She took a deep breath, holding her chin high, and marched out of the room and down the stairs just as Eve slammed the door on her way out of the house. Sunny walked up to Ted, who still looked embarrassed. Mrs. Seymour stood quietly by, accustomed to the rancor in the Landers family.
“I’m very sorry for the interruption, Ted,” Sunny told him. “It’s a family matter and it has been settled. We can go now.” She took his arm. “Tell me, do you think of me as ugly and domineering?”
The handsome, blond-haired young man looked at her in surprise. “Why on earth would you ask a thing like that, Sunny? You’re the most beautiful, nicest girl I know.”
Sunny smiled victoriously. “Thank you,” she answered. “Shall we go?”
***
LeeAnn Harding answered a knock at the door of the boardinghouse where she worked, which was in the tiny town of Denver City. It was 1859, and in just the one year since she had come here, the little settlement had grown rapidly. Gold had a way of creating towns out of the earth like mushrooms.
She gasped and smiled with joy when she saw Colt Travis standing on the porch, holding a fistful of wildflowers. “Colt!”
“Hi, LeeAnn.” Colt smiled the melting smile that made the eighteen-year-old girl’s heart rush. He held out the flowers and she took them, her eyes misting.
“Oh, Colt, where have you been?”
In an instant he swept her into his arms. Colt breathed deeply of the smell of her dark hair, enjoyed the feel of her against him. “I’m sorry I was away so long. I just had to think about some things before I came back here and asked you to marry me.”
She leaned back, his arms still around her. “Marry you? Oh, Colt, do you mean it?”
“Sure I do.” He studied her dark eyes, aching for her. Ever since rescuing LeeAnn from her predicament in the foothills a year before, he had been unable to stay away from her. The pitiful way she had been orphaned had tugged at his heart, and they both shared a loneliness each could understand in the other.
LeeAnn had no family to return to back in Ohio, from where her father had brought his wife and daughter to Colorado in hopes of finding riches. Colt had brought her to this crude settlement along Cherry Creek, where a woman whose own husband had just died took her in. Joanna Scott’s husband had left her enough money to have a real frame house built, and she had begun renting out rooms. LeeAnn worked for the woman to help earn her keep.
“I missed you, LeeAnn. I wasn’t sure I was ready to marry and settle, but now I know it’s time. I can’t think of anybody I’d rather settle with than you, if you’ll have me.”
Her eyes teared. “Did you think that I wouldn’t?”
He studied her eyes, wanting her, needing her. He leaned closer, meeting her mouth in a kiss that quickly became hotter, more searching. Someone else flashed into Colt’s memory for just a moment, a girl with white-blond hair and amazingly blue eyes, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Sunny Landers was just a fond memory, a pretty young woman he would never see again and who could never have shared his world anyway.
He kissed LeeAnn’s mouth once more, then moved his lips to taste her sweet neck. LeeAnn fit him perfectly. She came from a simple background, a family that had little money. There was nothing about her life that would draw her attention from her husband or would interfere with living a normal, quiet life on a little farm out on the Plains. He still had the full $750 that Bo Landers had paid him, plenty of money to start a homestead. He wanted nothing to do with searching for gold. He would get richer than most of the prospectors by growing food to sell to them.
“I’ve found a nice piece of land where we can settle,” he told her. “I’ve even started building a cabin. You don’t mind, do you?”
LeeAnn studied his handsome face, her heart racing at the thought of being Colt Travis’s wife. She didn’t care about the fact that he was half Indian. She had never known anyone as handsome or as kind, as brave and skilled. When she was in his arms she was not afraid of anything.
“Why would I mind? It sounds wonderful!” She finally pulled away, sniffing the flowers, and Colt moved into the narrow hallway, closing the curtained door. “I can’t wait until Joanna returns,” LeeAnn was saying. “She’ll be so happy for me.” She turned and looked at Colt again. “She’s been so good to me, Colt.” She sighed, looking him over. “I was so afraid you wouldn’t come back.”
His eyes moved over her in a way that made her shiver with desire. “We got to know each other pretty well, LeeAnn. How could you think I wouldn’t come back, after telling you I loved you?”
She looked down, reddening. “I don’t know. You’re so…so wild and free and all. I thought maybe you felt I was trying to pin you down, taking away your freedom or something.”
“I’m twenty-two years old, LeeAnn. I’ve been wandering with no aim in life since I was fourteen. There comes a time when a man has to own up to his manhood, his needs. I went off to be alone in the mountains for a while, wanting to make sure I was doing the right thing—not because of me, but because of you. I didn’t want to do something that would hurt you any more than you’ve already been hurt. I thought I’d see if I could stay away, but I couldn’t. I know what I want now. I want a wife, kids. I want to settle.”
She looked up at him, her eyes misting with love and joy. “When?”
“Whenever you want. Today isn’t too soon as far as I’m concerned. Is there a preacher in this pitiful place?”
“Yes.” Their eyes held, their hearts racing, their desire intense. “Just let me bathe and change first, and I’d like to find Joanna. She should be there. She’s been like a mother to me.”
