“I remember that.” Ryder’s fingers stroked the delicate fluting of her ribcage to her waist, tiny and curved. He remembered the steam rising up from the sink flushing her face. He had caught her watching him, her eyes were troubled and he thought it was because of Grady. November dusk had settled over the kitchen. He met her gaze reflected in the window, and she’d trembled, breaking into short, shallow breaths that were soon matched by his own. He longed to touch her. His hand twitched imperceptibly but he didn’t move. He wasn’t sure how long they stood like that, quaking on the threshold of turning to each other as a man and woman.
Ryder cleared his throat. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this. It’ll take a ton of work to fix up and every penny we’ve got and we’ll be ancient by the time it’s finished.”
“We can handle it. We built this fort, didn’t we? Obviously, we’ll start with the nursery.”
The tension in Ryder’s face cracked lightning-like into a grin. He pulled her on top of him. “So we have an agreement. You will marry me.”
“Yes, Ryder, I will marry you.”
Her blouse gapped open. Ryder buried his face between her breasts. “You’ve made me a very happy man, Louise Rutherford,” he said solemnly. “However, I have a few conditions of my own. After we’re married, there’ll be no eating off my plate.”
“Not even your french fries?”
“Especially not my french fries.” He reached down to unfasten the button on her shorts. “I’ll expect you to avoid all mob connections no matter how bad your employment situation gets.”
“That was a low blow. But agreed.”
“And no more adventures. Except in bed.” Ryder flipped Scout on her back, taking care with her arm and ribs—however he wasn’t above taking advantage of her helpless state to remove her shorts. A hot July breeze funneled over her bare thighs.
“That’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. You are awfully skilled at removing a woman’s clothing. How did you come by this knowledge?”
“I read a lot.”
“I don’t believe you.” She gasped as Ryder unfastened her bra. “You’ve had practice. Why am I always naked and you are not?’
“I like to look at you first before I do anything else.” Ryder brought his thumb to her lower lip and toyed with it; a strange delicious gesture of tenderness and eroticism.
She tried to remember what they were talking about as his hand slid from her mouth to her breasts. “Like what?”
“This.” He bent over her and Scout closed her eyes as his lips found her mouth. She was completely weakened by his kiss and the erotic work his hand was performing on her breasts. Scout wouldn’t win many arguments if Ryder kept this up after they were married.
His hand slid under her panties and she was lost.
HOURS LATER, covered in grime from rolling around on the rough boards with their hair sticking up at odd angles, Ryder and Scout shook out their clothes, dressed in silence and left the fort for the last time.
Taking each other’s hand they walked out of the forest and across the village green in the direction of the Rutherford house. One or two witnesses saw them walking hand in hand so the news didn’t come as a complete surprise to Lydia when she opened the front door. She’d had two phone calls in the space of time it took the young couple to reach the house and was already composing the announcement for the Gazette in her head. Judging from the retching sounds she heard coming from Scout’s bathroom this morning, it would not be a long engagement. She wondered if the dress could be altered.
It is with great joy that Walter and Lydia Rutherford announce the engagement of their daughter, Louise “Scout” Rutherford, to her best friend, Ryder Dean. The wedding will take place on Saturday, September Twenty-seventh at eleven o’clock in the morning at All Souls Church, Mandrake Falls, Vermont. The bride and groom will be in attendance for the duration of the ceremony.
Very few citizens in Mandrake Falls were surprised either when they read the news. It seems Scout and Ryder were the last to know they were meant for each other. However there was one individual who had been out of the loop for some weeks and missed all the excitement. Deep in the Green Mountain National Forest, Hudson Grace dropped the binoculars from his eyes to see Ryder Dean trotting up the steep gravel path to the station, a dark green envelope in his hand.
It was, as he suspected, an invitation to Ryder Dean’s wedding. He grinned when he saw the name of the bride. “Ah, buddy? I thought people didn’t marry their friends.”
“If they’re smart, they do.”
The Green Mountain forest spread out before them with the cooling smells of fall coming on. Ryder thought of the life in Scout’s belly that was beginning to mean more to him with each passing day and the urgency he felt to give it his name. He thought of that other wedding a scant six weeks ago, and his stomach clenched though the danger had passed. She was marrying him.
The invitation delivered, Ryder clapped Grace on the shoulder and jogged back to his truck. Scout would be leaving the antique store soon and then stopping at Noden’s Hardware to pick up the paint they’d ordered for the nursery. Ryder wanted to be at the farmhouse when she walked in, her hazel eyes snapping, her hands flying, bubbling over with plans. He loved watching her, listening to her, marveling that she could turn even domesticity into a grand adventure.
