“What did you talk to your other women about?”
“What other women?”
“The others. Like Miss LaRue.”
“I don’t ‘member ever talkin’ to Viney about anything.”
“But the nice part is afterward, lying like this together, and talking.”
He ran his hand down her body. “I guess it is pretty nice at that. But cain’t say as I’ve ever done it before. I guess after we . . . I guess I just went home. You know, I don’t even ’member wantin’ to lay around like this. Fat waste of time,” he said, but he made no attempt to move away from her. Houston snuggled closer to him.
“Cold?”
“No, I’m the warmest I’ve ever been.”
Chapter 19
Houston looked up at Kane from the cabin bed, watching him dress, and knew that her short honeymoon was over. “I guess we have to go,” she said sadly.
“I have a couple of men comin’ this mornin’ and I can’t afford to miss ’em.” He turned to look back at her. “I wish I could spend more time up here but I can’t.”
There was sadness in his voice, too, and Houston decided to help rather than fight him. Quickly, she got out of bed and began to dress in her riding clothes. Kane had to help her with the ties to her corset.
“How in the world can you breathe in that blasted thing?”
“I don’t think breathing has anything to do with it. I thought you liked the curves of women. With no corseting, we’d soon all have twenty-seven-and twenty-eight-inch waists. Besides, the corset supports a woman’s back. They’re really quite healthful.”
Kane merely grunted and finished shoving food into the cloth bags. She could tell that his mind was already back on his work.
Silently, the two of them prepared for the journey down the mountain. Houston wasn’t sure what was on Kane’s mind, but she knew she’d never been happier in her life. Her fear that she was frigid was gone, and ahead of her was a lifetime with the man she loved.
As they were leaving the cabin, Kane paused to look back at the little room. “I sure never had a better time in that place,” he said before shutting the door and walking toward the saddled horses.
Houston started to mount by herself, but Kane grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her into the saddle. She tried to hide her surprise as she looked at him. Was this the man who had left her to climb boulders all alone?
Kane ducked his head. “You look like a lady again in that suit,” he mumbled.
They were silent as they started down the treacherously steep slope, and several times Kane slowed for her.
It wasn’t until they were near Chandler, and they began to slow their horses to a crawl, that Houston spoke.
“Kane, you know what I’ve been thinking the last few days?”
He gave her a bawdy wink. “I sure do, honey, and I’ve enjoyed ever’ minute of your thoughts.”
“No, not that,” she said impatiently. “I thought I’d invite your cousin Jean to live with us.”
When she looked at Kane, she saw that his mouth was open.
“I doubt whether she’ll accept a direct invitation because all you Taggerts are much too prideful, but I’ve purposely held off hiring a housekeeper and thought she might like to have the job. That would get her out of the coal camps and, besides, don’t you think she and Edan would make a lovely couple?”
Kane was still gaping at her.
“Well, what do you think?”
He managed to shut his mouth and stop staring at her. “When I told Edan I was thinkin’ about gettin’ married, he asked me if I was ready to let a woman in my life. He ’bout laughed his fool head off when I said I didn’t plan to let marriage change my life. I’m beginnin’ to see why he was laughin’. Who else you gonna invite to live at my house? The town drunk? But I tell you, I draw the line at preachers. I like preachers even less ’n kids. Course, it don’t matter who I like—.” He broke off as Houston, her back rigid, urged her horse ahead.
For a moment, he didn’t move but watched her, then, in a spurt of speed, he caught up with her. “You ain’t gonna get mad, are you, honey? You can invite whoever you want to live in that big house. It don’t matter none to me.” It was the first time in his life that he’d ever tried to coax a woman out of a bad mood and he was awkward at it.
He grabbed her horse’s bridle. “I ain’t even seen this woman. What’s she look like? Maybe she’s so ugly that I won’t be able to stand lookin’ at her.” He was sure that he saw the faintest glimmer of a smile on her lips. So . . . humor was the way.
“Jean was wearing violet chiffon over purple satin, with tiny brillants at the shoulder and—.”
“Wait a minute!” he interrupted. “You mean that little black-haired, green-eyed wench with the curvy backside and the great ankles? In fact, I saw her get out of the carriage and her calves ain’t bad either.”
Houston glared at him. “You were looking at other women on our wedding day?”
“When I wasn’t watchin’ you climbin’ up and down the rose trellis. Come to think of it, you sure looked mighty good in your underwear.” He moved his hand to caress her arm.
In the distance was the civilization of town and the people who would make demands on their time. Now was their last chance for privacy.
As if reading her thoughts, Kane dragged her off the horse and into his arms and they came together as if it were to be their last night alive.
And when they entered the Taggert house two hours later, there was dirt on their clothes, cockleburs in their hair, and their faces were flushed. Kane was holding Houston’s hand until Edan appeared.
Edan took one look at them and, when he’d recovered his speech, he said to Houston, “I see you found him. Kane, there are four men waiting for you and half a dozen telegrams. And Houston, I think those servants you hired are in a state of war.”
Houston felt Kane give her hand one last squeeze, and then he disappeared down the hall. She started up the stairs to her bedroom to change clothes. Reality had come back to them.
