He shrugged. “Lena’s not the judgmental type, but I can keep a lookout if you wanna change here in the truck and give it a shot.”
“Are you trying to get me a job so you can get rid of me sooner?”
He thought about what he was going to say before he said it. Sometimes his penchant for honesty was his undoing. He decided there was no reason to lie or sugarcoat it, though. He’d already pretend-married her; she may as well know how he felt.
“Kadence, let’s put this on the record. If I had my way, I’d keep you forever. You wouldn’t have to work if you didn’t want to and you would never be hungry or not have a roof over your head. You’d have clothes that you’d be proud to wear and whatever else you wanted. But it’s clear that you don’t feel the same, and I wouldn’t ever want to stand in the way of you being happy. So, yes, I am trying to get you a job, and if you want to get your own place before you get your first paycheck, I’ll help you pay for that too. I just want you to be happy, and well.”
She had tears in her eyes again. “Why, Reed? I don’t get it.”
He sighed. “Because I’ve been in love with you for half my life. I never stopped thinking about you and I never stopped hoping that you would come home. When you love someone, you want that person to be happy, right?”
“You love me?”
He laughed. “Was that not obvious before I said it?”
“I thought it was a crush.”
“I don’t reckon crushes last fourteen years, do you?”
She didn’t answer. Instead he felt the warmth of her breath against the side of his face and then a soft hand turning it toward her. Her soft, full lips covered his, and suddenly she was kissing him … hungrily, possessively. It was more than a kiss, or at least it felt that way. It felt like she was claiming him, and he wanted more than anything to be hers. She parted her lips and he let his tongue sweep inside her mouth and tangle with hers. Feelings like nothing he’d ever experienced swirled inside him, and he wanted more. So. Much. More.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kadence hadn’t planned on kissing Reed. There was just something about the way he looked at her with such intensity in his eyes and something in the sound of his voice that was so raw and honest. It had been a long time since anyone had wanted her like that. The kiss was incredible. She knew she must have kissed him the night they got married, but she couldn’t really remember it. This one she wouldn’t soon forget, she was sure of it.
She was also sure that she shouldn’t be kissing him. He’d just admitted that he loved her and wanted to keep her. All she was doing was leading him on, and he deserved better. She pulled out of the kiss, but he didn’t let her go. She resisted as he tried to pull her into his broad chest, but only for a second. Once she let her head lie against him, felt the rise and fall of his chest, and heard the pounding of his heart, she felt like she could stay there forever. Shit, now she sounded like him.
“Reed, I should go in and talk to Lena.”
He squeezed her a little tighter, but then nodded and let her go. “Get your clothes and I’ll step out and you can change in here.” She tried to say something, but the words stuck in her throat making her feel as though she might cry again. Reed must think I’m the biggest cry baby on Earth, she thought.
Her emotions had been all over the place lately. She slid out of the truck and got her pantsuit out of the car. He stood with his back to the truck while she changed, like a perfect gentleman. When she finished dressing and stepped back out of the truck, he took her in from head to toe. “You look gorgeous.”
She felt butterflies in her belly and told herself it was just the afterglow from the kiss. “Thank you. You don’t have to wait for me if you have things to do at home.”
“I’m hungry. I was hoping we could get something to eat while we’re in town.”
“Okay.” Her mind flooded suddenly with thoughts of what everyone in town must be thinking of her … them, thanks to their drunken marriage in the bar. She forced herself to tuck away those thoughts. She’d never been one to care what people thought of her; she wasn’t going to start now. “I’ll be back soon.”
She found Lena sitting at the bar drinking a Coke and doing her payroll. There was only one customer in the bar, and he was sitting alone at a table in the back eating a sandwich.
“Hi, Lena,” she said.
Lena turned on her stool to look at her. She had to be at least fifty, but Kadence didn’t think she looked more than thirty years old. Lena’s face had that fresh, youthful glow to it. She wore her curly brown hair tied back in a ribbon at the nape of her neck and had worn it that way for as long as Kadence could remember, and she had the body of an athlete thanks to being almost religious about her early morning hikes in the hills.
“Kadence, hi. How are you feeling?” She’d forgotten all about the fact that Lena was there when she passed out in the parking lot. It was one thing after the other with her, and now she was going to have the audacity to ask for a job … maybe.
“Much better. They said I was just dehydrated.”
“I’m glad to hear you’re okay. You have to be careful drinking so much, honey.”
“Is it okay if I sit down?”
“Of course.”
Kadence took the stool next to Lena. “I drank way too much the other night, but that wasn’t why I got sick. I was living in Atlanta for the past twelve years. Life was good for a while, but I had some troubles over the past few years and I ended up losing my house and pretty much selling everything I had to pay off some debts. I came here with the intentions of applying for a job at the Triple M Ranch. This place is my home, no matter how long I’ve been gone, and I just needed to be at home. Anyway, I’m still not really sure what happened with me and Reed. It wasn’t my intention to get drunk or get married, but Reed and I are trying to figure all of that out. In the meantime, I still need a job.”
“No luck at the Triple M?”
