Heartbreak Ranch (3 page)

It was Mrs. Edmiston’s chipper, bellowing call across the room that snapped Graysen out of her deliciously naughty daydream, and she turned around to see who the ranch owner was calling. She immediately regretted her curious nature, flushing as she caught the gaze of a certain handsome ranch hand.  She wished she had gone directly back to the cabin after her spying adventure by the barn.

In that moment, she wanted more than anything to be invisible. Graysen didn’t know what to do. Did she have time to excuse herself quickly and get away? Could she make like Dorothy and click her shoes together in the impossibility of being magically transported away from the lodge? She knew if that man came near her, her ability to string together a sentence would shrivel in the heat of his presence.

Suddenly aware she was still wearing what she had traveled in all day, she ran her hands down her blue cotton dress in a futile attempt to smooth out the wrinkles. She rummaged through her handbag for a brush and something to tie her unruly locks back out of her face. Settling on a hairband and using her fingers as a comb, she wrestled her dark hair into a high pony tail. It made her look like a teenager again, but she didn’t have much choice.

Soon the handsome horse trainer was placing a kiss on Mrs. Edmiston’s cheek. In the light, he was even more breathtakingly handsome than he was twenty minutes ago. Thick brows framed his deep forest green eyes. He had a straight nose and strong jaw with a small cleft in his chin that finished out his handsome face. A faint five o’clock shadow was blooming along his jawline. You could tell he’d just been through hell. He was covered in dirt. His thick, raven hair was poking out from a dove gray Stetson. She scanned his body from his broad shoulders down to the big, square belt buckle that guarded his fly. And then that mouth of his opened and Graysen heard his voice again.

“June, I’m just getting a quick beer before I call it a night. I’m worn out somethin’ fierce.” He talked with a hint of a southern drawl, which Graysen found unusual since they were in Wyoming. She watched as he took a swig of his beer. She stared, transfixed by his sensual mouth.

“You look horrible.” Mrs. Edmiston laughed as she held out her arms and then encircled Colt in a warm hug. “You’re a hot mess, what have you been doing?”

“Just breaking in that damned stubborn horse some more. I like doing it at night. It’s less hot out and not as many people are around.”

“Well I want you to meet Ellen Beaufort. She’s here with her family from Iowa. They just got in a few hours ago.”

“Welcome to White Pine, ma’am.” A slow smile crossed his mouth. Graysen had never been jealous of her mother before, but at that moment, she was. Her mom smiled back and introduced them.

“This is my son, Carson, and my eldest daughter, Graysen. I’ve got a husband and another daughter around here somewhere.”

Colt looked to Carson and nodded, and then he turned to Graysen. The smile that was there when he’d addressed her mom and brother faltered. He looked as serious as a county fair bake-off.

What was she doing wrong? Was she even standing upright?

His eyes met hers. His stare was sexy in a simmering, scorch-your-clothes-off kind of way that made her suddenly feel naked.

“Colt McCord,” he finally said as if she were the only one in the room. He inched closer. The space between them became negligible. He took Graysen’s hand slowly in his, and tipped his hat a bit before removing it. “The pleasure is all mine, Ms. Beaufort.”

Graysen, not normally at a loss for words, was rendered speechless. Her brain was temporarily short-circuited, overwhelmed by the dangerous combination of his stunning good looks, the warmth of his encompassing hand, and the honeyed tone of his low, southern drawl.

The rough, calloused palm that held her small hand and the deep vibrations of his slow, lazy words sent a small current of heat through her belly. Graysen quickly dismissed it by telling herself that she was only human, after all, and he was undoubtedly the hottest man she’d ever been this close to in her life. His skin slid slowly against hers when he released her hand from his. An uncomfortable moment of silence hung in the air as he gazed into her eyes a little longer than necessary.

He suddenly jerked his head back to smile again at Graysen’s mother. “Very pleased to meet y’all. I do need to hit the sack though.” He turned to look at Mrs. Edmiston. “I’m heading out early tomorrow to move the cattle.”

Mrs. Edmiston nodded. “Alright, get off to bed. Do yourself a favor and get cleaned up first,” she said, teasing him.

Colt pinned Graysen’s gaze one last time before he disappeared through the front doors of the lodge into the cool Wyoming night. It was for no more than a few seconds, but it was enough to sear the image of him in her mind.

After he left, Mrs. Edmiston shared his story with them. “Colt’s like a son to Heck and me. His folks were close friends of ours and were killed in a car accident when he was eleven. We took him in after they died. He didn’t have anyone else. I’ve never in my life seen someone with such a natural way with horses,” she lovingly boasted.

“What a tragic way to lose your family, and at such a young age.” Ellen reached out and placed her hand on Mrs. Edmiston’s arm.

“He had a difficult time adjusting at first, but he loves the ranch. Loves Heck and me too. We adopted him shortly after he came to live with us. We were never able to have children of our own.”

Graysen listened intently. She’d witnessed firsthand how adept Colt was at handling horses. Any lesser cowboy would have been bucked off that steed instantly, but not Colt.
Colt McCord ... even his name sounded like that of a cowboy.

Walking back to their cabin later that night, Graysen’s mom and sister talked about tomorrow’s trail ride while Carson drunkenly hummed a few bars of Johnny Lee’s “Looking for Love.” Carson’s inability to carry a tune was only slightly more annoying than listening to her father butcher his country favorites the whole trip from Iowa.

“Did you enjoy yourself, Graysen?” her father asked, taking note of her blank stare off into the night. She answered with a shrug, still lost in thoughts of Colt.

