by Ana Leigh
“But that’s only the half of it—you should have heard Maude lay into him! Father was at a loss for words.”
“My brother at a loss for words? Oh, I missed all the fun.”
“Anyway, he and Rico ended up shaking hands. Father even offered to give us a fancy wedding and reception, but Rico and I had already decided upon a private wedding with only you and Don, Father and Maude.”
“And that’s about all we’ll be able to arrange, in two days. So—which of your gowns do you have in mind?”
They planned the necessary details, and Andrea said she’d drive out the following day to help Jenny pack.
“I wish I could pack up my garden and take it with me,” Jenny lamented.
“You can always plant another one, honey,” Andrea said. “But a husband as handsome as yours would be hard to replace.”
“And speaking of him, here he comes,” Jenny said, her eyes gleaming with love. “I thought you were sending a telegram, not receiving one,” she said when he entered and she saw the wire in his hand. “Who is it from?”
“Princess, you’re not going to believe this. Remember me telling you that my family had planned a trip back to Virginia and I wasn’t going because I was trailing Slatter and had no idea where I’d be at the time?”
Jenny nodded. “I remember.”
“Well, guess what? They were all in town getting ready to board the train when they received my wire. They’re going to stop here to attend our wedding!”
“Really! That’s wonderful!” His enthusiasm was so infectious it spread to her. So what if a few more people than she had anticipated attended? “Will they be staying overnight?”
“Yes, according to Clay’s telegram. They should arrive by tomorrow afternoon, and they’ll be leaving the morning after the wedding.”
“So how many will there be? I’ll have to tell Maude, for the dinner.”
“Counting children?” he asked.
“They have to eat too, and have a place to sleep.” She arched a brow. “So how many altogether?”
Rico cleared his throat. “Ten adults, and eighteen children.”
She heard Andrea’s gasp above her own.
“But they don’t want us to go to any extra work for their sake.”
Jenny laughed. “Of course not. What’s twenty-eight overnight guests?”
He hugged her and gave her a quick kiss. “You’re a real jewel, my love. Oh, and one more thing, Princess.”
“Yes?”
“How would you feel about a train trip to Virginia?”
The next morning, Jenny, Andrea, and Rico started cleaning up the ranch bunkhouse in anticipation of the Fraser family’s arrival later that day.
“I pity the poor adults who’ll have to stay in here with all those kids,” Rico said. “Who’s going to get any sleep?”
“At least the children can work off some of their energy outside. I can’t imagine what it will be like for them cooped up on a train for—how many days before you reach Virginia?” Andrea asked.
Rico chuckled. “Six days.”
“Six days!” both women exclaimed.
“I guess they’re planning some overnight layovers. St. Louis for sure, before crossing the Mississippi.”
“At least they’ll only have two nights in here,” Jenny said. “Rico and I can share my room, which leaves two bedrooms available in the house.” Her chin started to quiver as she fought back her tears. “I wish you and Don were coming with us, Aunt Andrea.”
“In truth, honey, I’m not. As a matter of fact, I wish you and Rico were going alone. Our trip to St. Louis was so enjoyable because we were alone.”
Jenny was dubious. “How could you be alone, surrounded by other people on the train?”
“They probably didn’t even notice them. The romance sure has gone out of you,” Rico teased.
“I’m going to remind you of that,” she warned.
“Is that a threat or a promise?” Rico asked, grinning.
Jenny glanced shyly at Andrea. “I’ll let you figure that out, Dan’l.”
Andrea laughed. “Since you two are doing all this figuring, who do you figure will get the two spare bedrooms in the house?”
“The couple with the six-month-old baby should get one of them,” Jenny said. “An infant would never sleep through the noise in here.”
Rico nodded. “That’s a good idea. And the men can cut cards for the other room.”
When everything was scrubbed and all the bunks and cots had clean sheeting, the three of them looked around admiring their efforts.
“I think this should do just fine,” Jenny declared. “At least they all will have a bed to stretch out in.”
Andrea mounted her horse. “I have to freshen up, so I’ll see you in town.”
“If you see Father, tell him to join us when the train pulls in.”
“I will, honey.” She waved and rode away.
“We’d better clean ourselves up and get going too, or we’ll be late, Rico.”
Rico thought about the ten adults and eighteen children soon to invade the bunkhouse, and shook his head. “It will never be the same.”
Hurrying back to the house, Jenny went directly to the bathroom, turned on the water, then pulled off her clothes. If she hurried, she’d have time to sponge herself off quickly and cool down.
She wasn’t surprised when the bathroom door opened. Rico’s hair was dripping, and he picked up one of the towels and dried it. “I already showered at the bunkhouse, so we have a little extra time. He grabbed another towel and held it open. “‘Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.’”
Jenny tried to look stern. “Rico Fraser, we do not have time for whatever you’ve got on your mind.”
He wrapped the towel around her in the circle of his arms, then murmured huskily in her ear, “Do you realize that once we leave this house, we probably won’t be alone for the next month?”
“That long? Oh, my!” She tried not to smile. “Perhaps it’s a mistake to go to Virginia with your whole family on our honeymoon, Mr. Fraser.”
