A Lady of the West (17 page)

“Did you have any trouble with her this morning?” she finally asked.

“A little. She wanted to jump the fence and run like she did yesterday. But she didn't try to bite me when I saddled her, so we're making progress.”

“How long will it be before I can ride her?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On how she acts, and how fast she learns.”

“Mr. Roper, it's very hot out here. I have better things to do than just stand in the sun letting dust settle on me.”

He reined Sophie in and stared at her. “All right. Let's change saddles on her and you can start doing
some of the work. But I don't want to hear any squalling if she throws you.”

Victoria's heart leaped at the thought of getting to ride her beautiful horse, and she smiled at him. “I don't ‘squall' when I'm thrown.”

“Then let's see how good you are.”

He led Sophie to the stable and unsaddled her, throwing the saddle on his own horse. He nodded toward the tack room. “Your saddle is in there. Get to work.”

If he thought she wouldn't know how to go about saddling a horse, he'd soon find out differently. Victoria found one of the new side saddles the Major had bought in Santa Fe and a saddle blanket, both of which she carried to where Sophie was restlessly shifting about.

“Watch her teeth,” Jake warned.

Victoria patted Sophie and talked to her before positioning the blanket on her back. The mare turned her head and watched every move. When Victoria lifted the saddle, the horse shifted but didn't move out of reach. She allowed the saddle to be put on her back and finally turned her head away as if bored while Victoria tightened the cinches.

Jake had already finished saddling his own horse, a big gelding, and he came over to boost Victoria into the sidesaddle. She waited for him to cup his hands for her to step into, but instead he clasped her around the waist and effortlessly lifted her. Startled, Victoria grabbed his shoulders for balance, her fingers digging into his heavy muscles. He plopped her in her seat and held her there, narrowly watching Sophie for any signs of rebellion.

Victoria steadied herself with a deep breath and hooked her right knee around the pommel while she found the stirrup with her left boot. Sophie glanced around, curious at this much lighter weight and strange seat, but she seemed to accept them.

Jake swung into his saddle. “She has a real tender mouth, so keep a light touch on the reins. All she needs is a nudge with your heel, but don't kick her. That riles her up.”

Victoria obeyed, and found that she had to give Sophie only the smallest hint of direction with the reins. They walked out of the stable into the hot sun and halted in the yard when the Major hailed them.

“Fine-looking horse,” he enthused as he approached. “Yep, she'll give us some fine foals when we breed her.”

Victoria stiffened. This was the first she'd heard about breeding Sophie. Eventually, yes, she wanted a foal from the mare, but Sophie was still young and there was plenty of time. She wanted to be able to enjoy her new mount first. “I don't want Sophie bred yet,” she said firmly.

The Major didn't even look at her. He was still examining Sophie, beaming over her. He slapped the horse's neck a little too hard and the mare took exception to it by dancing away. Jake's hand shot out to aid Victoria in controlling the animal, and Victoria murmured softly to settle the horse down.

The Major put his hands on his hips. “You were right, Roper. The foals we'll get from her will show up all the other horses in the territory,” he said, as if Victoria had never spoken at all. Her lips tightened, but a wife didn't argue with her husband in public. There would be time later.

“She's strong and fast,” Jake agreed noncommittally.

Still McLain stood there, his eyes narrowed and sort of glittery. “Uh—where are you going on your ride?”

“I thought we'd head toward the river, then circle around to the north a little.”

McLain nodded. “How long you think you'll be gone?”

Jake's face was impassive, the way it always was
when he was talking with McLain. It was the only way he could keep his hatred from showing. “Maybe a couple of hours.”

“Take your time, take your time. There's a lot of ranch to see.” He finally stepped back, but not before slapping Sophie's neck again. The horse neighed in protest and reared a little. Again Jake reached out protectively to aid Victoria, this time to catch her in case she came off the saddle. But Victoria remained firmly seated and settled Sophie down nicely herself. By the time the horse was quiet, McLain was striding back toward the house without even a glance in their direction.

