As he rode, he quickly surveyed the faces of those arriving in wagons. Not seeing his wife, he rode like a banshee out of town, briefly checking each wagon he passed, relieved to not see her riding with the badly wounded, scared to death she wasn’t with the injured because she was already dead.
His internal voice screamed over and over to the beat of his horse’s hooves. She can’t be dead. She can’t be dead. She can’t be dead.
God, how he cursed himself for buying her that goddamn ticket. He licked his dry lips as he checked wagon after wagon, his stomach turning at the condition of some of the passengers. He continued on, visions of Lily in his head. Her sweet smile, her beautiful black silky hair, her deep brown eyes, her feisty spirit. What would he find when he located her?
His hands gripping the reins shook. Would that feisty spirit be silenced forever?
Lily wiped her forehead and dipped a cup into a bucket of water. She leaned over a man with burns on his face, holding the mug to his lips so he could drink. The next person in the row of moaning, writhing bodies was obviously dead. She shuddered, and continued on, looking at the scene in front of her. Dozens of people lined up, stretched out on the ground, waiting for one of the wagons to take them into town.
Shortly after the explosion had rocked the town, the sheriff commandeered all the wagons, buggies, and carriages on the street and sent them to the wreckage. He grabbed Lily and handed her a list of nearby towns with instructions to hurry to the telegraph office to wire for doctors and medical supplies.
When the wires had been sent, she climbed into one of the wagons heading to the disaster site to help. She looked around at the grisly scene. Men and women kept arriving from town, bringing blankets, food, water, and bandages with them to help the injured. Another wagon made the trip back and forth, taking the dead to the undertaker.
A team of men crawled over the burned out and twisted mess that was once the train, looking for injured and dead. The shouting and cheers every time they found another person alive kept up the spirits of those who had retrieved too many dead bodies.
Every time she thought about how close she’d come to being on the train, her heart gave a double thump. No one knew for sure what had happened. The explosion had caused the train to derail. The cars had tipped over, trapping passengers inside. Luckily, the fire had remained contained in the engine and the first two cars after it, since the rest of the train separated when it flew off the tracks.
More injured were helped off the train and laid on the ground. Lily kept dipping the cup and holding it to dry, cracked lips. Four doctors from Angel Springs and nearby towns moved from patient to patient doing what they could before sending them back to town where a makeshift hospital had been set up.
Lily placed the bucket on the ground and stretched her back muscles. The screams and moans from the severely wounded, begging for help, water, and loved ones who had been with them on the train tore into her. One of the women who’d arrived from town handed her blankets with instructions to cover the dead.
Tears fell from her eyes when she laid a blanket over a small child. Here she’d been so concerned with her own troubles, and these people would suffer the results of this for years to come. Again she thanked God she had not been on the train.
She lost track of time as she comforted the injured, covered more dead bodies with blankets, and offered water to those suffering from burns. She wrapped gashes with bandages and tried to make the victims with broken limbs more comfortable. More and more bodies were brought from the wreckage, the injured carried to the wagons. Her head pounded and the smell of burnt flesh made her stomach roil.
“Lily!” She turned as a body slammed into her and strong arms engulfed her, lifting her off her feet. Caleb buried his face in her neck and hugged her so tight she thought her bones would break.
“Don’t ever leave me again.” His choked voice was all she needed to let down her guard as the horror of the day overwhelmed her, and she collapsed against him in a flood of tears.
Chapter Sixteen
Lily pulled back. “Caleb, we have to help these people.”
He reached out and touched her cheek. “Yes, I know. And I will. I just want to look at you, make sure you’re really here and not some figment of my imagination. I was terrified when I heard about the wreck.” He ran his eyes over her. “How can you be in such good shape after this disaster?”
She sighed. “It’s a long story, but we can discuss this later.”
“Right.” He pulled her to him once more, kissing her on her forehead, then released her. “What can I do?”
“I suggest you find the sheriff. He’s assigning duties.” She waved her hand. “This is a horror. So much pain and suffering.”
Caleb strode away, leaving her shaking. What was that all about? He acted as if he was not only glad to see her, but had every intention of continuing their marriage. Had he a change of heart? Did the thought of her being on the train scare him into realizing he cared for her?
Whatever the reason for his actions, she was relieved and more lighthearted than she’d been in days. She should probably be angry at him, thinking he could treat her that way and then expect all to be forgiven, but she was tired of fighting.
She loved Caleb and if he did have a change of heart, then she would put aside any ill feelings and just enjoy loving him. But a little bit of groveling was certainly in his future, and she would make sure he did a bit of it. She grinned. Maybe more than a bit.
She resumed her duties of distributing blankets and doling out cups of water. The line of injured seemed endless, which dulled her joy. How could she be happy when there was such misery surrounding her?
Caleb was already busy working with the men who were moving people from the train to an area where they could wait for the wagon to drive them to town. She took a moment to look around and saw Jamie and Gideon walk up to Caleb and slap him on the back. He must have told them he’d found her, because they both looked her way and grinned.
