The Cowboy's Bride

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Cody tipped the brim of his hat back with the tip of his finger and mocked her with cynical blue eyes. “And deprive you of your chance to show me what a good ranch wife you’d make me?” he retorted softly. “I don’t think so. Unless...” Cody gave her a slow, lazy once-over that set her pulse to racing.

  Not about to let him intimidate her that way, whether she still loved him or not, and she was beginning to think maybe she did, Callie brushed off her hands and stood. She lifted her brow. “Unless what?” she asked impatiently.

  Cody manacled her wrist with his strong fingers and tugged her against his chest. Their bodies collided, head to toe, and suddenly he looked very much willing to barter with her for very high stakes. “You’ve changed your mind about that wedding night you owe me.”

  Chapter Two

  “Anyone ever tell you that you have a one-track mind?” Callie asked, exasperated. Not that she hadn’t been thinking the same things herself. She had been wondering what it would be like to share his bed almost from the first minute she’d laid eyes on him, in Pearl’s diner, years ago. Now that they were older, she was finding her imagination more vivid and persistent. But there was no reason he needed to know that in his current frame of mind, she thought. Pushing away from him, she lifted three logs from the wooden bucket next to the fireplace and, after some deliberation, stacked them one on top of another so there was plenty of room for the fire to catch and the air to circulate in between.

  “Considering I had to wait seven long years to enjoy the privilege of spending the night under the same roof as my new bride, there are some who might find my preoccupation understandable.” He flashed her a bad-boy grin meant, she was sure, to intimidate.

  “Well, I’m not one of them,” Callie announced dryly as she turned her back on him and stuffed the twigs she had gathered to serve as kindling between the logs, then swiveled around on her haunches and studied him. With his hair tied back with a rawhide strip, in jeans, shirt and a suede vest, he looked as if he had stepped out of a recent movie she’d seen on the Old West. In the movie, the hero was a brooding cowboy who lusted after the woman he wanted but knew he shouldn’t pursue. Of course the hero had pursued the heroine, and the movie had ended as their romance had, tragically.

  But not, Callie thought with a whimsical smile, before the hero and heroine had enjoyed a wonderfully lusty, romantic time in bed.

  Cody was every bit as sexy and attractive as the hero in the movie had been, and she couldn’t help but wonder what he would look like with his hair down around his shoutders, his shirt off. Would his wheat blond hair be as soft and silky to the touch as it looked? Would his muscles gleam in the glow of the firelight? Was his chest covered with a mat of crinkly wheat blond hair? Callie didn’t know the answers to any of that. Nor, the way things were going, was she ever likely to find out. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder how their lives would have been if... But it was too late to go back now and change things. All they could do was go forward. Find a way to make peace now. That being the case, she released a small sigh of resignation and tilted her chin up at him in a way that signaled saucy wench—in the movies, anyway. “Furthermore, there’s a lot more to marriage than just what goes on or does not go on in the bedroom. In fact, I’d wager the most critical things,” such as kindness, tenderness and caring, Callie added to herself “happen outside the marriage bed.”

  Cody shook his head at her. “Where’d you ever get that notion? For a ranch wife, you have a lot to learn,” he said.

  Callie refused to back down on either her statement or the position she’d taken. “For a ranch husband, so do you.”

  His lips curved in a challenging grimace as she dusted off her hands and got to her feet. “Cute.”

  Moving forward until they stood toe-to-toe, she held his gaze defiantly. “And true. I don’t know what you’re thinking, Cody McKendrick, but you’ll never win my heart—or any other woman’s, for that matter—with these macho tactics. So unless you want to spend the rest of your life alone, you’ll clean up your act. Pronto.”

  For a moment, her blunt assessment of his behavior left him speechless. The moments ticked by, and she could see he was struggling with himself. It was just as she thought. Hoped. Somewhere deep inside, it still went against the grain for him not to rush in to her rescue. Max had brought him and his siblings up to always lend a helping hand, to friend and foe alike. That was why Max and all the McKendricks had had so many friends.

