The Sheriff (Historical Romance) (20 page)

T
he steaks will get cold,” Kate laughingly warned when the dazzled Travis shed his jacket where he stood and swept her up into his arms.

“As long as you don’t,” he said, and carried her to the bed.

He yanked the covers down out of the way and lowered her to the mattress. Sighing, Kate leaned back against the stacked pillows and raised her arms above her head. She winced when Travis grabbed the hem of her nightshirt, flipped it up to her waist, leaned down and pressed a burning kiss to her bare belly.

“Travis,” she whispered, flushing hotly. She modestly shoved the nightshirt down.

“Why don’t you take that thing off?” he suggested as he stood unbuttoning his shirt.
“I’ll let you,” she said, and watched, transfixed, as he hastily undressed.

His boots were kicked off, and in seconds Travis had stripped to his skin. In the instant before he climbed into bed, Kate was allowed a fleeting glimpse of him in all his naked glory.

He was a beautiful specimen of potent masculinity, tall and lean and perfectly configured. Conceit and cockiness seemed reasonable in a male with such remarkable good looks and physical ability. His height implied power; his darkness, warmth and passion. His strong sexual magnetism had, from the first time she’d seen him standing at the river landing, both frightened and excited her.

Kate shivered with anticipation now as he got into bed and put his long arm around her. Travis again tossed her nightshirt up to her waist. This time she made no move to lower it. His dark eyes smoldered when he leaned close and kissed her mouth. While they kissed, Kate could feel the heat and hardness of his heavy erection surging against her hip. With his lips fused to hers, Travis took her hand and guided it down to him.

After a long, invasive kiss, his lips left hers. So did his hand.

Travis looked into her eyes. “Touch me, sweetheart. Love me.”

Kate curiously glanced down at the surging male flesh rising from a dense growth of raven curls. She gently tightened her fingers around him. She looked
back up his face and saw the fire in his beautiful dark eyes. Their gazes locked and held as Kate caressed him with an expertise born of passion. It was a riveting moment for them both.

Travis enjoyed the sweet agony as if it was the first time a woman had ever touched him. To have this beautiful blond angel’s soft hand warmly stroking him while he gazed into her glowing blue eyes was a pleasure beyond compare. His belly tight, his heart hammering, Travis wanted time to stand still. To stop this minute. To have this beautiful young woman with whom he was falling in love hold him in her loving hand forever.

To never let him go.

Kate knew exactly what was running through his mind, and she experienced a quick surge of heady female power. It was thrilling to know that this big, strong man was, at this moment, enslaved by her. She dominated him with the mere stroking of her fingers. Conquered him by looking steadily into his eyes. Highly erotic. Exciting beyond compare. She could, if she wished, lead him anywhere…

Travis abruptly tore Kate’s hand away, sat her back against the stacked pillows and pushed her nightshirt up over her breasts. He gently urged her legs apart, wrapped a hand around the back of her left knee, raised it slightly and cocked it outward.

And then it was his turn to master her with only the touch of his hand.

Kate watched with held breath as his lean brown fingers caressed her pale white belly. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as he raked the tips of his fingers through the crisp coils of golden hair between her thighs.

And when he touched that spot where all her burning desire was centered, Kate lifted her eyes to meet his. As it had been when she caressed him, their gazes locked and held. They looked steadily into each other’s eyes while Travis’s long, tapered fingers explored and circled and teased the wet throbbing flesh she so willingly allowed him to claim.

Kate enjoyed this lovely torture as if it were not simply the pleasurable prelude to total lovemaking. To have this man’s artistic hand touching her in that most intimate of all places while she gazed into his smoldering eyes was pure joy. Her stomach fluttering, her nipples stinging, she wanted time to stand still. To stop ticking away. She wanted this gentle man with whom she was falling in love to keep his loving hand on her forever.

Travis knew exactly what was running through Kate’s mind, and he was supremely confident of his masculine power. It was arousing to know that this slender, fragile woman was, at this moment, ruled by him. He controlled her with the stroke of his fingers. Mastered her by looking into her eyes. He could, if he so chose, have her do anything he wanted…

Burning up, wanting her as he’d never wanted a
woman, he took his hand from Kate and agilely moved between her legs. He slid down and carefully positioned himself so that only the smooth tip of his engorged shaft was touching her slick swollen sweetness.

With his weight supported on a stiffened arm, he kissed her and said, “Let’s quit torturing each other, sweetheart.”

