Accidental Cowgirl

by Maggie McGinnis

  He resisted the urge to stroke her cheek, laying his head back on the wool blanket. How in the world had his entire universe flipped on its head in the span of six months? And then done it again in one week? One night? With a woman he barely knew? He’d built a very controlled, logical existence out on the West Coast, far far away from everything he’d ever known.

  Then Decker Senior had bitten the dust and left Ma holding the empty purse strings. Nothing had been the same since he’d made that fateful red-eye trip home to Montana. Decker looked sideways again at Kyla. Her hair draped softly over his arm, and her eyelashes were thick on her cheeks. Teeny freckles dotted her nose, and her cheeks were still flushed.

  As if she could feel him examining her in her dreams, Kyla’s eyelashes fluttered, and then she woke with a start. “Good morning, Snow White,” Decker said softly, pulling her in to kiss her forehead.

  Kyla looked confused and disheveled at the same time. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, grabbing the blanket as it fell and revealed her flushed, gorgeous body. She squinted out the window at the other end of the barn. “What time is it?”

  Decker shook the tingles out of his arm and checked his watch. “Seven-thirty.”

  “Seven-thirty? That’s not possible. That would mean I—” Kyla snapped her eyes back to his.

  “Slept through the night?” Decker finished for her.

  She nodded slowly. “Yesss. And I haven’t done that in a very, very long time.” She looked around, pulling her jeans and blouse out of the hay while she held the blanket up to her chest. “So—”

  She looked so adorably disheveled that he just wanted to gather her in his arms and lie her back down, but Cole would be here any minute. Decker knew his morning routine. He also knew Kyla would absolutely die if she was caught naked in the barn with him, as fun as the night had been.

  “So—” he echoed, eyebrows raised.

  She struggled to put her clothing back on without dropping the blanket, and he struggled not to help her keep it off. “I, um, I wish I could think of something appropriate to say, but I’m coming up empty.”

  He reached out to stroke her silky cheek. “Appropriate’s overrated anyway, sweetheart.” She looked so discombobulated that he knew he had to try to put her at ease. “You could talk about how fantastic last night was if you want to. Or … let’s see … maybe wax poetic about my prowess if you need to.” He flexed his abs playfully, making her giggle. “You could definitely tell me I’m the best you ever had. That would be totally fine.”

  She finished buttoning her shirt and stood up to pull on her jeans. “If I told you that, you’d get all egotistical on me.”

  He put his hand to his heart. “You’re killing me here.”

  Kyla zipped her jeans, then straddled his legs as she crouched down to her knees. She took each of his hands in hers and trapped them over his head, then leaned down to capture his lips with her own. He tried to move his hands to her hips, but she forced them back down to the blanket as she darted her tongue across his lips. He groaned. “You are definitely killing me now.”

  “Decker Driscoll, I have only just begun to kill you.” She pulled away with an impish smile. “But right now I’d better get out of here before someone comes in.” She stood up, then got a pained expression on her face. “Oh, my God.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I have to get back to my cabin. And your mother’s already cooking breakfast up at the lodge. Her kitchen window looks right down here. She’s totally going to see me.”

  Decker laughed, standing up and pulling on his shirt. “If you sneak out the back door, you can come around the cabins from the other side.”

  Kyla looked sidelong at him. “I thought you said you’d never done this before.”

  Decker’s smile faded as he reached for Kyla’s hands and brought them both to his chest, clasped inside his own. “Kyla, you are the first woman I’ve ever snuck out the back door of the south barn. Got it?”

  Kyla let a small giggle escape as he kissed her nose. “Got it. I’d better go before anyone catches us. Ma could fire you for fraternizing with the guests.”

  “I’ll take the risk.” He opened the back door and pretended to shoo her through it, smiling as she mock-tiptoed down the path. Damn. He shook his head as he pulled the hose from its hanger and started filling water buckets. He was playing with fire here, that’s for sure.

  Someone was gonna get burned.

