“What about the stud farm? Did you look at any of the paperwork?”
He nodded. “Yes, there is nothing in the will that states we have to live in Kentucky. We can keep the stud farm as our show farm, like we discussed. The books show it’s profitable so we can keep it going and just go there a few times a year to check in. We can go to the Derby if you want.”
She sighed. “What I want more than anything is to go home. Can we go see if we can get our tickets exchanged after we see Philip tomorrow?”
He smiled, though she couldn’t see him. “You’ve done everything you want to do and seen everything you want to see?”
“For this trip. We can come back, maybe when the children are older.”
“With a new baby, it’ll be a long time before we can come back, if ever,” he said.
Her head lifted from his chest so that she could look at him, her heart in her eyes. “I don’t care. Do you? Aren’t you ready to go home, too?”
Was he? He did miss the little ones, and it got worse every day. It would take five days to get home anyway, because the train could only go so fast. He guessed that would have to be enough time alone with Cat. For this trip. There would be many more times they’d be alone. Many more trips that she would plan as she’d said. Time they could be together to rekindle the spark of lust and love they both needed at times.
He lifted up and placed a kiss of promise on her mouth. “We’ll go to the train station tomorrow, after we go to the Nelson’s, and see if we can still get a sleeper, if we change the reservation. I don’t want to do five days sitting up in the train car.”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” She covered his face in little kisses that reminded him of Lizzy. His little girl had wrapped around his heart the day she was born, just as her mother had when she was just three.
He stopped her butterfly kisses by holding her head still and locking his lips to hers.
“There’s another way you can thank me,” he said on a groan. Just thinking of all the things they could do together, without leaving this room, had him excited.
“Oh, there is, is there?”
“Hmm, hmm.”
“You mean like this?” she kissed his neck.
“Yes,” he breathed.
“And this.” She moved down his chest to his nipples and took one in her mouth, nipping it gently with her teeth.
“Yes, just like that.” His voice was a gravelly whisper, forced out on a breath.
She laughed. Clearly, she enjoyed teasing him.
Moving lower, her laughter stopped. She looked up at him, smiled, and then he lost all thought, concentrating only on the pleasure his wife so lovingly gave.
The next day they took a cab to the Nelson’s and asked the driver to wait. They walked up the walk just as they had two days ago, but with a lighter heart this time. Somerset showed them to the library.
“Ah, Duncan, Catherine, I’m glad you’re back. Sit down. Sit down. I take it you’ve read all the papers?”
They all moved to the sitting area and took the same seats they had before. “Yes. You’re right the stud seems to be quite a profitable operation. I’m going to accept the bequest, but we won’t be moving to Kentucky.”
“I don’t understand. You said you could see the farm is profitable.”
“Yes, but Father,” he’d never get used to saying that word and meaning the man who sired him. He was as much a stranger now as he was growing up. That much hadn’t changed. “didn’t require that I move there to keep it. We’re going to use it as a show farm for our cutters, as well as continue the thoroughbred operations that are there now.”
“I see. Well, I know he’d planned on you living there. There are some things there that you may want. When are you going to go out to see it?”
“We’ll go in a few months, when we’re ready to show the two-year olds that are ready for sale.” Duncan rose and Catherine with him. “Thank you for finding me and letting me know I have family. I’d like to get to know you and your family better. Perhaps you could all come down to our ranch and see how the west really is. We’re expecting a new baby,” he watched Cat put her hand over her stomach, “around Christmas, maybe you could come then.”
“I’ll talk to Penelope, but I think Christmas in the Rockies would be beautiful.”
“It is. There’s nothing like a white Christmas.” Duncan held his hand out to Philip. “We look forward to hearing from you.”
“I’ll definitely keep in touch.” Philip shook Duncan’s hand and then let it go. “It’s funny. I’ve wanted family since I was a child but the way my parents got along, I realized fairly quickly that there would be no siblings for me and now I have one. I feel like my childhood dreams have come true.”
“Mine, too.” Though he still had to work through some of his anger at his mother, Duncan was beginning to understand her and with Cat’s help, he’d eventually be able to forgive her.
They left Philip’s and took the same cab to the train station.
The man behind the counter at the train station assured them that changing their departure date to the following day would not be a problem, though there was a small fee. He also said there was a sleeper car available from Chicago to Denver.
Duncan grinned at Catherine, who had the good grace to blush. “We’ll take it,” said Duncan. “Can you also change our tickets from Denver to Creede?”
“Yes, sir,” said the man. “No problem.”
Thirty minutes later, they were in possession of their new tickets, and on the way back to the Palmer House. Catherine went up to the room to pack, and Duncan stopped at the front desk to explain that they were leaving early.
When he walked into their room, a few minutes later, Catherine looked up from folding one of her skirts into their new trunk. “Well, was there any problem?”
“None at all. They had another couple who wanted to stay some extra days and they couldn’t accommodate them until now. So they aren’t charging us an early departure fee.”
“That’s wonderful.” She beamed at him. “See, we were meant to go home earlier than we planned.”
“The train won’t arrive in Creede until late in the evening. We’ll probably want to stay overnight at Mary’s place.”
“I hope she has a room,” Cat said, moving across the bedroom to pull his good boots from the armoire. “Maybe we could wire her that we’re coming home early and will need the room, so she can make sure she has one available.”
He nodded. “I’ll go do that while you pack. All I’ll do here is get in the way anyhow.”
Catherine looked at her amazing husband, the man who was so tough grown men feared him but whose baby daughter could wrap him around her finger with two little words, “da da”. He was the same man who could calm a raging stallion one minute, and soothe his son’s skinned knee the next. He continuously surprised her, like he had with this trip and she loved him for it. But she loved him even more for understanding her need to return home early.
