Shotgun Bride (9 page)
Without lessoning the hold on the plate in her hand, she slipped her arms around his back, wanting more. The solid arms wrapped around her squeezed, pressing oddly sensitive breasts to crush against his firm, molded chest. Enticed, she tilted her head, giving more freedom for their lips to continue. The moan in the back of her throat slipped out as tingles covered every ounce of her frame.
Kid's lips left hers with startling quickness. Jessie blinked in confusion. One hand pressed her face into his shirt front. His chest heaved in and out, matching the movement of hers as his deep voice rumbled above her head, "What Joe?" From behind a nervous voice answered, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I-uh, um..."
Jessie stiffened, but as one of Kid's hands smoothed over her head, she ignored whatever had made her nerves peak and lifted her face to look at him. He stared into her eyes and 81
Shotgun Bride [The Quinter Brides Book One]
by Lauri Robinson
one of his fingers trailed from her temple to her chin, the soft, silky touch tantalizing. "I'll be right out, Joe," Kid said. Jessie blinked as his words sunk in, but didn't move. She couldn't, her mind had become fogged over with some kind of a haze.
"All right," Joe mumbled.
The click of the door made something snap and pulled her from the daze. It was like being awakened from a wonderful dream. "I, um..." She swallowed, blinked. The finger stoking her face moved to cover her lips. "Shh." Kid shook his head. "Shh," he repeated as his lips brushed against her forehead again before he let loose his hold. "I'll go see what he needs, then give you that tour of the house we talked about."
Her cheeks burned and her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. Neither fear, nor anger, nor any other emotion she could recall had ever made it beat so rapidly. She dared not speak incase it would leap right out her mouth, but Kid stared at her expectantly. So she nodded; a quick, slight, little nod.
He let out a chuckle. It floated in the air like an early bird's song. His fingers lightly pinched her cheek before he turned, walked across the room, and disappeared out the door. If the table hadn't been right behind her, she may have slipped to the floor. Instead, her melting body leaned against the solid wood. The tin plate in her hand clanged onto the floor. Bewildered, her racing mind wondered how she went from crying in his arms to kissing him, like ... like she knew what she was doing. She didn't. She didn't have a clue as to 82
Shotgun Bride [The Quinter Brides Book One]
by Lauri Robinson
what or how it had happened. Nor how she could make it happen again.
The thought made her eyes widen, and she grabbed the chair for extra support as her knees went weak.
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Shotgun Bride [The Quinter Brides Book One]
by Lauri Robinson
Kid leaned against the porch rail of the bunkhouse. The boys had delivered each group of cattle: the older ones, in need of grazing to the north pasture, the expecting ones were settled in the south pasture, the young ones further west, and the sickly ones had been brought to the pens near the barn, where he could inspect them and decide exactly what they needed.
Joe had come to tell him they were home, and much to the man's embarrassment, he'd barged in without knocking, which is what he'd always done. Poor Joe was still tongue tied over catching him and Jessie in such an intimate embrace. Kid stood straight and arched his back. Poor Joe, hell ... he, Kid Quinter was still coiled tighter than a rattler from the embrace.
A lantern's soft glow flickered from the room he'd settled her in this morning, but no shadows moved about beyond the window. Perhaps she'd fallen asleep with the lamp lit. Kid rocked on the heels of his boots. It had all been so natural. The kiss had just happened. He'd never believed when someone said 'it just happened'. Nothing just happens. There's always cause and affect and people have the ability to control things.
But today—it just happened. One minute he was simply comforting a young, crying girl, and the next he was passionately kissing a young, remarkably beautiful woman—a woman who just happens to be his wife.
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"Aw, shit!" Cold coffee spewed out of his mouth, and he dumped the rest onto the ground. Completely unaware he'd even raised the cup to his lips. Setting the empty cup on the rail of the porch he stepped down. The boys had all gone to bed. They were as dog tired as he. A week on the trail, to and from Dodge, and separating the new stock today, had taken all six of the hired hands the Triple Bar employed. His chest puffed with pride of the fact the ranch not only needed the help, but could afford so many ranch hands. Joe had been with him the longest and doubled up as the cook both on the trail and back at the bunk house.
