Cowboy to the Rescue

by Trish Milburn

  After a few minutes of talking about the approaching end of the school year and one more contribution from Emma—“I’m adding sprinkles!”—Holly reclaimed the phone.

  “Sprinkles on chocolate chip cookies, huh?”

  “Yes, we do avant-garde cookies here.”

  Brooke smiled wide. “I’m so glad I called.”

  “Me, too. I hate that you’re so far away.” She was careful not to say a location, not wanting the girls to hear and possibly let it slip at the wrong time in front of the wrong person.

  Though hopefully Chris and the girls would never cross paths. It was bad enough that he’d called Holly.

  “Hey, at least I didn’t up and jet off to Australia. That was looking pretty attractive. I mean, they do have Hugh Jackman in their favor.”

  Holly was the one to laugh this time. “I’d have to hate you for that. I’d give up Clay for Hugh Jackman.”

  “I heard that,” Holly’s husband, Clay, said from the background.

  “Just kidding,” Holly said, laughter evident in her voice. “How could I ever leave the King of the Dairy Cows?”

  After several more minutes of catching up, they ended the call. The improved mood lasted until Brooke looked around her at the inside of the bunkhouse, at the fact that she was alone here.

  That aloneness felt more acute now that she’d had contact with her family. Now that Ryan had decided he wanted nothing to do with her.

  CONSIDERING HOW poor-pitiful-me she’d felt for the past week, Brooke woke up Saturday morning in a good mood. Maybe it was the sun rising on another beautiful day, or the fact she’d been able to talk to her sister and nieces, or perhaps the fact that two people were going to start their happily-ever-after today. Whatever the reason, she was glad for it. She was done with mooning over a guy who didn’t have any interest in her. If she found someone again someday, great. If not, she’d be okay.

  Besides, she didn’t have time to think about Ryan Teague today.

  The kitchen of the main house buzzed with activity from the moment she stepped in, Merline and Grace helping her prepare everything for their part of the reception. Midmorning, Keri Mehler arrived from the bakery with the groom’s cake, and Brooke went out to help her carry it in. She tripped on her own foot when she rounded the corner of the house and spotted Ryan headed into the barn with his brothers. She jerked her gaze away, but not before Keri noticed.

  “Girlfriend, no matter which one you’re looking at, you’re asking for a heap of trouble.”

  The comment surprised her, but she couldn’t say she disagreed with Keri.

  When Keri opened the back of her delivery van, Brooke gasped. “It’s gorgeous.” The three-tier chocolate cake was a masterpiece of edible art with handcrafted lonestars in a bright orange ringing the outsides and a miniature version of the ranch on top.

  Keri stood back with her hands on her hips. “I do think I outdid myself this time.”

  They got the cake safely inside, and Brooke went back to work, trying to forget how that momentary glimpse of Ryan had made her heart jolt in her chest.

  When everyone finally went off to get dressed for the ceremony, she collapsed into a chair. She was still sitting there when Merline and Hank walked into the kitchen dressed in their wedding finery.

  “You’re not dressed,” Merline said.

  “I brought something to change into. I’ll be ready by the time everyone gets here.”

  “You’re not going to the ceremony?”

  “No, I have a few more things to do here.” She didn’t think she could bear to watch two people so in love when her attempts had proved so disastrous.

  Merline looked as though she might say something more, but Hank gently guided her out the door with a slight nod in Brooke’s direction, as if he understood.

  For several long minutes, she simply sat and enjoyed the quiet before the festivities moved back to the house and the portable dance floor that had been set up outside. Though she shouldn’t, she allowed herself to imagine, just for a moment, what it would be like to dance in the circle of Ryan’s arms.

  She shook off the image and scolded herself. When the clock hit the appointed time, she started setting the food out on the guest dining room’s sideboard and tables. She placed a small box of handmade chocolates at every seat. She reserved several boxes for the guests who chose to sit outside so that their chocolate wouldn’t melt in the heat. She finished changing into her blue silk dress and silver slingbacks and pulled her hair up into a twist just before the first guests started arriving.

  Dressed as she was, surrounded by people, directing traffic, she felt more like her old self than she had in a long time. And it felt really, really good.

  When Ryan stepped in the dining room’s exterior door, he stopped, nearly causing a couple behind him to walk right into his back. He sidestepped then met her eyes; what she saw in his made butterflies spring to fluttering life in her stomach. That wasn’t the look of an uninterested man, was it? Could she be so totally off base not to recognize what she believed was staring back at her?

  He seemed to realize he was openly staring and broke eye contact. A middle-aged man she didn’t recognize started talking to him as they flowed into the food line. Someone stepped close to her side.

  “If you’re trying to not draw Ryan’s interest, I don’t think that dress was the right move.”

  Brooke touched the front of her dress and looked down at the shimmery fabric. Before she could think how to respond, Grace stepped away with a wink and a knowing smile back at Brooke.

  Brooke retreated to the kitchen and quite frankly hid there until Ryan and most of the guests had filled their plates and made their way to the tables outside.

