Loving Katherine (24 page)

Katherine held her reins loosely, control of the horse between her legs more a matter of pressure from her knees than her grip on the leather reins. Journey lifted her feet
with dainty steps, not content to stand idle, and Katherine gave her a nudge with her toes. In a dancing trot, the mare went the distance to the far side of the dirt drive, and then, at Katherine’s urging, she broke into an easy lope as she headed down the long, tree-lined drive that led away from the plantation house.

Katherine’s hair streamed behind her as she rode. The wind was in her eyes, certainly the reason for the tears that fell to her cheeks and dried there. Beneath her, the frisky mare stretched out her long legs and ran, her muscles bunching, her hooves reaching as she felt the relaxed hold upon her bit. Katherine bent low over the dark mane, flinching as the heavy hair brushed her face, yet choosing to ride with her eyes half-closed as she whispered her praise to the animal she’d raised from birth.

Too soon, the plantation house was out of sight and she slowed Journey with a tightening of the reins. Too short a ride, but Roan would be worried if she failed to reappear when he deemed it appropriate. She knew he was concerned, yet the look of pride he’d worn as she left him watching had warmed her heart and assured her of his confidence in her skills.

The ride back was taken at a slower pace, but to the woman who rode with buoyant ease, it seemed to be but seconds until she caught sight of the barn and the men gathered there. She rode into their midst and LeRoy grasped the bridle as she dismounted.

“Isn’t she wonderful?” The words were automatic as she stood before Roan. Her cheeks were rosy with triumph, her eyes alight with pure joy.

“Yeah, I’d say she’s about the most wonderful thing I’ve ever set eyes on.” But the female creature he bathed with glowing pride was not a black mare but the woman standing before him.

Roan Devereaux was a man in love, his daddy decided. If ever a young man was more enthralled with a woman, he
surely hadn’t stood where LeRoy could see him. Maybe except for himself and the woman who had been watching from the back door of the plantation kitchen. He tied the reins to a ring on the barn door and brushed at the already gleaming coat of Katherine’s mare. There was no doubt in his mind. The only way he’d ever lay claim to this animal was if Katherine made River Bend her home. The mare was hers. No matter that he’d spent days and weeks in nurturing and training the creature, her heart belonged to Roan’s wife. And unless he missed his guess, Roan was in about the same state.

A triumphant Katherine graced the dinner table, more suitably garbed, to be sure, but just as jubilant.

“She didn’t even flinch, did she?” For the second time, and between bites of food she scarcely tasted, Katherine sang the praises of her mare. Her gaze went to LeRoy, whose own appetite was unfettered. He ate with gusto, his plate piled high with the food Katherine had helped prepare for her celebratory meal.

“You rode her first, didn’t you?” she said. It was less than an accusation, more like a fond reproof, and LeRoy took it as such.

“Couldn’t have you takin’ a tumble, could I?” he asked. “I just took a turn around the corral yesterday, made sure she was nice and gentled.”

“Well, with all the time you spent on her, I about expected her to turn cartwheels and stand on her head for Kate.” Roan’s droll pronouncement brought LeRoy’s chewing to a halt.

“I didn’t waste one hour on that animal,” he blustered. “Just a few minutes here and there. You think she means more to me than any other horse on the place?”

“Yes.” Katherine’s quiet response brought identical pairs of dark eyes to rest upon her.

“Yes?” LeRoy made the single syllable a sound of rebuttal.

Katherine took up the challenge. “I think she means a whole lot to you, sir. I think you’re about half in love with my mare and I don’t blame you one bit. In fact, I have a proposition to make you. I’m willing to pay you for the work you did with her.”

LeRoy shook his head, a vehement gesture that would have called halt to a lesser woman.

Katherine blithely ignored his frown. “When Journey gives birth, I want you to have the foal.”

As if he were thunderstruck, LeRoy’s mouth fell open and his eyes sparkled with an excitement he made no attempt to hide. “You’d give me your colt?”

“It might be a filly.” Katherine picked up her fork and, with a smile of satisfaction well in place, lifted a piece of meat to her lips.

“I don’t believe so,” LeRoy said stoutly. “She looks to me like she’ll-”

“You’ve just got your heart set on a new stud for the place.” Roan’s quiet observation brought a chuckle from Katherine.

LeRoy’s eyes narrowed as he considered the young woman his son had married. “You gonna bring that foal back down here all the way from Illinois?”

At the reminder, Katherine placed her fork beside her plate and rose from the table. “Excuse me, please,” she muttered beneath her breath, almost gaining the doorway before the last syllable was uttered.

“Go after her, Valderone,” his mother urged.

But Roan had needed no urging. On his feet, napkin slung helter-skelter on the chair, he was fast on Kate’s heels.

He followed her at a distance, unwilling that she should send him back, needing to watch over her as she struggled with the words his father had spoken. She walked quickly, past the barn, past the corrals and past the outbuildings.
Her steps took her beyond the cabins and their fenced-in yards and gardens, where dark-skinned children played in the fading light.

Finally she halted, arms wrapped about her, the wind blowing her skirts against her slender form. Before her was the fallow land that waited a spring planting, the sun fast falling to the horizon in the west. The ground had been cleared and plowed last year, a tedious process. Now it awaited the proper time for the seed to be sown, the soil dark and rich, almost seeming eager to put forth a bounty of cotton.

Her skirt a bright flag against the barren field, Katherine faced the future of River Bend, the hope of spring, the land that the Devereaux family had planted for three generations. And behind her was the last of the men who would plant this land.

She had known he would follow, had heard with the ears of her heart his footsteps as he came in her wake. Had known he would not intrude on her thoughts, that his innate respect for her solitude would keep him at a distance.

And suddenly she could not abide the space between them.

