Song of the Road (45 page)

“Don’t look so worried, my love.” She caressed his cheek with her fingertips. He turned his lips into her palm.

“I love you so damn much. I don’t want you to hurt.”

“You don’t have to stay, love. Ruby and Trudy will be here.”

“I’m staying with you. Don’t ask me to go.”

He was on his knees beside the bed for the next three hours, wiping her face, giving her his hand to pull on, whispering encouraging words.

“Don’t bite your lips,
querida.
Yell. It’s all right to yell.” Tears sparkled on the cheeks of both by the time the baby arrived. The doctor held him up for them to see. He was crying lustily.

“You’ve got a fine boy, Mary Lee. Big one. Must weigh all of nine pounds.” He took him to the kitchen, where Ruby washed him and wrapped him in a blanket. She brought him to Jake, who held him up for his mother to see.

Jake walked out with Doctor Morris when he was leaving. “Watch for excessive bleeding, Jake. I don’t expect it, but it’s best to be aware that it can happen.”

“I will, and thanks.”

“You’re very welcome. You were good, steady help in there.”

“I’ve seen quite a few foals come into the world. But it’s different when it’s your wife. I was scared to death!”

The doctor chuckled. “I could tell.”

“I’ll be in and make arrangements to pay.”

“We’ll make it as easy for you as we can.”

“I appreciate it.”

Mary Lee’s recuperative powers were amazing. The doctor wanted her to stay in bed for a week. She was up after five days when Jake was out of the house. Her shoulder was still sore, but she carried the baby on the other side. Everyone wanted to hold him. Eli swore that he smiled at him. Trudy didn’t have the heart to tell him that Scotty probably had a gas pain.

The cabins were full almost every night. Jake and Deke went back to work at Quitman’s. The news about Mary Lee’s kidnapping and what had occurred at Clawson’s ranch swept the area like wildfire. There had been no sighting of the man in the black car and the kid in the high boots. The sheriff reasoned that Mary Lee’s quick discovery in the shack and Lon Delano’s death had sent the pair scurrying out of the area.

Mary Lee enjoyed being slim again. She looked forward to the end of each day when her little family was alone. The first thing Jake would do when he came in at night was gather his wife into his arms, kiss her and run his hands down her back to hold her tightly against him.

“I miss something here,” he said, stroking her flat belly. “As soon as you’re able I’m going to put something back in there.”

Always he would go to the dresser drawer where Scotty lay and say hello to his son and talk nonsense to him, enormously pleased when the baby grabbed his finger and held on.

“Look, honey! Look how strong he is. He’s going to be a cowboy like his daddy.”

Eli was fascinated with the baby too. When he came home from school, he headed for the crib to see if Scotty had grown any during the day. Neither Eli or Jake could stand to hear him cry, and the baby soon learned that that was what he had to do to be picked up and rocked.

Deke’s courtship of Trudy was getting serious. They spent almost all their free time together — some of it in the cabin Deke and Jake had occupied until Jake moved into the house.

Jake had been wonderfully patient while holding Mary Lee at night. At times he trembled with wanting, but refused to satisfy his craving for her until after the full four weeks the doctor had suggested.

On this night, it was Mary Lee who initiated the consummation of their marriage. She locked her arms around his neck and whispered, “I want you.”

“Are you sure it’s all right?” His arms slid beneath her shoulders, and he pulled her to him. “Did I hurt your shoulder?”

“I only hurt in one place.” Her mouth touched his softly, gently, and moved against it. The muscles in his arms quivered as he gently held her. She could have backed away and he would have let her go.

“I’m not going to break, sweetheart. Hold me tight.”

A sigh trembled through him, and his lips moved against hers, seeking comfort. He lifted his head and rained tender kisses on her eyes, cheeks and throat. His hand moved to brush the tangled hair from her brow. His cheeks were pleasantly rough against her face.

Something deep within her was stirring.

His body was hard and big and warm. He cradled her to him with a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes. His hand roamed up and down her back, over her hips, raising the thin cotton cloth of her gown.

“Can I take it off?”

“You can do anything you want. I’m yours.”

Her nipples were buried in the fur on his chest, and her flat abdomen pressed tightly to his. Her ragged breathing was trapped inside her mouth by his kiss.

“Tell me if I hurt you,” he whispered urgently.

She couldn’t speak. Her palms slid over muscles and tight flesh as if she had to know every inch of him. His sex was large, rock-hard, and throbbing against the thigh pinned between his. She was awed that this big man trembled beneath her touch and yet demanded nothing she was not willing to give.

He turned her on her back. His bare leg swung over hers and held her softness pinned to the yielding mattress. His masculine scent filled her nostrils. His fingers wandered through tight curls to sink into warm wetness. The roughness of his tongue on the buds of her breasts sent thrills cascading through her.

“I want just a taste. I won’t rob our son of his dinner.” He nuzzled the soft mound with his lips.

She gave a small, strangled cry. Tremors shot through her in rocketing waves. She grabbed the thick wrist of the hand resting on her belly and pulled the exploring fingers from between her legs.

A low moan came from him. He supported himself on his forearms, cupped her head in his hands and tenderly kissed her face. She wrapped her arms around him, spread her legs so that his thighs could sink between them, and pulled his weight down on her.

He entered her. Cradled together they rocked from side to side. He took her mouth in hard, swift kisses.

“Jake . . .” She arched against him in sensual pleasure. “Am I hurting you,
querida
?” His cheek was pressed to hers, his words coming in an agonized whisper.

“No! My love, no.” Even now, he demanded nothing, gave everything. His concern brought tears to her eyes. He turned his head and caught them with the tip of his tongue, then found her mouth and kissed her with lips wet with her tears.

