Careful not to disturb Nathan, she rose to her feet. She couldn’t resist the need.
Jake tensed when she laid cool fingers on his shoulder. “Is there anything I can do to help?” She kept her voice low so she didn’t wake her brother.
“How’s Nathan?”
“He’s resting.” She glanced back. “I’m waiting for him to wake up again so I can yell at him for going into that cave in the first place.”
“If he has any idea what you’re planning, he might sleep straight through to next week.”
Rachel gave Jake a stern look, one her students knew meant she didn’t find their antics humorous, but his teasing grin was contagious. Giving up, she agreed. “I don’t know that I would blame him if he did. Why would he go into that old mine? He knows it’s dangerous.”
Abby poured water into the washbowl and reached for the lye soap. “Knowing you shouldn’t do something never stopped any boy I know of.” With efficient motions, she washed out the bloody rags she’d used on Jake, then scrubbed her hands.
The door opened and Hank blew in with the cold wind. “The animals are settled for the night. How’s our little prospector?”
“I’m fine.”
All four adults turned at the sound of Nathan’s voice. Rachel sank to her knees beside him. “You should be sleeping.”
“I’m sorry, Sis.”
“I know that.”
“I didn’t mean to go in so far, but I was really mad about...” He hesitated, glancing at the others in the room.
“We’ll discuss it when you’re feeling better.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Abby stood by Nathan’s feet and held up her right hand where he could see it.
“Three. Why?”
The older woman’s face split wide open on a grin. “Sassy. That’s a real good sign. You’re going to be fine.” Abby turned to Jake and Hank. “We ought to be going. They both need rest.”
“I’m staying.” Jake crossed his arms over his wide chest.
Rachel started to protest, but couldn’t force the words out. She was so relieved that he would be nearby, she felt almost faint.
Abby didn’t have any problem speaking up, however. “I’m not sure how the folks in town will feel about that.”
“I don’t really care. But it isn’t only my decision.” Jake turned to Rachel. “If you want me to go, I will.”
She considered sending him away, but she couldn’t say the words. She wanted him here, no matter what the citizens of Lucinda would think. “I would be obliged if you would stay with me.” Belatedly, she realized how that must have sounded to Abby and Hank. “With Nathan, I mean. I don’t think I can manage him on my own just yet. Abby, you could stay, too.”
“No, these old bones need their rest.” Abby let Hank help her with her cloak. “You’ll do fine with Jake. And Lucinda Miller can just screech and croak all she wants. Not too much more she can do to you now, anyway.”
Rachel felt sick to her stomach. Abby was right. The people in this town had made up their minds and nothing she could do would change that.
Abby hugged Rachel close, giving her a few last instructions about Nathan before Hank escorted Abby toward town. Jake barred the door for the night.
Nathan drifted into a restless sleep thanks to the small amount of laudanum Abby had given him. Blankets surrounded his injured leg to keep him from moving too much. When Rachel straightened from tucking him in, Jake was there with a glass of whiskey. He pulled the rocking chair close to the stove. Urging her into the chair, he stood over her as she sipped the fiery liquid and dissolved into a fit of coughing.
“At least there’s some color in your cheeks now.”
She gasped for breath. “I thought this stuff made you feel better.”
“Only after it makes you feel worse. Try a little more.”
Her second sip wasn’t as bad, and by the third, warmth spread through her.
“Feeling better?”
“I think I’m beginning to.”
“Good.” He sat on his heels in front of her. “Now, tell me what the hell Abby meant.”
Tears filled her eyes before she could stop them. “None of the children came to school this morning.” Her breath caught and a sob escaped. Jake wiped away each tear as it spilled onto her cheeks. It felt good to cry, to have someone to share her fears with. After a halting start, her story poured out.
“They think I’m like my mother, but I’m not.”
“Do they know your mother?”
“How could they? She died in El Paso years ago.”
“Then why do they think you favor her?”
