by Reece Butler
He couldn’t save his family back then, but he could protect Sarah now. He would give her his name, his protection, and himself. She would give him comfort, children, and a future worth living. He didn’t care what was done to her in that whorehouse. She’d endured two weeks of hell, but she was alive. His sisters were not.
Gabe rode toward Luke, coming from the northwest. He set the tool on a log, crossed his palms on the end of the handle, and rested. Sweat soaked his hair and ran down his chest and back. He had a few blisters on his palms, but that wasn’t unusual. Unlike his wealthy father and grandfather, who were proud of their smooth skin and pale complexion, he was a rancher. He did honest work with his hands instead of trading in commodities and other people’s lives.
“Your grandpa would have taken a switch to you for leaving a couple of buttons undone,” said Gabe. “And here you are, shirtless.”
“My great-grandfather would as well. But unlike them, I work for my living.”
“You missed a spot.”
Gabe pointed to a bump caused by a knot. If the timbers weren’t smooth they wouldn’t sit tight one on the other. That meant weather, critters, dust and, worst of all, freezing winter winds, would sweep through their home. Luke took care of it with one slice.
“You satisfied with my work now? I have to put supper together.”
“Yep.” Gabe nudged his horse forward. “And since we’re having leftovers from yesterday’s weddings, you won’t burn anything.”
“That was once!” called Luke after him. Gabe raised a hand to say he’d heard but wasn’t taking back his words.
No one could rile him like Gabe, though Oz was getting close. The longer he knew his friends, the easier it was for them to stir him up. Women were different. You didn’t have to know them at all before they could make you want to set your hair on fire just by looking at you.
Luke put his tools away, slapped his folded shirt over one shoulder, and shambled down to the cabin. Only ten feet by twelve, it was far too small for three large men. He couldn’t marry Sarah before finishing the addition, which would triple the size.
After washing up he put on a pot of coffee and assembled supper. Sophie and Sarah had packed up wedding feast leftovers for the bachelors. The married folks went home early, so missed out on the extra food. He laid out cold roast chicken, bread, mayonnaise, and pickled beets. His stomach rumbled. They’d all be better off when Sarah married him. There’d be hot, tasty food waiting at the end of a long, cold day. A light in the window would beckon them home, and a woman would warm his bed. Later, there’d be children to continue the respected Frost name.
Oz shuffled into the cabin. Luke couldn’t stand it any longer. He’d been worried about Sarah all morning, thinking of the dirty, woman-hungry miners he’d seen lining the boardwalk, waiting to get inside the hotel dining room.
“Did you see Sarah?”
“Yep.” Gravel crunched under Oz’s boots as he walked over to the table. He kept his head down as he looked at the food.
“And?”
Oz ignored Luke’s question. The man liked to get under a man’s skin. A shadow fell across the small room as Gabe leaned into the doorway. His massive chest more than filled it.
“Did Sarah serve in the dining room?”
“Yep,” replied Oz.
“You’re not talking much,” said Luke. “You get in another fight?”
Oz turned. He’d pulled off his eye patch, which he usually did as soon as he left town. Luke raised an eyebrow at the new cuts and bruises. Oz might be able to open his good eye tomorrow, but he doubted it.
“You win?”
Oz scowled. Luke read his “you have to ask?” expression.
“One good thing about Oz fighting,” said Luke to Gabe, “it’s quieter around here until the swelling around his mouth goes down.”
They sat down to supper, knowing it would be the best meal for a while. Luke grinned when Oz stuck to bread and mayonnaise. He tried the beets but hissed when the spices touched his cut mouth. Luke saw him glance longingly at his steaming coffee. The man had been in enough fights to wait until it cooled before drinking.
“Sarah should be sitting with us,” Luke groused, “not serving strangers in the hotel dining room. Someone might bother her.”
“Won’t happen again,” mumbled Oz. He chanced a sip of coffee.
“Again?” Luke leaned forward. “Did something happen today?”
Oz shrugged. He winced and rubbed his shoulder. “Miner grabbed her skirt. She whapped him on the knuckles. He howled and let go.”
