Читать книгу Redwing's Lady - Stella Bagwell - Страница 10

“Wh-what was…that for?” Maggie stammered breathlessly once he finally released her.

As Daniel looked at her, he realized he’d never seen a more erotic woman. Nor had he ever wanted one the way he wanted Maggie Ketchum. Her breasts were heaving and her lips were red and moist from his kiss. If circumstances were different, he’d kiss her all over again. And again. If she’d let him.

“To tell you I’m not just a lawman, Maggie. I’m a man, too. I can lose my cool. If that’s what you want.”

She’d never had a man speak to her in such a spare, blunt fashion. But then she’d never had a man kiss her like Daniel Redwing had kissed her, either.

“No,” she quickly answered, then, glancing awkwardly away from him, she added in a subdued tone, “No. I want to find my son.”

“Then mount up. And stay behind me,” he ordered sharply.

Like a squaw walking behind her brave, thought Maggie furiously.

Trembling from head to toe, she gathered up the mare’s reins and somehow managed to climb into the saddle. As she nudged the mare up the side of the mountain, she still couldn’t believe the deputy had actually kissed her. Nor could she believe how she’d responded to him. Her body was still on fire and she knew her cheeks had to be crimson.

Instinctively her gaze was drawn to his back and the broad shoulders hidden beneath the taut khaki fabric. Did the man go around kissing every woman who needed the aid of a lawman? Forget that question, she scolded herself. The real question was, why had she ever fallen into the man’s arms in the first place? Sure, she was upset. But there’d been plenty of times since Hugh’s death that she’d been upset. And during those times she’d never so much as touched a man, much less kissed one.

Forget it, Maggie. You’re under extreme stress. Besides, nothing matters now except finding Aaron.

As the horses climbed, the ground grew rougher. Several times her mare slipped, but managed to gather herself before she went to her knees. Thankfully Maggie was an experienced rider. Otherwise she might have fallen into the gorge far below to their left.

“The timberline is just ahead.” Daniel tossed the announcement over his shoulder. “We’ll stop there and let the horses blow. Once we get in the open, we might be able to catch a glimpse of Aaron or, at least, his horse.”

Nodding, she followed Daniel to a spot on the mountain where the fir trees ended and huge, magnificent boulders protruded from the bald, grassy slopes.

Pulling the mare to a stop next to Daniel’s mount, Maggie scoured the mountainside for any sign of her son. “I don’t see anything. Not even any goats.”

“His horse has been here. And not long ago.”

Her heart leaping with hope, her gaze darted to Daniel’s face to see his attention was focused on horse tracks surrounding one of the nearby boulders.

“What about Aaron?” she rushed the question at him. “Do you see his tracks?”

Frowning faintly, he said, “I’m not sure. Let’s get down for a few minutes. The horses need to rest. They’ve had a hard, fast climb.”

Maggie didn’t protest. Even though she knew the waning daylight was precious, she was exhausted. Once she slid from the saddle and stood on the ground, her legs would barely hold her upright. Along with her misbehaving legs, her head was whirling at a nauseating speed.

Gripping the stirrup, she prayed for the rushing sound in her ears to stop and for the power to stand upright.

“Maggie?” Daniel asked softly. “Are you ill?”

She was drawing in slow, deep breaths in an effort to clear her head when his hand came against her back. His touch jolted her like an electrical current and the fire zapped her with a spurt of strength.

“No,” she murmured. Then glancing up at him, she added, “I…I’m just really, really tired, that’s all.”

As he studied her weary face, his dark features remained stoic. Maggie wondered if he wanted to say, I told you to stay behind. But he didn’t say anything of the sort. Instead he slid his arm around the back of her waist and clamped a steadying hand around her upper arm.

“Come over here and sit down,” he instructed.

He helped her over to one of the boulders, and after she was sitting comfortably, he went over to his horse and slipped a canteen of water from the saddle horn.

Back at her side, he took off the lid and silently handed the insulated container to her. After she’d taken several long sips, he took the canteen and poured some of the cool water onto his handkerchief.

