by E. E. Burke
“Not too high,” she called out, quickening her steps in case she needed to catch him.
He straddled a high limb and swung his legs, peering down at her through the leaves. “I’m not a baby.”
No, he wasn’t a baby, nor would he be a little boy for much longer.
He still needed a father, but the thought of marrying someone else made her heart ache. With what Ross had paid her, she would be able to start over. Fort Scott would be a good place, as it was growing fast and she could offer a dressmaker her skills, possibly even one day own her own shop, and Danny could go to school there.
She would do as David Braddock had suggested and write to Danny’s grandparents to let them know he was well and happy, and even have him pen a letter to include. Danny deserved to know his father’s family, and she must manage her fears so she didn’t deprive her son of his heritage.
She cast a longing glance back toward town. The fences had been removed to make way for stacks of lumber that had been shipped down from Fort Scott. In the coming week, men from the community would work together to build the new church, as well as a house for the preacher. The reverend hadn’t gotten around to asking for Hope’s hand, but everyone knew he was sweet on her. He might be waiting for the parsonage to be built, so he could offer her a home.
The dog put its paws on the tree trunk and whined.
“Dodger wants to climb too,” Danny said.
“He wants you to come down and play with him.”
Danny shaded his eyes as if looking for someone, and for the first time, ignored the dog’s pleas. “Why can’t you marry Mr. Hardt? He promised he would take you to Texas. I heard him.”
“You heard him?” Ross had made that promise when he’d been flat on his back, bleeding from a near-mortal wound in his side. “Does that mean you followed me instead of minding when I told you to go back to the land office?”
“Dodger wouldn’t mind. He wanted to follow you, and he pulled me along.”
The dog barked and pawed the tree trunk. Susannah propped her hands on her hips. “He’s calling you out on a lie.”
Her son smiled down at her. “Momma, do you love me?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I love you.”
“Would you let me get on a train?”
He asked the oddest things sometimes. She’d seen the older boys jump onto moving trains, and he might’ve seen them too. The thought of him trying to mimic their antics froze her blood.
“You stay away from trains and don’t even think about getting near the tracks.”
“I mean would you let me leave on a train? Leave you, I mean.”
“No, I would not! I can’t imagine why you would want to leave.” She kept her eye on Danny as he ventured to another branch. The mother in her wanted him on the ground, but Ross had told her she had to let him be a boy and give him a little more freedom to explore. He had the freedom to go up one more branch, and that was all the freedom he would get for now.
Dodger tugged at the rope, now pulling in the opposite direction. She suspected he’d seen a rabbit or mouse. Keeping her eye on Danny, she released the rope to let the dog have some fun in the big field. He wouldn’t stray far and would come when called. She held her breath as Danny descended. He was as comfortable as a squirrel navigating those branches, but that thought didn’t make her heart slow down. He stopped at a lower branch and sat with his legs dangling, looking out over her head.
“Don’t you think it’s time to come down?”
He grinned at her. “Do you love Mr. Hardt?”
Susannah’s jaw dropped. Of all the things she would expect him to say, that wasn’t one of them. Then again, he had eyes…and ears. He could’ve picked up something from their conversations. This was a difficult question to address, but not because she doubted the answer. Nor would she lie. She was done with falsehoods.
“Yes, I do. He’s”—she swallowed to keep the tears at bay—“very easy to love, don’t you think?”
Danny nodded. “How come you’re letting him leave?”
Her son’s image blurred and her eyes began to sting. Oh, dear. She couldn’t break down and cry in front of him. For his sake, she had to be strong. She fought to regain her composure.
“I have to let him leave because his father needs him, and because he wants very much to go home, and if he takes us with him, he might not be able to stay. That would make him sad, and I don’t want him to be sad because I love him. Does that make sense to you?”
The dog rushed up to the tree.
“Makes no sense at all.”
She whirled at the familiar voice behind her. “Ross!”
He tipped his wide-brimmed hat. “Susannah.”
“I…” She couldn’t get anything else out, and couldn’t stop staring, drinking him in, praying he wasn’t a figment of her imagination, an image she’d dreamed up because she wanted so badly to see him.
The fine black suit was gone. He still wore his boots, but he didn’t have on a coat, only a vest and dark blue shirt, tucked into denim trousers. A wide belt held bullets and his holstered revolver. He’d told her he intended to never be caught again without a gun.
His lips curved into a wry smile. She knew then that he was real and not an illusion.
“Did I get it right?” Danny called out.
Ross cocked his head to look up. “From what I heard, you got it just right.”
She looked from Danny to Ross, the two schemers. If she weren’t so giddy with relief, she’d scold them both for plotting behind her back.
“You put him up to this?”
