Foxfire Bride (36 page)

Fox sucked in a breath and an odd stricken expression clouded her gaze. She looked as if she might topple off the mustang. When she finally spoke her voice sounded choked, and he had to lean forward to hear. "Gossip travels faster and farther than you think. People would gossip about that radish-growing wife of yours. They would think you'd lost your mind."

"I don't give a damn." Silently, he cursed. This wasn't the time or the place for this conversation. They should have been naked in a big bed with candles glowing and a bottle of good wine close at hand.

"Well, you should care. You deserve better than being saddled with a wife you'd have to defend. Besides, a man who goes through everything you have to rescue his father doesn't throw away his father's good opinion." She jerked her reins. "And he shouldn't."

Frowning, he watched her ride away. For the first time in his life, Tanner had just asked a woman to marry him, albeit in a roundabout impulsive way, and she had rejected him. Damn it. Everything had come together in his mind so perfectly. The land Fox. He wanted both more than he'd ever wanted anything.

The land he could have. Fox, he would have to work on. She had told him all the reasons why she could never fit into his world, and he had agreed. The solution was obvious now that he'd found it. He could fit into her world.

They didn't have to live in a city. They could live in a place like this valley that didn't have a layer of society waiting to pass judgment on those who didn't fit the prescribed mold. Here, she wouldn't be ostracized or made to feel inadequate.

As for him, Tanner wouldn't miss the attractions of a city. The instant he had completed his education, he'd left cities behind and had headed west to work in rough-and-tumble mining areas. That had been his preference from the first. Occasionally he'd experienced an urge for the trappings of greater civilization, and satisfied those temporary urges by heading to the nearest city for a few days of museums and galleries, good newspapers and high-scale restaurants.

The same could happen here, he thought, letting his gaze travel the length of the valley. When a yearning for culture struck, he could ride to Denver. It would be a joy to expose Fox to art and music and foods she'd never tasted, to install her in a luxurious suite and pamper her and buy her silly trinkets that would make her laugh.

Touching his heels to the bay's sides, he cantered after the others, who had already begun the descent. Once they reached the valley floor, he looked around and nodded. Eventually, roads, railroads, and culture would come to this valley. A treasure like this would not long remain undiscovered. Already a few farms had appeared. Settlements would follow, and someday a city. It would be gratifying to play a role in the valley's growth and development.

Peaches appeared beside him. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"A man could make a life here."

"How would your daddy feel about that?"

"Disappointed." But he'd done a lot of thinking since the Shoshone had shot him. "I've spent all of my life trying to live up to my father's expectations, Mr. Hernandez. I'm through."

Peaches nodded. "Have you discussed those expectations with your father?"

He waited for Peaches to stop coughing before he answered. "Enough to know that my father made sacrifices to ensure that I'd have the education, background, and contacts to make a mark in the world. I doubt he'll place fossil hunting in that category."

Looking ahead. Peaches watched Fox ride along the banks of the Gunnison, her brow creased in concentration, searching out the best spot for crossing.

"I've never been a father, Mr. Tanner, but I think I know a little about it. A father wants his child to make sound decisions, and often that means imposing the decisions the father wants the child to make. He might feel disappointed when the child rejects his guidance, might even feel angry. But in the end" His gaze softened on Fox, "a father wants his child to be happy. Even when he doesn't agree with the means of that happiness. In the end, the father will set aside his own hopes and dreams for the child and wish the child well."

"Am I one of those means to happiness that you don't agree with?" Tanner asked.

"It's a worry, Mr. Tanner, that it is. Even if the fancy people would welcome Missy with open arms, which they never will, Missy couldn't be happy frittering away her days tatting doilies and watching maids clean a house she'd rather clean herself." Sad eyes swung to Tanner. "And if you persuaded her to set aside her own goals and come here to settle down well, I know my Missy. She couldn't be happy if she believed you'd disappointed your father on her account."

"You just said"

"I know. That your father will come around. And I believe he will. But time has to pass before that happens, and during that time, angry things will be said. Missy will never forget them. She'll always blame herself for coming between you and your father. That won't make her or me happy."

