Rimfire Bride (21 page)

“Are you going to tell her . . . about everything?” Drew asked, taking her hand in his.

“There are some things that even sisters don’t need to share.”

Drew nodded his head as a smile curved his lips. “I can see that. Jana, I want you to know that I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a day as much as this one.” He held her hand, preventing her from moving toward the staircase.

“I enjoyed it, too.”

“Well, go ahead,” Hank said.

Drew looked at Hank. What was the old man telling him?

“Kiss her good night,” Hank said. “I can see right now that’s what you want to do, and you’re not gonna get out of here till you do. You know the girl’s got to work tomorrow and she needs her rest. But mind you, you make like you’re kissin’ your sister, ’cause, remember, I’m here watchin’.”

Drew chuckled, then kissed Jana lightly on the lips.

That kiss, as light as it was, and under Hank’s scrutiny, fired Jana’s senses once more. She knew she had to pull away from him and hurry up the stairs while she still had some control.

“Good night,” she said as she turned away from him.

“Good night.”

Drew watched as Jana hurried across the lobby, then started up the stairs.

Will she look back at me?
he wondered.

When Jana reached the landing, she turned to look back. Drew smiled triumphantly and nodded at her before she turned again and disappeared as the stairs continued on up.

“I’ve got one thing to say to you, Mr. Malone. Most of the time the prettiest ones are the hardest to get a rope around,” Hank said when Drew turned to leave.

“You sound like you’re telling me that from experience.”

“Don’t let this old carcass fool you, young man. I’ve flung a few lariats in my day, and I’ve caught my fair share of pretty ones.”

“Well, I intend to catch that one, mark my words. Take care of her, Hank.” Drew smiled and waved as he stepped out of the hotel.

G
reta
was sound asleep when Jana let herself in the room, but she awakened as Jana began undressing.

“How was the dance?” Greta asked in a voice groggy with sleep.

“It was very—enjoyable. I saw Hank downstairs. He said your Thanksgiving dinner was a great success.”

“It went very well. Everybody told me how much they enjoyed it, and guess what? Tom gave me a twenty-dollar tip. He said I earned it.”

“Oh, how thoughtful of him!”

Dressed in her nightdress, Jana climbed into bed beside her sister, then turned onto her side and pulled the cover up over her shoulder. She could tell by her sister’s deep and rhythmic breathing that Greta had gone back to sleep quickly, but for her, sleep was more elusive. She fixed her gaze upon the soft silver splash of moon glow on the far wall.

As she lay there, staring at the moon silver, Jana let her mind pass over the events of the day. This had been a day unlike anything else she had ever experienced in her life. She had never been invited to a man’s home before—certainly not in the way she had been invited into Drew Malone’s home.

And she knew it was an honor to be introduced to his sons, as well.

Then at the dinner, to be introduced to an entire crowd of people as the “woman in the window” was also new for her.

The dance had been wonderful. This was nothing like the occasional community dances back in Highland. Well, that wasn’t exactly true; this was a community dance, but never before had she gone to a dance with a man. She had been frightened by the prospect, but she thought she had comported herself quite well, and she smiled in self-satisfaction.

What stood out most in her mind were the kisses, and her reaction to them. But she knew she was not the only one to react. As she lay in bed, she recalled the pressure she had felt poking against her, the pressure from a hardness under Drew’s pants. Jana lacked experience, but she did not lack imagination, and unbidden, her mind extended the parameters of those kisses, imagining even that hardness unbound so that she could see and even touch it.

Such thoughts set her entire body aflame. Despite that the room was quite cool, she was on fire and felt a tingling in that most private part of her body that begged for something. But what?

To clear her mind Jana began making a mental inventory of the dresses in Watson’s store. Finally, after she heard the clock strike four, she got to sleep.

Drew had looked
in on his children when he got home. Benji had covers over his head, while Sam had his feet sticking out at the bottom. Drew used to see that and cover Sam’s feet thinking he would want that, but he would soon have them uncovered again, so Drew decided that was what Sam preferred.

