The Fugitive Bride

by Margaret Watson

  Beside her, Jesse looked around. “There’s something special about your ranch at this time of the day,” he said. “It makes me want to see more of it.”

  “You’ll see plenty of it today,” she said lightly, urging her horse into a canter.

  He’d been too curious about the ranch. So she’d let him see it, now, when there was nothing for him to find. Maria was right. She might think Jesse was worthy of her trust, she might think he’d be willing to help her, but until she knew him better, she couldn’t take a chance on trusting him.

  A couple of hours later they stopped in the last pasture. They were high in the mountains and the air was still cool. The tiny lake and the cabin were on the other side of the cliffs, but she’d make it a point to stay away from them. She hoped Jesse had seen enough of the ranch to satisfy him.

  “This is the last pasture,” she said. “Let’s ride the perimeter and make sure all the fencing is intact. We had a lot of snow this winter.”

  Jesse nodded and headed over to the fence. They’d almost finished circling the pasture when he stopped abruptly.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He nodded at a small bush. “Do you hear that bird?”

  A furious chattering filled the air, and she edged closer. “What is it?”

  “It’s a scrub jay, related to the blue jay. And it’s letting us get awfully close.”

  Sliding off his horse, he held onto Joey’s reins as he walked toward the bird. The jay held his ground, but his chattering became a shrill screech.

  “There’s the problem,” Jesse said in a quiet voice. “Come here and hold my reins, would you?”

  Shea jumped off her horse and grabbed the reins from Jesse’s hand. He eased over the barbed wire fence and stooped down below the bush. The jay flew away, but landed in another juniper only a few feet away, screeching continually.

  “What is it?”

  Jesse stood up, cradling something in his hand. “One of its babies fell out of its nest. If I can find the nest, I’ll put it back.”

  He stood scanning the juniper for a few moments, then reached into it and replaced the baby bird in a nest. Then he stepped back over the barbed wire fence.

  “How did you notice that?” Shea demanded.

  Jesse swung himself up onto his horse, then shrugged. “I heard the bird. It was obvious something was wrong.” He gestured to the rocks above the small clump of juniper. “Since we were about done anyway, why don’t we sit on the rocks for a while and see what happens?”

  They secured the horses to the branch of a scrubby pine, then scrambled up onto the rocks. The sun had already warmed them, and Shea settled back to watch the bird below them.

  “Well, who would have thought it?” she said after a few moments.

  “Who would have thought what?”

  “That tough, hard Jesse Coulton would be a bird-watcher.”

  She thought she saw a faint stain of pink in his cheeks. “I’m outside a lot. Once I started noticing the birds, it became a game to find out more about them. Then I got interested.” He shrugged. “I like to be aware of what’s going on around me. Knowing about an area’s wildlife is part of that.”

  She studied him for a moment. “Why do I think there’s more to it than that?” she finally asked.

  He didn’t look at her. “Maybe because you have a nasty, suspicious mind. You thought all kinds of bad things about me before you hired me, didn’t you?”

  She’d thought he’d be bad for her, and she’d been right. Out loud, she said, “I was merely being cautious. I’d had problems with my last employee, and I wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.”

  He swiveled to face her. “What kind of problems?” Tension quivered in the air again, and she wondered why. “The kinds of problems that employers always have,” she said lightly. “He didn’t work out, and I had to let him go. It was nothing earth-shattering, believe me.”

  “But he hurt you, didn’t he?” Jesse’s voice was quiet. He was too perceptive, and she shifted on the suddenly hard rock. “Let’s just say I didn’t like facing the proof of my bad judgment. And he’s gone now, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

  Jesse looked like he wanted to ask her more, and there was nothing more she wanted to say about Kyle Diggett. To distract him, she pointed to the bird on the juniper bush, who was still shrieking. “Is she going to go back to the nest?”

  Jesse turned and looked, reluctantly, she thought. “Probably. She doesn’t like the fact that we’re here.”