  * * *

  “Everybody have enough to eat?” Cole asked as he piled the tin plates into the wagon sitting at the edge of the clearing they’d pulled into on Monday night. Kyla laughed. The volume of food in that wagon could have fed a crowd three times their size.

  Next to her on a log at the fire, Tom rubbed his ample stomach. “I don’t know if it’s your Ma’s recipe, or riding all day, or just this mountain air, but that is the best damn stew I’ve ever had.”

  “Well, as soon as we get everybody back around the fire, we’ll teach you some good old-fashioned camp songs.”

  Hayley laughed. “Oh, Jess will be in heaven.”

  Cole pointed at them. “On second thought, I’ve heard you three sing. Maybe we’ll skip campfire songs and go straight to bed.”

  Decker laughed as he came into the circle of logs. “I second that.” He was carrying a guitar, tuning it as he found a spot to sit on one of the logs directly across from Kyla. After an entire day in the saddle, replaying an entire night in his arms, she was more confused than ever.

  Every time she looked at him, she could swear she ached in all the wrong places. Every time he caught her eye and winked, she remembered how his eyes had looked last night, inches from hers. Every time she saw his muscles flex under his soft blue shirt, she swore she wanted to tear it right off from his body and run her hands over the taut skin underneath.

  She sighed. This was not like her. She was not one of those women undone by lust. She was highly logical, intelligent. Or at least she’d thought so before the whole Wes debacle. He’d snowed her completely, but had she ever felt this need, this longing to be with him? To drag him off into the forest for some alone time? To undress him slowly, exquisitely, painfully?

  Um, no. Despite every objection she’d come up with all day, the only thing Kyla wanted to do was be with Decker, all of him. It was a scary, powerful feeling, and not at all comfortable. She knew better. She knew he could be playing games. But if Wes was a master, then this guy was sensei to the masters.

  And now he was humming as he tuned his guitar. He could sing, for God’s sake. Could the package get any more perfect? Kyla sighed again. If this man could hold a tune half as well as he could, um, kiss, she’d track Marcy down herself, pay her to disappear, and carry Decker off into the sunset.

  Cole finished stacking utensils in the food wagon and came to sit beside Decker. As he tossed a new log into the fire, he looked around the circle. “Anyone know any good campfire songs?”

  Hayley turned to Kyla. “You know some good ditties. Why don’t you teach us one of them?”

  Kyla felt her face redden and was thankful for the growing darkness. “The ditties I know are hardly appropriate for the family campfire, Hayls.”

  “C’mon, sweetie,” Jess urged from her left. “Remember the schnapps ad? The one that aired in France?”

  Kyla saw Decker turn to look at her quizzically. “I am not singing schnapps ads tonight. I’m on vacation, remember?”

  Decker cocked his head, eyebrows stitched together. “Is that where I’ve heard your voice before? You do ads?”

  Kyla nodded slowly. “Um, yes.”

  Tom and Maureen chuckled as Theresa sent a snide look Kyla’s way. “I didn’t even know that was a career.”

  Kyla put on her best fake smile, determined not to let Theresa get to her. “Well, it wasn’t meant to be. I was looking for a … unique way to put my MBA to use.” That sounded better than the truth, right? “I did ad work for a local radio station, and an agent heard
my voice.”

  Hayley leaned toward her. “Apparently she has a—quote—very salable late-night voice.”

  Decker stifled a choke, then raised his eyebrows in challenge. “So let’s hear one.”

  “Nope. No way. You’ve already insulted my singing.”

  Decker smiled mischievously. “Come on. Dare you to quote one of your late-night ads.”

  Kyla thought for a moment, searching for one that would be appropriate for the mixed audience at the fire. Unfortunately, there was a much longer list of those that wouldn’t be, but they weren’t going to let her off the hook without giving them something here. “All righty. Here’s one. Remember the zoom-zoom-zoom ads?” Everyone around the fire nodded. “I was Sexy Woman Number Two. I said, Baby, drive me home.”

  Cole laughed. “I remember that one. You do have a good late-night voice.” Kyla thought she saw Decker elbow him.