“Afraid not. Celia hired someone while I was in the hospital. I’m not sure she would have hired me once she found out I married her son. She’s not happy.”
“Celia loves her boys. If you’re good to him, she’ll come around.”
Kadence nodded. She didn’t really want to explain to Lena that she was not planning on staying with Reed. “Reed told me that you might have a position open, at least a temporary one.”
“My waitress Mary Ann is off on maternity leave. Her boy isn’t due for another three months but the doctor put her on bedrest. My Annalisa has been filling in, but … well, this place has never been her cup of tea.”
“Does she still work at the library?”
Lena smiled and nodded. “She’s in her element over there. She actually runs the place. They almost fall apart on the days she’s here with me.”
Lena looked both proud and sad. Kadence thought about her own mother who died when she was eighteen. Lately she’d actually been glad that her mother hadn’t lived to see where she ended up, and her father especially. It would have broken their hearts for sure. “So … would you consider trying me out, maybe?”
“I think we could do that. Can you start tomorrow?”
“I will be here with bells on.”
Lena smiled and touched her on the shoulder. “Kadence, I don’t know what brought on your hard times, but I think you did the right thing by coming home. I know your family is gone, but you still have friends here. And can I add one more piece of motherly advice?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t count Reed out too soon. He’s a good man.”
“He is. Too good for me I’m afraid.”
“Give yourself some credit. It couldn’t have been easy to walk in here today.”
“It wasn’t, but the truth is, that was mostly Reed too.”
*****
Reed was waiting for her when she came out and when she told him that Lena was willing to give her a chance, he was happier than she was. Kadence had never met anyone quite like him, and getting to know him no
w made her sorely regret how mean she had been and that she hadn’t really gotten to know him when they were both kids.
“What would you like to eat?”
“What time is it?”
“Four forty-five,” he said.
“Do you think the invitation to eat with your brother and sister-in-law still stands?”
He grinned. “Really, you’re sure?”
“Sure, why not?”
Reed called Stephanie who was thrilled. Kadence drove her car back to the ranch. She assumed they would be taking Reed’s pickup to Brad and Stephanie’s house but he surprised her by saying, “How long has it been since you’ve been on a horse?”
She laughed. “It’s been about twelve years. After I left I heard Daddy sold the horses.”
Reed looked. “Yeah, he was really upset about you leaving.”
“I wish I could go back and do so many things over again.” After she had left, her father was diagnosed with cancer. She had just started a new job and was planning a wedding. He’d told her not to come and she’d been selfish enough to listen to him. When he died, she was on her honeymoon in Europe. He’d already been buried by the time she got back to the states. Her aunt and uncle had taken care of the services and had sent her a check for the sale of the ranch. It had a note of finality to it, and at that moment Kadence promised herself she was never coming back. That was seven years ago, before things in her life had gone really bad.
She walked with Reed to the stables and stood by as he saddled two of the horses. She had spent her entire life, up until the age of eighteen, around horses. She was riding by the time she was three and barrel raced in the rodeo from the age of ten until she graduated high school. She was rodeo queen two times running—it was just one more thing that made her think she was better than everyone else and one more reason why she treated people so poorly. She cringed again now at the memory.
“Ready?” He’d saddled a young Arabian named Gypsy for her. She grabbed the saddle horn and threw her leg over. She was surprised at how good it felt to be back in the saddle. She hadn’t realized how much she missed it.
“What’s your horse’s name?”
“His name is Phillip.”
She laughed as they rode out of the corral and toward the south end of the ranch where Brad and Stephanie lived. “No really, what’s his name?”
“Phillip, really.”
She laughed again. “Why on earth would you name your horse Phillip?” She had a strange tingling feeling in her memory center about that name, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“I didn’t name him that; that was his name when I got him.”
“Oh, how old was he when you got him?”
“Nine months. He was about a year and a half the first time you met him.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I’ve met him?”
He nodded and looked slightly hurt that she didn’t remember. “Yeah, but it was a long time ago. Anyway, you can’t just change a guy’s name. Look at him. He’s a Phillip if I’ve ever seen one.”
“You’re crazy.”
“I’m starting to believe that.” He winked. “But every time you say it, it’s with more fondness than the last, so I’ll take it.”
The ride to Brad’s took them past one of the greenest meadows on the ranch. There were about ten head of cattle grazing on it, and in the distance was a verdant green hill with a creek running along the side and pooling into a small body of water at the bottom. The water’s edge was framed by gorgeous wildflowers, and she inhaled the fresh, floral scent. She’d almost forgotten how beautiful her home state was and the sense of peace it gave her just being here.
They rode through the small fence that surrounded the quaint little ranch house where Brad and Stephanie lived and tied their horses to the hitching post out in front. Reed walked into the house without knocking. Kadence had never had siblings, and her family was mostly broken for as long as she could remember. Being close enough with people to just walk into their house was foreign to her.
