In the Rancher's Arms

Three



When Eli knocked on Tori’s bedroom door for the second time, he waited for several seconds before turning the knob and letting himself into the room. He wasn’t entirely sure what the protocol was for a husband who was barely acquainted with his wife, but he figured entering her room to wake her was probably acceptable.

The light from the hall cast a glow over the bed and illuminated her petite form snuggled under the comforter. Walking over to the side of the bed, he gazed down at the woman he had married. Her long, golden-brown hair looked like silken threads spread over the pillow and had him wondering what it would feel like spread over his bare chest after they made love. His body hardened and he mentally chastised himself as nine kinds of a fool.

She had clearly misrepresented herself and why he hadn’t immediately bought her a ticket back to Charlotte when he’d met her at the airport, let alone gone through with the marriage, was still a mystery to him. But from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he couldn’t seem to stay focused on his goal and the reason behind his advertising for a wife. He needed a son to inherit the Rusty Spur, to carry on the Laughlin legacy of running one of the biggest privately owned ranches in the state.

He didn’t want to take the time, nor had he been inclined to look for a woman, go through the motions of a courtship, then learn the hard way that she found the land he loved to be too rugged and remote or, worse yet, that she was after a chunk of the Laughlin fortune. By advertising online, he had thought he would be cutting out all of the uncertainty by letting the women who applied know up front that the ranch was to hell and gone from what most people considered civilization. He had also made sure they knew there would be an iron-clad contract, limiting what they would get if the union ended in divorce.

What he hadn’t counted on was a woman desperate enough to lie about her knowledge of ranching in order to marry a man, sight unseen. What was a woman as sweet and beautiful as Tori even doing cruising websites like the Hitching Post? Nor could he understand why he had decided to spend the next month trying to find out what drove her to such an extreme. Why couldn’t he put things in perspective where she was concerned and just send her on her way?

But for reasons he didn’t want to analyze too closely, whenever he got within twenty feet of her all he could think about was holding her and kissing her sweet lips until they both collapsed from a lack of oxygen. Even now, he would like nothing more than to lie down beside her and pull her to him.

Shaking his head at his own foolishness, Eli reached down to touch her shoulder. “Tori, it’s time to get up,” he said, hoping he didn’t startle her.

She murmured something that sounded like his name a moment before she opened her eyes, then blinking, stared up at him. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost five,” he said, checking his watch. “Buck will have breakfast ready in about ten minutes. You need to get up and get dressed. We have a long day ahead of us.”

When she sat up and stretched away the last traces of sleep, she smiled. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Eli wasn’t sure why, but his boots felt as if they had been nailed to the floor. If he had thought Tori was beautiful yesterday when she’d first got off the plane and then later at their wedding, it couldn’t compare to the way she looked now. With her hair slightly mussed and her eyes heavy-lidded from sleep, she looked as if she had just made love. The thought sent his hormones into overdrive and he had to force himself to turn and walk toward the door before she noticed he was having trouble keeping his body under control.

“I’ll see you downstairs,” he muttered as he stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

What the hell had gotten into him? he wondered as he descended the stairs. It wasn’t as if he had never seen a woman wake up before. And most of them had been wearing a whole lot less than a pair of pink flannel pajamas with butterflies on them.

But Tori managed to make flannel look sexy. Real sexy. Hell, he had a feeling she could make anything she wore look that way.

Entering the kitchen, Eli walked over to the coffeemaker to get a cup of the black brew, then sat down at his place at the table. Lost in thought, it took a moment for him to realize that Buck had said something to him.

“What was that?” he asked, looking up.

“I asked if Tori is on her way downstairs,” Buck answered, grinning from ear to ear.

“What’s wrong with you?” Eli asked, frowning. “You look like a deranged jackass.”

Buck threw back his head and laughed out loud. “She’s already got you tied up in a knot, doesn’t she?”

“No.”

“I thought I taught you better than to tell a lie,” Buck said, chuckling merrily as he turned back to the stove.

“You’re treading on thin ice,” Eli warned, grinding his back teeth. “You’ve already had your say on what you thought about me advertising for a wife, and as much as I hate to admit it, you were probably right. You don’t have to rub it in.”

