Love's Golden Caress Charlene Leonard (c) 2005 ISBN 1-59578-153-6
Love's Golden Caress Charlene Leonard Published 2005 ISBN 1-59578-153-6 Published by Liquid Silver Books, imprint of Atlantic Bridge Publishing, 10509 Sedgegrass Dr, Indianapolis, Indiana 46235. Copyright © 2005, Charlene Leonard. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Manufactured in the United States of America Liquid Silver Books http://LSbooks.com Email:
[email protected] Editor Jean Cooper Cover Artist David Burton This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental. Dedication: To Ray, my one and only. Love always!
Chapter One Georgia, 1829 Lance Tremaine felt the first stinging pain of a bullet as it sliced its way into his right thigh. The pain was sharp and hot. His left hand moved so fast across the hammer of his pistol that the man who'd shot him didn't even realize he was already dead. He slumped to the ground, his sightless eyes still open in shock. A calculated jerk of the arm, and the hammer from a second gun once more dropped into place as Lance picked off the second gunman—but not before receiving another piercing bullet to his shoulder. It hit him so hard it nearly spun him around. He gritted his teeth against the pain. He'd been set up and lured into a trap. The remnants of this old town had hidden three assassins, part of a small outlaw gang that he had been tracking. Lance quickly scanned the area with determined eyes but he did not see the third man. He had to be here somewhere. He quickly reloaded both weapons. Starting to feel the intense pain now, he stumbled backwards a step before catching himself. His horse was tethered a few feet away, but it might as well have been miles. A shot rang out from his left and Lance swung around and fired before even taking decent aim. Once he located the dark shape of the man, he drew down on the assassin, firing with deadly accuracy. A third bullet sliced across his temple. Blood ran down the side of his face, warm and wet. Finally, the third man fell forward onto his face in the dirt. He was dead—and Lance had no bullets left in his gun even if he wasn’t. Lance Tremaine sat down—or rather, fell down heavily. He was lucky to still be alive after the short- lived gun battle. He shook his dark head in disbelief as he looked at the bloody hole in his leg. He wouldn't be alive much longer if he didn't get himself to a doctor, or at least some kind of help, pronto. The kerchief around his neck was soon tied around his wound. He staggered his way to his brown-and-white paint horse, enduring nearly unbearable pain, and pulled his body astride while the animal danced uneasily. “Easy boy, ” he calmed him, with a few quick pats. “Don't be nervous. You smell the blood, don't you? Easy. Easy now. You know me.” Slumping in the saddle, Lance headed the paint towards the nearest town, Pleasant Dale. It wasn't his town, but it was a town, and he didn't have much choice at the moment. He swiped at the blood running freely down his face with the back of his arm and kicked the horse into a run. He would be lucky to make it to the town at all before he bled to death. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and shoved it into his sho ulder wound. It hurt like hell, but he thought it might slow the bleeding. Knowing he had no other choice, he tied his hands loosely to the saddle horn with the reins, in case he lost consciousness. He was already dizzy and felt weak, at least he wouldn't fall from his horse and be left in the wilderness, no one to know of his fate. Hadn’t he found a man like that only a few months ago? Mike Talbot had been gut shot and left for dead in the wilderness, with no one to attend him. “Aw, hell.” He kicked the paint’s sides once more and leaned forward over the neck
of the horse. Pleasant Dale was so far away and the sun was just about down now. It was his own damn fault. He should have never let the people of Ophir talk him into being the sheriff to begin with. He didn’t want to die this way, too young and with no wife or family for a legacy. **** Sarah Wagner heard the wagon pull up in front of her house. Who would be calling at this time of night, except for someone with an emergency? She hastily donned her robe and pulled the hood up over her head. Opening the door, she peered outside, her rifle at the ready. It was the Johnson boys, no threat there. They were both tall and lanky for their age at fourteen, with wavy, sandy-brown hair and brown eyes. “Miss Sarah! Miss Sarah, we got an injured man here.” Joshua, the older of the two boys, called to her excitedly. “Come quick.” Sarah opened the door wide and stepped out onto the wooden porch. “Who is it? What is the matter with him?” She pulled the hood of her robe tightly closed to hide the scarred right side of her face. The scars were faded to silver lines, but in her mind, she thought it still had to bother people. It sure bothered her. “Don't know, ” Jeremiah, the younger one, answered. “We came across him on his horse, back a ways on the trail. He done been shot.” “Shot up all over,” Joshua threw out for good measure. “We thought he was dead ’til he groaned.” “Bring him inside.” Sarah retrieved an oil lamp and held it aloft as they jumped in the back of the wagon and began to leverage the man out of it. He was a big man. It was no easy feat for the young boys, so Sarah helped as best she could. Once inside the door she instructed them to place him on the long table. She was out of breath. So were they. The table used to serve as a meeting place and feeding place for a large family, now it served as a doctor’s table of sorts. Sarah wasn't a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but for the town’s purposes she was the best they had. Her doctoring skills were the only reason the people accepted her at all and hadn’t run her out of the area on a rail. “I think I will go take care of his horse,” Jeremiah offered quickly, seeing the blood all over the man’s clothes. “Makes my stomach turn upside down, it does.” “Go ahead,” Sarah told him. She knew he would be throwing up all over the place soon if he didn’t have something else to distract him. “Joshua, you start peeling off his clothes while I get my supplies. Cut them off if you have to.” “We gots to go home, Miss Sarah. We done been gone too long. Mama is going to be madder than a wet hen as it is now. ” “It will only take a few minutes. I will let you go after that.” Sarah shook her head sadly. She knew the truth was they didn't want to be in her house, and especially not after dark. They might respect her skills, but they were afraid of her. To this day she was unsure if it was her looks, or the fact she had lived with the Indians for so long. People always treated her like she was tainted somehow, even though she’d had no choice about it at the time. Where one group of Indians killed her family and kidnapped her, another group had saved her and set her feet on the path of enlightenment. “Your mama will understand. You did a good thing to help this man. Now let’s see if we can keep him
from dying.” “Do you suppose he is an outlaw? One of those gunslingers we hear so much about?” Joshua offered in an expectant breath. “One of those outlaws that has been robbing the town?” He avoided looking straight at her as she turned away to get her supplies. He wouldn’t undress the man with her looking on. Sarah heard the clothes rip as they were being cut from the injured man’s body. They were ruined already. A soft, low-pitched groan reached her ears. She plunked down the bowls filled with supplies, and began to set them out in an orderly fashion where she could reach them. Next she set the wood in the fireplace to burning and some water to boiling on top of that. “All done,” Joshua told her, as he covered the man with a scrap of blanket. “Thank you, Joshua. You were most helpful.” “You’re welcome, Miss Sarah. Do you suppose he…” Jeremiah came back through the front door at that moment, interrupting what Joshua was going to say. “I done brought his saddlebags for ya,” said Jeremiah, throwing them down noisily on a chair. “Want me to go through them?” “Not now. You boys head home. We don't want your mama to be worrying right now with the baby coming any day. ” “’Bye, Miss Sarah. ” Both boys shot out the door in a flash, arguing about who was going to drive the wagon the rest of the way home. Sarah bolted the door, and then set about examining the injured man’s wounds. He had one bullet in the thigh, one in the shoulder and he had a nasty gash on his head. Leg first, then shoulder, she decided. The man jerked abruptly, reminding her he would need to be tied down to keep him from hurting himself. The ropes were already in place at the head of the table on two of the legs, and she pulled them up and expertly tied him as tight as she dared around his arms. Then she covered him as much as she could with the rest of the blanket to keep him warm and protect his modesty. At this point his modesty would be the last thing on his mind, but Sarah tried to be thoughtful of other people in all ways. He groaned again, and Sarah’s heart went out to him. She rinsed out a cool rag and ran it across his face. Oh, he was a handsome one. He was big, dark and rugged- looking. He had high cheekbones and a well-sculpted face. She left the rag across his forehead to help soak off some of the dried blood, and then concentrated on his leg. Delicately as she could, she probed the wound with the edge of the knife she'd had lying in the fire. “Bullet’s still in here. Deep, too. It will have to come out.” Sarah opened a bottle of whiskey. She lifted the unconscious man’s head and poured it down his throat as best she could. Not a whole lot, just enough to help with the pain she knew she would have to inflict on him. She watched as reflex made him swallow, and she traced the path with her eyes down the wide strong column of his neck. She quickly washed her hands and poured whiskey over them and just as quickly poured it over his wound. He jerked and thrashed violently, even opening his brown eyes before he passed out again. “Feels like fire, doesn't it? But it can't be helped.” Sarah began to dig for the bullet, and, in fact, had to cut him even more to get at it, as it was lodged in the bone. “Oh, dear.” She hated hurting him. She finally managed to get it out and once more poured whiskey into the wound. This time he never moved.
This was the hardest part, she thought, as she grabbed up a small poker and heated it in the fire until it was glowing red- hot. When it glowed the way she thought it ought to, she held it inside the wound to cauterize and seal it. The smell of the burning flesh nearly made her sick. It also brought painful memories she could not bear to think about. Still it had to be done. He did not move a single muscle. Sarah bent over the man and watched him closely, his breathing was very shallow, but at least he was still alive. She repeated the process all over again with the shoulder wound. Twice he tried to wake, and twice the pain put him under. She washed the wound on his temple and stitched it up the best she could. It was much too deep to quit bleeding on its own. Well into the night Sarah worked on the large man, until she was satisfied his wounds were tended to. He'd lost so much blood. She did not know if he would live to see morning, though. Sometimes it was just too hard to tell and she did not know how strong a man he was. Finally, exhausted, she loosened his bindings, but did not remove them. She did not want him rolling off the big table by accident. Sarah covered him with two more blankets, for she knew his body would be cold from loss of blood. Sarah took tongs, and removed the smooth, round rock she kept in the fireplace for just a time as this and wrapped it in heavy rags. She slid it under the blankets between his feet, to help keep him warm. It was the best she could do for him tonight. She stumbled over to a steep ladder that led to the loft where she slept. She climbed it and removed her robe. Looking down upon the man who lay so still and pale upon the table she sighed tiredly. Normally he would have been dark skinned, but he was ghostly white now, even from her vantage point. Once in a while his body would twitch. His longish dark hair was still dirty with dried blood, but she would wash it for him if he still lived in the morning. She had done all she could. For now, she was too tired to do anything but sleep. She carefully turned the wick on the oil lamp way down. It would serve as a night- light if she needed one. It was the middle of the night when Sarah heard the restless man moaning in the main room below. He was thrashing and fighting his bindings. Sarah turned up the oil lamp and peered over the side of the loft at him. The poor man! He had to be miserable and she didn’t even have anything to give him for the pain. There was whiskey, but she needed that for emergencies. She was surprised when he began to mutter in the language of the Cherokee. Real surprised—but then maybe she shouldn’t be. As she studied his face in the dim light she realized he was part Indian. It didn’t show that much, but he did have the dark complexion and the black hair. She remembered his dark brown eyes. Yes, he was part Indian. Cherokee it seemed. She would bet her last dollar his way was rough in the world, as rough as hers was. Half-breeds didn’t fare any better than the Indians. Everyone in the state, it seemed, wanted to see the Indians moved off their lands, away from Georgia. It was a sad state of affairs. “Ga-do-de-tsa do?” What is your name? Sarah asked him quietly, in Cherokee. He probably wouldn’t fully wake up, but she didn’t want to take the chance of startling him. He calmed down a little. “Long Shadow, ” he answered in an anguished voice. “Hitsa- la-gi-s?” “No, I am not Cherokee,” Sarah answered softly in English. “You will be okay, Long Shadow, ” she reassured him. “Rest and sleep in peace. You aren’t alone.”
It wasn’t long before he was sleeping soundly and quietly again, and she turned down the oil lamp once more. **** Lance felt the warm water pour over his head, and gentle fingers as they began to scrub his scalp. Someone was carefully washing his hair. He hadn’t had anyone do that for him since he was a boy. He was bone-tired and his big body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He didn’t even open his eyes and try to see who it was. There were lights dancing around underneath his eyelids. He couldn’t seem to come completely awake. He felt the water rinsing the soap out. He was just about to surrender to the sleep again, when he felt a warm rag wiping down his face and his neck. A towel followed its path. The washrag moved on, to his chest and stomach. His muscles clenched. He opened his eyes and tried to focus. There was a woman standing over him, watching him with big cornflower-blue eyes, a beautiful woman. She had dark hair and she looked vaguely familiar to him, even if he couldn’t say why. He knew he had never seen her before. “So you are awake,” she whispered calmly. “That is a very good sign.” Her smile was happy and genuine. It made her look even more beautiful. “Do I know you? Where am I?” he asked. His throat was dry and raw. He ached all over, and the pain in his leg and shoulder was excruciating. “Sarah Wagner. This is my home. Who are you? ” “Lance Tremaine. Where is the doctor?” He wanted to ask the doc what his chances were. He thought they must be good. He was still alive. The last thing he remembered was being on his horse. “There is no doctor,” she told him and continued to wash his legs, even his feet, and dried them as she went. She kept part of the blanket over his sex to shield him from her eyes. He appreciated that—not that he wasn’t comfortable with his body, but this was a strange woman after all. He didn’t want to outrage her sensibilities. At first, he thought she must be the doctor’s wife. Now he didn’t know what to think. “You have lost quite a bit of blood, but I have removed the bullets and patched you up as best as I am able. You should be all right now, barring complications.” He frowned. “You saved my life?” He still couldn’t believe it, not that he had anything against women taking on the abilities of doctors. This was nearly the wilderness, after all. Women did whatever was needed to survive just as the men did. He was just surprised that such a delicate looking creature could have handled seeing, much less tending, such massive wounds. He knew how badly he had been hurt. She nodded. “I am as close to a doctor as we have around these parts.” He tried to use his elbows to lever himself up. He couldn’t do it. “I have a lot to thank you for, then. ” He smiled at her weakly. Lance was grateful to still be alive despite the shape he was in. He really thought he had breathed his last. She laid her soft hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down. “Please don’t try and sit up yet. You might fall off the table. Wait just a little while and I will see if I can help you over to the bed.” He nodded, very frustrated at his own weakness. He saw that she did indeed have a bed set up against one wall of the room. He thought it was odd to have a bed in a main room like that. The place looked huge, what he could see of it. Was she here alone? “Where are my shirt and pants?” he asked, noticing again the itchy wool blanket that
covered him. He was a bit chilled and clothes would have kept him warm. “We had to cut them off,” she explained, and pulled the blanket around him more securely. Seeing his frown, she added, “But don’t worry. There are some clothes here that should fit you when you are ready for them. The Johnson brothers found you on the trail and brought you to me.” “Where’s my gun? My horse?” “What do you need a gun for?” She frowned at him and bit her lip softly. He could tell it worried her some. He didn’t want to scare her, but he didn’t want to be at disadvantage either. Keeping a gun handy was a way of life for a man. “I just like to have it close.” “It’s right over there…” She pointed to his right. He could see it then, sitting on a chair. “…with your saddlebags. Your horse is in the barn. He’s been fed and he is fine. I’ll put him out to pasture later.” “Thanks.” He smiled his gratitude. “Are you ready to try sitting up?” She smiled back at him, encouragingly. “Let’s do it.” He tried to push himself up. Sarah scooted her arms under his shoulders to help him move into a sitting position. Then she grasped his shoulders to help steady him. “Is the earth moving? ” he asked. His hand went to his head as if that would stop the dizziness. “Okay now?” she asked. “Do you think you can make it to your feet? The bed isn’t that far away. ” “Says who?” he joked, half seriously. “Okay, let’s try it.” She grasped his legs and twisted him around so his feet could touch the floor. Lance stood easily but swayed a little, and she put her arms around his chest. “Steady? ” She realized he was thoughtfully trying to keep his full weight off of her. He didn’t seem to care that he was as naked as a jaybird. Sarah had seen too many naked bodies to care or to pretend modesty. Besides, he had a fine, hard body. He nodded, but his face was pasty white and he had broken out in a sweat. “We’d better hurry, ” he told her weakly. He limped over to the bed and sat down heavily on it. Sarah barely got his head pointed in the direction of the pillow before he passed out again. She grunted with the strain and lifted his feet, then covered him with the blanket. “Lance Tremaine.” She said his name just to hear it. It was a nice sounding name. She would start some chicken broth for when he woke up, and to do that she had to catch and kill a chicken. In her head she planned all kinds of chicken meals to use over the next few days so none of the meat would go to waste. Sarah laid down her sewing when she heard him stirring for the third time. He was trying to wake up. He’d been out of it for a couple of hours. She went and stood over his bed. His face looked strong and rugged. Then his brown eyes popped open to look up at her. They were full of intelligence. The fan of dark lashes that circled his eyes only enhanced them. There were bruised- looking circles underneath them though. That would go away soon enough. He was still a ha ndsome man in every respect. She was almost anxious for him to be alert so she could talk with him. “Hello. Are you ready for some broth?”
He managed to smile at her pleasantly, despite how bad he must be feeling. Sarah thought that showed strong character—most patients were surly when in this much pain or with illness. “Starved. Don’t you have something heartier than broth? ” He had the nicest smile. She couldn’t possibly imagine him an outlaw. “I do,” she smiled knowingly. The patients always thought they could eat regular food right off. “You need the broth first. Let’s see if your stomach can handle it.” His body had already been through enough of a trauma. He didn’t need the strain of throwing up on top of that. She set about pouring some broth into a cup for him. He could drink it straight from that. It would be easier for him to handle than a bowl and a spoon, especially only being able to use one arm right now. “It’s a little hot.” She set it on the table and got some extra pillows to prop him up. The blanket slipped down to his waist, exposing his hair-covered chest. She couldn’t help but look, and had to choke back a sigh. He had a smattering of fine dark hair and one nasty- looking wound. She’d better concern herself with that wound and not how fine his body looked. She would clean the wound and bandage it again soon. She handed him the cup and he took it in his left hand—he wouldn’t be using the right one for a while. He sipped at the hot broth. “Thanks.” “Is there anyone I can contact for you? You wo n’t be fit to travel for a while. I can send one of the Johnson boys. I have to go check on their mama this afternoon. ” “Yeah, just my deputy, George Rafferty. He can contact my family,” he told her and noted her surprise. He remembered taking the shiny badge off his shirt and tucking it in his saddlebags. He didn’t want the sun glinting off it and giving away his position when he tracked the three men. “I am the Sheriff of Ophir. The town will send you something for your trouble.” She shook her head sadly. “No, they won’t and it doesn’t matter if they do, Sheriff. You are alive and that is all the thanks I need.” “Lance,” he corrected her, and frowned. “Why do you think they wouldn’t send some money for my care?” “How long have you been Sheriff?” “Two months.” “Well, Lance Tremaine. I have two of Ophir’s former sheriffs buried out back. The Ophir folks wouldn’t even come collect their bodies or pay for a proper burial. I have tended lots of their folks, and they have never seen fit to even say “thank you” when a chicken for the pot would have been greatly appreciated.” There were only a handful of people from that area who ever associated with her. The ones who did, faithfully paid her for her services. It was the ones who didn’t treat her with respect—not even enough respect to pay her for the services rendered—that made the whole town look bad. There were many more of their kind in Ophir. He grasped her hand. “I will pay you myself.” Lance always paid his debts—it wasn’t as if he was a poor man. He really did appreciate all this woman had done for him. He wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for her. “It really isn’t necessary. I’ve been doing this for a few years now and I have learned to take care of myself,” she assured him, taking his cup. She went back to the hearth to fill it again while he watched. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to. I just didn’t want you
to be disappointed when they didn’t do anything.” “It shouldn’t be that way. ” He was still frowning. Was Ophir that bad of a town and he hadn’t realized it? “I know, but folks from Ophir have never been known for their friendliness.” She handed him back the cup. “Especially not now that the gold fever seems to have infected everyone.” “I guess I never noticed. They were friendly enough to me.” “Chances are they were hoping you might take out one or two the outlaws that have been plaguing everyone before you were killed. They wouldn’t have to pay you that way.” Lance shook his head. “That’s a sad state of affairs.” She agreed. Pleasant Dale wasn’t any better. They didn’t even have a sheriff at the moment, and hadn’t paid the ones they’d had any better than Ophir did theirs. No one would even volunteer for the job any more. The outlaws killed anyone who stepped up for the job so they could have free run of the town to rob and loot whenever they had a mind to. He handed her the cup. “What happened to your face?” Sarah raised a hand to the side of her face. She’d forgotten for a moment. “A fire when I was a child.” She wouldn’t talk about what really happened and especially not with a stranger, no matter how nice he seemed. “It hardly shows. You are a beautiful woman, Sarah Wagner.” Sarah stared at him. He was just being kind. She should remember that. He yawned unexpectedly. “Go back to sleep and rest,” she told him. There would be plenty of time for talking as his body healed itself. “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He waited until she moved off, though, to close his eyes. Lance could tell she didn’t believe that he really thought she was beautiful. She was—the best looking woman he had seen in a long, long while. **** Lance heard the wagon roll up outside the house. The windows were open for the breeze. He could hear everything now that he was awake again. “Prichard.” Her soft, pleasant-sounding voice didn’t sound happy to his ears for once. He noticed the difference right off. “It’s my boy, ” a gruff male voice answered. No pleasantries were given at all. He heard rustling of skirts and imagined her climbing into back of the wagon. He struggled to sit up and was rewarded with a small view of the situation. There was a line of sweat on his upper lip now from that small amount of exertion. “What happened?” she asked a big, burly, rough- looking man. He had dark hair and dark eyes. Lance didn’t like the looks of him at all. In his experience, men that looked mean and bad-tempered usually were. This man looked mean in spades. He was every bit as big and tall as Luke Campbell and his new brother-in- law stood six foot seven. “He done had an accident. A tree fell on him.” Sarah was bent over someone in the back. Someone he couldn’t see because the side of the wagon blocked his view. “Second accident in less than a month, ” she responded warily.
