by Linda Bridey
“Hey! Hush, Rachel!” Jack interjected. “That’s still a secret and it’s gonna stay a secret. You promised me.”
“You mean no one knows but me?” she said incredulously.
“No, they don’t. Not even Sparrow. You better keep your mouth shut, too,” Jack said with a smile.
Raven was intensely curious. “Who did you have a crush on?”
“None of your business, Raven,” Jack said. “Let it go.”
The Lakota brave turned to Rachel. “Who was it?”
The idea of having a secret with Jack was appealing to her. “Nope. Not telling and I’m not giving you free candy anymore.”
Raven frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll figure it out. I’m not a deputy for nothing.”
The door opened and a man with long brown hair entered. He wore a beat up brown hat. “Lame Duck! Jack! Lady-I-Don’t-Know! How are you all?” he said. He didn’t wait for an answer. He handed Raven a large leather bag and said, “Here, have a ferret. Jack, dish me up some of that stew I could smell from outside. Hi, Lady-I-Don’t-Know, I’m Rick Westlake, Jack’s uncle.”
Rachel shook the hand he offered as she thought him very odd. “I’m Rachel Crispin. Nice to meet you.”
Rick laughed. “I don’t think you’re sure about that.”
Jack said, “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to him, Rachel.”
Raven took Rick’s ferret, Curtis, out of the bag and Rachel let out a small, frightened cry and got up off her chair. “What is that?”
Rick looked at her and smiled. “Sweetheart, I told you what it was when I gave it to Raven. I told him to have a ferret.”
“I thought you were kidding,” Rachel said, as she watched Raven with Curtis.
“He won’t hurt you,” Raven said. “Uncle, did you know Jack had a crush on someone when he was younger?”
“Oh, you mean my youngest sister?” Rick asked as he sat down at Raven’s desk and propped his feet up on it.
Raven turned to a red-faced Jack. “You had a crush on Aunt Claire?”
Jack asked Rick, “How did you know?”
“She told me,” Rick said. “Marcus thought it was very amusing. He’s never said anything to you, though. I didn’t know that other people didn’t know. Was it still a secret?”
“Yes!” Jack yelled.
Rick said, “Whoops!” and laughed.
Raven almost laughed himself out of his chair. Jack punched him on the arm as hard as he could and Raven laughed even harder as he grabbed the offended limb. He accidentally dropped Curtis, who ran over to Mitch’s desk and started scratching at one of the drawers.
“Lame Duck, did you put another mouse in Mitch’s drawer?” Rick asked.
“A mouse?” Rachel asked as she watched Curtis try to tear the drawer open.
“Yeah. Lame Duck tortures your pa by putting small mammals and other critters in his drawers. Mitch never knows what he’s going to find in them.” Rick yawned.
Jack chuckled. “Baby keepin’ you up?”
“Yeah,” Rick said with a big smile. “I love it.” He and his wife, Gina, had become the proud parents of a little girl in July.
“You’re the only man I know who’s happy when a baby keeps him awake,” Jack said. “Danny was so good about sleeping through the night, but Sophie still isn’t on a schedule.”
“Aw, poor Deputy Daddy,” Rick said unsympathetically. “If I’m up at night with Anna, that’s more time I get to spend with her. Plus, it lets Gina rest because she has her all day. Oh, for Pete’s sake!” Rick got up, walked quickly over to Mitch’s desk, and pulled open the drawer Curtis was scratching at. “You can’t let him go on like that, Raven. It’ll make him mean if you tease him that way,” he said as the mouse took off and Curtis chased it down.
The ferret nabbed it quickly and dragged it off to his favorite cell to eat it. Jack went to say something to Rachel, but she was no longer in the office.
“I don’t think she likes Curtis,” Raven said.
Rick chuckled. “Guess not.”
Chapter Five
Will laughed as Rachel told him about the visit she had with the men at the sheriff’s office that day. “It’s like some kind of love triangle. No, a square.”