Shaking his head, Buck brought a plate of bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns over to set it down in front of Eli. “I don’t admit this very often, but I was wrong. That little girl upstairs is gonna make you a fine wife, boy. She’s got a hell of a lot of try in her and a good heart, just like your momma had. She’ll be good for you if you aren’t too pigheaded about keeping things all business.”

Eli wasn’t sure he had heard correctly. “You’re telling me that the all-knowing, always right Buck Laughlin is admitting he made a mistake?”

“Yeah, but don’t expect it to happen very often,” Buck shot back.

“I didn’t know the two of you were related,” Tori said from the doorway.

Eli glared at his father. “I figured you would have introduced yourself when she arrived yesterday.”

“When she came inside, she asked if I was Buck and I said I was,” his father answered, shrugging. “My last name never came up.”

Shaking his head in complete disgust at his father’s screwed-up reasoning, Eli hooked his thumb in Buck’s direction. “Tori, meet my dad, Buck Laughlin—the orneriest old buzzard this side of the Mississippi.”

“I don’t think he’s ornery at all. You just have a lot of wisdom that you feel you should share, don’t you, Buck?” The warm smile she gave his father had the old guy beaming above three days’ growth of scruffy gray whiskers like a pimple-faced teenager on his first date.

“Me and this little gal are gonna get along just fine,” Buck said, nodding his obvious approval. “She understands me.”

Eli couldn’t believe the change in his father. For a solid week before he placed the online ad, Buck had argued with him nonstop in an attempt to get him to change his mind. He had railed that it was the worst way in the world to meet a woman. He had even gone so far as to give Eli the silent treatment for almost a full day when nothing else worked. That day had been one of the best Eli could remember since taking over the ranch when Buck retired.

“How do you like your eggs, Tori-gal?” Buck asked happily.

“Scrambled is fine, thank you,” she answered.

While Tori and his father chatted like two old friends, Eli shook his head and put a forkful of hash browns into his mouth. He might as well have been eating sawdust for all the appetite he had.

For five years, he had listened to Buck criticize every decision he made about the ranch, financial investments and anything else his father could think to find fault with. Then Tori arrived and, in a little over twelve hours, she had charmed Buck into an agreeable old fool.

“Tori, while you feed the bucket babies, I’ll check on the mare and her foal to make sure they’re still doing all right,” Eli said as he pushed away from the table. Scraping his plate, he put it in the dishwasher and went to get his coat. “You’ll find the calves in the barn where we take care of sick and injured animals. The milk replacer will be in the barn’s feed room. As soon as you get them fed, meet me in the equipment barn.”

Without waiting for her to respond, he jammed his hat on his head and walked out into the predawn darkness. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Buck and Tori to get along. If he and Tori were going to stay together, it would be important for his wife and father to care about each other as family. Hell, it might even make the disagreeable old cuss easier to live with. But on the other hand, if things didn’t work out between himself and Tori, he didn’t want Buck to get emotionally attached. His father might be as irritable and grouchy as a grizzly with a sore paw, but Eli didn’t want to see him get hurt.

What confused Eli the most was Buck’s rapid turnaround. Normally when Buck took a stand, hell would freeze over before he changed his mind, even when proven wrong. So what had caused his change of heart? And why?

More determined than ever to find out all he could about Tori, Eli made a mental note to call Sean Hartwell by the end of the day. Then all he had to do was sit back and wait for the extensive background report to come back, telling him all of her secrets and the real reason behind his wife’s presence on the Rusty Spur.

* * *

“Buck, I can’t thank you enough for showing me how to feed the bucket babies,” Tori said as she hosed out the pails she had used to feed the calves, then sanitized the nipples on the sides. “Daisy and Buttercup are adorable and I’m thrilled that I get to take care of them.”

Buck laughed. “You’ve already named ’em, have you?”

“Everything needs a name,” she said, nodding.

“Well, you did a fine job, no matter what you call ’em,” he said, handing her a couple of plastic bags for the washed buckets to keep them clean until the next use. He took the wrapped pails, placed them on a shelf in the feed room and closed the door. “We’re lucky the calves were a little older when they lost their mommas. We can get ’em on grain starter in another week and that’ll make feedin’ time a whole lot easier.”

