Angel in My Arms (14 page)

"Excess. The good Lord warns us against excess in almost anything."
He gazed at her over the rim of his wire-frame glasses. "But there are
other sins,
fleshly sins,
that the Lord is quite clear upon."

Celeste laughed good-naturedly. "You never give up, do you?"

"I cannot. After all, it is your soul, all your souls"—he eyed the other women—"that I must be concerned for."

"Never heard a man say he was interested in my soul before," Sally
giggled from behind her cards. She was robed in a silky pink dressing
gown with her hair pulled back in a pink ribbon. Without rouge or hair
pomade she could have been someone's socialite daughter.

"Pearl, what can I do for you?"

Tall Pearl gave a sigh. "A redeal?"

Celeste smiled. She liked Pearl. The woman was honest and earthy.
She had been with Kate since the days in Denver. "Not a chance."

"All right, then, if you're going to play like that, I'll take
three." She started to discard and then raised the cards. "But good
ones, mind you. I'll have no trash. I've been dealt three limp hands in
a row." She tossed down her cards. "Which is better than three limp
you-know-what's."

The women and Titus all laughed. Ace never heard the joke. Joash sat
stiff as always, his lips puckered. "Straight to hell," he murmured
under his breath. "Straight to hell you'll all go."

No one took offense to Joash's warning. They were used to his
admonitions of doom. They were as much a part of the Sunday afternoon
as Rosy's silk dressing gown, Mrs. Tuttle's cake, and Tall Pearl's
risque jokes.

"Ace?" Celeste looked the young man directly in the eye so that he
could read her lips. She had a soft spot in her heart for Ace.

He tossed down two cards.

Celeste passed him two fresh ones. Ace's gaze held hers for a
moment, and she wondered once again what he was thinking. He seemed to
be watching all the girls a lot lately.

"Five," Sally said, slapping down her cards. "I'll take five. Say,
where's that handsome man of yours? I mean, I understand why you don't
let him out during the week, but why don't you bring him to play on
Sundays?"

"You can't have five, only four, Sally." She waited while Sally picked up her cards. "And he's not
my man. "

Sally pouted prettily as she rearranged her hand. "I know that's
what you say." She batted her eyelashes. On anyone else it would have
seemed a silly gesture, but on Sally it was charming. "But everyone's
buzzin' about the two of you headin' off in Kate's wagon every morning
and sometimes not comin' home 'til past dark." She peered over the fan
of her cards. "You two gotta be doin' something all that time. 'Course
I wondered what you did with the dog." She scrunched her forehead.
"Does 'e watch?"

"We've been walking John's claim and panning the stream, and you
know it. We think we may have found a place to run a shaft." Celeste
dealt Titus three cards. "That was what I wanted to ask you about,
Titus. You've got experience in the gold mines."

"South Platte, Clear Creek, Gilpin County." He spat a stream of
brown tobacco into a tin at his feet. "Mostly done pannin'." He wiped
his mouth with the back of his tobacco-stained hand.

"But you have done some mining. Digging." As the two conversed, the players bid on their hands.

"Done a shaft or two in my day. Never hit gold on my own, but I seen others hit it."

"So you know what equipment we would need. You know the procedures."

He tossed down his coins to stay in the hand. "Hell, if it's tools
you want, John left his 'quipment in a stall at the livery. Just
sittin' there, best I know."

Ace called, and his full house beat Celeste's two pair. She passed
the cards on to Kate, who had once again taken her seat, a dish of
gingerbread and whipped cream in each hand. She licked her fingers and
began to deal. Ace hauled in his coins.

Celeste tucked a lock of freshly washed hair behind her ear. Since
Fox's arrival, she'd taken great care with her appearance. He was the
kind of man who noticed a new dress or a new hairstyle and complimented
her. Celeste liked his attention; it made her feel feminine. It gave
her back some of the confidence she had lost in the arms of strangers.
"To tell you the truth, Titus, I was looking for more than just the
equipment. I'm interested in your expertise."

Titus cracked a broad grin, showing off his two gleaming, gold front teeth. "Is you, now?"

