Learning the Ropes (35 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“W
HAT THE HELL,
Chris?” Sydney screeched.

“Shh! If you don’t stop squealing, she’s going to hear you.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and texted David. He needed him here for this, preferably with the proof to back up his claim of innocence.

“Derek’s going to head into town with you?”

“No, I’m going alone, but I need you to arrange things here. Get her to talk to you because she’s not talking to me right now. If this doesn’t work . . .” Chris let his words fade. This had to work, it was his last hope. His next move was to give up.

His phone vibrated with a return message from David. “What the hell?” Sydney looked at him expectantly. “Ali told David she wants him to buy me out of the business.” He threw his phone onto the kitchen table and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Am I making a mistake? Is it supposed to be this hard or is this just the universe telling me to let her go?”

Sydney laughed quietly. “No. She’s scared and you haven’t done anything to make her believe she doesn’t need to be. Everything is going to work out. After tonight, none of these little details will matter.”

Chris took a deep breath. “I sure hope you’re right because if this doesn’t work—”

“It will,” she promised.

His phone vibrated on the table and he lifted it enough to glance at the screen. “At least he got the proof from Delilah. I’m not sure I even want to know how he managed that.”

A
LI SAT ON
a chaise on the back patio watching the couples surrounding her. Derek and Angela were on one side of the fire pit in a loveseat with her head on his shoulder and his hand absently rubbing her belly. Scott sat on a chaise with Sydney between his thighs and his hands resting on her baby bump while Scott’s sister Jen sat on the far side of the fire with her husband’s hands resting on her shoulders as she held their son. She hated feeling like a seventh wheel and looked around the yard, wondering where Chris had gone after they arrived. Sydney said he was running some errands but she hadn’t seen him all afternoon. She missed him.

She hated to admit it but she missed the teasing note of his voice, the companionable silence, and the heated looks he gave her when he thought she wasn’t paying attention. She wanted to slip her hand into his and curl against his side by the fire. In spite of everything, regardless of the pain in her heart, she still loved him. She knew she always would.

The sounds of tires crunching over gravel turned several heads and Sydney rose awkwardly from the chair. “Sounds like Chris is back.”

Alicia wasn’t sure whether she should follow Sydney as Derek and Scott did or stay with the other two women. Every part of her body wanted to be near him, to touch him, but her mind warred with her physical need, reminding her of the painful ache of his betrayal. She should have just stayed away from him, never given in, but regrets and what-ifs would get her nowhere now. They were like wishes made on stars—worthless.

She barely listened as Angela and Jen talked over her. They both lived on the property, sharing daily events of their married lives and she was nothing more than an outsider, eavesdropping. It was the same thing she’d been through all her life—never fitting in, never being good enough, never measuring up. She turned as Sydney and Scott returned.

“Look who the cat dragged in!” Sydney announced.

Behind her, Alicia saw David. A broad smile curved her lips at the sight of his friendly face. A wave of relief washed over her, filling her eyes with tears, and she wondered why she was being so emotional. Maybe she just needed to get home and move to the ranch, get the new chapter of her life started. As long as David was able to convince Chris to sell.

“Hey, Ali.” His voice was soft as he bent and gave her a warm hug. “I got here as soon as I could.” His eyes were sympathetic when they met hers. “Do you need to go talk?”

He kept his voice low enough that she was the only one who heard him but she shook her head and patted the end of the chaise for him to take a seat.

He took the beer Scott held out to him and sat at the foot of the chair, laying his hand on her knee. Alicia latched onto his support and comfort, feeling his quiet strength pour into her. When they heard another vehicle driving up, Sydney rose again.

“Finally, I’m starving.”

“Nothing new there,” Scott teased his wife and was met with hoots from the other men.

“Feeling feisty with your boys around, huh?” Sydney pushed his shoulder playfully. “Why don’t you go fire up the grill, O brave one?”

As the other men headed for the grill, David turned to Alicia. “Dad is off the property. I know escrow doesn’t close for a little longer but if you want, you can start moving things in when we get back.”

“Have you talked to Chris yet?”

His eyes clouded over. “He won’t sell. I tried but he’s refusing.”

