Dorothy Garlock - [Colorado Wind 03] (36 page)

Kain, lying on the bed behind her, marveled. She was so beautiful. His eyes feasted on her shapely head with its fiery aureole of hair, the curve of her perfect back and her slender body through her transparent thin nightdress. He shut his eyes, giving himself up to the wonder and the glory that she loved
him.
He took the comb from her hand and placed it on the table beside the bed.

“It’s going to get all messed up anyway, sweetheart. Comb it in the morning.” He tugged gently on the sleeve of her nightgown. “Why do you bother to put this thing on? You’ll only have to take it off.”

“Because it’s what decent young ladies wear to bed.” She raised her brows haughtily. “It’s not easy to just suddenly throw all trace of modesty out the window.”

“Modesty? With me?”

“I’m not used to parading around without my clothes on while my naked
lovers
lie in bed watching me.” She smiled down at him with false sweetness, showing white teeth, while she tied her hair at the nape of her neck with a ribbon.

“How many naked
lovers
have you had, lady?” He made an angry growling sound and tugged on her arm. “Blow out the lamp. This naked lover wants to hold you, kiss you, love you, and he might wear himself out, go to sleep, and leave it on.”

“Why did you cover the windows tonight? They’re so high no one can see in.”

“They could if they stood on something.”

“Yes, but who would do that?”

“Come to bed and love me.” His voice was soft and beautiful and his amber eyes were achingly anxious.

Vanessa blew out the lamp. She slid her nightdress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor before she surrendered to the arms waiting to hold her. She pressed her body’s full length to his and he felt her satiny breasts crush against his chest, felt the down of her brush his hardening body and the warm writhing skin of her slender thighs interlace with his. He gathered her close to his long, muscular body with a tired little sigh.

“Sometimes the day is a week long while I wait for this.” His hand slid down her smooth back and pulled at her body so that it fit snugly into every curve of his.

“I’m not hurting your shoulder or your side?”

“No, my pretty, little sweet-smelling, angel of a woman,” he muttered thickly between kisses. “The only part of me that hurts is something I dare not name for fear it would shock my lady’s modesty.”

Her arms went up to hold him closer, her body straining against his. He covered her face with kisses, releasing his pent-up desire with each touch of his lips. He stroked her firm breasts and was struck with that irreversible progression, that steady, beating drum of blood that demanded the eternal forward beating to the final flourish. His hand moved between her thighs, stroking her soft inner skin, moving upward. She gave a muffled, instinctive cry as his fingers found her wetness and probed gently inside.

Minutes later they were interlocked and breathlessly surrendering to a voracious hunger that found her as impatiently eager to receive him as he was to insert himself into her yielding warmth. And then they were one fierce flesh, seeking the peaks that could not be found alone. He was deep inside her and she gloried in the delicious invasion. All conscious thought left them as the maelstrom overcame them and they were swept beyond the limits of return, into a primordial wilderness that outdistanced the mind.

“I love you. Oh, I love you, Kain, darling.” She held his head pillowed against her breasts until his breathing audibly calmed. Caught in the grip of sudden yearning, she wondered how she could possibly go on without him.

“Mmm, I could stay here forever.” He placed a kiss on her breast and laid his cheek on it with a long, gusty sigh. “I’ve got something to tell you,” he murmured. “Something unpleasant.” He felt her stiffen and realized immediately she was thinking that their time together had come to an end, that he was leaving. He raised his head. “Not that! I’m sorry, sweet girl. It was stupid of me to put it that way.” He moved up until his head lay on the pillow beside hers. His mouth was warm and gentle on her eyelids and came away with the taste of tears on his lips. “Don’t cry, darling, please don’t cry.”

“I’m not.”

“Sweetheart . . .” He smoothed her hair back from her damp face and spread it out on the pillow. “I never dreamed that love would be like this.”

“Nor I.” She moved her lips to his and they shared a deep, tender kiss. “What do you have to tell me?”

“I wish I didn’t have to tell you, sweetheart, but I do. Primer Tass survived the three bullets the Hookers put in him. He was in McCloud’s store asking about me.”

“Oh, no! Will he come here? Is he the one who is—”

“Sweetheart, I don’t think he’ll give up trying to get you until he’s dead. I’ve seen his kind before. In his warped mind he thinks you belong to him. Damn his blasted hide!”

