by Vivi Holt
Chapter Nine
It was Dusty’s last day in town, and he was finishing up by sweeping out the chimneys in the schoolhouse and Jane’s rooms. The children worked quietly on their readers while Jane sat at her desk skimming through a new primer she’d ordered from Mrs. Brown at the mercantile. She chewed absently on a nail and let her mind wander.
As much as she’d resented his arrival two weeks earlier and the invasion of privacy it meant, she now dreaded his leaving. She’d gotten used to having him around every day. He was always cheerful, humming and whistling as he worked. The children adored him and took every opportunity to follow him around and chatter his ears off.
At first he’d spent his lunch breaks alone, eating out back in the shade. But it wasn’t long before the children discovered his hiding place. Now, every time she rang the bell calling the children back from lunch, she’d see him out there surrounded by her pupils. They played around him, talked to him, sat beside him and hung on every word he spoke. They were likely dreading his departure almost as much as she was.
For a moment she wished things between them were different. It was ridiculous to hold out that kind of hope, she knew, but she found she cared for him in a way she’d never wanted to care for a man again. The knowledge made her break into a cold sweat, but there it was.
She gulped and glanced at the grandfather clock at the back of the room. She wished she could make this day drag on forever, but it was time to send the children home. She dismissed her pupils, and they ran to collect their things before disappearing out the door.
Only Emily Thompson dragged her feet. She had been doing that a lot lately, as if she wanted Jane’s attention all to herself. “I finished my reader,” she said shyly.
“Well done, Emily. You’ve been working so hard, you’re almost ready to move up a grade.” Jane walked over to the girl and laid a hand on her arm. “I’m proud of you.”
She saw Emily’s eyes glisten for a moment, then the girl turned to leave. “Do ya think maybe I could get some other books to read? I could take ‘em home with me. I promise I’d take good care of ‘em. It’s just that I already finished every reader we got here, and I’m dyin’ to read more.” She blushed.
Jane could see how much it cost her to ask. “Of course, my dear. I’ll take a look at what I have and bring some with me to class tomorrow. Does that suit?”
Emily grinned and rushed to embrace Jane. “Yes, thank ya, Miss Wilder, thank ya!”
Though surprised, Jane’s wrapped her arms around Emily’s narrow shoulders, squeezing the girl tightly. “You’re most welcome, dear Emily. I’m just so glad to see you enjoying it – after all, it was only a few weeks ago you were struggling to understand the more difficult words. Now nothing can stop you.”
Emily pulled away, still grinning. “Nothin’ can stop me,” she repeated, then ran out the door after her brothers with a quick wave.
While they’d been talking, Jane had heard the children outside saying their farewells to Dusty. But now all was quiet. She wiped the blackboard clean with the eraser, then fetched the broom to sweep the floor.
Just as she finished pushing the dirt, leaves and twigs that had been tracked into the room into a pile, she heard a yell from the schoolhouse roof. She leaned the broom against the wall and hastened outside. She crossed her arms and walked around the outside of the building, lifting her gaze to the roof to see where the noise had come from.
Dusty was by the chimney, climbing slowly down the pitch to where the ladder leaned against the wall. As he stepped onto the ladder, he coughed loudly, then sneezed, causing the ladder to rock. Jane ran to it, put her entire weight against it to hold it in place, then stayed there until Dusty was just above her. Only then did she move aside for him to pass. “Are you all right? What in Heaven’s name …?”
He sneezed again – and Jane burst into laughter. His entire face and arms were black with soot, as were his hair and hat. The whites of his eyes and his contagious smile were stark against it. Tears ran down her cheeks and her sides ached.
He stood there, hands on hips, his stance betraying his aggravation. “Are ya done?”
“Oh poor Mr. Lewis … you look like you crawled right out of a coal mine!”
He frowned, then sneezed twice. “Dadgummit, it got up my nose.” His sneezing only made Jane laugh all the harder, and his eyes narrowed.
