Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy? (13 page)

Riley flung an arm around his shoulders in brotherly camaraderie and guided him to Daisy. “I don’t think it’s fair for you to dismiss your boyfriend so quickly. He came all the way out here to see you. The least you can do is show him around.” Hopefully Clay would continue to pull from whatever strength dragged him to Wyoming to start with.

“I had to rent a station wagon to get here, too.”

“I wondered what you were driving.” Daisy sniffed at the rental. “Not at all like your Camaro, is it?”

“Cookie, why don’t you saddle Rufus for Clay over here, and Daisy can show him what she did today? It will give you two the chance to talk.”

“But Riley,” Daisy protested. “I—”

“It’s fine.” No way would he give her a chance to talk her way out of it. “Go.”

Clay lumbered off to the stables and Riley helped Daisy get back on her horse. She cupped his cheek after she mounted, and he removed it as quickly as he could. Soon Clay reappeared on one of the gentler horses and he and Daisy set off. Riley nodded to Dallas to follow in case they needed a guide.

The unhappy couple lumbered down the path. If this kept up, the women would leave in a steady stream until only one was left. And that was absolutely fine with him as long as Ainsley was the one who stayed behind. He brought Westley inside the stable, the women trailing him like he had them on leadlines.

“I had a great time today.” Jewel sidled next to him. “I never knew ranch life could be so much fun.”

“I love it,” Leigh told her. “There’s nothing better after a long day than knowing how much you accomplished on your own land. Right, Riley?”

“Right.” He tried not to offer any more encouragement but her smug smile told him she came out ahead in some kind of unspoken feminine battle.

“I agree,” Jewel said with an edge to her voice. “I never knew repairing fences and watering lost baby sheep would be a great way to spend the day.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourselves.” This verbal competition needed to be defused before anyone else decided to get involved. He went through the motions of unsaddling his horse, giving the women a lesson on what to do and how to cool out their animals. Of course most of them wanted him to show them up close and personal, except the one person he wanted to help. She wasn’t even in the stables.

Where did she go? He led his entourage back to the house where Molly had set up dinner with an extra setting for Clay, but neither he nor Daisy showed up to eat. Afterward, the women were on their own and Riley would be free from the wife wannabes until the next day. He did some quick calculations on how much real work he had to do and wondered how to get Ainsley to meet him later. Her luminous green eyes had never glowed with the predatory gleam he saw in Daisy’s and the others’. He could be himself when he was with her, not a bachelor cowboy looking for a bride.

He said good-bye to each woman as she left the house, suffering through their flirty pretensions and practiced smiles. When Ainsley said good-bye, she stood on her toes to brush her pink lips against his cheek. “I’ll be in the greenhouse around nine,” he murmured before she drew back. He gave her the barest of smiles before turning to Robin.

Ainsley affected neutral indifference for the benefit of anyone watching, but her heart skipped and warmth curled inside her. No, she told herself. She was here only to keep her mother away from Charleston Blooms, not to snag a husband. Not even if the man set her pulse racing every time she saw him. Or if she imagined his strong hands stroking her like he had that lamb. Not even then.

The cool air helped calm the tingle that ran over her body as she returned to her cabin with Meagan. A couple of birds flew overhead and she followed their flight until they got lost in the streams of brightness from the setting sun. Two hours until nine.

“Ainsley!” Her roommate’s voice was sharp in her ear as she almost kicked one of the lights on their path.

“What? Oh, sorry. It’s been a long day. I must have been daydreaming,” Ainsley said.

“Daydreaming,” Jewel said to Robin from somewhere behind them, “of something that is never going to be.”

Ainsley tamped down the need to turn around and confront Jewel. Like with Sophia, she knew the confrontation would only give the woman more ammunition instead of doing any good. Better Ainsley ignore her.

“Oh, look at me,” Jewel simpered. “I can chase a little baby lamb in hopes that the big, dreamy cowboy will chase
me
.”

Ainsley filled her lungs and exhaled before turning around. “What are you talking about? I should’ve let the lamb stay lost?”

Jewel smirked, placing her hands on her hips and jutting her chin forward. “I’m sure Riley didn’t appreciate you wasting his time when you went after Fluffy. He was only trying to be nice when he chose you to help.”

