Ryelee's Cowboy (5 page)

Surprisingly, she came face to face
with Clint. Ryelee turned away in shame, not wanting to face him.
She already knew the outcome of any conversation, and she wanted to
spare her heart and soul the agony of his rejection.

Clint cupped her face in his hands,
forcing her to look up at him. She braced herself for disgust, but
his expression revealed only concern. It was her absolute breaking
point, and to her dismay, she broke down in tears. Clint put his
arms loosely around her.

She tried fiercely to stop crying, but
it seemed as if a cloud had burst. She wasn’t usually a crier, but
she’d been through too much. Ryelee knew she was a strong woman
with a thick outer skin. Eventually, she quieted down and pulled
away from Clint. She gave him a feeble smile. “I’m sorry,” she
whispered hoarsely.

Clint kissed her on the cheek.
“Everyone is allowed a good cry every now and then,” he said,
softly. “Let's get you inside. This cold can’t be good for you and
the baby.”

Ryelee nodded and stared at the hand
he held out to her. Finally, he took her hand, led her inside to
the brown leather couch in the family room, and sat her down. “I’ll
make us some coffee. On second thought, you shouldn’t be drinking
coffee. I think we have herbal tea somewhere.”

“Why shouldn’t I have
coffee?”

“It’s not good for the baby. Have you
seen a doctor yet?”

Ryelee shook her head. “I didn’t want
to spend the money.”

“Let me get some tea to warm you up,
and we’ll have a good talk.”

Ryelee wondered what
a
good talk
consisted of. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but at least he
hadn’t thrown her out in the street. Maybe he would let her stay
until she found a new job. She hugged herself as she sat on the
couch, waiting.

Clint walked into the family room
carrying two cups of herbal tea. He placed them on the coffee table
and sat down next to Ryelee. “I feel as though I’ve gotten to know
you a bit while you’ve been living here,” Clint began. “I find it
hard to believe that Dottie’s accusations of you entertaining men
are true.”

Ryelee took a sip of her tea. It
warmed her. She looked into Clint’s dark eyes and weakly smiled. No
one had ever asked for her side of the story before. She swallowed
hard, and wondered if Clint would believe a word she said. Looking
into his whiskey colored eyes again, she saw compassion.

“
My father drinks and
gambles a lot. After my mother died, he got worse. There were many
times that I went to bed, my stomach hurting from hunger. More
often than not we couldn't pay our bills. There were many nights
that we had no heat. Thank God for our fireplace. Once there was a
knock on the door, and two men pushed me aside and took both mine
and my father’s beds. He’d lost them playing cards. Eventually the
church gave me a mattress. They also gave me clothes. My father ran
them off. They didn't come around anymore.”

Placing her teacup on the coffee
table, she wondered how to go on. “Two months ago, he…he bet my
virginity. He lost, and he demanded that I pay his debt. I was
never so frightened. Who does such a thing? A man took me kicking
and screaming to a warehouse or something. You can probably imagine
what happened. It was the worst hell I’ve ever been through. The
whole time I kept thinking why. What had I done to deserve
this?”

“What did the police have to say?”
Clint asked in a calm voice, but his face screamed
outrage.

Ryelee felt like crumbling, but she
gave him a shrug. “My father refused to allow me to go to the
police. He wouldn’t even let me go to the hospital. I hurt so badly
that I was bedridden for a week. He, the man, beat me pretty badly.
I felt as though he had torn my insides. My father locked me in my
room until I promised to keep quiet about the whole
incident.”

“You could report it now.”

Ryelee shook her head despondently.
“It’s too late now. Besides, who’s going to believe the town
drunk’s daughter?”

“I believe you.”

No one had ever believed in her
before. She stared at Clint as relief and disbelief washed over
her. Then Ryelee panicked. She couldn’t go through it again. She
couldn’t tell the police. They wouldn’t believe her anyway. “I just
can’t.”

