Prince Charming

“Travis?”

“You told him about the gold, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You told me he wasn’t a bad sort,” Hunter reminded his friend.

Lucas nodded. Travis was a good man. He’d listened to Lucas, and although it had only been his word against the army officer, Travis still used his authority to change the records. The eight missing men had been listed as deserters. Travis c eared the charge. Lucas remembered where the bodies were buried. He thought they should be shipped home to their families. Travis wanted to leave them where they were resting. The issue had still not been resolved.

“Caulder finally went for his gold, didn’t he?”

“And Travis followed him,” Hunter said.

“Damn.”

Lucas whispered the blasphemy. He was so lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t hear the twins repeat the expletive.

“I take it he got away from Travis?” Lucas muttered.

“Yes,” Hunter replied. “He had some help from his friends. Travis took a bullet, but it wasn’t anything serious.”

“What about the gold?” Lucas asked.

“Caulder has it.”

Lucas let out a sigh. First Allie and then Georgie imitated the sound.

“The bounty hunters wanted me to help them track Caulder,” Hunter remarked. “There’s a sizable reward. They’re sure he’s headed west.”

“You tell them any different?” Lucas asked.

“No.”

Lucas nodded. “Caulder’s headed north. His brother will hide him.”

“Chicago,” Hunter agreed. They both knew that was where the brother lived.

“Yes,” Lucas said. “Caulder’s definitely in Chicago.”

Taylor walked into the room in time to hear Lucas’s last remark. She was glad for the diversion. She kept her head bowed while she pretended to fuss over tightening the belt to her robe and walked over to her husband.

She kissed each baby good morning, smiled when they giggled, and then asked Lucas who Caulder was.

“No one important,” he lied. “Victoria isn’t feeling well this morning. You might want to look in on her.”

“She’s sick again,” Hunter quickly added.

They were both trying to change the subject. Taylor went along with their scheme. She would wait until later to find out who Caulder was. She didn’t believe for one minute he wasn’t important to Lucas because of the hard look that came into his eyes at the mere mention of the man’s name.

She left Lucas with the twins and went into the connecting room to see what David Daniel was doing.

The dear child was trying to make his bed. She gave him a good morning kiss and then helped him finish his chore.

He was shy with her this morning and very solemn looking. She sat down on the side of the bed and drew him close to her.

“Is something worrying you, David?”

“I’m Daniel today,” he told her.

She smiled. “All right, Daniel. Now tell me what’s worrying you.”

The little boy had quite a few fears stored up inside, all of them concerning the babies, and the most important one was about food. Babies needed to eat often, he told Taylor, and since none of them had any shoes to wear, how could they go outside to get something to eat barefoot? He didn’t want anyone laughing at his sisters.

She told him they would eat their breakfast in the hotel room. Then she needed to go to the bank. The errand would only take her a little while, and Victoria would stay with them until she got back. Then they were all going shopping. They would buy shoes first.

He still looked worried to her. “Was there something else you wanted to talk about?” she asked.

He grabbed hold of her hand and stared down at the floor. “What am I supposed to call you?”

“What would you like to call me?”

“Georgie calls you Mama. She calls every lady she sees Mama,” he added. “She gets confused. Allie called you Mama this morning. I heard her. She must be confused, too.”

“I want them to call me Mama,” Taylor said.

“Then maybe I should, too,” he blurted out. “That way they wouldn’t get confused, would they? If I call you one thing and they call you another . . .”

The yearning in his voice made her heart ache. “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind calling me Mama.”

“Are you old enough? You don’t look old enough.”

His worries were endless. Taylor smiled. “I’m old enough,” she assured him. “Have we settled this?”

He shook his head. “I still shouldn’t call you Mama. I’m too big. I’m seven now. Babies say Mama. I should call you Mother.”

She thought that was a fine idea. She put her arm around his shoulders and hugged him. “Mother it is,” she whispered.

