Fiery Passion

by Dawn Luedecke

  Wall’s heart beat faster as she stepped closer to him and entwined her arm in his.

  “An unwed woman cannot stay up here alone to run a portable mill,” her mother chided, and pierced him with a glare.

  “She won’t be.” Wall grabbed her hand and kissed it. “We’ll be wed as soon as you fetch the preacher if I have my way.”

  “You most certainly will not.” Her mother insinuated herself between he and Victoria, forcing him to drop her hand.

  “Mother,” Victoria said. “We hardly have time for a wedding. We both have businesses to run.”

  “There’s always time for a wedding.”

  “Did I heard there’s going to be a wedding?” Layla’s voice sounded, and Wall looked as his sister walked in with a tray of Rose’s pastries.

  Before anyone could say anything, she set the dessert down on the table, and the sound of her boots echoed down the hallway, no doubt going to tell his other sisters.

  “Heaven above.” He peeked around Victoria’s mother to his intended bride. “Prepare yourself.”

  Her face rounded in fright, and she grasped her necklace. “Mother, please?”

  “It can be soon, but you will have a wedding.”

  “I think this is my cue to leave,” Mr. Boilson said and, with a quick goodbye to his father and Mr. Harrison, ran out of the room as if the fireplace had spit flames onto the curtains.

  Before long, all four of his sisters rushed into the room and assailed upon Victoria as though she were a newborn puppy they’d been pining to see. From over their heads, she tossed him a pleading glance and all he could do was shrug. In his experience with his sisters, when they got in a mob with high pitched squeals to pierce a man’s ears the way they did now, it was best a man step away.

  “You’re a wretched man, Wall Adair!” Victoria tossed over their heads, as they ushered her out of the room and, from the sounds of their footsteps, up to the rooms above. No doubt to begin plans of their own.

  Left behind, her mother turned her attention to him. “Wallace, I expect you will take care of her.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “You know my expectations.”

  “Yes, ma’am. She will come before anything else in my life. I promise.”

  “It seems she will have plenty to occupy her out here on the Lazy Heart,” Beatrice said, and cast her eye to where the chatter picked up volume ever so slightly.

  “My sisters adore her.”

  “So do I,” his mother said from her position near the couches. She motioned for Victoria’s mother to join her, and she obeyed. “If you’d like, we can start planning the more sensible aspects of the wedding while the girls titter about whatever frivolous things young women tend to focus on.”

  “Sensible.” Beatrice raised her eyebrow with a smile, and joined his mother, leaving him alone once more.

  To his right, his father stood with Abner, and through the few words he caught the gentle mumble of a small political debate. Nothing to interest him. Taking his only chance, he slipped from the room and out the front door.

  Relief spread through his chest and eased the knot tied since she’d left. He stepped from the front porch and searched the windows where the chatter filtered through the pane, but he couldn’t see the girls, so he headed to the barn to wait until Victoria was once again available.

  Plus, he needed to talk to his brother, and he knew just wear to find him.

  He walked into the barn and found him mucking stalls. “Victoria and I are going to be married.”

  “I heard.”

  “Are you upset with me?”

  Jax stopped and faced him, leaning on the pitchfork. “Are you going to leave again? I was under the impression it was either us or her.”

  “Not this time.” Wall ruffled his hair. “Victoria’s staying here on the Lazy Heart. I might build her a house, but I’ll be here.”

  He squinted one eye. “Promise?”

  “Yep.”

  With a single nod, Jax went back to work, so Wall picked up the second pitchfork, and opened the next stall. The tension he’d felt for weeks, hell years, no longer balled in his chest. He felt lighter. Happier. He could lie down and roll in the horse shit, and be happier than if he’d been given a new pair of boots.

  And Victoria was the reason. His soon-to-be wife.

  Chapter 20

  Victoria stood motionless in her wedding dress, afraid to move as Wall’s sisters hovered around her. Somewhere in the house Beth and Carrie kept warm near the fire, very pregnant and waiting to brave the outside until the very last minute. The last thing she wanted was for her nuptials to force them into labor early.

  Wall’s portable mill was well on its way to being complete, and her crew had already started to build the flume nearby to start work. Farther down the valley, a second crew started the work on the townsfolk’s ranches as Garrett’s rail line drew ever closer to the town, and with it, expansion.

  Now, she stood hoping to keep from perspiring before heading outside into the cold November day to be married to the man who’d stolen her heart.

  For once in her life, things worked out in her favor. As they should be. With one man she’d gotten the love she’d always wanted, and a family so full of love they couldn’t seem to leave her alone. But she adored every minute of it.

  “I know this isn’t the time for this, but I thought you might like the distraction. Next Tuesday is our meeting, and the Widow Yancy is lookout,” Georgiana said matter of factly. “You need to start your needlepoint.”

  Victoria responded by reaching out to grab the younger girl’s hand and hold it. Georgiana squeezed hers in response.

  “Ready?” her mother asked, walking into the room.

  With shoulders back to help hold the heavy, but warm, material of her overly adorned wedding gown, she nodded.

