Cowboys Don't Believe in Fairy Tales

by Jessie Gussman

  “You have a flashlight?”

  “Yup.” Vinton handed it to her.

  “I’m not sure it’s dark enough yet.” There was still a big, orange glow in the western sky, although the sun had disappeared.

  She took the flashlight. “Did you ask your mother if she wanted to play?” Roxie had thrown herself into the ball preparations, but several times she’d come upon Nell playing with the boys. Nell had caught almost a wishful look in her eyes. Which seemed impossible considering the Type A personality Roxie had.

  “Yeah. She said to go ahead without her.” Spencer’s voice held disappointment, and Nell’s heart clenched for him. She wasn’t sure why, but to a child that age, everything was always more fun when their parents participated. His voice picked up. “But Uncle Ryder said maybe he’d come out.”

  Nell highly doubted it. “Maybe” was an easier answer than a flat “no.”

  “What about you, Gina?”

  “Dad plays with me all the time, but he was writing a letter tonight.” Gina shrugged. She was at home on the ranch.

  Nell stood. “Okay, so I’m it first. Whenever I find one of you guys, I’m going to hand the flashlight off to you, and you become ‘it.’”

  “That person has to count to fifty before they can start hunting,” Vinton added, since Spencer had never played flashlight tag before.

  They’d made the boundaries earlier after supper, before dark—basically the whole backyard. Next week, it would be dug up and rearranged to Roxie’s specs, but tonight it was perfect, with some bushes, trees, a shed, a gazebo, and various other things that would make great hiding places. Hiding places that would be gone next week.

  “You counting, Nell?” Vinton called from the darkness. The sun had completely faded, and there was no moon.

  “One, two, three...” she started in answer, grinning when she heard the kids take off running. She thought about calling out and telling them to be careful but figured it was probably a waste of breath.

  After counting the whole way to fifty, she switched the flashlight on and started looking. She and Vinton had played with the kids at church at various times, so she knew he had a tendency to want to run. Based on what she knew of Spencer’s personality, he’d find a hole where she’d never be able to see him and hunker there. She wasn’t sure about Gina. Probably a little of both.

  Deciding she’d sweep the light for Vinton in between searching for Spencer and Gina, she started out across the yard. Maybe it was one more sign that she’d not grown up, but she loved playing with the kids. At church. With Rem and Elaine’s kids. Or at home where it was just Vinton and her. Sometimes they could get Brit and Beth to play, but usually it was just the two of them. That was fun, but with games like this, more was definitely better.

  She had checked behind the two trees, and the gazebo, when movement caught her eye. Just like she figured, Vinton couldn’t stay still.

  Jogging carefully around the decorative stones, she came around the shed, and the light hit Vinton full-on.

  “Caught you, Vinton!” she called with a laugh.

  Vinton groaned, but stopped and came back for the light. He started counting to fifty, and she ran to hide.

  They’d all been it at least four times, and they’d figured out the best places to hide, when Nell decided to try climbing a tree. None of them had done it yet, mostly because the trees didn’t seem to be climbable, but she’d been thinking about it and thought that she might be able to get a running start and take two steps up one of the trees, grabbing the lowest branch. It would be tricky in the dark, but no one would find her up there which would definitely make her the winner for the night.

  Spencer’s voice droned on as he counted to fifty. Nell, on the other side of the shed, could barely hear him, so she figured he’d not be able to hear her very well, either.

  After the first try, she realized it was futile, and a lot on the dumb side, to try to run up a tree. With time winding down, and with the idea that she really wanted to win stuck in her head, she wrapped her arms around the tree and tried to shimmy up.

  Shimmy was definitely the wrong word. There was no shimmying going on. However, there seemed to be blood involved as her arms scraped the bark of the tree. Maybe she was more competitive than she thought she was, because as she heard Spencer announce “fifty,” she’d managed to grab the lowest branch.

