“It’s beautiful,” he said, burying his face in it. He stood her up, spun her around and dropped the brush on the dresser and kissed her on the lips. Her mouth remained shut although her arms wrapped around his waist.
He angled his face away from her. “Relax, darlin’, and open your mouth for me. It will be good between us.” He picked her up and carried her over to the bed. “I promise.”
While she slid under the sheet he shrugged out of his shirt, when his hands went to his pants, she shut her eyes, although she couldn’t resist a quick peek. He was stripped to his drawers when he stepped away to snuff out the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.
Seconds later, he climbed into bed and reached for her. His passion soon ignited hers and she eagerly and happily became Mrs. Connor Grey.
****
A few days after arriving at Connor’s ranch, Max and Anna had settled in so well she felt as if they had been there for months. Today they were leaving the ranch for the first time for the promised trip into Skipton.
Because she wanted Connor to be proud of his new family, she took extra care with her appearance and wore a blue dress with white lace trim around the wrists and collar. A dab of her precious lavender water, for her husband’s benefit rather than the townsfolk, and she was ready.
The time she had spent here at the ranch with Connor and Max was the happiest of her entire life. She couldn’t thank God enough for making it possible for them to have found each other.
“You ready, darlin’?” Connor poked his head around the bedroom door.
“Yes.” She brushed at an imaginary crease in her skirt. “I wanted to look my best, so you’d be proud of me.”
“I am proud of you. You’re so beautiful I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to find you.”
“Divine intervention.” She smiled at him. One look and this man could make her go weak at the knees.
“I reckon so.”
She picked up her reticule and followed him out of the house. Max was already waiting in the buckboard.
“I thought you wanted to stock up on supplies. Won’t you need something bigger?”
As he lifted her on to the seat, he pressed a couple of quick kisses to her lips. “I usually ride in. Lewis at the mercantile delivers out this way every second Wednesday so we’ll only need to take the most important items with us.”
“Really?”
“He delivers to about half a dozen ranches each time. It’s a way of keeping customers from going into Davenport for their big shop up. On the way back he usually picks up some fresh produce as well. I built a small barn behind the trees to store the barrels I make or repair for him, and he uses that to drop off my supplies. Giddup.” He flapped the reins to get the horse moving. “He deducts the cost of the barrels from my account.”
Dressed in brown pants, blue shirt and brown leather vest, Connor looked ruggedly handsome. He wore his six gun and she assumed he would have his Winchester stowed under the seat, as he had once mentioned never leaving the ranch without it.
“You trust him not to cheat you?”
“Yes. I’ve known him all my life, he was my best friend at school. He’s married with seven kids.” Connor chuckled. “I don’t think I’d like that many.”
She elbowed him in the ribs. “I wouldn’t either.”
“How many kids plus me are we gonna have?” Max piped up.
“Three or four,” Connor said.
“Two or three,” she shot back, and they all laughed.
As they passed through the wooden archway at the entrance to Connor’s ranch, she glanced back and to the left spied a small barn built of split logs. Now that she wasn’t so exhausted, she noticed certain features she had missed on her arrival here. The isolation for one thing, they were certainly out in the middle of nowhere.
As they traveled along, he suddenly said. “I wish I wasn’t such a wreck of a man. You deserve someone better than me.”
“You are not a wreck of a man. You are hard-working, conscientious and you have a big heart. What more could a girl ask for? Besides, I love you Connor Grey.”
He gave an audible gasp. “You do?”
“Yes.” Why hide the fact that she loved him?
“I love you too, darlin’. I was too frightened to tell you in case you didn’t return my feelings.”
“Haven’t I shown you?” she teased.
“Yes, you’ve shown me, but I wanted to hear the words coming out of your mouth.”
“I love you both,” Max said. “I want to call you ma and pa from now on.”
“That’s good sweetheart, we’ve been longing to hear you say that.”
“I see smoke in the distance, is it coming from a neighbor’s ranch?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know them?” It was hard to get information out of him.
“A family by the name of Riley live there. They came after the war and bought up several small ranches whose menfolk had been killed. They tried to get our place. Ma sent them off with their backsides full of buckshot. I was here by then, too, so they didn’t bother us again.”
“They’ve been here over ten years and you still don’t know them?”
“Yes, and I don’t want to know them.” He lapsed into silence.
After another hour or so Anna started to see more signs of life. Fencing, grazing cattle, a ranch house or two. The trees had thinned out and they were passing through mainly grazing land.
The closer they got to town the more agitated Connor became.
“It’s all right.” She touched his hand, surprised to find a tremor in it. “You’ve got Max and me now.”
“I know, but I always get jittery coming into Skilton.”
“You’ll be fine. We can just order what we need from the mercantile then head for home.”
“I wanted to take you to the diner for a nice steak, but I’ll have to see how I feel when we get there. Sometimes I’m not so bad, other times, well….”
“It doesn’t matter, honestly. If you feel like taking us to the diner, lovely. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter.”