“I’m sure he also doesn’t appreciate you wasting his time every time you open your mouth,” Meagan responded.

Jewel gave her glossy hair a shake and kept her cool stare focused on Ainsley. “We’ll see who’s still here in a few days, PB.”

What the hell did PB mean? If the price of knowing was asking Jewel, Ainsley would rather remain ignorant. “Whatever.”

Jewel and Robin took the path to their own cabins, leaving Ainsley and Meagan to continue on. “I don’t understand what I did to earn her animosity,” Ainsley said.

“Oh, please. It’s not you. Some women just can’t deal with friendly competition. It darkens their auras. Every time. They feel their femininity is threatened, so to make up for their insecurities, they lash out. You’re only a target.”

“Great. I’ll go paint a bull’s-eye on my forehead.”

They got back to their cabin and Meagan yawned. “I am so looking forward to a hot bath,” she said. “I haven’t been on a horse in ages, and I think I’m paying for it now.”

“Let me jump into the shower first.” If Ainsley was going to see the cowboy, she didn’t want to do it stinking like a farm. Hot water loosened her tight muscles and she let the water run over her until she felt human again.

Meagan ran a bath while Ainsley stood in front of her closet and pawed through her clothes. She returned to the common area and glanced at the clock on the mantle. Eight fifteen. She fished out her book and sat on the sofa, then settled in to read. A moment later, the words on the page swam and she shifted her eyes to her watch. Eight seventeen. It confirmed the time on the clock. Maybe there was another clock in the kitchen. She stretched to see.

“My watch matches the clock,” Meagan said, causing Ainsley to shriek.

Busted. “I wasn’t looking at the clock.” Ainsley shifted her gaze around the room for something to latch on to. On the mantel sat a sketch of a brown colt nudging its mother. Both animals had white stars on their foreheads. She picked it up and brought it under brighter lights. Two shaded figures decorated the background, one in a cowboy hat and one in a long skirt. “Did you do this? You’re really good.”

“Thanks. I wanted to capture something of what I saw when Montgomery was born. It was such an amazing experience that I didn’t want to forget it. And nice try changing the subject.”

Ainsley picked at a piece of lint on her light blue robe. “What was that?”

“What’s going on with you?”

“Me? Nothing. Why would you think something was going on?” She put the picture back on the mantel, then picked up a sofa cushion and studied it before putting it down again and smoothing it out.

“Jewel didn’t get to you, did she? You can’t give her that power.”

“No. I couldn’t care less what she says.” She sat on the sofa and crossed her legs, her raised foot bobbing up and down in rhythmic time to the seconds hand on the clock.

“Perhaps you enjoyed your time chasing the lamb with Riley more than you want to admit to me?” Meagan gave her a playful shove. “I mean, we are supposed to be in competition over the same man.”

Hiding in her room to avoid this whole conversation sounded very appealing, but she owed her roommate. She jumped at the story. “I had a really good time with him today,” she said, almost afraid of the other woman’s reaction. “It feels strange talking to you about it, doesn’t it?”

Meagan nodded, her wet hair slinging around her shoulders. “If it helps, I’m not feeling the same connections that I bet you feel. I’d be thrilled if you and Riley got together. You may even end up married.”

Ainsley leaned back with a groan of resignation and covered her face with her hands. “This is so not what I was expecting when I came out here.”

“Me, neither.” Her roommate stifled a yawn. “I’m exhausted.”

Ainsley snuck another glance at her watch. Eight twenty. “I’m not ready for bed yet,” she said. “I may take a walk later.”

“Have fun,” Meagan said, going to her room. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Her door clicked and Ainsley looked at her watch again. Before she could tell what time it was, she sat on her hand to prevent herself from seeing it.

“The question is,” she muttered, “do I want to go?” Her head told her no. There would be no point in getting involved. The only one-night stand she’d ever had was a huge mistake, and this would be no different. On the other hand, this rough, sexy cowboy was a completely different breed from any man she knew in South Carolina. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her palms. So many times she wished she could be as carefree as Cecelia. Here was the perfect opportunity. But did she want it?

Where was her book? She thumbed through the pages and read, stopping every few minutes to check the time. Eight thirty-two. Eight forty-six. Eight fifty.