“I asked if he’d pose a few questions to you, and I’d hoped you’d answer if they came from Danny.” Ross’s loose-hipped stance made him appear relaxed, yet his smile seemed a little stiff, as if he wasn’t as sure of her response as he wanted her to believe.
She couldn’t blame him for not having faith in her feelings for him after she’d allowed him to believe they weren’t as deep as his. She fought a rush of tears. This past week, she was sure she’d cried more than she had cried in her entire life. “I won’t let you throw your dreams away.”
“Is that so?” He came to her and put his arms around her waist.
She embraced him without a second thought. “I do love you, I won’t lie. But I can’t bear knowing that I ruined your life.”
“That’s good to hear.” He bent his head and brushed her lips in a brief kiss that sent a sensual current crackling through her.
Danny’s giggles came from over their heads.
Ross whispered in her ear. “You told me once I’d made assumptions about you that were wrong.”
“Yes,” she said, breathless.
“You’ve made some wrong assumptions about me and my dreams, and about what’ll ruin my life. Marrying you is my dream, Susannah, and if I lose you and Danny, it’ll ruin my life. That’s the truth.”
His words released a lock on her heart. She splayed her hands over the back of his broad shoulders and kissed him. He quickly deepened it. She poured every ounce of her love into the kiss. There would never be enough time or enough kisses to show him how much she loved him, not even if they lived to be a hundred.
He peeled his lips from hers and rained kisses all over her face—her cheeks, her nose…even her eyelids. “So I’m easy to love, am I?”
She sighed with pleasure as his lips brushed her sensitive ear. “Yes, very easy to love, in spite of being domineering and uncompromising.”
“You don’t listen real good, and you can be pigheaded, but you’re easy to love too.”
Susannah removed his hat and ran her fingers through his thick black hair. “The good Lord must have made us especially for each other.”
“Yes, ma’am. I believe you’re right.” Ross kissed her again.
Rustling sounds came from the branches above their heads.
“Does this mean we get to go to Texas?”
Epilogue
September 1, 1870, Hardt Ran
ch, Texas North Central Plains
Texas was a land of wide-open spaces, big skies and even bigger dreams.
Securing her wide-brimmed bonnet so the frisky wind wouldn’t steal it again, Susannah stepped off the front porch of the family home. The two-story frame house, recently painted white, had two wings. In the center, a large central living room featured curtains with American flag motifs and a huge set of longhorns mounted above the fireplace. Ross’s father had said the rack belonged to the first bull he’d purchased after immigrating westward with his second wife and two young sons. He’d been trained as a cabinetmaker, but he’d dreamed of owning a cattle ranch to take advantage of country’s increasing hunger for beef.
Ross had his own dreams. He and Danny were currently riding two of them around the corral, while his father looked on. Their prized quarter horses had been carefully bred, combining the best of the wild Western mustangs and Eastern-born racing horses to create a unique breed with bursts of explosive speed and incredible agility. Ross planned to expand the herd, which were highly valued by cattlemen, as well as expand and improve their variety of longhorn cattle.
Susannah waved to her husband, and started over to let him and Danny know dinner would soon be ready. She was thankful for the housekeeper, Mattie, who also helped with the cooking. On a regular basis, they fed six full-time ranch hands, plus the family.
Her father-in-law, Jacob Hardt, leaned on the fence encircling the corral. His usual stern expression had softened into a look of pride, which she’d noticed he wore only when Ross wasn’t watching. The gruff patriarch didn’t openly show affection to anyone, save his horse.
She’d worried about whether Danny and his new grandpa would get along, but he and the crusty old man got on just fine. They seemed to have their own unique way of communicating—Danny talked and his grandpa listened.
Ross had observed that when he’d been growing up, his pa had talked and expected him to listen, but most times he didn’t. He’d remarked that Danny’s easy-going personality made the difference. Susannah had suggested that Ross’s father might’ve learned a little more patience.
She stopped next to where her father-in-law stood. He’d passed on thick black hair, now threaded with silver, and stern, chiseled features to his son. “How are the riding lessons going?”
“He’s got a natural ability.”
Ross demonstrated a tricky move that involved backing up and turning.
“I agree. Ross is an excellent teacher.”
“I meant your son.”
“Ah. Yes, he does seem to have taken to horseback riding as well as he took to climbing trees.”
“Both require balance and the good sense to avoid ending up on your head.”
Ross’s father had also handed down his acerbic sense of humor.
She gazed beyond the hay barn at the green, rolling hills where brown and white spotted longhorns grazed. Her experience with cattle had been limited to helping with her father’s bookkeeping, but she was quickly learning her way around a ranch, thanks to her husband’s newfound patience. He still exhibited arrogance, especially when he locked horns with his father; they were like two bulls battling it out.
