by Paty Jager
“He’d be gone for periods of time and return with enough money to keep us going until he’d head out again to make more.” Her mother picked at the lace edge of the handkerchief.
“You never questioned him?”
“When I did, he said he had a gold mine, he and a partner were working.” She glared at him. “But a gold mine doesn’t bring in the same amount of money each time. I was bright enough to know that much.”
Zeke’s hand stretched out from behind Maeve. “I’d like to take a look at that letter, if you don’t mind.”
She took the letter from her mother and handed it to Zeke, watching him read it.
A smile lit his eyes, and he handed her the letter. “Looks like you and me are headed to The Dalles.”
Chapter 4
Maeve couldn’t believe Zeke talked her into taking a sabbatical from teaching. And here they stood loading saddle bags with a change of clothes and food staples to get them to The Dalles. Knowing they weren’t related, she wasn’t sure why Zeke insisted on digging up information about her father.
“Sure you don’t want one of us riding along?” Clay asked as Zeke tied a bedroll behind his saddle. She glanced at Zeke’s brother. He was an older version of Zeke, by only a couple of years. Only his nose was a bit crooked. Zeke had yet to tell her how it happened.
“I don’t think being on the trail with two Halseys will help my reputation. One’s bad enough.” She’d lied to Mrs. White when the woman asked about the sabbatical and stared straight at Zeke. Maeve told Mrs. White she was visiting relatives in Portland. Alone. How she would prefer to travel to The Dalles. She glanced at Zeke. The determined set to his jaw told her she wouldn’t get very far without him. She didn’t really want to travel alone on the trail, and if she had to have someone with her she couldn’t think of anyone else she trusted.
“No, we don’t need to pull any of you away from your duties. We can find The Dalles and talk to this man just fine.” Zeke turned to Ethan, Clay, and Hank.
“What if you run into trouble?” Hank asked, handing him a canteen. The man didn’t look so much worried as anxious to come along.
“I’ll stand behind Maeve.” He winked at her and her cheeks heated. “She’s better with a gun than I am.”
Ethan laughed and slapped him on the back.
“You sure you want to ride with such a coward?” Clay handed her a canteen.
“At least I know where he’ll be ducking,” she answered to his brothers’ delight. They whooped it up, and she shook her head. What would it have been like to grow up in the cluster of so many siblings? And with parents who loved you equally? It still rattled her to learn of the jealousy her mother harbored and how it had kept them at odds all these years. A jealousy she hadn’t even known existed. She’d just thought her mother irritable.
“Don’t forget to flash that tintype around and see what you can find out about Pa.” Ethan hadn’t been as certain about their pa being in the Oregon territory all the time like Zeke.
“I still say it wasn’t Pa working with Maeve’s pa in the war.” Zeke glared at his brother.
“We still have a few relatives back East. I’m sending them all a letter inquiring what they know about Pa and Ma. Might help us figure this out.” Ethan put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Too bad Pa isn’t still alive to fill us in.” All the brothers sobered. Ethan smiled. “If Pa was helping free the slaves, he was on the side of the right.”
“I know, it just—it just doesn’t seem like Pa to be sneaky with us. You’d have thought he’d have said something to at least you older boys.” Zeke slapped Ethan on the back.
Maeve directed her attention to tightening the leather straps around her bedroll. After her pa left, she’d lost touch with sentimental feelings. Her mother ripped them out of her with lies and manipulation. And it took this last visit before she could look back on it all and see it for what it was.
Zeke stepped beside her, placing his hands on her waist. “Ready to go?” Peering into his eyes, she saw more questions than what he asked. They’d be on the trail at least four days by themselves to get to The Dalles. A shiver raced up her spine. It wasn’t an omen, but rather, anticipation. Could she open her heart to this man, knowing what she now knew about the man she thought left her as a child? Or were her wounds too deep to heal?
