Bonds of Matrimony (21 page)

           
Chastity
met his dark eyes boldly.
 
“If we’d
wanted men ordering us about, Marcus, we would have stayed in England.
 
Mind your horse,” she snapped.

           
He
eyed his sister angrily and then kicked the ribs of his horse.
 
Clearly, he meant to punish her by
increasing the pace.
 
She followed
his lead, and Reese groaned as she trotted beside them.
 
Marcus scowled at her and nudged his
horse again, increasing the speed a bit more.
 
Chase grinned at him spitefully and nudged her own
horse.
 
Marcus looked over his
shoulder and seemed surprised that they were galloping on his heels.
 
His eyes were on fire as he kicked his
horse again.

           
“No
more, you two!” Reese cried out.

           
Tom
leaned over to catch the reins of her horse as Chase kicked her own.
 
She pulled ahead of her sister and her
brother’s foreman as they slowed to a walk.

           
Marcus
and Chase raced fearlessly down the dirt road, then veered off to cut across a
field of tall prairie grass.
 
She
felt the grass slapping her feet and wondered if it hurt the horse.
 
She leaned down close to her and rubbed
a hand down her neck but still urged her on.
 
They were gaining on Marcus.

           
“Have
you forgotten that you’re a lady, Chastity?!” he hollered angrily.

           
“I
haven’t forgotten, Marcus.
 
It’s
just that unlike you,
I
don’t
ride
like a lady,” she taunted, pulling
up beside him for a moment.

           
They
raced that way for the entire two-mile journey to his ranch.
 
They left a trail of dust behind us
that clouded any sight they might have had of Reese and Tom Lawson.
 
They sprinted under a sign that read
Westwind Ranch.
 
The long driveway
ended in a circle in front of the modest ranch house.
 
A black automobile was parked in front of the house.
 
Of course, even racing horses were
unable to beat Mr. Wainwright’s automobile.
 
Besides, they had gotten a head start while Chase and Reese had
been purchasing trousers.

           
Marcus
and Chastity both hugged the necks of their horses as they raced up the
driveway.
 
She dug her heels into
the horse’s ribs, feeling a bit sorry for her.
 
She felt like they were going to edge past Marcus, but then
his horse lengthened its stride and pulled past us.
 
Finally giving up, she pulled lightly on the reins and
slowed her horse in the approach to the house.
 
Marcus did the same a bit ahead of his sister.
 
She admired the simple comfort of the
home before her.
 
Elisa apparently
had some of her father’s talents with flowers.
 
They blossomed everywhere in a beautiful array of colors.

           
Elisa
was standing beside Lady Colchester and Elisabeth on the front porch that ran
the length of the house.
 
Webb and
another man were standing beside the car.
 
All five pairs of eyes were on Marcus and Chase as they dismounted and
stood grinning at each other.

           
“You
ride well,” he gasped, breathless from the race.

           
“I
learned from the best,” she responded, nodding at him.

           
He
acknowledged the compliment with a grin and then turned to greet his wife.
 
She waddled down the steps of the porch
and flung herself into his arms.
 
He kissed her softly on the mouth and pulled back to pat her enormous
belly.
 
She turned shyly to Chastity
and smiled.

           
“Welcome
home, Chastity,” she said simply.

           
She
reached out and hugged her sister-in-law.
 
“Thank you,” she laughed, a bit embarrassed about her entrance.
 

           
“Where’s
Rosalie?” their grandmother asked.

           
Chase
turned to look down the driveway.
 
A dust cloud still hovered along the trail she and Marcus had traveled.
 
She smiled sheepishly.
 
“She’s with Mr. Lawson.
 
They should be here in a little while.”

           
“Did
you ride that hard the whole way from town?” Mr. Wainwright asked.

           
“George,
this is my sister, Chastity,” Marcus answered, not daring to admit to riding
his horses too hard in this heat.

           
“It’s
nice to meet you, Miss Fairfax.
 
You’re quite a rider,” he admitted.

“Thank you,” she laughed,
still breathless.
 
She glanced over
at Colton, and his eyes sparked.
 
The corner of his mouth was turned up, reminding her of Tom Lawson.
 
She wondered what he was thinking but
turned her attention from him for her grandmother’s sake.
 

***

Good Lord, she was
amazing.
 
When he realized she was
on that horse, racing toward them, he was speechless.
 
At first, he was afraid for her.
 
Then he realized she had full control of that animal.
 
He wanted to pull her into his arms
when she dismounted.
 
He had a
whole new respect for her.
 
She
looked like a goddess on that horse, dark curls trailing behind her.
 
The flush to her cheeks and light in
her eyes agreed with her.
 
She was
so alive.
 
He wanted to take her
right then and there.
 

Then he noticed her
grandmother watching him.
 
She
frowned at him and then turned back to her granddaughter.
 

He felt properly scolded,
but he couldn’t keep from thinking that Chase Fairfax riding that horse was the
most beautiful site he’d ever seen.

CHAPTER 10

           
Chastity
cringed at the droplet of sweat that ran between her breasts and down her flat
stomach.
 
