“I’d better clean up these dishes,” she said softly. “Are you still planning for us to leave tomorrow?”
“Yes,” he murmured, savoring the feel of her softness. “I spoke to Gerald and several others today. I think we would be okay to head out in the morning.”
“We should make it an early night then. We’ll need a good night’s sleep.”
Selena gave him one more caress before slipping out of his embrace. Liam watched her bustling around to clean up, but he stayed where he was. It would have been too revealing to stand up. There was a definite bulge in the front of his pants. He didn’t see the need to tell her that he would find it hard to sleep at all with her presence beside him in the tent.
After several minutes, Liam had regained enough composure to rise. “I’m going to have a bath before bed,” he said, gathering a towel and soap along with a clean change of clothes. “There’s no need to wait up for me.”
He gave her a quick smile before heading off through the woods toward the creek. He hoped that the water would be cold enough to cool his raging lusts. He doubted that Selena had any idea how strained his control had become, and he was beginning to wonder how long it would be before it snapped entirely and he made her his wife in truth.
Chapter Seven
They got an early start the following day. After a quick breakfast of leftover beans and cornbread, Selena hurried to clean up the pots and dishes while Liam stowed the tent and bedding in the wagon. There was an atmosphere of excitement in the air, and just as Liam had predicted, Selena noticed that the other emigrants appeared to be intent on all trying to leave at the same time. She couldn’t help but giggle at the greenhorns, as Liam had called them. They were the folks who had no experience dealing with a team of oxen or mules. Selena watched some of them struggling to even get their animals hitched properly, much less steer the teams in the right direction. One overly enthusiastic traveler even managed to tip his wagon over onto its side. Liam and several other men rushed over to help him and were relieved that no one had been hurt. They helped him right the wagon, but the poor man and his family had to resign themselves to spending the next several hours repacking their supplies.
The McKenzies and Boyds managed to get on the trail without mishap, and they were soon near the head of a long line of the covered wagons. By unspoken agreement, the travelers had spread out into several columns to cut down on the dust and congestion, but Selena still had to blink her eyes against the sting of sand in the air. She was just grateful that she would be able to ride, since she noticed that most other folks had to walk alongside their wagons. She didn’t envy them having to trek two thousand miles on foot.
As the morning aged, the wagons hitched to mules pulled ahead, since the mules could travel faster than the plodding oxen. Liam explained that while the mules were faster, they were less hardy than oxen and less able to survive on prairie grass alone when food was scarce. Therefore, it was a tradeoff, and Liam preferred to take the trip a bit slower but with more confidence that his team could make the entire distance. Besides, he pointed out, oxen were much easier to deal with than mules. Mules had cantankerous dispositions, and Liam didn’t want to have to fuss with them for the entire trip, risking injury just to hitch them up against their will.
Several miles outside of town, Selena shook her head in wonder. Many of the emigrants had realized that they had grossly overloaded their wagons, and all manner of things had been discarded beside the trail. She saw clothes, tools, furniture, and even cast iron cook stoves that had been left behind.
“They call these things leverites,” Liam explained. When he saw her puzzled expression, he grinned. “That stands for leave ‘er right there.”
Selena rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Oh Liam, you’re joking again.”
“No, I’m serious. Residents from Independence will pick these things up and resell them.”
“I can’t believe that people just threw this stuff out,” she murmured, shaking her head.
He chuckled warmly and grinned at her. “They realized that they had to get rid of their excess baggage or they wouldn’t be able to make the trip. Let that be a lesson to you. You’d better make yourself useful or I might leave you on the side of the trail.”
“I’m sure I could get a ride with someone else,” Selena replied with a saucy toss of her head. “No doubt they would find me more appealing than you do.” When a long silence greeted her statement, she looked at Liam and found him boldly assessing her bosom with a wolfish smile.
“Believe me Selena . . . I know just how appealing you are.”
When Selena blushed to the roots of her hair, Liam threw his head back and laughed. He placed a hand over her knee, giving it a squeeze, and they both lapsed back into silence.
They stopped for lunch in a shaded area beside the trail. Selena had boiled the morning eggs, and they ate them along with the last of the cornbread, beans and cobbler. Selena sighed in annoyance as she heard Natasha whining nearby.
“Mama, just look at my dress, it’s ruined!” Natasha brushed at her skirts, trying to rid them of the thick coat of dust.
Marcia answered in a tolerant murmur. “Natasha, I told you to save your nice gowns for when we get to Oregon. You have several simpler dresses for the trip, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll wear them.”
“But mama, I don’t want to go for the next six months dressed in ugly rags like the rest of these women.”
Although she was sitting some distance away, Selena could have sworn that Natasha looked straight at her when she made the snide remark. Selena looked over at Liam who was stretched out beside her on the grass to see if he had heard the comment. She was surprised to find his gaze resting on her with unsettling intensity.
“Little does she know,” he murmured softly, “that no matter what she wears, she couldn’t possibly look as enticing as you do when you’re dressed in nothing but a soaked chemise.”
