The Outlaw Bride (26 page)

Jacob gathered Rachel into his arms and pulled up the covers. At least she had stopped shivering. Jacob had never felt so helpless, not even when he lost his memory. He simply lay, holding her, the horror of what had just happened to Rachel mixed with the memory of his own flight from harm. The woman who’d saved him was hurt, and it was up to him to keep her alive.

He could feel her breath on his chest, faint but present.

Warming her became his objective. Not knowing what else to do, he rubbed her arms. He threw his bare leg over hers and scrubbed it up and down her thighs and ankles. Over and over, he massaged her bare back, ranging lower, curving under her bottom and up her spine. She was a slim woman, firm from hard work, yet her skin was soft beneath his touch. He felt a responsibility for her, as a husband might feel for his wife, and that surprised him. It bothered him too. Why had he been
running? Where had the money come from? What happened to it? What kind of man was he?

Rolling over, he covered her body with his own, giving her his warmth. Transferring his touch to her stomach, her chest, and finally her breast, he felt a stirring that he could not control.

She let out a tiny gasp and her breath feathered against his chin, then stopped. He thought she’d died. “Rachel.” Without realizing what he was doing, he planted quick little kisses down her cheek. “Rachel, breathe.”

“I would,” she said, “if you weren’t smothering me.”

He leaned back, allowing a shaft of cold air inside the covers. Rachel pulled him down against her. “Maybe being smothered is better than freezing.”

Jacob adjusted his weight onto one elbow, still holding her breast with his hand. “You were wet and cold. I didn’t know what else to do. I’ll move.”

“Don’t move, Jacob,” she said shyly. “Every night I’ve waited for you to come to me, and you didn’t. Now something has forced you into my bed. You’re going to stay right here, where you belong, with your wife. Please?”

His heart rolled over in his chest. “I’m not your husband, Rachel, not really. I’m starting to remember.”

She stopped moving. “You remember?”

“Not everything. Not yet, but soon.”

The dog moved. “Be still, Moses,” he said, grateful for the distraction.

Rachel touched his face with her fingertips. “Moses?”

“He led his people through the wilderness, didn’t he? Well, our Moses led me to you. He earned his name.”

“I’m thinking that somebody else had the idea of sending you to me first.” She put her hand on the back of his neck, fingering his hair and the muscles that
tightened beneath her touch. “Are you going to be my husband tonight?”

He caught his breath. “I want to kiss you, Rachel, in the worst way. But I’m not certain I can stop with a kiss. What if tomorrow we find out who I am? I might not be able to stay with you.”

Rachel winced. She already knew who he was, and the truth was burning a hole in her heart. Come tomorrow, she’d show him the flyer, and after that he could be gone. Tonight might be all she would ever have.

Sucking in her breath, she pulled his face down to meet hers. The heat she’d felt while he rubbed her was a faint glow compared to the fire that let loose in her as his lips captured hers.

He stretched, rubbing his lower body against hers, making his need obvious. He tasted, planting little kisses along her nose and upper lip, whispering as he discovered her. “I want to touch you here and …” He moved his hand lower.

Her belly churned beneath his touch and she squirmed against him, trying desperately to contain the feelings she’d never imagined.

“And here,” he said, his fingers ranging lower still. His kiss mirrored the rhythm of his lower body, and she felt herself turning to reach that which brushed urgently against her.

Then his fingers were inside her most private parts, and she gave up trying to be still.

Jacob pulled back. “Rachel, you’d better stop me.” His voice was breathless and she could feel the tension in his restraint.

“Don’t you want me?”

“Of course I want you. I’m dying with want,” he muttered hoarsely, and took her breast inside his mouth.

She cried out and twisted toward him. He moved over her and replaced his fingers with the part of him that belonged there.

Rachel had been married so she was no stranger to a man’s desire. She expected he’d give two or three thrusts and then collapse on top of her. But it wasn’t happening like that. The urgency was still there, but Jacob curbed his movement while he kissed her again and again, moving so slowly that she thought she would die from this feeling she’d never known. Over and over again he built the rhythm to the breaking point, then stopped to kiss her body, always holding her beneath him.

“Oh, Rachel,” he whispered. “My Rachel.”

