Ride a Cowboy... or Two (Mail Order Bride MFM Roamce)

by Terry Towers

  I didn’t share those fears anymore. What my gut had told me had panned out; he wanted to help me. He wanted to make me happy, though I was a little concerned about school; we seemed to have clashing opinions on the topic.

  We’d figure it out. One step at a time.

  “Do you know how to get on?”

  Cocking my head to the side, I raised an eyebrow at him.

  Laughing, he released the brown horse’s harness and came to stand next to me. “Alright, in that case. It’s pretty straightforward. Beauty is well-trained, so a child can ride her easily enough. We ride western style here.” He pointed to the stirrup “Put your right foot in the stirrup and grab hold of the horn. Step up and swing your left leg over the back of the horse while pulling yourself up using the horn.”

  I did as told, putting my foot in the stirrup, a little uncertain about pulling myself up as the saddle felt like it was shifting.

  “It’s fine. It’s sturdy. The saddle isn’t coming off, I assure you.” He gave me a wink. “I’ve done this before.” He grabbed my hips to help steady me and assist me up and onto the back of the horse. It didn’t surprise me when I felt his hand brush against my ass, though I felt my cheeks grow warm nonetheless.

  Once we were both on our horses, Ryker was in the process of instructing on how to control the horse when a large figure appeared hustling across the yard and in our direction. It was Calvin.

  As he neared, I couldn’t help but lower my gaze. The man was the exact opposite of Ryker. Where Ryker was open and approachable, Calvin was extremely intimidating. I felt bad that he’d lost his wife, though I was surprised there was a woman out there who could break through that unapproachable air he gave off. She must have been a strong, determined lady.

  “Ryker, I need you to go into town. There’s a shipment coming in and since the account for the milking machinery is under your name, you have to go to town to sign for it.”

  “I was just about to show…”

  “Show her later.” His voice was gruff.

  “It’s fine, we can go later,” I cut in, not wanting to rock the boat with his brother any further than it already was.

  “Actually…” He clucked his tongue off the roof of his mouth, “Calvin, is there anything you can do until I get back?”

  Calvin huffed. “Of course not, that’s why you need to go now. We’re losing money every minute that the machine is down. I can’t do a goddamned thing.”

  “Then you won’t mind taking Nina for a ride through the trails while I’m gone. She’s never been on a horse before, she needs instruction, but she’s been dying to go riding.”

  “No, I —” I protested. But what could I say? If I said I didn’t want to go with his brother, it would be more awkward than the ride. “Calvin looks busy; he doesn’t need to babysit me, Ryker.”

  “It’s not babysitting. He’s got nothing to do until I get back, and you two will be done way before then. It’ll give you both time to get to know each other better.”

  That’s what I’m afraid of, I thought, not sure how to respond. I’d already discussed with Ryker that I was uneasy around his brother. I was slowly turning from shy to angry. Why was he trying to push the matter when he knew how uncomfortable it would make me?

  “Fine. If it gets me the parts and the machinery up and running then I’ll take her and show her the basics.”

  I could hear the annoyance in his tone. He wanted to take me about as much as I wanted him to. Well, at least I wouldn’t be alone in my misery. Shooting a look of annoyance at Ryker, which he seemed to either not notice or ignore, I nodded. “Fine, if he doesn’t mind then what would it hurt.”

  The horse shifted, making me yelp from the sudden movement.

  “Whoa, easy.” Ryker reached out and grabbed the reins, settling Beauty and giving me a smile of reassurance. “She gets a little eager when she knows she’s going for a ride. Don’t worry, she’d never buck you off. She’s the safest ride we have.”

  Exhaling, I returned his smile. “Thanks.” Maybe he was right and it would be good for us. As much as I wanted to shy away, the truth was that I was going to be living with Calvin and had to make an effort to get to know him. Maybe he just needed to warm up to the idea of having a woman around again.

