by Cora Seton
“Okay.” He didn’t look forward to vetting candidates.
“How’s progress?”
“Good. I’ve been working on the governance document.”
“Sounds like a good time.”
“Not really.”
“What’s up? Is this about Riley? Jericho said she was there. He made it sound like you two were hot and heavy already.”
Boone surveyed the slope with its rectangles. He still wasn’t ready to get to the heart of the matter. “I guess.”
“What’s she like these days? Did she remember you right off?”
“Hell, yeah. Called us the Horsemen.”
Clay chuckled. “Is she still pretty?”
Time to tell the truth. “Breathtaking. I asked her to marry me. She said yes.”
“That was fast. So things are going well.”
“There’s a catch.”
“There always is. Spill it.”
“It has to do with Riley. She’s here with friends and they dress like characters out of Jane Austen’s books all the time. It should be stupid, but… it’s not.”
“Huh.” The single word conveyed all too much.
“It’s not because I’m soft on her either,” Boone hurried to say. “The four of them swore an oath, like we did, except instead of trying to save the world, they’re trying to…make it beautiful.” He braced himself for scorn, but Clay surprised him.
“A noble cause. So what’s the problem?”
Boone made a face. Noble cause? “It’s our houses.”
“What about ’em?” Clay’s voice soured. He’d hated the container houses since the start, but Boone had browbeaten him into submission over them. He’d lectured Clay often and long about how their obsession with houses was what started Americans on the road to wastefulness.
“It all comes down to keeping up with the Joneses,” he’d railed at Clay several times. “The only solution is to de-emphasize them altogether.” In his head he saw the shipping containers as a good solution. He could get them all of a similar size and material to portray that everyone’s home should be equal. They would constrain people’s natural inclination toward excess.
“You know I think those houses are ugly,” Clay went on.
“Riley won’t like them either. We need a new plan. They need to look… good. Really good.”
Silence greeted his proclamation until Clay started to laugh. “Well, halle-fucking-lujah! Give Riley a big, fat kiss for me. If I’d known it would take tits to change your mind I would have started cross-dressing.”
“Very funny. She says we’d ruin the view.”
“Damn straight you would.”
“I still think the containers had a lot going for them, but I’m trying to be a good neighbor.” Boone didn’t like Clay’s tone. “Think you’re up to the challenge?”
“More than up to it. You’ll be blown away, Chief. I promise.”
“I’d better go,” Boone said.
“Hold up now. You’ve forgotten the most important thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Have you scored me a woman yet? Is she blond?”
“Whatever.”
“I want pictures. You said Riley had friends. Are they hot?”
“Good-bye, Clay.”
“But—”
Boone cut the call. The Russells’ carriage had just rolled up to the manor after having been gone for hours. It was time to go see Riley again.
“YOU MUST COME to dinner tomorrow,” James said when they stopped in front of the manor. “Come at four. You’ll find the walk splendid. We’ll drive you home, of course.”
“And pick you up, too, if you wish,” Maud said. “They may not like the dust of the road on the hems of their dresses,” she said to James.
“Nonsense, young ladies love to walk about,” James said. “But say the word and prove me wrong; it makes no difference to me.”
“We’ll walk,” Riley said firmly. She’d enjoyed the Russell’s company, but she was ready for some peace and quiet and couldn’t imagine she still wouldn’t be at four o’clock tomorrow.
“Have you ordered your own carriage?” Maud asked.
“No—we don’t have the means for that, I’m afraid,” Riley said.
“Well, then you must think of me as your groomsman. I will stop in daily to see what you require and drive you wherever you want to go,” James said cheerfully.
“We couldn’t do that,” Avery said.
“We’ll be fine on our own,” Riley said. She wasn’t sure if she could handle James on a daily basis.
“But you must! Otherwise I’ll die from the lack of anything to do. You see, I am an old man who loves his horses more than anything.”
