Sweet Annie (30 page)

Annie
tugged her chemise over her head. “You still have your clothes on.''

He
stood behind her and pressed his clothed body against her bare skin, cupped her
breasts and teased the crests with his long strong fingers. "Observant of
you."

With
disturbing slowness he rubbed her nipples while kissing the back of her neck,
her shoulders, her ear, whispering love words and letting her feel his arousal
through his clothing.

Annie's
senses were spiraling in ever mounting tension.

"How
did I ever get such a beautiful wife?" he asked, nipping her ear.

Annie
shivered and turned in his arms to face him. "I feel beautiful with
you."

He lowered his head until
his hot moist mouth found her nipple, and he pulled her against his clothed
body. How utterly amazing that she had this effect on a man like him. She slid
her knee up between his thighs. Making a sound that sent a frisson of heat down
her belly, he stroked her bare back and bottom, pulling her flush against him.
He kissed her hard.

Annie
pulled away and watched his reaction. His gaze smoldered and his breathing
changed, gratifying Annie immeasurably. It was her he desired—her body and her
touches that made him whisper her name and shudder with sensation.

She went to work on the
buttons on his pants, and he cursed in his frustration to remove them quickly.
Peeling open his shirt, she admired the strength and tone of his magnificent
body, pressed him back upon the bed and took her fill of adrruring and stroking
until he clenched his jaw and grabbed her wrists.

With
a minimum of words and the gentle coaxing of his work-roughened hands, he
showed her she could sit astride him and freely control movement and cadence.

When
her limbs trembled, he helped her with strong hands and arms, spoke energy and
passion, bracketed her hips firmly and bore the last exerting efforts himself.

Annie
lay upon his chest, his heart thudding beneath her breast, feeling as though
she had no bones left in her body. The last thing she wanted to do was dress
and go see her parents, but the obligation remained.

She
sat and pulled together the open front of the shirt he still wore. "I
think you'll need another shirt. This one seems to be wrinkled."

"I
guess I'll need to keep a larger supply," he chuckled.

They
dressed and he escorted her to the buggy he'd left waiting outside, all the
while sharing sensual smiles and touches.

Her
stomach quivered when they reached the Sweetwater home—her home for as long as
she'd been alive, but it had never felt as warm and welcoming as the modest
dwelling Luke had built for her.

Mort
and Burdell and her father sat on the porch in their wool jackets, Will playing
at their feet. When Will saw Annie making her way up the stairs with Luke's
assistance, he jumped up to greet her. She bent and scooped him into her arms
for a hug.

"I'd
better go see if they need help in the kitchen," she said, placing the
child on his feet.

"I
think it's ready," her father replied. "We were just waiting for
you."

"Oh."
She turned aside, ignoring Luke's eyes, and stepped into the house before she
could blush.

Luke
held open the screen and followed. Annie showed him where to hang his coat on
the hall tree beside hers.

"You're
here!" Diana called from the dining room. "Just in time. I'll tell
Glenda to serve."

Mildred
and Aunt Vera's table conversation ceased and Annie's mother gave no indication
that she'd noticed their arrival—shockingly poor manners from a woman who
prided herself on social graces.

Vera,
however, bridged the awkward moment by standing and hurrying forward to hug
Annie. She included Luke in her warm welcome, and he seemed caught off guard,
his tanned cheeks infused with color.

Charmaine
and Glenda came from the kitchen wearing smiles and aprons and greeted them.
Before long the family was seated around the table. Glenda served and Eldon
carved the beef. Annie caught Luke staring at his arrangement of silverware,
and she deliberately picked up a fork, indicating he should select the same one.

He
raised a brow and widened his blue eyes comically as he picked up the utensil
she'd suggested. She giggled and covered her mouth with her napkin.

Mort
included Luke in the conversation, asking about feed prices and the completion
of the house. Annie appreciated her uncle's kindness, but then he'd always
liked Luke, so his behavior was natural.

"I'd
like to see it now that it's finished," Aunt Vera said, her expression
animated.

"Oh,
me, too!" Charmaine added.

"Well,
I'm still making curtains," Annie said. "We need a few rugs, too, I
was hoping to find a pattern."

"I can show you how to
braid rags," Vera said.

"Don't
buy fabric," Diana added. "I have boxes of scraps that were my
mother's in the attic."

"Thank
you, both of you!" Annie said, pleased at their generosity.

"Come see the place
anytime," Luke said to Mort. "How about next Sunday afternoon? You're
all welcome," he said, including Annie's parents and brother.

Charmaine met Annie's gaze, grinned and clapped her
hands like a little girl. "I can't wait!"

"I have to meet with
one of the Simpson brothers," Burdell said. "And the only time he has
to spare is on Sundays."

"You've been putting
that off for a month," Diana said. "Another week won't hurt
anything." She turned to Luke. "We'll be there. After dinner?"

Luke confirmed the time.

"We don't have chairs
yet, but when we do—and when I learn to cook—" Annie began and her words
were met by chuckles "—then we'll have you to dinner." She joined in
their laughter good-naturedly.

"Tell us where you've
placed all your lovely gifts," Charmaine prodded.

