Case ran his fingers through his hair, shoving it away from his brow. “Did Becky find you?”
“Yes, and I know all about it. We’ll be ready for Emily in about half an hour. Can you keep her occupied that much longer?”
Relief washed over Case’s face, smoothing out the lines of tension. He took her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you. This day has to be special for her. You can’t know how much she needs to feel important today, and I almost ruined it because I was so distracted by those damned rustlers.”
“You were watching out for her, protecting all of us. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Anyone could have forgotten.”
“You wouldn’t have.”
“Oh, so you think I’m that organized, do you?” she said, laughing.
“No…” Case looked straight into her eyes. “I think you understand, better than anyone, how important it is to feel loved.”
Unexpected tears sprang to Katlyn’s eyes. She shook her head and looked away so he wouldn’t see them. Drawing in a breath, she looked back at Case and smiled, her eyes bright with unshed tears. “Well, I do understand I’d better get back to decorating or there isn’t going to be a party. You just keep that daughter of yours busy for a little while longer. Oh, and tell her to put on her best dress but don’t tell her why. And make sure her eyes are covered when she walks into the dining room.”
“Yes, ma’am. Anything else?”
“If I think of anything, I’ll let you know.” Impulsively, she reached up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
Case looked astonished. “What for?”
“For trusting me to do this. For making me feel I belong. You don’t know how much I need that.”
She pulled away from him then and hurried back to the dining room, leaving Case staring after her, struck by a satisfaction so sweet he hardly dared to trust it.
Case and Emily stood in the doorway to the dining room, Case’s hands covering Emily’s eyes. All the staff, Sally’s boys, and two families with children Emily occasionally played with stood waiting beside a table fit for a fairy princess.
Using techniques she’d learned from growing up around entertainers, Katlyn had ransacked the hotel for paper, paste, paints, bits and pieces of cloth, and all manner of bric-a-brac to create what amounted to a stage set for a little girl’s fantasy party.
Case couldn’t help but admire her talent as he scanned the amazing scene Katlyn had conjured from odds and ends. The chandeliers were all hung with bright ribbons and paper cutouts of stars and moons and hearts. The plain white linens had been altered in some way with ribbons and some floral fabric to look like a magical flower garden had bloomed all over the long guest table.
Big poster-like pictures hung on the walls, some for decoration, some obviously put up to use in games. Each chair was draped in ribbons and bows, and at the head of the table one chair had been decorated to look like a princess’s throne.
His eyes met Katlyn’s and he tried to tell her without words how much her effort meant. She smiled and gave him a wink, and then gestured for him to uncover Emily’s eyes.
“Okay, honey, one, two, three—”
As Case took away his hands from Emily’s eyes, everyone in the room shouted, “Surprise!”
Caught off guard, Emily whirled and grabbed hold of Case’s leg.
He bent and gently lifted her chin. “This is for you, Emily. A birthday surprise. Miss McLain and the others made all of this for you because you’re a very special little girl.”
Slowly, Emily turned back to look over the room, her eyes growing wide and round in utter amazement. Finally her smile broke through and she beamed up at Case.
“Oh, Daddy, it’s beautiful,” she whispered, awestruck. “It looks like the palace in the song she sings about the princess and the dragon.”
Case lifted Emily into his arms and carried her to her make-believe throne. “Well, today, this is your palace, sweetheart.”
Katlyn made her way to where Emily sat and pulled out something she’d been hiding behind her back. It was a false diamond tiara her mother had found stuffed in a roll of stockings after their arrival in Cimarron. Luckily, it had escaped the notice of the stagecoach robbers that day.
With reverence, Katlyn gently placed the tiara on Emily’s head. “And today, as the princess, you’ll wear this crown. A treasure just for you.”
A round of applause followed and Emily was quickly swept up into the excitement of the party. Before he was drawn into the lively group, Case bent and whispered in Katlyn’s ear so only she could hear.
