Caleb’s expression was thunderous. Where the hell have you been? he growled, his arms folded across his chest. I stayed the night in a boarding house, Lily answered as she climbed down from the surrey...
Caleb rode up just as she was trying to submerge herself in an ice-cold creek no more than six inches deep. Calmly he hung his hat on the horn of his saddle, then he put his hands on his hips, an infu...
At midday the scout rode back from up ahead to tell Steven there were Indians to the east. He immediately got off the horse and then mounted again, behind Emma. She looked back at him in question, and...
After taking a shell from her apron pocket and putting it carefully into the weapon’s chamber, she pointed the shotgun away from the house and Dancer, who was tethered nearby, and drew back on the tri...
Caught up in causes and concerns and plans for the future and forget what truly mattered—loving and being loved, in the present moment.
You squeeze on my hands, Jubal ordered when Emma shrieked with pain. You squeeze real hard, so’s to push the bones together. I never seen one come so fast, prattled Esther, who generally tended the ki...
Where are you taking me? To town. I’m going to wire your daddy and get you a hotel room. Her blue eyes filled with silvery stars. You want to wire Daddy so you can ask for my hand, she crooned. You’re...
If you’re courting me, Major Halliday, she said, it is only fair to tell you that I have no intention of marrying. Ever. He unsettled Lily completely with a chuckle. I’m not courting you, he answered,...
How’s your arm? she asked, to hide the fact that she was feeling suddenly and inexplicably shy. It was as though she hadn’t given her body to this man beside a creek only a short time before, or relie...
Emma set the tray across his lap, he made no move to pick up his spoon or fork. It’s been a long day, he said with a heavy sigh. I’m not sure I want to make the effort to eat. She sank into the chair...
Dratted women, the colonel muttered, tossing down his napkin and bolting out of his chair. They don’t know how to listen. They don’t know how to obey. If the army were made up of them, we’d all be Bri...
Do you know what it was like in that goddamn hellhole of a prison? The words were torn from his throat. Caleb shook his head. I wouldn’t presume to say I did. There were rats the size of house cats. T...
Come in, she called without thinking. The door opened, and Caleb stepped inside. I want to apologize for last night, he said, his hat in his hands, his expression as innocent as an altar boy’s. The tr...
Caleb stood on the Tibbet porch, gazing after Lily through the thin veil of rain sliding down from the porch roof. He’d been employing the tactics the colonel had recommended, and he’d liked the resul...
As he passed the tool wagon Wilbur had brought out that morning from Fort Deveraux he snatched up a pick. Caleb! Lily cried, terrified that he meant to destroy her cabin. But he went around the cabin...
You’re not going anywhere, he breathed. And even though Lily knew it was fear for her safety and not cruelty that drove him, she was annoyed. Let me go, Caleb. His grip tightened. You’ll spend the nig...
I shall have to drink poison if we are taken captive and forced to live in a harem.
Caleb touched the brim of his hat and nodded an acknowledgment to Rupert, then spoke to Lily in the clipped, authoritative tone she’d heard him use with his soldiers. We’ll leave for the fort tomorrow...