When he lay in his own bed, Drew thought about the day with Jana, and he realized that this was the first truly pleasant day he had had since Addie’s death. He smiled when he pictured Jana playing snakes and ladders with Benji and seeing his son rolling on the floor with laughter. Even though Sam had been cool toward her, she had not shown any anxiety; she simply let Sam be himself without putting any pressure on him. Drew appreciated that. She had surmised, immediately, the best way to handle the situation.

He found himself comparing Jana to Della Peterson, recalling Miss Peterson’s words to him one day when he had encountered her just outside the school.

“Sam is a very sensitive child,” she’d told him. “I think he feels deprived.”

“I’m doing the best I can,” Drew had replied.

“Oh, Mr. Malone,” Della had said as she reached out to put her hand on his arm and smiled flirtatiously. “This isn’t directed at you. I
just think that Sam needs a woman’s influence in the home.”

Miss Peterson was probably right; Sam and Benji needed a woman’s influence, but not hers.

Yes, Jana would be good with his children. But was he being fair to her when he put consideration of the boys first? Or
was
he putting them first? Obviously, any relationship with a woman would have to take the children into account, but it wasn’t just the children that drew him to her.

Drew thought of the kisses he had shared with her out on the street. That was the first time he had kissed a woman since Addie had died. And it had been more than just a kiss; it was a kiss so intimate that it gave him an erection. He had pulled her against him, enjoying the pressure of her body against his.

Had she felt that?

How could she not have felt it?

He had enjoyed her company, he couldn’t deny that. But was she merely a diversion? He had decided he needed a wife, and so far, no woman had come close to attracting his attention.

Not until Jana Hartmann.

As he lay there, his mind pushing back sleep, he thought of the boys. He was using them as justification for finding a woman, but how would they react? Della Peterson was right about one thing: Sam was sensitive. Would he ever accept Jana, or would he always feel that she was an intrusion, usurping the place of his real mother?

And what about Benji? Sam was convinced that Benji couldn’t even remember their mother. Drew
had to be damned certain before he entered into any kind of relationship because so many conditions had to be met.

Yet even as he thought about the effect such a relationship would have on the boys, he could not push aside the real, physical, attraction he felt for Jana. He and Addie had enjoyed a robust sex life—but not since her death had Drew enjoyed the pleasures of a woman. Though he missed the sex, he had always thought of it in a rather amorphous way, not attached to any particular woman, but now his body was reacting to imagined images of Jana naked and writhing with pleasure beneath him.

Pushing those thoughts away with difficulty, he finally fell into a fitful and not very restful sleep.

For the first
few days after Thanksgiving, Drew did not pass by Watson’s window, at least not where he thought Jana could see him, and he didn’t stop by the Custer Hotel Saloon. He was purposely avoiding her, not because he didn’t want to see her again, but because he did.

One week after Thanksgiving, Drew was in his office handling some paperwork for a client when he looked up to see Charley Draper standing at his door.

“I’ve got a message for you,” Charley said with a long face.

“You look like you’re delivering bad news. What is it?”

“I’m afraid it’s awful bad,” Charley stepped into Drew’s office and handed him a telegram.

Drew opened the yellow envelope with trepidation. Had something happened to one of his parents? Or was it something at Rimfire? He hated getting bad news.

The telegram read:
HOUSE FINISHED. SEND FURNITURE. DEVLIN.

“You rascal.” Drew looked toward Charley. “You had me thinking some catastrophe had happened, and here it’s great news.”

“It might be good news for you, but it won’t be for Bismarck.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We’ve grown rather used to you around here, but if you get out to the Badlands and you like where you’re stayin’, why, you might decide not to come back.” Then Charley smiled. “That is, unless the Watson woman stays here. Then you’ll be back.”

“The Watson woman?”

“You know the one I’m talking about, the one you brought to me lookin’ for a job. I hear she’s just about got you roped and branded.”

“That’s what you hear, is it?” Drew asked with a lazy smile.

“I shouldn’t tell you this, but after the firemen’s dance last week, some of the guys got up a pool to see who gets the closest to the day you marry that little ole girl.”

“What day did you pick?”

