“Sure, Sage.”
Maggie winced a little when Hank took a big hunting knife from his belt and deftly ran it across the buck’s throat. She couldn’t help wondering if Hank had used that knife on a human being before, but she was sure if he had, it was for good reason. Hank was one of the friendliest men in Paradise Valley. Maggie didn’t know his sins and didn’t care to judge him, just as she didn’t care about Sage’s misdeeds. They were all good men at heart.
“You two get that buck down to the slaughtering shed and bleed it out and gut it,” Sage told Bill and Hank. “And I agree we should save the head and those antlers. Do what you have to do for that.”
“Joe Cable knows how to clean and dry out what needs to be,” Bill answered. “He could make a living at taxidermy, but he’d rather be outside ridin’ the range, like most of us.” He proceeded to help Hank tie the legs of the buck.
“Hang it over Maggie’s horse,” Sage told them. “Maggie can ride back to the house with me.”
“Sure enough.” Hank threw a blanket over Maggie’s saddle, and Sage helped both men tie the deer onto her horse. Hank and Bill rode off, carting the buck behind them. Sage turned to Maggie, who eyed him warily.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked, stepping back a little as he came closer, towering over her with a loving but somewhat chastising look on his handsome face.
Sage sighed and folded his arms. “Maggie, when are you going to stop looking at me like I might beat you or something? I’m not your father, and I’m not those men who killed your first husband and abused you.”
Maggie shrugged. “It’s hard for a person to get over how they were raised. Every time I made my pa mad, he found a way to punish me, and it was always more than just a scolding.”
“Have I ever laid a hand on you that way?”
Maggie grinned. “Of course not. But you’re my husband, and I’ve seen the mean side of you against men who crossed you. Husbands have rights.”
“No man has rights like that, especially not a father or a husband. And you know what my first wife did to me. She’s the only woman I was ever truly angry with, but for God’s sake, I never hit her. You know me better by now, but damn it, Maggie, you have to tell me or one of the men if you’re going to ride off alone. What if Missy stumbled or threw you off? Or what if that buck kicked you? You could lie hidden in this tall grass for hours before we’d find you. You do happen to be carrying, you know.”
Maggie walked closer and threw her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. “I know. But there wasn’t time to tell anybody, Sage. I had to hurry after I saw him out here again.”
Sage’s strong arms came around her, and he kissed the top of her head. “Just keep your promise about not going off alone. This ranch might be well guarded, but seven or eight men can’t scan a whole sixty thousand acres day and night or all at once. You’re lucky Hank and Bill and I were already back from the east range when we heard your gunshot and were able to get here as fast as we did.”
“But I was okay.”
“How could we know that?” Sage squeezed her closer. “Maggie, I went through enough hell rescuing you from those men on the Outlaw Trail. I’m still not quite over it, and I know you aren’t either. And I know why you came out here and shot that deer.”
Maggie frowned, looking up at him. “What do you mean?”
Sage moved away slightly and cupped her chin in his hand. He leaned down to kiss her softly. “I mean you don’t have to keep proving your worth to me. You think that because you’re carrying another man’s baby, I’m going to eventually stop loving you. Or that I’ll never be able to love that kid in your belly. And you’re still comparing yourself to Joanna.”
Maggie turned away. “She is so beautiful, and educated and all lady and—”
“And she was out for nothing but my money,” Sage reminded her, “which is why I divorced her. Her kind of betrayal was as bad as cheating on me with another man. You, on the other hand, are the most blatantly honest and generous woman I’ve ever known. There’s a lot more to a woman worthy of love than education and sophistication, Maggie, and you’re it. And you’re damn beautiful in your own right. You’re all the reasons a man wants a woman in his life forever.”
Maggie looked up at him. “I love when you tell me things like that, Sage.”
Sage chuckled and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “You damn well know that I’m not a man to speak my feelings easily. I wouldn’t have told you I love you and I wouldn’t have married you if what I just said wasn’t true. What more do I need to do to prove how I feel about you?”
Maggie’s eyes teared. “Nothing at all. It’s just me being scared of losing you, Sage, because I love you so much and I love this life and this ranch.” Her smile faded. “If this baby at least belonged to James, it would be different. He was my legal husband. But those men shot him down, and now I’m carrying a baby fathered by one of them.”
“And I made sure they’re all dead. Through it all, I fell in love with you. Have you ever once heard me call that child a bastard?”
Maggie quickly wiped at her tears. “No. But I can’t help wondering if you’ve thought it.”
“And what did I tell you about that baby when I told you I wanted to marry you?”
Maggie faced him. “That you would love it like your own, and he or she would inherit part of this ranch like they had your own blood.”
“Am I a liar?”
Maggie sniffed and wiped at her nose with her sleeve. “No. Joe Cable once told me you’re as honest as what a man sees in a looking glass, and that’s why he likes working for you—your honesty and your loyalty.”
“Then why are you doubting my word? And why do you think you have to find ways to make sure I keep loving you?”
