The Halsey Brothers Series

by Paty Jager

  “You can kiss me any time you like.”

  “I’m glad you said that because I plan on taking full advantage of your offer.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “We should finish our talk and head back to the camp.”

  Her hands skimmed down his back and around to tickle his sides at his hips. The sensation twitched his body part still encased in her. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a perfect ‘O’.

  “You like that?” she asked, skimming her fingers along his sides and moving down to where their bodies joined.

  He twitched again. Her touch excited him, and he couldn’t control his erection.

  “Oh, I like the way that feels.” She ground her hips tighter against his, and his body sparked to life.

  “I knew you’d be a handful in bed.” He grasped her hands holding them above her head and began suckling her breasts. He loved the way her nipples hardened and her responding mews and moans as he brought her body to life again.

  “Nei!” she cried when he pulled out of her.

  “Shhh… You’re going to like this, I promise.”

  With more restraint than he’d thought possible, he teased her, pushing in slowly and pulling out slowly then thrusting hard and fast and slowing again until Kelda was panting and begging him to finish. With one hard thrust, he seated himself deep, and her body convulsed as he spilled into her and fell exhausted onto the woman who fully captured his heart.

  Catching his breath, Hank rolled to her side and pulled her backside to his front, one arm at her waist, the other below her breasts. Their bodies fit together and their personalities fit. Theirs would be an ideal marriage.

  Chapter 23

  Kelda woke with a start. Her body was cold on the front and warm on the back. She ran a hand over the coldness and discovered skin. Her eyelids popped up, and she peered at the masculine arms holding her. A smile spread across her face. Her body still tingled from making love to Hank.

  She kissed the arm across her chest and twined her fingers with his. Her body felt different. Alive. Womanly. Hank had said her body was beautiful. He’d proven his thoughts by how thoroughly he loved her.

  Wiggling her backside, his desire grew. She giggled and spun in his arms.

  His hair stuck out all over. No doubt, from her fingers entwined in it during their escapade. She traced a finger across his lips and up to his eyebrows then down to his lips. His tantalizing mouth heated her body with kisses and how he suckled her breasts. Just thinking of it had her squirming to get closer.

  She flung a leg over his hip to move her lower body closer and pressed her breasts against his chest as her lips sealed with his.

  “I like this kind of dream,” he said against her lips.

  “If I’m dreaming don’t wake me,” she said, deepening the kiss. Her reward didn’t come as she’d hoped.

  Hank pulled out of the kiss and tucked her head against his chest. “We need to talk before you make me forget about talking. Again.”

  Kelda snuggled in, playing with the dark hairs on his chest. “What do we need to talk about?” Her heart raced. She wanted to stall this talk for fear the subject would upset both of them. She wanted to stay happy and loved in his arms.

  “First, I don’t want to wait to get married.” A soft kiss buzzed her ear.

  She squirmed to see his face. “What do you mean by not waiting?” Warmth surged through her body and tickled her heart.

  “I love you and don’t want to keep hiding it.” His hand skimmed down her body and cupped her backside, pressing her even tighter to his body. “I don’t want to spend time each day wondering when I can touch and taste you. I want to know you will be in my bed each night.” He kissed her cheek. “I want to marry you as soon as we can make the arrangements.”

  Kelda’s heart slammed against her ribs. “Really? Let’s go back to town and find a preacher!” She hugged his neck and kissed his cheek. To be married and spend time being loved and sharing the running of the log camp…She released his neck and pushed on his chest with her hands to get a clear view of his face.

  “Will you allow me to work in the woods?” Trepidation stomped on her heart as his eyes lost the shine of love.

  “No. I can’t be worrying about you.” His firm unyielding tone sunk her hopes.

  “Then I can’t marry you.” She pushed out of his arms, her heart splitting like a tree hit by lightning, and stood. She groped for her clothes.

  He sat quickly and grabbed her around the waist. “Kelda, sweetie, you have to understand. I can’t lose you after finding the only woman who can make me a better man.”

