“Analisa, stand up and hold it up to you. Let us see,” Sophie pleaded. “That color will be lovely on you. Caleb, it is perfect. You have to teach Jon how to shop ... and soon!”
Caleb laughed, his eyes glowing appreciatively as Analisa stood up and held the dress before her. He could see that she was embarrassed by all the attention, and so smiled encouragement to her. She sat down quickly, carefully folding the dress back into the box. He pointed to another package, which Sophie was quick to push toward him. “This,” he said in a tone that would brook no argument, “is to open later. But this one is to open now.” He pulled the last box toward Analisa.
“Caleb, I don’t know what to say.” She shook her head.
“Say, ‘Merry Christmas,’ and open the gift.”
Analisa made swift work of opening the present. Inside a deep nest of straw was a fat china teapot hand painted with a bouquet of violets in shades that varied from the deepest purple to the palest lavender. She found the small lid wrapped in paper and tucked into the package beside the teapot.
Smiling up at Caleb, she let her fingertips play over the painted surface of the porcelain teapot. “It’s too beautiful to use.”
“I had a feeling you would say something like that. I want to drink tea made in it tomorrow.” He laughed, knowing how thrifty she Was and how she used only serviceable goods for herself.
Tomorrow. The word rang in Analisa’s mind. Tomorrow. He planned to be here tomorrow ...but what of tonight? Suddenly, the room seemed to close in on her, and she sat in silence, a smile frozen on her lips, her mind racing miles away from the activity around her. Kase was parading in his new clothes. He looked quite the gentleman, a smaller version of Caleb, who also wore a fine wool suit.
“Play us a tune, Jon,” Analisa heard Sophie say, and watched while Jon and Caleb stood to admire her son in his new outfit. Caleb knelt down on one knee and adjusted the boy’s suspenders, as if he’d been taking care of children for years. Both men made quite a fuss over Kase and his new finery until Sophie asked the little boy for a dance.
All at once the noise and movement in the small, warm room were too much for Analisa. Caleb, standing with her new friends, was a sight she’d thought never to see, no matter what her heart might have wished. Happiness was an illusion she was afraid to indulge in. Why had he come back? Could she possibly hope that time had healed the rift between them? Would he be able to stay with them now and leave the mystery of his life behind? The questions crowded in on her like the suffocating air in the room. Analisa knew she had to slip away and be alone. After so many years of facing her problems on her own and living in the quiet soddie with only Kase and Edvard, she found the merriment of the evening, coupled with Caleb’s return, unnerving. Quickly reaching for the coal bucket she used for carrying in dried cow chips for the fire, Analisa stood up and slipped from the room unnoticed, welcoming the solitude of the darkness outside.
Chapter Eight
The cold night air was a shock against her skin, yet it brought Analisa welcome relief from both the warmth of the soddie and the suffocating intensity of her own thoughts. She left the house without a wrap of any kind, knowing the trip outdoors would have to be short, but she welcomed the few moments to herself. She needed time to think about Caleb’s sudden appearance and what it meant.
She noticed Caleb still rode the huge black horse, but she spared Scorpio only a glance as she turned to make her way around the house. She would share the warmth of the animals in the cow shed and extend her time alone a while longer. Analisa stopped just outside the lean-to in order to fill the bucket with cow chips for the fire, hoping to use the task to cover her sudden departure. She heard the muffled sound of the fiddle music through the thick sod wall and knew that Jon still entertained the others. With a glance around the darkened yard, Analisa stepped inside the shed where Honey and Tulip-the-Ox stood, ever patient as they awaited the morning, when they would be turned loose outside to wander the hard-packed yard. In the far corner, Jon Allen’s well-bred carriage horse nickered softly.
Absentmindedly petting the cow’s smooth nose, she stared out through the open doorway at the scattering of stars in the dark sky. Slowly drifting clouds passed by, reminding her of wisps of smoke on a silent journey across the otherwise clear sky. The slow sprinkling of snow had stopped, leaving the air crisp and clear. Analisa sighed as she looked out on the peaceful scene, trying to regain control of her pent-up emotions.
