Trailing Home: Liam's Bride (The McKenzie Series #3)

by Lynn Coppersmith

  “Well, tell me about it. What is the land like?”

  Liam reached out a hand to run his fingers along the delicate line of her jaw and down her slender neck. “It’s beautiful,” he said again. Encouraged when she didn’t pull away from his touch, he trailed his fingers down to the curves of her breast. He brushed across the full swells with the backs of his knuckles and his gaze followed as if fascinated. “It’s all hills and valleys. Everything’s pure and untouched. It’s the kind of place where a man wants to linger forever and can find true happiness.”

  Liam waited for Selena to meet his eye. When she did, he captured her mouth, using his hand to cradle the back of her head. As he deepened the kiss, he heard her moan and he reveled in the sound. He wanted her with a fierce intensity, but he reminded himself that he had decided to take it slowly. He reluctantly drew back from the kiss and watched as her eyelids fluttered open to reveal violet pools full of uncertainty. He battled with his lust for several moments before he wrestled it into submission. Assuming a casual air, he rose and reached a hand down to assist her.

  “Come on,” he said with a smile. “We’d better get to work if we’re going to get the wagon repacked before sundown.”

  Selena’s head was spinning as she let Liam help her up. She turned away and took several steadying breaths before she set to work. They spent the rest of the afternoon organizing the cargo in the wagon. Liam’s experience on his previous trips enabled him to have a clear understanding of how items should be packed.

  He was hauling two small chests of family heirlooms and keepsakes from his parents’ home back to Oregon to share with his brothers. Those were loaded near the middle of the wagon, both to protect them from the elements, and because they didn’t need to be accessed until they reached their destination.

  The foodstuffs were loaded near the back and to one side so they would be handy. Flour, cornmeal, bacon, beans, coffee, sugar, lard, vinegar, salt, pepper, rice, yeast powder, hardtack, and baking soda were organized so that Selena knew where everything was. A few jars of pickles and a barrel with dried peaches, apples, onions, carrots and potatoes completed their larder. Pots, pans, cups, plates, and utensils were placed within easy reach, and a small butter churn was strapped to the outside of the wagon, along with a large wooden barrel for water.

  Liam’s tools, rope, spare parts for the wagon, axle grease and an axe were placed near the front of the wagon. His shotgun, rifle and ammunition were placed within easy reach of the bench. A small medical kit that contained a bottle of whiskey, cloth bandages, tweezers, iodine, castor oil, liniment, witch hazel, hartshorn for snakebite, quinine for malaria and various ointments and home remedies was stowed to one side. They left a spot at the other side of the back where the tent and bedding could be added to a small chest that contained their clothes, candles, matches, towels and a tiny wash basin. Finally, the animal feed was stowed near the middle of the other side, so that it could be accessed by lifting the canvass.

  Liam installed the wooden bows into their brackets on the sides of the wagon. These were used to support the canvass bonnet. While he did that, Selena spread the large canvass out on the ground and carefully applied a thick coat of linseed oil that he had purchased for that reason. Once the oil was applied, the canvass would be relatively waterproof.

  Liam grinned when he looked down and saw Selena on hands and knees spreading the oil. Her back was to him, and her fanny looked quite enticing from his vantage point. His mind conjured an image of her without her clothes, positioned like that before him, and he took several calming breaths to cool his blood.

  “How goes it there?” he called. “Are you almost done?”

  Selena knelt on her heels and used the back of her hand to brush a stray lock of hair out of her eyes as she looked up at Liam. He had removed his shirt in the late afternoon heat, and his chest, shoulders and arms were glistening with sweat. Her cheeks flooded with color as she wondered what it might feel like to run her fingers along the ridges of his muscular abdomen, and she shaded her face with her hand to hide her blush.

  “Yes, I’m almost done. Are you waiting for me?”

