Dorothy Garlock - [Colorado Wind 03]

by Wind of Promise

He lifted his head immediately. “Was I too rough? Oh, my pretty, sweet Mary Ben, I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

  “Ya didn’t!” She reached for his face with her hands and stroked his cheeks with her palms. “Ya didn’t hurt me a’tall, Henry. I jist didn’t want ya to stop.”

  “Does that mean you like for me to kiss you?”

  “I like it a lot.”

  His arms tightened and he hugged her to him fiercely. “I’m glad! I liked it, too. I like everything about you, Mary Ben. I like to hold you and feel your arms around my neck. It makes my insides all fluttery,” he said with a nervous little laugh. “I want to court you. If you want me to, I’ll ask John if I can.”

  “Court me? Oh, Henry! What would yore ma say? She won’t want ya courtin’ such as me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Cause . . . cause—well, I ain’t nobody. I can’t write my name or do sums or nothin’ like that.”

  “I can do sums. And I can write your name for you,” he said anxiously.

  “But courtin’ leads to . . . leads to—”

  “It leads to a weddin’. I know that. If we were wed we’d never have to leave each other.” He held her away from him and looked down into her eyes. There was an intense, almost desperate look on his face. “Tell me truthful and honest to goodness, Mary Ben. Do you think I’m a . . . dummy? Is that why you don’t want me to court you?”

  “Henry Hill! Don’t ya ever say that again! Hear? Ya ain’t no dummy! Ya ain’t no dummy a’tall! Yo’re the nicest, sweetest thin’ in the whole wide world. I’m jist worried is all. I ain’t good enuff fer ya.”

  “It’s me that’s not good enough for you. I’ll take care of you the best I can. I’m learning things from Kain. He’s showing me how to fight and how to use the gun. I could do anything if you were with me and telling me what to do,” he whispered, distress lines creasing his brow. He stared deeply at her stricken face and saw the sparkle of tears come to her eyes.

  “I’m scared a what yore ma ’n Vanessa’d say. Look at me, Henry. Look at my dress and my shoes. I ain’t never lived in a house in my whole life—it’s always been a dugout or a wagon. I killed a man down in the Territory. I might a killed two of ’em. They was after me ’n I shot ’em. There was jist me ’n Mister fer a long time, till Mr. Wisner come.” She bowed her head and rested her forehead on his shoulder. When her voice came again it was muffled against his shirt. “I can’t hardly talk to decent folk. Yore ma and Vanessa are fine ladies. They’d not want me wed to ya.”

  “I’ll ask them. I’ll tell them I want to court you and wed you and be with you forever. Ma wants me to be happy. She tells me, ‘be happy, Henry.’ I’m happy when I’m with you. It’s like I can do anything. It’s like I’m as smart as anybody.” His voice vibrated with tender emotion and his lips quivered against her brow. “I don’t want you to ever go away.”

  She pressed her face against his shirt, not wanting him to see the tears that filled her eyes on hearing his tender words. She was aware of the heavy beat of his heart and his warm breath on her ear. He rocked her in his arms as if she were a small child. Her lips found the pulse that beat at the base of his throat. This gentle man had given her more tenderness during the few short weeks she had known him than she had received in all her seventeen years. A feeling of faintness seemed to sweep over her. She wanted to cling to him, to give him love, to shield and protect him always.

  His arms held her firmly but gently. She nestled in the warm protection of his embrace and heard him croon softly, “Don’t you worry, Mary Ben. I’ll take care of you.”

  They sat for a long while in the quiet woods while the squirrels raced through the branches overhead and scolded the yellow dog as he lay watching the man who held his mistress in his arms, stroking her hair.

  * * *

  Vanessa was gathering the dry clothes from the bushes when she saw Kain riding toward camp on the big red horse. Her relief was so intense that her knees trembled. As mealtime approached and he hadn’t returned, she had become so worried that Primer Tass had found him she had been sick to her stomach.

  Kain rode on past her with only a brief nod of his head and dismounted behind the Wisner wagon.

  Her mind was temporarily distracted from Primer Tass and all his visit implied when Henry and Mary Ben came out of the woods, hand in hand. Her hair was tied back with a new pink ribbon and Henry had a shy smile on his face. Vanessa watched Ellie anxiously, saw her look at the couple and then down at the biscuit dough she was pinching off and putting in the pan to bake.

