Single In The Saddle

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  “I did ask him if he wanted to take a ride and see the place, but it was pretty cold and he...said he’d rather not.”

  Her expression became grim. “His loss.”

  Stony shrugged. “He never wanted to own property, so I guess seeing my ranch didn’t mean all that much to him.”

  “Or it meant more than he was willing to admit.”

  “Who knows?” The conversation had taken an uncomfortable turn. The subject of his father always made him uneasy. He’d been so sure that once he bought the ranch, he’d be able to convince his father to come and live there. It hadn’t worked out that way.

  He tugged his Stetson down over his eyes. “Well, if I’m going to show you Wayward Creek before dark, we need to get a move on.”

  IT WAS NEARLY DARK by the time they finished putting up the horses and walked toward the ranch house, Chi following at their heels. But even in the dim light Daphne could see the pickup-load of rocks in Stony’s front yard.

  “They did it!” Daphne couldn’t believe so much bounty in one day. Two people had hired her to decorate their homes, and Stony had taken her on a sunset ride to a special hill where he’d never taken anyone else. She considered that significant. And now she had rocks for the waterfall.

  “I suppose you’ll be wanting to borrow some of my men to help you put the thing together tomorrow.”

  “I was afraid to ask, but yes, I will need a little help.”

  “Who do you want?”

  You. But she knew better than to ask him to help her build a wafierfall he didn’t want in the first place. The result would have to be a wonderful surprise. So she picked the man she thought could get the most done in the least amount of time. “Big Clyde.”

  “Okay.”

  Excitement pumped her full of energy. “Tonight I’ll sew up the curtains for the bunkhouse, and tomorrow I’ll—”

  “Sew them up on what?”

  “I rented a sewing machine while I was in town.”

  “Did you buy the red paint for the door, too?”

  “Sure did. And I—”

  “So you plan to hang curtains, paint the door and build a waterfall, all in the same day?”

  She decided not to tell him about her additional beautification plans. “Sure. We’ll start early.”

  “Tell you what. I’ll give you the whole crew, for one day, so we can get this out of the way once and for all. You can direct them to do anything you want. But at the end of the day, they’re mine again. How’s that?”

  She beamed at him. “That would be terrific. Uh, does that include you?”

  “No.” He held the door open for her and Chi. “I’ll run some errands in town tomorrow. I have a feeling it would hurt me too much to watch my men feng shuiing the day away.”

  That remark put a little dent in her happiness. She dipped on a lamp as she walked through the living room. “You may not think that what I’m doing matters in the grand scheme of things, but it does. People behave differently when you place them in environments with different colors and textures and sounds.” She turned on the kitchen light and went to a cupboard to get Chi some kibble.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.” He hung his hat on a peg. “I like the way my men behave just fine.”

  “That could be because you don’t know what their potential is. And everything around them affects that.” She poured kibble into Chi’s dish and walked back to the cupboard. “Even something like your hat hanging on the wall affects the mood of this room,” she said. “It’s a macho sort of symbol”

  “Yeah?”

  She shoved the dog food into the cupboard. “You’re affected by interior and exterior decoration whether you know it or not.”

  “I know one thing. I’m affected by you.”

  She closed the cupboard door and turned. He was right there, pinning her against the counter.

  He cupped her chin. “The way you move, the way you talk, the way you smile. You’re driving me crazy.” He released her chin and wrapped her in his arms. “And don’t pretend you don’t like this, because I know different.” He brought his mouth down on hers.

  In that moment she knew it was love that made the temptation of his lips so hard to resist. She’d loved him long before she’d met him, and although she’d tried to kill that emotion, he’d rekindled it when he’d looked at her so hauntingly this morning. He’d fanned it into a full blaze during their sunset ride, and now she longed to show him the depth of her feeling.

  When his tongue sought entrance, she gave it, needing that firm thrust, needing the taste of him, needing the warmth and passion coming off him in waves. He unbuttoned her blouse, and she didn’t stop him. The front clasp of her bra gave way beneath his fingers and he caressed her, his calloused hands bringing her the same joy they had the first night she’d felt his touch.

