Train From Marietta (18 page)

“Oh! I see it.” Kate could hardly hold back the low cry when she finally saw the cat facing them. It was larger than she’d thought it would be. She could see its yellow eyes gleaming. Then, with its gaze never leaving them, it let out another piercing scream.

“I’ve got it in my sights.” Tate stepped in front of her, the rifle raised to his shoulder. “He’ll either spring when he’s directly opposite of us or he’ll go on.”

The large, slick cat moved with effortless grace along the rocky ledge, then froze in immobility with its head jutting forward. Its long sweeping tail hung close to its powerful hind quarters. Another piercing howl exploded from his huge mouth the instant before the wildcat’s body arched and stretched, its front paws reaching out for another ledge. To Kate, it was like a dream played out in slow motion. The only move she made was to wrap her arm around Tate’s waist and cringe against his back. She was only vaguely aware when he turned and put his arms around her. He still held his rifle cocked and ready.

“Oh blessed God.” The words came from her stiff, dry throat. “I’ve never seen anything like that. He was so close.”

“He’s gone now. I’m glad I didn’t have to shoot him.” Tate’s arms dropped from around her, and he moved to the other end of the overhang.

Kate’s limbs returned to life, and she stumbled after him.

He turned as she approached, and she immediately fell into his arms. He could feel her heartbeat as they stared at each other. He held her with his eyes as firmly as he held her with his arms. A blush tinged her cheeks, but her wide blue eyes never wavered.

“I’m sorry,” she said miserably, trying to hold the frayed ends of her nerves together so she wouldn’t cry. She didn’t know what else to say, and for the space of a dozen heartbeats, they regarded each other in utter silence.

“I think we’ve both learned something the last few days,” he said with less than his customary reserve.

Kate dropped her eyes. “I know I have. I’ve realized that life is fragile and that there aren’t many men in the world like you, Tate.”

“Why do you say that?” he said.

“Because you don’t even know me. I’m not even sure you like me, yet you’re risking your life for me. I don’t know any other man who would do that.” She dropped her eyes to her scratched and bleeding hands.

He reached out and took them in his own, turning her hands palms-up and rubbing his finger over a long, bloody scratch. His hands, used to the rough work on a Texas ranch, felt coarse against her tender skin. “This has been hard on you. I’ve got a pair of leather gloves in my saddlebag. They’ll be too big, but they’ll be better than nothing.”

“What I need is a bath,” she said, watching his finger slide over her palm. Her eyes flew to his, and a surge of hot blood flooded her face.

“That’s beyond my power to give you,” he said with a laughing glint in his eyes. His smile broadened when a new wave of color tinged her cheeks. “Not that I would look away if I saw you bathing in a stream.”

“Tate Castle!” Kate expected to feel mortified but was surprised that she was only mildly embarrassed.

His amusement at her self-consciousness was something that he didn’t try to hide. His easy smile disarmed any anger she felt.

“I should be mad at you for saying that!” A faint, tingling thrill passed through her and made a fleeting path across her face. Her laugh was free and warm. “But how can I be, when you’ve saved my life?”

“In some parts of the world, when you save a life, that person belongs to you, body and soul.” The serious words caught her off guard.

“Is that so?” She was almost incapable of coherent speech or thought, conscious only that her hands were still clasped in his and that he was looking down at her with half-closed eyes.

“Do you know what that means?” he asked.

“That you own me?”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that.”

“But you saved my life,” she protested huskily.

“Not yet,” he said.

She pulled her hands from his and turned away, only to turn back with a glowing smile on her face.

“You did. Twice. Once from Squirrelly and then when you got me out of the cabin and away from Hayden.”

His smile answered the radiance on her face. As he feasted his eyes on her, he realized that this was no coy miss who used flirtatious guile on men. She was a woman with all the feminine instincts, but open and natural with her feelings. He had seen many beautiful women, but none who had the inner glow of this one. After his experience with his wife, he didn’t want to like this woman from the city, but he did.

