Then there was the last of those other boys…Jesse. Oh, he could be trouble, she saw that immediately. He was tall and lanky, like Jake, and moved with that same easy cowboy way. But he was as blond as Jake was dark haired. His wavy golden hair, tinted almost white from the sun here and there, fell back to frame an Adonis-like face and a smile that showed he knew it, too. The spark in his hazy green eyes was asking her something, right off, the way that some men did. She kept her glance back light and friendly, hoping she answered it right. No, thanks, she said back silently, and resolved to treat him like an older brother.
Jesse kept his smile warm as Melinda sat Ginny in her chair and dished out the simple potatoes and beef, with a healthy dose of gravy and biscuits for each of them.
When she took her own seat at the big oak table, Ike asked. “So you’re a friend of Jake’s aunt?”
“Well, not a friend exactly. Miss Lil was a trustee at the orphanage I grew up in. More like a patron, I guess you’d say.”
“Or a guardian angel like,” Jesse added. “She must be our guardian angel to send such a pretty young lady out to liven up the place for us worn old cowboys.”
If anybody ever described Jesse, or Jake for that matter, as a worn old cowboy, they’d have to get their spectacles checked. But she accepted the compliment easily. “Well, Miss Lil certainly was a guardian angel to me to send me out to take care of Ginny. A sweeter little baby I’ve never seen.”
Ginny cooed on cue, and her father reached over to chuck her chubby little chin. “That she is.”
“I’d say you’re mighty lucky, Jake, to have two such pretty girls all to yourself.”
Jake glowered at Jesse for that remark, and Jesse, not seeming to notice, continued to dig in. Fact was the four men, even old Ed, plowed through the dinner and second helpings like they were starving. The conversation was light, Ike saying as how he’d been in the state for just a few months now and had hooked up with Jake after old man Winthrop had just about threatened to run him out of town.
“Winthrop? Who’s that?” Melinda looked forward to meeting the neighbors hereabout.
“Nobody,” Jake grumbled. “Just a mean old cuss who thinks Colorado made him king. You likely won’t see much of him.”
“I could stand to not see him at all if it wasn’t for him toting that Regina around with him half the time. Like he’s afraid she’ll bolt.”
“He may be with you around, Jesse.” Jake seemed to show a little warmth at his employee for the first time since they’d sat down. “Winthrop would probably shoot you dead before he’d let you within a mile of his daughter.”
Jesse didn’t seem to mind the jibe. “Probably true. I’m not good enough for her type, that’s for sure. No crime in looking, though.”
“She’s pretty?” Melinda asked
“She sure thinks she is,” Ike said, reaching for the piece of pie Melinda now held out to him.
“Now, be fair, Ike. Miss Regina Winthrop, for all she may be a pain in the…ah, back, is one beautiful girl.” If Melinda didn’t know better, she’d think Adonis had met his match in this girl, whoever she was. Well, she was welcome to him.
“Hard to see past that temper of hers,” Jake commented.
“Really? ’Cause you’re the one cowboy old man Winthrop would like to see beyond it,” Jesse needled.
Melinda didn’t like the sound of that, but she let it lie. Jesse didn’t.
“You watch out, Jake, or one day you’ll find yourself at the other end of a shotgun wedding. Winthrop wants it that bad.”
“Don’t worry about me. I know how to avoid that kind of trouble.”
“Do you?” Jesse was looking at Melinda when he said it.
“Yes. I do. Not everybody’s got the self-discipline of a rangy dog, Jesse.”
Jesse smiled. “Even a saint gets tempted. And you ain’t no saint, Jake.”
Melinda cleared the dishes noisily. “If you gentlemen would like to go outside for a smoke, I can clean up here.”
“No thanks, ma’am. We’d best be getting home.” She startled at this from Ed, realizing he’d said next to nothing the whole meal, letting the younger men dominate the conversation. “Fine meal, ma’am. Fine company. I thank you.” With that and similar words from the other two, they were gone.
