The Cowboy's Mail Order Bride

by Carolyn Brown

  “You are going to grow up,” Emily said sternly.

  “Don’t you talk to me like that.”

  “If you feel this way then why in the hell did you marry Tommy?” Emily asked.

  “I love Tommy,” Prissy answered.

  Emily pointed at the mirror and the small evening bag slung over Prissy’s shoulder. “Then why are you going to annul the marriage?”

  “You wouldn’t understand. You like the ranch,” she said.

  “What do you do for a living, anyway?”

  “I’m an accountant and I take care of all the family business from an office in downtown Bonham,” she said. “It’s really a house that Daddy bought years ago and remodeled into an office.”

  “You going to keep working?” Emily asked.

  “Of course.”

  “And you love Tommy, right?”

  Prissy nodded.

  “You will be at the ranch an hour in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. You’ll be in your own house and you probably won’t have to look at a cow except at the fall cattle sale, which you probably attend every year anyway, right?”

  “Of course,” she said again.

  “Then what in the hell is your problem? Suck it up! Tommy loves ranchin’. He’ll be the one on the ranch all day. You’ll be at work,” Emily said.

  “I thought I could talk Tommy out of it even after we were married, but he’s not budging. I wish I would have fallen in love with Greg.” Prissy carefully retouched her makeup in the mirror above the sinks.

  “Greg is a rancher, in case you haven’t noticed,” Emily said.

  Prissy stopped what she was doing and stared at Emily. “Greg won’t be a rancher forever. He’s just playing at it. His momma and daddy want him to come back to Houston and work in the firm with them. It would be easy to convince him to leave Lightning Ridge.”

  Emily pushed the bench back in front of the vanity and sat back down on it. “When you heard that Max was going to offer him a job, it scared you. And then Tommy called you. His ringtone is ‘Hillbilly Bone,’ isn’t it?”

  Prissy applied lipstick and asked, “How did you know?”

  “Did he give you an ultimatum?”

  She nodded. “He said he was leaving the whole damn state if I wouldn’t marry him that weekend.”

  “How’d that make you feel?”

  “My stomach hurt. My heart hurt. I couldn’t breathe. It was horrible.”

  Emily put her hand on the doorknob. “Even more horrible than the pink reception?”

  Prissy frowned and then nodded slowly. “I do love him and I don’t have to be on that ranch all day. What was I thinking? I’m just so scared. Thank you, Emily.”

  Emily hugged Prissy. “You are welcome.”

  A gentle knock on the door was followed by a man’s voice. “Prissy, darlin’?”

  Emily swung the door open. “We were doing some last-minute touch-ups. Hello, Tommy, I’m Emily. Y’all give me two minutes to get into the fellowship hall and then make your entrance.”

  She heard Prissy say, “Tommy, I love you so much,” as she did a fast walk toward the pink reception.

  ***

  Emily was quiet on the way home that evening and went straight to her room when they arrived. Dotty and Clarice didn’t tarry for even a minute in the den. Their bazaar things were boxed and ready to take to the barn on Friday, and they’d vowed that they were taking a monthlong break before they started on the next year’s sale items.

  Greg showered, changed into lounging pants, started a letter to Emily, and tore it up after the first paragraph. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it in his heart with every single breath.

  Finally, he went out onto the landing and sat down on the top step. The kittens bounded out of the door, which had been left open a crack, and attacked a toy mouse with a jingle bell attached to its long tail.

  In a few minutes Emily joined him, brushing past him without so much as a sweet little kiss and settling on a step a fourth of the way down the staircase. He stretched his leg out and touched her bare arm with his toe. Her skin was as soft as silk sheets, and that idea conjured up visions that put him into semi-arousal instantly.

  “You’ve been awfully quiet ever since you disappeared and barely made it back before Prissy and Tommy showed up.”

  “She was in the bathroom having a meltdown, threatening to have her marriage annulled.”

