“Then that’s what it shall be.” After the man left, she locked the door, then went to change her dress. “Interviewing prospective husbands. For me!” She jerked a freshly ironed white blouse and a navy linen skirt from her closet and put them on. “Of all the nerve. As if I couldn’t pick my own husband—if I wanted one. Which I don’t. Especially one picked out by Tanner Blaine.”
She yanked a brush through her hair to smooth out the tangles then twisted the mass into a knot. “He’s gone too far this time.” He didn’t want her, yet he had the nerve to act as if she were his to pawn off onto somebody else. “I will not stand for it!” Feeling the need to vent her anger, she flung her brush across the room, where it bounced it off the opposite wall. The dog whined and tried to squirrel his huge body under the bed. The only thing he succeeded in hiding was his head.
Ashamed of her outburst, Kate knelt and patted his rump. “Fluffy, it’s all right. Poor doggy. I’m not mad at you, sweetiekins.”
His tale thumped the floor and a nose appeared, then large brown eyes peered at her from the bottom edge of the coverlet.
“Want a biscuit? Come on, puppy.” She led the way to the warming oven and retrieved a biscuit left over from breakfast. After feeding it to her pet, she went out and shut the door. She didn’t bother to lock it. Nobody in their right mind would enter her home with the dog there.
“Maybe I should have brought him with me. I could have sicced him on Tanner.” Right now, she’d enjoy watching the aggravating Mr. Blaine get his leg chewed off.
Her skirts swishing, she strode down the boardwalk. The faster she walked, the madder she got. By the time she reached the boardinghouse, she was in a white-hot fury.
She entered without knocking, then paused in the vestibule to catch her breath.
“Next,” a deep voice called from inside the parlor.
Next? She shoved the parlor door open, then closed it behind her.
“Kate?” Tanner scooted his chair back from the desk. “Uh, what are you doing here?” Glancing at the doorway, he ran a finger around the inside of his collar and gave her a sickly grin.
“Why, whatever do you mean? I came to visit Madame Jeanne.” She removed her gloves one finger at a time, then placed her palms on the desk. She leaned toward him. “Is there some reason I shouldn’t be here?”
“Not at all. Jeanne’s upstairs.” He pointed toward the ceiling.
“Why are you here?” she asked, making no move to leave. “I thought you had timber to cut.”
He didn’t answer, instead he shot a another look toward the doorway.
“Expecting company?” She took off her cloak.
“Uh... no. Not exactly.” He came around the desk. “Have a seat. No, not there.” He pulled her out of a chair facing the door and plopped her down in another. “This one is better. You can look out the window.”
“Maybe I don’t want to look out the window.” She got out of the chair and followed him back to the desk, effectively blocking any attempt he might have made to escape. “Maybe I’d rather look at you.” She placed her palm against his chest and backed him against the wall. He looked jumpy as an old maid on her first date. And she hadn’t even started.
“Hmmm.” She studied him a minute, then slowly walked around him. Stopping directly in front of him, she thoughtfully trailed her finger down his forehead, his nose and across his lips.
“What are you doing?” he asked warily.
She ran her other hand up his chest—and undid the top button of his shirt. Then watching his eyes widen, she undid the second button. Then the third.
He blinked. “Kate!” He grasped his shirtfront, trying to hold it together.
“Stand still.” She slapped his fists aside, then slid her hands in next to his bare chest. His heart pounded like a trip-hammer against her palm. She nodded—and pulled out his shirttail.
He sucked in a breath. “Miss Deveraux?”
“No scars, that I can see—except this itsy-bitsy one right here.” She touched a spot to the right of his nipple. “Oh, and one right here.” She put the tip of her finger against the base of his neck. “And this one on your chin.”
“A wood chip hit me.”
“Poor baby.” She stood on tiptoe, touched it with her lips, then traced the scar with her tongue.
“Kate,” he breathed.
She brushed her lips against his and felt him tremble. She backed away, eyeing him speculatively. “Kisses okay. Nice lips, good teeth.” She pointed to the open notepad on the desk. “You might want to take notes.”
