How to Lasso a Cowboy (12 page)

Anger boiled inside her. She was trying to help him but he guided her into the center of the room, a place she never wanted to be. Mary fired out the first thing that came to her mind. “Stop calling me darling!”

He pulled her far too close to be considered proper. “I'm not even talking to you.” He brushed her ear with his lips as he spoke. “Relax. Dance with me, Mary. Just like you did before when no one was watching.”

“I don't want to dance,” she answered, aware that people stared at them. “I need to talk to you.”

“I thought we were never speaking again.”

“Shut up and listen.” Mary decided Cooper would drive a mute woman to scream. Her own meek ways were fading fast in frustration.

He laughed again, loud enough that several couples turned to face them. “You're sure getting bossy, Mary, my dear.”

Releasing all but her hand, he walked to the side of the musicians' stand. The tune was too loud for conversation. Mary didn't want to shout. Without a word, she tugged at his arm and pulled him into the back of the barn.

He made no protest as they slipped between the patchwork blankets and melted into the blackness of one of the horse stalls. Mary slowed and gripped his arm tighter. The place had been swept clean, but the smell of hay and horses still lingered.

As she crossed the darkness, he moved closer, letting her know he was right beside her. The warmth of his body comforted and excited her at the same time. When she touched the smooth wood at the back of the stall, she turned to face him. “Cooper, I have to—”

“I know, I lied.” His hands moved up her arms and into her hair. “I'll never be sorry for kissing you,” he said, a moment before his mouth found hers. His kiss was hard and hungry, as though he'd been starving.

Mary opened her mouth to protest and the kiss deepened.
He leaned closer, pushing her against the back of the stall. Her mind told her this was insane, there was information he must know. He might even be in danger. But pleasure stampeded over reason.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she returned his kiss.

He took the advance with a low moan and welcomed her along the length of him. They moved, like old lovers, in perfect harmony to this dance.

Her hair tumbled free. His hand spread into the dark curls, lost in the softness as he drank deep of the taste of her. Quiet, shy, plain little Mary had somehow become the woman he knew he couldn't live without. Even in the darkness, with the music playing and people laughing only a few feet away, Cooper couldn't bring himself to stop. From the moment he'd helped her off the horse and she slipped from his arms, all he'd been able to think about was her. He'd gone half mad trying to look for her without being obvious. About the time he decided she must have left the party and walked back to town, she appeared.

She rushed to him, saying she needed to talk, pulling him into the shadows. He forgot all the words he'd planned to say to her. Now he couldn't get close enough to her. It didn't matter if they talked, as long as they held one another. He planned to take a lifetime to convince her how he felt; right now all he wanted to do was show her.

She thawed as he touched her.

Hesitantly, he brushed his fingers over her breast and caught her reaction against his lips. She moved so that his hand caressed her once more.

Pure pleasure bolted through his blood. He closed his fingers around her, feeling the soft mound through thin cotton. Her dress might be drab and ordinary, but there was nothing short of perfection in his hand.

Widening his fingers, he moved his hands slowly along her sides as he kissed her, loving the way she swayed against him when he cupped her round bottom.

He wanted to undress her. To make love to her. He didn't
care if the entire county saw them. But he would wait. For now, just holding her would have to be enough.

His arms closed around her and he straightened, lifting her off the ground. She was his as surely as if they'd said the words. He had finally found his mate. Whether he bedded her this night, or waited a year, didn't matter. She was his other half, and he was hers.

He pulled an inch away and whispered, “Marry me, Mary.”

Before she could answer, shouts exploded from the other side of the quilts. The music stopped. Everyone spoke at once. Cooper circled his arm around her shoulder as they ran toward the light.

“Rustlers!” someone yelled beyond the dancers. “They're driving the herd out of Echo Canyon. Hurry!”

The women cried out and scrambled for their children. The men moved in a mass toward the barn door and their horses.

“Let's ride!” one man shouted. “We'll catch them this time!”

“Get my rifle from the wagon. I'll give them a fair trial before I shoot every last one of them.”

“Hurry, men! We don't want any to get away.”

Cooper almost dragged Mary along, for she held with a death grip on his arm. They crossed with the others to the corral, where the horses seemed to catch the excitement.

“You can't go!” She pulled at his arm, realizing for the first time how much stronger he was than her.

He barely heard her above the crowd. “I have to. A year's work depends on those cattle.” He tried to be gentle. “Don't worry. I'll be back in a few hours.”

Her grip didn't loosen. “You can't go! I heard men talking. . . .”

Cooper pulled from her as Duly brought up his horse. The midnight mare pranced between them. “Stay with my sisters!” he yelled as he swung onto the saddle.

“Don't go!” She had no time to explain. “Your future is in danger. Don't go!” Mary wasn't sure if he heard her last
words. Everyone shouted as the men rode off toward Echo Canyon.

Once the men left, the women and children stood outside the barn and listened until they no longer heard the sound of hooves pounding. For a few minutes all was silent. Too silent.

Johanna's voice rang like a lone bell. “Come along. Let's go inside. We've nothing to do but make coffee and wait.”

