by Sara Orwig
She couldn’t see his eyes, and she didn’t know whether he was teasing her or not. “Luke, I took the account books today and locked them in here in the desk. I have the key on a ribbon around my neck.”
“Good. Give me the key and I’ll put it on the table for the night. Or put it under your pillow.”
“I’ll put it beneath my pillow.”
“With Lavinia going through everything in the house, is there anything else you don’t want them to see?” Luke asked.
“No. Uncle Stanton shot Jeddy’s toy snake this morning in the parlor.”
“He thought that little wooden snake was real? Lord, he needs spectacles!”
“No, Aunt Lavinia saw it and was screaming, and I don’t think he paused to really look at it.”
Luke chuckled, a deep, masculine sound that sent a fluttery tingle to her middle. “Wish I could have been here. Better than my day with a cantankerous old mossy. We have some strays that have wandered onto Acheson’s place. I told the men to let them go. Word has gotten out with the hands that it was Acheson who shot your pa. Honor,” he said, shifting onto his side and propping his hand beneath his head to look down at her. His voice was deep and husky, wrapping her in its own warmth, and she knew she would remember this night for the rest of her life.
“I don’t know how they know what’s going on here, but word will get to the Comanche about Acheson. When it does, Tall Wind is going to ask me, and I’m going to have to give him an honest answer.”
She thought about that, staring at the dark silhouette of Luke’s broad shoulder. “You can tell him that Pa made you promise you wouldn’t take things into your own hands.”
“Do you think that would matter to Tall Wind?”
“No, it won’t. Luke, I don’t want them hurt, but if he asks, I can’t lie to him either. That would be like lying to Pa.”
“Trying to harm you and shooting your pa are the most foolhardy things Acheson has ever done. He must have stopped thinking.” Luke’s warm fingers cupped Honor’s chin and he leaned closer. “If I ever find out he did more to you than you said—”
“He didn’t. I didn’t like him touching me, but he really didn’t hurt me,” she reassured him, feeling even more fluttery from Luke’s concern.
“Soon I’ll ride to see the U.S. Marshal. He might not be able to do anything, but at least he’ll know about Acheson.” He released her chin, his fingers sliding to her shoulder, rubbing her back slightly. “Honor, I got Dusty to promise me he would leave Acheson alone, but I can’t extract that promise from all the men, and they all liked your pa.”
“You think someone will do something?”
“I hope not, but Enrique is in a slow-burning rage. He was one of the men who saw how badly your pa was hurt. Sometimes it’s different seeing a man hurt than just hearing about it,” he said, and Honor stared at him in the dark, wondering what happened to him in the war.
“Were you an officer in the war?”
“Yes. I was a captain.”
“Were you in many battles?”
“Yes, all through Tennessee. Thank God that’s over.”
“Luke, what will we do about Aunt Lavinia?”
“I don’t know. Let me think about it. We won’t have her here long, I promise you.”
“Jeddy, Dolorita, and I would all appreciate that. Pa would never have allowed her to do what she’s doing now.”
“I can stop her, Honor, but it will probably cause bad feelings and make an open enemy of your uncle Stanton.”
“With the books locked up and all my things in here, I can’t think of anything that matters.” He touched a lock of her long hair and she could feel the faint tug against her scalp. “She’ll worry Jeddy with trying to teach him—today she had him going over things he learned from texts he studied last year.” Honor was barely aware of what she was saying, yet she felt if she stopped talking, Luke might realize what he was doing and quit.
Something bumped the wall and Luke raised up slightly, looking over his shoulder. A beam of moonlight spilled across the bed and over his dark chest. Honor’s pulse speeded up as she looked at him.
“What was that?” she whispered.
“I don’t know. I’ve never heard Jeddy make any noises in the night, but it sounded like it was something against his wall.” Honor sat up beside him, staring at the door. Luke turned around. “Whatever it was, Jeddy should be all right. Maybe Stanton is in his room trying to hear us.”
