Prospecting for Love

by Barbara Baldwin

  With a final squeeze of Sarah’s hand, Ellie picked up her bouquet of wildflowers and stepped lightly into the foyer, pausing briefly at the very back of the church until the organist began the wedding march. She knew she looked her best in the dusty rose satin dress Mrs. Carter had made. When the seamstress had delivered the dress yesterday, Ellie had spent plenty of time staring at it hanging from the door of the armoire. She felt like Cinderella going to the ball, for none of her gowns for the opera had even been this elegant.

  As she started down the aisle, her gaze collided with Jesse’s and time stood still. Her heart beat erratically, heat infusing her body that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. Jesse’s gaze smoldered, causing an ache to start in the very core of her, just as though his hands were caressing her skin.

  She forced her feet to continue their march towards the alter. Why couldn’t it be Jesse and me getting married? The question came unbidden to her mind. She refused to listen when her logical self firmly stated that she didn’t belong to this world.

  Instead, she recalled the passionate kiss they had shared; their conversation in the kitchen a few nights earlier. She had been speaking as herself, not Elizabeth, when she had practically begged him to spend the night with her. She -- Eleanor Weaver -- wanted Jesse with something akin to obsession. It had nothing to do with her original purpose for being in Peavine and everything to do with being a woman.

  What she felt for Jesse had made it extremely difficult not to tell him how she knew so much about Clayton and what he had planned. She doubted Jesse would understand how she had come to be in this century. Ellie had to try even harder not to implicate Elizabeth because that would have meant tying herself to the crime in Jesse’s eyes.

  Ellie came to stand slightly off to the side at the front of the church. As Nate Murphy gave his daughter in marriage to Henry Jefferson, she concentrated on the young couple. She would just have to live for the moment because there didn’t seem to be much she could do about fate.

  Henry, for all his reserve as a bank employee, looked full of youthful exuberance, his gaze lingering on his bride with total disregard for anyone else in the church. Sarah, also, had a look of pure love and utter devotion, and Ellie envied them this moment.

  She glanced at Jesse, who stood on the other side of Henry. He wasn’t watching the wedding ceremony at all, for his gaze was intent on her. What she saw in the stormy blue of his eyes was deep and dark; a magic passion mixed in the heart of the mines and running as swift and hot as molten gold.

  In that moment, Ellie realized she wanted to spend a lifetime with Jesse Cole, not just a few weeks or a month. Her mind echoed Sarah’s words as Ellie silently pledge to love Jesse forever.

  * * *

  Ellie should have known there would be a dance following the wedding. Zeke had said it was the biggest event Peavine had seen for awhile. Fortunately, by the time they ventured from the church to the community center attached to the rear, a wonderful breeze had swept the air clean, and clouds blocked the worst rays of heat from the sun as it made its westerly descent.

  Once the wedding dinner had been served and the dishes and tables cleared away, everyone in town was ready to kick up their heels and dance. Several musicians sat on a make-shift stage tuning their instruments, and the townspeople mingled and visited as though they hadn’t seen each other in ages.

  Ellie had to smile at this slice of small town life. When she went to the local market in New York, she rarely ran into anyone she knew. Yet here in Peavine, Nevada, she had friends and acquaintance from all walks of life.

  “Beggin’ your pardon, Miss Elizabeth.” The giant who had accosted Ellie the other night stepped in front of her, blocking the light from nearby lanterns. She had to step back and tilt her head to even see his face. She knew, in the midst of all this company, the man wouldn’t try anything, but she still felt leery after the way he had manhandled her.

  “Yes?” She was sure the surprise showed on her face. Tom had spruced up pretty damned good, a clean shirt stretching tight across his massive chest, his string tie dangling midway down his front.

  “I was hopin’,” the man’s face turned beet red, but he doggedly continued, “well, that is, I’d be honored if’n you’d consider havin’ a dance with me,” he finished in a rush.

  Although Ellie wasn’t at all sure just how they might accomplish that, given the man’s size, she didn’t have the heart to say no. Instead, she flashed him a smile and nodded in the affirmative, and his chest puffed up in gratitude.

