Cowboy of Mine (11 page)

Jake rushed into Meredith’s mind, suddenly invading every thought, as if he were there in the room with her, touching her, telling her again, “Oh, Meredith, ye’re so beautiful.”

It was the most lovely lie Meredith had ever heard, but with Erva repeating it what could Meredith think? How could anyone see past her faults and see her as someone beautiful?

However, what might be more important was to take the gift for what it was, not trying to analyze it to death, but to accept a striking, humble, brave man who thought she was pretty. Could he possibly be here for her
glimpse
?

Chapter 7

N
early
sick with worry, twisted in a million knots because he needed to see Meredith so badly, Jake stormed into her well-lit cabin, bursting with laughter from Chen and Laura. And there she was, wee sad fae, his Meredith with a tiny smile on her face, silently giggling over Chen playing with the two black kittens.

Jake hadn’t been able to get away from the Finnish and Slavic negations all day. Apparently, they’d had the one day to think upon things, then decided to kill each other all over again for having a bad Christmas. From what Jake could glean, the Christmas had begun well, except the Lutheran pastor had arrived late, when the Catholic priest had already begun mass. The pastor and priest had easily enough agreed to share, but the peoples hadn’t. A Slavic man had insulted the Finnish Sinterklaas, then a Finnish man had tried to attack a Slavic man who already had a hatchet. Lord.

Jake had had to scrub his hands over his face on numerous occasions, fatigued to his bones by the silliness of their arguments. About Christmas, for Christ’s sake. He tried to understand. After all, they were arguing about traditions. That he understood, as he would fight tooth and nail against anyone who might argue about his family’s concealed traditions carried on in a barn. Aye, the kirk had been mighty devout then, claiming Yuletide was blasphemous and such. But his family had mainly snuck into the barn to hide away from his angry da. Jake, his four brothers, and his ma would gather around a small Yule log, whilst his oldest, half brother, Duncan, would tell tales of Odin coming to visit during the Twelfth Night.

That happened to be the chief reason why Jake would never call the man with the light blue eyes Odin. As a lad, he’d loved the tales Duncan had created about Odin, who, whilst they’d slept, would give each of them rich fruit bread and wooden swords to play with. When they’d burned the
Cailleach
—a carved stick, usually resembling an old woman—until there were only ashes, Jake would wish for Odin to become his father.

Everything that had happened today reminded Jake of his own past, his own traditions. By the time he stomped through Meredith’s door, it was already dark, thanks to the dreary winter sun setting so early. And Jake was starving, nostalgic, lonely, frustrated, annoyed, and needing to hold his woman close, make sure she was safe. He stood, taking in the scene, after accidentally slamming the door. Lord, he wanted to touch Meredith. Needed to feel her against him again, as if she were the whisky he craved after the day he’d had.

Oh, to touch her.

Laura’s chuckles stilled as she looked up at him. Instantly, she arched her brows. “Rough day, Sheriff?”

He didn’t want to talk about it and glanced at Meredith. She was watching him, the way she did. Quiet, assessing, violet eyes met his. Those gigantic orbs warmed, then her cheeks turned a lovely hue of pink. That almost had him fall to his knees. He knew she was thinking of him, thinking of him making love to her. And he couldn’t help but do the same, remembering her little body under his, the way she’d moved, the noises she’d made.

He groin tightened uncomfortably, so he had to look away, place his large bag down by the door.

“Going to move it?” Laura asked, her dark eyes glittering with mischief, and she noticeably peeked at Meredith, her brows arching once more.

Jake unfastened his army supply canvas bag, unloading a shotgun and rifle.

Laura groaned. “Oh, here I was thinking something romantic was going on, and the man brings Fort Knox’s armament.”

Jake straightened. “Anything happen?”

Chen stood. “There were tracks when Mrs. Casper and I first arrived—”

“A friend of mine came by for a visit,” Meredith said quickly, her hands reaching out as if she needed to convince him.

