The complete oregon seri.., p.90
The Complete Oregon Series, page 90
Water splashed as Nora cupped her hands and rinsed the soap from Luke’s hair. Her fingertips brushed away suds, protecting Luke from getting soap in her eyes. She used her fingers to wash behind Luke’s ears and then picked up the washcloth again.
Luke’s skin tingled when Nora ran the cloth up her arm. The soapy touch trailed across her shoulders, then down the other arm. Nora lifted Luke’s hand out of the water and kissed each finger before running the washcloth over them.
A tingle ran through Luke. Her body came alive under Nora’s hands, as if it had been asleep for the last few weeks.
The cloth dipped under water, washing Luke’s feet and calves, then teasing the back of her knees. She gasped when Nora slid the washcloth up the inside of her leg. Her eyes shot open, her chest heaved, and water sloshed, dripping onto the floor and drenching Nora’s dress.
“Your dress,” Luke said, voice rough. She stared at the bodice that clung to Nora’s chest.
Nora looked down at her wet dress. “Maybe I’d better take it off.” Her voice was smoky, filled with heat.
Luke lay transfixed as the skirt fell to the floor, followed by the bodice, then Nora’s corset and drawers. She struggled to climb out of the tub and into Nora’s arms.
A soft touch to her chest held her back and made her sink back into the water. “Not yet,” Nora said. She picked up the washcloth again and trailed it down Luke’s breastbone. When she reached her navel, she leaned over and kissed the damp hollow between her collarbones.
The washcloth slid up Luke’s sensitive side. It circled one breast, then the other. Nora’s fingers skimmed the curve of a breast, making Luke arch into the whisper of a touch.
Nora gripped her hand and directed her to stand. She poured a pitcher of warm water over Luke’s body, her gaze following the suds down. “You are so magnificent.”
“You are the magnificent one, darling.” Luke wanted to say more, but Nora wrapped her in a towel, helped her out of the tub, and pulled her into her arms.
Their bodies pressing against each other, Nora walked her backward.
Luke followed blindly until she felt the edge of the bed against her legs. She shook off the towel and slid onto the bed, pulling Nora on top of her. Compared to Nora’s warm, smooth skin, the sheets felt rough beneath her. Their breasts pressed together. “Oh. Oh, this is so...” Her heart hammered against her ribs. Or maybe it was Nora’s heart. She couldn’t tell anymore.
Playful teeth nibbled her earlobe, sending shafts of heat down her body. Nora rained kisses down the side of her neck and licked away drops of water. Soft locks fanned over Luke’s chest like a protective curtain, tickling her skin. Nora’s tongue caressed her shoulder, and she pressed a tender kiss to the faded scar before trailing kisses down her breastbone. She licked circles around one breast.
Heat followed her touch. Luke’s body tingled from head to toe. Tension pooled in her belly. She couldn’t take more teasing. She threaded her fingers through the red locks and pulled Nora’s mouth to her breast.
Both of them groaned.
Nora caressed Luke’s breasts with her hands, her lips, her tongue, licking, sucking, stroking.
Weakly, Luke lifted her head to watch. Seeing how much joy Nora took from her body, from touching it, tasting it, gave Luke new appreciation for her female form after spending every minute of the last two months hiding it.
Nora rasped her teeth over the tip of Luke’s breast.
“God, Nora.” Luke let go of her and grabbed the sheet instead. She was so close to the edge already that she felt as if she were falling. She wasn’t afraid. Nora would catch her.
Breath fanned over Luke’s belly. She writhed and arched when Nora moved lower. Nora slid her hands up Luke’s thighs; one came to rest on her hip while the other found her fingers and entwined them with her own.
Nora nudged Luke’s legs apart and settled between them. She pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh and looked up. “I love you.”
Hot breath between her legs sent tingles up and down Luke. “Oh, Lord.” She groaned. “I love you too.”
Then Nora’s mouth was on her.
Luke’s moan mingled with Nora’s contented humming.
Nora’s tongue flicked over her, circled, then dipped lower.
