Wild Ride Rancher

by Maureen Child

  Ryder shot Angela a quick look and said, “All right, let’s go.” He crossed the floor with long, measured strides, headed for the main supply room, with Angela right behind him. “We’ll start here, then hit the kitchen and the service porch. You’ll have to look everywhere. A child that small can squeeze into unbelievably tiny spaces.”

  In the supply room, Angela stopped and stared. There were towers of supplies, boxes stacked everywhere and tables and cabinets and who knew how many spots that a little girl might hide herself in.

  “Look,” Ryder said as he strode to the back of the room to start searching, “there’s never going to be a good time to do this, so while we look, I’m going to talk.”

  “Now?” Angela asked, opening a cupboard, looking in, then closing it and moving onto the next one.

  “Yeah.” He moved methodically, she noticed, checking every square inch of the crowded, yet organized room. She looked through cabinets, behind stored boxes of blankets and towels and under tables. Ryder did the same, moving quickly, but thoroughly.

  While they searched, Ryder started talking and Angela was more or less forced to listen.

  “Like I said, I know what you heard.” He checked behind a wall of boxes, then straightened up and looked at her. “But it’s not true. None of it. I was your mother’s friend twenty-five years ago. That’s all.” He stared hard at her, willing her to believe him. She could see, even from across the room, that his eyes were hot and clear and determined.

  “Tamara didn’t have anyone else to talk to back then. I was young and she seemed lonely and—” He paused, took a breath. “Anyway, we never slept together. Never so much as kissed. As for my land that your father thinks I blackmailed Tamara’s father for?”

  She waited, not knowing what to think. What to feel. Angela was torn. She really wanted to believe him—not just because she was so attracted to him, but because she didn’t want to think her mother had cheated on her father.

  Ryder checked the last cabinet, then straightened up and faced her again. “Tamara convinced her father to will me that land as a thank-you for listening to her when she had no one else.”

  Her heart hurt for the woman her mother had once been, and if what he was saying was true, then Angela was glad to know Tamara had had Ryder to talk to. She was still turned around. Still confused—by this man and what she felt for him.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Angela finally whispered.

  “You don’t have to say anything, not now. I had to put all of that out there, to clear the air. I don’t need a response from you, Angela. I just needed you to know the truth.”

  Ryder headed for the door, holding out one hand toward Angela. “Right now though, we’ve got bigger problems. We’ve got to find that little girl.”

  She slipped her hand into his and felt a zip of heat. She knew he felt it too because she saw his eyes flare. Then he folded his fingers around hers and tugged her along behind him. Their own personal drama would have to wait.

  They started in the back—they checked the service porch where the washing machine and dryer were roaring with the latest loads. They checked the back door leading to the small yard and saw it was locked with a dead bolt, so there was no way the child could have gotten out into the rain and rising waters.

  They checked the walk-in pantry and a storage space. No sign of the child. Angela’s nerves started screaming. “Where could she have gone?”

  * * *

  “Kids can disappear on you in a heartbeat,” Ryder said, still searching while he talked. He felt that they were on a more even footing now that he’d told Angela the truth. Even if they hadn’t talked about it, at least he’d said his piece. “I remember when my Annabel was two, Elinah had sent us to the store for something or other. Turned my back for a second and she was gone. Don’t think my heart beat again until I found her, curled up and asleep under a rack of ladies dresses.”

  God, it didn’t seem that long ago. That made him old as hell, didn’t it? A man with no business looking at Angela Perry the way he did. Feeling for her the way he did. Struggling to keep his own brain on track, Ryder gave Angela another memory.

  “Then there was a time you and your mom had a fight. You were a teenager, home from boarding school and got yourself into such a temper, you took off into the night. Tamara asked me to find you. Do you remember that?”

  She stopped, looked up into his eyes and said, “I remember. You found me out by the stock pond. I was so mad.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, you always did have a temper.” Then he rubbed his cheek as if her slap was fresh.

  “I’m...sorry about hitting you. I shouldn’t have.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry about a lot of things that we don’t have time to talk about at the moment.”

  She nodded and maybe he was fooling himself, but Ryder thought her eyes looked clearer, less ready to spit ice or fire at him. That was good enough for now.

  “Come on. We’ll look in the kitchen.” And that’s where they found June, a few minutes later, curled up under a table, completely hidden by a tablecloth that fell to the floor.

  “Oh, thank God,” Angela whispered as she smiled at the sleeping child. “She looks so peaceful, while the rest of us are frantic.”

  Ryder scooped the child up into his arms and she snuggled in close, sighing in her sleep. He missed this, he realized. Having a child in his arms, counting on him, needing him.

  “Poor baby, she must be exhausted,” Angela said, leaning across him to smooth the child’s hair back gently.

  Ryder turned to her, their faces just inches apart. His heart gave a hard thump as he looked into her beautiful eyes. He wanted her to believe him. Needed her to. “There was nothing but friendship between your mother and me, Angela.”

  “I really want to trust you, Ryder,” she admitted. “But I need some time to think about all of this.”

