The Kincaid Bride

by Jackie Merritt

  Well, her rafting trip tomorrow wasn’t a crucial issue to her, at any rate, and it really was none of Eli’s business. Why in heaven’s name would he make such a fuss about it, rudely telling her that he wasn’t going and neither was she? God save her from a marriage to any man who believed his word was law!

  Melanie shuddered, then frowned a bit. Truth was, Eli was an uncommonly perplexing puzzle. In some ways, he was a big softy and as sensitive as anyone she’d ever known. Take the night that he’d struck her while she’d been trying to bring him out of an obviously terrifying nightmare, for example. Could any man have been more remorseful and apologetic?

  But there was another side to Eli, a hard, secretive side. He would rather show people his soft underbelly than let anyone know that part of him. Or maybe she was the only one in Montana, or at least at the ranch, who’d seen any part of him!

  Groaning, Melanie put her head back against the seat. God knew she didn’t want to fight with Eli all the time, so why did she? And why couldn’t he be nice to her? When she remembered their passionate encounters and how hungrily they’d kissed and made love, it didn’t seem possible that those silly arguments could even damage such strong desire, let alone kill it.

  There were no answers for such profound questions. No answers at all.

  Eli heard Melanie come upstairs and go into her room. A few minutes later, he could detect the sound of the shower in her bathroom. About half an hour after the shower had been turned off and he was thinking she must be in bed, he heard Irma come upstairs and go into her bedroom. The house was then totally devoid of noises except for the usual creaks that old wood makes as it settles.

  He hated the thought of a sleepless night, but the way his heart was pounding in terror over Melanie’s rafting trip tomorrow didn’t give him much hope of rest. Besides, he feared that if he did happen to fall asleep, he’d have the nightmare again.

  “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” he muttered.

  At eleven o’clock he was still trying to figure a way to keep Melanie at the ranch tomorrow. At twelve he was angry at Garrett for assuming he would be happy to take Collin’s place in Sean’s raft. At one he was angry with himself for letting Garrett think for even a second that he was willing to take Collin’s place, and at two o’clock he conked out from sheer exhaustion.

  He awoke at five, sweating from a nightmare that had been much too explicit and close to home, and he immediately jumped out of bed. Yanking on jeans as he went, he ran from his room to Melanie’s and walked in without knocking. She opened one sleepy eye and heard him say, “Don’t leave without me. I’m going with you today.”

  They were almost at Sean’s house, with Eli driving his pickup and Melanie sitting beside him. Melanie had been biting her tongue to prevent another argument, but she just couldn’t keep quiet any longer.

  “Why on earth are you doing this?” she asked. “You’re so obviously in pain over this excursion that I can’t imagine a reason for your changing your mind and coming along.”

  “You just said it. I changed my mind.” It was difficult for Eli to even breathe normally, so the unnatural tone of his voice didn’t surprise him.

  “Eli, you’re forcing yourself to do something that…that…” She stopped to frown. “Dare I say ‘frightens you’ without stepping on your ego?”

  “Say anything you want. It’s no skin off my nose,” Eli mumbled.

  His macho toughness and stiff-upper-lip attitude was more than she could take. “You’re only doing this because Granddad asked you to, not because you want to and not because some magic beam from outer space zapped you and altered your negative opinion of river rafting. If you’re really going along, then cheer up, dammit! And if you can’t get that gloomy look off your face, then stay in town! I don’t want your bad mood ruining my fun today.”

  “Your mood isn’t so hot, either, so lay off mine.”

  “You are a…a grouch!”

  Eli decided that grouch was a more palatable label than coward, and he let Melanie have the last word. His stomach felt queasy and he was afraid that he might have to pull the pickup over and let Melanie know just how terrified he really was. Not that losing his breakfast would forever stigmatize him in Melanie’s eyes, but he’d rather not have her become even more curious about his behavior this morning than she already was.

  When they reached Elk Springs, Melanie coolly told Eli how to find Sean’s house. She was grossly annoyed and couldn’t conceal how she felt. Eli had only come along because Garrett had put him on the spot, and since she sensed Eli’s resentment so acutely, today could not be anything but a bust.

