Flint Hills Bride (16 page)

It took Emily a moment to find her voice. “Well, I’m a little worried about ruining a borrowed dress so, would you do the honors?”

She turned her back, and he moved her slightly for better light. “Hmm, a million buttons, I see.” He loosened the top one and planted a kiss at the nape of her neck. “I feel like I’m opening a Christmas present early.”

Emily bit her lip to keep from giggling. Her stomach seemed to be filled with butterflies. She felt a second kiss on her back an inch below the first, followed quickly by a third an inch lower still. With each button, his kisses worked down her back. Even through her undergarments, his lips felt hot and moist. The suppressed giggle turned into a moan. By the time he slipped the gown off her shoulders she was ready to believe there
had
been a million buttons.

The dress pooled at her feet. She knew she should step out of it and put it on the hanger. She wasn’t sure her legs would cooperate. If Jake hadn’t come around and taken her hand, encouraging her to step toward him, she might have collapsed onto the floor just like the dress.

He led her to the bed, where she gratefully sat down, and he hung up her dress. “You did that very well, too,” she murmured.

He grinned at her, looking more wicked than she
had ever seen her Jake. Obviously he knew he was turning her into a pile of jelly.

“Now the shoes,” he said. And he untied them, one then the other, slowly slipping them off her feet and setting them aside. His fingers trailed up one leg, starting at the ankle, all the way up to the top of her stocking, then slowly back down, bringing the stocking along. When he started up the second leg, she found the anticipation almost more than she could stand.

When both stockings had been removed, she gave a great quivering sigh, wondering what he planned next. After a moment, she realized her eyes were closed and opened them to find him grinning down at her.

“Here is where it gets difficult. All this feminine mystery.” He indicated her petticoats and corset. “I don’t know how they come off.”

“Good,” she said, feeling a little of her reason returning. “Because I think it’s time you caught up.”

She stood and slipped her hands under the lapels of his suit jacket and ran them slowly up to his shoulders, forcing the jacket up and off. She slipped her hands down his arms, enjoying the flex of hard muscles until the jacket hit the floor. “We should hang that—”

She didn’t get any farther. His lips were on hers, teasing them open. His tongue slipped inside, stroking her senseless again.

When he finally raised his head, she gasped for breath. “Where were we?” she murmured.

“Here,” he said, lowering his lips to hers again.

Well, he certainly had the kissing figured out. If he
could make her feel like this first, she didn’t think she would mind the rest.

This time when he raised his head, it took her more than a moment to collect herself. She sighed. And he grinned.

“Pleased with yourself, aren’t you?” Some of the teasing was lost in the breathlessness of her voice.

“Pleased with you,” he said. He pulled the end of the string tie and loosened his collar. “Buttons,” he said.

She hadn’t thought about this when she had been so bold about removing his jacket. He had buttons on his shirt and would expect the same treatment he had given her.

Her cheeks warmed a little at the prospect. She caught a light in his eyes reminiscent of a much younger Jake daring her to try something. She stepped forward, opening his shirt at the throat, and deposited a quick kiss. Her lips encountered smooth warm skin where she had expected cotton.

Perhaps he hadn’t had any clean underwear. It seemed too intimate a question to ask. The incongruity of that thought, considering what she was doing, nearly made her laugh.

She flicked the next button open and kissed the exposed skin. There were a few soft hairs she would want to explore later. She continued her journey downward over his hard chest and lean stomach, until she was stopped by the waist of his trousers.

She drew away as he yanked the tails free. She worked the last few buttons loose. Sometime while she was occupied, he had slipped the suspenders off, and they dangled at his thighs. She drew the shirt over
his shoulders exposing a broad expanse of chest. She spread her fingers and ran them through the mat of hair, being careful not to touch his nipples. That would have been too forward.

He lifted her chin with a fingertip and captured her lips again. The fire had scarcely subsided from the last time, and she moaned, clinging to his bare arms for support.

“Now,” he said, when his lips had freed hers. “It’s your turn again. Show me how all these ruffles are removed so I’ll know next time.”

Something deep in her stomach gave an excited lurch at the notion of a future filled with this sort of activity. He grinned at her, and she remembered what she had been asked to do.

“This has buttons,” she said, indicating her corset. She sucked in to make it possible to undo them through the stiff fabric. She sighed with relief when she was free.

Jake took the garment and tossed it aside. “It looks uncomfortable.”

“It makes me sit up straight.”

“I would imagine. Now the rest.”

Emily had to laugh. “You even sound like a little boy at Christmas.”

