Noah (6 page)

“Fine,” he responded, cursing the crack in his
voice. “Horses are all situated for the night and we’re just about to turn in.
Thought we’d take Mr. Thomas along with us.”

“But, I was saying goodnight to Miss Callahan,”
the man protested, but Levi took him by the arm and led him away from Kate.

“Goodnight, Miss Callahan,” Noah said on all of
their behalf as he reached up and tapped his imaginary hat once again.

“Goodnight,” she whispered, turning back for
the house.

Noah watched as she ascended the stairs and he sucked
in a breath when she turned back to look at him over her shoulder, her long,
wavy mane blowing lightly in the cool autumn breeze. She reached up and tucked
a lock behind her ear and Noah groaned.

It was going to be a long night. He had a lot
to think about.

She turned back for the stairs.

Crash!

Her hand had slipped, missing the handrail
completely, her body colliding hard into the feeble barrier. The wood gave way,
sending Kate tumbling off the four-foot drop to the ground with a squeal.

Noah was at her side in an instant.

“Miss Callahan?” he called, alarmed when she
didn’t respond. “Kate?” he tried again, all too aware he’d used her given name.

A soft moan escaped her lips and he closed his
eyes in gratitude that she hadn’t gotten herself killed.

“I’m all right,” she finally said with a groggy
tone as she attempted to sit up on her own.

Noah placed a hand in the small of her back to
keep her from falling backward, her proximity wreaking havoc on his senses.

After a moment, she made a move to stand, but
quickly sat back down again, amongst the piles of splintered wood.

“Maybe I’ll just sit here a moment and lick my
wounded pride.”

Noah laughed.

She’ll be just fine.

“Let’s get you inside,” he said, holding out
his hand to her. “The air is a might chilly tonight.”

When her fingers touched his, a light, tingling
jolt spread up his arm, but he couldn’t pull away. He attempted to help her to
her feet, but her ankle buckled beneath her.

“Upsi-daisy,” he said, her hand still firm in
his grasp.

Kate started to giggle, but winced in pain.

“I think I may have hurt a little more than my
pride,” she said, rubbing her ankle.

Without waiting any longer, Noah released her
hand and reached down, scooping her up easily into his arms. He climbed the
porch stairs, opened the door, and carried her inside.

“Where are your quarters?” he asked, unable to
keep the obvious rasp from his voice.

She turned toward him, her hand resting at the
button of his shirt, her face so close to his he could feel her breath on his
lips. He looked down into her wide, trusting eyes.

Big mistake.

He groaned, forcing himself to look away. If
being this close to her was going to be a common occurrence, he needed to win
her over. Fast.

“Your room?” he asked again. Maybe he should
have just left her on the couch for propriety’s sake, but somehow it didn’t
seem right leaving her alone to fend for herself on an injured foot.
Especially, after Levi had told him about her debilitating fear of the dark.

“It’s just down the hall,” she said, a little
quiver in her voice.

Careful, Deardon
, he warned himself.

He carried her to the bed and set her down at
the end, feeling around on the table, hoping to find a lantern there. He wasn’t
disappointed. It only took a moment to light the lamp. He crouched down and
gently lifted her foot, pushing back the material of her trousers and carefully
removing her boots to expose her ankle, already swollen from the fall. Kate bit
her lip as he pushed her foot forward and side to side, assessing the extent of
the injury. Nothing more than a whimper escaped her lips. He admired her
tolerance for pain.

“You need to keep that foot elevated,” he said
as he gently swung her legs atop the bed and grabbed one of her pillows to
place beneath the injured one. “I’ll be right back.”

He left the lantern in her room and headed into
the kitchen. He stumbled across another lamp. The matches sat just at its base,
and he lit the wick before looking for some clean rags and the water pump. He
found the sink, but there was no pump.

Add that to the list
.

He discovered a drawer full of mid-size towels,
grabbed a few, and headed out to the wash area he’d spotted several yards from
the homestead. A water pail dangled from the handle. Once he started pumping, it
didn’t take much for the water to begin flowing. He doused two of the three
towels under the chilly water and set them in the pail. Back home they had a
local vendor who sold ice that could keep the rags cold enough to be useful and
wondered if they had such a thing here. Not that it mattered at this hour.

When he returned to Kate’s room, her eyes were
closed and her breathing heavy and even. She was asleep.

He imagined it had been a long, emotional day
for her as well. He couldn’t conceive of the heartache she must have endured
having her father taken from her in such a brutal way, then to have seen the
man who’d killed him hanging from the rafters of that little, unfinished cabin.

Noah thought of how hard it had been when he’d
lost his mother.

That was different.
It had been her choice
to leave and never look back. She’d left many years ago. He didn’t know where
she lived or even if she was still alive. He shook the thought of her from his
mind and focused on wrapping Kate’s ankle.