  If she only knew! “Yeah, but take your time.” He dipped some cool water out of the barrel and drank his fill before dipping a cup for her. By the time he brought it over to her, she was finished, and he grasped her elbow to help her up.

  “Oh, thank you,” Selena murmured. She laughed nervously when he would have handed her the cup and held up her hands to show him that were coated in the smelly, amber colored oil. “I should wash my hands first.”

  “Don’t bother. I’m going to get you to help hold the canvass while I stretch it over in a minute, so you’ll just get them dirty again. Allow me.” Liam stepped close beside her and held the cup to Selena’s lips.

  She drank deeply and sighed when the water was finished. “Thank you,” she said again, smiling up at him.

  “It was my pleasure.” He wiped a dribble off her chin with the pad of his thumb, and grinned down at her. “Let’s get the bonnet on, and then we’ll call it a day.” Liam went to return the cup to the barrel, leaving Selena looking slightly flushed.

  “Doesn’t the oil have to dry?” Selena asked.

  “It’s going to take weeks to fully dry, but we can go ahead and stretch it over the frame.”

  Liam climbed onto the side of the wagon, and with Selena’s help, he managed to get the canvass stretched over the wooden bows. When it was secured, the two of them stood admiring the fully outfitted wagon in the setting sun. Liam put an arm around her waist and grinned down at her.

  “Well, Mrs. McKenzie. That will be our home for the next few months. What do you think?”

  Selena gave him a rueful smile. It was hard for her to imagine. “I think I was crazy to ever promise my mother that I would do this.”

  Liam threw back his head and laughed and Selena couldn’t resist joining in. When their laughter subsided, she smiled at him. “Are you hungry? There’s some soup left”

  “That sounds good. You heat it up and I’ll feed the animals and check on how the Boyds are getting along.”

  By the time the sun had set, Liam and Selena were relaxing by the fire with bowls of steaming soup. She had managed to bake a pan of biscuits, and they were fluffy and delicious.

  “When do we leave?” Selena asked between bites.

  Liam shrugged, giving his attention to the food. “Judging by the grass, I think we would be alright to leave in a day or two. I’ll check the wagon over tomorrow and make sure the axles are well greased and everything is in good repair. Maybe you could do our laundry so we’re set to go. We want to leave ahead of most of the crowd so we’ll be able to find clean water and plenty of grass for the animals. Once folks start heading out, everyone wants to go at the same time and it gets pretty crazy around here, so we want to be among the first. Gerald said they’ll be ready to go whenever we are.”

  They lapsed back into silence for a few moments, each one lost in their thoughts. The sounds of crickets and the soft murmur of nearby voices were soothing.

  “So tell me about yourself,” Liam said, watching her with interest as he ate his soup.

  Selena gave a nervous laugh. She always felt self-conscious when he gazed at her so intently. “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything.” He gave her a rueful grin. “I don’t even know how old you are. I didn’t rob the cradle did I?”

  “I turned nineteen in January,” she said with a shy smile. “And you?”

  “I’ll be twenty six next month.” He finished the last of his soup and set the dish aside. “Tell me about your childhood.”

  Without a word, Selena offered Liam a candy from the bag he had purchased for her. He gave her a teasing grin as he popped the treat into his mouth, but she refused to meet his eye. She took a small piece and set the bag within his reach.

  “Well, there’s not much to tell really. I grew up on a farm in southeast Illinois with my parents and my older sister
. I had an older brother, but he died before I was born. My sister got married a few years ago, and she and her husband moved to Oregon.

  “What are their names? Maybe I know them,” he said.

  “Diana and Alex Winters. She said they live just a few miles south of Salem.”

  Liam looked thoughtful for a moment and then shook his head slowly. “I don’t think I’ve met them before, but their farm must only be about a half day’s drive from ours.” He stretched back against the log. “So tell me more.”

