River Lady (James River Trilogy 3)

With resignation Leah dressed under the covers, rose, and gathered the water buckets. On her way to the river she saw Justin, the man who had recently joined them, stripped to the waist, digging a grave.

“Good morning,” he called to her, his eyes alight.

Leah could barely murmur a reply because she ducked her head in embarrassment at the memory of being undressed by this man.

Immediately Justin was beside her, taking the buckets away from her. “Sleep well?” He laughed when she merely nodded, still not looking at him. “You’re not going to let a little thing like a lack of clothes come between friends, are you? Why I’ve undressed hundreds of women.”

She looked up at him, eyes wide.

“Maybe not hundreds.” He smiled, his eyes almost eating her. “And certainly none as pretty as you. Don’t turn away. Are you always so shy?”

She lifted her chin and looked at him. “I don’t think I’m ever shy, but now I am…” She wanted to change the subject. “You’ll be traveling with us?”

“All the way into Kaintuck.” They were at the river and he took the buckets from her to fill them. “I grew up in the town where Wes bought his farm. All winter he worked like a demon on that place. I guess he was trying to get it ready for Miss Shaw.”

“I guess so. Do you also farm?”

“Sure, and a little huntin’ on the side. No, I’ll carry them,” he said when Leah reached for the full buckets.

“I can take care of my own jobs, thank you,” she said stiffly.

Justin smiled at her, and his already handsome face looked even better. “I have no doubt you could carry a hundred buckets, but would you be so cruel as to deny me the pleasure of carrying them for you?”

For a moment, Leah didn’t answer, but then she smiled. “I would hate to be called cruel. By all means, Mr. Stark, carry the water.”

“Justin,” he said with a laugh. “All my ladies call me Justin.”

“All of them?” She laughed in return and felt better than she had in weeks.

“You two certainly seem to have forgotten what happened yesterday,” Wesley said, glowering down at them. “I’d think you’d at least have a little respect for Kimberly’s grief.”

Justin’s face lost its smile. He was a smaller man than Wes, but he didn’t back down. “I think Leah showed a great deal of respect when she nearly drowned searching for a man who isn’t even related to her. Just because that woman of yours cries loud doesn’t mean she’s willing to risk anything except tears.”

Leah glanced up at the two furious men and excused herself because she was afraid of letting them see her smile. Justin’s words made her want to smile all over. With a lightened heart she set about her chores of tending the animals, cooking breakfast, and readying the wagon for the day’s journey. She didn’t know if Wes and Justin continued to argue, but when they all gathered at the grave site, the two men seemed to have come to terms. Kim leaned heavily on Wesley’s arm while he talked about what a good man Steven Shaw had been.

After the service, such as it was, Kim allowed Wes to help her inside the wagon where she lay down.

Justin tossed his pack and saddle in the second wagon, tied his horse behind, and climbed on the seat beside Leah, taking the reins from her. “I don’t know if that woman and I are going to get along at all.”

In spite of Leah’s denial that she was shy, she really didn’t know what to say to Justin. But she needn’t have worried. Justin told her about his hometown of Sweetbriar, about his three sisters and four brothers, about his nieces and nephews. He told stories about w

ho was in love with whom in the town and about how pretty Miranda Macalister was driving all the single men crazy.

“You included?” she asked timidly.

“I’ve looked at her a few times, but I’ve always had an idea of what the woman I wanted was like.”

“And?” Leah encouraged.

“She’s like you, Leah,” he said softly, looking away only when the lead horse stepped into a rut.

Leah felt a wave of fear go through her. This man knew nothing about her, that she was a Simmons from the Virginia swamps, that she had a whore for a sister and her father had been crazy. It was a while before she talked, and then it was only in monosyllables about her weaving.

They stopped briefly to eat cold meat and potatoes, and Kim didn’t leave the wagon. At night Leah made dinner over a fire she’d built. She watered and fed the animals. Justin cut firewood while Wes tended to Kim, who was distraught and incapacitated by her grief over her brother.

For days they traveled west with Justin beside Leah, talking to her, asking her questions, and each day Leah’s sense of guilt grew. Regan and Nicole had been kind to her in spite of the fact that she came from the swamps. But they’d always known about her. She felt she was leading Justin on, lying to this man who was so nice to her. If he knew what she was really like, where she was from, he would probably treat her as Wesley did.

A week passed and Kimberly’s grief did not subside. Leah began taking Kim’s meals to her in the wagon, where Kim clung to Leah and cried.