by Sara Orwig
It had been a damned good business deal, but that’s all it was. Prenuptial agreement, contracts, legal advice—they’d had all the business trappings. She had been treated cruelly by the jerk in Chicago, had returned home to speculation and gossip about her baby, then had agreed to the deal with him.
Well, the lady deserved better, Gabe decided he wanted to court his new wife, wanted to please her. He thought about his feelings for her. Gabe took another long drink, feeling the cold beer go down his throat. He wanted her, there was no question about that. He had a growing admiration and respect for her. He liked her company. Love? He didn’t know the depth of his own feelings for her, but she was becoming essential to his life.
They needed more nights like tonight where they could be together without the rest of the family. Moments that were shared fun and companionship. He thought of all the work he needed to get done, yet he could rearrange his schedule slightly, take a little more time for his family. It would give him more time with Julian and Ella, too.
His thoughts shifted back to the evening with Ashley until he was hot and bothered again, wanting her and knowing sleep wasn’t going to come easily. Maybe he was falling in love with his wife. Why not let go? Julian had, and he loved Ashley without question.
Gabe knew that one thing he could do was court the lady a bit. A courtship was something she was long overdue to receive.
He decided to take a cold shower and to read a book he had bought on cattle breeding.
Monday afternoon the refrigerator quit cooling, and Quinn was on his knees on the kitchen floor working on it while Mrs. Farrin worked at the sink peeling carrots for a casserole. Holding Ella, Ashley sat at the table helping Julian with a model rocket ship he was building. Quinn swore softly and stood.
“I need a smaller wrench to get in there,” he said, glancing out the window. “Looks like we’re going to have company.”
Standing to look out the window, Ashley saw a white panel truck coming up the road, a plume of dust rising behind it. The truck stopped at the back gate and a man emerged with a large bouquet of two dozen red roses.
Surprised, Ashley stared at the bouquet. “Looks like someone in this house is getting roses,” Quinn remarked dryly, glancing at Ashley.
“Who’re they for?” Julian’s high voice piped up, joining them at the window.
“I think for your momma,” Quinn replied, and all of them turned to look at Ashley. Her cheeks grew warm and she felt as dithery as a new bride.
Stepping outside, Quinn met the deliveryman and accepted the bouquet of roses. “Might pretty flowers,” he said, setting them on the kitchen table.
“Mommy, will you help me?” Julian asked, returning to his rocket ship.
“I’ll help you,” Quinn said, “when I finish fixing the refrigerator. In the meantime, Julian, come with me to find a wrench.”
“Sure,” Julian said, always happy to tag along with Quinn. The two left, and Mrs. Farrin turned to take Ella.
“Put your flowers where you want them. I’ll take care of the little one.” She took Ella from Ashley and went down the hall, talking softly to the baby.
Turning to her flowers, Ashley inhaled their sweet scent and carried them to the family room. She placed them on a table and then opened the card.
Thanks for a special Saturday night. Let’s try to have another one this weekend.
Love, Gabe.
She ran her fingers over the card, then smelled the flowers again, feeling a rush of longing for him. Next Saturday night he wanted to go out again. Joy filled her. She read the note again, once more running her fingers over his signature. Love, Gabe. She knew it was a casual closing, yet it gave her a thrill to read the words. If only—she closed her eyes and thought about him, recalling their evening, knowing she was falling in love with him whether he was in love with her or not.
Tucking the card from Gabe into the pocket of her cutoffs, she went to get the baby from Mrs. Farrin.
Ashley cradled Ella in her arms, feeling a rush of love for her child. She was such a good baby. Ella was rosy and plump and slept most of the time. The only fussiness had been during the past few weeks when she wasn’t getting enough milk, and after a trip to the pediatrician, Ashley had finally given up nursing. She held her baby close as she carried her to the changing table, talking softly to her while Ella’s big blue eyes gazed up at her and she cooed.
At half past six Gabe called and told them to go ahead with supper because he was delayed by a sick cow and was waiting on a vet to come. After bathing and changing to jeans and a red shirt, Ashley ate with Julian and Quinn.
She was in the nursery when she heard the scrape of boots in the hall and knew Gabe was home. She put a sleeping Ella in her bed and hurried out of the room. Her pulse skipped a beat when she stepped into the hall and saw Gabe.
He had stripped off his shirt and his jeans were muddy. In his hands he carried his shirt, muddy boots and his hat. He had a smudge on his cheek and unruly locks of hair fell across his forehead, but he looked handsome and sexy to her.
Instantly, he smiled and her pulse accelerated another notch. “Thanks for the roses,” she said quietly as he approached. “They’re beautiful.”
“And Saturday night? Want to go out again?”
“Sure. That would be nice,” she answered eagerly, wanting to be alone with him now. “Your supper is ready.”
“I need a shower before I eat,” he said, waving his hand slightly.
“How’s the sick cow?”
“All right. The pickup had a flat on the way here so that took even longer.” He moved closer. “I can’t touch you because I’m dirty, and you look a damn sight more scrumptious than any supper that’s waiting.”
Her heart fluttered with his words, and she trailed her fingers across his bare chest.