His father no longer had his younger son to use as leverage against his eldest. Charles had moved to Montana, where he hoped to make his fortune mining for gold. His wife Olivia had left the ranch in tears. None of the help acted like they were unhappy she was gone. From what Susannah had heard of mild-mannered Charles, she suspected he was glad to get away from his overbearing father. Ross could stand up to Jacob Hardt, yet he had learned the benefit of occasional compromise.
“Dinner will be ready soon,” she said.
“Mattie’s fried chicken?”
If her father-in-law could, he would eat Mattie’s fried chicken every morning, noon and night. Susannah had given up trying to come up with tasty alternatives.
“When a lady extends an invitation to dinner, you shouldn’t express a preference for another woman’s cooking.”
A slight smile cracked the older man’s stony expression. “Sounds like something Martha Mae would’ve said. Then she would’ve walloped me over the head with a frying pan and told me to cook my own dang chicken.”
“I can’t say I’m not tempted.”
“You remind me of her.”
Did he mean the part about using the frying pan? Whatever he meant, she knew what he was saying. He’d accepted her.
“I’ll take that as a great compliment.”
“It is.”
There was always a hint of longing in Mr. Hardt’s voice when he spoke of Ross’s mother.
“Ross tells me he recalls his mother being very sweet.”
“He’s got a bad memory. I couldn’t marry a sweet woman. I prefer ’em spicy.”
Susannah released a soft laugh. “I’ve heard that from someone else.”
Jacob Hardt merely nodded.
“What was she like, Ross’s mother?”
“Spunky…fierce as a mother bear. She killed a rattlesnake with a broom handle when it went after Ross. She was just as fierce when it came to love. Didn’t give halfway.”
Martha Mae reminded Susannah of someone else. “Ross is a lot like her.”
“Ross?” His father’s grizzled eyebrows lifted in surprise, then lowered into the usual frown. “He’s too much like me.”
“He has traits from both of you, I’d say.”
Ross and Danny rode over to where they were standing, and Ross dismounted. His father took the reins. “I’ll finish up here. You tell your wife what we decided.”
Susannah followed Ross to the house. “What is it?”
“You’ll see.”
“I hate surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.”
He opened the heavy oak door and waited until she entered. She followed him down the hall to a room used as a library and office, where he picked up a folded piece of paper on the desk. Opening it, he held it out.
The only thing on it was a rough drawing, which looked like it could represent a branding mark. The ranch already had a brand, which was a J.
“What is this?”
“What does it look like?”
“Two hearts, interlocked.”
“That’s what it is. Double Hearts, our new brand.”
“Our new brand?”
Ross smiled knowingly. “Pa told me last night that he wants me to take over. He says he’s tired of fighting over every little decision and somebody needs to be in charge. We talked about where things are headed, and he says I can do as I see fit. Like I told you, I’ve purchased the two other ranches adjacent to ours. Pa signed over ownership of this ranch to me. Altogether, it’ll be the Double H Ranch. You’re legally half-owner. I’ve already had the papers drawn up. If I go first, you’ll own all of it. We can talk about how we’ll parcel it out amongst our children, including Danny.”
Her breath caught. Ross had made her his partner in every way possible, and he’d included his adopted son as an heir. This was his way of showing her how much he loved her—and trusted her. She put her hand to her mouth and tried very hard not to cry.
“Oh, Ross. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you like it. If you don’t, we can—”
“No, I love it. I love you.” She threw her arms around his neck.
He bent his head and collected his kiss.
She couldn’t imagine how life could get any better, and she was very grateful for her husband’s confidence and hardheadedness, because he hadn’t taken no for an answer.
Susannah drew back to look at him, gazing deep into his beautiful blue eyes. “I want to give you something too…a gift.” She took his hand and placed it on her midsection, which had only just started to thicken.
His expression underwent a transformation from shock to wonder, until finally, a wry smile appeared and that look of his that said he was mighty satisfied with himself—and with her.
The End
From th
e Author
Thank you, dear reader, for joining me on a journey into a fictional world of the past. If you enjoyed Seducing Susannah, you can find an up-to-date listing of other titles in the series on my website under My Books.
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I wish you many happy hours reading.
Warmest Regards,
E.E. Burke
Visit my website www.eeburke.com to read excerpts and find out about new projects.
Books by E.E. Burke
Texas Hearts Series
(Contemporary Romance)
Maybe Baby
The Bride Train Series
(Historical Romance)
Valentine’s Rose
Patrick’s Charm
Tempting Prudence
Seducing Susannah
American Mail-Order Brides
(Historical Romance)
Victoria Bride of Kansas
Santa’s Mail-Order Bride
Also in Audiobooks
Victoria Bride of Kansas
Santa’s Mail-Order Bride
Steam! Romance and Rails Series
(Historical Romance)