Million Dollar Cowboy

by Lori Wilde

  He nodded curtly, went back to the waiting room. Vivi was on the phone. Ranger read a book. He sat apart from them. Closed his eyes. A lifetime of loneliness swallowed him whole.

  “Ridge?”

  He opened his eyes, bolted to his feet. Blinked to see Kaia standing before him. Ember was with her, and she took a seat beside Ranger.

  “You’re here,” he said, a crazy impossible burst of joy pressing into the center of his chest so hard that it hurt.

  “Of course I’m here.” She stared at him as if he were a damn fool. “Where else would be? I got here as soon as I could.”

  At any other time a question such as this would have struck him as rhetorical. Either he expected her to be there or he didn’t, no answer needed. But under the squeeze of circumstances and her intent dark eyes, his reason stumbled.

  If he were being honest, would he admit he hoped she would show up? Subconsciously, had he been watching for her every time the door to the waiting room opened?

  The concept was so distant and indistinct that he couldn’t lay claim to it. The harder he tried to decipher the reason she was here the more uncertain he became about whether her question needed an answer. He never would have suspected that something as innocent as her steadfast belief that he should expect her to show up would cause so much bewilderment.

  “I don’t know,” he said, feeling keenly aware that the remark was inadequate. “You’ve got things to do. Work. Your pets—”

  “There is nothing more important than being here to support you,” she said so vehemently that her voice cracked. “Ember told me she was coming for Ranger, and the clinic was slow this afternoon, so I left work early and came with her. I simply had to be here for you. Aria’s promised to look after my animals.”

  She took his hand and led him to another bank of chairs along the back wall, out of earshot from everyone else. “Sit.”

  He didn’t resist. Just allowed her to guide him down.

  Suddenly, a childhood memory flooded him. One he’d all but forgotten. He and Archer had been out riding horses, and tagalong Kaia had followed them on her pony. They’d tried to run her off, but she’d refused to go.

  Finally, they’d decided to ignore her. They’d been monkeying around, egging each other on to try riskier and riskier horseback stunts. Archer stood up in the saddle, balancing like a surfer on a board. To outdo his buddy, Ridge had attempted a handstand from the saddle.

  It hadn’t ended well.

  Startled, his horse scarpered. Ridge fell off and struck his head on a rock. His horse galloped away. Spooked, Archer’s spirited horse took off with his buddy astride. Leaving Ridge on his back, staring up at a wide expanse of sky, bloodied, dazed, shocked.

  And then there was Kaia, peering down at him.

  Her eight-year-old face serious with concern, she’d helped him to sit up and told him to put his head between his knees and breathe slowly and deep like she was a medical expert. From her saddlebag, she’d taken a canteen, wet a bandana, and pressed the damp cloth to the back of his neck. She’d sat with him until Archer came back leading Ridge’s horse behind him.

  He remembered being amazed at how calm she’d been. Doing what needed to be done. He’d felt humbled and embarrassed to have a little kid taking care of him. So embarrassed he’d never thanked her.

  She was here now, doing it again. Taking care of him in a similar way. He looked up to see her holding a foam cup of coffee.

  “Drink this,” she said.

  “Thank you.” He took the cup, took a drink.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Not just for the coffee. For everything you’ve ever done for me. Including that time in the desert when Archer and I were goofing around and I fell off the horse and hit my head and you were there to patch me up.”

  She smiled, a slight smile of acknowledgment. “You yelled at me.”

  “I did?”

  “You said to go away. That you didn’t need a little kid’s help.”

  “I don’t remember that.”

  “I do.”

  “I was an ass.”

  “You were in shock.”

  “You were eight. How could you know that?”

  “I didn’t at the time. You did hurt my feelings, but I was so in awe of you. No way was I going to leave you alone, even if you did yell at me.”

  He reached over and took her hand. Squeezed it. “Forgive me.”

  An angel’s smile couldn’t have been as lovely. “Always.”