  It wasn’t a perfect response but it was better than he’d expected. “That’s fair,” he said, and took her hand briefly in his. “I can wait.”

  At the touch of her hand, he felt a swell of protectiveness rise up inside him, along with something else that he really shouldn’t have been feeling.

  “Come on,” he said abruptly, shattering whatever spell was building between them. “Let’s get her back to her parents.”

  “Okay,” Angela said and gave him a soft smile.

  For now, that was enough.

  * * *

  Liam stared at Chloe for a couple of silent seconds, trying to talk himself out of what he was about to do. She was a society woman, he reminded himself, just like the one he’d fallen for six years before. But even as that thought settled in, he had to admit that if he’d been stranded in a flood with Tessa, she’d have complained nonstop.

  He couldn’t see her enjoying a picnic of cheese and crackers and warm wine on the floor in front of a gas fireplace. She’d have worried about her hair and her manicure and her makeup. She’d have had him running in six different directions trying to keep her happy. It shamed him now to remember that he had done just that for six long months. Until she’d tossed him aside for a richer, older man desperate for affection.

  Chloe wasn’t Tessa. She’d stood up through all of this. She hadn’t complained once. She’d laughed with him, given him the best damn sex of his life, and all in all had forced him to at least adjust his opinion on rich women. Well, this rich woman at any rate. That didn’t mean he was looking for anything permanent, though. He had a lot of work to do on his life before he even thought about having a woman or a family in it. And when it was time, he wouldn’t be looking at women like Chloe.

  Because as much as she intrigued him, she came from a world so different from his, she might as well be from Mars. He wouldn’t be forgetting that again. For now though, for a brief hookup with no strings, Chloe Hemsworth was a man’s dre
am woman.

  But she had as much chance of running a ranching camp as he did of playing the tuba with the local symphony. She was a stubborn woman though, so Liam thought the best way to convince her that this camp wouldn’t be an easy task was to show her just what ranching was like, up close and personal.

  Forget the romance of the cowboy-cowgirl thing. He knew what she was thinking because her fantasies about the life had been built as a child. While Liam had grown up with the reality, Chloe thought of ranching and saw images of campfires, beautiful horses who never bit or kicked and cattle that followed her around like pet dogs.

  What he had to do to end this idea was to show her what the real life was like. The sunup to sundown work. The dirt, the sweat, the bone-aching misery when you finally lay down to go to sleep. That should ease her back from this dream without him having to actually crush it himself.

  “Look,” he said finally, “I’m willing to give this a shot. You come out to the Perry Ranch. Stay there for the next couple of weeks. You follow me and the new foreman, Mike, around and learn what you can about ranching and how your camp would fit in with a working ranch.”

  “Stay?”

  Yeah, he told himself it wouldn’t be easy having her so close to hand day and night. But if he could get past that, then he’d never have to see her again and that would be best. He already needed her more than he was comfortable with. If he spent much more time with her, he’d only get drawn in deeper. So if she agreed, he’d put her up in his guest room, work her ass off, then send her back to the city and to the world she really belonged in.

  In fact, he knew just the way to sweeten this pot enough that she wouldn’t be able to say no to the idea.

  “No other way to find out if this is going to work or not.” He drew one knee up, and didn’t even notice that the blanket covering his groin slid off. Resting his forearm on his knee, he stared at her. “You can’t sit in Houston and decide to be a ranch hand. You say you’ve been thinking about this for years, but you don’t really know what it all entails. You have to find out what you’re getting into and so do we.

  “If it works out, I’ll give you the land for your camp on my ranch.” Saying that cost him some, but Liam told himself she’d never make it. Soon enough she’d realize that this wasn’t what she really wanted. So he wouldn’t have to worry about having her permanently at his place. “You won’t have to deal with Sterling or do more convincing. So that’s the deal. You up for it or not?”

  “You’d give me room for the camp on your land?” She sounded disbelieving, and he couldn’t really blame her.

  “That’s what I said.” He pushed one hand through his hair. “Look, even if I recommend this idea to Sterling, he’ll still want to negotiate with you. You’re not ever going to have free rein on the Perry Ranch. But, if you prove yourself, you can have that on the Morrow ranch.”

  He watched her, and could have sworn he heard the gears in her brain turning as thoughts raced through her mind one after another. She bit her bottom lip, and Liam focused on that action. On her mouth. He wanted her again, and told himself that having her on the ranch and not having her wasn’t going to be easy.

  “My schedule’s clear for the next three weeks,” she mused. “The next event I’m handling isn’t until next month. Mr. and Mrs. Farrel’s fiftieth anniversary party.”

  “Congratulations,” he said, shaking his head.

  “And I can keep up with plans and arrangements by email.” She looked at him. “You do have internet, right?”

  Wryly, he said, “No, but we’ve got homing pigeons you can use. Of course we’ve got Wi-Fi.”

  “Right.” She took a breath, and he watched her breasts rise up beneath the blanket wrapped around her. “Okay, then yes. I’ll do it.”

  “It’s not going to be easy,” he warned, giving her an opportunity to back out now.

