Trail of Kisses (5 page)

Cade grabbed Clover’s lead and walked to meet
her. He was shocked at the way Lynne could ride, but he should have
been furious. Talk about finding ways to get herself hurt. But as
Lynne trotted back to him, she had the audacity to smile. Her
cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright.

“
That was exhilarating,” she
declared, breathless.

“
Not the word I would use,” he
said. His voice was rougher than he wanted it to be.

“
Did I mention that before Papa
was appointed to his bench in St. Louis we lived in Lexington,
Kentucky?” Her grin was definitely gloating. “I learned to ride
before I learned to walk.”

“
I believe it. Now come down from
there and walk before you do yourself any harm.”

“
I think not.” She leaned forward
to rub Arrow’s neck. “This darling boy and I are just becoming
acquainted. But I promise we’ll walk for the rest of the
morning.”

“
That wouldn’t have anything to do
with being chewed out by Mr. Evans, would it?” Cade
asked.

Lynne blushed. “That’s none of your business,”
she said and tapped Arrow to walk on.

Cade stood where he was, watching them catch
up to where Ben was practically hanging off the side of the wagon
goggling at them. A knot of warmth curled deep in his gut and sank
lower as he watched the way her body moved in harmony with Arrow’s
strides. Her dark hair swung down her back. The sunlight caught her
smile. The pool of warmth spread full on into his groin.

“
This is not good,” he told
Clover, tugging her forward to catch up to the wagons.

He had been charged with protecting Lynne,
seeing her safely to her uncle. His job and his future depended on
it. She was already making that job next to impossible, but now?
Now he had a real problem. He should have scolded her for
needlessly running his horse, but all he wanted to do was stand
there and watch her. He’d never met a woman in his life who had
turned his head as swiftly and as thoroughly as Lynne Tremaine had.
How was he supposed to keep her safe when all he wanted to do now
was see just how much trouble the two of them could get into
together?

Chapter Three

The inevitable happened three days later.
Lynne could do nothing but stand helplessly by while Callie’s
entire family, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, all died. Mere
hours, and poor Callie was alone in the world. The wagon train
stopped so that the bodies could be buried. Lynne was determined to
help her friend in any way she could.

“
It’s tragic,” she told Cade as
she searched through her belongings in the back of the wagon,
looking for anything that could bring solace to her friend. “To
lose your entire family like that.”

“
Does she have any other
relatives?” Cade asked.

Lynne shook her head and closed the lid of her
hope chest. Her pride wanted her to argue with Cade in some way,
but Callie’s tragedy had put her in a far more somber mood. There
were some things worse than having a handsome, overprotective man
breathing down your neck.

She felt years older as she climbed down from
the wagon with the only token of comfort she could find for her
friend, an embroidered handkerchief. “The only relative Callie has
left is an old maiden aunt in Philadelphia, but it’s too late for
that. She can’t exactly turn around and go back.”

“
She could hop on the next
stagecoach we pass heading east,” Cade suggested.

Lynne considered for a moment. “Not with all
of her things. Her brother packed everything they owned into that
wagon of his and now it belongs to her. It’s all she
has.”

Cade nodded, running a hand through his
hair.

“
I should go to her now,” Lynne
went on. She braced for an argument. Cade had taken issue with her
efforts to help Callie and her family from the start.

Instead of bullying her, he nodded. “You go do
what’s right.”

She stumbled over her first step walking away
from him. “Really?”

“
Yes, of course.” His brow was
knit in concern, and even though he still looked as though he
hadn’t slept since the train started out, there was something
appealing in the kindness in his eyes.

“
All… all right, then. I’ll just
be a few wagons up if you need me.”

She walked on, puzzled. Ben watched her with
narrowed eyes from the seat of her wagon as she passed, as though
he couldn’t figure out what was going on either. She’d never really
made up her mind that Cade Lawson was a horrible person, but he had
been a thorn in her side from the moment she met him. Callie’s
tragedy must have affected him as deeply as her, but seeing him in
a new light was unnerving.

Her thoughts about Cade were banished as soon
as she reached Callie’s camp. Her friend was deep in the shock of
grief, sitting outside of her wagon which now held nothing but
memories. Their friend Emma sat with her along Mrs. Weingarten, an
older woman who had taken the three of them under her wing. Lynne
rushed to her friend, handing her the handkerchief she’d found,
then sitting beside her.

Callie wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I
don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, barely audible. “It was
Greg’s dream to go west. I would have been happy to stay
home.”

Emma nodded in agreement, but Lynne felt the
sting of Callie’s words in her heart.

“
I didn’t want to make this
journey either,” she confessed.

Callie glanced up at her. “You
didn’t?”

She shook her head and put her arm around
Callie’s back. “No, it was my father’s idea. He has some idea that
I won’t be safe until I’m in Denver City.”

“
It’s good that you have someone
waiting for you,” Callie said. She sniffled, and her eyes were red,
but no more tears streamed down her face.

Lynne’s heart was heavy. If she added up her
own misfortunes, they didn’t come close to those of her
friend.

“
Miss Lewis.”

Lynne and Callie both looked up to find young
Dr. Meyers standing with his hat in his hand, regret drooping his
shoulders.

“
I’m so sorry for your loss. I did
everything I could,” he said.

Emma turned bright pink and lowered her head
as if trying to make herself invisible. Lynne gave the doctor a
polite smile. Callie remained expressionless.

“
Thank you for all of your
efforts, Dr. Meyers,” she said.

“
If you need anything,” he said,
glancing to all three of the women, eyes lingering on Emma’s bowed
head, “please ask.”

