High-Riding Heroes

by Joey Light

  She took all of him. United. Complete. Pressure point to pressure point. Core to core. Heart to heart. Polestar to apex.

  Volcanic. Ebb tide. She arched toward him. He drove, meeting her only to retreat and charge again.

  A carousel whirled, a rainbow arched, a flash of voltaic lightning zipped, ripping white into a rolling black sky.

  Her eyes drifted closed as he kissed the smile that came to her lips. In that place reserved for lovers, saved and hidden until joined, until together and pleasing one another, they sailed.

  She ran her hands down to his buttocks. In the age-old rhythm of lovers throughout all time, they moved. Locked together, one in mind and body, spirit and heart, he pulled her even closer. As the tempo increased, became out of control and urgent, he reared back and whispered her name. As her eyes opened, focused on his beautiful face, they soared, exploding and fusing, sinking and disintegrating, melding and forging. Together they jettisoned over the edge into a scalding aura of force.

  He rolled over, the cold light of day dragging him from the most peaceful sleep he’d ever had. Through the fog of a contented mind, he reached for her. Feeling nothing but empty bed, he opened one eye, half expecting to see her standing nearby. The room was empty. Sitting up, Wes looked around. It was as if she had never been there.

  No sign of her was left in his room, except for the slight indentation on the pillow next to his and the light, sweet scent of her on his skin.

  Pulling on his jeans, he padded barefoot out of the room and down to the kitchen. She’d be there. Playing with Katie. Fixing him something delicious to eat. Bacon, eggs, potatoes. He could smell the coffee. He smiled.

  His mother was there setting the table. Katie was there, smiling up at him, hugging that nearly burned up rabbit. Victoria wasn’t there. A quick jolt of panic rocked through him. “Is she outside?”

  The sound of his own voice in the room brought his senses to full stand. And the reality of his words.

  “Who, dear?” his mother asked absently from her place by the sink.

  If she had to ask who, then Victoria wasn’t there. Hurriedly placing a good morning kiss on Katie’s cheek, he sprinted back to his room to dress. He was fighting the growing suspicion that she left him to get a point across. After last night she couldn’t doubt that they had a life to live together. All that nonsense in the hospital about blaming herself for almost killing Katie and Joe was just that. Nonsense. And he had tried to talk to her about the hurtful words she had overheard before the fire. She had to listen to him. After last night, could she still doubt that most of this had been a misunderstanding? Anger feathered around the corners of his mind.

  On his dash through the rain, he stopped to pick some of his mother’s favorite roses. He tossed them in the truck and keyed the engine. As of this minute, no more time was to be wasted. None.

  On the ride to Glory Town, Wes thought about Nick. They’d have to talk. A decision on his mental competency would have to be made. If he were a danger to anyone, including himself and especially Victoria, he would have to seek medical help. Now that everything had worked out the way it had, he could feel sorry for Nick. For his loneliness. For losing the one woman he loved.

  He had slept late this morning. It was almost ten o’clock by the time he reached the old town. In the rain, it looked bleak. It even more resembled the sometime dreariness of the world so long ago. Sure it was filled with dash and romance most of the time, but he knew there had been plenty of lean times back then, too. He was a little surprised at his reaction to the pretend place. When had Glory Town become his home? When he’d fallen for Victoria. When his heart had opened up and embraced that lady and everything she loved.

  Parking behind the still-smoking remnants of the barn, he hurried toward the hotel. If he’d had time, he’d have gone to the jewelry store. He wanted her to look at him and say yes first. And he wanted her to be with him. He wanted them to choose the engagement ring together. As they were going to do everything from now on.

  She was on the steps when he burst in the hotel, roses wet and limp in his hand. She paused and looked up. He saw but didn’t understand the pain in her eyes.

  Some of this morning’s panic made its way to his heart again. There was just something about the way she turned to look at him. Something in her eyes…a resignation?

