Restless Rancher

by Jennifer Ryan

  He wouldn’t let his father take anything else.

  Walter pounded on the glass with his fist, then furiously pointed at the phone. The guard slammed a hand down on his shoulder to make him settle down. From now into the foreseeable future his father would be corralled and commanded by guards and the system.

  Subdued, Walter gave him a pleading look.

  Austin reluctantly picked up the phone next to him. He’d come with a purpose and he’d have his say.

  Walter flattened his hand against the glass, the plea in his eyes turning to desperation again. “You gotta get me out of here.”

  Austin sat back, not swayed by his father’s selfish need. “The judge denied you bail. What do you think I can do about it?”

  “Tom is worthless. I need a criminal attorney. Get me another lawyer.”

  “You should have fired Tom when he revealed Roxy’s privileged information to you and others in town months ago.”

  “I was getting to it.”

  “Well, the court can assign a public defender, or you can find a new lawyer on your own.”

  “From here?” Walter glanced around the dismal room.

  “I’m not here to help you. I came to discuss what happens next.”

  “If you won’t help me, I’ll find someone who will. Someone who knows what the hell they’re doing and can get these ridiculous charges dropped.”

  Austin rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that. You can’t stop what’s coming, because you deserve it and a hell of a lot worse.”

  Pure rage filled Walter’s eyes. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

  “I tried to get you to see reason. I offered you a deal that would have left you rich and free to do whatever the hell you want. But that wasn’t good enough for you. You had to have it all, by any means necessary, including hurting everyone close to you.”

  “I’m not letting you”—Walter jabbed his pointed finger into the glass—“take everything I’ve built. I’ll be out of here soon enough. You’ll see.” Maybe Walter needed to hear it out loud so he could believe that lie instead of facing the cold hard truth.

  “You’ve been charged with attempted murder and you’re implicated in sending that guy to hurt Sonya at the courthouse.”

  “I never told him to hurt her.”

  Austin held back his temper because he needed to get through this meeting because he didn’t plan on ever coming back. “But she did get hurt because of you. You threatened her, said nasty things to her that were not only untrue but deeply hurtful. You have no compassion or empathy for anyone, yet you want me to show that to you and help you out of this mess.” Austin shrugged and frowned at his father. “None of this would have happened if you’d simply done the right thing. Since you didn’t, I’m forced to make you do it. So here’s the deal: I’m taking over Blue Mining. Kelly and Sonya will run it, though they’ll do it my way. As per the judge’s order you received a copy of today, you’ve been allowed to keep thirty percent of the total profits made by the company to date. Compensation for starting the business and running it all these years. You will not receive a dime more. You keep your home and land. I’ve asked Kelly to close up your house. She reluctantly agreed, though I’m surprised she’d do you any favors after the way you treated her.”

  Walter grinned, though his eyes held contempt. “She wanted me. Not you. I gave her what you couldn’t. No one forced her to do anything. She wanted it.”

  Walter made everything someone else’s fault, their own doing, never his father’s dirty work.

  Austin didn’t take the bait and rail against his father for being with his ex. None of that mattered now. “If you want to continue to pay the manager to run Hubbard Ranch, that’s up to you to work out with him. If you don’t, I’ll buy the horses and cattle at a reasonable price.”

  Walter fell back in his chair and crossed his arms like a petulant child. “What will I have left?”

  Austin leaned forward. “Your life.” This time Austin punched his finger into the glass. “You’re lucky I didn’t kill you when you shot my fiancée.”

  Walter leaned forward and spread his arms wide. “I wasn’t trying to shoot her.”

  “No, you wanted to kill the mother of your baby. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  His father glommed on to the one thing that had a glimmer of hope of getting Austin to help him. “This is about family. I need to get out of here so I can save my child.” Walter didn’t care about the baby. He cared about saving his own ass.

  “You’re not getting out for a long time. As for your child, well, you tried to steal my baby from me, but it looks like I’ll be raising yours.”

  What a twist of fate.

  “What?” Shock filled Walter’s eyes. “You and Kelly?”

  “Are friends. Unlike you, I don’t turn my back on family. Kelly will have the income she needs from Blue Mining in addition to the child support you will pay. The baby will collect twenty percent of the profits from Blue Mining. I will be the guardian over the account so you can’t do to him what you did to me. That kid will never have to rely on you to take care of him. He or she will know what a good man looks like and how he treats others with respect, kindness, and love. By the time you get out of here, the baby will be grown, and I will be the only father figure that child has ever known.”

  Maybe it was petty, but Austin hung up on whatever his father had to say and walked out. He wanted his father to know he couldn’t have his way anymore. He couldn’t manipulate people and not suffer the consequences. He couldn’t hurt people and reap rewards that didn’t belong to him.

  He couldn’t hurt Austin anymore.

  And Austin was done.

  He’d held on to hope this past year that his father would change, but his selfish nature grew and infected everything in his life.

  Austin refused to participate in his father’s twisted games anymore.

