Four days later, the ranch was a bustle of movement and frenetic activity as the day for the barbecue dawned. A few ranch hands were outside laying down planks for a staging area, and there were several haunches of pork and beef roasting over a spit. Beth helped bake apple pies in the kitchen, grateful for something to do. For a ranch of such immense size, it was frightfully efficient and required little help from her, though she had offered several times.

She paused dicing the apples, as Kathy came into view with Grayson tucked securely in her arm. Laura Kincaid had been fantastic the night they showed up with Kathy in her garish dress. She hadn’t asked any questions, just welcomed the young girl to the Triple K, and Jenny had given her several pieces of clothing. Beth had asked Laura about her uncompromising acceptance of the girl, and Laura had said she knew good stock when she saw it. Grayson had taken to her, and when not in the arms of some family member, which genuinely seemed to be all the time, he spent his time with Kathy.

Joshua rode up, and Beth forgot everything she was doing and strolled over to the windows, pressing against the cool glass. There was a quickening in her heart and a smile on her lips as she stared at him. Grayson saw him and burst into sudden movement trying to reach his father. His legs pumped, and even from where she stood, she could see her baby's excitement to be with his father.

Her heart burned, melted, and she was sure she fell in love with Joshua, just right then. Kathy handed Grayson up to him, and Joshua held him firmly against his chest, and then cantered away.

She turned to see the cook, Mrs. Burrell staring, along with Laura and Jenny. Beth flushed, she hadn’t heard them enter. Pretending she hadn’t been ogling Joshua, she went back to dicing apples, conscious of Laura staring at her from time to time.

"Kathy mentioned this morning that she would be traveling to Boston with you," Laura said mildly. “I was surprised to hear talk of leaving the ranch.”

Beth glanced up. Laura's eyes were serious and intent as they peered at her.

“Yes, I promised Joshua, that Grayson and I would stay at Triple K for a few weeks.” Except now, she wasn’t sure she wanted to leave. Very silly, because nothing had changed about the west. Or the fact that Abraham Hardin might come looking for her.

“And when will you be coming back with my grandson?”

Jenny sent a quick glance at her mother and then went back to kneading the dough for the biscuits and cinnamon bread.

“I could not say,” Beth said. “But Grayson will be visiting his family. My mother lives in Boston, and I have a teaching post waiting for me at a girl’s academy.”

Laura arched an elegant brow. “The girl's school in Bravo could do with a teacher of your refinements. After schooling, many of the girls are heading to the east and north to seek employment in those fine hotels, restaurants, and even at the newspapers. They could benefit from having a lady such as yourself teach them about deportment and high society ways.”

Beth lowered the knife, her heart pounding. This was a confrontation she’d hope to avoid until she was leaving. “Joshua knew I never planned to stay.”

His mother smiled tightly, “And that explains why he is so reserved around you, he is expecting you to leave one day.”

Beth faltered. The last few mornings they had ridden out together, and they had laughed and read together and picnicked with Grayson. They dined nightly with his family, but she had always retired to her chamber alone, and he’d never opened her door, even for a goodnight kiss.

“I cannot explain the reasoning of your son.” Except now there was a terrible ache in her heart. Was it that Joshua was no longer sweet on her? And did she want him to be when she knew in her soul she didn’t want to raise her son on this side of the world?

Laura considered her, seemingly forgetting about the vegetables she had been chopping. She wiped her hands on her apron and fisted a hand on her hips. “I’ve held my patience and my curiosity in check. But how is it that you have a baby for my son, and I do not see any haste to head into town to see the preacher?”

Beth lifted her chin. “The how doesn’t matter.”

“Did he rape you?”

She recoiled, fury burning through her veins. “How dare you suggest something so disgusting about Joshua. Do you have such little faith in the man he is?”

“I know the man my son is,” Laura said coolly, her dark eyes unapologetic. “I just wanted to see if you knew. You watch him with a hunger that says a marriage needs to happen soon.”

Her entire body flushed. Oh God. How obvious had she been in her admiration?

