Hidden Truths (63 page)

Someone cleared his throat behind them.

Amy let go of Rika and turned. "Hello, Phin."

"Hi, Amy. Great roundup." He looked from Amy to
Rika. "Hello, Hendrika." His tone was friendly, as if Rika were just
an acquaintance and hadn't once been his betrothed.

Is he really not pining away over Rika?
Amy wondered.
If she ever lost Rika, she knew she wouldn't be fine with it. A few times
today, while they had worked to round up the horses and separate the weanlings
from their mothers, Amy had felt Phin watch her and Rika.

Did he suspect that they were more than friends? But if he
did, surely he would be more upset, wouldn't he?

"Hello, Phin," Rika said. "How nice of you to
come over and help with the roundup. How is it going with your ranch?"

"Just fine." White teeth flashed in his tanned
face when he gave them an easy grin. "If Luke and the neighbors come over
to help with the roof, I should be able to finish the house before
winter."

"I can help too if you want," Amy said. She rarely
saw him since he had started working his own land. Sometimes, she wondered if
he was avoiding her.

But his blue eyes looked at her with the same friendship as
ever. "Sure." He turned to Rika. "I hear you're hiring on as a
housekeeper for the ranch?"

Amy stiffened. Would he see it as a betrayal, now that Rika
had refused to marry him?

"Yes," Rika said with a casualness that Amy knew
was forced. "Someone needs to run the household now that Nattie will be
leaving for New York, and we all know Amy would rather spend her time out on
the range than in the kitchen."

It was the truth — but not the whole truth, of course.

Phin nodded. "Listen, Amy, do you want to keep Nugget's
foal, or will your father auction him off?"

Amy grinned, glad that he didn't question Rika's moving to
the ranch. "You've got your eye on him, don't you?"

"Yeah. He'll make a fine stallion one day."

"I'm sure Papa could be talked into selling him,"
Amy said. "Go on over and talk to him."

They watched Phin walk away.

"Do you think he suspects?" Amy asked. She looked
down to where she was digging a hole in the ground with the tip of her boot.

"I'm not sure." Rika tugged at Amy's chaps until
she stopped digging. "Do you think it would be better to wait for a while
longer before I move to the ranch?"

Part of Amy, the part that had hidden her feelings for
years, was scared. She wanted to be cautious and say yes. But what she wanted
even more was to have Rika with her, to talk to her at breakfast every morning
and kiss her goodnight every night. In a few months, winter would arrive and
then she couldn't take Rika for a picnic on their remote meadow anymore. She
wanted more than just a few stolen hours of kissing and talking in Rika's room
in the hotel. "No," she said. "I want you here, with me."

"Just two more weeks until Nattie leaves," Rika
said. It sounded like a promise — and like an eternity.

*  *  *

Darkness was falling when the neighbors directed their
horses homeward and the ranch hands retreated to the bunkhouse.

Amy reached for her hat. "I'm gonna show Rika the cabin
real quick and then take her home," she said before anyone else could
offer to escort Rika. She wanted to cherish every minute with her.

"It's getting late," Mama said from the kitchen
sink. "Why don't you stay in the cabin tonight, Hendrika, and ride to town
with us tomorrow?"

Rika looked at Amy. The same longing Amy felt glittered in
Rika's eyes. Still, she hesitated. "I'd love to, but... won't Tess and
Frankie worry?"

"They know you're with us, safe and sound," Luke
said as she stacked the dried plates back in the cupboard. "If you're back
before they serve breakfast to the guests, they won't worry."

Amy sent her parents grateful glances. She grabbed Rika's
hand and pulled. "Come on." This was her chance to spend more time
with Rika.

"I'll need to borrow one of your nightshirts,"
Rika said.

The door fell closed behind them.

"No," Amy said. "You don't."

Rika's fingers flexed. "Amy Hamilton!" She tried
to sound indignant but couldn't stop a giggle.

"What? No, no. That's not what I meant." With her
free hand, Amy rubbed her flushed face. "Although..."

They stared at each other, and Amy's breath caught. The
thought of seeing Rika naked, of touching her skin... She didn't want to wait
two weeks to promise herself to Rika.

Under the cover of darkness, Rika trailed her fingers up and
down Amy's arm. It sent shivers along Amy's skin.

