The ranch hands nodded sagely, as if they cared one bit about the teacher’s job. Catherine took a deep breath, and then spoke.
“I put my name in for the teaching position,” she said. Like a row of startled puppets, the men stopped eating and turned to look at her. “After all, it’s not like I have a husband or children. You’ve been very good to me here, but it’s been a year and it’s time for me to move on. There’s a house in town for the teacher, and I think I’d do very well there. I was always good in school, you know.”
“That’s a damn fool idea,” John said, sounding so much like Wade it startled her. “You belong here on the ranch, you’re one of us. And the work you do here is important. We can’t keep this place running unless all of us do our part.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but to her surprise, Wade jumped in first.
“I agree, it’s a damn fool idea,” he said. “But the reason Catherine should stay isn’t because of the work. We can hire someone to keep house if we need to. She should stay here because we’re a family, and this is where she belongs.”
“Beside that, you’ll be marrying soon enough. They’ll take your wages if you leave before the school year ends,” John said, speaking to her directly. “It’s about time you and Wade tied the knot.”
“What?” she gasped, even as Wade spoke forcefully.
“Dad, keep your mouth shut.”
Silence fell over the table, and Jim, one of the ranch hands, coughed nervously.
“Maybe we should be getting out to the bunkhouse,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Wade said. “I’ll help Cat with the dishes, and we can talk about things privately. You finish your food.” Wade stood up, walked over to Catherine and took her elbow, all but dragging her into the kitchen.
“What the hell is your father talking about?” she demanded as soon as they reached the kitchen. Wade clicked his tongue in mock reproach.
“Teachers don’t use language like that. You definitely belong here on the ranch with us.”
“Don’t tell me what kind of language to use,” she said, glaring at him. “What did your father mean? I’m not marrying you.”
“He wants us to get married,” Wade said, letting go of her arm, and leaning back against the kitchen table. “And I think he’s right. You’re a good woman, the kind of woman who can help me build this ranch into what it should be. We have the chance to make our own empire here, Cat. I’ve been making contacts, studying the markets. They need beef back East, and we can give it to them. Maybe not this year or the next, but we’ll figure out how to get our cattle to one of the railheads up north. When that happens, men like me will become cattle kings, we’ll make our own destiny. You’re the perfect partner for someone like me.”
“You’re insane,” she said. “I don’t want to marry you. I don’t want to marry anyone. I want to live my own life. And it’s Catherine,” she added absently.
“If we got married, this would be your own life,” he said, his tone reasonable. “You have as much to gain as me. We can do it together, really create something for our children to inherit.”
“I don’t think we is the right word,” she said. “You and your father own the ranch. The men get paid. All I do around here is work, and while I appreciate the room and board, I want more in life. If nothing else, I’d like to be able to buy material for a new dress someday. You know, clothing that hasn’t been mended a thousand times?”
He looked startled, and then ran an assessing eye over her body. She shivered, wishing she wasn’t so sure he was picturing her without any clothes at all.
“If you want a pretty dress, we can get that for you,” he said slowly. “We can even order something if you’d like, so you don’t have to make it yourself.”
“I don’t want you to buy me a dress,” she said. “I want to buy my own dress. I don’t want to be dependent, Wade. I want to take care of myself. And I definitely don’t want to be married ever again.”
He took a step close to her, reaching out and touching her cheek softly. Tendrils of desire shot through her, and she crossed her arms over her chest protectively. She didn’t need him touching her, confusing her senses any more than he already had.
“You feel it between us, I know you do,” he said, his voice low. “There’s always been something there, but you were too young before the war, and when I got back you’d already married Ryan. Why the hell did you do it, Catherine?”
She shook her head, denying his version of events.
“All I remember between us was you teasing me,” she said tartly. “You pulled my braids and called me ‘kitty Cat’. That’s not a connection, that’s bullying.”
“Well, you were too damn young for me to do this,” he said, pulling her forward in his arms suddenly, taking her mouth with his and chasing all the thoughts right out of her head. Ryan was the only man who’d ever kissed her, and his touches had been fumbling and moist, nothing like Wade’s.
His mouth mastered hers and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. His lips were hard, controlling, and his tongue pushed into her opening with a fire she couldn’t fight. Didn’t want to fight. Her entire body sagged against him, the firmness and strength of his arms holding her up. They pressed together, him lean and long; her soft and yielding. Every part of Catherine screamed that she should give in to him, to spread herself and let him thrust between her legs with the same fervor he was thrusting his tongue into her mouth.
He stopped the kiss, pulling away from her slowly as she gasped for breath. “That’s between us,” he said, his eyes dark in the barely lit kitchen. The sun was setting outside, and the last pale reflections of light making the room intimate and close. She swayed, wiping her hand across her mouth.
“You can kiss, I’ll give you that,” she said. “But kissing is only one part of life. I learned something from my time with Ryan—a woman can’t afford to give in to her heart.
I’ve already been charmed by one Masters man, I won’t fall for another. It doesn’t matter how much you kiss me, Wade, I won’t be marrying you. Ever. I’m going to be a schoolteacher.”
With that, she turned away from him, deliberately pretending she couldn’t sense him looming behind her. In fact, she could hardly hold herself upright, she was so unnerved, but that was the last thing she wanted him to know.