The quiet interlude was the last peaceful minute she had for the rest of the day. Lucas wouldn’t let her go to the bank alone. He insisted upon accompanying her.

She hurriedly dressed in a white blouse with lace around the stand-up collar and a plain pleated black skirt. She brushed her hair and then tied it with a ribbon behind her neck.

The outfit was something a prim schoolmarm might wear, but on Taylor, the effect was devastating to Lucas. He fought the sudden urge to tear her clothes off her and make love to her. She looked proper, but he alone knew all about the passion hidden inside her, and oh, how he remembered her silky, golden skin beneath all the layers of clothing.

Victoria arrived at the door just as the waiter delivered their breakfast. Taylor’s friend looked radiant. There was a pretty blush in her cheeks and a smile on her face. Her bout of morning sickness had obviously passed.

Georgie put her arms out to Victoria, called her Mama, and demanded to be held. She lifted the baby up, told her her name was Victoria, and then pointed to Taylor. In a whisper she said, “She’s your mama now.”

Victoria put the baby down on the settee. Hunter was standing by the window. She smiled at him. He frowned back. She thought his behavior was rather rude. She was going to offer to pour him a cup of tea, then decided against it.

Victoria was happy to watch the children while Taylor went on her errand. Hunter tried to leave then. Lucas asked him to stay. He ignored the hot glare his request evoked, opened the door for Taylor, and left his friend fuming behind him.

Lucas didn’t go inside the bank with her. He waited outside the door. It was too fine a day not to stand outside in the sunshine. She was thankful for the privacy. She wanted to withdraw a large sum of money, and she didn’t want Lucas asking her any questions. The cash was for the journey into the wilderness. The transaction took almost thirty minutes. The banker had to wait for confirmation by wire from the Boston bank. He wrote down her temporary address for his bank’s records and finally handed her a thick envelope filled with crisp bills.

She tucked the envelope into the pocket of her coat, assured the worried-looking bank officer she didn’t need an armed guard escorting her back to the hotel, and went outside where Lucas waited for her.

He was preoccupied on their walk back to the hotel and said hardly two words to her. They had just reached the lobby doors when he turned to her.

“You and I have to have a long talk.”

“We do?”

“Damned right we do.”

Her eyes widened over the vehemence in his tone. “All right,” she agreed. “Will tonight be soon enough to suit you, Mr. Ross?”

“It will have to do, Mrs. Ross.”

He added a brisk nod, then took hold of her hand and pulled her through the entrance.

“What are we going to talk about?” she asked him on their way up the stairs.

He couldn’t believe she’d asked the question. “The children, Cincinnati, our marriage. Taylor, do you have the slightest idea what you’ve taken on?” He realized the question was a little late in coming. “We’re going to have to figure out . . .”

She interrupted him. “You really shouldn’t w

orry so, Mr. Ross. Worry ages a person.”

There was such a crowd of people on the gallery level, they had to thread their way around clusters of people to get to the next staircase. She kept her hand in her pocket covering the envelope. She wasn’t about to let a pickpocket near her. The guests all looked respectable enough, but one could still be a clever thief.

Lucas wasn’t able to talk to her again until they were on the way up the second flight of steps. “I’ve been accommodating, haven’t I?” he asked her.

“Yes, of course,” she replied. She was out of breath from running to keep up with him. Mr. Ross was taking the steps two at a time. He acted as though he was running from an angry mob.

“Do slow down,” she ordered. “You’ve been a perfect gentleman . . . most of the time. I cannot keep up with you, sir.”

“I can’t keep it up, Taylor.”

“Then slow down, for heaven’s sake.”

It dawned on him they weren’t talking about the same thing. “I meant I can’t keep on being a gentleman. It isn’t in my nature.”

He didn’t look like he was jesting. “Are you apologizing for being nice?”

“I’m not apologizing for anything,” he muttered. “I’m simply telling you I can’t keep it up.”