Luke slammed his palm on the table. “You waited this long to tell us someone attacked her?”
“Me and Jack threw him out.” Oz used his hand to move his jaw left and right. “He won’t be back.”
“If you look like that, how bad is he?”
“This wasn’t from the miner. Some guy who thought himself a curly wolf insulted me, so I had to—”
“How is Sarah?” Gabe asked quietly.
His voice, like the bottom of a well, cut through most voices. Oz smiled like a cat with more cream than he knew what to do with. Luke’s gut clenched.
“She kisses real good,” said Oz, dragging the words out.
“She kissed you?” Luke looked at Gabe, then back at Oz.
“She pecked Jack’s cheek.”
Luke waited while Oz carefully sipped more coffee. “And…?”
Oz sat up. He blotted his bleeding lips with his shirt. He reached for his coffee mug again but Gabe put his paw over it.
“You kissed Sarah?”
Oz ignored Gabe’s question. Luke and Gabe shared a look. They stood up, shoving the bench on its side. Each man grabbed Oz by his shirt and lifted. Oz squawked, his toes dangling above the floor.
“For a man who usually won’t shut up, you’re not saying much,” said Luke. “I assume that means something important happened?”
Oz nodded. They released his shirt, letting him drop to the floor. He took a moment to settle his clothes and further frustrate them. He looked at Luke, and then Gabe. He sighed and smiled through his cracked lips.
“She wanted to thank me and Jack with a kiss for tossing the miner in the street. I told her more men might go after her unless she already had a husband in mind. Being the gentleman I am, I offered the Circle C’s help. You weren’t there, so I kissed her.” He slowly shook his head, sighing. “That woman kissed like she meant it, and wanted more.”
“You kissed Sarah in front of the whole damn room?” sputtered Luke. “You?”
Oz nodded. Luke was sure there was a smirk hidden in his swollen face.
“Dammit, I’m the one that needs sons to carry on my name.”
“You weren’t there. I was.” Oz smoothed his shirt with his palm as if it would take out the wrinkles. “But don’t worry, I told her it was from you.” He rubbed his jaw again. “You can thank me now.” He waggled his eyebrows as a further insult.
Luke grabbed hold of Oz’s shirt and pulled his fist back to smash that smirk. A hand caught his wrist. He tried to punch but couldn’t move his arm.
“Let it go,” growled Gabe. “You got what you wanted. In the eyes of the town, and all around, Sarah accepted the Circle C.”
“I told her you’d want to prove you’re a better kisser,” said Oz, still taunting him. “You’re not, of course.”
Luke fought to get loose and wipe the insolence off Oz’s face.
“Oz, shut up,” said Gabe calmly. “Luke, stand down. Oz took advantage of the opportunity, but he got the job done. No decent man will bother Sarah now.”
Luke glared at Oz, promising retribution, but relaxed his arm. Gabe let him go.
“I’m going into town tomorrow and tell her to get used to the idea of becoming Mrs. Luke Frost!”
“I’d think twice on that,” drawled Gabe. “The lady told you she won’t marry.”
“She’ll change her mind once I tell her I won’t take away her bakery after our wedding.”
>
“You’d let her work in town?”
Luke shrugged off’s Gabe’s question. “I didn’t say that. Once she marries me, I could sign the building over to her. She could rent it out for pin money.”
“Sarah wants to run her bakery as a business. Her business,” said Gabe. “She won’t marry you or anyone else who’d take away something so important to her.”
“She won’t have time to work there, especially after we have a baby or two.” Luke looked at his partners, who stared back.
“They might end up being our babies, instead of yours,” said Oz. He laughed when Gabe, caught in mid-swallow, choked on his coffee.
“You’d better get your chores done before that eye closes,” ordered Luke.
Oz gave Luke a flippant salute and headed for the barn.
“You want to marry Miss Sarah so bad, but you’re not going about it right,” said Gabe after the door slammed behind Oz. “Sarah needs a better reason to give up her dream than giving you sons.”
