The Dreamer and the Cowboy: A Contemporary Christian Romance NOVELLA (The Rancher's Daughters Series Book 2)

by Debra Ullrick

  Teagan shrugged and had that same bored look on her face that she had when they rode up the mountain. “I guess, but I’m so ready for a change of scenery,” she said on a sigh.

  The waitress brought them a basket with deep fried dill pickle spears in it and a side of ranch dressing. Before they ate, they bowed their heads and prayed. When they finished, they both grabbed a pickle. Teagan put hers on the saucer they provided. He dipped his in the ranch dressing and took a bite.

  “Whoa.” He covered his mouth and blew out hot steam that seared the insides of his mouth. It took a minute before he could finally swallow it without burning his throat too. “Man, that puppy was hot.”

  She tried to hide her grin, which wasn’t exactly working. “Sorry. I should have warned you.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t look very sorry.”

  “Oh, but I am.” She batted her long eyelashes and flashed him a look of mock innocence.

  “Yeah right. And I’m John Wayne.”

  “Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it. I’m eating lunch with John Wayne.” Her squeal and exuberance took him off guard. It was all so very un-Teagan-like. “Wait until I tell my sisters. They will absolutely die of envy.”

  He shook his head, grinning. “Want my autograph?”

  “Oh, please. Please. May I?” She pressed her hand against her throat.

  His smile grew and twisted in mirth at her theatrics. “It’ll cost you.”

  “Oh, well then,” she waved his comment away. “Forget it.” She bit into her pickle and chewed as if it weren’t hot.

  He laughed before going back to the hottest pickle he’d ever tasted. Not willing to make the same mistake again, he blew on the pickle for several seconds until the steam stopped rolling out and then he took another bite. This time he could taste the tart pickle and the creamy ranch dressing. It was a right nice combination of flavors. “These are pretty good when they’re not burning the insides of your mouth out.”

  “Mm. I could live on these.”

  Once again, he dipped it into the dressing. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “I would.” They laughed again. He liked this playful side of her. One more facet of a perfectly cut diamond.

  “Can I ask you something?” Teagan asked, setting her dill spear back onto the saucer.

  “Nothing too personal, I hope.” He winked at her, letting her know he was just teasing her.

  “Oh, well, forget it then.” She wiped her fingers on her napkin as if believing he was serious.

  “I’m just teasing. Go ahead. Ask away.”

  Her face squinted as if she was trying to figure out just the right way to ask it. “I was just curious about your family and how many brothers and sisters you have, if any. And what your parents were like.”

  Before he could answer, the waitress brought two platters, each covered with a large burrito smothered in green chili, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a side of sour cream. His mouth watered just looking at the thing, and he wondered if it tasted as good as it looked and smelled. He’d have to wait to find out. First, he’d answer her question. “Good. Not too personal.” He grinned at her, and she smirked back. “I have three older brothers, three older sisters, and one younger sister. All of them are married except for my youngest sister and Kimberly. Her husband passed away a few years back in a harness race accident.”

  Teagan laid her hand on his arm. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  He settled his hand on top of hers, loving how small it felt underneath his. “It’s been hard on all of us. We grew up with Joel. My older brother Wes and him had been best friends since kindergarten. Joel pert near lived at our house. So he was already family before he ever married my sister.”

  Compassion clouded her eyes. “How is she doing?”

  A moment later, he removed his hand from hers and went to his burrito. She took the cue and did the same.

  “She’s doing great. Now.” He slathered sour cream on top of his smothered burrito and took a bite. The refried beans were some of the best he’d tasted and so was the green chili. He understood why Teagan craved them.

  Her glance up was curious and concerned. “What do you mean, now?”

  He chewed quickly and swallowed. “People gave her a hard time when it happened.” Kage took a drink without really looking at her. “Told her she needed to quit feeling sorry for herself and get over it and move on with her life.”

  Teagan gasped and her mouth and eyes widened as if she’d just been shot with a 22. “That’s horrible. You don’t just get over it and move on as if those people you loved never even existed.”

  ~*~ ♥ ~*~

  Teagan couldn’t believe her ears. How could anyone be so cruel? Kage’s poor sister. How awful for her to lose someone she loved and not be able to grieve. And poor Kage. He understood only too well the pain of loss also. In that instant, she understood their connection. They both knew what it was like to lose someone they loved very dearly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  He looked up and his eyes were as soft as ever. “I’m sorry for yours.” He clasped her hands and the connection deepened. It was as if their souls were somehow intertwining with one another. And now, because she understood just what that connection was, she did nothing to stop it from happening, especially since it wasn’t the romantic connection she once feared.

  Or was it? That thought sucked the breath right out of her. She quickly removed her hand and dove into her burrito as if it were the most fascinating thing at the moment even as she sent up a quick prayer asking God to protect her heart from the man who had the power to steal it.

  Chapter Six

  The last two and a half weeks had flown by. Teagan lay in bed, trying to wake up. She yawned several times and swiped her watery eyes.

  Today was Callie Gentry’s wedding. Teagan couldn’t wait to see her friend happily married to Dustin Lockwood. In a way she envied Callie, but yet in another way she didn’t.

