by Liz Harris
‘I guess you know your sister and your friends,’ he said, pulling out one of the two chairs tucked under the table and sitting down. ‘They obviously wanted to get us here by ourselves. Now why would they want to do that, d’you think?’ he asked, glancing up at her.
She shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the other chair. ‘I’ve no idea. If I’d known it’d be you here, not Will … that it’d be just you and me … I wouldn’t have come … it wouldn’t have been right. A respectable lady wouldn’t come out to meet a man in a place like this, to be alone with him like this … It wouldn’t be proper …’ Her voice trailed off.
He pulled his chair closer to hers. ‘Is that the only reason you wouldn’t have come, Rose?’ he asked quietly, leaning forward. ‘Because you wouldn’t want to be seen to be behavin’ like one of the fancy women in town? Or is there also another reason?’
A haze of red spread across her chest and up over her face. ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said awkwardly, and she cleared her throat.
He straightened up. ‘Now why do I think you do?’ he asked with a smile. ‘But in case you don’t, I’m askin’ you to forget about what is and isn’t respectable, and answer me honestly. Would you have stayed away if you’d known we were gonna be alone because you don’t have the sorta feelings that’d make you wanna be alone with me? Or would you have chosen to come? That’s what I’m asking.’
She stared at him, the colour draining from her face. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered.
He grinned at her. ‘D’you want me to help you find out?’
A sudden gust of wind rattled the door, and the windows creaked again.
She jumped up from her chair. ‘No, I don’t. I’m gonna go now.’
He stood up, crossed to the window in long strides and looked out. ‘I’m afraid you’re too late – there’s a dinger of a storm on the way.’ He nodded towards the trees. ‘Look at the wind – it’s blowin’ wild through the cottonwoods.’
She followed him to the window. Standing behind him, she stared up at the leaden sky. ‘I reckon the storm’ll be a while yet,’ she said. ‘I’ll get home in time if I leave right now.’ She went and picked up her bonnet from the table.
He turned to her, his broad shoulders blocking out the view. ‘You won’t get back before the storm, which makes that a real bad idea. We’ll sit out the storm and then leave. I’ll stay at the opposite end of the table,’ he added, ‘if that’ll set your mind at ease. That’s if you wanna sit so far from me, Rose. You haven’t yet given me an answer to my question.’ He took a step closer to her.
Her mouth felt dry.
‘You see,’ he murmured, his voice caressing her, ‘I’m wondering what your sister saw when she looked at us together that made her think she oughta get us alone somewhere. Maybe she sensed there’s things we might wanna say to each other, things we might wanna do … You know, you’re a real beautiful woman …’
She gripped her hat tightly, her knuckles white. ‘Then she’s wrong if she thought that. I’m sure she’s wrong.’
‘You don’t sound too certain to me. Is she wrong, Rose?’ he asked quietly. ‘I’m thinkin’ back to the way we’ve bin together from the moment we met. I’m thinkin’ of the look in your eyes when our hands touched. I’m thinkin’ that I’ve seen the same longin’ in your eyes that I know’s in mine. And I’m thinkin’ you ain’t too sure any more that it’s Will Hyde you want.’
Jet-black eyes searched her face.
Struggling to stop herself from trembling, she took a deep breath.
‘I reckon you’ve been doing too much thinking, Mr Galloway,’ she said, her voice shaking.
He took a step closer to her. ‘You’re right, I’ve bin doin’ too much thinkin’ and not enough doing.’ She gazed up at him, her eyes opening wide in sudden alarm. ‘I reckon it’s time I helped you decide what you really want,’ he said softly.
Her heart beating fast, she stood motionless, staring up at him.
Chapter Thirteen
Nate took a step closer to her, and she shivered.
Running his fingers down the side of her cheek and along the line of her jaw, he began to stroke her face slowly, rhythmically, the trace of a smile on his lips. Then with a sudden movement, he cupped her face, lowered his head and brought his mouth hard down on hers.
She gasped inwardly, then her lips started moving beneath his; tentative, exploring.