The spasms of pleasure that followed were like a gorgeous dance throughout her body. At times she felt as though an enormous wave were crashing over her. At other times the sensation was like a gentle wind caressing her. Her whole world centered in the man joined to her.

It was so wonderful! She was sure that the tip of him touched her very soul. She had never known such an exquisite feeling. It was an ecstasy too beautiful for words.

She wasn’t really aware of when it ended.

“Are you all right,
amor
? Was I too rough with you? I tried to keep control, but it slipped away and I lost myself in you.”

She smiled against his mouth. “You were wonderful!”

Afterward, lying side by side, they held each other while their bodies adjusted to the aftermath of passion. Her head rested on his arm; her arm was curled about his chest.

“I feel so good. I’m more contented and happy than I ever dreamed possible.”

“I’m glad,
mi bella querida.
”

She smiled against his chin and nipped it.

Mary Lee had never been happier. She couldn’t conceive of anything happening that would upset her world, but something beyond the realm of her imagination or Jake’s did happen the very next day.

Chapter 33

A
LL THE CABINS WERE RENTED FOR THE NIGHT
except one when Mary Lee set the last dish on the supper table. Jake had been holding Scotty and watching her. It was still hard for him to believe that she was his and that this baby they had called Gaston was his. He loved her so damn much. It scared him that one small slip of a girl was the sum and substance of his life.

He got up to put Scotty in the makeshift crib that rested on two kitchen chairs beside the table.

“You don’t want to be off in that room by yourself, do you, cowboy?” Jake wiped the drool from the baby’s chin. “You want to be in here where you can see what’s going on.”

Mary Lee, watching her husband and child, looked at Eli, rolled her eyes and winked.

When their plates were filled, Eli began telling them about an event that happened at school.

“This kid got all smarty, and I said either shut up or I’ll shut you up. That’s no way to talk to a girl. I didn’t want to have to —” He paused to listen when he heard a car drive in and stop beside the porch. “I’ll go. Maybe we’ll be filled up again tonight.”

A few minutes later, he was back at the kitchen door.

“Someone to see you, Jake.”

Jake left the table, stopped behind Mary Lee’s chair and dropped a kiss on her forehead, then went through the house to the front door and out onto the porch.

“Hello, Jake. Remember me, Junior Miller?” The short, stocky man in the white shirt and tie held out his hand. Jake ignored it.

“How could I forget? You handled the case that sent me to prison.”

“It was my job. The men who testified against you sent you to prison. I’m not here about that. My father is in the car. He’d like to speak to you. He doesn’t get around very well anymore or he’d have come to the door.”

“Is he willing to take my case and clear my name?”

“You’ll have to talk to him about that.”

Junior Miller led the way to the car and opened the door. Mr. Miller turned sideways on the seat and held out his hand.

“Hello, Jake. I’ve not seen you since you were a scrawny kid. You’ve grown to be quite a man.”

“Time makes a difference, Mr. Miller.” Jake shook the offered hand.

The old man laughed. “Truer words were never spoken. Seems like yesterday that I was a young buck like you. I hear you married Scott Finley’s daughter. I never knew her, but her daddy was a fine man.”

“He raised a fine daughter.”

“I guess you heard that Ocie Clawson is home and in a rolling chair. Damn shame what Delano did to him, but at least he’s alive.”

“Did he send you here to tell us that he’s going to try and claim my wife’s son?”

“No. But I’ve been out to see him. His spirits are pretty low right now.”

“I can believe that.”

“Jake, I have something of interest to you and to Ocie. I’d ask you to come to my office, but the damn stairs are hard for me to climb and impossible for Ocie. So I’d like you to meet me at the Clawson ranch about ten in the morning.”

Jake was shaking his head before Mr. Miller finished speaking. “I won’t go there. The only reason I went before was that I was desperate to find Mary Lee after his foreman had her kidnapped. In case you’ve forgotten, it was Ocie and his men who are responsible for the jailbird tag attached to my name.”

“I understand your bitterness, but it would be to your advantage to meet with me and Ocie tomorrow. He has paid for trusting Lon Delano.”

“What’s he cooking up now?”

“He has no idea why we are coming. Bring your wife. It’s important to her too.”

“I won’t have him upsetting my wife by insisting our son is a Clawson. We married before that baby was born, and by law he’s my son.”

“I promise you that Ocie will not berate your wife.”

Jake looked into the old man’s eyes and remembered his kindness when, as a kid, he had visited his office with Temple.

“All right, but I’ll miss a half day’s work.”

Mr. Miller seemed to sigh with relief. “See you in the morning.” He closed the car door, and Junior drove out onto the highway.

Jake watched them leave. He was puzzled and a little bit worried. He couldn’t imagine what business would concern both himself and Ocie. He went back into the house to discuss it with Mary Lee.

The next morning, Mary Lee worried all the way out to the Clawson ranch that Ocie was going to raise a to-do about her son’s name. On the birth certificate it was Ramero and not Clawson. Well, it did not matter. Her baby’s name was Scott Jacob Ramero, and Ramero it would stay.

Jake worried that Ocie would want Mary Lee and Scotty to come live with him, and even offer him a job to entice them to come. No way in hell was he ever going to work for Ocie Clawson.

Mary Lee placed her hand on his thigh. “I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Whatever it is, we’ll see it through together.” He took his hand off the wheel and clasped hers tightly.

She had never been to the Circle C and was impressed with the sprawling house with its long verandah and the buildings that surrounded it. She was still gazing at it when Jake stopped the truck beside Mr. Miller’s car and came around to take the baby so that she could get out.

“It’s pretty here.”

“Yeah. When I was a kid it was like a castle that was off limits to me. I hated it then.”