Oklahoma Bride

“Did you catch a few dozen Sooners today?” she asked as she veered around the table to take her seat.

“Only a short dozen,” he reported. Reflexively, he pulled out the chair for her then sank down beside her. “Did you scrub your fingers to the bone while I was gone?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “Considering the long days I was accustomed to working before venturing south from Kansas, this was a snap.” She grinned playfully at him. “I decided to add starch to the military drawers that I washed and dried. I think some of them were yours. At least I can only hope.”

Rafe tried not to return her smile, but it was contagious. “I wondered how you would retaliate. Leave it to you to be inventive.”

“I do what I can so that you know I’m not taking my captivity sitting down.” Her eyes sparkled with deviltry. “I wonder how easy it will be for you to sit down in those stiff drawers. But they should suit you perfectly.”

He presumed she was referring to his personality, but it wasn’t the only thing about him that was stiff at the moment. Rafe sighed. He really should release her, if only to avoid the frustrating attraction he didn’t want to deal with and could do nothing about.

“On a more serious note—” Karissa clamped her mouth shut when one of the soldiers reached around her shoulder to place a plate of food on the table.

“You were saying?” Rafe prompted Karissa after the private moved on to serve the officers.

“How was your day?” Micah interjected as he took the empty seat beside Karissa.

Disgusted, Rafe watched her turn a beaming smile on Micah. “I’m sure my day wasn’t as eventful as yours. I spent most of my time staring at the inside of a washtub and doing battle against dirty floors. The General tells me that you apprehended more squatters.”

Micah nodded his thanks when the private served his meal. “I swear they’re multiplying overnight.” When Karissa frowned glumly, he hastily added, “But not to fret, pretty lady. Rafe circled back to chase down the Sooners who infiltrated the property you picked out.”

Karissa turned her astonished gaze on Rafe, who shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You did? And here I thought you didn’t have a single saving grace. My apologies, General. I’m grateful for that, at least. Of course, other squatters are probably making camp on my prospective homestead as we speak.”

“That’s why we patrol the area continuously,” Rafe replied between bites of his meal. “I want this Land Run to be fair for all.”

“Being a woman, I’ll start the race with a distinct disadvantage,” she grumbled.

“I doubt it,” Rafe said. “I have yet to see you at a disadvantage, distinct or otherwise.”

Karissa wasn’t allowed the opportunity to request another guard for the following day. She glanced up to see one of the soldiers, who had introduced himself earlier, standing directly in front of her. He, like many of the men she had met, had been exceptionally respectful and polite to her. It seemed to her that the soldiers were pleased to be in the presence of a single woman and she hadn’t felt threatened by any of them. Except, of course, for Corporal Billings.

“I was hoping you might find time to sew new buttons on my dress uniform.” The soldier offered her the neatly folded garment then placed a coin on the table. “I’ll be back to fetch them in a few days.”

The soldier stepped aside and Karissa was greeted by another one, and then another. The stack of coins on the table increased as the men pointed out torn shoulder seams, frayed hems on trousers and holes in their shirts.

Well, one good thing about this, she decided, was that she would earn more money and she’d have something to relieve the boredom of sitting alone in her room all evening.

Karissa excused herself from the table and scooped up the tall stack of garments. Rafe came to his feet beside her.

“I’ll walk you back to officers’ quarters,” he volunteered.

Karissa was so aware of his presence beside her that she forgot to ask for a change of guard. It was all she could do to concentrate on keeping the riot of butterflies in her stomach from bursting loose. Damnation, why she allowed this man to affect her was beyond comprehension. She had no trouble dealing with the other soldiers.

“I thought perhaps I could accompany you on a walk around the garrison after I file my daily reports,” Rafe said.

“I’m allowed another breath of fresh air before I bed down for the night?” she asked, striving for a flippant tone of voice that would disguise her nervous flutters.

Rafe halted in front of his private quarters and lifted a dark brow. “Is that a yes or a no?”

“A walk around the post will suit me fine,” she replied. What better way to acquaint herself with the layout of the fort after dark? When she made her getaway—and it was only a matter of time before she did—she needed to know the best place to go over the wall.

