The Rancher (19 page)

Abby ran to the door of the small lean-to, attempting to protect herself from the

rain with her arms crossed above her head like a shield. When she reached the

boards that served as a muddy porch she turned back, looking to the barn for a glimpse of her new husband.  She dropped her hands, allowing the rain to drip off her forehead and into her face.  She smiled.

She entered the cabin-like shack andwas surprised at the warmth pending fromthe small room.   The sweet smell ofmolasses and drying beef greeted her andshe thought how wonderful it would be tohave some of Martha’s slow cooked stew

about now.

Abby scanned the room for somethingshe could wear while her clothes dried.

She found a blanket in the corner thatwould serve as her nightdress and quicklybegan removing her wet things.   She

undressed to her chemise and hung her dress and undergarments from the low rafters to dry.  She looked down at the thin garment that still allowed for some sense of propriety and paused, looking toward the measly window.

Her skin puckered in a chill.  Shaking her head and taking a deep breath, she shed the damp chemise, quickly shook open the wool blanket, and wrapped it securely about her shoulders.  Its warmth caused Abby to pull it tighter around her shivering form.  She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.

Abby gazed into the pulsing glow of the fire. The small black stove was similar to

the one in her father’s den back home, just not as big.  Cast iron bars lined the door, allowing the warmth to cradle her.  She

was amazed at the owner’s foresight to pump the pipe through a hole in the ceiling.  She’d never before seen a lean-to with a stove inside.

Her lips curved upward and sherelaxed back against the wall, closing hereyes again and willing herself to breathe.  Her thoughts returned invariably to thestranger whose name she now shared.

A raspy grunt sounded somewhere nearher feet.   Abby’s eyes flew open insurprise and her hand instinctively jerkeddown to her hip for the small pistol sheusually kept hidden in the folds of herskirts.  All she grasped was the air, herfingers gaining nothing but a stray woolenstring from the inside of the coverlet.

She pulled her knees into her chest andnarrowed   her   eyes   into   the   dark.

Something scampered across the floor.  After the night she’d had, the last thing sheneeded was to be trapped naked in a smallroom with another wild critter.

The firelight had grown dim and shecould no longer see the corners of the

room.  Abby was not accustomed to the feelings of vulnerability that washed over her.  But lacking clothes and a weapon in the dark with a scavenger of one sort or another   certainly  brought   out  some insecurities.   When   something   bushy brushed across her exposed foot, an inadvertent scream escaped her lips and she pulled herself into a standing position, nearly dropping the blanket.

This is ridiculous
 
, she thought.
 
It’s probably just a squirrel.

She squared her shoulders.

“All right, you blasted varmint, come

out and show yerself.”

Cole’s heart pounded within his chest atthe sound of Abby’s fearful scream.  Hepushed himself away from the door,grabbed his rifle, and made a quick dashfor the lean-to.   He’d left her alone forsome time now. Too long he reckoned.  They had already encountered enoughtrouble tonight.

He hadn’t seen a mountain lion in a longtime and wondered if there were a lot ofthem out in these parts.  He would have totake that into account as he startedgrowing his own herds.  He figured thepassing of the storm and Abby’s horse haddrawn the animal out. He hoped nothing

else would threaten his new bride tonight, but he had a feeling that his life from this point on would be one new adventure after another.

His hand reached out for the rounded

metal bar of the lean-to door and thrust it open, gun pointed inside. Moonlight spilled into the room and there, standing on its back two legs, was a black masked raccoon, gnawing on a slab of peppered jerky.   He silently cursed Raine for leaving the drying meat in the low-hanging rafters in the sectioned-off portion of the lean-to.

Somehow, the little fella had found away in and Cole hoped he hadn’t told hisfriends.   The scavenging creature fellforward onto all four feet--the meat

clenched securely between his teeth, and

ran out the door past a relieved Cole.

The light from the dying fire cast an orange glow around Abby’s body.  Her bare creamy shoulder peeked above the top of his saddle blanket and her wet hair cascaded down past her collar bone. Cole groaned inwardly.  His head fell back and he   closed  his   eyes.
 
Lord, give me strength.

“You all right?” Cole’s voice broke in boyish fashion and he cleared his throat, uncomfortable at the physical confirmation of his mental distraction.

He forced himself to look at her face.

His heart began to pound and he took onestep forward into the close quartered

room.  What was he thinking?

In a moment of desperation, to guide his

thoughts down a different path, he dropped

to his knee in front of the stove and set a large knotted pine log over the dying embers of the fire.

Once he was sure the fire would last a while, he stood, not realizing how close she stood to him. Her nearness was about his undoing. He looked down into her face, her eyes lustrous from the now roaring flames, her face mere inches from his own. He had to remind himself to breathe, but he could not pull away.