  “Ja, I understand. You can forbid me to do what makes me happy while I can worry about you in the woods.” She pried his arms loose and moved farther from him. The ache in her chest grew. She refused to cry.

  “You don’t have to worry about me.” He lurched to his feet and moved toward her.

  Kelda sidestepped out of his touch. She couldn’t keep her anger if he touched her, and she needed it to keep from falling apart.

  “Why don’t I have to worry about you? Because you’re a man? You’re nothing but a greenhorn. You’ll come to harm in the woods before I would, and yet, I’m not to worry about you.”

  She pulled on her undergarments and shuffled to a corner when he reached for her again. “Don’t! Don’t touch me. If you truly loved me you would allow me to do what I love, not expect me to become something I’m not.”

  Hank ran a hand over his face and watched Kelda cover her tantalizing body with men’s clothing. He’d unwrapped a treasure and wanted more than ever to spend his life proving she was cherished. But damn! He didn’t think he could survive if she worked in the woods, putting herself in danger every day. His talk with Zeke had only confirmed he didn’t want to live every day in fear of losing his wife. Zeke said it just made every day they had together more precious knowing that danger could take one of them the next day.

  He couldn’t live like that. He’d never been a danger seeker and wasn’t about to start now. Because she’d grown up with the danger she didn’t understand how it iced his blood thinking of her dangling from a tree or having a log fall on her.

  She grabbed her coat.

  “Don’t.” He stood, snatching his drawers and pants from the floor. “Don’t leave.” He quickly dressed as she leaned her forehead against the door frame not looking at him. The defeated slump of her shoulders and resolve to not look at him gripped his heart like a vise and added to his guilt.

  Dressed, he walked over to the stove and lit the kindling he always left ready for a quick start.

  “Sit. We’ll have some coffee and discuss this.” He kept his distance but took her coat from her hands and motioned toward the table.

  “Will talking change your mind?” she asked quietly.

  Hank turned from hanging her coat up. “I don’t know, but not talking will solve nothing.”

  She shrugged. The light and love that had shined so bright in her eyes earlier had flickered out. She reminded him of the month he’d kept his distance and she took on her mother’s workload. Only he knew now that it had been more than just him and her mother. The truth gnawed at him like a beaver after a tree. He had the power to put the shine in her eyes and the smile on her face. And it had nothing to do with her love for him. That’s what pained him the most.

  Heat from the stove slowly filled the room. He added more wood and pulled the pot of boiling water to the side, adding coffee. A sniff behind him now and then was the only sound that told him Kelda remained seated at the table. Watching her would only make her uneasy, but he wasn’t ready to start the discussion until they were seated across the table from one another and he could read her face. He had to know if she really loved working in the woods over him, and if so, could he live being second to the dangerous life she craved.

  The coffee finished brewing. He filled two cups and placed one in front of Kelda as he took the seat across from her. The sadness he witnessed tore at his heart. Only a short
time before they’d both been so happy. He had to find out why the woods meant so much to her. More than him or anything else it seemed.

  “I remember when we first met; you told me you loved working in the woods. I saw the excitement light your eyes when you watched someone else topping a tree.” He swallowed the lump of fear that lodged in his throat just as it had that day watching the man and seeing the delight in her eyes. “While I might try topping trees, I know I could never hang from the top of a tree like that and not be fearful.”

  “Do you think I don’t understand it’s dangerous? I have fear every time I climb a tree. If I didn’t I would be stupid.” Her eyes blazed with something short of anger. “Any beast of the woods who tells you they aren’t scared of their job is either lying or dimwitted and someone I wouldn’t want to work with.” She forcefully tapped the end of her finger at the table. “Working in the woods requires vigilance and guts.”

  “I don’t disagree with you.” Her conviction to the job showed her passion. Passion. That was what drew his attention to her in the first place.

