Amazing. The woman was absolutely amazing. "I don't suppose you'd care to help us clean up,” she asked, not really expecting a reply.
"Nora," Richard said softly. "You know how delicate my sister is. The trip today was very tiring for her.”
"Naturally," Nora muttered. "How thoughtless of me." Ordinarily, she might have had a few more things to say, but the fact was, she was just too tired to care.
"I'd be happy to help you," he assured her.
Hannah snorted.
"Thanks anyway," Nora said. "We're about finished."
"If you're sure," he said, then shifted his gaze to Seth.
"I think tomorrow, we shouldn't try to cover as much distance as we did today.”
Red stepped into the circle of firelight, tossed a quick, amused glance at Seth, then crouched beside the flames to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"If you don't make at least five miles a day," Seth observed quietly, "this trip will take forever."
Richard stiffened slightly and something in his eyes hardened. It could have been a trick of the firelight, but Nora didn't think so.
"I was thinking about the ladies," Richard said.
"Don't you worry yourself over me," Hannah told him. "I could outlast you youngsters any day of the week and twice on Sundays."
Richard gave her a tight smile.
"Elizabeth?” Nora asked, "How about you? Can you do five miles a day?"
The woman smacked her arm again, harder this time, then looked around her wildly as if searching for a bloodthirsty insect bent on devouring her. After a moment, she said, "For your sake. Nora, dear, I'll try. I shall just have to take better care of myself.”
Hannah chuckled, then turned it into a wheezing cough. Nora shook her head, handed the last dish to Hannah, then stood to toss the washwater into the trees.
“We'd better get some sleep," Seth said quietly from his place in the shadows. "Red, you take first watch. Wake me when you get tired.”
"Yes, sir, boss," the young cowboy said and moved off into the trees.
"What exactly is he watching for?" Elizabeth asked.
"Animals, mostly," Seth answered shortly and stretched out on his bedroll.
Elizabeth stood up and Nora watched the woman's gaze rake the blackness outside their circle of light. "What kind of animals do you suppose?”
Seth tipped his hat down over his eyes and muttered, “Bears. Wolves. Mountain lions."
"Great heaven!" Elizabeth's words sounded strangled.
"You’ll be perfectly safe in the wagon, my dear," Richard told her as he stood up and escorted her away from the circle of firelight.
"The wagon, of course," Elizabeth whispered, lifting her hem off the ground as she hurried.
Nora watched them go, then turned to look at the older woman standing beside her. "How about you, Hannah? Where are you sleeping?”
"Right there," she said and pointed to a blanket laid atop dozens of pine branches. "Be snug as a bug," she added with a smile. "Nora," Hannah added quietly.
"Yes?"
“Thanks.”
"For what?" she squinted into the shadows, trying to make out Hannah's features.
"Well, for helping. I never would have guessed that you'd be so good at camp cookin'.”
"I burned the biscuits," she reminded the other woman.
"You tried, though. And I appreciate it."
Nora smiled, a curl of pleasure dissolving inside her.
'Thanks, Hannah. I'll try to do better next time."
"You're doin' fine right now, girl."
The quiet voice and gentle words almost brought tears to Nora's eyes. There was so much she didn't know. Even with the memories she had of previous lifetimes, she had trouble with the smallest things. Like keeping the biscuits from burning on one side. It felt good to know that someone had noticed her efforts and recognized how hard she was trying.
Surprising, too, how nice it felt to know she had a friend. Moving quietly, she walked to her bedroll, already laid out on the ground not five feet from Seth's. She was tempted to move it, but that would have just drawn attention to the fact that she was mad at the good-looking foreman.
Instead, she laid down on her side, facing away from him and drew her wool blanket up over her, tucking it beneath her chin. As bone tired and sore as she was though, she couldn't seem to close her eyes.
Her mind kept drawing up images of all she had seen and done during the day. The incredible beauty of the mountains. The almost magical appearance of the deer. Seth's gentleness when he'd seen how upset she was at the thought of killing the animal.
