by Nerys Leigh
The spider disappeared around the corner of the closest side tunnel.
Kitty released her death-grip on Ben’s arm. Wordlessly, he handed her the metal rod, retrieved the shiny object, and quickly moved back to her side.
“It was a very large spider,” he said.
“Yes.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d prefer we never speak of this again.”
“I make no promises, but I’m willing to forget it for now.”
“Thank you.”
After a final search of the floor to make sure there was nothing else to find, they left the mine and emerged gratefully into the sunshine. Ben put out the lantern and placed it on a nearby rock.
“So what is that thing?” Kitty asked, twisting round to make sure nothing had hitched a ride on the back of her dress.
“There’s nothing on you. Me?” He turned to show her his back.
She shouldn’t. She knew she shouldn’t. Before meeting Ben, she wouldn’t have dared. But something was happening to her. Her playful side was emerging, around him, at least.
And so she did.
With a strangled gasp, she widened her eyes in horror.
He spun around. “What? Is it on me? Get it off of me!” Thrashing around, he frantically tried to slap the imagined arachnid from his back.
Kitty burst into giggles.
He stopped, his mouth dropping open as he stared at her. “You little fiend.”
Laughing even harder, she backed away as he advanced on her, his scowl negated by the twinkle in his eyes.
She whirled to run as he lunged for her, but she wasn’t fast enough, and she squealed as he caught hold of her, spun her to face him, and hoisted her into the air.
Her laughter dwindled, their game suddenly eclipsed by the feel of his arms around her.
His smile faded and his neck bobbed in a swallow. Slowly, he slid her down his body until her feet touched the ground.
His eyes flicked between hers before dropping to her lips, just for a moment. Her heart thudded so hard she was sure he must have felt it.
Would he kiss her? Until she’d met Ben, the thought of kissing a man had made her nervous and uncomfortable. But now, pressed close to him, she wanted it so badly she could almost dare to reach up and touch her mouth to his.
Licking his lips, he released her and stepped back. “We, um… we should get back to work.” He dug the item they’d found from his pocket and held it out to her.
Hiding her disappointment, she took it from his hand and pretended to study the brass badge depicting two crossed swords. Not for the first time, she wished she was prettier. If she had been, maybe he would want to kiss her as badly as she wanted to kiss him.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s an insignia from the war. Soldiers wore them on their hats. Swords are for cavalry. My brother was in the cavalry.”
A sudden fear gripped her. A lot of men died in the war. “Is he…?”
“He’s all right. It wasn’t easy for him when he came home. I guess it wasn’t easy for anyone. But he married his sweetheart and slowly he got better. They’re happy on their farm up in Illinois. My sister-in-law is expecting their second child.”
She breathed out in relief. “I’m glad.”
He studied her face. “You really are, aren’t you?”
She returned her gaze to the insignia, suddenly self-conscious for caring about him so much. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
He was silent for a few seconds. “Anyway, that’s what that is. It looks like it was dropped there recently. There’s no tarnish on it.”
“You said Mr. Hall was a soldier.”
Ben pursed his lips, thinking. “I did, but there are a lot of men around who fought in the war. Probably some of the others here did too. I don’t think all of them are carrying their old insignia around with them.”
She ran her thumb absently across the brass as something nudged the back of her mind. Something about the war. Something she’d seen since she got here.
“There’s a framed document in Mr. Hall’s tent.” She closed her eyes, summoning up the details from her memory. “It’s a commendation for valor.”
She opened her eyes again to find Ben watching her with an expression of awe. “How on earth do you remember that? I didn’t even notice it.”
She handed the insignia back to him. “It seemed incongruous to me. I guess it’s important to him, to have brought it with him. And if he brought that, he might have—”
“Brought the insignia too,” Ben finished. “Well, it’s looking more and more like Edwin Hall is our thief.”
“Are we going to confront him? Or tell the local sheriff?”
“We need solid proof first. This insignia and Rollins’ testimony isn’t nearly enough.” He slipped the insignia into his pocket.
“How are we going to get proof?”
“I don’t know. What we really need to do is find that skull.” He looked around. “Maybe there are caves up here, or more mines. We could…”
The horse lifted its head from the grass on which it had been grazing and blew a sharp snort from its nostrils as it stared at the rocky slope at the far side of the clearing.
Although Kitty wasn’t used to horses, even she could tell something was bothering it. “Why is it doing that?”
Ben looked around, his hand moving to the gun at his waist. “Horses are good at sensing danger.”
Mouth suddenly dry, she scanned the open area in front of the mine. “What…” And then she saw movement. “Ben.”
He slid the revolver from its holster. “I see it.”
Moving closer to him, she watched the big cat slink from rock to rock, keeping to cover as it made its way down the slope. “Is that a cougar?”
“Yup.” He sounded far calmer than she felt.
Reading about cougars had made her wish to see one, but that longing was currently being superseded by a desire to not end up as lunch. “Will it attack us?”
“Hopefully not.”
