Denver (18 page)

“I don’t think he does. He likes the law practice, he’s happy with Catalina and his family.”

“How soon can we go? I’ll write to them.”

“As soon as you like,” he said softly, drawing his hand along her shoulder. “We can leave Friday.”

“I’ll see Luke’s best friend Ta-ne-haddle and Lottie again. It’s impossible to think of them settling into a house.”

“Not half as odd as Ta-ne-haddle becoming a rancher.”

“Lottie probably rides with him.”

“Lottie is chasing their children. How’s it feel to have a little one named for you?”

“Very nice. If Hattie comes home with us, I’m going to write and tell Javier.”

“You and Luke both should stay out of it. Let her make up her own mind.”

“I won’t beg her to return. I just want her to know that I’ve forgiven him. It doesn’t accomplish a thing to make him suffer now. Aaron will be excited about going. He thinks his uncles are the most wonderful men in the world. Next to you, I think the man he loves the most is his Uncle Luke.”

“For a stern man, Luke is good with children.

“Noah, that brings up something else.” She ran her pale fingers along his tan arm. “I didn’t have any family when I was growing up. I want Aaron to have brothers and sisters.”

Noah’s eyes darkened as he looked into hers. “You want another baby?”

“Don’t you?”

He pulled her to him to kiss her, giving her his answer in his embrace, while April wrapped her arms around his neck, temporarily forgetting her family’s problems.

Three weeks later they arrived in San Antonio, coming in along the wide green river, passing the missions that were almost two centuries old now. April could ride into town without painful memories. When she thought of the boy she had first loved, Emilio Piedra, it seemed so distant, something that had involved two children who were in love. She turned to touch Noah, thankful for him, adoring him. He kept her happy and he was a wonderful father to Aaron. And she prayed they would have another baby. She wanted children, lots of babies. Noah glanced down at her, draping his arm around her shoulders. The wagon slowed and halted, and he climbed down, swinging her to the ground as the relatives poured out of the house to greet them.

April marveled at how unchanged Hattie stayed, looking very much as she always had. Her yellow hair was now sprinkled with gray, but her skin was unlined, tanned from San Antonio’s warm sun.

April hugged Catalina and Luke. Ta-ne-haddle and Lottie had also ridden to town and Ta-ne-haddle scooped April up in a tight hug. Next she turned to Lottie, who wore her black hair in one long braid. Her skin was dark as teak as she squeezed April and held April’s namesake on her hip. The child gazed up with black eyes so different from April’s wide blue ones, and April had to hold her.

After quick perfunctory hugs, Luke’s boys wanted Aaron to go with them to look at a cave they had dug. They ran across the field, Dawn’s black hair flying in the breeze. Knox and Jeff were growing tall, promising to be as tall as their father, and Aaron struggled to keep up with the older children.

It wasn’t until almost suppertime, when Luke stood up and said he would go find the children, that April saw a chance to talk with him alone. She stood up
quickly, excusing herself. “I’ll join you, in case Aaron wants to argue,” she said, smiling because she knew her gentle son wouldn’t argue with his Uncle Luke.

As they left the house, Luke draped his arm across her shoulders. “Noah’s good for you.”

“I adore him, Luke. I can’t imagine life without him.”

“We’re lucky, April. I worry about Dan, though. I hope his past is buried forever.”

“You need Catalina just as I need Noah. Luke,” she said, moving in front of him to stop him, “I want to take Hattie home with me.”

“You want her to go back to Javier,” Luke said quietly.

“Yes, I do. I know you can’t forgive him, but I can. I couldn’t live without Noah.”

“Noah wouldn’t do to you what Javier did to Hattie. He hurt us all.”

“He regrets it.”

“The hell he does. He regrets losing Hattie. What would you do if Noah took Aaron from you and abandoned him? Answer me!”

“I can’t answer a question like that.”

“Yes, you can. You couldn’t forgive him.”

“I don’t have to answer that. This isn’t Noah and Aaron and me. It’s Hattie. I forgive Javier. We can’t undo the old hurts, but why keep Hattie and Javier apart now? He loves her deeply. Do you honestly think she’s happier here than she would be with Javier?”

“Of course I do. I’m not keeping her chained here. She can go home anytime she wants.”

“You know you stir up her anger with him.”

