Timeless Passion: 10 Historical Romances To Savor (127 page)

They reached the top of the hill. Kara ran to her father, threw her arms around him, with a small cry pulling him close. Hugging her tightly and assuring her he was fine, Case set her back down.

“It’s a sad day for the town,” he said wearily. “Once all is finished here, we will be staying in town for the funerals.” He looked at the scene below, his shoulders sagging, and face drawn. Several bodies lay side-by-side wrapped in tarps. “Brings back too many memories of other lives wasted needlessly.” He reached up and rubbed his forehead with soot-blackened fingers.

One of the mine foremen approached the group to let them know the fire was out, and all the workers had been accounted for.

“Nine of our men didn’t make it,” his voice was solemn.

“Good men all. Their bodies are being taken back to prepare for the funerals. Our thanks to you and your men for the help.” Nodding to the group, he turned and headed back down the hill.

• • •

At the church, the bodies were laid out side by side. Family members and friends grouped around their loved ones, grieving.

Alec walked over and grasped Hawke by the elbow.

“Come with me,” he said urgently. “There’s something you need to see.”

They walked down the line of blackened and in some cases unrecognizable bodies. Hawke noticed no one was mourning over the last man.

“Damn,” he swore, understanding what Alec was going to show him. “It’s Tompkins, isn’t it?” He looked down at the young man so recently found, his eyes lifeless in a face blackened and blistered.

Hawke bent his head and said a quiet prayer. Instead of a message full of hopeful news, he would be sending a death notice back home. He wondered if he should return to deliver the news himself, if it would ease the heartache not only for Tompkins family, but also for Bethany.

Kara and her father walked up and Hawke explained who the man was. He caught Kara’s gaze. The tenderness in her eyes made him long to take her in his arms and lose himself in her warmth and understanding.

The mortician and John Hewitt, one of the mine owners, approached them. They were identifying the dead for death certificates. Case explained the other two men were acquaintances of Tompkins, recently arrived from England.

“Will you be taking the body back to England then?” Hewitt inquired. “If so, I will be happy to pay for the expenses and see all his personal effects are packed for shipment. It’s the least I can do. They were good men all.” His voice was ragged with exhaustion.

“I believe Geoffrey would want to be buried here next to his friends,” Hawke replied, knowing this was the right thing to do. “He said this was his true home, the place he felt he belonged. I’ll wire his family with the news and see about shipping his belongings home.”

• • •

A crystal blue sky greeted the day of the funeral; a day of both glorious beauty and crushing sadness. The entire town packed into the church where the nine plain coffins sat side by side. Quiet sobbing could be heard throughout.

After the sermon, everyone silently followed nine wagons to the cemetery. Nine graves had been dug in the dark red earth, the plots unmarked but for a piece of wood.

Chapter 22

“Well, what are you going to do about what happened between you and Hawke?” Alicia sat in the chair in Kara’s bedroom the day after they returned from the funerals in town.

“I don’t have to do anything,” Kara replied waspishly. “It happened and it’s done. Really, I don’t see why it matters?”

She leveled a stern look at Alicia. “Why shouldn’t I give my body to whomever I want without the world falling apart, or being called loose?”

Kara sat on her bed. This was a conversation she didn’t want to have. “Attitudes are changing; women are working and supporting themselves. We’ve grown up knowing women who have run their own ranches and their own lives. Look at Mrs. McSween Barber.”

After her first husband had been killed in the Lincoln County War and her second husband died, Mrs. McSween Barber had single-handedly run a ranch with over five thousand head of cattle. Kara had always seen her as a role model.

“It’s so unfair. Women have come so far. In Colorado and Wyoming they already have the vote, it’s not improper to live alone or to go about unescorted anymore.”

“Well, that’s fine and dandy, Miss Suffragette.” Alicia snipped back. “But have you thought about what will happen if you’re pregnant? Just what will you do then? Better yet,” she continued, “just what will your father … or Hawke do? Hmm?”

Pregnant? Her mind reeled at Alicia’s words. Blast! She counted silently in her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it could happen. She had grown up on a ranch, and while she was in Virginia, the women involved in the suffrage and women’s rights movement had talked openly about sexual matters. She had heard countless stories about women, who like her, had forgotten themselves in a moment of passion and wound up pregnant. Panic rose in her chest.

