Squire's Quest (29 page)

"Pa's nowhere near here. I know he's not. It was a bum, sneaking around last night."

"Maybe." Pulling her close, he wrapped his arms around her waist. Such a slender waist,
dividing womanly hips from full, richly rounded breasts. "Callie, there's only one thing to do.
Only one way to keep you safe."

"Safe? Merlin, I am safe, as long as I'm with you. I know you won't let anything happen
to me."

"Not if I can help it. But you're still a single woman, with only your father for family. I
don't know the law, but I've a feeling it won't let you decide the course of your life, not as young
as you are."

"I'm old enough--"

"Are you sure? What's the age of consent here in Wyoming Territory? If your father
sicced the sheriff on us, would you be able to decide your future? Or would he take you to a
judge who could rule he has control over you for another three years?" He shook her slightly,
making sure she'd heard him. "Do you know? For sure? Are you willing to bet your life on
it?"

Her eyes grew round, white showing all around the green. Slowly she shook her head.
"No, I... I don't know for sure. I just figured... How--"

"If we were married, I'd have the deciding of where you live, what you do. We could get
married today. Murphy would stand witness. And maybe Frau Trebelhorn...?"

"No!" She pulled herself free of his arms. "You said yourself you aren't ready to settle
down. You don't know what you want to do, where you want to go next. You aren't ready to
marry. Not me. Not anybody."

"I'm ready to make sure you're safe." He looked straight into her eyes. "I'd do anything
to be certain of that."

She heard the solemn vow in his voice, in his words. Raising her chin, Callie looked
steadily at him. After a moment, she cupped his face between her hands. "I know, Merlin. I know
you're noble and good and kind and...and..." Her voice failed her. A couple of deep breaths later,
she was able to continue. "You told me once you were a knight in training. Well, Sir Merlin
Lachlan, I think you've just earned your title. You're no squire any longer. You're a true knight.
Honorable, valiant, and good."

"Then you'll marry me?"

"I... I want to, because I'm scared. I want to, because whenever I think of what a good
man is, he wears your face. I want to, because I know you're honorable and kind and decent and
good. I want to, but..." She ran out of words and chewed her lip while her mind scurried around,
looking for the right ones. "I want to, but I'm not sure it's the right thing to do."

He tilted her chin up with the side of his hand. "It is. Believe me. Trust me. It's the only
thing to do. The only way I can keep you safe from your father."

She had no doubt he was right. Pa would refuse to turn her loose. He'd demand she mind
him, do whatever he told her to. And she would, weakling that she was, obedient daughter she'd
been brought up to be, would obey.

But if she was a wife first and a daughter second, her allegiance, her obedience would
belong to her husband. Wouldn't it?

As if helping her answer her own question, the side of her face ached. The wrist Pa had
wrenched so bad it had swollen to twice its size throbbed. And her throat stung, where Pa's
strong fingers had squeezed, until she'd obeyed him, until she'd given him all her carefully
hoarded coins.

She knew it was wrong, knew it wasn't fair. No matter how much she loved Merlin
Lachlan, no matter she'd loved him since the night he'd wrapped one strong arm around her and
read her a tale of adventure and impossibility, she knew she'd no business marrying him.

He wasn't ready to settle. In his own words, he hadn't chosen the shape of his
future.

"Yes. I'll marry you. When?"

"As soon as we can get to town. Murphy's not going to be able to get away today, but
first thing tomorrow. I'll go in today and find out what legal folderol we have to deal with."

"Can I go with you? I don't want to get married in britches, or in an ugly gray
dress."

His grin, the smile she hadn't seen since he'd started talking of marrying, spread across
his face. "Just like my sisters. Always wanting to shop for something pretty,"

"Oh, I don't need--"

"Sure you do. Every woman needs a special dress to get married in. Is dinner ready? I'm
done in the barn, and we can go to town as soon are we've eaten."

She set a bowl of potato soup before him. "We're out of beef, but I put plenty of bacon
in that, and there's cheese to melt on yesterday's bread."

"We'll pick up more meat in town. And a bottle of champagne. Ever had it?"

"That's the wine with the bubbles, isn't it? I've heard it's like drinking nectar. Or
sunshine."