Damn. She hadn't wanted to think anything nice about him. Grumbling softly, she shifted on the hard ground, determined to block his face and voice from her thoughts.
"Muscles stiff?" Seth whispered.
She went absolutely still. She hadn't spoken to him since their argument and wasn't sure she wanted to now.
"Nora?" he prodded quietly.
Apparently, she would have to talk to him. It was either that or let him keep talking until he woke everyone else.
Rolling to her other side, she faced him. He was far enough back from the fire that his features were hidden in darkness. "What is it?"
“I asked if you were sore from the ride today.
"Yeah," she said. "A little."
"It'll pass in a day or two," he said gently. Damn it, why was he being nice?
"Nora?"
She sighed, then asked, “What?”
"I ate those biscuits you made."
“I know." How was she supposed to stay mad at a man like that?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cannons. Splintering wood. Thick clouds of smoke. Screaming. Phillip swung his long black hair out of his eyes and looked frantically around at the carnage spilling across the deck of his beloved ship. All that he was, all that he had, was being destroyed because of another man's obsession with Phillip's betrothed.
Rage filled him. Impotent fury cut sharp and deep. He had thought the man would he honorable enough to accept it when Miranda chose Phillip to be her husband. Instead, the bastard was blowing his ship out of the water.
Shouting orders to what was left of his crew, he took command of the last working cannon himself. He would sink his ship himself rather than let the treacherous coward claim her. Aiming the mouth of the gun at the blood-washed deck, he ordered all hands overboard. He could only be grateful that Miranda hadn't sailed with him after all. At least he knew that she would live. She would be without him, but she would live. Glaring across the sea at his enemy, Phillip lit the fuse. As seconds burned away, he cursed the man who had brought him to such a pass.
He heard the scream just as the spark of flame met gunpowder. Whipping around, he saw her eyes, wide and terrified, just as his world exploded.
Seth gasped and opened his eyes. Staring blindly into the darkness, he told himself it was just a dream. A nightmare. He sat up, still shaking, and rubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes. Jesus, the other dreams had been bad, but nothing like this one. It seemed that they were getting stronger and clearer every night.
The woman's image rose up in his mind again. Nora's face. Always Nora's face. The small Irish girl. The woman dressed in white running down a dirt path through a forest. The young woman on the wagon train.
All of them were Nora. And all of them had died. Because of him.
He glanced to his right, his gaze locking on the Nora he knew. His heart hammering in his chest, Seth wanted to reach out and touch her. Just to reassure himself that she was sleeping, not dead. But that was foolish. Dreams were nothing to get so worked up over. Of course she was sleeping. She chose that moment to sigh and slowly roll over onto her back.
Relief mingled with irritation inside him. She was fine, he told himself. And unlike him, Nora didn't seem to be having the slightest bit of trouble sleeping. His eyes aching with fatigue, he stood up quietly, grabbed up his gun, coat, and hat, then went to relieve Red on watch. No poi
nt in the kid losing sleep, too.
#
She had to reach him. The noise. The smoke. The violent shuddering the old ship endured after each cannon blast.
Frightened out of her mind, Miranda struggled up the stairwell, determined to be with him when the end came. She silently gave thanks that she had had the foresight to sneak on board before he had sailed. At least she wouldn't have to live without her dear Phillip. At least they could die together.
Every step was a trial. Every breath burned her lungs until she wanted to scream at the pain, but she didn't have the strength. Stumbling to the top of the stairway, she lifted the hem of her gown and pushed the hatch door open. Staggering onto the deck, she turned a frantic gaze on what she was sure must be hell.
Blood everywhere. Injured and dying men stretched out on the once pristine wood planks. The sails sliced to ribbons, the mast splintered like a matchstick, she was surrounded by destruction. Her gaze swept the wide decks, looking for the one man she longed to see. At last, she found him. Tall and dark, his white shirt hanging in tatters from his wide shoulders, he stood in the midst of the carnage shouting curses at those who would destroy them. As she watched, he lit a fuse. She called his name once, and again, to be heard over the din. When he turned, their gazes locked. She read their end in those pale blue depths and reached out her arms toward him even as she died.
