“I know. She’s asked me several times if I wanted to marry you.”
“Oh, no! Oh, my goodness. I’m glad I didn’t know that. That isn’t why—”
“Silly girl! I wanted you the first day I came here but didn’t dare think I had a chance.”
“Thank goodness Beatrice takes after her mother and Cassandra is one of a kind.”
“Cass knew I wanted to be alone with you. She’s giving me the chance to court you.”
“I’m beginning to like your brother a lot, and I wish my sister was small enough to spank!”
“Our luck could run out any minute and … I want to kiss you again. I love you, Jenny. Are you afraid of it?”
“No, my love. I’m grateful that I’m the one you want.”
“I want you … very much.”
He stared gravely at her, then pulled her to him. He held the back of her head in his large hand, working his fingers through her hair while his lips made little caressing movements against her. His hand was firm, his lips soft. He gave her no chance to withdraw and she did not want to. At the soft touch of his tongue on her lower lip, emotion surged from deep inside her, and impulsively she pressed his hand close to her breast. He kept it there for a long moment.
They drew away together. She let her breath out slowly. When she looked in his eyes, she knew that he hadn’t wanted the kiss to end.
“We’ll have other times together,” she whispered, then laughed softly, her breath feathering his wet lips. “I don’t think I’ll sleep a wink tonight. I’ll want to remember each and every word we said to each other. Oh, dear! I’m acting as if I were sixteen.”
“I’ll not sleep either. I’ll be wishing you were here with me. Instead I’ll have to listen to Trav snore.”
“He said at supper that he was going over to the Double T for a few days, that is, if Ike was going to be here.”
“First he’s stopping in Sweetwater to see if he can find out anything about the fellers that shot me. I wish he’d wait because I sent a letter to our brother Pack and told him what was going on here and asked him to get in touch with a friend of ours who is a Federal marshal. The last I heard Cleve was in Big Timber, Montana Territory, and I’m sure he’ll come down soon, if he isn’t tied up with another investigation.”
“I hope he does. There’s something wrong here. Terribly wrong.”
“Be extra careful while Trav is away.”
“I will. Now, I should go and let you get some sleep. Travor will be wanting to go to bed. He’s probably sitting outside waiting for me to leave.”
“Kiss me again and tell me—”
“That I love you? I do. Believe me, I do.”
“You’ve given me the world.” His hand stroked up and down her arm, then moved to smooth the hair back from her cheek.
The lamplight slanted onto his face and his thick lashes made fans of darkness in the hollows beneath his eyes. A new feeling grew in Jenny, a wish to take away his hurt, absorb his pain, and to give herself to him wholly and completely.
They gazed at each other for a moment that was so still that it seemed time had stopped moving. Then, slowly, tenderly, she lowered her mouth to his again.
Jenny and Colleen, with help from Cassandra, usually washed the supper dishes. Granny cooked the meal, and they insisted that she sit in her chair while they did the cleaning. Tonight Cassandra took the drying towel and instructed Beatrice to reset the table with the clean dishes, placing the plates facedown and covering with a cloth the necessaries Granny left on the table.
Ike, who never stayed indoors any longer than was necessary, went out as soon as he finished his meal.
“Meal was … fair. Thanky.”
“Ya didn’t hafta eat it,” Granny retorted.
“’Twas eat or starve.”
“Ya can starve, fer all I care.”
“Ya’d miss me somethin’ awful, if’n I did.” Ike laughed his dry chuckle and hurried out the door.
Granny rocked in her chair and Travor, while pretending to read a newspaper that had been left by McGriff, watched Colleen. She had braided her hair Indian-fashion and wore baggy old overalls, but she was the most desirable, fascinating woman he’d ever met. He recorded in his mind every movement, every gesture, to bring out and mull over when he was away from her.
When the cleaning was almost completed, he went out, returned with an armload of firewood for the woodbox and went out again. He lit a cigarette and waited beside the well for Colleen. He knew that she would not go to bed with an empty water bucket on the washstand.
