Unbroken Hearts (16 page)

    
Four hours later Peck had checked in at
McHenry's office shack, and Roy started the trek home alone. His usual visit to
a certain widow north of town would have to wait. He was anxious to get back and
tell his story to Cal.

Chapter 14

    
When Cal led Emily upstairs to visit her
sister the girl's face clouded with uneasiness, but it was transformed to
relief as Sarah spoke to her in soothing, confident tones

    
"Emily, I'm fine, just some stitches
is all I needed."

    
Sarah turned onto to her side to show
Emily the bandage on her back. "Could you help me put my nightgown
on?"

    
"Oh Sarah, so much blood! And Mr.
Easton looked scared."

   
 
"It looked far worse
than it was." Sarah's weak smile reassured. Emily plopped herself like a
rag doll on the edge of the bed. Sarah pulled herself up and hugged her sister.
"Emily, I need you to fetch my nightgown."

    
Happy to have a purpose, Emily scurried
from the room.

    
Cal carried his mother up the steps,
lugging her chair so she could sit with Sarah. He'd noticed the bond growing
between them; it kindled in the depths of Mama's eyes lately, each time she looked
at Sarah. As soon as Mama was settled he collared Emily to help him bring their
supper on trays.

    
Sarah was heartened by the sight of Cal using
both arms. When the plates were cleared, Emily brought in a checkerboard. She
sprawled across the wide bed next to her sister where she lazily set up the
pieces. Cal left to finish chores and get a report from Bailey out at the
corral.
 

     
Emily beat Sarah five times before
she yawned and kissed her sister goodnight. As Sarah gazed out the window at a
beautiful moon rising pink and orange in the big sky she silently resolved to
recover quickly so she could get back to her job. She wouldn't be a burden to
the Easton family.

    
Her thoughts turned to Cal. She'd stepped
into another world with him, one that was filled with adventure and danger,
but
 
it also held warmth and
family. Sarah sighed, closed her eyes. She thought of the kiss.

    
Drifting off to sleep she heard the door
creak open, and the scraping of a piece of furniture being dragged across the
floor. She pried one eye open, saw Cal slumped in a chair, sleeping with his
long cowboy legs extended straight out towards the foot of the bed. His rifle
was propped against the dresser, within easy reach.
 

    
Much later, sometime before dawn, she was
vaguely aware of Cal as he crawled into the bed, curled up next to her, and
gently folded his arm about her waist. He reached up and lightly pressed the
back of his hand to her cheek. Sarah, half-asleep, could have told him she
didn't have a fever, but she liked the feel of his rough skin against her
face.
 

   
Cal's breath licked gently at her neck; under cover of darkness his
hands boldly passed through her hair in soothing strokes, fingertips gently
rubbing against her scalp. Now Sarah was wide awake, with images of the morning
down at the creek racing through her mind. She shifted onto her side and lay
still. But her breathing had changed.

    
"You awake darlin'?" Cal
murmured close to her ear.

    
"Mmmmhmmm." Inside her a strange
longing began to build.

    
"Let me hold you a while?" His
voice was a gruff whisper.

    
"Mmmmm".

    
He pulled her closer, and then her back
was snug against his warm, hard, bare chest.
 

     
Sarah felt a hot tingling. She was
helpless to move against him.
Only my thin nightgown between us.

    
"You feel good." He groaned, and
his voice lowered. "Sarah," he murmured, "when I carried you
home today I was scared. I-I don't want anything to happen to you." His
breathing came ragged, and she heard a hitch in his voice.

    
Sarah moved her backside into his hips,
pressing farther into his warmth.
 
Suddenly she felt his hard sex against her bottom. She tried not to
remember. She shook with fear and excitement.
 

   
And her restlessness grew, accompanied by an odd throbbing and growing
wetness in the private place between her legs. She inhaled in short gasps when
she felt his hand moving lightly across her breasts. His mouth trailed light
kisses down her neck.

    
"Are you cold?" he whispered
thickly. She turned her head to speak, and he gently nipped her earlobe.

    
"No. Oh no. You're--"

    
"Darlin' I can't help it. That
happens to a man," he whispered as he lazily traced the shape of her hip.
"Don't worry. I'm just wantin' to hold you. I'm just wantin' to show you
how nice it can be when a man cares for a woman. Please. You can relax. Let me
be close with a beautiful woman for a little while. That's all I need.
Please," he added again. He kissed her neck. "Besides, I wouldn't
dare rip out those stitches." He sighed heavily and raggedly into her long
thick hair.

    
Sarah's head was spinning.
He thinks
I'm beautiful
. She yearned to make
similar declarations, but when she opened her mouth the words stuck in her
suddenly swollen throat. Just then he was driving her to distraction, brushing
his thumbs lightly across her nipples, which responded by tightening into hard
knots. Waves of pleasure rolled over her as he lightly explored her body to
learn her response to his touch.

    
When she couldn't take any more she turned
to face him, and her lips brushed across his cheek boldly as they traveled to
his mouth. She slid lightly across his lower lip.
 

