by Jodi Thomas
Three hours later, when everyone sat down to dinner, the doctor and Theda were still talking. Dalton filled his plate and moved behind the divider to have his meal with Nell, even though she still slept. Carter looked like there were far too many people in the house, but Bailee kept him busy helping with his sons. Walker, Lacy realized, was the watcher in the group. He was polite, even helpful, but never a part of the group.
When Bailee announced that Theda and Lacy would share the only bedroom and Walker was welcome to bunk in the main room by the fire or in the workshop with old Samuel, Lacy was the only one who caught the disappointment in Walker's eyes. He looked straight at her.
Dalton laughed. "I tried the bunkhouse the first night. I'd rather sleep with a dozen bears than listen to Samuel snore all night again."
"I'll take my chances by the fire," Walker said, but Lacy knew he wanted to be closer to her.
To everyone's surprise, the doctor asked if Bailee would mind if he stayed the night. He claimed he wanted to keep a close watch on Nell, but everyone wondered if it might have something to do with the tall old maid. She'd followed him to Nell's side every time he'd checked on the girl, assisting him.
When the house settled down, there was no private time for Lacy to talk to Walker. He walked her to her bedroom door and said good night, formally, but she saw the need in his eyes.
The world had closed in around them. There would be no time for them to be alone tonight.
Lacy fought back tears as she closed the door and put on the gown she'd planned to show off to Walker. Tonight, only Theda would see it.
CHAPTER 30
Walker swore as he unfolded his bedroll by the fire.
The ranger laughed from ten feet away. "Stop complaining, I've been sleeping in this room for a week now. It ain't so bad. You're the last one to get to sleep, and the kids wake you up by dawn coming down from the loft like a herd of buffalo smelling fresh water. Add to that, Carter patrols the house a couple times a night checking the locks like someone might sleepwalk and unlock a door, and Bailee checks on Nell every few hours like I might not be doing the job."
Dalton continued, as if Walker cared, "But tonight should be interesting with the doc sleeping on a cot in the kitchen. No telling how many times he'll be in and out of here. If Miss Theda thinks he's doing doctoring, she'll be running out to stand by his side. Then there's your wife, Mrs. Larson. She'll probably wander out here to check on Nell just in case me, the doc, and Bailee are all falling down on our jobs." Dalton sighed. "I'd get more sleep in a stampede."
-
Walker had little sympathy. "At least your wife isn't
sleeping in another room. After tonight, I'll only have ten days of leave left."
"It's not like you only have ten days of marriage left." Dalton tried to help.
Walker groaned.
Dalton sat up. "It is like you only have ten days left! Larson, maybe no one's ever explained this to you army guys, but marriage is for a lifetime. That's why they put that 'till death do us part' line in there, so the husband won't accidentally throw out the wife with last year's calendar."
Walker didn't want to talk to the ranger about his marriage, but he knew Dalton would be around long after he'd gone. The ranger's shoulder would probably be where Lacy cried, if she missed him, which he wasn't at all sure about, since she still carried that tablet around and marked off each day.
He poked at the fire, mumbling as much to himself as to the ranger, "I gave Lacy my word that if she'd let me protect her, I'd leave in twenty-four days and never come back. The time's over half gone, and she hasn't said a word about my not keeping that promise."
"Have you?"
"No."
Dalton swore. "That's crazy. You're her husband." He stood and walked over to the fire. He rubbed his hand through hair a month past needing to be cut. "You are her husband, aren't you, Captain?"
"I'm her husband."
"Her real husband ... in every way? Not just on paper."
"In every way."
"Then don't go. Or at least take her with you."
"I gave her my word I'd leave, and she wouldn't go with me, even if I asked her."
Dalton shook his head. "Then you got one hell of a problem. Tell me, Captain, just for the record, do you love her?"
