The Lady and the Cowboy (18 page)

With the R
angers for protection, they didn’t have to ride the lesser-used trails back but could use the faster main roads between towns. Since they also didn’t have to worry about Angel’s wound any more, or tiring him out, they were able to set a fast pace back to Midridge and arrived there in just two days travel, staying overnight in a small town hotel.

As the
y travelled, Sam asked why the Rangers had become involved when only two horses had been killed. Not that he minded in the least but usually, there were a lot worse crimes that they could be investigating. Tom Milton informed him that one of the horses, Hades, had belonged to the Governor of Texas and that both dead horses had been worth in the region of $7,000 each.

They arrived in Midridge at around three in the afternoon and although Sam had offered to put the
Rangers up, they preferred to stay in the town. Because they wanted to remain out on the ranch as much as possible, Sam and Ruth stopped for some supplies.

Mr
Grant from the general store, offered to copy Mamma’s last order and deliver it to the ranch the following day, and Sam took him up on it. When Sam headed to the feed shop, Ruth excused herself to see the lawyer who had handled Ivor’s will. Sam asked what was wrong but she assured him that she just had a document that she forgot to sign. It wasn’t urgent but since they might not be in town for a while, she felt she should get it over with.

The lawyer was puzzled by her request
s but he agreed to post her what she wanted by the end of business that day.

When they were finished, they
journeyed out to the ranch with Tom, who wanted to question Sam’s ranch hands.

Since bad news always travels fast
, Mamma and the hands had already heard what had happened in Dallas. The hands offered to take the horses from them and get them settled, whilst Tom accepted a glass of Mamma’s lemonade, making polite conversation for a time before he went to speak to the hands about the colic and fire incidents.

Sam and Ruth headed upstairs to wash and unpack.

“Are you all right?” Sam asked once they were alone upstairs. “You’ve been quiet ever since we left Dallas. Ever since we spoke to the Rangers, actually.”

“I’m just wrung out,” she tried t
o assure him. “It’s been a long week.”

Sam took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

“Try not to let it get to you, the Rangers are on the case now and they don’t take no for an answer. If proof can be found against Tobias, they’ll find it.”

“I hope so.”

***

The postman came the following day with two letters. One from
her brother and one from her lawyer in Midridge. Ruth tore open her brother’s envelope but skipped the letter itself, knowing that it would be full of pleas for her to return to her senses and come home. That life seemed so far away now and she didn’t want to be reminded of it, nor did she want to be told how bad a decision it was to come here. She wasn’t that genteel young woman anymore and no matter what happened now, she knew that she couldn’t go back to that life. The second slip of paper made her smile, but she slipped both back into the envelope and tucked them into a drawer.

The second letter she slipped into her back pocket.

The ranch hands didn’t know when they would be back, so neither Ruth nor Sam were on the work rota for the rest of this week. Whilst Sam was adding their names, Ruth had asked that he leave them off the rota for today, because they needed to discuss some things. Sam agreed and they headed off on their horses for the stream, with a lunch packed by Mamma.

Ruth was still quiet and they hardly spoke on the way out but Sam hoped that once they were at the stream, she would open up to him.
He just prayed that she wasn’t having second thoughts about marriage.

Sam
laid the blanket out and together they unpacked the lunch and sat down, still in silence.

“So,” Sam began, looking at the water rather than Ruth. He couldn’t stand to see rejection on her face. “
Do you want to tell me what’s been bothering you since we left Dallas?”

He saw her offer him something from the corner of his eye and reached out to take it.
He opened the envelope and unfolded the contents, reading it with a mounting feeling of dread.

“You’re giving me your share of the ranch?” his voice was a little higher than normal with shock. Was
she going home? Had the carnage at the race track been more than she could bear? Was Tobias’s vendetta frightening her away?

“You never told me how Ivor got his share of the ranch,” she began in a small voice, keeping her eyes
focused on the ground in front of her. “I thought that I was entitled to be here, that he’d bought in using my money. I never dreamed that he’d won it in a poker game. This ranch should never have been mine, I don’t deserve it and I can see now that my rudeness on that first day was even more unjustified. I’m so sorry, Sam.”