“Nora!” Luke raised her knee and ground herself against Nora. Her heart thudded in her throat, along with the pounding pulse between her legs. Feeling the answering tremor in Nora’s body made her blood burn hotter.
Then Nora closed her lips over Luke and suckled.
Luke’s hips surged up. Her mouth fell open, and she gulped in a mouthful of air. She disentangled her hand from around the sheet and gripped the back of Nora’s head. The pressure in her belly ratcheted higher. The first tremors threatened. Her heels dug into the bed.
Nora gripped her hips, holding her in place.
A wave of ecstasy crashed through Luke, washing away sound and sight, leaving just touch. She arched against Nora, stiffened, then fell back onto damp sheets.
Nora crawled up, her curves brushing over every inch of Luke’s body, and collapsed into her arms.
With shaking hands, Luke caressed Nora’s flushed cheeks. “Lord, Nora,” she rasped through a dry throat, “what you do to me...”
Nora kissed her, and Luke surged against her when she tasted herself on Nora’s lips.
“Welcome home,” Nora murmured.
Luke rolled over and kissed her neck. “Now let me say hello too.”
The whisper of Nora’s hand trailing back and forth over her bare chest sent shivers down Luke’s body. Then Nora paused with her hand on Luke’s breastbone.
“So?”
Luke smiled. She folded her hands in the small of Nora’s back, chaining her to her body, and kissed her. Nora tasted of salt and passion. “Measles could never hold a candle to you.”
“You!” Nora reached beneath the covers and pinched her hip. “That’s not what I meant. Now tell me what happened on the way back from Fort Boise. And I don’t want the heroic tale Charlie told over supper. He tried to hide it, but he was limping, wasn’t he?”
Sighing, Luke let go of her and slipped into her nightshirt. She wouldn’t be able to rest and sleep with her body uncovered like that. At least not so soon after returning home. She needed time to reconnect with that part of herself.
“What happened?” Nora reached for her own nightgown and slipped it over her head.
Luke’s first instinct was to protect Nora from the harshness of life, but the years had taught her that sharing her troubles was better for both of them. She took her time getting back into bed and settling the blankets over them before she said, “Two men waylaid us in camp one morning. They wanted to shoot us while we were asleep.”
Nora sat up.
“Everyone’s fine,” Luke said. “We were lucky. A bullet grazed Phin’s arm, and Charlie took a bullet in the calf, but that’s all.”
“Lord.” Nora rubbed her breastbone and sank back against her pillow. “What did they want?”
“Revenge.”
A deep line formed on Nora’s brow. “What for?”
“I stopped them from laying hands on an Indian woman in Fort Boise.” The memory of the woman in the alley still made Luke tremble in outrage.
A smile that held equal parts concern and pride tugged on Nora’s lips. She cradled Luke’s face and looked into her eyes. “Still rescuing damsels in distress, like you rescued me from my life in Independence.”
“I didn’t rescue you. You rescued me.”
Nora’s smile grew brighter. “We rescued each other. I think Tess and Frankie rescued each other too. I like them together.”
Luke hummed her agreement and settled against Nora’s warmth. Her eyelids drooped, but she fought to stay awake. “Can we talk about what’s going on with Amy and Nattie? They both seemed so unsettled.” She had asked their daughters half a dozen times during and after supper, but both had brushed her off.
“Nattie too?” In the light of the kerosene lamp, worry lines carved themselves into Nora’s brow. “Now that I think about it… She’s probably sad because Phin and Hendrika will leave soon.”
“What about Amy?”
“I have to tell you something.”
Nothing good, if the expression in her eyes was any indication.
Luke sat up. “Something worse than Adam setting the barn afire, hurting Amy, and knocking you out?”
“Yes.” Nora hesitated. “No, it’s not really bad, just surprising and confusing. I don’t know how to tell you.”
“Just say it,” Luke said over the pounding of her heart.
“Amy and Rika saw Tess and Frankie kiss.”
For several seconds, the lump in Luke’s throat didn’t allow for an answer. “No wonder Amy is upset. I bet she didn’t even know two women could love each other like that.”
