When he moved, Houston saw that pieces of coal were sticking to his broad back, and she began to brush them away. By some odd chance, her breasts grazed his skin repeatedly.
Kane turned around and grabbed her wrists in his. “Don’t start that again. There’s somethin’ about you, lady, that I don’t think I can resist. And you can stop lookin’ so pleased with yourself.” Even as he spoke, his eyes travelled down her bare body. “Houston,” he half groaned as he released her and turned away, “you ain’t like what I expected at all. Now, get dressed ’fore I make a fool of myself . . . again.”
Houston didn’t ask him what he meant about making a fool of himself again, but her heart raced with pleasure as she pulled on the loose clothing she’d borrowed from him. There were several buttons ripped from the shirt and the torn places made her smile.
She was barely dressed before he pulled her into his arms, and sat her on his lap as he leaned back against the wall of the mine tunnel.
The soft rain outside came down slowly, as if it never meant to stop, and Houston snuggled back into Kane’s arms.
“You make me happy,” Houston said as she moved his arms closer about her.
“Me? You didn’t even get the present I got for you.” He paused. “Oh, you mean just now. Well, you don’t exactly make me sad, either.”
“No, it’s you who makes me happy, not the presents and not even the lovemaking—although that does help.”
“All right, tell me how I make you happy.” There was caution in his voice.
She was silent for a moment before she spoke. “When Leander and I had just become officially engaged, we were going to a dance at the Masonic Temple. I was looking forward to the evening very much and, I guess as a reflection of my mood, I had a red dress made. Not a deep, subdued red, but a brilliant, scarlet red. The night of the dance, I put on the dress and felt as if I were the most beautiful woman in the world.”
She paused to take a breath and to remind herself that she was here in Kane’s arms and safe now. “When I walked down the stairs, Mr. Gates and Leander stared at me, and I stupidly thought they were in awe of the way I looked in that red dress. But when I reached the bottom, Mr. Gates started shouting at me that I looked like a harlot and to go back upstairs and change. Leander stepped in and said he’d take care of me. I don’t think I ever loved him more than at that moment.”
Again, she paused. “When we arrived at the dance, Leander suggested that I keep my cloak on and tell people that I’d caught a chill. I spent the entire evening sitting in the corner and feeling miserable.”
“Why didn’t you tell both of ’em to go to hell and dance in your red dress?”
“I guess I’ve always done what people expected of me. That’s why you make me happy. You seem to think that if Houston’s climbing down the trellis in her underwear, then that’s what ladies do. Nor do you seem to mind that I make very unladylike advances toward you.” She turned her head to look at him.
After a quick kiss, he turned her back around. “I don’t mind the advances, but I could do without your public appearances in your underwear. I don’t guess you remember the puppies, do you?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
“At Marc Fenton’s birthday party—I guess he was about eight—I took you into the stables and showed you some black-and-white spotted puppies.”
“I do remember! But that couldn’t have been you, that was a grown man.”
“I guess I was about eighteen, so that would make you . . . ”
“Six. Tell me about it.”
“You and your sister came to the party together, wearin’ white dresses with pink sashes and big pink bows in your hair. Your sister went runnin’ into the back and started playin’ tag with the other kids, but you went and sat down on a iron bench. You didn’t move a muscle, just sat there with your hands folded in your lap.”
“And you stopped in front of me with a wheelbarrow that had obviously once been full of horse manure.”
Kane grunted. “Probably. I felt sorry for you there all alone, so I asked you if you wanted to see the pups.”
“And I went with you.”
“Not until you’d looked me up and down real hard. I guess I passed ’cause you did go with me.”
“And I wore your shirt, and then something awful happened. I remember crying.”
“You wouldn’t get near the pups, but stood way back and looked do
wn at ’em. Said you couldn’t get your dress dirty, so I gave you a shirt of mine to put on over your dress—which you wouldn’t touch until I swore three times that it was clean. And what you remember as the great tragedy was that one of the dogs ran behind you and bit your hair ribbon and pulled it undone. I never saw a kid get so upset. You started cryin’ and said that Mr. Gates would hate you and when I said I’d retie it you said that only your mamma could tie a bow properly. That’s what you said, ‘properly’.”
“And you did tie it properly. Not even Mother knew that it’d come untied.”
“I was always braidin’ the horses’ manes and tails.”