    
Cal's need turned urgent; he pushed her
lips open hungrily and burned her mouth with his possession. His thigh pushed
between her legs, and he felt the liquid heat radiating from inside her. He
breathed deeply and savored the scent of her womanhood. Smoothly he ran his
hands down to her hips, cupped and stroked her backside and, groaning, pulled
her tightly up against his warm, body, taut with desire.
 

 
   
Moaning from low in her
throat belied pure, raw passion.

     
Just as Cal was frantically trying
to tell himself that they'd gone as far as he could reasonably tolerate, Sarah
was responding as if she couldn't get enough. She pushed into Cal's body, instinctively
rubbing against him. Her moans became continuous, and her hot tongue ran down
his neck. Her hands caressed his hard chest bluntly, honestly, and Cal was
startled by the depth of her sexual response. He couldn't recall knowing a
woman so bold and direct.

    
"More . . . it aches. Oh, Oh."
She panted breathlessly, craving something new to her.

     
Cal looked into her brimming eyes.
"You're amazing." His own were filled with the dawn mist. "I can
help you take away the ache, and I will go gently -- will you let me?"

    
Sara panted uncontrollably, dragged her
hands over his broad chest.
 
"Please," she begged.
 

    
Cal shakily reached to unbutton the front
of her nightgown. When Sarah felt Cal's mouth cover the tip of her breast she
drew in a swift breath and nearly jumped off the bed. He laughed and suckled as
he moved his other hand between her thighs. "Open for me, darlin'."
He gasped painfully. Sarah pulled her legs apart and felt his fingers smooth
over her stomach, glide through the nest of curls, and carefully find the
place, and for the first time, she realized, she felt a lover's touch. His
strong fingers stroked slowly, at first, and then firmly and rapidly. Her lips
fell apart and she arched her back to push farther into his hand.

 
   
"Is this better?"
he asked thickly.

    
"Yes . . . feels . . .
wonderful," Sarah clutched his shoulders and breathed against his ear.
Roughly formed words tumbled from her lips in a broken stream between his
tender kisses.

    
Waves of pleasure rolled higher and
faster. Sarah looked up into Cal's face when she felt the explosive release,
moaning his name as she rode on a cloud of warmth and contentment. And shock.
She'd never dreamed such intimacy could exist between a man and woman.

    
Cal drank in the wonder reflected from her
eyes, and then he groaned and turned away from her.
 

    
Sarah knew he hadn't gone to the same
place she'd been.

    
"What about . . .
 
what about you?" she whispered.

    
"I'll be fine."
Tonight was
for you
, he thought. "Go to
sleep now." His words sounded forced and painful.
 

    
Sarah kissed the back of his neck and
rolled over, and she was asleep in minutes.
 

    
Cal remained awake, trying not to think
about the fact that his sex was as hard as the rock he'd removed from Sarah's
drawers. He listened to her deep, even breathing, blissfully unaware of the
torture he endured.

                                            
*
      
*
      
*
 

    
When Sarah woke the next morning Cal was
already gone, but his warm, masculine, lye soap and saddle leather scent
lingered on the bedclothes. She lifted her head, and it felt like a company of
barn-raisers was hammering inside, to the beat of the old clock ticking down
the hall. She dragged herself out of the soft feather bed, and reached to pour
clean water from the pitcher on the nightstand.

    
Someone had thoughtfully placed fresh
towels and a new bar of store-bought soap next to the washbowl. She cupped her
hands and scooped water. Then she dipped her face repeatedly into the pool she
held in her palms. She stood still for a moment, waiting for the throbbing in
her head and the aching in her shoulder to subside.

    
It didn't. She remembered the pleasure she
had taken with wild abandon the previous night, and she blushed. Closing her
eyes she moved her hands across her breasts, mocking the feel of Cal's fingers.

    
Then she sighed heavily and drew her
thoughts back the present. She wondered about who might have hit her with the
rock. If the Eastons had enemies Cal had not mentioned them.
 

    
Sarah floated down the stairs to Mrs.
Easton's room, where she dressed, taking care not to disturb the bandage
wrapped around her shoulder. She sighed and headed for the kitchen.
 
When she entered Ned Kingman was
finishing breakfast with Emily and Mrs. Easton.

    
"Morning Ned." Sarah slumped
into her chair.

    
"You all right Miss Sarah?" He
lifted his coffee cup.

    
"I'll be fine," she nodded.
"Where's Cal?"

   
 
"Out. He went early to
track them that attacked you yesterday. When he came back, he said he followed
the trail to the creek. Two men on horses," Ned explained between slugs of
his coffee. "But then they crossed, and Cal says the trail went cold the
other side." Ned's voice ebbed. "He and a few ate, loaded up, and
went back out again."

    
Sarah felt better. She cleared the plates
and excused herself to the kitchen. She and Emily spent the rest of the morning
cleaning the house and caring for Mrs. Easton.

                     
*
        
*
         
*
   

   
Cal strode in for dinner after his usual clean up in the barn. Ned had
taken him up on an invite to join them. He sat in Roy's chair, as Roy hadn't
yet returned from his trip to the mining camp.