Dashing Druid (Texas Druids) (35 page)

“Stop staring at me! And get out of my head!” she shouted furiously.

He flinched and jerked back as if she’d slapped him. Groaning, he bent forward, clasping his head with both hands. “Jaysus, woman! Don’t do that!” he gasped.

Lil gaped at him. “I just told you to get out of my head. I didn’t punch you.”

“Ye might as well have.” Straightening, he rubbed his temples, looking pale beneath his tan. “When ye shouted for me to get out, it felt like a knife stabbing into my brain.”

“I . . . I’m sorry. But you oughtn’t to go poking around in my head like that. I won’t have it, Devlin.”

He grimaced. “Well, all ye need do is order me out, it seems, and I have no choice in the matter. Though I’d be obliged if you’d be a bit gentler next time.” He lowered his hands and gave her a questioning glance. “If there’s to be a next time, that is. Now that ye know about me, I’d not blame ye for walking away. ʼTis why I’m telling ye everything now. If you’d rather not bind yourself to me, if ye choose to keep your freedom . . .” He swung his gaze to the creek and finished in a raspy voice, “. . . I’ll not try to stop ye.”

Lil snorted. “Freedom? Is that what you call going to bed alone every night and feeling so empty that nothing could ever fill the hollow? Look at me, Tye.” When he did, she met his gaze squarely. “I’ve got a confession to make, too. I’ll be twenty-eight years old in two months. I’m older than you.” Holding her breath, she watched a perplexed frown cross his face.

“Aye, a wee bit. So?” He shrugged casually, causing her to exhale in relief.

“So, I was a lonely old maid when you came along that day last summer.” Mouth twitching at the memory, she reached to run her fingers through his hair. It had dried by now, and the raven waves glimmered in the sunlight. “Do you think I want to go back to that life? If you do, you’re loco. You’re mine, Tye Devlin, and I’m not giving you up just cuz you’re a might
unusual.”

He made a low rumbling noise and pulled her back to him, this time wrapping her in a tight embrace. “Ye were never an old maid,” he said gruffly. He was quiet for a moment, then added, “I’ve nothing to offer ye, Lily, except broken dreams and all my love . . . and the prospect of leaving ye a widow once we return home.”

“Don’t say that!” she cried, pushing at his chest, forcing a space between them.

“’Tis the truth and ye know it. Worse, ye could lose your own life if ye try to come between Howard and me.”

“No! Maybe he won’t even come after you. Maybe Pa talked sense to Judd and made him see how Frank brought it all on himself.”

“Aye, and maybe longhorns have wings,” he scoffed.

Lil gave a weak laugh. “Well, I reckon they do up in cowboy heaven. And as for what you’ve got to offer, you do have some mighty useful assets.” Tilting her head, she boldly trailed her gaze down his body.

Tye inhaled sharply. “
Begorra!
Stop looking at me like that, ye brazen wench!” he growled. “And me trying to be a gentleman. Och, we’d better find a priest right now if you’re meaning to torment me like this until we’re wed.”

Lil grinned, pleased with his response to her teasing. “Um, maybe you oughta take a cold dip in the creek first,” she said, noting the bulge in his britches.

* * *

There was no priest in Silver Plume, necessitating a descent to Georgetown, where they ran into another stumbling block. Since Lil hadn’t objected to finding a priest, it had never entered Tye’s mind to ask if she was Catholic. Therefore, when the good father put the question of faith to her, and she said she’d been baptized Methodist a few years ago, Tye experienced a jolt of alarm. His mind worked frantically while the gray-haired priest frowned in disapproval.

“I’m sorry, but The Church stands against any Catholic marrying outside the faith,” the man said officiously. “I would be remiss in my duty if I –”

“Father, there’s something ye should know,” Tye interrupted. He darted a warning glance at Lil and cleared his throat. “Uh, there’s a good chance the colleen may carry my child.”