She knew it had been a long shot. He had no intent on selling to her at the end of the year and this proved it. He’d lied about so many things and she’d been too naive to see through any of it. Why would the ranch be any different?

“At least the two of you are speaking again.” She gave him a sad smile.

She would just have to sell her share to David. It was the only solution she had. It would mean letting go of her dream and staying with her parents. She might as well give up any hope of barrel racing in the Finals because she’d be starting over from square one again—no ranch, no clients and, now, no hope for anything more than a position at the Diamond Bar because her father didn’t want to leave. Her shoulders sagged in defeat.

“Ali,” David broke into her thoughts. “I ran into Delilah before I left. She lied.”

Alicia looked up at him through her lashes. “What else is new? She lies about everything, David.”

“Chris didn’t sleep with her.”

Her heart stopped in her chest, lurching against her ribs, and she wondered if it had just burst. “What?” Her voice was barely a whisper of sound.

“I don’t even want to talk about how I got her to confess but she did. It was all to hurt you, to shake your confidence and get you off your game. She wanted Chris to get you to quit and she wanted to punish him.”

She wanted to believe David but a nagging doubt ate at the edges of her thoughts. He was Chris’s best friend. Sure, they might argue but what if David was lying for Chris? But what could either of them hope to gain from lying to her? Chris already had everything she had to offer.

“David, don’t do this.” Tears burned her eyes, threatening to fall and shatter the wall of indifference she was trying to keep around her heart. “Please.”

David pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Ali, you know I wouldn’t hurt you.” He punched a button and she heard Delilah’s voice.

“I didn’t sleep with him.”

Followed by David’s voice.
“Everyone knows you did, Delilah.”

“No, I didn’t. I just let people think that to get back at him. He
. . .
passed out and snored all night. I didn’t get any sleep at all. So what do you say?”

There was rustling in the background, like the phone was being moved or bumped.

“Not many women would lie and say they slept with a guy they didn’t. And, I’ve never known Chris to just pass out, no matter how much he drinks.”
She heard David laugh quietly before Delilah’s voice whined.

“I know you still trust Alicia but I can’t stand her. And Chris has always been mean to me so I might have given him a little help. So I got even with both of them at once.”

Her eyes shot up to meet David’s. “Chris wasn’t lying to you.”

“Hey, Ali, you might want to come here.” She looked at the group of men gathering at the gate where Sydney waited.

Alicia rose and hurried to her friend, fear spiraling down her spine. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

She opened the gate as Alicia walked up to reveal Chris standing in the driveway looking incredibly sexy, wearing a tuxedo shirt and jacket, black hat, and boots, holding a lead rope attached to a gorgeous gray colt. Around the animal’s neck was a circle of pink carnations, Alicia’s favorite flower. Sydney pushed her forward while the group of their friends crowded behind her.

Chris walked toward her as her trembling hand covered her mouth.

“Ali, please hear me out.” He took her shaking hand and pulled her toward him. “I want you to know that I never lied to you but I
did
lie to myself. I convinced myself that I never wanted to be in love, that it was settling for half a life. But seeing you with anyone else is killing me. I want you, Ali.”

She could only stare at him in dumbfounded shock. He was beyond magnificent; he was every woman’s dream. The earnest appeal she saw in his eyes chipped at her resolve to keep her distance from him.

“Ali, I don’t want you for a day, or a week, or a month. I want you forever. I told you I love you and I’ve never said those words to anyone else, ever. I don’t deserve you. I’m irresponsible, brash, and unreliable.”

“Don’t forget self-indulgent,” David called from behind her, laughing.

“And reckless,” Derek joined in the ribbing.

Chris’s eyes flicked toward the group at the fence. “Not helping.” He looked back at Alicia, his eyes growing tender. “I want to prove to you that, for the first time in my life, I mean it when I say forever. This stud is one of Valentino’s. He’s going to be a great foundation for our plans for the ranch and the rodeo school. He’s my commitment to you in our business partnership. And this,” he reached into his pocket, “is my commitment to you.”

Chris dropped to a knee as he opened the small box in his hand. “Marry me, Ali. I’ve spent far too long trying not to see what was in front of me all along. I need you, the way I need air.”

She looked down at the diamond solitaire glinting against the velvet, the dying light of the sun reflecting from it but not nearly as brightly as the love she could see in Chris’s eyes. She wanted to melt into the blue depths.

