Free Sunset Embrace by Sandra Brown Page A

trouble and had a baby. Lots do. I bet you and Mrs. Coleman had a few tussles in the hay in that horse stable of her pas before you was married."
    Ross's lips thinned. "Victoria wasn't like that," he said tautly.
    Ma only laughed both at what he had said and at the lofty way he had said it. "Every woman's that way with the right man. And if your woman wasn't, she should have been."
    "I won't listen—"
    "I'm not here to speak unkindly of the dead," Ma said, softening considerably. He did look like a man going through misery and she thought she knew why. Zeke agreed with her. They had talked about it last night when they had treated themselves to sleeping in the wagon with all the children outside. "I'm just here to remind you that that young woman, whoever or whatever she is, saved your babys life. She tried real hard tonight to pay you back for takin' her in. She wanted to have a good dinner waitin' for you." That wasn't quite the truth. The project had been Ma's idea, not Lydias, but Ma wasn't beyond stretching the truth when she needed to. "And all you did was act as uppity and condemnin' as that dried-up Watkins woman."
    She shifted her shoulders righteously. "Seems to me you ain't got no choice but to keep the girl happy to be around you. She might just hightail it away from here and leave your son to fere for hisself. If I was you, I'd make amends for my behavior tonight, Mr. Coleman.'" Huffily she turned and stalked away.
    Boss hunched down by the fire and finished the coffee in the pot. One by one the flames of the scattered campfires were allowed to burn down to smoldering embers. Cranky children were put to bed either in the wagons or in bedrolls under them. Members of the train visiting in groups eventually drifted to their own wagons. Ross was spoken to, but he answered in desultory tones. He didn't invite conversation and, because of the recent death of his wife, people honored his need to brood alone.
    The evening was still. Only a faint breeze stirred the leaves of the cottonwood, elm, oak, and sycamore that surrounded the clearing where their hired guide, Scout (which was the only name the young man went by), had suggested to Mr. Grayson that they camp for the night.
    There was something to what Ma Langston had said and Boss Coleman well knew it. He just didn't want to admit it. It galled him to be harboring someone who reminded him every time he looked at her of what he had come from.
    He had been running from his tainted past all his life. Victoria had made him forget it temporarily. Now this girl with the wild hair and defiant eyes and voluptuous body was making him remember things he wanted so badly to forget.
    Still, what would he do with Lee if not for her? The baby scared the hell out of him, he was so small. He knew nothing about babies. All he knew was what it was like not to have a mother's love. He had grown up thinking that being neglected was a part of life. Could he deny his son a woman's care? Any woman's? And the girl did love Lee. Ross knew that.
    He spat out a word he hadn't had the luxury of uttering since he met Victoria. It felt so good to say it that he repeated it. Absently he banked the fire so only a light fanning and dry kindling would get it going again in the morning. When he had run out of chores, he looked toward the wagon. The lantern inside was still lit, but turned down low. He walked to the tailgate, swallowing hard and rubbing his perspiring palms up and down his thighs.
    * * *
    Lydia crooned softly to Lee as he nursed. He must have been deprived of nourishment in the womb because he certainly hadn't gotten his fill since he was born. He sucked noisily, thumping her breast with his tiny fist and occasionally thrashing his legs happily.
    Lydia took a spiteful pride that she was able to feed him when apparently the woman with the creamy skin and corn-silky hair hadn't been able to satisfy him. Victoria Coleman had impressed everyone as being an ideal woman. Every time she heard