Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy?

by Abigail Sharpe

  “That’s… great.” What exactly had Molly and Jeanne told these women about the market research? He wanted his arm back, but Robin held it tightly as they viewed Plains Indians ledger art. The colorful cloth narratives mostly depicted stories of battles, but there were a few abstract ones that the display claimed were representations of dreams. She maintained a steady stream of chatter while pointing out her favorite parts of each piece. He listened to her art opinions, but started drifting when she went on tangents about medieval faire reenactments and classic TV reruns.

  “I’m really excited about the cooking we get to do, too. I don’t spend much time in the kitchen, but I’d love to make your favorite meal. Is it steak? I bet it’s steak.” She paused long enough for Riley to nod. “Those were beautiful flowers Ainsley got, weren’t they? Is Edward her brother?” Robin’s light blue eyes peeked up at him as she bunched her hair and twisted it to the top of her head, tucking it around to tie into a bun. Her question brought Riley back to the present. He stiffened with the mention of the flowers and wondered how Robin knew about them.

  “I don’t know.” But boy, did he want to.

  “I saw his name when Jeanne read the card. I wonder what the occasion is. Maybe it’s her birthday. Or she was being congratulated on making it to round two. Or maybe Edward is some guy back home that she dumped in order to have a chance at you. How romantic is that?”

  His thoughts exactly. Except for the romantic part.

  * * *

  “Ceese, it’s Ainsley. Call me as soon as you get this.” And the fifty other messages I already left for you today.

  So reconciliation with Edward hadn’t happened. And Ainsley needed to know what was going on before her own life was ripped from her control.

  She trudged through the barn to the shearing shed, the subtle aroma of wool tickling her nose. One of the hands gave a brief demonstration on how to skirt and roll the shorn fleece, how to get it clean and pick out the debris. She tried to pay attention, but the not knowing caused too much distraction. As did the other women in her group. Jewel and Leigh whispered and giggled to each other and threw sidelong stares her way. She heard Edward’s name and a small sort of dread filled her. One of them might have been with Jeanne when she opened the unmarked card.

  Dinnertime was a welcome break from the snickering, though she traded one set of distractions for another. Riley remained silent and scowling, even though Robin gushed about what a great time they had on their date and showed off her Indian art souvenir. Ainsley tried to feel enthusiastic, but an unwelcome sense of trepidation started in her gut and took over the rest of her body. Riley didn’t look at her. He didn’t smile at her. There were no heat-filled covert glances when she told him goodnight, no whispered suggestions that she meet him later. Damn Edward.

  After dinner, the women gathered in the den to play cards. It amused Ainsley to think of how bitchy Jewel and the others were when no one with the last name of Pommer was within earshot. She took advantage of their pretend niceness and tried to get them interested in a friendly game of poker, giving her something to concentrate on that wasn’t hard muscle and dark wavy hair.

  Jeanne stood by her while she dealt to Meagan and Robin, who kept calling her by the initials PB. Ainsley still didn’t ask what it meant. Let them have their little games. She gestured for Riley’s sister to sit.

  “I’d like to play, but I don’t know how,” Jeanne said.

  Ainsley explained the hands and how to bet. The girl learned quickly and soon after they started playing for penny antes, she had a small stack built up in front of her.

  Every time a door opened, Ainsley’s body tingled with the anticipation of seeing Riley. When it was either one of the wife-wannabes leaving the house or a ranch hand coming in, she came a step closer to the impending confrontation. Only Meagan and Jeanne remained with her when the door opened again. She kept her eyes focused on the cards in front of her.

  “Hi, Riley!” Jeanne waved her hand, nearly knocking into Meagan in her enthusiasm. “Ainsley taught me how to play poker!”

  He was here. In the same room. The air became thicker and Ainsley struggled to breathe.

  “Did she, now?” Riley headed to the table. “Deal me in.”

  She gathered her courage and risked a peek at him. A muscle in his cheek clenched as their eyes met, but she refused to look away.

  Meagan rose with a stretch. “You can have my seat. I’m getting tired anyway.”