Her head throbbed
painfully, and her squinting against the sun didn’t help at all.
 
The muscles in her arms and legs
twitched with the spasms of long-unused muscles.
 
But the worst of it was the stinging of her hands, raw with
blisters ripped open and blistered over again.

           
It
was the most exquisitely wonderful feeling in the world.

           
“So
this is what working the land is all about?” she asked, grinning up at her
brother and Tom Lawson.

           
Marcus
smiled at her and shook his head.
 
“You look like a tomato, Chase.
 
Your sunburn is probably going to blister.”
 
He touched a finger to his nose, the same place where his
sister’s skin was beginning to feel tight and a bit itchy.

           
She
shrugged.
 
“I feel so…so…” she
grinned, unable think of the words.

           
“Tell
me again after your muscles get so tight that you can hardly move tonight,” he
joked.
 
“Make sure you take a hot
bath.
 
That will loosen the muscles
up a bit.”

           
“And
put some fresh cucumbers on your nose and cheeks.
 
Elisa has some in the garden,” Tom mumbled.
 

She knew that she must look
bad to be getting sympathy from the silent, stoic foreman.
 
She followed the other two into the
barn to help clean out the stables and feed the horses.
 
Then it would be time for dinner.
 
She had never worked so hard in her
life.
 

“Why don’t you do this one,”
Marcus suggested, tapping on the door of the fourth stall on the right.
 
“Then you can head inside and get cleaned
up for dinner.”

“I’ll help you two finish
up.
 
I feel fine,” she assured him.

“Mother would kill me if she
could see you right now,” Marcus reminded his sister.
 
“As it is, I fully expect to be reprimanded by Grandmother.”

“Grandmother recognizes that
you’re a grown man.
 
She won’t say
a word,” Chase argued.
 
“If
anything, she’ll reprimand me for not knowing when to quit and come
inside.
 
Or she’ll talk about how
hideous it is to be a sunburned woman.
 
And what will society think?” she mocked pettily.

“Yes, I’ve noticed that
she’s been especially watchful of you lately.
 
That’s not like her.
 
What did you do to make her distrustful of you?
 
Were you sneaking off to the saloon
again to play cards?” Marcus joked.

“Of course I was.
 
I was supposed to be a young man, after
all,” she reminded him.

“Fair enough.
 
How did Reese do?” he asked with a
knowing smile.

She only grinned back at him
and opened the door to the stall.
 
The horse inside was stunning.
 
She was a chestnut brown with a white diamond on her forehead, between
her eyes.
 
“Hello, beautiful girl,”
she cooed to her.
 
Chase stepped
inside and reached out a hand, allowing the animal to smell her and get
accustomed to her.
 
Then she began
rubbing the side of her face.

“You like her?” Marcus
asked, leaning against the doorway of the stall.

“She’s beautiful,” she said,
smoothing her mane and rubbing her shoulders.

“I got her for you.
 
She arrived while I was gone.
 
Tom had to pick her up.”

Chase was speechless for a
moment.
 
“For me?” she finally
asked.
 
She pulled her head down
and looked into her black eyes.
 
She
could see my face reflected back, wide-eyed and smudged with dirt.

“Sure,” he answered simply.

“Does she have a name?”

“Name her whatever you’d
like.
 
Grandmother told me your
horse at home was Artemis.
 
Some
Greek queen or something.”

She smiled at his
ignorance.
 
“Artemis,” she said
softly, still stroking her smooth face, “is the Greek goddess of hunt.
 
She is the daughter of Zeus and the
twin sister of Apollo.
 
And unlike
her brother, she was chaste and independent.
 
She scorned marriage, preferring the company of a variety of
animals of the forest, animals that were sacred to her.”

Marcus shook his head.
 
“I can see why you like her,” he
laughed.
 

She looked at him and
smiled, reaching up to scratch Artemis between her ears.
 
“Thank you for her.”

“Take her for a ride.
 
We’ll finish up here.
 
Just make it back for dinner, or Elisa
will hunt you down.
 
And that is
one goddess you don’t want to anger,” he joked.

Tom silently helped her
saddle up Artemis.
 
She then
mounted and moved her slowly out of the stables.
 
They walked lazily for a little while, and then headed
across the ranch and away from the house.
 
They trotted through fields and ducked under the few occasional trees on
the ranch.
 
Her nostrils flared,
and she snorted with pleasure as she picked up some scent.

Chastity let her follow her
nose, and she came up short beside a good sized pond.
 
A couple of trees stood close by, providing some shade.
 
She dismounted and tied her to a
tree.
 
She kicked off her shoes,
peeled off her soaking wet socks, and pulled up her pantlegs.
 
The water was cool on her hot
feet.
 
It was easily the most
refreshing thing she’d felt all day.

She paused long enough to
check her surroundings before stripping out of her clothing and running into
the water.
 
It didn’t feel as cold
as it had at first; it was perfect.
 
She leaned her head back into the water and smoothed her hair back from her
face.
 
She was floating on her back
with the warm sun on her breasts and stomach, when a sound startled her.
 
She dipped low in the water, hoping
that whoever approached couldn’t see through the murky water.