The Cowboy’s Outlaw Bride

by Cora Seton

  Olivia glanced at the time on her phone. Despite what she’d said to her mother, it wasn’t that late, and suddenly she had the urge to get away from the ranch. Forgoing a phone call, Olivia drove to Crescent Hall, impressed as always by the Halls’ imposing three-story home. With its tower and wraparound porch, it epitomized late-nineteenth-century Gothic architecture. The large spread always looked tidy and affluent. In comparison, Thorn Hill was downright seedy. Her brothers ran the ranch with a minimum of outside help, and she pitched in, far more interested in those kinds of chores than household ones. No one made mowing the front lawn a priority or fussed with potted plants and sweeping the porch.

  Maybe it was time she stepped up and took on those chores, Olivia thought. Just because her mother hadn’t been much of a homemaker didn’t mean she couldn’t become one. She wanted to be proud of Thorn Hill, right?

  So why did the idea of buckling down and taking care of it make her squirm?

  Olivia thought that through as she got out of her truck. Was it because her family had made their mistakes so openly, and everyone knew about them? Was she afraid to even try to succeed at anything after so much failure? It was as if she was superstitious about fixing the place up. Like fate would strike them down if they tried to improve their lot.

  Her heart was in her mouth by the time she knocked on the Halls’ front door. After all, she didn’t know Ella more than to say hello to in the store. She remembered the Hall boys from when they were kids, but they were a few years older than her. If Ella declined to help her, this visit would be very awkward.

  Regan Hall answered the door with a wide smile that eased Olivia’s tension a little. She’d pinned her auburn hair on top of her head and held a broom in one hand.

  “Oh, thank God,” she cried. “Now I can’t possibly mop. You’ve saved me!” She opened the door wider and ushered Olivia in. “I hate mopping,” she confided.

  “I hate it, too.” Olivia felt better already. She followed Regan to the kitchen at the back of the house.

  “What’s new?” Regan asked her. She pulled out two tall glasses. “Lemonade?”

  “Sounds great,” Olivia said. “Where are all the kids?”

  “Out with the guys or napping. We women get a couple of hours of quiet a day so we can get things done.”

  Olivia knew there were a lot of kids underfoot at the Hall house. With four couples in the main building and bunkhouse, all of them with multiple children, you could almost call it a horde.

  “Is Ella around? I have a question for her,” Olivia told her.

  “Sure, let me find her. She’s probably outside.” Regan handed Olivia a glass and went out the back door, returning a few minutes later with Ella.

  “Good timing, I was just coming in.” Ella was a tall, stately woman, whose beautiful features and charming manners made it clear why she’d had so much success acting in movies. Olivia couldn’t believe she’d given it all up to move to Chance Creek, but Ella seemed to adore working with horses—and both children and adults who’d been through traumatic experiences.

  “I know this is a little strange.” Olivia’s awkwardness reappeared. She’d better simply blurt it out, she decided. “I need to put on a big party. Kind of a gala. A lot of important guests will be there—including Martin Fulsom.”

  “The Martin Fulsom?” Regan raised an eyebrow.

  Olivia nodded. “The billionaire,” she confirmed. “I… need help.” Would Ella understand?

  “From me?” Ella cocked her head. “I did some entertaining back in LA, but… mostly I hired it out, you know?”

  “And that’s fine, but I need to know what it is I’m supposed to hire out,” Olivia said in a rush. “Where do I have it? What do I need? Tables? Food? Flowers? Music? I don’t even know where to begin. I know it’s a lot to ask, but… I thought maybe you could give me some pointers?”

  “Well… sure,” Ella said. “I’ll try. I think Regan should join us, though. She’s better at entertaining than I am.”

  “Did someone say entertaining? I want to help, too.” Storm Hall came in. She was Zane’s wife, another California girl with blonde hair that hung to her waist. “I love throwing parties, but I’m not very good at it, either,” she added, shooting Olivia a conspiratorial grin. “I’m due at the shop, but count me in for anything.” She kept going. Olivia knew running Willows, a woman’s clothing store in town, had to take up most of her time, but she appreciated the offer. As Storm headed for the front door, Heather—Colt Hall’s wife—walked in.