Luke shrugged off the complaint. “Marriage is a business arrangement. My mother and father married to improve both their families. So did my grandparents, and great-grandparents. Sarah meets my needs, and then some. Why shouldn’t we marry?”
“And how do you meet Sarah’s needs?”
Luke hadn’t given that much thought, but figured she was like the women he knew back East. “From what Oz said about that kiss, whatever happened to Sarah in Bannack City didn’t kill off her interest in sex. If she wants a man in her bed, and children, she needs a husband.”
“No, she doesn’t,” said Gabe, his face and ears reddening.
“Are you going to offer your stud services?” Luke laughed at Gabe’s discomfort. “She has a lot more experience than you. Hell, you ran out on her this morning!”
“She took me by surprise. I’m a fast learner, and I respect her. Do you?”
Luke looked at the floor. “Yes, I do,” he said quietly. “Having family means so much to me that sometimes I get my mind on that and everything else goes out the window.”
“So start thinking before flapping your jaws.”
Luke shrugged off the old complaint. “If Sarah wants to keep that bakery, she has to marry someone. The town council will shut her down if she stays single. Why not marry me? I’d never do anything to hurt her.” Luke stacked the plates and cups for washing.
“Not on purpose.”
“You’re saying I’d hurt her without knowing it?” He dumped the dishes into the pan.
Gabe shook his head. “She says she can take care of herself, and she needs to believe that. In order to feel safe, she needs to think she’s in control. You want to take over making her decisions. That destroys her sense of control, and safety.”
“Control?” Luke snorted a laugh. “She’s a woman. That means she’s always in danger. Knowing we’ll come after them and take vengeance stops most men, but there’s always some who’ll try to hurt a woman just because they can.”
“Like that Joe Sheldrake.” Gabe shook his head. “Never met the man, but I heard he’ll be coming to town to check Miss Sarah out, for sure. One kiss by Oz isn’t going to stop him. He’ll take it as a challenge.”
“If he goes near her I’ll—”
“Get pummeled into the dirt? And how would that help her? We have to keep an eye out so she doesn’t get hurt.” Gabe pointed his callused finger at Luke. “Don’t go getting her riled up about marrying you.”
“Or what?” Luke felt like exploding. Instead, he slapped Gabe’s finger aside. “I don’t need you hovering over me, telling me what to do.”
Gabe set his hip on the corner of the table. He sniffed and looked around the room as if bored. “You plan to act like a child, or like the man you say you are?”
Luke screwed up his face and growled. Gabe swung his foot. He took out his pocketknife and began cleaning under his nails. Luke had learned long ago he could never out-patient Gabe. Worse, the man was right. Again, dammit.
Luke let the anger drain away. While he couldn’t imagine life without Gabe at his side, he both enjoyed and resented his constant presence. The only son, Luke learned early how to smile and flirt to get whatever he wanted from his mother and sisters. Once he knew about sex, he used his charm to encourage women into his bed. The only one who saw through his charm was Gabe’s mother.
Thanks to the war his good looks and happy family disappeared. By the time they headed west he’d developed a thick skin to go along with the scar across his face. Now he pretended to be just as handsome as ever, flirting with women as if his life was still perfect. Even if he married Sarah and had many sons, his life would always be a lie. Because of him, something terrible had happened. Something only he, Gabe, and Oz knew about. The others, the innocent ones, were dead. He’d blame himself until his death set him free.
“Ah, my good friend,” said Luke, shaking his head. “Still trying to save me from myself.”
Gabe stood up and stretched his arms out. He bent his elbows and rested his palms against the ceiling, only a couple of inches above his head. He had an inch and sixty or more pounds of honed muscle on Luke. Both men were strong, but Luke usually ended up flat on the ground when they tussled. They hadn’t fought since Gabe got out of prison.
“Somebody has to tell you when you act like an ass,” said Gabe. “I’ve been doing it all my life, and it looks like my job’s not over yet.” He sighed and headed to the barn, leaving Luke to clean up.
“By the end of July, I will be married to that woman,” vowed Luke.
And then the Frost family would rise like a phoenix from the ashes of death. Perhaps he’d never have the respect and social standing his parents and generations before them enjoyed, but he’d have sons to carry on the proud Frost name.
