Kell peeled her arms from around his neck, wincing at the twinge of pain in his shoulder. It reminded him that a little rest would do him a world of good. And he swallowed a comment about what he thought of the state of marriage.
Nibbling on her lower lip, Charity backed up. “Kell, you won’t hold it against him for stealing your whiskey?”
“Jessup cleared himself when he brought it all back. Why do you women think that men need you to oversee everything? We can tend to business without your interference.”
“Because,” Daisy answered, “Aunt Hortense said we had to learn to manage men.”
“Outside the bedroom,” Blossom added, to the laughter of the other doves.
Daisy took one look at the scowl on Kell’s face, then glanced at Ruby. At her slight nod, she added, “If you had to ask such a question, Kell, pity the woman you marry. She’ll have her hands full. Or maybe it’ll be the other way around.”
Kell studied the toes of his boots. He would like nothing better than to fill his hands with Annie’s sweet body. He even wanted, no, needed, Annie’s hands on him. There lay the danger. He resigned himself to this state of permanent aching while hearing what the rest had to say.
“Is it true that you’re gonna sell the dress shop?” Blossom wanted to know.
“Emmaline signed it over to me. Bronc wanted me to have the money, but I don’t need it. I planned to give each one of you a share. Charity can have hers for a wedding—”
“No. I mean yes, I want a share. But Jessup and I want to buy this place outside of town. We’re gonna be ranchers.” She looked at Blossom. “Tell him.”
“I want the dress shop, Kell.”
He looked at Blossom’s serious expression, then at each of the doves in turn. “Annie put you up to this, didn’t she? Don’t bother denying it. I can smell the conniving witch’s hand in this.”
“Will you help me, Kell?” Blossom had come forward, but she stopped. She had used up her store of courage.
“You want that shop, I’ll give it to you. But you—”
“I don’t want it. I’ll pay you for it.”
“Listen to me!” Kell came away from the wall, close enough to grab hold of Blossom’s arms. He wasn’t hurting her, but he gave her a little shake to catch her attention. “It’s not up to me alone. You’ve got the women in this town, who are the narrowest-minded bunch of biddies you’ll ever run up against.” Kell let her go. “Do you understand? They won’t care if you can sew. Those women will hold your past against you. I don’t like it, but face the truth before you get dreamy-eyed with a head full of foolish notions.”
With a glint of tears in her eyes, Blossom shook her head. “Poor Kell. You’re the one who’s got no understandin’. I’ll be havin’ Annie on my side.”
All Kell could envision was Annie embroiled in getting everyone’s life settled while he was made to wait. Wait? He was going to hang around Loving that long? He saw the doves walk past him and out the door. Pockets remained seated at the piano, picking out a few mournful notes. He didn’t even look up when Kell let a string of curses fall.
For once without his half-chewed cigar, Pockets allowed Kell to finish. “Annie would have tossed you out if she had heard you. But, Kell, you’ve got a lot to learn about that woman.”
“You’re likely right. But you can’t believe that Annie can make the world right for everyone. She’ll try, of that I’ve no doubt. And probably make some man gray worrying over her. But she can’t make the townspeople accept the doves as respectable women.”
“Maybe your Annie can’t do it alone, but between her and Hortense they’ll sure give it a try. May have a little hell to pay, but my money’s on them.” He laughed until tears filled his eyes.
Kell stood there, wondering why he did. Crazy. Pockets was crazy. The whole boardinghouse was filled with people who were crazy. He knew that for a fact, for he had come to count himself as one of them. And it was all Annie’s fault.
He groaned. He didn’t want to think about Annie.
“You know, Kell, Hortense is a fine woman. She carries a nice tune, and she don’t mind a man having a nip or two. Joins me now and again. I’m not so old I can’t appreciate a good woman. Man needs someone to care about him.”
“I suppose the next thing you’ll be telling me is that you want to marry her? God’s earth, Pockets, I counted on you.”
