by Sandy James
When she turned to face him, her radiant smile sent heat running through him. He suddenly wanted that smile to be because of him, not some silly books.
Don’t be a fool. She deserves better than the likes of you.
She opened the cover reverently, as though it would shatter if she touched it too roughly. “Around the World in Eighty Days,” she said, reading the title. “Oh my. How exciting that sounds, even if the notion of traveling that quickly is ridiculous!” Turning the pages, she was obviously reading because her lips were moving silently.
Drake fished through the shavings to find another book and then read the title on the spine. “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea? Drew must like adventures.”
Kayla stopped reading. “Heavens, no. He prefers more serious stories. Shakespeare, especially.”
Setting the book aside, he grabbed another from the crate. “This one’s called The Mysterious Island.” He put it aside and searched for more.
“I shall no longer suffer from boredom this winter,” she announced as she took each of the books he plucked from the shavings and began to stack them on the sofa. “So many! Drew has been far too generous.”
Although he realized it was ridiculous, Drake couldn’t push aside the jealousy that she clearly had a great amount of affection for Drew. The man was in love with Gideon and could never feel more for Kayla than a brotherly affection. There was no need for jealousy.
What right did Drake have to feel any jealousy at all? He was nothing to her. Only a man building her house.
He understood, now, why she remained unmarried. Kayla was far above the touch of most of the men in White Pines. She was educated, refined. Her impeccable manners and speech made her clearly destined to be the wife of a man with money and connections.
He was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to know more about this woman. Why was she in Montana? When she should be attending teas and social events, she was feeding livestock and keeping the home of two bachelors.
“Mr. Myers!”
Her excited shout pulled him out of his thoughts. “What?”
Hands on her slim hips, she glared at him. “Did you not hear a word I said?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t.”
“I was asking if you’d like me to share these wonderful books with you.”
Accustomed to her generosity, he nodded. A shame he found none of the joy in the books that she had.
“As soon as I finish each, I shall pass them along to you.” Kayla punctuated the promise with a decisive nod.
“Um… I was thinkin’…” Drake lowered his gaze, embarrassed at what he had to admit. “Maybe you could read ’em to me?”
She cocked her head. “Do you not enjoy reading in privacy? Perhaps there isn’t sufficient light in your loft?”
Since it was the first time she’d mentioned him returning his loft, he frowned. He was content to sleep in a warm, soft bed and had hoped Kayla wouldn’t insist on his moving back to the barn.
“I can see from your crestfallen expression that either there isn’t enough light for you to read, or…” Reaching out, she placed her slender fingers on his hand. “Is that scowl an indication that you do not wish to sleep in the barn again?”
His head shot up at her touch and her keen perception. “I don’t wanna be too forward.”
“So you’d like for me to extend an invitation?” Her face lit with a smile. “I would be happy if you would stay on in the house. After our intrusion, I would feel safer knowing you are near.”
Drake turned his hand so he could grasp hers. “That’s right kind of you.”
“Now, you may read whenever you wish.”
“About that… I’d like it better if you read to me.” He didn’t want to admit his problem, but the way her brows gathered told him she’d figure it out eventually. He swallowed his pride. “Readin’ can be…difficult for me.”
“Were you taught to read?” She let out a sigh. “Of course, you can read. You told me the title of a book.”
“Yes, ma’am. But the letters, they don’t seem to want to make it easy.”
“What do you mean?”
At least she asked as though she truly cared, so he tried to explain what no one else could ever seem to understand. “They’re slippery suckers. Wanna turn around on me and look backward. Or the letters jump around in different spots.”
“I’ve heard of such problems, but I fear I have no remedy.” She squeezed his hand and smiled. “Which means I will be quite happy to read to you so that you may share these wonderful stories with me.”
Drake didn’t smile in return. Instead, his gaze locked on hers, and the tenderness he saw there was something new, something that made his breath catch. He let his eyes drop to her mouth, and all he could think about was kissing her.
Unable to stop himself, he leaned closer, waiting for her to put an end to his foolish notion.
Kayla’s eyes widened when she realized that Drake intended to kiss her again.
It was an impertinence. She should put her hand against his chest—the same one she now allowed him to cradle in his—and push him away. He was taking liberties, and she should protect her virtue and her reputation.
Her reputation? What reputation? Her name had been blackened before she’d journeyed to White Pines, and since her appearance, the townsfolk had all looked down on her. A mail-order bride was suspect, let alone one who refused to marry once she arrived.
And when the same women lived alone on a farm with two unmarried men?
Her name was “Harlot” already. Why shouldn’t she find some simple pleasures in life—like a kiss from a handsome man?
Then she saw his eyelids drop to half mast, his blue eyes revealing a hunger that made something inside her ignite. She could no more resist him than she could stop the sun from rising every morning.
Instead of putting his lips against hers, Drake eased back and stared down at her. When his brows knit tightly, she feared he’d been disappointed. Her fault, clearly, since she knew next to nothing about men and women and things like kissing.