  “Well, in that case.” In one swift, graceful motion, Ryker dismounted and passed the reins to his brother. “Here, might as well take Toffee since she’s ready to go already.”

  “Yeah, sure.” He sounded less than enthusiastic, only giving me a cursory glance.

  “I’ll be back soon, babe.” Ryker gave my calf a squeeze before jogging away, leaving me to deal with his brother.

  Chapter 11

  Calvin

  Well, fuck. First the milking machine goes to hell and backs up a day’s work and now I have to entertain Ryker’s mail-order bride. I had better things to do with my time but if it meant that I could get things back in working order then fine, I’d entertain her for a couple hours.

  “So where was Ryker taking you?” I asked, not really caring.

  “I’m not sure; he was just going to take me out on the trails and teach me to ride. I’ve always wanted to learn but there weren’t any places around where I grew up to go and we could never afford to go even if there were,” she responded matter-of-factly.

  Hoisting myself up and onto the horse, I stared at her a moment. She was looking everywhere but at me. It made me wonder if she was avoiding my gaze because she knew I was onto her or because I made her so uncomfortable she couldn’t look at me. As much as I didn’t want her to be using my brother as a meal ticket, I also hated the fact I could be making an innocent woman, who according to Ryker had had a rough go at life, feel unwanted and uncomfortable.

  I knew what my parents would do. Even if they disapproved of Ryker’s choices, they’d still treat her with hospitality. So why couldn’t I?

  As much as I tried to convince myself that I didn’t know the answer to that question, that wasn’t the truth at all. Deep down, I knew.

  “Fine. Then I’ll give you a tour of the grounds and to the lake if that suits you.”

  “Okay.”

  She wouldn’t look at me directly. Fuck, I felt like a major asshole. A good man would apologize and welcome her. I guess perhaps I just wasn’t as good of a man as I should be. Call me a work in progress.

  After giving her some instruction, I gave Toffee a little nudge and we proceeded. Beauty knew to stay up with Toffee, virtually neck and neck, so it was quite easy for her to control the animal under her.

  We rode in silence. What was I expected to say? And she didn’t seem to be eager to start a conversation. Getting to know each other was a two-way street, wasn’t it?

  One thing I couldn’t stop myself from doing was glancing at her from time to time. When it came to looks, Ryker did pretty good for himself. She was a stunning woman, even for a red head who was way too thin in my personal opinion. I always preferred blondes with a little meat on their bones; my wife had been a blonde. She used to wear a pair of black, square framed glasses that made her look like a teacher, a very hot teacher. And she could cook like nobody’s business.

  I gave my head a shake. Enough with the stroll down memory lane. Time to focus on the present. And the present was riding beside me, her eyes taking in everything we passed by. It looked as though she were going to ask me something, but then decided against it.

  Her hesitation to ask me a question made me feel like the biggest dick in the world. “If you have any questions, then fire away,” I finally said. There, I’d opened the lines of communication; that was a start.

  The smile she gave me was weak as she looked at me and nodded. “Thank you, I’ll do that.”

  She had large, dark green eyes, the color of emeralds. Very, very pretty. I hadn’t looked close enough before this moment to notice before. And there was a little line of freckles along the bridge of her nose that was really evident in the bright sun, contrasting to her pale complexion. Really
cute. No doubt, all dressed up she could be as sexy as sin but wearing jeans and a white button-down shirt she looked really cute.

  “What?” She asked, tilting her head to the side and crinkling her nose up at me.

  I frowned. “What do you mean, what?”

  “You’re looking at me odd.” She paused and waved her hand at me. “Never mind.”

  Giving it some consideration, I imagine I was staring at her oddly. For a moment I’d been captivated. Fucking silly of me. She had a ring on her finger meaning she belonged to my brother.

  “Come on, this way.” I turned my horse so that we began heading down a trail that led to the lake. She’d like it there. I wouldn’t show her my special place that I shared with Allison, but I could show her the lake in general.

