Ray: Riding Hard Book 7

by Ashley Jennifer

  * * *

  At the Malory ranch the next morning, Ray watched their trainer take a new cutting horse through some moves—quick halt, swift changes of leads—and tried to ignore his brother next to him.

  Kyle had left his walking stick in the house, a good sign he was better, but his newfound energy had also reawakened his obnoxious curiosity.

  “So, who is this Drew?” Kyle asked without preliminary.

  Ray made a slight shrug, tamping down his irritation. “I’m sure everyone in the diner told you about her. Why ask me?”

  “Because you were the one having dinner with her.”

  Ray knew damn well the whole diner had eagerly watched the encounter between him and Christina and Drew. They were probably all talking about it this morning, like Kyle was now.

  “You were having dinner with Dr. Anna,” Ray answered with a growl. “Believe me, that was way more interesting.”

  “Everyone knows about Anna’s bet with me. But we don’t know about you and Drew Paresky.”

  “See? You know her name.” Now, let it go.

  “Anna told me. She treated their cat.”

  Ray gave him a nod. “Cinders, yeah.”

  Kyle stared as though he’d bore into Ray’s head. “Cinders?”

  “Because we found her in the fireplace.”

  Kyle planted his booted foot on the bottom rail. “We? Okay, so you know their cat’s name and you found it with them. While I’ve never heard about any of this.”

  “You’ve been busy. How’s Anna?”

  Kyle’s flush told Ray Anna wasn’t far from Kyle’s mind. Ray wondered what had happened after the pair of them had left the diner last night. Anna had paid for her own meal, a fact that got talked about up and down the aisles once Kyle and Anna had departed.

  “She’s fine,” Kyle answered with a grunt. “What you been up to? Haven’t seen you around here much.”

  Ray scowled. “Have I let the ranch go to shit? No. Then what’s the deal? I have my own life.”

  Kyle’s gaze didn’t waver. “You seeing her?”

  Ray ran out of patience. “I can see her—I have eyes. But no, we’re not going out or engaged or secretly married. Drew needs to turn around the B&B, and I’m helping her out.”

  Would Kyle give it a rest? No, he sucked in a breath to ask another question, but fortunately, Kyle’s cell phone rang.

  Ray saw Anna’s name flash on the screen. Kyle turned away and planted the phone to his ear so fast that Ray had to chuckle. Kyle had it bad for Dr. Anna. As soon as he figured that out and left Ray alone, the better.

  Ray watched the training, giving advice from time to time, until the session finished. After that, he went to the office and told Margaret he was going out for the day. Wasn’t certain when he’d return. Margaret gave him her keen-eyed look, and Ray beat a hasty retreat.

  By the time he reached Drew’s B&B, his heart was lighter. He liked coming out here—his worries faded as he drove the few miles, as did his loneliness. Drew and Erica were filling a place in his life he hadn’t realized was so empty.

  Drew wasn’t home. Her car, usually left outside the garage, was gone, and Ray remembered she’d taken Erica to the Campbell ranch to meet Faith.

  Shouldn’t keep him from getting to work. Ray had sheet-rocked and painted the whole garage and had started on refinishing the garage floor. That was almost done—next he’d replace all the shelving and cabinetry they’d torn out. This would be a garage to die for when he was done, and a nice storage space for Drew.

  He’d already done one coat of epoxy on the floor, and now he mixed up the parts in the can, got out the roller brush and applied the second coat. Drew pulled up outside when he was halfway done, and she waved at him as she went up the stairs to the apartment, carefully avoiding the wet step he’d coated.

  Ray finished, cleaned up the stuff and himself at the water spigot, and went upstairs. He found Drew painting the bathroom, standing inside the tub to reach the wall above it.

  “Great time to do this with Erica gone for the day,” she said as Ray leaned on the bathroom doorframe. “She was so excited to see the horses, and Faith seems like a sweet girl.”

  “She is.”

  Drew had paint in her hair, the pale pink she’d chosen. Not too pink, because if this would be the honeymoon suite, she’d said, she didn’t want the groom to run away screaming. Keep the color subtle but romantic.

