The Cowboy's E-Mail Order Bride Read online

  “She’s not leaving today.” Suddenly he found it hard to look Rob in the eye. Jamie stood up from where he’d been running a new wire, and came closer.

  Cab cocked his head. “She’s leaving but she’s not leaving?”

  “Let me get this straight,” Rob drawled. “You dumped her, and she decided to stick around for a visit?” He felt Rob’s assessing look. “Oh, I get it. You haven’t told her yet, have you? You figure you’ll keep her around for a few days, bang her a few more times, and then let her down easy. Real smooth, cowboy.”

  “That’s not how it is at all.” Damn it, couldn’t a man get a moment to think things through before people came poking around and telling him what’s what? Jamie had the good sense to keep his mouth shut all morning – too bad Rob couldn’t be like him. “I’m not going to keep banging her.” Shit. That didn’t come out right.

  All three men laughed. “I knew you’d had a good roll in the hay last night,” Rob said. “Hell, the two of you were practically hitting home base in the truck. So, how was it?”

  “Get the hell outta here.”

  “No. I’m not done with you yet. Look, you like Autumn. She’s hot, she likes you, she wants everything you have to offer. Why the hell would you send her home?”

  “Seems kind of stupid to me,” Jamie put in. Even Cab was nodding.

  He stifled the urge to kick the fence post. No sense having to do the job over twice. “I’m not sending her home right away.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I’m going to slow this down. I’m going to try to get to know her like normal people do before I jump back into the sack with her.”

  Rob cocked his head. “Get to know her? Buddy, I think you got to know her pretty good last night. Just how do you plan to get to know her better?”

  Ethan turned back to his work. “I don’t know. Move her into the spare room, set some ground rules.”

  More laughter all around.

  Rob urged his horse forward. “You think you can put her in the spare room and pretend you two just met? Ain’t going to work. I bet you ten to one you’re back in the saddle with her tonight. Hell, probably before lunch. Don’t forget, you two are getting married in 29 days. I’ve already booked the chapel.”

  “What do you mean, you booked…”

  Cab leaned over his saddle. “We got lucky. Some out of town couple canceled for June 21. Hell of a coincidence, eh?”

  “Coincidence, my ass,” Ethan said. He couldn’t believe Rob had persuaded the normally sane sheriff to be a part of this farce. “Don’t you all think this joke has gone too far?” He looked from one to another of his friends’ much too cheerful faces.

  “You saying you want us to take her to the airport today?” Jamie said slowly. “Because if you’re that sick of her I’m more than willing to take her off of your hands.”

  Just like that, Ethan saw red. He took a step forward. “You stay away from her!”

  They were laughing at him again before he even managed to spit the words out.

  “Admit it, Ethan – you’re hooked on her,” Rob howled.

  Ethan shook his head and went back to work.

  * * * * *

  Autumn hoped like hell she was pulling the weeds and not the vegetables. Regardless of what she’d said in her video, she’d never really gardened, unless you called repotting a begonia now and then on her apartment’s balcony gardening. Luckily, it was far enough into the growing season that the plants looked like plants. She’d already gotten through two rows of the large kitchen garden and was partway through a third when hoofbeats pounded up behind her and she scrambled to her feet.

  Brushing the dirt from her knees, she shaded her eyes and was surprised at the dip of disappointment in her stomach when she realized it wasn’t Ethan, but one of his friends – Rob.

  “Howdy!” he said, pulling up a few feet from the garden.

  “Howdy? Do people really say that?”

  “Yes, Ma’am, they do.” Most women would call Rob handsome, but something about him set her teeth on edge . When he and Ethan talked, tension ran between them like an electric fence. Something was wrong between them, so the fact he’d come to visit when Ethan was out put up her guard. He slid from the saddle and tossed the horse’s reins to the ground.

  “Won’t he run off?”

  “No, Ma’am, not Monty.” Rob smiled and came closer. “Just talked to Ethan. Sounds like you two had a hell of a night.”

