Shed sure been a sweetness against him. His thoughts drifted backward, to the precious feel of her tucked against his chest. Fragile and female. When hed folded his arms around her and felt her hair catch on his unshaven chin, something had changed in him. His chest expanded, his blood quickened, his soul woke up and took notice.
He wanted to protect her. To take care of her. To hold her. Never let her go.
Why? Hed seen her a few times. He hardly knew her. He didnt know a thousand things about her, what her childhood was like. Was the good man shed known her real father? Had she always loved horses? Why had she married a man who wasnt kind to her? What were her favorite foods?
See? He could make a list that would stretch from here to Great Falls of every single thing he did not know about Katelyn Green.
What did he know?
That when he looked at her, the world faded away. Everything hed ever cared about, everything he was, came alive as if newly awakened. It made him feel better than the man he was.
She didnt think so much of him. Shed thought he wanted money. Then again, maybe thats what she knew. Maybe the man whod cast her aside had done that. Looked at her and, instead of seeing the woman she was, saw her familys wealth.
Dwindling wealth, he corrected. Times were hard and were about to get harder. He was going to take three mares, unless Cal Willman could cough up enough greenbacks.
It wasnt as if hed be riding out of here today with a wife. Disappointment raked through him, sharp tipped and hard. It was too bad, because he wanted her. His own wife.
Strange, soft feelings had beat to life within him. He wanted her. Still.
Didnt that make him five times a fool? Wanting a woman who didnt want him?
Grumbling sounds emanated from the back. The boys waking up, pulling on their ice-stiffened clothes and complaining about it. There were horses to feed, stalls to clean and, for him, horses to say goodbye to. Friends that hed made, the four-legged variety that he understood far better than the two-legged.
Another wall of storm clouds had covered the sky from sight as he waded through the snow. Flakes started to fall, hard, fast, dry. The wind came from the north at a swirl.
Not a good sign.
He pulled open the door enough to slip inside, the same door hed held for Katelyn last night. Shed shut it behind her. How long had she stayed in the loft? Had she watched the night stars move across the cloud-strewn sky and thought about him? Or had she hurried back to her fancy house and warm bed, glad to be rid of him?
A nicker drew his attention. The sorrel Arabian mare, one of the horses hed been hired to train, leaned against her stall gate and stomped her right foot, demanding his full attention.
Good morning, beautiful. He slipped her a broken piece of peppermint from his jacket, as he always did, and offered it on his flat palm.
Pleased, the mare nibbled the treat, her delicate lips whisking over his skin like a tickle.
Im taking you, pretty girl, he told her in his grandfathers tongue. The reverent lilt of the language was a sound of peace to all living things. You are one fine beauty.
The mare leaned her forehead against his shoulder in response. His chest warmed at the emotional connection. Trust. She trusted him. It had been a hard journey theyd taken together, but what a reward. He rubbed his knuckles into a sensitive spot behind her ear. She pushed harder into him, her way of hugging.
Affection filled him, soft and sweet. Yep, hed take this one for sure. What a fine addition shed make to his herd.
With the job ending early, would he head home? Would he stay for a spell? Or move on, unable to take the emptiness of a lonely house? To sit alone evening after evening, sleep alone night after night.
Maybe he could remedy that. He moved down the aisle, digging more peppermint out of his pocket, stroking more soft, eager noses. There were all sorts of ways to get a bride. Now that he had some experience with a woman under his belt. Fine, not a successful one, but hed managed to talk to Katelyn last night without stumbling and stuttering like a clodpate.
There were those magazines where women had placed advertisements in search of a husband. Maybe one of them would be nice. Kind. Gentle as an angel come to earth.
Even as he considered the notion of another woman, his chest seized up. The trouble was, whoever he picked wouldnt suit him. She wouldnt be Katelyn.
I can do this. I can stand up to Cal. Katelyn rubbed her gritty eyes, dry and sore from lack of sleep, breathed deep, steeled her spine and pushed open the library door. It whispered open to reveal a book-lined room draped in darkness.
Cal sat on a big Windsor chair, pushed away from his rolltop desk, his elbows on his knees. His face in his hands. The rounded C of his back powerful and shadowed. The faintest gray of predawn peeked through the curtains, a witness to the sorrow in the room. Defeat hung in the air like dust motes.
She hadnt realized how much trouble he was in. Shed been too hurt to notice. A sense of foreboding beat like a war drum in her stomach.
Put the tray on the coffee table and leave me. Cal didnt move.
