Beauty and the Brit

by Selvig, Lizbeth

  Silence and then, “That’s good. That’s real good. I’ll call you in a couple of days.”

  “It better be you who does the calling.”

  A soft chuckle filled the space between them. “Bye, Mamacita.”

  Rio slumped into the chair next to the small table that held her laptop. She didn’t use the computer for much. News. Gathering information about cheap hay . . . She wriggled the mouse and stared absently at the wallpaper—a running, gold-and-flaxen palomino.

  She wondered if her little filly would ever look like this. She had a fighting chance now, but Rio might never know.

  Or did she really have to leave?

  The phone call with Paul had shaken everything back up. Her life in Minneapolis wasn’t truly finished. Perhaps Paul wouldn’t be able to travel to Wyoming. She didn’t exactly have the job. There were so many things she’d miss if she left Bridge Creek. Glory. Andy. Thirty-one . . . David. Oh David.

  She moved the mouse again, and her eyes lit on the mail icon. The number four stared back at her. Curiously, she opened her inbox, and her stomach lurched. The top three e-mails were from Coyote Creek Ranch. She hovered over the first message, and clicked.

  Dear Rio. We were extremely impressed with your résumé and your letter. I hope you’ve had time to explore our website and learn a little about our facility. We’d like to offer you . . .

  Her hand flew to her mouth.

  Well. Damn.

  “NO! THERE’S NO discussion.” Bonnie shot laser-hot fury across the kitchen from her narrowed black eyes. “You said it yourself. We lost that dream. We have to start new. Well, I’ve started new. I love this school. I love Dawson. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “It’s the answer to all our problems.”

  “I don’t have problems, Rio. You didn’t either. What happened to make you so unhappy again?”

  “I’m not unhappy.”

  Rio had expected anger, but this was not the petulant foot-stomping of an immature teen. This was an angry young woman making valid arguments.

  “We have the perfect setup here. This could be our answer, you know.”

  “We cannot stay here forever. One way or another, we need to stand on our own. Give us a chance, Bons.”

  “You take this chance.” She turned. “I’m not going with you.”

  “Bonnie!”

  She ignored the call, stalked out of the room, and seconds later banged out her anger on the stair treads heading for her room. Rio rested her elbows on the island and buried her face in her hands.

  “She needs a firmer hand you know.” Kate rested a perfect hip against the kitchen door and folded her arms.

  “Excuse me? You were eavesdropping?”

  “It seems to happen a lot around here,” she countered.

  “Well, this is none of your business.”

  “She’s always allowed to do exactly as she pleases,” Kate continued. “And nobody likes that she’s still got potential contact with gang members, or that you’re talking with your brother, who could bring them all to the doorstep.”

  “Are you blaming my sister for our situation?”

  “I’m saying she’s had way too much exposure to violence and she talks to you like a bratty child. If I were in charge, she’d be going to a private school for extremely bright girls.”

  “Thank God you’re not in charge.”

  “I’m not alone in this. We’ve talked about it.”

  “We?”

  “Stella. Colin. David.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  And she didn’t. This was Kate. Still spoiled, still flirting with David, still Bonnie’s ideal. Kate would like nothing better than for Rio to leave. She’d say anything.

  “What’s going on?” David entered clad in the tight gray T-shirt Rio liked best on him, his breeches, and his chaps. She went weak in the knees before she steeled herself. “I just saw your sister do the oddest thing,” he said. “She climbed out her window and ran off down the road.”

  “What?” Rio turned reflexively toward the door.

  “Did you just see Bonnie climb down the side of the house, or am I mad as a March hare?” Stella popped in, confused and laughing.

  “What did I tell you?” Kate asked. “She’s out of control.”

  “For cripes’ sake, Kate. I’m not sending Bonnie to a private girl’s school. Didn’t you ever sneak out a window when you were a kid?”

  “Certainly not.”

  Rio threw up her hands. “Well, that shouldn’t surprise me, I guess. You ought to try it. Might loosen you up a little.”

