Denver

by Sara Orwig

  “Louisa,” he said as he tried again, kissing her hard and long, fondling her. He sat on an iron bench and pulled her down on his lap until finally she stood and moved away.

  “Daniel, look at me. Mama will be shocked into a fainting spell.”

  “Louisa, it’s ‘Dan,’ not ‘Daniel.’ ”

  “I think ‘Daniel’ sounds more dignified. I want to call you ‘Daniel.’ ”

  He let the matter drop. It really didn’t matter. He watched her smooth her hair and straighten her dress, barely listening to her chatter, his emotions seething. Whereas Louisa had charmed and drawn him before, now he found it difficult to be patient with her, to listen to her. It was even an effort to kiss her. And he couldn’t get images of Mary out of his mind.

  “We have to go back now. If you’re going to be so sultry and broody, I don’t think I want to go to the Parsonses’ with you tonight.”

  “Sorry, Louisa. I’m exhausted from this week.”

  “Well, you’re too grumpy to be with, staring at me like I have two heads! Except when you kiss me. Maybe we shall just have to slip away and spend the evening kissing,” she said mischievously, but he couldn’t rise to the bait.

  “Are you listening to me, Mr. Castle?” she asked with a coy smile.

  “Yes, Louisa, I’m listening.”

  “Perhaps I should go with Reuben. He was good enough to take me out while you were gone,” she said, giving him a sly look, waiting for his reaction with a curious sparkle in her eyes.

  “Good, Louisa, I’m glad you had fun while I was away.”

  “You’re glad Reuben took me out?” For the first time, she lost her flirtatious manner and gazed at him with uncertainty.

  “Your mother said to have you back within the hour, and it’s past that now. Will she come searching for us?”

  “Yes, she will. Do you want Reuben to take me out?” she asked, anger creeping into her tone.

  “You’re going with me tonight,” he said, and she bit her lip, studying him with uncertainty. He took her arm and they walked back in silence through the garden. He couldn’t think of one thing to talk to her about. His emotions were in a whirlwind, and polite conversation or teasing banter was beyond him.

  After a few minutes of silence, Louisa tossed her head. “I think you’re more than tired. You had better get rested up, because if you’re like this tonight, I’ll spend the evening with Reuben and let him bring me home.”

  Dan gazed at her in silence, and saw they were no longer alone. “There’s your mother,” he said.

  Hortense Shumacher stood on the back porch, and for once in his life, Dan was half-glad to see the woman. He strolled through the house with them, told Louisa what time he would pick her up in the evening, and left. He mounted his horse and rode straight to Dulcie’s. The same sense of desperation gripped him, and this time he intended to lay it to rest.

  She was in the back parlor talking to three men who sat at a table playing poker. Dan paused at the door and called to her. “Dulcie, may I see you?”

  She laughed and leaned down to say something in an undertone to the men. They guffawed as she crossed the room to Dan, her hips swaying, her red taffeta skirt swishing with each step.

  She linked her arm through his, looking up at him. “And how are the O’Malleys?”

  “Better,” he said, thinking Dulcie was a relief after Louisa. As soon as they closed and locked the door in her room, he pulled her into his arms. “I want you, Dulcie,” he said, kissing her as passionately as he had kissed Louisa. His desperation mushroomed when he didn’t feel what he wanted to feel. He reached out to unbutton her dress, his fingers tangling in the buttons, and finally he yanked at them in anger. He heard one or two pop, and Dulcie’s eyes widened as she leaned back to gaze at him while he stripped away the taffeta and let it fall around her feet. He swung her into his arms and carried her to bed. She was naked beneath the taffeta, and in minutes he had shed his clothes. Dulcie watched him with a curious look while he knelt on the bed beside her, bending down to kiss her, finally stretching out to pull her to him. He made passionate love to her that was wild and rough and demanding, drawing it out until his body clamored for release.

