“Then I suggest we find some.”
* * * *
Dylan helped Charli into the passenger side of her car and then got behind the steering wheel. After they were on the road, heading to the ranch, he said, “Annie Greenberg is a troublemaker. I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for you to get tangled up with her.”
Charli sighed, and when he glanced at her, she averted her eyes to her lap. “Annie’s exactly the kind of kid I want to help someday.”
“Maybe, but that’s someday. You don’t even have your degree yet. But it’s my opinion once a kid starts doing drugs...” He paused and shook his head. “I wish you’d just let this one go.”
“I can help her.”
He looked at her for as long as he safely could on the winding country road. “You were like her, weren’t you?”
She wanted to tell him the truth, but when he looked back at her, something in his expression froze her tongue. She looked out the dark passenger window and spoke a half-truth. “I’ve been where she is. After my mother died, I was angry and hurting. That’s why I ran away. Annie doesn’t even realize her actions only make the pain worse. It’s a terrible, vicious circle–made worse with drugs.”
“What do you plan to do for her?”
The dimness of the car hid his profile, but she saw his jaw flex. Was he wondering if she had done drugs? She cleared her throat. “First, I just want to get her to talk to me. Eventually, I’d like to convince her to come to work for us.” He narrowed his eyes on her, and she quickly added, “I know how working on the Long Arrow helped me. She can help me get the gardens cleaned up and with the house. Painting, cleaning, things like that. I know Jeremy Greenberg works as a horse trainer over on the CW. I’d bet she knows a lot about horses. Horses are great therapists. They listen and never judge you. But mostly horses love you unconditionally, no matter what you’ve done.”
He let out a curse. “Charli, you’re talking about taking on a big responsibility while you’re pregnant. I really wish you’d wait.”
She looked out the side window again as they turned down the driveway of her ranch. Visions of a terrible life exploded with brilliant reminders of what could happen to a girl like Annie searching for love and willing to do anything to get it.
She remembered Ricardo bursting into the sleazy room where Tyrone Hodges had taken her. Ricardo’s goons had eliminated Tyrone’s five guards while she’d had sex with Tyrone. She swallowed back bile at the memory of the bullet buzzing by her head to hit Tyrone between the eyes.
At last, she croaked out, “Maybe I should, but it would be too late for Annie.”
Chapter 17
Charli sat in the curve of Dylan’s arms on the old porch swing Wednesday evening. Her head rested on his shoulder while he idly twisted a lock of her hair around his finger.
He shifted a bit and looked down into her face. “I’m still miffed you’d risk yourself by riding with us this morning.”
Rounding up the nervous cattle and getting them to the back pastures and keeping the two bulls separated had been a challenge after their delivery earlier that day.
She’d witnessed many roundups at the Long Arrow, but she’d never participated in one. Her initial stint on a horse aside, she was an excellent rider. But she hadn’t worked a horse before.
“I was a little out of my element, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Okay.” She exhaled a long breath. “I shouldn’t have ridden, but I was needed. You can’t deny it.”
“We could’ve handled it. Kyle’s a shithead, but he’s good in the saddle and with cattle, and so is Tom. If I thought we needed more riders, I would’ve contacted Zack Cartwright and asked him to help us out.”
Looking back, she wondered how much she’d really helped them.
“I was afraid you’d get hurt out there.” He pulled her into his lap and held her back close to his chest, burying his face in her hair. After he splayed his hands over her still-flat belly, she understood. He’d been afraid for their baby.
Dear God, she hadn’t even considered what could have happened if she’d been thrown or otherwise injured.
She turned and locked gazes with him. He really cared about her and their baby. “I’m sorry.”
He glided his fingers over her cheek. “I know. Just don’t do something like that again. I don’t know what I’d do if you got hurt.”
His words jolted her, and she thought about her idea again. The plan would keep him around, even if he didn’t want her anymore. She had the power to give him exactly what he’d always wanted.
She shifted so she could wrap her arms around his neck. “I won’t, I promise. I’m still getting used to this being pregnant thing.”
His hands settled on her waist, and the tension left him. “Did Tracy give you the name of her doc?”
“Yeah. I’ll make an appointment tomorrow.”
“Good. Let me know when it is.” He kissed her long, deep and thoroughly, just like he made love to her. The world disappeared with Dylan.
She raked her fingers into his hair and straddled his thighs. He was so hard, and she shamelessly pressed against him, mimicking what she was certain would happen once they found the will to leave the porch for the bedroom.
She’d given plenty of lap dances in her short career as a stripper and prostitute. She knew exactly how to touch and entice men with her body, but a lap dance had never excited her.
His fingers moved to the closure of her bra under her tank top the same time a sound from the driveway found its way into her fogged mind. She vaguely recognized the sound–gravel crunching on the drive.
He broke the kiss. “Ferguson.”
She turned to find Leon getting out of his Porsche. Oh, God! Dylan shifted her beside him, keeping his arm around her waist.
Leon came up the steps and moved through the growing shadows of the porch to stop a few feet away from them. Thank God his hands were empty. She would have died for sure if he’d brought her flowers, or some other I’m-interested-in-you gift.