  The night sped by in a whirlwind of laughter and dance, and Ellie barely had time to catch her breath between sets. She had done her fair share of dancing, but found it hard to keep up with these miners! Officially, because she had been maid of honor and Jesse the best man, they were paired together for the bridal march, but it wasn’t the type of dance that promoted intimacy. After that it seemed she was fair game. Even Lucky dragged her around the dance floor to a lively jig, where Ellie stepped fast if for no other reason than to keep her toes from getting smashed beneath Lucky’s stomping boots.

  She knew she shouldn’t sulk because Jesse danced with other women. Most of them were already married, and a few were very young daughters of the residents of Peavine. None of the bar girls were present, of course, as would be fitting any society function of this time, she supposed. Still, she found herself glowering every time Jesse twirled past with a laughing woman on his arm.

  Much later in the evening, she finally convinced Jesse to fetch her a glass of punch and meet her outside. Arm in arm, they strolled through the dark, around the back of the community building and towards the tree line.

  Ellie commented on the stillness. “It’s so quiet -- not even the stamp mill is running tonight.”

  Jesse laughed. “It’s not often everything shuts down in Peavine.”

  “Yes, I know, but even on normal days there’s no traffic noise, no sirens.” Ellie bit her tongue the instant the words came out and hoped the darkness would cover the blush she knew heated her face.

  “Sirens? Traffic?” Jesse’s steps slowed.

  Realizing her slip, Ellie shrugged. “You know, the hustle and bustle of the city. Oh, it doesn’t matter. I really rather like Peavine better.”

  Jesse tugged her to a stop. “Do you think it a good idea to be away from the crowd?” He asked her, though he didn’t turn around and head back towards the lighted hall.

  “I’m a big girl, now, or haven’t you noticed?” Ellie knew she was being deliberately provocative, but since her revelation during Sarah’s wedding she had this all-consuming fear that something would happen before she had time to tell Jesse how she felt.

  Her comment must have set off warning bells in Jesse’s mind, because he turned to face her. “There’s nothing wrong with my eyesight, El, but I also know your father wouldn’t want you doing something you would later regret.”

  Ellie put a finger to his mouth. “It’s my life,” she whispered just as she replaced her finger with her lips. Beneath a blanket of stars with the creek as their symphony, she tried to express how she felt. She needed him to know, no matter what happened at the end of the month, that she, Eleanor Weaver, wanted him with a passion that had somehow spanned the centuries.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist to pull him close, and yet it wasn’t enough. As he slanted his mouth across hers, she slid her hands into the hip pockets of his pants, massaging his buttocks.

  With a groan, Jesse pulled her down on top of him on the soft grass. His hands roamed up and down her satin clad back, pressing her closer still. The fragile control he had been keeping on his emotions where she was concerned slipped another notch.

  Since returning from school, Elizabeth had changed. She wasn’t the Elizabeth he’d known, and he found himself drawn to her on a different plane. Where before he was comfortable with their relationship, her nearness now made him uncomfortable and aroused. Her kisses fired his imagination with fantasies of making wild pass
ionate love to her.

  At one time, she had been a hesitant participant in his advances. Now, she took every opportunity to touch him, and he often felt her gaze at the most disconcerting times, so intense it heated his blood and made his body throb. Like in the church earlier today, he had found himself squirming uncomfortably under her seductive gaze.

  “God, woman.” Sucking in a breath as their lips parted, he searched her face. Her gaze seared him with passion. As he pulled her down to continue their kiss, Jesse wondered just when, in the last two weeks, had he come to love this woman more than life itself?

  Elizabeth put her hands on the ground by his head, lifting herself away from him, her hair spilling loose from its pins to fall seductively around her face and shoulders.

  “Did I tell you how very beautiful you are this evening?” Emotion clogged his throat, making his voice deeper than normal.