  “Look, Ma.” Henry pulled the reluctant girl to where Ellie stood beside the workbench. “Don’t Mary Ben look pretty with the new ribbon in her hair?” Mary Ben hung her head and refused to look up.

  “Mary Ben is pretty with or without the ribbon.” Ellie glanced at the shy girl.

  “I think so, too,” Henry said with all the honesty of his simple nature as he smiled down at Mary Ben. The girl’s head was bent so low her chin was resting on her chest. “I bought a present for you, too, Ma. I bought you some soap. Doesn’t it smell good?” He held the bar beneath her nose.

  “Why, thank you, Henry. That was very sweet of you. Yes, it does smell good.” Ellie smiled up at her tall son. “Lilac, isn’t it? I can’t take it right now, I’ve got my hands in the biscuit dough and it’s almost supper time. Put it there by the wash dish and I’ll put it away later.”

  “Let go my hand, Henry,” Mary Ben whispered and tugged on the hand Henry held tightly in his. “Let go! I got to help.” She moved quickly away from him when he released her hand.

  “If you’re going to help Ma, I’ll help Kain. Kain,” Henry called and went loping toward him. “I’ll picket the horses. Mary Ben liked the ribbon.”

  Mary Ben stood nervously beside Ellie. When the older woman didn’t look up at her, her anxiety grew.

  “Mrs. Hill? Are ya mad cause Henry give me the ribbon?” Her voice was a bare whisper.

  Startled, Ellie turned and looked into the young, worried face of the girl. “Mercy, no, child! I think it was very thoughtful of Henry to buy the presents.”

  Tears spurted into Mary Ben’s big brown eyes. Her lips trembled and she clamped the lower one between her teeth. “I . . . can keep it—and the toilet water?” Her voice was shaking so that the question came out on a sob.

  “Of course you can.” Ellie could see that Mary Ben was doing her best to keep from crying, and did the only thing she knew to help her. “But landsakes, child, we got to get the supper on. We’re running late and it’ll be dark before you know it. Bring me that pan, Mary Ben, and take this one and put it in the oven. See to the coals under it first, dear,” she called as Mary Ben, relieved to be doing something, hurried to obey.

  Darkness fell, quiet settled over the camp and everyone gathered for the evening meal. Vanessa filled her plate and went to sit on a stool with her back to the wagon wheel. Kain sat on the other side of the cookfire and talked to John. She watched him. He ate very little for a man his size, she thought. He nibbled on a biscuit and ate a helping of rice and gravy. John had bought a pail of milk from a woman at the campground, and Kain drank several cups.

  His face was thinner. The thought went through her mind as she studied it. He had lost weight since she had first seen him in Dodge City. A stab of fear caused her heart to pound heavily. But he didn’t look sick, she told herself. Traveling every day was hard on a person, even a man as big and strong as Kain. She had lost weight and so had Ellie. She regreted having to put more worry on him, but he had to be warned to be on the lookout for Primer Tass.

  The trip, Vanessa thought, had taken a toll on Ellie, too. She had always been proud of the soft, white skin on her face and had protected it with a sunbonnet. Now, in spite of the sunbonnet and applications of olive oil, the wind and dust had chapped her cheeks and dried and cracked her lips. When Kain joined their party, Ellie’s nerves had been stretched to the breaking point. She was still fearful—Vanessa had even heard her cr
ying in the night. She didn’t know if her aunt’s tears were caused by her fear of the outlaws who preyed on travelers or fear of what she would face when they reached Junction City. Vanessa was determined, if at all possible, to shield her aunt from the extra worry of Primer Tass’ threats.

  When it was Mary Ben’s turn to take the first watch, Henry would stand it with her as he had done for the past week. He would also stay with Vanessa when she took the second watch. It was Kain’s idea that she and Mary Ben take turns and that Henry stay with them. It was a way, he had explained to Ellie, to give Henry some responsibility.

  John and Ellie had gone to bed, and Henry and Mary Ben, with the yellow dog beside them, had settled down for the first watch. Vanessa moved quietly to the outer edge of the camp where Kain had opened his bedroll. She wanted to share her anxiety with him; the burden was just too great for her to bear alone. In his calm manner, Kain would know what to do.