  She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Ethan had been bragging to Rob? Just what had he said?

  “Oh, he didn’t share the details,” Rob said as if reading her mind. “I inferred them from the glazed look in his eye and a certain hitch in his step.”

  Now she was really blushing. Damn it, who was this cowboy to stand here and talk to her like this? “Is there anything I can do for you?” She hoped the chill in her voice would back him off. She was enjoying her time in the garden and didn’t really appreciate the interruption. She’d spent several hours wandering in ever-widening circles around the grounds and taken dozens of photographs with her digital camera of the landscape, the distant river and mountains, and the various buildings on the property – especially the pretty big log house that sat on a rise of land just a few hundred feet away. Ethan’s real home, she assumed. The one he’d lived in before his parents died.

  “Nah, this is just a social call. We westerners are mighty social, you know. It gets lonely working on these big spreads, so we like to mix things up. Visit each other. Ask each other in for a drink of lemonade and a slice of cake.” He trailed off, obviously waiting for his invitation.

  Well, he wasn’t getting one. Regardless of his over-friendly tone – actually, because of it – she had the feeling Rob was looking for trouble. Probably thought she was easy, coming out here and hooking up with a stranger her first night in town. Maybe he thought he could get lucky, too. Or maybe he somehow sensed her scam, she thought with a sudden chill. Maybe he was here to investigate.

  “Look. I don’t know you from Adam and I’m not inviting you inside for a piece of…cake. Why don’t ride on into the sunset and let me get back to work.”

  “Whoa, honey, I think you’ve misunderstood my intentions. I’m just trying to help things between you and Ethan along. I think the two of you are a match made in heaven. I’m not trying to rustle his cattle.”

  She didn’t know what part of that declaration to take offense at first. “Okay, first of all, I’m not a cow. I’m a woman, in case you haven’t noticed. Second, what do you mean you’re trying to help things along? What exactly needs helping here? He put out a video, I answered it. Here I am. Here I’m staying. We’ll be married in a month.” She put her hands on her hips and tried to look like an aggrieved fiancée.

  “Slow down. I never called you a cow. I am definitely aware you are a woman. I think every man in the county is aware of that.” He smiled in a way that made her squirm. “As for you and Ethan, you’re exactly right; he put out an ad and you answered it. Heck, we’ve even booked the chapel for the 21. But whether you actually get married is up to you, isn’t it? Ethan’s got 29 days to change his mind. If I were you, I’d put some thought into how to keep him on track, and while tending the garden is all well and good, I’d spend some time tending…Ethan…if you know what I mean.”

  They’d booked the chapel? She only spared a moment on that unsettling tidbit before moving on to the next thing Rob said. Tending Ethan? Ethan changing his mind? “What did he say?” The thread of fear in her voice was no act. If Ethan was losing interest, she had no story. She needed the whole shebang – the back story, the courtship, the ring, wedding preparations…

  “He likes you, honey. He really does. But he thinks you want to take things slow. He said he got the impression you wanted to move into the guest room and go back to holding hands until you get to know each other better. And that’s not what he asked for in his video, is it? He asked for a wife. You don’t win a man like Ethan through conversation. You win him th
rough his stomach and his…well, you know. Food and sex. That’s what counts.”

  He climbed back into the saddle and turned Monty around. “He’s in the south pasture. Take the truck – keys are in the ignition – and follow that track.” He pointed. “Head out a couple of miles. You can’t miss it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Food and sex!” Rob hollered back at her as he urged Monty into a gallop. “You’ll figure it out!”

  * * * * *

  Ethan was gathering his tools up when he heard the sound of a truck’s engine. A familiar engine. What the hell? That was his Ford F-250 inching its way along the track toward him. A sudden lurch of fear had his heart beating double-time. Was something wrong with Autumn? Was she hurt?

  Did she want to leave?

