by Casey Hagen
He waited for her. When he had headed for the porch, she had been finishing up a piece of pecan pie she was sharing with Ivy. She did that. The sharing thing. Seemed like every time he turned around, Ryan was sharing something with Ivy. Her drink, her food, her makeup, and the guitar.
Where did she learn to share like that?
Ivy’s own mother wasn’t big on sharing. Sharing Slade’s attention with a child had been the last straw. Lisa acted out, she ignored her daughter, lost interest in their married life, and, eventually, she’d walked away in search of something different. Slade had spent a long time being angry with her for that, but now, after watching Ryan with Ivy, he had to admit at least to himself that Lisa had done him a favor.
She wasn’t the one.
Even knowing that, a part of him remained wary of Ryan. She hadn’t been there long, so who was to say this wasn’t all an act? Well, he intended to find out.
He turned when he heard her step out onto the porch. All it had taken was just over a week and he knew it was her just by the sound of her footfalls.
“You ready?” he asked.
She laughed. The carefree sound settled inside him with his deep breath. It was time to see where this was going to go, because there was point denying he was invested.
“I guess so. Should I have my will prepared before we do this, because I have to tell you, I’m not prepared for death.”
“No dying today. Just a walk.” He took her hand in his. She didn’t hesitate to lace her fingers with his.
“I didn’t realize how much noise there is in the country. Good noise, but the night, it’s not completely quiet, is it?” she said.
The breeze moving through the trees and insects created a symphony of sound in the still of the darkness. “No, it’s never completely quiet, but those sounds fade and all you hear is the stillness. Every time I step out here at night, I’m glad I left the city.”
She leaned away and peered up at him. “You lived in the city?” she said, her voice laced with disbelief.
“For seven years.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “I never would have guessed. You look like you’ve spent your life on a ranch.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Thank you. That’s one hell of a compliment. Truth is, I grew up on one, but I went to college for business and science. I lived in Houston for seven years while I worked for MedEdge.”
“Aren’t they the ones that just discovered a breakthrough arthritis medicine?”
Now it was his turn to be surprised. “You’ve heard about it?”
“Yes. It caught my attention because I have a friend who suffers from arthritis. She does a lot of fundraisers and marathons, when she’s well, to raise money for research. So why did you go for business and science?”
“Money. I wish I could say it was something more honorable, but when it came down to it I’m good at science, and I wanted to earn my own money.”
Her forehead furrowed. “Your own money?”
“I come from old money, a long line of successful ranchers. I don’t mind taking on the family legacy. As a matter of fact, I’m honored to do it, but I wanted to prove I could make my own money. I wanted something to invest in the line.”
She nodded. “I can understand that. So, when you made your money you came back?”
“I came back when my father died. I had made decent money. I had lucrative investments, but the funny thing is, the more money you earn the more you feel you need to earn. I wish my father were here, but had he not died I’m not sure I would have gotten off that hamster wheel.”
“I don’t know…I think you would have found a way.”
At the entrance of the barn, he backed her up to the wood wall next to the opening. “Yeah, what makes you say that?” He settled his hands at her waist, his thumbs sliding up over her hipbones, meeting soft, warm skin.
She laid her palms over his chest. The heat seared through his shirt, making him want. Years had passed since he had been with a woman for more than just physical release.
“That little girl in there. I think every decision you make your first thought is of her.”
“True; that’s what makes what I’m doing with you so dangerous.”
“It was a kiss.”
“And it’s about to be another.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, smiling at her quick intake of breath. He had her. Those delicate hands of hers curled over his shoulders. When she leaned into him, he took more. He dove into her mouth, eager to taste her again.
Gasps and sighs blended with the sounds of the night. He reached down, hooked his hands on the back of those thighs he had admired for a week and half, and lifted, eager to get his hands on more of her.
She followed his lead and tightened her legs around his waist. She lined up just right and thrust her hips against him, making him groan. He cradled her jaw and nipped at her upper lip. His other hand had found a nice, comfortable spot cupping her firm ass, holding her to him.