“Still can. But I’m not marrying Hortense. ’Course, living in a town called Loving could make a man change his mind. Figure there might be something in the well water?”
“If there is, I’ll be sure not to make any whiskey here. It’s liable to infect the whole damn county.”
Pockets took pity on Kell’s glazed eyes, the distracted way he ran one hand through his hair, and the shadows beneath his eyes. “A last word. Don’t let them keep you away from Annie. I have it from good authority that she misses you.”
Kell couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. But as he crossed the lobby to the stairs, the front door opened. He recognized the drummer who had made his Annie laugh when she served him lunch for a few weeks ago.
“Sorry, we’re full up. Can’t have a room here. Can’t even get a meal here,” he announced, advancing on the poor man, who’d barely gotten inside. “The Cozy Rest no longer caters to single men.”
“But I’ve always stayed—”
“Not anymore.”
The drummer took one more look at the warning glint in the man’s eyes and backed out the door.
Kell brushed his hands together. “One down and the good Lord knows how many more to go.”
What was Annie going to do without someone around to watch out for her? It wasn’t his problem. Then why, he asked himself, was he hanging around here? Could he really walk away from her? Never tease her again? Never see sparkling challenge in her eyes? Never taste that luscious sweet mouth that gave him as much pleasure as any man had ever desired?
Foolishness. Kell started for the stairs, made it halfway up, and turned around to go back down. He stared at the counter, remembering the day she hid behind it to avoid seeing him. That only led him to recall the reason why—those first charming kisses, the breathless way she said his name, those sweet little sounds that made his blood race.
What sane man wanted a woman who liked lemons? Did he want to spend the rest of his life educating Annie that pleasure wasn’t sinful?
No. He had better things to do with his time, with his life.
Like what?
Kell thought about that. North of Loving, the Indian lands had been opened to settlers. It was a big territory worth exploring. A man of his talents, along with the stake he’d have from selling the saloon, could wander at will. He wouldn’t have a worry. He wouldn’t be saddled with anyone. It was a life he was comfortable with, even happy with, wasn’t he? He liked being alone just fine.
Despite what Pocket said, Annie didn’t need him. Not once in the last few days had she made any effort to see him, send for him. He had no use for the corset contingent that would likely interfere with his life if he stayed here. Those women would be the cause of a running battle with Annie. A man couldn’t sentence himself to living with that.
He didn’t need their approval. Didn’t want it. Why should it matter to him if Annie turned out just like them?
Oh, what a waste!
But Annie wouldn’t be wasted. Some man would come along, like that damn drummer, and Annie—No! He’d be damned if some other man was going to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
And it was labor to seduce her. The result was the most pleasurable, intense lovemaking he’d ever had. He didn’t need to wrap it up pretty in his mind.
But Kell was lying to himself and that admission had him sitting down on the step—hard. What he shared with Annie had been more. No matter how he tried to run from the truth—it was still there.
He was running scared from commitment. From the forever kind of promises that a woman like Annie needed—and
what’s more, deserved.
He was running from … say it, even to yourself … love.
What if he couldn’t love Annie enough? What did he have to offer her?
Closing his eyes, Kell leaned his head against the banister. He couldn’t answer the questions by himself. Only Annie could. All he had to do was ask her. He’d never lacked courage.
“Are you sure this is working?” Annie asked the doves in her room. “It’s been five days.”
“Annie,” Charity said, “he’s just like a mustang that’s been corraled for the first time. Kell’s testing his fences, and when he sees them holding firm, he’ll settle down.”
“Yeah,” Ruby added with laughter in her voice. “He’s roped and still lunging, but that wildness’ll be gone quick.”
“I rather like his wildness.” Annie plucked at the quilt. She felt fine and hated this enforced bed stay, but everyone insisted that if she wanted Kell, she had to stay away from him.
“What if you’re all wrong?” she asked when the waiting stretched and tension grew unbearable. “What if he leaves? I—”
The door flew open and Kell filled the doorway. The doves instantly arranged themselves in a line hiding Annie and her bed from his view.
