Archer's Angels

by Tina Leonard

  She cried out with pleasure, and he held her tight. When she felt him climax, too, somehow she felt the spasms start all over again.

  They lay against each other, spent for a few moments, before he rolled her to lay against his chest as he lay on his back.

  “You really like me,” she said.

  For reply, he gave her a light spank on her bare bottom. “Listen, I’m usually a long-distance runner,” he said.

  “And I’m usually…oh, I’m usually nothing at all because you’re the only man who’s loved me.” She popped her head up to look down at him. “So. I guess you shared too much.”

  “Sorry. I meant I’d do better next time.”

  “Yeah? And who was complaining?”

  He chuckled. “Okay. I’m trying to be overly impressive.”

  “And maybe I like you just the way you are.”

  “Funny,” he said. “I used to think that about you.”

  “And now?”

  “Now I—”

  “Yoo-hoo!” Lucy called. “I’m home!”

  They tossed the covers up over their chests, lying with little more than their eyes peeking out over the comforter.

  “Clove?” Lucy said, coming into the bedroom. “Oh,” she said. “Hello, Archer. I see you made it in good shape.”

  “Hi, Lucy.”

  “No jet lag, I guess?” Lucy called as she left the room, laughing.

  He rolled his head to look at her. “Your sister thinks I’m after your body.”

  “And my sister better be right,” Clove said, getting out of bed to pull on her clothes.

  “So now what?” Archer asked, grabbing his clothes, too.

  “What what?” Clove replied.

  “Now that we’re communicating better, when do we get married?”

  She turned to look at him. “Married?”

  “Yeah. You know. What two people do, sometimes at an altar with a priest before smushing cake on each other’s faces?”

  “Eww,” Clove said. “I’ll be forgoing that.”

  “Well, I’d be careful with the cake,” Archer said.

  “I think we should talk some more.”

  “Okay,” he said, pulling her backward onto the bed and tugging at her dress. “I like the way you converse.”

  Gently, she moved his hands and got up from the bed. “I mean,” she said, worried now, “that we should talk more. I don’t see having a two-continent marriage.”

  “I don’t, either.”

  “Well,” Clove said, “then we have to talk. Real talk. There’s Lucy to consider. And this farm. I just can’t pick up and leave her to everything with Robert gone. You know how much trouble it is at your place now that your brothers have found wives and left things shorthanded. It’s no different for me than for you.”

  “That’s true,” Archer said. “This is stickier than I thought it would be. We do need to talk more. But can we talk with you in this bed? I swear I think better when you’re naked.”

  “No,” she said. “Right now, I think we’d better leave our clothes on.”

  He grabbed her, kissing her deeply. “You still make me crazy,” he said. “But that’s a bonus in your favor, I’ve come to believe.”

  “Good,” she said, “because there may be bad news looming.”

  “I figured,” he said, following her out of the bedroom.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “So how did the meeting with Robert go?” Clove asked her sister as they joined Lucy in the kitchen.

  Archer listened with interest, perching himself on a bar stool and watching as Lucy and Clove set about preparing the cake.

  “It went as well as can be expected when two people realize they can’t make something work, in spite of their best efforts.”

  Archer didn’t like the sound of that. He looked at the sandwich and chips Clove put in front of him with appreciation but not much appetite.

  “I am so sorry,” Clove told her sister. “I wish there was something I could do.”

  “There’s not.” Lucy sighed and opened the mix while Clove greased and floured the pans. “He doesn’t understand the business here and has lost interest in trying.”

  “Maybe…we should just sell out,” Clove said, her voice sounding a tad broken to Archer’s ears. “I know we said we’d keep our parents’ farm forever, but it is true that Robert feels out of his element here, and maybe a promise to our parents isn’t worth losing your marriage.” She stopped flouring to look at her sister. “I’m trying to picture myself in your shoes. If it was my marriage in danger, I would probably go with my husband.”

  Archer perked up. That sounded promising.

  “I don’t think that would help at this point,” Lucy said. “Robert wants to live in the city, and I understand that, but he also says that he doesn’t want me to give up my family inheritance. That he would feel like he forced me to do it. He says we should accept that our lives are too different.”

  “Oh dear,” Clove said.

  Oh dear was right. Archer munched his sandwich, using Lucy’s conversation to analyze his and Clove’s dilemma. It wasn’t hard to see Robert’s point. He’d feel the same way, probably.

  Yet, his stubborn head wouldn’t allow him to accept that Clove and he might not be able to “communicate” their way to marital and familial happiness. Of course, he and Clove were expecting children—many children all at once—and that gave him extra impetus to solve the problem.

  He drummed his fingers, thinking about Mason always harping about the Family Problem. There was a lot involved with making things work out between two people, let alone twelve. It made Archer appreciate why Mason always had a crab in his attitude. “This is a really nice farm,” he said.

  The women stared at him. Clove’s eyes were huge in her face as she hesitated in her pan preparation. “It’s in disrepair,” she said.

  “And I can see where that would be frustrating to a man who wasn’t born to rural life. But the fact is, it’s a nice farm. If I were a buyer, I would buy this place in a second.”

