He would kiss her cheek, she thought. Would those watching notice?

He 'd taken her as his wife.

She closed her eyes, anticipating the graze on her cheek. When his lips touched hers and she felt the unanticipated warmth and pressure, as well as the slight tickle of beard and mustache, her eyes flew open in surprise.

He ended the kiss and straightened.

The witnesses applauded.

Kate's lips tingled. A smile started in her toes and spread through her body to her lips. Impulsively she captured Noah's hand and squeezed his fingers. He allowed her touch for a moment before withdrawing his hand.

Luke was the first to move forward and congratulate them.

Annie and Charmaine gave her hugs and Marjorie wished them both well. The hands ducked forward to greet them, then stood back awkwardly, as though they'd just as soon leave.

"Take seats wherever you like and we'll bring you cake and punch," Annie announced.

Noah took a chair at the end of the room, so Kate sat beside him. Mrs. Davidson was a cheerful plump woman with a dimpled smile. She chattered as she ate two slices of cake.

The few guests had brought gifts and Charmaine placed them in a stack in front of the newly weds. "Open them."

Noah didn't budge, but gave her a nearly imperceptible nod. Nervous at being the center of attention, but excited, Kate scooted to the edge of her chair. She and Levi hadn't had a real wedding, and no one had given them a gift. Kate had never received so many gifts in her entire lifetime.

The preacher's wife had crocheted a set of four dainty white doilies. The hands had gone together and bought them a Seth Thomas clock to set on the mantel. Kate glanced at their faces with appreciation. Annie had sewn Noah a crisp white shirt and Kate a set of aprons. Charmaine gave them a china pitcher and bowl with roses painted on the sides. Marjorie and Tipper had bought a lamp?two glass bowls with floral decoration and a brass burner.

"You're all so kind," Kate said with heartfelt thanks. Somehow the gifts made the ceremony and their union seem more real than saying the words had. All of these people had witnessed and were acknowledging their marriage. "It was enough just to have you here. The gifts are...well, I don't know what to say."

"Thank you." It was the most Noah had said the whole time.

Marjorie and Annie washed the dishes. More good wishes went around, and eventually everyone said their goodbyes and left. Noah helped with horses and rigs and then stood on the porch watching the last visitor leave.

His emotions were in a turmoil. He'd wanted Kate to marry him so badly he could taste the need. He'd been so desperate to keep her here and to keep Levi's child with him that he'd been afraid the entire time that something would happen to stop their union.

She hadn't changed her mind. She'd seemed as sure as he, and that amazed him. But then he remembered his ploy on her need for security, the reason she'd come home with him in the first place. She needed a home and a place to raise her child. He was providing that. They'd discussed their arrangement and had agreed that this was for the best.

He ignored a tiny weed of guilt that now tried to grow and choke his satisfaction. He hadn't asked her to do anything wrong. He hadn't asked her to give up anything, and he didn't intend to make any demands on her. Having her here and having the baby in his home would be enough. He wanted to make her life easier, to provide for her and for his nephew.

Noah hung his suit coat on the porch rail and went out to the barn to overlook the stock. Jump and Harper were checking water pails and putting up two mares that were ready to foal. "We got this," Harper said to him. "You get on in to your new wife."

Noah surveyed the barn. Stepping outside, he studied the dark pasture and corrals. He glanced at the house and finally returned to gather his coat and enter.

Kate had filled the new lamp with oil and had it in the center of the table. She still wore the billowy veil with rows of tiny pearls. She was as beautiful as he'd ever seen her and her beauty had always awed him.

She looked like a bride and her exquisite innocent charm made his chest hurt.

She glanced up. Her smile touched him in places he shouldn't be thinking about. "Have you ever seen anything equal?"

He shook his head slowly.

"I was wondering where we should put it. The parlor, I suppose."

"Wherever you like."

She carried the lamp to the other room, so he followed. She set it on a table and turned down the other lamp, so that the new one was the only one glowing.

"Something is bothering me," she said without facing him.

