by Carol Finch
“Very efficient, sunshine. You receive high marks for preparing breakfast and packing up to move out.”
She smiled in response to his praise—which he offered sparingly. “I had an excellent instructor.” She swung into the saddle to head toward Nine Mile Station and on to Taloga Springs. “As much as I relish living as one with nature, I’ll admit I’m yearning for the comfort of a soft bed and relaxing in a real bathtub that isn’t filled with fish and the occasional snake.”
She glanced over to see those silver-blue eyes fixed on her. The intensity of his gaze startled her.
“I appreciate your kind words about me to Monty and the other Rangers and your support for my people. And your intent to protect me from harm. Bart is the only one who thinks I’m worth the effort.”
“I know you’re worth the effort,” she said before she trotted through the trees.
“Wrong way, sunshine,” he called to her, grinning. “Remind me to purchase a compass the first chance I get. You’ve picked up several survival skills very quickly. But you have no sense of direction whatsoever.”
Apparently not, she thought to herself. She was headed in the direction of heartache because Crow’s presence in her life and his endearing grin were getting to her in more ways than she could count.
Avery Marsh, followed by Kimball and the two hired henchmen, stepped down from the train in Wolf Ridge. He was tired, irritable and annoyed that Natalie, dressed in her widow’s digs, had reportedly took the train west from Fort Worth to this godforsaken outpost where the railroad tracks finally ran out.
Kimball surveyed the community with distaste. “They call this a town? What do people do with themselves here?”
“Raise cattle, plow the ground and run shops,” Fred Jenson, the tall, lean henchman, replied. “For entertainment they play billiards and cards in the saloons.”
Kimball perked up. “Maybe this whistle stop has possibilities after all.” He glanced back at Avery. “While you check on Natalie I’ll wet my whistle at a saloon and see if I can make extra traveling money.”
Avery glared at Kimball’s departing back. The man was self-absorbed and as useless as an extra toe. However, having him out from underfoot for an hour had its rewards. The cocky dandy bragged about his sexual exploits constantly and droned incessantly about how clever and intelligent he was. There had been times during the journey that Avery contemplated losing Kimball permanently—after he’d served his purpose, of course.
Glancing this way and that, Avery determined which hotel accommodations would suffice then hiked down the street to the Simon House. While Jenson and Green posed questions at the restaurants, in hopes of locating Natalie, Avery approached the hotel clerk.
“I was hoping to meet my daughter here,” Avery said pleasantly. “She dressed as a young widow for her protection but she has dark eyes and auburn hair.”
The clerk nodded enthusiastically. “You are talking about Anna Jones, aren’t you? So you must be Mr. Jones.”
“I must be,” Avery said, flashing his most charming smile. “Can you tell me which room she’s in?”
The clerk looked at him oddly. “She didn’t inform you that she left town after she married Donovan Crow?
Married? To Donovan Crow? The Donovan Crow? Hell’s bells! Avery had not seen that coming. Now he would have to alter his well-laid plans. Damn that wily little bitch. He’d make her sorry she’d pitted herself against him. Avery had spent a lifetime planning golden opportunities for himself and he was damn good at it. Natalie would not outsmart him.
“I thought she was going to wait for me to show up,” Avery said, masking his irritation behind a troubled frown. “I was hopelessly delayed and she is hopelessly impetuous. Now I’ll have to trail after her.”
The blond-haired, round-faced clerk swiveled the hotel registry toward Avery. “You’ll need a room because I heard they are headed to Taloga Springs and the next stage doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning.”
Two days after the Rangers and Comanches headed north, Van saw Natalie gathering inedible vegetation on the riverbank. “Don’t touch that!” Van snapped abruptly.
She snatched her hand away from the green plant as if she’d been snakebit. When she flashed him an injured look, he regretted his sharp tone.
“I only wanted to gather wild carrots for supper,” she explained as she rose from a crouch, then sidestepped from the marshy area near the water.
