by Delta James
It became obvious that the puppy love they’d had as kids had never died. Like an ember, it only needed a little fuel to fan the flame of that spark into a full-on wildfire. And like most wildfires it was all consuming and a bit out of control.
Ryder was really Sierra’s first serious boyfriend. She wasn’t used to having to answer for her behavior. She was her father’s daughter—tough, independent, and liked getting her own way. One might have thought that she and her father would have clashed over the years, but they didn’t. Sierra had her dad wrapped around her little finger. Fortunately, she’d been a good kid with the exception of a penchant for breaking into slaughterhouses and stealing mustangs. Ryder thought that John’s setting him up as the executor of his will and having oversight ability over the Flying M was his last-ditch attempt at trying to exert control over her and keep her safe.
When they had become engaged, Ryder had tried to bring Sierra to heel. They had clashed numerous times and had become infamous for their shouting matches. At that time Ryder had never even heard of the concepts of being head of the household or taking your partner in hand. Doing a bit of soul searching and trying to figure out how to be a good husband to Sierra had caused him to start doing some research on successful relationships.
Every fiber of his being told him that things would have been far different between him and Sierra if he had introduced her to the idea of answering to him and stayed in Idaho to force her to see reason. At the time, he’d had a deep instinct, which he’d ignored, that said Sierra needed a strong partner who would give her structure and boundaries. On more than one occasion, he’d wanted to put her over his knee for some badly needed discipline. He’d played around with erotic spanking and had always found it arousing, but never had he thought to utilize it with Sierra to keep their relationship on track—at least not until that last night.
The one instinct they had both followed was having sex either as a way to end whatever argument they were having or as a way to reconnect. More than one shouting match had ended when one of them had grabbed the other, kissed him/her with pent-up passion and initiated sex. The problem was that by just utilizing the sexual component they never actually dealt with whatever had caused the argument. They’d taken the pleasure portion, but never embraced the work that had to be done in order for a taken in hand relationship to truly work.
Following her, Ryder realized that the direction of his thoughts had caused him to become aroused. There was no doubt in his mind that taming Sierra would involve more than one trip over his knee and many, many bouts of lovemaking. But Ryder was committed to getting her back and making a life with her. He had no doubt that she would fight him every step of the way, but he knew, as had her father and he suspected as did she, that they belonged together.
He could still close his eyes and remember the way she had always responded to him. Even when she’d given him her virginity, a gift he treasured, she’d responded fully to him and had enjoyed it climaxing more than once. After that, they’d found it hard to keep their hands off each other. He smiled at the memories and images that flashed through his mind’s eye.
* * *
Sierra headed into the hills and trekked down to the stream. Joker stopped when she first urged him into the water, but a gentle nudge with her spur and he stepped in. Sierra rode through the stream and hoped that the stallion was where she’d left him. The odds were against it, but if that had been his first night there, there was an outside chance that he’d still be there.
Ryder followed Sierra at a safe distance. He couldn’t figure out what the hell she was doing out here in the middle of nowhere at this hour of the morning. Ryder stayed on the game trail running alongside the stream so as to keep any noise he was making down to a minimum. After batting numerous spider webs out of his way, he realized why Sierra had opted for the stream. He smiled. Sierra hated snakes and spiders.
Sierra breathed a huge sigh of relief as she rounded the bend in the stream and saw the stallion and his mares. The stallion came to attention, but realizing the intruder was one who had never proved to be a threat, he started to relax. Sierra started to move Joker toward the bank on the stream opposite the herd. Joker had just taken his first step out, when Sierra saw the stallion bring his head back up and snort aggressively. She turned to see what had caused his alarm. Ryder. What the hell was he doing here?
The stallion bellowed, gathered his herd, and stampeded them in the opposite direction. Sierra was torn between trying to follow them and confronting Ryder. Realizing that trying to follow the herd would only alarm the stallion further and cause him to push them harder and farther away, she chose to confront Ryder.
She turned Joker back into the stream and galloped toward him. “What the fuck, Ryder!”
“What do you mean?”
She and Joker splashed across the stream, coming out on the other bank alongside Ryder.
“What are you doing here? You caused him to bolt.”
“So? Mustangs are almost always on the move. So this one isn’t here anymore; I’m sure you can find another. What is it with you and mustangs?”
“Why are you here?”
“I saw you leaving this morning and decided to find out what you’re up to. So, what are you up to, Sierra?”
“None of your damn business. And who gave you permission to follow me?”
He laughed. “No one gave me permission. I just decided to do that. Considering this is open range, I can go anywhere I like. As for following you, I figured it was only fair as you used to follow me everywhere.”
“I was a kid back then and thought you were my hero. What a fool I was, but no more. Now go away and quit following me. I need to see if he’s found them a new place to graze for a few days.”
“Why? What are you up to, Sierra?”
“What part of none of your damn business did you not understand?”
“The part where I’m making it my business. Now, answer me.”
“Fuck off and leave me alone.” She went to wheel her horse away.
