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Page 28 of Huckleberry Hill (Saddles & Spurs #1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Ranch

“Declan and I are going on a ride tonight and we’re going to camp near the hot spring,” I said to Muddy the next morning.

“You’ll bring protection?” Muddy asked.

“Muddy!” I laughed.

She rolled her eyes. “I meant a pistol. And bear spray.”

“Yes, we’ll bring those. It seems the bear cried off though. So that’s good.”

“It is good.” She nodded. Her eyes met mine. “Are you doing okay? Yesterday was a lot.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “I’m okay. I’ve decided I’m going to tell Declan the truth tonight.”

“Good.”

“We’ll see.” I shrugged. “I can’t keep it to myself any longer.”

I thought about his conversation with Bowman and the brand sponsorship that was on the horizon. He said he didn’t want that life anymore, but what would happen when he learned I couldn’t give him a family? Hell, I didn’t even know if Declan wanted a family. I’d been too chicken shit to ask him.

“Did I ever tell you about your grandfather and me getting together?” Muddy asked, setting her crocheting into the basket underneath the end table near the fireplace.

I paused as I searched my memory. “I don’t think so.”

She nodded. “Thought so. We got married after sixteen days of knowing each other.”

I gasped. “No!”

“Yes.” She smiled, her eyes misty as she clearly thought about her late husband.

“How did you two meet?”

“I was a waitress in a nothing town. His truck broke down outside the diner where I worked. He came in to use the phone to call a tow truck, but . . .”

“But?” I pressed.

She grinned, her eyes flashing with wickedness. “He forgot completely about calling for the truck because the moment we looked at each other, that’s all either of us saw. He stayed with me until the diner closed and then . . .”

“Muddy!”

“Yeah, sugar. Your grandpa came home with me. And the next morning, he called the tow truck and then started packing my bags. He brought me here and we were married fifteen days later.”

“Wow. That’s intense.”

“Yes, it was. You’re probably asking yourself why I’m telling you this now. Well, I’m telling you this story because it’s not the norm. But it was right for us. And we were so happy.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Muddy.”

“What time are you guys leaving for the hot spring?”

“Probably dusk,” I said. “He’s never been to the hot spring.”

“Well, it’s about time you showed it to him. It’s special, that spring. I swear it’s got a little bit of magic in it.”

“Does it?” I asked wistfully. “It didn’t help Mom.”

“It helped her the way it was supposed to.”

“What do you mean? The cancer still took her.”

“You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“That your father took her out there every night for two weeks before she passed. He picked her up out of bed and carried her to the truck and drove her out there. They sat underneath the stars and talked. They talked so much that your father’s voice went hoarse.”

“I remember that—the hoarse voice, I mean.”

“They talked about you and Salem. About their life together. It was like . . . each night they renewed their vows.” She took my hand in hers. “Death isn’t the end, you know. It’s just another beginning. With their feet in the pool of the hot spring, they said goodbye.”

I brushed the tears from my face. “I didn’t know. Dad never . . .”

“Never talks about her. I know. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t think about her all the time. Think about those final two weeks.” She looked at me. “We did okay, didn’t we? We did okay without her?”

“We did okay,” I agreed. “You know it’s weird . . . Mom’s ovaries killed her, and mine don’t work.”

Muddy took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

Tonight, at the hot spring that had no name, I’d confront the ending of a life I was supposed to have. I’d mourn it once and for all. I’d tell Declan the truth and face the aftermath no matter what it was.

Tonight, I’d make peace.

Declan took my bag and strapped it to his saddle. “What do you have in here?”

“Jammies, a change of clothes, three pairs of socks . . .”

He laughed and leaned close, brushing his lips across my ear. “You won’t need your jammies.”

“ Sir ,” I gasped. “I’ll gladly skinny-dip in the hot spring, but sleeping without my jammies? No way. Not happening.”

“I’ll keep you warm,” he promised.

My cheeks heated.

Making love underneath the starry sky? Yeah, I couldn’t wait for that.

Unfortunately, my happy mood was tinged with anxiety.

“Did the coffee company reach out to you?” I asked.

“Not yet.” He looked at me. “Promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“We won’t talk about it tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

We mounted our horses and then I took the lead. “You don’t know where we’re going.”

“I know where we’re going,” he said. “I had Muddy show me earlier today.”

“What?” I gasped. “But I wanted to be the one to show it to you for the first time!”

“You’ll understand why I needed her when we get there.” He winked. “Come on, bear snack. I want to see you in your birthday suit.”

He took off at a quick pace and I followed. It was dusk and the sun would be completely set soon. The sky was clear of clouds.

“We might see the aurora tonight,” I said, looking up.

“I’ve never seen it.”

“Never?” I asked, coming up next to him.

He slowed his pace.

“Never,” he said.

“You grew up in Bonner’s Ferry and never saw it? How is that possible?”

