Here Comes the Bride (29 page)

He made short work of what was left of her underthings, leaving her in silky nakedness. She was even more beautiful than he’d ever imagined. Her soft, creamy skin, now pinked with arousal, tingled under his touch. He’d never wanted another woman so much, never needed another so much. She stirred his soul and made him crazy. And now that he had her, he would never let her go.

Gabriel’s fingers moved over every inch of her, caressing, loving, and awakening her every cell. She moved beneath him, urging him on, needing more of everything he offered. His mouth followed the trail of fire left by his hands, his lips leaving their own moist trail down her throat, across her shoulders, and between her breasts. Surely a body couldn’t bear such sweet torture without exploding.

Gabe released her briefly, just long enough to remove the rest of his clothes, then pulled her into his arms again, pressing tender kisses against her hair. When he thought how close he came to letting her go—to
making
her go—he could barely breathe. He ached to be in her, to have her. His tongue circled each breast, his own arousal increased by her soft moans. He moved his hand lower, across her silky belly and over her thigh, seeking out her desire.

“Oh, Gabriel,” she moaned.

“Say it again,” he choked. “Say my name.”

She was so soft, so sweet, so warm. His teeth gritted, he held his own need in check, easing Tess through the first painful moment of their joining and on through to their final glorious moment.

“Gabriel!”

Light splintered into a rainbow of stars. Her insides convulsed at the same moment Gabriel shuddered and moaned. She’d never felt more alive or more exhausted in her entire life. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held tight—she could spend the rest of her life just as she was—wrapped around him and filled with enormous love and fulfillment. Gabriel’s sweat-dampened body slumped over her, his heart pounding through his chest against hers.

“Gabriel,” she murmured. “I can’t breathe.”

“Mmmm.” He chuckled low in his throat. “I guess I knew what I was doing after all then, didn’t I?”

“Well, yes, but I mean you’re crushing me.”

Gabe wrapped his arms around his wife and rolled over onto his back, pulling her with him. He had no intention of releasing her any time soon. In fact, he smirked, it might be interesting to start all over again just the way they were.

 

 

Brilliant sunshine poured through the window when Tess finally woke the next morning. Gabe’s heart beat beneath her ear, his hand gently stroking her bare shoulder.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Mmm,” she sighed. “How did you know . . . ?”

“Eyelashes.”

Tess’s fingers traced a path up his chest to his beard-stubbled face. Life was good.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked, enjoying the roughness of his beard against her hand.

“Like a baby.” He smiled. “I had an exhausting afternoon—and night.”

Tess knew she should be ashamed of the way she’d carried on the night before, but she couldn’t help herself. The things he did to her . . . well, mercy, her mother’s lady friends obviously had never done that!

“Do you think . . .” She stopped, suddenly feeling shy.

“Do I think we made a baby last night?” he said tenderly, lifting her chin back up with his finger. “I don’t rightly know, but if it takes a lot more practice before we finally make one, that’s fine with me.”

Tess couldn’t help but giggle.

“You’re awful,” she scolded happily. “Just awful.”

“And you’re beautiful,” he growled, pulling her in for a long, mind-drugging kiss. “I’m not going to get any work done if you keep this up.”

“Me?” She laughed. “I was just lying here innocently, minding my own business, when you . . .”

“There’s nothing innocent about you, Tess Calloway. Not anymore.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Gabe threw his hands above his head in surrender.

“Guilty as charged.”

“All right then,” she said, her eyes dancing. “What should your punishment be?”

“Life. Nothing less than a life sentence.”

“Life then.” Tess nodded, her eyes smoldering in passion. “And not a minute less.”

Nothing Tess had read or hoped to be true could have prepared her for the life she and Gabriel embarked on together.

She’d read about love, laughed and cried right along with the characters in the novels she read, but those emotions were nothing compared with what she lived every second. Her heart swelled at the sight of her new husband, ached at his absence, and the slightest touch of his hand sent volcanic eruptions through her entire being.

