Cowboy of Her Dreams

by Kira Barcelo

  “She is as pretty as—” Stone caught himself in time, “—the next gal. And, no, nothing happened between us. I’ve been busy trying to re-learn the ropes. That’s—well, Jenna’s not used to having other people around. She’s mostly been here with her brother and the hands. And my dad and sisters, but now my dad’s gone and…”

  Nothing happened between us. Nothing, unless he counted spanking Jenna twice, once with her bent over the kitchen island and last night, when she’d taken a trip over his knee. Nothing, other than some kisses. Nothing, though he’d hoped to take her to his bed the night before and make love to her. The same bed he was trying hard not to even notice right now.

  “All right, fine. Whatever!” Ashley threw her hand in the air in a dismissive wave. “I’m not going to be here that long, anyway, and neither are you.”

  “You’re not—how long were you thinking of staying?”

  “For the week. Or less. It depends.”

  “On?”

  “On if there’s anything for me to do here. I mean, what sort of malls do they have here? Something with real stores, I hope? And I need to get my workout in every day, plus I need a massage therapist. And what about a health food store? Because I hope you don’t think I’m eating steak. I don’t care if this is a ranch, Stone. Eating steak would be so icky, I’d probably get sick…”

  He’d been slowly inching in the direction of the doorway. From that vantage point, he looked down over the stairwell railing into the large family room. Evidently, Jenna had heard part of that conversation, and no wonder; Ashley was rambling on, oblivious to the fact that her voice carried. Below, Jenna smirked darkly up at him before disappearing into the kitchen.

  She was taunting him. Or maybe that was too strong a word; she was teasing him. Having fun at his expense. Despite the fact that Ashley was giving him a headache with all her whining, Stone found himself holding back a chuckle.

  “You are not listening to me, Stone Farrell, and I don’t like being ignored!”

  Turning at the waist, he caught sight of Ashley stomping her foot, her arms folded across her chest. Why was it that the women in his life, excluding his sisters, were always so difficult? Yet for some reason, Ashley wasn’t fazing him.

  He was more concerned with the naughty cowgirl who had to be fuming in the kitchen.

  “Why don’t you relax for a bit, Ash?” he suggested. “Get a little beauty sleep. I have some work to do. There’s a tub in that master bath. I’ll be putting in a garden tub when the room gets redone, but it’s big enough for you to take a nice bubble bath. That always calms you. And I should be back in a few hours. We can talk then. I promise.”

  “In a few hours? Stone, what will you be doing for all that time? What about the mall?”

  Shopping? She wanted him to take her shopping? This wasn’t Rodeo Drive and he didn’t have as much time on his hands. Leaning his forearm against the doorframe, he spoke to her as patiently but as firmly as he could.

  “Well, for starters, I have a mare that’s about to foal,” he began.

  “Okay. So what’s that in English?”

  “I have a horse that’s about to give birth.” Could this be a mood-changer for her? Smiling, he asked, “Would you like to watch?”

  “Oh, I don’t think so. It sounds messy. And I’ll bet there’ll be blood. You know I don’t do well around blood, Stone.”

  Forget it. He went on, “I have the vet coming, what with a sick cow and all. Jenna and I have to go over the books together, plus there are some repairs that need to be done in the stables—”

  “And what about the mall? You can’t expect me to sit around this place all day. I need activity, Stone. I need stimulation. I need to buy something.”

  He slapped his hand against his leg, the surefire sign that he was done with the conversation. “Okay, well, there’s your car in the driveway. Your rental, whatever. Punch mall into the GPS and have fun. We can do something together later on tonight. For now, though, I have a ranch to run, Ashley. Please understand that.”

  Her face flushed with color. “You’re taking this thing with the ranch much too seriously. This is only just supposed to be for fun, right? You’re not really thinking about becoming a cowboy. You can’t be.”

  “Why not?”

  Finally, her mood lightened and she giggled. “Because that’s not you. You’re not made for that.”

  “Oh, no? And what am I made for, exactly?”