She recognized several cow hands from the ranch busy helping injured passengers into wagons. More doctors arrived and she was asked to assist one of them. Some of the injuries turned her stomach, but she was again grateful she was not one of the wounded or dead.
It would be a long day.
Caleb shook with relief. He still didn’t understand how Lily escaped unscathed from the train wreck, but seeing her standing there in the middle of all those bodies had almost brought him to his knees. How did he ever think he could live without her?
Once he’d decided to be nice to her to maintain the peace and finally get her into bed, he found he liked a whole lot of things about Lily Fraser. It hadn’t been until he pictured her boarding the train to leave him that he realized how much he cared for her.
Loved her.
He couldn’t wait to tell her, either. Once they were no longer needed here, he would haul her home and speak the words he one time swore would never pass his lips. And enjoy every minute of it.
Hey stupid. How do you know she’ll forgive you?
His muscles tightened at the thought. True, she seemed more surprised than happy to see him. He’d been so relieved to spot her standing there in the crowd, whole and unhurt, that he hadn’t paid a great deal of attention to her reaction. It was quite possible that her tears and hugging him had more to do with the tragedy, and not her joy at seeing him.
He just might have to draw on all his experience with women to convince her to stay and give him another chance. His bad boy reputation had always worked for him before. Ladies had been more than anxious to remove their drawers when he cast them a smile, crooked his finger, and whispered in their ears.
It would be just his luck to have the one woman he needed like food and air to be the only one he didn’t succeed with. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind. If he had to keep her tied to the bed until she was convinced, he would do it. That thought brought up a succession of others that didn’t belong in this time and place.
A slap on his back almost knocked him off his feet. Jamie and Gideon regarded him with somber looks. “Have you found Lily yet?”
Caleb grinned and pointed. “I sure did. I have no idea why, but she’s uninjured. She said it was a long story, and we had too much work to do now.”
Jamie and Gideon both turned to where Caleb pointed and smiled at their sister-in-law. “You are one lucky guy, little brother,” Jamie said.
“I know. In more ways than one.”
While he and his brothers hauled people to town in one of the many wagons, he dwelt on Jamie’s words. He was, indeed, one lucky man. He’d gotten the perfect wife for him. A lady on the outside, and a passionate lover in the bedroom.
Now all he had to do was convince her to stay.
Hours later, Caleb walked up to Lily who sat on a log as the last of the passengers were driven to the make shift hospital. “Are you ready to go home, darlin’?” He took in the exhausted slump of her shoulders, the streaks of dirt on her face, and the blood on her coat. His heart melted at the sight.
For once he was going to do something nice without worrying about what he could get from it. Instead of enticing her into bed, he would take care of her tonight. Show her that he loved her.
He extended his hand. “Come on. I’ll fix a nice hot bath for you. In fact, we’ll stop at the hotel and pick up dinner for both of us, so you can just relax in the tub when we get home.”
She regarded him with raised eyebrows and a smirk. “You will do all that for me?”
Caleb dropped to his knees, not caring who saw him. He took both of her hands in his. “I will do anything for you, Lily. We’re going to have a long conversation when we get home.”
“Home?”
“Yes. Home. Our home.”
She shook her head. “I have no home. I don’t belong anywhere.”
“Shh. Yes you do. You belong with me.” He stood and helped her up. They walked to where his horse was tied and munching happily on the grass visible in the snow. He lifted her up, and climbed on behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close. She relaxed against him on the fifteen minute ride into town.
The town was still in chaos. More doctors had arrived, and were busy dealing with the injured. Caleb glanced into the hotel as they passed by. It was jammed full, patients resting on the floor of the lobby. He shook his head. It would take a long time for the town to recover from this.
Lily was resting against him comfortably and snoring softly by the time they reached his house. He entered the stable and just sat on his horse for a minute, looking down at her face as she slept. Why he had denied his feelings for so long would always be a mystery. She was perfect in every way, and perfect for him. He bent his head and kissed her gently on the lips. “We’re home, darlin’.”
Lily blinked her eyes and looked up at him, a slow smile gracing her face. He jumped from the horse and lifted her down. When they got as far as the front door, he scooped her up into his arms.
“What are you doing?”
“Well a very smart lady once told me a man is supposed to carry his wife over the threshold of their home.”
“Um, it’s supposed to be the first time she enters the house.”
He tilted his head and practiced his best cowboy smile on her. “This is the first time you entering my house as your home. So this counts.” Before she could protest any further, he took her lips in a searing kiss that he kept up until he’d kicked the front door closed and strode into the bedroom.
They both landed on the bed on a tangle of bodies, coats, hats and boots. Caleb leaned over her and smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “Mrs. Fraser I know I have been remiss in telling you how much you mean to me.”
She sat up, pushing on his chest. “Oh no, you don’t.”
“What?”
“Do you think I’m going to just forget that you told me not more than forty-eight hours ago that you didn’t want me? That you thought I had slept with probably dozens of men?”
“Did I say dozens?”
“No. But you inferred it.”
“Is that one of those fancy words librarians use? Inferred?”
“You’re changing the subject,” she said in a sing-song voice.
