The Independent Bride (20 page)

“I don’t see how that will help.” Abby had to shout to be heard over the sound of the rain pelting the ground and the leaves of the cottonwoods and maples. “The water will start to drip from the leaves any minute now.” She tightened her hold on her parasol to keep the wind from ripping it from her grasp.

“The leaves spread the water away from the center of the tree,” Bryce said as he opened his saddlebags and took out something that looked like a large folded blanket. “I always carry my rain slicker,” he said, unfolding what looked like a voluminous coat. “It will keep most of the rain off us.”

“There’s only one.”

“We’re going to share it,” he said as he moved to wrap the slicker around both of them. “Until the rain stops, we’re going to be as close as lovers.”

Chapter Twelve

Before she had time to think, Abby found herself standing with her body pressed between a tree trunk and the very hard, very masculine form of Colonel McGregor. She’d never been this close to any man, not even when Bryce tried to teach her to shoot. After the precipitous, jarring ride across the prairie and the arrival of crashing thunder and flashing lightning that seemed directly over her head, she was completely rattled. Shock and surprise cracked wide her normal control. She could only respond according to instinct, according to her body’s natural reaction to a frightening situation and such a close, overwhelming male presence.

“Maybe this parasol of yours will keep some of the water off our heads.” Bryce said.

He had rearranged the slicker over his shoulders and brought it together behind her back. That required that he hold her in a tight embrace, her face pressed against his shoulder, her breasts against his chest, her feet squeezed between his boots. No married man could hold his wife in a more intimate embrace.

A flash of lightning and the following crash of thunder were so close she could feel the electricity in the atmosphere. Her first instinct, which she’d yielded to before she was aware of it, was to throw her arms around Bryce and press as close to him as possible. She had never experienced such a storm in her life. Lightning continued to flash all around them, thunder to crash overhead until she could manage no coherent thought except that she had to cling to Bryce for dear life.

When lightning exploded an ancient cottonwood on the other side of the creek and covered the ground with splinters of wood and shredded leaves, she was certain they would die in each other’s arms. That image was so powerful, so vivid, she couldn’t help wondering what people would say if they found their bodies in an intimate embrace. Did it really matter what others thought? She liked the feel of Bryce’s arms around her, the protection of his strength, the comfort of his body shielding her own. It would be so easy to place her life in the capable hands of someone like him.

But she wasn’t given time to pursue that thought. As if the thunder and lightning weren’t enough to scare her out of her wits, the heavens opened up and hail hurtled down like millions of hard-flung pellets. The noise as it tore the broad, heart-shaped leaves of the cottonwoods was frightening in its volume and intensity.

“Keep your head down,” Bryce shouted. “It will stop in a few minutes.”

The hail hit the rain slicker with such force she expected to hear Bryce grunt from the impact. Resting his chin on her head and raising his shoulders, he shielded her from the tiny ice balls that came down so fast they soon covered the ground. The small, white pellets bounced continuously, making the ground seem virtually alive.

Then, just as quickly, the hail stopped and enormous drops of rain pounded the ground with nearly equal force. It seemed merely minutes before what had been dry prairie was turned to mud. Soon the dry streambed became a rushing torrent of thick brown water carrying away twigs, sage brush, torn leaves, and small limbs, at surprising speed.

“If it doesn’t stop soon, the creek will flood,” Bryce said.

The horse was drenched, the sorrel of his coat turned dark brown. He stamped his feet and shook his head to throw off some of the water that poured down on him. The stream continued to rise until it overflowed its banks and covered the low ground in the cottonwood grove.

“Where can we go?” Abby asked as the rain came down unabated.

“We’ll stay right where we are,” Bryce answered. “This bank is the highest piece of ground for some distance.”

Abby didn’t know what he meant by
highest ground.
As far as she was concerned the prairie was as flat as Aunt Emma’s best platter.

“What if the water reaches the bank?”

“If we get desperate, we can get back in the buggy and head for the fort.”

Abby didn’t know how. The horse was already standing in a foot of water. They’d be soaked through in minutes, but that was better than being washed away by a flood. “Does tins happen often?”

“A few times each year. As soon as the rain stops, the sun will come out By tomorrow you won’t know it even rained.”

Looking at the swirling waters in the creek, that was hard to believe. Yet even now she could seen a strip of blue sky at the far horizon. The storm was moving so quickly she could practically see the strip growing wider. A few minutes later the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started, but they were still surrounded by the swirling, muddy water.

“We’ll have to stay here until the creek goes down,” Bryce said.

“How long will that take?”

“It depends on how much water the storm dumped upstream.”

Now that the rain had stopped and the thunder and lightning had moved away, Abby’s position caused her to feel extremely self-conscious. Yet it wasn’t possible to move from under the trees because everywhere around them was flooded.

“I shouldn’t have stopped here,” Bryce said.

“Where else could you have gone?”

“Nowhere. This is the only place.”

“Then you didn’t have any choice.”

That didn’t make Abby feel any better. She knew Bryce couldn’t have known a storm would blow up so quickly, couldn’t have known the creek would flood. It only made sense to make use of the only shelter available. Still, she wished they had raced for the fort. They would be soaked, but at least she wouldn’t be locked in Bryce’s arms with nowhere to go. One part of her liked the feeling; now that the storm had passed, another part of her panicked.

She’d never been held like this. Her courtship with Albert had been very formal. He’d done little more than gently kiss her good night. As a result, her response to Bryce was unexpected and she didn’t know how to handle it. Her body was aroused. There was no other way to describe it. Her breasts were so sensitive they felt almost painful. Heat coursed through her body so she felt none of the cold. Liquid heat pooled in her belly.