She exhaled, counted to ten, then threw her robe on her bed. Underneath she wore a teal green dressy shirt emphasized by sparkly silver. Her favorite black jeans hugged her legs. Three minutes after nine. Perfect. Not early and eager, but not too late that Riley would think she wasn’t coming. She opened the front door and crept out, leaving behind the safe shelter of her cabin and riding the excitement she accepted like a dare.

D
on’t these women ever think of going to bed? We’re doing something wrong if they aren’t tired after working all day.
Riley stood behind a cabin, staring down at the greenhouse. Leigh and a blond woman entered it and soon it blazed with light. He wasn’t about to go down there and spend time with them, opening himself up to another dissertation on Henry Ford and assembly-line work. Too many women crawled around his ranch. He couldn’t be with the one that attracted him, even if it was just lust and not the deep, soul-melding experience his sisters craved for him. At least he didn’t have to worry about Daisy anymore. Clay had managed to sweep her off her stiletto-covered feet and into the station wagon.

After a few minutes, the two women left. Riley blew out a quick breath of relief and checked his watch. Eight forty-seven and he stayed put. The ground below him hid more wife wannabes. Jessica appeared over the small hill but passed the greenhouse. When she blended into the shadows, he jogged to the glass building and made it inside unseen. Eight fifty-three.

Funny how two days ago he’d avoided going into this building, hiding from the emotions that came when he thought of his father. Whether intentional or not, hiding with Ainsley in the plants, breathing in her vanilla scent, had started new memories for him.

The three-quarter moon provided some light in the darkened building. He stood a couple of steps away from the door, partially hidden behind some large, blossoming plant. It hadn’t had flowers the other day. He filled his lungs, breathing deeply. The air was more floral than the last time he’d been in there, too. He touched the dirt. Moist. The other plants also showed signs of improvement. Someone had tended them.

Instead of the rage he had felt before, he now felt acceptance. His father was gone. He wouldn’t have wanted the greenhouse turned into a shrine. He would’ve wanted others to experience it and love it like he had.

Nine o’clock. Perfect. He figured Ainsley would be a bit late, but he had to be on time. Which he was. Hiding behind a plant.

His skin tingled with awareness when the door swung open. A hand fumbled for the switch before filling the area with fluorescent lights and he banked his anticipation. It wasn’t Ainsley. He contemplated ducking under the table behind him but decided to remain still and hope the plant would provide camouflage. He should have brought Seth along as a wingman to watch his back. Riley frowned. He hadn’t seen his brother all day and he hadn’t been at dinner.

“Riley!” Jewel’s voice came from over his shoulder and he closed his eyes in resignation.

“Hello, Jewel.” Damn. He masked his disappointment and ran his fingers through the long fronds of the tree. He shook it gently before nodding in satisfaction and stepping away from his failure of a hiding place.

“I didn’t expect to see you again until tomorrow. What are you doing here?” She took him in with her large brown eyes. A blue clip kept her hair off her face and she had changed her clothes into something that encased her body like paint. All she needed was a crossbow to shriek that she’d been hunting for him.

“Hearing Molly talk about the greenhouse made me realize I hadn’t been in it for a while. I thought I’d come see how it was doing. It’s as much a part of the appeal of the Crescent Ridge as working the ranch,” he said.

“Well, come show me what you’re looking at,” she said. “What’s behind the tree?”

Absolutely nothing. “I was seeing if the leaves were healthy.” He turned down the main aisle of the greenhouse, Jewel trotting along beside him like an eager colt.

“I’ve been loving my time here,” she said. “I’m not used to such wide open spaces. My hometown is filled with cars, people, cars, buildings, and more cars.” She giggled at her joke and put a hand on his arm.

The door whooshed. Riley’s first panicked instinct was to hide Jewel so Ainsley wouldn’t see her touching him. He didn’t want her to find him with another woman, showing her he couldn’t be trusted. This relationship should start with some level of trust even though it wouldn’t end that way. No relationship did.

He wrapped an arm around Jewel’s shoulder to guide her into another aisle, but she didn’t budge. Instead, she turned into him, molding her body against his and caressing his arms. He heard the door close and listened intently for approaching footsteps, but he only heard the echo of his breathing and Jewel sighing in his arms. No vanilla scent filled the air around him, no soft southern voice greeted him. His lips met something wet and solid and he jolted backward, pressing his lips together to prevent another kissing attack.

