A Life Restored (6 page)

Thomas left her by the well to fill the canteen, not interested in pursuing the conversation further.
 
He had a job to do.

Heading into the stables, he spoke briefly with the still grumbling station hand.
 
He was able to borrow another canteen and get some food stuffs from the man.

A few minutes later, a very nervous looking Caroline sat atop her horse.
 
He mounted his horse and set the pace at a trot, knowing he couldn’t expect a faster pace with only one more station between here and Prescott.
 
He doubted if she would be able to handle such a fast pace anyway.

After about a mile, Caroline started chattering.

“This isn’t exactly how I planned things,” she confessed.

“Don’t suppose so.”

“When I left Texas, it was so I could move to Prescott.
 
My best friend, Julia Colter, moved there to live on her brother’s ranch.
 
Adam went with her.”

Thomas grunted, not pleased with the news that Julia Colter was her best friend.
 
He had so many connections with this annoying woman—all of which chewed at his conscience to make sure he delivered her to Colter Ranch safely.
 
He didn’t want that responsibility.
 
He just wanted to do his job and deliver the mail.

“I miss her.
 
Julia that is.
 
We grew up together.
 
Everywhere she went, I went.
 
We used to talk about everything.”

When her voice faded to silence, he counted himself lucky.
 
Too bad it only lasted a minute.

“If she was still in Texas, I think she would have kept me out of trouble.”
 
She sighed.
 
“That whole business with Nathan and Jesse—that would never have happened.”

Thomas didn’t want to know.
 
In fact, as the sun lowered in the sky, what he wanted most was for her to shut her trap.
 
He needed to listen for any unusual sounds.
 
He needed to make certain they weren’t being followed.

Unfortunately, she continued talking away—not seeming to mind that he said nothing.
 

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore.
 
“Shut your mouth.
 
I think someone’s following us.”

Other than a sharp intake of air, Caroline didn’t make another sound.

As the sun faded behind the mountains, Thomas pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Setting up camp for the night.”

“We’re going to stay here?”

“Yup.”

Thomas began removing his bedroll from the horse.
 
At least he had a blanket to lie on.
 
Rolling his eyes, he admitted the right thing to do would be to offer it to Caroline.

“Should I look for some firewood?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you going to then?”

“No.”

Pulling out some food from his bags, he handed her a chunk of bread and some jerky.

“How are we going to have a fire?”

Taking a big bite out of his piece of bread, Thomas replied, with mouth full, “We aren’t.”

“Why not?”

“Too dangerous.
 
It would give away our position to any Indians that might be following us.”

When he looked her direction, he saw her shaking like a leaf.
 
She started to sway, dropping her food to the ground.

Chapter 7

Caroline felt the blood drain from her face.
 
Losing hold of the food in her hands, she hugged her arms around her, praying the dizziness would abate.
 
Instead, her body shook uncontrollably as her mind raced.

Camping in the valley provided no cover.
 
If someone were following them, as Thomas suggested, they would be an easy target.
 
Stories of savage Indian attacks filled her mind.
 
Fear took root.

“Hey,” Thomas said, placing his hands on her arms.

Air refused to fill her lungs properly.
 
All she could see was images of men and women brutally attacked.

The vision of the pile of dead men from the stagecoach took control of her imagination.
 
Those poor men, their lives ended in a second.
 
When they left Wickenburg in the morning, they had no idea it would be the last morning they would see the sun rise.
 
She almost suffered the same fate.

The stress of the last few days came out as burning tears.

An anguished sob broke from her lips against her will.
 
Thomas drew her towards him.
 
She unconsciously wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her head against his chest.
 
She needed the strength he offered.

For several minutes, she sobbed uncontrollably.
 
How had she escaped the stage robbery as the lone survivor?
 
How had she escaped dehydration and a slow death in the desert?
 
Why her?
 
Why not those poor men?

Had she escaped death twice in as many days, only to be killed in her sleep by violent Indians?

Her breath caught in her throat.
 
Please, God, I don’t want to die.

Maybe all of this was retribution for her lies to her parents.
 
She should have told them the truth—that she didn’t have someone to accompany her the whole way to Prescott.

But, Millie said she and her father would have taken her—only if she had waited.
 
Suddenly the few months wait Millie suggested seemed to make sense only she had not taken her friend’s advice.
 
Instead she plowed ahead, like she always did in her brazen way with no thought of the consequences of her actions.

Had she learned nothing from the situation with Nathan and Jesse?
 
There she hurt not only herself and her family, but each of them and their families.

In her present case, she hurt not only herself, but Millie—she was probably worried sick wondering if Caroline made it to Prescott safely.
 
If she died in this valley tonight, Julia and Adam, and probably all of Colter Ranch would be hurt.

Then there was the express rider.
 
She ruined his schedule.
 
Hopefully she didn’t cost him his job.

Guilt and remorse piled on top of grief.
 
Caroline continued to cry for several more minutes, hoping relief would fill her soul.

Thomas swallowed hard.
 
The feel of this woman against his chest sent his senses spiraling out of control.
 
As he rubbed his hands up and down her back to comfort her, he savored the feel of her cotton dress under his fingers.
 
Her body pressed against his.
 
Her arms clutched tight around his waist.
 