When the cool rag touched her skin, she
stirred, but did not wake. He tucked the blankets up around her shoulders and
face, so she would not get a chill in the night and smiled when she snuggled more
deeply into them. She was so young to have suffered so much. He glanced down at
her sleeping peacefully, and, for the first time in a long time, he had knots
in his belly. He could see already that Kate alone was worth the fight.

Kate laid in her bed, looking up at the
ceiling, fresh morning sunlight spilling into her bedroom like syrup over
hotcakes, filling the space around her with a warm cheerfulness. It was
brighter than her normal wake time and she realized that she’d overslept. She
turned, the pain radiating from her ankle reminding her that she’d fallen
through the railing last night right in front of Mr. Deardon and her face
flooded with warmth.

She’d made a fool of herself, but had to admit
she’d liked being in Noah’s arms as he’d carried her into the house.

Shame on you, Katie Callahan.

Maybe it had all been just a dream. She
attempted to wiggle and twist her foot.

Ouch. Bad idea. Not a dream.

Her ankle was wrapped in soggy towels that had
seeped onto the pillow beneath her leg and she smiled to herself as she thought
of her tall, blond rescuer. With a little effort she was able to sit herself up
and look out her bedroom window, noticing the light frost creating a vignette around
the corners of the glass.

Winter was coming and they still had so much to
do to prepare. She gingerly reached down to her foot and removed the wet
cloths. The skin looked purplish in color around her ankle and swollen enough that
she doubted she’d be able to put much pressure on it, let alone pull a boot over
it. Nevertheless, she cautiously swung her legs over the side of the bed and slid
down off the mattress in an attempt to stand.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through her foot.

Definitely not.

The methodic pounding of a hammer against nails
broke the blissful silence of the morning.

“Good morning, Miss Kate,” Fannie walked in, a
tray in hand, filled with biscuits, eggs, bacon, and a cup of milk.

Kate’s stomach groaned. She hadn’t been able to
eat much yesterday with all that had transpired, but the smell of the hot bacon
and steaming biscuits wafted beneath her nose and she pushed herself back up
onto the bed.

Fannie set the tray on the night table and
reached for the discarded wet towels, humming.

Wait. Humming
?

Kate eyed her warily. What had happened to make
the woman more cheerful than she’d been in a long while?

“I trust you slept well?” Fannie asked as she
exchanged the damp pillow for another that had been sitting in the chair next
to the window. “Mr. Deardon told me not to wake you, and to make sure you keep
that foot elevated.” She tsked. “Says you took a nasty fall last night.”

Why was her cook taking orders from Noah?

“Fannie?”

“Yes, Miss Kate?”

“Where is Mr. Deardon now?”

“Why, he’d be out mending the porch railing.” The
older woman beamed. “He’s a lovely man, Mr. Deardon. Already been to town and
back this morning, collected all my eggs for me, talked with Virg and Oscar,
and now he’s working on the porch with Mr. Redbourne.” She fluffed the pillow
behind Kate’s back and reached for the tray. “They’re hard workers, those two.”

“Where did they get the wood?”

“Mr. Mills dropped by first thing this morning
with the load you had ordered.”

Kate had wanted to build a new outbuilding at
the edge of the east pasture for banding and branding season come February, and
had figured it would be best to have it completed before the snow came.

“I appreciate all of this, Fannie, I do, but I
cannot just lie here in my bedroom all day. There’s work to be done.”

“And it’s getting done. Isn’t that why you sent
for a husband? To get help around here?” Fannie placed the tray over Kate’s
lap, the warmth filling her with unexpected anticipation.

“Yes, but…”

Mr. Thomas.
She’d nearly forgotten the man.

“The other gentleman, the one who was here when
we arrived home last night, where is he?”

The smile on Fannie’s face quickly fell into
one of disdain.

“That
gentleman
,” her face contorted at
the word, “is sitting in the kitchen in his fancy clothes, eating his ‘mid-morning
meal,’” she imitated him with a roll of her eyes, “and he tried to put his
booted feet up on my table. I sure told him.” She snatched up the wet pillow
and topped it with the wet towels as she marched for the door. She turned back
just before leaving. “I trust you’ll make the right choice,” she said smartly,
then disappeared from view.

Kate couldn’t remember how long it had been
since she’d taken the time to eat a full breakfast. Normally, she grabbed a
bite or two on her way out to work alongside the few hands who’d agreed to stay
on after her father died. Dell, her father’s best friend in Laramie and the
ranch foreman, had convinced the men to stay out of respect. He’d even offered
to marry her, but the older man was more like a distant uncle to her than a
husband and she hadn’t been able to bring herself to say yes.

It hadn’t felt right. Still didn’t.

Things had been a little awkward between them
since.

She’d certainly learned a lot in the past few
months about what it took to run a ranch this size, but she needed more help
than what the foreman and the other three could provide. She needed a husband.
There were a lot of hired hands willing to work for a male employer.

