Laura Drewry

by Here Comes The Bride

  Her hands trembled as they reached for his, but it was not nerves that caused them to do so, it was the sheer anticipation of what was to come, of knowing once and for all she and Gabriel would be joined in the most intimate and primal way possible.

  Gabriel’s lips whispered against hers, pulling a soft moan from deep within her. Her knees weakened, her heart expanded, and suddenly she was lifted as though carried on the wings of an angel. Her angel.

  He lowered her to the bed and pulled back, brushing his trembling knuckles against her cheek.

  “Gabriel?” Tess’s whisper echoed back. “What is it?”

  Gabe’s clouded gray eyes searched her face. He swallowed hard—twice.

  “Is there something wrong?” Tess sat bolt up.

  “Yeah,” he said, then cleared his throat. “There is.”

  “What?” She fought back the tightness that crept around her heart.

  Gabe rubbed his palm across his mouth. “I, uh . . .” He paused, ducking his head, but not before color crept up his neck and across his face. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Tess gaped. “But I thought you had . . . I mean, you’ve never . . . ?”

  He chuckled quietly and lifted his gaze back to Tess who had inched her way closer. “I mean I don’t know what to do with you. You’re different, Tess. You’ve got this hold on me somehow, and I don’t have the first clue what to do about it.”

  “Then don’t do anything,” she murmured. “Let me do it.”

  With deft fingers, she loosened his string tie and slid it from around his neck. Gabriel’s Adam’s apple bobbed, bringing a smile to Tess’s lips. She released each of his shirt buttons leisurely, gaining more confidence with every hitch of his breath. With deliberate movements, she eased the shirt from his shoulders, then ran her hands delicately over the broad expanse of muscle before her.

  Gabe sucked in a breath, fighting to release his wrists from the constraints of his shirt.

  “Tess . . .”

  “Shhh,” she breathed, pressing her lips against the hollow at the base of his throat. Her hands reached to her own neck, to the top of a long row of tiny pearl buttons, and began the arduous task of releasing them one by one.

  Gabe’s eyes followed her fingers, button by button, until she sat in front of him, her dress open from neck to waist.

  “Oh God, Tess.”

  She smiled cheekily. “Are you getting any ideas about what you should do with . . .”

  Gabe’s mouth swallowed her words, devouring her senses right along with them. Someone shuddered, but she couldn’t begin to guess which one of them it was. His lips trailed over her cheeks, her nose, and her eyes. Tingling warmth washed over her. And through her. In one lightning fast motion, Tess’s dress fell to the floor in a puddle of silk. Gabe knelt beside the bed, easing the satin slippers from Tess’s feet. His eyes never left hers, even as his hands reached for her stockings.

  The touch of his huge hand against her thigh pulled a sharp gasp from her throat. Inch by slow inch, he lowered each stocking and tossed it over his shoulder. Tess reached for him, urging him toward her, until she felt his lips on hers again. She filled her hands with him, pulling him closer yet, but Gabe resisted, moving his mouth down her neck to the swell of her breast above the chemise. She arched toward him, aching, desperate for his touch. And he didn’t disappoint her. Tess gulped for air, but found none. She spiraled toward something she’d never known, never even imagined, and Gabriel was not about to stop until she burst through.

  He made short work of what was left of her underthings, leaving her in silky nakedness. She was even more beautiful than he’d ever imagined. Her soft, creamy skin, now pinked with arousal, tingled under his touch. He’d never wanted another woman so much, never needed another so much. She stirred his soul and made him crazy. And now that he had her, he would never let her go.

  Gabriel’s fingers moved over every inch of her, caressing, loving, and awakening her every cell. She moved beneath him, urging him on, needing more of everything he offered. His mouth followed the trail of fire left by his hands, his lips leaving their own moist trail down her throat, across her shoulders, and between her breasts. Surely a body couldn’t bear such sweet torture without exploding.