  She stood hesitantly a few feet away from him, not knowing that he had watched her from the time she left the wagon, and that his heart had begun to pound with a new rhythm. Her hair was untied and hung down to her waist. She looked so small and so lonely, standing there. He lay still, gazing at her. Hungrily his eyes slid over her slim figure, silky hair and light face. God, he thought. Did she know what she as doing to him? She was so sweet, so beautiful, and he was trying so hard to keep distance between them. He had no future beyond Junction City, and he loved her too much to take her for just a few short months or weeks. And the thought of her seeing him at the end was unbearable.

  “Kain? Are you awake?”

  “I’m awake. What’s wrong?”

  “I . . . want to talk to you.”

  “Can’t it wait till morning?”

  The harshness of his query cut her to the heart. Vanessa felt a knot in her throat and incipient moisture under her eyelids. She was struck speechless for a moment. She hadn’t expected him to be angry with her for seeking him out. And then the hurt blossomed to indignation.

  “No, it can’t wait until morning,” she said sharply. “I have something to tell you that I especially want to keep from Aunt Ellie.”

  “If it’s about Henry and Mary Ben—”

  “It’s not about Henry and Mary Ben. It’s about one of the men who stole our mules—the dark one, Primer Tass.” There was a break in her voice, and then a pause while she swallowed with difficulty. “He told me to tell you that he’d be waiting for you . . . up ahead. I thought you should know so you can be prepared to defend yourself. That’s all I have to say. I’ll not take up any more of your time.” She turned to go.

  Kain rose from the bedroll as if pulled by invisible strings as soon as she said the man’s name. John had told him what he knew of Primer Tass, and it was all bad.

  “Vanessa!” he hissed. “Come back here.” He got to his feet and grabbed her arm. “Where did you see Tass? Was he here?”

  “He was down by the river, where we set the boiling pot to wash.” Just saying the words made her voice shake.

  “Goddamn!” Kain swore in a husky whisper. “Tell me,” he demanded roughly, “did that bastard . . . force himself on you?”

  Vanessa turned a stricken face toward him, and words gushed out of her mouth like water out of a fountain. “Oh, Kain! He was behind me when I turned. I was washing myself . . . I had my shirt off! He’d watched me bathe! He looked me over with those snakey eyes. They’re awful!” She shuddered. “I shouldn’t have gone down there without my gun, but it wouldn’t have made any difference, he’s so . . . quick. He pounced on me when I turned to run. He pinched me and rubbed me against him.”

  “Did he . . . did he molest you?” The question tore out of his throat in a hoarse, desperate whisper. She could feel trembling in the hands that gripped her shoulders so tightly it pained her. “Did he? Tell me, goddamn it! Did he violate you?”

  “What . . . do you mean?”

  “Goddamn it to hell! You know what I mean! Did he go inside you?”

  “No! No, not that. He touched me . . . in places and he kissed me. His mouth was all wet and slobbery. I was so scared, Kain, and I wanted to throw up.” She felt once again the chill of panic, then her nerves steadied. Kain was with her. “I bit him, though,” she said spiritedly. “I wanted to kill him!”

  “Jesus Christ!” Kain was so relieved he didn’t realize that he had pressed her down on the bedroll and flung himself down to sit beside her. His arms slid around her and he held her so tightly against his chest she could scarcely breathe. “I should have killed that bastard when I had the chance.” His voice was muffled against her hair.

  “Oh, no! I’m glad you didn’t try. He might have killed you!”

  “John said I’d have to kill him sooner or late. He said you don’t give a snake a second chance at you, and by God, he’s right. If Tass comes near you again I’ll shoot him down like a mad dog, without a second thought!”

  “He said to tell you he’d be waiting for you.” The pent-up tension of the day came flooding out in the form of tears that ran down her cheeks and seeped into her mouth. She didn’t want him to see her cry and tried to move away from him, but his arms held her. For a moment she resisted the pressure of his embrace, then suddenly she hid her face against his chest in a rush of anguished despair.

  “What else did he say?” he prompted gently.

