by Linda Bridey
“What was that?”
“A man named Joe Dwyer came to pick up Jamie,” she said.
Dean laughed.
“I don’t think it’s funny. He winked at me and I don’t even know him. Why is Jamie seeing him? I thought her and Luke were going to get married?” Tessa said.
“Come with me, honey. I’ll explain everything to you,” Dean said.
“But he winked at me,” she said.
“So does Marcus,” Dean said.
“But I know Marcus,” she insisted.
Dean began leading her out of the kitchen. “Come with me and I’ll make you forget about Joe, Marcus, and everyone else,” he said.
Jamie and Joe were riding high when the night was through. They sang, danced, drank, and played poker until the place closed. They were leaving with their winnings, which they’d split as usual. Joe was boosting her up on his horse when someone slapped his horse hard on its haunches. It took off at a canter, with Jamie hanging on.
Joe looked up into the face of the culprit and knew he didn’t dare say anything. Then the person turned and mounted their horse and galloped after Jamie. Joe waited until the coast was clear before getting up. “Great. Now I have to walk home,” he groused, and started out for his family’s estate.
Jamie tried to get Joe’s horse stopped, but couldn’t seem to get a hold of the reins right. “Stop, damn it! Whoa!” she shouted at it. The horse had been badly scared however, and wouldn’t halt.
The next thing she knew, someone rode up behind her and put something over her head. She screamed and tried to get it off, but her coordination was hampered by all the alcohol in her system. Suddenly her horse slowed and someone was binding her hands to the saddle horn in front of her. Jamie struggled, but to no avail. Then they were moving again.
Jamie wasn’t sure how long they travelled before they stopped. Her brain was too foggy to be able to keep track of time. She was dragged from her horse and made to walk forward. Jamie protested as she was picked up and carried up a few steps. Then she was set down and propelled forward again.
She heard a door open and was nudged through a doorway. When Jamie tripped a little, she was righted and moved ahead of her captor until she bumped into something. She was turned around and made to sit down. It felt soft. Then she was pushed over to lie on her side.
“Don’t move,” a voice whispered.
Jamie wasn’t in any shape to move, and passed out.
Jamie awoke with a start. She looked around her surroundings but had no idea where she was. Sitting up on the sofa on which she’d been placed, Jamie realized that she was in a cabin. The last thing she’d remembered was getting ready to leave the Watering Hole with Joe.
“Joe? Joe? Are you here?” she called out.
There was no answer. Jamie saw that she was in her red dress from the night before. Her wrists were slightly sore and there were faint pink marks on them. The cabin was well maintained and quite pretty really. A large fireplace stood sentinel in the great room. The ceiling was very high and large windows gave a good view of the outside.
The sofa and other furniture were expensive and well made. A few of the windows were open and a nice breeze blew through the cabin. Jamie could smell jasmine and other flowers as it moved the curtains.
“Joe!” she yelled. It only made sense to her that Joe would have been the one to bring her here.
Disbelief filled her when Luke walked into the great room carrying coffee cups. Jamie smelled the brew and her stomach growled. She noticed that Luke was shirtless and watched him with longing.
“Luke, what’s going on here?” she asked, as Luke sat coffee on a table in front of the sofa.
Luke sat in a chair opposite the sofa and put his elbows on his knees. His dark eyes never left hers as he said, “I kidnapped you.”
Jamie tried to remember the previous night. All that came to her was leaving the Watering Hole with Joe and then riding a horse. She didn’t recall anything about being kidnapped.
“Why?” she asked. Luke looked incredibly good and her hands itched to touch his powerful chest.
Luke picked up his cup and drank from it. Then he said, “Because it was the only way I could get you alone so we could talk about things. You’ve been avoiding me for way too long.”
Jamie said, “It was your idea to stop being intimate before the wedding.”
Luke smiled and Jamie almost melted at the sight she hadn’t seen for so long. She loved his smiles.
