Eddie’s Prize (10 page)

“I guess the food revived you?” she teased. “You’ve gotten your strength back?”

Eddie swept her up into his arms and rushed her to the bedroom to toss her on the bed. “You might say that.” He followed her down, loving the way her robe gaped open over her breasts. He pulled the sash free and spread the robe open to admire her body. She was all his, every slender inch of her. “I don’t know what to do first.”

Lisa squirmed her arms out of the robe and tossed it away. It left her wearing those boots and nothing else. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. “Kiss me, Eddie. That’s always a good thing to start with.”

“Yes, but what part of you should I kiss first?”

She giggled, opening her legs and closing her eyes. “Surprise me.”

* * * *

Seven hours and nearly a dozen orgasms later, Lisa lay like a limp noodle on the tangled sheets, Eddie face-down beside her with one arm thrown over her chest just below her breasts.

“I think I broke something that last time,” he moaned.

Somehow Lisa found a tiny spurt of energy, enough to chuckle. “That’s what you get when you have sex non-stop all day. I think I’ll be walking bow-legged for the next week.”

He lifted his tousled head to stare at her blearily. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, silly.” Although she privately admitted she was a little sore. He was an energetic lover. His expertise with his hands, his lips, and his tongue was growing in leaps and bounds, but he retained a young man’s vigorous enthusiasm. In addition to the soreness that came from love-making, the bruises she collected during the plane crash had faded but were not gone. Eddie’s chest was marked with bruises from the bride fights too. Somehow, while they were making love, Lisa didn’t notice the bruises. It was only in between orgasms that she felt a little beat up.

Fists pounded on the front door. Lisa could barely hear it, but Eddie’s face came alert instantly, and his head swiveled that way. He leaped from the bed and yanked on his jeans.

“What is it?”

Eddie rapidly buttoned his fly. “I don’t know, but it must be important. This is our honeymoon. No one would disturb us if it wasn’t important. Stay here.”

She dragged herself off the mattress and fumbled for the clothes folded on the dresser. By the time Eddie came back she was dressed. He gave her a quick kiss.

“I’m sorry, Lisa-love. I have to go out for a few hours.”

“Go out? Where?”

He grabbed a pair of socks out of the dresser, put them on, and stuffed his feet into his boots. “Terry Packard’s mare is foaling. It’s not going well.”

“Oh, no.” Poor horse. She’d forgotten that Eddie was a vet. “Take me with you.”

Eddie stared at her for a moment. “I don’t think so. It could be bloody work.”

She brushed a hand over the stain on the front of her sweater. She took a deep breath. “Eddie, a few days ago I held a little boy while he died.
That
was bloody work. I’d like to see a new life born. It would balance things out.”

Her new husband curled an arm around her to pull her close for a gentle kiss. “All right, then. But comb your hair. You look like a woman who’s spent all day in bed with her husband.”

“Hmm. I wonder why?” Lisa ran to her purse to find her comb.

They didn’t go very far. Terry Packard lived only two blocks away, still inside the stone wall that encircled the mayor’s compound. The barn held a man in his late thirties, two teen boys, and a horse whose hugely distended belly rippled with contractions. Lisa stopped in shock to stare at the poor horse, but Eddie went right over to the mare, running a soothing hand down her nose.

Lisa stood back, out of the way, while Eddie and the three other men huddled over the horse and spoke in low tones. There wasn’t time for introductions. Eddie rolled up his sleeves, put on a coverall, and went right to work. She was enthralled, watching her husband move confidently and gently while he examined the horse. The man who had spent the last day making love to her with boyish enthusiasm was now a calm veterinarian helping a mother horse deliver her baby. His voice was low and soothing, his hands sure. It took hours, and at the end of it, Eddie’s discarded coverall was as blood-stained as her sweater. He looked exhausted but satisfied as he watched the wobbly-legged colt nose around his mother to find his supper. Mr. Packard and his sons were high-fiving each other with broad grins. After watching the baby nurse for a few minutes, Mr. Packard shook Eddie’s hand with obvious gratitude.

“Can’t thank you enough,” he said. “Hated to bother you while you were, um, busy. But I didn’t think the mare or the foal would make it, and Dex Entilt is out.”

Eddie smiled. “In an emergency, nothing else matters. Lisa insisted on coming along.” He looked over at her and beckoned her forward. “Lisa, this is Terry Packard, the best horse breeder in five hundred miles. Terry, this is my wife, Lisa.”

