by Tracey Lyons
How she longed to feel the passion between them once more! Hannah yearned to have Chase hold her close and tell her all would be well between them. She wanted him to fix what was wrong. She wanted them to be able to stitch the rift that lay open between them.
“Did you bring me here?”
Chase nodded his head.
“Did you stay with me all night?”
“Your grandmother stitched your cut, and then we took turns waking you up.”
“I don’t remember.” But she did remember that Chase was keeping something from her.
Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “What are you hiding from me?”
“I’m not hiding anything from you.” His hand still held hers in a tender grip, but it was the distant, hardened look in his eyes that gave him away. Hannah was certain he was keeping something from her.
Changing the subject, he asked, “Tell me what else you remember. Before the thunder, what do you remember? It’s important, Hannah.”
She felt the tension running through him, it scorched her hand like lightning. She forced herself to concentrate on his question.
“Amos. He was standing off to one side looking up at the sky, I guess.” Handing him the compress, she scrunched back down under the blankets. “I’m tired.”
The fatigue swept over her—claiming her. She fought between exhaustion and wanting to learn the truth—wanting to know the secret that had wedged between them.
Chase stood and stretched his long body. Hannah knew that he was going to leave her. She knew it even before he said goodbye. Realizing that he had stayed the entire night keeping a vigil made her feel somewhat better.
“I must get back to town. I’ve plenty of work to do.” Chase planted a kiss on her forehead and then walked to the doorway. He stood there looking down at her.
She thought for a moment he’d something important to tell her. She watched his mouth open ever so slightly, but all he said was, “Sleep well, Hannah.”
And then he was gone.
The rain had washed the dust from the rocky hillside, leaving the dark veins of garnet exposed to the morning sunlight. Amos stood at the edge of the quarry, his domain. No one was going to take this from him. He took another step into the stillness of the quarry. The first work crews were just beginning to make their way through the muddy roadway. He watched as the first man arrived already covered in a thin coat of the red mud.
The worker nodded in his general direction. He nodded back. There was no need for conversation. He was, after all, Amos Smithson, the foreman of the McCleary mine and the men paid him the respect due a foreman. This kind of open pit mining was tough on the crews; most of them already had scarred hands from where their hammers and picks had slipped.
Amos never swung a pick or a hammer. It wasn’t his job to get his hands dirty. He made certain that everything ran smoothly for Tyler Mining. That’s all he’d been doing yesterday, until Malone happened by.
He stuffed a wad of chewing tobacco between his cheek and gum. He took a minute to poke his tongue around it, getting the leaf just right. Malone was in a huff over his being on Jackson land. It seemed to Amos that securing another piece of land to mine was part of his job, too. It would make Mr. Tyler right pleased if he could guarantee years’ more work up in these mountains. And it wouldn’t hurt their pockets none either.
The ringing of the hammer hitting the pick echoed through the air. Too bad about that young Jackson girl getting hurt up here yesterday. Yup, too bad. But maybe now she’d keep to herself. A little accident like that could serve as a warning. No way anybody would ever know that he gave the signal to Hank to set the dynamite off just as she was backing up to the side of the hill. He smiled up at the cloudless sky. No way at all.
“So what’d ya think, boss?”
Amos turned in surprise to stare at Hank. He hadn’t even heard the man come up behind him. He stared in disgust at Hank’s snarled long hair.
“Where do you want the boys today?” Hank struggled to pull his long fingers through his mess of dirty hair.
“I suppose they can continue working on the north wall. They’ve been pulling a lot of good stone from there these last few days.”
“Yeah, that’ll keep the owner happy. I suppose you want me to send Toby over with the real goods, huh?”
Amos knew that Hank was referring to only the best, the flawless garnets that came out of the hillside. At the end of each shift Toby would come to his tent and hand over the stones. Amos had been sending them on to New York City where Tyler had them polished and shipped out as rubies.
