by Linda Bridey
The pastures seemed to go on forever. Jamie figured that the Samuels’ ranch was very large indeed. As they pulled up between the houses, Marcus jumped out of the wagon. It didn’t take long before they were surrounded by people. Luke lifted Jamie down from the wagon and shyly introduced her to everyone.
Jamie wasn’t expecting the warm reception she received from Maddie and Tessa. They complimented her hair color and asked how her trip had been.
Tessa said, “We’ve prepared our guest room for you. I think you’ll be quite comfortable there. Luke, do you know where Sadie’s old room was?”
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you show Jamie where it is and she can freshen up,” Tessa said. “We women know what it’s like to travel a long ways. The men have it easy, but not us. There’s so much to fuss with.”
“Yes, there is,” Jamie said. “Lead on, Hercules.”
Luke smiled and began walking. Jamie hung back a few seconds and watched his backside appreciatively. Then she looked at Tessa and smiled and winked. She trotted away after Luke and went into the house with him.
Tessa couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up.
“Hush, Tessa,” Seth said. “I’m trying not to laugh.”
Marcus went over to Buster and laughed into the horse’s mane to muffle the sound.
Jack said, “What’s so funny?”
No one could hold in their mirth after that. Marcus finally got himself under control and came back to stand with them. “She’s been flirting with him the whole way here. You people think I flirt? Well, it’s a good competition between her and me.”
“Oh, boy,” Seth said. “That’s all we need.”
“She did a good job driving the team,” Marcus said.
Dean said. “You let her drive?”
“Yeah. For a little while. Her father taught her. She’s good at it. Handled them as well as any of us, I’d say,” Marcus said.
Dean smiled. “That must have been fun to watch.”
“It was way more fun to watch her and Luke,” Marcus said. “This is going to be interesting.”
Luke put Jamie’s suitcases down and turned around. She was right there in front of him. It startled him a little.
She smiled and said, “Thank you for bringing up my bags for me.”
“You’re welcome. Is there anything you need?” Luke asked.
“Well, I guess I will freshen up a little,” she answered. “And what are you going to do?”
Luke had no idea. He looked at her blankly for a moment and then said, “I could show you around a little, but you won’t want to wear anything real good.”
Jamie opened one of the suitcases on the bed and pulled out a dress. “I’ve come prepared. How’s this?”
Luke nodded but his eyes were not on the dress. Instead they had honed in on the frilly underthings underneath the dress in the suitcase. Jamie knew exactly what he was looking at, but didn’t let him know that. “It’s a little chilly today so I have an old coat that will do just fine.”
“Uh huh,” Luke said absently.
Jamie took one of hands in hers. “I really am glad to be here, Luke. Everyone seems so nice. Not like what I’m used to.”
Luke’s attention turned to Jamie then. “Why were people so mean to you?” He couldn’t help but wonder.
“That’s a long story and I’ll tell you all about it,” Jamie said. “Come down here, Hercules.”
Luke smiled and bent down a little. Jamie kissed his cheek and then stepped back. “You’re a sweet man, Luke Samuels. It’s nice to meet one of those.”
Luke straightened and just said, “I’ll come back for you in a little while.”
She watched him go with a smile, and then shut her door so she could change.
The group outside was beginning to disperse when Luke came out of Dean’s house. He walked straight over to Marcus and grabbed him in a bear hug. “Thanks for your help.” He patted Marcus’ back and released him and then left them to go to his bunkhouse.
Marcus laughed and then looked at Dean, “How come you never thanked me for helping you?”
“I didn’t?” Dean asked.
“Nope.”
Dean hugged Marcus and said, “Thanks for not listening to me at the time. It’s the best thing that’s ever come from you disobeying an order.” Then Dean thumped his shoulder and followed his wife into the house to check on their kids.
Marcus scowled at Dean’s retreating back. “That’s a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one.”