  Just the sight of him had her blood swimming, had her remembering the touch of his hands on her body, hers on his. “Morning, Wes. I was just on my way to my room. How is Katie this morning?” Her words were strong and that surprised her. It was the last on the list of the way she felt just now. It was hard to keep to her decision and even harder to accept the fact that she couldn’t just run away. She had planned on facing Wes. A little later in the day, she was going to drive over on her way out of town. Her bags were packed and already stashed in the car.

  Cold fear drilled down his back. “Didn’t you see her before you left? Why did you leave? How did you get back here?”

  “I saddled one of your horses. He’s in the barn on the back lot.” She had ridden as though the devil himself was after her. Fast and furious. They had jumped fences and splashed through streams and slid down the hill. She had fooled herself into thinking distance between them would change things. It had only increased her longing and misery.

  Wes dropped the roses, rushed up the stairs and trapped her in the circle of his arms. She drifted toward him unsteadily. Over his shoulder, Victoria could see Joe grinning up at them. Wes kissed her, full and deep. And she remembered so well, too well and too vividly, the way they were in his bed, in his room. Her resolve wavered and then she gave it a kick. What had to be done had to be done.

  His lips on hers boosted his confidence. With the kind of conviction only a man can harbor, he began to feel relief when her body fit so well to his. Whatever it was that was still bothering her, they’d work it out. “We’re going to town. Come on.”

  She stopped him. God, he was so handsome. His Western-cut clothes accented his build, enhanced his roughness. She remembered how it felt to run her mouth over his body. If only things had been different. How happy they could have been.

  “I have other plans, Wes.”

  Her words cut through him with the swiftness and sureness of a saber. “Nick?” What else could it be? Resolve stiffened his backbone. “Are you still worried about Nick?”

  Still he didn’t understand. All that she had to say had to be said now. “Let’s take a walk.”

  “It’s raining.”

  “It’s down to a drizzle.” She took his hand and they left the hotel by the back way. As they walked past the ruined barn, he felt her tense.

  So that was it. He was expecting her to rally after all this much too soon. That’s all it could be. He wouldn’t let it be anything else. Up on the hill they stopped, the rain now merely a mist that swirled around them. She stood looking up at him, the wayward breeze lifting and tossing her hair around her shoulders. Wes waited.

  “I saw Nick a little while this morning. Sally is with him. Do you know he doesn’t even remember yesterday? It makes me feel so bad to see a man suffer so much. Sally is taking him to the hospital this afternoon.”

  “It’s best. He needs help. We aren’t qualified to give it to him.”

  “No. But we should be around to support him. At least you should. He needs that.” She drew her gaze away from his beautiful face, afraid her resolve would waver after all.

  “I can do that.” He tried to read her mind. He was getting jumpy. This is stupid to walk all the way up here to talk about Nick. What was she getting at? He felt ice begin to trip through his veins. She turned to look at him and the new sun narrowed her pond-green eyes.

  She removed her hand from his and, to keep from merely grabbing him and hanging on, tacked them behind her back. “I’m going away, Wes.” She waited, trying to gauge his reaction. It didn’t take long.

  “The hell you say,” he thundered. His voice was low and unaccepting. “You’re sm
arter than this. If the fire hadn’t broken out, I could have explained. The hospital wasn’t the place to talk and you needed time to think it all out. You should be able to go over it. Make the right decision about this. Hear me out. You know damn well I’m in love with you no matter how it all started out. You’re the one who generated this frenzy.”

  Anger jumped to the forefront of her mind. “Me! How dare you think I’m jumping to conclusions when I heard it come from your own lips.” And such wonderful lips.

  “You heard part of a conversation. And yes, dammit, I hired on here to get rid of Buck’s stubborn Eastern partner. Don’t you see? It was Buck’s plan all along that we get together. He knew I was at loose ends, beginning to doubt myself. He saw that a woman like you would be good for me. It’s all been an act. For Pete’s sake, Victoria, I thought you could see through that. Buck planned this and most of it went according to plan.”

