“Do you think I should kiss her?” Nicholas asked, barely able to conceal the smile that tugged at his lips. He furrowed his brow for Amanda’s benefit, as if he considered the suggestion for a moment.
“It might work.” Her words were hopeful and Amanda leaned toward Lin. “Would you stop scolding him if he kissed you?”
“I’ve already stopped,” she blurted out, rising quickly. “I wasn’t angry with your uncle, sweetie. We were really just talking.”
Amanda pursed her lips, forming a petite rosebud. And then she whispered aloud, a wistful entreaty that Nicholas could not resist. “I’d know you weren’t fussing if my uncle kissed you, Linnie. Then I’d know you weren’t really mad with him.”
Without hesitation, Nicholas rose, Amanda in his arms. He shifted her weight to his left arm and she clung to his neck. “Let’s step inside, ladies,” he said, anticipation alive in each word. “I don’t think we want any onlookers to be aware of this little ceremony, do we?”
He held the screen door open and Lin stepped inside the foyer ahead of him. As she would have moved away, he reached for her, his right hand firm against her waist, his arm turning her to face him.
“This could be the perfect way to solve the problem,” he murmured, drawing her lithe, slender form closer.
“I wasn’t aware we had a problem,” she said, protesting his action quietly, as if needing to be careful not to give Amanda cause for alarm.
“Amanda,” he said, allowing his voice to take on a firm edge. “I want you to kiss Lin’s cheek, and then mine. Can you do that?”
She laughed aloud. “Course I can. I kiss Linnie all the time, and I’d like to kiss you, too. You smell good today.”
“Does he?” Lin asked, catching on to the game, leaning closer to sniff elegantly at his cheek. She shrugged. “Not bad, I suppose.”
“Well, I like the way he smells,” Amanda said staunchly, and then pressed her soft lips against his cheek. A wave of pure, unadulterated affection swamped him as the child leaned back to view his response to her gesture. “Did I do that right?” she asked.
“Perfect,” he announced. “Now kiss your Linnie.”
Amanda obeyed, eager to perform the ritual. “Now Linnie has to do it,” she crowed, her eyes glowing with anticipation.
Lin acceded to Amanda’s demand, touching her lips gently against Nicholas’s cheek, then turning to the child. Her touch was lingering as she blessed the soft, smooth skin with a short series of kisses, causing Amanda to giggle joyously.
“All right. Now you, Uncle Nicholas,” she cried, drawing out the game to its end.
Nicholas obliged, his mouth warm against the child’s face, and then he lowered her to the floor and she looked up at him, disappointment alive on her elfin features.
“I need both hands for this,” he explained, winking at her, making her a part of his plan. She giggled again, her fingers rising to cover her mouth as he gathered Lin into his embrace. His mouth found hers, exploring the soft flesh gently. For only a moment he held her close, until he felt the warmth of sweet breath touch his lips, and knew she’d surrendered, for just that split second of time, to his will.
He released her, felt her tremble beneath his hands, and slid his arm around her waist to hold her firmly against himself. “How was that?” he asked Amanda, smiling for her benefit, grinning widely as she nodded her approval.
His next urge was to carry the woman up the stairs and into his bedroom. Damn the consequences, he thought impatiently. If it were not for the presence of Amanda, he’d have Lin on his bed in less than a minute.
With a simple brush of lips, a wispy gasp of honeyed breath, she had him at the end of his tether. What could she do with an encouraging gesture, a touch of slender hands against his person?
What had begun as a game to satisfy the whim of a child, had become a temptation he could barely resist. Next on the agenda would be a seduction of innocence, and that would never do. He’d made a promise. He’d told her she was safe with him, or at least implied it. Now her eyes were on him, wide and uncertain, and he could only smile, offering silent assurance.
He’d made a promise. One he’d like to banish to the four winds.
The two men elicited some raised eyebrows as they checked into the hotel. Brand-spanking-new clothing set them apart. Denim pants that had never known the dust of a corral met gleaming leather boots, not a scuff mark visible on their surfaces. Hats that needed the loving touch of a man’s hands, forming the brim and creasing the crown, sat atop their heads, and long dusters hung to their knees.