Amy pulled Rika to a stop in front of the cabin. "Close
your eyes," she whispered.

"Why?"

"Just trust me."

"I do." Rika squeezed her hand. "They're
closed."

Reluctantly, Amy slipped her hand from Rika's, opened the
door, and lit a kerosene lamp. She wrapped one arm around Rika and led her into
the cabin. "Open your eyes now."

Rika's eyes opened and then widened as she took in the
cabin.

Amy had worked hard all week to get the cabin ready for
Rika. Gone were the saddle blankets and the harness pieces, and Papa had helped
her to finally install the wood floor. Instead of bridles and rope halters,
colorful drawings covered the walls. A bunch of wildflowers on the table sent a
sweet scent across the room. In the bedroom, new straw filled the mattress, and
a soft quilt covered the bed.

"You... you did all this? For me?"

"Yes." Amy stared into her eyes, trying to figure
out what Rika was thinking. Had she overwhelmed her? "I wanted you... us
to have a home. Do you like it?"

After twirling and again taking in the cabin, Rika nodded.
"I don't know what to say." Her eyes were damp, and when she pointed
at one of the drawings, her finger shook. "Is this our meadow?"

"Yes. It's a gift from Nattie."

"And this?" Rika pointed to the horse figurines.
"These are yours, aren't they?"

Amy nodded, trying to keep in an ecstatic grin. "I want
to keep them where I can see them every day."

"Does that mean...?"

"I want us to live here, together." Amy threw a
tentative glance at Rika. "If it is what you want too."

Rika rushed over and threw her arms around Amy. "Of
course I do. This is a dream come true. You and your family... you are so
wonderful." Her voice was choked as if she was close to tears.

Amy pulled her closer. "I want them to be your family
too... if you want."
Should I...?
She gave herself a mental kick.
Do
it. Now.
Her stomach felt queasy, and a ball of hope and fear was lodged in
her throat, but she forced herself to move. With fear-damp hands, she reached
into a trunk and pulled out a small leather pouch she'd hidden there earlier in
the week.

"Another gift?" Rika asked when Amy handed her the
pouch. She glanced up, regret in her eyes. "But I don't have anything for
you."

Amy reached for Rika's hand and stroked it with her thumbs.
She pressed a kiss to the inside of Rika's wrist, then pulled her closer until
their lips touched. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she sighed into the kiss.

Both were breathless when they pulled back.

"You are my gift," Amy whispered.

When Rika pulled open the drawstring, Amy sank onto the
trunk, her legs too unsteady to hold her up any longer.

Rika shook the contents of the pouch into her palm.

In the light of the kerosene lamp, a gold ring glinted.

"Amy?" Rika knelt next to Amy as if her legs had
given out too. "What does that mean? How did you get this?"

"Don't worry. Papa got it for me. She told the
goldsmith it's for Mama."

"But you can't afford it."

Amy frowned. Didn't Rika want the ring? "Papa and I
worked with two of the goldsmith's horses every day for the last month to trade
for the ring."

"So that's why you were always late picking me
up?"

Since her mouth was too dry to answer, Amy just nodded. Her
gaze flitted back and forth between Rika's face and her palm, which still
cradled the ring. She had prepared a romantic speech and learned it by heart,
but now that the moment was there, she couldn't remember a word of it. "I
know you came west to marry and to start a family. I can't give you that, but
if you'll have me, I can promise to love, honor, and cherish you for as long as
I live. I know it's not much, but —"

Rika's lips against hers stopped Amy's rambling. When the
kiss ended, Rika touched Amy's cheek and looked into her eyes. "It's
everything. When I came here, I didn't know what I was looking for. Not really.
I thought I was searching for a means to survive and for a secure future. What
I found is so much better."

"What?" Amy asked and held her breath.

"A home," Rika whispered. "Love."

"Does that mean...?"

The dazzling gap-toothed grin Amy loved so much appeared on
Rika's lips as she slid the ring onto her finger. "Yes. I promise to love,
honor, and cherish you forever too."

Amy slid from the trunk and threw her arms around Rika.

"I'll save up to buy you a ring too," Rika said
between kisses. "We'll need to wear them on a chain, or people will start
talking, though."

Not even the thought of having to hide their love could
destroy Amy's happiness now. Reverently, she pressed her lips to Rika's ear,
her neck, her cheekbones, then kissed eyelids that fluttered shut beneath her
touch.