She watched him gritting his teeth, trying to get himself under control.
Chapter Eleven
Skilton was no different to most small Western towns, a long main street with a couple of side streets running off. They passed the livery stable, a red brick bank, barber and blacksmith. The saloon, even at this hour, had music floating out through the batwing doors. On the second-floor balcony, were several scantily clad women, waving to any man who passed by.
“Do you have a doctor here?”
“Yes, he lives in that side street near the bank.”
Webster’s Mercantile, seemed quite large for a small town. It took up two shop fronts.
Connor pulled up almost directly outside. Max jumped down even before Connor did. “Can I have a candy stick?” he asked. “Can I?”
“We’ll see, sweetheart, too much candy isn’t good for your teeth.”
“One piece won’t hurt him.” Connor ruffled his hair.
After he lifted her down, they linked arms and with Max skipping along beside them entered the store. A couple of men nodded to Connor who acknowledge them by raising his hand. Two elderly matrons stared intently at her and Max. Anna smiled at them, one smiled back the other ignored her.
“Howdy, Connor. What brings you here?” A tall thin man greeted him cheerfully.
“Howdy, Lewis. I need to buy a few stores.”
“Who are your friends?”
“The young man is Max, and the beautiful lady is Anna, my wife.”
“Wife! You cunning sonofa…. Sorry, Ma’am, excuse the cussin’. Why didn’t you tell me you were courting a pretty gal?”
Connor grinned. “You didn’t ask.”
“Well, Ma’am, I’m pleased to meet you. About time this man got himself hitched.”
“I’m pleased to meet you to Mr. Webster.”
>
“Call me Lewis, and I’ll take the liberty of calling you Anna.”
“Connor tells me you went to school together.”
“We did. And this young man is?”
“I’m Max.”
“Howdy, Max. I can see you’re a boy with a taste for candy sticks.” Lewis took the top off a glass jar, picked up a red and white candy stick and handed it over.
“Thanks, Mister.”
“Don’t eat it all as once,” Lewis said.
“I need to go to the bank. Can you look after Anna? We made a list of what we want and if she sees anything else that takes her fancy, let her buy it and put it on my account. And don’t be talking her into buying any rubbish. I know how sneaky you storekeepers can be, you’d do anything for a sale.”
“A man has to make a living.”
Anna was surprised at the banter between the two men.
“I need the money.” Lewis winked at her.
“Stop breeding like a rabbit then. How many is it now?”
“Seven, and another on the way.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Are you ever going to stop?”
“May wants ten.”
“Ten!” The exclamation fell out of Anna’s mouth of its own volition.
Connor laughed. “I won’t be long.”
“Can I come?” Max asked.
“Sure.”
Connor limped off with Max walking beside him sucking on his candy stick.
“I’m sorry, Lewis, that was so rude of me.”
“Don’t apologize, the wife loves babies. Have you known Connor long?”
“Not very long.” She hoped she didn’t sound too evasive and that he didn’t ask more probing questions as she didn’t know whether Connor wanted his friend to know how they met.
“You’ve got a good man,” Lewis said, perusing her list. “Yeah, I’ve got everything you’ve written down.”
“I know he’s a good man.”
“He’s had a hard life, him and his mother. He used to come to school covered in bruises sometimes. His father was a violent drunk, then he had a bad time at the war. He came home to die I think.”
“Oh, no.” Anna’s hands flew to her face with shock.
“I think so, but Mrs. Grey was a strong woman and got him back on his feet. Browse around while I fill your order. You might find something else you fancy.” He gave her a wink.
“Thank you.”
“That’s a fine-looking boy, you’ve got. He seems attached to Connor.”
“Yes, they get on really well.”
“Do you plan on sending him to school?”
“Yes, I’ll teach him at home for a while until he gets settled, then I will.”
“I’ve got four kids at the school; I’ll tell them to look out for him when he starts.”
“That would be kind, school can be a frightening place if you haven’t been before.”
She glanced over at the bolts of material in various colors stacked in one corner of the store. “You’ve got a good array of material,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind some of that blue and white checked cotton to make new curtains.”
“How much do you want? It’s fifteen cents per yard.”
“No, I’ll wait until Connor gets back and see if it’s okay with him.”
“Okay, browse around, there’s not a bad array of women’s garments. My wife organizes that. She gets lots of ideas out of those fancy New York magazines. She works here when I’m away.”
A rack of dresses appeared to be up to date in design. A pretty pink one with deeper pink embroidery on the sleeves and collar caught her eye. Buying material was one thing, purchasing a ready-made dress was another.
Connor hadn’t said anything last night when he had perused her list, but his eyebrows had quirked when he read the herbs and spices, she needed although they would only be an intermittent purchase. She didn’t know how much money he had. He wasn’t poor, certainly not rich and she hadn’t liked to ask him about his finances.
Connor and Max returned. “Have you ordered everything?”
“Yes. Lewis kindly set aside the things we need to take with us. Everything all right at the bank?”
