Wild Montana Nights (19 page)

touch her to be sure she was still there. When he opened the door, he smelled the coffee on the stove. Marcus must have made it for him

knowing he would be freezing when he got inside. No sooner had he

closed the door behind him when Darla appeared in a layer of clothes

topped by sweats.

“Hey, you look frozen solid. You stayed out there too long,” she

fussed.

He found himself surrendering to her ministrations as she pulled

off his coat and hung it up. He pulled off the gloves, but she unwound the scarf from around his neck and lower face.

“Hmmm, you haven’t shaved in several days. The scarf is stuck to

your beard.” She smiled up into his eyes, and his heart nearly burst with the love he felt for her.

“How about you pour me some coffee, and I’ll pull off my

boots?” he suggested.

Suddenly, he didn’t want to see all that love. Maybe later when he

was prepared for it, but right now, it hurt to look at it. He pulled off
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his boots and shoved his feet into the loafers. Darla brought him a hot cup of coffee and led him to the living room.

“You sit down and get warm by the fire. I’m cooking breakfast. It

should be ready soon.”

She walked back to the kitchen and out of sight. He frowned down

into his cup and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

Who was he kidding? She wouldn’t want to marry them and live like

this for months at a time. If they didn’t ask her, she would probably want to leave anyway at the first sign of spring.

He sipped the coffee and winced. Not only was it hot, but it was

bitter. He smiled. At least he had coffee. When it had been just them last winter, they went without more than they had it. They kept

meaning to get instant coffee just for something to drink that was hot but never remembered when the time came to go into town and get

supplies.

He heard something coming from the kitchen and strained to hear

what it was. The soft notes of Darla humming to herself reached his

ears. It didn’t sound like she was all that unhappy with everything. He shrugged and relaxed into the couch with his feet propped on the air

mattress toward the fire.

A few minutes later, she returned with a plate piled high with eggs

and bacon. He sat up straight and took the proffered plate with

appreciation.

“Man, this looks good. I feel like I can eat it all, but I’m not so

sure I can.”

“Eat what you can. You need it. Someone once told me that you

needed all the fuel you can get to stay warm out here,” she said in a playful voice.

He lightly thumped her nose, and she laughed, leaning away from

him.

“Do you think I should call for Marcus to come in and eat?” she

asked.

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“I don’t want you opening that door for any reason. You’ll catch

your death dressed like you are.” He hadn’t meant to sound so rough,

but he wanted to be sure she didn’t chance it.

“Okay, I wasn’t going to go out, just shout from the door, but I

won’t open the freaking door either.” She frowned at him and

stomped off.

He ground his teeth in frustration. He knew better than to yell at

her. She’d as much as told him not to, and he’d done it anyway. He

carried his plate into the kitchen where she was cleaning up the stove.

“Look, I’m sorry, Darla. I didn’t mean to yell at you. It just scares me that you won’t realize how dangerous it can be to get frostbite.”

He put the plate on the table and walked over to stand behind her.

She didn’t turn around, but kept wiping at the stove with the dish

cloth. “Fine. I understand. I won’t open the door. It’s too dangerous.”

He heaved out a sigh and using her shoulders, turned her around

to look at him. The tears in her eyes nearly broke his heart. He pulled her into a hug and ran his hand over her hair in a soothing motion. It soothed him even if it didn’t sooth her.

“I’m sorry, baby. Please don’t cry. I really didn’t mean to snap at

you. I guess it’s all getting to me. Between the blasted weather and

the horse going down, I’m snappish.”

She sniffed and nodded her head. Randall pulled back and made

sure she was okay before he let her go. She gave him a watery smile

and pulled out of his arms. He held her there just a little longer and said the words.

“I love you, Darla. I wouldn’t hurt you on purpose for anything.”

She just stared at him for a minute then smiled back at him. “I

love you, too. Now go and finish your breakfast. It’s probably ice cold by now.”

He squeezed her one last time and returned to the table where he

sat down and ate. She was right. It was ice cold.

* * * *

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A few minutes later, the lights came back on.

“Guess Marcus turned on the generator. He probably wants a bath

and doesn’t want it to be in a cold house,” Randall said around the

bacon in his mouth.

“I’ll start his food then. He can eat first.” Darla hurried over to the stove and turned it back on.

She added strips of bacon to the pan going in the oven and

whipped up more eggs to scramble. About the time she poured the

mixture into the skillet, Marcus walked in with a stream of icy cold in his wake. He grunted and shoved the door closed behind him.

“What? No heat? I turned on the freaking generator at least two

minutes ago.”

“Ha ha,” Randall said.

“I’ve got your breakfast just about ready. Unwrap and sit down.

I’ll pour you some coffee.” Darla fussed around until she had his

breakfast sitting on the table in front of him.

She returned to the stove to clean it once again. Though she had

told Randall it was okay about his yelling at her, she still felt a little sick at her stomach about it. She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so

much unless it was because she did love him and didn’t want him

angry with her. She’d told him she loved him back. Now she needed

to tell Marcus as well. She couldn’t just blurt it out in the middle of his breakfast, but she couldn’t say it during sex either. He wouldn’t take her seriously.

She was so busy thinking that she yelped when Marcus suddenly

grabbed her and hugged her.

“Thanks for breakfast. It was great.” He kissed her, and then,

looking down in her eyes, he said, “I love you, Darla. More than

anything, I love you.”

Her throat closed up with tears once again, but this time they were

happy tears. She sniffed and squeezed him back.

