Jake struggled with memories that once would have taken him into hell’s darkness. “He was a thousand times worse, Little Jake. Some people don’t know anything about love.” He kissed the boy’s cheek. “Not like I love you and your daddy and mommy and Lloyd and this whole family. We all know about love, don’t we?”
Little Jake nodded, throwing his arms around his grandfather’s neck again. “I’m sorry he was mean to you, Grampa.”
Jake rose and tucked the boy under one arm as they walked, causing Little Jake to squeal with glee at hanging off his grandpa’s side like a sack of potatoes. Jake couldn’t help wondering what it might have been like to have a father who’d loved him.
He took a deep breath and forced back the black memories, noticing Randy was surrounded by women asking questions. He set Little Jake down and told him to go walk with Stephen and Ben and not let go of their hands. He hurried closer to Randy, putting an arm around her. “Ladies, my wife is done answering questions. Thank you for your concern.”
“Thank you,” Randy told him, putting an arm around his back. “Jake, I can’t believe we walked out of that courthouse together.”
He leaned down and kissed her lightly. “I’m sure it’s due mostly to the power of our daughter’s prayers.” He decided not to mention Little Jake’s question about Jake’s father. He was determined not to think about that now. This was a time for happiness. He swept Randy up into his arms. “Let’s get to our room, woman. We have a private celebration ahead of us!”
* * *
At the railroad station, Brad Buckley, holding a hastily packed carpetbag, watched a young man run through the crowd.
“Did you hear?” the boy shouted. “That judge let Jake Harkner off and told him to go home!”
Several people in the crowd whistled and cheered. Brad watched from the steps to the passenger car he was boarding.
“Goddamn lucky sonofabitch!” he grumbled through gritted teeth. He climbed the steps and went inside, taking a seat. I’ll still find a way to make you pay for killing my father, Jake Harkner! I’ll do it right under your nose, and you won’t be able to do a damn thing about it, because if they find me dead, you’ll hang!
Twenty-nine
Katie helped Lloyd undress, pulling off his shirt. She ached at the bandages still wrapped around his chest. She hated the thought that there would be a scar, yet he was still so magnificent in every other way and getting stronger every day. “I hope this is our last night in this hotel room,” she told him.
Lloyd sat down. “You aren’t the only one.”
Katie removed his boots and socks. “Stand back up, and I’ll help you get these pants off,” Katie told him.
Lloyd rose and unbuckled his belt. “I hate needing help.”
“Of course you do. Men like you are used to doing for yourselves.” Katie pulled off his denim pants, and he stepped out of them.
Suddenly, Katie couldn’t get back up. It hit her then that she’d almost lost him. She could easily be a widow now instead of having her husband standing here in front of her, walking and talking and breathing. The trying day caught up with her, and she covered her face and wept.
“Baby, don’t,” Lloyd told her. He reached down and helped her to her feet, then pulled her into his arms and pressed her close.
“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you!” she wept.
“You won’t hurt me.” He led her to the bed. “Lie down beside me, Katie. I want to start sleeping with you again. I miss you beside me at night.”
“We can’t—”
“Yes we can.” He scooted onto the bed and kept an arm around her middle, wrapping her into his arms. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and see you sleeping on that damn cot all alone, and it drives me crazy,” he told her.
Katie couldn’t stop the tears. “Oh, Lloyd, when I saw you go down that night…” She curled against him. “I thought my life was over! I’ve tried to be strong through all of this, but it’s so hard.”
“You’ve been wonderful. God, Katie, we’ve hardly talked, and you’ve been through so much. I was so afraid you’d lose the baby.”
“For those first few days, I thought the baby would be all I had left of you.”
“Well, I’m here now, and it won’t be long before I can show you I’m back in every way.” He met her mouth in a long, deep kiss, then moved his lips to her eyes again, licking at her tears. “Don’t cry, Katie. Everything will be all right now. We’ll go home to the J&L and our baby girl and our own bed, and we’ll pick up where we left off the last time we made love in that bed.” He moved his lips down to kiss at the lovely mounds where her breasts peeked above the bodice of her dress.