With one hand he reached up and pushed the straw hat from her head. With the other, he used the moist handkerchief to wipe her heated face.

“You’re hot and dehydrated,” he said grimly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling weak?”

His hands were big, yet extremely gentle as they touched her cheeks and chin, her neck and then her forehead. Maggie tried not to breathe in the scent of him. Tried not to think about the way his lips had felt against hers or the way he had tasted. Yet she couldn’t stop her senses from registering everything about him.

“Because I knew we couldn’t stop,” she said in a hoarse whisper. ‘We shouldn’t be stopping now.”

Her copper-colored hair was shoulder length and naturally curly. He pushed the wayward strands away from her cheeks and off her forehead as though she were his lover and the sweat on her face had come from their passion.

The notion caused her to shiver inwardly, and she closed her eyes and waited for him to pull back and put a few inches of space between them.

“Do you want Aaron to be raised an orphan?” he asked crossly.

Her eyes drifted open to see he’d taken a seat next to her and, though he was close, his gaze was not on her. His squinted eyes were scanning the bald, jagged crags of the mountain peaks.

“I’m not that weak,” she protested.

Turning his gaze back to her, he silently studied her face until she felt the urge to squirm.

“What? What are you thinking?” she dared to ask him.

The corners of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly, and Maggie realized it was the first time he’d shown any sort of humor in her presence.

“That you are not exactly the woman I thought you were.”

Maggie wasn’t sure she should ask, but she did anyway. “What does that mean?”

One of his shoulders moved with a faint shrug. “The Ketchums are a tough crew. But you’re not a Ketchum by blood.”

She stared at him for a moment as she digested his words. “Oh. You thought—you think I’m just a rich, pampered woman.”

“Not exactly pampered. But maybe a little soft.”

His admission disappointed her, and that was frightening. Not since Hugh had Maggie cared whether a man regarded her highly. And it shouldn’t matter how Deputy Daniel Redwing viewed her, either.

She swallowed as a knot of unsettled feelings gathered in her throat. “And what are you thinking now?”

“That you have grit.”

Her eyes met his and she felt her heart thump with unexpected gladness. “Thank you, Daniel.”

“You’re welcome.”

They were still staring at each other when Aaron’s voice echoed through the mountaintops.

“Mom! Mom!”

Both Maggie and Daniel jumped to their feet and scanned the edge of the timberline where Aaron’s voice seemed to have originated.

“That was him, Daniel! That was Aaron!” she exclaimed with excited joy.

“Yes. Here he comes now,” Daniel said with a quiet smile. “To your right. See?”

A tiny whimper of relief passed her lips as she spotted her young son walking slowly out of the woods. He was leading Rusty, and from the looks of the flopping latigo he was fortunate to still have the saddle on the horse’s back.

“Oh, thank God! Thank God!” she whispered hoarsely.

She started to run in her son’s direction, but the ground was too rough and her legs too spongy to carry her safely. She stumbled several times before she finally managed to reach him, then, going down on her knees, she gathered the boy up in her arms.

For long moments she held her son in a crushing embrace as tears of relief streamed down her face. In turn, Aaron clung tightly to his mother until the excitement of being found eventually caused him to stir and talk in rapid, broken phases.

“Mom, I didn’t mean to come this far! Something happened to the girth—I fell off Rusty. And he ran away. I’ve been chasing him…for a long time. I didn’t think he’d ever stop!”

Taking him firmly by the shoulders, Maggie held her son out in front of her. He’d managed to hang on to his straw cowboy hat, but sweat and dirt streaked his freckled face and there was a long rip down the sleeve of his shirt exposing an equally long scratch on his arm.

“You weren’t supposed to be on Rusty,” she admonished. “You told me you were going down to the ranch yard to see Skinny!”

Aaron ducked his head with guilt just as Daniel walked up to mother and son.

“I know,” Aaron mumbled. “But I…I wanted to go camping. You know I did! So I filled up my saddlebags with food and tied on a bedroll. I was gonna come back tomorrow, Mom!” he reasoned, as though that made everything all right.