  Her dress wasn’t what it would have been a year ago. It didn’t define the latest wedding fashion in Missoula. She’d fought like the verbal pugilist Wall had once called her in order to not have to wear a veil. Mostly because she was going to be outside. What if the wedding ended up being in a snowstorm? What woman wants to get lost in a snowstorm on their way from the house to the aisle simply because she has a white cloak over her face?

  Her mother had objected, but after much discussion, and some compromise, they came to an agreement. Victoria would wear the more delicate long-sleeved satin dress with puffy shoulders and a train, which was certain to get ruined in the snow, but she would forgo the veil. At least the inside of the dress was insulated with lace and cotton to keep her warm.

  And a beautiful velvet cape she insisted on would lie upon her shoulders.

  She wrapped the cape around her and buttoned it at the neck, and then started down the stairs. Each woman in her life, from Wall’s mother and sisters, to her mother, and finally Beth and Carrie, all flanked her. As if engulfing her in a cloak of protection as they escorted her outside to the man she loved. The only women in her life who’d ever seen beyond her outward appearance to the woman she was inside.

  And Wall had been there all along to show her who she was.

  “You look beautiful,” Beth said as she waddled next to Carrie, who voiced her agreement.

  Victoria smiled her thanks as butterflies flitted in her stomach. The cold winter air hit her face, and she couldn’t be more grateful for a winter wedding.

  Once in line, her father took a spot next to her and the women all disappeared to their seats as the musician’s who’d played at the Hartland shindig began to play their infamous waltz.

  She didn’t think she could be any happier until she saw him at the end of the row of people. Waiting. For her. She urged her father to go with her arm, and felt his chest rumble with a chuckle.

  In less time than it would take her to ride into Missoula from the mill, she would be Mrs. Wa
llace Adair. The wife of a filthy cowboy turned river logger, and she couldn’t be happier.

  They reached the end of the walk, and Wall took her arm. She leaned into him for both the warmth, and because the feel of him there during times of need now felt natural. She needed him like the earth needed the trees.

  “You’re more beautiful than the mountain peaks on an early spring morning.”

  “And you’re more charming than a smooth-talking grizzly bear,” she teased. “But the mountain peaks are beautiful on a spring morning.”

  “That’s all I’m saying.” He tweaked the curl which, she’d noticed, had become his favorite plaything. “You’re prettier.”

  They turned their attention to Wall’s father, who of course was the town justice of the peace. By the time she could steady herself, their vows had been exchanged and Wall bent her back to give her a kiss to seal them together forever.

  As he brought her up, the crowd erupted, and the chill of the winter day began to seep into her dress. She pulled the hood of the cape over her hair, and smiled up at her new husband as the crowd began to mumble and mill about.

  “Let’s get to the barn for the party before we all freeze out here.” Wall extended his arm, and she leaned heavily on it to help her pick her way across the frozen ground toward the large barn.

  “I never thought I’d have my wedding in the snow, or a barn.”

  Wall threw back his head and laughed. “I doubt you’d ever thought you’d even set foot in a barn, let alone marry a cowboy.”

  “Cowboy logger,” she corrected. “Don’t forget, you’re still one of my best fallers. I fully expect you to come help whenever you aren’t busy with the Lazy Heart.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Wall answered with the biggest smile she’d ever seen him sport, with the exception of mere moments ago when they’d married.

  “You’re an odd man, Wallace Adair. You like to tinker with machines, chop town trees, and lasso cattle. I’ve never met such a determined man before.”

  “And you’re an odd woman, Victoria Harrison-Adair.” They entered the barn, now clean and decorated, to see their friends gathered around in various groups. “I think that’s why we suit each other so well, but don’t forget about fighting.”

  “What?” She snapped her gaze to his face where a now crooked grin played on his lips.

  He waved toward the group of men she’d seen at the shindig, gathered with heads together in the corner of the barn. “I’m also a pugilist, remember, and this is a Hartland party.”

  “Don’t you dare,” she warned.

  He chuckled.

  “Don’t fret, princess. I’m not going to. Not today. Although, I can’t promise I won’t fight again in the future. I’m a man after all. It’s what we do.” He rubbed his chin. “I wonder how the Devil May Cares would fare against the Hartland boys.”

  The band began to warm up their instruments. No doubt both frozen from their time outside. The plan, like any Hartland party, was dancing and food with no frills in between. Exactly as she’d always wanted her reception.

  “Fine, but no more toying with your opponent.” She walked into the center of the barn, and stopped as the band began to play her new favorite waltz. “Fast and hard.”

  Wall tipped his head low, and his eyes darkened from the color of the sky to the deepest part of a lake. “Princess, I do everything fast and hard unless you ask me otherwise.”

  Her heart beat to mimic the topic—fast and hard—as Wall pulled their hands between them while they danced, and ran the back of his finger over her breast. She struggled for breath at the thought of what would come later. “You, sir, are a wicked tease.”

  “If we were alone I would tease you up in the hay loft.”

  She quickly searched their surroundings to make certain none of the other dancers had overheard, but they were certain to notice her blush because her face heated something fierce.

  Wall tugged her closer. “I’ll stop, but we leave as soon as we can escape.”