“I can get on my own horse.” She gently removed his hands from her waist and swung up into the saddle of the horse Hank loaned her for the trip. There were still lots of unanswered questions about her father and once they were out, Zeke could change his mind about how he felt about her. Best to keep their association uncluttered.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Zeke winked at her and swung up onto his horse.
“Both of you be careful. You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Ethan said, placing a hand on Zeke’s leg.
“We’ll send a telegram when we have some answers.” Zeke urged his horse forward and they were off. Maeve followed behind. There were so many questions that needed answered. The first one—was her father still alive or was he dead?
From the sound of his letter, he would have returned to them if he lived. Tears burned and she wiped a hand across her eyes. Of all the times for Zeke to glance over his shoulder. He stopped his horse, waiting for her to ride alongside.
“What’s wrong?” He grasped the reins of her horse making it stop.
She sniffed and glared at him. How did she keep him at a distance when he seemed to sense all her moods?
“Listen, I’m in this with you. The more I know, the easier it will be to find answers.” He placed a gloved hand under her chin, tilting it up, making her look into his eyes.
Blast! She preferred hiding from his gaze. He was the only person she’d ever let in. Only because she couldn’t hide anything from him.
“Are you afraid we’ll find out your pa didn’t love you enough to come back or he’s been dead all this time?”
She slapped at his arm, knocking away his touch.
A smile tipped the corners of his mouth. “That’s my girl. I prefer you spitting to tearing up. We’ll find the truth, and then we’ll get married.”
He said it with such conviction, she couldn’t hold the guffaw.
“You’re sure full of yourself. I don’t plan on ever marrying.” She nudged her horse forward. At this rate they’d never find any answers.
“We’ll see.” He fell in behind her, and she set her horse into a ground-covering, easy trot. They should make Canyon City after dark if they kept up this pace.
****
The streets of Canyon City were full of people even though the sun had settled nearly an hour earlier. Zeke shifted in his saddle, relieving his aching backside. It had been a while since he’d kept a horse at a good clip the whole day.
He stopped at the livery and eyed the people milling about.
“What’s all the fuss,” he asked when a boy came to claim their horses.
“Everyone’s headin’ to the Dance Hall.” The boy smiled and scooted his feet in an awkward dance step.
“What’s the occasion?” He untied his saddle bags and saw Maeve already had hers over her shoulder.
“Jensen and Miss Holly finally got hitched.” The boy smiled. “They been shinin’ one another for years.”
Zeke laughed. He hoped it didn’t take years to win over the woman standing beside him frowning.
“What’s the best hotel in town?” He handed the boy a silver dollar for the care of the horses.
“Try the Golden Eagle. It’s down that way about three blocks. Can’t miss it.”
He nodded and settled Maeve’s elbow in the palm of his hand.
“I thought we wouldn’t need a room until The Dalles,” she said, only loud enough for him to hear.
“I’ll pay for a room for you. No sense sleeping on the ground until we have to.” The way he felt about the woman, it was better to have a wall between them than nothing but air.
She stopped and faced him. “I’ll no
t be a kept woman.”
He couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from tipping into a smile. Dang, but he loved it when she was all fired up.
“You aren’t a kept woman. The only way you’d be a kept woman was if I snuck into your room during the night.”
The half moon shone bright enough he watched the color on her face deepened. “This isn’t the place to discuss my yearnings.” He clamped onto her elbow and continued down the street. The boy was right. The doors of the Golden Eagle stood wide open with brightly lit lanterns illuminating the interior.
The building was of average size. A small entry opened to the counter on one side and the stairs to the rooms on the other. Zeke stepped aside, gesturing Maeve to enter. He followed and crossed to the counter where a dapper-dressed man stood.
“We’d like two rooms for the night,” Zeke said as the clerk slid his gaze from the top of Maeve, lingering at the blouse stretched taut across her breasts, and down to her dusty boots.
