The Halsey Brothers Series

by Paty Jager

  Kelda knew exactly how Maeve felt. Perhaps the two had more in common than she first thought.

  Stomping on the back porch grabbed their attention. Kelda and Rachel glanced at the door. Clay followed by Zeke and Hank entered the cozy kitchen. Rachel popped up, placing a kiss on Clay’s cheek.

  “I didn’t make it over to Maeve’s because Kelda arrived for a chat.” Rachel moved to gather more cups from the cupboard.

  Hank’s gaze landed on Kelda. He couldn’t miss the dark skin under her eyes or her timid return gaze.

  “That’s why we came over. To see if a patient arrived and kept you.” Clay held out his hand and found a chair. He shed his coat and placed it on the chair back and sat.

  Hank took the empty chair beside Kelda. “I didn’t know you were coming to town today.”

  “Far suggested it.” Kelda held his gaze, but she lacked the usual sparkle.

  “I see.” He didn’t really but could think of nothing else to say in the presence of his family.

  “Why are you in town?” Her question shouldn’t have rattled him as much as it did.

  “I had some people to see.” He stole a glance around the table. His family stared at the exchange between he and Kelda like it was a high-stakes poker game.

  “Actually, I’m ready to head back to camp. How about we ride together?” He wanted her alone to sit down and have a good long discussion. One they couldn’t have with so many people butting in.

  Kelda nodded and stood.

  Hank turned to Zeke. “I’d like to borrow one of your saddle horses.”

  “Take Coal, he’s sound in this mud.”

  “Thanks. I’ll have the group coming to town tomorrow return him.” He turned to Kelda and helped her with her coat. “Ready?”

  She faced Rachel. “Thank you for the coffee and conversation.”

  “You’re most welcome. Stop in anytime.” Rachel stepped forward and gave Kelda a hug.

  Kelda’s cheeks redden, and she backed up, running into Hank. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed, trying to infuse her with his support.

  Hank took hold of Kelda’s hand and led her to the door. He stopped. “If any of the loggers get out of hand while they’re in town let me know.”

  “You can count on it,” Zeke replied and waved them off.

  Hank left the house, holding Kelda’s hand. He didn’t want to release her but knew it would be impossible to saddle Coal one-handed.

  At the barn, he let loose of Kelda reluctantly and opened the door, releasing the hot, humid animal, dung, and hay aromas. Four horses were stabled in the barn. He found the black gelding and began saddling.

  “You’re being awfully quiet,” he said, trying to start up a conversation. Kelda’s silence worried him.

  “Why weren’t you at breakfast?” Her voice came from over near the door.

  He tightened the cinch and dropped the stirrup down. “I wanted to visit with Myrle this morning.” Hank walked to the wall where the headstalls hung and picked out Coal’s.

  “Who’s Myrle?”

  “The woman who helped us after our parents were killed. She owns the eating place just as you come into town.” Hank led the horse over to Kelda. “My horse is tied in front of her place.” He held out his arm waiting for her to take hold.

  She peered at his arm then down her body.

  “What’s wrong?” Hank tipped her chin up with his free hand.

  “I’m not dressed like a lady so you don’t have to pretend I am.” The uncertainty swirling in her eyes dulled their usual spark.

  “Kelda, sweetie, it doesn’t matter how you dress, I’m always going to treat you like a lady. And you should always feel like one.” He placed a quick simple kiss on her lips and wished he knew of a way to help her get passed her inferior feelings about being a lady.

  He held his elbow out again, and she looped her wrist through. “That’s better. Let’s get my horse and head somewhere where we can talk and not get interrupted.”

  They walked the length of Main Street without saying a word. He tipped his hat to the few women out running errands and said hello to the men he knew. At Myrle’s Hank helped Kelda mount and handed her the reins before turning to untie his horse.

  The door of the building opened, and Karl trudged down the steps a napkin still stuffed in the neck of his shirt.

  “Where are you taking my sister?”

  “We’re riding back to the camp.” Hank mounted his horse and peered down at Karl.

  “She came with me and can ride back with the rest of us in the wagon.” Karl’s arms swung toward the wagon and horses tied at the mercantile.

  “We’re both ready to leave now.” Hank turned his horse and motioned for Kelda to follow.

  “Kelda, you be sure and let Far know this was your idea,” Karl shouted as they continued out of town.

  Kelda raised her hand and waved at her brother, causing Hank to smile.

  He kept the horses at a walk and fell back to ride beside Kelda. “We’re not going back to camp right away.” He took a path that veered to the left off the main road.

  “I had a feeling we weren’t when you said we’d go somewhere no one could interrupt.” She studied him. “Where are we going?”

  “To the cabin where I grew up.” He watched the information settle in her mind.

  A smile curved her lips and her eyes half closed. “I’d enjoy seeing where you grew up.” A frown marred her face. “I can’t take you to where I grew up. We’d have to travel for months to cover every place I’ve known as home.”

  “How long is the longest you’ve lived any where?” Knowing she’d never had a chance to call a place a home tugged at his resolve to give her a permanent home.