  The promise to her mother came first. Marriage would have to wait. Pursuing the dream she and her mother had shared took precedence over marrying and settling down. She didn’t want to live with regrets. Dance called to her. It was as important to her as breathing, as her next heartbeat. It drove her. Kept her sane in a crazy, mixed up world.

  If she ever married, which someday she hoped she would, she secretly hoped it was to someone like Kage who understood her need to dance, someone who appreciated the gift and talent that God had given her. That someone would not be a rancher though, and he had to accept her dancing and not try to stop her.

  Like her father did.

  Her father didn’t understand her need to dance. Work was all he understood.

  It hurt her that her dad refused to watch her dance. Even just once. He called it nonsense and a complete waste of time. Well, it wasn’t nonsense to her.

  Didn’t that count for something?

  Why couldn’t her father be more like Kage when it came to her dancing and her dreams?

  Thinking of Kage…. Every day since their burrito dinner, she and Kage had worked side by side, laughing and joking, and having a wonderful time. And during that whole time, she worked hard at guarding her heart, which hadn’t worked out all that well.

  The past several days, however, she hadn’t seen much of him. Her dad had Kage working with the ranch hands and her sisters, doing various ranch things so he could learn the ropes. The days he wasn’t helping her, Teagan missed his company and had looked forward to dinner time so she could see him, which was all she got to do.

  Too often these days, her sisters and father kept him occupied most of the time. She missed their time together and then told herself it was probably for the best. Getting too close for too long with that cowboy was a bad idea. It was just too bad she couldn’t explain that to her heart in a way it could understand.

  Teagan covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she yawned yet again. Someday she would learn a body needed sleeping more than dancing. />
  ~*~ ♥ ~*~

  Other than a light breeze, today was a perfect weather day for a wedding. Only a few small clouds painted the crystal clear blue sky. Since he didn’t know anyone at the wedding, Kage took a seat in the back row. Teagan had said he was invited, but he still wasn’t too sure about that.

  He barely got seated when a woman, who he guessed to be in her early twenties, stopped next to him. Kage looked up in surprise and found her dressed in a skin tight mini-skirt and a skimpy top that revealed way too much. He averted his gaze back to his hands, hoping she would go away. But she just stood there.

  He glanced up at her face and discovered she was pointedly eyeing his left ring finger. Her red painted lips curled upward as she gazed down at him. “Hello, Sugar. Is that seat taken?” She tipped her head coyly and pointed to the empty seat next to him while her fingertips grazed across his upper arm.

  How he wanted to lie. “No,” he said, wishing it was. He’d met plenty of women like her. Single. On the prowl for a man. Any man. It wasn’t a personal thing with them, only a hunting expedition. Well, he wasn’t interested in her or in finding a woman. Teagan’s face popped into his mind as if to question that thought. He smiled to himself. If he were in the market for a woman, she’d be his first choice. He sighed. She’d made it more than clear that nothing was going to stop her from pursuing her dream, and that surely included him. He wouldn’t stand in the way and jeopardize her pursuit of the dream no matter how much he’d come to care for her. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t realized the woman hadn’t really moved from standing there right next to him.

  “Do you mind if I join you then?” The woman’s sultry voice wrenched his thoughts back to the uncomfortable, awkward situation.

  What was he supposed to say? I really prefer that you don’t was the honest answer, but he couldn’t do that to her. If nothing else, his parents had raised him to respect women. Besides, this wasn’t his place or his wedding or his chairs. He was a stranger here. Therefore, having no other alternative, he stood and stepped out into the aisle. “Ma’am.”

  Once the leggy brunette sidled past him and sat down, Kage followed and discreetly shifted his chair an inch or two away from hers.

  However, as soon as he sat down, she moved over until their shoulders very nearly touched.

  Heat at her inability to take a hint whipped into him, and he looked around. Desperately, he wanted to go and sit somewhere else, but he didn’t want to make a scene or be rude, which switching seats now surely would be. Still, the empty chairs across the aisle whispered an escape he knew he couldn’t take.

  “I haven’t seen you around here before. I’m Brandy Sills.” She held her red finger nailed hand out to him. Though everything inside of him rebelled against accepting it, his manners kicked in despite his numerous objections. When he took her hand, her hand went as limp as a begging dog’s paw. If she thought he was going to kiss her hand, she had another think coming. “And you are?” The coy look was back.

  He really wanted to tell her it was none of her business who he was, but he couldn’t do that either. “Kage Jenkins.” The second he let go, he moved his chair over another inch and set his face forward, crossing his arms and hoping she would take the hint that he wasn’t interested.

  That would have been nice except clearly Ms. Sills had other intentions.

  “Are you friends of the bride or the groom?” She moved her chair closer to his. If this didn’t stop, they’d be in the aisle.

  The woman didn’t know how to take a hint, not that he hadn’t already kind of guessed that. But still a man could always hope. Best to just get it over with and answer her questions and hope and pray that the wedding started ASAP. “Neither.”

  Her brown eyes widened.

  “Oh?” Leaning closer, she hooked her arm through his and blinked slowly.

  Kage glanced down at her arm, unwound it from his, and settled her hand onto her lap.

