“I have to admit, I’m curious to watch him make a pair of boots,” Tessa said as he returned.
“You’ll get your wish tomorrow. I had three orders come in over the telegraph yesterday.” Van leaned against the worktable and smiled at the people gathered. Not so many years ago he thought a moment like this would never happen in his life.
“It’s good to have all of you here.” The emotion in his voice surprised him. He shifted away from the group who’d become silent and smiled at Tessa. “Why don’t you take the ladies upstairs for some tea and visit? I have some things I want to discuss with Pa and Brett.”
Fear sparked in Tessa’s eyes, and she started to shake her head.
“Please.” He glanced at Ma and hoped she understood.
“I’d love to see the upstairs,” she said.
“You didn’t get a chance to show me yesterday.” Beth held up a handkerchief. “Where is that cat? Not upstairs I hope?”
“Patch stays down here,” Van said, mentally nudging the women out of the room.
Tessa sent him one more fearful glance and slowly walked into the back room.
“You whip her upstairs or something?” Brett asked, laughing and slapping Van on the back.
Van shook his head and exhaled. “She’s afraid Ma and Beth will think bad of her because I made her move into the upstairs while I sleep in the backroom.”
Brett’s eyes widened and his father stared at him.
“You two are living in this place?” Brett let out a whistle. “No wonder Floyd has been spreading rumors about you two.”
“We live here but separately. Except for when we work and I make her eat.” He turned to Pa. “She’s nothing but skin and bones because of Judge Spencer. She was living in the backroom of this building before I bought it and only eating what she could find at the saloon.” He glared at Brett. “I can’t believe the way the people of this town turned on her and her mother when Judge Spencer is the one who should be living in the alley.”
Pa sat down in the chair next to the stove. “Your ma said she told you about him.”
Van pulled up a crate and nodded to another one for Brett to sit on.
“Why didn’t you let Ma read my letters?” Van asked. He’d held this question back all through the meal not wanting to upset Ma.
“Your Ma mentioned the letters to me yesterday. I honestly don’t know anything about any letters.” The sincerity in Pa’s eyes told Van his father spoke the truth.
So what happened to the letters he sent?
Now that he’d witnessed his father’s remorse over the past and knew his father hadn’t hidden his letters from Ma, Van was eager to get Pa’s opinion of the judge and the outlaw.
“I saw Judge Spencer meeting with the outlaw, Crane, who headed up the robbery. And the outlaw was in here yesterday when I was gone. Tessa said he asked for me then left.” He ran a hand over the tight muscles in his neck. “The two of them are up to something. It’s targeted at me, I feel it. I don’t want Tessa caught up in it. She’s suffered enough.”
“Talk to the marshal. He’s a good fella and far as I know he don’t favor the judge.” Brett nodded his head.
***
Tessa pressed a hand to her stomach to stall the jitters cavorting around in there. She didn’t glance back as she led the women through the back room and up the stairs. If they noticed the men’s clothing hanging on the wall and smelled the shave soap they didn’t comment. She opened the door upstairs and moved directly to the small stove, adding wood. Without looking at either one she ladled water from a bucket into the tea pot.
“You’ve made this quite homey,” Mrs. Donovan said.
Tessa spun from the task and found the two women sitting at the table and studying the room. Grace sat on the bed tracing the lace on the neckline of Tessa’s nightdress. “Van insisted I stay up here. He sleeps in the back room. I’m sure you saw his things.”
Beth smiled and winked. “Now I know why you didn’t want me to come up yesterday.”
“It’s not what you think.” She peered in the eyes of first Mrs. Donovan and then Beth. “Honest.”
Mrs. Donovan took her hand. “Anyone can see how you two look at one another. I’m happy for you dear. But it would be best considering the circumstance if you wed soon.”
Tessa pulled out of her grasp. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. I can’t marry Van. I can’t marry anyone. And we’re not doing whatever it is you think we’re doing.”
Beth leaned forward. “Why can’t you marry Van? He’s crazy about you, and I’ve watched how your eyes follow his every move and your cheeks redden. You can’t tell me you aren’t crazy for him.”
The boiling water on the stove and the sound of heavy footsteps shot Tessa across the room to the stove. Her back was to the door when the men entered. It was bad enough having the women see how they lived what would the men think?
Van’s large hand covered hers on the handle of the pot. “Get three more cups out of the cupboard, please.”
She nodded, biting back her embarrassment and fighting the quivers in her stomach from his nearness. Before she could recover, Van was by her side, snatching the sugar bowl from the shelf.
“Come on. They all know and approve,” he whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder and patting. The low murmur of voices at the table gave her the courage to cast a glance that way. No one was paying any attention to them.
She nodded, gulped, and carried the cups to the table.
The rest of the visit went well with everyone asking questions of one another about what had happen over the years. Mrs. Donovan made a point of drawing her into the conversation and making her feel welcome.
When they left, Van followed everyone down to lock up behind them. Tessa cleaned up the cups and wished she had a kitchen. It would have been nice to serve their guests cookies.
Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when arms circled her waist. A warm kiss on her neck flashed heat through her body and started her heart fluttering. She turned in Van’s arms and raised her lips to his.