He reached out and grabbed her arm. He tried to rein in his temper. “I’m not going to leave you alone. You and I are going to talk and this time you’re going to listen to me.”
She jerked her arm away. “I have no reason to talk to you and have no intention of doing so. I appreciate that you came to my father’s funeral and the memorial gathering afterward, but you aren’t welcome on the Flying M. So, stay away from me and I can get back to living my life.”
Ryder watched her gallop away. John had been right. Nothing short of losing the Flying M would force Sierra to deal with him. Ryder looked upward and sent up a prayer of thanks to John Morgan for his foresight and help. He was about to take up the chase behind Sierra when his cell phone rang.
“Ryder Malone.”
“Mr. Malone, this is Shirley Waters. I work for Martin Scott. I hope I didn’t wake you. But there’s going to be a reading of John Morgan’s will this morning at eleven out at the Flying M and Mr. Scott needs you to attend. If you can’t make it, can you give me some alternate times so we can reschedule?”
“No, you didn’t wake me. I’m a rancher.”
She laughed. “That’s kind of what I thought… that I probably wouldn’t be waking you up.”
“And eleven will be just fine. Tell Marty I’ll see him then.”
“Thank you, Mr. Malone.”
Ryder turned to follow Sierra and the herd but she had ridden out of sight. He thought about trying to track her, but then realized he’d see her at eleven. As it was seven, he figured she couldn’t get herself into too much trouble in four hours and so headed back to take care of things on his own ranch. He thought it best to get everything done that he needed doing for the day. He figured Sierra was going to be furious with her father and it was best they got that straightened out from the get go. Ryder turned toward home.
* * *
The herd was easy enough to track. A large group of horses traveling at speed did not mov
e stealthily through whatever terrain they were crossing. Sierra was able to lope Joker while following their trail. Hopefully the stallion wouldn’t move them too far.
Why was Ryder so intent on talking to her? What was there to talk about? She’d caught him with Debbie only a few weeks before their wedding. She’d been a fool to think Ryder would ever settle down and be faithful. In some ways she was glad it had happened. At least she hadn’t been married to him.
She crested a small rise and slowed Joker to a walk. She stopped when she saw the stallion. He’d only moved the herd a few miles. This area was going to be a bit more problematic to try to get them relocated, but if she could get a group of four or five people who could ride, they should be able to do so. There were two types of horse rescuers and they worked hand-in-hand. There were the legit groups and folks who worked within the law, buying or adopting wild horses and either giving them or finding them a new home. The other type, Sierra’s type, moved horses from open range where they were fair game to protected ground and/or removed horses from holding areas in the United States or slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico and returned them to the wild.
Satisfied that the herd was safe for the moment, Sierra began thinking about who she would need to contact. Her father’s death and all that followed and now this reading of his will had cost her time. The wild horse roundup was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. That meant that either today or tomorrow she and whoever she could get to help would need to move the herd off the open range and onto either state-protected ground or onto the Flying M. The federal authorities could not remove the horses from either of those places without a court order. By the time they could get that, if they bothered to try, Sierra would have found a place to which they could be permanently relocated.
Sierra turned Joker in the direction of home and pulled out her cell phone. She texted several people asking if they were up for a little game of hide and go seek and if so to contact her. Within short order she had four people on board for early tomorrow morning.
* * *
Ryder had returned home and laid out the day’s plan for the ranch hands. The men his father had hired and managed to retain were a good group but had lacked leadership until Ryder had returned last year. Ryder had plans to either hire or appoint an actual foreman. The thought had crossed his mind to see if Andy was interested. With John Morgan now dead, he was going to have to split his time between his own ranch and the Flying M. Charlie Lawson, the foreman of the Flying M was a good man and a better foreman. He hoped he would stay on and that he could bring him around to the idea that he and Sierra belonged together. Ryder’s plan to make Sierra’s his once and for all included getting both Charlie and Ruth on his side. He knew in order to bring her around, he’d need to focus solely on her and not have to worry about fending off others.
He rode into the barn. He could see the men were already up and tending to chores. He put the sorrel gelding he’d been riding back in his stall and stowed his gear. He rubbed him down and made sure his feed had been put in his stall for him.
“You want us to take Junior out of the rotation for the hands to ride?”
Ryder shook his head. “No, he’s a good one to keep in rotation. I just took him yesterday and today because he was easy. I probably should really pick out or buy a horse for my personal use. Guess I wasn’t sure how long I’d be here.”
“That change?”
“Yes. I’ll be here for the duration in one way or another. Even when Hank comes home, I mean to make sure we keep the ranch on the path toward solvency. I won’t let you or any of the other guys who’ve hung in here with me this past year down.”
“You’re a good man, Ryder. I think most of us have stayed because we figured if you were sticking around, the ranch had a chance. It was real sad to watch your dad selling off chunks.”
He clapped the man on the shoulder as he closed the door to Junior’s stall. “I appreciate everything you guys have done. We’ll keep this ranch in the family whether Hank likes it or not.”
