THE STARDUST COWBOY

by Anne McAllister

  Riley had scowled. "You'll get to know 'em soon enough," he replied, which didn't help at all. And then he added, "Just remember, most of the fellas are married."

  Dori blinked. "Yes. And…?"

  A flush crawled up his neck. "Just don't…" He rubbed a hand through his hair, then looked straight at her, blue eyes flashing. "Just don't!"

  "Don't?"

  But he'd turned his back and was striding toward the barn, leaving her to stare after him, trying yet again to fathom the mysterious workings of the male mind.

  She didn't have a chance to bring up the issue again. He was gone all Saturday morning, moving some cattle to fresh pasture. Jake went with him as usual, bouncing and eager and full of questions about the Tanner boys.

  Riley seemed not to have any reluctance when it came to discussing them.

  Dori tried once again to figure out what he was thinking. But eventually she gave up and concentrated on baking a pan of brownies and making a couple of large bowls of potato salad to contribute to the food table.

  She had checked with Maggie Tanner to see what "rancher etiquette" had to say about things like that. Maggie had been delighted with her offer to bring something.

  "There's never enough, no matter how much I make," she'd said. "Bring whatever you like. Mostly just bring you and Jake. And Riley."

  So Dori did.

  They drove to the Tanner ranch, about fifteen miles south, late Saturday afternoon. They sat three abreast in Riley's truck, Jake in the middle, bouncing up and down, still asking questions.

  Dori just sat, the big bowl of potato salad balanced on her lap, and listened to Jake's questions and Riley's answers, thinking all the while how very much they looked like a family.

  It was like a dream come true. A dream that she'd put out of her mind for years and years. A dream she'd thought would never happen.

  But here it was, almost within her grasp.

  If Riley hadn't pursued her after the kiss they had shared, well, it was just that he was being circumspect. They could hardly have an affair with Jake in the house.

  But they could, eventually, get married. There was nothing to stop them getting married. When Riley had said he wasn't ever getting married, it must have simply been because he'd never met the right woman. But now…

  Dori gave a little bounce on the seat, too, feeling almost as cheerful as Jake.

  There were a lot of people at the Tanners' ranch. But almost at once Dori spied Maggie. She apparently spotted them, too, and came toward them, accompanied by a boy slightly taller than her twins.

  She smiled as she greeted them. "Riley." She acknowledged him, then turned to Dori and Jake. "I'm so glad you could come. This is our oldest son, Jared. Jared," she said to the boy, "this is Jake. He's going to be in your class in school in the fall."

  The two boys regarded each other solemnly for a moment. Then Jared said, "We got puppies. You wanta see 'em?"

  Jake's eyes lit up. "You bet."

  They ran off toward the house together. And that was all it took. Except Dori, well versed in the ways of sons, figured there might be a request for a puppy before the day was over.

  She figured she would let Riley handle it. She glanced at him now. He had already made himself at home, leaning against the corral fence, a beer in his hand, talking to the dark-haired cowboy and another grizzled older one she remembered meeting outside the welding shop one afternoon.

  "Ev," she said to herself, making sure she recalled his name.

  But Maggie overheard her. "Yes, that's Ev. You know Ev?"

  "I met him in town one day."

  "Ev's the one who keeps us going around here," Maggie said. "He keeps the boys out of trouble and Robert honest. Here, meet Sue Gallagher and give her the potato salad and give Tracy Walker the brownies, and I'll introduce you to everyone else."

  Dori exchanged pleasantries with Sally and Tracy, two of the spouses of the "married men," relinquished the food to them and then followed Maggie to meet the rest.

  "Sam Gallagher," Maggie said. "And Rick Walker, Tracy's husband. And Jack Walker. His wife, Kathy, is the one pushing the little girl on the swing. They all ranch nearby."

  Dori smiled and said hello to them all. They were equally polite in return, touching the brims of their hats and nodding.

  "That's your boy who went with Jared?" Sam Gallagher asked her.

  Dori nodded, feeling vaguely defensive, as if she might have to protect him from these people who would wonder about his coming in and usurping half of the Stratton ranch.

  But Sam only nodded and smiled. "He's got the look of a Stratton, all right."

