The Rancher's Bride

by Pamela Britton

  “But if you expect any sort of reference, you will leave my son alone.”

  Jorie inhaled a sharp breath.

  “I understand.”

  “Good.”

  The word was a dismissal, the verbal equivalent of a hand shove out the door. Jorie took the cue and turned away. But when she reached the door, she paused for a moment.

  “Ryan is a good man, Mrs. Clayborne. Too good. He worships you. He’ll do anything you say, up to and including staying away from me…if you ask him. I know that. It’s one of the things I…” Love. She swallowed. “Admire about him.”

  Her eyes were really starting to burn now. She had to blink to hold back the tears.

  “But, please, don’t force him into marrying Laurel.”

  “What makes you think I would do that?”

  Jorie suddenly couldn’t swallow. It felt as if a bucket of tears clogged her throat.

  “Your pride,” Jorie said. “It will look bad for your business and your family if Ryan cancels the engagement, especially when word gets around that she’s pregnant. People will talk. You know that and I know that. I’m afraid you’ll do something rash—all so it doesn’t reflect badly on the family name or business. So I’m begging you, please, don’t put your pride in front of Ryan’s happiness. A loveless marriage is something nobody should have to endure. I know. I watched my mom marry someone for convenience sake. I don’t know if Ryan told you or not, but my mom had me out of wedlock. For years we struggled. But then, when I was six, my mom met Tim. He was a nice man. Too nice. I could tell my mom didn’t really love him, but what did I care? I was getting a new dad, and for a while things were great.” Jorie shook her head at the memory. “But then things started to go downhill. My mom ended up breaking Tim’s heart. It was horrible to watch. Don’t consign Laurel and Ryan to the same kind of life.”

  She turned, pulled on the damn squeaky door, slipping through the opening before she made a complete fool of herself by saying something else, something remarkable, something completely unbelievable.

  Don’t make the man I love marry someone else.

  * * *

  “JORIE,” RYAN CALLED out, sliding through the front door of his home and damn near tripping over the door frame he was in such a hurry. “Wait.”

  She ignored him, arms crossed, head bowed, her pace increasing as she’d walked toward her home.

  No. Not her home. Not anymore.

  His mother had fired her. He’d hoped she wouldn’t go through with it, but he could tell by the look on Jorie’s face that she’d done exactly that.

  “Jorie, damn it,” he shouted, rushing to catch up to her. “Wait.”

  He caught her just as she reached the tiny porch, the same spot where they’d first kissed, the same spot where the evening before he’d turned and guided her to their bed.

  “Leave me alone, Ryan.”

  He jumped in front of her, startling her. “Don’t. Please. I know what my mom did. Just give me a couple of hours to talk some sense into her.”

  She’d been crying. The realization caused a physical ache to land near his heart.

  “Aww, honey,” he said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

  He tried tugging her into his arms. She wouldn’t let him.

  “Your mom says you’re engaged to Laurel again.” She tipped her chin up. “Is that true?”

  “No,” he instantly denied. “Not really.”

  “Not really?”

  “It’s just temporary.”

  She held his gaze, her blue eyes never wavering as she waited for him to say something, although what, he had no idea.

  “My mom. She thought it might be best if we wait to call it all off, at least for a few days.”

  And still she said nothing. He had the damndest feeling he’d missed the point of the conversation, although just what that conversation was, he didn’t know.

  “What?” he huffed when all she did was continue to stare up at him.

  “Nothing.” She stepped around him.

  “Jorie, wait.” He grabbed her hand. “What do you want me to say?”

  She searched his eyes, then shook her head. “Nothing but what’s in your heart, Ryan.”

  “My heart doesn’t want you to leave.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Of course that’s all.”

  The smile she gave him was bittersweet with an edge of sorrow.

  “Goodbye, Ryan.”

  “What? Wait. You can’t leave. Not like this.”

  “There’s nothing for me here.”

  “You have me.”

  “No, Ryan, I don’t. You’ll do what your mother says. That’s the sort of man you are. And don’t get me wrong, it’s one of the things I admire most about you, but I can see the handwriting on the wall, and I want to leave before that handwriting tears me apart.”

  “Jorie,” he said, amazed and awed. “You’re in love with me, aren’t you?”

  She wiped at her eyes. “Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “I guess I am. Not that it matters. You’ll marry Laurel because it’s the right thing to do. It’s what your mom and Lyle want you to do. The both of you—all of you—too blinded by obligation to see what a huge mistake it would be.”

  “I’m not marrying Laurel.”

  “Time will tell.”

  “If you love me you won’t leave me.”

  “Actually, it’s because I love you that I will leave you.”

  He felt his mouth drop open.

  She turned away.

  “Jorie—”

  “Goodbye, Ryan,” she said over her shoulder. “Tell your mom thanks for everything.” She paused with her hand on the door. “I mean that, too. I’ve enjoyed working with her. I only wish I hadn’t turned out to be such a huge disappointment.”

  And then she was gone.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Damn it,” Ryan cussed a few days later. “Where the hell did she go?”

  “Still can’t find her?”

