Lord of Misrule (Behind the Ranges)
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Lord of Misrule (Behind the Ranges) - Judith B. Glad
LORD OF MISRULE
A Behind the Ranges Novel Byte
By
Judith B. Glad
Something hidden. Go and find it.
Go and look behind the ranges--
Something lost behind the Ranges.
Lost and waiting for you. Go.
Rudyard Kipling: The Explorer
Uncial Press Aloha, Oregon
2011
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events described herein are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ISBN 13: 978-1-60174-127-1
ISBN 10: 1-60174-127-8
Lord of Misrule
Copyright © 2003, 2011 by Judith B. Glad
Cover art and design
Copyright © 2011 by Judith B. Glad
Previously published by AweStruck eBooks, 2003; Fictionwise 2005
All rights reserved. Except for use in review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author or publisher.
Published by Uncial Press,
an imprint of GCT, Inc.
Visit us at http://www.uncialpress.com
Chapter One
I'm ready to be home.
Katie slid off Salome's back and leaned against her warm shoulder. The donkey lipped her collar, snuffled. Now don't you bite me, darn you,
Katie told her, or I'll ride your sister.
Salome caught the collar with strong yellow teeth and pulled.
Laughing, Katie swatted at her cheek. You ornery little dickens! Turn loose!
Luke reached past her and gave the donkey a harder swat. You're too easy on her. She thinks it's a game.
When Salome let go of her collar, Katie stepped closer to her husband. Husband! What a nice ring that has to it! Luke, she saved my life because she likes to bite. I'll be doggoned if I'll try to break her of it.
She wrapped her arms around him, enjoying the feel of his hard body, even through the layers of heavy clothing they both wore.
He hugged her back. How much farther?
Katie pointed. Down the trail there, and along the river for about six miles. Our first house was a little east of the fort. The new place is farther out, but in her last letter Ma said it's a lot closer in than it used to be. The town's growing by leaps and bounds.
Well, let's get moving, then. I'd like to be there before sundown.
He mounted Idjit, the big, rawboned hinny that had been the only riding animal they could find in Evanston, and tugged on the leadline to the pack mule. Move it, Lafayette. We're almost home, the lady says.
The tone of his voice told Katie he was still fretting about his reception at her parents' home. She hadn't been able to convince him that Pa wouldn't have gone home and told everyone how he'd seduced Katie. If she knew her Pa, the only person he'd ever tell about the entire circumstances of their wedding was Ma. And she wouldn't tell a soul.
Ma had a fine sense of what was proper. She would lambaste Katie proper for giving herself to a man before they were wed, but she'd never, never say a word to Luke. Ma would figure that was Pa's place, and she'd simply make him welcome as she would any family member.
I hope everyone will be here for Christmas,
Katie said, once they were at the bottom of the rocky trail. It was deeply rutted from the hundreds of wagons that traveled it each summer, and slippery from melting snow. Angular rocks that had fallen from the rimrock above littered the ruts and made footing chancy for man and beast. I want you to meet the whole family.
I thought your brother was in Europe.
Luke didn't sound too excited about meeting the Lachlan clan all at once.
Well, he is, but everybody else could be here. Silas almost always comes home for Christmas, and Ma said she'd try to persuade William and Flower to come down.
You're sure about us staying at your folks' place? They've got room?
Oh, Luke, stop fretting. Ma says there are eight bedrooms in the house, and her sewing room has a daybed in it. And the littles can always double up if need be.
I ain't fretting. I just want to make sure of our welcome.
This is my home, you suspicious man. I grew up here. Of course we'll be welcome.
I thought you said you grew up in a cabin in the mountains.
Katie knew him well enough now to know that he was trying to start an argument. Well, this was one topic she wasn't about to argue on. You know good and well we moved to town when I was fifteen. I was speaking figuratively.
Well, say what you mean, then. How am I to know what you mean?
He's just tired,
Katie told Salome. Pay him no mind. When we get home, he can have a hot bath and relax. Then he'll see just how welcome we'll be.
The trees along the river had mostly been cut, Katie saw, as they got close to town. Only shrubby willows and cottonwood saplings lined the banks now. The light skiff of snow made the torn new earth stand out in dark contrast. Ma says the new house is the first one you see from the river, but I don't really know where--
There,
Luke said, pointing. Is it that one?
Katie could only stare. Ma hadn't told her they were building a castle.
Luke hadn't expected a log cabin. The Lachlan's new house was in a town, after all, even if that town was a long ways from anywhere. He'd seen grand stone houses in frontier towns in Kansas, so he knew that Boise City would have its share of impressive homes. But somehow he had expected the Lachlans to have something...well, homey.
Almost everything Katie had told him was about her childhood in a mountain valley with only one other family within a day's ride. Folks who'd chosen to live like that wouldn't worry about putting on the dog. He'd sort of expected their new house to be a big, rambling place, with a wide, welcoming front porch. Like the house his pa had wanted to build in Kansas.
This house came as close to a mansion as anything he'd seen since Chicago. Or it looked that way from here. He couldn't see a