“I really like you, Dusty. You know what I need, in a way that Matthew doesn’t. He’s so tangled up in thinking I am going to marry him someday, he can’t think straight. Shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch. But I don’t have to worry about you getting all hot and bothered over what I do, or don’t do. Makes me feel comfortable around you.”
“Trouble is, you don’t look at me, the way you look at Matthew, Mattie, and that is why I know I don’t have a ghost of a chance with you. That’s another reason I’m not going to touch you the way you asked me to. Until you know where you stand with Matthew, I’m not going to either.”
“But we sure could keep Matthew guessing,” Mattie grinned.
“I can’t say it wouldn’t be fun doing it. I am just afraid Matthew will have my hide, especially if he ever learns what kind of lessons you want me to give you,” Dusty lamented.
“Well, Ol’ Matthew doesn’t need to know every blinking thing I do, with you or without you. I bet McCloud might be able to teach me a thing or two as well,” she smiled.
“I told you. Don’t get all the boys worked up, Mattie. Matthew is right. You’ll be asking for trouble because they will end up fighting over you and not paying attention to business. Then Daniel will jerk you out of the bunkhouse so fast, it will make your head spin. He may even send you packing if it gets too serious. The way Matthew is going around staring everyone down that even takes two looks at you is bound to make things worse.”
“Yeah, Matthew sure knows how to put a damper on things,” Mattie frowned.
She started pulling her clothes on as she talked.
“I want to go see your place, Dusty,” she told him.
“It’s kinda late, Mattie, you sure you want to?”
“You got electricity there don’t you?”
“Yeah, but it is pushing one in the morning.”
“Come on Dusty. Why don’t we just stay at your place tonight then?”
“Matthew would have a cow if I don’t bring you back tonight.”
“So, let him have a cow. He doesn’t own me. I’m my own person and I can do what I like. He lets you boys stay in town all weekend and doesn’t even bat an eye.”
“Ok, but I’m going to call him so he doesn’t worry about you. I mean he will worry cause you are with me, but at least he will know you are reasonably safe.”
“You dial his number and let me talk to him,” Mattie suggested.
Dusty pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in Matthew’s number. Matthew answered it on the first ring.
“Dusty, damn it, where in the hell are you? I thought you were bringing Mattie back here.”
“Don’t get your britches in a bind, Matthew, Mattie wants to talk to you.”
“Put her on then,” he growled.
Before Mattie got more than “Hi Matthew,” out of her mouth he was almost yelling in the phone.
“What’s going on Mattie? Why aren’t you back at the ranch, where you belong?”
“I work there, Matthew. I don’t ‘belong there’, as you put it. You let the boys stay in town all weekend, so if I want to…”
“Listen here, Mattie,” Matthew broke in, “you are under-age. You need to get your ass back here right now.”
“Don’t matter. Even if you were my daddy, I wouldn’t listen to you telling me where I need to get my ass. Dusty is here looking out for me so you don’t have to worry.”
“And just where is Dusty looking out after you?” Matthew wanted to know.
“We’re at his place. It’s late and we’re gonna spend the night here.”
“Mattie!”
“I called you, Matthew. I didn’t even have to do that if I didn’t want to. Then you would be stewing all night and coming out looking for me. So I just thought I would put your mind at ease. If you don’t like it, that is just too bad. And if you threaten to fire me over it, I know a lot of other places that probably need a good horse wrangler.”
“Why are you doing this, Mattie?”
“Cause I can. It is none of your business what I do, so if you want to turn Dusty in or something for hanging out with me, you just go right ahead and do it. Only Dusty would get into trouble when he hasn’t done anything wrong. Otherwise, stop your bellyaching and quit worrying about me. You’d think you don’t trust Dusty. Hell, he wouldn’t even touch me, even when I asked him to! You want to talk to Dusty?”
“You’re damn right I want to talk to that son of a…”
She handed the phone over to Dusty before he finished his sentence.
“Dusty, I’m warning you. You lay a finger on that girl…”
“I already told you, Matthew, I won’t touch Mattie unless she asks me. However, I changed my mind when she did ask me because, like you, I know she is under-age. Still, it’s her life and her body and as long as we don’t have sex, there is nothing illegal in just kissing.”
“Guess that kiss on the dance floor went to your head, huh Dusty?” Matthew hissed. “I know you Dusty, women can’t resist your magical hands, as you have informed me many a time.”
“Like she told you, I haven’t touched her. You can’t babysit her until she turns eighteen. You will have her taking off so fast, you won’t know where she is until it is too late.”
There was a long pause.
“You are probably right. Okay. You called at least. Just take care of her, Dusty, and I mean take good care of her.”
“Don’t worry, Matthew, I love her the same way you do, but between you and me, she never looks at me the way she looks at you. If you still want her looking at you that way, I suggest you give her lots of rope before you start pulling her in. Hell, you probably won’t have to pull her in, she’ll just trot right up to you in her own due time. It’s up to how you handle her now, Matthew. Don’t get so anxious about the filly.”