  Ashley snuggled up to him and wrapped her slim arms around his waist. “Hollywood. Maybe someday the Oscar. Greatness! That’s not going to happen if you’re stuck here, miles and miles away in the middle of nowhere, playing the cowboy in some little town named Lindsay Falls. Be realistic, Stone. I don’t belong here…and neither do you.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  There really was no getting around it: that plastic brunette upstairs was there with one purpose in mind, and one purpose only.

  She was going to take Stone away from Jenna. Forever.

  Alone in the study with the computer switched on, she opened the ranch’s books to their respective computer programs. Jenna sat in the leather chair at the desk that had belonged to Parker Farrell, Stone’s dad, staring glumly at the screen. Transferring the books from old-fashioned, bulky ledger books to the spreadsheet programs had been her idea.

  At the time, Jenna had no idea how to work with the program, having never worked in an office a day in her life. Stone’s father had paid for a daylong class that had given her the software’s basics. The rest had been up to her, and she had indeed learned, more from hands-on working with the programs rather than from the books. Parker himself had given it a try, then claimed computers weren’t for him. He was content in seeing the numbers, which pertained to overall expenses, profits, and payroll for her, Jake and the hands, on the spreadsheets she’d printed out for him.

  Stone’s dad had trusted her implicitly. That was when she’d believed she and her brother would live on the ranch forever—or at least until Jake was a grown man, setting out to make his fortune and start his family with a wife.

  As for me…I was supposed to marry the new rancher. My cowboy.

  Stupid, childish dreams. All she’d been doing was setting herself up for the heartbreak of losing her cowboy to a spoiled, self-centered Tinseltown princess.

  Glancing out the window behind her, Jenna saw Ashley out on the backyard deck. She was stretching out those long, shapely legs on a lounge chair right in front of the pool. With her eyes shaded by sunglasses and her full, red-glossed lips in a pronounced pout, she was rubbing sunscreen lotion all over her body. Her teensy, barely-there bikini looked frilly and girly and definitely expensive.

  Jenna turned away, sighing. Ashley was beautiful, on the outside if not on the inside, from what she’d seen. There was no question about that. In her pictures online, particularly the ones on her website taken at various events, she appeared to live in designer gowns and three-inch high heels that made her look even taller.

  In her own closet, Jenna knew of only one dress hung there. A black one, plain and no frills, which she’d bought to wear specifically for Parker Farrell’s funeral. Stone was the only one of the rancher’s children who hadn’t been in attendance. The sisters had explained to guests that Stone had been filming a movie on a Caribbean island, and because of a hurricane all flights had been cancelled, stranding him there while his father was buried.

  One dress—and it had been used for a funeral. She inspected what she was wearing that afternoon. The usual: a pair of old jeans, cowboy boots and a light tank top. Her hat, which helped to shield her from those hours in the sun, was downstairs. Not exactly apparel that made her look womanly or alluring to a man.

  In short, she couldn’t compete with somebody like Ashley. Besides, Stone was marrying his almost-famous, gorgeous bride—not her.

  Someone rapped lightly against the closed door. Thinking it was her brother, she mumbled, “Come in.”

  Instead, Stone filled up t
he doorway. He peered in first, then stepped in fully and closed the door behind himself. Jenna forced her gaze to the computer screen, willing herself not to notice how good he looked, or what he did to her body without even laying a hand on her.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he apologized. “You couldn’t have very gotten far, though. Show me what you got.”

  “Fine. I don’t know if it’s even necessary.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She jerked her head up, hearing the sudden sharp tone in his voice. “Because I’ll probably still be doing it. Your dad wasn’t into computers. I’m just guessing you’re not, either.”

  “Oh, well, that’s a…pretty good guess.” Stone softened, stepping slowly across the room and around the desk, seating himself on the edge to look on with her. “I’m not. I thought you meant—never mind.”

  “You thought I meant what?” She was being curious, not argumentative.

  “Nothing. It’s just that you’re not the only one who doesn’t take me seriously when it comes to this place. But that’s my problem, not yours. Go on.”