For every ounce of love she felt, she saw it reciprocated in Gabriel’s eyes; for every quiver that rocked her soul, she felt it reverberate in his kiss. It still didn’t seem possible to her the very man who had done all he could to send her away was the same man who loved her so freely now.

Every night she prayed she would conceive Gabriel’s child, and with every passing day she felt more and more certain she was, indeed, carrying his son.

While Gabe went about his work on the ranch, Rosa set her mind to teaching Tess the finer points of running a house—western style. Although she never went back into the chicken coop, Tess did learn how to feed the animals, when to feed them, and how to catch one without losing a finger. When it came to actually killing the bird, however, Tess could not bring herself to do it. Rosa laughed at her silliness, took the chicken firmly by the head and body, and gave it a quick twist. The resulting noise was enough to send Tess running around to the back of the house.

From that day on, it fell to Gabe or Miguel to kill and pluck the bird before Tess would touch it. She learned how to cook all Gabe’s favorite meals, including roast chicken with dumplings and boiled potatoes; she learned how to make bread and bake pies and, eventually, with a lot of practice, she mastered the fine art of coffee making—plenty strong and lots of it.

She weeded the garden with a vengeance, refusing even the smallest of pests or weeds any space. The vegetables were put up, with the help of Rosa, and every room of the house was adorned with the most fragrant of flowers picked from the yard or out by the creek.

It was a tremendous amount of work to keep the men fed and the house in order, but Tess relished every minute of it. This was, after all, what she had dreamt about for so many years, and now here she was living that very dream. As much as she tried to refuse it, Tess did enjoy the pampering she received from her husband. He insisted on her taking her nightly bath, as she used to in her previous life, and more often than not, he was the one who lathered her hair and rinsed it clean.

He made a point of being home for every meal, no matter where he was or what he was doing; he never entered or left the room without kissing his wife; and he strutted around the ranch as though he had the world by the tail. Even Rosa commented on the change.

“La chica give Gabe Calloway mucha felicidad.”

“I hope so.” Tess smiled. “I love him so, Rosa.”

“Si.” Rosa nodded, eyed Tess carefully from head to toe, pausing at her midsection, and then broke out into a wide grin.

“What is it?” Tess asked.

“Nada,” the woman said, shaking her head. “La niña give Gabe Calloway
mucha felicidad
.”

Before Tess could press her further, Rosa folded her apron and left the house, pausing long enough to kiss an unexpecting Gabe on the cheek as he opened the door for her.

He stared after her, shook his head slowly, and turned a quizzical look at his wife.

“Has she been drinking?” he asked, half joking.

“No.” Tess laughed. “But she has been acting a little queer this afternoon.”

Gabe scooped Tess up in his arms and twirled her around in a circle.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go for a ride.”

“What about supper?”

“Forget supper—it’s Saturday, they can eat in town. Lord knows they’ll be heading there anyway.”

No further argument was needed. Tess hurried out behind him, feeling only the slightest bit guilty at leaving without feeding the men. Bart met them at the barn door.

“Goin’ somewhere?” he asked.

“Just for a ride. You’re on your own for supper.” Gabe lifted Tess into Zeus’s saddle.

“That’s where yer wrong, big brother.” Bart grinned. “I’m takin’ supper with Miss Collette Langman tonight.”

“Oh, Bart,” Tess cried, clapping her hands together. “That’s wonderful! How did you ever manage to convince Mr. Langman?”

“Seems I got you to thank fer that, Tess. Wyatt figured if a nice girl like you would hook up with the likes of us Calloways, and stick it out the way you have all these weeks, then he supposes we can’t be all that bad. Told me I could call on Collette on Saturday nights as long as he was there to keep an eye on things.”

Tess’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Collette must be so happy, I’ll have to stop for a visit tomorrow. Give her my love, will you?”

“Rather give ’er mine.” He grinned. “But I’ll pass along your thoughts.”

Gabe clicked to Zeus and sent him off at a gentle run toward the rise in the east.

