He entered his office, pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and called Sam Garrett, the Sheriff of Clifton County, Montana. After explaining the situation to Sam, he did as Sam suggested, he called a select group of his friends to come to his house that night. He would introduce them to Kelsey and explain what was going on.
An hour later, he entered the house and almost fell to his knees from the smells coming from the kitchen. Kelsey stood at the stove. She glanced over her shoulder at him.
“I thought I’d earn my keep and make dinner. Hope you like fried chicken, corn, and mashed potatoes. Go on and take a shower. It should be ready by the time you’re done.”
Ryder stared at her for a few seconds until she raised her eyebrow at him. He nodded his head, removed his hat and coat, hung them up, and then headed toward the bathroom. It was going to be the fastest shower on record. He hadn’t realized just how hungry he was until he entered the house.
****
Kelsey was just setting the food on the table when he returned. His hair was still wet and she found herself tempted to comb her fingers through it.
“Do you need any help?” he asked her, still tucking his shirt into the top of his belted jeans.
“Nope, all under control. Just have a seat.”
Ryder pulled out a chair but sat only after waiting for her to take a seat. She put food on her plate, and then watched as Ryder piled his plate high. After he took a first bite of chicken, he moaned.
“Damn, this is good.”
“Thank you. I love to cook so since you’re letting me stay here, I’ll fix dinner. Breakfast and lunch too, if you want.”
“I get up before the sun, but lunch would be good. Would you mind cooking enough for the men too?”
“No, not at all. How many?”
“Six altogether. Is that a problem?”
“Only if you don’t have enough food.” She smiled.
“There are two freezers filled to capacity in the mudroom.”
Kelsey laughed. “Okay, it won’t be a problem then.”
Ryder nodded as he continued to eat. “A group of my friends are coming over tonight. I want them to meet you, and know what’s going on. Some of them will understand well what you’re going through, and with their help, and the help of my men, we’ll have more eyes keeping watch for strangers.”
“All right.” Kelsey knew he was doing the right thing, but she had to wonder what his friends might think of her staying with Ryder.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“What will they think of me staying here?”
“Nothing. I plan to tell them the truth. They’re not going to judge you, if that’s what you think.”
Kelsey huffed. “You trust them?”
“With my life.”
“Good enough for me then.”
An hour later, they sat in the living room watching TV when someone knocked on the back door. Ryder glanced at her, motioned for her to stay put, stood, and headed toward the kitchen. He came back in with three tall men and three women accompanying him.
“Kelsey, this is Jake, Gabe, and Wyatt Stone. This is Becca, Jake’s wife, Emma, Gabe’s wife, and Olivia, Wyatt’s wife. Everyone, this is Kelsey Sullivan. Once everyone else arrives, I’ll tell you what’s going on.”
Kelsey looked at each man, and almost groaned. They were all gorgeous. She could easily see the resemblance between them, the black hair, and dark eyes. Only Gabe had a mustache, but it seemed to suit him. Their wives were beautiful too. The men took seats on the chairs Ryder had brought in from the dining room. The women sat on the sofa beside her. They each smiled at her with curious expressions on their faces. She smiled at them and shrugged, making them laugh.
“I’m really curious here, Ryder,” Olivia said.
“Why am I not surprised, Liv?” Ryder teased.
A few minutes later, two more couples entered. Ryder introduced them as Madilyn and Brody Morgan, and Trick and Kaylee Dillon.
“Where’s Sam? He’s usually on time,” Ryder asked Brody.
“He pulled in just as we were coming in.”
A tall man entered and Kelsey gazed around the room. All of these men were gorgeous. She’d never seen so many hot men in one place, including the one wearing a badge who was the last to join them.
“Kelsey, this is Sam Garrett. He’s the sheriff here in Clifton,” Ryder told her.
“Hello.” She shook his warm hand and hoped she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. Sam Garrett could arrest her anytime. She glanced over to Olivia and saw her mouth the words, “hot, huh?” making Kelsey bite back a giggle.