  “Should we leave?”

  “Not yet. I want to make sure she accepts the chick back. Once she goes back to the nest, we can go.”

  They sat quietly for what seemed like a long time. The jay eventually stopped screeching, and suddenly hopped into the juniper that held her nest. When she disappeared into the foliage, Shea saw Jesse smile.

  “Bingo. We’re golden.”

  “Is she on the nest? I can’t see.”

  “Yeah, she’s there. Don’t you hear those noises?”

  Shea strained to listen, and finally heard a low buzzing noise. “What is that?”

  “She’s feeding the chicks.”

  They could leave now. But instead, Shea leaned against the sun-warmed rocks and looked at Jesse. “You’re really a sham. You know that, don’t you?”

  He looked wary. “What do you mean?”

  “You told me last night you were the biggest cynic I’d ever met. But you’re nothing but a big softy.”

  “Just because I put a baby bird back in its nest?”

  “Because you even thought to do it. Because you cared enough to bother. Most people would have ridden by that bird and not given it a second thought.”

  “So I’m a bird-watcher. That doesn’t make me a saint.” Clasping her hands around her knees, she leaned forward to study him. “What I want to know is, why are you so determined to make me think you’re a tough guy?”

  “Maybe because I am a tough guy. I’m trying to be a gentleman, Shea, and you’re not making it very easy. You need to stay away from me. The last thing you want is to get involved with me. You don’t need to be involved with someone who’s working for you.”

  “That’s what I thought, too. That’s what I’ve always thought.” She felt herself softening, yearning for his touch, and had to force herself not to move. “Now I’m not so sure.”

  “I’m sure,” he said, and his voice was harsh. “Getting involved in a relationship with an employee is never a good idea.”

  “But you’re not going to be an employee for long, are you?”

  His eyes narrowed. “How do you know that?”

  “You’re a drifter, Jesse. You told me you were, but you didn’t have to. I can see it in your eyes. I heard it last night, when you were talking about your lack of a home. In a few months you’ll get itchy and decide it’s time to move on.”

  “Then why in the hell would you want to get involved with me?” he demanded.

  “Why would you want to get involved with me?” she countered.

  “I don’t,” he muttered.

  “And neither do I.”

  “I guess we understand each other, then.”

  “I guess we do.”

  They stared at one another for a few moments, desire swirling in the air between them. She could see the hunger in Jesse’s eyes. Suddenly he pulled her close and covered her mouth with his. Heat and need speared through her as quickly as a flash fire. She opened her mouth to him, desperate to taste him once more.

  He groaned and shifted his hands on her, gentling his touch. She’d lied, she thought to herself as her body molded itself to him. She’d told him she didn’t want to get involved, but it wasn’t the truth.

  Her body hungered for Jesse, even as her heart yearned to know more of him. She felt a connection with him, and her body had recognized it long before she’d been willing to admit it, even to herself. Twining herself around him, she lost herself in his embrace.

  She fel
t him tense as he recognized her surrender. Then his mouth and hands were everywhere, as if he couldn’t get enough of her taste, of the way she felt. It was as if his hands were trying to memorize her, to learn every curve, every intimate detail of her body.

  She shuddered and reached for him, needing to touch him, too. He eased her back onto the rock, pillowing her head with his arm. When he leaned over her, kissing her again, she slid her hands beneath his shirt and let her fingers trace the hard muscle of his chest.

  He grew still and tense above her. She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her, his face taut with passion and raw hunger. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?” he asked, his voice scraping over her nerves.

  Slowly she shook her head. He grabbed her hand and held it against his chest, and she felt his heart thundering against her palm. His muscles trembled with his effort at control, then suddenly he moved over her.

  Settling into the vee of her legs, he took her mouth again in a storm of desire. The hard ridge of his arousal burned into her abdomen, making her throb with need. But his body was rigid with control, and when she tried to pull him closer, he eased away from her.

