Mackinnons #02 For All the Right Reasons (10 page)

He looked up to see Katherine bent over, convulsed with laughter. So consumed was she, that she could not speak. But she could point.

Alex followed the line of her pointed finger and stopped short. His horse was still tied to the fence. Clovis was still tied to the tree, but somehow, Clovis had managed to stretch his leather lead to the limit, and with his neck extended to what had to be full capacity, he was able to reach the backside of Beedle, his horse. Beedle was in a doze, his eyes half-closed, his head dropped as he soaked up the sun. And that must have made him feel pretty obliging, for he took no mind of the fact that Clovis was somewhat fascinated with his tail. “What in the hell is going on?” Alex shouted, unable to believe what he was seeing. When he had ridden over, Beedle had a long tail that flowed down to his hocks—something the horse tied to the tree did not have. Alex narrowed his eyes. The horse looked like Beedle. And he was sporting Alex’s saddle. But the horse Alex saw was a broom tail if he’d ever seen one—with a tail that barely covered his rump. Clovis had chewed a good foot and a half off the end of Beedle’s tail. With an exasperated curse, Alex cleared the porch and crossed the yard in a few swift strides, yanking what was left of Beedle’s tail out of Clevis’s mouth. With a muffled curse, he led him out of range, examining his tail and mumbling to himself when he had him a safe distance away. Katherine watched Alex tie the gelding to the back of the wagon, while she tried to keep her expression calm and pleasant, which was awfully hard seeing as how mental pictures of Alex mounted on a bobtailed horse kept coming into her mind.

Alex was no fool, and he had a pretty good idea what she was thinking that put that expression he found so provoking upon her face. His brows drew together and he glared at her. “One of these days someone is going to shoot that blasted mule right between the eyes and I can’t say I’ll be too sorry when it happens.”

“It wasn’t all Clovis’s fault,” she said, feeling just a little put out and bristling.

“I don’t know how you can say a thing like that. Who can you blame but that mule?”

“How about that thick-witted horse of yours? As far as I’m concerned anything dumb enough to stand there while his tail is being chewed off ought to walk around looking like a dust mop.” She collapsed into fits of laughter and couldn’t say more, even when she saw the dark as a thundercloud look on Alex’s face.

“Katherine…” He had been about to vent his spleen a little more when Katherine turned her face toward him. He had expected to see her face twisted with anger, or at least a bit miffed, but he saw only devilish humor, followed by a wash of pink color that spread over her face when she caught his eyes upon her. Every peppery, quick-tempered word he had been about to hurl at her vanished. Never before could he remember losing track of his breathing—it was, after all, a simple process of taking air in and letting air out. But somewhere in between the taking in and the letting out, he was so distracted that he lost a breath when everything about him seemed to shut down. Something strange was going on here. He blinked his eyes to clear his mind, opening them to a clear view of her profile—the stubborn chin, the full lower lip that pouted just a little as she lost herself in concentration, the unbelievably long lashes, the dairy-fresh texture of her skin. His eyes dropped lower, following the long graceful line of her throat as it gave way to the sharp detail of her breast. It hit him with a jolt, just what he’d caught himself thinking. He jerked his eyes away.
Get your mind on the road, Mackinnon. Or Beedle’s tail. On anything but what it’s on. This is Katherine, not Karin. Katherine, you fool! She’s nothing but a pest. Remember how she was always spying on you? Have you forgotten all the dumb things she used to do? She can’t be quiet more than five seconds. She irritates the daylights out of you. And she couldn’t be serious long enough for a man to get a romantic thought in his head about her. She is going to be your sister-in-law, for God sakes! What do you think you’re doing?

Through the debris of shattered resolve, she saw his brilliant blue eyes studying her curiously, searching, probing, concluding. It was as though they had just met for the first time, and he was finding her every bit as confusing as she was finding him. For indeed, that is the way she felt—that they were two strangers facing each other across a great void. Deep within the eyes that studied her she sensed interest, but on the same level, something she could only call ridicule.

