The Cowboy and the Quaker by Margaret Tanner

Author:Margaret Tanner [Tanner, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-12T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Ben carried the shopping into the bedroom, and stopped just inside the door. Rachael was already in bed asleep. He dumped the parcels on the dresser and crept closer to her. In sleep, she looked vulnerable, much younger than her twenty-one years.

The bruises on her cheeks had faded to yellow. The swelling had left her nose and lips, but she still had black eyes. He suddenly felt ashamed of the cavalier way he had acted toward her. He should have got Eve to tidy the place up a bit. Living with Uncle Samuel for years then living alone, he hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the place. The horrified expression on Rachael’s face filled him with shame.

Dammit all, she wasn’t the usual type of wife. This was a marriage in name only. A temporary arrangement. She received board and keep, and a generous payout at the end of a year. He got to keep the ranch.

He picked up her gown and laid it across the bed. Leaning over, he brushed a wayward curl off her forehead. Her scent intoxicated him. Lavender maybe? It was sweet and potent enough for him to want to inhale deeply. The creamy white breasts peeping over the top of her undergarment caused his manhood to stir. Sonofabitch, she was carrying another man’s child, even if he couldn’t see any sign of it.

What would she look like once the bruising and swelling subsided? He had a gut feeling he was going to be pleasantly surprised. He didn’t like the idea one little bit.

If he didn’t watch himself, he would fall into the honeyed trap women so cunningly set. Never. Remember Susannah. Her treachery killed your brother, and ruined your life.

Glen and Lottie kept telling him to let go of the past, but he couldn’t. Nightmares often woke him up. Enclosed spaces spooked him. Sonofabitch, how was he supposed to forget, when Jesse’s dying words haunted him? “Save yourself little brother. Tell the world what they did to us.”

Tell the world. He gritted his teeth so his temper wouldn’t erupt. The world didn’t want to know about it. Once the war finished, most people wanted to get on with their lives and forget about it. He tip-toed out of the room.

After changing into work clothes, he lit the fire in the kitchen and the fire in the parlor, and headed out the door. He wanted to check with Dusty on how things went in his absence. Ridiculous really, his foreman might be middle-aged, but he was competent. Uncle Samuel had only employed a small crew, but they were the best in the business. He would continue to operate the ranch the same way. At busy times, they employed casual cowboys as needed. Because they paid well and fed the men decently, they never had any problems getting men to work for them.

Uncle Samuel couldn’t read or write, but was a smart man. It was a pity they had been estranged from him for so long. He had never got to hear the full story of why his father and Uncle Samuel fell out.

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