Jamie changed quickly and braided her hair so that it didn’t fly all around as Luke gave her a tour. She went downstairs then and found Tessa in the parlor with the twins.
“Oh, they are so precious!” she said, as she watched one crawl across the floor.
The twins were now nine months old and on the move.
Tessa smiled up at her. “Thank you. Would you like to hold one?”
“I would love to,” Jamie said.
Tessa gave D.J. to her. “This is Dean Jr.”
“What a handsome little man,” Jamie said as she held the up baby. He smiled at her. “He looks like Dean.”
Tessa smiled. “They both do. The one trying to escape over there is Catherine. We call her Katie. She’s named after Dean’s late mother.”
“How nice,” Jamie said as she looked at Katie. She’d been introduced to Jack outside earlier. “You’re very fortunate. Jack is the spitting image of Dean, too. There was a long time between him and the twins.”
Tessa chuckled. “Well, Sadie, whom you haven’t yet met, and Jack are his children from his first marriage. Mikey, our six-year-old and the twins are ours together, but I love Sadie and Jack as much as I love the other three. Sadie was eleven and Jack was almost eight when I first came to Montana.”
A little boy with dark hair and big blue eyes came running in the kitchen door.
“Mama! Look what Uncle Seth gave me!” he said, holding out some pieces of licorice.
Tessa said, “This is Mikey. Mikey, this is Jamie. Can you say hello?”
“Hi,” he said and then turned back to his mother. “Can I eat it now?”
Tessa said, “You may have one piece now but how about we save the rest for after a bit?”
“Ok,” Mikey popped a piece in his mouth and gave the others to Tessa. To Jamie he said, “Bye,” and ran to his room.
Tessa sighed. “Seth is always giving him candy. I’m going to have to talk to him about it again.”
“You have beautiful children,” Jamie said. “And it must be wonderful to have so much family around you.”
“Yes. I’m very fortunate. It could have turned out very differently. I was a mail-order bride, too,” Tessa said.
Jamie looked surprised. “Really? Why did you do it?”
Tessa briefly told her about how she’d run away from her high society life in Pittsburgh and come to Montana looking for an adventure. Jamie was amazed, and felt an affinity with Tessa.
“I’ll bet your parents were furious with you,” Jamie said.
“Oh, yes, they were. Papa found me and came here, but I was already married and there really was nothing he could do at that point. He met Dean, though, and realized that I had married the right man,” Tessa said.
Jamie saw the loving expression Tessa got on her face when she talked about her husband. “It’s always nice to see someone happy like you two are. I hope it will be the same with Luke and me.”
“He’s such a good man. It’s terrible what happened to him two years ago,” Tessa said.
Jamie nodded as she smiled down at D.J. “Yes. He told me that he was left at the altar. She must have been crazy. I mean, look at him. Marcus said he was built like Hercules and he wasn’t lying. Plus, he’s very sweet. But, it’s good for me that she didn’t appreciate him.”
Tessa said, “I’m glad to hear you say that. Any woman would be very lucky to have him.”
Jamie got a determined look on her face and said, “Well, I
intend for that woman to be me.” She gave the baby back to Tessa and went in search of her ranch hand.
Luke heard a knock at his door and answered it. He was surprised to see Jamie. “Hi,” he said.
“Hi. So this is your place, huh?”
Luke stood back so she could come in. “Yeah. It used to be Seth’s bunkhouse before he got married and he and Maddie built their house.”
Jamie gazed around the bunkhouse. It was done very nicely, with finished wooden walls and plenty of windows. There were even curtains. They were masculine in design, but nice nonetheless. Two comfy-looking chairs sat in opposite corners with a stand between them. Along one wall stood a woodstove, and along the other wall sat a bed. She noticed that it was a full-sized bed. She went over and sat on it and bounced a little.
“Nice and soft,” she observed. “And quiet, too. There’s nothing worse than a squeaky bed.”
