Lady Sundown (#1 of the Danner Quartet)

by Nancy Bush

  The freezing rain finally penetrated her emotionally overloaded senses and she began to shiver. He’s not my brother, Lexie realized, the idea settling deep into her soul.

  Thunder rumbled to the east, followed by a crack of lightning. Lexie throat constricted. For a moment the field glowed with unearthly light.

  “Lexie?”

  Tremaine’s voice forced an involuntary cry from her throat. She whirled around. Rain dripped off his black hair and down his hawkish nose, collecting on his sensual lips. He was looking at her with concern.

  “You’re soaked to the skin and shaking like a leaf.”

  “I — feel — sick,” she said, turning back to the fence.

  “Let me see—”

  “No! Don’t touch me. Don’t — touch — me.” With wings on her heels, she raced through the mud and rain to the safety of the house.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  In her room later that night, Lexie stood by the window, arms squeezed tightly around her middle as she stared miserably out into the darkness. She’d shunned Tremaine and the strange feelings he’d ignited. She didn’t want anything to do with him. She wanted Jace.

  Lexie drew a long breath and closed her eyes. She was going to marry Jace and she was going to become a horse doctor. If it meant a year away from home before she could realize her dreams, so be it.

  At the thought of Tremaine, peculiar and frightening feelings stirred deep inside her. Alarmed, her eyes flew open. Maybe he wasn’t her brother, but she was damn well going to keep treating him like one.

  Chapter Six

  Fall, 1882

  Lexie grabbed the tin milk pails, trying to make as little noise as possible as she let herself out the back door and into a still starry, unseasonably warm, autumn morning. It wasn’t her job to milk Matilda, but there was so little time left before she was sent off to that awful school that she seized every opportunity to show Pa and Mother how much they would miss her.

  At the barn she dropped the pails with a clatter and lit the lantern. Matilda bawled loudly.

  “Be right there, girl,” Lexie said. She grabbed the three-legged milking stool, settled herself beside the cow, clenched her fingers around two teats, and began expertly squirting warm milk into the pail from Matilda’s burgeoning udder.

  It wasn’t long before she heard plaintive mewing. Glancing around, Lexie saw the eager barn cats. With a deft twist, she sent a stream of milk their way, spraying their faces. A mass of gray and black tumbled and hissed as they each fought to be the first in line.

  Lexie laughed. “Patience is a virtue,” she reminded the teeming fur.

  “Lexie?” a sleepy male voice asked. “What are you doing here?”

  Lexie glanced around. Jesse, her younger brother by two years, stumbled toward her, bleary-eyed and shadow-faced.

  “I’m supposed to be doing the milking,” he said.

  “I know.” She turned back to Matilda. It wasn’t Jesse’s fault that he was so much like Tremaine, but lately Lexie couldn’t help blaming him for all her problems. Jesse had been the bane of her existence. He’d been in and out of trouble all summer. Pa had even turned Lexie’s responsibility for the stables over to Samuel, bypassing Jesse, because Jesse had been caught kissing Annie — an unforgivable transgression in Eliza’s eyes that had nearly gotten the poor girl fired.

  Jesse was trouble simmering beneath an indolent exterior. Just seeing him depressed Lexie, reminded her how soon she’d be leaving.

  “You want me to take over?” he asked, yawning.

  “Why don’t you just go back to bed?” Jesse had gotten home well after midnight last night; Lexie’d heard him stumble in — as she’d heard Tremaine so many times in the past. Harrison was the only one who seemed to have any morals in her family, but she wasn’t thinking too kindly of him these days either — the traitor!

  “Tremaine’s supposed to be coming home soon,” Jesse remarked, flopping on his back against the pile of hay shocks.

  Lexie’s heart squeezed. “What for?” Tremaine had left the morning after Lexie learned he wasn’t her brother and hadn’t returned all summer.

  “A visit, I guess. Are you going to tell him about Jace?”

  Her brother’s shrewdness caught her off guard. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, come on, Lexie. Jace isn’t stopping by all the time just to patch up things between us and the Garretts. Maybe he’s got Pa fooled, but I know better. He wants you.”