She didn’t care what people thought. She only knew in Van’s arms she felt safe and cared for, a feeling she lost the day her father was killed. Tessa ran her hands through his short dark hair and held his mouth to hers. She wanted to show him what he meant to her.
His hands roamed over her back and clutched her hips to his. She felt his need pressed against her. Pushing away the sordid comments and actions of the men at the saloon, she knew in her heart if she stopped he would too. It was a heady notion. Unlike the other men who grabbed her and ignored her protests, Van would stop if she asked.
But she didn’t want him to stop. The heat and sparks dancing across her skin and through her body made her giddy.
His mouth hovered above hers. “Tessa, I want you the way a man does a wife.”
Her heart thudded in her chest as the words man and wife echoed in her head.
“Do you understand what I’m saying? That I’d like to spend the night in your bed?”
She finally found her voice. “Yes. I know what you’re asking.” Her head said she should stop, but her body, her treacherous body pressed against his and ached for his touch.
He grasped her head, cradling it in his hands. “If we do this, it means you’re mine and we’ll get married soon.”
Tessa’s hands stilled. Her heart raced. Marriage. Van and everyone else would expect them to marry if he spent the night in her bed. His mother had said they should just from them sleeping in the building.
She shook her head and backed away. Visions of her mother sitting in a rocking chair at night, a lost expression on her face, her hands wrapped around the locket with a likeness of her father.
“I can’t.” Tessa’s heart ached with apprehension.
“Why?” Van captured her hand, leading her toward the bed.
Her legs locked. If she sat on that bed with his body touching hers…She’d give herself to him and then where would she be? Just like her hea
rtsick mother.
Van scraped a chair across the floor and sat on it in front of the bed. His actions, relaxed her knees and she sat.
“Why can’t you marry me? Is it because I’m responsible for your father’s death?” The sadness in his dark eyes pricked her heart.
“No! I don’t blame you for that.” She reached out placing a palm on his cheek. “You should never blame yourself for that.”
He turned his head and kissed her palm. The warm wetness scalded her skin and flashed heat through her body.
“Then why can’t you marry me. If you think your reputation will hurt me, honey, I’m an ex-bank robber.” He grasped her hand, twining their fingers.
The intimacy made her breath catch and a lump of emotion clog her throat. She swallowed and forced the words. “I saw the loss in my mother’s eyes every night after my father was gone. I won’t live like that.”
“You’d rather face the rest of your life alone than experience love?” He shook his head and one by one kissed the knuckles on the hand he held.
“We could—”
“No. If I can’t have you in my bed for the rest of my life, I’d rather not sully your reputation.” He placed her hand in her lap and leaned back. His spine pressed against the chair. The space he’d placed between them yawned as wide and deep as the Snake River Canyon.
The sorrow his words and actions stirred in her chest made her realize whether she married him or not she would be miserable without him in her life.
Tessa slid forward, bumping her knees against Van’s and leaned toward his surprised face. “Kiss me and then ask me again to marry you.”
Van didn’t wait for Tessa to change her mind. His heart raced as he unleashed all his love and desire for the woman into his kiss. Her supple lips moved under his as frantic and giving as his own. His body ached to prove his love and bind them together. He stood, drawing her body against his. Closer. He wanted to touch her silky skin and watch it flush as they made love.
He relinquished only enough space between them to unbutton her blouse. The top button popped free.
“Will…” The second button loosened.
“You…” The third button sprung free.
“Marry…” The fourth button resisted before slipping through the hole.
“Me?” He gently tugged on the bottom of her blouse, dragging it slowly out of the waistband of her skirt. The front splayed open revealing a pristine white chemise and creamy skin his fingers itched to touch.
Her eyes gleamed and her breathing quickened. She licked her lips and swallowed.
Van pressed his palms on her shoulders and shimmied the blouse down her arms onto the floor. Her smooth skin beckoned. He placed his lips on her neck and savored the scent of lilac, the silkiness, and her sweetness.
“We could do this every night, every morning if you marry me,” he whispered against her skin.
“Every night and morning?” she asked breathlessly, her hands working on the buttons of his shirt.
“Every.” He dropped open-mouthed kisses up her neck and suckled her ear lobe.
“Oh!” Her body trembled under his hands.
Van spanned Tessa’s waist and lowered her to the bed. The heightened color in her cheeks and her lowered lashes spun his senses. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
“I’m not going any farther until you say ‘yes.’” It took all his restraint to not touch, but until she said she was ready to marry him, he wouldn’t compromise her.
“Yes.” The word whispered between her luscious lips.
He knelt on the bed and leaned over her. “Yes, what?”
Tessa’s arms wrapped around Van’s neck and yanked him down on top of her. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” Her green eyes sparkled with merriment and love.
Van captured her mouth with his, seducing her with his lips and tongue as his hands worked on the clothing separating their fevered skin. Tessa’s hands collided with Van’s at his waistband.
She giggled and he growled. He liked this playful, passionate side of Tessa.
Finally skin to skin, hands skimming over soft curves, Van found his desire wasn’t as ravenous as his need to make Tessa happy. She squirmed and moved her body in tantalizing ways against his. Judging from her wistful smile and dreamy eyes, all her motions were instinctive.