The darkness, under the brim of Leon’s white Stetson, swallowed his eyes. “How are you, Charli? I hope you received my notes and gifts.”
She couldn’t answer. Shame rippled through her. She should have told him she wasn’t interested.
“Charli?” Dylan jerked his attention to her, but she ignored him. She’d deal with him later.
She stood before Leon. “We need to talk. Would you like some coffee?”
Leon glanced at Dylan. “Yes, I think we do need to talk.”
She headed into the house and hoped Dylan wouldn’t follow them.
After they entered the kitchen, she turned to face him. Leon’s eyes were dark and completely unreadable. “So, you and Dylan...”
She wrapped her arms around herself and swallowed. “I’m sorry, Leon. I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
He looked out the window behind the table. “How long?”
“Since before the poisoning.” She went to the coffee pot and poured two cups. She held one out to him. When he didn’t take it, she set both mugs on the table. “I tried, Leon. I enjoyed our time together, but I couldn’t feel more for you than friendship. You’ve become my best friend since the poisoning, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before you left. I know I should have, especially when you told me...”
The muscle at his jaw twitched. “How’re your cattle doing?”
Taken aback by the abrupt change in subject, she nodded and cleared her throat when no sound came out. “They’re good. I didn’t lose any, and Doc Evans gave them a clean bill of health today when he stopped by. We–Dylan and I–also bought a sizable herd Saturday. How was the trip? Everything okay?”
“Yes. The land’s mine and so are the mineral rights.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I’ll see you around, Charli.” He headed for the back door.
“Leon.” When he looked over his shoulder at her, she said, “
I–I need to return something.”
She ran into her bedroom and pulled the diamond necklace he’d given to her from a dresser drawer. As she looked at it, her mind flooded with all the scenarios she’d come up with for what she’d tell Leon since Friday. She’d avoided answering her phone and hadn’t returned his calls, but she hadn’t wanted to hurt him, either.
She held out the black box when she returned to the kitchen. “Here. I can’t keep this. You gave me it with the hope we’d...be together.”
Leon looked at the box. “No, I gave it to you.” He smiled but it never reached his eyes. He may have been hurt, but she sensed anger. If he was jealous of Dylan, why wasn’t he fighting for her? Why wasn’t he proclaiming his love for her? Why wasn’t he trying to convince her she’d be better off with him? Leon wouldn’t give up this easily.
Better get used to men sayin’ they love you to get what they want, baby. Only fools ever mean it.
Ricardo’s words whispered through her mind like a freezing breeze through a humid tropic. Leon didn’t love her. He’d only wanted her land and now he’d figure out some other way to get it from her. She shuddered at the thought.
“Consider it a token of my friendship.”
Swallowing hard, she nodded once. She didn’t want the necklace. “Okay.”
She didn’t need an enemy like Leon Ferguson.
Leon headed for the door. She waited for him to drive down the driveway before leaving the kitchen and returning to the porch. Dylan wasn’t there. She tracked him down in the barn.
* * * *
Dylan was working on the last of the shelving in the tack room when Charli entered. He glanced at her and finally unlocked his jaw. He believed she hadn’t slept with Leon, and she hadn’t gone running to Leon. Possibly, she did want him over Leon, but his jubilation was tempered.
Now, Leon would go for her throat with everything he had. He suspected Leon’s angle had been to marry her to get the place. After all, she was beautiful and a wealthy woman in her own right. A few more bucks in the Ferguson coffers couldn’t have hurt, either.
“What did you do with his gifts?” He laid the hammer on the workbench and faced her.
“I tossed them. And I didn’t tell you because I knew how you’d react. I didn’t want to give you more reason to think you aren’t the father of my baby.” She rested her hands on her belly. “Dylan, I don’t want Leon, I want you.” As Charli glided toward him, she pulled her t-shirt over her head. “I–I want only you. I think we need to pick up where we left off, cowboy.”
He didn’t care if his grin was cocky. For now, Charli Monroe was his. “I can’t agree more.”
He drew her to him and kissed her. Her mouth was sweet, warm and inviting as she opened under his. She tugged his t-shirt from his waistband and ended the kiss. With his help, she pulled the shirt over his head.
She backed away from him, her hips doing a provocative roll. When she came up against the workbench, she shimmied out of her jeans and removed her boots and bra.
“C’mere, cowboy,” she purred and gestured with her index finger.
He took her into his arms and kissed her eyes, her temple, and slid his lips to her ear. “What have I done to deserve you?”
Before she could comment, he kissed her lips and pushed her panties to the floor. He picked up his shirt, spread it over the top of the bench and lifted her to sit on it. He slid his mouth down her throat to her speckled shoulder. He wanted to kiss each freckle, though there were thousands of them, millions, and every single one was beautiful.
He devoured her breasts, first one and then the other, until he had her writhing. Her hands fisted into his hair, holding him to her breast.
Charli spread her legs, and he moved between them. She worked the belt and fly of his jeans open and pushed them down his legs. When she stroked his erection, he groaned. Jesus, she was a wild woman!
His fingers moved up her inner thighs to the smooth skin at the heart of her physical femininity. She moaned, and her eyelids fell closed as she arched her back. Her hair cascaded around her shoulders in breathtaking flame.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered and parted her with his fingers. She was wet and ready.
