The Rancher

by Lily Graison

  She entered the first room on the right and Laurel smiled as she took in the space. It was nothing like she imagined it would be. It was decorated in pink, and lace curtains hung at the windows, and Laurel was taken aback by the sight. Alexandra tossed her a look over her shoulder and shrugged, as if to say, she knew the room wasn't her.

  Laurel crossed the threshold, pushed the door shut and walked to the bed, folding down the blankets as Alexandra kicked off her boots and started unbuttoning her shirt. She undressed in silence and Laurel kept her back to her until Alexandra said, "Okay. You can look."

  Dressed in a long white nightgown, her pigtails trailing over her shoulders, she looked every bit the girl she was. Laurel looked to the dresser, saw her hairbrush and crossed the space toward it. "Let's get your hair brushed out and re-braided, then you can climb into bed and wait for your father to come up."

  Alexandra's eyes widened a fraction but she didn't say anything. Laurel grabbed the brush, approached the girl and started taking down her pigtails. With the first stroke of the brush in her hair, Alexandra's posture relaxed. Her shoulder sagging as if she'd been holding the weight of the world on them.

  Brushing the tangles from her hair, Laurel said, "Your mother must have had hair this color."

  "She did." Alexandra stood a bit straighter. "There's a picture of her on the dresser."

  Laurel turned her head and sure enough, a small photograph sat amongst the other gewgaws Alexandra had filling the surface. "She was very beautiful."

  "Yeah. My pa said she was the purdiest thing he'd ever seen. When Grandpa bought this land and moved them all out here, my ma's family was already living here and pa seen her when they went to school." She yawned, her jaw cracking from the effort. "There wasn't no schoolhouse then, though. They just met out by that old tree in town on warm days and pa said she sat down right beside of him and smiled at him. He said he was taken with her right then."

  Laurel laid the brush down and gathered Alexandra's hair, separating it into three strands to braid it. "How old were they?"

  Alexandra giggled and shook her head. "Pa said he was fourteen. I can't imagine wanting to marry someone at that age. I can't imagine wanting to marry anyone at all."

  "Well, you'll change your mind about that soon enough, trust me."

  When the braid was done, Laurel tied the end off with a ribbon and walked back to the bed, holding the blankets back. "Hop in."

  Alexandra settled, burrowing into the covers. "My pa said all men want someone to take care of them."

  Laurel nodded her head. "Most of them do."

  The girl stared up at her for long minutes before sighing. "Even though I still don’t like ya much, I think it might be okay for you to marry my pa. I don't need a new momma," she said, her eyes narrowing a fraction, "but my pa wants someone to take care of him when he needs it and it looks like tonight is one of those times he was talking about. If you were his wife, then you'd always be here for when he needed ya."

  Laurel's eyes stung as she stared down at Alexandra. She wasn't sure the girl would ever like her but she'd more or less just given Laurel her blessing, so to speak, to marry her father. She smiled down at her, her heart melting for this stubborn little girl. "I'd very much like to marry your father, Alexandra, and I promise not to mother you too much. I probably won't be very good at it anyway seeing how I've never been a mother before."

  Alexandra yawned up at her. "I'll show you how when you don't do something right."

  She turned over in the bed, pulled the covers up to her ears and closed her eyes. Laurel sat there staring down at her until she heard footsteps in the hall. Standing, she peeked out the door and saw Holden carrying a bucket of water. He stopped and turned his head to her. "Is she ready for bed?"

  Pulling Alexandra's door shut, she went to him, took the bucket and waited until he'd entered the room before following him in. "She's in bed. Will probably be asleep before you get undressed, if her yawning is any indication."

  Holden's room was smaller than Alexandra's. It was sparsely furnished, too, with nothing more than a bed, which no one had bothered to make up, and a four-drawer dresser against one wall. The dresser drawers were open, clothes spilling out over the edges and a pile of them were in a heap on the floor.

  Laurel raised one eyebrow at him before closing the door and sitting the bucket down on the floor. She crossed the room to where he stood and started unbuttoning his shirt. "Judging the state of this room, Mr. Avery, I do believe you need a wife."

  He grinned down at her. "Well, I just so happen to be looking for a wife, if you're interested."

  Tugging his shirt loose from the waistband of his pants, careful of his burned side, she smiled and cast a glance up at his face. "I might be."

  He went so still, Laurel wasn't even sure he was breathing. She pushed his shirt over his shoulders, pulling it down his arms and it wasn't until the ruined material hit the floor that he moved. He cupped her face in his hands, holding her head up so she'd look at him. "Say it."

  "Say what?" she whispered.

