The Rancher (31 page)

The tinny clank of metal beating againstmetal rang in Abby’s ears and she awokewith a start and bolted upright, pulling thequilt up just under her chin.   Cole wasalready standing at the window, lookingout at the commotion.   The moonlightplayed with the shadows on his bare backand shoulders and Abby watched infascination as the light danced with hismuscles as they moved.

Without turning to look at her, Colemotioned for her to join him at thewindow.   How he’d known she was

awake, she didn’t know.

“It’s a shivaree,” he stated with a

smile.

Abby looked out the window and saw a collection of ranch hands, townsfolk, and family all banging pots and pans together and singing. Raine, Rafe, and her father were at the forefront of the crowd, smiling and laughing while they sang.

“What’s a shivaree?” she asked, her eyes widening in apprehension.

“What’s a… ? Don’t tell me you’ve never...” Cole’s voice trailed and he stared at her with an amused smirk lining his moonlit face. “It’s just a bunch of friends and family wishing us well in our marriage. It’s tradition.” He tilted his head, his eyes meeting hers.

They locked.

Abby’s breath caught in her chest and her knees threatened to give way.

“Are  you  ready  to   greet  them?  Although,” Cole hesitated as he glanced over her appraisingly. “You may want to put   on    something   a    little more...appropriate for company,” he said with an appreciative nod, meeting her eyes again with gentle teasing.

Greet them?
 
Abby snapped her head back to the window, her eyes searching the crowd that had gathered there. A strange feeling washed over her and somehow she knew Cole was watching her.  She turned to him, eyes wide.  The smile that danced in his eyes gave her courage and Abby slipped on her house slippers and donned her father’s old coat.

“Will this do?” She asked, pulling the coat tightly around her.

Cole cleared his throat before bending

in a gentlemanly bow.   “For me, absolutely, but for them you might consider pants.”

Heat rose once again to her face and she quickly pulled on her favorite riding trousers.

Cole extended his hand to her, his eyesnever leaving hers.   His dimpled smileweakened her already wobbly knees. “Come, wife. Let’s go finish this party.”

Together, hand in hand, they ran to thefront door.  Cole hesitated, but only for amoment before he tugged it open wide.

Whoops and hollers sounded from allover the yard as the well-wishing groupmoved around front to meet them.   A

dozen or so women were interspersed between the men and as Abby looked over their faces, she realized that despite the

turmoil and devastation that had taken place tonight, family and friends could not be deterred from celebrating the wondrous gift of life and new beginnings.

Abby hugged the coat a little closer around her and leaned back into Cole. His hand rested at the small of her back and

together they walked down the porch steps.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Cole moved into a group of men and received a hearty clap on the back by each of his brothers, her father, and several of the ranch hands.

Abby was ushered into a sparse groupof women, all of them bidding her welland offering advice.  Martha stepped intothe middle and hugged her tight.  Then, sheturned, expecting to see Lily any moment,

but she was not among the well-wishers.  Abby thought it odd.   She’d been so excited and so taken with Raine, she’d have thought Lily would have been on the front line alongside the others.

Abby tried to remember the last time she’d seen her tonight.  She’d been with the new reverend.  She hoped her friend was okay and that her dad was not having another episode.   Worried a little, she peeked between the heads of several women to see Cole’s tired, but smiling face staring back at her.

Abby couldn’t sleep.   She’d changedpositions several times in the last fewminutes, but could not seem to getcomfortable.  With her arm coiled around

her pillow and her legs bent slightly at the knee, she lay on her side and watched Cole as he slept in her bed.
 
Our bed,
 
she corrected in her mind. He was so close to

the far edge she was sure he would fall off at the slightest movement.

When they had finally returned to their room in the wee hours of the morning, after all their friends had departed, he’d closed the door behind them and stepped toward her. The harsh pounding of her heart, even now, echoed in her ears. His hand had cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing the area just below her eye.

“Goodnight, my little spitfire,” he’d said before dropping his warm hand from her face.

She’d been inexplicably pleased when he’d forgone the chair and had climbed

into the bed, under her patchwork quilt.  She hadn’t dared breathe as she’d climbed

in next to him.

Abby was exhausted, but could not stop her mind from turning as it raced with questions. She propped herself up onto one elbow.  This man who shared her bed

was still a stranger to her. Unwittingly, she reached a hand toward him, stopping mere inches from his face.