Once everyone had taken seats, Ryder explained what was going on. The women gasped and the men wore frowns.
“How long has this been going on, Kelsey?” This question came from Sam.
“Two months before Frank sent me here.”
“You had to be terrified,” Emma said, reaching out to pat Kelsey’s knee.
“I was. I still am…”
“We’ll all keep an eye out, Ryder. In this little town, we all know each other and this time of the year there should be no strangers,” Wyatt said.
“Do people come here to ski?” Kelsey asked.
“No. Clifton is an hour from the nearest resort. People usually don’t stay that far away from the slopes since they like to get on them early,” Ryder told her.
“If it was spring or summer, it would be different. We have loads of tourists here then. I own a bed and breakfast that does amazingly well and people come from all over. Strangers are all we see then. We’ll be open only a few more weeks, and the people that are here now, we know,” Becca said.
Kelsey nodded. “I’m sorry to include you all in this.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Sam said, smiling. He turned to Ryder. “I think you should bring her to Evelyn and Stan’s engagement party. We can introduce her and let folks know she’s under the town’s protection. That way everyone will keep an eye out for anything unusual or if someone comes around asking about her. I’ll contact the police in Atlanta and have a picture of the perp faxed over.”
Kelsey saw Ryder swear. “I suppose it would only make sense to take her to the party. Everyone will eventually see her around anyway and letting them know what’s going on can only help us, as long as it stays only with the town folks.”
“You want to take me out in public?” Kelsey asked.
“I think the more people who know you and why you’re here, the more will be on the lookout for any strangers, and I’ll pass the picture around too,” Sam told her the same thing Ryder had.
“Whatever you say, you’re the sheriff.” Kelsey teased and smiled at him.
Sam grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am, I am.”
She glanced over at Ryder and saw him frowning at her. She stared back at him until he finally looked away. What was his problem? Was he jealous of Sam? Too bad. What woman in her right mind wouldn’t do a little harmless flirting with Sam Garrett? In fact, if the other men were single, she’d flirt with them too. She loved gorgeous men and the room was full of them—including Ryder. No matter how hot she found the others, there was something more about him that made him stand out. He had that brooding cowboy thing going on and it was damn sexy.
“Tell me how it all started,” Sam said, in what she imagined was his investigative voice.
Kelsey sighed. “It started with a message on my social media page. He asked me what hospital I worked at. I’m a nurse.” She gazed up at Sam. “I told him Georgia. I didn’t want to tell him exactly where I was. We chatted for a while and I thought he was nice. I wasn’t looking to hook up or anything, I was just being nice.” She shook her head. “I should have known better. He always seemed to pop in anytime I was online and we’d chat. I liked talking to him.”
“Did the police find him through social media?” Jake asked her.
“No. They found him when they discovered he was driving by my house every day. I didn’t know I’d even met
him before, until I saw him when he was arrested. He’s the uncle of one of my patients. I started getting letters at the hospital. They’d be at the front desk with a note saying they were for me. The police couldn’t get fingerprints from anything. He was smart. Next thing I know I’m getting emails from him. Telling me he wanted to be with me, and that he...he loved me. I suppose he got my email from my social media.” At Ryder’s grunt, she glared at him. “I know it was stupid. You don’t have to be rude about it.”
“You think I’m being rude about it? I’m just surprised you’re a nurse. You should know better than to do something like that. There are all kinds of idiots out there. As you now know.” Ryder practically growled and came to his feet. Kelsey gasped.
Sam glared at him. “That’s enough, Ryder. We all make mistakes.”
Ryder glared back at Sam. “Yes, we do. but in this day and age, no woman should be talking with a man she doesn’t know.”
“Excuse me, but I’m living with a man I don’t know,” Kelsey shouted.
“It’s not the same thing,” Ryder muttered.
“Okay, let’s all just calm down,” Sam said. “It’s done and over with. We’ll all keep an eye out. We’ll do our best to keep you safe, Kelsey.”
