Jodi Thomas
Authors: In a Heartbeat
Titles by Jodi Thomas
Just Down the Road
The Comforts of Home
Somewhere Along the Way
Welcome to Harmony
Rewriting Monday
Twisted Creek
***
Wild Texas Rose
Texas Blue
The Lone Texan
Tall, Dark, and Texan
Texas Princess
Texas Rain
The Texan’s Reward
A Texan’s Luck
When a Texan Gambles
The Texan’s Wager
To Wed in Texas
To Kiss a Texan
The Tender Texan
Prairie Song
The Texan and the Lady
To Tame a Texan’s Heart
Forever in Texas
Texas Love Song
Two Texas Hearts
The Texan’s Touch
Twilight in Texas
The Texan’s Dream
eSpecials
In a Heartbeat
A Husband for Holly
In a Heartbeat
Jodi Thomas
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
“In a Heartbeat” previously appeared in
Sweet Hearts
, published by Diamond Books, a division of The Berkley Publishing Group.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
IN A HEARTBEAT
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley eSpecial edition / July 2012
Copyright © 1993 by Jodi Koumalats.
Excerpt from
Wild Texas Rose
by Jodi Thomas copyright © 2012 by Jodi Koumalats.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ISBN: 978-1-101-56769-2
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Dear Reader,
I would like to wish you a Valentine’s Day full of love and laughter.
February fourteenth always reminds me of the first time I fell in love. I was seventeen and had one goal in life: to get a date before I got out of high school. The teacher lectured that Valentine’s Day in senior English about love and marriage. She asked a tall, thin boy in the row next to me when he planned to marry.
“I don’t,” Tommy told her. “I think it would interfere with my career. I want to go to college.”
I’d been trying to talk to Tommy all semester and saw this as my chance. I leaned over and said, “Bet you ten bucks you’re married by the ten-year reunion.”
We made the bet with everyone in class as witness.
Ten years later, he paid up. I’d married Tom when we were seniors in college. He was my first love and we’ve been happily married for twenty-two years. When I started writing about love, there could be no other pen name than Thomas.
Which leads me to my story.
Texas was a lonely place for the soldiers who fought along the frontier line, and Fort Griffin was no exception. My family and I stopped by the remains of the old fort one winter day in 1990. Longhorns now graze on the parade grounds and only a few bricks from each building still remain.
A park ranger was kind enough to show us every detail of the fort.
When he seemed reluctant for us to leave, I asked, “Are we your first visitors today?”
“Lady,” he answered, “you’re the first folks I’ve seen in almost two weeks.”
I decided that maybe the fort hadn’t changed so much after all. When I was thinking of the perfect place to set my Valentine story, this old fort came to mind. It would take a special kind of man to settle there and a special kind of woman to stay with him.
I hope you enjoy
In a Heartbeat
.
—Jodi Thomas
Chapter One
Colt Barnett stormed onto the loading dock of the train station, amazed at the position he’d found himself in. If there was one thing he’d learned in the years he’d been assigned to Texas, it was that he’d rather wrestle a locoweed-eatin’ longhorn than have any part of bringing a woman onto an army fort. But there’d been no time to wire Miss Joanna Whiddon to tell her not to come. He’d only gotten her letter the day she planned to arrive. He’d failed to mention in his ad that only male tutors need apply.
He could just picture the kind of woman who’d answer an ad to teach other people’s children. She was bound to be homelier than a polecat caught in a hailstorm and about as even-tempered. Why else would she be teaching and not raising children of her own?
“She must have had a terrible life to sign on out here where she’ll be lucky to keep her scalp through the winter,” Colt said to himself as he stomped his way along the platform.
After a few minutes of confusion from arriving and departing passengers, the throng cleared and Colt looked around at the few remaining people. Three women waited while a porter unloaded luggage. One was obviously a lady, tall, well dressed, and clutching a Bible in her hand like a missionary suddenly dropped off in the wilderness. Another woman, dressed in black, was probably someone’s recently widowed grandmother. The third fit Colt’s self-made description of what a tutor should be. Short, plain, thick wire glasses, hair in a bun and “never married” written all over her.
“Miss Whiddon?” He towered over the little woman who looked like she might run if he spoke too loud.
All three women turned to face him. Colt removed his hat and looked at the old maid before him. “Miss Whiddon, I’m Colt Barnett.”
The little woman lifted her eyebrows in confusion and shook her head slightly. She glanced from side to side as if debating darting around him.
