Foxfire Bride (32 page)

"Well?"

"If I'd known you were looking for a man I might have thrown my hat in the ring."

Fox's shoulders jerked back and she stared. "I wasn't looking for a man." Anger heated her cheeks. "Tanner and me it just happened."

"Did it happen because he's got a rich daddy?"

"The gold doesn't have anything to do with anything! I've told you before, this is none of your damned business."

"If you're staying in Denver because of him, you're in for a fall." Now he straightened in his saddle but he still didn't look at her. "I'm asking you to go back to Carson City with me."

Fox's mouth fell open. After a minute she dashed rain from her eyes and looked away, frowning. "For the last time, I'm not going back to Carson City. I have business in Denver. And before you ask, it's none of your concern."

"I could wait in Denver until you finish your business."

He was making this difficult and embarrassing them both. "I don't have a hankering in your direction." Blunt was best in situations like this. "Furthermore, just so there's no misunderstanding, it's not you in particular," she said, although it was mostly him in particular, "there's not going to be another man for me."

"You're turning me down."

"Yes."

He nodded shortly, scattering raindrops. "Then it's on your head. When things go wrong, remember that you could have prevented it." Jerking savagely at the reins, he turned his horse and rode down the line of mules.

Twisting in the saddle, Fox looked back, pissed that he'd approached her in that way and also because once again he'd taken it on himself to offer advice she didn't need or want. She was still irritated when they stopped for the night and she stared across the fire at Hanratty, who stared back at her.

Peaches held his hands to the flames and sighed. "The heat feels good." He tilted his head to check the clouds. "I think it's going to rain again before we have a chance to dry out."

"Count your blessings, old man." Jubal cupped his hands around his coffee cup. "It ain't raining now."

"Well, Missy, I've been putting you off for several nights. Tonight I think I have the energy to beat you in one game."

"How about we put it off for one more night?" She ran an eye over his wet clothing and weary expression. The sooner he crawled into his tent and donned dry duds and got some early sleep, the better. "I'm not in the mood to get whipped at chess." It broke her heart that he looked relieved and didn't argue.

"Are you in a mood to take a walk?" Tanner asked, standing and stretching his neck against his hand.

With a final glance at Hanratty, she stood and walked out on the short wet grass, stopping near the horses.

"What's going on between you and Hanratty?" Tanner asked, coming up beside her.

"Nothing important."

She'd had a few hours to consider their conversation and what puzzled her most was the timing. Why would Hanratty choose to ask her to take up with him now instead of waiting until they were a day or two out of Denver? To Fox's way of thinking, that would have made more sense, to approach her when the liaison with Tanner was ending. Hanratty had to realize that she was committed for the duration of this trip.

"I had a horse this color when I was a boy." Tanner stroked his hand down his big bay's neck. "His name was Cannonball. Do you remember your first horse?"

"Oh yes." She glanced at his mouth, swallowed hard, and ran a hand down the bay's flank. Lord, she loved kissing this man. "On my first trip east, I lived with Some Paiutes for a few months. When I left, they gave me a mustang. I've favored mustangs ever since."

"That's right. You said you'd spent some time with the Indians." Tanner studied her with interest. "Did they capture you?"

Fox laughed. "No. I just wandered into their camp one day, cold and hungry. They were so astonished to find a woman traveling in the wilderness alone that they invited me to stay a while. I think they thought I had magic powers or something."

"I'm astonished, too," Tanner said, meaning it. "You really crossed the wilderness by yourself?"

"I was seventeen. Too young to know that women didn't do that sort of thing."

"Seriously, why did you?" Hands clasped, they walked away from the horses.

"I'd just learned that my stepfather had stolen my life." She drew a long breath and held it a moment. "I decided I'd go to Denver and kill the bastard."

Tanner stopped and peered at her face. "Good Lord. Did you kill him?" he asked softly.

