by Bobbi Smith
“She’s my chaperone. She came to Texas with me and Emmie.”
“So you live back East with Emmie?” He had heard talk around the ranch about Hank’s daughter on his last visit to see Josh.
“Yes. I didn’t want her to make the trip alone after all that’s happened.”
“What’s happened?” George was at a loss.
“You haven’t heard about Mr. Ryan?”
“Hank? What about him?”
Millie realized then that she would have to be the one to tell George of Hank Ryan’s death. “Let’s go up to the main house. We can talk up there.”
George finished buttoning his shirt and followed her outside to find Kate walking toward them from the stable.
“I see you found him,” Kate said.
“Yes, I did. George hasn’t heard about Mr. Ryan yet, so I thought we could tell him up at the house.”
George had a bad feeling as he accompanied them to the ranch house. After introducing him to the elderly chaperone, Millie told him all about Hank’s death and how Emmie now had to live on the Rocking R and run the ranch with Josh.
“How did my brother take the news?”
“I think he was worried at first,” Kate offered, “but our Emmie’s a strong woman. Hank would never have entrusted the Rocking R to her if he hadn’t thought she could work it.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her,” George said, just trying to imagine his brother working side by side with a woman. Wondering whether Emmie was as pretty as Millie, he smiled. Some jobs were better than others.
Chapter Fifteen
As the afternoon wore on, Emmie grew saddle weary, but she would never admit it. She’d insisted on riding with Josh and the other hands, and she wasn’t about to let on that she couldn’t keep up. She was going to do it no matter what. As she’d said to Josh earlier, the missing cattle were her responsibility, too.
They had split up into two groups earlier in the day to follow diverging trails that seemed suspicious. Emmie had stayed with Josh and Burley and she kept pace with them as they covered endless miles without finding anything.
“How much longer do you want to keep going?” Burley asked Josh as he reined in and looked up at the dark clouds that were looming on the horizon. They could tell it was already pouring rain in the distance. “That sky ain’t lookin’ too good.”
The terrain had grown rocky and harsh, making tracking almost impossible, and if they got caught in a gully washer, the sudden onslaught of rushing water could be dangerous.
Josh reined in. He was frustrated that they hadn’t had more luck, but he’d known it wasn’t going to be easy when they’d ridden out that morning. He wasn’t one to give up easily but, with the storm threatening, he knew it was time to quit. “You’re right. We’d better head back.”
“What about the rustlers?” Emmie asked.
“What little was left of the trail is going to be washed clean away once that storm breaks,” Josh told her. “Let’s go.”
“But we’ve come too far to just quit,” she countered.
Josh wasn’t willing to risk their safety. “Have you ever been caught out in one of these storms with your father?”
Emmie looked up at the dark sky. “No.”
“You’ve been lucky, and I’d like to keep it that way. Let’s ride.”
She knew by his tone that there was no point in arguing with him. So as Josh led the way, she kept pace with him and Burley.
They rode hard, but the powerful storm moved faster. The deep, echoing rumble of thunder across the land gave fair warning of what was to come.
“We’d better start looking for some shelter,” Burley said.
Emmie could sense the two men’s concern as they sought a safe place to wait it out.
The storm struck then, and lightning crashed around them as torrential rain began to pour down.
Emmie had always thought she was a good rider. She’d certainly managed to keep up all day, but her confidence was shattered when lightning stuck close by and her horse panicked and reared, unseating her.
Josh saw the whole thing and went quickly to Emmie’s aid, throwing himself from his horse and rushing to her. He knelt down beside her as she lay unmoving, and he feared she’d been seriously hurt.
“Emmie! Are you all right?”
Emmie had landed hard. She stirred and opened her eyes to see Josh hovering over her in the rain, his expression dark and worried. “I think so.”
“Josh! How is she?” Burley asked as he rode up.
“She’s moving,” he said, trying to shield her from the downpour that was drenching them.
“Do you need help?”
“No, I’ve got her.”
“I’ll see if I can catch her horse,” Burley said.
“If you do, just keep on going. I’ll bring Emmie in with me.”
As Burley rode off in the rain, Josh was silently cursing himself for not realizing the danger Emmie would be in trying to ride in such bad weather. He blamed himself as he started to pick her up and carry her to his horse. He hoped she’d just had the wind knocked out of her, but he couldn’t be sure.
Ever the in de pen dent young woman, Emmie started to protest as he scooped her up in his arms. “No, Josh. I can walk. You don’t have to—”
One stern look from Josh silenced her as he carried her to his horse. He didn’t bother to say a word as he helped her up into the saddle before quickly mounting behind her. He brought her back against his chest to protect and shield her from the rain as best he could. He kept his arms around her as they rode off. Josh knew there was an old line shack not too far off. He figured they could wait out the storm there, and he could make sure Emmie wasn’t seriously hurt in any way.
Emmie was drenched and sore and miserable, but she had never felt so safe in her whole life as she did right then in the haven of Josh’s arms.
