Page 541 of Conveniently Wed
He turned toward Lorinda. “What were you trying to do? Scare me into dropping him?”
Her face was red, and she perched her fisted hands on her hips. “You were scaring him! Youcouldhave dropped him!”
Michael stopped laughing and his face puckered.
“See, he’s about to cry.”
He’d made the extra effort to come home, and here his wife was screaming like a banshee at him. He’d never heard a cross word from her before.
“Well, he didn’t start crying until you started screaming.”
Franklin stared at her, just now noticing she wore some kind of white, nearly transparent robe and gown, decorated with tiny colorful flowers. Good thing she had on both of them. Even with the two layers, he could see a hint of the luscious curves underneath. He’d never seen her in anything like that before, and his desire for her exploded into something he had a hard time controlling. After all, she was his wife. Heat throbbed through his body, making him sweat.
Sobs burst from her. “You...could have...dropped him.”
He stalked across the kitchen floor and pulled her into the arm that wasn’t holding their son. “Lorinda, I’d never...ever...put you or him in danger. Please believe me.”
She shook as if she were out in the cold night air. “I just couldn’t have faced losing him.”
He leaned his chin on the top of her head. “Neither could I.”
They stood like that for an extended moment, holding the wriggling baby between them. After dropping a quick kiss onher forehead, he handed the baby to her. She took Michael and hurried out of the kitchen. Her movements caused the robe and gown to cling close to the front of her body and puff out behind her. Thank goodness, he wasn’t on that side of her.
Franklin glanced at Mrs. Oleson, who still sat at the table, holding a mug in her hands. “What was that all about?”
“Sit down, Franklin.” She let go of the mug. “Look at it from her perspective.”
He turned the chair across from her around and straddled it with his arms crossed along the back. “How so?”
“It’s a very long time since she’s been in a normal family, and I’m not sure that family was normal. I don’t know exactly what all happened to her, but she has a hard time trusting people. I’m sure she has a good reason not to.” She leaned toward him. “She’s probably never seen a father play with his son the way you just did. It does look dangerous to a woman...even me, and I have total assurance you can catch the baby.”
That hit him like a punch to his gut. All the air whooshed out of his lungs. He’d never realized those things about Lorinda. But then she hadn’t shared very much about her former life with him. He must not be very discerning. At least, Mrs. Oleson was.
“I was out of line.” He rubbed his forehead. An ache throbbed behind his eyes. “And I don’t have time to make it up to her.”
“Something else could be bothering her.”
He must be really dense. “What else?”
Mrs. Oleson gave him her you’re-such-a-man look. “Her first husband left for only a short time and never returned. You and Thomas took his body to her. She could be scared that something could happen to you.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” He got up and went to the water bucket and dipped up a drink.
“Thanks for telling me. I’ve got to get some shut-eye, or I won’t be worth anything on the drive.”
He entered the bedroom where his son slept. How quickly he’d fallen asleep. After pressing a gentle kiss on his cheek, he went to the door of his former bedroom. Lorinda lay in the bed, not moving a muscle, and her breathing sounded even. Hopefully, she’d calmed down from their little scare.
Take him a while to forget what happened.
24
When Franklin reached the herd the first morning of the cattle drive, he felt as lousy as a high-strung horse that had been ridden hard and put up wet. Sleep had been a long time coming last night, and early morning arrived much too soon. After he got over being angry with Lorinda, his mind was attacked by thoughts he should have considered before he made that stupid marriage bargain. They were as hard to straighten out as a stampede on a cattle drive.
Please, Lord, keep the herd from stampeding before we reach Frisco station.
All the time since Lorinda agreed to be his wife, he’d seen her only as a mother for his heir. He thought she should be thankful she didn’t have to worry about how she would be able to take care of Michael. He would provide for them and protect both of them. The idea she might have other concerns never entered his mind...until Mrs. Oleson brought them up last night.
Today’s job would take all his concentration, so he pushed these thoughts into a compartment in his mind and snapped the door closed. With plenty of cowboys to help, they got the herd moving the longer way to Frisco. They only had to keep them going at a gentle pace that allowed for some grazing, then theymoved toward Miner’s Creek. He wanted water close-by during the drive. They’d follow this stream until it connected to Ten Mile Creek and steer along this source of water until they were close to the railroad depot. The cattle cars should arrive by the time they did. He looked forward to dealing with Harley Smith. The buyer for Swift Packing Company in Chicago was a fair man that knew he could trust Franklin to deliver strong, healthy beeves.
