by Ashlee Price
When their heads bobbed as they started to swim, it was when chaos started to ensue. There were too many of them and the river was just too wide and deep. Marcel was already off his horse, thinking that they were going to be able to stop for the night, but it was quickly clear that it was not going to happen. A small black newborn that was only a few days old was moving away from his mother as the swift water started to sweep him away.
Scott was into the river with the horse and up to his waist in the water before he could lasso the wretched creature out of the water that was becoming a swirling mass of black and white froth from movement. Marcel was back on his own horse and chasing after another small brown dot that was getting pulled into the surf. The larger cows seemed to be doing better, but they didn’t like the water and even their large bodies were feeling the effects of the force of water. It made them moo and try to move faster through the fray.
When Marcel looked over to look for his brother, his horse was on the other side of the river, as well as the calf with a rope still dangling around his neck, but Marcel couldn’t see Scott. He was wearing dark coat with dark jeans and as the light faded rather swiftly, it was getting harder to see into the water. The animals were making such a racket and churning up the water, it was several minutes until Marcel could get around them to where he last seen his brother. Looking further down, he thought he saw him washing up on the sandy shore.
His heart was pounding in his chest as he made his way to him. Marcel’s horse wasn’t moving fast enough, but he doubted that any amount of speed would have been enough. When he got to him he wasn’t conscious and it looked like he wasn’t breathing.
Marcel had never had to give a man CPR before, but he tried to imitate the scenes in movies that made it look so easy. It didn’t help that his hands were shaking and he was terrified that something was going to happen to him. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself, insisting that they went early and with two less people than usual.
“Come on, Scott. You stubborn ass, breathe!”
Smacking his chest with the last words, he had given up on the technique and Scott started to cough up water. He had blood coming from a wound in his head and he winced when he moved, but Marcel had never been so happy to see him smile. “You okay?”
He shook his head that he wasn’t.
“Well you are here. Welcome back.”
“Did the calf make it?”
Marcel shook his head. “Who cares about that calf, Scott? I thought I had lost you.”
***
“I just wanted to see you. I heard what happened from Gemma and I had to make sure you were okay.”
Scott had been thinking about her and as she came closer to where he was laying, his eyes drank in the sight of her. Her teeth nibbled on the bottom of his lip, telling him that she was nervous.
“I’m better now that you are here.”
Lisa smiled at him, already feeling relaxed. She had missed him and when she heard that something had almost happened to him on the cattle drive and they had to come back early, Lisa couldn’t stop herself from going down there to make sure that he was actually okay. She had to see it with her own eyes. She leaned in to give him a hug before she could stop herself.
He winced and hissed out of his teeth and she pulled back. “Sorry, are you okay?”
Scott nodded that he was, even though she had elbowed him in one of his broken ribs. It didn’t matter though. She was there and it was all that mattered. Lisa had been all he could think about for so long and the smell of her shampoo reminded him of so many good times. His body reacted to seeing her as if he hadn’t seen her in years. Scott had missed her terribly and the last thing he wanted was for her to leave.
“It will be fine, Lisa. Just a few bruises.”
“Gemma said that you broke a bunch of ribs and had a concussion.”
“You know how Gemma is.”
“What happened?”
He gave her the short version and her eyes widened when he got to the end. It made her think of the what-ifs and losing him would have been something that she simply couldn’t have gotten over. “I miss you, Scott.”
It was all she could say. Her voice was quiet and it was hard for her to look him in the eyes. She was sitting down next to him on the bed and looking down at the pattern on the comfort. “I’ve missed you more than I ever thought it was possible to miss someone, Lisa.”
Scott touched her hand and pulled it into his, resting it on his bruised chest. Her blue eyes finally met his dark ones and there was a familiarity that she never wanted with someone else. She could read his soul and that was far more important than any piece of paper. If all she got was him, it was going to be enough and Scott getting hurt made her realize that.
“I don’t want to marry and have kids, Scott. If I can’t do those things with you, then they just aren’t for me. Not all women have kids and I already have two nieces. I don’t care about getting married. I just want you. Can’t we go back to the way things were?” Her eyes held the desperation she felt. Lisa just wanted them back and that was it. It was all her fault for getting greedy and wanting more.
“No.”
Her heart sank and she pulled her hand away. “Why not? Because of David?”
“David? That was who it was? The guy from the feed store?”
She started to get up. “Yes.”
“Are you with him now?”
Lisa shook her head. “How can I be with anyone when I love you? There is no one else for me. I was with David to feel something and then it wasn’t there. It wasn’t worth my time. I don’t want anyone else but you and when you just pushed me aside it hurt.”
“I know. I don’t blame you for that, Lisa. Just know that.”
“Then why can’t we go back to the way it was? You know that we were good together.”
“Because you want more.’
“I want you, Scott.” Lisa could hear the need going back in her voice. The same feeling of her throat closing up and her world caving in as before when he had told her that it was over.
