Wishes on the Wind (35 page)

    "You're meaning Sean again. Aye, that's the crux of the conflict between us, isn't it!" Anger flared again in her eyes as Meg attempted to break free of David's crushing grip. "Let me be, David! Give up to it! It's not meant to be between us."

    "It is, Meg, if you'll just"

    "But I won't, David! And if I was willing to give up who and what I am, I'd not be the person you see here and say you love, don't you see?" Tears bright in her eyes, Meg held his gaze for long moments before continuing in a softer voice. "But if it'll make your pain any less to know I suffer, too, I'll admit it. I've not been at ease with my feelings these past three weeks. I've missed the closeness we shared, and it pained me to think you'd soon be leaving with this discord between us. And it hurts me to see what you did to Johnny, for it was of no use at all. Didn't you know he could never take your place in my heart?"

    At Meg's unexpected words, David's heart began pounding. He had no response as she continued. "Johnny's a friend, but there's not the bond between us that you and I share. There could never be. Didn't you know that all along?"

    David swallowed tightly, the ache inside him swelling. "How could I know that, Meg? Have you ever said there's more than friendship between us?"

    "If you must hear the words, I'll say them, then. Aye, there's more between us than friendship. More than there should be, for you've touched a spot deep inside me that won't let go."

    "I can't let go of it, either, Meg." Seeing the fight had gone out of her, David drew Meg closer, his gaze holding hers. "And if my love for you is selfish in your eyes, I suppose there's nothing I can do but try to change the image you see. I'll need time to work on it, Meg. You know I'm not good at compromise."

    "Aye, I know that well."

    The desolation in Meg's response dissolved the last vestige of David's pride.

    "Meg… Meg…" His lips touched her brow, her temple, her cheek. He brushed her mouth with his whisper. "Don't you know I'll do anything to make things right between us again? The only thing I can't do is change things back the way they were. It's too late, Meg. My friendship has changed to love."

    Meg frowned with her whispered response. "I don't know anything about the kind of love between a man and a woman, David. I wouldn't be good at it."

    "Yes, you would. Love comes naturally to you. But even if it didn't, I can teach you. And you can teach me the things I don't know like how to compromise, and how to see beyond the surface for the truth. You can teach me how to change."

    Meg remained silent and David felt a nudge of panic. "Let me kiss you, Meg."

    Meg averted her eyes and shook her head. "I'm no good at kissing. I don't know how."

    The well of tenderness inside David, from which only Meg could drink, expanded as he urged her softly. "We have so much to learn from each other, Meg. Shouldn't we start now?"

    Silence.

    "Meg, look at me." The resounding clamor of his heart overwhelmed the crashing booms of thunder and the hammering of rain on the roof over their heads as Meg raised her face to his. "Nothing will ever be right for either of us unless we set our feelings right. You know that, don't you? Put your arms around my neck, Meg."

    Suffering a silent agony in the few moments before Meg slid her hands up to his shoulders, David barely restrained a gasp of pleasure as her arms encircled his neck. Intent on the pink trembling lips so close to his, David closed the distance between with a soft, "I love you, Meg."

    Joy erupted inside David at the first taste of her his dear, loving Meg. She felt so right in his arms, her lips so sweet, even as her inexperience prompted his grating whisper.

    "Open your mouth for me, Meg." Meg's lips parted under his and David indulged himself, drawing from her deeply. The fragrance of her skin was perfume that sent his mind reeling, the warmth of her innocent response a sweet torment of his aching need as he clutched her closer still.

    
Oh, Meg… Meg
… A loving litany of her name resounded in his mind. He wanted to show Meg how much he loved her. He wanted to prove to her that he could give her more than she had ever dreamed. He needed to make her see that it was meant to be this way between them from the first. He wanted

    The echo of his own thoughts snapped David back to reality with sudden clarity.

    
He
wanted…
He
needed…

    But
Meg
wanted to be sure he wasn't the man others thought him to be, the man she could never love.
Meg
wanted to understand the feelings just coming to life inside her.
Meg
needed to know he meant everything he said before she allowed her feelings full rein.

    Realizing that to lose Meg's confidence now would be to lose her forever, David forced himself to relinquish her. Trembling, his control precarious, David maintained the short distance between them that cost so dearly, aware of the true sacrifice of love for the first time as he whispered, "If the rain doesn't stop soon, we'll have to take our chances getting wet, because…"

    Her eyes great shining mirrors of emotion, her breathing as clipped as his own, Meg responded simply, "Aye."

    Loving her more at that moment than ever before, David curved his arm around Meg's shoulders and drew her toward the door, where they watched the rain and lingered.

Chapter 14

    "By the staff of St. Patrick, I'll get the bastards for this!"

    Trembling with rage, Lenny Dunne turned sharply, knocking his shovel to the floor of the shaft with a savage kick. Glancing around him, he saw his angry display had gone unnoticed by the miners working a few yards away, and he raised his cap to run a grimy hand through his hair. Replacing it squarely on his head, he addressed Sean in a harsh whisper.

    "Ye realize if what ye've said is true, if Lang is cuttin' the crews of each shift back by ten men, there'll be a weepin' and a wailin' in the patch with them that'll go hungry because of it!"

    "Aye, I know, all right."

    His blood boiling, Sean nodded, swinging his pick at a block of slate in an attempt to disguise the intense conversation progressing between him and his friend. He knew very well what it would be like in the patch when the day was done tomorrow and each shift went to collect its wage, only to have some discover that their livelihood was being snatched from them.

    And without cause, too.