“This poor animal,” Tess cooed lightly. “I should probably start riding my own horse and give him a break from the extra weight.”

“Not a chance,” Gabe growled. “You’ll stay right where you are until this beast is ridden into the ground.”

She inched her way back until she was pressed right up against him. “You’re the boss,” she said.

“Damn right I am.” He laughed, planting light kisses on the top of her head. “And don’t you forget it.”

They rode for over an hour, surrounded by the still of the early evening. Following his own direction, Zeus took them to the same crystal clear pool where Bart had been bitten by the snake, and waited patiently while they dismounted. Gabe tossed the reins to the ground and dropped to his knees in the thick buffalo grass.

“It’s everything I ever dreamed of,” Tess sighed wistfully. “And more.”

Gabe took her hand and tugged her down beside him.

“Takes some getting used to for some folks,” he said. “It can get pretty lonely out here.”

“How could anyone be lonely with all this beauty around them?” she asked. “The trees, the mountains, the sky—I never would have guessed the sky was so big.”

“It’s the same sky they see in Boston, Tess.”

She shook her head vehemently. “No, it’s not. This sky is alive with stars and clean air and . . . and space. Boston’s sky is dark and haunting. And the land—you’d never see this much untouched land anywhere near Boston. There’s so many people there, so much turmoil. It’s like a whole other world out here.”

Gabe’s heart surged. That was exactly how he felt himself, but to hear her say it meant more to him than anything else. She loved the land as much as he did; and just when he thought he couldn’t love her any more than he already did, his heart expanded even more.

The howling of a lone wolf, far off in the distance, made her shiver.

“You’re not afraid of a little thing like a wolf, now are you?” Gabe teased, resting his arm around her shoulders.

“Who me?” she said teasingly. “I’m not afraid of anything, remember?”

“I almost believe that to be the truth,” he murmured. “Is there anything you
are
afraid of?”

“Losing you.”

Gabe couldn’t breathe for a whole minute. Her answer had been so quick, so sure, it was obviously something she’d been thinking about.

“You’re not going to lose me,” he said softly. “I’m real easy to find. Just look beside you.”

She swallowed hard, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. She’d always known the fear was there, that one day she could in fact lose Gabriel, but until that moment she hadn’t realized how much she depended on him for her every breath. Now that she had him, she couldn’t imagine not having him, and just the thought scared her more than death.

“We should get away for a few days,” Gabe announced suddenly. “Take a trip to Helena or somewhere. Where would you like to go?”

“Nowhere,” she answered honestly. “I want to stay right here. Besides, we couldn’t leave if we wanted to.”

“Of course we can! Bart is more than capable . . .”

“Bart?” she said. “But he’s going . . .”

She stopped. It was Bart’s news to tell, not hers, but why wouldn’t he have told Gabe yet? Gabe sat up, searching her face.

“What? What’s Bart up to now? He’s not going to lead on Collette Langman and then skip town like he always does, is he? Damn it anyway, I should have known . . .”

“No!” she cried. “It’s nothing like that. I don’t know why he hasn’t told you yet.”

“Told me what?” he persisted.

Tess pursed her lips. Gabriel was her husband, and she couldn’t keep secrets from him.

“Bart has been offered a job,” she said hesitantly.

“Where?” Gabe’s face began to color angrily. “Back in Butte with all those crazy miners? Worse?”

“If you’ll stop yelling for a minute, I’ll tell you.”

“I’m not yelling!”

“Gabriel.”

“Okay,” he relented. “I’m not yelling. Where is he going now?”

“Nowhere,” she said. “Apparently Sheriff Nicholls has offered him his job right here in Porter Creek.”

“What? Where’s Fergus going?”

“His sister in Amarillo is ailing and he wants to be closer to her, so he asked Bart if he was interested in the job.”

“And of course Bart said yes.” Gabe was obviously not happy.

“Of course.” Tess nodded. “Why wouldn’t he? It’s what he wants.”

“Sounds to me like he’s wanting to get himself killed is all.”