Buck had been so helpful, teaching her how to mix the powdered milk replacer with warm water and showing her the trick to holding the bucket for an eager calf to nurse the nipple on the side without slopping milk everywhere. She felt that she owed him an explanation. “Buck, I know you’re wondering why I told Eli—”

“Let me tell you something, Tori,” he said, holding up his hand to stop her. “I’m a fairly good judge of character and I could tell right away that you’re a good person. You have your reasons for wanting to be here and it’s none of my business what they are. You’re helpin’ out and doin’ your best to learn.” He patted her shoulder as they walked toward the barn door. “Eli’s the one you need to be talkin’ to about all that.” He started toward the house. “Now, you hightail it on over to the equipment barn and help Eli get ready to take care of the cattle out in the far pasture while I go feed the horses. Then I’m goin’ back up to the house. This cold weather is makin’ my arthritis act up. Besides, I have to figure out what I’m gonna feed the two of you for supper tonight.”

“Thank you again, Buck,” she said, hugging him. “I’ll see you a bit later.”

As she walked the short distance to the barn where the ranch trucks and tractors were kept, she couldn’t help but wonder why her own father couldn’t have been like Buck. In the short time she had been on the Rusty Spur, Buck had shown her more kindness and trust than her father had in her entire life.

Letting herself into the long metal barn, Tori was surprised at how many large pieces of farm equipment were stored inside. On one side, trucks in various sizes were parked side by side and tractors, wagons and a variety of farming equipment lined the other.

“How are the calves doing?” Eli asked.

“They’re doing fine.” She walked over to where he was fiddling with the front wheel on a large, big-tired pickup truck. “I’ve named them Buttercup and Daisy.”

Looking over his shoulder at her, he grinned. “Don’t try to do that with all the cattle. You’ll run out of names.”

“What are you doing?” she asked, wondering if it was something she should know.

“I’m locking the front hubs to four-wheel drive,” he explained, moving around to the other side of the truck. He pointed down the row of trucks. “The newer ones have automatic hub locks.”

“Why aren’t you using one of those?” she asked, noticing that the truck he was working on had seen better days.

“Since we got several inches of new snow last night, the ruts leading to the back pasture have filled in.” He straightened to face her. “This truck sits higher and we won’t have as much trouble cutting a new path.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to use one of those and a wagon?” she asked, pointing to a tractor with huge tires.

He shook his head. “I didn’t figure you knew how to drive one of those.”

“I’m driving?” The thought of driving a piece of equipment that big with no experience was daunting and if she had a choice, the truck was the less intimidating of the two. But an even bigger concern was that he knew she was out of her element with farm equipment. She chose not to respond to his assumption and hoped he didn’t comment further about it.

He nodded. “I’m going to throw flakes of hay out to the cattle while you drive.”

That didn’t sound too difficult. She was a good driver and surely she could manage navigating the truck across a wide-open space.

“Go ahead and get in the cab out of the cold,” Eli said as he finished with the front wheels. “I’ll drive over to the barn where we keep the smaller bales of hay and load up the bed, then you can take over.”

When Tori reached up to open the truck’s door, it looked as if she might need a ladder to climb into the cab. Fortunately, she spotted a chrome step mounted just below the door and, grabbing the seat and the armrest, she managed to pull herself up into the truck.

“This sits a lot higher than the truck you used to pick me up at the airport,” she said when Eli climbed in behind the steering wheel.

“That’s why I’m hanging on to it,” he said, starting the powerful engine. “We only use it when the snow is deep and the job is too small to fire up one of the tractors.”

As he put the truck in gear, a sinking feeling came over her. The truck was a standard shift and she didn’t have the slightest clue how to drive a vehicle unless it had an automatic transmission. But maybe if she paid close attention to how Eli handled it, she could quickly learn what to do when he turned the driving over to her.

“Have you decided on a name for the foal?” he asked conversationally.

“Mmm, no,” she answered as she tried to concentrate on the pattern he went through to change gears.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, frowning.

“No, I’m just...thinking about what I should name the foal,” she lied, grasping the first excuse she could think of.