    Cursing the confusion in his tickets which had caused him to leave the shaft temporarily and go to the office to straighten it out, Sean remembered the conversation he overheard as he had approached the door. As fate would have it, the clerk in the outside office had stepped away, and he was certain he'd not forget the sound of Mr. Martin Lang's voice in the next room as he spoke to Captain Linden of the Coal and Iron Police.

    "No, Captain, I have a better idea than that. I agree that we must get the troublemakers out of the shafts, or put some fear into them at least, but it'll only cause more trouble if we go down the list you've compiled and lay them off as you suggest. We'd hit the Molly Maguires hard by firing some of the more obvious of their number down there, but we'd only be touching the tip of the    iceberg, leaving the rest of them whom we haven't identified to raise havoc with retribution."

    "So what will you do, sir?" Captain Linden's rough, gravelly voice had hesitated before continuing. "The sooner we get those fellows out, the better."

    "You know which ones have done the most inciting below?"

    "That I do."

    "Put marks by those names, and I'll have Whittmore make another list of the least productive men on each shift. We'll make a general announcement that we're cutting back because of production problems and we'll fire five Mollies and five of our worst producers from each shift."

    There was a brief hesitation before Captain Linden spoke with obvious reservations. "That means you'll be firing fifteen innocent men, Mr. Lang."

    "Maybe so, but we'll have them wondering if we're really on to them, or if the Mollies that were fired just had bad luck with the draw. In any case, any Mollies that are left will do some heavy thinking before they incite openly again."

    "And what of the fifteen innocent men who are to be fired?"

    "They're not my primary concern, Captain! They'll be on the list because they aren't working as hard as the others, so I won't be losing much. I can replace them with efficient laborers whenever I want."

    Captain Linden started speaking again at that point, but at the sound of the clerk's returning step, Sean was forced to hide behind a partition to wait until a more appropriate moment to show himself. His stomach had been in knots ever since.

    He had returned below, his mind reeling with anger. He hadn't given much thought to those whom Linden suspected of being Mollies, for the men on that list knew the dangers when they embraced the organization, but the fate of the innocent men tore at him. They'd be men like his Da, working hard to support their families with the odds against them all the way.

    "They'll be puttin' the slips in the pay envelopes tomorrow, ye say?"

    Lenny's harsh whisper interrupted Sean's dark thoughts, jerking his eyes back to his friend's flushed face. "Aye, tomorrow."

    Picking up his shovel, Lenny gave a low laugh. "So that makes us a day up on the filthy swine, don't it? Well, I'll take the information to the right people, Sean, me boyo, and we'll see what we can work up in response." Hesitating a moment, the lamp's    flickering glow reflecting in his narrowed eyes with an almost demonic gleam, Lenny added, "And while I'm about it, I'll put in a good word for ye, Sean. Ye've a keen mind and a stout heart, and ye've a dedication to takin' back the honor the bastards have stolen from the good Irishmen in these fields any way ye can. It's plain to see that yer age is no detriment, there. And since I'm thinkin' me name will be amongst those who'll be on that list tomorrow, I'm also thinkin' we'll be able to do with another good man down here. So spend the night thinkin' about where ye want to go and where ye think ye'll be in the next few years, and if yer thoughts put you in the same mind with them of us who count themselves amongst Molly's sons, let me know. Is it agreed?"

    The sudden pounding of his heart forced a flush to Sean's face with his short nod. His abrupt rush of color appeared to be all the response Lenny needed to see, as his short laugh sounded once more.

    "So, it seems the bad luck of some might make good luck for others, don't it, me boyo? Well, I'll be askin' for yer response as soon as the layoff starts." Looking up at the sound of a step behind them, Lenny gave a short sniff. "And here comes that weasel, Gregg. Show him the strength of yer back or the damned informer will be reportin' ye. We'll not want that, 'cause we'll be needin' ye down here when all's said and done."

    Looking up, Sean saw the informer positioned himself nearby, and he turned to spit his contempt onto the ground. Aye, he'd show them all the strength of his back down here, and when the time came, he'd show them much more. Then Lang and all them like him would know they couldn't hold good Irishmen down forever.

    The afternoon sun filtered through the partially denuded branches but Meg was unconscious of its warmth as David held her in a passionate embrace. Two weeks had passed since that day in the hunter's cabin. David had arrived home without the realization of the staff a short time earlier and unexpectedly snatched her from her work in the yard of the Lang manor. He had drawn her out of sight behind the trees and into his arms, and he had not released her since.

    David's mouth moved against her closed eyelids, her brow, trailed her cheek. A tremor of emotion shook Meg and his hand tightened in her hair, as he ground his mouth into hers.

    Lost in the wonder of the emotions he aroused within her, Meg     closed her eyes, allowing the wild colors careening in her mind to assume control. She had not known it could be like this in David's arms, that he could transport them to a place where only they abided and the world was held at bay. She had not realized that she would come alive as never before when his mouth touched hers, that his hungry caresses could stir a hunger in her as well, and that she could ache inside with the need to give him the succor he sought.

    Her lips separating under his, Meg allowed David access to her mouth, and the violent shudder that wracked him resounded deep within her. He was devouring her, swallowing her slenderness in his arms, attempting to absorb her as a physical part of him, and she melded to him, torn by the mutual need building inside them and the instinctive knowledge that she gave him anguish with joy, and torment in her loving response.

    Tearing his mouth from hers with a rasping oath, David trailed biting kisses against her jaw and throat. A passionate nip stung her neck, but Meg's soft protest was lost in another wild swell of emotion as he kissed the wounded spot with new fervor. David's sweeping caresses slid to her rib cage to capture a small breast and cup it warmly through the stiff material of her uniform, and the ache inside Meg grew. But there was no sense of violation in his touch as he fondled her lovingly. It felt right and good, even as a confusing, pleasured torment beset her.