He was lost.
He’d loved June since the first time he saw her out peddling goods with her father—right in front of his uncles trading post. She’d had a fire and determination in her that roped his heart and tied a half-hitch around it.
He was about to go speak to her that day when his uncle pulled the weapon on her father, shattering the moment and any chance he’d had at a good first impression.
He waited until she was mounted and on her way down the mountain before following.
No more.
After seeing her bent over that blasted berry patch today, head down and back to the wolf pack that had been watching her from the trees, he couldn’t help but chase away the wolves, and then ride in to finally speak to her.
He’d been nervous the entire time, and not solely because the wolves could have double backed and set up an ambush. He was nervous to speak to her, and rightfully so. He’d jumbled things up when he reverted back to his family pride and spoken of the feud. A stupid move.
The moment, though, allowed him to do the one thing he’d imagined doing every time he’d seen her. Kiss her.
Unable to resist any longer, he’d stolen a kiss and couldn’t regret it. Wouldn’t regret asking her to marry him.
She wasn’t happy here. Wanted to go back east, but he could never return. There was nothing left of his life before Hellgate.
No. He had to stay right here in nowhere Montana with his uncle, and run the trading post—the only business the barely-there town really had…that is, the only business aside from June’s father’s handcart.
For now.
His uncle and his partners had plans to expand into the mill business, and William was to work it. What he needed was June gracing his home waiting for him. If you could call the one-room shack he’d built behind the trading post a home.
Once the mill was up and running, though, he’d be able to build June her own house. A real cabin with timber walls and a stone chimney. Something she can doll up with her woman’s touch. Sit inside with his babe on her lap.
Smile at him as he opened the door to the smell of fresh baked bread.
He couldn’t survive in this wild country without her. He needed her more than he needed the fresh mountain air he breathed.
If only she felt the same.
Talking to her just now, he knew differently. She blamed him for his uncles indiscretions. Judged him for his families pride. If she only knew the truth about him, she’d reject him for a completely different reason.
He couldn’t let that happen. She could never know his secret. The shame his own father had placed upon his head…his family.
The rhythmic thump of wagon wheels against the ground penetrated his thoughts as June’s father came into view at the bottom of the mountain. No doubt making his way home after selling his goods to some poor miner.
June herself had ridden around the path and disappeared toward her families homestead.
“Mr. Havens.” William nodded as he brought his horse along side June’s father’s cart.
“What do you want?” June’s father said in a strong Irish accent. He was as ornery as a cantankerous mule, but with good reason. From what William had heard from his uncle, Abram Havens, an irishman by birth, had come over from Walla Walla with the Mullan Road crew, and ended up staying for the promise of a new beginning. Instead he was met with only hostility once it was clear he had no intention of working the land.
“Just friendly conversation,” William answered the man’s brash question the best way he could. Hoping to calm the man’s ire enough to build a small semblance of trust. “I found your daughter up at the huckleberry patch. She was ahead of me on the trail down the mountain.”
“I saw her.” Abram dipped his head as if concentrating on his path. “You’d better damned well have let her be. That berry patch ain’t your uncle’s property.”
“Chased off a wolf pack,” he stated with finality. Hoping the importance of the action would help sway the crazy ol’Irish man’s opinion in William’s favor.
Abram stopped with a jerk and stared at him from beneath his plainsman hat. The large brim shaded most of his face, but William caught enough of his expression to know he hadn’t won him over. Yet. Abram’s cheek twitched. “I suppose you think that means I owe you.”
Abram stopped walking, and William did the same with his horse.
“No. Sir. You don’t owe me, but I’d give my life protecting June.”
“That so?”
“Yes, sir.” Should he show his hand? Let her father know his true feelings in regards to his daughter? He had no reason not to. “I aim to marry her.”
The shock on Abram’s face would have been comical had William been anything but completely serious. Instead, the reaction niggled at his pride.
But as fast as the words had left William’s mouth, Abram dropped the wagon, and cleared leather. His rusty pistol pointed straight at Williams heart. “Ain’t no way yer gonna marry my daughter. She’s a good lass. She’d never have you anyway.”
William dropped the reins across his saddle, and lifted his hands in the air. His heartbeat pounded against his ribcage, but he didn’t know if it was fear that the crazy ol’man would actually shoot him, or for not securing Abram’s blessing in his plight to win June over. “What if she does want me? Would you give your blessing?”
“Aye, but not because I approve of you, young William. But because my June knows her mind. She ain’t gonna take you.”
Either way, he’d just as rather get shot in the heart than to lose it to a woman who would never return the sentiment. The spark in her eyes when he kissed her told him a different story. While she might fight the attraction between them, it didn’t mean it wasn’t there. He’d felt it, and he knew she did as well.
He would fight for her. For them. Even if he had to fight until his last breath, he would.
“Stay away from my daughter.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t promise that.” The words came out quicker than his brain had time to think.
“You’ll stay away, or I’ll put a bullet in yer heart. Or I suppose I could wait for Junie to shoot ya. Either way you’ll feel led if you don’t leave her be.”