She was drawn to him without doubt. However, she was wary to give her heart to a man who may never return her love. Why had Cole agreed to marry her? What brought him into her life? What secrets kept him distant? Why did he lie about coming to Silver Falls to start his own ranch?

Accepting she would not get her

answers tonight, she quietly folded the blankets away from her and slipped off the bed, careful not to wake Cole.   She glanced at his sleeping form, illuminated in the moonlight.  Her limbs quivered at the sight of him.  Her breath came up short and her stomach tightened when a soft moan escaped him.   His features were more relaxed than she had ever seen them

and   she   was   taken   in   by   his extraordinarily   handsome   face   and sculpted arms.

There was a lot of work to do on the

ranch tomorrow, especially now as they would have to consider the best way to go about rebuilding.  She knew she should get some sleep, but it eluded her.

After the excitement of the shivaree, Abby had half expected Cole to lie down

next to her and pull her into his arms.  The disappointment she’d felt, still surprised her.  She was quite inexperienced in such matters and wondered how her feelings of wanting to be close to him, to touch him, had grown so quickly.

The deal was to share the ranch, not your heart,
 
she reminded herself.  Being the best had always been important to her.  She could ride and shoot better than any man she’d ever met...including her father, but when it came to female things with all the frills and feelings and such, she was at a loss.  She didn’t like how it felt one bit.

Shaking her head, she grabbed her newriding trousers from the floor next to thebed and rummaged through her wardrobelooking for a shirt.

Cole moved.  She froze.

After a few moments she turned,squinting into the moonlight.   His eyeswere closed and his breaths still movedhis chest in even rhythm. She exhaled longand slow.  As she turned back toward the

wardrobe, she caught glimpse of one of Cole’s shirts lying across the chest across the room.  She grabbed it, stealing one last look at her sleeping husband, and sneaked from the room.

Cole guessed Abby couldn’t sleep anybetter than he could.  She had been tossingand turning for quite some time, until

now.

She quietly pulled the covers from herfeet and swung her legs around theopposite side of the bed.  Cole watched

her through heavy lidded lashes as she pulled her jacket from the wardrobe.  He was curious as to where she would be going in the middle of the night.

When Abby grabbed his shirt from the chest across the room before leaving, he could not stop the corners of his mouth from turning upward.  Once the sound of her boots scuffing the floor had faded completely, he arose.

Restlessness had been his constant

companion throughout the night and the thought of the woman in the bed next to him, with her long fiery blond tresses and full inviting lips, had made him more uncomfortable than he’d been in a long time.  It hadn’t helped that she was his wife,   legally   anyway.   “Not   yet, Redbourne,” he’d told himself firmly.

Cole donned his boots and picked upthe short leather coat he’d flung across theoversized chair and shoved his arms intoit as he left the room.

Crisp cool air danced around Cole’sface as he stepped onto the front porch.  When Abby emerged from the stablesastride  a  horse,   Cole  moved  withsurprising stealth over the rocky terrain towhere Maverick had been tethered.  Heslid onto the horse’s bare back and freed

the leather straps. The stallion nickered quietly in approval.

“Where’s she off to, boy?” Cole asked as he hunkered down near the horse’s neck.

Being the youngest of seven brothers, Cole had learned the importance ofknowing when and how to stay out of

sight.  He looked up into the darkened sky. The moon would allow ample light for his pursuit, yet the shadows of the night would still obscure him from her sight.   He hoped.

“Okay, Mrs. Redbourne, let’s see what you’re up to.”

A cold chill blew through Abby’s hair,but she was determined and focused on

riding.  She wanted to feel the wind on her face and hoped the exercise would rid her of  the   thoughts   of  self-doubt   and indecision that refused to yield.

The stable was quiet.   Abby was grateful her tack had not been in the barn when it went up in flames. The idea of breaking in a new saddle was not a

pleasurable thought.

“Who’s there?” Marty, one of Cole’s drovers, must have been lucky enough to take early watch.   He held his rifle shoulder high ready to shoot.

“It’s just me, Marty.  Abby.”  She’d met the man earlier, when she’d stopped by to look over the new herd before dressing for the party.

He lowered his gun.  “Abby?  What are you doing up so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep.  Just wanted to go for a little ride.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, with all that trouble last night.  Are you sure you don’t want to just head to the kitchen for a warm cup of milk or something?” His head cocked slightly to the side, one eye nearly closed.