“Jacob, please. Please. I want …”

She couldn’t continue. Something was gathering inside her that could not be stopped, and she rose against him as the explosion inside her let go. When he plunged into her, she welcomed him and the shudder of his release that followed. For a long time they didn’t move. They simply lay in each other’s arms.

“I didn’t know,” she said softly. “I was married, but I never knew what it was like to have my husband love me.”

“Well, you know now,” Jacob said. “And I intend to love you again and again—once I get Moses off my feet and unhitch the oxen.”

As Jacob left the wagon, Rachel opened the trunk, unfolded a cloth, and called out, “Moses? Here, come sleep in this nice dry bed.”

The dog, who’d followed Jacob out of the wagon, climbed inside and gave a shake. By the time Jacob returned, he’d settled himself for the rest of the night.

“Now then, Jacob, you’re wet and cold. It’s my turn to warm you.”

As the pearl-gray dawn crept over the eastern mountains, Rachel and Jacob ate the peaches she’d bought at the trading post, feeding each other with their fingers and licking the sweetness they spilled. Finally they slept, each protecting a secret: Jacob, the return of his memory, and Rachel, the hiding of the truth.

In Sharpsburg, Callahan paced his cell. It wasn’t just the confinement that was driving him crazy; it was Josie, missing Josie. He’d cursed her, railed at her for taking charge of his life, made love to her, and tried to send her away. But no matter how he felt about her interference, the memory of their time together fueled the desperate measures he was about to take to prevent her from attending Perryman’s ball. The time had come to force Perryman’s hand, and he had to do it, not Josie. He couldn’t let her get hurt. He went back to digging at the wall.

Callahan couldn’t wait any longer to find Ben.

Tomorrow would seal their future, Callahan thought. Then he’d find Ben.

Across the prairie, on the opposite side of the Green river, a black-and-white stallion approached the mare Rachel had been riding. The mare nickered softly, glanced toward the wagon, then followed the stallion into the shadows.

This was no ghost horse, as Lubina had feared when she first saw him in the storm. This night the two horses would join in order to bring about new life.

Tonight, across the plains, turmoil stirred the lives of Sims Callahan and Josie Miller. But here in the prairie there was harmony, and Rachel and Jacob were at peace.

The next morning Will met Ellie as she was headed out of the hotel.

“Where are you going?”

“To the saloon.”

His surprised look cut through her. “Don’t worry, Will, I’m not reporting to work. The girls and I are fashioning a ball gown for Josie.”

“Oh.” He looked confused, then guilty. “I’m sorry, Ellie, I didn’t mean that. I thought—”

“But you did think that, didn’t you?” They’d reached the last building and were headed across the muddy expanse of land between the town and the saloon. “Go back, Will. You don’t want to be seen with me.”

“Stop that!” he snapped. “Stop jumping to conclusions. I just thought if you needed money or something, I would make you an offer.”

Ellie stopped. Horror closed off her throat. “You were going to offer to buy my services? Oh, Will.”

He caught her arms angrily. “Of course not, Ellie. I mean I—I don’t know what I mean. Ever since you sat with me, let me put my arms around you, I’ve seen you in a different way. All I can think about is—”

He pulled her close and kissed her, thoroughly, completely.

At first she went still for a long minute, then, clumsily, she returned his kiss.

Finally, she pulled away and stared at him in wonder. “The men I knew weren’t much for kissing. Did I do it wrong?”

“You did it very right, Ellie Allgood. At least as far as I’m concerned. What’d you think?”

She gazed at him with an impish grin. “I think if I’d done this for pay, I’d have owned Two Rails and a Mirror instead of being a bar girl.”

“That’s what you want?”

“No, what I want is a ball gown for me, too. I want to waltz with my fella and practice kissing some more.”

“You’d better get busy then,” Will said. “I understand the musicians are already out at Perryman’s, practicing to play the waltz.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“Me? I’m going to find me somebody to teach me how to dance.”

Josie tried to avoid the dinner table at the hotel, but Dr. Annie and the grandfathers wouldn’t hear of it.

“When do you intend to settle up with the ranchers, Josie?” Dan asked.

“I was hoping you’d do that for me,” she answered. “I think they’d accept my loan for their mortgages better if the money came from you.”

