Solitary Horseman (13 page)

“What are we doing?” she asked, laughing a little under her breath.

“Hiding from nosy women,” he whispered as his big hands moved up her arms to her shoulders. He backed her up against the wall. “Be quiet.”

Her heartbeats accelerated more and her breathing quickened, titillated by the shadowy interior, the subterfuge, and his touch. His gaze moved slowly over her bonnet. He slid it back off her hair and then leaned forward, breathing in deeply.

“You smell like wildflowers,” he whispered near her ear, the brim of his hat tapping against her temple. Moving back a little, he removed it and tossed it onto a milk stool. “Quiet, little mouse,” he mouthed. Her pulses thrummed as a fire licked under her skin. He closed the narrow distance between them and her breasts bumped against his hard chest. His breath feathered over her face again, stirring the tendrils of hair at her temples and forehead.

“Wh-what are we . . . what is this?” she stammered.

His big hands framed her face. “This is my breaking point.”

Callum ran his thumbs over her cheekbones and then dipped in for a soft, seeking kiss, his lips clinging to hers and peeling way slowly . . . oh so slowly.

It was heavenly, but too brief. She wanted another taste, so she leaned into him and he braced his hands on either side of her head against the wall, pressing her against it. He took her mouth again, murmuring her name between slow, savoring kisses, and it felt as if her heart melted into a puddle in her chest.

She moaned as the tip of his tongue painted her lips. He ran his hands down her arms while his mouth traveled across her jaw and into the nook of her neck. A shiver of delight pebbled her skin. “Whatever game this is . . . you’re not playing fair,” she whispered.

“I’m not playing.”

Oh, no, he wasn’t. His kisses grew bolder and deeper and then his fingers stole through her hair. He groaned into her mouth and she thought she might explode with desire for him. She wrapped her arms around his middle. He felt so strong and solid and he made her feel soft and more feminine than she’d ever felt in her life.

“Callllummm! Callllummm!”

His head bobbed up and his gaze jerked to the barn door.

“That’s Sadie calling for you,” Banner teased him, recognizing the voice. “You promised her the first dance.”

He gripped her upper arms and moved her sideways under the loft, further away from the doorway. A barn cat hissed and raced away from them.

“You’re not going to honor your promise?” Banner asked with a snide grin.

He leaned into her until his lips brushed the top of her ear. “I didn’t come here to dance.” He placed a fingertip against her mouth and his eyes warned her to remain quiet as the sound of footsteps drew nearer.

“Callum? Calllummm?” Sadie called from somewhere nearby.

“Sadie?” Someone new called out.

Banner arched a brow. She mouthed the name
Lilah,
and Callum nodded, keeping his forefinger against her lips.

“What are you doing?” Lilah asked.

“Looking for Callum. Someone said they saw him walking this away a few minutes ago and that Payne girl was following him.”

“Well, he won’t be with
her
,” Lilah said. “Callum would never stoop that low. He’s got her looking after his pa and cooking and cleaning for him, but everybody knows he’s after her land. Once he wrests it from her, he’ll kick her out of his way quick enough.”

Callum’s gaze sharpened and Banner looked away, suddenly feeling exposed, vulnerable, and foolish. His fingers curled around her chin and he forced her eyes to meet his again. His brow had furrowed and he shook his head, silently telling her not to believe her own ears.

“I don’t know how he can tolerate being around those Paynes, can you?” Sadie lamented. “That Hollis makes my skin crawl! He’s loco, if you ask me. And she’s as rough as a corncob!”

“Cal and his brothers always had a cur dog or two and they . . .” Lilah’s voice grew fainter until Banner couldn’t hear the words that had sliced her like shards of glass. Sadie’s giggle drifted in on the breeze and Banner shivered. She ducked under his arm, putting distance between them.

“We should go.” She ran her hand across her burning eyes.

“You don’t believe what they said, do you?”

She loosened the tie under her chin and repositioned her bonnet onto her head. “Are you saying that you don’t want your cattle drinking from Mossy Springs?”

“No.” He propped his hands at his waist in a belligerent stance. “A dependable water source is worth a lot to any cattleman.”