  “Did I miss something?” she asked, setting grocery bags on the kitchen counter. She was a practical, pretty woman who owned the hardware store in town.

  “We’re helping Olivia throw a gala for a bunch of important, out-of-town guests,” Ella told her. “It has to be really snazzy.”

  “I’m not sure what I can do to help, but just ask.” Heather moved to put away the groceries she’d lugged in.

  A booming cheer from outside startled Olivia, and she moved to see out the window over the kitchen sink. “What’s going on?”

  “Oh, those are just the weekend warriors,” Regan said. “From the training camp. They must be on their way to the obstacle course. They use it a lot.”

  “How’s that business going?” Olivia asked, trying to see the men, but no one was in sight.

  “The obstacle course is in the woods,” Heather explained. “You can’t see them from here, but believe me they’re there, and they come thundering through like a herd of elephants every now and then. The kids love it.”

  “I bet they do.” Olivia laughed.

  “They’ve got ten to twenty campers there at any given time,” Ella said. “And there’s about eight ex-SEALs, soldiers and marines running the thing.”

  “I didn’t realize it was such a going concern,” Olivia told her. “You never see anyone in town.”

  “None of the guests get to go to town.” Regan laughed. “It’s a full-on extreme experience. We’re not supposed to go anywhere near them.”

  “Huh.”

  “But let’s talk about the gala.” Ella grabbed a pad of paper and pen from a nearby drawer. “Come and sit. Let’s brainstorm.”

  “Maybe Autumn Cruz would rent out the guest ranch for a day,” Heather said. “It’s a fairly large venue.”

  “There’s the town hall,” Regan said.

  “But it’s not nearly as impressive,” Ella pointed out.

  Olivia heaved a sigh of relief as the other women began to brainstorm ideas.

  Maybe she could pull this off after all.

  Noah had eaten only a couple of hours ago, but it had been a light affair—a couple of sandwiches he’d grabbed when he’d arrived home before heading out again to tackle evening chores with Liam. Normally, either Maya or Stella cooked a more substantial meal, but they were off to dinner and a movie tonight with friends, so he, Liam and Jed had been left to fend for themselves. Jed had made it known he meant to go into town to dine at DelMonaco’s. A friend was picking him up, and Noah figured they’d meet up with some of their card-playing buddies.

  Liam had peeled off a half hour ago toward town, as well, to start to gather letter-writers for the nostalgia campaign against the updates to Chance Creek High, so when Noah let himself in the back door of the house, it was unusually quiet inside.

  When was the last time he’d been alone like this? Noah couldn’t say. He wasn’t sure he liked it, either. The quiet made it all too easy to think about his family’s problems. Jed wasn’t going to be happy for long isolated on a ranch when mobility was difficult for him. Maya and Stella had been sad to see their cousins go. Now they needed to help more with the outdoor chores, which left them overwhelmed on the household front. He needed to talk to Liam—and Jed—about doing their share here in the house, but as he looked around, he realized it was going to take a concerted effort on all their parts to get their home back in shape.

  And that was just cleaning. The truth was, the Flying W had seen better d
ays. It needed painting, a new kitchen floor. New… everything.

  But they didn’t have money for that.

  He wished his cousins were still here. Those extra hands would have helped a lot right now. He couldn’t work the ranch, work his job and come up with some way to prevent the Coopers from taking the Ridley property all at the same time. As much as he hated to think they’d mess with Pittance Creek, Jed was right; the Coopers were capable of stealing—

  Noah stilled, one hand reaching to open the refrigerator to look for leftovers.

  What was that?

  He’d heard a noise, a soft scrape, like the front door opening.

  Someone was here.

  Was Olivia stealing the damn clock again?

  Noah chose swiftness over stealth, raced through the kitchen, burst into the living room and caught her red-handed. “Put it down!”

  “Damn it!” Olivia set it back on the mantel with a thump. “Why are you always here?”

  “Why are you always here?” he shot back. “Someone might think you were after more than that clock.”

  Olivia gaped at him, and to his surprise she flushed.