  But Cody clearly did not want to remember that, Callie thought. Nor did he seem to want to think about how he’d let Max, and himself, down in his ruthless quest for solitude.

  His lips thinning in obvious irritation, Cody held himself aloof and told her gruffly, “Uncle Max was wrong. You don’t belong here, Callie. You never did and you never will.” Not bothering to even light a candle for her, he turned on his heel and disappeared into the bedroom.

  Callie watched him go but made no move to follow him. Seconds later, she heard the shifting of logs into the bedroom fireplace. The strike of a match. She knew she could go after him and at least try one more time this evening to make peace between them, as Max probably would’ve wanted. Or she could accept that her mission was a lost cause, at least for the moment, and leave him to his solitude, she thought as she continued building her own fire. Finished, she hazarded a glance into the adjacent bedroom.

  Cody was down on one knee before the fire, one hand bracing his jaw. He was staring into his fire, looking every bit as lonely as she felt. And yet unapproachable in a way she was not. Callie shook her head and sighed as her spirits plummeted all the more. Somehow, she had the feeling, this was not what Uncle Max had planned for them.

  36:00

  “RISE AND SHINE, DARLI’

  ou must be kidding.” Callie pulled the wadded-up sweatshirt that had been serving as her pillow back over her face. Despite the fire still glowing in the grate, it was achingly cold in the cabin. She was stiff and sore all over and covered with a makeshift blanket of her clothes.

  Cody plucked the sweatshirt out of her hands again. “A rancher’s life starts at dawn.”

  Callie propped herself up on her elbows and glared up at him. Bad enough he’d been completely ungentlemanly the night before. Now he was rudely depriving her of her rest, when she wanted nothing more than to sink back into sleep. “So I’ll hire cowboys to get up for me,” she grumbled back. As uncaringly as he had behaved, what did it matter to him what she did, anyway?

  He grinned, apparently pleased he’d managed to start the day off badly for her. “I’m leaving here in ten minutes, Callie,” he warned, “which means you are, too.”

  Ha! Callie pushed herself into a sitting position. She leaned her head on the sweetheart-shaped back of the love seat and barely stifled a huge yawn. “I thought I’d made it clear. As much as you would like to be, you are not the boss of me, Cody McKendrick.”

  “No,” he agreed as he tucked his thumbs into his belt loops and settled into a spread-legged stance that put her at eye level with his rock-hard thighs. “But I am stronger.”

  His quiet words had an ominous quality that quickly brought her the rest of the way awake. Slowly and deliberately, Callie lifted her eyes to his. “Meaning what, exactly?”

  “That I’m quite capable of lifting you up and hog-tying you to the saddle of your horse if that’s the only way I can get my work done today.”

  Callie drew a quick breath. The hellion was back. “You wouldn’t.”

  His eyes full of a mischief she recalled only too well, he merely grinned. “Try me.”

  Callie swore as she pushed her hands through the length of her hair. The truth was she knew absolutely nothing about ranches. She did want to learn. This was as good an opportunity as any, even if every muscle in her body ached from sleeping on a love seat that was several feet too short and very thinly cushioned.

  He tilted his head to the side as she lifted her arms over her head and gingerly worked out the kinks in her shoulder
s, back and arms. “Sore?”

  “You wish,” Callie fibbed, dropping her arms and straightening. She stood and started to look for the bathroom before she remembered what she’d managed to avoid dealing with so far. With a disgruntled scowl, she sat back down and reached for her handcrafted, red leather cowboy boots. She knew darn well what he was attempting with this poorly scheduled activity of his, but he was not chasing her off the property this way. She could be a rugged individualist, too, when she wanted to be, and furthermore, she was going to prove it.

  “Want the flashlight?”

  “Yes. What time is it, anyway?”

  Cody consulted his watch and continued surveying her with thinly disguised pleasure. “Four a.m.”

