by Paty Jager
Kelda, hurried into the tent, picked up the first box she came to, and returned to the cookhouse. Her mind spun with questions. Why did he want to talk about her working in the woods? The expression on his face was so serious. Maybe Far wouldn’t be able to talk him into letting her work in the woods. They worked for Mr. Halsey, and Far wouldn’t want to stop on this project now. Outrage shook her from head to toe, replacing the tingling heat of his hands with a blast of scorching indignation.
~*~
Hank peered one more time around the cookhouse and wondered why with the huge cookstove and all the men seated around the table a sharp cold breeze blew across his skin every time Kelda glanced his direction.
The dishes piled in front of him. Before he could pass them on to Tobias, the scent of vanilla and woods spun his senses. Kelda’s shoulder bumped his as she snatched the plates from in front of him. He shivered. Frosty. The woman was downright frosty, and he hadn’t a clue what he’d done. Other than jab an elbow in her gut earlier.
At the time she’d acted like she didn’t harbor bad feelings. After some reflection, she must have decided he’d intentionally slammed the air out of her. Which he hadn’t. He’d been backing up, dragging the long heavy rope to straighten the coils before rerolling it, the way Dag taught him.
He obviously needed to apologize, again. If he didn’t freeze to death before he had the chance. The loggers climbed over the benches and headed out the door. Hank turned his attention to the women. Their backs were to the open area, their heads bent together as the dishes clanged and clattered in the tub and into stacks on the shelf to the side of the drain board.
“Hank, you have been quiet tonight,” Arvid said, lighting his pipe and leaning back in his chair.
“When the women get done with the dishes I need to speak with Kelda.”
A crash from the washing area captured all the men’s attention.
“Kelda, have you been playin’ in the butter again? Your fingers seem to be slippery,” Tobias joked, and his brothers laughed.
Hank wondered if he’d hurt her worse than she’d made out. She’d been more distracted and fumbling tonight as she served the dinner.
“Why do you wish to speak to Kelda?” Dag asked, his blue gaze holding steady on Hank.
“I owe her an apology for running into her today.” A groan rose above the clanging of dishes. “And I think I may have hurt her worse than she said.”
Kelda spun from the pile of dishes in front of her and jammed fisted hands on her hips. “You did not hurt me. I told you at the time, I’ve been through worse than a man’s elbow jabbing me in the belly.”
Her anger infused rosy color to her cheeks and added sparks to her eyes.
“Then why are you dropping dishes if I didn’t hurt you?”
She shot a furtive glance at Arvid and grimaced. Did she want to say something that she didn’t want her father to know? Hank made a quick decision. Obviously, the only way to get to the bottom of her anger would be to confront her privately.
“Sir, would you mind if Kelda and I stepped outside?” Hank cringed inside at the sparkle that leapt into the man’s eyes.
“Kelda, grab your coat and see what the man wants to say in private.”
“Far, that’s not a good idea.” Karl jumped to his feet. “Someone should chaperone them.”
Hank shook his head. He didn’t plan to court the woman. He just wanted to find out what was eating at her. He’d learned from his brothers’ wives that women liked to talk, and he had a feeling this one needed her cork loosened. “I promise I’m not asking her outside to make advances. We just need to talk in private. It’s obvious she’s not going to tell me what’s eating at her with all of you present.”
Kelda already stood by the door, a man’s black wool coat buttoned to her neck and a wool scarf wrapped around her head. Her flushed cheeks shone in the lantern light. Her gaze met his solid and unflappable.
“If Kelda isn’t back in here in fifteen minutes you can come looking for us.” Hank said to appease Karl as he pulled on his coat,
“I don’t know what you’re worrying about. No man is going to think of Kelda in the way you’re talking.” The door hadn’t fully closed when Dag’s voice cleared the threshold.
Kelda’s shoulders drooped proving she’d heard her brother’s comment. She walked around the corner of the cookhouse to a fallen log at the backside of the building. Hank wanted to catch up to her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. She was a fine woman. Any man would be dang lucky to have her for a wife. He stood in front of her as she sat on the log, her face pointed toward the men’s logging boots on her feet.
