Easy Ride

by Suzanne Ruby

  “I’m only telling you this because apparently you didn’t play your voice mail from Trish and Donald Becker,” she continued.

  “You knew about that? Please tell me you weren’t snooping again.”

  She sat up straight. “I resent that, but I forgive you. The two of them called me after the broadcast. I’d told Trish about what Madison confessed, but neither of them knew I’d connected her to the missing saddles.”

  “I still don’t get how that happened. Unless...”

  Obviously, it was his turn to fill in the missing information. Specifically, how did Madison get into the vault?

  “Did she somehow take your keys when you weren’t looking?”

  Adam shook his head. “No. I don’t see how. But her trainer borrowed them once.”

  “While Madison was there?”

  “Quite possibly.”

  “Impressive deduction. Maybe you should be an investigative reporter.” She eased back down beside him.

  “No, thanks. One reporter in the family is plenty. What else did the Beckers say?”

  “They said they’d call you next and apologize immediately. I told them the universe was running a special on forgiveness and second chances at the moment, but they better hurry.”

  “I’m sorry I suspected you of snooping,” he said.

  “You can make it up to me by listening to the Beckers’ offer. They want you back.”

  “I don’t know, Kirby.”

  She snuggled closer now and placed her arm across his warm chest.

  “I don’t blame you. If I were you, I wouldn’t be persuaded by an offer to double my previous salary.”

  “I’m not,” he said a little too confidently. “In fact, I’m offended by it.”

  Adam eased out from under her arm and stood.

  “Stay,” he said.

  There he went, totally nude and gorgeous every step of the way. And he was all hers.

  She strained to hear what he was saying, obviously to one Becker or the other. But she vowed never to snoop or eavesdrop again. It had almost cost her everything.

  When he came back into the room, his expression gave away nothing short of complete satisfaction.

  “You told Mr. Becker off, didn’t you,” she said.

  Adam crawled beneath the covers and embraced her.

  “Remember my telling you about a job possibility in Florida? Wild Indigo Equestrian Center. Golden opportunity. They texted the offer last night,” he said, effectively dodging her question.

  “You’re moving? To Florida?”

  At that, her heart sank. What did that mean for her? For them?

  “Not a chance,” he said.

  “How come?”

  “Why would I follow a golden opportunity when I have a platinum one right here?” He touched the end of her nose with the pad of his index finger.

  “You’d turn down a fabulous job offer for me?”

  She looked into those baby blues. And those baby blues looked into her. But then the reality of it hit her. “Oh, no. You told off Becker.”

  “Yes, I did. I told him that his offer was offensive, and I want nothing less than part ownership. I want full ownership of Daisy and the corgi, Sergeant, and I want part of the adjacent land that he owns. You and I can open an animal rescue sanctuary. I’d need for you to run it, of course, and he’d have to pay you a nice salary.”

  The whole thing blew her away. Animal rescue sanctuary? Talk about a dream come true. Even better than becoming an investigative reporter. In fact, this opportunity was pure platinum.

  And Adam thought of it. For her.

  “Well? What did he say?”

  “He said ‘no.’”

  She swallowed back her disappointment, for Adam’s sake. No matter. Her most important dream had already been realized. Adam was there. With her.

  “Hey, you tried. I’m proud of you. We’ll figure out something else. Together.”

  “You didn’t let me finish. He said ‘no’ to paying you a salary. That would have to come out of my part of the ownership.”

  She’d only thought she couldn’t be any happier, but he just took her there.

  “So, you would be my boss?” she asked.

  “Let’s pretend it would make me your client.”

  “Oh, yeah? In that case, we’ll have to make some rules.”

  “As long as they’re breakable,” he said.

  He proceeded to kiss her tentatively at first, then deeper, taking her back to that first day in the club, where she’d opened her soul enough to let him inside. Where she’d learned that broken hearts could heal, and good intentions could be shattered but mended because the past, with all its heaviness, couldn’t outrun the future—especially not when the future was as honest and promising and tempting as...this.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from NOTORIOUS by Vicki Lewis Thompson.

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  Notorious

  by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  1

  GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!

  The electronic message on the billboard over the Pussycat Lounge expanded against a background of cascading fireworks, then disintegrated as a new message took shape.

  Onstage Now!

  Noah Garfield walked past the entrance to the bar, located two streets over from the Las Vegas Strip. Although he had no intention of entering the place, he wouldn’t be a normal guy if he didn’t spend a moment picturing topless women dancing inside the darkened interior. Sexual adventure seemed more wicked when it was offered at two in the afternoon.

