The Cowboy and the Girl Next Door: (A Clean, Enemies to Lovers Romance) Wyle Away Ranch Book 1

by Janette Rallison

  She looked to Landon, and her hurt and anger were overshadowed by gratitude for what he’d done. He could’ve paid Dewayne and taken the ranch. Instead, Landon told her about the offer. He had too much integrity to make an underhanded deal.

  That’s when Kate knew she was in love with him. This wasn’t just attraction. It wasn’t some sort of cattle version of Stockholm syndrome. This was what love felt like. Without another word, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you for watching out for me.”

  He returned the embrace, his hands resting against the small of her back. “I couldn’t have done anything else.”

  His body hadn’t lost all of its earlier tension. Maybe he was worried about finding a new foreman for her. Or maybe the adrenalin still coursing through his system made it impossible to relax.

  She wanted to whisper into his shirt that she loved him. But saying those words would mean things. It would mean staying in Arizona. It would mean rethinking what she did with Coyote Glen. Because how could she tell Landon she loved him and then cut off his water supply?

  With the feel of Landon’s heartbeat underneath her ear, she considered overriding her parents’ objections and selling Coyote Glen to Landon anyway. Technically, she didn’t need her parents’ approval to make a deal with him.

  And yet how could she go back on her word and not give the ranch to them?

  Landon broke the embrace and stepped away from her. “Until you hire someone new, you’ll need extra help. I have the numbers of some day laborers.” He pulled out his phone and began texting her contacts.

  He was already concentrating on the next task and was past Kate’s possible whisperings of I love you. Maybe that was for the best. The ranch issues aside, Landon could be one of those men who didn’t want long-term commitment and bolted at the thought of love. He’d told her often enough that she should stay in Arizona, but he hadn’t said he loved her or wanted a future with her. It would be Kate’s luck to give up her life in Seattle, completely tick off her parents, and then find out Landon was only interested in a temporary fling. How did one go about figuring out what a man wanted?

  He slipped his phone back into his pocket. “I need to talk to you about one other thing.” The words were spoken softly, but Landon’s tension had reached his voice. He was staring at her with reproof. “Why didn’t you tell me your parents had turned down my offer?”

  Oh. He knew about that. She shifted uncomfortably. The concrete beneath her feet was suddenly hard and uncomfortable. “How did you—”

  “Dewayne.”

  One more thing to thank him for. “I was going to tell you. I was just afraid it would change things between us.” She tried to read his expression. His eyes were somber, his mouth a serious straight line. “Will it change things between us?”

  He hesitated. “I don’t want it to.” The words were guarded.

  Guarded wasn’t the emotion she’d wished for after she’d just realized she was in love with him. “Good.” She attempted a smile. “I don’t want it to either.”

  He ran a hand across his chin. “We can go a couple hundred thousand dollars higher if that would make a difference.”

  She hated answering. “I don’t think it would.”

  “I see.”

  Silence filled the space between them. He looked upward, considering, and sighed before returning his attention to her. “Since we don’t have any sort of deal, my brothers won’t be happy if I keep helping you with things.”

  She should have expected him to say this, but it still hurt a little. When she’d been over at the Wyles’ doing their remodel, his brothers had been so nice. Now they would, what—resent her, wish her ill luck? “Are you saying you won’t help me with anything else, or just telling me your brothers won’t be happy when you do?”

  Another hesitation. Those little pauses seemed so brutal now. “I doubt they’ll want me to loan you more equipment. Let’s take it case by case.”

  She nodded. Taking it case by case was the sensible thing to do. He was being more than fair. He was in line to inherit her ranch, and he needed her water. She shouldn’t expect his help. On the other hand, he was her boyfriend. That should mean something too. Her gaze sunk to his feet. She couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore. She didn’t want to see anymore hesitations there. “If you knew last night that my parents had turned down your offer, would you have still come to help me with Marigold?”

  “Yes.”

