In a Cowboy's Arms (Hitting Rocks Cowboys) Read online

  “Think about it,” he said at last. “Ryan needs a father. I need a wife. I want children. When you’re ready to give me your answer, you know where to find me. But keep one thing in mind. I won’t ask a third time. This is it.”

  Jarod was out the door like an escaping gust of wind without giving her a chance to answer him. Without touching her.

  She stood there long after she’d heard the sound of his truck fade. He’d asked her to marry him for a second time, but he’d meant what he said. If she wanted him, she would have to go after him.

  What was it Millie had warned her about a few weeks ago? Don’t you know about the great wounded warrior inside him? He needed you to believe in him.

  Sadie did believe in him. She was wildly in love with him. But it was clear he still wasn’t sure about her. Not really. Otherwise he wouldn’t have left so fast. He wouldn’t have mentioned being married in church rather than on the reservation with his uncle Charlo doing the honors. He wasn’t behaving like the Jarod she’d fallen in love with years ago.

  It was up to her to prove her love for him. In the past they’d come together as equals. There’d been no need to chase because they’d been one. But that was back then. There was only one thing to do because she wanted the Jarod of eight years ago back again. The man who had no doubts about her, the man who’d ignored her father’s threats and had come to steal her away to the reservation....

  By the time Zane came home an hour later, she was out on the front porch waiting for him. “I’m glad you’re back. Did you have a good time?”

  “Yes. As a matter of fact I did.” She heard a wealth of meaning behind his words that she intended to explore later. Right now she was in a hurry to find Jarod.

  Zane studied her for a moment. “I’m surprised you’re still up. What are you doing out here?”

  “Waiting for you to get home. I need to go out again. Do you mind? Ryan’s asleep.”

  “Of course I don’t mind. But it’s getting late. I’ll worry about you being out alone.”

  “I’m just going to drive next door.”

  “Oh. Well, in that case...”

  Zane didn’t ask the obvious question. That was one of the reasons she loved him so much. “I’ll only be as far away as my cell.” She grabbed her purse.

  With a subtle smile he handed her the keys. Sadie rushed past him to the truck.

  When she arrived at the Bannocks and pulled up to the rustic ranch house, there were still half a dozen vehicles parked in front. Her heart raced to see Jarod’s among them.

  Making a quick decision, she walked around the side of the house, hoping to catch him helping with the cleanup. Instead, she ran into Connor, who was folding the round tables used for the dinner.

  His eyes lit up in pleasure. “Hey! What are you doing back here?”

  “I’m looking for Jarod.”

  “He’s helping grandfather get to bed. I’ll go tell him you’re out here, but you’re welcome to come inside.”

  “Thank you. I’ll stay here.”

  He stacked the last table against the wall, then disappeared inside the house. She walked over to the swing and sat to wait. But it had grown cooler, so she got back up to move around.

  “You wanted to see me?” Jarod’s deep voice resonated inside her.

  She swung around on her high heels. “I didn’t hear you come out. Forgive me for intruding. Connor told me you were helping your grandfather, so if this isn’t a good time, I’ll come again.”

  He eyed her through shuttered lids. “If it was important enough for you to see me tonight, then let’s not put it off.” His terse comment alarmed her. “The temperature has dropped. Why don’t we go back to your truck where you can be warm?”

  Her truck wasn’t the place she envisioned talking to him, but since he hadn’t invited her in the house, it would have to do. She walked ahead of him, but was so nervous she stumbled several times on the rocky pathway. He was there to cup her elbow till they reached the Silverado.

  Sadie climbed into the driver’s seat. She had to hike up the dress she was wearing, and knew Jarod caught a glimpse of leg before he shut the door. She hoped he didn’t think she was being provocative.

  After he got in the other side, she said, “Where can we drive so there’s no possibility of Ned watching our every move?”

  “Is this going to take a while?” He sounded put out, but was he? Or could he be covering some hidden emotion? She had to find out.

  Emboldened by her desperation to connect with the old Jarod, she turned to him. “Yes.”

  Something flickered in the recesses of his eyes. “How soon do you have to get back?”

  “Zane’s home for the night to take care of Ryan.”

  “Then we’ll leave your truck here and take off in mine.”

  Sadie said a silent prayer of thanksgiving he was willing to listen to her. The next thing she knew he’d helped her down and walked her over to his truck. After opening the door, he gripped her waist without effort and lifted her into the passenger seat.

  He drove them two miles up a badly rutted road that zigzagged behind the ranch house. It led to a shelter of pines where they could look down on the whole layout of the Hitting Rocks Ranch. Sadie had never been here before.

  Jarod shut off the engine and shifted around, extending an arm along the back of the seats. She felt him tease her hair. “Old habits die hard. I have to reach farther to grab hold. Why did you cut your glorious hair?”

  Sadie wasn’t prepared for such a personal comment. “Off with the old seemed like a good idea after I got to California.” She knew better than to ask him why he’d let his grow long. By doing so he’d made a statement that he was proud of his Crow heritage. It told Sadie’s father and Ned Bannock to go to hell. She understood his feelings and loved him all the more for them, but she had to tread carefully right now.

