by Sara Orwig
Jeddy rode between the animals and the river, watching them in silence while they moved back and forth, wanting to get back to the water.
Luke gathered up his rope, glancing at Honor, who was waving her hat at the cow. Honor had mud up to her bottom. Tendrils of black hair had come loose and fallen around her face. She had mud streaked on her cheeks and hands and spattered on her coat. She had been as much help as Dusty or any other of the men. Luke’s gaze shifted to Jeddy, who hadn’t been any help at all, and he wondered if Jeddy would ever be ready to run the ranch.
He mounted and waved his hat, yelling at the cow and turning her toward home while Honor waded out and mounted to ride beside him. Storm clouds had spread across the sky, and Luke lifted his head, smelling the scent of rain and dust in the air.
“We’re going to get more rain tonight.”
“I wouldn’t mind it coming right now,” Honor said, looking at the mud that covered her.
While thunder rumbled in the distance, they both tried to wash the mud off at the pump before they went into the house to change. As Luke pumped, Honor thrust her legs under the rush of water and twisted to get the mud washed off her bottom. He drew a deep breath. She had tossed her jacket aside and her shirt was soaked now, outlining her breasts fully. Her wet clothes clung to her, revealing every curve.
Suddenly she turned to look at him. His gaze met hers and then slid back down over her. She turned abruptly and yanked up her jacket to enter the house, her hips swaying in the manner that fanned his desire.
As night came the storm swept over the house, rain spilling from the sky, thunder booming enough to rattle windowpanes while Luke washed and dressed for dinner. When the dinner bell rang, he hurriedly combed his hair and joined Honor and Jeddy in the dining room. Honor wore a deep red dress that buttoned to her chin and had sleeves to her wrists; the dress clung to her curves, emphasizing her tiny waist and the flare of her hips, and she looked beautiful. He held her chair, unable to resist brushing his hands across her shoulders. If she noticed, she gave no indication.
Over golden fried chicken and fluffy potatoes smothered in thick cream gravy, Luke and Honor sat quietly, listening while Jeddy talked through two helpings of chicken about the strange cases in the book Judge Tolliver had given him.
After dinner they sat in the parlor, and Luke built a roaring fire while rain drummed against the house and lightning flashed in silvery brilliance at the darkened windows.
As Jeddy read aloud to Honor, Luke worked on the books until he stopped and turned around to listen. The glow of the lamp showed blue-black highlights in Honor’s midnight tresses while she bent her head over the sewing in her lap and listened to Jeddy. Luke gazed with longing at Honor, wishing he were free to have a family, not daring to allow himself to think about taking Honor as his wife.
Finally Jeddy went to bed and Honor got up and left with him, barely glancing at Luke. “Good-night, Luke. It’s been a long day.”
She walked down the wide hall with Jeddy. “You like riding better than I do, Honor,” Jeddy said solemnly. “I’d like to stay here tomorrow and read.”
“Then you do that,” she said softly, brushing his black hair away from his face, realizing he had grown taller recently. “Jeddy, you’re growing up. We need to get some new pants made for you soon.”
“Okay. If we go to San Antonio, can I go see Judge Tolliver?”
“Yes, you may. Good-night,” Honor said, squeezing his shoulder. “Don’t read too late tonight,” she said, and knew that was useless advice.
In her room she pulled on the white gown, trying to avoid thinking about the moments of passion with Luke, moments that tore at her heart.
She climbed into bed, lying where she could look out the window, watching lightning flash and listening to the hiss of rain, wondering if Luke cared that they were separated again.
She tossed and turned for hours, finally drifting asleep to dream about Luke. He was riding away from her, hurrying toward the house. She rode behind him, flinging herself off her horse to run to the back door and found it locked. She pounded on it, beating against it, pounding on it over and over …
Honor opened her eyes and listened to banging. She frowned because the pounding hadn’t been her dream. Someone was actually pounding somewhere in the house. She tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed, yanking up her wrapper and hurrying to the bedroom door. When she stepped into the hall, Luke was going down the hall ahead of her with a lighted candle blowing in his haste. He wore denim pants, but was bare-chested and barefooted.
