“No, but probably one of your more candid ones,” she snapped.
Blake suppressed the grin that threatened to pique her ire. God, it was good to see the hellion alive and well and full of vim and vinegar.
“Be quiet and let Dr. Henry get on with his examination. I’m sure he has better things to do than save your life.”
She eyed him with annoyance, his jab rolling off her back unfettered. “You just wish you could get rid of me that easily.”
“Actually,” he said drawing out his words. “That’s the one way I found over the last two days, I don’t want to get rid of you.”
Meredith hadn’t expected him to say something nice – or reasonably nice. It left her speechless.
“If I may,” Rick Henry said holding his stethoscope toward her.
Meredith’s shoulders dropped a fraction as the doctor leaned closer to her and moved his wooden stethoscope to various places on her chest. “You have a beautiful heart,” he said in a tone Blake thought sounded oily – as if he was trying to seduce her.
“What makes her heart so beautiful?” Blake asked dryly.
“That’s just my way of saying it makes all the right sounds in all the right places,” he said lightly, his eyes never leaving her face. “Now let me play a little peekaboo with those big blue eyes.”
“Gray,” Blake corrected under his breath as the doctor cover one eye and alternately shaded the other. A moment later, he covered the second one and shaded then uncovered the first.
“Your pupils are dilating and constricting just like they should. No more double vision or nausea?”
She shook her head and grimaced as the movement made her head throb. “Just a headache.”
“That’s to be expected. I can give you some laudanum if it’s bad but laudanum is a bit in short supply, so if you think you can do without it…” he trailed off leaving the rest implied.
“Give her the laudanum,” Blake stated.
“No, Blake, I’m all right. I can do without.”
“Give her the damn laudanum!” Blake shouted over her. “If it’s a matter of money….”
“It’s not the money. The supplies are all going to the troops.”
“Blake, for God’s sake, stop. No one cares that you’re richer than Midas. I don’t need it.”
He turned angry eyes on her. “This is not about money. This is about you being in pain.”
Meredith fell silent. Did he care about her? She reached out a hand and set it on his forearm. “I’m fine. My head only throbs when I move around or we’re yelling.”
“Willow bark tea,” Blake said suddenly as his hand covered hers. “Surely you can’t object to giving her a bit of willow tea for her pain.”
The handsome blond doctor’s face became deadly serious. “Giving her willow bark tea could put her back into her coma. I’ve seen injuries unclog themselves when you give willow tea. The best thing we can do for Miss Vande Linde is let her rest and heal.”
“There has to be something you can give her.”
“Blake, please stop.”
“Stop? How can you asked me to stop when I’m trying to keep you from hurting? This is my fault. I didn’t mean to push you so hard.”
The doctor turned on Blake, his hands clenched into fists. “You pushed her? You’re twice her size.”
Blake’s hands flew up in a defensive gesture breaking the contact with Meredith. “I didn’t shove her. I kept her in the saddle all day. We’ve had a couple of fourteen hour days. She was exhausted and fell asleep.”
“Fourteen hours a day! Are you mad?”
“We’re just in a hurry to get where were going so he can get rid of me,” she said, her tone challenging Blake to deny it. “I can be… difficult.”
Blake and Meredith’s eyes met and locked on each other. Blake’s expression softened as he realized she had no reason to assume otherwise.
“I certainly never wanted you hurt or dead.”
“I know that.”
Dr. Henry pulled out his timepiece and checked the time. “See that Miss Vande Linde gets plenty of rest. I’ll have them send up some chicken broth. If she keeps it down, she can try solids in a few hours. If she gets out of bed, I want your hand glued to her elbow as she’s probably going to have some dizziness.”
“Am I not in the room?” Meredith asked sarcastically. “Am I too simple to understand simple instructions?”
The doctor chuckled. “Good luck.”
Blake stopped him before he left, peeled a few bills from a roll of money he pulled from his pocket and paid the man.
“You can leave, too. I need to use the chamber pot.”
Blake crossed to the far side of her bed to a very square-ish throne like chair and lifted the seat to reveal a second seat with a hole in it. He stood there looking very proud of himself as if he invented the commode chair.
“You thought of everything,” she said, her lips twitching upward. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She stared pointedly at him. “You can leave now.”
“Like glue,” he said moving to her bedside and folding back the covers. “Unless you’re too simple to understand simple instructions.”
She huffed in frustration.
“I’ll just walk you to it, leave and walk you back in a couple of minutes.”
With a curt nod, she acquiesced and a few minutes later he was helping her back into bed.
“You don’t know how worried I’ve been. When you started stirring this morning you should’ve seen me running for the doctor. I nearly fell down the stairs in my haste.”
“I would have liked to have seen that,” she said impishly as she watched for his reaction.
Blake shook his head, one side of his lips curling up in a half smile. “You would have liked to have seen me fall down the stairs?”
“I wouldn’t want you to get hurt but I definitely would have enjoyed seeing you tumble head over heels.”
“I should have smothered you with a pillow when I had a chance.”
