Brides of Prairie Gold (42 page)

"You?" Augusta's mouth dropped, and she stared at Heck in dawning horror. It was Heck Kelsey who had walked her through the survival tasks. Heck Kelsey who was leaving her the small gifts. Her mind raced, trying to recall if she had made any reference to that long-ago night in the cottonwoods and the kisses she had shared with Webb. She was too stunned and upset to remember.

Webb's deep exotic voice cut across Heck's mumblings. "You may rest assured that I'd never approach you or your wagon, Miss Boyd. I wouldn't risk spending one minute alone in your company."

He stared at her and his mouth twisted, then he turned on the heel of his moccasins. The darkness swallowed him.

Wringing her hands, Augusta tried not to look at Heck and the teamster who studied her with avid curiosity. She peered in the direction Webb had gone and willed him to return so they could begin again. Something had gone dreadfully wrong. How had her lovely fantasy taken such a terrible turn? Tears of frustration and confusion brimmed over her lashes.

"Miss Boyd?" Heck Kelsey swept off his hat and smiled like a moonsick adolescent. "Can I escort you back to your wagon?"

She stumbled backward. "Leave me alone, you you deceiver! You blacksmith! Don't ever speak to me again!"

Gathering her skirts, she bolted toward her tent and dived inside, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would burst from her chest. Placing both hands over her breast, and blinking at hot tears, she stared at the roof of her tent.

It had been Heck Kelsey, a smithy with a talent for accents, who had assisted her, who had left her tokens of affection. Not Webb, not the man she thought of day and night, not the man she longed for, dreamed of, desired with every breath she breathed.

Weeping, it occurred to her that she had captivated a blacksmith and been rejected by a half-breed. Tears of hysteria nearly strangled her. Generations of Boyds whispered scorn in her ears.

They camped at a rocky, cedar-shaded area surrounding the hot springs. Everyone trooped to observe a small geyser puffing away on the riverbank, and marveled at the novelties of nature.

"Such a luxury," Bootie sighed happily. "I didn't have to heat our tea water, I just scooped a pan of boiling water out of the pool over there." She toasted Mem with her cup.

Mem laughed and unpinned her hair, clean and shining from an earlier bath, and began to plait it in a loose braid for sleeping. "I'd be happy to stop right here," she said. "Think of it. Hot water all year around, a little geyser for a front-yard fountain, and the fragrance of cedars. Lovely."

After finishing her tea, Bootie rinsed her cup, then stretched and smothered a yawn. "There's something I've been meaning to say. You remember the day Jane ran off?"

Mem rolled her eyes, then bent to bank the embers in their fire pit. After laying out provisions for tomorrow's breakfast, she closed the wagon's tailgate. "How could I forget?"

"We talked about Mr. Coate that day, remember?"

Mem straightened warily. "I recall."

Bootie studied her expression. "Do you still meet Mr. Coate by Smokey Joe's fire every night?"

"Most nights," Mem replied defensively.

"Well, I've been thinking," Bootie said. After looking around to make sure no one could overhear, she stepped close to Mem and said in a low voice, "I know you came on this trip seeking adventure. Well, maybe Mr. Coate is your grand adventure. I just want to say that if" Crimson burned on her cheeks. "Well, there are things you can do so Mr. Sails will never know there was someone else. If you ever need to know those things, as a woman who was married once, I can advise you."

"Bootie Grant Glover! You do amaze me!" Mem stared at her sister. "Do I understand this? You're giving me permission to engage in a romantic tryst?"

"Certainly not!" Bootie pulled to her full diminished height. "I'm merely saying if disaster strikes, I won't abandon you." Flouncing her head, she dropped to her knees and crawled into their tent. The flap came down with an irritated snap.

Mem grinned. Then she sensed his presence and her smile altered to anticipation. Turning from the embers, she let her eyes grow accustomed to the darkness, then discovered him standing beside a cedar. She wondered how long he had been there, watching her with those black eyes that knew her so well. Sometimes she wondered how she had come to confide all her small secrets in this man, all but the secret she held close to her heart. But perhaps he knew that secret too, that she loved him. Perhaps he chose to pretend ignorance of the truth in her eyes.

Mem had not seen much of him in the last week. There had been several difficult stream crossings between Fort Bridger and the springs. Plus, he usually rode far in advance of the train, seeking comfortable campsites and searching for any trace of Quintan's gang. The one time they had met at Smokey's fire in the last week, she had known at once that something had changed.

For the first time their conversation had been strained. When he looked at her, she had not been able to guess his thoughts. And when she stood to leave, he stood also, staring at her as if she puzzled him. And then he had said the words she had never expected to hear from any man. "You are so beautiful." When she realized he was not jesting, she became so flustered that she hurried away.

But she had thought of nothing else since that night.

Drawing a breath, wondering what they would say to each other, she raised her skirt and walked away from the glow of the embers and into the darkness. The scent of cedar reached her before she saw him. She felt his hands on her shoulders before she heard him whisper her name. Her heart opened wide.

She didn't hesitate. It was the most natural thing in the world to finally step forward into his arms. Nothing had ever felt as right as when he drew her against his body and buried his face in her shining auburn hair. She closed her eyes and listened to his heart pounding against her own, inhaled the fresh clean scent of his hair and skin. She had imagined this moment for so long that she wondered if she were dreaming. Except no dream had ever made her knees go weak and her breath quicken.

