by Linda Wisdom
Tyler had trouble swallowing the lump growing in his throat. "I guess we'll just have to wait to finish this discussion tonight," he said huskily, pulling his shirt off his saddle and shrugging it on.
Letitia helped him get his tools together. The love shimmered between them like a heat wave. Again, Letitia thought to change the subject. Abruptly.
"I read a magazine article about raising pigs since there's been an increasing market for lean pork," she commented.
Tyler's scowl was her answer. "You don't ask a self-respecting rancher to raise pigs.”
Letitia threw up her hands in disgust. "Don't hold it in. Please, feel free to speak your mind," she said sarcastically, piqued by his negative response. "At least I didn't mention sheep!"
"Good thing you didn't. Why not talk about raising llamas?" He put his roll of tools in his saddle bags.
"Maybe I will! You haven't given me a chance to explain even one of my ideas in detail! " she yelled.
"Yes I have and you know it."
Letitia knew Tyler still had a problem with her being the boss, but she couldn't bring that up now. Tyler wasn't listening to her and she was fed up. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"All right, hotshot, you come up with something."
"Look, you want to do something crazy? Fine, raise frogs!" he shouted so loud he startled the horses.
"Maybe I will! Then your warts can show up on the outside instead of just on the inside!"
A stone-faced Letitia gathered up the blanket and efficiently rolled it up, securing it behind her saddle. She mounted her horse with considerably more grace than she had in the past and rode off without a backward glance.
Snatches of sentences floated back through the air to Tyler's ears. Words like "mule-headed", "impossible", "stubborn jackass" were only a few, and the more polite. He knew things were getting worse when she lapsed into Italian. She seemed to do that only when her temper was really riled.
"That woman could drive a man to drink." He mounted and immediately rode off in the opposite direction.
LETITIA's HURRICANE FORCE stormed through the kitchen, surprising Myrna who was watching her favorite soap opera while cutting up vegetables tor a stew.
"I thought the two of you were staying out all day," she commented, looking up from the screen.
Letitia stopped long enough to announce, "He deserves to be shot," before heading for the rear of the house. A door slammed hard enough to send the windows rattling. Myrna shook her head. "I wonder if things would be more peaceful if they got married," she muttered, returning to her program. "Probably not." Letitia sat slumped in her desk chair staring at the wall. Her most recent addition was a personal computer. She spent days inputting all the ranch records. Lately, she seemed to use it more for playing computer games than adding new files to the main directory. Her forehead creased in thought as she racked her brain. All she accomplished was a nasty headache.
"I can't believe there isn't a solution out there," she murmured to herself, absently chewing on a nail.
She looked around and thought of all the changes that had gone on, not just in the house, but within herself. She didn't think twice about getting up at the crack of dawn, ate a huge breakfast and spent most mornings riding with Tyler and the men learning the nitty-gritty part of ranching. She'd discovered that horses weren't as bad as she thought they were. She learned that she could do something more constructive than house decorating or organizing social functions. And whether she liked it or not, she had to admit that Tyler had a great deal to do with it. He constantly challenged her to push herself to the limit and even allowed her to make her own mistakes.
"Why can't life be simpler?" she groaned.
"Probably because you enjoy making it so difficult." Tyler walked into the office and sat in the chair in front of her desk. He didn't say anything else. He just watched her.
"How can we admit we love each other in one breath and fight in the next?" she asked.
"Chemistry."
Letitia sighed. "I'm trying too hard, aren't I? I thought it would be so easy to come up with a solution to the ranch's problems and it hasn't turned out that way."
He shook his head. "You're just too eager to dive into a new project. There's nothing wrong with that."
"I thought watching movies and reading books would teach me ranching." She sighed, loosening her ponytail and fluffing her hair. "I've learned more doing the dirty work you and J.T. enjoy pushing my way." She shot him a wry look.
He grinned. "That's how we all learned. And an extra pair of hands is always helpful.' He grimaced. "Sam gave his notice today."
Another sad fact of life. Letitia was losing men because there wasn't enough work. She'd hoped to keep a full crew on and it wasn't working out that way. "How many does that make it now?"
"Six."
"I can't blame him." She suddenly visualized herself alone here, all gray and stooped over as she walked through a decaying house and barns. She shuddered.
"Hey." Tyler leaned across the desk and took her hand. "We're going to make it."
"Are you sure?" Her smile was a bit bleak.
"Yep. You're too stubborn to give up." He grinned, squeezing her hand.
"I can't believe you're seeing that part of me as a virtue."
"I don't know if I'd use the word virtue, but I'd say it is a plus. At times," he hastily qualified.
"Too bad Holly isn't a witch and Jack isn't a warlock," she said wistfully. "I'd get them to cast a spell and make everything all right."
"No, you wouldn't." Tyler had already been told the tale of Holly's children casting a magic spell to get them a father and Jack "appearing" before them at the opportune time. Because he lived in a known haunted house, always wore black and was very mysterious "about his past, the townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts were convinced he wasn't exactly of this earth. Letitia was included in their curiosity since she and Le Chat shared the same hair and eye color and the cat always wore a collar the same color as Letitia's outfit. Now, the elegant feline seemed to wear a denim collar more than anything else.
