The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Cowboys of Chance Creek)

by Cora Seton

  When she finally felt the car decelerate, she took her chance. Before Duncan had even pulled to a stop at the light, she clawed her seatbelt off, flung the door open, and leaped out. Her head down, she raced onto the sidewalk and down the street. It was quiet here – an industrial area. She had to hide before Duncan circled around the block.

  Fishing her phone out of her purse, Morgan dialed information and asked to be put through to a cab company. She didn't stop moving and she didn't dial 911. Getting the police involved wouldn't solve anything since Duncan hadn't actually done anything yet. Plus it would get her fired, and without a recommendation from the only employer she'd had for a decade, she'd be toast. She'd have to figure out what to do about that tomorrow; right now, she needed to get home. Darting down an alley, she turned a corner and checked the street-signs.

  "Hello," she said when her call was put through. Fighting for breath, she kept running. "I need a cab. Fast."

  A screech of tires warned her Duncan was trolling the streets. She ducked down another alley and hid behind a dumpster. Duncan might drive up and down the area for a while, but he'd never get out and search on foot. He was too lazy.

  Besides, he'd know right where to find her tomorrow. Time to update that résumé.

  Half an hour later, a taxi dropped her off in front of her building and she climbed out, nearly weak with relief. Duncan hadn't found her before the cab arrived. She was out forty dollars, and she dreaded what the morning would bring, but she was home.

  Safe.

  But as she walked into the covered garage under her three story complex, toward the entrance to her unit, she stifled a gasp when she saw a man loitering by her door. She stopped, ready to run, until she recognized him.

  Rob.

  Shocked, she lifted a hand to her hair. She was sweaty and disheveled from her dash through the streets of Victoria. Her pants were wrinkled and her blouse awry. What a time for the cowboy to show up on her doorstep.

  Slowly, she approached him. "Rob? What are you doing here?"

  He unfolded himself from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd stop by."

  She raised an eyebrow. She was still trembling from her close call. Only twenty minutes ago she'd needed all her defenses against Duncan. Now the man she'd longed for was closing in on her, fast. She needed a moment to transition.

  She didn't get one.

  "I couldn't stay away from you any longer," he said, bending down to give her a kiss that made her toes curl with desire, once she pushed Duncan from her mind. She forced herself to stay in the moment, to be conscious of only Rob. His smell, the taste of his mouth on hers, the strength in the arms that held her. She closed her eyes and leaned against him, letting everything else go. Rob Matheson was easy on the eyes, with a body made for touching. After a few moments, it was all she could do not to melt against him right here and now.

  Easy, tiger. Remember your rules. Better not get him – or yourself – too hot and bothered.

  She pulled away. "Come on in."

  "Thanks." He finally released her and picked up a black suitcase. "Hope you don't mind me showing up like this out of the blue. I had a sudden gap in my schedule."

  "Really?" She didn't think ranchers got gaps in their schedules. "Is everything all right back at home?" She unlocked the door and showed him inside her small apartment. Lugging his gear, Rob followed her into the entryway and down a short hall to the living room. Her kitchenette hugged one wall, separated from the rest of the room by a counter. Her one bedroom and bathroom opened off to the side.

  "I like your place. It's…nice," Rob said, putting down his suitcase. He seemed out of place in the confines of her little apartment. The cowboy was larger than life, and her living room was oh so small.

  "You mean it's tiny," Morgan said, trying to wrap her head around his presence here. Somehow Rob demanded wide skies and open land. He didn't belong in a city like Victoria. "It's cheap, too. Only a thousand dollars a month."

  "A thousand dollars for this?" His eyebrows shot up.

  "It's expensive here."

  "The money's funny, too. What's the deal with all the colors, eh?"

  She had to laugh at the mixture of the Canadianism with his western drawl. Her shock at Duncan's behavior and her wild flight through the streets began to melt away. Rob was here. She was definitely safe from Duncan now. "Easier to tell apart than your U.S. money."

