Dakota Love Me: Tiller Brothers Book 2 (13 page)

“You followed her to Salt Lake?” Sharon asked her cowboy friend she had met in Las Vegas who had been down in the dumps by the amount of money he had lost playing poker.

“Yeah…but Dakota showed up later in the early morning and he got the keys from the front desk.  Later in the day he came charging out of their room toward my car and I got out of there.”

“Damn, thanks for helping me.  I’ll send that check to you in a few days.  Did he see you?”

“No, I was driving my sister’s car and I had my hat down low over my face. Wait, there is one more thing I thought you might find interesting.  After my friend Brad Smith got his nose broken by Georgia, Cody who is Dakota’s brother got into a fight with him in the parking lot and beat him up pretty bad.  Brad’s pissed with Georgia and the whole Tiller family.”

Sharon thought about it, no-one better to help her than a vengeful and scorned man.  She probably wouldn’t even have to pay him.  His reward would be Georgia and whatever he wanted to do with her while they waited for their ransom.  At the same time she could fulfill her own revenge. “You have his cell number?”

He rattled the phone number off to her.  “You and I are done now.  Send the check.  I’m not getting in the middle of the dispute you have with the Tillers any more.  If anyone asks I’ve never met you.  If I hadn’t needed the money I would have told you to go to hell so leave me out of this from here on out or I’ll make you sorry you ever asked for my help.”  He hung up on her.

She smiled to herself; a sucker is born every day.  Fat chance in hell she was going to send him the five grand she had promised him.  A fellow rodeo cowboy star wouldn’t disclose to anyone that she had promised to pay him if he followed Georgia around.  And certainly not tell anyone that he had been suckered and was never paid.  Cowboys were supposed to have an honor system.   So far she had met three cowboys who were only full of crap, this jerk, Brad Smith, and Justin Cooper.

She dialed Brad’s number, “Brad Smith, you don’t know me but I think we have the same thing in common, we both want to extract revenge against Georgia and the Tillers.”

***

“Justin,” Dakota said into the phone, “Georgia and I are eating now and about to head out, but I have some questions for you?” Dakota picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

“How is Georgia?” Justin asked.  Dakota smiled at his woman and he ran his hand down the side of her head.

“Beautiful.”

Justin laughed into the phone, “So you two have resolved your differences.”

“Without a doubt…I love her Justin and she loves me.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear now, I can get some sleep.”

“Sorry I should have called you sooner but…well… you know.”

To which Justin laughed louder, “Got ya… what questions?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that she was being followed?”

There was a long pause, “Honestly I wanted to tell you but I had a feeling you were already going to be driving too fast as it was and you couldn’t do anything ‘til you got there.  You found the car, huh?”

“Yeah, but they got away before I could get the plates or see who it was.  It had to be Sharon’s doings.  Did you call the police and tell them about her threating you and your daughter?”

“They said they would check into it and we had the option to go to a judge and get a restraining order to keep Sharon away.  I’m working on that now.  On Tuesday when we got back and I packed up all her things, I also called a very good private investigator I know and I heard from him last night that as far as he can see Sharon was married before but there was no record of a divorce or of him dying.  My attorney is trying to arrange for an annulment.  Sharon will have to provide proof of the divorce or of his death to get any kind of a settlement from me.  When my attorney told her attorney and Sharon of this, she got down right belligerent and threated to tear me apart.  I’m ashamed I was suckered into her little scheme.   The investigator already found positive proof that Evelyn wasn’t her daughter and Evelyn is pretty distressed by Sharon’s duplicity. Sharon and her son moved out.  Think they are living with the attorney right now, but I’m not sure.”

“Wow, I’ll tell Georgia what’s happening.  Sir, I want you to know I’m following her home and I’m not leaving until this is resolved.  I’m not letting Georgia out of my sight, so you need to know I am going to be staying at your ranch and in her bedroom with her.  I’m twenty-six and Georgia as you know is twenty-five and as consenting adults we want to be together.  I’ll work hard for you and earn your respect but I have…no I need to be with her.  If that isn’t acceptable to you, then I will need to take her back to our ranch in Gillette.”

“Son, calm down.  I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not a prude.  If this is what Georgia wants I welcome you to my ranch.  I have no doubt you are a hard worker and I would like to have your help on the ranch, but I have one question for you.  You said you wanted to stay until this was resolved.  Are you planning on making a long term commitment with my daughter?”

“Absolutely, when the time is right, as far as when I have to leave I do have some commitments with our family ranch and with upcoming rodeo events, but I’d like to take Georgia with me.  Plus she still needs to find out if she still has a job.  You may not know this, I can’t remember if I told you last night, my mind was a little fuzzy, but Georgia knocked Brad Smith down and bloodied him up pretty good and her boss wasn’t too happy about it.  So we have to work on this.  So if she still has a job, I’ll be at whatever rodeo she is working regardless, I’m not leaving her alone again.” Dakota stated in the clearest of tone.

