Wed Under Western Skies Page 16

  Charmaine pulled the team to a halt and got down.

  “Is Mrs. Redman driving out herself?” Jack asked.

  “I’m afraid Darlene’s feeling poorly.”

  Without showing a reaction, he quickly moved to tether the horses.

  Charmaine climbed to the ground. “Where’s Daniel?”

  “He’s around here somewhere.” He turned to survey the grounds, and she followed his gaze. Daniel stood watching from the corner of the house.

  Smiling, she beckoned him with a wave. “Come see what I’ve brought for you.”

  The boy shot forward, his dark hair whipping away from his face, then scudded to a halt in the dirt.

  Reaching back for the basket, she pulled it toward her and lifted it out of the wagon.

  “Is it bread?” Daniel asked, his voice excited.

  “No, it’s not bread.” She glanced at him. “I’ll bring you bread next time.” Once the basket was on the ground, she gestured for him to check inside.

  The boy looked to his father first.

  Jack shrugged. “Go ahead.”

  Daniel opened the wooden lid, and she waited for his reaction. His eyes lit up, and a smile creased his face. The small gray kitten poked its head up over the edge and meowed. Daniel knelt to scoop the noisy animal into his arms. “You brought me a kitten!”

  “I hope he’s the one you liked best. If not, you can trade him for a different one.”

  “I like this one! What’s his name?”

  “He doesn’t have one yet. He’s yours now, so that’s your job.”

  “Really?” He petted the feline’s head. “I’ll think of a special name.”

  “Don’t forget your manners, Daniel,” his father said.

  “Thank you, miss.”

  “You’re welcome.” She placed the basket in the back of the wagon and turned to Jack. “I’ll paint the windows on our building now.”

  “I’ll help.”

  She started for the barn. “That’s not necessary. The use of your barn doesn’t require you to do all the work or sacrifice your own duties.”

  “I was plannin’ to help anyway. I have the black paint stirred.”

  “Oh.” She always managed to say the most idiotic things around him. “I mean—thank you.”

  Jack had maneuvered the wagon into a block of sunlight inside the open doors, and Charmaine studied their project with fresh eyes. It was still a good idea, and the most difficult part of the work was finished.

  After pulling a smock on over her work clothes, she tugged on an old pair of thin white gloves.

  Jack stood a few feet to her side. “How did you know I wouldn’t mind?” he asked.

  “Mind…what? Me coming here without Darlene?”

  “No, of course not. I meant my son having a cat.”

  The cat? Charmaine’s cheeks flushed with warmth. “I—I never gave it a thought. I just knew how much he enjoyed playing with the kittens, and I thought he’d like one of his own. I’m sorry if it’s a problem. I guess I didn’t think.”

  He picked up a few rags from a pile on a barrel. “It’s not a problem.”

  He had stirred the paint and softened the brushes, so she busied herself dipping a brush and outlining one window. There were four altogether, two on each side, so Jack followed her example on the one beside her. He had rolled his sleeves to his elbows, and she found the play of muscle and sinew in his forearms a powerful distraction. Occasionally, her gaze wandered to his profile, and her strokes would slow until she caught herself and forced her attention back to her task.

  By the time they’d moved to the other side, the square of sunlight was gone. He lit lanterns and they continued their work. A chill breeze snaked into the barn, and Charmaine shivered.

  “Daniel?” Jack called.

  “Back here, Pa.”

  “Just checkin’. I’m shutting the doors.” He pulled the double doors closed and resumed painting.

  Sometime later Charmaine stood back to admire their handiwork. “That’s all we can do until this dries. Tomorrow we can paint on the white sashes and panes. Darlene and I, I mean.”

  “I’ll clean up.” He opened the can of turpentine.

  Smiling, she held up her gloved hands, stained with only a few splotches of black.

  “None on your nose this time,” he said.

  She grinned. “No.”

  “Come wash up at the house now. We can have a cup of coffee.”

  “Well.” She tugged off her gloves and removed her apron. “All right.”

