“Ideas.” His mouth twisted into a wry grin. “So you said. What upset him?”
“I’m not sure.” She looked at Sean, who was inching toward the wagon. “We were heading back into town after finishing our deliveries out to the River’s Haven Community. We got here, and Toby refused to go any farther.”
“The creek is high. Maybe he’s afraid of fast water.” He chuckled. “There’s a reason folks use the term horse sense, you know.”
“The water has been high before, almost every spring. It’s never bothered him before.”
“Something sure has spooked him tonight.”
Emma watched, baffled, when Noah went to the bridge that was barely wide enough for her wagon. He squatted to peer at it.
“What are you looking for?” she asked, taking the lantern and holding it up so he could see better.
“Not sure.” Standing, he walked out onto the wooden bridge. When he bounced on each plank, she almost laughed. He had to be the oddest man she had ever met.
Sean gave a whoop and raced out onto the bridge, jumping about as Noah was.
She shook her head. Maybe Toby was simply mad, and that madness had infected both Noah and Sean. Yet she had to smile to see Sean acting like a child. Too often, he was as somber as a judge.
Suddenly she heard a crack like a cannon firing. Sean shrieked as the board broke beneath him. He vanished, and she screamed in terror. In those wild waters, he could be swept away and drowned.
“Sean!” she cried, stepping onto the bridge. “Sean!”
“Get back!” Noah shouted. “Get back off the bridge. You may fall through, too.” He dropped to his knees. As he reached into the black hole with one hand, he motioned her back with the other. “Stay where you are!”
“But Sean—”
“I see him. Hold on, boy.”
Emma sank to sit on the damp grass near the road and watched, one hand pressed to her mouth while she held up the lantern with the other, as Noah’s calm voice drifted to her. The words were lost in the rush of the water, but that did not matter. Sean must be able to hear them.
She jumped to her feet again when Sean’s head appeared through the hole. Noah yanked him up and tossed him onto the shore. She caught Sean, who clung to her, his face wet with his tears. In amazement, she realized that was the only part of him that was wet.
“How …” she whispered.
“I caught onto the boards.” He gulped back a sob. “Just like we used to catch onto the trolley back home.”
She smoothed his hair as she had Toby’s mane. Looking over his head, she raised the lantern again and called, “Noah, get off the bridge!”
“I’m trying to do that.”
Trying? Her breath caught again in horror. “What’s wrong?” she cried. “Do you need help?”
“Stay back!” He tested the board next to the one that had broken. When it screeched like a beast in pain, he ran.
The board crumbled into splinters that raced away on the torrent. He jumped to his left. That board wobbled, and he leaped away just before it dropped into the water, dragging down the railing, which was consumed by the maw of a raging whirlpool. He flung himself toward the shore. Within seconds, the bridge had disappeared, leaving only the naked supports jutting out from the bank.
“Stay here,” Emma whispered to Sean, handing him the lantern. “Make sure Toby doesn’t take it into his head to go now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” His voice shook.
She squeezed his shoulders once more, then ran to where Noah was rolling over. She knelt beside him and put her hands on his shoulders to help him sit. “Take it slowly. Are you hurt?”
“Just my pride that your old Toby has more sense than the three of us put together.”
“Are you all right?”
“Fine. I thought the boards looked rotten.”
“So you tested them by trying to kill yourself?”
He laughed as he looked up at her. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“You scared me near to death! I thought you would be drowned. Both you and Sean.” Her bottom lip trembled, and she held it still with her teeth. Then her teeth began to chatter. When Noah put his arms around her, she leaned her face against his chest.
“It’s all right,” he murmured against her bonnet. “Sean and I are both safe—although maybe not sound. I’m not sure I can say we are of sound mind just now.”
She laughed. She could not halt herself, even when she still shook with fear. “Do you always do such stupid things?”
“Not always. Sometimes I do smart things.” He clasped her face between his strong hands and captured her mouth.
The tender persuasion of his lips swept away her protest at his untoward behavior more swiftly than the water in the creek. As her arms curved around his shoulders, he deepened the kiss until her breath grew rough. Her fingers clenched on his shirt when his tongue slipped between her lips to caress each responsive spot in her mouth. He allowed no mysteries to hide within her mouth, setting each slick shadow alight with his tongue, until she moaned against his lips.
Raising his mouth from hers, he held her gaze as he reached for the ribbon on her bonnet. He untied it and pushed it aside as her fingers combed up into his hair, which was as coarse as raw silk. She closed her eyes when he bent forward to tease her neck with fervid flicks. She drew his mouth back to hers so they could share each breath in this glorious storm of sensation.
“Miss Delancy, it’s beginning to rain,” said Sean from behind her. “Can we go?”
Emma pulled away from Noah, hoping her face was not a brilliant crimson in the light from the lantern the boy held. Groping for her bonnet as she forced a smile for Sean, she flinched when her fingers settled on Noah’s thigh. His hand clamped over hers, holding it in place.
She looked at him, desperation tightening her voice. “It’s raining. We should get going.”
His other hand cupped her cheek. “I thought we were.”
