by Judith Stacy
Ethan touched his shoulder. “Working yourself into the ground isn’t going to make up for Pa.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Jason said. He stalked outside, slamming the door behind him.
Bad enough that he’d gone and kissed Amanda Pierce, that she’d set his body on fire and sent his mind churning. Ethan didn’t have to bring up their father as well.
Jason stood on the porch of the office looking at his logging camp, his mountain. He’d bought it with his own money. He’d designed the layout of the camp and put the crew together. He’d built it himself and he was proud of it.
Ethan had come along later with the idea for the sawmill and put up the money for the new equipment. Since then they’d worked together, planned together.
For most of their lives, wherever Jason went, Ethan was seldom far behind. Ethan was only a year younger. They were closer than most brothers. That suited Jason just fine because the rest of the family was scattered. They drifted in and out of his life with an occasional letter. Thanks to their Ma and Pa.
Jason didn’t like being reminded of their father. And he sure as hell didn’t need to be reminded of how long it had been since he’d left his mountain. Miss Amanda Pierce and her kiss had done that—with predictable results.
Jason walked off the porch. He needed to get his mind on work, and off Miss Amanda Pierce. She was leaving today, anyway. And good riddance to her. Her and her brides…her sweet smell…her kiss.
Jason hiked to the skid road that led up the mountain. To his surprise he found his crew congregated there loaded down with their axes, saws, canteens and cans of pitch. The bull whackers had two teams of sixteen oxen harnessed, ready to head up the mountain. But they were all standing around talking when they should have been working already.
“What’s going on?” Jason demanded. His first thought was that there’d been an accident, someone had gotten hurt. But the men were too noisy for anything serious to have happened.
Buck Johansen, a big round-chested man, made his way from the center of the gathering. Buck was in charge of the lumberjacks. He was the boss logger, the bull of the woods, who ran the daily operation on the mountain. It was his responsibility to decide which trees to fell, how they should fall, and where cuts for logs should be made once the trees were down. There could be only one bull of the woods, and Buck was it.
“There’s talk going around,” Buck said, stopping in front of Jason. “Talk about you getting married.”
Jason’s gaze landed squarely on Duncan in the center of the crew and knew where that piece of gossip had come from.
“I’m not getting married,” Jason barked.
“But what about that pretty little lady in your office last night?” Duncan called out. “We all saw her this morning at breakfast.”
“Get to work, all of you,” Jason said, “before I dock you a day’s pay.”
A grumble went through the men, but they turned and headed up the mountain.
Buck Johansen stayed behind. “Some of the men were wondering—”
Jason cursed. “If you can’t keep these men’s minds on work I’ll find somebody who can.”
Buck just looked at him, and Jason regretted his words. Buck was one of the best, and Jason counted himself lucky to have him on his mountain. He shouldn’t have lashed out at Buck when it was really himself he was mad at.
“Look,” Jason said, softening his stance, “I’ve got no time for this kind of problem.”
Buck nodded his understanding, then gestured toward the crew hiking up the mountain. “I know. But I’ve got these men who are wondering what’s going on around here.”
“Nothing’s going on.”
“Some say maybe you ought to get married,” Buck said. “Take the edge off.”
Jason bit back a retort, then looked away because he couldn’t disagree with Buck.
“I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Jason said. “This deal I’m waiting to hear on, for one.”
“There’s been deals before.”
Jason pulled on his neck. “Keep the men working. Keep their minds on their jobs. I don’t want anybody getting hurt today.”
Buck hesitated a moment, then nodded and headed up the road behind the men.
Most days Jason would have gone up with them. Today, though, he stood where he was, looking at the towering trees, feeling the early morning sun on his face, and decided not to go up yet. He had some business to attend to in camp.
Jason hiked over to the sawmill. Work was underway on the logs that had come down from the two sections of the mountain his men were working. About half floated down river to the millpond, and the rest were dragged down the skid road by teams of oxen.