He rubbed his hands together. The thought of those rubies being worth more than diamonds brought chills to his spine. He liked to think of the gems as his. He’d quite a stash of those lovelies carefully hidden under his bed, just waiting for the trip to the big city. Amos was going to be a very rich man, real soon. He could feel it in his bones.
“Where’s your boss, son?”
“Right over there, sir.”
Amos turned at the sound of Malone’s voice. That man was fast becoming a nuisance. He spit a stream of tobacco juice through clenched teeth. The brown spittle barely missed the toe of Malone’s boot.
He faced the city brat with his hands balled into fist, resting on his hips. He looked up at the man. “What da you want, Malone?” He’d like nothing better than to yank Malone off that speckled horse of his and throw him into the mud.
“I want to have a word with you.” Malone rested one hand on the pommel of the saddle while pushing the brim of his hat back with the other. There was no mistaking the danger in his dark eyes.
“I’m a busy man and I can’t waste my day jawing with the likes of you. So speak what’s on your mind and be gone.”
“I am only going to say this once.” Malone’s face had turned a nasty shade of red. “You stay away from Hannah Jackson. I’ve been thinking it over, Amos. The little ‘accident’ that Miss Jackson had yesterday? Well, I think it was too much of a coincidence. I think you’re to blame.”
“Well, now, isn’t that interesting? As I recall, you and the young lady were having words. The way I see it, you’re the one to blame for what happened.” Another stream of tobacco landed in a pool on the rain-soaked earth.
“Nope. You’re up to no good out here by yourself, Smitty. Perhaps I need to keep a better watch over things.” Malone smiled, showing his even white teeth.
There was no friendliness in the smile and Amos knew it. “No, sir, you don’t need to be doing any such thing. Tyler sent me here to do a job, and that’s all I’m doing.”
Shifting in the saddle, Malone looked long and hard at him. He sat there for several minutes like that until Amos began to feel sweat forming on his brow. His palms grew moist. He felt like he did as a schoolboy getting caught dipping Bobbie Sue Kinnley’s pigtails in the inkwell. Humiliated. Hatred bubbled up inside him.
He stared up at Malone. “You best be leaving here, Malone. I got work that needs doing.”
“And you’d best keep a good watch on your back, Smitty. I’m going to be looking over your shoulder.” With those words, Chase turned his horse and left the camp.
The breeze carried with it the smell of sweat and mud, mingling with the animal dung. It ruffled his thick blond hair. Amos watched as Malone led his horse through the thick clumps of wet clay and out of his line of vision. He shot the rest of the tobacco juice onto the ground in disgust.
The almighty Chase Malone had spoken and everyone was supposed to do his bidding. Well, not this time. This time was going to be different. This was Amos’s operation and no one else’s. He’d see to it that Malone lived to regret the threats he’d just made. Maybe, just maybe, he’d find a way to be rid of the Jackson clan, too. Then he’d have it all.
Chapter Thirteen
Hannah pulled her hair back, tying it loosely in a pink satin ribbon then looked at her reflection in the oval mirror. A smile came to her lips as she met Chase’s gaze in the mirror. Sh
e hadn’t heard him enter the house. He stood in the doorway of her bedroom holding a beautiful bright bouquet of black-eyed Susans. He had to be one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen.
Leaning against the doorjamb, he watched her. A slow, easy smile spread across his face, lighting up his eyes. “I thought you’d still be resting, in bed.”
“I feel much better. Besides, I’ve been lazing about for three days and I’m tired of it.” She turned to face him.
He made no effort to enter her room, just extended his arm. “I found these along the way. I thought they might cheer you up.”
Hannah met him in the doorway. Touched by the gesture, she reached out and took them from him. “Thank you, they’re lovely.” Chase didn’t let go of the bouquet right away. He looked long and hard at her face, his gaze searching every inch of her skin. She saw him wince when he looked at the bruise around her eye and temple. Gently he reached up and ran his finger over the wound.
