Maggie Shayne - An Enchanted Season

By the time Rachel returned, the others were laughing at her betrothed, who was flapping his elbows and making faces.

“Six words, Miz Rutherford!” Joey gasped, wiping at the tears in his eyes. “We can’t figure it out!”

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” she stated, and grinned as the others gaped. “He did the exact same one when we first played charades together at a party back in college.”

“Cuckoo?” Mike snorted. “He looked more like a drunken chicken! No offense meant.”

“None taken,” Steve agreed, straightening with a grin. He took his fiancée’s hand and kissed it impulsively, remembering that party and how she had found his silliness endearing rather than off-putting. “Your turn, love.”

“HEY.”

The soft-spoken word turned Steve’s head. Pete stood in the doorway to the mudroom, watching him tug on his boots. “What do you want?”

“That gal, Bella, is right. I owe you my life. Me an’ Dave both do.” He scratched at the back of his head for a moment, then asked, “You gotta go milk your cows, right?”

“That’s right,” Steve agreed. “It’s almost time for their afternoon milking.”

“Well, I can help you. I’ve done it before, at my uncle’s place,” Pete offered with a diffident shrug. “If nothin’ else, you’ll need help clearin’ a path to th’ barn.”

Steve hesitated only a moment before nodding his head. “There’s only the four of them that need full milking; one of them’s at the first-milk stage, so that’ll need to be set aside; there’s a bottle of colostrum started in the dairy’s fridge. But the offer is appreciated. Get your things, and put them on in here. I’ve already strung a rope from the house to the barn, so we’ll be following that from here.”

Nodding, looking relieved at having his offer accepted, Pete vanished from the doorway. Steve finished settling his snow boots on his feet, and hoped that this peaceful coexistence would continue. The two boys did owe him their lives, true, but he didn’t do things like that to hold any favors over the heads of others. He had done it because it was the right thing to do.

STEVE GROANED AS HE SETTLED BETWEEN THE FLANNELsheets next to Rachel. It had been a long day, and he was tired from slogging through the snow. The radio on the far side of the bed from him played softly, letting them know there was still electricity to the house. Rachel had picked a classical music station, something soothing, relaxing.

“How are the cows doing?” she asked him. “Do you need to watch Ellen yet?”

“If this one’s anything like the last five calvings, she’ll have two more days to go before she’s ready to drop. Butt first,” he added, gesturing with his hand. “But she’ll drop. Probably the night before Christmas Eve.”

“And unless a miracle happens, this storm will keep the vet away for longer than those three days,” Rachel sighed, twisting onto her side so she could snuggle close. “You’ll have to start sleeping out in the barn tomorrow night, just in case…and I’ll miss you.”

A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. He twisted his head, kissing her dark hair. “Actually, Pete is going to be sleeping out there. We’ll trade off during the day, but he’s volunteered to watch during the night. He’s had to turn breech-birth calves half a dozen times before, with his uncle’s guidance. And he says the cot we have out there is nicer than having to doss down in the hay like at his uncle’s place. I made sure he had extra blankets. He’ll be fine.”

“It’s a nice turnaround from him and his friends coming here to bully us earlier,” Rachel sighed. “And it takes one of our worries off the mind. Depending on whether or not the credit companies can give us a fast turnaround on processing Joey’s card before noon, we should have enough in the bank for the automatic withdrawal of the mortgage. If not…”

“If not, then there’s nothing we can do about it. Except pray for a miracle that Mr. Harrod gets that stick unwedged from his butt,” Steve muttered.

Rachel shoved at him lightly for the vulgarity, and he kissed her on the lips to soothe her protest. It had been a while since they had last kissed in bed. Stress had taken its toll on their urge for intimacy, submerging their desires under the weight of their worries. With some of that weight lifted, and with memories stirred of how they had first gotten together, Steve felt his body quickening with a half-forgotten thrill of desire. So what started out as a simple, loving kiss grew a bit warmer.

His hand slid from her shoulder to her breast. Rachel sucked in a startled breath, pulling her head back. He hadn’t touched her like that in a few weeks, and truth be told, she hadn’t been in the mood for it herself. Until now, that was. Brown eyes stared at hazel for a long heartbeat, then they both squirmed under the covering quilts, Steve removing his pajamas, Rachel her long-sleeved nightgown.

Shoving the garments under their pillows so they could be found again, Rachel squeaked when Steve pounced on her, his hands just a little too chilly for comfort. He tickled her ribs, making her giggle, then muffled the noise with his lips, recapturing their kiss. She returned the favor, brushing her fingertips over the hairs dusting his chest. He retaliated by cupping her breast.

The soft, moaning sigh that escaped Rachel’s lungs made Steve remember that sound, back when they had first been intimate. It reminded him how much she had enjoyed the way he had stroked and savored her curves. The last time they had made love, he had only played with them a little, wanting to move on to the rest of her body. Only he hadn’t really moved on to the rest of it. Not her legs, not her arms…

I’ve been neglecting her, he thought, pulling back from their kiss. She gave him a puzzled look, so he gave her a reassuring smile in return. I should not neglect the woman I love.

Catching her hand, he brought it to his mouth, nipping gently at her skin. From the flush of her cheeks, she still enjoyed having her fingers nibbled and licked. That made him dredge through the rest of his memory, recalling every little caress she had ever enjoyed at his hand. The suckling of his lips at the soft inner bend of her elbow. The lapping of his tongue over the tender flesh of her wrist. The worshipful caress that palmed the outer curve of her breast.

Rachel moaned again, enjoying his touch. She couldn’t remember the last time he had pampered her like this. As he worked his way down her torso, teasing around her nipples rather than going straight to their crinkled tips, she knew she would reward him once he was done with her. It would be rude to interrupt him before he was done, after all.

When he kissed her belly, she giggled. It was too ticklish a sensation not to react—mainly because he lapped like a kitten around the rim of her navel. But rather than continuing on to her core, he squirmed into a lump under the covers that had enough room to nibble on the soft skin of her thighs. Aroused more than she could remember, Rachel moaned softly with each breath. With their room on the ground floor, she didn’t fear the softer sounds of lovemaking. Only if he provoked her into a loud cry would she worry, though they had invested some of their renovations in filling the spaces between the walls with plenty of insulation.

Oh! Oh…there… Her breath groaned out of her when she felt his tongue tickling the edges of her folds. Hands curling into the feather-stuffed pillows, Rachel twisted, arching her hips up and splaying her knees out. There, there, there…ohhh, yes, this man deserves a big reward for thi—wait, he’s stopping.

Disoriented by the sudden cessation of pleasure, she lifted her head, feeling him squirming an arm up the length of her body—and not to grope her breasts. He batted instead at the edge of the covers, lifting them up. A moment later, Rachel heard a deep inhalation. She giggled, divining his problem.