Vanessa’s arms closed tightly around Kain’s shoulders. “He’s trying to kill you! You knew it all along!”

“No. I didn’t know he was alive until today. We’ll be on the lookout for him, and I’ll tell Griff, Cooper and Logan when they get here.”

“You’ll be careful? He’s so sneaky!” She shuddered, remembering the beady black eyes and the way he turned his head, like a snake, to look at her. “Don’t go out looking for him. Please, Kain.”

“You can bet your life I’ll be careful. I aim to get to him before he gets to me. You’ve got to stay close to the house, honey. Don’t even go to the barn without me or John or one of the Hookers.” Kain’s arm tightened and she could feel the heavy thud of his heartbeat.

“I’m not worried for myself. He won’t
kill
me. It’s you, my love. He wants to kill you!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to make it easy for him. Wait until you meet Fort Griffin, honey. He would chew Primer Tass up and spit him out.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone named Fort.”

“He’s usually called Griff. He was embarrassed when he told me how he got the name. His mother was a whore at the fort, and she thought it a joke on the men to name him that.”

“Poor little boy!”

“I met him down in New Mexico and we spent more than a year together. He was the toughest kid I’d ever met. When he was thirteen he killed the man who had killed his mother and was sent to Yuma Prison for five years. I met him about a year after he was out. He’s as square and honest as the day is long, but he’s also deadly with a gun. I want you to know him and Bonnie. If you’re ever in trouble or need help, you’re to go to them, Cooper, or Logan.”

“You have such good friends here. Why didn’t you stay?”

“They were all family men, building for future generations. I just never seemed to fit, so I drifted on.”

“You’d fit now.”

“Yes,” he said wearily. “Now I know what I was searching for.” And found it too late, he added silently to himself.

“I promised I’d not ask what’s taking you away from me. But sometimes, my love, I get so angry!” Her voice choked on the sobs in her throat. “Sometimes, I think I’ll die, not knowing when, or how.”

“I’m a selfish bastard for putting this burden on you. But I love you too much to deceive you. Put it out of your mind, darling, and hold me. Hold me, love me . . . make me forget.”

She turned her face to his, angled her nose alongside his and caressed his lips with her own, nibbling, stroking with her tongue, deepening the kiss and withdrawing.

“I’ll try, love. Oh, it’s been such an eventful day. Henry finally found the courage to take up for himself, thanks to your teaching, Kain. Ellie met a husband she thought had been dead for twenty years, and Primer Tass wasn’t killed after all. But even if the moon fell from the sky it wouldn’t mean more to me than this.”

All the adoration in her heart was given to him now. She murmured his name as her lips glided over his straight brows, short, thick eyelashes, cheeks rough with stubble, and over to his waiting mouth.

“Ah, love! Don’t stop!” His voice came huskily, tickling her ear. His hands kneaded her rounded bottom and pressed her tightly to the aroused length of him captured between their bellies. “I can’t get enough of you.” His leg glided off hers and his hand moved to spread her thighs. He lifted her with strong hands on her waist. When he settled her on him, she made a purring sound like that of a pleased kitten. “Just be still, sweetheart. Just be still.” His hands glided up over her hips to the sides of her breasts, which were flattened against his chest. He grasped her head and turned it so his lips could reach her mouth. “We fit perfectly, my love. We’re perfect together,” he said, breathing deeply. His voice was a shivering whisper that touched her very soul.

Much later, as she lay quietly beside him, he turned and buried his face in the curve of her neck like a child seeking comfort. She held him, stroked his thick brown hair back from his forehead, loving him, wanting him to feel loved. She tried to dismiss the feeling of impending heartache. In torment she tightened her arms around him and pressed her mouth to his forehead. She wondered if she would be able to bear the loneliness without him. It was lonely now, knowing he was going, she told herself, but how would it be when she knew he’d never . . . She rolled her head, not wanting to think about it. Finally she fell asleep, wishing the night would go on and on.

Saturday morning came, and everyone was up early and in a state of excitement. Kain was sure some of the guests would arrive by early afternoon. Ellie had set her jaw, called on her reserves, and gone through each day with bulldog tenacity. Now she was afraid she’d not have enough food and, after stirring up the cake, made a rice pudding. Vanessa and Mary Ben did last-minute cleaning.