Rivers of warmth flooded through her. If his touch could make her feel like this, she wondered what it would be like to have him do more. She swallowed hard. “I thought it looked a little less purple today.”
He didn’t say a word as he bent his head toward hers and kissed her forehead. “Oh, Hannah,” he breathed her name.
Together they clutched the stems of the flowers, her hand wrapped around his. They stayed that way for several minutes, their hands joined and their foreheads touching. She felt his tension and wished more than ever that he would tell her what was troubling him.
He was the first to break away. “We should put these in some water before they wilt.”
She reached out to take the flowers from him, but he stopped her. “You go sit out on the porch. I can take care of these.”
“There’s a vase on the hutch that you can use,” she told him before walking out to the porch.
She sat in one of the three rocking chairs that lined the porch; Chase joined her a few minutes later. The caned seat of the rocker groaned under his weight. He said nothing as he reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. In unison they rocked. Chase stretched his long legs in front of him and watched as two fat, red-breasted robins scurried along the ground in search of earth worms.
Hannah sighed and dared to let herself pretend they were married and this was their home, their front porch. It felt so perfect having Chase by her side. She wanted to forget about Harold Tyler, the mine and Chase’s secrets—she wanted to have it just be the two of them.
A warm breeze ruffled her hair. The air smelled clean and the scent of the honeysuckle growing alongside the house surrounded them with its sweetness. Hannah felt Chase watching her and turned to meet his gaze.
They stopped rocking and Chase cupped her chin in his warm hand. He pulled her close to him, then leaned down and kissed her. His tongue traced the outline of her lips. She sighed, leaning closer still as she dared to touch her tongue to his.
He pulled away from her and stared down into her eyes. The passion she saw burning in him made her shiver. She wanted so much more from this man than just a simple kiss, and she knew he felt the same. The flush of his skin, the way he inhaled and exhaled rapidly told her that, as did the racing of his heart beneath her hand.
She only wished it could be so.
Lowering his head once more, he said against her mouth, “Do you know what you do to me, woman?”
Her hand trembled as he took it in his and pressed it against his manhood. She gasped at the feel of his hardness beneath her fingertips. “That is what you do to me.” His voice sounded husky to her ears and she couldn’t find the courage to speak.
She dared to lower her gaze to where her hand rested against him and was hit with a wave of dizziness so forceful that she fell against him.
“Hannah?” His voice sounded far away, like he was calling to her from the bottom of a pit.
Chase gently shook her shoulders. “Hannah? Honey, are you all right?”
“I think I need to go lie down,” she managed weakly.
In one swift movement he swept her into his strong arms. She laid her head against his shoulder.
“You shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. It’s too soon for you to be moving about, Hannah,” he chastised her as he placed her in the middle of the bed and pulled the quilt up over her.
She watched him, helpless. The dizziness subsided and left her feeling foolish and embarrassed to think that the sight of his arousal had caused her to swoon. No! That couldn’t be the reason! He was right, she just wasn’t recovered enough to be moving about yet.
“I’ll stay until your grandmother comes home.” Concern marked his features as he stared down at her.
Still embarrassed, Hannah toyed with the edge of the quilt, unable to look at him. “She shouldn’t be too much longer. She took some pies over to Sallie McCleary.”
“Umm.”
“Umm, what?”
“I was just thinking that until your condition improves, we’ll just have to take things at a slower pace.” The wickedness of his grin set Hannah to blushing furiously.
“You cannot possibly think that it was your condition which caused me to faint?” Hannah cried, indignant.
Taking her hand in his, he turned it palm side up and kissed it. Raising his head ever so slightly he looked at her, whispering, “Absolutely…not.”
“Hannah, dear, come into the kitchen and have some tea with your grandfather and me.”
The sound of her grandmother’s sweet voice carried in on the warm summer breeze. Hannah gave one last stroke of the brush to her hair and left the bedroom. She entered the kitchen, taking in the warmth of the scene that greeted her. With Grandfather seated in his chair at the head of the table and her grandmother bending over kissing him, it was as if their home had returned to perfect harmony. Her grandfather had returned home this past Sunday.
