He watched her cautiously as he walked to the fireplace and threw in a stick of wood. "I do understand. I understand you hurt inside. I understand that you miss your brother. But killing that pathetic excuse for a man"—he pointed—"isn't going to bring Mark back. Nothing you can do, anyone can do, will bring him back."
"Caine doesn't deserve to live," she argued.
"Of course he doesn't. But you can't decide that. Only a court of law can."
Tears began to run down her cheeks. None of this was coming out right. Adam was making too much sense. But she'd come too far to give into him now! "He could escape. The jury could find him innocent. There's a million ways he could get out of it."
Adam stared at the rifle Jessica still held on him. "So—what? You're going to shoot me, so you can shoot him, so they can hang you?"
The moment he took a step toward her, she cocked the hammer. "Just stand back, Adam. I don't want to hurt you. You know I don't. I want to hurt him." She threw a nod over her shoulder.
Adam's gaze fell to the carpetbag at her feet. "You found your bag?"
She nodded, solemnly. "Everything's there, even the money. More money than he took from me. Other people's money. I don't know how I'll return it."
"I told her she could have it," Caine declared miserably. "Won't do me any good now. I'll die before I ever make it out of here. And I thought hell was hot! It's not. It's cold, it's bitter cold." He shuddered and drew his blanket up to his chin.
Adam looked back to Jessica. "So you've got your things back. Give it up, Jess. Let me have him extradited to Utah where he'll stand trial. They'll hang him for sure."
"They can't hang a dead man." Caine offered in the midst of a coughing fit.
Jessica shook her head, her green eyes meeting Adam's dark ones. "It's not good enough, Adam. He should die by my hand. I owe it to Mark."
Adam turned toward the fireplace and stared into the flames, his fists balled tightly at his sides. There was just no getting through to her! She was determined. He spun around angrily. "All right! Kill him!"
"Oh, my God," Caine cried.
"What?" she whispered.
"You heard me," Adam shouted. "Kill him. If it's revenge you want. If that's what it will take for you to get back to your life, then go ahead and kill him! I'll turn my back; I never saw a thing," he finished bitterly.
"Please . . . please," Caine begged. "You're a man of the law. You can't let a crazy woman murder me!"
Tears blinded Jessica's vision as she slowly turned to face Caine. She lifted her rifle to her shoulder. At point-blank range the man would never know what happened. Justice would be served.
For a long moment the only sound that could be heard was Caine's pitiful sobbing and the howl of the wind outside.
"I can't do it," Jessica finally murmured.
Adam stood stock still. "What?"
"It's no good." Her hands shook. "I can't kill him, Adam. I can hate him, I can wish him dead, but I can't kill him. I just can't . . ."
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Caine cried.
Adam ran and grabbed the rifle from her hands. "It's all right, love," he soothed as he gathered her in his arms.
Jessica clung to Adam as the tears poured down her cheeks. She cried for Mark, for her loss. She cried for Adam and the love she had found in him. All these months she had tracked Larry Caine thinking she wanted to see him dead. Somewhere along the way she'd lost that need for revenge. Was it Adam and his love that had made her change her mind? She didn't know. All she knew was that she never wanted to see or hear of the Black Bandit again.
Slowly her tears subsided. Adam kissed her wet cheeks, the tip of her nose, her soft pouting mouth. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you," she echoed, brushing back his long black hair. "I've loved you since the first day I saw you on the train."
"Will you marry me, Jess? Marry me and together we'll plant those apple trees?"
She looked up at him, in confusion. "But what about your job with the Union Pacific? You can't just give it up."
"Of course I can. You didn't think I was going to stay with the bastards after they accused me of being this man's accomplice, did you?"
She laughed. "Guess I didn't really think about it."
He hugged her tight. "I'll have the Black Bandit extradited as soon as he's well enough to travel. We'll go to Seattle and we'll be married."
"No." She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Let's do it in Harrisburg, so Melba, and Johnny, and Clyde can be there. I don't want to wait until we make it back to Seattle. We've already waited too long."
