Read Crossings for Free Online Page A

a shadow, he’d been blind.
    When her scent had just been a suggestion, he’d been unaware.
    But that night by his campfire, she’d gotten close enough for him to drink in her essence. Suddenly she became a flesh-and-blood woman with a striking face, passionate voice, and flowery fragrance. He couldn’t stare through her anymore. His brain puzzled to cipher some scheme for getting out of staying in Genoa. He was torn between the isolation of his world and the populace of hers, conflict raging in his head as reasons attacked one another. The end result had been decided from a mental flash, except not withoutgain on his part. He’d trade with her, but the price was going to be a lot more than his name was worth.
    â€œI find no humor in your remark,” Helena replied tartly, biting through his thoughts.
    â€œYou weren’t supposed to.” Carrigan felt for the rolled cigarette he’d stashed in the slitted front pocket of his coat. His lips clamped around the twisted end. “I’m serious.” He struck a match on the counter and touched the flame to his cigarette.
    Her voice rose in surprise. “You can’t be.”
    Waving out the match, he said, “I am.” As he drew on the cigarette, smoke curled in his lungs and calmed his churning gut. He stared at her bewildered expression through the haze he exhaled.
    â€œWhat changed your mind?”
    â€œYou have something I want.”
    Suddenly her face went grim. “What?”
    He inclined his head toward the paper on the wall. “Land. The parcel your father told me about. I’d forgotten until I saw that map.” His recollection of the day August had colorfully described the lot resurfaced. Out of curiosity he’d ridden across the length of it that afternoon. A belt of the forest covered most of the acreage, with a tributary of water and not too many granite sheets. “I’ll marry you in exchange for your land.”
    â€œYou already have land.”
    â€œNot legally.” Technically he was a squatter. He’d chosen a secluded spot to make his home a year before settlers began encroaching on his mountain and cutting off his breathing room. By first-come rights, he should have owned the town. But the law didn’t see things that way. Sooner or later, he’d be squeezed out by the jaws of bureaucracy, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. “I built my cabin before the town was established. If the boundaries expand to include my land, I won’t have jack. Ineed property with a title. Something no one can take away from me.”
    The anxious look on her face read like she was thinking of a way out, as if she were having second thoughts about him. “That land doesn’t only belong to me. It belongs to my sister, too. My father secured the parcel for our dowries.”
    â€œThen you’d be putting it to the right use.”
    â€œBut our marriage wouldn’t be real.”
    â€œThe certificate’ll say it is.” A shaving of tobacco sat on his tongue, and he removed it with his thumb and forefinger. The display brought her attention to his mouth.
    Awkwardly she cleared her throat. “I would have some terms of my own.”
    He stared at her in waiting silence.
    â€œYou’d have to live with me. Here, in this house. To make it look like we truly were husband and wife.” Her sentences were choppy, and she kept rearranging the ink pen and well in front of her. He let her ramble on, taking drags of his cigarette while she talked. “For six months. You’d have to live with me for six months,” she repeated as if he were stupid. “After that, you could stay in your cabin, or on your new land. I don’t think anyone would question the reason for our separation if you’re up there working with horses for the Express. But if I need you to act in my stead as my husband, you’ll have to come back