  “Garage floor just needs to dry,” Ray said as Drew continued to roller paint on the wall. “Then I’ll rinse it off, and you can park inside instead of leaving your car out in the weather. The cabinets will be great in there once those are done.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Scintillating conversation. Ray had never been one for poetic words, but he suddenly wished he could banter and charm like Kyle or Tyler Campbell. Ray was the silent type, more like Carter, but sometimes being quiet meant life passed you by.

  “Hope you weren’t overwhelmed by the Campbells,” he tried. “When we were kids, we fought all the time. Me and Kyle against the five of them. Well, mostly me and Kyle against Adam, Grant, and Carter. Tyler and Ross kind of stayed on the sidelines.”

  “They told me.” Drew applied the roller with vigor. “And that you’re all friends now.”

  “More or less. Grace has been a good peacemaker.”'

  “They also told me all about you and Christina.” More rollering, droplets of pink splattering to Drew’s hair, face, and the bathtub. “They all seemed to think I needed to know.”

  She sounded bright, even cheerful—too much so—and she wouldn’t look at Ray.

  Ray covered the roller handle, stopping it. “Maybe you should hear my side of the story.”

  When Drew finally looked at him, her face was stiff. “No need. None of my business.”

  She tried to get on with painting, but Ray took the roller firmly away from her. Drew began a startled protest, but Ray pulled her to him over the bathtub’s lip, wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her.

  Chapter Eight

  Ray’s kiss was strong, pushing them both back until Drew touched the painted wall. She didn’t care. His warmth surrounded her, taking away all her doubt.

  What Christina, Bailey, and Grace had told her, reassuring her over and over, was that Ray’s brief relationship with Christina was long over. Worry about it flowed away now with Ray’s kiss. The past didn’t matter. Ray was here, with Drew, and real.

  He took his time kissing her, his mouth parting her lips, tongue sliding against hers. His hands rested solidly on her back, not letting her fall.

  The kiss robbed her of breath, weakened her knees. But it didn’t matter, because Ray held her up. His mouth was skilled, the scrape of his whiskers and the heat of his breath opening something inside her.

  Ray eased back, finally ending the kiss, but he stayed close, as though he didn’t want to let her go. Drew touched his cheek, meeting his liquid green gaze.

  “I should ask for help painting more often,” she whispered.

  “You didn’t ask.”

  The roller had ended up in the roller tray, which rested across the sink.

  “But maybe I should.”

  Ray grinned, lighting his face.

  He made Drew want to joke, to laugh. It had been so long since she’d shared laughter with anyone but Erica.

  Ray tore off a paper towel and applied it to her hair, which must be full of paint. “I think we need to talk.”

  “Uh oh. Never good words.” Drew touched his face again, liking the faint burn of his whiskers. “How about we just kiss?”

  Heat flickered in Ray’s eyes. “Sounds good. But while Erica is out …”

  Drew sighed, resigned. In her experience, long conversations about life never ended well. Philip had enjoyed family conferences, which were mostly to go over Drew’s supposed shortcomings, including detailed instructions on how she could improve. His brother, Jules, had the same tendencies.

  She let Ray lead her into the l
iving room, mostly because she liked his strong hand in hers, but forestalled him as they sat down.

  “You don’t have anything to explain to me, Ray. Your past, your relationships, are your business. I’m the stranger here, and what you did before I arrived has nothing to do with me.”

  Ray waited, patient as always, until she finished, his green eyes holding mysteries.

  “I don’t want you looking at me like you did at the diner, always wondering.” He hadn’t released her hand and now he twined his fingers through hers. “Grant and Christina fell madly in love the minute they started going out—Grant had just graduated high school and Christina was a few years older. But they fought all the time too, and when they broke up some years later, everyone figured that was it, they were just too volatile to make it. I took a chance and asked Christina out. I didn’t expect a grand romance, wasn’t pining for her or anything like that. I just thought we could have some fun. But I could tell that, no matter what, she was still into Grant. I mean, really into him. Couldn’t take her eyes off him when he was around. He’d try to make her jealous, and she’d do the same. I got tired of being the piece of meat in the middle. When we broke it off, it was a relief. My ego was hurt, yeah, but it was peaceful to go back to riding bulls. Way less dangerous.” A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes.