“What is it?” she asked, realizing someone was pounding on the front door.
He glanced back at her. “I’ll see,” he said as he hurried forward.
Thirteen
Luke opened the door, and a sheet of rain poured in as a blast of cold air swept over Honor, who stood behind him.
“Help!” a man cried, clutching his chest. He staggered forward into the flickering candlelight, and Honor recognized him.
“Uncle Stanton!”
Lavinia came right behind him. “Help us! We were traveling home but were caught in the storm, and something is wrong with Stanton.”
Honor rushed to light a lamp while Luke caught Stanton underneath his arms and tried to help him to the sofa in the parlor.
“My chest!” Stanton cried, clutching his shirt. “Help! I can’t breathe!”
“In here, Stanton,” Luke said, while Honor closed the front door and rushed after them. Luke helped the staggering Stanton to the settee. “Honor, get his feet,” he said as he tried to lower Stanton gently. As Honor lifted her uncle’s feet to the settee, he groaned.
Luke yanked away Stanton’s silk tie and unfastened the buttons of his shirt while Honor hurried to light another lamp. “Get a fire going, Honor,” Luke snapped. “Lavinia—” Luke glanced around.
“Where the devil is she?”
Honor looked at the empty doorway and wondered if her aunt had succumbed to one of her fainting spells. She hurried to the doorway to look at the empty hall. “Luke, she’s not here!”
Puzzled, unable to imagine what had happened to Lavinia, Honor glanced at Luke, who was frowning at her. “What do you mean she’s not there?”
“Aunt Lavinia?” Honor called, and glanced up and down the hall. Then she glimpsed a movement at the end of the hall and saw Lavinia rush into Luke’s bedroom.
“She’s in your room,” Honor said, suddenly feeling cold. She walked down the hall as Lavinia came dashing out of Luke’s room, rushing toward Honor with a look of triumph on her face. “Stanton! Stanton!”
Luke stepped into the hall behind Honor, and she glanced back to see him standing with his feet apart and his hands on his hips.
“They don’t share the same bedroom at all!” Lavinia shouted gleefully.
“So this isn’t a happy marriage,” Stanton said from the parlor doorway. “I thought as much and thought if we—”
Luke spun around, striding toward Stanton, who bolted for the front door. “My wife and I were having an argument. Get the hell out of our house—”
He caught Stanton by the shoulder, spun him around and punched Stanton on the jaw, sending him staggering back to crash into a chair and hit the wall.
“How dare you strike him!” Lavinia shrieked, rushing past Luke toward the door. “You’ll be sorry,” she said, shaking her fist at him. Her gaze shifted to Honor. “And you, missy, will be Stanton’s ward and learn to obey me. And I’ll have that ruffian brother of yours stand and watch while Stanton shoots his snakes and cats and anything else he keeps!” She looked at Luke. “Common riffraff!”
“I’m common enough to hit a woman,” Luke said, starting toward her. Lavinia screamed and fled. Stanton stood up and ran past Luke, blood streaming from his mouth.
“You’ll hear from me in court and this marriage will be annulled within a fortnight! You and your brother will become my wards, and I’ll heat some obedience into the two of you! And I’ll own every inch of t
he H Bar R.”
Luke started after Stanton, who fled, flinging himself into a buggy, as the driver snapped his whip.
Wind howled around the house, blowing a sheet of rain in through the open door. Luke slammed it shut, slipping the bolt in place, turning to look at Honor.
She felt a sinking in the pit of her stomach as she stared at him. “I should have watched where Lavinia was going.”
“Don’t be absurd. You thought your uncle was in the middle of some kind of attack, and you tried to help.”
“We can’t stop him. He can have a doctor examine me—” Heat flooded her and she turned away, looking at the house she loved and thinking about Stanton taking it over. “I feel like I failed Pa,” she whispered.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Honor. You haven’t failed your father.” Luke glanced around, suddenly wondering about Jeddy. “Lord, did Jeddy sleep through the commotion?”
