Dirty Little Secret

by Jennifer Ryan

  Everyone turned to Annabelle, which only made her cry harder. Noah hugged her to his side, trying to console her.

  “None of this is your fault, Annabelle. Lisa did this. Don’t take on her guilt, her flaws, her inadequacies and make them your own.”

  “Trust us,” Adria added, “you take on her stuff along with your own, it’s a load too heavy to carry. You are not your mother.”

  Annabelle’s head came up. Her eyes scanned Roxy, Adria, Juliana, and Sonya. Roxy saw understanding dawn in her eyes.

  Sonya held her arm out wide. “Come here, little sister.”

  Annabelle didn’t hesitate. The look in her eyes said she wanted to be included. She wanted to belong.

  Annabelle climbed on the bed and fell between Sonya and Juliana.

  Roxy brushed her fingers through Annabelle’s hair. “You’re one of us.”

  Noah leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. It felt good to have everyone she loved surrounding her and know that Annabelle may have a selfish mother just like theirs, but now she also had people who understood her, loved her, and who would be there for her always.

  She loved her sisters for understanding that Annabelle needed them just as they’d needed each other all these years.

  Annabelle traced the wild rose vine twining up Juliana’s arm. “This is really cool.”

  Juliana glanced at the tattoo. “We all have one.”

  Roxy remembered Noah’s fascination and the way he’d kissed his way along her tattoo. “They’re all a little different, but the same. Like us,” Roxy confirmed.

  “Can I get one?”

  Roxy smiled because that right there was confirmation enough that Annabelle wanted to be one of them. “Are you sure you want to be a Wild Rose?”

  “I want to be just like you.”

  “Roxy’s the best of us,” Sonya confirmed.

  Adria and Juliana nodded their agreement.

  “I’ll take her,” Juliana volunteered.

  “Not until she’s older,” Noah said, leaving the door open and not crushing Annabelle’s hopes that she’d get the tattoo that for her would solidify her as part of the group.

  “Roxy?” Annabelle hoped for a different answer.

  “You heard your brother.”

  Annabelle rolled her eyes and everything felt like it was back to normal.

  Noah stared down at her lying beneath a pile of sisters. His smile melted her heart just like it always did. She smiled back, letting him know everything was okay. The love that passed between them made it so easy for her to know their future together was as solid as the connection binding them together.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Noah led Roxy up to the rise and stopped his horse at the top. Roxy walked her mount up next to his. Her and Noah’s legs rubbed together as the horses stood close to each other. Just the way she always wanted to be close to Noah now.

  He’d made it clear he didn’t want to be without her. Ever.

  Which is why they started taking these long rides before dinner. She’d found a better balance in her life, working part time as a designer because she loved it and it fulfilled her need to have something of her own. But the shorter hours gave her more time to spend with Noah.

  She stared at the amazing view and sighed with sheer pleasure and contentment. “It’s beautiful up here.”

  They stared out across hills and pastures to the ranch house and buildings spread out over the vast valley below them.

  “This is where John and I used to come to talk about the ranch, family stuff, and nothing at all. We’d both come up here alone sometimes. It’s a great place to think and make decisions without all the distractions down there.”

  She caught a note of nostalgia and something else in his voice. “This is where you were when he collapsed.”

  “That day changed my life. It brought you here. He brought you to me.”

  “He changed my life, too. You made it even better.”

  “Things haven’t been easy,” he admitted.

  “I had a rocky start. I expected it. But this past month, people have been more welcoming.”

  She didn’t feel like John’s dirty little secret anymore. People were starting to know her.

  And she had the last person she’d ever expected in the world to help her make people see she wasn’t the whore everyone assumed she was because of Cheryl, Lisa, and Tom’s accusations. Lisa’s horrible stunt turned the town against them and put nearly everyone on Roxy’s side.

  Lisa and Tom made a deal with the DA. Tom got six months’ house arrest and six months of probation. He’d never practice law again. Lisa got three years in jail. She’d probably get out in eighteen months. Noah wanted a harsher sentence. Roxy accepted the DA’s recommendation to put the matter behind them, so they could move on for Annabelle’s sake.

  Roxy sighed, letting the past go. “I love it here.”

  Noah stared out at their land, a look of belonging in his eyes.

  He took her hand, looked at their linked fingers, then back at her, his eyes filled with earnest intent. “I love you. Whatever happens in your life, I want to be there. I want to share all your hopes and dreams and the day-to-day good and bad.” He gently squeezed her hand again. “You need me, I’m there. You want me, I’m there. Anything, everything, I’m there.”

  Tears shimmered in her eyes as she stared at him in wonder. She’d hoped this day would come. She wanted this, him, for the rest of her life.

  With his free hand, he pulled a black velvet box from his shirt pocket, flipped the lid open, and showed her the ring.

  Roxy gasped at the diamond solitaire. Her heart pounded in her chest and the one word she wanted to shout lodged in her throat when he spoke again.

