Nobody's Dream (95 page)

“
Te amo
, Luke Denton.” Her love for him had grown so much since she first told him she loved him that
te quiero
no longer expressed the depth of her love for him.

“I love you, too, Cassie Denton.”

She had not heard her married name often enough to be used to it, but she definitely looked forward to growing accustomed to hearing it often.

The truck came to a halt. She thought perhaps they were at a stop sign or something, but when he cut the engine, she knew they had arrived at their destination.

“Wait right there.”

“Sí, amor.”

He exited the truck and slammed the door shut. She heard him unloading the horses and then her door opened. “Scoot toward me. I’m going to carry you to the horses.”

“I could walk if you remove this blindfold.”

“Cassie, I said scoot toward me.” His tone sent a shiver down her spine. She secretly liked when he became forceful with her, but did not want to let him think he could always boss her around.

She lowered her skirt, uncertain if anyone could see them, and started scooting when he reached in and lifted her into his arms. She squealed and grabbed for what she hoped was his neck and held on tightly.

The smell of spruce and the roar of the wind told her they were high in the mountains.
Home
.

No, her home was with her husband. One day, she would come to accept the ranch as a true home for as long as she was with Luke. Her heart was home.

“Follow my instructions. I don’t want you to get hurt, but I also don’t want to spoil the surprise. Hear me?”

“
Sí
.” She could barely speak past the lump in her throat.

“Now, lift your left leg and I’ll put it in the stirrup.” He positioned her foot inside and guided her hands onto the pommel before telling her to pull herself onto the horse. His hands under her backside helped lift her into the saddle. She felt a tingling where his hands had touched her and her mound pressed against the saddle sending more tingles throughout her.

Erotic horseback riding lessons—blindfolded and without panties? She giggled.

Luke patted her thigh. “Thank you for your trust, darlin’.” She heard the squeak of the leather on his saddle as he mounted. “Ready?”

“But I can see nothing.”

“Don’t you worry; I’m going to be holding O’Keeffe’s reins. We’ll take care of you.”

They rode for a while. Besides the wind, she heard the crunch of gravel beneath the horses’ hooves but that disappeared quickly and she was left with only the wind against her face and neck. Her hair sticks pulled her hair off her neck, allowing the sun’s warm rays to beat down on her. Her arms were covered by her
lliclla
. She loved wearing it, along with the
tupu
he had made for her to keep it closed. She might be a little overdressed for a picnic, but liked being feminine around Luke.

No people sounds. She wondered if they were riding at a national or state park, but chose not to analyze it. He had promised her frequent visits to the nearby mountains and truly did take care of her emotional needs.

Cherished.

Protected.

Loved.

She took a deep breath of mountain air. There was a pungent odor—cinders, perhaps—mixed with grass. The way her body leaned backward for balance, she could tell they were going downhill and wished she could see where they were riding. It must be beautiful. When would they—

Did she detect the scent of angel’s trumpet blossoms? Her mind instantly returned to
Abuela’s
garden. Was she sending a sign that she was here with Cassie? She blinked her eyes behind the silk blindfold, feeling it grow damp from her tears.

“Here we are.”

“Where is here?”

“You’ll see when I’m ready. This is actually just our first stop. Hang on while I do a little prep work.”

Was he going to keep her blindfolded all day? She heard him dismount and several sounds she could not make out.

“Now I’m going to help you down first. Swing your right leg over the pommel.” He placed his hands on either side of her waist and lowered her to the ground. She arranged her skirt and felt a wet spot in the back. Would he notice the effect he and the horseback ride had on her?

She did not think she could wait until they returned home to have him touching her, filling her again.

Luke’s hands behind her head unknotted the blindfold. “Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them.”

“Yes, sir.” She didn’t know why, but when he gave her commands, she responded much like Kitty might. Of course, Kitty would totally jump to the wrong conclusion if she overheard her. She giggled at the thought of being a submissive like Kitty.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about Kitty.” A sharp swat to her backside sobered her quickly. “What was that for?”

