Mail Order Bride - Westward Sunrise: Historical Cowboy Romance (Montana Mail Order Brides Book 9) (6 page)

“I’ll get it,” Elliot said.

“No, that’s okay.  I’ll be right back,” Abby said, and jumped up.  She took their empty beer mugs with her.

Along the way, she noticed that a few people had empty beer mugs sitting in front of them.  She asked if they wanted her to take them and they nodded at her.  Abby scooped them up and carried them to the bar with hers and Elliot’s.

“There you are,” she said to Jake. 

He looked at her.  “You brought all of those?  How many have you and Elliot had?”

Abby gave Jake a wry smile and said, “You know how many we’ve had.  You can’t fool me.  They were empty so I just grabbed them on my way over.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Jake said.  “You’re here to have a good time, not work.”

Abby shrugged.  “I know.  I don’t mind.  We need refills, please.”

Jake smiled and gave her the two beers.  She made her way back to their table and sat down again.  Giving Elliot his beer, she took a sip of her own.

“Mmm.  Jake buys good beer,” Abby said.

“I’d never take you for a drinker,” Elliot said.

Abby said, “I only do it once in a while.  It just so happened that tonight I was thirsty for it.  Probably if I were to come here tomorrow night, I wouldn’t want any.”

“So you’re having a good time?” Elliot said.

“I am.  I think I would have a good time anywhere as long as I was with you, though,” Abby said as she took his hand again.

Elliot squeezed hers back and said, “Same here.”

Seth and Luke had been watching Elliot and Abby the whole time they were playing and smiled at each other as they saw the way the couple held hands.  Luke nudged Joe and motioned with his head at Elliot and Abby’s table and the mayor smiled even as he finished singing the song they were on.

A round of applause went up and Joe announced that their portion of the entertainment was concluded.  As always, it was met with a chorus of protests.

“Now, now, ya’ll,” Joe called out.  “Luke and Jamie have to get home to their little one.  So don’t give us any grief.”

The crowd quieted down and Luke and Jamie said their goodbyes.  Although they’d enjoyed themselves, they missed their baby and were anxious to get home to her.  Joe and Lacey came to sit with Abby and Elliot.

“You’re a wonderful singer,” Abby told Joe.

“Why, thank you, Miss Porter,” Joe said.  “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

She nodded.  “How could I not?”

A disturbance started near the back of the barroom.  Elliot smiled as he saw Sammi attempt to rise from her seat a couple of tables away.  Mitch put a hand on her shoulder and made her sit down again.  Sammi laughed.  Elliot could imagine how hard it was for Sammi not to intervene.  Suddenly the loudmouth became silent.  All eyes turned to in that direction.  Ben had the guy in a sleeper hold and didn’t let go until the man sagged in his seat.

Calmly Ben picked up the man, put him over his shoulder, and removed him from the premises.  Ben never said a word the whole time.  When he returned, Ben went back over to the table and said something in another man’s ear in a low voice.  The man got up and left immediately.

Abby watched this with fascination.  “Does that happen often?” she asked Elliot.

“Pretty regularly,” Elliot replied.

“Good,” Abby said, and then realized what she’d said.

Joe laughed and said, “Well, Elliot, at least you don’t have to worry about her being scared.”

“Well, it was entertaining,” Abby said as she laughed.

Elliot said, “Abby likes scary things, don’t you?”

Abby nodded.  “The scarier the better.  Do you like ghost stories?”

“I like a good ghost story,” Joe said.

Lacey shook her head.  “Not me.”

“We should have a campfire some night and sit around telling ghost stories,” Abby said excitedly. 

Joe leaned forward and said, “We should have a campfire some night, get drunk, and then tell ghost stories.”

“Drunken ghost stories?  Even better!” Abby said.

Elliot laughed.  “We oughta get Seth in on that.  He loves telling ghost stories and he’s good at it.”

Abby started looking around for Seth and saw him out at the bar.  “I’ll go ask him.”  She was off before Elliot could stop her.

