The Cowboy and the Bride

by Thomas, Marin

  Steeling himself, he turned and got his first look at the bride in over twelve hours. He clenched the coffee mug until his knuckles became as white as the dress shirt he’d loaned her to sleep in. She might as well have been naked. The sun, streaming through the window behind her, made the shirt transparent. He lifted the mug to his mouth as his gaze slid lower, over her breasts, down her stomach… Good God! What had happened to her underwear!

  He inhaled a gulp of scalding liquid, then spun around and spewed coffee into the kitchen sink.

  “Are you okay?” She moved across the room and pounded his back like a construction worker instead of a princess bride.

  After a good minute of wheezing, he lifted his head. She stood close enough that he could see the pillow crease along her cheek and neck. If possible, her flame-colored hair was even messier and sexier than yesterday. His fingers itched to grab a handful of the satiny locks and breathe in the scent, test the softness against his face.

  Speaking of faces… Devoid of makeup her skin was a creamy ivory, with a smattering of freckles across her narrow nose. This woman gave a whole new meaning to the word beautiful. He needed air and space. He stepped around her and put the oak table between them.

  He thought she might expect him to wait on her, but she went to the cupboard, got her own mug and filled it with coffee. “I’d like to go into town today to buy a pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts.”

  Jake didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He was too busy staring at the back of her thighs, peeking out from under the hem of the dress shirt.

  She drank her first sip, staring out the kitchen window over the sink. Then she moaned. A deep-throated, quivering moan. The sexy noise she made had him thinking she preferred coffee to men.

  “I haven’t had coffee this good in years.”

  Yeah, well, you haven’t tried me. Where the hell had that thought come from? He’d wasn’t—nor had he ever been—a Don Juan with women. “I want to talk to you about staying here.”

  She blinked. “Okay.” She seated herself at the kitchen table and waited for him to continue.

  Jake opened his mouth to apologize for having to fire her before she’d even started her two-day job as nanny, when Annie bolted into the room.

  “Hi, Ms. Madeline. I didn’t think you was ever gonna wake up.” Annie sidled next to the bride’s chair.

  Madeline put her arm around his daughter and hugged her close. “I had to catch up on my beauty sleep. But now that I’ve done that, what plans do we have for this glorious Saturday, Miss Annie?”

  Jake held up a hand in protest, but his daughter kept right on talking. Annie had a hundred different things she hoped to do. He got tired just listening to her.

  “Honey, I have to speak to Ms. Tate alone for a few minutes. Why don’t you go on outside and swing for a while.”

  After Annie left the kitchen, Jake sat down across from her. He didn’t know where to begin.

  She started for him. “You’re going to ask me to leave, aren’t you?”

  “Madeline…”

  “Yes, Jake?”

  The way his name rolled off her tongue did amazing things to his lower extremities. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, then snatched his hand away and shoved it under the table. “Like I said yesterday, I’ll be gone most of the day, won’t return until after supper.” He was stalling. “Annie’s bedtime is eight. Make sure she gets a bath before—”

  “Annie and I will be fine.”

  “There’s a list of emergency numbers on the fridge. Annie knows my cell number by heart.” He motioned to the kitchen window. “Keep away from the horses and stay out of the barn. Annie might try to talk you into looking at the horses, but she’s not allowed to unless she’s with me.”

  “Okay.”

  He shoved a hand through his hair. “Any questions?”

  “Is it all right if we go into town today?” She smiled and plucked at the collar of his dress shirt. “I really need to expand my wardrobe.”

  His mouth went dry. He didn’t plan to wash that shirt for a month of Sundays.

  “Jake?”

  “What?”

  The corners of her mouth curved. “You never answered my question. Is it all right if we go into town later today?”

  “Ah, sure. But you’d better not wear that shirt.”

  She crossed her arms over her breasts. “There’s nothing wrong with this shirt. Besides, it’s much cooler than the flannel one you loaned me yesterday.”

  “You’re asking for trouble if you do.”

