Cherished Love (Cherished Cowboys 1)

by Charlene Bright

  My kind of woman!

  He checked the rearview and dropped the clutch, spinning around to head to the highway. In that last second of looking in the mirror, he saw Colton’s silhouette in the living room window. He symbolically tipped the front of his Stetson.

  As they drove along, her head nestled nicely into his shoulder. When they got to the big road, he had to catch his breath…then, she squeezed his hand between hers, and it was suddenly okay again. He flicked on the signal and turned right, toward Sergio’s.

  The rest of the drive, the two of them spoke hardly a word but could barely keep their eyes off one another. Mallory had the better of it; as she wasn’t driving, she could gaze at him constantly. She concentrated on all the things he had become these past few months. Caring, compassionate, calm…he had lost the edginess and clear chaos that had coursed through him before. Being away from the bull riding, he had mellowed considerably, seeming to take on a stolid, secure demeanor that more clearly typified his father than himself. He had assimilated the common sense of her brother Colton, from their work and recreation together. He even had a more alert emotional state, like he’d learned in one summer what he hadn’t learned in his entire life. She loved the way he’d come to accept what really was, and had surrendered the superstition and lies he had so long held onto.

  For his part, her beauty and proximity were unnerving. The time in Cherish had demonstrated time and again that it was possible for people to be exactly who they were, day after day, not having to compete, challenge, or tear one another down to be happy. His understanding of human interaction was a result of watching and earnestly accepting people at face value, no longer assuming or creating for himself a house-of-cards agenda. He could actually and honestly be who he was, every day, and he knew already that Mallory would accept that, would not only embrace it, but would respond favorably, because she knew the work it took to truly love someone. That was the truly unnerving part. He knew he loved her, and her, him, though neither had yet spoken those words.

  He also knew, in time, they would both be able to make that confession, and he longed for it to happen.

  Their fingers entwined, and the rest of the drive was filled with the wordless conversation their hearts had.

  It might seem odd to have a genuine Italian restaurant in the middle of southeastern Montana, but if one considers, the west was won by all kinds of folks. In this case, however, Don Sergio’s Italian Steakhouse was more a western steakhouse that sold spaghetti for the kids. As a matter of fact, the restaurant opened about the same time that the Truck Stop got the showers, but more than likely, that was sheer coincidence. It does show how capricious the world is…a truck stop that would seem to be a “no brainer” for a small town goes under, but an Italian-themed steak house thrives. Go figure.

  The place was pretty busy most evenings, unless there was a serious local sports event or a musical performance in Deer Run. As it was, there were a half dozen cars when they pulled in and parked.

  The meal was the best he’d ever eaten. It wasn’t the steak—he’d had better—it was the company. They made small talk, walked among the stars, were children again. The clock rolled back, and they regained their lost years, minute by minute. The drive home was a rapid series of kisses, stops for a touch, an embrace, a wish on a distant star.

  Wade held her hand all the way home and they turned into the drive. The Williamson home was ahead, and that meant so much more now. When they made it to the doorway of the guest wing, he stopped her.

  He had no words, and their eyes searched one another, connecting in a way neither had expected, and which neither could refuse. He touched her chin and drew her to him. Then he opened the door and pulled her inside.

  The warmth and sweetness of that kiss was the first dizzying moment for her. In all of her life, she had been in control, but now it was like the bit and bridle had fallen away, and the wild anticipation began to seep into her. Her buttons came loose as his hands were discovering flesh. The roughness of his fingers as they traced the lines of her shoulder and cupped under her breast were sensations she had only dreamed of. She had been touched but never handled as she was this night. She felt her own body responding to this treatment, his desire, and knew she was his.

  As the impertinent shirt finally slipped over his head, that perfect form, that beautiful man of whom she had always dreamed, was there before her. He stood, shadowed against the pale moonlight through the window and smiled.

  “Are you really here?”

  She smiled, taken aback by the question. Her desire for him had been evident, hadn’t it? Yet she knew exactly why he asked, for her own unbelief is as strong.

  “Yes, Wade. I am here. We are here, together, and it is perfect.”

  She fell to his chest, his arms enclosing her. Their oneness, from their hearts and minds, enveloped them in a heady rush of feelings. His passion for her was driven by his love of her form, her mind, her very being. His kisses traced down her neck, her shoulders. They fell together on the sofa, his long form under hers, supporting her weight easily. His tongue and lips explored her shoulder and breasts, while his hands, strong and rough, covered her with the tingles and warmth they had craved for so long.

  The green of her skirt and blouse complemented the red and ivory of his hat and shirt, a mosaic of stark colors in the pale light. They were not being noticed, however, for Wade and Mallory were fully engulfed in consuming ardor.

  “I love you.”

  The first time the words were uttered, it was almost as if neither of them wanted to admit it was he or she who had spoken them. One breath, one heartbeat, then two, three, they faced each other transfixed, staring, wondering which one had said it first. She looked to his eyes, knees across his stomach, her hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating.