  “Daniel?” Jack called.

  “Yes, Pa.”

  “We’re going to the house now, you comin’?”

  “Kin Bitsy come in with me?”

  Charmaine met Jack’s dark eyes. Was the kitten going to be a problem?

  “He can come.”

  Daniel met them at the side door, the kitten in the crook of his arm.

  “Bitsy,” Jack commented. “Is that a boy’s name?”

  Daniel’s look said an adult should be smarter than that. “No. It’s a cat’s name.”

  His matter-of-fact statement tickled Charmaine, and she struggled to keep a straight face.

  Jack secured the door behind them. “So it is.”

  Daniel ran on ahead, but he paused inside and held the door open so Charmaine could enter. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

  The boy giggled.

  Jack hung his hat on a peg and lit the wall lanterns, as well as another lamp on a long table against the wall. While he fed kindling into the potbellied stove, she glanced around the room, finding it spare, but orderly. Once he had a flame going, he added split wood and pumped water into a pail and a kettle.

  After the water had heated, he set out a bowl, a bar of soap and a towel. “You first, miss.”

  Giving him a sidelong glance, Charmaine rolled back her sleeves and washed her hands. She dried them and stepped back so he and Daniel could have a turn.

  Meanwhile Jack had set a pot of coffee on to perk. “We have some biscuits,” he told her, peeling a towel from a small bundle.

  “Oh, I…” She’d been about to decline when his gaze raised to hers. Daniel stood beside the small table, three plates in his hands. They were treating her like an honored guest in their home. She certainly couldn’t insult them by declining. “Why, thank you. I believe I worked up an appetite.”

  Daniel set out mismatched plates while Jack opened a jar of apple butter and brought tin cups holding sugar and milk.

  Jack held her chair, and Daniel waited until she was seated to pull out his own and sit across from her. “You’re our first visitor,” the boy told her.

  “I’m honored.”

  Having placed the biscuits in a bowl, Jack offered them to her. “Nothin’ as fancy as your cookies or as tasty as the bread you bake.”

  She took one and set it on her plate. “I hardly expect you to find time to bake when you have a business to run and a house to see to. Animals to care for, as well.”

  She broke open her biscuit and spooned apple butter on both surfaces. Her first bite proved it was quite tasty.

  Jack poured her a mug of coffee and pushed the milk and sugar toward her.

  Charmaine politely added some of each to her cup, then after a few more bites, dared a sip. She had never acquired a taste for the bitter stuff, and Jack’s brew was strong and hot.

  She did her best not to shudder, thinking that not even the tonics she’d taken for childhood illnesses had been this bad.

  It was only one cup. She could get through this and be on her way. Attempting to hold her breath, she gulped down the coffee to get the torture over with.

  A shudder crept up her spine, and it took all her fortitude to hold it back.

  Pleased with herself, she smiled.

  The biscuit was actually pretty good, so she worked on that.

  Jack got up and returned from the stove with the coffeepot. Before she could chew and swallow, he’d refilled her mug.

  Charm
aine stared at the steaming black liquid with tears of dread smarting behind her lids.

  Once again he passed the tin containers, and this time she added twice as much milk and sugar, so much that her cup brimmed.

  “You have quite a sweet tooth,” Jack observed with a grin.

  “Yes, it would seem so.” She blew on the liquid, not wanting to drink it quickly and risk the same mistake.

  “My friend, Henry McPhillips, said you have a beau,” Daniel said.

  Jack swallowed the sip of coffee he’d taken, but stared straight ahead at the wall where the stove sat, his mug held in front of his lips.

  “I do have a gentleman caller,” she replied, and used the excuse of picking up her own mug to avoid further answer. She sipped, grimaced inwardly. Sipped again.

  “Are you gonna get married to him?”

  Her coffee was cooled off enough that it shouldn’t have made her skin feel so hot.

  “Daniel, it’s rude to ask personal questions,” Jack told the boy.

  “Sorry, I just wondered.”