  Gabe released her briefly, just long enough to remove the rest of his clothes, then pulled her into his arms again, pressing tender kisses against her hair. When he thought how close he came to letting her go—to making her go—he could barely breathe. He ached to be in her, to have her. His tongue circled each breast, his own arousal increased by her soft moans. He moved his hand lower, across her silky belly and over her thigh, seeking out her desire.

  “Oh, Gabriel,” she moaned.

  “Say it again,” he choked. “Say my name.”

  She was so soft, so sweet, so warm. His teeth gritted, he held his own need in check, easing Tess through the first painful moment of their joining and on through to their final glorious moment.

  “Gabriel!”

  Light splintered into a rainbow of stars. Her insides convulsed at the same moment Gabriel shuddered and moaned. She’d never felt more alive or more exhausted in her entire life. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held tight—she could spend the rest of her life just as she was—wrapped around him and filled with enormous love and fulfillment. Gabriel’s sweat-dampened body slumped over her, his heart pounding through his chest against hers.

  “Gabriel,” she murmured. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Mmmm.” He chuckled low in his throat. “I guess I knew what I was doing after all then, didn’t I?”

  “Well, yes, but I mean you’re crushing me.”

  Gabe wrapped his arms around his wife and rolled over onto his back, pulling her with him. He had no intention of releasing her any time soon. In fact, he smirked, it might be interesting to start all over again just the way they were.

  Brilliant sunshine poured through the window when Tess finally woke the next morning. Gabe’s heart beat beneath her ear, his hand gently stroking her bare shoulder.

  “Good morning,” he said.

  “Mmm,” she sighed. “How did you know . . . ?”

  “Eyelashes.”

  Tess’s fingers traced a path up his chest to his beard-stubbled face. Life was good.

  “Did you sleep well?” she asked, enjoying the roughness of his beard against her hand.

  “Like a baby.” He smiled. “I had an exhausting afternoon—and night.”

  Tess knew she should be ashamed of the way she’d carried on the night before, but she couldn’t help herself. The things he did to her . . . well, mercy, her mother’s lady friends obviously had never done that!

  “Do you think . . .” She stopped, suddenly feeling shy.

  “Do I think we made a baby last night?” he said tenderly, lifting her chin back up with his finger. “I don’t rightly know, but if it takes a lot more practice before we finally make one, that’s fine with me.”

  Tess couldn’t help but giggle.

  “You’re awful,” she scolded happily. “Just awful.”

  “And you’re beautiful,” he growled, pulling her in for a long, mind-drugging kiss. “I’m not going to get any work done if you keep this up.”

  “Me?” She laughed. “I was just lying here innocently, minding my own business, when you . . .”

  “There’s nothing innocent about you, Tess Calloway. Not anymore.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  Gabe threw his hands above his head in surrender.

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “All right then,” she said, her eyes dancing. “What should your punishment be?”

  “Life. Nothing less than a life sentence.”

  “Life then.” Tess nodded, her eyes smoldering in passion. “And not a minute less.”

  Chapter 30

  Nothing Tess had read or hoped to be true could have prepared her for the life she and Gabriel embarked on together.

  She’d read
about love, laughed and cried right along with the characters in the novels she read, but those emotions were nothing compared with what she lived every second. Her heart swelled at the sight of her new husband, ached at his absence, and the slightest touch of his hand sent volcanic eruptions through her entire being.

  For every ounce of love she felt, she saw it reciprocated in Gabriel’s eyes; for every quiver that rocked her soul, she felt it reverberate in his kiss. It still didn’t seem possible to her the very man who had done all he could to send her away was the same man who loved her so freely now.

  Every night she prayed she would conceive Gabriel’s child, and with every passing day she felt more and more certain she was, indeed, carrying his son.

  While Gabe went about his work on the ranch, Rosa set her mind to teaching Tess the finer points of running a house—western style. Although she never went back into the chicken coop, Tess did learn how to feed the animals, when to feed them, and how to catch one without losing a finger. When it came to actually killing the bird, however, Tess could not bring herself to do it. Rosa laughed at her silliness, took the chicken firmly by the head and body, and gave it a quick twist. The resulting noise was enough to send Tess running around to the back of the house.