  Pretty sure the tickle in her armpit was blood that had drained down from the scratches on her arm, she didn’t stop to wipe it but hooked her foot over and heaved her body onto the branch. She stretched out on the limb, her arms burning, trying to make herself as small as she could, in case they shone the flashlight up into the tree.

  There was some commotion going on, and she assumed Spencer had found Vinton or Gina. Hopefully Vinton. That would be good for her, since Vinton wouldn’t be as thorough as Spencer at shining the flashlight around.

  She grinned. Sure, her arms hurt, but the kids were going to love her spot, and she was definitely going to win. Unless she giggled with excitement and gave her spot away or fell out of the tree. She clamped her lips closed.

  Finally the light came bobbing out around the shed. Her hair, which wasn’t long enough to put into a ponytail, had flopped into her face, and she’d not brushed it back because of not wanting to let go of the tree limb.

  It didn’t really matter—she could see the light just fine. But she couldn’t tell which boy had it. It wasn’t bouncing around enough to be Vinton, so it must be Spencer. She willed herself to be still. He would almost certainly shine the light into the tree.

  She clamped her teeth together over the laugh that wanted to erupt from deep in her chest as the light stopped directly below the tree. Digging her forehead into the limb, she concentrated on keeping her feet close together and centered on the branch. He probably wouldn’t shine the light on the limb where her torso was if he didn’t see her feet closer to the trunk.

  She held her breath, her heart pounding, her laugh tickling the back of her throat.

  “Where is that confounded woman, anyway?”

  Nell’s body froze at the sound of Ryder’s voice.

  Then her laugh burst from her throat. She jammed her fist into her mouth to stifle it, which was a mistake because she lost her balance.

  Her arm, already burning from climbing up, reflexively jerked back as she grabbed for the branch. She missed.

  Chapter 10

  Nell’s body scrambled, leaving the tree, freefalling for one short second before thumping, hip first, into the ground.

  Immediately the flashlight was in her face. She was still trying to get her breath when the beam went from her to the tree, to the branch she’d fallen from, back to the tree, and back to her.

  “Whoa. Are you okay?”

  She’d had a couple of seconds and was able to catch her breath, although her hip now hurt slightly worse than her arms.

  “I think you were supposed to catch me.”

  “A little warning next time?”

  “I snorted.”

  “Ah, yes. I do recall hearing that. I had a passing thought about feral pigs before Chicken Little took over my conscious contemplation.”

  “Chicken Little?”

  “You know, ‘the sky is falling! The sky is falling!’” He sounded ridiculous, and she laughed despite her pain.

  He bent down beside her. “You never answered me. Are you okay? I guess I kind of figured if you were joking, you were, but you haven’t moved.”

  “I’m fine.” That was mostly true. “I’m kind of mad now, though. Because I could have won, but I couldn’t keep from laughing.”

  She sat up slowly. Her hip hurt, but the rest of her didn’t feel too bad.

  “I haven’t been around you much, but I’m having a hard time picturing you mad.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Take it easy. You probably shouldn’t move, and I should call an ambulance and get your back checked out.”

  She stopped. His hand burned through her shirt. O
dd reaction. She cleared her throat and pushed the rest of the way up. Thankfully his hand fell off, leaving pinpricks where it had been.

  “No. It would take forever for an ambulance to get here. I’d freeze to death first.”

  “I think you’re exaggerating the temperature just a little.”

  She hadn’t noticed the air had gotten cooler until she’d stopped moving in the tree. Now, sitting on the damp ground, she was decidedly chilly.

  “I need to get up and move around so I can warm up.”

  “Take my hand.” He held it out.

  She put her hand in his. She didn’t need the light to feel the slide of their skin and know his hand swallowed hers.

  He didn’t move for a moment, and she thought she heard his breath hitch. Then he pulled gently, and she rose to her feet. Pain radiated out from her hip, and she breathed deep, willing it to fade.