The longer she cried in his embrace the more his blood boiled.

Letting out a slow breath, he tried to calm his racing heart and his fierce physical reaction to her closeness.
 
This was Larson’s sister.
 
He could not afford to do anything foolish.

When her crying subsided, she looked up at him.
 
Even in the fading light, he could see the terror in her eyes.
 
How he wanted to chase it away.

As he studied her face, he took in the long blonde eyelashes framing her frightened eyes.
 
Her skin looked so smooth, like silk.
 
Her pink lips were full and inviting.

Without thinking, he lowered his mouth to hers, answering the beckoning call of her sweet lips.
 
Fire coursed through his veins as he savored the feel of her body crushed against his.
 
His hands itched to memorize her back, but he held them around her waist instead.

Then she kissed him back, shyly at first then growing with intensity.
 
A deep hunger and longing awakened in his soul.
 
Her kisses teased that longing into passionate desire.
 
He deepened the kiss, exploring her back with his hands, continuing to press her close.

She mesmerized him and he wanted to make love to her.

Instantly he dropped his hold and stepped back—the thought scaring him senseless.
 
This was not just any woman.
 
This was Adam Larson’s sister.

Breathing heavily, Thomas left her standing there as he headed toward his horse.
 
He never had such an immediate and consuming reaction to a woman before.
 
His heart was still beating violently.
 
He didn’t dare look at her to see her reaction to his sudden retreat.
 
Yes, he was retreating from her, just as much as he had from the rebels he encountered in the war.
 
He would have to proceed very cautiously with this woman, for she seemed to hold some sort of power over his common sense.

As he began unbuckling the saddle, he berated himself for his actions.
 
Maybe swearing off saloon girls hadn’t been such a good idea after all—not if it left him in such knots that he would nearly take advantage of a decent woman in a desperate situation.
 
The only reason he gave up the girls at the saloon was because he was trying to be a better man.
 
He and Paul talked about it many times.
 
Paul constantly told him that the momentary pleasure wasn’t worth the pain it caused.
 
Though Thomas hadn’t been entirely convinced that there was anything wrong with the pleasure, he considered Paul a decent, honorable man—someone to emulate—the kind of man like his brother.

He thought if he could be more like Paul, more like Drew, then maybe he wouldn’t cause such unbearable pain for himself and those he loved.
 
Maybe he could somehow atone for Drew’s death.

All of it made perfect sense until a certain blonde-haired, green-eyed woman entered his life and turned it upside down.

As the heat slowly dissipated from his veins, he threw the saddle down.
 
It would act as a barrier between them as they slept on the hard ground tonight.
 
If he could fall asleep, knowing only two saddles separated them.

He tossed his only blanket towards her general direction.
 
He barely glanced long enough to make sure she caught it.

“You’ll sleep there,” he said as he pointed to the far side of the saddles.
 
“I’ll be over here.”

She didn’t make a sound.

“I’m going to… Um, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, needing a break from her intense stare and the emotions it stirred.
 
Hopefully, she would lie down and fall asleep before he returned.

Caroline stood there numbly watching Thomas unsaddle the horses.
 
He had kissed her in a way that made her feel like a woman—no longer a schoolgirl—and she liked every second of it.
 
She should be furious.
 
Instead, she felt heady, dizzy in a different way from earlier.

Oh my.
 
If Nathan had kissed her like that… She never would have left Texas.
 
She would have married him, had his children, and eagerly grown old with him.

Only, Nathan hadn’t kissed her like that.
 
No, it was the express rider.
 
The man who did everything the opposite way she would have.
 
The man who rescued her.

That must be what it was.
 
She wasn’t thinking clearly.
 
She had been through far too much in the last few days.
 
Somehow she responded to his kiss out of some need to feel safe.
 
Maybe it was just because he had rescued her that she felt that way.

Shaking out the blanket, she watched his back as he walked off.
 
In the deepening shadows, she noted his muscular form.
 
He was only an inch or two taller than her—rather short for a man.
 
But, she didn’t mind when he was kissing her.

Such ardor.
 
She waved her hand in front of her face to fan herself.

She hoped she could trust him not to do anything untoward.
 
Despite their differences, he seemed like an honorable man.

Until he kissed her.

Heat flushed her cheeks.
 
She wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep with the memory of his kiss and the sparks it lit in her soul repeating over and over in her mind.

As she lowered herself to the ground, she thought about the kisses she experienced with Jesse and Nathan.
 
Those attempts paled in comparison.
 
Those had been her silly naive notion of what romance and love was like.

Love.
 
She couldn’t possibly love Thomas.
 
She’d only known him a short time.
 
She knew absolutely nothing about him.
 
Not where he came from.
 
Not who he was.
 
Nothing, save for the fact that he irked her the first day they met and that he saved her the next time.

But, there was no denying the strong feelings she just experienced.
 
Was it possible there might be something between the fireworks and love?

She just couldn’t consider that kind of love.
 
It seemed too… Frightening.
 
Intense.
 
Confusing.

A soft rustle of the tall grass sounded behind her.

“I’m back,” Thomas said, as he lay down on the other side of the saddles.

“Good night,” she whispered.

Only silence answered.

Releasing a quiet, yet heavy sigh, Caroline tried to fall asleep.