Ryder (Prairie Grooms, Book Two) (5 page)

“Sure, ain’t all
drafty like in here.”

Ryder closed his eyes at
Cutty’s remark. Did he have to say it that way?

Constance shivered in her chair. “The barn is dryer and warmer than the house?”

“It’s only because it has …” Ryder hesitated to say it, “… completed windows.”

“With shutters,”
Cutty was quick to add.

“The
barn
has windows but the house doesn’t?” she squeaked.

“It will sugar,
now let’s get you warm. Good night, Cutty.”

Cutty smiled one last time, then headed for the door. Ryder stared after him as he began to rub his wife’s arms.  Was the man
trying
to ruin his wedding night? Or was he that ignorant of what he was saying?

“Don’t most people finish their house first
, then put up a barn?” Constance asked as she shivered.

“I did things backwards I guess. I didn’t want Othello to be out in the bad weather. He’s my living ya know.”

“Othello?”

“He’s my stud horse. The one I’m gonna use for
breedin’?”

“You named your horse after one of Shakespeare’s tragedies?”

“Shake-who?”

“Oh dear me, I do believe I fee
l faint.”

“Faint?” Ryder asked in shock. “
Whatcha gonna faint for?”

“Your horse
s are better housed than we are!”

Ryder grabbed the other chair from the table and set it next to hers. “C’mon sugar, the house will be great when it’s done, you’ll see.”

She looked at him. “Why do you call me that?”

“What?”

“Sugar, I find it … interesting to be called that. Do I resemble something sweet?”

He stared at her and smiled. “You have no idea,”
he said, his smile broadening. “It means I like ya.”

“Ohhhh,” she said with a nod. “What then
, shall I call you?”

“Ryder, unless you think up something else.”

“Your American terms of endearment are quite different than those back in England. I’ve never heard anyone called ‘Sugar’ before.”

“I can call ya
somethin’ else if you like,” he said as he inched closer.

“No, let us stick with your original … nick name. And in time I shall think up one for you.”

Ryder grinned in delight. She was blushing again. “Whatever you say …
Sugar.”
He put an arm around her. “What say we eat somethin’ and go to bed? It is our weddin’ night after all.”

She glanced to the food and swallowed hard. “Oh, yes, I’m quite famished …
cough
…” She had to cover her mouth while she hacked away.  She blew her nose again in a most un-lady like fashion, then forced a smile.  Her nose had swelled up and was red from her sneezing. “Maybe I should just go to bed?”

Ryder sighe
d. “Let’s make sure you’re warm and fed, then you can have the cot.”

“What about you? Aren’t you going to sleep too?”

“Nope.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Fix them windows for ya, Sugar, so you don’t freeze to death tonight. It’s getting’ mighty cold outside. Wouldn’t surprise me if we wake up to a late snow.”

“Snow? This time of year?”

“It’s barely June, it can still snow.”

“Oh dear!”

“Don’t you worry none, I’ll be back to keep ya warm,” he told her with a wink.

She blushed a bright red. “I’m afraid I haven’t any night clothes.”

“You won’t need none, it’s our weddin’ night.”

She weaved to one side. His arm shot out and he grabbed her to pull her up right. “You ain’t gonna faint are ya?”

“I … I … oh bother!” She sniffed once, twice, before the floodgates opened. She buried her face in the napkin and blew her nose again through her tears.

“Now what’s wrong?” Ryder asked in exasperation.

She looked at him first before her eyes darted around the near empty cabin. “I just thought … I thought …”

He watched her a moment as she glanced about, and put two and two together. She didn’t want to be there, it was too uncomfortable for her, and he hadn’t given her comfort a second thought.  He figured what was good enough for him would be good enough for her.  And why shouldn’t it? The way she was acting in town and a
ll fired up to marry him, he figured she had to be his kind of woman.  But no, this wasn’t right, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it, other than the obvious.

He got up, went to a wooden box by the door, and began to sift though it. He pulled out a hammer and some nails. “I’ll fix the windows so it’s not so drafty. You eat somethin’ ya hear?”

She nodded, shivered again, and with a shaking hand, reached for the food on the table.

Ryder wanted to hit himself in the head with the hammer at his own selfishness. Up until now the elements didn’t bother him. But marriage meant life wasn’t about only him anymore. It was about her as well.  He took one last look at her shaking form, then spun on his boot heel and left the cabin for the barn.  Whatever it took, he’d make his new bride comfortable and give her the home she deserved. He just hoped he could do it before she got to the point where she wanted to leave.

Four

  Const
ance tried to eat but couldn’t. The sudden realization she was married to this man for the rest of her life sucked the breath out of her. She stood and leaned against the kitchen table for support. “Oh, when did I become so selfish?” she muttered as she realized it wasn’t her husband that upset her, but his lack of comfortable assets. In this case, a simple parlor chair would do. The man didn’t even have a tablecloth.

She studied the crude room
and tried to think of ways to brighten it up, but the cold wind coming through the open window forced her to huddle by the stove.  Ryder suddenly appeared in the nearest frame, and without so much as looking at her, began to nail a burlap sack over the opening, shutting out the rain and wind, but also the light.  Constance panicked, she hated the dark, and sought the comfort of a lamp but couldn’t find one anywhere. Did the man not even own a candle?

Constance moaned and sat h
eavily in the nearby chair. She was chilled to the bone, and couldn’t get warm no matter how long she sat by their meager source of heat.  The stove was small, and she belatedly wondered how she would bake anything in it.  There was only enough room on the stove top for a coffee pot and frying pan. Exasperated by her own thoughts, she threw her hands in the air and laughed. “What does it matter? I don’t know how to bake any way!”