Before she knew what had happened, he grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her hard against his chest with a wicked glint in his eyes and kissed her full on the mouth! And he made sure to wipe his cheek against hers. Then, laughing, he strode away. “Now ya look like a coal miner too,” he called over his shoulder.
Jane stood frozen, her hands hovering in the air where they’d lain against his shoulders and her lips still pursed. She drew a quick breath and her arms slumped against her sides. Her face tingled from where he had pressed against it moments earlier and her whole body trembled. She lifted her fingers to rub against her mouth – and saw they were covered in soot.
She frowned and stamped a foot on the grass. “Dusty Lewis, you filthy rascal!” she cried, then stalked inside to bathe as his laughter followed her.
***
Back at the Langstons’, Dusty packed his things after cleaning himself up. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jane and the kiss they’d shared. He’d tried so hard to ignore the sparks between them, but she filled his thoughts and clouded his dreams. He knew he’d have to face his feelings sooner or later.
He furrowed his brow and slipped his hat back onto his head. He was attracted to her, certainly, but he’d been attracted to women many times over the years. With Jane he felt protective, as if he wanted to keep her safe from the world. He longed to hear all her stories and find out all there was to know about her. He knew nothing about her family, her friends, past beaus … she was a mystery to him. A beautiful, enticing, maddening mystery.
He said his goodbyes to the Langstons and saddled his bay in the stable. As he cantered down the street on his way home, he realized he wanted to stop by the schoolhouse and say goodbye to Jane. They hadn’t said their farewells, since when he left she was still sulking inside about the kiss and the soot. He chuckled to himself and leaned over the horse’s neck, urging the animal to move faster.
When he reached the school, Jane was out back fetching firewood to take inside. She saw him arrive and, with three split logs wrapped up her apron and nestled against her chest, stood still to watch as he walked over the uneven ground. “I realized we didn’t say goodbye.” He pulled his hat from his head and held her gaze.
“Is that so?” She looked angry, but there was a tremor in her voice.
He stepped closer and laid a hand on her arm. “Here, let me take these inside for ya.”
Her eyes softened and she sighed. “Thank you.”
He took the firewood and carried it into her room. After stacking it neatly by the stove, he returned to find her still standing outside, her eyes wide and cheeks pink. He could take it no longer. He reached her in three long strides and cupped her cheeks between his calloused hands. Their gazes locked. He studied her blue eyes, then pressed his lips against hers in a passionate kiss that sucked the breath right out of his lungs and made his head spin.
When he opened his eyes, he saw hers blink open too, as if she was half-drunk. “It doesn’t make sense,” she whispered with a half-smile, her cheeks flushed.
“What don’t?” He raised a hand to stroke her soft hair back from her face.
“You and I. Us. We don’t make sense.”
“Don’t we?”
“No. You know we don’t. We’re so different and we drive each other mad.”
He laughed and ran a fingertip down the length of her face. “I’m willin’ to give us a chance if ya are.”
She smiled … and he knew his heart was lost forever.
Chapter Ten
Dusty brought the hammer down hard, driving the nail deep into the timber window frame. He relaxed, lettin
g his aching arm drop to his side, and looked around with a satisfied sigh. The cottage was almost complete - he just had to fit the windows and doors into their frames and to chink and whitewash the inside walls. He thought white walls would give the place a more civilized feel – for some reason, that was important to him now.
He strode outside, where Vaquero was filling in between the split timber logs that shone a warm honey-gold in the afternoon light. Working side by side, they’d formed a closer bond than ever. Vaquero rarely spoke, but he was pleasant company and Dusty trusted the man with his life.
A pile of leftover timber scraps caught Dusty’s eye. Some of them would make a nice set of chairs. When he was at Jane’s, he noticed her chairs were worn and a touch rickety. Maybe he could make her a new set, which would give him a reason to call on her. He knew the men would rib him about wanting to return to town again so soon, but he had to see her again. He couldn’t think of anything but her since returning to the ranch, and others were beginning to notice his absent-mindedness.
