by Debra Cowan
“You don’t trust my cookin’.” Chuckling, he stood and strolled to the dressing table where she had moved to brush her hair. He eased up behind her, curling a silky lock around his finger. “I can go get something from Pearl’s or take you there to eat.”
Her silent refusal was immediate. She was still disconcerted from last night, but her edginess came from her uncertainty about them.
In the mirror, her gaze flickered to his then away. “I really need to go over and check on Josie and little Tannis.”
Concern darkened his blue eyes as his big palms closed over her shoulders. “Want me to come with you?”
“No,” she said quickly. Too quickly, she realized when she saw his mouth tighten. “I’ll be fine.”
He frowned as he slowly lowered his hands. “If you don’t have time for breakfast, what about coffee?”
When she hesitated, he cupped her elbow and turned her toward him. Matt realized with no small irritation that she looked half-spooked. “We obviously have a problem. Why don’t you tell me what it is?”
She searched his face for a long moment before saying, “We needed each other last night.”
Disquiet snaked through him. He already didn’t like this. “Yes.”
“I don’t regret it.”
What the hell? Stiffening, his voice turned gruff. “Glad to hear it.”
The pained look on her face drew his body up tight. “You’ve balked at every suggestion I’ve made this morning. Do you not want to be around me?”
“It’s not that.”
“Then what?” Aggravated, he braced his hands on his hips as she stepped around him.
“I think we should…slow things down.”
His jaw went slack with disbelief and he barked out a laugh. “We slept together last night, Angel. Kinda hard to unthrow that rock.”
“Yes, because we needed each other.”
“You already said that.” He sliced an impatient hand through the air. “Was it only about comfort for you?”
She didn’t answer immediately and he went still inside.
Her gaze wouldn’t meet his. “I’m not sure.”
“It was more than that for me.” Did she think he had found her last night, taken care of her, so he could have her? “It was a fresh start.”
“I’m not sure one night is enough to build a reconciliation.”
“Build—” Reining in his frustration, he nudged her chin up, made her look at him. “We’re already reconciled. What do you call our making love? We were both in that bed, Annalise. There’s no way you would’ve slept with me if we weren’t together again.”
“Maybe.”
Maybe? A searing tightness gripped his chest.
She backed away and returned to the mirror, picking up a pale pink ribbon to tie back her hair.
He moved up behind her, his gaze finding hers in the mirror. There was wariness and doubt in her pretty face, and her hand trembled. Things fell into place with a sickening thud. “You still don’t trust me.”
She winced slightly. “I want to, but no, I guess I don’t.”
“I know I made a mistake.” His gut started to churn. He wasn’t losing her. Not again. “I’ve already admitted that.”
“Yes. You appear to have changed, but I’m not sure. I can’t go through what I did before.” She faced him then, clasping her hands together. “It like to have killed me, Matt.”
“I know that,” he said hotly. Frustration and resentment made his voice harsh. He didn’t want that. He wanted her.
Curling his hands into fists so he wouldn’t reach for her, he gentled his tone. “I apologized. What else do you want me to do?”
“Nothing.”
“Yet you can’t forgive me.”
“I can. I have. I’m just not sure I…want what you want.”
His heart slammed into his chest. “You mean me. You aren’t sure you want me or a future together.”
During her brief pause, he was ambushed by a crush of hurt and denial.
After a moment, she nodded, turning back to the mirror.
Matt’s world skidded to a halt. How had they gotten from their loving last night to this? Determination filled him. He wasn’t letting her go. Sliding his arms around her from behind, he said quietly, “I want you and only you. You want me, too.”
“But I don’t want to.”
Hell. If her voice had wobbled, he would’ve known how to reassure her. But she was dead quiet. And she sounded dead certain. The realization sliced through him like a blade.
“Do you think you’ll ever be able to trust me?” The words actually hurt his throat.
Her green eyes were stormy and she let out a shuddering breath. “I need time.”
“Fine, I’ll give it to you, but I’m not going anywhere.” He squeezed her lightly. “What I did years ago was a mistake and I’m not making it again.”
She shook her head.
He wanted to kiss her, take her back to bed and love the doubts out of her, but no one knew better than he did that it wouldn’t work.
Resting one hand on her stomach, he pulled her into him, his fingers brushing the undersides of her breasts.
Leaning down, holding her uncertain gaze with his, he murmured in her ear, “You’re mine, Angel. The only person standing in our way is you, and come hell or high water, I’ll regain your trust.”
He knew he had to let her go for now so he slid his hands to her hips. His hold tightened when he felt her shiver against him. “You go on and get your bath. I’m going to fetch us some breakfast. Just breakfast,” he said when she opened her mouth to protest. “That’s all.”
For the moment anyway, he thought. As he watched her walk out of the room, he snagged his shirt and dragged it over his head. He was standing by her this time. He wouldn’t turn his back on her again. No matter what it took or how long, he would convince her.
Tugging on one boot, he realized he would have to go one step at a time with her. He hoped he could move as slowly as she needed.