  And sexual adventure still made him think of Keely, even after ten years. He could hardly believe so much time had gone by since she’d shocked the good folks of Saguaro Junction, Arizona, by posing for the centerfold of Macho magazine. With no trouble at all he could still see her stretched out in all her nineteen-year-old glory, smiling at him and about half a million other guys. Born to be wild—that was Keely Branscom.

  He’d love to know where she was now. Maybe married with three kids, although he had a hard time picturing that. More likely she was performing in a club exactly like the one he’d just passed. That wasn’t so hard to imagine.

  The bachelor party tonight would be at a similar kind of place, and Noah wasn’t really looking forward to it. He didn’t
have a steady relationship with a woman like the other guys in the wedding party, which meant he was sexually on edge. It wasn’t a good idea to watch a lot of seminaked women bobbing around when you were in that state.

  The heels of his boots tapped out a steady rhythm as he continued on his way. The last time he was in this town for a pro rodeo had been about five years ago, and he distinctly remembered a little neighborhood-type bar in this area. No dancers, no loud music, just cold beer and a couple of outdated slot machines.

  Now he couldn’t find it.

  He’d counted on that little bar to be his hidey-hole over the weekend, whenever the festivities for his good buddy Brandon threatened to overwhelm him. He was glad, honored even, to be a groomsman—he really was. But Brandon and Jenny’s engagement last fall had meant that Noah was the only one of his rodeo buddies who hadn’t found himself a wife.

  To top it off, his little brother, Jonas, had become engaged, and of all people, he’d picked Keely’s sister, B.J. Noah wouldn’t mind getting married. In fact, he would love getting married. But he’d been kept busy with the ranch, and Saguaro Junction wasn’t exactly overrun with eligible females.

  Well, maybe now that Jonas was settling down, Noah would have the time and opportunity to find a wife of his own. But in the meantime, here he was, smack-dab in the middle of Sin City at a time when he was feeling especially vulnerable to suggestions.

  At the next intersection he paused and glanced around at a passel of gift shops, liquor stores and pawnshops. No neighborhood bar. It had probably gone out of business. With a sigh he turned around to retrace his path to the hotel.

  The hotel had several bars, but they were all too trendy, too noisy. He hungered for worn vinyl stools and a little country music. Someplace like the Roundup Saloon in Saguaro Junction.

  It was a pitiful thing for a man of thirty-two to be homesick, but that’s what he was. He wouldn’t even mind mucking out stalls right now if he could be back on the ranch looking forward to a barbecue this evening and a sunset that would make your eyes water with its beauty. He loved that ranch the same way his daddy had, and his daddy before him. It was Garfield land, and Noah always felt better when his feet were planted on it.

  He was so caught up in his daydreaming that he wasn’t paying any attention to the other people on the sidewalk. It took him a while to realize that the redhead walking toward him looked a lot like Keely. But his mind was probably playing tricks on him, considering he’d just been thinking of her.

  With his hat pulled low to shade his eyes, he could study her more closely without being caught at it. Yep, sure reminded him of Keely. The blue flowers decorating her dress looked sweet and innocent, but the dress itself, filmy and cut to midthigh, was anything but. The skirt flounced around her smooth legs with every step she took.

  It was a mouthwatering dress, clingy enough to allow every curve to make itself known when she moved. It laced up over her breasts, and although the neckline didn’t show much cleavage, the dress revealed a hell of a lot of leg. Bare, brightly painted toes peeked out of a pair of high-heeled sandals. Keely could wear high-heeled sandals like nobody else.

  Of course, this wasn’t Keely. But this woman could be her twin. Same full, pouty mouth; same determined chin; same I-gotta-be-me stride.

  She wore sunglasses, so he couldn’t see her eyes. The eyes would be the clincher. No other woman in the world had Keely’s eyes. Some people said green was a cool, soothing color. Not on Keely. She could scorch a man’s heart with one glance. A few thought the devil himself stoked that blaze, and it could well be. Looking into her eyes, a man might consider selling his soul.

  The Keely look-alike paused outside the dance club and Noah paused, too. Of course, she wasn’t Keely, but now he had to be absolutely positive before he could walk on past.

  She dug in her shoulder purse for something and came out with a small leather notebook. Flipping it open, she shoved her sunglasses to the top of her head while she studied whatever was written there. Snapping the notebook shut, she thrust it back into her purse and stepped toward the entrance.

  “Excuse me.” He moved toward her and came up with the first line he could think of. “Could you tell me what time it is?” Damn, she even smelled like Keely. She’d been partial to raspberry-scented body lotion.

  Without looking at him, she glanced at her watch. Then she raised her head and gazed in his direction. “It’s two fif—” She stopped abruptly and stared at him.

  He gasped and his heart began to hammer the way it always did in reaction to her. Those eyes. God, they were more potent than ever.

  “Noah?” Her mouth gaped open. “Noah Garfield, is that you?”