"What?"

"We didn't discuss... well. I decorated a room just to suit me, but that was before.. well, before we

decided to get married. It's not particularly frilly, but 1 don't know that it suits you."

"Doesn't have to suit me."

"I don't..." Her voice trailed away.

She was never at a loss for words, so he stared at her in puzzlement. "What?"

"Which room will we be sharing?"

Chapter Seven.

Noah's blood rushed to his ears. His head felt light and the dark sense of shame that always pressed down on him closed in hard. What was she asking? What was she thinking? Did she think he expected her to share his bed? They hadn't discussed it because he hadn't thought it would be an issue.

"Nothing is going to change," he assured her quickly, his tone too harsh in its insistence. "You'll stay in your room and I'll stay in mine. As we've done. As we'll continue to do."

"Oh." She looked from him to the lamp, then surveyed the assortment of gifts still on the floor. He could see she was confused.

"We're going to live here together," he explained. "That's all."

"But we're going to be husband and wife."

"We are husband and wife."

She raised her chin and studied him. "Yes. But I was thinking... I guess I just assumed..."

She obviously didn't have words to explain her assumption and her cheeks turned scarlet with embarrassment. He disliked that she was uncomfortable?but he despised that she had felt obligated.

All he wanted now was to set her mind at ease and to smooth the tension between them. "It's not an issue, Katherine. Don't concern yourself."

He looked at her hand, at the pair of rings she wore. Levi had been the man she'd chosen for her husband. He'd placed his ring on her finger first. Noah's was merely a symbol of their agreement. It sealed her place here. But he didn't need to see the rings to be reminded that he wasn't her real husband.

He went to the kitchen and returned with a pail of water. "Ready?"

She extinguished the new light and, skirts rustling, climbed the stairs ahead of him. He carried the pail to her room. While she lit the lamp, he poured half the water into her pitcher. "Good night, Katherine." She followed him to the door and closed it behind him. He stared at the wood a moment before turning and heading for his room.

Kate listened to his footsteps fade away.

She didn't know why she should feel this stabbing disappointment. Theirs wasn't a union born of passion.

She should have known he intended to keep things the way they'd been, but she hadn't had much time to think about it.

When she had paused to reflect, she'd assumed they would share a room and a bed and the intimacies of husband and wife. The thought hadn't caused her alarm. Sex had been a main element during her brief marriage with Levi. He'd placed emphasis on the act, told her how important it was, and she'd learned to appreciate it.

Her enthusiasm dissipated like mist on a sunny day. This ache in her chest was the same she'd known back when she'd suspected that Levi never intended to return. It felt the same as when she'd realized he considered her of such little value. Disappointment. Rejection.

She pulled back the lace curtains and gazed down at the dark yard and stables. The tree outside her window had been pruned of all dead and singed limbs and now bore a hollow place through which she could see the stars. Seeing them reminded her of the trip to Copper Creek after Noah had come for her. She'd promised to work, promised that she'd be useful. All her offers since she'd been here had been turned aside. Marjorie did the laundry and cleaning, Fergie did the cooking. Kate had done her own laundry and the last couple of weeks she'd been somewhat occupied with getting the bedrooms ready. What could she do to show Noah she was valuable? She remembered Annie's story and how she hadn't been allowed to participate or to do things, either. Kate imagined she was feeling much the same way Annie had. Kate wasn't one to feel sorry for herself. She was determined to shrug out of this and make herself useful. There were still a little over two months remaining until the baby came, until she found herself busy with an infant. She felt perfectly fine and there was no reason why she couldn't make a place for herself. With a hollow ache in her chest, she removed the beautiful veil and hung it on the corner of her mirror, then tediously unfastened all the buttons of the prettiest dress she'd ever owned. Doubts rose up to torment her.

Somehow she had to prove herself worthy of being Noah's wife. The following morning when she got downstairs, Noah had already left for the day. She found something to eat, then traveled to the meal house next door. It was a small house actually, painted and trimmed to match the big house, but was made up of an enormous kitchen and a dining hall only. She'd learned that Fergie lived in two rooms upstairs.