Rika caressed Amy's back. "Do you want to make this our
wedding night?" she whispered against Amy's ear.

Shivers raced down Amy's body. Excitement and nerves made
her heart pound. Her vocal cords refused to work, so she answered with a nod
and another kiss.

"Then come." Rika took her hand and pulled her
into the bedroom, where she sat and unlaced her boots.

While Amy kicked off her own boots, she stole glances at
pale, smooth calves as Rika rolled down her stockings. She watched Rika unknot
her apron and slip out of her skirt and petticoats.

As if feeling Amy's gaze rest on her, Rika turned her head.

Amy smiled and looked away. She lifted trembling fingers and
opened the first button of her shirt, remembering how Rika had helped her
undress many months ago. Beneath half-lowered lids, she watched as Rika
unbuttoned her bodice.

The bodice and Amy's shirt slid onto the floor, followed by
Amy's pants.

"Want to help me with the corset?" Rika pointed
over her shoulder.

Amy nodded. She stepped closer as if in a trance, pulled in
by the heat of Rika's body.

The skin on the nape of Rika's neck glowed a bright pink.
Amy trailed her fingertip across Rika's neck and watched in fascination as
goose bumps rose beneath her touch. "You got a little sunburned
today," she said and blinked when she barely recognized the sound of her
own voice. "We need to put a vinegar poultice on it."

"Later," Rika said, her voice as hoarse as Amy's.

Amy kissed the nape of Rika's neck, inhaling the hotel's
lavender soap beneath the sheen of sweat. She fiddled with the laces in the
back of Rika's corset, her fingers refusing to work properly. Finally, after a
few breathless moments, she managed to free Rika of the corset.

They stood face to face, both just in their underwear.

"C-can I?" Amy asked, her hand an inch from Rika's
hair. When Rika nodded, she pulled the pins from Rika's hair, letting the
mahogany tresses fall free. She combed her fingers through the softness of
Rika's hair, then trailed her fingertips along Rika's collarbone, across her
shoulder, and down her arm.

When Amy hesitated, unsure what to do to express her love,
Rika entwined their fingers and leaned forward to kiss Amy's nose, her cheeks,
and down her chest until the edges of the undershirt stopped her. She mumbled
something after each kiss, her breath tickling Amy's skin and making her whole
body vibrate.

"What are you doing?" Amy whispered.

"Counting your freckles."

A nervous giggle broke free when Amy remembered that her
freckles trailed down her chest all the way to the top of her bosom. Would Rika
kiss her there too?

"Amy Hamilton, are you giggling?"

"No."

"Oh, yes, you are." Rika giggled too. "And I
like it. I like seeing you happy."

Amy laid her palms against Rika's cheeks and looked into
smoldering brown eyes. "You make me happy. I never thought I would have
this. Have someone like you in my life." She guided Rika's face to her own
and kissed her again.

Wrapped in each other's arms, they sank onto the bed, Rika
on top.

Rika's breasts, covered by just a thin chemise, rubbed
against Amy's. Amy gasped and pressed closer.

"Amy." Rika buried her fingers in Amy's hair.
Passion made her brown eyes appear midnight black. Her hands slid up Amy's
sides, heating up Amy's skin even through her undershirt. Rika kissed Amy's
throat.

Their legs entwined, and Rika's thigh pressed against the
heat between Amy's legs.

"Oh, Lord, Rika." An unknown pleasure tightened
Amy's stomach. At night, alone in her room, she had tried to imagine what lying
with Rika might be like, but her fantasies hadn't prepared her for the
sensations Rika's touch created. She bit her lip to keep from crying out and
tried to focus on Rika instead. Her hands slid up and down Rika's back. She
felt the warmth of Rika's skin beneath the chemise, and suddenly, she couldn't
stand having that barrier between them. She ached to touch Rika.

"Would you mind...?" She bunched up the hem of the
chemise and paused.

Instead of answering, Rika sat up. She straddled Amy's lap,
her heat pressing down on Amy, making her tingle all over. Rika slid the
chemise over her head, then crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Don't hide yourself from me," Amy whispered as if
talking more loudly would break the spell. She sat up and quivered when she
felt Rika's legs wrap around her waist.