  “For the record, I take you more seriously than I did before. But I know you also have obligations that you have to fulfill. Including getting—getting married to her.” As quickly as she could, Jenna turned back to the laptop screen. “Anyway, let’s get to work.”

  “Jenna, Jenna…listen…”

  She felt him beside her, bending over slowly to lightly kiss the tender skin on the nape of her neck. There was something so intimate about that, sweet and yet titillating, that she had to move her chair away a few inches, trying to put distance between them.

  “Stone, stop,” she ordered. “Your girlfriend’s right downstairs. You can’t come and kiss me while your heart belongs to her.”

  The anguish in his eyes surprised her.

  “I don’t know if my heart belongs to her, Jenna,” he protested. “I thought it did. Or I—I thought it was time I got married. I’m not getting any younger and—but anyway, everything’s different now.”

  “How’s it different?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said again, straightening up. “It just is.”

  Not the answer I wanted to hear. Jenna steeled herself, telling him, “You listen to me, cowboy. I’m not a doll for you to play with.”

  “I didn’t say you were. Believe me, Jenna, I know you must think everybody in show business hops into bed with everybody else, but that’s not who I am. I didn’t plan on feeling this way about you.”

  She kept her gaze fixed to the spreadsheet in front of her. She was afraid that if she looked at him, it would be that much easier for him to lie to her. That much easier for him to persuade her to give herself fully over to him, only for him to leave whenever Ashley proclaimed they would.

  “Is that the truth?” she confronted him.

  “Is what the truth?”

  “That you feel something for me? Or is that just what you think I want to hear? Because you have to know how I feel about you, Stone.”

  “Not totally, no. Why don’t you tell me, baby? Tell me what you feel. Tell me, so we can figure this thing out together…”

  His idea of sorting things out was rather unique, involving his hand on her chin, turning her head so that she had no choice but to face him. His dialogue was wordless, with his kiss communicating effectively from his heart to hers, a conversation that was instantly electrifying.

  “Stone, there’s something that you should know.” The words tumbled out of her lips before she even had a chance to think.

  How could she think? She was supposed to be going over the ranch’s finances with him. Somehow, she was being lifted to her feet, embroiled in a hot and heavy kiss with him, and Stone’s hands traveling from the small of her back to her behind, cupping a denim-covered cheek in each cupped palm.

  “I gotta know it now? Can’t it wait?”

  “Well, I don’t know if it’ll make a difference. But I’m a…I’ve never been with a man before. Not in that way.”

  He stopped kissing her but his arms were steadfastly wrapped around her waist.

  “You mean you’re a virgin?”

  “Yeah. That’s exactly what I mean.” Jenna swallowed hard. “I know that’s probably old-fashioned, but—”

  “But it’s—it’s nice. Yeah.” Stone nodded, grinning at her. “I don’t see why that would matter between you and me. I’m glad you told me, though. I’ll go easy. That is, if you want to be with me at all. You want to be with me, baby?”

  “I want to be with you. But I don’t want to share you. It can’t be me and her, Stone. You can’t have us both.”

  “I know. And I know I shouldn’t—”

  They were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Stone shook his head, and she smiled, realizing he was biting back a cuss word.

  “This place isn’t always this busy,” he muttered. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. That might be the vet.”

  “Right. The vet. I’ll get it.”

  Damn, damn, damn! He took his frustration out on the stairs, letting his feet fall harder on each one on the way down.

  A virgin. Jenna was a virgin. Maybe he should’ve seen that one coming. After all, it had been just her and her brother, along with her work as a cowgirl. And from what he was gathering, he had taken center stage in her thoughts and desires for most of her adult life, unbeknownst to him.

  Basically, he didn’t mind her lack of experience. What bothered him was that he was in an internal upheaval. When he’d left California, his life was pretty hectic but still in order: He was an actor who’d mostly struggled through most of his career, who was now landing more roles than he had in the past, engaged to a woman who looked good on his arm, even if she didn’t excite him or make his head spin like that gorgeous, scrumptious cowgirl did.

