Tales of Western Romance (4 page)

Moving to the window, she pushed the white
lace curtain aside and stared at the street below. How was she
going to get back home? If she asked
Relampago
to take her,
would he? There had been times in her life when she felt like she
didn’t belong, but in this case, it was true. She definitely didn’t
belong here, and never would. Yet even as she yearned for home, she
knew she would be sorry to see the last of Ace Bowdry. There was no
denying that she was attracted to him. And he to her.

Maybe
Relampago
was more than a
time-traveling horse, she thought with a smile. Maybe he was a
matchmaker, as well.

* * * * *

The following morning, Bowdry knocked on her
door bright and early. “You awake in there?”

Scrambling out of bed, Macie wrapped a sheet
around her nakedness and opened the door.

Bowdry grinned at her. “You ready for
breakfast?”

“
Do I look ready?”

“
You look ready for
something.”

The hungry look in his eyes caused a shiver
of excitement in the pit of her stomach. With his gaze focused on
hers, he backed her into the room and shut the door behind him.

Macie stared up at him, her heart pounding,
her lips slightly parted, as he reached for her.

He’s going to kiss me.
Breathless with
anticipation, she closed her eyes.

There was no hesitation in his kiss. His lips
were warm and firm, confident without being demanding.

Needing something solid to hang on to, Macie
clung to the sheet with one hand, the other curling over his
shoulder as he deepened the kiss. He made a throaty growl when her
tongue slid over his lower lip.

Muttering something unintelligible, he backed
her toward the bed, lowered her gently onto the mattress, and
covered her body with his.

“
Damn, woman, what are you doing to
me?” he asked, his voice gruff.

“
What are
you
doing to
me
?” she retorted.

He grinned at her, a wicked gleam in his
eyes. “I don’t know,” he said, stripping her of the sheet, “but
whatever it is, let’s not stop.”

Chapter 4

Macie woke abruptly. For a moment, she stared
up at the ceiling, unable to recall where she was. And then it all
came rushing back. The horse. The journey through time.

And the man.
Ah, yes, the man. She
turned her head to see him lying asleep beside her. Just looking at
Mr. Tall, Dark, and Sexy made her toes curl. They had sex. No, it
had been more than sex, but before she fell too much harder, she
should probably find out a little more about him. Like, was he
married?

The thought sent a cold chill down her spine.
Maybe she should have found that out before they tumbled into
bed.

Slipping carefully out of bed, she pulled on
her sweatshirt, stepped into her jeans, pulled on her boots. She
had never been one to have casual sex, and although there had been
nothing casual about what they’d done, the thought of facing Bowdry
had her stomach tied in knots.

The creak of the bed, the rustle of sheets,
told her he was awake. She could feel his gaze on her back.

“
Goin’ somewhere, freckles?” he
asked.

“
I need to…ah…use the…”

“
It’s under the bed.”

Under the bed? Good Lord, did he expect her
to use a chamber pot while he watched?

“
Give me a minute and you can have some
privacy.”

There was no mistaking the amusement in his
voice. Maybe she was being silly to be so modest after what they
had shared, but she couldn’t help it.

She bit down on her lip, listening as he
dressed, remembering all too well how he looked in nothing at all.
It took every ounce of willpower she possessed to keep from turning
around.

Her stomach fluttered wildly when his arms
slid around her waist and he kissed the back of her neck. “I need
coffee, and lots of it,” he said, his breath warm against her
cheek. “How about you?”

“
You’re a man after my own heart, Ace
Bowdry,” she replied, feeling breathless. “I’m about a quart
low.”

Murmuring, “I’ll meet you downstairs,” he
kissed her again and left the room.

* * * * *

Later, after eating breakfast in the hotel,
Bowdry suggested they buy some new clothes. “You should have a
dress,” he said. “Something blue, to match your eyes. And I need
another shirt. I could use a hat, too. Lost mine awhile back.”

With a nod, she fell into step beside him,
and they walked down the boardwalk to the mercantile. Oddly, it
never occurred to her to object when he paid for her dress and a
few other items she needed. Of course, the fact that she didn’t
have any money accounted for part of it, but, oddly enough, it
seemed like the most natural thing in the world to be shopping with
him.

“
I’ve got a place about twenty miles
from here,” he said as they walked back toward the hotel. “I
haven’t worked it in a while, and it’s pretty run down, but I’ve
been thinking about fixin’ it up, maybe running a few head of
cattle.” He removed his new hat and ran a hand through his hair.
“Seein’ as how you’re new here, that is, if you’ve got no place
else to go…hell, woman, I’m askin’ you to… Hell, it’s probably too
soon, but…”

“
If you’re asking me to come with you,”
Macie said, smiling up at him. “I’d love to.”

“
Well, hot damn!” he exclaimed, and
lifting her in his arms, he twirled her round and round, oblivious
to the startled looks on the faces of people passing by.

Her decision called for another trip to the
mercantile, where they stocked up on necessities—blankets, canned
goods, coffee, salt, flour, sugar, baking soda, and matches. From
there, they went to the livery stable where Bowdry bought a horse
and a wagon to carry their supplies. He lifted her onto the high
spring seat then swung up beside her. Picking up the reins, he
clucked to the horse.

Relampago
trotted alongside the
wagon.

Macie’s initial burst of excitement faded as
they left the town behind. What was she doing here with a man she
hardly knew?

It was a thought that haunted her in the days
which followed.