“
I will.” Callie nodded to
him.

He left and they sat in silence for a few
minutes.

“
I’m very sorry for your loss
too.”

This time it was Cade who approached. Lynne
snapped her eyes up, wary that he was there to cause trouble or
tell her off.

“
Thank you, Mr. Lawson,” Callie
answered him in a hollow voice.

“
I can help with anything you need
done with the wagon or your ox team,” Cade went on. His glance
flickered to Lynne. “I know Miss Tremaine is more than willing to
help too. You just say the word.”

For the second time that day, Lynne’s heart
caught in her chest over the surprise of Cade’s kindness. It
couldn’t last, though. He had already shown her that he was as
stubborn as they came underneath it all. So why did her chest and
stomach feel warm at the sight of him?

“
I’ll leave you ladies to talk,”
he said and backed away.

Lynne watched him go, watched the sway of his
back and shoulders as he marched down the line to their wagon.
Other neighbors from their wagon train came to pay their respects
to Callie throughout the afternoon, but Lynne had little attention
for them. She was tied up in knots at the thought that she had
misjudged Cade. Her uncle had trusted him to escort her across the
prairie, after all. Perhaps he was more than just a handsome bully
with a twinkle in his eye.

As dusk began to settle and the line of people
offering condolences to Callie trickled out, Mrs. Weingarten pulled
a barrel in to close the circle where the ladies were
sitting.

“
You have some tough choices ahead
of you, my dear,” she told Callie.

“
I know,” Callie sighed. She
looked as though she could use rest more than anything
else.

“
You may not want to think about
it right away,” Mrs. Weingarten went on, “but a young, single woman
on a trail like this could find herself in danger.”

Lynne’s mouth twitched with the urge to smirk.
She’d heard that argument before.

“
Now, you don’t have protection,
like Miss Tremaine does,” Mrs. Weingarten said. Lynne sat
straighter. “But you should.”

“
I’m not sure it’s possible to
hire an escort when we’re already two weeks out on the trail,”
Lynne said. She wasn’t sure why the older woman’s comments made her
feel itchy and self-conscious.

Mrs. Weingarten shook her head. “Callie’s
circumstances are quite different. You are fortunate to have family
watching and waiting for you.” She turned to address Callie, who
sat drooping on the crate beside Lynne, wringing the handkerchief.
“Callie, I’m sorry to be blunt, but because you have no one left
traveling with you and no one waiting at the end, I think you
should consider marrying on the trail, immediately.”

All three of the younger women looked up at
Mrs. Weingarten with varying degrees of surprise and
wonder.

“
Marrying?” Callie asked. “Right
now?”

Mrs. Weingarten sighed and nodded. “It seems
sudden and drastic, I know, but there are quite a few single men on
the trail who could provide you with protection while we journey
and a life when we reach our destination.”

No one said a word to her explanation. Callie
stared at Mrs. Weingarten, her thoughts hidden behind her mask of
grief. Lynne had to step in.

“
I can understand how it might
seem like a good idea,” she began, “but a woman doesn’t have to
have the help or protection of a man in order to make her
living.”

Another short silence followed.

“
Who would I choose?” Callie
asked, subdued.

Lynne’s jaw went slack. “Are you actually
considering this?”

Callie shrugged. “What choice do I have? I
don’t know anything about being a pioneer. This was Greg’s
dream.”

Lynne closed her mouth and blinked. She told
herself that she shouldn’t be shocked, that different people made
different decisions. It was so far from the decision she would have
made, though, that she could hardly fathom it.

“
Which single men among our
company do you think might make a suitable husband?” Mrs.
Weingarten asked.

“
Not the miners,” Callie answered
right away.

“
Agreed,” Lynne said.

They looked up and down the line of wagons and
camps that had been set up for the night. There were easily over a
hundred people in their train, at least a third of them single men.
But more than half of those were miners on their way to strike it
rich or die trying.

“
What about Reverend Joseph?” Mrs.
Weingarten asked.

They all turned to where the young reverend
was sitting with the miners, probably preaching to them about their
sins of gambling and drinking, although a bottle sat by his
side.

Callie shook her head. Lynne
agreed.

“
Elton Finch?” Mrs. Weingarten
offered.

They twisted the other way to a small camp
closer to the front of the train. Elton Finch was a tall, handsome
man who was on his way west with his brother’s family.

“
Maybe,” Callie said.

“
There’s always Dr. Meyers,” Mrs.
Weingarten said.

Emma gasped, tensing like a sparrow about to
take flight.

The barest hint of a smile touched Callie’s
lips. “I don’t think so.”

Emma relaxed, letting out a breath and
lowering her head, cheeks bright with blush.

“
How about that widower, John
Rye?”

Lynne searched down the length of the wagon
train. She’d seen Mr. Rye once or twice. He was a quiet, ordinary
man who had kept to himself since Independence. She’d heard his
wife had died less than a year ago. He still dressed in black to
mourn her.

“
Perhaps,” Callie said.

Mrs. Weingarten nodded. “Of course, you could
try Cade Lawson.”

His name was like a fist in her gut. “Cade?”
she asked.

“
Why not? He’s young, he’s easy to
look at, and he doesn’t have a wife. At least not one that we know
of,” Mrs. Weingarten said. “Does he?”

“
No, no he doesn’t.” Lynne twisted
her fingers together in her lap. “I wouldn’t include him in your
consideration, though.”

Lynne was certain she saw Mrs. Weingarten’s
eyes twinkle with mischief, although her expression remained as
neutral as it could be.