Embarrassment warred with excitement inside Karlee. She quickly pulled on her dress. “I'm so thankful you can see,” she mumbled beneath the layers of her garments. “I've been hoping and praying and…”
“Karlee?”
She didn't answer but turned away from him as she buttoned her dress.
“Karlee, it's all right.”
She slowly raised her head. “I know it's all right. I just didn't know I was being watched.”
“You've nothing to be ashamed of. You have a beautiful body.”
“That's the first compliment you've ever paid me.” She walked to the door, too embarrassed to say more.
“It won't be the last,” she heard him mumble.
• • •
Karlee entered the kitchen hoping no one would notice how red her cheeks were, but her entire face felt as if it was on fire. She started lunch with little more than a smile to Allie and Adam.
Allie must have stayed close to John all morning, talking with him and not just to him for the first time. She'd even managed to get him to wear a pair of trousers.
Wes wandered in with a nod to Karlee before sitting down at the table. He tried to get his wife's attention so he could tell Allie all about the fine horse he'd bought for John.
Daniel entered without a word but fully dressed. He made his way slowly to the table and sat down across from Wes.
Karlee tried not to look at her husband's face while she served the soup. She told herself his caresses had been a dream and she'd been asleep, but she knew both were lies.
Adam broke the silence. “He's up and dressed. I guess the morning nap was the best medicine he's had.” Adam pointed to Daniel but winked at Karlee.
“And he can see,” Karlee volunteered.
“A little,” Daniel answered as Adam forgot the meal and started examining him.
“A lot,” Karlee corrected. She sat down at the only chair left. The one beside Daniel. To her surprise he made no attempt to keep his leg from brushing hers. To her shock, neither did she.
Everyone talked at once as they ate her potato soup and crumbly cornbread. Karlee had to give the McLains credit. They all thanked the cook politely, as though they didn't notice the poor quality of her skill.
“If you think you're able to make it on your own, I thought I'd head back with Wes and Allie toward home.” Adam leaned in his chair. “I know Nichole will be wishing me home by now. I'll ask the doc in town to come by and change your bandage.”
“There's no need,” Daniel answered calmly. “Karlee will do it for me. She does a better job than the old doc does anyway.” He absently slid his hand along his leg, brushing hers with his movement.
“Allie and I could stay another few days if you think there will be any trouble,” Wes volunteered, even as his wife frowned.
“No need,” Daniel promised. “Wolf's here in case trouble explodes the minute you leave.”
Both older brothers laughed as if they half expected their little brother to find calamity the minute they weren't around, just as he did when he was a kid.
After lunch, the four left for Wes and Allie's ranch with no ropes around Allie's brother. It would take a long time to find the John Sheridan inside the Apache. A part of him would always be the free warrior.
When they were gone, Wolf insisted on going after the twins only to return a few hours later to report that the Buchanans wanted to allow Karlee and Daniel time alone. He also brought supper, saying it was the first installment on Adam's bill for delivering the baby.
Karlee laughed, knowing that, more likely, Granny thought the men starved from having to eat Karlee's cooking. Also, she and Daniel needed no time by themselves. Alone or with a house full of people wouldn't matter. Nothing would happen between them, she thought. They were simply getting used to one another, nothing more.
She dressed for bed, then tapped on the parlor door. She wasn't sure if she should ask to sleep with Daniel or not.
Daniel sat up in his bed reading, a blue ribbon twisted around his fingers. “What is it, Karlee?”
He sounded tired. He'd pushed himself to stay up all afternoon moving around the house, forcing his leg to take his weight. Several times on the porch, Daniel and Wolf talked, almost arguing about something. Karlee hadn't caught more than a few words, but she remembered hearing Lieutenant Logan's name whispered as an oath more than once.
“I thought I'd change the bandage,” she offered as she entered Daniel's room.
“All right.” He lifted the covers off his wounded leg.
Karlee tried not to let her hands shake as she worked. “It's almost healed.” She said the obvious. “How are your eyes?”
“They sting some and hurt when I touch them, but other than that, I can almost see to read.” His words were impersonal. The fact that they were alone seemed to bother him rather than make him feel comfortable. He twisted the ribbon tightly across his fingers.
“I moved back into my room upstairs.” Karlee tried to keep her hand steady as she wrapped the leg. If he wanted her to stay, he'd have to ask.
“That's for the best,” Daniel finally answered.
He now seemed to be strangling the velvet ribbon in his fingers. She could almost hear him say, “I want no wife. I want no more children. I'll never love again.” The ribbon had somehow reminded him of those promises.
Karlee finished and climbed the stairs to her room. For the first time since she'd been in Texas, she reached for the box beneath her bed.
Her letters.
No matter where she traveled, she always took the box with her. It was all she had left of her parents-their letters to one another while her father was away at sea. She'd read them so many times, the paper bent beneath her touch, as pliable as cloth.
Carefully, she lifted the first letter dated before she was born.
“ My darling, my love,” it started.
One by one, she read the letters. They told a story of a young couple desperately in love. Again and again, her father begged her mother to sail with him. Over and over, she wrote of reasons she couldn't. Then, finally, in the last letter, she promised she'd go with him on the next voyage.
Karlee closed her eyes and remembered the last day she'd seen her parents. They'd left her on the dock crying in her grandmother's arms as they sailed. She'd waved until the ship disappeared over the horizon.
A month later, they were gone. Another month and her grandmother died. By Christmas, Karlee was alone. Totally alone. One unanswered question had haunted her from the day she'd bid them farewell. Why hadn't they taken her with them?
She scrubbed her eyes with her fists and hurried downstairs. She needed to feel the wind in her hair.
For a long while, she stood on the cold front porch and listened to the wind stir the branches. The air was humid, turning her hair wild with tiny curls, but she didn't care.
Finally, when she could breathe deep without choking back tears, she went inside.
Daniel's door was open, but his light was out. He was back in his dark world once more to sleep.
She tiptoed to his bed and made sure he was covered.
Without warning, his hand grabbed her arm. “What is it?” His voice was too harsh for him to have been asleep.
“I was just tucking you in.” She pulled at his grip.
“I don't need a nurse,” he answered. “I'm not a child who must be checked on at night.”
“I know.” She stepped away in the blackness. The dark mood that haunted him earlier remained.
“Then go to bed, Karlee. We both need time.”
His words were almost a slap, but this time she wondered if the harshness were for her benefit, or his own. If they couldn't talk about what happened between them, maybe they did both need time. After all, they had a lifetime.
Karlee pressed her lips together, wishing she could see him. “Must you always be so short with me?”
The room waited in total stillness. “Yes,” he finally said without explanation.
