by Seton, Cora
He took time to appreciate her feminine attributes, then drifted lower, kissing and caressing her all the way, until he found a whole new playground to entice him. She tasted so good on his tongue and he used his imagination to take her to the edge of satisfaction, pulled back to let her subside and then did it all over again.
“Austin!”
When it was clear she couldn’t take much more, he heeded her pleas, sheathed himself in a condom and slowly, deliberately, pushed into her until she begged him to go faster—to fill her.
Austin complied.
Once they were joined together they found their rhythm easily and soon he’d lost any pretense to control. He was hungry for her and she for him and neither of them wanted it slow. He thrust into her until he couldn’t hold back any longer, and rejoiced when her cries preceded his own and they fell into oblivion together, soon collapsing into each other’s arms, breathing hard, damp with sweat.
Not nearly sated.
They didn’t talk that night. Didn’t even pretend to sort out their rules around being together. They made love, exploring each other’s bodies and their own capabilities until they finally fell asleep, Ella’s head on Austin’s chest, his arms around her, sharing a single pillow. It wasn’t until dawn broke and Austin woke to find Ella still curled up close to him that he realized what he’d done.
As he shifted away from her, she came awake. As soon as her blue eyes opened, he remembered why he’d gotten carried away.
“We did it again, didn’t we?”
“Yes.”
She rolled to her back. “We can’t keep acting like this. We can’t be together.”
“We won’t. That was the last time. Never again.”
“Because sex is off the table,” she intoned in a deep, ringing voice like a television announcer’s.
When she giggled, Austin said, “You’re supposed to take this seriously.”
“You’re the one who isn’t being serious.”
He supposed she was right, but the covers had slipped, exposing just the shadow of her left nipple. The rosy peak snared his attention. Austin couldn’t look away.
When Ella followed his gaze, she huffed and twitched the covers higher. “See what I mean?”
He tugged the covers down again. “Now I do.”
“Austin!”
“All right.” He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. She was right—this was ridiculous. “We’ll do it one last time. We’ll just go for it, no holds barred. We’ll get it out of our system and that will be it.”
“Okay,” she said doubtfully, but tossed the covers completely aside. An invitation if he ever saw one.
He didn’t need to be asked twice.
They fell into a similar groove for the remainder of the week. They worked together on the bunkhouse and separately at other chores, Ella remaining on the ranch with Milo, while Austin handled the trips to town. Each day they began with the best of intentions to keep their distance from each other, but each night they fell into bed early, unable to keep apart any longer. They promised that every time would be their last, then promptly broke their promises.
Austin had never known such intense lovemaking—had never felt so comfortable exploring a woman’s body. He’d long since wanted to skip the condom, but Ella told him she’d run out of birth control pills a month before her falling out with Anthony, and hadn’t felt like renewing them. Anthony’s lack of interest was what had prompted her rebellion, as she called it. Anthony most decidedly didn’t want kids, but the way she saw it, if he couldn’t even bother to make love to her in the months leading up to their wedding, why should she take care of their protection? Austin asked her why she didn’t call her doctor now and get him to forward the prescription, but she said she didn’t want to get in touch with him, in case the urge to benefit from sharing her whereabouts overcame his professional discretion. She was sure the press would have approached him before now.
He had begun to understand her intense dislike for the press, but he had to admit he felt indebted to them. If she hadn’t needed to escape their scrutiny, she wouldn’t be here with him. And he wanted her here with him. As much as he knew he shouldn’t.
He told himself he was doing this for his family—for future generations of Halls. The ranch belonged to them, too, and he’d needed to marry Ella to secure it for them. The truth was much simpler, though; every time he was near her, every time he even thought of her, he wanted to be inside her. He wanted to possess every inch of her, lavish her with love and sensual attention, fulfill her every dream.