“More than me,” Maud affirmed gaily.
“Hush woman, not more than you, but more than anything else. I must drive them every day or they’ll get as bored as I get. We can’t do the same old circles around the neighborhood forever. You’ll breathe new life into all of us.”
“Until tomorrow then,” Maud said, settled comfortably in the carriage.
“Until tomorrow,” James agreed. “Four o’clock. Don’t forget!”
“Good-bye!” Maud cried as James clucked to the horses and they began to move away.
“Good-bye!” James called as the horses picked up their pace, circled around and headed back out the driveway in the direction they’d come.
“Somebody pinch me,” Avery said. “Am I actually awake or was this whole day a dream?”
“If you’re asleep, we’re sharing a dream,” Nora said. “The Russells are a little overbearing but you have to give them credit; they showed us just about everything.”
“You’re right.” Riley’s head was almost spinning with it all. The Russells had taken them by the grocery store, the doctor’s office, several churches, although they recommended the Chance Creek Reformed, which Riley had attended when she visited as a girl, and then had driven them to two ranches to introduce them to other young people, as Maud termed them. To Riley’s surprise, the citizens of Chance Creek didn’t point or stare, although they did get some curious glances.
“They’ve gotten used to us,” Maud confided to her at one point. “We heard about the barouche being for sale quite by accident two years ago when we attended a Regency get-together down in Wyoming. Until then we led quite modern lives between re-enactments. Once we got the barouche, however, we realized we couldn’t bear to ride in it unless we looked the part. It got too tiring to change clothes all the time, so we threw over our modern lives in favor of the past. We’ve never looked back.” She smiled at her pun.
Once Riley got over her self-consciousness, she enjoyed the excursion. At the Cruz ranch she was reintroduced to Ethan Cruz, who both ranched and ran a bed and breakfast with his wife, Autumn, a transplant from New York City. Riley had taken to Autumn right away.
Ethan had become a handsome man who obviously doted on his wife and baby girl. His sister, Claire, her husband, Jamie, and their baby made an appearance and were equally affable. Riley hadn’t known either Ethan or Claire very well during her previous visits, but she enjoyed catching up with them. Before they left the ranch, Riley and the others also met the local sheriff, Cab Johnson, who lived in one of the cabins on the property with his wife, Rose. Rose apparently ran a jewelry store now. Riley remembered her as a vivacious, fun-loving girl. Her daughter was a tiny bundle of dark hair and blue eyes.
On their way off the ranch, James veered off up a dirt track to an area that had been planted as a vineyard. Riley didn’t know anyone grew grapes in this part of Montana, but Rob and Morgan Matheson explained that the varieties they’d chosen to grow were bred to do well with this climate.
“We’re still a few years from having a vintage, but we’re getting there,” Morgan said.
Riley couldn’t believe the transformation Rob had gone through. He’d been quick with his fists and prone to playing practical jokes when they were younger. She’d always kept her dist
ance from the rough boy. Now he had a passion for growing things she never would have guessed. Time did change people. She wondered if all her old acquaintances saw changes in her as well.
As if that wasn’t enough people to meet, James insisted on driving them to Crescent Hall. The Hall brothers had each served in a different branch of the military during the last decade, but had come home to restore their family’s ranch to its former glory. They were all married, too, as James pointed out, but Mason Hall, the oldest of the brothers, assured him that several new single recruits had already joined them to help out with the military-style training camp. “Dan Hemmins, who served with me, owns the business,” Mason said. “His wife, Sarah, helps him out. She served in the Army. You’ll have to come back soon and meet everyone else.”
“I love your dresses,” his wife, Regan, had said to Riley. “Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. Where did you get them?”
They’d launched into a conversation about dressmakers, fashion, books and more, with the other Hall wives making an appearance. Regan had passed Riley a card with the name of a local seamstress on it. “She makes the most wonderful costumes for the Civil War re-enactments they do around here.”
