“Cornell’s gone,” Iris remarked. “There’s nothing to stop us running this ranch the way it should be run. So what’s next for us?”
“We’ll ride back to the house,” Mick told her. “I’ll scare up Chuck and Jake and I’ll bring them out here to see what’s what. Five of us—six, rather—should be just about right to keep us going through the rest of the season. Then we’ll start getting ready for the cattle drive.
Iris hesitated.
“What’s wrong?” Chuck asked. “Don’t you want Chuck and Jake to know what you’ve done out here? I think they’ll be just as impressed as I am.”
“Do we really have to go back right away?” Iris asked. “I was just enjoying being alone with you again, this time in the daylight.”
“We don’t have to go back right away,” Mick told her. “But we shouldn’t wait too long. The sheriff will be here any minute now.”
“I know,” Iris murmured.
Mick took her by the hand. “After tomorrow, we’ll be alone together all the time. We’ll be together every night when the work day’s done, and all day on Sunday. We’ll be living alone together in the Fort House for the rest of our lives.”
“Only until our first child is born,” Iris reminded him. “We won’t be alone after that.”
“I’m just saying,” Mick insisted “We have lots of time to get acquainted with each other.”
“Uhh-huh,” Iris muttered. “I know.”
He pulled her by the hand toward him. “Hey, darlin’, look at me.” Iris shook the hair out of her face and looked up into his eyes. “You’re mine, and I’m not letting you go. We just have to talk to the sheriff, and then the way is clear for us all the way out to forever. Don’t lose heart. We’re gonna live happily ever after.”
“I know,” she said again.
Mick locked his eyes on her. He saw everything there was to see in her when he looked at her that way. The memory of last night in the hayloft crept up on her and tickled her insides.
He bent down and touched her mouth with his lips. His breath wafted into her mouth, and she inhaled the same air he just exhaled. It tasted like him, like his vital essence. Some combination of laughter, crying, and singing fluttered in her chest, just below her ribs. She could hardly feel her feet touch the ground.
He stood back and regarded her again. “You okay?”
Iris nodded and gulped hard.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “You haven’t gone all wiggly on me, have you?”
Iris shook her head in bewildered confusion. “I just can’t stop myself from going a little crazy when you come around. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I can’t stop myself from smiling and blushing and I can’t think clearly.”
Mick laughed. “That’s okay. I don’t really want you thinking clearly right now.” He kissed her again, more firmly, and the fire shot through her, down her legs and out through the tips of her toes. Then he pulled back again.
“Do you think it will be like this for the rest of our lives?” Iris asked. “Do you think we’ll ever become used to it? I just can’t imagine it. Do you think I’ll still melt for you when we’re ninety years old and sitting next to each other in our rocking chairs on the porch?”
“It’s hard to imagine,” Mick agreed. “But I just don’t see myself ever becoming used to this. It’s just so different than I ever expected it to be. I’ve never felt this way about a girl before.”
“Me, neither,” Iris replied. “I mean, I’ve never felt this way before. I can’t say I’ve been kissed by another man, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be like this.”
Mick kissed her again, and Iris’s face softened under the pressure of his lips. Her whole body turned to pudding and fell toward him, into the field of his powerful presence. He drew back one last time, but instead of leading her back into conversation, he encircled her waist with his arm and pulled her in hard against his chest.
His lips devoured her mouth and sucked the air out of her lungs. His heart hammered against the fragile structure of her ribs and threatened to knock her to the ground. Only his arm wrapped firmly around her kept her from disintegrating in his hands.
Iris mouth fell open, welcoming the insistent pressure of his lips, but he didn’t taste her or consume her the way she longed for him to. He released her and moved her body away from his. Her racing heart screamed out for him, but he uncurled his arm and drew back again at last.
“We should get going down to the house,” he told her. “The others are probably all waiting for us and wondering where we are.”
Iris nodded. Her mind floundered, searching for some solid footing in a whirlwind of overwhelming passion and uncertainty.
Mick led her by the hand back to their horses. But when they got there, he leaned down and kissed her one more time, a gentle butterfly kiss, before he took his horse by the reins. “Until tomorrow.”
“Won’t I see you again before then?” Iris asked.
“I’m sure you will,” Mick told her. “I’ll ask Chuck and Jake if they mind you coming with us to inspect the herd again. They can ask you any questions they have. They probably won’t understand why you need to come along until they get out here and see things for themselves. I sure didn’t. But once they understand the situation, I’m sure they’ll want to talk to you plenty.”
“I just hope they understand the same way you do,” Iris remarked.
“Don’t worry about them,” Mick replied. “With the sheriff coming, they’re the least of our worries right now. Now come on. Mount up and let’s get down to the house before it gets any later.”