Ryder (Prairie Grooms, Book Two) (2 page)

In the end Sadie gave in, and now stood shaking her head at Ryder’s new English bride.  The girl was naïve to the ways of the west, and had a rude awakening coming.

Ryder pucker
ed his lips, pulled her to him and kissed her. There was a funny little “popping” sound as he broke the kiss that elicited a chuckle from Wilfred Dunnigan.  Colin and Harrison, along with their stepfather Jefferson, were out on the prairie chasing down strays and checking into a rumor about cattle rustlers in the area. The Sheriff had also gone along, which in turn left Wilfred without his afternoon checker game, so he in turn volunteered to give the bride away.

“I
wish she would have waited,” Colin’s wife Belle whispered to Sadie. “You know this isn’t going to be easy for them.”

“I know.
But many a mail order bride has done the same thing. Of course, they probably weren’t from England. Maybe she’ll want to come back to the ranch for a few weeks while he finishes up his place.”

“She’s too stubborn for that,” Eloise chimed in. “She’s my sister, and I love her, but sometimes she is just so … so …”

“Unreasonable?” suggested Penelope, the eldest of the three sisters.

“Exactly,” said Eloise.  They watched as Ryder and Constance stared at each other, both looking like a couple of scared rabbits.

Sadie sighed. “Grandma Waller and I fixed a dinner basket for them to take back to Ryder’s place. I also put in some things Constance will need. I hope he’s got food out there other than what we’re sending.  It’s a long ride to town.”

“Just how
far from Clear Creek
is
his ranch?” asked Penelope as she was joined by her new husband August.

“About two an
d a half hours ride from here,” August answered before Sadie could open her mouth. “And he hasn’t got a wagon.”

“You mean Constance is going to
have to ride with him, on his
horse
?” Eloise asked, aghast.

“Yep,” August said with a grin. “Now won’t that make for a sight? Your sister all gussied up in her wedding dress,
riding across the prairie with Ryder?”

“I think it’s absurd,” said Penelope. “Maybe we should invite them to stay with us until he finishes his cabin?” she suggested.

“Absolutely not,” August said. “
We
just got married last week, remember? I want my privacy.”

“What
privacy? Clyde keeps … interrupting,” Penelope giggled.

“Clyde?” asked Sadie.

“My rooster,” August huffed. “That darn bird has been more trouble …”

“Now August,” Penelope said in a scolding tone. “That
bird
saved my life.”

August rolled his eyes. “So you keep reminding me. Maybe Ryder could use him out at his place, that way I don’t hav
e to put up with him chasing me around and pecking at my boots all the time. Not to mention the way he pecks at the glass of our bedroom window.”

Belle laughed. “He does what?”

Penelope nodded. “You heard him right. Our rooster pecks at the bedroom window, and our bedroom is on the
second
story.”

“And
he only does it when we’re …” August said, bobbing his head this way and that.

“Oh no!”
Sadie laughed. “That’s so odd, but it’s funny.”

“Until it’s your bedroom window, Mrs. Cooke,” August told her. “If you and Harrison
had owned that bird, little Honoria may never have been born.”

Sadie chuckled and glanced at Grandma Waller as she bounced eighteen-month old Honoria on her lap.  “Maybe you should loan your rooster to Ryder. He might finish his house sooner if he isn’t distracted by … you know …”

August cast Ryder and his new bride a mischievous look. “You may have something there, Mrs. Cooke.”

  “August Bennett, you wouldn’t,” Penelope chastised.

“I most certainly
would. But not today, we’ll plan a little trip out to Ryder’s place in a week or two. That way you can check on your sister and I can make sure Ryder hasn’t done something stupid.”

“What do you mean?” Eloise asked, concern in her voice.

August smiled. “Oh I don’t mean
stupid
, but I can see him doing things like teaching your sister how to shoot or skin a critter.”

“Constance? Skin an animal?” Eloise asked in shock.

“She wouldn’t be the first woman around here to know how to do that sort of thing. Take your cousin Duncan for example. Why, his wife Cozette knows how to hunt and do just about everything a man does.”

“Oh but August, Constance would never do such a thing! She’s far too much of a lady.” Penelope assured.

“Oh yeah? Well, if I know Ryder, he’ll try to turn her into something else entirely.”

“Nonsense,” Penelope said.

August looked her in the eye. “You want to make a little wager on that Mrs. Bennett?”

“What? A wager? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“He licked his lower lip and grinned. “Pie every night for dessert, for two weeks! That’s what I’ll bet you.”

“Why August, I had no idea you could bake,” she told him in a teasing tone.

“Oh no, you’re not gonna get out of this that easily. I’ll bet you that within a month, Ryder has your sister skinning critters, tanning hides, and shooting a gun!”

Penelope’s mouth dropped open. “That will
never
happen!”

“I agree with Penelope,” added Eloise. “Our sister would never do anything so … so …”

“Manly?” August tossed at her.

“You’d best have Mrs. Dunnigan teach you how to bake a pie, Mr. Bennett,” Eloise shot back. “Constance is, and always will be, a lady.”

“You mean I get to ride all the way home with you on your horse?” Constance blurted over their conversation. “How exciting!”

August grinned
in triumph as Penelope and Eloise groaned. “You were saying, ladies?”

Penelo
pe glanced at Eloise as Constance took Ryder by the arm and pulled him toward the church doors. “Maybe we’d better have Mrs. Dunnigan give us a pie baking lesson tomorrow.”

* * *

The wedding was a blur, one left far behind. All Constance could think of was the fact she was married, just like her sister Penelope, and that her new husband was whisking her away to his farm on the prairie where they would live happily ever after!

