"Trying to sort things out, I guess. C'mon back inside."
She raised her head from its comforting position. She looked, up, past the strong chin and determined mouth to his dark brown eyes looking down at her with a coaxing look. Struggling against the temptation give in and let nature take its course, Joey looked away. "I don't want to."
He lifted her chin with a long forefinger, forcing her to meet his gaze again. "Chicken?"
"Cluck, cluck," she murmured, trying for levity and failing.
"C'mon, honey. Show 'em what you're made of."
"Chicken feathers?"
He quirked that lip, and bent his mouth to her ear. "Softest damn stuffing I've ever cuddled up to in bed."
She pushed at his chest. "You're not making this easy for me."
"I'll do whatever it takes, Joey."
His positive statement rocked her. "Why?" she cried, feeling the question torn from deep inside her.
His chest expanded as he took a deep breath. "Damned if I know, honey. By all rights, we should call it quits. Common sense tells me that you're right. We don't have a thing in common, nothing to base a marriage on. You love all the soft things. I don't know if I can give them to you."
"Then why bother with it?" she asked bitterly. "Why keep up the charade?"
"I wish to hell I knew."
She stiffened at his words and made to move away, but he tightened his grip on her. "I saw how Sam and Betty treated you. They won't make it easy for us. Your Mom shakes her head every time she sees me. And, you-—"
"What about me?" she whispered.
"Despite what you said the other night, you're fighting me every step of the way."
She couldn't deny the truth of his words. His family didn't like her. Mom was upset, and who knew how Poppa would take it? And, then, oh Lord, her kids. How would Ellen and Greg react? What would they say to her? Greg was certain to have a fit. She didn't even want to think about that.
"I don't need the rest of the week to decide. I know what I have to do."
"What?"
"I want a divorce just as fast as we can get one."
He stepped away from her so quickly she lost her balance and almost stumbled. Recovering, she stared at him. With his fists propped on his lean hips, shoulders and head bent to her, she didn't need the muscle popping in his jaw to tell her he was angry.
"No." Said flatly, uncompromisingly.
"But, Cole—"
"I gave you a week and I don't want to hear anything more about this until the week is up. There's five days left."
"That's silly! I'm not going to change my mind."
He turned on his heel, hiked down to the end of the porch and stared out at his land. She stayed where she was, wishing she could go and lay her head against his shoulder and promise everything would be all right. She couldn't make that promise.
He turned his head once to look at her, then swept his gaze out again over the outbuildings, sturdy wooden corrals and rolling foothills leading up to the lushly forested mountains beyond. She thought he was doing more than taking stock.
He was drawing strength from his land. More than once, she'd thought he was as strong and as rooted as the land, and watching him now, she knew she was right. Whatever else he was, Cole Lassiter was as much Montana as the Beaverhead Mountains he faced.
She waited, feeling his tension from a distance, rubbing her arms against the chill breeze. September only, but winter wasn't far away. It would be colder, harder, more dangerous than any she'd ever experienced. Shivering as though she felt the snowy winds already, Joey waited.
At last he came back to her, his long strides making short work of the porch. He didn't touch her, yet she felt the heat of his body warming every inch of her. Raising her eyes to his, she guessed what he would say.
"Forget the week, Joey. That was a crazy idea, and I'm breaking my word on it."
"So you agree to the divorce?"
"Hell, no!"
"But--you promised--"
"So sue me. Breach of promise." He laughed harshly. "That's over and done with it. We're married. Forget what people are saying. This is just you and me, honey. And I say we can make it. I know we have a chance. I want that. I want you to move out here with me, bring your kids up and give us a chance to work things out."
She raised a hand to her breast as though she could calm her heart from the outside. "You're crazy," she mumbled, even as something wild and hopeful exploded within her. She'd known he'd say that. How could she have known? Was she testing him?
"Crazy, or not, that's the way it's gonna be."
"Now you just wait one minute, Cole Lassiter!" Testing him or not, she still had to stand by her decision. "Where do you get off laying down the law? Even those cows over there know better than that!"
"Cows, huh?" he said with an amused look to his eye. "Cattle," he said, stressing the word, "go where they're led. You want to compare yourself to them?"
"Uh, no, of course not. It was only a figure of speech," she said. "It doesn't change a thing. I'm not going to stay married to you."
"Wanta bet?" He advanced a step.
She retreated. "This is not a betting matter. We're talking about a very important step here. It could change the rest of our lives!"