“Dylan, please, I want you inside.” She wiggled when he stroked her silky center.
“Then I won’t keep the lady waiting.” After taking hold of her hips, pulling her to the very edge of the bench, he entered her with one swift stoke. She clung to him and bucked against him as he dove into her, deeper and faster with each thrust.
She screamed his name, and her nails bit into him in delicious abandonment.
“Charli,” he gritted out as she quaked around him. She was so tight, so hot and wet. With one last hard, deep thrust, he let go and emptied himself inside her.
Moments later, he held her against his chest, stroked her back and listened to her rapid breaths. He brushed her hair from her face. When she pulled away to meet his gaze, he said, “I want you to know I have no intention of leaving you. I may not be ready for marriage again. I don’t think I ever was a good husband, but I’ll do everything in my power to be here for you.”
Her breaths came in a raspy gasp, and she stared up at him with eyes as deep as a tropical ocean. “I know we haven’t been together long, but you are living with me and we are going to have a baby together.”
He tensed and warily asked, “Yeah?”
“Go into partnership with me–regarding the ranch. I know it’s sudden and probably now isn’t the best time to bring it up, but I want you to know...I...I want you to have an equal say in the ranch.”
“You can’t be serious.” He stared at her, his heart raced in the back of his throat and his breaths stuck between his ribs, making him dizzy. His chest was bare, his jeans were down around his ankles, and he was still buried inside her. If she’d asked him to marry her, he wouldn’t have been more surprised.
But she hadn’t told him she loved him.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? You and I have equal shares in Blackwell Ranch and equal say in what happens to it. Shouldn’t we both have a say in what our child inherits?”
He moved away from her, yanked his jeans to his waist. She sat there on the workbench still naked. He thrust his hands through his hair.
“I don’t have anything to give our baby, Charli.” He turned away. “Nothing. Brenda cleaned out my bank account long before she decided to divorce me. Not that I had much to begin with. Even with my hazard pay, I wasn’t ever gonna get rich in the Army. I sunk all of what I inherited from my grandfather Quinn into the ranch she weaseled me out of during the divorce.” He faced a wall of bridle hooks and every muscle sagged as if dipped in lead. “I don’t have the capital or the collateral to even think about going into a partnership with you.”
Charli hopped off the bench and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She laid her head on the back of his broad shoulder. He relaxed, the tension leaving his body as he leaned into her.
She whispered near his ear, “Dylan, I’m not asking you to sink money into the ranch. I’m asking you to make a commitment to this land and to our baby without the complications of saying ‘I do’ to me.”
He turned and swallowed her up with his arms. “Are you sure about this? What if things don’t work out between us?”
“I guess we had better make damned sure things do work out.”
Did she understand what she was offering? If things went south between them, he could fight her for half of the ranch or half of the profits from the sale of it. Not that he’d do it, but it would be well within his right as her business partner. When he found his voice, it was a hoarse croak. “I’ll think about it. But if I do agree, it won’t happen until the baby’s born. I want to give you time to back out if you decide to.”
Charli swallowed and slowly nodded. He’d given them both an out if they wanted it. “Okay.”
“There’s one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“This pl
ace needs a new name.”
Her laugh was watery. She laid her head on his shoulder, holding him close. “I’ve been thinking about that since the auction. I still have no idea.”
He turned in her embrace and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
She smiled up at him and her eyes glittered in the slanted evening light from the window. “Maybe Monroe and Quinn? M bar Q?”
A memory drifted to him of them standing in the garden when a tiny blue butterfly fluttered by. The house and ranch had been crumbling, the fields hadn’t seen cattle in years, and he’d been a broken down drunk who hated his life. Now, the ranch was on its way to new life. And he’d been given a second chance at a beautiful life.
He thought about the girl, Annie. Charli would turn her into one of her butterflies, too. She had done it to herself, hadn’t she?
It was so obvious, he chuckled. The delighted sound brought a sharp sting to his eyes and a look of concern from her.
“What about Butterfly?” He ran the pad of his thumb over her soft freckled cheek, still flushed a lovely pink from pleasure. “You’ve transformed this place, just like you wanted. The ugly worm has become the butterfly.”
“You remember that? My crazy thing about caterpillars and butterflies?”
“Yeah. I think it’s perfect.”
Her eyes swam in unshed tears. “Butterfly Ranch it is. You sure it’s not too sissy for you?”
He nuzzled her neck and held her as tightly as he dared. Her soft naked breasts fit perfectly against his hard bare chest. “Nah, I’ll just claim you came up with it. No one will ever question the assertion. After all, you named the horses after Greek and Roman goddesses and the bulls after a horny god who can’t decide what his name is.”
She giggled and pulled away to meet his gaze. “You still having trouble with your horse’s name? You’d have probably called Artemis something lame like Blackie.”
“Damn straight. It’s bad enough they’re moody mares.”
Charli shifted out of his arms and dressed. She moved with the quiet grace of a dancer. When she caught him watching her, he snickered and picked up his shirt from the concrete floor where it had slipped off the bench.
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