Mated By The Demon Collections: Paranormal Romance

by Riley Moreno

  Dear Alice

  Thank you for your lovely letter. It was honest and straight forward which immediately drew me to it. I had a good response from my advert, which came as a big surprise to me. I didn’t think anyone would find it interesting. But out of all the letters yours was the only one that really moved me. I have no idea why. Unlike you though, I DO believe in fate, and so I immediately decided to listen to my heart.

  So here’s what you need to know.

  My ranch is in Texas. I am a cowboy but I also own and run the ranch – I have done so since my father passed away and left it to me. I have had experience in the city and I do have some city friends – but my heart lies at the ranch and always will. This is not a life that you are probably used to and I don’t expect you to suddenly fall in love with it the moment you see it. I’ve lived here my whole life – so I have lived and breathed this lifestyle. I am aware that it might not come so easily to you – but if you’re willing to try that would make me happy.

  I AM looking for love. I AM looking for a wife. I am not sure if that is you or not, but I am willing to give it a try. If not, I do hope this all ends with both of us simply making a new friend.

  So, I won’t say anymore, because I’d love to rather just come and see for yourself. If you are still interested, and I really hope you are, then please let me know which day suits you. I will organise your flights as well as a car to fetch you from the airport. I then propose that you live with me on the ranch for two months, which I think is a sufficient amount of time for us both to know whether this is going to work out or not. Any less and we might not have given it enough of a chance. I don’t expect anything from you here. If you work remotely then I’m happy for you to carry on working. If you want to work on the ranch, that is fine by me too. If you don’t want to work at all I don’t mind. I don’t want you to change your lifestyle completely just because you are coming here to me.

  I hope that you agree to this, and if you do then I’m looking forward to meeting you Alice.

  Alex.

  Alice sat back in shock, reading and re-reading the letter over and over again to make sure it was real. Alex! His name is Alex! And he has chosen ME! Alice knew immediately that this was why her Paris idea wasn’t working out – and it was hard for her to say that she didn’t believe in fate after this. She had no doubt in her mind that she was going to go, no matter how much it suddenly frightened her. She picked up the phone and called her boss.

  “Alice, everything okay? You have a story for me?” As usual, Peter was all business and Alice was suddenly worried about how this was going to go down with him.

  “No, I don’t have a story. I… uh… I just need to speak to you,” she managed to mumble out.

  Peter was probably not used to this more timid side of her, “Oh. Okay. Well, I’m all ears. Ah dammit. You’re leaving us aren’t you?”

  “I’m sorry Peter. I didn’t mean to drop this on you so suddenly. But lately I just haven’t been happy and I’m just not feeling the same drive that I used to feel. And that’s important in the job. Without the drive I’m never going to find you the type of stories that you want, and I’m never going to write them well. You know that. I had no intention of this happening. But suddenly, I just feel like a break.”

  There was silence for a while and Alice thought that perhaps he had hung up. But then he spoke again. “I’ll be honest Alice, I’m actually not all that surprised. I haven’t said anything, because you’ve really been an asset to the newspaper and I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. But I’ve noticed that you haven’t had the same passion that you used to have. And that’s okay. It happens to all of us eventually. And you’ll simply come back from it with even more passion than before or you’ll realise that it’s not what you want for your life anymore. I’m guessing you didn’t expect me to be so nice about it, did you?” Alice couldn’t help but laugh at that and agreed with the statement. “Well, Alice, I’m only nice because I’ve been through it myself. And I came back. So I’m hoping that you will too. How long do you need? We’ll keep your job open Alice. I mean, we’ll hire someone else of course – the news must go on. But you’ll still have a job when you come back. I’ll give you six months. If you want to come back in six months’ time – then you can.”

  Alice was shocked, “Wow. Thank you Peter. I cannot tell you how good that makes me feel.”

  She put the phone down and smiled. That had gone much better than she had expected. Once again, that whole ‘fate’ thing seemed to be playing a part. She wrote back to Alex to say that she would be coming and detailed the date that would suit her. He had given her his email address this time – obviously to speed up the process, and within an hour she had already gotten a reply saying that he would be sorted out the flights for her that evening. It was all happening so quickly.

  She checked her email again a few hours later and everything was booked – the flight, the car to the ranch. Everything. What am I doing? She suddenly thought, scared and excited at the same time.

  Packing to go to the ranch was another story. Looking at her clothes she noticed how unsuited she was to ranch life. Nevertheless, she packed what she could and hoped for the best. She was most worried about what to wear for the first time that Alex would meet her, and she couldn’t decide if she should go super casual or whether to go in her normal stylish gear. So she decided to find an in-between. She chose light blue jeans that were tight and accentuated her slim legs, a white loose cotton shirt and some ankle length brown leather boots. She thought the boots were a bit ‘cowboy’ even though they did come with a bit of a heel. She swept her hair up into a high ponytail and put on a bit of makeup and a pair of pretty gold earrings. To her, this was dressing down, but she figured it would work for the ranch. She got everything ready, including her very important laptop – her ‘novel maker’ she called it and headed out the door. This is it, she said to herself as she looked at her apartment. She wouldn’t be seeing that place for two months and as she walked away she had no idea if she was happy or sad about that.

