A Texan's Luck (27 page)

"Thank you for coming after me."

He didn't answer. She knew he fell asleep.

Cuddling against the saddle, Lacy let her hand move into his dark hair as she tried to relax. She liked the coarse feel of it. She knew he only thought of her safety when he insisted on going to the fort, -but he didn't understand that she needed her home. Her things around her. She'd never be one of those women who could live out of a trunk. If she'd had any other choice, she wouldn't have traveled west. It didn't matter that she had little and her furniture was mostly made out of crates. She had a place where

she belonged. Lacy realized how important that was to her.

And, she thought, in a very small way she had him also. After a few weeks he'd be gone, but she'd have his memory. People would ask about him. She could dream about him someday coming home as if he were a real husband. Even though he didn't know it, he made her life less lonely. He was a part of her world, though she'd never be a part of his.

An hour passed in the calm of the clearing. She knew she didn't have to be on guard. The only way someone would find them would be if they happened to stumble over them in the fog. The air thickened, and snow began to swirl. When Walker rolled to his side, Lacy scooted down so that the quilt covered her shoulders. He moved once more in his sleep, circling her with his arm, pulling her to him.

Lacy closed her eyes, pressed her nose against the warmth of his chest, and relaxed, letting the horror of the night slip away. Her body warmed next to his, and she listened to the beating of his heart.

An inch at a time she slipped her hand into the folds of his coat, seeing if she could feel his heart. Part of her wanted to make sure he had one, this man of duty and honor.

Sure enough, there it was, pounding slow and steady as he slept. She wanted to be closer to that heart and believe if only for a few days that it beat for her.

She let her hand rest there, as she dreamed of what might have been if he'd wanted her for a wife. She used to say she'd have so many children she'd have to number them, for there would be no time to think of names. But now she knew there would be no children. People lie in the same bed and get pregnant. Lacy knew how it happened. She'd even done it once, and a baby didn't come.

She was broken, she thought, just like her mother had been broken after she was born. Her grandmother told her once that her father had been angry that there would be no sons. She hadn't gone on to say more, but Lacy knew that he'd left because her mother could never have more babies, and his only child had been a girl.

Maybe it was for the best that Walker didn't want her for a wife. Since she couldn't have children, she wouldn't be much use to him.

Pulling back a few inches, she looked at him and let herself wonder for the first time in a long while what it would have been like to have a husband. A real husband.

She stretched, feeling his body along the length of her. She moved her hands to his hair and brushed it gently from his sleeping eyes. Very carefully, she leaned forward and touched his mouth with care. When he didn't move, she ran the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip, tasting him.

He shifted in sleep, and she found herself even closer. Slowly, so he wouldn't wake, she moved her cheek along his, feeling the whiskers tickle her skin. She pressed her nose into the collar of his coat and felt the strong pounding of pulse at his throat. Her hand spread across the wall of his chest as she unbuttoned his coat and warmed her face against his skin.

Without warning, he rolled atop her, pinning her to the ground. "What do you think you're doing, Lacy?" He didn't sound like he'd been asleep.

She didn't want to look at him, but there was no way to look away. "I was smelling you." She might as well confess to everything. "Tasting you, too, I'm afraid."

He appeared confused for a moment, then a slow smile spread across his face. "Were you touching my hair?"

"Yes," she admitted. "Strictly out of curiosity."

"Didn't I tell you not to ever do that while I'm asleep?"

"No. I told you." She blushed.

He lifted himself above her so that he could see her better. "So, let me get the rules straight, you can touch my hair, smell me, taste me, but I'm not to touch you."

"Well, yes, Captain. You can also get off of me now. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's not easy to stay asleep with you next to me." He rolled to his side but left his arm still draped over her. "And just out of curiosity, would you mind if I tasted you?"

She could hardly say no. Closing her eyes, she waited for the kiss.

But he didn't start with her lips. He unbuttoned the top few buttons of her coat as if opening a gift.

She lay very still as he did the same to the top of her dress, exposing her throat. Then as lightly as she'd touched him, he moved his cheek down her neck, stopping every few inches to open his mouth and taste.

Lacy shivered in pure delight. She'd never felt anything so amazing. The roughness of his jaw moving over her skin, the softness of his lips. A sigh escaped before she could stop it.

Walker raised his head. "Quiet please. I'm not finished." He undid another button. "Are you cold?" he whispered, brushing her ear with his words.

"No," she answered as his fingers pulled the material away so that he could touch the hollow of her neck.

Slowly, he inched up her throat until he reached her mouth. She'd expected his kiss to be soft, teasing, like those across her skin, but it came bold and hungry to her. He opened her mouth and kissed her as she'd never dreamed a kiss could be.

The cold, the fog, the hard ground, none of it mattered as he wrapped his arms around her. For the first few kisses he taught, then they learned together what the other liked. He'd lie perfectly still and let her kiss him, then she'd try to do the same. They kissed until they were both out of breath, then laughed and kissed again like teenagers.

Finally, she stretched beside him, thinking of what pleasure kissing could bring, when she looked up to see him watching her. Without a word, he spread his fingers beneath her coat and moved his hands along her body. His eyes never left hers as his hands crossed over the cotton of her dress, molding his fingers to her curves.

She knew she could have stopped him with a word, or even if she'd looked away, but she didn't. When he lowered his mouth to hers once more, she tasted passion in his kiss.

He gave her the kind of kisses she wanted as his hands stroked her gently, greedy for the feel of her.