Her scent, a combination of her lotion, the Texas sunshine, and sweet-smelling hair, wrapped around him. He craved her. Needed to bury himself in her. Just once, please God, at least once.
“Evenin’, Boss,” Will said as he strolled out of the barn.
The words were like a bucket of ice water tossed over the two of them. Slade froze. Ryan hid her face against his chest. Within seconds, she shook with laughter.
“It’s not funny. I’m going to have to bribe him to keep his mouth shut,” Slade said.
“Hey, you started it.”
He tipped her chin up to his. “Yeah, I did. No regrets.”
“No regrets,” she whispered. She disentangled her legs and dropped to the ground in front of him.
He took her hand again and pulled her to the doorway. “Time to face that fear.”
“I’m not getting on a horse.”
“Nope, just walking through.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Fine.” She stayed in the center, casting a wary glance left and right, taking measured steps.
He placed a hand on her lower back. “Relax. They won’t hurt you.”
“They’re watching me.”
“Everyone watches you.”
Her gaze snapped to his. “That’s not true.”
“Whatever you say.”
Her eyes lit up when she peeked to the back of the barn. “You have a real haystack in here. Not just bales, but a haystack.”
“Yeah, we open up several bales at time, shake them out, and let them settle.”
She smiled at the mountain of hay in the back of the barn with a gleam in her eye. “How do you keep Ivy from spending all day jumping in it?”
“Easy. She doesn’t want me to ground her.”
“Aww, Dad, you’re no fun,” Ryan sing-songed before she took off at a run and launched herself into the pile of hay. All of her disappeared but her legs. He heard her muffled laugh as he cleared away the hay covering her smiling face.
“I’m beginning to think you’re just as much of a troublemaker as Ivy.” He reached out to pull her up.
She took his hand and squealed as he launched her upright. “You’re probably right.” She smiled, patted his chest, and sashayed out of the barn.
6
Rain had moved in for two days, leaving the ranch a sodden, muddy mess. Ryan worked in the second bunkhouse and tried to go in and out as little as possible. She put down old towels in the entryway for when she was unfortunate enough to have to leave.
The door swung open and Myra sailed through with a basket. “You, young lady, missed lunch.”
Ryan got off the floor and washed her hands in the sink. “I had to ask myself, did I want the food enough to cross that muddy driveway again? The answer was a hell no. No offense to your food intended.”
Myra smiled and pulled the contents of the basket out, one by one, on the small dining table. “None taken. Frankly, I wouldn’t have come out, but Slade is on the phone with Edmund Frayley and I didn’t want to liste
n.”
“That’s Cutter’s uncle, right?”
“Yes, it is. The cattle are supposed to come in tomorrow. He hasn’t said a word about reneging, but who knows.”
Ryan pulled out a chair. “What does Slade lose if this deal falls through?”
Myra took a seat next to her and heaped food onto a plate. More food than Ryan could eat, but she knew better than to argue. “He’s got a hundred-thousand into it and that’s just a deposit. He’s paying just over half a million in total.”
Ryan went a little breathless. “I had no idea cattle were so expensive.”
Myra shook began making a plate of her own. “It isn’t always, but these are Texas Longhorns. They’re premium stock. There are several bulls and heifers. It’s a solid start to the ranch.”
Ryan started in on the potato salad. “That I might have screwed up.”
“That Cutter might have screwed it up, and that’s only if Edmund’s head is clear up his rear end. There aren’t a bunch of ranchers around here with the kind of money that Slade has. Edmund would do good to remember that,” Myra emphasized with a shake of her drumstick before biting into it.
“I hope you’re right. I don’t want to complicate Slade’s life.”
“Oh, honey, you need to complicate that boy’s life before that girl of his grows up, and he’s left here all alone wondering where the years went. I heard you got a good start the other night.” Myra winked and wiped her mouth.
