Wayward Wind, page 17
He walked slowly across the plank that spanned the creek and up the hill toward the burial grounds. He’d walked this path many times in the dark of the night, when peace would come to his troubled mind only while he sat beside Nora’s final resting place. He reached the grave and stood for a moment with head bowed, then eased himself down onto the ground, wrapped his arms around his bent legs and rested his head on his knees.
“Nora, Nora, me darlin’ lass, me heart is sore ’n weary. I know it’s wrong I been to push our bairn from me. Dinna be lovin’ me the less fer it, fer my heart had no room but for ye. It’s sorry I be…”
Frank felt the warm, thick flood of tears rising to his eyes and he was helpless against them. They rolled down his cheeks and fell onto the abundance of wild flowers he’d planted years ago and since had tended with loving care. Unashamed, he allowed them to fall, for there was no one to see or care; no one but… Nora.
Lorna had never felt so desolate in all her life. The quarrel with Cooper had put such a strain on her that she felt faintly ill with weakness. A lump rose in her throat. She swallowed it with difficulty and looked down at her hands that were clamped to the back of the chair. She’d ruined everything! she thought miserably. A shiver passed over her when she realized how little time she had to try and make things right with Cooper. Damn Hollis and Billy! Damn Brice Fulton!
Through the fog of despair that hung over her, Lorna’s thoughts turned to her father, and how he had stood up for her against Hollis. She felt a spurt of affection for the moody, gruff Scot who, at times, was like a stranger to her. Was it possible he’d been worried about her during the days, weeks, she’d been away? Was his anxiety for her the cause of his rudeness to Cooper? On more than one occasion she had been away from home visiting White Bull’s camp or out panning for gold with Moose and Woody and he hadn’t seemed to notice she’d been gone. He showed more concern for her tonight than he had for years. The thought was a pleasant surprise to her troubled mind.
Lorna stood quietly for a moment, staring at the shadows on the floor made by the lamplight. Then, with extraordinary clearness of mind, she began to put things in their right perspective.
There would be time, she reasoned, to settle with Hollis and Billy for embarrassing her in front of Cooper. And there would be time to find out if Frank really had had a change of mind about getting tangled up with Brice Fulton and his outfit. Right now, she had to fix a good supper for Cooper and take it to him. He was too angry to come back to the house tonight, and come daylight he’d ride out. The thought of him leaving was almost too painful to think about.
Lorna lifted the trap door to the cellar, set the lamp on the floor, then went quickly down the steep steps. She filled a small tin bucket with fresh milk, thinking the cellar was as neat and tidy as when she had left it. Frank, for all his grumpiness, was neat and clean in both his person and the house, and for that she was thankful.
Back in the kitchen she checked the basket to be sure the hard-boiled eggs had not rolled on the fried mush and that the hot biscuits were not next to the butter. She blew out the lamp. While she waited for her eyes to adjust to the total darkness, she smoothed her hair back with her palms and took several deep breaths in an attempt to slow her racing heart.
The cool night air felt good on her face, flushed from the heat of the cookstove, and reminded her that it was early September. Soon the nights would turn cold and the sky would be filled with the long streamers of southbound geese and ducks. During the next few weeks she would be busy preparing for winter as had her mother, grandmother and Maggie before her. She would smoke venison, elk meat and dozens of turkeys, render bear oil and fill crocks with nuts and berries imbedded in goose fat.
There would be the hunt for a honey tree. That thought brought Volney to her mind. Her old friend had, for years, told her where to find the honey tree. Something her pa had said came instantly to her mind: Cripple an oold mon like ye done. Had Hollis and Brice hurt Volney? Her steps quickened and by the time she reached the shed she was almost running.
“Cooper? Are you in here?”
“I’m out here.”
His voice came from the side and she spun around to see the glow of a cigarette in the darkness beside the woodpile and went toward it. Cooper was sitting on a log Frank had dragged down from the hillside to cut up for firewood.