  She stood and went to the sink. “What kind of trouble?” she asked, keeping her back to him as she rinsed the mug.

  Had she no idea what the sight of her legs was doing to him? The redhead deserved a lesson on the repercussions of teasing a man unknowingly or otherwise. And he was just the man to give it.

  He moved around the table and came up behind her. She froze when he set his hands on her waist and leaned close. Her hair smelled like Annie’s baby shampoo, and against his nose it felt as soft as it looked. Blood pumping through his veins like an oil gusher, he slid one hand under the hem of the shirt and smoothed it up the side of her thigh, stopping at her hip. “This kind of trouble.”

  Her head fell back against his shoulder and her eyes drifted shut. Her lips parted.

  Oh, yeah, she wanted his mouth on hers. He removed his hand from under her shirt and spun her around. Her green eyes darkened and her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip. With one finger he traced the line of freckles across her nose, stroked her satiny cheek.

  Tiny puffs of mint toothpaste and coffee-scented breath hit his face as he lowered his head. He wondered whose toothbrush she’d used. The air around their mouths crackled, like desert heat lightning. He’d never forced himself on a woman before. Like a fool, he stood at her mercy, waiting for an invitation. He was just about to move away, when she lifted her face and brought her mouth in contact with his.

  Sparks jolted his body. He held her face between his hands and widened his mouth. His first taste of her sent his head spinning. Rich and sweet. Addicting. With his tongue he explored the cool cavern, tracing her teeth, then retreating to lick and nibble her lower lip.

  Her hands curled around his neck, and he lost control when she feathered her fingers into his hair. She thrust her hips against him and all hell broke loose inside his jeans. He showed her with his tongue what he yearned to do with his body. Slowly. In and out. In and out.

  Over and over. And over.

  She collapsed against his chest, and his hands automatically clutched the shirt collar and tugged her close. He couldn’t ever remember kissing a woman like this…like there was no tomorrow…just today. Just this moment—

  “Daddy, I can’t find Wilma!”

  Jake jerked back so violently Madeline dug her nails into his shoulders to keep her balance. He dropped his hands from her and stepped back as if she were a lit stick of dynamite.

  Annie barreled into the kitchen, then skidded to a stop. “I can’t find—” She glanced between the two adults. “Why’s Ms. Madeline’s shirt all crooked?”

  Both he and Madeline glanced down. The dress shirt had ridden up her thigh on one side, nearly to her waist. Jake snatched the tails and yanked so hard Madeline’s feet almost went out from under her.

  “I don’t know where Wilma is, Daddy.”

  Jake shoved a hand through his hair and faced his daughter. “Did you check under the porch?”

  “Oops. I forgot.”

  The door slammed, and he clenched his jaw to keep from calling Annie back to chaperon him and the princess bride.

  “I think I understand about the shirt now.” Her voice shook and he ached to pull her into his arms again.

  This isn’t going to work. She has to leave. Now.

  Jake inhaled deeply and forced himself to look her in the eye. “How would you like to stay and watch Annie for two weeks instead of two days?”

  TWO WEEKS? What in the world had gotten into her
?

  Madeline pressed her hands to her hot face and groaned as she listened to the truck engine rev outside. She should have said no. After that kiss, she definitely should have said no.

  She stood at the kitchen window, watching Jake maneuver the truck and horse trailer. As he drove past the house, he slowed, casting a glance toward the window. For a brief moment their eyes met. Her heart stuttered to a stop, as his expression changed from anxiety to wariness to…oh, my. Desire.

  The heat of his stare scorched her and she raised her fingertips to her lips, to make sure they hadn’t melted. She had very little experience with so much testosterone. But whatever message the cowboy had sent out, her body still clamored to accommodate. With or without her consent.

  Feeling shaken, excited and very unsure, she turned from the window. There had to be a million places in the country to hide out and feel sorry for herself. Why here? Why with this man?

  Because Jake Montgomery was real. Not polished and phony like the professional men she worked with.