She tightened the bow under her chin and walked with as much decorum as she could muster across the hay strewn ground and out into the sunlight again. Her insides trembled and her heart ached a little with each beat. Was everyone snickering behind her back, thinking that Callum was pulling the wool over her eyes?

Not trusting herself to speak again with a ball of hot emotion clogging her throat, she climbed up onto the wagon seat and waited for Callum to tighten Pansy’s traces and check the hitch before he sat beside her. He slapped the reins against Pansy’s back and steered the wagon into a tight turn.

“Hey, hey!” Sadie’s voice split the air. “Where you going?
You’re not leaving!
”

Sadie walked briskly in their direction, waving a lacy handkerchief over her head to snag Callum’s attention. Lilah was right behind her. In response to her shouting at him, Callum only touched the brim of his hat and gave a nod as he steered the wagon off the grass and onto the road.

Gripping the side rail as the wagon wheels jostled into the ruts, Banner turned sideways a little, away from Callum. She caught sight of Sadie’s murderous glare before tree trunks obscured it. In spite of her stinging feelings, a wicked smile raced across her lips.

“You thinking I’m trying to finagle your land away from you and Hollis shows just how little you know of me.”

Amazement and aggravation swirled inside of her. “Just how in tarnation am I supposed to know you when you hardly ever say more than ten words to me?” She puffed out a breath. “And why were you kissing me back there? I don’t understand this –” She motioned from her to him and back again.

He made a face to illustrate his irritation and actually rolled his eyes. The juvenile response added to her irritation toward him.

“Do you think I’m a woman of loose morals?” she demanded.

“What?” He looked utterly baffled. “Why would I think that?”

“Well, you keep grabbing me and kissing me like you’ve earned the right.”

“If you don’t like it, say so.” He waited a few heartbeats and when she didn’t say anything, he said, “I told you that I think you’re pretty.” He turned his face away from her as if he didn’t want her to read his expression. “And I’m sure as hell not aiming to steal your land.”

She closed her eyes, still shaken by her inability to tell him that she didn’t want his kisses. Moistening her lips, she could still taste him. Mint and cinnamon. Passion and sin. “I don’t truly believe that’s what you’re doing,” she confessed. “What bothers me is that everyone else believes it.”

“Why do you care? It’s none of their damned business.”

“Easy for you to say. You and your family are like royalty around here.”

“That’s bull.”

“It’s the gospel truth and you know it.” She winced inwardly at the slight tremble in her voice. “People look up to you and your kin. It’s different for me. Like at the barbecue. Folks greeted you, but not me.”

“Now that’s just not . . .” The rest of his objection died on his tongue. His green gaze flickered to her. “They aren’t used to seeing you around, that’s all.”

“They didn’t fling open their arms in a big, old ‘howdy there, stranger’, did they?”

He stared at Pansy’s bobbing head for a minute before giving a shrug. “They sure as hell don’t treat me like royalty. If they did, they’d listen to me and wouldn’t be talking about shooting and stringing up Indians and Yankees and anyone else they don’t trust.”

That shored up her defenses again. “Will they hurt Mary and her family?”

“If they do, there will be hell to pay from me. I told them that, too. Left no doubt about it. Eller sitting there like some judge spouting law. I wanted to skin him.”

“He’s always been a hot head.”

“The war should have cooled him off. Should have cooled everyone off.”

“It acted on people in different ways. Pacified some and whetted the appetite for violence in others.” Haunting memories flitted through her mind, making her wince. “I saw men fresh from battle, bleeding and hurting, but with a fever in their eyes for more blood, more pain. I didn’t understand it, but I witnessed it.”

“I saw it, too. Hell, I felt it. But the war is over. Some people are trying to hold on to the old ways and old beliefs. They’re angry that the Union won. I understand that. It churns in my gut, too, and sometimes I want to howl at the injustices rained down on us.” He gripped the reins more tightly as the muscles in his jaw tightened. “What I don’t want is a bunch of cowards wearing masks doling out frontier justice.”

She didn’t say anything, stunned by his sudden spurt of conversation. When he glanced her way and raised an eyebrow, she cleared her throat. “Forgive me. I was momentarily rendered mute by your speech.”

“Lecture, you mean.”