Maggie groaned and rolled her eyes up to Daniel who was desperately wanting to smile but was carefully hiding it in front of the boy.

“Oh, yeah,” Maggie pointed out wryly. “After the bears ate you and spit out your bones. Aaron—”

“Gosh,” the child interrupted as he suddenly noticed the man standing near his mother’s shoulder. The shiny badge pinned to Daniel’s chest and the pistol strapped to his hips were enough to make Aaron’s eyes pop wide. “Am I in trouble?”

Daniel felt inclined to answer the child’s question before Maggie had the chance. “Well, it appears as though you’re in trouble with your mother. But not with the law,” Daniel assured him.

The boy pushed the hat back off his head, then, using the back of his hand, he wiped his brow with an exaggerated gesture. “Whew!” he exclaimed with great relief. “I thought I was gonna be arrested for running off!”

Now that Maggie could see for herself that her son was well and truly safe, anger began to simmer where fear had once gripped her. “You’d better be glad your uncle Jess and Sheriff Perez are out of town,” Maggie told him. “Or you would be in big trouble. Deputy Redwing has been tracking you for hours! He has other deputies looking for you, too. You’ve caused all sorts of trouble for a lot of people.”

If possible, Aaron’s blue eyes grew even wider as his gaze traveled from his mother’s stern face up to Daniel. “Gee, I didn’t know the law would come looking for me.”

“Your mother has been very worried. Maybe you should apologize to her,” Daniel suggested.

Aaron looked guiltily back at his mother and, with his chin sinking to his chest, he mumbled, “I’m sorry, Mom.”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Maggie patted his back. Now was not the time for angry lectures. She was too relieved and overjoyed to have her son back safe and sound. Besides that, daylight was fading fast. They were going to have to hurry to make it back down the mountain before darkness settled in.

“All right, son,” she said gently. “We’ll talk about it later. But right now you should thank Deputy Redwing. If it weren’t for him, you’d still be wandering around up here. Lost. You were lost, weren’t you?”

Aaron nodded remorsefully. “Yeah. I didn’t know where the heck I was,” he admitted, then to Daniel he said, “Thank you, Deputy Redwing. I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble.”

Even though Daniel was twenty-nine years old, he hadn’t forgotten what it was like to be a little boy full of hurt and angry defiance and then later having all that pain turn into fear.

He patted the boy’s slender shoulder. “I’m just glad you’re all right, Aaron.”

“You’re not mad at me?”

Squatting, Daniel took hold of the boy’s hand. “No. But I think you need to understand that a man’s word is a very special thing. A good man doesn’t break his word. So when you tell your mother where you’re going, you need to make sure that you keep your word and do exactly what you told her. Understand?”

“Yes, sir. I will. I promise.”

“Good.” Daniel squeezed the boy’s hand, then rising back to his full height, he glanced at Maggie to see a watery sheen in her eyes. “We’d better be going,” he told her. “Dark is going to catch us.”

Nodding, she said, “I’ll go get mounted up. Can Aaron ride behind you? It looks like his cinch has just about had it.”

“I’ll be glad to have Aaron ride behind me,” Daniel said.

The ride back down the mountain wasn’t nearly as hurried as the trek upward had been. Aaron sat on the skirt of Daniel’s saddle and kept his small arms wrapped tightly around the deputy’s waist. At first the child was quiet and seemingly content just to be out of immediate trouble. But after a while the adventure of the moment caught up with him and he began to chatter with his rescuer.

Behind the two of them, Maggie carefully guided her mare down the rough trail and listened to the mostly one-sided conversation. Aaron had never been a bashful child, but she had to admit that she was surprised by her son’s openness with Daniel Redwing. As far as she knew, Aaron had only met the man those two times he’d come to the house to interview her during the probe into Noah Rider’s murder. Apparently there was something about the deputy that had gained her son’s trust. Or maybe the fact that Daniel was a deputy explained Aaron’s friendliness, she thought suddenly. Aaron was simply dazzled to be carried down the mountain by an honest-to-goodness lawman.