  Due to her natural beauty, everyone assumed she’d had her fair share of boyfriends. When it came to men, though, Madeline was anything but experienced. She’d led a sheltered life. Mainly because her father hadn’t known what to do with her after her mother’s death. She’d attended private girls’ schools, and by the time she’d enrolled in college she’d had such little contact with the opposite sex that she’d tended to avoid boys whenever possible.

  When she’d entered the work world, she’d found out quickly that most men thought of intelligent, confident women as their competition. If not for her father introducing her to Jonathon, she wasn’t sure how long it would have taken her to become involved with a man.

  Jonathon was smart, sophisticated and successful. But next to Jake, her ex-fiancé seemed fake. Cold, smooth steel compared with rough, warm rawhide. And all Jonathon’s kisses combined couldn’t compare with just one of Jake’s.

  Not that she was going to jump into bed with the man. She wasn’t that bold. But if she played her cards right, she might get lucky and finagle another kiss out of Jake before the end of her two-week stay. She licked her lips and sighed at the taste of his unique flavor, which still clung to her mouth.

  A nagging voice in her head insisted the cowboy was a temptation she should avoid at all costs. They had nothing in common. His life was filled with horses, barbecue and wide-open spaces. Her life consisted of high-rise buildings, conference calls and five-star restaurants. Anything long-term with Jake Montgomery was out of the question.

  But she couldn’t deny they had one thing in common. Need.

  She sensed a loneliness inside Jake that needed comforting. It was the way his hand had tightened for a fraction against her skin, as if he couldn’t bear to let her go. The moan that had vibrated deep in his throat before his lips’d caressed hers. The glazed look in his eyes after he’d pulled away. Jake might not admit it, but he needed someone.

  And she couldn’t forget about Annie. Annie needed her, too. Madeline knew firsthand the loneliness of growing up without a mother. She looked forward to giving Annie a little extra care and love for a couple of weeks.

  And she couldn’t forget about herself. Madeline needed to be needed. She jumped at the loud bang of the front door. “Daddy says I get to go to town with you today. He gave me five whole dollars to buy a hair bow.”

  She laughed at Annie’s enthusiasm. “Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be ready to go.”

  Changing into one of Jake’s well-worn T-shirts and the same jeans he’d loaned her yesterday didn’t take long. She found a belt on the back of the bathroom door and used that to keep the jeans from falling down.

  Ten minutes later, behind the wheel of the rental car, she stared at mile after mile of ranch land spreading out in all directions. “Annie, is everything always this dry and lifeless?” The lush green grass and foliage in the Seattle area would look fake next to the brown and yellow vegetation along the highway. She knew one thing for sure. If she had to live in this environment, she’d paint her house grass green.

  “Daddy says we live in the Great Bowl.”

  Madeline smiled. “You mean the Great Basin?”

  “Yep.”

  She turned the air conditioner up a notch. “Does it ever cool down?”

  “It’s cold at Christmas.”

  She glanced in the rearview mirror, and her heart wrenched at the sad expression that came over Annie’s face. “What is it, honey?”

  “That’s how Mama got sick.”

  Sympathy surged inside her. Even now, after so many years, Madeline felt a sense of deep loss when she thought of her own mother. As a little girl, she’d always imagined what her mother’s hugs and kisses would have felt like. But every time she’d questioned her father about her mother, he’d remained tight-lipped and had changed the subject. To this very day, she had no idea if her father had even loved her mother.

  At least Annie had had the chance to know her mother. But the sadness in the young girl’s eyes reminded her that Annie had memories to deal with. Madeline had only photographs. She wasn’t sure whether she or Annie was more blessed.

  “How long was your mommy sick?”

  Annie shrugged. “She coughed a lot. Then Daddy came home and took her to the hospital, and she never came back.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetie, that your mommy died. You must miss her very much.”

  “Yeah. Daddy misses Mommy, too.” She dragged her fingers down her cheeks, stretching the skin. “His face gets all funny when I talk about Mommy.”

