“I fell.”
“Off a building?”
He hissed air through his teeth and jerked back when my prodding got too close. There really was no use fussing over a man who didn’t care to be fussed over. I lay my hands gently in my lap and waited with an impatiently arched eyebrow. All right, if he kept staring at me like that, I was going to melt into a useless puddle and fall right through the cracks in the floor boards. “What?”
“Well, you look right pretty without all that powder on your face.” He stroked the curve of my jawline with his fingertip and my insides went warm from the line fire he created. “Your cheeks are all pink from crying and your skin’s fair.” He trailed his thumb softly over the fullness of my lips.
“Are you saying you prefer me without my war paint?”
His chuckle was deep and reverberated off my waiting ears. “I do.” Pulling away, he dug around in his pocket. “I’m sure you’ll do well enough as a wife and I’m not too picky besides.” He plucked a thin gold band from his vest pocket and slid it onto my finger. “Don’t really know how to do this but, you want to get hitched? To me?”
It might not have sounded so, but sitting here in my ruined dress with damp tear tracks still on my cheeks, a good looking man giving me compliments about the way I looked, and an offered gold ring was just about the most romantic thing I’d ever witnessed—and it was happening to me.
There was no reining in my smile. “Okay. Yes.”
I was staring at the new band on my finger that said I belonged to a man when he spoke again. “I owe you an apology.”
“What for?” I breathed, holding the ring up in the light.
“The wolf last night.” The deep green of his eyes searched mine for a long time, like he wanted to tell me everything that had ever been. “I should’ve been there to keep you safe,” he said.
“I didn’t tell anyone about the wolf, so how did you know about it?”
His gaze was tortured and the words sounded torn from his throat. “They’re a problem around here.”
He stood to leave but hesitated at the door. “We’ll take the dress into town. There’s a dressmaker there who can fix it. I’ll take you tomorrow, if that sits well with you.”
I nodded, and he left me sitting on his bed with more questions than when he’d entered.
The smell of frying chicken was enough to pull me out of the comfort of Luke’s room. The horrendous dress fell from me like it couldn’t wait to escape the woman who’d ruined it, and I avoided looking at the sad pile of fabric while I wiggled back into my immodest garments.
I’d skipped any kind of luncheon in my concentration on not stabbing my fingers to death with a sewing needle and was nearly ravenous. Jeremiah stood over the iron skillet feeding it flour covered strips of poultry and humming softly. He wore a cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and tanned pants with suspenders showing. His boots were lined up neatly by the door. Such an odd sight, an imposing man cooking in the kitchen like a common woman. I supposed they hadn’t much choice through the years than to learn to cook with no woman around to fill their bellies. I didn’t know him from Adam, but from what I did gather about Jeremiah, he would make a fine brother-in-law.
With hands scrubbed clean in the sink, I turned and said, “Well, show me how to fry chicken.”
He was a patient teacher who let me do most of the work and by the last of it, only two pieces were inedible. Triumph. Sitting across the table from Jeremiah over two plates of steaming food was a test in self-discipline. The man’s face was torn up even worse than Luke’s was. Oh, he fell all right. They both did. They fell all over each other’s fists. Ridiculous, squabbling men.
“Go on and eat,” he said, while I sat waiting with hands clasped in my lap. “Luke won’t be hungry.”
Jeremiah ate with single-minded tenacity, and slowly, I picked up my fork and ate with one eye on the door.
Luke didn’t even spare a glance for us as he bustled into the house with a pail of milk. Without a word, he began to strain it through a layer of cheesecloth and into another bucket.
“A man your size should be eating much more if you’re going to keep up your strength,” I said.
Luke only grunted.
Maybe he just needed a little enticement. “I made it myself. Why don’t you just try a small piece of fried chicken? I’ll make you a plate.”
His face went positively green. “Let it rest, woman.”