“Noah!”
With a laugh, he stood and drew her to her feet. He turned to Sean and said, “Lead on, my man.”
“Where?” Sean rocked from one foot to the other, clearly uneasy.
“Back to Toby and the wagon. Miss Delancy and I will be right behind you.”
Sean nodded and rushed to clamber into the back of the wagon. As he leaned forward to hook the lantern in its place on the side, he waved for them to follow.
Emma took a single step, but Noah’s hand holding hers kept her from hurrying to the wagon. The rain was thickening into a mist. She wanted to find some shelter before the fall became heavier.
“Will you release me?” she demanded.
“That’s no way to talk to your host.”
She frowned. “Host?”
“You can’t drive into Haven tonight. I doubt that bridge can be fixed until the water goes down. Even then, it’ll take me and several other men a few days to repair it. The only other way back to Haven will take you hours.” He smiled and doffed an imaginary hat. “So I guess you’ll be staying the night out here on this side of the creek. If you don’t want to bunk in with Mr. Murray, you can stay at my house.”
“I—I—”
“Don’t get all bashful on me. In addition to Belinda and Fuzzball and Sean, my housekeeper will be at the house. We’ll be properly chaperoned.”
Emma smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.” He tipped her chin and gave her a quick, fiery kiss.
“Noah, we aren’t very well chaperoned here.”
As if Sean heard her, he called, “Are you going to stand there all night being lovey-dovey while we get drenched?”
“Lovey-dovey?” Noah laughed. “The boy has quite the vocabulary.”
“So I’m learning. Some words he uses I’ve never heard before, but he assures me that they’re all the rage on the streets of New York City.”
“It seems we both have a lot to learn.”
Emma was glad the lantern’s light
did not reach this far. She knew she was blushing, for his tone made it obvious what lessons he would like them to study together. The very thought sent a pulse rushing through her, as unstoppable as her yearning to be in his arms again. She saw his amazement when she threw her arms around him and kissed him before turning to hurry to the wagon.
Hearing Noah’s laugh, she smiled as she climbed up onto the seat at the front of the wagon. He walked out of the darkness, and the raindrops glistened on him as if he were bathed in stars. But even those were not as dazzling as his eyes, which revealed he would not be satisfied with these few kisses.
He took Toby’s head and guided the horse as she began the slow process of turning the wagon. From the back, Sean shouted out a warning each time it came too close to where the road fell into the creek. She steadied the wagon so it would not roll too far.
Once its rear wheels were closest to the ruined bridge, Noah went to get the ax he had left back along the road. He leaned it against the dash as he swung up to sit beside her.
“I should thank you for your hospitality.”
“It’s no more than I should do after you opened your house to us last week.”
“How’s the pup?” Thank goodness, she could speak of something mundane. Maybe now her mind would stop conjuring up images of Noah’s face in the moment before her eyes closed as his lips found hers.
“Why don’t you come and see for yourself?”
Emma nodded. Everything would be back the way it should be once they reached his house. It must be the white one she had passed less than a mile up the road. A quiver glided along her as she wondered what she would do or say during the ride to his farm. She never had been bashful before, and she enjoyed jesting with her customers at the store. So why was she abruptly acting like a schoolgirl who was flustered by a good-looking man’s kiss? It was time she acted like the woman she was … a woman who would be a fool to let passion endanger her.
Again.
CHAPTER SIX
“All set?” Noah called, his voice seeming even more stygian in the dark.
“Yes.” Emma decided simple answers were best. That way, she might be able to keep her mind on the importance of not getting involved with this handsome man. She could not risk ruining his life as Miles had ruined hers.
“All right. Let’s go, then. Gladys gets crotchety when I’m late for dinner.”
“Gladys?”
Stepping up to sit beside her, he leered like a stage villain at both her and Sean. He added as the boy giggled, “You need not look so discomfited. Gladys is my housekeeper.” He whispered against where her hair was now falling onto her shoulders. “In spite of any gossip you may have heard, I’m not keeping a mistress hidden away out on the farm.”
“No one has said … I didn’t mean to suggest—”
His laugh prevented her from stumbling through her inadequate excuse. “Of course you didn’t. I was just teasing you because you looked very serious all the sudden.”
She slapped the reins on Toby’s back and tried to see through the darkness. When Sean held up the lantern, she said, “Blow out the light. I can trust Toby.”
“And me?” asked Noah.
“Trust you? I don’t know you that well.” She did not add that several well-meaning busybodies had shared with her throughout the week every word of gossip about the widowed Mr. Sawyer, who would be, according to many in Haven, a perfect match for the unmarried Miss Delancy.
When Sean laughed, she guessed Noah had made a silly face at the boy. She relaxed against the slats of the seat. Noah rested his elbow on the back of the seat and leaned his chin on his fist. She glanced at him and quickly away, because, when she turned her head, his lips were so close.
“Don’t you recall, Emma, how I saved you and yon Toby from what might have been mortal danger?” Noah asked.
“Are you trying to be a knight in shining armor?”
“Your knight, lady fair. Here to protect you from rotten boards and a dunking in that creek.”