Zeke slapped the counter, jolting both the clerk and Maeve. Jealousy wasn’t something he was in the habit of feeling. But the man’s eyes raking over his woman sparked the anger he’d held off since learning of Maeve’s painful childhood.
“And I want the rooms adjoining.” He didn’t even bother to keep the steel out of his voice. He wanted the man and anyone else within earshot to know the woman was off limits.
Maeve clutched his arm, stood on her toes, and whispered, “What’s wrong?”
In the same loud, steel voice he said, “Just making it clear you’re to be left alone.”
He felt her drop back to the flat of her feet. When the clerk spun the register, he signed his name and handed the quill to Maeve to sign. That brief instant of giving her control rewarded him with an innocent smile. She’d smiled at him before, but always with reservations. As though afraid to enjoy his company or let him know she enjoyed something he did for her.
The clerk slid the keys across the counter. He grabbed both of them.
Hearing Maeve’s stomach growl, he asked, “How much longer will the restaurant be open?”
“You have half an hour,” the clerk retorted, not allowing his gaze to stray.
“Let’s dump this stuff in the rooms and come back down.” He once again captured her elbow, escorting her up the stairs. Their footsteps echoed down the uncarpeted hall as he found the door to her room. He handed her the key, waited for her to enter, and moved to the next door.
He walked into the room and found her standing in the open door joining the two rooms.
“What was that all about with the clerk?” she asked, not taking a step into the room. “And why the joining rooms?”
“I didn’t like the way he looked at you, and I wanted to make it clear no one was to touch you.” He dropped his saddlebag over the straight back chair and approached her.
“H-how was he looking at me?”
“You didn’t notice his eyes—lingering.” He’d made it a rule to not look at her attributes when she looked at him.
“No.” She scowled. “Where were they lingering?”
He moved his hand back and forth in front of her breasts, but kept his eyes locked on her face. “Here.”
Her face flushed a deep red. “Why?”
“Men tend to be interested in,” he cleared his throat, “that part of a woman.”
He knew she hadn’t been sparked by anyone other than him, but he didn’t realize she hadn’t noticed the way men looked at her.
“Do you,” she waved her hands in front of her, “look here?”
He tried to appear apologetic, but he wanted to pull her into his arms and taste her. “There have been a few occasions, I’ve looked.”
She ducked her head.
“Oh, don’t do that. There’s nothing to be ashamed about. You can’t help you have the body a man drools over.”
Her head snapped up. The innocence and questioning in her gaze snapped his resolve. He pulled her against him, tipped her head back, and captured her soft lips under his. She didn’t struggle. When he tilted his head and ran his tongue along the seam of her lips, she sighed. Her hands slid up his chest and gripped the back of his neck.
Maeve had never listened to the other girls talk about boys and as they grew older—men. She’d always stayed to herself. She knew how cutting women could be to one another, well at least her mother to her. When Zeke said he looked at her, heat radiated to her toes. She fought the desire to touch him. Only he took the matter into his own hands, and she could acquiesce without him knowing she had wanted it before he embraced her.
She opened her mouth, allowing him entry. Shivers of delight danced through her. Pressing her body against his, she felt his solidness and warmth.
When he tipped his head back, she ran her hands down his shoulders, squeezing the hard muscles in his arm. He had the strength of two men. She’d witnessed it watching him build the Gantry house.
She loved that he was strong. Yet, she knew he would never use his strength to make her do anything she didn’t want to. And he would answer her questions.
She pulled out of the kiss. “Why don’t you want anyone else touching me?” She peered up into his face.
“I thought you’d figured that out by now.” His dark eyes glimmered with heat as his mouth descended on hers again. He straightened, clasping her to him and dangling her feet off the floor. If he hadn’t embraced her, she would have melted to a puddle on the floor. His kiss boiled her insides and set off yearnings she couldn’t explain.
Her stomach rumbled.
He dipped his tongue through her lips and pulled back, sliding her down his long, hard body. She wobbled a little. He clutched her against him. Her face flattened against a dusty, flannel-clad chest.