“Gabriel, I’m sure your brother wouldn’t do anything to put his life in danger—especially if he’s set on marrying Collette.”

“You don’t know my brother the way I do,” he snapped.

“And I don’t think you know your brother quite as well as you think you do. He loves Collette, he wants to make a life with her. But he doesn’t have the ranching blood you have, he never has. You can see it in his eyes, Gabriel. He doesn’t look at the land the way you do; he doesn’t stop and enjoy the smell of horse manure or fresh hay—to him those things don’t even exist. He wants to be a lawman.”

Gabe listened in wonder to what she said. How had she pegged both him and Bart so well in such a short time? Hell, he knew Bart wanted to be the law, but he’d never noticed his brother not wanting to work the ranch. In fact, he’d never even given it a second thought. Bart was a Calloway, this was his legacy—the land, the stock, everything. How could it not mean something to him?

“Guess I better have a talk with him,” he grumbled. “If he’s serious about this sheriff job, I’ll have to buy him out I guess. Unless he wants to keep his share.”

Tess knew he was thinking out loud, so she kept her thoughts to herself, but she also knew Bart would never accept money for his “share” of the ranch. He never felt a part of it anyway and he hadn’t put in the sweat and headaches either Gabe or Miguel had. As far as Bart was concerned, the ranch was his brother’s to do with as he pleased.

“When’s he supposed to start?”

“First of the month, I believe.”

Gabe’s jaw tightened, his gray eyes staring blindly across the open land.

“He’s a grown man,” Tess said softly, running her fingers through Gabe’s tousled hair. “You can’t make decisions for him anymore. If this is what he wants . . .”

“I know, I know. But why couldn’t he choose something a little less deadly? Like wrestling grizzly bears?”

Tess laughed and kissed his cheek. “You’re a good man, Gabriel Calloway.”

Gabe snorted and lay back in the grass. Tess lay down next to him with her head on his chest, breathing in time to his heartbeat. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, basking in the contentment of the moment. It was so quiet, so peaceful, so damn near perfect.

He sat up with a jerk.

“What is it?” Tess asked with clear alarm.

He held up his hand to silence her for a minute, his ears straining for the sound of anything—a bird, a squirrel—but there was nothing. Dead silence.

“Gabriel?”

“It’s too quiet,” he finally answered, surveying the surrounding area.

“What does that mean?” she asked, growing more and more frightened.

“Maybe nothing.”

“Maybe something, Gabriel. What?”

There was no obvious reason for the eerie calm, no bear or other predatory animal lurking nearby, no storm clouds billowing in from the south. Zeus nickered nervously and pawed the ground, his head tossing back and forth.

Gabe immediately stood up and seized the horse’s reins, his eyes still focused on the surrounding area. Slowly, so very slowly, he turned in a circle, watching, waiting. The sun had begun to set low in the western sky, blazing its dusky scarlet across the horizon. He continued in his circle, froze, and turned back to the west.

“Dear God,” he breathed, leaping into the saddle. “Come on!”

He hauled Tess up unceremoniously behind him.

“Hang on!” he ordered, spurring Zeus back toward the ranch house.

“Gabriel,” she cried, terrified now. “What is it?”

“Fire.”

One word had never frightened her so much. She craned to see past Gabriel’s hulking form but was unable to discern anything that even slightly resembled a fire. There were no flames, no visible smoke. She blinked against the blinding light of the sunset—the odd-colored, just slightly too bright sunset.

Gabe’s heart pounded beneath her hands. His breath came in fast gasps that matched the overburdened animal beneath them. Zeus snorted and huffed, but never slowed for an instant. Gabe pushed him all the way home, riding him as close to the flames as he dared, then leapt from his back, pulling Tess down with him.

“Gee-up!” he bellowed, slapping Zeus on the backside. The animal immediately bolted back the way they’d come.

Tess couldn’t move. Wild with fright, her eyes wouldn’t even blink. The main house and the cottage were both engulfed in flames with the fire edging nearer and nearer to the barn.