He demonstrated his impatience by grabbing her shoulders and branding her with another searing kiss.

When he let her go, she had to clear her throat twice before she could speak. “These tie here,” she croaked. Her hands were shaking. She found the ribbons at her waist and untied all three petticoats, letting them drop to the floor as one.

She stood now in her loose shift, wrinkled from the
tighter garments she wore over it. She thought she should feel chilled, being left with so little, but she found herself heating under his appreciative gaze. The fire, and hence its light, was to her back, she realized.

He was standing in his boots and pants. Of course, she didn’t expect him to open the latter until he was ready to…

She found herself biting her lip. She had been having so much fun she shouldn’t have ruined it by thinking about later. Still, Jake was smiling at her so she tried not to worry.

“Can you take that off?” he asked.

“Jake.” Surely he didn’t mean for her to stand in front of him completely naked!

“It won’t be the first time I’ve seen your bare skin.”

She gave a nervous laugh. “If you’re remembering the time I escaped from the bath, and you were the one who brought me back to the kitchen, it doesn’t count. I’ve changed a little since I was three.”

“You can’t possibly remember that.”

“No,” she said, putting one fist on her hip. “I just heard about it often enough.”

He laughed, a deep husky laugh that didn’t sound at all like Jake. “I was thinking of Americus.” He crossed the short distance between them. “You were in the tub. Asleep.” His fingers were in her hair, scattering pins along with her thoughts. “But there were bubbles, and it was dark. I want a better view.”

Distracted by the feel of her hair tumbling down her back, she didn’t realize he had untied the drawstring at the neck of her shift until she felt him ease
it over her shoulders. The shift joined the pile of petticoats at her feet.

His exasperated sigh made her giggle. She still wore a pair of ruffly drawers.

“I think women’s clothes are designed for the sole purpose of frustrating men,” he said. “But I’ll try to be patient.”

The length of one finger rubbed the underside of a breast. It seemed to swell toward him. Her breath stopped in her throat, and she swayed. Strong arms caught her waist and steadied her. In a moment she found her breasts flattened against the hard muscles of his chest, her nipples tickled by his hair. His lips were working their magic again.

The next moment, she felt her drawers slip past her hips. He had found the ribbons easily now that he knew what he was looking for.

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He laid her down gently and kissed her lips thoroughly then pulled her arms from around his neck. “I’ll be right back.”

She groaned in protest, but he was already gone. She opened her eyes and found him across the room, sitting to remove his boots. She couldn’t pull her eyes away as he stood and reached for the closure of his trousers.

“More buttons,” he offered, coming toward the bed.

Emily gasped. He wasn’t serious! She could feel her cheeks flaming.

“That’s all right,” he whispered, bending to kiss her lips. “I can do it myself. You can do it another time.”

She didn’t know whether to be relieved by the reprieve or appalled by the promise. His lips settled over hers, and she forgot entirely what was bothering her.

When she opened her eyes again he had dropped his pants, revealing cotton drawers. Emily mimicked his earlier sigh, drawing his attention. She was rewarded with a wicked grin. The drawers, she realized, left little to the imagination. They fit the contours of his hips and thighs, and displayed evidence of the effects of their undressing games and kisses.

While she watched, he shed the last garment and climbed into bed beside her. She got barely more than a glimpse of his erect member. Now, she thought, bracing herself.

Instead, he took one puckered nipple in his mouth and teased it harder with his tongue. Emily felt as if she had spent an hour spiraling off to the heavens and settling back to earth. As he leisurely toyed with her breast an odd impatience built at the juncture of her legs. Desire was playing with her senses, she decided, promising her pleasure she knew better than to expect.

It felt too wonderful for her to try to fight it, though, even if it meant increased disappointment later. She closed her eyes and let the sensations sweep her away. She felt the mattress sag as he shifted his position, bringing his mouth to the neglected nipple.

Hot liquid need replaced the impatience. She found herself clinging to Jake, calling his name.

Exactly how he had insinuated himself between her legs she wasn’t sure, but she felt his manhood nudge
against her womanhood. Too enthralled to think clearly, she thrust upward, drawing him inside.

The sensation was impossibly new. His member glided in, filling her senses the way his kisses did. He moved slowly, whispering things she couldn’t understand in her ear. She felt herself tremble all over.

In frustration, she wrapped her legs around his thighs and pulled him deeper, bucking up against him. She was spinning off to the heavens again, this time so quickly she had the fleeting thought that she might not come back. She heard Jake’s cry mingle with her own.