“I’m sure that they will be able to
find the son of a bitch who did it. Your father must know who he
is.” Clint looked so determined and she wished she could go to the
police.

“Please, Clint, just let it be.” She
knew the score and she was the loser.

“What are you planning to do with the
baby? Perhaps adoption would be a good idea.”

Shocked, Ryelee immediately placed her
shaking hands protectively over her abdomen. She’d already decided
to keep her baby. “Is that a condition of my
employment?”

“No, of course not. We’ll work
something out, I guess.”

Ryelee was doubtful. “I guess. I’m
just grateful that you didn’t fire me on the spot.”

“Rheenie needs you too much.” He got
up and gave Ryelee a long look. “Try to get some rest. I’ll take
Rheenie with me for the afternoon,” he said, walking out the family
room.

Ryelee sat on the couch in amazement.
Somehow, she still had her job. She never saw that coming. She knew
Clint was kind, but this surpassed kindness. For the first time,
she felt her worth. Ryelee went to her room and took a
nap.

* * * *

The next few days flew by. Clint
whisked Ryelee to the doctor to make sure both she and the baby
were fine. Annie insisted that Ryelee have her maternity clothes,
and Rheenie had been full of questions.

Overwhelmed with gratitude for all
they were doing for her, every time someone showed her kindness,
she wanted to cry. The doctor had told her it was normal because
her hormones were unbalanced. Whatever the reason, she didn’t like
being weak. It wasn’t her style.

She didn’t understand Clint. She found
him watching her at times and wondered what he thought. He usually
had a pensive look about him, and she hoped he wasn’t going to try
to get her to go to the police again. Even though she knew it was
crazy, she wished that he looked at her because he found her
attractive. Who would want her now? She was pregnant with her
reputation irreparably tattered into shreds that could never be put
back together.

Maybe he was just trying to figure out
a way to approach her about putting the baby up for adoption,
although she fervently hoped that wasn’t the case.

Today, she planned to watch the horses
with Rheenie as usual. They both had apples and sugar cubes to feed
them. Ryelee loved the feel of the horse’s mouth as it took its
treats, and Rheenie always laughed. It became a daily
ritual.

Ryelee smiled at the ranch foreman
Jimmy McKeegan. Lately, he always found time to admire the horses
with them. He was tall, blond, and had the bluest eyes she’d ever
seen, with deep etched lines around them due to his constant smiles
and laughter.

“So how are my two favorite fillies
doing today?” He smiled at Ryelee and picked Rheenie up.

Rheenie laughed in glee. “We are not
fillies.”

Jimmy scrunched up his face in
exaggerated confusion. “Well, what are you?”

“We are princesses,” Rheenie announced
seriously.

“Yes, I do believe that you are right,
Princess Rheenie.”

Rheenie was smitten. She gave Jimmy a
smile of adoration.

Ryelee smiled at the by-play between
them. Warmth spread through her at the thought that she was now a
princess too. She liked Jimmy because he made her feel comfortable.
A friendly, outgoing cowboy with an easy-going manner, he never put
her on edge.

Clint walked out of the barn and
stopped. “Jimmy, don’t you have some work to do?”

Jimmy’s eyebrows rose. “I was just
checking with Burke. It’s time to move the cattle to the upper
pasture.”

“Well, you best get at it
then.”

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. “Well,
my two beauties, the cattle await.”

Ryelee turned to Clint after Jimmy had
gone. “Is something wrong? Am I not supposed to talk to
Jimmy?”

“I just don’t want the men bothering
you.” Clint turned and walked away.

She didn’t know what was wrong.
Usually he acted polite and nice to her. Sometimes he studied her
as if she was a problem he wanted to solve, but other times, well,
she wasn’t sure. He seemed to like her, but she didn’t know what it
meant. Occasionally she would catch him staring at her, but then he
would quickly look away.

Ryelee sighed. She just
didn’t know what to make of her dark-eyed cowboy. She smiled to
herself. She liked thinking of him as
her
cowboy, but she knew it would
never be. He was too decent to want to be with her. Thinking of
things that could never be only led to heartbreak.