While her grandmother poured the tea, Hannah went to kiss her grandfather’s stubbled cheek. “It’s nice to have you back home, Gramps.”
“And it’s good to be here.” He winked at his wife and then turned his attention back to Hannah. “How are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine. I wish you two would stop fussing over me. My headaches are gone, and look—” she pushed the hair off her temple, exposing the thin red scar left behind from the gash. “—you can hardly see the bruise anymore.”
“Still, I think you need to exercise some caution in your activity.” He gulped down the tea.
Hannah added the tiniest bit of sugar to her tea then mixed it with the small silver teaspoon that rested near the saucer. She sipped at her tea, wondering what her grandfather would say if he knew that Chase had said almost the very same words to her two weeks ago. Although Chase hadn’t been referring to the same type of activity, of that she was certain!
Feeling restless, she turned the teacup around on the saucer. She needed to be outside, on her own. She was going to tell her grandparents that she felt well enough to go for a ride.
Deciding that the direct approach was best, she plunged ahead with her declaration. “I’m going out to Crane Pond today. Just for a little ride. I need to get out and stretch my legs.”
“Oh, Hannah, give yourself some more time. Take a short ride on the paths around the homestead.” Her grandmother was already fretting and Hannah wasn’t even out the door.
A smile touched her lips as she watched her grandmother twist the cloth napkin in her hands as she spoke. Hannah reached across the table and placed her hand on top of her grandmother’s. “I need to do this.”
“You always were headstrong. You mark my words, child. I want you to take care.” Gram wagged a finger at her.
“I will.”
Having finished with her tea, Hannah pushed herself away from the kitchen table. “I’ll be home in a few hours.”
She hadn’t realized how cooped up she’d been until she was actually riding Bonnie out of the yard. Convalescing could certainly grow tiresome. The day had grown warm an
d she was glad that she’d worn her blue riding skirt and white linen blouse. By the time she arrived at the pond, the sweat had soaked through her thin chemise, leaving a light stain on the blouse.
She hadn’t been here since the picnic with Julia and Stephen. Hannah was surprised at how the memories of the day crept up on her. That was the day Chase had shown her the lovely star garnet. It was also the day when she first realized her feelings for the man were changing. Sighing, Hannah took the south trail, following the curves around rocks and trees and finally arriving at the flat rock that was her favorite spot.
Dismounting, she tethered Bonnie to a low branch of a large, old oak tree. She looked out across the wide pond, noticing the tall birch trees with their white bark. Even though summer was just beginning, the leaves were already beginning to yellow.
She left the mare quietly munching grass and wandered over to the rocky ledge. Checking the ground for snakes, she sat down. It was hot, and the ledge beneath her held the heat of the summer’s day. She sat there for a long time, looking out over the water, thinking of nothing. A stream of sweat trickled down between her breasts. She could feel her feet swelling inside her riding boots, it so was hot. The cool water looked so tempting—too tempting.
Jumping to her feet, Hannah ran back to where she’d left Bonnie and stripped down to her chemise and thin pantaloons. She tossed her clothing over the saddle, and scrambled back up the ledge, heedless of the roots that poked at her bare feet. She stopped halfway up the sloping ledge then, facing the water, inhaled deeply and dove into the cool mountain water.
She let out a loud “whoop” as she bobbed back to the surface of the deep dark water. Her black hair swirled around her. The water felt exhilarating, cooling her hot skin. She continued to bob up and down, treading water. The ripples, created by her movements, tickled her breasts.
Thoughts of Chase Malone and what his strong hands could do to her gave her a quick tightening in her belly and a warm feeling between her thighs. His passionate kisses had set her lips on fire and sent her heart pounding. The last time they’d been together, his arousal had been swift and strong—she longed to feel his naked flesh beneath her fingers.