He’d never thought he could have the marriage his parents had. Even as a child he’d known theirs was one in a million. Lately, he thought it might be possible with Ella. They didn’t just enjoy each other in bed. They enjoyed working together, chatting together, making plans together. Ella was as excited about getting horses for the ranch as he was, and she’d proved a willing helper as they fixed up the bunkhouse. That task had taken on a decidedly erotic charge as the days went by, because both of them knew just what they’d do there together when they were done. Austin found himself daydreaming about all the ways and locations he could take Ella in their little home. The thought turned him on more than he liked to admit.
Still, thoughts of Donovan intruded often. Donovan would never have a wife. How was it fair for Austin to have one? He felt like fate was watching him—keeping tabs. Weighing his faults against his happiness. What if he opened his heart to Ella and he lost her, too?
It weighed on him heavily that he hadn’t yet gone to see Donovan’s family, like he’d promised his friend he’d do back in their earliest days of basic training. They told each other that they’d make the visit if either of them died, not to spout platitudes at each other’s families, but to remind them that each of them believed wholeheartedly in the service they were offering to their country, and that they’d known when they signed up they could forfeit their lives.
When he’d made that promise to Donovan and Edgars he’d been all of seventeen years old. A child, really. That didn’t nullify the promise, though. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt Edgars has been to see Carol and Dan Donovan. Edgars had balls.
Austin felt like such a goddamned coward.
He wondered where Edgars was now. How he’d recovered from the injury that had limited the motion of his left arm. Had he reinvented himself in civilian life? Did he have a wife and family?
Probably. Edgars didn’t carry the guilt Austin did. He’d be able to continue on, while Austin was stuck as if his life had stopped when Donovan died. Except his life hadn’t stopped anymore, had it? He might tell himself he wasn’t in a relationship with Ella, but he interacted with her every day, talked and worked with her, ate and played with her, and every night made sweet love to her until he fell asleep, exhausted.
That was a life—the best kind of life—or would be if he could only shake his guilt. When he pictured Donovan now, his friend just shook his head, although he couldn’t say if he was angry, or simply disappointed with Austin’s inability to move on.
* * *
Saturday morning, their idyll was broken by a truck rattling up the driveway and coming to a wheezing stop in front of the house. While their bedroom faced the back of the Hall, they’d opened windows throughout the second floor to catch the breeze the previous night, and the grinding of the truck’s gears floated easily through to their ears.
“What’s that?” Ella said sleepily.
Austin was already on his feet, pulling on jeans and tugging a shirt over his head. He crossed the hall into one of the front bedrooms and swore. “It’s Heloise.”
It took a moment for Ella to remember who Heloise was—the great aunt who owned this ranch and held the power to take it away from Austin and his brothers. She scrambled up, too. “Why is she here?”
“Most likely to give me hell about something or other.”
“Does she know about me?”
Austin shrugged. “I haven’t told her. You�
�d better get dressed and come down, though, in case someone else has. I’ll have to introduce you.” He turned to face her. “Everything rides on this. If she doesn’t buy this marriage—if she even thinks I’m playing a trick on her—it’ll all be over.”
“She’ll never suspect a thing of me,” Ella said. She had been about to pull on her own jeans and T-shirt, but she decided instead to go for the tousled newlywed look. She dug out her bathrobe, a silky kimono-style number, and wrapped it around her naked body. Austin almost protested, then seemed to think better of it. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
By the time they reached the door, Aunt Heloise, an elderly woman with sharp eyes but an unsteady gait, had reached it too, with the help of a white-haired gentleman whom Ella decided must have driven the truck to bring her here.
Austin opened the door and Heloise’s gaze took in their disheveled state. “Sleeping in, eh? What would your father say?”
“He’d tell me to go back to bed and enjoy my bride.”
“Huh. I heard about your bride. From Reverend Halpern, if you can believe it. Fancy learning about my own nephew’s wedding from the minister and not from the man himself.”
“I’m sorry, Heloise. I was in a hurry to lock her into the deal. I was afraid she’d run away if I waited too long. After that we got wrapped up in our honeymoon.”
