Frontier Highlander Vow of Love (American Wilderness Series Romance Book 4) (16 page)

“You will make a stunning bride,” the Governor told her. “We were about to start the dancing, but let’s get everyone’s attention and we will hold the wedding first.”

“Nay, if ye do na mind Governor, my wish is to wed Bear later tonight on my new land. I would like Bear’s brother William to marry us under the stars of my, nay
our
, new home.” Bear was right. It was time for her to look up at the stars, not down at her feet. And she would start tonight.

“Of course, dear,” the Governor said.

“Whatever makes you happy,” Mrs. Garrard agreed.

She glanced at Bear, hoping she would not see disappointment in his eyes. But he looked back at her with only love, and it made her feel
wrapped in his warmth again. Her body ached for his touch.

“As far as I’m concerned, our pledges bound us in marriage. So we will do whatever ye want to make it a formality. We can marry after we leave here.”

“Thank ye,” she said, feeling her desire for him grow even stronger.

“Well, Sir, can we toast to the bride and groom at least?” the Governor asked.

“Aye, and we would be well pleased to have ye make the toast Governor,” Bear said. “Just let me get us a drink.”

Bear quickly grabbed two glasses of the rum punch from the beverage table and gave one to Artis, while William made sure the Governor and his wife were served more punch. Then the Governor’s aide called for everyone’s attention and the room quickly quieted down.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “Mrs. Garrard and I thank you all for coming and we both hope you enjoy the ball enormously. I want to thank all the delegates for their willingness to come to Boonesborough for this assembly. Your help is beyond measure. And, I have two items of wonderful news to share with all of you. First, I am delighted to report that this afternoon, Daniel MacKee, whom most of you know as Bear, succeeded in killing three villainous thieves in the process of robbing Henderson & Co.”

Men cheered and women, including Artis, gasped. She’d had no idea.

The Governor continued. “These same thieves were responsible for robbing gold from the state treasury and for many other robberies in Kentucky settlements. We are exceedingly grateful to Mister MacKee for his bravery and for riding our state of these lawbreakers.

“Last, and most important, I am pleased and honored to announce that Mister Daniel MacKee and Miss Artis MacKay will be married later this evening by Sheriff William Wyllie.”

Everyone in the room clapped and several called out their
congratulations. Bear waved with a sheepish grin on his face.

“I am also honored to say a toast to the happy couple. Will you join me please?” The Governor raised his glass. “May green be the grass you walk upon, may blue be the skies above you, may pure be the happiness that surrounds you, may true be the hearts that love you.”

They all raised their cups and took a drink.

“
Sláinte
!” Bear proclaimed, and raised his cup to the Governor. “Cheers to our fine Governor.”

They all raised their cups again. The punch tasted delightful and Artis swallowed the rest of it.

When she grasped that Bear killed three men that day, and could have been killed, she asked for another cup.

“Let’s eat!” Bear declared. “All this romance has made me ravenous.” He didn’t want to say he’d been starving since he first arrived at the ball.

“You’re always hungry,” William said.

Bear’s belly rippled with amusement. He couldn’t deny it. He was hungry more often than not. He took Artis’ elbow. “A joyful heart creates a hungry belly,” he said, guiding her to the food tables.

After they ate, he sampled a small piece of every pie and drank a few more cups of punch. Just when he was thinking about leaving, William picked up his fiddle and joined the violinist and another musician. They performed a number of jigs and reels. The loosely structured dances, derived from the dance traditions of the Scots, kept the area set aside for dancing full and surrounded by clapping onlookers.

Bear noticed Artis tapping her toes to the lively music and humming along happily, as she watched the jubilant party goers dance.

She gave him a vivacious smile and told him, “
O my luve is like the melodie, that`s sweetly played in tune
,” quoting the popular Scottish poet
Robert Burns.

“Would ye like to dance to sweet tunes for the rest of our lives?” he asked.