Just as she’d been dazzled to be kissed by one? Don’t even think about it, she quickly scolded herself. That had been just a momentary lapse of her senses because she’d been so upset over Aaron. She didn’t go around impulsively kissing men she hardly knew! Since Hugh’s death, she hadn’t kissed any man. Period. She hadn’t wanted to.

On the way down the mountain, Daniel was able to pick up one of the deputies on his walkie-talkie and inform him that Aaron had been found and to spread the word among the other deputies and the ranch hands who were out searching.

Darkness had settled in by the time the three of them rode up to the little barn. While Daniel and Maggie worked to unsaddle the horses, Aaron’s eyes darted from one long shadow to the next.

“Gosh, I guess I am glad I wasn’t up there on the mountain in the dark. I thought I wanted to camp out by myself. But there might be mountain lions up there. Do you think they’re up there, Daniel?” Aaron asked him as Daniel carried one of the three saddles into the tack room.

“Probably. I’ve heard several men talk about sighting them. And my grandfather used to hunt the big cats up in the southern mountains of Colorado. That’s not that far away from us.”

Standing close to Daniel’s hip, Aaron looked up at him with childlike fascination. “Is your grandfather an Indian, too?”

“Yes, he’s Ute. He lives on the Ute Mountain Reservation in Colorado. His name is Joe SilverBear.”

“Does he hunt with a bow and arrow like the Indians used to a long time ago?”

Daniel’s lips curved with amusement. “Sometimes. But he’s getting older now. He doesn’t hunt as much as he used to.”

Aaron turned toward his mother. “Wow! Did you hear that, Mom? Daniel says there’s big cats on the T Bar K!”

“Yes, I heard.” Maggie stepped into the tack room carrying a handful of bridles. “That’s one reason you’d better not ever try this camping thing again, young man,” she added sternly.

Daniel fastened the saddle to the swinging loop of rope, then reached for the breast collar Aaron was holding. As he hung the piece of leather and mohair roping on a nearby peg, he said, “Aaron, if you really want to go camping that badly, maybe your mother will let me take you some time. Do you like to fish?”

At first, Aaron was so surprised by the deputy’s suggestion he could only stare at him with wide, wonder-filled eyes. Then he looked at his mother and the words began to burst excitedly past his lips. “Mom! Did you hear that? Daniel said he’d take me camping! And fishing!” His eyes sparkled as he looked back at Daniel. “I love to fish and I’m good at it, too! Once I caught two trout at one time!”

Daniel actually chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve already learned how to tell fishing stories.”

“That’s not a story! That’s the truth,” Aaron insisted, then turned pleading eyes on his mother. “Mom, can I go? Can I?”

Maggie thoughtfully began to hang the bridles in their usual places along the wall. She didn’t know what to make of this new development. A few minutes ago she’d been feeling a little guilty because she’d refused to allow Aaron to go on the camping trip with the boys’ club in town. She hadn’t realized just how upset she’d made him. But that didn’t mean she wanted her son to go on such a personal outing with Daniel Redwing. She hardly knew the man. And she didn’t even want to try to imagine what his motive in this might be. Still, she was reluctant to upset Aaron all over again. And she certainly didn’t want to offend Daniel after he’d gone to such lengths to find her son.

“I’m sure Deputy Redwing has very little time away from his job. It might be a while before he could take you camping,” she gently warned.

“That doesn’t matter. Just, can I go?”

“We’ll see,” she said, using the vague promise to pacify him for the moment. “Right now I want you to run ahead and get in the shower. I’ll be along shortly to fix supper.”

Aaron looked anxiously over at Daniel. “Are you leaving soon?”

Daniel reached out and patted the boy’s shoulder. “I’ll stop by the house to say goodbye.”

The child’s eyes suddenly lit with anticipation. “Okay!”

He leaped through the doorway of the building and took off at a dead run up the trail to the house. Turning toward Daniel, Maggie shook her head in a hopeless gesture.