The rich timbre of his voice and the heat in his eyes caused Selena’s stomach to flutter, and her breath caught in her throat. Their gazes remained locked for several long moments, and the people surrounding them seemed to fade into oblivion. Selena was convinced that if Liam had pressed her then and there, she would have found it impossible to resist his charm. She was relieved when he stood up and lifted her to her feet.
“We’d better get moving,” he said hoarsely. “We need to make another few miles before we camp.”
They were soon on their way once again, bouncing along the dusty route. The afternoon passed quickly while Liam entertained Selena with stories about him and his brothers growing up in Kentucky. She was particularly amused when he told her how his older brother, Brian had wanted to go fishing, but his mother had insisted that he watch over Liam while she went into town.
“So what happened?” Selena asked.
“He wanted to go fishing with his friends. I was only about five, and he said I was too little to come along. Mama told him to make sure I didn’t get into any mischief while she was away. So, as soon as she was gone, Brian took me outside and tied me to a big old oak tree in the front yard.”
“He did not!” Selena thought for sure Liam was joking. “You’re kidding.”
Liam grinned down at her. “No, it’s true. He left me there all afternoon, and he came back with a big stringer of catfish. Of course, when Mama got home, I cried and told her what he had done. She made Brian go out and cut a switch from a tree, and she whipped him so hard, he had trouble sitting down for a week.” Liam chuckled at the memory. “She fried up the catfish he had caught for dinner that night, but Brian was so busy pouting, he hardly ate a bite. The next day, he gave me a sound thrashing for tattling on him, and Mama whipped him again for picking on his baby brother.” Liam flashed Selena a wicked grin. “Mama always had a soft spot for me, being the youngest and all.”
Selena had a hard time answering him through her laughter, but she finally managed. “It’s a wonder there were any branches lef
t on the trees with the way you boys behaved.”
Liam shrugged his shoulders and his smile was unrepentant. “Yeah, we kept my poor mother pretty busy, but bless her heart, she loved us.” His smile faded to be replaced by a wistful expression.
“You must miss her terribly,” Selena said softly, placing a hand on his thigh to give him a reassuring squeeze.
“Every day,” Liam replied.
Liam wondered what his mother would have thought of Selena, and he somehow knew she would have liked her. The thought pleased him. Liam raised his brows as he looked at Selena.
“What about you? Surely you and your sister must have misbehaved from time to time.”
“Diana and I got along pretty well most of the time,” Selena said. “We had the usual arguments, but we didn’t really get into very much mischief until I was thirteen. Diana was three years older, and she had her first real boyfriend, Caleb Johnson. She invited him over for dinner one Sunday, and I was jealous. I had a crush on him, and I didn’t like it at all when I saw him holding her hand while they were sitting out on the front porch.” She paused with a wicked grin, remembering that day.
Seeing her devious expression, Liam grew suspicious. “What did you do?” he asked with a laugh.
“Well, I was quite the tomboy back then. I had caught a lizard, and I knew my sister was deathly afraid of them. So, I snuck up behind her, where she was sitting on the swing beside Caleb, and I dropped the lizard down the back of her dress.” Selena giggled as she continued. “Diana jumped up from the swing and started dancing around. She was hopping and screaming. Before she even realized what she had done, she had her dress unbuttoned down the front and was trying to wriggle out of it. Caleb got so embarrassed that he jumped up and left. He never asked her out again. I don’t think he ever knew what had gotten into my sister. He just assumed she was some sort of lunatic.”
Liam laughed along with her. “And what did your mother do to you?” he finally asked.
“Well,” Selena said with a smile, “Pa was the disciplinarian in our house, but he didn’t like to spank his girls, especially after we got a bit older. So, instead, he made me do all of Diana’s chores for a month after that. He said that he was going to make sure I didn’t have enough time on my hands to get into trouble.”
“And did it work?”
“Sort of,” she replied. “I never bothered Diana again when she was courting, but I still found ways to misbehave, I was just more careful not to get caught.”
“I’ll have to bear that in mind,” Liam said with a grin. “Now that I know how sneaky you can be, I’ll keep my guard up.”
Selena jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, but her quirking lips told him she wasn’t really annoyed by his teasing. The rest of the day passed quickly, and they stopped to make camp beside a shallow river. Everyone was tired from the long day. They had traveled sixteen miles since the morning, and felt that they were off to a good start. The men busied themselves with looking after the animals and rolling out pallets while the women cooked hasty meals. There wasn’t much conversation around the campfires. Everyone was suffering from stiff muscles and achy joints.
Selena fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pallet, but Liam lay awake for some time, looking up into the night sky. Since the weather was fine, they had elected not to pitch the tent. As he listened to Selena’s steady breathing, he smiled to himself.
She was sneaky, he thought to himself. Selena had already snuck into his heart and stolen his affection so completely that he could think of little else but her. His biggest challenge now would be finding a way to convince her that their marriage should be permanent. He had no intention of giving her up, and somehow he would have to win her trust and her love. His smile widened. He wasn’t going to give up until they were sharing one pallet instead of two.