He pulled her closer still and deepened his kiss, his tongue seeking to open her mouth, and she found herself parting her lips for him. His tongue slid inside her mouth and touched hers.
She jumped back.
Furiously wiping her mouth with her hand, she edged away from him till her back hit the table.
‘What am I doing?’ she gasped. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Galloway. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t be doing this. I don’t want this. Not at all. Not this.’
‘Because it’s not the way a respectable woman behaves?’ he murmured.
‘No.’ She shook her head vehemently. ‘No, that’s not the reason. The only man I want like this is Will,’ she cried. She stopped and stared at him. ‘It’s Will I want like this,’ she repeated, a sense of wonder in her voice. She covered her face with her hands. ‘Why, oh, why didn’t I know that till now?’
‘Sometimes it takes a stranger to see what lies before your eyes.’ His voice was an amused drawl.
She dropped her hands and looked up at him in surprise. ‘Did you know I loved Will?’
He grinned at her. ‘Put it this way, I was real certain you felt something for Will that you sure didn’t feel for me.’
‘But …’
‘But I was different. I rode in from another world – a world of travelling, of seein’ places and doin’ business – a world that’s a long way from cows and life on a ranch. It wasn’t me you were wanting when our hands touched and you went red in the face – it was the thrill of somethin’ different, somethin’ that seems exciting when you’re on a ranch every day from sunup till sundown. I seen it in all the ranches I bin to. It’s not me the women are thinkin’ about and wantin’ – it’s what I stand for.’
She stared at him, then broke out into sudden laughter. ‘I don’t know about lookin’ into my heart, but from what I’m seeing when I look at you, Mr Galloway, I reckon you’re being a bit hard on yourself.’
‘Maybe,’ he said, grinning at her. ‘But you get my drift. It’s a feeling that comes upon a woman real quick, and then it passes. If you look into your heart, you’ll see I’m right.’
‘What I want to know now is, if you’d been mistaken in your thinking and if I’d had real feelings for you, and had kissed you back, what would you have done?’
‘Well now, Miss Rose,’ he said with a lazy smile. ‘I’m just a man, and like I said, you’re one good-looking woman, so I guess I’d have managed to complete what I started. But that wasn’t my intention when I kissed you.’
She smiled at him. ‘I’m real glad you did kiss me, though. It showed me what I truly felt.’
‘I’m glad to have been of service, ma’am, even though I’m not sure what it says about my kissin’, if kissin’ me made you realise how much you loved someone else. I guess I’ll just have to work on my action.’
They both laughed.
‘Whatever it says about your kissing, I’m glad it showed me what I feel about Will.’ She paused. ‘Will,’ she breathed. The colour drained from her cheeks and she stared at Nate in wide-eyed alarm.
‘What is it, Rose?’
‘Cora’s been seeming mighty fond of Will recently. Maybe she didn’t just want to get you and me together; maybe she wanted Will to see us together. He and his pa were coming to our ranch today, anyway, to talk with Pa ahead of this afternoon’s meeting in town. He and Mr Hyde don’t both have to go to the meeting, so maybe she’s planned a way of getting Will out here instead.’ She shook her head. ‘No, she couldn’t. She wouldn’t do that.’
‘You’re right, s
he wouldn’t. She’d never be that mean. I reckon this is just about us findin’ out what we feel about each other. She’ll have seen us together and will have decided we needed to talk somewhere away from the ranch. If she’d wanted Will here, he’d have bin here by now.’
‘You’re probably right, but if you’re not … I can’t take a chance …’
‘He wouldn’t come now, Rose. Even if she’d planned to send him here, and I think that’s unlikely, he’d never have left your ranch when it was clear there was a storm on the way. He’ll stay where his help may be needed. There’s animals to think about in a storm. They can get real scared in lightning.’
As his words died away, they heard the rumble of distant thunder. The door and windows rattled again.
‘It’s still far off,’ she said, and she hurried to the front door and pulled it open.
Thrown backwards by the strong blast of wind that burst into the room, she staggered back, scarcely able to keep upright. The wind died down, and she dashed again to the doorway and ran outside.
