Rocky Mountain Wife (5 page)

“Was that him?” Her mother asked from the kitchen table where she set out plates and flatware. “I’ve heard things about Mr. Reed, but I don’t know if they’re true or not. I wanted to get a good look at him. Is he coming back?”

“Probably not anytime soon.” She set the pail on the edge of the counter to be taken down to the cellar later and made a beeline back to the stove. The scrambled eggs looked done. She grabbed a platter and filled it. “I feel like a fool thinking the bank would let me hold on and farm the land. I should have left here long ago. Then I wouldn’t be in this position.”

“You are too hard on yourself.” Ma folded a napkin and slipped it under a fork. “How much do you know about this Joshua Reed fellow? I haven’t heard good things.”

“You shouldn’t listen to gossip.” Claire set the platter on the table. She turned to stare out the window, too. The garden was ruined. The crops were nothing but broken green leaves and stems strewn through the fields.

“I’ve heard he’s a loner, a real odd duck. Spends every holiday holed up in his house. Doesn’t celebrate Christmas, from what I hear. Or any holiday. Nobody ever comes to visit him. I just wanted to look him in the eye and take a good measure of the man.” Ma blew out a heavy sigh, fraught with worry. “Are you sure you should put so much faith in him?”

“There’s something about Joshua. I trust him.” She didn’t know why, but she realized it was true. Maybe it was the steady, determined way he’d gone about doing the barn chores—something she’d never expected him to do. Or maybe it was because her breath caught and her stomach quivered every time she thought of his hard male body in its prime.

“Ma!” Ivy tromped in, with her bouncing braids and prettiest pink calico dress, her smile wide. “Goody! You made scrambled eggs. You know that’s my favorite kind of egg.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that once or twice before.” With a smile, Claire kissed her daughter’s cheek, so thankful any worries about the future had been delayed—for now. She didn’t know what the future held, but right now, today, she was with her family. They were safe, they were fed, they were home.

And she had Joshua Reed to thank for that.

Now, if only she could stop dreaming about him at night, she thought ruefully. She didn’t know what the chances were of that. The way she was going, probably slim to none.

That was going to be a problem.

Joshua tipped his Stetson against the last few drops of rain falling from the gray clouds overhead. Aspen Creek wasn’t busy for a weekday morning, most folks were hiding out at home due to the inclement weather. He splashed through a puddle and left his team behind at the hitching post. His chest was still all tangled up, trying not to feel what he was feeling for Claire Callahan.

It wasn’t as if he would even see her much when it came to their agreement. He’d be in the fields. She’d be in the house. Likely they’d never do more than spot each other from a distance. That’s just the way he’d like to keep it. The back of his neck itched. He was uncomfortable with the notion of seeing her any more than that. Like this morning, for instance. It was just too much for a loner like him.

Not that his blood didn’t heat up over her.

He turned the corner and trudged up the steps to the boardwalk. He got a bad feeling when he noticed Oliver Sanders’ team and buggy tied up out front. Yesterday the man had been propositioning Claire. What was he up to today?

Joshua heard the man’s pompous voice the instant he pushed through the bank’s front door.

“I’m on my way to owning the biggest ranch in the county, that makes me an important man.” Sanders rose from a padded chair in front of the bank manager’s desk. “Don’t think I won’t take my business elsewhere, Nels. I want what I want. You give me approval for that loan, now. Or you’ll be sorry.”

The bank manager paled in his chair, nervously adjusted his collar and said nothing.

Joshua didn’t blame him there. He wouldn’t want to have to deal with Oliver Sanders—not for the best paying job in the world.

“Reed.” Sanders sneered, coming to a stop in the middle of the bank lobby.

“Oliver.” Joshua straightened his shoulders, staring him down. “Excuse me.”

“Think I don’t know what you’re up to?” Sanders turned on his heel, trailing Joshua. “I saw you out at the Callahan ranch.”

“I saw you, too.” He’d heard rumors about Sanders, unsavory ones. Some folks leaving town after the fire talked about Sanders bullying them out of their burned-out land. It was rumor only, just a frightened whisper here and there, but he hadn’t forgotten. There was something about Sanders he didn’t like. He kept walking toward Mr. Markum’s desk.

“Reed!” Sanders called out above the bustle surrounding them. Conversations stilled. Customers at the teller windows turned to see what was going on.

