Priceless Marriage Read online

  And he knew she wouldn’t come.

  His stomach grumbled, and Sam realized he would have to find something to eat. On a Sunday in Jester, that would prove a problem. He’d eaten breakfast at Gwen’s, but the Brimming Cup was closed on Sundays, as was the grocery store. He guessed he’d have to make the trip to Pine Run for a few supplies to hold him until he could figure out how to make Ruby want him again.

  He closed the windows, made a quick mental list of what he needed, then loped down the outside stairs. He stopped short at the bottom, nearly colliding with Ruby, who appeared to be stopping by to check on the store.

  She raised her hand to her mouth to stifle a gasp, and stared at him for a moment, giving Sam a chance to look at her, as well. She was wearing a dress in a slightly old-fashioned, high-collared style, but she still looked damned hot. This was the first time he’d seen her hair down since he’d been back in Jester, and Sam longed to run his hands through those fiery waves. Even at arm’s length she made his groin tighten.

  “You startled me,” Ruby finally said.

  “I’m sorry.” But Sam wasn’t sorry one bit. After all, any time he caught Ruby off her guard gave him a chance to work his way back into her affections. “I didn’t expect to find you here, either.” Not that it wasn’t a pleasant surprise, but he didn’t say that out loud.

  “Are you going somewhere?”

  “Yeah. To Pine Run for supplies. I forgot that everything in Jester closes on Sundays.” Sam hated the way they were standing at arm’s length like a couple of strangers, making idle conversation about nothing in particular. He had a sudden stroke of inspiration. “Want to go with me? You’ve been cooking for me this week. How ’bout I treat you to Sunday dinner?” Especially since Nick appeared to be nowhere around. Any time Sam got a chance to be alone with his wife, he’d take it.

  Ruby opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again quickly, and Sam knew better than to press. They might be acting like strangers, but they weren’t. And he knew that if he pushed too hard, his stubborn, redheaded wife would balk like an ornery mule. She looked at him, her emerald eyes wide, and gnawed at her lip with indecision. After what seemed like an eternity, she swallowed hard and answered. “Yes, thank you. I’d like that.”

  “Hoo-ah!” Sam said softly, using the traditional airborne expression for hurrah, and was pleased to note that Ruby’s mouth twitched as she tried to suppress a smile. He crooked an arm, and after only a slight hesitation, Ruby looped hers through it. A thousand volts of awareness seemed to charge through him as he escorted Ruby to the car.

  Only then did Sam realize that Ruby had apparently arrived in Nick’s truck. Her new SUV was nowhere in sight. A wave of disappointment dimmed the electricity between them. “You came with Nick?” he said, trying to temper the disappointment in his voice.

  Ruby looked up quickly. “Oh, no. Nick’s gone to Rapid City for a few days to take care of some business. I let him take my car. He might love this rattletrap of his, but I shudder to think about what would happen if he broke down out in the middle of nowhere.”

  Sam pushed aside a couple of uncharitable thoughts about Nick staying lost in the middle of nowhere, and decided to simply be glad that Nick’s absence gave him the opportunity to try to get back in his wife’s good graces. And her bed, if he was lucky. “Too bad,” he said insincerely. Then he steered Ruby toward the Corvette.

  “THAT WAS GOOD,” Ruby said, pushing the remains of a decadent chocolate dessert away from her. “But I couldn’t eat another bite.” She wouldn’t have ordered the rich dessert, but Sam had always known about her sweet tooth and he’d ordered it for her. Over some very weak protests, she had to admit.

  “You mind if I polish off the rest?” he asked, reaching for the dish.

  Ruby laughed. “I don’t know where you’ll put it. You already ate one of your own, and you want mine, too?”

  “Hey, you work me hard on that farm, woman,” Sam growled as he forked up a generous mouthful of chocolate.

  “You asked for it,” Ruby said. “I was never one to turn down free help. Just ask Nick.”

  Sam’s cheerful expression disappeared as fast as the cake. Why he was so touchy about Nick she didn’t know, but it gave Ruby a small measure of satisfaction that Nick’s presence bothered him.

