by Lily Graison
She wondered if her face was as red as it felt. Embarrassment at being caught in his room tightened her throat and caused a wave of dizziness to overcome her. When he braced his hands on the doorframe, she swallowed the lump forming in her throat. “I wasn’t snooping!”
A slow grin pulled at his mouth. “I didn’t say you were.” His gaze ran the length of her and stopped at her hands. She realized then she was still holding the photograph.
She stuffed it back into the book and sat it on the dresser. Her pulse was tapping out a fast rhythm and she looked around the room to avoid his knowing eyes. The pile of clothes in the corner caught her attention and she rushed over to them, gathering them in her arms. “I just came in to see if you had anything that needed washing.”
Rafe straightened and gave her a quizzical look. “It’s a little late in the day for laundry, isn’t it?”
She shrugged one shoulder. He entered the room fully then, walking to where she stood. When he was close enough she could smell the scent of his skin, that tapping little pulse started pounding in her chest. He was entirely too close. “I thought you left.”
“I did,” he said, lifting his hand and pushing a stray curl away from her face. “I was on my way to the far pasture when I remembered you were here alone.”
“Oh.”
He lowered his hand, the back of his fingers brushing her cheek. “Want to come with me?”
His request was simple but the way he said it made Grace think he meant more than he implied. The gentle caress of his fingers on her cheek, and something in his eyes, told her he did. “Come with you where?”
“Out on the range.”
Grace raised her eyebrows at that. “You mean, on a horse?”
He grinned. “Yes. It’s too far to walk.” He glanced at the clothes still in her hands before reaching for them and tossing them back to the corner. “You said you could ride the day you wanted to go into town alone.”
“I can.”
“All right. Then, will you come with me?”
She said nothing and he continued to stare at her. He looked expectant and she remembered the way he’d looked at her when he came in for lunch. Like he was thinking dirty thoughts. She suddenly couldn’t catch her breath. Was he now going to act on the promise his eyes had made?
“I don’t want to leave you here alone, Grace. I don’t know if I’ll be back before Jesse gets home and I’d rather you not be here by yourself.”
So maybe her over active imagination was getting away with her. Maybe what he was saying was true. That he just didn’t want her at the house alone. Why, she wasn’t sure, but who knew how men thought.
Grace smiled to cover her disappointment and nodded her head. “Yes, I’ll come with you.”
He returned the smile and grabbed her hand, turning and walking to the door and across the kitchen. He stopped at the back door, pulled her cloak from the peg and draped it around her shoulders.
When they were outside, Grace saw he’d already saddled another horse. He apparently hadn’t been willing to take no for an answer.
Releasing her hand once they reached the horse, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. When she sat sidesaddle, he frowned at her. “Please tell me you don’t ride that way.”
“Of course I do. A lady doesn’t… straddle a horse.”
“The west isn’t exactly the place for high born ladies, Grace. The country is too rough for them. Besides, there’s no one here to see you but me and I won’t mind how unladylike you think you may look.”
He walked away then, climbing onto his own horse before turning it and heading back for the hill she’d seen him disappear over earlier. She watched him for a few moments before lifting her leg and throwing it over the horse, adjusting her skirt so her legs weren’t showing, and nudged the creature forward. When she caught up to Rafe, he glanced over at her, smiling as she sat straddling the horse.
“So,” she said, “What are we going to look at?”
Urging the horse into a trot, Rafe readjusted his hat. “The fence line. After the repair I made, I wanted to check the rest of it to make sure we didn’t have more down lines.”
“Does that happen often?”
“What?”
“The fencing coming down.”
He gave a small laugh and shook his head. “It’s known to happen but not the way I’ve seen. The cattle didn’t do it. They have no reason to. There’s plenty of fresh grass to graze on and more water than they’ll ever need. No, someone is cutting the fence.”
“What will you do?”
“Nothing at the moment.” He sighed and looked out over the valley. “Once we move what cattle we have left to the winter range, I’ll shore up the rest of the fence and hope for the best.”
Grace looked at him and noticed the lines of strain on his face. He was tired. She could tell by the way he held his body, the sound of his voice. Trying to do everything alone was taking its toll, just like it had on his father. He was working himself to death. “Why don’t you get someone to help you with the fence and the other chores around the ranch?”
He smiled and glanced over at her. “And pay them with what? As pretty as you are, I don’t think your smiling face is enough for most men to live off of.”
She blushed. “How much do men usually make working a ranch this size?”
Rafe moved forward in his saddle, repositioning himself on the horse. “Depends. Some stay on for a place to hang their hat and a hot meal three times a day. Others will take whatever money they can get and leave the minute its in their hand. There used to be quite a few cowpunchers back when I was younger but they slowly drifted off after I left. Jesse said Pa couldn’t afford to keep them on. It’s why the ranch looks the way it does. It wasn’t always so run down.”
