Claiming Their Mail-Order Bride: A Cowboy Ménage Romance (Montana Ménage Book 2)

by Lily Reynard

  Sarah went completely white and looked as scared as if she'd seen a mountain lion.

  He realized that she probably thought he'd be angry.

  Quickly, he said, "I was really hoping that the two of you would get to know each other better. And that he might be convinced to, uh, court you."

  To his relief, the terror evaporated from her expression. It was replaced by a deep rose-red blush.

  Fascinated, he watched as she licked her full, kissable lips and then chewed nervously on her lower lip.

  "Don't tell me that you and him already had your wedding night!"

  Walt couldn't believe it…though if it was true, it might explain why Larkin had gotten so spooked.

  Sarah drew herself up in indignation. "I'm still a virgin!" she protested. Then she added, in a small voice, "But Larkin did kiss me, ah, all over." The blush returned.

  Walt grinned. "I was hoping that he'd find you as cuddlesome as I do," he said, relieved. He couldn't help adding, "Maybe you can show me some of those 'all over' places later."

  He was hoping for another blush, and he got it. But he also got a tentative smile. "Perhaps we should get to know each other better first."

  Chapter Fifteen

  It took Sarah an unexpectedly long time to fall asleep alone in the big bed upstairs. She missed Larkin's long body stretched out beside her and the feeling of waking up slowly with the weight of his arm resting on her waist or his breath stirring her hair.

  The next morning, when her alarm roused her at dawn, she wondered whether she ought to have invited Walt to join her. He was the man who had asked for her hand in marriage, after all. But she felt shy. Since meeting him at the train station, she'd spent less than a full day in his company.

  At least with Larkin, despite his early hostility, she'd been able to share meals and chores with him until the step to further intimacy had felt natural and right.

  As much as she liked Walt, he was still a stranger to her. Now that he had returned from the mine, perhaps they could get to know one another better, until she felt as comfortable in his presence as she'd felt in Larkin's…before he had fled her presence, that is.

  She sighed. Despite Walt's assurances, she still wondered if she had done something to drive Larkin away.

  After washing her face and getting dressed, Sarah went downstairs to feed the chickens, gather eggs, and milk the cow. She spotted Walt behind the barn, trundling a wheelbarrow filled with soiled straw and horse manure in the direction of the big compost heap near the ranch's small orchard of fruit trees. The apple trees were currently in full bloom, with bees buzzing between the clusters of pink and white blossoms, and the plum, apricot, and peach trees were clothed in soft green leaves.

  When she returned to the house, a pail of fresh milk in her hand, she washed her hands and began preparing breakfast. Larkin had been quite taken with the pancakes she had made, so she decided to make them for Walt.

  Her guess proved to be right when they sat down to breakfast. Walt's face lit up when she placed a plate loaded with eggs, fried bacon, and a stack of fluffy golden pancakes in front of him.

  After doing some reading in the farming and housekeeping books that she had found on the living room bookshelves, she had succeeded in churning butter.

  She proudly placed the earthenware butter crock and a small pitcher filled with huckleberry syrup on the table, then returned to the stove to get her own plate of food and the coffee pot.

  Since coming to the ranch, Sarah had done more physical labor than she had ever done in her life. She now realized that she had lived a very sheltered and comfortable life even after Father had ruined himself with drink and cards.

  But she liked being here on the ranch, with its fresh air and beautiful surroundings, and once the soreness had faded from her muscles, she enjoyed sitting down to meals with a real appetite, not to mention the refreshing sleep that came after physical effort.

  The two of them ate in silence for a while. Sarah kept sneaking glances over at Walt, who was making the food on his plate vanish with astonishing rapidity. He took big forkfuls of the pancakes, and she saw his eyes close in bliss as he chewed and swallowed.

  Relieved, she rose to refill their coffee cups.

  When she returned to the table, Walt's plate was empty. He wiped his mouth with a contented sigh and smiled at her. "That was a mighty fine breakfast, Sarah. Thank you."

  "You're very welcome," she told him, pleased at the compliment. She poured coffee. "There's some more pancake batter, if you're still hungry."

  His face lit up. "I still have an empty corner or two in my stomach."

  Sarah turned to head for the stove, but he stopped her with a hand on her wrist.

  To her relief, she felt the same pleasant shock of contact as before. She had worried that her newfound feelings for Larkin might mean that she was no longer attracted to Walt.

  "Sarah, I was wondering if you'd like to go for a ride after breakfast. Did Lark give you a tour of the ranch?"

  She shook her head. "He was very busy." Then, not wanting to make Larkin sound bad, she added, "But he did take me into town to go shopping, which I very much appreciated."

  "So, that's a yes?"

  "Oh yes!" Sarah said. Then she considered, and added, "Except I don't know how to ride."

  Walt's fair brows shot up. "You…don't know how to ride?" He sounded incredulous.

  As he should be, since he was under the impression that Sarah had grown up on a farm.

  "I was only allowed to ride in a wagon," she said quickly.