“How do you figure that?” she asked as she looked around Morton’s, a nice restaurant in Wolfe Point, the neighboring town to Dawson.
“Well, you used to date Reckless. Reckless’ cousin, Raven, had a crush on you and you had a crush on Jack. See what I mean?” Will said.
“Yes. Oh, and don’t forget that Jack had a crush on Claire,” Rachel said with a smile.
“Hmm, with all these crushes going around, do I need to be worried about anything?” Will teased her.
She poked his hand with her fork.
“Ow!” he said.
“Serves you right, Mr. Foster,” she said. “I didn’t stick around when Rick let that mouse out of Mitch’s drawer. I hate mice.”
Will chuckled. “I don’t mind them. I see them every day at work. They eat the loose feed.”
“Better you than me.”
“You sound like Joe. He hates Curtis because he says he looks like a rat and he can’t stand rats,” Will said.
“Yep. We have that in common. Rick is a bit of a strange man,” she commented. “He called me ‘Lady-I-Don’t-Know.”
Will chuckled. “You’ll get used to him. He’s a really funny guy. He gives people nicknames. Joe is ‘Tex’. Raven is usually ‘Lame Duck’ and Reckless is ‘Sitting Duck’. Elliot’s wife, Abby is ‘There She Is’. There’re some others, but I can’t remember them right now.”
“That’s funny. How does he get away with calling people names like that?”
“I’m no coward and I’ve had my share of fights, but I wouldn’t tangle with the man, I know that. There’s something … dangerous about the guy. Luke even said he wouldn’t take him on and you know how big Luke is,” Will said. “Joe is easily annoyed by him. It’s funny to watch.”
“Poor Joe. He’s such a good guy.”
“Did you have a crush on him, too?” Will asked.
Rachel poked him with her fork again.
Will rubbed his hand and said, “I’m gonna have to keep my hands away from you when I’m gonna tease you, I guess.”
“That used to work on my brothers, too,” Rachel said.
“Speaking of which, I’m really surprised about Mason and Aiyana. No one suspected,” Will said.
“No. Not at all. I need to get a place of my own.”
Will noticed that she was suddenly upset. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s Mason. I just don’t want to keep upsetting him and I also don’t want to him to keep shouting at me. Mitch and Sammi intervene, but I don’t want to be constantly yelled at. I know I hurt him, but I keep hoping he’ll at least talk to me,” Rachel said.
Will took her hand. “I’m sorry, Rachel. If you’re serious about getting a place, I’ll ask around for you. I don’t know of anything available at the moment.”
She squeezed his hand back. “Thank you, Will. Both for the support and for asking around for me.”
“You’re welcome. So I’ll get to see you at the store, huh?” he said. He took his hand back and put both of them under the table. Leaning forward, he said in a low voice, “Maybe it’ll be me you kiss in Elliot’s office instead of Jack.”
Rachel pursed her lips and slapped the top of his head. Will leaned back and they both laughed.
“I can’t believe you just did that!” he said, as he looked around to see if anyone had noticed. A couple of people smiled in their direction.
“You had it coming.” She gave him a coquettish look and said, “I had actually thought about kissing you in the office, but not after you were so mean to me.”
“We’ll see about that,” Will said with a wicked smile.
“I guess we will,” she said as she finished her dessert. “Now, I want to see your woodshop. Hurry up and finish.”
>
“Wow, you’re bossy,” Will accused her.
“Maybe it’s just that I want to kiss you in your woodshop,” Rachel whispered.
Will put the last bite of cake in his mouth and hastily called for their check.
*****
Showing his woodshop to Rachel was vastly different than showing it to Zoe. Will couldn’t help comparing the two women. Zoe had admired his work and they’d had a nice time but Rachel, by contrast, appreciated his work. She ran her hands over a crib that was in the final stages of completion. Will watched her brown eyes run over the piece slowly, taking in every detail of the crib.
She smiled at him. “Who is this for? It’s beautiful.”
