Annie And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 3) (4 page)

Chapter Five

“Annie,” Mariette walked purposefully into the schoolroom. “What are you doing this evening?”

“Nothing, I haven’t exactly got much I can do except grade the children’s work!”

“Wrong, you are coming to a party at Caleb and Melissa’s place. We are celebrating the end of calving, and I have invited pretty much everyone in town. So, get home, get your glad rags on and I have arranged for Albert to pick you up at seven.” She swept out before Annie had even the tiniest chance to object. She had already begun to understand entirely why so much seemed to happen in this town – as soon as Mariette got involved there was no stopping her.

She dressed carefully. She wanted to make a good impression on her new neighbours. Didn’t want any of the parents of her students to think she would be in any way a bad influence on them. She pressed the ribbons and lace on her best dress carefully, and curled her hair becomingly. When she finally looked at herself in the mirror she was pleased with the effect. She looked pretty, but not too girlish; respectable, but not too much like an old maid. When Albert knocked on her door at seven she was waiting nervously.

Albert had a smart little pony and a comfortable gig. He drove sedately. It didn’t entirely surprise her. Everything about Albert was steady and reliable. But she liked him a lot, and he was bright and passionate about passing on his knowledge to his students. He offered her his hand to help her down when they arrived, and though she knew she didn’t need his help she took it. He was the type that would be offended if she didn’t she was sure.

The ranch house was magnificent. It had clearly had a lot of work done to it, and quite recently too. The paint looked fresh and bright, and there were twinkling candles in jars all around the yard and on the wide porch. “I am so pleased you came,” Melissa said as she hurried out to greet them. “Your dress is lovely Annie, and don’t you look smart tonight Albert!” Their hostess hustled them inside, where it seemed the entire town was waiting to greet their new schoolteacher. Annie was more than glad she at least had a few friendly faces in the crowd to help her through the mass of new ones.

In the corner of the vast kitchen there was a face she had known her entire life, even though it couldn’t possibly be him. Edward looked as if he would rather be anywhere than here, and that reminded her of David too. He had never enjoyed big parties. He had enjoyed more intimate evenings, with just a few of his closest friends. She couldn’t help it, she needed to be sure. And even though she knew this was hardly the time, or the place she found herself drawn to the man who was, in fact, a stranger to her. “Good evening Mr Cole.”

“Good evening Miss Fitzpatrick.” He seemed nervous, and fidgeted as if he longed to move away, but was too polite to offend her so.

“I understand you have been a real help to both ranches, have helped every night. That must have been hard, given you have a very difficult job to do in the daytime too – one that needs a lot of attention to detail.”

“It has indeed been hard, but I grew up with it. It was strangely good to be back out on the land. It has been a long time,” he said wistfully. Annie tried to look past the carefully waxed moustache, the wide sideburns to see if he could be her David, but there was enough that was changed to make her doubt her senses – even though they were screaming at her that it had to be him. She had never felt attracted to anyone but him, and now her body was reacting to this stranger in just the way it had done to David. She could feel the Goosebumps rising on her skin, the tingling of anticipation as they stood so close together that she could smell the warm musky smell of his skin. Every part of her felt alive, alert in a way it hadn’t since he had gone. She supposed it was because he was just so like him, but something told her it was more than that.

She knew that people could have doppelgangers, but she doubted that they would even smell identical to one another. She had known twins once who had been completely identical in virtually every way, but they had both had a distinctive smell, Gabriel of lemons and Abraham of spice. She had so loved David’s manly scent, soap and musk, and the mint from his tooth powder. She would know him anywhere from that alone, and that was why she was sure that this man was her lost love. But, what she couldn’t fathom was why he would lie about it, would not even acknowledge that he had once known her.

“May I speak to you outside for a moment,” she said finally plucking up the courage to face this head on. He looked at her carefully and she was sure she could detect a touch of fear in his eyes, but he covered it well and bowed graciously.

“Lead the way,” he said resignedly as if he too knew what she needed to ask.

The evening was cool, and they could still hear the hubbub of voices from the merrymakers inside. She turned to him once they were out of earshot of the house, and just stared at him for a moment. “Yes,” he said simply before she even asked her question.

“David?” she asked, tears pouring down her cheeks. “Is it really you? We all thought you were dead? Why didn’t you come back with Clayton and the others?” She moved towards him, wanted to hold him and never let him go again. He stepped away from her, and put his hands up in front of him.

“Oh Annie, don’t you think I wanted to a million times? But how could I? I had been so stupid. I never even realised the others had drifted home. I didn’t leave with them. I left them all that night, that horrible night. I couldn’t bear the thought that I had been a part of such chaos, such stupidity, such tragedy. I didn’t pull the trigger, but I was part of it, part of why your Mammy is no longer here with us. I loved her, and my actions led to her death. I could never forgive myself for that, and would never expect you to forgive me for it either.”

Annie stood and stared at him. This man was not the confident, happy man she had once known. This man was tortured by his past, by the damage he had unwittingly caused. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “David, what actually happened that night?” She didn’t know if she could offer him absolution, but she had to know.

“Gable Forrester joined us unexpectedly. Clayton had been unable to keep him from following him. We only ever intended to kidnap the Governor, to scare him enough that he would stop taxing everyone so unfairly, that he would find a way to help all those who were struggling. You know how we all were, young and idealistic – sure we could change the world. Everything was so corrupt.”

“Well, that part of the plan worked, at least until a new Governor was elected,” Annie said trying to keep the sadness that was welling up in her from overflowing.