Dan took a long drink of his coffee and met Josie’s glance with a nod of agreement. “I will, but this doesn’t sound like you. Usually you want to do everything yourself.”

“And she could, if she wanted to, son,” Teddy Miller said. “Josie’s never been scared of anything in her life.”

Grandfather Sinclair took a long look at Josie and shook his head. “I’m thinking that she’s pretty scared now. What’s wrong, Josie?”

“It’s Callahan, isn’t it?” Dr. Annie said softly.

Josie finally nodded. “He’s innocent of the theft, and I’ll prove it, tonight. But I don’t know what to do about … him.”

“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?” Dan asked.

“I think so, but that doesn’t mean anything. There’s no future for us. His brother comes first. As soon as he’s free he’s going after Ben, and I can’t—no I won’t—stop him. I’d do the same thing if it were me.”

Annie reached out and took Josie’s hand. “Then you have to go with him.”

Josie fought the moisture gathering in her eyes. “He’s not the marrying kind, Mama.”

“You going to let that stop you?”

“But what about being a lady? What about my law practice? What about my hope of showing women that any one of them can be somebody? Lubina was right. Sims Callahan is a devil. I should never have let him—”

Annie folded her hands across her lap. “Josie, fourteen years ago I came out here with a dream. I wanted a place where I could be accepted for what I was, a woman doctor. I wanted no part of your father. He was an annoyance that I wanted to avoid. I was wrong. He became my strength. But the west gave me a chance, a promise that I could be whatever I wanted to be. The west hasn’t changed.”

Dan smiled. “Annie just set the example for you, Josie. Nobody asked you to be a lady. We only forced you to open your mind to your potential. You were the one who chose to practice law. Once you clear Callahan of the charges, you can marry him and hunt gold in Alaska if you want. Don’t you understand? I hope that no matter what we’ve taught you, you’ve learned that a woman can be whatever she chooses, if she wants to work hard enough to accomplish it. You just have to decide what you want and what you’ll pay to get it.” He stood. “Now, let’s get organized here. We need to load up and move out to the Perryman ranch for the ball. I expect Judge McSparren is already there. I want to have a little talk with him. I’ll spread the word that the men should gather at the bank tomorrow at one o’clock to pick up their funds, and I’ll ask the judge to join us. That will put pressure on Perryman to give up foreclosure for now.”

“Thank you,” Josie said. “Ellie and I haven’t finished our dresses. We’ll come out later.”

“All right,” Annie agreed, and hugged her daughter. “Just know that we’ll support you in whatever you decide to do. And please make sure there are no more jail-breaks,” she added. “Judge McSparren isn’t likely to be sympathetic.”

“No, he isn’t,” Josie agreed.
And he won’t go easy on a burglar if I get caught breaking into Perryman’s safe.

It was only later when she looked into her mirror and saw that there was no darkening of the skin around her eye. She was doubly grateful that she hadn’t mentioned the threat on her life. She touched the derringer in her pocket and sighed. Nobody was going to stop her. She’d find proof. No matter what.

Across the prairie, the late morning sun cut through the canvas of the wagon and fell across Rachel’s face. She watched Jacob dress, still dazed and filled with awe at what they’d shared. “You’re getting up?”

“It’s late. Peaches only go so far. I think we’re both in need of real food.” He blushed. Surely he’d spent time with a woman before. Why was he feeling so foolish now?

“Yes, food,” she said, and rimmed her lips with her tongue.

Jacob swallowed his breath and opened the canvas drawstrings at the front of the wagon. It took every ounce of control he possessed to climb down and leave Rachel lying there.

He found that everything was still soaked. After checking on the oxen, he headed for the river and the stand of cottonwoods that bordered it. They’d lost Rosie the cow, but he found the saddle near the place where Rachel had
fallen. He took it to the wagon, then headed back to the cottonwoods in search of dry underbrush.

When he arrived back at the wagon, he could hear Rachel talking to the dog.

“Now, just because I let you sleep in my hope chest last night doesn’t mean its your bed, Moses. You’ve got to get up and go help your papa. I’m just going to move these linens and get my good dress. This old one is wet; it’ll have to dry and I want my
husband
to see me looking nice. Don’t moon at me with such a long face, little one. I’ll find you another bed.”