“Thank you. His name is Wayne Dowling,” Kelsey said, quietly.
Olivia put her arm around Kelsey. “We’ll take care of you.”
Kelsey tried to smile. “Thank you, Olivia. I appreciate it. It’s nice that most of you will.”
Ryder’s lips flattened as she stared up at him. He spun away from her and returned to his seat in the recliner. She really wished she didn’t have to stay here with him. She wished she could ask the others for haven with them but she didn’t want to interfere in their lives. Besides, Frank had sent her to Ryder and she wouldn’t want to upset Frank by leaving Ryder’s ranch. He trusted Ryder.
“What about your job?” Gabe asked her.
“I took a leave of absence. Thing is, I don’t know how long they’ll allow me to be away though. If I don’t go back soon, I know I’ll be replaced.” It saddened her to think of not going back to the hospital. Would she get back in a reasonable amount of time or would they hire someone to take her place? She hated being a bother to Ryder and she knew, without a doubt, that she was. He didn’t want her here anymore than she wanted to be here. She glanced over to him and saw him still staring at her. A sudden heat filled her face.
****
Ryder wanted to shake her. What the fuck was she thinking? Talking with a man on social media like an immature kid who didn’t know better. Sure, he was a stranger but Frank vouched for him, and she trusted Frank or she wouldn’t be here. His hands tightened around the arms of the chair until he was sure his fingers would leave indents in the material. Did Frank know the entire story? Had Kelsey told him about talking with the stalker?
“Stop staring at me like you want to choke me, Ryder,” Kelsey snapped at him.
“Because I do!” He stood. “What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t, okay? Could we talk about this later?” Kelsey glanced around the room, suddenly looking embarrassed.
“We’re going to leave you two to talk. Bring her to the party Saturday, Ryder,” Sam practically ordered. Ryder gave him a terse nod. Everyone said their goodbyes and left. Ryder continued to stare at her.
“Tell me what possessed you to talk with a stranger so much that he thinks he’s in love with you?”
“I guess I liked the attention,” she whispered, as if she wanted to disappear.
“What?”
Kelsey glared up at him. “I liked the attention, all right?”
“A woman who looks like you needed attention from a perfect stranger?”
She shot up off the sofa. “Just what does that mean? A woman who looks like me?”
“It means, why would a beautiful woman need to seek out attention from a stranger?”
“You think I’m beautiful?” She sat back down.
Ryder snorted. “Do you never look in the mirror? Of course, you’re beautiful. That’s why I don’t get this at all.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
“Thank you, but I know I’m not beautiful.”
He stared at her, and then burst out laughing. “Are you fishing?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
“Kelsey, I know a lot of beautiful women and trust me when I say you’re beautiful.” When she opened her mouth to speak, he put his hand up. “Don’t argue with me. I’m not the only one who thinks so. I saw the way Sam was looking at you.” He began pacing the room.
She smiled at him, as if pleased at the idea that the sheriff might be attracted to her. “Sam is very good-looking.”
“Too much for his own good.”
Kelsey laughed. “Don’t worry. He has nothing on you, Ryder Wolfe.”
Ryder stopped pacing and turned to look at her. Was she being sarcastic? He suddenly hoped not. He grinned. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” she said with a teasing smirk. Now he wasn’t sure again.
Ryder stared at her, and then suddenly frowned. Was it possible she truly didn’t think she was a beautiful woman? “Did someone put you down at one time?”
She cleared her throat. “A man I was seeing. A teacher. I found out he was married and then he told me I wasn’t the only one he was seeing because he couldn’t stand to look at me.” Her voice cracked and he knew those words had hurt her. He understood how words could cause as much pain as fists.
“And you believed the asshole?”
“When you hear things enough, you begin to believe them. He never hesitated to tell me I was ugly.”
“Why would he say things like that?” Ryder walked toward her and stopped in front of her.
“I have a long scar on my left thigh from a car accident.”