They were playing seven-card draw. Kate passed out two cards down, a
third up. Celeste bid her ace high. She had a second one laying face
down in front of her. "I want to hire you to dig the shaft. I don't
have a lot of cash, but if…
when
we hit gold, I'll offer you a percentage. My partner and I will."

"Partner, is he?" Sally giggled. "Guess I heard every word in the book for it now."

Celeste glared as Sally clamped her hand over her mouth.

Celeste turned back to Titus. "The weather's good. You could get started tomorrow."

"And what's yer partner say on this?"

"We're in agreement. We need to hire someone. We'll pay you enough to hire a helper. I know you like to throw work Petey's way."

"When he's sober."

"That's up to you. We just want to get to work right away."

"Tell you the truth." Titus chomped on his tobacco. "I was su'prised
to see that fancy pants stay as long as he has. Thought fer sure when
he found out there weren't no money for him, he'd hightail it back to
Cal-i-for-ni-a."

Celeste was amazed as well that Fox had stayed this long. Surely he
was bored with life in Carrington, as compared to the one he'd led in
San Francisco. Of course, she liked to fantasize that he stayed because
of her. "He says he needs to stick around and protect his interest in
his father's land."

"So 'e wouldn't sell it to ya?"

The bid went around on the reverend's pair of deuces.

"No. I tried, but he wouldn't sell."

"He's smitten on you," Sally injected. "I just know he is. I can see that look in his eye."

Celeste gave Sally a half smile. "Nonsense. He pays more attention
to the dog than he does me. Of course he's full of opinions." She
tossed a coin to the center of the table. "He didn't want me to come
here today."

"Just like a man." Kate took a big bite of the gingerbread, leaving
whipped cream at the corners of her painted mouth. "Always wanting to
control a woman. Any woman will do, even if he ain't got rights to her."

They made their final bids. Celeste won two and a half dollars with
three aces. As she swept the money up, she glanced at Titus. She didn't
want to push him into doing something he didn't want to do, but she
felt a sense of urgency. The longer she spent away from the dance hall,
the more she knew she couldn't return. She just couldn't. "So are you
in?"

"Don't think I got anything on my social calendar come tomorrow." He
spat. "But I'll check just the same and let you know, Missy." He winked.

Celeste smiled. "I'm sure you can borrow Kate's wagon to haul the
gear. How about we meet you out on the claim tomorrow morning, say
nine?"

"Guess I ought to be chargin' for that horse and buggy," Kate
chided. "I'd be making better money than I am on these girls. I got
more of a demand for wheels than heels." She chuckled at her own quip.

Celeste pushed away from the table. "Hate to empty your pockets and run, but I'm off."

"Would you like me to walk you home, Celeste?" Joash questioned.
"I'm not sure that it's safe, a woman walking alone at night on these
streets. I told Mrs. Tuttle she wasn't to go alone anymore after dark
on her nursing visits. It's just not safe."

Celeste smiled appreciatively. "I'll be fine, Joash. Really. Good night."

"Good night," the poker players echoed as she stepped out the door.

"You're a bald-faced liar." Celeste leaned back against the scrub
pine and laughed merrily. "She didn't really swallow flaming swords."

Seated beside her, Fox stretched out his long legs, covered in dusty
denim. His arm brushed hers, radiating a tingling warmth. "Juggled lap
dogs, too."

"Sounds like she belongs in a circus instead of a whorehouse."
Celeste was laughing so hard that tears ran down her cheeks. It wasn't
that funny. She just couldn't help herself. She was so happy. It had
been such a wonderful week.

For six days in a row, each morning, Fox and Celeste had met Titus
at John's claim. All day they walked the land and searched for likely
places to tap for a gold vein. Titus had dug in three prime spots. So
far they'd come up with nothing, but Celeste wasn't discouraged. Fox
was such good company that the days flew by. Mostly they just talked
and laughed together as they explored the land. Fox told her about his
adventures in faraway countries, and Celeste told him about the
interesting characters that had passed through the dance hall's
swinging doors over the years.

The attraction between Fox and Celeste was obvious to them both, and
at some point during the week, they had come to some unspoken
agreement. They had begun to touch each other in innocent ways. Fox
would tuck a lock of her windblown hair behind her ear; Celeste would
remove a smudge of dirt from Fox's cheek. They did little favors for
each other, fetching a canteen of water, or a necessary tool,
retrieving a bonnet from the wagon.