  Ryan turned toward the door, and saw Laurel standing there. Laurel, the root of all his problems…and still his friend.

  “It’s like she disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  “You don’t have her cell phone number?”

  “It’s been disconnected.”

  Laurel frowned. “Maybe that’s because she doesn’t want you to find her.”

  “I know my mom knows where she is. Someone called for a reference the other day, but when my mom hung up, she wouldn’t tell me a thing.”

  Laurel rested a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe that’s for the best.”

  “I’m not marrying you, Laurel.”

  His friend winced. “And I’m not marrying you.”

  “I should have never let her go.”

  “No. You shouldn’t have, especially since you love her.”

  He glanced at Laurel sharply. “What makes you think that?”

  Laurel laughed, though it was laughter tinged with sadness. “Only that you haven’t been able to think of anybody but her for the past few days. She’s all you talk about. You haven’t been the same since she left, either. The old Ryan would have meekly complied with his mother’s wishes, not tell Odelia to go to hell when she insisted our engagement continue for another couple of days.”

  He felt bad about that. He really did. But he refused to be dictated by Odelia and Lyle. Laurel had proven the baby wasn’t his. She’d shown the two of them the text messages between her and Thad. It’d soothed things over with Lyle, but he had a feeling his mom would be happy to see him marry Laurel. Thank God she hadn’t pressured him into doing exactly that.

  “What did you want to see me about, anyway?” Laurel asked. “You’re not going to tell me to
go to hell, are you?”

  They heard the sound of a car and Laurel glanced out the window. It was midafternoon, though the sun was hidden behind large, puffy clouds. Looked like rain again.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Ryan said, pointing.

  “Who is it?” She peered out the window, only to stiffen suddenly.

  “I might not have been able to find Jorie, but I found Thad.”

  “Ryan, no.” Gray eyes shifted to his, so wide she looked frightened for her life. “You didn’t.”

  “I did,” he said. “Told him if he didn’t get his ass to the ranch I’d drag him down here behind the back of my horse.”

  “I don’t want to talk to him.”

  They heard a car door open, then close.

  “Too late.”

  “He broke up with me.”

  “You scared the shit out of him, just like my mom scared the shit out of me when she suggested we stay engaged. You know the next thing she’d suggest is that we actually go through with it.” He shook his head. “I had to do something.”

  “So you tracked Thad down and ordered him to marry me?” she said, backing away from him.

  “As if I have that kind of power,” Ryan said. “Turns out, he wasn’t such a reluctant father, after all. Turns out all he needed was a little nudge.”

  They heard footsteps on the stairs. Laurel turned toward the door, for all the world looking like a woman about to be faced with the Ghost of Christmas Past.

  The door opened, the damned hinges squeaking so badly Ryan inwardly cursed. One of these days, he was really going to get around to fixing that.

  “Thad,” she whispered.

  The man who’d thrown Laurel over. The man who’d supposedly broken Laurel’s heart. The man who refused to marry her took one look at Laurel and opened his arms.

  “Oh, my gosh, Thad,” he heard Laurel choke out.

  “Laurel,” Thad murmured. He walked toward her, and Ryan had to admit, he got a little choked up, too, at the look on the man’s face. Laurel might have believed otherwise, but here was someone in love. He might have run out on her, but only because he’d gotten scared, and only because Laurel was demanding marriage. He’d admitted as much to Ryan the other day. He didn’t have a job, had nothing to offer a woman like Laurel, had thought she’d be better off without him. It hadn’t taken Ryan long to convince him otherwise.

  Thad had reached Laurel now, arms still open. He thought Laurel might prove to be stubborn, that she might tell him to go to hell. Instead tears rolled down her cheeks, his best friend pausing for only a moment before sinking into Thad’s arms.

  “And that’s how we’re going to solve this whole marriage problem.”

  Thad looked up. “Mr. Clayborne, I can’t thank you enough for making me see reason.”

  “Yes, you can thank me,” said Ryan. “You can thank me by leading Laurel down the aisle next week.” He placed his hands on his hips. “Instead of me.”

  “Only if she’ll have me.” Thad leaned back. “Will you?”

  “I thought you were with another woman?”

  Thad winced. “I wasn’t, Laurel, I swear. I just said that to hurt you. When you told me you were pregnant, that we’d have to get married, it scared the crap out of me.”

  “And it didn’t scare me?”

  “I know,” Thad said. “I know. And I’m sorry. I hear I left a mess in my wake.”

  “You can say that again,” Ryan muttered.

  “So will you?” Thad asked gently.

  “Will I what?”

  “Will you marry me?”

  Leave it to Laurel not to immediately answer. “You ran out on me.”

  “Never again,” Thad said, swiping a lock of Laurel’s brown hair away from her eyes. “Never will I run out on either of you.”

  She made him wait half a heartbeat long before sinking into his arms and Ryan knew Thad had his answer.

  “Congratulations, you two,” he said.

  They kissed.

  Ryan looked away, and when it became apparent things were growing a little too heated, slipped out of the office. He met his mom on the stairs.

  “Is that Thad’s truck?” she asked, eyes wide.

