The Cowboy's Bride

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Callie caught Cody’s arm, staying his flight. “I’m not acting here, Cody. I’m scared of Buck and Pa and what they might do to you.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up, as if he found amusement in some private irony. “Maybe that would be easier to believe if you hadn’t helped set me up so thoroughly before we eloped.”

  She dropped her hand, recoiling in hurt that he could think so little of her that he would believe she was part of Buck and Pa’s sleazy schemes. “What do you mean?”

  Cody let the saddlebag dangle at his side. “Telling me you couldn’t take it anymore that night, that you were running away.”

  Callie flushed, recalling her hysteria at the time. “I was running away,” she insisted emotionally. Doing so had been the only way she’d known how to survive. “And you didn’t have to go with me.”

  “But you knew I would go with you, didn’t you?” Cody persisted, his coldly suspicious glance roving her upturned face.

  “I hoped,” Callie admitted freely, keeping her eyes locked with his. The seconds drew out tensely. She could feel him starting to believe her. “There’s a difference, Cody,” she said softly.

  In the silence that fell, Callie could feel her heart slamming against her ribs. The relief she’d initially felt as they tried to reconcile themselves to the past had been replaced by the fear she’d had since they’d met—that he would judge her guilty by association, not by what she had or had not done.

  “Well, you got your wish,” Cody said tersely, looking as deeply troubled as she felt. “And your impetuousness or your cunning—whichever it is, I haven’t decided yet—made a miserable mess out of both our lives,” he snapped, pivoting away from her once again.

  “For a while.” Callie hurried after him haughtily, not about to give up on him, not yet. “I, at least, have since recovered.”

  Cody appeared to see no virtue in that. “Admirably, it would seem,” he agreed succinctly as he knelt to stuff the dishes into the saddlebag. “And yet you’re back.” Finished, he fastened the buckle and dropped the bag onto the grass.

  “I guess Uncle Max knew I was needed here,” Callie ruminated out loud after a moment. And I can see why, she thought passionately.

  But her verbal assessment of the situation did not have the desired result. “Needed!” Cody echoed. Jaw rigid, he stood. “For what?” he rasped.

  And in that instant, Callie knew. Max had thrown her in with Cody because he loved him, because it was all he knew to do to save his nephew from a life of loneliness, isolation and pain. And Callie was not going to let Max down. Not when he’d always been so good to her, so loving and understanding and kind, even in the most difficult times. And that was, coincidentally, exactly what Cody needed now, too, Callie thought. Understanding. She dropped her voice another tranquil notch. “I am here to help you become the man you were before the hard times hit, to become the man you were destined to be.”

  CODY STARED AT CALLIE, not sure whether to scoff or applaud. The sad truth was part of him wanted to trust her, but the other part had learned the hard way to regard everything she said and did with the thinly veiled suspicion with which he’d regard any con artist. “So what are you telling me, Callie? That you signed up with the matchmaking agency just like that, without even knowing who exactly it was you were supposed to help out?” he recapped out loud, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in his low tone.

  “Yes.” As Cody continued to size her up relentlessly, Callie’s posture turned stiff and defensive. “As foolish as it sounds, even after all this time, after the heartbreak of our failed elopement, I trusted the people at the agency. So when I got a message from one of the agents, telling me where and when to show up to meet this rancher who so desperately needed my help, I took a blind leap of faith and went.” Callie paused and watched the conflicting play of emotions on Cody’s face. “Max did not do this to hurt us. He loved you, Cody.”

  Cody had never doubted that. Although never blessed with children himself, when left with the unexpected guardianship of his niece and two nephews, Max had pulled out all the stops to be a good parent. “He also thought he knew everything there was to know about fixing up our lives.” Feeling restless again, Cody moved through the trees to the bank of the meandering stream. “But he was wrong about that, too. He was wrong to encourage me to elope with you to Mexico.” He was wrong about Callie and Cody belonging together as neighboring ranchers, never mind as man and wife.

