Read Ryelee's Cowboy Online

Authors: Kathleen Ball

Tags: #cowboys, #western romance, #cowboy romance, #contemporary western romance, #erotic western romance, #erotic contemporary western romance, #erotic cowboy romance

Ryelee's Cowboy (2 page)

BOOK: Ryelee's Cowboy
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It wasn’t that he was mean. He treated
her just fine, but was distant toward her. She’d known few decent
men in her life, and frankly, she didn’t know how to act around
him. His good looks and well-muscled body flustered her. Every time
he looked at her, stomach did strange flips and she had to look
away.

“Well, sugar plum, I see Annie is
rocking baby Seth on her back porch. Let’s go and say
hi.”

Little Rheenie quickly grasped
Ryelee’s hand and practically dragged her along. Crossing the yard,
Rheenie quickly bent and grabbed a handful of Shasta daisies.
“Aren’t these pretty, Rye?”

Ryelee glanced down at Rheenie’s
sweet, hopeful expression and nodded. “Beautiful.”

She couldn’t help but notice how much
Rheenie and Clint looked alike. They both had midnight black hair,
tanned skin, and whiskey colored eyes, though Clint’s had specks of
gold in his. Ryelee had never asked his age but she figured he was
in his late twenties.

Annie Dawson smiled. “What was all the
commotion in the tree?”

Ryelee admired one-month-old Seth. He
looked like a little angel. His sparse hair was auburn like his
mother’s.

“I got stuck in the tree.” Ryelee
hated to have to explain why once again Clint had to rescue her.
Try as she might there was no pleasing that man. She had to admit
that she did get into more trouble than the average person. Rheenie
had been a bit hesitant to try new things at first but now, they
explored and had fun together. Rheenie acted happy and that was all
that counted as far as she was concerned.

Annie’s green eyes twinkled. She
turned to Rheenie who stared happily at Seth. “Were you in the tree
too?”

“You betcha,” Rheenie whispered, not
wanting to disturb Seth. “Does he sleep all the time?”

Annie laughed softly. “It seems that
he likes to sleep all day and be up all night.” She turned her head
toward the sound of footsteps and smiled at her hunky husband
Burke. He was exceptionally handsome today in a blue tee shirt that
matched his eyes. His muscles rippled with each
movement.

Ryelee loved to watch them together.
They were playful toward each other. The glances and special smiles
they exchanged always made her wistful for a love of her own. They
had an easy unspoken love that everyone could see. Happiness like
that was rare. Annie and Burke were lucky.

“Yeah, and I got night duty last
night.” He placed a kiss on Annie’s check and rubbed Seth’s head
with his large hand.

“I broughted you a present.” Rheenie
proudly handed the daisies to Annie.

“Aren’t you the sweet one? I will put
these in my prettiest vase and we’ll enjoy them on the kitchen
table.”

“I think we should think about nap
time,” Ryelee said.

Rheenie screwed up her face as if in
thought. “I think no.”

Ryelee laughed as she led Rheenie
toward their home. Home. It wasn’t where Ryelee would have thought
she’d be. Clint’s house was brand new. Many of the buildings on
Dawson’s Haven had recently been built. A plantation-style
wraparound porch circled the beautiful main house, and yellow and
red roses lined the perimeter. It stood sheltered on both sides by
massive live oaks.

Annie had a house built for Clint and
Rheenie after the bank foreclosed on their ranch. The medical bills
for Clint’s wife had taken away their cushion, and Annie’s offer
came just in time. Annie wanted a horse ranch, and Clint knew about
horses.

Ryelee had never lived any place this
nice. It had two stories and plenty of room. Heck, she considered
running water a treat. Dirt-poor is how she was raised, almost like
a backwoods hillbilly. For now, grateful to have a roof over her
head and food to eat, she knew fate had smiled down on her when
this job dropped in her lap.

She took pride in how clean she kept
his house and how well she took care of Rheenie. Both gave her
pleasure, especially Rheenie. She couldn’t help herself—she had
fallen in love with the little girl immediately. They were kindred
spirits, always ready for adventure.

