Small Treasures (6 page)

He'd hardly said a word since supper. No. Actually, it was since he'd seen the bundling board. Abby bit down on her bottom lip and folded her hands together over her bosom. She was cold. So cold that her long white night gown and the heavy quilt that covered her did nothing to remove the chill that shook her body.

And she was certain that the weather had nothing to do with it. She was scared. Scared that no matter what she did, she'd have to leave the cabin she'd already come to love. Despite all her efforts, Abby knew that Samuel wasn't pleased with what she'd done to his home.

She stared up at the ceiling and watched the flickering firelight shadows. Her fingers clenched together as another fear entered her head. One she hadn't even considered until she'd seen that strange look on Samuel's face. Abby's mind raced with the possible consequences of what she'd thought was a brilliantidea.

Suppose Samuel tried to force himself on her? No. She shook her head, ashamed of herself for even thinking it. For heaven's sake… if that was the kind of man he was, he'd already had ample opportunities to ravish her.

But if Samuel did insist on her favors as payment for staying in the cabin, she'd have to refuse. And then where would she be? No place to stay, thousands of miles from a friendly face, and no doubt the townspeople would have nothing to do with what they would consider a fallen woman. Of course, she conceded, simply staying at the cabin unchaperoned would successfully ruin her reputation. Her lips thinned into a determined line. And she'd already made that decision.

Oh, she told herself, this was doing no good at all. There was simply no help for it. This was how things had to be until a decision was made about the ownership of the cabin. And torturing herself over the questionable respect ability of the situation wasn't going to help.

The dogs. She heard the dogs coming close to the cabin. That meant Samuel wasn't far behind. What should she do? Pretend to be asleep? Sit up and greet him? Or play dead? She chose the latter.

The front door opened and both dogs raced inside. Already, she knew Harry's quick steps from Maverick's limping gait. As the dogs plopped onto the floor, Abby listened with breath held to Samuel's movements.

He set the lamp he'd taken with him on the kitchen table, then turned to shut and latch the door. Slowly, quietly, he walked confidently to his side of the big bed and stopped. In the stillness Abby was sure she actually heard him undoing the buttons of his shirt. She tried to close her mind to the mental images that continued to rise up. It was no good.

Behind her closed eyelids, she saw him shrug down his suspenders and pull the gray shirtoff. She imagined the breadth of his chest covered only with the faded material of his winter underwear. Even in her mind, she re fused to remove these.

She heard one of his heavy boots drop to the floor and managed not to flinch again when the second one joined its mate. A soft brushing of fabric against fabric told her that he'd re moved his pants. She swallowed nervously. Deliberately and completely, then, Abby wiped away her imaginings.

The mattress dipped when Samuel lay down on his side of the board, and Abby bit down on her bottom lip. Hard.

Samuel knew she was awake. He felt her agitation as surely as though she'd shouted out her distress. In fact, he shared it. Even as he lay down on his half of the bed, he told himself that if he had the sense God gave a gnat, he'd jump back off that bed like it was on fire!

He'd put off returning to the cabin as long as he could. But his own exhaustion had finally forced his hand. Samuel threw one arm behind his head and glanced furiously at the damn board in his bed. He still didn't believe that so much had happened in so short a time. The life he'd built for himself so carefully over the last ten years was falling apart. All because of one tiny woman. And his own reaction to her.

He snorted quietly in the darkness and cursed his stupidity. He should never have let her get a foothold in the cabin. In his life. He should have made her leave the first night. He should have taken her to town by force if he'd had to. His lips twisted in a bitter smirk. Oh, yes. And if he'd done that, the folks down in Rock Creek would probably have shot him for the monster they thought he was.

None of this was right, he thought angrily. He'd spent most of his life learning how to be alone. Teaching himself not to need anyone. Protecting himself from hurt by shutting out the world that wanted no part of him. And now he was in danger of losing the peace that had come so hard to him. Abby Sutton was worming her way into his feelings. Feelings he'd thought were long dead.

He couldn't let that happen.