Just outside the sawmill, a conveyor belt brought logs out of the millpond with the help of the river pigs, the sure-footed loggers who leapt from log to log guiding them and breaking up jams.
Inside the sawmill a steam engine powered the band saw that cut through the massive logs. Two men rode the carriage back and forth, holding the log in place with a series of levers. Another crew of men stacked the cut lumber and prepared it for shipment down the mountain.
Ethan was busy overseeing the work. Jason waved to him. They walked outside, away from the relentless whine of the saw.
“Talk to Shady before he heads down to Beaumont today,” Jason said. “Be sure he checks the mail while he’s there.”
“Shady knows we’re looking for that packet from San Bernardino,” Ethan said. “He won’t head home until he’s checked on it.”
“Remind him, just the same.”
“Don’t know if I can.”
Jason’s brows drew together. “He’s left already?”
“Does that bother you?” Ethan grinned. “Maybe you’re sorry to see Miss Pierce leave after all.”
“You see? This is what I’m talking about.” Jason threw out both hands. “A woman—one single woman—shows up in camp and the whole place is thrown into an uproar.”
“Seems like you’re the one in an uproar,” Ethan said. “Everybody else is doing fine.”
Jason grumbled under his breath and stalked away.
There was nothing like a brisk walk to take the edge off of one’s emotions, Amanda decided as she made her way toward town. Particularly a walk over a road as rough as this one, where a lady might easily fall on her bustle and embarrass herself in front of anyone and everyone passing by.
Amanda stopped and caught her breath. Which was worse? Being embarrassed by total strangers, or being embarrassed by the two Kruger brothers?
One of whom she’d kissed. Hard. On the mouth. With her lips opened.
Amanda’s cheeks flamed again, churning up her emotions once more. At this rate she’d have to hike all the way to Beaumont to burn off the sting of that memory. Such wanton behavior. What had possessed her to do such a thing?
Jason Kruger. Amanda was tempted to curse aloud. The words burned her tongue. Jason had caused her to act in such an unladylike fashion.
He was no gentleman, she decided. A gentleman didn’t have big hulking muscles. A rock-hard chest. A hot mouth. A gentleman didn’t lock a lady in his arms and pull their bodies together so that they touched. He didn’t allow a lady to feel his thighs, his belly, his—
Amanda gasped aloud, and plastered her fingers to her lips. She glanced around quickly. A man she didn’t recognize sauntered toward the animal pens on the other side of camp.
Had he seen her? Did he suspect what she’d been thinking? Not to mention what she’d been doing.
Amanda hiked up her skirt and hurried toward town.
She was short-winded by the time she reached Meg’s house and went inside. One of the ways Meg made money to feed herself and Todd was by doing mending for the loggers. She was hard at work sewing on missing buttons, closing ripped seams and patching holes when Amanda sat down on the settee.
“Has Shady come by?” Amanda asked.
Meg lowered the worn shirt. “Does this mean Jason tur
ned you down again?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Even after you explained about your brides?”
Even after she’d kissed him.
Amanda shifted on the settee, anxious to change the subject. “If you won’t let me pay you for a night’s lodging, the least I can do is help with your mending.”
“Don’t be silly,” Meg insisted. “I was glad to have you here. You can’t imagine how lonely this mountain gets without another woman to talk to.”
They spent the next several hours working their way to the bottom of the mending basket. Meg talked nonstop, and Amanda realized that she was indeed lonely for female conversation. Her heart sank a little. Another reason she was sorry to leave with her mission unfulfilled.
“Gracious, it’s late.” Amanda looked out the window and saw that the sun was high overhead now. “I can’t imagine where Shady is.”
“Shady operates on a timetable of his own,” Meg said.
“Maybe I should look for him.” She didn’t want to wait until it was too late to go down the mountain and risk not finding a hotel room in Beaumont.