He bowed ever so slightly then opened the door. “I trust you will be anxiously awaiting my return then?”

“Oh, absolutely, General,” she said breezily. “I think I would even offer to polish your boots if it would get me out of solitary confinement.” She knelt down to brush her finger over the toe of his boot. “Good heavens! Is that a speck of dust? Isn’t that against regulations? You could go on report!”

“Very funny,” he muttered. “Try not to climb the walls before I get back. It would be a pity if you fell and broke your neck.”

Karissa arched a brow. “Do I detect a warped sense of humor? Send it over to the washroom and I’ll have it starched and pressed in no time at all.”

When she turned toward the room, his muscled arm shot out to block her path. “I’m not the stuffed shirt you think I am,” he murmured as he leaned toward her.

His face was so close to hers that breathing was next to impossible. Her traitorous gaze focused on the sensuous curve of his mouth and her heart commenced pounding so hard that she swore it was about to beat her to death. He was so large and powerful that she felt dwarfed by his massive presence.

Ordinarily, Karissa balked and rebelled when she felt intimidated by a man. Yet, the feelings Rafe aroused inside her went beyond the norm. This ill-fated and unprecedented attraction made her feel more vulnerable than she ever had before. This was worse than physical vulnerability; it was emotional suicide. A woman who lived by her wits couldn’t afford to permit emotions to influence her ability to reason.

Desperate to put some distance between them, she ducked under his arm and darted into the room. She stood there, clutching the garments to her chest, as if the uniforms could protect her from these sensations that rippled through her body.

He stared at her for a long moment and she stared back at him. Then, without another word, he closed and locked the door. Karissa half collapsed on the end of the bed and dragged in a shaky breath. The man had an incredibly potent effect on her. She’d tried to alienate him, to irritate him, but she could still feel sparks flying when they were alone.

Flustered and desperate, Karissa snatched up her clean breeches, jacket and shirt. It would be better if she was garbed in men’s clothes on her walk with Rafe. She didn’t want to risk looking like a woman—for fear she would start behaving like a woman and end up doing something totally inappropriate.

Like kiss him. No, better to behave like the tomboy that life had forced her to become, she decided.

Being detained by the army was trouble enough. Yielding to the temptation of kissing a betrothed man, just to see if he tasted as scrumptious as he looked, would be more than trouble. It would be a disaster.

Rafe completed his reports then raked his hand through his hair. Why had he offered to spring Karissa from confinement to take her for a walk? In the dark? Hell!

He dragged in a determined breath. He could do this. He could keep a respectful distance, chitchat for a quarter of an hour then return her to the room. Certainly he had encountered more difficult situations than accompanying a woman for a stroll around the post. And she was just a woman, after all.

Resolutely Rafe stood up and exited his office. He crossed the compound in brisk strides. When he reached his quarters he rapped on the door. It opened immediately. To his surprise, he encountered the scruffy urchin, not the curvaceous beauty he had dined with an hour earlier.

“Going somewhere?” he asked. “Like on a fast getaway?”

She sashayed past him to exit the building. “Nope, just slipped into more comfortable and familiar clothing. And by the way, I’d like to shoot the imbecile who decreed that women should wear hampering dresses. It was, no doubt, the inspiration of a man who wanted quick and easy access to a woman when he wanted to appease his lusty craving…what’s the purpose of that building?” she asked in the same breath.

Rafe glanced in the direction she indicated. “That’s the weapons and ammunition depot. Be careful about shooting off your mouth around it. I wouldn’t want you, or it, to blow sky-high.”

“Point noted, General,” she said. “And what’s the purpose of that building?”

“Temporary storage for the mess hall and infirmary. The stockade fence will be dismantled and the post will be expanded after the Run. We are cramped for space.”

Rafe answered all of her questions—until she asked how many guards were posted in the two guard towers on opposite corners of the enclosed garrison. “Why do you want to know that?” he asked suspiciously.

She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “Simple curiosity.”

He smirked. “There’s nothing simple about you. Without a doubt, you’re the most complicated woman I have ever encountered.”

