Kate's Outlaw (Steam! Romance and Rails)
Page 12
“Working for equal rights has always given me great satisfaction. Besides, Father doesn’t need my help. He’s got Henry.”
She smiled as she recalled her last contentious meeting with her father and his right hand man. “Henry latched onto the prospect of leasing the land and before the discussion was over managed to make the whole thing look like his idea. He’ll be named president soon, I suspect.”
Jake’s brows slashed down. “You came up with that idea.”
His righteous anger on her behalf pleased her, but she lifted one shoulder, nonchalant. “I knew my father wouldn’t buy it if he thought it was my idea. I let Henry take the glory and he helped me convince my father to release all claims on Cherokee lands. It was a good trade-off.”
She paused, picking up her coffee to take a sip. “Besides, I’ve got better things to do than hang around Henry and fight for control of something I discovered I don’t even want. I have your future to think about.”
Jake cocked his head. “My future?”
“You do intend to have one?”
“Yes, but…as a lawyer? In Washington?”
She nodded eagerly. She’d been so excited when she thought of it because it all seemed to fit so perfectly. “You’d be a wonderful lawyer. You’re intelligent, educated and have a sharp mind for strategy. I know you want to help your people, and you could accomplish so much good representing their interests.”
He stared into the fire. Ran his fingers through his hair. “I never thought…”
Her breath snagged in her throat. Just because she’d come up with the idea, didn’t mean it was something he wanted. “You don’t think you’d like it?”
“Actually, I think I would.” Jake sat back, looking bemused. “I just never imagined I could do something like that.”
“You can do anything you set your mind to. All you need is the opportunity and…” She leaned forward, putting her heart into her eyes. “I want to give it to you.”
He blinked, seeming stunned by her declaration. Then a crease appeared between his brows. “If you show up in Washington with an Indian in tow, you’ll be the butt of gossip. Ugly gossip.”
She gestured to the trousers she wore. “Do you think I care what other people think? I never have, and I never will. If someone chooses to make an issue of it, we shall snub our noses at them and go about our business.”
He knelt at her side before she realized he’d moved.
“Why? Why would you do this for me?” He held her in that intent golden gaze that had so unsettled her to begin with. Now, his rapt regard sent shivers of pleasure racing through her.
She could say it was because she was a crusader, always looking for a good cause, but that was only a small part of the reason she wanted him to come with her, and it wasn’t what he was asking. “I want to help you make something of your life because…” she swallowed, hard. “I love you.”
He dropped to both knees and put his arms around her. She embraced him, hugging, crying, she couldn’t help it. Buried her face in his neck and nuzzled his warm skin. He smelled so good and it felt so good to hold him. The past two months had seemed like forever, and she’d feared she would never see him again or hold him.
“Oh Jake,” she whispered. “Please don’t make me leave without you.”
He drew back, his expression solemn. “I could say ‘I love you’ in English and Tsa-la-gi, but words don’t express half of what I feel.” He touched his chest. “In here.”
Another piece of her heart fell at his feet.
She drew his head down and he kissed her—a lush, passionate kiss. The kind she’d dreamed about and longed for and needed so badly she thought she might die. When he’d left, her entire world had come crashing down around her. She’d told herself they weren’t right for each other, that they had no conceivable future. Until she’d reconceived her future at his side and everything had fallen into place. She hadn’t known happiness before meeting Jake. And now, knowing he loved her, she couldn’t imagine being happier.
“Redbird,” he murmured, feathering kisses across her cheek. “Am I dreaming? If I wake up, will you fly away?”
His remark surprised her. “Why would you think that?”
“I never told you the end of Redbird’s story.”
“No, you didn’t. Is it a happy ending?
He gave her a rueful smile. “Afraid not. She was killed.”
Kate’s chest grew tight. “How?”
“Uk-te-na destroyed her. The smoking dragon,” he explained.
“Isn’t that the name your people gave the steam engine?” She stroked his cheek, wanting to reassure him. “Were you afraid the railroad would take me away? Destroy who I am?”
He gazed into her eyes. “Your spirit is too strong to be conquered, like Redbird’s. She came back to life as a bird—the redbird.”
“Why, that’s beautiful.” Kate smiled. “And it is a happy ending.”
Jake pressed a tender kiss against her forehead. “But she flew away.”
He thought he couldn’t hold her? Kate’s heart swelled with so much love she couldn’t contain it. “I’ll never leave you, Wa-ya. My Wolf.”
At his look of surprise, she grinned. “You’re uncle told me your Indian name. It fits you perfectly. You’re the wolf who guards his pack.”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “Are you offering to be part of my pack?”
“I’m offering to be your mate. And redbirds mate for life.”
His smile straightened into a line. “You’ll be my wife? This is what you want?”
Her heart skipped a beat. “More than anything.”
“Then I’ll go with you to Washington. I’ll go wherever you go. And never leave your side.”
By the time he finished his pledge, Kate was weeping.
He wiped away her tears with his thumb. “I’ve made you cry again. I never meant to, but it seems that’s what I do.”
“These are happy tears. The kind you cry at weddings, or when babies are born, or when you find your one true love.”
Jake kissed her again and she could taste her tears on his lips. They tasted like joy.
The End
Dedication
Thank you Jennifer and Jacqui for embarking on this journey with me. You are amazingly talented writers, and working with you has sharpened my steel. Special thanks to critique partners Heather Snow, Katy Madison and Keri Smith, along with my fellow writers and friends at MRW and MARA, for your guidance, encouragement and unflagging support. To my husband, daughters and our wonderful families, there aren’t words enough to express my gratitude. Thank you for believing.
E.E. Burke
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Other Books by the Author
In the Steam! Romance and Rails Series
Her Bodyguard by E.E. Burke, coming Fall 2013
www.eeburke.com
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Copyright © 2013 by E.E. Burke
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2"Wa-ya,
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Dedication
Copyright © 2013 by E.E. Burke