She found him dumping a bag of flour into a huge galvanized tub. "Morning," she greeted him. "It's a beautiful day today." "Mornin', ma'am." Fergie was only a few inches taller than Kate. The thick mustache on his upper lip contrasted with the thin ring of hair around his balding scalp.

"What are you making?"

"Dough for bread."

"May I help you? I haven't any experience, but I want to learn."

"Lady of the house won't have much call for bakin' this many loaves of bread," he told her.

The familiar feeling of awkwardness came over her. Immediately she regretted coming out.

"Couldn't hurt if you learned how to make three or four, though," he added.

She beamed with pleasure. "Do you mean it? You'll teach me? Oh, thank you! I won't get in your way, I

swear." Fergie pulled over a stool so he could reach the top of a pine cupboard, where he shuffled through crates and jars and papers until he found what he was looking for. "Always a good idea to start with a recipe when you don't know what you're doin'," he said, carrying the book to the waist-high table where he worked. "This here book has been to Texas an' back and I've figured out how to do a lot of things by readin' it and changin' ingredients and amounts to get me by." He flipped pages, found the one he wanted, then squinted up at her. "You kin read, cain't ya?"

She nodded. "Pretty well. I didn't get too far in school, but I got far enough to read and write and figure. I had a terribly mean teacher. His name was Mr. Himebaugh, and he used to whack us over the knuckles with his ruler if we misspelled a word or got our numbers wrong. Never made much sense to me, because after that, a person could barely write on their slate at all, what with their fingers all stiff and bruised."

Fergie made a tsking sound. "Sounds like a wicked fella. Also sounds like you know firsthand?"

She looked at the page he showed her and grimaced. "I'm afraid so."

"You follow the recipe there an' I'll watch ya while I do this."

She read the recipe, assembled the ingredients and heeded directions.

"Now knead it like I been a doin' here. Punch and roll and fold over."

Finally her dough resembled his and she punched and rolled vigorously. "Now I let it rise?"

"Yup. Cover it with a wet cloth and set the loaves over there where it's warm. You're pretty strong there, for such a fragile-lookin' thing." "I worked at the laundry my whole life. Hauling water and scrubbing and wringing clothes takes a strong back and good arms and hands."

"I can see it does."

"Have you worked here on the Rockin' C for a long time?"

"Worked for Noah's pappy, I did."

"So you knew Levi."

"Yes'm. Always landin' hisself in a fix, that boy. He never stayed put longer'n a raindrop in a hot skillet. Got in so much trouble at school that his pappy gave a side o' beef to the schoolteacher ever' year, just to pacify 'im. Scrapped at the saloon, too, Levi did. Black eyes'n bruises on that handsome face ever' Sunday mornin'. But he wasn't bad, that boy. Woulda gave you his last coin. Always laughin', always charmin', with a silver tongue that could talk you into anything."

"Yes, he was charming." Kate studied Fergie's precisely shaped loaves and found it easy to imagine Levi as an energetic young boy. His silver tongue had certainly talked her into a lot. She absently rubbed her belly.

"Only times I ever seen Noah laugh was when Levi was around. The lad would disappear for months at a time and be welcomed back at each return. This last time was the longest. I reckon we all feared somethin' was wrong."

Kate was trying to picture Noah laughing.

"'On the other hand, Noah ain't been off this ranch more'n half a dozen times in as many years."

Her smile was sad. "Quite opposite, weren't they?"

"Yes'm. Levi so outspoken and engagin". Noah all quiet and shut inside himself.

"Noah has his reasons."

"Yes'm."

By the time her loaves had risen, Fergie placed them in the ovens alongside his. Hers baked as golden

and perfect as his, and she grinned from ear to ear when she saw them. "I can do this myself next time."

He wrapped her loaves and handed them to her.

She had just reached the back door when the sound of someone rapping at the front reached her. Since