."

Maggie had gone to boarding school with the girls, Audrey and Robin-the same

school, in fact, that Becky was in now.

"Audrey is living with a man in Chicago," Janet said, exasperated. She flushed a

little at Maggie's pointed stare. "Yes, that's what I said. Isn't it outrageous? I

know it's the in thing to do these days, but honestly, Maggie, I had to stop

Gabriel from getting the next train up there. He was all for putting a bullet in

the man. You know Gabe."

Maggie nodded. Yes, that was Gabe all right. His answer to most things was

physical. She trembled a little with inner reaction to him-a reaction that had

always been there, but one she'd never really understood.

"I talked him out of it, but he's still simmering." She shuddered delicately. "I

just hope Audrey has the good sense to stay away until he cools down. He'd have

them married at gunpoint."

"Yes, I don't doubt it. How's Robin?" she added with a smile, because she liked

Janet's younger daughter.

"She's still trying to be an oil rigger." Janet

Diana Palmer

Rage of Passion

shook her head. "She says it's what she wants to do."

"Times have changed, Janet." Maggie laughed. "Women are taking over the world."

"Please don't say that in front of Gabe," the older woman murmured dryly. "He

doesn't like the modern world."

"Neither do I, at times." Maggie sighed. She stared at Janet. "Is he still

ranching?"

"With a vengeance. It's roundup time, darling." Janet laughed. "He doesn't speak

to anyone for days during roundup. He's hardly even home anymore. He has board

meetings and buying trips and selling trips and seminars, and he sits on the boards

of God knows how many corporations and colleges and banks... Even when I'm home, he

never listens to me."

"Does he know about Becky and me?" she wondered aloud.

"I've mentioned your mother over the years," Janet said. "But no, I don't

suppose I've had a lot to say about you. He's so touchy when I mention women, I've

given up trying. I did find this lovely girl and I brought her out to the ranch to

meet him." Janet flushed. "It was terrible." She shook her head. "Since then, I've

decided that it's better if I let him lead his own life. So I don't mention

anybody to him. Especially eligible women," she added with a pert laugh.

Maggie shook her head. "Well, he'd never have to worry about me. I'm off men for

life!"

"I can understand why," Janet muttered. "I never liked that man. He smiled too

much."

This from a woman whose son was a caveman... But Maggie wasn't going to remark on

that. She had no use at all for that kind of man. She'd had enough of being afraid

and dominated and intimidated. No man was ever going to get the chance to do to her

what Dennis had. Not ever again.

"If only Gabe would get married," Janet said. And there was such bitter remorse

in her voice. "He never had the chance to do the things that most young men do. I

feel responsible for that, sometimes." The remorse in the tired old voice made

Diana Palmer - Friends & Lovers 02 - Rage Of Passion.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: