Page 23 of The Soldier and the Cowboy

“Yes, sir,” she replied.

“Come over here, let me tell you more,” he said.

“I’m staying over here for your benefit, sir. Swimming is the best exercise for the elderly.”

“All right, that’s it,” he said and disappeared beneath the water. After a while longer of chasing, he finally caught her. They emerged from the water, his right arm around her waist. With his left, he pushed the wet hair off her face. The atmosphere morphed immediately from lighthearted fun to expectant and tense. Cal dropped his arms and swam back a pace, allowing the water to come between them.

“We should probably get back,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” she agreed and ducked beneath the water, putting a few yards of distance between them.

He stayed where he was until she emerged onto the bank and refastened her holsters. Then it was his turn to haul himself out. He shook his hair like a dog, slid his hat on, and swung into the saddle.

They rode home in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, but it was a tiny bit sad, and neither wanted to put a name to why. “Thank you for that, Cal. It was a fun day,” Bailey said when they returned to the stable. “I’m going to go get cleaned up after I help with the horses.”

“I’ll take care of the horses,” he offered, reaching for herreins. She handed them over, being careful not to let their fingers brush.

He stayed in the barn for a long time, until long after the horses were brushed and fed and watered. The barn worked the same soothing magic on him as usual so that by the time he went inside his equilibrium was restored. He took a shower and prepped some steaks while Bailey scrubbed and prepared potatoes for baking.

They ate supper, talking and laughing like old friends, keeping things casual and light. After supper was finished and cleaned up, they retired to the porch with a glass of tea, one shared between them as had become their custom since she first arrived. Instead of sitting in separate rockers like usual, Cal sat on the loveseat glider, stretching his arm over the back of it. Bailey sat beside him, keeping a safe distance away, her legs tucked beneath her.

His long legs rocked them gently for a while as they sat in easy silence, enjoying the tropically humid, quiet night. Eventually he realized she was asleep. Her lolling head crept closer and closer to him until it landed on his shoulder. He closed his eyes and fought a wave of longing so intense it became painful to breathe. He wanted more than the life he had now, wanted more than an estranged wife who hated him so much she flaunted a string of boyfriends to torment him, wanted to be whole and healthy again. Mostly he wanted Bailey. She was so close, and yet so far out of reach. He couldn’t, wouldn’t break his vows. As long as he was still married, they still meant something to him. And it would be wholly unfair to drag her into the tangled mess his world had become. She would be one more innocent victim of a mistake he made a decade ago that was still causing harm.

But his fingers refused to accept the message his brain wassending. They stole closer, his thumb easing along her shoulder. The light touch woke her. She sat up, blinking at him in confusion.

“You fell asleep,” he whispered.

“Sorry,” she replied, also in a whisper. Her eyes roamed his face, and his heart squeezed and turned over. It was both a hope and a curse to have her look at him that way. On the one hand, his attraction to her wasn’t one sided. On the other hand, it needed to remain so.

“Bailey,” he began, his tone strangled with repressed emotion.

“I know,” she said. She straightened and sat up away from him. “Nice night,” she added, surveying the darkened landscape. He didn’t respond because he couldn’t. If he opened his mouth, he was afraid of what might come out. After another moment, she stood. “Goodnight, sir.”

His continued silence probably seemed rude, but he was certain she understood. He remained on the porch a long time after she went to bed, letting the night’s peace wash over him and soothe him with its usual magic.

Chapter 10

On Monday Bailey began implementing the new security changes around the ranch. The hands would vary their routines and keep a log of any suspicious vehicles. These she would report to law enforcement and hope something got done about them. She posted signs all over the problem areas, both in English and in Spanish, stating the area was under observation and air patrol and violators would be turned in. This she hoped might be enough to stem the flow of cow thefts by people looking to make a quick, easy buck.

In the south pasture, where the smugglers were wearing an even bigger path, she instituted a bit of road reconstruction, adding piles of gravel as speed bumps, along with some well-placed rocks and boulders. The hands who used the road would know about the new construction. The smugglers who used it in the dead of night would not, or so Bailey was hoping. While not ready to wage an all-out war with them, she wanted to make them feel as unwelcome as possible, sending a subtle signal to go away.

The other change that took place was the relationship between Bailey and Cal. It was as if they had both decided to withdraw from each other, albeit politely. They were still polite to each other, but there was a new and cool reservebetween them when before they had been well on their way to becoming good friends. Each of them knew, but neither of them said, there was no way they could remain on their current trajectory without some sort of cataclysmic ending neither of them could handle.

For her part, her goal remained lowering her blood pressure enough to return to the marines. Having a romance with a married rancher did not figure into that plan. For his part, he was unwilling and unable to enter into any sort of dalliance while still married. And he was still very much married, a fact he was painfully reminded of when he cut a check to Isabel for ten thousand dollars. It was a worrisome amount of money, even for her, and he began to wonder why she needed or wanted so much. Was he also outfitting her boyfriend’s lifestyle? He told himself he wouldn’t stand for that, but really he had no idea what he would take anymore. A long time ago he said he would never stay with a woman who was unfaithful to him, and here he was, two years later and still in her clutches.

Isabel arrived to pick up her check as Bailey was returning from an air patrol. She exited the plane and saw the other woman on her horse, practicing her barrel races. It surprised her because Isabel looked like the kind of woman who would keep her distance from any animal, but horse love knew no boundaries. She paused, standing by Jinx to watch the other woman ride, winding her horse expertly through the course.

“Dang woman showed up in the middle of the workday and demanded I saddle her mount like she’s still queen of the castle,” Jinx muttered. His horse stood patiently by, as did the one Bailey had been using. “Thought you might want it when you got back,” he added.

“Thank you,” she said, linking her arm with his and giving ita squeeze. She had grown ridiculously fond of the old man in her short time on the ranch. They got each other in a way that didn’t need words.Sympathetic hearts,her mother would say. It was the same with…but, no, she wouldn’t allow herself to think of him. He wasn’t hers. He belonged to the woman in front of her, the one whose horse looked as weary of her as everyone else.

Isabel finished her ride and stopped short beside them, tossing her reins to Jinx. “Well, it’s cute little Bailey. How’s life with my husband? He treating you all right?”

Bailey swallowed a thousand replies, answering only with a cool stare. There was something off about the woman, something she couldn’t quite place, more than her nasty demeanor. Bailey was distrustful of her, almost leery. She was the sort you didn’t want to turn your back on, for certain.

“Do you ride?” Isabel tried again, her curled lip telling her no answer from Bailey would be satisfactory.

“Not as much as I’d like,” Bailey said.

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