"Yes," Walker answered without hesitating. The question had not entered his mind before, but when asked, he could give just one answer, the truth. Even to say he thought he did, or he might, would have been a he. There was no doubt; he'd loved her since that day in Cottonwood. Not because of her body, or what they'd done, but he loved her for being so brave. In those few minutes they'd been together, she'd become his wife in body as well as in his heart. "I love her," he said again, letting the words roll around in his mind.
"Have you told her?"
"No."
The ranger looked bothered by the captain. "I'm no expert, but I think you oughta t$ll her. It might make some difference."
Bailee tiptoed down from the loft, having put her boys to sleep. "Good night," she said to the men as she passed through the main room and headed downstairs to where Carter had built a bedroom underground.
She paused at the opening of the trapdoor and glanced back at Walker. "I agree, Captain. You should tell her." Laughing, she disappeared.
Jacob also laughed, but Walker rubbed his forehead. Everyone on the place would know he loved Lacy before he even had a chance to tell her. She was going to kill him. He might as well load the Colt for her.
An hour later, Dalton was snoring when the doc crossed the room to check on Nell. Walker woke enough to reach for his rifle, before he recognized Timothy's lean shadow moving through the room.
Walker froze as the doctor crossed the main area and tapped on Lacy and Theda's bedroom door. He thought of lifting his rifle and asking the doctor a few questions. It took a pretty foolish man to tap on another man's wife's door with the husband not ten feet away and armed.
But Walker waited silently.
When Lacy opened the door, Timothy whispered, "Could one of you help me change the bandages? I'd rather not go underground to wake Bailee, but I could use another set of hands."
"Of course," Lacy answered.
"I will," Theda shouted, waking the ranger. "I'll be with you in a moment, Doctor."
Walker watched the old maid hurry from her bedroom a few minutes later and disappear behind the divider separating Nell from the rest of the room.
"Now might be a good time to have that talk, Captain," Dalton whispered from his bed on the couch a few feet away. "She's already awake."
"Mind your own business, Ranger," Walker grumbled as he stood.
"Yes, sir," Dalton chuckled and pulled the covers up over his shoulder.
Walker marched to the door Theda had just run out of. He didn't bother to knock as he turned the knob and stepped inside.
Ten minutes later, Theda came out from behind the room divider. "The wound is healing nicely," she said. "You're a wonderful surgeon, Doctor."
'Timothy, please," the doc said.
Theda swayed like an elm in the breeze. "All right, Timothy. I'll say good night again, but if you need me, you've only to call. I know how a doctor's day sometimes can be long, and the work goes smoother with an assistant by his side."
She made it three steps toward the bedroom door before Dalton's voice stopped her. "I wouldn't go in there just yet, Miss Theda."
"Why not?" Fear widened her eyes. "Is there trouble?"
"No, the captain's just talking to his wife. I think he's trying to negotiate for a life sentence with no time off for good behavior." The ranger laughed at his own joke. "Maybe you should give them a little time."
"But..."
The doctor stepped up. "I could use a cup of coffee. Miss Theda, would you like to join me?"
"Well..." Theda looked flustered. "I guess I could, only taking coffee with a gentleman in one's nightclothes is most out of the ordinary."
"I'll chaperone, M
iss Theda," Dalton offered. "I'm a sworn officer of the law."
Theda still looked unsure. "Well, um, I guess it would be all right."
Timothy offered his arm as if he were taking her on a walk through the park on Sunday afternoon and not for coffee a few feet away in the kitchen. "I'd be honored," he said. Neither of them seemed to notice that he didn't have his jacket on and stood in his stocking feet.
"Thank you, Timothy." The old maid took the doctor's arm. As they neared the kitchen, she looked back. "Aren't you coming, Ranger Dalton?"
Dalton had already replaced his hat over his face. "I'll chaperone from in here."
The couple disappeared into the kitchen as Theda's shy laughter drifted back into the main room.
