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Lorna cried out and grabbed for his arm, but it was too late. “My roses! You had no right to do that!” Tears were welling in her eyes when she turned her accusing glance on him, but Benteen didn’t show any remorse. His face was set in cold unyielding lines.
Gathering up her skirts, she turned away from him and hurried in the direction he’d thrown the cuttings. It was a stumbling run, hampered by tiredness and the thickly matted grass catching at her feet. She thought she’d seen where they’d fallen, but her tear-blurred vision made it hard to see anything.
When Lorna reached the area where she thought they were, she was breathing heavily from the exertion in her thirst-weakened condition. She had to keep wiping away the tears to see as she beat at the grass, sweeping it aside in a frantic search for the cuttings. Obsessed with finding them, she looked and looked, failure bringing a wildness to her actions.
She was making so much noise on her own that at first she didn’t hear Benteen’s approach until his rough voice called her name. When she glanced around, long strides were carrying him through the grass toward her.
“Forget those roses and get out of this hot sun before you collapse,” he ordered.
“No.” She fell to searching again.
“Dammit, they aren’t worth it, Lorna!” Benteen snapped, and grabbed her wrist to force her to obey.
All her anger and resentment for his high-handed tactics boiled over. She yanked her wrist out of his grasp and confronted him with the full weight of her mutiny, trembling with the fury that consumed her.
“You did this on purpose!” Lorna accused. “You never wanted me to bring those cuttings! I don’t think you wanted to bring anything from Texas! I’m surprised you don’t burn the wagon with all our things in it so there won’t be anything to remind you of Texas! You’ve been wanting to get rid of those roses all along! You’ve been hoping they would die! And you finally had an excuse to throw them away!”
“Are you going to get out of this sun, or do I have to carry you back to camp?” Benteen demanded angrily, ignoring her tirade.
“I’m not leaving here until I find them! I don’t care how long it takes!” Temper was drying up her tears, making her eyes hot. “The wagons can leave without me!”
“You little fool!” He savagely ground out the words.
“Yes, you’re always saying I’m stupid, or childish, or a fool.” And the words wounded, so she lashed back, wanting to hurt him. “I don’t care what you think anymore! Those were my roses! And my water! You had no right to tell me what I could do with either of them!!”
“I’m your husband and that gives me the right to keep you from killing yourself!” Benteen snapped.
“You’d kill yourself for those damned cattle! What’s the difference?”
“I’m not going to argue with you. You’re coming back to camp with me, and that’s final!” This time when he grabbed her, there was no breaking free of his grip.
But Lorna fought him just the same. She knew his superior strength would make him the victor in any physical struggle, but there was still a verbal battle to be fought.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Her physical strength was ebbing, flowing from her like the perspiration trickling down her neck. “I’m not one of your cattle to be herded along!”
“They have more sense!” The hands digging into her shoulders gave her a hard shake.
“How would you know?” Lorna demanded, panting. “Have you ever asked what I thought about anything? I never really wanted to go to Montana. Did you know that? You didn’t even care enough about my opinion to ask.”
“It’s immaterial now. We’re halfway there.”
Lorna stared at the angry, determined thrust of his jaw. “I hate you, Benteen Calder.”
“You’re becoming hysterical,” Benteen muttered.
To a degree, she was. Her anger and resentment were exaggerated, overshadowing other emotions that, in a calmer moment, would be just as strong. Now the desire to hurt overpowered all others.
“I hate you.” It vibrated through her voice. “I rue the day I married you.”
His nostrils flared, her arrow finding its mark. He hauled her roughly against his chest, pinning her arms between the crush of their bodies. A black fury turned his eyes cold.
“That’s too damned bad.” His upper lip curled over the words. “We are married and we’re going to stay that way.”
“I’m not going to Montana with you.” Lorna flagrantly defied him now that she had discovered a raw nerve. “When we reach Dodge City, I’m leaving with Mary.”
She felt the wild force building inside him, coiling all his muscles with the tautness of a spring wire. It was so close to being released, it rocked him.
“You try, and I’ll drag you back.” The threat growled from some dark place inside him. “You’re mine and I’ll never let you go.”
