“Here.” He handed the now screaming baby to his mother, keeping his eyes fixed at a point halfway up the wall, yet still got a glimpse of lace trimmed undergarments.
“Stay close,” she said. “In case I faint and drop him.”
The baby’s head and her breasts were covered by one of his blankets. The crying stopped immediately; the only sound now was the baby gulping the milk.
“Not so fast, Robbie, you’ll make yourself sick and your uncle won’t know how to look after you if I can’t.”
She was right, he was clueless. He had delivered and looked after foals and calves, other animal babies over the years, too, but never a human one.
“His clothes are in the large trunk. He’s wet and if I can’t change him, you’ll have to.”
“Me!” He’d rather face a rampaging bull. “I’ll get the stuff, but that’s all.”
“A nightgown and diaper.”
“What?”
“The squares of flannel.”
“I’ll get it now.” He shoved an extra pillow behind her back before heading over to the trunk. Food, maybe she was suffering from lack of food?
“When did you last eat?” He threw the question over one shoulder.
“At breakfast.”
“Why didn’t you get something on the train?”
“I would have had to go to the dining carriage, and I couldn’t, not with him.”
At least her voice sounded stronger. A good sign, surely?
He opened the large trunk. Everything was neatly folded. The nightgown was on the top along with the flannel squares. He extracted them.
“Two diapers please.”
“Okay.” The baby was giving contented little snuffles now. His little belly must be getting full. The blanket dropped as she swapped him from one breast to the other.
“He’s a greedy baby,” she said softly.
“Yes, I can see. Tim always liked his food.”
“I can’t believe I thought he had deserted me.”
“You weren’t to know. If you’re feeling better how about I go and see if I can get you a cup of coffee and something to eat?”
“A cup of tea would be lovely. My grandparents always drank tea as they were English. I take milk with one teaspoon of sugar.”
“Okay.”
“Stay until I’ve finished feeding and changing the baby, just in case. If only this headache would go away and I didn’t feel so tired.”
“You’ll feel better once you have a sleep,” he said, hoping it was true. “Drink the tea first so you don’t get dehydrated.”
The baby let go of her breast and before she clutched the blanket over it, he caught a glimpse of creamy white skin. He turned his back so she could re-arrange her clothing. “Are you decent?” he asked after a time.
“Yes.”
He swung around. The baby now wore a lace trimmed nightgown.
“This is how you do his diaper, just in case you need to change him.”
“I’m not going to change him.” The very idea was ridiculous.
“In case I can’t.”
Fear shot through him. Surely, she wasn’t that sick? “Maybe I should get a doctor to see you.”
“No, I’m just tired and worried.”
“You don’t have to worry anymore. I’ve told you I’ll take care of you both.”
“How, if we don’t marry? I know I did wrong by not telling you about Robbie. Mrs. Taylor, Preacher Tom and his family were good to me. They didn’t really have room for me, yet they let me stay. I can’t go back there it wouldn’t be fair. I don’t have any kin left except for a distant Aunt who I haven’t seen in years. Please, marry me. I’ll be a good wife to you.”
“I don’t know, Angelique.”
“Everyone calls me Angel.”
Appropriate, she did look angelic. “My friends call me Clint.” Could it possibly work between them?
“I know you would be a good father for Robbie.”
“Father!” He’d never thought about being a father, not with the way his marriage had been.
“Please, Clint. Marry me. We’d be safe then.”
What was wrong with him? A marriage in name only would be the most sensible solution to their problems. Now he had met her, he realized not consummating their marriage wouldn’t be easy. He would have been better off if she had been the hag he was anticipating.
Her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t want us.” She seemed to shrink in stature before his eyes.
“It’s not that I don’t want you.” More like I’m frightened I’ll want you too much, he thought staring at her. The baby was now lying quietly on the bed, his little rosebud mouth slightly pursed, his blue eyes almost identical to Tim’s.
“Please.”
“All right, we’ll get married. I’ll go and get your tea then you rest while I see if I can round up a preacher for tomorrow. Okay?”
“Yes, thank you, Clint.”
His name coming out almost on a sigh did funny things to his insides.
“Timothy said you were a good man and you are.”
He heard the sincerity in her voice, saw it in her eyes and was moved by it. Once she had swaddled the baby in his blanket, she handed him over to be placed in his basket.
“How old is he?”
“Four months. He’s been baptized. Preacher Tom did it. He married Timothy and I, too.”
“Why don’t you change into your nightgown while I’m gone. Then you can have your tea and sleep. I guess the baby wakes up regularly for feeds.”
“Yes. Every three or four hours during the day, maybe a couple of times at night. Timothy would have loved him.” Her eyes clouded over.
“Look forward, not back. That’s the way he would want it.” Clint wondered why he didn’t take his own advice. He left the room and strode into the lobby where the man still sat. “You mentioned a wedding party, is the preacher still here?”
“He married them yesterday.”
“Oh. Where can I get a cup of tea for my sister-in-law?”
“In the dining room. Through those double glass doors.”