  “Well, about six months after my sister and her husband left, my Pa got sick and died. It nearly broke my mother’s heart, but she was a strong woman, and she managed to get through it. She and I had always been close, but we grew even closer after Pa passed away. We managed to keep the farm going, and we were doing fairly well for a while.” Her face clouded over, and she swallowed the last of her candy. “Then everything changed.”

  “What happened?” Liam asked quietly.

  Selena was reluctant to talk about the dreadful day her mother died. In fact, she had never confided in anyone before, but somehow, she felt comfortable talking with Liam. She cleared her throat and continued.

  “My mother remarried, to a man named Jeb Hawkins.” Selena took a steadying breath and went on, but her voice was so soft that Liam had to strain to hear her. “He convinced her that he was a good man, and I guess she may have been thinking I needed a father.” She laughed bitterly. “But after they married, he turned mean. All he wanted to do was drink and laze around. Then, the beatings started.”

  Liam felt his muscles tense, but he managed to keep his voice even. “Did he hurt you?”

  Selena shook her head. “No, Mama always got the brunt of it. He made me nervous though. He was always watching me, his eyes following me everywhere I went, and I was afraid to be alone with him. I used to beg Mama to run away with me to Oregon, and she finally agreed. We were saving up money to go when . . .” her voice trailed off and she looked down at her lap.

  Liam pulled her against him and was surprised to feel her trembling in his arms. “What happened, Selena?”

  His tenderness touched something deep inside her, and Selena started to cry, the tears rolling unheeded down her cheeks. “He caught me alone, down by the creek while I was doing the laundry. I tried to get away from him, but he grabbed me and started kissing me and touching me. I kept screaming for him to let me go, but he seemed to like it that I was fighting him. I bit him on the hand, and he hit me.”

  Selena’s breath came in hiccupping sobs between her whispers. “I thought at first my jaw was broken . . . then he threw me on the ground and started . . . ripping my clothes off and . . . putting his filthy hands and mouth all over me . . . I thought I would die . . . and there was nothing I could do to stop him.”

  Selena collapsed against Liam’s chest and sobbed in anguish. All the shame she had been carrying with her overflowed, and her slender frame shook with the force of her tears. Liam swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

  “My mother showed up with a pistol and made him get off me. But then, he attacked her and beat her so badly…he broke her ribs and they must have punctured her lung. By the time I got to the gun and ran him off, it was too late. My mother died that very afternoon…and it was all because of me.”

  She clutched at Liam’s shirtfront as she bitterly wept. He felt like his lungs were caught in a vise. He could have easily murdered her stepfather if he had been there at that moment. Instead, Liam pulled Selena onto his lap and rocked her like a child while she cried. He wanted to protect her, and he wished he could erase all her pain. He stroked her back and kissed her hair as he spoke soothingly.

  “It’s alright Selena. You’re safe now. Just cry it out. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Eventually her sobs subsided, and Selena fell into an exhausted sleep, snuggled on Liam’s lap. He held her for a long time as he thought about what she had told him. She felt so small and helpless in his lap, but he knew that she had strength of spirit. He could only wonder how she had found the courage to ask him to take her with him. After what she had been through, most women would have found it impossible to ever trust a man again.

  Liam rose, being careful not to wake Selena. She took a deep, ragged breath and let it out on a sigh that fanned the side of his neck. Still sleeping soundly, she snuggled closer against his chest as he carried her to her pallet. He removed her shoes and tucked the blanket around her shoulders.

  As he knelt looking down at her face in the dim firelight, he felt a wave of tenderness wash over him. He longed to make love to her, to show her that it could be something beautiful between a man and a woman, a time of sharing rather than brutal taking. He wanted to lavish her with gentleness and replace her fear with pleasure. But he knew all that would have to wait. He would have to win her trust and overcome her fears before anything else could develop between them.

  Liam undressed and crawled between his own blankets, but he bent over to place a kiss on her brow as he whispered, “Goodnight, Selena. Sleep well.”