“I–I have little experience, I fear,” she said, her voice quavering with her nervousness. “In kissing, I mean.”
Suddenly, his arms were around her, and after a growl rumbled from his chest, his lips were no longer merely touching hers.
They were crushing them.
Kayla’s mind was tossed into chaos, her thoughts lost in the melee of sensations that now engulfed her. She was helpless against Drake’s onslaught, unable to keep her arms from rising to put around his neck. The feelings were too strong to fight, and having her body pressed so intimately against his was inviting in a way she’d never known.
Just when she was beginning to think this was the closest to heaven she could ever find on earth, he did something even better. He slid his tongue between her lips, capturing her surprised gasp with his mouth.
She’d been kissed—or at least she thought she’d been kissed. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Gregory had put his lips to hers. Chaste kisses that were in line with what society expected of a couple who had announced their betrothal.
But those were pecks, nothing more.
Drake was kissing her. Thoroughly. And Kayla wanted to drown in the feelings rioting through her.
Her blood had turned to liquid fire, racing through her veins and making her feel alive for the first time in her life. Never had she thought that her body could respond in such a way. Tentatively, her tongue returned the caress of his. The way his arms tightened around her, holding her even closer told her that he liked her boldness.
She thought she was getting the way of it, her tongue every bit as wild as his, when Drake suddenly pulled back, all but shoving her away. The horrified expression on his face made her stomach plummet to her feet.
“Wh–what did I do wrong?” Kayla asked, her hand rising to touch her lips. They felt hot and swollen and she wanted to demand he kiss her again and do so immediatel
y.
He didn’t reply, only stood there looking a bit confused before his face became unreadable.
The kiss had been the most intoxicating thing she’d ever experienced, and she couldn’t understand why he didn’t want it to continue.
“That was wrong,” Drake said, backing a step away. “Very wrong.”
Embarrassment flooded her, making her face heat.
What was the matter with her? She’d thrown herself at him. No wonder he’d wanted to put some distance between them. Her behavior had been no better than that of the women he’d paid for their services. No doubt he believed she was a wanton who didn’t even require a coin in her palm the way a working girl did.
Mortified to the soles of her feet, all she could think of to do was apologize. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
“You’re sorry? You?”
“I am.” The manners her father had instilled in her didn’t cover the way she’d just behaved. Were her father still alive, he’d probably toss her out of his home and wash his hands of her. “I am very sorry, Mr. Myers. It shall never happen again.”
Gathering up her skirts, she hurried down the hall to her room and slammed the door behind her. Then she threw herself on her bed and began to mentally berate herself.
* * *
Drake could hear Kayla angrily whispering to herself, but he couldn’t catch her words. He couldn’t make his feet move, as though he was anchored to the spot. So filled with confusion, he simply couldn’t comprehend what had just happened between them.
A kiss. They’d shared a kiss.
But it was so much more.
Accustomed to women who were paid for their affection, Drake hadn’t known that a woman could ignite such feelings inside him—especially a good woman.
Or was she truly good? Although his experience with anything other than whores was limited, he couldn’t help but wonder where she’d learned to kiss the way she’d kissed him.
All sorts of theories began to fly through his mind. Perhaps she wasn’t what she appeared to be. The only information Drake possessed had come from his dealings with Sara and Caleb, and he couldn’t say that he’d paid much attention to what they’d told him. He’d been too busy being angry at Sara to give two figs that Kayla had been intended to be Caleb’s mail-order bride.
What had driven her to such a drastic action? What could’ve made her leave wherever she called home—New York City?—to come out in the middle of untamed land and marry a man she didn’t even know?
Had she been a woman of ill repute who had fled to start a new life? She sure as hell wouldn’t be the first. Had she run away the same way Sara had run from a life of selling herself in Denver?
It hurt to think of Kayla in the same light that he thought of the prostitutes he’d known. Even Sara, no matter how furious he’d been with her, didn’t seem to fit their ilk. They were hard women, used and discarded. They painted their faces, colored their hair, and acted exactly like what they were.
Whores.
Kayla was no whore.
Maybe it was only one man—one man who had ruined her reputation and sent her packing. Lord knew there had been plenty of good women who’d suffered the same fate. What better way to escape a tragic relationship than to run west and start a new life? Plenty of people did, although they were usually criminals or were trying to leave the poverty of cities behind. Had she come here to marry Caleb and start her life over again?
Gossip about her had plagued the town since she’d exited the stage that had borne her to White Pines. Despite the fact that she’d been living with Drew and Gideon almost from the moment she’d arrived, speculation about her past and her reasons for first agreeing to marry Caleb and then becoming housekeeper to his brother still raged like wildfire. Why hadn’t she married despite the numerous proposals that had come her way since she’d arrived? Why was she content to hide away with Drew and Gideon?
Drake raked his fingers through his hair and then shook his head. He should go to her and apologize. Regardless the reason she’d had the skill to kiss him with such passion, he had no right to flaunt propriety that way.