“I couldn’t be,” she said weakly. “I just couldn’t be.”

“Well, if you are, you know your father will make Hawke marry you, whether you want to or not.” Alicia reached over and took her hand. “Your father loves you, and he’ll want what is best. And to him marriage and the protection it offers is the answer. Anyway if your father finds out you have lain with Hawke, whether you’re pregnant or not, he’ll make him marry you.” She added with an impish smile, “You don’t know, Hawke could think the same thing.” Kara felt her stomach clench as Alicia spoke. “He does strike me as rather proper that way.”

“What have I gotten myself into?” Kara groaned. “Why do I have to think about it and why can’t he just forget about it? I’m not planning on telling Papa, and even though Alec did say Hawke would,” her lips narrowed to a grim line, “I don’t think he will. At least not until we talk.”

• • •

Hawke was far from forgetting. He had been trying to get Kara alone ever since they had returned from town. Damn obstinate woman had insisted her friend stay with her. He knew she was doing it to avoid him. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to confront her until Alicia went home, he agreed to go with Alec and Austin to do some hunting and some thinking.

The ride had been quiet, although Hawke caught Austin glaring at him from time to time. Alec had brought down an elk, while Austin and the men had bagged some white-tailed deer. Hawke’s mind wasn’t on the hunt. The only creature he wanted to trap had beautiful blue eyes and a body made only for him.

They had finished for the day and were gathering to eat after setting up camp. Some of the men were still cleaning the elk and deer they had killed, leaving Alec, Hawke, and Austin alone by the fire.

“You are going to marry her?” Austin’s question held an edge of warning.

“Pardon?” Hawke stared intently at the other man, wondering what the hell had prompted that question. He could hear Alec choking on his supper next to him.

Throwing Alec a warning glance, Hawke looked back at Austin on the other side of the flames.

“I assume you mean Miss Jonston. Is there a reason I should?” He bristled at the man’s accusatory tone while his mind scrambled to determine out how much Austin knew.

Austin stood and leaned toward the spit on the fire, his eyes razor sharp; the fire gave them an unnatural glow.

“Well, I’ve seen the way you look at her and her at you.” He paused, pulling a large knife from his belt, and proceeded to slice meat off the roast sizzling over the fire. “I’d just bet.” He sat back down his elbows propped on his knees as he bit a piece of meat, chewed slowly all the while keeping a steady gaze on Hawke. “If you haven’t bedded her, you plan to. And Stoneham.” His eyes hardened and his voice turned dark and menacing. “I find out you have and you plan on haring it back to England without doing right by her, I’ll hunt you down and gut you just like those elk over there.” He growled, pointing the wicked-looking blade at the carcasses strung up a short distance away.

Sitting back against a log, he pointed the tip of the blade at Hawke, “That I can promise you, hombre.”

“I’m surprised you would impugn Kara’s honor.” Hawke drew himself up, angered at his insinuation. “I had assumed you had romantic designs on Miss Jonston?”

“I realized I had no chance after seeing how she behaved around you. No,” Austin continued, his voice calm, “now, I tend to think of her more like my own sister.” A sharp glance at Alec made it clear Austin would accept no dalliance with his sister, either.

“Excuse me,” Alec interrupted, “but my limited experience with Miss Jonston has shown me she has behaved in a rude, caustic manner to both Hawke and myself. What would make you think Hawke would have any romantic designs on her?” Hawke saw the veiled look almost challenging him to admit differently.

He wished he could beat Alec senseless. He wasn’t about to admit to young Roberts anything had occurred between him and Kara.

“That’s just bluff on her part,” Austin replied, once again leveling unblinking eyes on Hawke. “It’s obvious to just about everyone she has feelings for you. And it certainly ain’t no secret where your mind is when you watch her. Besides,” he smiled coldly. “Those ‘love bites’ you left on her neck back at the hotel spoke pretty clearly. You’re just lucky Case didn’t see them.”

Hawke was caught off guard. It wasn’t that he was planning on keeping his intentions secret, but he certainly didn’t like Austin confronting him and trying to force the issue.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he grumbled, stood and walked a short distance away.