  “This is a surprise,” Eli said when he pulled into the Acton driveway and saw Sean’s house.

  “What did you expect, a hovel?” Melanie snapped, then opened her door and got out. Sean came outside and walked toward the truck. Melanie called, “Hi, Sean,” and he returned the greeting with a warm, welcoming smile.

  Eli climbed out and Sean did a double take. “Where’s Collin?”

  They all congregated at the front of Eli’s truck. “He’s on a business trip with Granddad,” Melanie explained. “Sean Acton, Eli Forrester.”

  The two men shook hands and sized each other up. And then Eli said something that made Melanie doubt her own hearing. “I’m Melanie’s husband.”

  Sean looked thunderstruck. “You’re married?” he said to Melanie.

  She felt thunderstruck. Eli and Sean were acting like two roosters in the same henhouse! She sent Eli a murderous look, but he didn’t even flinch, merely waited with a grave expression for her answer to Sean’s obviously stunned question.

  “Yes, we’re married,” she said sharply, then added, “Is everything ready to go, Sean?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure is. I…I’ll take my truck with the raft and things, and you two can, uh, take yours. I like to put in at Perk’s Landing. We’ll leave the river at Lobel’s Landing, and I’ve already taken a vehicle there to ride back in.”

  “Sounds like you’ve thought of everything. Thanks, Sean. See you in a few.” Steaming mad, Melanie climbed back into Eli’s pickup and waited for him to get in. The second his door was shut, she said, “What was that all about? The mess you and I have made of our personal lives is hardly any of Sean’s business!”

  Eli started the engine and gave her a don’t-play-dumb-with-me look. “He’d like to make you his business.”

  She knew it was true. Sean had flirted with her at their first meeting, and from the look on his face today when Eli had made his little announcement, he sure hadn’t expected her to suddenly produce a husband.

  “What difference does that make?” she said dully.

  “Oh? Maybe you’d like him to make you his business?”

  With an explosive anger, she turned on him. “Let me tell you something, Eli. Right at the moment I’m not particularly fond of any man!”

  “Least of all me.”

  “No, not least of all you! Any man! Including my brother and grandfather! I took this trip to spend time with them, to get to know them better, and I’ve hardly seen Granddad except for the afternoon that he dragged you and me off to Missoula. Collin’s done a little better, but the truth is that neither one of them cares whether I’m in Montana or Timbuktu. And I’m getting so I don’t care where they are, either. I’m going home in two days and I’m never coming back to Montana, and you want to know something else? Nobody is even going to notice that I’m gone.”

  “That’s not true, Melanie.”

  “Oh, what do you know about it?” she said disgustedly, and turned her face to stare unseeingly out the side window.

  Eli’s stomach was churning worse than before. They were near the river, heading for Perk’s Landing, and just the sight of that fast-moving water was horrifying. Along with that, tearing him up was the jealousy he couldn’t have imagined before he’d felt it absolutely shredding his usual good sense in Sean’s yard. At least he used to possess good sense, he thought unha
ppily. Before Melanie came along, he’d believed wholeheartedly that he had it in good measure. Was that a lie, too?

  He parked next to Sean’s truck at Perk’s Landing, and he and Melanie got out and helped Sean unload the inflated raft and place it in the water with about half of it still on shore. It was awfully small, Melanie thought uneasily, nothing at all like the big raft she’d seen earlier with Collin.

  Sean handed out life jackets. “Put them on,” he said. “And if for some reason you fall in, point your toes downstream and try to avoid running into big rocks. Either of you do any rafting before?”

  Melanie shook her head, but Eli said, “I have.”

  She looked at him with surprise. “You have?”

  “Good,” Sean said. “You can help out with the oars if need be. Okay, Melanie, in you go. Sit in the front. Eli, you sit in back and I’ll row.”

  Eli was glad to have the back seat, which was no more than the rubber bottom of the rear end of the small raft, but he still felt squeamish and hoped no one would look back at him.