  “Are you suggesting we sell?” Clove asked.

  “I’m not suggesting anything. I’m merely eating this sandwich and dying for that cake,” Archer said.

  She looked at him uncertainly. Lucy watched him, too, and he saw the pain in her eyes. She really did not want to lose her husband. “So, how much is this about the baby problem and how much is it about feeling lost about the farm?”

  “I would call it an even split, one feeding on the other. When you can’t make anything work—that’s what Robert said—you realize you might better pack it in.”

  “Jeez,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

  Clove turned away, but not before he saw her glance at her sister in distress. Sighing, he eyed the tea glass Lucy set in front of him, feeling doleful.

  He sighed. “I guess there would be no reason to wonder if you might have been better off with just the two of you in the house, in order to be a really intimate, married couple.”

  Lucy gasped. Clove stared at him, her expression looking as if it might wilt to tears any second.

  “I’m only saying that married people could use a little space to grow one on one,” he said hastily. “Please, please don’t cry. I really don’t know what I’m talking about. I was sort of theorizing. At our ranch, we call it talking out of our as—uh, hat. Talking out of turn. I should just sit here and eat if I know what’s best for me.”

  They focused on him as his rambling wound down. Oh, boy. He’d stirred up a hornet’s nest, he could tell. Clove was thinking a thought that had clearly never occurred to her before, and Lucy was wondering if she had put Robert second or maybe third in her marriage. It was time to take his own advice and skip the third-wheel routine. “Hey, I think I’ll go check on Encino,” he said, hurriedly snatching up his plate and glass to take with him. “I’m very good at chatting with mares, so don’t even think about me. No worries, mate.”

  He sidled out the door.

  Cl
ove looked at Lucy. “As much as I want to bean him, I think he may have hit on something.”

  Lucy shook her head, putting the cake in the oven. “What difference would it make now?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe none. But maybe it’s worth suggesting to Robert that Texas is starting to look good to me as a residence.”

  “Would you go?” Lucy was astonished.

  “I’m beginning to look at the reality that it may be best for all concerned,” Clove said. “The babies, Robert, you—”

  “Archer.”

  “And Archer.” Clove’s heart did a funny flip when she said his name.

  Lucy sat on the stool Archer had vacated. “How do you really feel about that cowboy?”

  “Like he just spelled something out to me that I didn’t want to see. He does a lot of spelling, that cowboy, and it’s annoying.” She took a deep breath. “But when I get past being annoyed, sometimes I think he’s got deep thoughts. If I’d been Robert, I don’t think I’d want to live here with my wife’s sister and her three newborns.”

  “Robert was happy for you,” Lucy said quickly. “As am I.”

  “Of course,” Clove said, “I know you are. But if he was already feeling overwhelmed by the ranch, if he already felt left out because of the relationship between you and I, if he knew that the newborns would come first with you since you wanted children so badly…where did that leave him? I sort of see Archer’s point. And, not to mention, I was always here. It’s not that the two of you ever felt comfortable walking around nude, or…having private moments in front of the TV.”

  “Well,” Lucy said, “I walked in on you today, so we’re even now.” She smiled a little sadly. “I want you to be happy. Don’t think about what went wrong with Robert and I. There was just too much, I think. Now your focus should be on you and your new family. Trust me, Clove, you should make this work—if you want it.”

  “It was not my intention to fall in love with Archer.” Clove looked at her sister. “The funny thing was, I did.”

  “Well, he’s just so likable. You know? He’s easygoing. He’s hunky. He’s loyal. He’s stubborn. He likes you for you. Where in there is the downside?” Lucy asked. “I know none of that can make you love him if you don’t feel all the right emotions. But if you do, you might think twice about letting him board a plane back to America without you.”

  Clove nodded.

  “Well, this cake will be done soon enough,” Lucy said. “I’ll bring you two out a piece. In the meantime, why don’t you go talk to him.”

  “I wouldn’t know where to start. My mind is racing. I’m happy, but I’m afraid. I’m excited, but I’m nervous.”

  Lucy laughed. “That sounds like love.”

  “Yes, but what if we can’t make it work? What if, in our best efforts, we can’t figure out a way to bond our lives together?”

  “Well,” Lucy said, “there’s always e-mail.”

  CLOVE WALKED into the barn slowly, thinking about her situation. About Archer. How she felt about him. And the babies.

  She had to make a decision. Futures were at stake—everyone’s—and they were all at the most important moment of their lives.

  “Archer?” she said.

  “Yeah?” He poked his head up over Encino’s stall.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Brushing this horse. I like her. Brushing and currying relaxes me. Hoof picking, not so much, but I like it, too.”

  “Can we talk?”

  “Sure. Sorry, Encino. More later.”

  He came out of the stall, closing it behind him. “That’s a great horse. You did an awesome job with her. I’m crazy about Tonk, but she’d just as soon give me a hoof as look at me. Encino’s sweet. She knows her manners.”

  “You were imposing yourself on Tonk because she was yours. You’re relaxed and spoiling Encino, so she’s responding. But I will admit that Encino has been a love to train.”

  “I’ll bet. When I get home, Tonk and I are going to start off on a new foot. Or hoof.”