Nora groaned quietly and pushed herself into a sitting position. Enough already, she thought furiously and glared skyward. Just how many deaths was she going to have to experience again? All eight? And for Heaven's sake, why? She tried to look beyond the black sky and the wide scattering of stars to the Resettlement Center. Damn it, she wanted to file a complaint.
After a long moment though, she realized that maybe she would be better off trying to contact Tom, Dick, and Harry in private. All she needed was for one of her companions to wake up and find her in what would look to them like a onesided argument.
Glancing to her left, she noted that Seth's bedroll was empty. She shifted her gaze and saw that Red had stretched out on the far side of the fire. Apparently, the two men had already exchanged places.
What time was it? She tossed another quick look at the sky. Then she laughed at her own foolishness. Like looking at the position of the moon would help. As far as she could remember, she never had been any good at reading the stars and planets.
Grimacing slightly, she pushed back her blanket and stood up, responding to a sudden, basic need. Thankful she had kept her boots on while she slept so she didn't have to waste time scrambling around in the dark looking for them, Nora carefully headed off into the tree line.
Her gaze constantly sweeping the surrounding forest, she took care of her business quickly and started back toward the safety of camp.
She sucked in a startled gasp when someone clapped a hand tight across her mouth. Instinctively, she stepped to the right and swung her left arm up, preparing to deliver a crushing blow to her attacker's most sensitive area. Then a hushed voice stopped her midswing.
"You hit me and I swear, I'll give you a spanking you'll never forget.” Seth.
Heart pounding, her throat dry, she settled for slamming her elbow into his midsection. He grunted and coughed quietly.
Yanking free of his grip, she pulled back, turned and faced him. "What the hell are you trying to do?" she asked, her voice low and furious. "Give me a heart attack?"
Bent slightly in half, he looked up at her, disgust clearly etched on his features. "I was tryin'," he said, his voice still soft but strained now, "to keep you from yelling out and waking everybody.”
She supposed that made sense, but it didn't excuse him from coming out of the forest and grabbing her like some crazed werewolf.
"I don't like surprises,” she muttered.
"So I see," he said and slowly straightened up.
Moonlight filtered through the pines, shifting shadows and light across his face. Not twenty feet away, the rest of their party slept. But surrounded by the blanketing hush of the woods, it felt as though they were alone in the night. Her momentary burst of fear had passed, leaving in its place a far different sort of excitement.
She wondered briefly if he had come to her in the shelter of the trees because he too felt the strength of the cord that stretched between them. Was he thinking even now of grabbing her, pulling her to him, and devouring her mouth with kisses designed to steal her breath, her reason?
"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked, shattering her romantic fancies. "You can't go wandering around in the forest. You want to get yourself killed?"
She should have known.
"What I was doing is none of your business," she told him hotly.
He reached out and grabbed her upper arm, drawing her just a bit closer. "While we're out here in the wilderness, everything you do is my business.”
In the indistinct lighting, she saw the tight, drawn look on his features. Apparently, he wasn't going to quit prodding until he got his answer. In the interest of getting herself back to her bedroll before dawn, she heard herself say. "If you must know, I had to visit Mother Nature. And I might add, these trees are a definite improvement over the outhouse at home.”
The expression on his face shifted, and he relaxed slightly. He looked at her for a long moment, unreadable emotions flickering in his eyes. "You have to be careful, Nora. Anything could happen to you out in these woods.”
“Anything?” she asked, her body responding to his nearness despite the lingering effects of her anger.
He inhaled deeply and lifted his gaze to stare off over her head. Nora's gaze settled on the base of his throat, where his open shirt collar gave her a hint at the muscled flesh beneath. A sizzle of expectation rose up inside her and she took one small step closer to him.