She tried not to think of his smoldering stare or the way he looked at her, the way his eyes swallowed her whole as if she already belonged to him. She tried not to think of Colt lying next to her, both of them tangled in expensive sheets in a hotel room bed. She shook her head in an attempt to free her mind of the ill-fitting daydream. Where on God’s green earth were these thoughts coming from? Sure the man was unbearably sexy, but that didn’t give her a right to allow visions of an unclothed cowboy she barely knew to dance through her head.

Will I see him again?
In those brief moments when Colt held her gaze and her hand, she felt her self-control slipping away and she knew she should stay away from him. She knew that no good could come from something that would only result in, at most, a summer fling. Graysen had plans, plans for an ordered life. Those plans didn’t include falling for the handsome ranch hand. She needed to stay away from him and avoid surrendering her heart to the unknown. If she just kept her head down and stuck close to her family, she didn’t think she would have any more interactions with him. She had no trouble convincing her head of this.

Graysen’s heart, however, had other plans. Her heart skittered like an errant M&M down the floor of an old movie theater at the possibility of seeing him again. Excitement laced with fear and panic flitted down her spine. The palpable attraction she felt was like the blue-light special, and like a crazed customer, drunk with saving a dollar, she was inexplicably drawn to something new and different in her life, to that place she had vowed not to go.

Colt stood in the hot shower and let the warm water pummel him. He might have overdone it a bit tonight trying to get that damned horse to keep from bucking him off. He could blame the horse for his sore muscles, but there was someone else he could blame for the way his heart strummed tonight. The brunette at the lodge took his breath away and was responsible for the lopsided grin he now wore. He wrestled with his thoughts. He replayed what had happened between them: the gazes held too long between them, the way her hand felt in his. He tried to convince himself that he was not flirting, just being friendly, but his heart knew better.

As he stepped out of the shower to towel off, Colt cast a quick glance out the window. Dust billowed across the ranch like a silent specter. He could almost hear the wind whistling through the cabin. It gave him a chill, reminding him how lonely life could get on the ranch. He knew it was a solitary life.

Try as he might though, he couldn’t convince himself to settle for the loneliness. He ached for more. He ached for the fit of a woman’s soft curves against his body. As he stretched out on his big, empty bed, Graysen dominated his late night thoughts.

Colt should have known it would be a brunette to bring him out of a self-imposed celibacy. He had preferred dark-haired women since he was a young man. At fifteen, he’d snuck behind the barn and stolen his first kiss from Erin Williams. She was the daughter of one of the ranch guests and he had never forgotten how kissing her felt. He spent those two weeks of a youthful summer mesmerized by a beautiful brunette.

Graysen Beaufort dumfounded this poor, lonely cowboy. He felt awakened by her presence. She was wholly different from most of the women he usually met. Unattached women were hard to come by these days. Who was he kidding? Unattached, beautiful women in Wyoming were hard to find period.

Whether or not Graysen was unattached was a bridge he figured he’d cross eventually. He knew for certain though that she was beautiful. Small and delicate, Graysen had a lovely heart-shaped face and her wavy caramel hair cascaded well past her shoulders. He loved the way she talked with her whole body when discussing something with June or her mother.

When he had invaded her personal space tonight, she didn’t shrink away. If anything, she bowed up a bit more. She displayed a reserved demeanor, but there was a feisty spirit bubbling to the surface, yearning to be free. She held his gaze, even when he stared into her eyes for what must have been an uncomfortable amount of time. No, that little beauty matched his stare and looked directly into his eyes. It made his heart trip a little. Graysen’s brown eyes had glittered up into his; they were smoldering with fire. It was enough to make a man forget who or where he was.

He tried to distract himself from thoughts of her, but he was unable to fall asleep. He got up out of bed and turned on the radio. Luke Bryan’s “Drunk on You” filled the cabin. Moonlight slid over the ranch as night wrestled with the coming day, and his body fought for sleep with his mind. His overworked muscles would curse his mind in the dawn’s light. His thoughts traveled from her eyes to thinking about the dress she wore. It displayed plenty of curvy leg and just a hint of cleavage, just enough to make a man salivate at the thought of what stayed hidden. Glancing at the clock at three a.m., he tumbled back into bed, exhausted. He rolled onto his abdomen and imagined Graysen beneath him.

Their brief first meeting undoubtedly created a spark, but Colt also knew good things never just happened on their own. He knew from experience that sometimes you needed to help things along a bit to get them moving in the right direction. He needed to fan the flames of attraction. Colt knew he couldn’t resist playing with fire and he would pour gasoline on it if need be to get Graysen into his arms.

***

Dawn filtered in through the lace curtains. As the sky bloomed a pale yellow and the stars faded, Graysen tossed and turned, not wanting to climb out of bed just yet. Last night, she couldn’t get the handsome cowboy out of her thoughts, and when she did sleep, she dreamt of him. She dreamt of being in his arms and feeling his body pressed into hers.

She’d fought thoughts of him when she’d gotten back to the cabin, but her sister’s teenage ramblings of the cowboys at White Pine kept Colt’s image at the forefront. Harper had fallen asleep talking about how much she wanted to take a morning trail ride. After an hour of listening to Harper carry on a conversation, mostly with herself, about horses and handsome ranch hands, Graysen placed her ear buds in each ear and turned her iPod on. She sighed, reluctant to get out of bed and be the nice sister. She knew there was nothing that could pry her parents, undoubtedly worn out from all the driving and dancing the previous day, out of their cozy bed. Graysen decided to let her parents sleep and woke Harper up to get ready.

Attempting to push the long thoughts of Colt out of her mind, Graysen took a quick shower, changed into some stiff boot cut jeans, a bandana print top, and wedged her feet into the new blazing red cowboy boots she had purchased before they left Iowa. She braided her unruly hair in a French braid and tied it off with a thin, red satin ribbon. She knew the day would grow sunny and hot so she made sure to grab the woven straw cowboy hat her father had gifted her with before the trip.