“Those aren’t wild carrots.” Van examined the handful of herbs she had picked. He tossed out two other plants. “The plants you nearly pulled from the marsh were poison hemlock.”
Wide-eyed, she gaped at him. “They looked like carrots.”
He nodded. “Yes, they do. Which is why people unfamiliar with these plants suffer accidental poisoning.”
“What are the other plants I thought were herbs?”
“Nightshade,” he informed her. “The hemlock is worse. Make sure your horse doesn’t ingest that stuff, because it can be fatal to him as well as to you. As children in the village, one of our duties was to herd our horses away from the marshy creek banks to avoid poisonous plants.”
Natalie’s shoulders slumped dejectedly and she blew out her breath. “I’ll never figure all this out,” she mumbled. “I wanted to prepare a special meal because you said we’ll reach Taloga Springs tomorrow and we’ll part company.”
The thought didn’t set well with him. He could escort Natalie only as far as Taloga Springs. Then he needed to follow up at the reservation and investigate the army officer accused of stealing food and supplies from his people. He was torn between his hungry desire for Natalie and his loyalty to the tribe that raised him.
“Here,” he said, refusing to dwell on the moment when they went their separate ways. “These wild carrots and mushrooms are edible.”
“Thank you,” she murmured. “I didn’t intend to repay you for all your trouble by poisoning you.” She glanced up quickly and frowned. “What are the symptoms of poisoning? I suppose I should know, in case I accidentally pick the wrong plants in the future.”
“Nervousness, trembling, convulsions, dilated eyes,” he told her. “It’s best to empty the stomach as quickly as possible. Otherwise…” His voice trailed off, allowing her to draw her own grim conclusions. “Other poisons have different symptoms such as muscle weakness, dizziness, severe headache and confusion.”
He noticed the ponderous frown that claimed her lovely features. “Something wrong, sunshine?”
“Dear God!” she erupted abruptly. “I never gave that a thought!”
“Never gave what a thought?”
“That bastard!” Muttering and scowling, she stamped back and forth on the sandy ridge above the river. “Why didn’t I suspect that? I should have.”
“Would you mind telling me what you’re talking about?”
“That’s how he did it.”
“Who did what?” Van demanded impatiently.
She wheeled around, her dark eyes burning with fury. “My stepfather. I swear he slowly but surely poisoned my mother. She began complaining of headaches and weariness a year after their marriage. I was too young and ignorant to question Mama’s failing health. I thought she’d become unhappy and lost the will to live when she realized Marsh was a poor substitute for my father, even if theirs hadn’t been a love match.”
Natalie lurched around to pace in the opposite direction. “Hell and damnation, I should have questioned her illness instead of accepting it as easily as she did. My stepfather claimed he had consulted several doctors in town, but I’m willing to bet he didn’t. In addition, he bustled me off to boarding school, claiming my mother wouldn’t take time to rest if she thought I needed her attention.”
“I’m sorry, Nat,” he commiserated. “If you want me to investigate I will…. Where do you call home?”
She shook her head vehemently then wiped the tears dribbling down her cheeks with the back of her had. “No. It’s too late for Mama. I just want to put the pa
st to rest.”
Van was suspicious of her refusal to tell him she hailed from New Orleans like she did the night she was drunk. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t want him to investigate if she suspected foul play. There was far more to her story than she let on and he was beginning to wonder how much was truth and how much was fiction she invented to protect her mysterious identity and her past.
Natalie drew herself up and inhaled a deep breath. “I’ll start a fire and clean the wild vegetables that aren’t poisonous,” she insisted before she hiked uphill.
Van watched her walk away, curious whether the report of abduction related to her, wondering what it would take to gain her confidence. He asked himself what his life would be like when she rode away, now that he’d become accustomed to having her with him constantly. By tomorrow, she would exit his life as quickly as she had arrived.
Emotions he didn’t want to confront kept playing tugof-war inside him. Not to mention the unappeased desire he’d kept on a short leash. Sleeping beside Natalie night after tormenting night, without yielding to nearly overwhelming temptation, was wearing him out.