The door finally opened, but it was Cassandra who came toward him, the glow of his cigarette serving as a beacon for her.
“I’m making sure you don’t go to the bunkhouse for a while,” she said, coming right to the reason for her being there. “Give Trell some time to be alone with Jenny.”
“Well, if you aren’t the little matchmaker.”
“I try to be. They are right for each other, and Trell is in love with her.”
“How do you know that?”
“I asked him. How else would I find out what I want to know?”
“And what did he say?”
“He didn’t say anything. He hemmed and hawed around. But he didn’t have to say anything. I knew he was smitten with her the first day he came here. Just as I know that you’re smitten with Colleen and are waiting for her to come out to fill the water bucket.”
“You’re a regular little miss know-it-all. A man wouldn’t stand a chance if you wanted him.”
“The man I choose will be extra smart. I can’t abide stupidity.”
“Is that the reason you like me so much?” he teased.
“You’re not dumb, Travor, but not overly smart either. You’ve backed Colleen into a corner with your flirty ways, which, by the way, she hates. She’s put up so much resistance to you now that it will be hard for her to admit that she likes you without looking and feeling like a fool.”
“You think she likes me?”
“I’d have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to know that. And if you’re as smart as I think you are, you know it, too.”
“What does Granny think?”
“Why not ask her?”
“I’m afraid to, that’s why, little miss wise-owl.”
“Granny is very smart. Oh, not in book learning, but in experience and horse sense, which at times is more valuable to a person than a college education.”
“You’ve figured this all out, have you?”
“Of course. Granny realizes that she’ll not be around for many more years. She loves her granddaughter and wants to see her settled with a good man who will take care of her. I think she wanted Trell for Colleen, but it was clear from the start that he wanted Jenny.”
“Godamighty!” Travor dropped his cigarette and stepped on it. “Are you sure you’re not a thirty-year-old midget?”
“I’m nine years old, Travor, as you well know.” Cassandra spoke in a resigned tone of voice, as if she were bored with having to repeatedly tell her age. “I’ll be ten in two months. Age has little to do with intelligence. You either have it or you don’t.”
“And you have it.”
“It was not my doing. My parents were responsible. Now, it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on here. You’re waiting like a little boy hoping for a glimpse of the princess.”
“What do you suggest I do?”
“A man with serious intentions would go to Granny and ask her permission to walk out with her granddaughter.”
“What if she turned me down?”
“It would be up to you to persuade her that your intentions are honorable.”
“Hmmm—You may have a point.” He stuck out his hand and Cassandra put hers into it. “Let’s give it a try. If this works, I’ll get your advice on a few other problems I have.”
“Anytime. Glad to help. Go on in. If we go in together, Colleen will think we’ve been plotting.”
Travor went determinedly to
the door and flung it open. Colleen stood there with the water bucket in hand. He took it from her, then with his hand on her back prodded her to where Granny sat in her chair.
“Mrs. Murphy, I’d like your permission to walk out with your granddaughter. My intentions are honorable, and I will bring her back to you within an hour.”
“Why, you puffed-up jackass!” Colleen turned on him. “What game are you playin’ now?”
Travor ignored her and looked at Granny.
“I’ll see that no harm comes to her, ma’am. I’ll guard her with my life.”
“Young man, ’pears to me yore life is what needs guardin’ if you go out in the dark with my granddaughter.”
“I’ll handle her without hurtin’ her. I promise.”
“Then go on. Take her for an hour.”
“Gran … ny!” Colleen sputtered. “Are ya tellin’ me to go out in the dark with this … this horny toad?”
“Ya got yore gun, ain’t ya? And yore knife. If he gets outta line, cut him a little. Ain’t nothin’ like a show a blood to cool a feller off, ’specially if it’s his.”
“Thank you, Granny.” Travor grabbed Colleen’s arm and steered her toward the door.
