Matt (The Cowboys) (5 page)

But Ellen had an uncomfortable feeling the game had only just begun. She had an equally uneasy feeling she didn’t know the rules.

Matt offered to take her hand as they entered the courthouse. She couldn’t say what she saw in his eyes. It was there less than an instant. It was important for her to win this game, but Matt’s look made her think maybe it was even more important for him.

Chapter Three

“I’m sorry it’s not bigger,” Matt said when the ranch house came into view.

“I’m sure we’ll manage.” Ellen still couldn’t believe she was married or that the sum total of her life could be crammed into the two boxes and large suitcase that rested in the back of Matt’s buggy.

The ranch buildings backed up against a stone wall that rose almost vertically two hundred feet or more above the floor of the long, narrow valley that formed the heart of Matt’s ranch. Tall grass undulating in the breeze covered the entire flat landscape. A narrow ribbon of maple, willow, and cottonwood trees bordered a stream that meandered along the far side of the valley. Beyond it a rock-strewn cleft rose to high ridges. Cows grazed among the outcrops of gray, mossy-looking boulders.

“How many bedrooms does it have?” Ellen asked.

“Two downstairs and a loft.”

“I guess that means Orin and I get the loft,” Toby said. He didn’t sound happy about it. He’d done little but scowl at Ellen and the kids since they left the courthouse.

“I want to sleep in the loft, too,” Noah announced.

“You’re too little,” Toby said. “You got to sleep with your sister.”

“I’m not little,” Noah said. “And I won’t sleep with a girl.”

“There’s no use arguing,” Matt said. “We’ll take a look at how things are, then decide.”

“I want to sleep in the loft,” Noah repeated.

“I’m not looking after no kid,” Toby said.

“If Isabelle were here, she’d correct your grammar, then make you sleep outside for arguing,” Matt said, his temper still unruffled.

“You going to make me sleep outside?”

“I will if you intend to spend half the night arguing.”

Ellen had expected Matt to side with Toby. But what really surprised her was Toby’s reaction to Matt’s softly worded reprimand. He looked angry and sullen, but he didn’t contradict Noah again. She wondered what hold Matt had over the boy to cause him to bite his tongue.

“Do you snore, kid?” Toby asked Noah.

“No,” Noah said, clearly offended. “And don’t call me kid. My name’s Noah.”

“It’s a silly name.”

Noah’s anger evaporated. “I know. I hate it.”

“What would you like to be called?” Matt asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Pick a name you like. If your mother agrees, that’s what we’ll call you.”

“Ellen’s not my ma.”

“She will be when we adopt you. You might as well get used to calling her that now.”

“I’d rather they call me Ellen.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” She didn’t want the kids to forget their real mother. She certainly didn’t want them to think she was trying to take her place.

“Come on, Orin,” Toby called out. “I’ll race you to the house.”

They galloped toward the small building, eight steel-shod hooves throwing up dirt clods behind them. Ellen was pleased to see Orin stayed even with Toby. She’d expected him to be lost in Toby’s dust. The child hadn’t said a word all day.

“If I had a horse, I would beat them both,” Noah announced.

“It’ll probably be best if you learn to ride first,” Matt said.

“I know how to ride,” Noah announced.

Ellen was about to contradict him, but Matt said, “Good. Then we’ll have to pick out a really good horse for you.”

“Will it be just as good as Toby’s horse?”

“Yes. We’ll go see Drew. She’s got hundreds of horses.”

Noah’s eyes lit up. “You kidding me?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“No. You look sober as a preacher. You’re not like Reverend Sears, are you? ‘Cause if you are, I ain’t staying here.”

“I don’t think I’m that bad, but if I start sounding like him, you tell me right away.”

“I will. I don’t like Reverend Sears.”

“I’m not too fond of him myself.”

“When can we start looking for my horse?”

Ellen decided she knew even less about Matt than she thought. He calmly discussed horses with Noah like he thought the boy actually knew something about them. It took only a few minutes before she realized Matt was teaching Noah. The boy became more and more excited as he learned what to look for and what to avoid.

“I can pick out a horse for you,” he said to Ellen. “I’ll make sure you don’t get one with a spavin.”

“Thank you,” Ellen said. “I never would have known to look for a spavin.”

“He could never be as fast as my horse if he had one.” Noah peppered Matt with more questions.

Ellen decided to shed all her preconceived notions about Matt. She knew only one thing for sure: He was extremely handsome. She wondered if he thought she was attractive. He had barely glanced at her during the trip, even though she sat next to him. She didn’t feel ignored, but she didn’t feel special.

She reminded herself that they had married out of necessity rather than inclination. She told herself she was glad they weren’t in love, that emotion would only complicate things; but that didn’t make her feel better. She knew her independence was more important to her than any man—even one as handsome as Matt. But even that thought didn’t cheer her.

Matt pulled to a stop before the house. Noah jumped down immediately. “Can I go look at the horses?”

“You need to carry your things into the house.”

Toby and Orin got up from the steps where they’d been waiting. Without being asked, they started unloading the wagon.

“Where do you want this stuff?” Toby asked.

“In the hallway,” Matt said. “We’ll decide where it goes later.”

Ellen was pleased with the look and size of the frame house. She’d expected a log or adobe structure. Even in the Hill Country, where trees were plentiful, it was expensive to build with sawed lumber. Usually only rich people lived in wooden houses.

“Sorry the house isn’t bigger, but I could only borrow so much money. I choose to put most of it into livestock.”

“Why didn’t your parents give this ranch to you?”