“I brought your supper.” She stood hesitantly before him.
“And I’m worried that Brice and Hollis have hurt Volney,” she blurted. “They would if they thought he’d helped me get Bonnie away.”
“Why don’t you ask your pa?”
“I will.” In the darkness she could see only the tilt of his head as he looked at her. “Cooper, I’m sorry.”
He didn’t answer immediately, then he said, “You’re the most irritating woman I’ve ever met up with. One minute I want to swat your bottom, the next minute I want to kiss you senseless.” His hand came out to clasp her arm and pull her closer to him. “What did you bring me to eat?” he demanded gruffly. “If it’s good, and there’s plenty, I might decide to let you off with only a pinch or two.”
“It’s as good as I could do on short notice.” His teasing words lifted her spirits. She put the basket on his knees and sat down close beside him, holding the pail of milk in her lap with one hand and hugging his arm with the other. “Oh, Cooper! I’m so glad you’re not still mad at me.”
“Hellfire! I didn’t say that. I need to eat and get my strength up in case I decide to whip your hind.” He popped a biscuit in his mouth. “Not bad,” he said with his mouth full. “What’s this? Fried mush? Fried in grease from something smoked.”
“Hot fat,” she said happily. “We smoked one last winter. I keep the grease in the cellar so it won’t get rancid.”
“Uh huh.”
Lorna wisely remained silent while he was eating, content to be sitting close to him, holding the milk pail he occasionally reached for. She could feel his lean, long body against hers and was conscious of his upper arm and shoulder where she could rest her head if she tilted it the slightest bit. A slice of moon, on its way across the night sky, appeared from behind a cloud. She could see that he was looking at her and that his unswerving gaze was like a caress. The look in his eyes took her breath away and left her trembling with happiness. This was heaven, she thought, nothing better could exist in this world, except—to be with him wholly and completely.
She handed him the small tin bucket when he reached for it. He drained it and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand.
“Mighty good. I’d almost forgot how good milk is.”
“Did you get enough?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth they were punctuated by a loud growl from her stomach.
“What’s that?” Cooper turned to peer down into her face. “Did you eat?”
“I will later. Cooper—”
“Silly woman, you must be starving. Here.” He pushed a biscuit into her mouth and while she was eating it, he buttered another. “I could smell that cooking clear out here and my stomach was doing some growling of its own.”
“Would you have come back in if I hadn’t come out?” she asked with feminine curiosity.
“After I stomped out, mad as a coon with his tail caught in a crack?” His lips were folded together, deepening the lines down his cheeks, and his eyes shone with laughter. To her delight he put his arm around her and pulled her against him. She nestled happily in the crook of his arm. “I don’t know if I would’ve or not. I was thinking on it. Eat the rest of these biscuits,” he ordered gruffly. “I don’t want you to swoon when I kiss you.”
“Are you going to?”
“I’m sure planning on it.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to,” she whispered faintly, and suppressed a giggle.
“But you do.” He made the statement confidently and lifted her chin with a forefinger. “Don’t you?”
“It’s mean of you to make me say it.”
“You going shy on me?” His mouth was tantalizingly close to hers. “You want me to kiss you. Don’t you?” he repeated.
“I think I’ll die if you don’t,” she said recklessly.
“We sure don’t want that to happen,” he said, but he didn’t kiss her. He set the basket down beside the log and put the milk pail in it. “Come on.” He took her hand. “I don’t like sitting out here in the open now that the moon’s up, and I’m afraid if I start kissing you, I’ll not care if the world tilts, the sun’s up, or who’s watching.”
She walked beside him so happy she was unaware her feet were touching the ground. They crossed the yard toward the darkness of the forest that surrounded the homestead and stopped beneath a large oak tree where a braided vine rope hung from a limb. Lorna gave it a gentle push.
“Frank made this for me a long time ago. He made a loop on the end so I could put my foot in it and swing.” There was a poignant longing in her voice, and for just a moment all the years rolled away and she remembered her father as he had been, a quiet man, but one who had built the swing, taught her to ride, and who had taken her small hand in his while they had hunted frogs along the creek bank.