Grace could tell by the sound of his voice that it pained him to think of how things used to be. How they were before he left home. She remembered the photo she’d tucked back into the book on his dresser. Had the girl in the photograph been what kept him away for so long? She was itching to ask but wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
They rode in silence and Grace took in the beauty around her. The leaves on the trees had started to take on darker tones. Crimson, brown and magenta colored the horizon. The fence disappeared over the hill and she wondered how long it would take to ride the entire line. Much longer than one man could take when he had other things to do as well, she was sure.
The sun was unusually warm and small beads of sweat were trickling down her spine. The cool wind blowing down from the mountains in the distance was a welcome relief. The snow capped peeks were just a reminder that winter was coming. A winter she’d be trapped in Willow Creek with a man she couldn’t have and a boy she couldn’t marry.
A bright object glinted in the distance and it took another few moments for Grace to realize what it was. The sun was reflecting off the water of a nearby creek. The closer they drew near, the more the sounds of rushing water became apparent.
When they were close enough to smell wet earth, Grace’s horse galloped into a flat run, jerking her in the saddle.
She yelped, a little squeal bursting forth, and she held the reins tighter, laughing as the horse ran across the field. She could hear Rafe behind her, his horse racing to catch up, her name caught on the wind.
When they reached the creek, the horse lunged to a stop and Grace screamed as she flew from the beasts back, head first into the water.
Chapter Nineteen
“Grace!”
Luck smiled down on her for once as the water was deep where she landed. Her feet had touched bottom for only a few seconds before she felt hands on her shoulders.
When Rafe pulled her to the surface, the look on his face nearly stopped her heart. He looked terrified.
“Are you all right?”
Grace coughed, nodded her head and then laughed. “I think you need to teach your horse to behave better than that, Rafe Samuels. He’s positively uncivilized.” She wiped her
wet hair out of her face, coughed again and looked up.
The look of horror on Rafe’s face receded in slow increments until he was smiling at her, his arms around her in a grip so tight she could barely breath. He lowered his face to her hair, the warmth of his breath felt on her face. “I forgot how much that old horse loves the water. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s all right.” Grace closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of him. They were still standing in the creek and even though the water was cold, his arms around her warmed her to her toes. She turned her head to look at the horse, which was now in the water with them. He was drinking his fill, walking further in and splashing as his hoofed feet hit the water. “I take it he doesn’t get out of the barn much?”
“No. Not in a while he hasn’t.” Rafe released her, much to her disappointment, and led her out of the creek, helping her climb the small embankment.
Her new boots made a funny squishy sound with every step she took and she stopped to untie them and kicked them off, along with her stockings and cloak, and tossed them to the ground not far away. Half the pins in her hair had come loose as well, long strands falling around her face and dripping water across her cheeks. Pulling the remaining pins free, she let her hair down.
Rafe startled her when he touched her, laying a blanket across her shoulders. She gathered the edges and smiled up at him. “You just happened to have a blanket handy?”
He grinned at her. “The weather is unpredictable this time of year. A smart man doesn’t travel far without being prepared.”
She pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and grinned. “Prepared for what, exactly?”
Rafe pulled her hair from under the blanket, his fingers threading through the strands. “I’ve a bit of hardtack in the saddlebags, coffee, a pot to fix it in and dry clothes.” He grinned. “You never know when something unexpected will pop up. A man never leaves home without provisions.”
“Well, lucky for me, you’re so organized. I’d be frozen solid in a hour.”
“Are you cold?”
He pulled the blanket around her tighter, holding the ends together. Something in his eyes as he looked at her warmed her, made her feel precious in that moment. His touch, the very nearness of him leaving her limbs tingling. “I’m fine now,” she said. “It’s hard to be cold when you’re so near.”
Something heated moved behind his eyes at her admission. She felt it along her skin as his gaze roamed her face. When he leaned in and kissed her, his tongue sliding between her lips in one forceful movement, that same heat traveled her flesh until her knees went weak.
He followed her to the ground, laying her back against the grass as the sun heated their wet skin, their clothing sticking to them as his demanding kiss drew a gasping breath from her throat. “Rafe.”
Breaking the kiss, his lips moved along her jaw, down the column of her throat to the top of her dress. He lingered, Grace’s breath hitched and she prayed he’d take advantage of the situation.
Rafe released a breath, the warmth of it caressing the flesh on her throat before he laid his head on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Grace.”
“For what?”
He chuckled and held her tighter. “For wanting you so much.” He looked up, raised a hand to caress the side of her face. “I’ll have you here by the creek like some untried school boy if you’re not careful.
She licked her lips and stared him in the eye. “And if I don’t object?”
The heat she’d seen earlier moved behind his eyes again. Grace swallowed the lump forming in her throat and wondered if she was wanton enough to let him have his way with her out in the open.
To let him take her on a sun-baked hillside, in the grass alive with late blooming flowers while the rushing water of the creek hummed in the background.
Rafe propped his weight on one arm, stretched his body out beside of her but did little else, just laid there staring at her, lifting his hand to trace the contours of her face. The silent moment was charged with an unspoken need. She knew what he wanted but Rafe made no attempt to take it or mention it for that matter. He seemed content to just lie there in the sun with her, tracing a path across her face with the tip of one finger.
