The Cowgirl Who Loved Horses, Queens of Montana Bonus Book

by Vanessa Bartal

  Chapter 23

  Cecily woke up feeling refreshed the next morning, and she was more relieved than she wanted to admit. For a moment she had feared she was pregnant. In the back of her mind she realized she hadn’t started her period, but she had never been regular, so she shoved her worry away.

  Marcus stayed nearby to make sure she was all right.

  “I’m fine,” she told him. She pressed her palm to his cheek. “Thanks for taking care of me.” He leaned in to kiss her but she dodged him. “I need to go brush my teeth a few dozen times. Hold that thought.” She grinned at him as she skittered away. When she returned he was lying in their bed fully dressed with his arm behind his head.

  “Have I ever told you you’re the handsomest man on the planet?” she asked. She crawled in beside him and pillowed her cheek on her hand.

  He turned toward her and copied the pose. Her dark hair fell over her face like a curtain and he swept it aside. He loved her so much, this girl turned woman, stranger turned wife.

  “What do you say we spend the day together?” he asked.

  She sat up excitedly. “You mean it, Marcus?”

  He nodded and smiled, glad that such a little thing could make her so happy.

  Her smile dimmed and she froze. “I just remembered my foreman is off today. I have to go to the ranch, at least for a little while.”

  He caught her hand and wound their fingers together. “I’ll go with you. It’s time I saw what you’re up to over there. I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “Oh, I think we have a little time,” she said. She leaned across him to turn on the radio, and then she kissed him.

  Later he drove to her ranch in his truck. “I worry about you driving this route every day when winter hits, Lee,” he said. “I didn’t think you were going to have to go every day.”

  She shrugged. She didn’t have to go every day; three times a week would suffice. But if she didn’t go then she was stuck in the house with his mother, and risking an accident on the road seemed a much better solution, at least to her.

  “I like to be busy,” she told him, which was true. She had always been a high energy person.

  He picked up her hand and kissed it. “Some day our kids will keep you busy.”

  Her stomach fluttered. It was still shocking to her that she would someday have Marcus Henshaw’s baby. The Marcus Henshaw, she thought with a giggle.

  He smiled, a knee-jerk reaction to her happiness. “What?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.” It was too embarrassing to tell him her girlish delight at being married to practically the biggest catch in Montana. She squeezed his hand. “You could have had any girl you wanted, Marcus.”

  “I got the girl I wanted,” he said. He winked at her and her heart melted. He was just so…everything.

  They arrived at her ranch but she made no move to exit the truck. Instead she slid over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you,” she said adoringly. At times she was so filled with love for him that she felt her heart might not be able to contain it.

  He turned off the truck and took her in his arms. “What do you say you show me your old bedroom?” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had the official tour.”

  She smiled and froze when the door to the house opened and Dante stepped out. “I forgot he’s still here,” she whispered. “Rain check.”

  “I’ll expect interest on your payment,” he whispered.

  “You really are quite the businessman,” she said.

  He kissed her once more before helping her down out of the truck.

  “This is a surprise,” Dante said. “I expected to do all the work myself today since Ted’s off.” Ted was their foreman. He was an old cowboy who had been with them since before Cecily’s birth, and they counted him as family, especially since he had stood by Cecily when she could barely afford to pay him.

  “Marcus is going to tag along today,” Cecily said. “He’s hoping to learn something about ranching.” She grinned at him and hugged his waist. Along with many years of practical experience, he had a four year degree in agricultural business.

  “Teach me your ways, oh wise one,” he said lovingly, returning her hug.

  “Don’t be disappointed if you don’t absorb it all today,” she said, giving his stomach a patronizing pat. “These things take time. No one expects you to leave here an expert.”

  “You’re a bad kid,” he said. He squeezed her again.

  Beside them Dante stood watching and smiling. The more time he spent with them, the better he felt about his sister’s hasty marriage. To him Marcus Henshaw had always been the untouchable cool kid, one of the social elite who was above everyone else. He had worried that he would somehow feel superior to Cecily because she was poor as a church mouse compared to him, but what he saw made him happy. Cecily loved Marcus, and Marcus adored Cecily; Dante was sure of it. He never in a million years would have put them together, but now that he saw them work, he couldn’t picture either of them with anyone else. And the more he thought about it, the more sense they made. They both loved the land and they were both hard workers. Marcus’s even temperament balanced Cecily’s flighty one.

  “You look happy,” Cecily commented to Dante.

  He put his arm around her and squeezed. “I’m happy you’re happy, little sister.”

  She hugged his waist. “I am. And I’m so excited for you and Kitty.”

  “Me too,” he told her, and then let her go because he could tell Marcus was becoming jealous. If you’re jealous of me, just wait until our dad gets out of jail, he thought. Her father had always treated Cecily as his most prized possession. Dante was glad she and Marcus would be firmly established in their marriage before his release. That was one thing they didn’t need to deal with right now.