  “We spent three years in the same area but pulled up camp a couple of times to be nearer the cutting.” She stared straight ahead. “As far back as I can remember the cookhouse has been my home.”

  Hank placed a hand on her arm. “Would you like to stay in one place?”

  Her green gaze peered into his face. “There were times as a child I prayed every night that this would be the last time we moved. That was back when I wished for playmates besides my brothers. As I grew older the wood beasts became my friends, some have been with us for years, others not as long, but we all become a big community kind of like Sumpter. And I don’t mind it so much anymore.”

  “Do you think you’d be happy in a community like Sumpter?” His heart raced waiting for her answer.

  She smiled. “It would be fun to see.”

  Her words lifted the dread that had been sitting on his chest like a stamp press. “Come on.” He urged his horse into a trot. He wanted to get off the horses and sit down and talk.

  Chapter 22

  Kelda dropped down into Hank’s raised arms. She wouldn’t have allowed herself to drop into another man’s arms believing they wouldn’t be able to hold her, but she had faith in him. And he didn’t disappoint either with catching her or the long, dizzying kiss he gave her before propping her against the barn wall as he took care of the horses.

  When her legs regained their strength, she walked to the doorway and studied the cabin fifty feet away. They’d slowly climbed the side of a mountain and rode into a small meadow. A cabin sat at the far side of the meadow and the opening of a mine sat back in the mountainside.

  This was where Hank and his brothers grew up. The cabin wasn’t big. In fact, it appeared too small for the five large men. But then they had been boys when all five and their parents had lived here.

  Arms circled her waist, drawing her against Hank’s hard body. “What do you think?”

  “It seems too small for all of you.”

  He kissed her neck and chuckled. “It was getting too small about the time Zeke and Ethan got married. Then Clay. And I found myself living alone. After all those years of bumping into someone every time I turned around, it took some getting used to.”

  She spun in his arms. “And now you’re sharing the o
ffice with Tobias.”

  “It’s not the same. We have our separate rooms.” He nodded toward the cabin. “That’s one room.”

  “Show me.” She slipped from his embrace and holding his hand, led him to the door of the cabin.

  “I can’t guarantee critters haven’t taken up residence since I moved to the logging camp.” He tugged on the rope and pushed the door inward.

  Kelda stepped in and the first thing that caught her attention were the four beds; two, head to foot, along each wall. They were all longer and wider than a cot and could easily hold two bodies lying snuggled together. The thought galloped heat through her.

  A small cookstove sat at the far wall and a table with six chairs sat in the middle of the room.

  “I can’t believe your whole family lived in this at one time.” She glanced up and saw the flash of emotions in his eyes. Happiness, sorrow. Her heart ached for him. Kelda placed a hand on his cheek. “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories.”

  He closed the door and held out his hands for her coat. “You didn’t. There were more happy times here than sad.”

  She shucked out of her coat and waited for him to hang it on the peg by the door and remove his to hang beside hers.

  Hank grasped her hand and led her to one of the beds. “Sit we’ll talk and if it gets cold I’ll start a fire. I just don’t want to leave a fire in the box when we leave.”

  Kelda sat. The bed had a real mattress. She’d slept in cots all her life except for their trip to Baker City and the lovely bed at the hotel. She ran her hands over the plumpness.

  “What are you thinking?” Hank’s deep husky tone sent shivers of anticipation racing up her spine.

  “This is only the second time in my life I’ve been on a mattress. At the hotel and now here.”

  Hank played with her fingers. “I’ll bring you a bed. There’s no reason you can’t have a proper mattress. There is plenty of room in the cabin for one.” He raised her hand to his lips and one by one kissed her fingers. “This size or larger.” The flash of desire in his eyes left no doubt before they left this cabin they would spend time together in this bed.

  Her breath hitched. “W-what will we tell everyone?”

  His gaze caught hers and held as he moved closer, brushing his lips across hers. “That you deserve a decent bed.” His lips whispered against hers as he spoke.

  The sensation tickled and lit the fire he’d stoked in her the night before. She licked her lips to douse the tingling. He hadn’t pulled back and her tongue slid across his lips as well. The intimate contact jolted her charged body even more.

  Hank pressed his mouth to hers and drugged her with another dizzying kiss. When he finally pulled back, they were both panting and her body felt like it floated on a cloud.

  “Kelda, I brought you here to talk.” His eyes flared with heat and desire. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. The knowledge one kiss could do that to him, made her bold.

  “No one knows where we are. Love me now and talk later.” Kelda plucked the buttons on Hank’s shirt out through the buttonholes, revealing the cotton undershirt stretched across his wide chest.

  “Woman.” He ground between his teeth but didn’t make any moves to stop her from pulling the tail of his shirt out of his pants and slowly exposing the brown curls on his chest.

  When Hank’s shirts lay on the bed behind him, Kelda spread her hands across his chest and dropped kisses from shoulder to shoulder and down his center, until he caught her head in his hands and pulled her to his lips for a tongue tangling, scorching kiss.

  Flames engulfed her body and she wanted her clothes off. Before her fingers could get more than two buttons undone, Hank grasped the bottom of her shirt and pulled it off over her head. The cuffs were still buttoned and her hands caught in the sleeves.