“And the way my son looks at you, I expect him to swing you over his shoulder any day now and disappear with you to that cabin of his, for days before we see either of you again.”

Beth stared at his mother in mute shock. What cabin?

Laura lifted her chin. “Now how did you come to have a child with him?”

“That, Mrs. Kincaid, is not your concern,” Beth said with firm politeness.

A fraught silence settled in the kitchen as Laura tried to stare her down. There was a sheen of emotion in her eyes, Beth did not understand, but she softened. She drew a slow breath. “Joshua asked me to marry him. I’m undecided.”

Incredulity filled Laura’s eyes. “My son is…is…”

“I know, wonderful and sweet, and kind, but the decision is still mine to make,” Beth said quietly.

“I’ve never heard anyone say my son is sweet before,” she said amusement dancing in her eyes. “But I’ll take it. What I do know is that he is honorable and strong, and when he loves he does so with his whole heart."

A shiver of need arrowed through her, and she acknowledged then she wanted his love…and his whole heart. “I was married before, and it is a state I did not enjoy, and one I will not rush into because your son makes me ache. I do not want to be owned, by any man.”

Laura’s eyes widened at that admission, then she nodded, indicating their conversation was over for now. Beth resumed cutting the apples, hating that her hands were trembling.

A light touch at her wrist had her glancing up into Laura’s eyes.

“I suspect you may have had a rough time of it with your first husband and a man like my son…" She took a deep breath. "He is as tough as they come, and he can be quite brutal. I had to accept that about him years ago. But it does not make him less kind, or honorable, nor would he ever deliberately hurt you."

“I—”

“Please let me finish. Some years ago, he came upon a stagecoach robbery in South Kansas. A gang had taken a young lady. My son did not know her, or her family the men left for dead. He was saddle tired from being on a cattle drive for weeks. The law in the town was afraid to ride after the gang, supposing the girl was already dead. That did not stop Joshua from heading out alone and tracking them down, not even when he was warned that the gang held six of the most hardened outlaws anyone had ever seen. He spent days tracking them and that girl. He found her…she had been used ill by those men, and he saved her. And then he killed them. At that time my son was only eighteen, and I saw the man he would become—honourable and kind, but lawless enough to stand against those who would ravage and murder. You would have nothing to fear at his hands. It takes a special kind of woman to marry my sons, and I already figure they only ask special ladies. There is always an aloneness about Joshua I have never been able to touch. It makes him restless, and I've desired for him to find his solace in this world. When I see him with you, I believe he's found it. But then I also see he believes it won’t last. It is because I love my boy why I demand answers to the questions that have been plaguing me.”

Beth stared at Laura for long seconds. “My husband added me to a poker pot to try and recover his monies lost, Joshua won that round.”

Jenny gasped, and Laura jerked as if she had been punched. She stumbled away and sat on a stool in front of the rough stone island in the center of the kitchen. Beth realized then her faith in his honor had been shaken. She glanced around, Jenny had her hand over her mouth, her eyes firing with anger and denial, and even the cook looked at Beth with accusation.

“You mistake me, Mrs. Kincaid, Joshua won, and that is the only reason I am alive, and that was how I received the most beautiful gift of my son.”

Laura looked up, and Beth was sorry to see the sheen of tears in her eyes. Why had she spoken the truth? She made her way over to her and touched her arm lightly. “I wanted him to win, even without a conversation between us, I knew he was the most honorable man at that table. When he came upstairs…” Her throat worked on a swallow. “I did not let him know I only submitted because I feared the retaliation of Benjamin, the man I’d foolishly married, a retaliation I knew would be most fierce and would possibly cost me my life. I had never been…been with a man until Joshua...” She gritted her teeth, mightily annoyed she was blushing. “And I believe Benjamin resented the fact I…I…was with Joshua.”