They asked for rooms and were given two at the back of the hotel, in accordance with the request for cheap accommodations. Then they went into the hotel dining room to eat. The waitress answered their pointed questions, leaning over the table to point out the general store and the bank beside it across the street. And then frowned when they asked if Nicholas Garvey still ran the place.
“He owns the bank,” she said sharply, darting a look of aversion to the tallest of the men. “What will you have to eat, gentlemen?”
Later, sauntering up and down the sidewalk, they came to the attention of store owners and the usual assortment of old men who staked a claim on benches in front of the establishments along the walkway.
“Everybody’s smiling at us,” Dennis announced in an undertone. “I think we’re fitting in pretty well, don’t you?”
Hal cast him a disparaging look. “Don’t be a fool. They’re probably thinking we’re too clean to be cowhands.”
“Maybe they’ll take us for rich ranchers.” And with those words, he preened a bit. “Or even gunfighters,” he suggested, almost as an afterthought. His stride turned cocky as he glanced about beneath the brim of his hat.
“You’re not carrying a gun,” Hal reminded him bluntly. “At least not one that shows.”
“I can get to it in a hurry if I need to,” Dennis told him harshly.
“Sit down,” Hal ordered beneath his breath as an empty bench before the general store lured them closer. “We’ll keep an eye on the bank and watch for the Garvey fella.”
“And then what?” Dennis asked, taking his seat, lifting a booted foot to the other knee in a practiced gesture.
“Find out where he lives.”
“You see those two dudes out front?” Thomas asked as Nicholas rose from his desk.
Nicholas lifted his suit coat from the back of his leather chair and donned it, straightening his tie with one hand while he snatched up his hat from the rack on the wall.
“Haven’t paid any attention to anything but the work in front of me for the past hour or so,” he said. “Are they new in town?”
“I’d say so. Looks like they’ve come from the big city and are trying to fit in here. Not making a go of it, from what I can see.”
“Maybe they’re looking to buy land,” Nicholas surmised. “If they’ve got money, we’ll be glad to mind it for them while they look around.” He grinned at Thomas. The last few days had put him in a better mood, and Thomas had shared the wealth of his good nature.
“Just seems strange to me. Couple of folks have mentioned them today. They’re just lollygaggin’ around town, looking things over.”
“We can always use new blood,” Nicholas told him, sauntering from his office. “I don’t see any more customers, Thomas. Why don’t you lock up and go home? That’s where I’m heading right now.”
“I heard you didn’t show up at the Millers’ big party a couple of weeks ago, last Saturday,” Thomas said with a grin. “Miss Patience went all by herself, and then to the church social, too.”
Nicholas aimed a level glare at the young man. “The field’s open there, son. Why don’t you try your hand with the lady? Tomorrow’s another Saturday. Maybe she’d like to go for a ride. You can use my buggy if you like.”
“You don’t mean it,” Thomas said, stopping in the center of the lobby, an expectant grin lighting his face.
“Sure I do,” Nicholas assu
red him, tilting his hat a bit as he turned toward the wide double doors. “Lock up behind me,” he ordered. Then turned back. “Tell Sam Ferguson I said it was all right to take the buggy for the day if you like.”
And wouldn’t Miss Patience Filmore like that? Although Thomas would be an easy mark for the lady, Nicholas doubted the woman would relish being carted about in a borrowed rig. As for himself, he had two days ahead in which to draw Lin into his web.
He exited the building, looking neither right nor left, turning toward home with a lift in his step that had been more prominent of late. The day was too ripe with summer to use the buggy, the walk too short to need conveyance, at any rate. He could use the exercise, and perhaps might even suggest a walk after supper. Amanda would jump at the chance, and Lin would accede to the child’s wishes.
He thought of a jaunt through the area just north of town, where wildflowers bloomed in meadows, and open spaces were surrounded by trees. Small creatures romped in the evening, even deer coming from the shelter of the forest to drink from the stream that flowed there. Collins Creek, it was called, meandering through forest and shaded glades, giving the town its name.