Hopefully did not instill her with confidence.
The horse was becoming increasingly agitated, stamping its front feet and pulling at the rope that bound it to the tree.
“Um, Ben…” Kitty began.
But before she could complete her warning, the branch snapped and the rope came free. The horse launched itself for the track leading back down to the valley.
The cougar paused to watch it go and then moved its gaze back to them.
“Get behind me,” Ben said, not taking his eyes from the huge cat as it reached the foot of the rocky slope. “And don’t, whatever you do, run. If anything happens, try to look big and threatening.”
If she hadn’t been so scared, she would have laughed. She couldn’t imagine anyone less big and threatening than her.
She moved behind him and peeked around his shoulder as the cougar took a couple of cautious steps towards them.
Ben drew himself up to his full height. “I don’t want to harm you,” he said in a commanding voice, “but I will if you try anything. Best thing for you to do right now is find something else to hunt.”
The cougar flicked its ears.
Ben took a step towards it, raising his arms to either side. “I mean it. Leave. Now.”
Lowering its head, the cat took another step forward.
Thrusting his arms into the air, Ben shouted, “Yah!”
The cougar leaped backwards, spun, and ran back up the slope, bounding from rock to rock. It paused halfway up to throw them an irritated glance then continued at a more sedate pace until it disappeared over the ridge.
Kitty breathed out and willed her racing heart to stop trying to break through her ribcage. “Will it come back?”
Ben dropped his gun back into the holster at his waist. “Probably not. They usually hunt smaller prey than humans. But we should leave, just in case.”
She looked towards the track where their horse had bolted. “It’s going to be a long walk back
, isn’t it?”
He retrieved the lantern from the rock where he’d left it. “Yup.”
Sighing, she pushed Ben’s Stetson back on her head. “Well, at least I got to see a real cougar.”
Chapter Ten
At least the walk back was largely downhill, Kitty reflected as they trudged into the camp two hours later. And Ben had carried her across the river again, which was nice. But she could have done without the brief but heavy shower of rain halfway down the track.
She didn’t want to imagine how bedraggled she must look.
Mr. Hall strode up to them. “We were just about to send out a search party to look for you. Your horse just came back.”
“It was spooked by a cougar,” Ben said. “We had to walk. Is it all right?”
“It’s fine. It’s been taken care of.” Mr. Hall’s gaze darted to the mountains beyond them. “Find anything up there?”
For a moment Kitty wondered if Ben would change his mind and confront him with the insignia they’d found, but he simply said, “Just some tracks that might mean the skull was hidden there. But it’s gone now.”
Mr. Hall nodded, whether or not from relief, she couldn’t tell. “Well, at least you got back all right. It wouldn’t have been good for you to be out after dark.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” Ben placed his arm around Kitty’s shoulders and steered her past him. “If you’ll excuse us, it’s been a long day and we’d like to go clean up.”
“Do you think it was him?” she whispered, once they were out of earshot.
“I don’t know, and right now I’m too exhausted to care.”
Once inside their tent, Kitty removed her hat and looked down at her damp, mud-covered dress. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted a bath quite so much.”
Ben pulled his own hat off, tossed it onto his cot, and turned back to the door. “Give me twenty minutes.”
She looked up from her book a quarter of an hour later when he walked back into the tent.
“Bring your soap and towel,” he said as he fetched his own from his trunk. “And some dry clothes.”
He led her outside and through the camp to the river, where a few of the men were gathered. A circle of poles had been driven into the ground to enclose a small section of the bank and a sheltered natural pool bounded by boulders at the edge of the river. Between the poles, sheets had been fixed, screening the area from prying eyes.
“I couldn’t manage hot water,” Ben said, “but the river’s not so cold once you get used to it, and you’ll be able to bathe in private.”
She moved her eyes from the makeshift shelter to the men beside it. “You all did this?”
There were a few nods and “Yes, ma’am”s.
Mr. Rollins stepped forward. “Your husband asked for our help and we were glad to give it. Can’t be easy being the only woman with all us men.”
She pressed a hand to her mouth, tears pricking her eyes. No one had ever cared for her the way Ben did. “Thank you all. This means so much to me.”
“It was our pleasure, ma’am.” Mr. Rollins waved the men around him into motion. “Let’s give Mrs. Riley some privacy.”
“I’ll wash out here while you’re bathing,” Ben said, once they were gone. “Take however long you want. I’ll be here.”
Emotion overcoming her usual timidity, Kitty stood up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
His brows drew together in bemusement. “It didn’t take that much effort.”
“But you did it. That’s what counts.”
He studied her face for a few seconds before leaning down to kiss her forehead. “You’re worth all the effort in the world, Kitten. Don’t ever forget that.”
And she’d thought the blushes were finally easing. Apparently, she was wrong.
She glanced at the river, searching for something to say. “Aren’t people going to think it’s strange we’re bathing separately, with us being married?”
A smirk tugged at his lips. “Is that an invitation to join you?”