The Hookers came to breakfast while John sat in the loft of the barn where he could see anything that moved within a half a mile of the house. They ate hurriedly so they could escape the kitchen where the floor had been scrubbed, the iron cookstove polished with stove black, the curtains washed, and the women were fussing with the cooking.

“Your clean shirts are on the hook by the door, Jeb,” Ellie called from the pantry. “Don’t slam the door when you go out. The cake will fall.”

“I warn’t goin’ to slam it nohow,” Jeb mumbled to his brother on the way to the barn.

The steer was ready to cook. Between the barn and the clump of pines that had worried Clay, another pit had been dug and lined with adobe bricks. A tin cover was fashioned to hold in the smoke, and hickory wood was stacked nearby. The brothers were pleased with their part in the gala event, and when not taking a turn in the loft to watch for Primer Tass, they were fussing around the pit.

Vanessa took Mary Ben upstairs to try on her wedding dress one more time to be sure the hem was right.

“I’m jist scared pea-green, Van. What with all them folks comin’ ’n all.”

Vanessa, on the floor with pins in her mouth, looked up at her worried young face.

“It is scary meeting a lot of folks for the first time. I’m a little scared, too. I keep wondering if Kain’s friends will like me. We’ll just be scared together, Mary Ben. Goodness, you’ll be as pretty as a picture, and Henry is so proud he’s about to burst his buttons.”

“I’m scared I ain’t got enough manners, ’n what if somebody asks me to write somethin’?”

“Oh, shoot! I forgot you’ll have to sign your marriage paper.” Vanessa stood. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. I’ll write your name on a paper, and you stay here in your room and copy it until you can write it. It doesn’t have to be good. No one will see it but you and Henry and the preacher. Later, I’ll teach you how to write all your letters. Now, off with the dress so we can get started.”

Vanessa went to the kitchen to report to Ellie.

“Poor child. Of course she would be embarrassed.” Ellie finished crimping the crust around a pie, moved it aside and began filling another pie shell. “I can’t think of anything else that has to be done except shake that rug you’re standing on. We all had baths last night, so our guests can use the tub tonight if they want. Don’t shake it, Vanessa, unless you put something over your hair. Goodness, we don’t want to have to wash it again.”

“Where’s Kain?”

“He and Henry are polishing boots. Good heavens! That man is beside himself. He’s so happy, he keeps grinning all the time. I think he feels better, too.” Ellie rolled out another crust and fitted it into a granite pie plate.

“I took the stitches out a couple of days ago—”

“That’s what I mean, dear,” Ellie said hastily. “He feels better now that the bandages are off.”

*  *  *

In the middle of the afternoon the first of the guests arrived. Kain stood on the porch, his face wreathed with smiles, as Cooper and Lorna Parnell rode in. He was in the yard before they could dismount and hurrying to lift Lorna from the saddle. Time hadn’t changed her. She wore britches and a pullover shirt belted at the waist, a blanket coat, and a flat-brimmed hat. Her black hair hung like a curtain about her shoulders and her violet eyes laughed down at him.

“Lorna! You’re as beautiful as ever.”

He set her on her feet and she reached up to hug him. “You’re just saying that because you’re getting married! I told Cooper I was half in love with you myself.”

“Don’t tell him that! He’ll shoot me.” He stuck out his hand to Cooper, who was still sitting his horse. “Glad to see you, Cooper. What’ve you got here?” A small dark-haired child with large blue eyes bashfully turned his face to his father’s coat. “Come here to me, young man, and let your pa get down off that tired old horse.” Kain lifted the child from where he sat in front of Cooper and Cooper got down. The child reached for his father and Cooper took him.

“He’s his papa’s boy, Kain,” Lorna said with a short happy laugh. “He doesn’t let his pa out of his sight if he can help it.”

“I’m glad you came early, Cooper. I’ve got a surprise for you that you’ll not believe.”

In the quiet of the barn, Kain told them about Ellie and Henry and their connection with Adam Clayhill. “She’s a nice woman, Cooper. She reminds me a lot of your ma. I wanted to warn you before you saw Henry. Even McCloud mistook him for you.”