  Dulcie clung to him, raising her hips to meet his thrusts, knowing she had finally lost him. He had never loved her in such a manner, as if he were compelled to do so by an unseen force. She wondered if he were finally in love with Louisa, or finally engaged to her.

  He sank down, rolling over to light a cheroot. He lay beside her smoking, and she sat up, twisting around to look down at him. “You just came from Louisa.”

  He slanted her a look and Dulcie caught her breath, watching him as he swung his long legs over the side of the bed and stood up, moving around the room restlessly. She pulled on a silk wrapper, tying it around her waist. She lit her own cheroot and sat down to watch Dan wash and dress. “Are you engaged now?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “But you finally love her,” she said, blowing a stream of smoke into the air and watching him. “I knew someday you would and I’d lose you, at least for a time, and that day has finally come. What happened? Did absence make the heart grow fonder?”

  “Something like that, Dulcie,” he said, yanking his shirt over his head, raking his hair back off his forehead with his fingers. “I’ve got to call on Edward Ringwood and try to make amends with him.”

  Dulcie felt a stab of hurt. There would always be a part of her that loved him, but it was over. She didn’t think he would be back, and she wondered why he had come today. He looked angry with her, and she wondered what devil he was fighting. She hadn’t tried to seduce him, far from it. Yet he hadn’t taken her in passion or love. Something else had been driving him, and she didn’t understand what it was.

  “I’ve known a lot of men, Dan, and you’re singular.”

  He gave her a cynical smile. “How’s that?”

  “You’re a complicated man. More so than any I’ve known. Silas was an easy man to understand. He had one driving goal, and his ambition took first place. Reuben Knelville is like a million other successful men—he has the same wants, the same passions. You’re one thing one day, something else the next. You’re a thinker, Dan, and the world can’t always tolerate thinkers.”

  He laughed. “Hell, Dulcie, I go whole days without a thought. I work with my hands, not my brain.”

  “But your mind is always going. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Why? And you design houses with your brain. So you’re finally in love with Louisa?”

  He turned around to face Dulcie, his blue eyes wide, angry, perplexed. And in turn, she was puzzled. “No,” he answered flatly.

  “You go riding off into the—” She stopped and looked at him, and she felt a constriction around her heart because she knew what was wrong with him. “Damnation,” she said quietly. “You love Mary O’Malley.”

  “No, I don’t!” he snapped, raking his fingers through his hair.

  “You’re in love.”

  “I’m not”

  “I can tell when a man is in love,” she persisted, studying him.

  “And it’s none of your damned business!”

  She turned her head, and instantly he was at her side, kneeling by the chair, his hands on her arms. “Lord, Dulcie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. You and I have been friends for a long time now. I didn’t mean it.” He said it so contritely that she forgave him instantly, as she looked into his eyes which were filled with worry. “I’m sorry.”

  “Forget it, Dan. I accept your apology. You’ve never been anything except good to me.”

  He pulled her to him and kissed her cheek. She placed her hand against his face as she looked into his eyes. She saw the answers to her questions and knew she was right. Now she understood why he was so distraught.

  “I can’t love her, Dulcie. Silas is my best friend. I just can’t.” He paced around the room.

  “Silas was the world’s biggest fool to leave her like that. No woman shoul
d be expected to wait without a word.”

  “Silas is my friend,” Dan said in a tone of voice that stopped her. “I won’t steal his woman. Right now, I’m worrying what to do about Louisa. I can’t marry her.”

  At the thought of Louisa Shumacher, Dulcie almost had to bite back a laugh.

  “Dulcie, I’m sorry,” he repeated quietly.

  “Honey, I’m a friend too,” she said gently. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve been better to me than any man I’ve ever known.” Suddenly, to her amazement, her eyes brimmed over with tears. “Lord, I can’t remember when I cried over a man.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her while she clung to him. She kissed him hard on the mouth. “I’ve lost you to Mary O’Malley, dammit.”

  “I can’t marry her, Dulcie. I’d never take Mary from Silas. Never.”

