“No, I didn’t even have my purse. I came here with the clothes on my back.” Robyn practically spat the words. She looked hot when she was pissed off.
“I have a nice room reserved. You’ll love it,” said the asshole.
“Who the fuck are you?” asked Yukon.
The man took a step back. He was a fancy boy with manicured nails and salon hair. Probably hadn’t worked a man’s day in his life. Yukon towered over him.
“Peter Brighton. I’m working this case with Robyn and Shelly.” He reached out a hand, but Yukon only palmed his rifle.
“Robyn has a nice room here.”
Peter was smart and kept his mouth shut.
“I’ll get my clothes.” Robyn went back upstairs. Parker followed her.
He stood in the bedroom doorway as she bent down to pick up one of her things off the floor. When she turned and saw him, she froze.
“Time to run away?” he asked. “I knew you’d break my brother’s heart.”
“Just stop, please.”
“I heard you two fucking last night. You thought that would help? I asked you to keep your distance, but apparently that was too much to ask,” he said.
“I don’t have a choice. It’s my job. I’ll get fired if I don’t go.” She rushed around the room, collecting her things. “Besides, this was temporary. It’s not like anything can actually work with me and your brother. We’re from two different worlds.”
“That’s right, you’re more interested in men with high-priced degrees, no? Like the prick downstairs?”
“He’s not a prick. He’s a well-respected lawyer.”
“And your friend?”
She turned to look at him. “Where I’m from, it’s the best I’ll get.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You should have a higher bar for yourself, darlin’. You’re letting the world take you for a real shit ride.”
Once her arms were full, she approached the doorway. “Thank you for letting me stay. I’m sorry if I was any trouble.”
Something happened between all of them yesterday. He thought she’d changed, but he was wrong.
He wouldn’t let her pass. As much as he kept telling himself he was protecting Yukon, he was protecting himself, too. He liked her. Too much. A small part of him hoped she was different from other city girls, but he was a fool in love. Women from the city were narrowed-minded, lovers of money, and ready to cast people aside.
“It’s that simple, is it? Just keep running without looking back?”
“Nothing’s simple,” she said.
When she looked up at him, he saw the conflict in her eyes.
“Kiss me,” he said.
“What?”
“A goodbye kiss, then you can leave. No hard feelings.”
“Fine.”
He took a step into the room, cupping her face into his hands. “You can run all you want, but you’ll be running forever. No man will love you like Yukon. Remember that when you’re back in your real world.” No man would love her like him.
Parker bent down and kissed her on the lips. He’d been fantasizing about the softness of her kiss. She dropped her clothes and placed her hands on his chest, kissing him back. If only things were different, but they couldn’t be more complicated.
He pulled away. “About that tattoo. It says Courage is being scared to death … and saddling up anyway. I got the old Western bug from our dad. Seemed appropriate when I was riding bulls.” Parker moved to the side and opened his arm, inviting her to leave. “I’ll see you around.”
****
Robyn hadn’t expected Shelly to show up first thing in the morning—or ever. She expected to have more time to think, to decide what to do. She’d spent the hottest night of her life with Yukon, and he’d made it clear he wanted more than one night. The whole idea of commitment and security terrified her. It was out of her element, and real happiness just wasn’t meant for her. Sure, she’d tried to conform and fit in, but it was all an act. Real happiness was different, something unattainable for most people she knew, including her. That was what drugs and alcohol were for—getting through life with as little reflection as possible.
Parker stepped aside. He had the body of a god, his Wranglers low on his etched hips. His kiss confused her. So did his words.
She had to leave before she lost her mind … and her heart.
“I’m ready,” she said once downstairs again. Robyn needed to get out of this house. Seeing Shelly and Peter in the flesh brought back reality. Her stay with the brothers was a dream, a fantasy, and it was time to get back to real life.
She thrust her clothes in Shelly’s arms and her friend left the house with Peter. Friend was being used very loosely at this point. It seemed everyone in Robyn’s life would trade her for as little as a custom latte. Shelly chose sex with a lawyer over their friendship, but Robyn had to suck it up, internalize it, and play like nothing mattered. That was what she was good at.
“You’re leaving?” Yukon ran a hand through his tousled hair, betrayal in his blue eyes. She wanted to touch him, to throw herself into his strong, capable arms, but that wouldn’t help. Robyn had to be strong, had to close off her emotions if she wanted to survive the next couple hours.
“It’s just work. I have to finish this assignment.”
“And then what?”
She shrugged. “Then I go home, I guess.”
“Baby, I want you here. With me,” said Yukon. “Tell me what you want and I’ll give it to you.”
“Let her go,” said Parker, approaching them. “It’s time for our guest to get back to her real life. You can’t force someone to love you.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, then she rushed out the door.
She jogged up the drive to Shelly’s SUV and slammed the door shut. “Let’s go. Hurry, please.”
Peter laughed. “She really wants to get away from here. What did those two heathens do to you?”
“Nothing. I just want to forget any of this ever happened.”
