THE RANCH - CHAPTER 10

Luke got home later than usual, his shoulders ached and he needed a shower. As soon as he walked in the front door he noticed something was different. The place was spotless, either Dorothy cleaned or had someone come in to do it. Which meant he would have to dish out the money to cover the bill. The aroma of food drifted throughout the house from the kitchen. Hanging his hat on the hat rack he walked towards the kitchen, he could hear humming. She was wearing a skirt and a pullover, her hair was tied back into a ponytail.

‘Something smells really good.’

She hadn’t heard Luke come in and was startled, dropping the plate in her hand which shattered into pieces. ‘You startled me, I didn’t hear you come in.’

He reached her in two strides and kneeling down he gathered up the broken pieces. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’ He stood and opened the bottom cupboard and tossed in the broken pieces into the bin. ‘What are you cooking?’

‘Pot roast, baked potatoes, and corn,’ She replied.

He looked into her big brown eyes. He started to sweat when he thought about last night when he made love to her. How good she smelled, the way her skin felt when he touched her and the way she moved her body against his. It was too tempting, he had to leave the room now before he let his lust take over. ‘Do I have time for a quick shower first?’ he asked, backing away.

She couldn’t help but notice how the bulge in his pants grew and blushing she turned back to what she was doing. ‘Yes, it’ll be another twenty minutes.’

She looked over her shoulder as he walked out, already having removed his shirt. Even his back is sexy.

By the time he returned she was dishing out his food, a beer sat open for him. Sitting down he took a long swallow of his beer, watching her walk over and setting his plate down in front of him. ‘You cooked this?’

‘Do you see anyone else here?’ She asked, rolling her eyes.

‘I just don’t see you as the type to cook.’

‘What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?’ She didn’t wait for him to answer. ‘I don’t usually and I’m not very good but Kimberly gave me a recipe book. So how is it?’

Lately Luke had been seeing a different side to her. She was more relaxed and not as snobby as when they first got together.

‘It’s really good, tender and has a nice flavour to it. The place looks good too, did you clean it?’

‘Do you think I had someone come in and clean?’

His eyebrows lifted when he looked over at her. ‘Well, the thought did cross my mind.’

‘No need to worry, it didn’t cost you a cent. I did the cleaning all by myself,’ she said with a smug look on her face.

Later he helped her with the dishes.

‘So what else did you do today?’

‘I went and had lunch with Kimberly and came back here,’ she said, handing him a cup to dry.

‘Did anything interesting happen while you were there?’

‘No,’ she replied, not looking at him.

‘That’s funny, Keenan was talking to Kimberly and she says you punched and kneed some guy for getting fresh with her.’

She wasn’t sure where he was going with this so she glared at him. ‘What if I did?’

‘Dorothy, you can’t go around doing that to a guy, not around here. You could have put yourself in a lot of danger.’

‘Am I supposed to just stand by and let him assault another woman? Or me?’

This got the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. ‘Wait, did he touch you?’ Kimberly hadn’t mentioned anything about the guy getting nasty with her.

‘He tried to grab my ass so I kneed him, hard.’

He started laughing, ‘Remind me not to piss you off.’

She too laughed. ‘Ok, I will.’

Seeing him rubbing his shoulder and seeing pain flash across his face she reached up, touching his shoulder. ‘Did you hurt your shoulder?’

‘Not really, just overworked it today.’

Taking his hand walked him into the living room. ‘Sit down and take off your shirt, I’ll give them a good rub down.’ Straddling him from behind started massaging his sore muscles, smiling when he started moaning in relief.

‘Luke.’

‘What?’

‘Why did you agree to marry me?’

He looked back over his shoulder at her. ‘Your father never told you?’

‘No, all he said was that I was to marry you.’

Sighing he closed his eyes, his muscles were loosening up. ‘It’s a long story. It’s been a tough couple of years what with the weather being unpredictable and then someone poisoned the river and a bunch of us ranchers lost our stock. Anyways to make a long story short I needed to buy some cattle and do a bunch of repairs so I took out a loan with your father after the banks turned me down. Things only got worse for a while till it started turning around. My payment was coming due and I didn’t have the money.’

‘So my father forced you to marry me.’

He turned around to face her.

‘You already know that. I would have lost everything. I couldn’t let that happen. So when he offered me this deal I took it. You have to understand that my parents left this ranch to me, I couldn’t lose it.’

Nodding she stared into his eyes. ‘I do understand. When my father finds someone’s weakness he takes advantage of them to get what he wants.’

Taking her face in his hands stared into her eyes. ‘What I don’t get is why he wanted me to marry you and why you agreed. Seeing the way he treats you I can kind of understand why you wanted to get away from him. But why was he so desperate to get you married so quickly? Tell me what’s going on.’