Her dialogue had ended, and before he could head down the hall and knock on her door to give her his regrets, that door opened. What he saw shocked him.
Had Kayla been a woman wronged, one who’d been kissed by a man whose advances she didn’t want, she would have appeared with red-rimmed eyes after weeping over being so shamed. Instead, she faced him with a hesitant smile that flabbergasted him.
“I should prepare our supper,” she said in such a calm tone that she appeared bored. “And you, Mr. Myers, have animals to attend to, do you not?”
Then she walked right past him as though their kiss had never happened.
Chapter Twelve
Drake set the last of the dishes he’d dried on the shelf. He glanced to Kayla, still unable to find the right words. There’d been almost no talking throughout the rest of the day, which was now winding down. The sun had already set by the time she put their supper on the table. In Montana, winter days were almost too short for him to take care of all the livestock let alone work on her house. The foundation was complete, thanks to the periodic help from Ty and Caleb. But there was little Drake could do while that foundation was buried in snowdrifts.
They’d been lucky so far this winter, with snow not cutting him and Kayla off from the rest of the world. Judging from the thick, gray clouds that ominously loomed in the distance all day, that luck wasn’t going to hold much longer.
Soon, the Montana winter would be snowy, bitter cold, and difficult to survive. Drake would do whatever was necessary to keep Kayla safe and warm until spring. Thanks to a successful hunting trip he’d made a few days ago and their trip to the general store, the larder was full, and they were prepared should a blizzard strand them on the farm.
Hanging the towel on the wooden rod he’d installed for her, she brushed her hands down her skirts. “Thank you for your help with the supper dishes.”
Drake gave her a brisk nod. He still felt so awkward around her, and he wished he knew what she was thinking and feeling so he’d know what to say. No doubt she regretted their kiss. Regret was the furthest thing from his mind. No, he wanted her. Now. Desperately.
This was going to be a long, trying winter.
Kayla wasn’t a woman a man tumbled and then forgot. Not only was he unfamiliar with her kind, he also didn’t know how to discuss his intentions.
But what exactly were his intentions?
His lust was still running high, making it difficult to think straight. But he finally came to a decision. She deserved better than what he had to offer. As though Drake had anything to offer… He was flat broke and living on the farm only to complete a task—to build her house. Then he’d be right back to living hand to mouth.
That was no kind of life for Kayla. He silently vowed to be a person he’d never been before.
A gentleman—although he was clueless as to how to be something he was not.
The beautiful smile she tossed his way as she lit the lamp in the sitting area knotted his gut. Had she any clue about the things he’d thought about doing to that slender body, she would be pushing him out the door and barring it against him.
“Would you still enjoy having me read to you?” Her gaze caught his, and her smile slowly faded. “What’s wrong, Mr. Myers?”
“Drake, dammit. I thought we were past this! I’ve told you a hundred times to call me Drake!”
Now, her dark eyes shot fire. “You needn’t snap at me.”
He sighed, a long, drawn-out affair that gave him time to calm himself. His anger and his desire seemed to get tangled up in each other. If he didn’t get a strong grip on both, he’d never make it through the winter without tossing her on a bed and having his way with her. “I’m sorry. I just… Please, for the love of God, call me Drake.”
Kayla cocked her head. “Why does it bother you so that I use your formal name?”
Because
that kiss was anything but formal. “We’re friends. Friends don’t use formal names.”
Her expression was unreadable. “Is that what we are? Friends?”
“Well, yeah. At least I think so. Don’t you?”
She didn’t reply, only stared at him for a few moments looking a bit bewildered. Then she let out a small sigh and dismissed him by picking up a book from the stack she’d left on the sofa. “Shall we begin with Around the World in Eighty Days? It is the one which intrigues me the most.” Tucking her skirts beneath her, she sat in the chair closest to the light.
Drake flopped on the sofa next to the books and hoped he wouldn’t yawn much. He was dog tired from his chores and the trip to town. Add the darkness, and he was ready to find his bed, regardless of how chilly it might be. While there was a large hearth in the bedroom Gideon and Drew shared and in the room Kayla used, the smaller bedchamber only had a small fireplace. He’d opted for that room out of respect for his hosts.
Perhaps the cold would make him rethink that decision.
Kayla held the book reverently. “The title promises a wonderful journey for us.”
“A journey?”
“Oh, yes. Every book takes readers on a delightful journey.” Gently opening the cover and turning the first few pages, she smiled. “Shall we begin?”
He couldn’t help but smile in return. “I’d like that.”
So she did. “‘Chapter One: In Which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout Accept Each Other, the One as Master, the Other as Man Around the World in 80 Days.’”
* * *
As Drake walked Kayla down the hall to her bedroom, he thought about their kiss. Despite his wish to banish the interlude from his thoughts, it refused to budge. He stepped into the room and went to the hearth. Kneeling, he tossed a couple of fat logs on the fire and used the iron to stoke the flames. “You’ve got plenty of wood for tonight.”
“Thank you kindly for fixing my window pane.”