Caleb (14 page)

Rachel woke with a heavy arm curved around her waist. The sound of Caleb’s even breathing invaded her thoughts and brought comforting peace to her soul. The room had been hot all night because of the fire, but the morning brought a chill that had them curled together.

She closed her eyes, knowing their time was nearly at its end, and she relished the last few moments of her private time with him. Then they’d be back to the ranch, back to normal life. Each day that passed would be one less day for them.

Their so-called wedding night had been more than she could have believed. Caleb had been extremely attentive, making sure she’d had her fill of pleasure before he took any for himself. Then they’d cuddled, and then made love all over again.

A soft caress over her nipple brought her eyes wide open. She found Caleb staring at her with a grin while his fingers teased her breast. “Thank you for last night.”

Some of her anxiety for the coming day eased. “No, thank you.” She smiled, discovering flecks of dark brown in his green eyes that she hadn’t noticed before.

He rolled his thumb across her nipple, sending an exquisite sensation racing through her. His grin grew bigger, and he shifted, cupping her breast.

“What are you—” She gasped as he licked her nipple and then sucked her inside his mouth. “Oh, God.”

She squirmed beneath him as he stole her from the present moment and whisked her into a white-hot delirium where nothing mattered but the feel and taste of him.

Needing him closer, she captured his head and pulled him toward her, never wanting to let go. She hadn’t expected a repeat of the previous night, but she sure as hell wasn’t complaining.

Apparently, the honeymoon wasn’t over yet.

She clung to him as he dominated her mouth, owned her lips and every other part of her. Shivers raced over her bare skin as he drew his hand downward, over her hip. He paused, capturing her gaze. She inhaled, but couldn’t look away as he traced his fingers ever closer to her heated center.

He slipped a finger inside, setting off a mass of quivers that stole her breath.

“Oh, yeah,” he whispered.

Determination lit his eyes and suddenly the tenderness was gone, replaced by something feral and magnetic. He gripped her hands, pushing them onto the pillows above her head as he settled himself over her.

He shoved into her with a quick thrust, and she gasped. Intense pleasure swept over her, but he kept his gaze focused on her. The sensuous look in his eyes left her shivering.

Over and over, he buried himself inside her until she collapsed inward. Her cry of pleasure echoed through the silence, and she drifted into a state of delicious ecstasy. She gripped his biceps, needing to anchor herself to something so she wouldn’t get lost forever. He continued to pump into her, his breaths coming hard.

Then he paused. The muscles in his face tensed as he rolled his beautiful eyes upward. His body quivered, and then he lowered onto her, wrapping his arms around her. His heart thundered against her chest, and she held him tightly to her, never wanting the moment to end.

“Damn,” he whispered and kissed her ear. Then her cheek. Then her lips. “You are so damn beautiful.”

She searched his face, unsure of what to say. She hadn’t expected a morning after. Couldn’t predict what might happen in the next few seconds, let alone minutes.

He held her tight for a few moments as both of their heart rates slowed. Then he lifted and trapped her with his beautiful gaze. “I hope it’s not a problem if I like morning snuggles.”

Snuggles? He’d given her a whole lot more than snuggles. “No problem at all.” His statement led her to wonder if he hinted at future mornings together.

Could she hope he might consider staying? He had no home to go back to, and they were married after all.

He kissed her hard. “I’m going to hit the shower. We have a ton of work waiting for us today.”

“We do.”

He stood, and she visually feasted on beautiful abs and powerful thighs. He was nothing short of magnificent. He held out a hand to her. “Aren’t you coming?”

****

Rachel and Caleb chatted most of the way home, the atmosphere easy and relaxed until they reached the road that headed to the ranch. As they traveled the lane, she was forced to remind herself they weren’t the happy couple returning from their honeymoon. She’d hired him to do a job, and he’d done it well.

When he’d made love to her the previous night, she’d promised no strings attached, and she needed to adhere to that. If their relationship was to take a different turn, he would have to state his interest. Otherwise, she needed to go about business as usual.

It was only fair to him.

Joe was in the yard as they pulled up. He grinned, his gaze switching between Caleb and Rachel. “You two are home early.”

“The work doesn’t stop around here as you know.” The sight of her favorite ranch hand bolstered her spirits. When Caleb left, she would at least have Joe around to help her out.

“Ain’t that the truth.” Joe held out a hand for Caleb to shake. “I just wanted to say I’m awfully glad the two of you are hitched. Everyone around here can rest easy now knowing our lives aren’t going to be dumped upside down.”

Caleb gripped his hand and shook. “Agreed. This is a win-win for everyone.”

“Except Franklin,” Joe reminded them. “Then again, he didn’t deserve it anyway.”

Bittersweet happiness stole over her as Joe gave her a big hug. She’d wanted to protect her employees’ interests as well as her own. They were her family.

Joe stepped back and looked at them both, a smile hovering in his eyes. “Since you’re home…”

“Really, Joe?” she said with a laugh. “We haven’t even taken our bags inside.”