“It’s all been a . . .”

“Yes.”

She bowed her head so he wouldn’t see her smile. She didn’t want him to think she wasn’t taking his remarks seriously. She wasn’t, of course, but she didn’t want him to know it. He sounded so sincere and earnest.

“If you don’t like being nice, why are you?”

He was ready for the question. “Your grandmother gave me money and in return I promised to look out for you. There were other conditions attached, and I kept every one of them.”

“Name one of the conditions, please.”

They reached the door to their room. Neither one of them reached for the doorknob.

“I shared the same cabin with you on the ship,” he said. “That was one of your grandmother’s stipulations.”

She shook her head. “You told me she only wanted you to secure one room. I’m certain Madam didn’t want you in my bed.”

He snorted. She folded her arms in front of her in response to the rude noise. Lucas seemed to be spoiling for a fight, and she was suddenly quite happy to accommodate him.

“Are you telling me being a gentleman was one of Madam’s conditions?”

“Yes.”

“Was it also a condition for you to share the hotel room in Boston with me?” she asked. “And this hotel room as well?”

“No.”

“Then why did you?”

He couldn’t come up with a single answer that sounded remotely logical.

“Where I slept isn’t important,” he argued. “I’m concerned about the future, not the past.”

He wanted her to understand there would have to be changes. They were man and wife now, and she was going to have to make a few allowances. When she realized he was willing and determined to live in the city so the children could have every advantage, she would surely be willing to put up with his surly moods.

She should also try to love him a little.

He’d explain everything tonight. He’d start by telling her he wasn’t going to leave her to raise the children on her own. “You and I are going to have to work out the details. We’ll sit down after the children are in bed.”

She wasn’t listening to a word he’d just said. She was still thinking about an earlier remark. “Why did you stay on in Boston?” she asked. “Now that I think about it, you really could have left as soon as the boat docked.”

“Ship,” he corrected.

“Excuse me?”

“It was a ship, not a boat. And I stayed on in Boston because you wanted me to, remember? There were papers to sign. After that, there were a couple of babies to find. Remember them?”

“There isn’t any reason to become sarcastic, Mr. Ross. Your anxiety over the situation is clearly apparent to me. I believe I understand the reason behind it.”

“You do, do you?”

His left eyelid flickered once. Then again. She knew he was getting upset. She didn’t care. “Yes, I do know what’s bothering you. You slept with me and we . . . were intimate.”

“And that has made me anxious?”

She nodded. He shook his head. Anxious? Hell, no, he thought. Relief was a far better description for what he was feeling. She belonged to him now, and it didn’t matter if she wanted to be his wife or not. What was done was done. There wasn’t going to be any damned annulment, and if she so much as mentioned the word divorce, he’d probably break a tooth clenching his teeth together to keep from shouting at her.

The flicker had moved into the side of his cheek. She knew she was getting him riled up. She couldn’t understand why. She was only telling him what he already knew. “I told you it would complicate matters if we became intimate, but you wouldn’t listen, would you? Now you’re sorry. You’re feeling hemmed in, trapped. You want to go back to your mountains.”

Lucas didn’t know how the conversation had gotten so far out of hand. Her conclusions were all wrong, and it suddenly dawned on him that she might be telling him her own fears. Was she afraid he wanted to abandon her? He decided to find out. He would use reason to get her to realize how incorrect her conclusions were and then coax her into admitting she was afraid.

“If you’re so certain I want to go back to the mountains, why haven’t I?”

“Because of the children,” she immediately answered. “You only just found them, remember? You also feel responsible and even a little guilty because you think I might think you’re running out on me.”

Hunter opened the door. Taylor was thankful for the interruption. She hurried inside.

“We’ll continue this discussion tonight,” Lucas promised.

“If you insist.”

Lucas caught up with her and leaned down close to her ear. “By the way, Mrs. Ross, I have never felt guilty about anything in my entire life.”