“Some honeymoon.” Heloise raised her eyebrows as she took an exaggerated look around the place. “Well, first you deny me the pleasure of seeing you married and now you plan to make me stand out here all day, I suppose.”
“Please come on in, Heloise. You know you don’t have to stand on ceremony at the Hall. Nice to see you again, Allen.” Austin led the way into the kitchen and gestured for them all to sit down. Ella moved to start a pot of coffee and rustle up some breakfast, aware of the old woman’s gaze following her movements. She’d seen recognition in Heloise’s eyes and she wished now she’d chosen clothes instead of this thin robe, but she decided to brazen it out. If Heloise knew who Ella was, she might expect some eccentricity from an actress.
They had half of a coffee cake to offer their guests, thank goodness, so she set it out along with plates and silverware. Soon coffee was perking away, filling the kitchen with its comforting scent.
“Ella, this is my Great Aunt Heloise and Allen James,” Austin said as they sat down. “Allen was a friend of my grandfather and has always been a great help to the family.”
Allen waved this off, but Ella could tell he was pleased.
Austin turned to Heloise. “Heloise, let me introduce you to my wife, Ella.”
“Ella Scales,” Heloise pronounced. “I recognized your face immediately. This is the last place I expected you to turn up, however, after that fiasco of an awards ceremony and then your hissy fit on the Myra show. What are you doing in my kitchen?”
Austin’s lips tightened at the designation of the Hall as hers, but he held his tongue and allowed Ella to take the lead.
“Helping Austin fix up the ranch in preparation for the cattle,” she said smoothly. “Care for some cake?”
“Of course.” Heloise pushed her plate toward Ella. “A big piece. I thought you were marrying that hoity-toity pretty man Anthony Black.”
Ella stifled a laugh. Anthony would have a fit if he heard that description. “I had planned to. Someone better came along.” She laid a hand on Austin’s arm and smiled at him as if she couldn’t wait to be alone with him again. Which she couldn’t.
“And how did you two meet?”
“I propositioned her,” Austin said quickly. “Laid it all out in writing. Told her I’d give her a great place to live in the best state in the nation if she married me. She couldn’t resist.”
“I imagine there’s a speck or two of truth in that explanation, but I doubt it even comes close to accurate. I may be old, but I’m not stupid,” Heloise said. “You pop up here with an actress as a wife and the question has to be asked—is she for real? Or did you hire her to play a part? Why sneak around and marry behind everyone’s back?”
“I thought you wanted all of us married,” Austin said. “You made a bit of a stink about it.”
“Married by the first of April. I didn’t say you had to sneak off and deprive your relatives of their portion of the wedding cake.”
“Mason just had a wedding.” Austin shrugged. “We would have had to wait a decent interval to throw another one, and like you said, Ella just got out of a sticky situation. We didn’t want the press to get a hold of the story and make a national headline out of it. We just… didn’t want to wait, did we?” Austin smiled at Ella and the simmer in his eyes promised all kinds of adventures when they found themselves alone again. Lust stirred within Ella. She knew Austin would make good on that promise. If only this wasn’t a passing fling. If only it could go on. She was growing to care for Austin, for the ranch, too. She might be willing to give this life a shot, if she thought Austin would go along with it.
“I don’t put much stock in a rushed wedding. I don’t put any stock at all in a wedding unattended by the bride and groom’s family.” Heloise obviously wasn’t fooled by any of this, and if she remained unconvinced she could cause a lot of trouble. Ella might not expect to stay on the ranch long term, but she did want a home for the next few months, and Austin wanted it for life. What could she do to assuage Heloise’s doubts?
She blurted out, “We felt the same way the minute it was done. It wasn’t right being alone on our wedding day. That’s why we’ve planned a reception for next month. We’ll invite all our families and friends and celebrate together. We’ll make all the arrangements as soon as Mason and Regan get home.”
Austin flashed her a puzzled look and she answered it with a pointed one of her own, willing him to go along.