“Notes?” A bewildered expression on his face, he stared at the pencil she’d shoved into his hand.
“Uh-huh.” She stepped close, lifted his shirttail, then moved her hands over his back, in a slow examining motion. “Back seems all right. No discernable lumps or knots.”
“Hmm.” She squeezed his buttocks.
He jumped. And dropped the pencil.
“Firm, nicely muscled.”
Mouth open, he gaped at her, but she noticed he didn’t make any attempt to move. She stooped and ran a hand down the outside of his leg; paused on his thigh, then continued past his knee and on down to his calf. “Seems sound enough, but you never can tell. You might be hip-shot or something. Why don’t you turn around? I can’t really inspect you properly from this angle.”
He shut his mouth. “Inspect me?” He shoved her hands away, and jerked her to her feet. He released her at arms’ length. “You want to tell me what you think you’re doing?”
“That’s the way my father used to buy horses. I figured a husband would be no different.” She tilted her head and shot him a sideways glance. “But, I forgot, you’re not one of the contenders—are you?”
She pointed toward the stack of papers on the desk, then tapped a finger against her teeth. “You might want to make him run a spell. I wouldn’t want the kind that gets winded too easily.” She raised her lashes and stared him in the eyes. “I would like a man with lots of endurance.” She gave him a suggestive smile. “If you know what I mean.”
He actually blushed. “Kathleen Amanda Deveraux! Why, I—I...”
“What’s the matter, Tanner? Cat got your tongue?” She stepped toward him. “What kind of criteria are you using, if I might ask? Maybe I could suggest a thing or two.” She ran a fingertip from the fiercely pounding pulse at his throat, all the way to his navel, moving slowly, seductively, making small lazy circles as she went. “Like, is he ticklish?”
He quivered like an unbroken colt. “Stop that!”
“You haven’t answered my question.”
His eyes appeared glazed, desperate. “What question?”
She smiled and moistened her lips with her tongue.
He groaned and closed his eyes.
“I’m waiting.”
“I don’t know. I can’t remember the question. Oh, hell.” He reached for her—pulled her against his chest.
She looped one arm around his neck and pulled his mouth down to meet her own.
“Kate. Oh, Kate.”
Using her other hand, she threaded her fingers through his chest hair, tracing his ribs from the top to the bottom.
He moaned and pulled her against him.
Like that, do you?
He was breathing like a horse at the end of a grueling race. Wonder how you’ll like this? She clamped her teeth shut.
“Yeow!” He jerked his head back. “You bit me!” He touched his lip and stared at her. “What did you do that for?”
“Maybe you’d rather I did this?” She brought her heel down on his foot.
“Billy-be-damned! I think you broke my toe.” He grabbed his foot and stomped in circles. “What’s wrong with you, woman?”
The door crashed open. Three men burst into the room. “Tanner? Is one of us next? What hap—” Then they noticed her. “Miss Kate?”
She lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers in a little wave. “Hello, boys.”
“Get out!” Tanner bell
owed, pointing to the hallway.
“Looks like we came at a bad time, men.”
“Sorry, Tanner. We’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing.”
The last man eyed Tanner’s open shirt, then backed out and closed the door. “That looked like blood on his lip. Suppose she bit ‘im?”
“He didn’t look like he was complainin’ none.”
“Would you?”
“A little old love bite from a pretty woman like that? Hell no!” The voices faded then disappeared down the hall.
“Love bite?” He rubbed his lip, and looked at her. “Was...”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not in your wildest dreams. Now let’s get back to business.” She bent over the desk and picked up the stack of papers. “He’s too short.” She threw it in the trash. “Too tall.” She thumbed through them. “Bad tempered.” She shook her head. “Rich, but doesn’t bathe.” One after another she discarded, then sorting through the others, she sighed. “These won’t do at all.” Ripping the papers crosswise, she tossed them into the wastebasket. “I wouldn’t marry any of them.” She crossed her arms and looked at him. “Guess you’d better start over.”