He nodded. “Whatever you want. Actually, I was hoping you’d agree to today. I set up camp just outside of town. It’s just a tent, but I thought we ought to be alone.” He grinned suggestively. “You know what I mean?”
She felt her cheeks quickly grow hot. “I know.”
“It’s not very fancy, but then, there isn’t anything fancy any place around here. It would be nice to stay here, but I thought it might be a little awkward for you, with Mrs. Scott and boarders here and all.”
She nodded. “You’re right.” She searched his eyes, and he read the mixture of anticipation and fear in her own.
“It’ll be all right, LeeAnn,” he promised her. “I haven’t been mean to you or broken any promises yet, have I?”
She shook her head. “I love you so, Colt. I’m so glad you’re back.” Tears spilled over in her eyes. He pulled her into his arms once more.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’ll be a good husband, LeeAnn.”
“I know you will.”
He held her so tightly she could hardly catch her breath. Again she brushed his mouth, their lips meeting in a hot, passionate kiss that made both of them feel they must do this or die. Today she would become Mrs. Colt Travis, and no woman could ask for a more handsome, gentler, braver man to call her husband.
Chapter 7
Sunny clung to her father’s arm amid a crowd of hundreds of cheering men. Brass bands played while banners and signs supporting Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party waved above people’s heads. Bo Landers had been instrumental in urging the Party to hold their national convention of 1860 in Chicago. He had taken a suite in one of Chicago’s finest downtown hotels so that he and Sunny could be close enough to attend nearly every hour of what would become a historic event. Each time more votes came in for Abraham Lincoln, the Party favorite, the huge hall would resound with a barrage of cheers and more band-playing.
Sunny laughed and held up her own banner while the party chairman pounded his gavel and tried to bring the gathering back to order. “Father, he’s going to win!” Sunny said excitedly.
“It looks that way.” Landers held up a fist, cheering the important victory. To have a president who backed a continental railr
oad was one big boost in the right direction. The crowd finally quieted enough so more states could cast their votes, and Lincoln continued to gain strength through the third balloting. When Ohio finally went against Salmon P. Chase, a candidate from their own state, taking four votes from him and giving them to Lincoln, the nomination was sealed in Lincoln’s favor.
Again the crowd broke into mighty celebrating. Sunny wondered if some of the southern states would really secede if Lincoln was elected. Many had threatened to do so. Still, he was not president yet. That was the next big step.
Speeches and celebrating continued until the wee hours of the morning, and Sunny and her father were among the last to leave the convention hall. Bo talked excitedly all the way out to their waiting carriage.
“This is the best thing that could have happened, Sunny! The only problem will be if those damn southern states make trouble. Why can’t they behave like civilized men and give up their hideous practice of owning slaves?”
“I agree that it’s immoral, Father. Some of the things we’ve heard—I can’t imagine they really happen; but you know why the South won’t give it up. Farming is their wealth, just like industry and railroading is ours. I wonder sometimes if we had built all that we have on slavery, if we would want to give it up.”
“Those plantation owners can just start paying their labor, just like we have to do. It’s one thing for a man to make his fortune while treating other men like human beings, quite another for him to make it by breaking other men’s backs. I might be demanding of the men who work for me, but by God I respect them, and they respect themselves for earning their way.”
They climbed into the carriage, and Bo closed the door. Sunny leaned back into the plush velvet seat. “What would happen to those poor slaves if they were freed, Father? I mean, where would they go? Apparently, they’re completely cared for by their owners, poor as some of that care might be. If they’re freed, they’ll have no money, no homes, nothing.”
Landers leaned out the window and waved to someone before answering. “I don’t know what they would do, but there’s no sense worrying about it right now. Ending slavery isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, but I do think this thing is going to come to a head very soon, and I don’t like to think of what could happen. Already the fighting in Kansas over the slavery issue has been terribly bloody, and there are those awful border wars between Kansas and Missouri.” He reached over and patted her hand. “That is one area we’ll avoid when we do our campaigning. Some of the western territories are in a real turmoil over this because they have to choose to be free or slave.”
As always, when someone reminded her of the land to the west, sweet memories stirred Sunny’s soul. Did Colt know or care about the problems over slavery?
“The first step to keeping this country united and getting our railroad built is to get our Mr. Lincoln into the White House,” her father was saying, “and we’ll by God do it. We’ll hit every major industrialist in the North and New England, every man who is anyone important, get them to contribute to the campaign and to do their own talking to their employees and such. I’ll make speeches myself. Then at the same time we can talk to people about the railroad.”
Sunny squeezed his hand. “Father, are you sure you’re well enough to go stomping all over the country campaigning? I’m worried about you.”
Landers forced a laugh. He was secretly glad that the last couple of days he had been able to hide the fact that he had not felt well at all. What bothered him most was shortness of breath and a constant feeling of a weight on his chest. For a year his doctor had been preaching at him to slow down, telling him his heart was no longer strong. Such talk only angered him. “Bo Landers slow down? Never! I’m fine, honey. Don’t you worry about your ol’ dad. You just worry about helping me get Lincoln elected.”