  “John gave my mother this ring. He truly, deeply loved her. The way I love you. Be my partner, my lover, my wife. You’re my everything. I want to be yours. Will you marry me?”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Yes. Oh God, yes.” His tense body relaxed the second she said “yes.” He shouldn’t be surprised at all she agreed to be his wife. She loved him. He loved her. It was meant to be this way.

  She reached for his face as he leaned down to kiss her. Her hand slid along his jaw and settled there as he kissed her long and deep.

  He stopped kissing her long enough to slide the ring on her finger.

  Roxy held her hand up and admired the sparkling diamond. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

  “John brought you here to give you a better life. It kind of feels like John wanted us to be together. He wanted his Cordero blood to live on, on the ranch. And it will with our children. His last wish was for me to take care of you. I intend to do so for the rest of my life, not out of obligation, but because you make my life so full. I’m a better man because of you. My life is better because of you.” Noah kissed her again. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you feel the same way about me.”

  Roxy cupped his jaw and brushed her thumb over his cheek. “I already do. We’re going to have such a good life. We’ll be a real family.”

  An Excerpt from Restless Rancher

  Keep reading for a sneak peek at

  Restless Rancher

  the next book in the scandalous Wild Rose Ranch series, on sale Summer 2019!

  Chapter One

  Austin stood in front of the small mirror he’d hung on the wall in the stables and drew the razor down his jaw, scraping away shaving cream and two days’ worth of whiskers. He rinsed the blade in a bowl of lukewarm water, ran it down the last section, then wiped his face clean with a damp towel. His hair could use a trim. A comb would do it a hell of a lot of good. Eye drops would erase the red from his eyes. But not even the four ibuprofen he’d taken an hour ago could eradicate the headache raging through his skull because he’d been too anxious to sleep.

  Most of his sleepless nights occurred courtesy of a bottle of whiskey. But he’d put the bottle down two weeks ago and was on the cusp of piecing his shatte
red life back together again.

  One of those broken pieces from his past walked in through the barn door that hung off kilter on one hinge like a drunk propped against a bar.

  He’d been that guy. But not anymore.

  “Lookin’ good, Austin, honey.” Kelly’s voice evoked a lot of memories. Not all of them good.

  Her gaze swept over his chest, down his abs, and landed on the button on his jeans, which sagged dangerously close to dropping to his ankles. “You are a sight to behold.” Her tongue swept over her red painted lips. For a split second, he remembered how those lips used to wrap around his cock.

  But not anymore.

  Lust turned to resentment and set his back teeth to grinding.

  Wearing a pair of worn jeans barely hanging on his skinny hips and nothing else, he felt naked under her lascivious gaze. He’d lost some weight these last many months drinking and living hand to mouth, hoping he came up with enough money to pay the bills let alone groceries.

  Yes, he’d been humbled going from living large with money in his pockets and overflowing his bank account to scraping by on any odd job he could find without his father finding out and retaliating against the person who’d graciously hired him. Most everyone in these parts wouldn’t dare cross Walter Hubbard. Not when most of them did business with Hubbard Ranch or worked for Blue Mining. If they didn’t, they knew someone who did. Those few brave souls who hired him paid shit because they were desperate and some of them wanted to take Austin down a peg or two.

  Just like his old man.

  After his grandfather died and left him this ranch, Austin’s father fired him from the family business and kicked him out of his home because his father wanted the land with a passion and vengeance Austin never saw coming.

  He held on to the one thing that was his even after the money ran out and so did Kelly. This dump wasn’t the home Kelly imagined they’d live in after getting married—though she left before he ever asked her—and raise their babies. Not after she’d seen the life he’d lived at Hubbard Ranch, where the good life and their future seemed so easy to imagine.

  Here on his grandfather’s dilapidated ranch, you needed a fantastical imagination to see its potential.

  And in his case, an investor willing to take a chance on someone who’d hit rock bottom but dreamed big.

  Unlike Kelly, his best friend Noah’s girlfriend, Roxy, believed he could make this place great again. She was an amazing woman with a huge heart and an even bigger bank account. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve it, but Roxy wanted to partner with him and turn this pile of dirt and rotten wood back into a modern working ranch.

  Kelly walked away because she didn’t believe in the dream or him.

  She never gave him a chance to turn this place into what she wanted. What he’d promised her. Abandoned by his girlfriend and disowned by his father in a matter of weeks, beaten down by his father sabotaging his chances for work, yeah, he’d given up and slowly drowned in a bottle and his going-nowhere life.

  “What are you doing here? Last time we spoke, you said you’d never step foot on this shit pile again.”

  Kelly pasted on a pretty pout, not an ounce of regret in her eyes about what she’d said to him. “I wanted to see how you’re doing. Can’t I come by to check on a friend?”

  “You think we’re friends?” When he’d lost everything, he’d found out just how many friends he truly had, and she wasn’t one of the few who’d stuck by him.

  “Don’t be like that. How can you still be angry at me? I wanted you. I wanted a ranch and family of our own. You refused to see that this place wasn’t going to be our place. All I wanted you to do was sell it and give your father what he wanted. Put a stop to your feud. We could have bought a new home, got married, and had the life we wanted. It was stupid to hold onto this place out of spite and nostalgia. It’s just a piece of land.”