“I look like her. We both do.” She glanced toward Nathan. “But that isn’t what I mean.”
Jake lifted her from the rocker, took her place and settled her into his lap. Rachel stiffened. He snagged a blanket and wrapped her in it, tucking it between them. Her breath backed up as he skimmed past her hips to her knees, but he didn’t stop until she sat cocooned in soft wool. For a moment, she tried to hold herself away from him, but he wrapped one arm around her and coaxed her head onto his shoulder. He was so warm. Her objections melted away and she leaned into him.
“Now start from the beginning.”
“I—I don’t remember all of it. I come from El Paso. My mother was a...” Rachel took a deep breath and hurried through the words. “A soiled dove, a...”
“I understand.”
She looked away as the painful memory of discovering how her mother supported them returned. “Mama never told me who my father is. We lived in a tiny, one-room shack that was falling down around us, at the very end of Utah Street, where lots of women like Mama lived.”
Jake nodded. “I know the area.”
Rachel looked into Jake’s eyes, expecting pity or disgust, but all she saw was him. His calm acceptance of her story gave her the courage to continue.
“The other ladies helped care for me at night, taking turns when they finished with clients. Since they all worked earlier, Mama had to take care of me until late at night. That meant she got all the drunks, the mean ones who none of the other ladies would allow near.”
Jake squeezed her should in sympathy. “That’s no way to live.”
“Maybe not,” Rachel agreed. “But it was all I knew. I wasn’t unhappy. I had lots of surrogate mothers who spoiled me terribly. It was normal, at least to me, and everything was fine until...”
“One of the men was too mean.”
She nodded and bit back another sob. “Mama had given birth to Nathan not two weeks before. Some of the women told her it was too soon to go back to work, but we needed to eat. I offered to find a job, but she didn’t want me to go anywhere alone. I didn’t understand why, so one morning, while she was still sleeping, I slipped away. I made it to the business district without too much difficulty, but no one would hire a girl with no experience or references.
“I remember being very tired from walking all day. It was almost dark when I got home. Mama saw me coming and I could tell she was upset. I was so close I could almost smell the powder she’d used on my baby brother.”
She shook with remembered fear and Jake convinced her to drink another sip of whiskey.
“I expected her to be angry, but she looked frightened. Then this huge hand grabbed me from behind. I was so terrified I couldn’t even fight. I don’t recall much of what happened. I remember he wore a big ring that dug into my ribs.” Her fingers rubbed at the remembered pain. “And his hair, his long blond hair.” Her voiced shook as the memories took over. “It got in my nose and my mouth when he dragged me against his body.”
Jake stiffened, but he didn’t interrupt.
“Mama flew at him, hitting and scratching him in the face until he let me go. She screamed at me to get away, to take Nathan and run, so I did. I ran and ran, out into the desert behind our house. I hid in the rocks, holding Nathan and trying to block out my mother’s screams. I h-heard the gunshot. The one that killed her. I’ll nev
er forget that sound or the silence that followed it.” She swallowed the sick feeling in her throat. “I hate guns.”
Rachel was grateful for Jake’s presence. Some of the memories were too horrible to relive alone.
“By the time I came back, they’d taken Mama’s body away. He killed her because I ran.”
He brushed at the tears running down her face. “Shhh, pretty girl. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have stopped him even if you’d stayed.”
She dragged in a shuddering breath. “There was so much blood. On the floor, on the bed, splattered everywhere. She fought hard to live. But he was too strong.”
Jake held Rachel while she sobbed out her fear and guilt, all the grief of a long ago night. He murmured words of comfort, rocking back and forth until she could pick up the story again.
“I didn’t know where to go. I couldn’t stay because the man Mama worked for put another girl in the shack before the paint they’d used to cover the blood was dry. So I took what I could carry, the pittance Mama had saved, and Nathan and I left El Paso for good.”
Jake kissed her on the forehead, comforting her. “You must have been scared, being alone and nearly broke, with an infant. Where did you go?”
