Chapter Ten

“Eadweard.” Hawk controlled both syllables with faked confidence. Next to him, Cordy drooped upon the hooked rug in a curtsy.

“Oh, no, your honor. Your lordship. Hawk, I mean Mr. Shockley, although I suppose to you he’s Lord Shockley. Anyway, he and I are to wed this very evening. I promise you. Please don’t kill him.”

“What speak you, lady?” Like a portrait, the archway framed the white-haired man who had caused Hawk such turmoil.

“Please don’t kill Hawk.” Cordy’s face upturned, beseeching. “I need him, I want him and more than all of that, I love him. I can’t have it over before it even starts. Please?”

Hawk reached for her, lost focus of Muybridge. His heart spun like a child’s toy, but his manliness soared as their fingers meshed. Should he die today, he’d die a happy man, for Cordy loved him. Although he’d have preferred a wedding and bridal night beforehand. “Cordy, get up,” he whispered, helped her to her feet and held her close for a brief flash.

Her eyes glistened with fear. “Sir, in truth we thought you’d be here tomorrow or we’d have wed already.”

“What on earth makes you think I’m set to kill him?” Eadweard Muybridge’s forehead creased like old newspaper. “I’m quite offended.” His bright eyes shot daggers at Cordy, then stabbed Hawk.

“You yelled just now.” Hawk placed a second protective arm around Cordy. “You might have said hello.”

Cordy shuddered against him. “I promise you, Mr. Muybridge, I’ve not been compromised. Or degraded. But Major Larkins, moldering in a grave. Please, no.”

The white eyebrows wiggled like a furry caterpillar on a hot walkway. “Oh, dear girl, is he kin to you? Accept my condolences, but you are aware I was honorably acquitted.” Muybridge stared at his feet.

“No, we’re not related. God rest his poor soul.” Cordy held Hawk’s hand tighter. Even her fear got desire raging.

“Let’s sit, shall we?” Hawk ushered everyone down and hoped for a change of subject. Cordy snuggled against him on the horsehair settee.

Next to them, Muybridge sank low in a wing chair bolstered in a red-dotted fabric that matched his face. “Adultery is a dreadful sin. And a crime.” His nose rose. “A jury of my peers heartily agreed with me.”

“Yes, of course.” Cordy crossed her ankles demurely beneath her skirts. “But I mean, Davina and her honor. Hawk did offer her an honest proposal. I promise you that. He did not tarnish another woman you love well. The truth is, your lordship, Davina refused to wed him right back. Please, my lord, set my darling Hawk free.”

Hawk’s thigh boiled next to Cordy’s, even through her plaid skirts. Oh, he wanted to toss in how Muybridge was no lord but the time didn’t seem prudent. And Eadweard actually seemed to preen a bit at the honorific.

“Um, Eadweard.” Hawk nodded, firm. “I hold Davina in high regard as a dear friend. I promise you.”

Muybridge ignored him, took a great deal of time crossing his legs and peered, unblinking, at Cordy. “I suggest, my dear young lady, that ‘Hawk’ as you call him, has led you far afield of the truth. Yes, I admit to my ire when I found my Davina in his arms, but yes, she refused to wed him. All on her own. She has assured me time and again, it meant nothing. And I believe her. After all, they were mere children.” He rolled his eyes up toward the shaggy brows. “Notwithstanding, she’s grown up into a frumpy bluestocking without need of a man.”

Cordy sprang once again to Davina’s defense. “Intellectual pursuits are not frumpy, Mr. Muybridge. There is no shame in book-learning for women. We have brains. We have ambitions.”

“Ah, yes, indeed.” Muybridge patted Cordy’s head in dismissal, then turned to Hawk. “All is forgiven and forgotten then. So what is this exhibition all about, Keaton.”

“Please call me Hawk.”

Muybridge shrugged. “Foolishness. But certainly then, Hawk. I’ve already proven all four of a horse’s hooves lift off the ground at the same single moment.” The great photographer exuded the confidence and triumph that had likely seduced his jury.

