by Sara Orwig
Zachary held her chair and her gaze met Travis’s as he sat down. Her surroundings faded. She didn’t hear the others talking, no longer heard Jacob jabbering. All she could see was her husband and all she could think about was last night in his arms.
Something changed in the depths of his dark eyes as he gazed back at her. She felt caught, mesmerized by brown eyes as dark as midnight. Was he thinking about last night, too?
He looked away and she became aware of silence and of Zachary looking back and forth between Travis and her, a puzzled expression on his face. Travis carved the roast and the conversation turned to cattle.
Her appetite was gone. She was too aware of Travis, too filled with memories. She got through supper without knowing what she or the others said, aware only of Travis’s gaze continually on her.
After they ate and she and Zachary cleaned the dishes, they all gathered around the fire to read, first going over letters and words and then getting out A Tale of Two Cities.
By the time Travis took the novel and began to read, Jacob was sleeping in her arms. She held him close, listening to Travis, glad for a time in which she could sit and watch him openly. As he finished, his gaze raised to meet hers and her pulse jumped.
Turtle River rose, ready to leave. Travis and Zachary stood also. Although disappointment rushed swiftly over her, she reminded herself to give him time to think about her request … time to think about her. She never expected him to love her, but he wanted her and that was enough. As hot and fierce as his kisses had been, she suspected his desire was warring badly with his caution.
As they shrugged into their coats, she held the baby. Travis gazed back with a brooding, shuttered expression that gave no hint to his feelings. Then they were gone, the door closing behind them, but she didn’t feel as alone as she had before last night.
She knew Travis was thinking about her, thinking about her request. She hummed as she straightened the room. He had built the fire high before he left, and she sat in front of it. How long would it take, she asked the dying embers, before he came around to her way of thinking?
The next afternoon as they broke ice on a pond, Zachary paused nearby and gazed at Travis solemnly until he straightened up, lowering the axe.
“What is it?”
“Well, sir, you’ve been mighty good to me.”
“You’re good help, Zachary,” Travis answered.
“It’s not my place to question what you do.” He shifted uneasily, and Travis realized the boy had his fists clenched and was ready to fight. Startled, he studied Zachary, unable to imagine what was wrong.
“What is it? Go ahead. You can say what you want.”
“It’s Crystal.”
Damn, Travis thought.
“I know you sleep in the barn. It’s not my business to question you.”
Travis held his peace. He had long ago recognized the boy’s wild infatuation with Crystal.
“I figure, she must have sent you there. And if so, then I just hope you haven’t hurt her in any manner.”
He realized Zachary thought he might have beaten Crystal. The notion was absurd. If Zachary knew Crystal only a tad better, he would know that she would put a shot through any man who raised a hand to her. Yet he could understand why the boy had jumped to such a conclusion. He shook his head.
“Nope, Zachary. I sleep in the barn through my own choice. And it suits her, too. You ask Turtle River, and he can tell you about our marriage. Maybe it will change, but that’s the way it is. I’m happy and Crystal seems happy with our arrangement.”
He watched the belligerence change to bafflement.
“I wouldn’t ever strike Crystal,” he continued. “And I’ll tell you, Zachary, Crystal’s disposition being what it is, it wouldn’t be healthy for any man to try to hit her. There’s a difference between growing up like you had to and growing up with a family that gives you independence. You’ve found your own independence now. Crystal isn’t hurt. You can ask her.”
Zachary flushed a deep scarlet. “Travis, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Forget it. I can understand why you would have made those assumptions, but she’s fine. And she didn’t send me to the barn.”
“Hellfire. If she didn’t—” He shut his mouth quickly and the red in his face deepened. “Sorry.”
Travis went back to chopping ice, avoiding Zachary’s unvoiced question. He couldn’t imagine any man in his right mind sleeping in the barn if he could sleep in bed with Crystal. And Travis was beginning to wonder himself.