  “David, haven’t we all said that Bonnie needs some time in a good private school?”

  “Private schools are wonderful, nurturing places, pet,” Stella said.

  David frowned. “I agreed that Bonnie is worth putting anywhere she’ll be safe and protected. If that’s a private school, I’m all for it.”

  “All for it!” Rio glared at him. “Are you serious?”

  “Aren’t you serious about protecting her?”

  Rio couldn’t even get angry. Things had gone from bad to out-of-control in this house. She was outmaneuvered, outplanned, outgunned. She’d promised to let David deal with his family as he needed to, but they’d brainwashed him and that would last long after they were gone. Furiously, she grabbed the letter from Coyote Creek off the counter where Bonnie had left it and shoved it in David’s hands.

  “This is where she’ll be safe, David. No need to worry about a private school, which I damn well can’t afford anyway. I’m going to accept the job. I’m giving Bud two weeks’ notice tomorrow. Bonnie and her dangerous criminal groupies will be safely out of your hair soon enough.”

  DAVID TURNED IN utter confusion to Kate and his mother once Rio had gone. “What did you say to her?” he asked.

  “The truth,” Kate replied. “Her sister is out of control. David, you said yourself that you didn’t like her being in touch with the old gang members. She’s fighting to stay with them.”

  He looked at his mother beseechingly.

  “Love,” she said. “Bonnie’s a sweet girl. She deserves better than her sister can give her.”

  “That’s enough,” he commanded. He’d never seen this side of his mother. He’d never paid any attention to the way she manipulated him or anyone else. But Kate was his mother on steroids. And suddenly, he knew he didn’t have to pamper either of them anymore. Nor did he have to be mean to be firm. He almost laughed as he took his mother by the shoulders. “Stella Pitts-Matherson, you evil old blouse. You are not welcome to speak that way of a girl I’ve become very close to. Rio is an amazing woman, and she’s raised Bonnie to be that sweet girl you talk of.

  “Katherine. You’ve become hard since I knew you. I’m sorry if I ever gave you reason to think you could win me back, but you cannot. Ever. I moved on long ago. Now, I would love to have you stay for your full time here, another two weeks, is it? Or, and I say this with all firmness, the decorating budget is exhausted, the parties are over. If you feel like you could get more done back in England, I’ll dip into the scholarship budget to help pay for a ticket switch. I love you both—do whatever makes the most sense. Now I’m going to find Rio and, I hope, Bonnie, before they run away from home.”

  HE WAS TOO late. The trust he’d built had been breached—Rio’s family had been violated. He couldn’t explain away to Rio’s satisfaction what he’d said about Bonnie. Although his mother and Kate elected to leave early and seemed relieved to do so, David couldn’t convince Rio to stay.

  Ten days after his mother flew out, Rio stood by her car beside her furious sister, two small suitcases, and Thirty-one. There was no sense in leaving the cat. She’d captured Rio’s heart, and vice versa, in a way David had failed to do.

  “I will miss the hell out of you,” he said, checking to where Bonnie sobbed in Dawson’s embrace.

  “I wouldn’t have survived this without you,” she said. “You know that’s true.”

&nbs
p; “Don’t go,” he said, for the thousandth time.

  “We have different visions,” she replied for the thousandth and first. “I need this. God knows it’ll be good for Bonnie, too. She’ll figure it out.”

  She reached up on tiptoes then and kissed him before he could do it. She made it aching and hot and deep. She choked on her tears when she pulled away.

  “I hope it’s what you want it to be,” he made himself say.

  “It will be. I hope the same for your partnership.”

  He didn’t reply.

  She hugged Andy. She hugged Dawson. She hugged Kim. And watching her drive away was like having a thousand tears to the edges of his heart—not lethal but permanently crippling and excruciatingly painful. When he finally turned away, his father was watching the dust tail with pensive eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  * * *

  COLIN STAYED THREE weeks longer than the women, but he was leaving at last. David watched with little emotion as his father approached. Three more hours and David would leave for Minneapolis-Saint Paul International. Then he’d spend the night with Chase at Crossroads. Where she’d come into his life, triggered an avalanche of change, and, nine weeks later, left him down one cat and a fully functioning heart but up one partner.