Jury. Hawk chilled and heated both. Had he offended Eadweard? What was the meaning of the telegram?

Was Hawk yet in danger?

“I do know, Eadweard, and I highly respect your feat,” Hawk assured, meaning it. “And I credit you whenever I sign up a new contestant. But I needed a way to make money, quick. And the men are eager to try.” Briefly, Hawk leaned toward Muybridge and explained the robbery, the exhibition, the many horses requiring exercise, and the brief space of time before spring planting commenced.

Approval gleamed in Muybridge’s sudden smile. “On its face, it is a stellar idea for moneymaking. I understand about your thieved pocketbook. And I completely concur that your father is a cheap oaf who’d not buy you a cane should you go blind. You had no choice but to fend for yourself. But you recall, dear lad?” Smile gone, Muybridge tapped his nose, tapped his foot. “I had an entire racetrack and the most sophisticated equipment. And Mr. Stanford’s unmitigated wealth at my disposal.”

“I had to try.” Doubt once again swamped Hawk’s shoulders, harder this time, in the big man’s presence. The horsehair settee was certainly a miserable piece of furniture. Hawk grunted for several reasons.

Upon Muybridge, Cordy tossed a smile that could dethrone a king. “Sir, we’re building a framework for a screen. Sixty feet long and ten feet high. With selvages.” Hope tinged each of her words.

Muybridge grinned at her with some indulgence, but Hawk noticed with relief, no condescension. Something that might have sparked another affair of honor. “Yes, my dear. The get-up was explained to me in quite some detail upon my arrival. By someone named Gunnar. I suppose you might get appropriate shadows for the silhouettes at the proper time of sunrise. But do remember, I had twelve up-to-the-moment cameras. And eventually my assistants used twenty-four.”

“Last count we had seven.” Cordy’s smile again. “Surely we can rig up a makeshift demonstration. Hawk has planned so carefully, and you’re here now, Mr. Muybridge, with your invaluable expertise.”

“I don’t quite see how something quick and dirty will hold up.” Muybridge shook his head.

“Can’t we at least try? I mean, once I get the screen finished?”

Muybridge peered at her. “It would take a hard-hearted man to refuse you anything, dear girl. However, I believe I heard you are getting married at evening tide. Surely you have something more important to do.” Then his eyes narrowed to unhappy slits, and Hawk tensed. What next? “Ah. I see clearly now. This is a hurry-up wedding. Because if you had a bride, Keaton, I couldn’t force you into a match with Davina.”

Heat brushed over Hawk. “I…” He gulped. “I admit the plan started out as a safety measure, and Cordy with her generous spirit agreed.”

“Poor girl.” Muybridge patted Cordy’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you merely contact Davina?”

“I explained already, Eadweard. My pocket was picked. I had no money for a transatlantic cable.”

“And I’m not poor. Well, other than money.” Cordy tensed her jaw. “I’m perfectly capable.” Her voice slowed like a freezing stream. “And you’re supposed to be here tomorrow, anyway.”

Muybridge grinned. “I was far too eager to see ‘Hawk’ to wait.”

“To torment me,” Hawk tossed in.

Cordy cleared her throat for a long moment. “Hawk, now that, now that you’re safe, Mr. Muybridge is correct. We don’t have to…”

“Indeed you don’t have to, my lad.” The white whiskers parted enough for Hawk to discern an expression he knew well. In reverse this time, however. He turned to Cordy. Hope pinked her glorious face, and his heart flew.

“I know I don’t have to. I want to. I want this woman’s hand in marriage. For all time. She’s quite stolen my heart. But only if.” Hawk softened with love, with dread. “But only if she chooses as well.”

“Of course, I do.” Cordy locked her fingers into his, peered at Muybridge. “I already love him beyond any normal love.”

Muybridge nodded. “Well said. Keaton is a decent sort, I freely admit. No matter what he calls himself. A much finer son than that preposterous father of his deserves. And I shall stand up for him at the altar.”

