Unusually Georgie kept her word to Martin as she took the reins from him to let him rest for a while as they had travelled back to Ruby Springs, but today she was to be allowed to race Allegro and Scherzo as fast as she pleased. She took off her gloves and felt how responsive to the slightest touch the two mares were, and carefully eyed the road ahead of them. Martin sat in the back, a huge grin on his face. “What are you waiting for?” he asked her, goading her into flicking the reins and setting the horses to motion. Keeping her hands light, she cracked the long whip over their head, and felt the speed increase steadily as they lengthened their strides in perfect harmony. It was a completely different experience to racing the old landau. The phaeton was so much lighter, and they almost danced along the road as they reached a full gallop.
Georgie had never been able to describe the way driving a pair of horse made her feel, and this was no exception. She could feel the wind biting at her face, the force of the air pressing against her body as they sped along at a pace she could never have imagined. “Wooohoo!” Martin called out from the back seat, and she turned momentarily to see him swirling his Stetson around his head, almost up on his feet in excitement. Swiftly she turned back to the road. It would not do to lose her concentration. She had seen carriages overturn, and the injuries that could ensue did not bear thinking about.
As they reached the end of the road, it petered off into a dirt track. She pulled the horses up and they came to a graceful halt. “You truly do drive better than anyone I have ever known,” Martin marveled. She grinned, pleased he thought so. She had enjoyed the past few days more than any in her life. Martin was good company, and he encouraged her to be whatever she wanted. He had been delighted to show her the ledgers at the bank and had even had her serving the customers. She had loved it, and it felt good to work alongside the man she was coming to respect most deeply.
“So, where do we go from here?” she asked lightly, wondering if Martin had a secret plan. He frowned at her, as if she had said something wrong. She blanched. But his expression quickly changed, and he was smiling once more. She wondered what had troubled him, but decided that it might be better to let him tell her when he was ready.
“We go up the mountain,” he said looking at the hill in front of them.
“But the carriage will never get up there,” she said looking at the narrow and rocky path.
“No it will not. The girls get to stay here and have a rest after your working them so hard. I have a basket full of goodies from Ellen, and we shall enjoy a picnic up at the springs before we go home.”
“Then we should get climbing,” she said gamely. He seemed to like the fact that she was not missish. She was grateful because she could not bear to spend a lifetime trying to prove she was something she despised. Georgie could feel his eyes on her as she climbed up the steep path, and knew he was admiring her fortitude, rather than seeing it as something she should strive to banish.
As they reached the top there was a small outcrop of wiry trees. She perched on the bare roots of one to wait for him to reach her, catching her breath. She wiped her brow with a lace handkerchief, and wondered if it was always so very hot here. She knew she would adapt to it, but as she sat there, she thought of the stifling heat that she had sometimes known in Providence, and knew that she would never have been able to undertake such an arduous climb there. It was definitely hotter here, but somehow the heat was different here. She was warm, but she did not feel drained of all life because of it – quite the reverse in fact.
Marty was as agile as a mountain goat and she enjoyed watching his lithe frame as he joined her on the bluff.” It is beautiful isn’t it?” he asked her, brushing a stray tendril of hair back from her face tenderly. She shivered with pleasure as his fingers brushed her cheek.
“Yes, it is,” she admitted, but she only had eyes for him. The view was simply something behind him. He filled her world. She had never believed that she would ever find a man so kind, so sweet, so clever and so very handsome – who would ever want her. She could hardly believe it now. Every day she waited for him to tell her that in truth he did not like her after all, but every day it seemed that he liked her more and more. She had never been a lucky person, but she had begun to wonder if fate had been storing up all her luck for this, for him.
“Come along,” he said taking her hand and helping her up. “Just a short way now, and you will see the springs. It is worth the last leg of the journey I promise you.” He led her around the bluff and through a narrow gap in the iron rich red rocks. She had to watch her footing carefully as she followed him. He led her down, and around the rocks to where a small waterfall foamed and splashed into an idyllic pool that had such a deep hue of red she could understand entirely why it had been named Ruby Springs. The red-tinged water, through worn pebbles and rocky plateaus then trickled down the mountain in a bubbling stream. He set the picnic basket down, and sat on one of the boulders beside the pool, and began to take off his boots and socks. He rolled up his trousers. “You should at least paddle,” he said. “The water is surprisingly warm.”