  Sean rowed the raft smoothly and swiftly away from the shore. There were no rapids near Perk’s Landing, so Sean took the opportunity to issue a few more instructions. “We’re going to run into some three-plus rapids and one four-plus. There are no fives on Elk River, but the four-plus is close. Just do everything I say and we’ll have a great ride. When I holler left or right, lean in that direction. We’ll be moving fast and dodging some dangerous rocks, but don’t worry. I’ve floated this river dozens of times.”

  Eli was having trouble catching his breath. His heartbeat was much too fast and he was sweating although the temperature was only pleasantly warm. He was risking his physical health and his very sanity for Melanie because he knew, he knew, something was going to go wrong today. He awaited it as a man must await his own execution, and the first time he saw Melanie reach over the edge of the raft to trail her hand in the water, he shouted, “For God’s sake, Melanie, get back in the raft!”

  Startled, she turned around. “What is wrong with you? I was only testing the water temperature.” Eli was wearing a baseball cap and dark glasses—as she was—so she couldn’t see all of his face. But the pinched lines around his mouth were perplexing. Good grief, if he was really afraid of water for some reason, why had he come with her? She certainly wasn’t afraid. Even if they never saw a rapid, floating along on the river currents was wonderful. Sean rowed at times, mostly to steer the raft, she’d come to realize, because the river itself was controlling the raft’s speed.

  The first set of rapids was great fun. Laughing and yelling, Melanie hung on and loved every second of the ride. But when they were on smooth water again, she glanced back at Eli and saw him clinging to a strap for dear life and looking as pale as a ghost. The fun went out of her so fast she was taken aback. Maybe she shouldn’t care if Eli enjoyed or hated rafting, but she did care. He was suffering, for Pete’s sake!

  She lied to Sean. “I don’t think I like this. Can we turn around and go back?”

  He laughed. “It would take a pretty powerful motor to buck this current, Melanie. Sorry, but we go only one way—downriver.”

  There was another set of rapids, and another. Melanie’s concern for Eli grew, and she kept asking herself why he’d done something that made him so miserable. Yes, Garrett had asked him to take Collin’s place, but had Eli really been worried about what Garrett might think or had he been worried about her?

  Suddenly, she spotted something large and dark in the river. “Sean…what’s that?” she yelled.

  He hadn’t seen it, and when he did, it was too late to avoid it. “Left!” he shouted, but the raft rammed into the log and upended, spilling everyone into the river. Melanie hit her head on something and blacked out. The current swept Sean against a huge boulder, breaking his arm, and he dazedly clung to the boulder and watched Melanie and Eli bob along past him. Then he concentrated on getting himself to shore so he could get help for them.

  Eli realized that he was the only one who hadn’t been injured. But that wasn’t his most startling thought: he was no longer afraid! Not for himself, at any rate, and he turned over in the water and began to swim a powerful breast-stroke to catch up with Melanie.

  When he did and saw that she was unconscious, he wasted no time in hooking his arm around her and heading them both to the nearest outcropping of land. He didn’t let himself think about anything but getting Melanie out of that river. He wouldn’t even permit concern about how badly she might be hurt to break his concentration.

  After what seemed like hours but was really only minutes, they were in shallow water. Stumbling to his feet, Eli picked Melanie up and carried her to dry ground. Carefully laying her down, he was about to administer CPR when she coughed up some water and then opened her eyes.

  “Eli,” she whispered. “What happened?”

  His emotions caved in then, and with tears streaming down his face, Eli gathered her into his arms and held her close to his heart.

  “You’re all right, you’re all right,” he cried hoarsely. “Melanie, I love you, and I had a horrible dream last night…or early this morning…about you and this river…and I couldn’t let you go alone…and my brother Carson drowned in a canoeing accident and I should’ve been able to save him…but I saved you…my love…my wife…and I…I’m not afraid of water anymore and…oh, Melanie, I love you so much.”

  Fifteen

  “Oh, Eli, I love you, too!”

  “You really do?”

  “Yes, I really do. Eli, help me out of this wet life vest, and take yours off, too. Oh, it’s chilly, isn’t it? The water was cold.” Melanie glanced around. “Eli, where’s Sean?”