Scout moved fast, she’d always been faster than Ryder, able to outrun him since they were ten. Marriage wasn’t going to slow her down; Scout would always be a few steps ahead of him. In his mind’s eye he saw the two of them, Scout running in front, laughing, urging him to keep up, to race ahead.
But Ryder knew better than that. He knew what Scout needed. He would slow his pace just enough to keep her in view for the rest of his life.
The best was yet to be.
END
About the Author
Catherine Lloyd loves reading, watching and writing screwball romantic comedies. Her favorite films are When Harry Met Sally, The Green Card and While You Were Sleeping. Love stories that are funny, warm and soul-satisfying are her drug of choice. Whips and ropes need not apply.
The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat named Harry who thinks he’s a dog, and three grandsons. She lives with her long-suffering spouse in the country where she enjoys having no hobbies and writes full time. She is currently at work on a new series set in Victorian England starring some very bad men. Follow her on Amazon to be notified of new releases!
Contact Catherine Lloyd at [email protected]
Or visit: Writewood Creations
Or visit her Author Page on Amazon
Dark Redeemer Historical Romance
Love. In a dangerous time.
WANTON
The year is 1228. King John is dead and an uneasy peace has settled over England. Callie of Wideopens is the beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly sets in motion the crone’s prophecy. Arrested on charges of witchcraft and sentenced to hang, Callie recounts her story from a tower cell just as the crone predicted, and Ethan is haunted by a girl he believes dead and a love that sprang out of sin.
WASTREL
King John is on the throne and Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and womanizing is legendary at court. However, it is his brazen affair with the wife of the most powerful man in England that has put his life in danger. In an attempt to ward off disaster, Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to a mouse of a girl named Beatrice Fall. Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when forgetting himself, he consummates their marriage. Beatrice Fall is not who Sebastian believes her to be and quite suddenly, their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of illicit love.
TRAITOR
King John’s crown has
been usurped by Louis the Dauphin during the Baron’s War. The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered 18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his favour with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of Nottingham. The captain is a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the throne. Forced to choose between Ellie and the men of his company who want to do her harm, Griffith crosses the line and becomes a traitor to all.
SOLDIER ~ A Medieval Christmas Novella
Two stories of two amoral men transformed by love. In Mercenary, Broderick has been made a new father but his infant son is failing to thrive. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. The new master of Castlemuir confines the young woman to his inner sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take dangerous risks. In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon, a young woman disguised as a boy. In return for keeping her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night. But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at Castlemuir Hall.
DARK REDEEMER HISTORICAL ROMANCE is available in print and on Kindle Unlimited
Mandrake Falls Four Seasons Romance
Four brides. Four seasons. One rocky road to romance.
THE JILTING ~ Summer
Best friends forever. Until one of them falls in love. The groom is AWOL. It’s Scout Rutherford’s wedding day and in the next 24 hours, she is shot at, lied to, forced to reveal a secret, abducted at gunpoint and thrown down a ravine. But a night spent in hiding with her best friend Ryder Dean puts her in the worst danger of all.
LIE FOR ME ~ Autumn
Sworn enemies, until they pretend to be lovers. Is the lie really the truth? Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and Sawyer’s much-loved, daffy aunt. Dolly’s health hasn’t been good of late. She worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie for me.” And that’s when things really get scary.
THE WAY HOME ~ Winter
The one thing they agree on is to never fall in love. Mandrake Falls is cocooned in a thick blanket of snow when Michael Shannon, the star of Tomorrow Never Comes is dropped like a bomb into Hudson Grace’s bachelor life. For the next seventy-two hours, due to a bureaucratic mix-up, the forester is stuck with the daytime diva. A fire on the hearth. A raging blizzard. And a three-year-old holy terror. Who will crack first?
LOVE RISING ~ Spring
Nobody expected them to fall in love. Nerdy stage manager, Jeremy Marks sees right through Jocelyn Tate’s stunning beauty to the vulnerable girl she is underneath. It’s no secret he’s in love with her. Jocelyn thinks Jeremy is sweet but poor and she’s determined to marry a rich man--preferably a billionaire. Jeremy doesn’t have a hope until a mysterious notice appears in the Gazette announcing their engagement. Thrown together, the young couple form a bond to find out who has it in for them.
MANDRAKE FALLS ROMANCE ~ Boxed Set Edition
All four titles for one low price.
MANDRAKE FALLS ROMANCE is available in print and through Kindle Unlimited
The Jilting: Summer (Mandrake Falls Series Romance Book 1) Page 16