  “Wondering’s fine, asking isn’t.”

  “Sorry, I did a rude,” Daniel said to her, his black eyes soft with regret and confusion.

  “Don’t give it another thought, dear,” she told him.

  “Are we gonna follow Miss Renlow home again?” he asked.

  She set down her cup, grateful for the change of topic. “I can make my own way.”

  Jack lowered his mug. He wasn’t three feet away from her, and in the glow of the lamps, eyes as dark as his coffee met hers. Her attention wavered to the pronounced bow of his upper lip beneath his mustache, the fullness of his lower lip, the crisp lines of his chin and cheeks.

  He was studying her, as well, and she wondered what he noticed, if he found her features half as fascinating.

  “I appreciate your independence,” he said. “I do. But it wouldn’t sit easy with me if I didn’t see you home safely. Your father might think less of me if I didn’t.”

  So his attention was for her father’s sake? “My father has allowed me to travel freely since I was…well, for a long time.

  “I’m not questioning his judgment. I’m just telling you why I can’t let you go alone. Perhaps if it was daylight.”

  Obviously there was no dissuading him.

  “Kin me ’n’ Bitsy ride on Miss Renlow’s wagon with her, Pa?”

  “That would be up to Miss Renlow.” He stood and rewrapped the remaining two biscuits.

  She nodded at Daniel.

  He grinned and went to the box he’d placed in the corner and scooped up the kitten.

  “You know you have to set him loose to do his business,” Jack told him.

  Daniel shot out the door quick as lightning.

  Charmaine picked up their cups and Daniel’s milk glass. “Thank you for the refreshments.”

  He nodded.

  “I can wash those up while the water’s hot.”

  “No need. I’ll do them in the morning with our breakfast dishes.”

  She walked toward the door and he followed. The night was still and quiet. Daniel’s voice came from the field nearby, where he was coaxing the kitten. “Do you have much stock?”

  “A milk cow, a few hens and my horses. I think I’ll get a couple of calves to fatten.”

  She picked up her gloves and apron where she’d left them on a crate and started toward her wagon. “Daddy might have a few to sell.”

  “You sound like a little girl when you call him that.”

  Charmaine clutched her apron to herself, unsure whether or not to be embarrassed. “I’m certainly not a little girl.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  Now embarrassment tinged her neck and cheeks with warmth. “You say it like I’m long in the tooth.”

  His deep full laughter surprised her, but it started a glow in her chest, as well. “And you say that like you’re a horse,” he replied.

  “It’s true I’m perhaps a smidgeon past first bloom.” The admission cost her.

  “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “Because you don’t notice at all?”

  “I notice.”

  She’d lost track of what they were talking about. They stood beside the wagon, now, but she forgot to turn and climb the wheel to the seat. Jack stood so close, she could see the reflection of the moonlight in his eyes.

  She didn’t know who moved first. Neither did she know if he’d been moving to assist her, but she stepped forward at the same time he did. His arms came around her to steady her, and she grabbed hold of his shirt where it tucked into his trousers at his side, as though she was falling.

  Instead, she used it as leverage to pull herself up at the same instant he leaned forward, and their lips met in a warm, almost frantic crush. The brush of his mustache against her upper lip was a silky delight she hadn’t expected, his mouth a warm inviting haven she was delighted to learn.

  She barely knew him. She knew his kiss was a little bit wild, more than a little bit heart-stopping. She’d kissed Wayne on several occasions, but it had been nothing like this…nothing.

  Charmaine untrapped the arm holding her folded apron, letting the bundle fall to the ground. Never had she experienced the desire to affix herself to a man and never let go. Never had she wished she was more educated on intimate matters between men and women so she’d know exactly what was happening and what could happen. Never had she been aware of this sharp rush of joy or felt a prickling of tears behind her eyes because of the confusing emotions.

  Jack’s arms were strong, his chest hard, but she fit against him as though she was made to be there.