  “Did you ever get to do one of those bathtub ads? Y’know, where the guy and girl are sitting in bathtubs staring at the sunset?” Theresa raised her eyebrows.

  Kyla snorted. “None in the States, thank goodness.”

  “Her voice is apparently quite famous in northwestern Australia, though.” Jess grinned.

  Jimmy poked at the fire with a long stick. “Well, honey, if you ever need to practice lines in the bathtub …”

  Decker cuffed him before he could finish. “That’ll be enough, Jimbo.” He strummed a couple of chords on his guitar. “Let’s teach ’em some campfire songs, Cole. Ladies? Could we try to keep it clean?”

  * * *

  “Do I need to find you some hay bales and a blanket so you can sleep?” Decker’s soft voice broke into Kyla’s thoughts as she stared into the campfire. The rest of the crew was spread out in sleeping bags some distance from the fire, and had been asleep for hours, but of course she hadn’t been able to even try to sleep. After the heat of the previous night, she felt completely unmoored.

  He sat down on the log beside her so their thighs were touching from hip to knee. Ohh, boy. The warm tingles started as soon as he sat, and they threatened to muddle her brain pretty quickly. She shivered, and immediately he reached out his arm to pull her closer. “Cold?”

  In all honesty, no, she wasn’t. Just his presence made her jittery, and thoughts of another night in his arms sent her practically to orbit. “Not really, no.”

  He started to take his arm away as he smiled in the firelight. “I see. Was that a please-put-your-arm-around-me fake shiver?”

  Kyla giggled. “No. Promise. It was a real shiver. I’m just not cold.”

  “Do I make you nervous?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.” Decker removed his arm and faced the fire with his elbows on his knees, hands clenched in front of him.

  “But not in a bad way.”

  He looked over at her, puzzled. “Do tell.”

  “Can’t. It would break the girl-code. I have to maintain some mystery.”

  “I see. I couldn’t begin to crack the girl-code.”

  “It’s really the sub-codes that get you. You’d never understand.” Kyla picked up a stick and poked idly at the fire. All day long, when she hadn’t been thinking about last night in the barn, she’d been thinking about the conversation she’d overheard earlier in the evening. She knew it was none of her business, but she’d been unable to chase it out of her head all day. “Decker, is the ranch okay?”

  Decker gently took her stick and tossed it into the fire. “Careful of the sparks.” He paused. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m probably out of line asking. Never mind.” No way could she reveal what she’d heard last night. It was obviously highly personal, and she had no business asking about it or getting answers. His money problems were none of her damn business.

  Decker ground out a spark that had jumped over the stone circle. It was a long moment before he replied. “It’s an honest question. And I guess I’d be wondering, too, if I were a guest. It’s pretty obvious this place wasn’t set up to be a vacation paradise.”

  Kyla’s eyes widened. “Oh no! I didn’t mean that. It’s amazing here.”

  “Well”—he sighed—“it is what it is. We spent two months retrofitting everything we could, and though people seem to find it charming, it only appeals to a select group who don’t require personal concierges, Wi-Fi access, and a twenty-four-hour masseuse on call. If we’re going to really make this venture work, we need to appeal to a bigger piece of the market.”

  “The kind who want personal concierges and on-site babysitters so they don’t have to deal with their kids while they’re on a family vacation?”

  “Exactly.”

  “I think the ranch is adorable. I’d hate to see it any other way.”

  “Unfortunately, if we don’t figure out a way to market it to a bigger segment of vacationers, we won’t survive, let alone thrive.”

  Kyla knew that was minor compared to what she’d overheard last night. “It was really nice of you to come home to help Ma and Cole.”

  Decker poked his stick hard into the dirt. “Well, it’s her family’s land. I can’t let her lose the ranch.”

  “So how long are you planning to stay here?” Kyla hated herself for caring what his answer would be. Hated herself for even asking.

  The silence was deafening as he didn’t respond. Finally, in a quiet voice, he said, “About three more weeks, if all goes as planned.”

  “Oh.”

