Much Ado About Mavericks (29 page)

Ben cleared his throat but still chuckled so he coughed.  Henry couldn’t have been more like Jake if they’d shared bloodline.  “Let’s take a walk--get away from camp for a bit.”  He offered his arm.

He was so shocked when she took his arm, he almost forgot to walk.  But he quickly schooled his expression and led her to the creek.  They walked several hundred yards upstream, away from the camp and farther away from the cattle. 

He heard the trickle of the stream and, in the background, mournful strains of some cowhand’s harmonica.  Both belied the earlier hullabaloo of cows and kids, and lent an air of peacefulness to the cool night air.  Seeing a smooth boulder, he asked, “Would you like to sit there?”

“Yup, we can lean back against that other rock and look for shooting stars.”

He sat beside her and leaned back, pulling her back with him.  “You didn’t strike me as someone who enjoyed the stars.”

“Shows what you know.  The stars make all this worthwhile.”

He felt her relax against him, sharing her warmth.  And his own temperature rose, along with the lower part of him.  Determined not to scare her off, he relaxed, too, as best he could.  “Do you know the constellations?”

“Big Dipper.  North Star.  That’s about it.  I don’t think they have to have names to make you twinkle inside.”

He made her twinkle, too, he knew it.  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  The cold rock reminded him of his knotted muscles.  He considered asking Jake to rub his back--but either she would, putting him in more misery elsewhere, or she wouldn’t, and he’d have to dodge a punch.  He chuckled softly.

“What’s so funny?”

“Hmm?  Oh, nothing.”  He pushed her forward and massaged her shoulders.  Maybe she’d take the hint.  “Feel good?”

A little noise came from her throat that nearly did him in.  “I ain’t never had my back rubbed before.” 

He kept rubbing, brushing his hands a little lower on her back.  He circled wider, until he touched her ribs and stroked the sides of her breasts.  Her sharp intake of air let him know she felt him--and she liked it.

Leaning forward, he kissed her neck under her ear.  She leaned harder into him, giving full range of her breasts.  Ah, what beautiful breasts they'd be if he could only see them.  They’d be well-rounded with creamy skin, topped with a raspberry nipple ripe for his mouth.

“What the hell’s poking my back?”

*   *   *   *   *

She wiggled to get more comfortable and he let out a groan like a cornered possum.  “Oh, you hurting, too?”

“You couldn’t possibly know.”

Good, she could rub his back like he did hers. 
Might
take her mind of
f
her innards
that felt like
stove-hot corn mush way down deep.  With a little lightning thrown in
for good measure
.  She pressed her legs together to ease the tension down there, but it only got worse.

She moved away from him, the cold air hitting her where his warmth had touched her before.  “Scoot forward and I’ll rub your back.  You ain’t used to this kind of work.”

He did without saying a word--a very strange thing for a
Boston
lawyer.  She wondered if maybe he was sick or something.  With the grit he’d shown, she knew he’d never admit it if he was half dead.

When she touched his broad shoulders, her innards fired up again, but she could hardly go back on her word.  She pressed her fingers against the firm muscles.  Instead of relaxing, he tensed up.  Maybe she was doing this all wrong.

She worked her fingers down his spine to his waist.  Suddenly, he spun around and hugged her so hard he damn near crushed the air out of her.  But she liked it.  A lot.

“Jake,” he mumbled, “I have to kiss you now.”

“Wh--”

He covered her lips with his.  Lordy, how she loved kissing him.  She opened her mouth a bit, inviting him in.  When his tongue brushed across her teeth, she touched its tip with her own.  He shuddered, then rubbed his hand across her back, over her sides, and planted his palms firmly on her breasts.

She ached for him to do something there, touch her more.  He pushed her away and started to unbutton her shirt.  She pressed her hands over his, stilling him.  “Ben,” she breathed weakly, “what are you gonna do?”

He kissed her hands away and unbuttoned her shirt all the way down.  She let him.  Why, she didn’t know, but she
wanted
him to.  He spread the shirt and cool air rushed to her bared breasts.  Her nipples puckered so she put her
hands
over them.

“No,” he said, brushing her
fingers
aside.  He placed
his
hand
on
one breast, then lowered his head to the other and kissed the tip of her nipple.  A rope of desire shot from her breast to her woman’s part--that part that she’d had in control before Ben came along. 

The urge to move under him was strong.  He licked around the side of her nipple, then took it into his mouth and gently suckled.  She wanted more, running her fingers through his thick, dark hair and pressing him into her.  The squeak she heard was hers.

At the sound of men’s voices, her heart missed a beat.  “Holy shit!”  Gathering her sensibilities, she pushed him back and buttoned up as fast as her shaking hands could manage. 

“I gotta go back.  There’ll be talk.”

Groaning, he rolled to his back and sat up.  “I’ll come in later.”

She nodded, then said, “Don’t do that again.”

But she wanted him to, even though she knew he’d be back in
Boston
in a month.  She whapped the side of her head with her palm. 

She was not some simpering female, she reminded herself.  She was the foreman of the Bar EL--the best rider, roper, and shooter in
Owyhee
County
.  And she better keep that in mind next time she decided to take a walk with the
Boston
lawyer.

*   *   *   *   *

Two weeks passed quickly, and Ben grew to enjoy those precious days when he rode with Jake.  He rode with her now, scouring rugged Rattlesnake Butte for cattle.  The children rode with Crazy Jim one gully over, and three other cowhands rode up the gully after that.

But, by some miracle, he
’d
managed to get Jake alone for the first time since the night by the creek.  He admired her, slouched in the saddle like only a person who’d lived there most of her life would.  Her ease seemed to reflect the Owyhees--serene and wickedly rugged, sometimes dangerous.

