Micah & Mrs. Miller Read online

  Micah & Mrs. Miller

  Fevered Hearts Book 3

  Heather Long

  Contents

  Micah and Mrs. Miller

  Series So Far

  Acknowledgments

  The Fever

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  A Fistful of Dreams Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  Also by Heather Long

  Micah and Mrs. Miller

  Meet Micah Kane. The second son, the helpful one, the protector of those he loves. He’s never faced a challenge he couldn’t overcome.

  A job that needs to be done…

  With his older brother Sam preoccupied by the upcoming birth of his child and younger brother Kid recovering from his injuries, Micah Kane has never been so busy—too busy to go to San Antonio and escort home the new schoolteacher—but what his father wants, his father gets. Busy or not, one look at the exotic beauty with her rich European accent and he can’t think of anything else.

  A woman on the run…

  Josephine Miller entered an arranged marriage on good faith. One year of misery later, she discovered a horrifying secret about her husband and fled west. Becoming a schoolteacher in a small Texas town seemed like the perfect way to disappear but Micah’s touch awakens a desperate desire that she finds herself helpless to resist.

  Darkness, danger and death lurking on the horizon…

  An outbreak of the spirit fever, dangerous strangers in town and wild accidents at the Flying K threatening everything they care about, Micah must convince Jo that she doesn’t have to run—together they can stand against any storm.

  His code. Her secret. Their war.

  Copyright © 2012 by Heather Long

  Cover by Kendra Egert

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 978-1-301-25869-7

  Series So Far

  Marshal of Hel Dorado

  Brave are the Lonely

  Micah & Mrs. Miller

  A Fistful of Dreams

  Raising Kane

  Wanted: Fevered or Alive

  Wild and Fevered

  The Quick and the Fevered

  A Man Called Wyatt

  Sign up for Heather’s Newsletter.

  To my friends and family who never stopped encouraging me to chase my dreams.

  Acknowledgments

  Every book is a labor of love and this one is no exception. First is a heads up thank you to my mini me who put up with me writing over our Christmas vacation and is my biggest cheerleader. Thanks to Brandy Walker for all her help, encouragement, and task management and to Kendra for developing the best cover for Cody’s book! Finally to Patti, who read every single chapter hot off the presses and to Virg, who happily dished out the feedback. I am really lucky to be part of such a warm community of support.

  The Fever

  When the spirit fever struck a town, a village or an outpost, it left few if any survivors. The white man blamed the Indian saying they used their mojo on them. The Indians blamed the white man for angering the spirits. The survivors knew it didn’t matter. The Fevered were forever changed.

  Chapter 1

  Micah slapped the fly buzzing at his neck and stared at his father. “Pa, even a week from now would be better than tomorrow.”

  “A week from now, Kid might be up to the ride and I still wouldn't send him.” Jedidiah Kane did not like to be denied. His mind made up, he delivered the orders with all the diplomacy of a mallet. “I want the schoolteacher escorted safely and not seduced. We're almost done with the building and Miss Annabeth says she spruced the cottage up nice.” Clapping Micah on the shoulder, he nodded to the filly about to rear up at the end of the line. “You gave her too much rope.”

  Swearing, Micah pivoted and balanced his weight against the yearling trying to prove her mettle. She was a stubborn little filly, fighting the halter, fighting the lunge line, fighting even being touched. Sweat dribbled down his neck. It was early spring, but April 1851 arrived like someone opened the gates of hell.

  The filly bounced forward, all four legs locking and flung herself to the right, but Micah used her weight against her, controlling how far she could go. She tried to dig her heels in. He snapped the whip in his free hand and it cracked the air. The noise was more than enough to spur her on. Her sides foamed with perspiration, but he allowed her no respite. Her temper tantrum showed brilliant spirit, but spirit needed to be tempered or she'd be a danger to herself and others.

  Ten turns around the lunging pen and she began to chew, her jaw working and her head turned inward, looking at him. He switched the rope to his right hand and held up his left. “Whoa.” She trotted one step further and stopped, sides heaving and panting.

  He murmured soothing, approving sounds as she faced in toward him, the rope going slack. Exhaling a slow breath, he clicked his tongue and tugged the rope until the filly faced him full on and took another step in his direction.

  “Nicely done,” his father's verbal pat on the bag was better than a clap on the shoulder. Jed had likely forgotten more about training horses than Micah would ever know. Micah didn't take his attention off the filly. The chewing action of her mouth was a request and a show of accepting his dominance over her. Letting her catch her breath and rest was his acknowledgement of her obedience. He came right up to her and held a gloved hand under her nose. She tipped her head down and he rubbed up the single white strip to scratch her between the ears. “Good girl, see, not so bad when you aren't pitching fits.” He started her into a walk, walking with her and murmuring. She needed to cool down and then he could rub her dry and brush her thoroughly before turning her back out to the paddock.