  For a quick second Madeline envied Sara Montgomery. If her husband still grieved after three years, she was a lucky woman to have known that kind of love.

  Madeline wondered if she’d even crossed her ex-fiancé’s mind after he’d ditched her. Maybe when he’d opened their luggage and discovered all her honeymoon lingerie. “I don’t have a mother, either, Annie.”

  “What happened to your mommy?”

  “She got sick and died after I was born.” Her father had never discussed the details of her mother’s death. The only thing he would say was she’d hemorrhaged and there was nothing the doctors could do to stop the bleeding.

  “Oh. What store are we gonna go to?”

  So much for her counseling skills. “First, I need to fill the gas tank and get cash from an ATM. Then we’ll go look at hair bows.”

  Five minutes later they arrived in Ridge City. She wondered what fool had named the one-horse town a city. Good grief, there wasn’t a stop sign in sight.

  She spotted the Gas-’n’-Go as she turned right on Main, and pulled up to a gas pump and lowered the windows. Annie vaulted over the front seat and hung her head out the window to watch.

  Madeline filled the tank, then paid with her debit card. When they entered the convenience store, she pointed to the candy aisle. “Pick out a treat for yourself, honey.”

  While Annie was occupied, Madeline withdrew five hundred dollars from the ATM machine at the back of the store. She doubted she’d use up all the money during her minivacation in the Great Basin, but she didn’t want Jake Montgomery paying her way these next two weeks.

  Thank goodness she hadn’t opened a joint bank account after she and Jonathon had gotten engaged. At least the schmuck wouldn’t get his traitorous paws on her money. “Let’s go, Annie.” She watched Annie hop from one foot to the other, agonizing over the three rows of candy bars, gum and other snacks. Madeline laughed. “Okay, pick two.”

  When they approached the cash register, she offered a friendly smile to the pimply-faced teenager behind the counter. The adolescent’s mouth dropped open. “Sure is warm today,” she offered, stepping to the side in order to feel the blast of frigid air coming from the air conditioner behind the counter.

  His eyes dropped to her chest and his mouth sagged another inch. Oh, good grief. So she was wearing a T-shirt without a bra. This was the Gas-’n’-Go. Surely women came in here dressed in less than that. She dug two dollar
s out of her purse and set it on the counter, then froze.

  A fly landed on the teen’s lower lip. Madeline watched it scurry from one corner to the other, dipping its green bug-eyed head inside the dark cavern for a look around. “You have a fly on your lip.”

  Still in a trance, the kid snapped his mouth shut, trapping the insect inside. She gasped, and Annie clamped a hand over her lips and giggled.

  “Uh, keep the change.” She took Annie’s hand and left the store. Once inside the car they burst into laughter. By the time they parked across the street from Coot’s Mercantile they were both gasping for breath.

  When they stepped into the store, ceiling fans, with a decade of dust clinging to the blades, whirred above their heads, circulating warm air. The walls were peppered with stuffed animal carcasses ranging from deer, elk, rabbit, raccoon, to some animal-like thing that had two heads. The wood floor creaked and groaned as they walked down the center aisle. Madeline sniffed and her nose curled at the musty smell.

  The sound of a throat being cleared halted her progress through the store. She turned and spotted an old man—make that ancient man—standing by an office door several feet away. He leered. Well, okay, it was probably just a smile, but it resembled a leer, because he had no teeth. He ran a knobby arthritic hand over the single strand of gray hair crossing the top of his bald head. The sun’s rays streaking through the window bounced off his shiny noggin as he gimped toward Annie and her, dragging his left foot sideways across the dusty floor.

  When he stopped near them, she caught a whiff of strong hair tonic. No wonder his skull shone like a light-bulb if he oiled it every day.

  Annie tugged her hand free of Madeline’s grasp and scurried over to a display of hair accessories, leaving her alone with the store owner. “Hello.”

  “Howdy, ma’am. Ain’t you the barbed-wire bride?”

  Barbed-wire bride? She stifled a groan and held her hand out. “Madeline Tate. Nice to meet you.”