“Yes, let’s,” she whispered breathlessly, and sighed with bliss when he slid easily into her.

Knowing she was as aroused as he, Travis waited only a few seconds before he began the deep, rhythmic thrusting both their bodies demanded. Instantly the passion they thought couldn’t get any hotter escalated. Kate clung to Travis and eagerly tilted her pelvis up to meet each deep driving plunge of his hard male flesh. She bucked and thrust wildly against him, her feverish body gripping the throbbing flesh that impaled her, filled her, stretched her.

Both wanted the pleasure to last; both knew it wouldn’t. They couldn’t hold back much longer. They were too hot for each other, their bodies too aroused by the teasing foreplay.

In minutes they were gripped in a spiraling explosion of heat, swept into a vortex of intense carnal gratification. It buffeted the joined pair with an ecstasy so intense it was frightening. They moaned and gasped and went at each other with an animalistic ardor that rocked the bed and twisted the sheets.

“Travis!” Kate screamed his name as she wrapped
her arms around his neck, her legs around his back, and held on for dear life.

She knew that he was following her into paradise when she felt the hot liquid gushing high up inside her.

When it was finished, Travis fell tiredly onto his back beside Kate. Their hearts racing, their bodies perspiring, they lay limp and immobile for several long minutes, fighting to get their breath. It was Travis who stirred first.

“You okay? Did I hurt you, baby?” he asked.

“No,” she assured him. Then she laughed musically and said, “I suppose the steaks are cold.”

Travis lifted one of her hands to his lips, turned it over, kissed the palm, and said, “I’ll warm ’em up.”

Hours later, after they’d devoured the juicy steaks, they again lay in bed, sated, happy, reluctant to go to sleep despite the lateness of the hour. Gripped in the first sweet blush of falling in love, they felt that every moment was precious, golden, not to be missed. The simple act of lying in bed together and knowing that come morning they would awaken together, was delightful beyond their wildest dreams.

Wise enough to suppose that this was an opportune time to learn more about this man in whose arms she lay, Kate broached the subject of the mysterious woman whose tintype she had seen beneath the folded nightshirts.

“Travis, am I the only woman in your life?”

“The only one,” he said with a yawn.

Kate traced the line of dark hair going down the center of his stomach with her fingertip. “I heard a rumor that you once fought a duel over a beautiful woman.” She waited.

“You heard correctly.”

“Were you terribly in love with her?”

“I thought I was,” Travis said.

“And?” she gently prodded.

Travis smiled. “Katie, it was a long time ago.”

“I don’t care. I want you to tell me about it. Please.”

Travis nodded. And told her everything.

He calmly revealed how a decade ago a beautiful, conniving thirty-one-year-old Richmond divorcée had captivated him when he was a green twenty-two-year-old. The woman, Mrs. Roxanne Bond, had played him for a fool and had, for sport, goaded one of her many lovers into challenging him to a duel for her affections. A duel in which he had killed a man. He had taken a man’s life and the deed had ended his hopes of a medical career. And then Roxanne had coolly informed him that if he was not going to be a successful physician, he couldn’t expect her to waste any more time on him.

“Within twenty-four hours I left Virginia, heading west,” Travis concluded “And here I am, sheriff of Fortune.” He paused, then said, “Now I’ve done my bit. It’s your turn.”

Kate was dying to ask a million questions, but she
refrained. She began to talk about her life back in Boston, telling Travis how she and her older brother had been raised by her dear uncle as children of privilege before the vast family fortune had been lost.

“So you
do
have a brother?” Travis interrupted. “Where is he now, Kate?”

“I honestly don’t know. I no longer consider him a brother.”

“What happened?”

“Once the family fortune was gone, Gregory left, giving no thought to the welfare of my uncle Nelson and me. We never heard from him again.” She fell silent.

“Go on,” Travis urged.

Kate picked up the story, telling of how she had inherited the run-down mansion and the Cavalry Blue from her great-aunt Arielle VanNam Colfax on the very day her dear uncle passed away. Her uncle had managed to save a little cash, bless him, and she had used it to come to California.

“And the once great VanNam fortune?” Travis asked when she had finished the story.

“Flowers.” Kate’s voice was expressionless.

“Of course.” A smile lit Travis’s face. “The tulip craze.”

“Worse yet,” Kate said.

“Poppies?” He was frowning now. “The opium trade?”