“Yes, I wanted to check whether my barrel money went in and it did, so I can pay my account here. I don’t like owing money. Lewis is good about it, but he needs funds to run his store.”
“I think I’ve spent a lot.”
“We needed the stuff so don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
Lewis finished serving a customer and stepped over to them.
“I’ll pay what I owe you on my account before we go.”
“There’s no hurry. I know you’re good for it.”
“The barrel money from Hoskins came through. He’s my biggest customer, takes the bulk of my barrels,” he explained to Anna.
“I deducted what I owed you for the barrels you did for me, so all up, including today it’s twenty dollars.”
“Okay.” Connor handed over the money.
“Thanks, that includes fifteen yards of that blue and white material Anna wanted.”
“Blue and white material?” Connor swung around to face her.
She touched his arm. “I was just telling Lewis it would make pretty curtains, but….”
“If you want it, get it.”
“I didn’t know whether you could afford it.”
“I can. Do you need anything else to go with it?”
“Fifteen yards of lace would be good, cottons and….”
“Give her what she wants, and we’ll take it with us, along with the butter, cheese and bread.”
“Are you sure, Connor? I thought it would pretty the house up a little.”
“He wants you to have it,” Lewis said with a grin. “So just take it before he changes his mind.”
“I’m going to take Anna and Max to the diner.”
“You are?” A surprised expression spread across Lewis’ face. “If I wasn’t so busy, I’d come with you. I’d love to see Ivy’s face when you stroll in with these two in tow.”
“She’ll be right put out that I told you before her.”
Lewis gave a deep chuckle. “She sure will be. Ivy went to school with us. She’s harbored hopes of Connor marrying her for years.”
Anna gasped.
“She did not, we were friends nothing more. Besides, she’s happily married to Frank.”
“Well, she is now, but….”
“Lewis, you would have to be the biggest gossip in town, I swear it.”
“It’s a business thing.” Lewis winked at her. “I have to know all my customer’s weaknesses so I can exploit them.”
The men shook hands. “Come on, Anna, Max, let’s get out of here so we don’t give this gossip monger anymore ammunition.”
“I like him,” Anna said once they had exited the store.
“He’s a good man. May, his wife is a good woman, too.”
“Did she go to school with you?”
“No, she hails from Dallas.”
“I’d like to meet her.”
“Maybe when you get settled, they could come over for a visit,” Connor said.
“I’d like that.”
“Lewis is one of only a few people I’ve had come to the ranch. Ma wasn’t one for having people over. She didn’t mind Lewis or the preacher after pa died. No-one would come near the place while he was around.”
Anna linked arms with him. “It will be different now,” she said softly. “Now you’ve got Max and me.”
Ivy’s diner was only small, eight or ten tables at most. Red and white checked curtains fluttered at the windows. Homely was Anna’s first impression on stepping inside.
“Connor Grey. What brings you in here?” An attractive redhead wearing an apron with lace around the edges hurried up to him, skidding to a halt on seeing Anna and Max.
“Your beef steak, what else?” He grinne
d. “This woman cooks up the best beef steak you’ve ever tasted.”
“Are you going to introduce us,” Ivy asked.
“Yeah, Ivy, meet Max and Anna, my wife.”
“What! Oh, Connor, I’m so pleased for you.” She planted a kiss on his cheek, wrapped her arms around Anna and kissed her also. “Congratulations, you’ve got yourself a good man.”
“Thank you, Ivy. I know,” Anna said. “He’s the very best of men.”
Ivy looked as if she was having trouble dragging her gaze away from them. “The table at the end, Connor?”
“Thanks, you know me too well.”
Ivy gave a low gurgle of laughter. “Not as well as I wanted too, but now I’ve got Frank, I’m glad I turned you down.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “It was me who turned you down if I recall.” He turned to Anna. “We were twelve years old and she asked me to marry her.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “Come this way. How are you Max?”
“Good. I’m hungry.”
“That’s what I like to hear, young man.”
Ivy showed them to a table set for four in the far corner. “I call this Connor’s table, not that he comes in very often.” She scolded him with a smile. “I’ll get a menu for you, Anna. Connor always has the same.”
“I’m going to have the steak too, Max also, but we only want a small serving, thank you. He talked us into it outside.”
“Good choice, steak is the specialty of the house, so is my apple pie with clotted cream.”
“Sounds delicious,” Anna said with a smile. She liked this rather garrulous woman.
“I’ll bring the coffee pot over then you can serve yourselves. Connor usually drains it dry.”
After Ivy bustled off, Anna said. “I like your friends.”
“Lewis, May, Ivy, Doc Swanson and the sheriff are the only ones I have anything to do with, most of the others in town are new. I don’t mix with them much.”
“That’s a shame, some of them are probably nice people.”
“I guess they could be. When I do socialize, which isn’t often, I prefer to do it with people I’ve known all my life. They knew me before the war and know how it is with me. They don’t pity me or think I’m strange.” He shrugged. “It’s just the way I am now. I guess even as a child I was different to most kids.”
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