"Even better." He laughed, so she had to smile back. "We'll get two bottles. One to
celebrate our betrothal. One for tomorrow, after the wedding."

"Better get more than two, then. I want Abner there to witness. He's been a good friend
to me."

"A whole case, if that's what it takes." His face was alight with excitement. She'd never
seen him like this. Suddenly she wondered what she was getting herself into.

How would a cowboy-muleskinner-blacksmith know about champagne? It was what
rich folks drank.

Maybe she didn't know near enough about Merlin Lachlan.

Merlin pulled her out of her chair and spun her in a circle. "We'll have a grand time. I'll
take you to California, come spring. We'll see the Pacific Ocean. Maybe take one of Silas' ships
to Hawaii. Or Australia. Ever seen a kangaroo?"

"Merlin--"

"When we've seen as much of the world as we want, maybe in a year or two, we'll go
home. Pa's always said the River Ranch will be mine, but there's no hurry." He framed her face
and looked deep into those spring green eyes. "You'll never regret marrying me, Callie. We'll
have some grand adventures together."

"Mer--"

He couldn't resist. Her mouth was open just enough to let his tongue in. She tasted so
good. She was so soft against his body, and his doowhacker nestled right against her, like it knew
where it belonged.

He was so hungry for her. Waiting until they were married wasn't going to be easy.
Nibbling at her mouth, he only slowly became aware she was trying to push him away. He raised
his head and loosened his embrace. "Cal? What's wrong?"

"I don't know who you are." Her eyes were enormous and her voice trembled. "I thought
I did, but when you talk about champagne and ships and Australia, it scares me. Folks like us
don't drink fancy wine or gallivant around the world."

Puzzled, he sat at the table and pulled her onto his lap. "I'm just me. Sometimes a
cowboy, sometimes a blacksmith--not a very good one, though--and sometimes a handyman. I'm
apt to turn a hand to whatever needs doing. I've got itchy feet, though, so I haven't stuck with
anything very long, not since I left home. Someday I'll go back and settle. Maybe raise horses,
like my uncle, or I might take on Pa's fancy cattle.

"The River Ranch is a fine spread. A good place to settle. It'll be a good place to raise a
family, close enough to the folks so Ma can dote on her grandkids and Pa can keep an eye on
things. He's not one to sit idle, Pa isn't."

That reminded him. "We'd best get our traveling in quick. Pa's been talking of doing
some himself, and he expects me to be home when he takes off. I figure we've got a couple of
years, though. They won't take off until Rhys and Iris go to college, and they're..." He paused to
count years. "Great God, Rhys is seventeen. He'll be off East soon. And Iris, she must be fifteen
or sixteen. So we've time yet before I'll have to go home. Best we get started."

The blood seemed to fizz in his veins at the prospect of traveling with Cal. "Hurry up
and finish your soup. The sooner we get to town, the better."

She didn't move. Just sat there staring down into her soup, which looked as if she hadn't
taken a single bite.

"What's wrong?" Much as he wanted to take hold of her hands, he held back. "Tell
me."

"You scare me," she said, her voice scarcely above a whisper. "I think I know you, and
then you change. When you came to town, you were like a...a lawman, come to rescue me from
danger. That night...when the robber came... You were so fierce, so dangerous-looking."

"I was protecting you," he said, and again felt the tremendous sense of relief he hadn't
been the one to kill the thief. He'd known he could, but hadn't wanted the burden of knowing he'd
taken a human life. "I'd never hurt you, Cal." This time he did reach for her hand.

She pulled it back. "I know, and I thank you. The other night, when you..." Her cheeks
got pink and she gnawed on her lower lip. "You said you wanted me, and that scared me, too. I'm
a good girl, Merlin. Not a... Not one of those women in the fancy houses like Pa--"

"Great God, Cal, where'd you get the notion I ever thought of you that way?"

More gnawing, until he was afraid she'd get her lip to bleeding again. "I didn't. Not
really, except I could feel... I know men can't always control themselves when taken in a fit of
lust."

His chair went over backwards when he leapt to his feet. "That's the biggest pile of
bulls-- Of hogwash I ever heard. Who fed you such nonsense?"