  “Where are we heading?” she asked, catching up to me. She’d really taken to riding. She looked so comfortable in the saddle.

  “You’re doing good. A natural.”

  She grinned. A gust of wind came up and blew a lock of her hair into her eyes, which she brushed back. “Thank you.” A blush colored her cheeks.

  “What’s the matter?”

  Laughing, she shook her head. “I watched YouTube videos on how to ride before I came here.”

  Cocking a brow up at her, I laughed. “YouTube videos?”

  “Yes. When Ryker told me he had horses, I learned. I tried to learn, from videos, so I’d know about how to ride when I got here.”

  “Seemed like a backward way to learn something.”

  “Why is that? If you don’t have a horse to practice on then you do the next best thing.”

  “I suppose. Maybe I’m just the hands-on type. Don’t think I could learn from a video, but it seems to be working for you.”

  She shrugged, a blush coloring her cheeks. “I learned English from videos. I learned about America from videos. Why not how to ride a horse?”

  Laughing again, I gave my head a shake. “Why not, indeed. Look, about this morning…”

  She put her hand up and shook her head. “Don’t worry. It’s no big deal.”

  “It is. I shouldn’t have spoken to you that way. I apologize. I was a little surprised to see that my brother had proposed. I didn’t realize he planned on doing that so quickly.”

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Nina

  Things were going much better than anticipated. I’d been very apprehensive about going for a ride with him but I was starting to enjoy myself, even if my company was Calvin. His conversation skills could be worked on; he was gruff and to the point. He didn’t seem to be much for idle chitchat as we continued our way towards the lake, but that was okay. I’d rather silence over what I’d experienced this morning.

  The apology from him had been appreciated and it seemed sincere. Maybe I just needed to give him a chance. He seemed the exact opposite of his brother, both in personality and in looks. He had to be a couple of inches taller than Ryker, and instead of the boyish good looks that Ryker had, he was thicker — not fat, not by any sense of the word, but extremely broad and muscular. His hair under the black Stetson hat was dark and cut short, with dark brown eyes to match. He was handsome, no doubt in that, just in a different way than Ryker was.

  I had so many questions, especially about his marriage. And I was curious about his love life if he had one. From what Ryker had said, it didn’t seem like he did. If what Ryker said could be believed, Calvin was a hermit.

  But I refrained from asking; we seemed to be on good terms right now and I certainly didn’t want to rock the boat with questions that might offend him. So instead, I went back to enjoying the scenery. The country was very beautiful, and I loved the smell of the forest around us; a big change from the smells I experienced in Moscow. My only real complaint was how much of a nuisance the flies were.

  “Just spit it out.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I can feel your eyes staring at the back of my head.” He turned in the saddle to pin me with a stare. “What’s the problem?”

  “There’s no problem.”

  “Then why are you staring?”

  “Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?” I spurred the horse forward so our horses were back to being neck and neck.

  “No, let’s just say I have a sixth sense.”

  I laughed. “Fine then, but I don’t feel it’s appropriate to ask what I want to. So I won’t. Maybe once we know each other better.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself. But be aware that I’m in a decent mood right now, despite the machinery breaking down; it doesn’t happen very often.”

  Cocking my head to the side, I frowned. He’d made the statement in a joking tone, but there seemed to be seriousness in what he was saying. “Why is that? You live in a beautiful house, have all this land. It seems so peaceful here…”

  “I have my reasons.” The gruffness returned to his voice and I cringed.

  Shit. Should have kept my big mouth shut.

  “It’s nothing like Moscow. So much nicer. I can’t wait to go into town and meet the neighbors.” I knew I should have just shut up but words came out like verbal diarrhea.

  “Town isn’t much to write home about, I’m afraid. There’s a Walmart and a couple of grocery stores. It’s a bit of a drive to get to the closest larger city.”

  “That’s fine. I’m tired of the big cities. It’s not the life I wanted for myself.”