Williams chest tightened, and his palms grew sweaty. His gut told him to turn tail and ride hard down the mountain, but his heart screamed for him to stay. Hold his own against her father.
Instead, he didn’t respond but simply stared at the sun glistening off the barrel. Was this his destiny? To be forced away from everyone he loved.
It had certainly seemed so that fateful day when his life had changed and he’d been forced to board a ship headed to Seattle. He’d turned his life upside down, but he’d lived.
Now he wasn’t so sure he would be able to outrun fate.
Chapter 3
“I don’t want to go to the social tomorrow, ma.” June pounded the dough as her father paced behind her. Across the open fire from June, her mother sat in her crudely-made chair, pale and weak from the sickness, but arguing with her just the same. “I don’t need a man to live out here. It’s so wild I can forage for my own food, and I’m good with a gun.”
“Isn’t that the most foolish malarky you’ve ever heard yer daughter say?” Her father directed his comment to her mother.
“Aye, darlin’. You need a man to survive.” Her mother wiped at her nose, and then dropped her hand in her lap. “This land is wild. Yer gonna need a partner to look after yeh. Keep yeh safe. Someone to watch yer backside while you pick your food. That’s why you and I go together.”
“So I need a friend to accompany me to the berry patch. Not a man.”
“You can’t live on berries alone,” her mother argued.
“What about protection from the wolves of the human kind?” Her father said as he finally sat on a log near her mother. “Did ya know you were being hunted today? What in the world made ya go up in the mountain alone?”
“I was not hunted. I made sure to keep an
eye out for predators."
“That’s not what young William told me. He said he ran off a pack of wolves, and I’m inclined to believe him.”
Junes breath grew shallow as the thought of what could have happened flowed through her mind. She stared at her father in confusion. “William ran off wolves?”
Her heartbeat kicked up and she stopped pounding the pie dough to cross her arms across her chest as she worked through the information.
William had saved her from a gruesome death, but hadn’t so much as said a word about the danger she’d been in. Instead, he’d proposed and kissed her.
Why?
Did he truly love her, or was she simply a means for company and survival in this wild country? Probably the later, and that didn’t make for a good start to a marriage.
“Aye he did. Now I ain’t saying you have to go marry young William, but you need to find yerself a husband.” Her father plucked a huckleberry from the basket, and popped it in his mouth. “So finish that pie up, and go make sure yer best dress is clean.”
June dropped her hands to her side in resignation, and then began to pound the dough once more. Her father may not be the most liked person in the valley, but she and her mother loved him fiercely. The look he’d given her when he’d pleaded just now. The pain hidden behind the blues of his eyes. She knew he wanted better for her. Knew seeing her well settled would allow him to live in peace for the remainder of his days on God’s green earth.
She’d go to the social. For his sake. But she wasn’t going to encourage William Webber. The blasted scoundrel. Always scrutinizing her from afar. Watching her.
Truth be told, when he’d proposed on the breeze high up on the mountain, she’d been breathless. Giddy for the faintest of seconds, but then reality had hit her. Why her? Why would a man who lived with a family that loathed her very existence want to marry her?
For revenge? Or perhaps they saw her as a pawn in their war. A means to control her father. Was William as conniving as his uncle? He didn’t seem to be.
Sure one could call him the most handsome, eligible bachelor in Hellgate, but that didn’t mean he was the one for her. She wanted a man who made her heart flutter like the wings on a butterfly. Melted the snowcapped peaks of her heart to reveal the warm tiding of passion. Changed her wild world into one of happiness and bliss, not fear and attentiveness.
She wanted love.
For a moment when he’d spoken his words of romance, she’d felt her ice capped heart melting, but then again it could have been the effects of the kiss. So heated and passionate. So intoxicating. Was that what love felt like? Had she experienced a taste?
She didn’t know, but she had to guard herself from William. Especially if she was going to get through the social tomorrow without losing her whits once more to her enemy.
“I’ll go.” June finally relented as she rolled out and cut her pie dough into strips, only to weave them together to form a basket to place over the huckleberries piled onto her crust. “I can’t promise I’ll catch a husband.”
She left out the part where William had already proposed marriage. Did she want to be tied to the man who was kin to her father’s enemy? Would she lose a father in order to gain a husband?
No. She wouldn’t attach herself to someone who would take her away from her parents. Perhaps permanently.
“Aye, it would put my mind at ease to see you wed,” her mother said, and stood. “If you’ll excuse me, I need some rest.”
On her father’s nod, her mother disappeared into the tent, leaving her to work in silence as her father whittled on a piece of wood, and she finished her pie.
“Young William seems hell-bent on catching you,” her father said, breaking the silence.
“Yes.” She sighed. William must have already spoken to her father. “I’ve turned him down.”
“You could do worse.”
June dropped her now-prepared pie down in the cast-iron pot, and placed the lid on top. Using her apron to cover her hands as she lifted the pot, she placed it in the fire’s embers. “I wouldn’t dare betray you like that, pa. I can find another husband.”
“William is connected.” Her father ticked his head to the side as he spoke. “Even if it is with the trading post big bugs.”