Eli stopped the truck to get out and open the wide doors of the hay barn, then backed it into the opening to start loading hay. Tori mentally reviewed what she had observed. It hadn’t looked difficult, she concluded. As long as she took her time and didn’t try to rush, she should be able to bluff her way through it.

Lost in thought, she jumped when he opened the passenger side door. “Slide over behind the steering wheel.”

“I thought you were going to drive out to the pasture, and then I would take over,” she said, feeling a bit of panic start to set in as she moved over to the driver side.

He gave her a smile that caused her pulse to speed up as he climbed into the cab. “I’ll get out to open and close the gates so you don’t have to wade through the snow.”

Taking a deep breath, she reached forward at the same time she put her foot on the clutch, then pulled the gear shift up as she had seen Eli do. So far so good, she thought as she gripped the steering wheel. Then everything seemed to happen at once. She lifted her foot from the clutch as she pressed down on the gas pedal, sending the truck lurching forward a moment before the powerful engine sputtered and died.

Seeing no way around it, she bit her lower lip a moment before she confessed. “I can’t drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.”

Eli’s wide grin surprised her. “I was wondering when you were going to admit that.”

“How did you know?”

“Your gaze was glued to every move I made from the moment I started the truck at the equipment barn. That was a fairly good indication,” he said, smiling. “Plus the fact that you had a worried frown when I told you to drive out to the pasture.” He reached over to touch her cheek with his gloved index finger. “Honey, you probably don’t realize it, but whatever runs through that little head of yours is written all over your pretty face.”

“Why didn’t you say something before now?” she asked, miffed that he had let her make a fool of herself. She wasn’t going to think about the fact that he had just said she was pretty or that he had used an endearment. It was much easier to stay angry with him if she didn’t think about that.

“I wanted to see how long it would take before you admitted you’ve never driven a stick shift.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I’ll teach you on the way out to the pasture.”

After showing her the proper way to start the engine, he leaned over to instruct her on the use of the gear shift. “Now that you know the standard H pattern of the gears, you’ll need to ease your foot off of the clutch at the same time you slowly press down on the gas,” he said, leaning even closer.

When she did as he instructed, his warm breath feathering across her cheek sent a shiver of excitement coursing through her. Without thinking, Tori immediately took her foot off the clutch and pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. Lurching forward, the truck engine revved a moment before it died again.

“That’s okay,” Eli said, patiently. “Try again. But this time, ease off the clutch as you press on the gas pedal.”

“You’re making it hard to concentrate,” she said, surprised that she had vocalized the thought. The only other times he had been that close to her were the few times he had kissed her. The thought sent a wave of longing through her.

“Why am I making it hard to pay attention to what you’re doing?” he asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.

“You just are,” she muttered as she restarted the truck.

Eli brushed a strand of hair from her cheek with his finger, causing her skin to tingle. “Could it be that you want me to kiss you again?”

“No.”

“Really?” He didn’t sound as if he believed her.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?” he persisted. “Because being this close makes me want to kiss you.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “But you haven’t finished teaching me how to drive this truck and you said we had a lot to do today.”

“You’re right.” Without warning, he leaned in closer to give her a quick peck on the mouth. “That will have to do for now.” Pointing to the steering column he added, “Try it again.”

Tori tried to ignore the suggestion that they would be resuming the kiss later and concentrated on driving the truck. Her third try really did seem to be the charm as she started the truck. Although it was a bit bouncy when it started moving forward, she managed to drive it to the gate that led out to the pastures without killing the engine. With each gate separating the massive fields, she seemed to get better at taking off and only ground the gears a couple of times as she shifted.

By the time they reached the farthest pasture and Eli had her stop the truck close to a large herd of red, white-faced cattle, she felt a lot more confident. “This isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.”

“Nope.” He smiled. “And since the men are still suffering with the flu, you’ll get even more practice tomorrow.”

“What am I supposed to do, just drive along while you throw out hay?” she asked when he opened the passenger door to get out.

He nodded. “Go slow. You probably won’t even have to shift into second gear unless you drive into a snowdrift.”