  “It’s nice to see how much weight you’ve put on since I’ve been ‘working you,”’ Ruby commented as Sam scarfed down the chocolate dessert. “It looks good on you.”

  Sam’s cheerful expression returned as he finished the cake.

  Ruby plucked her napkin up off her lap and laid it on the table. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go. You still have shopping to do. I know all too well that if I left you to your own devices you’d buy nothing but corn chips and chocolate brownies.”

  “Aw, honey,” Sam said, grinning. “You have to know I’d throw in some fried pork skins and maybe a couple of apples to balance it all out.”

  “Exactly,” Ruby said primly. “That’s why I have to save you from yourself.”

  “You know me too well,” Sam said, pushing his chair back. “Let’s go,” he said, offering her his arm again.

  Ruby accepted and fought to push back the delicious tingles of anticipation as she rested her hand on his arm. She had to learn not to go all tingly at his touch, she reminded herself as they waited in line at the cash register.

  She forced herself to think about something other than Sam. Dinner had been pleasant, though slightly strained, she thought, as she waited while Sam paid the check. Though the green beans had been overcooked and the pot roast stringy, she’d still enjoyed it. It was seldom that she got to eat a meal someone else prepared, and in the last week, she’d eaten out three times: once in the company of Nick, once with Sam and once with both men. How odd, she thought, that she would feel more comfortable with Nick than with her own husband, the man she’d been married to for ten years.

  She was well aware that Sam wanted her back. She was also aware of the sexual energy that seemed to be zinging between them, but she couldn’t forget the magnitude of Sam’s betrayal. Until she was certain she could trust him with her heart, she would not trust him with her body. She knew all too well how easy it would be to fall into the same old routine. How simple it would be to let Sam take her and kiss her and hold her and make lo—

  No, she had to stop that. She had to be strong. Until she was sure that Sam would stay, she would not let him back into her heart.

  “Ready to go?” he asked, bringing Ruby out of her thoughts.

  “The Super Store on the main highway is probably the only place open this afternoon,” she said. “This isn’t the big city, either, even if it is bigger than Jester.”

  “The Super Store it is, then,” Sam said agreeably. He crooked his arm, and Ruby took it and allowed him to escort her out to the car. This time it was a little easier to squelch the gooey feeling she got when he touched her. And she almost wished it hadn’t been.

  As he opened the car door for her, Sam was every bit the gentleman he’d been when she’d first met him eleven years ago. He held her hand, and Ruby slipped inside. As much as she hated this fast car, she enjoyed the looks that people gave them whenever they were out in it. She knew that she and Sam made a striking couple. Sam with his well-trimmed dark hair, military bearing and steely-gray eyes hidden behind the aviator-style sunglasses, and she with her eye-catching red hair never failed to turn heads. And in spite of everything that had passed between them, Ruby had to admit she liked the notion that they still looked so good together.

  Sam started the engine and drove off, and while he was concentrating on his driving, Ruby took the opportunity to look at him, really look at him. The few days he had been working on the farm in the fresh air and sun had replaced his pallor with the beginnings of a healthy tan. His injured leg seemed stronger already. Apparently, all those meals she’d cooked for him were making a difference, too. Not to mention half of her dessert today.

  Ruby smiled as s
he leaned back in the seat, remembering the way he had hungrily cleaned his plate and asked for seconds, then looked at her just as hungrily. She knew that part of it had been from appetite, but she also knew that it had been a ploy to stay with her, if only for a few moments longer. A ploy she had tolerated, but not really encouraged.

  She still didn’t know what to make of Sam’s sudden reappearance after staying away for so long. Her smile faded. If he wanted her so badly, why hadn’t he come back sooner? Why had he reappeared just when she thought she might have finally begun to get him out of her system?

  She glanced again at Sam as he drove. Would he leave her once he became strong enough to do so?

  Ruby gnawed at her lip, a habit from childhood she’d never been able to break. As much as Sam Cade had let her down, she still needed him. She still loved him, and she wanted him to stay with her forever.