“Heavens no!” She laughed at such an absurd
idea. “We’d still be rich were that the case.” She sighed then and said, “The VanNams made and lost a great fortune in Dutch hyacinth bulbs.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Travis said.

“Don’t be. Everything has worked out for the best. If the fortune hadn’t been lost, I would never have come to California.” She raised herself up onto an elbow and said, “And now I’ve found the gold.”

“You’re wealthy again.”

“Yes, but that’s not enough. I want it all.”

“All?”

“I want you,” she said, and placed two fingers on his sensuous lips. “I want your heart.”

Travis grinned. “Baby, if you can find it, you can have it.”

T
he lovers remained awake far into the night.

With each passing hour they explored each other fully, both physically and mentally. It was not just Travis’s bare brown body that Kate so eagerly examined. She was intent on learning what went on in his keen mind, as well.

It was the same with Travis. Not satisfied to simply explore every silky inch of Kate’s pale, naked form, he urged her to tell him her deepest secrets, to never hide her feelings from him.

Neither had shared their innermost thoughts with anyone else before. It was a brand-new world for the determined, independent Kate and the dauntless, stoic Travis.

In the short time she’d been in his care, Kate had learned about passion from the patient, experienced
Virginian. And Travis, who knew all about passion, had learned about love from the sweet, guileless Bostonian.

She was, he happily realized, nothing like the worldly thirty-one-year-old divorcée who had played him for a fool a decade ago. To this kind, caring young beauty he could entrust his heart with no fear of her breaking it. She was not that kind of woman.

As if she had read his thoughts, a sleepy Kate said softly, “Don’t be afraid to love me, Travis.”

“I won’t be.”

After a pause, she asked, “Should I be jealous of Roxanne?”

“No. I was a boy then, sweetheart. I’m not now.”

“Should I be jealous of any other woman or women who—”

“I love you, Kate VanNam. You and nobody else.”

“That’s the right answer, Sheriff.”

At seven the next morning Travis slipped out of bed while Kate slept on. He built a fire in the grate, washed up, shaved, dressed and came to the bed to kiss her goodbye.

“What are you doing up?” she asked with a yawn.

“I work here, remember.”

“Mmm. So you’ll be just inside in the jail?”

“Yes. If I have to leave for any length of time, I’ll let you know. Now go back to sleep, honey. I’ll check on you later this morning.”

“Okay,” she said, her eyes closing. Then all at
once she lunged up, a frown on her face, the covers falling to her waist. “Where’s Cal? Is he outside in the cold? He’ll freeze to death!”

Travis laughed. “Relax! He’s in the jail, remember? I put him in there the minute I got home yesterday afternoon. And I fed him the leftover steak last night, after you fell asleep. Want me to bring him in here?”

“No, not really,” she said, wanting only to go back to sleep. “You’ll look after him?”

Travis grinned. “You know I will.”

Kate smiled. “And you’ll look after me?”

“For the rest of my life, sweetheart.”

With a steaming-hot cup of coffee in his hand, Travis went into the jail. He looked about for Cal and saw the big calico stretched out, sound asleep, on a cot in one of the empty cells. Travis didn’t disturb him.

He went on into the front office and stood looking out the windows as he drank his black coffee. The snow had stopped falling. At this early hour the streets were still deserted. The town had not yet stirred to life.

Travis circled his desk, sat down and leaned back in his chair. He glanced across the street at the Bonanza Hotel, automatically focusing on the third floor suite of Winn DeLaney. Travis clenched his jaw. He was still afraid Delaney would sneak out of town before Jiggs could bring in Kelton and Spears.

While Travis sat at his desk, a bright alpine sun rose, and with it the temperature. By nine o’clock the
snow had begun to melt and the town to bustle. Miners with their axes were heading to their diggings. Merchants were wheeling out carts to display their wares. The ping of a blacksmith’s hammer rang out from his shop past the livery stable.

Across the street at the Bonanza Hotel, a light came on in the third floor corner suite.

And Travis’s dark eyes narrowed.

Winn DeLaney got out of bed, drew on his black silk robe and crossed to the front windows. He raised a shade and peered curiously out. The storm had passed. The sun was shining brightly, the snow quickly melting.

Winn looked across the street to the city jail. He scowled when he saw Sheriff McCloud seated behind his desk. For a man who the Committee of Vigilance paid to get out on the streets and keep the peace, McCloud sure spent a lot of time sitting behind his desk, doing nothing.

Winn irritably yanked the shade down and turned away.