“Bothers you, doesn’t it?” She halted to stare impishly at him. “Well, if it makes you feel better, General, you’re the most frustrating man I have ever met.”

The angled light cast by a lantern beamed across her enchanting face, compelling Rafe closer. He couldn’t remember wanting to kiss a woman quite as much as he wanted to capture Karissa’s lush, sensuous lips. While it was true that her sassy mouth was twice as big as she was, he was still intrigued by it, compelled to taste her thoroughly.

Karissa forgot to breathe when she noticed the flicker of awareness in his pewter-colored eyes. When he leaned toward her, suffocating her with his nearness—without actually touching her—unfamiliar sensations coiled in the pit of her stomach. He looked as if he was contemplating kissing her, and conflicting emotions roiled inside her. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know how it felt to be wrapped in his sinewy arms and feel his full lips moving upon hers.

She was afraid she might like it too much. Yet, that didn’t stop her traitorous body from gravitating ever closer to him, leaving the narrow space between them to crackle with sensual speculation.

“Rafe—?” Her voice faltered. She wasn’t sure if she was asking him to move closer or back away.

“Karissa—?” Rafe stood there, savoring her unique scent, lost in the fathomless depths of her shimmering green eyes. He was torn between reckless desire and ruthless self-denial, unwillingly drawn to her and helpless in his inability to control the aching need that prowled through him.

Just when he felt himself give in to the overwhelming need to draw her into his arms and taste her, a voice called out, “Ah, there you are, Major.”

Rafe shook himself from the bedeviling trance and stepped back. He would gladly have promoted Lieutenant Johnson on the spot, for his timely interruption. A few more moments and Rafe would have pulled Karissa into his arms, sampled the sweet nectar of those full lips and abandoned the good sense he’d spent years accumulating.

“What’s the problem, Lieutenant?” Rafe asked. His voice sounded as if it had rusted.

“One of our men was suddenly taken ill. The post surgeon wants to speak to you about relieving him of his duties until he’s back on his feet,” Lieutenant Johnson reported.

“Tell Doc Winston I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Rafe took Karissa’s arm and steered her back to officers’ quarters. “I’m sorry to cut your walk short,” he said very formally.

“Just as well. I have a stack of mending to tend. But thank you for the grand tour.”

She didn’t protest when he practically shoveled her into the room then secured the door for the night. Rafe leaned against the wall and inhaled a steadying breath. Willfully he forced all thoughts of Karissa from his mind. It wasn’t easy, but he was the commandant of this post and his duties always came first.

He wondered why he’d had so much trouble remembering that the past two days.

Chapter Four

R afe spent the following day doing exactly the same thing he had done the day before—and the day before that. Tracking down illegal squatters. He and his patrol had been led on a hair-raising chase over hill and dale before capturing four men who resisted arrest and had to be forcefully subdued.

Tired, irritable and hungry, Rafe rode into the fort. The place looked normal, with off-duty soldiers strolling about. But something didn’t feel quite right. Rafe glanced suspiciously toward the officers’ quarters. Karissa damn well better be where she was supposed to be.

He suspected that she had used their tour the previous night to case the area, looking for a niche in the shadows to hide out before making her getaway.

He had anticipated that she would wait until she thought she’d lulled him into a false sense of control and had him thinking she had accepted captivity before she made her escape. But knowing Karissa, his attempt to second-guess her strategy would work against him, not for him. Much as he hated to admit it, she was a mental step ahead of him.

The woman was too smart by half.

Rafe shifted uneasily in the saddle as he passed by the officers’ quarters. The sixth sense that he’d learned to rely on warned him that something was wrong. It left him with an uneasy tension that prompted him to make fast work of tending his horse. In record time he shut Sergeant in his stall and headed straight for his quarters. He needed to see for himself that Karissa was still in custody.

A growl exploded from his lips when he opened the door to find his room in shambles. The sheets and blankets were in a tangled heap. The table had been up-ended; the bookshelf had toppled over, leaving his military manuals strewn about like casualties of war. The glass globe of the lantern lay in shattered pieces on the floor and oil stained the floorboards.

“Damn her!” Rafe said furiously as he stormed outside.

