Mail Order Bride - Westward Secrets: A Clean Cowboy Romance Novel (Montana Mail Order Brides Book 13) (5 page)

              The nightmare came again and Rick bolted up in bed, covered in sweat.  His breathing was ragged and every sense was on alert.  Pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes, he sought to block out the images and sounds that swirled around in his mind.  A half-sob escaped from him and he tried to choke back the tears that were imminent.  He tried to conjure up comforting images to use in calming himself.

             
It’s just a dream.  It can’t hurt you.  Those times are over.  No one is going to hurt you like that again.
  Rick took several deep breaths and got out of bed.  He didn’t drink except on nights like this.  Going out to the other room, he got out the bottle of vodka he kept in a cupboard and attempted to pour it into a glass.  His hand shook too badly so he sat the bottle down and willed his nerves to settle.

              He knew what he needed.  He went onto his back porch, which he had enclosed.  This was where he housed his ferrets.  He made kissing noises and the whole bunch came out of the little house he’d built for them.  Rick picked up Mille, an albino ferret, and she nuzzled him.  He smiled and started to feel better immediately.

              In a while, he gave the critters some food and left them to their midnight snack.  After pouring a generous amount of vodka into a glass, he put the bottle back and drank the vodka rapidly.  The burning along his digestive tract was horrendous but it gave him something else to concentrate on besides the nightmare.

              As the fiery sensation in his stomach subsided, Rick walked back to his bed and lay down again to wait for the vodka to take effect.  In the meantime, he closed his eyes and used the meditation techniques he’d learned in China to help chase away the unwanted images.  He concentrated on something pleasant and the image of Gina’s face rose in his mind.

              He saw her beautiful eyes and the dimple in her right cheek when she smiled.  With her rich, brown hair that hung in thick waves over her shoulders and her sweetly curving body, Gina was very beautiful.  Her laugh was a little throaty as was her speaking voice.  Rick found it very pleasant and planned on making her laugh a lot just so he could hear it. 

He’d meant what he said about kissing her.  When he’d been leaving Joe’s house, he’d barely resisted doing it right then.  Her skin had been soft and smooth under his fingers and Rick just knew that her lips would be just as soft.  Thinking about her brought Rick a certain amount of peace and when the vodka started to act, he was able to sleep the rest of the night without the nightmare intruding again.

              At breakfast the next day, Joe teased Gina about her ‘date’ with Rick once the kids had run off to the playroom.  He didn’t know what they would think of such a thing, especially Chloe, and didn’t want to cause Gina any strife.  She’d told him to knock it off, which only made him chuckle.

              “It’s not a date,” she insisted.

              Lacey asked, “Then what is it?”  Her eyes held a mischievous light.

              Gina thought, but couldn’t come up with an apt description.  “I don’t really know.  What would you call going to someone’s house to see their pets?”

              “Weird,” Joe said and took a bite of toast.

              Lacey swatted him and then lifted Timmy out of the bassinette that sat beside her.  “Don’t tell her that.  What’s the matter with you?”

              Joe laughed and said, “Nothin’, darlin’.  I’m just sayin’ that Rick’s tastes in pets seems to be a little on the unusual side.”

              “Rick seems like a nice man,” Gina said.

              Lacey said, “He
is
a nice man.”

              “Yes, he’s a nice man except for when he scares the crap out of me with that rat he carries around,” Joe said as he cut up a piece of sausage.

              “I like Curtis.  He’s very cute,” Gina said.

              Joe looked at her in disbelief.  “You gotta be kiddin’ me?  You like that thing?”

              “Yes.  You should give Curtis a chance.  He’s very lovable,” Gina said.

              Joe put his fork down and leaned forward.  “Did he have that thing here when he came yesterday?”

              “Yes.  Why?” Gina said.

              “In our home?”

              Gina’s brows drew down and she said, “Yes.  All of the children played with him in the playroom.  We kept the door closed so he wouldn’t get out and run around the house.”

              Joe nodded and then resumed eating.  “Ok.  I guess it’s ok if the kids play with it, but I don’t want it running through the house because if I come across it and it tries to bite me, I’ll kill it.”

              “Joe!” Lacey said.  “Shame on you!  What do you have against poor Curtis?”

              A frown settled on Joe’s face and he said, “I was attacked by a couple of rats when I was little and now I can’t stand anything that resembles one in the least.  I’m sure it’s actually a nice animal, but I just can’t tolerate it.”

              Gina’s heart went out to Joe.  “I’m so sorry, Joe.  If Rick brings him again, I’ll make sure it's kept away from you.”

              “Thank you.  I appreciate it,” Joe said.  Then he told them what had happened at the bar the other night.

              Lacey tried valiantly not to laugh.  Her face turned red from the effort to hold it in, but it finally burst forth.  She put Timmy in the bassinette and went outside, but her laughter could still be heard in the dining room.  Gina laughed softly and Joe even ended up chuckling. 

              “It’s a good thing I didn’t have to relieve myself at the time or else I’d have been very embarrassed.  More than I was.  Jake loves that rat and plays ball with it on the bar.  I know Rick uses Curtis for work, too, so it does actually serve a purpose, I suppose.  I just love Curtis the way the devil likes holy water,” Joe said as he finished eating.

              His wife came back in, took one look at Joe and went back outside.  Joe sighed.  “I’m not gonna live that down for a while.”

              As they waited for Rick the following morning, Gina chuckled as she thought about that conversation.  Then she heard buggy wheels and horses’ hooves coming up the lane.  She was startled when Randall seemed to appear out of thin air to answer the door.

