Trail of Kisses

by Merry Farmer

  Keeping a watch over Lynne Tremaine was like living in a shirt made of poison ivy. Cade watched her walking with her friends Callie and Emma all through the morning, debating riding forward to the Lewis’s wagon to order her to come back to her own wagon where she belonged. The problem was, aside from knowing there was no way she would leave her new friends if she thought they needed her, he kind of admired her pluck. Not every fine woman would lend a hand around people who were deathly ill. And not every woman could blend prickles and kindness and come out on top.

  It was the illness that bothered him.

  “You hear about it all the time,” he said to Ben as he alongside the wagon. “Some folks think Indians are the biggest problem on the trail, but really, it’s illness.”

  “Hmph,” Ben said.

  “I swore to protect that woman, but I can’t protect her from a fever or cholera or worse.”

  “Nope.” Ben frowned.

  Cade twisted in his saddle to look at the boy. “What’s got you all bad-tempered all of a sudden?”

  “Nothin’.”

  Cade followed the line of Ben’s sight ahead. He was watching Lynne too. Lynne, who had her head together with Callie and Emma. There was a chance the boy was watching one of the other two, but no, Cade had seen him giving Lynne the eye ever since they left Independence. The only time the boy smiled was when he watched Lynn. Cade grinned, adjusting his hat to keep the sun out of his eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think young Ben had a sweet spot for the judge’s daughter.

  “Tell you what,” he said, ready to give Lynne a taste of her own teasing. “Why don’t I hop up there and drive for a minute while you go get Miss Tremaine and tell her to walk with us?”

  Ben tore his eyes away from Lynne and her friends’ backsides and scowled at Cade. “I’m not goin’ out there to tell her nothin’. There’s folks sick up there.”

  “Exactly my point.” Cade nodded. “I’ve let this go on long enough.”

  He nudged Arrow forward, picking up speed so that he could gain on the Lewis wagon. As he passed half a dozen other wagons in the train on his way, he noticed more than a few anxious glances. He wasn’t the only one concerned about a potential epidemic. If there was anything he could do to stop the illness’s spread, he’d do it, no matter what Lynne thought.

  “Morning, ladies.” He tipped his hat to the trio of women as he rode even with them.

  Callie gave him a weary smile. Emma blushed and lowered her eyes. Lynne huffed out a breath and kept her gaze deliberately forward.

  “What are you doing, Mr. Lawson?” she asked.

  He swallowed his first instinct to remind her to call him Cade. If she was going to give him a hard time, he could play that game.

  “How is your brother doing today, Miss Lewis?” he asked Callie instead of answering Lynne.

  The poor woman’s face was pinched with worry. “Not well, I’m afraid. Dr. Meyers says…. Dr. Meyers is concerned.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that.” He was, too. Lynne could accuse him of being heartless all she wanted, but he knew it wasn’t true. He also knew he had a job to do. “Miss Tremaine, might I have a word with you?”

  “Certainly, Mr. Lawson. As soon as I’m free. Which I am not at the moment.” Lynne kept her chin tilted up.

  Cade sighed. He stared out across the horizon in the off chance that instructions for sweet-talking a bull-headed woman would be written in the tall grass and high sun.

  “No offense to your friends here,” he said, “but I think you should travel a little closer to home.”

  Lynne sent him a sidelong look that could kill a cougar at fifty paces. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  A thump sounded from the Lewis’s wagon, followed by a groan. Lynne’s contrary look dropped to concern and Cade forgot his game for a moment. The train couldn’t stop, but Callie broke ranks with her friends to rush to the back of the wagon.

  “Greg? Greg, are you all right?” she called before hoisting herself up into the moving wagon.

  “Why don’t you come back and walk with me for a while?” Cade tried again.

  Lynne attempted to pretend he hadn’t said anything, but she couldn’t pretend she wasn’t worried. She wouldn’t look straight at him, but Cade could see the anxiety in her profile. He watched her lips pull tight, saw the tension at the corner of her eyes. It set off a storm of emotion in his gut. He knew that look. She would argue and tell him he was wrong, but Lynne was afraid. Very afraid.