Mr. Packard extended a callused hand with a shy smile. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Madison. These are my boys, James and Jasper.”

Lisa shook Mr. Packard’s hand and smiled at all of them. The boys were between fourteen and sixteen, and during the past few hours they had snuck peeks at her, but until now they’d been too busy to do more than that. Now they stared at her with a mix of poorly concealed lust and worship. It made her a little uncomfortable, so she stepped close to Eddie. He put an arm around her and gave her a little squeeze while directing a disapproving stare at the boys.

“Well.” Mr. Packard cleared his throat after glaring at his sons. “You must be eager to get back home, but I wonder if Mrs. Madison would like to name the colt.”

“Me?” Lisa raised a hand to her throat, feeling tears press at the backs of her eyes. She looked at the little horse, whose coat had dried to a vivid chestnut color, almost red, with a white diamond between his eyes. Her hand brushed against the stiffness of the dried blood on her sweater when she dropped it back to her side. “Alexander.” Her voice came out very firm. “His name is Alexander.”

Mr. Packard nodded. “Alexander,” he agreed.

Eddie said their good nights and led her out of the barn. It was late now, probably past ten o’clock p.m., and they hadn’t had supper yet. She found herself stumbling a little, fighting to not cry. Eddie held her close to his side, rubbing his warm hand over her upper arm.

“Who is Alexander?” he asked quietly, sounding reserved.

“He was a little boy on the plane.” She touched her sweater. “I was holding him when he died.”

The stiffness left his face. “Oh, Lisa-love, I’m sorry.” He stopped to turn her to face him. “I thought he was, maybe, your husband.”

“Husband?” The surprise stopped her tears.

The hand that had guided a tiny horse into the world stroked her cheek. “I’m not the only man you’ve been with.”

Lisa wasn’t even sure how many men she’d been with. A dozen, perhaps? Fewer than the gossip rags would like people to believe. “There hasn’t been anyone for a while, Eddie. And that’s all in the past now. I’m so glad you won the Bride Fight. I think you’re amazing.”

He kissed her gently. “I think
you
are amazing. Let’s get home so we can eat and go to bed. To sleep. I think we’ve worn each other out.”

But they did make love that night, so gently and tenderly Lisa cried again. Eddie was a wonderful husband, and after only a day of marriage, she was sure she could grow to love him more than she’d ever loved another man.

Lisa woke the next morning with excitement shimmering in her stomach. Today she and Eddie were going shopping for new clothes. If there was anything Lisa loved, it was clothes shopping. Eddie laughed at her eagerness, but offered to make breakfast while she showered and dressed. The shower was a metal tank perched on a high shelf with a nozzle that let water run when she pulled on a chain. It was a disturbingly primitive set up. The icy water of the shower shocked Lisa totally awake. She rushed to dry off and put her filthy clothes on, mourning her digitally controlled, multiple showerhead spa at home. Not to mention her corner bathtub with the jets. Right now she could use a long soak in hot, foamy water. Maybe she and Eddie had overdone the lovemaking a little bit? No, she didn’t really think that. She loved what Eddie did to her in bed.

“Breakfast’s ready,” he called from the kitchen.

Lisa dragged her comb through her wet hair and used a rough rubber band to put it in a ponytail, cringing at the idea that she was creating a whole crop of split ends. But the ponytail was necessary. It was just too cold to have her wet hair lying over her shoulders. Someone needed to invent a blow dryer.

Breakfast was an exact repeat of yesterday’s eggs and bacon, but the eggs were light and fluffy, and the bacon was evenly crisp. “You’re a better cook than I am,” she complimented him.

He tucked into breakfast with enthusiasm. “You’ll get better. My mom will teach you.”

Lisa wasn’t sure if she looked forward to that or not. They washed the breakfast dishes and tidied the kitchen. Eddie took the tub of dishwater outside to tip in the yard while Lisa hung the damp dishtowel on a rack by the kitchen door. Eddie came back in and hung the tub up on a hook. He put his arms around her and smiled into her face.

“Today I’m going to introduce you to everyone I know in town.” His smile widened. “I’m so proud to be your husband.”

Warmth bloomed in Lisa’s chest. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Are we ready?”

Lisa hooked her purse over her shoulder. “I’m ready.”

