by Desiree Holt
“I was in my office in the barn with the door closed.” Sonny rubbed his face. “Manny was supposed to be checking something in the equipment shed. I didn’t even know anything was wrong until I walked back out into the barn and saw the stall door open.”
“And Manny?” he asked.
“I yelled for him and he came hotfooting from the shed.” He rubbed his cheek. “I thought at the time he had a funny look on his face. When I asked him if he knew anything, he shook his head. My nerves were twitching. I should have pushed him.”
“He’d probably just have lied to you even more.”
“He’s cleaning tack right now. Let me go talk to him. I’ll be back in a few.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Ryan said, pushing out of his chair. “If he did this, he’ll be out on his ass before he can blink.”
Which of course was exactly what happened. If Cade hadn’t been there, Ryan was sure he’d have beaten Manny to a bloody pulp. He watched the man head out toward the road in his dented pickup, a sour taste boiling up inside him.
“Sorry, boss,” Sonny said. “I should have pushed harder that day.”
“Not your fault,” Ryan insisted. “I was so upset about what could have happened I really didn’t stop to think.”
“I tried to tell you Dr. Hunter wouldn’t be that careless,” the foreman insisted, “but—”
“But I wasn’t having any of it,” Ryan finished for him. “Good thing I don’t have a gun handy or I might shoot myself.”
He just might anyway. He’d made a huge fucking mess of everything because he’d let fear and rage consume him and beat up on his brain. Now he had to clean this up somehow, and he had no idea where to begin.
“Come on.” Cade clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s go up to the house and talk. You’ve got some pretty fractured fences to mend.”
“No shit.” He shook his head. “I think it’s going to take more than a good set of tools to do this mending.”
Cade just chuckled. “I think I know some people who can give you some ideas.”
Chapter Six
Sable looked at the latest arrangements of flowers the florist had delivered and gave a shaky laugh.
“It’s a good thing I don’t have allergies,” she told Amy and Georgie, who were sitting in her office with her. “Where am I going to put all this?”
Amy took a sip of her iced coffee. “I should take pictures and show them to Buck. He might get ideas.”
“Yeah, well, ten times as many won’t get Ryan out of this jam.” She snorted.
“How about the warehouse full of chocolates?” Georgie asked. “I see the goodies all over the waiting room. You creating a lot of business for our local dentists?”
Sable shook her head. “You know, it would be funny if it weren’t so sad. All the flowers and candy in the world can’t make up for what he did.” She smoothed her hair back into the ponytail she wore for work. “Besides the fact that he acted like a total ass, the fact he could even think I’d do something so stupid is just not fixable. How could he accuse me like he did?”
“Honey, I know that.” Georgie leaned forward. “Ryan knows it too. Cade said the man is destroyed. When he went to see him, he looked like he hadn’t slept or shaved in days.”
“Well, poor him. I thought we were building up to something…special. I was beginning to change my mind about just keeping what we had on a purely friendly basis.” She looked from one woman to the other. “I was falling in love with him, for God’s sake.” That just made her heartsick over the whole thing. “I thought we were—” She broke off, unable to continue.
“Sable, listen to me.” Amy set her drink down. “Ryan made a huge mistake, but think about why. He sank nearly all his rodeo winnings into the Gold Buckle when he bought it and stocked it. He’s been building up his business every year, working his connections to get solid contracts to supply the bucking bulls. He took a big gamble buying Red Danger. If anything had happened to that bull before he’d had a chance to properly breed him, he could have been wiped out. He panicked. He knows that and he’s ashamed and miserable.”
“Forget about the flowers and candy he’s bombarding you with.” Georgie picked up the thread. “He personally called every rancher in Rowan County, told them how wrong he was and that you are the best vet in the entire Hill Country. Aren’t they all calling you now?”
“Yes, but that was as much due to Buck and Matt as anything. They stepped up first.”
“Sable.” Georgie fixed her with a hard look. “I know this man humiliated you and was lower than low, but look at everything he’s doing to try and make it up to you. Give the guy a break.”
Sable heaved a sigh. She desperately wanted to believe Ryan was genuinely sorry. But now did he still feel the same about her? Would he want to resume their relationship? Take it to the next level even?
“People make mistakes,” Georgie continued.
“And we all agree this was a doozie,” Amy added. “But…” Her voice trailed off.
“I’ll give it some thought,” Sable told them. “Although it’s probably going to take some unusual grand gesture for me to even talk to him again. Meanwhile, I have one more patient to see. Then I’m off to the Rowan County Animal Shelter. I’m so excited we have a no-kill shelter here, but it’s outgrown its facilities. It needs new space, new equipment. We’re thinking of doing some kind of fundraiser at the county fair.” She glanced at her calendar and shuddered. “Which is in two weeks. Time to get our act together.”
The other two women rose and came around the desk to hug her.
“We’ll let you get to work,” Amy said. “But really, give what we said some serious thought.”
“I will. I promise.”
She stared after them as they left. The problem was she was giving this entirely too much thought lately.