“Emily may be the princess today, but you, Katlyn, are the queen.”
“Fine entertainment, that. You plannin’ on spendin’ the rest of the night here?”
Gar ignored Jed’s taunt and kept his eyes fixed on the St. Martin Hotel. Through windows he could glimpse snatches of the ongoing party. He spat out a long stream of tobacco before answering.
“Too many people there now. That bastard ain’t worth getting’ myself filled with lead or tossed in a jail cell over.”
Jed shrugged. “You’ll be lucky if it don’t happen anyway. But you please yourself. I’m goin’ to find myself a bottle.”
Gar stayed still a moment longer then followed Jed in the direction of the saloon at the far edge of town. “I’ll have one myself to pass the time. Then I plan on comin’ back to teach Case Durham a lesson. No one points a gun in my face without learnin’ to regret it.”
Case pulled down the last of the ribbon streamers from the doorway of the dining room and tossed it into the crate Katlyn had left for him. She sat on the bottom stair with her chin resting on her palms and he smiled at the picture she made.
Her hair, which usually resisted any attempt to tame it, had half escaped from its pins and curled wildly around her face. Pink icing smudged her dress and the yellow calico looked as limp and faded as a waterless flower.
“You look as if you could use a restorative,” he said, coming over to her and offering her a hand.
“I’m not sure you have anything reviving enough,” Katlyn said as she allowed him to help her to her feet.
Case laughed as he led her to the couch in the foyer. “Wait here, I’ll see what I can do.”
He returned a few minutes later carrying two mugs of coffee and handed one to her. “Extra honey and cream and Tuck said he brewed it twice as strong, just for you.” Waiting until she had taken a sip and sighed in blissful appreciation, Case said, “I want to thank you for today. Everything went perfectly.”
Katlyn bent her face over her mug to hide her flush of pleasure. “You’re welcome. I’m happy both you and Emily were pleased.” She shot him a mischievous glance. “You haven’t always been so happy with my interference.”
“Your interference hasn’t always been the most practical,” Case countered, any sting in the words diluted by the teasing glint in his eyes. “Wanting to extend the dining room wallpaper to Tuck’s kitchen, for example.”
“Well—” Katlyn shifted, a little embarrassed. “I’ll admit, I get carried away sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” Laughing at her indignant expression, Case held up a hand to ward off her protest. “Okay, I’ll admit, I like most of your ideas. But I also have to be sure I’m getting my money’s worth.”
“Well, except for your questionable taste in curtains, I don’t think you’ve done too badly.”
“Just look at my choice of singers. You’ve done more for my business than any other investment I’ve made. I was right to trust your ability.”
Katlyn blushed and couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “I hope you’ll never regret hiring me. And I have to thank you for letting me be a part of something so worthwhile. There’s so much potential here. Why, a year from now, no one will ever remember the St. Martin’s shady past.”
She rushed into an explanation of an idea she had for redecorating the upstairs rooms, trying to cover her confusion at Case’s unexpected warm praise. She didn’t deserve it or his trust.
But having someone appreciate her for talents that all her life most people had considered impractical and frivolous filled her with a rush of satisfaction.
It rested like a warm golden glow inside her, overshadowing the guilty whisper reminding her she had no right to it.
Case suppressed a smile as he listened to her, finding her enthusiasm infectious. The way she described his hotel, it seemed more flesh and blood and soul than an investment in wood and stone.
Watching her, her color high and her eyes dancing, he believed at that moment that she alone had breathed life into the St. Martin. And into his spirit.
“You know, you’ve made yourself almost indispensable,” he said thoughtfully when she finally paused for breath. “With your singing, the restoration, and now this party. Today was the first time I’ve seen Emily really enjoy herself in a long while.”
Katlyn chewed at her lower lip then asked, “Has she always been so—withdrawn?”