Yukon’s words kept playing in her head. He wanted her to stay—permanently. Another woman may be thrilled at the prospect of having a gorgeous, attentive man ready to commit. She believed him, too. The man was like an open book, his emotions hard to misunderstand. He’d be a great husband—patient, devoted, and amazing in bed.
That was why she was running. It was too good to be true. Bound to come crashing down around her. And she couldn’t commit to one man when she loved two.
Robyn had come from nothing, the very bottom. She’d been dropped off in a church foyer in the dead of night when she was one day old, discarded and unwanted. From that time on, she’d been shipped from foster home to foster home, never belonging, and told she’d never amount to anything. It was easy to believe.
She’d run away from the past and its plethora of dirty memories. Robyn had been determined to reinvent herself, to cast everything about her old life aside. It wasn’t easy trying to jump a class, her lowly roots trying to pull her back down.
Now she was falling for a cowboy, reminding her of the painful past she wanted to escape. The city, its fake people, and the never-ending struggle for perfection were the perfect backdrop for a woman broken inside.
“How’d you manage to land two smoking hot cowboys?” asked Shelley when the silence dragged on too long. Reflection was something to be avoided, and everything was coming back now.
“Lucky, I guess.” She stared out the window, watching the golden fields pass by. What she should have been doing was ripping Shelly and Peter a new one for abandoning her. She should have been demanding answers, asking where the fuck they’d been for so many days, and not bending over backward.
She’d sold her soul.
There was nothing left. Her adult life and her struggle to become more had been a joke. What good was status and knock-off Prada when she was the same terrified little girl on the inside? She was caught between two worlds, two women, never belonging fully to either.
“I bet you
can’t wait to get showered and changed,” said Peter. “That house, if you can call that hovel a house, looked like it should be quarantined.”
She’d normally laugh and agree, but she couldn’t. Yukon and Parker were good men, living an honest simple life. When she’d been there, the rest of the world went away, along with the high expectations bearing down on her.
“It was better than sleeping on the streets,” she said, not hiding her resentment.
“We’ll go out to dinner tonight. On me.” He winked at her, but his looks and swagger no longer affected her. She’d been bitten by another bug. Robyn had two cowboys on her mind. It was just another reason why she couldn’t accept Yukon’s offer, not when she was just as attracted to his brother. It wouldn’t be fair to him. To any of them.
All her ideals were crumbling around her. She wanted to go back to the way things were—uncomplicated. But now that she’d been given a taste of heaven, things may never be the same.
About forty minutes later, they arrived in another small town. This one was much more developed than the last, and the streets were bustling due to the annual rodeo.
“What are we supposed to be doing here?” she asked, looking out the windows at the mix of tourists and locals. White tents were set up in the fields and horse trailers and RVs lined the roads.
“More boundary disputes. Shouldn’t take more than a few days,” said Peter. “We have a hotel booked. It’s not the Hilton, but it’s better than what you’ve had this week.”
She didn’t bother to speak her mind. Robyn just wanted this assignment to be done and over with. She wondered if she could go back to her regular, comfortable routine when she got back home to her apartment. Or would she forever wonder what could have been?
Chapter Thirteen
By the time he stopped for a break, it was already three o’clock. Yukon had been pushing himself from sunup until sundown for the past three days. He didn’t want time to stop and think about Robyn. Only a few days ago, they’d shared the most passionate night of his life. After what she let him do to her body, he was certain she was interested in a relationship. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
He’d actually been played by a woman. Now he was starting to understand why Parker had always steered clear of city girls. They were cold and heartless.
Yukon tugged off his t-shirt and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He needed to eat before he worked himself sick. After jumping down from his tractor into the muck, he did a visual sweep of his land. Land that his father had once harvested. He wanted to resent his life, the one that disgusted Robyn, but he couldn’t. If he wasn’t good enough for her, then it wasn’t meant to be.
The screen door slapped shut after he entered the house. Parker was gone, had been since he’d woken up. They hadn’t said more than two words since Robyn fucked off. What he wanted to know was where he went all day, every day. He didn’t have any job that Yukon knew about, and after hearing about his injuries and doctor visits, he was convinced Parker was riding in the rodeo again.
He made a sandwich and started up the coffee maker. As he glanced out the front bay window, a pick-up truck drove along the long driveway to his house. He took another bite and walked to the side door to see who was coming.
It was Gage’s truck.
“Hey, where’ve you been, stranger?” Gage tossed a cigarette butt as he jumped down from his lifted truck.
“Busy.” He went back inside, not sure how he could avoid this conversation. He’d been avoiding all his friends and neighbors since Robyn showed up in town. She’d really done a number on him.
Gage followed him inside.
“Marcy told me about the girl. What happened with that?”
He shook his head. “Long story. One I’m not in the mood for.” The carafe was full, so he grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured a coffee. “Help yourself,” he said, leaving the kitchen.
“Since when do you keep details from me?” Gage rooted in the cupboard for a mug. “You’ve never been shy about kissing and telling before.”
“This one was different.” He crashed down on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table. “Well, fuck, I thought she was.”
“You should have known better. I saw the devil in her eyes. You know what they say about city girls.”
“Parker likes to remind me plenty,” said Yukon.
