A Kiss in the Sunlight

by Marie Patrick

  She stood and reached for his hand at the same time Desi Lyn and the dog both leaped from the carriage, rocking the vehicle and making it roll forward then back. Ryleigh made a grab for the seat but with the parasol in her hand, she couldn’t grasp it. By the time she dropped the umbrella, it was too late. She was already falling, unable to stop herself. A startled Goodness escaped her and images of the first time she’d ever seen Teague MacDermott flooded her brain.

  And then she was in his arms, neither one of them in the dirt this time. “Shall we add carriages to the list of things you need to avoid?” he asked as he held her close, so close she could feel his heartbeat. The smile she found so darned attractive appeared on his face, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he steadied her on her own two feet.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m not.” His grin spread wider, and that funny little flutter in her chest came back twofold. She drew in her breath and took a step back, although that wasn’t what she wanted to do. Rather, she wanted to stay within the warmth of his embrace and press her lips to his . . . and keep doing it until neither one of them could breathe.

  Neither Malva nor Shep commented on her clumsiness, though the woman did clear her throat. Ryleigh turned in her direction, heat flooding her cheeks, and tried to find her composure. It wasn’t easy, but she managed.

  “Welcome to Whispering Pines.” Malva set the coffee service on a small table between several wicker chairs on the back porch. “Come on up, and we can visit for a spell. I made a fresh pot of coffee and some muffins.”

  “Thank you. That would be lovely.” Ryleigh stepped up onto the porch and sank into one of the wicker chairs while Teague and Shep took care of the buggy. Her seat was the perfect place to admire Teague’s backside before he disappeared into the barn. She turned her attention to Malva as the woman slid a coffee cup across the table toward her without a word.

  From what she remembered from the picnic, Malva Parsons, though friendly and warm, was a woman of few words. Shep, she’d noticed, said even less. Would Malva talk about Teague? She’d known him as long as his other friends. Would she do like they had and just regale her with tales of when he was young, avoiding the topic of the gunfight altogether?

  Only one way to find out, but she had to tread carefully, slowly ease the woman into being comfortable enough to speak.

  Ryleigh picked up her cup and took a sip, the coffee strong but not bitter. “Excellent coffee,” she said, hoping to open up a conversation, but her gambit failed as Malva simply nodded her thanks for the compliment, her focus trained on the two girls and the dog in the yard.

  Well, that didn’t work. Maybe she’ll answer a direct question.

  Ryleigh let out her breath and opened her mouth. A question was on the tip of her tongue, but she never had a chance to ask as Desi Lyn climbed up to the porch steps and grabbed her hand, trying to pull her from her seat. “Come and see my horse, Miss Ryleigh.”

  “I think I need to go,” she said with a laugh and rose to her feet, allowing Desi Lyn to pull her across the yard to a corral beside the stable where the girl let go of her hand and scrambled to the top of the fence. Sarah climbed to the top of the fence as well while Shotgun sank to his haunches and waited patiently, his tail fanning the dust. Desi Lyn clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. The horse responded immediately, cantering over to push her head against the girl’s shoulder. The mare snorted as Desi Lyn giggled, then dropped a kiss on her head. “Silver Belle, this is Miss Ryleigh.”

  “Hello, Silver Belle.” Ryleigh reached out and smoothed her fingers along the horse’s nose. “She’s beautiful.” The dapple gray raised her upper lip and showed her big, yellow teeth in what she assumed was a grin, then blew, delivering a draft of hot air to her face. She took a step back, startled, and then laughed.

  “She likes you.” Desi Lyn rubbed her fingers along the ridge between the horse’s ears.

  “How can you tell?”

  The girl shrugged. “She smiled at you. She doesn’t smile for everyone.”

  Teague came up beside her, and she glanced in his direction, allowing her gaze to drink him in. Oh yes, he was indeed more handsome than before. “Do you ride, Ryleigh?”

  She laughed. “About as well as I walk sometimes. I do enjoy it, though, if the horse is gentle and well-behaved.”

  “You can ride Silver Belle, Miss Ryleigh. She’s very gentle.”