“I should have asked you to marry me a long time ago. You are who I want and I am sorry that I was so pig-headed about it. I thought that marriage would be like being put out to pasture and I wasn’t ready for that. But I love you, Lisa, and there is nothing more that I want to do than get married to you.”
She looked at his face to make sure that he was being truthful. It was what she had always wanted to hear and Lisa was afraid that her mind had made it up for that very reason. “I love you too, Scott.”
“So will you marry me?”
There was no ring or grand gesture on his knees, but it was perfect. It was all she had every wanted and he could have stuck a candy ring on her and it would have been enough. “Of course I will, Scott. But I don’t want you to feel forced. We can just keep on as we are. I am perfectly fine with it.”
“I know, but I’m not. I don’t ever want to lose you again.”
Lisa rushed down to give him another kiss, ignoring the wince of pain. He was just going to have to deal with it because she was too happy to not give him a kiss.
“You aren’t on any pain meds or anything, are you, Scott? Cause I am holding you to this.”
“You better.”
Chapter 11
“Why are you taking so long Scott? I have been waiting forever. I know you are crippled now.”
“I am not crippled. I got cleared by the doctor today.”
“Oh really? What did he clear you for?”
Scott moved towards her and kissed her lips. They were supposed to be going to a dinner at the ranch, but he wanted to stay around and see what happened there first. It had been weeks since he was able to touch her, over a month since they first split up and Scott was sick of waiting. Lisa had taken care of his needs many times and he had returned the favor as good as he could, but it just wasn’t enough. What he really needed was to feel her underneath him and around him. Scott needed both embraces to be complete a
nd as his tongue moved into her mouth, Lisa was starting to react the way he wanted her to.
Lisa had been afraid of hurting him. There had been a couple of times that Scott had gotten a little too riled up and hurt himself. He didn’t seem worried about it, anxious to do it again, but Lisa hated to see him hurting, even if he tried to pretend like he wasn’t. Scott seemed sturdier that day, something was in him and her body was starting to feel the same awakening.
“I don’t think you are ready Scott. I am afraid I am going to hurt you.”
Scott’s tongue lines her earlobe and made her shiver. “I thought I was the one that usually said that.” His hot breath and light words made her tremble even harder. Lisa didn’t want him to stop touching her, her body yearning for more. Their makeup had not been complete and by the look in his dark eyes, he was about to rectify that.
“You won’t. Even if you did I wouldn’t care, but you won’t. Don’t worry about it.”
It was hard to think about anything else but the lips at her jaw, then throat and then along one shoulder. He pushed her down onto her soft mattress and her eyes fell on the scarf she had been putting on before he came in and made her brain go to mush. Pushing away softly on his chest, she tried to sit up a little. “We are supposed to be going to dinner, remember?”
He nodded like he was listening, but they both knew that he wasn’t. His eyes were on the swell of breasts that kept rising and falling with the labored breath. The longer he stared the more aroused she became, only making the whole issue even worse than before. She had always been breathtaking, but there was something in the idea that she was his, soon to be officially. Scott felt like he had won the lottery, but he would not be giving his family any satisfaction that they were right.
“I want my dessert first.”
Scott’s hands moved up her thigh, pushing the skirt up to view the tiny pink panties that made him even more needy until his hands were shaking. He wanted everything to be perfect, but she looked too beautiful and Lisa was not helping his control with her sounds of need. When she went to begging him to take her, it was hard for Scott to not oblige her. His searching hands became more forceful, ripping her underwear off of her with a ripping sound and a hard jerk. Lisa whimpered as she felt the cool air on her overheated skin.
“Please Scott.”
He wanted to savor their first time, but she was just as ravenous as he was. Her small hands were rubbing his hard chest, trying to get her hands on his manhood that was what she truly sought. “Please!”
Scott growled at her, sitting back long enough to release his need and climb back on top of her. He pulled a muscle that made him groan, but she didn’t seem to notice, pulling him down, her lips searching out his. Opening her legs, her hips lifted up to help him along. He didn’t know who was in control at that moment. When he slipped an inch inside of her suffocating heat, it didn’t matter who had control or who had started it. All that mattered was what was going on in those seconds.
Lisa said his name low in her throat, the sound bringing back a surge of memories and he pressed deeper to hear the gasp that he had been waiting to hear for too long. “Damn I have missed you, Lisa.”
Her eyes were closed and she just nodded in agreement. Small hands and nails gripped his bottom, pushing her towards him closer as he started a slow and steady rhythm inside of her. He had always felt perfect, like he was made for her or something. Moaning out his own sounds, the two were both on the brink of ecstasy when he stopped and looked down at her. “Promise me that I will be your last, Lisa?”
She whimpered when he stopped moving, so close to her end. Rolling her hips on him, Scott groaned and slammed home to silence her. It did the opposite though and made her cry out with her release. Her body clenched him and he clenched his teeth, trying to hold out for an answer. But Lisa got what she wanted in the end, his complete loss of control.