Josh saw no sign of the storm letting up or of Burley as they continued on, and he knew the storm was only going to get worse before it got better. He hoped Burley would make it back to the ranch house safely.
When at last Josh spotted the run-down shack ahead, he was relieved. He reined in before the one-room building and quickly dismounted.
Emmie was thrilled to see the old line shack. As Josh reached up to help her off the horse, she put her hands on his shoulders, believing he would set her on her feet. Instead, he swept her up into his arms again and cradled her against him as he hurried to the entrance. He kicked the door open and carried Emmie inside; only then did he put her down.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
“Trust me. I’m not going anywhere,” she returned, grateful to be out of the torrent.
“Good.”
Without another word, he went back outside to take care of his horse.
Emmie stood there for a moment, smiling after him as he shut the door behind him on his way out. She’d often dreamed of the moment when she’d be carried over the threshold by a strong, handsome man, but the fantasy had never ended like this—being left all alone in the middle of a shack with only an old table, two chairs, and some bunks that didn’t look very comfortable or particularly clean. She just shook her head at the irony of it, and at the same time she breathed a sigh of relief. Run-down as the shack was, it still offered the shelter they needed to weather the storm, and for that she was grateful.
Emmie tossed her soaked hat aside and went looking for something she could use to dry herself. She had little luck and gave up. She had to smile again as she sat down at the table to await Josh’s return. This wasn’t going to be the first time he’d seen her soaked to the skin.
Josh led his horse to the one-stall lean-to and tied it inside. He grabbed up his bedroll and the rifle he carried with him, and made the run back up to the line shack. Dripping wet by the time he reached the shelter, he quickly shut the door behind him. He put his gear and hat aside and turned to Emmie.
“I think it’s raining out there,” he said as he entered the
room.
“Just a little,” she agreed, smiling at the sight of him with his wet shirt plastered against the broad width of his chest. “I looked around, but I couldn’t find any towels.”
“The boys don’t usually worry too much about bathing when they stay up here,” he remarked.
“I can tell. Do you want to get out of your shirt?”
“Yeah. I’ve got my bedroll. We can use that for a towel.”
“Is it dry?” she asked, surprised.
“Drier than we are. I always wrap it in canvas for times just like this. My years of tracking taught me that.”
Josh wasted no time stripping off his shirt. He hung it on the back of the other chair and then shook out his bedroll.
“Do you want to use it first?” he offered.
“Go ahead.”
He made short order of drying off. Emmie could only sit and watch him, enjoying the sight of his darkly tanned, hard-muscled chest and arms. There could be no doubt he was a strong man. When he looked back at her, she quickly averted her gaze.
“I’ll turn my back if you want to take off your shirt and wrap up in the blanket. I’ll start a fire in the stove and we can dry things out while we’re waiting.”
“All right, but you’d better keep your word about turning your back,” she said, grinning. “I’d hate for Miss Harriet to find out we were undressing around each other while we were unchaperoned.”
“I think we’d be in trouble with her under those circumstances, even if we were chaperoned,” he teased.
They were both chuckling as he gave her the blanket and then moved away to start the fire while she shed her wet blouse.
“Is it safe for me to turn around yet?” Josh asked once he had the fire going.
“Yes. It’s safe,” she told him.
He turned back to find her sitting at the table again, wrapped modestly in the blanket.
“Miss Harriet would be proud of you.”
He took both their shirts and hung them on the end of the bed nearest the stove, then joined her at the table.
“So, how are you feeling?” He was still concerned after the fall she’d taken.
“I think I feel about like you felt when you finished breaking Buck,” Emmie countered, grinning at him.
He found himself smiling back at her. “That bad?”
“Yes, but at least you had something to show for it after you were thrown. You tamed Buck. I just ended up stuck here in a line shack, all wet and real sore.”
“It could be worse. We could still be riding, looking for cover.”
“You’re right,” she conceded. “I should count my blessings. If you hadn’t been with me, I’d be on foot, walking back to the house right now.”
Josh was still grinning. “I never thought of myself as a blessing before.”
“Then you don’t know what Millie thinks of you.”
“Millie?” he asked in a surprised tone.
“That’s right. From the first day she met you, she’s been telling me you’re my ‘guardian angel.’”
“I may have to have a talk with your friend and set her straight.”
“Don’t even try. It won’t do any good. Once Millie makes up her mind, there’s no changing it.”
They were both laughing.
“Well, if Millie thinks I’m your guardian angel, who do you think I am?” Josh asked, his gaze meeting hers across the table.
Emmie’s breath caught in her throat at the look in his eyes.
“I know who you are,” she began, a shiver of sensual awareness trembling through her. “You’re my partner.”
“You’re right,” he said. “We’re in this together.”
“The ranch or the line shack?”
“Both.”
Again they were laughing, and Emmie was glad. For a moment there, she’d been caught off guard by the way he’d looked at her, and she wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
“How long do you think we’ll have to stay here?” Emmie asked, wanting to change the direction of the conversation.
“The storm doesn’t look like it’s showing any signs of letting up, so we may have to spend the night.”
