Joe’s plans for a romantic rendezvous go awry when Mother Nature intervenes, but that’s not the worst of it…<\/p>\n
Rating: T\u00a0 \u00a0 Word Count: 745<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CAUGHT IN A STORM<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He had ridden the wind from town all the way to the fork, where he left the main road and followed the trail through the trees. It was quicker, he\u2019d discovered, and the sooner he could get to the line shack the more time he’d have with Ellie. She\u2019d be there waiting for him, just like before.<\/p>\n
The memory of their last rendezvous sent a ripple of pleasure through his core. Pretty Ellie Marks was a force of nature, and everything in Joe Cartwright\u2019s nature responded to her in a most visceral way.\u00a0 It was no secret he loved women, from form to fashion to the feel of them in his arms \u2013 dancing, kissing, or any other delights a man could engage in with a woman who was willing. And Ellie was certainly willing. She had proven that at the July Fourth picnic when they managed to slip away from the crowd. The summer sun wasn\u2019t the only heat that day.<\/p>\n
When he saw her in church the following week, it was hard to reconcile the prim and proper young lady seated so piously next to her father with the sensual coquette whose appetite had rivaled his own; beyond that, it was impossible to concentrate on the sermon when all he could think about were Ellie\u2019s silken shoulders and supple flesh beneath the high necked Sunday frock. After the service, when she barely acknowledged him, he wondered if he\u2019d made a miscalculation. But he needn\u2019t have worried. Ellie was a smart girl, cautious when she needed to be. She pressed a note into his hand as she and her father departed, along with a coy smile assuring him he\u2019d been right all along.<\/p>\n
And so began a delicious romance under the guise of a casual friendship, thrilling in its secrecy, stolen moments that were mostly harmless though not exactly innocent. Admittedly, there were times when they danced a little too close to the fire. It was up to him to do a better job of leading, though with his enthusiastic partner it could be a bit of a challenge. The only thing that seemed to worry Ellie was her father. With good reason, Joe supposed. He certainly had no desire to run afoul of Jebediah Marks.<\/p>\n
Mr. Marks was in town for the Cattleman\u2019s Association meeting this afternoon where Pa would also be tied up. Joe had volunteered to stop at the line shack and make a few minor repairs before heading home. He\u2019d see the job done even though it wasn\u2019t his primary order of business. He hadn\u2019t counted on the weather though. The clouds burst above him before he reached his destination.<\/p>\n
Inside the shack, Ellie was wringing water from her long blonde hair. She did not look happy.<\/p>\n
Joe was soaked too. \u201cAt least we\u2019re out of the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre we?\u201d She pointed to the drip from the ceiling.<\/p>\n
Joe grabbed an old oaken bucket from the corner and set it under the leak. \u201cThere. That\u2019ll do until I can fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellie pouted. \u201cJust look at me. How am I going to explain this?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a lot to look at, with her wet blouse molded to her curves. Joe pulled a blanket from the cot and draped it around her. \u201cWe\u2019ll just have to wait out the storm, give ourselves a chance to dry.\u201d He pulled her closer to kiss her. \u201cIn the meantime…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJoe, maybe we shouldn\u2019t\u2026we\u2019ve been lucky so far but if my father ever finds out about us….\u201d<\/p>\n
Those were her words but her eyes lips told him otherwise. He couldn\u2019t hear anything but his heart hammering in his ears as she nestled against him.<\/p>\n
Entwined in a passionate embrace, they jumped apart as if struck by lightning when the door flew open. Ellie squealed, clutching the blanket in front of her with both hands, caught in the glare of a drenched and formidable figure in black.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Pa I\u2019d come by and give you a hand with the repairs, but I can see you don\u2019t need my help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam, I can explain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t bother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam lit a fire, and they all huddled around it to try and dry off. The drip, drip, drip of rain into the bucket marked the long seconds of silence that followed. Joe gazed mournfully at Ellie, who scrunched her face into a frown and stared at the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot one word, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Drip\u2026 drip\u2026 drip….<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joe’s plans for a romantic rendezvous go awry when Mother Nature intervenes, but that’s not the worst of it…<\/p>\n Rating: T\u00a0 \u00a0 Word Count: 745<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10253,"featured_media":10105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[4,1007,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","category-joe-cartwright","category-short-stories","wpcat-4-id","wpcat-1007-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2-joe.jpg?fit=237%2C221&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}