Everyone seemed to agree. They gathered children and moved inside the house. Mary glanced around in panic, wishing she had a horse. Maybe she could catch up with the men. If she tried harder, she could make him understand.

But even the old nags had been untied from the wagons and ridden bareback by men in a hurry. Nothing remained in the corral except a dozen young colts shooed off into the corners.

Mary hurried to the fence. One of them had to be the Steeldust colt the strangers planned to take. But which one? She tried to remember what the colt had looked like the day Cooper showed him to her, but she'd been paying more attention to his hand touching hers than to the horse.

She couldn't watch them all. It was so dark she wasn't sure she could even see several of the animals. And even if she did keep her eye on the colt, how would she be able to stop men from taking it?

Glancing back at the house, she noticed Miles standing alone in the shadows beside the porch. She knew why he was there. He wouldn't go in with the women. He couldn't ride with the men.

Mary ran to her brother. As she pulled him toward the corral, she tried to remember all she'd heard. They had to somehow protect the colt. But the enemy had no face and she knew few details.

Miles listened to her ramblings, but she could see it in his face as clearly as if he'd said the words,
What can I do? What help would I be?

When words finally came all he said was, “Go in with the women, Mary.”

“I'm staying,” she said as he took a step toward the house.

He shifted, waiting for her to come to her senses. “You're going back to the house,” Miles ordered, as he always did.

“No,” she answered just as strongly. “Not this time. It is my fault Cooper wasn't warned about the trick. I should have told him.”

“But what if you run into the rustlers? What then, Mary? You said there were three. You don't even have a weapon.”

Her brother knew her for the coward she was. Afraid of the dark. Afraid of the sound of spurs. Afraid of almost every man in the state. What did she think she could do against three men?

“Come back with me,” Miles asked again.

“No,” she answered. “I have to try.”

Even in the darkness she could see it in his eyes. He would no longer play the parent role in her life, she would never again be the child. “All right.” He moved toward her. “Then I'll stay also.”

Mary knew they were still no match for three armed men, but she was glad Miles stayed.

“Evenin',” came a low voice from the shadows. Spurs jingled as a man stepped into the faint light coming from the barn door. “So, we meet again.”

It had been almost a year, but Mary knew the stranger's voice. She'd heard it last in the darkness of the store.

She couldn't breathe as the man moved closer. The feel of his hands gripping her arms, his hot words shouted in her face, the smell of whiskey, all flooded her mind. He had been so polite, so nice that afternoon, but in the shadows, anger twisted his words.

“Adams will be back in a few minutes with his men,” Miles threatened as he stepped in front of Mary. “You had better be gone before he returns.”

The intruder pulled a long Bowie knife from his boot. “Don't try to fool me, Yank. He won't return for hours. He and every man for miles around will be chasing shadows tonight.”

“I'll not let you take the colt.” Miles stood his ground.

The man laughed. “How do you plan to stop me? If you had a gun it would already be pointing in my direction and you'd be no match for me with a knife even if you had one.”

“Kill them and be done with it, Len.” A man on horseback rode out of the blackness. “We ain't got all night.” His gruff voice rattled across the damp air.

Mary recognized him as one she'd heard earlier during the dance. The planner.

“Now, wait a minute, boss. You don't know who we're dealing with. This Yank won't fight. It ain't no fun killing a man who won't fight back.” Len moved a step closer and pointed with his knife. “But the woman, she screams and fights like crazy. I'll have to slit her throat, before I let the Yank die a little at a time.”

“Do what you have to do,” the leader said calmly as if they were of no importance to him. “The kid backed out on us. I'll need your help rounding up the colt. Get rid of the witnesses.”

 
COOPER YELLED ORDERS
for his men to guard the herd and let the others worry about chasing rustlers as he turned the midnight mare toward home.

“But, boss?” a ranch hand yelled over the thunder of hooves. “Don't you want in on the ride? They couldn't outrun us.”

Cooper didn't bother answering. Three times the men required to round up a half dozen rustlers were riding north at full speed. The county marshal took the lead, much more at home than he'd been on the dance floor. Cooper wasn't needed in Echo Canyon. Something about the call to arms gnawed at him. Why would men try to steal a herd the night before a drive began when every able-bodied cowhand was camped out, waiting to get started, or at the dance a few miles away? And if they'd moved that many cattle, why hadn't someone heard? Cooper might have been occupied, but Duly had maintained a residence on the porch all night. The old cook could smell rain before a cloud formed.
Cooper couldn't remember the number of times he'd seen Duly start thinning the gravy before anyone else even heard riders arriving for supper.

Pushing his horse harder toward home, Cooper tried to make the pieces fit.

Mary's last words haunted him. She'd said his future was in danger. Even if the cattle he put into the drive were stolen, the ranch would stand the loss. Didn't she understand that he was solid enough to survive?

He figured the cattle, even the Steeldust colt, could disappear and they'd still make it as long as she was by his side. He had to tell her that his need for her was more than an ache deep inside. He'd built the ranch for nothing if he didn't have her to share it with. These past years he'd worked thinking he would be happy, when all he needed was to find her.