Letitia made a face. "You're right, I wouldn't, but it sounds good. I know I could go to Jack anytime for help, but he's bailed me out enough times in the past. This time, I need to do it all on my own."
He squeezed her hand as a reminder. "Except you're not alone."
She smiled. "You're right, I'm not."
"I DON'T WANT TO HAVE to sneak out of the bunkhouse and in through your window this winter," Tyler told her as they curled up in bed together after making love. He glanced at the clock and realized his time was running out before he went through his cat burglar routine.
She held her breath in expectation. "Don't tell me you're going to change your nocturnal habits until spring."
He rolled over, effectively trapping her under his body. "Not if you can give the right answer to my question."
She traced the curve of his bicep because she was leery of the look in his face. "I won't know what I'm expected to say until I hear the question."
"I'm not rich, I'm not Italian," he stated, trapping her face between his bent arms. "But I do love you."
"Yes," she whispered.
He froze. "You're sure?"
"I know if I wasn't, you'd convince me. In fact-" she trickled her fingers against his lips. "-why don't you try anyway? Just as insurance against my changing my mind."
Tyler's mouth stretched in a broad grin. "My pleasure."
She bubbled with laughter as his mouth claimed hers.
"I HEAR YOU'LL BE GETTING married soon," Ezra Beecham said when Letitia met with him.
She nodded, not caring who saw how happy she was.
"Set a date yet?"
"No. My brother is out of the country right now and I'd like to give him the happy news that he's giving me away before we settle on a date," she explained.
"Well, don't put that boy's name on the deed," the elderly banker advised on a sour note.
She w
as surprised by his vehemence. "Why not?"
"A lot of men will marry a woman for land and once they've got what they've wanted, the woman is left with nothing," he stated as if his words were law.
Letitia opened her mouth to argue that Tyler was the last person to do such a horrible thing, then she closed it again. She realized by looking at the man that Mr. Beecham was only saying this out of old fashioned courtesy to a bank client who happened to be a woman.
"Thank you for the advice, Mr. Beecham," she said with her best demure smile. "I will certainly think about it."
"So YOU'RE FINALLY GOING to make an honest woman of her." J.T. stared at Tyler.
The foreman stared back. "You don't act surprised."
"Hell, we've been making bets on you two since that first day." J. T. chuckled.
Tyler's eyes widened with stunned surprise. "You what?"
"You may have thought the only pool around was how long she'd stay here, but there was some of us who figured the two of you just might hit it off. The sparks were there the first time we saw you two together." He squinted in thought. "I think Pete picked the closest date. I was off by more than a week. Still, it's good you're doing the right thing."
"What do you mean by that?"
J. T. smiled knowingly. "Hell, son, I told you I don't need much sleep. You quit looking out that upstairs window and the window in your room suddenly quit squeaking. I'm glad to hear you two are going to tie the knot. Maybe the fireworks between you two will settle down some."
"Somehow I doubt that." Tyler chuckled. "Letitia has a mind of her own. If anything they'll probably get worse."
"That's one lady you'll never grow bored with." Tyler's body tightened with memories of the last few nights. "That's true."
J. T. shifted his toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other. "She can do a lot around here, too. She isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty."
Tyler nodded. "Although she still can't throw a lasso worth a damn."
His eyes twinkled with merriment. "Something tells me that doesn't make any difference to you."
"Not after I took her out for target practice." Tyler shuddered at the memory of the human silhouette targets he'd put up against bales of hay. "She refuses to aim for the heart or head, much less the shoulder or leg."
"Then where does she aim for?" J.T. followed the direction of Tyler's gaze. "Damn," he breathed. "Don't let her get mad at you, boy, or you might spend your life singing soprano,"
"MYRNA, TYLER ASKED ME to marry him and I said yes," Letitia announced as she helped the cook with the bread making.
"You think you're telling me anything new?" her voice wobbled with amusement.
"How did you know?"
Myrna looked up from her mixing bowl. "It was the day you and Tyler walked in here looking all flustered and Tyler was missing all the buttons off his shirt. I doubt he could have lost them all at once."
Letitia pounded the dough with her fist. "Isn't anybody surprised by our news?" she grumbled.
"Probably not in this county."
Chapter Fifteen
"No one is surprised we're getting married! They act as if they've known this would happen all along," Letitia complained to Tyler, then punched his arm. "Tyler, did you hear me?"
He was dozing lightly to catch up on much-needed sleep on this quiet Sunday afternoon. "Had no choice with the way you're carrying on," he mumbled, rolling over.
She resisted hitting him with her pillow. Everyone else had taken Sunday off, which left her and Tyler alone on the ranch. They'd opted for a quiet afternoon curled up in bed where they enjoyed a picnic lunch and savored each other for dessert. She curved her body around his, relishing the feel of him.
"Do you think we'll turn into a boring staid couple after the wedding?" she asked.