Hank crouched in front of Kelda, tipping her face up to read her emotions. “Your brother sees you only as his sister. You’re a woman any man would be lucky to marry.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I’m the size and body of a man. Men want a small delicate woman.” She wiped at the tears, and her hands clutched his. “Don’t make Far keep me out of the woods. It’s all I have to make me happy.”
Pleading in her eyes and voice sucker punched Hank. “Why would you want to work alongside men in the woods? Women belong in the home.”
“I don’t care to work inside. I love the outdoors and the labor of logging. Don’t keep me out of the woods. It’s the one thing I can do well.”
The strong grip of her fingers on his proved her strength. He had no doubt she was a skilled woodsman…woman. He pried her fingers from his hands and held them between his palms. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow you in the woods. It isn’t proper for a woman to work like that. And what if you prove too weak to handle a job and someone else gets hurt?”
“Ooooo!” Her hands ripped from his grasp and rammed him in the chest. He started tipping backwards and grabbed the first thing in reach—Kelda’s arms.
He fell back into the snow dragging Kelda on top of him.
The surprise in her eyes quickly turned to interest as she gazed down into his face. Her body sprawled across Hank, pressing him into the snow. Even with the heavy clothing, her curves were evident as her relaxed body molded over his.
Hank pushed the scarf back from her face and stared into amazing eyes that glistened from the moonlight bouncing off the snow. Her gaze searched his. The rise and fall of her chest quickened. She licked her lips…
He held her head in his hands. Inch by inch, Hank drew her lips closer, wondering if the heat and passion he’d witnessed in her eyes would be in her kiss.
“Kelda!”
The male voice broke through the insanity of his actions. Hank rolled, rose to his feet, and pulled Kelda up with him.
She spun to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.
“Wait,” Hank whispered, brushing the glittering snow from her back. When the moonlight no longer sparkled off snow crystals on her coat, he released her arm. “Go. And tell everyone good night from me. I’ll head home now.”
Kelda hesitated. How could she have gone from rage one moment to wanting him to kiss her?
“Kelda!” Karl’s angry tone moved her feet toward the cookhouse door.
“Ja?” She stepped around the corner and confronted her brother. She hoped her encounter with Hank didn’t show on her face. She almost giggled thinking of the way he’d flopped backwards from her shove of aggravation.
“Where were you and the boss?” Karl blocked her from entering the cookhouse.
“On the log back there.” She swung an arm toward the back of the building.
“What did he need to say to you that couldn’t be said in front of your family?” The accusation in Karl’s voice plucked at her defiance.
Anger seeped back into her body. Why was Mr. Halsey so thick-headed? Far had worked with many men, and he would not allow her in the woods if she was a threat to anyone. The talk had accomplished nothing. “He didn’t need to say anything.” She shoved Karl out of her way and plunged into the cookhouse.
Far and Mor sat at the end of the table. Unasked questions
hung in the air as Kelda hung her coat and scarf and marched to the stove to pour a hot cup of coffee. She added milk, turning the dark brown a velvety tan.
“I’m going to bed.” She took the cup and headed to the small lean-to at the back of the building that held cooking supplies and her cot.
“Kelda.” Far’s tone held exasperation.
“Leave her be. She’s been upset all afternoon. Perhaps talking to an outsider will calm her.”
Her mother’s words nestled security in Kelda’s chest. Her mother understood what it was like to be around men all the time. Men who treated you like one of them. Never a moment to one’s self to think woman thoughts, dreams. After landing on top of Hank all she could think of was how strong he felt and her weight on him hadn’t even made it hard for him to breathe. But her thoughts couldn’t go there. He might show her attention, but he wasn’t interested in what made her happy. If he cared about her happiness he wouldn’t have ordered her out of the woods.
She dropped the curtain, hooked over a peg, and stopped in the darkness waiting for her eyes to adjust. The stars had sparkled in his eyes as she stared into them. And she was sure the way he held her head and lowered her…so slow… Uff da.