She sighed inwardly at his engaging smile as her heart beat a rapid tattoo. Why did he have to be so good-looking?
“Not only would you not have to divorce me then but all of your lady friends would enjoy offering you sympathy over the loss.”
Her heart sunk strangely at the thought of Blake with other women and she wondered if he courted someone special at home.
Blake would have liked to have told her the women he knew rarely needed an excuse to offer themselves to him and being a widower would actually give him a valid excuse to avoid any entanglements for a year… Or more.
“How long was I asleep?”
“A couple of days. Do you remember what happened?”
“I remember the sensation of falling but I don’t remember hitting the ground or anything that happened until that man was shoving ammonia under my nose.”
Blake thought about teasing her, claiming she had professed undying love for him and begging him not to divorce her. But with his luck with women and how they all wanted to marry a rich, reasonably good-looking man, he was afraid he might accidentally strike a chord he preferred to avoid. Not that Meredith had given him any indication she bore any strong feelings but annoyance for him. Still it was not a joking matter.
“Ah, then you don’t remember how dashing and heroic I was as I saved you from certain death and the way I wrestled alligators to pick you up out of the swamp before you drown.”
Meredith smiled reluctantly but rolled her eyes at him. “You probably yelled at me to get up until you realized I wasn’t.”
“You really don’t remember? You were conscious for at least five minutes after the fall.”
“I was?”
“I’ll have to ask Dr. Henry if that’s normal.”
10
Within a few days, she had regained most of her strength and longed to go out for a ride. Nervously, she knocked on Blake’s door almost hoping he was not there. When he answered,
she stammered and stuttered but somehow managed to awkwardly ask if he would ride with her. He accepted, suggesting they make a picnic of it.
A half hour later, they rode out of town traveling nearly an hour before they found a beautiful knoll overlooking the Des Moines River. Across the river, the branches of a large grove of trees waved in the breeze.
Meredith walked through the tall grass picking the wild daisies and goldenrod while Blake spread the blanket, compressing the grass beneath it. After she collected a handful of flowers, she turned to go back to the blanket and found she could not see it for the thigh-high vegetation. Had the horses not been grazing nearby she might not have located it so quickly. She then realized how private their picnic could be if they wanted it to be. With a sigh, she realized she was the only one who wanted it to be.
Blake reclined on the heavy quilt taken from the bed in his hotel room with his hands behind his head and his legs crossed at his ankles. He basked in the sunshine looking more relaxed and content than she could remember seeing him. He doffed his sack coat, vest and tie, unbuttoning the collar of his shirt and had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. She smiled. What a wonderful specimen of man, she thought and felt her cheeks warm.
Not wanting to disturb him, she quietly sat down a few feet away and began braiding the flowers into a necklace. He turned onto his side to watch and plucked one of the white daisies from the bunch, broke the stem short and poked it into her hair above her ear. He smiled roguishly at her. Her blush heightened and she cast her eyes down to the chain of flowers she wove.
“I don’t think we could have picked a better day for a picnic,” she said to turn his attention elsewhere. Why did she suddenly feel so shy? “The sun is warm and the breeze is cool and there’s nary a cloud in the sky. If it gets too hot this afternoon, we can put our feet in the river. As long as the ants and mosquitoes leave us alone, we should have a very pleasant outing, I should think.”
Blake looked amused as if he knew her inane prattling was her way of avoiding his attention. He pushed himself to a sitting position, plucking a tall weed from the grass and began chewing the end.
“Yes and fresh air is good for you after being cooped up in that hotel room for the past few days,” he said in a light teasing tone as he looked out over the river. He was subtly poking fun at her and she knew it.
She set aside the flowers, reached into the basket and retrieve a Bell jar filled with lemonade and two tin cups. Blake took the jar from her when she had trouble loosening the lid.
“Shall we toast?” he asked as he poured it into the cups.
“I wouldn’t know what to toast to.”
They raised their cups. “To new friendships,” he said looking intently into her eyes. She managed to hold his gaze. He tapped his cup against hers then sipped the sweet tangy juice.
“I want to thank you for taking care of me. I know I don’t always act like I’m grateful but I am,” she said looking into her lemonade. Her eyes lifted to meet his. “It would have been easy for you to abandon me anywhere along the way.”
He dismissed her gratitude with a wave of his hand as if to say it was what any decent human being would do.
“What else do you have in there?”
She fished in the basket and pulled out the remaining contents one at a time. “A loaf of freshly baked bread. Feel it. It’s still warm. She pulled them out of the oven just as I stepped into the kitchen. Strawberry preserves, honey, a little butter. Here’s a few sausage rolls and inside this cheesecloth… cheese. It’s not exactly a feast but it was the best we could do on such short notice.”
“It’s plenty. Besides, I’m still half-full from those biscuits you baked.”
“You’ll never let me forget, will you?” she laughed.
“Never.” He shrugged innocently, his grin mischievously crooked.
Meredith had sensed a change in Blake. He was being attentive, even approachable. She liked this side of him.
“Blake, when someone asked me my name, what should I tell them?”
“What do you want to tell them?”
