The McGraths were on the north side of the circle tonight if he remembered correctly, the side farthest away from the creek. With the brothers recovering from the fever, work hands were stretched thin. Seb and Andrew were sleeping out with the herd, taking turns on watch while the others could tend their sick. Jacob felt so weary. His ribs flared in pain with every step, but his determination outmatched his exhaustion. He thought of Kate working herself to the bone through this sickness. First the attack at Fort Kearney and now this? How did she have the strength to go on?
He found the McGrath camp quiet and still. The fire had burned low, and Danny and Ian slept sprawled by the glowing embers, half-eaten food cold on their plates. But someone had taken off their boots andcovered them with blankets. Kate. He smiled, a surprising warmth spreading through his chest at the thought. Ever since her attack, Jacob had felt an odd sort of protectiveness toward her. He had seen Kate at her most vulnerable, and even in that moment she had displayed a strength of character that didn’t seem possible. She was so strong, so capable. She was the kind of person who could turn her hand to anything and make something of it. And she cared for everyone around her without asking anything in return. But who was looking out for her?
Jacob frowned. Where was she? He knew she slept on a pallet under the wagon, but she wasn’t there. He looked around, an all-too-familiar feeling of dread rising inside. Not again. His mouth went dry. Where would she have gone? She’d already been to the Leightons’, and with Old Man Thomas gone, she wouldn’t be caring for him any longer. He snapped his fingers. The Schmidts. The two families were quite good friends; maybe Kate was with them.
She wasn’t. But they had seen her walking toward the creek.
“When was that?” Jacob asked, his tone sharp.
“Well, it is late, Jacob, that was nearly two hours ago,” Mr. Schmidt replied.
Jacob thanked them and rushed off without another word. Two hours to fetch water? It felt like an echo of that night at Fort Kearney: the fear, the urgency. Except the moon was full, its light shuttered now and then by the scuttling clouds. Jacob became acutely aware of the keening wind and the coolness of the night. Maybe she just needed some time alone. He quickened his pace.
He started his search where the creek bent and came close to the circle of wagons. He crashed along the bank of the little stream. Which way should he look first? He went left, calling her name into the darkness. After nearly half a mile downstream, Jacob cursed and turned back. The night was getting cooler. It was almost midnight. Why hadn’t he brought a lantern? If he didn’t find her by the time he made it to hiscamp upstream, he would gather a lantern and more people to look. He walked quickly, his breath shallow through the pain in his side. He found his starting point and slowed, searching more carefully, eyes straining in the darkness. Why had she come out here alone? His concern mounted with every step.
Jacob found her lying half submerged in the creek next to an upturned bucket, her lustrous hair tugged free of her braid and rippling softly in the current of the stream, the only part of her that was moving. His heart lurched as he ran to her side, kneeling in the cold water. Her face looked so pale in the moonlight. He quickly checked her pulse. Weak, but steady. Was she sick? Hurt? The questions whirled in his mind as he quickly checked her over. No visible wounds. What had happened? He took a deep breath, trying to quell the panic that threatened to choke him. He looked around. They were nearly out of sight of the fires of the wagon circle. Why had she wandered so far? He couldn’t leave her to get help. But she needed to be warm and dry. He’d have to bring her back to her wagon.
He gently gathered her in his arms and carried her up the creek bank. But her voluminous skirts were heavy with water, and he had only made it ten steps before the pain in his side caused spots to dance across his vision. Jacob stumbled to a stop, gasping for air, the muscles in his shoulders straining. His own camp was much closer but in the opposite direction. He knew that he could black out before even reaching the train. He wouldn’t be any good to her then. His arms started shaking. He knew he didn’t have any more time to waste. So he turned west, away from the train but closer to a fire.
He barely made it. Laying Kate’s prone form next to the fire he had banked hours ago, Jacob stayed there on his hands and knees, gasping, groaning in pain, fighting to keep from blacking out. He focused on Kate’s white face, forcing himself to remain conscious. Her lips wereblue. He stood with excruciating effort and coaxed the coals back to life, adding all the fuel he had collected earlier to the scant flames.
He gathered his meager pallet and knelt next to her. She was soaking wet. Jacob’s decency warred with his common sense. She needed to get dry. What would she think of him? But she wouldn’t be able to think anything of him if she caught pneumonia and died. As gently as he could, Jacob slipped off her green gingham dress. He tried not to look at how her chemise clung damply to her freckled skin, or how her strong arms were silhouetted softly in the light of the fire.
Simply lifting her waterlogged dress to hang to dry made Jacob’s vision swim. He swayed on his feet. He only had one blanket. Would it be warm enough? He wrapped her as much as he could, but her face remained ashen, her lips blue. His chest constricted. He couldn’t just let her fade away. Kate had cared for others with no thought to herself, sacrificing her time, her energy and now her body to make sure everyone was okay, despite all that she had suffered. Who was caring for her?