Chapter Eleven
You’re mine, Angel. The only person in our way is you, and come hell or high water, I’ll regain your trust.
After Matt’s vow, Annalise hadn’t known what to expect, but it certainly hadn’t been the ache that lodged deep inside her. The sensation was so unfamiliar that it took a couple of days to realize it was desire.
They were both busy, her with patients and him with the ranch so he couldn’t come to town every day. On the days he did, he spent most of it with her, going on a drive or to church or for a meal. She expected him to take advantage of the desire that she knew was probably plain in her face but he didn’t. He never did anything more than give her a light kiss on the mouth.
When he wasn’t in Whirlwind, he sent her silly poems or wrote her letters recounting his day. One day, he had a silver hand mirror delivered. Another time he surprised her with a gorgeous silk fan.
She realized she actually missed him when he wasn’t around. One afternoon, while checking on Josie and her baby, Annalise had been hit hard again with a sense of sadness and loss. The memory of how sweet Matt had been to her the night of the baby’s birth helped her get through the visit. While she enjoyed being with him, she didn’t want to depend on him or trust anything more than the moment.
She needed to remember he was still the same man who had hurt her all those years ago. Not because she was holding the past against him, but because she wasn’t ready to make the same commitment he was. They should get to know each other again and take things one day at a time.
Still, she was let down one afternoon when he sent a ranch hand with the message that he wouldn’t be able to see her that day. More Triple B cattle had been stolen and he would come to town when he could.
The depth of her disappointment told Annalise she was moving too fast with him, but that didn’t stop the flutter of her nerves the next afternoon when she heard his deep voice behind her.
“I need a doctor real bad.”
“You’ve come to the right place.” Smiling, she turned from folding bandages in her examination room and saw him in the doorway. Holding his hat, his blue gaze darkened as it traveled over her. His white work shirt was tucked into worn denims that emphasized the muscles in his powerful thighs. His black boots were filmed with red dust.
When she moved toward him, the afternoon sunlight showed the fatigue etched on his rugged features. “Why don’t you come in and sit for a minute?”
He grazed a knuckle down her cheek. “I would, but I came to ask something of you.”
Curious, she tilted her head. “All right.”
“You got my note about the stolen cattle?”
“Yes.” She resisted the urge to hug him or caress his face. “You look as though you were up all night.”
“I was, and that’s what got me to thinking about how you took an impression of the wounds on my back. Do you think you could do it with hoofprints?”
“I don’t know why not. I could try.”
A light flared in his eyes. “I’m at the end of my rope. These rustlers never leave any boot prints and there’s something funny about the hoofprints I find. I can’t figure it. I found a place where I think they were yesterday. Could you come right now?”
“Let me get my hat and the things I’ll need.”
“I’ll bring your buggy ’round.”
“All right.”
Ten minutes later, they were on their way. She had expected Matt to ride alongside her, but he’d climbed into the seat, too. He snapped the reins against the horse’s rump, urging the animal into motion. Leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, he kept the mare to a steady pace as they left Whirlwind behind.
Annalise’s gaze was drawn to his strong bronzed neck, the dark damp hair peeking out from beneath his hat.
He gave her a crooked grin. “I really appreciate this.”
“Maybe it will help in some way.”
He linked their hands and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “Tell me what you’ve been doing the last couple of days.”
She told him about treating a guest at the Fontaine for a cold and that Davis Lee and Josie’s baby was thriving. Made him laugh with a story about how their friends were both so nervous as parents that they had rushed little Tannis over when she sneezed.
His hold tightening slightly, Matt shared a look with her that said he was reminded of their own loss. “It’s not hard to see why they’d be so spooked, is it?”
“No.”
The trip passed quickly as they traveled a well-worn road from town. Occasionally, they saw large patches of bluebonnets, the purple-blue color vibrant against the green of grass and brush. They crested a rise that Annalise recognized as the western border of Triple B land.
The buggy bumped off the road into the pasture. Buffalo grass swished against the wheels as Matt guided them into a shallow valley. After a minute, he pulled the carriage to a stop and came around to help her down.
From under the seat, he pulled the satchel she’d filled with cornstarch, cheesecloth, a canteen of water and a medium-sized bowl.
With his hand at the small of her back, he steered her through the knee-high grass.
From under the wide brim of her hat, she looked up at him. “I’m no expert on cattle, Matt.”
“You aren’t on spurs either, but you figured out they were what tore up my back.”
Pleased, she smiled as he led her to a blackened spot in the pasture. The grass was trampled flat or burned away around the remains of an old fire.
He moved to a place at the edge of the circle. “Here are the tracks I told you about.”
She stepped up beside him, spying a clear set of hoofprints in a large patch of gouged earth surrounded by a mish-mash of other animal marks.
“Do you think there’s enough of an imprint for you to make an impression?”
“I think so.”
While she mixed the paste, Matt took out his pocket knife and cut some small branches from a nearby pine tree. More than once, her attention wandered to the flex of muscle along his arms and shoulders as he worked to fashion a crude box.