“I had precious few skills. I signed on to help a family on a wagon train going north to Colorado, but a few days out Mrs. Mahoney decided she didn’t like the way I made coffee. When a traveling missionary couple happened by, I hired on with them.”
“The preacher?”
She nodded. “The Right Reverend Matthias Hudson and his dutiful wife, Eleanor. They didn’t have children. Eleanor desperately wanted a baby and Nathan seemed like a gift from heaven. I was...I was an additional laborer in the fight to save souls in the untamed west.”
She twisted her hands in her lap, not sure how much more she wanted to tell him. Jake stilled her nervous movements with his own hand.
“It must have been hard for you.”
Rachel shook her head, wanting him to understand. “It wasn’t all bad, really. I learned to read and write. We usually had enough to eat and the people we met along the way took us in if the weather turned too bad.”
“Did they mistreat you and Nathan?”
“No. Reverend Hudson didn’t spare the rod if he felt we deserved it, but, no, we weren’t mistreated.”
“He whipped you?”
Rachel looked up, surprised at the anger in his voice. “If I’d done something to warrant punishment, yes.”
“I can’t abide a man who strikes a woman, no matter the reason.” Jake stared into her eyes for a long, silent moment. “Besides, I can’t imagine you doing anything wrong.”
Her laughter hummed between them, bringing her alive everywhere their bodies touched.
“I wasn’t a saint, if that’s what you mean. But I was careful not to cause too much trouble. I didn’t want them to send me away from my brother.”
“They wouldn’t have done that.”
“I was never certain. I didn’t feel welcome, that I was truly a part of their family, like...”
“Like Nathan,” he finished for her.
Jake brushed his cheek on her hair and kissed her forehead again. Rachel shifted in his lap and felt his body harden. She froze, not sure what to do. Jake decided for her. He reached up and removed the pins that held her hair in place, dropping them one by one to the floor. She looked up, intending to tell him to stop, but the utter concentration in his eyes stopped her. No one had ever looked at her like that. Still, what they were doing was wrong.
“Jake...”
He hushed her protest with a finger on her lips. When the last pin was out, he raked his fingers through the heavy mass igniting tiny flames of pleasure along her skin.
What was he doing to her? She felt things she didn’t know were possible. Rachel knew she should resist, but he kept smoothing the length of her hair, urging her closer to his warmth. Giving in to the unfamiliar need burning through her, she leaned into him. She’d wanted to kiss him since the moment she’d looked at him, stretched out on her floor. Throwing years of teaching to the wind, she snuggled into his arms and met his lips with her own.
•♥•
Jake could barely control the heat that raced through his blood. Her response to every kiss, every touch, wasn’t that of an inexperienced girl. She showed the passion of one who knew what happened between a man and woman. Logic burned away in the fire she started, concern about brother or son went up in smoke. There was only Rachel.
Jake wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, warming and caressing her at the same time. When she pressed against the touch, he bent his head and traced the edge of one ear with his tongue, nipping at the lobe when he got there. Her gasp of surprise was quickly smothered beneath his mouth. Coaxing her with kisses, he never gave her a chance to resist.
Using all his experience, he drew her to the edge with him, until she was as caught up in the needing as he was. When he finally lifted his head, her eyes held a dazed look that filled him with satisfaction and more than a little pride.
“What—”
He stopped her question with another kiss. Desperate to feel her skin, he rose from the chair with her in his arms. He only paused long enough to snag a candle before he carried her upstairs to the little attic room.
“Nathan—”
“He’s fine.” Jake covered her lips with his own, nipping at the corners until she stopped trying to talk. He set the candle on the floor at the top of the stairs but didn’t stop. Ducking to avoid the low ceiling, he crossed the small space and lowered Rachel to the mattress near the chimney, following her down. A groan rumbled from deep in his chest when he felt her stretched out beneath him. He couldn’t remember ever needing this much. Returning to her mouth, his tongue resumed the dance with hers until they were both breathless.