"Mem," he said against her hair. "My beautiful Mem."

Her spinster's heart soared. And she trembled in his arms. For reasons she did not understand, tonight suddenly resonated with magic. But she did understand that for a while at least, the starlight and the cedars and this magnificent man were hers. Tomorrow she would wake to her ordinary plain self and perhaps discover that she had dreamed this moment. But right now, the night was enchanted, a dream that belonged to her.

Raising her hands, made bold by the magic of starlight, she framed his face between her palms, gazed deeply into his eyes, then lifted on tiptoe and brazenly pressed her lips to his. Instantly, she felt his hard arousal and the answering heat in her own loins. This was how it felt when two people discovered their desire for each other. It was like summer lightning, like electric currents racing along the skin, inflaming the senses. His kiss made her grow weak inside, yet strong. His hands tightening on her waist thrilled her and swept her breath away.

When his mouth released hers, he gazed long into her soft shining eyes. Smiling, she kissed him again, lightly, confidently. Without knowing when it had happened, she had made a momentous decision. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, Tanka Tunkan."

"You are certain?" he asked hoarsely, speaking against her lips. "You have thought about this? About us?"

"I've never been more certain of anything." It didn't matter what her future held, what joys or what disasters. She only knew that if she did not follow her heart now, tonight, she would rue it all of her days. She did not want to look back one day and regret that her courage had failed. When she was old, she would warm herself by remembering this magic night and this man.

Taking her by the hand, pausing once to gaze at her and caress her cheek, Webb led her deeper into the cedar grove, led her to a starlit pool warmed by the hot springs. When Mem understood what he intended, she laughed softly. "Tonight is enchanted," she murmured, her fingers tugging clumsily at the hooks running down her bodice. "We may say anything we like, we can do whatever we desire. Tomorrow, all will be forgotten."

"No," he said gruffly, crushing her against his chest before he kissed her so deeply and thoroughly that she almost swooned like a schoolgirl. Gently, with a trembling hand, he opened her braid and spread her auburn hair over her shoulders. "Tonight is to be remembered always. Tonight is a promise, a pledge." His voice sank to a husky register. "Do you think I know you so little that I would ask only one night from you? Respect you so little? Love you so little?"

She swayed and thought certain she would faint. "Love me?" Her fingers dug into his shoulders. "Webb, please. Don't jest. I couldn't stand it if you were only"

He covered her lips with his fingertips, then drew her close to his body. "In my mother's culture, a man pledges his spirit by washing his beloved's body in a stream. If the woman accepts him, he pledges his heart with his body." Gently, he covered her breasts with his hands, and it seemed to Mem that the faded calico melted away beneath his palms.

"Will you enter the pool with me, Woman Who Wants to Know Things?" He kissed her forehead. "If you do, you pledge yourself to me for now and all time."

Tears of great joy swam in her eyes. "But I thought you and Augusta"

He silenced her with a deep, deliberate kiss that told her Augusta held no place in his heart or his thoughts. "I love you, Mem. Many a man has been blinded by fool's gold. Few are as fortunate as I to have found genuine treasure."

Mem threw her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with a passion that seared them both. Then, she who had never undressed before a woman, let alone a man, threw off her clothing and impatiently waited for Webb to do the same. When they both stood naked on the lip of the starlit pool, she drew a breath and satisfied her curiosity by looking directly at his bared body.

"Good heavens!" she marveled softly, her eyes widening. "I had no idea you is that going to fit? Good heavens. I mean, will it ah, will I" Her concern ended in a violent blush from her and a shout of laughter from him.

"Flatterer," he said, grinning. He stepped into the pool, then turned and lifted his arms to her.

The warm water slid over her thighs up to her waist. Webb clasped her in his arms and she leaned into his strength. Slowly, methodically, tormenting them both, he washed her, his hands caressing her throat, her shoulders, her breasts. When his fingers touched her beneath the water, Mem gasped and felt her mind reel. No person could experience such arousal and remain conscious. Surely, the mind could not contain so much surprise and pleasure.

His kisses spun her senses into an enchanted realm. His touch stole her breath away. They made themselves complete the ritual bathing, then their hands flew urgently over faces and wet bodies. When she finally touched him there she grew dizzy and hot with desire.

Webb pulled his mouth from hers and, hoarse with passion, whispered in her wet ear. "Do you accept this man's heart, Woman Who Wants to Know Things?"

Smiling, knowing she was about to commit her life into his keeping, Mem kissed him. "Yes," she whispered. "Oh, yes, yes."

Lifting her in his arms, he carried her out of the warm pool and laid her on a bed of fragrant cedar boughs. He gathered her in his arms, his lips on her throat, and one hand slid between them. While he kissed her, tasting deep of her, his fingers manipulated her in ways Mem had never imagined, moved her to heights of desire and urgency that swept all rational thought from her mind. Nervousness and apprehension vanished and she squirmed and thrashed beneath him, surrendering wholly to the sensations he created. He murmured words of love, and she whispered his name and gave her heart and her love and her body.

When he entered her, she learned that everything fit perfectly. And she surprised and delighted them both by discovering she was as brazen as she had hoped she would be.