“It ain’t much, but it’ll be home,” he commented
as he helped her onto his horse then mounted up behind her. “I’m sure all it needs is a woman’s touch.”

  She smiled as he wrapped an arm around her waist to make s
ure she stayed put, then took the reins. “I’ll make it just as pretty as Penelope’s house!” she said with excitement.

Ryd
er gulped. “Well, my place ain’t exactly like August’s farm, ya know. I’m no farmer.”

“Oh
, I know that,” she said. “You want to breed horses.”

“Yes, ma’am, that I do.” He turned his horse as Sadie approached them with a basket.

“I’ll come out as soon as I can with your things,” she told Constance and handed her the basket. “Here’s a little something for tonight. I hope you enjoy it.”

“Now ain’t that nice?” Ryder commented. “You didn’t have to go through all that trouble, Mrs. Cooke.”

“Wasn’t no trouble at all!” shouted Grandma Waller from the church steps. “You have a nice supper, ya hear? And take care of that little lady, Ryder!”

Preacher Jo and his wife Annie joined Grandma on the steps. “Pleasure marrying you!” Preacher Jo called after them as Ryder turned his horse again and kicked him into a trot. “The pleasure was all mine!” he called over his shoulder and tig
htened his grip on Constance. “We’ll come into town in a few weeks!”

The small wedding party waved at them as they trotted away. “Why do I get the feeling they’ll be back in town a lot sooner?” asked Belle.

“On account that boy ain’t got supplies for two days let alone two weeks,” said Wilfred. “His cockeyed way of doing things may have been fine when he was a bachelor, but now that he’s got a wife, he’s gonna have to shape up.”

“
He’s not the only one. She can’t cook, Wilfred,” Sadie stated. “And she hardly knows how to clean or do laundry.”

Wilfred let go a whistle. “High time she learned then. And she’s gonna have to if’n she’s with the likes of Ryder Jones.”

“Mr. Dunnigan?” Eloise asked. “Is Ryder’s brother Seth as … as … wild?”

“No
. Seth Jones is what you English would call civilized. Them two boys are like night and day.”

“Oh, thank Heavens,” Eloise mumbled.

“But don’t get me wrong, those boys are fiercely protective and can hold their own in a fight. Seth may be more cleaned up working in Mr. Van Cleet’s fancy hotel, but he was once just as wild as Ryder, living in the outdoors, hunting, catching things with his bare hands …”

“What?” Penelope gasped. “What are you talking about?”

Wilfred grinned. “Why, don’t you know?”

“Know what?” asked Eloise.

Wilfred chuckled. “Seth and Ryder Jones were raised by Indians.”

Penelope and Eloise stared after Ryder’s horse as it disappeared around the livery stable and out of sight. “Oh dear Heavens!” Penelope exclaimed.

“However will Constance survive?” Eloise added, a hand to her chest.

“Same as you once you’re married,” stated Wilfred. “One day at a time.”

Two

Not a half-hour’s ride from the church, Constance got a cramp in her hip. “Ouch!”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” asked Ryder, his voice laced with concern.

“I don’t know. My hip is suddenly hurting me.”

“Oh, you just ain’t used t
o bein’ in a saddle this way. This ain’t no fancy side-saddle like what you’re used to.”

Constance had swu
ng one leg over the saddle horn and would be the first to admit it wasn’t at
all
what she was used to. For one, a side-saddle was much more comfortable. The hard saddle horn of Ryder’s rig was not made for a woman’s leg.

“I don’t know why you just didn’t sit the way I had ya, I won’t let ya fall, I promise.”

“I wanted to ride the way I’m used to, but this isn’t working at all,” she lamented.

“Why don’t you sit the way you were?”

Constance fidgeted about, and tried to get her leg up and over the horn. “Ohhh, I don’t think I can.”

“Stiffened up already, are ya?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Ryder shook his head and chuckled. “Here, let me help.” He stopped his horse, got his arms under her, and lifted her up and against him. The horse shifted its weight and Constance was quick to throw her arms around his neck to keep her balance as he set her once again in the saddle.
No simple task what with a picnic basket on her arm. “Oh! I’m sorry, I thought I was going to fall.”

Ryder breathed in the scent of her hair
and looked into her eyes, his arms still holding her. “Don’t bother me one bit,” he said, his voice low. “Not one bit at all.”

She looked at him, and gave him a shy smile. “Is it much further?”

“About another hour and a half. You’d best hold on, because we’re gonna have to pick up the pace.”

“You mean go faster?  Riding like this?” she asked in shock. “How ever am I going to hold on?”

“You just keep your arms around my neck, and I’ll keep a hold of your waist. Them rain clouds up there are comin’ in fast, and you don’t want to be caught out in a rain storm in that pretty weddin’ dress of yours, do ya?”

She glanced at the sky.  Sure there were clouds, but they didn’t look to be threatening. “Are you sure we can’t just wal
k the horse the rest of the way?”

“Oh I’m sure,” he said and po
inted in the opposite direction she’d been looking.

C
onstance glanced to where he pointed and gasped.  Dark clouds hovered over the tree line and far into the distance. “Oh dear …”

“Yep,” he said, wrapping his
arm around her waist and nudging his horse into a walk. “You ready?”

“Ready?” she repeated. “You mean to go faster?”

He smiled. “Yep, that’s exactly what I mean.” Not waiting for her to answer, Ryder spurred his horse into a cantor, and let his new bride grip his neck for a moment until she understood he wasn’t going to let her fall. As soon as he felt her body relax a notch, he kicked his horse into a fast gallop.

S
he screamed in surprise, her arms tightening around him, before she let out a loud “whoop!” Encouraged, Ryder spurred his horse to go faster.