She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. “You’re the talkingest woman I’ve ever come across,” he said trying to sound as cross as he felt, and knowing it just wasn’t so. He was still a bit peeved about Beedle’s tail and was placing the blame on her, unwarranted as it was, although he wouldn’t have admitted as much to Katherine if his life depended upon it. But he could still see her mouth quirking at the corners.

He helped her into the wagon, tying Beedle to the back, then climbing in beside her. Giving Clovis a slap with the reins, he guided him in a wide, sweeping turn, then headed down the road that dipped and curved as it ambled on down toward the creek.

Katherine had always been too garrulous for her own good, and went right on talking. “I remember Mr. Peabody had a peacock that the cows chewed the tail off of—’course Mr. Peabody is half-blind, and never did notice. But it gave everyone else a good laugh to see that peacock strutting about with his tail fanned, not knowing his beautiful feathers were gone and all that remained were a few bare shafts bent over at the end, like cornstalks after the harvest. But you shouldn’t worry that anyone would laugh at your horse like they did at that silly bird, because he doesn’t look half as bad as Mr. Peabody’s peacock, and nobody would dare to poke fun at you even if they did feel the urge to laugh at your horse. I dare say half the horses in the county would be sporting bobbed tails in a week if you kept right on riding yours around.” Katherine paused a moment, feeling such elation to be sitting next to Alex like she was.

Feeling intensely irritated and wanting to shut her up before he said more than was prudent, Alex said, “Where’s Karin?”

As for shutting her up, that did the trick. Katherine’s next words died in her throat and her elation fell flat as the road they were on. All the exuberance was gone from her voice when she said, “She’s taken a job in town at a dressmaker’s.”

The sudden return to reality put an end to her fancy and Katherine went on to tell him in businesslike terms all about their father’s death and how Karin had taken the job in town to help out. She told him how Karin made the money they needed to run the farm and she did the running of it. “We’re like an old married couple,” she said. “I stay home and tend the house and garden, Karin makes enough for us to hire a little help with the plowing. Of course she’s as frugal as ever. It amazes me how she manages to save some of her money, each time she gets paid.”

“Still saving, huh! I guess that means she still has all those fancy ideas about going to St. Louie, or San Francisco.”

The cows were still as curious as before, following the wagon as far as the fence. The road made a sharp turn around the comer post of a pasture, then dipped sharply toward the creek. A minute later, they crossed the creaky old bridge that spanned the creek, the wheels of the wagon clicking against the old, wooden planks, making a strange, harmonious rhythm to blend with Katherine’s laugh. “She still wants to leave this place, but she’s lowered her sights some. Why, just the other day, she was talking about Dallas or New Orleans.”

Alex was looking at her strangely, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have. Just as strange too, was the fact that for a woman who loved to talk, Katherine couldn’t think of a blessed thing to say.

“She always did love pretty things, and she always saw getting away from here as a way to have them,” Alex said, amazed that he was feeling a sense of loss over the disappearance of Katherine’s bright chatter.

The old Mackinnon place was in sight now, and Alex slapped the reins against Clovis’s back. Clovis kicked once, then picked up the gait. Alex didn’t look at Katherine as she spoke.

“She still loves pretty things, and she still works like a field hand to have them.”

They pulled up in front of the Mackinnon place, stopping short of the swaying porch. Katherine snatched her basket and was out of the wagon before Alex could tie up Clovis and come around for her. “Don’t snub Clovis too close,” she said, hurrying up the front steps, “or he’ll pitch a fit.”

He watched her walk into the house wondering just what it was about her that fascinated him. He had been wrong to become irritated at her over what that mule had done, as if she were personally responsible for the behavior of every mule about.
You’ve been away from women too long
, he told himself.
You’d stare at any woman
. But he knew that wasn’t the case. Katherine wasn’t just any woman and she certainly wasn’t anything like she had been before. And the magic of it intrigued him.

She disappeared inside and Clovis began acting up, so Alex didn’t have any more time to think about Katherine. By the time he let Clovis know who was boss and snubbed him, a good fifteen minutes had passed. When he reached the house he found Katherine in the kitchen. She had her basket unpacked, her bonnet off, and her apron on. He watched her as she busied herself with taking the rather pitiful assortment of dishes and utensils out of the cupboards. “There’s enough dirt in here to plant a garden,” she said.

