Stream Ran Dry

by Jeanne Harrell

  And when he’d ridden by, she couldn’t believe his clothes! His chaps were of bright colors with long fringe dancing against the horse’s flank. He was handsome and solidly built and… by some incredible stroke of fate… in love with her!

  Back home that night, they sat out in his two-seat swing on the porch and watched the stars twinkle and shine. The black sky just seemed to go on and on dotted with zillions of blinking points of light … A lazy fly buzzed by and she could smell honeysuckle somewhere. Wyatt had his arms around her, nuzzling her neck.

  “Did you enjoy the rodeo?”

  “Yes… that tickles…” She smiled as he blew a puff of air at her neck.

  “What part did you enjoy most – bronc riding?”

  “Nope…”

  “Bullriding?”

  “No – way too scary.”

  “How about the team roping?”

  “How about it?”

  “…Becca…” His lips left little kisses along her jaw.

  She moaned and turned to him, taking his face in her hands.

  “I enjoyed you and Clint the most, of course. You two were superb and the only successful pair tonight. How long have you been roping with him?”

  He leaned in to capture her lips. “… Don’t care…” he breathed when they broke for air. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer. With a few more steamy kisses, Wyatt was ready to take this in the house.

  Once inside though, Wyatt took Rebecca into the bedroom and closed the door. They just gazed at each other until he backed her up against the door. When he took her in his arms, her eyebrows arched.

  “What?”

  “This is better.”

  “The door? Why?”

  “…Lumpy mattress…”

  “…Jeez, Becca,” was all he could say before her lips found his.

  He unzipped her jeans, had them and her panties pulled down and her leg wrapped around him before she could say anything else. When Wyatt thrust into her, she gasped and captured his mouth again. With pleasure slowing mounting, they felt their insides quickening. The intense feelings grew layer upon layer until Rebecca thought she would burst wide open. When she peaked and sagged in his arms, he came apart around her. A beat…then another… and he continued kissing her senseless.

  “…out of breath… How … can you… still kiss?” she panted.

  He pulled back to stare into her pretty brown eyes. “…How can I not?”

  She dissolved there and then, and decided she’d stay the week. She had to try him out for the full week… They’d had a rocky start, but the love was obviously there and she wanted desperately to believe.

  They snuggled in bed together for a while, when he remembered.

  “…Lumpy mattress?”

  “Yes, honey…lumpy.”

  “It hasn’t been a problem before.”

  “How many women have you shared your bed with in the last three years?”

  “…None.”

  “I rest my case.”

  He laughed. “What are you -- a lawyer?”

  “Nope, a reporter and I have to get to work tomorrow.”

  “…Doing what?”

  Rebecca propped herself up on one elbow to look at his face. She gently stroked his cheek.

  “You’re pretty cute, you know?”

  “So you’ve said… And work?”

  “You don’t distract easily either, do you?”

  “… No, sweetheart, I don’t. Talk to me.”

  She shrugged. “I have to work on the follow-up story for the paper by doing a few more interviews – maybe with the militants who are camping around Howard’s property.”

  “That was so dangerous before, Becca. Let me come with you.”

  “You have things to do around the ranch. I don’t want you to stop your life for me.”

  He leaned in to kiss her. “I want to stop my life for you. I want to reorder my life for you… I want to be a better man for you, honey.”

  She blinked, eyes wide and struggled for something to say.

  “Wow…what,” she swallowed, “…what brought that on?”

  He rolled over on his side. “I know our first day together was difficult. Clint gave me a dressing down before our event at the rodeo about how wonderful you are… He doesn’t need to tell me that… I know.”

  “…Um…” she squirmed in his gaze.

  “This is a big change for me, Becca. You’re a big change for me. Please give me some time.”

  “I’ve got the week, Wyatt.”

  “… I was upset after our talk yesterday that you’d want to leave today. You did mention that…”

  “Yes, but today was better than yesterday and maybe every day will just get better…”

  “It will, sweetheart.”

  He pulled her into his arms and she could see the closet from over his shoulder. Staring at the vacant part, Rebecca made a wish that it would get better every day and that he’d let her fill that side of the closet soon.

  * * *

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Wednesday struggled…

  She had to iron one of her blouses because they weren’t hung up, and he slid eyes away when she set up the ironing board. He was scrambling eggs at the stove and it took a major effort not to look at her. Rebecca made it tough by wearing her briefest nude panties and lowest cut bra as she ironed away at her pretty white blouse.

  Hearing him sigh, she looked over at him with playful eyes.

  “… Problem, cowboy?”

  “I know what you’re doing, Becca.”

  “…Ironing…” She batted her long eyelashes flirtatiously at him.

  “If I grab you to take you against the counter, the eggs will burn.”

  She beamed. “…Rather have eggs than sex?”

  “We just had sex…”

  “Well, than more sex then…”

  “…Honey,” and he threw down the spatula, taking a step towards her. She scurried off to dress in the bedroom, where he found her gazing at the closet, buttoning her blouse.

  “You don’t need to iron anything. Please hang your clothes up in the closet.”