“I’m so sorry about all this, Daniel. I’ve caused you and the department so much trouble. Thank God you didn’t have helicopters out looking.”

“I’m just glad we found him safe and sound. You were very lucky. I guess you know that.”

Nodding, she suddenly felt as if the darkness was swallowing them up, cocooning them in the little barn. With Aaron gone they were totally alone, a fact that Maggie couldn’t push from her mind.

“Yes,” she murmured. “All the way down the mountain I kept thinking of the hundreds of things that could have happened to Aaron. And I kept thinking, too, that maybe—well, if something had happened to him, it would have been my fault. I guess I should have allowed him to go on the camping trip. It certainly wouldn’t have been as harmful as what might have happened today.”

Frowning, Daniel stepped over to where she stood. “Look, Maggie, you were right earlier. I don’t have any children. I can’t tell you or anyone how they should raise their kid. But I believe you can’t allow a child to have his own way all the time just to keep him from running away. That isn’t any sort of discipline.”

Her gaze dropped to the toes of her boots. “No. You’re right. But I feel so guilty.” She lifted her eyes back to his. “I’m sure you’ve already guessed that Aaron doesn’t have a whole lot of male companionship. Oh, there’s Skinny and the other ranch hands and there are his uncles, Ross and Jess, and their cousin Linc, but he doesn’t get to spend any serious, intimate time with any of them. They’re all so busy, and I guess none of them ever stop to think that Aaron misses having a father.”

“Does Aaron remember his father?”

Shaking her head, Maggie turned and began to straighten the bridles she’d hung on the wall. “No. Aaron was too small to remember anything when Hugh was killed. Sometimes I think that’s the worst part about it. I have my memories to hold on to, but Aaron doesn’t have anything. He doesn’t even know what it’s like to have a father.”

Daniel placed his palm upon her shoulder because he wanted to comfort her and because standing so close to her made it impossible for him not to lay a hand on her in some way.

“Neither do I,” he admitted quietly. “But I made it. So will Aaron.”

Quickly she turned to face him. Her eyes were wide with surprise, her lips parted. “You…you didn’t have a father?”

Oh, yes, he’d had a father, Daniel thought bitterly. At least for a brief time. Not that there’d been anything fatherly about Robert Redwing. The only thing he’d had to do with Daniel was to sire him. While Daniel was still a young boy the man had left his son and his wife, Pelipa, and headed south to Arizona. He’d become a drunk and a thief and served several stints in the state penitentiary before he’d eventually died in a car wreck while trying to evade the police. Yes, he’d had a father for a few brief years of his life. But he didn’t want to tell Maggie Ketchum about a man who’d brought pain and shame to his family.

Instead of responding to her question, Daniel nudged her toward the door. “It’s late. I’ve got to get back to the department and do some paperwork before I go home.”

He obviously didn’t want to answer, and Maggie respected his privacy by not pushing him. Even so, she realized she wanted to know more about this man. And that in itself was a scary idea. For seven long years her heart, her body, had been dormant. Men had tried to spark her interest, but she’d felt nothing toward any of them. Mostly because she hadn’t wanted to feel anything. Not with Hugh still living in her heart. And now this man, this dark, handsome Ute had come along and stirred up all kinds of emotions in her.

“Of course. Let’s get to the house,” she said, wondering why she suddenly felt the urge to cry.

Quickly, before she could make a fool of herself, she started out the door only to have his hand wrap around her arm and tug her back inside the small, dimly lit building. Maggie looked up at him, her brows arched, her heart pounding.

“Maggie, before we go…I wanted to—” He let out a heavy breath, dropped his hand from her arm, then caught hold of her again. “I don’t know how to say this. I just wanted you to know…earlier today—in the mountains when I kissed you—I wasn’t trying to insult you.”

Her breath came soft and fast as she tried to search his face in the waning light. “I never thought you were.”

His fingers tightened ever so slightly on her arm. “I don’t go around kissing women like that. You, uh, well, you got me off track there for a moment or two.”