She nearly regretted the question when Case’s face took on the tenseness she knew so well. “She’s been that way for about a year. A few months before we left Silver Springs, someone told Emily her mother had abandoned her. That’s one of the main reasons we left. I was afraid Emily had begun to feel she wasn’t important to anyone. No one, especially a child, should ever feel they’re not worthy of being loved.”
Tears pricked at Katlyn’s eyes. She fussed with putting down her now-empty mug on the table beside her. “You were right, before. I do understand,” she said in a voice she struggled to keep light and level. “I never knew my father and it always made me feel different, separated from other people. My mama was always so busy with her work, I missed being part of a family.”
She brushed at an imaginary speck of dust on her skirt then flashed him a smile that was over-brilliant in her attempt to appear nonchalant. “I used to sit alone in my room and invent a family and make up conversations for them. I’m sure people thought I was crazy, talking to myself.”
Her forced brightness drew no answering smile from Case. “Not crazy, just lonely. That’s what I’m afraid of, that I can never be enough for Emily.”
“But you’ve done a wonderful job with Emily! It’s so obvious you love each other and that’s all that’s important.”
In her anxiousness to convince him, Katlyn reached out to grip his arm. Almost instantly, a heated intensity flashed in his eyes, changing her intent to reassure and comfort into sudden longing for something darker and forbidden.
“You really believe that, don’t you?” he asked. He searched her face as if trying to convince himself she was real. “How have you stayed so innocent, after all you must have experienced? It’s as if none of it touched you.”
Katlyn jerked her hand back as if burned. She didn’t need to guess what experience he referred to. He rightly thought her worldly, provocative, expected she had known other men.
Just like Penelope had been. While she loved her mother and would do anything to protect her, Katlyn had no illusions about Penelope’s past. Her mother was well aware of her attraction and had used it to her advantage. And Katlyn knew she’d had several suitors, although none of them had been allowed to become too permanent.
But I’m not Penelope, she thought. The longing to tell him rose up fiercely inside her. I’m not like that, and he’ll never know.
And suddenly, despite the impossibility and the consequences, she wished more than anything that he did.
Chapter Ten
“I do know.”
Katlyn wasn’t aware she’d spoken the last words out loud until Case’s deep voice came into her thoughts.
“But you can’t! I mean—”
Case took her hand and very slowly drew her closer to him. The need and desire in his eyes, hers alone, was so compelling Katlyn couldn’t have resisted even if she had wanted to.
“I know more than you realize,” he said softly. “And right now, the rest of your secrets don’t seem that important.”
Though the very air between them was charged with anticipation, at first he did nothing more than stroke the length of her fingers with his.
She quivered at the bare touch. When he lifted her hand, palm up, and pressed a kiss against her wrist, his tongue flicking at the delicate skin, Katlyn let go a shuddering breath. Closing her eyes, she tried to think, but could only feel.
Case forced himself to move slowly. He lightly kissed her shoulder, her throat, and felt her pulse skitter and her breath quicken at the caress of his mouth.
Smiling to himself, he grazed the corner of her mouth with the lightest of touches once, and again until she trembled, part impatient, part needy. Only then did he claim her lips, abandoning seduction for desire when she gave a little moan and opened her mouth to his.
Katlyn’s hands flattened against his chest as Case gathered her into his arms. He had earlier shed his jacket and vest and his shirt was a thin barrier between her palms and the hardness and heat of him.
His tongue swept the inside of her mouth, tangling with hers, as his kiss grew more demanding. In a part of her mind, Katlyn heard a faint voice warning her from letting this go any further, any deeper.
But she deliberately ignored it and instead let herself be drawn into the storm Case started inside her. Her whole body felt taut and restless, needy for something she knew only he could give. She wound her hands around his neck to bring them closer.
Case responded immediately, in one motion pulling her up against him and guiding her back until she lay against the arm of the sofa. His mouth never left hers and he continued kissing her until Katlyn believed she would melt inside.