He picked her up and carried her to her bedroom. Removing the towel, he lowered her to the bed.
He released his jeans and they dropped to the floor, then he stretched out on top of her.
“You’re so beautiful, Princess.”
Her heart had already started pounding from the feel of his flesh against her own.
Her finger toyed with his lips. “Why all the conversation,” she asked teasingly. “I thought you were a man of action, with a quick draw.”
He chuckled. “You are a lusty wench, lady.”
“‘Lusty wench’? Is that a phrase you read in a novel?” she murmured breathlessly as he nibbled at her lips.
He silenced her with a drugging kiss, and she closed her eyes with a sigh of contentment when he covered her face and neck with quick, tender kisses.
A soft moan slipped past her lips when he slid a hand to her breast, then his tongue, and then his mouth, until he brought her to that point of no return—where each kiss, each touch, each whispered confession of love raised her excitement higher and higher, until there was no longer any restraint. Where ecstasy was the only purpose, and fulfillment the only goal.
They kissed and caressed each other’s mouths and bodies with breathless mutterings of encouragement, sighs, and groans. Their lips remained joined when he rolled over onto his back. She straddled his hips, the bulge of his erection pressed against her, her breasts flattened against the damp hair of his chest.
He drew a hardened nipple into his heated mouth, then lifted her enough to enter her.
She began to contract against the erection that filled her and sucked in her breath under the wave of the exquisite sensation as her passion soared. Tantalizing shocks of pleasure spiraled through her.
Throwing back her head, she rode him in and out, reveling in the mind-shattering ecstasy as the lave of his tongue and mouth at her breasts increased with her tempo.
It took a while to catch her breath, then she whispered “I love you, Rico Fraser. My life began when you entered it, and it will end if I ever lose you.”
Then she kissed him, slipped out of bed, and headed for the bathroom.
Rico’s gaze followed the naked beauty of her rounded curves as she crossed the room. For a long moment he lay motionless, then murmured, “Yep, you’re one lusty wench, Jennifer Burke. It’s no wonder I love you. There’s no halfway measures about anything you do. It’s all or nothing at all. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
He got to his feet, pulled on his jeans, and hurried downstairs—back to the shower.
26
“Rico, I’m nervous enough for both of us, so will you stop pacing? I’ve never seen you so restless,” Jenny said.
“I haven’t seen any of my family since my mother’s funeral three years ago. Since then Garth and Rory have had another son, Colt and Cassie had another son, and Jed and Caroline had two sons.”
“Then Jed and Caroline win the blue ribbon. It seems sons run in the family,” Jenny teased in an effort to relax him. “How many of the children are boys?”
“Let’s see—Clay and Becky have five kids. Jake’s about eight now, and they have six-year-old twins, Clint and Cody. Plus a set of four-year-old twins, Matt and Elizabeth.”
“Hooray! Finally a girl. One out of five. Go on,” Jenny said.
“Garth and Rory have two boys and a girl: Danny, Hope, and David.”
“Looking better,” she said. “The odds have narrowed to two to one.”
“Colt and Cassie also have two boys and a girl: Jeb, Sam, and Peter. Sam is short for Samantha,” Rico said.
“So the two-to-one odds are still holding up.”
“Jed and Caroline have four children. Garrett should be thirteen now; Caroline had him long before she married Jed.”
“So Garrett isn’t a Fraser by birth.”
“Interestingly enough, he is, but that’s a story in itself. And since their marriage, Jed and Caroline have had Emily, Luke, and Mike. I’ve never seen Luke and Mike. Nor Garth’s son David, who’s only six months old.”
“That adds up to fifteen children, which means there’s three more.”
“Well, then there’s still Lissy and Steve. Lissy’s the only sister among my cousins. She eloped with Steven Berg right after the war ended. She was the first of the Frasers to come west—other than my father, who was a forty-niner.”
“So Lissy and Steve have three children?” Jenny said.
Rico nodded. “Two girls and a boy. Ted, Sarah, and Rachel.”
“Hooray for Lissy and Steve! Two to one in favor of the girls. But it still ends up with two-to-one odds: twelve boys and six girls.”
Rico kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Princess, you have a remarkable memory. Do you have any idea how long it took me to memorize all those names, ages, and who goes with who?”
“And we’re going to get on a train with ten adults and eighteen children between the ages of six months and thirteen. You call that a honeymoon!”
“Jenny, the Frasers had this trip planned and arranged long before we even met. I couldn’t commit myself to joining them until now. Trust me, you’ll have the time of your life. This family is fun to be around.”
“I’m sure they are, but I’m a stranger to them.”
“Only until you’re introduced. And as soon as we’re married, they’ll close around you like protective armor.”
Jenny still had doubts. “Are you sure there’s room for all of us on that train?”
“Actually, we’ll have two private cars. One’s a sleeper with compartments, and the other car is luxurious, according to Clay.”
“And what about eating? How do you feed thirty people?”
“Whenever we want, we can go into the train’s dining car. They also make stops where one can eat at Harvey restaurants, which are superb. The biggest problem will be keeping all those kids amused. But I think you’ll enjoy the trip, especially the scenery and some of the cities we’ll be passing through.”