“He sleeps through anything,” she answered perfunctorily, and Luke stared at her shoulders while anger burned in him. He wanted to hit Stanton again because he knew what it would do to Honor and Jeddy to lose the H Bar R.
“How long do we have?” she asked in a voice that was filled with hurt.
“They can probably get an annulment and have Stanton appointed guardian within the next two months,” Luke said, only half-thinking about his answer. He hurt for Honor and knew she had to keep the ranch to survive. It was as important to her as her life. He rubbed his chin and went to her, an idea churning in his mind. “Come into the library,” he said, leading her away from the parlor, where she would only think about Stanton.
Working silently, Luke lighted a lamp and built a fire, finally pouring two glasses of brandy and taking one to Honor. She sat on a chair, her arms wrapped around herself, and stared at the flames. Her black hair fell in a cloud over her shoulders, and her wrapper was open, only loosely belted at the waist. The nightshirt was chaste, the top buttons unfastened, yet Luke couldn’t stop remembering holding her in his arms in bed. She sat on the edge of a wing chair and he moved close to face her as he placed the brandy in her cold hands, “Take a sip.”
She drank, her dark eyes brimming with tears. “I don’t want Stanton to be my guardian. I’ll have to obey him while he can do as he pleases and he is so cruel. I’m glad you hit him because Pa would have if he had been in the same situation. Pa has hit him before, more than once even though Uncle Stanton was older and taller.”
“Honor, there’s a way to stop him.”
She frowned, studying Luke. “How? The only—” She broke off, her eyes widening endlessly.
Luke set his brandy on a table, then took hers from her cold fingers. The fire crackled and thunder rumbled, shaking the panes, and he was intensely aware of her large dark eyes on him.
Her face flushed as she studied him, and he drew his finger along her cheek. “We can consummate the marriage.”
“You don’t love me,” she whispered, and he felt as if a giant hand had enclosed his heart and squeezed and twisted. He caught his breath and wanted to deny what she said, to show her she was wrong, but he could only gaze solemnly at her.
He held her cold hands in his and leaned toward her. “We can consummate the marriage. A doctor will verify it, and there is nothing Stanton or Lavinia can do but give up forever. We can go back to living like we do now because there is something in my past that you don’t know. When Jeddy—”
“Your past?” she exclaimed, sitting up straighter, her gaze intense, and he groaned inwardly because he knew she would want to share whatever problem he faced. He could not do that to her. And Horace Roth never would have wanted him to tell Honor.
“Luke, you won’t love me because of your past? It isn’t me or my Comanche blood or my lack of—”
“Oh, Honor, dammit,” he said, pulling her into his arms to silence her because he had always known that with the first hint of his past to her, she would be this way, wanting to know everything. And once she knew, she would want to ignore the danger. He knew Honor too well, and right now she was doing exactly what he had expected.
“Oh, Luke, all that time you let me think it was me!”
“Dammit, I’m trying to protect you, and I never wanted you to think it was you. If I could love a woman, Honor, I’d love you.”
“That’s absurd,” she said, her black eyes dancing and little sparks of energy seeming to fly from her. “Oh, Luke, it’s just been your past!” She laughed and ran her hands over his shoulders.
“Honor,” he said angrily. He wouldn’t share his dark secret with her, wouldn’t let her talk him into letting down his guard and getting his hopes up in vain. At the wrong moment he could be in town and be spotted by a bounty hunter. He wouldn’t come home again, and he could easily hang. “It doesn’t change my future. I’m bound up in my past, and I can’t share it with you or anyone else. And at any moment what happened back there in my hometown could drastically change my life here. I’ll not pull you down into that.”
“What is it, Luke?”
“It’s bad, and you’re better off being innocent of any knowledge. But if we consummate our marriage now, when Jeddy comes of age you can get the marriage annulled because of what I didn’t tell you about myself when you married me.”
Her dark eyes searched his. “Luke, are you certain it isn’t something you can share with me?” she asked in a low voice, the sparkle going out of her eyes.
