Lorraine Heath (9 page)

“I would, but I got a pain brewing in my head.”

Jesse studied his brother. He hated the slight furrow between Charles’s brows that had recently taken on a permanence, a constant reminder of his discomfort. “You gonna be all right?”

Charles nodded slightly. “As long as I don’t do too much I should be fine. It just feels like a late summer squall. It’s when it starts turning into a storm that I have to worry. I’ll just sit here and watch the girls, but you should go play.”

“It’s not seemly.” Jesse pulled up the shorter weeds within his vicinity and tossed them aside.

Charles laughed. “Seemly?”

“It’s not seemly for me to be around your wife when she’s dressed like that.”

“What’s wrong with the way she’s dressed? I think it’s kinda cute.”

Jesse scowled. It was damn cute. That’s what was wrong with it.

“Ah, Jesse, you spent so much time being a big brother, even when I wasn’t around, that you never learned how to enjoy life. Father had no right to place that burden on your back, to make you promise to take care of me and Cassie.”

“He had every right. I was the oldest.”

“You were twelve years old. A child. He asked you to become a man.” Charles placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “So go back to being a boy for the day. Go play with them. Who’s going to see? We’re family. We ought to feel free to enjoy each other’s company.”

Jesse contemplated his decision, then gave in to his desires. He sat up. Tugging off his boots, he glanced over his shoulder at Charles. “Just remember it was your idea.”

He pulled off his socks and shoved them into his boots before pulling his shirt over his head.

He brought himself to his feet. Slowly, quietly, he crept toward the two people standing at the top of the incline. Aaron saw him, and his eyes widened. Jesse quickly held up a hand, then pressed his finger to his lips. Aaron nodded in understanding, then turned Maddie’s attention to an imaginary blue jay perched in a tree.

Hearing a twig snap, Maddie jerked around and found herself lifted off the ground, held firmly in Jesse’s arms. Before she could protest, Aaron rammed his shoulder into Jesse’s thigh. Jesse hollered as his legs slid out from beneath him. Gallantly twisting so his back hit the mud, he careened down the slope with Maddie angled across his chest. They hit the water. She flew off him and landed facedown in the creek.

She came up spluttering, tossing her wet hair out of her eyes. “You bleedin’ idiot!”

Struggling to stand, Jesse dropped down and stretched out against the cool mud, flinging his arms out, sending his laughter to the thick branches overhead.

Stunned, Maddie listened to the deep rich timbre of his voice and watched the way his chest rumbled.

He lifted his head and looked at her. “Lord, I love your accent when you’re angry.”

She could not have been more surprised if he’d told her he loved her. His generous mouth had formed a broad smile. His onyx eyes latched onto hers, holding her captive. Even with mud on the tip of his nose, he was devastatingly handsome.

He fought the cloying mud clinging to his body, stood, and waded out to her. “Are you all right?”

“No, I’m not all right. What in the world did you think you were doing?”

The smile slowly disappeared from his face, and he extended his hand. “Here, let me help you.”

“I can get up by myself.” With the mud squishing between her toes, she struggled to her feet. The mud sucked at her foot as she tried to lift it, and she tumbled back into the water.

He moved in behind her as quickly as the thick mud allowed and slipped his hands beneath her arms. Twisting, she shoved him. He lost his balance and fell into the water. She fought back her smile. “Not much fun being tossed into the water, is it?”

He flicked his wet hair off his brow. “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“What were you thinking?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know. Charles told me to play, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

He stood and extended his hand to her. She wrapped her hands around his, and he pulled her up. As they waded toward the shore, Aaron’s laughter echoed around them. Jesse tipped his head back to stare at the urchin sitting at the top of the bank, slapping his knees. “Aaron, what were you thinking, pushing me like that? You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Ain’t no sides, Uncle Jesse!”

“You’re gonna wish there were when I’m done with you!” Jesse started climbing the embankment. Aaron jumped to his feet, threw a hasty taunt out to the man coming after him, then hightailed it toward the trees as fast as his legs could carry him.

