Foxfire Bride (19 page)

Spring rains often came at night and they had decided to accept the aggravation of setting up the tents rather than risk waking up soaking wet.

Crawling inside, he lay on top of his bedroll with the lantern positioned above his shoulder, his head propped on a couple of the bank bags. He'd just opened the book he was reading when Fox shouted outside his tent flap.

"Get out of that tent!"

He burst outside in one fluid motion, his gun ready in his hand. "What's happened?" A swift glance around the site didn't reveal anything amiss. The men drinking coffee at the fire smiled. Smirked was more like it. Except for Peaches, who watched Fox with a frown.

The last glow of sunlight lit her face, still rosy from a wash with cold spring water. Tonight her eyes were more gray than blue, but throwing off sparks like two rocks struck together.

"I've had enough. We need to talk." She scowled and jerked her thumb toward the men at the camp-fire. "Not around them. In private." Without waiting for a response, she stomped off toward a stand of juniper.

Tanner noticed the sway of her poncho skimming the top of her fanny, but her long braid wasn't moving much. This meant that she held her neck rigid, which in turn meant that she was angry.

Not liking the situation, he followed her around the juniper until the men at the fire were blocked from sight. And he reminded himself that Fox's anger was often puffed up to conceal a streak of vulnerability.

"What's on your mind?"

She didn't let him finish the question before she was up on tiptoe, hands on hips, speaking inches from his face.

"You can ignore me if you want to, and I don't give a damn. But it's eating my liver that I got myself shot in your service and you don't have the decency to inquire how I'm feeling or healing." She pointed a finger at her earlobe.

"Mr. Hernandez has kept me informed." It looked to him as if her earlobe was healing nicely, the edges knitting together. There was a small half circle of missing lobe, but the wound seemed on the mend.

"Didn't it occur to you that maybe I'd like to know that you were at least a little interested in the welfare of an employee who gave up an earlobe in an effort to recover your gold?"

Referring to herself as an employee startled him as he didn't think of her that way. "Mr. Hernandez assures me that he's been dosing you with preventatives against fever and further that he believes you're now beyond the danger point. He also reports there is no sign of infection. Is that true?"

She narrowed flashing eyes. "Yes," she said finally. "But my ear could have gotten infected and I could have died from fever."

"But you didn't."

"No thanks to any concern on your part!"

He saw it now. She'd induced the anger so he wouldn't guess that his apparent indifference cut her. As the worst of the storm seemed to have passed, he cautiously removed a cigar from his waistcoat pocket and offered it to her. After a hesitation she accepted, and they smoked in silence, gazing at the stars appearing overhead.

"I apologize for not seeming to care about the loss of your earlobe," Tanner said, exhaling a stream of smoke. "I assure you that was and is not the case. I'm deeply grateful and indebted to you for your valor and sacrifice in recovering the gold. And I'm sorry that you got shot."

"Are you poking fun at me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Not at all." He felt her waiting. Felt the closeness and night heat of her body. She had replaited her hair, but the image of her brush sweeping through long silky strands stayed in his mind. He frowned and gazed into the distance. "I've been keeping to myself because it seems best for all concerned." That was the question she wanted answered, but damn it, men were not good at this sort of thing.

"I'd say 'all concerned' means you and me," she said after a minute. "So why is it 'best' that we ignore each other?"

He examined the glowing end of his cigar, glad it was dark. "I'm attracted to you, Fox." He cleared his throat. "Once or twice I've had a fancy that perhaps you might be attracted to me, too." She didn't confirm or deny his guess. "It strikes me that mistakes could happen. Circumstances might lead to a situation that couldn't end well."

"I guess I know what you're referring to," she said, speaking slowly.

"Then you'll understand why I've kept some distance rather than make an uncomfortable situation more difficult."

She shifted and he could have sworn that he smelled bacon. It seemed a strange time of night for the men at the campfire to be frying bacon, but they must have been.