  “We’re getting mighty lonesome back there without you,” he said, leaning closer to her and lowering his voice just a little.

  It had the effect he had intended. The fear vanished from Lynne’s dark eyes and she stopped in her tracks to glare at him. Emma stopped beside her.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Cade grinned. She could thank him later for giving her something to be angry about instead of being afraid.

  “Just that your poor horse, Clover, is starting to feel left out, as it were.” He feigned innocence with a flash of a smile.

  Lynne rolled her eyes. The wagon train began to roll slowly past.

  “I’m sorry, Emma,” Lynne turned to her friend. “It seems the man who was hired to mind me needs someone to mind him.”

  “I hope you don’t mind,” Cade added to Emma with a wink.

  Emma turned beet red and scurried off without a word to Lynne.

  Cade chuckled. “She’s a bit jumpy, isn’t she?”

  “She’s shy.” Lynne crossed her arms. “And you’re heartless, as usual.”

  Cade’s only answer was to shrug. Lynne marched back through the advancing wagons to where Ben was watching the whole scene with as much of a scowl as ever. Cade turned his horse to follow. It took only a few seconds for Ben and the wagon to catch up to them. Lynne spared half a smile for Ben as she matched her pace to the wagon where Clover was tied. The mare had been walking with the sidesaddle in place and ready to go.

  “I know what you were up to just then.” Lynne untied Clover and led her to the side so that she could mount.

  “I’m not up to anything,” Cade said with a smile.

  Lynne arched a brow at him. “You shouldn’t have taken me away from Callie’s side. She’s terrified and she needs a friend. Dr. Meyers said he doesn’t think her brother or his wife or their little boy will live.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Lynne mounted with a strength and grace that still surprised Cade. She settled herself with one knee hooked around the pommel and flicked the reins to send Clover walking. Cade matched his pace to hers and waited for her to give him the inevitable tongue lashing.

  Instead, she kept quiet, chin held high, the ribbons of her hat fluttering over her shoulder along with her hair. After marching away from him that morning she had come back for the hat but didn’t bother sticking around to put her hair up, in spite of some odd looks from other women in the train. She was unusual as far as women went, that was for sure.

  “You’re not going to talk to me?” he said, fighting to hide a grin.

  “I’m not certain I have a reason to talk to you,” she answered.

  “Not even to tell me how heartless and cowardly I am?”

  She turned to him. “You said it, Mr. Lawson, not me.”

  “Cade.”

  “I’m sure.”

  He couldn’t help chuckling, just a little.

  “Did I say something funny?” she snapped.

  “Oh no, not at all.”

  “Then why are you laughing?”

  “I’m not laughing, I’m talking. To you. The woman who just said she had no reason to talk to me.”

  Lynne let out a breath and shook her head. She nudged her horse to walk faster. Cade followed suit, keeping by her side. They passed the front of the wagon where Ben was glaring at them. Let the boy be jealous. Cade was too pleased to care. He had Lynne where he wanted her for a change.

  “I’ve just told you that a man a
nd his wife and child are doomed, and you’re smiling?” Lynne scolded him.

  His grin dropped. She had a point there.

  “At least you’re riding with me,” he said.

  “You’re somewhat hard to avoid,” she replied, her tone flat.

  “And that’s the way it should be.” His smile threatened to return. When she peeked at him, he said, “It’s my job to keep an eye on you, to keep you safe. What are you doing right now? You’re riding next to me, where I can see you. If that means I’m hard to miss, then I’d say I’m one step ahead of you.”

  “Really?” she scoffed. “We’ll just see about that.”

  She tapped Clover’s side and the horse hopped forward. Lynne wasn’t satisfied with the quick burst of speed and urged her on. Cade had no trouble keeping up with her, even when she veered off the packed dirt of the trail and into the rocky ground to the side. It was sweet of her to think she could outrun a horse like Arrow with a darling beast like Clover.

