Shadows Through Time

by Madeline Baker

  “Someone.”

  “Oh.” She didn’t have to ask if that someone had long blonde hair and sky blue eyes.

  “Kelsey, I…”

  She turned so she could see his face. “What?”

  He didn’t say anything, just slipped his arm around her shoulders and drew her up against him. “What am I gonna do about you?”

  “Me?” she said, her voice little more than a surprised squeak. “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about you.” His knuckles brushed her cheek. “I can’t stop wanting you.”

  While she was trying to think of an answer, he leaned forward and kissed her. The touch of his mouth on hers drove every coherent thought right out of her mind. She wrapped her arms around his waist, needing something solid to hold onto while her emotions soared and her body seemed suddenly lighter than air. He wanted her. And she wanted him. What difference did it make if she wasn’t here to stay? She was here now, in his arms, with his mouth warm on hers, his tongue playing havoc with her senses. What if she woke up back home tomorrow? Would she be glad she hadn’t surrendered to the desire pulsing through her, or would she forever regret letting this incredible moment pass by?

  His hand caressed her back, her thigh, skimmed the area just under her breasts and each touch aroused her still further. What could it hurt to give in? It wasn’t like she had to save herself for marriage. She had been married once and she wasn’t likely to get married again. What harm could one indiscretion committed in the nineteenth century do?

  His tongue teased her lips as his hand continued to move over her body, never trespassing where it shouldn’t, yet arousing her just the same.

  She moaned softly as pleasure engulfed her. Just one night, what could it hurt? One night of unprotected lovemaking…who would ever know?

  She drew back. In high school, how often had she heard one of her girlfriends say, I can’t be pregnant. We only did it once. Once was all it took. She couldn’t risk getting pregnant, not here, not now.

  “I’m sorry,” she stammered, “I can’t.”

  He released her with good grace. “Can’t blame a fella for tryin’.”

  “It’s not that I don’t want to,” she blurted, then pressed her hand to her mouth.

  “No?”

  “It’s just that, well, the time’s not right…I mean…” But that pretty much said it all, she thought. Not only was the timing wrong. She was in the wrong time.

  He seemed to know exactly what she meant. “I guess you’re still hopin’ to find your way back home.”

  “I don’t belong here.” She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Look at it from my point of view. How would you feel if you suddenly found yourself over a hundred years in the past where you didn’t know anyone and you weren’t sure how to behave?”

  He nodded. “I reckon I wouldn’t like it.”

  She smiled. “I reckon not.”

  Drawing her into his arms again, he gave her a squeeze, then stood and offered her his hand. “I reckon we’d best get some sleep.”

  With a nod, she let him help her to her feet and then they walked hand-in-hand back to camp.

  But later, lying in her blankets, half-asleep, Kelsey couldn’t help wishing that, just once, she had followed her heart instead of her head.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kelsey was relieved when they reached Grant’s Crossing late the following night. If she’d had to spend one more day watching Angelina shamelessly flirting with Reese, she didn’t know what she would have done. No matter how many times she told herself that she had no claim on Reese and that they were literally worlds apart, it just didn’t seem to sink in. She was jealous and there was no two ways about it.

  When they reached the hotel, Reese secured a room for Angelina.

  “Another sister?” Wexler asked with a leer.

  There was no mistaking the look in the clerk’s eye. He thought Angelina was a hooker. Kelsey’s eyes widened with the sudden realization that Wexler probably thought the same thing about her! The mere idea made Kelsey want to sock him in the jaw. And then she grinned inwardly. What did she care what the clerk thought of her? She had other, far more important things to worry about, like finding her way back to where she belonged.

  “Just give her a room on the same floor as mine,” Reese said curtly. “And how about sending up some hot water? I don’t know about the ladies, but I could use a bath.”

  “It’s gonna cost you extra, this time of night,” the clerk said.

  “Just do it.”

  Wexler slid two keys across the counter. Apparently Reese rented the room he had shared with Kelsey on a long-term basis, because it was still there, waiting for him. He didn’t say anything about a separate room for Kelsey.

  There was a moment of awkwardness when she wondered if Reese expected her to arrange for her own room, but then he took her by the hand and led the way up the narrow, winding staircase.

  Looking none too happy with the sleeping arrangements, Angelina followed Reese and Kelsey up the stairs and down the corridor.

  Reese stopped in front of Angelina’s room and handed her the key. “If you need anything, tell the clerk to put it on my bill.”

  “That’s very generous of you,” Angelina said sweetly.

  “Yea, that’s me,” Reese muttered, “generous to a fault. Water for the tub should be up soon. We’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast in the morning.”

  Angelina’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at Kelsey, then looked back at Reese. “I thought she’d be sharing a room with me.”

  “Yea? Well, you thought wrong.”

  “Oh!” Angelina exclaimed. “I didn’t know she was your…”

  “Careful what you say,” Reese warned, an ominous glint in his dark eyes.

  Kelsey took a step forward. “I can fight my own battles, thank you very much.” She lifted her chin belligerently. “Go on, Angelina, say it.”