Lance heard the suspicion in her soft voice. Then she said quietly, “There is nothing I can do for him.” “Why not?” he asked angrily. “He’s dead. There is nothing I can do.” “I got some crops to tend to. I need his help,” the man said, as if he didn’t believe her. She climbed out of the wagon. “Then you shouldn’t have beat him to death. ” “Tree fell on the dang fool boy, ” he argued angrily and looked like he was getting ready to jump down from the wagon to confront her. “I got a sheriff in there who just might not think so either, Pritchard. He takes one look at your boy and he is going to know no tree fell on him. I’ve seen enough of your handiwork on your wife and kids. I know better.” “Why you little witch, ” he said, and jumped heavily from the wagon. “You are nothing but a damn busybody whore. Does your sheriff know that?” “HEY!” Lance struggled to his feet, but he swayed and couldn’t remain upright. He fell back on the bed. He thought he might pass out from the pain. He struggled against the discomfort to look out the window again. Sarah pulled a gun from the folds of her skirts. “Get right back on that wagon, Pritchard, and head on out of here. Don’t come back neither.” “This ain’t the end of it,” he warned, and Lance could hear him climb back up on his wagon as it creaked from his weight. Prichard jerked the reins and slapped the horses into a run. “Don’t come back,” she yelled after him. “I’m not patching up your kin any more just so you can beat them up another day. ” It was a while before she came back in the house. He was worried for her. Lance was about ready to pull his hair out, he felt so weak and helpless. He could tell she’d been crying. “Are you okay? ” he asked her in concern. “Better than that poor boy is,” she nodded. “Pritchard thinks I can’t tell the difference between someone being beaten to death in anger and someone crushed by a tree.” “He should be in jail. ” Lance knew what it felt like to get beat within an inch of his life. At least he hadn’t died. His new brother- in- law was the one who had taught him that particular lesson, years ago. In all fairness, he had been trying just as hard to beat Luke Campbell to death, as well. It had been a hell of a fight. “Jail is too good for the likes of him. I hear tell he’s on his fourth wife and I know for a fact that’s the second kid he’s kilt.” She was angry—very angry—and he could tell that not just from her voice, but the rigid set to her feminine little body. “Bring me my stuff would you please? I couldn’t have gotten up to help you, to save my life.” The fact he was so weak was a humiliation to him. She looked at him warily. “I didn’t expect you to. I am used to taking care of myself. I just wanted to scare Pritchard. I wanted to make him think twice about hurting his kin.” “I know, but I heard everything. I may not have been able to get out there, but I could have shot him from here, through the window. ” He pointed. “I could have at least given him a warning shot if he started to get rough with you. ”
She looked at the window and his line of sight and nodded. “I will get your stuff,” she agreed. She handed him his gun and laid the saddlebags on the bed. Lance watched as she began to prepare lunch in the big, old, cooking area. There was a huge rock fireplace, with a black iron pot hanging over the fire on a rod. She was cooking something delicious in it—it smelled like chicken. She swung it towards her and added carrots and dough. “Big house. Do you live here alone?” Lance asked. He hadn’t seen any evidence there were more people about. “Yes. It’s a lot to keep up with, but it’s mine. The mayor gave it to me for saving his son. It was abandoned. Lots of homesteads abandoned around these parts. I have nearly 400 acres, too. He gave me that for a lifetime of doctoring services. Seemed mighty fair to me.” She didn’t do anything but let her few pitiful cows pasture on them for now. She was only one woman after all, but she had plenty of dreams. “Dang. More than fair. The mayor’s family keep you busy? He has a large family?” She laughed. “There’s four of them, but it is his daughter that keeps me the busiest. She’s part tomboy and the other part pure devil.” He smiled in return. He used to have a sister like that until she grew up and suddenly turned into a regular lady. She was married now to Luke Campbell. Married and happy. She dipped a bowl full of the delicious smelling food and brought it to him, along with a spoon and cloth napkin. “Chicken vegetable soup with dumplings. Hope you don’t mind.” He didn’t. There were big chunks of meat, and it sure beat his own cooking. Granted, he hadn’t done too much cooking since he got to Ophir. He’d been paying the outrageous prices at the only eating establishment in town, just like everyone else. If people couldn’t mine or pan for gold, they tried to hike up the prices for goods, determined to get wealth one-way or the other. “You will be sick of chicken before long. I have some cows, too, but I just can’t manage to butcher them. The bacon I got in trade for some eggs and vegetables.” She handed him a cup of milk. It was cold and he wondered how she’d managed that. Was there a springhouse close by? “Butchering cows is a hard job,” he nodded. She was an industrious woman and he admired that. She was working her homestead as hard as any man might do. He hadn’t seen any sign of anyone else living or working there. “There’s a bowl under the bed with a towel over it, if you need to relieve yourself while I am out. I shouldn’t be gone too long. ” He nodded, a little embarrassed. She opened the door and left, her skirts swishing behind her. He was glad to see her take a rifle along. He laid into the food as if it had been days since he ate last. He heard the wagon as it rolled away. When the food was consumed along with the milk, he stretched out and slept. He knew if he wanted to get well he had to sleep, and it sure beat staying awake and feeling the pain. When Lance woke again, it was late afternoon. He heard gunshots off in the distance, not too far away and wondered over it. His first thought was of the woman’s safety. She was sitting at the table quietly reading from a book.
“Gunshots?” “Someone in town acting up, I imagine. It’s not that far away. Pleasant Dale is just over the next rise.” She closed her book. “Ready to get your bandages changed? I didn’t want to wake you when I came back.” “Sure. Thanks,” he nodded. He couldn’t believe he was sleeping so hard that he hadn’t heard her return. It wasn’t like him at all. It was just another thing to humiliate him. “I sent a message to your deputy, via the Johnson boys.” “Thank you. ” She brought her bowls and supplies, and sat down next to him on the feather mattress. “This is gonna hurt a bit,” she warned, with a soft frown between her lovely blue eyes. He saw the bottle of whiskey. Rot gut for cleaning? He frowned. “It’s all I have access to out here. Lay down and let me get your shoulder first.” He did, and she unwrapped the bandages gently. She had delicate looking hands, and he watched fascinated, as she poured the whiskey directly into his wound. It burned like fire. She looked up just as he gritted his teeth. “I am sorry, but it kills any festering.” “We are going to have to do something about getting you some proper supplies.” He tried to distract himself from the pain. She gave him a half smile as if she didn’t believe him, and began wrapping him back up. “It looks pretty good, if I say so myself.” She pulled the blanket back from his leg and began unwrapping it. “This is going to be a lot worse. The bullet went clean to the bone and I had to dig it out. You were lucky in that it didn’t break the bone in half. It would have taken longer to heal.” It was already taking too long to heal as far as he was concerned. Lance didn’t like being wounded and feeling so helpless. “Ready? ” She positioned the bottle over the raw ugly wound. He nodded, but he grabbed the feather bed with both his hands when the liquid touched the wound. “Damn, that hurts.” It stung like the dickens. She poured a little more. He could feel the sweat breaking out on his face and body. He wanted to cuss a blue streak. “Okay, all done.” She wrapped him up again. She poured a small amount on a cloth and dabbed it on his forehead, to cleanse his stitches. He felt a little bit nauseous and a whole lot weak. He laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. “I am sorry to hurt you but really, it will help in the long run. ” He felt her move off the bed. “Are you ready for supper? I made some light bread.” “Sure,” he mumbled, feeling a little better now. He sat up on the bed slowly and eased his feet to the floor. “Maybe some clothes later?” “If you feel up to it,” she nodded, and smiled softly. Lance loved her gentle smile. She was a petite little thing. He could span her waist with his hands if he were allowed to try. He watched as she set about pulling bread from her clay oven. Her skirts swished comfortingly. There were tiny patches on the skirt where she had mended it. Sparks from the fire had left them.
He wanted to get out of the bed, but his body just wouldn’t cooperate the way he wished it would. “Milk or water?” she turned and asked him. “Don’t get up. I will bring it to you, ” she warned when it looked like he might be trying to get up. “Now seriously. You aren’t going to feel like getting up for quite a few days.” “Water. I feel like getting up now, ” he argued. He didn’t want to be a disagreeable patient, but he felt helpless and bound by his own weak body. She laughed. “That’s your mind talking, cowboy. Listen to your body. I don’t have the strength to pick you up if you pass out in the floor.” “That would be just my damn luck, too,” he grumbled to himself. How ignoble would that be? Lance watched as she fixed him a plate of food and gave him a generous helping of light bread. She brought him a cloth napkin and laid it across his lap, then brought his plate and utensils. “This smells wonderful. Thank you, Sarah. ” He would have a lot to repay her for, when he was able. “You are welcome.” Lance ate the food with more gusto than even he expected and watched as she fixed her own plate. Her movements were graceful and he enjoyed watching her. “Where did you learn your doctoring skills?” “Here and there. Mostly from necessity. ” “I hear ya.” He ate half the bread in just a few bites. He did love her light bread. She had smeared it with a generous helping of butter. “Aren’t you afraid to live out here all alone?” he asked. She was alone in this big house, not close enough to town to have neighbors to help watch over her. “I keep a gun close by. ” He smiled. “But can you hit what you are aiming at?” She smiled back at him. “Truthfully, no, but is there anything more scary than when a woman waves a gun around?” He barked out an understanding laugh. “So true. I can teach you how to shoot, Sarah.” “When you get better and if you still want to.” “Why would I change my mind about that?” She shrugged her dainty shoulders. “Things happen. ” He frowned. Lance could tell she didn’t believe he would do as he offered and he wondered who had let her down so much in the past to color her outlook now. “You look a little red in the face. Are you feeling all right?” she asked with concern, as she watched him. “I am doing okay. ” He finished up the meal. She came to take the plate from him and ran her hand gently down the side of his face. “You have a fever. Let me get you some more water. Drink as much as you can. ” “Okay. ” He puffed out air between still lips. He didn’t want to get sick on top of everything else. He watched her as she put the dishes in a wash bucket and from another bucket, dipped him a cup of water. She handed it to him but didn’t leave. “Drink up. I want to get you another one.” Lance chugged the water just to make her happy. He would rather have had whiskey.
She filled it and brought it to him again. This time she didn’t wait for him to drink it. She went to a trunk and began rummaging in it, finally squatting down to do so. “You know, I think these might fit you when you are ready. ” She brought him some dark woolen trousers and a cotton shirt. “Just don’t try and get dressed too soon. There is no need. It is not like you are going to be going anywhere for a while.” “Sure about that, are you? ” “I’ve seen enough gunshot wounds over the years. I don’t think you will be any different, no matter how much you might wish it so.” She folded the clothes and laid them across the end of the bed. He grunted. She might be right. He felt pretty bad off. Still it might be nice just to be able to make a trip to the outhouse instead of using a darn bowl to relieve himself in. Sarah lit three oil lamps as it was starting to turn dusk outside. She sliced an apple pie and brought Lance a slice. She’d never met anyone who turned down apple pie. He was no exception. Then she went to change into her nightclothes. He had finished the pie and was dozing, with the empty plate sitting on his stomach. Sarah smiled. What a lazy, endearing thing to do. But he wasn’t doing it because of laziness—he was doing it because he was healing. Not once had he complained about the pain he must be feeling, or complained about anything, for that matter. He never noticed when she took the plate. He never noticed when she stood over him either and admired what a fine, handsome man he was. She pulled the blanket further up his chest and went to wash the evening dishes. He would sleep for quite a while, maybe even all night. Sarah was woken once again in the middle of the night, hearing Lance’s soft moans and the talking he was doing in his sleep. She listened for a while and, when he didn’t return to sleep, she turned up the oil lamp and looked down on him. He had kicked off his covers and his nude body shone magnificently in the gentle glow of the oil lamp. She sighed just a little—she couldn’t help it. His massive chest was covered in fine, dark hair. His arms and legs were muscular and firm. He was broad at the shoulder and narrow at the waist and hips. She tried not to stare at his sex nestled in dark hair, but she couldn’t help herself. She would probably die an old spinster and never know the true way a man and woman loved. Oh, she’d had the bad way, and all she could remember was the humiliation and the pain. She’d been so young, truthfully she hadn’t known what was going on. Sarah wondered if she would ever be found acceptable to a man. She was considered tainted after all, even though she didn’t feel tainted. It was as if she wore a secret mark that told men and women alike that she was dirtied somehow. The people of Pleasant Dale never quite accepted her fully. They only started treating her with any thing less than open hostility after she had saved the mayor’s son from illness. Then they had slowly started to avail themselves of her doctoring skills. Lance moaned again and flipped over onto his side restlessly. She heard him call out the name Luanne. So, a woman named Luanne had this handsome cowboy’s heart. She envied her. When he settled down once more, she lowered the light on the oil lamp and tried to go back to sleep herself. Not even an hour later he was tossing and turning again, and nearly ready to throw himself off the bed to the floor. Sarah once again turned up the oil lamp and then climbed down the ladder. On bare feet, she padded over to the side of his bed. She touched his
face. He was burning up to the touch. That wasn’t good. It could only mean an infection was setting in. She pulled the blanket up over his nude body. Sarah mixed some powder in a cup of water for him. He was still tossing and restless. “Lance?” she called his name softly. “Lance?” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “Wake up and drink this. It will help with your fever.” He barely opened his glassy brown eyes, looking dazed. “How did you get so pretty? ” Sarah shook her head and chuckled. “Gosh, are you out of it! Drink this please.” She helped him lift his head while he drank the whole cup full. “This will help with your fever.” “How come you don’t believe you are pretty? ” he asked, surprising her. His brown eyes were a little more alert. “It is the fever talking, ” she smiled at him kindly. “No, it’s not. I know exactly what I am saying. You are a beautiful woman, Sarah Wagner.” It was time to stop his amorous talk, especially since he couldn’t really mean it. “More beautiful than Luanne?” she asked, to remind him of the woman he spoke about in his sleep. He jerked and looked at her as if she had just slapped him. “How did you know about Luanne?” “You called for her in your sleep. I figured she was a wife or a woman friend.” “Ah, so you wanted to put me in remembrance?” “Yes.” He looked at her momentarily. “I am not married and Luanne is dead.” “What happened to her?” Sarah asked quietly. “She didn’t love me enough to go on living.” Sarah cocked her head to the side. She didn’t understand and she wanted to. “She took her own life a little over two years ago,” he expanded patiently. “I am so sorry. ” Sarah unconsciously put her hand on top of his. He pulled away. “So am I. Can I bother you for some more water since you are up?” Her touch disturbed him for some reason—or was it her sympathy? “It is not a bother.” Sarah got him another cup full and left an extra one to leave where he could reach it. When she went to climb back up the ladder, he stopped her. “Are you sleeping up there?” “Yes.” She turned to look at him. “Why? There looks to be plenty of rooms in this house.” “To be near you in case you need something. ” She continued up the ladder. It wasn’t the only reason, but he didn’t need to know the other. That was personal. “Night, Lance.” “Good night, Sarah, and yes, you are even more beautiful than Luanne. You will just have to take my word for that.” His soft-spoken words thrilled her more than just a little. It was a long time before she actually got back to sleep.