As he’d said goodbye, Jesse still looked like he wasn’t sure he’d gotten his answer from her, his smile a little too knowing, his handshake a little too long. No matter. She knew how to deal with handsome rascals like him. They’d be friends soon enough, and he would drop the invite. There were a few boys back in the orphanage like that. But they meant no harm. She was sure, for all his looks and charm, Jesse didn’t either.
Jake accompanied them out, and she was just about done when he came back in.
“That was real nice, Melinda. Thank you.”
“Oh, it was no trouble. Any time you want to invite them to dinner, just say the word.”
She reached for Ginny, who had drifted off to sleep on a blanket.
“No, I think the less you mix with cowboys, the better for all concerned.”
* * * *
Sure enough, she didn’t see much of the hands in the next few weeks. She didn’t see much of Jake either for that matter. A little at breakfast, a little at dinner, and then she and Ginny went to bed. She didn’t know what Jake did after that. Sometimes she heard him go out, and she’d lay awake till he came back, after what seemed like hours but may not have been that long. She just didn’t feel comfortable when he wasn’t there at night. Soon as he came back in she’d drift back to sleep.
One night, when she was feeling particularly restless, she went into the front room and looked out the window after he left. He never took a horse, she knew that much, but now she saw that he was walking distinctly east and that he disappeared into a little copse not so far away. The next day, when she and Ginny had a moment to rest, she parked the baby on her hip and wandered out in that same direction, eager to see where Jake maybe was heading so many of these nights. After what seemed like a long walk to her still-Easterner legs, she heard a little stream. Sure enough, there it was, blue and sparkling. Ginny still in her arms, she waded a little in. It felt deliciously cool. Jake kept saying as how it was going to be winter soon, but the weather was still warm and mild for the end of October, especially with the sun beaming down as it was now. The thought of washing in this stream suddenly seemed like heaven.
She’d made do these past few weeks scrubbing herself with the aid of a big basin she’d used for bathing the baby too, even her hair which just about left no room in the basin once she got it all wet. She’d seen an old tub in the barn and been meaning to ask Jake to bring it in so she could have a good soak, but somehow she’d felt too shy to ask just yet. But this was just perfect. She and the baby could take a dip right now. She glanced down at the suspiciously quiet baby. Of course by now, being carried around in the sun, Ginny had drifted off to sleep on Melinda’s shoulder. Drats. Well, she could still have her own dunk.
Melinda lay the baby down on the grassy bank, careful not to wake her, and pulled her own shoes and stockings and simple cotton dress off until she was down to her shift. Smiling at the thought of getting completely clean, she waded into the gurgling stream, and with a quick look back to ensure Ginny was still asleep, she plunged in quickly and dunked under water. Cold as it was, it felt wonderful, clean and refreshing. She could splash around just a bit and then dry on the bank while Ginny slept. But no sooner had she lay flat on her back, floating for a while, than she heard a movement. She jerked upright, the water no deeper than her thighs, and looked anxiously towards Ginny. But it wasn’t the baby she’d heard. With dread, she registered that there was a big cat sauntering towards her sleeping little girl. It wasn’t really a cat. Lord knew what it was out here, but whatever it was, it was something wild and big and heading right Ginny’s way. Melinda felt frozen in fear for just a second and then she moved, faster than she would’ve thought possible with the wate
r heavy and sloshing around her. The creature cast a glance her way now, but didn’t move an inch away from Ginny. Apparently it judged her no threat. Or it knew he could reach his, oh God, his prey, faster than she could. She kept her focus right on the cat and grabbed for the nearest weapon of some sort she could find on the bank, a long, jagged branch.
“No threat?” she murmured to the animal as she slowly approached. “I’ll show you no threat.” And then she lunged at it, stick beating wildly, and, with a screech, the thing leapt away into the trees. A low chuckle behind her made her swing around, stick still in hand.
“Hey, don’t go beating me with that club now you’ve saved your little cub here.”