Of course she’d pick the one thing to ask him that would make her blush even worse. “You’re terrible.”
He grinned. “I know. Let them wonder. It’s none of their business.” Leaning in until his breath brushed the skin of her neck, he whispered into her ear, “But if you change your mind, I’ll be right outside.”
She shook her head with a smile and turned away.
Even her toes had to be blushing now.
~ ~ ~
Ben leaned against the log behind him with a contented sigh.
A full stomach and a warm fire; all he needed now was a beautiful woman and he’d have everything a man could want.
Kitty had returned to their tent after supper to rest, so he’d decided to join the men settling around the fire. He had a direct line of sight to their tent from where he was. If anything happened, he could be there in seconds.
He listened idly to the general conversation around him, but mostly he just relaxed on the blanket and stared into the flames, thinking about the case.
All right, so that wasn’t strictly true. What he was mostly thinking about was Kitty, which seemed to increasingly be the case.
She was changing; he could see it. Even in the short time they’d been together, she’d grown in confidence. The real Kitty was emerging, and she was playful and fun. And he was having more and more trouble keeping his mind on the case when she filled his thoughts.
He’d made a mistake, he could see that now. He should never have begun flirting with her in the first place. But flirting was as natural to him as breathing. It didn’t mean anything. At least, it never had before.
But today, when she’d fooled him into thinking there was a spider on his back… the way she’d laughed, the feeling of holding her in his arms. He’d come so close to kissing her. It had taken every ounce of willpower he had to let her go.
Kissing Kitty would be an incredibly bad idea. There was no mistaking her attraction to him, and the last thing he wanted to do was encourage her. He’d started out simply wanting her to realize her own worth. The problem was, he was realizing it now, far too much.
At a subtle shift in the conversation around him, a hush in the voices, he looked up to see Kitty approaching and his breath hitched.
She’d pinned her hair up, and tendrils framed her clean, fresh face. She’d changed into a dress he hadn’t seen before. It was brown, as was everything she wore, but this time a pale beige that complimented her creamy complexion and set off her gray eyes. She was so unlike the women he usually went for, and yet just the sight of her set his heart racing.
She hesitated as all eyes around the fire fell on her, and he scrambled to his feet to meet her. He held out his hand and tucked her arm around his when she took it.
Stop flirting with his beautiful wife. As if there was any possibility of that happening.
Ignoring the envious looks the other men threw his way, he led her to the blanket on which he’d been relaxing. Let them be jealous. At least for now, his Kitten was all his.
“Did you sleep?” he murmured to her as she settled beside him on the blanket.
“Not really, but I feel so much better for being clean.”
He smiled. “Me too.”
They lapsed into silence, simply enjoying the warmth of the fire. After a while, she leaned her head against his shoulder.
Closing his eyes, he drew in a slow breath of her clean scent, partly the lingering aroma of the soap but mostly her natural fragrance. And all so much better than the cloying perfumes the other women he’d spent time with wore. He could happily live the rest of his life with Kitty’s scent filling his lungs.
His eyes sprang open. Never before had he associated the notion of the rest of his life with a woman. That was something he needed to put out of his mind right now. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to forever devote himself to one woman.
Thankfully, at that moment someone sta
rted playing a fiddle; the perfect distraction from any thoughts of the rest of his life. Someone else joined in with a harmonica and soon the men were nodding their heads to the music, some of them clapping the beat.
Kitty was smiling, one foot moving back and forth to the rhythm.
He leaned close to whisper in her ear. “Want to dance?”
Her foot stilled and she turned wide eyes on him. “I-I can’t. Not in front of everyone.”
So her confidence clearly had a ways to go. She hadn’t, however, said no.
He pushed to his feet and held out his hand to her, pulling her up with him when she took it.
“What are we doing?” she asked as he walked her away from the fire.
He led her behind a tent where they couldn’t be seen and faced her, slipping his right hand around her waist. “You didn’t say you didn’t want to dance. You just said it couldn’t be in front of everyone.”
She stiffened in his arms. “I... I don’t know how.”
She didn’t know how to dance? How had she managed to grow up without learning how to dance?
Still, that did present him with an intriguing opportunity. “It doesn’t matter. Just follow my lead.”
Despite his reassurances, her tenseness increased as he began to move slowly to the music. After half a minute, however, she softened, following his lead rather than fighting it.
Buoyed by his success, he tried a simple turn. He realized it was too soon when she stumbled a little and stood on his foot.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, pulling away.
He kept hold of her, gently drawing her back in. “My fault. I think I got a bit overambitious there.”
“Did I hurt your foot?”
He resumed their simple side to side movement. “These boots cost a good amount. A buffalo could stamp on my foot and I wouldn’t feel it.”
Her eyes sparkled with amusement. “Why don’t I believe you?”
“Find me a buffalo and I’ll prove it to you.”
“I haven’t seen any buffalo around here, but would a horse do?”
“Nope, has to be a buffalo.”
“I don’t know where to find a buffalo.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