He thumbed back the brim of his hat. “All right. I may have inferred such a thing. But I’m an idiot.”
She sniffed. “Of course you are, but that’s the subject for another day.”
Once more he covered her plump lips and when she gasped, he slid right in, touching her exactly where he knew she would respond.
She did.
He eased away from her mouth and nuzzled her neck, then sucked on her ear lobe. “How about I fix that bath for you? While I’m busy with that, you can take off all those nasty clothes you’re wearing.”
“A bath sounds wonderful, but don’t think you’ve redeemed yourself.”
He climbed off the bed and shrugged out of his coat. “Darlin’ I haven’t even begun to grovel.”
“Good.”
Eyes closed, Lily leaned back in the tub, loving the warmth of the water on her tired muscles. The lavender scent of bath soap drifted to her nostrils, relaxing her further. Now that she was comfortable, she had to plan how to make Caleb suffer. That she’d already admitted to herself she was deeply in love with the scoundrel made no difference. He still had to suffer for what he’d done to her.
Footsteps padded behind her, but she kept her eyes closed. Little butterflies in her stomach went on full alert as Caleb’s rough palms cupped her face from behind. She opened her eyes and stared into his. He must have taken a quick wash under the pump outside, his hair still damp, all the dirt and grime from the day washed from his face.
“Comfortable?”
“Yes, very,” she said as she swirled the water around.
Caleb bent and breathed softly into her ear. “I can wash your back for you.”
“Um.”
He took the washcloth from her hand and rubbed the soap over it, releasing more lavender. Slowly, he ran the soft cloth over her shoulders. “Lean forward.”
She moved, and he slid his soapy hands over her back. What happened to the washcloth?
Her breathing kicked up and a tingle started in her lady parts as he used his thumbs to knead the muscles of her back. “Oh, that feels good.”
Almost as if she’d granted him permission to venture further, his hands eased around to her front, where he massaged her breasts. He tweaked her nipples and nibbled her neck. “Duck down and wet your hair and I’ll wash it for you.”
His strong fingers rubbing her scalp brought her body to life. The tingle in her lower parts had grown to a throb, almost painful. She ached to have him touch her, to bring to a pleasurable end what he’d started. After a few minutes, he said, “I think you’re plenty clean. How about you stand, and I’ll pour warm water over you.”
Her lady parts were doing a country reel.
Caleb helped her stand and poured the water over her body. The sluicing of the warm liquid only added to her already heightened senses. She heard him place the bucket down, and soon she was wrapped in a warm towel. Lord, he must have kept it by the fireplace. She felt like a queen.
Before she could open her eyes, she was off her feet and being carried. Not using her vision, her other senses increased. She heard the sound of his heavy footsteps, smelled the light scent of lavender on her skin. He laid her down, and rubbed her body with the towel, causing goose bumps to rise where the cloth touched.
The sound of rustling told her he was removing his clothes. She had her punishment all set. Once he stretched out alongside her, she rolled over, presenting him with her back. “Good night.”
He grasped her shoulder and shifted her onto her back. “What?”
“What, what?”
“Aw, honey, don’t do this to me. I want you so bad.” He nuzzled her neck, nipping on the sensitive skin there. His mouth worked her jaw, then took her lips. She wrapped her arms arou
nd him, wanting to push him away, but finding her muscles were not cooperating. He eased back and planted small kisses on her nose, forehead, and cheeks.
His erection pushed against her hip. She opened her eyes and looked at him, this man whom she married against his will, and with whom she’d fallen in love. When he found her hale and hearty at the train wreck, he’d asked that she never leave again, but he’d yet to admit that he loved her.
Her idea to punish him by denying sex sounded more stupid as she lay in his arms. She frowned at all the wicked things this man had done All the wicked things he could do to her had her smiling. Who would be the ultimate loser if she rolled back over again? The pleading in his eyes was her final capitulation.
Now there’s a fancy word for you.
She pulled his head down and kissed him with all the love she had in her heart. This time she nudged his lips until he opened to her. This time she swirled her tongue around, tasting, searching for sensitive parts. A true exploration. Which she now took to her hands. “Lie back.”
“Whatever you want, darlin’.” He tucked his laced fingers behind his head, watching her every move, his eyes darkened with passion, a slight tilt of his lips spurring her on. The shiver that ran through her had nothing to do with the chill in the air, and everything to do with the man underneath her hands.
She laid her hand on his chest and circled his flat dark brown nipple with her palm. The muscles under his skin jumped, and he let out with a slight groan. So that was a sensitive part. Her exploration continued as her hand moved lower and her fingers tangled in the wiry hair leading from his navel to his groin area. He took in a deep breath, and let it out through his teeth when she gripped his member.
It felt so strange. So very hard, covered with skin so soft. Using her thumb, she rubbed the tip, spreading the drop of liquid there over the crown. As she stared at the pulsing flesh, she licked her lips and within seconds she was on her back with Caleb over her, leaning on both elbows. “Darlin’ I can’t take any more.” He bent his head and kissed her, his fingers playing with the slick entrance to her body.
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