Annie eagerly shared her
excitement over their wedding gifts, though her mother stood and carried a few
dishes to the kitchen instead of listening.

Annie watched her leave,
her rejection a returning hurt. Beneath the edge of the linen tablecloth Luke
took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

Annie noticed Diana giving
Burdell a compelling look, and he folded his napkin and placed it beside his
plate, then leaned on his elbows and laced his fingers. "We have some
exciting news ourselves."

"What is it, Son?" Eldon asked.

"In the spring there
will be another Sweetwater in the family," Burdell announced proudly.

Dark
eyes bright and her cheeks pink, Diana surveyed the reactions of the family
members.

A
chorus of congratulations went up around the table.

"Will,
you're going to have a baby brother or sister," Annie said to her nephew,
and he grinned, simply because she was speaking to him animatedly.

"This
calls for a toast," Eldon said and hurried toward the root cellar where
he kept a supply of wines for special occasions.

Annie
was happy for her brother and sister-in-law. They were wonderful parents and it
would be good for Will to have a playmate. She'd always wished she'd had more
siblings to keep her company. She tried to gauge her mother's reaction, but the
woman seemed indifferent to everything these days.

Sometime
later, after the dishes were cleared away and the family members argued their
plans for the afternoon, Annie overheard Mort say in a low tone to her father,
"Give the boy a chance, Eldon. He's a fine young fella, and he makes your
daughter happy. Even you can see that."

Annie
paused just inside the doorway to the hall and listened.

"It's
going to take some time," her father replied. "I have to live with
Mildred the rest of my life, you realize, and she has a blind spot where Annie
is concerned."

"I
don't understand it," Mort said. "Sometimes she doesn't seem like the
same sister I grew up with. Back then she let her hair down once in a while."

"Maybe
you could speak with her." Her father's voice sounded hopeful.

"When's
the last time you remember her givin' me the time of day? I decided to be a
rancher, remember? Not a banker or an attorney or a statesman. As far as she's
concerned I threw our father's inheritance away buying land."

"You didn't hesitate
to say something to me."

Mort
was silent a moment. “You and I are different, Eldon, but we respect each
other. Mildred doesn't respect me."

"She loves you, in her
own way."

"Maybe."

They
moved toward the outer door, and Annie returned to the kitchen. That evening,
she told Luke what she'd overheard.

"I'm
sorry," he told her. He'd built a fire against the chill wind sweeping
down off the mountains and they snuggled on a pile of blankets. "I know
you're hurt. But it doesn't bother me. Really."

"It
bothers me. Why can't she be happy for me?" she asked, aware of the tremor
in her voice. "She just can't see me as a—a normal person—or as a grownup
for that matter."

Her
mother's treatment hurt, but as always, Luke's caring touch brought her
comfort.

The
following Sunday, Annie prepared them a quick lunch after church, then baked
two pies from dried fruit Aunt Vera had given her. When their company arrived,
Annie scanned the Renlows' wagon and found her mother absent.

"Your
mother had a headache," Eldon said, apologetically.

Annie hugged him.
"Thank you for coming."

Luke had stoked a blazing
fire, and Annie had pulled their few chairs as well as several crates around
the hearth. She saw to it that Diana sat in her comfortable chair, then made
coffee on the stove and tea in the china pot she'd purchased. Proudly, she
served her warm pies on their new blue-and-white china plates.

"You made this?"
Her father looked up from his dessert, obviously skeptical. He glanced at Luke.

"Yes," Annie
replied. "I can do a lot of things now, Daddy."

"I worry about you
being way out here alone while Luke is at the livery."

"There are horses if I
needed anything," she replied.

"And you could ride
one of them?" Burdell asked, glancing from Annie to Luke.

"Luke's been teaching
me how to saddle Wrangler and how to hook him up to the traces on the
wagons."

"Is that safe?" Eldon asked, addressing
Luke.

"Not knowin' how to do
something right is what makes it dangerous," her husband replied.
"Annie can do anything she sets her mind to."

Charmaine glanced from Luke to Annie and sighed.

Annie surveyed her father
and brother and her husband all eating pie under the same roof and a tide of
emotion overcame her. There had been a time when even this much had seemed
impossible, and now it had come to pass. There was still hope for friendships
to develop, for bonds to strengthen...and for her mother to come around.

Over the weeks that
followed Annie learned to ride and hitch teams and how to put the animals away
properly, how to groom, feed and water them. She learned how much coffee to
place in the pot and not to salt bacon gravy. She discovered that a handful of
baking soda would put out a fire in a frying pan and that Luke had a fondness
for dumplings.

When
she made a mistake, Luke laughed and encouraged her to try again. She also
learned innumerable ways a man and woman could please each other. Wrapped in
his arms each night, she gloried in his soft murmurs, found ways to make him
sigh and groan and shudder, as well as ways to elicit laughter.... Sometimes
they'd barely slept before morning came, crisp and cold, and Luke would start a
fire and heat the stove.

Most
mornings she cooked him breakfast before he left, but a few times breakfast was
forgotten when he returned to bed and snuggled against her beneath the covers,
then had to grab his coat and a cold bite of food and ran to break the thin
layer of ice on the stock tanks, feed the horses and leave for the livery.