“Thanks, I didn’t notice it before.”
“One of the maids can bring it up to her.”
“Thanks, I can do it. Your staff must be busy with all these guests.”
“Yes, best few days I’ve had in months.” He gleefully rubbed his hand together.
Without further ado, Clint strode into the guest dining room to get the tea. He didn’t want a maid coming to the room in case she discovered the baby. Whether hotels allowed babies to stay he had no idea but wasn’t prepared to risk it. What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.
He pushed the door open and glanced around. It was quite a large place; he hadn’t realized the hotel had its own eating place. Not that he came to Laramie often, and when he did, he always ate at the diner.
“A table for one, Sir?”
“No thanks, I’d like a cup of tea please. It’s for my sister-in-law. She’s got a headache.”
“We can have it brought to her room.”
“No, it’s okay, I’ll take it. You look to be busy. Oh, she wants milk and a teaspoon of sugar.” He grimaced. “I don’t know how she can drink it. You can’t beat a good cup of coffee.” He didn’t know why he was gabbling on like this.
“Something to eat?” she asked.
“Um, yeah, a buttered biscuit would be good, thanks.” He waited, glancing around as he did so. The place was crowded all right and by the piles of food on the various tables, the wedding guests were spending a lot of money. No wonder the man at the desk was happy.
Stepping back to let a man past, Clint noticed he was wearing a clerical collar. “Preacher?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the time to have a word with me?”
“Well, son, that depends.”
“I want to get married.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He didn’t like discussing his personal business to a stranger even if he was a man of God. Briefly he told him about Angelique’s position. “I figured us getting married would solve a lot of problems.”
The preacher stared at him intently. “Yes, I can see how it would, it might create a few, too.”
“Like what?”
“What if you later met and fell in love with another woman.”
“That won’t happened. I’ve been married before and it wasn’t a happy union. My wife is dead in case you wondered.”
“Bigamy is a serious crime.”
“I know that. I can provide proof my wife is dead.”
“No need. Look, son, so long as you’ve thought this through and the woman in question is agreeable, I’ll marry you. Can you come over to my house in the morning about ten o’clock? I live next to the church.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Do I need to bring anything, papers….?”
“No, I’m prepared to take you at your word. You will need a wedding ring.”
“I forgot, I guess the mercantile would have one.”
The waitress returned with a tray containing the cup of tea and a plate with two buttered biscuits on it. “Thank you, I’m Clinton McKenzie, put it on my account please.”
The preacher raised his eyebrows. After the waitress left, he said. “It’s for Angelique, she’s got a headache. It was a long trip for her with the baby.”
“I can imagine. All right, my boy, I’ll see you at ten o’clock tomorrow, but think carefully about what you’re proposing.”
“I have and I will, thank you.”
They left the dining room together, the preacher heading for the door, him going in the opposite direction.
When he got to their room, he placed the tray on the floor so he could open the door. All was silent as he entered. Angelique was still propped up against the pillows although she had changed into her nightgown, a plain white one with lace around the collar.
Her eyes were closed, and she looked so young and vulnerable he felt pain about the region of his heart. He glanced at the basket on the floor where the baby slept peacefully.
“Angelique, um Angel, I’ve got the tea.”
Her eyes fluttered open. What a pretty soft blue they were.
“Thanks, Clint. I’m sorry for putting you to all this trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He rested the tray across her legs. “I thought you might be hungry, hence the biscuits.”
“Thanks, I’m not hungry at all, just weary.”
“I know, drink the tea and eat the biscuits then rest. I’ve got a few things I need to do, including buying you a wedding ring.”
“I’ve got one.”
“You have?”
“Yes, Timothy said it belonged to your mother and I was keeping it for Robbie.”
“Okay, one less thing to do.” He watched as she drank the tea and nibbled at the biscuit. “I can’t eat two of them, you have the other one.”
He hesitated a moment before taking it. He suddenly realized he hadn’t eaten since midday when he’d brought himself a steak at the diner. The biscuits were still warm; he ate with enjoyment.
“We’re getting married tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
“We are?” Angel knew her voice was scratchy from fatigue and nerves. While she nibbled on her biscuit, forcing herself to eat it, Clint ate hungrily. She couldn’t believe how kind he had been after the shock he must have received on discovering there was two of them.
“How did you manage to organize that?”
He grinned and what a difference it made when the somber mask was lifted. “I ran into the preacher in the dining room. I briefly told him our situation and he agreed under the circumstances the quicker we did the deed the better.”
“The deed?”
“Yes, getting married. What other deed were you thinking of?” He cocked one eyebrow in query, and she didn’t know whether he was joking or not. Heat rushed into her cheeks.
“You’re blushing, Angelique.”
“Angel, please.”
“Okay, Angel. Angelique, is that French?”
“I don’t know, my mother just liked it I think.”
“Finish your tea and rest while you can. It was a long journey for you to undertake on your own.”
Timothy had said his brother was a good man who had been dealt a bad hand. How could a woman treat him in such an awful way? Her eyes grew heavy.