“So you approve of the match?” Her heart thumped in her chest at the words. Even if her father gave his approval, did she love William enough to give herself, her life, to him?
That much she didn’t know.
Not yet.
“My approval has nothing to do with it. What’s best for your future does. Even though I’d rather see you hitched to the first wealthy rancher that settles the area, I can’t complain if you choose William. At least you’ll be taken care of.”
“Yes, well. I can take care of myself.” June sat down on the crudely-made chair her mother had vacated earlier. “I’ll not marry unless I am in love.”
“You’re a force to be reckoned with, Junie girl.” Her father turned his attention back to the horse taking shape in his wood. “I believe you when you say you’ll only wed for love.”
“You cut a swell yourself, pa,” she said, and settled back to enjoy the ease and comfort of home. Her wild, huckleberry scented camp. Tucked deep onto the property her parents settled.
“I got cattle coming up from Texas.” Her father pointed his knife toward the trees just outside of their little clearing. “I’ll be cutting those down soon and building a fence before they get here.”
“How’d you go about buying cattle?”
“I ran into a man in town looking to settle.” Her father whittled away on his wooden statue. “He said he had a thousand head coming up this way, and he offered me two hundred.”
“That’s wonderful.”
"It's going to be a tough go at first, but I think we'll pull through. Your ma has always wanted me to settle down. Has dreams of a homestead with fruit trees and cows.”
“Are you?” June plopped her hands on her hips like she was apt to do when curious. “Going to truly settle down? Stop chasing the dream of a traveling trading post.”
“Aye. For yer ma.” He stopped whittling and turned his attention to her. “See that ya settle for no less than love in a marriage, Junie.”
June gave a smile that didn’t quite spread to the rest of her body. Where was she going to find love here in wild country? William claimed to love her, but she couldn’t stand the man. A least she thought she couldn’t. Sure she’d made sure to walk past the trading post every time she’d gone into the little settlement they called town, but that was more to see the handsome face of the man she was supposed to call enemy. Not because she loved him. Right? “I’ll go to the social if it will make you and ma happy, but I won’t enjoy it.”
“Aye, it will make us happy, and I think you’ll have fun. Despite yer reserves.”
June smiled at her pa, but eyed what remained of the huckleberries. She’d gone up the mountain today to pick enough berries to can for use at a later date. Preserve them for use months down the road. She’d plucked almost the entire area clean when William had appeared with promises of marriage. He’d asked her to go to the social, and to bring a huckleberry pie.
She eyed the basket, brim full of huckleberries, and knew exactly what she needed to do just as soon as her pie was finished cooking.
Chapter 4
William stood in his best bib and tucker, studying the small group of men gathered outside the trading post. Most had done their damnedest to clean up, but still maintained a mountain-dusted look about them. Unlike most of the others, William had not only bathed and put on fresh clothes, but polished his boots and cleaned the grime from his cowboy hat. Hoping June would notice.
The stubborn, headstrong woman who dominated his thoughts. He wanted to touch her again. Kiss her. Feel her warmth engulfing his senses, and bringing peace to his soul.
Her father had warned him off, but that didn’t mean he was going to obey. He couldn’t. Not with the consta
nt ache plaguing him like the black death. A longing that started in his belly and spread to his heart every time he saw her.
He’d give her the world if she’d let him.
The doors to the trading post opened and men began to file inside, hoping for a glimpse at the picnic baskets before they were brought to the auction stage—which was more like a designated corner of the trading post.
That didn’t matter to the men all starving for the baked chicken and pies within, as well as the company of the woman who baked it.
William searched the group of women for June, only to spot her over by the stack of pelts chatting with a young blonde woman.
She’d said she would come, but he didn’t think she’d planned to follow up on her promise. June wasn’t the sort of woman to place herself in front of all the men in the valley in order to catch a beau. She was determined, unafraid, able to care for herself if need be.
She was also sweet and caring, the perfect example of what a woman should be. Tonight, he planned to woo her. Convince her that hitching herself to him was right. That they were meant to be together until death.
The line moved and he focused his attention to the auction lunches once more. He didn’t need to see the contents of the baskets in order to know which meal he wanted. All he had to do was listen for the one that contained huckleberry pie, but just the same, he wanted a peek.
Five baskets aligned the counter near the front of the store, and by the rich, meaty smells filling the trading post, he suspected they’d all been baked with love and care.
William stepped up to the first and examined the contents. The white cloth covering the food had been pulled back slightly by the matron behind the counter, watching the men with a warning in her eyes not to touch.
They could get a peek, but nothing more.
William sidestepped down the line, viewing what he could of each basket, and then following the crowd of men toward the staged area.
His uncle stepped up and held his hands high to quiet the crowd. “Gentlemen, gentlemen. We have quite a treat for you today. You can thank my wife for the idea. We did this last year, and it was quite the success. Don’t forget, you bid on the most appetizing basket. The highest bidder will get to have lunch with the lovely lady who baked it.”
The Lighthouse Romance Anthology (The Life Saving Series) Page 13