  That was a relief. “What if it was one of the heifers?” That was a harder question because her grandpa’s will required her to have three hundred and thirteen head of cattle. If too many died and she couldn’t buy more, she’d lose.

  Landon didn’t answer.

  So that was probably a no. “Okay,” she said, “but the chickens are on the can-help list, right? Because you never know when I might call at midnight for a chicken emergency.”

  “Kitty,” his voice was low, asking her to understand. “I have to think of my brothers. This isn’t just about you and me.”

  “I know.” She forced another smile and took hold of his hand, threading her fingers through his. The gesture, at least, wasn’t forced. She wanted the feel of his skin against hers, wanted to feel that they still had a connection. “If it were just about you and me, I’d accept your price for the land right now.”

  “You would?” His expression implied surprise and relief, not disbelief.

  “I’ll tell my parents you’re willing to go up two hundred thousand and ask them to reconsider, and…” Now the pause was on her side. And maybe it will make a difference when I tell them we’re in love. Only she wasn’t sure if Landon was.

  He ran his thumb softly against her knuckles and waited for her to finish. He was more patient where pauses were concerned.

  She couldn’t come right out and ask him how he felt about her, so instead said, “Where do you see us being after the will is resolved?” The question seemed to hang in the air. Her heart was hanging there with it, suspended on nothing but hope.

  He smiled in that way that always made his blue eyes shine. “I see us in the barn delivering another foal. By that point, you love Arizona too much to leave ranching behind.” His smile turned teasing. “Which is a good thing because in this scenario I’ve inherited Coyote Glen, and you’d have been out of work if I hadn’t taken you in.”

  He saw them together still. That was a good sign. She nodded casually. “It’s kind of you to let me be a horse midwife and continue to live at my grandpa’s ranch.”

  “Nah.” Landon’s slow drawl was every bit as sweet as honey. “You’ll stay at the Wyle Away with me.”

  “Oh.” An even better sign. Her insides fluttered. “Am I an honest woman in this scenario?”

  “Completely honest, and you can’t possibly live in your grandfather’s house anymore because I’ve turned it into a pigeon sanctuary.”

  He was joking about that. He was probably joking about them being married too. Still, the thought of being his wife sent a happy thrill through her. “Ah, Mr. Wyle, if you could bottle those sweet words and sell them to lonely women, you’d be rich.”

  He chuckled and pulled her closer. “That would be one way to make a living.” Then he kissed her with an intensity that made her think he hadn’t been joking about any of it. The kiss said he wanted her. The words I love you couldn’t be far behind. She just had to wait.

  His lips grazed the side of her neck, and she closed her eyes, relishing his touch. She might just float away. “I think it’s time to tell my parents about us. Maybe that will make a difference.”

  When Landon left, Kate went back into her bedroom for her phone. She’d give her parents one piece of news at a time. She’d start with Dewayne’s treachery and then tell them how Landon had ordered him off the ranch. She would emphasize how honest and supportive he’d been. Her parents would have to appreciate what Landon had done and realize how wonderful he was.

  After that, admitting that she was dating
Landon wouldn’t be so hard. Eventually, as she and Landon became more serious, her parents would have no choice but to see him as son-in-law material. They wouldn’t want to take the water supply away from a possible, maybe future son-in-law. They’d see a compromise was necessary.

  Before Kate reached her phone, it rang. The number was her father’s.

  She answered with, “Hey, I was just going to call you.”

  “I should hope so,” her father said, clearly displeased. “What is going on with Landon Wyle?”

  The question took her aback. Did her parents already know about the two of them?

  “What?” Kate stalled.

  “We just got off the phone with Dewayne,” her mother said. The call was on speaker phone. “He told us Landon asked him to keep Coyote Glen in the red, and when Dewayne refused, Landon assaulted him. Didn’t you know about this?”