Frustrated, Tanner spread his hands, his hard gaze on Fox. "Then how do I resolve this problem?"

"I'm not sure that you can." Peaches shook his head. "I'm thinking on the problem, too, and now that I know your intentions, I'll think harder. But what you and Missy want is a complicated situation."

Tanner experienced an absurd urge to formally request Fox's hand. A smile curved his lips. "You're a good man, Peaches Hernandez."

"So are you, Mr. Tanner."

Fox shouted up at them. "Bring those mules down here. The day isn't getting any younger!"

Before Tanner rode out, he glanced at Peaches. "There's something Fox said she'd like to tell me but she can't. Do you happen to know what that would be?"

"I might." Peaches pressed his handkerchief to his lips and waited for the spell to pass. "But it's up to her to tell."

Tanner stared after him. He'd expected Peaches to give him a flat-out no. He didn't like the confirmation that Fox hid something of a serious nature.

Half angry, he rode down to the Gunnison and stopped beside Jubal who was holding Fox's string of mules. Fox had ridden across the river and returned while they waited and watched.

"It isn't as deep or as fast as it looks," she said, taking off her hat and wiping her sleeve across her forehead. She jerked a thumb at Jubal. "He wants to stop here for a bath and a swim."

"We have three more weeks," Tanner calculated. Sun glistened on the sweat on her throat. He wanted to lay her in the tall grass and lick that sweat off her skin. Turning his head, he looked away and swallowed. "Is that enough time?"

Frowning, she narrowed her eyes on Jubal's grin. "We'll stay long enough for everyone to have a bath. Then we'll put in a couple more hours riding." She mustered a smile as Peaches joined them. "Does a nice cool bath sound good to you?"

"I could stand to lose a couple pounds of dust and grime."

"All right. As soon as I get that string of mules across, I'll make some coffee."

She was covered by red dust, hot, sweaty, and focused on the river crossing. Tanner's thighs tightened. She was the most magnificent woman he'd ever known. He wanted her in his bed, in his life. He didn't want a future without her.

After they forded the river, Fox set a fire and started the coffee, then she turned the animals out to forage and cleaned her gun while the men bathed. She wished there was something more complicated to do so she didn't have to think about what Tanner had said. Or how she had responded.

Lord, Lord. Unless she'd misunderstood, Matthew Tanner wanted to marry her. The shock of it had been so great that she didn't even remember bringing the animals across the river. And refusing him then riding away had been one of the hardest things she'd ever done. Hunching forward, she covered her face with her hands.

Oh, she knew he believed what he'd said. And by and large it was probably even true. Most of the time he wouldn't give a damn what people whispered about her, not out here. And in the beginning, he might not blame her for the estrangement that was sure to occur between him and his father if he married someone like Fox. But eventually, he would. How could he not?

And then there was Hobbs Jennings. Assuming, and it was a huge assumption, that she could kill Jennings without getting caught, she could never confess it to Tanner. So there would always be a secret between them. There would always be a chance that someday a posse would find her and then Tanner would learn that she'd killed a man he admired as much as he admired his father.

Dropping her hands, she stared down at the oil and rags in her lap. Slowly, she ran a finger down the barrel of the gun. She didn't have to kill Jennings.

The instant the thought passed her mind, every cell in her mind and body protested. It was not right that Hobbs Jennings should get away with stealing his dead wife's fortune and destroying his stepdaughter. The need to make Jennings pay for what he'd done was as much a part of Fox as her red braid and blue gray eyes. Hating him had kept her going during the bad times when she couldn't think of a reason for living.

How could she walk away from her hatred without acting on it? How could she live with herself knowing she could have punished Jennings but had not? If she walked away from revenge, would a time come when she and Tanner looked at each other with resentment hot in their hearts? Over time, would love flare into blame as the impact of what they had given up took root? To be together, Tanner had to turn his back on his father, and she had to abandon the one goal she had dreamed of accomplishing for as long as she could remember. A single tear dropped on the back of her hand.

