Dorothy Garlock - [Wyoming Frontier] (32 page)

“Sweetheart, I was desperate to get you away and be alone with you. Would you be awfully angry if I told you that I made up the story about the stage coming to Trinity in order to get you to come to Virginia City with me so that I could marry you?”

“I would be furious!”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

“Rowe! That was dishonest.”

“Yeah, it was. It took me three days to think of how I could lie convincingly enough for you to believe me.” There was a look of unabashed pride on his face.

“The stage isn’t coming to Trinity?”

“Ah . . . maybe someday.”

“Garrick Rowe! You’re not only a sneak, you’re a liar too. What am I going to do with you?” she scolded, but her eyes were full of merriment.

“But I’m other things too, sweetheart.” He teased her.

“For instance?”

“I’m sweet, kind, overly intelligent, patient, and sort of . . . handsome.”

“All true, I’m sorry to say. But you forgot to add conceited, overbearing and arrogant. Well”—she said with mock sternness—“I know how to cure that.”

“You’ve already paid me back for being sneaky. Tonight you can pay me back for lying. But I’ll make damn sure that we don’t camp near the water.”

She laughed again, and his big, booming laugh joined hers. The smile on his face was the most beautiful one she’d ever seen. There was no past, no lonely future, only Rowe, her husband forever and always.

“I want to kiss you again. I’ve been thinking about it since we left town.” His voice lowered huskily as his hand moved up from her shoulder to curl about her neck and pull her toward him.

“Then get on with it, Genghis Khan, or I’ll shoot your toe off.” Her eyes danced lovingly over his face.

He drew back and looked at her. “Dammit, Katy. Do you still have that Derringer in your pocket?”

“Uh-huh.” She cocked her head to one side and wrinkled her nose at him. “It isn’t loaded, but no one knows that but me and now you.” Her laughter floated on the cool, crisp air.

He reached for her and pulled her over to sit on his thighs. Apollo protested the extra weight until Rowe spoke a sharp word to him.

“I’ve been waiting too,” Katy said before she took his kiss thirstily. “I’m going to give you enough love to make up for your brother.” Their kisses were long and deep and full of promised passion. His fingers moved up into her hair, their touch strong and possessive. His lips pulled away, but he kept her close.

“I love everything about you, Mrs. Rowe,” he said quietly.

“I’m glad. I want to be with you forever.”

“You shall be, my Nightrose. We’ll know the perfect fusion of soul and spirit that comes only when two people are matched as we are matched and love as we love—”

“I don’t know if I knew you in another life, my sweet love, but I’m sure glad I found you in this one.”

He kissed her again. Her lips clung moistly to his. His hand slipped inside her shirt. His eyes held hers while his fingers cupped about the soft flesh of her breast and his forefinger teased a nipple that hardened instantly.

“These are mine now,” he whispered huskily.

“Yes, yours—”

His lips fell hungrily to hers. They were demanding, yet tender. His tongue deeply invaded the mouth that parted so eagerly for him as Katy snuggled in his arms and tugged at the hair on the nape of his neck, innocently unaware of the arousal that was giving him pain.

“Sweetheart, we’d better stop this, or we’ll be camping here tonight in plain view of Virginia City.”

She laughed, pulled away from him, and slid to the ground. When she was mounted again, she looked into his dark, craggy face and her eyes mirrored the love in her heart.

“You’re also brave and dependable and I’m proud you’ll be the father of my children,” she said as if adding to their early conversation.

They headed south at a leisurely walk, staying among the trees and climbing. Rowe explained that the trail they followed crossed the corner of Sam Sparks’ ranch, but was miles from the house. He promised that they would come back for a visit before the snow clogged the mountain trails.

In the late afternoon they entered an area where the quiet hung over the timbered mountainside. In the diffused sunlight and dense shade, birds flitted, squirrels scolded, and a deer with a fawn by her side stared at them, then bounded away. Katy watched, wondering how she could have ever hated this beautiful country. Nothing in Alabama could compare with the wild, raw beauty of these cool green mountains with their cold, fast-moving streams.

Katy was jarred from her reverie when Juliet stopped behind the packhorse Rowe was leading. He had turned in the saddle and was looking at her.