"You'd better get on back to camp," he said, but she heard the lack of conviction in his tone.
"No hurry," she said. “I'm perfectly safe now. You're here."
He choked out a muffled, short laugh. "Yeah, safe."
"Seth." She laid one hand on his forearm and felt his muscles stiffen at her touch. Tipping her head back, she stared at him. "Why don't you just admit that there's something between us?”
She saw his jaw tighten and knew he was gritting his teeth. She felt the tension in him. She knew what it was costing him to stand so close to her.
"There's nothing between us, Nora," he finally said quietly. "Nothing beyond boss and foreman.”
Liar, she thought and told herself she should just let it go. Leave it alone. If there was one thing she had learned from all of her previous existences, it was that she had bad luck when it came to love. But damn it, she wasn't asking for love. All she wanted was to feel him holding her again. To lose herself in his kiss.
She knew he felt it too. She would have had to be dead not to be aware of his body's response the last time they had kissed. So why bother fighting it? Why not simply give in to the fire that lay smoldering all around them? This didn't have to be about love. Wasn't affection and desire enough? Well, she wasn't going to let him get away with denying what was happening here. She might be living in 1875, but she was a twenty-first century woman. And she never had been afraid to go after what she wanted.
Rising up on her toes, she reached up and pulled his head down to hers. Slanting her mouth across his, she poured her need, her desire, and everything else she was feeling into a kiss designed to knock his boots off.
For the space of a few heartbeats, she thought he was going to be able to withstand her advance. Then his defenses crumbled.
He grabbed her to him, holding her so tightly she thought her ribs might snap. Parting her lips, his tongue swept into the warmth of her mouth and she sighed, molding herself to him. His mouth moved on hers hungrily, as if devouring all that she was.
She moaned softly from the back of her throat, sending a fireball of want ricocheting through Seth. His hands moved restlessly up and down her back, exploring her curves, desperate for the
feel of her. They swayed unsteadily together and Seth stepped to one side, bracing her back against an ancient pine.
He tore his mouth from hers and as she gasped for breath, he dipped his head, trailing long, damp kisses along the length of her throat. Beneath his lips, he felt the throbbing beat of her pulse at the base of her neck. He paused, his tongue flicking against her flesh in time to her heartbeat.
He had never known such need, he thought wildly. Never.
And he shouldn't now. Abruptly, he stopped, lifted his head, and stared down into Nora's passion-glazed eyes as if seeing her for the first time. Heart pounding, chest heaving, and his lungs clamoring for air, he felt an icy wave of reality rush through him.
Seth stepped back away from her. He couldn't trust himself to be within touching range. Ducking his head, he looked anywhere but at her as he muttered, “You better get some sleep. Dawn's in a couple of hours."
"Sleep?" she whispered in a breathy voice. "You want me to go to sleep?”
“You go on," he told her. “I’ll watch to make sure you get back to camp.”
"You've got to be kidding."
"Nora,” he groaned, fighting the urge to grab her, throw her to the ground, and bury himself inside her. “Don't make this any harder than it has to be.”
"Me?" she asked. "It's me making this hard?"
She moved away from the tree trunk, drawing his gaze with her. Moonlight made the white of her shirt seem to glow and Seth noted that her shirt hung partly open, giving him a tantalizing peek at her breasts. He couldn't even remember undoing those buttons.
Clearly, she had noticed where his gaze had centered. Her fingers moved swiftly, doing up all but the top two buttons. When she was finished, she planted both hands at her hips and glared at him. Even in the half light of the moon. Seth didn't have a bit of trouble seeing the flare of anger in her eyes.
"It's not me, Seth," she said flatly. "It's you. You're the one who stokes the fire and then walks away."
If he clenched his jaw any harder, his teeth would shatter under the pressure. "Can't you see that it's killing me to turn you away?" he said tightly.
This Time for Keeps Page 18