  His mouth slanted into a crooked grin. "Say you'll marry me."

  Laurel smiled and leaned in closer to him. "I'll marry you―if you can promise me you won't go running into any more burning buildings. I'm not sure my heart can handle that again."

  He wasted no time in kissing her, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her as if he hadn't been burned. Laurel felt the floor pitch sideways and grabbed hold of his shoulders while returning his kiss. When he finally pulled back, they were both panting for breath.

  "When?" he asked.

  "When what?"

  Holden leaned his forehead against her own, the smile on his face dazzling. "When can we get married?"

  "There isn't a preacher in the house, that I know of, so not tonight." She stepped back, out of his arms, and reached for the waistband of his pants." She held his gaze as she unfastened his pants, pushing the material down over his lean hips. She cast a look down, his erection growing as she undressed him. When she had him bare from head to toe, she grabbed the water bucket, dug inside for the cloth and soap he'd tossed in and spent the next ten minutes washing every inch of him.

  She sat him on the bed when he was clean, examined his burned side and was happy to see it hadn't blistered. It wasn't bad. Irritated mostly. Looking up at him, she said, "I need a horse." At his curious expression, she smiled. "Or one of your ranch hands to see me back to town."

  "You can stay here for the night."

  She raised an eyebrow at him. "That would be entirely inappropriate."

  He reached for her, tugging at the buttons on the front of her dress. "We'll be married soon enough. We've nothing to hide."

  Laurel giggled and stood to avoid his wandering hands. "Be that as it may, tongues will waggle if I stay the night. Not to mention, your daughter is in the next room. What will she think?"

  He stood and Laurel made a point to keep her gaze on his face. He was still stark naked and seeing him in the altogether was distracting enough as it was. "There are four empty rooms in this house. It's also late. You can sleep in one of the other rooms if it'll make you feel better and I can have you back to town before a single person knows you didn't sleep in that miserable little room behind the school."

  At the mention of the school, Laurel knew her position as the town's teacher was as good as gone. Married women weren't allowed to teach in most areas and she wasn't sure how laid-back a town like Willow Creek actually was.

  "What is it?" Holden asked, reaching out to cup one hand along her jaw.

  She sighed, her chest tightening. "I'll not be allowed to teach if I marry you."

  "There's no reason you can't," he said. "And we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

  He slipped on a clean pair of trousers and showed her to the room at the end of the hall, lighting the lamps after entering. It was a large space, with windows gracing two walls, lace curtains hanging in billowy tufts of white froth to the floor
. The bed was a four-poster, large enough to take up most of the room. There was an old rocker in one corner, a crocheted afghan hanging across the back and a wardrobe with mirrored glass on both doors. The floor was covered by a large rug and the room smelled faintly of perfume.

  She turned to look at Holden. "Is this the room you shared with your wife?"

  He nodded and walked further into the room. "It's the biggest bedroom in the house." He stared across the space, a sad smile covering his face. "I moved down the hall a few months after she died. I didn't want to be in here alone." He turned to face her. The smile was gone but she could still see a lingering sadness in his eyes.

  "Do you still miss her?"

  "At times." He ran a hand through his hair. "I miss talking to her. She had an easy smile. Always found something to laugh about." He smiled again but it didn't reach his eyes. He met her gaze and sighed. "I'm done grieving for her. Have been for a long time. But I do miss having someone here. A man gets lonely after a while and ten years is a damn long time to be alone."

  She crossed the room and wrapped her arms around his waist, mindful of the burn, and laid her head on his chest. Neither spoke. They just stood there, holding each other, comforting and being comforted in the stillness.

  He kissed her on the top of the head after long minutes and pulled back enough to look at her face. "I love you."

  "I love you, too."

  He smiled and it reached his eyes, a glistening look of happiness that hadn't been there moments before. "As much as I'd like to crawl into that big bed and have my way with you, I'm not sure I'm up to it."

  "I'm not letting you bed me again until we're properly married, Holden Avery, especially not with you daughter right down the hall."

  He chuckled, gave her a quick kiss and let go of her. "I'll see you in the morning."

  Laurel stared at the closed door when he left and sighed before taking in the room again. It was lovely, decorated by his wife, she was sure, and she wondered if she'd done the right thing, saying she'd marry him. The fluttering in her chest told her she had but that stubborn part of her brain that said he'd only betray her later wouldn't shut up.

  She turned down the bed sheets and removed her clothing, leaving her chemise on, and decided to worry about things tomorrow. She'd had too much happen in too short of time and truth be told, she was exhausted.