Frustrated, Van stamped off to find wild game for supper. And afterward, he considered resorting to peyote to numb his senses and put himself into a deep sleep without those arousing fantasies hounding him. However, that would leave Natalie vulnerable if trouble came calling—as it had a nasty habit of doing in the badlands of Texas.
“Why did I agree to this marriage?” he asked himself. “Oh yeah, now I remember. This was supposed to be the easiest money I ever made. Now there’s a laugh.”
Van didn’t see a damn thing easy about wanting Natalie Whoever-She-Was with a burning need that refused to go away, even while he was taking nightly cold baths in the creeks and streams. His willpower was fading and it was difficult to keep his distance from her. Worse yet, the biggest threat he had to face was protecting her against himself.
“Easy money?” he grumbled. “Like hell it is!”
The disturbing suspicion that Avery Marsh might have poisoned her mother tormented Natalie to no end. Preparing the campfire and the evening meal wasn’t enough to take her mind off the infuriating thought. She’d told Crow that she didn’t want him to investigate—because she didn’t want him to know who she really was. However, she intended to find out if her suspicions were true. Avery Marsh was not getting away with murder! She’d like to poison him and see how he liked it.
Emotions roiled inside her as she ate her evening meal, then walked down to the river to clean the dishes. It was bad enough that she was upset over Marsh’s possible cruelty. That, combined with the tormenting thought of bidding farewell to Crow the following day, tortured her beyond measure.
She glanced downstream where Crow bathed. The impulsive urge to join him and end the suspense of wondering what it would be like to share his passion overwhelmed her.
Natalie turned away, but the tantalizing prospect of seeing Crow naked and touching him intimately leaped to mind once more. “Well, he is your husband,” she muttered at herself. “You are entitled to other benefits besides seeing his name on the marriage license.”
Her thoughts circled back to Marsh’s betrayal and roiling anger assailed her again. Her mother had wasted away, thanks to Marsh’s cruelty. Her father had died in an accident at the wharf at a young age. It seemed that living in the moment was the best policy because who knew what tomorrow held? And what she wanted at the moment was to be with Crow in ways she had never experienced.
She lurched around to make a beeline for the river. She lost her nerve momentarily when she saw Crow standing hip-deep in the river, staring directly at her. His raven hair dripped water and his bare chest sparkled with droplets that reflected the colorful rays of sunset. He reminded her of a mythical god, luring her ever closer to impossible temptation.
When she began unbuttoning her shirt, his hand—clamped around a bar of soap—stalled in midair. “What are you doing?”
“Undressing to bathe. I’ve reached a decision.”
“That’s nice. Let’s discuss it in camp in about fifteen minutes. Now go find your own place to bathe.”
She removed her cap and shook out her hair. With her shirt hanging open, she heel-and-toed out of her boots. Then she unfastened her breeches.
Crow thrust up his hand to forestall her. “This is not a good idea, sunshine.”
“Yes, it is,” she retorted. “I hired you to teach me to survive in the wilds. Now I want to hire you to teach me about passion.”
Crow’s striking silver-blue eyes bugged out and his clean-shaven jaw scraped his chest. She hadn’t seen him that shocked since she breezed into the Road To Ruin Saloon to announce she was his fiancée.
Natalie was in no mood to be rejected again. It would be the crowning blow to a lousy evening. Already, her emotions were churning like a cyclone. Although she wasn’t sure how to entice a man past his ability to resist, she intended to try because Crow was the only man she had ever desired.
“You better rethink this reckless decision,” he told her gruffly. “I’m—”
His voice halted when her breeches pooled around her feet. Her boyish shirt barely covered her upper thighs and she was pleased to note that he was all eyes. Well, at least I have his undivided attention, she thought. That’s a start.
“I might not be your first choice, but I have certain wifely rights, you know, Crow.”
“Wh—” He tried to speak but no words came out.
