Kayla & the Rancher

by Paige Tyler

  Kayla & the Rancher

  By

  Paige Tyler

  Kayla & the Rancher

  By Paige Tyler

  Published by ABCD Webmasters

  Copyright 2005

  by ABCD Webmasters & Paige Tyler

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from the copyright owner(s)

  For more books by Paige Tyler & the best spanking fiction on the Net, visit: http://www.HerWoodshed.com

  Chapter One

  Kayla Mathison would have done anything to escape her life back in New

  York. Anything included traveling cross-country, in a cramped, uncomfortable stagecoach in the blistering heat to a city she didn’t know. At the moment, she and another girl, who looked to be about her age, were the stage’s only

  occupants. Before that, they’d been joined by an elderly woman traveling with her granddaughter, a portly businessman, and a sour-faced old man who did

  nothing but complain about what the rough ride was doing to his behind.

  Kayla didn’t give the other travelers too much of her attention, however,

  preferring to concentrate on the sketchpad she kept balanced on her lap. Not only did her drawings keep her from having to make polite conversation with the other travelers, but they also kept her from dwel ing on the reason she was running away in the first place. Every once in a while, one of the other passengers would look over at the sketches she was doing of dress designs

  and make a comment, but she’d merely smile and disengage herself from the

  conversation as quickly as possible.

  At twenty years of age, Kayla’s father had decided it was high time that she got married. It seemed that he thought her willful, independent ways were

  going to get her into trouble. And he didn’t want to marry her to just anyone, of course, but to William Delmont. Which probably wouldn’t have bothered her so much if the man wasn’t marrying her simply to get half of her father’s

  company. Though that wasn’t William’s fault, she supposed, since it was her father who had bribed William and made it a package deal. Kayla had never

  been so insulted - or outraged - in her entire life. She couldn’t decide what enraged her more. The thought that her father felt he had the right to decide whom she married, or that he felt it would take half his company to get

  someone to marry her.

  Kayla had pleaded with her father, but it hadn’t mattered. He was determined to see her married, and would hear none of it. So, with a small suitcase, her drawing materials, and what she thought would be enough money in hand,

  Kayla left home to head west to San Francisco where she would become a

  seamstress. She could sew, and she knew that her designs were pretty good.

  She’d always dreamed of one day becoming a clothing designer in New York,

  maybe even Paris. But her father had changed all of that, so she would have to be a designer in San Francisco instead. However, she’d gone through her money faster than she’d thought she would, and she still had a few weeks of travel left.

  “Those drawings are beautiful.”

  Kayla lifted her head to look at the girl sitting across from her. Slightly plump, she had a rounded, freckled face and curly carrot-red hair that she wore back in a bun at the nape of her neck. She gave Kayla a shy smile.

  “I didn’t mean to be so nosy,” she hastily apologized before Kayla could

  answer. “It’s just that you’re so talented. I can’t seem to draw a straight line myself.”

  Kayla smiled. “Straight lines are highly overrated, anyway.”

  The other girl laughed. “I’m Abigail, by the way.”

  “I’m Kayla.” She turned her attention back to the sketchbook on her lap,

  hoping to put an end to the conversation, but the other girl didn’t take the hint.

  “Are you going to Copper Creek, too?”

  Kayla had never heard of Copper Creek, but it didn’t sound like a place she’d want to visit. She shook her head. “No, I’m going to San Francisco.”

  Abigail’s eyes lit up. “How exciting!” she exclaimed. “And how brave of you.

  I’d be terrified at the thought of going so far.” She frowned as if considering something. “Actually, I’m terrified at the thought of going to Copper Creek.”

  She gave Kayla a small smile. “I agreed to be a mail-order bride, you see, but I don’t think I can go through with it.”

  Kayla’s brow furrowed. She’d seen the advertisements placed by men who

  were looking for wives, but she’d never actually known a woman who had

  responded to any of them. Perhaps she should have considered becoming a

  mail-order bride herself, she thought wryly. It certainly couldn’t be any worse than marrying William Delmont.

  Across from her, Abigail was telling her about the stranger that she’d left her home in Boston for. “His name’s Cord Holderness and he owns a cattle ranch outside of Copper Creek. It’s positively huge, at least as big as the city of Boston. And he has all these cattle and horses and lots of people working for him. But he’s not all about the money. He sounds so nice in his letters, just like the cowboys that you read about in the dime-store novels. A true

  gentleman.” She laughed, blushing. “I never told anyone this before, but I’ve always been fascinated by cowboys. In the books, they’re always so big and strong and handsome and gentlemanly...” A dreamy expression came onto

  her face, but it faded after a moment. “But the men that I’ve met since coming out here aren’t at all like they are in the books. They’re rough and unmannerly and not at all what I imagined. Most of them actually smell.”