Kid rarely ate with them when they were at the ranch. That wasn't something a cattle baron would do. So he didn't do it. No matter how hungry he was, nor how good the food smelled, he always went to the ranch house and prepared something for himself.
The light still flickered in the second floor bedroom. A shiver raced up his spine as he recalled swallowing the nasty broth. His family may be a little uncouth, but they'd never gone hungry. Something stung in his chest, telling him Jessie had. More than once she'd gone to bed with a very empty tummy. He kicked a rock and continued across the ranch yard. Another hunch said her brother probably always went to bed with a full stomach. Most likely in a warm bed too, nowhere near the soddy Jessie had lived in the past few months.
Kid removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. There were three things he had to do. One: make sure Jessie had the things she needed, food, shelter, clothes. Two: make 85
Shotgun Bride [The Quinter Brides Book One]
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sure her brother worked off his debt. And three: make sure a repeat of tonight never happened.
Jessie was nothing more than a scared little girl. It didn't matter how attractive she was, whether she could read and write, or even cook, she could never become the woman he needed as a wife. He was a cattle baron and cattle barons only married exotic women from Europe.
He replaced his hat and opening the back door of the house, gave a sharp whistle. "Sammy! Here boy!" He waited, listening for the sound of paws tearing across grass and gravel. Nothing but silence filled his ears.
"Fine, stay out, I'm too tired to wait for you." Still frustrated with his lack of control, he shut the door behind him with more force than necessary. He took a deep breath and shook the tension from his body like a horse quivering off flies. Walking across the room, he turned down the wicks of the oil lamps as he made his way through the house, toward his bedroom.
At the top of the stairs a door loomed before him. Was she sleeping? Should he check? Maybe turn out the light shining beneath the door? As the cold steel of the knob filled his palm a low growl came from inside the room. His hand tightened its grasp, slowly twisting the doorknob. The growl grew louder and more menacing.
Damn dog!
Kid knelt down near the key hole and whispered, "Sammy! Shush!"
The growl came again.
"Damn it, Sammy, you're gonna wake her." The words had no sooner left his mouth when the door opened. Tiny, bare 86
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by Lauri Robinson
toes stuck out from beneath the frayed hem of her faded dress. His face grew warm as his gaze followed the flow of material upwards where it connected with light blue eyes. "I uh—I was—Sammy," he stammered.
"He doesn't seem to want to leave my side. I'm sorry I shouldn't have shut the door," Jessie said. Did she think he'd been peeking through the key hole of her door? More embarrassed than he recalled being in a very long time, Kid stood and locked shaking knees. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked somewhere over her shoulder. Anywhere but into her appealing, little face.
"No, no that's fine. You can shut the door. He can sleep in there. I just, uh, didn't know where he was." On cue, Sammy stepped in front of her and lifted his head. The lab looked him up and down, almost as if questioning Kid's presence. Who the hell did the dog think he was?
As if Sammy had read his mind, the dog sat on his haunches, narrowed his eyes, and lifted the corners of his mouth to show large, canine teeth.
Kid curled his lip, warningly staring back at the dog. Sammy glanced up at Jessie with puppy-love eyes. Her hand came down to pat him on the head. Kid could have sworn the dog smiled at her before turning to glare at him again.
"I'm going to bed. I'll see you both in the morning." First his body betrayed him, then his dog. He felt like stomping a foot. The thought shocked him. He was becoming one of his brothers. He let out a deep, heavy sigh and turned to walk down the hall.
"Kid, er, Mr. Quinter?"
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by Lauri Robinson
He pivoted. Sammy followed her into the hall.
"Um, did you still want to show me the pantry and root cellar?" Her soft voice floated through the air like a faraway songbird.