Ryan’s ears burned. She dropped her chicken and sat back. “Oh God, what did you hear?”
“I heard that you and Slade were cozied up against the barn the other night.”
Ryan rubbed at her forehead. “This is so embarrassing.”
“Why? He’s a man, you’re a woman. You’re both attractive, good people.” Myra nudged Ryan with her elbow. “And I’m willing to bet Slade is quick on the draw, slow to pull the trigger, if you know what I mean.”
“Myra!”
“What? I may be old, but I’m not dead, and Slade is one fine-looking man. Why he ever wasted himself of that sack of garbage, Lisa, I’ll never know. At least one good thing came out of it, and she’s going to give her daddy a run for his money.”
A horn blared in a series of honks in quick succession outside. “Well, what on earth is that?” Myra and Ryan both pushed out of their chairs and headed for the door. They stepped out onto the porch just as a dark sedan stopped right next to the main house.
“Who is it?” Ryan asked.
A tall blonde climbed out of the driver’s seat after having shoved an umbrella between the crack of the open door and car. Her wavy hair hung halfway down her back. The breeze blew, not that you would know it from the way her hair stayed perfectly coiffed like in one of those hair color commercials. Ryan thought hair like that was a myth, like unicorns. She’d spent how many years with women who went to the most prestigious stylists, and even they didn’t have that kind of hair. Ryan glanced around for the accompanying unicorn.
“Damn it, it’s like I spoke of her and conjured her right from hell,” Myra muttered.
“Who?”
“Ivy’s mother.”
Lisa hopped up the stairs and tossed her umbrella off to the side of the porch. She didn’t even knock, just opened the door and stepped in. “Yoohoo…baby, Mama’s home!” Lisa called.
The door shut behind her, leaving Myra and Ryan to wonder what was happening on the other side. “Where’s Slade?” Ryan asked.
“In his office, doing paperwork.”
Ryan couldn’t remember a time she felt insecure around another woman. As a teenager, of course, but as a woman she’d stopped comparing herself. She accepted that everyone had their strengths and weaknesses. She wasn’t perfect, but she liked herself. She’d liked herself even more over the past two weeks.
So why did her stomach churn with insecurity when she laid eyes on Slade’s ex? Was it that she was worried that what had begun between them might be over, just like that? Was it that Slade hadn’t left, but Lisa did, so maybe Slade still had feelings for his ex-wife? Or maybe it was that none of the feelings rioting around inside of Ryan trumped Ivy’s need to have her mother in her life, the way Ryan wished her mother had been in hers.
“Well, I guess it would be rude to hide over here. We might as well go say hi.” Myra packed up their lunch mess.
Ryan jumped in to help. “Why don’t you go? I don’t want to interfere in Ivy’s time with her mom.”
Myra stared at Ryan so hard Ryan broke out in a cold sweat. “What’s going on in that head of yours, girl?”
Ryan forced a laughed. She hoped Myra didn’t pick up on it. “Not a thing other than what’s best for Ivy. When I’m around, I’m a distraction. She needs to focus on her mom now.”
“You can’t avoid her forever. She’ll be staying in the guest room just down the hall from yours.”
Great. “Not avoiding, just giving space.”
“You suck at lying, girl,” Myra said. She ducked out the door and headed for the main house.
Ryan sighed. “Yeah, well I’d better get good at it.”
Late afternoon came along and Ryan couldn’t avoid it anymore. The rain had died down to a drizzle, just enough to coat the unkempt knot hitched up high on the back of her head. There was nothing she could do about it now. She was damp, dirty, needed a shower, and that’s how she was going into this meeting.
She stumbled upon a large group clustered in the kitchen, where the coffee flowed and Ivy chattered non-stop sitting in her mother’s lap. Slade sat across from them, a big smile on his face, and didn’t that tell her everything she needed to know? When he glanced up at her, his smile slipped.
Good to know where they stood. “Sorry to interrupt. I’m just going to get a shower.”
