The Billionaire Cowboy: A Billionaire's Club Story (3 page)

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going, little fella?”

Ryder smiled as one of the calves took off ahead of the group, frolicking toward the far fence line where the rest of the cattle grazed. Samson took off at a canter, showing off his training as he moved to cut the calf off and steer it in the right direction. Lara turned back to face him, a triumphant smirk curving her full lips when two more calves broke ranks and headed in opposite directions. Ryder couldn’t have planned it better if he’d trained those little buggers to take off like that.

“Better round ’em up, doc. You wouldn’t want one getting stuck in a fence somewhere.”

She shot him a glare that further stirred his lusts as she maneuvered Samson toward the closest calf first. Wrong move. She should have brought the farther calf in line first to encourage the other to fall into step. Again, perfect.

“Dang it,” Lara muttered as another calf kicked his back legs up and skittered off toward a patch of green grass on the outskirts of the herd. The mama released a drawn-out bellow as she stopped the flow of the herd in order to follow after her baby. “Come back, little guy,” Lara crooned. “You’re worrying your mama.” She spun Samson around and sent him headlong into the middle of the herd.

“Damn it,” Ryder ground out between clenched teeth as the once-ordered group fell quickly into chaos. So much for a well-orchestrated plan. There wouldn’t be much use in trying to seduce Lara if she was trampled by a stampede first.

He whistled sharply, the sound echoing off the distant hills. The sound seemed to break Lara from her single-minded task and she looked up and around to find herself adrift in a sea of agitated cattle. Dust swirled up around her and she waved her hand in front of her face as she coughed. Samson reared up, none too happy about being pushed around, and damned near threw Lara from her seat.

Ryder chanced a quick look toward the ranch, relieved to see a streak of black-and-white fur racing down the hill, toward them. Pepper, the best cow dog he’d ever owned, bounded down the hill with a yip, clearly excited to show the herd who was boss. As the cows grew more agitated, their cries became a cacophony of sound, drowning out Lara’s voice as she called out over the din.

Well, it wasn’t how he’d imagined getting her close, but Ryder decided that improvisation had its merits. He pressed his heels into Dakota’s flanks and sent him into the melee of cattle. Dakota pulled against the reins, throwing his head from side to side. Lara should have known better than to steer a horse into an agitated group of cows like that. Dakota grew nervous, stomping his hooves and raising his legs high as though worried he was about to get stepped on.

“Whoa, boy. Take it easy,” Ryder crooned in his ear as he placed a comforting hand on the stallion’s neck and maneuvered him right into the thick of the chaos. Samson spun wildly as he searched for a way out of the stampede and Lara’s eyes were as big as silver dollars, her expression one of barely veiled fear. Through the press of cattle, Dakota soldiered his way through like any battle stallion worth his salt. No pesky cow was going to push him around and he gingerly picked his way through the stamping feet around him, ears perked and head held high.

Samson bucked again and Lara lost her grip on the reins, instead grabbing onto the pommel to stay in the saddle. Before he could try to pitch her again, Ryder maneuvered beside them and grabbed Samson’s discarded rig before he wrapped his other arm around Lara’s waist, pulling her onto his saddle. “You’re lucky he didn’t throw you,” Ryder growled close to her ear. “Damn it, Lara, you could’ve been trampled.”

He didn’t mean to be so harsh with her. After all, he was the one who’d set her on that fool’s errand. Ryder’s heart beat wildly in his chest and his muscles tensed with unspent adrenaline. And what really rattled him—scared the ever loving shit out of him—was the fear he felt watching her out there and being almost too far away to help.

Talk about uncharted territory.

Lara’s heart felt like it might explode out of her chest at any second. Her hands trembled at her sides and she gripped onto Ryder’s shirt as he guided them away from the fray and clear of danger. Behind them, Samson skittered to one side, still a little rattled and out of sorts. An excited yip sounded from somewhere beside them and Ryder called out, “Round ’em up, Pep!”

A dark flash of color darted into Lara’s line of sight and she turned to see a black dog with a white speckled band of fur around its neck and shoulders circumvent the agitated cows, nipping at ankles as she rounded them up into an orderly group.

“Good girl, Pepper,” Ryder called out as the dog wagged her tail, pleased with the compliment. “Get ’em moving.”