Luke saw her sitting on his bed bouncing like that, and images of what happened in bed came to mind. She had a seductive twinkle in her eye as she smiled.
He cleared his throat and said, “Well, we should get started on that tour.”
Jamie saw how uncomfortable he was and took pity on him. “Yes. That sounds like a good plan.”
Chapter Five
Luke had a blast showing everything to Jamie. She was full of energy and curious about everything. Her blue coat looked pretty on her, but he could tell that it was old. She didn’t seem to mind if it got dirty. She wore boots that were practical for their climate, too. As they went through the barn, she petted all the horses and tried to learn all of their names.
Her infectious laugh filled the barn as she played with a litter of puppies that Belle and Jasper, the Border collies, had produced three months prior. They chased her around the barn floor and then she helped catch them and put them back with their mother when Luke said they had to be penned up to make sure they didn’t get trampled by the horses or cattle.
“We can’t let that happen, can we?” she said to one little guy, and kissed him as she put him back in the pen.
Luke watched and wanted her to kiss him again. She caught the gleam in his eye but acted like she hadn’t seen it. She knew how to reel a man in, but she was going let Luke dangle on the line a little while. When they were leaving the barn, Seth and Dean came out of the tack room. Jamie hung back and watched Luke walk ahead of her again. Then she turned to the other men and said, “He’s just like a big ole oak tree and I wanna climb him!” and ran after him again.
Seth and Dean looked at each other and burst out laughing. She turned around to them, winked, and then took Luke’s hand as they left.
The next evening, Luke and Jamie sat in the cookhouse, facing off across the table. They both looked at their cards and considered their options. They were the last two at the table still in the game. They played for toothpicks, since Jamie didn’t have any money to speak of because she’d spent it all getting to Montana.
Seth, Dean, Marty, and Ray watched to see who was going to win. Luke had a good hand. Even if he hadn’t, he was good at bluffing and had won a lot of games because people couldn’t read him. He’d worked at making sure he had no tells. He didn’t have any eye twitches nor did he play with anything. No smile crossed his face when he looked at his cards. He laughed and smiled at other things, but not his cards.
Jamie on the other hand never seemed to stop moving so it would have been hard to notice if she had any tells either. She played with her cards, her hair, or her dress. She also laughed and told raunchy jokes. She’d warned Luke about her personality, so he wasn’t upset with her behavior.
Jamie had the time of her life entertaining the group of men. The other women had declined playing. Maddie was tired, as was Tessa, plus she had Mikey and two babies to look after. Dean didn’t plan to stay too long because he didn’t expect Tessa to take care of them by herself. One by one, each of the other men had folded, amid taunts from the others.
Jamie had ridden all of it out, biding her time. She’d learned to play poker from her father at a young age, so she’d had a lot of practice. Luke watched her tease Dean about being a “grandpa” as he left and Dean told her that was no way to talk to her host.
She just smiled and went on with the game.
“Call,” Luke said after they’d each upped their bids several times. He put all of his toothpicks in.
“Very well,” Jamie said as she put her cards on the table.
Three aces were spread out in a neat little fan. Marty whistled and Seth and Ray laughed.
Luke smiled and put a straight flush down. Jamie proceeded to rip off a string of very inventive swear words that had them all in stitches. She laughed right along with them and helped gather up the toothpicks. They put the cards and toothpicks away and closed down the cookhouse for the night. Knowing Jack would have their hides if they didn’t leave it clean, they made sure it was neat before they left.
Seth went home to his wife and Marty and Ray were ready to hit the hay. Jamie wasn’t really ready for bed, but she knew Luke had to be up early.
“I had so much fun tonight,” she said.
“I’m glad,” Luke said. “Me, too.”
He walked her to Dean and Tessa’s door and stopped. “So tomorrow you have to report for duty. I’m going to see if Tessa wants help with the twins.”
“That’s really nice of you,” Luke said.
“So, I guess I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast then,” she said.
