Lorraine Heath (23 page)

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Maura said. Her daughter was young and pretty and this young man with his flirtatious ways seemed too worldly.

“We’d just walk over there to the windmill,” Frank said with a flick of his head. “You’ll be able to see us the entire time. I swear, ma’am, I wouldn’t take advantage.”

Maura blushed at being so easily read, pursed her lips, and gave her daughter permission to go.

The walk to the windmill wasn’t nearly long enough, Frank discovered. They quickly reached it and stood beneath the towering structure, listening to the clacking sounds made by the wooden wheel above. The sun was setting in the distance, and Frank was determined to have Arlene back to the wagon before the sun was gone.

“Have you ever had a drink of water brought up from the earth by a windmill?” he asked.

She shook her head, wishing her tongue would come untied. She’d never had a gentleman show interest in her before.

Frank dipped his hand into the water, forming a cup, and brought his hand to her lips. She sipped on the water, and Frank felt the warmth of her lips clear down to his boots. The water dribbled down her chin and she laughed, taking a step back, wiping her chin with the back of her hand. She had a sweet laugh, and Frank tried to remember what Ruth’s laughter sounded like. He realized he’d never heard her laughter, only her derisive snorts.

“Tell me, Mr. Lewis. What sort of plans does a man like yourself make for the future? I mean what does a man do here to better himself?”

In his entire life, Frank had never been called mister, and it warmed him more than the pressure of her lips against his hand.

“Well now, I’m hoping to be foreman of this spread someday.” “Foreman?”

“Yes, ma’am. See, Lee Hastings carries that title now, but he’s always talking about heading out to Wyoming or Montana or somewhere. When he goes I hope to have enough experience that Jake’ll trust me with the position. I been with him longer than anyone else has.” He decided not to mention that the time he was counting began when Jake first told him about the land and not when they’d all started heading for it.

“Is it how long a man’s been here then that’ll get him the job?”

“No, ma’am. It’s experience and knowledge. I’m short on knowledge, but Jake’s kinda taken me under his wing and is teaching me everything he knows. He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”

Frank’s impassioned speech silenced him. He wasn’t used to revealing his feelings for people he cared about.

“Do you miss Ireland?” he asked before realizing that it was a stupid question. If she did, the thought might sadden her, and he wasn’t ready to give up her smiles.

“Only a bit,” she said. “Mostly, I miss the little people.”

“The little people?”

“You know … the elves and leprechauns and fairies. The wee folk who are whispered about at bedtime.”

Frank pushed out his chest. “We don’t have no wee folk here. Everything here is as big as it can get. Now, you take a jackrabbit for instance. Why they’re so big, you can saddle ‘em and ride ‘em.”

Arlene broke out into a big smile. “I think you’re funning with me, Mr. Lewis.”

“Call me Frank.”

“Frank,” she said shyly.

“And no, ma’am. I’m not funning you. Why just last
week I saddled one up and rode him down to Mexico.”

She laughed. “You are funning me!”

“No, ma’am.” He leaned down conspiratorially. “I’m spinning a tall tale.”

“Is that a polite word for a lie?”

“No, ma’am!” He placed his hand over his heart. “I swear next time I go riding a jackrabbit, I’ll bring you along.”

Her laughter followed along beside him as he walked her back to the wagon, and it stayed with him throughout the night.

Purring like a cat, Rebecca stretched her lean frame.

“I’ve thought of this all day,” Jake said in a husky voice as he ran his tongue down the center of her back. “I had forgotten how beautiful you look riding a horse. Your hips have spread a little since you became a mother. Those pants fit real snug now, outlining your little bottom real nice.”

He nipped at her bottom and she squirmed. Straddling her hips, he brought his lips back up to her neck, giving her little love bites before running his hands and his mouth down her slender back. He spread warm kisses along her thighs, her knees, down her calves and back up again. She sighed contentedly. “Nice.”

He rolled her over, trailing hot kisses along her throat. His tongue outlined the tiny shell of her ear and dipped inside, sending shudders through her body. He cupped a breast in his palm, kneading gently as he drew the tip into his mouth, feeling it harden as it came into contact with his swirling tongue. His thumb slipped under his mouth, to aid his tongue in caressing the tiny sensitive pearl. She gasped with pleasure, and her body began moving as though he were buried deep within her.