The bastard. Jake's face was grim as he watched him leave.

They walked the horses across the yard, then kicked them into an easy canter. Jake watched both Victoria and Sophie, but the former was indeed a good horsewoman and the latter seemed inclined to behave. He relaxed and let himself begin to enjoy the ride. It was a beautiful summer day, and the woman he planned to make his own was beside him. Things like that could go to a man's head.

The river was about a mile from the house, a broad, shallow ribbon that glittered and gulped. “Why wasn't the house built closer to the river?” she asked. She thought it would have been the sensible thing, to be close to a water supply. There was a small creek that ran just behind the house, but it would disappear in dry weather.

“See how shallow it is? It floods every spring from the runoff.” He pointed to the north, on his left. “See that stand of cottonwoods on the riverbank? The river is about waist deep there. That's where we take our baths, in the summer, anyway.”

The men bathed in the river? She felt ashamed of her ignorance, for she had assumed that they had bathtubs for their convenience. If she had thought, she would have realized that it would have been a
never-ending job to haul and heat enough water for as many men as worked on the ranch.

“How many men are there?”

“A little over a hundred.”

“That many? I wouldn't have guessed.”

“Only about half of us are at the hacienda at any given time. The others are out at line shacks or on the ranch. The ranch is over half a million acres.”

She was astounded by the size. No one had bothered to tell her before, and she was too shy to ask, in case it sounded like avarice on her part. But she had trusted Jake enough, and what he'd told her boggled her imagination. The thought of being surrounded by so much space frightened her, but she also felt a sense of exhilaration. She looked back in the direction from which they'd come, but the hacienda was hidden from view by both a thick stand of trees and the lay of the land. Except for Jake, she was alone, more alone than she could ever remember being before. There was the sun and the earth, the river, the wind, the magnificent horse beneath her, and it felt wonderful. She couldn't wait until she could begin riding on her own, and said as much.

He snorted. “Woman, use your common sense! You can't go riding out here alone, not ever.”

She started to snap that she'd do whatever she pleased, but her common sense did indeed assert itself as she realized he knew much more about this wild, beautiful land than she did. So she said calmly, “Why?”

“The hacienda has been here for a long time, but that doesn't mean the land is civilized. If you get tossed off out here and your horse runs away, it means a helluva lot more than walking a half-mile to a neighbor's house. There aren't any neighbors. There are bears, mountain lion, and snakes to watch out for. Not only that, there are occasional Indian raids on the cattle, though it isn't as bad now that the Navaho are on the reservation. They'd steal your cattle while you
were looking at them. There are drifters wandering through, and some of our own men aren't fine, upstanding citizens, in case you haven't noticed. It wouldn't do for you to be caught out here on your own.”

“When will you have Emma's and Celia's horses trained? Then I'll be able to ride with them.”

“Celia's horse has been ready, but I haven't told her because she'd be hell-bent and determined to take off on her own.” They shared a look of complete understanding, and Jake smiled ruefully. “She's already been pestering me to let her ride astride like a man.”

Victoria looked horrified. “What did you tell her?”

“I told her her skirts would get in the way, and she'd have to ask you for permission anyway.” His eyes were bright with amusement.

“Thank you very much,” she said tartly, but couldn't help smiling. “What about Emma's horse?”

“Miss Emma's gelding won't be any trouble, either. It was just this lady I was worried about.”

“She's behaving perfectly.”

“So she is. It makes me nervous.”

Victoria threw back her head and laughed, exposing her white throat and dislodging the hat; it dangled down her back, suspended by the cords from her neck. Still chuckling, she reached back to retrieve it.

Jake couldn't stop looking at her; she was so bright and happy, the way she should be. He felt that odd clenching in his chest again, then it eased into a throb.