“She knows more about it than we thought.” Nora leaned against Luke’s shoulder as if searching for strength. “Amy has feelings for women.”
Impossible. Luke shook her head. “Just because Amy hasn’t shown much interest in her suitors doesn’t mean—”
“She told me today. Or rather, I dragged it out of her through tears. She is so ashamed she couldn’t even look me in the eye.”
Luke’s heartbeat roared in her ears. Their proud daughter ashamed, crying hot tears of anguish... The thought made her ache. “How long?” Her voice sounded much calmer than she felt. “How long has she known about her feelings?”
“I don’t know. She was nearly hysterical, so I did most of the talking and she just stammered a few words. But I got the feeling she has known for some time. She remembered what the townsfolk did to Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Sutherland.”
“But if she has known for this long, why didn’t she ever come and talk to us about it?” The thought of Amy suffering alone stabbed at her heart.
“She thinks I’m in love with the most wonderful man God ever created.” A smile smoothed the worry lines around Nora’s mouth. “She doesn’t think we understand.”
Luke’s temples pounded. She gripped her head. “Do you think if Amy had grown up with a real—”
Nora pressed her fingers to Luke’s lips. “Don’t even think that. I grew up with a father and three brothers, yet here I am, loving you. If we start thinking that we are to blame for Amy’s feelings toward women, then we’re telling Amy that we think it’s wrong.”
“Right. Right.” A trembling breath escaped Luke. “What do we do?” She felt as she had seventeen years ago: not knowing how to treat Amy or how to talk to her, sure that everything she did and said would be wrong.
“I don’t know. I already talked to her, told her that the love between Tess and Frankie isn’t any less worthy than the love between a man and a woman.”
“Do you think she believed you?” If Amy had heard what the God-fearing people of Baker Prairie said about “unnatural women” like Mrs. Mills and Mrs. Sutherland, Luke doubted Nora’s reassurances had done much good.
“I’m sure she understood it here,” Nora tapped her finger against her forehead, “but I’m not sure if she accepted it here.” Her palm pressed against the upper part of Luke’s unbound breast.
Luke covered the hand with her own and clutched it to her pounding heart. She knew how self-hatred could grow over the years, brick by brick, until it created a wall around your heart that could not be overcome by rational arguments. “I’ll talk to her.” She threw back the covers and swung her legs out of bed.
“Not now, Luke.” Nora grabbed a handful of her nightshirt and held her back.
“You think Amy is sleeping after a day like this?” Luke knew she wouldn’t sleep a wink all night, so surely Amy was still up too.
“No, but she’s sharing her room with Hendrika.”
Luke stopped halfway out of bed. “Why isn’t Hendrika staying at the cabin?”
“Frankie and Tess needed a place to stay, and now that Phin is back, we can’t have him and Hendrika both staying at the cabin before they’re married.”
Oh boy. Luke’s cheeks flushed. “And you thought nothing of letting Amy share a bed with Hendrika, now that you know about her feelings? Clearly, you never experienced an attraction to women at that age, or you’d know how confusing and overwhelming it can be.”
“It was plenty confusing for me when I found myself falling in love with you,” Nora said. “I’ll talk to Hendrika tomorrow. Now that Tess and Frankie are staying in town, she can have the cabin and Phin can bed down in the bunkhouse. But I asked Amy about it. It was her choice to continue sharing a room, and I don’t want her to think she should stay away from Hendrika. They’ve become friends.”
“That’s good,” Luke said. “I always worried about Amy not having any women friends. Once she stopped spending time with Hannah...”
“I have a theory about that.”
The covers rustled when Luke slid back into bed. She leaned over to peer at Nora’s face. Over the years, she had learned to read the expression in Nora’s eyes as well as she could now read a book. “You think she was in love with Hannah?”
“Don’t know if I’d call it love, but I think she was smitten, and she didn’t know how to deal with it, so she stayed away.”
It all sounded so familiar. “Are we sure she’s your daughter, not mine?” Luke lifted one corner of her mouth into a weak smile.