  She half expected Merline or Grace to come find her, but they left her alone. After a couple of minutes, she felt silly and straightened. She’d made the food, so she was going to enjoy it. Evan spotted her first as she stepped outside with her plate and waved wildly at her to come sit by him. She smiled wide and slipped into the empty chair. She leaned close to Evan.

  “So, are you going to save me a dance?” she asked.

  He fiddled with his fork. “I’m not a very good dancer.”

  “I bet you’re better than you think.”

  After she ate and chatted with her tablemates for a few minutes, Brooke got back to work collecting trash. The rest of the Teagues lent a hand so that the task didn’t take very long. As she returned from her last trip to the trash bins inside the dining room’s utility closet, Ryan’s band launched into the notes of the first song. She watched as Riley led Adrienne to the dance floor and pulled her into his arms. They looked so perfect together, so in love.

  She stuck to the shadows as night began to fall, at the edge of the light cast by the ropes of hanging lights draped around the dance floor. But when she spotted Evan sitting by himself, watching his parents and the rest of the adults dance, she remembered their earlier conversation. Weaving among the tables, she made her way to him.

  “I believe you owe me a dance.”

  He hesitated a moment, looked at his dad, whom he obviously worshipped, and slid out of his seat. He took her hand and led her to the dance floor as he’d watched so many others do all night.

  “Now, see, you are a good dancer,” she said once they’d made one circuit of the floor.

  “Really?”

  “One of the best here.”

  He beamed as if she’d paid him the highest of compliments.

  They finished out the song, the last in the band’s first set. Nathan announced they’d be back in a few minutes, and recorded music was put on for those not wanting to leave the dance floor. Brooke had taken one step to leave when Evan stopped her.

  “I think my uncle wants to dance with you.”
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br />   Her heart rate picked up, and she couldn’t decide whether to hurry to the safety of the house or act as if nothing was out of the ordinary. No, she was done running, right? She squeezed Evan’s hand, thanked him for the dance and turned to face…Simon.

  Chapter Ten

  Not for the first time, Ryan wondered if he’d lost his mind, left it behind in that Iraqi village. Because what kind of sense did the feelings roiling inside him make? The ones that made his jaw clench and his hands curl into fists as he watched Simon pull Brooke into his arms and spin her around the dance floor. How could he feel something so powerful for a woman he’d known less than two weeks?

  Yeah, he was definitely crazy.

  But she did look stunning tonight. When he’d first seen her in that blue dress, her hair swept up to reveal the delicate skin of her neck, his heart and lungs had momentarily forgotten how to function. He doubted a good jolt of electricity could have stunned him any more.

  Brooke laughed at something Simon said, and Ryan cursed himself for urging his brother to ask Brooke out. Because that was where this night was going.

  Not if he could help it.

  Before he could talk himself out of it, he started across the temporary dance floor, intent that if anyone was going to hold Brooke in his arms and make her laugh, it was going to be him.

  When he got close to Brooke and Simon, his brother stepped back as if he’d been expecting him all along. For a moment, Ryan felt like he’d been tricked onto the dance floor, but one glance at Brooke and he didn’t care.

  “Looks like it’s time to share,” Simon said before kissing Brooke’s hand. As he turned to leave, Simon gave Ryan one of those annoying smiles he’d perfected as a young boy. The one that said, “I maneuvered you to get my way.”

  He ignored Simon, turned to Brooke and held out his hand. Her smile looked nervous, so when she placed her hand in his he grasped it with a firm grip, one he hoped was reassuring. He wanted her nervousness to fade when she was with him, wanted her to enjoy dancing with him.

  Gently, he placed his other hand on her back and drew her close, his eyes locked with hers the entire time. She broke eye contact first, so he pulled her a step closer. For a moment, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her soft, warm curves. It’d been so long since he’d held a woman like this, and he’d somehow convinced himself he didn’t miss it.

  What a lie.

  “You all are good,” she said with a slight nod toward the stage.

  “At least we don’t make dogs howl and small children cry.”

  “Deflecting praise again. You do that a lot.”

  “Do I?”

  “Yes.”

  It wasn’t intentional. Or was it?

  “You’re talented,” she said. “Multitalented. And I’m not the only one to notice.”

  But at the moment, she was the only one who mattered. “Thank you.”

  She smiled, making him feel as though he was basking in a beam of sunlight. “Now, see, that wasn’t so hard.”

  The song ended, but he didn’t release her, instead he led her into the next song. She didn’t seem to mind.

  So gradually he didn’t realize it was happening, she moved closer to him with each dance step until only a sliver of space separated their bodies. Ryan inhaled the scent of roses, and his pulse quickened. He wanted this woman so much he thought he might burst with the wanting. By the way she moved, her head so close to lying on his shoulder, he’d swear she was feeling the same way.

  “Brooke?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you like to leave?”

  It took an agonizing moment for her to answer, but it was worth the wait. She looked up at him with a hint of that nervousness again, but a lot more of what he hoped was desire. He didn’t want to be the only one feeling this flush with a thrumming need to touch and be touched.