“How did you find out? What polecat told?”
“One of your rejects—a very nice man, I might add.” She trembled with rage. “How could you do such a thing?
He held up his hands and gave her a silly grin. It only served to infuriate her more.
“I have never been so humiliated in my life. If I wanted a husband don’t you think I could get one on my own?” She whirled away and paced to the window. “Thanks to you, I must be the laughingstock of the whole town.”
He eased out of the corner and stood in the center of the room, making sure she couldn’t box him in again.
“Coward.”
“Coward? You damn near bit my lip off. And all that other business? Unbuttoning my shirt and...” he waved a hand.
“Did you think I was trying to seduce you?”
He smiled and raised a brow.
Her mouth dropped open, and she slammed it shut. “You did. I can tell by the expression on your face. Of all the egotistical...” Outraged, she straightened and waved a finger under his nose. “You are the most impossible man I have ever met.”
“Yeah, but you like me anyhow.” He captured her hand and brought it to his mouth.
“Stop that!” She tried to pull it away, but he held her fast.
He kissed each fingertip and her palm, then ran his tongue over her pulse, taking tiny nibbles as he went. “Now it’s my turn.”
“Don’t!”
“Don’t?” He maneuvered her toward the desk, until she could retreat no further.
“What are you doing?”
“The same thing you did to me.” He undid her top button.
“One more and I’ll scream,” she warned.
His dark eyes danced. “Go ahead.”
“Hel—”
He swallowed the rest of her cry. His fingers traced the base of her throat, walking down to unfasten the buttons on her blouse. She gasped when he slid his fingers in next to her skin. “Mmmmmmmm!” she cried, furiously, trying to twist away, but his lips held her fast.
“You wear too many clothes,” he murmured when he allowed her to breathe. When her head cleared, she found she now lay on top of the desk, and he had her blouse unbuttoned to her navel.
Shocked, she stared up at him.
He gave her a lazy smile. “Let’s see...” He nodded. “Scars?” He pulled the ribbon on her chemise.
“Let me up this instant,” she hissed, pounding on his shoulders. She didn’t dare scream now. She’d die of mortification if someone caught her like this.
“What’s your hurry?” He caught her hands and bent his head. His hot breath, then his mouth, seared her flesh.
“Oh, my,” she whispered. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Her heart pounded so furiously, she feared it would beat right through her body. Tears of humiliation spilled from her eyes.
Seeing them, Tanner froze, then abruptly released her. He pulled her upright and began fumbling at her clothes. “My God, Kate. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” She slapped his hands away and yanked her blouse shut. “You’re sorry all right. Sorriest human being it’s ever been my misfortune to meet.” Her hands were shaking too badly to redo the buttons, and she yanked at the fasteners in frustration.
“Here, let me.” Despite her protests, he managed to redo her buttons, then tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “There, that does it.” He turned her to face a mirror that hung on the opposite end of the wall. “See?”
“Oh, good grief.” Her lips were swollen, her hair stuck out every which way. Her clothes were wrinkled and her blouse had a large ink stain near the collar—and he’d skipped a button, making her whole top crooked. She couldn’t have looked worse if she’d been drunk and dressed in the dark. She hurriedly undid and refastened her top, then tucked her blouse back into her skirt.
He gave her a pleased smile. “Good as new.”
“Good as new?” She waved a fist under his nose. “Thanks to you I look like a harlot after a hard night.”
“Now, darlin’, don’t get upset.”
“I’m not your darlin’, or anybody else’s,” she said between gritted teeth. “I’m me. Kate Deveraux. I’m my own person. I’ll see who I please and do what I please. And I don’t need your help to find me a husband!” Before she lowered herself to commit further violence, she snatched up her cloak and her reticule and headed for the door.
“I thought John and I might come visiting tomorrow night.”
Eyes narrowed, she whirled. “John is welcome anytime. You, I never want to see again.” She stepped through and slammed the door behind her.