“Out,” he grated from between clenched teeth. “I won’t even bother to count. Just leave. I’m going to talk to Annie.”
As one, the five women turned to look at Annie. “Is that what you want, Annie?” they chorused.
“Yes. Lord, yes.”
“He’s in a fine temper, by the look of him,” Blossom warned, before she stepped away from the bed and started for the door.
Kell stepped aside, glaring at each one as she slipped past him. He closed the door and locked it, then pocketed the key. Turning to Annie, he said, “I’ve come to a decision.”
Annie fussed with the ruffles on her blue bed jacket. She yearned to have it be the decision that would keep them together.
The sharp raps on the door made Kell spin around with a black scowl. “Your aunt,” he announced.
“Kellian, open this door at once. You can’t lock the door. You can’t be alone with my niece.”
“She’s upset, Kell.”
Still facing the door, Kell agreed with Annie, then added, “Don’t worry, I have the right answers for her.”
“You do? She’ll want to know your intentions, Kell, but you haven’t even told them to me.”
“Well, if everybody would leave me the hell alone with you for ten minutes maybe I could get around to it. You hear that, Aunt Hortense?”
“Annie Charlotte, I demand that you open this door! I will not have a room locked to me in my house.”
Kell stripped off his shirt, smiling at Annie’s gasp.
Since his back was toward her Annie made a few hurried moves of her own, then prompted him. “So talk to me.”
He turned around and found his breath caught somewhere in his chest. Annie sat up in bed, clutching the sheet up to her chin. He leaned against the door, ignoring Hortense’s muttering, needing the solid wood to keep him standing. The soft light filtering through the lace curtains played over the white sheet, Annie’s bright blue eyes and the length of her copper-gold hair the only splash of color. She had a sassy mouth, was prickly as a hedgehog, and likely would keep his life constantly upside down and inside out—and enjoy doing it to him.
But she loved him. Annie brought him laughter. She smoothed all the hard edges with her goodness. And he could no longer deny that she had the makings of a pleasure-lovin’ woman. Yet, when he spoke, he said none of these things to her.
“You know I’ll take care of you.”
“I never asked you for that, Kell.”
“Well, you’ve got it. Don’t be such a contrary woman, Annie. Your aunt and the rest of them are probably pressing their ears against the door so as not to miss a word.”
“All right,” she conceded. Annie heaved a sigh, wishing he would just come close enough to hold her. Then this ache of loneliness would leave. He would kiss her, and—No, no. She had to give him his chance to say what he had to.
“But, Kell, I promise to take care of you, too.”
“I’ve never proposed to a woman before.”
Her eyes sparkled, and her smile deepened as she watched his nervous move to smooth back his hair. “You cannot imagine how that pleases me, Kell. I like being first in something with you.”
“That’s not all I’ve got to say.” Glancing at the seam between door and jamb, he leaned close. “Are you all hearing this?”
A smothered giggle that could only have been Cammy’s came in answer. Facing Annie, he warned, “We’ve got lots of witnesses. But sure of what you say, darlin’. I won’t let you take back one word.”
The graceful power of his muscular body unsettled her. Annie looked up and found him watching her with a heated gleam in his eyes. She lost track of what he had said, lost all the well-meaning advice she had been given. She loved Kell so much, her heart filled with the sheer joy of it.
“I love you, Kell.”
Hearing those words again tested Kell’s strength of will. Only by exerting force did he stop himself from going to her. If he touched Annie, if he kissed her now, the world could go to hell in a handbasket. Tempted as he was to do just that, for his own sake he had to say his piece.
“I’m not going to change my ways. Even if you think they’re sinful. But I’ll never want another woman. And that’s a promise. Since you say you love me, I’ll take that as an unqualified yes, Annie.”
“But you haven’t asked the question.”
“What the devil do you think I’ve been saying? You’re going to marry me, right? Lord knows you went to enough trouble to bring me to my knees. Hiding away in here, conspiring with all of them to keep me away from you.”
