Stained Snow (16 page)

She turned away from the door and went back to her work. She couldn’t help but let her mind wander back to the time she had spent with Thomas. He always seemed rough. She thought it was from his time living on the trail. Maybe there was something more to it because William was nothing like that.

She couldn’t dwell on it. Thomas was gone. He hadn’t been back in almost a year. He wouldn’t be coming back. She accepted that and had barely thought about him in the last several weeks. She had to look forward to what she might have in front of her. The voices of the two men came through as they returned to the house. She couldn’t believe how long her thoughts and work had kept her occupied.

She kept working around the kitchen while she listened to the men talk. She wasn’t used to hearing another voice in this house besides hers and Pa’s. Sometimes Adam’s. Thomas and her pa hadn’t really had conversations. After the first night he arrived, he had stayed out in the bunkhouse with the other men, only joining them for meals. William only stayed in here because he’d been wounded. She didn’t know why her pa let him continue in the house.

It had been nearly a week of Thomas joining her in here while she worked, constantly finding her while she was about her chores, before she agreed to meet him outside after dark. He had been playing with her the whole time. He never planned to come back.

Maggie looked over her shoulder at William and caught him watching her. From the intensity in his eyes, she didn’t think he played with her. She turned back to the dish she scrubbed, trying to ignore the feeling his look had given her.

She couldn’t do it. She kept risking glances at him as she worked. Every time she cast her gaze toward him, he looked at her. He’d look away as soon as their eyes met. Still the look sent a thrill through her every time.

She hoped they had made it through dinner without her father noticing anything. Did he already know something? Maybe they hadn’t hid it all that well.

He could run William off and get him in serious trouble. He still treated William the same as he had from the first. He must not know anything.

Maggie finished the dishes and turned to watch her father and William still talking. She sighed. What was she doing? Getting so caught up in another man who would ride off?

He’d told them he planned to from the start. She didn’t think she’d be enough to keep him from his path of revenge.

Maggie stepped back into the house after milking the cow, and her body hummed at William’s voice. She didn’t even care what he said, his voice alone had an effect on her. Then, it changed slightly. She chanced a glance up to catch him looking at her.

So was her father. Maggie dropped her gaze again and kept her eyes on the floor as she carried the bucket to the kitchen. She had to or she wasn’t sure what she would do. She couldn’t focus all of her attention on her task. She heard William moving around behind her, every word he spoke to her father, when he said he was going off to bed. She finished cleaning the kitchen, wanting to get to her own room to be alone and think.

When she turned to her father, he said, “Come sit with me a minute, Maggie.”

She hesitated, but she couldn’t deny him, or he would question her. She sat at the table, across from him. “What is it, Pa?”

He reached across the table and took her hands. “You know I never want you to be hurt, right?” She nodded, but he stayed quiet for another moment. When he looked up, he appeared several years older. “He’s not planning to stay, either.”

His words sucked the air right out of her lungs. She had to take in a gulp of breath to fill them up again. She caught his reference to Thomas. “I know, Pa. I’ll be okay. I never thought he’d stay.”

His grip tightened on her hand, and the sorrow in his eyes went a little deeper. Maybe he would say something about her and William. About what she was sure he knew. He released her hand. “We should both get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Of course, Pa.”

She went to her room, but hesitated for a moment in the doorway. William moved around in his room down the hall. She wanted to go in there with him. When she looked over her shoulder, her pa still sat at the table, his head in his hands. He had to know something. Why hadn’t he yelled at her? Told her she dishonored him. Anything.

Maggie sank down on her bed, but didn’t get ready for sleep. She still heard William in the other room. She wanted to go to him and have him touch her again. She couldn’t do it. Her father may not have done anything yet, but she was sure he wouldn’t be able to stand for it if they did something right under his nose. So, she stayed in her room.

The light from the lantern in the main room went out. Pa was going to his bed. She stood up and took off her dress and undergarments. Replaced them with her night shift. She’d been laying in bed for several minutes with sleep eluding her when booted feet sounded out in the hallway. They stopped outside her door. She caught her breath. Was he going to come in here?

They couldn’t do that. Not with her father in the house. It would be too great a risk. Then, he continued on. The front door opened then closed again. Was he leaving now? Would he ride out during the night? Thomas hadn’t even done that.

She couldn’t lay there any longer. She had to find out if he was that much of a coward. She climbed from bed and grabbed the shawl from the back of her chair then slipped into her boots. If Pa was still awake, he would hear her go outside. She had to take the risk and find out what was going on. She moved as quietly as she could, but the hinges still creaked as she opened it. She paused for a moment but didn’t hear anything from her pa’s direction. She closed the door behind her and hurried across the yard to the barn.

When she got out there, he wasn’t saddling his horse to ride out. He leaned against the animal, stroking his neck and murmuring. He must have known she was there because he stepped away as she took another step into the barn but didn’t look at her. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“I thought you were leaving.”

“It’s too late to go anywhere.”

She wasn’t sure if he meant tonight or at all. She watched him give the horse another pat before turning to her. She should go back up to the house. Instead, she stepped closer to him. He closed the rest of the distance.

“This isn’t right.”

He already had his hand wrapped in her hair. She didn’t care if it wasn’t right. At the moment the only thing she could think of was having his hands on her again. Before she could tell him, he pulled her head back and his mouth covered hers. It didn’t stay there for long, moving down her throat, past the collar of her night shift. She gasped when his teeth closed over a sensitive spot at the base of her throat. His hands moved over her body, pausing over her breasts and on her hips, before moving further down.

