The Rancher

by Lily Graison

  The sound of his boots hitting the floor as he walked away echoed in her head. The light from the open door dimmed as he shut it behind him.

  The man obviously wasn't about to give up. Apparently she wasn't rude enough. She had to dissuade him from pursuing her but how? He was obviously stubborn to the core but so was she. She'd chased off more men than her father could parade in front of her and a cowboy in the middle of nowhere wouldn't get the best of her. She wouldn't allow it.

  It was several minutes before she was able to focus on her class. When she looked up, everyone was staring at her, one face in particular catching her attention. Alexandra Avery looked madder than a wet hen and if Laurel had to guess, she'd say it was because of her father. He was obviously trying to court her and his daughter knew it. And didn't like it one bit.

  Ignoring them all, she turned her attention back to her lesson plan and tried to overlook the flutter in her chest every time she looked at that apple.

  * * * *

  Holden walked into the jailhouse. Morgan dropped the papers in his hand and look up as Holden shut the front door. His brother shook his head and leaned back in his chair. "If you're here to complain about the new school teacher, I've heard it all already."

  "Steady complaints about her then?"

  "You wouldn't believe it." Morgan grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ben wanted me to arrest her for calling him a drunk."

  Holden laughed and grabbed the chair across from Morgan's desk, turning it backwards and straddled the seat. "Can't arrest people for speaking the truth."

  "No, you can't." Leaning forward, Morgan laid his arms across his desk. "So, what brings you by?"

  "Laurel Montgomery."

  Morgan laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

  "She's hiding something." When his brother lifted one eyebrow, Holden knew he was intrigued. "Don't you find it peculiar she's so… ornery?"

  "Not really. A lot of people are. Take Edna Pierce for example."

  They shared a laugh before sobering. "She doesn't look old enough to be as bitter as she is. What do you know about her?"

  "Nothing much." Morgan stood, picked up the papers on his desk and tossed them into the stove. "Comes from somewhere in Arizona, I think."

  "You think?" Holden shifted in his seat. "Can you find out for sure?"

  Morgan gave him a curious look. "Why?"

  Holden shrugged his shoulder. "No reason."

  His brother laughed as he picked up his hat, placing it on his head. "You're a terrible liar, Holden. I can see it in your eyes." He walked around the desk and motioned to the door. "Come walk the town with me and you can tell me all about Laurel Montgomery. I'm sure you know more than any other man in town does."

  "What makes you think that?"

  Morgan stopped, turned his head to Holden and stared at him for long moments before grinning. "I actually didn't but the look on your face tells me you do. Is there something you're not telling me?"

  "No." Holden wondered if Morgan could see the lie on his face. He stared him in the eye and kept on talking, ignoring the accusation. "I just know she's mean spirited, loathes the sight of me and makes me think things no decent man should think about a woman."

  "You and half the men in town." Morgan shut the door on the jail and readjusted his gun belt. "Seems to me the man who can withstand that waspish tongue of hers will be the one who impresses the lady first and something tells me you're just the man to do it. Lord knows you're used to rejection."

  Holden smirked at his brother. "Not my fault all the available women who come through here always find out I'm here after they made the grave mistake of taking up with the wrong characters. Speaking of, how's Abigail and the baby?"

  They talked about nonsensical things as Morgan made his rounds through town. Their last stop was the Diamond Back Saloon and once inside the talk was the same as it usually was now. Laurel Montgomery.

  * * * *

  She just couldn't escape the man. Laurel hid her face behind the restaurant menu and hoped they hadn't seen her. Alexandra was talking a mile a minute and her voice carried as if the child were screaming and so far, Holden only had eyes for his daughter.

  Hearing the sound of chairs scraping across the wooden floor, Laurel peeked over the top of her menu. Her exhaled breath caused the menu in her hand to sway when she saw them taking a seat near the front of the restaurant. They hadn't seen her after all.

  Pushing her embarrassment aside, she'd had no choice but come to the restaurant. If she had to eat one more meal alone, she'd hurt someone. Coming to the hotel was still disconcerting. No one bothered to speak to her, which was fine by her, but the looks they gave her as they ate, their whispered words a hushed murmur in the background, was just too much most days.

  She was used to crowds of people. Had spent her life being the center of attention but look at her now. Reduced to sitting alone in a restaurant while the other patrons whispered about her and made no secret she was the topic of their conversations.

  The server came back to her table and Laurel smiled at her. The dire faced woman didn't return the gesture. She stared at her unmoving and Laurel placed her order, reluctantly gave the menu back and sighed.

