Brighter than Gold (Western Rebels Book 1) (30 page)

She made a pot of tea and poured a cup. It was halfway to her lips when the sound of hoofbeats startled her and the hot liquid sloshed over the rim and onto Katie’s bare toes. She didn’t feel it: her heart seemed to be beating in every part of her body as she peered through the window to see Jack dismount and stroll through the front gate.

There was a knock at the door. Katie managed to return the teacup to its saucer, then crossed to the parlor and opened the door a few inches.

In spite of his preoccupied state, Jack was enchanted by the sight of Katie peeking out, black-lashed sapphire eyes wide in her delicate, pale face. “Kathleen, could I talk to you for a few minutes?”

“I—I’m not dressed.” She thought he looked tired, as if he hadn’t slept, yet it only intensified his appeal. When he cocked a sardonic brow at the prim flannel nightgown that covered her, neck to toes, Katie saw his point and opened the door. “I suppose it’s a bit late to bother with propriety, isn’t it.”

Jack smiled. “I’m afraid so.”

Once he was inside, she kept herself busy fixing another cup of tea while Jack sat at the kitchen table and watched her. Finally there was nothing left to do but join him. “Gideon will be glad to see you. He’d begun to worry that you had gone back to San Francisco.”

“What about you? Were you worried?” He watched Katie over the rim of his teacup, his eyes keen. “Did you care?”

She blushed instantly, helplessly. “I thought we agreed that it would be better to omit such personal questions between us.”

“I changed my mind. We don’t seem to have had much luck trying to undo what’s already been done. Perhaps it would be better to go forward instead.”

His eyes held hers in a way that made it difficult for Katie to breathe. “I... don’t understand what you mean.”

“Look, Kathleen, I know this is sudden, but only in one respect. There is actually a great deal between us; we already have a relationship of some depth. Only the acknowledgment of it is sudden. I am admitting that I have strong feelings where you are concerned, but before I go any further, perhaps I should ask if you are prepared to be honest about your feelings for me.”

Jack’s voice was gentle, melting Katie’s defenses. Inwardly she groped for a touchstone, some past encounter between them similar to this one, but there was none. This time he wasn’t taunting or challenging her, nor was he breaking down her will with the sheer force of his own. At this moment, Katie felt that Jack sincerely wanted to know what was in her heart. She gazed into his eyes, caught by the soft flecks of gold within the green, and just this once allowed herself to trust him. “Yes. I have feelings for you. It’s no use pretending otherwise, though I’ve certainly tried.”

“You’ve already admitted that you’re physically attracted to me, and you’re certainly aware that it’s mutual. Perhaps you’ve thought that it’s simply because you’re lovely and available in this rather remote locale. The truth is that I have never felt so powerfully drawn to any other woman.” The sight of Katie’s slowly flushing cheeks disarmed him. Smiling, he reached across the space between them to take her hand. It was soft and small in his own. “What I would like you to tell me is whether or not you feel something more toward me.”

“Are you talking about... love?” Katie heard herself speak from far away, over the roaring of blood in her ears.

“Well, not necessarily,” he replied carefully. He felt as if he were walking a tightrope: unable or unwilling to fully explore his own feelings where Katie was concerned, yet obliged to bring things out in the open just enough to persuade her to marry him. “Do you think that there is friendship between us? Do you care for me at all?”

She nodded slowly, confused. “Jack, why are you asking me these things?”

He pulled his chair closer to hers and touched her cheek with his fingertips. “I can’t ignore the bond that has formed between us any longer. I have to return to San Francisco today, and I don’t know when, or if, I’ll be back here. I
do
know that I don’t want to leave you behind. I’m offering you a new life, in a city that I think you would find very exciting. If you come with me, you’ll discover that my existence there is quite different from the one I enjoy here. I know you’ll be shocked to hear this, but I actually own a business in San Francisco, and am considered to be—dare I say it?—a respectable citizen. I can offer you a comfortable home and financial security.” Jack’s tone was wryly detached as he recited the list of his own qualifications. “Actually, I think that we could deal quite well together. I realize that this is sudden...”

Katie’s head was spinning. Surely this couldn’t be happening. Any moment now she would wake up in her bed and find that their entire conversation had been a dream.

“But all I ask,” Jack continued, running a fingertip along Katie’s jaw and sending delicious shivers racing down her spine, “is that you think about what I’ve said for the rest of the morning. You can give me your answer when we all meet at the church this afternoon.”

She tried to digest his words. “I’m not sure I understand. Are you asking me to be your... mistress?”

Jack stared for a moment, startled, then threw back his head and laughed. “God, no! Did I forget to mention marriage?” Amused, he dropped to one knee and clasped her hands. “Kathleen, I am asking you to be my wife.”

A knock at the door interrupted them. “Who is it?” Katie called, her voice cracking.

“It’s Mrs. Barnstaple, my dear. I thought I ought to check the hem of your gown one more time, just in case.”

Alarmed and confused, Katie tugged at Jack’s hands. “Get up,” she hissed. “You’ll have to go out the back door. I could never explain the two of us, with me in my nightgown, to her!” Turning her head, she called again, “Wait just a moment, Mrs. Barnstaple—I’ll be right there!”

The absurdity of the situation did not escape Jack as Katie rushed barefoot across the kitchen and opened the door for him.

“Go!” she urged.

Jack grinned. “Is this any way to treat the man who has just knelt before you and offered you not only his heart, but all his worldly goods as well? Shall I interpret your behavior as a hint to brace myself for rejection later in the day?”

