by Ginna Gray
"What's he doin' that for?" Tyrone demanded from his perch on the fence rail.
"I'm not sure," J.T. replied absently. "Trying to calm him down, I guess."
"Is the horsie scared?" Debbie asked, her blue eyes wide.
"He doesn't want to be ridden, that's for sure," Matt replied.
Willa moved over to the group and climbed up on the fence with the kids. "Satan is scared, all right. He's scared he's going to be eaten."
All five children looked at her with horrified expressions, their eyes big as saucers.
"We don't eat horsies," Jennifer stated with childlike outrage. "We ride them."
"Yes, but Satan doesn't know that. He's mostly wild, and his instincts tell him to flee from all other animals, and that includes man. Or, if he's cornered, to fight with all his might because they may eat him. So what your uncle Zach is trying to do is teach him not to fear him or his touch."
Willa was amazed at Zach's patience. And his gentleness. He kept tossing the rope and murmuring to the stab lion tirelessly. She could see that the horse was confused and trying to figure out just what this human was up to.
Finally, after perhaps twenty minutes, Satan grew tired and came to a stop, bobbing his head and snorting, but still keeping a wary eye on Zach. He continued to toss the rope, but now each time he moved a step or two closer. Watching him out of the corner of his eye, Satan continued to bob his head and blow softly through his nose.
Finally, when Zach was close enough, he slowly reached out and ran his hand down the horse's neck. A quiver ran over Satan's hide, but he didn't shy away.
Emboldened, Zach wrapped both arms around the animal's neck, stroking him constantly as he murmured encouragement in his ear. Willa was amazed that Satan tolerated the touch, but he just stood there, his ears moving back and forth.
"Why's he huggin' 'em?" Timothy asked.
"Shh. Just watch," Matt replied.
After perhaps ten minutes of stroking and soothing, Zach released the horse and turned his back and walked away five steps and stopped. Satan followed him and nudged his shoulder. Keeping his back to the horse, Zach changed direction and took a few more steps. Again Satan followed and nudged his shoulder.
Over and over, Zach repeated the maneuver, and every time Satan stuck with him. When he took a bridle off the fence post and slipped it on, the horse accepted it with merely a twitch of his ears. Constantly murmuring reassurance and stroking, Zach put the saddle pad and saddle on the horse. Satan shifted uneasily but he calmed under Zach's hand and allowed him to tighten the cinch.
He soothed the horse for a few minutes more, then grasped the saddle horn and put his foot in the stirrup. Everyone held their breaths.
Zach carefully lifted himself up and swung into the saddle. Satan sidestepped and bobbed his head, and his front hooves lifted a few inches off the ground, but he settled when Zach patted his neck and murmured to him.
For a moment they remained motionless while Zach stroked and murmured. Then he gave the horse a gentle nudge and the black stallion started walking. Another gentle nudge sent him trotting easily around the enclosure.
All around the others exclaimed in subdued tones of amazement. Willa watched horse and rider, her throat tight, her eyes misty. She had never seen anything so beautiful or so touching in her life.
In that moment of startling clarity, she realized that she wasn't merely attracted to Zach. She was in love with him.
He was everything she had ever dreamed of finding in a man, she realized – strong yet gentle, patient, intelligent, kind, hardworking, passionate and sexy. Everything about him appealed to her – his raw masculinity, his rugged good looks and lean, muscular build, that air of quiet authority that he wore with such ease.
Willa bit her lower lip and fought back tears. Dear Lord, she was in love with Zach – completely, irrevocably, head-over-heels in love with him. And it was hopeless.
* * *
Willa did her best to squash her feelings for Zach, or at least ignore them. To avoid him she reverted to her former behavior of retreating to her room immediately after dinner, and she volunteered for work assignments that took her out of his immediate vicinity. At mealtime, when avoiding him was impossible, she never spoke to him directly and tried, never to make eye contact with him.