“Is it still snowing?” asked the voluptuous dark-haired woman in his bed.

“No. The sun’s out, the snow’s melting.”

Melisande sat up, pushed her hair back from her eyes. “So we could get out if we wanted to? Winn, let’s go. Let’s leave right now while we still have the chance.”

“We’re not leaving,” he said, pacing restlessly
back and forth. “How many times do I have to say it? We are not going without the gold!”

Melisande threw back the covers and rose from the bed. Hands on her hips, she said, “Damn you, Winn! It is too dangerous. We are going to get caught if we stay. Any minute that posse could ride back into town and—”

“Doesn’t matter if they do. They’ll come back empty-handed and that will be the end of it. Spears and Kelton will get lost in some other primitive mining camp and no longer pose a threat.” He paused, took a deep breath and said, “Then as soon as the girl is feeling better and is back home in her mansion, I’ll go up and successfully seduce her.”

“Oh, really?” Melisande snorted derisively. “That woman’s been shut up over there with that handsome lawman for the past five days. I’ll wager eight to five she’s already been ‘successfully seduced.’”

“Kate VanNam is a naive, well-bred young lady who would never—”

“Wouldn’t she? She’s a woman first and Mc-Cloud’s one magnetic male.” Melisande lifted bare shoulders and hugged herself. “He exudes potent sexuality from every pore, so I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if—”

“Will you kindly shut up and let me think!”

Well before noon most of the snow had melted. Only a few traces remained on the shady sides of
buildings. The town was humming with life. Travis had ventured out a half-dozen times, stopping in here and there, saying good-morning, checking on people, keeping the peace with his presence. But he never went far enough away that he couldn’t keep an eye on the jail’s front entrance.

Until a sudden occurrence demanded his attention. He’d been back inside only long enough to take off his coat when an upset man in a bartender’s apron came running in, calling his name. “Sheriff Mc-Cloud! Sheriff McCloud! Come quick! Spanish Rose and Bad Bertha are going at it again down at Tillie’s. Rose is pulling Bertha’s hair and Bertha’s threatening to slit Rose’s throat.”

“Be right there,” Travis said, already rising from his chair. Not bothering to grab his coat, he was to the door when he caught sight of the stick-thin, toothless H. Q. Blankenship coming across the street. Travis called out to the old sourdough.

“What do you need, Sheriff?” Blankenship hurried over.

“I’m deputizing you, H.Q.,” he said, and pinned his silver star to the man’s narrow chest. Travis took a weapon from his gun belt and handed it, butt first, to the surprised man. “Take this loaded Colt and stand guard here in the jail. Anybody tries to get back there to Miss VanNam, stop them.”

“Yes, sir, Marshal,” said the flattered H.Q., his
pale eyes brightening with excitement. “I’m not to let anyone visit her?”

“Alice Hester or Chang Li, nobody else,” Travis said, and was gone.

Winn DeLaney had finished a late breakfast in the Bonanza dining room. He was entering the lobby, where he liked to sit and keep watch on the city jail, just as Sheriff McCloud came hurrying on the heels of an excited little man in a white bartender’s apron.

Winn quickly crossed to the hotel’s front windows and watched as the coatless sheriff trotted down the sidewalk toward the southern end of town.

He smiled. This would be, he decided, the opportune time to visit his wounded sweetheart. There’d be nobody there to keep him away from Kate. He’d get the chance to explain that the big, bullying sheriff was responsible for him not visiting sooner. He had wanted to come to her at once, to comfort and care for her. He had worried himself sick over her.

Winn exited the hotel. He looked far down the street, where a group of men, shouting and whistling, had gathered outside Tillie’s bordello. He stared unblinking as the sheriff waded into the mob, pushed men out of the way and disappeared inside.

Barely able to hide his glee, Winn strolled as casually as possible to the hotel’s entryway. He stepped outside and looked across the street to the jail. And he promptly frowned. A woman was going in the
front door. Damn it to hell! No doubt it was that widowed bakery owner, the chirpy, cheerful Alice Hester. What a nuisance. But she was a good friend of Kate’s. No telling how long Mrs. Hester would stay. Winn muttered an oath and went back inside.

“Good Morning, H.Q.”

“Morning, Miss Knight,” he said, his eyes round with surprise when he looked up to see who was coming in the door. “What brings you out at this early hour?”