“Will you go? I can’t even think straight right now—we’ll have to discuss it at the church,” Katie replied, feeling utterly crazed. When he had stepped into the backyard, a thought occurred to her and she stopped in the midst of closing the door. “Wait! I just want to know one thing. Does your sudden desire not to leave me behind in Columbia have anything to do with Aaron Rush?”

Jack met her suspicious gaze unflinchingly. “My dear, if you imagine that I am chivalrous enough to propose marriage to every damsel in distress whom I encounter, you are giving me far too much credit. Believe me, I am no knight in shining armor!”

“Of course. How could I have forgotten?” she murmured dryly. Still, watching Jack saunter across the yard and vault lightly over the picket fence, his lean-muscled body outlined against dungarees and a faded red flannel shirt, Katie felt the familiar waves of desire wash over her. To say the least, the decision that faced her would necessitate a tug-of-war between her head and her heart....

Chapter 21

October 27, 1864

The fragrance of pink and ivory hothouse roses enveloped Katie as she held the bride’s bouquet together with her own. Abby stood in front of her, clasping Gideon’s hands as they listened to the minister.

For the most part Katie was far away, her thoughts a jumble. But there remained a quiet corner of her mind that attended to the moment, enjoying the occasion and all its trimmings. She felt quite beautiful in her gown—a lavender-blue silk taffeta with goffered flounces around the hem—and she had been surprised and pleased when she’d first glimpsed herself in the mirror. Wrapped in a sash of fringed white silk, her waist looked tiny. Her breasts were high, and her creamy neck and delicate features were set off perfectly by the simple, rose-studded chignon at the base of her neck. The events of the morning left her with pink-smudged cheeks and bright, thick-lashed blue eyes that were accentuated by the pale violet of her gown.

Abby, too, looked radiant. Because this was her second marriage, she had opted for a dress of cream-colored muslin in the same style as Katie’s, with a fringed sash of pink silk. Her golden curls were cunningly adorned with a garland of pink and ivory roses that matched the bouquet Katie now held for her. Abby’s soft doe eyes were clear as she repeated after Pastor Hitchcock:

“I, Abigail, take thee, Gideon, to be my wedded husband, and I do promise and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful wife, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.”

Katie heard the words and held them close to her heart. How serious it all was! Gazing past the bride and groom, she saw Jack, his profile burnished by the light that filtered through the stained-glass windows. He was tanned and handsome in his gray suit and blue silk cravat, accented by a white rosebud pinned to a lapel. Katie stared at his roguish features, which were sober yet softened by affection for his two friends. There was a great deal that she didn’t know about Jack. For instance, what had become of the woman he had told Abby was waiting for him? However, what she did know was important. In spite of their quarrels, he was a good man and a loyal friend. He was intelligent and witty, and he seemed to be honest. He wanted to take her away from Columbia, which both frightened and excited her. Katie was stimulated by his company; she couldn’t imagine being bored by Jack, unlike nearly every other man she had met. And last, there was the matter of the intense physical attraction between them and the deeper feelings that she could no longer deny were in her heart.

There had been a certain detachment on Jack’s part, even as he proposed marriage, that worried her. There were a great many risks involved if she agreed, but even that thought sent a thrill through her body. The more she considered Jack’s proposal, the more she realized that a new life in San Francisco as Jack Adams’s wife held the possibility of great happiness and fulfillment.

Pastor Hitchcock was saying, “By the authority vested in me as a minister of the Church of Christ, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

As bride and groom kissed, Jack glanced sideways and met Katie’s eyes. It was apparent that she had been looking at him; now she blushed tellingly. He suppressed a smile. Caught up in the challenge of convincing her to marry him, Jack had kept his own fears at bay. Now, as they threatened to rise again, he made a conscious effort to suppress them. The thought of committing himself to a lifetime with
any
woman was disquieting, to say the least. But Kathleen MacKenzie was not just any woman. His heart told him that there were good reasons to take her as his wife: she was intelligent, lively, and beautiful. Thoroughly unique. And she excited him physically to an extent that he had not believed possible in the past. But was that a qualification for a wife? Jonathan Wyatt, self-contained editor of the
Morning Star,
had his doubts. Katie was nothing like the woman he had long ago decided would make the best sort of wife. When it had become clear that he was reaching the age at which a family was desirable, Wyatt had thought that an
orderly
sort of marriage would be best. Passion, in and out of bed, would be less complicating if sought outside the home.

Well, it was no use having second thoughts now. He’d already proposed. As the organ sounded the recessional and Gideon and Abby walked back down the aisle, Jack went to meet Katie and offer her his arm. She gave him a guileless smile that bespoke her own mixed feelings and softened his heart.

Emerging from the church into the cool, drizzly afternoon, they found a congratulatory crowd already forming around Gideon and Abby. Pastor Hitchcock came over to shake Jack’s hand and then he turned to Katie, smiling.

“I have to tell you, my dear, how very beautiful you look today. I confess, as I watched you come down the aisle, I worried for a moment that you might outshine the bride!”

“I appreciate the compliment, Pastor, but I don’t think there was any danger of that,” Katie replied, laughing. “Abby was the loveliest, most radiant bride I have ever seen.”

“Yes, it’s a wonderful day, isn’t it? Romance is in the air!” The old man breathed deeply and sighed. “This occasion must be the stuff of dreams for you, my dear.”

“Actually, it’s more the stuff of fear!” She laughed again, nervously. “Marriage is a very serious step, isn’t it?” Katie felt Jack’s sharp glance but kept her eyes on the minister.