Ten minutes later, Kane came to say he had to leave on urgent business and would be back as soon as it was finished. He was gone for three days.
Chapter 20
Within four hours after Kane had left, Houston knew that being a wife was what she was meant to do. Blair could have her ambition, her need to reform the world, but Houston just wanted to manage a household for the man she loved.
Of course, running Kane’s house was rather like directing an army during wartime, but she’d been trained for her position as General of the Army.
The first thing she did was write a note to Jean Taggert begging her to spend a few days helping with the housekeeping arrangements. Then Houston wrote a letter to Jean’s father telling him that she planned to ask Jean to stay and be her housekeeper. Houston prayed that Sherwin Taggert would want his daughter to get out of the coal camp.
When she gave the notes to a new footman to deliver, Houston had her first taste of what was upsetting the servants so badly. The footman seemed to think it was beneath him to go to a coal camp, and, being American, he didn’t hesitate to express his opinion.
Houston very calmly asked him if he wanted his job or not, and, if he did, he was to do what she asked and to not belittle the relatives of the man who was feeding him. When that was settled, and the footman on his way, Houston went downstairs and began sorting out the duties of the other people she’d hired. Most of the people she’d chosen were now sitting on the bare floors, refusing to do anything until they knew exactly the limits of their responsibilities. Houston saw immediately why Miss Jones had strongly recommended that experienced servants be hired.
By the morning of the second day, Houston had seven maids cleaning the house, four footmen bringing furniture down from the attics, and three assistants helping Mrs. Murchison in the kitchen. Outside, she had a coachman, two stableboys, and four young, strong-backed boys to help in the gardens.
It was while she was i
n the garden introducing herself to Mr. and Mrs. Nakazona and trying to explain to them as best she could, since neither spoke the other’s language, that the boys were to be under the Japanese family’s rule, that she saw Ian’s face in an upstairs window.
This morning, while helping her dress, Susan had informed Houston of the awful brawl Rafe Taggert had caused after the wedding guests left. Susan had just happened to hear some of it. Young Ian had boasted that he hated his cousin Kane and would never live in his house. Rafe had said that it was an empty boast since no one had asked Ian to live there. Ian’d said that Houston had but he’d die before he accepted.
It was at that point that Rafe and Ian had had the fight, which the larger Rafe easily won. Rafe’d said Ian was going to stay with his cousin and receive all the benefits that money can buy, even if Rafe had to beat Ian every day for the rest of his life, and he’d said he’d find Ian if he tried to run away.
So, for the last few days, Ian had been holding himself prisoner in the room where Houston had left him. Mrs. Murchison had been the only one to see him when she took trays of food and books to him.
“Books?” Houston’d asked.
“The boy seems to love them,” Susan said. “Mrs. Murchison says he reads all day long and that it isn’t good for him. She thinks he should join the boys’ baseball team and get outside some.”
Now, when Houston had most of the other people under control, she turned her thoughts to Ian. If the boy was going to live with them, he was going to be part of their family.
Upstairs, she knocked on his door and, after several minutes, he told her to come in. From his flushed face, Houston had an idea he was hiding something, and she thought she saw the edge of a book sticking out from under the bed.
“You’re back,” he said as if it were an accusation.
“We returned yesterday,” she said, and was sure he knew that. “Do you like your room?”
The big, light, airy room was twice as big as the Taggert house at the mine camp, but there was no furniture in it except for a bed covered with a dirty blanket—evidence of Ian having lain on it for days.
“It’s all right,” Ian mumbled, looking at the toe of his heavy work boot.
The Taggert pride. Houston thought. “Ian, could you help me this afternoon? I have four men lined to help me arrange furniture, but I think I’m going to need a supervisor, someone to make sure that they don’t hit the edges on the doors as they bring it down, that sort of thing. Could you help me?”
Ian hesitated, but he agreed.
Houston was curious as to how Ian’d handle his new responsibility, and she was sure he’d be a little tyrant. But he surprised her. He was careful, observant, and very serious. Only at first, when he used his size and adolescent strength to establish his authority, did he show any anger. By late afternoon, he was so completely in control that Houston merely had to point to where she wanted a piece of furniture placed.
She was watching Ian with amazement, as he skillfully guided a large desk down the main staircase, when Edan spoke from behind her.
“Kane was like that. People like those two have never been children. Your footmen sense that, and that’s why they’re willing to obey a kid.”
She turned to face him. “Do you know how to play baseball?”
Edan’s eyes sparkled. “Sure do. You thinking of starting a team?”
“I almost have enough men. I think I’ll call Vaughn’s Sporting Goods and order some equipment. You think I could learn to hit a ball with that stick?”
“Houston,” he said, as he turned back toward Kane’s office, “I think you could do anything you set your mind to.”
“Dinner at seven,” she called after him. “And we dress for dinner.”
She could hear Edan’s laughter as he went back to the office.
The meal was pleasant and Edan’s quiet patience with Ian seemed to melt some of the boy’s tense anger.
