Lonesome Bride Read online

  Jed squirmed out of the older woman's touch, flushing red. “If Caite gets to them first, there won't be any left, that's for sure!"

  "It is supposing I am Cooky made plenty for all. If young master Jed wishes to be a spoiled child, then we shall let him."

  Caite returned the grin, flashing Jed a saucy look. Maybe that would teach him to watch his sharp tongue! She relished his frown for a full minute while he protested to Lorna that she had entirely missed the point. Lorna shushed him so effectively, Caite laughed inside. She could learn a lot from the housekeeper.

  "Go on with you now, else I'll be taking a switch to you!” Waving Jed away with her apron, Lorna gave Caite a comfortable squeeze. “I am hoping you will be happy, Miss Caite. I am sorry Big Jed is not here to greet you, but we will make you at home, yes?"

  At Lorna's statement, warning bells began to chime in Caite's mind. “Big Jed?"

  "Yes, of course—Little Jed's papa. Although he is not so little anymore, our Little Jed, no?” Lorna's words seemed to sink into Caite's mind like stones in a millpond.

  Slowly, Caite turned to Jed. “You didn't tell me you share your father's name."

  Jed shrugged. He still seemed disgruntled from Lorna's scolding. “You never asked, Caite. Does it matter?"

  A sickening realization filled Caite, and she thought for a moment she must be having a nightmare. Surely this cannot be happening, she thought. Surely she would wake up, safe and sound in her own bed at Serenity, and none of this awful journey would ever have taken place.

  "Your father's name is Jed Peters?” she asked through numb lips.

  Jed's answer seemed to come from very far away. “Yes, his name is Jed Peters, too."

  Caite arrested his emerald eyes with hers. All at once, everything had fallen into place. Jed's reluctance and his accusations, so confusing to her before, were now as clear as a summer sky. It seemed suddenly very important she form her next words with extreme care, so none of their meaning could be lost or misconstrued. She swallowed heavily, her breathing shallow enough to make her feel lightheaded. She pressed on. She had to know.

  "And I am to marry Jed Peters?"

  Horror dawned on Jed's face as he suddenly realized what Caite herself had only just discovered. “You didn't know, did you?"

  Caite stumbled toward him, hand upraised as if to slap his face. She had no strength in the blow, however. She barely swatted him.

  "I'm to marry your father?"

  "You didn't know,” Jed repeated. He sounded as sick as she felt.

  "You deceitful, betraying wretch!” Caite breathed, unable to find any force within her to put behind the words. “I thought I was supposed to be marrying you!"

  And then all she knew was blessed darkness.

  CHAPTER 7

  Jed paced the great room of the house with the measured gait of a man who is not even aware he is moving. The memory of Caitleen lying at his feet in a gray-faced puddle blinded him to everything before him. Only his nervous energy kept him moving as he waited to hear from Lorna that Caite was all right.

  When Caite had collapsed, he had scooped her up and carried the unconscious woman immediately to the room she would share with his father, laying her down in a bed he wished were his. He had wanted nothing more than to stretch out beside her and cradle her until she awoke. That was out of the question, of course. He could not comfort his father's bride, at least not in the way he desired. To do so would be to reveal the truth of their relationship to everyone.

  "You be leaving us, Jed,” Lorna had commanded in a voice that brooked no discussion. “I will be taking care of young Miss Caite."

  So here he was, pacing in front of the fireplace, then to the long row of windows looking out to the barn and corral, then back along the log wall to the fireplace again. She hadn't known, he thought. Which explained why her actions had been so contradictory. One minute the proper young maiden, the next a hoyden set on seducing her future husband's son. Of course, she had not realized she was supposed to marry his father. If he was honest with himself, he had to take full responsibility for any seduction.

  How could she not have realized who he was? As he paced, Jed searched through every conversation they had shared. Never once had he mentioned his father's name. Never once had she. Any time they had discussed her reasons for coming to Heatherfield, it was always in the vaguest of terms. The marriage, not the marriage to his father. The wedding, not the wedding to his father. Her questions about his family and the son he did not have made perfect sense, now.

  Good Lord! No wonder she had been so confused when told her after the wedding things would change. Caite must have thought he was crazier than a hornet-stung coonhound, telling her that after the wedding they could not act as a married couple. She had no idea he meant he could not continue an affair with his father's wife.

  His father's wife. The guilt that had filled him from the first moment he gazed upon Caite with lust had grown tenfold. Not only had he seduced his father's bride, she had been innocent. She had willingly given herself to a man she thought she was going to marry. By her own admission, she had done it to please him. To make matters worse, he had then accused her of committing a sin that was his alone.

  "She is awake,” Lorna announced quietly from the vaulted doorway separating the great room from the hall.

  "Is she all right?” Too late, he realized his voice was filled with a concern that seemed far too intimate to be proper.

  Lorna looked him up and down with experienced eyes. She had been with the family since he was a mere lad, after all, and there was not much about him she did not know. Or could not guess, anyway.

  "I am thinking she will be fine."

  Jed's sigh of relief was nearly great enough to ruffle Lorna's hair. “What was wrong with her?"

  "Perhaps it is you who should to be telling me what is wrong with Miss Caite,” Lorna remarked sternly. Her voice was hard, but her eyes were soft as she grasped his elbow and steered him toward a pair of deep chairs flanking the windows.

  Jed ran his fingers through his thick hair until it stood on end. How could he admit what had passed between he and Caite in the cabin without casting aspersions on her character? He had meant what he told Caite about being honest. He had had every intention of coming clean on the matter should his father have asked. That was when he thought Caite was making love to him with full knowledge of her actions and the consequences. Now that he knew she had come to him with innocent intent, how could he destroy her reputation?

  "She must've caught a chill during the rainstorm,” he blurted, avoiding Lorna's shrewd gaze.

  "Perhaps. Or is there something else you would be wishing to tell me, Little Jed?"

  "Tarnation, Lorna, you know I don't like being called that. Especially since everyone calls Pa Buck now, anyway."

  He could tell she knew he was avoiding her deeper inquiry. Lorna frowned at him, then shrugged. As she stood, brushing the front of her apron, she fixed him with the stare that had always wrung the truth from him in the past.

  "Miss Caite was to telling me the same exact story."

  "She was?"

  Lorna pursed her lips at him. “Yes, she was, Jed."

  Jed spread his hands as if he were innocent as a lamb. Lorna, he could see, knew otherwise, but she was unable to accuse him. Even she would not wish to compromise the young mistress’ reputation with the mention of an indiscretion, in case there had been none.

  "I reckon I'd like to see her, if that's all right."

  "I suppose you may. Since your father—” She said the words pointedly. “—is not here, you must be making her feel welcome. After all, she is to be your new step-mama."

  Jed winced at the obvious irony in her statement. A step-mama who was younger than he! Well, it had happened before out here, where women were scarcer than flowers in December.

  "Well, all right then,” Jed said.

  Heading back the narrow hallway leading to the master bedroom, Jed felt a chill sweat begin