A choked sound came from Lil. Tye sent her another silent message not to contradict him. Hot color rushed into her golden cheeks, but she dropped her gaze and kept silent.

Scowling at the pair of them, the priest delivered a brief, sharp sermon on the sin of fornication. Then he reluctantly agreed to marry them, on condition that Lil sign a pledge agreeing to bring up their children in the Catholic faith.

“I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign, Father,” Lil replied. “I’d do most anything for Tye.” She gave him a tender look, and he swallowed hard past the sudden lump in his throat.

The priest also seemed affected. He grew more cordial, and the wedding date was set for three days hence. He even agreed to perform the ceremony in Silver Plume, in the small house he used whenever he made the trip up there to minister to the Irish and Italian miners who lived in the mining camp. A real church had not yet been built but was being planned, he explained.

Walking out into the sunlight a moment later, Tye paused to lay a hand on Lil’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, love, for having to say what I did to him, and for that pledge business. Ye needn’t go through with this for my sake. I believe there’s a Methodist church here in Georgetown. Say the word and we’ll find it.”

She shook her head, brown eyes smiling. “It doesn’t make any difference. I got baptized to make my mother happy, but I’m not really a Methodist. I can’t rightly say what I am.” Her brow creased in thought.

“See, I believe God’s sort of in everything.” She looked up at the sky, at the mountains, at the bustling street. Then she laid her hand over Tye’s heart. “He’s in here, too. So if you love me the way I love you, it doesn’t much matter who says the words or how many pieces of paper we sign, does it?”

Tye’s throat tightened again. Drawing Lil into his arms, he whispered, “Nay, it doesn’t. And I do love ye, Lily, with all my heart.”

She gave a joyful cry and dragged his head down to hers.

* * *

Lil smiled and clutched her nosegay tightly. The yellow, white and orange wildflowers complimented her wedding gown of yellow Swiss muslin that Etta had helped her cut and sew. More flowers wreathed her head, contrasting with her long, dark hair. She’d chosen the colors for their cheerfulness, hoping to please Tye. From the way his eyes had lit up when he caught sight of her moments ago, she knew she’d made the right choice.

She turned to face him, struck again by how tall and handsome he looked in the black suit and snow-white shirt he’d purchased. He clasped her hand, and she gazed into his adoring bluebonnet eyes as he spoke his vows. Repeating her own vows, she felt his grip tighten in reassurance when her voice wobbled. After a few more words, he slipped a plain gold band on her fourth finger. He’d bought the ring in Wichita, during his secretive trip into town the day before Frank Howard’s return. If Frank hadn’t forced him into a showdown . . . .

Squelching the unwanted memory, Lil smiled at her groom with misty eyes as the priest pronounced them man and wife. Then she was in Tye’s arms, and his lips were warm and tender upon hers, hinting at the fire they would arouse in her later.

“I love you,” he murmured. His mouth curved into a joyous smile, and he turned her to face their guests. There weren’t many – Wiley, Etta and young Josh, and a few of Tye’s miner friends – but they cheered long and loud as he led her from the makeshift church.

Outside in the warmth of late morning, Tye stood firm beneath thumps on the back and hearty handshakes, while Lil received good wishes, hugs and brash kisses. After that, they all headed back to the Gable’s for dinner. Etta had prepared a huge ham and heaps of fixings, but the food dwindled quickly at the hands of the hungry men.

Giddy with the realization that she was Tye’s wife, Lil hardly knew what she ate. She was distracted by the brush of her husband’s arm against hers, by the warmth of him at her side, by the manly bay rum scent he exuded. All she wanted was to be alone with him, and his hand on her thigh under the table told her he wanted the same thing.

Wiley had somehow gotten hold of several bottles of wine for the occasion, and one toast followed another, growing more bawdy as the dinner progressed.

“Here’s to ye, me boy, and to yer lovely missus,” called a bullet-headed miner named Conan, raising his glass. “And should ye need a tutor tonight, why, just give a holler and Conan will come runnin’.” He waggled his brows and winked at Lil.