  He cocked his dark head. “All right. We’re alone at last with no chance of being disturbed. Let’s get this over with.”

  She’d been right. He didn’t believe she believed in him anymore. “Why did you leave the house so fast? You didn’t give me a chance to respond.”

  His searching gaze appraised her. “After the failure of our first attempt to become man and wife, I wanted to give you some breathing room before you made a decision about trying a second time. But it seems you didn’t need it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come right over to the house again. I only need a one-word answer. Since I know what it is, I’ll drive us back and send you home before it gets any later.”

  She moaned inwardly. “You’re so sure of my answer?”

  He grimaced. “The Sadie I once knew wouldn’t have let me walk out of her house tonight.”

  Sadie took a deep breath. “The Jarod I once knew wouldn’t have had to ask me to marry him a second time. He would have drawn me into his arms and told me we were going to get married as soon as it could be arranged.”

  His jaw hardened. “You spoke the truth earlier. Too much time has passed. We’re different people now and can’t go back.”

  “Isn’t it sad that although our marriage didn’t take place through no fault of our own, the fallout caused us to doubt each other. How does something like that happen?”

  “We were young.” His voice grated.

  “That’s not all of it, Jarod. Tell me something. What prompted you to ask me to marry you in a church in front of everyone?”

  After a prolonged silence he said, “It’s what every woman wants.”

  “That isn’t what you planned for us the first time.”

  His body tensed. “I railroaded you into doing what I wanted. I thought I owned you. I believed you were mine. But I’ve since learned a man can no more own a person than he can the earth or the sky or the ocean.”

  Jarod’s honesty tou
ched her to the marrow. “How do you know it wasn’t what I wanted, too? I would have given anything to have known your mother. You planned that wedding for us in her honor. It thrilled me. I’ve felt cheated ever since.” Her heart was thudding out of control.

  “You were too sweet and trusting, Sadie. I took advantage of you.”

  “Oh. So when you say we were too young, you really meant that I was too young to know my own mind.”

  “You weren’t too young, but I know I influenced you.”

  “Don’t you know you saved my life the day you found me sobbing on my horse? You helped me to know where to go with my sorrow. You comforted me. Every person could use that kind of influence. I was the lucky one to be able to turn to you.

  “What saddens me is to realize that my being a Corkin caused you so much grief. To this day I wonder what I ever did for you to want me for your wife.”

  She had to wait a long time for the answer.

  “Chief Plenty Coups taught that woman is your equal. She’s a builder, a warrior, a farmer, a healer of the soul. All those qualities I found in you. That’s what you were to me. I believed you loved me.”

  Jarod, Jarod. “Why past tense? I still do,” she said. “That’s never changed. It couldn’t.”

  He’d turned his head to stare out the window. Sadie opened her purse and pulled out the bracelet he’d given her the night they’d made love.

  “Jarod Bannock? Tonight you asked me to marry you. My answer is yes, but there’s a condition. I want us to have the same ceremony you planned for us eight years ago.”

  Sadie got on her knees and moved across the seat to lean toward him, getting in his face so he had to look at her. She dangled the beaded bracelet in front of him. “I want Uncle Charlo to marry us on the reservation. I want your family to be there along with the Hensons. In my heart I know your mother and father will be watching and they’ll approve because they know how much I’ve always loved you.”

  She’d finally caught his attention.

  “Before you fasten it around my wrist for a second time to make this official, there’s something vital you need to know.”

  “You’re talking about Ryan,” he said, reading her mind.

  “Yes. He comes with me.”

  His chest rose and fell. “You’re both flesh of your mother’s flesh. Do you think I could possibly love him any less?”

  “No,” she whispered, brushing his mouth with her own. “You have an infinite capacity for loving. I adore you, Jarod.”

  Chapter Eight

  Her words trickled through his mind and body like the wild, sweet Montana honey dripping from a honeycomb he’d discovered in a tree at the edge of the meadow years ago.

  He studied the oval of her face, the passionate curve of her mouth so close to him he felt her breath on his lips. Moonlight illuminated the inside of the cab. Those solemn blue eyes were once again searching his. That was the way she used to look at him, as if he held all the answers to the universe.

  “Aren’t you going to put it on me?” He heard the slightest tinge of anxiety in her voice.

  The bracelet.

  She’d so mesmerized him, Jarod was slow to even breathe. He’d been convinced that when she’d fled to California, that token of his commitment had been lost or destroyed.

  His fingers trembled as he caught the ends of the bracelet and fastened it around her wrist. The satisfying click echoed in his heart.

  “Sadie—” Wrapping his arms around her, he lowered his mouth to hers the way he’d done eight years ago; a kiss he’d relived in a thousand dreams. Yet this was no dream. His loving, precious Sadie was back in his arms, alive and welcoming.

  For a while those desolate years they’d been apart seemed to fall away while their minds and bodies communicated their need for each other.

