“What are you waiting for?” he asked.
She lowered the gun, pointing it at the ground, and turned about in his arms. He’d already straightened, so she had to glance up to meet his eyes. She was going to make it clear that he was far too distracting for this to work and suggest that his friend teach her instead. The words didn’t happen.
The kiss began softly. As she’d guessed, his mustache tickled her upper lip, and she couldn’t help the giggle that started, but it was cut off almost instantly when his hand at the back of her neck pressed her closer to him and his lips spread hers apart, or her gasp did; in either case, the kiss was now deep and amazing and so very stirring, with so many wonderful sensations showing up all at once. There was a fluttering in her belly, her pulse racing, a tingling up her back, and a shocking urge to put her arms around him when his tongue slid next to hers.
She moaned in delight. Unfortunately, he didn’t recognize it as a sound of pleasure and stepped back. And for once, she could tell that he was frowning. But for once, she didn’t want him to.
“That was—” she began.
He cut in, “Necessary to clear your head. You were getting distracted. Now, concentrate and keep practicing. I’ll check on your progress in a few hours.” He walked away, but tossed back, “And no cheating by getting closer to the sign.”
She would have admitted the kiss was nice, but maybe it was better that she didn’t let him know that she’d liked it quite so much. That might bring him back for more when she supposed they ought not to be doing that, considering they didn’t even like each other. But without the insult preceding it this time, she couldn’t deny being kissed by the bear had been thrilling.
Feeling a bit full of herself because of it, she raised the weapon she was still holding, supported her arm, and fired off several shots. She stared incredulously at the sign she’d just damaged, then yelled to Morgan before he disappeared inside his mine, “I’ve mastered this!”
“The hell you have.”
“Three shots, three holes in the sign. It would appear shooting is my forte.”
He snorted and continued on, yelling back, “Return before dinner or you go without.”
She wasn’t displeased with his sour reaction. She smiled, guessing that his anger wasn’t directed at her. He was mad at himself because he’d wanted to kiss her, and he had.
Chapter Twenty-One
VIOLET RETURNED TO THE camp at precisely five o’clock. She’d dug her pocket watch out of her valise before she left to make sure she would return long before the sun set. But spending most of the day walking over uneven terrain had left her tired and thinking about taking a short nap before dinner.
She forgot about the nap when she found Morgan in the yard pouring large rocks from a wheelbarrow into some kind of device. He turned a handle to raise a large square of metal covered in netting, then let it drop into the container below. When she saw him pouring small stones from the container into crates, which were stacked nearby, she realized the device was a rock crusher.
“You’re saving rocks?” she asked as she approached.
“That’s silver ore,” he corrected. “I’m getting it ready for smelting.”
Since he nodded toward the big brick dome, she guessed, “So that’s what you call a smelter?”
“I light it about every four days, and only at night, since it makes a lot of smoke, which could be seen from far off during the day. The wind usually comes up the gully or over the lower slope and blows the smoke away from the cabin. Stinks like hell and can even make you sick if you inhale too much of it, so I don’t smelt unless there’s a good breeze.”
“You built that?”
He nodded. “It’s just made of clay bricks. Couldn’t very well get a ready-made metal one up this hill, those things are huge. So are rock crushers, so I made one of those, too, just had to order a block of steel and the nets to hold it. You’ll need to go into the cabin when I do the burn, just in case the smoke drifts into the yard.”
“It seems like a lot of extra work. Wouldn’t it be simpler to sell the ore as it is?”
“Simpler, but not as convenient. I did that the first few months I was here, which is why I bought so many mules to carry it to town. It’s easier to transport silver bricks than bulky raw ore.”
“Do you make more money if you smelt it first?”
“A lot more. It’s still not pure silver, but it averages eighty percent, which is considered high, and if the silversmiths back east want sterling, then they can process it further. That requires a lot more chemicals than I have here and huge machines that generate more heat than a small smelter like mine.” He finally glanced around at her. “I didn’t hear any shots while you were gone. No animals today?”
“Only small ones, but Bo chased them off before I got near them.”
“I don’t like you going off like that.”
His protective instincts were rearing again? She felt like smiling. Maybe Aunt Elizabeth’s pointers were working. She wanted to hear him say that he’d been worried about her, so she asked, “Why?”
“If something happens to you, then I have to waste time looking for your body.” And then he stared at the ribbon around her hips. “That’s a cute gun belt you’ve got there.”
Her cheeks lit up angrily on both counts—she knew he’d say something snide about her ribbon, but that remark about wasting time was the last straw. She marched off to the cabin, but she was too agitated—and dirty—to take a nap, and a few minutes later she came out with the bar of brown soap and her last set of clean clothes. Crossing the yard to the gate, she yelled, “I have the gun, so I do not need your escort for this bath!”
All he did was yell back, “You’re bathing again already? You just did that yesterday.”
She growled under her breath. Had she really thought he might worry about her, the thorn in his side? Of course he wouldn’t. If anything, he’d probably hoped she’d get lost and not return.
She was laughing at herself by the time she left the little pool. Nothing like a cold dunking to put things in perspective. She didn’t need the man to like her; she just needed him to admit that the partnership he’d made with Charles should and would continue with the Mitchell heirs. The reasons he’d partnered with Charles were still valid and hadn’t been satisfied yet.
Good grief, for that very short time after he’d finally accepted that she was Violet Mitchell, they’d laughed and gotten along fine. She wanted that back. Then she could broach a plan to save her family’s home immediately. She needed Morgan to pay off the loan so she and her brothers could repay him instead of the bank. It would require coaxing the bear into being generous again. How hard could that be? Hadn’t he admitted he had a heart of gold? But she couldn’t ask him until he was in a more agreeable state of mind, and he wouldn’t get there if she kept arguing with him. What was wrong with her to keep deviating from Aunt Elizabeth’s advice?
Returning to the cabin, she unhooked the improvised screen so she could sit on the bed to redo her braid without the blanket getting in her way. She was longing to sleep in a nightgown tonight. Should she dare to do so with Morgan in the cabin? Or was he going to smelt tonight after dark? He hadn’t exactly said.
It was the first thing she asked when he returned to start dinner.
“No, I told you, only every four days. I’ll crush rocks every day, but I need enough ore to make it worthwhile to light the smelter. You didn’t wash your hair?”
She blushed a little. She hadn’t washed it because she didn’t want Morgan stirring her up again, as he’d done during the shooting lesson, by insisting he help her brush out the tangles. So she said, “I prefer not to wash it this late in the day, because if I braid it before it’s dry it will be all wavy tomorrow.”
“So don’t braid it.”
“It’s my habit to braid it before I go to bed, to keep it out of the way.”