Celeste knew the flirtation was dangerous. She knew what Fox
ultimately wanted, and wanted for free. But the truth was, for the
first time in her life, she wanted the same thing. Just once she wanted
to make love with a man of her own choosing. She wanted to make love
with a man she knew and cared for.

True, she had known and liked John, but that hadn't been the same.
The feelings hadn't been the same, nor so intense. He had never made
her heart flutter or her pulse quicken the way Fox did.

Fox lifted Celeste's hand in his and smoothed it. Both their hands were dusty.
Funny how they fit together so well,
Celeste thought.

"I kid you not," Fox went on, still laughing about the juggling
prostitute in the Parisian whorehouse. "And the dwarves. You should
have seen them."

Celeste laughed again and playfully pushed him with her shoulder. "There were no dwarf women."

"Were too, honest, hope to die." He crossed his heart with his free hand.

Still chuckling, Celeste shook her head. She liked this side of Fox,
carefree and laughing. The other side of him she knew, the dark,
brooding man, made her uncomfortable. Made her wonder how much John
hadn't told her about his son.

Fox looked out at the rolling, rocky terrain they shared. "Guess I'd
best get back to work. Titus and Petey shouldn't be hauling that drill
bit on their own." He kissed the back of her hand as if he did so
often, and stood and pulled her up with him.

Celeste's hand tingled where his lips had touched her skin.

Instead of walking away, he lingered, standing in front of her, looking into her eyes.

Celeste's stomach felt queasy, full of butterflies. Fox's hair was
windblown, his face and hands dusty from the hard work of digging in
the rock-hard Colorado soil. His sleeves were pushed up to bare
muscular, suntanned forearms. The outdoors was so becoming to him that
it was difficult for her to imagine him sitting at a desk in an office
in San Francisco. It was difficult for her to imagine him returning
there… leaving here.

"Ah, Celeste," he breathed. "I swore to myself I'd resist your charms." He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "But I__"

"I'm the kind of woman that makes a man hard-pressed to resist," she said softly. "That's the intention."

His dark eyes, flecked with green in the sunlight, studied her face,
searching… searching for something in her eyes. "I didn't mean it that
way."

"Pretending I'm not a whore doesn't change the fact," she said.

"I know."

"But just because I've been with other men doesn't mean I can't feel or care."

He exhaled slowly and she felt his warm breath on her lips.

"It's just that I swore to myself after Amber—" he said. "That was
her name. I swore that I wouldn't become involved with another—" He cut
himself off.

So Amber had to be the dead woman. It was the first time he'd
mentioned her name, except in his sleep. Was he implying that Amber had
been a prostitute? Celeste was astonished, then realized she shouldn't
be. Like father, like son.

"Fox," Celeste whispered. "This is very complicated, not just for
you, but for me. A woman like me… we're careful not to allow ourselves
to become too attached."

He stroked the corner of her mouth with his thumb. She inhaled the scent of him carried on a hot breeze.

"Hard life to lead, never becoming
attached."

Celeste looked up into his dark-eyed gaze as she thought about Denver and who waited for her there. Tears clouded her eyes.
Just the wind,
she thought. She was wrong to want more than she had, but she wanted it
just the same. "Let's stop trying to rationalize and just kiss me, Fox.
I don't want to think, I don't want to—"

He clamped his mouth down hard on hers, silencing her.

Celeste raised her hands and slipped them around Fox's neck.
Instinctively she pressed her body against his and her dusty skirts
tangled around his feet.

He tasted of lemonade and sunshine. Of promise.

Celeste parted her lips, felt the flick of Fox's tongue against
hers. A sound came from her throat at the sensation she'd thought
herself past feeling.
Passion.
She was overjoyed that it was only buried deep inside her rather than stolen, as her virginity had been all those years ago.

"Celeste," Fox whispered, and she melted deeper in his arms.

They kissed again. Their tongues delved deep as they explored. He
ran his fingers through her hair, sending rivulets of sensation down
her spine. Reluctantly, she drew back for breath.