  Dulcie placed her hand over his mouth. “Shh. Silas may not be the best man for Mary. Don’t forget that.” She moved away. “Now, get out of here, Dan Castle, because I know you’re going for good.”

  “Dulcie, you’ve been the best—”

  “Get out!”

  Dan stared at her a moment. He felt terrible because he realized he had hurt her. He turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

  Dulcie heard him go and covered her face. She loved him and she hoped he had sense enough to marry a woman who was as good as Mary O’Malley.

  Dan mounted his horse and rode down the street toward Edward Ringwood’s office. As he rode, he was unaware of his surroundings, and his emotions boiled like water over a fire. He couldn’t have changed so drastically in such a short time. It was as if he had gone off to a cabin in the mountains and been transformed into another person with different likes and dislikes. But when he faced his feelings honestly, he knew it wasn’t something that had come about in the past week. It was from hours and hours spent with Mary, from dancing with her and eating with her and working with her. He had been infatuated with and proposed to three breathtakingly beautiful women—Melissa Hatfield, Dulcie, and Louisa—but it was Mary O’Malley who had won his heart.

  He needed Mary. He needed her intelligence, her understanding, and her love. He respected her and he loved her. Clenching his fists, he silently vowed he would not take the love of his best friend while Silas was away from town. Dan’s thoughts shifted to the dilemma of Louisa. While he couldn’t love Mary O’Malley because of Silas, Dan also knew he couldn’t marry Louisa and spend the rest of his life with her. It was almost May, and in another month their engagement would be announced. He had to break it off in a way that wouldn’t embarrass Louisa.

  It took only minutes to explain to Edward Ringwood why he hadn’t kept his appointment during the week. He unrolled the plans, thinking how different Ringwood was from Corning. Short, freckle-faced, with a bushy red beard, he had a constant smile on his face and Dan found his own enthusiasm building as he showed Ringwood the plans.

  “You had a preference for brownstone. This is mansard style or Second Empire, which has been in favor for the past few years. It has a mansard roof. This roof will give you a full story of space on the attic level. Now, there are several possibilities for the roof.”

  “I want something attractive and durable. Something that will last.”

  “One of the finest is Vermont slate. If you prefer, we can have colored wood shingles or we can use tin.”

  Ringwood nodded, and Dan continued, “As you can see, I’ve put in Palladian dormer windows to allow plenty of light into the upper story.”

  Both men bent over the plans, and it was over an hour later when Dan shook hands with him and left the office. He had a new contract, a fact that would have made him ecstatic only a week ago. He rode home, realizing how great the changes in his life had been in the short time since he left for the mountains with Mary. While he was glad for Ringwood’s business, Dan’s emotions churned over the problem that loomed largest in his life, and his thoughts were constantly on Mary.

  Back at his home, he changed into his black suit, combed his hair, and left to pick up Louisa. He was early enough to go by the O’Malley boardinghouse for a few minutes to see how Michael was doing. He knew it was a time when Mary would be busy serving dinner, and he wouldn’t be able to be alone with her. It would keep temptation out of his way, but as he rode closer, he longed to see her, to talk to her, and to spend the evening with her.

  When he went up the front steps, the door stood open and people crowded the hall. Dan began to hurry, his heart lurching. Mary lay on the floor, diners and boarders clustered around her.

  “Mary! What happened?” Dan knelt beside her.

  “Dan, help me up.”

  “Maybe you should lie still, Miss O’Malley, until Doc gets here,” Nolen Parker said in his slow drawl.

  “Fell down the stairs, she did,” Herschel Windham said. “Just fell right down. I saw her. Hurt her head and foot. Brian has gone for the doc,” Herschel added.

  “I’m fine, really. Just a sore ankle,” she said. “Please Dan, help me up.”

  “You don’t think anything else is hurt?”

  She sat up. “Nothing except my ankle and head. My head will have a knot.”

  He picked her up easily. “I’ll take her into the parlor, gentlemen. Send the doc in when he gets here, and go on with your dinner. Mary, is anyone in the kitchen?”

