Riding the River (The Westerners, Book One)

by Jeanne Harrell

Next morning, Tess and Richie woke up first and got out of their bedroll. They glanced over at Matt and Sarah cuddled up together, Sarah wrapped in Matt’s arms, both of them sound asleep.

  “About damn time,” whispered Tess. Richie grinned at her.

  They tiptoed out of the tent leaving Matt and Sarah alone. About ten minutes later, Matt woke up thrilled to find Sarah still in his arms. Neither of them had moved all night.

  He kissed her ear. “Sleepyhead, wake up…”

  Sarah woke and stretched deliciously. She turned around in his arms so they were face-to-face, inches apart.

  “That’s hands down the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had.” She smiled at him.

  “With the rain beating a drum on the tent?”

  “Yes.”

  “After a narrow escape from drowning?”

  She nodded.

  “… And me with a wet shirt plastered against you?”

  “It was wonderful.” She grabbed the lapels of his shirt. “Now shut up and kiss me.”

  She didn’t have to tell him twice.

  He closed his eyes and placed his lips on hers. His lips were moist, firm… and brushed her lips again and again. Soon her soft lips parted and the kiss became serious. His warm arm slid around her waist – The heat and comfort of his arms around her felt like a blanket.

  Had she ever been kissed like this? No way. There was no thinking allowed, only raw sensation. Her fingers knotted in his hair as his hands ran freely along her back and sides. She shivered, not with cold, but with desire. Matt broke off the kiss to move her onto her side – His mouth then claimed hers for another hungry kiss. They were ready for the next step when…

  “Knock, knock,” called out Richie. “Hey, you two awake in there?”

  “It stopped raining,” added Tess. “We need to get going.”

  Matt reluctantly lifted his lips off Sarah’s sweet ones. He pulled back from her and grinned. “Rain check, miss?”

  “Absolutely, cowboy,” she smiled back at him.

  He gave her a last lingering kiss and then sat up. Matt stood and helped Sarah to her feet, then grabbed his still wet jeans to put on. They would have to do. Everything was still wet from that rain last night.

  Richie and Matt took down the tent, folded it and hung it off the back of Richie’s horse. Sarah and Tess had tried to smooth down their bed-smashed hair with little luck. It had dried somewhat while they were sleeping and looked peculiar. Sarah redid her ponytail and was still working on Tess’ hair when Matt called to them.

  “Let’s get going, ladies. We still have that river to cross.”

  Sarah shuddered at the thought and gave Tess a wide-eyed stare. Tess laughed at her.

  “Come on. We’ve made it this far.”

  With that, Matt pulled Sarah up behind him on his horse, while Richie did the same with Tess. Soon both pairs were ready on the horses and started down the riverbank once again.

  Matt kept one hand on the reins to guide the horse and the other he kept on Sarah behind him. Not only did he want to keep her from falling off, he just wanted to touch her – a constant reminder that she was with him. He was long past the point of not wanting to be involved, and she was becoming precious to him. They’d just experienced their first kiss and yet he felt rock-solid about her. Matt knew she felt that way about him too. After all, hadn’t she just said his name at long last? These happy thoughts helped him to carefully guide his horse through the river. He just wanted to be with her, so he held on a little tighter.

  Behind Matt, Sarah had put her arms around his waist and was holding on for dear life. As he would probably say, it wasn’t that big a step to know their relationship had crossed a threshold into intimacy – And apparently, it was consensual, a place they both wanted to go. She was so far from her Baltimore self that she was barely recognizable – What would her father say? Here she was riding on the back of a horse through a river with a cowboy she was falling for… Or had already fallen for… And she loved it… Matt didn’t like big cities -- He was buying a ranch here. Would he ask her to stay with him? Could she live in a remote corner of Nevada after having lived in a busy city all her life? Sarah knew, as well as she knew anything that she would go anywhere Matt wanted to go. She just wanted to be with him, so she held on a little tighter.

  Both Matt and Richie made it safely through the river onto the other side, where Cooper was waiting with Sarah and Tess’ horses.

  “Have a nice ride?” smiled Cooper.

  “Yes, sir,” said Matt. He was unwilling to let go of Sarah behind him.

  “Sarah, we only have a few miles left back to the ranch. Do you want to ride your horse back or stay with Matt?”

  She didn’t hesitate. “Stay with Matt.”

  He chuckled. “I thought so.” Then he looked over at Richie and Tess. “Tess?”

  She shook her head while Richie grinned.

  “All right, folks. Let’s get back.” He kept their horses tied to his horse and they followed along behind.

  As they rode back together, Cooper told them about Dale.

  “After I got the group back to the ranch, I found Dale to see how he was doing.”

  “How is he?” asked Sarah.

  “Feisty. I told him how well you did with what food we had left and he couldn’t stop going on and on about you.”

  “Well, he’s just being nice.”

  “No, it’s more than that. Did Dale ask you to be his assistant?”

  Matt twisted around in his saddle to look at Sarah.

  “What’s this? You’re going to work at the ranch?”

  She blushed. “Yeah, I kinda forgot to mention that, didn’t I?”

  Matt turned back around smiling.

  “I can tell you,” said Cooper. “Dale has been badgering her to stay on with us and he talked Mr. Walker into it.”

  Sarah blinked. “Mr. Walker said okay?”

  “That he did. You’ve got yourself an assistant cook position, if you want it… Do you want to leave Baltimore?”

  Four pairs of eyes drilled into Sarah. Matt was looking ahead, but he might as well have been staring at her too. She screwed up her courage, straightened her back and told them how she felt.

  “I’ve wanted to leave Baltimore for a long time. It’s never been a good fit for me and I think this is. I…I want to give it a try.”

  She could feel all the tension leave Matt’s body as she said that. He must have known she meant it for him as well – That she wanted to stay with him. She just hadn’t told him yet and that was a subject for a more private chat.

  Tess looked at her and smiled. “Good for you. That means I’ll have a place to stay when I come back to visit.”

  It was Richie’s turn to twist around in his saddle. “You want to come back to visit?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe. If anyone here wants to see me…” Then she gave him a big smile. “Of course, Phoenix is a good place to visit too.”

  Richie raised an eyebrow and turned back around. Matt looked over to smile at Tess, as did Sarah. Cooper gave her a bland look.

  “If you’re coming to visit, we might have to put you to work too. No free rides, you know.”