  “Hey, what’s that?” He shone the flashlight on her arm.

  Suddenly her hip pain faded, and she remembered her arms hurt. “I scraped them when I was climbing up the tree.”

  “Wow. All this just to win a game?”

  “No. All this just to have fun with my brother and his friends.”

  “I was playing too.” His voice had deepened a fraction.

  “And you.” A raspy note had entered her voice. She had no idea where it came from or why her heart had started beating faster.

  “I think we’d better go inside and take care of the casualties.”

  “Hey, why’d you guys quit looking for us?” Vinton’s voice came out of the darkness.

  Ryder shone the light in his direction, landing the beam on his feet. “Your sister fell out of a tree.”

  “Huh?”

  Nell could make out his head as it tilted sideways.

  “You were in the tree? Ha!” He jumped and pumped his hands. “No wonder I couldn’t find you.” He jogged over. “How’d you get up?”

  “I fell out of the tree, but I’m fine, thank you for your sincere concern. It touches my heart.”

  “Nell.” Vinton put his balled fists on his hips. “You’re standing there, talking to me. I know you’re fine.”

  “Actually, she scraped her arms, and we’d better go in and fix her up.”

  “Aww. Do we have to?” Vinton whined.

  “You just started playing,” Spencer added in his own whiny voice.

  “We’re definitely quitting now. You can’t get what you want when you whine for it.” Nell brushed her hands down her legs, surprised at the dirt that had been sticking to them.

  “Your mother said it was bedtime anyway. She sent me out to get you.” There was a smile in his voice, like he found it a little funny that he was supposed to bring the kids in but had ended up sticking around and playing himself instead. Nell figured if he’d ever played flashlight tag, it had been a long time ago. “And your dad texted me asking about you,” he said, looking at Gina. “Said it was time to head over to his cabin.”

  “Can you text him and tell him I’m on my way?” Gina asked, before saying good-night to the boys and skipping off.

  “You boys go hop in the shower and get your teeth brushed. I’ll be in to check on you before I go to bed.” Nell took a tentative step. Her hip hurt, but it held up under her weight.

  The boys took off, racing to the house.

  “They’re going to run into something in the dark.”

  “That’ll teach them not to run in the dark.” Nell laughed. Her mother always said if you could find something to laugh about, it eased the pain.

  “That’s kind of mean.”

  “Laughing at them running into something or not telling them not to run in the dark?”

  “Either. Both. You should warn them.”

  “Some things are more memorable when you experience them.”

  He snorted, keeping the light pointed at the ground directly in front of her, which she appreciated, because it helped her hip to know where her feet were going.

  “Maybe someone has learned to stop climbing trees?”

  “Not really. I learned it’s a bad idea to fall out of them.”

  He huffed a laugh. “Yeah. I definitely think my parenting strategy is superior.”

  “Thinking so doesn’t make it so.”

  They’d reached the back porch steps. He stopped. “Can you make it up?”

  “Yup.” She had no idea if her hip would allow her to move like that or not. Signaling to her hip that the topic wasn’t up for discussion, she placed her good foot on the step and stepped up just fine. The second step, with her bad leg, didn’t go so well.

  She gasped as pain shot through her side, reaching out blindly to keep from falling.

  Ryder’s arm came around her, and she fell into his side. It was hard and warm, and she definitely didn’t belong leaning against it. She tried to straighten.

  “Let me help you.”

  “I can walk fine, but wow, those steps...”

  “I noticed.” His words held a smile.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall into you.” She took a step with her good leg. He kept his arm around her, steadying her.

  His breath huffed in her hair. “Did you not notice that I caught you this time? I think I should get some credit for that.”

  She lifted her shoulder—the one that wasn’t tucked against his side. “Okay. A little credit. Although I feel compelled to point out that I wouldn’t have fallen into you the second time if you’d caught me the first.”

  “Details.” He waved his hand around.

  “Important details,” she insisted. His arm around her felt strong and right, and she wanted to lean even harder into him.