  “Which part of the closet?”

  Wyatt stopped… Without expression, he looked at her curious face, turned around and left the room, leaving Rebecca speechless.

  She walked back into the kitchen where his eggs were burning. He scraped them out in the sink.

  “So far, it’s Rebecca – one… Missy – three. She’s got the closet, furniture and scarf, while I have the sex.”

  “That’s a mean thing to say, Rebecca.”

  “I guess the truth hurts…”

  She went back into the bedroom and finished dressing. When she came back out, he’d scrambled more eggs, made toast and was sliding a warmed plate on the table for her. And that’s when she took a really good look at the dishes… Her plate was cracked.

  “Thanks.” She sat at the table by him and reached for a fork to eat the eggs. The forks were bent and one looked rusty. She would have preferred eating with her hands.

  “You’re welcome,” he said grumpily as he began to eat breakfast. While Rebecca ate her food, she glanced around at everything in the kitchen. Nothing looked new or even serviceable… glasses, dishes or silverware. She might as well be camping at an old mine somewhere…

  And her mental scoreboard scored one more for Missy…

  They didn’t speak much during breakfast. When she rose to put her dish in the dishwasher, she couldn’t find one.

  “You wash all your dishes by hand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever thought about getting a dishwasher?”

  “Yes, I’ve thought about it.”

  She shook her head – It wasn’t worth arguing about. She figured she could last three more days and then she’d head back to civilization and he could do whatever he wanted… with Missy’s blessing. Rebecca washed her dishes and put them in the drainer.

  “No, don’t,” h
e said behind her. She turned around to look at him.

  “…Don’t what?”

  “Don’t give up on us so fast…” How in the hell did he know what she was thinking?

  She blew out a weary breath. “This is exhausting, Wyatt. The only thing we seem to have straight is the lovemaking. We suck at everything else.”

  “No, we don’t.” She glanced away.

  “I need to do my interviews. Will you please take me over to Allenville?”

  He rose to put his dishes in the sink. She stood there and washed them for him, putting his dishes with hers in the drainer. When she finished, he was still standing there, a small smile on his lips.

  “…Think I could use a dishwasher, huh?”

  “Yep,” she said drying her hands with a towel.

  “I think I’ve got one.” He took it and finished drying her hands for her. His eyes captured hers and warmed, making her blush.

  When he finished, Wyatt threw the towel on the counter and took both of her hands to his lips for a kiss.

  “I love you, Becca…” he said at long last.

  “… You can’t!” she wailed, tugging her hands away. “We don’t have enough in common,” she started pacing around the kitchen, “…this place needs a major overhaul and you don’t see it… You’re still in love with your deceased wife and I’m going nuts…”

  She stopped in the middle of the kitchen, breathing hard… Wyatt watched her carefully as she took a few calming breaths. She shook her head…

  “…Sorry. None of this is my place to say. You have your life and I’ll live mine. I think we’ll be better off apart than together, Wyatt.”

  “I don’t.”

  She folded her arms against her chest. “Well, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion.”

  “…Which is also yours…”

  Her eyes popped wide. “No…it isn’t. Wyatt…”

  “No, it’s my turn to talk.” She sat down at the kitchen table and put her head in her hands. He sat down by her, softly stroking her arm.

  “Look at me, honey.” She shook her head. He was so calm and nice, while she was going crazy. Then she got pissed when tears filled her eyes. Gazing into his sweet face, a few tears slid down her cheeks.

  “I think…” he started, brushing away her tears, “…that we’ve had a tough start is all. I know you love me, Becca. You’ve never been able to hide your feelings and even when you’re mad at me, I know that you love me.”

  “But…”

  “Shh… It’s my turn…” Wyatt handed her a tissue and she noisily blew her nose. He bit back a laugh. “And do you know what happens each time we make love?”

  She shook her head, drying her eyes.

  “…We make more love… I can feel our love growing daily and I, for one, don’t want to stop.”

  Rebecca stared into a sea of calm. “You told me on our first date that you were okay with never marrying again or even being with someone…”

  “I was wrong…”

  “I think you were right and just don’t want to believe it.”

  He gave his head a quick shake. “No. I was trying to back myself off from you. I was already falling for you and didn’t know how to handle it. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

  “… You were trying to keep me at arm’s length?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, that didn’t work.”

  “No,” he laughed. “That plan never had a chance once we’d found each other. I’ve been attracted to you since that day in Mary’s kitchen. And you’ve felt the same way about me, haven’t you?”

  “Maybe…”

  They paused a minute, listening to the faucet dripping in the sink.

  “Can we just take this a day at a time, sweetheart? This day isn’t over yet.” She caught his intent by his sexy smile and raised eyebrows.

  “…Wyatt, we’re great in bed -- it’s out of bed that I’m worried about.”

  “And that’s what we have to work at…”

  “I thought that love was supposed to be easy.”

  A big chuckle escaped. “Whoever told you that?”

  She shrugged.

  “Love makes things all haywire and screws everything up. The stars are perfect, but we’re not – We’re here to break our hearts and be worried, scared and thrilled.”