  Elizabeth laughed delightedly, then she gave a funny little shrug and her dress slid off a shoulder, giving Jesse an enticing view of creamy skin and the swell of her breasts. It proved too much to expect him not to touch. He traced a finger along the edge of the material, even though he half expected her to stop him.

  She didn’t, but instead gave a throaty sigh and rolled to the side onto his discarded coat, leaving herself open and vulnerable to his caresses. Jesse kissed a path from her ear down her throat to the curve of her shoulder.

  His only thought was of how soft she felt; how pale her skin looked against the dark tan of his hand as he caressed her arm before pulling her close. The heat of her beckoned him and he lost himself in her kiss. She smelled of the wildest flowers in the hills, and the erotic scent stopped his brain from functioning.

  Ellie nearly moaned aloud as Jesse caressed and kissed her shoulder. Even though she had ached for his touch, the actuality of it sent her into spasms of delight. Her rational self knew Zeke wouldn’t approve of the depth of her involvement with Jesse. That made no difference. She craved his touch; she wanted a memory for when she wouldn’t be able to touch him ever again; for when he became dust from the past.

  She knew they couldn’t be together forever, but she also knew she’d never forget him. Where had he been when she was looking for love in her own time? “Make love to me, Jesse,” she begged, breaking the kiss but leaning into him even closer, so that her breasts brushed against his linen shirt.

  His answer was a groan as he rolled her to her back. She could feel his hardness against her hip -- the pulsing length of him pushing against her. A surge of power such as she had never experienced before swept through her.

  “Please,” her ragged plea vibrated the still air around them. “I need you.”

  He rewarded her plea with a growl as he lifted himself to his knees beside her. Passion-dark eyes bore into hers, before his gaze slid across her as his hands had done. She could feel heat burn in her cheeks as his potent stare lingered on her heaving breasts, for she couldn’t catch her breath. She wanted him with a fever that scorched her.

  “Why?” Fists clinched on his thighs, Jesse sat so still that it took Ellie a moment to realize he had spoken.

  “I didn’t know two people had to have a reason when they felt like we do.” Ellie was confused, for in any of her dealings with men, not one of them would have turned down the invitation she was issuing only to Jesse.

  “No, I mean why now, Elizabeth, after all this time when you’ve put me off and delayed giving me an answer to my proposal?”

  There was that damn name again, Ellie fumed. She wiggled to a sitting position, adjusting her dress back up on her shoulders. She couldn’t summon the energy to be angry with Jesse because he didn’t know she wasn’t Elizabeth. When they made love, and she knew they eventually would, it would be her, not Elizabeth, he loved. She would make certain of that. But her silent vow didn’t make him saying Elizabeth’s name out loud any easier.

  “What is it? What did I say?” Jesse scrutinized her and Ellie knew her face had given her away. Fortunately, before she could find an answer, a horn blared in the distance.

  Both she and Jesse started at the noise, and Jesse jumped to his feet, turning in a circle to locate the source of the racket. Within seconds, more horns honked, followed by the beat of a drum. Ellie saw Jesse’s shoulders relax and a smile started at the corner of his mouth.

  “They’ve begun the shivaree!” The smile gave way to a full toothed grin.

  Damn, but he was one handsome man, Ellie moaned as he straightened his clothes. A glint of light created shadows which played off the planes of his face. A lock of hair fell across his forehead as he fumbled with his tie, and suddenly the entire scene was right out of some high school prom movie. Ellie began to laugh, holding out a hand for him to pull her to her feet.

  Instead of letting go when she regained her balance, Jesse pulled her closer. With a touch softer than the breeze, he brushed the hair back from her face, tucking a lock behind her ear. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, and it stirred Ellie more than the deeper caresses they had shared earlier.

  With a rueful shake of his head, he stepped away from her. “I don’t understand my lack of control around you anymore.”

  Ellie gave him a self-satisfied smile. One of these days she would make sure he lost whatever control he had left. But for tonight, she excused him with a shrug.

  “Maybe it’s the moon,” she said.

  “There is no moon tonight.”

  “Perhaps I really come from a galaxy far, far away -- from the future, even, and I’ve cast a spell over you.”