Worse still, she could tell Bryce’s body had also reacted to their closeness. He was aroused. There could be no mistake about it. He was careful to hold his body stiff and still, but that couldn’t hide the change. Nor could he disguise the difference in his breathing. Her head rested on his shoulder. She was aware of every nuance.

There was the feel of his hands on her back. Her skin was so sensitive she became aware of the texture of the cloth against her back. If his fingers didn’t move, she might have been able to ignore this, but they were constantly in motion. The longer she stayed in his embrace, the more insistent the panic became.

Finally she couldn’t stand it any longer. “I need room to breath,” she said, though that wasn’t all she needed.

“Water’s still dripping from the trees.”

“I’ll use my parasol.”

“It’ll barely keep the water off your head.”

“That’s all right. There’s not much water falling now.”

“There’s enough to get you wet.”

She didn’t care about water. She would dry. She wasn’t certain she would recover so easily from this encounter.

Bryce tipped the parasol to one side and pulled back so he could look her in the eye. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

“What makes you think that?” She was afraid of herself.

“For one thing, you’re trembling.”

“I’ve never been caught in a thunderstorm with lightning, hail, and flooding. I was scared out of my wits.”

“It’s gone and you’re still shaking. Your eyes are wide with fright.”

“If you must know, I’m not used to being so close to a man, to being held in this fashion. Considering that I barely know you—”

“As commander of the fort, it’s my job to keep you safe. You shouldn’t be afraid at all.”

Fool; he was a man and she a woman. Their bodies understood nothing about rank or social standing.

“I’m not afraid of physical danger"—though she didn’t like the look of the floodwaters, and just the roar of them tumbling over rocks and swirling around trees was frightening—"but being held in your arms makes me uneasy.” Part of her longed to remain in his embrace, but she refused to listen. It was too dangerous.

“You have to shed Eastern inhibitions when you come West,” Bryce said, showing no inclination to release his hold on her even though the dripping from the tree leaves had lessened considerably.

“There are certain standards of behavior that are necessary no matter where you happen to be,” Abby said. “You’re violating those standards right now.”

“I don’t want you to get wet. You could catch pneumonia and die. You might slip and fall into the creek. If that happened, it would be virtually impossible to pull you out before you were swept away.”

She didn’t believe a word he said. “I need room to move about.” If she didn’t get out of his arms, she didn’t know what she would do. Probably kiss him. Just the thought petrified her.

“That could be dangerous. The creek is still rising. I wouldn’t want it to carry you away.”

“Then put me in the buggy.”

The water was knee-high on the horse, but the body of the buggy was well above the rushing torrent. She would be safe from the water
and
from Bryce.

“I’d have to hold you even tighter to carry you to the buggy,” Bryce said.

The fact that he seemed to be enjoying this annoyed her. She was sure he wouldn’t have treated one of his Philadelphia society women this way. Irritation helped curb her runaway emotions, cool the heat that threatened to consume her body.

“Then I suppose I’d best remain where I am.” She tried to assume an aloof attitude, but she was in less control than she thought. She couldn’t understand why she should be feeling this way. She’d never felt this way with Albert.

She
wanted
Bryce to hold her close. She was aghast at her own reaction, but her dismay did nothing to change it.

“We do a lot of things differently in the Territories,” Bryce said.

She really didn’t want to know, but her treacherous tongue asked, “Like what?”

“Women have more independence and men can treat them with more familiarity without being disrespectful.”

“How can men be familiar without being disrespectful?”

“A woman can go places by herself, speak to men without being accompanied by her husband. If she’s single, she can go to a social, even dance. She’s allowed to have men friends without her honor being questioned. She can allow them to steal a kiss without expecting a proposal to follow.”

Abby was afraid it was too good to be true. She didn’t know much about the rules that operated in high society, but in her social circle women didn’t have that kind of freedom. This was
true
independence, the kind she’d never imagined could exist. Some of her aunt’s friends thought she’d endangered her reputation just by working in a bank.

“She can do all this and still be respected?”

“A woman of spirit can.”

“Do you think I’m a woman of spirit?”

Bryce smiled, but it wasn’t a relaxed, genial smile. “There are times I think you have enough spirit for two women.”

“Then you think my reputation would withstand going dancing?”

“I can’t imagine you dancing any but the most sensible dance.”

“Would you still respect me if I let a man kiss me?” She didn’t know why she was asking such a foolish question. She had absolutely no intention of letting any man kiss her.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.” She hadn’t meant that as a challenge. It was simply too far from her experience to be credible at first.

“Then I’ll prove it.” He removed her parasol from her grasp, closed it, and dropped it to the ground. Then he kissed her.

Abby’s world shattered.

Something told her she’d asked that question for a reason, that this was what she’d wanted. One kiss, and everything inside her turned over and became something else, something absolutely new.

Whereas she’d only tolerated Albert’s tentative kisses, she couldn’t get enough of Bryce’s forceful, demanding lips. Whereas she’d been uncomfortable with Albert’s too close physical presence, she found she wanted Bryce to hold her tighter still, to press his body more firmly against her own. Whereas she’d formerly thought of a relationship with a man only in terms of marriage, she was now acutely aware of a desire for a physical relationship. Whereas she’d always thought of her emotional relationship to Albeit as love, what she felt for Bryce was pure, unbridled lust.