Scott took her as he had been dying to for so long. Her hands dug into his back as he moved quickly to his own ending. Panting hard and pressing deep, Scott gave himself over to the urge. He felt Lisa flush around him, tightening as she cried out his name. Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she clung to him as tightly as she could.
Neither one of them moved, basking in the glow of their love for each other. Lisa had never felt so peaceful and all she really wanted was to stay there forever. A phone ringing off in the distance finally made Scott move, but they both gasped when he was pulled out of her. “I promise Scott.”
She leaned up and kissed him one last time before she went to freshen up before the dinner. Her face was beet red, but she didn’t care. Nothing could make the day turn bad.
“Are you ready to go tell the family about our engagement?”
Lisa had already told Gemma and true to form, she was sure that the woman had told the rest of the world as well by now. She never could keep a secret. “I kind of told Gemma.”
His face fell a little. I am sure Elna would like to hear it from you as well though.”
“Yeah, right. We both know that I won’t need to.”
“Are you nervous about it? Wanting to back out?”
He shook his head and kissed her on the lips again. “Not at all. I am glad they know because I really want to get married here.”
She had always wanted to have a spring wedding at the ranch, but they would have to move quickly. In the end she really didn’t care where she was married or when, just that Scott was with her. They were supposed to be together and it was in the peace she felt then, now that everything had been righted in her world and what was supposed to happen, had happened.
***
Elna smiled at the family around her table. It was the first time in almost a month that she had all of her kids around the dinner table at once. Scott had taken care of his demons, while her other son was off the oil rig for a few weeks. It wasn’t just that making the older matriarch of the family smile. The fact that all of her children were married or about to be married, made her wish that she had pushed it more from the beginning. There was something akin to contentment in her body. It had all worked out how it was supposed to. That she was sure of.
It had been a couple of weeks since Scott had been hurt on the cattle run, but he was healing well and back to his old self. Elna thought that more of it was because of Lisa next to him, more than the actual mending, but it was enough. She watched them all smiling and laughing, her heart was full. There was nothing else that she had wanted to see more.
~THE END~
Cowboy Seeks Wife
Chapter 1
“So what, you’re telling me you got a mail-order bride?”
Shane shook his head. Caroline didn’t get it, most people didn’t and that was why he had kept it mostly to himself. He didn’t want to think about the comments that some would give him or the looks. It was unheard of in the online dating age, but he was sick of looking for a couple of dates that would turn into nothing. He wanted marriage and finding someone that was looking for the same, seemed to be the best way to go about it.
“It’s not like that, not really. I found this site and it is for people that want to get married.”
“So she is from here?”
“Not exactly. She’s from Ukraine.”
“Sounds like someone that needs a green card.”
And that was what he was worried about hearing. It was the first thing that had popped into his head when he had heard about it driving to town on the radio. There was talk of a man locally getting married and the radio hosts were talking about what it would be like to marry a stranger. They had brought up the point that it used to be the way it was, a lot longer than for-love marriages that were so common nowadays. Shane liked that argument and working 12-14 hours a day at the ranch did not leave much time to date someone enough to take care of his needs, let alone enough to get married.
“Could be, but I need a wife to help around here. Either way it goes, I get some help and companionship and she gets to live in this country
.”
Caroline bristled at the pragmatism. We had been wired to only think of chemical reactions that made her heart stop. Shane’s heart had never so much as skipped, let alone stopped and as he got older, he started to think that the whole idea was made up by fanciful writers late at night.
“But what about love?”
Shane shrugged. “Some people grow to love each other, some don’t. Are you happier because you married for love?”
Her face got a mix of embarrassed and pissed and she turned away.
“That’s a low blow Shane.”
She had been married four times in her forty one years of life and Shane had never brought up the statistics when she was given him advice before. He just didn’t want to hear it. Caroline was a prime example of what happened when one followed their heart instead of their head. She was pretty, well preserved for her age, but she would fall for someone that was never what she needed. After a few months, or sometimes a couple of years they would leave her for someone else and she would start all over again.
He pressed his lips together. It had been a low blow. “Sorry Caroline, it’s just you’re the only one I’ve told. I don’t mean to get defensive, but I kind of had to tell you about it.”
“And why is that?”
“Because she is moving in. We are getting married tomorrow and she’ll be here from then on.”
He could tell she was shocked. “I thought there was time before you have to get married?”
“There is, but why wait?”
She was the one using restraint now. “And Caroline, I was wondering if you could help her out, you know show her the business side of it. She is an accountant in her country, so she will be doing the paperwork side of things from now on. You hate it and it will give you more time with the horses.”
Caroline liked the idea. Every month she dreaded having to get together the paperwork to send in. The invoices, bills, if she could get out of doing that, her job at Afton Ranch would be perfect. “Okay, sure. It’s good timing cause next week is end of month and the second quarter, so all that will be left is learning annual.”