  “I’m sure he’s all right. I last saw him holding on to a huge boulder. It wasn’t far from the opposite shore. Come, sweetheart, we’re in the shade here. Let’s get in the sun and dry off.”

  They moved to a sunny place and sat with their arms around each other. “Say it again,” Eli said softly.

  “I love you very much. I…I think I fell for you at first sight.”

  “But you fought against it.” Eli sighed. “So did I. I wonder why.”

  “Because it came as a shock. I never expected to meet the love of my life on Granddad’s ranch, for goodness’ sake, and you probably never expected that your boss’s granddaughter would…would… Help me out here,” she said with a smile.

  “How about I never expected my boss’s granddaughter to knock me for a loop?”

  “That’ll do for now.” Melanie laid her head on his chest. “Oh, Eli, what you said about your brother breaks my heart.”

  “It broke mine into so many pieces, Melanie, I couldn’t put it back together again. Then when I realized our parents blamed me…”

  Melanie jerked her head up. “Oh, no, Eli, they couldn’t have. Are you sure you weren’t just so brokenhearted that you misunderstood their grief?”

  Eli heaved a sigh. “It happened over four years ago. What was so painfully clear then is just a sorrowful blur now.”

  “Where is home, Eli?” she asked gently.

  “Baltimore. After Carson’s death and the trouble with my folks, I washed my hands of everyone and everything familiar. I ended up here in Montana, and now this is home.” He took her chin and looked deeply into her eyes. “Could it ever be home for you?” After a second, he added, “It wouldn’t have to be. I mean, as long as we’re together, I think I could live anywhere.”

  “That’s very generous of you, but I think we have to approach that problem logically and…and pragmatically. Eli, we both have jobs. Mine’s in San Diego. Yours is here. I’m sure I could adjust to living in Montana much more easily than you could adjust to San Diego. Eli, are you laughing at me?”

  “Not at you, sweetheart, never at you, but listen to me for a minute. The Forresters’ wealth goes back to the first settlers in America. I have more money in banks in and around the Baltimore area than you and I could spend in ten lifetimes. We could live anyw
here in the world and we’d only have to work if we wanted to.”

  Melanie was staring openmouthed. “You…you’re not serious,” she said in a tiny, shaky voice.

  “Dead serious, sweetheart.”

  “I knew you were different!” she cried, startling him. “But I couldn’t have imagined that you were sneaky enough to be rich!” She saw the panic in his eyes and rushed to console him. “Eli, I was only teasing you.”

  The panic vanished from his gorgeous blue eyes and was replaced by something hot and lustful. “Yes,” he drawled. “I do believe your teasing was what nailed me to the wall, in the first place, sweetheart.” He pushed her backward onto the grass and lay on top of her. “What do you think? Are we going to be rescued right away or do we have time to drive each other crazy before the marines land?”

  “Since I can hear the sound of a motor coming closer, and since people are probably worried enough about us to hurry up a rescue, I think we’d be wise to sit up properly and act like an old married couple so we don’t shock the marines,” she said with a pleased giggle. “But you can sleep in my room tonight if you want,” she added almost primly. Letting out a whoop of laughter, Eli tickled her ribs. “Stop, stop!” she cried. “I give up. I’m all yours. Do with me what you will.”

  “You’re sure it’s okay if I sleep in your room tonight?”

  “Positive.”

  “Okay, in that case we’ll sit up nice and proper and wait for the marines.”

  They held hands and looked at each other in wonderment until their rescuers arrived.

  Eli phoned the ranch, expecting Irma to answer. But it was Garrett who said, “Kincaid ranch.”

  “You’re back!” Eli exclaimed. “Garrett, there’s nothing to worry about…I mean, the doctor said she’ll be just fine in a day or so…but Melanie’s in the hospital.”

  Garrett was instantly anxious. “Why? What happened?”

  “We got dumped into the river by accident and Melanie hit her head on something. Over her objections, I insisted she see a doctor and took her to the emergency room. They said she has a mild concussion and they put her to bed. If no complications develop, she’ll be released in the morning. She went through a battery of tests, and I think the whole experience wore her out. She’s sleeping now, so I took this opportunity to call and let Irma know why we wouldn’t be back tonight.”