Judith E French (38 page)

“You did put our money in the bank, didn’t you?” Caitlin asked. When Shane didn’t answer, she glanced from him to Justice. “Well? Out with it. What have the pair of you done?”

Shane looked hurt. “You might let a man have his bath and dinner before you plague him with questions.”

“I know, I know,” Rory said, hopping from one foot to the other in a burst of excitement. “Papa—”

“Rory, hold your tongue,” Shane admonished. “Take your sister outside and show her the palomino mare I’ve got hidden behind the barn for her.”

“Papa!” Derry screamed. “Thank you, Papa!” Both children tore off in the direction of the barn.

“McKenna, Justice.” Urika came out onto the porch in her starched white apron and multicolored wool turban, which she wore over her hair both summer and winter. “Welcome home.” Urika had recently married Toby, an English immigrant who’d come to take over the kitchen at Kilronan, and her apron barely hid her advanced pregnancy.

“Where’s Mary?” Justice asked.

“Helping with the new babies,” Caitlin said. “She went over as soon as Rachel went into labor. You know Gabe isn’t much help with newborns.”

Rachel had inherited Big Earl’s land when her father passed away, and Gabe had his hands full learning the cattle business. Their marriage had prospered, despite the prejudice some people felt about Gabe’s Osage blood.

“I hope there’s plenty of hot water,” Shane said as he followed Caitlin into the house.

“Oh, now you appreciate my bathroom,” she teased. When Rory had been born, she’d insisted that Shane build a special room at the back of the house, complete with a huge tile tub and holding tank with its own stove for heating water.

“A good wife would come and scrub my back.”

“And a good husband wouldn’t keep his wife waiting to tell her what mischief he’s gotten into,” she replied tartly. “Urika, could you find Shane some fresh towels?”

Shane winked at Caitlin. “I’ll be waiting for you in the tub.”

“I’ll bathe in the creek,” Justice said.

Caitlin walked to the bottom of the staircase with him. “Well, what has your father gotten himself into this time? He’s entirely too cheerful to be innocent.”

Justice grinned.

“Out with it,” Caitlin urged. “Tell me the worst.”

“It’s better if he tells you.”

“Great,” she replied. “I suppose he’s lost all our money in a card game at Fat Rose’s. Or—”

“Talk to him, Ma. He wants to tell you.”

“I’m sure.”

Urika came through the parlor door with an armload of towels. “Clean, Missy-Wife. Just off line.”

“Thank you,” Caitlin answered. “And tell Toby that we want to eat as soon as possible.”

As she opened the bathroom door, Shane had already scrubbed off the worst of the grime and was just stepping into the tub.

“Howdy ma’am,” he said. “I was wonderin’ if you meant to leave me all alone.”

“Hush,” Caitlin replied. She stacked the towels on a shelf, took down a bottle of scent, and dumped the contents into the water.

“Hell, woman,” Shane protested. “I’ll smell like a French whore.”

“I’ll do worse if you don’t tell me what you’re up to. What did you do in Jeff City that you don’t want me to know about?” She locked the bathroom door and dragged the stool close to the tub.

“Now, Caity …”

“Caity, nothing.”

Shane lay back and let his head sink under the rising water. “Damn but that feels fine,” he said when he came up for air. He grabbed a bar of soap and began rubbing his chest.

“I’m waiting,” she reminded him.

“Stop yappin’ at me. Can’t you see I’m relaxin’? I’ll tell you my news when I’m good and ready.”

“Will you?” Taking a pitcher of cold water off the table, Caitlin dumped it over his head.

“Lord, woman!” Shane sputtered. “You fight dirty.”

“I can fight dirtier than that,” she said mischievously. Moving closer to the tub, she undid the top button of her dress.

He chuckled. “Come into the tub with me, Caity.”

“In the middle of the day?” Another button came free.

“I dare you.”

Caitlin slowly loosened a third button.

“Woman …” He groaned. “You’re torturin’ me.”

When she tossed her blouse aside and unhooked her skirt, he stood up in the tub and reached for her.

“We’ll not hurt the baby, will we?” he asked.

“No.” She moistened her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. “We’ll not harm her.”

Shane helped Caitlin into the tub, then sat down so that she straddled him. The water came to her nipples as she sank onto his lap. “Mmmm,” he said. “Nice, very nice.”

“I did miss you, darling,” she whispered.

“It was a long week without you curled beside me at night.” Then he kissed her, a long, heated kiss that made her tingle all the way to her toes.