“Howdy, Miss Kate.”
She glared at the group of men gathered in the entry. “Don’t you ‘howdy’ me. From now on the only time any of you will see me will be during business hours. Anyone coming around after dark will be greeted by my dog.” She drew herself up primly and marched out the door.
* * *
That night, although several love-bitten swains strolled by and gazed longingly toward her window, not a one dared to stop. Tanner, watching from his seat in the toolshed, lifted her forgotten gloves to his swollen lip and remembered how good she felt in his arms. If she hadn’t cried out his name, he’d be hunting up a preacher about now. Somehow that didn’t sound so bad.
If he didn’t have that mortgage hanging over his head; if he had more money; if he didn’t have four younger brothers to support, then he’d marry her whether she wanted to or not and damn the consequences.
Judging by the way she kissed him, he didn’t think she disliked him near as much as she tried to pretend. “Yeah, and if mules could fly, I’d be rich.”
He waited until her lights went out, then he rose and stretched the kinks out of his muscles. As he stepped into the open, a layer of frost crunched under his boots. In the toolshed he hadn’t noticed it had grown so cold. He eyed her house and thought of Kate snuggled up in a nice warm bed, and wondered what she would do if he tried to join her. He grinned, then ruefully rubbed his sore lip. He probably wouldn’t live long enough to find out. After a moment of reflecting on that thought, he decided he wasn’t about to go anywhere near her until she’d had a chance to get over her mad spell. He’d end up being fodder for that mutt.
His breath forming clouds of white mist, he shivered, then set out in search of his horse. A pale moon rising over the crest of the mountain showed the animal standing beneath a pine tree a short distance away.
Weary and more than a little melancholy, Tanner swung into the saddle. He wasn’t any closer to finding Kate a husband, further from it, in fact. The only thing he had to show for his efforts was a sore lip and a throbbing toe. He had a long ride before he reached home, and a full day’s logging to put in tomorrow. So far the weather had been holding. But if it was anything like the rest of his luck, he
knew it wouldn’t last.
Chapter 10
A bark and a nudge from her dog made Kate open her eyes. Morning. Already. Groaning, she glanced at the window, then rolled over and covered her head. The little sleep she’d managed to get had been fitful. And because that sleep had been filled with dreams of Tanner, she ruefully thought she might have been better off with no sleep at all.
Someone pounded on her door, then Madame Jeanne called out her name.
Kate ran a hand over her eyes, hoisted herself upright and reached for her robe. Still tying the belt she answered her door.
“Hello, Jeanne. What brings you out so early?”
“Early?” Jeanne raised a brow. “Ees after noon.” She pointed to the sun, which hung low on the horizon. “See?”
Late afternoon. In a few hours it would be dark.
“I must have been more tired than I thought.” She motioned the woman in and shut the door.
“Are you all right, cherie? Some of your customers asked about you. I found you deed not open your shop.”
“Oh, my goodness. I didn’t even think about the pies. I don’t have any to sell anyway.” She pointed to a chair. “Have a seat, and I’ll put some coffee on,” she said, stifling a yawn.
“Non. You have a seat. I’ll make the coffee.”
A few minutes later Jeanne set a steaming cup in front of her. “You deed not sleep, and I weel bet I know the reason.”
“I guess everybody knows.” Kate managed a rueful smile. “Tanner and I didn’t exactly try to keep our argument a secret.”
“Ah, love. So many ups and downs, but never the dull moment, eh?”
Kate scowled. “Love has nothing to do with it. It’s that—that man.”
“Tanner Blaine ees quite the man, no?”
“He’s an egotistical bully.” But he could also be kind and gentle. Kate remembered the way he’d held her when she’d cried. She also recalled the concern he showed for his brothers, especially little John. She also remembered other things, things she’d be better off forgetting.
“He keessed you,” the Frenchwoman said knowingly.
Kate remained silent. He did a whole more than that, but she wasn’t about to tell a living soul, not even Jeanne.
Courting Kate Page 10