“Fine, Dusty. I guess I can trust you since you put it that way.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence. You know I have Mattie’s best interest in mind. She’s not going to get hurt, but I might get my heart broken a little,” he laughed.
“You and me both, buddy,” Matthew said, and hung up.
CHAPTER NINE
Dusty pushed the door open for Mattie and turned on the light when she entered. Everything was covered in sheets but he led her around the house because she seemed so curious about everything.
“You have a piano!” Mattie cried and she ran over, sitting down on the bench and opened the lid of the old upright. “Do you play?” she asked.
“A little. I just sort of plunk around on it.”
“Come on, sit down by me and I’ll teach you some duets. You know, like chopsticks and then there is one called Russian chopsticks. Heart and soul, and a whole bunch of other ones we could do together.”
“Well at least I know heart and soul,” Dusty told her.
“You do the top hand or the bottom one?” she asked.
“I’ll take the bottom one, you do the top,”
Mattie placed her hands on the keys but just as they started playing, there was a banging on the door.
“Now who do you think that is?” Dusty said winking.
“It better not be Matthew,” Mattie, frowned.
Dusty went to the door.
“What are you guys doing here?” Dusty demanded as Buck, Clyde, and McCloud stepped over the thresh hold.
“Matthew called. Said we needed to come out here and keep an eye on you two,” Buck informed him.
“So Matthew is turning you guys into his babysitters now? I thought you were just horse wranglers. I didn’t know the job extended into mine and Mattie’s personal life.”
“Give it up, Dusty,” McCloud jeered. “There is plenty of room at your place for all of us. Besides, I thought I heard piano playing a few minutes ago. You having a party?”
“Come in and join us, seeing as how if I kick you out, Matthew will be the next person to show up in the middle of the night. Mattie and I were just getting ready t
o play heart and soul.”
They all crowded behind Dusty and followed him over to the piano, where he sat down beside Mattie again.
“Okay, Mattie, guess we are going to have to entertain this gang. There is no getting rid of them.”
“The more the merrier,” she said and started playing the piano. Soon Dusty was playing with her.
Mattie showed Dusty every duet she knew how to play, and then McCloud said he could play the piano a little. After playing some of the duets with Mattie, he entertained them with some of the songs he said he had learned in his homeland. Then Mattie took the keys and started playing some old cowboy ballads and they all started singing along with her. By the time they ran out of songs to sing, it was three in the morning.
“Guess we had better crash someplace,” Clyde suggested.
“There are four rooms,” Dusty told them. “You can each take your pick, but since I am not sleeping with any of you boys, or taking the couch, Mattie and I are taking the main bedroom. You can go tell Matthew if you want to, but we had planned to sleep here together anyway, so you babysitting us is not going to change that.”
“She’s under-age,” Clyde reminded him.
“We aren’t going to do anything. You guys want to sleep on the floor around us, just to make sure?” Mattie asked.
Buck shook his head.
“Well, if you want to sleep with Dusty, I don’t think any of us are going to be able to stop you.”
“Don’t worry, boys, we already went skinny dipping and got it all out of our system,” Mattie informed them.
“Man, Mattie, you are just full of sweet surprises, aren’t you?” Buck responded.
“I can pretty much do what I damn well please, but until I turn eighteen, I’m remaining a virgin, so just keep that in mind so your imaginations don’t run away with you.” Mattie spat, with a chuckle. “Come on, Dusty. Show me the way,” she demanded, taking Dusty’s hand.
“Sure thing, sugar,” Dusty said, grinning at the boys, who looked at him with narrow eyes.
Then he led Mattie upstairs into his parent’s old room. When Dusty closed the door, Mattie started pulling her boots off, and then she let her skirt drop to the floor.
“You want to undo these buttons?” she asked.
Dusty came up behind her and started unbuttoning her blouse. When it fell to the floor as well, he lowered his head and kissed the back of her neck, as his hands reached around her waist.
“You sure know how to hug,” Mattie breathed.
She turned in his arms and gave him a kiss, then unzipped his jeans.
“This is going to be one enjoyable night,” he whispered, picking her up and putting her on the bed. Then he finished what she had started with his jeans, kicked off his boots, pulled his shirt off and laid down beside her.
“Just snuggle up to me, sugar” he murmured. “I want to feel you close to me.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she told him.
“I don’t think I’m going to get a bit of sleep, with you next to me like this,” he realized.
“There is all day tomorrow to sleep,” she pointed out.
“Then I think I am going to start kissing you about now,” he informed her, as his mouth found her lips, tasting her sweetness with his tongue.
“Suits me fine. I don’t mind getting another kissing lesson from you,” she whispered, but then he was consuming her mouth again and she couldn’t speak.
Dusty and Mattie were woken by a banging on the door.
“Go away,” Dusty called. “We’re sleeping in late. Why don’t you guys go into town and have breakfast or something?”
“I already had breakfast,” Matthew growled, as he stepped through the door.
“What do you think you are doing, Mattie?” he asked.
Mattie slowly opened her eyes and looked over the top of the blanket at Matthew. “I’m sleeping, Matthew, or at least I’m trying to.”