  His kiss became deeper, more suggestive, and her knees grew weak. His erection pressed firmly against her, bringing a rush of moisture between her thighs. She moaned softly, wanting all he had to offer.

  He lifted his mouth a fraction from hers. “I want you so much,” he murmured. “Please, Daphne.”

  Want. It wasn’t the word she was looking for. Her heart quivered. “I want you, too.”

  “Then, please, sweetheart.” He cupped her breast and stroked his thumb back and forth across her taut nipple. “Please...”

  “First I need to know...” She tried to catch her breath. “I need to know if we’d be making love...or having sex.”

  He went still in her arms. “Are you asking me...to say I love you?”

  His question was enough answer. “No,” she said, pain knifing through her as she pushed him away. He was caught so unaware that he almost stumbled.

  “Daphne—”

  “I would never ask that.”

  He gazed at her, confusion in his blue eyes. “Then why won’t you just go to bed with me? I know you want to.”

  “Yes, I want to.” She fastened her bra with trembling fingers. “But not if it’s only about sex.”

  “Daphne, if you’re holding out for those three little words, you have the wrong man. I’ve never said them to a woman and I never intend to. Is it so terrible to enjoy good sex without all the mushy stuff? I would never cheat on you like that other guy.”

  She buttoned her blouse. “I believe that about you, Stony.” She looked him in the eye. “But I deserve a man who can tell me he loves me. When I’m giving the gift of my body, I deserve to be told that I’m loved, not just that I’m wanted.”

  “I don’t see the big difference!”

  Heartsick and disappointed, she gazed at him. “Then why not say it?”

  “I’m just not the type.” He met her gaze for a moment longer before turning and going over to retrieve his hat. “I’ll be down at the bunkhouse.”

  Chi followed him out the door.

  EVEN THOUGH STONY HAD organized a special trip to the store to buy food, they had yet to eat a dinner in this kitchen together, Daphne thought as she washed up the dishes from her chicken-and-broccoli casserole. They would have eaten together, although much later, if she’d just been willing to go into his bedroom with him first. He would have been so mellow she probably would have been able to convince him to eat broccoli.

  She set up the sewing machine. Using the measurements Big Clyde had given her, she cut and stitched the red bandanna material she’d bought into café curtains for the bunkhouse. Sewing was the sort of mindless job that gave her lots of time to think. And she had much to think about.

  She’d been foolish to expect a declaration of love from Stony tonight. Just because he’d looked at her with such wistfulness this morning, and just because he’d taken her on a ride to his special place this evening, that didn’t mean he was ready to say that he loved her. But she couldn’t help wondering if he was beginning to.

  The trouble was, he probably thought the only thing wrong with him was sexual frustration. She thought he was driven to make love to her for deeper reasons
than that. Of course, one way to prove it was to give in and go to bed with him. But if she was wrong and he wasn’t any closer to commitment after they made love than he was before, she’d be in worse shape than ever. No, she had to hold fast to her convictions.

  TO DAPHNE’S SURPRISE, Big Clyde volunteered to hang curtain rods for her. She’d have expected Ramon or even Jasper to do it, but Jasper told her confidentially that Big Clyde was a genius at measurements. Daphne sent Andy, the most creative one, to scour the area for wildflowers and interesting grasses to use in arrangements inside the bunkhouse. Jasper corralled Ramon and Ty and herded them off to dig the shallow pit Daphne had marked out for the waterfall.

  While Big Clyde worked on the curtain rods, Daphne painted the door, which dried quickly in the summer heat. In between coats, she threaded the café curtains onto the wrought-iron rods. Big Clyde wasn’t much of a talker, so Daphne held up the conversation by explaining the various feng shui sectors and how they applied to the bunkhouse. The hefty cowboy listened, not saying much, but he looked interested.

  Finally, when the curtain rods were all in place, he pointed to the building’s far right corn with his screwdriver. “So your book says that there’s the spot for love and marriage?”