  “I’m not so sure about that, Cody. In fact I tend to agree with what Max evidently told the agency.” Callie gave Cody a placating grin and surprised the heck out of him by playfully rubbing his beard with the flat of her hand. “You do need some civilizing,” she teased.

  “The hell I do,” Cody drawled back roughly. He had been his own person his entire adult life. Will or no will, he was not letting anyone change that. Furthermore, this conversation of theirs was getting far too intimate. It was making him forget he didn’t want her here. That he needed to stay on his guard.

  “The only question is where to start,” Callie murmured, as she continued to eye him with an almost wifely intent that made Cody think about how much a part of him liked having Callie close again, despite everything. And that, Cody thought, just would not do.

  “I’ve got an idea.” Deciding the best way to make Callie understand she was playing with fire in her attempt to get close to him, and stunned by her willingness to inject herself into his life again, regardless of his prejudice against her, he buried his hands deep in her hair and fastened his mouth over hers.

  His kisses of years past had been soft and pliant, tender and seducing. In contrast, this one was hard, chastening, a retribution for all the trouble she had caused him and the problems still to come. As he had expected, and, yes, even wanted, she stiffened in his arms and pulled away. Riotous color bloomed in Callie’s cheeks. Her breasts rose and fell with every frantic breath she took, and he could feel her heart slamming in her chest. But there was passion in her eyes and a kind of haughty courage in her stance he couldn’t help but admire. She was all woman, all passion and temper.

  “You’re not going to scare me with this he-man act of yours,” she vowed, even as she braced her arms between them and he kept his hands upon her waist. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  Maybe not, Cody thought passionately, but there were times like now when he was treacherously close to falling in love with her all over again, times when he sure wanted to try. Needing to finish what he had started, needing to feel the softness of her slender body crushed against the hardness of his, Cody shifted her close again. Whether she liked it or not, he thought furiously, he was sending her away. And heaven save them both, this appeared to be the easiest, most effective way to do it. “As Max said—” Cody brushed his lips over hers and smiled with satisfaction as he felt her tremble and knew her breath was coming in fast, shallow bursts “— I’ve changed, Callie. And not,” he warned as he buried both hands in the sunflower gold of her hair, “for the better.”

  No longer was he the young, idealistic kid who believed in the power of love with all his heart. Now he dealt with the tangibles. Desire, which could be sated. Hard work, which was always good for the soul. And land, upon which he made his living. But no more playing games. No more giving his heart. But he wasn’t above giving his body, or matching her need, degree by degree.

  She averted her head defiantly to the side as his lips forged a steady but determined trail down the softness of her throat. “What is this, then?” she asked in a low, trembling voice. “Revenge?”

  “No,” Cody corrected softly. “This is revenge.”

  He bent over her, delivering another long, satisfying, soul-wrenching kiss that had them both trembling from head to toe.

  “I’m telling you, Cody, this is not going to work.” She put a staying hand on his, keeping him from unbuttoning her blouse, even as she softened against him all the more. “I know you. You’re not about to compromise me, especially for
dishonorable reasons.”

  At the moment, with his body aching fiercely and his heart in no better shape, Cody couldn’t think of a sweeter way to get his revenge than by making wild, wonderful love to her. He smiled down at her wickedly, gave in to the desire that had been plaguing them both for years now and taunted softly, “Wanna bet?”

  Her astonishment at his blatant pronouncement came and went as she kept her eyes on his. “When it comes to sex, I’m still the same innocent girl I was before, Cody.”

  Cody had been a fool over Callie many times, but he didn’t believe that for a moment.

