Trail of Kisses (4 page)

It was the illness that bothered
him.

“
You hear about it all the time,”
he said to Ben as he alongside the wagon. “Some folks think Indians
are the biggest problem on the trail, but really, it’s
illness.”

“
Hmph,” Ben said.

“
I swore to protect that woman,
but I can’t protect her from a fever or cholera or
worse.”

“
Nope.” Ben frowned.

Cade twisted in his saddle to look at the boy.
“What’s got you all bad-tempered all of a sudden?”

“
Nothin’.”

Cade followed the line of Ben’s sight ahead.
He was watching Lynne too. Lynne, who had her head together with
Callie and Emma. There was a chance the boy was watching one of the
other two, but no, Cade had seen him giving Lynne the eye ever
since they left Independence. The only time the boy smiled was when
he watched Lynn. Cade grinned, adjusting his hat to keep the sun
out of his eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think young Ben
had a sweet spot for the judge’s daughter.

“
Tell you what,” he said, ready to
give Lynne a taste of her own teasing. “Why don’t I hop up there
and drive for a minute while you go get Miss Tremaine and tell her
to walk with us?”

Ben tore his eyes away from Lynne and her
friends’ backsides and scowled at Cade. “I’m not goin’ out there to
tell her nothin’. There’s folks sick up there.”

“
Exactly my point.” Cade nodded.
“I’ve let this go on long enough.”

He nudged Arrow forward, picking up speed so
that he could gain on the Lewis wagon. As he passed half a dozen
other wagons in the train on his way, he noticed more than a few
anxious glances. He wasn’t the only one concerned about a potential
epidemic. If there was anything he could do to stop the illness’s
spread, he’d do it, no matter what Lynne thought.

“
Morning, ladies.” He tipped his
hat to the trio of women as he rode even with them.

Callie gave him a weary smile. Emma blushed
and lowered her eyes. Lynne huffed out a breath and kept her gaze
deliberately forward.

“
What are you doing, Mr. Lawson?”
she asked.

He swallowed his first instinct to remind her
to call him Cade. If she was going to give him a hard time, he
could play that game.

“
How is your brother doing today,
Miss Lewis?” he asked Callie instead of answering Lynne.

The poor woman’s face was pinched with worry.
“Not well, I’m afraid. Dr. Meyers says…. Dr. Meyers is
concerned.”

“
I’m very sorry to hear that.” He
was, too. Lynne could accuse him of being heartless all she wanted,
but he knew it wasn’t true. He also knew he had a job to do. “Miss
Tremaine, might I have a word with you?”

“
Certainly, Mr. Lawson. As soon as
I’m free. Which I am not at the moment.” Lynne kept her chin tilted
up.

Cade sighed. He stared out across the horizon
in the off chance that instructions for sweet-talking a bull-headed
woman would be written in the tall grass and high sun.

“
No offense to your friends here,”
he said, “but I think you should travel a little closer to
home.”

Lynne sent him a sidelong look that could kill
a cougar at fifty paces. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

A thump sounded from the Lewis’s wagon,
followed by a groan. Lynne’s contrary look dropped to concern and
Cade forgot his game for a moment. The train couldn’t stop, but
Callie broke ranks with her friends to rush to the back of the
wagon.

“
Greg? Greg, are you all right?”
she called before hoisting herself up into the moving
wagon.

“
Why don’t you come back and walk
with me for a while?” Cade tried again.

Lynne attempted to pretend he hadn’t said
anything, but she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t worried. She wouldn’t
look straight at him, but Cade could see the anxiety in her
profile. He watched her lips pull tight, saw the tension at the
corner of her eyes. It set off a storm of emotion in his gut. He
knew that look. She would argue and tell him he was wrong, but
Lynne was afraid. Very afraid.

“
We’re getting mighty lonesome
back there without you,” he said, leaning closer to her and
lowering his voice just a little.