  God, how had he gotten so lucky to have her as a friend?

  “Have you eaten?” she asked.

  He shook his head. The last thing on his mind had been food.

  “Come.” She stuck out her hand to him.

  He didn’t take it, even though he wanted to. “Where to?”

  “You need to get out of here for a while. Get some food in you.”

  He shot a glance at Ranger, who was deep in conversation with Ember. Vivi was watching a game show on the waiting room TV.

  She kept holding out her palm. “I’m taking you to dinner, my treat. We’ll be back in time for the eight o’clock visiting hours.”

  Charged at the idea of being alone with her again, he sank his hand into hers. Then she went and invited Ember, Ranger, and Vivi to come along too.

  He pushed back his disappointment, because that was his Kaia. So kind and openhearted, she wasn’t about to leave anyone out.

  Chapter 24

  Guilt nibbled Kaia as she and Ember drove back from El Paso late that night. It had been a mad dash trip to show their support for the Lockhart brothers, but they both had jobs and responsibilities to get back to. She’d only had a few hours with Ridge, precious little of that time with just the two of them. Although they had managed a short private conversation in the hallway at one point.

  “Are you all right?” Ember asked.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?” Kaia asked, guiding her Tundra toward Cupid city limits.

  “You’ve hardly said a word the entire trip.”

  “Nothing to say.”

  “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

  Kaia bit down on her tongue. Her sister’s insight floored her.

  “Ky?” Her sister’s voice held concern. “Talk to me.”

  “How did you know? Did Granny Blue tell you?”

  Ember rolled her eyes. “Please. If the way you guys had your hands all over each other on the dance floor didn’t give it away, Ranger and I caught you canoodling in the chapel if you’ll recall.”

  “We weren’t canoodling, we were—” Oh hell, why deny it. “Yes. I slept with him.”

  Ember’s voice softened. “You heard it when he kissed you, the Song of the Soul Mate?”

  “I don’t know,” she whimpered, but nodded fiercely, tears pressing at the back of her eyelids. “No. Yes. Maybe.”

  “I’m getting mixed messages here,” Ember said, reaching across the seat of the Tundra to touch Kaia’s arm. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?”

  “I don’t know,” she wailed again.

  “Can I help?”

  “Talk me out of this.”

  “How?”

  “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me there’s no such thing as soul mates. Tell me it’s nothing but ringing in the ears. Tell me it’s a silly myth, and the only reason I heard the humming was because I wanted to hear it.”

  “You love him,” Ember said.

  “That’s not what I asked you to tell me.”

  “You love him,” Ember repeated, this time empathically.

  “What is love?” Kaia backpedaled, in way over her head.

  “You’ve loved him for a long time.”

  “Childhood crush. Infatuation. That’s not love.”

  “It’s more than that, and you know it.”

  “What if this humming, a belief in a soul mate, is just some form of mental illness?” Kaia asked. “You have to admit, it is a little crazy.”

  Ember studied her. “What if it is
n’t? What if it’s all true?”

  What if?

  Kaia’s stomach quivered. What if she and Ridge were mated? Fated? Put together by some universal force before they’d ever come here? Hands trembling, Kaia pulled over to the side of the road, put the truck in Park.

  “Could you drive home?” she asked her sister, overwhelmed by the notion that they belonged together on some cosmic level beyond her control. It was fanciful and silly, but she couldn’t shake the bone-deep feeling it was true.

  “Sure, yes, for certain. But I think you need a hug first.” Ember undid her seat belt and reached across the seat to hug her.

  She dropped her head on her oldest sister’s shoulder. “I should never have let things get this far. I should never have gone to bed with him. I tried to tell myself it was casual, it didn’t mean anything, just sex—”

  Except the sex had been top-of-the-mountain spectacular. So earthshaking spectacular in fact that it was easy to forget all the little steps leading up to it. Tending Ridge’s black eye after he rescued Atticus from getting kicked by Majestic, the meaningful looks he’d sent her from the altar at the wedding, how he’d gotten her to open up about her stalker, the fun they’d had at Balmorhea, how he had the capacity to forgive his father and Vivi after they’d done him so wrong.