She couldn’t look at him so her eyes looked down. ‘He has his reasons, ones he will never tell. I’m really tired so I’m going to get ready for bed. Night Luke.’

Removing his hands from her face she walked away.

He couldn’t help feeling that she was keeping something important from but damn if he knew what it was. Maybe in time, she would learn to trust him enough to tell him, till then he would have to be patient.

He was so beat by the time he crawled into bed and just as he was about to close his eyes the door opened. Dorothy, wearing a short pink nightie walked in and over to the bed.

‘Can I sleep in here?’ she asked, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. Seeing him hesitate added. ‘Just to sleep.’

Lifting the covers up waited till she crawled in next to him and covered her up.

‘Luke,’ she said in barely a whisper.

‘Yeah,’ he answered sleepily.

‘Do you regret what we did last night?’

Putting his arm around her and smiled when she rested her head on his chest. He stroked her hair and moved down to her shoulder. ‘No, and you?’

‘I have no regrets,’ she said, then fell asleep.

The sun was starting to rise when Luke woke up and silently cursed himself for sleeping in. He heard her moan when he slipped his arm out from under her.

‘Don’t leave,’ she said as her eyes fluttered open and saw him putting on his pants.

He turned to look at her and was tempted to get back into bed with her but he didn’t. ‘I can’t, I’m already late.’

‘It’s so cold in here without you.’

Pulling on his shirt and doing up the buttons went and sat on the bed, pulling the covers over her. ‘I have to go, I’ll see you later.’ Bending down he placed his lips on hers and her arms went around his neck, kissing him back. As he was about to walk out he turned and smiled at her. ‘Try not to kick anyone in the balls today.’

Giggling she replies. ‘Ok, I’ll try not to.’

It was early afternoon and Sofia was sitting on the front porch flipping through a magazine when Luke came riding up.

She was surprised and thrilled to see him. Usually, he never made it home until much later.

‘You’re home early.’ He seemed agitated.

Removing his hat wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘I just received word that my parents are coming for a visit. Apparently, they found out I got married and want to meet you.’

Dorothy pulled her lips into her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.

‘They’ll be here later today. Look Dorothy, I don’t want them to know you’re pregnant, not yet. We’ll stick to the story that we met, fell in love and got married on a whim. Don’t look so worried, I’m sure they will love you.’

‘What if they don’t? I don’t plan on ever meeting your parents.’

‘You’ll have to move your things into my room while they’re here. Can you do that and maybe clean it up and have it ready for them?’

She swallowed and nodded.

‘You’ll be home before they arrive right?’ The last thing she needed was to be alone to confront them. Oh God, what would they think of her if they knew the truth?

‘Yes, I’ve got to get back to work. Are you ok?’

‘Yeah, just a little nervous. You go and I’ll get to work fixing up the room.’ Once he was out of sight she took a deep breath and went inside.

She moved her things into Luke’s room, jamming her clothes into the closet next to his. She changed the sheets, dusted and washed the floor. The spare bedroom was spotless and ready for the in-laws. After tidying up the rest of the house took a long shower, there she thought about what she would wear. Most of her belongings consisted of short dresses and skirts. So she decided to wear jeans and a buttoned shirt.

Then panic set in, she hadn’t defrosted any meat and had nothing to make them for supper. She couldn’t very well serve them soup and sandwiches. So picking up the phone dialled Kimberly and asked her what she should do.

‘Ok, ok calm down Dorothy,’ she said over the phone. ‘The restaurant next to ours is serving their homemade lasagne. I’ll bring some over when my shift is done in an hour.’

Dorothy hung up and collapsed on the sofa, exhausted. She must have fallen asleep as she was awakened by a knock at the door. ‘Thank God you’re here,’ she said, her eyes going to the packages in Kimberly’s arms.

The women went into the kitchen, removing the food from the bags. Along with the Lasagne, there were homemade rolls and all the makings of a salad, dessert was apple pie. Kimberly with care slid the main course into a pan, telling Dorothy that way it would look like she made it herself.

‘There you go, all you have to do is heat it and the rolls up, make a salad and you’re done.’ Kimberly said as she got rid of the containers the food came in.

The two women sat down with glassed of iced tea. ‘How can I ever thank you?’

Kimberly grinned and patted Dorothy’s hand. ‘You don’t have to thank me, we’re friends and that’s what friends do for each other.’

She wiped a tear from her eye.

‘What are Luke’s parents like?’

‘They’re good people but old - fashioned. I’m sure they will give Luke and earful about marrying so fast and for not telling them. I’m sure you will like them as they will you. Ok, I’ve really got to get going. Call me later and let me know how everything went.’

Dorothy walked her to the door and waved as she drove away. They would be here soon and she was wondering where Luke was, he promised he’d be here before his parents arrived. She looked at the clock and moaned, they would be here any minute and she was starting to sweat….