“We speak as if the other isn’t here,” Hawk chuckled with amusement, but before desire could rocket through silent veins, something else jolted through him. “But Eadweard, if you’re not here to kill me, then why?”

“Kill you? Why on earth would you think such an awful thing?” Both Muybridge’s voice and mustache drooped in hurt.

“Major Larkins,” Cordy tossed in.

“The telegram.” Hawk straightened his shoulders, and Cordy’s hair bounced along with him. “You threatened me.”

“What on earth? Have you lost your mind, dear lad? I did no such thing.”

With his free hand, Hawk scrabbled around in his pocket and produced the rumpled message. “‘Tomorrow Paradise will become permanent for you.’” He glared at Muybridge. “Paradise means heaven, and permanent means a graveyard. I’m no fool.”

Muybridge’s laughter rocked the room. “Oh, balderdash. What an imagination you have! I can see now why this rather silly flying horse idea took root in that brain of yours. And why you even consider throwing off the reins of civilization to wrangle horses. And rustle cows.”

“I’m not a cattle thief, but back to you. What does it mean then?” Hawk demanded. Muybridge better have a wonderful explanation or his humiliation might be lethal. He’d fallen in love with Cordy and convinced her to wed him, and perhaps now she wouldn’t if she found him a fool.

“Let me begin at the beginning.”

“That’s logical,” Cordy snuggled into Hawk again.

Muybridge smiled at her. “I am on a lecture tour. I hope for an exhibition of my zoopraxiscope at the next world’s fair in Chicago. How better to prove my ambition than to have already engaged an enthusiastic American populace?” He chortled again. “I’ve had sold-out audiences thus far. By the by, it was serendipity to come across your poster at the train station in Columbus. I could hardly believe my eyes. Had I not gotten off the train…”

Hawk nodded. Same with him. Had he not gotten off the train in search of a long-gone outlaw, he’d be in Colorado now. And not wedding the woman of his heart at evening tide. Although he stole Cordy a cautious glance.

Muybridge stretched his legs. “You see, children, I am on my way to a demonstration at the college in Boulder, but at this last stop, I had need for a smoke and some fresh air. That’s when I beheld your advertisement. My heart quite stirred upon seeing your name.” He laughed again, this time not as loud. “I immediately had my equipment delivered to the Credit Foncier Hotel and arranged a stopover so I could find you. Not long after wiring you, I realized I didn’t want to wait another day.”

“To what purpose?” Hawk grumbled. “I can’t see that we even parted friends, and you, if I may be so bold, are not noted for your forgiveness. I was but a pup and you were miserable to me.”

Muybridge’s eyebrows disappeared into his frothy hair. “I hope no offense is taken because I wish none. I simply knew you needed help. And with my reputation to assist, you would become permanently famous in this precious burg. Hence the verbiage of my wire.”

Cordy’s nose crinkled. “I still don’t understand. You caused us quite the concern.”

The old cheeks mottled with red. “All right, lad. I couldn’t resist the subtle threat.”

“Why?” Hawk, although pleased he’d been correct, didn’t feel quite out of danger yet.

“I am a lonely old man.” Muybridge shrugged. “Had my Davina wed you seven years ago, I’d be bouncing her little ones on my knee. She’d not be married to her books.”

“Good heavens.” Cordy turned her back. Hawk declined to inform her that Eadweard had disavowed his wife’s son.

Muybridge tossed an unholy grin. “But it was all in jest, my girl. Now I’ll wire the hotel to send my equipment, and we’ll do what we can. I can make no promises about any results, but then again, I am here in person. That fact in itself is quite worth an admission charge.”

Relief flooded the room.

“My thanks, Eadweard.”

The wicked grin widened. “Well, I do suppose I owe you something, and your beautiful bride, for causing you such consternation. I’m certain your contestants will not mind if their admission fees also include a wondrous still portrait of them atop their horses. Gratis.”

