After lunch, Sam and Thane drove the wagons to the mercantile where Sam filled a list of supplies for the ranch while Thane found pants and shirts in Jack’s size, along with a pair of sturdy boots for Lily.
Jemma purchased lengths of cloth and the necessary trims to make a few dresses, along with fabric for curtains and toweling.
A display of quilts, made by a local woman, drew Jemma’s attention and she fingered the intricately stitched bed coverings.
“Do you want one?” Thane asked, stepping behind her, making her hand fly up to the cameo pinned at her throat as she spun around.
“Oh, I… they’re quite lovely.” Jemma returned her attention to the assortment of quilts. “I should think they would provide a warm covering for a bed this winter.”
“I suppose,” Thane said. The word “bed” made him think of Jemma sharing his. Unsettled, he cleared his throat and focused on the stack of quilts. “If you want one, get it.”
“Actually, I’d like two. If you’ve no objection, may we please purchase one for Lily’s bed and one for… ours.” Her cheeks filled with color at the reference to their shared bed.
Thane coughed to hide his chuckle. “That’s fine. Choose whatever you like.”
Jemma nodded and looked through the colorful quilts again, making her selection. Picking up Lily, she let the little girl choose which one she liked best for her bed. Excited that she picked her own quilt, Lily ran to Thane and tugged on his hand, eager for him to see her selection.
Thane met Jemma on her way to the front counter where the clerk tallied up their purchases and took the quilts from her.
“Add this to the total, would you, Frank?” Thane asked.
“Sure thing.” The man folded the quilts and set them in a box.
“Do the quilt patterns have names?” Jemma asked, looking at Thane. She was unfamiliar with American quilts, but found herself thoroughly intrigued by the idea of making one. Perhaps after she’d acquired some fabric scraps she could spend time learning to quilt during the winter months.
Thane shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the clerk.
The man nodded to Jemma and placed his hand on Lily’s pink, white, and green quilt. “This one is a rose wreath pattern. See how the pieces look like rose wreaths?”
“Yes, I did notice that. Thank you, sir, for pointing out that distinctive feature.” Jemma smiled at the man and the tips of his ears reddened. “What about the other one? Does it have a pattern name as well?”
“Well, sure, ma’am. That’s a wedding ring quilt. Seems fitting since you and Thane are recently wed.”
“Yes, fitting.” Jemma snapped her mouth shut as Thane took her fingers in his, lifting them to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the back of her gloved hand. When she stared at him, he gave her a roguish wink.
Aware of his teasing, Jemma glowered at him before pasting on a smile for the clerk. “It was a pleasure to meet you, sir. I shall look forward to frequenting your establishment in the future.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” The clerk nodded to her as she took Lily’s hand and escorted her and Jack outside the store.
As he watched her walk outside, the clerk grinned at Thane. “That’s quite a wife you got there, Thane, and two nice kids. You’re a lucky man.”
In agreement, Thane nodded his head as he picked up their purchases and headed toward the door.
After a stop at the grocer’s store, they started home. Jemma flapped her handkerchief in front of her face to chase away the dust and stir a breeze. Although the nights were cool, the past few days had been as warm as many summer days at home in Bolton.
Catching herself, Jemma knew she had to stop thinking of Bolton as home. Baker City was her new home. If the nice people she’d met today were an indication of what it would be like to be a part of the community, she decided it might not be all bad, even if she had to put up with Thane to live there.
Never quite certain if she should love him or loathe him, she wavered between the warring emotions. One minute he could charm her like no man she’d ever encountered. The next he could infuriate her beyond the point of reason. She struggled to maintain a balance between the two.
Despite how angry he could make her, a glimpse back at the wagon bed full of purchases made gratitude swell in her for Thane. He never questioned anything she wanted to purchase, encouraged her to buy more than she thought they needed, and made the day into a grand adventure for the children. Right now, they sat on the new sofa licking lollipops Thane handed them once they returned to the wagon.