“A reception, huh? I guess that’s something. But we still won’t have heard your vows. How do we know what you promised each other? A secret wedding hides a lie, that’s what I’ve always said.”
Damn it, Heloise wasn’t going to give an inch, was she? Ella played with her fork, searching for a good reply.
“That’s why we’re restating our vows, too,” Austin put in. Now it was Ella’s turn to stare. Restate their vows? Was he serious? He reached over and clasped her hand in his. She guessed he was.
“Well, that sounds like a wonderful plan,” Heloise said, clearly satisfied. “Vows and cake! Don’t you think that’s a good idea, Allen?”
“As long as there’s dancing and you’ll let me give you a turn around the floor.” The old man’s eyes sparkled.
“Oh, you old coot—go on with you.” But Heloise lit up and Ella could see she wasn’t averse to the idea. “I suppose pretty soon I’ll hear about great-grand-nephews and nieces, too.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Heloise. I think Mason’s got that under control,” Austin quickly said.
A bit of a suspicious glint returned to Heloise’s eye, but Ella was able to distract her with coffee cake and the conversation stayed neutral for the rest of her stay. Afterward, Heloise told Allen to take her home. “I’ve had enough excitement for one morning,” she said, “but mark my word, Austin. If you want to make sure this filly doesn’t escape the corral, you get her pregnant. That settles any female down, woman or beast.”
“Yes, Aunt Heloise. I’ll keep that in mind.” The look Austin shot at Ella was downright dangerous, and when Allen’s truck had disappeared back up the country road, he led the way back to bed. Ella didn’t protest.
Kids? Yes, please. Too bad she couldn’t have them with Austin.
Chapter 15
‡
Several hours later, Ella took a break from working on the bunkhouse to make some phone calls. As she expected, her parents were none too pleased about her replacement wedding to a rancher they’d never heard of before, and even more hurt that she’d eloped, but they were somewhat mollified when she asked them to come to the vow renewal and reception when she and Austin got it planned. Ella told them
it was a whirlwind courtship and wedding, but she didn’t tell them it was only temporary. Her parents had a real regard for the institution of marriage and they wouldn’t have understood. As it was, her mother had plenty of things to say.
“All these years I felt we did the right thing encouraging your acting career, but I’ll tell you, these last six months or so I’ve been second-guessing myself from here to sundown. First that idiot, Black, and now you’ve married a complete stranger? Are you on drugs?”
She assured her mother she was not on drugs, dealt with the rest of her parents’ questions as best she could and then got off the line. Next she called her accountant and made arrangements to move some of her money to a local bank. She hesitated about what to do next. She’d been deleting all the calls and messages she received from acquaintances and strangers without even opening them. She didn’t delete Marianne’s but she didn’t always open them either. They were all the same. Short imperative notes telling her to get in touch, right now. Ella didn’t want to get in touch. She didn’t want to hear about how she’d blown everything for Marianne. Didn’t want to know that her friend had been denied her promotion—again. Today she noticed a voicemail from Marianne dated just that morning and something told her it was time to reconnect with the real world. She clicked on the voicemail and lifted her phone to her ear.
“Okay, you’ve made your point, Ella. I’m a total bitch. I should never have let Myra Cramer bring Anthony and Kaylee on her show to confront you. It’s just that I knew it would bring great ratings, and you and Anthony have such chemistry. Hollywood loves controversy! I love you, Ella. I miss you. Don’t keep ignoring me. Please call back.”
Ella would have softened at Marianne’s pleading voice if it hadn’t been for her admission about the show. She knew Anthony and Kaylee would be on it too? And she didn’t even give Ella a warning?
“By the way,” Marianne’s voice went on. “I’ve been inundated with scripts for you to look over. Some of them are really good. Now that Anthony’s a client of mine, all the stress is off. I’ve gotten my promotion, so I won’t need to push you so hard. Take the movies you want and leave the rest behind. It’ll be great!”