The next several days ran together. Gradually, the travelers settled into a routine. They rose every day before dawn and hitched their teams. They ate a hurried breakfast, packed up their stuff and hit the trail again. Every morning, Selena would pour the cream from the cow into the butter churn that was strapped onto the wagon, and the bumpy ride would churn it into a small chunk of butter for their evening meal. They took their lunch break wherever they found a decent spot. Usually, they ate just bread and whatever was leftover from breakfast or dinner the night before. After eating, they rested for a brief period, but within an hour or so, they were back in motion. In the evenings, they made camp around six o’clock. They hobbled the animals so they could graze around close by, and they built fires to cook the evening meal. Sometimes, they were lucky enough to shoot a rabbit, turkey or quail, but they usually ate beans or bacon with some kind of bread. The few fresh vegetables that they had brought with them were gone quickly. Selena had to laugh when she heard one woman say that the only change they got from eating beans and bread was when they ate bread and beans.
Selena helped Marcia learn to cook over the camp fire. Marcia was a good cook, but she didn’t have any experience without the use of a cook stove. Selena showed her how to bank the coals around the iron pots to form an oven of sorts, and Marcia was most appreciative of her assistance. For her part, Selena was relieved that she hadn’t burned a meal since the day before they left on the trip. She felt proud when Liam praised her cooking often and glowingly, and his healthy appetite attested to the truth of his words.
River crossings were the major obstacle they faced, and there were plenty of rivers to be crossed. The Blue, Wakarusa, Kansas, Vermilion, Big Blue, and Little Blue were just the first of many rivers that stood between them and Oregon. Many rivers had steep banks and high water during the spring, and if the water was too deep, they had to float the wagons across on canoes that had been lashed together. Sometimes, they had to wait several days for their turn to cross on one of these makeshift ferries.
At other river crossings, entrepreneurs had built ferries, hoping to cash in on the tide of emigrants crossing to Oregon. They charged steep fares, sometimes as high as sixteen dollars per wagon, and Selena began to wonder whether they would have enough money to make the trip. When she said as much to Liam, he just laughed, and his lack of concern was comforting.
Out of necessity, the emigrants learned how to make the most of their privacy. They pitched their tents a respectful distance from one another so that not every little noise could be heard. If they lit their lanterns inside the tents, they learned to place them on the side nearest their neighbors to avoid displaying a rather graphic silhouette of naked bodies or amorous couples for everyone else to view.
The travelers got along well together for the most part. There were a few minor disagreements, but they all realized the necessity of cooperating with each other, and folks were always willing to help their neighbors. They took the hardships in stride. Natasha was the only exception. She whined incessantly about the dust, the bumpy trail, the monotony of the food, the damage to her clothes, and any other discomforts she had to endure.
Liam was grateful that Selena was nothing like the other woman. Instead, Selena was easy to please, and she never complained about the trip. Liam had noticed that she worked diligently and efficiently, helping with whatever work was required until it was completed. The thought of her becoming a true wife to him, his helpmate and partner in life, grew ever more appealing.
Liam and Selena gradually got to know each other better, as they exchanged stories while they rode. They shared a lively sense of humor, and they laughed often at each other’s antics. The attraction Selena felt for Liam strengthened, and she began to long for his smiles and the touch of his hand. He was forever teasing her or playing some practical joke, and she loved his joy for life. Liam hadn’t kissed her for a long time, and she began to brood over the fact, unaware in her innocence that he was holding his desire sternly in check. Still, they forged a bond of friendship and easy camaraderie that made the days pass with very little boredom.
They traveled six days out of every seven, resting only on Sun
days. Selena began to look forward to the Sabbath, when everyone took a well-deserved break from their travel to rest and recuperate. The women did the laundry and baking while the men hunted or repaired the wagons. Sunday meals were tastier, since they had a bit more time to find game or fish to add to their dinners. However, having a day off was a mixed blessing, since it only heightened the sexual tension that was gradually increasing between Selena and Liam.
Still, they grew more comfortable in each other’s presence. They became accustomed to the feeling of their thighs and shoulders brushing while they rode on the wagon. Even so, Liam’s arm would occasionally brush against Selena’s breast if they hit a particularly deep rut, and she was inclined to blush while he squirmed beside her on the bench. Liam was finding it increasingly difficult to resist Selena. It seemed that everything about her . . . the way she moved, the way she smelled, the way she looked at him . . . was designed to inflame his lust.
Liam would have been surprised to know that Selena was equally distracted by him. Her fascination with her husband grew ever more compelling. She caught glimpses of him when they were alone, and sometimes a hunger would sprout in the pit of her belly while she watched him. One morning in particular, she looked up to see him shaving, and her breath caught in her throat. He had removed his shirt to lather his face, and she stared at the rippling muscles on his back and arms, highlighted by the golden light of the morning fire. She averted her gaze when he turned toward her, but her pulse was pounding and her throat was suddenly dry.
Trailing Home: Liam's Bride (The McKenzie Series #3) Page 14