“I’m Joanna Whiddon,” the tall lady said softly, stepping between Colt and the unlucky candidate he’d guessed as the tutor. She shifted her Bible to her left hand and extended her right. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Captain Barnett.”
She was the first woman Colt could remember who almost looked him straight in the eye without having to look up. She had a handsome face, but there was no smile on her lips or in her crystal-blue eyes.
Colt caught himself wiping his hand on the pant leg of his uniform before accepting the lady’s handshake. He knew he was supposed to say something, but words seemed to roll around at random in his mind without forming one line of thought. This woman wasn’t at all what he needed to help with his three half-wild children. She looked like she’d been pampered all her life, and if she wasn’t toting a gun in that Bible, she’d be wise not to move any farther west.
The lady turned slightly toward the older woman. “I’d like you to meet my aunt Etta.” Her voice softened as she said the older woman’s name.
Colt managed to raise one eyebrow, communicating volumes.
“She always travels with me, Captain Barnett,” the tutor continued as she made no secret of sizing him up. He had the feeling she saw every flaw in his Union uniform, from the slightly wrinkled yellow scarf marking him as an officer in the frontier campaign to his pants legs in need of a good pressing.
“You didn’t mention an aunt traveling with you.” Colt wished he could see a little fear or at least respect in her expression. He could deal with that more easily than with the challenge that seemed to be banked just behind the indigo depths of her eyes.
“I know I forgot to tell you about Aunt Etta in my letter.” She smiled as if her secret would somehow delight him. “I hope there’ll be no problem with room?”
Colt thought, Hell yes, there’s a problem with room. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the likes of you, much less an aunt! Instead he shook his head as if brushing away a slight obstacle. “I don’t think it will be a problem,” he lied as he turned to the aunt and raised his finger to touch the brim of his hat. “Ma’am.”
The older woman smiled as if she’d just walked into the middle of a play and suddenly discovered she was one of the actors. “Call me Aunt Etta. Everyone does.” She lifted a small box that looked as disheveled from the trip as she was. “I brought the children some valentine candy. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind, ma’am.” Colt couldn’t imagine himself ever calling her aunt anything, but he managed to nod respectfully. “In my ad for a tutor I assumed it would be a male, or a female who’d board my children at her home somewhere out of Indian country. Not a female coming here to Texas. The fort is not an easy place for a woman to live.”
“I understand.” Again he saw the challenge in her gaze. “Do you wish to terminate my employment?” Joanna asked.
Colt hesitated. He both admired and resented her directness. In a man he’d have expected it, but in a woman it was a little unsettling. “I suppose we could try it for a month.”
Joanna nodded once in agreement. “Today is January fifteenth. If either you or I are not satisfied, my aunt and I will be on a return train one month from today.”
“The day after Valentine’s Day,” Aunt Etta said more to herself than anyone around.
“February fifteenth,” Colt agreed. He could ask for no fairer proposal. Though unsure of how to deal with these women under his command, he figured he’d manage. “If you’ll show me your luggage, I’ll load for the fort right away. You’ll be riding with Sergeant Abe Buckles.” Colt would have liked to load them back on the train, but somehow the idea of having them stay didn’t seem as bad as having to face his three children alone. It had taken him three months to get one reply for help and he didn’t plan on waiting another three months for some other tutor to answer his ad.
“We have our luggage,” Joanna answered as she pointed at the two small carpetbags beside her.
Colt lifted the bags, suddenly very intrigued by these two women. He’d never known a lady to travel anywhere without a trunk. “This way.” He moved toward the line of wagons getting supplies for the fort from the train.
As they waited for the wagons to be loaded he studied this new tutor carefully. Joanna Whiddon wasn’t the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, but she fascinated him. She had hair the color of spring sunshine and eyes the cold blue of an ice storm in winter, which softened with laughter when she looked at her aunt. She was the kind of woman a man wanted to step out with on Sunday morning, not like most of the women he’d seen in the west, who looked like they’d been cozied up to once too often on Saturday night.
Before he knew what was happening, they were heading toward Fort Griffin. He tried not to think of her as he rode in front of his men, but he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He wondered if he’d ever see laughter in her gaze when she looked at him. When she saw the fort, he was much more likely to see fire.
