Trail of Kisses (22 page)

Lynne raised her brow, more curious than
alarmed, as Mr. Evans began to divide the miners and send them off
to join new wagons.

“
Can he do that?” she asked
Cade.

“
Pete’s the trail boss.” Cade
shrugged, but there was nothing casual about the gesture. “He can
do whatever he likes. It’s his wagon train.”

“
Yes, but he wouldn’t actually
make any of the good families in the train put up with any of those
horrible men, would he?”

Cade nodded across the center clearing to the
curve of parked wagons. “See for yourself.”

Sure enough, the cluster of miners in the
center of the camp with Mr. Evans was dwindling as each one was
sent off to join one of the frowning, anxious families. Lynne
twisted to argue the point with Cade and caught sight of Ben
scowling in the driver’s seat of her wagon. He looked like he might
murder the miners and Mr. Evans both if anyone was sent their way.
Lynne couldn’t say she blamed them.

“
He’s not planning to send one of
them over to us, is he?” she asked.

“
I don’t think so,” Cade said,
rubbing his stubbly chin.

For once, Lynne was relieved that he was
right. The miners were all sent elsewhere, not a one to them. Her
relief was short-lived, though. When he was done with the miners,
Mr. Evans made his way over to them.

“
I’m telling you again,” he said
to Cade without greeting either him or Lynne. “I don’t want to have
any more trouble from her or you, or I’m leaving you behind.” To
Lynne he said, “Act like the lady you are or find your own way to
Denver City.”

Lynne was too cowed to protest, even when Mr.
Evans walked off without so much as a ‘by your leave.’

“
You heard the man,” Cade said
when she turned to face him.

It took her a moment to catch up to his
comment. “You’re going to let him address me like that?”

“
Yep.” Cade nodded. “And so are
you.”

Indignation flared through her and she stood
straighter, chin tilted up, fists on her hips. “I am not in the
habit of letting anyone speak to me as though I am a disobedient
child who should be sent to bed without supper.”

Cade let out a breath and faced her, crossing
her arms. “Then you need to stop acting like it.”

Lynne’s jaw dropped, but before she could tell
him just what she thought of a comment like that, he rode over
her.

“
I don’t know what’s happened to
the proud woman I set out from Independence sworn to protect. Maybe
it’s my fault that she’s fallen by the wayside, only to be replaced
by this foolish, defiant, wild thing.”

“
Foolish?” Lynne balked. Under her
indignation, she rather liked the thought of being defiant and
wild. It didn’t help her cause at all, though.

“
Lynne.” Cade dropped his arms and
leveled a hard look at her. “I understand your pride. Trust me, I
do. But temper it with sense, for a change.”

“
Sense?” She blinked. The
tightness coiling in her chest and stomach at Cade’s expression was
strange. She should be far more furious than she was. Instead, that
look made her feel… safe. “The kind of sense that asks a proud
woman, as you say, to sleep under a wagon with him?” Although at
that moment, she was more than willing to consider it. The sterner
he was, the more the butterflies in her stomach wanted to take
flight.

“
From now on,” he said, taking a
step toward her, “you’re going to keep yourself clean and
respectable.”

“
When have you ever known me to be
dirty?”

“
You’re going to either ride like
a lady or walk like one and never far from my side.”

“
If you can keep me
there.”

“
And you are
not
going to
carry that gun.” He nodded to the Cooper, still resting in the
holster attached to the belt slung over her hips.

She closed both of her hands defensively over
the handle. It wasn’t loaded now, but no one else knew
that.

“
No,” she said. “I’m keeping the
gun with me.”

He held out his hand. “Give it
back.”

She shifted in her spot. Through all the long
journey, even during the times that he had put his foot down, he
had never seemed so firm. Safe or not, a large part of her itched
to rebel against the frown he wore.

“
Who do you think you are?” she
snapped. “Who?”

He took another step closer to her. She
expected him to rage and rail and tell her he was sworn to protect
her. Instead, his voice was soft when he said, “I’m a man who loves
a woman and doesn’t want to see any harm come to her of any
kind.”

A hot flush flooded Lynne from head to toe.
She swallowed, but her mouth was dry and her heart beat so hard she
thought it might bruise her ribs. He loved her. It didn’t seem
possible, like a dream. But what kind of dream?

“
Hand over the gun,” he said,
brooking no argument, but not trying to provoke one
either.

Lynne’s hands tightened on the handle. She had
to protect herself somehow. The gun had seemed like the best way to
do that. Now she wasn’t so sure. A gun wasn’t going to protect her
against the fear that was slowly spreading from her chest, out
through the rest of her.

It was fear too. A whole new kind of fear. He
loved her.

“
Lynne,” he all but whispered.
“The gun.”

Heart beating in her ears, she drew the Cooper
from its holster and handed it across to him. It took all of her
effort to keep her hands from shaking. As he took the gun, their
hands brushed. The warmth of his fingers and the slight roughness
of his callouses sent spikes of longing through her.

“
There. Now that wasn’t so hard,
was it?” he teased her, mouth slipping into a grin that made the
butterflies in her stomach go mad with longing and swoop down into
her core.

The sensation was only made worse as Cade
winked, then pivoted and marched away from her to the back of the
wagon. He’d walked away this time, not her. He had control. The
fear that she had only barely kept at bay began to leak around the
cracks in the armor she’d fought so hard to build. Cade loved her.
What was she going to do now?

Chapter Twelve

Lynne spent the remainder of their supposed
day of rest wandering around in a daze. She tried to keep her mind
off of things by doing a thousand little chores, but couldn’t push
the truth from her heart. Cade loved her. How? They’d only known
each other for a few weeks. The trail had been intense from the
beginning and emotions had been high, but it was still only a short
time.

