Sweet Annie Part 26

"I never realized what a consuming occupation you have," Eldon said with a frown.

"It'll be better when I can afford some help," Luke replied. "Until then, it's just me. Burt puts in a few hours a week as a favor. He's more of a friend than an employee."

Annie joined Luke as he returned to the livery and handled the customers and the horses with his jacket removed and his s.h.i.+rtsleeves rolled back. She sat on a bench in her plaid shawl and watched him agilely reach and bend to harness animals and hook them to the buggies. He made the tasks look like a work of art, the symmetry and motion pleasing to the eye.

Studying the clean lines of his body and the suspenders that crossed his wide back, she allowed herself to think of the skin and muscle beneath the clothing, and before long she had to remove her shawl. At last he closed the wide double doors, leaving the two of them in shaded seclusion.

"I'll be right back." He returned in a clean s.h.i.+rt, his coat hung over his shoulder on one finger. "Glad I left a few s.h.i.+rts here. I'll have to remember to keep one or two in the back. I'm sure your mother doesn't appreciate the smell of horse the way you do." A grin inched up one corner of his mouth.

Annie got to her feet and stepped forward to kiss him.

"Well," he said when the pa.s.sionate embrace ended and his eyes had darkened to a sultry blue. "I missed you, too."

She pressed herself against his solid frame, gloried in the masculine feel of his body and his immediate response. Some days the happiness was more than she could contain, more than one person could hold in a lifetime, and she thanked her lucky stars.

Luke tossed his coat on the bench with her shawl, brought his hands up her back, caressed her through her clothing, slid to the front where the hard nubs of her nipples poked against her dress and made an impatient sound low in his throat.

"I wish we were at home," she said, placing her hands over his and closing her eyes. The way he made her feel was like an opiate that made her blood run hot, and she couldn't seem to get enough of that sweet indulgence. She'd discovered something she was graceful at, something that made her feel beautiful. Luke might have to compensate for her lack of agility on a dance floor, might have to carry her across a rutted street and give her balance when she climbed stairs, but there was nothing clumsy about the way she made love with him.

"There's still a bed in the back," he reminded her, his eager lips blazing a path of keen sensation down her neck.

Her skin tingled and her breath caught. "We'll be late."

He touched his tongue to her ear. "They expect us to be late."

She leaned back, gave him a sensual smile, and he swept her into his arms and strode toward the back of the building.

She unb.u.t.toned her dress while he knelt at her feet and removed her shoes and stockings, kissing the bare skin of her revealed limbs. She let her dress fall and he helped her step out of the pool of fabric, then grazed the sensitive backs of her knees and her calves slowly, maddeningly. He ran his palms up, caressing flesh through her pantaloons. She untied the drawers quickly and he stripped them down, then kneaded her bottom.

Annie tugged her chemise over her head. "You still have your clothes on."

He stood behind her and pressed his clothed body against her bare skin, cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and teased the crests with his long strong fingers. "Observant of you."

With disturbing slowness he rubbed her nipples while kissing the back of her neck, her shoulders, her ear, whispering love words and letting her feel his arousal through his clothing.

Annie's senses were spiraling in ever mounting tension.

"How did I ever get such a beautiful wife?" he asked, nipping her ear.

Annie s.h.i.+vered and turned in his arms to face him. "I feel beautiful with you."

He lowered his head until his hot moist mouth found her nipple, and he pulled her against his clothed body. How utterly amazing that she had this effect on a man like him. She slid her knee up between his thighs. Making a sound that sent a frisson of heat down her belly, he stroked her bare back and bottom, pulling her flush against him. He kissed her hard.

Annie pulled away and watched his reaction. His gaze smoldered and his breathing changed, gratifying Annie immeasurably. It was her he desired-her body and her touches that made him whisper her name and shudder with sensation.

She went to work on the b.u.t.tons on his pants, and he cursed in his frustration to remove them quickly. Peeling open his s.h.i.+rt, she admired the strength and tone of his magnificent body, pressed him back upon the bed and took her fill of admiring and stroking until he clenched his jaw and grabbed her wrists.

With a minimum of words and the gentle coaxing of his work-roughened hands, he showed her she could sit astride him and freely control movement and cadence.

When her limbs trembled, he helped her with strong hands and arms, spoke energy and pa.s.sion, bracketed her hips firmly and bore the last exerting efforts himself.

Annie lay upon his chest, his heart thudding beneath her breast, feeling as though she had no bones left in her body. The last thing she wanted to do was dress and go see her parents, but the obligation remained.