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I saw you,” Jewel breathed, curling her fingers in his hair. She stood on her toes to get a better lock on him.

The pit of his stomach sank like an overgrown basset hound. He couldn’t abide unfaithfulness. Kissing another woman wasn’t the impression he wanted to give Ainsley. He cleared his throat and took another step back, breaking all contact. “I—”

“You don’t have to speak.” Jewel put a finger on his mouth. “I knew you felt this too, Riley. This connection. It’s real. It’s powerful.”

The only connection he felt was the one between his abandoned libido and the green-eyed woman who’d left. “We should go. More of you ladies are on the paths around here. I don’t want to subject you to their whispers and pointing,” he said. Had he managed to be with Ainsley, he would have recommended leaving the greenhouse and going to a more private place. This would take some explaining.

“Oh, let them point,” She smoothed his shirt across his shoulders. “It’s not like we’re stopping them from joining us.”

“Still, I have to get up early.” He barreled through the aisle to get to the door.

“What’s on our agenda for tomorrow?” she asked. She wound her arm through his, reminding him of a spider spinning its web around a hapless fly about to be dinner.

“More of the same as today,” Riley said. They brushed by the plants in his haste to get out of the greenhouse. Jewel practically jogged to keep up with him.

“Then tomorrow night you say good-bye to some of us,” she pouted and lowered her chin. “I’ll tell you, Riley, I’m really nervous.”

“Why?” he asked in spite of himself.

“I’m scared you’ll send me home. I’m afraid you don’t see what we have together.”

“I… uh… see something.”
But not with you. With a fiery-eyed, light-haired angel who’s probably mad as hell right now.
He didn’t know what else to say.

“I’m so glad,” Jewel said, turning into his arms. She stroked his cheek, her mouth curled up at the corners, her gaze darting to his lips.

Riley took her hand and clasped it with his own. “Good night, Jewel,” he said, then gave it a solid shake before he released it and left the greenhouse. He kept his pace quick so she wouldn’t follow and headed toward the big house, keeping his ear on her movement. When she turned down the path to her own cabin, he cut across the grass and headed toward Ainsley.

Of all the sneaky, manwhore things to do! Anger made it hard to see and Ainsley tripped over uneven ground, tree roots, and her own feet in her haste to get away. Did he have them all scheduled in fifteen-minute increments? Give their lips a test ride to see if their kissing was passable enough to keep them on?

She flung open the door to the cabin, stalked to her room, and yanked the suitcase from under her bed. She grabbed her clothes from the closet and threw them in. How could she have been so stupid to think that their connection fixing the sink and with the lamb was anything but an audition for him? Bastard.

I can’t go home yet.

Shirts and jeans sprawled on her bed, making it hard to sink into it when the adrenaline spurring her to leave wilted. Cecelia’s cruise wasn’t due to return for another couple of days and Ainsley needed to be where their mother wasn’t. But she could get a hotel room instead. Socks rolled under her bed while she searched the room for a phone book.

A tapping at the window startled her out of her concentration on getting the hell off the Crescent Ridge, but she ignored the sound and crawled under the bed for her socks. The tapping became more insistent, and she stalked over and pushed back the yellow curtains. Riley stood in the shadow of the trees, arms folded across his chest, scowling at the pane.

He was scowling? He was scowling! Ainsley snapped the locks on the window and raised it. “Go away!” She slammed it back down, rattling the glass.

“It’s not what you think,” his muffled voice came back to her.

She raised the window again. “Did I imagine you asked me to meet you?”

“No. I wanted to see you, Fairfax. Alone and…”

She held up her hand to stop him. “And were you lip-locked with Jewel when I got there?”

“She was kissing me!”

She cocked her head to the side. What a jerk. “I’ve heard that before with Daisy. These women all just start kissing you? Please. You’re not that charming.”

She started to close the window again, but Riley’s rough, deep voice stopped her. “Ainsley.”

She paused, his single word prickling through her resolve like a thorn. She had to be insane to even be considering this, but his soft insistence wound its way beneath the barrier of her skin. “Okay, wait.” She closed the window and grabbed her light blue robe, stuffing her arms through the sleeves to hide how she’d dressed up to meet him and muttering to herself about being an idiot. She made her way through her cabin and slipped out, hoping Meagan was sleeping soundly.

