by Hope Moore
As she looked into Wade McCoy’s face and he slipped the simple gold band on her finger, and that justice of the peace pronounced them man and wife, she prayed that things were going to be okay. Her mother would have the care she needed and she would have funds to start over when the three months were up. Things did seem brighter. Hopefully Wade was as good of a guy as she thought he was and she had nothing to fear.
But as he slipped that ring onto her finger, that needling little hope, that little wish that she had always had for getting married and having the perfect little white house with the white picket fence and a house full of babies too…kindled like a small flame inside her.
Stop.
She yanked her thoughts from such a ridiculous dream. This handsome cowboy was her knight in shining armor but he was not her Prince Charming. He was not the man of her dreams; he was just the man of the moment who had ridden to her rescue. And soon he would be riding away.
The best thing she could do going into this was to not let herself feel any romantic notions toward him. But as he leaned forward, his eyes all serious and compelling, butterflies filled her stomach. The moment his lips touched hers, though as briefly as a feather, she felt a tiny flame in her stomach. It was a flame she had never felt before.
When Wade pulled back, she felt dazed, despite the briefness of his lips touching hers. It left her head spinning as realization hit that despite her best intentions, she might be in trouble.
Chapter Four
By the time they were headed down the highway toward Stonewall, the closest town to his ranch in Hill Country, she knew it would be beautiful. Anything near the Guadalupe River would be beautiful. Texas Hill Country was gorgeous anyway, with a medley of landscapes from rivers to rocky hills and cliffs overlooking valleys where several rivers meandered through the counties on their way to the Gulf.
Once, as a child, they’d vacationed on the Guadalupe and she could still remember how cold the water was when they’d climbed into their inner tubes and floated leisurely downstream. It was one of her best memories of her family. Her throat ached as she thought of it and she focused on the passing landscape and tried not to cry. Instantly, her thoughts switched to Wade’s brief kiss. Her lips were still warm from it. Her tears dried up but she told herself not to think about that. This was a non-romantic situation that she was in. It was all about the money—all about the money and the land. This was only about three months of her life and that according to that contract, he had stated very clearly that the marriage would be over.
“Don’t you let that man into your heart,” Ginny had told her. “Because you know you’ll get burned.”
Ginny had been very blunt, and Allie knew that Ginny was right. Ginny had seen her when she had been vulnerable. Ginny had always been her protector, which was ridiculous. She didn’t need a protector. She wanted to stand on her own two feet. She wanted to make her own decisions where men were concerned, but she was such a tender heart.
Looking out the window, she watched the miles go by. When Wade continued to be silent, she shot him a quick glance. He was watching the road. He had one hand on the steering wheel at eight o’clock and one hand on the steering wheel at two o’clock. His hat was pulled low over his forehead and he looked as if he were deep in thought. He was so handsome, so wealthy… It hit her suddenly that she would not fit into his world. Not even for three months.
She’d been so wrapped up in helping her mother and getting this done that it hadn’t clearly sank in that she’d just married a billionaire. No way would she know the first thing about fitting into his life.
Her heart thundered; she leaned her head to the side and rested her forehead on her hand, using it to shield her eyes slightly as she pretended to be asleep. If he thought she was asleep, then there was no awkwardness on her part riding here with him not talking. Or her not talking either. She closed her eyes and tried hard not to feel as though she wasn’t good enough.
It wasn’t a new feeling, so why, she wondered, did it suddenly hurt so much?
Wade had been lost in thought most of the trip, and he was kind of thankful Allie was sleeping because he had been disturbed ever since the wedding. Ever since the justice of the peace announced that they were man and wife and he had kissed her. All he could think about was that when his lips touched hers, he felt as if he stood in the middle of a grass fire in the prairie, and he was all burned up. It was a terrible analogy, but the office got hot, and he had to fight the notion to wrap his arms around her, pull her tight, and deepen the kiss. They had chemistry. He reminded himself that at the end of three months, she wasn’t going to be his wife anymore and he had promised her he was not taking advantage of her. There would be no romance.
He’d thought it wasn’t going to be that hard of a thing, but then…that kiss. The kiss to end all kisses had happened and now things were a lot murkier than they had been.
He pulled into a convenience store parking lot for a restroom break and to fill up the tank. He climbed from the truck and wanted to shout up at heaven and his granddaddy and yell, “What were you thinking?” But, he didn’t. Instead, he turned back to look at Allie across the truck seat. He pushed down all of the emotions swamping him and then leaned in and gently touched Allie’s shoulder.
“Hey, hey—you still sleeping? Thought you might want to get up and go to the ladies’ room. I had to get gas, so I thought we might as well stop too. We still have about an hour to go before we reach the ranch. We’ll stop to eat before we get there. There’s a Mexican restaurant in Dripping Springs I thought we’d eat at. They have the best fajitas I’ve ever eaten, but their enchiladas there are really good, too. I’m a sucker for good Tex-Mex. I usually stop there every trip when I leave the ranch.”