“I didn’t mean right now,” he called after her.

Lacey and Joe laughed. 

“She’s adorable,” Lacey said.  “You two certainly seem…friendly.”

Elliot’s smile was bashful.  “I guess you could say that.”

Joe said, “Don’t wait too long to kiss her.  Better to do it right away and see what kind of chemistry you have.”

“Joe!” Lacey objected. “Don’t listen to him.  You move at your own pace.”

“Oh, c’mon now, darlin’.  I didn’t wait too long to kiss you, did I?” he asked his wife, and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Lacey colored and giggled.  “No, you didn’t.”

“And we definitely had chemistry,” Joe told Elliot.  “Nothing wrong with a little kiss, Elliot.  Remember that.”

Seth wasn’t prepared for Abby’s onslaught and jumped when he felt her hand on his arm.

“Oh.  Sorry, Seth.  I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said, but her smile belied her words. 

He laughed.  “That’s okay.  I was just thinkin’ about something and didn’t see you come up.”

“I wanted to ask you something,” she said.

“Shoot.”

Abby said, “Do you mean ‘shoot’ as in ‘darn’, or ‘shoot’ as in ‘go ahead’?”

“Shoot as in ‘go ahead’,” he said.

“As I understand it, you like to tell ghost stories,” Abby said.

He grinned at her.  “That I do.”

“Good.  I was thinking of having a campfire some night and telling ghost stories.  I love them and it would be a lot of fun,” Abby said.  “So if you want to tell some, you could.  We just have to find a place to do it because I don’t have a yard and Elliot’s yard isn’t big enough.  We could have some food, too, you know?  Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Seth was trying hard not to laugh.  She’d said all of it in one breath and he hadn’t been able to respond to her.  He was waiting to make sure she was done.  “That sounds like a great idea.  I have some good ones, too.”

Abby said, “I’m always on the hunt for new ones, so I can’t wait to hear yours.  I have a whole book of them.  Well, they were stories that my pa used to tell us when we were kids and I’ve added to it over the years.  I love anything scary.”  She saw the amusement in Seth’s eyes and said, “Oh, boy.  I’m doing it again, huh?”

Seth said, “I’m sorry, but you’re cute as hell.  I’m not making fun of you.  You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

Abby smiled.  “That’s a good thing.  Okay, well, we’ll figure things out later.  I’ll let you get back to your beer.  Have a good night!”

“You, too,” Seth said, and chuckled.

Elliot watched Abby with Seth and laughed out loud at Seth’s expression.  He was getting a dose of Abby’s enthusiasm. 

Joe said, “Look at that poor ol’ boy.  He’s got no idea what to do with her.”

Elliot nodded.  “I know.  It’s great.  She’s great.”

Abby sat down again and said, “He’s in.  I can’t wait.”

“It’ll be a good time,” Joe said.  “Well, darlin’, I guess we oughta get home to our own little one, too.”

“Yeah.  You have to come out to our place, Abby,” Lacey said.

“I would love to,” Abby said. 

Once Joe and Lacey left, Elliot said, “How about we go for a walk?  It should be cooler out now.”

“That would be very nice,” Abby said.

As soon as Abby and Elliot were outside, Elliot began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Abby asked.

“I don’t think Seth knew what to think when you were asking him to come to a campfire,” Elliot said.

“You should have seen him up close.  I scared him at first and he said that he’d been deep in thought and hadn’t seen me,” Abby said.

“Well, you are a lot shorter than him, so maybe he hadn’t been looking down,” Elliot said.

Abby shoved him a little.  “Knock it off, Moose.”

“Moose?  If you’re going to call me Moose, I get to call you Mouse,” Elliot said.

“No way.  No Moose or Mouse.”

Elliot took her hand and led her in the direction of her cottage.  He sighed dramatically.  “Fine.  I suppose ‘Abby’ will have to do.”

“Yep.  So do your friends like me?” she asked.  “I mean, they seemed to, but maybe they were just being nice.”

“No, they like you.  They told me so,” Elliot said.