“To bring you back to the moment—and me. Plus, I like the feel of my hand on your butt.” His hand cupped and squeezed her backside. The blindfold fell away from her eyes and upper cheeks, but she kept her eyes closed as instructed. She wanted to please him however she could, even when not by making love.

Luke wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against the length of his body. Warm. Hard. Inviting.

“Okay, darlin’, open your eyes.”

She almost was afraid to do so, but opened them slowly. The vastness of the mountain vista lay like a carpet before her stretching to the far horizon. It looked so much like the view from… She blinked several times to remove the fuzziness before realizing tears were keeping her from seeing clearly, not the residual effect of the blindfold.

“I did not realize how much I missed being in the mountains.” She tried not to notice the scorched patches of earth on the side of the mountain they stood on, focusing on the horizon instead. She turned to him. “Thank you for bringing me—”

Spread out on the ground was a horse blanket covered with fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, and a bottle of wine and two glasses. “What is this?”

“Dinner—just a little something to tide us over until supper.”

He reached for his shirt and pulled it from his jeans. When he began unbuttoning it, she glanced around to make sure they were alone. Not a soul around but them. Yet another illicit place to make love. Was this private property, though?

“Remove your blouse.”

“What?” She surveyed the area again.

“I’m hornier than a jackrabbit. I need to see you, touch you… Remove your blouse.”

With shaking fingers, she removed the shoulder cloth and tucked the
tupu
safely inside before laying it on the blanket. Next she began unbuttoning the blouse, her gaze on her husband who watched with interest as she revealed more flesh with the unfastening of each button. Her nipples bunched as she felt his scrutiny. What did he have in mind? When she removed it and let it fall to the ground with her shoulder cloth, he smiled his appreciation.

“I’ve missed the view.”

She swallowed hard, her heartbeat causing her throat to close. “But you just saw them a few hours ago.” Her voice sounded breathless, probably because she could not catch her breath.

He closed the gap and grabbed her by the hair sticks, pulling her head back until her mouth opened. His tongue, hot and urgent, entered her and danced a tango of desire with her own.

Luke eased her onto the blanket. They made love, and in the afterglow, he fed her grapes and cubes of cheese, alternating with sips of wine. The deep blue sky blanketed them with only the occasional hawk to disturb their cocoon of love.

All too soon, they had to dress and pack up their picnic. “Will we be able to ride here again sometime?” The word ride took on added meaning and her face grew warm.

“Anytime you want.”

“Oh, that would be nice. I love it up here.”

“I know you do, darlin’.”

Of course he knew. Luke was attuned to all her needs.

“Why don’t we ride a little further?”

“Are we trespassing?”

“No. It’s public land.”

“Public!” She glanced around, expecting to find a family of campers watching them in their sexual afterglow.

He chuckled. “No worries. It’s a newly acquired private preserve. The tourists don’t know about it.”

She relaxed and they mounted before setting off. The area they rode through had been burned, probably in the June wildfires. So sad. She wouldn’t think about her own cabin, although her mind saw a few things that reminded her of her own mountain. The ruins of an old mine entrance. The line of trees. Even Iron Horse Falls in the distance.

Wait! How could the falls be there if she was anywhere but on her mountain?

She dismounted and ran toward the ridge, exuberance filling her before she crested the rise and saw the studio that had been part of her home for four years. The sight brought on more tears. She walked closer to the edge until what she saw literally broke her heart. She literally felt it split in two.

A two-story cabin had already been built to replace the burned-out one she had lived in. Much more elaborate than the original, it must be someone’s new vacation home.

How sad that this incredible view would only be enjoyed by someone for perhaps a few weeks of the year. Americans had more money than they had sense.

“Are you sure we are not trespassing?”

“I have permission from one of the owners.”

When she heard him standing so near, and too overwhelmed to look any longer, she turned to bury her face in Luke’s chest.

“Why the tears, Sweet Pea?”

“I guess I will always think of this as my mountain, even though I was only a tenant for a short while.”

