Piecrust Promise Page 7

  “She started straining right when the cannon went off,” the young horse’s owner explained frantically. “We just had to go. But now she’s fighting it for some reason. Do you know what to do for her?” The woman beside him wrung her hands helplessly.

  Highland shook his head in disgust. The mare was overheated and exhausted and her colt was presenting badly.

  “I need pails of water. Buckets, whatever you’ve got. I need a couple of rags. Right now,” Highland said, taking command. Corinne handed the reins of their own horses to the young woman and looked for any container she could see in the nearby wagon. She shouted for the settler to help, calling for him to follow her as she ran for the tree line. She began to fill every container in the muddy creek, handing him a few while she filled the rest. By the time they returned to Highland he had bunched up his shirt and he immediately plunged it into one of the buckets.

  Corinne began cooling down the horse with the soaked shirt and when the colt next presented the lieutenant took hold of the hoof and began to pull steadily. This time when the mare’s contraction stopped the colt did not slip back inside. The terrified animal put her head on Corinne’s shoulder and blew her breath softly. Corinne could feel her stiffen with the next contraction and wrapped her arms around the horse’s neck. She spoke to her soothingly. The mare pushed again and Highland held firmly onto the colt.

  On the next push he came into the world. Lee supported him and set him on the ground gently. The colt was huge and he lay completely still. Lee pulled several handfuls of dry grass from around his feet and began to rub the newborn vigorously. Both the pony and the man were covered in blood and mucus.

  The colt jerked once, then again, and Highland swept his fingers through the horse’s mouth and cleared his breathing. The colt struggled to hold up his head, bobbed around then lay silent for a moment.

  Highland looked up at the young couple standing terrified in front of him and decided it would do no good to admonish them. For whatever reason they had chosen, they had run a mare in full labor for miles. It was a miracle they had not killed her, although there was still a danger of that happening. Settlers came with situations he could not judge. Highland rubbed the colt again. The spindly animal lifted his head and struggled to his feet.

  Corinne choked with emotion. All of these people came for their own reasons, she thought. She wanted to forget and be free. The man at her claim had starving children. This young couple risked a good horse and ran anyway knowing the mare was in labor. They were all desperate in their own ways. She looked at the lieutenant, filthy now and, even though he was different, he was there as well in this strange land. Corinne swallowed hard.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Plunging the uniform shirt into the bucket of tepid water, Corinne rinsed it thoroughly. She wrung it tightly with both hands, shook it out with a snap and laid it over the packs on the back of her horse. She listened to the lieutenant speak in even tones to the couple, explaining how to care for the colt and his mother. Corinne did not know him well, but, though he spoke calmly to the settlers, she was certain that he was entirely aggravated by the fact that they had run the mare. He kept his voice steady and when he stripped off his blood stained undershirt she took it from him and plunged it into the bucket for rinsing as well.

  Corinne could not help but notice that Lee was tanned and seemed even taller somehow in the late afternoon sunlight. He put on his jacket and leapt into the saddle of his horse. She laid his rinsed undershirt over his uniform shirt and slid into her saddle.

  As they rode away, Corinne fell behind a bit and watched him. He sat upright in the saddle and, other than not wearing his shirt, he looked neat and pressed as he sat with his wide officer’s hat upon his head. Corinne had noticed the dust rise from her skirt as she had climbed into her own saddle and, although she had not helped with the colt’s delivery in any way, her skirt had a dark streak of blood down the left side.

  She pulled alongside him and watched his face as they rode.

  “I don’t know that I could have talked to them that way,” she said.

  He turned to face her and she could see his jaw was set.

  “They’re lucky they didn’t kill both horses,” she continued.

  “That might happen yet,” he said.

  Corinne sighed and looked ahead. When he pulled ahead several feet she stayed behind and let him ride alone. He was right, she thought. He liked being alone too.

  When they reached the big river the water ran faster than Corinne recalled and they rode along the banks for nearly a mile before finding a place they felt was safe to ford. Highland took the lead and eased his big stallion into the water. Once Chief was swimming well, Corinne led Boomer in behind them. She could feel the moment that the horse lost footing and began to swim. He stretched ahead and she felt a jolt.

  Boomer panicked and kicked at the water. When he could no longer fight the current he first tilted to the side, dumping Corinne into the rushing river and then he disappeared below the surface.

  Corinne called out as the current pulled at her heavy skirt and she kicked her feet violently. She could not see Boomer anywhere. She paddled fiercely. The water rose up around her and she was dragged under.

  Corinne felt a firm pull at her shoulder. Highland grabbed her from behind and drug her straight from the water. He lifted her high and set her hard on the saddle in front of him. Corinne lay against the horse’s neck coughing up water. She clung to the animal, terrified.

  Highland turned the big stallion towards the bank. He dropped Corinne firmly on the sand and drove Chief back into the water. Corinne continued to cough while on her hands and knees in the gravel and mud. She looked up to see the lieutenant jump into the water. He pulled Boomer’s head above the surface and climbed back onto his own horse. He held her stallion’s nose above water as he led him to shore.