“Are you unwell?” I knew all about the stomach gripes. The cook back at the bawdyhouse had been an unsanitary little beast and not overly worried about cooking the meat all the way through for me and the other girls.
“No, Kristina. I just ain’t hungry is all.”
Even angry, I liked the way he said my name with his deep, velveteen voice.
The evening stretched on and brought a darkening sky. With the setting of the sun came my unease. I’d been thinking about that wild wolf all day. My heart seemed determined to focus on its ferocious teeth and the sound of its snarl caressing the back of my bare ankles. No way was I replaying that little scene. I might not be a smart or educated woman, but I paid attention and didn’t make mistakes twice. That trick kept people like me alive and kicking long after people expected me to. One hurried trip to the outhouse later with a sharpened stick and my heart skipped a beat with relief when I closed the back door behind me. I leaned my forehead against the cool wood of the door and puffed a sigh of relief.
“We have a soaking tub if you want to use it,” Luke said from right behind me.
I jumped and stifled a screech, but he acted as if he didn’t even notice he’d practically scared the living daylights out of me.
“I hear womenfolk like to take their time about cleaning, so I can bring it into your room if you want.”
A soaking tub? Hmm. That actually sounded heavenly. As much as I’d appreciated sponging off in the bedroom last night, there was still a healthy layer of travel grit that would only come off with time in a tub and a thorough scrubbing with a horse bristle brush. I’d have said so, but I really was trying to be more ladylike.
“Yes, that would be lovely, thank you,” I said instead when my heart had stopped trying to eject itself from my throat.
The soaking tub was small but I easily fit into it if I curled up my knees. It was tarred in the cracks to prevent leaks and we didn’t bother warming the water up. Luke offered, bless that man, but I was too tired to wait the hour it would take. Tepid water would do just fine for me. I loosed my wild curls and washed them with lavender hair soap. After I was finished cleaning my tresses, I scrubbed and rubbed my sensitive skin until the water turned brown and my hide shone like an eggshell in the sun.
What was the point of putting my nightdress on? My bedroom door was closed, and not once during my stay had either Dawson brother so much as looked in my room. I cuddled into bed, all sparkling clean like I’d just been minted, and wearing nothing but the clothes I’d been born with. Almost before my head even hit the pillow, I fell asleep.
The slumber that followed was glorious, right up to the point where Luke shook my shoulder as I lay on my stomach floating around in dreamland somewhere.
“Kris, wake up,” he said gently.
I was so deep into that sleep, I couldn’t even remember where I was or who was staring at me with grinning green eyes. The soaking tub, still filled with my dirty water in the middle of the floor was an unpleasant reminder of my surroundings. My hair had dried overnight and likely resembled the mane of some wild animal and I jerked a glance to make sure my backside was covered up by the linens. It was, thank my lucky stars.
“Do you know you’re sleeping with not a stitch of clothing on?” Luke asked through a grin.
“What are you doing in here?” I’d be more embarrassed if my previous occupation hadn’t given me nary an ounce of modesty. And really, most of me was covered up except for my back and legs. It could’ve been much worse.
“I want to show y
ou something,” he said.
The stars still twinkled through the window pane and the rooster was still probably fast asleep among his hens.
I plopped my face back into the pillow and mumbled, “I don’t know why you don’t require sleep, Luke Dawson, but I do. I need it. I’ll be terribly grumpy without it and lash out at you without warning. Are you sure you still want to drag me out of my warm bed right now?”
“I’ll take my chances.” Damn that smile in his voice.
I turned far enough to glare at him, but his interest seemed to be taken with the curve of my backside against the sheets.
“You mind if I at least get dressed before we go gallivanting off on whatever unwelcome adventure you have planned for us?”
He waved his fingers regally. “Be my guest.”
Really? “Turn around at least!”
He did so easily enough, and it wasn’t until I was dressed that I realized he was facing a small mirror that stood over the washbasin on the opposite wall, and could likely see everything from my hips up. I wacked him in the back of the head with my pillow but he only laughed and gallantly bowed as he opened the door for me.
