Here to Stay (52 page)

Animals generally weren’t allowed in a Roman Catholic church proper, but Rosebud was welcome because she was a service animal. Father Mike, who’d given Mandy and Zach their marriage preparation classes, was choosing to ignore the rumors about horses being banned. He’d gotten to know Rosebud well over the last few months. An Irishman with a thick brogue, he’d said during the rehearsal last night that anyone who thought a mini guide horse like Rosebud was unfit to perform the task had a blindfold over his eyes.

Mandy heard the first strains of organ music and nervously clutched Luke’s arm. “She’s warming up. She’s going to play a couple of numbers before the wedding march. We need to listen for her cue. I don’t want to be late for my own wedding.”

As if Luke sensed her mounting anxiety, he bumped his arm against her shoulder. “So when are you and Zach planning to leave for your honeymoon?”

“After the reception. Cookie will have Tornado and Whirlwind in the trailer, ready to go, and we already packed our supplies.” Mandy and Zach planned a week in a California wilderness area. She couldn’t imagine anything more romantic, just the two of them and the horses, enjoying pristine lakes, fishing, and swimming, taking hikes to scenic spots, and making love whenever the mood came over them. Tornado had become Mandy’s horse. When she rode him, he was a perfect gentleman. Last week, he’d even allowed Zach to get on his back and he hadn’t acted up. Like Mandy, the stallion was finding his way back to sanity and leaving the past behind him. “Zach wants to be on the road before dark. We’ll spend tonight at the trailhead and head up in the morning.”

“I wish I could go.”

“No way, Luke. It’s our honeymoon.” Zach had gotten Luke a saddle similar to those that Bethany Kendrick used, and now Mandy’s brother went riding on the ranch practically every day. He loved it. “This spring we’ll go again, and you can go with us. But this time, you’re staying with Frank and Dee Dee.”

The opening thrum of the wedding march vibrated through the church. “That’s our cue,” Mandy whispered.

“Calm down. You look fabulous. I can smell beautiful, remember.”

Mandy lowered her veil and held fast to her brother’s arm. Together they stepped forward, Rosebud steadfast at Luke’s side. Mandy thought of all the people who would be staring at her as she walked up the aisle. The church was packed. The Harrigans, their many friends, and Sam’s in-laws were present. Even the filthy-rich Kendricks had accepted the invitation. In fact, Bethany and Ryan’s daughter, Chastity, was the flower girl. Clint’s son, Trevor, now ten, had been chosen as the ring bearer.

“Oh, God, maybe I’ll run after all.”

“Don’t you dare,” Luke whispered. “Just find Zach, Mands. Keep your eyes on him, and nothing else will matter.”

Luke was right. As Mandy stepped inside the church proper with her brother, she sought out Zach. He stood with his back to the altar to watch her walk toward him. The moment their gazes locked, all her anxiety drained away. It didn’t matter if her hair was mussed, or whether her train was trailing straight behind her. Zach loved her. And he was waiting, his expression solemn yet aglow with happiness.

The nuptial Mass was beautiful. Mandy anticipated making her vows with no sense of dread. With Zach’s support, she’d benefited greatly from the counseling sessions. She had come to understand herself and had learned to deal with her fears instead of always trying to run from them. She felt confident now, and she knew, deep in her heart, that Zach would be a wonderful, loving husband.

When it was her turn to say “I do,” Mandy looked into Zach’s eyes and said the words loudly, clearly, and with absolute certainty. Marriage truly was a life sentence, but it wasn’t in hell. It was going to be the closest thing to heaven that Mandy would ever find here on earth.

She loved this man. She wanted to fall asleep in his arms every single night and awaken beside him in the morning. She wanted to laugh with him, play with him, cry with him, and face the trials of life with him. How could any woman wish for more?

Zach Harrigan was her everything.

Special Note to My Readers

I
n the autumn of 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice, in charge of overseeing and enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act, removed many species from the list of sanctioned assistance animals. With a heavy heart I must inform you that horses of all kinds have been banned. In my opinion, this is a shame, and I hope to see this ruling reversed soon. Please get on the Internet to inform yourself about mini guide horses, and if you would like to see this ruling reversed, please flood the Department of Justice with letters asking for more hearings to reconsider this law. Well-trained mini horses of an appropriate size are incredible service animals. Please join me in asking for horses to be returned to the list of sanctioned assistant animals, with strict regulations to govern their size and the quality of their training. Some sight-impaired individuals cannot have a guide dog, for one reason or another, and well-trained mini horses provide them with a viable alternative.