But they had spent that night together. That
beautiful night which was a complete mistake. Or was it? If he
loved her, that didn’t make it such a sin, did it? Maybe, but only
if she loved him in return. And that was the most frightening
aspect of all. It was one thing for Cade to fall in love with her
over a few short weeks, but it was an entirely different thing for
her to have given her heart away so easily in such a short period
of time.

“
If you’re done with the stew,
I’ll put a lid on it and save it for lunch tomorrow.”

“
What? Oh.” Cade’s statement shook
her out of her increasingly desperate thoughts as they sat
finishing supper by their fire that night. “Yes, that would be
fine.”

“
Ben?” he offered to the young man
who sat sullenly with them.

Ben shook his head and glared off across the
circled wagons at the other families. The entire camp was roiling
with upset and mistrust. Mr. Evans’s idea to split the unruly
miners between peaceable families to keep them from further fights
had everyone quiet and grumpy. The cheerful noises of women talking
and children playing were all silenced. Lynne thought she could
hear a few quiet conversations here and there. Callie was
whispering away with her new husband John, but as newlyweds, they
hadn’t been saddled with one of the miners.

Callie and John. They seemed to be getting
along so well just a few weeks after their trail marriage. Maybe if
they could find love with each other so swiftly and under the worst
of circumstances, she and Cade….

No. She shook her head as though she’d spoken
her thoughts aloud. It wasn’t the same. She wasn’t in love with
Cade. Sure, he was handsome with his wind-blown hair and sun-kissed
skin and the sparkle that played in his eyes when he teased her. He
was kind, to the other people in their wagon train who he helped
when they needed it and, if she was being honest, to her. And he
cared for her. He was trying to keep her safe. He loved
her.

“
Lynne,” he laughed when he caught
her staring at him. “What is that look for?”

“
What? I….” She had no idea how to
answer and no way to defend herself. “I hear we’ll be reaching the
crossing with the South Platte river soon.”

The corner of Cade’s mouth pulled up in a lazy
grin. He knew she had scrambled for her reply, that it wasn’t what
she intended to say at all. He knew she was struggling with her own
feelings.

“
Before all the mess this morning,
Pete was telling me the crossing was only a couple days off.” He
nodded and stood to collect their supper dishes. “The wagon train
will be splitting up on the other side, and Hank Gentry, Pete’s
assistant, will be taking us the rest of the way to Denver City
while Pete goes on to Oregon.”

“
Oh, I see.” Lynne got up as well
and took the supper dishes from Cade to wash them. Anything to put
her in a position where she would have something to do besides
stare at Cade and wonder.

“
The way from the crossing to
Denver City is pretty straightforward,” Cade went on. “We shouldn’t
have too many problems from here on out, except the miners, and we
should be home soon.”

“
Home,” Lynne repeated. But what
then? Cade hadn’t told her outright that he loved her. Would he
make a declaration or some sort or was he about to leave her and
all of her tender, painful longing behind him? What did she even
want him to do? They would be neighbors, one way or another. He
worked for her uncle. The trail might be ending, but her
bittersweet heartache over Cade could just be beginning.

Ben must have seen her dreamy, confused look.
He rose abruptly. For just a moment, he stood staring at her, his
own mix of emotions playing across his face. Then he thrust his
hands into his pockets and marched off. Lynne’s guilt twisted
deeper. Whatever Ben’s feelings for her were, she was bound to
disappoint him too.

Was that what it was? Was she afraid of
disappointing Cade’s affections? She glanced across to him as he
set the remainder of the stew aside in its closed pot and moved a
pot of coffee over their fire instead. She took a deep breath. It
all came back to one thing in the end. If she gave her heart away,
she would have nothing left with which to protect herself against
the twists and turns life had thrown her way.

“
I can tell that something’s
bothering you,” Cade said, catching her standing there
staring.

“
It’s nothing, really.” She turned
away and used a sparing bit of water from the barrel they’d filled
from a spring at the last way station to rinse their plates and
cups.

“
But it is something.” Cade
wouldn’t let it drop.

Lynne forced a smile on the off chance he was
watching her. “I’m eager to get to Denver City, that’s all. It’s a
blessing that we’re so close to the journey’s end.”

“
But,” he prompted.

But I don’t know how I’ll feel when we part,
she thought to herself. But I’m not sure I want to part. I’m not
sure I could give up my heart and I’m not sure I can keep it to
myself anymore.

“
But it will be such a change from
life in St. Louis,” she finished. She thought she did rather well
at making an excuse.

Cade left the coffee and sauntered up to her
side as she worked. “You’ll do just fine in Denver City. And I
think you’ll be pleasantly surprised about how advanced such a new
city is.”

“
Will I?” She could feel the heat
of his body when he stood so close to her like that. It stirred
feelings deep inside her, feelings that were more of a danger than
any threat by a Briscoe Boy.

“
I’m sure of it.”

Cade was about to go on when a shriek rose up
from one of the nearby wagons. Lynne’s heart shot to her throat,
but the cry was quickly followed by a rough laugh. Hard on the
heels of that, one of the farmers shouted a string of insults and
backed a grubby miner away from his campfire.

“
I’ll not have you insulting my
wife like that, and if you so much as lay a finger on my daughter
again, I’ll shoot your hand off!” the farmer bellowed.

“
What’s going on down here?” Mr.
Evans came charging across the circle of wagons to break things
up.

Lynne sighed and glanced to Cade. “It was a
bad idea to let the miners loose around decent people.”

Cade shrugged, but his face was grim. “No more
of a bad idea than to let them keep on bunching together and
getting into fights.”