Someone tapped at the door. “You two need anything tonight?”
It was Jake.
“Hell no!” Lloyd answered. Katie laughed again, and he pulled her closer, moving one leg over her. “Go away!” Lloyd added. “I’ve been looking at your ugly mug every day for over three weeks, Pa. I’m looking at someone prettier right now, and if you come in here, I’ll fire you from the J&L!”
He heard his father laugh as Katie pushed at him and chided him for the remark.
“You couldn’t run that place without me,” Jake answered.
Lloyd rocked Katie in his arms. “Watch me try!” He and Katie both broke into more laughter, and Lloyd quickly yanked part of the covers over them. “All you have to do is come through that door, and you’ll have to find a new place to live!”
Jake laughed again. “You two had better be able to get up in the morning because we’re leaving for the J&L. I’m not staying in this damn dirty city one more day. I’m ready for some fresh air.”
“Hell, I’ll leave tonight if you want to,” Lloyd answered. “Fine with me.”
“Get some rest,” Jake ordered. “Both of you! Don’t overdo anything.”
“Just go pay some attention to my poor mother!” Lloyd teased. “And if I were you, I’d kiss her the way you kissed Gretta MacBain earlier, or she might kick you out. Mom needs your attention way more than I do.”
Outside the door, Jake smiled and breathed a deep sigh of relief. “You’re damn right there,” he muttered. He turned, a lump in his throat at the fact that his son was alive and back to his jabbing remarks, which meant he was definitely getting better. He went to his own room, going inside to see Randy removing her hat.
“Our son is healing fast.” He closed the door.
Randy walked over and helped him take off his suit jacket.
“Jake, ever since we got back here and all through dinner, you didn’t tell me what it did to you to have that prosecutor practically scream out that you killed your own father. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He finished unbuttoning the shirt himself. “I’m glad Ben and Stephen already knew, so they weren’t shocked. When we were walking back, Little Jake asked me if it was true. I told him I’d talk to him about it another time but that some people just don’t know how to love. I think he’s okay with it for now, but I definitely need to explain more to him. Right now, he just thinks my father was a really mean man like Ben’s father was.” He pulled off his shirt. “Ben’s father was a saint compared to mine,” he added with obvious venom. He looked Randy over. “My God, you’re beautiful. Have I told you that yet today?” He walked up to her and moved one finger down into her cleavage. “I love this spot.” He leaned down and kissed her there.
“Jake, you are deliberately changing the subject.”
He walked her backward toward the bed. “The way this dress fits every beautiful curve of your body drove me crazy all day today. I kept wondering if I’d ever get to take it off you.”
“Jake Harkner, if you need to talk about things that were said today, then talk about it. I know what it must have done to you when Little Jake asked about your father.”
“I don’t need to t
alk about it.” He pulled her full onto the bed. “I just want to celebrate the way that hearing went and enjoy the fact that I am free to be with my wife tonight in our own bed in our own hotel room—and that we’re free to go home.”
Randy stroked his hair away from his face. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m sure.” He leaned down and covered her mouth with his in a searching kiss, grasping her hair at the back in a strong, commanding grip. He moved his lips to behind her ear. “I’ve wanted to kiss you like this all day.”
“Oh?” She playfully pushed him away. “That was a pretty good kiss you planted on Gretta MacBain’s lips earlier.”
Jake grinned, grasping her shoulders and turning her over to unbutton her dress. “For your information, she wanted me to kiss her in the back room of that clothing store, but I refused. Then I figured after the way she stood up for me today, she deserved that kiss. Call it compensation for her services.”
“Compensation? Are your kisses worth money now?”
Jake laughed. “I don’t know. You tell me.” He continued releasing button after button.