  Kayla couldn’t help but smile. She’d met a few of those men herself on this trip. “And you’re afraid that this Cord Holderness is going to be like that, too.”

  Abigail nodded. “Yes...no...” She sighed, slumping back in the seat. “I don’t know. He sounds so wonderful in his letters, but I’m afraid that he may have just made everything up so that I’d marry him. Plus, I have to admit it, I miss Boston. I never thought I would, but the west just isn’t the way I thought it was.”

  The stage slowed, and through the small windows, Kayla could see that they were approaching a town. The driver had said it was called Hangman’s Bend.

  Who would name a town something like that? she wondered.

  Across from her, Abigail was shaking her head. “I can’t do it. I can’t marry him,” she said. “I’m getting off here and taking the next stage headed back east.”

  Kayla frowned. “But what about Cord? Isn’t he going to be expecting you?”

  The other girl nodded miserably. “But if I went all the way to Copper Creek, I’d have to tell him face to face, and I can’t do that.” She looked at Kayla

  pleadingly. “What am I going to do?”

  Kayla said nothing for a moment. She didn’t know anything about being a

  mail-order bride, and since she’d run away from everything she knew to avoid her own wedding, she didn’t think she was the right person to be asking for advice. “Well, since you agreed to marry him by way of a letter, then I

  suppose you can tell him that you changed your mind the same way.”

  Abigail seemed to be considering her suggestion, but after a moment, she

  shook her head. “But that seems so impersonal.” She thought a moment, and

  then looked at Kayla, a smile brightening her face. “Perhaps you could tell him for me.”

  Kayla blinked in astonishment. “Me?”

  Nodding, Abigail leaned forward in her seat excitedly. “Copper Creek is the next stop, so y
ou’ll be going through there anyway, and I know it would sound so much better coming from you than from some letter.”

  “Abigail...”

  “Oh, please, Kayla,” Abigail begged. “Please say you’ll do it. You have to pass through Copper Creek anyway, so it’s not even out of your way. It would just take a minute or two of your time. If Cord is as nice as he seems, then I don’t want to hurt him. This way I’ll feel better about doing such a horrible thing. Please, Kayla.” She reached into her reticule and took out some

  money, which she held out to Kayla. “For your trouble.”

  Kayla’s gaze shifted to the money that Abigail was still holding out to her. She was down to her last few coins, and the five dollars that the other girl was offering her was a lot of money. As uncomfortable as she was with the idea of going up to some stranger and telling him that his mail-order bride had

  changed her mind about marrying him, the money was too good to turn down.

  It seemed like an easy way to make five dollars.

  Reaching out to take the money from the other girl, she nodded. “I’l tell him.”

  Smiling, Abigail sighed with relief. “You don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you!”

  Kayla put the money into her own reticule. “How will I know him?” she asked Abigail.

  “He described himself as tall, with dark brown hair and brown eyes,” the other girl offered.

  Kayla frowned. “That could describe half the men in the territory.”

  The other girl shrugged. “Sorry. He knows I was coming in on this stage,

  though, so he’ll probably be looking for me.”

  Again, that wasn’t much to go on, but Kayla supposed it would have to do.

  The stage came to a halt just then, and Abigail’s gaze went to the window.

  She looked out at the small town, but said nothing.

  Kayla regarded her for a moment. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to

  Copper Creek anyway and meet Cord, just to see what he’s like?” she asked.

  “You could always say that you want to get to know him a little better before you marry him.”

  Abigail seemed to genuinely consider her words, and for a moment, Kayla

  thought the other girl would actual y agree, but then she shook her head. “I’ve made up my mind. I’m going home.” She looked at Kayla. “Thank you.”

  The driver opened the door then, putting a halt to any further conversation, and Abigail stepped out of the stagecoach. They stopped in Hangman’s Bend

  just long enough for Kayla to stretch her legs and to pick up their new

  passengers – two elderly sisters – before going on their way again.

  It was several hours to Copper Creek, but the driver assured them that they would be there before sundown. The two women, though pleasant, ignored

  Kayla for the most part, which suited her fine. She tried to concentrate on her newest drawing of a lady’s day dress, but all she could seem to think about was what she was going to say to Cord Holderness. She probably should get

  in the part about the inconvenience to her and imply that some type of

  payment would be nice before she told him that his fiancé wasn’t going to be coming. However, she couldn’t figure out how to even start the conversation.

  The man was expecting his mail-order bride to step off the stage, not some stranger there to tell him that the girl had changed her mind.

  As the driver had promised, they arrived in Copper Creek well before sunset that evening. Like so many of the other towns where the stage had stopped, Copper Creek was small, with one main road running through the center of it.