  From that day on, it fell to Gabe or Miguel to kill and pluck the bird before Tess would touch it. She learned how to cook all Gabe’s favorite meals, including roast chicken with dumplings and boiled potatoes; she learned how to make bread and bake pies and, eventually, with a lot of practice, she mastered the fine art of coffee making—plenty strong and lots of it.

  She weeded the garden with a vengeance, refusing even the smallest of pests or weeds any space. The vegetables were put up, with the help of Rosa, and every room of the house was adorned with the most fragrant of flowers picked from the yard or out by the creek.

  It was a tremendous amount of work to keep the men fed and the house in order, but Tess relished every minute of it. This was, after all, what she had dreamt about for so many years, and now here she was living that very dream. As much as she tried to refuse it, Tess did enjoy the pampering she received from her husband. He insisted on her taking her nightly bath, as she used to in her previous life, and more often than not, he was the one who lathered her hair and rinsed it clean.

  He made a point of being home for every meal, no matter where he was or what he was doing; he never entered or left the room without kissing his wife; and he strutted around the ranch as though he had the world by the tail. Even Rosa commented on the change.

  “La chica give Gabe Calloway mucha felicidad.”

  “I hope so.” Tess smiled. “I love him so, Rosa.”

  “Si.” Rosa nodded, eyed Tess carefully from head to toe, pausing at her midsection, and then broke out into a wide grin.

  “What is it?” Tess asked.

  “Nada,” the woman said, shaking her head. “La niña give Gabe Calloway mucha felicidad.”

  Before Tess could press her further, Rosa folded her apron and left the house, pausing long enough to kiss an unexpecting Gabe on the cheek as he opened the door for her.

  He stared after her, shook his head slowly, and turned a quizzical look at his wife.

  “Has she been drinking?” he asked, half joking.

  “No.” Tess laughed. “But she has been acting a little queer this afternoon.”

  Gabe scooped Tess up in his arms and twirled her around in a circle.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go for a ride.”

  “What about supper?”

  “Forget supper—it’s Saturday, they can eat in town. Lord knows they’ll be heading there anyway.”

  No further argument was needed. Tess hurried out behind him, feeling only the slightest bit guilty at leaving without feeding the men. Bart met them at the barn door.

  “Goin’ somewhere?” he asked.

  “Just for a ride. You’re on your own for supper.” Gabe lifted Tess into Zeus’s saddle.

  “That’s where yer wrong, big brother.” Bart grinned. “I’m takin’ supper with Miss Collette Langman tonight.”

  “Oh, Bart,” Tess cried, clapping her hands together. “That’s wonderful! How did you ever manage to convince Mr. Langman?”

  “Seems I got you to thank fer that, Tess. Wyatt figured if a nice girl like you would hook up with the likes of us Calloways, and stick it out the way you have all these weeks, then he supposes we can’t be all that bad. Told me I could call on Collette on Saturday nights as long as he was there to keep an eye on things.”

  Tess’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Collette must be so happy, I’ll have to stop for a visit tomorrow. Give her my love, will you?”

  “Rather give ’er mine.” He grinned. “But I’ll pass along your thoughts.”

  Gabe clicked to Zeus and sent him off at a gentle run toward the rise in the east.

  “This poor animal,” Tess cooed lightly. “I should probably start riding my own horse and give him a break from the extra weight.”

  “Not a chance,” Gabe growled. “You’ll stay right where you are until this beast is ridden into the ground.”

  She inched her way back until she was pressed right up against him. “You’re the boss,” she said.

  “Damn right I am.” He laughed, planting light kisses on the top of her head. “And don’t you forget it.”

  They rode for over an hour, surrounded by the still of the early evening. Following his own direction, Zeus took them to the same crystal clear pool where Bart had been bitten by the snake, and waited patiently while they dismounted. Gabe tossed the reins to the ground and dropped to his knees in the thick buffalo grass.