Chapter Two The early morning light filtering in through the high loft window woke Sarah. It was only moments before she heard Lance moaning as if he were in pain. Sarah quickly doused the oil lamp and climbed down the ladder. She would check on him before she went to change and start breakfast. The blanket was in the floor and she picked it up and spread it over him. His big body was shivering. She touched his cheek. His fever seemed even worse than it had been the night before. “Oh, dear. I’d better mix some more powder. He grabbed her wrist before she could move away. “I don’t want any man touching you but me.” “What?” She frowned and tried to pull her arm out of his tight grasp. He might be sick, but he still had a good strong grip. “No other man but me. I mean it, Luanne.” He jerked on her arm pulling her down on the bed with him. Sarah sat. Usually it was best not to fight a fever- induced episode. If she didn’t struggle, they usually let go or fell back asleep quickly. That was exactly what he did. He released her wrist and turned over on his side. So Luanne hadn’t been faithful to him. It tugged at her heart. How could a woman not be faithful to a man such as this? Sarah got up again and mixed some more powder in water to bring down his fever. It was hard getting him to drink it. He wouldn’t respond to his name, but he let her lift his head so she could pour it down his throat. Then she set about pulling his bandages off. “Oh, dear,” she said again, when she saw the wound on his leg. It was red and festered. “I’d better make some stronger potion to draw the infection out.” It wasn’t long until she had a small bowl full of the foul-smelling potion. She pulled the blanket off Lance’s body just enough to expose his leg again, and fashioned a poultice to place on the wound. Sarah got a bowl full of cool water to wash down his body. It would help with the fever, too. The minute the cloth touched his face; he grabbed her wrist in a firm grip. “Let go, Lance. This will help with your fever.” He let her go, but every few minutes, as she washed him with the cool water, he would grab her wrist again until she told him to let her go. When Sarah was satisfied that the fever was going down, she covered him and quickly changed her own clothes. She was reluctant to leave him alone for long. Sarah stopped in shock when she came back into the main room. Lance was sitting up in bed and he had his gun pointed straight at her. “I ought to kill you where you stand, Luke.” Who was Luke? “Lance, it is me, Sarah. I am not Luke. You are feverish. Put down the gun, Lance.” “Yeah, right, like I haven’t seen your face in my nightmares a hundred times and wouldn’t know you from Adam.” He pulled back on the hammer. She heard the deadly click. “Lance. It’s me, Sarah. Don’t shoot me,” she pleaded a little louder, watching his unsteady hand as the gun dipped dangerously every so often. His eyes were glassy and his complexion pale. He wasn’t really seeing her. She was really frightened he might
shoot her. If she ran, would he shoot anyway? “It is your damn fault Luanne is dead.” He waved the gun at her again and then lost his balance and fell back on the bed. Sarah ran to him and pried the gun out of his hand. She put the hammer down carefully so it wouldn’t discharge. She moved it far away from him. He wouldn’t need it for a while. Then she attempted to cover him up once more. “Luanne. You smell so damn good,” he said, and wrapped his long arm around her neck, pulling her against him. “Give us a kiss.” First, she was Luke. Now she was Luanne? Sarah laughed. She wasn’t Luanne, but she wouldn’t mind giving him a kiss. He would never remember, considering the state he was in. She stretched up and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “You call that a kiss?” He pulled her close again, and then his lips found hers. They were warm and slightly moist as they covered her own. He pressed his lips against hers and moved them in the most delightful manner. His tongue stroked her bottom lip and then she was quite surprised when his tongue swept boldly into her mouth. He explored her mouth with his silken tongue, as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Her whole body ached with the sweetness of it. Sarah sighed when he finally released her lips and she sat up. “Now that was a kiss. Let’s have some more.” He tried to pull her down once more, and Sarah jumped out of his reach. As delightful as it was, the kiss was meant for someone else and she needed to get some breakfast going. “Go to sleep and rest easy, ” she told him. Then she went to the hidden well and pulled up a bucket of foodstuffs. She pulled out a slab of pork to slice off some strips of bacon. She heard him still talking, but most of it didn’t make a lick of sense to her. She listened to his deep voice anyway. Sometimes he threw in some Cherokee, but nothing made much sense. The bacon was sizzling in the iron skillet, but she couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. No one had ever kissed her like that. Ever. She touched her lips with her fingers. It had been the nicest thing. She added four eggs to the bacon and stirred them together until they were cooked. Then she divided it onto two plates and carried them over to the table. He was sleeping so well now she didn’t want to wake him, so she ate her own and covered his plate with a towel. **** Several hours later, Sarah heard a wagon approach long before she saw it. She stood looking out the window with her rifle within reach, until she saw it was only the Johnson boys. They were arguing with each other as they always did. She opened the door and walked out on the porch. “Hello, boys,” she greeted them. “Morning, Miss Sarah, ” Jeremiah greeted her back, with a wave. “We done delivered your message and we have one for you now. ” “Sure do,” Joshua added importantly. “George Rafferty sez to tell you it might be a few days before he can go and talk to the sheriff’s family.” “Okay, thank you. ” She would tell Lance when he woke up.
“We told him he was shot up all over,” Joshua added this eagerly. “He shore don’t look like no deputy I ever seen. ” Sarah frowned in puzzlement. “What do you mean?” “He gots a funny- looking hat and he talks funny.” Jeremiah elbowed his brother in the side. “He is from England, you ninny. You know, Miss Sarah, that country that we kicked their heinies.” Sarah smiled in understanding. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that most of their ancestors had probably come from that same country. It hadn’t been that long ago. The boys were so young that they couldn’t remember when the United States hadn’t been an independent country. So was she for that matter, but she had studied all about it. “Thank you for relaying the messages. How is your mother?” “She’s okay, or she was yesterday when we seen her last.” She didn’t realize they had been gone all night. They were a fearless pair. “Then you’d better go straight home now, ” she instructed them. Ben Johnson might not want to come to fetch her if it meant leaving his wife alone if she went into labor. “’Bye, Miss Sarah. ” They both waved and Jeremiah flicked the reins. “Yaw. Yaw horses. Get now. ” She watched them for quite a while, until they were out of sight before going back inside. It was beautiful weather and she enjoyed being outdoors. Lance was sitting up watching for her. His eyes were still glassy. “So you are awake again,” she smiled at him. He looked a little more alert this time. He ran a hand across his forehead and back through his hair. “My head is pounding. ” It was his first real complaint, so she knew he must have been feeling really bad. “Let me bring your breakfast and you can start on that, while I fix some potion for your head.” “No, thanks. I don’t think I could eat a thing. ” Sarah ran her hand over his cheek. She enjoyed touching him but he was still hotter than he should be and he needed her help. “Okay. Just the potion then. ” She turned away to fix it and said to him. “The Johnson boys delivered your message to George Rafferty. He said it might be a few days before he could get away to notify your family.” “I figured as much. Thank you. Sarah? ” She returned to him with the potion in his cup. “Yes?” He took the cup in his hand, but he didn’t drink it. “I think you better be finding me a bowl or a bucket pretty quick. I may lose the contents of my stomach, ” he warned, feeling horrible that she would have to deal with this, too. He was helpless and it frustrated him, but he was thankful that, as sick as he felt, he wasn’t all by himself. “Right away. ” She went to a cupboard and pulled out a wooden bowl and handed it to him. “Here you go. Try to drink the potion. It might help.” He tossed the liquid back into his throat while she watched. “That’s good, now let me go see what I can mix up for your stomach. ” By the time she returned he was fast asleep again. Sarah set the medicine aside for when he woke up. Lance knew he was sleeping and waking at periodic intervals. He couldn’t help it. He wanted to stay awake but his body wouldn’t let him, and he hurt and ached all over. He knew he’d thrown up several times. Sarah had been there each time with a cool cloth
for his face and neck. She had even rubbed his sore shoulders to help him relax. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this sick in his entire life. A splashing noise caught his attention and he turned his head slowly to see the source of it. There was a screen set up in the middle of the room. It only took him a moment to realize Sarah was having a bath. He smiled rather lopsidedly at the thought. She was nude and she was just on the other side of that screen. The screen that didn’t really hide all that much since the fireplace was on the other side and the fire was going. It let him see her shadowy shape and pretty darn clearly. She would be horrified if she knew that. He tried to do the honorable thing and look away, but he couldn’t do it. He saw one leg lift high up into the air as she scrubbed it. Then she lifted up the other and did the same thing. Whew! He was feeling hot again! But nothing compared to how hot he felt when she stood up and stepped out of the tub. He nearly groaned out loud. Sarah Wagner had a fine shape. She was full-breasted with a tiny waist, and her hips were just the right size. A man could get a good grasp on those hips. She was one well-proportioned woman. He watched as she dried off and wrapped a towel around her body, and then another one around her hair. He saw her scurry out of the main room and disappear down the hall that led to the other rooms. When finally she came back, she was dressed in her nightclothes and she had brushed out her hair. He watched silently as she dumped the water out of the tub, one bucket at a time. He wished he could be doing that for her. He wasn’t good for anything right now. “I wish I was able to help you with that.” She jumped when he spoke out. “Oh, I didn’t know you were awake again. Have you been awake long? ” “Nope,” he lied through his teeth. “I didn’t mean to make so much noise, but since you are awake I have some medicine for your stomach. ” “Is it that god-awful stuff you poured down my throat earlier?” “It is,” she laughed. “I don’t need it. My stomach is feeling much better.” “Suit yourself. ” He knew that she knew he wasn’t telling the truth, but he couldn’t even stand the thought of tasting the vile concoction again. He would rather be sick than drink it. “How about some broth then? I’ve been keeping some warm for you. ” “Please.” He watched her with interest. She filled a cup with the hot broth and handed it to him. He got a glimpse of pale creamy skin as her robe pulled open a little. She had a plain white gown underneath. He was going to be imagining her naked for a long, long time. He studied her some more as she struggled with the heavy bathtub, dragging it near the cooking area. She placed flat boards over it and covered it with a cloth so that it doubled as a table. “Come sit with me a little while,” he asked her. He wanted to get to know this woman better. She was kind, thoughtful and industrious—there was just so much he liked about her. “Okay, would you like me to read you something? I have a few books if you would rather read to yourself.”
“No thanks, just sit with me. Don’t you ever rest a spell?” He felt guilty that he had increased her workload having to care for him. She came closer and pulled a wooden straight back chair up next to his bed. That wasn’t exactly what he meant, but it was better than nothing. “Of course I do. You have just slept through most of them.” She sat down, but then jumped up again. He raised eyebrows when he saw her put his gun back in his holster. He had left it hanging on the headboard for easy reach. When she sat back down, he asked. “Need my gun did you? ” She smiled, that sweet gentle smile of hers. “Hardly. You were a little out of your head earlier. I took it away from you after you pointed it at me.” “I did what?” His voice rose unconsciously. He didn’t remember this, not one bit. She wouldn’t lie to him about something like that. She was an honorable woman. “Sure did. You pointed it at me and thought I was someone else.” “God, Sarah, I am sorry. ” Was there no end to the trouble he put this woman through? “I knew you were ill, Lance.” She took his hand and patted it. That friendly reassuring hand pat annoyed him. Good grief, he didn’t want her to see him as just a patient. He was a man, damn it. “I am still sorry I frightened you. ” He took hold of her hand and pulled her closer until she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She didn’t fight him. “I will make it all up to you, I promise.” “There is nothing to make up for, Lance.” “Yeah, right. As if I haven’t totally disrupted your life? Now I even threatened you in the bargain. ” “It was nothing. Really. While I am sitting here, let me take a look at your wounds and see if the bandages need changing. ” She stood up and went to get an oil lamp so she could see more clearly. She unwrapped the leg wound first, and Lance noticed she was awfully careful to make sure she didn’t uncover any more of his leg than was needful. It made him smile a little. He was comfortable with his body. “This is looking healthier now. Very good, compared to what it looked like before.” She smeared some kind of ointment from a bowl on it, and wrapped it up again. The smell reminded him fondly of his Cherokee grandmother. She had used potions like that. Sarah then looked at his shoulder wound. “This one is healing nicely as well.” Her hands were gentle on his body. “Sarah? ” She was so very close as she leaned over him. She smelled like soap. He wanted to kiss her in the worst way. Her blue eyes looked into his brown ones inquisitively. Lance didn’t want to risk rejection, so he just reached out and pulled her close. He closed his eyes and laid his lips gently over hers. She tasted so damn sweet as he pulled her even closer to his body. He slanted his lips over hers and was just getting ready to deepen the kiss further when she pulled out of his arms. “You don’t have to do this.” Her flat statement puzzled him. “Do what? Kiss you? ” “It is okay, Lance. I told you. You don’t owe me anything.” She placed a hand over the side of her face as if to hide it from him. “You don’t have to be nice to me.”
“I wanted to kiss you, Sarah. ” He frowned. She looked sad. She started to get up and he stopped her. “Don’t leave, Sarah. ” He pulled on her arm. “Please.” “I don’t want your pity, Lance.” She bowed her dark head and there was such a look of vulnerability on her face. “Pity? I don’t pity you. I admire you. ” She glanced up at him. “Is it your face, Sarah? Tell me why you think I should pity you, because you look beautiful. Those few scars hardly show and they wouldn’t matter to me if they stood out like the noonday sun. You are a whole lot more woman than those few scars.” There were tears shimmering in her eyes. “You are very kind.” “I am not saying it to be kind. It is how I feel.” “It isn’t just my scars, Lance. It is my whole life.” Now he smiled. It was just like a woman to confuse the heck out of any situation. “Pray tell what could be so bad about your life that I would pity you for it, Sarah? ” She shook her head. “You will find out soon enough. ” “You can’t tell me yourself?” “No. I am not that brave. I hate to give up any part of this friendship with you even though it will only last a little while.” “Sarah, there is nothing you could tell me that would make me think less of you. ” He thought of Luanne. Hell, he’d fallen deeply, madly in love with a whore. If a man could overlook that, he could overlook anything. He couldn’t imagine what this sweet woman could have done that was so bad. “Tell me why you think this way. ” “Let it be, Lance.” She left the oil lamp on the chair for him. “Good night.” He watched as she climbed up that blasted ladder and effectively shut him out. “Good night, Sarah. Sleep well.” He lay there a long time thinking about Sarah. She seemed so sad. He hated that and it only reminded him of Luanne. The shame he could see her in eyes at times. She tho ught she wasn’t worthy of him. Is that the way Sarah felt about herself? It gave him a lot to think about. **** Sarah was hanging wash on the line behind the house the next morning when she heard a wagon coming up the road. She moved around to the side of the house so she could see better. Sure enough it had turned up her narrow lane. She dashed back around and into the house. “Whoa. Why are you running?” Lance was sitting up in bed and he looked so much better this day. He’d even put clothes on and made the trek to the outhouse, limping and leaning on a cane she had found for him to use. He’d come back worn out and slept like the dead but he made it. “Wagon’s coming. I don’t recognize it.” She was out of breath. “Relax, Sarah. It is only my brother, Rex. ” “How do you know? You can’t even see them from where you are yet.” “I’ve worked on that wagon enough times I know every groan it makes. Every pass of the wheel makes its own sound.” “I see.” She watched as the wagon pulled up out front and frowned. “If that is your brother, he doesn’t look like you at all.”
“Half-brother. Blonde hair? Good looking S.O.B? ” She smiled. “Yes. There is a woman and a baby with him. His wife?” “No. Rex isn’t married.” “I better go greet them.” She went to the door and opened it. “Morning, ma’am. My name is Rex Tremaine. I hear you are tending my brother Lance.” He held the baby in one arm and helped the woman get down from the wagon with the other, before carefully handing the child back to her. “Please come in. I am Sarah Wagner.” “Hello, Sarah. ” “Chastity! Come in, come in.” Sarah was surprised to see her. The bonnet Chastity wore shielded her face until she turned to face her. Sarah had helped with the birth of Chastity’s little girl. Chastity had always been good to her, even if they didn’t live close enough to be real friends. “How is the baby? ” They stayed on the porch for a moment chatting while Rex went in to find his brother. Both women knew they might need a little privacy. Rex stared at Lance. “What did you go and get yourself shot up for?” The truth was he was grateful to see Lance alive and in one piece. He had imagined him looking a lot worse. Rex knew Lance wouldn’t like it if he acted like a worried old mother hen. He was independent that way, always had been. Lance looked at him as if he couldn’t believe Rex had just said that. “I wanted to see what it felt like, what do you think?” Rex laughed at his indignation. “I think you just wanted that pretty lady to take care of you.” Lance grunted. “You ready to go home? Chastity and I can look after you. ” Rex saw Lance look at the door quickly and shook his head no. “I am staying here. You warn Chastity not to say any different.” “If that is the way you want it.” Rex pulled up a chair and sat down. The truth was that Lance spent very little time at the homestead so he wasn’t surprised he didn’t want to go with them. He’d made it plain years ago that the home place would go to Rex and Anna. He didn’t want any part of it, even though he was the oldest of the three. Now Anna was married, and she didn’t want it either. Rex felt fortunate to get the place and he had set aside funds to buy their shares. “It is.” “Chastity has her hands full with Sally anyway. Besides, I don’t want her falling in love with your dumb ass after all the time and effort I’ve been putting in with her. She might get to feeling sorry for you. ” Lance barked out a laugh. “As if that were possible! I have seen the way she looks at you. I am fine here with Sarah to look after me. I will be up and around soon. ” “Hope you are right. I am sorry you got shot and glad you are still alive. I know we don’t tell each other enough, but I care about you, Lance.” Lance grunted. He was a little uncomfortable with any display of emotions, even with his own family. “We don’t need the words to know the truth of it, do we?” “So long as you know. ” “And you. Now go get Sarah and Chastity to come in. I suddenly don’t feel so well.” “Not well enough to travel, eh? ” Rex’s blue eyes twinkled with the joke.
“Exactly. ” “I hope you know what you are doing, big brother.” “Me, too. It’s been a long time since I cared about being around a woman for very long.” Rex frowned. That was the truth of it. Not since Luanne. Thinking of Luanne reminded him of Luke and Anna. “Luke and Anna won’t be back for several weeks, I suspect. They had a long trip planned for the honeymoon. ” “They deserve it,” Lance grudgingly admitted. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about Luke Campbell, but as Luke was married to his sister Susannah, Lance had to make an effort to get along with him. He and Luke had a violent past history together. They had both fallen in love with the same woman, Luanne. They’d both wanted to protect her from the life she had chosen for herself—as a whore in a busy cathouse in South Carolina. Each of them had pressured her so much, and she had felt so unworthy of either of them, that she had taken her own life. She was the one who’d drunk the poison, but it had nearly killed Lance! He would have made her his wife and taken her from that place, but it had seemed that she didn’t love him enough to go on living—that was the truth of it. Irrationally, he blamed Luke Campbell for the tragedy, and they had come to serious blows over it. Luke being a sheriff at the time was the only reason Lance hadn’t called him out for a gunfight. With hindsight, it was a good thing he hadn’t. He would be dead now, as sure as the sun comes up in the mornings. Luke Campbell was that good with a gun. Though Lance knew that he himself wasn’t a slacker in that area either, Luke was just better. He shook his head—he didn’t want to think of Luke or Luanne right now. Lance could hear the women outside on the porch and listened to them through the open window as they talked. Rex was sleeping sitting up in a chair. Sleeping after a nice, filling lunch was a rare thing for him. Rex worked hard, all the time. Lance wondered how he really felt about being saddled with Spring Place Ranch. It was a big responsibility. It wasn’t that Lance wanted to avoid the responsibility—he just wanted the chance to make his own way in the world, not have it handed to him. What was the challenge in that? **** Little Sally lay next to him on the bed. She was asleep. She was such a bitty thing. He was afraid to touch her. He had never touched her and didn’t plan to, for fear of hurting the small babe. Rex didn’t seem to mind. He carried that baby around whenever Chastity wasn’t carrying her. Lance could tell how much Chastity and Sally meant to him. He just hoped Rex didn’t get his heart broken. The women came walking in the door about that time. Sarah showed Chastity a chest. She pushed it aside and pulled up a wooden door. Lance was surprised to see what looked like a cavern in the ground. “What a clever idea.” Chastity enthused. “I didn’t think of it. The original homebuilder did. I would have never thought about putting a well underneath the house for water and cold storage.” Lance thought it was a pretty good idea too. He hadn’t even realized it was there. “I think it was for hiding from Indians and filled with water instead,” Sarah told her. “It is still clever, no matter what, and I know it makes life so much easier for you. ”
Sarah looked around at Lance to see that he was awake. She was always checking on him. She took her job of caretaker seriously. “Can I get you something, Lance?” He put a big hand over his stomach as if it was hurting. “No, thanks.” He was actually starved and hadn’t eaten any of the scrumptious-looking lunch, just so he could make her think he wasn’t doing as good as he was. He would make up for it at suppertime if Rex and Chastity were gone by then. It wasn’t that he wanted to see them go, but … yeah, he did. He wanted to be alone again with Sarah. “Aren’t you feeling well? I thought you were doing so much better today. ” “I think the walking around earlier must have been too much for me.” “Yeah, he’s really sick. I don’t think we’d better take him home yet. The wagon ride would be miserable for him,” Rex inserted, waking up. “Maybe next week.” Sarah came and ran her hand over his cheek. “You don’t have a fever.” She was frowning in concern. “Stomach hurts. Leg hurts.” Lance wondered if she was trying to get rid of him. He knew it couldn’t be easy watching over him but dang it; he wasn’t ready to leave her yet. He saw Rex rolling his eyes at this play-acting. Chastity had a half-smile on her face. It wasn’t amusing, damn it, that he had been brought to scheming and plotting just to be near a woman. “He will be okay here,” Sarah told them decidedly. “It is just going to take time for him to get well. ” Damn straight it was. **** Sarah watched as Lance put away a very generous helping of the evening meal, two of them in fact. He looked like he was feeling better. “I didn’t know about Mike being killed until today, ” she offered. “That is so awful, Chastity with the new baby and all. She seems to be holding up well. ” “It was sad. Rex and I came across Mike’s body while we were hunting our sister’s kidnappers. It was the same band of outlaws, the Garner gang. Poor man had been gut shot and left for dead. We managed to get the killers.” “Kidnappers?” Sarah felt herself pale at the thought. People were killing and kidnapping? It was a crazy world they lived in. “Is your sister all right?” “Susannah’s fine now. Never happier,” he assured her. Sarah longed to ask if his sister had been raped. It was such a horrible fate for a woman. Lance didn’t seem to do the ‘hushed whisper, isn’t it awful’ thing. She must not have been raped and she hadn’t ended up dead like poor Michael Talbot. Sarah thought it was a fine thing that Susannah’s brothers had gone looking for her, to rescue her. Then she remembered her own father. He had tried to rescue her when the small band of renegade Indians had kidnapped her and killed her mother and brother. She had watched horrified as the Indians killed him and made her watch. She still had gruesome nightmares about it. If not for the Cherokees bartering for her, she would most likely be dead by now. They had raised her as one of their own and returned her to a missionary family the next winter. The Wagners had taken her in and become her family, until they succumbed to a fever a few years later. She still missed them and their kindness. “Hey. Are you okay? ” Lance asked, bringing her out of her introspective nightmare. “I am fine.”