Maggie looked out at the heavenly colors and glorious beauty of Paradise Valley. The beautiful log home she lived in sat peacefully below, beyond a half mile of yellow grass that rippled from a soft wind. Pockets of cattle and horses dotted the landscape, along with two cabins, a large bunkhouse, two big barns, a chicken coop, and storage sheds. She’d never loved anything as much in her life as she loved Wyoming and this ranch and the man who owned it. “It’s just me, I guess. You’re all man and so sure of yourself, and some men don’t want kids at all, let alone when they aren’t their own.”
Sage pulled her back into his arms. “Well, I do want kids. You know that. For one thing, I’ll need them to help run this ranch, and I’ll take in the one you’re carrying and love it because I love his or her mother. You already had to bury a baby girl back in Missouri, and I know you’ve been yearning ever since for another baby. Maybe this one is a gift from God because of what you went through. I don’t know. I’m not much of one to talk about things like that.
“I just know I’ve found the perfect woman to share this ranch with me. And as far as anyone other than you and me knows, that baby you’re carrying is mine. Everybody knows we spent quite a while together searching for those bastards who took you, so no one will doubt we could have fallen in love and answered each other’s needs on the trail. Hell, that is what happened.”
Maggie snuggled against him, breathing in his scent, all leather and fresh air and man. “How could any woman not fall in love with you?”
Sage gave a light laugh. “There are plenty who would find that difficult. You already know I’m not always easy to live with.”
Maggie stood on her toes and managed to reach his lips for a quick kiss. “Are you proud of me for shooting that buck?”
“You know I am—just as proud and grateful as I was when you shot that grizzly that was trying to tear me to pieces back when I first found you.” He leaned down and returned her kiss, deeper, hungrier. “And right now I could lay you down in this grass and have at you.” He pressed a hand against her bottom. “But some of the other men will be riding this way soon with some
fencing, so I’d better get you back to the house.”
He lifted her in his arms, and Maggie reached around his neck when he kissed her again, a long, slow kiss of promise for things to come later. He finally left her lips and kissed her neck as he carried her to his horse. “Damn it, Maggie, I have chores. You have completely disrupted my day, and now I don’t even want to go back out once I get you to the house.”
“Well, I have some bread dough rising, and it needs to be punched down and kneaded again, so we both have chores.”
“Then I’d better get you back.” Lifting her as though she weighed nothing, Sage plunked her on his horse, then mounted up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and taking the reins. “Maggie girl, as a hunter, you are beginning to make me look bad.”
Maggie rested against his solid chest as Sage urged his horse into a gentle trot toward their log home. “That would be impossible,” she answered. “You’re the bravest, most able man I’ve ever known. I’d be dead or living some kind of horror if not for you. And you most certainly would have brought down that buck with one shot and done it easily. I just got lucky.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself.”
Maggie smiled at her husband’s words of love and pride, and his reassuring arms around her. She was safe and loved in his embrace. “I love you, Sage.”
“Then keep your promises, Mrs. Lightfoot, or I will have to punish you.”
“And how would you do that?”
Sage grinned. “Let’s just say that I’m having fun thinking about it.” He ran a big hand over her belly. “But you need to start taking better care of yourself. Don’t be riding around so much on horseback, and I’m going to have Rosa start helping with more of your chores around the house.”
“I can do them.”
“Stop arguing with me.”
“Yes, sir.” Maggie knew the difference between a teasing Sage and one who meant business—and he meant business with his last statement, which was fine. It meant he cared. No man had cared about her like Sage did—not her demanding and unforgiving father, and not her first husband, who’d only used her for sex and chores and knew nothing about how to love or how to make love. Those were two things Sage Lightfoot was damn good at.
Three
“I don’t like this drought.” Sage removed his boots and socks while Maggie brushed her hair vigorously, always finding it difficult to pull a brush easily through the thick mass of red curls.
“We have plenty of water in South Creek,” Maggie reminded him.
“For now. And every time we get a storm with lightning, I worry about a prairie fire. We need a lot more than a couple of storms and a little rain to avoid that danger.”
Maggie set down the brush. “And you were wise enough to preserve the northeast ten thousand acres for an emergency. You shipped off fifteen hundred head of cattle last month, Sage, and so far, the rest are still grazing on the southwest section.”
Sage removed his shirt and pants. “What’s there is fast drying up. One good fire will devour all that’s left and move this way. It could consume this house and all the outbuildings. The canyon between here and the grass in the northeast will save that section. Sully Creek runs through there, and so far that keeps it green. But getting the cattle across that canyon wouldn’t be an easy task. My plan was to cut the grass there for winter feed, not graze it. In the meantime, it won’t take long for hungry beef to graze out those eight thousand acres, let alone lap up what’s left of South Creek if we don’t get some rain.” He laid his clothes over a chair and removed the top half of his long johns. “The biggest problem is we didn’t get enough snow this past winter. The mountain runoff is done with.”
In the mirror, Maggie had watched him undress. His physique always moved her in womanly ways. Sage Lightfoot was tall and broad and muscled. He knew his way around men of every type, with guns and fists. He’d lived with the worst of them. Power and bravery emanated from his very being, and she loved every inch of him, to his heart and soul. He’d worked hard to build up what he now owned, but he always worried about losing it. He’d known too much hurtful rejection, from his adoptive family to his first wife. Now he feared losing all he had worked for to drought and fire.