And at night when they sat with their reading lesson and she bent over a paper, talking to Turtle River or Zachary and explaining sounds to them, he gazed at the lamplight on her soft skin and the highlights of orange it caught in her red hair and he longed to touch her. At night, after lying awake during hours of torment, he would dream of holding her and kissing her and then suddenly losing her … erotic dreams that always ended before fulfillment and brought him wide awake, his heart pounding and the feeling of loss swamping him.
It was going to be a hell of a long winter.
The night of the Mandeville’s party arrived. Turtle River was not going and offered to keep Jacob.
Crystal spent the day getting ready. There was sage grouse left from the night before, so Zachary and Turtle River would have something to eat. She had Jacob dressed and ready.
Travis had told her he would bathe and dress in Zachary’s cabin. She was mildly surprised that they were still going to the party because Travis had avoided her for days now except at supper time and the few hours afterward when he spent most of his time playing with Jacob.
She felt fluttery, more excited than she could ever remember, because she would spend the evening with Travis. She examined herself in the mirror, wishing she had the oval pier glass that she had sold in Baltimore so she could see how her dress looked.
She smoothed it over her waist, looking at the colorful green silk with lace in the neck that dipped, but not too much. Long sleeves ended in lace at her wrists. Swags of lace banded the skirt with pink bows at the tops of the swags. She wore a pink sash around her waist. She knew many of the ladies would be in woolen dresses, but there would be silks and satins, too. She had quizzed Ellery about the party last year and she remembered his descriptions of the dresses.
When she heard a loud knock, Travis and Turtle River entered. Travis closed the door behind him. She barely glanced at Turtle River, her gaze flying over Travis and her breath catching in her throat. How handsome her husband was! Beneath his long coat, he wore a black suit with a dazzling white shirt that made his dark skin look more exotic than ever. His black hair was sleek, secured behind his head with rawhide. Black boots showed beneath his trousers.
Then she looked up to find his gaze drifting over her, and her pulse soared. He liked the way she looked, she was certain of that. His dark eyes met hers and the hunger and heat in them astounded her. She picked up her cloak and remembered Jacob.
Turtle River sat on the floor in front of the fire, talking to him. She crossed the room to tell Jacob goodbye. Turtle River came to his feet easily and picked up the baby.
She leaned forward to kiss his cheek and looked up into Turtle River’s brown eyes.
“You look very beautiful,” he said.
“Thank you,” she answered quietly, pleased by his remarks. “You’re sure you want to stay with Jacob and not go to the party? There will be children. We can take him. With all of us to watch him, he won’t be a problem.”
Turtle River shook his head. “The party is not for me.”
She wondered about his lonely, solitary life and if he intended to go through all his life in such a manner. But then she turned, looked into Travis’s eyes, and wanted to go to the party, to spend hours with Travis. He kissed Jacob, helped her with her black velvet cloak, and took her arm. They stepped outside into a cold, clear night.
Wrapped in a buffalo hide, Zachary waited in the wagon. “Ready to go?” he as
ked.
“Yes,” she answered as Travis lifted her onto the wagon seat. For an instant she was in his arms. She slipped her arm around his neck swiftly, holding him, looking into his dark eyes and remembering and yearning for him.
Then she was seated and he was moving around the wagon to climb up on the other side. Travis threw a buffalo hide around her shoulders and another across her lap, then he pulled part of the hide over his own legs and flicked the reins.
It was cold and she pulled the cloak close about her, scooting against Travis for warmth, glad for the excuse to move beside him. He placed his arm around her, holding her tight, and Crystal felt in paradise.
They talked about Jacob and the ranch and had long moments of silence while they simply rode. The stars twinkled brightly against the dark night, and a full moon peeped over the horizon. Then they were at the Mandeville’s house, where a welcoming light shone from every window.
Fourteen
Travis helped Crystal from the wagon and Zachary climbed down and walked on the other side of her. When they entered the front door, she paused to let Travis take her cloak. Travis had bought Zachary a black woolen shirt in town and he wore that with black denim pants. His hair was slicked down and Crystal realized he was still growing, a fact she had barely noticed at home.