The oak leaves moved in the slight breeze and their whisper seemed unusually loud in the quiet night. An acorn dropped to the ground. With no other noise, the smallest sounds were audible. Lorna tried to see Cooper’s face in the shadows, but the outlines were gone, and she could see only that he was standing there beside the tree.
“Will your pa be able to handle those two if they come back looking for trouble?”
“I don’t know what he’ll do. He was different tonight. He usually doesn’t have much to say about anything, especially anything about me. But I’m not worried about Hollis and Billy. They’re sneaky and mean, but they’ve got no backbone. Brice won’t do anything, either. He’s afraid of White Bull. He knows he’ll come in here and burn him out if he bothers me.”
“Tell me about White Bull.”
“His father was a blood brother to Light, as White Bull was to my grandfather. I’ve known him all my life. His tribe spends the summer up on Wind River, spring and fall here, and winter down south. They’re peaceful, but sometimes I worry they’re going to be pushed too far, then all hell will break loose.” She moved over close to Cooper. “More and more people are coming and the Indians are losing their hunting grounds. Something’s bound to happen sooner or later.”
“This country is filling up, that’s sure. The land west of here is hard and lonely and it’ll take hard men to tame it.”
“You like it here, don’t you, Cooper?” She stood motionless, staring at his shadow, transfixed, literally shaking inside as she waited for him to answer.
“Sure. You’ve got a good place here, Lorna. It’s as solid a homestead as I’ve ever seen.”
“Frank’s always saying he wants to go on west, but he keeps things fixed up, just like Grandpa did.”
“I can see that.”
“We have a clear title for just about all of this mountain.”
“That’s a tidy piece of land.”
Lorna got no satisfaction out of his words. She tried to think of something more to say on the subject, but couldn’t think of anything except to come right out and tell him it would all be his if only he would stay. Somehow she knew that would be the wrong approach with a man like Cooper. Finally, she found her voice.
“What’s your mother like?”
“Ma? I don’t know. Why would I want to talk about my ma when there’s a pretty girl standing this close? Come here.” His arms reached out and drew her to him. Her palms, pressed against his chest, slid up to his shoulders. She looked up at him, into his eyes. He studied her white face, the unruly black hair, and her trembling mouth. “Lorna, girl, you’re awful pretty,” he whispered huskily.
“Cooper… I’m afraid you’ll not come back,” she said in a low, stricken voice.
“We’ll meet again.” He leaned his head forward, kissing her reverently on the forehead. His voice was a mere breath in the night.
The softly uttered words sent a shiver of dread down Lorna’s spine. They were so… impersonal! He could have said them to anyone. A sound, half groan and half sigh, exploded from her. Her arms slid up to encircle his neck, then she raised up on her toes and pressed her slim body to his in a desperate attempt to get closer to him, to hold him. She couldn’t let him go until there was some kind of understanding between them.
“I don’t want you to go. I love you!”
“Sweet Lorna…” His whisper warmed her lips. He looked into her eyes and watched as her tongue came out to moisten her lower lip.
“I do love you—”
“Shh, don’t say anymore,” he cautioned. “You can’t be sure.”
“Why do you say that?” She was near tears. “I am sure.”
“How many men have you met on this mountain, Lorna?” he asked sternly. “Is what I saw tonight all you’ve had to choose from?”
“It’s you I want! I knew it back there on the Blue. You wanted me then, too. Why are you acting like this? Is it Frank? Is it because I’m not like town women? Kiss me, Cooper. Kiss me and I’ll show you I’m—”
His mouth, hard and commanding, fastened on her mobile lips, stealing her breath away and swallowing her words. There was nothing gentle about his lips. He was using his mouth as a means of shutting hers. His kiss was a dark, sweet eternity of firm lips and warm breath.
