The Outlaw Takes a Bride by Susan Page Davis

Author:Susan Page Davis [Davis, Susan Page]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63409-251-7
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2015-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Sally baked a cake and two kinds of cookies while her bread rose. She had stew ready at noon, but the men didn’t appear, so she set the kettle on the back of the stove to simmer. It would taste even better at suppertime, or whenever they returned and wanted to eat it.

After having a bowl herself, she set about doing laundry. The grueling job took most of her afternoon, but with satisfaction she viewed her full clothesline as the sun moved westward. It hardly sagged at all, and none of her clean wash touched the ground.

She took the bread out of the oven, wishing Mark were there to taste it still warm. These loaves had an especially nice, crispy crust, and the smell was heavenly. The only drawback was the temperature in the house, since she’d kept the fire going all day for her baking. She covered the loaves with a linen towel to keep the flies off and added a bit of water to the stew.

As she folded Mark’s second-best shirt, she heard the sound of many animals coming. It had to be Mark and Cam. She tossed the shirt on top of the wicker basket and ran out to the road. Dozens of calves were milling toward her, some lowing and others darting about, looking for an escape. Sally ran across the barnyard to the pasture gate. Mark saw her and waved for her to go ahead. Sally opened the gate wide. The cattle in the pasture were grazing down near the creek, and there was no danger of them getting loose.

Mark and Cam got around the rabble-rousers and shooed them with the rest of the bunch toward the opening. Within minutes the gangly calves were bolting past Sally into the field. When the men pulled their mounts to a halt, she pushed the gate and hopped on, riding it to the gatepost, where she hooked it securely.

Mark was down off Reckless by the time she’d finished. He dropped the chestnut’s reins and ambled toward her, laughing.

“Good job, Sally girl!” He slid his uninjured arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. It felt great.

“Good job yourself,” she said. To distract him and Cam from her fierce blush, she looked out at the herd that was now exploring its new home. “That’s a lot of young’uns.”

“Ain’t it, though?” Cam grinned down at her from the back of his pinto. “Some of ’em didn’t like leavin’ their mamas, but we got ’em here.”

“You got something for us to eat?” Mark asked, smiling into her eyes. He sounded happier than at any time since she’d arrived.

“I surely do. Of course, I only let cowpunchers sit at my table if they’ve washed up.”

Mark laughed again, and Sally wished she could press that moment between the pages of her Bible and keep it forever.

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