Page 24 of Beyond Montana's Sky
Chiding herself for her fanciful thoughts, she loosened the scarf from around her neck and unbuttoned her coat. Her heated reaction to the man certainly warmed her.
Cai pushed open the door with his foot and strode inside, a saddlebag in each hand. He dropped one on “his” bed and raised the other. “Mormorsent along women things like a nightgown.” He deposited the saddlebag on the bed next to the bearskin.
Edith stared at him, astonished. She hadn’t even thought about what she’d need for the night. She certainly couldn’t sleep in a tight corset. “Please thank Mrs. Anderson for her kindness.”
He nodded, winked, and went back outside.
Huffing a breath, she placed her hands on her sides, feeling the stiff whalebone stays under her palms. With dismay, Edith realized that while she could unhook the front tonight, tomorrow, she’d have no way to reach the strings or at least to pull them tight. Without a tight corset, she couldn’t fit in her clothes.
Edith closed her eyes and let out a groan, already mortified.In the morning Cai will need to help me get dressed.
* * *
After they’d settled in, since neither was hungry yet, they sat at the table, Cai on the end and Edith on the side next to him. The lantern and the fire provided a warm glow in the darkness.
Edith felt Cai’s gaze on her, so she lifted her eyes and saw him watching her. His face had softened and his blue eyes, now gray in the lamplight, held something she couldn’t decipher. Then his mouth slowly, lazily, lifted in a devastating smile that made her breathing hitch in an odd sort of tightness. Vaguely she thought,I’ll have to wear my corset a bit looser when planning to be around this man.
Realizing the direction her mind was going, Edith tore her gaze away and straightened.I’m not going to be around him. I’ll be in Boston.
Deciding to take on the role of hostess, even if this wasn’t her home, she searched for an innocuous topic of conversation. “Are all your ranch hands Andersons?”
“I’ve taken in a few drifters in need of work, like Ahab, whom you sort of met at the saloon. They usually choose to stay.” He shrugged with a self-depreciating smile. “Mormor’scooking is hard to give up, and they become adopted Andersons.”
She chuckled, having no difficulty imaginingMormortaking strays under her wings.
“I really have more than enough Andersons to run the ranch. I’m lucky that way. At least, I think that way most days. Other days…they can bemostinterfering, especially the ladies.”
This time she laughed out loud. “And so they should be to keep all you men in line.”
Cai liked seeing her expression soften. Encouraged by the interest in her eyes, he continued his tale. “There’d be more Anderson women on the ranch, but, thank goodness, our families have a long tradition started by my two aunts of shipping our girls off to a prestigious boarding school in Concord, Massachusetts. They marry and remain there.”
Edith smiled. “Sounds like a very sensible thing to do. It’s hard to get a ladylike education in Sweetwater Springs.”
“My generation, we’ve also sent the boys, encouraging them to stay after their schooling and find jobs. There’re too many of them for the ranch to support. Any Anderson who wants to return home is more than welcome, of course. Seems to have worked out well. I pay out a lot in wages, though, so I’m not as well off as other ranchers around here.”
“I admire your sense of responsibility. Concord must have quite a tribe of Driscolls and Andersons.”
Cai had a sudden memory of his sister. For all that Aurie had been a little cowboy and his shadow, she’d desperately wanted to go to Concord for school, although she’d stoutly vowed that she’d return to the ranch after she graduated. But when her closest friends left, she was too ill to go along.
In retrospect, Cai wondered if the loss of a dream and loneliness added to Aurie’s deteriorating condition.Perhaps, she’d only pretended not to care.He tried not to remember the pain of those last, dark months, instead keeping to the light tone of their conversation. “There’s certainly a tribe of Andersons in Concord. Right now, four are old enough to marry. I predict they’ll be engaged before they graduate.”
Aurie will never marry. Never have children.
Something in his voice or expression must have alerted Edith of his faltering feelings, for she tilted her head in inquiry.
He desperately strove to keep a lid on his deteriorating emotions, not wanting to spiral into the familiar, dark grief. “I don’t know about a Driscolltribe. I guess there are my two aunts and their offspring. I do have five female cousins, and two of them have daughters. My….” He forced out the words. “My sister died before she could attend the school.” To his horror, Cai felt his eyes welling.
He thrust to his feet. But before he could flee, she caught his hand.
“Cai.” For the first time, Edith said his name. It sounded like a caress.
You’d think she’d roped and tied him, for although his thoughts struggled, his body seemed unable to move away. Her hand soft in his, she tugged him back. He collapsed on the chair.
Shame settled heavily in his belly. Cai didn’t want to look in her eyes, afraid of what he might see.Condemnation, perhaps? Men aren’t supposed to cry.
“I don’t know why not,” she said tartly, releasing his hand.
I said that out loud?Startled, he shot her a look, expecting to see a critical expression to match her tone. Instead he saw only compassion in her eyes.