“If you need anything...”  Cole wet his bottom lip with his tongue. He lifted his arm and reached behind her, picking up the bedroll from the shelf that hovered just above Raine’s bed, “...just holler.”

He shouldn’t stay. Couldn’t.  Not yet. He would sleep in the barn to avoid all temptation until the time was right—when

he confirmed what he already knew in his heart.  Abby had nothing to do with what had happened to Alaric.  He would wait until he was prepared to think of a future with the beautiful creature before him.

When he could protect her. Teach her.

Love her.

“Cole?” she called out to him and with one small phrase demolished his resolve. “Stay with me,” she petitioned, unknowing what she asked of him.  He watched her

hand slip from beneath the coverlet and rest gently on his forearm.  “Please stay.”

The weariness he saw in her face

begged him to offer the reassurance his presence would provide.  He dropped the bedroll onto Raine’s mattress in defeat and shut the door.

“Get some sleep,” he said, turning away

from her.  His tone had more of an edge than he’d intended. “Abby girl,” he added a bit softer—hoping Alaric’s name for her would offer the comfort she needed.  A

hint of a smile traced his lips, his facial muscles getting more exercise in the last few hours than in the last year.

When he heard the creak of the mattress as she sat on the provisional bed, he let out the breath he’d been holding.   He turned around and watched as she

snuggled down further into her blanket, unknowing it was his mattress on which she now lay her head.

“Why are you here?” Abby asked as she slid her hands under her head, her eyes blinking heavily.

“Because you asked me to stay,” his voice held a hint of sarcasm.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know.”

“What brought you here to Silver

Falls?” Her voice lowered and her words

came out more slowly. As if sensing she were falling asleep, she propped herself up onto one elbow and lifted her head, her eyes meeting his.

“Unfinished business.”  What was he

supposed to tell her? He was there to see if she or her father had murdered his best

friend?

“So, you’ve been here before, then?”

Her eyes, alight from the fire, searched

his.

“I inherited land around here.  Raine

and I came to see if it was the right place to start a ranch of my own and build a life.”

It was true. The words came easily.  Hethought about the land that surroundedthem at this very moment and somethinginside of him confirmed that this was the

place to create his dream.

Abby’s arm relaxed below her head as

it sunk further into the mattress.  A throaty

groan escaped her lips.  Her eyes near closed. “What parrrt? Hmmm...”

He gazed mesmerized, as the fire danced with the auburn highlights in her hair that peeked through pockets of mud and grime.  In town, when she’d shaken her hair free of her Stetson, he’d been captivated by its color, but now he wondered what her soft tendrils would

feel like under his caress when clean, its thickness brushed and radiant, spilling down over her freckled shoulders.  Her

skin glowed and her lips looked soft and inviting.

“That’s nice,” she said yawning and closing her eyes completely.  Her tongue touched her top lip before she drifted into a much deserved sleep.

With a silent, inward groan, Cole picked up the well-worn bible from the small   wooden  box  behind   Raine’s

mattress.   The book fell open and a photograph dropped to the ground.

Leah Redbourne was a beautiful woman and he longed for the days when he used to sit at the foot of his mother’s bed and

tell her everything that had happened.  He caressed  the  picture  with  a  work roughened hand.   She’d sat for this particular photograph the same day Alaric died.  Placing it carefully into the back

cover of the book, he let the pages open where they would and was comforted by a simple Psalm.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

He closed the book, holding it close to his chest with one hand, and put the other behind his head as he lay back onto the thin bedroll. With his eyes shut, he willed the memories haunting him to rest and the other thoughts taunting him to subside.  He prayed for the morrow to bring fresh hope and renewed strength.

Chapter Ten

Saturday

Abby could sense the light trying topenetrate her closed eyelids.  Her nostrilsflared at the heavenly scent of meatcooking over an open fire.  It had been along time since she’d slept past dawn.  Afull recollection of yesterday’s eventssped through her mind and she stretchedher legs, relishing the idea of today beingable to sleep a moment longer.

Surely by now her father knew abouther marriage and would have told the newforeman his services would no longer beneeded.   When she arrived home with

Cole, she’d gloat for a few moments overhaving won the bet and then she would beable to start working with the new stud, Chester.

Another delicious waft of smoke made

it into the tiny room. She allowed herself to imagine Cole standing bare-chested over the flames, his dark hair curling about his face and neck.  She thought of the way his muscles had contracted then relaxed each time he’d pitched the straw into Bella’s stall.   She wondered if he would be as appealing in the daylight when she wasn’t freezing or so overly emotional.  She sighed softly and snuggled even closer into the blanket she wore.