Nate came quickly to her side and caught her arm. ‘You can’t go anywhere, Rose,’ he cried as the wind gusted again. ‘The wind’s really got up and the sky’s darkenin’ by the minute. Come back inside – it’s gonna rain real hard.’
‘Let me go,’ she shouted, struggling to free her arm. ‘I’ve gotta get away from here, just in case!’
‘Then I’ll come with you.’
‘No, you won’t,’ she cried wildly. ‘Will mustn’t see us together. If Cora thinks I’ve feelings for you, Will might be thinking that, too. And if he sees us return together … ’
‘You’re not listenin’ to me, gal. Will won’t be goin’ anywhere. We’re gonna have one almighty cloudburst. It’ll mire all the tracks and turn them into rivers of mud within minutes. At least stay here till the storm has passed. I’ll put something under the door and we’ll keep the water out.’
‘I can’t stay.’ She stopped struggling and stared at him, her eyes panicked. ‘We both know there’s nothin’ happening between us, but if Will finds us together … I can’t risk him finding me here with you. The ranch is further away from the storm than we are here and Will may already be on the way. He may even be real close by now. I’ve gotta go.’
A roll of thunder sounded loud above them and a sharp zigzag of lightning split the sky. The neighing of her frightened horse came to her faintly above the booming of the wind. At the same moment, a sudden blast caught Nate’s hat. Releasing her arm, he raised his hands to grab at the brim.
She spun round and flung herself across the wind-flattened grass to her horse. Ignoring Nate’s frantic shouts, she swiftly unwound the reins from the branch and tugged on them, trying to steady the rearing animal.
With one hand on the reins, she gathered up her skirts as best she could with her other hand, put her foot in the left stirrup and swung her leg over the horse to sit astride in the saddle. Shaking the reins, she bent low over the pommel and spurred the horse forward with her knees.
Just as she reached a gallop, a number of shorts jags of lightning lit up the surroundings with flashes of white fire. There was a loud clap of thunder, and rain began to fall in sheets from the gunmetal sky.
Her head down, she urged her horse along the path that led away from the river and towards the open grassland and the McKinley ranch. At times slithering on the beaten track that was fast turning into a stream of mud, she galloped as fast as she could through the torrential downpour, her only thoughts being of Will and how soon she could see him and what she urgently had to tell him.
Around her the wind raged, changing direction from one moment to the next, now throwing water into her face, now battering her back with driving rain. But she rode on, gripping the wet saddle as tightly as she could, desperate to widen the distance between her and the cabin.
At last McKinley Ranch took shape through the misty curtain of rain.
Relief coursed through her exhausted body as she saw the fence that surrounded the ranch and the yard. Slowing down, she steered the horse towards the outbuildings and headed for the entrance to the horses’ barn. The large wooden door opened as she reached it, and she rode straight through into the dank interior.
‘I was calmin’ the animals, Miss Rose, when I thought I heard the sound of a horse,’ Jesse told her, letting go of the door he’d been holding open and coming across to help her slide her feet out of the wet stirrups and jump down from her horse. He took the reins from her, loosened the cinch and took off the bridle. ‘You can leave him with me. When he’s drunk his fill, I’ll give him some grain and rub him down,’ he said, lifting the halter over the horse’s neck. ‘You get yourself dry.’
She nodded her thanks, started to go out, and then stopped. ‘I may go to Hyde Ranch later today if the storm passes early enough to make that possible. But not till I’ve cleaned myself up, of course. I wanna see if there’s been any damage there.’
‘I expect Will Hyde will go with you when you do – he’ll be keen to check on everything, too. He got here soon after you left. His pa went back when they saw a storm was brewin’, which wasn’t long after they’d got here, but Will’s bin here all morning.’
Her heart leapt.
Pulling her mud-spattered skirts and petticoats up off the wet ground, she turned and half ran from the barn. Sliding at times in the thick layer of wet mud that lay atop the ground, oblivious to the dirt being kicked up on to her sodden clothes by the heels of her boots, she knew only that she had to see Will.