  It was the mostly the truth—she'd been around horses all of her life, but middle-class city girls rode in horse-drawn taxi cabs or trolley cars. Her parents had never owned horses of their own. She added, "But I'd love to learn, if you don't mind teaching me."

  Walt grinned. To her relief, instead of questioning her further, he said, "I like a person who's willing to learn something new. You don't weigh more than feather—how about we ride double on Toledo?"

  "I'd like that," she said.

  Toledo looked intimidatingly large when she stepped up on a wooden crate a short time later to climb into the saddle, but the gelding was calm and patient—and so was Walt.

  Once she had taken her seat, her skirts bunched up to expose her booted ankles and a scandalous amount of calf, Walt swung up smoothly behind her.

  It felt odd yet very freeing to ride astride, and she liked Walt's solid presence at her back and his arm around her waist, steadying her. He made her feel safe, even in the most uncertain of situations, and he was gentle and consistently good-natured, especially when compared to the mercurial Larkin.

  The two friends were so different from each other, yet somehow, she enjoyed spending time with both of them. It amazed her that their kisses could both kindle that sweetly aching throb of desire inside her.

  Keeping his big gray-and-white gelding to a sedate walk, Walt took her on a leisurely circuit of the ranch's pastures, threaded with clear, sparkling streams and dotted with beef cattle grazing peacefully alongside deer and more of the white-and-tan pronghorns that she had seen the other day.

  Then he directed Toledo onto a path that wound upwards through thick stands of trees to the crest of the hill. When they reached a clearing at the very top, Walt halted the horse and dismounted.

  At his urging, Sarah wriggled around in a mass of twisted skirts and petticoats until she had managed to maneuver both of her legs onto the same side of the horse, then she slid down into Walt's waiting arms.

  He caught her and gave her a quick squeeze before lowering her gently to her feet.

  "You can see the whole ranch from here," he said, looping Toledo's reins over a low branch.

  The big horse put his head down and began to crop the tender green grass as Walt took Sarah's hand, weaving his fingers through hers, and led her to the edge of the clearing.

  There, they stopped to admire the spectacular vista of the valley below and the rolling hills and snowcapped moun
tains beyond.

  She spotted the distant shapes of the house, barn, and other outbuildings, and pointed them out to Walt.

  He nodded and gestured at a set of wooded hills on the other side of the valley. "That's where our mine is located, right behind that big outcropping."

  Sarah squinted, hoping to discern any figures toiling among the rocks, but she saw only trees and large, weathered rocks.

  "It's well-hidden," she commented.

  "Lark and I have been discussing whether to build a smelter right here on the ranch," Walt said, frowning. "We've got plenty of trees for wood, and with the discovery of a fresh vein of ore, enough copper to justify the expense. He's all for it, and it makes sense from a dollar-and-cents point of view, but I like the clean air and those trees right where they are. I don't want wake up in a few years and realize that my ranch looks like Butte."

  "What's wrong with Butte?" she asked with genuine curiosity, since it had been her original destination.

  Walt grimaced. "It's the ugliest place I've ever seen—when you can see it at all. The place is usually covered in a fog of smoke that makes your eyes water and your throat feel like it's been sandpapered. Imagine this ranch stripped down to bare dirt and rocks and cast into perpetual twilight—no trees, no grass, no clean water, no clean air to breathe. Every time I go there, I'm grateful to leave." He shook his head. "You could promise to make me the richest man in the territory, and it wouldn't be worth it if I had to live in a place like Butte."

  The mental image evoked by his description made her very glad that she hadn't ended up in her original destination. She remembered the sight of all those barren hills around Twin Forks, dotted with tree stumps like headstones in a graveyard. Those were bad enough…and the town still had grass and flowers, and the air was relatively clean.

  By comparison, this ranch looked like an unspoiled slice of Paradise.

  By this time, the sun was high overhead. Her stomach began growl. Walt shot her an amused glance. "I was just thinking that it's been a good long while since breakfast."

  "And this looks like a lovely place for a picnic," Sarah agreed. "Shall we go fetch our lunch from the saddlebags?”

  Walt unfolded a large blanket woven with colorful geometric designs. Then the two of them sat, side by side, eating sandwiches and drinking fresh milk out of a stone bottle while they watched cattle and deer grazing peacefully on the nearby slopes.

  "I fell in love with this valley the first time I saw it as a boy. We'd been traveling for a long time by then, along with a group of other settlers. That's when I first met Larkin—on the wagon train from Missouri, right about the time that the Civil War began. His dad had worked at a lumber mill in Iowa, but when he heard the news about the discovery of gold in the Montana Territory, he had the same thoughts that my parents had—go west and strike it rich." Walt's smile turned wry. "My parents had been trying to scratch a living out of a farm back in Ohio, so when they found this place, they decided pretty quickly that they'd rather be ranchers than gold miners."

  "My most sincere condolences. Larkin reminded me that your parents perished during the epidemic last year." She laid a hand on his wrist.