He turned to look at Crystal, his eyes going wide. “Crystal, you look beautiful!” he exclaimed quietly.
“Thank you.” She smiled at him. “You look very nice yourself.”
“I’ll put away the coats,” Travis said, knowing Zachary did not even hear him. If Crystal didn’t see the boy’s adoration, she had a blind side.
Travis placed their coats on a bed in a front room. When he walked back down the hall, he saw her talking to Lester Macon and balding Theo Chaney. Travis’s gaze swept over her and he felt his pulse jump. She was a beautiful woman. Why the hell she had hidden it, he didn’t know. If she had let down her hair and come to the Mandeville’s party last year, looking as she did tonight, she would be another man’s wife now and not his. And he said a swift prayer of thanks that she had done no such thing.
Her eyes seemed a deeper green because of her green dress. Her hair was shining, and he remembered how soft the long strands had felt in his hands. The dress had a neckline a few inches lower than Crystal usually wore, still modest, but it showed pale, smooth skin. He looked at her tiny waist, and then his gaze dropped lower and he stripped away the green dress in his mind.
Drawing a deep breath, he watched two more men saunter up to talk to her and he knew that her life would change tonight. She would get more respect now, and for the next three hours, she was going to get a hell of a lot of attention.
Although he knew he should step back and let her enjoy it, his inclination was to wrap his arm around his wife’s waist and hold her close to his side.
He was losing hours of sleep every night, lying awake in the freezing barn thinking about Crystal, knowing all he had to do was get up and go inside and tell her he would give her another baby.
His gaze swept over her again. She was tall, far taller than his Elizabeth. She was a strong woman, but she still had a slender figure, a tiny waist. All he had to do was remember what Elizabeth had gone through in childbirth, and the memories stopped him cold.
If he had had good sense, he would have stayed home tonight and kept her with him. It would be more difficult to forget how she looked this night. But Crystal deserved for everyone to see her as she could look. She deserved more respect and she needed to make friends with the women in town … although that might be a little difficult if their menfolks hovered around her all evening.
The fiddlers were playing. The Mandevilles had cleared their large living room for fiddlers and dancing, and the ladies in town had baked and brought their cakes and pies and other sweets all day long. Travis strolled through the crowd to join the group of men talking to his wife, greeting each man.
Clem Mandeville stepped up and shook hands with Travis, his gaze going straight to Crystal. Travis almost laughed at their host, who was staring at her with an open mouth. “Judge?”
“Evenin’, Mr. Mandeville. It is so nice of you to have this party for everyone.”
“Saints alive, Judge! I didn’t recognize you.”
She smiled, her green eyes sparkling. “I didn’t think you’d want me to come in my judge’s robes.”
“Oh, hell no! Excuse me, Judge.”
“It’s Crystal, Mr. Mandeville.”
“And you call me Clem,” he said. His wife approached. “Mama, here’s Travis and his new wife, the judge.”
Irene Mandeville nodded to Travis and smiled at Crystal. “Evening, Crystal. I’m glad you could come and how fetching you look. I’ll bet that’s one of those dresses you brought from Baltimore with you.”
“Yes, it is.”
Travis stood idly listening, paying more attention to Crystal. The Mandevilles moved away, but Crystal was drawing a crowd. Women wanted to look at her dress; men wanted to talk to her. And Travis could see the shock on their faces. It was almost an hour before he took her arm and they made their way to the edge of the dancers.
“Evening, Travis,” said a deep voice and he looked around to see Sherman Knudsen. Shocked that the man had singled him out, Travis shook hands warily, and then he realized why the sudden thawing from Knudsen.
“Evening, Judge Spencer.”
Crystal smiled up at him. “Evening, Mr. Knudsen. And it’s Mrs. Black Eagle now.”
He glanced at Travis and then back to her. “Yes. I haven’t seen you in the bank in a while.”
“My husband takes care of everything.”
“I saw the list of books you ordered from Clem. Enjoy reading myself and I wondered about that book A Christmas Carol. Phoebe likes to read, too. I thought I might order a book for her for Christmas.”