“Have you been practicing?” she asked throatily.

“No,” he said as his mouth returned to cover hers. “Just been thinking about it all day, like I said.”

Drawing his tongue into her mouth, she suckled gently before releasing it to allow it to roam the confines of her mouth. He eased his hand down her midriff, lightly sending it back and forth across her stomach, as his mouth sought
to pay homage to her other breast. Shivers of anticipation raced through her as she raked her hands through his hair, down his neck, onto his shoulders. Then reaching down, she wrapped her warm fingers around him, his heat increasing her own. He emitted a low moan as she tenderly stroked him. And then his hand moved down, covering the tight curls nestled between her legs, his hand sliding back and forth until his fingers parted the frail barrier and touched her silky wetness. Tightening her hold on him, she thought she might die if he touched her anymore. But she didn’t and he did. Slowly he explored the velvet smoothness. She gasped, lifting her hips up, her hand stilling as he continued his exploration in earnest.

Rebecca felt the heat waves rolling through her, each one more intense than the next, clouding all sane thoughts until the only thing she could think of was Jake and having him nestled deep within her. Her body was inflamed and she wanted him, needed him to extinguish the fire. She tightened her hold on him. “Now, Jake.”

He thrust himself hard and deep within her, and she cried out as her body came up off the bed, her arms tightening around him. Then she lay below him, trembling violently. And it scared the hell out of Jake.

He stilled, enfolding her in his arms. “Reb? Reb, honey?”

Her trembling slowly eased, and in the moonbeams dancing across her features, he could see the blush creeping up her cheeks. She captured his face in her hands, her eyes searching his. “It was glorious, Jake,” she whispered.

A low guttural moan escaped his throat as his mouth sought hers and his hips began undulating. Rebecca tore her mouth off his and began searing his neck with her kisses. She ran her tongue down his chest, until it touched and snared his nipple, then pressed her mouth against the hardened tip, alternately suckling and stroking until he was shuddering above her.

Burying his head against her neck, he sought to control his quaking body as her hands trailed up and down his damp back.

“Jake?” “Mmm?”

“I like it when you spend the day thinking.”

He brought his head up, twinkling eyes and a mischievous grin gracing his countenance.

“Reb, honey, that was just what I thought about this morning. Wait until I show you what I thought about this afternoon.”

J
AKE
STRETCHED
OUT
at an angle on the wooden bench suspended from the overhang of the porch. Rebecca was curled up at his side. He lazily pushed his foot against the porch, enticing the bench to sway back and forth at a leisurely pace. Beside them, nestled in his crib, Jacob welcomed nighttime by curling up into a ball and snoring softly. And over the horizon, the sun bid its final farewell to day.

Jake hadn’t closeted himself off in secret when he had made the bench. Many an evening Rebecca and Jacob had sat on the porch watching Jake work. He wouldn’t tell them what his project was, making them guess. Even after she had figured it out, Rebecca didn’t know what he was going to do with it. Now, she sighed contentedly as his hand idly stroked her arm.

“This is nice, isn’t it, Reb?” he asked, somewhat awed that life could have turned out to be so good. He’d never known such serenity existed.

“Yes, it is,” she said as her fingers nimbly worked to undo a button on his shirt and her hand slipped inside to rest against his heart.

In the distance, they watched the silhouette of Frank and Arlene as they walked hand in hand towards a private destination. Men headed out to watch the herd; men headed in to bed down for the night. A warm breeze blew across the land. Kevin O’Hennessy put the last of his father’s tools away, gave a final longing glance towards the horses scampering
in the corral, and made his decision. With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he walked over to the porch.

“Evening, Mr. and Mrs. Burnett,” he said as he removed his hat.

“Kevin,” Rebecca said, acknowledging the lad.

Kevin’s eyes focused on Jake. “Mr. Burnett, sir, I was wondering … I mean … I been thinking and seeing as how Frank’s as old as me and he works for you and all … well … I was wondering if maybe you could hire me and teach me to be a cowboy.”

Jake studied the young man before him. Already his arms were thick, his legs sturdy from laying hammer to anvil with a poetic rhythm that rivaled many of the ballads sung around roaring campfires. “Being a cowhand is hard work,” he said.