Chapter Six
Angel awoke with a start to find the room pitch black. Why hadn’t Robbie woken up to be fed? Panic engulfed her. She went to kick the blankets away and they wouldn’t move. She wriggled around until she could slide out of bed. The moment her feet hit the floor she fumbled with the bedside lamp.
Once it spluttered into life, she saw Clint lying on top of the bed stripped to his drawers with Robbie lying with his cheek resting against his uncle’s bare chest, a blanket covering his back.
Her breasts felt heavy and sore with milk. Why hadn’t the baby cried out to be fed? He obviously did and Clint must have picked him up. She couldn’t believe she had slept so soundly. Normally she would hear the baby’s slightest whimper.
“Ooh, my aching back,” Clint said, slowly sitting up and supporting the baby with one of his large hands.
Angel snatched the baby’s blanket to cover her now leaking breasts. If the cotton of her nightgown was as wet as it felt, the material would be almost transparent. Heat rushed into her face. She didn’t know where to look, what to do. He had to have seen.
He made no comment, although his eyes blazed. “Um, er, he was crying. I picked him up so he wouldn’t wake you. He was wet but I didn’t know what to do about it.”
Robbie started stirring now. His little mouth opening and shutting, getting ready to give a full-throated roar. Clint was on his feet by this time and thrust the baby at her. “Quick, before he starts bellowing. He’ll wake the whole hotel up and they’ll probably throw us into the street.” He turned his back. “I won’t peek.”
“I’m sorry, us lobbing here like this must be awful for you.”
He shrugged. “You don’t know the half of it, lady.”
The baby’s mouth clamped on her breast and he sucked greedily. Her other breast was leaking, she could feel the wetness of warm milk against her skin.
“You’re leaking everywhere.” Clint stepped over to the dressing table and grabbed a towel.
“I’ve got a lot of milk and if he’s late having a feed it leaks.” She couldn’t believe she was talking to a man like this. She felt so embarrassed she couldn’t stop the words tumbling out of her mouth.
He looked embarrassed also. He was almost hopping from one foot to the other as if the floor was on fire. “I took my clothes off as I didn’t want to look too disheveled when we fronted the preacher. If anyone finds out about this your reputation will be ruined.” He paced the room now.
“We’ll be getting married in a few hours so what will it matter?”
“It matters to me. I’ve compromised you. I wasn’t going to stay the night in here with you, but I was worried about you being able to cope with the baby if you were still unwell.”
“Where were you going to sleep? The stable?”
“No, there’s a cheap boarding house behind the barber shop, I was going to stay there. The woman who owns it knows me. I’ve stayed with her before.”
“You have?” She didn’t know why her heart plummeted to her boots. She changed the baby to the other breast.
“She’s about eighty years old, if you were thinking that I, um, we….”
“It’s not my business to question what you do.” It will be after we’re married. What was wrong with her? Until they were wed, he was entitled to have as many women as he wanted. Had he? Clinton McKenzie was a fine-looking man. It was unreasonable to expect him not to have had….
“I�
�m not interested in women. My wife’s behavior turned me off them for life. I keep away from them as much as I can. I don’t risk temptation. That and hard work seem to work.”
What a terrible time his wife must have given him. Timothy had said the woman was vicious and evil and she could well believe it.
The baby fell asleep halfway through the second side and she gently eased his mouth from her nipple. “I need to change him.”
“I’ll get the stuff for him. Same as before?”
“Yes, thanks.”
He kept his back to her. The baby stirred as she changed him, with a full belly he would soon drop off to sleep again. After laying him in the basket she stumbled back to bed, climbed in and pulled the covers up to her chin. The top of her nightgown was damp, but she’d have to put up with it.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Three in the morning.”
“I slept all that time?”
“You must have needed it.”
“I did. I feel much better, still a little tired, though.”
“Okay, I’ll turn the lamp off then I’ll sleep in the chair.”
“You’re too tall for the chair. You could lay on the bed like before. I trust you.”
“Well, you shouldn’t because I’m not sure I can trust myself.” The room was starting to become cool and he suddenly shivered. She held the bed clothes back. After hesitating for a moment, he slid in beside her and lay as stiff as a poker. It wasn’t right them sharing a bed.
It’s not as if I’m some frightened little virgin. I’ve been married, I’ve had a baby. She tried to justify her behavior.
“I’ll have to be careful no-one catches me like this,” he said.
“We’ll be married in a few hours, besides no one will know.”
“It’s you I’m thinking of. People can be downright nasty.”
“I’m too tired to care.”
Angel woke up wondering what the weight resting against her waist was. Clint’s arm was draped across her. No wonder she felt safe and warm. Her feet rested against his legs. Heat raced through her body at their closeness. It would be so easy to love him, and she did that at her peril. Clint McKenzie wouldn’t or couldn’t love her because he was too scarred by his first marriage. He would look after her and Robbie, treat them with kindness and she had no right to expect anything more from him.
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