  Before she could change her mind, before the moment was lost, she reached up and cupped his cheek, felt the rasp of his beard against her palm, and threaded a hand into his silky hair.

  Jack inhaled, drew away for a much-needed breath, and she prayed he wouldn’t end the rapturous moment.

  As though he heard her greedy prayer, he instead captured the back of her head, realigned their mouths, and ran his tongue over her lips until she understood and opened them. At the sensation of his tongue on hers, her heart tripped and her entire being recognized the rightness of it. Of course, she thought. Yes, of course!

  She wanted this heat and excitement in her life. She hadn’t realized until just that moment that she’d been craving this.

  Chapter Eight

  This was it, what Luke and Annie shared, what Noah and Kate knew…what she’d been ignorant of until this moment. Her head swam with enlightenment and the bliss of Jack’s kiss.

  Now that she knew, she didn’t want to lose it. She wanted to grab on and keep this thrilling new feeling forever.

  Jack lowered his flattened hand to her spine and pulled her flush against him. His body was hard and sinewy, radiating warmth, and it was the most incredible thing she’d ever felt.

  He released her as quickly as he’d pulled her close, as though he’d dared only one forbidden moment and knew he had to let go.

  Their lips parted last, as though breaking that contact was painful.

  She stared up at him in the moonlight, not knowing him any better than she had before, but recognizing things about herself far more clearly. Her palm itched to return to his cheek, to stroke his raspy jaw. Her lips tingled and her heart hammered a rapturous beat.

  Neither of them spoke. What was there to say?

  “We’re comin’, Pa!” Daniel’s voice broke the spell.

  Jack knelt to pick up her apron and hand it to her.

  She accepted it with trembling fingers.

  He took a full step back and gestured for her to climb up on the wheel.

  Gathering her hem, she did so.

  Jack lifted his son up beside her. Daniel sat with the kitten tucked in the cradle of his arm.

  “I have to saddle my horse yet,” Jack said, backing away. His voice seemed a little lower and huskier than usual. “You go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

  She unwound the reins from the brak
e handle and urged the team forward.

  Beside her Daniel asked questions about cats.

  “He’ll catch mice for you when he’s a little bigger,” she told him.

  He wrinkled his nose and looked up at her. “Will he eat ’em?”

  “Probably not. Our barn cats leave them on the doorstep, like gifts.”

  She didn’t want to think about cats right now. She wished she wasn’t heading for home. Shamelessly, all she wanted was to wind back the clock, experience that earth-shaking kiss all over again. A warm glow burned in her chest, and the smile on her face felt positively silly. What was wrong with her?

  Jack caught up within a few minutes and rode alongside the wagon. “Will you be back tomorrow night?”

  “The float needs to be completed, and we did take on a sizable project.”

  “Maybe Mrs. Redman will be feeling better.”

  She’d never wished anyone sick in her life, and she wasn’t about to start now. “Maybe.”

  “If not, I’ll help you paint.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Does your father meet you to put up the horses?”

  “Yes. He hears the rig and comes out.”

  “I can tend to it for him.”

  “He’d probably appreciate that.”

  They reached the Renlow place and Charmaine scrambled down. “I’ll go tell him not to bother coming out.”

  Her father was just getting up from his rocker in the front room when she dashed in. “Daddy, you can rest. Jack is going to put up the team for you.”

  He eased back down. “Is he now? Well, thank him for me.”

  “I will.” Quickly, she wrapped half a dozen sugar cookies and carried them out to Daniel where he waited in the dooryard.

  He followed her into the barn, and they watched Jack remove the horses’ harnesses and brush down the animals. “Do they have particular stalls?”

  “The brown on the end and the dappled beside her.”

  He led them in and closed the gates. “Your father already had their hay and water at the ready.”

  Jack stopped beside the open doors and the lantern that hung there and glanced at her.

  Charmaine felt her cheeks warm, and looking at his mustache made her stomach dip. His gaze was flickering over her face and hair as well, and then he reached up to turn the lantern down until the flame was extinguished.