Authors: Isadora Montrose
Tags: #General Fiction
* * *
At least this evening Laura had remembered to ask him to dinner. Dr. Bascom looked pleased as punch. He had told Rosa to put champagne to chill. And he insisted on making toast after toast to the two of them. Just as if he didn’t believe that Laura had just bought herself a husband. Steve could only hope it wasn’t an act.
Laura didn’t look happy. She hadn’t dressed up as she had done the night before. She’d had a shower, but she put on clean working clothes as though she planned to go back out to the stables as soon as she had finished eating. She smiled weakly at her father’s toasts, and looked distracted.
“We’ve had more trouble, Daddy,” she said.
Freddie glanced at Steve and then Laura. “It’s all right, Daddy,” she said and filled him in.
“I agree with you that someone is trying to make Carlos look bad. Do you think it’s related to that other trouble?” Freddie asked.
Steve could see Laura trying to decide if she trusted him enough to speak openly. He supposed that she decided she didn’t, for she shook her head slightly at her father, and began to talk about the order Steve had made for new cameras.
“I’m for bed,” Freddie said once supper was over. “In the morning, there’s three hundred head of cattle to vaccinate, and I have to be on hand.” He held out his hand to Steve. “I’ll just walk you to the door.”
“Yes, sir,” Steve said. He put an arm around Laura’s waist and drew her close to him and kissed her on the cheek.
Dr. Bascom beamed at them both. And then the three of them walked down the long corridor to the big front door. Laura’s dad turned on the porch light and said, “Two minutes,” just as if Laura was sixteen.
Laura’s father closed the door and left them out there on the well-lit porch. Steve chuckled. He pulled Laura into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Before he pulled away, he bent and whispered. “I’ll come round the back,” he said. “By the pool, again.” And then he went whistling off to his motorcycle and it puttered away in the dusk.
He left his motorcycle outside of the office where he usually parked it. He drove back to the Big House in one of the ranch pickups. He parked it beside a cluster of bushes, and went to the pool fence. The wrought iron was eight-feet tall, but it presented no problem for a strong, fit man. Steve was soon walking around the pool to Laura’s bedroom door.
Laura had changed into a pretty pink robe after all. He was sure it was no prettier than her own skin. But she didn’t look eager, she looked even more nervous than she had the night before. He didn’t know what that was all about. He just knew that his Laura was not anticipating pleasure. And that was a bad omen.
His darling had no sense of her own beauty. She wasn’t enjoying this moment one bit. Her juices had dried up and she stank of fear. His lovely, luscious Laura thought that when he saw her naked he wouldn’t like what she had to offer. It broke his heart to smell fear on her and to see stiffness replace her lithe grace. What to say, to gentle her, to make her relax and enjoy this intimate moment?
Actions always spoke louder than words, and God knew he was a man of action. He stilled her hands before she could undo the sash at her waist.
“Hey,” he said softly, “This is my present. Don’t I get to unwrap it?”
Her blue eyes rounded. Her pretty lips parted but nothing came out. Time for some kisses. He put his lips on hers. Tenderly. He made the kiss as light as he could, even though he wanted to seize his prize. He knew Laura liked kissing him, so he teased her with feathery touches that beckoned and flirted. He waited until her hands grabbed his biceps and pulled him closer before he let himself linger.
Even when she opened her mouth he didn’t enter. He moved to her cheeks and kissed his way up her cheekbones to the shallow depressions at her temples. He caressed the corner of her eye with a fleeting kiss and felt her lashes flutter closed. He kissed the lid and returned to her parted lips. He set his open mouth over hers and shared her breath. As soon as her tongue tasted his lower lip, he moved off to her other cheek.
Her skin was slightly damp and she was straining closer. He interspersed his trail of kisses with murmured words of praise. Telling her how soft her skin was, how delicious she tasted. She was melting into him now and turning her face so he could find her cheekbones. He surprised her with a touch of tongue on her eyebrow and blew on the wet patch so that she opened her startled blue eyes and he could smile into them.