Say it. Just walk right up to him and tell him. Her feet didnt move her through the threshold.
I said, leave it, damn it! Sharp, red faced, Cal whirled around, the chair squeaking as it spun with him. When he realized it was her and not the servant standing in the doorway, his impatience changed to hatred. What do you want? Come to say goodbye?
Do it, Katelyn. Im not going anywhere. I want my jewelry back.
What jewelry? He straightened to his full height to glare down at her like an angry deity. What jewelry?
The pieces you stole from the loose board in my room. I saw you offer my bracelet to the horseman. Chin up, she met his gaze. Fisted her hands. Planted her feet. She refused to be afraid of him. Of any man. Ever again. Those diamonds are mine and I want them back.
Tendons stood out on Cals neck. If youve lost your things, then thats your own fault. Dont come to me and complain.
Its theft, and Im certain I could ask the horseman to verify that you offered him my bracelet as payment.
Your bracelet? I took that as partial payment for your doctors bill, which is sizable. Or do you intend to pay the bill? And what about the room and board and trouble youve cost me and your mother?
Return the jewelry to me, and Ill gladly pay my own bills.
Can you reimburse me for the business Ive lost at the bank? My reputation is everything, and to think the best people in town are moving their money from my bank. Your divorce is a scandal, and its ruining me.
Ruining you? What Bretts abandonment had done to her was immeasurable, and Cal wanted to blame his business failures on it?
Last year, Clemming, my competitor, was losing business, and do you know what happened? He went broke. Had to sell what little his bank was worth and give up his home. He left town a broken man, heading back east to live with relatives. And do you know why?
Because of his daughter. Katelyn withered. There was no possibility of getting her jewelry. None.
Because his daughter got into trouble. Folks thought, what kind of banker is he? He cant keep his children in line and behaving well, so how well can he manage a bank? Thats what they say. They lost confidence and brought their business to me.
Your financial problems have been going on for some time. Im not the cause of your problems.
No, but you will be a partial solution. Ive got bills to pay. He gestured toward the pile of papers strewn on his desk. Bills due, debts to be paid. Over a few dozen of them. Theres the coal bill. Over two hundred dollars. Old Hal down at the railroad buried his wife a month ago. Hed be glad to take you. Or how about this one?
Cal grabbed the piece of paper and shook it open with a snap. A note due on two of my best mares. I think Johnson down at the auction house was complaining about his last woman. Maybe hed take you in trade.
You cant sell me and you know it, Cal. There was no talking to a man so arrogant. And maybe, she wondered noticing the glaze in his eyes, to a man who was desperate. A man to whom his reputation and appearance of wealth was everything, and he was on the verge of losing it.
Footsteps hustled on the carpeting. The maid, late with breakfast, looked harried. Katelyn moved out of the doorway and let the woman pass, to receive Cals irritated remarks about her lateness.
She marched down the hall. She was leaving this house today. Somehow. The doctor said she wasnt strong enough, but it didnt matter. Shed pack what she could carry. It wouldnt be much. Whatever awaited her out there, alone, had to be better than staying here.
Dillon expected trouble. The hired men were watching him, keeping an eye out while they worked.
The hairs along the back of his neck itched, a sure sign something was wrong. Dillon tucked his extra halters and lead ropes into the spare compartment of his saddlebag. Almost done.
Good thing hed worn both revolvers strapped to his left and right thighs. He was handy with a gun, but he was outnumbered. If Willman thought he was an easy target, then he was dead wrong.
Dillon sensed him before the horses stirred in their stalls, alert to the intruder. He felt the mans hatred before he heard the first drum of an authoritative footfall on the hard-packed earth.
So, you didnt listen when I told you to leave the horses alone. Willman must have thought he was judge and jury with the cold hard judgment that drove his words, for he had brought Ned with him. If you take those mares, you hang, boy.
Who are you calling boy? Dillon didnt bother to hide his disregard or his sneer. Youre the one who needs a hired gun, not me. Im not about to take your mares. Im taking your stepdaughter.
Surprise flashed in those cold eyes, then a brief gleam of satisfaction. Oh? Then take her and go.
I already have. Dillon freed the hem of his jacket from his right hip, to reveal the loaded Colt.45. Our business dealings are through. Are we in agreement?
I am done with you, horseman. A bead of sweat rolled down Willmans temple.
No, Im finished with you. Ned and Rhodes, stand back. Theres no need to use those guns youre packing, Dillon said as he settled his left hand over the base of the whip coiled at his hip. I dont want trouble. Do you?