Roped Into You

by Marie Rochelle

  “Get down on the ground now!” The burly officer yelled. “Both of you are under arrest for the robbery and assault of Clayton Moore.”

  Matt dropped down to the floor instantly with his hands behind his head. “We didn’t do anything wrong,” he yelled as Jeff slowly got down on the carpet next to him.

  “The next time one of you try to commit a robbery make sure that there isn’t a camera outside catching everything that you do,” the officer said as he came in and pulled Jeff up off the floor.

  “Get your damn hands off of me,” Jeff yelled as he struggled not to have the handcuffs slapped on him. “I’m innocent.”

  Matt knew that they weren’t going to get out of this. If the cops truly had Jeff on videotape attacking Clayton, they were going to jail for a very long time. There was no way he wouldn’t be charged as an accessory to the fact.

  “Sure you are, young man,” the officer laughed as he dragged Jeff from the room and another officer appeared in the open doorway.

  Seconds later the new cop came into the room, slammed a pair of handcuffs on Matt and dragged him from the room behind his brother. Matt didn’t know if he was more upset by the fact he was going to jail for a very long time or how he missed out on his chance getting to know Leila.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Walking into his daughter’s bedroom, Clayton sat down on the edge of Samantha’s bed. He could tell that there was something going on with his little girl and he had to get down to the bottom of it. He wanted to make sure everything was okay with her before he dealt with the Leila problem. He wasn’t about to let her leave him tomorrow. Her decision to leave was truly utter nonsense and he would make sure that she finally understood how much he cared about her.

  “Samantha, what’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t feel good,” she said pulling the sheet over her face.

  “Where do you feel bad?” Clayton asked as he pulled the cover off his daughter’s head.

  “My tummy hurts. Do you think that Leila will stay now that I’m sick?” Samantha asked her big green eyes looking up at him with hope shining in them.

  How did Samantha even know that Leila was going to leave?

  “Why do you think Leila is going anywhere?” Taking off his Stetson, Clayton placed it on the bed next to him and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “I heard her talking to Uncle Tony after breakfast. I don’t want her to go back home,” Samantha cried. “Do you like her? Tell her that you do and maybe she can be my new mommy.”

  Clayton loved that Samantha cared so much about Leila. He wanted her to be a permanent part of their family too. He thought she would be a perfect mother for his little girl...but more than that he was truly in love with her.

  Getting off the bed, Clayton picked up his hat and placed it back on his head. He was tired of waiting around for Leila. He was going to find his woman and tell her how he felt. He wasn’t going to give up on a love this perfect for him.

  “Samantha, I’m not going to let Leila leave us. She’s going to become a part of our family.”

  Tossing the covers off her body, Samantha jumped up on the bed and shouted. “Leila’s going to be my new mommy!”

  “If I’ve anything to do about it, yes she’ll be your new mommy.” Clayton gave his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek and left the room.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Do you know that I’ve been searching all over the ranch for you and here you are hiding out in my study?” Coming into the room, Clayton closed the door behind him without taking his eyes off of Leila sitting behind his desk.

  “Why were you looking for me?” Leila asked as she moved away from the laptop at his desk. “Is there something wrong with Samantha? Is she okay? I know that she left pretty fast after breakfast and ran up to her room.”

  “She’s okay,” Clayton said as he came closer to Leila. He loved how her eyes lit up anytime he was around her. She might try to deny how she felt about him, but her body language constantly gave it away. “She just needed to talk to her daddy.”

  “That’s good. I was concerned about her,” Leila said as she got up from the leather chair.

  “Where are you going?” Walking up to Leila, Clayton blocked her in with his large body. He wasn’t going to let her hurry out on him like she had been doing.

  “I was going upstairs to see about Samantha and then see what she wanted us to do today since tomorrow is my last day working for you.”

  “Do you know that Samantha told me that she wants you to be her new mommy? She has never told me that about another woman before. What do you have to say? Do you really feel nothing for us?” Clayton asked.

  Leila closed her eyes and then reopened them. He could see how she was fighting her emotions and he wondered why she was putting herself through so much torture. All she had to do was tell him that she loved him and everything would be wonderful.

  “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “What am I doing to you? All I told you was that Samantha’s dream is for you to be her new mommy. I didn’t tell you how much she loves you. It’s almost as much as I do. I won’t let you leave because you’ve stolen something from me. You owe me.”

  Leila watched him like she wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this conversation, but she was interested in finding out.

  “What do I owe you?” she asked.

  Instead of answering her, all Clayton wanted to do was yank her into his arms and kiss her senseless, but he had to make her understand how he really felt about her; maybe the kiss would come afterwards.

  “Honey, I can’t let you leave Blue Horn ranch. It’s just not going to happen. Not when you came out of nowhere and stole my heart in record time. You owe me your love because you already have mine and of course you’ve had Samantha’s since she first met you.”

  “I don’t have your love. You’re just grateful that I was able to bring Samantha out of her shell and I understand that. You love your daughter so much and you think you need to feel that away about me.”

  Clayton wouldn’t believe what he was hearing. Had Leila totally lost her mind? She had confessed to loving him inside the kitchen when she gave him her letter of resignation. She wasn’t that old to be having memory loss, so she was just trying to back out of it.

  Well, he wasn’t going to let her do that to them.

  “If your comment is true then why are you the only one I think about when I’m alone in my bed at night? Why do I look forward to seeing your smiling face each and every morning? Do you know that I stop working just to go looking for you some days?

  “My love for you has nothing to do with the change you’ve brought into my daughter’s life. I love you for the amazing woman that you are. You’re caring, loving, perfect and hopefully the woman that will become my wife in the near future. Leila, I love you.

  “I know it seems like we fell in love overnight and I was a little surprised by it myself and then I realized something. When two people are made for each other, it doesn’t matter the length of time it took for them to fall in love. All that matters is when they look into each other eyes and they’ll do everything in their power to make the other person happy.

  “So, my beautiful brown eyed woman, will you marry me?” Clayton asked as he pulled Leila closer to him. He already saw her answer when he looked into her eyes, but he needed—no wanted— to hear the words. “I’ll even get down on one knee if that will help my case.”

  Leila paused for a few minutes like she wasn’t just sure what she was going to tell him. “Do you know that when I first saw you that I was scared as hell because you seemed like the devil sitting on top of that huge black stallion?” Leila told him as she ran her fingers through his hair. “I was positive that you were the meanest man I’d ever met in my life. I wanted to pack up my belongings and leave the same night. I wasn’t used to dealing with men like you in my hometown.

  “After I was here for a while and saw you with Samantha, I was slow
ly introduced to the man behind all of the layers and as much as I fought it I started to fall in love with the man who would find time to read his daughter a night time story despite the fact he was so busy most of the time. I was secretly hoping that one day you would fall for me too and now that I have you I’m not ever going to let you go.”

  “Does that mean you’re willingly to spend the rest of your life with me despite the fact that my hard side might make an appearance once in a while?”

  “I think that my love for you is so great that I’m more than willing to take that chance.” Leila grinned, standing on her tiptoes so she could kiss him.

  As Clayton bent his head to meet Leila halfway for their kiss to seal their future together, neither one of them noticed the beaming face of the green-eyed little girl peeking at them through the door.

  THE END