“No, not at all. I’m worried, too.” She balled her hands in her lap. “I want peace. I need it. Hollis needs it most of all. When he hears about things like this, he gets worse.”

“Worse, how?”

“He shakes and cries, rocks back and forth and talks about the things he saw, the boys who died, our brothers who are gone. I don’t know what to do for him when he gets like that.”

“He never tries to hurt you, does he?”

“No, never that. What scares me the most is that I’m afraid he’ll h-hurt himself.” She stared down at her hands as her vision blurred with tears. She blinked them away.

“Best you can do is listen to him and try to direct his thoughts away from the battlefields.” Callum’s tone was as gentle as a breeze. “Dwelling on those memories will drive any sane man raving mad.”

Pansy whinnied and tossed her head, alerting them to a big, ornery bull standing in the middle of the road. The massive animal pawed at the dirt and snorted as Callum tugged on the reins and brought Pansy to a stop.

The steer stared at them and Callum stared at it. “Guess we’ll wait him out.”

After a minute, Banner shifted on the hard seat. “Can’t you make him move out of the way?”

Callum turned wide eyes on her. “And how would you suggest I do that? He outweighs me by a ton and he has horns. He’ll move when he feels like it.”

Another minute ticked by and the breeze grew cooler. Banner shivered and wished for her shawl. The roadblock snorted and feinted at Pansy, making her whinny and prance in place.

“What a big bully.” Losing all patience with males, in general, Banner stood up in the wagon and waved her arms above her head. “Move, you big lump! Get along now!”

“Banner, sit the hell down!” Callum grabbed her elbow and pulled her back down onto the seat, none too gently. “You’re making it worse. . .” His voice faded away, stolen by the sight of the stubborn bull ambling slowly off the road and onto the pasture land. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He looked sideways at her, sunlight finding his green eyes and glinting in them, and a half-smile tilted his lips before a rumbling chuckle emerged from him.

Banner covered her open mouth with her hands in mock shock. “Goodness! Can it be that you’re actually amused?”

“You can be right entertaining.” His smile grew as he shook his head and clucked Pansy into a walk. “Tell me something . . .”

She fluffed her skirts, waiting for him to continue.

“Do you trust me or don’t you?”

She could hardly think with him smiling at her like that. “I want to,” she allowed, and winced when his smile wavered. “I trust you more than anyone, excepting Hollis, of course.”

“If that’s the best you can do . . .” He shrugged and faced front again, the smile sliding off his lips. “Guess I’ll take it for now. But I aim to prove to you that I’m not doing anything behind your back or trying to take advantage of you.”

“I don’t really . . .” She stared at her hands in her lap, unable to finish that declaration because the truth of it was that a small part of her didn’t trust him.

“Yes, you do . . . really not trust me.” He clucked his tongue again and Pansy picked up her pace. “That’s okay. There aren’t a handful of people in this world that I trust either.” He glanced at her. “You and your brother are among them.”

She started, stunned by his faith in them. “Why us?”

“I’m a fairly good judge of people.”

She dropped into silence as she grappled with wanting to thank him and feeling guilty for not returning the compliment. She considered herself a good judge of character, too, and she liked Callum Latimer. More than liked him. She admired him. Trust, though . . . that was a tough one. The only men she’d ever trusted had been or were related to her. The few times she’d made herself vulnerable to suitors, she’d regretted it. There had only been three and they had all managed to chip away at her self-respect.

The wagon turned onto her land and Pansy’s ears jutted forward. Within a few minutes, the house came into view and Pansy broke into a trot.

“She’s happy to be home,” Callum said.

“Yes, and so am I.”

“You didn’t find it enjoyable, did you?”

“It was nice to get away from here for a few hours.”

“I admit that I’m in my own head too much these days and don’t always see everything around me.” He pulled on the reins, stopping Pansy just inside the barn, and set the brake. He didn’t look at Banner, although he was speaking directly to her. “From here on, I’ll pay more attention.”

She studied him, unable to fully understand what he was saying to her. When his gaze suddenly found hers, his green eyes darkened with resolution and desire flickered in their depths. “I don’t need your attention, Callum. If you’re talking about me trusting you—”