Trail of Kisses (6 page)

“
And why not?” the older woman
asked.

“
Why….” Lynne scrambled for an
answer. “He’s stubborn as a mule, for one. He’s forever telling me
to ride in the wagon or stay away from his horse. Well, he started
saying that after I rode Arrow the other day. And he tried to keep
me from walking with you when your brother was sick,
Callie.”

As soon as she let the accusation out, she
felt guilty. He was looking out for her best interests, after all,
and it didn’t feel right to put him down in front of the
others.

“
He seems sensible enough,” Mrs.
Weingarten argued. “And he does a good job of watching over
you.”

“
That’s just it,” Lynne said. “He
does
too
good a job. I can hardly settle my thoughts when
he’s around, he’s so overbearing. If it’s not one thing, it’s
another. Why, I’ve even been dreaming of him, that’s how
overpowering he is.”

She frowned at her words. Something about them
didn’t come out sounding the way she’d intended them to sound. Mrs.
Weingarten was smiling fully now.

“
I don’t think I would consider
Mr. Lawson,” Callie said.

She didn’t give a reason, but Lynne was
relieved all the same. That didn’t make any sense either. She
sighed and rubbed her forehead. Her Papa may have had his concerns
about the perils of this journey, but she doubted he would have
foreseen the troubles she was actually having.

“
So Mr. Finch or Mr. Rye, then,”
Mrs. Weingarten said.

Callie nodded. “I’ll speak to them each in the
next few days.”

That was the end of the discussion. Night was
falling quickly, so Lynne hugged her friends goodbye—promising that
she would be by Callie’s side at a moment’s notice if she needed
her—then marched back down the stopped line of wagons to where Cade
and Ben had made a small camp beside her wagon. Ben was nowhere in
sight.

“
Said he had a headache and went
to bed early,” Cade explained when she asked about it.

“
I might turn in early tonight
myself,” she said, and sat on a barrel by Cade’s side. Nothing felt
right, like the unsettling calm before a storm.

After a few moments, Cade said, “Is your
friend going to be all right?”

Lynne chewed her lip, picking at a small stain
on her skirt. “Eventually. I hope so. Mrs. Weingarten has suggested
she marry one of the single men in the wagon train.”

“
Is that so?”

There was a shade too much humor in Cade’s
voice. Lynne scolded him with a look.

“
It’s not something I would ever
consider,” she said.

“
No, I expect not.” He didn’t even
try to hide his smile. It flashed in the rose-hued light of sunset,
sending an uncomfortably delicious shiver down Lynne’s
spine.

“
I’m not sure I like your tone,
Mr. Lawson,” she said to hide the giddiness of her reaction to his
smile.

“
Cade,” he reminded her, taking a
long drink of coffee from the tin cup he cradled.

“
So you’ve said.” She smoothed her
skirt, then tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, whishing
she didn’t find him so enticing when he teased her. “I could never
marry a man that I hardly knew, but I think Callie just
might.”

Cade shrugged. “And why not? A woman needs a
husband.”

Lynne sent him a flat stare. “A woman does not
need
a husband.”

“
Sure she does.” He grinned.
“Especially out on the trail like this. Things could get dangerous,
and a woman can’t defend herself on her own.”

“
I hope I get a chance to prove
you wrong on that account before this trip is over,” she shot
back.

“
I hope you don’t,” he answered in
all seriousness. Before she could argue on, he shifted to lean his
elbows on his knees, relaxed. “There are plenty of other reasons a
woman needs a husband too. Companionship, shared purpose… other
things.” He winked.

Butterflies swirled through her stomach and
lower. She knew exactly what he meant by other things, and the wink
was too much. “I don’t think my Papa or my uncle would be
particularly pleased to hear you talking like that,” she said, a
little too breathless.

“
What? Like I’m advocating in
favor of marriage?” He grin was growing by leaps and
bounds.

“
That’s not what you were talking
about.” The evening seemed uncommonly hot all of a
sudden.

“
Prove it,” he laughed. “Explain
to me what I was talking about.”

His teasing was so pointed that she couldn’t
keep still on her barrel. She untied the ribbon holding her hat in
place and began pulling the pins out of her hair so that she could
braid it for the night.

“
Anyhow, I don’t see that Callie
has many options for suitors in our wagon train.” She changed the
subject, unwilling to let him continue talking about anything that
would give him the upper hand.

“
There are plenty of men riding
with us who would give their eye teeth to marry a pretty, young
woman who’s just inherited all of her brother’s worldly
possessions,” Cade insisted.

“
I believe that’s the problem,”
Lynne replied, making a pile of hairpins in her lap. “She does not
want to tie herself to a fortune hunter.”

“
And I suppose the three of you
and Mrs. Weingarten went through the list of eligible bachelors and
graded us all like ornery schoolteachers?”

Lynne huffed and sent him a short scathing
look. “Only a heartless bully compares a woman who has just lost
her family and is on the precipice of making a life-changing
decision to an ornery school-teacher.”

Cade’s teasing grin dropped. “I’m sorry.
You’re right. That wasn’t very nice of me.”

She continued to study him with equal parts
suspicion and curiosity. Was he
really
sorry?

“
So how did the deliberations go?”
he asked.

“
She’s going to choose between Mr.
Finch and Mr. Rye.” She kept her answer simple. It would have been
too close to a betrayal to reveal more.

“
What, not me?” His disappointment
was clearly feigned, but it left an odd burr sitting in Lynne’s
chest nonetheless.

“
I told her you are far too
opinionated and bullying for her,” she said, gathering the handful
of hairpins in her lap and setting them and her hat on the barrel
beside her.