“Katherine, Katherine.” He laughed. It wasn’t a chuckle, but a real laugh. “That suits you much better than ‘Kate. ’”

She laughed with him, scarcely aware of anything but the tall, slim man smiling down at her. Her eyes slid over his relaxed features, his smiling eyes, and his tall, loose frame. Her heart began to pound with a new rhythm as they hungrily eyed each other.

“A bath is a luxury we can’t afford right now.” He rubbed his fingers over the stubble on his chin. “I’d like to shave, but that’s got to wait too.” His slow smile drew little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. The look on her face altered, leaving it creased with a worried frown.

“Oh, Tate! I don’t want you or Luke to be hurt because of me.”

His eyes searched her distressed face. She was full of pain. A sense of helplessness threatened to destroy his determination to keep a distance between them. He stared gravely at her for a long moment and let his hard-held breath out like a sigh. He looked beyond her and said, “Here’s the kid.”

Luke carried the food sack and the water bag. “We eat. Rain is near.” Even as he spoke, huge drops of rain began pelting down. Tate nudged Kate farther back under the overhang where he had laid out the bedroll. He motioned for her to sit down on it and then went to the front of the overhang to look at the pouring rain.

“Hayden will be holed up somewhere,” he said to Luke. “I don’t think we need to worry about him for a while.”

Kate watched Tate bend and listen attentively to what Luke was saying, then glance over his shoulder to where she was sitting. Never in a million years would she have believed that she could be attracted to a cowboy. Tate Castle was a most unusual man and one who was beginning to have a firm grip on her heart.

Chapter 16

T
HE STORM GREW IN ITS INTENSITY;
the rain fell in sheets, lightning flashed down from dark clouds, and thunder rolled. At one loud thunderclap followed by forked lightning, Kate jumped to her feet. Tate stepped back to shield her from the splatters of raindrops. Kate had never seen such a display. It was both thrilling and scary. Without being aware of it, she clutched Tate’s arm.

“Don’t be scared. This is a pretty ordinary storm for this part of the country.”

Another dazzling bolt of lightning flared, followed by a clap of thunder that sounded as if the very sky above was being ripped from end to end. The air was filled with a sul-furous stench. Their horse whinnied. Tate and Luke moved as far back as they could go under the overhang and sank down onto the ground, their backs to the storm. Tate pulled Kate down between his outstretched legs and then pulled a blanket up and around them, until only their heads could be seen. Luke produced a blanket of his own and rolled up in it. A flash of lightning revealed low, massive thunder-heads above the mesa’s black rim.

“Are you afraid, Katherine?” Tate’s lips were close to her ear.

A quiver of pure pleasure went through her as he spoke her name. She had never felt so wildly happy in her life. It wasn’t for fear of the storm that she trembled.

“No. I’m not afraid.” She turned her head and whispered against his cheek. “Tate?” She could feel his breath on her face and smelled the faint scent of tobacco. “Would you think I was crazy if I said I think the storm is exciting?”

“Is that why you’re trembling?” His voice was a soft purr in her ear, and she felt the vibrations when he chuckled. Being so close to him set her heart thundering, and little shivers ran down her back.

“You know it isn’t.” She laughed softly and brought her hand out from under the blanket to push the hair back from her eyes.

The arm around her tightened, and she snuggled contentedly against him.

“Then what is it?” The voice in her ear was lazily teasing, but beneath it was a hint of gentle possessiveness. She couldn’t stop the happy laughter that brimmed up in her throat. It was all so new, this wonderful intimacy: being free to tease him and touch him. She caught his hands with hers and held them. She was alive, soaring, her entire existence focused on him and exulting at being held close in his arms. She filled her lungs with the scent of him.

Oh blessed storm! Please go on forever!

Wrapped in her own special enchantment, Kate was scarcely aware of anything except the man who turned his back to the storm and put his arms around her, sheltering her. Rain was sliding off the overhang in a solid sheet. She reached around Tate to make sure his back was covered.

“Are you getting wet?”

“Not much.” Tate was silent after the whispered words. He wanted to tell her that she was nothing like he first thought she was. It was hard for him to believe that he was here with her like this and that she was worried that his back was wet. This woman was certainly not like his ex-wife. She did not belong here in his arms, pressed closely to his chest. She should be living the life that she had been pursuing up until the time she’d gotten on the train from Marietta. This realization brought a sudden feeling of discontent to his heart.

