Ranger's Wild Woman (15 page)

“Well, Ms. Marvella,” Ranger said, his patience shot and gone, “I hate to break this to you. I really was holding back on this because it’s important to Hannah to be loyal to Cissy. But this woman,” he said, putting his arm around Hannah, “is my wife. And I’ll see her when I damn well please.”

“Well, in that case,” Marvella said, her nostrils flaring with anger, “we have a problem.”

Hannah shrank away from the fury in Marvella’s eyes. She’d seen many emotions on Marvella’s face, but this was the most frightening one.

“You will leave at once,” she told Hannah. “You and your cowboy husband. And Cissy’s contract reverts to the original terms. One
full
year of employment.”

“I’m sorry,” Ranger told Hannah as she tossed her leopard-printed luggage into the back of Hawk’s truck. “I shouldn’t have said it.”

“No, you shouldn’t have.” She glared at Ranger across the truckbed. “You’re so possessive, Ranger, and it’s the one thing that will not work with me. And you know it. I am not your wife. I will not be your wife. I only married you to give you a reason to exit your phobic state. We don’t even know that Hawk marrying us was legal.”

“We don’t know that it wasn’t.”

“Well, I didn’t sign any papers. And it wasn’t orthodox. As far as I’m concerned, it didn’t happen. If you need further convincing, have Brian draw up divorce papers. And burn those stupid rings. Right now, I’m going inside to call Jellyfish and find out where the boat is, and then you’re going to take me there and leave me there and never see me again. Understood?”

He’d really blown it. If there was one way to chase
Hannah off, it was to act like a big, fat, chauvinist pig. That’s what he’d been, and now he was getting slaughtered. Which he richly deserved. “What about Cissy?”

“I did my best,” Hannah said. “Thanks to you, I’ll have to get out of town and think for a while and see what else I can come up with. Now, I’m going to call Jellyfish.”

She walked away, and Ranger sighed. “Stupid. Stupid.” He smacked his head and said it again. Everything Hannah said was right. And the tears in Cissy’s eyes when she realized her contract had reverted to its original terms was more than he could bear.

Bottom line: Hannah had helped him with his phobia, the Curse of the Broken Body Parts. He had not helped her with her fear of commitment. In fact, he’d done the very worst thing possible.

But he couldn’t take Hannah to the riverboat. Once she said goodbye this time, it would be forever. His heart couldn’t take it.

Quietly, he laid Hawk’s keys on the seat for her to find. And then he left.

D
ELILAH HUGGED
Hannah when she went into the Lonely Hearts Salon on the pretext of needing to use the phone. The other stylists gathered round, and the pet chicken squawked from her place on a shelf.

It felt as if she’d come home. With tears in her eyes, Hannah told them everything that had happened.

“I can’t think of a way to spring Cissy,” Delilah said. “You gave it your best shot. She did sign a contract. She does have this obligation. There’s not much else you can do, honey. You can’t save the world.

“But you might not want to be so hard on Ranger,” she continued. “After all, Marvella’s the kind of woman who makes people say things they normally wouldn’t. And do things, too.”

“I know.” Ranger had been trying to help, not hurt. But he’d still scared her. “It’s something I have to work out,” she told Delilah. “I start to shake when I think about being connected to one person for the rest of my life. And Ranger’s the kind of man who shakes when he thinks about something of his getting stolen, or lost, or taken away.” She shook her head. “I’d make him crazy, Delilah. He wouldn’t be happy with me.”

“Take some time to think about it. I’ll keep an eye on Cissy.”

“Thanks.” They hugged goodbye, and Hannah squeezed the older woman tightly. It felt so right to be saying goodbye the way she should have done the first time, instead of protecting her emotions by running out. She let the sensations of sadness, and sentiment, and happiness wash over her. She would miss Delilah. She would miss the women of the Lonely Hearts Salon. They had changed her for the better.

She hugged each of them in turn, feeling the mist
of tears in her eyes. It was hard to let herself feel the pain of separation, but it also felt like she’d finally made it to the other side.

“O
H
,
THAT’S
just great,” Hannah said when she saw the keys in the seat and realized Ranger had gone AWOL. She got in the truck, started it up, and with a last glance at Marvella’s enemy camp, she drove away. It hurt to leave Cissy behind, and her mind dealt and re-shuffled ways to free her from Marvella.

If she’d sneezed, she would have missed the lone cowboy loping toward the gas station at the edge of town. She stopped the truck for a moment.