"Damn right it will." He took two more paces, she backed up three until she was pinned by the porch rail.
"I don't have to listen to this!" She protested both his will and the yearning to give in, to agree to anything he wanted. Feverishly, she fought the growing desire to throw herself into his arms. "I'll get a lawyer and get out of this sham of a marriage so fast it'll make your head spin!"
"Now here's what we're gonna do, Mrs. Lassiter," he growled as he pressed against her softer, more resilient body. "We're going to town, get your things, and move you back here by sundown. I've got a hankering to have you in my bed tonight."
"Didn't you hear what I said?" she said breathlessly, her lungs compressed by the weight of his body. "This is coercion. I don't want to be married to you!"
"You don't know what you want."
"Of course, I do--"
He cut off her protest by pushing his groin against hers.
His erection against her belly made her remember how it had felt to have him deep in her, hot and hungry and demanding everything from her in response. She sucked in her stomach. "This is just what I meant the other night. You think you can convince me by using your body. Well, I won't let you! You're overbearing, dominant, aggressive-—"
"Damn right," he agreed, bending his head to hers.
"Stop this! I won't be bullied."
"Shut up." His breath warmed her lips in gusts. His heat enflamed her.
She turned her face away, but his lips came closer, nuzzling her cheek, her jaw and the soft underside of her chin until helplessly, she moved the fraction of an inch necessary to meet his lips. His mouth closed over hers, blotting out everything but him and the wild, frenzied passion between them.
"You're crazy," she repeated in a squeak when eons later, he at last lifted his head.
"You're driving me there. Now, are you ready to see the rest of the place?"
"I'm ready to go back to Dillon." She tried to keep her voice firm. "Will you get my mother?"
"Sure. I'll explain everything to her."
"Don't you dare!" she called after his retreating back. "I'm not moving out here."
She heard his laugh, then nothing for enough time to make her nervous. What was going on in there? She started for the door, and had one foot inside when she heard voices coming down the hall.
"I think that's a good idea," Marie was saying. "You and Joey need some time to get things straightened out."
Oh, Mom, you, too?
"Yup. I've had enough slinking around. It's time we faced things and moved on."
How had Cole managed to persuade her mother? Halted by a sudden thought, she realized she'd been on the verge of giving in. Well, no more of that. If Cole thought he could use her mother to help convince her, he had another think coming. When they reached her, Joey snapped, "Well, I see you arranged everything between you."
Cole nodded in satisfaction. "Marie agrees with me."
"Oh, fine. I hope you'll be very happy together."
"Joey?" Marie's voice was puzzled. "What's got into you? I thought you'd want to settle things between you."
"I just told Cole I wanted a divorce as quickly as possible. Didn't he mention that little fact to you?"
"Well, no." Marie shot Cole a confused glance.
"I didn't think so. He ignores what he doesn't want to hear."
Cole took her elbow. "That's enough, Joey. If you're mad, take it out on me, not your mother."
Joey shook her elbow free. "Mad? I've gone way past mad. I'm all the way into furious. I just can't believe you two would cozy up like this. Who do you think you are, both of you, making my decisions for me?"
"All right, honey. We'll discuss this after we get Marie back to the hospital."
"Let's go, then. The sooner we end this, the better."
The return trip to Dillon took forever, Joey thought, squashed up as she was against the passenger door. She'd refused to sit next to Cole, afraid she couldn't control the urge to haul off and sock him one in good ol' Western style.
He parked his truck next to the RV and followed them inside. He sprawled comfortably on the couch while Joey and Marie disappeared into Marie's bedroom and shut the door. He could hear the rise and fall of their whispers, but he couldn't make the words out. Standing when Marie came back into the living area, he gestured at the bedroom. "How's Joey?"
"Mad. I'm going over to see Frank. Why don't you come over in a little while and see him?"
"You think he's strong enough to hear about us?"
Marie considered that. "I'll let you know. If he isn't, you won't do anything to upset him?"
"You got it."
A few minutes later, expecting Joey to come out of the bedroom now that Marie had gone, Cole wandered down the short hall. He paused in the doorway, looking in at Joey curled up on the bed, facing away from him.
He sat on the end of the mattress and put his hand on her ankle. She jerked her leg away. "Don't be like this, honey."
She bolted upright. "Don't honey me!"
"Why aren't you packing?"
