Slow Fever

Slow Fever
Cait London

THE FIREBRAND OF FREEDOM VALLEYSince Kylie Bennett's return to her hometown, Michael Cusack had been painfully conscious of her metamorphosis from girl to lush woman, and of his need to belong to a close family like the Bennetts. Kylie's teenage crush on him had gone untested, for Michael was a protector of women and had refused to sacrifice her innocence. Now Kylie played "not interested"…but her kisses revealed hidden fires. Could it be that she still carried a torch for him? And, like his own slow fever, had it been simmering intensely for all these years…?

“What Would The Women’s Council Say If They Knew We Were Spending The Night Together—Again?” Michael Asked.

Kylie’s smirk died. “You know good and well that the traditions of Freedom Valley are that if a couple spends the night together, the man is expected to go before the council and present himself as a proper bridegroom candidate. It isn’t necessary, but it’s a custom that every woman really wants, no matter how modern she is. Our mothers and grandmothers had wanted the same, and were courted according to the custom. I can’t see you doing that. You’ve been a Cull too long. You have all those women. You’re a legend in your own time, a heartthrob of every girl when we were younger. You wouldn’t do that just to embarrass me, like that kiss on the dance floor, would you?”

“Wouldn’t I?”

“…Ms. London creates complex, humanly flawed characters who overcome great emotional turmoil to reach a wonderful happy ending.”

—Romantic Times Magazine

Slow Fever

Cait London

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CAIT LONDON

lives in the Missouri Ozarks but loves to travel the Northwest’s gold rush/cattle drive trails every summer. She enjoys research trips, meeting people and going to Native American dances. Ms. London is an avid reader who loves to paint, play with computers and grow herbs (particularly scented geraniums right now). She’s a national bestselling and award-winning author, and she has also written historical romances under another pseudonym. Three is her lucky number; she has three daughters, and the events in her life have always been in threes. “I love writing for Silhouette,” Cait says. “One of the best perks about all this hard work is the thrilling reader response and the warm, snug sense that I have given readers an enjoyable, entertaining gift.”

To Mary Jo

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Prologue

Town of Freedom 1882

From the journal of Magda Claas—

I have sisters, not of my blood, but of my heart. Women alone in a rough new land without protection, we formed a family. We settled in this valley bordered by high soaring mountains and traveled by men seeking wives. In this rough land, called Montana by the Indians, we’d come from all parts of the world. Some of us had thrown away hope, our lives ruled by men, yet it glimmered boldly when we decided to take this valley for our own and to call it “Freedom.”

That is how I feel. These women, and more coming to the town we have created, are my sisters. We want to command our lives, to work hard and to be respected. We want love and husbands, too. We know now, after surviving a year in this beautiful valley, that we are strong and we have pride in what we have built. Not one of us will easily toss that away.

So we cherish each other as would a family, and we set our conditions for the men who want us.

Love? Will it come to each of us? Is it too much to ask of a woman’s life? There are bargains to be made, but it is the hope of every woman to find peace and love. Peace? I am told that there is no peace around me, for I am too busy with life.

With dreams and conditions, we, the women of Freedom Valley, build our town. Let it be known through this rough land that we protect our sisters, and that any man wishing a bride must first come to us, her family. He must present himself as a prospective candidate, the same as he would come asking a father for a daughter’s hand in marriage.

He must abide by our Rules of Bride Courting and meet the terms of the Women’s Council. We will have our due as brides and wives and we will come together as sisters, though marriage bonds have tied us to husbands.

Magda Claas

Town of Freedom, Freedom Valley

Montana Territory, July 1882

One

My daughter, Kylie, is fourteen and has just threatened to kill young Michael Cusack, or at best, make his life unbearable. In a mood, she can make grown men shiver, but not Michael. Two years older and toughened by life, Michael is seeking curvier, more womanly fare. His father was heavy-handed and drunken, and Michael is not a boy, rather a scarred soul in a boy’s body. I’ve fed him and done for him what his pride would allow. But Michael isn’t the loving sort, trusting his heart to others, and he’s having none of either of my girls. Because he respects me, he will not toy with my daughters, much to their annoyance. Miranda is merely nettled, but Kylie will never forgive that trespass.

—From the journal of Anna Bennett, descendant of Magda Claas and the mother of Kylie Bennett Patton.

“Mom?” Unanswered, Kylie’s call echoed through the white two-story house. The mid-September night wind slashed autumn leaves against the windows, and memories whispered around Kylie.