  He forced himself to wait while the truck slowed to a halt and the engine died. Jamie had returned to the barn to care for the horses, Cab needed to get to work and he assumed Rob had gone to work with his father and brothers on his own spread, though he hadn’t said anything specific. The door opened and one long, bare leg appeared, then another. Autumn slid to the ground and smoothed her form-fitting flowered cotton sundress down. “I brought a picnic,” she called, and hauled a basket down from the truck heavy enough to nearly unbalance her. She held it with two hands and made her way over to him.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the button between her breasts or the expanse of skin above it. Was she wearing anything under that dress? It didn’t look like it.

  “Where should we eat?” She planted her feet in front of him and leaned back to counterbalance the weight of the basket, looking at him expectantly.

  “Uh…” Damn it, man, pull yourself together. He pointed to an pine tree that offered some shade from the heat of the midday sun. “How about over there?” He had the presence of mind to take the basket from her - hell, what was in there – bricks? – and led the way. She caught up with him after a couple of steps and slid her hand into his.

  That one small gesture nearly undid him. He found his own fingers tightening around hers and a smile creeping across his face that he quickly squashed. They were supposed to be slowing things down – getting to know each other like normal people.

  Normal people held hands, didn’t they?

  Sure, but his reaction to her touch was anything but innocent.

  When they reached the tree, Autumn took the basket back, set it down and opened the lid. Ethan felt like he’d entered a dream as she spread out a blanket and pulled out dish after dish. She set two places with a couple of chipped china plates, and cloth napkins she’d found who knew where. She’d brought fried chicken, sandwiches, pickles, chips, hard boiled eggs, potato salad, even a homemade peach cobbler. She poured a glass of lemonade and handed it to him.

  “I thought you might be starving out here.”

  “Thanks.” Was that his voice? He was starving, all right, but it wasn’t food he needed.

  He sat down just the same and ate his fill, noticing she was watching him from under her lashes. She seemed nervous, plying him with food every time there was room on his plate, refilling his glass before he could empty it. She barely ate or drank a thing.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked finally. She was making him nervous, too. What if this was some kind of last supper – a little treat before she dumped him and asked for cab fare back to the airport?

  “Nothing, I just…Ethan, are you happy I’m here?”

  He placed a chicken leg back on the plate. “Yes. Why?”

  “It’s just…I don’t know. I came all the way here, and we had a good time last night, and then you just left…I didn’t know if you’d gotten sick of me already.”

  “Sick of you?” He shook his head. “No. Of course not. This is a ranch, honey – the work here doesn’t take a holiday.” He wished it would. Lord knew, he could spend all day exploring Autumn’s body, making sweet love to her until…

  She hesitated, her fingers in her lap worrying each other until he wanted to reach across and take both of them in his. “You’re sure you’re not sick of me?”

  “No. Definitely not.”

  She took a breath, looked up at him and said, “Prove it.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows shot for his hairline. “Prove it?” Damn, stop repeating what she says, you sound like an ass! “How?”

  He held his breath. Here’s where her true motivations would show themselves. Maybe she was like his mother, all wrapped up in material possessions. Watch, she’d ask him to buy her that ring he’d promised her and when he took her to town she’d pick the biggest rock in the place.

  “Make love to me.”

  At first he didn’t understand her words. He’d been so prepared for disappointment he was already forming the phrases to let her know he couldn’t be bribed with peach cobbler to buy her with jewelry, and Autumn’s simple plea didn’t even register. She said it again.

  “Ethan, please make love to me.”

  With a growl of pure, primordial desire, he swept away the dishes, swooped her into his arms and laid her down on the blanket. He had to stop for a moment and take in the vision of this beautiful woman flushed with wanting him, waiting for his kiss, his touch. She’d cooked all morning and come out here to find him with the sole objective of seducing him, he realized. He felt like the cares of the world had been lifted off of his shoulders. She wasn’t anything like Lacey, or his mother. She wasn’t hiding anything, she didn’t have any ulterior motives. She wanted him for him and she wouldn’t make him seek or beg or wait for her love. She would give it to him freely – more than he’d ever hoped for.