  That last part struck him like a gut punch. “To you. Not to me.” They’d had this same argument dozens upon dozens of times. “My father took away everything from me because he wanted to take the one thing that actually belongs to me. This land belonged to my mother’s father, and his father before him. I won’t sell it.”

  “Everyone knows you don’t have the money to hold onto it.” The pity look pissed him off.

  “He’s made sure of that.” Bitterness filled his words and every fiber of his being.

  “So you lose it to him anyway. It’s useless and stubborn to keep holding onto something when it’s already lost.”

  He didn’t want her or his father to know about his new partnership with Roxy. Let them find out when the work finally began and he had his operation up and running. He’d show Kelly, his father, everyone, that he could rise from the ashes and rebuild this place. He had the skill, the drive, and the money if Roxy came through the way she’d promised.

  “Did you get dressed up and come all the way out here just to call me names and tell me how stupid I am again?”

  He appreciated her sexy legs sticking out the bottom of that flouncy white skirt and the way her breasts rose above the low cut dark blue top. He’d bought her the brown boots with the embossed roses on the sides when he’d had money to burn. Her blond hair was curled into fat rings and tousled to look like she’d just been tumbled good in bed.

  He’d messed up her perfectly styled hair and wrinkled her clothes in numerous ways when they were together. He wondered if she’d come here to rekindle the old fire. Before his brain had time to process what a bad idea that was, she stepped up close, wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her soft breasts against his bare chest, and kissed him with a slow, sexy sweep of her tongue along his bottom lip.

  She knew how to tempt him. He’d been living in a sexual drought for a good long while now. So he didn’t move and enjoyed the brief moment of feeling desirable and wanted.

  She’d burned him in the past, so had many others, and a subtle alert went off in his mind.

  She kept her body plastered to his and leaned back to look at him. “What’s wrong, honey? You never used to hesitate to take what you wanted.” She nudged her belly against his neglected but eagerly growing dick.

  He was always ready to bed a beautiful woman, but something didn’t feel right.

  Kelly had never been this . . . calculated.

  Why come back now?

  Nothing had changed in his life or with his circumstances.

  Unless she’d found out about Roxy partnering with him and thought he had money and means now. But he hadn’t told anyone, and Roxy wanted to keep things quiet. She didn’t need everyone else in town gossiping about her and the fact that her money came from the notorious Wild Rose Ranch brothel she owned outside of Vegas.

  The business was legal, but that didn’t matter to folks in Whitefall. When she first came to town, people believed she was a prostitute. Noah and he had made it their mission to change people’s minds when they introduced her around at the last ranchers’ dinner. That’s where Roxy got an up-close view of his relationship with his father and decided she wanted to help him.

  “Why are you here now? I’m still broke and you still don’t want to live here.”

  She leaned in and kissed him again. He tried not to get sucked in by her familiar scent and lush curves pressed against him.

  “This hasn’t changed. I want you. You want me.”

  His body wanted the release and relief, but the passion and need he once felt for her didn’t rise up and drive him to fill his hands with her soft breasts and thrust his aching cock into her welcoming heat.

  Her hand slid over his hard stomach, dipped into his jeans, and ran down the length of him. She gripped him in her hand and stroked up and down, her mouth planting hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses down his neck and over his chest. “You know you want more.”

  She hooked her leg around his hip and used her free hand to take his and slide it up her thigh and under her skirt to her bare bottom. All that silky skin at his fingertips made him gr
ab a handful of ass and press her closer.

  She undid his jeans and freed him. “That’s it. Give it to me.”

  His body wanted to give her a good, hard fucking right here, standing up in the dusty barn. But his mind started adding things up. One and one still equaled two, but her and him doing this right here, right now, didn’t add up to anything good happening after the deed was done.

  She never showed up to any of their dates with no panties and I-can-paint-your-dick-red lips. She flirted but never took an aggressive lead with him for sex. He’d had to talk her into making love on a picnic blanket under a tree on a secluded spot on the ranch. She’d been afraid someone would see them, though the possibility had been near impossible where he’d taken her. She’d preferred tame public displays of affection and the privacy of a bedroom.

  All this shot through his mind and his hands went to her hips as one final thought blasted through his mind. She always, always, insisted on a condom because she didn’t want to have children until they were good and married. So a split second before she encased him in her slick core, he set her away and zipped his jeans.

  “What the hell is going on here?” His mind identified the clues, but he didn’t see the whole picture.

  “Why did you stop?” Her cheeks flushed pink. She took a step toward him, her hand reaching for his neck.

  He sidestepped before she backed him into the wall and faced her, standing just out of her reach.

  Her gaze dropped to his thick erection, then back up to his face. “You still want me.”

  “My dick’s not broke the way I am. I don’t have a dime to my name. Seems to me you cared more about that than fucking me anymore, so why don’t you tell me why you’re all of a sudden all hot and bothered over me to the point you haven’t insisted I wear a condom?”

  “I’m on the pill.”

  “Bullshit. We had this talk a long time ago. You can’t use the pill because it messes up your system so bad. Try again.”