None of her efforts worked. Day by day she fell more in love. Too inexperienced with men and love to know what else to do, Willa nursed her feelings in silence. She thought about confiding in Maude Ann, but she was still too unsure of the tentative friendship between herself and the other women. Confiding in Kate was out of the question since she was Zach's adoptive sister. As for Maria, much as Willa loved her, she knew the old woman couldn't keep a secret for spit. So she said nothing and dealt with the emotional turmoil as best she could.
* * *
Except for winter, late summer was the slowest season on the ranch. The majority of the cattle were pastured in various high mountain valleys. The branding, castrating and inoculating had been completed. The hands took turns manning the line camps, working in one week shifts, and those who were not in the mountains spent the late spring plowing, planting, fertilizing and irrigating the pastures. In summer they completed any needed repairs, and made hay and stored it in the pole barns scattered around the winter range.
During spring and fall roundups, everyone worked from sunup to sundown. In mid-summer, however, many of the men found time on Saturday night to go in to town and raise a little hell at the local dance hall, Hody's.
After a day of dusty, hot work driving the haybaler, Willa had just showered, changed and joined the others in the kitchen when Zach walked in. Wearing clean jeans and a clean shirt, he had that shower-fresh scrubbed look and smelled of soap and shampoo.
Willa's heart gave its usual little flutter at the sight of him. Turning away, she went to the stove and poured herself a cup of coffee. She carried it to the back window and gazed out. Several of the men, scrubbed and spit-polished for their Saturday night outing, were climbing into pickups.
"My, don't you look nice, big brother," Kate commented. "Is that a new shirt?"
"Sorta. And thanks. Don't bother setting a place for me tonight. I'm going to go into town with the men, maybe shoot some pool and have a few beers."
J.T. grinned. "And maybe latch on to some pretty little thing to two-step with too, I'll bet. Huh, bro?"
Willa's head snapped around. He was going into town? Unfazed by his brother's teasing, Zach shrugged. "There's always that possibility, I guess." His gaze met Willa's in a long, searing look. Then he blinked, and the contact was broken.
"I'd better get going. I'll see you all tomorrow."
As he went out the door Willa turned back to the window and watched him stride down the walk and climb into his truck. Her heart felt like a lead weight in her chest.
* * *
Willa worked like a demon through the remainder of the summer and through the fall roundup, wearing herself out each day so that she barely had the energy to eat before falling into bed and almost none to mope over Zach.
She volunteered for the dirtiest, most strenuous jobs – anything to keep her mind off of him. He had gone into town four more evenings since that first time, and each time he hadn't returned until after midnight. Willa knew because she'd still been awake and heard him come in. She wondered if he'd met someone – and who she was.
Eventually the roundup was over, the herd had been culled and all but the breeding stock and this year's crop of calves was on its way to market, leaving Willa to wonder how she would ever get through the winter, cooped up in the house with Zach.
She was nibbling at her dinner, mulling over that problem when Maude Ann interrupted her.
"So what are you going to wear, Willa?"
Willa didn't hear her at first. Then she noticed that everyone was staring at her expectantly, and she blinked. "What?"
"I said, what are you going to wear?"
"Wear?"
"To the Afte
r Roundup Dance at the Grange Hall? It's this Saturday night."
"Oh. I'm not going."
"What do you mean, you're not going. Of course you are. We're all going."
"No, you don't understand. I never go to these things. I haven't since I was fifteen." She didn't bother telling them that Seamus had disapproved and forbidden her to attend.
"Then it's high time you did," Kate insisted.
"No, I—"
"Willa," Zach said her name softly, and her gaze snapped to meet his. He was watching her, his green eyes steady and glittering with some deep emotion. "We're trying to build some goodwill and rapport with our neighbors and overcome Seamus's reputation around here. For that reason it's important that we all attend the Grange dance and socialize."
"But … but I don't have anything to wear." Though the classic female complaint, in Willa's case it was true. Other than the wool skirt and sweater she'd bought on impulse months ago, and the black dress she kept for funerals, the only thing in her closet were jeans and shirts.