As infuriating as the man was, he did offer his arm when I hesitated on the back porch.
“I won’t let anything hurt you,” he said.
His confidence was infectious and I took his offered arm gratefully. I still scanned the area the lantern touched, but the fealty of a big strapping man with a foot long hunting knife visibly sticking from his belt sure made me feel safer.
“You know,” I said, “you really shouldn’t see me in that state of undress until we’re married.”
He frowned slightly and looked at me like he couldn’t tell if I was teasing. “I put a ring on your finger that says you’re mine. Far as I’m concerned, we’re good as married.”
“When are we planning on making our little union official?”
“As soon as the circuit preacher comes through town again, which should be any day now. Jeremiah sent for him the day we picked you up in town. You should wear your hair like that more often. You look like some wild, fierce thing.”
He could douse the lantern and my inner glow from that unexpected compliment could light the clearing. I’d always liked my hair fine, but never had anyone else said anything nice about it. “Well, it wouldn’t be proper to wear it down and whipping around in town with all those high fallutin’ ladies and their pearl hairpins, now would it?”
“No, I suppose not.” He sidestepped so I wouldn’t walk too close to the woodpile by the barn.
“Maybe I could wear it like this just for you though. When we’re here. And when you’re being particularly nice to me.”
He pushed the barn door aside and brushed his fingers against my back as he guided me toward the horse stalls. “I’d like that.”
A dark mare stood exhausted over a foal in the hay. Still wet, the baby was just starting to test pressure on his front legs.
I gasped and sank down to watch him through the wooden bars of the stall door. “Oh Luke! He’s just the dandiest little thing!”
“I know you didn’t want to get up, and you surely could’ve seen him tomorrow, but then he’d be running around and dry and well on his way to independence. There’s something magic about seeing them when they’re so new and haven’t walked yet. Seeing them eat for the first time and buck around when they think they’re big enough to run.”
I was having legitimate trouble keeping the squeal of delight securely in my throat.
“There he goes,” he said, squatting next to me and resting a hand comfortably across the stall door.
Indeed the little colt was wobbling upward in a grand effort at his first steps. The mare nudged and sniffed him as a reward for his attempts. After a few falls into the soft hay beneath, the tiny horse with the blaze of white down his nose stood and wobbled over to nurse from his mother. The remnants of an umbilical cord still hung from his underbelly and the mare licked his dark coat clean as he fed.
Luke was right. Tender moments like these were surely magical.
Chapter Six
Kristina
I was at a loss as to what to do, and it was utterly infuriating. The boys, who worked like a well-oiled flour mill to load the wagon, weren’t the cause of my frustration. Instead, I was angry with myself for not somehow knowing how to help. Likely, these two cowboys had been working together long enough that they just knew how to get everything packed for town between the two of them without even saying a word. But there were three of us now, and one of us was expending a lot of energy flitting around and accomplishing absolutely nothing.
In my defense, I did manage to fry us up some crunchy eggs.
The sun was just peeking its sleepy head over the horizon, and the gray sky was streaked with the bright pinks and oranges that told of a clear day to come. Luke somehow wrangled two half wild and wholly enormous pigs and tossed them in the back of the buggy like he was in a daisy bouquet tossing contest. His strength was downright disturbing but would serve me well enough in the future.
Tied or not, those pigs were frightening and I’d walk all those miles to town rather than sit in the back with their hungry, beady little eyes on me. Thankfully, Jeremiah offered to sit in back this time. He didn’t know it, but my bruised bum thanked him. My heart did too, because the seat up front wasn’t very big and I had to sit hip to hip with Luke while he capably drove the two horse team.
His warmth seeped slowly through the thin fabric of my dress and I greedily accepted it. And every once in a while, when I was certain he wasn’t paying attention, I would sniff him nonchalantly. He smelled of man and earth, hay and horse, and shaving cream he’d found the time to use on his face this morning. He was intoxicating.