Luke nodded. He knew what he wanted to do, but he just didn’t have the courage yet.
Jamie smiled. “Hercules, are you going to kiss me or what?”
“I’m a little out of practice,” Luke said. He was embarrassed to admit it.
Jamie said, “Luke, I’m not pressuring you, I was just being—‘”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence because Luke bent and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes fluttered shut and she responded. He smelled of hay and man and her fingers curled around the collar of his shirt as their lips melded. Luke got caught up in the sensual spell she weaved around him. He’d been thinking about kissing her like that all day and when she’d asked him to do it, he figured that he was going to give in to the urge to do it.
Now the problem was that he didn’t want to stop, and it didn’t seem like she did either. Luke got a grip on his control again and ended the kiss even though it killed him to do it.
“Mmmm, that was nice,” Jamie said. Her voice was slightly husky and Luke was glad to hear that she’d felt the same way he did.
“Yeah,” Luke said.
“Goodnight, Luke,” Jamie said, and let her hand trail down over his chest as she turned to go in the door.
Luke felt her touch burn through his shirt as he watched her go through the door. Everything within him wanted to grab her and haul her back to his bunkhouse. He ran a hand through his hair and started walking to his place. Luke was troubled. He hadn’t expected to feel anything so strong for her. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen and while he was happy about it, he was also afraid of her beauty.
Seth’s warning about getting her to the altar quick came back to him as stopped in front of his bunkhouse. It seemed as if Jamie really liked him, but he’d thought that Charlene loved him and had wanted to marry him so he felt as if he might not have the best judgment where women were concerned. Maybe she was just pretending to like him, but her kiss had certainly felt like she liked him. Time would tell.
Luke worked on fixing a water trough the next afternoon. The temperature had suddenly warmed up and he’d shed his jacket and hung it on a nearby fence post. Something hard and wet hit him on his lower back and some of it slipped down under his pants. Luke figured it was Marcus messing with him.
“Listen, Lakota, you better knock it off if you know what’s good for you,” Luke said, and was promptly beaned in the back of his head.
He rose and turned angrily but stopped when he saw that Jamie was the culprit. She ha
d another snowball ready to go and her eyes held mischief. Technically they were ice balls, since the snow was melting fast. He put his hands on his hips and gave her a stern look. Jamie seemed to weigh her options and then she lowered her hand and smiled at him.
“Ok, ok. You’re no fun,” she said. “So what are you working on?” she asked and came over to the water trough.
Luke knelt down and showed her the crack in one of the boards. “I gotta take this board off and replace it. Then I have to-“
Jamie pulled his shirt collar away from his neck and put the snowball down his back. She smushed it against his skin and then took off running. Luke got up and ran after her. She was fast and was able to reach the barn before him. She ran into it and across the floor. Marcus was just coming out of a stall when she came past him.
“Help! Marcus! Help!” she said, laughing the whole time. She got behind him and used him as a shield.
“Hey! What the heck are you doing?” Marcus said and then saw Luke coming right at him. “Whoa, big fella,” he said holding his hands up in front of him.
Jamie took off again but Luke caught her before she could reach the other door. He hooked an arm around her waist and lifted her off the ground. She squealed and laughed as he put her over his shoulder. Jamie struggled but there was no way she could get out of his grip.
“Where are you taking me?” she said, even as she kept struggling.
Luke chuckled. “You’ll see.”
Marcus watched it all and laughed.
Luke said, “You might as well just save your strength, Jamie. You’re not getting away.”
Marcus saw Jamie trying to reach the waistband of Luke’s pants and had to stifle a laugh. She wiggled and inched her way down until she was able to slip a finger underneath and snag his underwear. She pulled hard.
“Hey!” Luke yelled and practically dropped her.
His hold loosened enough that she was able to get away from him. Marcus laughed uproariously as Luke tried to fix his underwear. Jamie had disappeared completely. She was smart enough to know that she should hide.