  “Why?”

  “It happens.”

  “Is that what you’ve been thinking about?”

  She shook her head and told him what Prissy said about him getting tired of ranching. “Is there any truth in that?”

  “Hell, no! I hate that kind of hustle and bustle. I’ll never leave the ranch, especially not for a woman.”

  When she smiled his heart floated. “Not even one that has sex on a twin bed with you?”

  “Are you asking me to?”

  “Hell, no!” she said just as emphatically as he had. “If there was a chance you wanted to live in the city, I’d break this relationship off right now. I wouldn’t ever want to be an anchor on your ass.”

  He rubbed his chin. “So we are in a relationship?”

  “What would you call it?”

  “Relationship sounds fine to me.”

  “We’ve known each other less than three weeks and in a few more days there will be eight hours between us. You think we can survive a long-distance relationship?”

  “You think that time or distance has anything to do with it?” He completely ignored the question about long distance.

  She scooted up one step. “I’m walkin’ in virgin territory. It’s all new to me. I don’t know if it’s crazy to feel like this after such a short time. Maybe it’s just plain old physical attraction and lust.”

  “Hot lust, sweetheart. There’s nothing plain about what goes on between us.”

  She moved up another step and he moved down one. He put a leg on either side of her and draped his arms around her neck. She leaned back against his broad chest and sighed. “I like listening to your heart beat.”

  “Your hair smells wonderful. Like wildflowers and roses all together in a bouquet, but that’s just you,” he said.

  “What is just me?”

  “You are cultivated roses when you are in public, but when we are alone together you are wildflowers growing free out in the pasture. It’s a pretty heady combination, Miss Cooper.”

  She looked over her shoulder. Her blue eyes would charm the horns off the devil. He wanted to be looking into them when he drew his last breath at the age of ninety.

  ***

  Emily wiggled out of his embrace and held out her hand. “Hold me in the recliner again. I need to feel your arms around me.”

  She left the door wide open so the cats could come in if they wanted, and if Dotty or Clarice snuck up on them, they wouldn’t catch them doing something that would bring embarrassment to the ranch.

  He sat down in the recliner and she curled up in his lap. He reached for the lever on the side and got comfortable. She fit in his arms like she belonged there forever, her head resting on his chest, one hand behind his neck, and one splayed above his shirt pocket.

  “Now what?” he asked.

  “Just hold me, Greg.”

  It would be like this when they were too old to enjoy each other’s bodies anymore. The house would be quiet except when the children brought the kids and then the great-grandkids home from hopefully nearby ranches.

  She’d fallen in love with Greg. Plain and simple. In less than three weeks she had lost her heart and soul to someone who lived all the way across the state.

  Maybe he hadn’t gotten as far as she had, but that was okay. She wasn’t going anywhere and she would give him all the time he needed. He was sleeping when she looked up at him.
His arms held on to her tightly even in his sleep and that was a good sign, wasn’t it?

  Using his rough tongue, Bocephus licked up across her cheek and woke her at three o’clock in the morning. She squirmed out of Greg’s embrace and finally worked her way up from the recliner.

  “Hey, did we go to sleep? Is it morning?”

  “Almost,” she said. “You can thank Bo for waking us up. Go on over to your room and get a couple of hours of comfortable sleep.”

  He stood to his feet and cupped her face in his big hands. The kiss was a mixture of passion and sweet, full of fire and gentleness. She leaned into it and locked her arms around his waist.

  When he broke it off, she took a step back. “Good night, Greg.”

  He leaned down and kissed her right between the eyes.

  She pushed him toward the door. “Go before I do something stupid like beg you to go to bed with me.”

  He touched her face once more, tracing the outline of her lips with the tip of his forefinger. “Good night, Emily. I love you.”

  He was gone before she was even sure she heard him right.

