River's Escape (River's End Series, #2) (31 page)

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River’s End
(River’s End, #1)

When Erin Poletti pulls her car into the thousand acre Rydell River Ranch in River’s End, Washington, looking to stay with her hated brother Chance, she never intends for it to be anything more than a pit stop on the way to the rest of her life. After her mother’s suicide, Erin has no choice but to seek out her brother where he works as a ranch hand, as she is left penniless, homeless and for reasons she will share with no one; without the basic skills to navigate her life. Ranch owner Jack Rydell watches her pull onto his ranch and knows that trouble has come to his ranch, his three brothers, his two sons, and most of all: to himself.

Erin has a short lived relationship with Jack’s youngest brother until circumstances eventually leave Erin nearly destitute on the ranch, and finally reveals the secret Erin has desperately hidden. And only then, does Jack finally begin to know the woman whose presence has so altered his life. Eventually, Erin finds a job, and starts to work with Jack and his horses in order to repay the debts she feels she owes him. But the longer Erin is there Jack begins to wonder if he can resist the woman he now knows, despite everything that stands between them.

River’s Return (River’s End, #3) Tentative Release: June 2015

Shane Rydell is better fit to ride his Harley than any of his family’s horses. He spent his life trying to find a way to travel between the family he loves and the open road he is pulled towards. He often leaves River’s End, but eventually, he always comes back as he can’t quite sever the connection to a place he doesn’t want to be from, but which, he always seems destined to return to.

Allison Gray has been burned deep enough she will never risk her heart again after a failed marriage that left her devastated. A rare teaching opportunity brings her to the small town of River’s End where she is tapped to expand the curriculum of this rural school district; work that invigorates and inspires her, and helps her forget the devastation in her past.

When Shane Rydell walks in to attend his nephew’s conference, and once again, doesn’t recognizes her, she decides then and there, he will never be a man she can trust or understand. But soon she is routinely drawn to the Rydell River Ranch to do work that only she can provide. This brings her in constant contact with Shane, and she finally begins to know the real man inside the hardened, charming shell Shane projects. But it will not deter her determination that she can never trust him to be part of her life, no matter how much he happens to be in it.

Sneak Preview of River’s Return:

Chapter One

Shane Rydell had lived his whole life lacking the one gene that seemed to dominate his entire family: their affinity for horses. He didn’t give a flying fuck about horses. Not such a big deal in most families, but his family made a name for themselves over the last century by raising, selling first cattle and then later on horses. To this day, they were one of the few families that managed to hold onto all their land, thereby insulating themselves against the fluctuating economy that took out most of the farmers and ranchers, or at the very least, made them downsize.

But not the Rydells.

To Shane, however, the thing was: horses smelled and they shit all the time. And if he never cleaned up another load of horse crap in his life, he’d die a happy man. Shane’s thing was anything that ran off gasoline or electricity. He could put together or take apart any model or motor for any kind of mechanical gizmo. His problem was that his family owned one thousand acres of ranchland in Eastern Washington where they raised horses, and until this year, that was all his family did.

Shane worked out of a shop on the ranch he’d long ago commandeered as his own. He spent most of his time away from the place, however, and without even a backwards glance when he took his Harley out, leaving the horses and all their shit behind him.

Money was never an issue for any of the Rydell brothers. Their parents managed to leave them a substantial inheritance, which was further increased after the settlement from the accident that killed them in a head-on crash. The parent corporation that owned the long-haul trucking company that was at fault had skimped on repairs. The ensuing brake failure caused the semi-truck to hit their parents’ car.

Money did jack shit for them after losing both their parents; and now, they had plenty of it. Shane worked in his shop to keep busy, but left frequently, going nowhere in particular, to keep his damn sanity.

Now, his big brother, Jack, was on his honeymoon with his second wife, Erin Poletti. Shane was asked to stay at the ranch with his nephews and supervise them. It was kind of a joke to entrust Shane with so much responsibility. Ian was the obvious choice, but he had just moved to Seattle with his girlfriend who was attending the University of Washington. There was no way Ian intended to return home so soon after finally leaving. His youngest brother, Joey, had enlisted in the Army. So that left Shane there with Ben and Charlie, Jack’s two sons from a previous marriage. Ben was eighteen and obviously not in any need of a babysitter, but definitely requiring supervision. And Charlie was an eleven-year-old who definitely needed both. Why Jack and Erin would think Shane was capable of handling that, he wasn’t so sure.

The damn place was lonely as hell since there was no one here anymore. That’s what he used to like about the place, finding all his brothers always there. Now? No one. AJ, their foreman was taking care of the horses. Who could have pictured the day would come when there wasn’t a single Rydell man available to tend their own damn horses? Technically, he could have. But no one ever asked him. Shane made his feelings clear long ago when he was way younger than Charlie. He knew it pissed his father off every time he refused to ride, and he only helped with the horse care to avoid getting his ass chewed out by the old man.