“He wouldn’t!” she protested, her gaze going from the bedroom wall to Luke. He sat only inches away, the covers around his hips, the pillow between them. Moonlight spilled over both of them, and she could see his face, but not clearly enough to tell what he was thinking.
He reached out, his hand sliding across her shoulders and her breath caught. “You’re a beautiful woman, Honor,” he said solemnly, and tugged on her gently, drawing her to him.
She closed her eyes, raising her lips to his as he shoved the pillow down between them. His arm banded her waist and he pulled her against his chest. Her hands went up, touching his warm bare skin, and she thought she would faint from the contact. She slid her hands over his shoulders, one hand up into his thick hair, feeling the strong column of his neck.
The pillow was between their hips as Luke kissed her, leaning over her. Shoving aside the pillow, he pushed her down. His body slid partially over hers, his weight across her breasts as he continued kissing her, and it seemed so right to her to be in his arms, a melding that she knew she would never forget.
Suddenly he was gone, moving away from her. “I lost control, Honor. You’re only sixteen years old, but there are moments it’s difficult to remember,” he said bitterly, jamming the pillows between them and turning his back to her. “Go to sleep.”
How could she sleep? She stared at his back and bare shoulders showing above the covers pulled underneath his arms. She ached and wanted him, wanted his arms around her and his hot kisses, wanted him to love her.
“Luke, some people marry when they’re sixteen,” she whispered.
“We pledged certain things when we married, and I made promises I intend to keep.”
She stared at him in consternation. Why? Why did he have to keep the promise to Pa? If he wanted her for his wife, and she wanted him, what difference did it matter what they’d promised that night Pa had died?
Or had lust simply overcome him, and she really wasn’t the woman for him? Was there someone in town she hadn’t heard about? Hurting and feeling anger stir, Honor lay down, looking at his dark head on the pillow only inches away.
“Luke, are you in love with another woman?”
He rolled over to look at her. “Hell, no! I’m just not in love, Honor, and you’re too young to know what you want. I’m not a marrying man.”
“You were the night Pa offered you one third of the H Bar R!” she snapped, feeling the hurt and anger mix as she turned her back to Luke and lay on her side, staring into the darkness. He shifted and moved once, then was still. After thirty minutes, she rolled onto her back and looked at Luke sleeping quietly. She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would come instead of this torment, in which her body was hot and ached for she knew that Luke was only inches away, naked, virile, and not completely immune to her.
When she stirred the next morning, he was gone. She heard a knock at the door and pulled the covers to her chin. “Come in.”
Lavinia opened the door and looked as if she were stepping into a pit of snakes. “I think it is time you and Jeddy are up and tending to chores, Honor,” she said, her curious gaze going over the room.
“I’ll be there soon, Aunt Lavinia,” Honor said, annoyed that Lavinia had come in to spy on her.
“Hmpf!” she exclaimed with disdain, and marched out, closing the door behind her.
Honor climbed out of bed, remembering the night and Luke’s heated kisses, his remarks about their marriage that still stung. She washed and dressed in black gingham and combed and braided her hair before going to the kitchen
to eat. Lavinia sat at one end of the table and tapped her fingers nervously while she sipped black coffee.
Jeddy appeared, looking only half-awake, his hair still a tangle.
“Young man, comb your hair.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, his jaw thrusting out as he exchanged a glance with Dolorita.
Then Lavinia screamed loudly, and Honor turned.
Nine
“Get that creature out of this room,” she said, staring across the kitchen.
Honor looked at a big, furry, yellow tomcat that belonged to Dolorita. The cat was never in the house, and Honor glanced up at Dolorita, who gave her a level look. “Ma’am, Sugar hasn’t had his breakfast yet.”
The cat turned and strolled leisurely toward Lavinia, and Honor watched in fascination as Lavinia screeched and jabbered. “He is a filthy beast and should never be allowed into a house. Get him out at once!”
“He just wants to eat breakfast, Aunt Lavinia,” Jeddy said. The cat stopped beside Lavinia, looking up at her, his tail switching.