  Undeterred, she looped it through his again and pressed against him.

  That snapped his patience. Polite was one thing, being a doormat was another. Enough was enough. No matter where he was, he was not going to sit here and allow her or any other woman to press up against him in such a brazenly manner. He picked up her paw, er um, her hand, and after setting it down on her lap again, he stood. Without saying anything, he headed toward his pickup, and glanced back to make sure Brandy wasn’t following him. She gave him a fingertip wave and blew him a kiss.

  He yanked his gaze forward and broke into a trot.

  “Kage!”

  At the sound of Teagan’s voice, Kage stopped and turned around, knowing he couldn’t just keep going but not knowing what to say to her.

  Standing on the opposite side of the barn, amongst the rest of the wedding party and hidden from view of the wedding guests, Teagan waved at him. She turned to the large wedding party group, said something to them, then picked up her skirt, and scurried toward him. Kage smiled when he caught a glimpse of the blue cowboy boots peeking out from under the blue jean skirt she had on. Feeling the need to flee leave him, he turned and strode toward her.

  “Where you going?” she asked, peering up at him. Questions filled her big blue eyes.

  “I’m heading back to the ranch.”

  “The ranch?” Worry and disappointment crowded her forehead. “How come?”

  Even though he knew they couldn’t see him, or him see them, he glanced over to where the guests were seated, and then back at Teagan. Just how was he going to answer that? “Well…”

  “Teagan! We’re ready,” one of the wedding party shouted.

  Kage wanted to hug whoever the person was who’d saved his hide from having to explain his encounter with that Brandy woman.

  “Sorry, but I’ve got to run.” She took two steps away from him, then turning sideways, she looked back at him. “Please don’t go.”

  Her pleading, not to mention her hopeful face got to him. “Please.”

  Kage relented, vowing not to sit anywhere near Brandy. “I’ll stay. But you’d better go now. They’re waiting.”

  “Thanks. Save a dance for me,” she said with a smile and a wink before she hiked up her skirt and dashed to the barn.

  Standing there, Kage glanced back at the wedding crowd, wondering what to do. He told Teagan he’d stay, and stay he would, but how was he going to avoid Brandy who was sitting in the last row? Hopefully the seat was taken by now. Though why anyone would want to sit there was beyond his imagination.

  “Kage.”

  Kage swung around at the sound of the woman’s voice.

  “Maisy.” His shoulders relaxed when he saw Teagan’s sister.

  “I wondered where you’d gone to. I saw you when you first got here. One minute you were sitting in the back row, and the next when I turned around again, you were gone. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” Nothing he wanted to share anyway. “Hey, you wouldn’t have an extra chair where you’re sitting, would you?”

  “Sure do.” She grinned. “Reserved just for you. I was going to tell you that but like I said when I turned back around you were gone. Come on, let’s hurry so we don’t miss the wedding. I can’t wait to see Teagan in her dress.”

  Teagan. Funny how just hearing her name released a swarm of butterflies into his stomach. Leastways that’s how his sisters would describe the fluttering going on inside his gut.

  Kage offered Maisy his arm. “Shall we?”

  “Yes we shall.” Maisy looped her arm through his, and the two of them headed to the wedding site.

  He refused to so much as even glance Brandy’s way. As he walked by her, the woman had the nerve to pat his rump. He wanted to turn around and tell her to never touch him again, but he had no intention of making a scene and embarrassing Teagan and her family. He did, however, shoot Brandy-with-the-roaming-hands a glaring look. One that didn’t even faze her if that wink was any indication. Lord, I could use a little help here.

  ~*~ ♥ ~*~

/>   Peering out the barn window to where the wedding guests were seated, Teagan searched for Kage. When she spotted him walking toward the area with her sister Maisy, she couldn’t help but smile. Seeing him had a way of doing that to her.

  As he walked past Brandy Sills, Teagan saw Brandy reach out and pat Kage’s backside.

  With no warning, jealousy and anger barreled through her heart.

  Teagan jerked away from the window and shook her head.

  Surprised by the foreign feelings, she blinked them back, having no clue how to handle them or the unsettling implications of them. If she was jealous then that meant, she swallowed hard at the thought, that her connection to Kage went far deeper than the bond they shared over the death of their loved ones. But just how deep did it go? Teagan was afraid to even ask that question.

  A hand settled on her shoulder, and she turned to see who it belonged to. “You okay, Teaberry?” Teaberry, the nickname her best friend Callie Gentry always called Teagan, flowed from Callie’s lips with concern.

  Teagan gazed at Callie who looked stunning in her white cowboy hat with the long veil and white denim wedding dress. The bridesmaid dresses matched Callie’s dress. All of them had lacing up the back, white fringe around the bodice and off-the-shoulder straps. The only difference between Callie’s dress and her bridesmaids’ was hers was white denim and theirs was blue denim. Knowing Callie was waiting for an answer, Teagan forced a smile onto her face. “I’m fine.”

  Callie tipped her chin and gave her a look that said, you-aren’t-fooling-me. She peered out the barn window then looked back at Teagan. “Who’s the guy sitting with Maisy? Is that a new boyfriend?”