Trooper stomped in the clearing several feet away, and Walker reluctantly pulled away and looked up. For a moment, he listened, then lowered his face beside hers and groaned in pure agony. "Lacy, we can't do this now. The fire's almost out. It will be dark soon. We'll freeze to death." Even as he said the words, his hands stroked her body as if not getting the message from his brain that it was time to stop.

Lacy wanted to say she didn't care. She'd never felt anything like this in her life. Her body boiled from the inside out. Her stomach hurt with a hunger she didn't understand. Her breasts ached, wanting to be touched. She wanted something she'd never had, never even known existed. Until now. She wanted the passionate man who'd lost himself in kissing her only a moment before.

But that man was disappearing, pulling himself under control, pulling them both into reality, and he hadn't even moved an inch away from her yet.

He kissed her forehead, then rolled to his feet. "We'd better go. I'll saddle the horse."

Lacy felt like she'd been tossed in cold water. She sat up and tried to straighten her hair, but she couldn't make herself stand. A moment ago she'd been floating on a cloud, and now all the problems came crashing down on her.

He stood above her and offered her his hand. When he pulled her to her feet, he held her tightly for a moment. She wasn't sure if he wanted to apologize for letting them go so far, or if he, like her, longed to return to what they'd been doing.

"Are you all right?" he whispered, and she thought she heard the need for her in his question. "I didn't go too fast?"

"Yes. I'm all right." She thought of screaming that he was going too slow as far as she was concerned, but she wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about.

"No regrets?"

She started to say that they hadn't done anything to regret, but she simply said, "No, Captain."

He laughed. "Lacy, when are you going to start calling me Walker?"

"When I know you better," she answered, thinking if they lay back down, that might have a chance of happening.

"All right, we'll work on your knowing me better later. Right now, I've a duty to get you to safety before we both freeze." He didn't say another word as she folded the quilt and he saddled the horse, but he held her tight against him as they rode toward the fort. Once in a while he'd move his chin against her hair, and she knew he remembered, just as she did.

She didn't want to talk. She needed time to think about what had happened. Lacy relived everything, tried to remember the way she'd felt, the way he'd tasted. The fact that the captain could react with such tenderness surprised her.

When they were within sight of the fort, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "When we get to the fort, I think we should check in as man and wife."

She nodded. That made sense. They were married. If they tried to be anything else, it would look strange, a woman traveling with a man not her husband. Lacy doubted the fort would even allow her to stay.

"Which means," he added, "that we'll get married quarters if they're available. We'll probably be sharing one room and have meals with the officers."

Lacy didn't see any problem. They'd been sharing three tiny rooms for almost two weeks.

He shifted as if he had more to say. She waited, knowing he'd eventually get whatever it was off his mind. "When we get to the fort, I'd like our stay there to be together. If you've no objection. I promise, Lacy, I'll take it slow and easy."

She knew what he asked. They would be sharing a room, maybe even a bed. At least that's what she thought he meant. She wasn't going to embarrass herself by asking and find out he'd only been explaining the workings of the fort to her. So she said the only thing she could think of. She said, "I've no objection."

They crossed into Fort Elliot without another word.

Lacy held tightly to Walker's lapel as he rode
past the guards at the gate. The fort reminded her of an old medieval castle looming out of the darkness, lording over the flat land around. Trooper danced through the entrance, as though sensing that their journey might be over.

Walker maneuvered the horse up to a long building with one end marked as headquarters. "We're home," he whispered. »

He dismounted slowly while the guards watched him. "I've traveled across half the forts along the frontier, but I've never visited this one."

Lacy wasn't sure he talked to calm Trooper, or her. The guards seemed poised and ready for trouble. They watched, sizing up both the rider and his mount. This was a place only a man like Walker would call home. To her it seemed colorless and stiff.

Walker looped the reins over the hitching post. "Fort Elliot holds the distinction of being the most northern post in

Texas." He patted the horse, his voice level and low. "I always wanted to see this place."

A sergeant, a few years younger than Walker, stepped out of the first door and walked along the wide porch. He smiled a welcome but didn't salute.

"How can I help you, mister?" the sergeant asked. "All civilians have to be off the grounds before the gates are closed at sundown, so I'll have to ask you to state your business and leave."

Walker lowered Lacy from the saddle before he faced the sergeant. "I'm Captain Walker Larson presently stationed at Fort Davis but on assignment at Cedar Point. I'd like to speak with the commanding officer."

"Did you say Captain Larson?" The younger man tilted his head as if having trouble hearing.

"I did." Walker shot the words. "And I'm waiting, Sergeant."

The man straightened. "Of course, sir. I'll tell the major you're here."

Walker stepped onto the porch. "Have someone see to my horse. Sergeant?"

"Yes, sir, and it's Hayes, sir."

The sergeant opened the door to the main office and moved aside while Walker led Lacy inside. He held a chair by the fire for her without taking his eyes off of Walker and then hurried to follow orders.

Once they were alone in the office, Lacy asked, "Do you ever say please?"

"No," Walker answered. "And you, madam, were a perfect army officer's wife."

"How's that?"

"Silent." He grinned, proud of his joke.

She started to argue, but she treaded on strange territory here. A fort was a place she knew nothing about, though she'd seen soldiers from time to time come to Cedar Point to meet a shipment sent by train. Once in a while they caused enough trouble in the saloon to have the sheriff mention something about having them sleep it off in jail for the night, but for the most part she remained ignorant of the army. Maybe she'd be wise to listen until she understood. For all she knew, the general, or whoever ran this place, might kick them out if she did something wrong.