* * * * *
The fairgrounds were jammed when Sable drove into them the afternoon of the fair. She’d tried to get there earlier, but an emergency with a horse had thrown her schedule out of whack. It was barely noon, but already the place was totally jammed. People were everywhere, taking advantage of the rides, the special carnival games that had been set up, everything that made a county fair special. Country music blasted from a stage at the far corner of the grounds, loud enough that it carried everywhere. Along one side, judging tents had been set up for everything from baked goods to quilts. The air was permeated with the aromas of cotton candy, fried corn on the cob, hot dogs and barbecue.
She needed to find where the fundraiser for the animal shelter had been set up and see how they were doing. A couple of the women had told her dunking booths raised a lot of money. They thought they could get their husbands and maybe some of the single guys to volunteer. The shelter was a special project of hers. She didn’t have as much time to give as she’d like, but she’d made a lot of calls to ask people to participate. She was anxious to see the results.
She had started toward the area where she’d been told they’d set up when Winnie Ashcroft, one of the women who ran the shelter, came running up to her. “Sable,” she yelled. “Oh, Sable. Come see.” She grabbed Sable’s hand.
“For heaven’s sake, Winnie, what’s going on?”
“I have to show you. Oh, he’s the most wonderful man,” the woman bubbled. “We’re raising a ton of money.”
Sable hurried as fast as she could, Winnie tugging her along. It was the shouts that drew her attention first. She was stunned to see a huge crowd gathered around the dunk tank that had been set up for them. She’d thought maybe ten or fifteen people might gather to watch, but this crowd was so thick she could hardly see the tank.
“Excuse us, please. Excuse us.”
Winnie elbowed her way through the crowd like a sharp knife until they finally made it to the tank. Sable took a look and her feet stopped moving. They just would not go forward.
“Look, look, look.” Winnie grinned and pointed.
To the right side of the tank
was a big sandwich board sign that had the name of the shelter on it. Beneath it someone had lettered, Sink Ryan. The Cattlemen’s Association will match every dollar spent.
Sitting on the seat with its release bar was Ryan Donovan in dark shorts and a tee shirt. Across the front of the shirt was Sink me for Sable. I deserve it.
“Oh. My. God.” She couldn’t stop staring.
Reenie Stark broke loose from the crowd and came over to her, grinning. She was holding a large drawstring bag.
“Isn’t it incredible?” she asked Sable. “It was all his idea.”
“B-but how did—I mean, we had people lined up…” She couldn’t seem to string an entire sentence together.
“He knows this is how the shelter raises money. He also knows how important it is to you. He called Winnie and said he’d sit in the tank all day if he had to. And he got Matt and Buck to pitch the idea of the Cattlemen’s Association matching funds.” She held up the bag. “So far, we’ve raised fifteen thousand dollars. Sable, that means thirty thou for the shelter.”
Sable was feeling faint. She wanted to sit down, only there was no place to do so.
“That tee shirt,” she began.
“He wanted everyone to know what an ass he was to you and how ashamed he is. Girl, I’ll tell you, there aren’t many men ready for this kind of public humiliation to get a woman to forgive them.”
She looked at the man in question, sopping wet, water dripping from his thick black hair. He spotted her and gave her a questioning grin, just as someone hit the target. The bar released and dunked him in the water. He came up shaking the water from his hair like a big dog. How can I not forgive someone who’s going to the lengths he is to get that forgiveness?
Winnie came up beside her. “He needs to get out of there. He’s been doing the dunk for four hours. He insists he’s going to stay there all day, but Sable, he’ll get sick if he does.”
That was indeed the truth. She figured he’d been there for at least four hours already. Grabbing a couple of towels from the pile on a chair next to the tank, she put her fingers in her mouth and delivered a respectable whistle.
“Listen up, everyone. We’re having a changing of the guard here. Billy?” She waved at Billy McIntosh, the son of the feed store owner and a favorite with the ladies. “Get over here. It’s your turn.” She turned to the tank. “Donovan, get your fine ass out of there. Right now.”
The corner of Ryan’s mouth ticked up in a hint of a grin. He looked around at the crowd. “She did say my ass was fine, right?”
Everyone laughed and clapped, even as she gave him a mock stern look. “Out of there. Now.”
He climbed up the inside steps and down the little ladder outside. As soon as he was on solid ground, Sable began wrapping the towels around him and blotting the water from his skin. He shook them off and clamped his hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes with heated intensity.
“Sable, I am so fucking sorry.”
“I-I know.”
“I was stupid, idiotic. The whole thing was a kneejerk reaction because I was scared. I have so much tied up in that bull, that I—”
“I know,” she repeated. “I do understand. Now.”
“You can beat me with a stick for the rest of my life if you’ll just say you forgive me.”
The block of ice her heart had been encased in cracked and melted. How could she not forgive him with everything he’d done to try and make it better? What other man would go to such lengths? She could pretend to hate him forever, but what good would that do?
“I forgive you.” She cleared her throat and repeated the words. “I forgive you, Ryan.”
“I want us together again,” he insisted. “And none of this just-friends stuff anymore. When I say together, I mean together. In every way. Can you go for that?”
Could she? She couldn’t seem to get the words out, so she just nodded.