“I don’t think I’d mind if you touched me even without a shower.”
He inhaled and dropped his boots and shirt on the floor to slide his arm around her waist and pull her against him. She looked up and met his smoldering gaze; it took her breath. While her heart drummed, she slipped her hand behind his head to pull him down to her. His mouth covered hers in a hungry, passionate kiss that she returned fully.
Abruptly, he released her. The hot desire in his eyes made her tremble with eagerness to be back in his arms again. “Want to come shower with me?” he asked.
Startled, she blinked. “I don’t think so,” she answered, breathlessly, knowing if she said yes, they would both be in his shower in seconds. “I’ll be waiting,” she said, aware she needed to put some distance between them. “Now I need to change,” she said, looking at smudges of mud on her blouse. She hurried to her room.
When Gabe reappeared, he was in a fresh T-shirt and jeans, and his wet hair was combed and slicked back from his face, giving him an entirely different appearance that she found also appealing. She sat across from him while he ate, hearing about his day and telling him about hers and what Julian had done. All the time they talked, she was intensely aware of him, remembering their kisses in the hall earlier. Once he reached across the table to stroke her cheek.
“You look pretty tonight.”
“Thank you.”
He reached behind her head and untied the ribbon that held her hair. “I like that better. Do you mind?”
“No, it’s fine,” she said, basking in the warmth of his gaze as he studied her. She looked forward to being alone with him later, feeling a steady tingle of excitement.
When he’d finished eating, they joined the others in the family room. Gabe read to Julian and helped him with a puzzle he was working on. Finally Gabe took his son to bed.
While he was in Julian’s room, Ella awakened. Ashley fed the baby, changed her and carried her to the family room where Quinn rocked her until Gabe returned and took her for a few minutes before carrying the sleeping baby to her bed. Then the three adults sat talking until past ten o’clock when Quinn told them good-night.
“I didn’t
get to see Ella or any of you enough today. I’ll try to get home early tomorrow night,” Gabe told her when they were alone.
Ashley stood and crossed the room to him. For an instant his brows arched in surprise, and then he smiled and uncrossed his legs as she sat on his lap. “I haven’t thanked you properly for the roses,” she said in a soft voice, looking at his mouth.
Ten
Her heart thudded as she leaned forward to kiss him. His arms wrapped tightly around her and he returned her kiss, shifting her to cradle her head against his shoulder. She wasn’t aware that he had reached out to turn off a lamp until the room grew darker. A small lamp still burned across the room.
“I’ll have to send flowers every day if I get this kind of thank you,” he said in a husky voice. He picked her up, moving to the sofa with her.
“They’re beautiful, and it was a surprise.”
“You’re beautiful and I want to take you out again next Saturday. Will you go to dinner with me?”
“I’d love to,” she whispered while he kissed her throat and she ran her fingers through his thick hair.
His fingers twisted free the buttons of her blue blouse and then he shoved it off her shoulders. With a groan, he cupped her full breasts, stroking her tender nipples so lightly, yet making her gasp with pleasure.
Ashley tugged up his T-shirt and he yanked it the rest of the way, pulling it over his head and tossing it aside and then she turned so she pressed against his bare chest while she kissed him. He stroked her back, then his fingers sought and found the buttons to her jeans. Deftly, he unfastened them and stripped them away. His hands caressed her back, moving over her bottom and to her bare thighs.
Gabe shifted, his hand sliding along her thigh, trailing between her legs, touching her so lightly, intimately while they kissed.
She shook with need, wanting him, torn between longing and caution.
It was Gabe who finally sat up and pulled her up on his lap, wrapping her blue blouse around her shoulders, yet bending to kiss her breast before doing so.
“What’s this?”
“You didn’t want to be rushed, so you won’t be. I can show some kind of restraint,” he said, kissing her throat and ear, his warm breath a sweet torment. “If you change your mind, all you have to do is let me know. You know what I want and how I feel.”
“No, I don’t know how you feel. I don’t know what you think or how you feel, but your card and the flowers and your kisses make me feel good.”
“Good,” he said, still trailing kisses along her temple and nape, his hand stroking her leg. “I care, Ashley,” he said, and she opened her eyes to look at him. His dark gaze was filled with desire, but beyond that she couldn’t discern what he was thinking.
“I want you. I want you more each day,” he said in a husky voice that played over her nerves as his fingers did on her body. “I want you to want me the way I do you.”
“Gabe,” she whispered, touched by his words, wanting to tell him that she wanted his love, but that was something that she knew would have to come from him. She turned his face up, brushing his hair back and then kissing him passionately.
Gabe was the one who stopped again and held her tightly. “I can wait, Ashley, but it’s damned hard. I’m damned hard,” he added.
She slid off his lap. “I better move away and go to bed. You’ve had a long day.”
Slipping her arms into her blouse and yanking up her jeans, she turned to find him watching her with a hot gaze that indicated his desire as strongly as his words. Her heart missed a beat, and she turned away. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Wait. I’ll head that way with you. That way I get another kiss at your door.”
She smiled at him, and he slid his arm around her waist, pulling her close against him while he switched off lights and walked through the silent, darkened house to her bedroom.
