A Feisty Gracious Bride For the Rancher: A Christian Historical Romance Novel (Lawson Legacy Book 1)

by Chloe Carley

  “I should …” Riley began to give him another excuse, and he shook his head and looked to his ma for help.

  “Ma, is it okay if I steal Riley away for a bit?” he asked, seeing the twinkle in his ma’s eyes when she nodded her head.

  “You go on, child. I’ll finish up here.”

  “But supper…”

  “Isn’t for several hours yet and you’ve gotten it all cooked or in the process of cooking. Go enjoy some fresh air. In fact, Gideon why don’t you take Riley down to the berry patch and collect a large basket? We’ll have a berry cobbler after supper tonight.”

  “Berries? Growing here?” she asked him.

  “Yes. Gooseberries,” Pearl answered. “Gideon, remember to only pick the dark ones. The greens ones will make us all sick.”

  “I’ll remember. Riley, are you ready to go?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good, I’ll go saddle up the horses. Meet you in the barn.” Gideon headed out the kitchen door and making straight for the barn. He saddled up a dark grey gelding for himself, and then a pretty little mare for Riley. He turned when he heard Riley enter the barn a few minutes later and watched her walk slowly toward him.

  Since returning from town yesterday afternoon, she’d only worn trousers and he made a mental note to make sure his ma ordered a few more pairs in her and Sara Jane’s sizes. He liked seeing a woman dressed in skirts and blouses that accentuated her womanly assets, but he found he also liked seeing Riley dressed as she was now.

  She had on tan trousers, held up by suspenders, a plaid shirt, and well-worn boots.

  She’d added a neck cloth, plaited her long hair and wrapped it around the crown of her head so that it would be kept out of her way. She held a felt hat in her hands that looked strangely familiar. He surreptitiously scanned the brim, looking for the slight crease and dark mark there. He hid a smile when he found it.

  That was one of his old hats that his sister had absconded with when she was around nine or ten. The crease and dark mark were from a disagreement he and a calf had during branding season.

  If not for the hat, that dark mark would have resulted in Gideon’s head making contact with the hot end of the branding iron instead of his hat.

  “You looked ready to ride,” Gideon commented softly as she greeted the horses already saddled up and waiting in the middle of the aisle for their riders.

  “Is that a compliment?” she asked, cocking her head as she waited for his answer.

  “No. This is a compliment,” he assured her. “Riley, you are beautiful and I’m so glad you decided to join me on our berry picking adventure.”

  He watched as a blush crawled up her neck and into her cheeks, not surprised at all when she ignored his comment and focused on his last word. “Adventure?”

  “Sure. Have you ever been berry picking before?” he asked as he moved toward her mount.

  “Yes,” she assured him.

  “With me?” Gideon inquired with a raised brow.

  “Well, no. You know I haven’t been.” A slight frown marred her brow.

  “Then you don’t know for sure that this isn’t going to be an adventure,” he told her.

  She must have realized he was teasing her because she paused and smiled. “That’s right. But the same is true for me. You’ve never been berry picking with me before. What if I tend to eat more berries than I put in my basket?”

  “Then we will be both be full when we return and there will be no berry cobbler for dinner tonight,” he said. “This is Sunshine, and she has agreed to accompany us on our adventure.”

  Gideon watched as she greeted the mare and deftly swung up into the saddle. It was obvious Riley knew horses as she did everything right and the mare was completely at ease with her. He retrieved the other horse’s reins and mounted.

  “What is your horse’s name?” Riley inquired, urging Sunshine forward until she was even with him.

  “Storm. How long has it been since you’ve ridden?”

  Riley frowned and sighed. “Several months. I had to sell all of my father’s livestock off to help satisfy the bank note.”

  “I’m sorry you had to go through that all alone.”

  “Me, too. If I’d known what Roy was up to, I might have pushed a bit harder to have him come home and help me.”

  “You notified him of your parents’ deaths?” Gideon asked as he urged Storm forward, knowing Sunshine would dutifully follow.

  “I did. He sent me back word that he was sorry but couldn’t come back to Missouri at that particular time. When I sent him the next telegram, telling him I was coming to see him in El Paso, it never occurred to me that he might not have gotten it.”

  “How do you know he didn’t get it?”

  “Because I sent him a second telegram, to the telegraph office, to tell him where to look for me when he arrived. He picked up the first along with the second several days after I arrived in El Paso.”