“Wait,” Slade said as she stood. “Ryan, this is Ivy’s mother, Lisa. Lisa, this is Ryan.”
Lisa offered a slim hand. Ryan took it and tried not to frown. Shaking Lisa’s hand was like gripping limp spaghetti. God, she could not respect a person who didn’t know how to shake hands. In her world, she shook dozens of hands every day. In her world, you sure as hell better mean it when you did it, because everyone scrutinized your actions…and they talked.
“Nice to meet you,” Ryan smiled.
“Lovely to meet you, Ryan. It’s about time Slade got a housekeeper. I mean, really, it’s all Myra can do to keep up with the cooking for this crew without adding the housework on top of it.”
Myra banged her wooden spoon against the stock pot a bit harder than necessary. If anyone else noticed, they didn’t show it. “She’s not the housekeeper,” Myra said.
Lisa put her hand to her throat and reddened. On Lisa it was pretty. When Ryan reddened, her pale skin turned blotchy. “I’m sorry. I just assumed when I saw the way you were dressed,” Lisa said.
Ryan felt like she was in some bizarre freak show. The ranch hands were sipping coffee, just glancing back and forth, all looking like they were waiting for the opportunity to bolt.
“Ryan, did you see the presents Mommy got me?” On the table in front of Ivy was a pile of Shopkinz and accessories.
“I see, sweetheart. You’re a lucky girl.”
“Mommy said we might be able to get a puppy, too.”
Slade shot a look at Lisa. “Lisa,” Slade fairly growled.
“Well, she should have pets.”
“We’re on a ranch. Her horse will be delivered soon. We have a dog. She’s not lacking for animals.”
Lisa plastered on a bright smile. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Okay, well, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to grab a shower,” Ryan said. She nodded at the group of them and slipped through the cluster of people into the hall to make her escape, before she could witness anymore of the family dynamic.
Ryan skipped dinner and stayed in her room. Call her a coward, but she just didn’t have it in her to watch Slade with his ex-wife. Myra stopped in with a bowl of chili, but Ryan begged off,
claiming to still be full from their late lunch.
Now she sat in her bed, a pad of paper and pencil next to her, and Levi’s guitar in her lap. She fiddled with the notes until a melody came together. She jotted down lines on the paper, short phrases that came to her… ‘I spent a lifetime protecting my heart…something, something, you had it from the start…Heartstrings.’
“Hi Ryan,” Ivy said. She climbed onto the bed in a pretty nightgown.
“Well, don’t you look beautiful.”
“It’s my new nightgown. My mommy brought it for me. This is Elsa and this is Anna,” Ivy said, pointing to the pretty princesses on the front.
“That was very nice of your mommy. She has good taste.” Ryan didn’t know how to feel about Lisa, but the smile on Ivy’s face told Ryan just what it meant to Ivy that her mom was there, so she would swallow whatever jealousy, fear, and all those annoying girly emotions that threatened to claw their way out of her.
“Mommy said she’s going to take me into town tomorrow and we’re going to get our nails and toes done. Can you come with us?”
“Oh, sweetheart, thank you for the offer, but I think it’s best that you spend as much alone time with your mommy as possible. I’m not going anywhere. We can spend time together after she leaves.” It wasn’t a lie exactly, but yeah, Ryan had no idea when she was leaving. Slade would pay her in just a couple of days and then she could pick up her truck and really, there was nothing holding her here after that… If she didn’t count the little girl who had tethered herself to Ryan’s heart.
And, of course, she might have a few fragile tethers connected to Ivy’s handsome father.
Heartstrings.
“Can we play?” Ivy asked.
“Where’s your mom?”
“She’s in the tub. She said she was covered in a week’s worth of dirt. I don’t know. She looked pretty to me. Smelled nice, too.”
Ryan laughed. No doubt Lisa needed to get cleaned up after a long day of traveling, but a little girl who was used to running around on a ranch wouldn’t see that. “Just until your mom is done. Come on. Hop up.”