“I’m waiting,” she said.

He teased her left nipple until it hardened to a dark pink nub. “Beautiful Caity,” he said. “You’re more beautiful now than the day I married you.”

“Shane.”

“All right.” He cupped her breast in his big hand. “I bought us land, Caity. In California.”

“You what? How could—”

He silenced her with another kiss. And when he finally let her up for air, he explained. “I didn’t plan it, Caity. I just got a chance, the opportunity of a lifetime. Three thousand acres of rolling hills, grassland, and good water. The owner died without heirs, and the Bank of Philadelphia foreclosed on the property. I met one of the bank
officers in Jeff City, a man named Edward Shepherd. He was on his way home from California, and he’d just inspected the estate.”

Numb, she stared at him. “Three thousand acres? You couldn’t have bought so much land with what we got for the sale of the horses.”

“All I had to pay were back taxes and the balance of the loan. The bank was anxious to get rid of the property, since it was so far from the gold fields. And Shepherd was pleased to do business with one of the bank’s old customers. The money from the horses made a healthy down payment.”

“But California … Why, Shane? You never wanted to go into debt before.”

“Kilronan will bring a top price. Steele said he knew of investors in Philadelphia that would buy it, sight unseen. We could own the California land free and clear.”

“Sell Kilronan?” She stared at him in astonishment. “I know you said that Missouri’s getting crowded, but I thought that you—”

He began to remove the pins from her hair, one at a time. “It’s not just that, darlin’,” he said. “More and more slave owners are movin’ into the state. Blood will flow here soon, rivers of it. I don’t want you and the children in the middle when it happens.”

“Kilronan was supposed to be Justice’s. What about—”

Shane grinned. “He’s all for it. He says Kilronan’s fenced and tamed. He wants to see new country, bigger country. And in a few years, he’ll be too old to remain under a father’s thumb.”

“You should have talked to me first.”

He exhaled through clenched teeth. “I saw a chance and took it. If you’re dead set against California, I could—”

“Admit it, Shane, you want to go farther west. You can’t blame this on Justice.”

He kissed her bare shoulder and wound his fingers in a length of her hair. “Caity, girl … if I don’t have a challenge, I’ll sit on the porch and grow old.”

She clasped his shoulders tightly. “Do you still love me, Shane?” she asked him. “After all these years?”

“Do I still love you? What kind of damned fool question is that, Caity McKenna? I’ve loved you since I was twelve years old.”

“Good.” Her heart was racing so that she felt lightheaded. “I just like to hear you say it once in a while.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Shall I climb up on the barn roof and shout it at the top of my lungs?”

She chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I’ll do it right now,” he offered. But when he started to stand up, she pulled him back.

“Without a stitch on?”

“Why not?” He grinned lazily. “Well, maybe with the kids out there, I should pull on my pants first.”

“I think I’d rather have you right where you are for now.”

“I guess I’ll stay.” And then he grinned and shouted. “There’s only one woman for Shane McKenna!”

“Hush, hush.” She clapped her hand over his mouth and giggled. “Shane, the children.”

“They know it, don’t they?” he teased. “They should know it.” And then he kissed her, a slow, sensual caress that made her go all shivery inside. “You’re my wife and the mother of those children,” he said. “You mean more to me than heaven and hell.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Yes, what?”

“I’ll go to California with you, Shane. I’ll go anywhere,
so long as you promise to build me a house when we get there.”

He laughed. “Oh, there’s a house there already, a huge house with gardens and grape vines and fruit trees. There’s an enclosed courtyard with old mission bells and a fountain. You’ll love it, Caity, I promise. I’ll go out in the spring and get everything ready. Then I’ll come back to Missouri to fetch you and—”

“You most certainly will not.” She tilted his chin up and stared stubbornly into his eyes. “I go with you, every step of the way.”

“But I want—”

“Close your mouth, Shane McKenna; you’ll catch flies. I waited seven long years for you the last time you went ahead to make things ready for me. And I’ll not give you the chance to do it a second time.”

“But Caity, darlin’ …”

“Together, my love.” She took his soapy hand and placed it over her swelling belly. “We go together, all of us.” And then she kissed him and kept kissing him until his arguments were lost in the heat of their rising desire.

One thing led naturally to the next.

And Caitlin reasoned that no matter where they lived, such sweet passion would surely last them throughout this life and on to the green fields of heaven.

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