Signet is pleased to reissue another
long-out-of-print historical romance by
Catherine Anderson
Comanche Magic
Available May 2011 from Signet.
Turn the page for a brief excerpt. ...

July heat hung over the yard like a blanket. A cluster of bees hummed nearby, feeding on drips of whey that seeped through the butter muslin hanging from the fence.

Chase Wolf repositioned his shoulder against the pine tree and closed his eyes to absorb the smells. He smiled at the images they brought to mind of his boyhood and other July days when he had run wild along the creek that bordered his parents’ property.

This summer he didn’t reckon he’d be doing much running. The smile on his mouth thinned to a grim line. He considered rolling himself a smoke, then decided against it for fear it might make him cough. Coughing, like all other activities that called for muscle movement, was a luxury he couldn’t afford, not with three cracked ribs. This would teach him not to let any moss grow under his feet the next time two logs tried to make a sandwich out of him.

He heard the sound of feminine giggles coming from down along the creek. He listened for a second and identified one of the giggles as belonging to his sister, Indigo. Twenty-four to his twenty-five, she had a husband and two children now. He grinned. Leave it to her to beat the heat by playing in the creek. The other wives in town, including his ma, were at home doing household tasks, a fair number baking bread if the smells on the morning air were an indication.

Chase pushed to his feet, drawn toward the creek by the sounds of laughter. With one hand pressed over his side, he moved slowly through the sun-dappled woods. Taking care where he placed his booted feet, he finally reached the river rock that bordered Shallows Creek.

Heading toward the voices, Chase rounded a bend in the stream. Expecting to see his tawny-haired sister, he was surprised to see a petite blonde instead. If she was from Wolf’s Landing, Chase had never met her. She was as pretty as a picture, not the kind a man with eyes was likely to forget. He leaned a shoulder against an oak, happy to stay hidden so he could enjoy the view.

Stripped down to her camisole and bloomers, the young woman was cavorting in the water with Chase’s four-year-old nephew, Hunter. The drenched muslin of her undergarments was nearly transparent with wetness and clung to her body like the skin on an onion. The rosy nipples of her small breasts were taut with cold and thrust against the cloth in impertinent little peaks.

Content to stay right where he was, Chase lowered himself carefully to the ground and draped his arms over his bent knees. On a hot day like today, it’d be downright unchivalrous to show himself and spoil her swim. He was nothing if not thoughtful.

Apparently she was in competition with his nephew to catch salamanders, commonly known in these parts as water dogs.

Whoever she was, she looked like an angel. A shaft of sunlight ignited her golden hair, turning it to a halo around the crown of her head. She had petal-white skin, as flawless as ivory in contrast to his Indian darkness.

His gaze dropped to her waist and lower as she slogged through the shallows and pounced to catch a water dog. With little-boy enthusiasm, Hunter dived to reach their quarry before she did and sent up a spray. She shrieked and staggered, laughing as she rubbed the water from her eyes.

“Dibs!” Hunter cried.

“My foot! I saw it first!”

Hunter shot triumphantly to his feet, his small brown hands curled into tight fists around his slippery catch. “I’m up to—” He broke off and frowned. “How many do I got?”

“Three,” she said with an impish giggle.

“No, sir! You’re cheatin’!”

“Pay attention to your ma during lessons so you learn to count, and I won’t be able to cheat.”

Holding the water dog threateningly aloft, Hunter lunged at her. With another shriek, she sloshed through the water to get away from him, her laughter chiming like crystal. “Don’t you dare, you little rascal! You stick that thing in my drawers, and I’ll drown you!”

“Hunter Chase Rand!” Indigo called from somewhere out of Chase’s sight. “You drop that water dog down her bloomers, and I’ll tell your pa. You mind your manners.”

Unintimidated, Hunter made a grab. The blonde clutched the waist of her underwear and fled a bit farther to get safely beyond his reach. She had a perfect little ass with plump cheeks that jiggled just enough to kindle a man’s imagination and make him wonder how soft she’d feel pressed against him.