“Why, Mr. Muybridge, how generous.” A dash of sun sparked through the curtains and into Cordy’s eyes.

“Indeed so.” Muybridge nodded. “And I assure you, my zoopraxiscope will enthrall everyone. We might project images upon your famed screen. No one will fear being cheated out of their hard-earned entry fees.”

“Well, I know I’m eager to see your zoopraxiscope. Whatever it is.” But instead of eyeing Muybridge, Cordy turned to Hawk, her face shining with what he hoped was love.

Muybridge winked first at her, then Hawk. “Of course you are, because you are a woman of book learning and ambition.” His grin teased. “I shall explain briefly.” He uncrossed his legs and stretched them across the rug as far as he could. “Stop-motion silhouettes of horses have been painted on rotating glass disks. Projected on a screen in quick succession gives a viewer the impression of movement. I promise you, Paradise will be enthralled. And…”

He showed teeth in what could only be described as a lewd smile. “And the ladies might well enjoy my studies of young unclothed university athletes running, jumping, wrestling. Their glorious physiques and the interplay of perfectly shaped masculine muscles.”

“That’s enough, Eadweard.”

As if on cue, one of the town’s ladies Geraldine Hackett surged in the boardinghouse, followed by her stooped but smiling husband, who carried a covered dish. Hawk and Muybridge rose as one.

“Cordy, Delmar and me, we’re here to set up for the potluck. Lisa Pelton’s right behind with the wedding cake.” Geraldine smiled at Muybridge. “Welcome to Paradise. You flying your horse too, sir? Oh, Cordy, don’t you worry about that gaggle of mean geese. I put them all in their place.” She moved to shake Muybridge’s hand. “I reminded them I once shot a man.”

“Really, dear lady? Allow me to introduce myself. Eadweard Muybridge.” He brought Geraldine’s hand to his mouth and gave a courtly bow.

Geraldine preened. “Indeed, I did. Derringer hidden in my décolleté. He deserved it.”

“I understand perfectly. Sit with me at supper and tell me more.”

“Along with Delmar. You’ll enjoy his company. He stood beside me the whole way.”

“As it should be.”

“And as it will be.” Hawk stared into Cordy’s beautiful face. “With us. You’re still marrying me, correct?”

“Just try and stop me.”

Katie Haynes burst through the front door next, one hand dragging Charlie Tuttle, the other carrying a hatbox. She planted a kiss on the young wrangler’s cheek, reminding Hawk of the delicious task soon to come as soon as he and Cordy had a private moment.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Muybridge.” Katie gave the man a brief nod.

“How on earth?” Curiosity raised the pitch of Hawk’s voice a few notes. “Have you met? Oh, no need to explain.” He chuckled. “News spreads like smallpox in a small town.”

Katie grinned. “Not this time. Aunt Mattie remembered a copy of Scientific American in her old teaching supplies. I shared it my class.”

“Wise women.” Muybridge’s eyes twinkled.

Hawk groaned as chitchat roared to a crescendo around them. Why wouldn’t the noisy herd run off? Cordy’s lips begged for a kiss, and his heart swelled at her love and declaration. The time was perfect.

“Cordy.”

The syllables of her name danced like delicious morsels on his tongue. But each person in the room stopped mid-word, ears pricking up like dogs’. Then Katie trotted forward with the hatbox and handed it to Cordy.

“We admired this at the mercantile earlier. It’s your wedding gift from me.” Katie touched Cordy’s cheek. “And you can’t let the bridegroom see it beforehand, you know. It’s bad luck.”

Cordy held the box to her breast like a Biblical mother protecting her child from King Herod. “Oh, Katie, thank you! I love it, and made by your mama even more meaningful. You’ll stand up with me at church? Oh, Hawk, my heart is so light I think it’s soaring.”

“We don’t have any bad luck, Cordy,” Hawk announced to her adoring eyes.

She blushed. “It seems so. I hope Clancy used it all up.”