  “So, he had no idea you were coming to live with him?”

  “None. I thought he would be happy, but he took me straight back to town and put me on the train. The rest of the story you already know about.”

  Gideon pointed to where a large copse of trees was growing close to the river’s edge. “That’s where we’re going. Up for a gallop?”

  Riley’s response was to press her knees against Sunshine’s side and lean low over her neck as she urged the horse into a full-out gallop. As she passed Gideon, she laughed at the stunned look upon his face.

  Moments later, he gave Storm his head, letting the longer legs of the horse easily overtake Riley and her smaller mount. He was waiting for them both at the edge of the trees with a big smile.

  “Slow poke,” he teased.

  “You chose my mount,” she reminded him with a smile. “I think you did so knowing that Storm could easily outrun Sunshine.”

  Gideon slid from the back of his horse. “You might be right.” He walked to her horse’s side and reached up for her. “Let me help you down.”

  “I can …”

  Gideon shushed her, “I know you can dismount on your own, but I’m here to help. Let me.”

  Riley searched his eyes and nodded, slight confusion in her eyes as the air around them changed slightly. There was a tension building and while Gideon knew it for what it was, he could tell it was something entirely new for Riley.

  He placed his hands around her waist and lifted her up and off the horse, setting her feet on the ground and holding her steady while she regained her footing. He fought the urge to pull her close, not wanting to move too quickly and frighten her.

  Gideon had spent hours thinking about Riley and the way he felt when she was around.

  He knew it was not the wisest decision to be pursuing a relationship with her, not when he’d just returned and was trying to earn his way back into his family’s good graces--but then he’d been reminded that the only person expecting anything more from him was his brother. Shawn seemed to think Gideon needed to pay some sort of penalty for having left.

  Gideon had already apologized and explained his story. Shawn was going to have to come to terms with the past on his own. Gideon didn’t have time or the inclination to keep trying to get Shawn to forgive him.

  “Gideon?” Riley’s voice caused him to blink and he realized he still had hold of her waist.

  He dropped his hands and took a step backwards. “Sorry. Let’s go get some berries.” He retrieved two baskets from the back of his mount and tied Riley into the thick bushes, and between the large trees. A small clearing in the middle had several fallen logs arranged to provide some seating and a small ring of rocks indicated a fire had once been there.

  “What is this place?” Riley asked, wandering around with a look of surprise and delight on her face.

  “It used to be the favorite hiding spot for Shawn and me. We would come down here to fish and then cook our catch over an open fire. We’d eat fresh berries right off the bush, and pretend we were great explor
ers, discovering the land for the first time.”

  “You and Shawn were close?”

  “We used to be. Before I left.”

  “Why did you leave?” she asked.

  “Several reasons. But mostly, I was nursing a broken heart and running away. I thought I’d found the woman of my dreams, only she turned out to be someone else’s dream, not mine. She went away to visit family and ended up staying there and getting married.”

  “I’m sorry,” Riley told him. “That must have felt awful.”

  “It did feel pretty horrible. Anyway, I left, and you know how well that turned out. Now I’m home and ready to settle down. I want it all. A wife. A family. A small cabin to call my own.”

  “A home,” she surmised quietly as she turned to face him.

  “Exactly.” He walked toward her and asked, “What do you want out of life?”

  “The same thing you do. A house. A husband and children running around. Maybe a garden. Most of all, I just want to feel like I belong somewhere and to be happy.”

  Gideon looked away for a moment. He debated the wisdom of his next words, but figured he needed to know if he was wasting his time or if courting Riley was something she would be receptive to. “Could you belong here?”

  “At the ranch?”

  Gideon nodded. “Could you ever see yourself thinking of the Lazy L ranch as your home? Could you be happy here?”

  “Who couldn’t be happy here?” She stretched out her arms. “Just look around. God created a masterpiece when he put this all together and we get to enjoy it.”

  “I take it that is a yes?” he asked.

  “Most definitely a yes.”

  Gideon smiled and the tension and doubt that had been clouding his thinking disappeared and he felt much lighter in his soul. He handed her one of the baskets and issued a challenge. “First one to fill their basket wins.”

  Riley took the basket, the light of challenge firing in her eyes. “What does the winner get?”

  Gideon watched her for a moment. “How adventurous do you want to be?”

  Riley’s smile faltered for a minute but quickly returned. “I can be adventurous.”