Emma laughed, then yelped as the wagon dropped into a chuckhole. “Sean, are you still with us?”
“Yes, Miss Delancy!”
Noah’s voice became serious. “If you wish, I can drive.”
“I know the road better than you do.” She steered Toby around a corner and into the blacker shadows woven beneath the trees. “I’ve been delivering to my customers along these roads for over seven years.”
Emma was relieved when the trees thinned and lights from a house pierced the night. The rain was becoming steadier. When Noah offered to steer the wagon along the road to his barn, she was grateful. She doubted if she could find an unfamiliar road in the dark. When his fingers touched hers as she passed him the reins, she quivered.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“Why do you ask?” She was proud how her calm voice concealed the turmoil inside her.
“You seem as jumpy as a cat in a doghouse.”
“I saw you and Sean nearly get washed away. Doesn’t that give me a reason to be on edge?”
“I thought I might be the one unsettling you.” Even in the sparse light from the house, his smile was bright.
She kept her hands folded in her lap. “Did you?”
When he chuckled, she could envision how his brows had shot up at her answer. Another shiver coursed through her. She was amazed how easily she could reconstruct the strong lines of his face out of her memory.
“Here we are,” he said as he drew back on the reins and stopped the wagon under a thick maple. Its budded branches offered no refuge from the rain.
“You were lucky to get such a well-proven farm.” She turned on the seat and lifted three of the quilted pads she used to protect her deliveries. Handing one to Sean and another to Noah, she drew the third one over her bonnet. It would offer only temporary protection from the rain.
“You always seem to have the very thing I need,” Noah said as he tied the reins around the metal strip atop the dashboard before draping the quilt over his head.
She was unsure if his words had a double meaning. She decided to act as if she had noticed nothing brazen about them. “That’s part of running a store, I suppose. I have to keep current with anything that my customers might need.”
“I didn’t know you were so interested in farming.”
“My customers, for the most part, are farmers. If I wanted to be ready to sell them what they need, I had to learn about their jobs as well as mine.”
“So you didn’t grow up on a farm?”
“No.” She turned quickly to check Sean again. After her probing of Noah’s past, she should not be surprised that he was asking questions. That his kisses had been mind-numbing was no excuse for not considering the consequences of trying to learn more about him.
His chuckle had little warmth. “I guess that terse answer is a warning to mind my own business.”
“I didn’t mean …” She was not sure what to add, because she had meant exactly that. Anyone prying, however innocently, into her past made her nervous. A single wrong word could expose the truth she had hidden since her arrival in Haven. If anyone had any idea of what had happened in Kansas, she might not be able to escape hanging this time as she had seven years ago.
Noah cleared his throat, and she started with a gasp. He stepped down from the wagon. When she started to move, too, he motioned for her to stay where she was. She looked down and saw rain falling into a puddle.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I’m just a little nervous.” That much was the truth. Talking here in this dusky bower with a man as handsome and enigmatic as Noah Sawyer, even with Sean watching, would have been enough to unnerve her under any circumstances.
He lifted Sean out and then said, “Slide over here, Emma. I’ll help you down so you don’t ruin your pretty shoes.”
She laughed. She was wearing shoes that were as scuffed as his boots. Doing as he asked, she put her hands on his shoulders while he assis
ted her down. He released her as soon as her feet touched the ground. She was amazed how disappointed she was that his fingers had not lingered … for just a second.
“Why don’t you go up to the house?” he asked. “I’ll put Toby here in the barn for the night.”
“I can do that. Sean, run to the house.” She glanced toward where the Ohio was an ebony ribbon wider than it customarily was. “You’ve already got a lot of work ahead of you here, Noah. If the river rises much more …”
“Don’t even say it.”
“It’ll ruin your fields.” She frowned as she went to unhook Toby on one side from the wagon while Noah did the same on the far side. “You’re behind on your planting.”
“If I till the fields.”
“You aren’t going to farm here?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” When he glanced across the open meadows that were washed of color by the thin veil of rain, the firm lines of his silhouette teased her finger to run along his aquiline nose and the firm line of his lips.
“But you bought all that seed from me.”
He chuckled as he led Toby away from the wagon. Tossing the quilt back onto the wagon, because the rain was letting up, he said, “Just in case. I can resell it if I decide not to use it. Jim Moore stopped by a few days ago and asked about renting some of the fields to graze his stock.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Really? Why?”
“Jim and his wife have an even dozen children, with one more on the way. Renting out more land will help him increase his herd.”
“You’re speaking of cows, not children, I assume.”
Emma smiled. “You assume correctly, although it seems the Moore family grows as fast in the house as the number of head they raise in the fields.”
“Supper!” came a shout from the house.
“I told you Gladys gets crotchety if I’m late.” He took the horse into the barn. When she followed, he asked, “Don’t you trust me to look after him?”
“Old Toby can be pretty persnickety about what he eats. No oats at night, or he’ll get sick.”
He opened a stall door and slapped Toby on the rump. The horse went in, but gave him a glare that suggested Noah would be sorry for doing that. “Does hay agree with him?”
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