  This town had to be home of the most unfriendly group of people she'd ever met. Not that she'd helped matters any with the way she acted toward everyone, but still. She wondered if acting so off-putting was as smart as she'd thought. It drew attention to her like nothing else did, apparently, and the last thing she needed was more attention.

  Draping her napkin across her lap, Laurel made the mistake of lifting her head and looking across the restaurant again. Holden was staring at her, that irritating smirk on his face. She felt heat burn her face as she blushed before looking away.

  A shadowy form appeared in the corner of her eye. Glancing up she saw Holden, standing now and crossing the room toward her. "Oh Lord," she whimpered, and busied herself looking into her reticule in order to ignore him.

  "Laurel," he said, tipping his head toward her.

  He'd removed his hat, his dark hair longer than most men she knew wore it. It hung nearly to his collar and framed his face perfectly. A face the man rarely shaved, she noticed. The whiskers of a growing beard shadowed his jaw line and accentuated his lips. His plain shirt was a bit snug and hugged his chest, hiding those dips and curves she'd remembered touching.

  She blinked, reminded herself she wasn't getting involved with anyone in this town, and that included friendship, and lifted her chin, throwing him a disdainful look. "Holden. Are you lost?"

  He grinned. "No. I just came to ask if you'd like to join us." He motioned to the table Alexandra was sitting at, the look on the child's face clearly saying she didn't share her father's good-natured sentiment.

  Laurel threw him an aloof look, said, "No, thank you," and continued to rummage around in her bag.

  He stood motionless for long moments before he leaned down, bracing one hand on the table, the other on the back of her chair and lowered his face next to her ear. "Ignore me all you want, woman, but I'm not leaving. I have every intention to make you my wife so you might as well face the fact and stop being so ornery toward me. I want you, Laurel, and I aim to have you."

  He straightened, smiled down at her and turned and walked away.

  Laurel gaped at his retreating back, his words whispering through her head like a sweet kiss on a hot, sultry night. Make her his wife? A shiver raced down her spine as images flooded her brain. Thoughts of being in that man's bed caused her breath to catch. Listening to his seductive voice every night as he took her body to heights she could only imagine and seeing his smiling face every morning when she woke.

  A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her skin as he sat back down and looked her way. The desire in his eyes caused her pulse to leap.

  She forced herself to look away. If she'd be true to her body's demands, she'd be tempted to just throw her reservations to the wind and see what sort of trouble she could make
with him, wife or not. Lord knew they had no problem getting along in bed. That night they spent together came back to her on a daily basis and she was a woman who'd experienced more than most. Her shameful past would haunt her forever but there was nothing to be done about that now. She just had to accept her life as it was and make the best of what she had, stay hidden and try not to draw too much attention to herself in order to protect her whereabouts.

  The server returned with her meal and it took everything in her to concentrate enough to eat. She was half tempted to have it packaged to go but wasn't about to run to her little room in the back of the school house with her tail tucked. Especially not from a man. She didn't care how good-looking he was or how much her heart fluttered just looking at him.

  Taking her time eating had been the plan, just so she'd have something to do besides stare at the same four walls of her room but those nervous butterflies in her stomach screamed disaster. She ate quickly, trying to not seem as if she was shoveling it in and was ready to go in record time. She stood, not waiting for the server to come back with her ticket and kept her eyes on the floor as she passed Holden Avery and his daughter. Holden's soft, "See you soon, Miss Montgomery," was ignored and it wasn't until she'd paid for her food and was outside on the wooden sidewalk that she realized what a hypocrite she was.

  She made the children in her classroom behave in a certain manner. They were to say thank you when appropriate, greet others with courtesy and treat everyone they met as they too would like to be treated. As of yet, she hadn't lived by her words. She acted in the complete opposite manner. She was rude, met everyone who spoke with her in a brash manner and stuck her nose up at those who dared look upon her. All because the men in her short twenty-six years of life were controlling to the point of suffocation.

  Slipping her straw hat on her head, she tied the ribbon under her chin, exhaling a deep breath before glancing back inside the restaurant window. Holden was staring at her and somehow she knew he would be. The man just didn't give up. His arrogant assumption that he'd marry her came to mind as she looked at him and she smiled before she could stop herself. She knew it was a mistake the moment his eyes lit up in reaction.

  If only her circumstances were different. On one level, being married to a man like Holden Avery would be a dream come true for her, but she knew men to be lying and untrustworthy. He was probably no different. So what if a single glance made her heart race. Or remembering him in the altogether was enough to make her mouth water and want to beg for more. He was certainly a man any sane woman would want to know more about. Unfortunately, she wasn't just any woman. She didn't need or want a man in her life and that was a plan she intended to stick with.