Then something seemed to burst inside her. All the tension in her body released at once and she was floating, lost and uncaring. And then she settled back, not the disappointing return of her senses, but a most beautiful, peaceful return.

Jake had collapsed on top of her, his body still except for his pounding heart and labored breath. His head was on her shoulder, and she threaded her fingers through his damp hair. He murmured something incomprehensible, and she smiled.

She had thought to give him a gift and ended up with a surprise of her own.

He rolled off her in a moment, his groan making her giggle. “Be good,” he scolded, drawing her toward him to nestle against his shoulder.

She wondered if she should tell him that it had been so much better than anything she had experienced with Anson, but he probably didn’t want to think of Anson now. Someday, she promised herself.

She snuggled close, preparing to sleep, too tired to want to get up and blow out the lamp. But after dozing
for what seemed like only a few minutes, she woke to find his hand caressing the curve of her hip, the swell of her breast. And she found herself wanting him again. To her surprise, the feeling was mutual and they began a slow exploration of each other’s bodies, until they were both hot and hungry.

The second time seemed even more explosive than the first and left them both exhausted. They wrapped themselves in each other’s arms and slept.

A light tap on the door woke Jake just before dawn.

J
ake tried to ignore the tapping. Maybe it was his imagination. He snuggled closer to Emily’s warm body.

The knock came again, just a little louder. Whoever it was, was going to wake Emily, too, if he kept at it. Jake drew his arm from under her head and climbed carefully out of bed. He grabbed up his drawers and stepped into them as he crossed the room.

He slid his pistol free of the holster and opened the door a crack. It was the sheriff.

“Get your clothes on. We found Berkeley.”

A moment later Jake was staring into an empty hallway.

Berkeley. Did he care anymore? His first impulse was to crawl back into bed.

But Berkeley had used Emily and betrayed her. Here was his chance to bring the man to justice.

He left the door open a couple of inches to let some light from the hall sconces into the room. As he dressed quickly he whispered, “Emily.”

She gave a soft murmur. It sounded so content he had to smile.

“Emily, I’m going with the sheriff to bring in Berkeley. I should be back by…well, I don’t know when I’ll be back. Just wait here for me.”

She mumbled something. The only word he recognized was his own name.

By now he was strapping on his gun belt. “Did you hear me, darling?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

It sounded affirmative. He slipped to the bedside and kissed her cheek. She murmured a response, her lips curling in a sleepy smile. He grabbed up his coat and, as an afterthought, his saddlebags, and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Outside he found the sheriff mounted and waiting. His own mare was saddled and tied to a hitching post. The moment the sheriff saw Jake he turned his horse into the street and headed out of town. Jake tied on his saddlebags and caught up with him in a few minutes.

The town they left behind was still asleep, shrouded by a fresh layer of snow. The first hint of the sun, veiled by gray clouds, was on the horizon. The sheriff headed southwest across open country.

“Here’s the deal. The Reeves boy came to my house. His pa caught a thief red-handed and winged him. Reeves is holding him at gunpoint. I sent the doctor on ahead. I thought you’d like to be in on the arrest since the thief matches the description of your boy.”

“I appreciate it.”

The sheriff grinned. “You looked like you appreciated it when you opened the door.”

Jake chuckled. “It’s damn cold out here, Sheriff. Especially compared to where I was.”

The sheriff laughed.

After a time Jake asked, “Where’s the Reeveses’ place?”

“Not too far. It’s one of the dots on your map you never got to.”

“Figured as much,” Jake mumbled. “Where’s the boy, by the way?”

“At my house. The missus is feeding him breakfast.”

Jake nodded his approval. The boy, at least, was out of harm’s way. “What about the rest of the family? Who all’s there?”

The sheriff turned to look at him. “You think this fella might be dangerous? I just figured him for a sneak-thief.”

“He’s wanted for assault in Topeka. And any desperate man is dangerous.”

“You got a point. As far as I know, all that’s there is the couple.”

It was full light by the time they rode into the farmyard. The doctor’s horse was tied out front. The sheriff and Jake dismounted, tying their horses nearby. The sheriff, seeing no need for caution, stepped up to the door, but Jake made a quick scan of the yard, noting several outbuildings and a woodpile.

A middle-aged woman opened the door. “Sheriff! Thank God!” She turned, motioning him inside. Jake followed the sheriff.

“Reeves! What the hell happened?” The sheriff hurried to the doctor’s side.