Valentina smiled and held up a fancy oval box covered in shimmering gold paper and tied with a purple ribbon. “The wounded patient, of course. How is Miss VanNam today?”

“I don’t rightly know,” H.Q. said, and shook his head. “I’m not allowed back there. And, I’m sorry to say, you’re not either, Miss Knight.”

“No? Why on earth not?”

“Sheriff McCloud deputized me,” H.Q. said proudly, sticking out his bony chest. “Made me vow I’d not let anyone in to see her, saving that little Chinaman what works for her and Mrs. Hester from the bakery.”

Valentina laughed gaily, waved a gloved hand in the air and said, “I’m certain the sheriff didn’t mean me.”

“Alls I know is Travis said ‘keep everybody out ’cept Chang Li and Mrs. Hester.’”

“Be reasonable, H.Q. I’ve come as a good neighbor
and have brought the poor dear a box of chocolates to brighten her spirits. Now, stay where you are and keep an eye out for mischief makers.”

With the worried little man frowning after her, Valentina went on into the back of the jail. All the cells were empty. Not a single prisoner inhabited the place, only a big calico cat dozing peacefully on a bunk.

Valentina walked down the corridor between the cells. She stopped before the closed door leading into Travis’s private quarters, drew a deep breath and knocked.

“Just a minute,” Kate called out, and frantically looked about for her discarded nightshirt. She spotted it across the room, draped over a chair. She bounded out of bed, dashed over and grabbed up the garment. She yanked it over her head, winced in pain from the quick jerky movement, stuck her arms through the sleeves and went back to the bed.

“Who is it?” she called. “Alice, is that you? Chang Li?”

Valentina opened the door and stepped inside. Kate’s eyes widened when she saw the handsome, dark-haired woman who was splendidly attired in a Cossack-style hat, with an ermine wrap slung across a black tunic and black stockings.

Closing the door, Valentina said, “You don’t know me, Miss VanNam. I’m Valentina Knight.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Knight,” Kate replied with a genuine smile.

“Is it?” Valentina asked, venturing closer. “I think it only fair to tell you that I own and operate the Golden Nugget saloon. I sing there every night. It is not the kind of place young ladies like you…So if you don’t want to associate with my kind, I’ll turn around and leave.”

“No, no, please, take off your wrap and sit down. You’re very welcome here, Miss Knight.”

Valentina smiled then and approached the bed. “In that case, I brought you some Belgian chocolates and I’d bet anything that you have a sweet tooth.”

“You’ve found me out,” Kate said with a laugh. “Thank you so much for coming to visit, Valentina. Please, do sit down. Let’s get acquainted.”

The woman nodded, took off her gloves, hat and wrap, tossed them all across the foot of the bed. She then took the offered chair. She looked curiously around and mused aloud, “I’ve never been in this room and…” She caught herself and said no more. “You feeling better? I trust the sheriff is taking good care of you.”

“Yes, he is,” Kate said, hoping her face was not red. “How fortunate for me that Chang Li thought to bring me here to the marshal, since Doc Ledet was out of town.”

“Indeed. It was quick thinking on Chang Li’s part,” said Valentina.

The two women, carefully examining one another, at first made stilted small talk. But in no time, they were becoming comfortable with each other. They
exchanged stories about their respective homes. Kate talked about her life back in Boston, very different from the one she now lived in Fortune. Valentina spoke fondly of her New Orleans home. Said she missed the charming old city as well as the mild, semitropical climate.

“I’ve stayed too long,” she announced after twenty minutes. “I’ll tire you.”

“No, not at all,” Kate assured her. “I feel fine. Really.”

Valentina got to her feet. She picked up her discarded hat, wrap and gloves. “Nevertheless, I must go now.”

“Come back real soon,” Kate said.

Valentina laid a hand on Kate’s shoulder and patted gently. “You’re a wise and very kind young lady, Kate. No wonder…” Again her words trailed away. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Thank you for coming. And for the chocolates.” Kate knew, after only this brief, cordial visit, that Valentina Knight was in love with Travis. She felt a surge of compassion for the other woman. “Does he know?” she softly asked.

Valentina knew exactly what she meant. She gave no reply, just shook her head, turned and walked away. When she reached the door, Kate said her name. Valentina turned to look at her.

Kate said, “If it’s any consolation, I’ll take good care of him, I promise.”

“You’d better,” she warned with a smile. “If you don’t, you’ll answer to me.” She quickly turned away before Kate could see the shimmer of tears that sprang to her eyes.