When he focused his gaze on her face, she could tell he’d resigned himself to do no more than he already had—stolen a brief kiss.
Grace was relieved and disappointed. It was so confusing being around him. She wanted him, but everything was so complicated. It wasn’t as simple as a man wanting a woman and making the commitment to make it legal. There was Jesse to think about and Grace knew he would balk at any arrangement other than her marrying him. He was set on her being his wife and so far her refusal to do so hadn’t fazed him.
She wasn’t sure what it would take other than being blunt but she didn’t want to hurt him like that. Not with his feelings being as fragile as they were. He was already in pain. The pain of losing his parents, of having to care for himself and the ranch alone while Rafe was gone doing who knows what.
Remembering the photograph she’d found in Rafe’s room she glanced up at him. Wanting to know who the girl was would drive her beyond crazy. The fact he still had the photo led her to believe he still cared about her.
Finding some distant point to look at, she cleared her throat and asked the question burning for an answer. “So, who is Katie?”
When Rafe laughed, Grace turned wide eyes to him. That hadn’t been the reaction she’d been expecting. An accusing speech about her snooping in his room had been what she thought she’d get or a quick, “none of your business.” Him laughing took her by surprise. “What is so funny?”
He shook his head and lay down beside her, propping his head on an upturned hand. “I thought you weren’t snooping.”
“I wasn’t.” The look on his face told her he knew otherwise. She scowled and huffed out a peeved breath. “Fine. I was snooping. Now answer my question. Who is Katie?”
He was silent so long she didn’t think he was going to answer. When he finally said, “My ex-wife,” Grace felt as if all the air left her body in one giant, whoosh.
The horse throwing her into the creek hadn’t shocked her as much as his answer did. “You were married?”
He nodded his head and looked away, toying with the buttons on the front of her dress. “I met her a year after I left home. Married her a few months later. I found us a little place to live down in Texas and after the war was over, when I got back home, she was different. It was as if I was living with a stranger and really, she was.”
Removing his hat, he ran his fingers through his hair, his gaze on some distant past she couldn’t see. “I found work at a cattle ranch. The money kept us fed but it wasn’t enough for her. One night, she took what little cash we had and left town with some gambler, leaving me in a broken down shack with nothing but the clothes on my back and a few pots and pans.
Her gambler friend paid a judge to grant her divorce papers. I signed them and received a letter from Morgan Avery three days later about my folks passing. I left the cabin, and everything in it, and was home in less than a week.”
Grace wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m sorry,” sounded inappropriate and besides, it would be a lie. She wasn’t sorry, not if she were truthful. If he were still married, none of the events that led to this moment would have happened. As infuriated as he made her at times, she’d not trade any of it for all the money in the world.
Smiling to try and erase the melancholy mood, she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Well, next time you see her, thank her for me, will you?”
He looked up and it took only moments for laughter to once again fill his eyes. “Thank her for what? Leaving me and making me look like a fool?”
“No. For leaving you so you could be here, rescuing me from the perils of Willow Creek.”
The laughter in his eyes turned to something more heated, the hand he’d used to toy with the buttons on her dress moved closer to her breast, palm flat
to the underside of it. Grace’s breath caught when his thumb swiped across the top, her nipple hardening from the small touch. “What makes you think I’m not one of those perils?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “You probably are but I think it’s a risk worth taking.”
He cupped her breast then and Grace closed her eyes, arching her back to increase the contact. He obliged, squeezing with enough pressure to make her long for more and then he removed his hand.
She opened her eyes, wondering why he’d stopped but when he reached for the buttons of her dress a moment later, she knew.
A glance toward her face, his eyes seeking permission as he toyed with those tiny buttons, and Grace nodded her head. Her heart beat wildly against her ribcage as he slowly unhooked each button and pulled the material of her dress apart before untying the ribbon holding her chemise together. When she was bared to him from the waist up, she swallowed and tried to catch her breath.
His gaze burned against her flesh, his fingertips branding her with each sweep of his hand. When he lowered his head toward her, taking one nipple into his mouth, she forgot to breathe.
He hadn’t shaved that morning. His whiskers were rough and abrasive against her skin but the gentle sting only added to the sensation. Soft, warm licks and tugs of his mouth followed by the scrape of hair on his chin caused tingles to race up her spine. She arched her back, trying to bring him closer and half managed to do so by grabbing the back of his head and holding him to her.
Breaking contact with her breast, Rafe lifted his head, kissing her with long, hard strokes of his tongue as his left hand continued to explore her exposed skin. Grace held him to her, thoughts no proper lady should have running through her mind. She wanted to feel him against her, skin to skin.
Long minutes ticked by, the sound of birds and the rushing water in the background mingled with the sound of their harsh breaths. When Rafe broke the kiss and looked down at her, Grace could only lie there and try to catch her breath.
“I want you, Grace.”
She smiled up at him, lifted her hand to run a finger over the stubble on his chin. The snuffling of horses caught her attention and a quick glance to her right was all it took to bring their quiet, intimate moment to a stop.