Using his blade, he dug out a shallow trench of red earth around the set of prints and fixed the flimsy box into the ground as a frame for the small area where Annalise would work.
She laid down a piece of cheesecloth then poured the mixture of cornstarch and water. “It will need to firm.”
“You are so damn smart.”
Glancing up in surprise, she paused at the look in his eyes. She hadn’t seen it before. It was more than admiration. It was respect.
“Are there any other cattle prints I can compare these to?”
He nodded. “We’ll take a look once your paste sets up.”
He snagged a lap robe from under the buggy seat and spread it on the ground. As she sat down beside him, she pointed at the remains of the fire. “Is this where the rustlers would’ve changed the brands on the stolen cattle?”
“Yes.” Matt drew up one knee, draped his arm over it. “And I can’t figure out why there are no human prints. At first I thought it was because the rustlers stayed on horseback or even in a wagon to move the cattle, despite how that would’ve slowed them down, but there’s no sign of horses or wheel tracks. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe we’ll be able to determine something when we look at the impression.” She glanced around the rolling terrain. “It seems risky to light a fire. Someone patrolling the area could easily see the flames.”
“Not with the fire being in this spot.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “We’re at the base of a rise and that big mesquite tree just behind you hides pretty near everything. A person would have to top the hill to see the fire.”
“Do any of you burn a fire while you’re patrolling?”
“No, it would give us away.”
She thought about Julius’s cattle being stolen and the fire she had seen the night she had doctored Edward at the Eight of Hearts Ranch. “You said you had more cattle stolen last night. What about the Ross and Holt ranches?”
“They did, too.”
“Has Mr. Julius reported any more cattle being stolen?”
“Not since the day after you treated his visitor.”
Her heartbeat quickened. “Hmm.”
“What?”
“The night I was there, I saw a fire from the second-story window. Until you said the rustlers wouldn’t risk building one, I thought it might’ve been them.” She shrugged. “Maybe Julius had hands out patrolling, too, and the fire I saw belonged to them.”
“If so and they were waiting for the rustlers, it wouldn’t be very smart.”
“Well, I definitely saw one. And Mr. Julius specifically told me all his cowboys were at the house and accounted for.”
“Have you seen anything since then?”
“No. The boy is healing nicely so I haven’t been out there this week.”
Matt thumbed his hat back. “Maybe the rustlers were on his land. It’s worth checking into.”
“Are you and the other men still patrolling in shifts?”
“Yes, and starting tonight, we’ll be rotating Whirlwind in there, too. Davis Lee thinks it won’t hurt to take the precaution and I agree. Two men will be assigned to the range and one to town.”
He grinned and tossed off his hat then did the same to hers. “Now, let’s stop talking about livestock.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“This.” He tumbled her back onto the blanket and kissed her.
“This isn’t talking,” she murmured against his lips.
He chuckled, nuzzling her neck and waking up all her nerve endings. “You’re not sore at me for missing last night, are you?”
“Of course not.” She would have preferred to see him, she admitted.
He kissed her again, slow and deep. When he raised his head a long moment later, she was breathing as hard as he was. With one finger, he traced her lower lip
. “You know Founder’s Day is coming up.”
“Yes.” No one was exactly certain of the day in April when Whirlwind had been founded. Some said it had been in the first few days of the month and others swore it was toward the end. As a result, the citizens celebrated both dates, alternating one year with the early one and the next year with the later one.
Matt buried his face in her hair, his breath tickling her ear. “I want you to spend the day with me.”
The warmth moving through her had her wanting to agree to anything he said, but she shook her head.
He drew back, eyes flashing with surprise. “Why not?”
She smoothed her hands over his broad shoulders. “Pearl and May decided we’re going to have a tie party.”
He groaned and dropped his forehead against hers.
Laughing, she said, “So, you’ll only get to spend the day with me if you happen to pick the tie that matches my dress.”
He toyed with the top button of her white shirtwaist. “Tell me what you’ll be wearing.”
“That would be cheating.”
“You really aren’t going to tell me?”
“No.” She gave him a look from under her lashes.
“Well,” he said in a deep rumble, “I have you now. Guess I’d better make the most of it.”
He brushed his lips over hers and kissed her, hungry but tender. It wasn’t only his touch that had her head spinning. He had asked for her opinion, valued it. It was heady stuff.
He slid a hand under her skirts, moved it over her knee and up her thigh. She could feel the calluses on his palm through her muslin drawers.
“I shouldn’t start anything I can’t finish,” he muttered. He sat up, dragging a hand down his face.
For a moment, her mind blanked. She lay there watching him until he stood and pulled her to her feet with a grin.
“Let’s go check your work before I get myself in trouble.”
“All right.” Her heart was still pounding, her skin flushed from his touch. She didn’t want to stop, but that was her body talking, not her head.
The fact that Matt had called a halt surprised her. She had always been the one to set boundaries.