Luke was a dashing man bearded, but shaven? I wanted to sleep in his left dimple.
“You did something different with your hair,” he said, interrupting my silent swoon.
I had, in fact, and how very observant of the man to notice. Braids cupped both sides of my head and met in the back, where my curls were pinned neatly into place. “I saw a lady wear her hair like this once and I always wanted to try it.”
He poked out his bottom lip and nodded as if he were impressed, and I graced him with a wicked grin. “You been with many saloon girls, Mr. Dawson?” I asked a little too innocently. “You seem to have a lot of misconceptions about how we should act and look.”
When he talked, the corner of his mouth turned up. “Just trying to find out more about you, Ms. Yeaton.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“A few,” he admitted. “You been with many cowboys?”
I tipped my chin up and tried not to smile. “A few.”
“Well, good. I expect you to have a trick or two up your sleeve then.”
I had to swallow my laughter while Jeremiah lit into his brother for the inappropriateness with which he spoke to me. The grin on Luke’s face said he didn’t pay much mind to the lecture either. True, sometimes Luke was crass and too honest for his own good, but I realized at just that moment I liked that in a man. Jeremiah’s instincts had been right to foist me off onto his brother. We would’ve made a terrible match.
By the time our wagon ambled onto Main Street, most of the town’s residents were up and about, running their errands or talking comfortably in small groups in front of the various stores. I couldn’t read a letter of the wooden signs that hung over the shops, but I could guess at most of them. A trio of men laughed in front of what was likely a cabinetry or wood working store. Two scantily dressed ladies draped themselves around one of the columns outside the swinging doors of the saloon and catcalled passersby. And two women sat on a bench outside the land office with their heads tipped toward each other, whispers hidden by delicately gloved hands.
Their smug glances my way had me trying my best to look anywhere else. It was foolish to let the gossip of others affect me. And besides, I didn’t really know what they were say
ing so it could’ve even been something kind about me.
Cruel giggles drifted across the wind.
Or maybe not.
Luke pulled the wagon up to the general store and hopped out. He reached for my waist and pulled me easily over the mud and onto the stairs. The furred hides that hung from the door waved in the wind and the sweet smell of candy that wafted from the shop was a strange combination with animal and mud.
“I need to take these pigs to sell to the butcher first thing and I don’t think it’s the place for a woman.”
My heart flip-flopped uncomfortably at the thought of being separated from him. “I’m sure I will handle a butcher shop just fine.”
“That’s the thing. It’s not really a shop. He’s a big German man, does most of his butchering out front. Bloody business, his job is.”
I tried to keep the green out of my face. He handed me my dress, subtly wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine to hide it from Jeremiah. “My brother will make sure you get to the dressmaker’s safely, and I’ll meet you out front when you’re done.”
A slight nod and he was back in the wagon and off for the south side of town.
“Mind if I run an errand real quick?” Jeremiah asked, offering his arm. “It won’t take but a second and we’re right here.”
“Sure.” I slipped my hand into the curve of his elbow and he led me to the post office two shops down. My heeled, leather shoes made soft clomping sounds against the worn wood of the walkway and I nodded demurely to a couple of cowboys who tipped their hats to me. They burst out laughing as soon as we passed and for the first time in a long time, I wished I wasn’t dressed like a saloon girl. It certainly wasn’t making me any friends. A man whistled from across the street. Well, all right, it wasn’t making me the right sort of friends.
Jeremiah opened the door to the post office and waited for me to enter before following behind. He leaned against the counter and pulled a linen paper envelope from his duster pocket. His hat was the same color of brown as the counter, and he set it down respectfully and rubbed a hand through his short hair. It must’ve been a family habit because Luke often did that too. No one came immediately to the front of the store, so Jeremiah pressed the bell on the end of the table.