Karlee could barely see his outline. He still sat up in bed. He hadn't been asleep at all, and it was growing very late. Where was the man Wes and Adam had talked about who loved a wife so much? Who always helped people? Who protected his children with his life? Did he plan to display that kindness to all the world except her?
Karlee raised her head. She could live with that. She'd lived in houses where they openly hated her for inconveniencing them. She could live with his coldness.
“All right.” She reached the door. “It doesn't matter to me, but I should tell you something.”
“What?”
Karlee smiled, anticipating how much her words would bother him and delighting in the thought. “I've decided, Daniel McLain, to love you for the rest of my life.”
TWENTY
DANIEL TOOK HER WORDS LIKE A BLOW. “I DON'T think I ever asked you to love me.”
“I know, I just decided to.” Karlee's smile flashed shorter than a wink.
“Well, stop it. I told you from the beginning I could never love you. People don't go around loving folks who don't love them back.”
“I do.”
“I don't want your love, Karlee. I'm happy with how it is between us. I don't want to love anyone else or have anyone love me.”
“Too late, I've made up my mind.” Karlee crossed into the hallway. “Good night, Daniel. I love you.”
“Don't say that,” he yelled after her.
Karlee closed the door as she left but she could still hear him grumbling about her, calling her every name he could think of. She smiled. Despite everything, he was a man worth the loving, and she planned to do so even if he never spoke to her again.
He could close himself off from the world if he wanted to, but not her. She planned to love him even if it drove him mad.
Crawling into her bed, Karlee shut her eyes. It felt so good to love someone.
She reached for the pen and paper in the bottom of her letter box and began, ‘My darling husband…”
“She's crazy,” Daniel swore beneath his breath. “I've given her no reason to love me. Hell, I don't even like the woman.” He opened and closed his hand. “All right. I like the way she feels. But that doesn't mean I want to love her, and I sure don't want her to love me. Can't she see that? Hasn't she heard a word I've said since the day I let her out of the trunk?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead. She had him talking to himself. The insanity was spreading. In no time he'd be yelling “clear the decks” and running outside every time he needed to use the privy.
He closed his eyes, trying not to think about the way she'd looked standing at the end of his bed while she changed clothes. Her skin seemed made of cream, and her breasts were high and pointed-and full. They were so full and rounded, made for a man to rest his head on.
Daniel slapped his forehead so hard stars danced in his eyes. He was going mad! Here he was thinking of a woman in a way he was sure wasn't proper for a man to think of someone he never planned to bed. He was a preacher, a reasonable man, not some lovesick cowhand who hadn't seen a woman in months.
But she was his wife. She was his! He'd about talked himself into believing that he could keep his hands off her. This morning had been a mistake. He told himself he could never make love to a woman he didn't love. It wasn't fair to her. But then she'd gone and said she loved him. Didn't he have any say about the matter?
Daniel dressed an hour before dawn. He might as well get up. He decided he'd probably never sleep again. He'd spent half the night thinking about her and the other half praying for forgiveness for his thoughts.
Limping to the kitchen, he made himself a pot of coffee. By the time Karlee came down, he was on his third cup.
“Morning.”
She looked at him as though she'd had a full night's sleep, which infuriated him.
“Morning,” Daniel grumbled. He was turning into a bear. He'd always thought of himself as even-tempered, but Karlee had managed to destroy that lifetime myth. She seemed determined to aggravate him. She'd worn a proper dress, but she must know how its snugness outlined her body. When she moved close, he had to fight the urge to reach out and touch her. She was driving him nuts on purpose.
Wolf stumbled in from his all-night outing, relieving them of the need to say more to one another. The hairy giant downed half a cup of coffee and sobered enough to fill Daniel in on details in town.
“We've got to get Jesse Blair's brother out of the stockade,” Wolf said between swallows of his second cup. “I heard word Logan is worried about the man dying before the hanging.”
Daniel glanced at Karlee, but she showed no sign of listening as she carefully burned eggs to match the bacon she'd already charred for breakfast.
“Some of Jesse's friends want to break in, but the place is too well guarded. There would be soldiers killed plus no telling how many prisoners.” Wolf scratched his beard. “We have to think of another way.”
“As a minister, I could go into the stockade,” Daniel volunteered.
Wolf shook his head. “You're barely walking.”
“I can handle it. Get me to the gate. I'll make it the rest of the way. Once I talk with Blair, we can come up with a plan to get him out. There has to be a way besides force.”
“Jesse says he'll come in as a trade to save his brother.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead. “They think Jesse's dead. They'd never agree to it. Not after Logan saw the body. We'd be no better off with Jesse in jail than his brother. Both the Blair brothers have to disappear.”
Wolf laughed without humor. “Funny thing is the brother, Altus Blair, didn't even fight in the war. He managed to stay home and safe for four years, then got caught up in the aftermath. He's a carpenter by trade, with thick glasses and a cough that's been with him since he was a kid. Jesse told me Altus wasn't expected to live to adulthood, much less long enough to be hung as a traitor.”
Daniel nodded. “He helped build the church and this house. I've heard a few folks mention that he was a good friend to the first preacher and his mother who owned this place.”
“You think he knows about the guns?”
Daniel glanced at Karlee and shook his head. “If he did, why wouldn't he have picked them up? The house was empty for a month before I got here.”
“Maybe he was afraid of Baker. If Cullen Baker and his men stashed them, Altus might have been afraid they'd come back.”
“I'll find a way to talk to him,” Daniel promised. “We'll see if he knows anything that might help us.”
“Can't hurt to try.” Wolf downed the rest of his coffee. “But I doubt the man will tell us much. Whoever knew about those guns is long gone, or long dead by now.”
“Can you hitch the team for Karlee to go after the twins and the buggy for me to drive to the stockade?”
“I can do better than that. I'll tell the settlement of Germans living in your barn that you need a driver and a wagon. They can get you to the stockade.”
Wolf excused himself as Karlee put breakfast on the table. The giant professed how sorry he was that he wouldn't have time to stay and eat.
Daniel picked at his food. Halfway through the meal, he broke the silence. “I want you to go after the twins and stay out at the farm as long as you can without stirring up questions.”
“All right.” Karlee didn't pretend not to understand why. She knew there could be trouble in town. “If you like, I could drive over and visit with AmyAnn today.”
“No.” Daniel looked up at her for the first time. “I don't want you anywhere near the Blair place. I'll meet you back here just before sunset.”
Karlee stood and moved close to his chair. “Be careful.”
Daniel smiled up at her. “You should have warned me about that before I ate breakfast.”
Karlee did as he'd instructed, staying to visit with Willow late into the afternoon. She pretended a great interest