  He laughed as he tugged her back toward the lights of town. “Now that, I’d believe.”

  Chapter 8

  Ellie, Zeke and Lucky were having a strategy meeting in the kitchen a few mornings after Sarah's wedding. Frankly, Ellie was glad for the company because even though Jesse had told her they would take a trip to Steamboat Springs, problems at the mine had kept him occupied.

  On top of that, it had been raining since late the night of the wedding, the streets were a sea of mud, and neither freight nor anything else was coming in or out of the town. That left very little cause for excitement.

  Zeke had been kind enough to bring her some tobacco, but Ellie found herself toying more with the strings on the pouch than ever actually making herself a cigarette. Instead, here she sat in a kitchen in the middle of 1870, more concerned for Jesse Cole than she had ever been for anyone in her entire life.

  "Look, I've been to the bank and can't find any indication that something fishy is going on. The only paper I confiscated is in a handbag at Sarah's, and she won't be back from her honeymoon for two weeks. Even so, I don't know for sure that paper will do us any good." Ellie tried to recall exactly what the paper said, but the handwriting had been hard to read.

  "Henry must have thought I was crazy when I asked if an audit had been done at my father's, well Elizabeth's father, death." Ellie had become so ingrained in the life at Peavine, at times she actually thought it was her house, her town, and her problems. She became especially possessive when it came to Jesse.

  "Aren't there any controls over the banks out here -- any bank examiners?" Frustrated, Ellie did roll a cigarette, unconsciously going through the motions and actually getting one made.

  "Hurump," was all Zeke said when she waved it under his nose.

  "I just can't figure Scott's angle, even though I happen to have a very good business sense and a great grasp on money."

  Lucky cast her a quizzical look. "You can't cook. How can you know about money?"

  With a sigh, Ellie got up to pour more lemonade. "If you were married, Lucky, you wouldn't have to ask. Every woman knows about money." She began to pace, thinking better on her feet.

  "Isn't there a mint in Carson City?" At Zeke's nod, she continued. "Wouldn't you think they'd have records? I mean, they print money and coins and stuff. Maybe they also keep bank records? How far is it from Steamboat Springs to Carson?"

  Lucky shrugged but Zeke answered. "'Bout t
wenty miles, but how you going to get to Steamboat? That's a good twenty more miles from here."

  "Automobile?" She deliberately drew the word out, motioning with her hands like she was driving a car.

  "You can't be saying stuff like that." Lucky became so agitated Ellie almost felt sorry she teased him, but he flustered so easy.

  Zeke calmed his brother with a look. "You know she don't mean that."

  "Train?" Ellie felt that a more logical choice.

  "Only got it built from Steamboat to Carson." This from Lucky with a smirk of satisfaction that he could get back at her.

  "Well, Jesse said he's take me to Steamboat Springs, so I guess I'll just let him figure it out. We know Clayton is involved in what happens to Jesse. We just have to find some evidence, otherwise what good is that knowledge?"

  "What good is any evidence if he blows Jesse up, anyway?" Zeke turned her question around and Ellie felt like they were in a Catch 22. "Instead of running off to Steamboat with Jesse, maybe you'd best be letting Scott court you so he spills his guts and we know what to look for this time so as history don't repeat itself."

  "I've been doing that," Ellie replied defensively, "but your Mr. Scott isn't exactly a gentleman. I think he'd just as soon toss me in bed as court me."

  Zeke blushed a bright red. "Well, hell, we didn't mean you had to . . .will you be able to handle him if he invites you to?"

  "I can't believe we're having this conversation." Immediately, an image of dark hair and twinkling blue eyes came to mind, and Ellie knew what her answer would have been to an invitation from Jesse. Clayton, though, she had already found cold, unfeeling, and brutal.

  "Don't worry, Zeke, I won't jump into the wrong bed, but could we step up the timetable on this melodrama so I can get home?" The more she thought about Jesse, the more she realized it was too late to save her heart. The best thing she could do was get out before she hurt Jesse.