  He had a life with Sonya that had him anxious to get home to her where he could breathe and be himself and love and be loved with an open, honest heart.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Austin pulled into the drive and stared at the woman who made everything in his life better. She’d turned the run-down house into their home. She’d fixed his broken heart. With her, he was safe.

  Yes, they’d face some hard times. He didn’t expect the rest of his life to be carefree, but there was nothing they couldn’t face together and work out.

  He stepped out of the truck. She smiled down at him from the porch steps, so pretty in a floral dress that barely reached her knees, bare feet, sexy legs, her long dark hair draped down her back.

  He liked coming home to her, seeing her here waiting for him.

  He glanced around the yard, noticing the flowers and plants she’d added to the landscape. Horses roamed in the field to the left of the house. Cattle grazed the property, fat and happy.

  The wasteland this place once was had been transformed into the home and ranch of his dreams. But none of that mattered as much as having the woman waiting for him to come to her.

  Life didn’t get better than this.

  He went to the back of the truck, lowered the tailgate, and pulled out the surprise he stopped off in town to pick up just for him and Sonya and the house they rebuilt. He hefted the heavy weight in both hands and carried it across the drive and up the steps to where Sonya stood, a pretty smile lighting up her face.

  “A bench swing.”

  He set it down where he’d bolted in two hooks before he’d left to see his father this morning. He pulled one side up by the attached chain and hooked it in place, then did the same with the other side. Finished, he glanced from the bench and out to the yard and ranch spreading out before them.

  Sonya touched her hand to his chest to get his attention. She reached up, cupped his face, and brushed her thumbs over his cheeks. “I missed you today.”

  He gripped her hips. “Not as much as I missed you.” He kissed her softly, needing some of her sweetness to
wash away his sour morning.

  “How did it go?”

  “As expected. He refuses to take responsibility, so I’m done. I said what I wanted to say. I can’t fix him. I can’t make him care. So I’m going to live my life and not think about him anymore.” He nodded toward the swing. “What do you think?”

  “It’s perfect.”

  Austin turned to her, dipped his hand in his front pocket, and pulled out the other surprise he had made for her. “You’re perfect.” He took her left hand, went down on bended knee, and stared up at her.

  She pressed her fingertips to her mouth to cover the gasp and her eyes shined bright with unshed tears.

  “I thought about taking you on a trip, getting away from here for some fun and sun, so I could do what I promised. But then I thought about how we met and how much things have changed and decided this was the spot for the swing and for me to do this.” He held the ring between them. “I met you right here on this porch. Best thing that ever happened to me was a water bucket wake-up call from an angel who saved my life and gave me a purpose. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

  Sonya brushed her hand over the side of his head, her fingers raking through his hair.

  “I had nothing when you met me. Now I have everything I need because I have you in my life.”

  “I feel the same way.”

  “Live the dream we turned this ranch into these past weeks with me. Let’s turn this amazing connection between us that has been such a gift in our lives into a lifetime of memories. Be my wife.” The waning sun caught the brilliant cushion-cut blue sapphire between trillion-cut diamonds and made the stones sparkle. “This stone came from the land that is my legacy. It’s a piece of my history and a promise for our future. I swear I’ll love you the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”

  She nodded, then got the word he wanted to hear again out past her choked-up throat. “Yes.”

  He slid the ring on her finger, thankful it fit.

  She stared down at it through watery eyes. “It’s beautiful, Austin. More than I expected.”

  He stood and kept her hand in his. “You’re not disappointed it isn’t a big-ass diamond?”

  “The ones on the sides put together are as big as the sapphire, which is gorgeous. It’s perfect, Austin. It’s you and me and the gift of this land.”

  “I knew you’d get it.”

  “I love you. I can’t wait to be your wife.” She cupped his face and kissed him. He sank into her sweetness and the soft press of her lips against his.

  He took her head in both hands and stared into her beautiful eyes. “I can’t wait to celebrate the way we did last time I proposed.”

  “I think I can help you with that.” She kissed him again, but this time she infused the kiss with all the heat and passion they’d kept banked the last several days as she healed.

  He broke the kiss that had his heart pounding and his body demanding to be closer to hers. He’d held her every night, keeping the nightmares at bay and letting her know how happy he was to still have her by his side and in his arms. “Are you sure you’re up to turning me on like this?”

  “I can’t wait anymore.” She proved it by kissing him again and sliding her tongue along his. Her hands slipped up under his shirt and caressed his back, her nails biting in as she dragged them down along his spine, sending a shiver of desire across every nerve.

  Careful of her side, he hooked his arm around and under her bottom, picked her up, and carried her through the open front door. He kicked it shut and walked through the living room, down the hall, and into their room without stopping kissing her.

  She slid down his body as he set her on her feet. Her hands stopped roaming over his chest and abs and grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled it up and off over his head. She sent it sailing across the room.

  The sweet smile he came home to turned into a sexy knowing one that heated his blood as she took in his bare chest. Her hands spread wide over his pecs, went up his shoulders, and down over his biceps.

  “I have really missed you.”