“That is music to my ears.  Of course, I’d like her to stay at our ranch.  You are welcome here. She’s all I have, but if I have to let her go, I will do that, too, if that’s what she wants.  Those are decision the two of you will need to make.  Just bring my baby girl home so I can hug her and…” Justin’s voice sounded broken.

“I will sir, it’ll be late tonight.  I’ve repaired her slashed tire and I’ll be following her.  And just in case you’re wondering, I have my rifle with me.  Your daughter wants to talk to you.” Dakota handed Georgia the phone.

“Daddy, are you okay?”

She heard him say in a choked up voice, “Yes.”

“Thank you for sending Dakota to me and I do love him, daddy.  I hope you aren’t upset we want to live together.”

“No, no baby girl.  I want you to be happy.  I’m not ashamed to tell you I hope you both decide to live with me on this big ranch.  It’s pretty lonely without you.”

“All those years in college, after mom died, I should have been with you instead.”

Justin answered quickly, “Life has to go on.  You know, one day at a time, and even though we want life to come to a grinding stop because we’ve lost someone we love, we have to go on and live our lives as they were meant to be.  I was busy with the ranch and I do have friends, you know, so I was never totally alone. They just aren’t my baby girl.  But there is no-one else in the world that I love more than you and I’m so proud of you.  Come home tonight and we’ll talk about your future. Get home to me and bring your man with you. I love you.”

“Love you, too, dad.  Bye.”

She turned to Dakota with a sweet smile on her face.  “He’s always been the greatest dad.”

“We have two things in common.  Wish my dad was still alive, I’m glad at least I told him on the phone the night before he died that I had met a pretty cowgirl named Georgia, and I was going to marry her someday.”

“You really told your dad that?”

“Yes ma’am.  I knew the minute I met you that I wanted you forever.” They kissed each other in the café as if they were the only two people in the room.

“Let’s get going.  I’m looking forward to tonight.  Hope you don’t have a twin bed.”

She laughed and punched him in the arm.  “You’ll see when we get there.”

It had been a long and very tiring drive.  Georgia was wiped out but she ran up the stairs to greet her dad.  Dakota followed and shook his hand.  He told Georgia he would take care of her horse, feed him, rub him down and put him in a stall. When he was done, they had a late snack with him before they decided to call it a night.

Georgia kissed her dad, and took Dakota’s hand and guided him back out the front door.  “We going somewhere, honey?” Dakota asked with a chuckle in his voice.

“Just come with me.  Grab our suitcases off the porch.”  He followed her around the house to where he saw a cabin that was situated about a hundred yards from the main ranch house. It took a few minutes to walk to the large cabin.  She opened the door and turned on the lights.  It had been totally redone and had a modern/western warm décor. Cathedral ceilings gave the room a feeling of openness.  There were giant windows on almost every wall.  The kitchen looked like it was out of a Woman’s magazine and it opened to the great room where the fireplace was already burning.

He looked at her in question.

“Sharon didn’t want me in the house, so we had this cabin that the ranch foreman used to use.  It has three bedrooms and is about 1800 square foot.  When I was gone on one of my long rodeo circuit trips dad had the whole cabin redone like new. It has the most wonderful bathroom.  Can’t wait to show you that,” her eyes twinkled as she led him into the bedroom.

There was a giant bed with an extra-large four poster bed, and it had a yellow comforter with huge white fluffy pillows and a beautiful white shag area rug over newly polished dark wood floors.  “Welcome to our home,” Georgia said.

He smiled.   He took her hand and pulled her out the bedroom door and all the way to the front door which he opened.  They stepped out on the front porch.  Georgia had no idea what he was up to.  Didn’t he like the house?  Dakota swept her up in his arms, kissed her and carried her back into the house, closing the door and locking it, before carrying her back to the bedroom.  “Thank you,” he kissed her.  “I like our new home.  I’m not too proud to want to be with you wherever you are, even though I didn’t build this house for you, which I would have liked to have done for you.  However, I will work to earn your father’s trust and respect before we make this officially our home.  Will you wait for me to prove myself to both you and your father before I ask you to marry me?”

“Depends on the benefit package and the waiting period…and if I’m kept very content in this room,” she pointed toward the bed. “I’ll just have to learn to have a little patience.  But you know what they say about spoiled, only-child, cowgirls, we want what we want when we want it,” she laid her head on his shoulder, “but, yes, Dakota I will wait for you.”