“Yes, Kell.”
“And another thing—Yes? You said yes?”
“Yes. I’ll marry you, Kell.” Annie raised her voice and repeated it again for the benefit of those waiting out in the hall. Moments of shuffling and laughter ended, and she knew they were finally alone. “They all heard me, so you can’t take back your proposal, Kell. And you should know that I don’t want to change you.”
“You don’t?” Kell shook his head. Annie kept him unbalanced. Had from the first. Every time he thought he had her figured out, she disabused him of his notions about good women.
“Maybe you don’t see the changes you make all by yourself. Offering to help build the church is one.”
“Don’t go getting any ideas about that, Annie. I just felt that I—well, it was just something to help out, that’s all.”
“I’ve missed you terribly, Kell,” Annie whispered.
The same longing that was inside him was there in her voice. Her eyes held all the passionate warmth that he knew he would find in her arms. “Hungry, Annie?”
“Oh, yes, Kell. Till I ache.”
“You’re going to rest today, and let me, only me, take care of you?”
“Resting isn’t what I had in mind, but I’ll agree to you taking care of me. My wound is nearly healed. And, Kell, I’ve been … restless. Now, don’t you think we’ve done enough talking?”
“I’ve only been waiting for an invitation.”
“You don’t need one.” Annie’s laugh was husky with all the desire that rose as Kell’s hands moved to his pants buttons. She shifted her body beneath the sheet, turning slowly to face him. “With all this enforced rest, I’m ready for anything.”
“That sassy mouth is gonna get you in trouble, Annie.”
She met the blaze in his eyes with one in her own. “It already has. But there’s a sinful, sweet-talkin’ seducer who promised to educate me on how to handle trouble.”
Kell kicked off his boots and shucked off his pants. “I’m glad to hear you remember that. And he’s the only one who’ll do your educatin’. Ah, Annie, I sure do like you prone and biddable.”
Having her own words returned only made her smile deepen. Very deliberately, Annie lowered the sheet. She loved the way Kell hesitated with one knee on the edge of the bed, momentarily flustered by her boldness. It was gone too quickly, replaced by a look so dark and heated that a shiver of anticipation raised her desire and love for him to a new high.
“You made some promises, Kell. Like the one to take care of me. I’m very hungry.”
“I’ll satisfy you, Annie. In every way.” The bright look in her eyes wasn’t passion alone; love was there, and it wedged open the door to his heart. “I love you, Annie.”
“That’s all I’ve ever really wanted.” She kicked aside the sheet and welcomed him into her arms.
“Lord,” Kell whispered, cherishing her love, “if you sent me a pleasure-lovin’ woman like Annie to make me pay for my sins, I’m gonna die a happy man.”
Epilogue
After a week of rain, the sunlight flooding through the lace curtains announced that spring had finally arrived in Loving. Annie, rushing to get dressed this Sunday morning, paused a moment as the gold band on her finger was caught in a stream of sunshine. The man who had once offered her a choice between himself and a noose had placed this symbol of his love on her finger. She never tired of looking at it, just as she never tired of loving Kell.
For the past seven months she had been Mrs. Kellian York, but not the only bride in Loving. Charity had wed Jessup first, then she and Kell had spoken their vows. Fawn, after Annie made sure she understood and Li had done a great deal of talking, had married him this past winter. They were so in love with each other that no one could look at them and not feel a part of their happiness. Fawn’s silence didn’t matter to Li, although he had confessed that he had not given up hope that it would someday be ended.
Just last week, they all attended Ruby’s wedding to Denley Wallace. The wealthy rancher had invited the whole town to the day-long celebration of their marriage. Ruby certainly had not let any grass grow under her high heels once Laine had left. She had set her cap and those long legs of hers toward catching Denley. There were even hints that another proposal might be coming any day now; Kell’s new barkeep had been walking out with Cammy every evening this week.
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