Mackinnons #02 For All the Right Reasons (37 page)

The distance between them grew even wider during the meal. Often the only sound in the room was the click and scrape of spoons against soup bowls, the occasional shuffle of feet beneath the table, feet that were restless and anxious to be on their way.

Adrian made several attempts at conversation, but after a few fruitless attempts, he too, stopped trying. Katherine ate as they did, in silence, but mentally, she was taking it all in. Alex never looked at her, eating his soup in a methodical way, as if he had been doing it this way for years. As she sat there brooding, she couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking about. It occurred to her that this wasn’t exactly as she had pictured their first meal together in their home. She had visualized a romantic dinner for just the two of them—giving little notice to what they ate. A candlelight dinner shared by two people in love. She had missed it all the way around. There were three of them, not two. There were no candles. And if there were two people in love, it must be Alex and Adrian, for she had never felt more excluded from anyone in her entire life.

Katherine finished first, having found the sudden discomforting strain between herself and Alex had taken her appetite. She took one last bite and laid her spoon down. Alex was silently watching her, as he had been doing throughout the meal. “I thought you said you were starving,” he said.

“I was.”

“You’ve given a pretty poor showing for it.”

She made a lamentable attempt to laugh. “I think I’m more exhausted than I thought. Right now all I can think about is spending the night in a bed that doesn’t toss me out when the weather gets bad.”

He laid his napkin down and stood, coming around to her side of the table. “I’ll show you to your room, then.”

“Please,” she said, rising, “finish your meal. I can…”

“
Someone
has to show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

Not us,
she thought,
but where you’ll be sleeping
. “Of course. I hadn’t thought of that.” She glanced at Adrian, who was now standing, apology written all over his face. “Good night, Adrian.”

Seeing her discomfort, Adrian tossed down his napkin. “Why don’t you finish your meal, Alex? I’m through. I’ll show Katherine up.”

Alex froze, a white-hot fury seeping into him. Turning his head slowly to look at Adrian, he said in the coldest tone, “She isn’t your wife, Adrian. The duty is mine.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Katherine snapped, having about all of this she was going to take. “If it’s such a
duty
, just tell me where the blasted room is and I’ll find it by myself, or better yet,” she turned and stomped out of the room, finishing her sentence on the way, “I’ll find some other place to stay.” The door banged behind her. She wasted no time moving to the table where Alex had placed the saddlebags. Picking them up, she heard Alex call after her, just as she reached the front door. “Katherine!”

She whirled around to face him, her hand still holding the door open, her eyes brilliant with anger. “You might as well save your breath, Alex. I am spitting mad and when I get this way it’s impossible to reason with me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow when I’ve had a chance to cool off.” She turned through the door, pulling it shut behind her. She had barely reached the first step when the door opened and Alex’s shadow stretched dark and ominous in front of her.

“If you spend the night outside you may cool off more than you intended. It can get down to forty or so at night this time of year.”

“Fine,” she said, and whirled around and stomped back into the house. Alex stood just inside the door watching her. She marched to the closest, and smallest, grizzly rug, grabbed it by one paw, and dragged it behind her and through the front door.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“I’m going to use it. You did say it might get down to forty, didn’t you.” Katherine didn’t break stride as she started away from the house, the grizzly rug bringing up the rear, thumping along in the darkness, the saddlebag slung over one shoulder as Alex had done, but her shoulders being much narrower than his, it kept sliding off. She kept pushing it back, determined not to stop.

By this time, Adrian had come to stand in the doorway, a big grin splitting his face. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door. Alex turned a helpless look over his shoulder at him. Adrian shrugged. “As you said, she’s your wife.”

Alex was torn between flattening his brother and going after his wife. He sighed and started after her. “And here I always thought she was so sweet and docile,” he mumbled under his breath.

Adrian heard it, though, and said, “Katherine? Docile?” The mocking sound of Adrian’s laughter followed him.

A more stubborn woman Alex had never seen. He started after her, feeling admiration for her on the one hand, an overpowering desire to throttle her on the other. “Katherine, for the love of God, will you slow down?”