He carried her over to the bathroom door.  “Let’s see what you are so excited about in here.”  Someone, probably her dad since they’d called and told him they were a half hour from home, had lit the candles near her huge tub and there was a stand-alone tiled shower with clear glass doors big enough for both of them with duel showers heads and a tiled bench.  “Now I think your benefits package should start in here before we move to the bedroom to see how content I can make you,” and he commenced to do just that.

***

The midmorning sun woke the two lovers from a very contented sleep.  Dakota opened his eyes and felt extremely satisfied to have his cowgirl wrapped around him.  He looked over at the clock and groaned.  She opened her eyes, “Good morning,” she said in a very relaxed still groggy voice.

“I’m starting my first day on your ranch late to help your father out with his morning chores.  At home I’m up and working by five thirty, six at the latest.  It’s after ten.”  Even though he was upset about getting up late, he couldn’t stop himself from greeting her with a kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep him close, “He won’t expect us to be up early.  Dad knows neither of us got much sleep the last couple of nights.  Course, he doesn’t know you were busy keeping me
content
for most of last night,” she giggled, “but really today he will want us to take it easy.”

“As much as I want to take you again this morning,” he kissed her nose, “I’m getting up.  My stomach is growling and even though your bed is damn comfortable I’m ready to get some exercise.”

“My body feels like I got a lot of exercise.  I’m not sure I can even walk,” she groaned.

He got up and grabbed her under her arms and pulled her up.  “Come on my spoiled cowgirl, let’s work out those kinks and get some grub.  Do you have food in that beautiful kitchen I can cook for breakfast?”

“I do.  I used to cook all my meals here so dad and Sharon could have alone time, but I’m sure my dad will like us to share some meals with him now and then in the future.  As you say, he’s probably been up for hours and has already had breakfast.  You didn’t tell me you can cook.  You are a man with many talents.”

He swatted her on the butt.  “I haven’t even showed them all to you yet, but I’m good at breakfast so go take a shower and I’ll get it started.”  He slipped on only his jeans.

“Oh…another hot shower, yummy, I will take you up on your nice offer.”

Wrapped in her fluffy bathrobe, after her shower she walked into the kitchen. Dakota already had the coffee and orange juice ready and eggs were just finishing up.  He was looking out the window.  He turned and smiled at her, “Your dad is just outside, let’s see if he wants to join us for some coffee.”

She smiled at him and walked to the door and called to her dad.  He came in and joined them.  He wasn’t hungry but took a cup of coffee.

“Sir, I’m sorry we’re so late getting up.  I was going to help you with the morning chores.”

“Call me Justin.  I’m glad you two slept in.  We didn’t get any snow so I didn’t need to go feed the cattle and I’m just finishing up feeding and grooming the horses.  Need to work on some broken machinery yet this morning.  You mechanical?”

“When you live on a ranch, you learn to do it all.  If you can make the motor, tractor or  any other equipment run even one more year it helps your profit margin.  So yeah, I’d like to help you.”  He looked at Georgia, “Honey, why don’t you rest a little longer.”

“Nah, I’m up.  I’m a pretty good mechanic, too, but I’ve been wanting to polish my saddles so I’ll work on that after I eat this delicious breakfast.  Thanks Dakota.”

He reached for her hand and drew her knuckles to his lips, “My pleasure.”

Justin asked, “What do you think of this little cabin?  I didn’t want Georgia to feel she wasn’t welcome on the ranch.  Sharon made such a stink that I thought it would get her off my back if we fixed this place up for Georgia.  Spent quite a bit of time and money on it for my little girl and then when it was done, Sharon laid into me for making it nicer than the main ranch house.  Then I heard nothing but how she wanted to redo our whole ranch house.”

“You did a good thing for your daughter and I’m impressed with the improvements you made.  I wish I had known Georgia when you were working on it, I would have loved to help you build it and I’d be happy to help you remodel anything in the main house,” Dakota said.

Justin tipped his coffee cup to Dakota, “Thanks I’ll take you up on that.  And sounds like you’re going to be around for a long time, and I like that even better,” he winked at Georgia.

“I love my little house,” Georgia bantered.  “It was the best surprise and it gave me my independence.  When I was home I still spent most of the days working with my dad and that used to piss Sharon off, too.  Still can’t believe how dishonest she was and all her lies.  And why did she have me followed?  Dad, that’s just creepy and I admit I was a little scared.”

“Me too, Georgia.  The judge should have the restraining order in place by Monday.”

Dakota watched Georgia clean up the breakfast dishes and it felt good…like he was in
their
home.  He had always thought he would live the rest of his life on his family ranch with his family, but with all his brothers, sister and new brother-in-law, for the first time he was thinking there was a possibility he could live somewhere else and be happy.  No not just somewhere else-with Georgia where ever she wanted to live.  It was only a two hour drive to Gillette and he could always go help his family when they needed him.  Yes, he could get used to this idea.  As she walked by him to get dressed, he caressed her hand.  They exchanged knowing glances.