  Moments before he reached the foyer, the doorbell rang again. This time, the sound was distinctively demanding. Perhaps an older, cantankerous country veterinarian, who didn’t like being made to wait outside on the porch?

  “Coming, coming!” he called out as he threw open the door.

  Through the screen door he saw the visitor. His cowboy hat down, his legs spread slightly apart, thumbs hooked into the belt around his waist. When he raised his head, he didn’t look like any old, country veterinarian to Stone. The cowboy seemed equally surprised to see him.

  “Hey. Can I help you?” Stone offered.

  “Uh—I guess. Jenna here?”

  “Jenna?—is upstairs.” He opened the screen door and waved an arm in the direction of the foyer. “Who should I tell her is here?”

  “Tom Riley.”

  It took a moment, but the name clicked in Stone’s head. Tom Riley.

  As in, Jenna’s rancher sort-of boyfriend.

  “Jenna! You got a visitor here!” he called up the stairs reluctantly and turned to the other man. “I’m Stone Farrell. Parker’s son.”

  “Mr. Farrell’s son? Hey!” Tom extended his hand in friendship, smiling broadly. “Good to meet you, finally.”

  “Good to meet you, too.”

  “Oh—we have a visitor! How lovely!”

  Stone had almost forgotten that his betrothed was there. Turning, he saw Ashley—wearing only her bikini and sunglasses, her skin glistening from the bronzing lotion she’d applied liberally—stepping barefoot through the living room to the large foyer.

  “Wow! Is that Ashley Covington?” Tom exclaimed, removing his own sunglasses to see her better.

  Ashley giggled demurely. “Why, yes! It’s me—in the flesh!”

  “No kidding, Ashley Covington!” The cowboy was gushing like an excited schoolboy. “You know, you are the best part of every movie you’re in!”

  Stone waved to get his attention. “Yeah, uh, maybe you’ve seen me, too?”

  “You?” Tom squinted at him. “Yeah, maybe. You’re an actor, too?”

  “Yeah. I’ve only been in about twenty movies, so—”

&n
bsp; “Twenty movies, gosh! That’s pretty impressive. Now that I think about it, yes. I do remember seeing you. You were the guy Jim Albertino killed in that movie, the one with the aliens, right?”

  “That was me, yeah.” He turned to the stairs, yelling louder this time, “Jennaaaaaa!”

  “Gosh, Ashley Covington. I gotta say, you’re even prettier than you are in the movies,” Tom remarked, going back to ignoring Stone again.

  “Thank you. Gosh.” Ashley laughed again, fidgeting with the red and pink bow on her bikini top, which of course drew the cowboy’s attention to her perfectly rounded breasts. “You’re so cute, cowboy!”

  “That’s Jenna’s boyfriend,” Stone stage-whispered, his expression cross.

  “Jenna’s boyfriend? Really? The little tomboy’s got a boyfriend?”

  “Ashley!”

  Jenna was halfway down the stairs, calling out, “I heard you, but I was saving the spreadsheets and that took—Tom!”

  “Jenna, honey!”

  It wasn’t clear if she had jumped off that final step or if she’d thrown herself into Tom’s arms. Whichever it was, he lifted her in the air, both of them chuckling. Then they shared a quick smooch, right on the lips, and Stone turned away.

  She was kissing this guy? Hadn’t she been kissing him less than five minutes earlier upstairs?

  Stone toned his jealousy down, remembering the woman he was supposed to marry was right there in front of him. To his shock, Ashley had the strangest expression on her face as she watched the two exchange greetings and kisses. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was drawn into a tight line, her stare directed clearly at Jenna.

  “I’ve missed you. Sorry I haven’t been here in a while,” Tom was saying.

  “I’ve missed you, too, Tom. I’ve been busy since—well, since Stone got here,” Jenna explained.

  “Yeah, you should’ve called me sooner, you bad girl. I had no idea we had big, famous movie stars, right here at Parker’s ranch.”

  “Ohhh, we’re not so big or famous,” Stone admitted.