  She didn’t know how to take his comment about returning home. “Just remember, you haven’t had her as long as I’ve had Encino. Patience is key.”

  “You learned a lot about horses being at Penmire Farms, didn’t you?”

  She sat on a bench that was in the breezeway. “When it’s all you’ve got, you tend to learn it, fast, and try to do it the best you can. I did stunt work to help pay the expenses, but as you can see, Lucy and I didn’t do as well as we could have if given more time. When we were left Penmire, it was under some debt our adoptive parents had taken on, fully expecting that they’d be around to use the equipment they’d purchased.” Her eyes grew dark with remembering. “They had wonderful plans for Penmire.” She looked at Archer. “Once upon a time, it really was a premier place for fine horses. People came first to Penmire when they were looking for the best prospects.”

  “I’m sorry, Clove.”

  “It’s all right. Thank you, though.” She smiled at him. “You know that running a ranch is a make-or-break business. And we were two young girls, not knowing what we should have known about money. About life. About business. We made mistakes.”

  “Mistakes can be made even by pros. We may butt heads with Mason, he may be tight as a tick and hard as a stone, but he can run the business of the ranch. He does keep it successful. They say that family money generally only lasts two generations. I believe that if Mason weren’t in charge of our ranch, we’d not see financial wellness past this generation. Not to mention that the eleven of us make mistakes all the time that don’t help our financial status.

  “So don’t take it too hard, Clove. And I’d say the same thing to Robert, if I knew him. People think running a ranch is all pretty horses and fields of waving grain. It’s ass-busting. And most of the time, heartbreaking, unless the right things happen.”

  “Back to those mistakes you mentioned—”

  “You’re not one of them,” he interrupted swiftly.

  “Thank you.” She ducked her head, then raised her chin to look into his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about us.”

  “You have?” He sat down beside her. Together they looked out the breezeway at the beautiful evening, before he turned her face to his. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

  “I need to be more aware of the effects of my decisions. I changed your life when I came to Texas, and I was only thinking about myself.”

  “You had a lot on your mind,” Archer said. “Clove, you’ve been in a difficult situation.”

  “Yes, but it can get a lot more difficult if I don’t stop being so stubborn.”

  “I am used to stubborn women. You and Tonk. Didn’t you tell me to exercise my patience with Tonk because I didn’t know her that well? I am willing to do the same with you.”

  She tried to hold back a small smile but couldn’t. His eyes were so warm and deep that it was like looking into dark, welcoming pools. “I may require lots of patience if I am not too emotionally bankrupt the first generation.”

  “I’m pretty tough,” he said. “I think I can handle one little Aussie gal.”

  “And three babies.”

  “And three babies.”

  “So I’m coming to Texas if you’ll still have me.”

  He pulled his hand away from her chin. “I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’ll always miss your sister. And she’s going to be alone now,” Archer said.

  “It is true…but I don’t know what else to do. I am trying to make responsible decisions! What are you suggesting?” She was almost afraid to ask.

  “I don’t know yet. It’s going to take some pondering.” He pulled her up into his lap. “You can’t run this farm in the condition you’ll be in soon. Bedridden and wearing a nightie. My favorite doctor’s order.”

  “Yes, but,” she said, trying not to think about the delicious tickling he was making her feel inside, “that means Lucy won’t have anyo
ne to help her. You know, we really are going to have to sell this place.”

  “I am afraid you’re right,” he said, his tone reluctant. “It’s certainly something you and your sister will have to talk over, but it doesn’t look good, I have to be honest.”

  “This is all my fault,” she said, feeling sick.

  “This is not all your fault, Clove. We are not a product of our family’s mistakes. We are affected by them, but we don’t have to let angst rule our lives. Besides, I liked you. I let you jump me. That should tell you that, from the start, I was all over you like a stallion on a filly.”

  “You were not,” she said, laughing. “You didn’t even like me. I had to have the Never Lonely Cut-n-Gurls give me the Revenge of the Nerdy Girl treatment.”

  “And if you ever do that again, I’ll…shave my head and see how you like that,” he said, back to nuzzling her neck.

  “I would miss your hair for certain.”

  “And I think you’re beautiful just the way you are. When I remember you coming into that barn, with all your scared, cute little nerves and saying, ‘Do you want to take me to dinner?’ in that tiny little voice of yours, I just get chills.”

  “Fever?”

  “No. Desire.” He held her tight, letting his hands start to roam. “Did you ever watch Grease?”

  “What good Aussie hasn’t?” she said, giggling as his hands got more playful.

  “My chills are multiplying,” he sang.

  “You are so silly,” she said. “You make me laugh, and I so need that.”

  “But I’m not being funny,” he said. “I’m crazy about you, girl. Let’s play alternative personalities. You be Olivia Newton-John from Down Under and I’ll be John Travolta from the States.”

  She slapped lightly at his hands, which were getting too bold. “Goody Olivia or Black Spandex Olivia? Gosh, I couldn’t fit into spandex now if I wanted to.”

  “Depends on how you want me. Letterman John or Greasy John? I’ll let you lead the fantasy.”