He shrugged. “You know as well as I do, those cows don’t wait for anyone. I got two close to labor, with a few more in the coming days.”

“Give us a few minutes to change,” Caleb said. “We’ll meet you in the barn.”

Rachel led the way as her new husband carried their bags inside. “Thanks for helping out,” she said as he placed her suitcase on her bed.

“No problem. I told you to use me. Plus, it’s more like play than work for me.”

She swallowed, trying to hold back her words, but couldn’t. “When the time comes, if you don’t have another job lined up and would like to hang around longer than our agreed period, I’d be happy to discuss a salary with you.”

He lifted a brow in interest. “What about the divorce? If I stay, I’d still have to be your husband.”

She shrugged, pretending indifference though her heart thought otherwise. “What will a few more weeks hurt? I could use the help until I find someone new to hire, and we seem to get along well.”

“Yes, we do.” He smiled. “I’ll definitely consider it.”

Rachel halted her horse at the top of the ridge and gazed out over the valley. The frozen, barren land had been kissed by spring. Hills no longer looked brown or covered with snow, but carried a green tinge instead as plants and grasses returned to life. Aspens sported tender buds that would soon turn to leaf. Sun rained down on her shoulders and across the land, reminding her life was a circle, and what was once difficult would be good again if given enough time.

How many times had she and her uncle stopped in this exact spot? “We’re in God’s country now,” she whispered, mimicking her uncle’s words. Damn, if she didn’t agree with him. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

Thank God, Conway had started the paperwork to transfer the title of the land to her. In a few days, she’d be free and clear.

She started down the hill when a black and white body lying on the ground caught her attention. “Oh, no,” she whispered. Though she wanted to hurry, she allowed Gemini to continue to carefully pick his way down the hillside. At the bottom, she nudged him, increasing their speed.

As she neared the dead cow, she spotted another, and then another beyond it lying in the shadows of the mostly-barren aspens.

“
Shit
.” Her beautiful day had just gone to the dogs. Literally. Each cow killed by the wolves ate a nice chunk out of her profits, and she’d lost far too many that season as it was.

With a heavy heart, she paused long enough to call Joe.

“More dead cattle.” She tried to remind herself this was the cost of doing business in this area and that the wolves had been there first, but it was still hard to swallow sometimes. “Looks like three of them. Wait…four.”

“Where are ya?” Joe responded with resigned agitation.

“Just below Grizzly Ridge. Send Mickey and Abel in a truck along South Fork Road. I’ll ride out to meet them.”

The scent of death hung in the air as she approached the carnage. The belly of the smallest had been ripped open and half-eaten. The others had entrails strewn across the ground.

She placed a hand over her mouth as breakfast churned in her stomach. This was all part of nature, she knew, but it was hard not to look at the animals and pray they had a quick if not painless death.

Gemini suddenly stepped backward and whinnied. An eerie chill crept across Rachel’s skin, followed quickly by the sensation of being watched. She reassured her horse with soft words and a pat while she slid the revolver she carried from the holster with her free hand. She quickly scanned the area looking for whatever had spooked Gemini, but saw nothing.

She slowed her inspection the second time around searching for what she might have missed.

When she saw him, she sucked in a surprised breath. In a stand of trees only a few hundred yards from her, yellow eyes glowed. The wolf’s fur was so dark she almost missed it that time, too. It watched her with hungry, anxious eyes that set her on edge.

She held its gaze for a long moment, both of them frozen in place.

Magnificent.

She couldn’t use another word to describe the wolf’s awe-inspiring beauty. Death in a resplendent package. She scanned the trees behind it, searching for the rest of its pack. Nothing.

Reluctantly, she lifted her gun and fired it into the air. Gemini trembled, but didn’t buck or run. She’d trained him well. The canine rounded and bolted deeper into the trees, all muscle and glorious fur.

The sound of her shot would scare him off for now, but if they didn’t dispose of the bodies, that wolf and most likely the rest of the pack would return. She didn’t want them thinking her land was the local fast food restaurant.

By the time she made it out to the road, Mickey and Abel had already arrived. She rode up to Mickey’s window as he lowered it.

“Did you bring the tarp?” she asked.

Mickey nodded as Abel leaned forward and made eye contact with her. “Got that and the ropes.” He tipped his head toward the back of the work truck.

“Good. If you follow me, I think I can get you most of the way in. We’ll only have to use Gemini for the first part.”

“Good deal.” Mickey rolled up his window, and she turned her horse around.

She took her time, watching for rocks and other obstacles that she might have missed the first time, which might impede or stop the truck.

When she took them as far as they could go, Mickey parked. Abel pulled the tarp from the back of the truck and carried it to her. She held the awkward bundle on her lap along with the ropes they’d use to hook the tarp her horse and led the way to the slaughtered cows.

