Chapter Sixteen

When Lucas woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He bolted up into a sitting position and turned to Gail, but she wasn't there. In fact, she and her bedroll were missing. He wiggled out of his bedroll as fast as he could, which turned out to be not all that fast, since the bedroll kept wrapping around his legs. Finally, he managed to get out of it. Once he managed to get to his feet, he examined his surroundings.

To his relief, Gail was collecting water into a canteen at the watering hole. He put his hand over his heart. Good. Nothing bad had happened to her during the course of the night.

"Good morning," she called out when she noticed him.

He closed the distance to her. "What time is it?"

"A little after ten."

He blinked the last of the sleep from his eyes. "How long have you been up?"

She capped the canteen and placed it next to the other one which, judging by the water dripping on its side, had just been filled. "I woke up a little after six."

"And you let me sleep in?"

She shrugged and rose to her feet. "You were tired. I didn't want to disturb you. Besides," she began as she gathered the canteens, "we'll be at the canyon well before evening, and we might luck out and find Zeke. Then we can finalize our plan to get Bernadette."

He hated to bring out the possibility they wouldn't find him, but he blurted out, "What will we do if he's not there?"

She paused. "We came all the way out here to rescue her. I suppose we'll have to try to rescue her ourselves and hope we succeed."

His eyes grew wide. "Do you really think we're qualified to go up against a group of outlaws?"

She thought over his question, and in a thoughtful tone, she said, "I think we have a chance. We can hide in one of the caves, grottos, or holes that are in the canyon." Her eyes lit up. "We can go into the canyon at night!"

At night? In the dark?

"The good thing is that we'll be getting there before the sun sets this evening," she continued. "We can map out a way to get to one of the hiding spots. Then we'll watch for signs of the bandits. Once we know that, we'll figure something out."

She seemed so excited by the plan that he didn't have the heart to tell her it was too vague. A knot formed in his stomach. He rubbed it, but it didn't loosen.

"Let's have some pemmican. Then we can leave." She handed him his canteen before she retrieved their food.

He released an uneasy breath. He prayed they would find Zeke. There was no way they were a match for three—or four, if one counted Cooper—bandits. If they didn't have Zeke, they were doomed.

***

It was half past one when they decided to rest.

"We're making good time," Gail said as she settled beside him near a tree. "We'll reach the canyon before the sun sets. That ought to give us plenty of time to find a hiding spot. I just hope Zeke doesn't ruin things for us."

He placed his hat on the ground. There was very little grass, which surprised him, given the trees in the area. One would think if there were trees, there would be plenty of grass to go along with it, but, for the most part, the ground was composed of dry, rocky soil. He couldn't imagine how anyone could enjoy living out here. He wiped the sweat from his brow then unscrewed the top of his canteen.

Gail unfolded the map.

"I'm surprised you can tell anything on that map with how little we have to go by," he said as he gestured to the trees.

"I use the position of the sun to help gauge where we are," she replied.

He shook his head in amazement. Even if he knew how to read a map, he wouldn't have thought to use the sun as a compass. "I'm beginning to think that between the two of us, you're the smarter one."

"Oh, don't be silly. We're equally smart. I just happen to love reading maps."

It was nice of her to extend the compliment to him, but if she knew what happened with his family's business, she wouldn't be so quick to praise him. He took a swallow of the water in his canteen. The last thing he wanted was for her to know the truth. Before, he'd only wanted to hide the truth to protect himself and his family from public humiliation. Now, he wanted to hide the truth so her vision of him would remain untainted. He liked thinking that he was worthy of her.

She pulled out the pins holding her hat in place. He thought she was going to put the hat on the ground, but she used it to give herself additional shade over the map so she could read it better.

He got a much better view of her when she wasn't wearing the hat. He tried to recall why he used to think she was on the plain side, but the memory refused to come to mind. There was nothing plain about her. She was pretty. Very much so, in fact.

He admired her profile for a few seconds before he recalled Zeke. It was a good thing Zeke wasn't here to see this. He glanced around the area, just to make sure no one else was around, either. Assured they were truly alone, he relaxed and screwed the cap back on the canteen.

"We are here." She pointed to a location on the map.

He set the canteen aside then edged closer to her.

