John Seville, and then I paid your father. Both men took some convincing, but in the end, I won and you were mine.”
She shook her head loose from his grasp and stepped back an arm’s length. “Neither of those men owned me, so you bought nothing, certainly not me. You simply gave away your money.”
His eyes took on the shade of steel. They were cold, icy. “Don’t fool yourself, Adele. I do own you. I own your body and your soul the rest doesn’t matter.”
“The rest—my mind, my heart—matter more than anything and you’ll never have those. They belong to my husband.”
He started to laugh.
“Laugh all you want. I do love Edward, and he knows what I was and didn’t throw me out. He’s kind, where you are cruel, and whether he knows it or not, I believe he loves me, too. That’s something you will never know…the love and joy that can come in a marriage. No woman in her right mind will ever marry you.”
He bared his teeth, raised his hand and sent it backward across her face.
She tottered but didn’t fall. Not this time. Never again would she fall before him if she could prevent it.
She kept her right hand in her pocket and raised the left to her cheek, soothing the skin he’d abused. “Do you think hitting me will change that fact? Will such an action make you man enough to have a woman love you? I thought I did, but I was wrong. Now that I know what real love is, I never loved you. I was infatuated with you because I was your mistress. That was all. For two years I looked for a way to leave you. Ever since you stopped coming by every week…ever since you found your new mistress…Nicole is her name if I’m not mistaken. I find it interesting that she looks like me at that age. Are you trying to replace me with a younger version of me?”
He looked down at her but didn’t raise his hand. “You were my only mistress for years. You know all my secrets, but you got old, your body matured and that’s not what I want. I want someone young, nubile, and naïve about the world, so I can teach her.”
“Like you did me?”
His nostrils flared as he sneered. “Yes, like I did you.”
“That’s the only thing, I’m thankful for. You educated me and turned me into a lady. A mistress, yes, but a cultured one.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s why you’re mine. I made you who you are.”
“No, Richard, I learned the lessons you gave me, but I made me into the woman I am today. Not you. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now.” She palmed the derringer and slid her finger onto the trigger.
“Not without you.” He reached for her.
“Why did I know you would say that?” She fired her weapon through her coat pocket.
Richard grabbed his side. “You shot me!”
She stepped back, brought her gun out of her pocket and pointed it at him. “Yes, I did, but I missed my mark. I meant to kill you.”
His eyes widened. “You would really kill me rather than come back to our life?”
“Yes, I’m never leaving my husband and daughter.” She widened her stance and narrowed her eyes. “You hear me? Never. Even though you shot me, I’m giving you the chance to live, right now get on your horse and ride out. Go to the doctor in town and then go back to New York. You don’t belong here. I do. If you come here again, I will shoot you on sight.”
The barn door closed. Adele didn’t look back but kept her gaze on Richard.
“I’m not as forgiving as my wife. You’re headed to jail for attempted murder.”
Edward’s voice, his smooth baritone, washed over her like a gentle ocean wave. Even angry, she still loved his voice. She loved everything about him. “You injured my daughter and shot my wife. That’s reason enough to kill you. You’re on my land, which is trespassing. No court in Montana would convict me if I shot you now.”
Edward walked up and stood next to her.
She finally looked over at him, saw his gun pointed at Richard. She slipped her weapon back into her pocket and picked up the lantern from the floor.
“I tried to get you to leave before, Richard. Now it’s too late.. I will never leave my family.”
Edward’s arm slid around her waist and pulled her close.
She