  That should have made Lexie feel better, but it didn’t. She rhythmically squeezed the milk into the pail, wondering what was wrong with her. Jace had braved her father’s Winchester and her mother’s cool reserves in order to see her, yet Lexie still felt miserable. “He has yet to ask Pa for my hand in marriage,” she pointed out.

  “Do you want to marry him?”

  Lexie thought about the way Jace still held back every time they kissed. She wished he would be a little more tender. “Yes, I do,” she said firmly, though some of her certainty had vanished over the summer and she didn’t rightly know why.

  “Tremaine will have a fit. Pa and Mother don’t much like Garrett, but Tremaine can’t stand him.”

  “What Tremaine thinks doesn’t matter a whit to me!” Lexie stated primly.

  “What about Harrison?”

  Lexie drew a breath and sighed. Her once close relationship with him had crumbled to dust. She couldn’t help blaming him for realizing her dream. When Harrison left for Dr. Breverman’s, he and Lexie had parted on uncertain terms. Now Lexie felt guilty.

  “Well, when Tremaine gets here, be sure and let me know. I can’t wait to see the sparks fly.” Jesse straightened, stretched, and sauntered out to the lightening day.

  Lexie finished her task, kicked the stool out of the way, blew out the lantern, and balanced the full pails as she headed back toward the house. She was already sweating and the moon was still glowing brightly.

  The day was sure to be hot as Hades and, if Jesse’s prediction came true, about as much fun.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  The operating room of Willamette Infirmary felt like the inside of a brick oven. Sweat beaded on Tremaine’s forehead while he scrupulously stitched closed his patient’s perforated intestines. In the back of his mind he thought of the frothy torrent of Fool’s Falls. Tonight, when he got back to Rock Springs, he was going to plunge in — clothes and all.

  The nurse was standing by with the sponge. She was obsessively dutiful, dabbing at the open wound every time Tremaine’s fingers stilled. It was more annoying than helpful, but Tremaine gritted his teeth and waited as she once more stopped him in the process of stitching the last few bullet holes closed.

  “Looks like a goddamn sieve,” Dr. Peter Caldwell, Tremaine’s assisting surgeon, remarked. “How’d it happen?”

  Tremaine was in no mood to be loquacious. “I’d say he stepped in front of a gun,” he answered shortly.

  Undaunted by Tremaine’s answer, Peter said, “I heard it was a union problem. Down at Monteith’s shipyards.”

  “Don’t matter what it was,” the nurse said staunchly. “Dr. Danner’s fixed him now.”

  “I’m going to close,” Tremaine warned, and the nurse sponged like mad. With an inward sigh he waited, feeling sweat trickle between his shoulder blades.

  An hour later he was striding down the front steps of the ugly white hospital. Outside the air was thick and sultry. The temperature was already soaring into the 80s and it was barely 10 o’clock in the morning.

  “Ya ready for Fortune, sir?” a young boy asked, appearing from the cobblestone alley that led to the back of the hospital.

  “I sure am, Roy.”

  The boy nimbly disappeared and was back within minutes, with Fortune already put to the buggy. Tremaine slipped the hospital delivery boy a dime and was rewarded with a flashing grin.

  “Thank ya, Dr. Danner. Thank ya!”

  The buggy was cool from being under the sheltered livery barn roof, and Tremaine sighed with relief as he headed
south out of Portland. It would be hours before he was in Rock Springs — hours before he could take that swim.

  His lips tightened as he thought about seeing Lexie again. He’d avoided her all summer but he’d promised his father he would come out tonight and pick up her trunk. Lexie would be leaving for Miss Everly’s school soon, and Harrison had already joined Dr. Breverman’s small class in Portland.

  “Come on, get moving,” he said to the trotting stallion, feeling the air clear as soon as he was out of the city. But his thoughts were still dark and uneasy. He didn’t want to see Lexie again. Especially since Pa’s last letter had made mention of how attentive Jace Garrett had become over the summer.

  Tremaine wondered if Lexie knew about Garrett’s mistress, and if not, when — and by whom — she should be told. He figured Jace certainly hadn’t brought Betsy up.

  Gritting his teeth, Tremaine worried he would have to tell her himself. He certainly didn’t want to. But then he thought of Lexie and Jace together, and he groaned aloud in frustration.