* * * * *

As Bowdry had said, the place needed work and
they spent their days cleaning up the rough four-room cabin. Bowdry
made a trip into town and bought a gallon of white wash and they
painted all the rooms, which brightened the place considerably.

Macie had never been much of a seamstress,
but she bought several yards of gingham and sewed curtains for the
windows in the kitchen and the bedroom. She ordered drapes for the
living room from a mail-order house in the east. On another trip to
town, Bowdry bought a new mattress and pillows for the bed.

At the end of three weeks, the cabin looked a
hundred percent better, and Bowdry went to work repairing the barn
and the corrals. Macie helped as best she could, but she had never
been proficient at swinging a hammer and after she smashed her
thumb for the third time, Bowdry sent her back to the house to bake
a pie.

It wasn’t the best looking apple pie she had
ever seen, but Bowdry praised her efforts.

As their life settled into a routine, Macie
grew more and more depressed. She missed going to the movies and
shopping at the mall, she missed watching TV, hot running water,
and her computer. She didn’t like doing her laundry in a wash tub
over a fire, or hanging clothes on a line stretched between two
saplings, or cooking on a wood stove. She missed her microwave and
junk food.

They had been living together just over a
month when Bowdry said they needed to talk.

“
I can’t help noticin’ you’re not happy
here,” he said, not quite meeting her eyes. “I know you’re probably
used to better than this…” He cleared his throat. “And I know I’m
not much…”

“
It’s not you,” she said quickly. And
it was true. She loved him more every day they spent together. He
was strong as an ox, yet tender with her, considerate of her needs.
She had only to ask for something, and he did his best to get it
for her.

“
Then I guess you’re missing your old
life. If you’re truly unhappy here, I reckon
Relampago
will
take you back home, if that’s where you’re meant to be.”

That night, Macie stayed up long after Bowdry
had gone to bed. Did she want to go back home? There was nothing
for her there. And no reason to take her own life. In spite of what
she had lost, she still had a lot to live for. She was young. She
was healthy. And she had a man who loved her. But did she want to
stay here? Could a woman from the twenty-first century, accustomed
to all the conveniences technology had to offer, ever be happy
living in the Old West?

She was still mulling the answer to that
question when she woke in the morning.

Stepping outside, a blanket wrapped around
her shoulders to ward off the chill, she gazed at the land, and at
the tall, dark-haired man who was chopping firewood near the
barn.

She was about to go back into the house to
start breakfast when
Relampago
trotted up to the porch.
“Hey, boy,” she murmured. “What should I do?”

The stallion shook his head, then whinnied
softly.

“
I’ve been asking the wrong question,
haven’t I? The question isn’t whether I can be happy here, in the
past. The question is, can I be happy in the future without Bowdry.
And you know what? The answer is no.”

With her decision made, laughter bubbled up
inside Macie. Life wouldn’t be easy here, but suddenly, it didn’t
matter. She was here, with Bowdry, and that was where she belonged.
In a flash of intuition, she saw herself married to Ace Bowdry, saw
them raising half a dozen kids, growing old together, living
happily-ever-after.

Bowdry looked up just then, a smile curving
his lips when he saw her. He sank the blade of the ax into a block
of wood, then strode toward her, his dark eyes alight.

Still smiling, Macie patted the stallion on
the neck. “You can go now,” she called over her shoulder as she
hurried into Bowdry’s arms. “I’m home.”

The End

The white stallion,
Relampago
, travels
through time as he hears the call of someone in danger. With a toss
of his head, the stallion began to run, mane and tail flying in the
wind as he raced swiftly over the rolling hills.

It was not an Apache warrior who needed
saving this time. Or a young woman contemplating suicide. But a
woman looking for love in all the wrong places...

Capture the Lightning

Prologue

The white stallion grazed peacefully on a
patch of sun-warmed grass beside a slow-moving river. The Lakota
horse herd grazed nearby, never getting too close. In the distance,
smoke rose from the lodges of the People.

The stallion did not belong to the Lakota. Or
the Apache. Or the Cheyenne. Or any other tribe. He was
Relámpago
and he belonged to no one. The Apache called him a
ghost horse because of his pale color. The Cheyenne called him a
spirit horse because he could travel the shadow road between the
past and the present, but he preferred to make his home in the
past.

A gentle breeze stirred the leaves of the
trees, carrying with it a voice from the present. A voice only the
stallion could hear.

With a toss of his head, the stallion began
to run, mane and tail flying in the wind as he raced swiftly over
the rolling hills. It was not an Apache warrior who needed saving
this time. Or a young woman contemplating suicide.

But a woman looking for love in all the wrong
places.

Chapter 1

“
And they lived happily ever
after.”

Bonnie Daniels sighed as she closed the book,
then pressed it to her heart. Movies, books, and popular songs all
had happy-ever-after endings. Why couldn’t she? What was wrong with
her?

Laying the book aside, she went into the
bedroom and studied her reflection in the mirror over her dresser.
Long brown hair, brown eyes, pointy nose. So, she was a pound or
two overweight. Okay, ten pounds. So, she wasn’t as beautiful as
Angelina Jolie and she couldn’t sing like Taylor Swift or dance
like Jennifer Gray. It was said that everyone had a talent; she
just hadn’t found hers yet.

Maybe the problem was there were just too
many beautiful, talented women running around these days. She
should have been born in the Old West, where the men outnumbered
the women. Even ugly women had been prized back then. And she
wasn’t ugly, just not movie-star gorgeous.