  Corinne struggled to her feet and ran up the bank, falling several times on the slippery clay mud. When she reached the horses Boomer was stomping in circles on the beach while Chief snorted angrily. Highland was sitting on the bank struggling to catch his breath. His jacket was a sopping mess as it hung muddy from his shoulders. His hair was plastered to his head, dripping over him, runnels of mud running down his face and neck.

  Corinne staggered up to Boomer, took his reins and walked up to where Highland sat on the sand.

  “Are you alright?”

  Highland looked up at her and nodded silently.

  “You look good in mud,” Corinne said, her chest heaving and arms hanging limp at her sides. “Thank you,” she added.

  Lee shoved his hair back from his face.

  Corinne sat down next to him and began to wring out the hem of her skirt.

  “I like a man who knows how to get dirty.” Corinne turned to Highland and began to laugh dryly. Her heart was pounding hard and she was shaken. The sight of the fancy cavalry army officer sitting next to her covered in mud seemed perfect somehow. Corinne thought for a moment she would break down and burst into tears. She was soaked and exhausted and the man who sat next to her had just saved her life. She looked up at him and met his steady gaze. For a moment, despite what had happened, everything seemed perfect.

  Corinne looked down at her hands. Feeling like this with a man, any man, was the last thing she needed, she reminded herself. When they got back to the fort Lee Highland would go iron himself out, or something, and he’d flash that smile and look at her in that way she’d seen him look at her before. It was just the moment, she told herself. She was exhausted and emotional was all.

  Corinne got to her feet and paced the beach, waiting for the water to drip from her heavy skirt. She wrapped her arms around Boomer’s neck and took a deep breath.

  Lee Highland stood up, took off his sopping jacket and wrung it out tightly. His shirt and undershirt were probably downriver somewhere in Texas, he thought. He put the wet jacket back on and pulled at the lapels firmly.

  Corinne smiled at him and shook her he
ad.

  Lee watched her climb into her saddle. She glanced his way and then looked ahead and began to ride away slowly. When he pulled up alongside her, Corinne cleared her throat.

  “I mean it,” she said. “Thank you. I don’t want you to be thinkin’ I don’t appreciate what you did back there, I do. I really do. I just…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Like to be alone,” he said.

  “Yeah. It’s easier that way.”

  “Is it?” Highland asked.

  Chapter Twenty-Fiv e

  Dusk had nearly fallen by the time that the lieutenant and Corinne crested the hill that overlooked the fort. At the rise they stopped and Corinne could not help but gasp. The landscape was covered in debris. Where the settlers had camped in the previous days the land was littered with fire pits, many still smoldering, and the earth was dusty and trampled. Everywhere there were the scattered remains of broken wagons, papers and empty jars. Here and there a cat or dog wandered the abandoned sites. It all seemed so sad and forlorn, she thought.

  Lee knew it would several days or even weeks before the refuse could be cleaned up and he shook his head. He was tired and his wool jacket had begun to shrink in the hot afternoon sun. He would not consider riding without any clothing on his back so he wore the jacket, but he was very uncomfortable.

  Corinne felt no better. Her undergarments remained damp, despite the fact that the heat and the dust rose from her clothing with nearly every step her stallion took. Boomer had moved slower and slower as the day progressed. Other than the canned beans Corinne had shared with the officer when they had stopped earlier, neither of them had eaten all day.

  Once they rode down to the fort, Lee dismounted and went into his office without a word.

  Corinne decided to pitch her tent away from the remains of the camp. She dismounted and walked across the field.

  Lee rode up beside her. “Come with me,” he said.

  She could not imagine what he had in mind and looked at him curiously.

  He studied her face with his steady grey eyes and she followed him silently.

  “Wait here,” he said. Highland walked into a small building on the perimeter of the fort and Corinne waited impatiently. He’d saved her life and she owed him that respect, but she just wanted to eat and collapse. Everything she owned was soaked, including her tent and she did not anticipate a comfortable night’s sleep.

  Highland stepped out of the small building with a fresh uniform folded neatly over his arm. He unfastened Corinne’s bag from her horse, handed the bag to her and then took Boomer’s reins.

  “I expect you feel even more uncomfortable than I do. Go inside and I’ll be back in about an hour.” He led Boomer away, along with his own stallion, and she watched him go.

  Corinne climbed the few steps to the building and then turned the knob on the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Si x

  Corinne knew as soon as she stepped inside, that she had entered the quarters of First Lieutenant Lee Highland. Every aspect of the tidy residence was a reflection of the man. Although she did not know him well, Corinne recognized his private space. A narrow bed sat to one side of the room with sheets and blankets stretched snugly across the mattress. Every piece of furniture was free of dust. There were framed documents hanging in a pleasant arrangement on the wall and Corinne could see that Highland had received several honors and commendations. Beside the bed a small metal frame held a tintype photograph of a woman in a lace mantilla. The woman in the picture smiled broadly, a warm beckoning expression that made Corinne smile herself. Perhaps the lieutenant had a wife, Corinne considered.

  There were several shelves of books. Some of the titles indicated that the volumes dealt with war and the cavalry command. Others were history books.