“I want to get naked with you and tell you how I feel about you. I want you in every corner of my life. You’re the best damn vet this county has seen. Nothing is going to change that. Everyone says they love you.”
“Certainly not after you called every one of them and told them.” She laughed shakily. “Thank you for that.”
“Needed doing,” he said matter-of-factly. “I made a mess. I needed to clean it up.”
“You did a fine job of it.” She smiled at him. “Now can we get you out of these wet clothes? Where are your dry ones?”
“In my truck. I need to—”
“Ryan?” Winnie interrupted. “Here are your shoes. They’ll be pretty much a wreck after this.”
“They were pretty much a wreck before this.” He slipped them on. “Think you can excuse us, Winnie?”
“Of course.” She winked. “Take good care of this one, Sable. He’s got some flaws, but he’s definitely worth keeping.”
“I know that.” She slipped her hand into his. “Let’s go home, Ryan.”
“Whose home?” he asked, his face dead serious.
“The ranch.” She hauled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then took a big leap of faith. “Our home.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
He pulled her into his arms, wet clothes and all, and gave her a kiss that scorched her down to her toes. He wrapped her hair around his fingers to hold her head in place while his tongue plundered her mouth. Through the soaked material, the hard, engorged length of his cock pressed against her mound, sending pulsing waves through her inner walls and a wash of liquid into her panties. She clung to him for dear life, oblivious to the people surging around them or the whistles and catcalls.
“Okay.” He lifted his head. “Now we can go home.”
About the Author
Known the world over as the oldest living author of erotic romance, and referred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, Desiree Holt is three times a finalist for an EPIC E-Book Award (and a winner in 2014), a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award, winner of the first 5 Heart Sweetheart of the Year Award at The Romance Studio as well as twice a CAPA Award winner for best BDSM book of the year, and winner of the Holt Medallion for Excellence in Romance Literature. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times and numerous other national and international publications.
Learn more about Desiree and read her novels here: www.desireeholt.com, www.desiremeonly.com, www.facebook.com/desireeholtauthor, www.facebook.com/desireeholt, Twitter @desireeholt, Pinterest: desiree02holt, Google: www.desiree02holt, LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/desiree01holt.
Look for these titles by Desiree Holt
Now Available:
Naked Cowboys Series
Stark Naked
Buck Naked
Stripped Naked
Naked Desire
Naked Flame
Naked Heat
Coming Soon:
Naked Temptation
Don’t miss the other titles in Desiree’s Naked Cowboy series!
Which burns hotter…their desire, or his need for revenge?
Naked Cowboys, Book 7
The hunt for the drunk driver who killed his twin sister leads Andrew “Mac” McDaniel to Saddle Wells, Texas. From the moment he buys the rundown Hannigan Ranch, he gets more help than he wanted or thought he needed from “the crew” of Saddle Wells. Including from the sexy realtor who sold him the place.
When Nida Beloit hands over the keys to Mac’s new ranch, electricity sizzles between her and the investment advisor who sold everything to focus on his independent investigation. Yet even as they indulge in nights of erotic sex, Mac’s obsession drags at what’s growing between them.
Nida wonders if she can bear to stand by and watch him destroy himself—especially when the end of his investigation sends him careening toward a potentially disastrous act of revenge.
Warning: Contains one hot property of a cowboy, and a lady who knows a
fixer upper when she sees one. Question is, is her heart tough enough to take on the job?
The heat between them burns red hot…until danger turns it white.
Naked Cowboys, Book 6
Burned out from years in the Dallas PD, Charity Vance flees to Saddle Wells for a fresh start, someplace to lie low and decide what to do with the rest of her life.
Hanging out with her old college friend in the local bar, she can’t help but notice the sexy, brooding owner. She also notices he needs a waitress. Charity steps in to help—and steps right into his arms.
After two tours in Afghanistan, Liam Douglas has settled nicely into running his dad’s bar, but trying to keep decent help has been running him ragged. Accepting Charity’s help only adds fuel to their explosive chemistry. Although neither one of them wants a relationship, pretty soon they’re burning up the sheets.
When a drug lord Charity helped put away busts out of jail, Liam’s overprotective streak starts to feel more like the strings she didn’t want. And running seems to be the only option to save the town…and her heart. But leaving Liam is more difficult than she thought…especially when he won’t let her go.
Warning: Contains a sexy, brooding man with a complicated past, a feisty heroine who thinks she’s in charge and sex hot enough to burn up the sheets.
A little hard wood and a little spice is enough to get this fire smoking.
Naked Cowboys, Book 5
After a shattering divorce, Cynthia Dellinger is left with almost nothing except her most precious possession—her grandfather’s secret barbecue spice rub recipe, which made her ex a fortune.
In Saddler’s Wells, she hopes to build a business—and maybe a new life—on the strength of that recipe. But she’s totally unprepared for her sizzling attraction to the artisan carpenter her new friends send her way.
Jesse Orosco is ready to roll up his sleeves to renovate Cyn’s storefront, but it’s the self-doubt lurking in her beautiful eyes he wants to tackle first. The five-foot-nothing red-headed dynamo makes his mouth water, and not just because of the tantalizing aromas drifting from the back of her shop.