“Tired?”

“I haven’t even thought about it.”

“Come here, sweetheart. I want to show you something.” Katy urged Juliet up beside the big black. Rowe reached for her hand. “See that cabin down there. It’s abandoned. Anton and I have stayed there a couple of times. I had planned for us to spend our wedding night out under the stars, but it looks as if it will rain before long.”

The small log structure seemed scarcely high enough for Rowe to stand upright within it. It sat beside a small stream and nestled against a bluff. To the front and one side was an open area of meadow grass on which a herd of elk were grazing.

“It’s beautiful. Why would someone build such a place and then leave it?”

“Many reasons. Some people can’t stand the loneliness.”

“There’s nothing as lonely as a town after all the people are gone,” she said quietly.

Rowe looked at her and thought with a sinking feeling that she should have a wedding night in a soft, sweet-smelling bed, not in a cold, drafty mountain cabin with a dirt floor and a roof that probably leaked.

“Katy, darling, you can have any kind of house you want, anywhere you want it—”

She saw the distressed look on his face and was moved by it. “Do you think I regret leaving Virginia City and coming into the wilderness for our wedding night? It was my suggestion. Remember? Let’s get on down to our home for the night before we get rained on.”

The cabin, when they reached it, was far more dilapidated than it had looked to be from a distance. But it was shelter. A low rumble of thunder came from the southwest, dark clouds rolled overhead, and the wind turned cold. Katy unsaddled her mare and carried the saddle into the cabin. Rowe worked swiftly. He stashed the bundles from the packhorse inside; while he fastened the horses to a quickly rigged picket line, Katy gathered firewood and piled it beside the crude but adequate fireplace. Rowe came in with a load of wood in his arms just as the rain began to fall.

Katy shivered while Rowe built a fire that illuminated the small enclosure. The cabin was completely bare except for two empty tin cans, the tops partially opened and folded back. She was amazed at her own feelings. She had been appalled by some of the places she and Mary had been forced to live in these past years, but none of them were as crude as this one. Yet, because Rowe was with her, it seemed not to matter at all.

As soon as the fire was going, he stood and opened his arms. Katy went into them. He held her bruisingly close. The drabness of their surroundings were forgotten as his trembling hands traced the form of her softly rounded breasts, spanned her small waist, and stroked the curve of her hips while his mouth closed over hers.

Twenty

A low growl of protest came from Rowe’s throat. His arms tightened and the words he muttered were scattered from her ear along her jaw to her mouth.

“I didn’t plan for us to spend our wedding night in a shack with a dirt floor.”

“What did you plan?” she breathed, entranced, her fingers caressing his nape.

“I wanted us to be under a clear, star-filled sky, far away from everything and everyone.”

“You’ve got half of it, love. We’re far away from everyone.” She drew back to look into his dark face. Her fingers moved to stroke the silky hair above his lips. “I can do without the clear, star-filled sky, if you can.”

“Katy, Katy, Katy. You’re wonderful.”

“I’m no such thing!” She laughed happily. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat our supper. I’m going to need my strength for the full night of loving ahead.”

“You’re right about that!” He kissed her thoroughly and deeply while his hands roved over her back and buttocks. Needing to feel more of her, he leaned into her and levered his upper body away, pushing his aching arousal against her soft body.

Katy’s breath quickened at the touch. She melted into him, helpless to deny him anything. It felt so good, so right, leaning against his most intimate part. She moved her pelvis from side to side and watched his face light with pleasure as his breath quickened along with hers.

“Where did you learn to do that?” he demanded gruffly.

“From you. You taught me a thousand years ago.”

“I’ll thank God every day of my life for letting me meet you again!” He pressed his hardness against her softness for a delicious moment, then determinedly moved back. “You’re perfect. Sweet and perfect”—he kissed her because he couldn’t help himself and because he wanted her so much— “but we’d better stop, eat, and fix our bed.”

“I know.” The regret in her voice was obvious.

Carefully, gently, he put her from him while looking deeply into eyes that gazed adoringly back into his. God help me to go slowly, he prayed silently. Help me to make our coming together a sacred commitment and not purely an act of gratifying my lust. With all the restraint he could muster, he placed little pecking kisses on her nose, her forehead, and then turned to untie the pack beside the door.