"No way." He rolled over to face her. "Staid and boring aren't in your vocabulary. There is something I want to talk to you about, though."
She looked up expectantly. "Sounds serious."
"I have some savings put aside and I'd like to use it to buy into the ranch, if you're willing. I'm not even talking about half," he explained. "I don't want anyone or you, especially, to think I'm along for a free ride."
"That's the last thing I'd think." She stroked his chest, tangling her fingers in the curling hair. "We can draw up papers, do it anyway you'd like. Although you may be putting your money down a dry hole."
"Nah, we'll get there. You'll see."
Her hands dipped downward. "I see a lot. And feel even more:'
He drew in a sharp breath. "Then I guess we better do something about it." He rubbed his hips against hers.
She almost purred with delight. "Yes, I guess we better."
After they made love, Tyler fell into a deep sleep.
Letitia felt too energized to sleep. She finally crept out of bed and headed for the living room. She picked up the television's remote control and switched channels until a program snagged her attention. As Letitia remained riveted to the TV, she quickly made notes.
"This could be it," she whispered excitedly when the program finished. "He said something about this before, but I thought he was kidding."
"Ticia. Letitia!" Tyler's panicked shout reverberated through the house.
She jumped up and ran back to the bedroom. She skidded to a stop in the doorway because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Get him off,” Tyler gritted, staring at Le Chat who sat on Tyler's thighs, batting at the quilt with unsheathed claws.
She grimaced. "Hmm. This could prove dangerous."
Tyler sucked in a breath. "Ticia, if you don't do something real soon, there's a good chance we won't have any kids."
Letitia crooned to the cat, walking slowly forward so she wouldn't startle him. Instead of bounding over to his mistress, the cat batted at another quilt hill. Tyler uttered a curse. He didn't take his eyes off the cat once.
"Okay, cat, you win," he said softly. "You've turned my dog into a zombie and you've shown me whose boss. Are you happy now?"
Le Chat lazily got to his feet. He stared at Tyler for several minutes, his tail waving slowly like a warrior's banner going into battle. He walked up Tyler's body oblivious to the man's pained expression, paused long enough to scrape his rough tongue across Tyler's face then gracefully jumped off the bed. Convinced he truly was the one in charge, he sauntered out of the room.
"I guess we have to invite him to the wedding now," Tyler muttered, glaring at the cat's back.
By now, Letitia's shoulders were shaking with laughter. She walked over to the bed and collapsed on it, still trying to hold her mirth back.
"Don't," he warned. "Not one word."
She shook her head. Her lips trembled and she bit down hard. “If you could have seen it the way I did," her voice vibrated.
"Ticia, he almost castrated me. I see nothing funny in that."
She rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face in the quilt. By now her entire body was trembling with the effort she exerted in holding back her mirth.
"That cat isn't real," Tyler decided.
That was the last straw. She began howling, but Tyler still didn't see anything funny in it.
"I'm going to have a long talk with my dog," he muttered.
Once Letitia calmed down, she recalled what she'd just seen and ran back to the living room with her notepad.
"A couple of weeks ago, when we fought you said something about llamas," she told him, holding out the pad. "There was a program on television about the rise in llama breeders."
Tyler sat up and looked over her notes.
"They graze on pasture grass," she told him excitedly. "And alfalfa and grass hay. The deep snows aren't any problem since they originate in the Himalayas." She snuggled down next to him, looking over his shoulder.
"I remember meeting some man from Oregon who raised them," he mused. "They're being used more and more for wilderness packing and transporting up mountains instead of mules. And as pets
." He looked up. "I also remember him saying they're not cheap.
They've become so popular their worth has almost skyrocketed. That usually means an adult female is not easy to find and buy," he warned. "And as with any livestock breeding, you don't see a profit right off."
"If Running Springs has survived this long, there's no reason we can't keep it running for the time needed to get the operation up and running. And we could sell off the last of the cattle," she pointed out. "And we look for young females if we can't get any adults. Gestation period is eleven and a half months and the female can be bred again two weeks after delivery. In fact, they're pregnant most of the time, which would give us an edge, wouldn't it?"
Tyler's lips twitched. "Sounds good to me."
Letitia glared at him. "I'm serious!"
"So am I." He leaned over and kissed her to show just how serious he was. "I might still have that breeder's business card. I'll look for it and give him a call. I also heard there's a breeder over in Columbia Falls. I'll make some calls."
Letitia threw herself into his arms. "This could be it, Tyler!" She laughed with excitement. "Out of that argument came the germ of an idea!"
He shook his head in wonderment. "I thought I was making a joke but I guess I wasn't."
She was caught up already "let's start checking all this out now." She started to get up.
Tyler grasped her arm and slowly pulled her back toward him. "I think it can wait a little while," he murmured, nuzzling the soft skin in the curve of her shoulder.
"You're right," she breathed, melting against him.
"It can wait."
FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, Letitia and Tyler made a lot of phone calls and traveled to llama ranches where they spoke to breeders, observed the calm animals and made a lot of calculations.