  With a shake of his head, Reese stepped between the two of them. “It’s been a long day, ladies. I’m about done in.” He opened Angelina’s door and gave her a little push inside. “Wait about half an hour before you go down for your bath. Kelsey can go first. I’ll go last.”

  “All right, Reese,” Angelina purred. “Whatever you say.” Smiling a blatant come-hither smile, she blew him a kiss, then closed the door.

  Muttering an oath, Reese turned on his heel and stalked down the corridor to his own room.

  Kelsey followed, trying not to feel smug about the fact that she was the one sharing his room. Once inside, she reproached herself for her childish behavior. She was a grown woman. She had to stop behaving like a teenager with her first crush.

  She looked at Reese, who sat on the room’s only chair, pulling off his boots. Amazing, she thought, that he looked sexy as all get-out no matter what he was doing. The light from the lamp cast gold highlights in his hair. The shadow of a beard made him look dark and dangerous.

  “Maybe I should get a room of my own,” Kelsey suggested, thinking it would be for the best. And not because she cared what that little chit or the desk clerk or anyone else thought, but because being in the same room with Reese was like putting a woman in room filled with her favorite brand of chocolate and then telling her she couldn’t have any.

  “I’d rather you didn’t.” Rising, he gathered her into his arms. “I like having you nearby.”

  “Do you?” she asked, her heart beating a rapid tattoo in her breast.

  He drew her up against him until they were only a kiss apart. “Can’t you tell?”

  “Reese…”

  “I just want to hold you, that’s all.”

  She would have argued, but it was what she wanted, too. So much had happened in such a short time. He had been wounded while rescuing her from those dreadful men. She had tended his wounds as best as she could, hovered over him, listened to the tragic tale of his love for Chumani. Though she had known him only a few weeks, it seemed as if they had spent a lifetime to
gether. More and more, she found herself thinking about what it would be like to stay here, with Reese. Oh, but she couldn’t. Her life, her parents and her job were all waiting for her. Did she really want to give up everything she knew, everything she loved, to stay here, in a time she had always thought she would hate? Did she want to give up civilization and all its wonders for life in the Old West? Funny, but being here didn’t seem as bad as she had always imagined it would be.

  She rested her cheek against Reese’s chest. Would she still feel that way if he wasn’t here? What if something happened to him and she couldn’t find her way back home? Would she still think this wasn’t such a bad place?

  He stroked her back, his hand warm, comforting, as it moved lazily up and down her spine. Her skin tingled at his touch.

  He held her close for a long moment, then brushed a kiss across the top of her head. “Your bath should be ready by now.”

  The words, you could share it with me, hovered, unspoken, in the back of her mind. With a sigh, she kissed his cheek. “I won’t be long.”

  She walked down the hall to the room that held the tub. It was filled to the brim with steaming water.

  After undressing, she stepped into the tub, wishing she had some of her favorite bubble bath to add to the water. She washed quickly, glad that Reese had said she could be the first one in the tub. She knew that, in the old days, it was common for everyone in a family to use the same bath water, starting with the oldest and working their way down to the youngest. By the time the last family member had bathed, the water was usually so dirty, you couldn’t see the bottom of the tub. She had read somewhere that that was where the expression don’t throw the baby out with the bath water had originated.

  She closed her eyes, thinking she would just enjoy the warm water for another few minutes. Submerged to her shoulders, she let her thoughts drift. As usual, they drifted toward Reese. She wondered what the initials T. K. stood for, wondered what he was doing now. Was he pacing the floor, or relaxing in the overstuffed chair by the window, his long legs stretched out in front of him, while he smoked a cigarette?

  Or, horrible thought, had he gone down the hall to keep Angelina company?

  * * * * *

  Reese experienced a rush of adrenaline when he heard a knock at the door. Hoping it might be Kelsey coming to tell him she had changed her mind, he struck a match and lit the lamp beside the bed. Then, always cautious, he grabbed his gun, holding it against his thigh while he opened the door.

  Before he could say a word, Angelina slipped past him and hopped into his bed wearing nothing more than her chemise and a smile.

  Damn, he thought as he shut the door, she was a persistent little thing! Dropping his gun back into the holster hanging from the bedpost, he crossed his arms over his chest and regarded her through narrowed eyes.

  She looked up at him as if she had every right to be in his room and in his bed.

  “Girl,” he said impatiently, “what the hell are you doing here?”

  “I know you want me.” She was on her hands and knees on the mattress now, her chest thrust forward, giving him a clear view of her ample cleavage.

  Reese shook his head. Trouble, he thought again. Nothing but trouble. “Stop wasting my time,” he said, taking her by arm, “and go back to your own room.”

  “No!” She twisted out of his grasp, then sat back on her heels. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Me?” he practically shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  She frowned up at him. “Why don’t you want me?”

  “Why? Well, for one thing, you’re about ten years too young! Now get out of my bed before I throw you out.”

  “I don’t understand you.” The sultry expression disappeared to be replaced by one of genuine confusion. “Men have been trying to get me into bed since I turned thirteen. Don’t you like girls?”

  “No.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I like women.”

  “I’m a wom…”

  “Don’t start in on that ‘I’m a woman’ crap,” he muttered irritably, and then he frowned. “What men have been trying to get you into bed?”