She listened to Ryder as he hammered a sack over another window, blocking out what little light was left.  There was a third window, and once that was covered, she’d be sitting in total darkness.  “I can do this, I am not going to cry again,” she told herself. “I can make this into a home!”

The hammering stopped, and she sat, swallowed in darkness, and froze. Why she was afraid of the dark she didn’t know, she just was.  Perhaps because their older brother Charles used to tell her and her sisters horrible stories when they were young, all of which took place in the deepest darkest of settings.  All horrifying, and all ending in tragedy.

She jumped out of her chair when Ryder burst through the door. “All done! Now th
e rain and wind can’t get in!” he said happily.

Constance shook from his sudden entrance, and held a hand over her chest to still her racing heart. She looked at him, or what she thought was
him. He’d already closed the door, plunging the room into blackness.  She listened as he shuffled around, heard the strike of a match, then sighed in relief when he lit a lantern. “Where did you get that?” she asked.

“What, this?” he asked pointing to the lantern.

She nodded, her brow furrowed, and shivered.

“It was on the front porch. I forgot I left it outside.” He glanced around. “Done run out of candles. I guess we’ll be needin’ to go to town for a few supplies.” He sighed, set the lantern on the table, and then closed the distance between the
m. He looked down into her eyes, and she fought to keep from crying again.  She was cold, and could feel the heat coming off his body despite the fact his coat was soaked. He took it off and tossed it over the chair. “I’m sorry.”

She swallowed hard. “For what?”

“For not being the husband you expected. I can see you’re disappointed in me.”

She shook her head. “No, no
never. It’s just that … I thought …”

“I’d have more?” His eyes darted around the cabin. “I will, I promise
. But when you’re first startin’ out, this is all a lot of men have. In fact I have more than most. Heck, ol Cutty lives in a cave. I at least have a cabin.”

“He lives in a
cave
?”

Ryder nodded. “Way up in the hills behind us. Don’t know how long he’s been livin’ up there, never thought to ask, but from the looks of him, it’s been a long time.” He changed their positions, sat in the chair,
and pulled her onto his lap. She was too tired from the cold to protest, and let him wrap his arms around her. “Tell ya what, Sugar. Tomorrow, as soon as it stops rainin’, I’ll go to town and get us a few things, the first of which is a wagon. Can’t do much without one at this point.”

“You don’t own a wagon?”

“I did, but I gave it away.”

“Why in Heaven’s name would you do such a thing?”

He reached up and brushed some loose hair from her face. “Because the family I gave it to needed it more than I did. Wagon trains pass through south of Clear Creek and sometime back, a family had to stay behind on account their wagon got all busted up.  They tried to fix it, but couldn’t.  They didn’t have much money and couldn’t afford to buy one in town. I happened by and well, I gave them my wagon. I figure one day down the road someone nice will have the chance to return the favor.”

She sat on his lap in astonishment. “How long ago was that?”

He shrugged. “Some time last year. Had everything I needed out here already, so it didn’t seem important to replace it until I had to.  August brought me lumber and other things I couldn’t carry on horseback, so what was the point?”

“I see,” she said softly. “That was very generous of you.”

“I’ll get us one tomorrow, then you and I can go to town proper, just like other folks.”

She felt the heat from his body and relaxed in his arms. “Thank you, that would make life easier.”

He held her tighter. “I should have warned you that I didn’t have the kind of place August did. He built his place with a woman and family in mind. I built mine to raise horses.”

“There’s a big difference between raising a family and raising horses. Did you … not want a family?”

He reached up, and pulled her head down to rest on his. “I realized a man could get mighty lonely out here all by himself, and why shouldn’t I have some company other than when ol
Cutty comes down out of the hills? So when I heard Sadie Cooke was gettin’ mail order brides for the men in town, I put in my order for one.”

“Is that
the only reason you sent for me, to keep from being lonely?”

He cupped her face with one hand. “No Sugar, there’s lots of other reasons a man needs a woman around.” He swallowed and licked his lips. “For one, it can get mighty cold at night around here in the winter.”

Heat shot through her as his other arm pulled her closer. He wound his fingers into her hair that had come loose, and pulled her face to his. “What … what are you doing?”

He smiled. “I want to kiss you somethin’ awful, Sugar. But I don’t want to scare ya.”

She realized her breathing had picked up, and that her stomach was on fire. “I … I don’t know what you mean.”

“Well, there’s kissin’
-- like what we done when Preacher Jo married us, and then there’s
kissin’.
And right now you’ve got me all tied up in knots wantin’ to kiss you senseless.”

“Oh, dear me. That sounds rather … well … what do you mean by senseless?”

He gave her the barest of smiles as he pulled her face to his, closing the final distance between them, and brushed his lips across hers.  The kiss was gentle, and, she sensed, loving. She thought it odd it would feel that way, as he couldn’t possibly be in love with her yet, they barely knew each other. “That there was just a kiss,” he whispered.

She swallowed hard. “It was?”

“Was that your first kiss?” he asked, his breath hot against her face. “Other than the one at the church?”

“Y … yes.”

“Well then, I guess I’d better give you another one so you can say you’ve had two.”

“Uh huh …” was all she managed as her body warmed beyond the stove’s heat. He pulled her close, and once again, his lips descended on hers. This time, he
kissed
her.