“Aye,” she said, “and a wee bit longer!”

He took her hand and they made their way to the dance floor. He had not danced since he was a young lad and wasn’t sure he could make his big feet cooperate, but for Artis’ sake he had to try. Her nearness and beauty made his heart race and that might also prove to make dancing gracefully difficult. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Watch out for yer toes,” he warned, “me boots are quite large and my dancin’ skills are quite dull.”

“Then we are even more ideally suited than I thought, for my boots are quite small and my dancin’ skills are well honed. I used to love to dance at our village’s celebrations.”

They danced as though they’d been dancing together all their lives, but occasionally his feet found it difficult to keep up. Smiling people gathered around and kept pointing to him, apparently astonished or amused that so large a man could be so lively.

“
A Dhiabhai
!” he swore, when she winced after the first time he stepped on her toes. He hadn’t forgotten how to say damn it and a few other choice swear words in Gaelic and feared he would need to use of them all before she grew tired of dancing.

He could tell that she would not grow weary of dancing anytime soon. She clearly loved to dance and she seemed filled with irrepressible joy. When she wasn’t smiling, she was grinning. And when she wasn’t grinning, she was laughing. The sound of her laughter was something he wanted to spend his whole life hearing.

They had both been smiling when they started dancing and still were when his feet finally compelled him to stop. “Ye must let me rest wife.”

“Aye, husband, ye will need yer strength later.” She eyed him
impishly, her expression hungry and lustful.

He decided it was time to leave. “Let’s find William and Kelly,” he said quickly. He grabbed her hand and in his rush practically yanked her away from the dance floor.

“My pardons,” he said, realizing what he’d done.

“Do na be troubled, I’ll keep up with ye.”

Chapter 18

B
ear spread a blanket out in the back of William and Kelly’s wagon and then helped his new wife to seat herself. But this time, he sat down next to her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and snugged her up against him. It felt so good to hold this magnificent woman in his arms. He glanced down and caught the gleam of her eyes and the sparkle of the stones in her luckenbooth. Both shimmered like stars. His sheer joy made him look heavenward.

“Look up,” he said. A clear sky left the stars free to glisten in an unveiled pageant of nature.

“It’s on the darkest nights that the stars are their brightest,” she said.

He was about to agree with her when a bolt of lightning streaked across the horizon illuminating shadowy clouds gathering in the distance. He counted the seconds until he heard the thunder that followed. Good, it was some distance away. Maybe the storm would turn and miss them altogether. The late fall night was cool, but not uncomfortably so. But a storm, especially one that left them all soaked, could make the journey home miserable.

“Are ye sure ye do na need yer shawl?” he asked. She had lain it in the corner of the wagon along with William’s fiddle.

“Nay, I have ye to keep me warm now.”

William snapped the reins and the four took off toward Whispering Hills, with Camel tied to the back of the wagon.

“I’m sorry it is na a fancy carriage to carry ye tonight my beautiful bride,” he said.

“Och, we have na need of fancy. We only have need of each other,” Artis said, looking up at him.

“Aye, and we will always have that.” Bear exhaled a sigh of contentment. He couldn’t believe the gorgeous woman sitting next to him was his wife. He pressed her a little closer and gave her a soft lingering kiss, relishing the softness of her lips.

His calm was shattered by the hunger he felt in her kiss.

“Husband, will we be able to…to be together tonight?” she whispered.

He caught her meaning and smiled. “Nothing of this world could keep us apart this night.”

“But where? We have only have this one blanket. It will na be enough to keep us both warm.”

“Oh, I promise ye I can keep ye warm.”

“But how will ye stay warm?” she asked, and then kissed his neck.

He found it hard to think clearly, but she had a point. He quickly devised a plan and shared it with her. “We’ll let William marry us, then we’ll go back to Whisperin’ Hills, change our clothes, and get everythin’ we’ll need. Then, if the weather is still fair, we’ll come back to yer land and make a camp for the night.”