She blinked at him and he knew he was rambling. She hadn’t said anything. She just stared back at him. Her blue eyes had a tinge of worry in them, he thought. Of course, he knew it was going to take a few days to get used to what they had done. It wasn’t every day that you got married to a perfect stranger. To a girl like Allie, it probably wasn’t even something that she had thought about, much less actually happened.
“Whatever you want. Sounds good. I think I will go inside. I might get me a cup of coffee too.”
He reached in his pocket and yanked out a hundred-dollar bill. “Here, whatever you need. I might get me a cup of coffee, too.”
She stared at the money. “Well, I could have gotten it, but thanks. Do you want me to get your coffee for you? I drink mine with two sugars and two creams. How do you drink yours?”
She looked like a sweet coffee drinker. “That’d be great. I drink mine black, straight up.”
“Okay. I kind of figured that.”
Without another word, she climbed out of the truck. His big Ford was a pretty good size, and she had to use the running board to get out by herself. He moved to the gas pump and turned to watch her as she walked across the pavement toward the store. Her shoulders were slumped and her hips swayed gently as her blonde hair kept rhythm. He groaned. She was cute. She was pretty. He yanked his gaze off her and turned back to the gas pump. Kiss or no kiss, this was strictly a business deal.
That thought in mind, he pushed his card into the gas pump’s card reader then punched the buttons with the force of a right hook as he answered all the questions the gadget asked him. Finally, he grabbed the nozzle, rammed it into his gas tank and pumped gas into the tank.
His shoulders ached from the tension and frustration. And it was all Granddaddy’s fault.
Fifteen minutes later, they were traveling back down the road. He was drinking his black coffee, and she was sipping on her sweet and creamy concoction. And, they weren’t talking. They’d barely spoken the whole trip. She had slept most of the way. He was beginning to wonder whether she didn’t sleep at night or something. Of course, he hadn’t slept much last night either.
“Are you doing okay? I mean, you haven’t asked many questions.”
“I’m fine, but I wil
l admit that I am a little nervous and unsure of myself. But once we get there, I’m sure I’ll figure out what I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to act.”
“You don’t have to do anything, and you just need to act like yourself. I’m not expecting anything out of you. I’m getting what I need, which is just the ranch and my money for myself and my brothers. You should just look at this as a vacation. I mean, you look like you could use a little vacation, get some rest and relax. You look really tired and you’ve been sleeping the last four hours.”
“I-I am tired. I didn’t sleep at all last night. But a vacation? I’m going to be there for three months. I can’t take a three-month vacation. I can’t even take a one-week vacation. I need to be doing something or else I’ll go stir-crazy. I’m just going to tell you that right now. I mean, really, Wade, you can’t expect me to go there and not do something. I could clean house?”
He hadn’t thought about this part. “We have a housekeeper. Nelda. She’s the wife of the foreman, Roland. She comes in every day and makes sure everything is looking good then cooks food so I’ll have something when I come in from work. If you clean house, then she’ll feel like she doesn’t have a job to do.”
“Oh, okay.” Allie’s expression tensed. “This is just so weird,” she muttered under her breath.
He heard her comment and it made him smile. “Allie, we’ll figure something out. Really, it’s going to be fine. I mean, we’re going to be on a ranch. If you want to work, there is always something to do on a ranch. Truth be told, you can get up before sunrise and go to bed after dark and still not get everything done. It’s a big ranch. There are cows, lots of horses. There’s a lot of calves and foals. There’s a lot of crops too. We have a very large peach orchard. Hill Country is known for its peaches but many consider the Stonewall peaches to be the best and we have our share of them.”
“Really? I had no idea you had all of that on your ranch. How big of a ranch are we talking about?” She took a sip of her coffee and then cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry. You don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s fine. We have land all over Texas but here we have several thousand acres. We aren’t as big as the King Ranch, mind you, but Granddaddy and his brother were ambitious, so there’s a bunch. They used to be very competitive in growing their land and fortunes. To be honest, I’m still doing an audit on what all Granddaddy bought recently. He bought things sight unseen at times but kept meticulous records, most of the time. Other times, not so great, so I’m finding surprises—more land than he even told me about. But anyway, about finding you something to do—we can do it.”
“It all sounds very complicated. Maybe you can find something simple for me to do. I could pick peaches.”
“We’ll figure something out. Are you ready to eat?” The Mexican restaurant was just off the highway.
“Sure.”
He pulled right into the parking lot and hurried around to her side. He went to pull the door open for her, but she had already done it and slid onto the ground from the truck.
She stretched. “I am starving.”
He smiled at her, liking how easy she was to get along with. He realized he’d just told her his business. That he’d let his guard down with her and he never did that with a woman. He’d learned early on what he had was what they were after and it wasn’t his good heart.
“Me too. But I promise you will like this place.”
A few minutes later, they were seated at a booth in the corner. He ordered sweet tea and she ordered unsweetened tea.
He laughed. “We are opposites when it comes to our drinks. I’m no sweet on coffee and sweet on tea. You’re sweet on coffee and unsweet on tea.”
