Midnight Marriage

by Victoria Bylin

  Rafe shifted his leg so that their shoes touched. “He’s got a crush on you, you know.”

  Common sense told her to move her foot, but she liked the closeness, and she didn’t want him to realize that she’d noticed him. “He wants a mother. It’s normal.”

  “What about you, Doc? I bet you want kids.”

  “A little girl would be nice.”

  “I can see that. If she’s at all like you, she’ll be a treasure.”

  Susanna was imagining a child with Rafe’s eyes when he pulled back his foot. “Can I give you some advice?”

  “Sure. But I might not take it.”

  “Don’t fool yourself about Duke.”

  She bristled. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re too smart for him. Sure, he could give you babies, but the man’s a mule.”

  She felt as if she’d been punched in the chest. She’d already figured that out for herself. “You should mind your own business.”

  “I’m just telling the truth. He’s not right for you.”

  What could she do? She had to agree or argue. “You’re jumping to conclusions. You have no idea what I feel for Tim.”

  “It’s written all over you.” Rafe stared straight ahead.

  “Has he ever kissed the wind out of you?”

  She sealed her lips.

  “Do you lie awake, thinking about—”

  “No!”

  “That’s what I thought.” Rafe lowered his chin. “I’ve been watching you, Dr. Leaf. You’re all mixed up. You don’t care about Duke. You’re just hungry for a man.”

  “You’re being ridiculous.”

  “It’s the truth.” He looked into her eyes. “But Duke doesn’t come close to making your toes curl.”

  Not like I do.

  He’d left the words unsaid, but she felt them low in her belly. She respected Tim, but she felt no sparks. Rafe sent flames licking up her spine, but he was a drifter with his eyes on Mexico. Midas was home and she’d never leave. She loved her parents and her brothers. Someday she’d be an aunt…. It would be enough. It had to be.

  She was focusing on the empty road when Rafe tugged Lightning to a halt. “What are you doing?”

  “I like you, Susanna.” His voice was a rumble. “I don’t want to see you make a mistake.”

  A smart woman would have ordered him to get going, but Susanna was feeling a little bit crazy. Her pulse was racing and she could see a matching throb in Rafe’s throat. But even more alluring was the caring in his eyes. She slipped off her glove and touched his cheek. In a near whisper, she said, “Who are you?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  He reached for the reins, but Susanna had no intention of letting him slip away. She grabbed his wrist. “I’ll make you a deal.”

  His eyes turned fiery. “What do you have in mind?”

  “You tell me where you studied Shakespeare, and I’ll tell you a secret of my own.”

  “The biggest one?”

  “Yes.”

  “Forget it, Doc. I already know it.”

  Susanna squeezed tighter. “I bet you don’t.”

  He took off his glove and touched her chin. His fingers felt hot against her chilled skin, and his eyes burned into hers as he tipped her face to his. “It’s obvious, Doc. You want a man in your bed.”

  Susanna wasn’t bothered by frank talk. “That’s exactly right. And I want him to be my husband.”

  He moved an inch so that his breath warmed her face. “You’re a demanding woman, Dr. Leaf.”

  “Do you know what else I want?”

  He moved closer still. “Tell me. Or better yet, show me.”

  Susanna forced herself to breathe. “I want to sleep with my husband like spoons in a drawer. That’s my secret.”

  He lowered his hand, but not before she saw a glimmer of longing in his eyes. But instantly his expression shifted into the mask that belonged to the man who’d offered her money for a night in her bed. Compared to the price she’d named, a thousand dollars was cheap.

  He focused his eyes on hers. “If you want a man, I’d be glad to oblige. But it’s a one-time event.”

  Susanna had no intention of saying yes to such a proposition, but neither could she let him win. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  “Anytime, Doc. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Absolutely. We’ll do it all night—kissing, touching, things you’ve never heard of.”

  Snakes of desire uncoiled in her belly and slithered down her thighs. Her breasts throbbed and so did her womb. She wanted to taste and touch and experience all the pleasure he promised, but she had meant what she’d said about sleeping like spoons. A single night wasn’t enough. Never mind that her insides were burning and she could barely sit still. She wasn’t a mare in heat. She had a mind and heart to go with her traitorous body, and she wanted a man who would respect her feelings. Rafe LaCroix wasn’t that man. He didn’t respect anyone, not even himself.