  “Yet you know working in the woods is what I am good at, what makes me happy, and you tell me I can’t have happiness.”

  Hank reached across the table and placed a hand over hers. “I make you happy. You can’t deny all the good times we’ve had.” He nodded to the rumpled bed. “Not just here but traveling to Baker City, walking the streets, and talking at the camp.”

  She turned her hand, so they touched palm to palm. “Ja, you have made me happy since the first day when you looked at me with more than curiosity. But what happens when you become so busy with work you spend less time with me. What will I have?”

  “Babies?” His heart raced thinking of the children he and Kelda would make and love and cherish.

  She shook her head. “I do not want only to be a mother. I want to be a wife and a full partner in the logging. I can’t be respected if I don’t do the jobs.”

  “Do I have respect?” He hadn’t successfully learned any of the logging stages, but he felt the men respected him.

  “Ja. You are the boss.” She looked at him as if he’d sprouted two heads.

  “You’ll be the boss, too, as my wife.” He would win this conversation. His logic outweighed hers.

  “As your wife I will be expected to warm your bed and make you babies. How does that gain me respect with the beasts of the woods?” She pulled her hand out from under his. “If I marry you, I want to be a partner and help run the logging business. I know the process from the setting up of camp to loading the logs on a railroad car.”

  If it kept her out of the woods, he had no problem with her being a business partner. “I can agree to you being a partner in business and in marriage as long as you don’t pick up an axe or dangle from trees.”

  Hank watched Kelda’s brow furrow as she thought his words through. Could she find enough excitement in making deals for the lumber as she did downing a tree? What was going on in her head?

  After his talk with Myrle, he realized he loved Kelda and wanted her in his life. And not just because he wanted what his brothers’ had. His discussion with Zeke didn’t take away all his fears but he’d planned to ask Kelda to marry him even before their passionate romp. But he believed he couldn’t be a success at logging if he worried constantly about his wife working as a beast of the woods.

  Kelda finally peered into his eyes. “Can I have some time to think about this?”

  Her words hit him like a strike from a sledge hammer. If she had to think about it would that mean she’d turn down his marriage proposal? But if he didn’t allow her to think on it she could turn him down right now. Taking the chance that someone might convince her to marry him, he nodded.

  “Take all the time you need as long as you give me an answer before your family moves on to a new job,” he said jokingly, but the dull flash in her eyes speared fear into his heart.

  Her stomach growled, and he peered out the window. Darkness had fallen while they sat talking.

  “We better spend the night here. The trail between here and the camp is treacherous with the mud during the day and freezing at night.” It was better to have her family mad at him than for the both of them to end up at the bottom of a canyon injured. It could be days before they’d be found and possibly not alive. Nope, facing her family was the lesser of the evils.

  Her eyes widened. “But Far and Mor will wonder where we are.”

  “It’s better to be safe and have them worry for a night than have us both hurt at the bottom of a ravine.” Hank stood and moved to the cupboard by the stove. He had a half a dozen tins of beans and fruit stored in case anyone from the family needed to hold up overnight in the cabin. He knew Darcy’s brother, Jeremy, preferred to stay here when he came to Sumpter with Gil and his family.

  “Both of us gone overnight…you know what everyone will think.” She frowned and her eyes narrowed. “Are you holding me here on purpose so I have to marry you once my family finds out we spent the night together alone?”

  “No!” Hank stalked to the table and hauled Kelda to her feet. “I’d planned to have you back to the camp by dark and ask your father for your hand in marriage until you went stubborn and refused my marriage offer.” Peering into her face and wanting to make things right he loosened his hold and dipped his head.

  The soft caress of her lips against his filled him with an overwhelming desire to make everything right. He deepened the kiss, seeking entrance to her sweetness. Her lips remained firmly sealed, until he changed the angle and she sighed, opening to him and relaxing in his arms. If only they could settle their difference of her working in the woods with a kiss. He savored the taste and feel of her knowing once the kiss ended she would be back to the stubborn woman he adored even if it infuriated him.