Jake put the pieces together quickly. Berkeley had somehow turned the tables on Reeves, injuring the farmer in the process. It was he who the doctor had found in need of his services.

While the farmer tried to explain the details to the sheriff, Jake started toward the door, intending to take a look around. The sound of running hooves propelled him forward. He stepped out on the porch in time to see his white mare disappear over a hill.

He came to a decision quickly. Without a backward glance, he vaulted into the saddle of the sheriffs horse and took off after the fugitive.

The sheriff was only a little slower than Jake. He stood in the doorway, gaping as his own horse disappeared. He swore eloquently for a full minute.

“Reeves! You got a horse?” he demanded as he turned back into the house.

“I got a mule,” responded the injured farmer.

The sheriff let loose another string of oaths before he remember Mrs. Reeves’s presence. “Pardon me, ma’am,” he muttered. “Doc. I gotta take your horse.”

“Try and I’ll shoot you down.” The doctor didn’t even look up.

“Ah, come on, Doc. I gotta go after that thief.”

“Patients could die while I’m stranded here. Besides, I believe the deputy already took off after the thief.”

“The deputy took my horse! That’s the darned thief I’m going after!”

“I got a mule,” the farmer offered again.

“What about the blond boy’s horse? I’ll take it.”

“It’s lame. That’s why he stopped here. He was going to take my money
and
my mule, I reckon.”

The sheriff opened his mouth, caught the look of disapproval on Mrs. Reeves’s face and closed it again. He looked at Doc’s uncompromising frown, then at Reeves’s hopeful smile. “Ah, hell, a mule.”

Emily awoke slowly as the first rays of light crept through the window. She felt more at peace than she had since she was a child. She smiled dreamily. “Jake,” she murmured.

She rolled over to snuggle against him and discovered she was alone in the bed.

She sat up, looking around the room. His clothes, which he had scattered on the floor with her petticoats, were gone. She fell back against the bed. Perhaps he had gone down for breakfast. The mere thought made her stomach lurch. Being married hadn’t ended her morning sickness.

But she was probably right He knew she couldn’t stand food this early, and he had let her sleep while he went down to the dining room.

She sat up again, swinging her legs slowly over the side of the bed, anticipating the brief dizzy spell. She would get dressed and gather her things so she would be ready to go when he returned. She didn’t know if Jake would want to ride home or take the longer but easier train trip.

She found her drawers and shift, smiling as she remembered how they had been removed the night before. She was in the process of folding the borrowed petticoats when her eyes fell on the chair by
the door. The gun belt was gone. Jake might have decided to wear it, even down to breakfast. But the coat was also gone.

She tried to tell herself that he was out buying train tickets or on some other errand. She shook her head. The gun and coat weren’t all that was missing. The saddlebags were gone. She was positive she had seen them on the floor, under the chair.

Perhaps he had moved them when he got dressed. She quickly searched the room, but the bags were gone. In fact, Jake had taken everything of his with him.

She stood for several long minutes in complete bewilderment. “He’s done it again. How could he do this? After last night, how could he just abandon me?”

The hurt finally gave way to anger, and she hurriedly gathered up the rest of the borrowed garments, leaving them on the bed. She jerked the riding skirt out of the carpetbag along with a blouse, muttering all the while. “Does he think he can just leave me here? Hasn’t he learned anything yet?”

She threw the last of her things together and tied her reticule at her waist. She was down to just a few coins, but Jake didn’t know that. She half expected to find a train ticket waiting for her downstairs.

After checking at the desk and finding no messages, she hurried past the doors to the dining room, then retraced her steps. She needed to check, just in case. Holding her breath, she peered inside. There were only a few early diners. None was Jake.

She withdrew, muttering. “When I catch him this time—well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but he’ll wish
he hadn’t abandoned me again.” She had to hold on to her anger or she would cry of disappointment.

She was outside, crossing the frozen street to the livery stable, before she thought about going to the sheriff. She considered it only a moment She was a little afraid of the sheriff even if neither Jake nor Hannah seemed to be.

The stable was dark, but she found a lantern and a box of matches and soon had a light. Technically she was trespassing, she reminded herself. She walked cautiously down the length of the barn, checking all the stalls. Her gelding was there, but Jake’s mare was not.

“Darn that man anyway,” she muttered.

“You talkin’ ’bout me?”

Emily jumped, nearly dropping the lantern. A short, potbellied man stood watching her, rubbing his whiskered face. The red legs of his union suit were visible beneath the hem of his long coat.

“Do you work here?” she asked.