  “I want you, Shea. I can’t deny that.” He bent down and kissed her, gently this time. “And I think you want me.”

  When he reached up to push a strand of hair out of her face, she saw that his fingers were trembling. “But it’s not a good idea.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  His smile softened his face, took away the harsh lines and hard planes. It was the smile of a different man, a man who wasn’t hard and tough. It was the smile of a man who could be persuaded to stop drifting, to settle down in one place. It was the smile of a man who wasn’t Jesse Coulton.

  “Do I have to tell you all the reasons?” he said, and she thought there was sadness in his voice. “I think you know them as well as me.”

  “Tell me anyway,” she demanded.

  “You’re my boss,” he said, holding her gaze. “And that’s just for starters. There’s a reason why relationships between employees and employers don’t work.”

  “So you can quit and go work for someone else. Give me another reason.”

  This time his gaze shifted away from her. “I can’t quit, Shea, and you know it. What would you do if I wasn’t here to help you?”

  “Dusty and Joe are getting better. They’ll be back to full speed before long.”

  “Even when they are at full speed, you need help. They’re getting old, Shea. They can’t do what they used to be able to do.”

  “So I’ll hire someone else.” She fixed a fierce gaze on him. “Tell me another reason we can’t get involved.”

  He stared at her for a long time. “I’m leaving,” he finally said, his voice flat. “I’m not going to be here for more than a few months.”

  “You don’t have to go.”

  “I do. You don’t understand.”

  “So explain it to me.”

  He stared at her for a long time, then rolled over and sat up. “You’ve always had this place, this home. You’ve had the town of Cameron. You’ve lived here your whole life. I don’t have roots. I don’t know what it’s like to have roots.”

  “You can find out.” She sat up and turned to face him. “Cameron is a good place. You’ll be welcome here. You can put down roots of your own.”

  “Give it up, Shea. It won’t work. I’m not like you. And you’re going to find that out, sooner or later.”

  She watched him for a moment, wondering at the flash of guilt in his eyes. Wondering why he looked so sad. Then he looked over at the juniper bush that held the jay’s nest.

  “It looks like it’s time to go,” he said, and it was clear the subject was closed. “That bird is getting upset that we’re still here.”

  The scrub jay was chattering at them again, sitting on a branch of the juniper. Jesse surged to his feet, then reached down and pulled her up. “Let’s climb these rocks and see what’s at the top.”

  She wanted to protest, to tell him no. She knew what was at the top of the rocks. But it was too late. He was already scrambling up the hill, edging around the boulders and grabbing hold of the scrub bushes that struggled to survive in the rock crevices.

  She followed him, rehearsing what she would say. They might as well get it over with now, she told herself. If he had to discover it, and eventually he would, it was best that it happen today.

  She saw the instant he spotted it. He froze, staring down into the valley on the other side of the cliffs. Then he slowly turned around to face her.

  All the softness, all the gentleness was gone from his face. Once again, he was the hard, dangerous stranger who had approached her for a job. Once again, Jesse was a man she didn’t know.

  “There’s a cabin on the other side of this cliff.”

  Chapter 9

  Jesse watched Shea as she climbed up the hill behind him. All his suspicions had come roaring back as soon as he’d seen the tiny cabin nestled next to the lake. She’d never told him there was a cabin up here.

  Finally she stood next to him, staring down at the small valley. “That’s been here for years,” she said, her voice light.

  “You never mentioned it.”

  “There was no reason to mention it.” She looked at the cabin rather than him. “We hardly ever use it.”

  “What’s it there for, then?”

  She shrugged. “Emergencies. It’s here in case someone gets stuck up on the mountain in severe weather. And Dev and I occasionally use it if we want to get away and spend some time alone. Some of our friends in Cameron have stayed in it, too.”

  “Why don’t we head back to the ranch that way?” His voice was hard with suspicion, but Shea still didn’t look at him.