“Oh, good heavens, I think I shall faint. You know how I detest furry animals. Honor, remove—”
The cat jumped into her lap. Lavinia screamed, standing and pitching the animal forward. He leapt and landed on her plate, scattering biscuits and stepping into gravy. He raced across the table and was gone in a flash, with Jeddy and Dolorita disappearing soon after, leaving Honor to cope with a screeching Lavinia.
“Great heavens, the animal should be exterminated!”
“It’s just a cat, and he was trying to be friendly, Aunt Lavinia.”
“Keep that cat out of this house. Lord, I feel faint! Look at the gravy all over me and the table!”
“He’s accustomed to staying inside and having the run of the place. He gets in a back window we leave open,” Honor said, seeing the possibility of driving Lavinia away.
“Close it. Keep him out of my sight!”
“He’s Dolorita’s cat, actually, so we’ll have to discuss it with her.”
“Honor, you do not discuss anything with a servant. You tell her what she is to do.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Find my smelling salts. I feel dreadful. I want to lie down, and I’m going to my room. When I return, I want this table cleaned up, and I don’t want to see that horrid animal again as long as I’m here.”
“We’ll have the table cleaned, but I don’t know about keeping the cat out of your sight. They are creatures of habit.”
“That is an abomination! Lord, your father didn’t raise either one of you right.” She turned and hurried from the room, and Honor let go of the grin she had held back all through the past few minutes. The back door opened and Dolorita entered, looking sober, her lips pressed together.
“Did your aunt leave the room?”
“Yes, she did. Dolorita, we can’t have that cat in here again,” Honor said.
Dolorita leaned close. “Better that cat than—” She clamped her mouth shut and rolled her eyes toward the door.
Honor sighed and shook her head. “Keep him out unless it gets unbearable.”
“Ma’am, it is already reaching unbearable. Little Jeddy looks miserable. Except for the past half hour. He’s gone down to the barn to give Sugar a big bowl of cream. Sugar earned a treat this morning.”
Honor picked up dishes and carried them to the counter while Dolorita heated water on the wood-burning stove and quietly chuckled.
When Honor left the kitchen after breakfast, she found Lavinia in the library at the desk. Her aunt looked up. “I’m addressing invitations and we will have a tea. You should meet some of the ladies of San Antonio. My music club can meet here sometime soon. We might get Miss Katherine Woodbine to sing for us. Too bad your father didn’t see to it that you had lessons on the piano. It would have given you some polish.”
“Aunt Lavinia, many of those ladies won’t come because of my mother,” Honor said forthrightly.
“They’ll come if I have my name on the invitations. Stanton makes himself known in town much more than your father did. People respect him, and they respect me, so I will try to help you as much as I can.”
“I’m not certain I want a tea.”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s what is right and what a mother would do if you had one to do it. Also, I want you to get two of the hands to come in tomorrow, to move some of the furniture because I can arrange things so they will look much better.”
“The house is the way Pa had it and that’s the way I’d like it to stay,” Honor said, trying to be patient and keep a curb on her temper.
“Nonsense! You know nothing about how a house should look, and Lord knows, your father knew nothing about it. You might as well get over his demise. He is gone, Honor, and keeping everything the way it was isn’t going to bring him back or hold one bit of him for you.”
Suddenly feeling her loss, Honor turned and left the room and went to the room she shared with Luke. She changed swiftly into the boy’s clothing that she wore when she went riding. Pa had long ago consented to let her ride astride, saying that she was never to go beyond the boundaries of the ranch unless she rode sidesaddle. She looked at the bed, remembering the night and being held in Luke’s arms, and for a brief moment she was glad Lavinia and Stanton had come because it had driven Luke closer to her. At the same time, when they left, she knew it would be worse than before because she would miss the moments alone with Luke, nights of knowing he was only inches away in the same bed. And she would miss Luke’s wild, passionate kisses to convince her relatives he was a loving husband.