  He was looking upon her silhouette form over him, giving still greater power to his loins, struggling against her within his jeans. His left hand cupped her right breast, his right pressed against the humid wondrousness of her.

  Mallory cocked her head slightly, a light smirk forming on her face.

  “It’s about time you realized that, cowboy,” she said, and lowered herself against his taught Levi’s.

  She sat astride him like this, raising her arms above her head, in the process pulling back her hair, exposing her body to his touch, grinding against the satisfying heat and pressure. She gazed down, through slitted eyes, appreciating the way his eyes devoured her form. He moved his hands, grasping her buttocks, and pushed his hips upward, thrusting against the confining denim.

  Her hands fell between her thighs and she unbuttoned the jeans as he continued to massage her backside. Her tiny form above him was angelic, and when finally he was free of the confines, his body reacted violently to her touch, pulsing, throbbing.

  She extended the leg that could reach the floor, letting him wriggle, slide the jeans down below his knees. Before she could push them down, however, he stopped her hand and reached into his pocket. He brought the package to his teeth. When she looked at him questioningly, he said, “I had a feeling we’d be needing this and wanted it to be where I could reach it quickly.”

  She smiled and waited before she continued to pull his jeans down. There was something sordid, but erotic, about not letting him completely free, holding his ankles in the denim, so she lowered herself against him.

  Then, they were one.…

  He touched her, found her, and she opened herself completely. The connection they’d felt for months, the desire they’d only allowed for a day, now overpowered them. She threw her head back while he moved his hand up her side and held her breasts, his breathing picking up, his thighs tightening as he pushed further into her. He kept his other hand between her legs, his finger pressing through the wetness and caressing the most sensitive spot. She convulsed and moaned and then leaned back forward, her arms on either side of his neck. She moved on him, rhythmically, keeping her eyes on him.

  He saw it in her eyes
the minute she let go. She raised up and put her hands on top of her head, and he felt his chest explode, digging his fingers into her thighs. She fell forward then, her arms encircling his neck. She lay her head next to his and they let their breathing slow before starting again.

  An hour later, they were still touching, titillating one another, when Wade admitted he had something he had wanted to tell someone, particularly her, about, but had wanted to find the right time.

  “There is no better time than now, my love,” she said, feeling his heat against her, his passion unabated.

  “As you know, I’ve been working extensively with Colton these past few months, working to learn more about working horses and their value. What you don’t know, what I have to tell you, is that all the time I competed, and all the times I won or placed in the money, I had nothing to spend it on. There just wasn’t time.

  “My father and your brother have agreed to help me reconfigure and re-launch the Williamson Ranch as the Williamson Horse Training Academy, and with my winnings combined with my father’s land and your brother’s knowledge and livestock, to build the largest such facility in the American West.”

  Wade looked into her eyes. He saw the promise of a new, better life with the one person he had always searched for. One who cared about him, about what they became together. It wasn’t about conquest, or about surviving another bull ride. It was about Mallory, and the future they would carve out together.

  “It’s a future I’d like you to be a part of.”

  Without words, he knew in that moment, they would. Theirs would be a love, a life that would span the decades, and their happiness would be eternal.

  Chapter 11

  Wade stood on Mallory’s porch, his arms wrapped tightly around her. She raised her face to his and he kissed her gently, lingering.

  Looking into her beautiful green eyes, he had to remind himself why he was leaving. And why was that, exactly?

  She forced a smile, refusing to cry, refusing to make him feel guilty for heading back to the circuit. This was who he was and she loved all of him, with all of her heart. She couldn’t ask him to lose any part of the man she loved, though she would miss him terribly and worry herself sick before every ride. It’s what you sign up for when you fall in love with a cowboy. And she was in all the way.

  He sighed and released her. “I don’t want to go, but if I don’t get back into training this week, I might as well kiss the regionals next spring goodbye.”

  She nodded and pushed him gently. “Then you better get on back there. I don’t want to be the cause of you getting back on a bull too soon and getting hurt again. I want you to come back in one piece, every time you come back. And you’d best be back in time next month to meet with the caterer and the florist and the—”

  He pulled her into his arms again and brought his mouth to hers. When he let her go, he winked and said, “Sweetheart, I’ll be back here every single time I can get away. It’s gonna be lonely out there with only memories of this—” he squeezed her bottom “—to keep me warm at night.”

  “That better be all that keeps you warm at night,” she teased and grinned widely.

  “As far as I’m concerned,” he replied, “there are no other women in the world that I can even see. Only you.”

  She sighed. “Go on, then, before I can’t let you go.”

  Reluctantly, he turned away and walked to his rig. When he opened his door, he looked back at the woman who would soon be his wife, and nearly choked. He jumped in before his heart could betray him and turned around the vehicle, heading to the open road, away from her open arms.

  * * *

  Mallory brushed a tear from her cheek. “Buck up, cowgirl,” she said to herself. “You’ve got a lot to keep you busy and he’ll be back before you know it.”