“Turn loose a me, ya smooth-talkin’ warthog!” Colleen tried to shake loose from his hand.
“Now, now, honey. Don’t make a show of yourself in front of your granny, or she might not let you come with me again.” By this time they were out the door and Colleen was gasping with rage.
“That was … low! To fool Granny like that.”
“I wasn’t foolin’ her.”
“Ya fooled her into thinkin’ ya wasn’t goin’ to get me out here to try and paw me.”
“Now don’t go puttin’ ideas in my head. If that’s what you’re wantin’ me to do, honey, I’ll be glad to oblige.”
Colleen dug in her heels. “Ya think every woman ya flirt with wants ya. Well, I don’t!”
“Maybe not now, sweetheart. But you’ll change your mind.”
They reached the well. Travor loosened the rope. It slid through his hand until the bucket hit the water. He pulled it up quickly and poured the water into the bucket they had brought from the kitchen.
“Let’s take this in. I told Granny I’d bring you back in an hour, and I don’t want to waste any of my time with you.”
“Back from where?”
“From a stroll. Haven’t you ever walked out with a feller?”
“Yeah, and it was anythin’ but a picnic. Most of ’em had as many hands as a spider has legs.”
They had reached the door. “Stay right here, sweetheart. I’ll take the water bucket in.”
Travor went into the kitchen and set the bucket on the shelf. When he turned, he caught Granny’s eye and winked.
A chuckle died in his throat when he saw that Colleen was not where he left her. He peered into the darkness between the house and the bunkhouse. Unleashing a string of cusswords, he went to the side of the house, then back to look toward the school.
“Shit, shit, shitfire!” he murmured. “Dad-blasted woman!”
“She’s in the shed.” Cassandra’s voice came from the dark shadow beside the house.
“Thanks, Cass. Go in and keep Granny company. If I catch you spyin’ on us, I’ll whop your bottom.”
“Horseshit!”
“That’s no way for a child to talk,” Travor scolded.
“I’m not a child. I’m a thirty-year-old midget. Remember?”
Travor waited until Cassandra went into the house, then headed for the shed. He had exceptionally good night vision and saw Colleen at the end of the shed where they had piled the fresh green grass they had cut for the cow.
“If you’d rather lie in the grass than take a walk, sweetheart, it’s all right with me.”
Colleen shot past him before he could catch hold of her. She was off and running around the house. Travor knew he’d never be able to catch her, so he darted around the house in the opposite direction. They came together on the corner and both fell to the ground, with Travor rolling so that he wouldn’t fall on her.
The breath was knocked out of him, but he held on to the struggling girl. Her elbow caught him in the ribs and he grunted.
“Dammit! Be still.”
“Let go of me, you … pisspot!”
“I don’t like nasty words coming out of your pretty mouth,” he gritted angrily, turned, and pinned her beneath him.
“It’s no business of yores what I say!”
“Yes it is. Now be still and I’ll let you up.”
Suddenly she stopped struggling. “Let me up.”
“I want to kiss you.”
“Wantin’ and gettin’ is two different thin’s.”
“I won’t take it. I want you to give it to me.”
“Horse-hockey!” she sputtered. “It’ll rain silver dollars first!”
“Ouch! One just dropped on my head.”
Colleen laughed, then broke it off as she realized what she was doing.
“Too bad it wasn’t a rock the size of yore big head.”
“I’ll turn your hands loose if you put your arms around my neck.”
“I’ll put ’em at yore throat,” she snarled.
“Colleen, sweetheart. Be nice. I’ve got to leave in the morning.”
“Be nice? Ya get my back up. Why can’t ya be like Trell?”
“’Cause Trell is Trell and I’m me. Trell has always been the nice one, I’ve been the hellraiser. But I’m tired of ramming around. I want to settle down … with you.”
The weight of his body on hers was not unpleasant. She felt none of the panic she had felt when other men had grabbed her. She searched the face so close to hers. He was quietly staring down at her.