  “Yes.”

  Not caring that the band was due back up on the stage any minute, he led her from the dance floor. His brothers would just have to play songs that didn’t require a fiddle.

  EVERY NERVE ENDING in her hand where Ryan held it sizzled like a Fourth of July sparkler. As he led her away from the lights and sounds of the party, she grew more jittery—not out of fear, but of anticipation and a fervant hope that she wasn’t making a mistake.

  At some point while they danced, she’d felt an absolute certainty that Ryan was a good man, as different from Chris as white was from black, slip into place inside her. No, it wasn’t any fear of Ryan that had her nervous. It was allowing herself to feel too much when she might have to leave someday if Chris ever found her.

  Ryan didn’t speak as he led her toward his home. He didn’t walk too fast, likely out of deference to her shoes, but she wanted to throw them off so they could reach their destination sooner. With each step the desire to turn him toward her and kiss him silly built inside her.

  At the end of the short driveway to his house, Ryan suddenly turned. “I want to kiss you.” He was breathless, as if he’d been holding in those words along with his breath. And he looked a touch surprised that what he’d been thinking had actually tumbled out of his mouth.

  By way of answer, she moved toward him and lifted her hand to rest against his cheek.

  Ryan wrapped his strong arms around her and lowered his lips to hers. If the simple touch of his hand was like sparklers, his kiss was nothing short of fireworks over D.C.—hot, powerful, full of brilliant colors that made her heart sing.

  She slid her hands to the back of his neck, then into his hair. Without thinking about it, she lifted onto her toes to bring herself even closer to him. He tasted like chocolate cake and smelled like pine-scented soap, and she was overtaken with the thought that she couldn’t get enough of him.

  He broke the kiss but not the contact everywhere else. “Are you okay?”

  She nearly cried at his honest concern, at the memory that Chris had never asked her that. How stupid she’d been for not noticing, for thinking his lack of concern had just been his way of acknowledging she was a strong woman.

  “Brooke?”

  She smiled. “Yes.” She looked up at him, his face in partial shadow, and wondered if she’d ever get enough of the sight of those angles and curves. “More than okay.”

  After another lingering kiss, Ryan took her hand again and led her the rest of the way up the lane.

  Once inside his house, he didn’t turn on the lights. “I’ve never brought anyone here.”

  The admission touched her, and this time she initiated a kiss herself. His hands slid down her bare arms to her lower back. She could feel not only the strong muscles in his arms and chest but also what all this kissing and caressing was doing to him in other places.

  Considering what she’d been through, being alone with a man in this position could have scared her. But it didn’t. In fact, she wanted even more of Ryan Teague, whatever he was willing to give.

  Ryan backed up until he bumped the couch, then sank onto it. Without ending the kiss, he guided Brooke between his powerful legs. The legs of a horseman, a soldier.

  The surge of desire that his kiss brought out in her was so powerful it made her shake.

  Ryan pulled back. “Too much?”

  Not enough.

  “It’s…” She swallowed, determined not to let Chris ruin her new life, too. “It’s been a while since…”

  Ryan ran his fingers along the edge of her jaw. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know.” The words pushed past the lump in her throat as a whisper.

  “Whoever he was, he was a fool.”

  She tensed.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything.”

  “I…” Her words faltered halfway between saying nothing and tell
ing him every horrible detail. “I was with someone who…” She swallowed hard, and Ryan took her hand in his, squeezed it. Despite a desire to be honest, she couldn’t force the truth out into the open. She couldn’t risk it. “Let’s just say I have a less than awesome dating record.” She forced a self-deprecating smile as if what she’d gone through had been no more than the realization she was dating a jerk.

  A fire flashed in Ryan’s eyes, perhaps a hint of the soldier he’d once been, before he doused it. She feared she hadn’t hidden enough, that the truth had somehow shown in her eyes.

  “Well, anyone you were with before isn’t here now,” he said. “I am.” He kissed her again, this time so soft and gentle that the tenderness nearly made her cry.

  He was right. Chris wasn’t here. Instead, she was wrapped in the arms of a strong but kind, quiet and passionate man. A man who made her skin tingle and her heart tap dance.

  “Ryan?” she said against his lips.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you…could we go to your bedroom?”

  Amazement registered on his face that mirrored what she felt inside. She might not have known him long, might have promised herself not to trust again so soon, but something about being with Ryan just felt right.

  He seemed as without words as she was when he took her hand and backed toward his room, refusing to look away from her, as if she were some rare and beautiful flower. If she knew every flattering adjective ever created, she’d be unable to describe how the look in his eyes made her feel.

  He left the light in his bedroom off, for which she was grateful. She loved looking at him, but she was afraid she’d think too much if what they were about to do was exposed to full light. What shined in from the living room was enough to see how to release the first button on his shirt.

  Ryan laid his hand over hers, stopping her. “Are you sure about this? We haven’t known each other long.”

  “Does this feel wrong to you?”

  “No.” The certainty in his answer heartened her, gave her more confidence to continue unbuttoning his shirt.