  Corinne touched the shirts and pressed jackets that were hung neatly along one wall. An ironing board and iron stood beside a small stove which she could feel was quite warm. In a corner was a large folding screen.

  When she heard a tap on the door Corinne jumped. “Come in,” she called out quietly.

  Despite her expectations the knock was not that of the lieutenant, but instead a young cavalry soldier.

  “We’ve come with the water,” he announced.

  Several young men entered, carrying steaming buckets of hot water. They pulled aside the screen and filled a large brass tub.

  When they left, locking the door behind them, Corinne could not believe her eyes. The tub steamed invitingly and she could imagine nothing she would enjoy more than a hot bath.

  Pulling open her bag Corinne found her dress, damp and rumpled, and clean underthings. She took the iron and set it on the hot stove to heat. Once the iron was quite hot she pressed out her dress. It did not dry it completely, but the clothing looked presentable and she hung it on a hanger to let it finish drying along with her bloomers and camisole near the stove.

  After checking that the door was securely locked, Corinne examined the bottles that covered a small tabletop next to the tub. There were bath salts and emollients and several bars of soap.

  “Why, Lieutenant,” she said aloud. “You pamper yourself more than many women do.” Corinne chose lavender salts and dumped a small portion into the steaming bath. The peppery scent filled the room immediately.

  She found a thick towel beneath the table and began to strip off her dirty clothing.

  Chapter Twenty-Seve n

  Standing beside the tub naked, Corinne caught sight of her reflection in a tall mirror and stopped to look at herself. Having never owned a mirror of such size she was surprised when she saw her entire body reflected back at her all at one time. She was long-limbed and her complexion was fair. Her dark hair fell, tangled, down her shoulders and to her waist. Her breasts were fuller than she would have thought and her hips curved beneath a slender waist. The thin, silvery markings from carrying her child had nearly faded now. It was as if a stranger looked back at her and Corinne never imagined she looked so much the woman. Even though she felt dirty and exhausted she was beautiful, she thought, and she imagined what Lee Highland would think if he were to see her this way, completely exposed.

  Corinne turned and gazed at the water in the bath. Suddenly she felt she wanted a man’s hands upon her, to feel him touching her, caressing her, kissing her with flaming passion and desire.

  She looked up suddenly from her imaginings and shook her head.

  “Stop,” she said. Corinne willed herself to end her fantasy and cleared her throat loudly.

  She put her hand in the bath and swept it through the water, feeling the warmth touch her fingertips. The heat of the rippling water tingled in every pore of her body and Corinne felt a chill. She stepped up onto the stool beside the tub and dipped her toes into the water.

  The skin over her entire body trembled. She lowered her foot carefully and felt the water caressing her bare leg. She stepped to the bottom of the tub slowly and put in her other foot. The sensual warmth surrounded both of her legs and then encircled her thighs as she eased herself in deeper. The scent of the lavender rose up around her as if coaxing her on. She lowered her backside into the bath and let it rise up along her waist and lift her breasts buoyantly.

  She immersed her shoulders and shuddered at the exciting comfort as the warmth surrounded her neck and touched her chin. Corinne felt as if she were melting away in complete bliss.

  Unable to keep her muddied face and tangled hair away from the beckoning bath she sunk down into the water until she was entirely submerged.

  Corinne shook her head under the water and sat up suddenly. The mud rinsed from her hair and face, washing her clean and easing the tightness in her muscles.

  Her blissful sigh echoed in the tiny quarters and Corinne felt a hot tear run down her cheek. The bath was entirely perfect and she felt so wonderful and so thankful that she reprimanded herself for not being kinder to the lieutenant. How completely thoughtful for him to have ordered hot water and let her be alone to enjoy it so completely. Corinne
promised herself that, although she wanted no relationship with him and he clearly had someone he cared about, she would be kinder to him and thank him more genuinely. Maybe Daniel was right. Maybe there were more good men after all. Corinne could not deny that she would like a kind man like the lieutenant for friendship sometimes.

  The soap was soft and luscious. She lathered her hair and then stood glistening in the bath and rubbed the suds over her body, soaping herself until she was completely clean.

  Chapter Twenty-Eigh t

  Corinne dozed in the luxurious bath for several minutes after rinsing herself. She stepped out reluctantly, wrapping herself in a soft towel and dried her body thoroughly. Brushing out her hair, she could see in the mirror that it sprung into gentle curls the way it only did when freshly washed and she shook her head, smiling. She felt wonderful. All of the river and the mud and the trail dust had been washed away as well as the aches and pains from days of hard riding. She watched herself step into her bloomers in front of the mirror and pulled on her freshly pressed dress. The scent of the lavender clung to her skin and hair and had perfumed the air, leaving her and her clothing smelling fresh.

  Corinne looked at her reflection and saw that her dress looked renewed and her complexion glowed.

  She had repacked her bag and buttoned her shoes when she heard a tap on the door. She called out, “Come in.”

  “The Lieutenant would like you to join him for dinner.” A young soldier stood nervously in the doorway.