“Well, I can think of a lot of women who would gladly pay for the chance to kiss the notorious Jake Harkner. They are all curious to know what it’s like.”
He got off the bed. “Stay right where you are.”
She lay facedown as he yanked the dress down over her shoulders. “And what do you say those kisses are worth?” He jerked the dress down over her hips and threw it over a chair, then pulled off her slips.
“Well, I always get those kisses for free, so I wouldn’t know how to put a price on them,” Randy quipped.
Jake pulled off her shoes, then pulled down her stockings. “Free?” He yanked off her underwear, down over her feet, then kissed the back of her legs. Randy shivered when his kisses trailed up to her backside. “My God, you still have the prettiest bottom,” he said softly. More kisses. “It’s perfectly round and small, and it drives me crazy.” He rolled her over and began unlacing her camisole. “Baby, you don’t get my kisses for free. You pay for them every time with this beautiful body.”
“Well, whatever they cost, I’ll gladly pay for it—for your services.”
He kissed her hard and deep, stroking her legs, her bottom, between her legs, over her belly, up to her breasts as her camisole spilled open. He pulled her to a sitting position and tossed the camisole to the floor.
“Are you saying you’re paying for stud services?”
Randy reached up and began pulling pins from her hair as he got off the bed to finish undressing. “Something like that. Right now, just touching you and knowing you’re here and free is thrilling enough in itself. I’m so happy, Jake! I just want to be sure you don’t go into that dark place over things that were said today.”
“I am very much in the light, Mrs. Harkner. And right now all I want is to be inside you. Just give me a minute to get the rest of these clothes off.”
Randy shook out her hair. “Oh, I am enjoying the show, Mr. Harkner.” She scooted farther back on the bed and wrapped her arms over her breasts. “Are you sure you don’t mind that these breasts aren’t so perky anymore?”
“Baby, your breasts are beautiful and full, and the best part is they belong just to me.” He shed the rest of his clothes and climbed back onto the bed, pulling her down underneath him and reaching under her hips. “So does this sweet bottom.”
Randy breathed deeply. It seemed everything about her husband was still big and hard, yet he could be so gentle it seemed to defy his size and the ruthlessness he could sometimes show others. He was all over her then, hands and lips touching and caressing and tasting, rolling her over to again kiss her bottom. He massaged her back to work out the tenseness of the day, then turned her back over, sending desire through her blood as he kissed at her neck, her breasts, her belly, down to secret places. She became totally lost in the need to please this man she had no right falling in love with all those years ago. This man she couldn’t even begin to imagine living without.
She cried out his name in an almost painful climax and grasped his hair as he worked his lips back over her belly to her breasts and finally her mouth.
“Do you know how much I love you?” he asked between kisses.
“It had better be a lot for me to let you do such disrespectful things to me.”
Jake grinned. “I love your wicked side.” He searched her mouth, trailed his lips to her throat, then began kissing her everywhere again—her eyes, her ears, her neck, between her breasts, her nipples, her belly, back down to press his tongue against her swollen, aching privates to refresh her climax, teasing her in a way that made her mad with the want of him.
“You didn’t get enough of this last night?” she teased in a groaning whisper as he kissed his way back to her throat.
“That was desperate, terrified lovemaking, and I wasn’t gentle with you,” he answered. “I’m sorry, mi esposa.”
“Right now I don’t want you to be gentle.” She leaned up and kissed his chest. “And if you don’t get inside of me right this minute, I’m going to die of frustration. You are deliberately making me crazy.”
Jake kissed her again as he entered her, grasping her bottom and shoving deep. He groaned from the most intense love and satisfaction he’d felt in a long time.
“Jake, you’re really here!” Randy couldn’t help the tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried out with the agony and the ecstasy of having him inside of her, filling her deep and hard. Always there was the terror inside her that she might lose him. He grasped her hair and moved in a gentle rhythm until finally he groaned with his own climax, wondering how a man could make love to the same woman for so many years and still find it so satisfying.
