One Heart to Win (31 page)

She untied her hair, shook it out, then laid out one of the new nightgowns to get comfortable in before she started her letters. At least Mrs. Martin had made her two normal nightgowns, one long-sleeved for winter, one short-sleeved for summer. But she wasn’t going to be here come winter, so she’d cut off the long sleeves so she could use both now.

She removed the insert from her blouse, then went over to the wardrobe mirror to have a look at herself without it. She shouldn’t have. With her hair loose around her shoulders and that silly blouse, she didn’t even recognize herself. The image made her blush and slam the wardrobe door closed.

This would never have happened if the men hadn’t rushed her that Saturday she ordered the clothes. She should have spared a few more minutes to pick her own designs—no, that would have taken much longer than a few minutes, as particular as she was. But she should really have taken the blouses right back to Mrs. Martin, and she would have if she weren’t so afraid to venture into town again.

She moved back to the bed to finish undressing but stopped midway when someone pounded a bit too loudly on her door. Oh, God, now what? A number of disasters came to mind, including the thought that a member of her family was pounding on her door, which had her leaping toward the door to open it.

But it was just Hunter, who looked unusually harried. He didn’t even say anything, just grabbed her hand and started pulling her down the hall. She smelled for smoke. None. She couldn’t think what else would have him rushing like this.

Halfway down the stairs she asked, “Where are you taking me?”

He didn’t pause, didn’t even glance back as he said, “Caleb
just rode in, and, my God, he’s in a panic. He needs a woman and fast, and you’re the closest one.”

“What?!”

“For his wife, Shela. She’s having her baby tonight, but our doctor isn’t due back in town for another few days.”

“She can’t wait?”

As panicked as
he
seemed, he still managed to chuckle. “No, she really can’t.”

“But I know nothing about childbirth!”

“You don’t have to. Shela does. This is her second. Didn’t I mention that to you last week? You just need to be there to catch the baby when it comes out.”

“Caleb knows his wife—intimately. So why can’t he do that?”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you? But he tried it with the first one and fainted before it came out. No, he’s useless in that regard.”

What made Hunter think she wouldn’t faint, too? Just because she was a woman? Was this another of those situations these men believed a woman could handle due to her natural feminine instincts? Probably.

They’d reached the stable before Tiffany remembered what she was wearing and her cheeks lit up. “I’m not dressed to go anywhere. Let me go back and change.”

“There’s no time for proper tonight, Red.”

“I at least need a jacket! Or your shirt. Yes, that will do nicely.”

He tossed his jacket at her, then tossed her up on a horse. Someone had already saddled two for them. Caleb must have woken one of the hands to do so before he raced back home.

“I sent Cole to town, just in case the doc got back early,”
Hunter said. “But that isn’t likely when he’s more often late than on time.”

She put the jacket on quickly before she grabbed her reins. She still wanted no part of this. “Why didn’t you get Pearl or Luella instead? They probably know much more—”

“Couldn’t,” he cut in as he mounted. “Luella visits her folks twice a week. Tonight’s one of those times. And Caleb won’t let Pearl near his place after she tried to seduce him when Shela was eight months pregnant with the last kid. That leaves you.”

That hussy! How many men was Pearl sleeping with? Tiffany had to warn Roy before he succumbed to her wiles.

They rode out. The moon on the unclouded horizon to the east provided light so they could see the narrow trail. She couldn’t count the lightning flashes that rent the northwestern night sky. They were so far in the distance, the storm they heralded could easily dissipate and not affect the Triple C.

She kept asking Hunter how much longer, but he probably didn’t hear her they were riding so fast. Yet her nervousness was building just as fast. She couldn’t do this. It was so far out of her realm of experience, she was sure she’d faint just like Caleb, and then who would help the baby?

She was frozen with that fear when they reached Caleb’s cabin. Hunter actually had to drag her off the horse and pull her inside. But the first thing they heard when they walked into the main room was the cry of a baby. Tiffany’s relief was instantaneous!

“Looks like you’re off the hook, Red.” Hunter moved to one of two doors in the room and knocked on it.

Caleb opened the door. He wasn’t tall, but he was a handsome man around Hunter’s age—which explained why Pearl
had tried to tempt him when she wouldn’t get anything from him other than sex. He was holding a bundle in the crook of one arm and stepped out into the room with it, closing the door behind him.

“It’s a boy this time,” he said proudly, beaming at them. “I didn’t know Shela was this close. She’d had one false go last week, when she thought the baby was coming, but the pains were gone before I got home, so she didn’t even mention it, foolish woman. But she thought this one was false, too, since it’s early, so she didn’t tell me when I rode in for lunch today. It scares the heck out of me when I think it could have happened when I rode for help.”

“Ma told me once, only the first one takes forever,” Hunter remarked. “The rest pop out easier and much quicker. Usually. Least they did for her.”

“And you couldn’t mention that to me?” Caleb replied.

Hunter shrugged. “Figured Shela would know that.”

There it was again, his assumption that women instinctively knew everything about home and family matters. Tiffany rolled her eyes. Hunter took a moment to introduce her properly to Caleb before she asked, “So the baby didn’t need catching?”

Caleb grinned bashfully at them. “I managed not to faint this time I was so shocked when I walked in the door and she screamed at me, ‘Get your ass over here!’ ” After he and Hunter enjoyed a good laugh, Caleb said, “Would you mind, ma’am?” and handed the bundle to Tiffany before she could reply. “I’ve cleaned him up, but I want to check on Shela. Poor thing, she’s exhausted and is falling asleep.”

He disappeared into the bedroom. Hunter was heading to
the front door, saying, “I reckon we’ll be here a bit, so I need to put the horses away. Be back in a minute.”