He pulled her right hand off his left bicep and placed it over his pounding heart. “See what you do to me?” he whispered.
Her throat moved convulsively. Her fingertips dug into his pecs. She nodded.
“You’re beautiful, Laura.” He kissed her ear and then the fragrant spot behind it. He nuzzled his way to the lobe and drew that blushing nub into his mouth where he massaged it gently. He was rewarded for his restraint when his Laura moaned softly and squirmed.
He nibbled his way down the tendon of her neck. She liked that more. Her scent had already changed from fear to arousal, but it became muskier the longer he kept up his sensuous grazing. He resigned himself to another evening of frustration as he set himself to woo his skittish darling.
* * *
In the darkness, the big cattle truck pulled up beside the fence. The driver got out of the cab and checked the gap they had installed two nights ago. It was undisturbed. He got back into the truck and drove to the end of the road where he could turn the big rig around. Then he came back up the road and parked at a slight angle to the fence, so that when the cattle were driven out of the gate, they would have no choice but to go up the ramp.
The delivery truck arrived shortly afterward. Tonight, its faded white sides had large magnetic placards attached, that announced in orange letters that Delbert and Son would move goods cheap. Sweatshirt was driving again. He parked behind the cattle truck, angling the bulk of his vehicle to further block the ramp. Even if they got spooked, the cattle would have no choice but to go into the back of the cattle truck.
This time there were three ATVs in the van. But they had all been spray-painted in the same Day-Glo orange that the Double B was famous for using on all of its equipment. Red Cap and Stetson were joined by Sweatshirt. The three ATVs chugged gently over to the sleeping cows and roused them.
The drowsy cattle were displeased at being rounded up and herded in the dark. They milled around and mooed unhappily. They tried to evade the ATVs. But the drivers were expert at this operation, and they patiently circled the Black Angus until the cattle began to walk together towards the gap.
Once the herd was moving as a unit, the men on ATVs set a slow but steady pace. Two by two, the cows streamed quietly up the ramp into the slatted back of the cattle truck. When the last animal was inside, the men shut and padlocked the rear doors. It had taken only twelve minutes to perform the entire operation.
Hoodie and Ball Cap checked that the gap was shut and latched. They put the ATVs away in the panel van which backed up and went down the road ahead of the cattle truck. The driver of the delivery truck swerved out into the road at top speed, he sent his vehicle into a skid and ended up across the county road in the wrong lane, blocking it to traffic from the east.
The driver of the rig waited at the stop sign until the delivery truck had come to a halt. He raised a hand to Red Cap and Sweatshirt who were now bent over the engine. He turned his rig west and drove into the night. The delivery truck’s engine made a miraculous recovery six minutes later. Sweatshirt slammed the hood down, turned the truck around. The Sheriff Department’s black and white passed it on the County Road rolling west.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It had been a very long three days since his first trip into Denver. Not that Steve was particularly worried that Trevor Carmichael’s background check was going to turn up something unpleasant in his past. There wasn’t anything there he was ashamed of. And he doubted that Carmichael would go back far enough to discover that he was actually Kenneth Bascom’s son. But something was still bothering Laura, and Steve hoped that getting the prenup out of the way would ease her mind.
As for the tests ordered by Carmichael’s doctor, he didn’t have any reason to believe he was firing blanks, and he sure didn’t have any STIs. Shifters didn’t get STIs, but he could scarcely say so to either Dr. Klein or Carmichael.
He hadn’t liked the contract that Carmichael had given him to look over. Brian Johnstone, the Denver attorney he had settled on, had carefully explained the provisions of the prenup to him, although Steve thought that they were perfectly plain.
To make matters worse, Johnstone had not seemed to grasp that Steve wasn’t looking for either loopholes or a richer payout. He was entitled to a generous monthly allowance for the duration of the marriage, and a lump sum payable only if they stayed married for at least a year or until a child was born, whichever came sooner.
Steve was most concerned about the stipulated custody arrangements. But Johnstone had assured him that they would not hold up in a Colorado court. The contract might grant Laura sole custody of any child of the marriage, but custody arrangements would still have to go before a Colorado family law judge. Good to know – although he planned to make sure it would never come to that.