"Is that all?" Maude Ann laughed. "Trust me, sweetie, that's a problem we can fix in no time with a quick shopping trip to Bozeman or Helena."
"No, really, I couldn't."
"C'mon, Willa, it'll be fun," Kate urged. "We'll go tomorrow, just the three of us."
"And an escort," all three men stated in unison.
* * *
"There. All done." Maude Ann stepped back and studied her handiwork with a satisfied smile.
Kate came rushing into Willa's bedroom from the hall. "Here, I finally found the necklace I was looking for. See, it'll will be perfect with your dr—" She stopped short, staring. "Oh, my. Willa, you look gorgeous."
"The's boo-ti-ful," Debbie declared dreamily. "Ithin't the, Jennifer?"
"Uh-huh. Just like a princess."
Leaning against either end of Willa's dressing table, elbows propped on the top and chins resting in their hands, the two little girls gazed at her in wide-eyed admiration. Lying stretched out on her belly across the bed, Yolanda did the same.
Willa stared at her reflection in the mirror. She barely recognized herself.
The "quick" shopping trip to Helena had turned into a whirlwind, all-day spree that had resulted in her being outfitted with a whole new wardrobe. Trying to resist Maude Ann and Kate in a shopping mode was pointless, Willa discovered. It was like trying to tame twin tornadoes with your bare hands.
They had simply overwhelmed her, dragging her from store to store, department to department, bullying her into trying on mountains of clothes. Willa had never seen anyone sort through racks with that kind of concentration and speed.
The two women worked as a team. While one helped her in and out of one outfit after another, the other kept bringing more and more things for her to try on, and each one was given a critical once-over by both women.
They hadn't stopped at clothes, either. They had dragged her around stores buying shoes, purses, jewelry, makeup, perfume, scarves, even a hat with a little veil hanging from the broad brim, though where in the world she would ever wear such a thing, Willa didn't know.
Then today she had been in the middle of giving Yolanda a riding lesson when Kate and Maude Ann had descended on her and dragged her inside, declaring it was time to get ready for the dance. Willa had protested that she didn't need four hours to shower and change her clothes, but she hadn't reckoned on Kate and Maude Ann.
The two women had hustled her straight into the shower, and when she'd stepped out she'd discovered that the serviceable, plain cotton undies she had laid out to wear had been replaced by a pair of bikini panties and a strapless bra made of scraps of black silk and lace. Kate and Maude Ann had then bullied her into donning a pair of outrageously sexy, strappy, red high-heeled sandals and her new silk robe.
Then the beauty regime had begun.
Willa had endured a facial, a manicure and a pedicure. She was lotioned and perfumed and her eyebrows plucked. Kate piled her hair on top of her head in an elegant arrangement with several tendrils hanging loose around her face and neck. When she was done, Maude Ann went to work with the array of new cosmetics that she had been cajoled into buying the day before.
The result was the stunning creature staring back at her from the mirror.
"Okay, time to get dressed. Stand up."
Still fascinated by her new look, Willa obeyed Maude Ann's command, docile as a lamb, and the next thing she knew the women stripped off her robe and slipped a little wisp of a red dress over her head and zipped it up.
Held up by two tiny straps, the dress hugged her upper body like a second skin before flaring out from her waist to fall in billowy folds around the middle of her calves.
Willa stared at her reflection, stunned. She had never dreamed she could look so elegant and attractive, or so … so … sexy.
Kate slipped the necklace around her neck and fastened the matching gold earrings in her lobes, then stepped back with a self-satisfied grin. "There. Perfect."
"Yes, and I have a gold-and-black evening shawl that will be the perfect wrap with that dress. Willa, honey, you're going to knock 'em dead tonight."
"Okay, we'd better get a move on. The men are downstairs, straining at the bit to leave. Maudie and I took care of our makeup and hair earlier, so just give us a minute to slip into our dresses and we'll all go down together."
The reaction Willa received was worth every second of the torture Kate and Maude Ann had put her through.