  “Anyway,” Jed watched from the center of the ring, his voice quiet but authoritative. “Mrs. Miller is scheduled to arrive in San Antonio in two days. I want you to take the buckboard down and pick her and her things up. Escort her home and answer her questions.”

  “Yes, sir.” He nudged his hat back and let go of the argument. His father arrived with an order, not a request, no matter how politely he phrased it. His older brother, Sam was the marshal in Dorado and his wife Scarlett was expecting their baby. He wouldn't leave even for a two-day ride to pick up a school teacher and come back.

  Their youngest brother Kid hadn't quite been himself since coming home from his western odyssey with Cody and Cody's new wife. He slept nearly a week on their journey back toward the Flying K, and the man who woke up wasn't the devil-may-care boy that left. They all worried about Kid, but did their best to keep it to themselves.

  Unfortunately, Jason was back east in New York. He hired the school teacher and put her on the train to Kansas, from there, she traveled south via stagecoach. But they hadn't quite managed a coach stop in Dorado. The lack of regular passers-by suited them all well, because beyond the
families and animals, the Flying K and Dorado housed a secret they preferred to keep secret.

  The Fevered.

  “Let me talk to Noah and see if he can handle some of the work for me so we don't lose time with the younglings.” But his father was already gone, heading off to harass some other soul and give them more work than a body could handle.

  His mouth twisting, Micah laughed low and stroked the filly's neck when her ears flicked toward him. “He wonders why all his kids talk to themselves.” Sometimes being the second son had its advantages and on days like today, it just meant rethinking a schedule he'd been working on dawn to dusk for the last several weeks.

  The filly frisked a step or two, but quieted at his light tug on the rope. Her spirit was far from broken, but at least she showed willingness to behave. As her breathing softened, he walked her to training ring's gate and let them both out. The shadow of the barn brought relief from the steamy sunshine. One of the stable hands jogged out to greet him, slowing his pace to keep from startling the filly.

  “Mr. Jed asked me to do the rub down so you could get ready for your trip.”

  Micah's grin turned wry. That flew in the face of his father's normal orders. Everyone and everything on the Flying K served a purpose. No layabouts allowed. If a body worked a horse, that body was to take care of it.

  “Thanks Phil.” He passed off the rope and stroked the filly's neck again. “Let her continue to cool while you groom her, but give her some water in a few minutes and food in about an hour. She can go into the large paddock while I'm gone.” Despite her blazes of temper, the sorrel colored filly showed promise and he wanted to train her specifically to the hack and for the ladies on the ranch to ride.

  “Yes, sir, Mr. Micah.” The older cowboy led the filly off with a gentle click and Micah waited for both to make it into the barn safely before stripping off his hat to walk over to the water pump. He stuck his face under the spout and cranked the handle. A cool spray splashed against his overheated skin and soaked his hair. Two more pumps and he used a bandana to mop at the excess.

  He'd need a buckboard and two horses, likely, for the trip. The two would handle any extra luggage the school teacher carried with her. His sister-in-law, Scarlett, and Cody's new bride aside, women liked things. Lots and lots of things. His back protested at the thought of the teacher's trunk.

  Finger combing his wet hair back, he shoved the Stetson back down on his head and looked over the horses in the surrounding pastures. A pair of imports caught his eye, but he shook his head. The Dutch crosses were strong, but they didn't care for the heat and their oversized hooves offered too many opportunities to pick up stones. He wanted to make it to San Antonio with time to spare.

  The Indian ponies in the east paddocks were still learning the basics of wagons and hitching. If it were a straight ride, he would take them. Scratching his jaw thoughtfully, he went over a mental list of the animals on the property and settled on the bays in the upper pastures. The seven and eight year old geldings were quiet, sturdy, and hard workers. They also handled hack and buggy better than any other horses he could pair up.

  Whistling, he caught sight of Little Tom, the fourteen year old scrapper was the spitting image of his wrangler father, Big Tom. The kid carried buckets back from spreading feed and picked up his pace under Micah's gaze. “Yes sir?”

  Just the year before, his father was at his wits end about what to do with the rowdy child. He'd damn near set fire to a pasture, broken two fences, and stolen a gun. Jed put him to work, assuring Big Tom that the yoke of responsibility tamed a boy's wilder impulses better than any switching.

  Though Micah remembered more than his fair share of the antics he and Sam got up to in their youth. “When you finish up with the feed, saddle up and ride into the eastern pasture. Find Rolly and Bully, and bring them on in for me?”

  “Yes, sir.” Taking care of the horses was one responsibility, handling them another. But Micah trained Little Tom, himself. Despite his penchant for destructive boredom, the boy possessed an easy manner with the horses and they responded to it. He'd make a fine trainer one day, if Micah had his say.

  “Thank you, son.” He waved him back to his work and pivoted on a heel. Noah would likely be up in Miss Annabeth's kitchen trying to charm Miss Lena out of her skirt. His mouth quirked. The Fevered healer's affection for their pseudo-sister hadn't been lost on any of the Kanes, but Miss Lena continued to play hard to get, putting the buck through his paces.