  “Don’t hold your breath,” she finally said.

  His blue eyes stayed locked on hers for a full five seconds, then he broke the stare and picked up the reins. “The offer stands, Dr. Leaf. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

  While sipping bourbon in his hotel room, Garrett thought about the wire he’d just received. It had come from the boss and said, “Please send news.”

  For the boss’s sake, Garrett wanted to reply that he’d found Rafe, but where did a man start looking? Garrett had dropped greenbacks in every shady saloon in Green River, but all he’d learned was that Rafe had left Colorado with a load of money. Some said he’d turned in Frank Benton for the bounty. Others said he’d betrayed the brothers and had made off with their booty.

  Garrett didn’t know what to make of the news. With Rafe, anything was possible. With his taste for fine things, he might have headed for San Francisco with its dance halls and streets of gold. Or perhaps he’d chosen to ride south. Garrett raised the glass to his lips, then he took a coin from his pocket and tossed it. Heads would send him to California. Tails meant Mexico. He caught the quarter in midair and slapped it on his wrist.

  After looking at the result, he put the coin in his pocket and sipped his bourbon. Knowing the boss would be waiting for an answer, he opened his briefcase, withdrew a sheet of paper and wrote out the wire he’d send tomorrow.

  Am headed south. Will keep you advised.

  Chapter Twelve

  By the time they reached Midas, Rafe was hard and angry. The hard part he could understand, but he didn’t know why he was angry. Susanna had matched him barb for barb. He enjoyed that kind of sparring with a woman. It was a game he usually won, but Susanna had bested him. He’d spent the past two hours being lonely with an erection that wouldn’t go away.

  The only consolation was the night sky. Clouds shrouded the moon as he turned down the alley behind her apartment. They had already stopped at the parsonage where he’d left his horses. Now he intended to carry Nick up the stairs, get the key and go back to the house alone. After that, he’d crack open a bottle, get drunk and sleep without dreams of Susanna spooned against him.

  “Nick, wake up.” She jostled the boy’s shoulder.

  When he didn’t stir, Rafe jumped down from the surrey. “I’ll get him. You go on ahead.”

  As she headed for the stairs, Rafe lifted Nick. The boy mumbled something, but he didn’t wake up as Rafe followed Susanna. He paused on the landing while she lit a lamp and then stepped into the entry. The apartment smelled like her, and he could see the wrinkled bed through the rear door. Before this afternoon’s conversation, he would have made a racy joke. Instead he followed her into the front room where she was spreading a coverlet on the divan.

  “You can put him here,” she said.

  Rafe lowered Nick to the cushions and then faced her.

  “I’ll see to your horse and then head to the parsonage.”

  “You’ll need the key.” She opened a desk drawer and
handed him a brass ring. “You can use any of the bedrooms on the second floor.”

  “Thanks.”

  Eager to be alone, he put the key in his pocket and turned to leave. He was almost to the door when he heard her let out a breath. “You must be as hungry as I am. I’m going to heat some soup. Would you like some?”

  Rafe’s stomach growled, but a man ate soup with a spoon and he didn’t want to think about it. “I’ve got jerky. That’s enough.”

  Before she could tempt him more, he strode out the door and down the stairs. Grateful for the darkness, he hurried to the edge of town where he took a muddy path that led to the parsonage. After collecting his saddlebags from the stable, he climbed the back steps to the house and let himself in.

  Even in the dark, the kitchen felt alive. He could imagine Susanna’s brothers eating breakfast before school, making jokes and kicking each other under the table. He smelled traces of yeast and apples coming from the stove, and someone had left the pantry ajar.

  Rafe couldn’t remember the last time he’d set foot in a real home. He didn’t count the mansion that had belonged to his father. As for the boardinghouses where he’d stayed with Lem, they had provided shelter but nothing more. Even when he and Lem had taken their meals at crowded tables, Rafe had felt like an outsider.