  At Rock Springs, Tremaine took one look at Fool’s Falls and decided he was too old to make a public spectacle of himself. With sweat dripping down his temples, he got Fortune a drink, some oats, and a short rest, then he headed the buggy toward the Danner farm.

  He would take a dip in the hot springs before she showed up at the house. It was better than nothing.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  Lexie stood barefoot on the slab of rock that hung above the the clear, softly moving water below. Heat rose up around her in waves. When she glanced over the dry fields, the air seemed to move and jiggle. These last few weeks of summer had been some of the hottest she could remember.

  She wiggled her toes over the lip of the rock. The green water looked deceptively cool and calm. Lexie looked around once more, and then stripped off her camisole and drawers. Feeling the hot, dry breeze sweep across her skin she dove cleanly into the water.

  Her first contact was a shock; cold water nearly knocking the breath from her lungs. But as she knifed lower, heat from the hot springs’ source turned the liquid around her into a warm, sensual delight. Lexie stayed down as long as she dared, shooting to the surface only when her lungs were swelled to bursting.

  She gasped for several seconds, wiping hair out of her eyes. Now the water felt as warm as a bath, ripples of heat eddying to the surface as her feet treaded to keep her afloat. Tantrum stood tied to a nearby cedar, regarding her incuriously. Ears barely moving, he flicked a fly away with his tail.

  Lexie dove down twice more. Today, as soon as she could, she’d escaped from the farm and ridden into the Cascade Mountain foothills at the far end of the Danner property. The hot springs had already soothed away most of her restlessness.

  A few minutes later she heaved herself from the water onto the same outcrop of stone, turning her face skyward, closing her eyes on a sigh.

  Tremaine still hadn’t arrived, and it was both a relief and an aggravation. She didn’t know how she would act when she saw him again. Would he really react as strongly as Jesse had said?

  Lexie flung her arm over her face, breathing hard from exertion. She concentrated on Jace, pushing Tremaine out of her thoughts. Why wouldn’t he kiss her — really kiss her? And why did it seem like his business in Rock Springs kept him away from her more and more? Though she was glad he’d never arrived that fateful night last spring when her world had come crashing down around her, she’d since been piqued by the continual business problems that had kept him in town.

  Or was it just an excuse not to be alone with her?

  Lexie opened her eyes, squinting up at the hazy blue sky. She imagined Jace’s lips pressed against hers, hungry, demanding. She’d been afraid of his kiss once before, now she longed for it.

  The heat made Lexie feel sleepy. Her eyelids drifted shut. Time passed slowly. She thought dreamily of Jace… his black hair… his angular face… his blue, blue eyes.

  She sat up with a start, her body aflame with desire. But it hadn’t been Jace she’d been dreaming about! Her heart was thundering, her skin sensitized and quivering. With a moan she thrust Tremaine from her thoughts, then was seized by a sudden terrible ache that stretched from her toes all the way to her lungs, threatening to choke her. Blinking, Lexie wrapped her arms around her knees. Long shadows were stealing across the fields. A dry, brown leaf floated to the ground. Summer was as good as over.

  For no reason that she could think of, she bent her head to her knees and cried.

  It felt like a long time later that she lay back down, turning her tear-stained face up to the setting sun.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  Fortune’s tired steps lagged slower and slower. Taking pity on the poor, game animal, Tremaine walked him along the twisting stream, following it up to the Cascade foothills. He’d left the buggy at the lane out of sight of the house. No one would know he was back until he finished swimming.

  The last rays of the setting sun were painting a streak of pink at the horizon as Tremaine cut through the granite boulders that led to the hot springs. Fortune’s ears suddenly pricked forward eagerly. Tremaine glanced around. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and he reined in Fortune abruptly.

  Someone was already here.

  Slowly looping the reins over a branch, Tremaine crept forward slowly. He had a sudden mental image of Jesse and his latest paramour and some of the tension left his shoulders. Was he going to walk into a late summer tryst?

  But the vision that met his eyes stopped him dead in his tracks. Lexie, naked as the day she was born, was stretched out on the rocks in the sweet abandon of sleep.