  The flight was quick. Texas was close by, but the taxi ride took a lot longer than she expected. After almost two hours she finally arrived at the ranch. She was desperate to look in the mirror to see if she still looked okay after all that travelling and was worried that she’d gone from chic city girl to frump city girl. But there was nothing she could do about that anymore. The driver, Max, had spoken to her the whole way – he was actually a friend of Alex, but no matter how much she had tried to probe he had given nothing away about this mystery man. He did, however, speak very highly about the ranch and the people, and by the time she arrived she felt as if she already knew some of them. He had smiled when she had first gotten into his car – and she wasn’t quite sure whether it was because he thought she was pretty or whether he thought she was wholly unsuited to ranch life.

  Then suddenly, they had arrived. Alice got out the car and looked around. The ranch was huge and it was absolutely breath-taking. She took in a big gulp of air, aware immediately of how different it felt to the city and she felt her lungs expanding with the freshness. Then she heard a door open, and out came one of the most attractive men she had ever seen. Oh please tell me this is Alex.

  Chapter 5

  Alex

  Alex couldn’t stop smiling from the moment he saw Alice get out of the car. She was beautiful. However, an unfortunate thought kept crossing his mind: she did not look like she belonged in a ranch. She was certainly not the type of girl he normally went for, and if you had to choose from a line up he would never have picked out someone like her. This had nothing to do with her beauty – which was quite prominent, but rather in the way she presented herself – which was nothing at all like Emily had been.

  Alice was tall, confident, and almost flawless in her beauty. If it wasn’t for the small dark rings under her eyes and the whisper of lines starting to appear, he would’ve almost thought she wasn’t real. She was incredibly easy on the e
ye and Alex could not wait to phone Jerry and the boys to tell them – they would go crazy over a girl like this. In fact, she was far more their type then his and he was sure they would agree with him.

  “Hi, you must be Alice. I’m Alex. Thank you so much for coming.” He came forward and shook her hand and he was impressed by her firm grip. This was a lady that was obviously very used to doing business. A no-nonsense type of girl.

  “Hi Alex, well thanks for choosing me, this is certainly not something I would ever have expected to happen in my life. It’s a welcome surprise to be honest.” Her voice was sweet and pretty and a direct contrast to her otherwise business-like demeanour. He could immediately tell why she had gotten far with her career – she was someone you didn’t want to mess with but at the same time she was someone that you couldn’t help but like.

  He took her bags, noticing that there were more than was necessary for two months and then took her inside. He showed her to her room and she seemed grateful that she didn’t have to share a room with him. He didn’t take offence to this at all – after all, the two of them had only just met each other. He asked if she wanted to take some time to herself or whether she wanted a tour of the place, but she said she was too excited to rest – or ‘wired’ as she put it and asked to rather get the tour. Alex was grateful about this. He had no idea what he would’ve done with himself if she had said she wanted some time alone. I guess I’m ‘wired’ too, he thought.

  “I must say, this is a beautiful place. And a lot bigger than I expected,” she said and he could hear the awe in her voice. He liked this. It was a place he was very proud of and if she had come in and scoffed at it he would’ve probably sent her straight home.

  “Thank you Alice. It’s been a lot of hard work to get it this way but we are very happy. We have all sorts of things going on at the ranch and we’ve extended it quite a bit over the years. So there’s no way of getting bored here. We have the main house – that’s where I say, well where we stay,” He corrected himself and then wished he hadn’t, it made it obvious suddenly that he was nervous. He quickly continued.

  “Then there are a few houses around belonging to the different workers and their families that live on the ranch. Almost everyone who works here actually lives here too, and most of them have family. So it’s quite a big group of people and everyone knows everyone. I’m sure that’s going to be the biggest challenge for you – getting used to everyone wanting to know everything about you. I know it’s different in the city. There it’s each to their own. But don’t worry. You’ll like everyone here. So it’s hard to get upset with them. Eventually you start to want to know about them too. And speaking to them becomes a sort of outlet, like a real diary that actually talks back. I’ll introduce you to everyone eventually. I’ve told them to back away today and not to suffocate you. So if you see people sneaking around trying to catch a glimpse of you, well then you know why. Plus, you’re probably the prettiest thing they’ve seen around here in quite some time.” The moment those words left his mouth he regretted them. But then he saw that she was smiling, and maybe even blushing – although he couldn’t tell with all her makeup on, and he was glad that he said it.

  He took her around, showing her the cattle and all the other animals they have on the farm. It was the first time he had shown anyone around the ranch and felt incredibly proud doing it. When they got to a small clearing he saw that her eyes lit up and she saw her watching a group of horses walking around the field. “Ah, so you like horses I see. Do you ride?” he asked.

  “Oh, I used to when I was a kid, but I haven’t in a very very very long time. Beautiful creatures they are.” She looked faraway when she said this, as if the memory was painful and yet wonderful all at the same time. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was like as a child – and the thought struck him as somewhat innocent and special.