  “It is.” He blocked her path.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Thad asked Laurel to marry her.”

  His mom covered her mouth with her hand.

  “Where is she, Mom?”

  The hand slowly dropped away. “Where is who?” she asked.

  Ryan realized she wasn’t being evasive. She was in shock.

  “Where’s Jorie?”

  “Oh, my goodness, Ryan, Jorie.”

  “Yes, Jorie.”

  “She’s in—” His mom frowned. “Oh, gosh, I can’t remember the name of the town.”

  “Mom.”

  “Just give me a moment, will you,” she snapped, shushing him with a hand. “It’ll come to me.”

  “Soon, I hope.”

  “Loveless, Texas!” she all but shouted.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “Kidding about what?”

  “The name,” he said. “Is she really in a place called Loveless?”

  “Yes,” his mom cried. “Are you going after her?”

  “Of course I am,” Ryan said, about to push past her.

  His mom’s hand shot out. “Ryan, wait.”

  He didn’t want to, feeling as if he might miss Jorie if he didn’t leave right at that second.

  “I know I’ve been hard on you—”

  Ryan snorted.

  “And that you must be mad—”

  “I’m not mad at you, Mom.” Ryan tipped his cowboy hat back, scratched at his forehead. He wanted to leave. Now. “Just disappointed. You should never have tried to pressure me into marrying Laurel.”

  “I wasn’t pressuring you. I never once asked that you actually walk her down the aisle. I was simply suggesting you stay engaged.”

  “For how long?”

  “Well—”

  “Until the day of the marriage, right? Wasn’t that your plan?” he asked.

  His mom huffed loudly. “Okay, maybe I was hoping you’d go through with it. Laurel is such a nice girl. She’s perfect for you.”

  “There’s only one woman who’s perfect for me,” he told his mom, and he knew in that instant what Jorie had been asking him last week, the point she’d been trying to make when she’d asked him to tell her what was in his heart. It all seemed so clear suddenly.

  She’d wanted him to admit his love.

  They held each other’s gaze, and his mom looked so sad and lost that Ryan’s heart softened. “Oh, Ryan. I am so sorry.”

  “I love her, Mom. I should have never let her go.”

  She nodded, wiped at her eyes, her voice sounding clogged with tears when she said, “Then go,” and leave it to his mom to wave imperiously toward the road.

  For the first time that week, he did exactly as his mother asked.

  * * *

  “EGGS WITH TOAST, ham on the side, and a cup of coffee. Black,” the trucker said, giving Jorie a wink.

  “Eggs, toast, ham on side. Got it.”

  Jorie forced herself to smile, turning on her heel to place the order. If the man slapped her on the ass as she walked by, she’d scream.

  One week.

  That’s how long she’d been at the tiny little truck stop on the outskirts of town, a place that smelled like bacon grease and diesel for a full twenty-four hours a day, and served coffee so thick it was a wonder anyone could drink it.

  “Order,” she called to the cook, a man as greasy-looking as the burgers he cooked. Funny, she thought, placing the ticket on th
e spinner. Only now did she realize Ryan had been right. The way she’d dressed before, all those fancy outfits and equally fancy hairstyles, it’d all been an act. Now that she wore an old-fashioned pink uniform, one with a white apron and a stupid matching cap, only now did Jorie admit that clothes had been her armor. Jorie’s way of playing dress-up—and pretending not to be the lost little girl without a mom or a dad.

  The doorbell tinkled. Jorie’s heart stopped for a moment as she glanced up from behind a long counter where she was getting her customer his coffee. Of course, it wasn’t him. It was an old man, one with hardly any hair, and raindrops spotting the top of his coat. It looked miserable outside, as miserable as Jorie felt.

  As if Ryan would come here looking for you.

  In her dreams. Odelia knew where she was, not that she’d tell her son, not right before his wedding. And the wedding was still on. She’d called one of her contacts in Fredericksburg the other day, a stupid thing to do, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. When she’d asked if the Clayborne wedding was still on this weekend at Spring Hill Ranch she’d been told that it was. It was all she could do not to vomit.

  Ryan was going through with it. He was going to marry Laurel.

  Idiot.

  It was such a bitter pill to swallow, it’d been all she could do not to pick up and leave Texas. Except she couldn’t. She had no money. No family. No life. Even more sadly, she’d had to use the last of her paycheck for a deposit on a room. A hotel room. One of those weekly places that rented rooms by the hour to women of questionable morals. But, hell, at least it was a roof over her head. It would do until she found something better.

  If she found something better.

  She walked toward the booths lining the front of the restaurant, rain splashing the glass. The interior of the restaurant, already dark, grew even darker.

  “Here you go.” She poured coffee into ham-and-egg man’s cup. “Did you want cream or sugar?”

  “No, but I’ll take some sugar from you.”

  Jorie smiled as if amused. She wasn’t. She’d heard it all during her first week as a waitress. She was getting good at playing along. It helped with tips.

  “Sorry, hon. I’m seeing someone.”

  “Are you?” a deep voice said behind her.

  She nearly dropped the coffeepot.