"The canyon is up here." She slid her finger north on the paper. "I think this map is exaggerating how big the canyon is. There's no way a hole in the ground can be that huge."

"Maybe Arizona has so little in it that they make everything seem bigger than it really is," he commented. He could understand the tactic. He, after all, had inflated his financial standing in order to impress her father so her father would allow him to marry Gail. "Maybe people around here are afraid no one will be interested in coming here if there's nothing to do."

"If people wanted to see the canyon, Bower wouldn't have picked it for a hideout."

"Unless Zeke is right about there being a lot of hiding places. Then people might not notice him if they saw the canyon."

Her eyebrows furrowed in such a cute way that he caught himself smiling.

"Maybe it is big," he began. "Maybe it's not. The important thing is that you know how to read that map." Feeling playful, he nudged her shoulder with his. "I'd rather look at you than the map. You're much more interesting."

A hint of pink tinted her face. "You really think so?"

"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't. I'm relieved we have to wear hats when we're in public. If those bachelors in Pennsylvania had been able to see you without your hat, they would have been fighting me to get to you."

She chuckled in a way that let him know he had succeeded in flattering her. "Oh, there wouldn't have been a fight."

His smile widened. "Sure, there would have been. You're too pretty without a hat on."

Then, to demonstrate how much he enjoyed looking at her, he kissed her. He meant for the kiss to be short. They still had to go quite a distance before they reached the canyon. It wasn't like they had all the time in the world to linger here, but he was enjoying the kiss, so he decided to deepen it.

He sensed her excitement as she responded to him. He hadn't expected that, but he should have. When she insisted on joining him on this trip despite the opposition against her, he should have realized there was a fiery spirit hidden under her polite exterior. She was no wallflower. She was a lady of great passion.

She leaned into him and parted her lips so he could interlace his tongue with hers. She let out a wistful sigh to let him know she'd been waiting for him to kiss her like this for a long time. Well, he decided that she had waited long enough.

He wrapped her in his arms and drew her up against him. He kissed her cheek, he kissed her neck, and then he brought his lips back to hers. A surge of desire welled up inside him, and suddenly all he could think about was consummating their marriage. It was unfortunate they hadn't been granted a wedding night. Maybe tonight they would finally make their marriage official. By then, they would be tucked away in their own hideout, and that hideout was bound to give them all the privacy they needed.

With a regretful sigh, he stopped kissing her. He cupped the side of her face with his hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb. Once more, he tried to remember why he used to think she was plain, but the reason still wouldn't come to mind. Which was fine. It was probably better this way. He'd rather think he always saw the beauty in her that Zeke had picked up on as soon as he saw her.

"Are you glad you married me?" he asked.

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Of course, I am. Why would you ask something like that?"

"You could have had anyone you wanted." And that man would have been smart enough to know she was desirable without needing someone else to point it out to him.

"I did marry the man I wanted. I married you."

He smiled and stroked her cheek with his thumb a second time. "I'll always be glad you said yes when I asked you to marry me. We're very lucky that we got to pick the person we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with."

"Yes, we were. It's a shame not everyone is as fortunate as we are." She gave him a kiss, but it wasn't as long as he would have preferred. "My favorite memory is the moment the preacher called me ‘Mrs. Lucas Reid'. I still feel all warm and tingly when I think about it."

His lips curled up into a smile. Good. It was nice she reacted that way at taking his name. He briefly recalled the preacher calling her that, but he rather enjoyed the memory now that he'd had time to get used to being her husband. "I like thinking of you as Mrs. Reid."

His horse neighed, as if to remind him that they had to keep going. Bernadette still needed to be rescued, and it was hard to say if Zeke was going to be there when they needed to get her. "I hate to end this moment, but we should get going."

She nodded and let him help her to her feet. On impulse, he gave her a lingering kiss. "Mrs. Reid, I promise you that I'll take more time to appreciate being married to you tonight."

She blushed. Perhaps she was looking forward to consummating the marriage as well, though he doubted she was as eager for it as much as he was. Even now, the blood running through his body was prompting him to keep touching and kissing her.

It took all of his willpower to take her to the horse, but he managed to restrain his baser urges. Tonight would come, and when it did, they could finally have their wedding night.