New Frontier of Love (American Wilderness Series Romance Book 2) (28 page)

“I’ve learned what it’s like on the frontier and I know it won’t be easy. But every day I’m learning more and more about how to cope with it. If I go back, I won’t be allowed to marry for love. My father will force me to marry someone to further his own fortune. And that husband will expect me to be the dutiful wife and the perfect society woman. Do you want that for me Sam?”

“No.” Marrying another man was the last thing he wanted her to do.

“Neither do I. That’s not me and never will be. We both lost our old lives Sam. But we’re young, on a new frontier. So let’s leave those lives behind us. Put aside old wrongs and your old love. I haven’t fallen for an old warrior. I’m in love with you—a man with a brave strong heart.”

“But I
am
a warrior Catherine. That’s me and it always will be.”

And, he realized, the hardest battle he would ever fight might be this one—the one with his own heart.

“Sam, it’s time for you to lay your armor down. Let yourself be vulnerable for once in your life. Open yourself up to love.”

He tried to resurrect the anger her words suppressed. He was far more comfortable being angry than talking about love. But for the moment, the tenderness in her words and her gaze snuffed the flames of his rage like rain on fire.

“Everyone needs love Sam, just as surely as we need to breathe. A life without love is just as suffocating as lungs without air. We both know that.” She stepped closer to him.

“My life is suitable for only one thing—the one thing I’m good
at—fighting.”

“Then fight for a new life—for both of us. Fight for a chance to live Sam. Please give us a chance.”

He studied the blazing determination in her eyes for a long time. He did see love there. How he yearned to lay his armor down—to not feel the unceasing weight of it on his shoulders. And on his heart. Perhaps she was right. Her courage inspired him. Maybe there was a chance her love could make him whole again. Something deep inside flared, then spread, blazing through the fortress around his heart.

He clenched his jaw to stop the sob in his throat. “In the ‘Land of Tomorrow’?” he asked, his breath ragged, as he struggled for both air and love.

“No, in the land of today, starting
now
.” She spoke with quiet firmness and the sense of conviction that was part of her strong character. She stared with longing at him. The implication sent a wave of excitement surging through him.

The fire rising in his loins did make him want her
now
.

His gaze dropped from her eyes to her long neck to her breasts. His jaw was near cracking with the effort to control his growing desire. When he looked up, a rush of pink stained her lovely face. Her closeness was euphoric, drawing him in, until he was helpless to resist. She smelled like falls fresh water and he drank in the scent like a man dying of thirst. And like water rushing over a falls, his blood surged from his head to his toes and places between.

He quickly gave her the reins to his horse and started saddling hers. When he finished, he took both reins and led the horses behind them while they walked a short distance from camp. Then
he stopped abruptly and pulled her against his chest.

Clutching the reins against her back, he kissed her, roughly and hard, like the man he was. Then he kissed her again, softly and tenderly, like the man he wanted to be.

In an instant, her embrace changed something within him as a spark of hope kindled his heart.

He felt her tremble in his arms and her heart race wildly against his own heart.

He struggled to pull himself away from her luscious full lips. He wanted to cover her in kisses, head to toe, and back again. He wanted to love again. He wanted to love her.

He realized his life was floundering. He came to Kentucky looking for a new beginning. But maybe that new beginning wasn’t just a place. Maybe it was this woman. When he arrived here, he attributed his new sense of hope to the place—to the tranquil river, the verdant meadows, and rolling hills. But it wasn’t Kentucky that had reached his soul.

It was Catherine.

He handed her the reins to her horse. “Mount up. Let’s go somewhere where we can talk in private,” he said huskily and then helped her into her saddle.

Maybe I
can
fight for love, he decided. He stepped into the stirrup and threw his leg over Alex’s big back.

In that glorious moment, the moment between the past and the future, Sam felt braver than he ever had before.

CHAPTER 26

“I
’ll not try another friendly pat on the back, but I’d be honored to shake yer hand,” Bear told Jonathan as the man prepared to leave.

“And me knees are thankin’ you for that,” Jonathan replied with a broad smile.