“Are you cold?” he asked.

Kate shook her head. She wasn’t conscious of the cold or the hard ground or her cramped position. She was aware only of the man with the quiet face, seeking eyes, and tight arms. She didn’t feel the cool of the rain, but instead the pull of his whiskers on her hair and his breath on her face. Was that his heart or hers thumping so determinedly between them? She closed her eyes, suffused with joy and wonderment, experiencing a strange peace. He held her gently but securely, holding the storm at bay with his wiry body. She wanted to record, in her memory, this wonderful feeling so she could bring it out and relive it again and again during the bleak days ahead without him. She thought longingly of spending every day of her life with him, making a home for him, having him with her during the long, lonely nighttime hours.

Kate was jarred from her trance when she felt Tate’s hand slide down her arm, his fingers tightening around her hand. He held it gently but firmly, and his rough fingers began to move up and down her arm, in a light caress. Kate thought her heart would stop beating. A lump rose in her throat, too large for her to swallow. She turned her face to his shoulder.

“Shhh …” She hardly heard the sound that was murmured in her ear, but she definitely felt the lips that lingered there. It was a moment she would remember forever.

Almost as suddenly as it had come, the rain ceased. The dark clouds rolled on as if chased by their enemy, the sun. It was as though nature was showing off for the group beneath the overhang. Even as they stood and stretched, blue sky appeared, and then a rainbow, vivid and magnificent, arched the sky.

Kate stood on weakened legs, keeping her eyes averted from Tate, but knowing that now there was something between them that hadn’t been there before. She felt almost giddy with happiness. He had touched her, held her, but then, she cautioned herself, he was only protecting her from the storm. A little of the joy left her when she remembered that he was doing his duty and keeping his promise to his friend to get her back safely.

“Nice, soft woman. Too bad storm has passed.” Luke was grinning as he folded his blanket.

“Why do you say that?” Tate asked, and wished that he had not voiced the question because Luke would not let an opening like that pass.

“Why I say that? You a man, she a woman.”

Kate looked from one to the other, her cheeks red with embarrassment. Wasn’t there anything this boy didn’t talk about openly?

Tate stepped outside the overhang to look around. He wasn’t absolutely sure that the storm was over. He studied the terrain on either side of them for as far as he could see. There was a chance that Hayden might be down the trail, waiting for them. But there was an even greater chance that he would soon trap them if they stayed under the overhang. The very silence worried him; there wasn’t even a birdsong to be heard. All of which meant to Tate that something or someone was near.

“Get the horse, Luke. Be careful. It’s too quiet.”

Kate took hold of Tate’s arm and looked inquiringly into his face.

“As soon as a storm is over, the birds come out. I don’t hear them. Stay here while I look around.”

Without argument, Kate stepped as far back under the overhang as she could go, leaned against the wall, and watched Tate move into the surrounding brush. Soon Luke returned, leading the horse. He brought him in under the overhang and wiped him off with a blanket. Then he put the Mexican’s saddle back on him. Luke looked at Kate slyly. She wondered if there was something else that he wanted to say to her, but she was reluctant to question him. Finally, after finishing his work with the horse, he came to stand a few feet from her.

“Tate been long without a woman.”

“Why are you telling me this?” He had surprised her with his bluntness.

“He need Indian girl to help him. He not need another useless woman.”

“Does he have an Indian girl?”

“My sister would marry him. Even be second wife.”

“Second wife?”

“Tate man enough for two wives.”

“Is it customary out here for a man to have two wives?”

“If first wife can’t skin rabbit.”

“But it’s against the law,” Kate protested.

“What law?”

“God’s law.”

“God have no law here. He up there.” Luke jerked his thumb toward the sky. Kate failed to see the sly grin on his face.

“What’re you up to, Luke?” Tate’s voice came from behind her.

“Silly woman think you no need two wives.”

“I don’t need one wife” —Tate frowned—“much less two.”