"A lifetime."
She wiped at the damp spots on her cheeks, her face growing serious. "Would you have let me do it, Adam? Kill him, I mean?"
He held her in his gaze for a long moment. "I don't know, love," he finally said. "I guess we won't ever know."
"We're getting married," Jessica said, throwing herself into Melba's arms the moment she was in her door.
It had been over two weeks since she left Harrisburg. She and Adam had stayed in Marbleton until Caine's fever had passed and then they had hired several natives to carry the criminal over the mountains on a stretcher. He was now being held in the new jailhouse built the previous fall to confine town drunkards.
"Married! I'm just glad to see the two of you alive and kicking. That was a hell of a storm that passed through here while you two were trekking over those mountains." Melba released Jessica and put her arms out to Adam. "Come on, you big brute. The bride-to-be won't mind!"
Adam grabbed the petite Melba, lifting her off the floor in a bear hug. "You'd make a fine wife yourself for some lucky man."
"Pshaw!" She laughed as he set her down. "I've got no time for a man! If this town grows the way I expect it to, I'll be a wealthy woman in a few years. I'd guess miners are going to be pouring in here by the hundreds with Harris and Juneau's latest strike. I've got two new girls coming in the first steamer that pulls into port. Expecting them within the month."
Jessica looped her arm through Adam's. "We want to get married here," she told Melba proudly. "Is there anyone who can do it?"
"Not yet, but Clyde heard there was a preacher coming in on the same steamer as my girls. Seems he intends to reform us all of our ill ways." She slapped the banister. "Let's just hope he hasn't reformed my girls on the trip over!"
Jessica looked at Adam and burst into laughter. Nothing Melba said or did shocked her anymore. Months ago she had accepted Melba for what she was, an intelligent, good-hearted woman who would do anything in the world for a friend. The fact that she made her living having sex with other men was of little consequence.
Adam dropped a kiss on the top of Jessica's head. "Let's get upstairs and change into some clean clothes. Then maybe Melba can scare up something for us to eat. I've chewed enough dried jerky in the last two weeks to last me a lifetime."
"You're in luck," Melba said, heading for the kitchen. "Got a rabbit frying this very minute. I had a feeling you two would pop up soon as the weather broke."
Arm in arm, Jessica and Adam went up the stairs and into the bedroom they'd shared all winter. Once inside, Jessica began to shed her layers of clothes. After wearing Adam's pants and heavy shirts for the last two weeks, she wanted to put on one of her own dresses. She wanted to feel like a woman again instead of a sharpshooter.
Adam walked to the window and parted the chintz curtains. Below, the street had turned to a mire of mud and water. Far in the distance he could hear the great rumble and roar of the ice breaking up in the harbor. He'd been listening to the haunting sound for days. It was a sound he would never forget as long as he lived. Spring was just around the corner.
For a long minute, he contemplated what he wanted to say to Jessica, what he'd wanted to say for nearly two weeks. Finally he found his nerve and turned to her. "Jess . . ."
"Mmmm?"
"Jess, I want to tell you . . ." He paused. This was so hard. "I wanted to tell you that it's not too late to
back out of this marriage."
She turned around, wearing only a fresh chemise and stockings. "Back out? Adam, I love you!"
"I know you do. But . . ."
"But what?" Her eyes searched his striking bronze face for understanding.
"Jess, just because two people love each other, that doesn't always mean they can live together."
"I don't understand what you're talking about. I love you. I want to marry you and have your children. It's that simple."
He glanced back out the window, searching for the strength to get what he had to get out. "It's not that simple. No matter where we go, there's going to be problems. People are going to judge me—judge you because of the color of my skin. There are going to be people who won't want to deal with you because of me."
"Adam—"
He held up his palm. "Let me finish. I want you to think long and hard about this. It won't be just you and I who are affected. It will be our children too." He looked up at her standing there in the bright afternoon sun with her long dark hair tumbling onto her shoulders. "I'll understand if you just can't go through with it."
She crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat and went down on one knee, taking his broad, rough hands in her smaller ones. "Listen to me, Adam. I love you." She kissed his knuckles. "And I want to be your wife. I don't care what other people say or think. Who knows, maybe we can even change some minds."
Adam pulled her into his arms with a groan of relief. Not since he was a boy in Canada had he felt this loved. There was something about Jessica that gave him confidence, that made him see good in the world again. "Just promise me you'll think about it," he said softly in her ear.
She pressed her mouth to his and whispered, "Promise." Then she was kissing him, gently at first, but then with more insistence. Already she could feel a heat in her loins spreading as her tongue darted out to meet his. He caressed her bare shoulder, pushing down the lacy strap of her chemise.
"Jessica," he murmured. "It's going to be a good life, isn't it?"
She laughed, lifting her chin as he kissed her neck and moved lower to her breasts.
She found the buttons of his shirt and soon she was running her fingertips over his bare chest, exploring his flat, hard muscles and sensitive nipples. When she cupped the bulge in his wool pants, he groaned, urging her in a husky voice.
Her laughter filled the airy room and she unlaced his pants and released his burgeoning shaft.
"Jess," he murmured as her lips brushed his responsive flesh.
As she teased him with the tip of her tongue, she could feel her own body growing hot and moist with want of him.
Finally, when Adam could stand the sweet torture no longer, he slid to the floor beside her and laid her out so that the bright sun flooding through the window fell on her lithe nude form. He swept his hands over her, touching here and there, making her cry out with her own pleasure.
When his mouth found the sweet bed of curls at the apex of her thighs, she half sat up, threading her fingers through his hair. "Adam," she called again and again as she turned her head this way and that in utter ecstasy. "Adam!"
With a smile on his lips, Adam stretched his body over hers and took her with one deep thrust.
She raised her hips to meet him in desperate need. "Adam . . . Adam, I love you . . ."
"I love you," he whispered in her ear as his movement quickened.
They rose up and down in the ancient rhythm of love until he spilled into her and they called out in unison as they reached final fulfillment.
Jessica dropped her hands to the floor and lay absolutely still, savoring the feel of Adam's hardness inside her. She sighed when he withdrew and came to rest beside her, cradling her in his arms.
"Look at us," she murmured, her voice still raspy with passion. "Midday with dinner waiting on the table and we're rolling around naked on the floor!"
He stared up into the sunshine at the dust motes floating through the air. "Going to be a fine life," he teased. "A mighty fine life . . ."
A month later, Jessica hurried down the new plank sidewalk of Harrisburg. Because of the impossible mud since the spring thaw, the citizens of the town had been forced to donate money and lumber and build the sidewalk or be swallowed in the mire.
"Good morning to you, Miss Jessica." A miner tipped his hat as he passed.
"Good to see you, Charlie."
"Good to see you, ma'am. Fine day, isn't it?"
"Fine day," she echoed. She had just been to the jailhouse to take Adam his midday meal. He'd been spending much of his time there these days, guarding Caine. The Black Bandit's health had improved so greatly that Adam intended to have him transported on the next steamer out. One of the men from the town had already been hired to escort the handcuffed criminal to Seattle where he would be met by federal marshals and extradited to Utah to stand trial.
In the meantime, Jessica kept herself busy making plans for her and Adam's wedding and the land they would purchase when they returned to Seattle. Her dream of an apple orchard was finally going to become a reality.
For some silly reason Adam had insisted on moving out of Melba's once a wedding date was set. He said it wasn't right for the bride and groom to live together before marrying, bad medicine, he had teased. So, he was bunking with Clyde and spending his spare time helping Johnny put up a new house and office.
Up ahead Jessica could see the steam exhaust of a steamship that had pulled into port this morning. She hurried, hoping the wedding gown she'd ordered from a catalog Clyde had given her was on this ship, otherwise, she'd have to make do with what was available in town. The wedding was only two days away!
On the dock, she encountered Mrs. Merriweather, the only other woman in town excluding Melba and her "girls."
"Jessica, how good to see you. You're certainly looking rosy-cheeked today."