  Taking both her hands in his, he forced her to look at him. “If I only hired on as a favor to Buck, what kept me here? Think about it. It was you. Watching you go from being that spoiled, pampered Virginia lady to a competent, capable Oklahoma woman. Every day I watched you grow and learn. Did I laugh out loud the day you fell off the fence? Did I snicker behind my hand that day in the barn when you watched the blisters forming on your pretty little hands? Did I make fun of you when you dressed the part of a gunslinger and killed off all the bad guys? Watching you, being around you, learning about you was teaching me that you, all this, was what was missing from my life. I could have walked away. Any time. But I was falling in love with you, bit by bit, day by day, and hour by hour.”

  Pale. She went absolutely white. Blood drained to her toes. The urge to laugh hysterically bubbled inside her. But then she saw her own reflection in his dark, sleepy eyes and was reminded of her stupid stunt that almost cost him his life…his little girl. This added information that might have fixed everything before now only made it worse.

  “I don’t believe you.” She circled him. She had to move. Her nerves were surfacing and making her jumpy.

  “We were both duped. And it was done because that old coot likes both of us. If he had asked me to drop over and take a look at the new lady in town, I would have laughed at him. So he put it to me as a challenge. He said his new partner was a stupid, pushy Easterner and he wanted him gone.

  Discourage him, make life miserable…get this person to throw up his hands and catch the

  next flight back home…where he belonged. He never even told me you were a woman. Until we met that morning in the hotel dining room, I assumed he was asking me to get rid of a man.”

  He paced as he talked, there amidst the tall, waving grass, the sun that appeared from behind the black storm clouds, glinting off his belt buckle as he turned. “He knew. That old codger knew, once I saw you, got to know you, I wouldn’t leave without you.”

  The stupidity of the entire situation washed over her, but the tarnish of knowing that she endangered Katie with her own childishness kept everything from shining.

  “I was afraid you really didn’t love me. I was scared I really didn’t love you. And Buck never wanted me here. Then the fire. How can you ever forgive me for not keeping Katie with me?”

  His eyes darkened and he took his time to think over his words clearly because he knew what he said next was very important, vital to the rest of his life. “Buck didn’t want you here at first but then he used that wily old head of his. He purposely kept you stirred up. He started liking you but he doesn’t know how to tell a person he likes them. He figured you needed a man, being the chauvinist that he is. And so he picked me. Hand picked. In the old goat’s mind we’re the perfect match. And I know he’s right. As far as Katie being in the barn with Joe, Victoria, I have often let Joe take her to the barn to ride. If it had happened then? Should I shoot myself?”

  “No. Yes. I don’t know. I don’t know what I think. This is all so off the wall. I thought I had this all figured out. I’m not sure I want to believe any of this.”

  He stalked over to stand an inch from her. He didn’t touch her. Afraid his hold would be so tight he might hurt her, he kept his hands at his sides. The intensity in his eyes could be felt more than physical contact. “Do you believe in this morning?”

  She felt the heat wash over her cheeks. Yes. Yes, she believed in the love they made together. And maybe she had to trust the last weeks. Their time together. The things they shared. The teaching times. The arguing times. The quiet times.

  “Yes.” And she meant it. She silently prayed she was making the right decision. Her brain booted her with a mental shrug. It’s worth a try. It’s worth a damned good try.

  “Good. You’d better believe in it.”

  The booming sound of Buck’s raspy voice had them both turning. He sat, the sun at his back, astride his horse. When had he approached them? Where had he come from?

  “You guessed right that I duped you, Wes. But what you don’t know is that I tricked both of you.”

  Victoria slipped her hand from Wes’s. She didn’t like the set to Buck’s mouth, the frown on his face. “Almost backfired. The whole bloody thing almost blew up in my face. I did ask Wes here to move in on my Eastern partner and make life miserable. What better way to get action than to throw two cats in a bag and watch ‘em go at it?” He dismounted and, holding the reins loosely in his hands, walked closer to the two of them. The two of them standing there looking at him as if he’d been found chewing on locoweed.