Natalie gathered her nerve and did something she had never done in front of a man. She peeled off her shirt and walked naked into the water. Although she felt extremely self-conscious and her face pulsed with heat, she vowed Crow wouldn’t dismiss her easily.
She wanted him and she meant to have him—just this once before he rode out of her life for good.
And who knew? Her first and only night with Crow might turn out to be the greatest adventure of all. He was not going to distract her or talk her out of it, either. Anyway, this was no different from a man visiting a brothel to appease his needs. Why would Crow turn down free sex with a wife he wouldn’t have to bother with after tomorrow?
“You are absolutely certain this is what you want?” Crow chirped as she walked boldly toward him.
“I’m certain or I wouldn’t be here,” she said, amazed that she could still speak.
She was pleased when his unique-colored gaze roamed hungrily over her. She decided he liked what he saw well enough. His rapt attention bolstered her confidence and she even managed to toss him a flirtatious smile.
“I suppose I should negotiate with you first. Just how much extra is this lesson in love going to cost?” she asked.
She nearly melted into a puddle of mush when Crow flashed a rakish grin that encompassed every bronzed feature of his face.
“A thousand is my going rate.”
“A thousand?” she smirked, delighting in the playful side of his nature—one he didn’t expose very often. “How many women have hired you for lessons in passion?”
“Counting you?”
She nodded as she drew close enough to glide her hands over his broad shoulder and link her fingers behind his neck. “Yes, counting me.”
He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her intimately against him. She knew without a doubt that she had aroused him. The intimate knowledge filled her with even more self-confidence. It emboldened and empowered her.
“Just you, sunshine,” he growled huskily as his head came steadily toward hers. “Only you…”
His mouth came down on hers in a devouring kiss. Natalie gave herself up to the ravenous need sizzling through her body and whispering in her soul. She had made the right choice when she selected Donovan Crow as her lawfully wedded husband. Furthermore, she wanted to go on kissing him until the end of time because he had the power to scatter every thought from her mind. That’s what she wanted right now. Not to think at all. To explore the fierce sensations she’d discovered when she was with t
he one man who tempted her beyond bearing.
Van knew he shouldn’t succumb to the mercy of his ravenous desire for Natalie. Unfortunately, she had stunned him to the bone and destroyed his thought processes when she undressed and walked naked into the water to join him.
His imagination hadn’t done her justice because she was flawless perfection. He wanted to make a feast of her, but he wasn’t sure how long he would be satisfied tasting the honeyed nectar of her dewy-soft lips and gliding his hands over the lush curves and swells of her body.
“So this is what desire feels like,” she rasped as he lifted his head to drag in much-needed air.
His restless hands continued to caress her. He only hoped he could arouse her to the same fervent degree that she had aroused him. “How far do you want this to go, sunshine?” he asked, his voice rough with unappeased need.
Curly lashes swept up and she smiled impishly at him. The intriguing sparkle in her eyes caused a chunk of his heart to break loose and tumble down his rib cage.
“How much passion will a thousand dollars buy me?”
He smiled roguishly. “All you want and then some.”
He scooped her into his arms so that her body bobbed on the water’s surface, glowing like gold in the shimmering light of sunset.
“And then some is what I want with you, Crow.”
Her smile faded as she stared intently at him. Her hand lifted to trace the line of his jaw, and then his lips. Van felt a jolt of pleasure rivet his body. He brought his head to hers for a tender kiss. He wanted to make this experience with Natalie a moment to remember because he knew it would be his first and last. She would be gone tomorrow. He would have served his purpose for her and she would no longer need him for whatever her secretive venture required.
He also knew the suspicion of losing her mother to deliberate poisoning had upset her and had sent her running to him for comfort and compassion. He shouldn’t take advantage of her vulnerability, but when he touched her his noble intentions went up in smoke.
“I’ll ask once more. Are you sure this is what you want?” he repeated huskily, knowing he’d burn into a pile of molten coals if she changed her mind.