Beth sat on a stool, unable to staunch the words as they poured from her. She had never discussed that night with anyone, not even Sheridan. “Benjamin was possessive of me, but he was also impotent. I believe his excessive drinking was the cause, but he blamed me, and took his fist to me often in the four months we’d been married. Almost daily,” she whispered, suddenly feeling cold. “That night was my chance to get away, and I had my belongings packed and money hidden away. After Joshua left…Benjamin came upstairs, and he was mean and ugly and raging that I had allowed…you know what. He couldn’t be reasoned with, and he came for me. I saw the crazed jealousy in his eyes, and I knew he would have killed me. When he came for me, I fought back with everything in me because I was desperate to live. He was a large man, and brutish, and I stood no chance. I’ve never understood why your son came back, for we never spoke of that night, but he did, and he saved me. He asked me to wait for him…but I ran. It was faith that brought us back together a few weeks ago.”

Laura gripped her hands. “Thank you for telling me,” she said hoarsely.

Beth nodded and went back to dicing apples. There was less tension in the air, and her shoulders relaxed. Jenny came to stand beside her.

“May I ask where Benjamin is now?”

“Joshua killed him,” Laura said quietly, with a calm acceptance of the type of man her son was.

Jenny spun to face her mother. “How do you know, Ma?”

“Because he told your father that the brother of the man Bethany was married to might come to the Triple K. He met with August on the first night he arrived.”

Jenny scowled, pressing her closed fist against her hips. “And why did no one ever tell me?”

“Because if they come here young lady, you will let your brother and father handle it.” Her voice brooked no argument, and Jenny had no retort she dared make.

Biting back her smile, Beth reached for the next pail of apples, feeling lighter than she had been in a long time.

A few hours later, all the food had been prepared and was artfully displayed on long tables on the full front porch. Beth strolled with Grayson in her hands, humming to the music leaping from the fiddles. Earlier as they had set the stage, Beth had played for a few minutes. She hadn’t played the violin since she’d said ‘I do’ to Benjamin Hardin. How had she not noticed she’d lost one of her passions in life? Pushing aside the dart of uncertainty, she’d clambered to the area they set as the stage, took up a fiddle, rested it on her shoulder, placed the bow on the string, and let the music come alive. There’d been whispered murmurs of appreciation before the Newcombe boys joined in, delighting the small crowd.

Beth played several songs before pausing, shaking her head and laughing when Buck Newcombe dropped to his knees and proposed. August Kincaid had taken her in his arms and danced with her. He had been surprisingly graceful as he spun her in the lively reel, and Beth owned she’d never imagined she could be this happy. A sense of belonging had filled her and a hunger for more. That ache had pushed her to search for Joshua, whom she hadn’t seen since he’d ridden away with his son across the range.

Three large bonfires crackled, the mood was festive, and an astonishing number of neighbors had appeared, some in wagons and others atop some of the most excellent horses she'd ever seen. The barbecue was in full swing, the music from the fiddles danced in the air, and one Eliza Maubry was singing and dancing, and it was clear to all that she was sweet on Joshua. That was a source of an irritant for Beth.

Miss Maubry kept sending him come-hither smiles and even carried him a plate of food. While he had taken it and thanked her, his eyes had only been for Beth, and the sting of jealousy had been soothed. Beth made her way to one of the several benches that had been taken from the barn and strewn around the wide-open land. She sat on a bench a bit away from the crowd, content with watching. Joshua clapped his hand on his father’s shoulder and made his way over. He lowered himself beside her and handed a piece of pecan pie to the baby who reached for it eagerly and stuffed it in his mouth.

His gurgle of delight said how much he liked what he ate, and Beth laughed. Then Grayson looked up at her, smiled toothily and said, “Ma.”

Beth gasped, pleasure and pride bursting into her heart. “Did you hear that?”

“I did,” Joshua said smiling.

Grayson beamed as if he understood he did something delightful, and then he repeated it. She spent several minutes trying to get him to say something else, but he just chortled.

Jenny ran over, looking very pretty in a red Mexican styled dress, her long black hair flowing over her shoulder. “I’ve come to collect Grayson as per father’s orders. He is boasting about his remarkable grandson to everyone, then scolds me when I said all my nephew does is fart, eat, and sleep.”