“So you’re leaving me because you don’t feel entitled to the ranch?”

Ruth glanced over, shocked. “I hope not!”

They looked at each other for a moment, both confused by the turn of events.

“Sam, I don’t want you to feel that you have to marry me to get your ranch back. The ranch is yours now, free and clear. I would however like to stay and work here, if you’ll have me.”

“If
I’ll
have
you
!” his voice was getting higher. “Ruth, you are the best thing that’s happened to me in years and I am not letting you run away from me.”

“So you still want to marry me?” she asked,
hope blossoming in her eyes.

“Of course I do!”

“Even though Ivor ran your brother off?”

“My brother ran himself off,” Sam insisted. “I may not have liked it
at the time but Ivor won the ranch fair and square; it was my fool of a brother’s fault for gambling. He never liked living out here, he wanted to live in the big city, thought he could make a name for himself there, or something. No one ‘drove him off’ but himself and his foolish dreams.”

Ruth smiled, the first genuine smile he had seen from her since they left Dallas.

“Is this what you were doing in the lawyer’s office?” he brandished the paper and realised there was a second sheet he hadn’t noticed.

“It was,” she answered as he looked at the second paper, a deed of sale for Angel, or Voodoo as he was named here.

“Ruth?”

“Sam, when we’re married, what’s mine becomes yours anyway. I just wanted to make completely sure that it’s me you want.”

Sam stuffed the papers back in the envelope and put them aside.

“Woman!” he sounded
exasperated as he pulled her to him and removed her hat and the ribbon from her hair. “When are you going to realise that it’s you I want? I love my ranch and I'm excited about what Angel can do for us, but I love you more.”

“Would ‘now’ be a good answer?”

“Now would be the perfect answer.” Sam kissed her.

Lunch was long forgotten as the kiss turned from affection to passion. They undressed each other with a haste that certainly proved their passion, if not their love.

Once naked, Ruth pressed him until he lay back, then she bent her head to his member and grasping her fist around the base, she took him in her mouth, lavishing attention over his bell end with her tongue.

“Oh, Ruth!” He moaned, reaching one hand down to her shoulder, desperate to touch her.

Ruth reacted as if his hand had scalded her and he withdrew his hand, holding them up as if in surrender and giving her a reassuring smile.

“Sorry,” Ruth blushed. She bowed her head to continue.

“You don’t have to Ruth.”

“No, I want
to, I do just, don’t touch me near my head, okay?”

Sam could
well imagine what had made her shy away like that but he needed to touch her.

“Maybe there’s something else we could try,” he suggested with a roguish smile.
“Why don’t you put one knee either side of my head?”

Ruth looked puzzled by the suggestion but did as he said, leaning forward to grasp his length again
. Sam wrapped his arms around her thighs, pulling her down a little but as his tongue ran the length of her labia, Ruth shrieked and reared up, much like one of her beloved horses.

“What was that?” she demanded, looking thoroughly scandalised.

Sam couldn’t help but smile at he looked up at her, his head still between her thighs. “I was just returning the favour.”

“But… you licked me!”

“And I intend to do a lot more than that.”

“Why?” she demanded.

“Did you like it?”

“I- well, yes.”

“Then quiet down and let me get on with it.”

Somewhat hesitantly, she bent forward again, grasping his length again and passing her lips over the bell end.

She was hesitant, waiting for him to continue, which he did, spreading her lips and gently sucking on her clit. He felt as well as heard her gasp, and then she began to moan, sucking him in time to the gentle flicks of his tongue over her sensitive clit. Their motions worked in harmony and as he pleased her, she increased her pace, pleasing him and making him speed his ministrations.

As he could feel his orgasm approach, he slipped two fingers into her slick channel, intent on making her come as he did and as she cried out, the vibrations through his length pushed him over the edge. He came in her mouth but he saw her gag a little. He was
reaching for his kerchief to hand to her, when she sat up and spat his cum out instead, landing a good two feet away from them.

Sam bellowed with laughter. “Where
on earth did you learn to do that!” he asked.