“She’s gone?” Micah hooted. “I presumed—”

Rafe wheeled on his longtime friend. “You never presume when it comes to that woman!” he fumed. “The moment I think we have reached a workable truce she rips my quarters to shreds and escapes.” He swung his arms in agitated gestures. “This is the thanks I get for guarding the land she wants to claim and keeping it free of other squatters.”

“I’ll go after her,” Micah volunteered hurriedly. “I don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind to track her down.”

“Oh, no, you won’t,” Rafe countered as he stalked off. “She is my responsibility and this is another act of rebellion against my position of authority.”

Rafe didn’t add that, although Micah was probably better suited for pursuing Karissa, he was suffering from an absurd feeling of possessiveness and protectiveness. He wanted to be the one to track her down. He wanted to be the one to discover she hadn’t put herself in harm’s way. He wanted to be the one to rake her over live coals for destroying his quarters and thumbing her nose at his orders. And, by damned, he was going to drag her back to the post to serve her time for breaking the laws governing the upcoming Land Run.

“Um…Rafe?” Micah murmured as he followed his friend.

“What?” he growled as he headed back to the stables.

“I know you’re furious,” Micah called after him, “but outright murder doesn’t become you. You are first and always an officer and a gentleman.”

“Maybe so, but right now I would gladly resign my command for five minutes of justified fury! When I get that woman back in custody she is not going to see the light of day for a week!” He broke into a run and sprinted into the stables. “Assume command of this post while I’m gone, Micah!”

Karissa brushed her fingertips over the bruise on her cheek that still throbbed hours after her harrowing encounter with Harlan Billings. He had tried to force himself on her after he had escorted her back to Rafe’s quarters for the evening. Karissa shook off the repulsive thought of how close she had come to being violated. She had made the mistake of dismissively turning her back on Harlan—a mistake she would never make with any man again.

Considering the fact that she had left Rafe’s room in shambles—as a show of defiance that first night—she really didn’t expect him to believe that lecherous toad had assaulted her. She, after all, was an escaped prisoner and Harlan was a soldier under Rafe’s command.

She clutched the torn neckline of her borrowed dress and waited until the wagon in which she’d hidden had reached a thicket of trees. The driver, who was oblivious to the fact that a stowaway was tucked beneath the tarp in the wagon bed, went merrily on his way. Karissa wormed from concealment and hopped off the wagon. Casting a quick glance to make sure the driver hadn’t noticed her, she dashed into the underbrush.

She knew she didn’t have much time before Rafe discovered she was missing. She had heard the driver of the supply wagon call out a greeting when he encountered the returning army patrol. By now, Rafe would have seen the destruction in his room and assumed she had spitefully laid the place to ruin and made her escape.

Karissa predicted that Rafe would tear off to the site where he had originally apprehended her. Therefore, she would be asking for more trouble than she had already encountered if she made a beeline for her property.

“Well, what have we here?” came a voice from the shadows of the trees.

Karissa refused to let herself freeze up in fear. She had endured one near brush with disaster today and that was more than enough. She had to lose herself in the underbrush and wait until she could use the gathering darkness to her advantage. She didn’t have time to retrieve the bag of men’s clothing and supplies she had buried on her claim site. But she felt exposed and vulnerable while wearing a dress, and whoever had sneaked up on her had realized she was a woman.

When she heard two more male voices behind her, panicked desperation spurted through her veins. Karissa grabbed the front of her skirt to keep from tripping and dashed southeast, veering away from the cover of the trees toward more familiar territory. She knew the property she wanted to claim like the back of her hand. If she could elude the men until darkness became her protector she was sure she could find a place to hide for the night.

Terror and outrage threatened to overwhelm her when she heard one of the men breathing down her neck. She let out a bloodcurdling shriek when he clamped hold of her shoulder and jerked her backward. As she stumbled off balance she raised an elbow to bash in her attacker’s nose. He yelped in pain and covered his face, giving Karissa time to wrest free. Unfortunately, the other two men overtook her and she found herself shoved facedown in the grass.

