Cowboy, Stay with Me

Chapter Four: The Ambush

Lucy put Rosalita down for her nap, along with the other babies. She enlisted the help of the older kids, and when everyone was tucked in with their respective bedtime story buddy, she stormed into the kitchen to confront her female relatives.

"Did you know about this?!" Lucy demanded of them hotly.

Both Amanda and Martha raised their eyebrows with twin expressions of innocence. "What ever do you mean, Lucy?"

"Oh, don't 'whatever do you mean, Lucy?' me! You know exactly what I mean! That Cass and Carson are having Sean be their freaking groomsmen?! You have got to be kidding me!"

Amanda offered up one of her classic sheepish grins. "Oh yeah, that. Uhm, sorry? Carson had his heart set on it, he didn't know about your bad blood with Sean. And Cass said not to bring it up, to let her handle it."

Lucy snorted, cellphone already in hand as she dialed up the troublesome oldest sister. "Yeah, by not telling me 'til the day of the wedding, no doubt.

"Cassie, hi, so just when were you gonna tell me that Sean Kallaghan was gonna be one of Carson's groomsmen?!

"Oh, that's so typical, Cassie, I would never invite one of your exes to my wedding!

"And just who do you suppose he'll be walking with, exactly? Not me! No, Cassie, you've gotta be kidding me! Why can't he...ugh, fine, yes we can talk about this later!

"Yes, yes, your son is doing fine; Charlie is reading to Melanie right now. I know, they're so adorable together. Talk to you later, sis. Good luck with the cake tasting! Hey, snag Amanda and I a piece, huh? Bye-bye."

Lucy sighed as she got off the phone. No one could take the wind out of sails like her big sister could.

It was a gift.

Amanda came into the play room right then with a crate of juice boxes for when the kids woke up. "Was that Cassie? Did you tell her to bring us cake?"

###

Lucy kept peeking out the front window until she saw her father, Guy Northgate, and her grandfather, Leroy, standing out in the driveway, slapping their work gloves together in a similar absent tendency as they chatted with Sean.

Finally, the two older gentlemen headed back to work in the stables and Sean came back inside to say his goodbyes to the ladies.

Lucy saw him back out to the porch by herself, however, when it came time for him to leave.

"Well, there's no fugitive hiding out in your stables, you can rest assured of that." Sean smiled down at her and she wiped her hand dramatically across her brow.

"Whew! Well, thank the good Lord for that." She said, with a certain sardonic bite to her voice.

He cocked his head and fixed her with a rather stern expression. "This isn't something to be taken lightly, though. If you notice anything suspicious at all, even if you just get a weird feeling of being watched, you call the police or you call me, immediately. Do you understand me? Don't try to be a hero, you get your cute little butt inside, you get your daddy's rifle, and you lock all the doors 'til the law arrives, ya hear me?"

She folded her arms and frowned up at him. "I think I can manage to call 911, thanks. Do you really think it's likely that this fugitive of yours is gonna still be lurking around, though?"

Sean sighed and tunneled a hand back through his glossy black hair. "No, I think he'll keep heading for the border. Nevertheless, I want you to stay indoors for the next few days, as much as possible, okay? And keep a sharp eye out at all times. Can you do that for me, Miss Lucy?"

Lucy huffed, utterly offended. "You are such a classic chauvinist, Sean! This is so-so typical of you! I don't get to worry about you ever, but you get to boss me around whenever you want-?! What're you doing?!" She demanded when he reached out and gently scuffed his thumb across her cheek.

"You had paint on your face." He smiled down at her. "I just had to get it for you."

She stared up at him, baffled now but still rather enraged. Who the hell did he think he was?

Then suddenly he was pulling her into his arms and holding her close.

Her eyes widened as she found her face pressed into his chest. She could feel him breathing into her hair as he held her like she was the only thing keeping him together right then.

"I've missed you so much, Lucy." She heard him murmur and she slowly let her eyes close; let herself give in and lightly slide her arms around his waist.

She'd forgotten how amazing it felt to be in his arms, to be pressed against his big, warm body; it took her breath away like it was the first time all over again.

She'd forgotten how safe she felt, nestled in the shelter of his embrace. How delicious he smelled...

Lucy never wanted the moment to end, but suddenly they heard a truck rolling up the driveway and they both reluctantly eased back from the other.

Sean glanced over at the old Ford pickup first. "This your boyfriend?" He asked dryly, but there was a distinct edge to his voice now and he was studying her face closely.

"Uhm, no, that's just Jake." She murmured, feeling embarrassed and vulnerable now that she was out of Sean's arms.

She glanced over at Jake in his truck and waved.

Jake popped the door and jumped down from the cab. "Hey," he said, jogging towards them, "you ready for our date later, Lucy?" He asked. While he wore the same sunny smile that he always did, Lucy had a feeling that he had mentioned the date purely to let Sean know that they had one. Jake was easy going, not stupid; he'd seen them holding each other when he'd driven up.

Sean looked at Lucy and she felt her cheeks pinken as she realized that now it sounded like she'd been lying. She'd completely forgotten that she'd even agreed to go on a date with Jake. Not that it was even a real date; they were just going out to karaoke with everyone else who usually went on Friday night.

"Right." Lucy gave Jake a pained sort of smile.

"Well, I should get going. Remember what I said, okay?" Sean lightly put his hand on her arm, perhaps just to send a possessive message to Jake. Then he was gone, loping with easy grace down the stairs and across the lawn to his truck.

Jake climbed the porch steps to stand beside Lucy and she did her best to smile at him. He was cute, with his blond curls, his Amarillo-sky blue eyes, and his dimples. He also had really nice teeth when he smiled, which he did often, and a farmer's tan to be proud of. He was also incredibly sweet, hard working, loyal, and he wasn't terrified stiff of babies.

So what was the problem again?

Lucy sighed to herself as they turned and went inside the ranch house together.

Oh yeah, that's right; 6'4" of rugged, untamable man, that's what the problem was.

~ ~ ~

Mmhmm, yes sir, yes ma'am!

Lol, sorry I'm such a dork, I know.

*Vote for rugged, untamable cowboys, though! And Comment what you like (or don't like) about this story!

Happy reading, Minions o'mine!

HRH