  “A long time ago, Victoria, back in the East, I used to tag along with your dad when he snuck you down to the swimming hole. Your mother never let you go skinny-dipping and your father thought all kids ought to enjoy it. Your nanny, Martha, would come with us and bring a towel along. She’d always have you shined back up by the time we went back. You were all of two big, fat years old.”

  Victoria experienced a deluge of conflicting emotions.

  What was he telling her? That he knew her father? What kind of a shenanigan was this?

  “We used to hide you out at the stables until your mother went into town and then we’d all three head out on horseback, you sitting up there in front of your dad, clapping your hands together and yelling ‘Faster, Daddy, faster,’ and he would laugh and urge the horse into a gallop.”

  She found her voice. “You knew my father? Then you and Uncle Henry knew each other in Virginia?”

  Buck looked from one of them to the other and took a deep breath. “I am your Uncle Henry.”

  Victoria’s brain fogged. Words buzzed around in her head as she fought to comprehend what was being said.

  “What’s this Uncle Henry stuff?” Wes asked, half expecting this and more to be fabricated.

  “I faked a will and notified Victoria that her uncle had died and left his half of this town to her. I told you I had let a silent partner buy in and then was surprised when he showed up to participate. I figured you two wouldn’t bother discussing mundane matters like that.”

  Victoria swayed and Wes caught her from behind and let her lean back against him.

  He was her Uncle Henry. Her father’s brother. Stunned, nearly speechless, she murmured, “Did you and my father look much alike?”

  Buck smiled, touched. “Yes. Quite a bit, being only one year between us.”

  “Then he would look like you now. God. Had he lived, this is what he would look like. Why? Why did you send for me?”

  “A friend of mine back there kept me current on you. I couldn’t do much about the life your mother forced you to live while you were young, but after your divorce, after I heard that she was trying to marry you off to some other rich dandy…well, I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

  “Why,” her voice faltered as she moved a few steps toward him, “didn’t you let me know I had an uncle?”

  Pain darkened Buck’s face. He looked her squarely in the eye. “God only knows why, but your father loved that bitch. She was a cunning, conniving…I was never good enough. I was a rowdy. A
drunkard. A devil-may-care idiot I think were her exact words. I was ashamed.”

  Victoria cocked her head and tried to comprehend what she was hearing.

  “Sam and I used to sneak out once in a while, after you two were asleep. She never knew. She had her own room and only cut tracks to his when she felt like it. Anyway, we went to a bar and drank too much. I was drunk. I was driving. There was an accident. Sam died. I didn’t.”

  The torrents of emotion pushed tears to the backs of her eyes. She blinked them away.

  Buck continued, hurriedly. It was getting harder and harder for him to say the words that hurt this girl, the grown-up woman of the little girl he loved so much.

  “She shrieked, she screamed; she pounded on my chest. Murderer. Killer. She said I was jealous of all Sam had, so I took him out, got him drunk, and drove him into that tree.” He hated that he felt the heat of tears at the corners of his eyes.

  Shifting from one foot to the other, he continued. “I loved Sam. I never would have hurt him. You and me…and him. We spent a lot of time together. She said I could never come near you again. That I was bad for you. She convinced me. I left the state after a while. After I tried to see you and she would grab you up and run away. She made you cry. You see, you loved me, too.”

  Nothing. She remembered none of this but a feeling was rising to the surface, like a sunken ship blown full of air and floating, creaking and groaning to the top.

  She nodded her head, and as if in a dream, she heard her own words. “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  Moving away from Wes, she walked closer. To look closer. To try to see her father there, in his eyes.

  Buck let go of the horse’s reins. “I called the whole town together. Told them I had a niece out East that didn’t know about me. How I was getting you out here. How I was hoping you could be happy out here. I planned on not making it too easy and counted on the stubbornness you displayed as a little squirt. And Wes. I knew he would be good for you. I was hoping you two would get together. He deserved better than life handed him, too.”