She screeched, she kicked and she clawed, but three to one odds overpowered her. Karissa screamed bloody murder when two of the men rolled her onto her back and pinned her shoulders to the ground.

A bearded face loomed above her. “You nearly broke my nose, bitch,” the man growled as he yanked up her skirts. “And now you’re going to pay for it, thrice over.”

When the man dropped to his knees, Karissa thrust out her leg and caught him squarely in the groin. He howled like a coyote then lambasted her with curses. But Karissa kept kicking at him and straining against the two men who held her shoulders to the ground. She felt her strength waning and knew it was only a matter of time before these lusty scoundrels did their worst. But Karissa refused to surrender, refused to make it easy on her assailants. She had fought her way through life and it was second nature to battle even the most difficult odds.

“Let her go!” Rafe’s booming voice rumbled in the distance and Karissa slumped in relief.

The men sprang away from her and wheeled toward the mounted soldier, who loomed in the twilight like an avenging angel. When one of the men made a grab for his pistol Rafe’s rifle barked viciously. Karissa glanced sideways to see one of her assailants wilt to the ground, clutching his arm.

“I said back off!” Rafe thundered as he took the second man’s measure on the sight of his rifle.

While dismounting, Rafe kept his weapon trained on the two men left standing. He had ridden hell-for-leather, itching to strangle Karissa for spitefully destroying his quarters and escaping from the fort. But his anger was nothing compared to the outrage that overwhelmed him when he’d heard Karissa’s shriek in the distance and had ridden over the hill to see these three men trying to rape her. He considered himself a fair and just man, but committing cold-blooded murder was starting to appeal to him greatly.

“Sit down in the grass, back to back,” he ordered gruffly. Reaching into his saddlebag, he retrieved three lengths of rope. “Karissa, bind them together.”

She rolled unsteadily to all fours then staggered to her feet. When she swayed slightly, he realized she was suffering from the aftereffects of the attack. Nevertheless, she gathered her composure and tied the two uninjured men together while Rafe inspected the third ruffian’s bullet wound.

When he heard the rending of cloth, he glanced up to see that Karissa had torn the hem off her tattered gown to provide a bandage. “I should let him bleed to death after what he tried to do to me,” she said bitterly, “but I’m not quite as heartless as he is.”

Rafe noticed her hand was still shaking as she offered the improvised bandage. He knew how it felt to ride an adrenaline high, knew she was barely holding herself together. Sooner or later traumatic shock from the unnerving incident was going to catch up with her. Aggravated though he was with her, he was still going to be there to catch her when she fell apart.

“I’m bleeding to death!” the injured man railed as he stared at his bloodstained jacket.

“You’ll live,” Rafe diagnosed as he hurriedly bandaged his captive’s wound. “Considering what you tried to do, you’re lucky I didn’t aim for your heart.”

Swiftly he bound the man’s hands then hoisted him to his feet. With Karissa’s assistance, he marched the men toward the nearest tree and tethered them. “I’ll send a patrol out to retrieve you,” he told the men. “Until then, you can sit here and rot.”

To his surprise, Karissa sidled up beside him, clutched his hand and murmured, “Thank you.”

“This wouldn’t have happened if you had stayed put,” he said, and scowled.

She jerked up her head so quickly that the last of her disheveled coiffure came tumbling down her shoulders, catching in the last rays of sunset like dancing flames. When Rafe noticed the discoloration on her cheek and the gaping neckline of her dress, his fist clenched around his rifle. Vicious fury took a bite out of him as he glared at the three men.

“They didn’t leave the marks,” she told him shakily.

His narrowed gaze swung back to her. “Then who did?”

“You don’t want to know and probably couldn’t care less,” she muttered.

Rafe clutched her arm to shepherd her toward his horse. “When someone assaults a woman who is under my protection, I care,” he assured her gruffly. “Even if said woman probably deserved what she got for her reckless daring.”

To Rafe’s disbelief she didn’t snap back at him. She just sort of crumpled beside him and he reflexively reached out to steady her on her feet. He heard her muffled sob and felt her trembling hands clutch at his arm. In the blink of an eye his frustration evaporated and he gathered her compassionately to him.