The small fire kindling deep within her and the pounding of Lorna’s heart made her realize that his lips had softened, and that she was cradled in his arms and her lips had been irresistibly forced apart. The tobacco taste of his mouth, the woodsy, musky smell of his face as her nose pressed his cheek, and the hard strength of his embrace made her head swim—she was only vaguely aware of the hand that traveled down the length of her spine and grasped her firm buttocks, pressing her fiercely, impatiently, against his body.
Something warm and powerful began to throb in the area below her stomach and she inadvertently whimpered and moved restlessly against the urgent hardness pressing into her belly. Her unrestrained response seemed to trigger a deeper need in him and the quality of his kiss exploded into a persuasive, sensuous, passionate demand.
Her soft mouth was sweet against his ruthless one and he kissed her thoroughly and at length, wanting so much more that his body trembled with restraint. Finally his lips freed her mouth and came to rest on her cheek.
“You’re enough to drive a man out of his mind.” His voice was a deep rumble. He moved his face so that he could look at her. Her eyes were damp and wide and her mouth puffy and trembling. “I’ve never seen anyone like you. You’re like a beautiful flower growing on a rocky cliff—slender, bending with the wind, but tough.”
The desire Cooper felt for her was a deep pain gnawing his vitals. No other woman had ever come close to making him feel like this woman did, but he’d not let her rule him, he’d not let her call the shots! His mouth set stubbornly and Lorna’s eyes riveted on it.
“There’s a lot I like about you, Lorna. I like the way you laugh and sing. I like the proud way you hold your head.” He brought up his hands and cupped her face. “Most of all I like your eyes and your… mouth. No man has ever kissed a sweeter mouth.” His lips sipped at a tear that suddenly rolled down her cheek. “What I don’t like is a woman telling me what to do or butting into my affairs without my asking. Can you understand that?” he asked in a hard, firm voice. Then, to soften his words, he kissed her gently on the mouth.
“I don’t understand you,” she whispered. “I want to be your mate, like Maggie was to Light. I wanted to help—”
“I don’t understand me either,” he said with great certainty. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here in the first place. I should have been home a week ago.” The hardness left his face and he smiled down at her. “I guess I wanted to be with you a little while longer.”
His words brought her a delicious breathlessness. She searched his eyes, now tender and teasing, and laughed happily through her tears, her mouth making the three-cornered smile. Her fingers caressed his face, her nose nuzzled his chin, before she placed her lips sweetly on his.
“I want to be with you… forever.”
“You’re a stubborn little woman and will take strong handling. I don’t know if I’m up to it.” He leaned against the tree, his long legs spread wide, and pressed her against him intimately. “You’d better get back to the house,” he murmured, but his arms tightened around her even as he said the words. He kissed her throat just behind her ear. “Mmm… your hair is as soft as down.” He nuzzled it again. His lips moved to her face, his hands to her hips.
“I like hearing you say soft words…” Her mouth moved to meet his and the words came from the center of her being. Their mouths met with equal fervor—hot, searching, insistent. She clutched him to her, desperate in her desire to possess and be possessed.
Under his stroking hands, Lorna’s body went slack with sensuousness and pressed wantonly against him, pressing into every crook and curve of his body. Instinctively, she rubbed her softness against his hardness. Hungrily, blindly, she sought his mouth, and her kiss conveyed the deep heat inside her which was a new and delicious feeling. Whatever the future held, she thought, tonight was hers. Tonight she’d know the joy of coupling with her mate.
His lips played seductively on hers and desire flooded his mind, obliterating all reason. The powerful tug of her beauty set him ablaze with hunger and his hands roamed her body boldly, pulling her blouse from the waist of her skirt and finding one firm, small breast and squeezing it possessively. Both her arms were about his neck. He bent slightly and lifted her off her feet, capturing her thigh between his and holding it tightly for a long delicious moment. His breathing was harsh and Lorna could feel his hard body tremble against hers. She felt a shock of eager excitement to know that he was aroused as much as she.