  Chapter 19

  By seven thirty on Friday morning the pasture to the side of the sale barn had begun to look like a used car lot. Trucks from the hired help and the bazaar ladies, vans, cars, and even a 1970 vintage Volkswagen bus was parked out there.

  Clarice and Dotty told Louis exactly where to set the first table, then Madge chose three strong cowboys, led them to the hippie bus, and made them carry boxes upon boxes of food into the barn.

  “It’s too early to bring in food,” Emily said.

  Rose flipped a checkered cloth over the eight-foot table and started unloading platters of cookies and finger foods, all the while shaking her head.

  Dotty moved around to the back side of the table and began helping. “This isn’t for the bazaar. It’s for all the folks who’ll be working all day at putting the bazaar together. The work that goes on before takes longer than the party lasts, and we never pass up an opportunity to bring food in this neck of the woods.”

  Clarice leaned in from behind Emily and whispered, “The boys work twice as hard if they’re well fed.”

  “And the women gossip twice as much,” Rose said.

  “We handle things the same way out in west Texas. Whose VW is that?” Emily pulled a plate of pecan sandy cookies from a box.

  “Mine,” Madge said. “And yes, I was a hippie, and yes, I still would be if I wasn’t an old woman. And I picked out four of the wildest women on my site for Greg. I hope that at least one of them lands him.”

  “Hell, Madge, don’t let age stop you. And your wild women ain’t got a chance against my list,” Dotty whispered as she scanned the room.

  Madge pointed at her. “You ain’t got a chance against my girls.”

  “Quit your fightin’,” Rose said. “I’ve got the whole bunch of you bested.”

  The tingle on the back of Emily’s neck said that Greg was somewhere close by. While the ladies bantered she scanned the room. Cowboy hats and jeans were everywhere, but none of them fit Greg’s description.

  Her senses were never wrong.

  He had to be hiding in the shadows. She very carefully looked from corner to corner, and back again. Still no Greg, but she could feel his gaze undressing her like he did that morning at the breakfast table.

  Finally, she looked up and there he was leaning over the buyer’s balcony. He pointed to the right and then crooked his forefinger. Without saying anything, she slipped away from the arguing ladies and found the door leading up to the balcony. He met her at the top, slipped a hand under her knees and one under her arms, and carried her to the top bench.

  When he sat down, she locked her arms around his neck and laid her cheek against his chest. “What are you doing up here?”

  He buried his face in her hair. “Hiding out and waiting for you.”

  “Clarice will find us,” she said.

  “I know, but we’ve got a few minutes. I wanted you to know that I meant what I said last night. I was wide awake when I said it and I meant it.”

  She leaned away from his broad chest and locked gazes with him. “Are you sure?”

  “Want me to get out the megaphone and yell it from the banister so everyone in the barn will know? Yes, I’m sure.” He pulled her back into his embrace and his lips met hers in a passionate, scorching hot kiss that convinced her even more than his words. “You don’t have to say it right now. I’m a patient man, and I can wait until you feel it in your heart.”

  She’d had relationships of one depth or the other in her lifetime, but it was the right time, the right place, and Greg was the right man. Everything lined up so perfectly that it scared her. God would throw the wrench in the gears; she just knew he would.

  “I’m wide awake now and so are you, so I’m going to say it again so you won’t have any doubts. I love you, Emily,” he whispered.

  “I love you, Greg,” she said. “And just for the books, I’m not saying it because you did. It hit me just seconds before you said it, but I thought…”

  He hugged her tightly. “You thought I was half-asleep.”

  “Greg Adams.” Max’s voice bounced off the walls of the barn, and Emily’s soul came close to leaving her body.

  Greg pulled her back into his embrace. “He’s playing with the auctioneer’s microphone.”

  “Greg Adams, wherever you are, your nana says she needs you to find her. She’s the lady in the red shirt and a chocolate chip cookie in her hand,” Max said.

  “Guess that’s our cue,” Emily said.

  “I’d rather stay up here and make out with you all morning.”