  He sighed. Still looking out over the vista, he said, "I won't lie to you. Losing them broke my heart. I've spent a year living alone in that house—well, living with Lark, but I reckon you know what I mean—and I want a family to make it a real home again."

  He turned his head and looked deep into her eyes.

  She felt powerfully drawn to him and found herself unable to look away. He’s such a brave, sweet man. I don't deserve him…but I really wish he would kiss me again.

  He draped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  "I meant every word that I wrote you in those letters," he murmured as she nestled against him, feeling as if she belonged there. "You're so beautiful, and I feel lucky that you took a chance and came all the way out here to be with me. I'm sorry that I wasn't square about Lark, but I'll make it right. I promise."

  "But I feel just as luck—" she began to protest.

  He cut her off with a warm kiss that quickly turned hotly passionate.

  When he pulled back, he said firmly, "I'm the luckiest man in Twin Forks. And you're not going to convince me otherwise."

  His words, combined with the warmth in his bright blue eyes, made her cheeks heat.

  When his mouth descended on hers once more, she wound her arms around his neck and didn't resist when he turned and urged her onto her back. He followed her down onto the blanket.

  His lips on hers quickly summoned the sweet ache of arousal. A hot pulse of need kindled between her thighs, throbbing in time with her heartbeat.

  It felt so right to lie in his arms like this, his big, hard body pressing her into the springy grass beneath their picnic blanket. And she wanted it every bit as badly as she had wanted Larkin yesterday.

  What kind of woman does that make me? she thought dizzily.

  He deepened his kiss, and she parted her lips. As he slid his tongue into the welcoming depths of her mouth, she heard him groan with need.

  Then she pressed her hips and belly against the stiff length of his manhood, which strained against the confines of his miner's jeans.

  I shouldn't be doing this, the rational, proper part of her mind reminded her. Not when I barely know him. But her body, newly wakened to passion, knew what it wanted, and right now, it wanted Walt.

  Walt apparently shared her feelings. He began an urgent, sensual exploration of her mouth.

  Sarah's tongue tentatively caressed his in return, and soon she was panting and devouring his lips with same hunger that he displayed. She rubbed herself against him in the most shameless way.

  When Walt ended the kiss at last, both of them were breathing hard. His blue eyes were dilated with need, and Sarah's cheeks burned with the desire raging through her.

  She knew she should push him away now. Go fetch the jam tarts she had packed in Toledo's saddlebags, ask him more questions about the ranch…something.

  Anything to keep her from taking the next step and committing herself irrevocably to this sweet, chivalrous man who was also still essentially a stranger.

  As if I hadn't already planned to marry him when Liza convinced me come here, her inner voice reminded her.

  She had known that he would make a good husband from their first meeting at the train station. Liza's packet of letters had confirmed as much.

  I've only known Walt for a day. I shouldn't rush to give up my maidenhead, Sarah reminded himself. Especially since I don’t know for sure if Larkin is still against me marrying Walt. He said he wasn't, but what if he changes his mind?

  And what happens if Walt finds out that I'm not really Liza Hunter? What if he and Larkin make me leave the ranch? Then I'll be a fallen woman, and no one will ever want to marry me.

  Walt, apparently sensing her inner turmoil, broke the kiss.

  Raising himself up on his elbows, he asked with a concerned frown, "Sarah? Is everything okay?"

  "Yes," she assured him. "Everything is perfect. I just can't believe how fortunate I am to be here with you." She hesitated, hoping that she wasn't ruining everything, then confessed in a rush, "When Larkin kissed me, I really liked it. But I like it when you kiss me, too. I'm so confused!"

  "Did Larkin enjoy kissing you?"

  Sarah nodded.

  "Well, that explains it," Walt commented enigmatically. At least he didn't seem to be angry. To her surprise, he chuckled and moved over her again. "No wonder he was spooked! I bet he's falling for you, and he's all-fired confused right now."

  "You're really not angry that we kissed and, ah, did other things?" she pressed. "I was afraid that you'd be jealous. Or think that I was some kind of scarlet woman."

  Walt grinned. "Actually, I'm mighty relieved that you and Lark took a shine to each other, even if he's being a damn fool about it about at the moment."

  Unlike his friend, whose kisses and caresses were ur
gent, hard, and demanding, Walt took his time kissing her eyes, her cheeks, the tip of her nose before returning to her lips, teasing rather than taking.

  She gasped as his mouth left hers and traveled lower, nibbling the tender skin on the side of her neck, right over the fading mark that Larkin's teeth had left.

  "Did Larkin kiss you here?" Walt asked, his voice a little rough now.

  "Not exactly," Sarah said.

  She couldn't help wondering whether Walt would use his teeth on her like Larkin had.

  She had a brief, vivid fantasy about being sandwiched between their hard bodies, with Walt kissing her mouth with his tender skill as Larkin's teeth closed on the nape of her neck like those of a tiger. Intense heat shot through her at the thought of both of them making love to her at the same time. If we were all married, perhaps…