“What are you doing to me? I feel—”
“That’s right, pretty girl. Just feel. Feel how much I want you.” He rolled over her, letting his hips settle into the cradle of hers. The fit was perfect, better than ever before. Searching for more of her to taste, Jake unwrapped the blanket from her body and drew the hem of her gown up, inch by inch. Rachel grabbed at his hands, breaking the spell. He bit back his protest. Experienced or not, the choice was hers.
He started to roll away, but she stopped him with a touch. Then she began exploring, her fingers everywhere she could reach. Her fire fed his own until nothing mattered but the heat.
She twisted beneath him, tying herself up in the folds of her dress. Jake rose on one elbow to get at the buttons that ran the length of her bodice. She took advantage of the space between them to smooth her hands across his chest. When she brushed a nipple, he groaned again.
He stopped working on her dress long enough to yank off his shirt. When her cool fingers touched his skin, his breath backed up. Desperate now to feel her, he made short work of her buttons. When the last one opened, he shoved the fabric aside and pressed her into the mattress, bare skin to bare skin. Whatever breath he had left was stolen away.
Jake captured her mouth again, tasting her soft moan, thrusting his tongue between her teeth. She caught on to the motion quickly, and the imitation of things to come nearly undid him. He lifted her off the bed enough to slip the dress off her shoulders.
For a long moment, he only stared at her, drinking in her beauty in the flickering candlelight, but she resumed her tentative explorations and sent his mind up in smoke. He ran his tongue from her jaw to her breast, relishing her reaction when she surged against him. He took advantage, nipping and suckling one nipple while he pushed her dress past the curve of her hips and off her legs. Her petticoats quickly followed.
At last, nothing separated them but his trousers and Jake dispatched that barrier with ease. Her eyes widened. Even in the flickering light, he could see her uncertainty. Capturing her lips again, he drew her back into the magic, took her higher. When she began moving with him, pressing into his touch, he shifted and settled over
her, easing one knee between hers. Holding her close, he took a ragged breath, trying to slow down. She felt— He couldn’t find the words, even in the silence of his own mind.
“Jake?”
“I’m right here, honey.”
“What do I... I don’t know how... I need...”
Her words faded into a breathy moan as he found her nipple with his tongue. His hands stroked her from shoulder to knee, each time coming closer to her center. The first time he brushed the curls at the apex of her thighs, she jumped like she’d been burned. He nipped at the spot where her neck met her shoulder and the sound she made brought a smile to his lips.
Rachel’s desperate movements brought him to a fever pitch. He couldn’t resist any longer. He moved between her legs and she shifted to make room, welcoming him. Her heat surrounded him, beckoning him forward. He joined with her in one smooth stroke.
With his lips fused to hers, he tasted her scream of pain. He held himself perfectly still. Disbelief warred with raging need. It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t be—have been—
Her moan brought him to his senses. It didn’t matter, now. The deed was done. Keeping himself under tight control, he turned his attention to Rachel. He couldn’t give her back what he’d taken, but he could get her past the pain and show her the joy that was possible in what they shared.
He didn’t release her mouth, unwilling to hear her tell him to stop. Until this moment, he didn’t know he possessed a streak of cowardice. Hoping he could make it up to her somehow, his tongue began stroking in time with his hands as he searched for all the places that brought her pleasure. It seemed like an eternity passed before she began to move with him again. Only then did he loose a bit of the control he held on his own body.
When he shifted inside her, she gasped, but not from pain. Her body tightened around him, drawing him in. He released her lips long enough to kiss away her tears and whisper soft words of reassurance and encouragement.
“That’s it, honey. Wrap those beautiful legs around me. Let me show you how it should be.”
When she did as he asked, his control slipped a little further. He couldn’t believe how well they fit, as if they’d been made for each other.
Texas Gold Page 12