Jacob only had his own warmth left to give. Easing out of his wet shirt, every movement bursting with fresh pain, he lay down behind her. She shivered uncontrollably, her skin cold and clammy. He tenderly fit himself around the curve of her body, wrapping an arm around her waist, enfolding her ice-cold hands in his.
He fought to stay awake, the pain and exertion dragging his eyes closed.No!He needed to make sure she was all right. He fought sleep until he felt her body warm. The shivers slowly ceased as she relaxed against his chest, and as her breathing at last settled deep and even, Jacob allowed himself to be pulled into an exhausted sleep.
Chapter 19
Katewasdeliciouslywarm.It was her sole sensation as her mind slowly drifted into awareness and she lingered in the netherworld between sleep and wakefulness. So wonderfully warm. She could hear the birds calling softly, greeting the dawn she intrinsically knew grayed the horizon. The air felt crisp. It had been a cold night. She could smell leather and horses and the smoke of a dying fire, and a fresh musky scent she couldn’t quite place but had no desire to investigate, not in this delightful moment. When was the last time she had felt so rested? She didn’t want this moment to end.
Then a strong arm tightened around her waist.
Kate’s eyes flew open. Terror washed over her body, her heart thundering in her chest but her body frozen in alarm. She was suddenly aware of the large, calloused hand clasping hers, the warm breath on the back of her neck, that fresh musk emanating from the man sleeping next to her. Her breath became quick and shallow. What had happened? Her mind whirled, panicked, reality crashing in. Sickness on the train. Working day and night. The delirious exhaustion as she went to fetch water. The sensation of falling then … nothing.
She needed answers. Kate tried to inch out from under the arm wrapped so possessively around her middle, fear making her hands shake. Who was this man? What had he done to her? Her stomach churned, her mind flashing in memories of that night at Fort Kearney. She turned her head, biting her lip to keep from crying. She saw brown curls, a darkbeard, a nose that had been broken at least once, and eyes rimmed in the longest, darkest lashes she had ever seen. The tempest inside her stilled. Jacob?
He stirred and Kate realized that she had said his name out loud. She froze. His eyes opened slowly, and they nearly glowed in the half-light of dawn. How could so many shades of blue be contained in one place? She was mesmerized. Recognition dawned gently in his gaze, and a bewitching smile spread lazily across his bearded face. He let out a soft breath and said in a groggy whisper, “Hey, you’re all right.”
His words let loose the torrent of adrenaline built up in Kate’s body. “All right?!” She flung his arm away, scrambling to her feet, hair tumbling wildly down her back. “You think I’m all right?!” He hastily stood and she whirled around, accosting him with her furious gaze. “I wake up to a strange man in the middle of nowhere, with no idea how I got here, and you think I’m all right?!”
Jacob just stood there, mouth open, holding a blanket in his hand and staring at her.
“Well? Say somethin’!” Kate demanded, her breath heaving. His gaze flickered over her body. She looked down and yelped. She was in nothing but her underthings! She snatched the blanket from his hands and frantically covered herself. “I demand an explanation!”
He blushed furiously under his unkempt beard and looked away, running a hand through his curly hair so it stood out every which way. Kate nearly laughed in her hysteria. He cleared his throat. “Well, I—I had to take your dress off, you see, and—”
“What?” she shrieked.
“No! Not like that! I mean, you were soakin’ wet, and I didn’t want you gettin’ pneumonia and dyin’!”
Kate dropped her voice, fury making her tremble. “Jacob Munroe, I swear if you don’t explain yourself in the next ten seconds, I will break your nose and have you strung up!”
He swallowed and held out a placating hand. “Now, Kate, just you hang on a minute. I can explain.” His voice was soothing and low, the same voice he used on a spooked horse. “I went to go check on you last night. I wanted to help you somehow, seein’ as how you’ve been right wore out with carin’ for everybody, them bein’ sick and all. Your whole family was dead asleep, but you weren’t there. So I asked the Schmidts if they’d seen you, and they said you’d gone for water about two hours back. Two hours for fetchin’ water? Now that didn’t seem right. I start gettin’ a little worried, thinkin’ about what happened to you with … with that other fellow. So I went lookin’ for you, and I found you out cold, lyin’ in the creek. Your lips were blue. I knew I needed to get you warm, so I brought you here.”
Kate’s fury ebbed to a steady throb through Jacob’s enlightening speech. He really cared for her enough to search through the night? Her heart gave a silly little flip-flop at the thought. No one, other than her own family, had been partial enough to her to pick her out from a crowd, let alone sacrifice their own well-being to see her safe. It made her mind swirl in a thousand directions.