Vaguely, she felt his hand move over her, sliding down her shoulder, the hollow of her throat, then to her breast. The intimate touch shocked her senses like a lightning strike. She felt her nipple harden under his palm and her lower belly clench and quiver even as her mind confronted her with what she had invited, what she wanted.
What she could never have.
Case felt her hesitation though he didn’t understand it. He swore from her response she wanted this as much as he did. But at the same time she reacted like an innocent, unprepared for the full force of passion.
He realized, too, he had been close to making love to her in his foyer, in plain view of anyone who happened to come into the hotel or down the staircase. For someone who prided himself on his control, he had shown a distinct lack of it the moment Katlyn looked at him with longing in her eyes.
Sitting up Case brought her with him and cradled her against his chest, stroking her tumbled hair to give some outlet to his need to touch her as much as to soothe her.
“Case…” Though her face pressed against his shirt, muffling her voice, Case heard the hurt she couldn’t quite disguise. “I—I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t be,” he said. He took her face in his hands, willing her to look at him. “I don’t want to take you anywhere you’re not ready to go, no matter how much I want to.”
I am ready, Katlyn told him silently. But the truth was she had no idea what admitting that meant and no right to want it to begin with. How could she ever think of surrendering herself, heart and body, to him when she was living this lie? When she knew she would one day have to leave him to give her mother the care she needed? She could never allow herself to love Case Durham.
Except she feared it might already be too late.
“It’s late,” Case said, his words jolting her. Reluctantly, he let her go and got to his feet. He held out a hand to help her up. “I’ll walk you to your room.”
Katlyn wanted to say something to him, but anything short of the full truth seemed either dangerous or foolish.
In silence, she walked with him up the stairs, pausing with her hand on her doorknob to tell him good-night.
He stopped her from going in by bending and kissing her. It started as a light caress but Katlyn easily released the knob to wrap her arms around his neck. He pulled her to him almost at the same time, and it flared quickly into a pa
ssionate embrace.
After a minute, Case ended it, not trusting himself to be near her any longer and resist temptation. He took a step back.
“Good night, Katlyn,” he said, his voice not quite steady.
“Good night.” She said it quickly and then rushed inside her room, shutting the door in a hurry against the longing to throw herself back into his arms again.
Leaning back against the door, Katlyn wrapped her arms around herself in a vain attempt to stop the trembling inside. She listened for the sound of Case’s footsteps moving away but he didn’t go.
Instead she heard the slight rattle of the doorknob as if he reached out a hand to fling open the door then drew back. She closed her eyes, imagining him there, wishing he would come to her, praying he would leave before she begged him to stay.
Finally she heard him stride down the hallway and down the stairs. And then she heard nothing but the rapid pulse of her own heart.
Gunshots and the crash of splintering wood and the shattering of glass jolted Katlyn awake shortly after midnight.
She tumbled out of bed and into the hallway, not stopping for her robe or to wonder if it was wise to venture beyond her door.
She met Case halfway up the hall. He had his six-shooter already in hand and Katlyn didn’t need an explanation when he held her gaze for an instant then glanced back at the door to his rooms.
Without a word between them, Katlyn nodded and hurried to stay with Emily, answering Case’s unspoken entreaty.
Katlyn found Emily huddled in her bed, all wide, scared eyes and quivering mouth. She climbed into the bed with the little girl, wrapping her in blankets and holding her close.
What seemed like hours later, after more gunfire and earsplitting shouts and crashes, silence finally settled over the hotel.
Easing back from a now-sleeping Emily, Katlyn moved to a chair by the stove in the sitting room and waited what seemed an endless time. Her imagination running amok, she braced herself to face the worst of whatever had happened.
Case eased the door shut behind him and moved quietly into his sitting room. Curled up in a chair by the stove, Katlyn had fallen asleep. He stood just looking at her for a moment.
Cimarron Rose Page 11