He knew the answer, and it wasn’t just because she was so beautiful on the outside. It was because she was so beautiful on the inside…because she’d loved the unlovable…because she’d forgiven the unforgivable…because she’d waded through hell with him and never once complained…because she’d taught him about this glorious thing called love.
He held her close. “I’ve decided not to wait another day,” he told her. “Let’s head home tomorrow. Lloyd is well enough to at least ride in the buggy or in the covered wagon, and Brian can take care of changing his bandages and keeping an eye on that wound. Besides, the best medicine for him is what’s probably going on in that room next door right now. Going back to the J&L will heal him even faster.”
“Oh, yes, let’s go home: to our beautiful little granddaughters who must wonder if we’re ever coming back, to the valleys and the mountains and the horses and the cattle and that big log home and our own bed.” Randy ran her hands over his firm biceps and into his hair, drawing him down to meet her mouth in another delicious kiss. She smiled when the kiss ended. “I guess I would pay for these kisses if I had to.”
“Oh, you’ll pay, all right.” Jake moved inside her again. “Get set for a wild ride, baby,” he told her, “and I don’t mean tomorrow on a horse.”
Thirty
Ben and Stephen rode in circles, chasing each other off and on as the whole family headed home after disembarking a train at Boulder. The horses that originally brought them to Denver, along with the wagons and buggy, had also been loaded onto the train so the family could bring everything back home. Now they were on Harkner land, wagons, buggy, horses, and all, heading for home and family and peace. Jake, Lloyd, Cole, and Pepper had their own mounts, and Lloyd bought two more horses in Boulder so the boys could ride. All three women and Lloyd rode in the buggy with Brian driving, and Cole drove the covered wagon.
Today was warm and sunny. Lloyd asked the women to put down the folding top of the carriage for a better view. They were getting close to home base, and he wanted to drink in the sight.
Little Jake rode with his grandfather, and he seldom left Jake’s side when off the
horse. When they passed Fire Valley, the boy insisted on getting down to collect a few rocks. Jake had to dismount and yank him back from peering a bit too far over one area that had a steep, rocky drop-off.
“Little Jake, do I have to tie you to a tree to keep you from doing these crazy things?” He plunked the boy back onto his horse.
“That’s my valley, Grampa—all that great big hole with all that yellow grass.”
Jake remounted. “Who told you that?”
“Mommy told me. She said someday her and Daddy would rename it Little Jake’s Valley.” He yelled to Evie. “Didn’t you, Mommy? You and Daddy said this was my valley.”
Evie smiled. “We haven’t discussed that with your uncle Lloyd yet.”
“Your mother can call this valley anything she wants,” Lloyd called to the boy.
“I think there is gold in it,” Little Jake shouted in reply. “Maybe me and Grampa will find it together.”
“And maybe we’ll just stick to ranching,” Jake told him, pressing him close. “Grandpa has climbed around enough rugged places like that and slept on the ground off and on for too many years, Little Jake. I prefer the comforts of home.”
“Aw, you’re tough, Grampa,” the boy answered, holding up a fist. “Did you use places like that to hide out when you were an outlaw?”
Jake just shook his head. “We definitely need to talk.”
“Go fast, Grampa! Catch up with Ben and Stevie!”
Jake kicked the horse into a faster lope, and Evie shook her head. “Mother, that boy might as well live with you and Daddy full-time so Daddy can have complete control of him. He wants to be just like Daddy, including being an outlaw.”
“Jake will straighten him out,” Randy answered. “He’s just a little boy who sees his grandfather as a hero and doesn’t understand how bad it really was for Jake.” She took her daughter’s hand. “Don’t worry, Evie. Little Jake has your goodness in him, and three good men in Brian and Lloyd and Jake to teach him how to be an equally good man.”
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