“You’ve convinced me, Dan’l,” she said. “Using two private cars must be very expensive. Just how successful is your family’s winery?”
“It’s really grown in the past couple years. They ship wine all over the United States, even to Mexico and South America. As for the expense of the private cars, Caroline’s father is a friend of Leland Stanford.”
“The Leland Stanford? President-of-the-Central-Pacific-and-one-of-the-Founders-of-the-Transcontinental-Railroad Leland Stanford?”
“That’s right, Miss Burke.” Rico chuckled. “It helps to have friends who own railroads. By the way, Caroline’s father, Nathan Collins, will be one of our neighbors in California. Rory’s father, Paddy O’Grady, lives at Fraser Keep too.”
“Now my curiosity has been piqued. What about Becky’s and Cassie’s parents?”
“Becky was orphaned young, and Cassie’s father has a ranch in New Mexico.”
“What about mothers?”
“They’re all dead, unfortunately.”
“And everyone has their own home.”
“Well, Pop O’Grady and Nathan Collins live together. The other families live in separate houses. The first thing we’ll have to do when we move there is build our own house.”
He had stopped pacing and had finally sat down and relaxed.
She said, “I’m still confused about something, though. I thought this compound where they live in California is called Fraser Keep, and you referred to the plantation in Virginia as Fraser Keep.”
“Yes—Clay named it that when he came to California and became a vintner.”
“With all the brothers in the west now, who lives on the Virginia plantation?”
“The eldest brother, Will, and his family. After the war he managed to make it profitable again and much of its greatness has been restored.”
“So you’ve never met Cousin Will?”
“No, but I’m looking forward to it.”
“And Clay came west and started a Fraser Keep in California. How did all your other cousins end up there?”
“Well, I mentioned that Lissy eloped with Steve, which resulted in Clay and Garth following her to bring her back. They met Becky in Independence. She needed a husband to be able to join the last wagon train leaving for California, so she got Clay drunk enough to marry her. But according to Garth, by the time they reached California they were in love. They went on to the Napa Valley and Clay became a vintner.”
“What happened to Garth? Didn’t he go with them?” Jenny asked.
“No, they split up and he went searching for gold—my father’s mine, to be exact. The following year, after the plantation in Virginia had started to recover, Colt headed west to join Clay. He had always wanted to be a lawman, but after the war those positions weren’t given to anyone who had fought for the Confederacy, so he figured he’d have a better chance out west. In New Mexico, the stage he was on was held up. He saved Cassie Braden’s life and ended up in the next town, where her father was the sheriff. Jethro offered him the job as his deputy, then sheriff when he retired. Ultimately, Colt and Cassie moved to Jethro’s ranch.”
“And what happened to Garth while all this was happening?” Jenny asked. “Was he still out there searching for gold?”
Rico couldn’t help grinning. “That’s when I entered the picture. I was twenty years old then.”
“You mean you had never met any of them before?”
“I never even knew I had cousins until they showed up at the town where I was raised—Tierra de Esperanza, Land of Hope. They were in search of gold on the Monte del Diablo, Mountain of the Devil.”
“Sounds menacing,” Jenny said.
“It was. Garth and Rory might have died there if Clay and Colt hadn’t sh
own up.”
“And did Garth find your father’s gold mine?”
“I think I’ll save the rest of the story for the train ride,” he said.
“But you haven’t told me about Jed and Caroline,” Jenny said.
“Now that, too, is a fascinating story. They actually knew one another in Virginia.”
“But you said Jed isn’t Garrett’s father.”
“Right. Jed was a sailor and spent most of his time at sea. Nathan Collins had been his captain during the war, when they ran the Yankee blockade to bring food and supplies to the Confederacy. After the war, Nathan inherited his brother’s property and sawmill, sailed to California, and then sold his ship. They ran into each other in San Francisco by accident a few years ago.”
“Well, which one of the brothers is actually Garrett’s father? I can’t say I approve of the boy’s real father not raising him.”
“You’ll change your mind when you hear the whole story. But I think I’ll save that for—”
“The train ride,” she said. “Darn you, Rico. You’ve whetted my curiosity, and now you make me wait for the answers.”
At the sound of a distant train whistle, Rico jumped to his feet. “They’re here!” he exclaimed joyously. He pulled her to her feet and they hurried outside.
The arrival of the two luxurious cars created a stir in Redemption. Since the town wasn’t on the regular train route, they only saw boxcars or long freight cars on the trunk line.
When a horde of people started to disembark, Rico put a hand on Jenny’s elbow and led her over. After the initial hugs and kisses, handshaking, and back-slapping, Rico began introducing Jenny. She tried to associate something with each adult, to be able to address them by name.
Merriment danced in the dark eyes of the man who held a small infant as he smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek.
“Hi, Jenny, I’m—”
“Garth,” she said.
He laughed in amusement. “Uh-oh! Don’t believe one word that Cousin Rico has told you about me.”
“Oh—then that’s not your six-month-old son in your arms?” she teased. Rico was right; to meet Garth was to like him. He exuded friendliness.