Jessica grinned. "I was hoping my wedding dress had come with Clyde's latest shipment."
"Oh, dear!" the middle-aged woman cried. "They just hauled Clyde's things off in the wagon."
"Oh, well." Jessica shrugged. "I'll just walk up to Clyde's. I can help him unpack his merchandise. I haven't got anything to do anyway."
Mrs. Merriweather picked up a handful of her black taffeta skirts and looped her arm through Jessica's. "Guess I'll just have to escort you up there, now, won't I?" The woman turned and headed back into town. "I've heard so much about this dress, I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
Just as Jessica and Mrs. Merriweather started up the incline to the street above, Jacob Dorchester and Theodore Lansing disembarked from the steamer. Lansing lagged behind carrying an armful of bags while Jacob pushed on, pounding his silver-tipped cane on the plank dock as he went.
"Never have I experienced such a dreadful trip," Jacob huffed. "And then to find that there's no lodgings in this godforsaken village!"
"Now, now, Jake old boy," Lansing said, hurrying to catch up. "That fine fellow Clark on board said we were welcome to stay in his house here by the docks. With that awful croup he's got, he says he's heading right back to Seattle where he can find a decent physician." He went on faster than before. "He said the place is stocked with wood and food. No one need know we're here. He said considering the circumstances, he'd be utterly discreet!"
Jacob gave a snort. "He'd better be for what I paid him! I told you, Lansing, I haven't time to dally. This steamer intends to leave the dock in two days. I want to be on it . . . with my wife."
"I understand. I understand perfectly. All I'm to do is find her."
"Find her and then I'll come up with a plan for you to bring her to me. You're not to approach her until I say so."
"Yes, yes, but what about these papers she has with her? How am I to get her to bring those?"
"No need to worry about them. Just get me my wife!" Once we're married in the eyes of the law, Jacob thought, they'll be mine. Even if I can't produce them, I can prove ownership once we're back in Tennessee.
"There's the
house there," Lansing said, pointing to a small frame building. "The first thing I'm going to do is stretch out and take a nap. I'm simply exhausted."
"The blast you are, Lansing. You're going to look for my wife."
"C—couldn't that wait until tomorrow?" He shifted the bags he carried, taking care not to drop any into the mud.
Jacob slipped the key Clark had given him into the keyhole. "You want your story for your silly little dime novel?"
"I . . . I do," Lansing added frantically. "That I do. This story is going to make me famous!"
Jacob turned in the doorway and began to relieve Lansing of the bags he carried. "Then I suggest you begin your investigation, Mr. Lansing . . . immediately!"
Chapter Twenty-Eight
"Ohhh," Melba sighed. "You're beautiful!"
Jessica swept back the train of her white satin Merveilleux wedding gown. "Not very practical though, is it? I'd have been better to spend my hundred dollars on land than on a dress."
"A bride is only a bride once." Melba led Jessica to the freestanding oval mirror and smoothed the white brocaded velvet of her fitted bodice. "There'll be plenty of time for sensibilities after the wedding."
Jessica smiled at her own reflection in the wavy glass. She was so happy she thought she would burst. It was hard to believe that only a few months ago her life had been in such utter turmoil. "I suppose you're right," she finally answered.
"Well, I hate to hurry you, but you're running late." Melba pointed to the white filmy veil on the bed. "And you've still got that trapping to put on."
Jessica smoothed her unruly hair. "I haven't decided whether to wear it up or down." She turned and took Melba's hands. "Could you go down to Johnny's house and tell Adam I'll be a few minutes late?" At Johnny's insistence, the wedding ceremony would take place in the empty front office of the new house he'd been building since the spring thaw.
Melba squeezed Jessica's damp hands and reached for her reticule. She was dressed fashionably in a black taffeta gown with an enormous bustle. "You don't want me to help?"
Jessica was already running a brush through her hair. "No. I'll be fine." She halted the brush in midair and looked at Melba through the reflection in the mirror. "Actually, I'd like to be alone for a few minutes. This is a big day, a big decision."
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