  He didn’t feel that way in the parsonage. As he lit the lamp on the kitchen table, the house seemed to breathe a welcome, pulling him upstairs where he found four bedrooms. Judging by the toys, the two closest to the stairs belonged to her brothers. He ruled out the first one because it held a set of bunk beds that wouldn’t hold his long frame. The second room offered a decent-sized bed, but it felt too much like his boyhood room in New Orleans.

  Rafe poked his head into a third room. It looked like a guest room, but the rope bed frame didn’t have a mattress on it. Fearing what he’d find, he walked to the end of the hall and stepped into the last room.

  Susanna was everywhere—in the books on the shelves and the pictures on the walls. In the collection of horse carvings on the bureau. But most of all, she was in the bed where he’d be sleeping for the next few weeks. He turned to go back to the bunk beds but changed his mind. What the devil was he running from? Certainly not a red-and-blue log cabin quilt.

  He dropped his saddlebag on the floor and set the lamp on the nightstand. After retrieving his whiskey flask, he shrugged out of his duster, sat on the bed and took off his boots. How long had it been since he’d slept in his long johns or nothing at all? Months, he figured, but he would tonight.

  At least he hoped he could sleep. He couldn’t escape the sense of Susanna. The room held her childhood treasures, but Rafe had seen a wildness in her eyes when he’d offered to take her to bed. The woman was itching for a long, hard ride and so was he. He thought briefly of a late-night visit to the saloon and an upstairs room, but it held no appeal. Not when he compared it to being Susanna’s first lover. What would that be like? To feel her body shaping itself to him, to see the discovery in her eyes and to hear soft cries coming from her throat? He was dead sure that she’d be enthusiastic, even demanding. That was fine with Rafe. He rather liked the idea of getting her all stirred up and then making her wait for just right moment.

  Rafe grabbed the flask and pulled the cork. If he kept thinking this way, he’d be tossing all night long. Instead he raised the bottle to his lips and took four long swallows. When the picture of Susanna blurred, he stripped down to his long johns. By the time he pulled back the quilt, his mind had slowed to a crawl. He was grateful for the haze, but the clean sheets brought Susanna back into the bed. He wanted to hold her close and lose himself inside her, to taste her skin and suckle her breasts. To go to the place where he could feel good and not be on edge. He rolled from his back to his side, and then flopped onto his belly.

  He thought about taking care of the problem himself, but he feared that the physical release would make him feel worse. He could stand being lustful. Admitting that he’d fallen in love was another matter. Annoyed, he pushed up on one elbow, drained the flask and dropped back down on the mattress. Feeling foolish, he wadded up the quilt and pressed it to his belly. Then he bent his knees and hugged it. It wasn’t the same as spooning Susanna, but tonight it would have to do. Contented at last, he closed his eyes and slept.

  Susanna heard three sharp raps on the apartment door and wished again that she’d canceled the evening with Tim. She’d known it was a mistake since she left the ranch, but she had no way to get word to him. She also had an obligation to Emily, who had come to the clinic this afternoon for a last-minute dance lesson.

  As nice as it felt to be dressed up, she would have preferred a night in her apartment with Nick and the checkerboard. Sometimes Rafe joined them later in the evening. After eating a bite of supper, he’d read Nick to sleep while she pretended to be studying a medical journal. When the boy dozed off, he’d turn down the lamp and ask her about her day. Seated on opposite sides of the room, they sometimes talked through the night. She told him about her work, her family, her dream of building an up-to-date clinic. She even had the land picked out and a sketch of the floor plan.

  She still didn’t know why Rafe was on the run, but he’d entertained her with tales about Lem and their bounty-hunting days. Once he mentioned growing up in New Orleans, but the middle years were lost.

  A fourth knock interrupted her thoughts. “Just a minute.”

  The plan for the evening included Rafe sitting with Nick, but he’d been adamant about arriving after she’d left with Tim. He’d made a joke of it, but Susanna had seen heat in his eyes. She wasn’t foolish enough to think Rafe was jealous, but the thought gave her a bit of satisfaction. He’d been a perfect gentleman since their go-round in the surrey, but she hadn’t forgotten how he’d made her feel.