Dreams of falling in love and starting a family
with the right man had given way to practicality, and so, she’d placed an ad
that was supposed to reach several newspapers throughout the West. Dell hadn’t
taken to that idea so kindly. She was afraid she’d hurt his pride, but hoped he
would understand. After all, he was more than twice her age and the ranch
needed a man who didn’t already have one foot in the grave.

Dell had been the foreman on the ranch since
they’d moved to Laramie and he knew the business better than anyone she’d ever
met, but even though she may not marry for love, she hoped to find a man that
she could grow to love. Someone with whom she shared a connection. Someone who
she could share her life with. Have a family with.

Maybe that man is Noah Deardon.

A smile danced with the corners of her mouth at
the thought.

The pounding of the hammer on the porch ceased
and Kate held her breath.

Would he come in here to see her?

She still wore the same men’s work clothes she’d
had on yesterday and could only imagine the state of her unkempt hair. When the
hammering started again, she breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

It didn’t take long for her to finish up the
hearty meal, followed by a fresh cup of milk to wash it all down. She wiped her
hand across her face to remove any evidence that she may have dripped a little
and set the tray to the side of the bed.

Her wardrobe sat only a few feet across the
room. Even if she had to make the jump on one foot, she was determined to
change her clothes. She may not be able to bathe in her current state, but at
least she could wash her face, put on a clean dress, brush her hair, and look
presentable.

Carefully, Kate removed the pillow from beneath
her feet and shifted so that her legs dangled off the side of the bed. She put
her good foot on the floor and reached for the wooden footboard for support.
There were several feet between her bed and the wardrobe and nothing in between
she could hold onto, so she stood up as tall as she could and hopped.

A couple of well-placed jumps landed her next
to the closet. She could feel her heart beating in her foot, throbbing against
her skin. She needed to get off of it, so she maneuvered herself into the chair
sitting just opposite the wardrobe and sat down.

Heavy footfalls sounded in the hallway and
stopped in front of her room.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Kate swallowed hard. She wasn’t sure what to
say. “Come in,” she squeaked, then cleared her throat.

The door opened and Levi stepped inside.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She tried to push away her disappointment, but then
Noah trailed in behind his cousin, a round, tin basin in his arms filled with
water sloshing about. Kate’s chest filled with sunshine at the sight of him and
she sat up a little taller.

“Nothing,” she finally answered with a simple shrug.

Fannie followed both men inside the room. Kate
guessed she was acting as a chaperone. It was highly indelicate for an
unmarried man to be in a woman’s chambers, let alone two of them, but under the
circumstances, she figured it could be overlooked. Just this once. Well, twice,
if she counted last night.

Kate folded her lips together to hide the grin
that threatened to spread across her face like a school girl with her first
affection for a boy. She reached up to smooth her hair.

Why hadn’t she asked Fannie for a brush when
the woman was in her room earlier?

The moment Noah’s eyes locked with hers, heat
filled Kate’s cheeks and the beat of her heart became a collection of rapid
flutters. He walked toward her and sat the small tub down at her feet.

“How are you feeling this morning, Miss
Callahan?”

Was it terribly improper that she wanted him to
call her by her given name?

Kate
.

“I’d be doing better with full use of both
feet.” Her attempt at humor faded with a half-hearted giggle turned into a
whimper as he took her foot, lifted her leg over the edge of the washtub, and
into the water.

“Oooooooo,” she squealed. “That is freezing!”
She yanked her foot from the ice-like liquid and shook her head.

Noah and Levi both laughed heartily.

“The faster the swelling goes down, the faster
you’ll be back on your feet.”

Cold or not, she did not want to be constrained
to stay in her bedroom for any longer than necessary. She had a ranch to run, a
husband to choose, and a life to live. She plunged her foot back into the water
and shivered as the chill ran up her back and down her arms.

“What’s going on in here, then?” Mr. Thomas
appeared in her doorway. “Don’t we have a lot of work to get done today? I’d
like to see the ranch, if you’d care to escort me, Miss Callahan.”

Noah’s jaw flexed. She guessed he wasn’t very
fond of the man either.

“I’ll get Dell to show you the land and
introduce you to the men,” she said, leaning to see him through the Deardon-Redbourne
wall in front of her.

“Why can’t
you
take me?”

Is he whining? Truly?

Kate had to consciously stop herself from
rolling her eyes.

“Miss Callahan,” Dell leaned in through the
door.

It didn’t seem like there had ever been this
many people in her house at one time, let alone in the same room—
her
personal room, and it was becoming like a busy train station at departure time—crowded
and stuffy.

“There is an older, quite distinguished looking
gentleman here to see you, Katie,” Dell said, his jaw flexing and his eyes
narrowed. “Says he’s here to make you his wife.”

You have got to be kidding me.

Why did they just keep showing up? Her
understanding was that in most situations like this, the men would correspond
with the woman and then set up a time to meet. That’s exactly how it was
working with Mason Everett from Montana.

Four.