  “Darling,” she murmured over and over again, as if she, too, was overwhelmed by such emotion.

  Sometime later he tasted salt on his lips. “Your eyes are wet,” he whispered against her lids.

  “So are yours. I can’t believe we’re together again. It’s been such a long, long time.” Her tear-filled voice reached his soul. They clung to each other, attempting to absorb the quiet sobs of happiness that shook them both. “I’m so thankful we’ve found each other again. Jarod— You don’t know. You just don’t know.”

  “But I do.” Jarod kissed the contours of her moist cheeks, then her mouth, never satisfied. She looked and tasted beautiful almost beyond bearing. Their desire for each other had escalated to the point they couldn’t do what they wanted in the confined space of the cab.

  “I want you, Sadie. I love you. I’m going to drive us back to the ranch. You’ll stay with me tonight.”

  She moaned her assent as he helped her to sit up. “This is going to be a fast trip, so hold on!” Within seconds he started the engine and put the truck in gear to head down the road.

  Sadie flashed him one of her disarming smiles. “We don’t need to be in a hurry. My father’s no longer on the lookout. The situation has changed and we’ve got the rest of our lives to be together.”

  He grasped her hand and kissed it. “That’s what I thought the night I was coming for you. Never again will I take another moment of loving you for granted.”

  “Neither will I.” Her voice shook. “How soon do you think we can be married? I don’t want to wait.”

  That sounded like the exciting Sadie he’d thought had disappeared forever. “I’ll talk to Uncle Charlo in the morning.” June third would make the perfect wedding day. By then the deed to the Corkin ranch would be in Zane’s hands, but Jarod wouldn’t settle on an actual date with his uncle until Zane owned it free and clear.

  “The dreams I’ve dreamed, Sadie. My grandfather’s health has to hold out long enough to see our first baby come into the world. I can hardly wait to feel movement inside you.”

  She nestled closer to him. “Millie told me that if you and I had communicated, we’d probably have one or two little Bannocks by now. It’s all I’ve been able to think of for days now.”

  “When I saw you at the graveside service holding Ryan, I was imagining you with our child. It shocked me how strong my feelings ran. Watching you with Ryan, I knew you’d be the sweetest mother on earth. The sooner we give him a brother or sister, the better. Connor and Avery kept me from being an only child.”

  How he’d love it if he and Sadie were the ones to give his grandfather his first great-grandchild. Ralph would be overjoyed. Tyson already had three. Jarod’s uncle Charlo would be overjoyed, too. He’d carried a heavy burden over the years watching after Raven’s headstrong son.

  She pressed against him to kiss his jaw. “What’s putting that secretive smile on your face?”

  He squeezed her hand harder. “In January my uncle told me it was time to go on my vision quest at the top of North Pryor Mountain. It had to be in an area with risks like falling and contact with animals. The more rugged and mysterious the better.”

  “The snow would have been too deep!”

  “It nearly was, but he told me I’d be guided. He said I possessed the power to achieve my ultimate destiny by using the senses and powers already given to me. After four days of fasting, I came back down and told him my mind was still clouded.”

  “Four days?” she cried. “I could never have done that.”

  “To be honest, nothing was worse than the way I felt when you never got in touch with me.” Sadie buried her face against his shoulder. “My uncle told me my quest wasn’t in vain. With more time all would be made clear, but I had to develop patience because everything else in my life had come too easily.”

  She lifted her head. “Too easily? You lost your mother, then your father and stepmother!”

  “But I was given an uncle, grandparents and siblings, a home, money, education
, good health. Grades came without effort. I had everything I wanted. And when I decided I wanted Sadie Corkin, I went after her. By some miracle I was able to snatch her away from all the other guys who were hot for her.”

  “Jarod!”

  “That’s the word for it, and I was the worst. I came up with a secret plan to marry the one girl in the county who was off-limits to me. I would have succeeded, too. But fate stepped in and taught me life’s most bitter lesson.”

  Jarod covered her hand with his own. “When Ben told me your father had died, all I could think about was you rather than your loss. Suddenly my uncle’s comment about my quest not having been in vain came into my mind.”

  She kissed the side of his neck. “There wasn’t a day in my life that I didn’t yearn to come home and find out why you’d stopped loving me. We’ve had to endure so much needless pain.”

  “Not only us. Everyone who loved us was affected, Sadie.”

  “I know. I’m still having trouble believing we’re back together.”

  They reached the ranch house in record time. He pulled around in front and parked. After shutting off the engine, he reached out to hold her in his arms.

  “By morning you’ll believe it. Tomorrow when I ask my uncle to help prepare for our wedding, I’ll thank him for being a great and wise man who guided me through my trials on the way to finding my ultimate destiny. He’ll give me one of those long sober looks, as if he can see into the future, but I know he’ll be smiling inside.”

  “I know the one you mean. That’s how he looked at me the night he praised you. He couldn’t love you more if you were his own son.”

  “That’s how I already feel about Ryan,” he whispered into her hair. “But right now I want to concentrate on us. I desperately need to love you all night.”