“I know, but I wasn’t talking about all intimacy. Just lovemaking. I still wanted to have fun with you and kiss you. I’m so sorry about the way I hurt you. I made a huge mistake and let someone else’s opinion matter more to me than my own. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things and I realize it’s time to stop listening to other people so much and rely on my own judgment.”
Jamie said, “That’s nice.”
Luke stood up and ran a hand through his hair. Jamie almost groaned as she remembered what it felt like to have his arm muscles move under her hands. Not being able to touch him was torture.
“When I asked Marcus to put that ad in the paper, I never expected someone like you to answer it. That first letter was a doozey and I just had to meet you. Then you got here and I was bowled over by how beautiful and fun you were,” Luke said.
Jamie smiled a little. “It seemed like you liked me, especially when we were intimate.”
Luke didn’t look away as he said, “I never regretted being with you, Jamie. Never.”
Jamie rose and walked over to a window. As she looked out, she said, “I thought you accepted me as I am. I thought you were different than all of the people like your mother who think I’m trash.”
Luke didn’t move closer to her even though everything within him wanted to. “I do accept you as you are and I’m not like them. The things you said to me about how Joe and you are alike stuck with me. You’re right; why does it matter whether it’s a man who does those things or a woman. You’re both fun as hell, good-looking, loyal, kind, and smart. There are a bunch of other good qualities I could list, but I won’t bother. So you like to sing and drink some? What’s it matter if you like to play poker or flirt? It doesn’t matter because I see through all of that to the person underneath.”
Jamie turned to look at him. “And what kind of person am I?”
“Well, all of the things I mentioned before, except that you’re gorgeous instead of good-looking. Plus, you’ve been through hell and haven’t really had many people you could count on to help you through. You had the courage to live life the way you wanted and to hell with what other people said about you,” Luke said. “You were brave enough to come out here to marry me, even though you didn’t know me at all.”
Jamie watched as he walked to her and said, “And you’re the woman I fell in love with.”
She could see that he was telling her the truth and saw his love for her in his eyes. “Luke, I have to know that you will never treat me like that again. You can’t say all these things to me one moment and then take them back another. You have to make up your mind right here and now,” she said. His admission of love made her heart feel as if it could soar, but her mind told her not to get carried away just yet.
That she didn’t say she loved him too bothered Luke a little, but he pushed past that momentary disappointment. He went to the chair his shirt laid on and then came back over to her. A black ring box sat in his palm. Jamie couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move; she watched as he opened it to reveal an oval cut diamond ring.
“Jamie Collins, you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. No one has ever made me so happy. You brought me out of my shell and helped me understand that the pain of the past shouldn’t get in the way of the happiness of the future. Charlene was my past and I’m glad. You were always meant to be my future. I want to spend every day with you living life to the fullest and to hell with what anyone else thinks about what we do.
“This ring comes with some promis
es, too. I promise to make you happy, keep you safe, and always have your best interests at heart. I promise to listen to you and let you know that you can always count on me. I promise to be a good provider for you and our family. And I promise to be the best husband to you and father to our children that I can possibly be. Jamie will you marry me?”
By the time his proposal was complete, Jamie was in tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Luke.”
Luke put the ring on her finger and placed a kiss over it. Then he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. There was nothing shy about Luke as he claimed her mouth and ran his hands down her back. Jamie thrilled at his touch and took his face in her hands as they kissed. This big, beautiful man of hers had shown her that he wasn’t afraid to show his feelings any longer, and that she could rely on him.
Jamie had missed him so much and poured all of her love out to him. Luke set her feet on the sofa and unzipped her dress. It fell and left her bare. Jamie smiled at him as she stood in the sunlight bared to him. Luke knew he would never forget this moment. Jamie saw his desire for her in his big brown eyes and felt the same for him. She leaned over and bit his earlobe. They never made it to the bedroom.
Chapter Seventeen
Tessa answered the knock on their kitchen door. Joe Dwyer stood on the other side. There was something about the man that disturbed her. She now understood that he was a family friend, but it didn’t help any.
“Hello,” she said coolly.