  “That’s it. The head of your bunk is just inside it.”

  Big Clyde blushed. “Thought so.”

  Daphne gazed at him. “Is there someone special in your life?”

  “Kinda. The lady what runs the library. She don’t know it, though.”

  Daphne bet not. Being a man of few words, Big Clyde probably hadn’t told her. “Would you like to give a little feng shui help to the situation?”

  He looked nervous but hopeful. “Could we?”

  “You bet.”

  “I don’t want the boys to know what we’re doin’. I’d never hear the end of it. You won’t say nothin’, will you?”

  “Of course not. But making it inconspicuous is a bit of a challenge.” She thumbed through her book and found the section on posing objects to encourage couple interaction. Big Clyde needed something decorating the iron rails of his headboard that would signify a pair, but it couldn’t be anything that would alert the other hands as to what he was trying to accomplish. She glanced around the bunkhouse, searching for an answer.

  Then it hit her. “Do you have some spurs you don’t use every day?”

  “You mean my fancy ones, with the silver on them?”

  “That would be perfect. And a little piece of rawhide, if you have it.”

  Big Clyde went back to the big closet all the hands shared and soon emerged with his spurs and a length of rawhide. “You gonna do a trick?”

  “Sort of.” She worked as she talked. “We’ll link these spurs together and tie them to the top rail of your headboard, so it’ll look like a cowboy-style decoration. But it really stands for two people linked together.” Daphne wasn’t sure if this was completely accurate feng shui, but her intention was good, so that should count for something. “I’d also recommend you start talking to the lady,” she said for good measure.

  Big Clyde surveyed the linked spurs and gave her a gap-toothed smile. “I’ll surely try, ma’am. And I thank you.”

  “I got a whole bunch a purty weeds!” Andy sang out from the doorway. “Where you want’em?”

  “Let me take a look,” Daphne said, stepping into the sunshine to evaluate the two buckets of wildflowers and different types of grass. The array of colors would look properly rustic, and she’d already decided to talk somebody out of an old pair of boots, which she could transform into vases by inserting water glasses down the shaft. “This is wonderful, Andy,” she said. “I especially like the—”

  “Don’t touch that!” shouted Big Clyde, jerking her back from the bucket. “Somethin’ moved in there!” He released her and stepped forward to peer into one of the buckets. Then in a surprisingly quick move for such a big man, he reached down and pulled out a foot-long snake, grasping it just behind its head.

  Daphne stepped back, heart pounding. But after looking more closely she could see it was a small, completely harmless bull snake.

  Big Clyde didn’t look particularly harmless as he advanced on Andy. “You did this on purpose!” he thundered.

  Andy got red and backed away. “Just for a joke. To see if she’d scream. The snake wouldn’t hurt her.”

  “I should make you swallow this here snake,” Big Clyde said, dangling it in Andy’s face. “But that’d be cruel to the snake.” He jerked a thumb back at Daphne and his voice dropped to a low growl. “This here’s a lady, and if you pull any more of your tricks on her, you’ll answer to me. Now, say you’re sorry.”

  Andy peeked around Big Clyde, his face beet red. “Sorry, ma’am. Didn’t mean no harm.”

  Her heart went out to the poor kid, whose active imagination obviously wasn’t challenged enough by the work he did. “Apology accepted,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Now, who’s ready to help me make a wildflower wreath for the door?”

  “Andy’ll make it, and I’ll hang it,” Big Clyde said.

  “A wildflower wreath on the door.” Andy looked a little worried. “Won’t everybody make fun of us?”

  “Not while I’m around,” said Big Clyde.

  12

  DAPHNE HAD picked up a booklet on building waterfalls and fountains when she was town, along with a good-size motor and plenty of flexible PVC pipe. When she, Big Clyde and Andy walked over to check the progress in the front yard, they found a sizable hole being dug by Ty and Ramon while Jasper studied Daphne’s booklet Chi watched the proceedings from under the only tree in the yard, a large oak.

