Oklahoma Sweetheart

“No, just picking up a few things,” Connor told him.

“I understand the Petersons tossed their girl out in the snow the other night. You hear about that?”

“I heard,” Connor said dryly. “Everyone in town heard by now, I’m sure.”

The storekeeper leaned closer. “Did you hear she was in the family way?”

Again Connor nodded and agreed. “Yeah, I heard that, too. Seems like the folks hereabouts are real busy passing the word around.”

“I thought you was gonna marry her, back a ways.”

“Did you?” Connor dug in his pocket for cash and slowly counted out the amount of his purchases.

“Still gonna take her to the preacher?”

“Are you always this nosy?” he asked, “or is this a special occasion?” His eyes narrowed as he stepped back to observe the man.

“Didn’t mean no harm,” the storekeeper said quickly. “I was just wonderin’.” He pointed down to the scribbling that represented Connor’s order for the merchandise from the catalog. “I’ll take care of this right away. Should be here in two, three weeks.”

“Let me know. I’m in town every once in a while.”

“Maybe I can just send word to your folks’ place. You’re still livin’ there, ain’t ya?”

Connor’s jaw tightened. “I’ll stop by when I come to town. Don’t be sending any word anywhere. You hear me?”

The man nodded. “Yes sir, I surely do.”

Connor felt the bulk of the deed in his pocket as he left the store, although the sheaf of papers could not have weighed more than a few ounces. He touched the front of his coat, heard the reassuring rustle of the paperwork he’d had made out, and grinned. Loris would be pleased to know that she needn’t move anytime soon, that the place where she’d taken shelter was her own, to do with as she pleased.

He pulled his horse up next to the Benson’s place and dismounted. Within thirty minutes, he owned a cow and a half-grown pup from the litter in Joe’s barn. A nondescript mutt, he looked to be part shepherd, and seemed to be gentle, his tongue reaching out to seek Connor’s warm skin as they traveled together on the horse.

By the time they reached the farm where Loris had taken up residence, a place she owned now, Connor was feeling pleased with himself. A huge bundle hung on either side of his saddle, a dog lay across his lap and a good milk cow followed behind him on a lead rope. He’d had a profitable trip to town.

Loris came out onto the porch, one hand on her back, her hair askew. “What do you have there?” she asked with a grin. “More work for me to do, I’ll bet. What makes you think I can milk a cow?”

“You’re a talented woman, ma’am. Milking shouldn’t be too big a problem for you to solve. And look here at what I brought you.” He dismounted, holding the dog in his arms. Legs dangled helter-skelter, all four of them longer than he’d remembered, and as Loris approached, she was served with a dose of the dog’s affection.

“He’s just happy to see you,” Connor said with a laugh. “Must be he likes ladies.”

“Well, I didn’t need a kiss so early on in our acquaintance,” Loris told him. “I’d just as soon he not be so friendly.”

“You’ll be glad he’s here at night, I suspect. And I don’t know just how friendly he’d be should some stranger ride up or give you grief.”

“He’s really mine?” Her hand lifted to pet the tawny head, and the dog wiggled in ecstasy as Connor put him on the ground and gave him the freedom to roll on his back before his new mistress. She knelt beside him, buried her fingers in the hair on his throat, petted his long legs as if she were measuring their length, and then looked up at Connor.

“Can I call him Rusty?”

Connor looked perplexed. “Where’d you get such a name for a dog?”

“I had a pup once, and my father’s horse stepped on him in the barn. Killed him, of course. His name was Rusty, and I always thought—”

“Of course you can. Call this little fella anything you want to. He’s your dog, and I have a suspicion that no matter what you name him, he’ll come a’runnin’ when you yell out his name.”

“You think he likes me?” Her words sounded hopeful, childlike almost, but Connor squatted beside her and ran his hand over Rusty’s head.

“I’d say it was a sure thing, sweetheart. He seems quite taken with you. He’s a male, isn’t he?” His look begged a smile from her and she did not deny him his reward for bringing her the pet.

“You don’t know how happy you’ve made me,” she said quietly. “He can sleep in the house and look after me.”

“I thought that was my job.” Connor spoke the words bluntly, expectantly, and waited for her to reply.