  "He does," the Walker brothers agreed. They smiled at Dori, too.

  She relaxed a little.

  Maggie led her toward the corral fence where Riley and Ev and the dark-haired cowboy stood. "You know Ev," she said to Dori, who smiled at the old man and shook his hand. "And this is my husband, Robert." She introduced Dori to the handsome man she'd seen earlier catching a little girl jumping out of a tree house. "You've talked to him on the phone. This is Dori," she said to her husband.

  Robert Tanner took her hand in his rough, callused one and smiled at her, with a grown-up version of Jared's shy smile. His eyes twinkled. "How's your bull?"

  Out of the corner of her eye, Dori saw Riley choke and turn bright red. She knew she was coloring slightly, too. But she laughed and so did Robert Tanner.

  Then he said, "Glad to meet you finally. Can I get you a beer?"

  He got her a beer. Maggie kept her moving, introducing more people.

  "Dori, I'd like you to meet Robert's brothers. Luke, Noah, this is Dori Malone whose son, Jake, is Riley Stratton's nephew—and partner."

  A familiar voice said, "Dori?"

  And she found herself looking right into Noah Tanner's grinning face. "Noah!"

  Maggie looked from one to the other. "You two … have met?"

  Dori was beaming, too. "Noah lives just north of where we used to live. In fact his partner, Taggart, is the one who let Jake come out and ride. Sometimes Susannah baby-sits—babysat—Jake."

  "Which is more than she wants to do for us," Noah grumbled. Besides thirteen-year-old Susannah, he and Tess had two little boys, Clay, who was four, and Scott, who was two.

  Now that she knew Clay and Scott were among them, she began to see the horde of little kids as individuals. In a moment she had picked both of Noah's boys out. She also saw Susannah sitting on a picnic bench talking to an earnest looking young blond cowboy.

  So did her father. He frowned.

  "That's just Billy," Maggie said, seeing, too, where her brother-in-law's gaze had gone. "Ev's grandson. Susannah will be fine."

  "Which ones are yours?" Dori asked Luke.

  He nodded toward the swing set where one little boy was swinging madly and far higher than all the rest. "That's Keith, the oldest. Katie—" he pointed to a little girl with long honey-colored hair pulled back in a ponytail who was trailing after Jared and Jake, who were carrying a puppy apiece "—and Jack is the one trying to decapitate his mother." His gaze turned toward a little boy who was hanging with his arms around the neck of a tall, slender woman. She held him absently while talking to the woman Dori recognized as Noah's wife.

  "Maybe I'd better go rescue Jill," Luke said. He gave Dori a heart-stopping grin. She checked, just to be sure that with all these kids he also had the requisite wedding band. He did.

  She sighed as she watched him walk away.

  "He's a hunk, isn't he?" Maggie said.

  "Mmm." Dori agreed. All the Tanner brothers were pretty impressive, as far as she was concerned. Of course, they didn't hold a candle to Riley Stratton, but…

  She looked around to see where he was.

  He was still by the corral, but he wasn't standing now. He was hunkering down with Jake and Jared, looking over the puppies. As she watched, he took his hat off and scratched his head. His hair was exactly the same color as Jake's. He and Jake, heads together, looked as much ali
ke as the Tanner boys and their fathers.

  "Riley's very good with him, isn't he?" Maggie asked quietly.

  "Mmm? Oh—" Dori felt a faint flush color her cheeks at having been caught watching "—yes, he is. Very."

  "I'm so glad." Maggie said. "For both of them."

  Dori would have liked to ask what she meant, but there were more people to meet. A rancher from east of the Interstate, Myron Thatcher, and his wife, Julie. Another teacher friend of Maggie's called Gayle Stevens. A doctor from Casper named Brent Walker. A lawyer named Jeff Cannon and his wife, Tricia.

  Dori recognized the name Cannon. It had been on the top of the stationery on which Riley had offered to buy Jake's share of the ranch. And Jeff Cannon was looking at her very closely. She was pretty sure, given his demeanor, that Jeff Cannon was reserving judgment about how pleased he was to meet her. His wife, a pretty blonde, seemed curious, too.

  "You're actually … living at Ri—er, Strattons'?" she asked Dori.

