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Colorado Confidential
By Jasmine Cresswell Amanda Stevens Debra Lee Brown Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
Copyright © 2003 Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.
All right reserved. ISBN: 0-373-83564-7
Chapter One
Franklin Gettys slammed down the phone and swung around, fists clenched and cheeks flushed with anger. For a moment Helen thought he was going to hit her but, at the last second, he regained control of himself and stepped away.
"That phone call was from Charlie Quarrels at the Half Spur ranch," Franklin said. "My foreman tells me you drove out there on Friday and were poking around the place for most of the day."
"Well, yes, I was there," Helen admitted, wondering what she'd done wrong this time. "The spring sunshine was so great, I took a picnic lunch -"
She didn't have the chance to make any more excuses. Franklin stormed across the room and marched her backward until she was pinned against the bedroom wall, with his hands splayed on either side of her head. "Stop trying to elbow your way into every damn corner of my life," he said, his voice cracking with rage. "Don't try to defy me, Helen, because it won't work. You're moving way out of your league when you pick a fight with me."
"But I wasn't trying to pick a fight," Helen protested. She was trembling inside, but for once she didn't retreat into apologetic silence. For a moment she seriously considered doing something outrageous, like kneeing her husband in the groin so that she could break free of his hold, but sanity - or fear - prevailed. "I would never have gone to the ranch if I'd realized it would make you angry," she said apologetically.
"Then why didn't you tell me you'd been out there?" Franklin demanded. "Why all the secrecy if the trip was so innocent?"
Because you never bother to ask about what I've been doing while you're away in Washington, and it didn't occur to me to tell you, Helen thought. She didn't explain that to Franklin, though, because she was afraid it might sound like a complaint. Her husband didn't deal well with complaints.
"You were tired when you came home last night and we didn't talk much about anything," she suggested meekly.
Somewhat appeased, Franklin pushed away from the wall, releasing her. "Well, don't go behind my back again. I'm not just angry. I'm mad as hell."
"But why are you so mad?" Helen asked, finding a remnant of courage and not letting the subject drop as she would have done normally. "What's wrong with me visiting the Half Spur, since we own it? You've been in Washington for ten days, so it didn't interfere with your plans. I was alone here in Denver and it seemed such a long time since I'd been out of the city...."
"You don't own the Half Spur ranch," Franklin said cuttingly. "I own it. For the last time, keep your nose out of my private business affairs, Helen, and that's an order."
About to whisper an apology and sneak out of the bedroom, Helen suddenly despised herself for being such a coward. Franklin's behavior was totally unreasonable, so why in the world did she feel guilty? "I didn't harass the sheep, or interfere with the men working at the ranch," she said. "I barely spoke to them, in fact. You need to be more specific about what I did that was so terrible."
"You went where you weren't invited," Franklin snapped, slapping his fist into the palm of his other hand in a gesture that struck Helen as deliberately threatening. "Before you set off on your next wild-goose chase onto my property, ask my permission first. Do we understand each other?"
Helen nodded. Her view of marriage was practical rather than romantic, which was how she'd ended up married to Franklin in the first place. But she'd certainly never dreamed that she would one day find herself ordered to ask permission for something as simple as making a day trip out of Denver. How in the world had her marriage degenerated to this point, she wondered. How had she let herself slide into such a humiliating state of inferiority?
For the second time in as many minutes, Helen failed to share her thoughts with her husband. The past two years had taught her that Franklin's view of marriage was light years away from her own. Her husband wanted a relationship where all the power was his, and all the submission hers. Any attempt to carve out a more independent role resulted in outbursts of violent temper that reminded her all too vividly of her father and left her sick to her stomach.
It was true that Franklin gave her a generous monthly allowance and for a while, early in their marriage, her shiny new credit cards had created the illusion of freedom. She'd even congratulated herself on being sensible, and rejecting the lure of passion and romance offered by her relationship with Ryan Benton. But Helen soon realized that parting from Ryan hadn't just meant the loss of romance in her life. It had meant the loss of hope and fun and laughter as well. Franklin's money came with very long strings attached. He had stated many times that since he paid all the bills, he had the right to demand that she should obey him completely. The trade of freedom for financial security might have suited some women. Unfortunately, Helen didn't find shopping much of a substitute for having friends and an interesting job, much less for surrendering the right to a mind and opinions of her own, and for giving up on any chance of real companionship in her marriage.
She was bone weary of her unequal relationship with Franklin, Helen reflected. She was tired of being humiliated, tired of being made to feel inferior. Her stomach lurched as she confronted the fact that she had finally arrived at the end of her emotional rope. That rope had been long and thick, but this morning marked a turning point in her marriage to Franklin. After two years of nonstop retreat from confrontation, her back was pinned against the wall - figuratively as well as literally - and she had no choice but to stand up for herself and fight.
It took every ounce of her available courage, but she drew herself up and turned around so that she could look straight into her husband's eyes. "Franklin, we have to talk some more about this -"
"Not now," he said, sounding impatient. "I'm late, since you neglected to wake me up on time."
She could have reminded him that she'd tried to wake him twice, and he'd told her to get the hell away and leave him to sleep, but it seemed a waste of breath and energy. She knew he would merely twist her excuses around so that she would end up taking the blame not only for letting him oversleep, but for a bunch of other supposed marital sins as well.
"I need help, Franklin," she said, instinctively retreating into the placating tone which was her usual method of conversing with her husband. This time, though, the humility was false. He might not be aware of what was at stake right now, but she knew their future was on the line. She was offering her husband one last chance to suggest how they might get their marriage onto a healthy footing, a foundation that promised both of them at least a shot at happiness. Both of them, instead of just him.
"I'm feeling lost, Franklin, and I need your guidance," she said. "What am I supposed to do with myself all day? You don't want us to have children -"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Colorado Confidential by Jasmine Cresswell Amanda Stevens Debra Lee Brown Copyright ©2003 by Harlequin Enterprises, Ltd.. Excerpted by permission.
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