Trail of Kisses (32 page)

She just couldn’t imagine her uncle holding
any of that against Cade. With a gentle laugh for Cade, she turned
just as her uncle and aunt approached the wagon.

“
Uncle George! Aunt Marion!” She
beamed at the pair of them. It had been years and years since she
had seen them.

“
Lynne, my dear.” Her uncle
greeted her with a big bear hug and a kiss on her forehead. He held
her at arm’s length, surprised that the cloth she wore in her hair
was a bandage and not a headband. “What’s this?” His smile turned
to concern as he let Aunt Marion scoot in to hug her as
well.

Cade climbed down from the wagon with a grave
face. “We met some trouble on the way, sir.”

“
Oh, dear,” Aunt Marion said, one
arm still hugging Lynne while she touched the bandage with her
other hand.

Uncle George hooked his thumbs in his belt and
stood face to face with Cade. “I’ve heard that from you before,
young man.”

Lynne’s heart fluttered to her throat as Cade
reddened. Maybe she should have been more worried after
all.

“
One of the Briscoe Boys found his
way into our wagon train, sir. He was captured at the Platte river
crossing,” Cade explained, “but there was a confrontation. Lynne
was so brave, but she was grazed by the blackguard’s
bullet.”

“
A Briscoe Boy shot at you?” Uncle
George asked, his own face turning red with indignation.

“
He did, Uncle, but Cade stopped
him. You would have been proud of how he stood up to the man, and
how he protected me through the entire journey. Uncle George, he’s
wonderful. Thank you for sending him.”

A new, mischievous light lit Uncle George’s
eyes. “Is that so?”

“
Yes, it is indeed,” Lynne
answered.

“
I did my best, sir,” Cade added.
“I hope you can forgive me for any harm that came to Lynne along
the way. She’s… she’s a bit of a handful.”

Uncle George burst into a booming laugh. “That
she is.”

“
There’s something else.” Lynne
peeled away from Aunt Marion and skipped across to Cade, taking his
arm. “Uncle George, Aunt Marion, Cade and I wish to be
married.”

For a moment there was silence as her aunt and
uncle exchanged wide-eyed looks. Her aunt’s face went pink and her
eyes shone as if she was trying to suppress a laugh. But it was
Uncle George who laughed in earnest.

“
Didn’t I tell you?” he said.
“Didn’t I tell you that Cade Lawson would make a fine husband for
Tom’s girl?”

Lynne’s jaw fell open. Judging by the sudden
stiffness in Cade’s arm, he was just as shocked.

“
You did,” Aunt Marion beamed in
reply. “And you were right, it seems.”

“
But,” Cade began, then had to
gather himself and start over. “But I let you down last winter,
sir. That shipment of silver. I’m surprised you kept me on at all,
let alone….” He glanced to Lynne, who was still trying to absorb
the situation.

Uncle George laughed and slapped Cade on the
shoulder. “Mistakes happen. If you hadn’t fallen asleep that night,
those thieves could have caused a violent confrontation, then you
and several of my good men would have been killed or wounded
instead of just embarrassed.”

“
Sir?” A look of stunned relief
washed over Cade.

“
I think you’d better get used to
calling me Uncle George, son. Or just George.” He patted Cade’s arm
again, then stepped back to take his wife’s arm. “Looks like our
Lynne has made her choice, and if there’s one thing you need to
know about Tremaine women, it’s that they don’t change their minds
about anything. They’re too bold for that.”

At last, Lynne’s thoughts and emotions
settled, and she laughed. Laughed and squeezed Cade’s arm. “We
certainly don’t. Once we find the life we want to have, nothing and
no one can push us off that path. And I’ve found exactly what I
want.”

Cade looked down at her, a smile filled with
so much love it took her breath away forming on his lips. Those
beautiful, delicious lips of his.

“
It’s a good thing we agree,
then,” he said, “because I don’t often change my mind either. And I
love you, Lynne Tremaine, soon to be Lynne Lawson.”

“
I love you too, Cade.”

Her heart was full and safe. She would never
have any reason to fear for the rest of her life. With a surge of
joy, she lifted herself to the tips of her toes and kissed
him.

* * *

But wait. What ever happened to Callie and
John Rye? Where did they go when they chased after the men who
stole the teapot? And why did they steal that teapot
anyhow?

Find out the answers to those questions and
more in book two of the
Hot on the Trail
series,
Trail of
Hope
, coming November 24
^th
! You can preorder
Trail of Hope
now.

Keep clicking for a sneak peek….

About the Author

I hope you have
enjoyed
Trail of Kisses
. If you’d like to be the first to learn about when the next
books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my
newsletter here:
http://eepurl.com/RQ-KX
And
remember, Read it, Review it, Share it!

Merry Farmer lives in suburban
Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been
writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she
didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing
project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She
then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she
would always have something to write about. She is also passionate
about blogging, knitting, and cricket and is working toward
becoming an internationally certified cricket scorer.

You can email her
at
[email protected]
or
follow her on Twitter @merryfarmer20.