  With effort, Callie suppressed another long, gusty sigh. Which meant she’d had what? Three, four hours of sleep, if you subtracted the three hours prior to that when she’d tossed and turned while Cody sat staring at the fire in the next room. There were limits, even for rugged individualists. Cody might as well learn right now what those were. She smiled at him cheerfully. “I’ll pay you back for this.”

  “Now, Callie, you’re sounding a little cranky,” he teased, looking as if he would welcome any and all kinds of tussles with her, so sure was he that he would emerge the victor.

  “So sue me,” Callie grumbled right back after another deep breath. “I’m not a morning person.” Nor was she a patsy he could steamroll right over, potential wife or no.

  “I’ll be waiting for you. Remember. Ten minutes. Actually—” he consulted his watch again “—about seven now.”

  Wanting him to know she did not appreciate his attempts at humor, especially so early in the morning, Callie gave him a last debilitating look and slipped out the door. Flashlight in hand, she trudged through the wet grass to the outhouse, muttering about the hour and the condition of the facilities all the while, and yanked open the door. A couple minutes later, she stepped out and was promptly grabbed from behind. A rough hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her air and stifling her reflexive scream.

  Struggling, Callie felt herself being dragged back behind the outhouse, shoved up against the crude wooden building. “Hello, there...Callie,” a familiar voice said.

  She stared into the shadowed face of her older brother and only sibling. As she relaxed, he eased his hand off her mouth. “Buck? What are you doing here?”

  He regarded her scornfully. “You aren’t the only one who saw the ads for the video matchmaking service and decided that might be a way to hook up with someone wealthy and get rich quick.”

  Oh, no, Callie thought as dread swept through her. She’d thought—hoped—she’d put this part of her life behind her permanently seven years ago. Apparently not, now that they’d finally caught up with her again. “You signed up with the agency, too?” Even as she asked, she had a sinking feeling she already knew the answer.

  “Even better.” Buck flashed a malicious smile. He shrugged and lit a cigarette. “I know someone who works there, who is now my girlfriend. She told me Max owned it. Even let me take a peek at the tapes on file. When I saw yours... let’s just say I couldn’t resist finding out what you were up to. Have to hand it to you, Callie. I really admire the way you’ve come back to take advantage of old Cody’s grief. Of course, with Max McKendrick dying, Pa and I figured you couldn’t be far behind... especially since, according to our research, there’s been no annulment filed in Acapulco, so you’re still married to one of the richest men in the West.”

  If only she’d taken care of that, Callie thought miserably.

  “You leave Cody out of it,” Callie whispered fiercely, balling her hands into tight fists at her sides. There was no way she was going to let Buck take advantage of Cody or any of his kin!

  “Now, Callie,” Buck drawled with an evil smile as he took another drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke right back at her, “you know we can’t do that. That lover boy of yours was destined to make us all rich. He’s already failed us once, a fact Pa laments over almost daily. We can’t let him do it again. ‘Cause if we do, Pa’ll be swearing more than revenge on your beloved. If it happens again, Pa’ll be out for blood. Cody’s blood.”

  Trembling from head to toe, Callie shoved her brother aside. Although she no longer feared she would turn out like Buck or Pa, it was one of the great miseries of her life that they were related. “Is Pa here with you?” She looked past him fearfully at the darkness of the woods.

  Buck tossed his cigarette aside and caught a lock of her hair. Twisting it around his fist, he yanked her back to his side. “What do you think?”

  Callie shivered and told herself it was the cool night air making her so cold. “I’m not helping you,” she warned fiercely. And she meant it this time.

  Buck thightened his grip on her hair and studied her with a knowing smirk. “You talk as if you have a choice.” According to him, and Pa, she didn’t.

  “I’ll tell Cody you’re here,” Callie threatened.

  “Do and you’ll force me to take care of him, too.”

  Though Buck and Pa had always been more conniving con artists than violent criminals, Callie had the feeling Buck wouldn’t hesitate to harm Cody if it was the only way Buck could protect himself.