He reached for a piece of timber and carried it to his tool box. He’d fashion some chairs and take them into town on Saturday. He hoped she’d be as glad to see him as he’d be to see her. Maybe he’d even get to snatch another kiss.
***
The trail to Bozeman wound over a rise and dipped again into a hollow. The river slid, wide and deep, alongside the trail, and on the far side snowcapped mountains rose majestically from the valley floor to tower above them. The late afternoon sun shone down on Dusty as the town of Bozeman rose over the horizon. Surrounded by a smattering of junipers, it was a sight to see.
A hare darted across his path, sending the horses skittering sideways. He shushed them and steered them back onto the winding track. A set of four new chairs, tied down with string, lay in the wagon bed behind him, and he didn’t want to risk anything happening to them.
The sight of the schoolhouse set his nerves jittering. He pulled up and saw Jane out back, hanging wash on a line stretched between two trees. He tied the horses to a hitching post and walked over to see her, pulling his hat from his head and nervously working to flatten his hair against his scalp with his hand. “Good day to you, Miss Wilder.”
She spun around to see him, her mouth dropping open in surprise beneath a wide-brimmed sun bonnet. “D … Mr. Lewis! Hello. I wasn’t expecting you.” She grinned and shyly linked her hands behind her back.
His cheeks flushed warm and his heart swelled. She seemed happy to see him. He hadn’t expected a warm welcome and wasn’t sure what to say next. “I … well, I came to bring ya … somethin’.” He turned his Stetson around between his hands. Why did he feel like a giddy youth around her after one kiss? It was as though he’d lost all his self assurance in that moment.
“You brought me something?” She arched an eyebrow.
“Yep. It’s in the back of the wagon. Would ya like to come see?”
She quickly nodded, so Dusty led her around the schoolhouse to where he’d parked the wagon. The horses waited patiently, flicking their tails at the buzzing flies. He’d have to picket them as soon as he got the chairs unloaded. He threw back the canvas covering and waited.
Jane’s eyes widened. “These are for me?”
He nodded and swallowed hard. Their gazes locked and time stopped. All was still, save for their breathing and a meadowlark warbling in the branches of a nearby evergreen.
“Um … when I was here last week, I noticed ya needed some new kitchen chairs. I had some spare timber lyin’ around, so I just threw ‘em together for ya.” He scratched his ear. The words had sounded a lot smoother in his head.
“Thank you. How kind – I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” Tears glimmered in the corners of her eyes.
He swallowed again, then cleared his throat. “Well, it’s nothin’, really. Just a bit of elbow grease and some leftover wood.”
Jane reached out to touch a chair leg, running her hand along its smooth surface. “Thank you, Mr. Lewis.”
Dusty ducked his head and carried the chairs to her kitchen. They suited the place perfectly and she exclaimed over them some more before offering him a cup of coffee.
Dusty cleared his throat again. “Well, actually … I was thinkin’ maybe I’d, um, I’d take ya to that new place over on Alderson Street. The milk bar, what’s it called … Jacob’s Place? I hear they got good milkshakes, and I thought ya might like to get one. Ya know … with me.” He’d planned that speech over the length of his journey into town, and chastised himself for the stilted delivery.
Jane grinned. “That sounds lovely. I haven’t been there yet, but I’ve heard wonderful things about it. Did you know it was named after the town’s founder? In fact, Bozeman itself was called Jacob’s Crossing not so long ago.”
He laughed. “That’s good to know, Miss Wilder. I hope ya’ll call on me in history class. I’ll be one of ‘em know-it-all boys. Maybe even the teacher’s pet …” He shut his mouth. Had he gone too far?
She squinted at him through narrowed eyes, then chuckled, pulled her bonnet off the peg beside the door and tied it on with a grin. “You’d make a fine pupil, I’m sure.”