He grew suspicious immediately. Never being lucky in love, he worried he’d made the same mistake he’d made before: falling too quickly, thinking there was something there when there wasn’t. Being a man of his time, he’d always thought that when a man and a woman were attracted to each other with such lighting bolt reactions that meant something special. It meant love. It meant a kirk, vows, and bairns soon enough. When he’d thought he’d fallen in love before, to the sweet lass from the Yamasee village, he’d had his heart broken. It had shredded his pride something fierce too. And he’d just done the same thing with Meredith.

Hell, he didn’t know her. But he wanted her. Wanted her so bad he ached.

He loved her wee sad face, loved the way she clung to him...

Jesus, he needed to think, which he was never good at when concerning women.

Chen nodded. “Saw Miss Peabody’s friend in the distance. Real fine looking lady.”

Something in Jake’s chest settled and calmed from the news. But his bubble had burst. The reality was he’d spent all day fantasizing about a woman he barely knew. Spent all day woolgathering when the miners had been arguing over which saint was truly responsible for Christmas. Don’t that beat all? Jake had nearly gone out of his mind from wanting to yell at them how people were dead or missing; how being alive for another celebration should be enough to bring peace to this town. But that wasn’t reality, which was men picking each other apart because they could. It didn’t matter the reasons. They loved picking each other apart, it seemed.

Suddenly, Jake felt too tired to stand.

“What did you say your friend’s name was, Meredith?” Laura asked, interrupting Jake’s maudlin thoughts.

Meredith watched him as he took a seat on her large wooden trunk close to her blue pantry, feeling so weary, although he suddenly worried about his boots marking her wooden floor.

“Minerva Ferguson, Erva. She just married, so I guess Erva Ferguson-Hill, er, Erva Hill? I’m not too sure of her new name.” She smiled and glanced at Laura. “She’s married now. Isn’t that amazing?”

Laura grinned back then notably glanced at Jake. “I do love a love story. Is it a good love story, her marriage?”

Meredith’s smile slid off. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk about it. But I figure it should be. I’ll call her—call on her sometime and ask more about it, maybe.”

Then there was a long moment of silence. Jake felt he should stand and did so awkwardly.

Chen walked a little closer to him. “No one else approached Miss Peabody’s cabin, Sheriff. How did my father do without me and Mrs. Casper today?”

Oh, that had been another little piece of hell. Mr. Wan could cook the food for the miners, but getting the food to them before it turned cold was another reason to start bickering between the feuding colliers. Finally, a lad and lass—one Finnish, the other Slavic—volunteered to get the food out to the grumbling men.

“Not well,” Jake said.

Laura’s lips pinched. “Well, we’ll have to figure something out, because I’m not leaving Meredith alone until that man who was on her porch is caught.” She turned more toward Jake then. “Do you think it was one of the miners?”

“Hard to say.” Jake swallowed, looking down at his rough and scarred hands. “Could go through the men’s belongings and look for the bowler hat and duster Miss Peabody described the perpetrator had, but so far I haven’t seen it.”

Laura scrambled closer to Meredith. “The man on your porch had a bowler hat?”

Meredith nodded.

“Did you see that that Mr. Bruisner had a bowler hat?”

Meredith shook her head. “I hadn’t.”

“The man you slapped?”

Meredith looked down as if ashamed. “I remember what I did.”

“From what I heard, he needed a good slap. If you hadn’t’ve run him out of town, I would’ve.” Jake tried to reassure her, although God knew why, for he felt the rumblings of fear shudder through his body. He hadn’t realized it until that moment, but he’d wanted the instant marriage. He’d wanted the sudden commitment. He’d always wanted that, because that was what he thought love was. You made love, then had a lifetime to learn each other’s ways, those ways often changing as the years progressed, but a person, a good husband, as he wanted to be, would adapt. But he realized he craved Meredith for more than just a marriage. He’d been bone-crushingly lonely. And sad, he hated to admit.

Mayhap too he wanted to love so quickly because he’d seen so little from his parents. But he’d seen it in others. He’d seen what a good husband could be, and he’d wanted to be that to a lovely, fine woman, a woman like Meredith. He’d been so God damned pleased with himself and honored she’d bedded him, he hadn’t thought of much else. Lord, he was a constant fool.

He needed to stay focused now. Damn it. He needed to think of the man who had been on Meredith’s porch, threatening her safety.