She sat down beside him and unfastened the buttons on her boots and laid them to one side. She took off her stockings. Then she stood and removed her bodice. He gasped and turned to shield his eyes. She laughed. “If it is warm then we should swim, not just paddle,” she said batting him playfully on his shoulders. He turned back to her, his face blazing with an emotion she could not quite read. But he hastily began to remove his jacket and shirt, his breeches and his hat. She wriggled out of her skirts, and stood in just her undergarments beside him. He took her hand, and they waded into the pool together.
She gasped as the warmth began to ease its way up her legs. The pool was a thermal spring. She splashed at Martin. “You sneak,” she said. “I thought you meant it would be warm for a mountain pool. You never said it would be like having a piping hot bath!” He splashed her back and then threw himself into the water completely.
“Come on in, it is fine,” he said with a grin. She moved as gracefully as she could into the water and then took a couple of strokes towards him. He clasped her in his arms and instinctively she wrapped her arms about his neck and her legs around his waist. It felt so perfectly right, and she gazed into his deep blue eyes, losing herself utterly in the sensation of being so very close to him. It was in that very moment that she knew that she loved him utterly. He had done everything possible to make her feel at home here in Texas. He seemed to like her just as she was. He had not once chastised her or asked her to be something she could not and now with his strong arms around her she felt safe and loved for the very first time in her life.
“Georgie,” he said tentatively before he claimed her lips in a kiss that made her forget everything she had ever known. His lips were soft, and the sensation of them against hers was quite exquisite. She parted her own lips and gasped when he flicked his tongue inside. She wasn’t sure if she liked it, but then he did it again and she knew she was lost as the kiss deepened and she began to respond with timid tongue flickerings of her own. He groaned and pulled her closer, and she could feel the long hard length of his body against her, so warm and yielding and yet so strong. “Georgie, he murmured again and she sighed as she buried her head in his shoulder as he kissed down her neck.
“You will have to marry me now,” she teased him. “Maybe we should visit with Reverend Meakins on our way back to town.” Abruptly he pushed her away. She looked at him, bewildered. “Martin? What did I say? Was I too forward? I am so very sorry,” she said trying hard to keep herself from crying. She could not bear it if he did not want her. But she was so sure he did, or at least his body did. He had been the one to instigate that kiss, not her. She waded out of the pool, almost stumbling a number of times as she tried to get back onto dry land as she could barely see where she was going through the hazy mist of tears she was still fighting so valiantly not to let pour down her cheeks.
“Georgie, stop. Wait, please,” Martin said behind her. She could hear him following, making just as much noise as he splashed and stumbled across the pool as she had. Now on dry land, she fumbled with her clothes, finding it almost impossible to put on her skirt and bodice over the wet underthings. But valiantly she strove to do so. She needed to recover some dignity. She felt Martins’ strong hands on her shoulders. He spun her round to face him as she tried to tie the laces of her skirt. “Georgie please, listen to me. I should have told you this before you ever came here. I should never have put us both in this position. But I was selfish, and I wanted to meet you so very much.”
She looked at him, wondering where the man she had spent the past few days with had gone to. In front of her stood a man who was afraid of her. He looked somehow smaller, and so very ashamed. She wondered what on earth he could have done, what he could possibly have to say to her that would make him so utterly fearful. “Martin Shaw, whatever it is you think you should have said, I suggest you tell me it right now,” she said trying her best to remain calm. He looked so utterly dejected, so pathetic almost as he stood there shivering in nothing but his undergarments. She thrust his shirt and breeches at him and turned her back. “Get dressed. I shall set out the picnic and you can tell me whatever it is you need to say.”
She moved away from him and began by laying out the brightly colored woven rug that Ellen had included in the basket. She began laying out the packages of bread and ham, the jars of pickles and the bottle of homemade root beer and two small, but thick glass tumblers. She was just pouring the refreshing beverage when Martin joined her once more. She pushed her wet hair back from her face and offered him a glass. He took it, his face still looking sheepish. “Georgie, I am so very sorry,” he said again.
“Please stop apologizing and tell me what it is you are sorry for,” she said feeling utterly frustrated. He looked at her, pleading with her to understand. She couldn’t help but feel nervous, her stomach tying itself in knots as she waited for him to tell her his secret.