“Howdy, ma’am,” Joe said in his Texas drawl.
“How may I help you,” Tessa said.
Joe smiled. He knew just how to get around this kind of reception from a woman. “I came to see your husband. Would he happen to be around?”
The man never tried to enter the kitchen, but Tessa felt threatened in some way. “Dean is in the barn, well, one of the barns. I’m not sure which. He didn’t tell me.”
Joe rested his hand on the door jam and leaned his weight on one hip. “I see. Well, maybe I should tell you and you could give him a message for me?”
Tessa backed away a little. “What is it?”
Joe noticed her movement and frowned. “I’m supposed to tell you that Luke and Jamie won’t be in to work today, or probably tomorrow. They’re fine, but there’s something very important they have to do,” he said and winked at her.
“Stop that!” Tessa said.
Joe was very confused. “Stop what?” he took his hand off the door jam and straightened.
“Winking at me,” Tessa said, and felt like an idiot. Dean was right; Marcus winked at her all the time and it never disturbed her.
Joe laughed. “Is that what’s bothering you. You’re about as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. Calm down, sweetheart. I just came to give ya’ll a message.”
“Don’t call me ‘sweetheart’, either,” Tessa said.
Joe was annoyed now. “Look, I don’t need this. Just tell Dean what I said, ok. Have a nice day, Mrs. Samuels,” he said. He tipped his hat sarcastically to her and strode to his horse.
Tessa closed the door and leaned against it. She tried to analyze her feelings. Why did he make her angry and defensive? It was stupid of her and yet she couldn’t help it. There was just something about him that put her on edge and she couldn’t really name it. She put him out of her mind and went to check on Mikey.
Jamie rose up on one elbow and looked down at Luke. His strong jaw was relaxed as he slept and she could imagine what he’d looked like as a little boy. She reached out and moved a lock of his hair from his face. Jamie craved Luke like she’d never craved anyone and she wanted to touch him all the time. She ran her hand over his biceps and kissed his shoulder.
He was her Hercules. He had captured her heart, mind, and soul and she would do her best to make him happy. Luke opened his eyes and their dark beauty made her breath catch.
“Hi, Hercules,” she said.
Luke laughed. “I love it when you call me that. I have Marcus to thank for my nickname.”
“I thought it was so funny when you told me that’s what you looked like. I thought you were kidding, but the moment I saw you, I knew it was true,” Jamie said. Her stomach growled and Luke laughed.
“I think we need to eat something,” he said. “I brought different clothes for you. There in this bedroom here.”
“You thought of everything,” she said. “I’ll be back soon.”
Luke smiled and went into the kitchen to begin making them brunch. True to her word, Jamie returned shortly, dressed in one of her everyday dresses. He had asked Claire to help him pick it out. It was one of his favorite dresses on her because it had a lot of green in it. He’d sworn Claire to secrecy about his plan, though.
They shared a kiss as they waited for bacon to fry. Luke was just taking her in his arms when the cabin door burst open and three men ran in. Luke immediately put Jamie in back of him to shield her. He had a gun with him, but it was too far away for it to him any good. The men were searching the other areas of the cabin and it was only a matter of seconds before they came in the kitchen.
Luke grabbed the pan of bacon and when the first man came through the door, he threw the contents of the pan on him– his screams rent the air as the hot bacon grease burned him. Luke swung the pan and caught the intruder upside the head. He went down and didn’t move.
The other two men were alerted that something was wrong and ran into the kitchen. Luke had taken the fallen man’s pistol and had gotten Jamie and him out the kitchen door to where their horses were. He’d left their bridles on but not their saddles.
“Can you ride bareback?” he asked Jamie.
“Yeah. Let’s get the hell out of here,” she said.
Luke put her up on her horse and mounted up. He had Jamie go ahead of him. They rode away at full speed as the other men came out of the cabin. They shot and Luke turned around and fired a round at them. He thought he hit one of them, but couldn’t be sure. They tore down the trail, dirt and pebbles flying from under their horses’ hooves.