              “Good morning, Deputy,” he said in his British accent.

              Rick gave him a nod.  “’Morning, Randall.  I’m here for Gina and the kids.”
              “Yes, I believe they’re ready.  Come in, please,” Randall said as he stepped back.

              Ryan ran for Rick and the deputy caught him and picked him up. 

              “We gonna go see the critters?” Ryan asked.

              “Yeah, we are.  Unless you don’t want to,” Rick said.

              “Yeah, I wanna!”

              “Ok.  We’ll go then,” Rick said and put Ryan down again.  “Hi, Chloe.”

              “Hi,” Chloe said.  “How many do you have?”

              Rick smiled.  “You’ll just have to see.”

              He looked at Gina and a current of awareness passed between them.  “You look very pretty.”

              Her smile was accompanied by a slight blush even though she fought it.  “Thank you.”

              Ryan pulled back Rick’s duster to see if Curtis was in it.

              “He’s at home so you’ll see him there,” Rick said.  “Off we go.”

              When they pulled up in front of his place, Rick said, “Now, don’t go running off by yourself to pet the animals.  I have to show you how to do it properly, ok?”
              Both children agreed.

              “That goes for you, too, Miss Gina,” Rick said as he helped her from the buggy.

              “I’ll try not to run off, but I won’t promise anything,” she said.

              “That’s ok.  I’ll chase you down,” Rick said with a look that made her feel a little disconcerted.

              Gina followed him into the small house.  He hadn’t been lying when he’d said it was two rooms.  It was neat but sparsely furnished.  It was easy to see that a bachelor lived there.  They followed Rick across the room they’d entered to another door. 

              He stopped and smiled at them.  “Are you ready?”

              “Yeah!” Ryan said.

              Chloe nodded, her green eyes filled with excitement.

              Rick opened the door and motioned them through.  He pulled the door shut behind them and whistled.  Curtis poked his head out from the ferret house and then came out when he saw the visitors.  As they all crouched down to greet him, an albino ferret that was slightly smaller than Curtis came out.

              “This is Millie,” Rick said as he picked her up and handed her to Gina.

              “She’s beautiful!” Gina said as Millie bounced onto her shoulder.

              Suddenly they were surrounded by five little ferrets that were very rambunctious and curious.  The kits were friendly and easily handled.

              “They’re so tame,” Gina said as one bounced against her.

              “I handle them as soon as I can so that they get used to human scent right away.  It’s important to hand raise them that way so that they’re friendly and don’t bite.  Every so often you get one that’s not reliable, but for the most part, they’re all like this.  You do have to discipline them, though.  So if one of these little guys tries to bite you, hiss at it.” Rick said.

              “Hiss at it?” Chloe asked.

              “Like a cat hisses.  Try it and see what they do,” Rick urged her.

              Chloe giggled and made a hissing noise.  The ferrets all stopped what they were doing and looked at her.  They blinked their eyes and tried to figure out what was wrong.

              “It worked!”

              “That’s right.  Anytime they’re doing something you don’t want them to do, hiss like that and most ferrets will stop and they’ll soon learn what they can and can’t do,” Rick said.

              “So you raise them, but what do you do after that?” Gina said.

              “Some people like them for pets, like me, but they are actually used by farmers who need to control rodent and rabbit populations to keep them from eating all of their crops.  Which is what I intend to start selling them for around here soon,” Rick said.  “Now, Curtis is a working ferret.  He goes to the bar with me while I work as a bouncer and sometimes while I’m working as a deputy.”

              Ryan picked up Curtis and kissed him.  “So he’s a deputy, too.”

              Rick laughed.  “I guess you could say that.  He’s certainly good at helping keep the peace.”

              Gina said, “A little animal like him?”

              Rick took Curtis from Ryan and coaxed Curtis into opening his mouth.  “See those teeth?  You don’t want them latching onto you because they’re not going to let go easily.  Guys in the bar tend to think twice about messing with me when they see those teeth.  Plus, a ferret is fairly hard to shoot because they bounce around so much and their movements are unpredictable.”

              “What does that mean?” Chloe said.

              “Unpredictable?  It means you never know what they’re going to do.  Sort of like Ryan,” Rick said and ruffled the boy’s hair.

              Gina said, “Maybe I should try hissing at him when he says something inappropriate.”

              Rick laughed.  “I’m not sure it works on humans, but it works on ferrets.  C’mon, I’ve got some other critters to show you.”

              Another hour into the visit found Gina and the children amazed at the number of unusual animals he had on his land.  A pot-bellied pig roamed about freely, his name was Stan and he liked his back scratched.  Pumpkin and Patch were two dairy goats.  Rick not only had ferrets, but he raised skunks as well and they were just as tame as the ferrets.  Several different varieties of birds flew about in the trees and some would come sit on Rick’s hat or finger.

              He got some to do this and urged the birds to hop over onto someone else’s finger or even a shoulder. 

As they walked down a path, Rick put a hand on Gina’s arm and said, “I don’t think you’re going to want to go farther than here.”
              “Why?” she asked as she tried to ignore the way his touch made her feel.

Rick smiled and said, “There are some of your least favorite animals down there.”

Gina looked beyond Rick and asked, “Snakes?”

“That’s right.  Nothing poisonous.  Just some black snakes and gardener snakes, but to people like you, who don’t like snakes at all, they’re still a snake,” Rick said.

“I don’t want the kids going near them,” Gina said.

“Well, then how am I going to take them to see the alligator?” Rick said.

“What?” Gina almost shouted.