“I think you can consider most of it yours.” He pushed her away, dried her eyes, and pointed to a spot a few hundred yards away. “From about that ridge over there, on down the mountain is a public preserve. No one will ever be able to build on it. Your landlady wanted to make sure the mountain she and her husband had enjoyed for many years would never be overdeveloped.”

“She loved this place. I’m sure it broke her heart to have to sell it, but I can imagine it would be too expensive for anyone to afford the whole side of the mountain. When I asked if she would rebuild, she told me her heart would rather remember the cabin that last summer she and her husband lived here.”

Cassie glanced up at the new house. “I think she would approve of the new cabin, though. So beautiful.” She tried to tamp down her jealousy at not being able to live there. A generous number of windows and skylights made it possible to bring the outdoors in and the front entrance seemed to be wrapped around one of the trees that had survived the fire. One of the skylights was octagonal. She would love to look at the moon through that one while cuddled in…

Stop thinking of the impossible. Cassie nodded. “Mrs. Wickersham was a good steward of the land.”

“She said the same about you.”

“I tried.” She focused on the slightly singed, but still standing, studio to the left. No sense peeking inside. She and Luke had removed everything that had been hers. And the burned out shed had been razed, but she had what was important from there—her alpacas and Chance and her puppies.

If not for the fire, though, she would still be hiding away up here. In retrospect, she realized the cabin had not provided her much happiness. Cassie had used it as a place to hide from the world.

Until Luke, in an attempt to make sure she was safe, had collided with a falling snowpack. “I am okay not living up here anymore. The time had come for me to come off the mountain and rejoin the world.” She reached up and placed her hand at the nape of Luke’s neck and pulled him toward her for a kiss. “Thank you for being a soft place to land when I needed one, Luke, and for bringing me back to life so gently and patiently.”

“Do you miss the mountain with us living down in the valley?”

Cassie reached up and placed her hand over his heart. “Luke, I love being with you. And Chance, Suyana, and the alpacas love it there, too, judging by how they are thriving.”

“How about you, though?”

“I will thrive wherever you are. You have opened up so many new possibilities for me in my life that I thought would never be possible.”

He pinched her bottom. “Like making love?”

She could not keep the telltale warmth from rising in her cheeks at his blunt language. Would she ever become able to speak or think about making love without blushing? “No, I meant things like horseback riding and shearing alpacas, and skinny-dipping together in the stream—” Practice might help. She glanced away and grinned. “And, yes, making love.”

Luke lifted her chin and bent to press a quick kiss on her lips. “Love you, darlin’.”

He pecked her on the cheek and took her hand. “Grab O’Keefe’s reins. Let’s go down and take a look. Doesn’t appear that anyone’s home.”

“Luke, we really should not be snooping around.” But her argument was half-hearted. She wanted to see her former home just once more. “But if you’re sure we will not be caught.” She grinned and took her horse’s reins as she led the way down the familiar hillock.

They explored around the exteriors of the two buildings and she drank her fill one last time of the place that had salved her battered soul, preparing it for further healing at Luke’s hands.

When he walked onto the porch, she followed, stroking the spruce tree that now was part of the cabin. With so many trees lost to the fire, she was happy that the new owners hadn’t chopped it down. As she cupped her hand over her eyes and peered inside, Luke opened the door.

“Luke! What are you doing! We cannot go inside!” He grinned at her, unperturbed. “Can we? I
would
love to see the inside of this beautiful place.”

She closed the gap between them and would have entered the house if Luke hadn’t swept her into his arms. Luckily, one of them was thinking clearly and stopped before they broke the law.

He grinned at her, and she removed his Stetson, not wanting any of his face hidden from her view. She tossed his hat to the twig chair on the porch and ruffled her fingers through his hair. The house was forgotten as she stared into his eyes. A twinkle of mischief caught her by surprise, and she feared he would decide they should make love right here on someone else’s porch. Maybe someday they could rent this place for a getaway.