“You looked a hundred miles off. Hard miles.” “My mind wandered.” She tried to smile at him. “Can I get you something else to eat?” “No, thanks, I am full.” He kept watching her with those dark eyes and it made her nervous. “Your brother seems very nice. It is so good of him to step in and look after Chastity and Sally.” “She is good for him, too. He gets lonely. Heck he even sent for a mail order bride.” “He did?” Sarah had heard of people doing that, but she just couldn’t fathom marrying someone you hardly knew. “She never came, after he sent her money and everything. ” “That’s a shame.” “Maybe not. Chastity might just be what he needs in his life. Too bad it comes at her first husband’s expense.” Sarah could only nod. “Mike was a fine man.” Chastity wasn’t the only widow in Georgia. There were too many of them. “I think I will make a trip outside before it gets much darker.” Lance stood up slowly. He leaned heavily on the curved handle of the cane. Lance had barely made it to the door whe n he stopped. “Wagon’s coming.” Sarah went to get her rifle. Lance threw open the door, unafraid, before he even looked to see who it was that approached. Sarah wouldn’t have done that. She peered around his big body since he was standing in the door. “It is the Johnson boys, and by the way they are driving, I would say it is time for their mama to deliver her baby. ” She watched Lance nod, and then he went on outside while Sarah collected her bag. He left the door open. “Miss Sarah, momma needs you to come quick,” Joshua said loudly, before he even got the wagon and horses stopped. “She is in a bad way. ” Jeremiah added. Then, when he belatedly noticed Lance, he said. “Whoa. He sure looks different.” “He is awake and walking around, you ninny. Get in the back so Miss Sarah can get up here. We gots to get going.” Jeremiah jumped in the back and Sarah started to climb aboard. “Sarah, wait.” Lance limped up to them slowly. “Go get my holster.” “What for?” She asked curiously. It was right inside the house. Surely he could make it indoors. It would be there when he needed it once he lay back down. “I am going with you. ” Sarah stared at him. “What?” “You heard me. I don’t want you to go alone.” “But…” “Go get the holster and then you can argue with me.” Sarah ran and got the holster because he was already climbing up in the seat of the tall wagon. He’d even taken the reins from Joshua, who sat in the back with his brother. He wasn’t frowning, so obviously the boy didn’t mind that Lance had usurped his position as driver.
Lance gave her a hand up to sit beside him in the seat. Once she was seated, he said, “Okay, now you can argue.” “I have made this trip by myself plenty of times.” “Ah-huh,” he said, as he slapped the reins. “The boys would be with me and they would bring me home. I wouldn’t be alone.” “Ah-huh.” He turned the wagon easily. The horses didn’t balk at his commands. “Why are you doing this?” She frowned. “You should stay in the house and rest.” “Because I want to. It gets hard on a man staying inside all the time.” “You could have sat on the porch. There is a chair there. You could have gone home yesterday with your brother Rex and Chastity for that matter.” He slanted a glance at her and she could have sworn he was keeping himself from laughing. “Yesterday I didn’t feel like getting out. Today I do.” “Well … okay. ” Sarah didn’t know why she was fussing at him. She was glad he was coming along. She just hoped he was really doing as well as he said he was. He turned the wagon towards Pleasant Dale and the Johnson farm on the other side of town. It was fully dark by the time they reached the town. This was the only part of the trip Sarah hated, going through the town. If there was a road that went around the town she would take it, just to avoid going through the center of town, but there wasn’t. Not one that was travel-worthy. Pleasant Dale was full of drunks and miners and shiftless lay-abouts who had come in search of gold. There were two drinking halls and both were always full of rowdy patrons. Even now they spilled over into the street. Sarah sighed in exasperation. Just as she suspected, there was going to be trouble. She knew it the moment she saw Prichard. He was staring at straight at them. “Well, if the little whore hasn’t gone and found herself a man,” he yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. People turned to look as the wagon passed down the street. Lance tensed beside her and Sarah put her hand on his arm. He looked ready to spring up. “Don’t please. He is drunk, just ignore him.” Prichard indeed had a bottle that he was drinking from at the moment. He wiped his mouth across his arm. “Figures it would be a breed. Only a breed would have her.” Sarah tightened her grip when Lance started to slow the wagon. “Please, he is not worth it and Mrs. Johnson needs us.” He looked at her small hand on his arm. He would do anything to please her but he couldn’t let this man get away with mistreating her like this. She meant too much to him. “Right.” Lance handed her the reins. “Hold tight.” Sarah was more than surprised when he stood up easily in the wagon. She watched as, with a smooth movement, he pulled his gun from his holster and fired it right at Prichard. The bottle that he was lifting to his mouth exploded around him, glass and liquid went all over him. “What the…” “You’ll be giving this woman your respect in the future or you will be dealing with me,” he warned Prichard, who just stared at them with open- mouthed shock. “That goes for all of you. ” Sarah realized that no one had ever stood up for her before. Neither Prichard nor any of the other men knew what to think about Lance’s threat, but they obviously took him seriously because no one said a word back to him. Sarah felt a funny sensation in the pit of her stomach. It nearly closed off her throat.
He didn’t defend the slur to himself. He defended the slur to her. It touched her more than he could know. Lance took the reins back and sat back down, careful not to strain his injured leg. “Damn fools.” “Whoa. Did you see that?” Jeremiah enthused. “I told you he was a gunslinger.” “Is not,” Joshua argued. “He is a sheriff.” “Is too.” “Is not,” Lance laughed, joining their argument. “I am not a gunslinger. You boys would do well not to emulate a gunslinger.” “Emu-what?” they both responded at the same time. “Imitate, copy or try to be like,” Sarah explained patiently. She was amazed though. Lance sure could shoot! Prichard might think twice about the name-calling and harassment now. “Thank you, Lance,” she smiled at him with gratitude. He only grunted at her thanks, as if he was uncomfortable receiving it. “You can tell me what that was all about later.” She wouldn’t tell him everything. It was too humiliating. Let him think it was just a thing between her and Prichard, she silently prayed. She didn’t want to see the disappointment or the revulsion in his handsome face when the time came. Ben Johnson was standing on the porch with an oil lamp in his hand when they pulled up. Ben Johnson was forty years old, with bright red hair and a hair lip that he kept well hidden under his big bushy red mustache. “Thank God. Hurry, Miss Sarah. Penelope is beside herself.” Sarah realized it was more than likely it was Ben Johnson who was beside himself. She grabbed her bag, and Lance grabbed her other hand before she could climb down, to help lift her from the wagon. She appreciated his help and his strength. The boys jumped down and took off to the barn. It was their ritual, they didn’t want to hear or know anything about their mother giving birth. “Ben, this is Lance Tremaine. He is the sheriff of Ophir. Lance, this is Ben Johnson. I better see to Penelope now, ” she made hasty introductions. It would be good for Ben to have a man around to talk to. He was nervous enough as it was. It was just part of his nature and she supposed Jeremiah and Joshua had a lot to do with that. Hopefully talking to Lance would keep his mind occupied, so that he wouldn’t be underfoot while she tended to Penelope. Sarah left them and entered the house. She knew right where Penelope’s bedroom was. She was his second wife and this was her second time to try and have a baby with Ben. The first baby had come way too early and had not lived, despite Sarah doing everything she knew to save it. “Evening, Penelope.” She opened the door to see the sweet young woman with the wheat-colored hair and fawn-colored eyes. Penelope couldn’t see her, though. Penelope was blind. In the morning at first light, Sarah was ready to go home. Baby William had made his entry into the world only an hour earlier. He was fat and healthy. His mother and father were both very proud. Penelope would sleep off and on for most the day. Ben was instructed to let her. It wouldn’t be long before she would have her full strength back. Joshua and Jeremiah were ready to drive Sarah back. She looked for Lance to come
out of the barn too, and then realized he had spent the night in the back of the wagon. In fact, he was still sound asleep. She studied his face. His black hair was mussed and those dark circles under his eyes looked even darker. The trip and sleeping outdoors was too much for him. His body wasn’t yet up to the demands he was trying to place on it. He looked peaceful and gentle when he slept. Then she reminded herself. He was a gentle man after all, even though he was self-possessed and self-assured. Sarah climbed in the back and let the boys take the seat. She managed to lift Lance’s head and rest it on her lap. It would make the ride more comfortable for him. He barely opened his brown eyes and smiled at her before he went right back to sleep. It was with a grateful heart that the few remaining men in town who weren’t asleep paid them little mind as the wagon rolled right on through on their way home.
Chapter Three Sarah was tending the vegetable garden beside the house when she heard another wagon coming at a fast clip down her road. Lance had slept part of the day away, he had been so exhausted after the trip to the Ben and Penelope’s farm. She wiped the dirt from her hands and grabbed the nearby rifle. When she saw it was Grace Prichard, she frowned. The wagon was loaded down and there were only two horses to pull it. She went to meet her. When she came around to the front of the house. She saw Lance standing in the doorway. He had his shirt off and she could tell he had just woken up. “Who is this?” he asked, without preamble. “Grace Prichard and all the kids.” She frowned. She saw all eight children with her and there were clothes and boxes fairly ready to tumble out of the overfull wagon. “Grace,” Sarah said as she pulled up. The kids who could jump out of the wagon looked like a human flood as they did just that. “Is there a problem?” “You kids don’t run off. We aren’t staying.” Grace Prichard was a tiny little brunette with the face of an angel. She looked delicate and porcelain doll fragile. It was a well known fact her marriage to Prichard was an arranged affair. She was also only twenty years old. “Yes.” She shook her head. “No.” She looked a little confused. Sarah glanced at Lance. He looked surprised. Was it Grace’s delicate beauty and age? Did the mass of kids make him take notice? Or was he wondering like everyone did how this young woman ended up married to a big bear of a man like Zack Prichard who was old enough to be her father. “Miss Sarah, I just wanted to say goodbye and thank you for everything before I go.” She had a babe wrapped in a blanket on her lap. She didn’t even get out of the wagon. Rose was about sixteen and sat next to her on the wagon seat. Rose was driving the wagon. Berry was Prichard’s oldest boy. He was eighteen. He had been in the back of the wagon until they stopped. Sarah had seen him put his rifle away. He had been watching for trouble, she knew it as surely as she was standing there. He came and stood by Grace at the side of the wagon. There was a bad bruise developing on his face. Sarah was used to seeing all the Prichard children with bruises and cuts—Grace too. No one was spared from Zack Prichard’s bad temper. “Are you okay, Berry? ” Sarah asked. She didn’t want to see any of them suffer, but when she told Prichard not to come back, she didn’t know of any other way to handle it. “Fine, Miss Sarah, but could you take a look at Grace?” Grace shook her head making her dark brown hair swirl around her pretty face. “There is no need.” Berry frowned, but he didn’t argue with her. “We are leaving. ” Berry told her. “You are taking all the kids and leaving?” Sarah repeated, questioningly. She looked at Grace for confirmation. Her chin quivered just a little. It wasn’t from tears—it was fear, pure and simple. “Yes.” “It’s a good thing then, ” Sarah told them, and she watched as both Grace and Berry
relaxed. “Where is Prichard?” “Out cold from drinking. We are hoping to get enough of a head start that he can’t catch up to us.” Berry looked up at Grace. “You don’t need to lie for me, Grace. Sarah understands.” He turned back to her. “It is true that he’s drunk, but I also shot him in the shoulder. He isn’t dead, though I wish he was.” Sarah glanced at Lance. He was standing quietly and hadn’t said anything. She hoped his being a sheriff wouldn’t make problems. He gave her a slight nod of his head. He wasn’t going to do anything. “Where will you go?” Sarah asked them. “Further west,” Berry responded. He lifted his chin just a little. It was a big responsibility these two were taking on. Sarah admired them. Berry had only stayed around to keep Prichard from hurting the kids, but even he couldn’t keep Prichard from beating them. Berry had been beaten countless times over the years because he tried to stand between the children and Zack. The evidence of the beatings was obvious from the scars on his face alone. Once, he barely survived the internal injuries that Sarah had not known how to treat. No one was spared Zack’s violence. “Well, then, you will be needing an additional wagon and some supplies,” Sarah told them, matter-of-factly. She saw Lance limp heavily as he went back in the house and came right back out with his shirt on. “We can’t accept that,” Berry hesitated. “Yes, you can, and you will, for the children’ s sake,” Sarah reminded him. “Please. There are extra wagons in the back of the barn. They were left here. They aren’t prairie schooners, but they will do the job.” The previous owners had left one behind in the barn, the other one Sarah had used for her own trip. They were better suited for a long trip. One even had the canvas bonnet made to fit the smaller-sized wagon. Lance limped down the steps leaning on his cane. “Come on, I will help you pull it out.” “Thanks, Mister.” Berry nodded his appreciation. “Eli, you and Jody come help too,” he lifted his voice to his younger brothers. “There are several horses in the pasture. Take one or two as well,” Sarah said. “But not the paint. That one is Lance’s.” She watched as they walked off slowly. Lance really shouldn’t be doing this much work with his wounds still healing, but she was grateful for his help. She didn’t want Prichard to catch up to the small group. They needed all the advantage they could get. “Are you sure you are okay, Grace?” Sarah asked her aga in now that the men folk weren’t around. She nodded and tinge of pink spotted her cheeks. “Zack wanted to … resume relations this morning when he came home.” “I see.” It was way too early. The babe was only three weeks old. “Berry stepped in,” she told her softly. “I think he might have killed me, Sarah. I was so frightened and he was so drunk. He called me awful, foul names.” “Berry did the right thing,” Sarah assured her. “Berry will take good care of you. Now do you want to sit there or come inside the house while I round up some extra supplies?” “I will stay here, if you don’t mind … just in case … he comes.” There was fear and
nervousness in her voice. Sarah nodded. “Rose, come help me. Jessie, you too.” It was no time before she had bags of supplies and extra staples piled up, ready for the other wagon. She threw in a couple of blankets and an extra box of bullets. She wished she had more to give them. Then Sarah realized she had chickens and cows, even pigs. She sent the girls to pick out two chickens and a baby piglet. The men would have to rope a cow. She didn’t know how they would keep them corralled during the trip, but they would have to think of something. They might need the meat and the milk. The eggs would go a long ways, too. Lance and Berry were back and started moving all the supplies into the second wagon. “There was an extra length of rope in the barn, I grabbed it. Hope you don’t mind.” “I don’t,” she smiled at Lance, glad that he was thinking along the same lines she was. “Would you rope them a milking cow with it?” “Can do.” He left to do just that, Berry following in his wake. “Oh, Miss Sarah. Thank you so much. ” There were tears in Grace’s pretty blue eyes. “This means so much to us, and I only wanted to tell you goodbye.” “You are welcome, Grace. It is a good thing that you and Berry are doing. I only wish I could help more.” “Please take care of yourself, Miss Sarah. I would hate to think what Zack might do if he finds out you helped us.” “He won’t, and if he does I may just shoot him myself,” Sarah smiled and it drew a reluctant smile from Grace. It had been a long time since Grace had smiled spontaneously. Lance and Berry came back with the cow and tied her to the first wagon. The kids once more clambered up, into the two wagons this time. Goodbyes were short, but heartily meant as the wagons pulled away. “I hope they will be all right,” Sarah said to Lance, who was standing silently by her side. “They will be,” he assured her. “That Berry looks like he can handle it.” “He is a good man.” Sarah’s eyes misted over. She was going to pray extra hard for the small family. “The only reason he stayed around was to protect the kids and Grace from Prichard.” “What about that last kid? The one who died?” Sarah turned to him. “I am sure Prichard waited until Berry wasn’t around. Prichard is a big man. Not many men could come out of a fight with him unscathed.” Lance nodded. He was remembering his own fight with Luke Campbell, whose huge size had made it really hard to hold his own against him. “You better take the weight off your leg, ” she reminded him, and led him up the steps and into the house. “You are a good woman, Sarah Wagner,” Lance told her as he sat down at the table. “Not many people would have wanted to get involved and help them like that.” She was glad to see that he wasn’t returning to bed right away. He was growing stronger every day. She sat down with him. The vegetable garden could wait just a little longer. “I mean that,” he added when she didn’t answer.
“Thank you, Lance.” “Now, tell me why Prichard seems to think you are a whore. Why he thinks you couldn’t get a man except a breed? Especially a woman as beautiful as you are.” “I don’t think of you as a breed, Lance.” She tried to sidetrack him. He had called her beautiful again. Her heart thrilled, but then she realized she was coming to care for this man and it would only break her heart when he rejected her. “Sarah. I am a half-breed,” he sighed. “I’ve been called names all my life and some of them a lot worse. They don’t bother me and they haven’t for a long time. I want to know why he…” “Please, Lance,” she practically begged. She didn’t want to talk about this. Couldn’t he see that? He stretched an arm across the table and grabbed her hand when she would have stood up. “I know when I have kissed innocence, Sarah. Has someone done something to damage your reputation? Is that it?” “No.” She tried to pull her hand back, but he kept it and used a single finger to rub the back of her hand. It was a small comforting gesture, but it meant so much to her. “I need to finish the gardening, and then I will start supper.” He released her hand. “Have it your way for now, Sarah. ” Two more days passed. Lance was getting frustrated. Sarah didn’t share much of a personal nature with him. Now he knew how his own family must have felt all these years. Lance had never shared much with them either, preferring to keep to himself. That was what she was doing, keeping him at an emotional distance. He wished it wasn’t so, but he didn’t know what else to do to get close to her. They had just finished breakfast and Lance felt pretty energetic. “Sarah. I am going into Ophir today. ” He needed to check in with George and pick up some of his own clothes. They were stored at the recently-built clapboard jail. He had some money there, too. He thought he and Sarah could stop at the general store and pick up a few things. He really did intend to help replace her supplies. She stared at him with those cornflower blue eyes just slightly larger than normal. “I see. I will miss having you here Lance.” She looked sad. He could see she was sincere. He gave her a crooked smile. “I can’t sit a horse yet, Sarah. Can I borrow your wagon? ” “Surely.” Then she smiled because she realized he would have to bring the wagon back. Lance watched as she took the dishes to the washtub. He couldn’t help much with only one hand. He still needed the cane when he walked. He grabbed his plate though and carried it over. “You could come with me.” She hesitated and he wondered over it but at least she accepted. “I would love to.” “Good. I’ll go hitch up the wagon. ” The day turned out to be a warm one. The sun felt good against Lance’s skin. He smiled at Sarah. Her mood seemed happy and content. He knew his was. Her calm presence was the reason for most of it. They stopped at a stream to let the horses get a drink of water. Sarah had brought along a basket with food so they decided to eat an early lunch there by the river in the cool shade of the many trees.