When Jesse finally caught up with Aaron and pulled him out of the tree, he took him fishing as punishment for the prank he’d pulled. While they fished, Maddie, Charles, and the girls sat beneath a nearby tree, laughing and eating the blackberries they’d gathered. As the late afternoon shadows blanketed the creek bank, they began the trek home.

Trudging along, the adults lost sight of Aaron as he ran ahead through the trees. The girls squealed. Pulling the wagon, Jesse glanced back to make sure they hadn’t fallen out. He wasn’t paying much attention to the ruts and rocks that made for a bumpy ride. Instead, he discreetly watched the woman walking along beside him. Charles walked on the other side of her, and Jesse couldn’t understand how his brother could walk beside her and not touch her. If she was his wife, he’d at least want to put his arm around her and feel her pressed against his side.

She’d slipped a skirt over the pants, leaving her mud-caked feet visible. Her hair dangled in a braid over her shoulder, but some strands had gained their freedom and hung in disarray around her face. If he had the right, he’d give all her hair its freedom for a brief moment before capturing it and imprisoning it in the palm of his hand.

A dark blue stain outlined one corner of her mouth. A tiny splatter of mud had dried on one ear, a larger splatter had claimed her cheek, a cheek the sun had caressed and burned, a cheek rounded with joy as a smile filled her face. She was lost in her youth, carefree, and happy.

Aaron came thrashing back through the trees. “We got company!”

Charles looked across Maddie’s head at Jesse. “We don’t have a stagecoach scheduled to stop today.”

“Lots of company! Hurry!” Aaron yelled before darting back through the trees.

Everyone increased their pace, which left Maddie gasping for air once they made their way to the backyard, and the inn was in sight. At least two dozen adults and a host of children were gathered in the yard. Jesse released his hold on the wagon as Hannah and Taylor scrambled out.

“Well, the newly married couple have finally returned!” McGuire yelled as the townsfolk surrounded them.

Jesse caught the surprise and confusion on Charles’s face, but it was the fear in Maddie’s eyes as people pulled her away that caused him to shove people aside to get to her. He wrapped his hand around her arm. “It’s all right, Maddie. They’re just here to make you feel welcome.”

Then his hold on her slipped, and a group of women led her across the yard to the back porch. Jesse was hoisted precariously upon shoulders and carted across the yard as though he was a sack of grain. Amid the confusion, he was unceremoniously dumped at Maddie’s feet. Momentarily disoriented, he struggled to stand and placed his hand on the small of Maddie’s back, hoping to reassure her, knowing any words he could have offered would have been drowned out by the madness surrounding them.

“Go on, man!” McGuire prodded. “Kiss your wife. You can’t go off getting married in private and not paying a price for it.”

Jesse stared at McGuire as though the man had lost his mind. They thought Maddie was
his
wife? He tried to remember what he’d said in town to give them that impression and couldn’t remember a single thing he’d said to any of them. He’d introduced her.

He issued a silent curse. He’d introduced her as Mrs. Lawson, but he hadn’t bothered to explain it was Mrs. Charles Lawson. Looking across the sea of faces, he wondered why Charles hadn’t worked his way to the porch to claim his bride.

Panic struck him with the force of a stampeding bull when he saw Charles bend over and brace his arms on his knees. He stepped off the porch, his goal to get to Charles before he was staggering with the pain. His mission of mercy was halted, and he was shoved back beneath the eaves of the porch as the chorus of “Kiss her!” resounded around him. He was on the verge of explaining that Charles was in pain, and he needed to help him when Charles threw his head back and released his laughter.

Laughing! Charles was laughing because these people thought Maddie was married to him! Stunned, Jesse could do little more than feel the irritation swell deep within him. He narrowed his eyes. So Charles was enjoying this embarrassing misunderstanding, was he? Well, Jesse could enjoy it as well. And if Charles wanted something to laugh about, then by God, he’d give the man something to laugh about.

He turned to Maddie. The confusion and worry in her eyes almost stopped him, but when she reached out and clutched his shirt, he took her in his arms and lowered his mouth to hers.

It was a mistake.

He knew it the moment his lips lighted upon hers, and he felt her response: a slight fluttering like a butterfly touching its first petal.

