The Sheriff Catches a Bride (30 page)

“Does she plan to keep it for a pet?” Jake asked.

“She told me she meant to find a bison ranch that raises and treats them ethically. Hannah’s no vegetarian,” Cab smiled, “but she doesn’t believe in cruelty.”

“She stole that animal, though,” Rob pointed out. “Won’t she be in trouble?”

“I figure I’ll offer the owners a fair price for it, point out that what they’re doing is illegal and she won’t have to give it back. She’ll have to find a better place for it than Carl’s woods, though.” He chuckled.

“She can keep it at our place. I’ll even pay for it,” Jake stated, taking the bait Cab had laid out for him so cleverly. Yep, Jake was stuck on Hannah, no doubt about that.

“Our place?” Ned asked.

“Why not?” Jake challenged him.

Ned shrugged. “What about that foreign girl—Fila?”

“She’ll stay at the Cruz ranch until things are sorted out. A lot of people are going to be interested in what that girl knows,” Cab said grimly. “Best for her to be among friends until that all plays out. Claire says she’ll find a lawyer who can help prove Fila’s citizenship. We’ll go from there.”

“What about Rose and Jason?” Rob asked him. “They still broken up?”

Cab nodded.

“Time for you to go buy that ring.”

“What will you do now?
When you get out of here?” Autumn asked Rose. She’d slipped into the room and tiptoed past Fila’s sleeping form to take a seat near Rose’s head.

Rose couldn’t sleep in the hospital’s antiseptic atmosphere so she welcomed the distraction. “I’m not entirely sure,” she confessed. “I don’t think I can live out in the tree house anymore.”

Autumn chuckled. “I can see why.”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “I’ll miss it, though. I liked having a place of my own.”

“I have an idea,” Autumn said. “You know the old cabin on our property—the one Jamie lived in back when he was a hired hand? Rob and Morgan are staying there now until they build their house in the spring.”

Rose nodded.

“Well, Rob has his own cabin sitting empty on the Double-Bar-K. He and his folks were arguing when he left home and moved to our land with Morgan, but that’s all sorted out. There’s no reason he and Morgan can’t shift their quarters over there for the winter and you can take the cabin they vacate.”

“Oh, no,” Rose said. “I’m not going to kick Rob and Morgan out of their home. He’s just been shot! Besides, I can’t afford it. I need to save every penny because I want to enroll in school.”

“Well, I have an idea about that, too,” Autumn said. She played with the covers on Rose’s bed, pleating the top sheet in her fingers. “I know it’s not much to offer, but I really need help with the guests, especially this spring.” She laid a hand on her belly. “Morgan has been a godsend but the minute the ground warms up she’ll be frantic getting her vineyard planted. The job doesn’t pay much, but you could have the cabin rent-free. You know what the work entails since you’ve helped out in the past.” She trailed off, looking uncertain. “You probably don’t want to do it.”

“Are you kidding?” Rose said. “I’d love to! When I helped out over the summer I had a blast. I should have quit the jewelry store back then, but I was so set on staying there while I waited for Jason.” She sobered. “But I do want to go to school.”

“We can arrange your hours around your classes,” Autumn said, her eyes lighting up at Rose’s response. “It would be so much more fun working with you than hiring someone I don’t know too well. There won’t be too many hours at first,” she cautioned Rose. “But it will pick up as the spring goes on.”

“That’s terrific!” Rose said. “And Fila’s staying at the Big House for a while? It’ll be like a party.”

Autumn grinned. “I think Mia might move in, too. I can’t wait.”

Rose pushed herself up on her elbows. “They could share the cabin with me.”

The corners of Autumn’s mouth drew up even higher. “I think I’ll keep them up at the house. I have a feeling someone else will want to move in with you before too long.”

“I’m sorry
it’s not much of a hideaway anymore,” Cab said two weeks later as he stood with Rose at the base of her tree house. A first snowfall covered the ground, hiding all traces of the investigation of the site except for a few torn bits of yellow police tape that dangled from the trees.

Rose nodded.

“I got a note from Carl,” Cab said gently. “He plans to come back in the spring.”

“I guess he’ll want me to take this down.”

“He might.” Cab took her hand. “How do you like your new house?”