“Mom?” she called again, her heart tearing, for Anna Bennett would not be answering her children’s calls. She lay by her husband’s side in Freedom Valley’s small cemetery; a semitruck at a foggy intersection had cut her life short just eleven months ago. “You’re here, I know you are, Mom,” Kylie murmured.

Kylie’s brother, Tanner, was now off on his honeymoon, remarried to his childhood sweetheart, Gwyneth. They would return to their ranch near Anna Bennett’s tidy, small farm. In her mother’s darkened house, Kylie stood by the windows, scanning the small sleeping town of Freedom. Its cluster of twinkling lights spread into Montana’s night stars. In the three days since Kylie had returned, she’d learned that little had changed in Freedom Valley. The Rules of Courting and the Women’s Council still managed to nettle the Bachelor Club, composed of single men banded together for protection.

Kylie knew most of them; they were her brother Tanner’s lifetime friends. They were more like her brothers, since she and her sister, Miranda, had tried to make use of their frequent visits to Anna’s house. Only one of the tall, swaggering devastating males could really upset her—Michael Cusack. Back then, she’d wanted to leap upon him and tear him to pieces.

Grown up and divorced now, Kylie didn’t want to think about Michael Cusack. Before her mother’s funeral and her brother’s wedding, she hadn’t seen Michael in years, purposely missing him on her frequent visits to her mother’s. An older, very tough looking Michael had been at Anna’s funeral and Tanner’s wedding. According to Leonard at the gas station, Michael had been back for three years and was running a small electric service company—while he tended the mysterious women and children who came to stay with him. Kylie tensed, nicked by the slight annoyance she always experienced when Michael’s name hovered around her. Through her early dating years, Michael had cut short her experimental escapades with fascinating men. One look at Michael’s dark, ominous expression and the fascinating men seemed to shrivel away. He had the hard, blunt face of a fighter, the mysterious jade-green eyes of a poet, a mouth that could be line-thin and cruel or curved with laughter and warmth. That tall, lean body moved restlessly, like a wolf prowling, never relaxing, always ready to spring. His black rough-cut hair and thick, gleaming brows, those fascinating long lashes, could ruthlessly grasp a woman’s heart. His brooding, lonely storm-tossed look made a woman want to hold him tight, to snag that wild hair in her fists and claim him.

Kylie sniffed lightly and shrugged, dismissing the dark and dangerous bane of her young life. He’d been a challenge then and nothing more. He’d tripped her fighting instincts long ago, but she was wiser now. Though Michael had dampened her experimental years, he and his women weren’t Kylie’s problems. Kylie scrubbed the tears from her face. “Mom, I’m in the pits right now, but don’t worry. I will work things out. My brother is off on his honeymoon—sailing the seas with Gwyneth—and I’m tending your house and their ranch. A baby-sitter for everyone but my own kids—oh, I know. It’s a dark and lonely night and I’m deep into a pity party. I’m stressed from dealing with my ex-husband, the breakup of the business, and I’m supposed to be sorting over the things in your house. I can’t, no more than my brother could when he came back to Freedom Valley. Instead, Tanner started a custom-made wooden boat company and remarried his ex-wife. So here I am and I can’t bear to separate your things any more than he could. It’s only logical that your homeless daughter came home to roost.”

Kylie swallowed the tears tightening her throat. A widow raising three children without a complaint, Anna had always been there for her children—and now she wasn’t. During those hard years, Anna had managed the small twenty-acre farm, selling butter, eggs and vegetables. She’d midwifed and birthed a good share of the babies in Freedom Valley. She’d washed and ironed for others, sold her herbal soaps and ointments, and most of all she’d loved and tended her children—and others who needed a kind heart. From her mother, Kylie had learned how a gentle, caring touch could heal. Kylie had learned the first elements of her profession as a massage therapist from Anna. “So here we are, Mom. I’m back home again. Single white female, recently divorced, with a zero bank balance, and all I can do is polish your furniture.”

Kylie could almost hear her mother say, You’ll do fine. Make the best of it. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get on with life. Whatever is troubling you, deal with it as best you can, her mother had said. In the lonely hours, lemon and beeswax and plenty of good cherished furniture is a fine way to deal with troubles.

“I failed at everything, Mom. My life, my dreams, my marriage. I came away with nothing but a few things packed into the back of my pickup.”

Mmm. And other people haven’t failed? You came away with yourself and I’d say that is something. You’re strong and you’re good and you’re talented. Take your time, deal with it and go on.