When she came back, Justin and Dakota were in a big discussion about the best time for calving season.  Dakota liked to calf in February when it was still cold enough that the calves didn’t get diseases as easy.  If they had bad weather, he and his brothers were always busy making sure none of the calves froze and giving the heifers more feed, but he felt the decrease in lost calves from disease was worth it.  Justin said he had tried early fall and late spring calving and wasn’t stuck in the mud about when the best time was. “Depends on the health and weight of the heifers and available feed, and sometimes manpower,” Justin said.

“Well while you two discuss the pros and cons of calving, I’m off to work on my saddles.  As I get them cleaned and oiled, I’ll bring them out and lay them on the small corral fence, so I can clean up in the tack room while I’m there.”  She leaned down and brushed her lips softly against Dakota’s mouth, “Might want to get the rest of the way dressed, Dakota, not that I mind looking at your abs and muscled chest but it’s a bit cold to be mechanicing,” and then she pecked her dad on the cheek giggled and sashayed out the door.

“She’s pretty bossy isn’t she?” Dakota said with a big smile.  He got up to go get dressed.

“I’ll meet you at the big tractor out front.” Justin put his cowboy hat on and walked out the door.

When Dakota joined Justin, they could see Georgia as she walked out with her first saddle.  She waived at them.  A bull in the next corral stomped his feet and hit the fence with his horns.  Georgia jumped back and went back inside.

“She hates those damn bulls.  I brought this one in because the vets coming in later to check on his torn hind quarters.  Hand me that wrench.”  He loosened the bolts.  “Come on into the garage, I’ve got the transmission almost put back together in there.  Think I got it fixed, just needs a few bolts and then you can help me bring it out from the garage.

When they came back out of the barn and sat the heavy transmission down Dakota noticed a truck speeding up the road.  “Who’s that?”

Justin looked up.  “Don’t know whose truck that is.”

Dakota felt his skin prickle and swung his head back toward the open barn door where Georgia was.  He started walking swiftly toward the door and he noticed the gate from the next corral was open and he didn’t see the bull.  “Justin, the bull!”

They both took off running.  Dakota got there first and leaped over the fence and ran into the corral door where he froze.  Georgia was standing paralyzed.  She was gripping a saddle in front of her. She looked terrified.  The bull was pawing the ground a few feet in front of her, blowing snot out of his nose and ready to charge.

Fuck
.

Dakota yelled at the bull and he took off his cowboy hat and hit the bull in the rear.  The bull spun around, his back hooves too close to Georgia for his comfort.  Dakota backed up and started slapping his hat against his thigh.  The angry bull charged Dakota who ran and leaped on the fence.  Justin grabbed his rope and started swinging it against his leg and the bull charged after him into the other corral.  Dakota jumped down and slammed the gate and saw that Justin had climbed the fence and was safe.

Dakota ran into the tack room and Georgia was shaking, quiet with tears running down her face.  In a near-catatonic state, she was still staring at where the bull had been.  He grabbed the saddle and threw it to the ground and swept Georgia up into his body holding her as tight as he could.  “Shhhh darlin’… I got you.  I got you.  The bull’s in his pen.  Take a breath Georgia...it’s going to be okay.  After a few moments she finally quit trembling.

Her dad had come in and was rubbing her back.  “You’re going to be okay baby girl.”

“How did he get out?” she whispered in a shaken voice.  Dakota picked her up and carried her to the cabin.  He sat down in a chair and kept her in his lap.

“Don’t know Georgia…unless it was someone in the truck,” he swung his head to see what Justin thought.

“Son-of-a-bitch, it had to be Sharon or one of her thugs.  You take care of Georgia and I’m going to call the sheriff.”  He stroked her head before he turned to leave.

“Justin, I’m going to get Georgia to lie down for a while.  We’ll be up to the house later.”

“Take as much time as you need.  Rest Georgia…” He looked into Dakota’s eyes, nodded his head once in appreciation, “Thank you Dakota for saving my little girl.” Justin’s voice was unsteady.

***

Later in the afternoon after he had gotten Georgia to take a nap by holding her while she slept, they went to the main house to check to see if there was any news from the Sheriff.

Her father was sitting in his recliner with his leg elevated on a pillow and an ice bag on top of his ankle.  “Dad, what happened to you?”  Georgia ran over to him and grabbed his hand.

“Didn’t realize until after the Sheriff came that that damn bull had gored my ankle… but it didn’t need any stitches.  Luckily my boots took the brunt end of his horns, but my ankle is swollen.  After the shock wore off, I started limping and looked at my boot and noticed that it had a big tear in.”