“Two options,” she muttered to herself. “One, I run you down, you big chicken. Anger dispersement. Two, I pass on by and act like I didn’t see you. Anger displacement. Heaven knows you weren’t of a mind to stop when you first pulled through Lonely Hearts Station, and if it hadn’t been for Cissy stopping you, I’d still be hitching.”

On the other hand, look how much fun they’d had on their road trip. And he had gotten her to the riverboat as promised.

Maybe it was best not to part on unhappy terms, as Delilah had hinted.

“And then there’s anger overcoming,” she said with a sigh, pulling up beside him. He turned to look at her, his face wary. She put the window down and gave an arrogant sniff. “I hear you drive better than you talk, cowboy.”

“That may be true,” Ranger replied, his gaze cool. “But I’m not going to drive today.”

“And a little birdie told me you make love in a truck seat the way a woman likes.”

He shrugged. “That also may be true. But I’m not making love today.”

They stared at each other. Hannah’s heart started beating harder. “I’ve got no particular place I need to be.”

His gaze cooled further so that his eyes looked like black ice. “I’m going home to the ranch. Where I belong.”

That was a direct hit. His tone told her how much he hurt. “Want a ride in this shiny truck?”

“Not particularly. I’m going in here to call one of my brothers to come get me.”

Hannah lowered her gaze for a second. “Ranger, I’d like to take you to Malfunction Junction.”

He shook his head. “It’s not necessary. Hannah, we had a lot of fun, but that’s all you’re looking for. And frankly, that’s all I should be looking for. I got carried away, I admit it. And I’m sorry. But you know what?” He looked away for a moment, then returned to her gaze. “I’ll catch you on the flip side.”

And then he tipped his hat and went inside the gas station.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Drive on by. Run him over. Those are my only two options left. Eenie, meenie—”

The driver’s-side door jerked open, and Hannah
screamed. “Zowie!” she gasped. “Ranger, do you have to be so unpredictable?”

“Yes,” he said. “Apparently it’s self-defense. Please scoot over ’cause if we’re going anywhere I’m driving.”

“I—”

He narrowed his eyes on her.

“Okay. You know the way to Malfunction Junction better than I do.”

“Actually, I just feel safer with me behind the wheel than you. Now, let’s say as little as possible, and then you can drop me off and head on your airy-merry way.”

“That’s all well and good for you, but Malfunction Junction is in the opposite direction to the riverboat. Just a small thing I thought I’d point out. It’s not like I’m dropping you off. I’m going about four hours out of my way.”

“Yes, we are.” He turned on a country-and-western station, loud enough to make conversation uncomfortable.

She switched off the radio. “We could be mature about this.”

“We could,” Ranger agreed, “but it probably wouldn’t feel right.”

Pursing her lips, she said, “Fine. Wake me when we’re there, Hard Case.”

R
ANGER GRUNTED
when Hannah fell asleep beside him. She looked so cute and trusting when she was
unconscious! But that was the problem. She wasn’t cute and trusting. She was insecure and unwilling to change.

And he had clobbered her attempt to rescue Cissy, which had done nothing for his hero status. And as she’d pointed out, he didn’t exactly trust her, either.

So they were both retrenched in their former positions. “It’s a bad sign,” he murmured. “A relationship should be easier than this. I was afraid of broken body parts, but I think a broken friendship might be worse.”

One could be recovered from. One couldn’t.

This one didn’t feel like it could be recovered. They were uncomfortable with each other, and were basically together right now out of necessity.

That didn’t feel very good. Of course, they’d started on the first road trip out of necessity.

But now he’d let her down with Cissy. What really stunk was not being a hero when your squeeze wanted you to be.

“Hey,” he said, tapping Hannah on the thigh. “I know you’re not really sleeping over there. You’re just trying to get away from me.”

“And it was working, too.”

“Have you realized the only time we didn’t get upset with each other was when we were having sex?”

She settled her gaze on him. “You can only do the truck thing once, Ranger.”

“I’m not proposing we wear out Hawk’s truck,”
he said. “I’m only saying that’s a bit odd. We get along on one level, that’s something to start with.”

She wrinkled her nose, which he thought was adorable, in spite of himself. “I don’t need a boy toy, thank you, though.”

“Well, every woman needs a boy toy,” Ranger rejoined. “I know I need a girl toy.”

“Buy a Barbie,” Hannah suggested. “She won’t open her mouth, and she won’t have commitment issues. She’ll like sitting on your bed waiting for you to get home. In fact, she won’t care either way.”