He knew what he should do. It was the only correct thing to do. Go to Case, tell him everything and marry her. The thought of marriage, he realized, didn’t bother him the way he thought it would.

“Humph,” he grunted, imagining being married to Kara. Smiling, he realized it would never be boring, either in or out of the bedroom. Visions of her in his bed, her hair a silken cape around her golden skin heated his blood again. Thoughts of her naked in his arms, giving so freely and passionately of herself left him hardening with need. He could not imagine finding so intense a release with any other woman. She had insinuated herself into his very being, into his heart. He wanted to marry her, not because it was the expected thing to do, but because he wanted her. His first brief taste of her, her passion and heat, were not enough. He felt deep in his gut he would never have enough. It was more than just a sexual attraction. He enjoyed her independent spirit, the way her mind worked and that she wouldn’t back down from an argument just because he was a man. The thought of her with him forever felt right. He knew what he was feeling was more than desire, but was it love?

You are surely caught, laddie.

It amazed him how free he felt and how easy it was to make the leap. Turning back toward the camp he was eager to return to the ranch and claim Kara for his own. Tomorrow could not arrive soon enough.

Chapter 23

Kara walked by the corral on the way to the broodmare pastures. An animal’s squeal of outrage, the pounding of hooves, and the cheers of men caught her attention. They were breaking some of the young horses today and many of the men had stopped working to perch on the top rail and watch the broncobusters work. Stepping up on the lower fence rail and resting her forearms on the top, she looked to see what had the men so excited.

Though she never trained any of her own horses this way, she understood why the men broke the horses. The animals would be used in the remuda provided by the ranch. They needed tough animals that would work long hours. Many of the horses were more than half-wild when they were brought in from the range, nervous and unused to men. In order to train large numbers of them quickly, the cowboys would put the young animal in a round corral with a post in the middle. The horse would be roped and tied closely to the snubbing post so they could be saddled. Kara watched as a rawboned bay lurched and tugged at the restraint, tossing his head, kicking out whenever the cowboys approached. The cowboys allowed him to continue circling the post, wearing himself out, waiting until the exhausted animal came to a halt, sides heaving, white foamy sweat covering his brown coat and his muzzle almost in the dirt.

Kara saw Jeb Black. A shiver of unease ran through her. She couldn’t shake the aversion she felt when he looked at her. At the moment he was completely focused on the horse in front of him, so she could watch him unobserved. Slowly he approached the animal, all the while watching the wild rolling eyes and the spread leg stance, waiting for the horse to lunge again. He moved closer, a rope halter in one hand, the other lightly gliding over the taut rope, all the while talking softly.

Cautiously, he touched the sweat-covered neck of the horse, watching for any change signaling the horse was going to lunge. Again with slow small movements he slowly stroked the horse’s head with one hand while slipping the halter over its head. The feel of the rope across its nose and behind its ears startled the animal and he began to lunge and buck. Black backed away, but never let go of the rope attached to the halter. Jerking on it caused the horse to stop momentarily. Black wound the lead rope around the snubbing post, approached the horse and slipped the rope from its neck.

Kara was impressed with his calmness and his ability to work with the young animal. He seemed very different from the man who had accosted her in the barn. Another man approached the horse with a saddle. He quickly threw it on the back of the panicky animal and pulled the girth tight. The horse arched his back like a cat and began hopping trying to get the scary thing off its back. One of the other men took Black’s place at the horse’s head, holding the halter and gripping one of its ears. Black nimbly leapt into the saddle, took the rope attached to the halter, and nodded his head for the men to let go.

Though she had seen it done all her life, Kara was still amazed at the ability of the riders to stay on as the horse careened around the circular pen, bucking, hopping, twisting, anything to get the unfamiliar weight off its back. Black gripped the saddle with his legs, one arm holding the rope and the other held up in the air as a counterbalance. Despite all the wild moves, from rearing straight up on its hind legs to bucking so high he almost flipped, the horse was unable to unseat its rider. After many hair-raising minutes, the horse quit bucking and began running around the pen. This is what Black was waiting for. The horse was tired enough now to begin learning the commands from its new master.