  Heck, maybe she was after more than the clock.

  Interesting.

  Noah forced himself to stay where he was. He needed to stop being attracted to Olivia. Out of all the women in Chance Creek, she was the most off-limits. But if he was honest with himself he found her—

  Pretty much the only woman he was interested in.

  “I was just on my way home,” she said. “I’ve had a really good day, so I thought—”

  “You thought you’d waltz in here and steal my clock.” Looking her up and down, Noah knew exactly why she pushed all the buttons of his libido. She was a country girl through and through. Boots, fitted jeans that hugged her curves and made him hungry to touch her. A blouse with a couple of buttons left open. Silky hair he’d like to wrap his hands in. She was lively and quick to smile and a little crazy to boot. The perfect antidote to his cautious, controlled personality. It didn’t take a genius to see he was looking for something to spice up his humdrum life.

  Even if he knew there’d be consequences.

  “Exactly.” She actually moved toward the clock, as if to pick it up again.

  “For heaven’s sake, Olivia.” Jed would be back soon. Or Liam. Or his sisters, and if they walked in here and saw Olivia in their living room, there’d be hell to pay.

  She reached for it.

  Noah snapped. He came at her like a linebacker, ducked down to flip her over his shoulder and whisked her right out of the room—and out of the house. If she stayed any longer, he couldn’t answer for what he might do. Not in anger because she was stealing his clock, but out of the lust that consumed him whenever she was around. If he kept making moves on her, things would get complicated fast.

  “Noah!” Olivia’s unladylike shriek pierced the quiet summer evening, and despite all of it, Noah laughed as he set her down on the front stoop. He hated to let go of her, so he kept his hands resting on her hips.

  “If you’re going try to steal my clock, you’re going to pay the consequences,” he told her sternly.

  “Oh yeah? What consequences?”

  She was daring him to kiss her, he realized. Tilting up her face with that cocky grin of hers.

  Ah, hell, Noah thought. He was only a man. He leaned down, cupped her chin and met her mouth with his own, kissing her deeply, sliding his other arm around her waist to pull her close.

  Her soft body in the circle of his arms felt too good. His pulse raced as she matched his hunger with her own. Her arms linked around his neck, and she went up on tiptoe, arching into him.

  What were they doing? Playing with fire. Dancing with the devil. But Noah let the moment linger on. Maybe he wouldn’t get this chance again. He wanted to savor it.

  When he finally broke away, he was breathing hard, and so was she. He snatched another kiss because he couldn’t help himself.

  “What are we supposed to do?” he asked. He didn’t need to explain what he meant.

  “Nothing.” Olivia ran a hand over her hair to smooth it back into place. “I mean it, Noah; we can’t act on this.”

  “We’re enemies,” he agreed.

  “Exactly.”

  Noah’s heart sank at the certainty in her voice. “I want to do this, though. I want you,” he confessed.

  Olivia bit her lip, stared off into the distance as if she was thinking it over, and finally shook her head. “We can’t have a relationship,” she reiterated, “but that’s not what you want anyway. So I propose…” She trailed off.

  “You propose what?” They were taking a chance standing so close to each other on the front steps like this. Where had Olivia parked her truck? Noah scanned the lot, empty except his own vehicle. She needed to leave.

  “I propose we have sex.”

  Noah looked down sharply. Swallowed hard. “Sex?”

  “We’ll get it out of our systems. We’re like forbidden fruit for each other, right? Forbidden fruit drives you wild until you eat it. Then it’s just… fruit.”

  Noah couldn’t believe what she was saying. Did she really think they could fuck each other out of their systems?

  He didn’t like the sound of that at all. He didn’t think the feelings that sparked between them were just… fruit.

  Still, she was offering something he’d thought about a lot. He wanted to make love to Olivia.

  Noah thought fast, until a smile tugged one corner of his mouth. If she wanted sex, they’d have sex, and he’d take a chance that once would be enough for her. But he’d do his damnedest to make sure it wasn’t. No matter what she thought, he did want a relationship.

  Even if he knew they couldn’t have a future.

  Reason warred with the animal desires raging inside him. Desire won.