  “Thank you, Desi Lyn, but what are you going to ride?”

  The little girl shook her head. “Oh, I’m not goin’ riding. I’m gonna stay and play with Sarah.” And with those words, she jumped from the rail, grabbed the girl’s hand, and dashed away to the barn, her giggles filling the air. Shotgun followed behind her, his barks adding to her laughter.

  Surprised and confused by the girl’s actions, Ryleigh shook her head, then snuck a peek at Teague. Big mistake. Beneath the brim of his hat, his eyes darkened even more so they no longer matched his shirt. Redness brightened his cheeks as he bit his lip to keep from grinning. “Looks like it’s just you and me.”

  “Yes, it does. Do you mind terribly?”

  He shook his head. “Not at all. We wouldn’t want to disappoint Desi Lyn.”

  In short order, he saddled Silver Belle and another horse, a stallion he called Pride. “Are you ready?”

  Ryleigh nodded even as wrung her hands together. She hadn’t lied. She did ride as well as she walked sometimes. She only hoped she wouldn’t fall off the horse as she’d done so many times in the past.

  Teague laced his hands, then held them low so she could step up. Once settled, he handed her the reins, then made sure her feet were properly in the stirrups. As he did so, his hands lingered on her ankle. Was it her imagination or did she really feel the heat of his palms through her boots? That was impossible, of course, so why did warmth steal up her leg to settle between her thighs?

  “All set?”

  “What?” She shook her head in an effort to clear it. “Yes.”

  She watched him climb into Pride’s saddle, noting how easily he did so, the muscles in his arms bulging with his actions, his gray shirt stretching across his back. She drew in her breath. That flutter was back, worse than before, and something new had been added―her belly tightened and tingled.

  “We’ll be back by lunch,” he told Shep as the man handed him a canteen. “We’re gonna head north to the falls.” He wrapped the leather strap of the canteen around the pommel and lightly kicked Pride. He waved to Malva on the porch. She hadn’t moved from the table, but she did wave in return. Ryleigh followed suit, and they left the barnyard.

  They rode north in silence. Ryleigh scanned the surrounding countryside, but she was more concerned with keeping her seat. It had been too long since she’d had a lesson. She wished she rode as well as Teague. He seemed so at ease in the saddle.

  Riding behind him was about as pleasant as seeing him come toward her, and she allowed herself the opportunity to watch him without being observed doing so. His back remained straight, and the muscles in his broad shoulders moved beneath his shirt as he handled the reins, stretching the gray fabric across his back. She couldn’t see his hands from her position, but she could imagine them holding the leather straps loosely between his long, slim fingers―she didn’t have to see them to remember how skillfully he played his guitar and what watching him had done to her insides.

  That flutter in her chest started again, and her heart raced a little faster as several thoughts flew into her head―very improper thoughts.

  Would he try to kiss her again when they arrived at their destination? She wouldn’t mind. Not one bit. And if he wanted to go a little further, say kiss her neck? Her shoulder? Other places? Was he the kind of man who would do the things her girlfriends giggled about?

  Her belly quivered, and a flush heated her entire body, from her toes to her forehead as that question rambled through her head. Was she being indecent just thinking about it?

  Yes, proba
bly, but why shouldn’t she? She was a grown woman, as independent as society and her father allowed, so why shouldn’t she experience life? All of it, not just bits and pieces. It wasn’t as if she needed to save herself for marriage, because no one was going to marry her anyway, so why not take a lover? And not just any lover, either, but the enigmatic sheriff who thrilled her down to her very toes.

  But how? She wouldn’t know the first thing to do. Or say. She wasn’t very good at flirting, although, as brash as she could sometimes be, she could probably just ask him. Then again, maybe not. She wasn’t that bold. She had kissed him that first time though.

  “Ryleigh?”

  Startled by the sound of his voice so close, she stiffened, and turned quickly. He had stopped while she was daydreaming of his lips on hers―and other places―allowing her to catch up to him at a fork in the path. “We’re heading up there.” He pointed toward the ridge ahead of them, barely visible through the copse of trees.

  “What’s up there?”

