Kat's Tale by Deborah Smith

Author:Deborah Smith [Smith, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Romance, Love Stories, Historical, Regency
ISBN: 9780553220209
Publisher: Bantam Books
Published: 1989-08-01T06:00:00+00:00

Six

Nathan went to a bedside table and fumbled with the switch on an old-fashioned globe lamp. When he finally had it working he pivoted to find Kat wiping her eyes and trying desperately to look calm.

"Katie," he whispered sadly, and went to her with his arms held out. "It couldn't be that bad."

She leaned against him, her face burrowed into his shoulder, and he held her snugly, stroking her disheveled hair.

"I was in bed reading this d-damned book," she said, her chest rising and falling in a shallow, swift rhythm. "I had to come tell you about it."

The book was entitled Gold Ridge—The Early Years. A Newspaper History. It contained the complete texts of the town's first paper, a crudely typeset weekly called the Gold Ridge Gazette.

Nathan took the thick hardcover and tossed it on the floor, then hugged her sympathetically. "What'd you find, gal?"

"Well, the paper started about three years before the Cherokees left, 'cause it talks about how Gold Ridge was being built on land owned by the Cherokee Nation but how that was okay 'cause the government was negotiating a treaty to make the Indians leave."

Nathan kept caressing her hair and hoped she wouldn't notice that he was wearing nothing but white briefs. He didn't want her to move away.

He didn't have to worry. She put her free arm around his bare waist and held him as if he were a life buoy in a stormy sea.

"Justis must have been a VIP around here," she continued. "There was a list of big mines, and two of

'em were owned by the Gallatin Company. There was a Gallatin General Store, and a Gallatin Hotel, and even a Gallatin saloon."

She tilted her head back and looked at Nathan wretchedly. "Justis was a gold miner. He came here to take gold out of Cherokee land, just like all the other settlers. I bet he was only interested in Katlanicha because he thought there was gold on her family's farm."

Nathan kissed her forehead and tried to ignore the ugly pang of guilt about his own intentions.

"There's too much well never know. It could've been different from how it sounds. I mean, if all he wanted was gold, then he didn't have to stay with her out in Oklahoma and raise children with her, right?"

New tears slid over Kat's black lashes. "I was givin'

him the benefit of the doubt until I came to the m-marriage part. The year after the Cherokees got kicked out, the year after great-great-grandmother and her family had to leave"—she exhaled raggedly—

"Justis married a judge's daughter named Amarintha Parnell."

Her voice became bitter. "The judge was a VIP

too. He owned a mine here. I guess Justis wanted to have a proper wife from a real good white family."

Nathan felt so bad for her that he hardly knew what to say. "But ol' Justis didn't stay with Amarintha.

You know that." He tried to joke. "He couldn't have loved some babe with a prissy little name like Amarintha."

Kat laughed sharply. "Well, he

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