  She just hoped that if he was going to let her down, he’d do it now, before it was too late. Before she’d gotten used to having him around again. Before she’d had a chance to depend on him, to want him again. As if she’d ever stopped.

  She’d learned that she could live without him, or at least survive. But as hard as she’d tried, she’d also learned that she didn’t want to. She didn’t know many single men in and around Jester, Montana, but the few she did know could not compare to Captain Samuel Cade, USAF Retired.

  As Sam eased the car into the parking lot in front of the giant Super Store, all Ruby could think of was how she might get her husband back and how she could do so without losing face. Without giving up all that she’d strived to achieve since they’d been separated. Since she’d thought she’d be able to make it on her own…

  And realized she couldn’t.

  THERE WAS STILL A LOT of day left, but Sam couldn’t think of any more reasons to stay in Pine Run with Ruby. And the TV dinners he’d bought at the Super Store would defrost. Not that he cared.

  Not if it meant he’d have a few more minutes alone with his wife.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get your purchases back to Jester and in the refrigerator before they spoil,” Ruby said, her practical streak showing a mile wide.

  Sam let out a long, low breath as he stashed the last of the bags in the Corvette’s small trunk and closed it. “I reckon we should,” he replied sourly. He forced himself to flash a smile in Ruby’s direction as he opened the passenger door for her. “Get in.”

  She did, with just a little too much alacrity to suit Sam.

  As he closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side, he grinned to himself. He didn’t have to drive his normal racing-car speed when he hit the highway. She’d see right through his intentions if he poked along at thirty or forty miles an hour, but if he drove at a modest sixty-five, what could she say? And that would prolong the trip some. Maybe when they reached Jester, he could convince Ruby to come up and help him put the stuff away.

  It was worth a try.

  He settled in the cockpit of his low-flying craft, positioned his aviator glasses on his face and turned the key. As the powerful engine roared to life, he let the pressure off the accelerator. Then he eased out of the parking spot and out onto Route 2 back toward Jester.

  Sam cast a sideways glance at Ruby and saw that she had clutched the armrests of the bucket seat as though she were preparing for a takeoff at two or three g’s. Her full lips were pressed together with tension, but when it became apparent that he wasn’t going to fly along the highway at his usual breakneck speed, she seemed to relax slightly. Sam couldn’t help smiling to himself.

  Ruby sighed softly, and he knew it was because she was relieved not to feel the car accelerate beneath her. If this was all it took to please her, he could have done it a long time ago, but he knew that their problems went deeper than the speed at which he drove. He wondered if he should say anything, but he didn’t really know what to talk about. Maybe the break in the silence should come from Ruby, not from him.

  They’d driven about five miles before she finally spoke. “Is there some reason you’re driving so slowly?” she finally asked.

  Sam grinned. Ruby had noticed. “Well,” he drawled, “I have precious cargo on board,” he said. “You.”

  He cast another quick glance toward Ruby and saw that her alabaster skin had flushed to a shade that matched her name. He had gotten her attention with that one. She lifted one small hand to her throat and held it there. Her lips opened as if she wanted to speak, but all she said was, “Oh.”

  But Sam knew he’d made Ruby think. He liked that he’d caught her off guard with that comment. He reached over and placed his hand on hers, which was still on the armrest, and squeezed gently. It pleased him no end when she didn’t pull away.

  Ruby let him hold her hand like that all the way back to Jester.

  And when he had to let go so that he could downshift at the town limits, she uttered a brief whimper of protest that warmed him all the way down to his toes.

  Sam wished he could keep her there, captive in his car, his hand covering hers, until Ruby begged him to stay. But he knew that he had to take this slowly, even if his body was clamoring for immediate action.

  He eased the car into its space behind the store. Ruby let out a soft sigh, which Sam tried to read. Was it because she was relieved that she’d gotten home in one piece in spite of him practically making the car crawl home, or was it because she was sad that the ride had ended?