Steve was entitled to keep any gifts given to him by Laura during the course of the marriage. But he had no claim on any assets owned by Laura at the time of the marriage, or anything she acquired thereafter. All he had to do to keep his self-respect, was make sure that Laura didn’t give him anything much. Or to make damned sure their marriage lasted.
As for the rest of the prenuptial agreement, it was insulting all right, but none of its conditions really mattered. Penalties for adultery, or leaving the marriage before the child was born, were all very well and good, but since he didn’t intend to cheat on or abandon Laura, they were purely hypothetical.
What this piece of paper proved was that Laura believed that no man would want to marry her except for her money. He didn’t see how anything but experience could convince her he just wanted an ordinary loving marriage. Two people canoodling on the front porch. A couple of litters of cubs in the nursery. Growing wrinkled and gray-haired together.
Marriage wasn’t an automatic happily ever after, but once she said ‘I do,’ he intended to make sure that his mate never regretted marrying him. But his Laura had been preoccupied and silent for the whole drive in to Denver. And now she sat beside him in Carmichael’s fancy suite looking glum.
Carmichael’s assistant ushered him into the lawyer’s office for a preliminary discussion. “Dr. Klein has sent us the lab reports,” the lawyer began. “It looks like you have a normal sperm count, and no STIs. There’s nothing to prevent your marriage to Ms. Bascom, if you are willing to sign the prenuptial.”
“That’s good,” Steve said. “Always assuming that Miss Laura’s lab results came back negative too.” He didn’t doubt that Laura had never had an STI any more than he had, but he thought it would be odd if he didn’t ask.
“No STIs. Her doctor couldn’t speak to her fertility, however,” Carmichael said briskly.
“Could she meet the conditions of Mr. Bascom’s will if she adopted?” Steve asked.
Carmichael shook his head. “I don’t think that would fly,” he said. “Even if there was time.”
“Then I guess we better get started making a baby. Where do I sign?”
“I’ll tell Ms. Linsky to bring Laura in.” Carmichael pressed a button and before he knew it, he and Laura had signed the contract before witnesses and their business was done.
Laura came out of Carmichael’s office with red cheeks. “It’s all done,” she said sounding embarrassed.
Steve tucked his copy into his breast pocket without opening it. He bent over and kissed her cheek. “What do you want to do now?” he asked softly.
Laura’s mouth opened but no sound emerged for a few moments. Eventually she produced a sort of embarrassed chirp. Steve took pity on his mate. He gripped her elbow, “There’s a coffee shop downstairs, let’s go have a cup of Joe.” She still looked nervous, but she nodded.
“So what’s our next step?” Steve asked when Laura was sipping a latte, and he had a double espresso in one hand.
She cleared her throat. She attempted a smile. Her big blue eyes looked pleadingly at him, but it seemed that even here, away from the flapping ears of the receptionist and the legal secretaries, Laura could not articulate her thoughts.
Steve leaned in a little closer, even though he was getting into the danger zone. After nearly a week of visiting Laura and leaving her satisfied and himself randier than a penniless teenage boy in a whorehouse, getting close enough to Laura to smell her was a risky undertaking.
She smelled wonderful – as she always did. But he could still pick up on the fact that she was unsettled and anxious. He put his spare hand on top of hers, right on top of her lovely thigh. Gave her a little squeeze. “What is it?” he whispered. His mouth was close enough to her ear that the hair covering it moved a little.
Laura seemed to make up her mind. “We just have one more thing to do,” she said resolutely, “Before we can get married.”
Steve nodded. “Darn straight,” he agreed. “It’s been on my mind all day.”
She looked relieved. “Let’s get it taken care of today, before we go back to the ranch.”
“I had that thought myself.” Steve drained his coffee cup. “When you’re finished, sweetheart, we’ll head out.” He gave her hand a last squeeze, and put it back on the table, before he lost his head in a coffee shop full of strangers.