He reined in and dismounted. She stopped laughing and looked at him in surprise as he came around and lifted her from the saddle. She grabbed at his shoulders, trying to stiffen her arms and hold herself away from him, but he let her slide down his body until her boots touched the ground. Her habit skirt caught on the buckle of his gunbelt, exposing her white petticoat. Her face flamed and she tried to jerk backward, but his hands were still on her waist and he pulled her against him as he bent his head.

He wasn't rough with her. His mouth was warm, the intrusion of his tongue slow and sweet. Victoria trembled, but she had experienced his kiss before and the temptation to know it again was too powerful. Her arms went around his neck and she welcomed the penetration of her mouth with shy, uncertain movements of her tongue against his. He shuddered, his arms tightening around her, and wonder filled her that she could make this man, dangerous as he was, feel the same hot, uncontrollable pleasure he aroused in her.

He stroked his hands up her back, and she arched into him like a cat. Jake quickly took advantage of the instinctive offering of her body and closed his hand over her breast. Victoria jerked, her eyes flying open. No one had ever touched her there; she tried to tear away from him, but he easily controlled the motion and continued his gentle caress.

“Stop!” she whispered. His hand burned her breast even through the layers of clothing, eliciting a shameful tightening in her nipple. She knew she shouldn't let him do this, knew she should never enjoy it, but she did. The hot pleasure intensified and a soft moan caught in her throat.

He reached up and removed his hat, then let it drop in the dust beside them. The sun glinted on the green in his narrowed eyes. “Why do you want me to stop?” he asked, his voice low and rough. His breathing was fast, his body taut.

“It isn't right.” The excuse sounded feeble even to her own ears, but it was the excuse that had been drummed into her since the day she had gone to long skirts and left childhood behind. She had never before imagined that it would be so weak against the impulses of her own body.

Jake's expression didn't change as he stared down at her. “It doesn't get any lighter, sweetheart.” The truth in his own words struck him. He had held a lot of women, but none had felt as perfect in his arms as she did; none of them had made him feel
at home.
It was
amazing how he could feel both so comfortable and so aroused at the same time.

“We have to stop.” She knew she should withdraw her arms from around his neck and push him away, but there was something so primitively satisfying in standing there in the bright sun, in his arms, feeling the heat of his body and inhaling the scent of his skin, that she couldn't bring herself to step away.

“In a minute.” His voice had roughened again, and her heart jumped as he bent toward her. Her strength was washed out on the tide of warmth that filled her, and her head fell back. He trailed biting kisses down her exposed throat, then back up to her mouth. He touched her other breast, and the same tingling assailed her again. A heavy ache began forming deep in her lower body; she squirmed unconsciously, her hips writhing against his, and he made a rough sound as he dropped his arm to circle her hips and grind her into him, rubbing the hard ridge of his manhood against her soft mound.

It had been nasty with the Major. With Jake, she wanted only to cling, blindly seeking more of this fevered pleasure. Her hands slid up into his sun-warmed hair, and she pressed her palms against his head to hold it down where she could take more of his kisses. His taste was heady, a mixture of coffee and tobacco, and his breath filled her, a mingling no less intimate than that of his tongue probing hers.

Sophie shifted impatiently, bumping into them. Jake raised his head. “You sorry jackass,” he said hoarsely.

Victoria was breathing in fast gulps. She stepped back, her hands pressed to her face. In another minute she would have been lying down in the dust for him. That sure knowledge was so at odds with the way she had always thought of herself that she felt devastated; she had to admit to her own weakness now. She wanted Jake Roper in a carnal way she could no longer deny. She had been savagely jealous when she'd seen
him making love with the tinker's daughter; just the thought of him made her heart beat faster while his presence pitched her to a state of intense awareness that was almost painful.

Dear God. She loved him.

She had always thought the state of love required long acquaintance with someone, a sure knowledge of personality and a basis of friendship. Now she knew that it could be forged from a base of lust, that liking wasn't necessary and that long-held standards crumpled before it.