  Pushing back the memory, Susanna opened the door and smiled at Tim. “Come on in.”

  The instant he stepped into the light, she wished that she’d feigned a headache. His suit was dull brown and a size too small. His hair, slicked back with pomade, made his forehead look bulbous. Susanna held in a sigh. Tim was trying as hard as she was. She felt sorry for them both and forced a smile. “I’ll say goodbye to Nick and then we can go.”

  She had placed her wrap by the door, but Tim didn’t notice it. Empty-handed, he followed her into the front room where Nick was on the divan with Kidnapped. Rafe had found the book in the parsonage and loaned it to Nick with her permission.

  “Where’s your friend?” Tim asked the boy.

  Nick looked at Susanna for guidance, so she answered for him. “He’s staying in town until Nick can ride. Then they’ll be on their way.”

  “That’s good news.” Tim gave Nick a nod. “I’m glad you’re better.”

  “Thank you.” The boy had sounded polite, but his face drooped with disappointment.

  Tim led the way to the door. As he held it open, Susanna lifted her wrap off the coat tree and draped it over her shoulders. When he offered his arm, she took it and they walked down the stairs. With each thud of his boots, she felt more depressed. By the time they reached the boardwalk, she had forgotten about dancing entirely. With a little luck, Horace Little would ask her about his gout.

  As soon as Susanna and Duke rounded the corner, Rafe made a beeline for her apartment. He’d arrived early and had been lingering across the street where he had a view of the stairs. He’d wanted to see her in that blue dress, and he’d enjoyed a long look.

  She had been as lovely as he’d expected. A fringed shawl had hidden her shoulders, but the gown hugged her waist and flared over her hips. It wasn’t hard to imagine a satin corset cinched tight. As for her stockings, he’d seen white ones in her bureau, but she probably had something fancy for a dance. Maybe black silk with roses embroidered on the ankle.

  Rafe had gotten a glimpse of Duke, too. The man had as much style as an old saddle, but Rafe had decided last week to keep his mouth shut. Susanna was right—her personal life was none of his concer
n. Never mind that he would have shown her the time of her life. He’d have brought her flowers and told her she looked beautiful. They would have danced all night and walked in the moonlight. He’d have kissed her at the bottom of the stairs and again on the landing.

  Rafe blew out a breath as he trotted up the steps. He let himself inside and found Nick in the front room with the checkerboard on a low table. After hanging up his hat, he pulled up a chair. “Red or black?”

  Nick grinned. “Black.”

  The color of Susanna’s stockings. Rafe clenched his jaw. He was going to be thinking about her all night. “Fire before smoke,” he said as he arranged the disks. “I go first.”

  A first kiss…a first dance…her first time… Rafe tried to block his thoughts by sliding a checker to the center of the board.

  Nick made a move and then sighed. “She sure looked pretty.”

  “I bet so.” Rafe took his turn and waited for Nick to reply, but the boy slid a checker without another word.

  He’d gotten a glimpse of Susanna, but he wanted to know more. Had Duke told her she looked pretty? Had she been smiling? A gentleman took charge and made a lady feel safe, at least that’s what Mimi had taught her son. It was also a lesson Nick would need when he grew to be a man. Rafe moved a checker. “There are things a gentleman does when he takes a lady to a dance. Did Duke bring her flowers?”

  “Nope.”

  “He should have.” Rafe would have brought her roses.

  The boy couldn’t have cared less, but Rafe wasn’t finished. “How did Duke look? Did he dress up?”

  Nick wrinkled his nose. “His hair looked funny. It was slicked back.”

  Rafe stifled a groan. Stylish or not, pomade was an abomination. No woman wanted to run her fingers through a head full of grease. He slid another checker into place. “Did he tell Dr. Sue she looked nice?”

  “Nope,” Nick answered. “But I thought she was pretty. I told her so, too.”

  A slow burn started in Rafe’s belly. Duke should have showered Susanna with compliments—and not just for her looks. She had a presence that filled a room, a smile that put everyone at ease. She deserved a night of fun. Instead she’d be dancing with a pomade-covered mule.