The crowd laughed, enjoying the power money gave a man to say what he wanted to anyone. But Houston was watching the back of the wagon.
“Well, look at this,” Kane said, pulling out a tennis racquet. “I don’t think we can hit a baseball with this.” He turned to a little girl standing by him. “Maybe you could use this.”
The child took the racquet but didn’t move. “What is it?” she whispered.
Kane pointed to Houston. “See that lady there? She can show you how to use it.”
Houston walked straight to her husband, put her arms about his neck and kissed him, much to the delight of the people around them. When he wouldn’t let her go, Houston pushed at him.
“I guess I finally found the right present,” he said to someone over her shoulder as he pressed her close.
As Houston moved away from him, she heard Rafe laugh.
The rest of the afternoon, Houston didn’t have much time to think as she organized games of tennis and showed girls how to use the archery equipment. There were balls, hoops and sticks, jump ropes, jacks, dolls, paper dolls. She had her hands full just trying to portion out the goods fairly, and the mothers helped her soothe the girls who thought they weren’t getting their fair share.
Before Houston knew it, it was sundown, and Kane came to her and put his arm about her shoulders. As she looked up at him, she knew that she still loved him. Perhaps he wasn’t the man she had first thought he was, perhaps he was capable of living his life for the sole purpose of revenge, and maybe today was only a show of his hatred for Jacob Fenton, but at the moment, she didn’t care. She’d promised to love him for better or worse and his obsession with revenge was part of the worse. As she looked up at him, she knew that she’d always love him, no matter what he did, no matter what dreadful motives he had for the things he did. She would stand by him and love him even if he took everything the Fentons owned.
“You ready, honey?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said and meant the word from the bottom of her heart.
Chapter 28
Kane didn’t look at Houston as they left the coal camp and drove past the sullen guards. He held the reins tightly and kept his, eyes on the road ahead.
Houston looked at nothing else but him, wondering how she could have so little pride as to admit to being in love with a man who used her. But as she looked at him, she knew that she couldn’t help herself.
At the foot of the hill, just before the road turned back to the main highway, Kane stopped the wagon. The sun was going down in a riot of pinks and oranges, setting the horizon on fire. The cool mountain air was growing cooler, the air was fragrant with the scent of sage, the road was littered with the silvery pieces of coke from the ovens, and blowing in the gentle breeze were feathery seedpods.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked, as he came around to her side of the wagon and lifted his arms to her.
“Because, love,” he said, pulling her down into his arms, “I don’t think that I can wait any longer to make love to you.”
“Kane . . . ” she began to protest, “we can’t stop here. Someone might come along.”
She said no more because he was holding her in his arms, drawing her closer to him, his hands beginning to caress her back. Houston leaned into him with all the fervor she felt.
He drew back from her, touching her cheek with a rare gentleness. “I missed you, honey,” he whispered. “I missed you a lot.”
The next minute, all gentleness was gone as his mouth swooped down on hers and hungrily caught her lips under his own.
Houston was as eager for him as he was for her. Her body melted against his, her curves fluidly conforming to the hard planes of his body.
The next minute, he pushed her away and looked at the expression of rapture and desire he saw on her face. With a look of fortitude, he moved away from her and went to the back of the wagon and removed the piece of canvas. After he’d spread it on the ground, behind the privacy of Piñon trees and juniper shrubs, he held his hand out to her.
Slowly, Houston walked toward him, watching him, her mind a blank except for thoughts of the pleasure to come.
His hands were shaking as he began to undress her, slowly working the tiny buttons loose one by one. “I’ve been thinkin’ about this for a long time,” he said softly. The dim evening light made shadows of his lashes across his face, making him look younger and very vulnerable. “You asked me once about other women. I don’t guess I ever even thought about a woman once I was outta bed with her—in fact, I don’t think I thought about her while I was in bed with her. And worst of all, I sure as hell never told a woman all the things I’ve told you in the last few months. Are you a lady or a witch?”
As his hand slid inside her dress, touching her skin, finding her breast and sending the warmth of his touch throughout her body, Houston put her arms around his neck, pressed her lips to his. “I’m a witch who’s in love with you,” she whispered.
Kane grabbed her to him so close that she felt her ribs giving way, and only a squeal of protest made him loosen his grip.
There was no more talk as Kane attacked her with all the pent-up desire that he had stored. And Houston responded in the same manner.
With exuberance, they both began tearing at each other’s clothes, and the still night air was filled with the sound of bits of fabric tearing when a reluctant button refused to slide through the hole.
Houston wasn’t given time to remove her hose and high heels before Kane was on her, his hot mouth running over every bit of skin that he could find. She dug her nails into his flesh and pulled him closer and closer until they were one person.