  “Good. The winner gets a kiss.”

  “A kiss?” she asked him on a squeak. “You mean, if I win, I get a kiss and if I lose, I still get a kiss?”

  Gideon smiled, pleased with his deal. “Yes.”

  “But there’s no incentive to either win or lose. The outcome is the same.”

  “We both win.” He smirked. “I get to kiss you either way.”

  Riley looked at him and shook her head. “Why do you want to kiss me?”

  Gideon could hear the uncertainty in her voice, and he started to answer her, but someone calling his name in a tone of underlying panic captured his attention. “I’ll answer that in a minute.” He strode out of the clearing to see who the voice belonged to.

  He was surprised to see the new ranch hand, Slim, riding toward him at a full gallop. He caught the horse’s reins as Slim pulled him to an abrupt halt. “What’s going on? How did you find me?”

  “Shawn told me where to find you. You need to come right now. That cat showed up again. Carl and Jace thought they had it treed, but it jumped down and scratched Carl up pretty good.”

  Gideon felt the color drain from his face. “Where is he?”

  “Shawn went to help bring him back to the house. Your pa sent me to bring you back.”

  “What’s happened?” Riley asked from behind him.

  Gideon turned, ignoring the speculative look on the other man’s face. He’d already warned the newcomer verbally. If he had to warn him again, it would be with his fists. Riley was off limits and maybe he hadn’t been clear enough, but that included the newcomer watching her with anything other than total respect on his face.

  “Carl’s hurt. We need to go back.”

  Riley nodded, concern etched on her face as she ran for her mount and swung into the saddle. Gideon turned to see Slim still watching her. Gideon grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled him down to face him, growling, “Eyes off of her. I’m already warned you once. I won’t warn you again.”

  Slim reared back, pulling from Gideon’s grasp and held up both hands in surrender. “Whatever you say, boss. I was just admiring …”

  “Don’t,” Gideon’s terse reply cut him off. “Head back to the house. Tell them we’re on our way.”

  “What was that all about?” Riley asked as Gideon vaulted into the saddle and they headed back. When he looked at her, she added, “You grabbing Slim’s shirt?”

  “He was out of line and I corrected him.” Gideon offered her no further explanation. “When we get back, Ma can probably use your help. I don’t know how badly injured Carl is. You ever treated the sick or injured?”

  Riley nodded, her face a pasty white color. “I took care of my parents during the cholera outbreak.”

  Gideon immediately felt concerned for her. “Riley, if this isn’t something you can handle …”

  “Don’t be silly. This is nothing like that outbreak. People aren’t going to get sick and start dying.” She paused. “Carl’s not going to die, is he?”

  “I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep and, until I see how badly injured he is, I can’t answer that.”

  “I haven’t really even talked to him more than a few words here and there when I’ve come to the barn,” Riley told him.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to get to know everyone at the ranch as time goes by. Right now, we need to see about getting Carl fixed up and then we’ll deal with your brother and his gang. After that, you and I have an adventure to finish.”

  She gave him an incredulous look and asked, “You’re still thinking about picking berries?”

  Gideon chuckled. “No, not berries. I’m thinking about what other contest you and I could have where I still get to kiss you no matter the outcome.” When she blushed bright red, he made no effort to contain his loud laughter. Teasing her was fun and knowing that he was the reason her cheeks were pink, and her breathing was a little faster than normal as they arrived back at the homestead, made him feel ten feet tall.

  Riley might not know it yet, but she belonged at the Lazy L ranch.

  Gideon hadn’t worked out all of the details yet in his own mind, still a little hesitant about fully pursuing Riley as he wasn’t yet confident that his position at the ranch was secure. If things didn’t go well in town on Wednesday, there was every chance the survivors would blame him. If that happened, he wasn’t sure he’d be able, or even welcome, to remain on the Lazy L ranch.

  He didn’t want to disappoint his parents, or his siblings, but if things went awry, Gideon was prepared to leave again and make a new life for himself someplace where he wouldn’t be an embarrassment, or a reminder of mass destruction and lives lost. He sent up a silent prayer as he headed for the house, both for Carl’s injuries and that everything would go as planned on Wednesday.

  Gideon had just arrived back home and finally felt like he might be able to put the past behind him. He didn’t even want to consider the future if that proved to be untrue. It was just too depressing. Gideon grasped onto hope with both hands as he stepped up onto the porch with Riley at his side.