The other men hooted and hollered while Lil’s face grew hot. Darting a sidelong glance at Tye, she saw him grin.

“Anything
you
could teach me wouldn’t be fit for my wife to know, ye old mongrel,” he retorted, drawing more roars.

Etta Gable cleared her throat. “Gentlemen, that will be enough of that kind of talk,” she said, covering Josh’s ears.

Tye and Conan offered shamefaced apologies. A short while later the men adjourned to the parlor while Etta led Josh into his bedroom to put him down for a nap. Lil cleared the table and began washing dishes.

“You shouldn’t be doing that!” Etta protested when she returned to the kitchen. “This is your wedding day. Go sit with your husband. I’ll take care of the dishes.”

“No, ma’am. You’ve done way too much. This is the least I can do. Why don’t you go sit. You must be tuckered out.”

Etta sighed and rubbed her back. “I am a bit tired. Very well, you wash and I’ll dry, and we’ll both be done sooner.”

Lil tried to argue but her new friend overruled her. Rather than waste time debating, she went back to scrubbing dishes. She was rinsing off the last plate when she heard Etta groan, followed immediately by the shattering of a dish on the floor.

Whirling around, Lil gasped when she saw the other woman bent over in front of the china closet, holding her distended stomach and grimacing in pain.

“Etta!” Wiley shouted. He was up and at her side in a flash. “It’s the baby!” he exclaimed – unnecessarily since everyone including Lil had already guessed as much. He slipped an arm around his wife to support her and bent to pick her up, but she stopped him.

“There’s no need for that, dear. I’m all right, the pain has passed. That one was stronger, though, I must say.”

“You mean you’ve had others?”

“Well, yes, but they weren’t very strong, not like this last one.”

“Why didn’t you say something, for God’s sake?” he demanded half angrily.

Etta patted his arm. “Because we have guests, dear.” She glanced shyly at the men standing in the parlor, then smiled at Lil, who wanted to kick herself. She and Tye never should have allowed the woman to go to so much work, preparing the feast and hosting their guests when she was so close to her time. Even if she had insisted on doing so.

“Lads, I think you’d best be going,” Tye told the other men.

“Right ye are!” Conan readily agreed. “Come on, men, ’tis time we clear out.”

With polite nods and hurried thanks to Etta, who refused to budge from her kitchen until they left, the men filed out the back door and clomped down the stairs.

“All right, let’s get you to bed,” Wiley said.

“Wait. I broke one of the plates. I need to sweep up the shards so Josh doesn’t step on them and get cut.”

“You’ll do no such thing! Josh is napping. I’ll sweep up after while.” Looking frazzled, Wiley started to turn her forcibly toward their bedroom but halted when she sucked in a sharp breath and clutched her belly again. She squeezed her eyes shut and compressed her lips into a thin line, breathing loudly through her nose.

Observing her, Lil held her own breath until Etta relaxed. Feeling a trifle lightheaded, she grabbed the broom that was tucked between the stove and the sink. “I’ll sweep up the china,” she said. “You just go on now.”

“Thanks, Lil,” Wiley said before his wife could argue. “See, honey, there’s nothing you need to do but concentrate on having our baby girl.”

Lil began to sweep the broken pieces into a pile, aware of Etta’s continued hesitation. Finally, she let Wiley lead her toward their room, arguing all the way.

“I told you it’s another boy.”

“Naw, it’s a girl. I know it.”

“Just because you want a daughter doesn’t mean you’ll get one.”

“I’ll be happy with either one. You know that. But I still say it’s a girl.”

They were still debating the sex of the child as Wiley closed the door behind them.

Lil quickly finished her chore and dumped the broken china in a waste pail that Etta kept under the sink. Standing the broom back in its place, she faced Tye, who stood by the outside door with his hands stuffed in his pockets and a frown creasing his brow.