Ryder walked up to the house. Unlike the Flying M, his family’s ranch hadn’t had a housekeeper or cook since his grandmother had passed. Ryder looked around; it was in desperate need of a woman’s touch. Maybe he could convince Ruth to help him find someone. He knew at the Flying M, Ruth not only acted as housekeeper and stand-in mother to Sierra, but provided meals for the cowboys who lived and worked there. She was an outstanding cook and John Morgan had been a generous employer. Most of the hands on the Flying M had been there for years. That was in sharp contrast to the cowboys now working for his family’s ranch. All but two had been hired by Ryder.
He walked up to the master bedroom. He’d spent the first six months after he returned living in his childhood room. The more he came to realize the extent of the mess his father had created, the angrier he’d become. He’d spent a great deal of money buying up pieces of property either his father had for sale or had already sold, trying to cobble the ranch back together. One evening as he’d started to head up the stairs to his own bedroom, he realized taking over the master suite on the main floor would be more comfortable.
Ryder moved the last of his father’s things up to the large guest suite upstairs and his own things downstairs. If and when his father ever showed up to lick his wounds from his latest disastrous marriage, he could either deal with the new room arrangements or leave. At this point, Ryder figured he had bought and paid for more than half of their ranch. He shook his head. His father wasn’t a bad man, just one who’d lived his life as if tomorrow might never come and if it did he’d figure it out then.
Once he’d moved into the master suite, he’d done a bit of remodeling including upgrading the master bath and putting in a door between it and the adjacent office. He liked being able to access a private bath from either of the spaces he now considered his personal domain. As he walked through the main part of the house, he wondered if he should think about remodeling it. He had no idea how things would work out with Sierra. Ryder was certain they’d work things out and be together, but he’d left the logistics open. Maybe they would live here or maybe at the Flying M. He didn’t care where they lived as long as it was together. Hell, they could move back to France if she wanted.
His employers at EquiBlues had left the door open and in fact had given him a lucrative deal for consulting if he chose not to return full time. Ryder smiled. Perhaps he’d take Sierra there for a honeymoon. He wondered if she’d ever used the passport he had given her as a birthday gift when they were together. At the time they had talked about taking their honeymoon in some foreign land. Ryder had teased her that foreign was a relative term as New York City would be foreign to Sierra, who had rarely ventured far from the Idaho panhandle.
Ryder stripped off his clothes. Thoughts of Sierra had produced the usual result. He was hard and the thought of seeing her in a couple of hours was only going to contribute to the problem, not alleviate it. He hoped that when they finally got together her response would be everything he remembered. He stepped into the shower and let its hot water begin beating down on his body. Ryder figured he had one of two ways to deal with his erection. He could turn the water in the shower to ice cold or he could simply pleasure himself as he’d been doing ever since the night he’d spoken to John in St. Agreve. It had been important to him to wait for Sierra.
As he often did, he gripped his cock and closed his eyes imagining that it was Sierra’s hand that stroked its length. He groaned. God, how he wanted her. He had come to realize that the best sex he’d had since he had left her was when he allowed himself to imagine that whatever girl he was fucking was Sierra. He stroked himself starting at the base and then going all the way to the end and fondling the head of his cock. He let his mind replay all the times he’d made love to her including that first thrust when he’d taken her maidenhead. Never had anything felt that right before or since. She had cried out briefly at the pain. He had stilled himself allowing her to become accustomed to his cock whi
le he kissed her and played with her nipples. She’d quickly moved past the discomfort and embraced the pleasure.
Ryder was aroused enough that imagining Sierra and knowing he would see her in a few hours allowed him to quickly achieve climax. He watched his cum wash down the shower drain. He hoped that it wouldn’t be too long before he no longer had to imagine or remember what Sierra’s pussy felt like as she achieved orgasm and he shot his load deep into her but was experiencing it once more.
Chapter Six
Sierra had returned from her ride and took Joker into the barn.
“Feel better?” asked Charlie.
“Always. There’s little in this life that a pleasure ride can’t fix or at least make tolerable.”
Charlie laughed. “Ain’t that the truth. I thought I’d keep the boys divided up, some checking on the stock and the other checking fences.”
“Sounds good. Charlie, Martin Scott is going to be here about eleven. He’s asked that you be up in the kitchen for the reading of Daddy’s will.”
“I’ll be there, Sierra. Regardless of what happens you just remember that your daddy loved you more than anything else in this life… including this ranch.”
Sierra turned to look at him. “Charlie? Do you know something about Daddy’s will?”
“Nothing specific. I just remember that he talked about it last year like he’d changed something. But when I tried to get him to tell me about it, he’d reminded me that this ranch has been in the family since the nineteenth century and would always remain so.”
Sierra shook her head. “It’s funny, Martin Scott said something last night along those same lines.”
Charlie put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure it’s nothing bad. I’ll see you up at the house later.”