  “It’s everything I ever dreamed of,” Tess sighed wistfully. “And more.”

  Gabe took her hand and tugged her down beside him.

  “Takes some getting used to for some folks,” he said. “It can get pretty lonely out here.”

  “How could anyone be lonely with all this beauty around them?” she asked. “The trees, the mountains, the sky—I never would have guessed the sky was so big.”

  “It’s the same sky they see in Boston, Tess.”

  She shook her head vehemently. “No, it’s not. This sky is alive with stars and clean air and . . . and space. Boston’s sky is dark and haunting. And the land—you’d never see this much untouched land anywhere near Boston. There’s so many people there, so much turmoil. It’s like a whole other world out here.”

  Gabe’s heart surged. That was exactly how he felt himself, but to hear her say it meant more to him than anything else. She loved the land as much as he did; and just when he thought he couldn’t love her any more than he already did, his heart expanded even more.

  The howling of a lone wolf, far off in the distance, made her shiver.

  “You’re not afraid of a little thing like a wolf, now are you?” Gabe teased, resting his arm around her shoulders.

  “Who me?” she said teasingly. “I’m not afraid of anything, remember?”

  “I almost believe that to be the truth,” he murmured. “Is there anything you are afraid of?”

  “Losing you.”

  Gabe couldn’t breathe for a whole minute. Her answer had been so quick, so sure, it was obviously something she’d been thinking about.

  “You’re not going to lose me,” he said softly. “I’m real easy to find. Just look beside you.”

  She swallowed hard, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She’d always known the fear was there, that one day she could in fact lose Gabriel, but until that moment she hadn’t realized how much she depended on him for her every breath. Now that she had him, she couldn’t imagine not having him, and just the thought scared her more than death.

  “We should get away for a few days,” Gabe announced suddenly. “Take a trip to Helena or somewhere. Where would you like to go?”

  “Nowhere,” she answered honestly. “I want to stay right here. Besides, we couldn’t leave if we wanted to.”

  “Of course we
can! Bart is more than capable . . .”

  “Bart?” she said. “But he’s going . . .”

  She stopped. It was Bart’s news to tell, not hers, but why wouldn’t he have told Gabe yet? Gabe sat up, searching her face.

  “What? What’s Bart up to now? He’s not going to lead on Collette Langman and then skip town like he always does, is he? Damn it anyway, I should have known . . .”

  “No!” she cried. “It’s nothing like that. I don’t know why he hasn’t told you yet.”

  “Told me what?” he persisted.

  Tess pursed her lips. Gabriel was her husband, and she couldn’t keep secrets from him.

  “Bart has been offered a job,” she said hesitantly.

  “Where?” Gabe’s face began to color angrily. “Back in Butte with all those crazy miners? Worse?”

  “If you’ll stop yelling for a minute, I’ll tell you.”

  “I’m not yelling!”

  “Gabriel.”

  “Okay,” he relented. “I’m not yelling. Where is he going now?”

  “Nowhere,” she said. “Apparently Sheriff Nicholls has offered him his job right here in Porter Creek.”

  “What? Where’s Fergus going?”

  “His sister in Amarillo is ailing and he wants to be closer to her, so he asked Bart if he was interested in the job.”

  “And of course Bart said yes.” Gabe was obviously not happy.

  “Of course.” Tess nodded. “Why wouldn’t he? It’s what he wants.”

  “Sounds to me like he’s wanting to get himself killed is all.”

  “Gabriel, I’m sure your brother wouldn’t do anything to put his life in danger—especially if he’s set on marrying Collette.”

  “You don’t know my brother the way I do,” he snapped.

  “And I don’t think you know your brother quite as well as you think you do. He loves Collette, he wants to make a life with her. But he doesn’t have the ranching blood you have, he never has. You can see it in his eyes, Gabriel. He doesn’t look at the land the way you do; he doesn’t stop and enjoy the smell of horse manure or fresh hay—to him those things don’t even exist. He wants to be a lawman.”