  “Which will be quite difficult seeing as we are the focus of everyone here.” A dancing couple from town drew near, and she gave her social smile, and greeted them.

  Farther down the dance floor, Beth and Carrie danced with their new husbands, and a few of The Devil May Cares had even found partners with Hartland women—two of which were Wall’s sisters. Not that he needed to see that just yet.

  The song ended and they moved to the side of the room as the door to the warm barn opened up and Nichols stepped in. Strutting like a king toward Wall’s father.

  Victoria didn’t know whether to be angry with the man, or welcome him to the party, but her social teachings told her the second.

  Before she had a chance to choose, Hamilton brought him over. “Nichols, you remember my son, and this radiant thing is my new daughter-in-law, Mrs. Victoria Harrison-Adair.”

  “Ah, yes. We met back in the spring.” He tipped his hat in greeting. “You’re even lovelier now as you were back then.”

  “And you’ve gone and taken all my land, and the land Wall tried to purchase,” she replied, unable to hold her tongue.

  “But I see you came out on top. Like I knew you would.” Nichols glanced at Wall, and then to the corner where she’d seen her father standing mere seconds ago. “You Harrison’s always do.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “I hope you don’t take too much offense to being moved away from Seeley Lake and the rivers. See we had to protect the new species of fish we’re introducing into the waters over there. Can’t have the river logging operation killing off the money we’re putting into the project.”

  Victoria crossed her arms over her chest as her heart began to beat at the man’s flawed response. “You almost ruined Great Mountain over fish, yet you allowed Missoula to give Luther the land to log for the government?”

  “He’s small time. He’ll be logging to provide for the local schools, and milling on site. He’s not taking wood down the rivers. Your operation is the biggest in the area. Certain destruction to the brown trout we introduced. Had to steer you away from the rivers.”

  “So you don’t mind giving us permits as long as they aren’t by rivers?”

  Nichols shook his head. “Not at all.”

  Wall ducked his head low as though to tell her a secret, but his voice rang loud enough for even the representative to hear. “Well, there goes my job and that of The Devil May Cares.”

  “And Wallace.” Nichols focused on him. “Quite the determined businessman. You’re going to make the Lazy Heart even greater than your father did. I heard you’re into leather and machinery, in addition to taking over the Lazy Heart.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wall said, but stiffened beneath her fingers as the governor addressed him. He didn’t like the politician much, that much Victoria could tell.

  “Victoria here is going to clear some pasture land up in the mountain and provide us with our very own wood for our mine.” Hamilton puffed out his chest as he boasted.

  “Yes, I heard you’re partnering with Boilson.” Nichols cocked his head to the side. “I also hear the railroad will be moving into Hartland. Can’t wait to see this town booming under your leadership, Hamilton. I only hope you’ll run for mayor once the town becomes official, and Laughlin steps down from whatever role it is you’ve put him in up here.” The governor chuckled at his joke and took a quick look around the room. “I’ve come with news. Is there any way I can make an announcement?”

  “Of course.” Wall motioned toward the area where the band played, and Nichols started that way with his father, leaving them alone once more.

  “I wonder what sort of announcement he has that’s so important as to interrupt our wedding,” she said.

  “I suppose we’re about to find out.”

  Wall’s father drew the attention of the room and introduced the governor, who
took over. “Sorry to interrupt this beautiful party. It looks as though the couple is happier than ever to have such wonderful people to celebrate with them today. Montanans, for as soon as I arrived in Missoula on the way here for the wedding I received word from Helena. As of yesterday, Montana has become a state!”

  The room erupted in applause, and a low rumble of approval from all within the building. Even Victoria was proud to hear the territory of Montana would now officially be a state.

  Nichols walked off the make-shift platform and into the crowd, meandering toward her father.

  Next to her, the Devil May Cares approached Wall and they started talking, but her focus was on her father and his expression. The way he moved his hands, the flash of his eyes. What were they discussing?

  Time ticked by with more people coming up to greet them when finally her father left the governor’s side and approached her. “Seems now it’s all official, the state is in need of some wood for schools and such. He’s offered us a few sections up north of here. Government owned, of course, but it’s work. We’ll start there once we’re done with Hartland.”

  “Are you willing to work for him?”

  Her father shrugged. “I’m keeping my options open. I may end up moving over Washington way after Hartland. I can’t stop thinking about those trees. Do you know what we could do with wood that big? I’d end up selling Great Mountain, of course. And you’d have to stay here with your husband. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Luther is determined to get complete control over the entire mill. I’ve no doubt he’d buy you out. Not that I want to see it go to a sniveling little wretch such as him.” Victoria snuggled closer to Wall. “But whatever you choose to do with your company is fine with me, father. As long as I’m with Wall on the Lazy Heart.”

  “It’s not certain, I might decide to stay. You’ll come visit if we move to Washington?”

  Victoria smiled and kissed her father on the cheek. “Only if you don’t take me on a forest adventure.”

  Her father chuckled. “Deal.”

  Wall shuffled his feet beside her. “If you don’t mind, sir. It’s getting late, and we have a little ride up to where we’re spending the night.”