  Better him than me. Micah hid another grin. In his teen years, he'd fancied himself in love with Miss Lena. She indulged him, to a point, teaching him the finer art of courting a lady and no matter how great or small the task she set him to, he did it. Fortunately, she never teased him for his crush nor treated him any the worse when he realized that his affection was more sibling than lover.

  Still, he was due to hassle Noah about his intentions again. What good was a brother but to give hell to the man courting his sister? He whistled all the way up to the big house, enjoying the shade trees as he crossed between them and up to the porch. Scarlett sat in one of the big chairs, her hand rubbing her oversized belly. She'd begun showing late in winter, but now there was no mistaking her pregnancy. She'd given up her preferred pants for dresses. He doffed his hat and bent to give her a kiss on the cheek.

  “Good morning, you're back early.” Her green eyes danced with a teasing light.

  “As if you didn't already know Pa is sending me to San Antonio. I blame you.” He needed to finish washing up and changing, but instead, he leaned back against the railing.

  “It's not my fault he decided that this baby needed a proper school and even proper teacher. He or she hasn't even arrived yet and it will be years before they need a 'school.'“ Her mouth twisted into a hint of a grimace. Far as he knew, Scarlett never went to school. She learned from her father, the old Indian Quanto, just as all her siblings did. Their Fevered origins left them blessed—or in some cases cursed—with special abilities. Scarlett, in particular, held a power that was as strange and terrifying as it could be beautiful.

  She controlled fire.

  “Well, Pa believes in taking the long view. He's expecting lots of grandbabies to spoil and bring up. Ma taught us when we were littles, but after she passed, he brought in tutors for us. But Dorado's grown, hell—beg your pardon—” He grimaced and glanced around for his brother. Sam didn't care for cursing around his wife, even if she could curse with the best of them.

  “You're safe.” She grinned. “He's gone to town to settle a dispute between the Church ladies and Madame Pontfour.”

  Damn, Micah would pay a week's wages to see that. “Poor man.”

  “Indeed. Anyway, you were saying about Dorado growing?” Her hand rubbed back and forth across her stomach, he wasn't sure if she was soothing herself or the baby. Sam told him it moved, a lot. The idea was more than a little disconcerting, even with what he knew of horses and feeling the foals move in their mother's belly's.

  “Town's growing, ranch is growing. Lots of kids needing a proper education. Eastern businesses keep coming west and with all the trouble back east,” he shrugged. “Makes sense to have a teacher.”

  “And even if it didn't, Jed wants one.”

  One of the things he adored about his sister-in-law was her succinct way of calling a spade a spade. The boys may not argue with their father much, but Miss Scarlett had no problem with disagreeing with him. The damn thing was, the old man enjoyed it, favoring her with a gentle affection and tolerance no one else received.

  “And there's that. We seen Kid this morning?” Despite his seeming recovery, Kid still kept his distance from the rest, sleeping longer or leaving earlier than the rest of the family. He'd not hared off to Mrs. Carson's much either. Despite his belief that none were aware of the affair, Micah had known from the start. But the Widow Carson seemed none the worse for wear and Kid never brought up marriage, so he left it alone.

  “We have. He left an hour ago with
Buck.” Scarlett sighed. “We're trying to talk him into going to Quanto's mountain. But he won't go. I wish we'd known sooner that he was Fevered.”

  “No fretting.” Micah reminded her sternly. His stomach tightened at the mention of his brother's fevered status. None of the Kanes realized the effect a childhood illness left on their brother. He wasn't altogether comfortable with it and the two times he'd brought it up, Kid rebuffed him hard. “He's home. We'll take care of him, but Kid's a bit of a mule. You can't force the mule to go where you want. You can only point it in the direction and give it a good reason. If he goes, it's because that's what he chooses.”

  Jed would never allow it. To his knowledge, their father refused to discuss Kid's status with any of them. Micah wasn't sure if he just couldn't acknowledge that Kid had an ability to match their new family or some other cause.

  “Calling your brother an ass is not the way to encourage him. But I will try to give him some peace. Cody's new wife said much the same thing.” Her mouth curled in distaste. Scarlett refused to call the woman by her name. If he wasn't certain that she loved his brother, he'd worry that the flame-haired beauty was jealous of Cody's Mariska. The gypsy princess was a handful, with a spitfire temper and the hard edge of a woman who knew how to take care of herself. She and Cody had gone deep into the ranch territory beyond the horse pastures and paddocks.

  Her first change took them all by surprise, but Cody handled it better than most. It helped that the woman's wolf listened to him and when he shifted, she followed him. He considered asking Scarlett if they were back yet, but decided against it. When Sam wasn't home, her temper was a tricky thing.

  “Don't worry, Miss Scarlett. You need anything? Fresh drink? Food?” Changing the subject was his best course of action.