Eddie carried the clean casserole dishes as they went across the yard to the back porch of his father’s house. They didn’t stop in, though, just left the dishes at the door and walked down the street to the gate in the fence. Lisa didn’t recognize the men on guard there, but they smiled and nodded and opened the gate for them. Eddie took her hand, and they strolled along the street. Lisa smiled at his warm grip. How long had it been since she had held hands with a guy? Her boyfriends were all too mature to hold hands. It was nice. The weather was cool, but the sun was out, and it looked like it would be a warm Indian summer day. Feeling as bubbly as a teenager, Lisa skipped a few steps beside Eddie. This was going to be a perfect day.

They passed a dozen people, all men, who paused to exchange good mornings and be introduced to Lisa. Eddie had said this morning he’d be proud to introduce her, and by the smile on his face, it gave him a thrill to call her Mrs. Eddie Madison. Lisa couldn’t stop her own smile as she nodded at the people she was introduced to. She had been introduced to presidents and movie stars and even a few royals, but she’d never felt so important as she did when Eddie held her hand and called her his wife in front of his friends and neighbors. Why? These were rural nobodies. She put the thought away to ponder later.

“Eddie,” she whispered when they were past the latest pair of men he’d introduced her to. “When we walked to your house after the Bride Fight, you were afraid someone would try to steal me. Remember? But today we don’t have any guards with us. Why?”

“We’re married now. Stealing a married woman is punishable by death.”

“We weren’t married then? But you won the Bride Fight.”

“But we hadn’t made love yet,” Eddie explained. “A marriage isn’t made by words or just winning a fight. When a man and woman sleep together, they’re married. In the Times Before, was it different?”

“Oh, yeah.” If Lisa had married every man she’d ever slept with, she’d have made Liz Taylor look like a spinster. Not that she wanted to mention it to Eddie. “So, I’m safe now?”

“Of course. You’re my wife until one of us dies.” He squeezed Lisa’s hand. “And that won’t be for a long time.”

Eddie steered her into a building that said MARTIN’S TRADING POST on a sign over the door. Lisa gaped at all the stuff packed into the big room. There was everything from bolts of fabric to readymade clothing for men and women, wooden blocks to soap and shampoo. It looked like what she expected a general store in the Old West to be like. It was not like one of her favorite shops on Rodeo Drive.

The shop owner was a friend of Eddie’s. As the mayor’s son, Eddie must have met everyone in town, and Nathan Martin was probably in his late twenties, only a few years older than Eddie. Lisa wondered if they had gone to school together. What kind of schools did they have here?

“Nate,” said Eddie with that proud note Lisa was getting used to hearing. “This is Lisa Madison, my wife.”

Nate slapped Eddie on the shoulder. “Heard about that. Congrats!” He nodded to Lisa. “Hope you’ll be real happy. If this guy gives you any trouble, just let me know. I can get you plenty of blackmail material.”

Lisa poked Eddie in the side with a sly smile. “Do you think I’ll need it?”

The shop owner guffawed. “I doubt it. Eddie’s the cleanest living man I know. But I’m sure I could come up with something. So, what can I do for you, Eddie?”

“My wife needs some clothes. Maybe just a couple things we can take with us now and some other things on order.”

“Sure.” Nate’s eyes lingered briefly on the bloodstain on Lisa’s sweater. “Hannah! We have Mrs. Madison here, needing some clothes.”

In a moment, a woman with flyaway blonde hair came out of a door behind the counter carrying a napping toddler. Nate’s wife handed their son over to her husband and smiled politely at Lisa. “The ladies section is in back. Will you follow me?”

Lisa gave Eddie a smile and went to the back of the store where a curtain was hung to provide privacy. There was a desk and chair against one wall and a full length mirror against the other, and a few chairs and tables to make up a sitting area. Hannah Martin touched a finger to Lisa’s sleeve.

“That’s a beautiful sweater,” she said shyly. “So soft. Such a shame it’s ruined. We do sell some hand knits, but mostly wool. What fiber is this?”

“It’s cashmere.” Lisa wasn’t sure what animal cashmere came from, but she doubted it could be found here. “This is all I have to wear right now, so I need at least one pair of jeans, a shirt, socks, and underwear.”

Hannah went out to collect an assortment of things for Lisa to try on. Some of them fit well enough, but they had no style. If there was anything Lisa knew, it was clothes. She had designed a line of casual wear, and unlike most other models, she did the actual designing herself instead of approving someone else’s designs and putting her name on the tag. Mrs. Martin was young, maybe twenty-two or so, but she had a good grasp of how clothes should fit. Lisa held up a shapeless shirt-style dress.