  Ainsley got a moment to gather herself as Riley saw her roommate out of the house. When he came back, he turned the wooden chair around and straddled it, waiting in stiff silence for Ainsley to deal. She kept her fingers away from him when he reached for his cards. They played two more hands until Jeanne said she was going to bed and carefully gathered her hard-won pennies.

  A streak of panic ran through her as Riley said goodnight to his sister. Jeanne had been her buffer. She cleared her throat and stood. “It’s late. I should go, too.”

  He said nothing, only gathered the cards and shuffled, the quick flipping the only sound between them. He fixed her with an unyielding stare. “We could make this game more interesting.”

  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other before retaking her seat. Better get this over with. “What do you have in mind?”

  He dealt them both one card face up and one down. “Want a card, Fairfax?”

  She added the total. Eighteen. “No, thanks.”

  He dealt himself a card, then frowned. He flipped over his downcard to reveal he had a twenty-two. “So, ask me something. Anything.”

  “Is this your normal way of picking up a girl?” She managed a small smile.

  “No,” he said, and dealt again. This time he won. “Are you enjoying the Crescent Ridge?”

  “It’s lovely, thank you.” She knew a question about Edward was lurking somewhere in Riley’s mind. She wished he’d get to it. The waiting was driving her crazy. She got the deck before he could deal again. He won anyway.

  “Are you having as good a time with me as I am with you?” he asked.

  That one was unexpected. His low voice rolled over her and sent prickles of awareness through her. Maybe he didn’t know. Maybe he had been busy and hadn’t had the time to see her. “I bet you ask that of all the girls, Cowboy,” she murmured, stacking the cards.

  His warm hand stopped her. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  He traced a lazy circle on the back of her hand. His touch heated her blood and she knew she couldn’t deny him. “I am,” she said. He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles before reaching for the cards and dealing again.

  He won. “Tell me about Edward.”

  A roaring filled her ears and her skin got clammy. He did know. But how much? She didn’t know what to say to him. “That wasn’t a question.”

  She reached for the cards. His hazel eyes darkened but he didn’t protest.

  She won. “Who would you be playing this with if I wasn’t here?”

  “No one.”

  She believed him, and weighed her options. She needed to tell him. His full lips were pinched at the corners and she could see pain lurking in his eyes. She tapped the cards into a neat rectangle and set them aside. “Edward is a nuisance. He’s a boring, stuffy accountant who freaks out when I don’t compare my bank statement to my checking account. And yes, he calls me on the twentieth of every month to ask.”

  “Why is he sending you flowers?” There was no accusation in his calm and controlled voice, but his broad shoulders stiffened.

  “He’s under the misguided notion that I’m his perfect future spouse.”

  The front door opened slowly, like someone was trying to sneak into the house. He held up a hand to silence her, then rose and stood in the door of the den, the lines of his body taut. “Seth, is that you? Do you know what time it is?”

  Ainsley couldn’t hear the reply, but Riley left the room. Avoidance and adrenaline had her out the door two seconds later
, happy that she didn’t have to talk about Edward anymore but dreading her next meeting with the cowboy. A dog sniffed her when she closed the door and she petted it behind its ears. “You’re a coward, Fairfax,” she muttered, starting the trek to the cabin with her canine companion. “You should go back there and wait.”

  Her cell phone rang, cutting off further internal reflection. Who would be calling her so late? The display was Cecelia’s land line. “How was the rest of the trip?” Ainsley asked her.

  “Awful.” A warbling resonance filled her sister’s voice.

  A pang of compassion went through Ainsley’s heart, though she had pretty much already figured that out on her own. “You couldn’t get Edward to stop behaving like an ass, huh?”

  “I think he even tried to book a separate cabin. We had a suite, and his door was closed to me when before it was… not.”

  “He stayed in his cabin the entire rest of the time?”

  “It’s possible he slipped out when I was sleeping. Ains, I have to warn you about something.”

  Yeah. She already knew.