Merry also has a
blog,
http://merryfarmer.net
,

and a Facebook
page,
www.facebook.com/merryfarmerauthor

Acknowledgements

I would never be able to do what I do
without the help of some fabulous people. I’d like to thank my
amazing beta-readers, Keira Montclair, Margaret Brashears, Peggy
Henderson, and Sylvia McDaniel for their amazing suggestions and
advice. I have to thank my fabulous editor, Aven Rose, once again
for helping me go beyond what I thought I was capable of. And
finally, where would I be without the Mistress of Badass herself,
my publicist Anne Chaconas, and the whole Badass Marketing
team.

Keep clicking for a
preview of the next
Hot on the
Trail
book, Callie and John’s
story,
Trail of Hope
….

Trail of Hope

By Merry Farmer

Chapter One

“
Cal. Callie.”

Callie Lewis jumped at the weak
whisper of her brother’s voice in the wagon bed behind
her.

“
Greg?” she called out,
voice cracking over tears that she wasn’t ready to shed. Not yet.
Please not yet.

“
Callie,” he whispered,
fading fast.

Callie tugged the reins to bring the
oxen pulling her family’s wagon to a stop. As they slowed, the
driver of the wagon behind hers barked out a protest, as did the
man driving behind him. Every wagon after hers would have to stop
because she stopped, but at her brother’s faint call, nothing could
convince her to keep going.

“
I’m here, Greg, I’m
here.” Her voice shook as she scrambled over the wagon’s seat,
tearing back the canvas cover that shielded her brother and his
wife and son from the harsh morning light and prairie
dust.

Greg lay, pale and wasted, in the
hollow made between stacks of their family’s belongings, everything
they owned in the world. His head rested close to the driver’s seat
while Rebecca’s was close to the back of the wagon. Little Jeremy
slept against his mother’s chest, only as Callie climbed down to
her brother’s side, she could see the boy wasn’t sleeping at all.
Neither was Rebecca. They were still, lifeless.

“
Oh no.” Callie clapped a
hand to her mouth, her eyes stinging. “Greg, no.”

“
They’re gone,” he
wheezed. “I know.” He moved his hand as it lay curled in Rebecca’s,
but wouldn’t let go.

“
I’m so sorry,” Callie
choked.

She burrowed closer to her brother’s
side, searching for his other hand under the thin blanket that
covered him. The fever had struck him, Rebecca, and Jeremy shortly
after they left Independence only a few weeks ago. Greg had tried
to be strong and tough it out at first, but the days of endless
walking, the sun beating down, no chance for rest, had taken their
toll. Still, he and Rebecca and Jeremy had gone downhill so fast
after the initial symptoms. Not even Dr. Meyers had been able to do
anything.

Callie raised Greg’s hand to her face.
Panic pulsed through her. She had expected Greg to be hot with
fever still, but he was cold, too cold. Even in the dim light of
the wagon, she could see how pale he was. His eyes were sunken and
his lips cracked. Her strong, brave, adventurous brother, reduced
to nothing so fast.

“
Don’t leave me.” She
pushed out the words through a throat that was squeezing tight with
grief. “Please don’t leave me, Greg.”

“
Cal,” he panted. His
chest barely rose and fell in short, tight gasps.
“Sorry.”

“
No.” Callie shook her
head and brushed tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
“You can’t die, you can’t.”

“
So sorry.”

“
But I don’t want to be
here,” she pleaded with him, feeling as much like the young girl
who thought the sun rose and set around her big brother as she ever
had. “I never wanted to go west. This was your dream. Please stay
with me.”

“
I….” His eyes fluttered,
rolling back.

“
No!” Callie gripped his
hand tighter, pressing it against her chest as if her heart could
beat for both of them. “Stay with me. I’m all alone without
you.”

The seconds ticked by as she waited
for him to answer, waited for him to breath. She thought the worst
had come when he whispered, “Rebecca. Jeremy.”

“
They’re….” Callie glanced
down the wagon to her lifeless sister-in-law and nephew. They had
been alive when they set out that morning. They weren’t
now.

Greg shook his head, face contorted in
sorrow. “Can’t go on without them.”

“
You have me,” Callie told
him with a sob. “And you’re all I have. Oh, Greg.”

She squeezed her eyes shut until she
heard him whisper, “No.”

Her eyes popped open and she leaned
close to him.

“
You will not be alone.”
Each word was fainter than the last. There was no strength left in
his hand. “Find love, Callie. Find love like I did.
Find…hope.”

Other Works by Merry
Farmer:

The Noble Hearts

The Loyal Heart

The Faithful Heart

The Courageous Heart

Montana Romance

Our Little Secrets

Fool for Love

Sarah Sunshine (novella)

In Your Arms

The Indomitable Eve
(novella)

Seeks For Her (novella)

Somebody to Love

Hot on the Trail

Trail of Kisses

Trail of Hope (coming November
2014)

Trail of Longing (coming January
2015)

Trail of Dreams (coming February
2015)