by Norah Hess
"I don't mind tellin' you that I am. Bein' hit by his fists is like bein' kicked by a mule. And you know yourself how fast he is with that Colt he always carries. When we go after Willow, we've got to be very careful or we'll both end up six feet under. We've got to make sure she's alone when we make our move."
"Well, when is that gonna be? The weather is gonna turn real bad any day now. I don't want to get caught in one of them sleet storms that part of Texas is known for."
"I've been thinkin' on it. I'm tryin' to think of a way that will make her come peaceably with us."
"Just don't take too long thinkin'," Buck said, a warning in his tone as he turned his horse toward his own ranch. "You might as well go home now," he said. "I've got a new squaw waitin' for me."
"But I thought—" Otto began. He'd been hoping Buck would invite him to share the woman. Apparently there would be no more sharing until he came up with a time they would go after his daughter. Otto turned toward home, grumbling to himself.
It was shortly after noon, and Willow had only picked at her lunch, when she glanced out the kitchen window and saw four horsemen riding up to the house. It was all she could do not to rush outside and greet them with a welcoming smile.
She reminded herself that she was a businesswoman and should act like one. She took the time to tidy her hair and smooth some of the wrinkles out of her Levi's. When the riders drew rein in front of the house and dismounted, she controlled her excitement and walked out on the porch.
Appreciation of her beauty showed in the eyes of the men. All four men removed their hats, and one asked, "Are you Willow Ames, the owner of the burros we've come after?"
"I am," she answered, smiling at him. "Would you like something to eat before we go look at them?"
"We wouldn't say no." The leader returned her smile. "My name is Tom Garrett." Gesturing at his three companions, he introduced them as Yancy, Hartley and Gabe.
When the three nodded and smiled at her, Willow said, "Come on then, I'll take you to the cookhouse. My cook always has something on hand to feed a hungry man."
The men walked along behind her, their eyes glued to the gentle swing of her hips in the tight Levi's. As she opened the kitchen door, she hoped that Corrie Mae wouldn't invite them all into her bedroom before they left. She didn't want these men thinking that she had a prostitute for a cook.
What Willow had feared, happened. As the four men filed into the kitchen behind her, Corrie Mae's face lit up like the first rays of the morning sun breaking over the mountain.
"Corrie Mae," she said, "these men are hungry. Could you rustle them up something to eat?"
"I surely can." Corrie Mae flashed each man a bright smile. "I have half a pot of stew left over from lunch. It's probably still hot. You men sit down and I'll dish it up."
As she flounced around, swinging her hips, her big, unfettered breasts bobbing up and down, the men watched her with interest. They understood the message she was sending them.
When Willow saw what her cook was up to, she frowned, and catching Corrie Mae's eye, she gave her a quick, warning shake of her head. Her cook's demeanor changed immediately. She repressed her excitement and moved sedately around the kitchen as she sliced a loaf of bread and filled four bowls with stew.
When Tom Garrett asked, "Aren't you going to sit with us while we eat?" she shook her head, answering that she had some work to do in her living quarters.
However, before she entered the room behind the kitchen, she couldn't help giving the big man a lingering look full of invitation. She saw Willow watching her then and quickly closed the door behind her.
Rooster entered the cookhouse just as the men finished eating. Willow introduced them all, and rising from the table, the men followed her and Rooster outside. Jimmy had Willow's mare saddled and waiting for her. Everyone mounted up and Rooster led the way to where the burros were penned up.
Half an hour later, Willow was clutching a check, her eyes shining with hope for the future. Tom Garrett had said that next spring he would be back to buy all the burros she could capture. Maybe things were going to turn in her favor for a change.
That evening after supper, Willow and Ruth sat before the fire, making a list of the items they needed from town, including warm winter clothing to replace items that were threadbare from many washings. Willow's scuffed boots would be replaced with new ones, and Ruth would get shoes and a warm coat.
The only luxury item they would allow themselves was a good supply of yarn for Ruth, who loved to knit, and for Willow, several bars of rose-scented soap.
It took Willow a while to fall asleep after she said good night to Ruth. She had to get to the bank and cash this check as well as the one from the sale of the cattle. Then she would take Aunt Jess her half of the money. She looked forward to seeing the old lady she had grown so fond of, but she dreaded the thought of maybe seeing Jules while she was there.
Jules was on his way to the barn when he saw in the distance a rider approaching the ranch. His pulse raced immediately. He recognized Willow. Even if he hadn't seen the sun turning her hair to gold, he would have known it was she. Something would tell him she was near even if he couldn't see her.
Was something wrong at the ranch? he wondered. He doubted that she was coming only for a visit. Although she cared for his aunt, he didn't think she would want to chance running into him. She didn't have much use for Jules Asher these days.
When Willow drew rein a few feet away from him and started to dismount, Jules stepped forward and, reaching up, grasped her by the waist to lift her out of the saddle. She reared back and frowned at him as he held her close against his hips a moment before sliding her to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the gravel in the barnyard, she jerked free of him.
Her face flushed from the close contact of their bodies, she started walking toward the house. He hurried after her, his eyes full of amusement. She had been aroused as much as he when their bodies met. She might tell herself that she hated him, but only her head thought that. Her body still remembered him and came alive every time he touched it.