  “He insisted on driving me home, God knows why. To prolong the agony for both of us, maybe. He kept asking me questions about the ranch and what you were doing. I think he’s tried to talk himself back into being in love with you. He’s built you up to such an ideal that he won’t listen to his heart when it tells him he’s got the wrong girl. I’m sure Mom’s encouragement doesn’t help any, either.”

  Ainsley sat on a stone bench in the herb garden, letting the night breeze take away the pressing feeling of more trouble. “He’ll work it out, Ceese. Just give him time.”

  Her sister sighed. “I know. All right, I’ll let you go. There will be no crying or pity parties the next time I talk to you.”

  “Good deal.” Ainsley put her phone away and rubbed the dog’s soft head. His ears perked up a minute later and he jumped off the bench, tearing off after something in the field. She barely made out the form of a rabbit running for its life. Compassion for the small animal made her rise to stop the charging canine, but soon both animals were out of sight. She stood, her gaze lingering on the shadows by the house. No large, masculine figure appeared. She kicked a small pebble and released a quick, short breath. She should return to the house, but she couldn’t deal with any more battles tonight. She would have all day to explain Edward to Riley on their date tomorrow.

  * * *

  Riley poked his head into the kitchen the next morning and Ainsley jumped up from the table before he said a word. She had run away from him last night. What was she hiding? He didn’t smile, didn’t look at her, only led her to his truck. She climbed in, still not speaking, and the silence dug into him like spurs. He slid into the driver’s seat and regarded the woman by his side. Dealing with Seth took longer than he’d wanted and when he returned to the parlor, its emptiness left a kick in his gut. He half expected her to balk at their date, like a wolf who knew it was caught. The vehicle bounced over the cattle guard and he pulled onto the road, gripping the steering wheel tightly enough to see white surrounding his knuckles.

  “Edward is trying to convince himself he’s in love with me.”

  Her open features invited conversation so he pulled onto the side of the road and turned off the ignition. Indecision battled inside him. Last night showed him he had no claim to her. He might want her, and enjoyed spending time with her, but she’d be leaving and going back to her own life when this farce of a dating game was over. He had no right to expect or demand an explanation.

  “He’s not, though.” She turned in her seat, her fingers picking at her nails. “He’s listened to everyone in my family tell him he is and started to believe it. I think those stupid flowers were his way of reminding me he still existed when he should really be sending them to my sister.”

  “You don’t have to tell me.” If she was lying, like most women, he’d rather have her silence.

  “The hell I don’t. You’ve been acting like a bee got under your big cowboy bonnet since last night.”

  He didn’t want to care. He didn’t want her to know how much he really did. “I’ve got other things on my mind. I’ve been neglecting some ranch work to escort all you women around the state.” It wasn’t a lie. Seth and Molly and Steve and the rest of the hands were picking up his slack, but little things weren’t getting done because of his inability to do any actual work.

  She put a hand on his arm. Warmth seeped into his cotton shirt and spread over his body. “Listen, Cowboy. I’ve been water rafting before. Why don’t we spend the day at the ranch? You can do what you need to do and I’ll tag along.”

  It seemed a compromise, like she hadn’t told him everything. But though the idea of spending his day getting his hands dirty definitely had appeal, this was supposed to be her day. “That won’t be fun for you.”

  “Why, Riley Pommer,” she said, strengthening her drawl. “If I’m to become a carefully selected market research-wedded wife, I’m going to need to know what goes on around here on a daily basis.” She batted her eyelashes and a white hot streak of lust shot right to his groin.

  It had been a while since his body had called for someone as much as his did hers. Here was an opportunity to be with her, to get to know her, away from furtive corners and stolen glances. It didn’t mean a forever commitment, and she wanted to be with him, too. “Why don’t we spend the day at the ranch, but not working. There are some things I’d like to check, but then I’ll show you around.” There was another twenty minutes before the women got their mounts for the day. They could sneak into the kitchen and grab some lunch, get to the stables, and be gone before anyone saw them.