“I will not!”

“Okay. Will you at least be sensible?”

“I doubt it. You can’t even be civil! Why should I be sensible?” she called over her shoulder. The grizzly rug caught on something and Katherine muttered something unladylike under her breath and came back to free it. Then she was off again.

He caught up to her just where the road took a bend after leaving the clearing in front of the house, or rather he caught up to the grizzly rug, which was just as well, for the moment he stepped on it, it jerked Katherine back and she stepped on a round stone that turned under her weight, throwing her off balance and she came tumbling backwards.

Seeing her sprawled on her back, Alex laughed softly and followed her down, catching her arms before she could roll over and get up. “That’s the way I like my women,” he said softly, “flat on their back.”

“Oh, do be quiet,” she said hotly. “From what I’ve seen, you wouldn’t know what to do if you did have one flat on her back!” She saw the twinkle of humor in his eyes and wanted to bash his head in. This man had been worse than an ass to her and she had taken all she was going to. Furthermore, she had already decided she wasn’t about to give in so easily. “I’ve changed my mind.
You
wouldn’t know what to do if you had one flat on her back and buck naked!”

He laughed. “I ought to prove to you, here and now, just how wrong you are.”

She struggled to free herself. “Let me up, you big oaf! You don’t need to prove anything to me…
you’ve
proven far too much already.” She bucked beneath him. “Let…me…up!”

“Will you be still and talk this thing out if I do?”

She nodded.

“That won’t do, Katherine. I’m on to your tricks. If you want me to release you, you’ll have to say so.”

“I’ll talk,” she ground out like it pained her, and knowing her as well as he did, he knew it did just that. Katherine was a proud woman. She didn’t like to be bested. By anyone. He released her and Katherine rolled to her feet, but she didn’t stop there. She started off down the road again, dragging the saddle bag and the grizzly rug behind.

“Katherine!” he called after her. “You gave me your word.”

“I had my fingers crossed!” she called back to him.

Remembering how many times they had used that out as children, he shouted, “You’re a grown woman! That doesn’t count anymore, and you damn well know it!”

“I said I would talk, and I will. But
not
right now.”

He followed her. The road was getting darker now. She was just a few yards in front of him when they heard something rustle the trees, a twig snapping. Katherine stopped, listening. Hearing nothing more, she started up again. Alex was no more than four feet behind her now. “Katherine, I’m going back to the house. If you want to continue, I think it only fair to warn you that it’s very likely there are grizzlies about. We see signs of their coming into camp all the time.”

“You’re just telling me that to scare me.”

“Am I?” Another twig snapped, closer this time. Katherine stopped. Alex would have laughed if he hadn’t suspected it would send her stomping down the hill. “Katherine, I’m sorry if I did or said anything to hurt you.”

“
If?
”

“Look, this isn’t any easier for me than it is for you.”

She kept on going.

“Will you listen to me?”

She dropped the rug and saddlebags and clamped her hands over her ears.

He came up behind her and grabbed one of her hands, pulling it down. “I don’t have a gun with me, Katherine. If we run into a grizzly, we don’t stand much of a chance.” She stopped. They started back toward the house.

She began to walk faster, pulling ahead of him and saying over her shoulder, “I’m still not in the mood to talk to you.”

“All right. It can wait.”

“And I’m still upset.”

Alex stopped and picked up the saddlebag and the grizzly rug. “I understand.”

“No, you don’t. I think you’ve been terribly unfair.”

“I think you’re probably right.”

“You haven’t been exactly kind to me.”

“No, I haven’t.”

She stopped, and shot him a hostile look. “Then why are we having this disagreement, if you agree with everything I’ve said?”

Alex started to speak when they heard something moving in the brush again. “Oh, never mind,” she said, starting toward the house again. “We can talk about this later. I never did like to discuss things in the dark anyway.”

He noticed her walk was much faster now, for he had to speed up a little himself to stay up with her. Alex felt a curl of pleasure and he didn’t understand why. He should be furious with her. Perhaps it was because he had never seen Katherine like this. She had always been so levelheaded, so sensible, so even tempered. Now she was acting just like a woman.