Alex picked up the bucket she had placed on the table. “I’ll get you some water.”

When he came back a few minutes later, he could see results already. Everything had been dusted and put back into place. He watched silently as she pulled a chair over to the cabinet and stood on the counter so she could dust the top shelves. Her waist didn’t look big as a minute from where he stood. “Where do you want the water?” he asked.

She didn’t miss a beat. “Just put it on the table.” She was down before he could blink an eye, grabbing the broom and pushing it toward him. “You wanted to borrow a broom, I believe?”

He eyed the broom. “Did I say that?”

“You did,” she said, shoving the broom into his hands. “You do know how to use a broom, don’t you?”

“I’ve a fair recollection,” he said. He laughed then, his hands going around the broom, his fingers brushing hers. He gave a slight tug. She flinched and pulled her hands away.

He watched her step away, color dotting her cheeks as she turned back to what she had been doing, leaving him to wonder why he didn’t leave instead of standing there. He had no answer for that. He looked at her slim back as she tackled the grimy kitchen window. He had known Katherine all his life and she had always been his friend, someone he could talk to. But now he felt as awkward as hell. He looked at the broom in his hands. He looked at Katherine’s back. With a puzzled look on his face, he walked slowly from the room.

By the time he finished sweeping the rest of the house and walked back into the kitchen, Katherine had everything in apple pie order. So much order, in fact, that he was amazed. Everything in the room had been dusted and rubbed down. The wood on the cabinets was darker than the cupboards due to the rubbing of lemon oil, and he guessed the table too, although he couldn’t see it for the blue and white tablecloth she had spread over the top. There were even flowers in the center—a few buttercups mixed with heavily scented stems of woodbine poking from a chipped enamel cup.

“You work fast,” he said.

She eyed the broom. “I can’t say the same about you.”

He grinned. “And why is that?” he asked. “And here I was thinking I worked every bit as fast as you.”

She laughed at that. “I work,” she said. “
You
play.”

“Were you spying on me?”

“I didn’t have to.” He made a face and she laughed harder.

“I’ll teach you to make fun of my housekeeping.” He made a dive for her. She shrieked and danced around the table, her eyes alive and sparkling with life. Wagging her finger at him, she spoke in her sassiest way, “I know you, Alex Mackinnon. You were never cut out for housework.”

“You’re right about that,” he said, laughing, his eyes looking her over. “But neither were you.”

“Oh, posh!”

He made another lunge and she darted around the kitchen table, but she wasn’t as quick this time. His arm came out and curled around her waist, yanking her back against him.

“It’s true,” he said, the smile disappearing from his face as his eyes looked her over even slower this time, from the top of her glossy auburn head to the tips of her worn shoes peeking from beneath her well-worn hem, hitting all the points in between. She was about to say something else, but seeing his eyes upon her as they were she could only stammer.

She had never felt such a bumbling fool in front of him. “You’d better let me go,” she said in a breathless way, “or Adrian will be madder than an old wet hen when he returns and finds you’ve been playing while he was away.”

“Yes,” said a feminine voice from the doorway. “You’d better let her go.”

Chapter Five

Alex whirled around, his face lighting up. “Karin,” was all he said, but it was enough to send Katherine’s spirits plunging.

Karin was standing in the doorway when Alex first saw her. He sucked in his breath, sure everyone in the room could hear it. Karin. After all this time. Karin, still as beautiful—no, a hundred times more beautiful. There she stood, fashionably dressed in lavender silk that was gathered and tucked in the most flattering lines around a figure an angel would covet. She had always been a real looker, but now she had a woman’s maturity, the poise and confidence of a woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. Her hair was still as golden as he remembered. Her skin as fair. He watched her smile, and the pure intensity of it left him breathless, unable to feel the way his heart wrenched.

In three long strides, Alex crossed the room and took Karin in his arms. While Katherine busied herself with taking a few things out of her basket, Alex whirled Karin around and around, until she said, “Alex Mackinnon, if you don’t put me down, I’m going to be sick.”