Lance found an oilcloth in the back of the wagon and he spread it for them to sit on. “It is so lovely here,” she enthused, happily sitting down on the cloth. It took him longer to sit down and get comfortable. Lance thought she was the lovely one. It was beautiful here by the peaceful meandering river but it couldn’t hold a candle to her loveliness. She wore pretty blue ribbons that almost matched the color of her eyes in her black hair. The simple cotton skirt she wore looked like a multicolored fan, with all the different pieces patched together. It had stitching on it that was X after X. The white blouse complimented her olive complexion and clung to her shapely form. The more he looked at her, the more he thought he might just kiss her any minute now. “What are you looking at?” Sarah looked down at her clothes. They weren’t the latest fashion but they were clean and serviceable. “You. You look very pretty today, Sarah. ” She smiled shyly, and for once he thought she might just believe what he was telling her. “Come here, you. ” Lance stretched out his long arm and grasped the back of her head, pulling her close. It was time for that kiss. She didn’t even balk. He placed the whisper softest of kisses on her lips. When she sighed, he deepened the kiss. She was the sweetest thing and she didn’t know how attractive she was. Any man would find her attractive. He sure did. “Come closer.” He pulled her into his arms and held her, while he continued to kiss her with the utmost care. He knew what a rare gift it was that he held in his arms. This woman was one of a kind. Kissing Sarah heated his blood and sent it rushing straight to his loins. He groaned softly. She pulled back. “Are you okay? Am I hurting you? ” She tried to look him over and see if she had been pressing against any of his wounds. “You are killing me,” he chuckled. “Just not in the way you think.” She looked at him questioningly. Lance lay down on the cloth and stretched his sore body out to full length. “I told you. You are a beautiful woman, Sarah. I wish I could make love with you, ” he admitted honestly. “Okay. ” “Okay? ” He wasn’t sure she understood what he wanted and he wasn’t sure he understood if she was accepting the compliment or the suggestion. “Please forgive me for wanting to share this with you, Lance, but I would like it if you made love to me.” Her blue eyes slid away a little shyly and then slid back to look at him. He shook his head in denial of what he was hearing. “Sarah? Why would I need to forgive you for something like that? It makes my heart swell to know that you want me— but do you know what you are saying?” “I will surely disappoint you. ” Ah, so she did understand and she was agreeable. “Did it ever cross your mind that it might be I who disappoints you? ” He could see it hadn’t. He pulled her down next to him. “Sweet, unp retentious Sarah.” He kissed her until she was a boneless pile of submission and need. Then he
touched her to gauge her reaction, laying his hand upon her breast. She didn’t pull away, so he began to stroke and caress her through her blouse. When the restlessness assailed him, he unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off of her shoulders. Undoing her corset was another matter altogether, so Lance left it in place and pulled the top of it down, exposing the globes of her beautiful breasts. They were soft and the rose-colored buds were already perking to his attention. Lance placed his mouth on a bud and was rewarded when he heard her indrawn hiss of air. “Do you like this, Sarah? ” “Yes,” she whispered and her hands grasped at his hair greedily. “I like it, too.” He drew her nipple into his mouth again and tormented her with his tongue. At the same time, he pulled up her skirt and began to stroke her legs through her pantaloons. While he caressed her, he pulled the pantaloons down her hips and legs. He smiled when she eagerly tried to kick them off, but her boots got in the way. “These darn things.” “Hold on. ” Lance reached down and unlaced her boots and pulled them off for her. While he was at it, he slipped off his own boots. Sarah kicked off her pantaloons, but pulled down her skirt to hide herself from his eyes. “Ah, Sarah, don’t hide yourself from me. You have already seen everything I have to offer,” he teased. “You’re right. And I have lusted after a man who was unconscious and in need of my help. I am a horrible person. ” “Lady, you are the most giving woman I have ever met. We all lust, Sarah, one way or the other. Some lust for flesh, some for power, some for riches or gold.” He kissed her and pulled her halfway under him. “Right now, I lust for you, your sweet lips and your soft, womanly body. ” Lance took his time to caress and kiss her body. He wanted to bring her pleasure. For once, a woman’s pleasure came before his own. He was always good to his women but he wanted it to be extra special for Sarah. She deserved his utmost endeavor. Once more he slipped his hand under her skirt and ran it up her leg slowly, letting her get used to his touch. Then he massaged her hip and stomach. Finally he touched the heart of her womanhood and found, to his surprise, that she was already damp in her excitement. She jumped just a little, as if to be touched intimately this way was new to her. Suddenly he wished they were back at her house, so that he could not only pleasure her, but spoil her with tenderness. That was another first for Lance. He didn’t usually want to put off his own sexual gratification for any reason. He did now. Knowing Sarah Wagner was changing him, and for the better. “Sarah. ” He looked into her wide, blue eyes. “I think we should wait until we have you back home again. ” She blinked a few times as if to clear her vision. He hadn’t taken his hand away from her body. That could have been some of it. “Please, Lance. I think I might die if you don’t go on touching me.” He smiled and tenderly kissed her eyes closed. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for that.” Lance cupped her with his whole hand. She was restless by the time he stroked her with just his fingers, being as tender and caring as he could.
He slipped a single finger inside her and she gasped. Her eyes popped open again. “Keep your eyes closed. It will help with the enjoyment. Just concentrate on what my hand is doing to your body. ” Lance kissed her eyes closed once more, and then kissed her soft lips. He began to move that experienced finger in and out of her body. Then he added a second one. “This is just a little sample of what it will feel like when I am the one inside you, ” he whispered against her lips. She pushed and lifted her hips slightly off the ground. She was enjoying it. He moved his hand upon her faster until she was nearly bucking with excitement. “Lance,” she breathed out his name. “That’s it. Relax into it, Sarah. It will happen when it happens—you don’t need to force it.” “What will happen? This feels so good. Is there more?” “More?” He realized that Sarah might be even more innocent than he realized. “Sarah, are you a virgin?” he asked softly. “No,” she whispered and put his mind at rest. “Ah, so you have never felt the explosion at the end of the passion, ” he surmised, and used his thumb to stroke her bud. He was happy that he could do this for her, ecstatically happy. He was the man who would ignite her body. He was the man who would help her realize her passionate nature. “Lance!” Her voice raised and she clamped her legs tightly around his hand. “That’s it. Let it happen, Sarah. ” He still moved his fingers in and out until he was sure she had come to complete fulfillment. “That’s it.” He kissed her and nuzzled her neck. He was a hard as the proverbial rock, but he was determined that when he took her it would be in a soft bed and only after he had done many pleasant things for her. “Nice, wasn’t it?” “It was, indeed. Thank you, Lance.” “Thank you, Sarah. ” “What are you thanking me for? Aren’t we going to … uh…? I don’t know what to call it.” Lance sensed she needed the pleasant words. “Share ourselves?” “Yes. Aren’t we going to share ourselves?” Her blue eyes sparkled and he was happy to see interest there. “You bet, but not now. Tonight. In your bed, in your house.” He pulled his hand away from her body and pulled her skirt down. “Oh. ” There was a trace of disappointment in her eyes. Lance brushed the dark hair away from her face and cupped her cheek. “Don’t look like that, Sarah. That way it can be really special for you. Not out here in the open with little time to show you the full pleasures of making love,” he explained and kissed her. Her soft smile was something dreams were made of. “You are very good to me.” He helped her to sit up so she could get dressed. It was the hardest thing he had ever done, because right now he wanted to lose himself in this woman in the worst possible way. “I intend to be,” he promised himself. Lance handed her the discarded shoes and watched as she laced them back on her feet. He slipped on his own boots. “And, for that, I will need a whole lot of that lunch you brought, to keep my strength up.” She laughed at
him because she thought he was teasing. Lance was more serious than he had ever been in his life. This woman needed him as much as he was growing to need her, and he wanted the physical strength to please her in every way. **** Sarah watched silently as they entered the town of Ophir. It had changed a lot since the last time she was here. She realized it had been about five years ago. She didn’t like Ophir. The people had never been good to her. Only Chastity and Mike had treated her with any respect, and now Mike was dead. Out of consideration for Chastity and the quiet of Sarah’s home, Mike had brought Chastity to her house to have the baby. She had gotten to know the couple pretty well by the end of the week. Sarah had hated to see them leave. The town was a noisy, bustling mass of people with their wagons and horses. She could hear the rough sounds of new buildings being erected. The gold miners brought the need for new businesses. A few people waved a greeting at Lance. He pulled up in front of a new clapboard building that had “JAIL” painted over the door with big, sloppy lettering. “Want to come inside?” She shook her head. “I will wait on the wagon. ” He frowned at her hesitation, but said, “I will be right back, then. ” Sarah watched him walk into the small building and out of her sight. There were so many people wandering up and down the street. The street was lined with wagons selling goods, wagons being lived in and wagons that had broken down. Ophir only seemed to have one saloon. That would be a blessing. They would have less trouble than Pleasant Dale with two. She no more than thought it, when a slurred voice sounded to her right. “So, the little Indian lover is back. We thought you got smart and left these parts long ago.” Sarah tensed, but refused to look at the man who was undoubtedly talking to her. Her hands clasped each other so tight that her nails were biting into the soft flesh. If she ignored him surely he would go away. “Hey, Indian lover. I’m talking to you. ” She hadn’t realized Lance had come out of the building and heard what was said. She did hear his bag as it was thrown hard into the back of the wagon. “Just who are you insulting? ” His voice was low and deadly. “Surely it isn’t this lovely woman here. Or is it because she is with me?” He came around the wagon to confront the man who was there. She still refused to look at him, either of them. She didn’t want to see that ‘look’ when it came into Lance’s eyes when he found out she had lived with the Indians. “Ah … we didn’t see you, Sheriff.” “Is that an excuse?” “Ah, no, sir … we know you are part Injun but…” “But what?” “You don’t act like the rest of those heathen redskins,” the man said defensively. “So it is okay for you to torment this innocent woman who is with me? Who is acting the heathen now?” “Not because of that, Sheriff.”
“Then why? Make it good, because I am going to beat the living daylights out of you.” “Don’t you know? She…” She couldn’t let this happen. He wasn’t in any shape for fist fighting. “Lance, please,” Sarah called out his name in panic. He stepped back to look up at her and she could see him clearly then. The strong face she was coming to love so much. “Could we just leave?” He frowned and Sarah knew what he was seeing. He was seeing her pale face and her tense body. She couldn’t hide them. She just didn’t want him to find out. Not yet. Please, just a little while longer, she prayed. Let this good man be a part of my life just a little while longer. “I ’pologize, Sheriff.” The man said, realizing this was his way out of the predicament he made for himself. “Not to me. Apologize to the lady, ” Lance told him forcefully. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” Sarah nodded her head. She still refused to look at the man. She didn’t want to know who it was. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was for Lance to take her away from here before he found out about her. “Beat it then, and watch what you say to people,” Lance warned hotly. “Keep your opinions to yourself. Next time I won’t let you off so easily.” He didn’t move until the man left, and then he climbed up in the wagon. It was hard restraining the anger in him that wanted to pummel the man’s face into oblivion. He kne w instinctively Sarah wouldn’t like that, no matter what the reason. “I’m sorry for that, Sarah. Some people don’t have the brains they were born with. ” “It isn’t your fault.” She laid a hand on his leg and he covered it with his own. “Isn’t it? Sarah, to be with a mixed-blood person like myself could cause you all kinds of problems. I should have thought of that.” Sarah had to fight back a hysterical laugh. It wasn’t because of him. “It isn’t because of you, Lance. It’s because of me. It’s because…” “Sheriff!” George Rafferty came down the sidewalk about that time, interrupting the confession that Sarah wanted to make. Not the whole story, but enough of one that Lance wouldn’t blame himself. She didn’t want him thinking he was the problem. “George, how are things going?” Lance greeted him. “Not too bad. We have had three evenings in a row without a single fight or gunshot.” Lance smiled. “That is good news. George have you met Sarah Wagner yet?” Sarah looked at the slender man with the English accent. He wore a dandy’s hat on his head and a deputy’s badge on this silk vest. His woolen pants were too large for him and he held them up with the belt for his holster. He looked to be about twenty-five years old. He had a gruff sounding voice for a face that was open and smiling. The Johnson boys were right; he didn’t look like any lawman she had ever seen. He tipped his hat with his hand. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.” “Nice to meet you, Mister Rafferty, ” she smiled back, pleased with his friendliness. There might be some good people in Ophir after all. “George, we are headed to Chastity’s next for some supplies. Is it open? ” “Sure is. I just came from there. Since we hired on May Ling, I don’t have to stay so
close to the store.” “May Ling?” “Prettiest little China doll I ever did see, and a hard worker, too.” Sarah thought his chest was going to puff out in pride. It was obvious he cared for May Ling. She noticed Lance covering a smile with a wipe of his big hand across his face. When the men had done talking about the town and they arrived at the store, Sarah could see why George Rafferty was so impressed with May Ling. She had long, black hair pulled back in a single braid, a small oval face and pretty brown eyes. Her complexion was smooth and looked like porcelain. There was a strange peacefulness about her. Sarah noticed right away that May Ling would never look anyone directly in the eyes. She was so small—pretty and delicate- looking. Sarah would have been jealous of her beauty, but Lance didn’t seem to be paying the woman any mind at all. He was busy searching the shelves and gathering supplies. How could he not notice the lovely woman? Even the men who walked past the shop window and glanced inside stepped back for a second look. “This ought to do it.” Lance placed the last of his selections on the counter. “Sarah, is there anything you need or want?” She shook her head to say no and watched as the woman tallied the items efficiently, writing the total on a paper for Lance to read. She wouldn’t even speak. “Not on the tab, thanks. I will pay now. ” Sarah wandered to the window to look outside. There was so much hustle and bustle in the small town. She was sure glad she didn’t have to live in a town. She remembered when the Wagners came through Ophir for the first time. They had been seeking help for her. She was very ill with some kind of childhood sickness. They didn’t find it. Ophir had no doctor. Instead all they found in the three days they stayed at the boarding house was humiliation and hate. Sarah realized the day they left Ophir that nothing would ever be any different from then on. She was tainted. She had the touch and the stench of Indians on her. It didn’t matter that she was white. It didn’t matter that she had just been a child and had no choice. It didn’t matter that she had lived through something no one should ever be put through. It only mattered that she had lain with an Indian and was dirty and sullied now. The Wagners told everyone her tale trying to help find any relatives. They had tried to garner understanding for her, but it had backfired on them. A single tear fell from her eye. She was surprised at that. She hadn’t cried for herself in a long time, so it was long overdue. She could cry for others but not for herself. She came back to herself whe n she felt Lance’s hand at the small of her back. “Sarah? ” Her eyes cleared when she turned to him and she tried to smile, but it was a worthless attempt to hide her pain. “Are you okay? I guess those men upset you more than I realized. I’m sorry. ” Sarah sighed heavily and this time the pain left with the breath. Her smile was genuine because he cared for her. “I am fine, Lance. Can I help carry something?” He frowned, his dark brows drawing together. “It’s all in the wagon. Let’s go, unless there is anything else you need while we are in town. ” She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, that she hadn’t even seen him load the wagon. Sarah was determined to be happy for his sake. He didn’t need to be worrying
about her. “I don’t, but there is one thing. ” She hadn’t made the trip out to her folk’s house in over five years. She might as well check on it since she was in the area. She seldom came this way without good reason. “What is that?” He guided her out of the store with that same strong hand, and she enjoyed the possessive feel of it. She had to claim the memories with him while she could. They might have to sustain her for the rest of her life. “Could we stop on our way back to Pleasant Dale? I would like to check on my parents’ old home. No one has lived in it for years, but I wanted to check on it again. It isn’t that far out of the way. ” “Sure. Just let me know where to turn off.” He helped lift her up in the wagon and Sarah noticed all the people staring at them. Did Lance notice? Did he even care? She wondered what the townspeople thought about them, and worried that she knew the answer to that. The wagon creaked with his weight and he sat down next to her, being careful to arrange his leg for comfort. He flicked the reins and they were off, but the minute they were out of the center of town, he spoke. “Sarah. I’m really sorry those men upset you. ” “They didn’t really,” Sarah told him honestly. She had learned a long time ago to let things like that go. She couldn’t change them and she didn’t want those hurtful words festering in her soul. As it was, it had taken her years to overcome her bitterness. “Some men are ignorant and will always be that way. It only matters how I chose to let their words and actions affect me.” “You are an amazing woman, Sarah Wagner.” He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. That made Sarah happy. When the old blacksmith’s shop came into view. Sarah noticed immediately it wasn’t as run down as it had been the last time she saw it. Her father had run a small blacksmith’s business before the Indians came. It was nothing more than an old lean-to near the main road but it had brought him plenty of business at one time. Was someone living in the old homestead now? “Turn there, please.” She pointed to the narrow path that meandered its way to the house. “Here?” Lance frowned, but Sarah didn’t give it a thought. She was too busy remembering scenes from the past—her mother’s gentle smile, her father’s boisterous ways, and her brother’s relentless teasing. Lance turned the horse and wagon down the lane. “Sarah? ” “It is okay, Lance. I just wanted to see the place again. ” “What?” He asked and the one word was short and clipped. Sarah didn’t notice that either as the house came into view. It was clean and looked well-tended. Even the garden had been weeded and was full of flowers. “Oh, wait. Stop,” she said. Someone was indeed living here now. She knew it wouldn’t stay vacant forever. A slow smile tugged at her mouth. It was good someone was getting use out of the place. She prayed the people here would only find good memories, not the bad ones she had. “Never mind, Lance. Someone is living here now. I don’t want to disturb them.”
She looked over at Lance. He had the reins held tightly in his hands and was staring at her as if she were a demon. “What’s the matter?” “How do you know this place?” “I grew up here, Lance, before my parents were killed.” “Here? In this house?” “Yes. I haven’t checked on it in over five years.” She had made several trips—every summer when she first returned to the area—just to see if her brother might have survived and was still alive. She had never found anyone, just the empty, forlorn-looking house. “Someone is living here now. I don’t want to disturb them. ” He was still frowning and there was anger boiling under the surface. She could see it, but didn’t understand it. “This is the Campbell house. You said your name was Wagner. I believed you. ” It was Sarah’s turn to frown. “I didn’t lie, Lance. The Wagners adopted me.” He turned the wagon around jerkily and Sarah was suddenly afraid of his anger. She was afraid of him. He looked dark and menacing. “You are Sarah Campbell. The one taken by Indians.” Oh, my God! He knew. Somehow he knew what had happened to her. He wasn’t happy with her any longer. “Yes,” she whispered, more ashamed than she ever had been in her entire life. His opinion mattered so much to her. “Isn’t that just my damn luck?” He stopped the wagon by the blacksmith’s shop and got down, tossing the reins at her. “Lance?” Sarah’s voice choked off. It was here, the moment she had been dreading. She couldn’t even look him in the eyes. She didn’t want to see the disgust on his face. “You’ve got your rifle for protection. Go home, Sarah, ” he said, and began limping back towards town angrily. Sarah sat there for several long moments and watched his back. He was walking off? Just like that? She hadn’t set out to deceive him. He wasn’t even going to give her a chance to explain anything. She had only been eight years old when the Indians took her and people expected that she might have been able to save herself? That she might have been able to change something? Unconsciously she raised her hand to the side of her scarred face as if to protect it. Sarah numbly picked up the reins lying in her lap and snapped them. All color and expression left her countenance. Nothing ever changed. Another little part of her soul died that day. Hope died along with it. She had thought Lance just might be the man to understand, the man who could see she was more than what had happened to her. She was wrong again.