  Chapter Six

  The next morning, Liam woke up first and quietly dressed before slipping out of the tent. When Selena woke up, she lay for several minutes, remembering what she had told him the previous night. She moaned and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, thinking of how she had clung to him and let him hold her so intimately on his lap. How humiliating! She dreaded having to face him. If Liam was like most men, he would assume that she had done something by her behavior or her style of dress to invite her stepfather’s abuse. The last thing she wanted was for Liam to get the idea that she was a woman of loose morals.

  Selena heaved a deep sigh and rose from her pallet, realizing that she had slept in her clothes once again. She had no idea whether there was time to change, so she did her best to smooth out her skirts and tidy her hair before emerging from the tent.

  Selena could see Liam nearby, tending to the animals, and she hurried to splash water over her face. By the time she had the fire going and the coffee boiling, Liam was finished with his chores. Selena was busy making biscuits and frying bacon when Liam brought her four eggs and a large bucket of milk. She reluctantly faced him, relieved to find no trace of judgment or mockery in his expression.

  Liam gave her a boyish grin, indicating the bucket he held. “What did I tell you? She’s a dandy cow.”

  Selena was astonished when she saw not only the quantity of milk but the thick layer of cream rising to the top of the bucket, and she looked up at him with wonder. “How did you know?”

  Liam lifted his broad shoulders in a casual shrug. “I can’t explain it, I just did.” He scanned her face, honest concern showing in the hazel depths of his eyes. He could still see the effects of her crying in her slightly swollen and reddened eyes. “Are you alright this morning?”

  Selena turned away, not wanting to face him. “Yes, thank you. I’m . . . sorry about last night. I don’t know what got into me, but I shouldn’t have behaved like I did.”

  Liam grasped her shoulders and gently turned her to face him. He lifted her chin until she looked at him. His smile was tender and sincere.

  “Selena, you don’t have anything to feel ashamed about, not about what happened to you or about telling me. I’m glad you confided in me.”

  As Selena stared up at him, tremendously relieved by his reaction. It was as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Liam rubbed his thumb along her cheek, noticing how her skin turned a pretty shade of pink beneath his touch. He couldn’t resist sampling the lushness of her lips, and he nibbled at the corners until she turned her head slightly to meet his kiss full on. He pulled her against him, feeling her arms steal around his waist as he deepened the kiss. Her eager response sent the blood pounding through his loins, and he was hard-pressed to end the embrace, but he realized the necessity of doing so. There were too many people nearby to have any d
egree of privacy, and he reluctantly eased his hold on her and raised his head.

  Liam cleared his throat, but when he spoke his voice was still husky. “You’d better finish making breakfast.”

  Selena jumped as she remembered the food. The bacon was nearly black, and the biscuits had burned a bit on the outside by the time she took them out of the pan. She let out a low moan of despair. When Liam started to laugh, she turned on him with a glare.

  “It’s not funny, Liam. It’s your fault that everything is burned.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I had no idea my kisses would distract you so completely.” His twinkling eyes and roguish grin only served to annoy her more.

  Selena’s cheeks burned and tears threatened. She turned back to the fire so he wouldn’t see. As she finished making breakfast, she quietly fumed. She was just as angry with herself as she was with him. She was acting like some weak kneed schoolgirl.

  Once again, they ate in silence, but this time it was strained. Liam didn’t understand what had caused Selena’s mood to change so abruptly, and he was at a loss as to how to ease her irritation.

  When they finished, Selena rose and started clearing away the dishes as she spoke to him over her shoulder. “If you will please give me your laundry, I’m going to go down to the creek and do the wash.”

  “Alright, just give me a minute.” Liam retrieved a small bundle of his dirty clothes from the wagon and brought it back to her. “This is all I have that needs cleaning. There’s a good spot down through there,” he said, indicating a trail through the woods. “It’s nice and private, so you could even bathe if you want to.”

  Selena nodded her head but refused to answer or meet his eye. Liam stood watching her for several moments before walking away. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever understand the woman he had married.