Rosemary Carter - Cowboy To The Altar

‘Not since supper.’ That was Charlie’s voice.

‘Pretty lady like her, we’d have noticed her around.’ Hank was speaking. ‘Maybe the cooking’s too much for her and she’s left the ranch.’

Listening to the comments, Morgan lay rigid. Her breathing was shallow, and in her stomach a hard knot of tension had formed. The one thing she had not considered was that Jason might come looking for her. It had been stupid of her perhaps, but there had been more pressing things to think about.

‘She isn’t in the cookhouse, but her car is where she left it.’ Jason sounded strangely troubled. ‘She’s still on the ranch—somewhere.’

‘Maybe she’s in your bed, waiting for you,’ Hank suggested.

‘Cut it out!’ an enraged Charlie shouted.

Jason ignored Hank’s comment. ‘Have to find her. It’s dark now and she doesn’t know her way around. I’ve searched everywhere I can think of. Only place I haven’t looked is here.’

‘The bunkhouse?’ The baseball game was forgotten for the moment as the cowboys stared at their employer, amazed at the suggestion.

‘Could she be in the bunkhouse, guys?’ he asked. To a man, the cowboys said that wasn’t possible but Jason persisted. ‘Before we get out a search party, mind if I scout around?’

He found her minutes later, still trying to make herself invisible in the corner bed. For a long moment he stood scowling down at her, well over six feet of irate man—powerful, dangerous, infinitely intimidating.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ he demanded at last. His voice was taut with anger, his face a furious mask.

‘Jason...’ she whispered, so nervous that she was shaking.

‘Nothing but trouble from the moment you got here,’ he snarled. ‘Get out of that bed, Morgan, and be quick about it.’

‘Jason,’ she said again and stopped. By now the cowboys were gathering around the bed.

Not surprisingly, Hank elbowed his way to the front. ‘If it isn’t the luscious Morgan,’ he drawled.

‘Leave her alone, Hank!’ Charlie was there as well.

‘Get lost, kiddo,’ the big man snarled at him. ‘She likes guys, don’t you, honey?’

‘That’s enough, Hank,’ a stony-faced Jason said. And to Morgan he added, ‘Come with me.’

‘Hey, Boss,’ Hank protested, ‘why don’t you let the woman be? Seems to me she’s after some fun. I’ll see she gets it.’

‘You heard me, Hank,’ Jason warned, while beside him Charlie bristled.

Alarmed by the mounting tension, Morgan tried to calm the men. ‘Jason, Charlie, you don’t need to protect me. I can look after myself.’ And to Hank she said, ‘You won’t lay a finger on me, cowboy, so why don’t you get lost?’

The hard-faced man laughed unpleasantly. ‘The pretty lady has spirit. This is going to be fun. I want to get to know you better, honey. Your bed or mine, and d’you want to wait till the rest of them are asleep or d’you want a good time now?’

‘Enough, Hank,’ Jason warned again, a note of anger etching the calmness of his tone.

‘Hell, Boss, why not? This dame isn’t a lady, and I believe she wants to get better acquainted.’

‘Cut it out!’ Charlie yelled.

At the same moment Jason rounded on Hank, his expression savage. As two of the men held Hank back the others looked on disbelievingly. In the bunkhouse the level of tension was so intense that the air crackled.

A few seconds passed. And then slowly, deliberately—as if with an effort—Jason stepped back. Hank’s exhalation of breath was audible. The men who had been holding him loosened their grip on his arms.

Jason turned to Morgan. ‘You’ll get out of that bed right now or I won’t answer for the consequences.’

Mutely Morgan stared up at him, her eyes pleading with him to understand her dilemma. To get out of bed when all the cowboys were watching would be the ultimate in humiliation.

‘Listen to me, Morgan.’ Bending low over the bed with his lips almost touching her ear, Jason spoke in a voice that only she could hear. ‘If you don’t get out of bed right now I’ll have to carry you. I don’t have to tell you that all the men, but especially Hank, will love the entertainment.’

Morgan did not doubt that Jason meant what he said. He left her little choice. With all the dignity she was able to muster in a situation that did not allow for much dignity—and watched by thirty pairs off interested male eyes—she pushed aside the blanket and neatly swung her legs off the bed.

Jason picked up her suitcase and Morgan allowed him to take her arm and propel her through the group of men because she knew that it would do her no good—and probably a lot of harm—to protest. Charlie smiled at her as she was leaving the bunkhouse, and she smiled back. Hank’s lecherous gaze she avoided.

‘I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own case,’ Morgan said when they were well away from the bunkhouse. ‘Anyway, we’re not going in the same direction.’

The remark earned her a furious look. ‘I hope you’re not thinking of going back there,’ Jason snapped. ‘Even you can’t be as stupid as that. I won’t come to your aid again, Morgan, and you can’t expect Charlie to go on protecting you from Hank.’

‘I was never in need of protection,’ Morgan said.

‘Really?’ Jason’s voice was quietly dangerous.

‘Until you came looking for me the men had no idea I was there. Anyway, I’m not going to the bunkhouse, I’m going to my car.’

‘You’re leaving?’ Jason’s tone was odd and his eyes held an inexplicable expression of bleakness.

‘That’s what you’d like, isn’t it?’ Morgan threw the words at him bitterly.

‘Is that what you think?’ Jason asked enigmatically.

Looking up at him, Morgan was struck once more by an appearance that was all rugged toughness. The modelling part of her career brought her into the company of many attractive men. She remembered a man by the name of Casey who had striven for just this tough cowboy effect. But on Casey the stetson and boots, the carefully applied tan and the macho stance had looked contrived—perhaps because Casey was anything but a real cowboy. Jason was the genuine article. For a moment Morgan stared up at him, bemused.

‘I haven’t forgotten your warning,’ she remarked. ‘You said you’d be watching me every moment. I guess you feel free to fire me now. After all, you’ve been wanting me to go ever since you set eyes on me.’

‘What I want isn’t an issue right now.’ Jason’s jaw was inflexible.

Morgan was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’

‘If you’re thinking of leaving the ranch you’ve left it too late—for today, anyway. It’s dark and you’d get lost long before you reached the highway.’

‘And you don’t want to be responsible if anything happens to me. Jason Delaney, owner of Six-Gate Corral, letting an irresponsible female loose at night on the lonely prairie. Wouldn’t do your reputation much good, would it?’

‘You really are the most provocative woman,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘It will be good riddance when you do hit the road. And you’re right—I don’t want you on my conscience.’

‘Actually,’ Morgan said unhappily, ‘I don’t want to leave. Despite everything that’s happened. I want to stay at Six-Gate Corral until Brent gets back.’

Jason stiffened—no doubt, Morgan thought wryly, because he realized that he was not to be rid of her after all.

‘In that case,’ he asked aloofly, ‘why are you going to your car?’

Morgan looked up at him, and as usual she had to tilt her head. ‘I have nowhere else to sleep.’

Jason was silent for several seconds. When he spoke at last his tone was unwilling, the words abrupt and hard—as if they were being dragged from him. ‘There is a place—I took it for granted you knew that.’