  Jasper glanced up as Daphne approached. “How many of these contraptions have you put together?” he asked.

  She smiled at him. “None. But how hard can it be? The pump sucks the water in and the pipe squirts it out. The rest is just details.”

  Jasper squinted at her. “You ain’t put any together before?”

  “I told you she didn’t know what she was doin’,” Ty said, leaning on the handle of his shovel. “It’s gonna be a swampland out here in no time.”

  “You just don’t appreciate the music of falling water,” Ramon said. “On a moonlit night, this will be a beautiful spot.”

  “A lawn sprinkler woulda done the trick,” Ty said.

  “Stony ain’t got no lawn,” Big Clyde pointed out “Just the one tree and lotsa dirt.”

  “You know what?” Andy said. “After we finish the waterfall, we should dig up some bushes and plant them around the edges of the pond. It”ll look like a park.”

  “It’ll look like a pig wallow,” Ty predicted darkly.

  “Don’t mind him,” Ramon said. “Is this deep enough for what you had in mind, señorita?”

  “Looks like a swimming hole,” Andy said with a grin. “Which gives me an idea.”

  “We don’t want nobody skinny-dippin’ in this here waterfall,” Jasper said, glaring at each cowboy in turn. “Save your shenanigans for the stock tank.”

  Daphne evaluated the hole the men had dug. Actually, it was a little deeper than Daphne had planned on, but she wasn’t about to say so after all that hard work. “It’s perfect. Let’s start putting in the rocks and building up the falls part.”

  “We’ve just been waitin’ for Big Clyde before we started moving rocks,” Ty said. “Better get the liniment. I’m expecting some ol’ boy will throw his back out liftin’ them things.”

  Jasper gazed at him. “That settles it. Everything that cowboy complains about always turns out great.” He handed the booklet to Daphne. “You’re the straw boss on the project, ma‘am. Come on, boys, let’s get ’er done.”

  THE MERCILESS SUN BEAT down as the men positioned rocks and cemented them into place. In the heat the cement set almost instantly. Daphne made sure drinking water was always available, even for Chi. The construction was a noisy process, but the racket was steady, not abrupt, so Chi didn’t seem to mind. Jokes and laughter min
gled with the clatter of rocks as the men all predicted how they’d spend the money the waterfall would bring them. Daphne felt a little like Snow White supervising the five dwarfs.

  By early afternoon they had all the rocks in place for the waterfall that would cascade down into the pool A PVC pipe hidden inside the stair-stepping rocks would draw water from the submersible pump in the bottom of the pool to the top of the waterfall. Daphne’s excitement grew as her concept began to take shape.

  She also realized as the men toiled through the hot afternoon how much she’d come to care for these rowdy yet tenderhearted cowboys. They were the ones who’d landed her in such a mess with Stony, but she’d never find it in her heart to blame them for it.

  “Let’s break for lunch and let this-here concrete set,” Jasper called to the men.

  “I’ll fix lunch in the house,” Daphne offered.

  “We’ll use the hose and clean ourselves up some,” Big Clyde said.

  “Lunch’ll be ready in ten minutes.” Daphne hurried inside. She’d never thrown sandwiches together so fast in her life. She laid them out with plates and napkins on the kitchen table and set out some cans of pop and beer.

  In exactly ten minutes Jasper knocked on the front door.

  “Y’all come in,” Daphne called.

  The men scraped their boots on the mat before filing quietly inside. They glanced around with interest at the living room.

  “Looks nice, señorita,” Ramon said. “Much better.”

  The other men murmured their agreement

  “‘Course Stony probably didn’t like it,” Ty commented. “He never was one for changing things around.”

  “He didn’t like it at first,” Daphne admitted, “but now he does. Just take a plate and whatever you want to drink and then sit wherever you like. We couldn’t all fit around the kitchen table, so I thought we’d just eat buffet-style.”

  “It’s sorta like a party,” Andy said as they all got situated in the living room. “Like them potlucks they sometimes have at Rio Verde Baptist.”