She shook her head. "I found him all right. He lived in a big mansion on a hilly street. When I got there, the place was lit up like daylight and surrounded by fancy carriages. I stood in the trees about an hour watching people going in and out, dressed like kings and queens. And I felt about this big." She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "I realized I'd wasted almost a year getting there because I'd never get close enough to him to kill him. I don't know," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Maybe I could have. But I turned cowardly. He seemed so big and important, and I was I don't know. But I turned around and went to Carson City where I hooked up with Peaches again." She shrugged. "Folks made a fuss about a woman making the wilderness trip twice by herself, but it didn't seem that special at the time."

Tanner took her into his arms and held her. "I'm sorry, Fox. I wish things had been different for you."

"You know what I wish I'd been able to do?" She leaned back and looked up at him. "I wish I'd seen Paris, France. If my stepfather hadn't stolen my inheritance, I would have taken a trip to Paris. Would you tell me about it? Is it really the city of lights like they say in the books?"

Between kisses and heated touches, he told her. But she didn't pay attention. Instead, she marveled at how much she thrilled to the touch of his hands and the lingering taste of his mouth. If the ground hadn't been muddy, she would have dragged him down and pulled the blissful weight of him on top of her. Since she couldn't do that, she let his deep voice enchant her, enjoying the sound of his words more than the words themselves.

"What are you thinking?" she asked as she straightened her clothing before they returned to camp.

"I was imagining you in Paris," he said, smiling down at her. "I'd love to see your face the first time you saw Versailles. Or when you entered Notre Dame."

Fox felt her eyes shining at the pictures that rose in her mind. "I'd like to have coffee in one of those sidewalk cafes. Hold my pinky finger out like this." She mimicked her idea of a grand lady and was rewarded when he laughed. "And ride in one of those little boats and dangle my fingers in the water like the ladies in pictures do." She let her head loll back and made a trailing gesture with her hand.

Tanner caught her up in his arms and held her so tightly that the breath squeezed out of her. "Christ, Fox. I" His mouth came down hard and he kissed her until her scalp was on fire.

When he released her, she blinked at him, stunned, and raised trembling fingers to her lips. "My Lord," she whispered. "Tell me what I said to bring that on so I can say it again."

"Do you suppose anyone would notice if I snuck into your tent tonight?"

Laughing, she kissed him on the chin. "Probably no more than three people." She loved it when he sighed with frustration and disappointment equal to her own.

Tanner led a string of mules and Fox rode beside him most of the next day. They talked about growing up, told funny stories on themselves, shared memories that explained and entertained. Late in the day Tanner found himself talking about the mining industry and how he'd grown bored doing a job so familiar there were few challenges left to conquer.

"What would you rather do?" Fox asked curiously.

"There's a growing market for fossils," he said, having thought about it. "I'd enjoy hunting fossils for museums."

"Why don't you do it then?" she suggested, direct as always.

The answer circled back to his father. The expectation had always been that one day Tanner would take over the business. His education had been directed toward that end and most of what he'd accomplished since had added skills that would serve him well when the time came. His father had worked a lifetime to build something for Tanner's future and the future of any children he might have. Naturally he expected Tanner to eventually head the company.

"I suspect my father will consider me going into a different line of work as the ultimate betrayal," he said, keeping his voice light. But that conversation would come, and soon. He knew he would not return to the Carson City area to pick up where he'd left off. And he knew his decision to leave the mining industry would devastate his father.

Fox glanced at him but didn't comment. There was no way she could understand the bonds of family obligation or the desire not to wound a man who had sacrificed and worked hard to give Tanner the best that a father could give. When Tanner went out on his own it would be hard on them both.

"You've told me about life as a mining engineer, what would your life be like if you were a fossil hunter?"

"Rustic," he said, smiling. "I'll live like a gypsy, moving from place to place in the west. Camping out for weeks or months during the search. If I'm fortunate enough to find well-preserved specimens, I'll solicit buyers, pack the bones and ship them. And begin the search again."

Fox's eyes sparkled with interest. "That sounds interesting. If there's any money in fossils, it sounds like a good life."

"Only you would say that," he responded, laughing.

"I don't think most women would." But she wasn't remotely like most women.

