Love’s Sweet Revenge(50)

He kept up the rhythm in the joining that helped both of them take strength from each other. Randy leaned up to draw his mouth back to hers, clinging tighter when she remembered how it felt to think Marshal Kraemer had come to arrest him. No one was going to take him away from her again. No one!

His life pulsed into her, and they lay there quietly for a moment, sharing soft kisses, Jake still hovering over her.

“Are we crazy, coming out here like this?” Randy asked softly.

“Probably, but after all we’ve been through, we have a right to do this anytime we want and anyplace we want.”

“I suppose so.” Randy felt him stiffen as he looked past her.

“Don’t talk anymore,” he whispered. “And don’t move a muscle…not one finger or one toe.”

“Jake?”

“Shh.” He put his face down beside her ear. “There’s a grizzly bear watching us,” he whispered. “Don’t move.”

Randy tightened up in terror.

“My gun is right beside us,” Jake assured her.

“Can you kill a bear with a six-gun?” Randy whispered in reply.

“Not with one shot—but maybe with all six. Be still. She might go away if we don’t move. She has cubs with her.”

“Oh, God, there is nothing more dangerous!” Randy whispered.

His left arm tightened beneath her while he very slowly took his right arm from under her so he could grab his gun if necessary. They lay there as still as possible, saying nothing, breathing against each other’s ears.

Jake finally managed to turn his head enough to see the bear cubs cavorting nearby. His horse whinnied and reared in terror when it smelled the bear. It jerked its reins loose and ran off. The startled bear cubs took off in another direction, heading deeper into the foothills, and finally the mother bear followed.

Jake wilted against Randy. “She’s gone.” He raised up on his elbows. He waited a few seconds, watching the trees into which the bear and her cubs had disappeared. Finally, he looked down at Randy. “Do you realize how ridiculous we must look? I’m still inside you.”

Randy met his gaze, and they both started laughing. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, get off me!” she told Jake. “The horse! It will go running back to camp, and God knows how many men will come riding up here, wondering what happened!”

Jake stayed on top of her. “We’d look pretty funny lying here like this, wouldn’t we?”

“Jake Harkner, get off of me so I can fix my dress!”

“But this feels so good.”

“Oh, you’re so mean! Maybe you got caught this way with whores a time or two, but you’re not going to get caught like this with your wife!”

Jake just laughed and rolled off of her. He got up and buttoned his pants. “I brought a towel for you, but the horse ran off with it. You’ll have to use that blanket to clean yourself up the best you can. We don’t even have a canteen.”

“Oh, Jake, this is ridiculous!” Randy managed to clean herself a little with the blanket, and quickly pulled on her underwear. She smoothed her dress, then realized her hair was down and a mess. “Jake, my hair! They’ll know! Oh, this is terrible!”

Jake finished buttoning his shirt. “I brought my beautiful wife out here so we could be alone. So what if her hair is down now?”

Randy sat back down on the blanket and fished for the combs and pins that had fallen from her hair. She quickly twisted the back of her hair up and shoved combs in it to hold the quick up-do in place. She plunked her hat on her head and looked at her husband, who only watched with a big grin on his face. “Do I look ridiculous?” she asked.

“You look beautiful. It’s impossible for you not to look beautiful.”

“You know what I mean.” Randy stood up. “Am I a mess?”

Jake frowned. “Not bad. A few strands of hair are hanging down, and the skirt of your dress is a little more wrinkled in front from being pushed up.”

Randy gasped and looked down. “Oh my gosh! It is! Oh, Jake, this is just… I just don’t know what to do!”

“Come here.”

Randy looked at him. He still had a handsome smile that only made her smile in return. He opened his arms, and she fell into them.

“Just be glad we weren’t mauled by a grizzly,” he told her. “You’ve seen what a grizzly can do to cattle, and we both remember when Joe Jacobs was killed by one, so let’s not worry about what anybody thinks. You are my wife.” He let go of her and held her face in his hands, kissing her gently. “And in spite of not having you fully naked beside me, that felt damn good.” He kissed her again.