“No, I don’t April. Probably I did when we were first reunited with them and when she came home with us, but I don’t now. It’s their problem, not mine. I know that.”

“Then let me ask her to come home with me.”

“Sure, April. Go ahead and ask, but how you can forgive him, I’ll never know.”

“He’s Dan’s father, and Dan loves him. This hurts
Dan. It hurts Hattie. The children are growing up without knowing their grandfather.”

“I can’t forgive him to that extent. If she goes back to him—”

“You let Knox, Jeff, and Emilio visit Hattie. Don’t separate them from their grandfather.”

He patted her shoulder. “You’re good, April. A lot more loving than I can be.”

She kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Luke.”

“And don’t get your hopes up,” he added. “She won’t read his letters or answer them.”

“When are you and Catalina coming to visit?”

He laughed. “I don’t know. We stay so damned busy. We talk about getting away, but then something always comes up. Hold your ears, I’ll whistle for the boys.” He whistled, a long sharp whistle that was answered in minutes by two short whistles.

“They’re coming. We can go back.”

“Is there still talk you’ll run for governor?”

“Sometimes, but it isn’t serious. I won’t do that. I don’t want to. Catalina doesn’t want the public life. And because of Dan, I don’t think I should.”

“I think he’s doing well in Denver.”

“I think so too. I’d like to come visit you, leave Catalina and the family there, and go on to Denver and see for myself how he’s doing, but I wouldn’t want to jeopardize the life he’s established.”

“You wouldn’t. He has a new name and a new identity.”

“It’s safer if I don’t.” They heard footsteps and turned around to see the children running toward them across an open field behind the house.

“How they’ve grown!”

“If I can talk Catalina into it, I want to send Knox east to school in a few years. I want him to have a good education. He has the mind for it.”

“I couldn’t bear to give up Aaron.”

“I haven’t talked Catalina into it yet. Aaron isn’t as old as Emilio. I’ll miss him too. He’s my companion. Emilio is the cowman. He spends half his time at the ranch with Ta-ne-haddle.”

“What about Dawn?” April asked, watching her run with the boys. “She’s beautiful, Luke.”

“She rides like Ta-ne-haddle, just like she was born on a horse’s back. It’s good to have you here, April. San Antonio has grown. I’ll have to show you around, let you see some of the changes.”

“Right now Aaron is too young to remember, but someday I want him to see the missions.”

“There’ll be time for that. All he’s interested in now is trailing around behind the boys. If we had Dan here, everything would be complete. Do you ever hear from Melissa Hatfield?”

“Occasionally. She has three children and she never mentions Dan. I hope he finds someone to love as much as he loved Melissa.”

“He will.”

“You make it sound as if women are abundantly available.”

“What’s this about abundantly available women?” Catalina asked, stepping down to meet them, her gaze on Luke, a smile playing on the corners of her mouth.

“I said beautiful women are abundantly available. Look how many there are at my house!” Luke drawled.

“Abundant is one thing, Mr. Wordy Lawyer.
Available
is something else.”

He laughed softly and hugged her against him, his features softening. Once again, April thought how lucky they had been.

On Saturday night, excitement rippled through Dan as he approached the Shumacher house. He leaned forward to gaze out the window of his new, elegantly carved, full-plated carriage with gracefully scrolled irons and English steel springs. He had hired a driver, Grizzly Jones, one of Dulcie’s men, who kept peace at her house when necessary. Dan had never known if the name Grizzly came from the man’s thick brown hair and beard or from his large size; he had carefully given instructions to Grizzly about what he wanted him to do. Usually as Dan drove through the new section of Denver, he noticed the houses, and studied their details, but tonight his mind wasn’t on the imposing two-story or its dormer windows or shingled roof. Instead Louisa filled his thoughts, and his anticipation was rampant. It was the first opportunity he had had to escort her to a party. Stella, the Shumachers’ maid, opened the door and ushered Dan into the front parlor, where Charles Shumacher waited. In minutes Hortense Shumacher joined them, and finally Louisa appeared in the doorway.

Dan felt as if the temperature jumped as he gazed at her. She was a vision to fill dreams, her black hair shining in the soft light, her cheeks pink. Her dress of blue gingham was cut in the latest fashion, clinging to her high, full breasts and her tiny waist. He longed to be alone with her, but as it was, all he could do was smile politely and greet her conventionally.