  “Third time’s the charm.”

  “Oh, please. Please do not tell me that I need to risk my life again, just so you can maybe catch me.”

  “It’s the only way to know for sure that the second time wasn’t a fluke.” He opened the door with one hand, keeping the other arm around her.

  “I’m okay if we never find that out.”

  “I can’t stand the suspense.”

  She stopped on her way through the door and looked up at him. “You know, when I was younger, my mom used to say to me, ‘if your friend asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it just because they asked?’ I think that just happened. Literally.”

  He shrugged, and for the first time, she noticed the dimple in his left cheek. “It doesn’t have to be a bridge.”

  “Details,” she said, waving her arm around and imitating his earlier comment.

  His grin became a smile, acknowledging her imitation. His dark eyes met hers, and her breathing became shallow and fast. Her heart kicked up, the rhythm unsteady.

  His pulse ticked in his neck, just as out of time as hers.

  They stood there with the door open, half in the house, half out, staring at each other.

  Their smiles slowly faded. Something warm and soft, like the sparkles on a fairy’s wand, shimmered between them, a warm trickle that became heat. It flared in his eyes and pushed in her chest, lifting between them like the sparks of a bonfire.

  “Nell, I...” His hand came up. His fingers traced her hairline, tucking it back behind her ear, his hand cupping her cheek.

  His touch made shivers fly up and down her back. She leaned closer as his head lowered.

  “Where have you two been?” Roxie’s voice cut between them, sharper than a razor blade.

  Ryder blinked then shook his head. His eyes widened like he couldn’t believe where he was or what he’d been about to do. They scanned over her face before looking away.

  Nell didn’t need the pressure of his arm on her back to walk through the door. She’d been having such a good time with him, silly banter and him helping her. But she didn’t have a problem reading the shock on his face that he’d almost been caught in an embrace with her. Like such a thing was unbelievable.

  Of course it was. But it hurt to see it on his face all the same.

  “We we
re playing flashlight tag with the kids,” Ryder said, like it was something they did every day and Roxie shouldn’t have needed to ask. “Nell ended up having a bad fall. Her hip seemed to take the brunt of it.”

  Roxie narrowed her eyes like she was trying to determine if Nell were faking it, just for the excuse to get closer to Ryder.

  Nell looked down, guilty, because she had been tempted to press closer than necessary. But Roxie probably thought it was because of Ryder’s money. That hadn’t figured into it. If it had, she would have pulled away, not pressed closer. They weren’t exactly compatible, and she wasn’t looking for a man with money. More than that, she definitely didn’t want a man who lived in New York.

  But she hadn’t pressed closer, and there wasn’t anything to feel guilty over. She lifted her head and limped into the kitchen.

  RYDER IGNORED HIS SISTER’S snapping gaze.

  He’d never felt anything like this strange pull that he felt toward Nell, but he certainly wasn’t planning on acting on it. He didn’t need Roxie’s censorious eyes to keep him straight. Nell was funny and sweet, and she brought out a lighter, happier side to him that he, honestly, hadn’t even realized he had. But she wasn’t the kind of woman who would mingle well with the bluebloods at Christmas parties and vacations.

  He needed someone more like...

  Michelle walked into the kitchen. Strode. Sauntered. Sashayed.

  Whatever the royals did as they moved to greet their subjects. That’s how Michelle moved. He automatically straightened his posture and arranged his face in a serious, slightly snobby look.

  “Ryder.” She inclined her head just slightly. “I texted you and told you I was coming.”

  Yeah, he’d gotten it. Two hours ago.

  “It’s a long drive from the airport, and I’m tired.” Her eyes flicked to Nell, did a quick sweep of the dirt clinging to her clothes, the bark and leaves in her hair, the dirt smudges on her cheeks, the blood on her arm, and dismissed her as someone beneath her. Her sharp green gaze turned back to Ryder.