Trail of Kisses (23 page)

He was right. Lynne dried off the last of the
dishes with a towel that had seen better days and stowed them in
the box they traveled in.

“
I’ll be glad when we reach our
destination,” she said.

She must have sounded too wary. Cade stepped
closer, leaning against the side of the wagon with his arms
crossed, and said, “Do they make you nervous?”

Indignation flared alongside the truth of
things. “They do not,” she lied with vigor. “Nothing makes me
nervous.”

Cade’s grin was enough to set her skin
tingling. “Except me.”

She arched a brow and pushed past him to the
back of the wagon to sort out bedding. “You don’t make me nervous,
Cade Lawson, you just make me wary.”

He followed her, stopping far too close to her
once more. “I never intended to make you nervous. I want to make
you feel safe.”

“
I don’t need—”

Another shriek went up from the wagon where
Mr. Evans was scolding both the farmer and the miner. Lynne jumped
and turned to look. This time the farmer’s wife was in a tizzy
because Mr. Evans had taken the farmer’s gun away. The farmer and
his wife were both arguing now, while the miner sat back and
watched, laughing uproariously.

“
No one’s going to get much sleep
tonight,” Lynne sighed.

“
Which brings me to another
thing,” Cade said. “You’re sleeping under the wagon with me again
tonight.”

“
I am not!” Lynne protested, even
as her knees went soft with the idea of lying curled up in Cade’s
arms, his rich scent and warmth all around her. Those weren’t the
things she truly longed for, though, or the things she
feared.

Cade’s expression turned stern. “There’s too
much upset in the camp tonight, what with the miners and everyone
else being on edge. I don’t like the feel of it.”

“
Well, neither do I,” Lynne said,
hoisting herself into the back of the wagon to inch away from
him.

“
The best solution is to stay out
of sight and out of the way.”

“
And out of trouble?” she said,
implying that they would do anything but stay out of trouble under
the wagon.

“
I don’t like the feel in the air
tonight.”

Lynne paused in the middle of fishing her
bedding out of its corner and peeked back at Cade. He looked as
serious as could be, which made her heart tremble.

“
What’s wrong with the air?” She
made light of it.

“
Anything could happen
tonight.”

“
Which is precisely why we
shouldn’t put ourselves in any sort of position of
temptation.”

Her comment was almost enough to get him
smiling again as she scooted to the edge of the wagon and hopped
down with her bed things. “Under normal circumstances, I would like
the sound of that,” he said.

“
I’m sure you would.” She gave him
a passing sidelong glance as she walked around the side of the
wagon and dropped her bedding beside the campfire.

Cade caught on to what she was doing and
followed her with a frown. “What’s all this?”

She squatted and began smoothing the thin
quilted pad that served as a mattress and her blanket on top of it.
“I’m sleeping out under the stars tonight,” she told him with a
smile.

Cade let out a long breath. From the corner of
her eye, she saw him wipe a hand across his face. “You’re not
sleeping out in the open.”

“
Yes, I am,” she told
him.

“
Why?” he asked.

She shrugged. “It’s a beautiful night. I want
to.”

“
It’s too dangerous.”

“
Is it? You just said that the
entire camp is worked up tonight. Everyone is on the
alert.”

“
That’s exactly the
problem.”

“
Or exactly the solution.” She
stood and marched back to the wagon to fetch her pillow. “If
everyone is on the alert, they will see or hear anything untoward
that goes on. But if we’re out in the open where anyone who wants
to can see that nothing unseemly is happening, then our reputations
will remain intact and anyone who wishes me or you ill will be seen
and thwarted. And I can be on the lookout for anything those miners
might try.”

She punctuated her speech with a smile for
Cade, who stood, dumbfounded, beside the campfire.

“
I’m not sure if that’s the
stupidest line of logic I’ve heard all day or the smartest,” he
said.

“
Well, it’s not the stupidest,”
Lynne said, bringing her pillow back to the campfire. “I believe
that honor goes to Mr. Evans.”

Sure enough, the farmer and his wife were
still grumbling up a storm several wagons down while the miner
chuckled and snorted.

Cade let out a breath and spread his hands
wide. “Fine. You can sleep out under the stars if you want to. And
I’m going to sleep ten feet away from you.”

“
Do what you have to do,” she
said.

Cade started. “Really? It’s that
easy?”

“
Of course it is.” Lynne smiled
feeling more sure of herself than she had in days. “Just so long as
you understand that the ten feet in question will be occupied by
the wagon.”

“
What?”

“
It wouldn’t be proper for us to
sleep side by side,” she explained. “Not when I’m supposed to be
behaving myself for Mr. Evans’s sake.”

“
I don’t think Pete
meant—”

“
So I’ll just sleep on this side
of the wagon and you can sleep on the other. All proprieties will
be observed and you’ll still be just a few feet away from
me.”

She had to admit, her logic was exactly the
sort of thing that would drive Cade to distraction, whether it was
a good idea or not. He shook his head at her, jaw working as though
trying to come up with some kind of argument. She ignored him and
dropped her pillow at the head of her bedroll.

Instead of lying down and getting comfortable,
though, she took a look around. The campfire was on the inside of
the circle of wagons. A dozen and more other campfires burned
nearby and men and women both were still up and roaming even though
the sun was going down.

“
On second thought,” she said,
bending to scoop her things, “you can sleep on this side of the
wagon next to the fire and I’m going to sleep on the other side
where there’s a little more peace.”

She hugged her pillow and bedroll tight and
walked back to the wagon, giving Cade a victorious smile as she
did. He followed her, eyes as tired as she’d seen them in weeks.
Was he still not sleeping? The only way she could fight the stab of
guilt at teasing him was by reminding herself that he would do the
same to her if given half a chance.