  “You’ll see.” He grinned, then lightly nudged Pride, guiding him along the narrow path that ascended toward the plateau in the near distance. Ryleigh followed, her gaze pinned to his broad back. The thunderous roar of the waterfall grew louder, but she couldn’t see it. There were too many trees in the way, but when she looked up, she saw mist rising toward the sky. A rainbow arced above the treetops, so close she might have run her fingers through the ribbons of color.

  When they reached the top of the plateau, Teague stopped his horse in a clearing where the winding river met the edge of the ridge and water flowed over the rocks. He dismounted, then reached up for her. For the third time that morning, all she could think about was kissing him as he helped her down from Silver Belle’s back.

  “Oh, this is beautiful,” she breathed as she took in the view. From this high on the ridge, she could see the entire town as well as the farms and ranches. To the north of her, there were more trees, the river leading to the falls cutting through the landscape. “Do you come here often?”

  “Not as much as I used to. I spent a lot of time up here when I was younger.” He nodded toward the shimmering pool at the base of the falls. “See that big boulder on the edge of the pool down there?”

  She followed his direction, spotted a huge moss-covered boulder that looked like it had just fallen from the sky and landed at the water’s edge, and nodded.

  “That’s a great place to just sit and think. When I make my rounds in the morning, I always stop there.” He took her arm and led her closer to the falls. A long rock shelf extended a few feet and hovered above nothing except the water too many yards below. “Careful here. It can get slippery.”

  The height made her dizzy as she stared down at the turbulent water below and she sucked in her breath. She could just see herself tumbling from where she stood . . . or worse. She could bring both of them down. Could she survive a plunge into the churning, tumultuous water beneath her? There were boulders at the bottom where the falls met the pool, she was sure, and even if she survived the fall, she didn’t know how to swim. “I think I should move back a little.”

  “I won’t let you fall.”

  She smiled at him despite her fears. “You may not have a choice. Remember me? I’m a disaster waiting to happen.”

  He laughed, the sound so confident she had no choice but to believe him. And as if to ease her fears a little more, he asked, “Why don’t we just sit? Would that make you feel better?”

  She nodded and sank to the rock, even though the surface was wet with mist. A damp backside was much better than the risk of falling.

  “This was Kieran and Mary’s favorite place. He even carved their initials on that tree over there.” He nodded toward a sycamore on the other side of the river, then sat down beside her on the rock shelf and passed her the canteen. “There’s a cave beneath the falls.” He pointed to a shadow barely visible beneath the flowing water. “When we were younger, my brothers and I, along with Nate and a few others, explored that cave.” He grinned. “We were hoping to find a big vein of silver and strike it rich.”

  “Did you? Find silver, I mean.”

  He shook his head and gave her a rueful smirk. “We didn’t find anything except spiders and other bugs. We did find a snake skin once. I think Roy still has it.”

  She studied the rocks and boulders and didn’t see a path or anything leading down to the place he indicated. “How did you get down there?”

  “Ropes.”

  “Ropes?”

  He nodded. “We tied ropes to those trees over there then around our waists and scaled the rocks right there.” He pointed to the other side of the waterfall and the black, shiny boulders leading down to the pool at the bottom.

  “Wasn’t that dangerous?”

  He shrugged, then grinned. “Probably.” He laughed and again, her belly quivered. Heat surged through her veins. “We were young and looking for adventure. I’m glad my mother never found out. She would have taken the switch to us for being so stupid.”

  He lapsed into silence as his gaze focused on the water flowing over the edge, but she could still see the wistful smile on his lips those fond memories had brought. There were so many things about him she didn’t know but wanted to, and not only about the day the Logans came to town. But what to ask and how to ask it remained a puzzle. He could, and did, keep things close to the vest, so to speak.

  “Have you ever been to San Francisco?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.” He shrugged. “I really have no desire to leave Paradise Falls.”

  “You really love this town, don’t you?”

  “Of course. It’s a good place, and the people are warm and friendly. From the moment my father accepted the position of sheriff all those years ago and told us we were going to Colorado, I couldn’t wait to get here.” He flashed her an impish grin. “What boy wouldn’t want to live in the Wild West?” He spread his arms to encompass their surroundings. “Look at all those trees. Look up at the sky. Have you ever seen a sky so blue?”