“Well I’ve seen your hands spit their tobacco juice out often enough.”
She answered, her worry that she might have offended him, dissipating at his obvious glee.

They repositioned themselves and Sam passed her the water canteen to swig with, although this time she swallowed rather than spat.

Sam gathered her to him, letting one of her ringlets slip between his fingers as she rested against him.

“So, what did you think o
f that?” he asked.

“Well, I confess that I prefer sex more, but that made a very nice change.”

“Well if we stay here long enough, I'm sure I’ll be able to oblige you,” he teased.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

They lay in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the afterglow.

“I was hopeful that the postman was bringing your dress this morning,” he said absently, still playing with her hair.

“It’s only been three days; give her a chance to alter it.” He could hear the pleasure in her voice. “Besides, it’ll be at least three weeks before we can use it.”

“Three weeks?” he sounded confused.

“Of course, we haven’t had the banns read yet.”

“The what?”

Ruth moved so that she was resting almost on top on him and could look into his eyes. “The banns; they’re like a declaration of marriage, then if anyone knows of a reason you can’t get married, they have time to come forward.”

Sam still looked blank.

“You don’t have to do that here?”

“Nope, don’t even need a priest, unless you want one.”

“Really?”

“Really,” he assured her.

“So how does it work here?” she asked, her fingers absently playing through the smattering of hair on his chest.

“In Texas, you just
have to agree to get married, live together for at least a day, and let other people know that you’re now Mr and Mrs.”

“No licence?”

Sam shook his head.

“No ceremony?”

“Nope.”

“Then why did we get a dress?”

“Just because we don’t need a ceremony, doesn’t mean we can’t have one. I was actually wondering about the barn raising on Saturday, that’s why I'm anxious for the dress to come. It’s perfect really, my family and our friends will be there, and then afterwards we can have a party.”

“Won
’t everyone be tired?”

“Well, it
’s more a barn repair than a raising, and plenty of folks have offered help, so it shouldn’t be too hard on anyone. We can tell them we’re throwing a party for their help instead of just feeding them, like a barn dance but smaller, then we surprise them with a wedding as well. What do you say?”

It sounded thoroughly unconventional to
Ruth’s mind.

“I think I love that idea, almost as much as I love you!” She stretched forward just enough to kiss him.

Sam smiled. “I love you too, darlin’.”

“I love it when you say
that,” she smiled.

“I love you?”

“No, well yes, but specifically when you call me darling. It just sort of slips off your tongue, like a caress.”

“Then can I let you in on a secret?”

“Of course?”

“I love it when you say my name when we’re intimate. That crisp
English accent of yours crying
my
name in ecstasy? It makes me want to do all kinds of wicked things to you.”

“Oh, Sam, Sam, my love, take me, Sam, make wild passionate love to me, Samuel Wakefield.”

“Oh my darling’, how could I refuse a request like that?”

They may have been teasing but the humour soon gave way to passion once again and when Sam performed a second round of
cunilingus, teasing her sensitive clit mercilessly, he caused her to literally scream his name in ecstasy as she came. When he finally buried him length inside her, he realised that he had never had a sexual encounter as arousing and all-encompassing as this one. He not only wanted, he needed this woman with every fibre of his being. She called out to him, like a siren and he was helpless but to obey her call.

Thankfully Ruth had brought the douche and after a bout of skinny dipping to use it, followed by a bask in the sun to dry off, they began to pack up to go home.

“Oh, here.” Sam handed her the envelope from earlier.

“Oh no, you keep those.” She held her hands up, refusing to accept it.

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“
I just want to make certain that you’re marrying me for the right reasons.”

“Fine.” He folded the envelope in two and slipped it into his back pocket, before pulling her against him, his voice lowering with desire. “But if you don’t say
‘I do’ in the right place on Saturday, I’m giving these back, even if I have to chase you and your super horse down to do it.”

“I’ll be there,” she assured him. “And I have a little more practice than you at getting married, remember?”

“Oh I remem
ber. And every day I thank the Lord for killing that son of a bitch and bringing you into my life.”

He kissed her, not with passion or lust but with tenderness, trying to show her exac
tly how much he cherished her.