"You seriously believe I'm going to move out to the ranch?"
He nodded.
"What on earth good would that do? Let's just call it quits and be done with it, okay?"
He blew out his breath. This called for some serious talk, and he didn't know if he was capable of that, not when her breasts were jiggling up and down under that pink Western shirt. He wanted to peel it off her and kiss those lovely breasts and the rest of her exciting, ardent body until the tops of their heads blew off. He touched her again, gentling her down like he would a nervous filly.
"Look, hon—I mean, Joey. I can see you're upset," he hesitated when she rolled her eyes and muttered a rude word, then went doggedly on. This was too important to let go. "Maybe I came on too strong, maybe I insulted you. If I did, I'm sorry for it. But I'm not sorry about us. Believe that if you won't believe anything else."
"I can't understand why this is so important to you," she whispered, her gaze lowered. "I can't see why you want this marriage when we're little more than strangers. Maybe if I could understand that..."
"Joey, God's honest truth, I don't know the answer. I have this gut feeling, down deep, that this is the way it's meant to be."
She flashed him a considering look. "So I'm supposed to rely on your instincts?"
He nodded. "I do."
"Just like that?" she tried to snap her trembling fingers and failed.
"I can't lie to you and tell you I love you. Well, I could, but right now it would be nothing but words. Do you want that?"
She shook her head and studied the pattern in the bedspread. "It's just sex."
"That's where you're wrong." He sat back and placed his hands on his knees. "I'm not going to pretend the sex part isn't great—"
"And what happens when it flares out?"
"I don't think it will. Not when it's so good between us." He lifted a hand when she began to protest. "I can promise you this," he spoke slowly despite his racing pulse. "I'll treat you right, be a good husband to you. And if love comes, fine, but we'll be good for each other no matter what."
"You really think so?" she asked, raising her eyes to his.
He stared deeply into their sea-green depths, reading her confusion, her disbelief, and yet, somewhere down in their gold-flecked depths, a small glimmer of hope. That gave him courage to continue, to bare his heart as he'd never had to do before.
He cleared his throat. "I know that with you I'm feeling things I never have before. You make me see things in a new way, honey. You make each day brighter."
He paused, sure she thought him a mushy fool. He slanted a quick look at her, and encouraged by her softened expression, he went on. "I feel good when I'm with you. It's good to laugh and enjoy things again. I don't want to lose that. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
A sigh escaped her. "I like being with you, too."
Cole felt she'd admitted that against her will. He knew he shouldn't pressure her, push her into making a commitment to him if she wasn't ready to keep it, but by God, he wasn't ready to lose her, either. "Then can't you give us a chance? Don't you want to find out what we've got?"
"I don't know."
He was ready to get down on his knees and beg. He'd grovel if he had to. "Think about it, honey."
She plucked at the bedspread. "This is your home. You're settled here, have friends and a good life. You're asking me to move here on a whim-—"
"Not a whim," he contradicted roughly. "I don't want a sham marriage either," he said, rejecting her comments from earlier that afternoon. "I want the real thing, Joey. I want it all with you."
She shrugged, a tiny little movement that broke his heart. "Still, I'm the one who would be making all the effort. It's my life that'll be totally disrupted."
He took her hands in his, feeling how cold they were and rubbed them gently between his larger ones. "I know I'm asking a lot. I can't even guess at all the things you'd be giving up to make your life here with me. I don't know that I could do what I'm asking you to do. But will you do it, Joey? For us? For what we can have together?"
She took her hands from his and wearily fell back against the pillows. "I'm afraid, Cole."
Her admission struck him deeply. Stretching out next to her, he took her in his arms and held her close. She didn't protest, yet neither did she cuddle up. "I get scared, too, honey. I wake up in the middle of the night and wonder how I got so lucky." Now that he'd started, it was getting easier to get it out.
"You're special to me, Joey, and I don't want to lose you. I know you haven't been alone for very long, but I've been lonely for years. Never thought I'd find someone to hold in my arms like this, someone to share my life with. Truth is," he admitted with a swallow, "I never much wanted to. Now I don't want to let go."
She stirred. "Anybody would do."
"No way. I've had my chances and never wanted to take up with anybody. Nobody but you, honey."
"Are you sure, Cole?" She lifted hesitant eyes to his. "Really, really sure?"
Ready for the next chapter?
Chapter Fourteen -- posted January 24, 1998
Last updated: January 24, 1998