Straightening out, he decided suddenly to try the idea that had come to him while he was caring for the animals. He already knew just how nervous she was. If he could build on that, perhaps he could scare her into leaving. A quick flash of shame shot through him, but he ignored it. This was the only way.

Deliberately Samuel stretched, moaning softly as though relaxing his too tense body. His elbow struck the board and he felt the mattress shift as Abby jumped in reaction. He smiled sadly. It was working. Leaning into the board, Samuel pressed his weight against it until it creaked a loud protest.

"Samuel?"

He stopped. Had he succeeded so quickly? "Yes, Abby?" he whispered. "Pleasant dreams, Samuel." Shocked, Samuel moved away from the board slightly and lay still. What was it about this woman that was so damned confounding? He'd been trying to frighten her. And she wishes him pleasant dreams. A wave of self-disgust washed over him, and he was grateful for the darkness, that she couldn't see his face.

A quick scrabble of nails on wood caught his attention just before ten pounds of bald dog landed on Samuel's stomach. Harry's forward motion kept him going until he banged his head on the plank he hadn't expected. But when Samuel reached to pet the little animal, Harry nimbly leapt over the bundling board to join Abby.

Abby's whispered words and the dog's happy slurping sounds faded away after a few minutes.

He lay perfectly still on his side of the bed, staring at the ceiling. Disgusted, he imagined the disloyal Harry cuddling up to Abby's warmth. And for one long, torturous moment, he was insanely jealous of a mangy dog.

# # #

It was much easier traveling the mountain road in a buggy, Abby told herself with a smile. She hugged her cloak around her tightly against the chill air, but kept looking around with delight at the passing landscape. It really was so beautiful, she thought happily. She would have said so, except that Samuel didn't appear to be in the mood for conversation.

In fact, he'd hardly said a word all morning. All through breakfast and the entire trip down the mountain, he'd been remarkably silent. She shook her head slightly and re arranged the purple bow under her chin. Her hands then deftly checked to see that her bon net was tilted at just the right angle before coming to rest in her lap again.

Abby had thought that after a good night's sleep, Samuel would be easier to get along with. But it seemed that plenty of rest had just the opposite effect on him. Perhaps she should have suggested that he remain on the floor. At least then he'd spoken to her.

Actually, she was rather surprised that he'd invited her along on this trip to Rock Creek. But when he offered to go with her to town to find the nearest court so that they could clear up their problem as quickly as possible… she wasn't about to say no.

Abby threw a quick glance at Samuel from the corner of her eye. What if the court de cided that the cabin belonged to him? And it probably would. What then? She couldn't go back to Maryland. Even if she had the money to make the trip, she wouldn't want to go back. Not to living on the charity of others. No matter how kind or well meant.

She shook her head and shoved all those worries aside for the time being. There really was no point in trying to come to a decision now, when it might not even be necessary.

If the worst happened and she did lose the cabin, well, then, she would still be able to make her living as a seamstress, just as she'd planned. She'd simply have to make enough money to pay for a room in town.

If only Uncle Silas had never met Samuel Hart.

If only Silas Sutton hadn't been a drunk, Samuel thought angrily. None of this would have happened. He'd be living in his cabin alone, and, if not happy, at least content.

Samuel spared a quick look for Abby. She looked worried. Even her excitement over visiting the town couldn't mask that. And she was excited. She'd checked that ugly hat and retied the damn ribbon at least three times already. Why in hell she even wore the thing was beyond him. Her hair, hanging free to her waist, was much prettier.

He frowned ferociously. For god sake. You got no call to go thinkin' about what's pretty and what ain't, he told himself. He needed sleep, that was all. Samuel scrunched up his eyes, then widened them again. He'd be willing to bet that he hadn't slept more than twenty minutes at a stretch all night. And he knew he couldn't take much more of that.

"Samuel?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Is there a judge in town? I mean, will we be able to have the matter settled right away?"

"No." He saw her shoulders slump with relief. "But there's a circuit court judge that comes through regular. We should be able to find out when he'll be back next."

She turned toward him and smiled. Well, he told himself, that sure as hell brightened her up. And he was curious as to why.