CHAPTER 31
Lacy opened the window's shutter and looked out into the night. The moon shone, a lantern of light in an almost clear sky. The wind had settled for the night, but the breeze still chilled her. Winter hung in the silent air, pausing, waiting.
A guard stood in the small window of the barn. From his lookout post he could probably see half the farm. She was safe here, surrounded by the people she loved most in this world, yet tonight she felt restless, lonely. Her world had changed so completely in the past few weeks.
The bedroom door opened, and she whispered without turning, "How's Nell? Any change?"
"The same." Walker's voice echoed in the room. "But I may be dying."
Lacy turned around, surprised at how good his voice sounded to her.
She studied him. "You look all right to me, Captain. No blood showing, no wounds."
"But I'm not. I need you with me. The door between us is too much of a wall. I need my wife."
The hunger in his eyes warmed her as no fire could. "But we've no time."
He shoved the door bolt in place. "We'll take the time."
Moving toward him, she whispered, "So, I'm a prisoner again? You plan to lock me in."
He didn't even bother to argue as he watched her every move.
When she reached him, she brushed her fingers across his heart, and he closed his eyes, taking the light touch like a blow.
"We need to talk," he said as she played with the corner of his mouth. When her tongue slid along his bottom lip, all he could manage was a moan. He pulled her close and kissed her.
Lacy loved the way he always hesitated as if afraid of moving too fast, but when passion flowed through his veins, he didn't bother to hold back the desire for her. He was a man starved for the taste of her, the feel of her. His hands moved along the soft cotton of her gown, trying to touch her all over, all at once.
"How do you like my new nightgown?" she whispered as he moved down her throat with kisses.
"I'd like it off." He pulled at the strings.
"But I thought you—" He stopped her with another kiss that made her body shake with longing.
When he shifted away, he whispered against her ear. "Let me get this conversation over fast. I like, I want, I need what lies beneath your gown. I need you." He opened the front of her gown. "Did you really think I could sleep one door away from you? All I could think about was how good you feel and taste."
"Walker," she whispered as he tenderly touched her breasts. "Can we do it again?"
"No," he answered without stopping the caress. "There's not time and in this house little chance of privacy."
She leaned back so that he could see what he'd been touching.
He drew in air sharply as if she'd punched him. "We'll make time, and I'll find a place."
While she closed her robe, Walker picked up his blanket from where it lay at the foot of the bed and threw the bolt. He grabbed her hand and walked out into the main room.
Dalton raised his hat and lifted to one elbow. "Evening, Captain," he called as if they passed him on the street.
Walker looked around, then headed for the door. "We're taking a walk," he announced as if it wasn't the middle of the night.
The ranger smiled. "I'd go with you, but I'm busy at the moment acting as chaperone."
"You weren't invited." Walker draped the quilt over Lacy's shoulders and opened the front door.
"Lacy?" the ranger shouted. "You agreeing to this walk?"
"I'm insisting on it." She laughed as Walker lifted her into his arms and carried her onto the porch.
Walker first turned toward the barn, than reconsidered and took a few steps in the direction of the workshop. He stopped once more.
"I'll show you a place," Lacy whispered. "Head toward the orchard out back."
"You take a lot of walks in the middle of the night?" he teased.
"Only in my dreams," she answered.
They traveled across winter grass until they reached the peach orchard Carter's parents had planted before he'd been born. The old trees weren't tall compared to most fruit trees, but their wide branches crisscrossed one another in spots.
"Bailee showed me a safe place to hide if trouble ever comes. Carter's parents were killed in a raid when he was little, and he survived because of this hiding place."
Walker stepped carefully over the roots, ducking low branches until they came upon a hidden spot, protected on three sides by earth and covered on top with branches. The opening would have been impossible to see from more than a foot away, but the ground suddenly twisted and turned, then opened.
"It's a cave."
"Not exactly, the roof is open to allow light in. But the place almost seems to have been created in the middle of the orchard as a secret world."