  He was getting ready to make it a race in earnest when Clover lost her step mid-stride. Lynne gasped and clutched her saddle hard as a flash of dull metal shot to the side. Clover slowed to a walk, then stopped altogether, bobbing her head and puffing.

  “Blast!” Lynne eased out of her saddle and jumped to the ground as Cade reached her side.

  “She throw a shoe?” he asked, pulling Arrow to a stop by her side and dismounting.

  Lynne bent to check Clover’s feet, then turned to search out the shoe. It was lying several feet to the side in the gravel.

  “She did, poor thing.”

  She stood and smoothed a hand along Clover’s neck, concern somehow making her even prettier.

  “She didn’t lame herself, did she?” Cade crouched to study Clover’s feet for himself.

  Lynne led the horse to walk a few yards forward to see if Clover was injured.

  “She seems all right,” she said.

  Cade stood and fetched the thrown horseshoe.

  “She probably caught that front shoe with her back foot,” Lynne said, stooping to check the damage one more time. She sighed as she straightened. “We’ll have to find someone to fix it once we’ve stopped for lunch.”

  “We will,” Cade agreed. A smile spread across his face at everything the minor accident implied. “Well, looks like you’ll finally be riding in the wagon after all.”

  Lynne dragged her attention away from her horse to him. She planted a hand on her hip. “What gives you that idea?”

  Cade shrugged, striding to take Clover’s reins from her. “Can’t ride a horse with three shoes. Can’t walk with your friends when they’re otherwise engaged. That leaves the wagon.” His smile grew. “Unless you want to walk with me.” More than a week on the trail and he was finally going to get her in the wagon where she belonged.

  “Nonsense. I’ll just have to ride your horse.”

  Cade blinked. “My horse?”

  “Yes. Four shoes, one saddle. Your horse.”

  He started to argue, but thought better of it. All the spitfire in the world couldn’t make Lynne an inch bigger or a pound heavier than the fine lady she was. Her slim waist and soft hips were no match for a gelding. He exchanged a glance with Arrow. The horse blew out a breath, nostrils flaring. If Lynne wanted to give Arrow a try, she was more than welcome.

  “All right.” He feigned defeat. “Whatever you say. Here.” He handed the lead to her.

  Lynne adjusted her hat, smiled sweetly at him, and took the lead, marching to Arrow’s side. The horse was several inches taller than Clover. The saddle was high and the stirrups were set for his height, not hers. She studied the saddle, gripping it tightly with one hand and lifting her skirt so that she could raise her foot to the stirrup. She sure did have fine ankles.

  Before he could finish his frank appreciation and work his way up to admire her calves, Lynne took a deep breath and heaved herself up. With one swift motion, she lifted her leg over Arrow’s back and settled herself in the saddle. Her skirts shifted up to her knees and higher as they bunched under her, but instead of appreciating the sight, Cade’s smile dropped.

  Lynne adjusted her skirts around her legs and cleared her throat. “Thank you for the use of such a fine horse, Mr. Lawson.”

  She smiled, and with one swift tap to Arrow’s flanks, she was off.

  Cade’s jaw dropped and his heart sank to his stomach as Lynne and Arrow tore off up the line of the wagon train. They were at a full gallop before he could swallow.

  “Ho-ly….” He let his curse drop and swiped the hat off of his head. He’d had some bad ideas in his day, but this likely topped them all.

  Far ahead, Lynne leaned low over Arrow’s neck. Cade had seen the likes of her posture before on scouts and Pony Express riders. She shot way out in front of the wagon train, and only when Pete Evans shouted something after her did she slow Arrow to a walk and turn around. As she approached the front of the train, she shouted a reply to Pete which had better be an apology, then walked on.

  Cade grabbed Clover’s lead and walked to meet her. He was shocked at the way Lynne could ride, but he should have been furious. Talk about finding ways to get herself hurt. But as Lynne trotted back to him, she had the audacity to smile. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright.

  “That was exhilarating,” she declared, breathless.

  “Not the word I would use,” he said. His voice was rougher than he wanted it to be.