He rubbed his chin. “Hannah, you’re angry with me, and I understand that. I really do. But I think you’re upset that I didn’t live up to your ideal more than that I didn’t rescue Cissy.”

Her gaze narrowed. “What are you talking about now, Ranger?”

“That it may be a pattern with you. You look for a rescue. If someone doesn’t live up to your expectations, you’re let down, although all the while you were claiming what a free, independent lass you were. If you really were so uncommitable, you wouldn’t look for a rescue in the first place.” He glanced at her. “You throw people away, Hannah.”

She blinked.

“Well, you said Jellyfish always rescued you. But he plays homing roost for you so that every once in a while you can fly back to safety. And then Delilah took you in. And then I tried to take you in, except I upset you because I wanted a bit more than you could
give. But you led me on, let me think there was a chance, so that I’d rescue Cissy—and you. Now you’re all disappointed because I didn’t save the two of you the way you wanted me to, so you’re moving me to the side.”

“Well, not totally,” Hannah pointed out. “I’m giving you a ride home, which is not exactly a lovely experience, considering you’re playing Ranger Jefferson, nonprofit psychologist, all the way to Malfunction Junction. So
I
rescued
you.
And I’m annoyed because you told Marvella that cockamamy story about us being married. Which we are not.

“The truth is, Ranger, you didn’t want me there, and you knew Marvella would have no use for me if I was married, and so you spilled the beans. See,” she said, taking a deep breath as she got wound up, “I see the situation a bit differently than you do. I see a stubborn chauvinist who has to have everything his way.

“It’s a man’s nature to be very simple in this regard. He sees woman, he wants woman, he takes woman by any means necessary. You’re miffed because you didn’t have the goods to get Cissy out of her mess, because it would have made you look like a hero to me. I don’t think a man who lives in a place called Malfunction Junction should hang out his therapist’s shingle just yet,” she finished.

“Whew-ee,” Ranger said. “You said all that with only one breath. You are such a hotheaded little thing.”

She held up a hand. “Don’t start.”

“Well, I’d say you obviously have me firmly checkmated,” Ranger said cheerfully.

Her glare held suspicion.

He grinned.

She closed her eyes and told herself to go back to sleep. But, in spite of her heated words, she knew Ranger had a point. Not that she was going to admit a thing.

“You’re such an ape,” she murmured sleepily. “You might evolve sometime in the next thousand years.”

“W
AKE UP
, sleepyhead.” At the ranch, Ranger stopped the truck, then he got out and left Hannah to stare after him, with the keys in the ignition like a pointed hint. And she
would
have driven off, but she had to use the ladies’ accommodations.

Ranger could jolly well quit acting as though he was holding some awesome hand. She wasn’t going to sit in the truck until he developed manners, her bladder wouldn’t hold out long enough.

“Oh, Ranger!” she called, leaning out the window and pressing on the horn. “Help! Help!” she cried in a loud falsetto.

Several cowboys came out on the porch to stare at the commotion. Ranger hesitated, then turned around to glare her way. She waved urgently. Ranger was giving in, she could tell. The decibels she generated
unnerved nearby cattle at the least. She honked again, and he came toward the truck at a jog.

“Hannah! The sheriff might be trying to sleep!” he told her.

“The sheriff?”

“Yes! He just got home from the hospital. Mimi and Brian had to return from their honeymoon in Hawaii so she could nurse him. And I realize they’re way over there, but you sure were stirring up a ruckus.” He glanced toward his brothers, though, and she knew he was more worried about them than the sheriff.

“You were being rude,” she told him. “I have to use the powder room.”

“Yes, I was being rude, and I shouldn’t have. I was trying to teach you a lesson. Come on.”

She let him help her out of the truck and followed along. “What was the lesson? How Not to Win Friends and Influence People?”

He groaned. “Never mind. The lesson plan was no good.”

“Hi, guys,” she said to Ranger’s brothers as he dragged her past them.

“Hi, Hannah,” they all said.

“Now, please make yourself at home, which I know you will,” Ranger said. “The bathroom is upstairs.”

“Much better!” Hannah said. “You know, you’re not really an ogre, when you try.”

“Fine, fine,” Ranger said. “Well, get on with it. Up the stairs. Trot, trot.”

It was too much fun annoying him like this. Hannah couldn’t resist an impish smile as she went by. “Are we still angry with each other?”

“I think that would be a waste of time,” Ranger said.