  “Autumn.” It was all he could say. Then he was kissing her, the fire between them scorching his lips. He felt her arms slide around his shoulders and her breasts pressing against his chest and his ardor heightened, until he had to get closer.

  She must have felt the same, because she slid a palm up his chest and broke their kiss. “Wait.” She gently pushed him back, then slowly, ever so slowly, began to undo the buttons of her dress.

  As he’d suspected, she wore nothing beneath it. She spread the panels of fabric, exposing the beauty of her body to him, and he couldn’t help but worship it. First with his hands, running them up and down, from her breasts, to her hips, to the warmth between her legs, then with his mouth, tracing passages up and down her curves and dips, landing finally where it could do the most good.

  She arched in pleasure as he found her secret folds and teased and stroked her to heights that had her moaning aloud. Then, when he couldn’t stand it anymore, he pushed himself into position above her and waited for her assent.

  “Wait – just a second.” She reached out blindly, patted her cast off dress until she found a pocket and pulled out a small packet. A condom.

  Of course. Good thing one of them was thinking straight today. They barely knew each other – certainly not well enough to have unprotected sex, no matter what they’d gotten up to last night. He had the package open and the condom on in a matter of moments, and she pulled him close again, guiding him into her, opening herself to him and crying aloud as he thrust himself inside her and joined them as one.

  * * * * *

  With a cry of animal desire that shocked her as much as it thrilled her, she gripped Ethan’s hips and urged him inside her. When he answered with a powerful thrust it was all she could do not to give herself up to oblivion right then.

  She wanted more, though – much more. She didn’t think she’d ever get enough of this man who filled her and set her on fire. If she’d known sex could be like this she’d have been combing Montana years ago, searching for her cowboy. New York would never be the same when she went back.

  All thoughts rushed from her mind as Ethan’s strokes brought her closer and closer to the edge. The male scent of sweat and leather, the softness of the blanket and hard, lumpy ground beneath her skin, blue sky and sunshine peeking between far overhead boughs all merged together in a blinding flash of heat and light as
she swept over the edge of desire and into the abyss of ecstacy.

  As they lay panting, entwined, Autumn’s senses came back to her with a snap and with them came uncertainty. What kind of a person was she, using sex to secure a story? Maybe Ethan wasn’t handing over cash, but she depended on her writing for a living, so in a way she was still trading sex for money as if she were a prostitute.

  Although, if she was truthful, the story was the last thing on her mind right now. She tried to take a mental step back. What if there was no job on the line, what if she’d just met Ethan through friends or at a bar or party? Would she still be here, making love to him under the sun?

  Yes. Oh, hell yes.

  The answer came as clear as day, and with it an even greater sorrow. Because she couldn’t have feelings for Ethan. He was nothing but a story to her, and in less than a month she had to get on a plane and leave for good. Once the story was published, there was no going back. He wouldn’t want her then.

  Ethan rolled off her and spooned her into an embrace. “Autumn, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He nuzzled her neck and breathed a contented sigh. For a few moments there was silence between them as they both gazed up at the blue sky winking in and out between the boughs of the pine. Then he whispered, “Autumn. Will you be my wife?”

  She held her breath. Oh my God, was that a real proposal? In a flash she saw the month ahead, the ring, the congratulations, the parties, the preparations, the dress, the wedding…

  No, not the wedding. She would leave before the wedding.

  He was offering her everything she needed for this story – all the details she could use to write the kind of attention-getting, sexy, catty, zinging expose CityPretty demanded for its feature articles. As soon as she saw Ethan’s video want ad for a bride, she knew she could use it as the basis for a scathing editorial on the lengths men would go to get exactly what they wanted.

  So why was she hesitating? What had her boss told her time and time again? You can’t be a journalist and have feelings – not when you work for a magazine like CityPretty. You have to go for the jugular, do what it takes to get the killer headline. Be ruthless! Feelings are for social workers.