  “Did I mention that before Papa was appointed to his bench in St. Louis we lived in Lexington, Kentucky?” Her grin was definitely gloating. “I learned to ride before I learned to walk.”

  “I believe it. Now come down from there and walk before you do yourself any harm.”

  “I think not.” She leaned forward to rub Arrow’s neck. “This darling boy and I are just becoming acquainted. But I promise we’ll walk for the rest of the morning.”

  “That wouldn’t have anything to do with being chewed out by Mr. Evans, would it?” Cade asked.

  Lynne blushed. “That’s none of your business,” she said and tapped Arrow to walk on.

  Cade stood where he was, watching them catch up to where Ben was practically hanging off the side of the wagon goggling at them. A knot of warmth curled deep in his gut and sank lower as he watched the way her body moved in harmony with Arrow’s strides. Her dark hair swung down her back. The sunlight caught her smile. The pool of warmth spread full on into his groin.

  “This is not good,” he told Clover, tugging her forward to catch up to the wagons.

  He had been charged with protecting Lynne, seeing her safely to her uncle. His job and his future depended on it. She was already making that job next to impossible, but now? Now he had a real problem. He should have scolded her for needlessly running his horse, but all he wanted to do was stand there and watch her. He’d never met a woman in his life who had turned his head as swiftly and as thoroughly as Lynne Tremaine had. How was he supposed to keep her safe when all he wanted to do now was see just how much trouble the two of them could get into together?

  Chapter Three

  The inevitable happened three days later. Lynne could do nothing but stand helplessly by while Callie’s entire family, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, all died. Mere hours, and poor Callie was alone in the world. The wagon train stopped so that the bodies could be buried. Lynne was determined to help her friend in any way she could.

  “It’s tragic,” she told Cade as she searched through her belongings in the back of the wagon, looking for anything that could bring solace to her friend. “To lose your entire family like that.”

  “Does she have any other relatives?” Cade asked.

  Lynne shook her head and closed the lid of her hope chest. Her pride wanted her to argue with Cade in some way, but Callie’s tragedy had put her in a far more somber mood. There were some things worse than having a handsome, overprotective man breathing down your neck.

  She felt years older as she climbed down from the wagon with
the only token of comfort she could find for her friend, an embroidered handkerchief. “The only relative Callie has left is an old maiden aunt in Philadelphia, but it’s too late for that. She can’t exactly turn around and go back.”

  “She could hop on the next stagecoach we pass heading east,” Cade suggested.

  Lynne considered for a moment. “Not with all of her things. Her brother packed everything they owned into that wagon of his and now it belongs to her. It’s all she has.”

  Cade nodded, running a hand through his hair.

  “I should go to her now,” Lynne went on. She braced for an argument. Cade had taken issue with her efforts to help Callie and her family from the start.

  Instead of bullying her, he nodded. “You go do what’s right.”

  She stumbled over her first step walking away from him. “Really?”

  “Yes, of course.” His brow was knit in concern, and even though he still looked as though he hadn’t slept since the train started out, there was something appealing in the kindness in his eyes.

  “All… all right, then. I’ll just be a few wagons up if you need me.”

  She walked on, puzzled. Ben watched her with narrowed eyes from the seat of her wagon as she passed, as though he couldn’t figure out what was going on either. She’d never really made up her mind that Cade Lawson was a horrible person, but he had been a thorn in her side from the moment she met him. Callie’s tragedy must have affected him as deeply as her, but seeing him in a new light was unnerving.

  Her thoughts about Cade were banished as soon as she reached Callie’s camp. Her friend was deep in the shock of grief, sitting outside of her wagon which now held nothing but memories. Their friend Emma sat with her along Mrs. Weingarten, an older woman who had taken the three of them under her wing. Lynne rushed to her friend, handing her the handkerchief she’d found, then sitting beside her.

  Callie wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, barely audible. “It was Greg’s dream to go west. I would have been happy to stay home.”

  Emma nodded in agreement, but Lynne felt the sting of Callie’s words in her heart.