“I do believe, Mr. Jordan, the children and I are in peril of being spoiled.” The smile she gave Thane warmed him more than the afternoon sun beating down overhead.
“What makes you say that?” He grinned as Jemma tried to hold a handkerchief in one hand, a parasol in the other, and maintain her balance on the wagon seat as they bumped along the road toward home.
“You were quite openhanded with the purchases today. This is far beyond what we need and I thank you sincerely for your generosity.” Jemma glanced over her shoulder at Jack and Lily, lowering her voice before she spoke again. “It was truly a wonderful day for the children. It takes so little to make them happy and you’ve far exceeded their expectations.”
“You’re welcome, Jem. I enjoyed the day, too.” Thane leaned over until his mouth was close to her ear. “I’m looking forward to seeing the clothes you found at Maggie’s. If you got a new corset, maybe you’d be of a mind to model it for me.”
The smile dripped off Jemma’s face as she raised her chin and offered Thane an irritated glare. “You’re impossible!”
Slapping a hand to his chest, Thane slumped against the seat, acting as though he was greatly relieved. “Whew! I’m so glad to hear that. Here I thought I’d been entirely possible all day and it might ruin me yet. I’m glad to know I’m as cantankerous as ever.”
Sam roared with laughter as he drove beside them, making Jack and Lily giggle.
Jemma inched her spine upward, sitting so straight Thane had no idea how she could even breathe. Evidently, she had enough air in her lungs to mutter while shooting him exasperated glares.
“Preposterous, outrageous man.”
Chapter Sixteen
A mountain of trunks in the back of the barn drew Jemma’s scrutiny as she tried to decide how best to reach the one she wanted.
She’d asked the men to bring in one trunk or another while she set the house to rights, but hated to bother them with another request, especially when all she wanted was her riding boots.
In the last week, she arranged the furniture, sewed curtains for the windows and dresses for Lily, hung paintings on the cabin’s bare walls and turned the rough structure into a cozy home. With the house in order, she wanted to ride Jael while the nice weather continued. Just that morning, Sam and Thane discussed the possibility of snow.
Jemma dreaded the thought of the cold winter ahead. She wanted to savor every moment she could outdoors while she had the opportunity.
After leaving the children at the bunkhouse with Sam, Jemma returned to the house and dressed in one of the three split skirts Maggie insisted she needed.
She tucked a peach-colored cotton blouse into the waist of the dark brown skirt, slipped on a jacket, grabbed a broad-brimmed straw hat and a pair of leather gloves then hurried out the door before she changed her mind.
As she rushed out to the barn, she decided she could quickly become accustomed to the ease of movement provided by the skirt that left her legs free of the confining layers of petticoats and heavy skirts.
With no one else around to help her, she grabbed the handles of one of the heavy trunks and scooted it over, dragging it from one stack to another, trying to work her way down to a trunk near the bottom of the pile.
A grunt escaped her as she attempted to lift a heavy trunk. When strong arms bracketed her and effortlessly lifted the trunk, she swallowed down a shriek.
Once the trunk rested on the ground directly
in front of her, gloved hands spun her around and she looked into Thane’s blazing blue eyes.
“What did I tell you about not lifting these trunks?” Thane towered over her as his hands held her arms, keeping her from moving.
In her efforts to get to the trunk containing her boots, she hadn’t heard him approach. “Mercy! Did you have to sneak up on me?”
“Sneak up on you? I stomped in here with my spurs jingling. If you can’t hear that, then maybe we better talk to the Doc about getting your ears checked the next time we’re in town.” He continued staring at her as she glared at him. “What did you need so bad it couldn’t wait until one of the boys could get it for you?”
“My riding boots.” She pulled out of Thane’s grasp and pointed to the trunk she wanted. “I need my boots and saddle. They’re in that trunk right there.”
Thane moved two more trunks piled on the one in question and hefted it where Jemma could open the lid and dig inside. The scent of leather drifted up from the trunk when she opened it and she pulled out a pair of tall brown riding boots. After setting them down, she lifted out her sidesaddle and Jael’s bridle.