“I’m not afraid of hard work, sir.”

“Thought you were going to learn your father’s trade?”

“Yes, sir. Me da wanted me to, and if we’d stayed in Ireland I would have been content to do so. But here”—he threw his arm out in a circle—“there’s so much more.”

“Have you talked to your father about working for me?”

“Yes, sir. He understands me wanting something different.”

“Gotta get up before the sun.” “Yes, sir.”

“Gotta work all day.” “Yes, sir.”

“Gotta go over to that corral and decide which horse you want to ride when the sun comes up in the morning.”

Kevin’s eyes widened. “Does that mean you’ll hire me?”

“Reckon it does.”

Kevin hit his hat on his leg. “Thank you, sir! Thank you. You won’t regret it. I give you my word,” he said as he extended a hand to Jake.

Rebecca unwrapped herself from Jake’s side so he could shake the lad’s hand and then wrapped herself back when Kevin walked off. His position in front of the porch was soon replaced by Patrick O’Hennessy, who having just
turned fifteen, thought himself capable at least of keeping up with his older brother.

He removed his hat, crunching it in his hands as he studied the ground intently, then lifted his eyes to Jake’s without lifting his head. He cleared his throat three times.

“Mr. Burnett, sir.”

Jake smiled. “Go pick out a horse.”

The boy’s head jerked up. “Thank you! You won’t regret it, you won’t!” And he ran off to herald the news to anyone who cared to listen.

Rebecca began laughing. “I’m not sure whether we’ll find Brian over here next asking you to take him on or demanding you find him a replacement for all the strong arms you’re depriving him of.”

“Boys have a right to decide what they want to do with their lives. They might not like working the range. It’s not an easy life, for every moment of excitement, there’s at least a hundred of boredom.” He glanced down at his wife. “Your father didn’t give you much choice. Think there’s something else you’d rather be doing?”

Slipping her hand out of his shirt, she nimbly undid the remainder of his buttons before running a hand up his chest and catching the nape of his neck. She tilted her head up, bringing his mouth down to hers.

“Mmm-huh. There’s something else I’d rather be doing. But we need to go inside to do it.”

Chuckling warmly, Jake stopped the bench’s swinging motions. No. Life had never been so good.

Sean O’Hennessy sat on the edge of the porch, digging his bony elbows into his knees, drawing random circles in the dry dirt with a skinny stick he had found near the tree. His lower lip jutted out, his light auburn brows drawn tightly together. He had been the cowboy in the family, riding out in the saddle with Mr. Jake every morning when the sun came up. Now two of his older brothers were going to be the real cowboys. They were each going to ride their own horse. They wouldn’t have someone holding on to them. He wasn’t really a cowboy, and that admission, even
if made only to himself, pained him.

Jake came over, holding two pair of reins in his hands, and hunkered down beside the boy. “You gonna ride with me today?”

Sean’s lower lip jutted out further, and he moved his head slowly from side to side, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.

“Well, I’m real sorry to hear that. I was hoping maybe you could start riding Shorty for me.”

The boy’s head popped up. “Who’s Shorty?”

Jake threw a thumb over his shoulder. “This little mare over here. All my men are too big to ride her, and I’ve been looking for someone who’s the right size to take care of her.”

Sean jumped up. “I could do it!”

Jake rubbed his chin in thought. “You’d have to ride her every day, make sure she gets fed, brush her down.”

“I could do it! I’m not too big for her!”

Separating the reins, Jake handed a pair to Sean. “She’s yours then, cowboy.”

He helped the boy get up into the saddle, then mounted his own horse, a rope tethered to Sean’s horse in his hand.

“I’ll hold on to your horse until you learn to use the reins to guide her,” he explained to the boy. They headed out, and behind them, Kevin and Patrick followed, grinning at each other.

Trade Market was held the second Monday of each month come hell or high water. People from around the county and the surrounding area brought their wares to trade or sell.

Although they had left the ranch before the sun was up, leaving Jacob in Maura’s care, Jake and Rebecca arrived in the midst of bustling activity. Frank and Arlene, eyes wide, mouths agape, rode in the back of the wagon. The two couples separated, agreeing to meet back at the wagon when the sun set. Rebecca slipped her arm through Jake’s and let him lead the way.