  “What type of life do you want for yourself?” he asked, giving me a long stare.

  “I want one that’s filled with love. I want a home. And school. I’d like to go to college.”

  “Does Ryker know this?”

  I nodded.

  “Hmmm. And what is the plan for college?”

  “I don’t know yet.” The horse slipped on a loose rock and dipped a moment, making me yelp in surprise as I clutched to the horn.

  “It’s okay. She won’t drop you. Just make sure you have a secure grip.”

  I nodded. “Okay.” Looking up and straight ahead, I began to smile. Coming into my line of sight was the promised lake, which was massive; it seemed to go on forever. There were ducks quacking as they swam about. “Does the trail go all the way around the lake?”

  “It does. It takes some time to ride all the way around it though.”

  “Do you swim here?” As we came closer, I saw a little dock and a rowboat tethered to the dock.

  “On occasion. Allison and I came here a lot to swim and just get away.”

  “Allison is your former wife?”

  “She’s my wife,” he snapped, correcting me and making me cringe. Me and my stupid questions. Maybe I worded it wrong but I didn’t want to attempt to correct myself in case I made it worse.

  “Yes, sorry,” I muttered, shifting my gaze from his to peer out onto the lake again. I’d look anywhere, just not at him. So much for making progress with my future brother-in-law.

  Chapter 12

  Ryker

  I knew I was taking a chance by leaving Nina with Calvin after their encounter earlier; I could have easily taken her with me but sometimes you just had to throw people to the wolves — or wolf in this case.

  She was tough, and as much as Calvin liked to play the mean, tough guy, the truth was the exact opposite. He’d never have fallen so hard for Allison if he was as cold as he liked to let on.

  As I pulled up to the house, I noticed them both in the distance. Neither one was talking, Nina and Beauty trailing behind Calvin and Toffee. She didn’t look pleased.

  Well shit. At least I tried. With a sigh, I cut the engine and got out of the truck. Going around to the back of the truck, I opened the tailgate and pulled the parts Calvin needed to the edge. Calvin was the engineering guy; I was more of the customer service and bookkeeper guy. Certainly not as sexy as what he did but just as important.

  “You have the parts?” he asked without so much as a greeting, stopping the horse next to the truck and dismounting.

  “Yeah. Everything is here. At le
ast I think it is.”

  Calvin grumbled something under his breath and began inspecting the boxes as I went to Nina, grinning while I assisted her as she struggled to get down from the horse. She’d get the hang of it eventually.

  “How was the ride?”

  “It was good.” She returned my smile, brushing herself off. “Calvin took me out to the lake.”

  I looked over at my brother, who seemed to be ignoring us. I wondered if he’d taken her to his special spot at the lake. It was doubtful. “You had fun then?”

  “It was good.” She looked over at Calvin. “Thank you again.”

  He grunted and nodded, grabbing a box and walking past us towards the barn. “Take the horses back, if you like. I’ll send a few of the men for the other boxes,” he stated over his shoulder.

  “Thanks. Give me a shout if you need any help,” I called after him.

  “I won’t. Why don’t you take her into town?” he shouted back. “She might as well get used to the place.”

  That wasn’t such a bad idea. It would give us a chance to grab some groceries as well. I was pretty sure that what was in the fridge wasn’t going to be good enough. “You want to go to town? Maybe grab some groceries?”

  She nodded. “I’d like that. There wasn’t much in the fridge this morning.”

  Chuckling, I grabbed the reins of both horses and began leading them to the stables, Nina in tow.

  ~*~ TT ~*~

  Nina

  He wasn’t kidding. The town was small. There was one main strip and that was about it. On the strip was a string of boutiques and a little general store. At one end of the strip was a Walmart and the other a grocery store called the Piggly Wiggly.

  I crinkled up my nose and laughed at the name.

  “What’s so funny?” Ryker asked as he took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at me.