As she waited for Eli to climb into the back of the truck and cut the wire holding the first bale of hay together, she couldn’t help but feel quite proud of herself. She was experiencing so many new things and actually feeling useful for the first time since her father’s downfall. She was taking care of two sweet little calves, had helped deliver a foal and was actually driving a standard-shift truck through a field to feed cattle. And she had only been on the ranch for one day. Amazing!

“Okay, we’re ready to go,” Eli called.

Shifting the truck into first gear, she eased it forward and watched Eli in the rearview mirror as he began scattering the hay. He had explained on the way out to the herd that the majority of his cattle were wintering on the land he leased from the BLM at a lower elevation and were being watched over by some men he had hired for the winter. And that’s when it hit her.

Eli wasn’t just a hardworking rancher. He was a very wealthy hardworking rancher. Why hadn’t she realized it before now?

The Rusty Spur Ranch was huge, and Eli had more cattle than some people had hair on their head. It stood to reason he had to have a sizable bank account to go with it all.

When the attorney outlined the terms of their prenuptial agreement, she hadn’t paid much attention to what he said after he explained the clause concerning the “get acquainted” phase of their marriage. But as she thought back on it, she vaguely remembered something being mentioned about her getting money in the event of a divorce and less money if the marriage was annulled. Could the lawyer have said she’d get a million dollars if they divorced? Now that she was thinking back on it, it was possible that’s what he’d said. She should have listened more closely, but at the time she had been so overwhelmed by everything that she had a hard time thinking past the fact that she was actually in Wyoming and getting ready to marry a total stranger. And besides, she wasn’t concerned with what assets Eli had because if the marriage didn’t work out, she didn’t want anything that didn’t belong to her going into the marriage anyway.

She would, however, be forced to take the ten thousand dollars he had specified she would receive for her time and trouble if the marriage was annulled—not because she wanted to, but because she had to. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have any way to make a new start elsewhere.

Frowning, she glanced in the rearview mirror at her new husband. She had thought when she left Charlotte that she would never again have to worry about money influencing any of her relationships, let alone her marriage.

Eli didn’t seem to be obsessed with his wealth or even acknowledge that he was anything but a hardworking rancher. But she didn’t know him that well. Would he eventually prove to be as obsessed with money as her father had been? Or would he look at her as being beneath him the way her former friends had done when they’d discovered that she was penniless?

Lost in her disturbing thoughts, Tori failed to notice that she’d steered the truck away from the path they had created when they’d driven into the pasture. As it became more difficult for the truck to go through the snow in first gear, the engine made a growling sound, then died.

“That’s okay,” Eli called from the back. “Just start it up and slowly steer it back into the ruts we made coming into the pasture.”

When she started the truck and put it into gear, Tori released the clutch a bit too fast and the truck bounced forward before it began to run smoothly. Glancing in the rearview mirror to apologize to Eli for the rough start, she couldn’t find him.

Tori turned in the seat to look over her shoulder, but Eli was nowhere in sight. Where was he?

Slamming on the brakes, she turned off the engine and got out of the truck to find him. There were several cows munching on the scattered hay nearby, and although she was thoroughly intimidated by their size, Tori hurried around to the back of the truck to see if she could find Eli.

Her heart stalled at the sight of him lying completely still in the snow. His black cowboy hat lay several feet away and she hoped and prayed he didn’t have a concussion.

“Oh, dear heavens,” she whispered as she rushed over to him to kneel in the snow at his side. “What have I done?” Brushing his dark brown hair from his forehead, she begged, “Eli, please don’t be hurt. I’m so sorry. Please wake up!”

He opened his eyes at the same time his arms encircled her waist and he pulled her down on top of his chest. Startled, Tori let loose with a cry that she was pretty sure could be heard down in Eagle Fork and sent the cattle galloping in the opposite direction.

“What was that all about?” He laughed.

“I thought you were hurt,” she said, a mixture of relief and anger coursing through her at the same time. She was relieved he was all right, but irritated that he had let her think he wasn’t.

“No, I meant with the truck,” he said, smiling as he held her close.

“I was looking in the rearview mirror,” she said, settling on a half-truth.

She had been glancing in the mirror from time to time, just not when she had veered off the path. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell him that she had become distracted by the thought that he was rich or that she had come to the conclusion she wanted nothing to do with people who were wealthy.