Too late, Chase began to wonder if sitting here was such a champion idea. It had been a spell since he’d had a woman, and suddenly his jeans felt about a half-size too small at the inseam.

With the short attention span typical of a four-year-old, Hunter spotted another water dog and went chasing upstream after it. The angel with the turned-up nose went unnaturally still. Chase dragged his gaze upward from her breasts and found himself staring into the biggest, most startled-looking green eyes he’d ever seen.

She gasped and cupped her hands over her breasts. The next instant, she knelt in the water to hide her nether regions. Chase stared, unable to think of anything to say.

He settled for, “It sure is a hot one, isn’t it?”

She jerked at the sound of his voice, and her small face flushed.

“Chase Kelly? Is that you?”

Indigo stepped out from behind a stand of brush, her sleeping daughter, Amelia Rose, cradled in her arms. Her big blue eyes flashed with silver fire.

“Chase Kelly Wolf, for shame! What’re you doing, hiding up there? Spying on us? Didn’t Ma ever teach you any manners?”

“I was bored,” he admitted. “When I heard y’all down here, I didn’t figure you’d mind if I joined you.”

“Which we wouldn’t. If you had joined us.” Indigo came striding up the bank, her graceful legs flexing under her bloomers. She handed Chase his sleeping niece. “Make yourself useful while I find Franny’s clothes.” As she scampered back down the bank, she cried, “For shame, for shame. I beg his pardon, Franny. To say he’s an ape-brain would be a compliment.”

An ape-brain? Leave it to a sister to keep a man humble. It had been a while since anyone had dared to call Chase names.

“Hi, Uncle Chase!” Hunter came slogging from the water, his skinny little body glistening like wet bronze in the sunshine. “You wanna catch water dogs?”

Chase looked over the child’s bobbing head to see Franny, the green-eyed angel, trying to wade from the creek without showing off any of her charms. “I’m too stoved up with these ribs for water dog chasing, Hunter. Maybe another time.”

Keeping his gaze politely averted from the women, Chase watched Hunter return to the creek. Within seconds, the boy recovered from his disappointment and dove for another water dog. When Chase chanced another look in the women’s direction, Franny stood on the bank wearing a white choker-collared, long-sleeved blouse and a blue flared skirt, both of which clung to her wet body.

“Franny, I’d like you to meet my brother, Chase Kelly Wolf,” Indigo said sharply. “As I’m sure you recall, I told you the other day that he was home recuperating from a logging accident.”

“Pleased to meet you, Franny.” He thought “Fanny” would suit her better. “I apologize for interrupting your swim.”

Her face flooded with color again. “That’s quite all right,” she said in so low a voice he had difficulty catching the words. She swatted at her skirt and avoided his gaze. “Well, Indigo, I think I’ll be getting along.”

With that, she nodded in Chase’s direction, still not looking at him. Then she jerked on a bonnet with wide ruching that concealed her face. Even shadowed by the bonnet ruching, those eyes of hers packed a wallop. Chase gave her a lazy smile. “No need to hurry off, Franny.”

The tip of her turned-up nose pulsed scarlet. “I really must.”

Her eyes met his, and for an instant, Chase felt as if he had once again been sandwiched between two logs. Talk about pretty—this young woman gave a whole new definition to the word.

Not wishing to startle her, he tempered his voice and said, “I hope you’ll come again, Franny. Maybe next time you’ll stop by the house afterward and have some of Ma’s lemonade. It’s the best in Wolf’s Landing.”

For a moment, she froze there and stared at him, for all the world as if she couldn’t credit her ears. Then her face flushed crimson again. Without a word, she swept on by and disappeared into the trees, never looking back.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Indigo said in a quavery voice. “How could you, Chase? I didn’t think you had it in you to be so mean.”

Chase’s bemused smile disappeared and he turned to regard his sister, who stood near the water, hands on her hips, her tawny head tipped angrily to one side.

“It was mean to invite her for lemonade?”

“You know very well she’d never impose on Ma. Not to say Ma wouldn’t welcome her, and our father, too. But Franny’s too sweet to put them on the spot that way. You know how all the holier-than-thou people in this town are. Tongues’d buzz for a week if a woman of Franny’s occupation was to call on anybody.”