For a split second he was tempted to turn her around, jerk her into the barn and cover her with kisses and caresses until she was panting for him to make love to her. But when their passion was spent, she might truly hate him, and herself as well, for that very passion he could always rouse in her.
"So," he asked, "what brings you here? I know you didn't come to see me. Is anything wrong at the ranch?"
"Everything is fine there. I've come to see Aunt Jess."
"She'll be happy to see you. She asked me this morning if I'd drop by and see how you are making out."
"So now you won't have to make that trip."
"Oh, I don't mind," Jules said lightly. "I haven't seen Corrie Mae lately." Willow gave him a scalding look and retorted, "You'll find her in heat as usual."
Jules threw back his head and laughed loudly. Not only had Willow aptly described her cook, but a tinge of jealousy had crept into her voice. Even though she was determined never to make love with him again, she didn't like the idea of his doing it with another woman. He must remember that, work on that emotion of hers every chance he got.
They entered the small patio off the kitchen and Jules held the door open for Willow to step into the warm, sunny room. As he closed it behind them, there came the tapping of his aunt's cane coming from the great room.
The old lady's face lit up with a welcoming smile when she saw Jules helping Willow out of her jacket. "I've been wondering when you'd get over here to visit me," she said as Willow kissed her wrinkled cheek.
"I was meaning to get over here sooner, but I've been so busy at the ranch, I just couldn't find the time."
"Well, you're here now. Sit down." She pulled a chair away from the table, then looked at Jules and ordered, "Pour us some coffee, nephew, and set out that plate of cookies I baked yesterday."
Willow raised an amused eyebrow at how quickly Jules jumped to obey his aunt and thought
to herself that the old woman was probably the only person in the world he loved.
Before she sat down, Willow walked over to where Jules had hung her jacket and took from its pocket a long envelope.
"I've brought you something, Aunt Jess," she said as she sat down and laid the white square in front of Jess. "There's an inventory list of all the necessary items I had to buy for the ranch, plus the wages of the cowhands, the three teenagers, who earn less, and the cook who draws the same money as the cowhands. I added it all up and split it in half I also did the same with the money the sale of the cattle brought us."
Jess didn't bother to look at the list of expenditures. She knew they would be right to the penny. But when she saw the thick sheaf of greenbacks, she looked at Willow, dumbfounded. "Are you sure I have this much coming to me?" she squeaked.
"Yes, I am. The cattle brought us top money."
"But I never got a third of this from old Salazar," Jess said, still in shock.
"I'm afraid Mr. Salazar was slack in keeping an eye on the men," Willow said.
"But you cracked the whip on them, didn't you?" Jules said with a humorless smile as he put the coffee and sweets on the table.
"I wouldn't say that I drove them too hard, but I saw to it that they gave me a good day's work," Willow said sharply. "The run-down condition of the ranch told me they had been doing very little for a long time."
"Good girl." Jess nodded her approval. "I knew you wouldn't let a man take advantage of you." Jules knew his aunt's words were meant for him from the sly look that she slid him. He sat down and drew the sugar bowl toward him, then said smoothly, "Don't be too sure she's never let a man take advantage of her, Aunt Jess." Willow gave him a stony stare and said coolly, "It might happen, but it hasn't yet."
"Is that right?" Jules's eyes mocked her.
"Yes, that's right if you're referring to Thad Wilson. He never had a chance of taking advantage of me. As for any other man who might have touched the edge of my life, I used him in the same fashion he used me. Our short encounter was of small importance."
Of small importance, was it? Jules gripped his cup, his face flushing an angry red. The little witch was lying through her teeth. When they had made love, their sweating bodies rising and falling together, climbing to the crest of mindless release, there had been nothing insignificant about their encounters, as she called them. The two of them had been as one, groaning and crying out their ecstasy as they floated back to reality.
Before she leaves here, I'm going to make her eat her damnable lie, he vowed.
Jules finished his coffee and pushed his chair away from the table. "I'd better get down to the corral and help the men break my latest bunch of mustangs," he said, then smiled crookedly at Willow. "I hope that soon you will meet a man who will be very important to you."
He was gone then, leaving Willow staring after him.
When Jules walked outside, he didn't go to the corral, but led Willow's mare into the barn. Sitting down on a milking stool, he waited for her to come looking for her mount.
Chapter Twenty-Three
"I guess I'd better get started home." Willow said after finishing her second cup of coffee. "Ma always worries about me if I'm gone too long. We both live in fear that my father will come after us again."
Jess stood up when Willow did. "The law being what it is, I know that your father could force your mother to return home with him. But you're a grown woman, Willow. He has no jurisdiction over you. Our same law would forbid him to force you to go home with him."
"I know that, Aunt Jess, but I would never let my mother return to a life of hell alone. If you remember, the first time I left her alone with Pa, she almost died from his cruel treatment of her. And poor old Smitty lost his life."
As Jess followed Willow to the door, she said worriedly, "Make sure Rooster is always nearby. During the cold weather there is little to be done around a ranch. A man has a lot of time to just sit back and think. You know what your father will be thinking about."
