Last Year's Bride (Montana Born Brides) (10 page)

There was, she was beginning to discover, almost always a fresh pot of coffee going in the ranch house kitchen.
While this one wasn’t absolutely fresh, it was still hot. Sadie poured the thermos full, then screwed the cap on tightly and handed it to Nell.

“
Thanks.” Nell started toward the door, then turned back for a moment. “I hope this isn’t too much for you and your grandmother. The girls are a little bit much sometimes. They don’t think. And they don’t see that it’s their responsibility to help.”

“
It’s not,” Sadie said. “It’s our job.”

Nell wanted to argue, but Sadie looked adamant. And Nell supposed it was true, what Sadie said: they had contracted not only to let the television company use the ranch, but to provide the lodging and make the meals as well.
It was business. It just felt personal.

Sadie wouldn
’t understand that, though. She had no idea she was talking to her sister-in-law.Nell so wanted to tell her. She didn’t dare.

“
See you in the morning.” She opened the door and headed back out into the cold. She walked quickly along the path that had been shoveled between the house and the outbuildings. Her pulse quickened and her stomach knotted as she went.

It was what she wanted, after all, to see Cole. And yet the closer she came to the shed, the tighter her nerves seemed to wind.

Taking a deep breath, she undid the latch and pushed open the door. It swung open with a thin squeak. Inside the shed was only a little warmer than outside. Two single bulb shop lights hung from the rafters, bathing everything in a sort of dim golden glow, outlining the cow who was on the ground and the man sitting sideways in the straw next to her with a wriggling newborn calf in his arms.

“‘
Bout time, Sade,” he said without turning around to look. “Could use that coffee. We got us a little girl.” And Nell heard a weary satisfaction in his voice.

Trepidation vanishing, Nell hurried to see the newcomer.
She knelt beside Cole. “Oh, she’s beautiful.” He was wiping her off. The new mother, struggling to her feet, turned her head to supervise. She looked at Nell with suspicion.

Cole
’s head whipped around. He stared at her with shock.
“Nell?”

“
I ran into Sadie when she was going in. I said I’d bring you the coffee.” As she spoke Nell stripped off her mittens and uncapped the thermos. She was grateful her hands didn’t shake as she poured the cap full of coffee. “I’ve never seen a brand-new calf before! I’ve never seen a brand-new anything before—well, except for Kieran.” And her brother Brent’s son had been half a day old, bathed and dried, when she’d seen him the first time. She leaned closer, sighing with delight as she studied the small calf, its eyes blinking, its legs moving awkwardly in Cole’s arms.

Cole finished cleaning it off, then helped it stand.
Nell waited, watching with fascination as he helped the calf find its way and tentatively start to nurse. The calf was enchanting, but her attention was equally caught watching Cole’s calm, gentle but sure coaxing of the calf and soothing of the new mother. Only when he was satisfied that the cow and her calf were bonding did he turn back to Nell and the waiting coffee.

A flicker of some indecipherable emotion crossed his face so quickly she had no chance to begin to interpret it. He hesitated, though, too
, and for a second Nell wondered if he might refuse to take the coffee because she was the one holding it out to him.

But then he nodded slightly, and his fingers closed around
the cup, the tension in his face easing a fraction. He cradled the thermos cap in both hands, letting the steam from the coffee waft up into his face. Their gazes met.

It was impossible to guess what Cole was thinking.
She was thinking how tired he looked. There were dark smudges beneath his eyes. His jaw was unshaven. Bits of straw clung to his jacket and his leather gloves. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He frowned.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

She shrugged.
“I just thought you ... looked tired. It’s late. You must be,” she added awkwardly.

“
It’s what I do,” he said shortly, and she thought she detected a faint hint of challenge in his voice, as if he were trying to make a point.

She wasn
’t absolutely sure what point he was trying to make, but she met it firmly. “I know that,” she said. “And I know this time of year can be very busy—and that cows don’t go into labor on schedule. I was just saying what I saw.”

“
I’m fine,” he reaffirmed. “I’ve had a lot to do.”

“
Yes,” Nell said with an equable smile. “I thought you must have because I haven’t seen you all day. Actually,” she amended, wanting to back him into a corner, “I haven’t seen you since we got here.”

“
Like I said, I’ve been busy.”

“
Mmm.” She studied the calf for a moment, then looked back to meet his eyes again. “I thought you were avoiding me.” She tossed it out as a comment, not an accusation. They both knew what it was.

“
I’m not avoiding you!”

Nell lifted a brow.
“Of course not.” Now that was an accusation. And she knew Cole recognized it as such.

His jaw tightened.
“The world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Nell nodded and kept right on smiling.
“Somehow I suspected that.”

“
Or your television program,” he added gruffly, looking down as he scuffed a boot in the straw.

“
I figured that out, too,” Nell agreed. “But while the world doesn’t, for the moment at least, your ranch does.”

“
Not my idea.” Cole shook his head.

“
So I gather. But everyone else seems good with it. Even your dad,” she added.

Cole grimaced.
“Don’t know what’s goin’ on with him.”

“
You might if you were around sometimes.”

His brows drew down.
“What’s that mean?”

“
Just what I said.” Nell shrugged lightly. “If you were here when he was, you might be able to figure out what’s going on.” She wasn’t going to tell him. Maybe she was even wrong. She’d only been here a couple of days after all. But she’d noticed both days that wherever Sam was, Jane also was. And vice versa.