She sat and pulled together the open front of the s.h.i.+rt he still wore. "I think you'll need another s.h.i.+rt. This one seems to be wrinkled."

"I guess I'll need to keep a larger supply," he chuckled.

They dressed and he escorted her to the buggy he'd left waiting outside, all the while sharing sensual smiles and touches.

Her stomach quivered when they reached the Sweet.w.a.ter home-her home for as long as she'd been alive, but it had never felt as warm and welcoming as the modest dwelling Luke had built for her.

Mort and Burdell and her father sat on the porch in their wool jackets, Will playing at their feet. When Will saw Annie making her way up the stairs with Luke's a.s.sistance, he jumped up to greet her. She bent and scooped him into her arms for a hug.

"I'd better go see if they need help in the kitchen," she said, placing the child on his feet.

"I think it's ready," her father replied. "We were just waiting for you."

"Oh." She turned aside, ignoring Luke's eyes, and stepped into the house before she could blush.

Luke held open the screen and followed. Annie showed him where to hang his coat on the hall tree beside hers.

"You're here!" Diana called from the dining room. "Just in time. I'll tell Glenda to serve."

Mildred and Aunt Vera's table conversation ceased and Annie's mother gave no indication that she'd noticed their arrival-shockingly poor manners from a woman who prided herself on social graces.

Vera, however, bridged the awkward moment by standing and hurrying forward to hug Annie. She included Luke in her warm welcome, and he seemed caught off guard, his tanned cheeks infused with color.

Charmaine and Glenda came from the kitchen wearing smiles and ap.r.o.ns and greeted them. Before long the family was seated around the table. Glenda served and Eldon carved the beef. Annie caught Luke staring at his arrangement of silverware, and she deliberately picked up a fork, indicating he should select the same one.

He raised a brow and widened his blue eyes comically as he picked up the utensil she'd suggested. She giggled and covered her mouth with her napkin.

Mort included Luke in the conversation, asking about feed prices and the completion of the house. Annie appreciated her uncle's kindness, but then he'd always liked Luke, so his behavior was natural.

"I'd like to see it now that it's finished," Aunt Vera said, her expression animated.

"Oh, me, too!" Charmaine added.

"Well, I'm still making curtains," Annie said. "We need a few rugs, too, I was hoping to find a pattern."

"I can show you how to braid rugs," Vera said.

"Don't buy fabric," Diana added. "I have boxes of sc.r.a.ps that were my mother's in the attic."

"Thank you, both of you!" Annie said, pleased at their generosity.

"Come see the place anytime," Luke said to Mort. "How about next Sunday afternoon? You're all welcome," he said, including Annie's parents and brother.

Charmaine met Annie's gaze, grinned and clapped her hands like a little girl. "I can't wait!"

"I have to meet with one of the Simpson brothers," Burdell said. "And the only time he has to spare is on Sundays."

"You've been putting that off for a month," Diana said. "Another week won't hurt anything." She turned to Luke. "We'll be there. After dinner?"

Luke confirmed the time.

"We don't have chairs yet, but when we do-and when I learn to cook-" Annie began and her words were met by chuckles "-then we'll have you to dinner." She joined in their laughter good-naturedly.

"Tell us where you've placed all your lovely gifts," Charmaine prodded.

Annie eagerly shared her excitement over their wedding gifts, though her mother stood and carried a few dishes to the kitchen instead of listening.

Annie watched her leave, her rejection a returning hurt. Beneath the edge of the linen tablecloth Luke took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

Annie noticed Diana giving Burdell a compelling look, and he folded his napkin and placed it beside his plate, then leaned on his elbows and laced his fingers. "We have some exciting news ourselves."

"What is it, Son?" Eldon asked.

"In the spring there will be another Sweet.w.a.ter in the family," Burdell announced proudly.

Dark eyes bright and her cheeks pink, Diana surveyed the reactions of the family members.

A chorus of congratulations went up around the table.

"Will, you're going to have a baby brother or sister," Annie said to her nephew, and he grinned, simply because she was speaking to him animatedly.

"This calls for a toast," Eldon said and hurried toward the root cellar where he kept a supply of wines for special occasions.

Annie was happy for her brother and sister-in-law. They were wonderful parents and it would be good for Will to have a playmate. She'd always wished she'd had more siblings to keep her company. She tried to gauge her mother's reaction, but the woman seemed indifferent to everything these days.