  Of course, there was the requisite saloon, general store, telegraph office and sheriff, but more interested in the people than the town, Kayla took little notice of more than that as she stood in front of the stagecoach office.

  Kayla noticed several dark-haired men, regarding her with interest, but none of them came over to her immediately. One of the men, however, was looking at her with more interest than the others, and after a moment he approached her.

  Kayla said nothing for a moment. This was Cord Holderness? Tall and well-

  built, with dark hair, warm brown eyes, and the faint hint of a beard along his jaw line, he was absolutely one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen.

  And dressed in denims, a shirt that he’d left unbuttoned at the neck, a hat and well-worn boots, he looked every inch the cowboy, she thought.

  “Abigail?” he asked, looking at her curiously. His voice was soft, sensuous.

  Kayla opened her mouth, all set to ask him for a monetary award in exchange for her information regarding Abigail, but al she could seem to manage to say was, “Cord?”

  He grinned, flashing white teeth at her, and Kayla just about melted on the spot. Putting his arms around her, he bent his head and kissed her cheek.

  “I’m so glad you’re finally here.” Lifting his head, he gazed down at her, his brown eyes soft. “You’re even more beautiful than you led me to believe.”

  Kayla blinked. She was rarely, if ever, at a loss for words, but with him

  standing so near, she couldn’t seem to formulate a complete thought. He

  thought she was Abigail, she realized. She opened her mouth to explain, but Cord continued before she could speak.

  “As you can see, most of the town came out to meet you,” he said, gesturing to the people who had gathered nearby. Leaning close, he spoke

  conspiratorial y in her ear. “Don’t worry. I told them they had to wait until you settled in.”

  Standing in front of this man who was so handsome that he literally made her dizzy, she suddenly began thinking of a different plan. She had no idea where it came from; it just popped into her head. Maybe she could go along with

  this, let him think that she was his mail-order bride. From what Abigail had said, he was probably rich. He was certain to have money or something

  valuable around his home that she could take to sell later. She could certainly use a little bit of extra money to get herself started in San Francisco. And Cord being so attractive was an added bonus. Pretending to be his fiancé

  certainly wouldn’t be distasteful. She had a momentary twinge of guilt, but it disappeared quickly when she thought about how easy it would be to start in San Francisco if she had a little bit of money.

  Kayla looked around to see groups of people clustered along the street.

  Some were looking at her with open curiosity, but most, judging from their smiling faces, looked genuinely happy for Cord. That just gave her added

  justification. After all, how could she tell him about Abigail’s decision not to marry him in front of all these people?

  “Is this the only bag you have?”

  Kayla saw that Cord had picked up her small suitcase. She nodded as a plan began to develop in her mind. “Yes.” She gave him a pretty little pout.

  “Everything else I brought with me fell off that stupid stagecoach. My trunk opened and everything inside was ruined, of course. The driver said that the stage wasn’t responsible for such things, but...”

  Her voice trailed off helplessly, and he gave her one of those dazzling smiles of his. “Don’t worry, Abigail. I’ll buy you whatever you need. Copper Creek’s small, but the general store has some good mail order catalogs you can get things from.”

  This was even better than she’d hoped, Kayla thought. Conniving him out of his money would be as easy as pie. She would have no problem wrapping

  this big, strapping man around her finger. She probably wouldn’t even have to actually steal anything. Smiling up at him, she took his arm and let him lead her to the waiting wagon. As they walked, she couldn’t help but notice that his forearm was strongly muscled beneath her hand. When he offered his hand

  to help her up into the wagon, she smiled and thanked him. Then, before she knew it, he’d climbed in beside her and took up the reins, sending the wagon in moti
on.

  “You must be tired after your journey,” he said, giving her a sidelong glance.

  “A little,” she admitted. “Stagecoaches aren’t the most comfortable form of transportation.”

  “Or the safest,” he added, glancing at her. “I was concerned about you

  traveling alone, especially since you said that you’ve never been out of

  Boston.” When she said nothing, he continued. “It must be a big culture shock for you, not just leaving Boston, but coming all the way out here on your own.”

  He gave her a lopsided grin. “And it certainly doesn’t help that we’ve never met before. But I just want to let you know that I’m not going to rush anything.

  We can take our time getting to know each other. There’s no pressure,

  Abigail, so you can just relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery.”

  Once again, Kayla was rendered speechless by this man. Cord Holderness

  was so nice; deceiving him just didn’t seem right. She should tell him the truth, she thought. But then again, she reasoned he did order a bride through a catalog, so how nice could he really be?

  Well, just because she thought that he might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing didn’t mean that she couldn’t appreciate the surrounding mountainous