Read Trail of Kisses Online

Authors: Merry Farmer

Tags: #historical romance, #western, #western romance, #western historical romance, #pioneer, #oregon trail, #pioneer romance, #pioneer days, #pioneer and frontier

Trail of Kisses (8 page)

BOOK: Trail of Kisses
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Cade, stop this,” Lynne tried to
silence him.

He ignored her. “I need a few men to come with
us to Denver City to make sure none of those threats are carried
out.”


I see,” Sargent Waters said. He
looked Lynne up and down, trying and failing to hide an amused
grin.

Lynne’s cheeks flared with embarrassment.
“You’re wasting this gentleman’s time.”

At last Cade turned to her. “I’m trying to
keep you safe and get you to Denver City in one piece. Whoever is
trying to do you harm was clever enough to get inside of your wagon
and into your hope chest. What they did to your father’s picture
was just a warning and a show of what they can do. I won’t let that
happen.”


It’s fine. Really.” Lynne
insisted. She placed her hand on his forearm.

Cade glanced down at her fingers, color
seeping into his face.


Well, I’d help you if I could,”
Sargent Waters said. His grin was plain for all the world to see
now. “And a couple of years ago, the army would have had plenty of
men to spare for this
important mission
.”

Lynne was tempted to huff in indignation at
his tone. Cade glowered at him.


The problem is, since war broke
out back East, almost all of the soldiers who were guarding the
trail, keeping the Indians away, have rushed off to join the
cause.”


Who are you, then?” Lynne asked,
not caring how impudent she sounded.


Nebraska Territory volunteer
militia,” Sargent Waters answered. “Holding down the fort until the
war ends and the soldiers get back to real business.” He nodded to
underscore his answer. “But I’m afraid there aren’t enough of us to
spare escorting fair maidens across the prairie.”

He was laughing at her. Lynne wasn’t about to
stand around and accept that kind of behavior.


Come on, Cade. We have more
important things to do than waste this gentleman’s time with
frivolities and flights of fancy.” She turned to leave, tugging
Cade’s sleeve to prompt him to follow.

Cade did follow, but the second they were out
on the porch, he said, “I don’t know why you aren’t taking the
threats against you seriously.”

She forced herself to laugh, even though her
heart trembled. He had no idea how seriously she did take it. If
she gave one inch, showed the slightest weakness, even to herself,
her fear would destroy her and the Briscoe Boys would
win.


A little petty vandalism and
suddenly you’re trying to raise an army?” she said as glibly as she
could.


You need protection.”

He took hold of her arm as she tried to walk
away and spun her to face him. Their eyes met. Something in the
bright determination of Cade’s blue eyes sent a bolt of lightning
straight through her gut and lower. He cared about her. It may have
come off as bravado, but she could see in his eyes that he truly
cared. Of all things, it made her knees weak.

She cleared her throat and shifted a step back
to firm up her knees and to break away from him. She couldn’t let
Cade make her weak either.


If I agree not to argue the point
with you for the moment, will you let it go?”

He crossed his arms and stared at her with
narrowed eyes. “As long as letting it go involves me keeping a
close eye on you, day and night.”

She took a deep breath. “Suit yourself.” She
brushed her skirts and patted her hair. “I am going down to the
stream to take a bath.”

For a heartbeat he looked perplexed. Then he
burst into a broad smile. “You. Take a bath in a
stream?”

Even she had to admit that the idea was as
ridiculous as it sounded.


I haven’t bathed properly in more
than a week,” she explained with a long-suffering sigh. There’s a
stream not a mile from here, a tributary of the Platte. I heard
Mrs. Weingarten say that several people were planning to bathe in
it and wash clothes. She advised taking advantage of the stream
while we could.”


Fine,” Cade agreed.

At last! He agreed with her over something.
She smiled.


I’m coming with you,” he
added.

Lynne opened her mouth to protest. No sound
came out. Her pride rebelled, but a deeper part of her was grateful
he had offered to watch out for her. She pressed her lips together
and frowned. “You can come down to the stream with me, I’ll let you
do that much.”


Let me?” His eyes glittered with
mischief.


Yes.”


All right.” He shrugged and they
walked on.

The thought that she had won the argument,
even if it was a tiny argument, had Lynne smiling all the way back
to their wagon. She chatted about her thoughts on Callie’s wedding
and wondered aloud about how such things were done when there was
no preparation and no minister except for the odd Reverend Joseph
to perform the rights. Ben was lingering around the wagon, looking
like he had had another rough night with the miners in spite of
being told to stay away from them.


You should come down to the
stream with us for a swim,” Lynne said with a smile for him
too.


The stream?” Ben sat a little
straighter, his expression brighter.


Or you could stay here and make
sure no one else tampers with Miss Tremaine’s things,” Cade
suggested, all smiles himself, none of them soft.


Yessir.” Ben fell back into a
scowl, concentrating on the piece he was whittling.


That was rude,” Lynne told Cade
after she had gathered her things for a bath and started across the
dry field to the stream. “Ben is young, and young people need to
play now and then.”


Ben?” he balked. “He should be
doing the job he was hired to do, not getting mixed up with rough
sorts.”


Like you?” she said.

Cade laughed. The sound was warm as sunlight
and sent an odd trill through Lynne.


I’m not a rough sort at all,
believe me,” he said.


You could have fooled
me.”

What was wrong with her? She didn’t really
believe Cade was a scoundrel, like the miners, any more than she
believed young Ben was a troublemaker. It must have been the heat
of the prairie and the monotony of the journey. It was starting to
bake her head and break down the bounds of propriety.