She knew she needed to sort out her own feelings rather than question Caleb’s return, Analisa would never forget the intense pounding of her heart that had begun the moment she saw him standing in the doorway. He had not changed since September; if anything, he had grown more handsome. His raven hair was neatly trimmed, the uncontrollable waves above his forehead and at the nape of his neck still refusing to be tamed. His skin had retained its warm hue even though his dark tan, like Kase’s, had faded during the winter months. His clear blue eyes seemed to look through her to the very core of her soul. Caleb’s clothes were a silent complement to his strong, well-muscled body and did little to hide his easy movements and natural grace.
Analisa wondered about his clothes and the expensive gifts he’d brought them. When she saw the quality of the dress and the care he had obviously taken to choose it for her, she was assailed by questions, realizing again how little she knew of him. Where did his money come from? Her mind still held a picture of the man who had ridden into the yard last summer, a man carrying few possessions, unwilling to tell her where he was from or where he was going. He had assured her he was not doing anything against the law, and she had chosen to believe him, listening with her heart rather than her common sense. Would she care, even now, if she found out that he had lied back then? She tried to convince herself she would have to turn him out if she learned he was an outlaw, but even as she thought those words, Analisa felt her heart trip as she remembered the touch of his hands and the feel of his kiss on her lips.
Reason fought with her emotions, and as she began to feel the chill of the evening, Analisa knew that she must face Caleb with her doubts and questions before she could resume their tenuous relationship. She was determined to do so before the evening was over, but whether or not she could send him away was another matter.
The frosty air began to seep beneath her skin, chilling her to the bone. Analisa rubbed her hands together and blew on them for warmth, then picked up the bucket of chips and returned to the house.
When Caleb straightened from where he’d knelt on the earthen floor after adjusting Kase’s suspenders and rolling up the new trousers, he noticed that Analisa’s place at the table was empty. His first inclination was to go to her, but instead he decided to give her a few moments alone. Kase was trying to guide Sophie around the room by making up the steps to a dance while Jon set the pace on his fiddle. The three of them seemed content to amuse themselves, and so Caleb paced to the window above the kitchen sideboard and tried to look out into the blackness beyond. Condensation on me windowpane prevented him from seeing outdoors. He glanced once more at Sophie, Jon, and Kase, then quietly opened the door and slipped outside. He knew the time had come for them to face each other alone.
Lifting Scorpio’s reins, he led the horse around the Aliens’ rig toward the shed behind the house. There was no sense in leaving the animal out in the cold any longer, now that Caleb knew he intended to stay the night. He hoped that he would not have a problem convincing Analisa, for he had no inkling as to her feelings. She had looked shocked and disbelieving rather than pleased when he’d arrived, but he knew he could not really blame her for her startled reaction to his sudden appearance. Caleb took a deep breath as he rounded the corner to the shed, determined to let her know that he could be as stubborn as she if he chose.
Analisa nearly collided with him in the shadowy darkness as Caleb led Scorpio into the shelter. She stepped back inside, unsure of what to say, shivering with cold and anticipation while she watched him unbuckle the saddle an
d slide it off the big mount. Caleb seemed to ignore her as he set the saddle against the far wall and slipped off the bit and bridle. With a slap on the horse’s rump, Caleb turned to face Analisa while Scorpio ambled past the other animals toward the feed bin.
“You’re getting a little low on feed. I’ll get some when I go into town to pick up my baggage.” He stepped closer in order to see her expression in the soft glow from the window.
“You are staying?” She spoke through chattering teeth as she tried to still her shivering.
Caleb stood silent for a moment, debating his next move. She had not protested his comment, but simply asked if he was staying. Would she leave the choice up to him?