“Seth told me that I’m cute as hell and that I’m a breath of fresh air,” Abby said.

“Well, you are,” Elliot said.  “I knew that from the first letter you sent me.”

“You did?”

“I did.  Yours was the best one I ever got and I was hooked right from the start,” Elliot said.

Abby smiled up at him.  “Really?  How many other letters did you get?”

“About twenty-five, I think.  But no one else sent me a penny and asked if I was on sale like you did,” Elliot said.  “And now, I can say that I’m no longer for sale.  I’ve been sold to the lady with the short, curly hair and beautiful blue eyes.”

Abby blushed in the dark and said, “Thank you.”

As they came to her cottage, Elliot said, “I had a great time tonight, Abby.”

“Me, too.  Thank you for everything,” Abby said.

“You’re welcome,” Elliot said.  Joe’s words about not waiting too long to kiss Abby floated through his mind.

Abby inserted her key in the lock and turned it.  She stepped through the door and lit a lamp.  Turning back to Elliot she said, “The store is only open a half day tomorrow, right?”

“Right.  Do you remember everything?” Elliot asked.

“Not everything, but a lot,” Abby said.  That slightly primal light she’d seen in Elliot’s eyes earlier that evening had returned and Abby’s heartbeat picked up slightly.

“How about I come by after I close up and we can figure out what we’d like to do?” Elliot said, and stepped closer to her.

“Okay.  That sounds good,” she said.

Elliot hadn’t kissed a woman in a long time so he felt a little awkward as he lowered his head to press his lips against Abby’s.  They were soft and warm and Elliot deepened the kiss when Abby didn’t object.  Abby had been hoping that he would kiss her, but hadn’t wanted to seem as if she were expecting it.  She ran her hands over his broad shoulders and moved closer to him. 

Elliot wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight as she began to fervently kiss him back.  It was as if something snapped inside them and a yearning began deep inside Abby that she hadn’t been expecting.  He felt it, too, and couldn’t keep his hands from roaming over her back.  Abby melted as his touch seemed to burn through her dress and she tightened her arms around Elliot’s neck. 

There was nothing awkward about Elliot by this point and he was amazed at the passion Abby kindled in him.  He knew they should stop, but he didn’t want to quit touching her.  Abby’s feelings were much the same as Elliot’s.  Maybe it was because they’d been waiting so long to meet, but Abby was confident about Elliot and didn’t feel guilty about what they were doing.

She pulled back from Elliot enough so that she could take off his glasses and reached over to put them on a stand so they didn’t get broken.  Then she smiled at him and wound her arms around his neck again.  Elliot recaptured her mouth and backed her over to the sofa where they sat down slowly together.  Their embrace became even hotter and suddenly they were teetering on the edge of too far to turn back. 

From somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, Abby found the strength to begin resisting.  She tried to push away from Elliot and then wrapped her arms back around his neck.  This happened several times before Elliot began laughing against her mouth.  His laughter broke through the sensual haze in her mind and she laughed with him.  They were breathless as they sat holding each other.

“Well,” Elliot said.  “I guess we know that we have chemistry, huh?”

Abby cleared her throat and said, “We sure do,” as she looked into his eyes.

“You’re so beautiful,” Elliot said.  “I really do like your hair like this.”  He ran a hand through the soft curls and the sensation against his fingers was exciting.

Abby felt her skin break out in gooseflesh as his fingers grazed the back of her neck.  She couldn’t control the shudder that gripped her.  Abby knew that Elliot felt it when his gaze locked on her mouth again.  She began moving away from him to avoid the temptation to kiss him.

“Elliot, you have to go.  I don’t want you to, but you have to,” she said.

He nodded.  “I know I do.  I don’t want to, but I have to.”  He stood up and pressed a kiss to her forehead.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Abby.  Sleep well.”

“Goodnight, Elliot,” Abby said.

Elliot retrieved his glasses and put them on as he left.  Outside he took off running.  He needed to get rid of his pent up energy and figured that he’d run it off.  That way he might be able to sleep.