“It’s not for anyone yet. I wanted to make it up ahead of time because we have several pregnant women that I know of around the area and I figure someone’s gonna want one.”
Rachel nodded. “That’s a good idea. You should keep doing that with all kinds of items. When you’re in between work, just work on projects that you know would sell in Dawson and even Wolfe Point. You should put a flyer or something over there.”
Will had never considered doing that. “You’re a pretty smart lady, Rachel Crispin. That’s a great idea. You want to design the flyer, Miss Artist? I’ll pay you.”
Rachel’s eyes lit up. “Yes, I’ll do it, but I don’t want anything for it.”
“We’ll see,” he said. It was nice that she was taking an interest in his business.
Stepping over to his drawing table, Rachel saw that he was designing kitchen cabinet doors. “These are lovely, Will.”
He stepped up behind her to look at them with her. “Yeah, they’re coming along pretty good. Jack and Sparrow are starting to rebuild their house and they asked if I would come up with cabinet doors for them. They said they’re probably gonna want a kitchen table, too.”
Rachel looked up at him and said, “Where are you going find the time? You work full-time and now with people starting to commission work from you, it’s going to require a lot more time.”
Will sighed. “I know. I’m almost to the point where I can quit at the mill, but I still need more steady work. Once I get a few more pieces commissioned, I think I’ll be able to do it. I don’t want to quit and then have the business dry up.”
She turned toward him. “I don’t think that’ll happen. You need a store or somewhere to display the things that you make ahead of time. If it’s just sitting in here, no one is going to see it to know it’s available.”
“Another good idea. Where would I find somewhere like that? Plus, I don’t know that it would be in my budget to either buy or rent a place,” Will said.
“We’ll find somewhere. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, Will,” Rachel said with a laugh.
“Sounds like a tongue twister,” he said. “So we’ll find a place, huh?”
“I’m sorry. I tend to get carried away. I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do,” Rachel said.
“Don’t be sorry. I really like it that you’re interested and your advice is good.”
Rachel looked up into his green eyes and she couldn’t look away except to glance at his mouth and then back into his eyes. “I’m glad you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” he said as he moved closer to her.
Rachel stood still as he raised a hand and tipped her chin up a little more. His lips brushed against hers at the same time that he slid a hand around her waist. She came forward willingly as he pressed against the small of her back. The tiniest of moans escaped her and it was as if a dam broke and a flood of passion spilled forth from it.
Will’s arms came around her in a crushing embrace in which she delighted. The power in his arms excited her and she didn’t want him to ever let her go. Though the embrace was passionate, his kiss was still thorough and showed her that he was in no hurry. She slid her hands over his chest, appreciating the well-defined muscles under her palms.
Though he knew he should end the kiss, Will couldn’t muster the strength to do it. Her lips were too sweet and she felt so good, so right in his arms. It didn’t help when she ran her hands over his shoulders and teased the skin at the back of his neck. He shuddered and groaned in response.
It would be so easy to give in to what Will was making her feel. There was indeed strong chemistry between them and Rachel instinctively knew that Will would be a wonderful lover. However, her past history with men was not good and although she wanted to stay with Will, she couldn’t. It was too much too soon. With deep regret, Rachel started pulling away from him.
Will respected her wishes and the kiss ended. He didn’t release her from his embrace, however. Their breathing came in shallow pants and both were a little shaken at the power of the passion that flowed between them.
“Well, I never expected that,” Will said with a smile. “I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m sorry if I came on too strong.”
“No, don’t be sorry.” She smiled back at him. “I didn’t expect it, either.” Her brow puckered as she thought about how much she should tell Will about her previous experiences with the opposite sex.
Will didn’t miss the expression that passed over her face. “Rachel, what is it?” he asked as he loosened his hold on her. “Did I upset you somehow?”
She looked back into his eyes and said, “No. It’s not you, Will. You did nothing wrong.”
“Ok. Good. Tell me what’s going on in this sharp mind of yours,” Will said, tapping the side of her head.