“Roan.” It was the calling of his name that had signified her need in the past. Now he heard it as a cry for comfort. For a need so great, it was beyond her ability to voice the words that would ask his understanding. And he responded, as she had known he would, as he would always respond, coming to her with long, silent strides through the grass.

His arms slid around her, his hands clasping hers and holding her in the way she knew so well. Her back was warmed by his presence, her whole being supported by his greater strength. And she leaned with wholehearted confidence in the man who held her, allowing him to take the weight of her body against his.

“Kate?” It was a single word, holding a plethora of questions, and she pondered for a moment, weighing the choices she must make. The sun was sinking rapidly now and she watched it. Watched the pink-and-blue rays that rose from the orb, painting the clouds with a vision of beauty that promised fair weather for tomorrow.

“My daddy bought me the farm, Roan.” She felt his nod against her head. “He wanted me to have a home. Someplace I could settle in and make things my own. A place where I’d be able to stay for the rest of my life if I wanted to, and nobody could ever take it away from me.”

The man behind her was silent. “And then you came along and took me with you. You married me, when you didn’t have to—”

His grumbling words halted her. “That’s where you’re wrong, lady. Marrying you was the one thing I had to do.”

She smiled, knowing his meaning, and continued. “Hush now. Let me talk.” His deep sigh gave permission.

“Anyway, you brought me here and promised me we’d go back to the farm, come spring.”

“I’m not renegin’ on that, Kate. I’ll take you home, whenever you say.”

She nodded impatiently. “I know you would. You’re a man of honor, Roan. If I haven’t learned anything else about you, I’ve learned that. You’d leave this place without blinking an eye and trot me right back up the river to Illinois.” She breathed deeply as if she must gain strength for the words she prepared to speak.

“I’m not going back. I want to stay here. I want to watch the cotton bloom and I want to help pick it. And I want Journey to have her foal here and watch your daddy’s face when it’s born.”

She turned in his arms and he released his hold so she could press herself against him, her arms unfolding to slip about his shoulders. “I want to stay here, Roan. With you
and your folks and Jethro and Susanna and the rest. I want you to be my family.”

“What about your home place?” Idly spoken, the words were far from unimportant. The farm had been her heritage from the father who had managed to give her little else. It had been the most important thing in the world to her, aside from the family of horses they’d dragged clear down the length of the river.

“You’re my home place, Roan. Wherever you are, when I’m with you, I’m home. I found that out today, when I had to face the thought of leaving here. If going north is what you want to do, then we’ll leave. If staying here is your choice, then it’s mine, too. Your family is mine. I have no other, but that doesn’t make me bereft. While I have you, I have all I need. I told you I love you. This is what it means to me. I want to be with you, no matter where that is.”

His heartbeat vibrated against his ribs as Roan heard her declaration. His throat was strangely filled with a thickness he could not swallow and his eyes were blurring, casting Katherine into a gauzy mist. But the words that spilled from his lips were honest and true and the voice that trembled in the speaking was deep and vibrant with the emotion he could not contain.

“I love you, Kate. I love you with all I have to offer. We’ll stay here if you’re sure it’s what you want. I’m all my folks have, besides a handful of help and a barnyard of animals. And the best daughter they could ask for.” The final words were spoken slowly, his smile warm as he pronounced his judgment on the woman he held.

“My mother loves you, you know. And my pa is pleased as punch to have you for a daughter.”

Her answering smile crinkled the corners of her eyes and forced the tears that had been hovering to slide down her cheeks. “Really?” It was a word filled with longing and he could no longer resist.

His lips touched hers, a kiss of promise, a message of commitment she could not fail to grasp, and she responded with wholehearted joy. Their lips held, meshing in a familiar yet ever new blending that brought pleasure and an unspoken vow of passion to come.

“Sweetheart?” He held her gently, firmly, with arms that promised her his support for all time.

“Hmm?” She basked in the warmth of his embrace and rubbed her face against his cheek.

“When were you gonna tell me?”

She stilled. Her eyes opened and she looked up at him warily. “Tell you what?”

“Did you think I didn’t notice you were gettin’ a little big for your britches and your shirt was snugger’n a snake’s skin in the spring?”

“I wasn’t sure myself, Roan. Now you’ve ruined my surprise.”

“It won’t be any surprise, sweetheart. Susanna’s been singing lullabies in the kitchen for almost two weeks. She does your washin’, you know.”

Her face flamed and she ducked her head. “When will you ever learn that there are some things a gentleman doesn’t mention to a lady?”

“You’re my wife, Kate,” he said quietly. “Anything that concerns you is my business. Especially when it’s my baby we’re talkin’ about.”

Her eyes were hopeful as she met his gaze. “I want you to be happy about it.”

His grin was brilliant, his teeth gleaming in the twilight, and his arms were strong as he lifted her to hold her against his chest.

“Roan, I’m too heavy! Put me down!” Her cry was startled, but the arms that slid about his neck held him in an embrace that gave him permission.

“We’ve got a couple of folks sittin’ in there waitin’ to hear what’s goin’ on,” he told her, his long strides carrying them
both on a return journey to the house. They passed the cabins, the corral and the barn, her face buried against his neck, her words of love whispered against his ear.

And on the back porch stood two people who couldn’t wait any longer at the dining table to hear the words that would decide their future. Their faces were wreathed with smiles as the form of their youngest son strode toward them. In his arms was the woman who would form the nucleus of this home in the future years. And within her was the hope for generations to come.

Roan Devereaux had come home.

*   *   *   *   *

ISBN 978-14592-7535-5

LOVING KATHERINE

Copyright © 1996 by Carolyn Davidson

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or In part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or In any Information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any Individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks Indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and In other countries.

Printed In U.S.A