  The censorious tone Dori had expected and hadn't received from the ranchers talking about Jake, seemed to creep into Tricia Cannon's voice now.

  But Dori met it with a smile. "Yes, and it's wonderful there. We love it."

  "It must be … tight quarters," Tricia said.

  "Well, I do feel a little guilty about that," Dori replied. "But Riley says he doesn't mind living in the bunkhouse."

  Tricia's eyes brightened. "He's in the bunkhouse?"

  Her husband asked a few questions, too. Probing questions about Dori's background and where she met Chris and a few others that she would have thought extremely nosy and inappropriate, if she hadn't known the reason behind them. Jeff was Riley's lawyer. He was concerned and wanted to make sure that his client hadn't been taken advantage of.

  Dori made it a point to answer his questions fully and with equanimity. She and Jake were going to live here a long time. It was—dared she hope?—possible that sometime Jeff might be her lawyer, too. She didn't want bad feelings.

  So after Maggie excused herself to do something in the kitchen, Dori and Jeff talked. Tricia listened.

  Dori thought Riley might come over and reassure his lawyer that she wasn't the wicked witch from Montana here to steal his land. But though he glanced their way from time to time, and Dori could tell from his expression that he was interested in what was going on, he made no move to intervene.

  Eventually Jeff held out a hand again and she took it again, but this time there was a bit more of a hearty welcome in his grip. "I'm pleased to have met you at last," he said.

  And Dori dared at least to hope that he was also pleased with her.

  With the introduction to Jeff and Tricia Cannon, she seemed to have met everyone. "Come see those puppies," Maggie invited her, when she came back from the kitchen.

  "You aren't by any chance looking for homes for them, are you?" Dori raised a suspicious eyebrow.

  Maggie laughed. "Well, if you and Jake were to fall in love with one, I don't know if we could refuse you."

  "Just what I was afraid of," Dori muttered.

  "We won't force any on you. Don't worry," Maggie said.

  "It isn't you I'm worried about."

  But she allowed herself to be dragged over to meet the puppies Jake and Jared were holding. Riley held one, too, as did Susannah Tanner and a couple of the children Dori hadn't met yet. The pups were five-week-old border collies.

  "Herding dogs," Robert Tanner said. "And good with kids," he added.

  "Mmm," Dori said. But she let Jake thrust one into her hands. It was scarcely as big as a lunch box, but much wigglier and fluffier. It stuck out its tongue and licked her.

  She laughed.

  "Isn't he swell, Mom?" Jake said. His eyes were shining.

  "He's … very nice," Dori said. He was darling, and she was a sucker for anything small and cuddly. But dogs were a responsibility. She looked at Riley, expecting him to say so. He looked back—as starry-eyed as Jake.

  "He really is swell, Mom," Jake said again. His eyes beseeched her. Then he turned his gaze on Riley. "Isn't he?"

  "So's this one," Riley said, nodding at the bundle of fluff he held. He stroked the pup's head and silky back.

  Dori, watching, despaired of them both. She looked at Maggie and saw the other woman grinning all over her face. Dori sighed.

  Robert Tanner laughed. "The pups are too young to leave their mother," he told Jake. "But if you and Riley are still interested in a few weeks…"

  Jake beamed. He took the pup out of Dori's hands, holding him gently, nuzzling his neck. "Did you hear that, Tugger?"

  "Tugger?" Dori and Riley repeated together.

  Jake colored. "He just, um, looks like a tugger," he said.

  "I think it might be time for you to put Tugger and his brothers and sisters back with their mom," Maggie suggested. "They're pretty little yet. They'll get tired. And it's almost time for us to start eating. You guys are hungry, aren't you?"

  Oh, my, yes, they were.

  It was a lovely afternoon for a barbecue. Dori enjoyed it thoroughly. She liked the people she met—the ranchers and their wives, the cowboys, the teachers and townspeople. They were friendly and welcoming—even Jeff Cannon as the day wore on. It was her dream come true.

  She began to feel as if she'd been transported to her very own version of Eden.

  And then she began to recognize the snake.

  Tricia Cannon, Dori realized at some point during the evening, was the girl with Riley in the picture in Jake's bedroom.