  “If you couldn’t do it then, when we at least thought we were in love, you sure as heck won’t be able to do it now,” Callie continued forcefully, with a bravado Cody couldn’t help but admire even as he disdained it.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” Cody clasped both hands around her waist and danced her backward, toward a nearby stand of trees. He didn’t stop until she was leaning up against a sturdy oak, her arms resting lightly upon his shoulders. “You’re not seventeen any longer. And I’m not twenty-four.” He braced an arm on either side of her and gazed raptly down into her upturned face, aware that in the time they’d spent apart she had only grown more beautiful. “It doesn’t matter what kind of love life or lack of we’ve had in the past. I’m not going to bend over backward to protect you or treat you with kid gloves anymore, Callie.” His voice hardened, as did his attitude. “We’re both more than old enough to make love in the cool summer grass, if we so choose.”

  Callie jerked in an unsteady breath, as shocked as he had meant her to be. The warm blush of color flooded her cheeks. He swiftly noticed she didn’t deny wanting him, too. She just didn’t want him this way, as part of the price for gaining her part of Uncle Max’s legacy. “Just because we’re both older n-now...” she stammered, blushing all the more. “Age has nothing to do with this, Cody.”

  Shifting her arms so that they were no longer between them, and folding her even closer, Cody shook his head in mute disagreement. “Age has everything to do with it,” he countered softly. Age was the reason—the only reason — he hadn’t made love to her before. Again, and again, and again. But he’d waited, even after their wedding, thinking she should be at least eighteen before he introduced her to the pleasures of his bed. “You’re not too young for me anymore, Callie,” he rasped as the soft swell of her breasts settled against the hardness of his chest. And then, throwing caution and common sense to the wind, he took her lips again – not roughly this time, but evocatively. Tenderly.

  He kissed her until she parted her lips and began to kiss him back, until they lost all track of time, until her knees buckled and she held on to him for dear life. And still it wasn’t enough for him. It had never been enough. And it never would be, Cody thought as she whimpered against his mouth and the cellular phone in his saddlebag began to ring.

  Damn. Reluctantly, he lifted his head and looked over in the direction of the annoying rings.

  Callie shook her head, as if that would make the ringing sound go away. “What is that?” Callie gasped as she pulled away, looking tousled and disheveled and—Cody hated himself for noticing—more delectably enticing than he had ever seen her.

  “An unwelcome interruption.” Frowning, Cody released Callie and, struggling to ignore the unassuaged ache in his body, went to answer his phone.

  “Yeah, Cisco...what’s up?” Cody listened, and as he did so his mood turned even blacker. Working to control his formidable temper, he tightened his hand on the slim telephone until his knuckles turned white. “Damn it all to hell,” he said finally, when Cisco Kidd had finished making his report. “Get the chopper here now! Right. See you in a few minutes.”

  Callie regarded him anxiously. “What’s going on?”

  Cody glared at her. The phone call, and the reason behind it, had reminded him of all he would have liked nothing more than to forget. “Like you don’t know.”

  Her eyes widened in a way that would have won a professional actress an Oscar. “I don’t!”

  Cody swept up the saddlebag full of camp dishes and paper trash and headed back to the horses. “Gotta hand it to your pa,” he said as he slung the saddlebag over his horse’s back. “He swore he’d get revenge on me, and once again, he’s using you to do it.”

  Callie stayed clear of the horses. “What the heck are you talking about?”

  Cody came around to her side. “This innocent act of yours is getting old, Callie.”

  She took a moment to think about that. Her face lost all color. “Cody. My pa is dangerous.”

  Cody looked up at the sky and saw the chopper in the distance. He dragged Callie toward the edge of the meadow, where it would land. “And dishonest as hell, as he just proved all over again last night.”

  Callie’s teeth worried her bottom lip as the chopper gently landed a distance away. “No one’s hurt, are they?”

  Cody sighed, all too aware of just how easy it would be for him to get sucked into the turmoil of Callie’s life again. He was going to have to work harder to keep his guard up. “When your pa and your brother are involved,” he prophesied darkly, “someone always gets hurt. This time, it just happens to be Gil Guthrie.”

  “WHO is HE?” Callie inquired anxiously as, heads bent low, they raced to the chopper.