Kissing the boss would only get her harassed by the men, and it was pretty obvious from Karl’s reactions he wasn’t about to have his little sister find a man before he found a woman. Which brought her to her idea of taking the boys’ place one day a week so they could venture into town and hunt up a woman. She’d speak to Far in the morning. There had to be a way to get around the boss’s order.
Chapter 4
Kelda grabbed Far’s coat sleeve when everyone headed out after breakfast the next morning.
“What does my lovely daughter wish to say to me?” he asked, smiling down at her.
She loved the way Far made her feel like a small, pretty girl when he looked at her. She slipped her arm though his and led him to the bench at the table. “I know Karl is cranky because he works long hours and has no time to find a wife.” She held up her hand when Far started to speak. “Ja, he is cranky. And I have a plan that I think will make the boys happy. I would like to offer to help out one day a week for Karl and Dag allowing them to go to town and hunt for a wife.”
Far’s eyes twinkled, his lips quivered as if they wanted to tip into a smile. “What brings on this kind gesture for your brothers?”
“I like working in the woods and unless someone is sick I rarely get to help. If I work at least one day a week, I will be more prepared when someone is down.” Last night waiting for sleep to come she’d reasoned out the best method of getting Far to agree.
His graying eyebrows arched. “Have you forgotten Hank will send us away if I let you work in the woods?”
Kelda worried the inside of her lip between her teeth and studied Far.
“You have called him a reasonable fellow. Can’t you make him see how it would benefit the whole camp to have Dag and Karl happy?” She clutched Far’s hands. “You know how much I love standing on the springboard and shuttling logs along the chute. I don’t want that taken away from me. By anyone.”
Far placed his large, wide hand on her head. “Skatten min, my treasure, you know if I agreed with Mr. Halsey I would have never taught you the ways of the woods. You are as good as the men, and I want to be there when you show this to our boss.” He tweaked her nose. “But you must not push it on the man. He will become more stubborn the more you force the matter.”
“You will allow me to take over one day a week for Karl and Dag?” Her heart hammered in her chest. She missed the woods. Up in the air, topping trees or gaffing logs down the chute, straining her muscles, exhausting her body, and satisfying her mind with a job well done.
“When we start logging, I will figure out a way to get you into the woods one day a week, but this is our secret.” He cupped her cheek in his palm and his eyes dulled. “Your mother needs your help. You must help her for me.” The last words were spoken so softly she leaned in to hear them.
Mor might be a small woman but her giant husband was scared of her.
Kelda giggled. “I will keep our secret and help Mor.”
Far pat her cheek and stood. “Ingrid, keep our daughter busy. She has too much time to think of ways to make us grow old faster.”
Mor scurried across the floor, pushing a paper-wrapped package in her husband’s pocket. “She is not the one I worry about.”
Far leaned down, and Mor kissed his cheek. The love shining in their eyes filled Kelda with warmth from her head to her toes. She wanted a man to love her as openly and honestly as her father loved her mother.
“I am always careful because I do not want to miss a night with you wrapped in my arms.” Far winked and Mor blushed. The door opened and he disappeared.
Kelda squirmed watching the blush on Mor’s cheeks turn rosy and her eyes glisten. She turned away to attack the mound of dishes left from the morning meal.
“Someday Kelda, you will find a man as caring and loving as your father. When it comes you will know it.” Mor picked up a cotton cloth and dried the dishes Kelda washed.
“How?”
Mor placed a fisted hand on her chest. “You feel it in here. Deep, strong, wonderful, and a little painful.”
Kelda shook her head. It sounded more like a symptom of eating too many sausages.
~*~
Hank rode into camp after lunch. He knew no one cared if he arrived every day or not, but he didn’t want to miss anything that happened. Colin had pounded on his door at daybreak. Ethan needed to talk with him before he went to the logging camp.