“Good evening, Miss Shumacher. You’ll be the
most beautiful woman at the dance, without question.” He turned to shake hands with Charles Shumacher. “Sir, we’ll go now and see you and Mrs. Shumacher at the dance.” He turned to smile at Hortense Shumacher, who gazed back with a cool, level look, and he knew there was still one Shumacher whose approval he needed to win.

He followed Louisa into the hall, where Stella held their coats. Dan took Louisa’s and held it, letting his hand brush across her nape, catching a whiff of a sweet scent of rosewater. In the carriage he pulled a lap robe over their knees, scooting close beside her and draping his arm around her shoulders.

“Cold?”

“A little,” she said, gazing up at him intently and allowing him to pull her closer.

“I’ve been waiting for this evening.”

“I might as well warn you, Reuben may cause trouble. He’s green that I’m going with another man tonight.”

“Reuben has full claim on you?”

“No! And it’s time he realized it.”

Dan didn’t care at all about Reuben Knelville. He touched Louisa’s collar, letting his hand slide to her throat. Her skin was silken. “You smell like roses.”

“I heard you and Reuben had an altercation last week,” she said with a sly note of pleasure in her voice.

“It was nothing. Cyrus stopped us.” He leaned down to kiss her throat, sliding his hand beneath the heavy coat to slip his arm around her waist.

“Mr. Castle!” she whispered, yet Dan thought it was a perfunctory protest. She didn’t resist or pull away.

“It’s Dan. Call me Dan, Louisa.”

“That’s much…too forward,” she said, her words slowing as he kissed her ear, his hand caressing her nape. His blood drummed in his veins because she wasn’t stopping him. She liked his kisses and he was thankful beyond measure he had instructed Grizzly to take a long route to the dance. And he was careful to
avoid touching her hair, knowing she wouldn’t want a hair out of place. He kissed her throat and she turned her head, looking at him with a smoldering gaze. “You shouldn’t…I shouldn’t let you.”

“You like it, Louisa,” he whispered gruffly. “Say my name.”

“Dan,” she said, closing her eyes.

He let his hand slip around, moving higher, feeling the soft thrust of her breast. His thumb slipped over her full breast across her taut nipple. She gasped, but she didn’t push his hand away, and he continued to caress her, his manhood throbbing. He wanted to crush her against him, to push away the heavy coat and kiss her.

“Someday you’ll be mine, Louisa. I’m going to kiss you all over.”

“You shouldn’t say such things to me,” she whispered.

“Yes, I should, because you like it when I do. You like this, don’t you?” he persisted, fondling her breasts.

She moaned softly, and he felt on fire. It was the first time since Melissa Hatfield that he had wanted a woman so desperately, refusing to face the fact that this one might be unattainable to him. He kissed her throat, then moved his lips to the corner of her mouth to touch her mouth with the tip of his tongue.

She moaned again and leaned away. Her breathing was rapid, her gaze lethargic. “You must stop. I can’t go to the dance looking as if you tumbled me in the carriage.”

He gazed down solemnly. “You won’t look as if I had, because I’m being very careful. I’m not doing what I really want to do. I want to take down your hair and kiss you until you’re on fire.”

Her eyes closed as he talked, and he bent his head, nudging open her coat to kiss her breast, knowing she would feel his hot breath through the thin material of her dress and chemise. “I want to do this when you’re bare in my arms.”

“Dan,” she said, and moved away with obvious reluctance.
“You’re a bold man. I don’t want to arrive in your arms.”

He gazed at her with amusement as she straightened her clothes, which weren’t even slightly awry. She smoothed them with her hand, and suddenly Dan realized she was teasing him as she slid her hands beneath her breasts, watching him with narrowed eyes. Her cheeks turned pink as she gazed at him, because his desire was plainly evident.

He leaned forward, his hand brushing across her nipples. “You’re as aroused as I am, Louisa,” he said softly. He sat back, looking at her with a mocking smile. She leaned toward him, her eyes half-closed, expecting more caresses. She looked up, and blushed, scooting away and drawing her coat closed over her dress.

“You’re a rascal, Dan Castle! You’re much too bold.”

He laughed, knowing she wasn’t really protesting at all. The carriage slowed, and he turned, raising the leather flap to gaze out as they halted in front of the lighted barn. Dan climbed out and turned to swing Louisa down, holding her waist and pausing to smile at her. “Ready?”