  Her chest rose and fell evenly, her breasts soft white globes against the tanned flesh of her chest and arms. Her stomach was a soft hollow, her smooth skin downy and misted with sweat. A small triangular tuft of blond hair capped a pair of the longest, silkiest legs Tremaine had ever seen.

  His mouth went dry. His first thought was relief that she was alone; there was no sign of Jace Garrett. His second was that he should be feeling a helluva lot more guilty about staring at her.

  But he couldn’t help himself. It was as if he’d been starved for the sight of the female body — which was ridiculous, considering his occupation and his own rather indulgent lifestyle. His eyes swept over her, drinking in the sensual delight of her, inventorying every part of her for later, torturous review.

  He wanted her as much as he ever had. More. He felt himself harden instinctively and dragged his gaze away.

  For several moments he stared at the darkening blue sky overhead, but all he saw was Lexie. Lexie, Lexie, Lexie. He would have to leave and let her awaken with her dignity intact.

  But he glanced back one last time; he couldn’t help himself. As if feeling his hot gaze burning into her, Lexie slowly turned her head, sighed, and blinked to wakefulness.

  And then she looked straight at him.

  “Tremaine?” she asked in a sleep-drugged mumble.

  “Sorry to disturb you,” he answered, his voice strained. Lexie stretched sensually — and remembered her nakedness at that moment. Her eyes widened in shock. With a cry of mortification she grabbed her clothes. Tremaine deliberately turned his back, his shoulders beginning to shake with suppressed laughter at the look of maidenly horror that had crossed her face.

  Lexie barely noticed. Her fingers scrambled with her clothes. There was a soft rip as she tore the fabric of her drawers in her haste to put them on. “How — how — long have you been standing there?”

  Tremaine’s back shook. “Long enough.”

  “And you didn’t have the decency to wake me?” she screeched.

  He cleared his throat. “Well, I would have, but I couldn’t think quite how to do it.”

  Lexie stared at his broad shoulders in appalled wonder. Her mouth dropped open in affront. He was laughing! Laughing at her! “Very funny,” she muttered in angry humiliation, which broke the dam on his control, drawing deep chuckles from his throat.

  He turned
around just as she finished buttoning up the tiny pearl buttons down the front of her sleeveless shirtwaist. Ignoring him, she tossed her head and brushed the dry grass and dust from her split skirt.

  “Well, it’s your turn to turn around,” he drawled and Lexie’s gaze flew to his face. His blue eyes simmered with humor and challenge. Slowly, he began removing his shirt and she saw a vee of tanned skin down his front. Dark hair arrowed downward and as Lexie watched, he tossed off his shirt, his fingers working on the buttons of his breeches.

  “What are you doing?” she shrieked, whirling around in a panic.

  “Going swimming. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s hot.” She stood staring across the baking fields, her fists clenched, her heart pounding. She heard the splash of water and hazarded a glance back. Tremaine was underwater. His clothes were tossed in an untidy pile, evidence that she wasn’t dreaming this incredible interlude.

  When was the last time she’d seen him naked? Had she ever? She couldn’t remember. Even when she caught him with Mary-Anne she’d only managed a glimpse, then had been too embarrassed to do more than run home.

  After several long moments Lexie turned toward the hot springs. Where was he? Why hadn’t he surfaced?

  “Tremaine, if you’re playing games with me, so help me I’ll kill you,” she said through her teeth.

  She strode to the lip of the rock and stared down. A splash sounded and his dark head surfaced. He shook water from his hair and smiled up at her. “Care to join me?” he invited casually, water dripping down his arrogant nose and stern jaw.

  Beneath the water she could almost make out his bare limbs as he treaded water. “No, thanks.”

  “Coward.”

  “Hah!” She folded her arms and glared at him in mock fury. She should be angry with him. Scandalized. Yet, his spirit of camaraderie kept her from feeling anything worse than slightly embarrassed. And, she realized with a start, she was terribly glad to see him.

  While Tremaine swam the sun sank lower, until it was just a fiery blaze caught between two mountain ridges. Lexie heard a splash as he heaved himself out of the water and she kept her gaze trained toward the mountains. She didn’t move, but neither did she look at him. “It’s almost dark,” she remarked, pretending absolute nonchalance as he stepped into his clothes.