It was fast. Not rough, and not mean like at times it had been with Thomas. Which was the way she thought it was supposed to be. Until William.

He lowered her down to a pile of hay. They didn’t take their clothes off this time. Still, when he ran his hands up her legs, the heat transferred from his skin to hers. Her stomach fluttered as she reached for him and unfastened his trousers. He pushed them down his legs, but his boots kept them around his shins. That didn’t matter. She wanted him inside her.

As if he understood, he lifted the skirt of her shift and slid into her.

She looked up and his gaze was on her. He didn’t look away or close his eyes as he moved inside her. Her heart swelled with an emotion she didn’t know what to name. The breath clogged in her throat and every part of her tightened in anticipation. Tension released, and she flew. She melted down into the hay, but William kept moving. His hands streaked down her body but he still didn’t break her gaze. Until he closed his lips over the same point in her throat as earlier. His hands came up to cover her breasts through the thin fabric between them.

As his tongue moved over her skin, she rose to meet him again. A wave of heat washed over her as he brought her to the peak of release again. This time he grunted as they both went over it together. His weight settled down on top of her, but he shifted moments later. She opened her eyes, and he looked down at her once again. She wanted to reach up to touch his face and try to figure out what that look in his eyes meant. He pushed himself up before she could. “We should get back to the house,” he said. “You’re going to get cold out here.”

She shouldn’t feel disappointed. It wasn’t why she had come out here anyway. She stood up and straightened her shift and grabbed her shawl from where it had fallen on the ground. They brushed hay off each other, and he picked it out of her hair. She followed William back up the house.

Chapter 19

March 30, 1888

William braced one hand against the boards of the stall and leaned down toward Maggie. He still hadn’t brought himself to tell them he was going to ride out. It had been a week. He needed to go, but he couldn’t make himself saddle his horse. Every time he thought about it, his gaze went to Maggie again. They had only stolen one more night together. He didn’t want to bring George’s anger down on either of them, so he snuck from her room back to his before dawn the next morning.

Now, he covered her mouth with his. George was working on the other side of the yard, and he knew they were taking a huge risk now. But, he couldn’t stop. Her hands worked their way under his shirt. A shiver ran over him as her fingers moved over his stomach. She broke him apart every time they touched.

His dreams had been haunted by Anna since he had ridden back into Lander to learn she was gone. Now, Maggie mixed in with them. Sometimes he dreamed Anna was angry with him, the sense of betrayal strong even then. Other times she seemed happy, telling him it was time to move on. The latter would be more what his wife would want. At times, he wasn’t sure he could do it. Those times were fading.

He couldn’t stop touching Maggie.

Maggie groaned and dropped her head back, giving him access to the spot on her throat he loved so much. “I should be doing chores,” she said, but her breath caught as his teeth grazed her skin. He murmured in response but didn’t release her.

His free hand slid to cup one breast. He felt her quick intake of breath as the nipple hardened under his thumb. He could barely control his own breathing.

“Will, please. It’s too much. I need you.”

His body hungered for it too, though. His mouth moved down to her collarbone, pushing aside the collar of her dress. She groaned, and her hands slid around to his back. William closed his eyes and tried to pull in a breath before he lost control. They’d already taken too many risks.

Her hands came back to his stomach, and she flicked open the closure of his trousers. “Maggie.” Her name came out as a groan.

“Please, Will. I need you,” she said again.

He didn’t stop her from releasing him from his trousers or when her hand moved along the length of him. He gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath. “Maggie.”

He nudged a leg between hers, spreading them apart. He lifted her skirts up, too lost in her to listen for anyone coming now. “Look up at me, Maggie.”

She raised her gaze to him, and he swooped in for another kiss. His fingers tightened on her hips as he slid into her. He swallowed her first cry then kept moving.

“You in here, Will? I haven’t been able to find Maggie.”

Everything inside him went cold at George’s voice. He saw the fear in Maggie’s eyes as well. He bit off a curse and pulled back from her, yanking up his trousers before he turned away. His fingers were still fastening his buttons when George turned into the stall. William’s face flushed red, but he stepped forward.

“Will, have you…” George trailed off as he processed the scene in front of him. The color fled from his face even as it deepened in William’s. “Well, that explains it.” He looked past William to his daughter. “Get up to the house, Maggie. You can finish your chores after we discuss this.”

William swallowed and took a step forward. “George—,”

George held up a hand. “I’ll have some words for you too, Will. Not now though.”

Maggie hurried past them, and he hated the flash of shame he’d seen in her eyes. He wanted to go to her, but that would be a mistake right now. He turned to George. “I’m sorry, Sir. I—”

George stopped him once again. “Seriously, Will, I don’t want to hear this right now. Get yourself decent before you come up to the house. We’ll discuss your involvement in this then.”

George turned away and stalked from the barn without another word. William sighed and ran his hands over his face. He was afraid this would happen when he hadn’t kept his hands to himself. It wasn’t right. He’d known it wasn’t right. He continued to do it anyway.

He wouldn’t blame George if he kicked him off the ranch right then. He could make excuses, but none of them would make it right. It would only soil these feelings blooming. He didn’t want to hurt Maggie by doing that.

The only thing left was to straighten himself up and accept the consequences for losing control.

#

William started up to the house, determined to take the consequences for what had happened. They shouldn’t have done it. They both should have maintained restraint. The kisses had been one thing. They should have stepped back before it went beyond that. William ran a hand over his face. He should have ridden away more than a week before. Before he let any of this happen.