  “That’s not what happened.” Kate had expected Dewayne to deny the truth, but somehow she’d failed to see this coming. The man had called her parents and lied to them. “He offered to sabotage the ranch for a price. Landon sent him away. No assault happened.” At least Landon hadn’t said it had. Certainly he would have mentioned that detail.

  “Dewayne sent us a picture,” her father said. “He’s got a fist sized welt on his cheek. He said he won’t go back to work unless you get a restraining order against Landon.”

  Nope. Not a chance of that happening. “Dewayne is fired. He isn’t trustworthy. He’s not telling you the truth about what happened.”

  “How do you know Landon isn’t the one who’s lying?” her father asked. “He has much more to lose, and Dewayne is the one who got hit.”

  “Because I know Landon.”

  “That brings us to our second point,” her mother said. “Dewayne seems to think something is going on between you and Landon.”

  How had he known that? Well, regardless of how he’d figured it out, this was so not the way Kate had planned to tell her parents. She rubbed her forehead and silently cursed Dewayne.

  Her parents waited.

  “Yes,” she said, “Landon and I are seeing each other. Look, he’s a really great guy, not the devious, assaulting person Dewayne is making him out to be.”

  Her father groaned his disapproval. “We talked about this. You agreed to stay away from him.”

  “I…” Kate felt like a child who’d been caught misbehaving.

  “The guy tried to flirt you into a bad deal,” her father said, “and when we turned him down, he resorted to force to try and cheat us.”

  “It’s not like that,” Kate protested. “He’s still hoping we can work out a price for the land. He said he’ll go up two hundred thousand.”

  “As if that makes a difference,” her father retorted.

  “Kate,” her mom said patiently, “Landon Wyle is a very handsome man, but you can’t let that cloud your judgment.”

  Kate could almost see her parents delivering this lecture. Her mother sat somewhere, sending worried looks to her father. Her father paced and gripped the phone too hard.

  Kate held her ground. “My judgement isn’t clouded, and the ranch is doing fine. I’ll get a new foreman. Landon said he could help me find someone.”

  Her mother coughed in disbelief. “You’re going to trust someone he picks?”

  “Absolutely not,” her father said. “I still have some connections in the ranching world. I’ll ask around. In the meantime, promise me that Landon and his assortment of good-looking brothers will stay away from you and our property.”

  Our property. A reminder that it wasn’t really Kate’s, at least not in her parents’ minds. Fine. They could have their say about ranch matters, but not about who she saw. “Choose whoever you want for a foreman,” she said. “But I’ll choose who I date.”

  Her mother sighed. “Oh honey, he’s using you, and you’re going to be terribly hurt when all of this is over.”

  “For heaven’s sake,” her father added, “doesn’t it make you suspicious that Landon fired the one person who was helping you and offered to put someone he knows in the position?”

  Granted, when her father put it like that it did sound suspicious. But Landon wasn’t scamming her. She just had no way to prove that to her parents.

  The call went on for a few more minutes with her parents continuing to paint Landon in every dark tone they could imagine. Finally, they hung up.

  So. They definitely were never going to think about Landon as possible son-in-law material.

  Kate put down the phone with shaking hands. The thing was, she didn’t blame her parents for questioning Landon’s intentions. If she’d heard the same facts about someone else’s relationship, she’d suspect that a guy with so much to lose might have ulterior motives too.

  A lot of men in his position would do anything and everything to get Coyote Glen. But Landon wasn’t like that. Kate would be able to tell if he was just pretending to care about her, wouldn’t she? Could she have been taken in by those blue eyes and his seductive slow drawl?

  No.

  Probably not.

  She hated that she was suddenly wondering.

  Her parents texted her the picture Dewayne had sent them. A selfie with a fist sized welt on his cheek.

  If Landon had hit him, why hadn’t he told her about it? Dewayne’s proposition had been an insult to Landon’s honor, but that didn’t seem like enough to make Landon take a swing. Perhaps Dewayne injured himself so his story would sound more convincing. It was possible. Probable, even. Landon wasn’t the sort to haul off and hit someone.