“You can share the duties of watchdog, if you like, Connor. I just meant, when I was alone here, he’d be good protection. When you’re here, I don’t need anyone else to keep an eye on things.” She eyed the bundles he’d tied on his horse. “What else did you bring home?”

Connor wondered if she realized how easily that word had slipped out. Home. It sounded just fine to him, and he hoped she’d come to feel that this place was truly hers, that it was her home. Now, he undid the straps that held his purchases in place and carried the two wrapped packages to the house.

“Come take a look. I got some warm bedding and a couple of things for you to wear. I wanted you to be warm enough when you go out to milk the cow.” His smile lent humor, and he hoped she would not balk at his buying clothing for her.

It seemed she would not do anything to fault his gifts, the shawl, the house shoes, new flannel shirts to be worn over her dresses or with the trousers he’d bought, guessing at the size, aware that they must accommodate a growing figure.

“I got you a belt to hold these up for a while,” he told her. “A little later on, they’ll stay up by themselves, when you’ve gotten a little rounder.”

“Fatter, you mean.” She produced a pout, and he was hard pressed not to bend over and kiss it from her mouth. Leaving Loris alone, not spending his affections on her, was going to be a tough row to hoe, he decided. His first impulse was to haul her up the stairs into the biggest bed on the second floor. But she wasn’t ready for that sort of thing, yet. In fact, she might never be. Maybe her heart was still set on James. He didn’t know.

“Connor?” She spoke his name softly.

His look was distracted. What had she asked him? And then he recalled her words. Fatter, you mean. The thought was so ludicrous, he could not help but smile. “I’ll never call you fat. Not even plump, Loris. You’ll always look good to me. You’re pregnant, and that’s a whole different thing.”

As if he had pleased her enormously, she smiled brilliantly, an expression that brought to mind the girl he’d fallen in love with so long ago. “Tell me that again in five months or so.” She grinned at him and reached up to kiss his cheek. “You’re a good man, Connor Webster. Too good for me, but if you want to hang around, I’ll let you.”

He’d already decided to hang around, had already made plans to look after her. But her theory, that he was too good for her, was not to be believed. He was too close to laying claim to her to think himself a saint. And yet, he knew that a man could desire a woman without deep emotional ties connecting them. Only time would tell if his attraction to Loris held even a thread of what it would take to keep a marriage together.

Chapter Four

“I don’t want you living with that girl.” His mother’s jaw was set, but her eyes held a concern Connor could not deny. “She’s trouble, son, and I won’t have her dividing my boys anymore than she has already.”

“That girl has a name, Ma. It’s Loris. And she’s going to be the mother of your grandchild. You might at least try for peace between you.” He walked to the back door, tempted to walk out of his family home and never return, but his love for the man and woman who’d raised him brought him to a halt before he stepped onto the porch.

“The trouble between James and me goes a lot deeper than competition over a woman, Mother. He walked out on his responsibility. And if he won’t accept that he has an obligation to Loris and her child, then I suppose I’ll have to do something to hold the family’s name out of the mud.”

“Loris is the one who’s dragged her own name in the mud,” Connor’s mother replied in a caustic tone. “She’s got you fooled, son, and I’m not happy about you moving over there and doing for her. She’d better learn to take care of herself right quick. It looks to me like she’s got a lot of years ahead of her, chock-full of regret and—”

“That’s enough. I won’t have you talking about her that way. I don’t want to have hard feelings with you, but I have to do what’s right, and to my way of thinking, taking care of Loris is the right thing to do.”

“Well, don’t let her lead you astray. I know her type. She’ll take advantage if she can.” Her mouth drew down and Connor’s mother looked as though she had aged ten years in the past week. Her hair seemed more gray than brown, and her eyes had lost their sparkle. Having James leave had been hard on her. And now her other son was all packed up and ready to move to a farm on the other side of town.

Connor’s father had given him an ultimatum, announcing that either he stay away from Loris or else not bother coming back home. Connor had accepted the words with a nod, and now he watched as his father stood in the barn door, waiting for his son to make up his mind.

There was no choice to be made. He’d settled that last night when he slept by Loris’s side, curled around her back. He’d made the decision even before that, during those minutes when he’d held her close and felt the desire for her rise within him. Even with all that had happened, he still cared about her. He was too honest to deny it, and too attached to Loris to walk away.