  “He said that then it would be . . . just him and me.” The last word came out on a sob. “And, Kain . . . he cut my hair! He cut a big chunk out of the top to take away with him.” She took his hand and carried it to the top of her head where the stubby ends barely covered her scalp.

  Anger and jealousy sent waves of rage reverberating through him. His fingers fondled the inch-long hair, then cupped the back of her head and held it to him. The thought of another man—especially a man like Primer Tass—touching her in private places and having a strand of her hair to carry with him brought a predator’s gleam to his leonine eyes.

  “He wants you.” His voice was low and harsh. “The nervy bastard!” He was quiet for a moment, then murmured, “At the same time I can hardly blame him.” He moved back, staring at her, and asked in a controlled voice, “Why didn’t he take you when he had the chance?”

  “He said he wasn’t ready, that he had things to do first. He talked of taking me to the mountains.” Her words were muffled against him when she hid her face against his shirt. His big arms squeezed her more tightly.

  “That’s probably his territory, the mountains of New Mexico or even south of the border. He’s thinking you have money in that fancy wagon. He’ll need someone to help him get it, because he knows he’ll have to go through John and me.”

  “That fancy wagon has been nothing but trouble. What are we going to do, Kain? What can we do? He’s been watching us and he said he knew that you’re . . . not my man.”

  “How does he know that?”

  “He said we didn’t sleep together.” In this sweet intimacy the words came out unhesitantly.

  Kain was silent for the duration of a few heartbeats. “There’s been only a few places where he could get close enough to see much without us knowing he was there. From now on we’ll camp out in the open.”

  “He’s going to try to kill you. Can’t we report him to the soldiers at the forts?” she asked hopefully.

  “They’re not here to police civilians. Even if they were they wouldn’t go after him for just making a threat.” His hand absently stroked the length of her hair while he spoke.

  An owl spoke mournfully from the cottonwoods down near the river. Was it an owl? Or was Primer Tass calling to a friend of his? Vanessa clutched Kain’s arm and snuggled closer to him. Being in his arms was marvelously comforting.

  “Do you think we should go on alone?”

  “It’s the only thing to do. He could lose himself among a crowd of people. Out on the trail he’ll have to come at us point-blank.”

  “I’m afraid for you, Kain. He said several times he was going to kill yo
u. And he said it calmly, as if he had no doubt.” She pulled back and looked up into his face. “You were gone a long time today and I was afraid he’d found you. I watched and waited for you to come back. It would break my heart if you—if something happened to you!” Her attempt to speak calmly was weakened by the depth of her emotion. She gave no thought to her words or her actions. Her arms wound around his waist and she clutched him to her fiercely.

  His hoarse, ragged breathing accompanied the thunder of his heartbeat as the realization of what she had said came to him. She was saying she cared for him—maybe even loved him! She was distraught, he thought, and frightened. She didn’t realize what her words implied.

  “You don’t need to be afraid, Vanessa. I’ll take care of Tass. He’ll have to go through me to get to you again. And I’ll see you and Ellie safely to Junction City. Then I’ve got things to do—”

  “Thunderation!” Anger stiffened her body. “Do you think that all I care about is staying out of the clutches of Primer Tass and getting to Junction City? I’ll blow his worthless head off before I let him take me. It’s you he wants to kill. He’ll wait behind a boulder and ambush you! That’s his way. He’ll not come at you head-on. Don’t you understand that? He hates you because you showed him up that morning. And it’s my fault for not staying out of sight like you told me to.” Her anger dissipated, and tears of rejection and humiliation poured down her cheeks. She lowered her head until all he could see was her bowed head.

  “Vanessa, girl, I didn’t mean—”

  “Oh, yes, you did! You think I’m throwing myself at you! Good women don’t do that, do they? They wait for the man to speak first.”

  “I’ve never had anyone so sweet, or so beautiful thrown at me. I just didn’t know how to react.” He chuckled and a wild, wonderful feeling engulfed him.

  “Don’t laugh at me.”

  The sad note in her voice whipped him into speech. “Vanessa, darlin’ girl,” he murmured, the endearment coming unknowingly from his lips. He lifted her face with a firm hand beneath her chin and pressed his cheek to her wet one. “I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing because it makes me feel good to know that you’re concerned for me.”