Unfortunately, Ryelee's impulsiveness
had her, in constant fear of losing her job. One misstep and she
would be homeless. Her father had thrown her out when she refused
to get rid of her baby. Shame filled her as she remembered how he
gave her to his lifelong friend Parker in payment for a debt. She
lived through hell that night, refusing to give in. She paid dearly
for putting up a fight and she couldn’t shake the horror of it. She
had to be ever vigilant. The memory of that horrible night made her
skin crawl, and she just wished she could control the impulsiveness
that got her into so much trouble, especially with
Clint.

 

* * * *

 

Ryelee had the table set. Clint told
her that they would be having company, and she labored trying to
get everything just right. She loved that all of his dishes
matched—his silverware too. Growing up poor with a hodge-podge of
cups and plates and silverware, using a tablecloth and all the
finery flushed her with excitement. She spent most of the afternoon
cooking a roast with fingerling potatoes and homemade biscuits. She
knew how to cook, and the accomplishment pleased her. It seemed to
be the one thing that did make Clint smile. He enjoyed her
cooking.

While the dinner cooked, Ryelee went
to her room and brushed her curly red hair again and again hoping
to make it presentable. Try as she might her hair never stayed
nicely brushed for long. She remembered her mother calling it her
crowning glory, but to her it was the bane of her
existence.

Clint hadn’t said who was coming, so
she made extra sure Rheenie looked her best in a pretty blue dress,
which contrasted pitifully with her own faded and threadbare
clothes.

As Ryelee finished cooking dinner,
Rheenie yelled excitedly that their guest had arrived. Ryelee
wasn’t sure who she had expected but certainly not Dottie Long.
Ryelee’s smile faded quickly, and Dottie’s beautiful, long blonde
hair, cat-like green eyes, and nice clothes caused a lump to form
in her throat. Then again, Dottie always dressed in fine designer
clothes. A few grades ahead of Ryelee in school, Dottie always led
the bullying, name-calling, and ostracizing. Ryelee’s drunken
father and ragged clothes were easy fodder. Ryelee finally dropped
out of school. Dottie and her group of friends had made it too
unbearable for her to continue.

“Dottie says she already knows you,
Ryelee,” Clint said.

Ryelee nodded her head. “Yes,” she
said woodenly and returned to her cooking. She didn't care for the
superior smile that Dottie gave her. It was going to be a long
night.

Dottie wandered into the dining room,
and Clint followed. “Who else is joining us, Clint?”

“It’s just us.”

“Surely, you don’t allow
the
help
to eat
with you. You can’t allow your Rheenie to grow up with the wrong
ideas.”

Bending over to take the roast out,
Ryelee’s face warmed more from their conversation than the heat of
the oven. They talked as if she wasn’t even in the next room, and
it cut her to the core. If she didn’t need this job so much she
would have loved to tell Dottie off. Ryelee held her breath waiting
for Clint’s response.

“It’s fine. This is a
working ranch. We don’t have
help
. We work together, we eat
together.”

Ryelee continued removing the biscuits
from the baking tray. Some things just never changed. Dottie had
always been a social climber. Clint’s response touched Ryelee’s
heart. Few people in her life had ever taken her side. She wasn’t
the type of person others invited to dinner. She was the type who
cooked it and washed the dishes afterward. It galled her that it
would be Dottie's dishes she'd be washing.

Dottie laughed at something Clint
said, the sound grating on Ryelee. Clint introduced Rheenie to
Dottie. It didn’t sound as though Rheenie liked Dottie. Ryelee
couldn’t quite make out what they said, but she did hear Rheenie
saying sorry. She didn’t sound very sorry. Ryelee had to keep
herself from laughing.

Ryelee gazed at the wildflowers in the
center of the table. She and Rheenie had found Black-eyed Susans
and mixed them with blue and pink Bachelors Buttons. At least the
early afternoon had been fun.

Dottie was husband hunting, that much
Ryelee knew. How she wanted to pull the fake blonde wig off her
head! Dottie’s family had a lot of old money, and Dottie thought
herself better than anyone else. Ryelee knew what people thought
mattered. She never outgrew the title of the town drunk’s daughter.
She knew she never would.