It had the effect he had intended. The fear
vanished from Lynne’s dark eyes and she stopped in her tracks to
glare at him. Emma stopped beside her.

“
What
is that supposed to
mean?”

Cade grinned. She could thank him later for
giving her something to be angry about instead of being
afraid.

“
Just that your poor horse,
Clover, is starting to feel left out, as it were.” He feigned
innocence with a flash of a smile.

Lynne rolled her eyes. The wagon train began
to roll slowly past.

“
I’m sorry, Emma,” Lynne turned to
her friend. “It seems the man who was hired to mind me needs
someone to mind him.”

“
I hope you don’t mind,” Cade
added to Emma with a wink.

Emma turned beet red and scurried off without
a word to Lynne.

Cade chuckled. “She’s a bit jumpy, isn’t
she?”

“
She’s shy.” Lynne crossed her
arms. “And you’re heartless, as usual.”

Cade’s only answer was to shrug. Lynne marched
back through the advancing wagons to where Ben was watching the
whole scene with as much of a scowl as ever. Cade turned his horse
to follow. It took only a few seconds for Ben and the wagon to
catch up to them. Lynne spared half a smile for Ben as she matched
her pace to the wagon where Clover was tied. The mare had been
walking with the sidesaddle in place and ready to go.

“
I know what you were up to just
then.” Lynne untied Clover and led her to the side so that she
could mount.

“
I’m not up to anything,” Cade
said with a smile.

Lynne arched a brow at him. “You shouldn’t
have taken me away from Callie’s side. She’s terrified and she
needs a friend. Dr. Meyers said he doesn’t think her brother or his
wife or their little boy will live.”

“
I’m sorry to hear
that.”

Lynne mounted with a strength and grace that
still surprised Cade. She settled herself with one knee hooked
around the pommel and flicked the reins to send Clover walking.
Cade matched his pace to hers and waited for her to give him the
inevitable tongue lashing.

Instead, she kept quiet, chin held high, the
ribbons of her hat fluttering over her shoulder along with her
hair. After marching away from him that morning she had come back
for the hat but didn’t bother sticking around to put her hair up,
in spite of some odd looks from other women in the train. She was
unusual as far as women went, that was for sure.

“
You’re not going to talk to me?”
he said, fighting to hide a grin.

“
I’m not certain I have a reason
to talk to you,” she answered.

“
Not even to tell me how heartless
and cowardly I am?”

She turned to him. “You said it, Mr. Lawson,
not me.”

“
Cade.”

“
I’m sure.”

He couldn’t help chuckling, just a
little.

“
Did I say something funny?” she
snapped.

“
Oh no, not at all.”

“
Then why are you
laughing?”

“
I’m not laughing, I’m talking. To
you. The woman who just said she had no reason to talk to
me.”

Lynne let out a breath and shook her head. She
nudged her horse to walk faster. Cade followed suit, keeping by her
side. They passed the front of the wagon where Ben was glaring at
them. Let the boy be jealous. Cade was too pleased to care. He had
Lynne where he wanted her for a change.

“
I’ve just told you that a man and
his wife and child are doomed, and you’re smiling?” Lynne scolded
him.

His grin dropped. She had a point
there.

“
At least you’re riding with me,”
he said.

“
You’re somewhat hard to avoid,”
she replied, her tone flat.

“
And that’s the way it should be.”
His smile threatened to return. When she peeked at him, he said,
“It’s my job to keep an eye on you, to keep you safe. What are you
doing right now? You’re riding next to me, where I can see you. If
that means I’m hard to miss, then I’d say I’m one step ahead of
you.”

“
Really?” she scoffed. “We’ll just
see about that.”

She tapped Clover’s side and the horse hopped
forward. Lynne wasn’t satisfied with the quick burst of speed and
urged her on. Cade had no trouble keeping up with her, even when
she veered off the packed dirt of the trail and into the rocky
ground to the side. It was sweet of her to think she could outrun a
horse like Arrow with a darling beast like Clover.