The look she gave him told him she didn’t believe him.

She turned her attention to getting the children ready to go shopping. She accidentally called Georgie Allie and five minutes later repeated the error. She was having a terrible time telling them apart, and it was a strain keeping her confusion a secret. David Daniel didn’t have any difficulty, nor did Lucas, she remembered, and she found her problem not only embarrassing, but also humiliating. A mother should be able to tell her babies apart. She even sat them down side by side on the settee, knelt down in front of them, and stared at the two of them long and hard, searching for subtle differences. She couldn’t find any. Their every feature seemed identical. Their violetcolored eyes appeared to be the same shade, their blond curls parted at the same spot, and even their chubby cheeks looked identical to her.

The differences were in their personalities. Georgie was the more outgoing of the two. She didn’t seem to be afraid of anything. She had all the qualities of a leader, a bossy one at that, Taylor thought with a smile, while her sister, Allie, was already showing signs of being a peacemaker and a lady. She held her own with her sister, however, and when she wanted attention, she could scream just as ferociously.

Neither twin seemed to be suffering any ill effects from their ordeal with the Border brothers. Taylor was both surprised and relieved.

While she helped Daniel tuck in his shirt, she told him how thankful she was that none of them had been hurt.

“I wouldn’t let anyone hurt my sisters,” he told her with a good deal of arrogance in his voice.

“They were fortunate to have you to look after them,” she praised.

“I made sure they fed them good, too,” he told her. “They were scared a lot. Mostly at night. They still get scared,” he added in a whisper so Allie wouldn’t hear him. She was trying to climb up on his bed. “After everybody goes to sleep, they get in bed with me. Georgie has to hold my hand.??

?

“You’ve been their guardian angel,” she told him.

Daniel shook his head. “Maybe a helper,” he whispered. “Like Hunter and Lucas.”

Daniel was only seven years old and yet he had been forced to behave like an adult. She made a promise that when they reached Redemption and had a home of their own, she would help Daniel learn how to be a little boy again. He’d shouldered responsibilities most grown men would have trouble carrying. On the surface, Daniel was everything a mother could want in a son. He was polite, thoughtful, courteous, appreciative of every little thing she did for him, and oh, how he wanted to please her. Those were all wonderful qualities, but in her estimation, not at all normal in a seven-year-old. She would love to hear him shout or show anger or even become a little stubborn upon occasion.

Time was on her side. Daniel wasn’t going to relax his guard until he learned to trust her. Once he understood her love wasn’t conditional, she felt certain he would start smiling.

She put the worry aside for the moment and went back to getting the twins ready. It took her a full hour to get everyone organized. Lucas hired a cabbie for their use for the day. She thought he was being extravagant and thoughtful.

Just as she’d promised Daniel, they purchased shoes first. Each child got three pairs. Two were larger sizes for the children to grow into. Daniel was easy to purchase clothing for as the general men’s store carried ready-made clothing for both boys and men. When they left the store, the child had a complete wardrobe.

The twins were another matter. There weren’t any ready-made dresses available. The clerk had recommended Madame Mason’s fine establishment. The shop not only carried a full selection of fabrics, but also had a full staff of dressmakers available for fittings.

Madame Mason personally measured the twins, and Taylor ordered a large assortment of clothing to be shipped to General Delivery, Redemption, Montana Territory. She then took the owner aside and explained that the children were in dire need of clothing now. Was it possible to finish a few of the outfits right away?

Madame Mason was led to believe everything had been lost in a fire. She was extremely sympathetic and came up with an alternative suggestion she was sure Taylor would appreciate. She took her into the back room to show her the second-hand garments available to families whose finances were strapped. Madame Mason hoped Taylor wouldn’t be offended. The opposite was the case. Taylor didn’t have any qualms about buying hand-me-downs. Clothes were clothes, and the owner assured her she had only purchased barely worn, high-quality items.