When she got to the foot of the veranda steps, she paused, panting. Having gathered her breath, she walked quickly up to the front door and reached out for the handle, but the door opened suddenly.
Cora stood there. A look of surprise spread across her face. ‘You’re back,’ she said with a slight gasp.
Rose saw her sister glance over her shoulder towards the yard, frown slightly, and then look back at her.
‘You’re back,’ Cora repeated, dejection flattening her voice. ‘And you’re by yourself.’
‘Like you rightly say, I’m by myself,’ Rose said quietly. ‘I know what you’ve done, Cora. And I’ve bin wondering all the way back how my sister could have been behind something that was so unsisterly, and that so shamed herself.’
The blood drained from Cora’s face. ‘I didn’t mean any harm. I thought I was helping.’
‘Helping who? You or me? If you look into your heart, I reckon you’ll find the answer, and I’m thinking you won’t like yourself for it.’
Motionless, they stared at each other.
‘Well, it just happens you did help me – you helped me a lot,’ Rose said at last. ‘So I’m not gonna be mad at you. I reckon you’ll be mighty pained if I tell you how much you helped me understand myself, and that can be your punishment. But now I’d like you to stand aside – there’s someone I gotta see.’
Cora stared at her, her eyes full of guilt and misery, then she spun round and ran to the stairs. A moment later, she’d reached the landing and the bedroom door slammed shut behind her.
‘Rose!’ she heard Will exclaim.
Will stood there, filling the doorway with his presence.
‘Oh, Will,’ she cried, her voice catching in her throat. She took a step forward. ‘I’m so glad to see you. I really am.’
He came towards her, staring at her in amazement, then a slow grin spread across his face as he reached her. ‘I sure am pleased you feel that way. I’m glad to see you, too, Rose,’ he said.
‘And you’ve been here all morning?’
‘Yup. I was gonna go back with Pa, but Cora asked me to help her and Mattie find the bracelet Cora lost near Jonah’s Cabin on Monday, but in the end the weather made a search impossible. I feel real bad about that. She said it was a favourite bracelet.’
‘And you didn’t make any attempt to look for the bracelet?’
‘Nope. We could see the storm coming, and we knew the tracks would soon be covered in mud and we wouldn�
�t have any chance of finding it. Cora wanted to go, but …’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘And talking of mud, Rose,’ he said, staring at her in amusement. ‘I can hardly see you for dirt – you’re covered in the stuff. Cora said you’d gone to town, so why didn’t you stay there till the storm had passed? You must have known you were gonna get very wet, coming back when you did. That’s not like you at all.’
Suddenly conscious of the way she must look, she put her hand to her head. The pins had long fallen out, she realised; her hair was hanging loose on her shoulders and wet strands were sticking to her damp face. She glanced down at the floor – muddy water was dripping from her clothes and gathering in a pool around her feet.
She looked back up at Will. ‘I needed to see you.’
‘That sure must have been some need to get you out in a storm like this.’
‘It was,’ she said, nodding.
Her heart thudding loudly in her chest, she stood there looking at him, staring at the man she now knew she loved with all her heart and couldn’t bear the thought of losing. Fearful of speaking, fearful of what he might say, words wouldn’t come.
‘Well?’ he prompted, and gave her a smile of encouragement.
‘I had to tell you, Will.’ She gazed up into the clear blue eyes that were looking down at her with affection, the affection she’d always taken for granted. ‘I had to tell you,’ she repeated.
As he looked down at her, the expression in his eyes deepened into something else, into something she’d seen before, but not understood, not responded to.
‘You had to tell me what?’ he asked.
She heard him steady his voice, sensed him struggling to push back the hope she could see springing into his eyes.
‘That I love you, Will – that I’ve always loved you.’ Her heart thundered in her chest. ‘You were right when you said I loved you as a sister. I have done for most of my life. But at some point that love changed into something else, something much more, something that’s given me a powerful ache inside. I was looking in the other direction when that happened and I didn’t see it for so long. For far too long. But I see it now, and I know that I will always love you in every way a woman can love a man, and my life will never, ever be complete if you’re not at my side for every single day of it.’