  Chapter Twelve

  The ride back into town was made in the predawn twilight and as much as Laurel enjoyed the quiet ride with Holden on his black stallion, her nerves were a bit rattled.

  She couldn't help but fear someone would see them. She'd heard enough gossip in this small community to know tongues would be wagging if they were seen.

  Luckily, they made it to the school without seeing another living soul and Holden helped her to the ground, gave her a toe-curling kiss and left before anyone saw him.

  She rounded the building and stopped short when she looked at the door to her room. A bouquet of flowers lay on her stoop, a bright pink ribbon holding them together and her mind registered the fact she'd seen them before. Ethan had been holding them only yesterday as they quarreled in front of the mercantile. Finding them on her stoop, now, infuriated her.

  Walking up the steps, she kicked the flowers to one side, opened the door and hoped she didn't find any surprises inside. Ethan wasn't there, thank goodness, and nothing looked out of place.

  She busied herself with washing, changing into a clean dress and walked through the door that led to the school room. Standing at the front of the room, she inhaled the scent of chalk and musty books. She'd miss this when she had to give it up. She loved teaching and as much as she loved Holden, a part of her didn't want to give up something she'd worked so hard to attain. She'd made sacrifices and hard choices to get her degree and letting it go would be bittersweet.

  * * * *

  Holden waited patiently until Mrs. Jenkins unlocked the door to the mercantile, offering her a greeting as she smiled up at him.

  "You're out and about awfully early."

  "I have a lot to do today," he said, waiting until she shut the door before walking to the counter. "Do you still have that case of jewelry?"

  She raised one eyebrow at him, giving him a bemused grin before nodding her head and reaching for the small box she kept hidden. She laid it on the counter and opened the lid. "Are you looking for something specific?"

  He looked into the box, eyeing the cluster of pieces and nodded. "A ring. Gold if you have it."

  Mrs. Jenkins fingered the necklaces and brooches in the box to find a buried treasure of rings that lay in the bottom. She pulled them all out, laid them on the lid of the box and smiled. "This is all I have left. A gentleman was in here just yesterday and bought the nicest one. It was the only real gold I had, even though it wasn't anything fancy. Just a simple gold band, really."

  Holden looked up. "Anyone we know?"

  She shook her head. "No. I've never seen him before. He looked to have a bit of money on him, if you could judge such a thing by a man's clothing. He was wearing a suit and he talked a bit fancy, too."

  Ethan. Holden knew that's who bought the ring without being told and he knew the reason he had. Resentment and just plain jealousy caused his breath to catch. Was Ethan going to propose to Laurel… again? Try and court her?

  Even though Laurel said she'd marry him, he couldn't rest easy until she'd said, "I do." She had a history with Ethan, she'd loved the man at one time and even though she claimed to no longer hold any affection for the man, Holden wasn't going to waste time waiting for Ethan to make a move.

  He thanked Mrs. Jenkins and left the store, walking at a fast clip to Morgan's house and pounded on the door until his brother opened it. "I have to go to Missoula. Keep an eye on Laurel while I'm gone."

  Morgan raised one eyebrow. "Good morning to you too," he said. "What's going on in Missoula?"

  Holden didn't have time, or the inclination, to get in to it. "Just something I have to do. Have you seen Ethan Dearborn around town?"

  Morgan nodded. "Yeah. He was having breakfast in the hotel when I passed by there. Why?"

  "Don't let him get near Laurel until I get back." He turned, hurried down the front porch steps and turned back before exiting the gate. "I should be back by nightfall but have Percy send one of the men over at the livery stable out to the ranch and let them know where I've gone."

  He crossed the street, gathered his horse and was riding away from Willow Creek before it dawned on him that he hadn't even told Laurel his plans. He didn't want to waste the time going back to tell her and leaned over his horses back, urging him into a faster run. He was losing time and with Ethan still in town, he had precious little of it left to make things happen.

  * * * *

  It was near noon when Abigail walked into the school house from the entrance that led to Laurel's room. Her new friend smiled at her as she laid a basket on the edge of Laurel's desk.

  "I knocked but you never answered so I let myself in." She uncovered the basket, pulling a plate of sandwiches out and laid them on the desk. "I thought we could have lunch together, unless you've already eaten."

  Laurel smiled and laid her pencil down. "I'm starved, actually. I missed breakfast."

  Abigail grinned and pulled a chair up beside the desk. "So I've heard."

  Laurel's heart skipped a beat and Abigail laughed while shaking her head. "Morgan saw you riding in with Holden this morning but your secret is safe with me." She blushed, an apologetic look on her face. "In all the excitement last night, I'm ashamed to say we just plain forgot about you. I hope you can forgive us."