“
Me? Opinionated?” His grin was
back. “I’m wounded. What did I ever do to deserve such ill
favor?”

Lynne combed her fingers through her hair to
get out the worst tangles as she thought about whether to answer.
Cade was teasing her, she knew. He was trying to provoke her into
another restless, pointless argument. He was also watching her
every move, eyes aglow. As if he’d never seen a woman braid her
hair before. Then again, maybe he hadn’t.

“
Why aren’t you married,
Mr.—Cade?” Let him find a way to tease her with that.

He shrugged, sipping at his coffee. “Never
found the right woman, I suppose. Marriage is a serious business,
not to be entered into lightly or with the wrong person. It’s
forever, whether you’ve made the right choice or not. Best to
consider who you want to spend the rest of your life with carefully
instead of letting some foolish fancy make hard mistakes for
you.”

Lynne let out a breath. Blast him for giving
her a sensible answer to a question meant to put him on the spot.
It was downright…downright attractive.

“
And how about you?” He turned the
question on her. “A fine, pretty lady like you with a judge for a
father should be married to some society boy right about now, don’t
you think?”

An unexpected ripple of self-consciousness and
disappointment hit her gut. She finished with her braid but had
nothing to tie it with.

“
Most of the eligible ‘society
boys,’ as you call them, who are my age are off fighting in the
war.” Along with her brothers. She had to swallow the lump of worry
that hit her throat.

“
You have a special fellow out
there in the army?” Cade’s question was impertinent, but his voice
was so soft and warm that somehow she wasn’t offended.

“
No,” she confessed, meeting his
eyes, shoulders squared. “Not really. Those ‘society boys’ prefer
meek, docile wives. I don’t qualify.”

He chuckled. “No, you don’t.”

Rather than open herself to the prickling
gloom that thought brought with it, she held her head high. “It
doesn’t bother me one bit. I would rather stand on my own two feet,
by myself, than be dependent on a man, even if it means I die a
spinster.”

Of all things, Cade laughed. Lynne wasn’t sure
if it was the sunset painting his face with shades of red or if he
was flushed. “I have a hard time believing you will die a spinster,
Lynne Tremaine.”

She felt her own face color. “If that’s
supposed to be an insult….”

“
Not at all.” Cade continued to
chuckle. “Although I suppose it will take a brave man to climb up
to the ivory tower you’ve set yourself in.”

“
Why, I never,” Lynne exclaimed.
She let the end of her braid drop. “You
are
insulting
me.”

“
Not really.” He pushed up from
his elbows and leaned back on the barrel. “I don’t suppose you can
help being a snob, really. Your father’s well-placed. I’d be
willing to bet your mother comes from money.”

“
My mother passed away eight years
ago,” Lynne told him. The old hurt was nothing more than a memory
now.

“
Sorry to hear that.” His teasing
ebbed.

Lynne tried to make herself more comfortable
on her barrel. She reached for the end of her braid, shaking the
whole thing out and starting over from the beginning.

“
I’m not a snob,” she insisted.
“If that’s what you’re implying.”

“
Is that what I said?” His eyes
flashed with mischief.

She pursed her lips and watched the fire
instead of him. “I’m not. I can’t help how I was born any more than
the next girl. I can’t help my independence either. Life has been
full of twists and turns since I was a girl, and there’s only one
right way to face that. It’s better to be independent and strong
than….” She bit her lip and let her chin drop.

Cade waited a moment. “Than?”

Lynne focused on her braiding her hair,
shoulders sagging. She didn’t know how to finish her own sentence.
No, if she was being honest with herself, she did. It was better to
be independent than to be afraid. Even thinking the word sent cold
shivers through her gut. She had been afraid when they had left
Lexington to move to St. Louis. She had been afraid when her mother
fell ill, when she died. She was afraid for her brothers at war.
And the Briscoe Boys?

“
No,” she said aloud, standing.
“It’s better to be independent. That’s all.”

She was brave. She was her Papa’s brave girl.
Even if she wasn’t a little girl anymore.

“
I need to find something to tie
my hair.” She made her excuse and left Cade grinning where he
was.

“
You’ll make some man a fine wife
one day,” he called after her.

She made a show of huffing at his arrogance,
but swirls of warmth flared in her stomach, sending tingles of
longing all through her body. She covered them by moving a crate of
supplies to serve as a step so she could climb into the
wagon.

“
All I really care about is having
a comfortable home and a bunch of happy children someday,” Cade
continued. Lynne couldn’t see him, but his voice was warm and
contented.

“
Is that so?” she said, stepping
up into the wagon bed with one hand still around her
braid.

“
It is. You may not believe it,
but I come from a good enough family myself. My father works in
shipping, in partnership with your uncle. That’s how I got my
job.”

“
Oh?” She paused as her eyes
adjusted to the darkness in the back of the wagon. There was a lamp
nearby somewhere. She searched for it in the piles of boxes and
other trail supplies.

“
Yep. In fact, what I’m most
looking forward to about getting back home to Denver City is making
my case to your uncle for him to give me more
responsibility.”

“
I see.” Lynne was impressed with
his initiative in spite of herself.

She found a lamp sitting next to a box of
matches on top of one of the crates. The only way to keep her braid
from unraveling was to clamp the end in her mouth. Cade was
outside, so she bit her braid and set to work lighting the
lamp.

“
There’s a lot of men out in the
Colorado Territory right now who have their hearts set on building
their own business, working for themselves,” Cade went on as light
flared in the cramped space of the wagon. “I don’t know if it makes
me less ambitious or that much smarter than those men, but I’m
content to work for your uncle, as long as he’ll have
me.”

Lynne spit her braid out and held it once
more. “Why wouldn’t he have you?”