“Here?” Emmie looked around the shack again.
“It’ll be safer that way.” Even as he spoke, a bolt of lightning split the sky, and thunder rumbled across the land.
“Miss Harriet won’t think so,” Emmie said, looking mischievous. “Not for my reputation, anyway.”
“Then she should have ridden with us so she could keep an eye on you.”
They both smiled at the thought.
“She probably would have slowed us down a little.”
“There’s no ‘probably’ about it,” he agreed.
As the sound of the rain on the roof grew even louder, Emmie left the table to go to the window and watch the downpour, keeping the blanket around her shoulders.
“It is ugly out there.” Emmie couldn’t suppress the shiver that went through her as she imagined them trying to ride through the storm. “What would we have done if we hadn’t been close to the line shack?”
Josh got up to go stand beside her. “From the looks of things right now, I’d say we would have been swimming back.”
Emmie couldn’t help it. she laughed again, and then went quiet. Heartfelt emotion shone in her eyes as she looked up at him. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Josh frowned, confused. They had been riding all day, trying to track down rustlers with no success, she’d been thrown from her horse, and now they were being forced to spend the night in a run-down line shack. It hadn’t been one of his better days, that was for sure.
“For making me laugh. There hasn’t been much laughter in my life lately,” she said softly. “Not since…”
Their gazes met, and Josh could no more stop himself from taking her in his arms than he could have stopped the rain from coming down. Ever so gently, he reached out to her and drew her to him. He didn’t say a word as he bent to kiss her.
Emmie was surprised by his move, but as his lips claimed hers she offered no resistance. She had been in Josh’s arms before, but those times had been nothing like this. Logic told her to move away, but at that moment, being logical was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to be near him. She surrendered to his embrace, returning his kiss in full measure.
Josh felt her response and drew her even closer, deepening the exchange. As his mouth moved over hers, she lifted her arms to link them around his neck, and when she did, the blanket dropped to the floor. Emmie didn’t notice, though. She was too caught up in the wonder of his kiss.
The feel of her pressed so intimately against him aroused Josh even more. He broke off the kiss for a moment to grab the blanket, then took her hand to draw her with him to a bunk. Emmie watched as he spread the blanket on the bed, and when he turned back to her to kiss her again, she didn’t resist but responded eagerly.
A fleeting memory of Kenneth’s kisses played in her mind, and she knew that what she’d felt when he’d kissed her was nothing like what she felt for Josh. She wanted Josh. She needed him. The realization surprised her, but she pushed all thoughts aside, giving herself over to the passion of the moment.
Josh felt her surrender and swept her up in his arms to lay her on the bunk. He joined her there and kissed her again.
Emmie lifted her arms to him, caressing his back and shoulders as he moved over her. Suddenly, their wet clothes didn’t matter. Al that mattered was being close to him. It was just her and Josh, alone. The intimacy of their embrace was both startling and arousing for her. She had never lain with a man before, had never been this close, and the hard heat of him seared her, igniting a searing passion deep within her body. When he began to caress her, his touch stoked the flame of her desire. Innocent that she was, she had never known a man’s caress could be so exciting.
Josh kissed her again, and then his lips left her mouth to trail heated caresses down the side of her neck and lower, across the exposed top
s of her breasts. He heard her gasp at the touch of his lips against that sensitive flesh, and she arched against him in love’s age-old invitation.
Josh knew she was his for the taking, and it was that very thought that stopped him.
Oh, he wanted her.
There was no doubt about his desire for her. He’d wanted her since that first night in the study, when she’d stood there holding a gun on him with her robe hanging open, but…
This was Emmie.
This was Hank’s daughter.
She was his partner.
Josh stifled a groan as he ended their embrace and sat up on the side of the bunk, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands.
“Josh? What is it?” Emmie was at a loss as to why he’d moved away. She’d been caught up in the power of his passion and wanted to be back in his arms again, kissing him.
Josh was still fighting to bring his desire for her under control as he looked over at Emmie and smiled wryly. “I thought I heard Miss Harriet coming.”
“Oh.” Emmie was suddenly forced back to reality, and felt embarrassed when she realized just how caught up she’d been in his embrace. She blushed and quickly shifted to grab the blanket from beneath her. Hastily she covered herself, a bit ashamed at being so brazen with him. She’d never felt this way before.
Josh got up and moved over to the window, deliberately looking out so he wouldn’t be tempted by the sight of Emmie anymore. He had always prided himself on being a man in control, but Emmie was turning out to be the one temptation that could threaten that control. And he wasn’t sure if her effect on him was good or bad.
Emmie managed to gather her wits about her and sit up. She sensed the tension between them and wanted to ease it. Wrapping the blanket demurely around herself again, she got up and went to Josh. “Do you see her?”
“Who?” Josh glanced down at Emmie, wondering what she was talking about and wishing she’d stayed over by the bed, away from him, so he wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her again.
Emmie smiled. “Miss Harriet. Is she out there? You said you heard her coming. I was hoping she was bringing me some dry clothes.”