"Mrs. Flynn. She said men aren't able to resist temptation like a woman. She told me I
was responsible for my own virtue, because no man would ever give a hoot one way or another.
Not until I'd lost it, and then they'd blame me for being weak."

"Oh, Cal." He knelt beside her chair and wrapped both arms around her. "Did you really
think I'd treat you like that? Have my way with you and say it was all your doing? Or abandon
you?"

Her body was stiff within his embrace, and her heart was going like a little triphammer.
"If I was that kind of man, you'd be a ruined woman by now."

Her body didn't relax, so he knew she didn't believe him. How could he explain there
was a world of difference between taking his pleasure on a woman's body he'd bought and paid
for and sharing pleasure with a woman he had a caring for?

Merlin decided he wasn't even going to try. He'd get so tangled up with words he'd have
enough rope to hang himself. "Look, can we get back to what's worrying you? You said you'd
marry me, and then all of a sudden you're acting like I've got some terrible contagious disease.
Did you change your mind?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I don't know you."

"I don't know you either, not as well as I want to. Sometimes you've got to trust your
instincts. My mother asked Pa to marry her the second time she saw him, and they've as good a
marriage as I've seen. You and I, we've known each other for six years, and we've spent a lot of
time together. Seems to me we're better acquainted than a lot of folks who get married."

She stared into his face for a long time, as if trying to read his mind. Gradually her stiff
body became pliant in his grasp. Eventually, after his knees had begun complaining at the
hardness of the plank floor, she leaned forward and set her forehead against his. "I guess I'm just
not used to having good things happen to me. Let's go to town. Picking out my wedding dress is
going to take me some time."

Relieved, he stood and pulled her to her feet. "I'll go saddle up. You dress warm. Put the
britches under your skirt if you must, but wear 'em." He kept his kiss brief, because he knew if he
got started kissing her right, he'd have trouble quitting.

Great God! I'm getting married.

* * * *

Merlin dropped her off at Herman's Dry Goods, where the other day she'd seen a sign
about a dressmaker, but hadn't paid much attention to it. It turned out Abigail's Gowns was
housed in the front room of a small house a block from Herman's. When she got there an older
woman was just coming out, so Callie knew the shop was open.

"May I help you?" The woman who was replacing bolts of cloth on a shelf was wearing
one of the most beautiful dresses Callie had ever seen. It looked like linsey-woolsey, but it was
made so it fit her slender body perfectly, and the color--a soft blue-purple--made her light brown
hair brighter and her blue eyes even bluer.

"If you can make me as pretty as you are, yes. I need a dress to get married in."

"Oh, wonderful. When's the wedding?"

"Tomorrow, I hope."

"Oh, dear, that complicates matters. I don't have any dresses made up. I'm sorry."

Her disappointment was almost enough to make her cry. "I never thought. I-- Thank
you." She turned to go.

"Wait! Please."

With one hand on the doorknob, Callie paused. "I haven't much time. Is there anywhere
in town I might find a dress. It doesn't have to be fancy. Just new. Or new enough it's not faded
or stained."

"I have an idea, Miss...?"

"I'm Callie Smith." She wondered why she was wasting her time. It was already after
two o'clock and she was supposed to meet Merlin back at Herman's at four. "Just tell me where I
can find a dress."

"And I'm Abigail Trueblood. If you're serious about not minding if a dress isn't brand,
spanking new, I can help you. Your eyes are green."

"Yes, but what--"

"I have a bottle green velvet gown I made a long time ago, but it was the wrong color for
me. We're close to the same size, I think. Would you be interested?"

Green velvet. Callie had loved to touch Mrs. Flynn's black velvet spencer. So soft. "Oh,
yes," she breathed. "But you're shorter than me."

"I'm long in the waist, though, and the gown is made to be worn over a wide crinoline. I
think letting it hang closer to your body will make it just the right length." She picked up a tape
measure. "How about it, Miss Smith? Shall we see?"

"Oh, yes, please," Callie said, as her fingers itched for the feel of velvet.

The gown fit as though it was made for her, except that her meager linen petticoat let it
hang so limply it puddled on the floor. Callie stood before the pier glass and stroked the fabric
with her hands while Mrs. Trueblood sorted through her petticoats for something she could part
with.