  “Sure, if you’d like to see the cabin.” She shrugged, but he thought her shoulders were a little tight. “It’ll take a while longer, though.”

  “I have plenty of time.”

  They remounted their horses and rode back toward a break in the cliffs. Shea’s knuckles were white on her reins, and her back was ramrod straight. And instead of the easy camaraderie of earlier in the morning, tension quivered in the air between them.

  Neither of them spoke. When they reached the tiny cabin, perched on the edge of a clear blue lake, Shea finally turned to him.

  “Did you want to take a look inside?”

  Jesse forced himself to shrug carelessly. “Sure. You never know when I might get caught in bad weather and need to use the cabin.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. The weather in the mountains is unpredictable.” Shea’s voice was expressionless as she swung herself off the horse’s back and looped the reins around a tree branch. “Come on in.”

  The door wasn’t locked, he noticed. “Why do you leave the door open?” he asked, watching her carefully. “Aren’t you afraid of vandals?”

  Instead of the guilt he’d expected to see on her face, she gave him an exasperated look. “If we kept the door locked, it sure wouldn’t help anyone in an emergency, would it? I’m beginning to wonder just how much time you’ve spent on ranches, Jesse. This isn’t the city. The only people who would need this place are Red Rock Ranch people and our neighbors. And all the neighbors know they can use the cabin if they need to.”

  “You mean anyone could walk in and stay here?”

  “Of course.” She gave him a look that said a small child would have grasped the concept more quickly. “That’s the whole point.”

  Maybe it wasn’t Shea who was doing the smuggling, he thought with a desperate leap of hope. Maybe it was one of her neighbors, using her cabin. Maybe he was focusing on the wrong person.

  She disappeared inside the cabin, and he followed her eagerly. Maybe the former employee had lied. Maybe Shea wasn’t involved at all.

  The cabin was empty, and from the look of it, had been for a long time. He inhaled the slightly musty air and looked around at the shabby furniture, the bare counters, the beds stripped to
the mattress. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s used the place in a while.”

  She didn’t answer him directly. Instead, she disappeared into one of the bedrooms. “Maria is personally offended if it isn’t clean. She checks on it regularly to dust and make sure that the bedding is usable and the cabinets arc stocked with food.”

  There wasn’t any dust on any of the surfaces, he noticed. He opened up a cabinet and found cans of beans and soup, boxed dinners and bags of pasta. There were jars of spaghetti sauce and what looked like breakfast cereal in plastic containers. Nothing, he concluded, that shouldn’t be there if the cabin were really for emergency use, as Shea had said.

  He was too ready to exonerate Shea, he realized uneasily. He was too ready to accept what she said at face value, to absolve her completely. He couldn’t afford to assume anything.

  Letting his eyes wander around the room, he spotted a small edge of brightly colored material sticking out from under one of the couches. Bending down, he pulled a soft rag doll out from underneath.

  “You have a lot of kids staying here?” he asked Shea as she emerged from the bedroom.

  Color drained from her face. Staring at the doll, she slowly reached out and took it from him. Holding it for a moment, gazing down at it, she didn’t say anything. He thought she was trying to regain her composure. Finally she looked up at him. And although she tried to hide it, be saw fear in her eyes.

  “Two of our friends stayed up here last fall, and they had two little girls with them. One of the girls must have lost this doll. I’ll have to find out.”

  She set the doll on the couch, carefully arranging it, then stepped back. When she looked up at him, he thought her brightness was forced. “Seen enough here? Ready to go?”

  Watching her, he said, “Are you going to show me how to get here from the ranch? In case I ever have to use it.”

  She nodded once without meeting his gaze. “We’ll go back that way.”

  The ride back to the ranch was silent and tense. When they reached the barn, Shea closed herself in her horse’s stall, rubbing him down, then hurried away before he’d finished with Joey. “Sunday we try to take it easy,” she said abruptly. “Dinner is at six. I’ll see you then.”