Rachel smiled and then sobered. “Before things go any further with us, I feel it’s only fair that I come clean with you about some things.”
“This sounds serious.”
“It is.”
Will said, “Ok. Let’s go to the house where we can sit and talk.”
Rachel nodded and followed him up the walkway that led to his house. They entered the kitchen and Rachel noticed that it was clean and semi-orderly. It was big enough to eat in and she noticed the fine quality of the table and chairs there. She knew that Will had made them.
“Make yourself comfortable,” he said, indicating the sofa. “Would you like a drink? I could make some tea or coffee.”
“No, I’m fine. Really,” Rachel said as she sat down.
“Ok.” Will sat down beside her and turned to face her.
Rachel said, “I need to tell you what happened between Reckless and me. I am very ashamed of what I did, but you need to know.”
“What you did?”
“Yes. Reckless and I started courting when we were both seventeen and we were together for three years. Back then, I was very much in love with him. Or at least I thought I was.”
Jealousy streaked through Will, but he shoved it away.
“He was funny and wild and romantic. I had never had anyone pay me attention like he did and I wanted to marry him,” she said. “But he wouldn’t because he said he would never live in a house and he would expect me to follow the Lakota traditions about many things. Neither of us was willing to compromise, so it was a hopeless situation.”
Rachel fought the tears of shame that burned her eyes and constricted her throat. She shook her head a little. “I did such an awful thing, Will.”
He gathered her close. “Whatever it is, I won’t judge you, Rachel.”
“I loved him and I got it in my head that if I could trap him, he would have to marry me. I tried to seduce him, but he wouldn’t go past a certain point. No matter what I did, he always stopped things. I was so mad at him, at the situation. I wasn’t thinking clearly, I know that now. I told Sammi that Reckless had had his way with me and then tossed me aside, as though he’d gotten what he wanted and now I wasn’t good enough for him.”
Will was shocked, but only said, “Oh, boy. I can just imagine how mad Sammi was.”
Rachel said, “She stormed off to the camp and basically beat him up in front of his friends and family.”
“Whoa! I knew Sammi was a force to be reckoned with, but I never knew she did th
at,” Will said.
“She did and it almost ended their friendship. She apologized once Reckless told her the truth. Then she came home and came down on me like a ton of bricks for what I’d done. I was so ashamed and angry and I just couldn’t stay here anymore. So I ran away to Canada to my Aunt Amelia. She took me in and helped me get my life in order.
“I thought I was doing well and then I met Brendon, a local businessman in Toronto. He was dashing and witty and I was instantly taken with him.” Rachel didn’t know if she could continue. She rose and crossed the room. It might not be as hard if she didn’t have to look at him. “We became lovers and I saw him for two years before he proposed to me. It was then that he explained that he wanted to marry me, but that he still intended to see other women at the same time.”
Will jerked at little at that information. “That’s terrible.”
Rachel nodded. “I know. In all the time we were together, he’d never hinted that he was a cheater. There was never anything suspicious about his behavior. But he informed me that there were two other women he saw on a regular basis. I never knew that I wasn’t the only one until he told me. I turned him down, of course, and I never saw him again.
“I couldn’t believe how easily he accepted my rejection. It was as if it didn’t really matter all that much to him. Looking back on it, I don’t think there was much affection on his part for me except physically. He made that part very clear. I feel so ashamed about the things I’ve done and now Mason hates me.”
Tears began sliding down her face. “I’ve made so many mistakes and I don’t know if I can get past them, so that’s why I stopped things with you. I really like you and I don’t want to mess things up by moving too fast. I don’t want to ruin things, although maybe now you don’t want anything to do with me. I have to go.”
She turned around and found that Will was right behind her. He stopped her by putting his hands on her arms. “Rachel, it’s ok. We all make mistakes. I’m not saying you were right in what you did with Reckless, but it’s not your fault that you were deceived by this Brendon character. I don’t want things to be ruined between us, either. I think we’re off to a good start and I’d like it to continue.”