“Ye said Mr. Bruisner was from the Butte Mining Company, eh?” he asked Laura.

She nodded and was about to talk when Jake beat her to it.

“Can ye telegram that company and see where Mr. Bruisner is? I’ll need to ask him a few questions.”

“Yes, I can. Wish I had thought of that earlier.”

Jake shrugged off what he thought was Laura trying to compliment him.

“Now that you’re here, Sheriff, I’ll go back to my father.” Chen straightened more, showing his height over Meredith, smiling down at her. He was going to be a tall man, and one who was obviously a wee bit infatuation with Meredith too. Jake didn’t blame him.

The little sad fae was hard not to stare at, to wait until she said one word, anything, from those heart-shaped lips.

“What about tomorrow? What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Laura asked.

Meredith shook her head, her little brown brows furrowed. But Jake, again, spoke faster than anyone else.

“Meet here? Same thing as today?”

“But you said Mr. Wan had a hard time with service today.” Meredith continued to shake her head.

“Until Dorothy Eskola and Alexandr Dusek stepped in. Then things ran smoothly.”

Laura hummed a sad note. “Dotty and Alex. Now there’s a love story if I ever saw one. Just like Romeo and Juliet, their fathers are so busy being mad they don’t see those two kids falling in love. It’s sweet. Oh, but it makes me worry about them and their papas.” She gazed at Meredith. “You were the one that brought them together, weren’t you? You taught them English and American history.”

Meredith nodded with a shy smile.

“It’s so damned sweet that they are from opposite sides of this idiotic miners’ feud,” Laura mused, “and you helped them to fall in love.”

Jake had noticed Dotty and Alex staring starry eyed at each other. They were both probably about seven and ten. Alex already worked in the mine, but he’d done everything pretty Dorothy had asked him to do and always with a beaming smile. Lord, their love, or whatever one would call it, could be trouble for the steaming-hot miners.

Or it could make the idiots see past their bigotry.

That last thought, so hopeful, hurt when he thought it. Did anyone ever see past their prejudice? Did love ever happen so easy?

From personal experience, Jake knew love didn’t conquer all. But something in him hadn’t been beaten enough into submission to make him think otherwise. And while looking at Meredith, he wished he wasn’t such an idealist. He wished he hadn’t spent the whole day dreaming of her body and then fantasizing of their future. She was so damned quiet. And he suddenly hated that.

“Meet here tomorrow morning?” Jake asked again, his voice noticeably rougher and sounding at a loss of patience.

Laura nodded. “Sounds good. That’s decided then.” She smiled up at Jake. “So I’ll leave you to watch over our girl, Sheriff. I hope you get enough sleep.” Her smile turned impish, especially so as she glanced at Meredith who seemed to avoid meeting his eyes. Her cheeks though had bloomed a lovely golden pink. Again.

If he weren’t so confused about his sentiments, he’d have kissed Meredith’s face, right over the warm, pink spots. He’d then kiss her eyelids, feeling her glossy dark long lashes tickle his lips. Then he’d kiss that adorable slightly upturned nose of hers.

Jesus, he needed to stay focused on what was right ahead of him. And stop fantasizing.

Laura and Chen waved their goodbyes, but Jake escorted them to the barn, helped Chen saddle their horses. They waved again as they rode away, and Jake wasn’t too sure if he could walk the distance back to Meredith where she stood on her porch, wrapped in that black and pink plaid of hers. He hurt when he looked at her—his heart beating too damned fast, his body tightening. Didn’t know what it was about her to make him want her so much. But he did.

Nay, he kenned. He loved the sadness in her face and wanted to remove it. It was such an odd dichotomy, because that sadness he knew, knew it well. It was a mix of loneliness and fear of people. It was deep shame. It was how Jake felt much of the time, but she wore it on her bonny face. Or perhaps he was wishing too much for Meredith to be what he was: alone.

When he finally summoned the Herculean strength to walk to Meredith, not race to her and squeeze her as hard as he wanted to, he thought back to Laura saying something about Meredith thinking she wasn’t from this time. He hadn’t asked her about...time. Well, how did one broach such a subject?

Hello, Meredith, just wondering if you’re about two hundred years old like me?

Aye, that would go over well.