  He sobered up. "Look, I know it's not good manners to drop in unannounced like this, but I needed to see you and…well, I needed to get away from home for a bit."

  "Well, it's great to see you, too. Just a little…unexpected." Especially after the hellacious evening she'd had.

  "There's something I need to ask you. Something important." He took her hand and led her over to her china-blue couch. There he hesitated, his gaze raking her from head to toe. Whatever he saw made his expression soften and he tilted her chin up and met her mouth with his own again. His kiss started out gentle, but then it intensified. He drew her in closer, one hand at the nape of her neck, the other at the small of her back.

  Morgan let his kiss wash over her until she felt weak in the knees. She'd missed Rob so much – missed his touch so much. They hadn't taken things very far when she'd visited Montana, but she'd wanted to, and she knew he wanted to. It was going to be hard to hold him off this time.

  When she began to think holding him off was the last thing she wanted to do, he broke off the kiss, looking as undone by it as she was. After searching her face with his gaze, he slowly knelt in front of her and pulled something out of his pocket. Her stomach flipped when she saw it was a velvet-covered jewelry case. He opened it and held up the ring inside.

  "Morgan Tate, will you marry me?"

  CHAPTER THREE

  "Before you answer, hear me out," Rob rushed to say. Morgan's eyes had widened and her face lit up, but even so he knew that reality would soon come crashing down into her consciousness. Morgan was sensible. Practical.

  She'd say they didn't know each other well enough yet.

  She'd be right.

  "I don't know how to say everything fast enough for you to hear it all before you make up your mind," he went on. "So, just…sit there, okay?" He pointed to the couch behind her and after a moment she dutifully sat down. She still looked stunned, however. Stunned, and her happy expression was fading fast. He'd better get going with that explanation. "You don't know much about me. What you do know probably isn't flattering." He winced at the thought of what his friends had probably told her about him during her visit to Montana last month. "But…" He sighed in frustration. This was hopeless. How could he explain everything that had happened in the last two days?

  "What?" Morgan said when the pause drew out. Her voice was breathless.

  "This is stupid. You won't understand." What had he been thinking? That he could fly to Victoria, explain all the thoughts swirling around in his own mind, and she'd somehow get on the same page as him?

  She took his hand. "I think I will. I can. Give me a chance."

  "Everyone thinks I'm a joke, Morgan. I’m not." He broke off again.

  "I know you're not a joke. And I'm probably one of the best listeners you'll ever come across. I've got nowhere to go tonight, and I want to hear what you have to say. Start at the beginning and tell me all of it."

  She wasn't pressing him to put the ring on her finger, and she hadn't taken it and thrown it out the window, either. Unlike his brothers or father, Morgan was willing to listen to him, like she had last month when they'd gotten to know each other. He couldn't remember any other woman giving him the kind of attention she did. Usually they wanted the same thing he was after – some beer, some dancing and some sex, not necessarily in that order. Small town girls who were dying to shake off the boredom of small town life, if only for a night.

  Morgan was different, so he did as she asked. In the half-light of the hall lamp – the only switch she'd turned on when they entered th
e apartment – he sat on her floor and told her about his life. About the freewheeling time when he'd been too young for school or work and the whole world seemed alight with beauty and mystery, about his run-ins with his brothers – especially Ned – Holt's strictness, his mother's garden, the playground fights.

  He told her how he'd cultivated a reputation as a prankster and tough guy, put aside his interest in the natural world, and buckled down to life on the ranch. How he'd soothed his dissatisfaction with liquor and women, and how none of it was enough anymore.

  He even told her about Georgette, going to church, and meeting his mother in the garden.

  "Something's got to change," he said. "And I've got an opportunity to jump start my future. I'm afraid to tell you about it, though. The only way I can get it is by using you, and you don't deserve that."

  "Tell me."