Rabbits were abundant, and a variety of birds had claimed the tall trees. Building nests and raising their young among the topmost branches, some of them sang at twilight, melodies that touched his soul with the beauty of nature on his occasional walks through their territory.
His stride grew longer as he anticipated the jaunt, then eyed the sun as it lay well above the horizon. There would be time before dark, should Katie have supper ready when he arrived home.
A feeling like the bite of a sharp blade touched his back, bringing him instantly alert as he turned the corner to walk toward his home. He slowed his step, aware of a presence behind him, and turned in a casual gesture to glance back toward town.
Houses on either side of the road basked in the late-afternoon sunshine and children played alongside the road, tossing a ball back and forth. One lad, astride a bicycle, was pedaling steadily as he cautiously made his way past, the front wheel wobbling as he steered it along.
And behind him were two men, pausing as if they discussed the house before them, their eyes careful not to look in his direction. Probably a hundred yards distant, they were nevertheless on his trail, he’d warrant, and he slowed his pace as he continued on. His own home was just ahead, and he hoped against hope that Amanda was not in the yard or on the porch waiting for him to appear. He’d walk on, see if they continued to follow him.
It was too much to ask for, he thought, as Amanda flew down the sidewalk to the gate, her smile wide as he opened the latch, then reached to lift her in his arms. Her hug was tight, her greeting enthusiastic, and he forgot for an instant the men he’d caught a glimpse of. With Amanda in his arms, he’d found he tended to forget most everything. The work he’d left behind, the hour or so of paperwork in his study, and the worries inherent in the owning of a bank disappeared once he was in the child’s presence.
Now he turned his head in a casual gesture, looking back toward town, and found the sidewalk empty, the road barren of watchful strangers, only a handful of children playing in the dusty thoroughfare.
Probably a coincidence, he decided, and yet…there had been that moment of danger recognized, that intense heat of an inherently evil presence somewhere behind him. And he marked it to be considered later, when his arms were not filled with Amanda and his thoughts were not focused on finding Lin waiting for him in the foyer.
They walked after supper, Amanda urging Lin’s compliance as the woman would have hesitated at venturing afield at twilight.
“It’s not dark yet, Lin,” Nicholas said, urging her acquiescence to the scheme.
“It will be before we return,” she argued, her mouth set stubbornly. “I’m used to being in the city, I suppose, where wandering around after dark was not always wise.”
“Well, this is the country, and we’ll be very safe,” he assured her. He hesitated a moment, and then leaned closer so that Amanda could not hear his words. “I always carry a weapon when I leave home, Lin. Unless I’m in town or at the house, I find it wise to be armed.” His smile was grim. “Perhaps it’s from living in New York City, as you have. Maybe I’m not the trusting soul I should be, here in a small town. I just know I feel more secure with protection on my person.”
“All right,” she said finally, watching as Amanda danced impatiently on the sidewalk below the porch. “For a while. But when the sun goes down, we’ll return home.”
Home. The word held an appeal he could not describe, spoke by her soft, feminine voice. She considered it her home. And so it was. For the foreseeable future at any rate. And that thought was a comfort tonight, he decided.
They made their way down the road, their pace leisurely, Lin holding a shawl in one hand, and he took it from her. “I’ll carry that for you,” he said, waiting for her look of acquiescence as she surrendered it to his care. In the sunlight, her hair was struck by shimmering flickers of fire around her face and his fingers touched the brim of her straw bonnet.
“Take it off, please. I’d like to see your hair. It’s too lovely to cover.”
“We’re out in public,” she said, glancing around.
“There’s no one in sight but the three of us.” His fingers were deft, removing the bonnet, and he watched as she automatically reached to tend the wayward tendrils that touched her face. “Leave it be,” he told her. “I’d be happier if you let it down your back, to tell the truth.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a round O of surprise. “I couldn’t do that, Nicholas. You know better.”