They’d fastened the tarp to her horse and were about to roll the first cow onto the dirty green canvas when her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket, saw that it was Joe calling, and answered it.

“You need to get back here right now.” The strain in Joe’s voice couldn’t be mistaken.

“I can’t. We’re right in the middle of loading a dead cow onto the tarp. Tell me what’s wrong. Maybe I can help from here.” She tried not to panic, to wait until she knew what faced her.

“Take the truck. Leave them there. I’ll drive back out to help them. Come home right now. You need to be here.”

“God, Joe. You’re scaring the shit out of me. Is it my mom? My sister?”

“It’s not that, but I’d like you to be here before I give you the news.”

What could she do but comply? “I’ll leave now.” Fear left her palms clammy and her heart thudding like she’d run a marathon.

She turned to her men after she’d ended the call. “There’s an emergency down at the house. I need to go. Joe will bring back the truck. I can’t tell you what happened, because Joe didn’t tell me.”

“No problem, boss.” Mickey tossed the truck’s keys to her.

“Hope everything is okay,” Abel added.

“Me, too.” She sprinted toward the vehicle, needing but not wanting to know what had happened. She’d barely gotten her life back on track. The last thing she needed was something messing it up again.

An unfamiliar silver sedan sat parked in front of her house when she arrived. Other than that, nothing seemed unusual.

She shoved the gearshift into park, turned off the engine, and jumped from the truck, not bothering to take the keys. Joe came from the side of the house just as she reached the porch.

Trepidation showed in the way he walked and the worried look on his face.

“What the hell happened, Joe? You’re freaking me out.”

He sighed in grave despair, briefly closed his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

She strode forward and gripped his arm, jerking on it. “You just tell me. Now.”

He inhaled a deep breath and locked his piercing blue gaze onto hers. “Caleb’s wife is here.”

Her life force drained from her as surely as if her throat had been slashed. “
His what?
” she whispered, gripping her neck in hopes of easing the invisible band choking off her oxygen.

He nodded as though he was unable to say it again. “She showed up about twenty minutes ago. Said she needed to talk to Caleb. I had no idea who she was at the time, so I showed her to the barn. At first, they were only discussing, so I left ‘em alone. Then it turned to yelling. Then really loud yelling. I went over to investigate because I didn’t want anyone shooting anyone else, and I heard him ask her how the hell she didn’t follow through with the divorce. He said he’d signed the papers over a year ago.”

She placed her icy hands over her mouth and stared at him. She could see it now. The first brick of her life had crumbled. The rest would follow. “Who here knows besides you?”

He shrugged. “Nobody, I don’t think. I’m the only one around right now. But if he’s still married—”

“Maybe no one else heard. If no one knows, we can fix it before Franklin finds out.”

Joe’s eyes grew wide, but he nodded in agreement. “Aren’t you mad at Caleb? He lied to you. Maybe you don’t want to marry him after all.”

“What the hell do you want me to do?” She’d lost all sense of patience. “If I lose the ranch, we all lose everything. Is that what you want?”

A hard look glinted in his eye. “No.”

“Me, either, so stop making this worse.”

“Bill would have married you.”

“Is that what you want? For me to sacrifice myself on the altar so your lives can stay comfortable?” Really, that’s what she’d done in her own way, but she couldn’t tell him that.

He clamped his mouth shut, frustration building like storm clouds in his eyes. She didn’t have time to worry about his feelings right now, though.

Her phone rang again, and she ripped it from her pocket. Jessy. She exhaled and prayed for strength.

“I’m kind of busy right now, Jess. Can I call you back?”

“Shit, Rachel. No. This is important and can’t wait. I hope you’re sitting down.” She paused, and Rachel braced herself for the blow she knew would come. “Caleb is married.”

Even though she’d anticipated and feared her friend’s words, they still threatened to knock her over. “Who told you?”

“Several people. Maisie for one.”

An hour’s worth of silence spread between them in the following few seconds. Rachel’s chest felt as though it had caved inward, burying her heart beneath the rubble. She grabbed Joe’s arm, clinging to him like he was a log in a swollen river and handed her phone to him. “I can’t.”

Joe hesitated and then took her phone. “Jessy? It’s Joe. Rachel’s going to have to call you back.”

A few moments of breathing in the fresh spring air helped to calm her. She glanced up at Joe who’d patiently waited for her to collect what she could of her wits.

“Where are they?” She knew Joe would understand she meant Caleb and his…wife.

“In the house now. Been in there a while.”

“Do I go in?” She wanted to confront Caleb but wasn’t sure she could bear to look at his wife’s face.

“Up to you.”

Before she could decide, the front door opened, and out walked a woman with beautiful blond hair. She glanced at them, but said nothing as she continued to her car. Once inside, she started the engine and pulled away as though completely unaware of how her presence had destroyed Rachel’s life.

She exchanged worried looks with Joe and then gave him a curt nod. No need to assess the damage. Nothing now would save her.

Still, she needed to know what Caleb had to say for himself.