“She’s your daughter in every way that counts.” Nora leaned up and pressed a kiss to her lips until the smile turned into a real one.
“Yeah. It seems we have more in common than I thought. When I was younger, I tried to stay away from women too. I joined the dragoons and served in lonely forts, where I didn’t get to see a woman for months at a time. I hadn’t yet learned that desiring women didn’t mean I’d desire all of them.”
“Maybe you can explain that to Amy somehow,” Nora said.
Luke squeezed the bridge of her nose. “The question is just how. I can only talk to Amy as a man, so what I can tell her is limited.”
This time, Nora had no answers.
Sighing, Luke doused the kerosene lamp and settled in for a sleepless night.
Cool morning air greeted Nora as she stepped outside and let the door fall closed behind her. “Oh, there you are.”
Hendrika sat on the veranda, the butter churn between her feet. She moved the wooden dasher up and down in a steady rhythm.
“Want me to take over for a moment before I have to leave?” Nora asked. Churning butter was monotonous and tiring work.
“No, it’s all right. I don’t mind.”
Nora leaned against the veranda railing and looked across the ranch yard. A few of their mares wandered through the corral, licking morning dew off the grass. Next to the corral, Amy and Luke were saddling their horses, every movement in perfect harmony, stepping around each other without stumbling or getting in each other’s way—like two dancers who had practiced their waltz a thousand times.
Watching them together warmed Nora’s heart.
Luke swung her leg over the cantle, and as she settled into the saddle, her gaze met Nora’s. She kissed her fingertips and held out her palm as if sending the kiss across the ranch yard.
Smiling, Nora repeated the gesture.
Amy lifted her hand as if to imitate Luke, then curled her fingers into a fist and dropped her hand. She pulled her mare around and urged her into a lope.
When Nora turned back to Hendrika, the up-and-down movement of the dasher had slowed. When the hoofbeats faded away, Hendrika directed her gaze back to the churn and picked up the pace.
Am I imagining things, or has she been watching Amy? Nora wasn’t sure. “Tess and Frankie are staying in town for a while. If you want, you can move back into the cabin.”
The dasher stopped. “But Phineas—”
“Don’t worry about him. He can stay in the bunkhouse with the other boys for a few days.”
“Oh.” Slowly, Hendrika moved the dasher up and down in the cream. “All right, I suppose.”
Nora furrowed her brow. “I thought you’d be glad to have a room and a bed to yourself for a few days before you get married.”
“I am glad,” Hendrika said, sounding anything but. She bent and lifted the lid off the churn. A golden lump of butter had formed and was now clinging to the dasher.
Like Hendrika is clinging to sharing a room with Amy. It seemed Hendrika was fond of Amy, but was it just the innocent friendship between young women or something more? Nora remembered sharing a bed with Luke for the first time, remembered the feeling of peace and safety even as she had shivered under a damp blanket while rain drummed down on their wagon. Did Hendrika feel the same way?
“Old Jack is ready, ma’am,” Hank called from the stable.
Nora glanced at the sun. Her pupils were waiting for their last day of school before summer break. There was no time to figure out what was going on with Hendrika. With one last glance at Hendrika, who was busy fishing the butter from the buttermilk, Nora hurried toward the wagon.
“Look, Papa! There’s Nugget with her foal.” Amy gestured with childlike excitement, but Luke knew she was no longer a child. So much had changed.
Luke let her gaze wander from horse to horse, but her thoughts were on Amy, who halted her mare next to Dancer. They needed to talk. She had opened her mouth half a dozen times while they rode from one band of horses to the next, but every time, she closed it again without saying anything. After living as a man for the past thirty years, how could she talk to Amy about the joys of love between two women? Was it possible to let Amy know she understood without giving away her secret?
She stared at the horses while seeking a solution. The herd was in great shape. Over the last weeks, the grasses had become richer, and now the horses’ bellies were pleasantly rounded, their dotted coats gleaming with good health. A few mares stood dozing beneath a stand of trees while their foals leaped through the grass. In the distance, two yearlings bucked, reared, and squealed at each other in a mock fight.