  Small signs of the kind of man he was. Wounded but trying his best to heal, just as she was. Struggling to find how they fit. Yearning to show how much they meant to each other through actions and deeds.

  “Have you told him about the Song of the Soul Mate?” Ember asked. “Have you told him you love him?”

  Slowly, Kaia shook her head. “I … I can’t … I can’t be the first one to say it.”

  “Why not?”

  “What if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?”

  “The way he looks at you—”

  “What if it’s just lust on his part?” Kaia said. “What if I spill my guts and tell him I love him, and then he has to try and let me down easy.”

  “But what if he feels the same way and he hasn’t told you because he doesn’t feel like this is the right time with all that’s going on with his dad and his business?”

  What if he did?

  “Wouldn’t you rather know for certain one way or the other?” Ember said. “If he doesn’t love you back, then you can grieve and move on. If he does, well, wow, happily ever after. Because there’s nothing worse than not knowing where you stand. You’re frozen and can’t move forward.”

  Ember was right. She was mired in quicksand over her feelings for Ridge. But was this the right time to tell him how she felt with his father so sick? He and Duke had a lot to work through. Their relationship was in shambles, but his father could be dying. It was time for them to make peace, and she shouldn’t get in the way of that.

  What would it hurt to wait for a bit? Give him the space he so obviously needed right now? She’d lose nothing by waiting except that she’d have to stay trapped in limbo for a little while longer.

  She’d waited twenty-six years to fall in love. What were a few more days?

  The next two weeks were hectic. Immediately after Duke’s quadruple bypass, he suffered some serious complications—a life-threatening infection, blood clots in his legs. But the old man was tough and he fought hard.

  Ridge was proud of him for that. Duke might be a hard man to love, but he was strong and determined.

  Vivi got a hotel nearby. Together, they all decided that Ranger, Remington, and Rhett would take turns at the hospital, while Ridge, along with Zeke, would keep an eye on the ranch. Truth to tell, Ridge was happy to leave the hospital for Silver Feather, but he kept close tabs on Duke’s condition and flew back and forth to El Paso a couple of times to check in.

  In the days following Duke’s heart attack, he took it on himself to pay bills, update the computer software, and institute some cost-saving ways to conduct his father’s business.

  He was surprised by how much he enjoyed the tasks and how easy it was to slip into the rhythms of ranch life. He’d forgotten how much he loved working with cattle and being on the land.

  The dormant cowboy in him stirred, charged to life. He took to riding Majestic around the perimeter of the ranch every morning with the excuse of checking fences, but in all honesty, he did it because when he was on the stallion’s back, he felt young again. In touch with the side of himself he thought long lost.

  He also juggled his own affairs. Every evening at nine p.m., Phil Rhonstein would phone him from Beijing and they’d conference call with the legal team, often until the wee hours of the morning. Wading through the natural misunderstandings and misgivings that arose from not being there in person, troubleshooting and putting out fires on both fronts.

  It felt better than he thought it would. Being back in the saddle again. Working hard. Keeping his mind and body busy. Focusing on work instead of his father’s failing health.

  Or what was going on between him and Kaia.

  What was going on between them?

  She’d texted him a couple of times to check on Duke, but mostly, she’d kept her distance. She was polite and kind and offered to help any way she could, but when he asked her to dinner or just to hang out, she told him he needed to focus on his family.

  He sent her some gifts, just to make her smile and to let her know he was thinking of her. Small things. Fun things he knew she’d enjoy. A key chain in the shape of a cat with her name engraved on it. Her favorite candy bar. A Betta fish hand-delivered by her sister Aria because Kaia adored anything aquatic.

  She acknowledged each gift in a text or phone call with her usual joy, but finally told him that while she appreciated his generosity, his family deserved his full attention.