“One day I’ll see it that way, Lin,” he said quietly, offering his free arm for her touch. She placed her hand there, just inside the bend of his elbow, and they paced sedately behind Amanda, who had chosen to run ahead, then turn to skip back to them.
Ahead, the road narrowed, and off to the north a meadow stretched toward the forest. Scattered trees along its edges provided shelter, and at the furthest reach of the meadow, a doe stepped from the heavily wooded area to hesitate, nose in the air as she tested the wind. Beside her, still in the shadows, a smaller deer stood like a statue, and Nicholas heard Lin’s breath catch in a sound of wonder.
“Don’t move,” he told her, reaching a hand to Amanda’s shoulder as she stood before them. “Look, Amanda,” he instructed, pointing with a slow movement of his arm to the creatures who’d ventured forth from safety to the open meadow.
“Is that a deer?” the child asked, awe in her voice. “And a baby, too?” He felt her shiver beneath his touch and, for a moment, shared her amazement at the sight of the forest creatures.
“It’s a doe,” he said quietly. “That’s what we call a mother deer. The small one is her fawn.”
“Does it have a papa, too?” she asked innocently, ever aware of the family unit she yearned for.
“He’s called a buck,” Nicholas said. “And sometimes in the wild, the papa doesn’t stick around much. The mama does most of the taking care of her young.”
“I’ll bet that baby wishes he had his papa around.” Amanda’s small voice was hopeful as she uttered her opinion, and Nicholas winced.
“Didn’t we just go through this a while ago?” he asked Lin in an undertone.
“Oh, don’t stop her now,” Lin answered. “You’re being drafted for the job.” Her smile was warm and coaxing, and he felt his heart turn over inside his chest. The thought of such a thing happening, of his heart really performing such an impossible deed, gave him pause. And then he looked down into the dark eyes that saw beneath his jaded, pedestrian mind-set, into the depths of the man who could not resist the woman before him.
Who must resist, or change his whole way of life.
If barriers were ever to be constructed around his emotions, it must be now, he decided. For she had gained entry to a part of him he’d guarded well for twenty years. It could not be. He would not love the woman. He might desir
e her…
Might?
He did desire her. Might, or maybe, did not enter into it. She was in his thoughts, day and night, a constant intrusion to the work he did, to the sleep he sought. It would not do. When the time came that he chose to wed, it would be to a woman who could fit into his life without causing undue pressure on him.
The tension in the air between him and this incautious female was so thick it could be felt, so ever present he was at its mercy. Nicholas Garvey would not be possessed in this way by a woman—no matter how winsome her smiles, how enticing her windswept curls or her length of shapely legs. Nor of the whole of the lavishly endowed body in between.
“You’ll understand one day, Amanda,” he said, his voice ragged as he spoke the curt reproof to his niece. “Fathers cannot be wished into existence. Neither can mothers. And you’re a very fortunate little girl to have an uncle who cares about you and a nurse who looks after you so well.”
Amanda’s face fell, her lower lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears. Without a word, Lin turned from him and swept Amanda into her arms, then turned to walk away.
“Wait,” Nicholas said harshly. “I’ll carry her if needs be. She’s too heavy for you, Lin.”
“I’ve carried her for years,” Lin said, the sound reaching him clearly, as the sun slid to the horizon and the shadows lengthened beneath the trees by the road.
He hastened after them and took Amanda from Lin’s arms after a short hesitation on her part, handing her the bonnet and shawl he still held. And then she shrugged, as if it mattered little, and followed a step behind him as they walked back to the house, Amanda stifling her sobs against his shoulder.
His heart beat with a heavy thudding pace within his chest wall, and then, as they approached the front walk and Lin reached to open the gate, it resumed its normal beat. He’d have to let the doctor in town take a look one day, he decided. For certainly, the churning in his chest was an omen of sorts, the misbehavior of that most vital organ a sign that he should return to his normal way of life.
Having these two women in his life had upset his routine, caused him to think all sorts of foolishness. And all for naught.
Tempting a Texan Page 10