She stopped in the living room while he advanced through the dining room and into the kitchen looking for his brother and his wife. She looked around as she stood there and took in the large stone fireplace that took up one whole wall with a long mantle filled with family photographs. Catching sight of one of a young boy with light, curly hair, she walked over closer to look at it. It was a photo of Reed when he was about fourteen. He was smiling from ear to ear and holding a fish that was as long as his arm. She suddenly had a memory of him at almost exactly that age.
*****
She had just turned sixteen years old … a week from the night she really hurt him. He’d approached her while she was getting ready to ride in the rodeo parade. She was wearing her white satin sash that said “Rodeo Queen” in gold lettering. Her silver tiara sat on top of her white Stetson, and her black hair was curled in ringlets around her shoulders. She knew she looked good, and when this freckle-faced kid who was so nervous that he could barely speak told her how beautiful she was, she’d barely acknowledged him. Later that night, after partying with Levi and some of his friends, she was so drunk that she hadn’t realized all of her friends had left and she didn’t have a ride home. She’d started to walk in the dark across one of the wide fields, and there was this kid on his horse.
“Do you need a ride?”
“Yeah, I do actually.”
“Go ahead and get on.”
She remembered laughing and saying, “I’m not going to be seen riding behind a little kid. Let me take the horse. I’ll have him brought back tomorrow.”
The kid looked like he was thinking about it for a few seconds, and she watched in surprise as he slid down off of the horse’s back. “Okay. His name is Phillip.”
“Thanks, Phillip. I’ll get him back to you.”
“No, his name is Phillip.”
She was already in the saddle. She’d left that sweet boy there, miles from his home and in the dark. She hadn’t had the decency to even get his horse’s name right … or his. What was it that made this man love her?
CHAPTER FIVE
Reed looked across the dinner table at Kadence. As she turned to face him, he stopped breathing. A curtain of thick, dark hair framed her face, and those dark-green eyes, although haunted, were still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He remembered struggling for breath the first time he’d seen her up close all of those years ago at the rodeo. He’d been there to ride his first bull and had gone the whole eight seconds. He was feeling fuller of himself than he ever had.
When he saw her standing there posing for pictures and holding that big bouquet of pink roses, something compelled him so strongly to tell her how beautiful she was that he couldn’t deny it. She’d looked at him like he was an alien with two heads, but he hadn’t cared. He felt brave for talking to her—that was until he told Luke about it later. They were in the barn feeding the horses.
“I told Kadence Wright she was beautiful today.”
Luke snorted. “I’m sure she was thrilled. She’s already so full of herself that her head barely fits in the door.”
Reed remembered shrugging. “If I was that good-looking, I guess I’d know it too. It would be hard for her to look in the mirror every day and not see it.”
Luke rolled his eyes. “You don’t get it, Reed. You’re too nice. Being that pretty has made her selfish and hateful, and you’d do well to stay away from girls like that.”
“Sometimes Ma says that about you, and I’m not going to stay away from you.”
Luke had laughed, but Reed saw the hurt in his eyes. It was the hurt that was always there where their mother was concerned. Luke and his mother had been like oil and water since Luke was a baby. Reed wasn’t even sure either of them knew what they were always fighting about, but they didn’t seem to know how to do anything else.
As far as Luke’s warning went, it hadn’t deterred him from wanting Kadence. One week later she would humiliate him worse t
han he’d ever been before or since … yet he still never stopped loving her. Sometimes he had to wonder what that said about him, but all he really knew was that it felt better inside to love than it did to hold a grudge.
She hadn’t returned Phillip the night he’d let her take him home from the party at the creek. His father was angry with him, and he sent Luke with Reed to the Wright ranch to get the horse. The ranch hand knew them both well and while he was getting Phillip and his saddle, Kadence suddenly appeared in the doorway of the stables.
“Hi, Luke.”
Luke turned that intense, angry glare on her and said, “Who do you think you are, Kadence? You took my brother’s horse and left him out by the creek all alone? He’s fourteen years old. What is wrong with you?” Reed’s face had been burning with shame as he looked at the beautiful girl. All he wanted was to get his horse and go before Luke said anything else to embarrass him. Kadence was looking from Luke to Reed as if trying to find the resemblance between them.
“He’s your brother? Was he adopted?”
“You’re such an arrogant little bitch. Stay away from my brother.”
She’d laughed. “Like I’d have any interest in him.” They were both talking about him like he wasn’t even there. Reed wanted to die right there.
“You have enough interest in him to take his horse from him in the middle of the night and not return it.”
She shrugged and casually said, “All I knew was his first name was Phillip. I had no idea who he was or where he lived to return it.”
Reed could almost see the smoke coming out of Luke’s ears. “You spoiled, vain little …” Luke stopped himself then. Even at fourteen Reed had been able to figure out the name on the tip of his brother’s tongue. Even Luke was too much of gentleman to use it. Instead he said, “His name is Reed. Reed McMurtry, and even at fourteen years old he’s way out of your league. Leave him be—I mean it.” The hand was there then with Phillip, and as Reed climbed on his back he saw the look in Kadence’s eyes. It was focused on her brother and it seethed with hate.
To Love And Honor A Cowboy (Cowboy Nuptials Book 2) Page 3