The men were standing at the foot of the stairs when they descended. J.T. and Matt complimented their wives lavishly, but when they caught sight of her they both did double takes and their jaws dropped.
Willa barely noticed. She was aware of only Zach. He stared at her with an almost predatory intensity, his green eyes sizzling as they ran slowly over her, from the top of her fabulous up-do all the way down to her red-tipped toes peeking out of the strappy high-heeled sandals, then back again.
"Wow, Willa, I'm so used to seeing you in jeans I hardly recognized you," J.T. said. "You look great."
"Yeah," Matt agreed. "You clean up real good, kiddo."
Kate giggled and Maude Ann rolled her eyes. "Matt, honestly."
"What? What did I say?"
"Ignore these two bozos." Zach stepped forward and took her hand. "You're beautiful," he said softly.
While her heart started beating in a snaredrum roll, Willa smiled shyly and murmured a quiet, "Thank you."
"Well, if we're all ready, shall we go? We can all ride together in the van."
"Thanks, Maudie, but I'll take my truck, just in case any of us wants to leave early. Willa and I will follow you."
* * *
Chapter 11
« ^ »
Zach didn't give her a chance to object. Taking the evening shawl from her, he draped it around her shoulders, placed his hand against the small of her back and ushered her out the door.
Which was just as well, Willa thought, sitting in the passenger seat of Zach's truck, watching him skirt around the front. She didn't know what she would have said, or even if she would have had the strength to object. The truth was, she wanted to be with him.
Zach climbed in behind and wheel and started the engine. While they waited for the others to get into the van he turned those steady green eyes on her. "You comfortable?"
Lord, no, she thought. How in heaven's name could she be comfortable, when she was tense as a drawn bow? "Yes. I'm fine, thanks," she lied.
The Grange Hall was only about five miles south of the ranch entrance, halfway between the Rocking R and town, for which Willa was profoundly grateful. What in heaven's name had possessed Zach? He had been adamant about keeping his distance from her, and all summer, except for a few sultry looks, he had kept that vow. Now he had practically kidnapped her.
They made the short drive in silence. Zach was in one of his intense moods, and Willa was so confused and excited she was tongue-tied and in no shape to carry on a conversation. In any case, she had n
o idea what to say to him.
At the Grange Hall he parked beside the van and cut the engine. When he made no move to get out, Willa glanced his way and found that he was staring at her through the fading light. Instantly her nerves began to jump.
"You really are beautiful."
The husky murmur and the heat in his eyes rendered her mute. All she could do was stare back at him, mesmerized.
Next to them, the others climbed out of the van and slammed the doors, and the spell was broken. Without a word, Zach baled out of the truck and came around to her side.
Inside the hall the women were left standing alone while the men took their wraps to the coatroom. Maude Ann immediately took advantage of the opportunity and nudged Willa in the ribs.
"Zach is certainly being masterful tonight," she said with a teasing grin. "I think he's smitten."
"Oh, no, you've got it all wro—"
"Willa?"
She turned and saw a group of young men around her age approaching.
"It is you. See, guys, I told you it was Willa." He flashed her a grin. "Remember me. I'm John Finley. We went to school together."
"Actually, we all did," one of his buddies inserted. "I'm Bobby Lehmann, and this is Travis Howard and Neil James."
"Of course I remember you. Good grief, it's not as though I've been gone these past eight years. I see all of you in town from time to time."
"Yeah, but not looking the way you do now," Travis blurted.
Their dumbfounded expressions brought a wry smile to Willa's lips. When they had attended school together she had not been one of their crowd and none of them had given her so much as a second glance. Granted, that had probably been because she was Seamus's stepdaughter and he had kept her so confined. Still, their lack of interest had hurt.
Before she could introduce Kate and Maude Ann, John Finley, who had always been the most aggressive of the four, stepped closer and smiled. "How about it if you and I get reacquainted while we dance?"
Taking her acceptance for granted, he reached for her hand, but before he could make contact Zach's fingers clamped around his wrist. "Forget it, fella. The lady's with me."