Walker slowly twisted through the darkness until he came to where the space opened up to the size of a small room. The faint smell of peaches blended with rich dirt. The place was so silent it felt like a church.
Walker lowered Lacy to the ground and watched as she spread the quilt. When she sat down, he moved behind her and lowered so that his leg braced her back. The air seemed warmer in the cavelike room, but he pulled the corner of the quilt over her lap.
She untied her robe.
His hand moved to stop her. In the pale moonlight, he could see her confusion.
"I thought you wanted me?"
"I do," he answered without letting go of her hand. "I never thought I'd ever want anything in this world as much as I want you. You come to me so easy sometimes. I know I frighten you, but you always give me another chance. Each time you step into my arms only makes me want you more, for the gift you give me is priceless."
"You're my husband," Lacy answered.
"Is that all it is to you, Lacy?"
She could wait no longer, she leaned and kissed him, pushing him down as she moved above him.
Walker knew he had to tell her how he felt, but showing her seemed so much more interesting. The feel of her atop him made thinking difficult and talking impossible. He was lost in her nearness.
Laughing, they managed to strip off their clothes and roll up together in the quilt. Their loving came natural now, no hesitation. She was his mate, and whether he said the words are not, it didn't change a thing. Lacy was his wife, and he was her husband. No amount of time together or apart would ever alter that fact.
In the silence of the night, he loved her slowly, taking his time with each level of desire. When he entered her, it was more giving of pleasure than any taking, and she responded as he knew she would, with sighs of satisfaction.
They lay wrapped together for a long while, both awake, both not wanting to shatter their joy.
She cuddled down in the blanket, pressing her cold nose to his chest, and he laughed. "I get the hint," he whispered. "It's time to take you back."
She didn't move. "Do you think Jacob will know what we've done?"
Walker laughed and lied, "No, he'll just think we went for a walk. A very long walk."
Lacy doubted the ranger was ever that naive, but she didn't say a word as Walker slid from her side and collected his clothes. When he knelt, fully dressed, he whispered, "Would you like to put that beautiful gown back on, or shall I carry you back wrap
ped in the quilt?"
Lacy sat up, the moonlight caressing her bare skin. "I thought you didn't like the gown."
"I love the gown," he corrected. "But not as dearly as I love the woman beneath."
Lacy's heart stopped. Was he just saying words to be polite, or worse, saying what he thought she wanted to hear? Or did he mean what he said? Did he love the woman beneath? If so, it would change everything between them.
She reached for her gown. She wasn't brave enough to ask.
He moved closer to the opening while she dressed, and he tried to figure out how to put his feelings into words.
When she finished tying the robe, she picked up the quilt and joined him in the blackness at the front, deciding to say nothing and see if he ever used the word love again.
Her hand touched Walker first, and even in the dark, she felt his tension. "What is it?" she whispered as he pulled her close.
"Someone else is in the orchard." His words brushed her ear.
Her heart matched his as they both froze, listening to something shuffle through the trees.
CHAPTER 32
Walker ordered Lacy to stay in the cave as he handed her his uniform jacket.
"But it's cold." She tried to give the coat back to him.
He tugged off his boots and pulled a long, thin blade from a hidden pocket on the inside of his left boot, then slipped it up the sleeve of his shirt. When he saw her watching him, he explained, "I want nothing to reflect the light. One gold button could be the death of me. I'd rather be cold than dead."
Touching her cheek, he rubbed a tear away with his thumb. "Stay here, no matter what happens, no matter what you hear. Know that I'm all right and I'm near. Stay in this place until I come after you."
Lacy nodded, near panic. They were alone in the orchard with someone who wanted her dead. There was no other reason anyone would cross the stream and sneak through the trees in the middle of the night.
Carter and Jacob could help if they knew, but there was no way to contact them. Walker had to face whatever moved out there alone. She didn't know how many men circled above them, but she knew he'd be outnumbered. They'd be well armed, and he had only a knife.