"No, we can do it tomorrow. Or you can just look around." He didn't have the willpower to be that close to her again tonight. Swiftly, he turned and began to walk toward his room. "You'll eventually find everything."
"Oh, well then, good-night," she whispered. Something made him stop and turn around again. The moonlight shining in through the hall window, along with the glow of the lamp from her room, basked her form with a faint golden halo. She resembled what he'd expect a hallucination to look like; a pure, simple vision of loveliness. Kid gave his head a quick shake, but the image didn't change.
"Good night, Jessie." He bolted for the solitude of his room.
* * * *
Ahead, a lopsided wagon rolled down the road. Kid reined Jack to a stop and waited for it to approach. The wheels came to a halt with a loud clunk. "You have a hub out of round, Hog," he said.
"Yeah, I know. That new handyman you hired fixed it this morning," Hog grunted.
"What new handyman?"
Bug's face lit up. "Russ, your wife's brother. He decided he'd start working off his debt right away, so he's been doing odd jobs around the house."
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Kid frowned. "That's not the deal I made with him."
"Yeah, but Sheriff Turley said he shouldn't go over to your house until next week. And Kid, you're not gonna believe it, but he's found so much work around our place, he almost has your bill paid off. Ma's keeping track," Bug said. Irritation made his nostrils flair. He tightened his hold on Jack's reins. The horse tossed his head and took a step sideways. He relaxed his fingers and gave Jack's neck a calming pat.
"The work he's doing for Ma will have to pay for his board and room there. He'll work at my place to pay off what he owes for Miss Molly." He knew the guy was going to try and get out of the deal, but he hadn't thought it would be this quick.
"You'll have to take that up with Ma," Hog shot him a weary look.
Kid raised an eyebrow. Hog never said a lot, but his facial expressions did. And the one he gave right now clearly said Russell Johnson was more work than he was worth.
"I will. You two turn that wagon around and take it slow back to the house. I'll help you fix it before I leave."
"You coming over for a visit? You ain't still sore at us, are ya, Kid?" Hope filled Bug's young eyes. Hog, only a year older than Bug, gave a hopeful glance his way as well.
Kid smiled. "Yeah, I'm coming over to visit, and I'm not sore at either of you. I'll meet you at the house." He gave a wave and nudged Jack into a canter. He'd bet his bottom 89
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dollar Russell Johnson was making plans to be long gone by the time next week rolled around.
Jack made the ride a quick one, and interestingly enough, Russell Johnson was saddling one of the horses Kid had loaned his family.
"Going somewhere?" Kid brought Jack to a halt in the doorway of the barn.
Russell stepped away from the gelding. His eyes shifted around before he said, "Your mother needs some supplies from town. I'm going to go get them."
"Why didn't she ask Bug and Hog to pick them up with the wagon?" Kid dismounted.
"They had already left when she remembered a couple other things." Russell sidestepped, moving closer to a bulky flour sack on the barn floor.
He pretended not to notice and rested an arm on the top rail of a stall. "Where are Skeeter and Snake?"
"They left early this morning. I don't know where they went. I better get to town. Your Ma will tan my hide if I don't get back with those supplies real quick," Russell said, but didn't move back toward the horse.
"No, I don't think you'll be going anywhere, Russ." Kid added the name for insult. "Pull the saddle off that horse."
"Go ask your Ma, if you don't believe me."
"We'll go ask her together. Right after you pull that saddle down and put the horse away." He could hold his temper, had years of practice with his brothers, but Russell Johnson pushed it. "Now!"
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Russell puckered his lips like a five year old and shuffled toward the horse. He flipped the saddle off the gelding and set it on the saddle rack. The whole time sending pouting stares at Kid.
"Lead the gelding to the corral out back," Kid said. Russell's eyes went from the bag near his feet to the back door. "No, I'll just put him in a stall for now."
"No, you'll put him in the corral like I told you." Kid let his eyes rest on the bag for a few seconds before he added,
"Now, Russ."
Russell started to bend down for the bag. Kid shot forward and snatched it from his reach.