But the next day was different. When it was time for dinner, Houston was dressed in pale green silk faille with a green net overlay embroidered with cut-steel bugle beads, a large pink cameo at her waist. She hadn’t seen Kane since he’d returned that afternoon, and he hadn’t changed out of the heavy work clothes he’d worn on his business trip. But she wasn’t about to start an argument with him. Let him come to the table and be the only one in his dirty canvas.
Edan, looking strikingly handsome in his dark dinner clothes, was waiting for her at the head of the stairs, and Ian, wearing one of Edan’s new suits that was only a little too big, was standing in a shadow of the hallway.
Houston, without saying a word, took Edan’s offered arm, then held out her other arm for Ian. For several long moments, he didn’t move, but when Houston just stood there, as stubborn as he was, Ian came forward and took her other arm.
There was more than enough room for the three of them to walk down the stairs together.
“Ian,” Houston said, “I can’t thank you enough for helping me the last couple of days.”
“I need to earn my keep,” he mumbled, looking away from her in embarrassment, but he was pleased with her thanks.
“Where the hell is everybody?” Kane shouted from the bottom of the stairs, then looked up and saw them. “You all goin’ somewhere? Edan, I need you.” As he said this, his eyes were on Houston alone. The other two didn’t exist as far as he was concerned.
“We’re going in to dinner,” Houston said, as she forcibly held Ian’s arm to her. He’d tried to jerk it away when Kane appeared. “Would you join us?”
“Somebody has to earn a livin’ around here,” he snorted as he turned on his heel and returned to his office.
During dinner, as course after course was brought into the room, Houston led the conversation to what Ian had been reading over the last few days. This was a topic that hadn’t been mentioned last night.
Ian nearly choked on a piece of tenderloin. His Uncles Rafe and Sherwin had encouraged his reading, but he’d learned to read in secret for fear of being thought of as a sissy. “Mark Twain,” he said with an air of defiance when he’d cleared his throat.
“Good,” Houston said. “Tomorrow, I’m arranging for a tutor to come and give you lessons. I think that will work out better than going to school, since you’d be quite a bit larger than the other children. And besides, I rather like having you here.”
Ian gaped at her for a moment. “I ain’t goin’ to no school to be laughed at and called names. I’ll go back to the coal mines and—.”
“I perfectly well agree with you,” Houston interrupted. “And tomorrow, we’ll have you fitted for your own clothing. Ah, the sorbet. I think you’ll like this, Ian.”
Edan was laughing at the expression on Ian’s face. “You might as well give in, boy. Nobody wins an argument with this lady.”
“Except him,” Ian said.
“Especially not him,” Edan answered.
They were just starting dessert when Kane came in. Houston had persuaded Ian to tell them the story of Huckleberry Finn, but when Kane entered he stopped talking and looked down at his plate.
“Sure is takin’ a long time to eat,” Kane said, putting his foot on a chair and helping himself to a handful of grapes from the arrangement in the center of the table.
The look Houston gave him made him sit down in the chair. She nodded to a footman, who set a place in front of Kane and served him. After a moment of surprise, Kane began to eat the chocolate charlotte with gusto, so much gusto that the others started watching him. Kane put his spoon down and looked a bit like he wanted to run from the room.
Ian was surreptitiously watching his cousin and Edan was concentrating on his food.
Houston had left the head of the table for Kane and was sitting next to Ian, across from Edan, but Kane didn’t take the head seat, sitting next to Edan instead. Houston caught Kane’s eye and held up her fork, and he began to follow her directions on how to eat with some semblance of manners. To start the conversation again, she tol
d of getting the gardeners to work and how well the Japanese family had taken to having help.
Kane told of how he’d met the Nakazonas, and Edan added to the conversation with a story of bringing in the plants from all over the world, and Ian asked what the tree was outside his window. It was stilted, but it did resemble conversation and, best of all, it was pleasant. When the meal was finished, the four of them went away smiling.
Kane and Edan went back to work after dinner while Ian and Houston went to the small drawing room. Houston embroidered pillow cases while Ian read and, after using some persuasion, she got him to read aloud to her. He had a good voice and a flair for reading dialogue. Edan joined them for a while.
At bedtime, Houston went up alone, Kane being firmly ensconced inside his office, cigar smoke seeping out from under the door. Sometime during the night, he crawled into bed with her, pulled her close to his big, warm body and went to sleep immediately.
Houston woke to the heavenly sensation of Kane’s hand roaming over her legs and hips. She turned her face toward him before even opening her eyes, and he fastened his lips onto hers as he began to make love to her gently, slowly, languidly.
It wasn’t until their passion was spent that Houston at last opened her eyes.
“Wanted to make sure it was your husband?” Kane asked, smiling down at her. “Or would any man do, this early in the mornin’?”
She decided to answer his teasing with some of her own. “How would I know about other men? Should I try to find out?”
A frown crossed his face as he rose.
She put her arms around him, her bare breasts against his back. “I was only teasing; I have no desire for any other man.”
He pulled away from her. “I got to get to work and earn enough money to feed that army you hired.”
Houston lay in bed and watched him until he disappeared into his bathroom. There was a part of him that she knew nothing about.
A knock on the door gave her no more time to think.