  Wyatt pulled her closer to him.

  “We fight too much, Wyatt.”

  “… I don’t care. You’re worth the fight to me. Am I worth it to you?”

  Her face became a pink blobby mess and he folded her into his arms. She pushed away from him, stood up and walked into the bedroom. When he followed, she started taking a few blouses out of her suitcase and hanging them in his side of the closet, while she brushed away tears and hiccupped.

  His grin could light up Las Vegas.

  When she’d neatly hung up three blouses, Rebecca turned around and frowned at him, hands on her hips. “Yes, you’re worth everything, damn it…”

  * * *

  After more frowns, smiles, kissing and bickering, they finally made it over to Allenville for Rebecca to do her interviews. Mary Carson had called and invited them to dinner at their ranch tonight. They were both looking forward to seeing the Carsons.

  Wyatt had left Rebecca working at the campsite by the Howard ranch house. Their plan was for him to drop her off for an hour, while he went up to talk with Gareth Howard.

  He dropped her off all right, but decided to hang back on the periphery to make sure she was all right. And he had to admire Rebecca – she was fearless. She flipped on her tape recorder talking to one man, getting names and answers to her rapid-fire questions. He watched as she went from one group to another. Everyone warmed to her immediately and seemed glad that she was there. He could tell that many wanted to tell their stories and she listened patiently, asking the occasional question to keep them talking.

  All of a sudden, a few other men came into the campsite, saw her and made a beeline towards her. They didn’t seem friendly and apparently wanted the press out, so they could hold a talk or something. Some other men tried to protect her and Wyatt ran over to pull her out. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards his truck parked just over the ridge. Several watched them go – Their looks weren’t friendly or hospitable. Wyatt was worried that one of them might try to hurt her.

  He drove her back to the ranch where she dismissed all thoughts of danger and happily started writing the follow-up piece that Dave had wanted. She was either amazing or foolhardy, but he knew she needed space to do her writing. Wyatt went out to the stable to help the farrier shoe the horses.

  The farrier was a good friend whose wife was pregnant. Wyatt and Tom were working a while in silence when curiosity finally set in.

  “How’s it going, Wyatt?”

  “Pretty good. How’s Sue doing?”

  “…Coming along. It’s another six weeks yet.”

  “…Huh…”

  A horse whinnied… metal hammered on metal…

  “I’ve seen… ah… who…um…”

  Wyatt smiled. “That would be Rebecca that you’re curious about…”

  “Sorry…I don’t mean to be nosy.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “She seems like a handful, if you don’t mind my sayin’…”

  “…Got that right, Tom.”

  “Gonna marry her?”

  Wyatt looked over at Tom. It was just a question for him, no big deal.

  “…Workin’ on it…”

  “Good luck there.”

  “Thanks. I’ll need it…”

  And they didn’t speak again until all Wyatt’s horses were shod.

  * * *

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Rebecca had been telling Mary and Rob all about the follow-up story she was writing for her newspaper. They were sitting around the dinner table and this time Wyatt was right next to her. In the new piece, she was telling a few stories about some of the men who were in support of Gareth Howard
and his nonpayment of grazing fees – Those who were camping around his property. She was telling them she needed to get the local townsfolks’ opinions as well and was asking the Carsons if they’d be interviewed. It would be the third story in what was turning out to be an interesting series.

  “Oh, gee, Rebecca,” began Rob. “I’m just not sure if I can do that again.”

  “That’s fine, Rob. How about you, Mary?”

  “Sure, Rebecca. You can interview me, if you like. I’d kinda like to tell how I feel about all those people camping down past the ridge. Some townspeople are complaining. Gareth needs to end this thing – It’s gone on too long and is affecting most of us out here now.”

  She looked at Wyatt and he threw up his hands. “You’ve already interviewed me, Becca, but I can round up a few other people if you want me to…”

  Rebecca smiled a genuinely sweet smile at him, which he reciprocated –Mary watched them both. They’re getting along…Saints be praised… Mary would keep her fingers crossed for them. When she told Rob what was going on between Wyatt and Rebecca, he’d given them six months tops.

  She’s a city gal and he’s a country boy…

  Give them time… give them time…

  Right now what they didn’t have was a lot of time… She had to go back to work in four days and get that story to her editor, hopefully in two. She was under a deadline, but was okay with it. Rebecca worked fine under deadline, or had, until she’d been thoroughly distracted with Wyatt Washburn.

  At dinner he would touch her occasionally – He’d put his arm on the back of her chair and rub her arm. Or he would reach over to hold her hand in her lap for a minute. They’d smile private smiles at one another. It was the little things that hinted they were in love. Wyatt was sweet and attentive with her… She was protective of him.

  Mary was hoping to hear wedding bells in their future, but knowing both of them, anything could happen. Rebecca could be a lightning rod and work herself into a frenzy. Although Wyatt was more laconic and laid back, sometimes he laid back too far and couldn’t reach her. She could move fast and he wasn’t always fast enough… But those things could be worked around if there was love and it was there in abundance. They were a good couple from the beginning, even when they were pissing each other off.