She tried to smile, to ease the crackling tension between them. “I’m flattered that an older woman like me could distract you, Deputy Redwing.”

His fingers eased to slide slowly up her arm and onto her shoulder. Once they reached her hair, he twined the curly strands around his fingers. Maggie shivered inwardly at the intimate contact.

“You look very young to me.”

“I’m nearly thirty-four,” she replied.

“And I’m twenty-nine.”

Up until this moment Maggie had stood motionless, but now she unconsciously edged closer to him. “So tell me why a healthy twenty-nine-year-old man doesn’t go around kissing women?”

His lips formed a wry line. She made kissing sound like such a normal, simple thing for him to do. But he’d never viewed the act as simple. Getting that intimate with a woman was something he mostly tried to avoid. As much as he liked the feel of a soft female in his arms, he didn’t want to give himself a chance to get that close, to need or want anyone the way his mother had wanted and pined for his father. Yet when he stood here so close to Maggie, everything but her seemed to leave his mind.

“Because I haven’t found a woman I’ve wanted to kiss,” he answered quietly. “Until now.”

She drew in a sharp, sudden breath. “What kind of line is that?”

Suddenly both his hands were on her shoulders, and he was drawing her forward, circling her body with his strong arms. The air rushed out of her lungs as she planted her palms against his broad chest.

“It isn’t a line, Maggie. I’ve wanted to do this from the very first time I saw you.”

“Daniel—”

His hand lifted to her cheek where he rubbed a gentle, enticing circle. “Say my name again,” he whispered. “It sounds so good coming from your lips.”

She was trembling, shaking with a need that left her voice hoarse, her mind whirling. “Daniel, I…”

With a soft groan he bent his head, and anything else she might have said was swallowed up by the probing search of his lips.

This time their kiss was different. This time the fear for her child’s safety wasn’t racing through her mind. This time there was nothing standing between them. Not even a breathing space.

At some point during the embrace, he pulled her tightly against him, and Maggie groaned as her full breasts pressed against his chest, her hips aligned with his. Mindlessly her arms slipped around his waist, her mouth opened in hungry response.

For the next few moments Maggie allowed herself the rich pleasure of being in Daniel’s arms, of having his hard, warm lips roam recklessly over hers, having his hands touch her with love.

Love? Love!

The one word racing through her mind was enough to make Maggie rip herself from his embrace and back away as though he were one of those mountain lions his grandfather hunted and she was the prey.

“Maggie…” he began in a perplexed voice.

He stepped forward only to have her hold up a hand to ward him off.

“Don’t, Daniel,” she pleaded hoarsely. “Please don’t touch me again.”

He stood still, his hands dropping to his sides. “Why?”

She groaned and then made a lunge for the door. “I’m sorry, Daniel. I’m just not ready for this,” she mumbled in a choked voice.

“Maggie!”

Ignoring his call, she stepped out of the little barn and hurried up the trail to the house. Her legs were weak and wobbly, and several times she almost fell upon the dark, winding path. But she stumbled on, determined to put as much space between herself and Daniel as she could before he decided to follow.

Thankfully, the lights from the house eventually flickered through the pine trees, and, breathing a sigh of relief, she slowed her pace. When she entered the back door, she could hear Aaron’s shower click off. Knowing the child would soon be dressed and heading to the kitchen to eat, Maggie hurried to her own private bathroom and began to splash cold water on her heated face.

After a few moments her cheeks began to cool and her senses calm somewhat. As she washed her hands, she stared in stunned horror at her disheveled image in the mirror.

Maggie had never been a vain person. It didn’t matter to her if her hair got mussed or her face smudged. There were far more important things in life than trying to look perfect. So she was hardly shaken by the fact that her hair was tangled, her shirt dirty and snagged with a three-corner tear on the shoulder. It was the dark desire shadowing her eyes, her swollen lips and the excited color on her cheeks that totally stunned her.

Dear God, she looked like a woman who’d been making love to a man!