Suddenly she was alone with a baby. Oddly, she didn’t panic this time. She walked slowly about the room. There wasn’t much space to do so. This house was more what she’d expected the Callahans to be living in, minus logs for walls. It was just one big, open room with parlor furniture in one corner, a dining table in another, and a kitchen in yet another, with just two bedrooms tucked into the last corner. There was no stove for cooking, which was probably why the fireplace was still lit and made the room uncomfortably warm. But it was big enough for a small family, she supposed, and homey looking, with crocheted doilies everywhere, even little round ones under the knickknacks.

She finally sat down on the sofa and pulled back the blanket a little when the baby made a noise. It was so tiny! And funny looking with no hair and a face that was nearly red. His hands were moving, at least the one that was out of the blanket, though his eyes were closed. He was adorable and she started whispering silly things to it. Which is what Hunter caught her doing when he came back in.

“You’re going to make a good mother,” he whispered so he wouldn’t disturb the baby. She grinned even as she blushed at the compliment. She guessed some things did come naturally to women after all.

“I think he’s awake,” she said. “I’m not really sure, since he won’t open his eyes.”

Hunter sat down next to her to have a look at the baby, so close that their shoulders touched. He was grinning, too. He liked babies?

Then he added, “Let me check on their little girl. Don’t think she’s much older than four. She might be lying in her room terrified, after all that screaming.”

“What screaming?”

“Birthing can get pretty loud.”

He disappeared again, but was back in a moment. “She must have slept through it, or she’s back to sleep again now that it’s quiet.”

Tiffany nodded and stood up. “Can you hold him for a moment? With this jacket and a blanket in my arms, I feel like I’m going to melt, it’s so hot in here.”

“Of course,” he said without hesitation, and took the infant from her.

She quickly shrugged out of the jacket and draped it over the back of the sofa, then held her arms out for the baby again. Hunter didn’t immediately move, his eyes on her half-exposed breasts. She’d kept the jacket buttoned, so he hadn’t seen what she was wearing until now.

She’d thought she could take off the jacket without blushing, but she was wrong. “I warned you I wasn’t dressed to go out.” She moved closer to him and took the baby from his arms. Holding the little bundle in such a way that it blocked Hunter’s view of her breasts, she sat on the sofa again.

“Sorry, that was just—unexpected,” he said, and moved over toward the fireplace. But when he turned to face her again, he actually drew in his breath. His eyes were on her face, so she didn’t understand until he said, “Your hair lights up like a flame in the firelight. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait until winter to see that.”

“It’s just—just your imagination.”

“Is it?” he said huskily. “What about your eyes gleaming when you look at me? That’s not my imagination, Jenny.”

“A reflection—”

She was too tongue-tied to go on, with his looking at her like that. Fire was reflected in
his
eyes, and yet—the fire was behind him.

Chapter Forty

T
IFFANY DIDN
’
T KNOW WHAT
might have happened if the rain hadn’t arrived with a vengeance. It sounded like a stampede of animals approaching before it pounded so loudly on the roof she thought for a moment that the house was coming down. The baby even started crying, though she was able to quickly quiet it with soothing assurances.

But she couldn’t quiet her own panic, which had nothing to do with the summer storm. She was beginning to like this man, too much. And what she’d just felt with his looking at her so sensually, what
was
that? She was still a little breathless from it.

She needed to get out of here, not the house, but the territory, before her feelings for Hunter got even stronger and she started thinking it might not be so bad to actually marry him. But it was going to be another day or two before she heard back from her mother on her first letter, and another few days after that before she heard on the second letter. Before the end of the week, surely. Then she could jump on the next train out and put all this behind her.

“We’ll have to sleep here tonight,” Hunter said, looking a little exasperated now.

Where? she wondered. This house was too small to accommodate guests, and this room was still much too hot to sleep in. She’d just as soon ride home in the rain—no, she wouldn’t. It had blown in fast and the trails were surely muddy. Maybe it would blow out just as fast and they could still get back to the Triple C tonight.

“Had a feeling that storm was heading our way,” Caleb said as he rejoined them. “Least you didn’t get caught in it.”

Hunter shrugged. “To be expected at this time of the year.”

“This is the rainy season?” Tiffany asked.

“Midspring to midsummer, so we’re still smack in the middle of it,” Hunter replied.

“You’re welcome to sleep here for the night,” Caleb offered.

He took the baby from Tiffany. She immediately crossed her arms high over her chest.

“It’s too warm in here,” Hunter declined. “The barn will do.”

“Let me get you some blankets then.”

It was easier to just turn her back on Hunter when Caleb left the room. Actually, if they were going outside, she ought to put his jacket back on. She did, but she almost took it back off again because the jacket smelled like him, that distinctive scent of leather and pine trees. That’s what she smelled whenever she was close to him, and the idea of being close to him all night was giving her shivers all over!

Caleb returned with the blankets, even one pillow. Thanking them for coming, he promised breakfast in the morning. Hunter handed her the blankets, keeping one to flip over
their backs. He held it up and spread it wide in front of them. “Stay next to me or you’ll get drenched.”

There were already puddles in the yard everywhere. Tiffany was stepping in them before she saw them, soaking her shoes. At least she took the precaution to bunch her skirt up to her knees with one hand so the hem wouldn’t get wet, but they were both laughing like children by the time they reached the barn. Hunter tossed aside the wet blanket and lit a lantern, revealing that the barn also served as a stable, with four stalls, all of them filled now, one with a dairy cow.

“We’ll get up high, away from the smell of the animals,” he said, looking up. “There are some bales of hay in the loft. I’ll open one to make us a soft bed.”