  A very bad trade.

  But the eight-thousand-dollar deductible on his insurance claim had been paid, and the hole in the barn existed no more. Rio had been right. People with connections simply snapped their fingers and trouble evaporated.

  “So, your Good Samaritan act with the rescue horses has paid off.” His father joined him at the fence. The horses were still scruffy and most far too ribby, but each had a shine back in its eye and they’d all started to play—nipping and chasing—like healthy horses. He wished Rio could see the changes.

  “They’ll be fine now,” he said. “The two already adopted are doing well.”

  “That little chestnut has some potential,” his father said.

  “And that gray.” David pointed.

  “Agreed.”

  “So.” Colin’s hesitation was uncharacteristic. “I’m off to England for Christmas.”

  “Oh?”

  “Your mum’s invited me.”

  “Get off it, Da’.”

  “Right, yeah?”

  Didn’t that bloody well figure? Even old Colin would get his happily-ever-after.

  “Just don’t send me any details.”

  “I thought perhaps you’d like to join us.”

  The whole request made no sense to his brain. “Da’, thanks. But I don’t think the finances will bear that yet. Go. Make nice with me mum. You two never should have split.”

  His father grunted. “Best thing for it at the time.” After a moment’s silence he shrugged into the distance. “Have you heard from her?”

  David knew exactly who he meant. “Very little. Dawson hears from Bonnie, who’s miserable. However, the job is legitimate and busy. The ranch is huge. And they have horses to ride.”

  A stab of sadness hit at that. He’d known there’d be holes when she left. He hadn’t foreseen how deep they’d be or that he’d fall into one pretty much every other minute.

  “Sounds like what she wanted, doesn’t it?” Colin nodded. “So, almost time to go. You’re making your way with young Carter, then?”

  Barely, David thought. “He’s a hard-arse. Needs a bit of polish and some people skills, but he’s got talent. He’s you without understanding.”

  “You think I have understanding? There’s a shock.”

  “I said you don’t understand me, not everything.”

  “True. I stopped understanding you when you cocked up your discharge—”

  “Don’t. Don’t you dare . . .” But Rio’s words came to him again: “You’ll never forgive your father until you forgive yourself.” Lord, how he’d been trying. “You know what, no. I hope you do bring that up again one day—when you want to know what really happened. To me. Not to you.”

  A sharp voice carried from inside the barn. “That’s it, Mr. Manning. We no longer have need of your help here.”

  David exchanged a confused look with his father but then anger blazed through his gut. He sprinted to the barn and found Andy and Carter faced off like two school yard bullies, purple-faced and huffing. A bucket lay sideways on the floor, grain splattered across the aisle.

  “What the bloody hell is going on?” David demanded.

  “This man of yours can’t follow simple directions. He was about to overfeed this horse by three times what it should get. It’s not his first mistake. And he’s rude and slow. You need to economize around here. You start with him.”

  Andy said nothing. He stared at the ground, fists clenched, jaw twitching. Bruce Banner about to become Hulk. “Why do you let them walk all over you?” Rio had asked. “Where’s the great survivalist?”

  Damn, she’d been too right. He’d tried so hard to gain acceptance from his family over the years that he’d cheated himself. He’d learned it from his mother. And with his father he’d nearly sold his soul to the devil to gain acceptance. For the first time he saw the answer to every one of his problems clearly. It would be better to lose the farm than lose his self-respect. Than to lose Rio.

  “Carter. You’ve just overstepped your place by a margin too great to make up. As of this moment I’m reneging on our agreement.”

  “Now, wait just a minute.” Carter sputtered like a dying car. “We have a legally binding contract. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I’ll have a lawyer here in half an hour, you flaming idiot. How dare you presume you have the right to fire my staff. For your information, if there was a mistake made, it wasn’t Andy’s. He’s worked here for years and never once mistaken amounts of anything. That’s your bloody horse, you check the feeding instructions. They will be wrong.”