Ryder swore and turned from her. “Son of a bitch. He drilled it into your head that you were ugly because of a scar on your leg?” He looked back at her.
Kelsey nodded. “It took a long time for me to even let him see it and once he did, he started telling me how people didn’t like scars. It was a fact of life.”
“I’d like to choke him with my bare hands.” He squatted down in front of her and took her hand in his. “Scars are a fact of life, but in no way should anyone make you feel ugly because of one. I have one here.” He pointed to the one at the corner of his eye. “And I have scars you can’t see. It took me a long time to get past them, but I did. Don’t let him keep making you feel ugly, Kelsey. You are one beautiful woman. I thought so the minute you walked into Dewey’s.”
Kelsey leaned forward and kissed the place alongside his eye where that scar lived. He froze at the touch of her lips. His eyes met her blue ones and nothing in this world could have stopped him from leaning forward, and pressing his lips to hers. Her gasp filtered across his lips right before she pulled his bottom lip between her teeth. Ryder growled and moved to his knees. He cupped her face in his hands and deepened the kiss, moving his tongue into her mouth to taste her. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she moaned into his mouth. Ryder moved to sit beside her on the sofa but as his body came full up against hers and his hands moved, one to cup her firm sweet bottom, while the other slid into her silky hair, he felt her tense. Suddenly, he remembered what they had just discussed. This other guy had made her feel ugly and self-conscious, and now he was pawing her like a rutting horse.
Ryder pulled back, breaking the kiss. He stared down into blue eyes heavy with desire and wished she understood just how incredibly gorgeous she was. He wanted to show her how beautiful he thought she was. He dipped his eyes and watched her tongue slide over the delectable lips he’d just tasted. How he wanted to kiss her there, and lower, and lower still until she begged him to take her. He felt his body react and knew he needed to stop this before it got out of hand.
Leaning back and releasing Kelsey, he cleared his throat. “I guess that was out of line. It’s been a long day. I’m sorry.”
> Kelsey stared at him, her chest heaving drawing his eyes to her nipples reaching toward him through the thin cloth of her top. He glanced away.
“Yeah, I suppose it was. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
She shouldn’t have kissed me! Where the hell did that come from? Ryder was about to comment that he was the one to take things too far when she pulled herself off the sofa, straightened her clothes, and started toward the door.
“Goodnight,” she said, throwing the word over her shoulder as she left the room.
“What the hell…” Ryder mumbled at the empty room. He ran his hand over his face and took a deep breath willing his body to calm down. “Being gentlemanly just doesn’t pay off sometimes.”
Chapter Three
Saturday evening, Ryder and Kelsey rode in silence to the Clifton town hall. They’d barely spoken two words to each other in the three days that had passed since…the couch incident. That was how Kelsey thought of it. Still feeling embarrassed about kissing him, and for thinking even for a moment, he had actually been interested at all. He’d certainly pushed her away fast enough. He may have told her he thought she was beautiful, but what man turned away a beautiful woman? His tall, dark, and silent treatment hadn’t helped either. In fact, she was getting angrier by the day because he made her feel foolish. Damn him.
She glanced over to him. He kept his eyes straight on the road ahead. He hadn’t looked at her at all in the past few days. She didn’t even ask him what she should wear for the party. She’d called Olivia instead, and asked her.
“Just jeans are fine. It’s not fancy even if it is an engagement party,” Olivia had told her.
Armed with that advice, Kelsey wore skinny jeans tucked into Ugg boots and a blue sweater that matched her eyes. She knew the sweater brought out the color of her eyes, making them sparkle. She cleared her throat.
“Who are Evelyn and Stan?”
Ryder flinched as if surprised by her voice. “Stan Watson is the foreman at Becca’s B and B. Evelyn Robinson is the cook. They’re both in their sixties, I believe,” he explained with a shrug, but didn’t take his eyes off the road. “They fell in love and decided to get married. They’re a great couple. You’ll like them.”
Ryder Men of Clifton, Montana Book 5 Page 3