“And I promise the most agreeable wedding portraits ever photographed.” Muybridge, who still held Geraldine’s hand, saluted with his left. “I can most certainly maneuver your local man’s equipment.”

Geraldine took charge. “Wedding starts soon as dusk hits.” She pointed at each person and yelled orders. “Get that fool screen off the dining table, Eadweard, Delmar. Haul it over to the store. We’ll get it stitched up on my Singer machine after the wedding. Now, Charlie…”

Amazingly, even Eadweard Muybridge obeyed.

Cordy’s gaze met Hawk’s, melted him to his core. “I want to help Miss Geraldine stitch, but I’ve something to tend to first.”

She held out her hand. Love and dreams swirled around them as Hawk led her into the kitchen. “It’s not the most romantic place, but I can’t wait another second. Kiss me, Hawk,” she ordered with a smile that weakened his knees. “But only if you mean it.”

“Oh, I mean it. Now and always. You fill me with your strength and determination, as well as love. And desire.” His fingers trembled around her face as he bent to her.

“That’s all I need to know,” she murmured.

“I hope you need to know how I love you,” Hawk muttered into her lips. “I shouldn’t have waited to tell you. Just like I shouldn’t have waited to kiss you. I wanted it perfect.”

Their mouths met, hot and fragrant, and his veins all but exploded. Her lips opened gently beneath his like a flower slowly blooming, and the sweetness of her melded into him. It was…

“It was perfect. A kiss like no other.” She breathed against his chest when he pulled her close. So close he felt the beating of her heart. “It’s like it could have been my first.”

“It is our first.” He held her face and gazed down at her, cheeks flushed and lips moist from his. “You and me. No one else matters from this moment on.”

“I know, Hawk. Our whole lives through. Until death parts us.” She smiled over the word, now that there was no threat.

“Our whole lives through.” Despite the kiss, doubt flickered. He couldn’t bear to have his heart shattered. “Are you sure about this, Cordy? Now that it’s about to happen, I mean.” He trailed his fingers across her warm cheek.

“I’m certain, Hawk.” She laid her hand over his. “I’m certain I’m in love with you, and I’m certain of what I’m doing.”

“But Colorado?”

The old floor creaked beneath their feet as she rose on tiptoes to kiss him again.

“I know I have the strength to start again somewhere else. I’ve shown it. With the mountains holding us close. Or anywhere. As long as you’re by my side.”

Hawk drank in the love pouring from her. Her two years in Paradise had proven how well she undertook change and challenge, so he knew she could find success and love as a ranch wife. His wife. But would she miss Paradise when she left? Katie? The motherly old mercantiler? Chaps like Charlie Tuttle and Gunnar Schlaap?

For that matter, would he?

The prairie had wide-enough skies, and Paradise had welcomed him from the start. And in the same short time, he had met authentic friends.

Hope, peace, goodness swirled through him. “Oh, Cordy, I never imagined finding love here. Finding my future. Finding friends. Um, I wonder, you know. When you say anywhere, Paradise is a fine town. I can convince my father.”

She cupped his face with fingers hot it tender. “No. We need the fresh start we both were finding before we met.” Into his shoulder, she murmured, “Heavens, was that just yesterday?”

Her burst of laughter was real, pure, and he shared it. “I feel like I’ve known you forever.” She looked up, shy. “I think I have. In my dreams.”

“Cordy, love, do you believe in love at first sight?” His heart fluttered with wings all its own.

She sighed, long, deep. “I was raised against it. But Hawk, I truly believe in it now.”

Once more, he drew her close and tasted bliss.

Then she gripped his shoulders, face flushed a glorious pink. “The inn is full. Where will Mr. Muybridge sleep tonight? He’s a gentleman of class and distinction. I draw the line at Skinny Hank’s sleazy rooms over the saloon.”

“That’s an easy problem to solve.” Hawk whispered into her hair. “He can have your room. Because you will be in mine.”