Pleased to have what she wanted, she started to close the lid of the trunk, only to have Thane push it open and grab her sidesaddle away from her. “You don’t need that.”
She jerked it back and frowned. “I do if I want to ride Jael. We’ve both been cooped up too long.”
Thane pried the saddle from her fingers, stuck it in the trunk, closed the lid, and sat on it. Before Jemma could storm off angry, he snaked out a hand and grabbed her arm, pulling her against him. He spread his legs apart and tugged until she sat on his thigh then trapped her legs by draping his calf over them, effectively caging her.
“You’re an inexcusable bully.”
“Probably, but I want you to listen to what I’m trying to say.” Thane waited until she looked at him to continue. “It’s too dangerous for you to ride the sidesaddle, Jem. There are holes, snakes, scraggly brush, varmints of all shapes and sizes out there. A sidesaddle isn’t safe here on the ranch. I don’t care if you ride, but you’ll do it on a western saddle, astride.”
“I’ll do no such thing!” Jemma stiffened and unsuccessfully tried to wiggle free of his hold. It would be one thing if they were truly married, but since they weren’t, she found his behavior scandalous. His inappropriate familiarity both irked and enticed her. Perched as she was on Thane’s solid thigh, she considered the impropriety of the situation. His body heat warmed her everywhere they connected. “It would be indecent.”
“No, it wouldn’t. Hundreds of women ride astride every single day. If you want to go for a ride, it’s my way or not at all.” Thane set his jaw and leveled his steely blue stare to her snapping copper gaze.
“You do not possess even the most rudimentary knowledge of the notion of compromise.” A beleaguered sigh rose from her chest and floated out her lips. She debated what she wanted more — to ride Jael or annoy Thane by marching back inside the house and slamming the door. The desire to ride trumped salvaging her pride, so she nodded in agreement. “Fine. I shall ride as you suggest, but if any one accuses you of having a loose woman for a wife, it is through no fault of my own.”
Thane smirked and released his hold as he stood and set her back on her feet. “Put the bridle on Jael while I get your saddle.”
Jemma walked to her mare’s stall and rubbed the horse’s neck and along the slope of her face before slipping on the bridle.
As she led the horse out of the stall toward the door of the barn, she watched Thane step out of the tack room with a saddle blanket and a beautiful new saddle.
Detailed floral tooling made it clear the saddle was intended for a woman to use. Jemma’s eyes lit with surprise and delight as she took the blanket from Thane, settling it on Jael’s back.
“That is a lovely saddle,” she said quietly, observing as Thane set it on the horse’s back and adjusted it.
“It’s yours. I got both you and Jack saddles the other day. I hope this one is the right size for you. Once you’re seated, I’ll adjust the stirrups.” Thane motioned for her to stand beside him and explained how a western saddle was different from an English saddle, and any other pertinent details he felt essential to share.
He finished tightening the cinch, then started to give her a hand up when she remembered her riding boots. She ran to the back of the barn, sat on top of the trunk, and removed her shoes then yanked on her boots. When she rushed back to Thane, he fashioned a step from his intertwined fingers. She grinned at him and lifted her foot, stepping on his hand as she grasped the saddle horn and pulled herself up.
When he settled his hand on her knee, checking the length of the stirrup, tingles raced from her leg to her head and back down again.
“It looks about right,” he said, adjusting her foot in the stirrup. “How does it feel?”
“Fine, I think.”
He walked around the horse and checked the other side then looked up at Jemma. “Where’s your gun?”
“In the house.”
Thane had purchased a small revolver for her to carry. A few evenings, he made her practice out behind the barn where she could shoot into a hillside and not injure anything. Ordered to carry it if she went beyond the ranch yard, she left it in her dresser drawer since she hadn’t ventured anywhere. In her excitement at going for a ride on Jael, she’d forgotten to slip it into her pocket.
Resigned to carrying it, she started to dismount to get it, but Thane waved a hand at her. “Never mind about it today, but next time I better not have to remind you. Is that understood?”