“I love the cabin on the Cruz ranch,” Rose said. “It’s even got an extra bedroom for my studio. And Autumn and Ethan have both sworn they’ll never enter it without asking for permission first. I still feel guilty about kicking Morgan and Rob out—especially Rob.”

“Are you kidding? His mother’s showering attention on him like he’s five years old. They both love it. Lisa’s help with Rob makes things easier on Morgan and it gives all of them a chance to smooth over any last remnants of their old argument. Sounds like Rob and Morgan will break ground on their new house at the first sign of spring, anyway, so don’t worry about a thing.”

They contemplated the little house in silence.

“Do you like working with Autumn?” Cab asked.

“Yes. She’s great.”

“You know there’s a lot of forested land on the Cruz ranch.”

“Sure.”

“I talked to Ethan yesterday. He said he’d be happy to let you build a new tree house over there in the spring.”

“Really?” She brightened, then frowned. “Why wait until spring?”

“There’s snow on the ground.”

“I think I’ll insulate my next one,” Rose said.

Cab heaved a sigh. “Then I’ll never see you.”

She chuckled, but edged closer to Cab and leaned against him a little. He’d made sure not to crowd her during these past few weeks—he didn’t want to rush her into a relationship after everything that had happened—but he kept close enough to let her know he was there whenever she was ready for him.

“You don’t mind that I want the space?” she asked him.

“I would have… before. I might have wanted to rank a little higher than your painting.” He hoped she knew what he meant.

“What’s different now?”

“I learned the only thing that matters is that you’re safe and happy. That you’re alive.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Thanks to Hannah’s bison, you mean.” He kissed her on top of her head. “Tell me if you want any help building the new one. If you don’t, I won’t come anywhere near it. Scout’s honor.”

She smiled. “I probably could use some help. In fact,” she turned to the tree house again. “I think you’d better come take a look at this one so you’ll know what I like.”

He looked askance at the ladder. “Think that thing will hold my weight?”

“Only one way to find out.”

The ladder did hold his weight and the tree house floor didn’t even sag when they unrolled the sleeping bags left from the last time she’d stayed here and arranged them into a comfortable nest.

“It’s nice,” Cab said once she’d turned on the tiny propane heater, “but it’s lacking a pool table.”

Rose smiled. “You’re right. I guess we’ll just have to use our imaginations.” She unzipped her winter coat and took off her mittens and hat, shivering in the cold air. Cab joined her, shucking off his outer layers and kicking off his boots.

“Hmm, I just sunk a great shot,” Rose said.

“Oh yeah?” Cab unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside.

“Oops, scratched the next one.” Rose peeled her sweater over her head.

“I sunk one in the corner and another one in the side pocket.” Cab helped her to unbutton her blouse. She laid it on the ground, and shimmied off her jeans.

“What next?”

“Sunk another one,” Cab said.

Rose unhooked her bra happily, unable to wait any longer to feel the touch of his hands on her skin. He didn’t disappoint her. He cupped her breasts in his hands, bent down and took one nipple into his mouth. Rose sighed in delight as he played with her, attending to first one breast and then the other until she arched her back, reveling in the sensation.

“I missed my shot,” Cab said, coming up for air. She moaned when he left her to shuck off his pants, but soon found the waistband of his boxers when he came back and reached inside them to enjoy him as much as he was enjoying her.

“I sunk two in a row,” she said. A few moments later, Cab was naked. He lay down on the pile of covers and wrapped himself in a sleeping bag.

“I sunk the rest.” He reached for her.

Rose only held off for the time it took to shimmy out of her panties, then came to him in the sleeping bag with her socks still on.

“I said all of them.” Cab tugged at her socks with his toes and Rose laughed, but allowed him to take them off, too. She knew how he felt; like he couldn’t get enough of her, couldn’t get close enough to her. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

More.

“I can’t wait to feel you inside of me,” Rose whispered as she lay down beside him, loving the way her breasts felt when they rubbed against his skin.

“You don’t have to,” he said, pulling her on top of him. “You can have me whenever and however you want.”

“Really?” She sat atop him and wriggled a little, closing her eyes at the way his hardness pressed against her. When he reached up to cup her breasts again, she moaned.

“Like that?” he asked.