  He swooped in and kissed her again, sweeping his hands up her sides and around her back. He unzipped her dress, his fingers caressing her silky skin. He pulled the material down her shoulders and arms and let it fall and puddle at her feet.

  She stepped into him, her bare breasts pressing against his chest. He swept his hands over her hips and up her sides. “You weren’t wearing anything under that dress,” he said against her lips, amazed she’d planned this sexy encounter.

  “You’re overdressed.” She tackled his button and zipper and dragged his jeans and boxers down his hips. He stopped kissing her long enough to take over and pull off his boots and the rest of his clothes.

  Sonya threw the bedcovers back and climbed up on the mattress. She didn’t lie down, but kneeled in front of him, hooked her hand at the back of his neck, and pulled him in for another searing kiss.

  He cupped her breasts in his hands and rubbed his palms against her tight nipples. She arched into his hands. He squeezed her breasts and brushed his thumbs over the hard peaks, making her moan against his lips.

  He slid one hand down her belly and over her mound to her soft folds. He traced one finger over her center, then sank it deep into her wet core. She rocked her hips into his hand as he caressed and kissed her senseless.

  Her fingers wrapped around his hard shaft, and her thumb circled the bead of moisture on the head, tightening his balls. He desperately wanted to sink into her welcoming heat but he also wanted to take his time loving her. Though he didn’t know how long he’d last if she kept stroking her hand up and down his cock, her fingers caressing his balls, and her hot mouth and tongue simulating what he wanted to do with his dick.

  “Damn, baby.”

  She stared into his eyes. Desire danced in hers. He wanted that flame to burn brighter and hotter and he thrust two fingers into her this time. Her eyes went wide even as she sank down onto his hand. When he pulled out, she backed away, leaned over on her hands, and took his aching shaft into her mouth.

  All the breath rushed out of him. Seeing her on all fours, her rosy lips wrapped around his cock, her head bobbing up and down over his flesh, sent a blast of heat through his system. He combed one hand through her long hair and held her head as she made him feel nothing but pure pleasure and drove his need for her to new heights.

  Unable to endure the sweet torture for long, he grabbed a condom from the drawer beside him, cupped her face, and pulled her off him and up for another mind-blowing kiss. She leaned back and fell to the bed, taking him with her.

  He hated to wait another second but kept his head long enough to roll on the condom before he thrust into her. Seated deep, he paused and stared down at her. “I love you.” The words burst out of him, and now he needed to pour every bit of that feeling spilling from his heart and every fiber of his being into her.

  His body rocked in and out and over hers in long soft strokes that attuned their heartbeats and connected his soul to hers until he breathed with her and felt every wave of pleasure wash through her body and his at the same time. He stopped thinking and just let himself feel.

  The tempo changed as their need grew and the demands of their bodies took over until they were both moving toward each other, pressing close, rocking their hips harder and faster into each other until they both reached the point of no return, and her body locked around his and squeezed every ounce of pleasure from him. Her body quaked around his pulsing shaft as she settled into the bed and he fell on top of her, their breaths sawing in and out, their arms around each other.

  He didn’t want to crush her, but when he tried to rise and shift off her, she wrapped her arms around his back and held him close.

  “I love the weight of you on me.”

  He rested most of his weight on his forearms and looked down at her. “That was . . .”

  “Amazing.” Tears swam in her eyes. She reached up and touched his face. “I can’t believe
we almost lost this.”

  He’d hoped what happened had faded over the last few days, but their raw lovemaking had released her emotions. She needed time to deal with it, but right now she needed his reassurance.

  “It’s over now, sweetheart.” He brushed his fingers through her hair. “This is how things will be between us from now on. I promise. Actually, it’s only going to get better. You’re going to be my wife. I’ll be your husband. It’s you and me and anything we want now.”

  He had the money and means to give her anything she wanted, but it had become crystal clear when she got shot that what they really wanted was each other.

  That was enough.

  That was everything.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Sonya held Austin’s hand in the front seat of the truck and stared out the windshield at her mother’s beautiful little house with the white picket fence, towering trees, and the turquoise pots overflowing with ivy on the porch. Two navy blue rocking chairs sat in front of the window with a table between. She had no trouble imagining her mother sitting on the porch enjoying the peace and tranquility of the work-in-progress yard.

  “Don’t forget the strawberry plants.”

  Sonya picked up the six-pack by the handle from the floorboard. “She’s done a great job putting in bushes around the garden that will thrive and live through winter.”

  “With summer just around the corner, she can fill in with flowers to give it some more color. The strawberries will be a nice addition to what she’s started.”

  “Roxy and Noah are already here. Whose car is that?” Sonya didn’t recognize the silver sedan.

  “I don’t know. Maybe June made a new friend.”

  She hoped her mother had settled in and found peace here.

  Her uncles were in jail after accepting a deal from the prosecutor. Ten years for kidnapping, beating, raping, and extorting money from her mother. Her mother got the justice she deserved even if her uncles didn’t get the life sentence her mother did having to live with what they’d done to her.