  “Now, cool it down, laddie.” His father stepped in. “This is not a disaster. Just a misunderstanding.”

  “Sod off,” David said. Their fragile goodwill disintegrated

  “I’ve got money invested in this place,” Carter spat.

  “You’ll get every penny back. So pack your bags and find yourself the first available ticket. Head back with your mentor here. Keep the act together.”

  “That’s uncalled for—” Colin began.

  “No, Da’. I’ll tell you what’s uncalled for—letting you convince me to slink around like a second-class Pitts-Matherson for most of my life. You say I lost some sort of manliness or honor in the army. Wrong. I gained honor and bravery when I defied that lieutenant’s stupid, ignorant order in the first place. What lost it again was listening to the army’s rot when they threw me off and then listening to yours when you told me how disappointing I was.

  “The best thing I’ve ever done is buy this place. It’s mine. I built it. But still I’ve let Mum turn it into her personal dollhouse. And let you keep coming ’round to tell me it’s not quite good enough.”

  “Oh, now I—”

  “No.” He held up a hand. “Rio was right. She was always right. This is a showplace that’s crumbling under its own weight. The economy can’t sustain it in this form. Rio might scrimp and find unorthodox ways out of trouble, but at least she’s fighting for her dream. So, sod the pair of you. I’m about to go fight for mine.”

  Neither man said a word. David started down the aisle and then turned.

  “Be ready in two hours, Da’. Andy, you’re getting a raise.”

  “David.”

  “What? Colin.”

  “I knew I liked that girl.”

  RIO SAT BACK in the Adirondack chair on the miniscule porch of her cabin. She pulled a wool blanket more tightly around her shoulders and listened to the wind howl through the hills behind her new home. To the front of the cabin, two football fields distant, the main ranch house glowed in the eight o’clock dark.

  Idyllic.

  Everything she’d ever dreamed of having hunkered around her in a big, unbeliev
able package as perfect as if she’d designed it herself. The Bighorn Mountains were not high and craggy like the pictures of the Rockies, but rolling and mysterious, rising up in unexpected places, steeped in history.

  Coyote Creek comprised ten thousand acres. Two hundred head of cattle roamed the pastures, ready to be herded by visitors. Rio had seen bighorn sheep, elk, and mule deer. Birds filled the grasslands. And quiet? She’d hit the jackpot on quiet. Hours and hours of it after she left work.

  Bonnie detested it just like she detested Rio. She’d started school this week after ten days of moving and getting settled. Sheridan was forty minutes away, the little towns of Story, Buffalo, and Gillette surrounded them. School was a forty-five-minute bus ride. Rio told herself she could handle Bonnie’s anger; it would cool. The freedom and the safety were worth it.

  Paul had turned himself in and, in exchange for giving up Hector, received a shortened sentence in a minimum-security facility. He’d done the right thing. Another reason to be thankful.

  To top it off, the job was a dream. She’d already learned more than she’d known there was to learn. She’d ransacked the Internet to supplement her list of memorized family recipes, and she’d sold the ranch kitchen on four of them. Her co-workers were smart and talented, and they accepted her and even respected her.

  But they didn’t love her.

  She didn’t need their love, of course. She’d come for the solitude, the landscape devoid of bustle, smelly cars, screaming neighbors, and insane family members. Admittedly, things were too quiet sometimes. Business and crowds would pick up over the holidays, they told her, when there would be Christmas guests, hayrides, and sleigh bells.

  Idyllic.

  Thirty-one crept out of the neat, sparsely furnished cabin. Even the cat had mellowed in the two weeks since arriving. She clung to Rio and Bonnie and had her fill of field mice and birds to chase. Rio picked her up and snuggled her under the blanket. Life was . . . good.

  The headlights that swung into her short driveway shattered the peacefulness and sent her pulse racing. Nobody came here at night. Nobody drove the property at nine-thirty. She stood and let the blanket heap to the ground. A chair scraped inside and seconds later Bonnie stood beside her.