“What did he have to say about her?”
“I haven’t talked with him. He warned me from the start, so I don’t want to hear it. We haven’t said two words for days.”
Gage sat on the arm of the recliner. “Women are overrated. You should be celebrating being a bachelor.” He took a sip of coffee. “We’ve missed you at Meg’s. Stop being a stranger.”
“I’ll be by soon. Just need to get my head on straight.” He would. Yukon had to move on and stop moping. His misery wouldn’t make anything better. It was time he moved on, and he hoped he could put all memories of Robyn out of his head for good. It was just different now that he was older. He wasn’t interested in meaningless hook-ups. What he wanted was something lasting, a relationship with meaning. Maybe the men in his family were cursed to die alone.
Yukon returned to his fields after his break, pouring himself into his work. He had no intention of heading to Meg’s yet, not when his head was still a damn mess.
Once the sun had set, the outdoor flood lights illuminating the grounds around the farm, Yukon closed up the barn and made sure everything was secure for the night. He’d sleep good, exhaustion already pulling at him. When he entered the house, Parker was sitting at the dinette table, eating something that smelled like heaven.
Parker must have read his mind, pointing his fork to the oven. “Ms. Granger sent meatloaf.”
He helped himself. Ms. Granger was an excellent cook, and Yukon was starved. They sat across from each other at the tiny table, eating and not speaking. Only the clink of cutlery against china could be heard.
“You’ve been quiet,” said Parker.
“There’s a lot of work to be done around the house.” He implied that Parker wouldn’t know since he was always gone all day.
“I’m sure there is,” said Parker. “Was there any more damage from the storm?”
He narrowed his eyes. “This is our ranch, so why am I the only one working the land?”
“Farming doesn’t put food on the table these days, does it? I have some side jobs. Don’t worry about it.” Parker continued to eat.
Yukon put his fork down, leaning back in his chair. “Stop bullshitting me. You’re bull riding again, aren’t you?”
“Fuck no.”
“That why’ve you been to the doctor at least twice this month? What kind of side job gets your ribs kicked in?”
“Drop it,” Parker warned. “You’re not my mother, so stop acting like it.”
“Well, I thought you knew what it meant to keep your word. Most cowboys in this town have the kind of honor you can take to the bank.”
Parker bolted to his feet, his chair scraping along the tiles. He pointed his finger accusatorily in Yukon’s face. “You best watch your mouth.” Then he tossed his napkin on the table and left the room. Yukon could hear him taking the stairs to the second level.
Why was he lying? What was he hiding? He should have the balls to admit he was in the rodeo again.
Yukon hoped to open a dialog, to get some fucking answers, but he didn’t want to push it any further. He was dead tired, and his spirits were still in the dumps after Robyn stomped on his heartstrings. It would take time for him to feel like himself, but then again, that would only mean wanting more.
He walked to the front windows and looked out at the moon. Was it mocking him? Was God out there listening? Yukon had never felt so alone in his life. He’d been taught to man the fuck up from an early age, and staying strong was the only thing keeping him going. To what end? He was middle-aged, lonely, and craved a woman … no, one woman. Why was happiness always dangling just out of reach?
>
Yukon felt like he was being punished, destined to suffer to the end like his father. His old man wasn’t a saint, but he’d loved their mother something fierce. Yukon wanted to feel that passion, to work for more than dollars and cents. He wanted to provide for a woman, for a family of his own. When he envisioned that perfect scenario, Parker always came to mind. As much as they bickered and fought, they only had each other. They’d taken care of one another most of their lives, so the thought of moving on without Parker sent an uneasy feeling to his gut.
There were no easy answers.
****
Parker paced his room, feeling like a caged animal. Everything was coming unraveled, and he blamed it all on Robyn and her fickle nature. There’d been one time he’d fallen in love. Or so he’d believed at the time. It was almost two decades ago when that city girl had taken him for a ride. He’d been traveling the rodeo circuit and the girl with her book smarts and blonde curls lured him in, only to use and discard him like worthless country trash when she was through. She laughed when she told her friends about their time together. It had all been a joke to her, a fling with the brainless bronc rider. Ever since that day, he kept his distance from stuck-up bitches who thought they were better than him.
Robyn should have been different, but apparently he was still a bad judge of character when it came to women. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t give a shit one way or another now that Robyn had rushed off without a backward glance. It was Yukon he worried about. His brother had been pushing himself harder, pulling away from friends, and he looked like shit.
He should have a heart-to-heart with Yukon, but he wasn’t up to it. That siren had worked her wiles on him, too. He could still remember the scent of her perfume and the curve of her ass. Her crocodile tears were just that, and he wouldn’t be a victim. He’d never hand over his heart to a woman again, certainly not a city girl.
Parker looked at himself in the mirror, twisting at an angle to get a good look at the healing bruises on his side, now a faint purple. He should have known better, but at least he was on the mend.
He had another early start in the morning, so he needed to clear his head and get some damn rest. His dream was to work his own land with Yukon, make enough to live comfortably. With all their bad luck lately, it would be a while before that day came.
Rough and Ready Page 10