It only took Pepper a few moments to bring order to the chaos Lara had managed to create. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as Ryder’s arm wound around her torso to hold her body tightly to his.
Great. Ryder Blackwell’s
dog
is a better ranch hand than I am.

“That was stupid,” Lara stated without looking back. If she had to admit to his face that she had no idea what she was doing she doubted she’d ever live it down. “I should have known better.”

His voice was a low, sensual purr next to her ear when he said, “Round-up skills aside, doc, you sure know how to open a gate.”

It shouldn’t have made her insides turn to Jell-O when he called her “doc.” And likewise, she shouldn’t have wanted to lean back and rest her head on his shoulder. Lara shifted—saddles weren’t made for more than one butt after all—and only managed to wedge her body between the pommel and Ryder, pressing her up against his groin in a way that made her very aware there was a well-built male right behind her.

They sure did grow ’em bigger in Texas.

Despite the clothes that separated their skin, Lara could feel every well-sculpted muscle of his body and then some. Her backside brushed up against his fly with each one of Dakota’s steps, creating a friction that made her wonder what it might feel like to have Ryder Blackwell naked and thrusting into her from behind. So much for keeping her distance. She’d only been at the ranch for a little over an hour and already she was plastered up against him and thinking of ways to get closer still.

Samson seemed to have calmed down, his gait lazy as he walked behind them, but Ryder still held onto her, one arm wrapped protectively around her waist. His proximity made Lara’s spine about as stiff as a cooked noodle, and the longer she stayed put, the more she wanted to nestle up and let her body mold itself to his. “I’m okay to ride now.” Too bad her voice didn’t echo the conviction of her words. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about me starting another stampede. It looks like Pepper has the situation under control.”

She felt more than heard the deep rumble of laughter in Ryder’s chest. A tremor that traveled the length of her body and settled low in her core. Lara sat bolt upright in the saddle, scrambling to hop down before she threw caution to the wind and straddled that cowboy like she had his horse. What was wrong with her? Lara had to remind herself that she was here for one reason and one reason only: to get back October Sky so she could rebuild her family’s stables and reputation.

Ryder Blackwell did
not
figure into that equation.

As though reluctant to let her go, his fingers slid across her belly as she maneuvered one leg over the pommel until she was sitting sidesaddle. The contact sent delicious shivers over her skin and her abdomen clenched tightly with lust.

“Give me your hand.”

Ryder’s voice was as smooth and rich as Kentucky bourbon, every bit as heady too, because all it took was a few words in her ear to make Lara feel positively drunk. She reached her right hand across her body and his fingers brushed her palm before he gripped her hand in his. Her breath stalled in her chest as their eyes locked, their lips almost close enough for a kiss.

The rumor around town was that Ryder Blackwell could give a woman an orgasm just by smiling at her. His eyes crinkled at the corners as his lips spread into a sensual grin and for the first time since she’d heard it, Lara thought that the rumors might actually be true. “Watch your step, doc. I can’t have my new ranch hand laid up on the first day of work.”

Her brain went blank. She couldn’t think past that smile, or the heated look in his eyes. “True,” she said after a spell. “And I really wouldn’t want to give the local hens anything to cluck about.”

Rather than let her go, Ryder’s grip tightened around her with those words. Something hardened in his gaze and he cocked his head to one side as he regarded her. “Is that why you’ve been giving me the brush-off? Because you’re worried about what people might say about you?”

His expression was almost hurt and though it puzzled Lara to see him react this way, what did he expect? “Oh, come on, Ryder. You have to know that once a woman spends the night with you, she’s the talk of the town by the next day. I’m trying to build a business here. A good reputation. No one will bring their animals to me if they don’t respect me. Being one of your conquests doesn’t exactly look good on a resume.”

He released his grip and she slid down from his horse so unexpectedly that she almost didn’t land on her feet. “What the hell do you care what people say, anyway? And besides, unless you’re the one planning to spread the gossip, why does anyone need to know what you do in your spare time?”

Lara dusted her palms against her pants as though she could banish the lingering sensation of Ryder’s touch and stalked over to Samson, grabbing up the reins. “Are you implying that I’d run around town and brag about spending the night with you?” As though a one-nighter with Ryder Blackwell was like winning a blue ribbon at the state fair.