  She tilted her head toward the narrow bench. “We’d have to stack up like cord wood. This isn’t even as wide as the attic bed.”

  “I’ll gladly take the bottom so you don’t get splinters in your pretty little butt. But they’d bust in on us and ruin the moment. Maybe we’ll go into town for ice cream tonight?”

  “Do they have ice cream in the vending machine at the hotel?”

  The ringtone coming from his shirt pocket said that Clarice was serious about finding him. Emily pulled the phone out and handed it to him.

  “I heard Max. Probably half the county heard Max. I’m on my way,” he said.

  Emily was close enough that she could hear Clarice’s voice. “Jeremiah says that he got tied up and can’t make it today, but he will definitely be here tomorrow evening. And Emily, we need you to work on some signs when you get finished kissing my grandson.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He chuckled.

  “Dear Lord,” Emily gasped.

  “We’re dating, darlin’. And that means kissin’ is allowed right along with holding hands, even in Nana and Dotty’s world. Let’s go work on signs and set up tables.”

  When they were halfway down the stairs, Dotty yelled across the barn, “Y’all stay out of Madge’s van. Her motto when she first bought that thing was that if the bus was rockin’, don’t come knockin’.” Dotty laughed.

  ***

  Clarice air slapped Dotty. “You’ll embarrass her.”

  “They’re kissing? Did I hear you say they were kissing?” Madge asked.

  “When did all this start?” Rose pushed Madge to the side so that she could be closer to Clarice.

  “Shhh! They’re close enough they can hear us, and yes, they were kissing and they are now dating.” Dotty shushed them all.

  “What about the dating site women?” Rose asked.

  “Not a thing,” Clarice whispered then motioned for Emily. “You have such beautiful handwriting, I’d like for you to sit down at this table and make a name placard to go on each of the chairs. Here’s a list of the names and there’s paper, pens, crayons, glitter glue, and a whole box of sticker things.”

  “I could p
robably do a better job on the computer,” Emily said.

  “We want it handmade, not computer generated,” Rose told her.

  Greg let go of her hand and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you later. If I don’t go help Max move that round pen, he’ll pick up the microphone again.”

  “It’s true, Emily?” Rose sighed.

  “What?” Emily raised an eyebrow.

  “You are dating Greg. That makes me so happy. To think that Marvin’s granddaughter and Clarice’s grandson… oh, it’s a fairy tale. But, oh no! How are you going to handle all the women we’ve invited here tonight?” Rose gasped.

  “We’ll deal with them. Can’t undo what’s been done, and maybe they’ll get into a bidding war and really bring in a lot of money for the scholarships,” Emily said.

  Clarice put her head in her hands. “You are going to have to buy up every dance ticket, and dear Lord, you have to buy him or one of those women will tell him, and now that he’s fallen for you, he’ll be so mad at us.”

  Emily patted Clarice on the shoulder. “It’s all right. I’ll take care of it. But I do have a question.”

  “What?” Dotty barely whispered.

  “Do any of you know what it means when someone says they’ll bring the leather?”

  “Of course, it means that they want to ride horses and they’ll bring their own saddle. Greg loves horses. I was hoping you’d look at that site this morning when you sat down at the computer. I’m worried that I didn’t invite the right four,” Clarice answered.

  Emily smiled and leaned across the table. “In today’s world, ladies, leather means bondage, as in she will tie him up and spank him if he wants and she’ll be wearing leather underbritches that are real skimpy and a leather bra. And what she’s intending to ride is not horses.”

  “Oh, my sweet holy Jesus,” Rose said.

  “Holy-damn-shit.” Dotty actually blushed.

  “So how many ladies are bringing leather?” Emily asked.

  Clarice held up two fingers. Dotty held up four.

  Madge said, “One of mine likes leather and one is expecting a very wild ride that will blow her mind. Please tell me that blow her mind doesn’t mean some kind of drugs.”