Cole regarded her levelly, waiting for her to speak. When she didn
’t, he shook his head. “He’ll tell me when he’s ready.”

“
Why should he? Did you ever talk to me? Tell me anything?” Nothing like jumping in with both feet. Nell held her breath watching him, waiting for a reply.

Cole
’s mouth twisted. He rolled his shoulders under his heavy winter jacket as he could ease the stiffness in them. “Will talkin’ about it help?” he asked eventually.

“
Yes.”

He gave her a doubtful look. Nell returned it. She didn
’t look away. Finally Cole sighed. “So you want a heart-to-heart tonight.”

She knew he didn
’t. She could see even more clearly now how exhausted he was. “I would,” she said finally, “if I thought you’d stay awake through it.”

Cole opened his mouth as if he were going to protest. But then he sighed and shut it again.
He shrugged.

“
So, no. Not tonight. But I do want one, Cole. I married you for better or worse. I married you because I loved you. I still do.” Her gaze bored into him. “Tell me you don’t love me.”

A muscle ticked in Cole
’s temple. “You’re just making it harder.”

“
Good.”

“
Damn it, Nell. I’m doing this for you!”

“
Then stop doing it. I don’t want it. I want what we have. What we
had,
” she corrected, “since you seem determined to deny it.”

He pressed his lips together in a tight line and shook his head.
They stared at each other. Nell didn’t give an inch. Unfortunately, Cole didn’t either. Finally he took a last swig of coffee and tossed the rest into the straw away from the cow and calf.

“
Go to bed,” he said gruffly. “I’ll talk to you before you leave. But you’re not changing my mind.”

Nell sighed.
“Fine.” She looked away, watched the mamma cow and her calf together, settled, peaceful. Trauma over, they acted like everything was fine. Maybe it was. Life was strange when you found yourself envying a cow.

Nell flicked a glance back at Cole and saw him stifle a yawn.
“You’re the one who needs to go to bed.”

“
I’m going.” He checked over the animals once more, gathered up his gear and nodded her toward the door. With a last look back at the newborn and her mother, Nell went out into the cold and headed for the truck.

“
Where are you going?” Cole demanded from behind her.

“
Into town.”

He scowled.
“What? Why?”

“
Because that’s where I’m staying. The crew is at the Graff.” She opened the door to the truck.

Cole started after her, then stopped. He looked as if he might argue, but he didn
’t. Nell started to climb into the truck when she heard his voice behind her. “You can follow me to the highway.”

She turned her head.
“What? Follow you? You’re going the other way.”

“
No,” he said flatly. “I’m not. You won’t be able to find the road in this.” He waved a hand toward the snow-covered landscape. “You’ll end up in a ditch.”

Nell smiled.
“You care.”

“
I don’t want you in a ditch. I’d have to pull you out.”

Her smile widened.
“You’re such a charmer.”

He scowled and pulled his hat brim down lower.
“Just get in and warm up your engine. I’ve got a blade on my truck. Wait there.”

For half a second Nell considered arguing.
But a look around told her he might be right. Following him would be a lot safer. He knew where the road was beneath all the snow. Until they plowed tomorrow, Nell feared she wouldn’t. Besides, she liked him fussing over her against his better judgment. Her decidedly frostbitten heart felt a crack in the ice.

Cole was already striding rapidly toward his own truck which was parked on the far side of the barn.
He’d have had to drive right past the house when he came to see to the cow.

She heard his truck start up, and a moment later he was backing around and moving past her up the road.
He glanced her way as he passed and beckoned her to follow.

Nell turned on the wipers, clearing the snow from the windshield, then put the truck in gear and slowly pulled out onto the road. The ranch house was a couple of miles from the highway, and without Cole
’s path and the tail lights of his truck, Nell saw half a dozen places she could have made a wrong move.

She also realized with chagrin that she
’d forgotten about the gates. There were three of them between the ranch house and the highway. Cole opened the first, drove through, got out of his truck and waited for her to go through, then shut it again behind her.

She rolled down the window when he walked back past her to shut the first one.
“I can shut the next one,” she offered.

He looked at her doubtfully, then shrugged.
“Go for it.”

So at the next one, she did.
And the one after that. The gates were heavy and awkward. Fortunately Cole did the hard part, opening them before he’d plowed the road through. But they were still difficult to move, and when she grabbed the second one, her feet slipped out from under her and she landed on her butt in the snow.

The door to Cole
’s truck jerked instantly. But Nell was already scrambling to her feet. “I’m fine,” she shouted at him. “Just clumsy.”

She got another doubtful look at that, but the door shut again and he let her deal with the gate. Once she was back in her truck, he led the way the last quarter mile to the highway and pulled off to the side of the road so she could go around him.

Instead she pulled up next to him and stopped, then reached over to roll down the passenger side window so she could see him scowling at her through his own window. A moment later he rolled it slowly down.

“
You all right?” he asked gruffly.

“
My pride is damp,” Nell told him. And her elbow hurt where she’d whacked it on the ground. But she wasn’t saying that. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Thank you. The plowing helped. And the tail lights. And opening the gates.”

He dipped his head in acknowledgment, one hundred percent strong silent cowboy.
If he tipped his hat, Nell swore she would get out, go around to his truck, open the door and kick him. Lucky for him, he didn’t.

“
Good night,” she said. “Thanks again.” Then she added deliberately. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” No doubt about the challenge in that.