Their conversation drifted to the sandstone hills around them and the towering red cliffs. Here the wind had sculpted soft sandstone into strange and wonderful shapes. Before they reached the staging area for the river crossing, they passed a hundred wind-wrought arches of amazing and magnificent proportions. As fossils were on his mind, Tanner would have liked the time to prowl the hills in search of ancient treasure. Someday it would happen.

Beside him, Fox swore then slapped a hand on her thigh as if angry with herself. She drew a breath and said, "Well, my stars. I'd hoped to get here early enough to camp by the fort, but others beat us to it."

"My stars?" Arching an eyebrow, he smiled at the flush on her cheeks.

She ignored him, her gaze on the ruins of a fort the Mormons had built and then abandoned after problems with the Utes. "We'll camp closer to the river."

"And closer to the mosquitos."

They rode past the crumbling walls of the fort, nodding to those already camped there. Tanner thought he recognized two or three parties who had been at Green River. His guess was confirmed when three men called a greeting to Hanratty and Hanratty shouted back.

Once camp was set up and the fire going, Hanratty asked if there would a problem if he had supper with the men near the fort.

Tanner glanced at the gold tucked beneath his saddle. "Go ahead."

"There might be a poker game later."

Tanner nodded. "Just be ready to go in the morning."

Hanratty looked over his shoulder at Jubal Brown. "I'd invite you in, but those boys don't trust strangers."

"Makes a body wonder how you got so friendly with them."

"It's my charm," Hanratty said with a grin. He slicked back his hair and settled his hat before he walked away.

Frowning, Tanner watched Hanratty go, taking with him any hope for some private time with Fox. Since Peaches didn't count for the two-gun rule, he couldn't leave Jubal Brown alone.

"Mr. Hernandez," he said later. "Would you care for a game of chess or checkers?"

"I think you could beat me tonight with your eyes closed." Peaches raised a weary smile. "Instead, how about we just talk some?"

"I'd like that, too. Anything particular on your mind?"

Peaches apologized for a coughing fit then said, "Do you believe in heaven and hell, Mr. Tanner?"

"I regret to say that I've never settled that question to my satisfaction."

Peaches nodded. "I do believe. But it's troubling me that the standards for heaven are set so high. Maybe too high for an ordinary man to slip through."

"Well that's just crap," Fox said, joining them. "If you can't get past the gates of heaven, then no one can. And that means it isn't a place you'd want to be anyway. Now think about it," she said, handing Peaches a cup of cold river water. "If the standards are as high as you're thinking, then there wouldn't be enough people up there to give you a game of chess." She slapped a mosquito on her neck. "When you dieyears from nowSaint Peter is going to drag your butt inside with a whole lot of hallelujahs. He'll hand you some wings and a halo and the prettiest angel. Probably give you some new overalls if you ask nice."

"Is this a private conversation or can anyone join?" Jubal sat down beside Peaches. "Do you play poker, old man?"

"I don't care much for it, but I play."

"You two?" Pulling a deck out of his waistcoat pocket, Jubal riffled the cards.

"Better think about it," Fox warned. "If you play with me, I'll have everything you own in three hours."

Tanner smiled. "I've played a time or two."

"Good." Jubal moved away from Peaches to a spot where Peaches couldn't see his hand. "We'll have our own poker game."

"We'll have to play with beans," Tanner insisted. "I don't take money from employees."

"That won't be a consideration," Jubal said. When Tanner stared at him, he sighed. "Beans it is."

At one time or another, each of them had been far ahead of the others, but at the end, exactly as she'd predicted, Fox walked away with all the beans. She winked at them, then said good night and, whistling, swaggered to her tent.

"Nothing I hate worse than losing to a woman!" Jubal looked as if he might throw the cards in the river, then thought better of it and pushed the deck back into his waistcoat pocket.

Peaches's laugh ended in a prolonged spell of bloody coughing.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Tanner asked softly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Don't know if I'm going to make it to Denver." Peaches pressed a handkerchief to his lips. "Did she tell you about her stepfather?" He'd waited to ask this question until Jubal had left them and crawled into his tent.