Suddenly she couldn’t bear to be shut away another moment with Lavinia. She hurried outside to the barn to saddle Locust. She headed away from the house, turning south, not wanting to ride near where Pa had been shot.
An hour later she was at the top of a hill. She had dismounted, letting Locust graze while she sat on a rock. She heard something and turned her head, standing up and realizing she had left in such haste, she was unarmed and no one knew where she was. For the first time, she felt afraid on their own land. Feeling a prickle across her nape, she moved toward her horse, and then she relaxed as Luke rode into view and dismounted. He was dusty, his cheek scratched, his shirt torn.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“Got in a fight with a stubborn steer. I thought I saw you riding this direction, so I left the others and came over here. You shouldn’t ride alone, Honor,” he said, placing his grimy hands on his hips.
“Don’t give me orders,” she replied grimly. “That’s why I left the house.”
He smiled and dropped the reins to his bay, then came over to plop down on the ground near her. He leaned against the trunk of a tree and tossed his hat aside, running his fingers through his hair. As she watched she remembered running her fingers through his soft hair at night.
“Luke, your chin is really cut,” she said, sliding off the rock and down beside him, fishing in her pocket for a clean handkerchief. “You’re still bleeding.”
“I’ll be all right.” He took the handkerchief from her and gazed into her eyes. Outside in the sunlight his blue-green eyes looked a lighter shade of green. “Is Lavinia really worrying you?”
“Yes. I wanted to get out for a while,” she answered, while Luke dabbed at the cut on his jaw. A stubble of whiskers darkened his jaw and Honor’s gaze drifted to his mouth, and her breath caught.
“Carry a gun if you ride alone. I know you’ve carried one before.”
“I left in a hurry. Dolorita brought her cat in this morning.”
“That big yellow tom?”
“He jumped in Lavinia’s lap scaring her so that she tossed him off and he landed on her plate.”
Luke grinned. “Sounds as if Dolorita is waging her own war.”
“I told her she couldn’t bring the cat back inside the house, but it was tempting.”
Luke pushed dark locks of hair away from Honor’s face, and her gaze went to his mouth again as she long
ed to lean forward and kiss him.
“Stanton is going over everything,” Luke said solemnly. “I think he hopes to get this place. He was in the hall when I came out of the bedroom this morning. I think he was in Jeddy’s room last night and that was the bump we heard.”
“Should I tell Jeddy to lock his door?”
“No. That would look suspicious, and with us in the same bed, there’s not much to worry about. I think Stanton is searching for anything he can use against you.”
“You should be convincing,” Honor remarked dryly, realizing she was still sitting close to Luke. She moved back to the rock. “Aunt Lavinia wants me to get two of the men so she can change around the furniture. I’m not going to do it.”
“It’s your house. Do what you please. Want me to tell her?”
“No, I’ve told her, and I’ll tell her again. And if she moves it, I’ll move it back.”
“I better get back to work, and you should go home since you’re unarmed.”
“Who would be on our property?”
“I don’t think anyone, but feelings are running high against Acheson. Even if Acheson gets away for a time with killing your pa, he has crossed a line of reason. When he pulled you off your horse, he stopped thinking, and that worries me, because he may try something else.” Luke stood and glanced at her. “Let’s mount up, and you go home.”
“This is my ranch, and I’m riding in later,” she said perversely.
His eyes narrowed and he stared at her. “I don’t think you’re safe. I don’t want to wait all day to get back to work, and I don’t want to worry about you. You’re going back now, Honor.”
She raised her chin. “No, I’m not, and you can go to the devil, Luke McCloud.”
She turned around to walk away from him and suddenly she was lifted off her feet, tossed over his shoulder.
She screeched and kicked, flailing at him with her fists, knowing her blows were ineffectual. He tossed her on his horse, mounted quickly, holding her when she tried to jump down. He caught up the reins of her horse and headed toward the ranch. She turned to push against him, fighting him. His arm tightened around her waist, crushing her against his chest.