“The crews will be down from the mountain soon to eat,” Meg said. “The smell of the food will draw Shady out, if nothing else.”
“I think I’ll go look for him,” Amanda said. She pinned her hat in place, and headed out the door.
Though she tried to resist, her gaze turned to Jason’s office just down the road. A strange quivering sensation passed through Amanda. Her lips twitched suddenly at the memory of the kiss they’d shared. Why couldn’t she forget?
Amanda turned quickly and walked the other way.
By the time she reached the barber shop in town, Amanda had decided it was simply this place that made her act so wanton in Jason’s office. The isolation. The wild, rugged mountain. The lack of anything resembling the civility of the city.
After all, what else could it be?
Amanda strolled through the town. It seemed to have grown up on the edge of the logging camp as an afterthought. There was no boardwalk in front of the few businesses that were open. Most of their trade came from the loggers, Amanda guessed, because only a few patrons were on the street.
The town had a temporary feel to it. The buildings looked hastily thrown together with little concern for appearance or appeal. There was debris and clutter outside the stores as if the owners had no one to impress but the loggers, and the loggers weren’t there to be impressed.
It was all so different from the shops she was used to. The magnificent stores, restaurants, the streets crowded with carriages and people. Amanda hadn’t expected this place to look like San Francisco, but still….
After peering into shop windows and down tiny alleyways, Amanda didn’t find Shady. She sighed and headed out of town. Shady knew he had to take her down to Beaumont and would find her soon enough. Maybe Meg was right, that he’d come for her after he’d eaten. She’d get her things together and wait at Meg’s house until he arrived.
A shudder passed through her so violently she stopped dead in her tracks. Her satchel. She’d left her satchel in Jason Kruger’s office.
Amanda pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking hard about what to do. She had to get it back, of course. She couldn’t possibly leave it.
Meg had told her this morning that Jason usually went up to the mountain with the logging crews, so it was probably safe to go to his office and retrieve her satchel. Probably.
Amanda drew in a heavy breath and started walking again. How did she keep ending up in so many awkward situations on this mountain?
Amanda knocked on the closed office door hoping she’d get no response. She glanced around. This part of the camp was nearly deserted during the day. She heard the whine of the sawmill in the distance.
She knocked again, then opened the door and stepped inside. No one was there.
When she’d been in the office before she’d noticed little more than Jason himself. He seemed to take up the entire room.
Now she had a chance to look the place over. Jason’s desk and another one, presumably Ethan’s, sat at right angles, with Jason’s facing the door. Maps and charts were tacked to the wall. Ledgers, papers, more maps and charts were stacked haphazardly on the desktops and on shelves. Sawdust had been tracked across the floor.
The office was still. Amanda walked through the room. She touched the ledgers, flipped one open and saw heavy, straight figures entered in neat columns. She ran her hand over the back of Jason’s chair, felt the smooth grain of the wood. On his desk a technical journal lay open.
For all his faults—and Amanda had counted many—Jason Kruger had to be admired for what he’d accomplished. When she first received the letter requesting one of her brides, the letter she’d thought came from Jason, she’d asked around.
Logging was backbreaking work, she’d learned, requiring tireless energy and strength. New, inventive techniques had to be devised to get the huge trees out of the forests. The size of the trees here in these woods presented problems unheard of by loggers on the east coast. She’d been told that any man who could harvest the big trees in the Sierra Nevada would find fortune greater than the West’s silver and gold.
Amanda sighed in the silent office. Too bad Jason didn’t want to share that wealth with anyone. Or that life. She picked up her satchel where she’d left it beside his desk and headed for the door.
It swung open as she reached for it. The doorway filled with Jason Kruger. Amanda reeled back.
He stopped short, as stunned as she by the unexpected meeting. They both stared. The room shrank again, closing in on Amanda, robbing her of an easy breath.
“I thought you’d gone,” Jason said.
“I—I left my satchel.” She hefted it higher, offering it as evidence that she was still here for a good reason. “And I’ll be leaving shortly.”