“I own the place,” he corrected indignantly. “I live next door and seen the light. You wantin’ your horse? It’s the bay gelding, right?”

Emily ignored the question. “When did Jake Rawlins come get his white mare?”

The man moved past her to an empty stall. After a moment he turned back to her. “Sometime in the night, I reckon.”

Emily sighed in exasperation. “Did you talk to him, or see him go?”

“Nope.”

“Great. Yes, I’ll need my gelding.”

He had the nerve to smile. “I’ll have him saddled in just a minute.”

Emily was too impatient to stand and watch. She stepped back to the door and looked over the town. There were only a few people moving about, shuffling their feet through the snow on the boardwalk.

On sudden inspiration, Emily turned to look back at the door to the livery stable. There were her prints, two sets now, the liveryman’s, and possibly others, all mixed together. But there was only one set of horse’s prints. She stepped away from the building and looked up and down the street. Only one path had been made through the snow. She wasn’t a tracker, but she knew enough to follow that path.

When the horse was finally saddled and her bag tied on behind, the liveryman helped her aboard. She eagerly kicked the horse into motion.

“The boarding’s on the house,” the man called after her.

“Thank you,” she called back, more grateful than he could know. She had forgotten that she might owe the man money.

Out of town, she found herself following two parallel trails. Was someone with Jake? Or following him?

Perhaps the sheriff had seen him leave town and was in pursuit She smiled to herself. It would serve Jake right to tangle with the sheriff again.

Her enjoyment didn’t last long. The sheriff might actually harm Jake. She kicked her horse to greater speed. She had to catch up with them.

Emily stopped once to study the tracks; they told her next to nothing. She couldn’t tell how fast Jake
and the second rider had been going. But she could see the trail clearly in the snow to where it dipped below a rise. Looking beyond it, she thought she caught a glimpse of a white horse on the next hill.

“Jake?” she breathed.

When she crested the rise, she realized the horse was coming toward her at a run. Alarm cut through her. What would make Jake push his mount that way? She drew up, looking around for someplace for her and Jake to take a stand against whatever hounds of hell were after him.

It wasn’t until the horse was almost upon her that she studied the rider. She had been so sure she recognized the horse that she hadn’t noticed that the coat and hat were too pale to be Jake’s. She recognized the rider only a moment before he pulled up beside her.

“Emily.” He was breathing hard and it took him a moment to say anything more. “This is quite a surprise.”

To be confronted with Anson now when she was expecting Jake nearly knocked the wind out of her lungs. Truth to tell, he was the last person she wanted to meet. And he was riding Jake’s horse! Terror washed over her. Where was Jake?

She tried to get the question past her clogged throat Anson’s presence was of course the reason Jake had left her. How could she have thought he had abandoned her? Jake had
always
been there for her, even when she was a little girl. And now he might be dead!

Anson glanced over his shoulder, and Emily realized the drumming she had taken to be her pounding
heart was really an approaching horse. Anson grabbed Emily’s reins out of her hands. He drew her horse close to his and wrapped the reins around his saddle horn.

“Do exactly what I tell you,” he said, closing his fingers tightly around her arm. “You can explain how you got here, later.”

Jake came to an earth-plowing halt several feet away.

“Damned if it isn’t the deputy from the train.” Emily could see Anson had a pistol drawn, half-concealed in his coat.

“Let her go, Berkeley.”

Berkeley laughed. “You don’t understand. She may be an old friend of yours, but she’s my woman. I left her behind to delay you. Not that I think much of the job she did.”

She wanted to warn Jake that Berkeley had a gun. The warning might be enough to make Berkeley fire it, though. Not knowing what would be the best thing to do, she sat still, nearly frozen in terror as Anson’s fingers dug into her arm.

“Get off the horse, Deputy,” Anson said. When Jake hesitated, he brought the gun up into view. Jake dismounted. “Now show me how far you can throw your gun.”

Emily saw Jake hesitate again. Slowly he withdrew his pistol and tossed it aside.

“Emily,” Anson said, releasing her arm to return her reins. “Ride over and bring his horse back.”

Emily kneed the gelding forward, wondering if there was some way she could help Jake, something she wasn’t seeing. Her eyes met Jake’s, but if he gave
her any kind of signal, she didn’t understand it.
Please God, don’t let Anson shoot him.

She rode back to Anson, the horse in tow, and he motioned her to keep going. She didn’t want to leave Jake, but anything she might do could make matters worse. She didn’t go but a few feet before she turned in the saddle. “Come on, Anson,” she called. “Just leave him out here.”