  Trying to forget her past, she gave Holden one last look before starting for the school. She'd only made it as far as the stagecoach station when Edna Pierce yelled her name.

  "Miss Montgomery! I'd like a word with you."

  Laurel sighed and stopped walking. She'd seen Edna on the other side of the road and had kept her head down, hoping the woman wouldn't see her.

  Of all the people Laurel had met in Willow Creek, Edna was the one she avoided the most. The woman was just too irritating to carry on a civil conversation with. She gossiped too much and gave Laurel disapproving looks when the whispered secrets she loved sharing were met with silence.

  Laurel folded her hands in front of her and waited for Edna to cross the street. She forced a smile onto her face as she reached her. As much as it pained her to be nice to the woman, having her as an enemy would be disastrous.

  "Miss Montgomery," Edna said, breathless, "I wanted to formally invite you to the town festival that will be taking place a month from Saturday." Edna smiled and lifted her chin, a haughty look crossing her face. "We'll be raising funds for the new Doctor we hope to attract and everyone will be participating. There will be picnics and dancing, games and auctions. It looks to be the event of the year."

  "Oh. I'll help anyway I can, Mrs. Pierce, but a teachers salary is very meager."

  "Yes, I'm well aware of that, which is why I signed you up for the auction."

  Laurel raised one eyebrow at her. "Excuse me?"

  Edna smiled again, her chest puffed up arrogantly. "It was my idea, really. As a woman of standing in our community, and a member of the town council, I've been asked to oversee the entire affair and it wasn't hard to come up with an idea I knew would raise the most money. With so few women in Willow Creek, the men here in town, and the surrounding area, don't have the pleasure of sweet treats very often." Edna heaved a breath, her eyes twinkling as if she'd accomplished some great feat. "You'll need to prepare a confection for the auction. A cake or pie. Cookies if you prefer but the more appealing the treat, the more men will bid on it."

  "Bid?"

  "Yes, bid." Edna straightened her spine and gave her a disapproving look. "Goodness, Miss Montgomery, do you not listen?"

  Laurel opened her mouth to respond but thought better of it. She'd been listening, and wasn't at all happy this woman had signed her up for something she wished to take no part in. "I don't do much baking, Mrs. Pierce. And actually, I'm sure I'll be too busy with lesson plans to attend this town festival."

  Thoughts of mingling with the townsfolk set Laurel's teeth on edge. She avoided people most of the time but being forced to socialize with them… that would never do.

  She smiled to lesson the blow. "I appreciate you including me but it wasn't necessary. I'll donate what funds I can for this new doctor but baking in order for someone to bid on my pie? I can't see how that will help you."

  "Oh, pish-posh!" Edna said. "I've heard the rumors about your displeasing personality, dear, but trust me, once the gentlemen in the area get a chance to talk with you, they'll change their minds. Now, shall I put you down for a pie or for a cake?"

  Laurel blinked. Was Edna Pierce daft or did she just not care about anyone's thoughts and feelings but her own? When the woman just stood there looking at her, Laurel realized it was the latter. What Edna wanted is what Edna got. She sighed. "I can bake a pie for you. Where shall I drop it off?"

  Edna's smile lit her face. "Oh, just bring it to the clearing behind the mercantile on the first Saturday in September." She turned in a whirl of skirts, mumbling to herself and Laurel's eyes widened.

  "Edna, I'll not be attending the festival!"

  The woman raised her hand to wave, looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Of course you will, dear. Now, have a good evening!"

  And with that, she was gone. Laurel stared after her for long minutes before she finally exhaled a deep breath.

  As hard as she tried to not get involved with the people of this town, it was getting harder by the day. And now Edna had practically forced her to do so. Signing her up for something she had no intentions of even attending.

  She turned and resumed her walk back to the school house, her thoughts on how to get out of participating in the festival. The sound of a child talking caught her attention and she turned her head toward the street, her pulse leaping as she saw Holden and Alexandra on a black stallion headed out of town. As always, Holden smiled and tipped his hat to her. And just as she did every time she saw him, she tried to ignore those fluttering butterflies swimming in her stomach as she turned her head to look away from him.

  Chapter Four

  As luck would have it, the first Saturday in September was as bright and cheery as they came. Laurel looked out the small window of her room and heaved a sigh. Why couldn't it have rained?

  She turned to check her appearance in the small mirror hanging on the wall, tucked in a few errant strands of hair that refused to stay put and straightened the front of her dress. Dread settled in her stomach and the aroma of that apple pie she'd labored over all morning was making her queasy. She was going to have to take the thing across town regardless of her desire not to.