Incredibly, Ginny was still sleeping. Her father stood a few feet away on the bank, in that relaxed stance of his, arms folded across his chest, cowboy hat tipped back over his dark hair, and having a good laugh at Melinda’s expense apparently. She dropped the stick.
“What was that thing?” She kept her voice low, mindful of trying not to wake Ginny, though how she hadn’t awoken with that wild cat’s squeal was a mystery to Melinda.
“Just some old cat.”
“That was no cat. We have cats in Boston. They’re little things that sleep on the windowsill and purr to be petted. They’re not big-as-dog monsters that pounce and screech like that. Was that some, I don’t know, mountain lion or something?”
For a minute, she thought he wasn’t going to answer her. He just looked at her. And he sure wasn’t laughing anymore. She followed his gaze and looked down at herself. Lord, her shift was soaking wet, and as clear and clingy as it was, she might as well have been naked.
* * * *
When he’d seen her plunge into the creek, he’d hung back to get a glimpse of her coming out of the water. He admitted it. She wasn’t naked or anything. She’d gone in with her shift still on, much to his disappointment, but he wasn’t above hanging back out of sight just to get that one glimpse. He’d make a lot of noise before showing himself, and she’d have time to either call him to stop or dress quickly. Then they’d head back to the house without her knowing he’d seen her to forestall any maidenly embarrassment she might have. Oh and to forestall him pouncing on her of course.
But then he’d seen that cat advancing towards his daughter. Probably was harmless enough, but hell, even he wasn’t straight on all the wildlife out here yet, and it made sense just to be cautious. He’d intended to scoop Ginny up out of harm’s way, but even faster than he could do so, Melinda came charging out of the water, ready to defend the baby. The way she wielded that stick and chased the poor creature off was mighty amusing. Not to mention brave. She hadn’t hesitated one second fearing for her own self, even though she couldn’t have known how dangerous it was. She knew even less than he did, but her only thought had been Ginny. He really should thank her, not laugh at her. But she just looked so darned fierce and adorable, he couldn’t help himself.
Of course now that she was standing there right in front of him, sopping wet, she didn’t exactly look so fierce, and the adorable part had transformed more into wildly, hotly sexy. He caught his breath and stared down at her perfect body. He certainly wasn’t laughing now, more like hardly breathing because she was so beautiful. He’d dreamt of her, awake and asleep, for most of the time she’d been here. Couldn’t exactly control it, especially after that first night in his bed…But he hadn’t in his dreams or even in his memory of what he’d seen of her gotten it right. Out here in the sunshine, in all her glory, every detail revealed, he saw those full, high breasts, nipples pointy with the cold, the cinched in waist in no need of any corset, and then those long, long legs, with a dark golden triangle just visible at the apex.
His cock hardened painfully just to look at her.
Hence the maidenly embarrassment, as anticipated. Melinda crossed her arms over her breasts and crouched down all of a sudden to hide the rest of her body. He felt a stab of annoyance, much as he understood her hesitancy. If she stood there much longer, he was liable to pull her off into the trees where that old startled cat had disappeared and have at her with about as much restraint as a wild animal.
He looked around for her dress and tossed it to her. She caught it and hurriedly turned her back to him as she dressed. “What are you doing here anyway?” she asked. “You never come home during the day.”
“I came looking for you because Jed and Annie Wilson stopped by with some of their young’uns. They wanted to meet you and see Ginny. Seems some of the little ones miss her fierce, and anyway, Annie says it’s good for a baby like Ginny to be around other little ones once and a while.”
Melinda turned back to him, fully dressed now, though a little damp. “Yes, she’s right. Babies need ones their own age to play with sometimes.”
“I guess you saw that where you grew up.” Jake scooped the sleeping baby up, and they began to walk back to the house together.
“Oh yes. I mean babies need their own individual time too. They need to be hugged and loved one-on-one of course.”