With a laugh, Beth handed him over, and Jenny walked away with him.

Joshua seemed content to watch her observe the entertainment, except the burn of his stare, flustered her. “You’re staring Joshua Kincaid,” she said without looking at him.

“You’re a mighty beautiful woman.”

She had bathed and donned her finest dress for the barbecue. The last time she had worn it was at a ball back home, an elegant green dress trimmed with white lace and ribbons, but it had held up quite fine during her travels. Her gaze collided with his, and the heat she spied in his depth warned her his patience was at an end. She would be spread beneath him by the end of the barbecue. Beth was having a frightfully challenging time breathing. She lifted her chin to the dancing couples out in the yard. “You don’t dance huh?”

“No,” he said with a frown.

Beth leaned in close and butted her shoulder with his. “I am trying to envision you dancing. I admit the picture isn’t quite coming together. All that brooding intensity and two-stepping don't fit."

He grunted. Then nudged her with his shoulder too. Except she slid right off the bench and tumbled into the grass. The man didn’t know his strength. He was kneeling beside her and helping her to her feet. She’d never seen him move that fast. Beth started to laugh.

"I fail to see the humor here,' he said with narrowed eyes.

“Dance with me Joshua Kincaid, it’s a part of courting you know,” she teased.

“I recall you admitting you’re my woman, the courting bit is over,” he said with an arrogant tilt to his dark head.

She stepped to him, looped her hands around his neck, pressing her body shamelessly to his. “Is that so?”

The possessive stamp in his eyes made his answer.

“Then why haven’t you been kissing me?”

A soft footfall sounded, and a voice intruded. “Why Joshua Kincaid, how unneighbourly of you that you haven’t called on me and my pa as yet. I’ve heard you’ve been back home for a week now.”

Beth stepped away from his incredible warmth as Miss Maubry strolled over. There was a determined gleam in her hazel eyes, and she smiled at Joshua flirtatiously.

He tipped his hat. “I’ll visit your father soon enough. Have you met Bethany Galloway, Eliza?”

Her smile dimmed, and there was a coolness in the gaze that stared at Beth.

“I have, of course, I was charmed." Her voice indicated she was anything but. "Will you walk with me for a spell, Joshua? It has been so long since we chatted. We could ride down to the creek, away from the noise for a bit. Pa has been wanting to talk to you about selling timber to the Topeka & Santa Fe railroads.”

In one of their morning rides, Joshua had explained the operations of the Triple K with evident pride. The Triple K sold coal and timber to the Union Pacific Railroad. Soon, all the territories would be connected by railway. Beth supposed this other railroad was a competitor.

Joshua nodded and shifted his attention to Beth. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I am sure you two have some catching up to do,” she said softly, not liking the strange emotion twisting through her. It felt harsher than jealousy, but the feeling was so unfamiliar she could not put a name to it. An ache crawled up her throat, and she acknowledged then it was because Eliza Maubry seemed like she fitted at his side.

A satisfied smile curved Eliza’s lips and Beth nodded to her politely and turned away, wondering if she had ever fitted anywhere. Her life in Virginia before the war had been idyllic, but there had been a hunger for more, a restlessness her mother had never understood. And that was why Benjamin Hardin had so easily deceived her. He'd offered a life that seemed different from the humdrum one she’d been living. She flushed to see Laura peeking over at them, her gaze bouncing from Eliza to Beth. She had only taken a few steps when a strong arm circled her waist from behind and spun her around.

“This will only be a business meeting, brown eyes,” he said provoking amusement glowing in his eyes.

“I never said anything,” she whispered fiercely, aware that dozens of people were watching them. While he rode with her daily, he had never done anything that showed their relationship was more than friendship. A sweet ache had filled her at the realization he wanted to protect her reputation from unkind scrutiny. But now…there was blatant possession in the way he held her against his body.

His arms closed more securely around her, and he dipped his head and kissed her. It was a light brush of his lips against hers, but every sense of Beth came alive in need.

“You’re my woman, brown eyes and the only one I need or want.”

And everything that had been turbulent inside righted itself.