He stood in the doorway, blocking her way. “Just as long as you understand that this brides notion is over with.”
“What I understand, Mr. Kruger, is that you’re a stubborn man.” Amanda nearly gasped aloud when she heard the words slip through her lips. Good gracious, she’d called him another name. What came over her when she got around this man?
“Stubborn? Me?” Jason stepped inside and pushed the door shut. “You’re the most hardheaded woman I’ve ever met. And pushy, too.”
“Pushy!”
“Yeah, pushy. You keep sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong and isn’t wanted.”
Amanda drew herself up to her greatest height, though it was woefully short of his. “Somebody on this mountain wrote that letter to me, Mr. Kruger. Somebody wants brides up here. You’d better face that fact.”
He pointed his finger at her. “I can tell you this, Miss Pierce, when I find out who wrote that letter I’m going to fire that man so fast he won’t know what hit him.”
“Oh! You pigheaded man!” Amanda jerked her chin. “Don’t worry. I’m leaving for good. I won’t be back, and you’ll never hear from me again. You’ll have your precious mountain all to yourself. I hope it keeps you warm at night.”
A little mewl slipped from Amanda’s lips as she realized what she’d said. Her gaze locked with Jason’s. He gulped.
They both stood motionless for a long moment, visions of heating up the nights on the mountain spinning between them.
Jason inched forward. Amanda backed up. He had that same fiery look in his eye he’d had earlier when he’d kissed her. Was he going to kiss her again? Should she let him?
Jason stopped. Amanda stepped toward him.
The door burst open behind them and a breathless young man rushed into the room.
“Mr. Kruger! Mr. Kruger!” The tall, skinny boy pressed one hand to his heaving chest.
Jason caught his arm. “What’s wrong with you, boy?”
“My pa…my pa’s the postmaster down in Beaumont. He said you’d been expecting this.” The boy waved a large, rumpled envelope. “He told me to get up the mountain
with it right away. I rode fast as I could.”
Jason pulled the envelope from the boy’s hand. “Go get my brother. He’s at the sawmill.”
“Yes, sir.” Chest still heaving, the boy ran out the door.
Jason tore the envelope open and yanked out its contents. He scanned it, then clenched his fist. A smile bloomed on his face. Not a grin or a snicker, but a genuine smile so wide it showed his teeth.
He whirled toward Amanda. “I got it!”
His happiness overwhelmed her. She smiled, too, infused with his enthusiasm.
“Got what?”
“The contract!” He shoved the thick packet of papers toward her.
“That’s wonderful!” She had no idea what the contract was for or what it meant, but she couldn’t hold herself back in the face of his excitement. “What sort of contract?”
He eased beside her, pointing to the papers. “It’s from the Santa Fe railroad down in San Bernardino. They’re expanding. They need cross-ties. Do you know what kind of trees make the best cross-ties?”
Amanda shook her head quickly. “No.”
“Douglas fir. And do you know what kind of trees I’ve got all over this mountain?”
“Douglas fir?”
“Douglas fir!” Jason threw back his head and howled with delight. He shook the contract at Amanda again. “See this? An order in writing. A big order. Do you know what this means?”
She could only guess. “You’ll make lots of money?”
“Not just that.” Jason shook his head slowly and gazed down at her. “The railroad doesn’t deal with just anybody who comes down the pike. This means respectability, Amanda.”
He’d never used her first name before, and the word flew like an arrow straight through her chest. Amanda put her hand on his arm. “Oh, Jason. That’s wonderful.”
He looked down at her delicate fingers clutching his arm, then lifted his gaze to her face. “Nothing can stop me now, Amanda. Nothing.”
“Nothing should stop you….”
Jason lowered his head toward her.
“Mr. Kruger! Mr. Kruger!”
The messenger boy from Beaumont charged into the room again, panting worse than when he’d left.