“
Our
land.”

“Aye, our home.” He sat up straighter. “Speakin’ of home, I’m goin’ to see if the land next to yours is still for sale. If it is, I’ll buy it with my funds.”

“That would be wonderful.” She placed a palm against his chest and gazed up at him.

“Then with my reward money, I’ll hire a housewright and craftsmen to help me build our home. If we hurry we can get it finished before the first snowfall.”

Joy bubbled out of her in a wide grin and happiness shone in the sparkle of her eyes. Even in the darkness, he could see the warm glow that lit up her ecstatic face. She leaned against him, her softness melting into his body. He could feel her breast pressed against his chest and it made his desire flare and a smile spread across his face.

Satisfaction made him smile too. His heart swelled at the realization that he’d made her so happy. He pressed her against him again, wanting to always keep her as happy.

“Halt!” a man’s voice yelled from the darkness. “I’ve got one of your women in my sights and she dies if one of you men makes a single move. Throw out your weapons.”

William instantly shoved Kelly’s head downward and slapped the reins of the horse team, urging them to a fast run. “Hah!” William yelled to the horses.

Bear pushed Artis’ entire body down and, as best he could, entangled in her skirts, he tried to move in front of her.

A ball of lead exploded the rear boards, sending splinters of wood flying over both of them.

Artis screamed, but Bear kept his eyes on the attacker, trying his best to aim his pistol with the wagon bouncing violently.

The horseback man gave chase, hunkering down low on his horse.

Bear fired his pistol, but a lurch of the wheels as they hit a rut in the road caused the lead to miss its target. “Damn it to hell!” he swore.

The man ducked his horse into the safety of the dark forest before Bear could fire his second weapon. He could hear the rider having to weave his horse through the woods. That would slow him down.

“He’s following!” he yelled to William.

William leaned back and crouching down low, extended one of his two pistols toward Bear. “Shoot him, first chance you get.”

“Here,” Bear said, exchanging weapons. “Have Kelly reload it.”

Bear peered into the darkness, trying to spot whoever it was. Dark clouds obscured the stars and moon now and all he could tell was that it was a lanky man.

“You killed my brother and my friends you bloody Scot,” their pursuer yelled from what seemed like a good distance away.

So that’s who this was. The fourth wanted man listed on the handbill. Bear knew the man probably had another pistol and would take his shot soon. He had to do something before the man shot Artis, Kelly, or William. He stuck his and William’s loaded pistols back in his belt. “Stay down as flat as ye can,” he told Artis. Between the utter darkness and the bouncing wagon, he could barely see her.

He crawled to the back and, ducking below what was left of the wagon’s rear boards, he untied Camel’s reins. Slithering forward on his stomach, he led the horse alongside the wagon up to the front driver’s bench.

“Keep it straight,” he yelled to William.

William glanced back and nodded.

“Steady now, steady Camel,” he told the gelding. With one giant leap, he swung his leg over the horse and managed to almost land on the saddle. Leaning hard to the horse’s right side, he was in danger of falling under the wagon’s wheels.

Gritting his teeth, he reached up, gripped the pommel, and heaved himself fully astride the gelding. Breathing a sigh of relief that he’d tightened the saddle well, he bent low on the horse’s neck, and pulled up next to his brother. “Keep goin’. Get the women to safety,” he yelled.

“Nay, do na leave him!” Artis cried out.

Thankfully, William ignored her and kept the wagon thundering down
the road away from him.

With a tug, Bear turned Camel around and, pistol drawn, headed down the road toward where he’d last heard the pursuer. He approached cautiously and slowly and led Camel into the safer area of the woods on the side opposite of the path taken by their pursuer. He was still out of pistol range, but the man might have his rifle loaded. He’d wrongly assumed he wouldn’t need his own rifle and foolishly left it in McGuffin’s cabin. He would never make that mistake again.