Chapter Four Lance moodily stared at the wood slat ceiling. He was currently lying on a makeshift bed in the back of the jail. It was supposed to be for prisoners. Hell, he felt like one. He was a prisoner of circumstance. The long walk back into town had nearly killed him and, if not for the passing of a wagon and family to give him a ride, he wouldn’t have made it at all. Sarah Wagner was Luke Campbell’s sister. He shook his head in disbelief. Obviously, neither one knew the other still lived. The ramifications boggled the mind. When she had asked him to turn off at Luke Campbell’s house he was astonished, but then she had admitted who she was. He was familiar with that house. He had found his sister there with Luke Campbell when she had been kidnapped. How could he have fallen for Luke’s sister? Why couldn’t it have been anyone else’s sister? He should have realized, though, because, now that he thought about it, Sarah and Luke were very similar in appearance. They had the same black hair and blue eyes. The same skin color. Even some of the expressions they made looked the same. He should have known, but he hadn’t made the connection. Luke Campbell was still a raw spot on his mind and heart. He might be married to Anna, his half-sister, but they had fought over the same woman once. His leg ached something fierce and he couldn’t believe he’d just abandoned her. He had left Sarah to make the trip home alone, without protection, all because of his stupid pride. Did his hate and bad feelings toward Luke mean more to him than she did? She couldn’t help anything her brother had done. He was an idiot, a flat out idiot. She was sweet and warm and loving and he had treated her as if she was nothing. He should shoot himself. Lance knew that he alone knew the secret that her brother was still alive. He would have to tell her. How could he not? She needed family, even if it was only Luke Campbell. He groaned again, and this time not from pain. Could Luke Campbell get any more involved in his life? Campbell married his sister and Lance thought that it was bad enough he would have to see him on occasion. Now Lance had managed to fall in love with Luke’s sister. They would be entwined like a ball of rattlesnakes. He would forever be seeing the man. Lance raised his arms behind his head. He missed Sarah, badly. His body ached. It wasn’t just his wounds either. His body ached to be with her. He could see her in his mind’s eye lying on the cloth by the stream, with trust and the stirrings of passion in her blue eyes. He had brought those passions to life in her. “Damn it,” he swore, and sat up. He would have to try and sit a horse the best he could. It would be after dark before he could get back out there, but he was going to Sarah. He had to be with her. There was no other way and his heart recognized it. He was a man who had never lived life by the rules, but loving Sarah had changed that. He wanted to make her his wife. He wanted to let the rules of love bind him now, bind him to Sarah.
**** Sarah knew someone had violated her house before she even opened the door. She knew because that same someone had slit the throats of all her chickens and they lay all over the yard in bloody testament. This just couldn’t be happening to her but it was. So many bad things all in one day! She couldn’t even cry as she saw the mess and destruction inside her home. It made her shiver in fear and memories instead. The Indians had done a job like this on her parent’s home the day they killed her family and stole her away. This wasn’t the work of renegade Indians though. This was the work of a vengeful man. Zack Prichard to be exact. She just knew it. She didn’t have any real enemies that she knew of. Carefully, with gun in hand, she searched the house and when she didn’t find anyone, she bolted the door and began to clean up. It was going to take a long while. She lit the lamps early. She was worried and afraid that he might come back. She saw Prichard in her mind’s eye. He was big and burly and frightening, and she already knew how violent he could be. She was trembling. She couldn’t get the long table turned back over on her own so she left it for later when she wouldn’t be so tired. It had been a lengthy, upsetting day, but the fear now drained her energy just as much as the emotional turmoil had earlier. The last straw came when she slipped on the bullets scattered all over the floor. She kept them in the loft for protection along with a rifle. She screamed out when her butt came in hard contact with the wooden floor. There was a sudden loud pounding on the door and it made her jump in fright. Lance practically bellowed, “Sarah! ” She could hear the tension in his voice. She hadn’t heard a horse or a wagon, but he had obviously heard her scream. “What do you want?” She tried to stand up, rubbing her sore butt at the same time. She was lucky her tailbone wasn’t broken. She kicked at the bullets in her anger and frustration. “I want you to open this door and let me in,” his voice practically growled. “No. Go away. I don’t want to talk to you. ” The tears started forming in her eyes. It was humiliating enough as it was. A part of her was happy that he was back but did she have to cry, now after all this time? She didn’t want him to see her like this. She didn’t want him feeling sorry for her either. “I am coming in, Sarah, one way or the other,” he warned darkly. She could tell he meant it. “Oh, hold on. ” Irritably she limped over to the door and raised the wooden bolt. She didn’t even have time to open the door and stand back. Lance threw it open and stepped inside. “Are you okay? I heard you scream.” His black eyes were worried. She could see it clearly. Worried and there was a touch of fear in them. Was he afraid for her? He must have seen all the dead chickens on his way in, just as she had. His hands grasped her arms, and she felt comforted from the small contact. She stopped trembling. “I fell.” “Are you hurt?” His deep brown eyes scanned over her body intently. “Just my pride,” she muttered. She had landed on it. She knew she must look a mess after the day she had. Only when he was assured she was all right did he release her and look around the room. He shut the door and bolted it back.
“You aren’t staying. ” She tightened her jaw and hardened her heart against the concern she saw in his eyes. He had rejected her and she was still hurt. She had expected better from him. “I am staying, ” he answered just as stubbornly. “Who did this? Prichard?” “Most likely, or it could have been any number of the yahoos in town. ” “I am sorry, Sarah. ” He brushed his fingers tenderly over her cheeks, wiping away her salty tears. “It isn’t your fault someone decided to tear up my place.” She leaned into his touch. She needed it so bad. She needed him. He pulled her, unresisting, into his arms. “I am sorry about that, too, of course, but Sarah, I was referring to earlier today. I am sorry I just left you and walked away. You deserved to be treated better than that. I didn’t even stay and explain why I was so upset.” She clutched him tightly, letting the wonderful feeling that he cared about her rush through her. It was hard to always be strong, and right now she didn’t feel the least bit strong, so she soaked up his strength. He held her for a while and then pushed her away gently. “Let me set the table upright for you. Then I will go unhitch your horses. You left them and the wagon out front.” She watched as he easily flipped the long heavy table back over as if it weighed nothing. “I forgot all about them, ” she nodded and felt horribly guilty about that. She was still a little choked up. “I will sweep up the bullets.” She didn’t want to fall on her ass again and Lance wasn’t able to get around with that leg so good. She didn’t want him slipping on them either. She was so grateful he was back. She wouldn’t have to be afraid now. Sarah was sick and tired of being afraid and being alone. “It doesn’t all have to be done tonight, you know, ” he reminded her gently. “I know. ” She couldn’t live with the mess though. She would have to do some straightening up. “But we do need to talk, Sarah. There is something very important I need to tell you.” “There is something I need to tell you, too, Lance,” Sarah admitted. There wasn’t any putting it off any longer. He needed to know what kind of woman he was getting involved with even though she suspected he knew. It was the reason; after all, that he left her today. “Okay, I will be right back after I take care of the horses.” He unbolted the door and went out into the night. Sarah prayed he would stay once she told him everything. Soon, Lance walked back into the house and bolted the door. He was trying to be calm for Sarah’s sake, but he didn’t feel the least bit calm. In fact, he was seething in anger. How could anyone do this to a woman like Sarah? They had nearly destroyed all her possessions. They did kill her chickens. The more he thought about it the madder he got. She lived alone. She had to be terrified. He would take care of this for her. He would find out who did it and they would pay. He didn’t see her at first and went to search her out. She was in the first bedroom. Her clothes that had been scattered all about were now lying on her bed. She was folding them.
“Are you okay? ” he asked softly. She had quit crying. That was good, because when Sarah cried, it ripped his heart wide open. He couldn’t stand to know she was hurting. “Yes. These things aren’t too bad. I will put them away for now. ” “Sarah? Come talk to me.” He would get her something to drink and then they would talk. Lance was bone-tired. His body just wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to be. He held out his hand to her and she took it. Lance pulled her along with him into the main room. He dragged out a chair for her to sit in. “Sit and relax a minute.” Then he limped over and got her a cup of water from the bucket by the sink. He hesitated. What if the intruder had done something to the water? “It is fresh. I got it myself earlier.” He limped back and handed the cup to her. “I want you to hear me out.” Sarah sighed wearily. She needed to go first. He might not want to tell her anything once she told him everything she had to share. “I have to tell you about my family first.” Lance frowned uneasily. He wanted to be polite and let her speak first, but he could sense that she was wound up tighter than a wet ball of leather sting. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” “Please. Let me tell you everything. I need to tell you. Then I promise I will understand if you don’t want to have anything to do with me.” His eyes narrowed. It was just as he suspected. Sarah didn’t think very highly of herself and she was worried he might reject her for her past. Nothing was farther from the truth. He sat down. “Okay. I can see this means a lot to you. Go ahead, Sarah, but nothing is going to change how I see you. ” “Thank you. ” She looked up at him with big blue eyes that sparkled overly brightly. “I didn’t lie to you about who I was, Lance. I want to start with that.” “I didn’t think you had.” He grasped her hand, the one she lying on the table. It was to keep her from clenching and unclenching her fist. “But today … at the house…” she hesitated. “It was a shock to learn who you were, Sarah, but not for the reason you are thinking. Tell me what happened.” He didn’t want to get ahead of her. She obviously needed to talk about this and once they had talked, it would be behind them. He was more forgiving and understanding than she knew. Once more he thought of Luanne. He might not like what Sarah told him, but he wouldn’t reject her because of it. It made him mad to think other people had. He squeezed her hand when she still hesitated. “Go ahead. It will be okay, ” he assured her. She licked her bottom lip nervously. “I was eight years old when the Indians came. They came in the middle of the morning. My father was already at work in the blacksmith shop. My brother was with him. The Indians came from the woods behind the house. There were about fifteen of them. To this day I don’t know what tribe or band they were from. All their markings were confusing.” “They weren’t Cherokee,” Lance inserted. He was sure of it. The Cherokee were peaceful. He ought to know. “No, they weren’t, Cherokee. My mother was caught off guard. My father had a bell on the porch for emergencies. She didn’t even have time to ring the bell.” She looked down at the table. Lance could see the pain in her eyes before she
lowered her gaze. She was remembering. They weren’t pleasant memories. “Anyway, to make a horrible story shorter, some of them raped my mother in front of my eyes, over and over again, while the others ransacked the house. When they were done with her, they raped me. I was too young to know exactly what was happening, only that it hurt and it was humiliating. ” He squeezed her hand gently. There was much to say, but he wanted her to finish first. He ached for her. The woman she had become and the child that she had been. Her voice lowered. “They made me watch as they scalped my mother. They pinned her body to the wall with knives and they cut her hair, skin and all, off the top of her head. She was already dead. I can at least be thankful for that, that she wasn’t alive when they did that.” She glanced up at him, and Lance willed his features into composure as best he could. He wanted to hurt the ones who had done this to her and her family. More than that, he wanted to comfort Sarah in ways she obviously hadn’t been comforted before. “I wish that hadn’t happened to you, Sarah, and I am sorry it did.” She nodded and he could see her square her shoulders to continue. “My brother came home about that time. He rang the bell to alert my father, but they shot him with arrows. The last I saw of him was when I was being slung over one of our own horses and carted off. He was still crawling on the ground to try and help me. There were arrows sticking out all over his body. The Indians shouted and laughed and rode off with me as their prisoner.” She would never forget their inhumane laughter as long as she lived. Lance had a new respect for Luke Campbell. He had been ten years old, and to have witnessed this atrocity and survived he was stronger than even Lance had given him credit for being. “What about your father?” “I saw him running up the lane towards the house as they carted me off, but it wasn’t the last time I saw him.” “He followed the Indians to get you back,” he said knowingly. She nodded her head. “How did you know?” “It is what I would have done.” He thought of tracking his sister’s kidnappers and the torment he had suffered silently with until she was found. “He caught up with us three days later. I already thought my life was over—that they would tire of tormenting me soon. ” “Tormenting you? ” “I was made to slave for them and they took perverse pleasure in torturing me every chance they got.” Unconsciously her hand went to her face. “Is that what happened to your face?” She nodded and clenched her teeth together. “You’ve come this far, Sarah. ” She was nearly stressed beyond her limits now. He wanted to help her. He would, as soon as she was finished telling him this hellish tale. She took a deep breath. “One evening, they used flaming sticks to burn me—my face, my buttocks. Nearly everywhere on my body. ” “My God,” Lance breathed out. How had she survived? “Anyway, ” she continued, tears streaming from her eyes, “The next day they caught my father tracking us. They captured him and they dragged him behind their horses for
miles. I couldn’t even help him. When they finally stopped…” She choked up again. “…They discovered he was still alive. They tied him between four horses and pulled his limbs from his body. ” The gruesome thought made Lances stomach roll. “I will never forget the look on his bloody face, the shock in his eyes or the horrible scream of pain—never, as long as I live.” “Sarah. ” Lance couldn’t stand it any more. He pulled her close and wrapped her tightly in his arms. “You have suffered so much. I’m so sorry. Reliving it again to tell me isn’t easy, either. You are a brave woman. ” “I am not brave. If I had been brave, I would have got up while they slept and killed every last one of them. ” “You could have tried, Sarah, but I doubt you would have succeeded,” he told her honestly. “And if you had been killed, what would I do without you now?” She pulled out of his arms just enough to look up at him. “What would you do without me? You don’t think I am tainted? Unworthy? ” “Sarah, honey. I am the one not worthy to even spend a moment in your presence, not the other way around. But … I am a greedy S.O.B. You won’t see me giving you up without a fight.” “Oh, Lance.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I am a hard man. ” He wanted her to know the truth about him. He had always been a hard man. “No, you’re not.” She buried her face in his shoulder, and it made Lance wince, but he wouldn’t have her move for the world just to spare him some discomfort. “I am, Sarah, but you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Lance knew it was the truth. This sweet woman was a godsend for a hardened, lonely man like himself. “Now, I want to share something with you if you will let me. I know yo u are tired.” “Not that tired.” But he could see the lines of strain around her pretty blue eyes as she looked at him with complete faith and trust. It was humbling. “I told you about Luanne. I loved her very much, ” he started gently. “She killed herself,” Sarah nodded. “It must have been awful for you. ” He didn’t want her sympathy. He was only telling her this so she would understand his motives. “What I didn’t tell you was that Luanne was a whore, Sarah. ” “You went to places like that? She worked there?” “I did, but not any more, and yes, she worked there.” He could tell it shocked her, but at the same time she was once again able to overlook his past. “I was willing to forgive her, Sarah, for what she had become. Hell, I availed myself of those very services. Don’t you see—what she did wasn’t who she was. Just like what happened to you doesn’t make you who you are.” “I know that. It is just other people who won’t let me forget it. You’ve seen that.” “Yes, I have, and no one is going to treat you like that ever again if I can help it.” It was a solemn vow he’d made to himself. “Now, back to Luanne. There was another man involved with her too. His name was Luke.” He watched her closely. She still had no idea. “I was even willing to overlook her being so very attracted to Luke, if she would leave there and marry me.” “Why didn’t she?”
“We both pressured her too much, Sarah. We didn’t realize how unworthy she felt or how low of an opinion she had of herself. It was our fault she took her life, Luke’s and mine.” She nodded as if she understood, so he continued. “Luke and I came to blows over it, Sarah. I hated him. I hated him more than I had ever hated anyone.” “No one could blame you for that.” “The upshot of it was, he nearly beat me to death. ” He saw the shock on her face. “It wasn’t like that, Sarah. It was a fair fight. Believe me, I wanted to kill him. He was stronger than I was or I would have.” The sudden thought struck him. What if he had succeeded in killing Luke years ago? How horrible would it have been to have met her and then have to break her heart and confess to her he was the one who had killed her brother? It was too horrible to even contemplate. That is how much she meant to him. He pushed her away a little more, so he could clearly see every nua nce of her expressive face. “This man—he married my sister, Susannah. His name is Luke.” She just watched him intently with those blue eyes, questioning him. “His name is Luke Campbell. He is your brother, Sarah. I know it. He lives in your parent’s house. He works at that same blacksmith’s shop. That’s how I knew who you were before you actually told me. I only had to see the house. That is why I was so angry and had to get away and think.” “My brother Luke is alive? He isn’t dead?” Her face paled and her jaw went slack first. Then the rest of her body followed as she fainted plumb away. “Damn it.” He’d known it would be a shock for her but he didn’t expect her to pass out. It was a good thing she had been sitting down in the chair. He might not have been able to catch her in time before she hit the floor. It was a struggle, the shape he was in. It made his leg ache something fierce, but he picked her up and carried her over to the bed he had slept in while he was recovering. He laid her on it very carefully. Then he went to see which of the other rooms they could use this night. He would never leave her alone again. Sarah opened her eyes. She found Lance sitting next to her. He had placed a cold compress on her forehead. “Okay now?” he asked simply. She leaned up on her elbows. “Did you just tell me that my brother Luke was still alive or did I dream it?” “He is alive.” “Oh, my God.” She knew the excitement had to light up her eyes and she kissed Lance straight on his lips. “It is true then? He is alive?” “That he is,” Lance reassured her again, but he didn’t sound too happy about it. “I have to go see him. Where is he?” She sat up all the way. “This is such good news.” “Not tonight. It is late and besides, Luke and Susannah are on their honeymoon. You will just have to wait until they return. ” “Oh. ” She was excited but she wouldn’t think of disturbing anyone on a honeymoon.