“If I kiss ya, will ya let me up?”
“I said I would and I will. But it’s nice holding you like this. You’re a soft, sweet woman, Colleen McCall.”
“Murphy.”
“Someday you’ll be Colleen McCall and I’ll hold you in my arms all night long, touch you all over, kiss you—”
“Ya think yo’re the only rooster in the henhouse, don’t ya?”
“Can you feel my heart pounding against your bosom? It’s racing like a runaway horse … because of you.”
“I thought it was the silver dollars fallin’ on yore back.”
When he laughed she could feel the movement against her breasts and the small puffs of his breath on her face.
“Thank God, I found you. Until now I’ve not been living; just existing. Now I have something to live and work for.”
“I’ve … kissed lots a fellers,” she lied. “But didn’t marry ’em.”
“Maybe. But you’ll kiss only me from now on.”
As Travor lowered his head, she lifted her lips to meet his. It was like no kiss he’d ever had before. After the first touch, her lips were as eager as his. For an endless time he held her clamped to him, desperate in his hunger to feel every inch of her.
When he realized that her arms were wrapped about his neck, joyous laughter bubbled in his throat.
“You’re more than I ever dreamed of, my darlin’ Irish Colleen,” he murmured between frantic kisses. “Sweetheart, I’ve never said these words before … not even to my blessed mother, but I’ll say them to you. I love you, darlin’ girl. I love you.” The words trailed off as his mouth traced the pattern of love on hers.
“Travor.” His name came shivering from her throat. “Please don’t say somethin’ you don’t mean. I don’t know ya and ya don’t know me. I always swore I’d never get mixed up with a triflin’ man.”
“I know you. And someday soon … I’ll know you better.” His lips moved over her face. “I want to be with you forever, live with you. Be your mate. I’ll take care of you and Granny. But I’ve got to know if you love me.” He waited in an agony of suspense for her answer.
“I … think I do. I’ve never felt like this about … anyone. I must love ya or ya wouldn’t make me so …
mad.”
Their lips caught and clung and smiled against each other. They laughed intimately, and their fingers moved over each other’s faces.
“I shaved. I was determined to kiss you and I didn’t want to scratch your pretty face.”
“How’d ya know I’d let ya?”
“I didn’t,” he whispered against her cheek. “But I hoped.”
“Why me, Travor?”
“Because I like everything about you; the way you look, your independent spirit, the way you are with me.”
“Why’d ya wink at me that day and not Jenny? We thought ya was Trell. Her feelin’s was hurt, and I was madder than a steer with its tail caught in the fence.”
“I was in the hotel across from the store and watched you load the supplies in the wagon. I couldn’t keep from lookin’ at ya. Yo’re pretty in a dress, but just as pretty in overalls.”
“Don’t … trifle with me.” Her voice quivered.
“I won’t … I’m not. I swear it on my mother’s grave.” His whispered vow brushed past her ear.
“I want to believe ya.”
“Do ya want lots of younguns? I do. Trell and I were all our folks had together. Pa had a boy before he married Ma. She had Pack before she married Pa. We’ll make beautiful babies together, sweetheart. I hope they have your eyes.”
“There won’t be a blond-headed one in the bunch.” Colleen laughed happily and stroked the inky black hair from his forehead.
Travor kissed her with hunger. Her ragged breath was trapped in her mouth by his plundering kiss. Her mouth was warm, sweet beyond imagination. His hand roamed over her, caressing every inch of her back and sides. The long fingers on one hand cupped her rounded breast while the other shaped itself over her lean buttocks and held her tightly to his aroused body.
He moved his mouth from hers and took great gulps of air.
“Colleen, sweetheart, I’d better stop while I can.”
He pulled her up. They sat with their backs to the house, his arms around her, her head on his shoulder. They talked of their hopes and dreams, shared secrets, and intimate kisses.
It was more than three hours before Travor took her to the house. They opened the door and found Granny’s chair empty.
Sweetwater Page 27