That point was proven further when they
reached the edge of the stream and she started to undress without a
second thought.


You need some help with those
buttons?” Cade asked, still grinning like she was his own personal
joke.


No thank you,” she said and
twisted her arms at awkward angles around her back to undo each
one.

If anyone else had been nearby she would have
asked them to help in a heartbeat. The stream wasn’t entirely
deserted. Callie and her fiancé, John, bobbed in the slow-moving
water several yards upstream, talking in low voices. A few more
groups or couples waded and washed beyond them, and a few people
dipped and played in the river downstream. Not many people overall,
but enough to make Lynne feel as though she wasn’t doing something
drastic or unusual.

She removed her blouse and skirt and
petticoats and draped them over the nearest bush, but kept her
chemise and drawers on.


Turn your back,” she told
Cade.

He had been scanning the area for imaginary
intruders, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the stand of bushes
where she had put her clothes. As soon as she spoke, he turned to
her. His expression shifted to frank appreciation, and he crossed
his arms.


I said turn your back,” Lynne
squeaked and crossed her arms over her chest.


Now why would I do a thing like
that?” he said, teasing. “I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you,
aren’t I?”

Lynne’s shocked modesty boiled to indignation.
She dropped her arms, confident that her underthings were sturdy
enough to hide what needed to be hidden. She huffed in
frustration.


Fine, then. You may not be a
ruffian, but you’re certainly no gentleman.”

She finished her statement with a tilt of her
chin, then turned her back on him, marching down into the stream.
The water was just a shade colder than she expected it to be, but
she pretended it was nothing and pushed on out to where the current
flowed past her legs at thigh level and dunked to sit.

Of course, in her moment of protest, she had
forgotten to bring the soap with her into the stream. Still facing
away from Cade, she made a face at herself for her foolishness and
dipped her head back to wet her hair. It was braided again and that
braid was coiled into a knot at the back of her neck, but pulling
out a few pins loosened it. She should wash her hair while she
could. Which still required soap.

With a sigh of resignation and a swallow to
accompany the swallowing of her pride, she twisted in the water to
face Cade. He stood on the bank, arms still crossed, grin still
smug, the bundle of bathing things she’d brought with her at his
feet.


I forgot the soap,” she said, not
sure if she wanted him to hear her or not.


I noticed.” His smile
grew.

She waited for him to do the gentlemanly
thing, but he stood still, arms still crossed.


Could you find it and… and throw
it to me, I guess?”


Throw it to you?”

Lynne blew out an impatient breath.
“Yes.”

Cade loosened his arms and bent to search
through the towel and hairbrush in the bundle to find the
soap.


This soap?”

She clamped her jaw tight. If he thought
she
was the one in danger of an imminent attack from someone
with a score to settle, then he needed to watch his own
back.


Never mind, I can do without,”
she said and turned away from him. She swam farther out into the
center of the stream where the current was faster and the water was
deeper and cooler.

Less than a minute later, she heard splashing
from the bank. Her heart shot to her throat. What if someone was
coming after her after all? She spun to the bank, eyes wide. They
grew even wider at what she saw.

Cade had stripped off his clothes and boots
and was wading into the stream toward her. He wore nothing but a
sturdy pair of drawers. His broad chest was firm with muscle and
dusted with just enough hair to make her mouth go dry. His
shoulders were strong and his arms corded with muscle. The plain of
his stomach was flat, narrowing to a slim waist with a line of hair
that ran from his navel to the waistband of his drawers. What lay
under those drawers wasn’t entirely unnoticeable either.


What are you doing?” she asked
and instantly had to clear her throat.


Bringing you the soap,” he
answered.

It didn’t help Lynne’s scrambled mind at all
when he came closer and reached the point where the water soaked
his drawers, or when he sank into the water to swim to her. When he
came to stand a few feet away, the water was above his waist,
making it far too easy for Lynne to imagine that he wasn’t wearing
drawers at all. The thought made it difficult for her to breath,
especially with his beautiful, fine chest almost within arm’s
reach.


This is ridiculously improper,”
she scolded him, then cleared her throat. What had happened to her
voice? She hardly recognized it.


What, bathing in the stream on
the trail?” Cade shrugged. He handed her the soap.

She reached for it. Their fingers touched. His
were far too warm and inviting. He had such large hands, hands that
could do things. She was worldly enough to guess at what they
were.


You are improper,” she answered
him at last, taking the soap and retreating a yard or two. “You
being out here… like that.”

Cade stretched his arms to the side and looked
down at himself. His satisfied smile painted a picture of a man who
knew he was attractive. It sent Lynne’s temperature
soaring.


I thought I could use a bath
too,” he defended himself. “John Rye’s in the water up there doing
the same.”


John Rye has a shirt on,” Lynne
said.


Well those miners down there
don’t.” He nodded downstream.

Lynne took a peek to give herself a reason to
stop staring at Cade. There were miners about twenty yards
downstream, and most of them had their shirts off. Some of them had
everything off. Lynne gasped and snapped to face Cade again, cheeks
bright, which didn’t make her feel a lick better.


All right.” She took a breath to
steady herself. She could be reasonable and hold her head high no
matter how strange the situation. “If you’re truly here to take a
bath, then bathe.”

She tilted her chin up and ignored him, taking
the soap and running it over her arms and under the fabric of her
chemise. It was a poor excuse for a real bath, but still better
than washing from a bucket with an old rag.

BOOK: Trail of Kisses
8.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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