“Mmm-hmmm.”

“Like this?” He half sat up to take first one, then the other nipple into his mouth again.

“Yes.”

“Good thing you warned me earlier you planned to jump me today.” He fished a condom out of his jeans pocket. Leaning back, he took a moment to put it on. Rose shifted to allow him the space to do so, then resumed her seat with enthusiasm. She edged around until he was positioned exactly right. Her hands planted on top of his chest, she eased herself onto him, pushing back to sink him deep within her.

Cab let out a ragged breath.

“You like that?” she whispered.

“You know it.”

She began to rock her hips. “How about that?”

He slid his hands over her back and down to her ass. “Excellent.” Now he helped establish the rhythm, rocking her on top of him, gripping her hips to ease himself in and out.

Rose gave up control to him. She loved it when he made love to her, loved it when he possessed her.

Trusted him to give her every inch of pleasure imaginable.

As she rocked above him, Cab captured her wrists and held them by her hips so that her breasts pushed forward and swayed with every move. He moved in and out of her with deep, strong strokes, and her body swung with him, her senses on fire.

She knew he was watching her. Knew he adored every curve of her body. She pushed against him as he pushed into her, met him stroke for stroke. She felt so safe with Cab that she could abandon her inhibitions. Constrained by the confines of the tree house, they might choose a sensible position like this one, but safe in their cozy cabin in the future she could imagine all kinds of games they might play.

Those imaginings left her raw with desire and she increased her pace, rising and falling faster. When she went over the edge and cried aloud, Cab grunted beneath her and bucked against her hips. She rode her climax as long as she could, allowing her moans of pleasure to fill the air. When she was done, she collapsed forward and Cab caught her in his arms.

He kissed her long and hard, pulled away and looked into her eyes. “I love you, Rose. You know that, right?”

Rose nodded.

She did know that. And she loved him back.

Cab found himself shaking
when he reached for his pants and pulled the small velvet box from the pocket. It wasn’t the cold, although now that they’d stopped making love to each other the chill in the air was sharpening again.

He knew he was taking a chance. It was much too soon. Rose had been through a lot these past months, and she’d only broken up with Jason recently.

Still, what he’d learned the night of the shootout was that he never wanted to be away from her, and he didn’t want to wait one more day than he had to before he made her his wife.

He pushed himself up to a seated position, cuddled her into his lap, and arranged the sleeping bags around them to keep her warm. “Rose, I made you a promise that I would back off and let you have some time. I told you I’d give you room to find yourself before I pushed back into your life. I lied. I don’t want to back off. I don’t want to give you space. I don’t want to leave you alone.” He kissed her again. “I love you. I want to spend my life with you. Take all the time you need to answer because I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right here, wherever you are. I won’t boss you around. I won’t tell you what to do, but I’ll be here. Waiting for you. Rose, will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She threw arms around his neck, rained kisses down on his cheeks, forehead and chin. “I thought you’d never ask. I’ve been waiting for weeks!”

“Weeks?” he said when he could breathe again.

“Ever since that night—you know,” she said. “I realized I know what I want—and it’s all right here. Right in front of me.”

Relief overwhelmed him and he wrapped his arms around her, cradling her against his chest. If only they could stay here, safe and together in this small house she’d built with her own hands. Cab promised himself he would disassemble it board by board and rebuild it on the Cruz ranch. His wife would have her private space.

“Will you let me in your new tree house when we’re married? Once in a while?” He traced a finger down her jaw and lifted her chin to kiss her again.

“Sometimes,” Rose said, kissing him back. “When I want some.” She giggled when he tipped her over onto her back.

“When you want some, huh? How often will that be?” Cab settled himself between her legs and directed his attention to her breasts again. Maybe she’d get some right now.

“All the time.” She grew serious. “But if we get married, where will you want to live?”

“In the cabin with you if you want,” Cab said, propping himself up on one elbow. “I talked to Ethan about that, too. With Jamie and Rob injured, he could use some help, and the truth is I’m sick of being the only one of us who doesn’t live on that ranch. When we outgrow the cabin, we could build our own place just like Rob and Morgan. I have some money saved. Might as well invest in the ranch as in anything else. With you working with Autumn… just makes sense. What do you think?” He watched her expression with interest.