  “Yes, Dulcie’s cook is still here. You should know. You hired him.”

  Dan carried her into the parlor and kicked the door shut behind him. He gazed down into her face, and he wanted to kiss her. Instead he put her down, tossed off his hat, and knelt down beside her. “Let me get your shoe off,” he said, working free the buttons.

  Mary gazed down at his golden head bent over her foot, his hands gently tugging at buttons. She longed to reach the short distance between them and touch him.

  Dan slipped her shoe off her small, slender foot.

  “My ankle hurts.”

  “What happened?” he asked, looking at her ankle, which was red and beginning to swell.

  “I missed the last two steps.”

  He looked up in surprise. “You walked off the steps?”

  “I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing,” she whispered. Mary was acutely aware of his hands on her foot and leg, of his proximity, of his handsome appearance. She had been thinking about him when she missed a step on her way down the stairs, and now he was here, rubbing her foot, gazing at her with a look of longing that was unmistakable.

  “I have to pick up Louisa in half an hour,” he blurted, wondering what had happened to his finesse.

  “I’m fine.” She wanted to touch his face, touch his golden hair so badly, and she locked her fingers together in her lap, fearful that she wouldn’t be able to resist the impulse.

  “How’s Michael?”

  “He’s better. Dan, I’m so grateful to your friend.”

  “Ta-ne-haddle is special. So is Silas, Mary.”

  She drew a deep breath and gazed at him, wanting him to put his arms around her again, wanting to be held close to him, wanting to kiss him. She thought that it wasn’t Silas who stood between them as much as Dan’s future bride. “You better go so you aren’t late to pick up Louisa,” Mary said stiffly.

  He nodded. “Do you want anything before I leave?”

  “No, thank you.”

  He moved away and walked out without looking back. As he rode to the Shumachers’ house, his thoughts seethed over the women in his life. Mary had walked off steps she had gone up and down nearly all her life.

  He tried to shut her out of his mind as he strode across the Shumachers’ porch and knocked on the door.

  “Come in, my boy, come in,” Charles Shumacher said, stepping forward to greet him. “Louisa will be down right away. I suppose it is utmost male foolishness to expect the ladies to be ready on time.” He laughed at what he said.

  “Here she is,” Dan said, and gazed at Louisa, who descended the stairs. She wore a dress
that Dan was sure must have cost a year’s wages for many men. It made her blue eyes bluer, emphasized her tiny waist and lush breasts, and was stunning, yet she held no more interest to him now than the other women in town. With one exception. The image of Mary in her simple green calico pulled on his thoughts and heart far more than Louisa in her best finery. He smiled and moved forward, offering her his arm.

  “Ready, Louisa?”

  She nodded, taking his arm.

  He had brought his smaller, light carriage and he would be busy driving. The top was removed, leaving them very much in the public eye, so he wouldn’t be expected to try to kiss her. She paused a second when she saw which carriage he had brought.

  “We won’t have any privacy.”

  “We can enjoy the evening. It’s beautiful.”

  She clamped her lips together and allowed him to help her into the carriage. “If you are as brooding and silent as you were today, I shall do exactly as I threatened and ride home with Reuben.”

  “Where did you get the pretty dress?”

  He knew how she loved to talk about her dresses, and it was a short distance to the Parsonses’. To his relief, Louisa was busy with the subject of her clothing until he handed the reins to his carriage over to a waiting servant and helped Louisa down.

  Half an hour later, when he had a chance, he took Louisa’s arm and led her down the hall to a deserted solarium.

  Her eyes sparkled and he knew she wanted to be kissed. Reuben was occupied with Marian Comber, and Dan wanted a few minutes alone with Louisa before Reuben interfered. ‘’Louisa, I need to talk to you alone. May I call in the morning? Can we arrange some time and place where your mother won’t disturb us?”

  “I suppose,” she said, slanting him a curious look. “Why?”

  “Tomorrow will be a better time to tell you.”