“You need food. And I need space.” He kissed the top of her head and stepped back.
She leaned against the door jamb. She’d just sent him a message, she’d been avoiding. Blast! But it was so good. Nothing had ever set her on fire or made her feel safe as being in Zeke’s arms.
“I’ll go order. You can freshen up and join me.” He smiled nonchalantly, but his gaze roamed over her face like he’d never seen her before.
“I’ll come with you.” She took a step away from the wall.
“Umm…you might want to tidy up your hair a bit.” His grin and the gleam in his eyes made her hand fly up to feel her hair.
She’d braided her long stringy locks that morning, but she could feel the loose strands hanging around her face. She ducked back into her room and pulled a hairbrush and small mirror out of her saddlebag.
Her face was flushed, her lips wet and swollen, and her hair—had been through a wind storm. She pulled the ribbon from the end of her braid and ran the brush through it. With shaking fingers, she pulled it up on the sides, using a pair of combs she’d tossed in on a whim.
Once the task was done, she pressed a hand to her trembling stomach. She and Zeke had kissed before. A chaste kiss on the cheek or a quick peck on the lips. However, what had just transpired… Oh, my! No one had ever told her kissing could be so wonderful. Her breath came in little spurts as she recalled the time she spent in Zeke’s arms and the taste and feel of his lips.
Her stomach rumbled again. She better hurry or he’d come back up looking for her. Glancing at the door between their rooms, she crossed the room and locked the door. One moment of rapture in Zeke’s arms was all she could take in one day.
****
Zeke sat in the restaurant watching the food he ordered get cold. The table was the right size for an intimate dinner and set back in the corner. He scanned the other customers. By their dress and boisterous talk, he pegged them for traveling salesmen. There was only one other couple in the small dining room. The elderly couple had smiled at him when food for two was delivered.
What was taking Maeve so long? Just as he started to go look for her, she stepped hesitantly into the restaurant.
The few occupants lingering over their meals in the sma
ll dining room looked her way. He saw the accessing glances and smiled smugly when her gaze found him. She favored him with a shy, but beguiling smile.
Standing, he held out a chair for her. She was still dressed in her dusty riding skirt and blouse, but she’d done something with her hair. The dark, straight strands fell midway down her back. She’d pulled the sides up, holding them with some feminine looking doodads.
“Now, I know what took you so long,” he whispered, pushing her chair in and leaning close.
“Was it that long?” She peered at him from under half-mast eyelashes. He didn’t think she knew how to flirt or be shy. From the first moment he met the woman, she’d proved her independence and starch.
“Yes, your food is getting cold.” He picked up a fork and started eating. Glancing at the woman beside him, he smiled as she took a bite of potatoes and grimaced. “Told you it was cold.”
“I’m not complaining. The jerky we had at mid-day didn’t last.” She scooped another bite and continued cleaning her plate.
After a slice of apple pie, she leaned back in her seat, a satisfied lift to her lips. He watched her unabashedly.
Her eyelids started to droop. “Come on, you need sleep.” He took her hand, helping her to her feet. “We won’t have this nice of accommodations the next couple of nights.”
Once she stood, he felt her pull away. She was the most contrary woman he’d ever come up against. Earlier she kissed him, making him weak-kneed, and now she pulled away like he had the fever. He wasn’t going to make a scene, here, in the restaurant. They could talk this out upstairs in their joining rooms. His heart thumped faster. Maybe even share some more kisses.
At her door, he started to follow Maeve into the room.
“Excuse me. Your room is next door,” she said, putting a hand on his chest, holding him out.
“I wanted to talk to you for a bit. And I can just scoot on through the joining door when we’re done.” He smiled and tipped his head in an attempt to capture her lips.
The quick little devil turned her head and gave him a shove. In his distracted state, he found himself standing in the hall. He smiled. So we’re back to the chase once again. He hurried to his room and grasped the knob on the joining door.