“Please, Ali,” he whispered. “I know you deserve so much better than me. I’ve hurt you.”

The agony she heard in his choked voice shot straight to her heart. She was nothing more than a poor kid whose father cleaned stalls for a living. He was a rancher’s son, a rodeo celebrity. How could he think he wasn’t enough for her?

A nervous grin touched the corners of his mouth. “Say something, Ali, because my knee is starting to get sore.”

She looked back at the group crowded around the fence, waiting expectantly for her answer. She could read the excitement in their eyes and the pressure weighed on her shoulders. The young stallion pawed at the ground, as if he wanted to escape. She understood the feeling.

“I can’t,” she whispered, her heart breaking as his face fell in defeat. She closed her eyes to the pain she saw in his blue eyes, swiping at the tears that hung on her lashes.

Suddenly, his arm was around her waist, his mouth slanted over hers, drawing her yearning for him to the surface with a touch. She leaned into him, her body craving his. He drew back only until his lips feathered over hers.

“Why?”

Her brain couldn’t function enough to think of a lie and the truth spilled out. “I’m not enough for you. You’ll get bored and want someone new, someone who isn’t a poor imitation. I can’t piece my heart back together after that.”

He smiled against her lips. “Oh, Ali. It’s always been you. Every other woman has been me trying to find my way back to you. I once told you I could only be with a woman who could outride and out rope me. Honey, you’re the only woman who’s ever done that,” he teased.

She shook her head, denying them both. The colt jerked his head up and down with impatience and Chris laughed. “See, he’s even trying to tell you to say yes.”

She couldn’t help the laughter that tumbled past her lips and dropped her forehead against his shoulder. He put his finger under her chin and forced her to look into his eyes, to see every emotion there—need, desire, love, hope, and fear.

“I can’t lose you, Ali. I want to marry you and start our family on our ranch. You are my forever. Marry me?”

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

He chuckled and quirked a brow. “Do I need to get a preacher out here right now to prove it?” The stallion nipped at his jacket sleeve and he tugged his arm away. “If you don’t hurry up and say yes, this boy is going to climb into our laps.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Yes?”

She nodded, joy flooding her, making her feel like she’d just grown wings. “Yes,” she repeated.

“She said ‘Yes!’” He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her against him, causing the colt to jump backward.

“Finally,” Derek teased, coming forward to take the colt back to the barn.

“Wait a second,” Alicia said, taking the lead rope from his hands. “I want to check this boy out myself.”

Derek shrugged and handed it over as Chris laughed. “That’s my Ali. It’s all about the horseflesh.”

She ran a hand over the neck of the stallion, admiring his sleek lines and well-muscled frame. “I was hoping you might walk him back to the barn with me.” She couldn’t help but think of the times they’d been in other barns alone together. Warmth spread through her limbs, coiling in her core, waiting to be ignited by his touch.

Chris’s eyes sparked with raw desire and she knew he’d caught her innuendo. “Don’t bother waiting dinner on us,” he warned Derek. “But first . . .” Chris pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. “I want this official.” He cupped his hand at the back of her neck and pulled her forward for a kiss when the colt nipped at him again. “Damn, horse!” he yelped, jumping backward.

“Don’t listen to him,” Alicia cooed at the massive beast. “He’ll love you more when you’ve given him lots of babies that make him money.” She started walking toward the barn as their friends headed back to the patio as if this was an everyday occurrence.

“Oh, Ali,” Sydney called. “Welcome to the family.”

Epilogue

A
LI POURED THREE
cups of coffee and waited on the porch for David and Chris to return from feeding the animals. The ranch was coming together nicely after the hard work they’d put in since January. In the distance, she could see the small cabins that would have the first inhabitants arriving later today. She glanced at the clouds in the sky and prayed that the rain would hold off for another week. It was their first camp and they were completely booked with several groups of team ropers wanting one-on-one lessons from NFR champion team ropers. She even had six upcoming barrel racers vying for her mentorship. She’d known winning the titles would help their business but she hadn’t expected it to boom the way it had since December. It was a good thing David and Chris had insisted on putting in the covered arena, allowing them to give lessons year-round.