  The trees provided a hiding spot for the truck and they slunk into the house. Pointing Ainsley to a soft cooler, he gathered food for their meal. Voices floated into the kitchen accompanied by thudding footsteps on the hardwood floor.

  “Let’s go.” He grabbed their lunch and took her arm, then headed out the mud room. Before he got to the door, the handle turned. Ainsley froze, but he yanked the closet open, pushed her inside and got in behind her, closing the door before anyone could see them.

  “So much for stealth,” she whispered.

  Winter coats cushioned them, pillowing the cramped quarters and making movement difficult. Ainsley’s body heated the space between them, filling his senses with vanilla. Raw hunger cascaded over him and he shifted, intent on getting closer to her, to hold her against him and kiss her warm lips. Instead, he knocked into her stomach with the cooler of food.

  She muffled her gasp of surprise. “Ouch.”

  “Sorry.” He rested the cooler on the floor. His fingers ached with the need to feel her softness and they moved on their own. The closet door opened suddenly, sending sharp, blinding light into the darkness. When his vision cleared, Seth was grinning at them.

  “I’m pretty sure this isn’t on the list of planned activities,” his brother said. “Are you lost, Ry? Need some directions?”

  “No. Go away.”

  “I need the broom.”

  Molly’s footsteps echoed from the kitchen. “Seth? What’s taking so long?”

  “Not one word.” Riley fished the broom out from the back of the closet and shoved it at his brother, then closed the door as his sister entered the mud room.

  Ainsley clasped a hand tightly to her mouth and a muffled snort escaped the barrier.

  “Don’t you start.”

  Her other hand joined the first, laughter threatening to erupt. If she gave away their location, he’d have to listen to lectures from Molly for the rest of the day. He wrapped his arms around her and buried her face in his chest, her hair tickling his chin. The press of her body against him made him curse the confines of the small room.

  After a moment, her hands dropped from her mouth and gathered in his shirt. “I’m okay now,” she whispered.

  She was more than okay. Holding her this close flamed the fire between them and this time he didn’t think before he captured
her lips with his. He leaned against the wall and pulled her to him, her soft shape molding to his body. Her hands wound their way through his hair, holding him firmly in place and sending currents straight to his groin, until the door opened again and light fell over them. He bolted upright and shifted Ainsley behind him.

  “Molly’s upstairs if you want to leave.” Seth held the door open while Riley lifted the cooler and took Ainsley by the hand. “And you owe me. Big time.”

  They fled the mud room and crept to the barn to get the horses.

  Cookie was there, and he helped Ainsley saddle Mystic while Riley prepared Westley. The foreman promised his silence for anyone who came searching for either of them, and they were on their way, with their picnic basket, blankets, and other supplies tied securely to their horses.

  * * *

  Freedom soared through Ainsley’s veins like a power surge through a wire, leaving her mother and Edward and any doubts about Charleston Blooms back at the barn. She followed Riley as he rode north, his muscles flexing with his every movement. Her overheated body longed to take him back to the closet. It was what she wanted, consequences of a one-night stand be damned.

  They stopped at a pasture filled with grazing sheep and a couple of dogs watching over them. A cinnamon-colored mixed breed barked when they dismounted. Lambs stayed close to their mothers, their small bodies almost hidden among the other animals. Ainsley wanted to pet them; they looked so soft and inviting.

  Riley whistled sharply and the dogs ran to him. He stroked the mixed breed’s head. “This is Lady. She’s in charge here. The other one’s Hash.”

  Ainsley recognized Hash as her canine companion from last night. He sniffed her hand and she scratched behind his ears, watching as Riley took a tape measure out of his bag and headed toward the sheep. When they skirted away from him, he whistled again with a different cadence. Lady bounded forth and barked at the herd, guiding them around Riley. He caught up to one of the small animals and held it tight while he knelt beside it to measure a lock of its fleece. “When the lambs’ staples are long enough, we shear them.” He gave the animal’s head a quick rub before he released it and measured two more. “Not ready yet. We sell some fleece to a company that produces lanolin. Other fleece we sell for wool.”