Sometime later, after the dishes were cleared away and the family members argued their plans for the afternoon, Annie overheard Mort say in a low tone to her father, "Give the boy a chance, Eldon. He's a fine young fella, and he makes your daughter happy. Even you can see that."

Annie paused just inside the doorway to the hall and listened.

"It's going to take some time," her father replied. "I have to live with Mildred the rest of my life, you realize, and she has a blind spot where Annie is concerned."

"I don't understand it," Mort said. "Sometimes she doesn't seem like the same sister I grew up with. Back then she let her hair down once in a while."

"Maybe you could speak with her." Her father's voice sounded hopeful.

"When's the last time you remember her givin' me the time of day? I decided to be a rancher, remember? Not a banker or an attorney or a statesman. As far as she's concerned I threw our father's inheritance away buying land."

"You didn't hesitate to say something to me."

Mort was silent a moment. "You and I are different, Eldon, but we respect each other. Mildred doesn't respect me."

"She loves you, in her own way."

"Maybe."

They moved toward the outer door, and Annie returned to the kitchen. That evening, she told Luke what she'd overheard.

"I'm sorry," he told her. He'd built a fire against the chill wind sweeping down off the mountains and they snuggled on a pile of blankets. "I know you're hurt. But it doesn't bother me. Really."

"It bothers me. Why can't she be happy for me?" she asked, aware of the tremor in her voice. "She just can't see me as a-a normal person-or as a grown-up for that matter."

Her mother's treatment hurt, but as always, Luke's caring touch brought her comfort.

The following Sunday, Annie prepared them a quick lunch after church, then baked two pies from dried fruit Aunt Vera had given her. When their company arrived, Annie scanned the Renlows' wagon and found her mother absent.

"Your mother had a headache," Eldon said, apologetically.

Annie hugged him. "Thank you for coming."

Luke had stoked a blazing fire, and Annie had pulled their few chairs as well as several crates around the hearth. She saw to it that Diana sat in her comfortable chair, then made coffee on the stove and tea in the china pot she'd purchased. Proudly, she served her warm pies on their new blue-and-white china plates.

"You made this?" Her father looked up from his dessert, obviously skeptical. He glanced at Luke.

"Yes," Annie replied. "I can do a lot of things now, Daddy."

"I worry about you being way out here alone while Luke is at the livery."

"There are horses if I needed anything," she replied.

"And you could ride one of them?" Burdell asked, glancing from Annie to Luke.

"Luke's been teaching me how to saddle Wrangler and how to hook him up to the traces on the wagons."

"Is that safe?" Eldon asked, addressing Luke.

"Not knowin' how to do something right is what makes it dangerous," her husband replied. "Annie can do anything she sets her mind to."

Charmaine glanced from Luke to Annie and sighed.

Annie surveyed her father and brother and her husband all eating pie under the same roof and a tide of emotion overcame her. There had been a time when even this much had seemed impossible, and now it had come to pa.s.s. There was still hope for friends.h.i.+ps to develop, for bonds to strengthen...and for her mother to come around.

Over the weeks that followed Annie learned to ride and hitch teams and how to put the animals away properly, how to groom, feed and water them. She learned how much coffee to place in the pot and not to salt bacon gravy. She discovered that a handful of baking soda would put out a fire in a frying pan and that Luke had a fondness for dumplings.

When she made a mistake, Luke laughed and encouraged her to try again. She also learned innumerable ways a man and woman could please each other. Wrapped in his arms each night, she gloried in his soft murmurs, found ways to make him sigh and groan and shudder, as well as ways to elicit laughter.... Sometimes they'd barely slept before morning came, crisp and cold, and Luke would start a fire and heat the stove.

Most mornings she cooked him breakfast before he left, but a few times breakfast was forgotten when he returned to bed and snuggled against her beneath the covers, then had to grab his coat and a cold bite of food and run to break the thin layer of ice on the stock tanks, feed the horses and leave for the livery.

Annie sewed beside the fire, comfortably settled in her new upholstered chair, turning out s.h.i.+rtwaists and dresses and dressing gowns ordered by the women of Copper Creek and even several customers from surrounding towns as word spread of her expertise with a needle and thread.

The following month she made enough on her own to pay the bank note and had never experienced such a sense of pride and worth. She rode to Fort Parker with Luke, and he insisted she be the one to enter the bank and present the payment. She returned to him on the boardwalk, the receipt clasped in her gloved hand.

"Thank you, Luke," she choked, the frigid December wind freezing tears on her lashes.

"Don't thank me always," he said, pulling her against the thick wool of his coat. "We're a team, Annie."