That night they camped between the cliffs of the Grand Mesa and the waters of the Grand River, which they had caught up to again and would follow for several days. At supper they talked about the two dangerous sections of narrow canyons the Grand plunged through.

"Can we detour around the canyons?" Tanner asked.

Fox shook her head. "Following the river is the fastest cut through the mountains. Any other route would add at least two weeks to the journey."

Jubal looked up. "How bad is it going to be?"

"Through most of the canyons, we'll have to travel single file with only a few feet between rock walls and the water. A slip means disaster. The Grand shoots deep and fast through the canyons."

"When do we reach those canyons, Missy?"

"We'll enter the first set tomorrow morning." She peered into the dusk toward the north. "If I have this figured right, we'll reach the second set of canyons at the half-moon. That's good because there's no place in that canyon wide enough to pitch a camp. We'll continue until we come out the other side." When no one said anything, Fox drew a breath. "It's your decision," she said, speaking to Tanner, "but I'd suggest you disperse the money bags among four mules. That way, we don't risk everything if we lose the money mule."

Standing, he extended a hand. "Let's take a walk and talk about it."

Jubal rolled his eyes. "Nothing like a bath to make a man want to take a walk. Yes sir, that's what I always want to do after a bath."

Ignoring the comment, Fox let Tanner take her hand as they moved toward the deeper shadows near a sheer rock wall. Neither spoke when Tanner turned her to face him. Fox cupped his face between her palms and tried to see his eyes through the falling darkness.

"I can't grow your radishes, Tanner," she whispered. "I'd like to. But I can't. It just won't work, so don't go pushing."

He kissed her with hungry passion, ravishing her mouth while his hands roamed to her waist. "Why?"

Fox's eyelids dropped and she moaned softly. She knew that tone of voice, knew desire deepened the timbre. Already his hands had found bare skin and a shivery thrill shot through her body.

"I'd be an embarrassment to you."

Cupping her buttocks, he clasped her hard up against his erection, letting her feel the power of his need. "That's ridiculous." This time when his lips crushed hers, there was anger behind them.

Struggling for breath, Fox pressed her hands against his chest. "You say that now, but"

He smothered her words by forcing her lips apart with his tongue and tasted deeply of her. Slowly, they sank to the ground, locked in an embrace.

"Tanner" She gasped his name, wanting to say something that fled her mind as his hands slid up under her shirt and found nipples that had risen rock hard in excitement. When his thumb scraped across the buds, she arched her back and forgot everything but the tension building beneath his hands and his tongue in the hollow of her throat.

When neither of them could bear a minute longer the blaze of desire that brought sweat to temples and skin, they threw off their clothing and fell backward on the sparse grass, unmindful of small pebbles or insects. A stagecoach could have rattled past missing them by a few feet and Fox would not have noticed. Nothing existed except Tanner rising above her, muscles rippling down his chest, his gaze holding hers.

They moved together in a symphony of their own making, and Fox was certain no other two people in the history of the world had created this magic between them. No other woman had felt what she felt for Matthew Tanner. No other man had known how to inflame a woman's sensations or how to take her to the pinnacle of joy and amazement.

Afterward, they lay on top of their clothing, letting the cool night breezes dry their skin. Fox nestled her head in the hollow of his shoulder and smiled up at the growing moon. She was happy. At first she hadn't recognized the peculiar warm lightness expanding her chest. When she did, she had laughed aloud with delight.

And she had come within a heartbeat of saying "I love you." Thankfully, she had stifled the powerful need to say the words, because once spoken, such words could not be recalled. And had she said the words she longed to speak, she would have complicated an already complex situation.

"Fox? I want you to marry me. No, don't say anything," he said against the top of her head. "Just listen a minute. You and I are much alike. We share the same values and commitments to duty, loyalty, and honor. Both of us have been shaped by the past. I want to change that and I believe you do, too. I believe we can make a fresh start and a good life right here, in this valley."