  It amazed Drew that Christina hadn’t seen Ray’s worth. Drew had met Grant today, who was hot, there was no question—he and Christina had a chemistry that zinged off the pair of them.

  But if the choice had been Drew’s it would have been easy to make. Grant was cute, but there was something about Ray. Grant was a swiftly moving river—Ray was deep, still water Drew wanted to explore.

  Drew squeezed his hand. “Her loss.”

  “There’s a little bit more. I want you to know before you hear it from gossip. Maybe you already have.”

  Drew had sensed there was more today at the Campbells, perceived they’d been falling all over each other to not say anything.

  “Go ahead,” she said, keeping her voice light. “I won’t throw you down the stairs. You’re too big.”

  His lips twitched but his eyes remained serious, worried, which worried Drew.

  “Thing is,” Ray said slowly. “Christina dumped me and then was with Grant again real fast. I mean, same-day fast. Maybe even before she and I split, I’m not sure. Then she found out she was pregnant with Emma, and there was a time she wasn’t sure …”

  He trailed off and swallowed, embarrassed.

  “Which of you was the dad,” Drew finished, a lump rising in her throat. “Emma looks a lot like Grant.”

  “Grant’s her daddy, no question. We did a DNA test, and Grant was the clear winner. I’d figured that, but Christina wanted us all to know for sure. Only fair.”

  “I’m sorry.” Drew saw in Ray’s eyes that while he shrugged off the incident, it had haunted him for a while. “As a mom, I know what it feels like to be told you’re having a kid. Scary, but so wonderful at the same time, right?”

  “Yeah.” Ray nodded. “It would have messed things up for all of us, but yeah, for a time, I kinda hoped.” He gave her a quiet look. “That’s weird, but I couldn’t help it.”

  “I don’t think it’s weird.”

  She wasn’t sure how she felt, knowing Ray had shared something so intimate with Christina. Envious, definitely. Plus a little anger at Christina for racing from Ray to Grant, and causing Ray anguish. Ray would never say the word “anguish,” but she saw the flash of it.

  She’d also seen how much Grant and Christina loved each other, and how much they adored their daughter. They belonged together, that family. But Ray had been pushed out in the cold.

  As Drew had said, Christina’s loss.

  Ray lifted their twined fingers and kissed Drew’s. “Now it’s your turn. I don’t need your life history, but tell me if Erica’s daddy will show up and wonder what I’m doing in his wife’s living room.”

  “He won’t.” Drew paused, waiting for the hollow pain and guilt that always accompanied thoughts of Philip, but to her surprise, she felt only a flutter. “Philip was killed eight years ago, in an accident during a snowstorm. Huge pileup in a whiteout, and he wasn’t the only casualty. It was horrible. We’d already separated, had agreed to divorce.” She paused. “Agreed isn’t a good word. I left him. Kind of the same thing you were saying—a relief when it was over. I finally could eat breakfast without being criticized about every bite.”

  Drew remembered the days after she’d packed her bags and Erica’s and walked away. Nothing had been easy. When Philip finally figured out she was serious he’d turned a cold shoulder, saying she’d come crawling back home before long.

  It had been hard not to—money was tight, and Erica didn’t understand why her father wasn’t there anymore. Philip’s derision had sounded in Drew’s head whenever she ate white bread instead of whole grain, had an extra slice of bacon, or lingered over her coffee.

  His admonishing voice had taken a long time to go away. Six months after Drew had taken this step, Philip had decided to drive to Wisconsin to visit a woman he’d met at a conference. A storm had struck, as they could so fast in that part of the country, and he’d died.

  “His brother blamed me,” Drew said quietly. “If I hadn’t broken up with Philip, Jules said, he wouldn’t have been going to visit another woman that night. What Jules doesn’t understand is there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t have made the drive that night to visit the woman anyway. I suspect he enjoyed himself at his conferences quite a lot. He never took me.”