Finally James threw up his hands. “There’s only so much of this a man can take,” he said. “I’ll be out with the horses when you’re ready to go.”
“I’ll join you,” Mason said.
Riley had thoroughly enjoyed getting reacquainted with the Halls and meeting their wives, but she’d been ready to go home by the time they were done and she still wasn’t sure how the rest of the citizens of Chance Creek would treat them once they realized their Jane Austen attire was permanent. She’d figured she and her friends would spend the majority of their time on the ranch, but now she had a feeling they’d get visitors. Soon they’d be pulled into the social fabric of the community. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
They waved to the Russells as the couple drove off.
“I’m exhausted and we didn’t actually do any work today,” Savannah said.
“Better start dinner,” Riley said. They’d eaten lunch with the Cruzes but that had been hours ago.
“In a minute.” Savannah stretched and rubbed her neck. Suddenly she stopped. “Boone’s coming.”
BOONE SET THE picnic basket he carried down onto the grass. “Afternoon, ladies. Hope you enjoyed your jaunt around town.”
“We did,” Savannah said with enthusiasm. “We met so many people.”
“All our old friends have grown up, haven’t they?” Riley said.
“I haven’t had a chance to find that out. I will soon, though.” Boone nudged the basket with his foot. “Figured you’d be hungry by now. I brought dinner.”
“That was nice of you.” Avery bent down to pick up the basket. “Come inside and join us.”
Boone followed the women through the manor to a large, old-fashioned kitchen. It had been updated sometime in the last few decades with a decent electric stove and refrigerator, but there was no dishwasher and by the looks of things, the women were doing their best to keep use of the appliances to a minimum. He wondered why. “Dinner isn’t anything special. Just what I had on hand.”
Avery chuckled. “I’d be happy with a PB&J right about now.”
“Your wish is my command.” Boone opened the basket, which Avery had set on the table, and handed a sandwich to her. “PB&J’s are just the appetizer, though.” He made short work of starting a fire with the wood that was handy, opened a couple of cans of soup with the can opener he’d packed along, and looked around for a pot. Avery handed him the one they’d been using to cook over the fire. “Perfect. Thanks.”
It wasn’t long before the soup was bubbling. Meanwhile he handed out more of the sandwiches he’d made down at the bunkhouse. As the women ate, they became talkative, filling him in on the adventures of their day and all the people they’d met.
“I’ll have to stop by and talk with Mason,” he said. “I only bumped into him once the whole time I was with the SEALs.”
“You wouldn’t believe the transformation—all those boys. Well, they aren’t boys anymore,” Riley said, biting into her sandwich with relish.
“They weren’t boys when they left.”
“Sure they were. You were, too. I guess you don’t stay innocent once you enlist, though.” Perched on one of the dining room chairs, a sandwich in her hand, Riley looked so much like the teenager she’d once been it tugged at Boone’s heart.
“Honey, if you think I was innocent when I left Chance Creek, you were thoroughly deluded.”
He’d meant it as a joke, but Riley turned thoughtful and as much as he tried to draw her out, she didn’t speak much more during the meal.
Afterward, he caught up to her outside when she went to hang the wet dishrags on the line. “What’s up?”
“What do you mean?” She pinned up the damp squares one at a time.
“You know what I mean. Did I say something wrong?”
At first he thought she wouldn’t answer. When she finally turned to him, her expression was guarded. “You said you weren’t innocent when you left Chance Creek.”
“So?”
“When you left, I lost my innocence, too. Not that way—” She shrugged. “My spiritual innocence, I guess. I lost my friends, my childhood, my self-respect. Soon after, I lost my grandparents, and then my family when my parents split up. Nothing was ever the same again.”
For the first time it struck him how hard it must have been for her when he’d left town, and not just because he’d been an ass. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “I cared about you, but I wasn’t there for you when you needed me.”