She laughed. “How about chips? Do you like salted or unsalted?”
“Salted.”
“Whew, then we’re safe on sharing chips because we finally agree on something.” She picked the saltshaker up and gave the corn tortillas a liberal dusting of salt.
“In that case, I think we’re going to be just fine.”
They smiled at each other. Each grabbed a chip and dipped it in the salsa.
She bit into her chip and they spent the next few minutes digging in.
“So, tell me, Wade, with all that you have going on at the ranch, what is your favorite part? Oh wait, I know that you love it all. But, I mean, what is your favorite? What really gets your heart ticking the most?”
Wade stopped eating and stared at Allie. Her big eyes searched his and she leaned forward with her elbows on the table, clearly interested in what he was about to say.
“I…” He started to answer her, then just stared at her and shook his head. “You really want to know?”
She looked incredulous then smiled widely as her eyes danced. “I do. Surely something is your favorite.”
“I love roundups. I love feeling like I’ve been thrown back in time just a little when we sleep in bedrolls underneath the starlit sky and listen to the cattle mooing occasionally and the crickets serenading and the wild calls of coyotes in the distance. Granddaddy loved that the most too.” He smiled at Allie as a sudden lump formed in his throat. He swallowed hard. “As wealthy as he was, he went on as many roundups as he could. We were on one just a couple of days before he died.”
He’d rested his hand on the table beside the basket of chips that were now forgotten. Allie’s soft, warm hand covered his and their gazes met. And he felt suddenly that she understood.
Her pretty lips quirked upward. “It’s hard. But he left you with a lot of good memories. My dad did too. But…” She sighed. “I still miss him. I’m glad you’re not losing your ranch.”
What did he say to that? “Me too. Thanks to you.”
Chapter Five
When they drove onto the land that was the ranch that belonged to Wade now, Allie was completely zoned in on it. Her curiosity about her new husband and his family was piqued, and she couldn’t help but be curious. It was beautiful. It was the land of Hill Country. Yaupon trees and bluebonnets were scattered throughout the pastures. There were the hills of the cliffs that ran along the edge of the river in the distance, and it was beautiful. It was different than other areas of Texas that she had been through. She had seen pictures of it before, but she had never actually been to this area. Texas was a big state.
The drive down through the pastures was white gravel. It had obviously been hauled down here, and the view was nice.
When the house came into view, she had to bite back a gasp.
As if reading her thoughts, Wade said, “My granddaddy built this for my grandmother about twenty years ago. It’s bigger than I wanted, but I’m used to it now. Hopefully you’ll be comfortable here. And like I said, you’ll have your own room because there are a lot of bedrooms in this house.”
“Yes, I see what you mean. It’s huge. Sprawling, I guess, would be the word.”
He laughed. “Sprawling. Yeah, that would be the word.” He pulled into the yard and parked.
She hopped out of the truck, not waiting for him to come around and open the door for her. He had tried earlier to come and open her door, but she had beat him then too. She just wasn’t used to that and she didn’t want to get used to it.
He strode around the truck and put his hands on his hips. “Beat me again.”
“Sorry.”
His smile caused her pulse to hum. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room and I’ll bring your suitcases in later. I know you’re tired and you probably want to get a little rest.”
“True, but I mean, I’m not just going to fall asleep on you when we walk in the door.”
He laughed. “Well, let’s play it by ear. This late, it’s just going to be the two of us in there anyway.”
The house was huge. One of those very Western inspired, masculine homes with big vaulted ceilings and huge beams. The fireplace in the main room was massive. As was the staircase to the second floor and the kitchen was straight out of a magazine.
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br /> “This is amazing.”
Wade turned and took in the room. “Yeah, it’s something. A bit cavernous with just me here. When we were kids, it was different. I used to ride that banister down several times a day. My brothers, too. Granddaddy loved it.”
She imagined him sliding down the banister. It was very high and dangerous, and she had a feeling he said “Yeehaw” a few times on the way down. She smiled. “If I was a mother, it would terrify me.”
“My mom agreed with you.”
When Wade showed her to the room that would be hers, it was across the hall from his room. He told her that they’d put her things in his room, but that they’d have different sleeping arrangements and nobody needed to know.
It was kind of awkward at first, him talking about that, but she just wished for the morning to go better. This was going to be awkward—there was no way around it. But oddly enough, she trusted him. She had trusted him from the very beginning. So, he brought all her things in and he placed them in his room. Then, she got her stuff out of her bag that she needed, took a shower, and climbed into the big bed. Her body sank into the plush mattress and she sighed. “What a day.”
She had really gotten married. Really written the rehabilitation facility a check to cover getting her mother transferred in and now she was here. She’d gone by to see her mother before the wedding, not that her mother was awake or could know her. But she had been to the hospital every day since the accident and now she would call every day because she couldn’t physically go by. She felt terrible about not being there, but if she hadn’t married Wade, her mother wouldn’t get the care she needed. Wade had said he would have her flown in to see her at any time. She had done everything she could do for now.