“Come here. You must be freezing to death without your coat.” Caleb stepped up next to her when she refused to move toward him, opened the front of his wool jacket and enfolded her inside.
Drawn by the warmth he offered, she slipped her arms around him underneath the heavy jacket and felt the heat of his back through the fabric of his shirt. She longed to rest her cheek against the strong, even beat of his heart, but resisted, determined to put emotion aside and ask him the questions that were tugging at the corners of her mind. Analisa tilted her head back and loosened her hold on him, trying to see his eyes in the dim light.
“Why did you come back?” She was afraid she would miss his answer as she listened to her own heart thundering in her ears.
“I had to.” He bent and kissed the tip of her nose, her forehead, her temple, with just a teasingly light touch of his lips.
“You had to?”
“Yes. I would find myself thinking of you at the oddest times. Once I was in a roomful of people.” He looked over her head as if he recalled every detail as he spoke. “It was a ball, as a matter of fact. I was surrounded by ladies and gentlemen in fine gowns and suits—silks, satins, jewels—and suddenly, there you were. I saw you as I’d seen you so many times. You know, the way your hair falls out of the pins and slides down your neck.” He touched her throat with his lips before he continued the hushed words. “You had on your apron and the faded blue dress you always wear when you’re working. You seemed so real, I nearly spoke to you, until I realized you weren’t there at all.” He stopped kissing her and held her close, his cheek pressed against hers as he rocked her gently from side to side. “You might say I came back because I was haunted by you. Do you know what that means?”
She nodded. “You were at a ball ... a dance?”
“Yes. Many. But no one I met compared to you.”
Analisa pulled away again, intending to look into his eyes, but her gaze was drawn to his full lips. She cleared her throat, suddenly finding the words lodged there. “Where did you get the money for all of those gifts?”
“The bank.”
“You robbed a bank?”
Caleb laughed as he rubbed her shoulderblades with his open palms. He pressed his hands against the small of her back, forcing her against his length. “No, I didn’t rob a bank. Must you always make me out to be an outlaw, Analisa? You seem to doubt my ability to earn a living.”
“You have told me nothing of yourself, Caleb. You left me with one hundred dollars in gold, with no explanation and no word all these months ...”
“Didn’t you get my letter?”
“Oh, yes ... I have it committed to memory: ‘Analisa. Hope that you, Kase, and Edvard are well. If you need anything, you can reach me through Ruth Storm in Boston, Massachusetts. Caleb.’ “
Thankful for the darkness, Caleb felt himself color as she recited the terse words of his note. It had been cooler than he remembered, and the only communication she’d received from him in three months. She had every right to toss him out.
“I have many more questions, Caleb.” Analisa no longer felt the cold, pressed as tight as she was to his body and warmed by the anger she aimed at herself as she let him take over her senses so easily.
“Ask away.” He moved with her, gently pushing her farther back into the shed until she was pinned between his warm body and the sod wall of the house. His lips were playing with her ear, and he felt a tremor run through her as his teeth gently pulled against its soft lobe.
“Who is Ruth Storm?” Analisa’s words were fading into a whisper as he toyed with her ear.
“My stepmother.”
“How do you work, to put this money in the bank?” She was beginning not to care what his answers were as his hands drew her hearer and played along her waist.
“Sometimes,” he said between kisses as he teased her lips with his own, “I am a lawyer ... and I live off an inheritance ... and I also work for the government of the United States ...” Caleb tried to continue but drew back for a moment to look into her eyes. “Do you really have to know all of this right now?”
Pressed against the sod wall, Analisa could feel the rough earth and buffalo grass scratching through the material of her dress. Enfolded inside Caleb’s coat and his tight embrace, she could think of little except the man who held her and the way her body responded to his touch. She had dreamed of him for so long, remembered their lovemaking so often, that now she was almost afraid to believe he’d become a reality, and yet she needed to experience the fullness and satisfaction she knew he could give her. She stared up into his eyes and asked the only question she truly wanted answered.