“Sage, you’ll be okay. There’s always open range.”
“That’s not something I can depend on anymore. The damn government is cracking down on grazing on government land, and they own too much of Wyoming. Now we’re forced to compete with other ranchers for open range, especially in time of drought. And that’s not even taking into account the sheep men. These conditions can lead to range wars.”
Maggie rose from her dressing table and walked over to hug her husband around the middle, resting her face against his bare chest. In spite of wearing a flannel gown that should be too warm for the hot August night, she shivered—not from the night air that came through an open window, but from Sage’s suggestion of a range war.
“I hate that kind of talk. I know you, Sage, and if there is any kind of fighting over grazing land, you’ll be right in the middle of it. That won’t mean just other men trying to take what isn’t theirs, but it would also mean the law coming to take care of things, maybe even the federal government. You and the law don’t exactly get along.”
Sage moved his arms around her. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m just trying to look ahead and find ways to stave off any trouble. The best thing that could happen is about a week of hard rain, and that’s not likely this time of year.”
Maggie looked up at him. “Maybe the men could dig some fire barriers now—do a controlled burn or something in the south or the west that might prevent a fire from going too far.”
Sage grinned, holding her face in his hands. “Along thousands of acres? I’d have to hire a hundred more men, which I can’t afford. And who knows where a fire might start? Lightning can strike anywhere. It’s a damn big country, you know.”
“Yes, it is, and I love all of it!” Maggie grasped his wrists. “And I love the man who runs it all. You have to stop worrying about what might happen, Sage.”
Sage leaned down to kiss her, and Maggie reached up and put her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with a soft “Mmmmm.” She pulled away with a smile. “Let’s only talk about these things at the table or something—not here in the bedroom. I prefer to talk about things that make me happy when we’re in here.”
Sage grinned and lifted her into his arms. “You mean you prefer to do things that make you happy when we’re in here.”
Maggie laughed. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
Sage laid her on the bed, and Maggie moved under a quilt. Sage crawled in beside her, then moved on top of her. He kissed her deeply as he ran a hand along her leg and over her bottom. “You should be too tired from your big hunting expedition this morning and all the baking you did today to want your husband’s attention tonight.”
“I’m never too tired for you,” Maggie answered, shivering with desire as Sage nuzzled her neck.
“You little vixen. You left off your drawers.”
Maggie smiled slyly. “I was hoping you’d do enough searching to notice once we got into bed. I’m just making things easier on you.”
Sage ran a hand over her belly. “Your belly is growing. Our baby is getting bigger.”
“He or she certainly is, and faster than I expected for only four months along.” Maggie frowned. “When I get really big, it won’t bother you, will it?”
Sage chuckled. “It only accents that you’re all woman. You’re beautiful and so full of life.”
Maggie’s smile faded. “You’ll love this one just as much as any babies we have in the future, won’t you?”
Sage studied her eyes as he ran a gentle hand over her belly. “We’ve had this conversation too many times, Maggie. You know I will. I want a whole passel of kids starting with this one, as long as you’re
healthy enough for it and you want them, too.”
Maggie reached up to push some of his thick, dark hair behind one ear. “I do. I intend to give you as many children as you want. You deserve a loving family.”
“And I’ll always love the small but damn strong woman who gives me that big family. I love her fiery-red hair and her eyes green as grass and the freckles across her nose and cheeks and the way she handles a Sharps rifle.”
Maggie laughed lightly. “There was a time when I threatened to use that rifle on you, if you will remember. I’m so glad I didn’t kill you when you found me out on the plains alone. I’d have missed out on all of this.”
Sage met her mouth again in a hungry kiss. He worked his magic with hands and kisses and pure manliness. There was no more to be said, no doubt about his love for her. Maggie opened herself to him, forcing back thoughts of fire and a possible range war. Here in this bed there should be only good thoughts, only fulfilling passion…only this…Sage Lightfoot making love to her in the beautiful way he had of making sure she knew she belonged only to him. With his fingers, he explored secret places, stirring the silken juices that made her whimper with desire and finally whisper his name in a sweet climax.
Sage moved between her legs and pushed himself inside her. He groaned with pleasure, which only made Maggie want him more. She loved knowing she was pleasing him. She sighed and whimpered in return, his rhythmic thrusts always bringing her to something beyond ecstasy, a sweet fulfillment she’d never known until this man showed her what making love was really about. Sage seemed to naturally understand what a woman needed. He never took her just because he felt he had husbandly rights. Maggie knew that even as his wife, if she told him no, he would leave her alone.
She groaned as she arched her body to take in every inch of him. When she was lost under him this way, she never wanted to say no. She was totally at his command, eager to do whatever pleased Sage Lightfoot. He’d taken away the ugliness of the attack that had created the child she carried, and he’d said he would love the baby and raise it as his own. How could she not love and respect him for that?
Longing for a Cowboy Christmas Page 10