“Never worked out that way I guess.”

“Well, tonight will be your lucky night.”

“In more ways than one.” He winked.

Fifteen minutes later, I saw the old red farm truck parked near the hot spring.

“What’s that doing here?” I asked in surprise.

“I’ll show you,” he said. He brought Merlin to a halt and dismounted. “I had to bring hay and water for the horses. Plus . . .”

I descended Goldie and walked over to the bed of the truck and saw a mattress, along with a huge sleeping bag and two pillows.

“This is glamping,” I stated.

“Yeah.”

I laughed. “I love it.”

“Let’s tend to the horses and then I’ll tend to you,” Declan said huskily.

My insides quivered.

We got the horses comfortable and settled. Declan took off his hat and opened the passenger side door and stuck it on the dashboard.

“Not to make you swoon,” he said. “But I also packed us a charcuterie dinner.”

“Stop.”

He lifted the picnic basket that rested on the seat. “Yep. Got us a nice bottle of local cider to split.”

“Perfect.”

“Not yet, but it will be.” He placed the picnic basket back on the seat and then closed the door.

The sun was halfway gone, and the moon was starting to make its appearance. Soon, the stars would be out.

I went for my jacket and tossed it onto the hood of the truck. “Last one in . . .”

We began to strip, and Declan almost fell over in his haste to get his boots off. I was already thigh deep in the water by the time he came in. He pressed his chest against my back and wrapped his arms around me.

“There’s a makeshift bench,” I told him. “On the other side.”

We waded farther into the pool that was only about ten feet wide. Declan sat down on the bench and then pulled me onto his lap to face him.

I draped my arms around his neck and stared at him.

“So I asked the other ranch hands about the hot spring and they had no idea about it,” Declan said. “Why is that?”

“Because this place is special.”

“You ever brought anyone else here?” he asked, his hand dragging up and down my back.

I shook my head.

“Really?”

“Really.” I lowered my lips to his.

His tongue entered my mouth as his hand slid to the small of my back, pushing against it so that I came even closer to him.

He sipped at my lips, drinking all that I offered him.

I gave him everything I was feeling. My worry, my pleasure, my joy.

His free hand cradled the back of my head, and he held onto me as he switched our positions, so that I was the one sitting on the bench. We continued kissing, our hands caressing one another.

My body temperature skyrocketed from the heat of the water, the heat of him.

He lifted me up and set me on the edge of the pool, widening my legs and stepping between them.

“I want to make you come,” he rasped. “I want to make you come underneath the stars.”

“Yes,” I breathed. “I want that too.”

“Lay back, Hadley.”

I did as he commanded, my back hitting the earth. Declan lifted my legs and placed them on his shoulders, raising my body so that my core was near his mouth.

I gazed at him, heavy lidded, my nipples taut from desire and my skin steaming in the cool air.

Declan licked me; slow, long, perfect.

His hands gripped my ass, holding me to him. My body wanted him, and I felt myself grow even wetter from his tongue.

“Sweet. So fucking sweet,” he growled before he went back to his purpose.

My eyes flew to the sky. Stars winked above. The sky streaked with the faintest traces of pink and green. So subtle you could almost miss it if you didn’t know what you were seeing.

With Declan’s tongue between my legs, my back bowed underneath the aurora borealis in the sky.

There was no one to hear me cry out my pleasure, just the wind in the trees and the two of us alone in this magical place.

When I came, I yelled from the depths of my soul. And while I was still shuddering, Declan lowered my legs from his face.

He grasped his erection and lined himself up at my entrance and then he slid home.

We curled around one another, thrust for thrust. He was so deep inside me I felt as though we’d become one person.

When I came for the second time, I couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my face. I couldn’t stop the rush of emotion swirling around my heart.

He looked into my eyes, his gaze saying he understood, but he remained quiet. Instead, he used the talents he’d been given, wringing another round of pleasure from me.

Declan angled his hips, driving into me, and gave me his release.

I felt it inside me, and in the warmth of it I found solace in my body.

He gathered me in his arms and pulled me back into the hot spring. We were still joined, and it was as if neither one of us had the desire to be separated ever again.

I buried my face in the crook of his neck and cried. I cried for all the things I’d lost. I cried for a second chance at happiness, and I cried even more for the fear of losing it.

Losing it for real this time.

Because I thought I’d loved Gianni . . .

How wrong I’d been.

“Don’t let me go,” I hiccoughed.

“Never.” He pressed his lips to my shoulder. “I’ll never let you go.”

A fresh set of tears burst from my eyes, streaming down my cheeks. I forced myself to pull back, just enough so that I could look at him.

I traced his brow, his cheek, his jaw, the shell of his ear. “You might let me go when I tell you the truth.”

“The truth,” he murmured. “The truth about what?”

I took a deep breath. “That I can’t have children, Declan. I’m infertile.”