“It’s a delightful story. Don’t you think so, Travis?”
“I’ve enjoyed it, but my favorite is A Tale of Two Cities,” Travis answered with amusement. Knudsen knew he had not been able to read. He saw a swift, curious look from Knudsen and he met it directly, feeling a strange clash between them, and then the moment was gone.
“I didn’t know you enjoyed reading,” Knudsen said, a chill in his tone.
“I have my wife to thank for that,” Travis answered easily. “She’s instructing me.”
“Then you have the prettiest teacher west of the Mississippi,” he said to Crystal.
“Thank you, Mr. Knudsen.”
Son-of-a-gun, Travis thought, both amused and irritated. Old Man Knudsen was dazzled by his wife. But then, what man in the room wasn’t dazzled by her tonight? Travis couldn’t resist placing his arm lightly around her waist. He could see where Crystal would never make the stir in Baltimore that she could here. She was taller than most women, her hair too unruly to be combed down in a decorous, fashionable manner. And in Baltimore, parties would have been filled with petite young ladies in beautiful dresses. But in Cheyenne, she stood out like a swan among chickens.
There were some very pretty women in the room … Eloise Knudsen, Agnes Blair, Myrtle Hastings. But they were few, and Crystal was striking with her hair and height. And her imperious judge’s manner. This was no simpering, shy miss; and he thanked heaven for that, though at moments her fiery disposition gave him fits.
“If you get a chance, tell Phoebe about your books and see what you think she might like. I’d appreciate it.”
“I’ll do that.”
“There she is,” Knudsen said, motioning to his wife to join them. Travis saw Eloise Knudsen looking at him, her gaze shifting to Crystal and back to him. Black haired and blue eyed, Eloise was dressed in scarlet and was the second most beautiful woman present. After he lost Elizabeth, if he could have married Eloise under the same circumstances he married Crystal, he would have been overjoyed. Now he was thankful beyond measure to have Crystal. But he had known from the first day he approached Crystal and proposed that she was a good woman
for Jacob.
Eloise’s mother, Phoebe Knudsen, joined them and the women talked about books and Travis walked away, leaving Crystal on her own. As he left them, he heard Crystal’s voice.
“Mrs. Knudsen, I’ve heard you have the most delicious biscuits in Cheyenne.”
“Thank you!”
“I have so much trouble with baking. My mother died before imparting to me how to acquire the skill for light and fluffy cooking.”
“I’d be happy to help you sometime,” Phoebe Knudsen said, smoothing her lavender silk dress.
“Thank you. I’d deeply appreciate it if you would tell me how to bake even ordinary biscuits,” Crystal said with sincerity.
“I would love to. And you must tell me about your Baltimore dressmaker. How lovely your dress is!”
Travis bit back a smile and moved on through the crowd. Maybe their eating would improve after this party, although he had serious doubts as long as Crystal found Jacob more fascinating than her cooking.
He waited, watching her talk with some of the women, and then Rufus Milligan threaded his way through the crowd. As tall as Travis, Rufus could draw as much attention as Crystal. Cheyenne’s bachelor attorney, Rufus was also Cheyenne’s most colorful attorney. He had a flamboyant manner, flaming red hair and beard, an impressive height, and a bass voice that could achieve thunderous power. Travis always wondered why Rufus had not become an actor, but he supposed that Rufus found law more financially rewarding and he still got to use his acting skills almost as often as on the stage. The man was also as good a marksman as the best in town. His blue-eyed gaze was set on Crystal.
Travis was amazed Rufus had not courted Crystal since their backgrounds were so similar. Yet no one had courted Crystal. And he knew Rufus did court Eloise Knudsen.
Now Travis watched as his wife went to the dance floor with Rufus and he turned her into his arms. Travis stood sipping the innocuous punch. Everyone knew that the whiskey was out on the back porch, but at the moment, Travis didn’t care. He watched Crystal, aware her Baltimore background was showing tonight.