  “His choice to go,” Ray said. “That can’t be your fault.”

  “It wasn’t.” Drew dragged in a breath. “But it was a long time before I could throw off that certainty. We screw ourselves up.”

  “We sure do.”

  They sat in silence a moment, Ray tracing one finger over Drew’s palm, which sent nice tingles through her.

  “When I heard I’d inherited this house, I didn’t think very long before I decided to accept it,” Drew said after a time. “There were too many things I needed to leave behind.” She glanced around at the drop cloths, inhaled the smells of paint, varnish, and drying epoxy downstairs. “Not necessarily a practical choice.”

  Ray continued to caress her palm. “We’re making a dent. Little bit at a time, and it gets done.”

  Drew relaxed into a smile. “You’re such a philosopher.”

  “Nah. Training horses takes a lot of patience. So does learning to sit on a bull who doesn’t want you there. Not to mention being the oldest brother of three wild siblings. Well, two wild ones and Grace. But Grace was so nice to people, no matter how bad they were, that it scared me to death. I was always trying to protect her.”

  “She seems very happy now.”

  “Yep. Carter was one of the bad people, but he was ever gentle with Grace.” Ray softened. “Now if we can get Kyle to move his butt with Dr. Anna, that will be another sibling taken care of. I think Lucy’s okay, but she’s kind of swept away her old life for her new.”

  “Like I’m doing.”

  “Sort of. But Lucy’s got family and friends here, whenever she wants them. You didn’t leave that behind, I’m getting from what you’re saying.”

  “No.” Drew again waited for the worry about leaving her job, the apartment she’d known for a long time, her neighbors, the shop on the corner where she’d grab a quick coffee, to manifest and eat at her. It didn’t come. She’d have to think about why not. “I liked my job and the people I worked with, but I didn’t have—I don’t know. Roots. I might be looking for that here.”

  “Your grandparents were Riverbenders. So here—roots.” Ray gestured around them.

  Drew wanted to laugh. “In the most basic way.” She rubbed a hand through her hair. “Will this work? And even if we do fix up the house, will anyone come to stay in it? I don’t see a ton of tourists running through Riverbend.”

  “Oh, they’re out here,” Ray said. “Once th
ey know you have a great place for them to take a load off, they’ll come.”

  Drew rested her other hand on their twined ones. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a nice guy?”

  “No.” Ray gazed at her, deadpan. “They say Ray’s the mean one. Watch out for him.”

  “No way.”

  “Way.”

  They looked at each other a while, words trailing away. Drew never felt the urgent need to think of something—anything—to say when she was with Ray. They could work in silence or drink iced tea and simply gaze across the land, enjoying the sunshine and occasional cool breeze.

  Drew realized how alone they were. Erica’s absence made the place so quiet, every click of the refrigerator or the wet slather of Cinders licking her fur on the windowsill loud in the stillness.

  They were alone, no one to interrupt, no one to judge. Drew’s bedroom would be bathed in sunshine, the bed spread with crisp sheets.

  A glance at Ray let her know he was thinking about it too. They could lie together while Drew explored his body, discovering whether the muscles under his clothes were as taut and smooth as the ones he bared. She wondered how gentle his big hands would be on her body, and if she could keep from wrapping herself around him and taking her fill.

  Her face grew hot, and Ray looked away, clearing his throat. The silence became suddenly less soothing.

  “Guess we should get to work,” Ray said.

  Drew nodded. “Guess we should.”

  “Guy from White Fork is driving out a load of lumber. I’m going to replace all the boards and beams on the porch so we can actually walk there.”

  “Thanks for arranging that.”

  Drew reminded herself that her purpose was to fix the house, fulfill the terms of the trust, and then decide what to do. Rolling in bed with a hot cowboy was not on the agenda.

  As Ray released her hand and rose to his feet, sauntering to the kitchen to deposit his iced tea glass, Drew’s gaze riveted instantly to his nice butt and powerful thighs.

  She decided right then that she needed to put the hot cowboy on her agenda, and started thinking of the many and interesting ways she could do that.