He didn’t say anything until she was on the
far side of the wagon, spreading her bedroll and making herself
comfortable. The sun had dipped below the horizon and a veil of
stars glittered across the sky.

“
Nothing I say is going to make
you change your mind, is it?” he said.

“
No. Nothing.” She snuggled into
her bedroll, certain she would have sweet dreams after her
victory.

Cade continued to stand there, rubbing his
neck and tugging at his hair. He was probably pulling it out for
all the trouble she was giving him.

“
All right,” he said at last,
weary and defeated. “But make no mistake about it, I’m spreading my
bedroll out immediately on the other side of the wagon. And keep in
mind, that wagon is high enough off the ground that I could skittle
underneath it to reach you if the wind so much as blows too
strong.”

In spite of herself, in spite of all her
attempts at pride and one-upmanship, the statement sent a warm glow
through Lynne’s chest and a shiver that swirled around her
core.

“
No doubt you could,” she replied
with exaggerated seriousness.

As she turned her back on him and settled her
head against her pillow, she smiled. She listened to his footsteps
as they stomped around the back of the wagon, returning to the
campfire, then counted his every movement as he sat against one of
the wagon wheels across from her. She listened to see if he would
lay out his own bedroll. Did he ever sleep? Probably not as much as
he should, not with the way he always looked so tired. But he would
keep watch, just feet away. He loved her.

Lynne couldn’t keep the smile off of her lips,
no matter how quivering the shadows in her heart tried to be. He
was the bane of her existence, but part of her was coming around to
the idea that her Uncle George had chosen well when he sent Cade to
bring her west. She settled on her side and pulled the thin blanket
of her bedroll up to her chin. It was a warm night, though, and
before long she pushed it back below her shoulders. The drone of
people talking, animals chewing and pawing the grass, the breeze
through the prairie grass… all of them were familiar sounds now
that helped her drift to the edges of sleep. And Cade was only feet
away.

She was nearly asleep, drifting on thoughts of
how sweet it would be to sleep in Cade’s arms again, when she felt
someone standing at her back. Half-asleep, she smiled at the
thought that Cade couldn’t keep his promise to stay on the other
side of the wagon. But as the presence behind her knelt, she could
hear his breathing. It wasn’t Cade.

She was slow to react, until a long, cold
length of sharp steel pressed against her neck. Then she
screamed.

Cade jolted from shallow sleep to full,
bristling wakefulness when he heard Lynne scream. There was no
mistaking the terror in her voice. He jumped to his feet and
scrambled for his gun, cursing when it wasn’t in his belt. He
didn’t remember moving it, but there was no time to
search.

“
Lynne!” he called, sprinting
around the back of the wagon.

Lynne sat up in her bedroll, clutching her
throat. “Cade!” she shouted when she saw him.

He flew to her, dropping to his knees and
laying a hand on the side of her face to comfort her and to see if
she was all right. His rage bubbled higher when he caught sight of
blood seeping through her fingers where she held her
throat.

“
No,” he said, praying she wasn’t
actually hurt. He couldn’t bear it if she was. “Let me
see.”

Shivering, weeping, Lynne moved her hand. The
light was dim on this side of the wagon, but Cade could see a long
line across her throat. Someone had tried to slit it.

He threw his arms around her, hugging her with
no intention of ever letting go, and stood, bringing her to her
feet. “Tell me what happened.”

“
I… I don’t know.” She trembled
against him. “I was almost asleep, dreaming of….” She swallowed and
took a breath. “I thought it was you behind me, but he had a
knife.”

Her voice faltered at the end, and Cade was
almost certain she would break into sobs. Instead, she took a few
more deep breaths and pulled herself to stand taller in his
arms.

“
I’m all right,” she
insisted.

“
You’re not.” Cade searched up and
down the outward curve of the circled wagons. He glanced off across
the prairie, but every way he looked, there was only grass and
darkness. “Who did this? Where is he?”

“
I didn’t see anyone,” Lynne
confessed. “I… by the time I screamed, whoever it was
ran.”

“
They can’t have gone
far.”

Cade walked her around the back of the wagon,
his arm tight around her shoulders.

“
What happened?” Ben came
stumbling down from the wagon’s front seat, shirt untucked and one
suspender dangling from his pants as if he’d just woken up. “I
heard a scream.”

Cade’s boiling anger got the better of him.
“What were you doing, boy? You should have been watching her! You
should have seen something.”

“
I… I was sleeping,” Ben defended
himself.

“
Cade,” Lynne scolded him
weakly.

“
What’s the fuss over here?” Pete
Evans came marching across the wagons toward them. He was in a
glowering temper, looking as though he would pick a fight. “I told
you people—” He stopped as soon as he saw the blood at Lynne’s
throat. “What happened?”

“
Lynne was attacked,” Cade said.
“Somebody tried to slit her throat. And we all know who it
was.”

“
Who?” Ben asked, voice cracking.
He went pale as he searched the shadows for ghosts.

“
Did you see which way he went?”
Pete asked Lynne.

She shook her head. A few of their neighbors
from nearby wagons were up and curious now, inching closer to see
what the excitement was.

“
I saw someone running out that
way,” the miner who had been stuck with the family in the wagon
next to them said. “Looked like an Injun.”

“
I didn’t see anything.” Their
neighbor’s wife shook her head, baffled.

“
I could have sworn I saw that
nasty miner, Kyle, lingering around here earlier,” another woman
from the wagon on their other side said. “Those miners are all
bloodthirsty savages.”