"Why's that such good news?" He winced at the harshness of his voice, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Because, if there's no judge in town, we'll have to wait a while for a decision."

"Yeah… so?"

"So," she said, grinning, "that means that for now, at least, the cabin belongs to both of us."

"Abby… "

"And neither one of us has to worry just yet about finding some other place to live." She took a deep breath of the pine-scented air and exhaled happily. "We can go on as we are."

"I don't think so."

"Whyever not?" She turned to face him, her brows drawn together.

"Because we just can't is all." He slapped the reins against the horses' backs needlessly.

A long moment of silence dropped between them as each of them wrestled with their own thoughts. Then Samuel spoke again. "I been thinkin', Abby."

"Yes?" She turned to face him and saw that his face mirrored the hesitation in his voice.

He glanced at her, then looked back at the winding mountain road. "I got plenty of money put by… "

"Yes?" Abby had a feeling that she knew where he was headed.

"I figure I could give you enough so's you could stay in town until we can get this mess settled and behind us. Hell," he added in a much louder tone. "I'll even give you enough to get back home on."

Her mouth hung open momentarily, then she snapped it shut. She couldn't believe it! Did he really think that she would leave so easily as that? Without even trying to fight for her cabin? She stiffened her spine and threw her shoulders back. Eyes straight ahead, she told him, "No, Samuel. It wouldn't be right.

"What wouldn't be right?"

"Taking money from you, that's what. Abby lifted her chin and grabbed the side of the buckboard as the wheels hit a huge hole in the road. "For heaven's sake, Samuel. You're practically a stranger! It certainly wouldn't be proper for me to accept money from you, even if I did want to leave." She smoothed her skirt. "Which I don't."

Grumbling, Samuel bent down, picked up a weatherbeaten brown hat, and jammed it down on his head.

"If you have something to say, I wish you'd just say it," Abby said softly.

"Oh, no… " Samuel shook his shaggy head in disbelief. "What could I say? I'm just a stranger!" He turned halfway toward her and glared in her direction. "But can you explain to me why it's all right to sleep with a stranger but not take money from him?"

Really, Abby thought helplessly. Perhaps he wasn't a total half-wit as she'd feared at first, but neither was he as bright as she'd hoped. "Taking money from a stranger would be… improper. I can't explain it better than that, I'm sorry."

"But you can sleep with one?"

"Samuel, you know as well as I that the circumstances we find ourselves in are rather… special."

He snorted.

"And so," she went on, ignoring his rude comment, "as long as the proprieties are maintained, of course it's all right." Abby reached over then and patted his hand gently. "Be sides, as I've already told you… I trust you."

Samuel gave her a look that told her he still didn't understand. But no matter, she thought happily. He will. Then she heard him mumbling again. She wasn't sure, but it sounded like the alphabet.

Abby stared back at the little man standing beside the livery stable coral. For heaven's sake, she thought, you'd think people here had never seen a stranger before. Ever since their wagon had begun rolling down the one narrow street, she'd felt the eyes of the towns people on her. She glanced up at Samuel and almost smiled her relief. Either he hadn't noticed his friends' odd behavior or he'd chosen to ignore it.

Still, she couldn't help feeling disappointed. She'd so wanted the people here to like her. In her mind's eye Abby envisioned her home town. The smiling faces, the greetings called out when she passed, the children following her, hoping to talk her out of some candy from the store.

It was all even further away than she'd thought.

As Samuel drove the wagon past the blacksmith's Abby pointedly ignored the rude, barrel-chested man who stared at her with his jaws agape. But she couldn't help sneaking peeks at the buildings as they passed. It was really too bad that the people weren't very friendly. The town itself was everything she'd hoped.

Neat, clean homes lined the well-tended street. A scattering of stores with freshly swept boardwalks and brightly painted signs took up the last half of the street, and the tiny town ended in a grove of pines.

Samuel pulled the wagon to a stop outside the only general store, pushed the brake on, and tied the reins securely. She noticed that he kept his eyes down, looking neither right nor left as he came around to her side to help her down.