She had finally relaxed around him--the freeze-out she’d given him after he’d gotten carried away with her had subsided.  Sometimes he caught her glancing at him, and he knew she longed for him as much as he yearned for her. 

They both knew they should leave each other alone--that they’d go the
ir
separate ways soon.  But she kept scheduling him to ride with her every third day and he was all too happy to oblige.

“Got to tell you,
Boston
,” she said as she scoured the mountainside with her gaze, “I ain’t never had a cowhand work so hard as you.  You’d of made a helluva foreman.”

Ben nearly fell off his horse, but kept his voice calm.  “I thought so, too, when I was Teddy’s age.  But my life went in a different direction, and that’s all right.  I enjoy reading the law.”

“I suppose you make a lot more money at it.”

“I do--you’re right about that.  My net worth from working eight years at the law is more than my father’s lifetime of ranching.”  He paused, waiting for a reaction.  Most women would be quite enchanted with his bank account, but Jake wasn’t most women. 

Pointing up the hill to a clump of junipers, she said, “Up there.”

Ben reined his horse so that he rode up the hill and behind the trees from a different direction than Jake.  Just as they met to drive the cattle down, a pebble skidded past him, spooking the big bay.  A ground-shaking rumble caused his horse to shy, and while doing his best to keep a good seat, he
saw
a boulder heading straight for Jake.

“Look out!” he yelled, but she shooed the cows and calves without looking up.

Ben dug his spurs into the bay’s side and galloped toward her.  He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her onto his lap just as a two-foot boulder bounded past them, the bay running hell-bent-for leather. 

Her hat blew off
as she grasped his shoulders and hung on.  “Oh, shit!”

Well out of the slide area, Ben reined the bay to a halt and spun him around. 

“Damnation, you just saved my skin,
Boston
.”  Jake’s eyes grew round.  “Oh, my God!”

One of the boulders had hit a young calf.  The poor thing struggled to get up and run to his mama, finally falling to the ground and bawling.  “We’ll wait until we’re sure the slide is over with, then we’ll see what we can do.”

He surveyed the slope and the top of the ravine.  Seeing something--some
one
, he squinted into the sun, hoping to get a better look.  Damn, if he didn’t know better, he’d have thought he saw Peter Blacker up there.

“It’s over.  Take me to the calf.  It needs doctoring.”

Ben rode to the wounded calf--probably about three months old.  “Be careful,” he said as Jake slipped off the horse.  “Those little hooves can hurt.”

“It’s a heifer.  Her leg’s broke.”  Jake frowned and her mouth drooped at the sides.  “I ain’t shooting her.”

“It’s all right, Jake.  We don’t need to put her down.”  Ben dismounted and grabbed his rope.  “I’ll tie her up so she doesn’t hurt that leg more than it already is.  You find something to splint it with.”

After he hogtied the calf so the other three legs wouldn’t wreak more havoc on the broken one, he checked for other injuries.  A few abrasions but nothing serious, he decided after he ran his hands all over the baby’s body.

Jake came back carrying couple of sticks she’d fashioned as near the right size as she could get them.  “I’ll set it,” she said as she kneeled by the calf, patting its head. 

“What do you want me to do?”

“You tie the splint on with my piggin’ string.” She pulled the small rope out of her back pocket and handed it to him.

The young heifer bawled loudly, her eyes rolling and her tongue hanging out when Jake yanked the little leg straight.  With her knee on the calf’s flank to hold it still, she said, “Do it now
before her mama hears and comes back
.”

He held the two sticks on either side of the heifer’s leg, took a couple of quick wraps, and tied off the ends.  He sat back and looked at Jake.  “She can’t walk for some time.”

“I know.  I’ll carry her on my horse till we get back to camp.”

“I think you’re forgetting something.”

She frowned.  “I don’t forget nothing.”

“But Jake, you don’t have a horse.  Blue ran off during the landslide.”

She stood and kicked a small rock down the hill.  “Hell and damnation.  We’ll have to gather them cows again.”  She stuck her fingers in her mouth and blew an ear-piercing whistle.  Turning to Ben she said, “He’ll be here shortly.  Meantime, mount up and I’ll put this calf with you so she gets used to the idea.”

Great--now he’d have to deal with a struggling, bawling calf who would undoubtedly defecate all over his leg before the day was done.  He swung into the saddle and got comfortable.  “Sure, hand her up.”  Holding the reins in his teeth, he pulled the heifer across the saddle, over his lap.

Just then, Blue galloped up the hill, kicking up dirt as he skidded to a stop beside Jake. “Good boy.”  She patted his neck and mounted. 

“You always train your horses to come like that?”

Jake raised her eyebrows, and stared at him.  Ben had the distinct feeling she found his question ridiculous.  “I guess we better meet up with the kids.”

She gazed around the mountainside, then trotted a ways and picked up her hat.  “We’ll find them cattle that run off, then we’ll meet up with the others and drive the herd back to camp.”  She shielded her eyes with her Stetson and squinted at the sun.  “Looks to be an hour or better till sundown.  We’d better get moving.”

*   *   *   *   *

Jake waved her hat as the three strays spurred their ponies to a gallop when they saw her and Ben.

“A dogie,” Homer said, pointing to the calf.

“I want her!” Teddy cried. 

“No, I want her,” Henry stated.

“Well, you already gots a puppy.  You can’t have her.”

Jake laughed.  “All right, which of you cowhands can guess what color I’m thinking of?”

“Blue,” yelled Homer.

Henry called out, “Red!”

Teddy said, “I can guess.”

Jake rode to him and tugged his hat brim over his eyes.  “Then you got the stray.”  She looked at the other two and added, “I asked whether you could guess, not what color I was thinking of.”  She winked.  “You always got to listen to the question.”