  It had been taken back in high school, and after a brief initial curiosity, Dori had looked past it. She, after all, had gone to the prom with Biff Mallett in high school. And if there had ever been an unmemorable occasion in her life, that was it.

  She had assumed Riley felt the same way, that perhaps he'd just saved the picture because it was the last time he'd worn a suit.

  But she didn't think so anymore.

  Because there was something still going on between him and Jeff Cannon's wife. Not an affair.

  Dori could tell right away that they weren't having an affair. There was no false heartiness or smooth banter designed to disguise a more intimate relationship. There was just … awareness.

  Everywhere Riley went, Tricia Cannon's eyes seemed to follow him.

  At first Dori had thought she was the one Tricia was watching, that the other woman was curious about her because she was "the new girl." But then she realized that Tricia's eyes were on her only when she was with Riley.

  And Riley watched Tricia as well.

  No matter where he was, who he was talking to, or what he was doing, he seemed to know where Tricia was, too. Or if he lost sight of her for a moment, he scanned the groups of people until he found her. Then something in his body seemed to settle, to focus.

  He loved her.

  Suddenly Dori understood what he'd meant when he'd said he would never marry.

  Of course he wouldn't—because the woman he loved was already married—to someone else!

  Something hard and tight seemed to take a grip on Dori's midsection. She watched Riley watching Tricia, and deep inside she felt an ache begin to grow. She swallowed, breathed deeply, tried to ease the tightness in her throat. But it wouldn't go away.

  Sam Gallagher's wife, Sue, came up to her. "I'm so glad you're with Riley now," she said.

  Dori jumped, startled. "I'm not—" she began. "I mean, I'm not with Riley. Not like … not like…"

  "It's early days yet," Sue said with a light laugh.

  "I don't think Riley is … interested." Her gaze went from Riley to the woman he was watching, though he appeared to be talking to the Walker brothers.

  Sue followed her gaze. She snorted. "Riley was imprinted at an early age."

  So everyone knew about him and Tricia? Dori supposed she shouldn't be surprised. It was a small community, after all.

  Now she smiled. "Like a duck, you mean?"

  "Like a jerk," Sue corrected. "And now he doesn't know any
better. He thinks Tricia is the only woman in the world. We're hoping you'll change that."

  "I don't think—"

  "Do you like him?" Sue pressed the issue.

  "Of course, I—"

  "Don't just do that polite, 'of course I like him' business. Riley's a hunk, don't you think?"

  Dori ran her tongue over her lips. She debated her responses. Finally she decided on honesty. "Yes."

  Sue beamed, justified. Then her smile faded as she seemed to consider something. "You loved his brother."

  "Yes." Dori was honest there, too. "But not—"

  "Not like Riley."

  "Riley and I aren't—"

  "Not yet."

  "Don't get your hopes up," Dori warned.

  "Get yours up," Sue said. "You're not going to get him otherwise."

  Dori didn't know what to say to that. For all that she had fallen in love with him and was willing to admit it to herself, she wasn't admitting it to anyone else.

  And she wasn't at all sure she would get him even if she did. While her little "experiment" the other night in the alcove had proved he was "interested," now she saw that it might have been only a matter of hormones on red alert.

  Riley was a healthy male with all the normal instincts. He could react to a reasonably attractive female without caring a whit about her as a person. Men did.

  Lots of men had—to her.

  She smiled a little wanly at Sue, then said, "I think I'll see if Maggie could use some help in the kitchen."

  Maggie didn't need any help in the kitchen. She said, "You should be out keeping Riley company."

  Dori blinked. Had they had a community meeting before the barbecue? she wondered. Had they all got together and decided to shove her down Riley's throat?

  "You're not 'matchmaking' by any chance?" she asked.

  Maggie smiled. "Just wishing."

  "Probably not a good idea."

  But clearly her protests fell on deaf ears. Maggie let things ride during dinner, but after, when everyone was visiting, she said, "I think a little music and dancing would be a good idea."

  She didn't seem to have checked this out with her husband ahead of time. Dori thought Robert looked as surprised as everyone else. But Billy Warren, Ev's grandson, was right there with a boom box and a stack of CDs, so Maggie must have clued someone in.