  “All the ones that visit the Magnolia.”

  “What’s the Magnolia?” he asked, though he had a pretty good idea.

  “My mama’s house.”

  “Lot of men go there, do they?”

  “Well, of course. It’s a brothel.”

  “Your mama runs a brothel?”

  She nodded. “In Golden.”

  Reese grunted softly. So, her mother owned a whorehouse in Colorado. Well, that explained a lot. “Does she know where you are?”

  Angelina shook her head. “I ran away.”

  He couldn’t say as he blamed her.

  “How old are you?”

  “Almost sixteen.”

  Reese swore under his breath. Not even sixteen and her own mother had her working in a house of ill repute! “So, why have you been coming on to me, what did you hope to gain by it?” he asked, though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

  “I need to get married.”

  “Married!” That was the last thing he had expected her to say. His gaze moved over her, settling on her flat stomach. “Are you…?”

  “No! I’ve never taken a customer, at least not yet. But Mama promised one of her regulars that I’d spend the night with him when I turned sixteen if he would pay off the loan on the house.” She crossed her arms over her breasts as if she was suddenly cold. “I won’t sleep with him! He’s a pig. So I stole all the money I could find and I ran away. I can’t let her find me! She said after Mr. Wellington had me that I was going to have to pleasure some of her other customers.”

  Jumping off the bed, Angelina threw her arms around him. “If I was married, Mama couldn’t do anything to me. Please, Mr. Reese, I’d make you a good wife, honest I would. I’d do anything you asked, anything at all…”

  “Dammit, girl!” He grabbed her hands in his and held them tight. “Listen to me, we’ll work something out, I promise.”

  “You’ll help me?”

  “I’ll do what I can.”

  “You won’t let Mama take me back, will you? Promise me you won’t.”

  “I won’t make you go if you don’t want to.”

  “You promise?”

  “I promise.”

  Two huge tears welled in her eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Reese.”

  “Go on back to your room now, hear? Kelsey should be about done with her bath.”

  Sniffling, Angelina rose on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, then hurried out of the room.

  Reese stared after her. What kind of mother sold her daughter’s favors? Thinking he’d better check to make sure Angelina made it back to her room, he went to the door and looked down the corridor in time to see Angelina pass Kelsey on her way back to her room.

  Reese swore softly. Of all the rotten luck. One look at her Kelsey’s face and he knew she was thinking that he had taken Angelina to bed the minute her back was turned. Damn. He was going to have to do some fancy talking to smooth this over.

  Kelsey forced herself to remain calm. Putting on her best corporate face, the one that said, kick butt and take names, she walked past Angelina with her head high. She walked past Reese without looking at him and went straight to the window, staring outside until she heard the door close.

  After taking several deep breaths, she turned to face him. “I’ll get my things and change rooms with Angelina.”

  “The hell you will.”

  “I’m sure that will be much more convenient for the two of you than having to wait for me to leave the room.”

  Reese shook his head. Women! Why did they always jump to the wrong conclusions? “You don’t seriously think I’m interested in that… that…that child?”

  “She doesn’t look like a child,” Kelsey retorted. “And she’s certainly interested in you.”

  Fighting the urge to drive his fist into the wall, Reese took a deep, cal
ming breath.

  “She ran away from her mother’s brothel. Seems her old lady promised her to some old fart and she’s afraid to go back. She was coming on to me because she’s looking for someone to protect her.”

  “She told you that?”

  He nodded. “I guess she thought she’d be better off with me than some old fart.”

  “You think?” Kelsey said, laughing.

  His gaze moved over her, hot and hungry. It sent a thrill of desire racing down her spine.

  “You still want a room of your own?” he asked, his voice husky.

  “What do you think?”

  Closing the distance between them, he drew her into his arms. “This is what I think,” he said, and lowering his head, he covered her mouth with his, chasing all rational thought right out of her mind.

  Her arms went around him of their own volition as he deepened the kiss. Excitement fluttered in the pit of her stomach. Was there anything to equal the blush of first love, the wonder of those first kisses, the very newness of it that made you feel as if you were the only one in all the world who had ever experienced the joy and the wonder of it all? Love. Was there anything else like it?

  She whimpered a soft protest when he took his mouth from hers, sighed with delight when his lips settled on hers again. Slowly, he walked her backward toward the bed. He eased her back onto the mattress and followed her down, turning so that his body aligned itself with hers, so that they lay facing each other, their bodies pressed intimately together from shoulder to heel.

  His hands were rough from hard work and years in the sun, yet ever so gentle as they played lightly over her body, never demanding as they skimmed the surface, his fingertips barely brushing the curve of her breast, sliding down over her hip and up again to stroke her cheek. Each touch and caress built upon the last until she was trembling with desire, aching with need. She wanted to slip her hands under his shirt, to feel his skin beneath her palms but, mindful of the way he had reacted the last time she had caressed his back, she managed to stifle that particular urge, contenting herself with tracing the corded muscles in his arms.

  She wanted him. Right or wrong, whether their time together was for this hour only or for years, she wanted him.