Of course. He still marveled at how someone so young with no child of her own could still speak so knowledgably about these things. And so sweetly, too, damn it. If Victoria were alive, he frankly wondered whether Ginny would have seen as much mothering as she was right now from this warm-hearted girl. This little orphan’s treatment of his daughter made him even more resolved to do right by her. Melinda needed a home and a child of her own someday, and he wouldn’t ruin that by treating her like a whore during her time with him and Ginny. She could go to whomever she was going to go to eventually, and he was sure she’d have no trouble on that score, pure as his own wife was on her wedding day.
He felt better at the thought. And worse at the same time. A lot worse.
“Oh, wait though,” Melinda said as they approached the house. “I look a wreck, and my hair’s all wet.” She twisted the heavy blond mass, dark from the wetness, into some heavy coil on itself, some modified braid thing, as she spoke. “I can’t meet the Wilsons like this.”
Ginny began to stir, and he handed her to Melinda. “Don’t be silly. The Wilsons are good folk. They won’t care what you look like.”
Well, that wasn’t quite true. As they entered the house and Jake made the introductions all around, he could see both Ann and Jed’s reactions to the young beauty. Jed looked as tongue-tied as his teenage son Frank had been when he met Melinda in town. Annie, on the other hand, looked downright skeptical. But Melinda smiled warmly at them both, and she and Annie wandered out front to where the younger ones had gone, baby Scott on Annie’s hip and Ginny on Melinda’s as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
That left Jake alone with Jed, a man of few words. But the old cowboy managed to get a few of them out as soon as the women and children had gone outside. “That’s what they’re calling household help out east these days, Jake?”
“I didn’t pick her, Jed. My aunt did. She grew up in the orphanage that’s one of Aunt Lil’s charitable causes.”
“Not sure it’s much of a charity to either you or that girl to send her out here to you.”
“What exactly are you getting at, Jed?”
They were sitting companionably at the table, drinking lemonade since it was too early for whiskey. But there was a sudden tension between them. Jed was no bible thumper, but he was a good, honest man. Not surprisingly, he didn’t seem to approve of the current arrangement.
“I’m getting at having a young girl that looks like that living alone here with a healthy, young man like you. That’s gonna come to no good unless you’re fixin’ to get married again, which I must say I’ve heard you claim about a thousand times since Victoria passed that you weren’t aimin’ to do in this lifetime.”
Jake was irritated, but he guessed he shouldn’t have been. Jed was just saying what was probably the truth.
“So you either gonna take advantage of that sweet little miss, or else you gonna die of your cock getting so hard without relief it’ll
plumb break off.”
Jake chuckled. “Don’t let Annie hear that filthy mouth of yours, Jed, or she’ll wash it out.”
“Woman’s lived with me for almost twenty years. She knows better than to scold me for plain speaking, long as there’s no young’uns around to hear, and I don’t see no young’uns in here, do you? No, I just see two grown men who know what’s what, and who both know it’s not likely you’re going to do right by that pretty little girl out there.”
“The pretty little girl out there I’m trying to do right by is my daughter. Sure, I was skeptical when Melinda got off that train, but she is mighty good with Ginny, and she’s just what she needs right now. What Ginny and I both need.”
“I don’t doubt you got a mighty need for a girl that looks like that, but you take care of it at Sally’s, or else you marry her.”
“For Christ’s sake, I can keep it in my pants, Jed.”
“Can you? ’Cause in my book, that’d take a saint.”
“Yeah, and I’m no saint, I know. I heard it from Jesse as well.”
“Yeah, well, you better keep Jesse away from her too.”
“Damn sure. Don’t worry about that.”
* * * *
Annie Wilson was a still attractive thirty- or forty-something, hard to tell, with bright red hair like the teenage son Melinda had met in town. Her two little tow-headed girls, seven or eight years old maybe, were playing on the patch of grass with the babies while she and Annie looked on.
After sharing some basic biographical information—married nigh onto eighteen years now, seven kids, husband who doesn’t drive her crazy most of the time—and observations on the locals hereabouts, Annie got down to what was on her mind.
Claire, Angela - Heart of Stone (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 4