“I’m sure. But this is a way you can keep the H Bar R.”
She inhaled, and his gaze dropped. Firelight flickered over her, and he ached because he knew what he was doing to her and didn’t want to cause her the slightest hurt. And he knew Horace Roth never intended his daughter to marry a man who might hang someday.
She stood up and moved away, going to the hearth to hold her hands out and warm them. Luke waited, letting her think about her choices. The grandfather clock in the hall chimed the hour of three in the morning. Lightning flashed outside and thunder crashed while rain continued to fall. She reached up, and he realized she was wiping tears from her eyes. He gripped the arms of the chair until his knuckles were white because he wanted to go to her.
Finally she squared her shoulders and turned to face him. “Yes, I want—” She paused as her voice faltered, and he stood up quickly moving to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, sliding them beneath the wrapper and feeling the warmth of her body. “I know you don’t love me, but this will keep everything for us and protect us,” she whispered, looking down and avoiding his eyes.
He tilted her face up to his. “Honor, the time will come when you can get an annulment. There is something in my past that could change my life at any moment. If I were free to love, I would love you,” he said gruffly.
Honor stared at him, her heart pounding, wondering if he would take her to bed now, knowing it was the only way to save the ranch. She would lose her heart forever to Luke and she knew from what he was saying that when the six years were up, he would leave her. She hurt. Yet deep inside was a quivering anticipation because one part of her dreams would come true. And maybe Luke would yield and share his past with her.
He tilted her face up, his jade-colored eyes catching orange pinpoint reflections of the fire as he looked down at her with blatant longing. He leaned forward to kiss her, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her to him.
She sighed, yielding, for the moment trying to forget that this was temporary, that she was not gaining his love. She slipped her arms around his neck, feeling his warmth and strength, feeling safe, shoving aside the worries and fears for tomorrow.
He bent over her, kissing her passionately, winding his fingers in her hair and, finally, stretching on the floor and pulling her down beside him on the braided rug. Fire warmed her backside as she faced Luke, but it was nothing compared to the heat he kindled within her.
While he kissed her, his hand slid down, following her curves, drifting lightly down her rib cage, across the narrow indentation of her waist, over the curve
of her hip to her thigh. He wound his fingers in the cotton gown and drew it up, until it was bunched beneath her arms and her body was bared to him.
Honor’s heart drummed as he cupped her breast and kissed her, his tongue flicking over her nipple, making her gasp with bliss and wind her fingers in his hair.
Her heart thudded wildly as she ran her hands over his shoulder and chest, touching him shyly, torn between desire and regret. His hand slid down between her legs, stroking her thigh, setting her aflame until she clung to him, her hips arching against him. She tugged his shirt over his head, trailing kisses along his throat and across his chest.
With a groan Luke stood up and pulled her to her feet. His eyes were filled with more longing than she had ever seen, her heart seeming to stop altogether as she gazed at him. He yanked her to him roughly, bending over her, molding her to his hard length while he wound his fingers in her hair and kissed her hard.
She felt dizzy with pleasure and desire, wanting him desperately as she clung to him. He released her and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“I want you, Honor,” he said roughly, his voice husky and grating. “There’s nothing they can do for a few days,” Luke said, “so I’m not going to rush you.”
She gazed up at him, wanting to throw herself into his arms again, wanting to place her hand over his mouth and tell him now was the time because she had waited years to be in his arms. “Luke—”
“I hope you don’t want to wait,” he said softly, kissing her temple, trailing kisses to her ear. His tongue traced her ear, and she closed her eyes. His voice was low and soft in her ear, his warm breath tickling her. “But we’re going to wait so you want me, really want me. You should have had a courtship,” he said, suddenly sounding angry, “not a sudden wedding when you were devastated and grief-stricken, a marriage in name only and now a union to save your ranch.” He straightened up to look down at her, his strange green eyes more blue-green than ever, the black pupils large as he stared at her. “I’ll take you and Jeddy to San Antonio tomorrow so we can have a day together.”