Luke did a mental check of where they were and figured out a more direct route to Dawson. Gunfire rang out behind them and he heard Jamie cry out. She slumped over her horse. He pulled his horse alongside of her and pulled her onto his horse. Luke turned around and fired. He saw the men pull up for a few moments. Luke used the opportunity to surge forward again.
He gauged how long it was going to take to get to Dawson and knew that with his and Jamie’s combined weight, his horse wasn’t going to be able to continue at a gallop to stay ahead of the two men behind them. Then he remembered that the Lakota camp was due east of where they were on the trail.
Luke held on to Jamie and turned the horse in that direction. He knew a couple of Marcus’ Indian brothers and if he could get there, they would be safe. As he held Jamie against him, Luke felt blood seeping through his shirt and sticking to his skin.
“Hang on, Jamie. Don’t you leave me,” he said in a rough voice. “Do you hear me? You fight and don’t leave me.”
Jamie moaned. Her back and chest were on fire and stabbing pain hit her every time she breathed. She heard Luke through the pain and tried to speak but all that came out was a faint whisper. Luke had to slow their horse down a little so he could guide it around rocks and trees since they weren’t on any trail now. He used the position of the sun to keep them going east.
He could hear their pursuers behind them and urged his horse faster. As they came up over a knoll, Luke heard a welcome sound; a Lakota sentry had sent out a hoot owl call. Luke answered with a low whistle that told them he was a friend. They were left alone as Luke pushed the horse to its limits.
Luke saw the camp ahead through a break in the trees. They galloped into camp and he pulled the horse to a stop. Luke felt bad for the poor animal that stood with its sides heaving. He took Jamie in his arms and hollered, “Black Fox! Where is Black Fox?”
A brave came up to him and said, “I am Owl. Come with me. I take you him.”
Luke said, “
You’re one of Marcus’ brothers.” He could see the resemblance to Marcus.
Owl smiled. “Yes. Silver Ghost is brother.” He looked down at Jamie and saw all the blood. His coal black eyes widened and he pulled Luke’s arm to get him to follow him.
They ran through camp to Black Fox’s tipi. Owl called out something in Lakota, which Luke didn’t understand. He only knew a few Lakota words. He’d remembered that Marcus had told him that a low whistle was the “password” to being allowed to enter the camp. Luke was grateful that Marcus had imparted some knowledge of his Indian family to him.
Black Fox came out of his tipi. He looked at Jamie and said, “Come.”
He started walking in between tipis until he reached the one he wanted. He ducked inside and beckoned Luke to follow.
“Lay her here,” he said indicating a sleeping pallet.
Luke gently laid her on it and then knelt beside her. Jamie moaned and moved her head from side to side. Blood still seeped from the wounds in her chest and back. Black Fox looked around the tipi at the bags that hung from the support poles. He found the one he wanted and opened it. A woman entered the tipi and saw Jamie lying on the pallet. She said something to Black Fox in Lakota.
“What is your name?” Black Fox asked Luke.
“Luke Samuels. I’m Marcus’ cousin.”
“Luke, Silver Ghost isn’t here, but we are going to find him. Until he gets here, I will take care of her,” Black Fox said.
Luke nodded. “Ok. What do I do?”
“You will follow my directions. Let us start,” Black Fox responded.
Owl had ridden swiftly to Marcus’ house. Luckily, his brother was home.
“Come, we need your help,” Owl said.
Marcus saw that Owl was very disturbed. “What’s wrong?”
“A woman with red hair and a big white man come into the camp. She’s badly hurt,” Owl said in Lakota. He hadn’t mastered as much English as his brothers, so he mainly spoke in his native tongue to Marcus. “We took her to your tipi.”
Marcus hoped he was wrong, but it sounded like Luke and Jamie. He immediately started gathering the supplies he might need and shoved them into his saddlebag. Marcus mounted Arrow and he and Owl tore away from his house. Marcus and Arrow knew the way to the camp by rote and Arrow had no problem navigating the trail at a near gallop.