They reached the clearing, the light coming through the opened door, making it much easier to see. Adrian was sitting on the front steps. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t have much time to, for at that moment, whatever it was that had been following them through the brush burst out into the clearing with a howl. Katherine jumped a mile and would’ve taken off like a blue streak if Alex hadn’t grabbed her. “Katherine,” he said calmly. “It’s all right. It’s only a dog. See?” He turned her and she saw a large hound loping toward them, hitting the porch and Adrian with such force he almost knocked him over.

“Well, Jeremiah,” Adrian said, giving him a few wrestling moves and a final pat. “What are you doing out this time of night?”

Jeremiah left Adrian and trotted over to Alex. Katherine stood to one side, eyeing him speculatively. Alex gave him a pat. “Jeremiah is what you might call the camp dog. He usually sleeps in the bunkhouse.”

“He smells like it,” she said, still unwilling to be placated. Katherine was giving Jeremiah the eye. “I think you knew it was a dog all along,” she said. “You just wanted to scare me.” Turning to Adrian, she said, “Would you mind showing me to my room? I’ve had about all of this nonsense I want for tonight.”

Adrian looked from Katherine to Alex. “Take her on up,” Alex said. “I need to get Jeremiah fastened up before he gets into trouble.”

“Alex?”

“What?”

Adrian had a rather helpless expression on his face. “Ah… That is… Oh, hell, Alex. Where do you want me to put her?”

“In the spare room,” Katherine answered before he had a chance to answer. “Where else?”

Adrian looked pleadingly at Alex. “You heard her,” Alex said. He tossed the saddlebag to Adrian and turned away, calling Jeremiah to follow him.

“Alex?” Adrian called after him. Alex stopped.

“What is it?”

“I’ll take Jeremiah,” Adrian said, coming up beside him and handing him the saddlebag. “You show Katherine upstairs.”

“I wish someone would show me before you wear that saddlebag out passing it back and forth.” Leaving the porch and stepping into the house, she said, “Why don’t
both
of you put Jeremiah up and
stay with him
. I’ll find my own place to sleep.” She slammed the door and crossed the room to the table and picking up a lamp, she started up the stairs. She opened the first door and saw a hat hanging on a peg and a pair of boots standing beside the door. She shut that one and opened another, seeing a desk scattered with papers, a coat draped over the back of the chair. She shut that door and opened the next one. It looked unoccupied, but she saw another door. Opening it, she saw it led to the bedroom next door. She slammed the door and left that room, walking past the next two rooms to the last room at the end of the hall.

It was the largest bedroom she had seen, and at the corner it had windows on two walls. “This will do,” she said, and stepped into the room. She moved to the bed and placed the lamp on the table beside it and sat down, bouncing up and down a few times. It was fairly soft and didn’t squeak. She could do worse. Still sitting on the bed, she looked around the room. The floor was unfinished and bare of any rugs, but it was clean and the smell reminded her of the woods back home. It was sparsely furnished: a wardrobe, a washstand, a straight-backed chair angled in the corner.
Put some curtains over the windows, exchange that straight chair for a rocker, throw a few rugs on the floor, a counterpane on the bed… I could be comfortable here. You could be more comfortable in the room with Alex.

She kicked the door shut with one foot. It occurred to her just how tired she really was. Wearily she stood and crossed the room to the washstand. The china pitcher was thankfully half full. A bar of soap, used but still big enough to do the job, lay in the soap dish. She picked up the towel and sniffed. It smelled clean.
At this point, I don’t even care.

She removed her clothes—leaving her chemise and bloomers on—and hung them on the pegs in the wardrobe. After she washed, she realized her nightgown and brush were in Alex’s saddlebags, but she would have to make do. She let her hair down and combed through it with her fingers, then she began braiding it in one long braid down her back. She pulled the ribbon from her chemise and used it to tie the braid. She had almost reached the bed when someone knocked on the door. She made a dive for the bed, threw back the covers and leaped in, jerking the covers up to her neck. “Who is it?”