Ryelee spied from the kitchen as Clint
escorted both Dottie and Rheenie into the dining room. He pulled
out their chairs for them, and Rheenie gaped at him with a wide
smile.

“Where is my Rye?” she asked, starting
to get out of her chair.

“Sit down like a good young lady,”
Dottie said.

Rheenie began to climb out of her
chair again. “I want my Rye Rye.”

Ryelee rushed into the dining room
holding a platter of roast beef. She gave Rheenie a reassuring
smile. Then she quickly brought each dish out, hoping that the
faster she got the food on the table, the faster the dinner would
be over.

“The roast is dry and unseasoned. Look
how lumpy this gravy is. The potatoes need fresh chives on them.
Everyone knows it makes them so much better.” Dottie gave Ryelee a
mocking smile.

Ryelee ignored her and went back into
the kitchen to grab the green bean casserole.

 

* * * *

 

Clint frowned as Ryelee hurried from
the room. The roast and gravy seemed perfect to him. He wasn’t a
big fan of chives, so he liked that Ryelee served the potatoes
without them. Dottie and Ryelee didn't seem to be fans of each
other. He wondered what the problem was.

“Really, Clint, you can’t allow her to
walk around so untidy. Look—she even brought weeds into the house
and set them on the table. You may need to find someone else to
take care of the child. I’m only mentioning it because I have your
best interest at heart.”

Clint didn’t get a chance to respond.
Rheenie jumped down out of her chair and threw a biscuit at Dottie.
Running up to her, she kicked Dottie in the ankle with her tiny
foot. Rheenie ran from the room crying out for Ryelee in a
heartbroken voice.

Clint started to get up to follow
Rheenie, but he sat down when he heard the soft crooning of
Ryelee’s voice. Rheenie had immediately quieted, and he knew she
was in good hands.

“That type of behavior is exactly what
I’ve been talking about.” Dottie laid her hand on his forearm,
smiling sympathetically at him.

“She’s fine now. I’m doing the best I
can.”

“Of course you are, darling. The
problem is that you aren’t with her all the time. I know that you
are a wonderful father, but it is so obvious that Ryelee’s
influence has been very detrimental. Did you know she dropped out
of high school?”

Clint shook his head. In fact, he
didn’t know much about Ryelee. She was good with Rheenie—that’s all
he knew. “What do you suggest?”

Dottie preened. “Well, honestly, I’d
get rid of Ryelee. No one is going to allow their child to be
associated with Rheenie as long as she is under Ryelee’s
care.”

Dottie’s words shocked him. It had
never occurred to him that other kids would ostracize Rheenie
because of Ryelee. His daughter had it hard enough always being
gawked at because of her leg brace. She didn't need any more
strikes against her.

“I don’t think that I need to fire
Ryelee. She does a good job,” he said. “It would break Rheenie’s
heart.”

Dottie leaned closer to Clint rubbing
her breast against his arm. “If you decide that you need help, I’m
here.”

Clint wasn’t so sure he needed
Dottie’s help. She’d been holding the reins in their relationship
from the beginning. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure how they ended up
dating. His friends had been encouraging him to get out there
again, so he had. He looked at Dottie who gave him her best
come-hither look. He would have to tell her that friendship was all
he was willing to give.

 

* * * *

 

Clint brooded for the next week.
Dottie’s warning that Rheenie would be ostracized because of Ryelee
weighed heavily on him. He could easily see the love between
Rheenie and Ryelee, and he worried what firing Ryelee would do to
Rheenie. She had lost her mother just a little over a year ago, and
then they lost their ranch. He had to admit Dottie made a lot of
sense. She seemed to have Rheenie’s wellbeing at heart.

Ryelee had many things against her.
Her clothes were practically rags despite the fact he paid her a
good salary. With her hair in constant disarray, he wondered if she
even cared about her appearance. She didn’t even have a high school
diploma. Sometimes she didn't seem to even have any common
sense.

Whenever he tried to make conversation
with her, she shied away like a frightened filly. She barely made
eye contact with him, which made him crazy. It wasn't easy to try
to get to know someone that wouldn't look at you. A woman full
grown, there were times she acted more Rheenie’s age than her
own.

BOOK: Ryelee's Cowboy
13.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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