“I can’t tell you that. It wouldn’t be fittin’ ’cause then you might pick my day just so as how I could win, or if you had a mind to, you could pick some other date, just so’s I’d lose.”

“Has anyone consulted Miss Hartmann about this pool?”

“Oh, no. It’s like bettin’ on what day the ice breaks up on the Missouri. It’s just sportin’ talk. We don’t mean nothin’ by it, but mind my words, we all think it’s gonna happen.”

“Well, maybe I’d better call it quits here and go see if I can rouse up Miss Hartmann.”

“From the looks of the two of you Thanksgiving night, it don’t look like it takes much to get that woman roused up when you’re around.”

“Just what are you saying, Charley?” Drew asked, the tone of his voice changing slightly.

“Don’t you go gettin’ all riled now. It’s just that lots of folks walked home from the Sheridan. And they’ve all got eyes, so that’s when we set up the pool.”

“Get out of here.” Drew chuckled as he stood. “Wait. Send Devlin a telegram and tell him we’ll see him for Christmas.”

“I’ll do it.” Charley put on his hat and headed for the door.

After Charley left, Drew walked directly to Watson’s store. When he arrived, Jana wasn’t in the window, but a nearly completed drawing sat on an easel. She had begun to shade in the brown and white of the skewbald pony, and the drawing was so accurate it was obviously Tom McGowan’s horse. Drew stepped into the store, hoping Jana was still there. She would be just the one to help him furnish his house.

“Drew, it’s good to see you. How may I help you?” Walter Watson asked.

“I’m looking for Jana. I’m hoping you can spare her for a couple of hours so she can help me with a personal matter.”

“I suppose I could let her go, but I’d have to know that she wasn’t going to be doing something improper.”

“I want to drive her out in the country and ravish her, if that’s all right with you,” Drew said with obvious exasperation.

When Jana stepped
out of the back storage room, she saw Drew, and her heart fluttered as she smiled broadly.

“I haven’t seen you for a while,” she said as she approached him and Walter. “I was beginning to think you had gone back to Rimfire.”

“Well, Rimfire is the reason I’m here. I got word today that the house is ready for furniture, and I’d like you to help me pick some out. Does that meet with your standard of decorum, Walter?”

Walter flushed with embarrassment at Drew’s chiding. “Of course. I can spare her for a couple of hours, if she wants to go.”

Jana wasn’t sure what had been said between Drew and Walter, but she did understand that she could be away from the store for a couple of hours.

“I would love to go with you. Let me get my cloak.”

When they stepped out of the store, Drew took Jana’s hand as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to do.

“Where shall we go first?” he asked.

“You’re asking me? The only thing I know is
that Watson’s Ladies’ Emporium doesn’t sell furniture,” Jana said, laughing easily.

“I suppose that was a dumb thing to say, but this will be my first time to look for furniture.”

“You didn’t help furnish your house?”

“Oh, no, everything that was put in our house had to have Rose Denton’s approval, so every stick of furniture was shipped from Chicago. Even Addie didn’t have much to say about it.”

“I take it Rose was your mother-in-law?”

“She was, and in her mind, she still is.” Drew rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s see if Jim Cady has anything we like.”

They entered a small store where several pieces of rustic furniture sat about, all made from the cottonwood trees that grew in the area. Jana saw several beds and chests as well as various chairs where the bark had been stripped from the logs, which were sanded smooth. The grain was attractive, and she ran her hand over the wood.

“We’ll take that bed,” Drew said, indicating the oversize, four-poster bed. “That will be our first purchase.”

A beaming man stepped forward. “When do you want it, Drew?”

“Now.”

“No. I mean, is there a specific date when you’ll need it?”

Drew narrowed his eyes as he looked at the proprietor of the shop. “Jim Cady, are you in the pool?”

“I might be.” Jim cast his glance toward Jana.

“This is for my cabin at the ranch. Miss Hartmann is just helping me select the furniture.”

“Uh-huh, and the first thing you buy is a bed. I’m buyin’ another day.”

Drew laughed. “Don’t waste your money. But seriously, could you get this and four more beds on the evening train for Little Missouri? I guess I need some ticks to go on the beds, so send those, too.”