“Apparently you didn’t get much sleep last night,” Matthew surmised.
Mattie sat up, the blankets falling from her, exposing her bare breasts, as Matthew stared at her, with angry eyes, taking in what she was flashing at him.
“Listen here, Matthew. You are not my daddy, and even if you were, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference! You sent over the crew last night and we sat around singing all night. You know Dusty has a piano? Well anyway, it was early morning before we were able to crawl into bed.”
“So why are you two sleeping in the nude together?”
“Cause I like sleeping in the nude. I can if I want to. You could always join us, you know, if you want to jump between Dusty and me, just to keep us separated. Only you would have to take your clothes off too and then I am going right back to sleep.”
Matthew glared from one to the other. Dusty just smiled and shrugged.
“She’s still a virgin if that is what you are worried about,” Dusty said. “I told you… I take offense to the fact that you don’t trust me, Matthew.”
“Shut up!” Matthew said and turned back through the door, slamming it behind him.
Dusty and Mattie looked at each other and smiled.
“You think he was a might jealous?” Mattie asked.
“He was more than jealous. He was furious! You might be pushing this too far, Mattie.”
“Let him stew. If he wants to sleep nude with me, all he has to do is ask. He wants to be acting more like a daddy to me, and not even like my own daddy, than anything else. When he stops trying to control me at every turn, he will find out I lead pretty decent, with not much tug on the rope.”
Dusty grinned.
“I sort of feel sorry for him. If I were in his shoes…”
“You would never be in his shoes, Dusty, cause you wouldn’t be trying to tell me what-for every time I turn around. When Matthew gets it into his head that he can’t order me around or give me the third-degree, then maybe I’ll give him the time-of-day. Until then, its just you and me, Dusty. It might take time for him to come around and discover how to treat a filly like me.”
“I think I’m going to lock that door,” Dusty said, as he slipped out of bed. “Next thing we know, the whole crew will be in here disturbing our sleep.”
“Good idea,” Mattie said and turned over and closed her eyes.
The two of them slept until noon, and by the time they got up, there was no one in the house but them.
“Well, what do you want to do now?” Dusty asked.
“I guess we could go back to the ranch and play that game of chess or you could just take me back and go back to town if you want. I know I kept you away from your regular fun last night.”
“Hell, Mattie, didn’t you think I was having fun all night with you? In fact, I have had more fun with you than I have ever had, coming into town on my own, looking for a skirt to entertain me.”
“Speaking of skirts, I am putting this one on and getting dressed. Maybe we could go into town and get something to eat and then head out to the ranch.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’m right behind you.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“I have really enjoyed being with you, Mattie, and I think I have taught you more about kissing than Matthew ever showed you. If you don’t want to be kissing me anymore, though, I will understand.”
“Problem is, all that kissing felt pretty good, even if I couldn’t get you to do more than that,” Mattie laughed. “I kind of know why you boys like to go to town on the weekends, now.”
“You catch on pretty fast, Mattie,” he laughed. “Well, I guess we will have to discover what kind of lectures Matthew has prepared for us when we get back. He just couldn’t stand staying away, even though he sent the boys to watch over us.”
“He is worse than a mother hen, with a brood of ducklings that she can’t keep out of the water,” Mattie laughed.
“Well, little duckling, let’s go get something to eat. I can’t wait to show you how I can beat you at chess.”
“You been practicing up for me?” she asked. “We could always arm wrestle instead if you want.”
“I think we did our share of wrestling with our lips last night. And with that kind of wrestling, we both win out.”
“Amen to that.”
Dusty locked up the house and they both climbed up into the truck and headed for town, before going back out to the ranch.
Matthew was sitting on the front porch with his dad, when Dusty and Mattie drove up.
“Have a nice sleep?” Matthew called out to them.
“Would have been nicer if you hadn’t come barging in and waking us up. Maybe you and I need to have a little talk,” Mattie said, climbing down from the truck and then sauntering over to where Matthew was sitting.
“I was going to suggest the same thing,” he drawled, as he eyed her up and down. “At least you are wearing clothes now.”
“I can always take them off if you think you would like it better,” she told him, sticking out her chin.
“Come on,” he said, as he came down the steps and grabbed her arm. “We’ll take this out to the barn.”
“Fine with me,” she said.
Matthew led the way and closed the door to the barn when she came in behind him. He turned and looked at her, not saying anything.
“You want me to start or do you want to?” Mattie asked because Mathew’s silence made her nervous.
“Think I’m gonna start,” Matthew said, eyeing her, and then stepping a little closer.
“So, start,” Mattie said, feeling impatient when he still did not say anything.
“All right then,” he said.
Matthew put a hand on her upper arm. Then he took her other arm in his hand.
“You just need to get a little bit closer first,” he smiled, then he pulled her to him and brought his mouth up close to hers. “Maybe I have been going about this all wrong, Mattie,” he said against her mouth. “Maybe I’m not giving you what you want, or getting what I want either.”
“What do you want?” she whispered.
“More than what you are giving Dusty,” he said as his lips touched hers.
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