  She sat as still as she had throughout his monologue, but Rob hesitated. He couldn't believe he was saying this out loud. Surely Morgan would hate him afterwards. "My Dad's offered 200 acres to the first of us who brings home a wife. I could do a lot with that land. We could do a lot with it, you and me."

  She sat back and Rob knew she was thinking all the thoughts he'd wanted her to avoid. That he was using her to get the land. That he didn't really care about her.

  That maybe this was one of his practical jokes.

  "It isn't a joke," he said softly. "I want a chance to change. To be the man I know I can be. I wish I could say that I love you, that I want to spend every waking moment of my life with you, and ask you to marry me for real. I think I will be able to say that to you someday soon. I think…really soon." He swallowed hard at the very thought. "But we've known each other for so short a time, I can't say it yet. I'm sorry." He got to his knees again, ready to stand up and head right back out the door. He never should have said anything to Morgan. Now he'd probably blown his chance with the only woman he thought he could fall in love with someday.

  "I understand," Morgan said calmly, freezing him in place. "I appreciate how honest you've been. Sit down again for a minute. Can I tell you what I want?"

  He sat down, wrapped his arms around his knees and waited, his heart pounding at what she might say. This was by far the strangest conversation he'd ever had. The most liberating, too. "Definitely."

  "I want three things and I'll do just about anything to get them." She looked him straight in the eye, though he had a feeling it was hard for her to do so. "First, I want a winery – which means I need a vineyard." She held up one finger. "Second, I have some money saved up, but even if I had some land, I'd still need about twenty-thousand dollars more to buy rootstock and get it started." Another finger. "And third…"

  "Third…?" Rob held his breath.

  "I want a baby."

  Heat blossomed inside him the moment his brain processed the concept of making a baby with Morgan. Images of her in his bed, writhing beneath him, gazing at him as he joined with her, clouded his head until he couldn't think straight. Morgan wasn't saying no to his proposal. In fact, maybe she was saying… "A baby with me?"

  After a moment she nodded, but when he reached for her, she intercepted him, taking his hands in hers. "Wait. I think…I think there's more to say."

  "Okay." He took a breath, hoping to make his heart stop pounding. The idea of having a child with Morgan revved him up more than he could understand. Suddenly he was seeing her in a whole new light.

  He'd thought of his proposal as kind of a business transaction. A short-term deal that could get them both what they wanted. He'd figured in time they might very well divorce, but there was enough land for the two of them, and by then he'd have what he wanted – independence. A business of his own.

  But what if Morgan became his wife for real? Forever?

  He itched to unbutton the blouse she wore – hell, to tear it off of her – and get started making that baby right now. He didn't think they'd even make it to the bedroom. If he had his way, she'd conceive right here on the living room floor.

  "Rob. Rob?" Morgan was talking to him and he hadn't heard a word she'd said.

  "What?" He tried to focus on her lips. No, better focus on her eyes, instead. He couldn't kiss her eyes.

  Unless they were closed and she was half-naked, lying beneath him...

  Damn it. He shook the thoughts from his head and tried to pay attention.

  "If I'm hearing you right, you thought we could marry, get the land and split it between us. Then get divorced after a while. That's not what I want." She held his gaze. "I want to be loved. I want the kind of love that lasts a lifetime. I want laughter and affection and honor and understanding. In fact, I want more than to be loved – I want to be cherished. And I know it's too soon," she rushed on when he opened his mouth to speak. "Like you said, you don't know me that well, and I don't know you, but it seems to me that love is possible between us, and if love is, maybe something more is, as well."

  Rob nodded vigorously. Something was definitely possible between them.

  "And if it's possible, maybe we can go ahead and choose it."

  Choose it?

  "I'm not sure I follow you," he said when it seemed like she was waiting for an answer.