After Bear and the others thanked Jonathan, Judge Webb told the Irishman that he was free to leave and thanked him for his testimony. He assured the two brothers that Foley would never know who the witness was and that he would promptly turn the traitor over to the military for further investigation and hopefully prosecution as well.

“Wait,” Stephen called after the O’Reilly brothers as they turned their mounts toward town. He grabbed a jug of whiskey and hurried back to the two waiting on their horses. “A small token of our gratitude.”

“A jug of whiskey is never a small thing. May the Lord bless ye and may the roads ye travel all lead to happiness,” a smiling Jonathan said and then he waved goodbye.

“I’ll wait here for a short while if you don’t mind, I don’t want anyone to see me with the O’Reillys,” Judge Webb said.

Stephen handed the Judge a cup of coffee. “What’s your decision?” Stephen asked, wasting no time getting to the point.

Judge Webb inhaled the fragrant aroma, took a sip, and then explained why it was imperative to get not only O’Reilly’s testimony, but another witness as well. “Treason under the constitution consists of either levying war against the United States or siding with her enemies. It requires two witnesses to the act of treason for conviction. I will personally deliver O’Reilly’s affirmation of Foley’s identity to the military at Logan’s Fort. Foley is clearly a traitor and probably a murderer and rapist as well. I just need more proof of his crimes. Consider the charges against you and Sam dismissed, of course. By the way, where is the Captain?”

“He left a few minutes ago,” Bear said without further explanation. He realized Sam was suffering. The Captain was not a man easily hurt, but Bear had just seen angry waves of remembered heartache roll across Sam’s rugged face before he had turned away from the others. He was pleased when he saw Catherine follow Sam.

He had already accepted that she belonged with Sam, not him. The two needed each other. Bear hoped Catherine could ease the Captain’s old heartache. Only a woman could cure that kind of wound. He just didn’t know if Sam would let her. A pain that deep was slow to ebb away. The Captain’s hurt had turned to scars that were long, deep, and ugly. And maybe permanent. He hoped Catherine could see past the scars. He had a good feeling that she would.

Bear refilled the Judge’s coffee and then poured himself a cup,
shaking his head in empathy for Sam.

“I’ll take some of that too,” William said holding out his cup, “although I could use something stronger. We do have reason to celebrate. I’ve won my first case.”

“I do na feel much like celebratin’,” Bear said sharply.

They all looked puzzled as Bear sipped the lukewarm brew. Suddenly, the coffee tasted bitter and he threw the rest into the fire. “I’ll explain on the way to town,” he said, his voice matching the angry hissing of his coffee hitting the hot rocks circling the cook fire.

They left, and took their time getting to town, passing stands of loblolly and Virginia pines so thick it would be difficult to ride a horse through. The humid air seemed even heavier with the thick scent of pine. Bear kept one eye on the gloomy woods as they rode their horses side by side. He explained that the young woman who died so tragically in the supply store fire had been Sam’s first and only love, and that Sam had never stopped loving her.

He also made clear the significance of the big knife and its handsome deer horn handle. He told them that he had just seen Sam about to leave looking mad enough to kill, but somehow Catherine managed to stop him.

“I can understand how all this has dredged up the past for Sam. And that traitor in the jail deserves to die every bit as much as the one Sam hunted,” Stephen hissed, “even if he wasn’t the same man.”

“Don’t worry, my guess is the turncoat doesn’t have much time left on this earth,” Judge Webb assured him.

“If Sam gets anywhere near the man, he’ll have even less time,” Stephen said heatedly. “I’m amazed Catherine was able to stop
him.”

Bear wasn’t surprised, but didn’t say so. He realized how much Sam meant to Catherine, and how much she could mean to him if the Captain would just let her release his broken heart.

“What little time Foley has should be spent facing his crimes,” William said. “We owe that to all the innocent people Foley has harmed or killed. Justice requires that. Only the law can rightly take a man’s life from him in punishment.”

“True enough,” Judge Webb agreed, “but sometimes, especially on the frontier, the Almighty uses men to dispense His own form of justice. Justice is not limited to the confines of a courtroom.”