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“I love you, too, Marcus. I really do.” He laughed and twirled her

around.

She held on for dear life. When he stopped she had to hold on to

keep from falling. Again a sick feeling developed in the pit of her

stomach. It passed though once the dizziness was over.

“I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be back down in a little bit,” he

said, giving her one last kiss.

When he’d left the kitchen and the sound of his boots on the stairs

disappeared, Randall laughed.

“I think you’ve made him the second happiest man in Montana,”

Randall told her.

She blushed and sat down across the table from him. He looked

tired, she thought. There were shadows under his eyes and lines at his mouth. The cold weather was taking its toll on him. When Marcus

came back down after his shower, she would have to look and see if

he had the same shadows and lines. It was a hard life even in modern

times. It would mean she would have to be tough as well.

“Let’s go watch TV while we have the generator going,” Randall

suggested.

“You go on, and I’ll be right there. Let me get these dishes in the

dishwasher so I can run it while it can.”

Randall nodded and left her to her thoughts. Many of them were

jumbled up in her mind. Like the fact that she loved two men at one

time. Then there was her ex-fiancé and how he’d treated her.

She’d expected to marry him, and when she realized that wasn’t

going to happen because he’d lied to her, it had nearly broken her.

The fact that it hadn’t only proved that she hadn’t really been in love with him at all. Could she trust her heart to know the real thing or

not? Was there really a way to love two men equally? She felt the

same amount of love for each of them, but it was different for each of them.

With Marcus, she loved his general good-natured demeanor and

the way he made her laugh. With Randall, she loved how he made her

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feel safe and cherished. He was someone she could depend on to do

what was best. Both men appealed to different parts of her. Each held a special place in her heart.

She finished up with the dishes and turned the dishwasher on to

run while they watched TV. Marcus had returned and was sitting in

the living room on the opposite end of the couch from Randall. When

she sat in the middle, they each moved over and sandwiched her in

between them. Here she felt safe and secure and happy.

The weather came on, and they patiently waited for them to get to

Montana and what they could expect. It looked like clear for the next few days with no expected snowfall for the remainder of the week.

“Thank God.” Randall breathed out.

“So how long until it starts to melt?” she asked.

Randall and Marcus looked at each other over her head.

“It doesn’t really melt, Darla. Some of it will go away, but for the

most part, it doesn’t get above freezing at all during the winter,”

Marcus explained.

“We’ll be able to go into town in a few days, but for now, it’s just

us and the hands,” Randall told her.

“Oh. Goodness, I need more books to read then,” she said.

“Told you that you would,” Marcus teased her.

“You can get some when we go into town. Start another grocery

list of what you need. It may be the last time we get there for awhile,”

Randall told her.

“What do you all do when you can’t go anywhere, but it’s not

actually snowing?” she asked.

Marcus laughed. “Well, we used to work outside some and then

inside some. Then we watched a lot of movies on DVDs. Now, I think

we might spend a good part of it in bed.” He laughed when she

slapped his arm.

“Seriously!” He insisted.

She shook her head then turned to Randall. “Since it’s not actively

snowing and it’s sunny outside tomorrow, will you take me around to

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see the horses and cows? I’ve never seen Montana cows. I want to see

if they look any different than Mississippi cows.”

They smirked and tried to hide their laughs but didn’t succeed.

“You two are terrible.” She turned back to Randall. “Well? Can

I?”

“We’ll see how cold it is tomorrow around noon. If it isn’t too

cold for the clothes you have, we’ll make a quick run through for you to see the cows,” he agreed.

“And the horses,” she reminded him.

“And the horses,” he said.

* * * *

Several days later, after the snow plows had cleared the roads to

town, one of the hands ran the mini-dozer they had up and down the

drive so they could get to the street. Darla woke up not feeling well for the second day in a row. She’d quickly gotten over the sick

feeling, and it didn’t come back the rest of the day. Now, once again, she felt ill. She hadn’t said anything to the men. She’d managed to

make their breakfast without throwing up. She would do it again.

An hour later, the men thundered down the staircase and into the

kitchen. They took turns hugging and kissing her as if they hadn’t

seen her in days. It all made her feel loved and cherished, but was a little hard to take with the way she was feeling. She swatted away

their hands and turned back to the stove.

“Uh-oh, must be coming up on that time of the month,” Marcus

teased.

Randall laughed. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be saying anything,

little brother.”

Darla nearly dropped the egg she was holding. Dear Lord. Her

period. She hadn’t had one last week.

Oh, God. Could I be pregnant? Surely not after only a couple of

weeks. Besides, we used condoms.

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She sighed and assured herself that she couldn’t be. It was all the

changes in her life that had her off schedule.

After breakfast, the men bundled her up within an inch of

smothering her and led her outside to the truck. Randall had already

started it and left it running to get warm. By the time they managed to shove her into the truck, she was already sweating from the thick

layers.

“I’m going to suffocate if you don’t let me pull some of this off in

the truck,” she complained.

“I’m not taking a chance you get sick. It’s dangerous. You’re not

use to this kind of weather yet.” Randall climbed in on the driver’s

side and checked her seat belt.

She felt like a little girl with all their hovering. She pouted just for good measure when Marcus settled in beside her grinning.

“Oh, stop it,” she fussed.

“Stop what?” Marcus asked with an innocent look.

“Smirking.”

“You look so cute. All trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey,” he

chuckled.

“Just wait till you are hungry again. See if I fix you anything