Dusty shoved his Stetson back in place, hoping to hide his blushing. Standing so close, falling into those deep blue eyes, his whole body warmed and tingles ran up his spine. “I’ll just picket the horses, if ya don’t mind. They had a long journey and still gotta ways to go today.” He followed her out the door.
***
Jacob’s Milk Bar was almost empty, and Dusty led Jane to a booth where they sat across from each other. She wasn’t sure why they were both so nervous – they’d spent two weeks almost living in each other’s pockets. But ever since that kiss, and his subsequent disappearance, she’d been weak-kneed at the very thought of him.
His anxiety was more surprising. Until now he’d always been annoyingly confident, as though he knew just how to woo a woman. She’d thought he’d likely never heard the word “no” from a woman in his life. She’d found his confidence appealing, but his shyness now made her heart skitter and her pulse race.
Jake the proprietor set their vanilla milkshakes on the table between them. “Here ya go then. Hain’t seen ya two in here before.” His eyes darted back and forth between them as he grinned, and Jane cringed inwardly, sure they’d be the talk of the local gossips by tomorrow.
“Oh, we’re old friends.” Dusty winked at her. “How’s business?”
“It’s goin’ well enough. The missus and I are openin’ up a bakery next door soon, so we’ll be keepin’ busy, that’s for certain. Lemme know if ya want somethin’ else.” He wiped his hands on the dish towel looped through his apron string and strolled back to the kitchen.
Alone again, Jane lifted her eyes to meet Dusty’s gaze. A muscle in his jaw clenched, and she fought the urge to trace its outline with her fingertip. She bit her lower lip and let her gaze fall to his full lips, which didn’t help.
He swallowed hard and cleared his throat with a cough. “I … I realized I don’t know much ‘bout ya. I’d love to know ‘bout yer family, where ya came from, yer friends … everythin’, really.”
She squirmed in her seat and her face burned. “Well, there’s not much to tell — other than what you already know. I’m from Boston originally. When my parents died I moved to Missoula to take a teaching position. That’s it, really.”
He cocked his head to one side. “I’m sorry ‘bout yer folks. I didn’t know ‘bout them dyin’.”
“Thank you.” She twisted a napkin between her hands and took a sip of the milkshake.
“I guess I know a bit about what that’s like.”
Her heart felt heavy, as she remembered his loss. They had that in common, at least. Both had to learn to make their own way in the world, be independent, when they were still young. Maybe that’s what had attracted them to each other. She smiled. “So how did you end up working for Thomas?”
He told her about his journey to Fort Worth, a
nd she could sense he was leaving out parts he didn’t want to share. Every pause, every swallow or averted gaze, hid something he wasn’t ready to reveal. But she didn’t mind, since she had no intention of letting her own secrets out. The less probing she did, the less likely he was to do the same – for the best, as far as she was concerned.
As he spoke, he waved his hands around to emphasize a point, and laughed boisterously when she made a joke. Slowly she relaxed and the conversation flowed more smoothly. She began to notice the way her neck felt warm and her heart skipped a beat when he caught her eye, how his smiles made her smile, how close his hand lay to hers on the table. If only she could reach out and touch it …
What was she thinking? This was the man who’d driven her mad for the past few weeks. But this was also the man who’d worked hard to make sure she was well taken care of, chopping firewood, chinking and painting the schoolhouse, fixing the leaking roof and doing a dozen other things for her. What did all that mean? Did he do it because Thomas had told him he had to, or did he care for her the way she was starting to care for him? He’d certainly gone to a lot of effort to bring her a set of chairs today.
And now they were drinking milkshakes together and having more fun than she could remember having with anyone in a long time. Her mind churned. If he cared for her the way she did for him, she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist him. No, Dusty Lewis had a hold of her heart, and she wasn’t sure if she could get it back — or if she wanted to.
Chapter Eleven