She saw a flash of emotion in his normally expressionless face. “Jake and Isabelle adopted me. That didn’t mean they owed me a ranch.”

“But they’re rich.” Ellen hadn’t meant to say that. The words just popped out.

“They gave me a home when no one would have me. I could stay as long as I wanted, come back as often as I wanted. That was more valuable than anything else.”

Ellen felt embarrassed and a little angry that her question made her appear crass. “Everybody thinks they did.”

“Not Tom Jackson. He expects my payment at the bank as regular as clockwork.”

Matt had mentioned the bank loan earlier, but Ellen hadn’t realized that meant Matt had borrowed money from Mabel’s husband. She hoped Tom Jackson kept his business well separated from his home life. If not, Matt could be in for trouble.

“Go on inside and look around. The boys and I will get everything unloaded.”

Ellen hadn’t expected the house to be decorated at all. She was pleasantly surprised to find pictures hung on the walls, two covered settees set between doorways, wing chairs, piecrust tables and lamps adorning the other available space, and a rush mat on the floor.

“That’s Isabelle’s doing,” Matt said when he came inside to get down a box. “I returned things at first, but they just reappeared the next day. Jake said I’d have to burn the house down if I wanted to get rid of them.”

“Will I get to meet Isabelle?”

“Probably before you want to,” Matt said as he headed out the door.

“You don’t have much stuff,” Toby said as he set down a suitcase that contained half the clothing Ellen owned.

“You don’t need much when you live in a rooming house and work in a saloon.”

“My ma lived in a rooming house and worked in a saloon. She had lots of stuff.” Toby went back outside without waiting for her response.

Ellen had been too preoccupied with her own troubles to think about Toby’s parents. She’d have to ask Matt to tell her more about both boys. She didn’t intend to get involved in their lives, but she didn’t want to say anything that might hurt them.

“Check out the rest of the house,” Matt said when he came back. “The kitchen is over here.”

She didn’t want to look at the kitchen but headed in that direction. She could just imagine the mess three unattended males would have made. She stepped into the room and came to a dead stop.

It was immaculate.

There wasn’t a dirty dish or pot in sight. The countertops had been wiped clean and everything put away. The chairs were under the table and folded napkins lay on the spotless tabletop. Obviously Isabelle sent someone to clean up after them. Good! They could clean up after her, too. Living in a rooming house had gotten her out of the habit of cooking and cleaning.

But she didn’t like the idea of Isabelle coming behind her, probably complaining about the mess she and the children made.

“Show me where you want to put things,” Matt said from the kitchen door.

“How often do the servants come in?” She hadn’t meant to sound sarcastic, but she felt like a fool for feeling sorry for Matt and the boys being on their own.

“What servants?” Matt asked, a slightly perplexed look lining his normally expressionless brow.

Ellen gestured to the kitchen. “Somebody obviously came today so you could impress me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“This kitchen.”

“I don’t have a servant. I do the cooking and the boys clean up.”

Ellen couldn’t believe he was serious. No men kept a house this clean. “What about the napkins?”

“That’s Isabelle’s doing. She was raised by a rich aunt in Savannah, Georgia. She can’t get it through her head we don’t need napkins in Texas.”

Noah pushed his way though the doorway. “Can I sleep in the loft, Ellen? Please. There’s lots of room. I promise I won’t cause any trouble.”

“We’ll see,” Ellen said, too shaken to think clearly. If Matt and the boys really did do their own housework, she was in trouble. She doubted she could do half as well. Matt stepped back to let her enter the hallway.

“This is our bedroom,” he said, opening a door on the other side of the hall.

Ellen could tell from his expression that he didn’t like having to share his room and his bed, but he had already put her luggage inside.

“You can move any of my stuff you want,” he said. “I don’t need much space.”

“Neither do I. Toby just commented on how little I have.”

“If you decide you want to make changes, go ahead. But let me know if you need more furniture or anything like that. Whatever you do, don’t tell Isabelle. She’ll have it over here within the hour.”

Ellen couldn’t help but laugh. “And you object to that?”

“Isabelle and Jake have given me more than enough. I don’t intend to be a burden.”

“I don’t know Isabelle, but if she adopted you, I doubt she considers you a burden.”

Ellen was thankful she’d taken the trouble over the last several years to study men closely. The changes in Matt’s expression were so subtle, came and went so quickly, they were almost impossible to notice, but they were there. And if she interpreted this fleeting look correctly, it said there was something more involved here than the desire of a man to be independent of his mother.

“Just tell me if you need anything.” He looked like he thought she might not.

“I will. Now, where is Tess going to sleep?”

Matt led her to a second bedroom, as neat as the first, but furnished with two of everything—beds, chairs, tables, wardrobes.

“This is Toby and Orin’s bedroom, isn’t it?”

“They won’t mind sleeping in the loft. It’ll be something of an adventure.”

“For a week. After that they’ll resent it.”

“Then we have a week to figure out what to do.”

“Do you ever get upset?” she asked.

His face seemed to freeze. “Why do you ask that?”

“You’ve been forced to marry a woman you don’t know, bring her to your house, install her in your bedroom, and have your boys moved into the loft. Toby resents us, and Noah wants a horse he doesn’t know how to ride. You’ll have that damned preacher and Mabel Jackson down on your head any day now, and as far as I can tell you’re playing a game of hide-and-seek with your mother. You keep this house neat as a pin, yet you’ve brought three people into it who’re guaranteed to interrupt your routine, destroy your serenity, and get everything out of place. All that, and you have yet to raise your voice or appear to be the slightest bit put out.”