He’d let her down. Boone wished he could go back and change that, but he couldn’t. All he could do was try to make it up to her. “I’m going to be there for the rest of your life, though.” He pulled her in for a kiss before she could protest. Words couldn’t change the past and they couldn’t convince her that the future would be better. He needed to tell her that with his body.
Judging by the way she sighed and kissed him back, Riley heard him loud and clear. It was a long time before they broke apart and when they did he wasn’t the only one breathing hard.
“I can’t wait to be with you again.” He cupped her chin with both hands and raised her mouth to meet his.
“I wish I could be sensible around you.”
“I’m glad you can’t.”
“I NEVER DREAMED we’d have Regency neighbors,” Nora said the next day as they turned into the driveway that led to Coldfield Cottage. James had been right; the walk from Westfield was lovely, and while the hems of their gowns were a little dusty, as Maud had warned, the exercise had been just the ticket after a day spent on their creative pursuits. “Remember we said we’d see no one and never leave the ranch? That’s not going quite as planned.”
She didn’t sound upset and Riley was grateful for that. As they’d prepared to leave for the Russell’s place, she’d had the same thought. They’d have to guard their days carefully, or they wouldn’t have time to paint, write or play music, after all.
She was already concerned about what would happen once Fulsom’s film crews arrived. After dinner the previous night, she and Boone had gone for another walk and she’d asked him what to expect. He’d told her he wasn’t sure. Before she could ask more questions, he’d distracted her with a whole lot more kissing, but at least they’d kept their clothes on this time. Riley knew a physical relationship wasn’t enough to base a marriage on. She’d told Boone so and he hadn’t pushed matters. By the time she’d gotten back to the manor again, though, she’d been so revved up she’d found it hard to sleep.
“That’s a cottage?” Savannah said as they rounded a curve and a house came into view. Coldfield was a sprawling affair with a main white clapboard façade and two wings sprouting off of it. As they approached, Maud and James came out onto the front porch and waved them on.
“You’re right on time,”
James boomed as they reached the steps. “Come in, come in. Where’s that fellow of yours? He isn’t with you?”
“Lieutenant Rudman is not our fellow,” Savannah said tartly, jumping right into the game with relish.
“Oh, but he will be soon enough, eh?” James said. “I love a good guessing game. Which lovely lady has already snared his heart?”
Riley fought impatiently against a blush that threatened to stain her cheeks.
“No one’s telling?” Maud examined them more closely and her gaze alighted on Riley. “Oh, I think I see the lay of the land,” she said with a laugh. “Well, we wish you all the best, my dear. We’ve decided he’s the best kind of man.”
Before Riley could deny anything, hoof beats pierced the air and they all turned to see who was coming. Riley’s mouth dropped open when Boone rode up on a huge black gelding. Where had he gotten that beauty? His movements as he dismounted called up all sorts of memories. Boone had always been at home in a saddle, and she’d been surprised that he’d given up the rodeo so easily as a teen to enlist in the Navy. Reins in hand, he walked toward the group assembled on the porch. “Where can I stow Behemoth?” he called up.
“In the stables around back,” James said, hurrying down to meet him. “Wherever did you get this beast? A more beautiful example of horseflesh I never did see.”
“I bought him today from Jamie Lassiter.”
“Ah, Jamie. Good man,” James said. “Are your stables up to snuff though? I’ve got an extra stall.”
“The stables at Westfield are just fine,” Boone said. “Good thing, too. I know all my men will want horses.”
“Let’s get him taken care of.” James patted Behemoth’s flank. “We’ll meet you ladies inside.”
Riley couldn’t keep her eyes off of Boone. His jeans and white button-down cotton shirt showcased his wide shoulders and trim torso. She pictured undressing him and laying his clothing aside piece by piece, then spending a full night worshipping that wonderful body.
When a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, she knew her face must have betrayed her thoughts. He nodded at her, and then each of the others, and turned to follow James to the stables as Maud led Riley and the others inside.