"I know only too well." Willow sighed. "He'll be thinking of only one thing. How to sneak up to the ranch and grab Ma."
"You must always be alert and keep Ruth in the house as much as possible," Jess said before she closed the door behind Willow.
A cool breeze had kicked up, and as Willow walked toward where she had left the mare, she started to button up her jacket. Suddenly she dropped her hands, the buttons forgotten. The dainty little horse wasn't there, nor did she see her anywhere around. Had she strayed? That was unlikely. She always stayed where she had been left. Maybe someone had put her in the barn, she thought.
She pulled open one half of the wide double doors and stepped inside. She stood a moment, letting her eyes get used to the dimness. She smiled when she saw the mare's head sticking over the top of a stall.
"So," she said as she led the mount out into the barn's aisle, "some kind soul did bring you in out of the cold."
She gave a startled squeak when a tall man stepped out of the shadows. "I was that kind soul." Jules gave a husky laugh.
Willow tilted her chin in the air and said, "Thank you. That was very thoughtful of you."
"Is a thank-you all I'm going to get for taking care of your animal?" Jules's eyes shone wickedly at her.
"Yes, it is," Willow answered unsteadily. "Are you a stable hand looking for a tip? If I had a nickel on me, I'd give it to you."
"Am I worth so little?" Jules asked softly, taking her by the arm and turning her so that she came up against his body. "I'd settle for a kiss."
"Well, you can't have one." Willow tried to pull away from him. She knew too well that Jules's kisses always led her into trouble.
She opened her mouth to tell him to release her immediately, but before she could get one word out, Jules had dipped his head and the next instant his lips, hot and hungry, were devouring hers.
She stiffened her body, determined that this time it would not betray her.
Her body's desire was stronger than her common sense. It grew soft and pliable, leaning hungrily into the hard body it knew so well.
Still, Willow's mind tried to hold out against the warmth that was quickly building to a white heat. When Jules inserted a hand inside her open jacket and cupped his palm over her breast, she made a weak effort to pry his fingers away. But when he firmly but gently kept possession of the soft mound, rubbing his thumb back and forth across the nipple that had grown pebble-hard, she stopped resisting. Her arms came up around his shoulders and her fingers threaded themselves through his hair.
Jules pulled her tighter against his body, and she thrilled at his manhood throbbing on the spot that was eager to receive him. Still, she whispered, "No," when he started to pull her down on a pile of hay.
"Yes," Jules panted, his desire to possess her at a fever pitch, almost uncontrollable. "I've suffered hell wanting you ever since you left me."
As if I haven't suffered, too, Willow thought, remembering the long nights spent alone. She was about to go down with him on the dry, fragrant grass when Jules whispered hoarsely, "I'll marry you if that's what you want."
As fast as Willow's body had softened, it now hardened. Before Jules knew what she was about, she had shoved herself out of his arms and stood glaring at him, her eyes shouting contempt.
"So, you randy tomcat," she said, "you'll marry me now if that's what it takes to get the use of my body."
"Come on, Willow." Jules took a step toward her, his hands outstretched to pull her back to him. "You know that's what you want."
Willow backed away, an emptiness building inside her. "You fool," she said, pity in her voice. "Going to bed together isn't the only thing that makes a marriage. If there is no love or respect between a man and woman, the marriage is doomed to fail. When I get married, it will be to a man whom I love and one who loves me back."
Blinking back tears, Willow was ready to place a foot in the stirrup when Jules grabbed her arm and swung her around to face him. Fury in his eyes, he
grated out, "Are you foolish enough to think you can have happiness married to another man? You know damn well that when he's making love to you, you'll be thinking of me."
"Oh? When you make love to Corrie Mae and the saloon women, are you thinking of me?"
She jerked free of Jules's grip and was in the saddle and riding out of the barn before he could answer. He wanted to run after her, to explain that he had never done that. That he hadn't been with any other woman since making love to her. He even hurried outside to call to her, but pride stepped in. He had offered her what she wanted and she had thrown it back in his face. So to hell with the little witch. He was still of the opinion that when she made love to this husband she was going to have some day, she would be thinking of Jules Asher.
Willow let her tears fall when she was sure that Jules wasn't going to follow her. Not for anything would she let that devil know how deeply his words had hurt her. The words she had waited so long to hear had struck her in the heart like the sharp blade of a knife.
Her shoulders slumped in misery, Willow hunched against the chill as her mind continued to dwell on Jules. She must take her mother and move on. She must go to some place where she was sure she would never run into him. He had only to put his arms around her and she was responding to him.
Willow was so engrossed in planning where she would go after she and her mother left the ranch that she wasn't aware of the two riders who had been following her at a distance ever since she left the Asher ranch. It took the uneasy snort of the mare and the cocking of her ears to alert her that either man or animal was in the vicinity.
Straightening up and tightening her grip on the reins, Willow slowly looked around. When she saw nothing but the bare landscape, she turned her head and looked behind her. She saw two riders about a quarter of a mile away, loping along at an easy pace.
Cowboys from the Asher ranch, she thought, going to town for a few hours of relaxation. She went back to the problem of having to move again.