If Ethan had sent anyone other than Colin, Hank would have ignored the summons and gone to the stamp mill after he’d checked in at the camp, but he didn’t want Colin to think Ethan’s orders could be undermined.
Rumors David Eccles, the owner of the Sumpter Valley Railway, had mills accepting lumber bids had worried Ethan. He wanted to make sure Hank had contracts with the mills.
Hank patted the contract he’d written last night when he couldn’t sleep for thinking of Kelda. He wasn’t looking for a wife. This logging operation would take all his time the next few years, and he didn’t plan to make a woman wait around for him. But there was something about the tall, blonde woman with a constant smile and sparkle in her eyes that kept him thinking about her. Her adamant plea to work in the woods last night still niggled at his mind.
He’d had his arms full of female when they’d rolled in the snow. He smiled. She’d been soft in all the right places, and he’d darn near kissed her, he’d been so caught up in her vanilla scent and intriguing eyes.
“Watch out!”
A log “thumped” to the ground not ten feet from his horse. The animal shied sideways and bolted across the camp. Hank managed to stop the frightened creature just short of plowing into Mrs. Nielsen, carrying a basket toward the cookhouse.
His horse snorted.
“Uff da!” She held the basket up like a shield.
Hank bounded off his mount, stumbling and catching his foot in the stirrup in his haste. He finally extracted his foot and stood, flushed and embarrassed in front of the woman. She tipped her head back to peer into his face.
“Mr. Halsey, have you been with the drink?” Her faded green eyes no doubt at one time had held the same spunk as Kelda’s.
“No, ma’am. I was thinking…” He trailed off. He didn’t want the woman to know he was thinking about her daughter. He shuffled his feet. “My mind was on the contract I want your husband to look over, and I didn’t see the tree they were falling. Scared my horse senseless when it fell. Took me by surprise, too.”
“Mr. Halsey, a logging camp is a dangerous place if you don’t have your wits about you.” She shook a thin finger at him.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The door to the cookhouse opened. Kelda stepped out wrapping a scarf around her head.
“Mor, I was worried you took so long to get the eggs for the cake.” Kelda
barely spared him a glance. “Mr. Halsey, did you sleep in this morning?”
He couldn’t believe she didn’t show any awkwardness about their tumble in the snow the night before. The frostiness of dinner had returned.
“No. I was conferring with my brother on a contract.” He patted his jacket pocket where the contract rested. “Any idea where I can find your father?”
“Kelda, his contract has him distracted. Best you take him to your father. He might end up under a tree.” Mrs. Nielson patted her daughter’s arm, sent Hank a wisp of a smile, and disappeared into the cookhouse.
Hank peered into Kelda’s amused eyes. “I don’t think your mother likes me.”
Her lips quivered between a half smile and a full curve of her lips. “She likes you, or she would not have asked me to take you to Far. She would have let you get hit by a tree.” Kelda giggled and her eyes danced with glee.
Her merriment was infectious. He liked the way her face lit when she genuinely smiled. “I see. Then lead on.”
She headed toward the shushing sound of saws in rhythm, slicing through trees and the cadence of axes, taking bites out of the tall pines. Her long strides covered the ground with speed. Stepping over downed logs and around underbrush, he saw why she wore men’s dungarees. In a dress she would be hampered.
“Timber!” the call barely finished ringing when the top of a tree whistled and whushed to the ground.
Hank tipped his head back. A man stood on the flat cut of the tree nearly eighty feet in the air. Hank gulped and his stomach tightened at the thought of standing on a tree so tall.
A tug on his sleeve drew his gaze from the man.
Kelda’s eyes shone with excitement. “Rudy is a good topper, but I’ve climbed higher.”
Hank’s heart sputtered to a halt, and his throat constricted. He stared at the man so high he looked like he could touch the clouds then back at the glowing face of the woman beside him. He swallowed. “Y-you’ve been that high?”
“Ja. It’s like being an eagle. You’re high above and can see for a great distance.” She peeked at him then stared at the man on the slightly swaying tree. “From up there you would look no bigger than a cat.”