“Understood? Yes. Appreciated? No.”
Thane’s frown made her squirm in her seat as she watched him take long strides over to where he’d left his horse, Ghost, tied to a hitching post. The irony of the two brothers living thousands of miles apart yet having nearly identical horses and naming them Ghost and Shadow wasn’t lost on her. Despite an ocean and more than a decade of years separating them, they seemed to have shared many similar thoughts.
However, she couldn’t picture Henry ever living such a rough, demanding life as Thane. The man was up long before anyone else and rarely came to bed before late at night. It was long after she retired for the evening.
Thoughts of their current sleeping arrangements made another rush of heat fill her cheeks. Thane insisted they share a bed to save face with his hands. He couldn’t sleep in the barn or the bunkhouse and there wasn’t anywhere in the house for him to sleep since the sofa was far too small for his big frame.
Plans to bring Lily into the big bed, move Jack to her room, and let Thane resume sleeping in his old room quickly fizzled when he convinced Jemma the children would mention the arrangement. Assured he’d lose his credibility with the men if they thought his wife ruled the house, she relented.
The argument he offered held some measure of validity, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to fully embrace the situation. A barrier down the middle of the bed, made with extra pillows and blankets, gave her a small sense of security. Although they slept in the same bed, Thane stayed on his side and she huddled on the far edge of hers.
It would be a long, long winter with them pretending the other wasn’t sleeping in the same room and bed. With no other solution presenting itself, she didn’t know what else to do.
“Come on, I’ll show you around the ranch.” Thane tipped his head toward the hills and motioned for her to follow.
They rode out of the ranch yard in silence and up over a ridge. Thane slowed Ghost to keep step with Jael as they walked along. He pointed out the nearby river that ran through their property and provided an important source of water for the cattle.
He showed her his cattle and the pastures he’d planted, wrestling the ground away from the brush. As they circled around one of the pastures, he pointed to the railroad tracks. Although they didn’t come near the house, they did run along his property line on the eastern border of the ranch.
At the crest of his favorite hill, he stopped and watched a herd of cattle grazing in the stubbly pasture grass. “What do you think of the ranch, Jemma?”
“In spite of its rustic setting, it appears to be quite well run. You obviously take good care of that which belongs to you.”
Thane turned and gave her a long, inquisitive look. “What makes you say that?”
Jemma adjusted her seat on the saddle. The unfamiliar riding position left her a little sore. Although she’d never admit it to Thane, she thoroughly enjoyed the stability and freedom the western saddle provided.
“Your cattle are fat and content, your horses are well trained and gentle, the land you’ve wrested from the brush is pleasing to the eye and the buildings around the cabin are well tended and orderly. It speaks well of a man that he gives such care to those things.”
“What else speaks well of a man?” Thane kept his gaze on the cattle, wondering if she’d make any other observations.
“The way he treats children and dogs. The excitable beasts you claim are cowdogs are obviously happy and loved.” Jemma gave him a sidelong grin. His two dogs, Salt and Pepper, frightened Jemma the first time she met them due to their exuberance. She’d quickly learned they meant no harm, but had high-strung personalities. “Somehow, you’ve convinced Rigsly that you’re a friend. I’ve taken it as a personal insult he prefers your company to mine.”
Thane nudged Ghost toward Jael until he could reach out and take Jemma’s hand. Mesmerized by the warm fire in his eyes, she didn’t resist when he pulled off her glove and pressed a heated kiss to the palm of her hand.
“I’m sorry, my lady, but Rigsly has discerning taste, you know. Only the best for him.”
Jemma laughed, too entertained by Thane’s attempt at affecting a British accent to be annoyed by his words.
“I am compelled to tell you, good sir, you’ve misused a phrase any number of times calling me ‘my lady.’ The appropriate term is ‘milady,’ should you need to address any other noblewoman.”
Crumpets & Cowpies: (Sweet Historical Western Romance) (Baker City Brides Book 1) Page 21