* * *
The January wind was dry, blowing cold against Joanna’s face as the wagons crawled slowly west. Rolling brown land, broken only occasionally by a scattering of trees, spread across what seemed to be an endless horizon. For the first time since she’d left home, she wondered if she’d done the right thing. When her father had declared that she was to be married, she hadn’t had much time to contemplate her decision. But now, as she rode quietly on the wagon bench with her aunt and the stocky driver named Sergeant Buckles, Joanna admitted she may have been a bit hasty. This was not her safe hometown in Ohio, this was Texas, the legends and stories of which had always frightened her.
“I’m not a pioneer,” she whispered. “I’m only a coward.”
She wondered if the handsome Captain Barnett would understand. He looked at home in this country. Even though he was slightly unkempt, he was by far the most exciting man she’d ever seen. Not that she had much of a selection for comparison in her small town. She’d been looking over the heads of most of the boys by the time she’d half-finished school. In all her twenty-five years she could never remember seeing such a man.
Captain Barnett seemed as strong as this frontier. Wild and a little untamed. He was just the kind of man she’d imagined could thrive in this land. Just the kind who’d never understand someone running instead of fighting.
He’d send me back on the next train if he knew what I really am, she thought. Such a man could never understand that all she wanted to do was teach. Not settle a frontier. Not fight. Just teach.
“There’s the fort,” Sergeant Buckles shouted as though his passengers were hard of hearing. “Ain’t much, but it’s home.”
Joanna looked across the open country to a slight hill and tried to believe what she saw. This was less a fort than a scattering of shacks and tents. There were no parade grounds or high walls for protection.
“That’s Fort Griffin?”
“Ain’t much to look at yet”—Buckles smiled with the pride of a parent—“but she’ll be one of the finest along the frontier soon. Few months’ more work and she’ll start to take shape.”
Aunt Etta giggled. “Looks more like a target right now.”
Joanna put her hand over her aunt’s. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this.”
Etta pushed her away with a gentle pat. “No one dragged me into anything. I came because I wanted to. You think I’d stay another moment in your daddy’s house after what he tried to do to you.” She lifted her head. “I’ve got my pride, too.”
Joanna smiled. Pride was about all Aunt Etta had, but she wore it closer than kid gloves on a sunny day. The only unmarried child among twelve children, Etta had moved from home to home without ever having one of her own. Her sisters always pampered her as if she were slow-witted. Her brothers usually attributed Etta’s behavior to a loose grip on reality. But Etta had come through when Joanna needed her. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, child. Not anywhere else.”
“You might change your mind when the weather warms and the Indians start causing trouble.” Buckles laughed. “The fort ain’t no place for women, though we already got a few. We have enough to worry about trying to keep the settlers’ wives from gettin’ too scared.”
“I can handle myself, Sergeant Buckles.” Etta straightened proudly. “No one has to worry about me.”
Buckles’s laugh sounded more like a hiccup. “Sure thing, ma’am.” He pulled the wagon up to the row of small cabins. “This here’s the captain’s place.” He made no offer to help the women down. “Might want to handle yourself out of the wagon, Miss Etta.”
“I’ll do that, Mr. Buckles, and don’t be getting familiar using my Christian name until I give my permission.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Buckles answered as he removed his hat. He’d learned a long time ago always to give a woman respect when she demanded it. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”
Joanna laughed and backed off the bench. It wouldn’t take the sergeant long to learn that Etta had all bark and no bite to her ordering. Just as her foot touched ground, fingers closed around her waist.
“Welcome to Fort Griffin.” Colt’s voice was formal, but his hands were warm even through her wool traveling coat.
“Thank you,” she whispered as he held a hand up for Aunt Etta.
Before Joanna could ask any questions, the door to the cabin flew open and three children dove toward the Captain. They were barefoot and dressed in overalls much in need of mending. Their faces were a mixture of mud, freckles, and mischief.
Colt stumbled backward as he wrestled them in his arms. “Calm down!” he shouted, but there was no anger in his voice. “Settle down, I said. There’s someone I want you three heathens to meet.”
Joanna smiled as he tried to stop all three children from wiggling, but he only had two hands. As soon as he turned loose of one, another jumped into action. Finally, he had all three standing in front of him. None of them came up to his belt buckle, but they all had his dark hair and eyes.
“These,” Captain Barnett said proudly, “are my children. The twins, Drew and Terri, are five and Johnnie here is a year older.”
Joanna knelt down to their level. “Hello.” She extended her hand. “I’m very happy to meet you boys.”
“Boys!” Johnnie yelled. “We’re girls.”
Joanna looked up at the captain, who seemed to be made of stone. He was looking at her, but there was no expression in his eyes. He needed her much more than she’d thought. But until this moment she hadn’t realized how much.