“Look, Rye,” Rheenie demanded. “Sybil
loves me so so so much. Look how she nuzzles me!”

Ryelee laughed. It felt good to laugh
for a change, really good. “Come on, Princess Rheenie.” She picked
her up. “We have a nap to take.”

Ryelee carried Rheenie inside the
house, and put her down for her nap. She decided to hang the sheets
outside to dry. Something about sun-dried sheets delighted her.
They always seemed softer and smelled so fresh, like a wonderful
spring day. She hummed as she hung each sheet on the
clothesline.

“Long time no see.” Her father’s
voice, coarse and raspy from years of smoking, rumbled low behind
her.

Ryelee jumped in fright. She turned
and confirmed, to her dismay, Oscar Snyder stood not five feet
away. He looked dirty, and he smelled bad. His brown hair hung in
greasy strands to his shoulders, his once handsome face now bloated
with massive jowls. Bursting out of the seams of his pants, he
looked like he was eating well enough, but they never had enough
food when she lived with him.

“What do you want?” Ryelee asked
through clenched teeth.

“I wanted to see how you’re
doing.”

“No, really. What are you doing
here?”

“I need you to help me rustle some
cattle.” Oscar scratched his hairy stomach. “Help me, or your
employer’s precious horses start miscarrying one by one. He won’t
have a job long if that happens. I can make it happen. I have the
resources.”

His warning left her speechless. He
had the resources all right. He knew all types of
criminals.

“Help me, or Clint Maloney suffers for
it—his brat too. They’ll be out on the streets so fast…”

Stunned by his threats, Ryelee knew
she couldn’t allow anyone to hurt those mares, but she couldn’t
rustle cattle either. “Just what is it you expect me to
do?”

“Now that’s my good girl. I need you
to find out where the cattle are and if they’re being heavily
guarded.”

Ryelee shook her head in disgust. His
fetid breath made her gag. “How am I supposed to get this
information? Clint works the horses, not the cattle.”

Her father gave her an evil grin, one
she had learned to hate over the years. “Jimmy is the key. I saw
you flirting with him earlier. I bet if you spread your legs for
him, he’d tell you anything.”

Ryelee itched to slap his face, but
she couldn’t afford to make him mad. She knew from experience that
his threats were never empty. “I’ll do what I can.”

“You do that. I’ll be back in a week,
and I expect the info I want.”

Ryelee watched helplessly as he strode
away. She wanted to scream. He always ruined everything. She would
have to think this through. No matter what, she wasn’t going to let
him get near Rheenie or the mares. Maybe she should tell Clint. She
didn’t know what to do. Getting the information for him seemed the
easiest way to go. But could she do it? Could she betray the very
people that kept her from living in the streets? Her heart ached
just thinking about it.

****

That night at dinner, Clint could tell
something bothered Ryelee. She seemed jumpy. Maybe it was hormones.
Her face had filled out a bit, and she looked lovely. Now that she
wore Annie’s maternity clothes, he could actually see her figure.
She had a nice shape. Somehow, she had lost her gangly awkwardness,
leaving her healthy and very womanly.

Clint watched her in amazement. There
was something special about Ryelee Snyder. She had many good
qualities he hadn’t noticed before. He’d been taking her for
granted. She was a good cook, a good housekeeper, and she was great
with Rheenie. He shook his head as he realized that he’d been
thinking of firing her.

So many emotions had run the gauntlet
through his heart. She annoyed him, yet he found her compelling.
She was reckless, yet caring. Somehow, she had found a place in his
heart, and it disturbed him. Maybe he just felt sorry for
her.

Clint almost threw his napkin on the
table and left. He didn't know if he could deal with feelings. He
didn't want any feelings, except those he had for his daughter, but
he couldn't help himself. All through dinner, Clint kept stealing
glances at Ryelee. He remembered touching her breast in the tree,
and he remembered feeling more than a handful.