He was getting ready to make it a race in
earnest when Clover lost her step mid-stride. Lynne gasped and
clutched her saddle hard as a flash of dull metal shot to the side.
Clover slowed to a walk, then stopped altogether, bobbing her head
and puffing.

“
Blast!” Lynne eased out of her
saddle and jumped to the ground as Cade reached her
side.

“
She throw a shoe?” he asked,
pulling Arrow to a stop by her side and dismounting.

Lynne bent to check Clover’s feet, then turned
to search out the shoe. It was lying several feet to the side in
the gravel.

“
She did, poor thing.”

She stood and smoothed a hand along Clover’s
neck, concern somehow making her even prettier.

“
She didn’t lame herself, did
she?” Cade crouched to study Clover’s feet for himself.

Lynne led the horse to walk a few yards
forward to see if Clover was injured.

“
She seems all right,” she
said.

Cade stood and fetched the thrown
horseshoe.

“
She probably caught that front
shoe with her back foot,” Lynne said, stooping to check the damage
one more time. She sighed as she straightened. “We’ll have to find
someone to fix it once we’ve stopped for lunch.”

“
We will,” Cade agreed. A smile
spread across his face at everything the minor accident implied.
“Well, looks like you’ll finally be riding in the wagon after
all.”

Lynne dragged her attention away from her
horse to him. She planted a hand on her hip. “What gives you that
idea?”

Cade shrugged, striding to take Clover’s reins
from her. “Can’t ride a horse with three shoes. Can’t walk with
your friends when they’re otherwise engaged. That leaves the
wagon.” His smile grew. “Unless you want to walk with me.” More
than a week on the trail and he was finally going to get her in the
wagon where she belonged.

“
Nonsense. I’ll just have to ride
your horse.”

Cade blinked. “My horse?”

“
Yes. Four shoes, one saddle. Your
horse.”

He started to argue, but thought better of it.
All the spitfire in the world couldn’t make Lynne an inch bigger or
a pound heavier than the fine lady she was. Her slim waist and soft
hips were no match for a gelding. He exchanged a glance with Arrow.
The horse blew out a breath, nostrils flaring. If Lynne wanted to
give Arrow a try, she was more than welcome.

“
All right.” He feigned defeat.
“Whatever you say. Here.” He handed the lead to her.

Lynne adjusted her hat, smiled sweetly at him,
and took the lead, marching to Arrow’s side. The horse was several
inches taller than Clover. The saddle was high and the stirrups
were set for his height, not hers. She studied the saddle, gripping
it tightly with one hand and lifting her skirt so that she could
raise her foot to the stirrup. She sure did have fine
ankles.

Before he could finish his frank appreciation
and work his way up to admire her calves, Lynne took a deep breath
and heaved herself up. With one swift motion, she lifted her leg
over Arrow’s back and settled herself in the saddle. Her skirts
shifted up to her knees and higher as they bunched under her, but
instead of appreciating the sight, Cade’s smile dropped.

Lynne adjusted her skirts around her legs and
cleared her throat. “Thank you for the use of such a fine horse,
Mr. Lawson.”

She smiled, and with one swift tap to Arrow’s
flanks, she was off.

Cade’s jaw dropped and his heart sank to his
stomach as Lynne and Arrow tore off up the line of the wagon train.
They were at a full gallop before he could swallow.

“
Ho-ly….” He let his curse drop
and swiped the hat off of his head. He’d had some bad ideas in his
day, but this likely topped them all.

Far ahead, Lynne leaned low over Arrow’s neck.
Cade had seen the likes of her posture before on scouts and Pony
Express riders. She shot way out in front of the wagon train, and
only when Pete Evans shouted something after her did she slow Arrow
to a walk and turn around. As she approached the front of the
train, she shouted a reply to Pete which had better be an apology,
then walked on.