Page 422 of Conveniently Wed
She lost her train of thought as he nuzzled the back of her neck. The smell of fresh thyme soap and the brush of his whiskers tickling her skin took over her senses.
“Ow. These blasted pins.” He smoothed one hand up and down her arm as he pulled each pin from her hair with the other. They dropped with a ping onto the hardwood floor. Her locks fell free down her back. An involuntary intake of breath slipped from her lips as he tenderly ran his fingers through her waves. Like a sensual caress, the touch of his fingertips played a slow agonizing melody.
His ragged voice whispered into her ear. “I love your hair down.” He slid his hands up to massage her temples. The work of the day melted away. She closed her eyes to the view out the window and relaxed to the rhythmic motion of his fingertips.
When he turned her to face him, she was ready for the kiss, sweet and gentle, then tantalizing and needy. A heat stirred deep within until he stepped out of her arms. Her eyes fluttered open. She reached out to pull him back, but he had already turned from her and was pulling on his shirt.
She shook the hazy feeling from her head and stared at the man.
“Well, my dear, did you come up here to be kissed soundly, or did you have something to talk about?
“I wanted to thank you.”
He turned and raised both his eyebrows. A look of delight split across his face. “The pleasure was all mine.”
“I mean…thank you for letting me help Delilah today. I felt like my old self. Useful, that is. The little bit of work you’ve been able to give me doing the books is just not enough.” Still jittery on the inside from that kiss, her thoughts came out jumbled.
“That’s what this is all about? So, last night at supper when my mind was elsewhere, I agreed to exactly what?”
So her suspicions had been right and he had not been paying attention. She couldn’t help a smile. “Why, Josiah, you know full well I can’t go on like some lady of leisure. It’s not me. And with all the help you’re giving my family, the least I can do is join in.” She pressed her hands together. “If you give me some freedom, you’ll find I’m quite resourceful. I can garden, help with the horses, learn the bookkeeping. I admit, I’m not a great cook, but I can help, and I love cleaning.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“If you’re not too good to do any job, why am I?” She deliberately widened her eyes to give him a pleading look.“Please, I need this. I want to work. It makes me feel like I belong.”
“Maybe it wasn’t the work that made you feel like you belong,” he teased as he flipped each suspender into place.
She hit his shoulder. “It’s just plain ungentlemanly of you to suggest otherwise. Don’t unduly flatter yourself. The work is what made me?—”
He dragged her up against him in one swift movement and crushed his mouth on hers. The pressure intoxicated her senses, and she found herself tingling with awareness and excitement. Her body melted into his embrace.
He pulled back with a wide grin. “Need I say more?”
Katie shook her head. He was bending toward her for more when Delilah’s bellow filtered up the stairs.
“Come, you two lovebirds, da supper is getting cold.”
He drew his face back, but kept his arm tight around her. “Saved, little one—for now. Delilah can get quite grumpy if her hard work is spoiled.” Then he released his hold at her waist and grabbed her hand. As they left the room and headed downstairs, he didn’t let go. Heat rushed to her face as they entered the kitchen, hand in hand. An immediate glance to their locked hands and Delilah’s dark face donned a mouthful of pearly whites.
The next few weeks passed in a flurry of activity. The work energized Katie a little more each day. Delilah handed over the running of the household with the understanding that the kitchen was her domain, leaving Katie plenty of time to oversee the maids, keep up the books, churn butter, make candles and soap, and do the outside work she loved.
Josiah was slow to agree to her helping in the garden or with the farm animals, but she soon realized there was little he would deny her with a bit of pleading. She dug up the last of the potatoes, onions, and carrots from the garden and stored them in the cold room. She tended the overgrown flower beds and pruned the roses in readiness for winter. When Ma and her sisters headed out to the orchard to pick the last of the apples, she joined in. Each day, she worked with one purpose in mind—to ensure Josiah would have the best run home in the valley. She would see to it. If she couldn’t be a wife spouting words of love, she would at least help him fulfill his dreams of family and a well-run ranch.
She smiled at the thought of the nights they shared. That time with Josiah was far more enjoyable than she had imagined, and the hope she would someday be a mother filled her mind with joy.
“What are you smiling about?” Amelia asked in the orchard one day as she climbed the ladder next to Katie.
Katie could feel the heat rise in her face. “I was just thinking how scared I was to marry Josiah and how different it all turned out than I’d feared.”
“Things are good then? I couldn’t help but hear the commotion a few weeks ago when you ran out crying.”
So much had changed since then. She could actually answer with truth. Josiah was happy and, oddly, that mattered more to her than her own happiness.
“I’m better, much better. Josiah is a kind husband.”
“Kindness is enough?” Amelia’s eyebrows lifted. “Didn’t you always say you wanted a true love story or no love story at all? I was the one willing to settle for a home, family, and a kind man.”
Katie snatched an apple and plunked it a little too hard into her bag. “You know my circumstances. I’m making the best of it. The least you could do is cheer me on.”