  “Next week starts our last session of the summer. Then Ma’s taking a few weeks off, trying to figure out a strategy to get guests here for the winter.”

  Kyla nodded miserably. “So in three weeks, you’ll be back to your real life on the West Coast, designing houses for the rich and famous.”

  Decker nodded slowly, and to Kyla it looked like he wasn’t exactly thrilled about the notion. Or maybe she was just hoping that’s how he felt.

  She took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. “Then what was last night, Decker?”

  He turned to pin her with his deep blue eyes, sighing. “I don’t know, Kyla. It never should have happened.”

  Chapter 21

  “What are you drawing, sweetie?” Jess peered over Kyla’s shoulder as she sat down beside her on the picnic blanket and unwrapped her turkey sandwich. Kyla’s sat uneaten as she scribbled on a sketch pad she’d brought along. Their Tuesday morning ride had brought them over a couple of streams and by a rocky hillside strewn with rabbit dens, but now they were settled in a sunny meadow for lunch while the horses grazed quietly nearby.

  Every time Kyla had thought the land couldn’t get prettier, Decker would lead them over another rise and a new expanse of meadow or forest would spread out below them, the majestic Rockies always in the distance. Despite her abject depression after her conversation with Decker, Kyla’d had ideas crowding her head all morning, and hadn’t been able to wait to dismount Kismet and pull out her pad. Her train of thought was completely illogical, but for some reason, she couldn’t shut down her brain.

  “Sweetie, are you trying to figure out a way to save the ranch?”

  “What?!” How did Jess even suspect the ranch needed saving? And how transparent was she, anyway?

  “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but overhear you guys talking last night. It was so quiet. Voices carry.”

  “How much did you hear?” Kyla felt her eyes prick as she remembered Decker saying their night together never should have happened.

  “Just the part about the ranch. Nothing else.” Jess put her sandwich aside and bit delicately into an apple.

  “Sure.”

  “I think he’s just confused, Kyla. He didn’t mean it.”

  “You liar! You heard everything.”

  Jess cringed. “I’m sorry! By the time I realized you two were headed into a private conversation, it was a little late to fess up that I could hear you. I swear I buried my head after the It never should have happened part.”

  “Well, there was
n’t any more to hear after that. That’s pretty much where we left it.”

  “I’m sorry, Kyla.”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  “There’s still time, you know.”

  “Right, Jess. We’re leaving at the end of the week, and he’ll be back in L.A. in three weeks. Doesn’t really bode well, even without Marcy in the picture.”

  “You never know, honey. Maybe he just needs time to sort out his feelings.”

  “He’s a man, Jess. How complex can his feelings get?”

  “You have a point.” Jess pointed at the sketch in Kyla’s lap. “What’s this building here?”

  “That, my dear, is the concierge building. High-end suites, personal masseuses, free babysitting, you name it.”

  “You going to build it?”

  “Nope.” Kyla closed the sketch book. “I have a better idea.”

  * * *

  “Hey, Kyla. Follow me.” Decker called forward to her, then roped his horse off the forest trail and into the brush. He’d sent Cole to the head of the line after lunch, and he and Kyla were bringing up the rear.

  She paused, hands on Kismet’s reins. “That sounds dangerous. I’ve just barely learned to ride in a straight line, Decker.” And I don’t really trust myself to be alone with you right now, despite the fact that you regret being with me.

  “Trust me.”

  “Oh, right. That definitely eases my mind.” Against her better judgment, she signaled Kismet to follow Decker, and wonder of wonders, the horse complied. Maybe she was getting the hang of this riding thing?

  They plodded uphill through a dense grove of pines, breaking out of the trees as the hillside leveled out. Decker pulled to a stop, motioning her to ride up beside him. He put his finger to his lips and pointed toward a grassy bank to their right, handing her a tiny pair of binoculars.

  She scanned the bank, seeing nothing but grass and a big hole, but gasped when two baby foxes peeked their noses out of it. They tumbled out, head over furry paws, engaged in some sort of cub-wrestling game. Kyla laughed silently as they chomped on each other’s ears and tripped over their bushy tails.