"I enjoyed that night in the outlaws' camp," she said finally. "Well, not all of it. Not getting my earlobe shot off, or freezing, but you understand what I mean. Don't you?"

He did. In years to come when he thought of this journey, that was one of the nights he would remember. He hoped by then he'd remember things about that night other than feeling the heat of her body curving into his, other than the warm sweet scent of her skin next to his nose.

"I liked being with you," she said in a voice so low that he had to lean to hear her. "Other than Peaches, there aren't many men I've laughed with."

The comment seemed odd and almost sad until it occurred to Tanner that he hadn't laughed with many women. Over time he had concluded that in general men and women were not amused by the same things.

But that night in the outlaw camp he and Fox had laughed together and shared an intimacy that he'd been reluctant to admit.

"I liked being with you, too," he said. "That's the problem."

They stood shoulder to shoulder, smoking, looking into the darkness as if there were something to see out there. Even if there had been, Tanner wouldn't have noticed. His awareness was centered on the woman standing beside him, wondering where this talk was leading.

"Let me make sure I understand. You're keeping to yourself because talking to me and being near me would what?"

This was the most awkward conversation he'd had. He wasn't accustomed to plainspoken women. On the one hand, plainspoken was refreshing. On the other hand, with subtlety and nuance, one didn't have to state the truth in bald terms.

"I don't want to spend this whole journey speculating about taking you to bed," he said, angry that she'd made him say it straight out.

"And when you talk to me, that's what you think about?" She sounded surprised and delighted.

Frowning, he tried to see her expression through the shadows. If he had spoken this bluntly to any other woman, she would have slapped his face and stormed away, never to speak to him again.

"This is not an appropriate conversation, and I apologize."

"Oh for God's sake." Fox dropped her cigar and ground it out under her boot heel. "We're making progress, so don't go hiding behind manners before we finish this."

People did hide behind manners, she was right. Thinking about it, he put out his cigar, too, then turned and clasped her shoulders.

"Listen to me, Fox. I think about you all the time, and that isn't good."

"Why not?"

"It could lead to taking advantage. That wouldn't be fair to you as I can't offer you a future." How blunt should he be? Knots ran up his jaw. "Our worlds are too different." She was smart. He didn't have to state that she wouldn't fit in society, wouldn't enjoy the restrictions his class placed on women.

"I know that."

His fingers tightened on her shoulders. "All I can offer is a trip-long romp." He let the stark words hang for a moment. "That is not honorable or right, and it isn't fair to you."

It crossed his mind that less than a foot separated them. If she stepped forward, she would be in his arms. Instantly his stomach tightened.

She stiffened beneath his hands on her shoulders. "First, I know what my future is going to be and that's what I want, so you don't have to worry about me and the future. You aren't part of my plans. Second, you don't get to decide what's fair or right for me, Tanner. That's my decision. Third, you're offering a chance to scratch a temporary itch. Well, maybe I'm feeling that itch, too."

It took a moment, but it dawned on him that Fox was rejecting his argument. In fact, she appeared to encourage the idea of a temporary liaison. "Good Lord," he said softly, straining to see the pale oval of her face.

"I'll say it right out," she whispered. "I wouldn't mind you pursuing me."

He had to make certain that she understood. "If we embark on" What could he call it? "A liaison, we both have to accept that it ends when we arrive in Denver. I can't offer anything permanent."

"Your daddy would never approve."

He heard the smile in her voice but didn't share it. "No, I guess he wouldn't." He knew damned well his father wouldn't approve of Fox. That was not his primary reason for a temporary liaison, but it was there. "We can enjoy each other for the duration of the journey if you're agreeable, but that's all."

Surely there could be no misunderstanding. But he sounded cold and calculating, the way he imagined a womanizing cad operated. He was telling her that he was willing to use her on this trip, then toss her away when he reached Denver. Disgust rose in his throat and he dropped his hands from her shoulders and turned aside.