  “It’s me.” The shock of seeing her made his head buzz.

  “Wow.” She let out a breathless little laugh. “I can’t believe this.”

  “You can’t believe it? I can’t believe it. I was just thinking about you and then bam, you showed up.” Whoops. He shouldn’t have said that.

  “Really?” Her kiss-me-now mouth curved in a smile. Her lipstick was the color of a ripe peach, and she must have recently put it on, because it still had a gloss that made her mouth look wet. “After all these years? How flattering.”

  “Well, I...uh...” Damn it all, now he was blushing.

  Her smile widened. “Couldn’t be the sign flashing over our heads that reminded you of me, now, could it?”

  As usual, she knew right where to press to make him squirm. “Now, Keely, that’s the sort of thing best forgotten, don’t you think?”

  “It’s obvious you haven’t forgotten it.” She reached out and patted his arm. “That’s okay. It’s not every day that the girl you used to chase around the stock tank decides to bare her all in a centerfold. Folks in Saguaro Junction aren’t used to that kind of thing. I guess it would tend to stick in your mind.”

  “I think most people have forgotten about it.” Not true. Mention Keely Branscom anywhere in town and eyebrows still rose. He struggled to get some purchase on the conversation. “So how’ve you been?” Now, there was an original question.

  “Fine.”

  “That’s good.” Another brilliant comment. He had to admit she looked fine. Saucy as all get-out, the way she’d always been. Judging from the way the dress fit, she hadn’t put on an extra ounce in ten years.

  “How about you?” she asked.

  “I’m good.” He wondered how she made her lipstick look like that, as if she’d just licked her lips. He shouldn’t be looking at her mouth, but her eyes weren’t any safer a place to rest his glance. Well, he could look lower, at her breasts rising and falling under the thin, flowery material. That wasn’t such a good idea. Better concentrate on her mouth, even if it did remind him of the one time she’d kissed him.

  “What brings you to Vegas?” she asked.

  He had to stop and think. Oh, yeah, Brandon. “A friend of mine’s getting married.”

  “Really? Anybody I know?”

  “I don’t think so. He’s from Wyoming. We met up on the rodeo circuit a few years back.”

  “That’s nice.” For a split second she sounded a little wistful. Then that cocky tone of hers took over again. “So what’s up with you, Noah? Found yourself a salt-of-the-earth ranching woman yet?”

  “Nope.” Once again she’d managed to hit a subject he was touchy about. “Been a little busy.” He hesitated, not sure how much he wanted to reveal. After all, she’d been the one who’d decided to break off contact with everyone in Saguaro Junction, including her father and sister. But finally he decided to tell her some of the news. Couldn’t hurt. “My dad died a couple of years ago.”

  “Oh. Oh, I’m sorry.” She gazed up at him, her green eyes filled with sadness. “He was a nice man.”

  “Thanks. He was.” He couldn’t ever remember seeing sympathy in her eyes before.
Defiance plenty of times, devilment nearly as often and, once, on a very memorable night, desire. Never this soft, endearing sympathy.

  “So you and Jonas are running things?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He could say that now. Six months ago he couldn’t have, back when Jonas spent more time chasing women than chasing cows. But B.J. had settled Jonas down considerably. “That’s another thing that’s happened,” he said. “Jonas will be getting married soon.”

  “Get outta here!” She grinned. “Shotgun?”

  “Nope. He’s marrying your sister.”

  Disbelief flashed in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a touching vulnerability. She glanced away. “Well.” Her throat moved in a hard swallow before she looked up, her gaze guarded. “She always was sweet on him, but she’s making a huge mistake.”

  “A few months ago I would have agreed with you, but you’d be surprised at how Jonas has changed. He’s getting more responsible by the day.”

  “What a shame.”

  The old irritation that had always been a part of his conversations with Keely pricked him now. If everybody had Keely’s carefree attitude toward life, the work would never get done. “I happen to be glad for him.”

  She gave him that saucy smile, the one that always warned him that a smart-ass remark was coming. “You would be,” she said. “You were born old.”

  His jaw clenched. Keely had a real talent for getting under his skin. She always had—in every department. “Everybody has to grow up sometime. Even you.”

  “Not if I can help it. And as for B.J. and Jonas, they should have years ahead of them before they have to settle into some boring routine. But no, they’re shackling themselves to each other and that blessed ranch. I hate to see it.”

  “Nobody asked you to.” Now, that was a low blow and he hadn’t meant to deliver it. But he couldn’t take it back, and he didn’t know how to smooth over what he’d just said.

  Her eyes registered the hurt. “No, I guess nobody did.” She slid her sunglasses back on, and when she spoke again her voice sounded more brittle than bright. “And I suppose my father’s as crotchety as ever?”