His grin widened. “So you were checking me out, huh?”

“I...didn’t say...that. I was...oh, never mind.” Why did she sound so darned flustered?

“So you were watching the cattle?” he asked, raising one dark eyebrow.

“No.”

“Then you were checking me out,” he said confidently.

“I was looking to see that you were still back there,” she said stubbornly.

He shook his head. “I prefer to think that you were watching me.” Cupping the back of her head with his hand, he drew her closer. “If I’d been the one driving and you had been in the back of the truck, you can bet I would have been checking you out, Tori.”

His words against her lips caused her stomach to flutter and a lazy heat to flow through her. When he fused their mouths and began to tease her lips with his tongue to open for him, Tori ceased thinking about his wealth and her prejudices and concentrated on the way Eli was making her feel. They might have only known each other a day and been married for a little less than that, but in Eli’s arms, she felt as if she were where she belonged for the first time in her life.

As he stroked and explored, her body seemed to hum with sensations and, melting more fully against him, she gave herself up to the feelings. She loved the contrast between them—his large frame to her smaller one, his hard masculine contours to her softer feminine curves.

“You have the sweetest kisses,” he said, breaking the caress to nibble his way to the hollow at the base of her throat.

It felt as if her temperature increased by a good ten degrees, and Tori was more than a little surprised that they weren’t melting the snow beneath them. “I like when you kiss me, Eli,” she heard herself say. “You make me feel cher—”

She stopped herself before she could tell him that he made her feel cherished and as if she really mattered to him. But it was too soon. Even though it felt true to her, they didn’t know each other well enough to be admitting something like that just yet. And she still had to determine if he was like all the other rich people she knew.

“I make you feel what, Tori?” he asked, his dark brown gaze holding her captive.

“You make me feel...cheerful and young at heart,” she said, hoping her laughter sounded genuine.

He continued to stare at her for several long moments before a slow grin appeared on his handsome face. “If you say so.” Lifting her off his chest, he plunked her down in the snow. “Being from Charlotte, I’ll bet you’ve never made a snow angel.”

“No, I haven’t,” she said, laughing. When he told her what to do, he stood up and smiled as she lay in the snow moving as if she were doing jumping jacks.

“Okay, that’s good.” He helped her to her feet, then picked her up to carry her to the back of the truck. “Climb into the bed and look down at your first snow angel.”

When she did, she couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s so pretty and really does look like an angel. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of it.”

“Here, use this,” he said, handing her his cell phone.

His indulgent smile warmed her as little else could. He was doing all this just because he knew this was her first time really getting to play in the snow and that it would make her happy, not because he had a burning desire to make snow angels.

After she took the picture and he helped her down from the back of the truck, he opened the passenger side door and helped her climb into the seat. “Don’t we have more hay to throw out to the cattle?” she asked.

“Nope, I had thrown the last of the hay about the same time you took that wrong turn,” he said, laughing.

When he walked around the truck to slide into the driver’s seat, she frowned. “I wouldn’t think you would get cell service here in the valley.”

“I don’t.” He started the truck and headed back the way they had come. “I have the phone for the times I go outside of the valley. That way Buck has a way to get hold of me if he needs something.”

As he drove back toward the ranch headquarters, she glanced over at Eli and couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of him. She and her father had never enjoyed a relationship like Eli and Buck had. She could tell the Laughlins argued and sometimes frustrated each other beyond words, but beneath it all they shared a deep, abiding love. Otherwise, Eli wouldn’t carry a cell phone he couldn’t use the majority of the time just so his father would be able to reach him when he was away from the ranch.

Tori sighed wistfully as she stared out the window. She wanted to be a part of something like that—needed that sense of belonging.

If things worked out with Eli and they decided to stay married, she would have that. Or at least a semblance of it.

Part of the reason she’d applied to be his wife when she’d seen his ad was the fact that he wanted children. At least if they had a child she would have someone who loved her unconditionally. But would her child’s love be enough?

When no answers came, she leaned her head against the glass and closed her eyes. The one thing she had on her side was time. She and Eli still had a month to decide if being married to each other was what they both wanted. Hopefully by the end of that time, she would have the answer and know how to proceed with the rest of her life.