  “So if you care about your health and Cody’s,” Buck continued in a low, threatening voice, “you’ll keep quiet and do as I say.”

  “Callie!” Cody called from the door of the cabin. “Time’s up!”

  “Remember what I said, Callie. I’ll be in touch.” Buck disappeared into the woods behind the outhouse.

  Shaking, Callie leaned against the outhouse. She’d thought that part of her life was over. And maybe it would have been if she hadn’t come back to Montana, looking to try to recapture some of the small measure of happiness she’d had here in the past.

  She heard Cody’s heavy footsteps coming toward her. He couldn’t know about Buck or his plans. Cody’s opinion of her was low enough as it was. She would just have to get rid of Buck on her own. She stepped out from behind the outhouse.

  “What are you doing back there?” Cody asked. “Is that...cigarette smoke?” He leaned closer, taking in a whiff of her hair.

  “Of course not.” Callie pushed him away. Trying her best to recover from the encounter with her brother, she countered evenly, “You know I don’t smoke.”

  Cody shone the flashlight up into her face and looked her up and down. “Then what are you doing behind the outhouse?” he demanded.

  “Getting some air.”

  Cody studied her some more. Finally, he growled, “Well hurry up.”

  “Hold your horses,” Callie grumbled back, reverting to her former uncooperative attitude as perspiration trickled down her neck. That had been a close call. Too close for comfort.

  “SO HOW LONG since you’ve been on a horse?” Cody asked.

  “Never you mind.” Callie finished tightening the cinch. Grabbing the saddle horn, she swung herself up in the saddle, just as Cody had taught her to when she was seventeen. “This is one part of living out west I haven’t forgotten. What I want to know is what’s in those saddlebags you packed.”

  “You’ll find out soon enough.” Cody swung up onto his horse and took off.

  Callie caught up so she was riding beside—not behind—him. “Determined to be mysterious?”

  “And then some,” he admitted, studying the landscape as they rode through the woods and into the wide open spaces of the canyon land.

  As they rode, Callie looked around, too. Birds sang intermittently in the trees. The morning air felt refreshingly cold and clear against her face. There was no smog out here, no city noises, no traffic. Only man and horse and the beauty of a Montana sunrise. Dawn was coming soon; she could tell by the ever lightening hue of the blue gray sky, the hint of pale gold just above the horizon in the east. The thick grass beneath them glistened with dew. In the distance, she could see the granite-topped mountains rise.

  More potent than all of that
were the memories of other times she and Cody had ridden out together. Sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. They hadn’t gone to see movies or eat in restaurants on their dates; they’d gone out to ride, and had long, lazy picnics in wildflower-strewn meadows. They’d taken off their socks and shoes and waded barefoot in clear, cold mountain streams. They’d watched the sunrise and the sunset. Until she had only wanted to be with him. Until she had only wanted to run away....

  “Where have you been the last seven years?”

  Cody’s unexpected question brought her out of her reverie. Callie kept her eyes trained on the trail in front of her, hesitating a moment, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. “I think the question is, Where haven’t I been?”

  “I’m listening.”

  Callie shrugged, trying hard not to reveal the deep loneliness and uncertainty she’d felt during that time, when she’d left everyone and everything she had ever known far behind her. “I worked as a dishwasher in Laredo, a receptionist in Florida, a lifeguard in California and a retail sales clerk in Martha’s Vineyard.” And though she had excelled at all her jobs, none had brought her the happiness she sought. Which was why she’d come back, why she’d taken such a chance....

  “How’d you hear about the matchmaking service?”

  “I saw an ad in the back of Farms and Ranches magazine. Who knew Max ran the whole operation?”

  He studied her thoroughly. “What were you doing reading that?”

  Callie shrugged and shifted her reins to her other hand. “I don’t know. I saw an issue on a newsstand in Vermont when I was there one weekend, and I picked up a copy and got a little homesick, and I bought it.”