“You said it, doc. Because I can guarantee you that any stories about what goes on in the privacy of my own bedroom aren’t being spread by me.”

Yeah, sure. What man didn’t brag about his conquests? Especially one with the bragging rights Ryder supposedly had. “Knowing the damage it would cause, what woman in her right mind would go around blabbing to the entire town that she’d hooked up with you for the night?” She might have sounded disbelieving, but Lara had to admit that the biggest complaint from most of Ryder’s former flames was that he rarely came calling a second time. And though it was totally unfair to lay all of the blame at his feet—it took two to tango, after all—Lara needed whatever flimsy excuse she could muster in order to keep her distance.

She hauled herself up into the saddle and put her heels into Samson’s flanks to spur him into action. He took off at a trot and behind her, she heard Ryder urge Dakota to catch up. Within seconds he was riding beside her, his expression a notch below steam coming out of the ears. “I don’t kiss and tell, doc. What I do in my bedroom is
my
business and no one else’s. Including yours. But I can’t control what people say about me and I’m not about to try.”

No, it wasn’t any of her business. Still, she couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that tugged her emotions in a direction she wasn’t exactly thrilled about. Was it really the gossip that bothered her so much or the string of women who came before her, all vying for even a scrap of Ryder’s affection? He never stayed with a girl for long, and as far as she knew, he’d never had a serious relationship. Lara didn’t want to be simply another woman who walked through the revolving door of his bedroom, though.

“You know,” Ryder shot back as he rode up ahead, “I can’t help it if women are attracted to me. Or if I’m attracted to them. Should I become some sort of hermit, forsake all women just to appease the clucking hens as you called them?”

Yes, damn it! Lara didn’t know why she was so worked up, but was it too much to ask that he not cat around town quite so much? The fact that she wanted Ryder despite her own rocky past, and despite what she was trying to do for her future was reason enough to keep him at arm’s length. It was an unreasonable thought, sure. She was afraid to take him up on his many invitations because she didn’t
want
to want him. That didn’t mean she wanted any other woman to have him, though. “I just wonder if it’s worth it, is all. Is your reputation worth a few meaningless one-night stands?”

***

By god, it was if it meant getting a woman like her all to himself. Nothing about Lara Montgomery was meaningless, though, and he was going to make sure she realized that by the end of the weekend. She was trying to antagonize him, erect a wall between them. But he wasn’t going to let her do it. Lara could push his buttons all she wanted because he was going to be sure and push back.

“Maybe you’re afraid,” Ryder remarked as he steered Dakota around the herd to push them into the corral.

“Afraid of what?” she challenged.

“To acknowledge that someone might want you enough to not give a shit about anything else but having you all to himself.”

Lara brought Samson to a stop beside him and said, “I don’t want a man to own me, Ryder. I’ve had my fill of men who can’t tell the difference between wanting a woman and treating her like a possession.”

Her somber words gave him pause and Ryder sat astride Dakota, watching as she walked Samson toward the stables. The fear behind Lara’s blue eyes was real, as was the slight quaver in her voice when she spoke. It wasn’t Ryder who’d spooked her, but something—or perhaps,
someone
—else dredged up memories that it was obvious Lara would rather forget.

How could he possibly convince her that his interest in her had nothing to do with some petty conquest and “owning” her? If anything, she owned him. Hell, he’d spent thousands of dollars on a horse he had absolutely no use for just to get her out here. She owned his every waking thought and even his body, which responded to her in ways that no other woman had managed to coax from him. With nothing but a look Lara could awaken every nerve in Ryder’s body. Own her? It wasn’t ownership when you gave yourself over freely. And he was going to do everything in his power to make her see that.

Ryder decided to give her a few moments before heading after Lara into the stable. Though she’d thought to unveil some great revelation by letting him in on the not-so-secret details of his love life, he was well aware of what folks around town said about him. As well as the women he’d been with. You’d think they’d bagged a trophy buck—a top score on the Boone and Crockett scale—the way they talked about him. And whereas he’d never let the rumors get to him, he wondered what would prompt these women to so salaciously share their sexual exploits with anyone who’d listen.