“Here we are,” she whispered, turning to face him as she wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. He walked her backwards into her bedroom and closed the door quietly.
Leaning against the door, he spread his legs and pulled her up against him tightly to kiss her. She wound her arms around his neck and returned his kisses while time disappeared.
Finally she pushed against his chest, and he raised his head, his dark gaze devouring her. “I want you in my bed. I want you to really be my wife. Soon you will be,” he said, kissing her throat and nuzzling her ear. His husky voice was as coaxing and as seductive as his kisses.
“Is this a proposal?”
He leaned back to study her, and she met his unfathomable gaze, still at a loss to know what he was thinking. “You’ll know when you get a proposal.” He kissed her long and hard and she clung to him, aching with longing and knowing that she was in love with the tall cowboy.
He caressed her throat, his fingers light and warm and then he was gone, closing the door behind him.
“I love you, Gabriel Brant,” she said, thinking about the generations-old feud and the hate and anger that had spilled between the two families.
Later, after going over books for an hour, Gabe restlessly returned to his room. He crossed to his dresser to pick up a picture of Ella, looking at her smiling face and feeling a pang rip through him as painfully as ever. He would always love her. Nothing would change that, but she was gone and he had to go on with his life.
“I loved you so much,” he whispered, as he looked at her smiling face. “I think you’d like Ashley and little Ella. Julian is a fine boy, and now we have Quinn and Ashley to help raise him and that’s good. We have to do things we didn’t want to do, but Ashley’s good for me.”
He opened the drawer and put away the picture, moving around the room to gather up the other pictures except one of Ella with Julian. He would move that one to Julian’s room.
Saturday night couldn’t come soon enough; he would have Ashley all to himself for hours, and he intended that soon they would have the wedding night that they had missed after their hasty marriage.
Wednesday, another floral delivery arrived, a huge basket of daisies, roses and carnations.
Gabe had said he would be home early and Ashley was eager to see him, even though each night was a torment at the same time it was a delight.
She moved to the new bouquet, smiling and pulling the card from the pocket of her denim skirt.
Can’t wait until Saturday. I want you all to myself.
Love, Gabe.
She couldn’t wait either. She ran her hands across the card as if by touching it, she could touch part of him.
“So you got the flowers,” he said quietly from the doorway.
She whirled around to face him. “You surprised me!” she said, blushing to be caught running her hand across his card. “Thanks for the flowers, but you don’t need to buy out all the flower shops in San Antonio.”
“I’m not,” he said, looking amused as he sauntered toward her and her pulse jumped. “You look great.”
“Thank you,” she said, watching him narrow the distance between them. She stepped forward to meet him. “I’m glad you’re home,” she said softly.
His arm went around her and he kissed her until she pushed against him. “Dad will come in—”
“So? Quinn knows we’re married and I think he’s happy to see you happy.”
“Even so,” she said, stepping away, “I’ll be embarrassed.”
With a twinkle in his eyes, Gabe slid his hand behind her head. “You’re all prim and proper until you get in my arms,” he said quietly.
“Maybe one of us should be prim and proper,” she replied. “And it won’t be you. You have a streak of bad boy, Gabe.”
“And you love it,” he answered.
“Maybe I do. Show me tonight and I’ll tell you.”
“That’s a promise. Now I’m going to clean up, but that offer to join me in the shower still stands.”
“You’d faint if I accepted.”
“Not on your life would I faint,” he replied, le
aning closer. “I’d have you in my bedroom, into that shower so fast your head would spin. Try me.”
Laughing, she stepped away from him. “Not yet. I’ll see you at supper.” She hurried toward the door, then turned back. “Gabe, Dad is going to Wyoming and Oregon next month with Uncle Dusty and Aunt Kate. He’s going to ask you if he can take Julian along. Uncle Dusty has that big mobile home.”
“I’ll think about it,” Gabe said, “but if Julian wants to go, seems like it’s okay. I can’t keep him shut away on the ranch forever, and between Quinn and your Aunt Kate, he’ll be watched all the time.”
“That’s for certain. Dad is crazy about him.”
“I’m glad. He’s good for Julian. And so are you.”
Smiling, she left the room, her pulse drumming. She was growing more anxious for Saturday and if he was telling the truth, he sounded as eager as she.
On Saturday evening Ashley took one last, long look at herself. Gabe had told her they were going to San Antonio to dinner at the country club where they had had their wedding reception. She gave herself another critical study, looking at the straight black sheath, sleeveless with spaghetti straps, and her black pumps. She wore the diamond drop he had given her, diamond studs in her ears and no other jewelry. Her hair was looped and twisted and pinned on top of her head.
Ella lay on a blanket in the middle of Ashley’s bed. The baby kicked and cooed and waved her fists, playing with a bright plastic rattle.
“You’re a good girl, Ella Brant. A real sweetie, did you know that?”
Ella cooed, her big blue eyes gazing up at her mother and Ashley scooped her up, holding her close. “I hope you don’t spit up on me because I’m all ready to go out. Nanny Lou is going to take care of you and Julian. Pretty soon you should be ready to go night-night, sweetie.”