He suckled her nipples and slid a hand down to cup the curls at the juncture of her long legs. Her hips thrust, pushing her mound against his palm. Van slipped a finger through the curls and found the nub he hunted. Tessa jerked and gasped, but continued to push toward his hand.
Her legs squeezed together, clinging to his hand, then opened, allowing him access to her hot, slick center. She was ready.
Van slid up her body, kissing and licking her salty skin until he captured her in a deep drugging kiss and entered slowly. The smooth slow motions only intensified the union. He captured her cry of surprise when he breached her maiden gate and stilled. Within seconds her hips ground against him, and he gave in to his own urges, thrusting and retreating in a rhythm that matched Tessa’s dance.
Her body shuddered and squeezed him, releasing his seed and sealing his heart with hers.
Chapter Eleven
Tessa stood on a chair in the living quarters over the boot shop. It had been a week since Van made love to her and she’d accepted his proposal to be his wife. Beth had insisted on making her a new dress for the wedding on Christmas Eve.
“You didn’t have to make this dress for me,” Tessa said, staring down at the shimmery, light blue dress.
Beth looked up at her. “You and Van are both starting new lives. It’s fitting you should marry him in something new.” Beth folded the hem and stuck in a pin. “And blue.” She winked.
“I still can’t believe how you, Van, and his family have managed to get so many people to help out and welcome us to the community.” Tears burned behind Tessa’s eyes. It had been a long time since the town had treated her as one of their own.
“It was mostly Van. He’s proven to the community that he has come back to be an honest citizen. And he wants to repay the community the best he can for his errors as a young man.” Beth stood. “His honesty, even when he was playing pranks and would fess up to them, has always stayed in the minds of the people.” She scowled. “It’s that vile Judge Spencer who has kept people from seeing you and him in the proper light.”
Tessa had to agree with Beth. Times were hard, but after the Judge moved to Pleasant Valley people had turned their backs so fast, she didn’t have time to get her teaching certificate and become respectable.
“There’s bad blood between the judge and Van’s family.” Tessa cringed thinking of the nasty scowls she’d received the couple of times she’d seen the judge on the street.
“Brett won’t tell me what, but he knows.” Beth put her sewing things into her bag. “Get that off and I’ll take it home and put in the hem.”
Tessa stepped off the chair. Beth unbuttoned the back and waited as Tessa slid the lovely garment down her body and stepped out of it. She donned her work dress as Beth folded the wedding dress and wrapped it in a sheet.
“We can’t have the groom seeing this until you wear it walking down the church aisle.”
Tessa hugged Beth. “Thank you for your friendship and this wonderful dress.”
Beth smiled. “You’re welcome. Just think, on Christmas morning we’ll be married friends.”
The idea set well in Tessa’s mind. For all her fighting against being married, she couldn’t think of any better way to spend the rest of her life.
“I better get back down in the shop. Van is working on a special order pair of boots and doesn’t like it when he’s interrupted to help a customer.” Tessa followed Beth down the stairs.
Beth glanced around the back room and raised an eyebrow. “Where are Van’s things?” The reproach in her voice was the reason Van had pushed for a Christmas Eve wedding.
“Behind the wall. Originally, Van had plan
ned to put it up for me, then when he realized purchasing another bed would raise suspicions and he put me upstairs in the bed, he decided he still needed to make a small room to hide his belongings down here.” She smiled and her cheeks heated. “Until the wedding.”
Beth’s eyes danced with merriment. “If you would like to talk about the wedding night, I can pass on what I learned.”
Embarrassed at Beth’s offer and the knowledge she already knew what to expect, Tessa shook her head. “I’m sure Van will teach me.” She ducked out of the backroom and into the shop.
Van was hunched over the bench, pounding holes into the sole for the stitching.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Beth raised her voice to be heard over the pounding.
Tessa nodded and closed the door behind her.
Standing by the stove, warming her hands, Tessa watched Van work. She loved watching his hands build pieces of leather into rugged boots. After Christmas Eve, she would have the rest of her life to watch him. She pinched herself several times a day still stunned that she had accepted Van’s proposal. She sighed. That night of love making had sealed their hearts. He had so thoroughly sated her and shown his love, her heart had ached with her emotions for him. It still did when she looked at him and thought how wonderful their life would be together.
Van looked up from his pounding. “I was waiting for you to finish.” He set the tools down and untied the apron he wore when working on boots. “I need to send a couple telegraphs to order more supplies. With the run of orders we had last week, I’m running low.”
Tessa stepped away from the stove and took his apron, hanging it on a peg next to the apron she wore while helping with boot making tasks.
“I’m sorry we took so long. Beth wanted to make sure the dress fit properly.” She faced him as he put on his heavy coat and felt hat.
“I’ll be back soon. It you don’t mind that string needs covered with pitch.” He stepped close and kissed her temple.
“It will give me something to do while I wait for customers. Go. I’ll be fine.” Tessa put her apron on as the cold air from the open door, whooshed around her. She smiled and sat down at the work bench.
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