Perhaps it was the surprise of his actions that caused her mouth to open slightly. He didn’t care. He settled his mouth more solidly against hers, taking advantage of the opportunity to slip his tongue inside her mouth and taste her fully. She tasted of blackberries and carried the scent of the creek mingled with the shadow of forget-me-nots.

Then the mistake intensified. For she responded not in the manner he’d expected, but in the way he’d dreamed, mating her tongue with his, imitating an ancient ritual with an innocent abandon. It was all he could do not to groan aloud.

He wanted to tell her to place her arms around his neck so he could feel her breasts pressed against his chest instead of her balled fists clutching his shirt. He wanted to tell her to breathe so he could feel her warm breath fan his face. He wanted to tell her she tasted better than sponge cake, but he knew once he lifted his lips from hers, he’d never again be allowed to touch them.

He cupped the back of her head with one strong hand and leaned her over dramatically in hopes when the kiss ended, when Charles claimed her, laughter would greet his audacity. But until that moment, he savored the kiss, drawing it out, plundering that to which he had no right.

He felt a hand grip his arm. Reluctantly, he lifted his mouth from hers. She stared at him, her eyes unblinking, her breathing labored. He shifted his gaze to Charles.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Charles demanded.

“Kissing your wife.”

“Wait a minute, man!” McGuire bellowed. “Thought she was married to you, Jesse.”

“No, she’s married to Charles.”

Murmurs echoed among the gathered neighbors.

“Then it shoulda been Charles what kissed her!” McGuire announced.

“And I appreciate all of you giving me the opportunity to officially welcome her into the family.”

Riotous, good-humored laughter surrounded them as he eased Maddie into Charles’s arms. “Maybe next time you’ll claim her a bit quicker.”

Charles felt Maddie tremble. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before drawing her closer and glancing at his neighbors. “If you’ll excuse us for a few moments, we’d like to make ourselves presentable. Then we’ll welcome you all into our house.”

He shot a harsh glance Jesse’s way before leading Maddie inside.

Peering discreetly through the bedroom window, Maddie watched the shadows lengthening as twilight drew near. Charles had taken the children down the hall to make them presentable, leaving her alone. She knew she should be washing the mud off her feet, brushing her hair, deciding which dress to wear, but she felt as though her ability to think, to function had been stolen away by Jesse’s kiss.

She pressed her fingers to her lips. They were a poor substitute for his mouth. His mouth had been as hot as a midsummer day. Yet for those few precious moments, cradled within his arms, she’d felt as though she was a dew-kissed rose, awakened in the cool dawn, little more than a tiny bud slowly unfolding. It had never crossed her mind to push him away or to stop him.

Only when his lips left hers did the truth taunt her. She did not belong in Jesse’s embrace. He was not hers to kiss or to hold. He was not the one to whom she should carry cups of coffee in the morning. He was not the one whose movements should remind her of poetry.

She reprimanded herself with a litany of vows tumbling through her mind. It must never happen again. She must never again forget she was married to Charles. She was his wife.

She heard a soft tapping on her door and walked across the room. Opening the door slightly, she peered out, and her heart thumped wildly within her breast as Jesse stood before her.

“I drew you a bath. It’s in the Princess room.” His voice was low, his manner subdued.

“You shouldn’t have kissed me like that … out there … in front of everyone. I’m married to Charles.”

“I know that. I thought I’d tease him. It didn’t work out the way I expected.”

“Those people—”

“Think it was a practical joke.”

“But it wasn’t.”

Jesse allowed his gaze to drift to her lips, still swollen from his kiss. He shoved his hands into his pockets to stop himself from drawing her back into his arms. “No, it wasn’t. But only you and I know that. And it won’t happen again.”

“But Charles—”

“I’ll make sure he understands it was all my doing. Now you’d best get across the hall. We’ve got people waiting.”

Tearing his gaze from hers, he walked down the hallway. Quietly, he stepped into the girls’ room and took a moment to watch Charles pull Taylor’s coveralls off. Then he took a deep breath, hoping to mask the raw emotions rumbling around within his chest. “I drew a bath for Maddie. Why don’t you dip the girls in the water?”

Spinning around, Charles advanced on his brother. “What the hell did you think you were doing out there?”