“I didn’t ask Jewel to meet me,” Riley said when she rounded the corner. “She found me while I was waiting for you.”

“Uh-huh.” Ainsley continued to glare.

“I couldn’t get her to leave.”

“So you kissed her to convince her? That always works for me.”

“No.” A hot gleam surfaced in his eyes and her breath got lost somewhere in the back of her throat. “Maybe I could explain it better if I showed you.”

He stepped closer. She wanted to back away from his unspoken challenge but held her ground even as her heart rate kicked up a couple of notches. He leaned down and his warm breath fanned her cheek. She swallowed her nerves and anticipated the heat. His lips pressed against hers in a kiss so flat and unimpassioned that a haze of confusion fell over her. What had happened to the pulse-pounding passion from last night?

“That’s what Jewel’s kiss felt like,” he said. “This is you.”

He nibbled her lips, tasting and teasing and probing until her mouth opened and her breath hitched. He didn’t stop, gently gliding his tongue around hers like a twisted vine. His large fingers captured the back of her head. His other hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her to mold to his body and she felt how much this kiss affected him. The intense pressure drained the blood from Ainsley’s legs and she went as limp as a wilted flower. He pressed against her with the perfect amount of pressure, one hand kneading her head while the other massaged the tight muscles in her back.

“Don’t leave,” he whispered.

She nodded against him, unable to speak. His fingers stroked her hair, flaming the desire that wove its way down her spine and into her belly. A small moan escaped from the back of her throat. Riley released her suddenly and stalked away, his body rigid.

She released her breath and sank against the cabin as his solid form disappeared from view. Had she really just fought with him? Not squashed her own emotions for the sake of avoiding an argument? And it had been exhilarating. Freeing. Her true self. He’d responded in kind, matching her heated anger with his own, not controlling his feelings for appearances.

And that soul-blowing, toe-curling, hair-straightening kiss. That one ranked pretty high on her scale of wow. But it was a mistake. A complete and utter mistake, and she would tell him that as soon as she could move again.

Riley twisted his legs as he approached the house, hoping to stop the uncomfortable friction of his jeans before he saw any of his family. His whole body felt drained, but there was a spark of optimism that maybe she had been convinced being with Jewel hadn’t meant anything.

That moan had jolted him out of his insanity. He wanted her in his bed, but he needed to be clear there was no wedding ring involved. If that didn’t suit her, that would be it. He would respect whatever she decided. His good mood was interrupted by a flash of irritation when footsteps crunched the grass behind him, but the steady gait was too heavy to be one of the aspiring Mrs. Cowboys.

“Riley.” Cookie’s low voice broke the nighttime silence. Shadows hid the older man’s face and he held his hat in his hands.

“What can I do for you, Cookie?” Riley asked, leading him into the kitchen. “Something wrong with Scarlet?”

“No, both she and Montgomery are fine,” he answered.

“Coffee?” Riley asked.

“No, thanks.” Cookie stood beside the table, gripping his hat like a lifeline. He rubbed his hand over his hawkish nose and tight lips, then opened his mouth to talk but closed it again. Several times.

“Something stronger?”

Cookie paused for a moment. “Yeah.”

Riley fished around the cabinets and pulled out some whiskey. Cookie swallowed the shot in one gulp and stared hard at Riley, his brown eyes intent.

“I need to know your intentions toward Miss Donnelly,” he said.

Who the hell was Miss Donnelly?
Riley scrunched his eyes and racked his brain for the woman to go with the name.

“Meagan,” Cookie clarified.

“Meagan?” Riley grasped at something else to say. “What should my intentions be?”

His foreman mumbled something to his feet, shifting his hat between his hands. Riley wondered how much it would take to give it a permanent curl.

“What was that?” He leaned forward to hear Cookie better.

The older man flushed, but lifted his chin. “I don’t think she’s what you’re looking for in this singles research your sisters planned for the ranch,” he stated.

“Well, that’s hardly a fair thing to say,” Riley defended Meagan, though there hadn’t been any chemistry between them. She was nice enough, but she had spent all her time talking about… oh. He didn’t know if he should feel slighted by Meagan or amused.