  He eased her away, slipping slowly out of the kiss, until she stood an arm’s length from him. When her eyelashes fluttered up, he smiled. “You can’t ignore how good sharing a kiss is.”

  Her face flushed a deep red and her eyes flashed.

  Hank released her and went back to preparing beans and opening a can of peaches. “Keep an eye on the beans. I’m going to get a load of wood so we don’t get cold tonight.” If he could talk her into sharing his bed they’d stay good and warm, but he had a feeling she wouldn’t go that far while she was still contemplating his marriage terms.

  He slipped into his coat and stomped out of the cabin. Nope, it was more likely to be a frosty night with her stubbornly clinging to her need to act like a logger.

  Chapter 24

  Kelda shivered and pulled the blanket up tighter around her shoulders. As soon as the beans and peaches were eaten she’d crawled into a bed on the opposite side of the cabin from the one they’d made love on and pretended sleep. Sometime after Hank had banked the stove and blew out the lantern she’d drifted to sleep wishing she could give up topping trees and become the wife Hank wanted. She knew there would never be another man who made her feel the heat and passion he did. Or believe in her and the woman he made her feel. But to give up the one thing she’d loved her whole life to have something else she loved…it didn’t seem fair. Mor always said to love only one thing or one person was not being open to everything in life. Why couldn’t she love both Hank and logging and participate wholeheartedly in both?

  She rolled and the blanket rose allowing even more cold air to nip at her body. Should she get up and add more wood to the fire? In the dark, she wasn’t sure where the wood box was situated. In her distraction over staying out of Hank’s arms so she could stay mad, she hadn’t paid enough attention to the layout of the cabin.

  Stomping and voices registered at the same time the door burst open. She sat upright.

  “I have a gun. Who are you?” Hank’s voice boomed from across the room.

  “Zeke and Karl.”

  Scuffing noises ensued and the lantern slowly glowed in the middle of the room. Zeke and Karl stood by the table scanning the room. Their gaze landed on
Hank first then on her.

  Zeke smacked Karl on the shoulder with the back of his hand. “See I told you there was nothing to worry about. Hank’s in his bed and Kelda’s in Clay’s bed.” He stared at her closer. “And she’s dressed. No hanky-panky.”

  Kelda’s ears burned. If she had given into her desire to feel Hank’s arms around her, they would have been caught…She didn’t want to think what her father would have said or Karl would have done had he found them in bed together.

  “What the hell are you two doing here?” Hank moved to the stove and tossed more wood in before his gaze connected with hers for a brief moment.

  “When you and Kelda didn’t show up at the camp, Far sent me back to Sumpter looking for you. Zeke said you might have come up here to be alone.” Karl crossed his arms. “Why didn’t you get Kelda back to camp before dark?”

  Hank shot her another quick glance. “We were caught up in a discussion and lost track of time. It was dark, and I wasn’t going to take the chance of an accident trying to go from here to the camp in the dark.”

  Kelda stood and stared at him. “But they seem to have made it here just fine.” Her tone was accusing, but she didn’t care. She was beginning to believe it had been his plan all along, to keep her here and have her family believe she and Hank had to get married.

  “The trail from town to here is better traveled than from here to the camp,” Zeke said, jumping in to defend his brother.

  “Then he should have gone back to town and then to the camp,” Karl said, moving to stand beside Kelda.

  Hank sat down at the table. “Yeah, I probably should have, but I was hoping to finish the discussion this morning.”

  His gaze landed on her and didn’t waver. The weight of it held her tongue. She wasn’t ready to concede marriage. But she also wasn’t ready to walk away. She was even more confused than before they made love.

  “It’s almost light out so you might as well feed us and we’ll head out. I’m sure Kelda’s parents would appreciate seeing her as soon as possible.” Zeke took off his coat and pulled out a chair. “Take a seat Karl.”