All he needed was one stubborn woman to see herself in that dream.
Chapter Seven
It was half an hour before supper the next day when Gabe knocked on the hotel kitchen door and let himself in. A quick look showed that Sarah wasn’t in the room. That was both a blessing and a problem. After she implied she’d appreciate his efforts in the bedroom, and the way he ran from her like a child scared of a whipping, he wasn’t sure how to act around her.
Was she serious about wanting him in her bed, or not? He saw Sophie at the stove so pulled off his hat and held it over his belt buckle. Ever since seeing Sarah he’d been harder than a fence pole in January.
“Gabe! About time you showed up for a visit.” Sophie smiled at him over her shoulder but kept on stirring something that made his gut gurgle in anticipation. “What do you think about what happened yesterday?”
He cleared his throat, fighting to control where his brain kept heading. “Do you mean Sarah getting attacked, Oz kissing her, or the fight he got into?”
Sophie laughed. “All of it. Help yourself to coffee and sit.”
When she turned away, he filled a tin cup. He carefully sat, setting his hat on his lap. Sophie was a good woman, kind and helpful, but also well aware of men and their needs. He saw her look away now and then when she threw parties, and figured she had a few needs of her own that weren’t being met. She wasn’t much older, and acted like the sister he’d never had. He took a deep sip of her excellent coffee and let the warmth seep into him.
“Oz won’t be able to see out of his good eye for a few days, but he’s used to that,” he said. “Luke’s jealous as a green-eyed cat about Oz kissing Sarah, and I’m here to make sure no one tries to touch her tonight.”
“If Luke’s so jealous, why isn’t he here instead of you?”
“The last thing you need is Luke in your dining room, trying to prove he can kiss better than Oz.”
“It would be something to top that kiss.” She turned to him with a wicked grin. “Did you know Jack had to poke Oz in the neck with his knife to make him let go of Sarah?”
“No, Oz didn’t mention that part. Just that she enjoyed it just as much as he did.” He shook his head, still smiling
. “I bet that made Jack’s day. He’s usually the one getting in trouble.”
“Did you come here to see if Sarah will enjoy your kiss?”
Gabe’s ear tips began to burn in a way he was becoming too familiar with lately. He checked out the pies waiting on the shelf nearby. “Ah, no. I thought I’d check out the dining room. Keep an eye out in case someone doesn’t believe Sarah’s taken.”
“You know the grapevine. Word will have spread that she’s under the Circle C’s protection. Who would try anything?”
“Stumpy said he saw Big Joe Sheldrake hanging around Baldy’s Saloon. I heard Sheldrake spent the winter whooping it up in Virginia City.”
“We wouldn’t want him to think he can do it here,” replied Sophie thoughtfully.
Gabe nodded, since his mouth was full of Sophie’s great coffee. He couldn’t wait for some of the venison stew bubbling on the stove. He’d never shared wild kisses with a woman, but kisses weren’t everything. He wanted the quiet moments of marriage, like those he remembered from childhood. The way his mother would rest her hand on his father’s shoulder when he finally sat at the end of a long day. How his father would turn up his weather-beaten face and pat her hand. They’d share a quiet smile full of promises.
Other men might want nothing more than hot meals, clean clothes, and a curved body under them at night. He wanted a strong, smart woman who could laugh and cry with him. One who’d listen while he talked over his thoughts and dreams, and feel free to share her own.
As far as he could tell, Luke wanted a wife to give him sons and Oz wanted hot sex and no commitments. Gabe wanted Sarah, just the way she was. At the same time, he couldn’t destroy Luke’s chance of the future he so desperately wanted. But if Sarah kissed him like she had Oz, all bets were off. He couldn’t deny the woman anything, including himself. He fought the sudden surge of arousal. Sarah wouldn’t want him, a virgin who’d rarely even kissed a girl. She’d want someone like Oz, who knew his way around a woman and could flatter her with quick words. He cleared his throat.
“Sheldrake would want Sarah because she’s beautiful.”