  Cody let out his breath wearily as he and Callie ducked the rotor blades. “One of the hired hands who works for me,” he yelled.

  Once inside the chopper, Cody gave the pilot the thumbsup sign.

  As they went aloft, the roar of the engine and the rhythmic whirring of the blades made it impossible for Callie to ask him any more questions. So Callie was forced to fidget and wonder as they flew over the sprawling Silver Spur Ranch. Had Buck and Pa done this? And if so, what was she going to do? Tell Cody she’d seen Buck that morning, face his everlasting wrath and perhaps put him in danger, too? Or keep silent and pray she’d find a way to protect the man she had once loved more than life from harm again?

  Ten minutes later, they were at the scene of the crime.

  Bringing order to the melee was the fifty-something Shorty, Cody’s bowlegged, frank-spoken crew boss. As Callie had expected, Cody sprang into action immediately.

  “What happened?” Cody demanded as he bent over the cowboy leaning up against the side of the Silver Spur cattle barn, where, Callie had quickly deduced, the crossbreeding operation was centered and the prize bulls kept.

  The complex, with its brand-new barn and several adjacent, fenced-in pastures, was located in the central part of the ranch, surrounded by rolling countryside. A gravel road led to the crossbreeding center. At one end of the barn there was a small room, similar to a dorm room, where the three cowboys working that part of the ranch bunked.

  Gil Guthrie, the injured cowboy, gingerly felt the discernible lump on the back of his head. “I heard a commotion just before dawn and I got up to see what was happening. I musta been hit over the head ’cause the next thing I know, I’m waking up on the ground.”

  “Which is where we found him at dawn,” Shorty, the crew boss, said.

  Cody hunkered down beside Gil, who, Callie decided, couldn’t have been much more than eighteen. “We better get you to a hospital and have you checked out.”

  “Sorry, Cody,” Gil moaned, more concerned about the theft than himself. “I know how much that new bull of yours was worth—”

  “Don’t you worry about that,” Cody reassured Gil grimly. “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt any worse.”

  So was Callie. She watched as Cody and two other cowboys helped Gil onto the chopper. Callie turned to Shorty. She hated to bother him, since the bowlegged crew boss seemed preoccupied with figuring out how such a calamity had happened at the Silver Spur, but she had to know.

  Callie eased closer to Shorty. Not sure the grizzled cowboy would even answer her, she folded her arms in front of her. “Gil said that bull was worth a lot of money. How much money?” Callie asked. She
didn’t want to think what she was thinking, but if there was money and theft involved, she had no choice but to suspect Buck.

  Shorty and the other hands held on to their hats as the chopper took off once again. Once it cleared the barns, Shorty turned back to Callie. He gave her a considering once-over. “A hundred grand now, probably twice that when he gets to be full grown,” he answered her question.

  Cody, who was in earshot of the tail end of Callie’s conversation with Shorty, joined them in their study of the pickup tracks leading to the corral behind the barn. “Though how they loaded Zeus up without getting hurt themselves...” Cody queried out loud with a pointed look at Callie.

  Callie turned away from the suspiciousness in Cody’s gaze. She caught a glimpse of something glistening in the early morning sunlight. Wordlessly, she knelt and pointed to the empty medicine bottle lying hidden in the grass. Although the label had been torn off, Callie recognized it as the kind of bottle used to fill syringes. “This is how.”

  32:00

  “NO PRINTS,” the deputy from the county sheriff’s office said after he had finished dusting the medicine bottle for fingerprints. “Whoever used this must’ve been wearing gloves.”

  “Why does that not surprise me?” Cody said with a sigh.

  “I’ll send it to the state crime lab and have it analyzed for contents, but we both know it was probably some sort of tranquilizer.”

  Cody nodded his agreement as he studied the tire tracks leading away from the edge of the pasture. “You’re right. There’d be no way to get the bull out without one.” He turned back to the deputy. “You’ll fax me the results?”