“We stopped the coach, it was dark, we hadn’t taken into consideration that anybody else would be travelling that road that night. Foolish boys in too deep, we didn’t think about anything we should have done. We got to the shack we had intended to hold him in for a few days, just to scare him mind, never to do him any harm. I opened the door, it was your Mammy. I couldn’t believe it. But I promised her everything would be fine, that she wouldn’t be harmed. I knew the others would still want to try and implement the plan if we could – and that meant we had no time to take her home. I left her there, fully intending to return as soon as I could and ensure she got home safely.”

“Did she know it was you?”

“I don’t think so, not then. We disguised our voices, wore handkerchiefs over our mouths. But she knew I was there later.” He sobbed, and Annie found herself moving to his side, wrapping her arms around him and letting him release the pain he had been holding inside him for so long. She was amazed that she wasn’t angrier with him. All she could feel was sadness, that this poor young man had ruined his entire life so easily, so foolishly, so tragically.

“We did manage to get the Governor, and it didn’t take five minutes for him to agree to every one of our demands. I went to go back, to take Nell home, Clayton offered to come with me, and a couple of others. But everyone decided that we shouldn’t split up until everything was done. Even though the Governor was already promising to abide by everything we asked of him, we doubted he would stick to his word. We decided to take him back to the shack as planned. We were heading back there, when we saw your Mammy, and the Sheriff’s. I tried to tell everyone to stay calm, we could have stayed in the woods, they would have ridden right by us – but Gable wanted to take more definite action. He didn’t want to take any chances, he rode right at them and fired, and fired, and fired.” David had crumpled in a heap, Annie’s heart broke for his pain. She missed her Mammy terribly, but he had to live every single day with the sound of the gunshots that had taken her life – and it was clear they were replayed in his mind over and over again.

“He was an idiot, but you didn’t fire those shots David, he ignored your advice, you could never have stopped him. I remember him. He was always shooting at poor animals, and he picked on all the younger kids. My brother’s told me he had even gotten some girl out on the Plains into trouble. He was always bad news and you are not responsible for his actions.”

Annie was surprised at her words, she would have thought she would hate anyone who had been within a mile of her Mammy’s death, but she knew that nobody could stop a man like Gable Forrester. Like David, he had left town too, but a picture of him had returned within just a few months – with a reward for his capture. He had killed two men, just to get a horse they hadn’t wanted to sell to him. She didn’t know if he had ever been caught, but it hadn’t surprised her then, and finding this out now held no shocks either, not really.

She kissed him gently on the forehead, and smoothed the stray lock of hair that had escaped from the slick of Brilliantine he had used to try and tame the cow’s lick that always stood up at the back of his head. He looked up at her, his face was so tortured – as if her kindness hurt more than her condemnation ever would have done. She leant down and kissed him on the lips, not surprised that the merest touch of them made her shiver. She had missed him so terribly, had never stopped loving him for even one moment. For a moment he didn’t respond, and she got scared, was about to pull away when she felt his arms close around her, crushing her to his warm, muscular body. His lips parted and his tongue darted into her mouth, it probed and quested and she timidly made flickers of her own, tasting his sweet warm mouth as nervous as she had been that very first time.

Chapter Six

Edward could hardly believe that this was happening. After all this time, after everything he had done, and to be finally back in Annie’s arms was too much. His body was ablaze. Her lightest touch had ignited a fire inside that he had only ever known with her. She was so perfect, so soft, so yielding. Her lips under his melded to his kiss, her body was soft and warm. He didn’t want this moment to ever end, but he knew it had to. Annie was caught up in the moment. Her tender heart would harden as soon as she had time to think about what he had just told her. Now she felt pity for him, for his ordeal, but she would remember the pain he had caused her and her family all too soon.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to let her go. Once again he was failing her. But she felt so perfect in his arms. He stroked the pale skin of her bare arms, and thrilled with pleasure as she ran her hands across his chest. She let them drift aimlessly, the kiss taking all of her attention, until they rested on his buttocks. She caressed him boldly, the shock made him pull away. “We shouldn’t do this Annie. And I will not do this. I have made so many mistakes, have wronged you so many times. I will not do it again.” He got to his feet and ran to the stable where he had left his horse. He leapt onto his back and rode out into the darkness.

The terrain around Stephenville was wide, and open. He gave Pinto his head, and let the wind dry the tears from his cheeks. He would leave town the next day. He couldn’t ruin Annie’s life again. He wanted her to be happy, wanted her to have the chances she deserved to have a wonderful life. She would never get that if he stuck around. He couldn’t deny the spark of attraction still burned hot and bright between them, but physical attraction would never be enough. No relationship could ever be built on the foundations he had unwittingly laid for them. The dishonesty, the betrayal could never be forgotten or forgiven.

Pinto stumbled, and the next thing he knew he was on the hard ground, flat on his back. He stared up at the star filled skies, and wondered how on earth he had made such a mess of his life. He had started off with such good intentions, such good prospects. If only he hadn’t wanted to make a difference, hadn’t gotten caught up in the youthful foolishness of his friends to change the lives of everyone around him. He should have just stuck with changing his own life, getting married to the most perfect woman in the world and raising a family.

“Hey buddy, you okay?” Hardy’s voice broke his reverie. “Annie sent me out to follow you. Said you might do something stupid.”

“She knows me far too well,” Edward said wryly, as he tried to sit up. Every bit of him ached and he knew he would be covered in bruises when he woke the next day.

“So, you two know one another then?”

“We were engaged.” Hardy sat down next to him heavily as he nodded his head berating himself for his foolishness.

“And you let her get away. Ted you are more idiotic than I once thought. As if shutting yourself up with that noisy press wasn’t enough!”

“I know, I know.”

“She seemed to be genuinely worried about you. Maybe it isn’t too late,” Hardy said hopefully.