  “I’m not worried.”

  She should be.

  “Where will I stay?”

  “At my cabin,” he said, and saw a fire in her eyes that matched his own.

  Yeah, none of this was going to be easy.

  Six

  Once the storm was over and the floodwaters started receding, they left their temporary nest to explore what had been left behind.

  The streets were still covered in muddy water, but no more than an inch or two when they walked outside for the first time since taking refuge in the TCC.

  “It’s a damn mess,” Liam mused, looking up and down the street.

  Chloe followed his gaze, and noticed that others were streaming from offices and apartment buildings to look around. A few of the trees planted by the city were broken or had branches missing from the gusting winds. Windows were shattered and several cars were now parked on the sidewalk, covered in water and mud.

  “It’s going to take some time to clean all of this up.”

  “It will,” he agreed. “But I can’t hang around for that. I’ve got the Perry Ranch and my own to check in on.”

  She understood that, even though she felt a pang of regret for their time together ending. But she had plenty to do as well, before she could take up his challenge on the ranch.

  “You going to be all right?” Liam watched her with a steady gaze.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him. “You go on. I’ve got my car, remember? Should be dried out enough to use. And if it’s not, I’ll call my dad, get a ride to my apartment.”

  “I don’t like leaving you,” he admitted, and Chloe lit up inside like a sparkler. Then it was doused when he added, “I’d feel better if I made sure you got home safe.”

  Okay, not that he didn’t want to leave her, but his protective instinct to keep her safe was kicking in. Nice, but a little disappointing anyway.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Chloe assured him. “I can take care of myself. You’ve got things to do and so do I. So, let’s do them so we can start the ranching challenge as soon as possible.”

  He tipped the brim of his hat back, and gave her a half smile that she’d seen a few times in the last couple of days. And it did what it always did to her—sent licks of flame dancing along her skin.

  “You’re still set on doing this?” he asked.

  A soft, warm wind rushed past them, and Chloe tucked her hair behind her ears. From down the street, a car horn blasted and next door, glass was being swept off the sidewalk.

  “Of course. I’m going to prove to you that I can do everything I want those girls to learn,” she said.

  “All right then.” He nodded, though he didn’t look convinced. “Let’s say you head out to the Perry Ranch in three days. That should give us each enough time to take care of business.”

  “That works,” she said, and held out a hand to him.

  He glanced at it and grinned. “Shaking hands now, are we? Thought we’d gotten well past that last night.”

  Those flames burned hotter now, especially when he took her hand in his and shook it. “Yes, we did,” she agreed. “But a handshake on the streets of Houston is probably more acceptable than what we’ve been doing.”

  “Not nearly as much fun though,” he murmured, and gave her hand one last squeeze before releasing her.

  “I’ll see you in three days,” she said.

  “You might regret this,” he warned.

  No, she wouldn’t, Chloe thought. This was the last step she had to take to make her dream come true. But it wasn’t just about the camp. This was her chance to live the life she’d always wanted. The little girl she’d once been, dreaming of riding horses and wearing cowboy hats and staring up at a starlit sky, was about to get exactly what she’d wanted. So no, she wouldn’t regret it one bit.

  But once she passed this test of his, Liam might not be thrilled with the outcome.

  “One of us might regret it,” she agreed, and smiled.

 
“You do surprise me, Chloe.” He tipped his hat in an old-world gesture of respect, then started walking. “See you soon.”

  She watched him go, and couldn’t quite help the little sigh that slid from her throat. The man had an exceptional butt that deserved a sigh of appreciation. His long legs encased in those worn jeans that stacked up on his brown boots...the too long hair curling from under his dust-brown Stetson. Oh yeah. He was the whole package.

  And she couldn’t wait to unwrap him again.

  * * *

  Houston had been hit hard, but within twenty-four hours, the city was coming together, cleaning up and clearing out. Online donation accounts had been set up, and the entire state was reaching out to Houston. Crews were coming from all over Texas and money was pouring into the help fund.

  For two days, Chloe performed an amazing juggling act. She spent a lot of time at her ruined office, conducting business on her tablet and phone. Her father, though he disagreed with her life choices, came through for her in the end, hiring a disaster cleanup crew to come in and set it all right. That crew was in demand in the city, but her father made sure she was one of the first people served.

  Her landlord had a construction crew in to do a rehab, and she was grateful she wouldn’t have to be there while the work was going on. If nothing else, when they were finished, she’d have double-paned windows and floors that didn’t creak when you walked on them.

  Chloe spent a lot of time online with her clients, reassuring them all that nothing had changed. She was still on top of the events they’d scheduled with her, and assured them that invitations, supplies and reservations were on track. When she could, she spent time helping her neighbors clean up the mess on the street, and by the end of day two she was exhausted.

  Through it all though, her mind kept drifting back to Liam. She hadn’t heard from him since the afternoon they walked out of the TCC together and went back to their own lives. She missed him. Missed talking to him, laughing with him, missed the sex, a lot. And she wondered if he was feeling any of this. Or had he been grateful to get back to his real life and leave her behind?