“Why did you come back?”
“I had to have you again.”
Caleb’s words were lost in a whisper against her lips as he pressed his mouth to hers in a searing, demanding kiss. Unable to restrain her need for him, Analisa let her arms move to encircle Caleb’s neck and pulled him closer. Her hands played in the waves of his hair at the nape of his neck, her fingertips delighted by the satin thickness of the soft curls. She felt his hands at her waist, on her breasts, and finally caressing her lower back and hips as he drew her against him. She became aware of the rigidity of his arousal pressing against her. Analisa was driven to seek the feel of his smooth skin against her own. She pulled at his shirt and heard Caleb’s low throaty laugh of delight as she worked the shirttail free of his waistband. Ignoring the sound, she slipped the palms of her hands under the shirt and pressed them flat against his smooth skin, skin that was hot to her touch.
The fiddle music slowed to a waltz, the notes drifting on the night air around them. Vaguely, Analisa could hear her mind telling her that it was rude to leave her guests, rude to let them wonder what she was doing alone with Caleb, but she could not seem to control her driving need for him. She felt his hands reach for the crown of braids wrapped around her head, and as his fingers began searching for the pins that bound the plaits, she pulled her lips away from his.
“Caleb, no ... They will know, then, if you take down my hair.”
“They probably know now.” Aware that Analisa would be embarrassed to face her friends with her golden hair spilling past her shoulders in disarray, he lowered his hands and began to draw her skirt up along her thighs. When his palm came in contact with her cotton pantalets, Caleb tugged at the waistband and sought the drawstring tie.
“Don’t wear these while I’m home,” he mumbled against her lips.
“No. I won’t.”
Finally, Caleb felt the offending undergarment fall free and bent to draw it off of Analisa’s legs. He ignored the rending tear he heard as he impatiently tugged the garment over her shoe and stuffed it into his coat pocket. While he worked to remove her drawers, Analisa’s fingers had nimbly unbuttoned the front of Caleb’s woolen trousers and pushed them low on his hips. She was rewarded with the feel of him as he thrust against her.
“I can’t wait to have you, lady. I’m sorry.”
With the words barely spoken, Caleb lifted Analisa against the wall and pressed upward, lowering her suddenly, sheathing himself within the warm depths of her body. He covered her mouth with his own as she began to moan and cry out, clutching him nearer, drawing him even farther into herself. He had been afraid of hurting her in his haste, and so was greatly
pleased to find her as ready as he. Holding himself still within her, Caleb stood rigid, pressing Analisa against the rough wall, knowing full well that any slight movement on her part would bring him to fulfillment.
. Time stopped for Analisa when Caleb drew her onto himself. Forgotten were the freezing cold of the night and the restless animals moving next to them. She was only slightly aware that Jon’s fiddle continued to play, the music adding a strange, haunting quality to the scene. It seemed that in this one suspended moment, she could feel the earth turning beneath her as it moved through the heavens. As her body pulsed with the rhythm of life, she sought to draw Caleb into herself, to lose herself in him and him in her. Unable to hold back the desperate need within, Analisa wrapped her legs around Caleb’s hips and surrendered to the throbbing force.
Through a haze of sensation, she heard him call her name as he thrust deep into her once, twice, three times, and then held her wrapped in his embrace as he poured his love into her. His breath was searing hot against her ear, their ragged gasps for air echoing in the stillness of the tiny shed. Slowly, as their breathing returned to normal and the pulsing sensations died away, Caleb hugged. Analisa to him once more and gently slid away from her. She wanted to cry out at the feeling of loss she experienced as he left her body, but instead opened her eyes and was satisfied to know he was really there.
Caleb ran a shaking hand through his hair and pulled Analisa’s undergarment out of his pocket. She could tell he was smiling by the tone of his voice and could see a hint of his wide smile reflected in the glow from the window. He leaned forward and planted a swift kiss on her lips.
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