  Unless she didn’t know Landon as well as she thought. They’d only been dating a couple of months. Maybe she’d only seen the side of him he wanted her to see.

  She picked up her phone a dozen times to talk to Landon about Dewayne’s accusations. She never placed the call. Now that her parents had planted a seed of doubt, she wanted to see Landon face-to-face when she asked him about it. And she probably ought to be face-to-face when she told him she didn’t need his help finding a new foreman. Not because she doubted him, but because she wanted the reassurance that she was right about him. When she told Landon that her parents were going to hire someone, and a flash of disappointment didn’t cross his expression, she’d know he hadn’t planned on putting some ranch-wrecking accomplice on Coyote Glenn.

  She ought to tell Landon soon so he didn’t spend time searching for people.

  This morning, she’d gone through her grandfather’s bolo ties and picked out a silver and turquoise one that had been a favorite. She’d planned on giving it to Landon as a thank you gift for helping with Marigold but had completely forgotten about it while he was here. Now the gift gave her the perfect excuse to stop by his house and surprise him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  When Kate drove up to Landon’s house, he stood on the porch looking cautiously happy to see her. His blond hair was mussed, and he’d put on a faded flannel shirt over his white T-shirt. Really, the guy could make anything look rugged.

  She got out of her truck and strolled up the porch stairs, carrying both a gift box and two cartons of eggs. “This is to thank you for helping with Daisy.” She gave him the box, then lifted the egg cartons. “These are just because I still have too many.”

  “You didn’t have to.” His caution melted. “And you really didn’t have to bring eggs. We have plenty.”

  “It was either give them to you or go look for one of those homeless people holding a sign that says they’re hungry.”

  Landon chuckled, then held up a hand. “I’m not laughing at the plight of the homeless—just the idea of you driving up to some guy and handing him a carton of eggs.” He opened the gift box and smiled. “This was Cal’s, wasn’t it?”

  “He would like knowing that you had it.”

  “Thanks. That’s sweet of you.” Landon shut the box, went to the door, and opened it for her to go inside.

  The foyer looked so nice now. The whole place did, really. The w
ood tile brought out the warm tones of the stone fireplace in the family room. The blues and emerald green in the rug were repeated in the curtains, the paintings, and the arrangement of ginger jars that sat on the mantel. She felt so at home here now.

  As she and Landon made their way to the kitchen, Kate realized she’d decorated the house to match her own style. Granted, Landon had given her free reign to do whatever she wanted, but she could have gone more modern or more rugged. She could have gone with a hundred different color schemes. Instead, she’d used her favorite colors. She’d designed Landon’s home to be a place she loved. Subconsciously, she’d already been buying into that dream of moving in here.

  Landon took the eggs from her and went to the fridge. “I’m watching Audrey tonight while Jaxon is out on a date, or I’d suggest doing something fun.”

  Summoned either by her name or her curiosity, the little girl bounded into the kitchen. “Who are you talking to?”

  Landon didn’t have to answer. Audrey spotted Kate and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. “I want to do something fun. Are you guys going horseback riding? Can I come?”

  Landon shut the fridge. “It’s too late for horseback riding. Although, maybe we can convince Miss Benton to stay a spell and keep us company.”

  Babysitting wasn’t the best time to have a serious talk with Landon, but eventually Jaxon would come home, and then she and Landon would have time alone.

  Audrey tugged on Kate’s arm. “Can we play princess and evil Queen?”

  The spinning game that made Audrey throw up. Hard pass. “How about we play something else?”

  Landon scooped up Audrey and deposited her on a kitchen chair. “You’re going to make a Playdoh village, remember?” Several colored blobs of Playdoh sat on the table along with an assortment of cookie cutters, molds, and a press. “When you’re done, you can show us. We’ll be watching you from the family room.”