“When will that be?” “A few weeks.” “A few weeks?” She didn’t know if she would be able to tolerate the wait. “I don’t know if I can stand it.” She looked at him. He had brought her news of her brother. For that alone she would have loved him. “I guess we will just have to keep you busy in the mean time.” Lance smiled at her and Sarah picked up on the sly innuendo. She was just so elated. She threw her arms around his neck again. “You did promise me something when we returned to the house.” “I sure did, but honestly, Sarah, I wouldn’t do you or myself justice tonight.” “You’re exhausted. I’m sorry. I should have realized that.” “However, I made up the bed in the middle room for us.” “For us?” “Yes. Let me hold you in my arms tonight, Sarah. I need you close by, and it would please me very much. ” Sarah nodded. She needed him, too. “I usually sleep in the loft.” “I know and I think I know why now too. So you can see anyone coming into the house that might not be invited. You would have the vantage point, the high ground.” “That is exactly right.” He did understand. She had lived with fear for so long and needed every sense of well being she could manage. The loft made her feel safe. “Tonight I will be with you. ” He stood up and pulled her to her feet. “You don’t need to sleep up there because you won’t be alone.” She watched as he picked up an oil lamp and she let him lead her to the bedroom. On the bed was her nightgown. He had thought of everything. He set the oil lamp down on the night table. “I will be right back. Change while you can if you don’t want me to see,” he chuckled. She was glad he was sensitive to her shyness and changed the second he left the room. When he came back she had already pulled back the covers and hid herself under them to wait for him. Lance wasn’t the least bit shy. He stripped until he was completely naked and joined her in the bed. “There is nothing to be nervous about, Sarah. I am just going to hold you. ” He reached over and turned out the oil lamp so that the room was lit only from the soft glow of the moonlight coming through the window. She let him pull her close so that she could lay her head on his warm comforting shoulder. She tried to be careful of his wound. He would still be sore for quite some time. With his hand he brushed the hair away from her face. “Comfortable?” His voice was low and reassuring. She nodded. It was very nice. She snuggled up to his side as tight as she could. She felt truly safe, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. “Now finish telling me your story, Sarah. ” “Huh?” She had already told him everything that mattered. She was only concerned about feeling his strong body next to hers. “How did you escape from the renegades?” “Oh. ” Her hand ran lightly over his chest and teased at the hair she found there. “I didn’t. It was about a week later when a band of Cherokees came near. They saw me and bartered for me. I guess they felt sorry for me. I was in pretty bad shape by then. ” In truth
she was surprised they even recognized she was a human being by then as dirty and beat up as she was. They had even cut off most her hair, what didn’t get singed off in the fire. “Cherokee are good people,” his voice rumbled underneath her ear as she lay there. “I know. I was scared at first, but they treated me with respect. I lived with them until the following winter. No one bothered me and they were kind to me even though I didn’t fit in. It was then the Wagners came to do missionary work. They saw me and I had the opportunity to go with them or stay with the Cherokee.” “You left.” “Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off if I had stayed with them. You pretty much know the rest. Except that when the Wagners died I came back here to live. To be close to where I was raised. You know, ” she said thoughtfully, “I visited my parents’ home so many times and never found anyone there. I couldn’t even touch anything. It was as if it was a shrine to their short lives.” “Luke lived in South Carolina for quite a few years. He was a sheriff in the county of Spartanburg for several towns close together.” “A sheriff?” This surprised her. No wonder she hadn’t found him at the homestead. He had survived, but he had moved on by then. “A fine sheriff.” “But you weren’t a sheriff then? ” “Not at all, and I quit being the sheriff for Ophir tonight. Just so you know. George can have the job with my blessings. He is going to need them.” “Why? ” She tried to look up at his face but he wouldn’t relax his grip on her. He started rubbing her shoulder in a calming manner. “Life is too short to waste, Sarah. Three bullets and a beautiful woman convinced me of that.” She could understand the part about the bullets. “Was your pa a big man?” “He was very tall.” She remembered how impressed she always was with his height. “So is Luke. He is big as a bear. Strong as one too.” “I can’t wait to see him again. ” “It will be a shock for him to learn you are still alive too.” The thought almost made him smile. Luke was going to feel as if he had been gut shot. Sarah yawned. She was so tired and she knew Lance was, too. “Go to sleep,” he chuckled, but couldn’t help yawning. Yawns were infectious. “Night, Lance.” “Night, Angel.” Sarah smiled. He had called her an angel. She felt like one, too. Lance made her feel special. He’d said he was a hard man, but she hadn’t seen any real evidence of it yet. Then she remembered him leaving her and walking away. He could be hard when he wanted to. She guessed everyone could. **** When Sarah woke it was to the delicious smell of bacon cooking. Lance no longer rested beside her. She started to throw back the covers and get out of bed. The daylight was just beginning to get strong outside. She had slept in later than usual. “Don’t even think about it,” Lance warned and she saw him stick his head around the
doorframe to look at her. “I thought I heard you. Stay in bed. I will be right back.” Sarah sat up and leaned back against the headboard. He was fixing her breakfast. Breakfast in bed! No one had ever done that for her, except her own mother once, when she was too sick to get out of bed to eat with the rest of the family. It wasn’t long until Lance was back. He had a plate of eggs and bacon for her. She was going to have to replace those chickens if she still wanted eggs and fried chicken in the future. He laid a towel across her lap while she smiled at him with what she was sure was the silliest grin in the whole world. She was so happy. He handed her the plate and utensils. “Eat up.” She watched as he left to go get his own plate. He brought her a cup of milk, too. She couldn’t eat. She just stared at the plate in her lap. His doing this meant so much to her that she wanted to savor it. “What are you waiting for?” He frowned when he came back in the room and sat down next to her. She picked up her fork and started eating. “Thank you, Lance, for spoiling me like this.” ‘It is nothing.” She disagreed. “It is something special to me. I appreciate it.” He gave her one of his grunts, which indicated he didn’t think it should be that way. Sarah was learning his quirks and traits. Lance had on some of his own clothes today and the worn jeans fit him like a glove. The cotton shirt was indigo blue and set off his dark complexion. He looked very handsome. He gave her a rueful smirk. “Don’t look at me like that until after breakfast.” His dark eyes flashed with desire. “Like what?” she asked, even though she already knew. “Like you could eat me alive.” He winked at her. “I am trying to be a gentleman and not jump on you until after breakfast.” Sarah smiled inwardly, while she continued to eat. He was going to make love to her. She could hardly wait. There was an expectant tingle bouncing around in the pit of her stomach. This big, strong, handsome man was going to make love with her. He didn’t care that she had lain with Indians. He didn’t think she was contaminated. When they were done eating. Lance took the plates into the cooking room. “Slip your shoes on, and I will escort you to the privy. ” Sarah smiled as she slipped her shoes on. She had never had an escort to the outhouse either. She could get use to this. She slipped her arms into her robe and tied it around her waist. “Are you getting ready to take a bath? ” she asked, when she saw the tub set up in the main room. It was filled with water and there was a pot of water boiling over the cook fire. “That is for later.” He opened the door and escorted her all the way to the outhouse just like he said and then back indoors again. He bolted the door once they were back inside. “We don’t want any interruptions.” Then he swung her up in his arms surprising her and carried her back to the bedroom. He kissed her soundly before he let her feet touch the floor again. “Just relax, Sarah. Let me lead.” “Are we dancing?” She had never done any actual dancing but she had watched
other people do it. “Smart mouth. ” He untied her robe and slipped it off her shoulders. He let it fall to the floor. “An intimate dance in a way. Stand right there.” He never took his eyes off of her as he stripped off his clothes and threw them haphazardly in the direction of her robe. When he was completely naked, he kissed her once more, before he pulled her gown up and over her head. Sarah wasn’t comfortable about him seeing her in the altogether like this but she didn’t complain. He was just as naked. She wanted so badly to cover her nakedness and keep him from looking, but she didn’t. His eyes made her feel hot and achy as they roamed over her with passion in their dark depths. He pulled her into his arms and held her comfortingly for a moment. “You are beautiful, Sarah, every single, delectable inch of you. ” He was warm and the sensation of flesh touching flesh made her suck in a breath and hold it. It felt good. It felt right to be with Lance this way. The compliment lifted her heart and released her from her insecurities. His expressive eyes backed up his sincere words. How could she not believe him when he looked at her that way? He lifted her up in his arms and knelt on the bed so he could deposit her there with the greatest of care. Lance slid his body towards her and she reveled in the feel of his naked body next to hers. Her breasts were pushed against the unyielding wall of his chest. His body was so warm, so muscular from hard work and so accommodating. A man’s and a woman’s bodies were just made to fit together. Sarah shivered in pleasure as his hands sought out every swell, every curve of her generous body. Was she really this passionate and responding? All Sarah knew was that if it was possible, she wanted to be absorbed by him body and soul. His every action caused a corresponding reaction in her. His rough tongue gently traced the shape of her breasts. His lips found her rosy peaks. Sarah half expected to find her heart bursting from the pressure so intense was the sensations she was feeling. Lance's hands explored and cherished every inch of her warm flesh. She did indeed feel as if she were as delectable to him as he declared because he licked and tasted her everywhere. Sarah yielded herself to him willingly; all the while knowing that wonderful feeling was coiling ever tighter inside of her. Never had she felt this volatile before. “Lance,” she breathed out his name on a soft moan. Her body was on fire and only he could do something about it. Sarah shivered as he explored her secret places with his mouth. “Are you ready? ” he whispered against her skin. “I don’t want to rush you. ” “Rush me, rush me,” she encouraged him. She wanted to know everything. She wanted to feel everything. She needed this. She needed him. Lance finally lifted his body up over her intimately. He paused long enough to look down at her and take in the need on her face. He smiled at her with a bit of triumph. “I knew you could match my passion, Sarah. I knew it would be good between us.” Then with a slow steady thrust, he joined them together. Sarah gasped at this new feeling. Her body stretched to accommodate his length and girth. “I don’t know about
passion, but this does feel so … oh…” He began to stroke in and out of her. “So very good,” Sarah finally got the words out. She clutched at his back. “What do I do?” Lance chuckled and Sarah realized it was with happiness, not because he thought less of her. “Whatever you want, Sarah. Touch me, start with that.” She ran her hands down his back as he continued to move against her. She already felt like she was reaching for something. Then she let her hands drift downward until they cupped his nice taut ass. She felt the tense and release of his muscles with each of his thrusts. It excited her so she moved one hand down even further and felt the hard muscle of the back of his thigh. There wasn’t any part of him she didn’t like. It was just so hard to concentrate when his every thrust rubbed and stroked her to an even higher pitch of excitement. She fixated on feeling every slow inch as he moved in and out of her. Then suddenly it happened. It started with a tingle in the very heart of her secret place and then radiated out in intense waves of pleasure. Sarah screamed in enjoyment. Her body lifted up off the bed and pushed against Lance’s, trying to prolong the exquisite feeling. Lance pushed against her with a final hard thrust and stopped moving. She felt the soft jerk of his shaft as he emptied his seed into her body. “Now is that a dance or is that a dance?” Lance laid his head against her shoulder. “It was a wonderful dance.” Sarah closed her eyes. So this was what it was to ‘be known.’ She wanted him to know her over and over again. “Darling Sarah. You haven’t seen anything yet.” Lance lifted up and gently cradled her face with his big hand. “That was just a little taste. After we have a nice soothing bath, you’d better be prepared to stay in this bed all day. ” “Oh, my! ” she laughed with the excitement of it. Later that night, as Sarah was drifting off to sleep after a full day of sensual delights, she realized Lance had been true to his word, every bit of it. He held her tightly in his arms and she fell asleep with a heart overflowing with love for this kind, strong man.
Chapter Five Sarah leaned back against Lance’s strong chest. It was a heavenly place to be. He had his long arms wrapped securely around her. She could stay like this forever. “You are killing me here.” There was a gravelly chuckle in his chest. “Sarah, are you listening to me?” “Yes, I am,” she sighed, with longing. One thing was for sure, now that Lance had shown her how sweet partaking of physical pleasure could be, she wanted more of the experiences. He grunted. “You will have to use both hands. The gun is heavy and your arms aren’t steady enough. You need a good grip. It is very important. Keep your finger off of the trigger.” Sarah brought up her other hand and grasped the gun handle tightly. She was happy that Lance was teaching her how to shoot, just as he said he would. He was a man of his word. “No, not like that. Grasp your wrist. It will help steady your arm. ” She would like to grasp something and it wouldn’t be her wrist. She was thinking he had a body part that would fit nice and snuggly in her hand. “Good, that’s it. Now take aim like I showed you. ” He released her and stepped back. “When you are ready, squeeze the trigger smoothly. Try not to jerk.” She already missed the warmth of his big body against her back. How could she concentrate on learning how to shoot this blasted gun when all she could think about was making love with him? She had become a wanton woman overnight. Sarah smiled at the thought. She wasn’t really, but she liked to think she could be if she wanted to. She squinted her eye and took aim. “Don’t close your eye, Sarah. Keep them both open. You have to learn to shoot without taking the time to squint. Look past the mark at the end of the barrel after you line it up with your target and then don’t take your eyes off of what you are aiming at.” Sarah concentrated real hard, then she squeezed the trigger. The gun jerked in her hand, and the small piece of wood Lance set on the fence post for her jumped up in the air when the bullet hit it. “I did it!” she exclaimed excitedly, turning towards him. “Whoa.” He pushed the arm that still held the gun down and away from him. “Always keep it pointed down and away from others when you aren’t planning on shooting something. It needs to be reloaded but it is still something you always have to be conscious of. ” “Sorry. ” She sure would hate to accidentally shoot Lance in her excitement. “You did good.” He gathered her in his embrace once more and gave her a sizzling kiss on the lips as her reward. “Now, I am go ing to sit on the porch. You keep practicing and I will watch. ” He limped to the porch and up the few steps to sit in the chair she had there. She knew his leg was probably bothering him, but he was getting around pretty fair. He had even stopped using the cane. It was a full minute later of staring at him as he sat on her porch before she turned
around to load her gun and face her targets again. It felt good to have a man around and he looked at home on her porch. It felt right. She turned back around to ask him if he was going to be around for a while. It wouldn’t bother her if he were here for the rest of eternity. She’d already given him her heart such as it was. “Lance?” He seemed to know what she was thinking, because he preempted her with the husky statement, “I am not leaving you, Sarah. ” He leaned back in the chair and lifted his feet to prop them on the rail. The softly spoken words made her eyes fill with tears. He meant them. She dashed away the tears and took aim at her next target trying to remember everything Lance had told her. He wanted her to learn for her own safety. She wanted to learn to be an excellent shot to please him. **** Lance heard the wagon coming long before Sarah did. She was currently making bread in the large cooking area. He moved to the door so he could see who was coming up the long dirt road. It only took one glance to note the size of the man driving the wagon to know who was coming. They were back sooner than expected. He would have to take care of Prichard later. First making love to Sarah had distracted him, and now this. “Is that a wagon?” Sarah asked, barely taking her hands from the work she was doing. She looked wholesome and sweet with the hint of red flushing her cheeks from bending over the table and kneading the bread dough. She had on a lightweight green dress with a high collar and short, puffed sleeves. Her pretty black hair was confined in some kind of feminine arrangement that just made Lance itch to let it down again. “It is.” Lance turned to her. “Sarah?” She looked up at him curiously. “Who is it? Do you know?” “It is my sister and your brother.” Her hands stopped moving on the dough. “I thought they wouldn’t be back for weeks.” “Obviously, we all thought wrong. ” “Oh, my God. Am I ready for this?” Lance smiled, his heart was full of happiness for once. He was happy for Sarah that she would be reunited with her brother. “You will be as soon as you wipe that flour off the side of your nose.” Hell, he’d been happy so much lately he felt like an entirely different man. Being with Sarah brought him happiness. “What?” Her blue eyes widened. “Oh, no.” She grabbed a rag to wipe her hands on and went running into the bedroom they were sharing. Lance stepped out on the porch just as the wagon rolled to a stop out front. He tried to make it down the steps to help his sister down from the wagon but she beat him to it. Anna jumped down on her own power. She had always been impetuous like that. Luke scowled because she didn’t wait for anyone to lift her down. “Lance!” She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. “We heard in Ophir you’d been shot. Are you okay now? I can’t believe this happened.” “I am fine, Susannah. Can’t you see that?” Her brown eyes scanned over him lightly. “Where? Where were you shot?” She
demanded. “Leg, shoulder,” he told her simply. “I am fine now. ” She turned to Luke who had climbed down from the wagon. “It is your fault he got shot,” she scolded. Her brown eyes flashed indignant fire at her very tall husband. Luke Campbell was every bit of six foot seven. “No, it isn’t.” Luke argued with a half smile on his face. “It isn’t my fault he is an idiot and let someone try and fill him full of holes. You should have waited and let me help you down out of the wagon, Missy, ” he scolded Anna right back. Any other time and Lance would have taken offense at Luke’s words just as Luke intended he should, but not today. This day was Sarah’s, and he wouldn’t spoil it for her. “You are the one who made sure the people of Ophir offered him that blasted job to begin with. ” She put her hands on her hips and dared him to deny it. Lance just laughed at the two of them. “I could have turned it down, Anna, and, for your information, I am no longer the sheriff of Ophir.” She swung back to him, her golden blonde hair following belatedly. “Well, thank God for small favors.” She stretched up to make sure she could plant a kiss on his cheek and for once Lance didn’t resist. He did love his sister and planned to make himself more accessible to both her and Rex. Lance gave her waist a squeeze. “Where is the doctor? I want to thank him.” “The doctor is a she. Luke. Anna.” Lance started to explain. “There is something very important I think you should know first.” It was then that Sarah stepped out onto the porch. Lance noticed her presence right away and so did Anna. Luke was busy staring at and adoring his small wife with his eyes as he always did. Anna’s gasp was audible as she looked at Sarah. She grabbed Luke’s arm. She knew without having to be told. “Are you okay? ” Luke asked her, looking down on her. “You should have let me help you down from the wagon. ” Lance hobbled up the steps to stand by Sarah. She was wide-eyed and had her hands clasped in front of her nervously. She only had eyes for her brother. “Damn it, Luke. Would you pay attention? ” He put his arm around Sarah’s slender shoulders. He could feel her shaking just a little from nerves. “What?” He turned towards the porch with a scowl for Lance on his face, as usual. “This is Sarah. This is your sister, Luke,” he said simply. The scowl left his face. He blinked once. Then stared at her without saying a word. Then he blinked again, keeping his eyes closed a little longer before he opened them again, as if expecting her to disappear. He looked like a feather could ha ve knocked him over. “Sarah. It is you! I would recognize you anywhere,” he choked out and held his arms open wide for her. Lance realized it was because the big man couldn’t have made his legs work at that moment if he had to. Sarah didn’t even hesitate as she rushed down the steps and into his arms. “Luke. Luke. I thought you were dead all these years. I would have never known if it weren’t for Lance.” He lifted her off the ground and hugged her as tight as he dared. “Me, dead? I
thought you were dead or gone forever. Where have you been? ” Lance looked over at his sister Anna. She was crying. “What are you crying for?” It was supposed to be a jubilant time. He walked over to her. “I am just so happy for the both of them. Is Sarah the doctor?” Lance nodded. He saw that Sarah was crying too and that Luke hadn’t released her from his embrace yet. If they weren’t brother and sister he would be way beyond jealous. “She saved my life and is as good as any other doctor with skills but she doesn’t have the title,” he said, his pride for Sarah unchecked in his voice. “Lance?” Anna looked up at him with a surprised expression on her face. “Do you … are you…” He pulled her close to his side. “Yes Anna, I love Sarah, ” he told her quietly so as not to disturb brother and sister during their reunion. “In love with her?” She finally finished her sentence but he had already answered her. She slapped a hand playfully at his shoulder. “Wow. ” Anna whispered with a smile. “I never thought you would fall in love. Look how the mighty have fallen. ” Then she smiled her purely devilish smile, the one he remembered from their youth. “Wait until Luke finds out the two of you are together. The fireworks will be awesome.” Lance chuckled. “Yup. Looking forward to it.” He hadn’t fallen in love with Sarah on purpose but Luke was going to find out what it was like to have a man he disliked loving his sister, just as he had. Finally, Luke released Sarah but the wonder was still in their eyes for all to see. The similarities between the two of them were so obvious now that Lance saw them together. He should have realized a lot sooner than he did. He had been blinded at the time by pain or love, he wasn’t sure now. “Please come inside,” Sarah told them, wiping at the tears of joy on her face. “Where are my manners?” Luke was still standing in the same spot as if he had been poleaxed. Lance almost smiled. He still had another shock coming later when he found out that Lance fully intended to marry Miss Sarah Campbell Wagner as soon as he could convince her. Sarah took Luke’s hand and pulled him in the house. “We have so much to catch up on.” She waved at Anna and Lance to follow. “Come in. Come in. ” **** Sarah watched out the door as Lance and her brother were examining her property. Lance was showing him around the place for her. They were currently headed to the barn. She was proud to see that Luke thought she had done really well for herself. She knew she had a good spread and in a few years of really hard work it could be something special. The two men were wary with each other like a pair of rattlesnakes facing off but they didn’t seem to be exhibiting open hostilities. “When are you going to tell Lance you are pregnant?” Sarah asked Anna, who was sitting with her at the table, shucking corn. Luke and Anna had agreed to stay the night. Sarah admired Anna’s pretty looks and her golden blonde hair. Her eyes were a clear blue like her own. It was just hard to get used to the fact that she and Lance were brother and sister, since they didn’t look anything alike. Susannah looked very similar to Rex, since they’d had the same mother and father, but she didn’t look a thing like Lance. Her halfbrother was of dark countenance where she was light. Sarah knew there was plenty of
love in that family, but she wondered if Lance felt like an outsider with his own family. Sarah shrugged her shoulders at Anna’s surprised look. “It shows. You are practically glowing and I don’t think it is all due to loving my good-looking brother.” “You are very perceptive. I thought I would wait until I start to show to tell my brothers.” “Do you think the news will upset them or something?” “Not at all, but I want to make sure everything is all right before I spring the news on them. I know they will be happy for me.” Sarah picked up on her concern. “Are you having problems?” “Not problems really. I feel fine, but every once in a while I spot.” “I see. I have some herbs that I think will help.” “Do you?” Anna smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I’ll be grateful for them.” Sarah was amazed that Anna was so trusting—after all she hardly knew her. It humbled her. She picked up the corn and added it to the boiling water on the fireplace. “I am so happy you and Luke have found each other again.” Sarah’s smile was genuine. “So am I, thanks to Lance. We could have gone the rest of our lives not knowing how close the other was.” “You love my brother don’t you? ” Sarah nodded her head. “So much it hurts.” “That’s love, then. ” Anna laughed. “It knots your guts up one minute and sets your emotions flying high the next. Sarah, Lance isn’t an easy man to love but I know you will be good together.” “He is very easy to love.” “It is love for sure.” Anna smiled again. “Well, if you have already managed to storm the fortress around his heart I’d say it sho uld be smooth relations from here on out.” Sarah just looked at her not understanding. “He can be pretty closed off from others,” Anna clarified. It warmed Sarah’s heart when she realized the truth of it. “He isn’t that way with me.” “Oh, yeah, it’s definitely love,” Anna said again, with a light laugh. Sarah knew she would have no problem whatsoever getting along with Lance’s sister. She was a warm person and not judgmental in the least. She hadn’t said a thing about Sarah’s past. Everything was going so well—until it was time for bed. Sarah showed Luke and Anna which room they would share. It had a good-sized double bed in it, but it was still going to be a problem for Luke to fit his huge length comfortably. He insisted he didn’t mind being cramped in the least. “You are every bit as tall as I remember father being.” She smiled up a Luke. “Yeah, he was big that was for sure. I don’t know what happened to him, Sarah. He never came back. He spent half a day after the attack patching me up and burying mother. Then he put things nearby so I could reach them and he took off in search of you. ” Sarah frowned worriedly. She felt Lance place a warning hand on her back. She knew it wasn’t a good time to bring this up. She would tell Luke what happened to their father in the morning. She only hoped Luke wouldn’t blame her for his death. He had died trying to rescue her after all.