Joshua, not liking the spotlight, blushed.

“Heard hail hit hard on your land.” Sanders pulled a pouch of tobacco out of his shirt pocket. “Must have damaged your crops.”

“Can’t say that’s any of your business.” He gritted his teeth, fighting anger.

“A small venture like you’ve got, every acre matters.” Sanders caught up to him, matching his stride. “You must be in a world of hurt right now. Come to take out a mortgage? I might buy out your land, you know, if you’re in big trouble.”

“My farm is not for sale.” He despised the man. Completely. “Excuse me.”

“Wait.” Sanders tucked a pinch of tobacco between his cheek and gums. “What were you doin’ at the Callahan place?”

“That isn’t your business either.” Joshua shook his head, aware that a few of the customers were still watching. So was Nels Markum, sitting tensely behind his desk. “Goodbye, Sanders.”

“If you’re sniffing around the Widow Callahan’s skirts, I have some advice for you.” Oliver’s eyes went black. “Keep your hands off her, or I’ll break them right off. I don’t like competition.”

Red hazed Joshua’s eyes. Rage shot through him, fierce and protective. His hand shot out, clamped around Sanders’ collar and he lifted him off his feet. “I don’t like your advice. Now, I said goodbye.”

Oliver squeezed out a gasp, the bank went silent and Joshua gave him a toss. The man landed on both feet, steaming mad, but Joshua didn’t care. No one insulted a woman in his presence.

He pulled out the chair facing Mr. Markum’s desk, listening to the furious stride of Oliver’s high-priced boots cross the polished wooden floor. He focused on the bank manager. “Good morning. I’d like to talk to you about a loan.”

“I’m afraid our finances are tight.” Nels Markum explained with true apology in his eyes. He was a good man. “We’ve had so many foreclosures and folks giving up on their loans. Times are hard here.”

“I know. I don’t want a new loan,” he explained, taking off his hat. “I want to assume the Callahan mortgage.”

“I see. Well, that is unusual.” Nels Markum had the look of a man who wanted to help.

That had to be a good sign, Joshua thought. He sat up straight, hopeful. Maybe this could work, really work. He glanced over his shoulder at Sanders, who was letting himself out the front door onto the boardwalk. He had a bad feeling that Claire would be in trouble if it didn’t. A
bad
feeling.

He didn’t like that at all.

Getting by without her own horse was going to take some getting used to. Claire sidestepped a puddle, keeping to the grassy shoulder of the county road so she wouldn’t get her shoes muddy. Her dress was another matter. The hem was sodden, but once she’d made it home, it would dry easily enough. The good news was that the rain had stopped. Finally.

The clomp-clomp of an approaching horse broke the stillness. Claire rolled her eyes. With her luck, it was probably one of her neighbors, the ones who’d heard of her plight because they’d spotted a town deputy serving foreclosure papers.

Please let it be anyone else,
she thought and glanced over her shoulder.

“Claire? Is that you?” Lucy Bellasario called out from the seat of her little buggy. Lucy was adorable with her bountiful black ringlets and smiling, heart-shaped face. She wore a fashionable blue bonnet and a matching driving coat. Her hands were gloved as she waved. “What on earth are you doing walking down the road? What happened to Harold?”

“I sold him to one of my neighbors.” Claire stared hard at the ground, fighting her pride. It was hard to admit how tough times were.

“Which neighbor? Don’t tell me it was that awful Sanders fellow.” Lucy drew her darling spotted mare to a stop. “My father and brothers really hate him.”

“I don’t blame them,” Claire commented ruefully. “No, I sold the horses to the other neighbor. Joshua Reed. Do you know him?”

“Not personally, but you know I have an eye for handsome men. He’s the one with those mile-wide shoulders, right? And that thick dark hair. He’s unshaven half the time. Ooh, you know I have a thing for men and their whiskers. He’s delicious.”

“Gee, I’d like to say I hadn’t noticed, but that would be a lie.” She thought of exactly everything she’d noticed about Joshua—from his kindness right down to the length of his non-erect penis. And she’d dreamed about helping herself to it. “He’s going to buy the farm.”

“Buy it? Why, that’s about the best news I could have heard. What are you doing standing there? Get in.” Lucy patted the seat beside her. “Don’t tell me you walked Ivy to school this morning, and you’re on your way home now.”