  Why was he surprised?

  “Okay,” he finally managed to say, working hard to form the syllables in a suddenly dry throat. “Yeah, forbidden fruit. Getting it out of our system. That sounds about right.”

  “When can we meet? And where?” Olivia was all business, like she did this all the time, but Noah knew she didn’t. Knew that underneath her bold personality she was softer than you might think. She was a library geek at heart, after all, even if she never went around the library these days.

  “Where?” Noah chuckled. Given the way their families were feuding over the Founder’s Prize, he’d just thought of the perfect place for their tryst. “The Ridley property.”

  Olivia laughed. “Hell, yeah. It’s a good place for secrets.” Noah wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but she went on before he could ask. “I’ll text you.” She began to back down the steps.

  “When?”

  Olivia shrugged. “When I can get away.”

  He nodded. He could live with that. “Not too long, though,” he said.

  “No.” She shook her head. “Not too long.”

  “Olivia? Did you hear a word I just said?” Lance thumped his glass on the table several days later.

  Olivia straightened. Her brother was right; she’d been daydreaming… about Noah. The man she wasn’t supposed to care for. The man she was going to sleep with. The last time she’d seen him she’d talked a bold game, offering flat-out to make love to him to rid him from her system—

  And he’d agreed.

  What was she doing?

  It was like slipping into a forgotten mineshaft, the floor collapsing under her feet, sliding in a wash of dirt and rubble to land who knew where.

  This was a disaster plain and simple. She couldn’t kid herself that she wasn’t half-crazy for him. The desire she felt for Noah was like something alive within her, gnawing at her until she couldn’t concentrate on anything else.

  “Well?” Lance demanded.

  “Well, what?” She picked at her scrambled eggs, not hungry. Consumed by thoughts of what making love to Noah might be like. Would he be tender or rough? Would he take his time… or take
her fast?

  “The creek’s down. It’s too early in the year for that. We’ve got a lot of summer ahead of us.”

  Olivia snapped out of her reverie. “How far down?”

  “Six inches at least, and it’ll keep going down; I’ve been watching it. There’s no rain in the forecast.”

  Worry replaced the warm, heady feeling her daydreams had produced. The water from Pittance Creek was vital to their ranching operation. Vital to Noah’s ranch, too. Thorn Hill and the Flying W. Two sides of the same coin. Two banks along a creek. A creek that was running low on water.

  “We have to keep an eye on it,” Lance said. “Morning,” he added when Steel walked in, poured himself a cup of coffee and joined them at the table.

  “You talking about the water?”

  Olivia nodded.

  “It’s not looking good,” Steel said grimly. Olivia’s two brothers were both dark, brooding men, but Steel’s melancholy always seemed to run deeper. Olivia worried about the demons that haunted him. “There’s something else,” Steel went on. “Money. We’re running low.” He stared into the depths of his coffee cup. Lance exchanged a look with Olivia.

  Olivia took this in. Low on water and low on money. Not a good combination for a ranch already skating on thin ice.

  “I’ll look for work,” Lance said.

  “No.” Both brothers looked up at Olivia’s emphatic statement. “If you go out to work, we’d end up needing to hire more hands. I’ll get a job.”

  “Doing what?” Lance asked. A fair question. Olivia didn’t have much experience off the ranch. Not for the first time, it seemed to her like she’d been drifting through life these past years. Letting life happen to her rather than making any decisions.

  “I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  Chapter Three

  Water sloshed in the bucket Noah carried when he stumbled on the uneven floorboards of the stable. He exhaled in relief when he saw none of it had spilled. Right now water was on his mind, and spilling it seemed like a bad omen.

  He tuned out the musty smells of hay and animals as he went about tending the horses, thinking back to the night he’d kissed Olivia. Forbidden fruit, indeed. His heart quickened, and he couldn’t tell if it was excitement or anxiety. On the one hand he couldn’t believe Olivia would really go through with it. On the other hand…what if she did—and actually got him out of her system that way? Better not to be with her at all, rather than get a taste of the forbidden and then be banished from the garden forever. He’d lose his mind.