  When he hurried around and helped her out, she accepted his hand, and he loved the way her fingers felt, so soft and warm in his. But once she was out of the car, she withdrew her hand, wiped it nervously on her skirt and stood straight. She seemed to have something on her mind, and Sam hoped it was him.

  “I need to check inventory in the Mercantile,” she said, fishing in her purse for the key. “I’ve been leaving too much to Honor and the rest of the staff since I’ve been out on the farm,” she said by way of explanation. “You don’t mind if I don’t help you with your groceries, do you?”

  Sam did mind, but he knew he shouldn’t push even though he wanted to. No, he wanted to pick her up, sweep her off her feet, toss her over his shoulder and carry her up to that big bed upstairs. That’s what he wanted to do, but he swallowed his desire and forced a smile. “No. I wondered who was taking care of the store while you were out there at the farm.”

  “Honor’s been keeping things going. And the place pretty much runs itself, anyway, with a couple of employees who’ve been here longer than I have,” Ruby said, a relieved look on her face. “Still, I should do my share. Honor wanted me to look things over. She’s thinking about going away for a while.”

  “I guess she deserves a vacation as much as anybody else,” Sam said, disappointed that Ruby wouldn’t be giving him a chance to try to get her into his bed. He had a feeling that if they could just once make love, it would break the awful tension that stretched so tightly between them.

  “Well,” Ruby said, sounding breathless and nervous and…what? “I’d best get started. It’s late and…”

  Sam didn’t know why he did it, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself. They were standing at the back door of the Mercantile, as nervous and jumpy as a couple of teenagers at a girl’s front door after their first date. It was more instinct than plan, but Sam simply reacted.

  He reached for Ruby, pulled her to him and pressed her body against his. He could feel her heart fluttering against her rib cage like a captive bird, but nothing was going to stop him now that he had gone this far.

  Ruby stared up at him, her green eyes wide, her lips slightly parted in question. Sam lowered his head and Ruby’s lids drifted downward. He captured her lips.

  She didn’t pull away.

  Ruby felt her arms go up around Sam’s neck as though they had a will of their own. She hadn’t consciously wanted to respond to Sam’s kiss; in fact, when she’d learned he was back in town, she’d vowed not to let him kiss her. But she seemed helpless to resist.

  War
mth flooded through her blood from her head to her toes and her skin tingled with delight as she felt her body go aching and tender and soft. Her lips parted, and she let Sam’s searching tongue in. She responded to him in kind, to this dance of tongues, this unspoken communication of their bodies, their minds. Their heartbeats seemed to pound in tandem, their every movement came together in a rhythm that was old as time. Ruby found herself completely under Sam’s spell.

  Which was why she wrenched herself painfully free of his arms. She couldn’t think clearly—no, she couldn’t think at all—with Sam doing this to her.

  She backed safely away from him, her breasts rising and falling as she tried to catch her breath. Her pulse raced, and her heart beat so loudly she could barely hear herself think. “No, Sam,” she finally blurted out. “I can’t allow this to happen. Not yet. Not again. We have too many issues to discuss, too many differences to work out before I can let myself go with you.”

  To Sam’s credit, he didn’t protest. He stepped back, a maddening, knowing smile on his lips. She ought to be angry with him, but how could she when she loved the man with all her heart? But love notwithstanding, she couldn’t bear to have her heart broken again. Not when it was still not completely healed.

  Sam stepped back, too, his arms raised in silent surrender. “I won’t say I’m sorry I kissed you, Ruby, because I’m not. But I am sorry I hurt you and made you feel this way.” He stepped back another couple of steps, until he was against the redbrick wall of the store. “Believe me when I tell you I intend to do everything I possibly can to make you trust that our marriage will work, and that this time I’m going to stay.”

  He brushed past her, opened the truck of the car, removed his packages and hurried up the steps, his right leg dragging slightly as he went.

  Ruby didn’t know what to think. Here she was, standing in the back alley behind the store, and she didn’t know what to do. Her husband had told her he wanted her back, yet she was still reluctant to believe him. What if his leg healed and he regained his strength? Already, in just the few days he’d been helping out at the farm, he looked better, stronger.