"This isn't right. Not for either of us." It was a struggle, but he managed to do the honorable thing, say the right words. "Let's forget this conversation and return to the fire."

"Now don't be a damned fool. We've just about got this deal negotiated. What about Hanratty and Brown? We're too small a party for them not to notice what's going on. That has to be addressed."

A laugh rolled out of his chest before he could stop it. That she believed they were negotiating the terms of an affair astonished him, until he realized that's exactly what they were doing. "There is absolutely no one like you," he said softly.

She stepped backward. "Don't go sweet-talking me until we get this worked out."

"Hanratty and Brown," he repeated, smiling in the darkness. "I don't give a damn what they think."

"Peaches will know, too," she said, dragging the words out.

"He won't approve. Does that upset you?" he asked curiously.

"Peaches is worried that I'll get hurt."

"I'm worried about that, too."

"Don't flatter yourself, mister."

Tanner imagined he saw her chin come up.

"Maybe it's you who'll get your heart broken, not me."

In an odd way, he thought, startled, she might be right. Not only was Fox a woman he could never have, but she represented a life Tanner would never know. Total independence and the freedom to live as she pleased, go where she pleased, do as she pleased without answering to anyone.

"Now, to summarize. I believe we've agreed that you'll stop keeping your distance, that you'll pursue and catch me. Is that correct?"

God help him. "That's correct."

"We will enjoy each other, as you put it, for the duration of the journey then part forever in Denver. No hard feelings on either side. Correct?"

"That's how it has to be."

"Good!" She thrust out her hand and Tanner gripped it before he realized what he was doing. "It's a bargain." Sounding pleased, she gave his hand a vigorous shake. "Let's go see if there's any coffee left."

They had shaken hands to seal their agreement to have an affair. Tanner looked down at his hand and shook his head, then followed the sway of her poncho around the stand of juniper and back to the campfire. Their love affair, if he could call it that, was off to a hand-shaking strange start.

Fox halted near the fire and narrowed her eyes on the men. "Me and Tanner are going to have us a üaison. If you have a problem with that, say so now."

And things were getting stranger. Tanner rolled his eyes, then looked at the men. They stared back at him with appraising glances.

"What exactly is a liaison?" Hanratty asked, shifting his gaze to Fox.

"You're a grown-up man, you ought to know." Fox sounded disgusted.

"Ah," Hanratty said, informing her that he was fooling with her. "That kind of liaison." He tilted his head. "Suppose I said I have a problem with that plan. What would you do?"

Tanner stepped up beside Fox. "I'd tell you to go to hell."

Jubal Brown laughed. "That's going to happen anyway." Standing, he stretched and looked toward the bedrolls. "I'm calling it a night."

"I think I'll turn in, too," Fox said, smothering a yawn. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

She looked up at Tanner and firelight softened her face. For the first time, he saw a flash of shyness and vulnerability in her eyes and his anger faded. Her instinct was correct. The men would have known, there was no point trying to make a secret of something that would be obvious.

She cleared her throat. "I feel like I ought to say something, but I don't know what to say." Looking flustered, she pressed her lips together then groped for his hand and gave him another vigorous handshake. "It's a deal. And I'm very pleased about our liaison."

He didn't know what to say either, particularly with an audience grinning and listening to every word. "I'm pleased, too," he muttered, feeling like an idiot.

Peaches was the last to leave the campfire. His black eyes bored holes in Tanner's forehead. "If you hurt her," he said softly, "I won't rest until you pay for it."

Then Peaches walked away leaving Tanner alone, looking into the dying flames.

He had just committed to a public love affair with a woman he hadn't yet kissed. Hell, he didn't even know how they had gotten into the subject or agreed to have an affair. After a time, he tilted his head up to the stars and smiled. Fox was unlike any woman he had ever known. Why had he imagined that a liaison with her would follow an ordinary course?