  “Well you can ride these guys anytime you like. Don’t worry, we have some trained guys here that can help you until you feel confident on your own. It’s actually an idea I started a few years ago to generate some more money into the ranch. The ranch is now open for horse rides every afternoon, and so far it’s been doing great. In the summer time the place is swarming with people – especially children. Horses are something special.”

  “I’ve got to say Alex, this whole adventure is really looking up.”

  He laughed, “Only now that you saw the horses? I’m hurt!” He put his hand on his heart in mock devastation – aiming to come across as theatrical as possible.

  “Yeah, I’m only here for the horses.”

  The two of them laughed and walked back into the house together. She was certainly easy to be around, Alex noted. He was thankful for that. One of his biggest worries was that the two of them would have nothing to talk about but so far that hadn’t seem to be the case.

  Once they were back inside he offered he poured them both a glass of champagne and took her to sit with him outside on the porch. The porch was his favourite place in the world. It offered enough seclusion so that nobody would easily walk past and it opened out onto the most beautiful view of the ranch. The rolling hills were vast, and each one was a different shade of green. It was hard not to get lost in the view and a place he could easily sit for hours. He was an early riser and this was generally the place where someone would find him, drinking his morning coffee. He looked over to Alice who seemed just as enthralled as he always was.

  “Here’s to our new adventure,” he said and raised his glass in a toast. They clinked glasses and smiled. It felt like something straight out of a movie.

  Alice giggled, the sound once again belonging to a different side of the person that she portrayed. “I actually cannot believe that I am here. This morning when I was at the airport I started having a panic attack. I mean, who does something like this? I don’t mean to sound funny or anything but your advert wasn’t exactly normal if you know what I mean.” Alex looked at her quickly, surprised by her words. But she was laughing, teasing him. “You’re a young guy and you put an advert in the paper to find a wife. Well now, that doesn’t happen every day now doesn’t it. Especially for a handsome guy like you.”

  “Well firstly, thank you. I’ll take the compliment. Secondly, it also isn’t normal for a young girl like yourself to respond to an advert like that. I mean, I could’ve been anyone.”

  “This, I admit, is very accurate. So what are we then? Just two weirdo’s who have taken a very big leap of faith.”

  “To the weirdo’s” he replied and they clinked their glasses again. The champagne must already be having some effect on them, because they were talking and laughing like old friends already. He could feel the lightness in his head and the warmth come over him despite the cool air.

  “So,” Alice continued, still looking out at the view, “Please tell me that you do this often. Or is this just a place for special occasions.”

  He smiled, “I come here every single day. I cannot drink my coffee without siting here in the mornings.”

  “Ah what a view. I’d get so much writing done here.”

  “Oh? So you’re a writer? Yes, of course, you did mention it. I hope you’ll be working on a novel while you are here. You’re right, this is the perfect place for inspiration. Very little distractions and a clear head – you can’t go wrong.” He was expecting some banter back but he noticed that she had gone very quiet, as if he had said something wrong.

  “Yeah, I’m going to start a novel here. This is the perfect place for it.”

  “Can I ask what it’s going to be about?” Once again, there was silence after he spoke and he looked at her, wondering why she had such a faraway look on her place. But then she sighed, took a sip of champagne and relaxed. “No no, that’s a surprise. A writer never reveals her secrets.”

  Alex had not envisioned the day to turn out like this. He had been so nervous all morning, pacing up and down and picturing scenario after scenario as to what would happen between them. In each scenario somethi
ng would go wrong – his mind constantly taking him to bad places instead of good ones. So sitting here with Alice, simply admiring the view in front of them and sipping on champagne – was so unexpectedly good as well as a huge relief. “Alice, I’m really glad you’re here,” he said, the effects of the alcohol making him far more confident than he normally would.

  “Me too.”

  They sat like this for another hour, just talking and getting to know each other. When he caught Alice yawning he realised how tired he must be. And it also reminded him of how tired he was. “Alice, you must be exhausted,” he said. He caught her mid-yawn when he said this and they both laughed. “I am,” she admitted, “I’m sorry. I almost want to sit here all night and talk but I don’t think my eyes will allow it.” When they stood up Alex noticed that most of her makeup and already smudged off, without her realising it. He wished she would see how much prettier she was without it. He had never been a fan of woman who tried to hide behind makeup – he’d rather know the person as they were.

  The two of them stood to leave and instead of turning away from each other they both turned towards each other and bumped heads. “Ow,” she said, rubbing her forehead which had slammed into his chest, and the two of them laughed.

  “Good night Alice. I’ll see you in the morning. I have a feeling we’re both going to sleep in later than usual.”

  “That actually sounds divine. Good night Alex,” she said, all of a sudden sounding timid.

  Chapter 6

  Alice

  When Alice awoke the next morning she had no idea where she was. She looked at the time and saw that it was 8am, still early for many but at least three hours later than she normally woke up. She hadn’t slept this well in a very long. When she realised that she was at the ranch she smiled. At first she had thought she still had to go into the office and the thought had filled her with dread. But now she had a day which was completely open, in which was going to be filled as and when things happened. She wasn’t sued to that. She normally worked to a strict schedule and was usually aware of what she was doing at every hour of the day. This idea of freedom felt good.