“You were all alone?” She couldn’t imagine how he had taken care of himself at the time. He’d had quite a few arrows in him the last she saw him and he had only been ten years old. It must have been awful for him—and then wondering why father never came back on top of that. Luke nodded. “I survived.” Then he nodded in Lance’s direction. “Where is he sleeping? ” “Same place I have been sleeping,” Lance answered for her. Sarah was quick to note Lance raised eyebrows in challenge. They were worse than two strutting tomcats. “In the loft or the barn? ” Luke wanted clarification. “With Sarah, ” Lance answered simply, before Sarah could. Luke’s mouth dropped open. Anna took a hold of her husband’s arm sensing there was going to be a problem. “You are sleeping with my sister?” Lance smiled at him. He was enjoying this, Sarah realized. It was a way to torment Luke. “Not with my sister, you aren’t.” Then he looked at Sarah with a horrified expression, until he saw the truth revealed in her face “Not him, Sarah. Don’t get interested in him. Anybody but him! He is no good for you. ” “Let’s turn in before you say something you will regret.” Anna pushed on her husband, but it didn’t do any good. He was the immovable object. “You son of a bitch. You did this on purpose, didn’t you, just to get even with me.” He moved threateningly in Lance’s direction with Anna hanging onto his arm for all she was worth. “I am going to wipe that smug smile off your face.” “You can try. ” Lance didn’t back down. “Stop it. Stop it right this instant.” Sarah pushed back against Lance and faced her brother. “Lance didn’t know who I was when … when…” She faltered, momentarily at a loss for the right words. “We fell in love,” Lance supplied helpfully. “Hell, believe me if I had known she was your sister I would have run like a wild mustang before I would have gotten involved with her. Just because of you, I might have missed out on the best thing ever to come my way.” Sarah turned to Lance in shock. She knew she felt that way about him and only suspected he felt that way about her but he could have told her first and in a much more pleasant manner. “Lance?” He pulled her close, ignoring Luke’s low growl of protest. “Aw, damn. I am sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean to blurt it out that way. I do love you. How could I not?” Sarah threw her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his. “I love you, too.” She didn’t care who saw. “Okay, now that has been settled, let’s turn in.” Anna pulled on Luke’s arm again. “I am exhausted, husband.” “Not him. Not him,” Luke said helplessly, over and over, as Anna guided him inside their room and shut the door. Lance couldn’t let it drop. “At least I wasn’t in the act of pumping your sister when you found out,” he said loudly, and was gratified when he heard something get slammed around in the other room. “Don’t think I will ever let you forget that.” He was still smiling when Sarah pulled him inside their room and shut the door.
“Two strutting toms.” She shook her head in annoyance. Lance grabbed her around the waist and kissed her soundly. “I do love you, Sarah, very much. ” **** Sarah sat bolt upright in bed when Lance called her name. “Sarah, wake up. The barn is on fire.” He was sliding into his clothes and boots. “What?” She tried to shake the sleep from her brain. “The barn’s on fire. Go wake up Luke.” He quickly ran from the room. She jumped out of the bed then, and ran to the other room where Luke and Anna slept. She was just getting ready to pound on the door when Luke opened it. “I heard. Stay with Anna.” He brushed past her, intent on joining Lance. Sarah rushed to the front room instead, and out onto the porch. The barn was going up fast. How could that have happened? At least the horses were in the pasture and not in the barn. Sarah only put them in the barn during winter or bad weather. She had a lot of things stored in that barn though. Anna joined her on the porch. “They won’t be able to save it.” The two men were furiously hauling water, Lance from the well and Luke from the trough. They would never have enough water that way. The fire had already consumed one wall of the barn and was working its way up the roof. It was bright and eerie in the dark night. The sound of popping and burning was loud as the fire moved its way over the wood like a living thing. Sarah couldn’t move. Her barn was burning. The wicked flames were devouring it and there was nothing she could do about it. At least Lance and Luke had managed to save her wagon. She used it a lot; that would have been a greater loss. They had thrown saddles and tack and whatever else they could in the back of it. “Sarah, I am so sorry. ” Anna came and stood next to her. “How could this have happened?” “Prichard,” Sarah said with conviction. She didn’t need evidence, she knew Prichard too well. It was the sort of thing a sneaky, underhanded bully would do. “Who is that?” “A man, a very violent man. He has it in for me right now. His name is Zack Prichard,” Sarah said numbly. Anna gasped. “Why? ” “He is angry with me because his family left. I am sure of it. He is taking it out on me, though he is the one who was forever beating his kin. I did help his wife and eldest boy with some supplies so they could leave him. It was for the best. I still believe that. They took all the children with them, thankfully, before he could beat any more of his children to death. ” “Oh, my God. Lance and Luke will take care of it.” Anna assured her as they watched the barn totally engulfed in flames and starting to collapse in on itself. The two men stood back now, too, realizing how futile it was to try and save the building. There wasn’t a thing they could do. Thank goodness it wasn’t close to the house, and that it wasn’t a windy night to carry the sparks. Lance turned back to the house and stopped and stared. “Anna take Sarah back into the house please.”
“What for?” “Just do it,” Lance said tightly. Luke turned and saw what Lance was seeing. Sarah and Anna went insid e the house but they didn’t close the door. They watched as Lance got a bucket of water and headed to the house. Luke followed suit. Sarah couldn’t stand it any longer. What was it that Lance didn’t want her to see or know about? “Sarah, bring us a couple of cleaning rags, please.” Lance asked her, and she ran to get some. She would have brought it out to him, but he met her at the door and took them from her hand. “Stay inside.” “But, Lance…” It had already been such an upsetting night. “Please, Sarah. Do as I ask,” he said quietly. “Okay. ” She closed the door, but she didn’t like it. It was obvious Lance was trying to protect her from something. “What is it?” Luke asked with a dark frown. “Blood—cow or pig, I would guess. The bastard already killed off all her chickens.” Lance dipped the cloth in the water and began washing the outside wall of the house. There, in big red letters, was ‘Injun lovin whore.’ “This is your fault,” Luke accused. “She probably didn’t have any problems until you came along. ” “You would be wrong if you thought that. Your sister has had nothing but problems in this world since she was rescued from the renegades that took her. You will just have to talk to her about it in the morning and you damn well better be the most understanding brother in the whole world, or I am gonna kick your ass from here to kingdom-come.” “That sounds like a promise.” “It is, but first, I am gonna kick Prichard’s ass for what he has done to her, if I don’t shoot him first.” Luke helped wash away the ugly words. “Are we talking more than the chickens and the barn? ” “They have a past. He is a mean- hearted S.O.B. I will take care of him in the morning, ” Lance said, determined. “I should have done it before now and she wouldn’t have lost her barn. ” “I’ll help you.” **** “No. Absolutely not,” Sarah told them the next morning after breakfast. Both men were preparing to go to Prichard’s house and confront him. She wasn’t about to let them go alone. Anna stomped her foot. “Sarah is right. It is too dangerous. Take along the sheriff.” Lance smirked. “Take along George Rafferty? Are you both crazy? Prichard will eat him alive.” “He is still the law, ” Sarah argued logically. “I was the law until recently,” Lance reminded her. “You aren’t anymore, and it was my barn he burned. I insist.” “Okay, we will stop over in Ophir and see if we can round up the sheriff.” Luke agreed and Lance nodded his head. Sarah knew better. They were just trying to pacify her. They wouldn’t look that hard
for George, if they looked for him at all. “We will go along for the ride, too. Won’t we Anna?” “Sure, it is a nice day for a ride.” Both men looked at each other. “I don’t want you around Prichard.” Lance finally told Sarah outright. “Lance, if there are any injuries I will be able to attend them.” Sarah looked at his strong, handsome face. She couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to him and she knew how strong Prichard was. She longed to wrap herself in his arms and beg him not to go. The barn wasn’t worth it. But he just wouldn’t listen to reason. “Let him suffer,” Lance argued. “The man doesn’t deserve any kindness or compassion not after the way he has treated you, Sarah, or his own family for that matter.” “I was thinking of you and Luke,” she answered softly, knowing her answer was going to rub the two men the wrong way. Luke barked out a laugh. “I think our manhood has just been called into question. ” “Seems that way. ” Lance scowled at Sarah. Didn’t she think he was able to take care of her? Sarah knew better about this, too. “I have seen Prichard take on six men at once and he was still standing when it was all said and done. I know because I patched them up,” she warned them both. “Besides, Lance is still recovering from his wounds. He isn’t in any shape for this.” “I will get the wagon ready, ” Lance insisted. “And I will get my bag, ” Sarah insisted right back. It was indeed a pleasant day for a ride as they made their way to Ophir to pick up George Rafferty. He followed them on his huge, oversized horse and looked very proud that they had come seeking his help. It was late afternoon when they arrived at Zack Pritchard’s house. He had a nice house with a long wide porch. There didn’t seem to be a soul around. Sarah knew better about that, too. Prichard was always around. He was a visible presence whether it was here or in town. Lance and Luke dismounted while Sarah and Anna watched from the wagon. George sat atop his horse as if he was unconcerned about getting down just yet. “Prichard!” Lance called out. He waited with a wide stance and called out again, “Prichard, you asshole, come out here.” Prichard came from around the side of the house, all six foot seven inches and nearly three hundred pounds of him. He must have been working because there was dirt and sweat on his arms and face. “Who is calling me?” “Damn,” Luke said, in awe of the man’s size. There weren’t many men his own size in Georgia. “Prichard, you didn’t think I would let you get away with what you did to Sarah’s barn, did you? ” Prichard had a purely evil, lopsided smirk. Sarah knew at that instant there was absolutely no doubt he was the one who set her barn on fire. He didn’t even try and claim otherwise. His dark eyes scanned over the crowd looking unconcerned and ended up on Sarah.
“She got exactly what she deserved. Why, she ain’t nothin’ but an Injun-lovin whore.” Then he looked at Lance. “Now, is she, breed? You can’t deny it.” Lance lunged at him and landed the first punch but only because he was faster than Luke. Name calling, cussing and punching erupted. The sound of fists hitting flesh and bone was loud and it made Sarah cringe. Prichard threw off Lance and Luke both, as if they were nothing but annoying bugs, even though Luke was every bit as tall as Prichard was. “You think you can do something about it?” he taunted them, as they both lunged at him again throwing punches at the same time. “Not so hot without that gun now, are ya, breed?” The scuffle continued until Sarah was nearly ready to stand up and scream at them to stop. She turned to George. “Do something. Fire your gun at least.” He smiled at her kindly. “Wait a few minutes more, ma’am. I want to make sure they tire him out good.” “What?” She stood up indignantly then. He was the sheriff, for gosh-sake. “Don’t get involved, Sarah, ” Anna warned, jus t as Prichard picked up Lance, and tossed him away, where he rolled to a stop by the wagon. “Someone is going to get hurt.” She saw the blood on Lance’s lip and the fire in his eyes, as he jumped up and darted back into the raucous melee. It was going to be a long fight. “Okay, that is enough. ” George slid down from his horse—all one hundred twenty pounds of him. He had a rifle in his hand. “Sarah is right.” “You yahoos sure do take the hard road,” he said to Lance and Luke as he walked up to them. Luke went flying back and landed on his butt from Prichard’s last good punch. “Damn it, George, stay out of this, you might get hurt.” “Zack Prichard, you are going to have to come with me and face the consequences of your actions,” George warned him, unafraid. Prichard turned to the smaller man and merely laughed as he dodged another punch thrown by Lance. “You gonna shoot me sheriff?” “No, sir, but you will comply with my summons.” Prichard was so amused he threw back his head and laughed even harder. “You ain’t nothing but a pretend man in that funny hat.” “Have it your own way then. I did ask nicely. ” George took hold of the business end of his rifle and swung the rifle butt. He whacked Prichard just below his kneecap, hard. They all heard the bone snap, and watched as Prichard howled in pain and fell to the ground, rolling in agony. “Now, are you going to come peaceable- like or am I going to have to take your head off next?” “I’ll come. I’ll come,” he told the sheriff, still rolling around holding onto his leg. “Don’t hit me again. Damn that hurts.” George turned to Lance and Luke as they were standing there taking in the whole scene in shock. George Rafferty did this? They were breathing hard and only now starting to feel their own pains and bruises. “There is more than one way to take down a big man. ” He smiled at them and lifted his eyebrows quickly before sobering up his expression. “Well, I’ll be,” Lance said in amazement.
Sarah and Anna were the first to burst out laughing. George was smarter than the lot of them. “I’d better brace that busted leg. ” Sarah gathered up her bag. “Let us tie him up first, ma’am” George responded importantly, and tipped his dandy’s hat. “Why didn’t you think of that?” Luke challenged Lance. “Why didn’t you?” he snapped back. “You were a sheriff a lot longer than I ever was.” Sarah rolled her eyes heavenward and asked for strength. The two men were so combative with each other it was going to be a long time before they saw each other as friends. Anna laid her hand on her arm and smiled. “Just ignore them, Sarah. It is more of a friendly rivalry than actual hatred. They will outgrow it soon. ” Sarah realized Anna was right. They enjoyed this game between them. “Lord, have mercy! ” They started laughing with big guffaws, which made Lance and Luke scowl at the both of them.
Epilogue “Lance Tremaine!” Sarah scolded him playfully. “Yes, Mrs. Tremaine?” “What do you think you are doing?” “I am carrying you over the threshold, darling wife.” “Your leg isn’t that well mended yet,” she fussed at him, but clung tighter to his wide shoulders. She loved being held by him. She felt special and protected—more than that, she felt loved. “It has mended enough. Haven’t I shown you that over the last few weeks?” He carried her through to the bedroom, and then let her feet slide down until they touched the floor. “That you have.” She stretched up, ready to receive his kiss. She had plenty for him, too. Sarah reveled in his kiss, but it was much to short. Lordy, with a simple kiss the man could make her body ache with the need for fulfillment. “Here.” Lance handed her a paper that he had tucked inside his shirt. “This is your wedding present.” “Wedding present?” Sarah’s blue eyes sparkled excitedly. “What is it?” She unfolded the paper, and began to read the words. “It is a deed. In both our names.” “Yup.” He leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. Then his hands began to remove her dress. “God, I love your shoulders.” He started kissing them to prove his point. “For nearly five thousand acres that adjoin this property!” “Yup. That’s a start. We are going to have the biggest spread around before long. ” Then Lance touched the full breasts that he had just exposed and Sarah gasped in delight. His hands were warm and covered her carefully. “I thought the lumber for the barn was my wedding present.” Her dress fell unheeded to the floor in a puddle around her feet. “That, too.” He picked her up and deposited her on the bed very gently. “Oh, Lance, you are so good to me.” Sarah adored him with her eyes and opened her arms to receive him. A wicked look came into his eyes and slid across his handsome face. “I will be. That’s a promise.” He joined her in bed, gathering her close. Sarah knew that look. He was about to keep her in this bed for the next few hours while he made love to her over and over again. Sarah was happier than she had ever been in her entire life and it was all because of Lance. “From this night forward, and forever,” Lance whispered just as he claimed her lips with passion and the foreshadowing of that same promise. “Gv-ge- yu-hi.” “I love you too, Long Shadow. ” She smiled when he pulled back to look at her. “Yes, I already know your Cherokee name. You told me yourself, but I will explain that later, after we make love, husband.” “I will always love you, Sarah, with my whole heart.” “Make love to me, Lance. My heart needs you. My body aches for you. ”
He didn’t need any more convincing as he took her in his strong arms. Sarah realized these were the arms of the man she loved and she would be comforted in them until the day she died. Their love was a blessing in any language. The End About the Author: Charlene Leonard lives in Oklahoma with her husband. Her hobbies include reading, writing and painting. She has three children and five grandchildren. She is in a fight against Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a rare form of the disease, and she urges all women to get checkups. You don’t have to have a lump to have cancer. Her website is www.charleneleonard.com , and she would love to hear from you at
[email protected].
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