Bear agreed wholeheartedly with the Judge.

As they reached the edge of town, Constable Mitchell ran up to them, his pimpled complexion covered in sweat. The look of panic on his face told them everything they needed to know before the nervous constable blurted it out. “He’s gone. He’s gone. Bud took my pistol. Said he’d shoot me through the gut and skin me like a buffalo if I didn’t let his brother loose.”

The Judge spat. “I should have known better than to leave that Satan’s bastard with one as green as you.”

Bear saw Mitchell bite his lip and look down at the splatter in the dust and suspected the young man felt about that low. He sympathized with the young man. Constable Mitchell was lucky he was na killed. The Judge should be disgusted as much with himself as the constable. Handlin’ a prisoner like Foley was beyond this boy’s ability.

“How long ago?” William asked the constable.

“Thirty minutes, maybe longer. I’ve been looking for you
Judge, to find out what to do.”

“Which direction did they ride?” the Judge asked impatiently.

Mitchell quickly pointed northwest, in the direction of the river.

The men turned their horses, back toward the campsite, leaving a thick cloud of dust behind them to settle on the constable.

“If Foley has harmed a member of my family, I will kill him,” Stephen shouted to the Judge as they rode. “I don’t give a damn what justice requires.”

“If he has, you have my permission,” Judge Webb yelled back, “if I don’t shoot Foley first myself.”

CHAPTER 27

C
atherine couldn’t believe the passion and then tenderness she had felt in Sam’s kisses. She expected that he would be stunningly virile, and awaken her as a woman, but the startling sensations he created within her were even more powerful than she had ever imagined. Now she understood for a certainty that an essential part had been missing from her first marriage.

A strange inner elation filled her. Her heart had leapt at his touch. His embrace, filled with longing and possessiveness, left her glowing inside with joy and desire. She recalled the ecstasy she felt as he held her tightly against his hard body. She wanted to feel more of that. Much more.

As she rode, her fingers ached to reach over and touch him. She guessed she was not the only one with that particular longing as she became aware of his unabashed assessment of her body. His broad shoulders and chest were almost heaving as he appraised her.

With a giddy sense of amusement, she let her happiness show. She wanted him to find her desirable. As desirable as she found
him.

Just as they left, his keen, probing eyes had searched hers, looking for love. Looking for hope. At long last, she had succeeded in steering him away from his desire for vengeance, to a desire for her. At least for the moment. She had no illusions. His anger still simmered, just below the surface. He carefully controlled his wrath for now. But for how long? A man like the Captain didn’t just forget and walk away. And she couldn’t blame him. Traitors were murderers.

How many men, women, and children fell to the British because of traitors like Frazier and Foley? She wanted to run a blade from heart to groin through Foley herself. The despicable man deserved nothing less.

And she couldn’t expect Sam to love her until he could leave his old love behind. And she now understood that doing so was plainly linked to him finding justice for the young woman’s death.

But the price of exacting vengeance would be high. Sam could not kill Foley without becoming a murderer himself. He might even lose his own life. The other buffalo hunters would come after Sam. Dread filled her heart.

The thought of losing him in a battle with those buffalo hunters suddenly turned her hot blood icy. Her pulse quickened at the terrifying thought and she tried to suppress the knot hardening in her belly. She looked over at Sam to reassure herself. He was a magnificent warrior. He had fought many battles and survived them all. He had more courage than any man she had ever known. There was no water in his blood.

And he was smart and shrewd. He wouldn’t do anything foolish. And his brothers and Bear would all stand by him.

That loathsome man and his cohorts didn’t stand a chance.

She studied Sam’s tanned rugged features, as he looked ahead now. It felt good riding beside him in the summer sun, miles and miles of waving grass ahead of them. Yet, a silent sadness lingered on his face. No, he definitely had not abandoned the idea of revenge. She saw it there again, warring with the feelings she was trying to help him feel. She could almost see the skirmish in his mind as his jaw muscles quivered and his lips tightened on his face.

He could face any foe, but could he face love?

She also sensed his vulnerability. He wanted to believe her, but he needed to trust her first. Only then could he set his heart free.