Sunny sighed, putting her head on his shoulder. Sometimes she wanted to tell him how it frightened her to think of being without him, of bearing the responsibilities that would be hers when he was gone, let alone the trouble she knew Vince would make for her. At least now, because of Vi, she had Stuart on her side; but Stuart was not someone who could stand up to Vince. She kept her thoughts to herself, hating to burden her father with them, always afraid of upsetting him and maybe making him get sick. He was so proud of her strength and spunk. How could she tell him how afraid she was sometimes?
She told herself she was being foolish to worry anyway. Bo Landers was a hefty, energetic man who would probably live to be a hundred. The carriage clattered over the bricked streets, now and then splashing through fresh puddles left by a summer rain. Weariness claimed Sunny as she began to drift off to sleep. The splashing sounds combined with riding in the carriage recalled another time…a wagon, crossing a river…a horse splashing through water…her skirt getting wet…someone holding her so she wouldn’t slip into a cold river. In her mind’s eye she saw a picture of vast, endless grasslands. She glided across them on a horse, floating, feeling nothing except the strong, protective arms of the man who rode with her, a dark man who wore buckskins. She was happy and free, and no one could hurt her in the sweet dream, not while those arms were wrapped around her.
***
Colt galloped Buck across the open grassland, a fresh-killed antelope and two jackrabbits tied to the horse’s rump. He smiled at the thought of how glad LeeAnn would be to see him coming with a fresh supply of meat, and he wondered why God had seen fit to give him such happiness. Ten months after their marriage LeeAnn had given birth to a son. Little four-month-old Ethan was named after LeeAnn’s father. Colt had helped deliver the baby himself, since there was no one close by to help. Never would he forget the joy and miracle of that moment. As far as he was concerned, a man’s life could not be fuller or more satisfying than his was. For years he had never dreamed things could be like this for him, or that he would even want to be a settled man. Life with LeeAnn and Ethan had changed all of that.
The sky was a brilliant blue, with just a hint of coming winter in the cool air. He thought about how nice it was going to be to get inside the warm little cabin and eat some of LeeAnn’s cooking. He didn’t like leaving her and Ethan alone, but he had not gone far and had been gone only since morning. This was the time of year a man had to think about getting in a supply of meat for the winter. The corn and beans were already in, and he never ceased to be amazed to discover that he actually didn’t mind farming. He intended to expand each year, maybe even hire some help, begin taking produce to the fast-growing city of Denver, one of the few gold towns that looked as though it might last.
He crested one of the rolling foothills that stood between him and home, only to see smoke beyond the next rise, which was where his own little cabin lay. He stared for a moment, telling himself not to panic, then kicked Buck into an even faster run, galloping down one slope, charging up the next, his horse making little sound in the soft sod. When he crested the next rise, his eyes widened in horror. The cabin was on fire! To his right Indians were herding away his four plow horses, and six more wild horses he had managed to capture and corral. A small barn and another horse shed were also on fire.
“My God!” he groaned. He ripped his rifle from its boot and screamed a war whoop, charging down the steep slope toward everything that had ever meant anything to him since he was a little boy. He raised the rifle while still in the saddle at a hard ride, aiming and firing. One Indian fell. More began to flee from the front side of the cabin, which he could not see yet. He told himself it was not possible that anything could have happened to LeeAnn and Ethan. God simply wouldn’t let them come to harm. He wouldn’t take away such a beautiful, loving woman and a tiny baby boy. It couldn’t happen!
His hope dwindled in the seconds it took to get closer, for he saw by their paint and hair that they were Pawnee, bitter enemy of the Sioux and Cheyenne, Indians who sometimes seemed to kill simply for the pleasure of it.
“Bastards!” he screamed. Dread boiled in his belly like hot tar. He fired the rifle again, over and over, not even sure how many men he hit, not caring that he was outnumbered. He had to get them away from LeeAnn and Ethan! Why had he left this morning? Why had he let himself become so happy and complacent as to think he could leave a woman and baby alone?
He rounded the cabin, and it was then he felt the horrible hot sting to his right ribs. He cried out, trying desperately to hang on to his rifle but unable to do so, unable even to stay on Buck. He felt himself crashing to the ground, and through a haze he saw Buck gallop off. An Indian grasped the horse’s bridle and took Buck away with him, fresh meat and all.
Acrid smoke from the burning cabin stung Colt’s nostrils. He lay on his back, realizing somewhere deep in his confused mind that he had taken an arrow. Knowing the Pawnee, they had probably dipped it in horse dung first to make sure that if the wound itself did not kill him, infection would. He stared up at the sky, thinking that if LeeAnn and Ethan were dead, he didn’t want to live anyway. He could never bear the guilt of leaving them, or the horrible loneliness of having to live without them.
“LeeAnn!” In his mind he had screamed the name, but it was only a mumble. He scooted on his back, forcing himself then to roll to his left side. His right arm bumped against the arrow that still protruded from his ribs, and he cried out with the ugly pain. For a moment he blacked out, then came around again, opening his eyes, forcing them to focus. The only sound was the crackling of the burning buildings. The Pawnee had gone.
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