  She turned into the house and climbed the stairs to her room. She drew a bath and lowered herself into the warm, soapy water, closing her eyes. Behind her lids, she saw Wade’s eyes crinkling in laughter, his lips coming to hers. She felt his hands caressing her breasts so gently it took her breath away. Her eyes flew open and he was there, sitting on the side of the tub, leaning toward her so he could reach her.

  “Wade, I didn’t hear you come in,” she gasped. “Wha—how—why are you here?”

  He smiled and reached his hands back to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one by one. “I got as far as the highway when my heart squeezed so hard I thought I was having a heart attack.” He finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it back over his shoulders and arms, then reached to his jeans. Mallory’s eyes widened with delight.

  “And I thought about the truck stops and the greasy diners and the loud drunks,” he continued.

  “And the buckle bunnies?” she asked, a gleam in her eyes as they followed his hands pulling down his jeans.

  “And the boring, stupid, completely unattractive and downright disgusting buckle bunnies,” he agreed. She laughed. He pulled his underwear off and walked back to the door, quietly turning the lock and giving her a chance to admire his tight backside. He turned back and she could see his desire as he walked back to her and stepped over the side of the tub.

  “And I thought about the long line of men who have been waiting for me to leave town so they could knock on your door.” She laughed again while he leaned over her, his face close to hers. “And I realized that I was already counting the days, the hours, the minutes until I get back to you. And suddenly, there just didn’t seem to be anything that made me want to step back into that arena and sit back down on those beasts. There’s no more emptiness to fill.”

  He lowered his mouth to hers and she sighed under his kiss, while his hands found her wet and ready.

  * * *

  Mallory covered her eyes, and Wade did, too. This was silly, but Colton had insisted. They would be greeting guests soon for the engagement party and Colton had wanted to give his gift to them first, privately. While they sat on the couch, hands over their eyes, he brought in the present and laid it across their knees.

  What they saw before them was, it appeared, a board about five feet in length, wrapped in gift paper, their names scrawled across the surface in crayon. He explained that he had been doing some renovation in the horse barn, and this piece had to be replaced as the wood near it had been termite-ridden.

  As they pulled and tore the paper, they could tell that within was a piece of a gate. It had been completely stripped of paint, the etchings and carvings all stained and sealed, to show their markings. It was Mallory’s board, from all those years ago, captured as if yesterday, with the names Wade and Mallory, and all kinds of iterations thereof, set to be mounted on a wall forever. Before they could say a word, Colton was already speaking, explaining.

  “I want to tell you a story. If I recall correctly, Wade, you noted these markings on the rail about the time you got back, right?”

  Wade nodded, looking into Mallory’s eyes.

  “And Mallory, if I’m right, you made these marks, or most of them, clear back before you started junior high school. Do I have that right, too?”

  Mallory nodded, her eyes locked with Wade’s. Hers welled with tears.

  “I have to say, then, that I must apologize. As an older brother, I have always had my sister’s, my family’s best interests at heart. It wasn’t always so easy to act properly, make the right decisions.”

  Colton’s voice cracked; it was obvious his emotions were involved in a deeper way than he had expected. He continued.

  “What I am trying to say, is that it is clear that this thing between you has not only been the best thing to ever happen to each of you; it’s been the best thing to ever happen to me as well. Both of you mean a lot to me, and to see you both so happy, and so close, I want you to know that this board, I hope you see, represents me. I was the gate that kept you out, Wade. I was the gate that kept you in, Mal. So by giving you this board, I am giving you the gate. Nothing will ever come between you again. Ever.”

 
Mallory cried, and Wade gave Colton a bear hug.

  Epilogue

  The wedding was tomorrow and Wade was packing his belongings to start his new life with Mallory. They would be living in a small guest house on the Tisdale Ranch while their new home, a log cabin, was being built on the Williamson property, about a mile from the soon-to-be-open Williamson Horse Training Academy. While going through his belongings, Wade ran across the letter he hadn’t read since the first time he read it after Victor Greeley handed it to him.

  Wade and Colton,

  I know this letter will make you very angry once you learn what I have been keeping from you, what I used you to do. But I also hope it will make you understand why I did what I did, how much you mean to me. How much I don’t want to hurt you.

  All those headaches, well, they weren’t just headaches. They were much worse. My parents can fill you in on all the details, but it means I’m not here while you’re reading this letter. I begged my parents to let me tell people in my own way, to be the one to decide how I’d live my last few months.

  I’m sure everyone is asking you a lot of questions right now, and you’re probably asking yourself those questions too. But please know that there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING, you could have done to prevent me from leaving the way I did.

  I don’t know if I can explain it to you in a way that you will truly understand. And I hope you can forgive me one day. I don’t expect that to be tomorrow. It’s a big responsibility I’m asking you to share.

  And if I had told you about it all, you’d never let me do what I have to do.

  My whole life, I have never known true friendship. You guys have treated me like I mattered, like I’m important. And if I know you, you’re going to hate yourselves as much as you hate me, but I hope this helps you see how important you are to me, how much reason you gave me to live.