While the rain beat at the walls and roof of the shack, Rowe spread a canvas on the floor in front of the fire, covered it with several blankets, and placed his saddle at one end for Katy to lean against. The sparks in his dark eyes danced like embers in the night as he bowed at the waist with Old World courtesy and invited her to sit down.

Sitting side by side they ate the feast of meat, buttered bread, boiled eggs, and honey cakes Beulah had prepared and drank the coffee Rowe made from the water in their canteens. They sat quietly, listening to the rain, content to be together, eyes catching, escaping, meeting again. There was no yesterday and no tomorrow, just the present; the two of them were alone in the world. They were eating because it was necessary, but to them, corn pone and sow belly would have served.

While Katy wrapped the remainder of the food in a cloth and put it back in the bag, Rowe wedged a stout pole against the door.

“I’m quite sure there’s no one around, but just in case I’m wrong, we don’t want a surprise visit.” He squatted down, poked at the fire and added another piece of wood.

Katy came to stand beside him, gazing down on his dark head. When he looked up, the longing in his eyes stirred her. She’d seen this big hard man do what he had to do the day the outlaws came to Trinity and on the day they were attacked on the trail. Right now, he seemed like a small boy silently asking for her approval. He needed love as much as she did. She reached out and drew his head against her thigh and ran her fingers through his thick, wild hair.

“I’m going to give you enough love to make up for Justin,” she promised softly. “I’m going to give you sunshine and peace and love every day of our lives,” she vowed and commanded herself not to cry.

“I know I have that when I’m with you,” he told her, his voice suddenly thick.

“I’m glad,” she whispered. “I’m so glad.”

Katy sat down on the blanket and removed her shoes. She pulled the thick braid of hair over her shoulder, untied the end and unraveled the braid. Kneeling beside her, Rowe took the long tresses from her hands, and with fingers both strong and gentle combed through her hair, spreading it about her shoulders. Then he tipped her face back so that she would have to meet his eyes.

“I love you. I have loved you always.” His words were husky with emotion. He held her tightly, but Katy could not get close enough. She pressed herself to him, desiring to melt into his body. His kisses were fierce, his mouth moist and firm, forcing hers to open so that his tongue could wander over her soft inner lips before venturing deeper. Then he raised his head to look into her face, and she saw all he was feeling. “You’re so beautiful, so sweet—”

There were no secrets. Right there in his eyes was all Katy ever wanted to know. When he sat and drew her across his lap, and his mouth found hers again, she yielded to him fully, responding naturally, ardently.

“If I kissed you ten million times, my Nightrose, it would not be enough,” he breathed against her mouth. His lips moved across hers slowly, as if afraid he would miss a tiny part while his fingers worked at the buttons on her shirt. Finally her breast was bare, and, he drew in a deep trembling breath, his eyes filled with awe and pleasure.

Katy trembled with delight at each tantalizing caress of his fingers as he stroked her nipples. When his mouth replaced his fingers and his tongue continued the stroking, she sucked in her breath, so great was the pleasure.

“Feel good?”

“Oh, yes!”

“Do you want me to get your nightdress?”

“Do I need one?”

“I’d just take it off.”

“Then don’t bother, my love.”

With trustful innocence, Katy moved out of his arms to take off her shirt and pull the short shift up over her head. She was bare to the waist. Rowe watched her, caressing her with his eyes.

“You’re lovelier than I ever imagined.”

She reached out to caress his face, to place her hand against his chest and whisper his name, and he trembled at the depth of his need to have her warm and naked in his arms.

“You’re beautiful too.”

“Turn around, sweetheart, while I take off my clothes. I don’t want to scare you to death.”

Rowe quickly shed his clothing and pulled one of the blankets over him to cover his throbbing erection. Sitting on the edge of the blanket in her drawers, Katy folded her riding skirt and shivered in the cool, damp air.

Behind her, Rowe’s fingers parted her hair and flung it over her shoulders. His arms, lightly sprinkled with soft black hair, came around her to cross in front beneath the rich fall of her tresses. His hands covered her breasts. With her back pressed tightly to his naked chest, he pressed his face into the curve of her neck.