  "What if we choose to love each other?" she tried again, leaning forward so he got the barest glimpse down the neckline of her blouse. "What if you…decided to cherish me?" Her words drifted down to a whisper, but Rob heard every one. "I mean, could you really marry me if you didn't intend to follow through? Could you stand up in front of a minister and everyone and…lie?"

  Rob sat back as the cold wash of reality broke over him. Lie in front of Joe Halpern? His family? His friends?

  God?

  No. He couldn't. He might joke and cheat and fool around. He might knock some idiot flat when the occasion required it. But he would not lie to God.

  That's where he drew the line.

  How on earth had he made it through picking out a ring, booking a flight and traveling all the way to Morgan's home without ever facing that stumbling block? He must have been crazy to think this ever could have worked.

  It was hopeless.

  Except…

  "Say that again – the part about choosing?"

  She slid off the couch and sat on the floor beside him. In the dim light he felt like a kid again, up way past his bedtime. It was dark and quiet in the apartment, aside from the whoosh of cars passing by outside now and then.

  "What if we choose to love each other? What if we decided we would? What if we said that's it – we're going to be partners for the rest of our lives, and went ahead and made a marriage out of it?" She watched him, waiting for his reaction.

  In a strange way it made sense. He'd never met another woman who interested him as much as Morgan. They had chemistry in spades, and she was as ambitious as he was – more, even. Could you decide to love someone?

  "Think about all those people in arranged marriages," she said, touching his knee. His skin burned and he fought the urge to capture that small hand and bring it to his lips. "We'll arrange our own marriage. We'll force ourselves to be husband and wife."

  The way he felt right now, no one would have to force him to do anything. "An arranged marriage," he repeated, watching the way her lips formed her words. In another minute he'd need to kiss her.

  And then he'd need to do a hell of a lot more than that.

  "Do you think it could work?" she asked, trying to meet his gaze again.

  He leaned in for a kiss and an electric shock jolted through his body when their mouths joined. Choose to love this woman? Choose to spend his life with her?

  Why not?

  When he broke off the kiss, he leaned back, but kept his hand on her arm. "I need a few things, too."

  "What?"

  He'd swear she was as turned on as he was, and he wanted nothing more to ditch all the talking and go straight to bed. Still, these were serious matters and they deserved to be discussed.

  "I want to be respected," he sai
d, wanting to look anywhere other than at her face, but forcing himself not to turn away. He wondered if Morgan had felt like this when she stated her needs – like she was naked in public. "I'm not talking about me telling you what to do, and I'm not saying I won't ask for your input on major decision. But in matters of my business, I need to call my own shots. I need you to trust me that I'll do my best."

  Morgan laughed, a happy sound. "Of course. I trust that already."

  Rob's heart expanded, and some of the pain he'd felt the last couple of days slid away. "I want to try my hand at a thing or two before I decide what to do with my share of the land. I want support and an open mind."

  "Got it."

  "Most of all," he hesitated, not sure how to put this desire into words. "I want…"

  Morgan waited. She looked eager to hear what he might say. Eager to agree to it. He took a breath and blurted it out.

  "I want to be wanted."

  A smile curved Morgan's lips.

  "I want you," she said. "I don't imagine that will change."

  "If you'll want me, I'll cherish you. I'll be the best husband I can be. The best father I can be. I swear I'll build us a life that shows you – shows you and our kids – how much you mean to me." He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers.

  "I promise I'll respect you. Lust after you." She searched his face with his gaze. "I'll stand by you no matter what may come."

  Rob found himself blinking. Something huge and hard shifted in his heart. To have an ally in life – an ally who wanted him… "Even if I'm not a rancher?"

  "No matter what you choose to be."

  He felt as if the ground was sliding beneath his feet. As if all the walls that ever held him in gave way at once, leaving him surrounded by a world of possibilities. Freed from a lifetime of his family's strictures, Morgan's words left his future open wide. "That's the best gift you could ever give me," he said gruffly. "I'll build you that winery. I'll get you that money."