Meredith thought about it a moment as she pulled two plates out of the basket and an assortment of silverware. She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m your wife but I don’t want people to think I’m some doxy traveling with a man.”
When his eyes fell on her face, she tried to cover up her uncertainty with a small smile.
“I noticed you stopped wearing your mother’s wedding ring.”
“My parents loved each other dearly. I feel like I’m tarnishing the ring by wearing it when our marriage is nothing more than a temporary punishment for getting caught.”
Blake chuckled. “Hopefully, temporary.”
Hearing the resignation in his tone, Meredith met his gaze “You know I never intended for this to happen.”
“Of course. I am as much to blame as you are. Even if you’d slept with half the town, we would have been forced to wed when they caught us. The fact you hadn’t been with anyone really doesn’t factor into it.” Blake said sawing off two thick slice of warm bread from the loaf and putting one on each of their plates. “It was easier to blame you. I’m sorry. That wasn’t well done of me.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” she said with a wide smile. “I knew you were upset. Trust me, every mean thing you said was worth it to see you puke on Reverend Michelson’s shoes.”
Blake groaned then laughed. “The man is a colossal prig.”
Meredith watched as he stuck a knife in a jelly jar filled with butter and slathered it on his bread. She pulled a piece of crust off her bread and put it in her mouth.
“Warner,” he said. “You should tell everyone your name is Meredith Warner. Even after the divorce, you should keep my name – tell your aunt and uncle you’re a widow. You don’t want to have to explain all this to your next husband. Just tell him your first husband was killed in the war.”
She paused in her chewing. He wanted her to keep his name? That really surprised her. She studied his handsome face wondering if she should assign any significance to it. Wouldn’t it be nice if he wanted her to keep his name because it kept them connected? “I’ll think about it.”
“Will you be ready to continue our trip tomorrow?” he asked slicing a piece of cheese from the wedge and handing it to her.
When their hands touched, her heart suddenly raced. But it always did when he was near.
“Dr. Henry seems to think I’m ready and I do feel better.”
He sipped his lemonade as he looked thoughtfully at her. “Do you feel better? You look a little peaked.”
“I’m feeling a bit tired.”
He put his hand gently on her forehead to see if she was feverish although she had not run a fever with her injury. “I didn’t mean to tax you on your first outing. Let me take you back to the hotel so you can rest. Are you able to ride? Should I ride double with you?”
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”
“I don’t want our trip delayed further because you’ve taken another tumble off your horse. I really must insist.”
After repacking the basket and tying it to Wunner’s saddle, they mounted Viper and began their ride back to town. She could feel his breath tickling the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck, his chest pressing against her back and his hand on her stomach as he held her tightly to keep her from falling should the need arise.
Still over a mile from the city, she began feeling overwhelmingly exhausted and dizzy and knew she couldn’t make it back. She asked if they could stop so she could rest. Finding a shady area, they reined the horse and Blake dismounted. She swung her leg over the saddle horn and he lifted her down by the waist sandwiching her between the horse and his chest. He stood so close, she had to strain her neck to see his face.
Meredith looked into the depth of his eyes. The blue blazed with smoldering passion as his head lowered. She lifted her face meeting his lips with her own soft, plia
nt ones. Her tongue brushed his lips tasting the hint of lemons clinging to them. As his tongue met hers, desire spread from her lips to her core and on to her toes.
She threaded her hand through his hair drawing him down. The kiss deepened as he hauled her up against the length of his hard masculine body. Her head was swimming, her knees weak, the same dizziness that prompted their stop was engulfing her. Her knees buckled and everything went black.
11
Blake Warner didn’t know if he should be amused or concerned when he found himself holding Meredith’s limp form in his arms. He had barely been aware she stopped kissing him and thought she was pulling away. When he began to release her, he realized his arms were the only thing keeping her from sliding to the ground.
Several minutes passed before Meredith awoke. She lay on the ground, her head resting on the quilt they had picnicked on. As she sought to get her bearings, her eyes fell on Blake’s seated form as he roguishly smiled down at her.
“What happened?”
“You’ve forgotten so soon, my treasure? You wound me.” He stroked her cheek lightly.
Blushing to the roots, the whole incident flooded back to her, including her unbridled response. “You kissed me.”
The amazement in her voice made him chuckle. “You kissed me back as I recall. Then you paid me the ultimate complement of fainting in my arms. It’s not an accomplishment many men can boast of.” Ignoring the heightened color in her cheeks, he continued. “Do you faint when all men kiss you or just when it’s my lips doing the kissing? Remember my pride when you answer.”
Meredith pushed herself up into a sitting position but would not meet his gaze. “I would never answer a question like that.”
“Indeed?” His tongue darted between his teeth to moisten his lips, unconsciously, giving clue to the direction of his thoughts, had she only seen it. He leaned forward, cupping her chin in his hand and turned her face towards his. She peeked at him through her demurely lowered lashes but would not look him fully in the eye until he tilted her chin up slightly. “Then I shall have to find out for myself if it was an isolated incident.”
M. Donice Byrd - The Warner Saga Page 10