“It’s a long way, and I didn’t want her going that far alone.” Claire gladly placed her shoe on the running board and climbed up into the buggy.

“You’re just going to turn around and have to walk back to bring her home.” Lucy gave the reins a snap as soon as Claire was settled on the seat. “I’ll make my brothers lend you one of their horses. And don’t you dare say no—”

“No,” Claire said with almost a straight face. “I can’t accept one of their horses. Honestly, I’ll be fine. And what about you? What are you doing driving out here?”

“I’m coming to see you.” Lucy gave her black ringlets a toss. “Uninvited, as always, but Martha made extra muffins and I stole some to bring to you. Good thing I did or I wouldn’t know about you and the handsome neighbor.”

“There’s nothing between me and the handsome neighbor.”

“Then why did you blush when you said his name? Don’t think I didn’t notice.” Lucy smiled triumphantly. “So, what happened? Did he try to beau you?”

“No, nothing like that.” Claire stared down at her hands. How could she explain? That image of Joshua standing in the barn, wet clean through, came back to her. And so did the dream she’d had when she’d been helping herself to his male part.

“Ooh, now you’re really blushing.” Lucy waggled her brows. “Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve felt like that about anyone. Ever since my John passed, I’ve been feeling, well, you know.
Those
needs.”

“Oh, I know all about
those
needs.” Claire stared down the muddy road, her chest heavy. “I don’t want to feel this way.”

“It’s natural. Marriage builds up certain, er, expectations for a woman. First you start needing those expectations to be met, and then you
have
to have them met. They build up and build up and they need to be relieved. I know, believe me.” A desperate look gripped Lucy’s face. “It’s built up so bad. I’ll probably blow apart into a thousand pieces if a man so much as touched my hand. I hate to think how hard I might come if he touched something else.”

Claire burst out laughing. Oh, Lucy was fun to spend time with. “I feel the same exact way.”

“It’s awful, isn’t it?” Lucy nodded with understanding. “Some nights I’m so desperate, I can’t see straight. You can try all you want, but nothing can replace a man’s knob. Not even a carrot.”

Claire laughed so hard her eyes watered, and her corset ties strained, cutting into her ribs. Honestly, Lucy was a hoot. “I’m all out of carrots. I’ll have to wait until my garden grows a little more.”

“You have to learn to plant lots of carrots.
Lots
of them. Enough to last you all through the year.” Lucy winked, and they howled together, laughing hard as the mare turned up Claire’s drive. Her pretty yellow farmhouse came into sight.

And so did Joshua Reed.

“Oh! Is that him?” Lucy gawked at the tough, well-built man sitting on the top step of the front porch. “I’ve got to get a neighbor like that.”

Claire bit her lip, afraid anything she said might carry over to Joshua. He spotted them, tipped his black Stetson and slowly rose, unfolding his over six foot muscular frame as if completely aware of what it did to her. He wore black today, and it suited him. He looked vitally masculine.

“He’s really delectable,” Lucy leaned in to whisper, stopping her horse in front of the house. “No carrots necessary. He would do the trick.”

He absolutely would. Claire hopped off the seat, afraid to admit how even dreaming of him had brought her to the brink of an explosive orgasm.

“Here, let me.” His baritone rumbled behind her as he moved in to take her by the arm and helped her avoid a mud puddle on the way down from the buggy.

Goodness, he made her entire body tingle. She didn’t know the exact moment when her feet touched the ground. All she knew was that he was towering over her and setting her system on fire with a kind of sexual energy she’d never felt for her own husband. What was wrong with her? Was she becoming a strumpet? Or was Lucy right? It was just the natural consequence of going without sexual release?

She sure hoped it was the latter, because she didn’t want to think of herself as a strumpet.

“I’ll leave you two to your business.” Lucy winked, tightening her grip on the reins.

That’s when Claire noticed the dark shadows under her friend’s eyes and the strain tight beneath her smile. Claire sighed, the air rushing out of her. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Because she’d been so troubled by her own problems, that’s why. She wasn’t the only one going through difficulties. Sympathy welled up for her friend, whose family had come upon hard times.

“Wait.” Claire caught hold of the side of the buggy. “What about you? How is your family doing?”