  Dante went about the normal duties he assumed whenever he was home. He wasn’t adept at ranch life, but he had gotten better at it the past couple of years. Now he enjoyed the reprieve from his office job. I’m probably the only actuary on the planet who’s also a rancher, he thought.

  Cecily was in high spirits showing every facet of the operation to Marcus. He hoped his new brother-in-law was properly impressed. His little sister had reformed the ranch and made it profitable at a time when they were hemorrhaging money, and she had done it all on her own. He was certainly proud of her. He never knew she had it in her. If the ranch had fallen to him, he would have had it on the market and sold within the first month. The thought shamed him somehow and made him throw himself into his work with more gusto than usual.

  For his part Marcus was impressed, both with his wife’s innovation and her work ethic. “You have something good going here,” he told her and smiled when she dimpled at him. “It was clever to think of raising horses. You’re the only breeder for miles, and you’re filling a need. Your business is going to boom once word gets out and your stock takes off.”

  “That’s the plan,” she said. “Although I can’t say I thought that far ahead when I started. I was intent on survival, and I thought I had a better chance with something I knew. I tried to make a go of the cattle business.” Her nose wrinkled. “It didn’t suit.”

  She was a wonder, he thought. He had been born into wealth. He worked hard and he had made innovative improvements on the ranch that helped their business grow, but she had started with nothing. When she told him how close she came to losing everything, he was amazed at her grit.

  “I think I must be a chauvinist because I constantly underestimate the female of our species,” he said. “Women like you and Libby who make the most out of what life gives you.” Libby had a keen sense for business, too. She sold jam in town and made a tidy profit from it. She also owned cashmere goats and sold their wool, along with sweaters she knit herself. Her business ventures had been a source of amusement to him during their relationship. He shook his head in wonder, not realizing that Cecily was now stiff and silent beside him.

  At that mom
ent Jessup emerged from the barn. He tipped his hat to Cecily and ignored Marcus. She hadn’t known he was there; he came and went like a ghost most days.

  “What was that about?” Marcus asked.

  “What?” Cecily asked distractedly. Her mind was still on Libby, the wonder ex. How could she compete with a memory, and a perfect one at that?

  “Jessup. Do you two spend all day together here?”

  “What?” she asked again. She was taken aback by the frank accusation in his tone. “Marcus, are you crazy? I barely see him. I spend my days here alone. Working. Believe me when I tell you I am too busy and exhausted to do anything else.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re certainly jealous and suspicious for someone who is carrying his own flame.”

  He scowled. “What are you talking about?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Please. I know you’re not over Libby. You can stop pretending.”

  He put an arm out to stop her. “Lee, what are you talking about?”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she dashed them away. “I know she was a paragon of perfection I could never hope to live up to. Your mother never wastes an opportunity to tell me.”

  His concern was overshadowed by his irritation. “Leave my mother out of this.”

  “Don’t you think I wish I could?” she yelled, glad they were alone and too far from the barn to be overheard. “But I can’t get away from her constant attempts to tear me apart, little by little. Every time I see her, I face an accusing scowl when all I’m guilty of is marrying you. I will never be good enough for you in her eyes because I will never be Libby. And the worst part is you agree with her.”

  “Lee, that’s not even a little bit true,” he said.

  “Isn’t it?” she asked. She dashed at her tears again, cursing her newly vulnerable emotions. “Libby would have been the perfect wife for you, or so I’m told. Repeatedly. She bakes, she cans, she knits, she always knows the proper thing to say and do. She doesn’t cook paella with shellfish because she knows your mother’s food preferences and allergies. She knows which pie is your favorite, and still bakes it for you, despite the fact that she’s married to someone else. Everywhere I go, everything I do, I have the shadow of Libby hanging over me. And I see it on your face every time Libby is mentioned.”

  “You see what?” He was truly curious as to what she was talking about.

  “That look. The ‘why can’t she be Libby look.’ It’s the same one your mother gives me, although she throws in a frown for good measure.”

  Now he frowned. “That is unequivocally not true on both counts. Libby and I haven’t dated in years. My mother knows she’s married to Dobbie and having his baby.”

  “Much to her regret and yours,” Cecily said. Her anger had fled and left her weak and broken. “Now everywhere you go you’ll see a reminder of the baby that’s not yours but should have been, isn’t that right, Marcus?”

  He stared at her in open-mouthed shock. How could she be so far off the mark? He couldn’t believe her mind had conjured something so far from reality. Surely she was mistaken in her belief that his mother was encouraging these thoughts; no one was that cold-hearted.

  “Lee,” he tried. He reached for her but she wrenched out of his grasp.

  “You can go,” she said. “I have to take Dante to town today anyway so he can catch his flight tonight. Thank you for coming.”

  Her stiff, formal manner grated on his nerves. “Fine,” he snapped. “Enjoy your day with Jessup.” He tugged his Stetson further onto his head, slammed into his truck, and sped down the long driveway without a backward glance. If he had looked back, his heart would have softened at the sight of Cecily, weeping and alone with both hands pressed to her face.