  A mischievous grin crinkled the lines around Hank’s eyes when he discovered she was “tied up”. He leaned down, using his mouth to pull on the bow of her chemise. Then with merriment dancing in his dark eyes, he rolled the chemise down her arms and body holding her arms to her sides and her wrists still inside the sleeves of her flannel shirt.

  If she wanted to work herself into a fit she could get loose, but when his mouth drew in one nipple and his hand captured the other one, she didn’t want to move. Between the suckling and the tweaking, her breasts grew heavy and tingled in a most wonderful way. The only thing she didn’t like was her inability to use her hands. That and the fact his attention to her breasts had started the throbbing between her legs and she found it hard to sit still.

  “Please, help me get loose,” she panted when she thought her body was going to vibrate right off the bed.

  Hank released her breasts, and she immediately wished she’d not said a word. Then his hands skimmed down her sides, and his fingers dipped under her waistband, moving to the front. He unfastened her dungarees, gently pushed her onto her back and removed her boots, and socks, disappearing from her sight. He returned to her view and slid his hands between her skin and her drawers, slowly drawing her dungarees and drawers down her legs until he was once again out of sight, and she lay on the bed bare as the day she was born for his eyes to see.

  Heat blazed a path up her neck and into her cheeks. She’d never been naked in front of anyone. Wasn’t even sure if her body held all the qualities a man wished in a woman. She knew her breasts were of ample size and her hips curved outward, but what would he think of her muscled thighs and calves?

  She gulped in one big breath of air and waited for…what? It seemed like hours passed before a soft whistle of appreciation floated in the air. Her breathing stalled when his hands skimmed up the inside of her legs, brushing the hair at her juncture, jolting her and moving up her stomach.

  The fire and admiration in his eyes when she finally glimpsed his face lessened her fears.

  “Kelda, sweetie, you are one magnificent lady.” He repositioned her onto the bed to lay the length of it and removed her shirt and chemise.

  She spread her hands across his bare chest and dipped her fingers under his waistband. “When do I get to see all of you?”

  “Whenever you wish.” Hank reclined on the narrow bed nearly pushing her on the floor.

  Kelda stood and leaned over the bed, unfastening his pants, and sliding them along with his drawers down to his stocking clad feet. He must have removed his boots when she was left naked and wondering on the bed. She tossed his pants and socks to the side and stared down at his muscled masculine body. When her gaze peered at his male part it jumped.

  She reached down taking the hot, firm appendage in her hands. The size, shape, and silkiness was very pleasant.

  Hank grasped her arms and pulled her body down on top of him. The full body, skin to skin, touching elicited even more wonderful tremors in her. She loved the whole naked experience. She wiggled and rubbed. Pressing her breasts tighter against his chest and rubbing her female parts on his male parts.

  Hank growled and rolled, placing her under him, covering her from head to toe with maleness. Her hands skimmed up and down his back and cupped his backside.

  His weight pressed in all the places that excited her. Before she could think beyond the feel of his body, his lips descended, pressing against hers in the same manner as his body pressed her intimate places. His manhood to her womanhood, his chest to her breasts, his lips to hers. The intimacy they shared warmed her heart and ignited desires stronger than the night before. She wanted all of this man. Not just to have her body pleasured but to be fully loved.

  His lips opened, and she dove in with her tongue and her heart. She wound her fingers in his hair, holding his mouth to hers, taking and giving. Her body wriggled under him, her breasts tightening from the contact of his body to hers, her hips thrusting against his.

  She wanted him completely. “Please.” She begged not really knowing what she wanted, but knowing he could fulfill her.

  His legs slipped between hers and slowly parted her knees. The new position
pressed her throbbing parts even more intimately with his. Sensations tingled to her fingers and toes moments before his entry. She stiffened uncertain what to expect.

  Hank dropped wet kisses down her neck and drew a nipple into his mouth suckling and causing her to buck and thrust her hips toward him once more. His attention to her body heated her more and he thrust deep. Pain opened her eyes and her body stilled.

  “Hold me.” Hank’s husky voice pulled her back into the moment as his lips descended on hers once more.

  The kiss was tender, soft, and so intoxicating she once again took control, but soon found her body bucking against his as he thrust in and out sparking waves of body numbing explosions that finally burst into one volley of energy draining sensations. Moments later, Hank thrust deep and his essence spilled into her. He thrust once more, and she squirmed against him, wanting to remain bound with him. He now held her heart and soul, and she couldn’t think of any other man she’d ever met who she trusted with both.

  Hank looked down into Kelda’s half-opened eyes and saw his future. Even before they’d made love, he’d known he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life without her in it. Peering into her love flushed face he believed she felt the same.

  He started to pull out, but her hands clasped his backside, holding him firmly inside her body.

  “Not yet. I like feeling as if we’re one.” She licked her lips plumped from their kisses, and he couldn’t stop himself.

  He captured her tasty mouth once more hoping to convey the emotions buzzing in his chest at the moment. He didn’t deepen the kiss but kept it light, sensual, and caring.

  Raising his head, he peered into her face. She sighed and her blonde lashes fluttered up, revealing her sparkling green eyes.