She missed her babies. Needed them as much as she needed air to breathe. And Duncan understood, even seemed to feel it himself. The pull of home, of his family. Duncan would always be the most important person to her, as she was to him, but the kids called to them, to their protective instincts, as well as to their hearts. She just flat out missed them.
Later that evening she talked to the kitchen manager and the pastry chef and got the recipe for the brownies she liked so much. She also got the recipe for the Eggs Benedict Duncan liked, not that she’d ever make the recipe as written. She never had English muffins but she bet she could put it on biscuits and it would be just as tasty. The hard part would be trying to make it for fifteen people, but she guessed she could do it in a pan and keep it all warm in the oven. One way or another she’d make it work.
Catherine and Duncan spent their last night at the Palmer House making love and enjoying each other, knowing their time alone was coming to an end.
The hotel arranged for two bellboy
s to be at their door at six o’clock in the morning, to take their luggage down to the cab the hotel had arranged for.
As they pulled away from the curb, Catherine looked back at the place that had been their home for the last week. It was a magnificent piece of engineering, the rooms lovely, and the staff exceptional. It was a wonderful place to stay and they would come back here the next time they were in Chicago.
They boarded the train at seven-thirty and it pulled out of the station at eight o’clock. Sitting in their car, they watched Chicago get smaller and smaller as the train picked up speed, heading west toward Denver and home.
Arriving in Creede at seven fifteen on the evening of June twenty-eighth, Catherine and Duncan left their trunks inside the train station for the night and made their way to Mary’s boardinghouse. She had their room ready and waiting. After being on the train, sitting on the hard wooden seats for most of the day, they were ready for the comforts that Mary offered; a hot meal and a soft bed for the night.
The next morning, Duncan got their buckboard from the stables, drove to the train station and collected their trunks. When he returned to the boardinghouse, Catherine was waiting on the porch chomping at the bit, ready to head home. The journey to her father’s place was going to seem the longest of the entire trip. She could hardly wait to hold her daughter and son in her arms again.
They pulled onto the long drive to her father’s ranch, the J bar C, a little over two hours after they left Creede. As they got closer to the house she could see Ian and Lizzie playing in the front yard. She was concerned that they were alone but when they got closer she saw her father sitting in the shade of the porch with a book.
When they stopped in front of the house Duncan set the brake and came around to help Catherine down to the ground. If she’d been wearing her buckskins rather than one of her new dresses, she’d have jumped down on her own. As soon as the kids saw them, they shouted and ran for the gate in the white picket fence that surrounded the front yard, an addition her father had made when Ian was born. He’d decided if he and Alice were going to babysit, he was going to make damn sure it was safe for his grandson to play in the front of the house.
Ian reached the gate and started to unlatch it but caught himself. He wasn’t allowed to go out of the gate by himself, so he waited for Catherine to come to him.
She reached the gate and didn’t even bother to open it but lifted her son over it and into her arms. There she hugged him tight, trying to make up for all the hugs she’d missed while she was gone.
“Mommy, you’re squeezing me,” Ian complained.
She heard a chuckle from behind her, turned and saw Duncan smiling indulgently.
“Me, me,” said Lizzy, holding up her arms.
Duncan reached over the fence and picked her up. She took his face between her palms and gave him little butterfly kisses all over it, the kind Catherine knew he loved and that melted his heart every time.
He wrapped his free arm around Catherine, bringing her and Ian close.
Having her family together was all she needed. Happiness radiated through her. She looked up at Duncan, smiled, and said, “Now, we’re home.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cynthia Woolf is the award winning and best-selling author of nine historical western romance books and one short story with more books on the way. She was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in the mountains west of Golden. She spent her early years running wild around the mountain side with her friends.
Their closest neighbor was one quarter of a mile away, so her little brother was her playmate and her best friend. That fierce friendship lasted until his death in 2006.
Cynthia was and is an avid reader. Her mother was a librarian and brought new books home each week. This is where young Cynthia first got the storytelling bug. She wrote her first story at the age of ten. A romance about a little boy she liked at the time.
Cynthia loves writing and reading romance. Her first western romance Tame A Wild Heart, was inspired by the story her mother told her of meeting Cynthia’s father on a ranch in Creede, Colorado. Although Tame A Wild Heart takes place in Creede that is the only similarity between the stories. Her father was a cowboy not a bounty hunter and her mother was a nursemaid (called a nanny now) not the ranch owner.
Cynthia credits her wonderfully supportive husband Jim and the great friends she’s made at CRW for saving her sanity and allowing her to explore her creativity.
Connect with Cynthia Online
www.cynthiawoolf.com
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Twitter
OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE
NELLIE
The Brides of San Francisco 1
ANNIE
The Brides of San Francisco 2
CORA
The Brides of San Francisco 3
JAKE
Book 1, Destiny in Deadwood series
LIAM
Book 2, Destiny in Deadwood series
ZACH
Book 3, Destiny in Deadwood series
CAPITAL BRIDE
Book 1, Matchmaker & Co. series
HEIRESS BRIDE
Book 2, Matchmaker & Co. series
FIERY BRIDE
Book 3, Matchmaker & Co. series
TAME A WILD HEART
Book 1, Tame series
TAME A WILD WIND
Book 2, Tame series
TAME A WILD BRIDE
Book 3, Tame series
TAME A SUMMER HEART
short story, Tame series
TAME A HONEYMOON HEART
WEBSITE – www.cynthiawoolf.com
NEWSLETTER – http://bit.ly/1qBWhFQ
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About the Author
Other Titles by Cynthia Woolf
Tame A Honeymoon Heart Page 6