Thread: Hot Sex on the Range (Prince & LingeringDesire)

Zach listened to her read with deepening shock. The scene she described was real. There had been a harvest festival and the ranch hands had all danced. But he certainly hadn't written that letter. He could hear the emotion in her voice as she read, real emotion that couldn't be faked if she was a con artist he thought. She couldn't even finish the letter and threw it at him, storming out to the front porch. He caught it and held the worn and obviously much read letter in his trembling hands. The script on the letter was familiar instantly. His father's. The room seemed to spin around him and his legs felt weak suddenly. He grabbed a chair for support and then slumped into it with a sigh. His gaze went to the bundle of letters, dozens of them, that she had dumped onto the table. He picked one at random and started to read. Again, his father's hand describing gathering the cattle for winter paddocks and professing Zach's love for her. Another letter with more of the same, branding the calves and castrating them in the summer. Talk about whether she would be willing to come out to their fine and elegant ranch and leave Richmond behind. He gave a little smirk at that because he knew his ranch would never be considered elegant. He scanned through several more and then pushed them away with a groan. Even from the grave his father had control of Zach's life. The enormity of what his dad must have done came crashing down on Zach and he started to tear up himself. Thinking of all the time his Dad has spent secretly courting this woman, this fine Southern lady, to convince her to come out here and be Zach's wife. His dad had a lot of friends he kept up with back in Virginia and had spent a lot of time writing letters, particularly in the last year he realized. How could he have been so blind and stupid? Even his dad's strict forbidding of courting the local ladies and uncharacteristic encouragement to visit the whorehouse instead started to make sense now. Zach felt terrible for Katie as he realized the magnitude of the deceit that had been perpetrated on her. On both of them he admitted as he glanced at the legal marriage certificate. But especially on her emotions and heart. She had left what was likely a fancy and upper class life in Richmond to come out to this Western mud hole to be with someone that it turned out didn't even know who she was. Zach, if anything, had a soft heart and resolved to give her the bad news as gracefully as he could and find a way to get her back home and this marriage annulled as quickly as possible. He knew she wouldn't want to stay in their rough house with a man that didn't love her. He sighed, stood up and walked outside to where Katie sat on the porch, face in her hands. Miss Katie, he began awkwardly, unsure whether he should sit next to her and try to comfort her or stand here. Finally he decided to sit by her and placed a gentle hand on her back. I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think we've both been deceived. My father passed away two weeks ago, his voice caught as he said that. It was still raw and fresh. He'd been sick for a while and always wanted me to marry a proper Southern lady like yourself. We were from Richmond originally as well. He wrote those letters and wooed you, convinced you to come out here and marry me. He based them on me, but I didn't write those things and I'm sorry to say I don't love you like you probably expected. I don't know you at all. He hesitated as he let his terrible words sink in. I'll find a way to make this go away. I know this isn't what you expected and you want to go home to your fine family in Richmond. I'll make sure we get this contract annulled and pay for your trip back. Just then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and saw a rider approaching from town. He knew the black suit and top hat of the town's only lawyer instantly. At first he was overjoyed at the timely arrival of the man he wanted to talk to, but then his brows furrowed as he wondered what prompted the man to ride up here.