  He couldn’t help wondering if he’d made a misstep. He told himself that she was right, that things were too fractured and uncertain for them to carve out the time to have a heart-to-heart and figure out where they stood.

  But that wasn’t true. It was just an excuse not to see her just yet. Not until he’d figured out what to do about his growing feelings for her.

  He wanted her. Badly. Wanted her in his bed again. Wanted her more than he’d ever wanted any woman.

  On Saturday, two weeks after Archer’s wedding and the day before he and Casey were due home from their honeymoon, Ridge was in Duke’s office, making out payroll when the housekeeper appeared in the doorway and told him he had a visitor.

  “Who is it?” he asked, not even looking up from the computer screen.

  “One of those Alzate girls.”

  “Which one?” he asked, yanking his head around and shooting to his feet.

  “The spunky one,” the housekeeper said. “I put her in the den.”

  A big smile split across his face.

  Kaia!

  Finally, she’d come to see him.

  The housekeeper had parked Kaia in Duke’s den and given her a glass of cold lemonade, while she waited for Ridge.

  Feeling awkward now and wishing she hadn’t shown up unannounced, Kaia shifted on the couch. She’d kept telling herself to give him space, but after almost two weeks of not seeing him in person, she couldn’t bear it a minute longer.

  But she had half an hour before she had to be at the dog care clinic to raise funds for the local no-kill animal shelter. She’d been unable to stop herself from dropping by to check on him.

  She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say. The den was intimidating, filled with mounted animal heads on the wall, a cigar humidor on the desk, and a ginormous portrait of the grizzled patriarch of Silver Feather Ranch, Levi Lockhart hanging over the fireplace. Heavy eyebrows framed sharp dark eyes, and his grim mouth was set in a disapproving line.

  Was his humorless demeanor due to the harsh reality of nineteenth-century life in the Trans-Pecos? Or had old Levi simply been an asshat?

  No wonder Ridge was so ambitious. For his whole life, having that stern man looking down on you like you’d never measure up. It would intimidate a
nyone. She wondered why Vivi had not vanquished old Levi to the attic. Probably one place where Duke dug his feet in.

  “You don’t scare me,” Kaia told the old cuss. “You might have buffaloed your family through six generations, but the only reason you weren’t killed off was because you did a nice thing once. I suspect you were more bark than bite.”

  “Talking to yourself?” Ridge’s smooth voice asked.

  Kaia jumped up. Embarrassed to be caught chatting up his dead relative, her right eye gave a nervous tic. At the sight of him, her defenses fell away.

  He looked worn-out. Eyes red-rimmed, hair mussed, shoulders tensed from burning the candle at both ends. Her plans changed on the spot, and it was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms and cover his face in health-giving kisses.

  “Hey,” she said breathlessly.

  “Hey yourself, beautiful.” He gave up a smile for her, but it was as tired as his eyes. “What’s up?”

  “You’ve been working too hard. You should get away from the house, the desk, and your phone, and out of your own head. I’m kidnapping you.”

  “Kidnapping me, huh?” His eyes twinkled as he came closer as if just getting nearer to her increased his energy. “You think you’re tough enough for that?”

  “Just because I’m small doesn’t mean I can’t be persuasive.” She crooked a finger, gave him a smile she hoped was beguiling.

  “Amen to that,” he said.

  “C’mon.”

  “Where we going?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, but I like to be prepared.”

  “Are you always this suspicious?”

  “Not suspicious, just need to know where I stand.”

  “Do you ever let go and let things unfold naturally?”

  “Not much.”

  “Control freak.”

  “Guilty as charged. Not ashamed of it.”

  “I need you,” she said in a throaty voice, and held out her hand.

  “Well, why didn’t you lead with that?” His knowing grin detonated a joy bomb inside her. “Just let me get my hat and sunglasses.”

  He looked so happy she didn’t have the heart to tell him they would be playing with dogs today instead of each other.