  He leaned back on his elbows on the rock shelf. “My father was a dreamer. Mam said he had happy feet. There was always something better on the horizon, and Mam, because she loved him, followed him wherever he wanted to go. It was hard sometimes. The Irish weren’t always accepted readily, and we faced prejudice in a lot of places, but Mam always seemed to make the best of it.”

  He let out a long sigh, his focus on the sky above him. “I was twelve when we moved here. Kieran was fourteen, Brock had just turned thirteen, and Eamon was eleven. I remember Mam walking into our house for the first time with a sense of awe. She’d never had a house of her own. We lived in walk-up apartments in Boston and Chicago and a few other places. Even lived in a tenement building in New York where my father patrolled the streets as a policeman.”

  He laughed with the memory. “That day, Mam finally put her foot down. She looked at my father and said in her fine Irish brogue, ‘Shamus MacDermott, I love ye to the ends of the earth and back and ye can keep chasin’ yer rainbow to wherever it may lead, but I’ll not be goin’ with ye. I’ve come home. I’ll not be leavin’ again.’ He took her in his arms and swung her around the empty parlor. I remember her laughing and playfully slapping him on the back, telling him to stop, which he did. Once he put her on her feet again, he said, ‘Wherever you are, muirnīn, is home to me.’ From that day on, he never wanted to chase another rainbow.”

  “Muirnīn? What does that mean?”

  “That’s what he always called her. It’s Gaelic for darling.”

  She turned her head to look at him and noticed the thoughtful expression on his face, and then his gaze met hers and in their depths, she saw longing. For a love like his parents had shared? For someone of his own to call muirnīn?

  Ryleigh wouldn’t mind if he called her that, especially if he kissed her after he said it. Or before. Wouldn’t matter. She’d take it either way. Oh wait, he had. Well, not in Gaelic, but he had
called her darlin’.

  Then, as quickly as it had come, his expression changed, leaving her to wonder if she’d witnessed it at all.

  “Are you hungry?” He didn’t wait for an answer, simply rose to his feet and extended his hand. “We should head back. I’m sure Malva will be starting lunch soon.”

  They hadn’t kissed, which disappointed her, but she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her stand. He didn’t let go once she was on her feet, and they walked to the horses holding hands. He finally released his grasp when he helped her into the saddle. Once again, his warm palm rested on her ankle for longer than necessary before he seemed to shake himself and remember what he was doing.

  The ride back to Whispering Pines seemed to take less time than their ride to the falls, which was fortunate. She’d forgotten how quickly her bottom could become sore sitting in the saddle, especially since it had been years since she’d ridden. He didn’t speak, but that was just as well. It gave her more opportunity to just watch him and let her mind wander.

  He stopped Pride outside the corral and dismounted quickly, then reached up for her. “Thank you for taking me up to the falls. And for telling me about your parents.”

  “My pleasure.” He took the reins for both Pride and Silver Belle. “I’m going to take care of the horses. I’ll see you inside.”

  Ryleigh gave a short nod, then headed toward the porch. She knocked on the back door and opened it once Malva bid her enter. The aroma of something wonderful simmering on the stove hit her immediately, making her stomach growl in anticipation. “May I help you prepare lunch?”

  “Oh, that’s not necessary. It’s just soup and sandwiches, but you’re more than welcome to keep me company.” She gestured over her shoulder toward the stove. “Help yourself to some coffee. Or there’s lemonade in the icebox. Glasses are in the cupboard.” She nodded toward a glass-fronted cabinet made of rich mahogany.

  Ryleigh helped herself to a glass of lemonade and took a seat at the big kitchen table, then jumped up quickly. How quickly she’d forgotten her sore bottom. She leaned against the sink instead and let her gaze sweep the bright, cheerful kitchen, noticing not only the cleanliness but the soft, feminine touches throughout and concluded that this room was a reflection of the woman who stood at the table, making sandwiches. “This is a lovely room.”