He started pretty young at mastering the various ways to become a complete disappointment to his family. But he never waffled, or tried to placate the old man. His dad quickly got smarter and spent most of the time showing his favorite son, Jack, how to do everything. Ian was a close second. And Joey? He was just everyone’s favorite. He had a happy, jovial, easy personality as a child, and was never difficult. Not like Shane.

He glanced at his phone when the text dinged through.
Yeah, yeah
. He remembered. Erin was texting him from their honeymoon at a resort located in southern California. She wanted to remind him to go to Charlie’s school at three o’clock and meet with his teacher for a parent/teacher conference. He wasn’t a damn idiot. They already highlighted it in big, red letters on the calendar where they left him a detailed description of where Charlie needed to be and when. It was almost offensive in how little faith they had that he could accomplish it.

Shane had just finished installing the new head gasket on the 1930s John Deere tractor he was restoring for Bob Fellen, a friend who lived up the valley. He quickly ducked inside the house for a quick piss and to wash the grease off his hands. Some of it always stayed just under his nail beds. He glanced up at the mirror, noticing his hair was getting too long. He kept it pulled back at the nape of his neck with a rubberband. That used to bother Jack until they fought about it enough times for him to convince Jack he really wouldn’t become the preppy cowboy that Jack was. He wasn’t wired for being a cowboy, and that went back as long as he could remember.

Charlie was waiting patiently at school for him. Shane had to take his truck since no one would allow the kid to ride on his Harley, no matter how hard the kid begged them. Shane kind of thought they treated Charlie like he was a baby they worried could break from just glancing outside the window. But Charlie was not his kid, thank God, so he respected what Jack wanted. But only with regard to his kid.

Shane loved his nephews and they were both great kids. He was only ten when Ben was born and he treated the kid more like a brother for a long time.

Shane entered Charlie’s school and went right to room B-12. When he attended fifth grade there, Mr. Ruskin taught it. Now it was a Mrs. Gray, and Charlie talked about her a lot. He quoted her all the time. It was funny. Shane spent more time in the principal’s office, or in detention so he never had an occasion to even remotely mimic something one of his teachers said. He’d been lucky to scrape through high school with a 2.0 grade point average, after being AWOL from his senior classes for something like forty-five days. It was an epic year and before he could afford his bike. Not until he was twenty-one, did he get his share of the inheritance and break free of the confines Jack and Ian tried so damn hard to keep him in. He literally bought his bike the very next hour after receiving his money. He bought a lot of other stuff too, and hosted a party that ran well into the thousands of dollars. He didn’t remember most of it. All he remembered was drinking a lot of alcohol and two girls who welcomed him into the world of adults, and both at the same time.

Yup, fucking epic and worth every cent he wasted.

Now, he had to be a little more cautious. He ran dangerously low on funding only three years after he got it all. He might have partied a bit too hardy, and didn’t work in as many years. He and Jack fought all the time about it. But what could Jack do? Shane was an adult and Jack was just his brother.

The death of Jack’s wife kind of put a damper on everything. Jack grew harsh and judgmental after she died, and Shane never responded well to taking orders. If Lily hadn’t died, maybe Shane wouldn’t have rebelled quite so much.

Shane glanced through the window in the classroom door. Charlie was sitting at a desk, swinging his feet as he wrote in a spiral notebook. The teacher had her back turned towards him, and her long braid of carrot-red hair was thick enough to remind him of a horse’s tail. As far as he could see, she was average: average height, average weight, average, but nice ass, and average, teacher-appropriate, but boring clothes. He groaned internally. He could think of about twenty things he’d rather be doing right now; and cleaning the barn might even have ranked above this. She looked like all those prim schoolteachers that ceaselessly tried to make him work and pay attention all those years he spent in school. None of them, however, succeeded.

He rolled his eyes and opened the door. Damn Jack for abandoning him to have a sex on his honeymoon, and leaving Shane there to meet a teacher.

Charlie’s face lit up when he raised his head and spotted Shane. “Hey, Uncle Shane! You’re late, but I knew you’d come. Teacher wasn’t so sure, but I was.”

He glanced at the clock. He was only a few minutes late, ten exactly; what was the big deal? Charlie’s teacher turned toward him with a tight little smile that wasn’t welcoming at all, and clearly revealed her annoyance. Shane almost expected her to rap his knuckles with a ruler as punishment for his tardiness. Yup, he never did like school, and that hadn’t changed.

The teacher’s eyes were a pretty blue, which he noticed when they widened as she tried to discreetly catch another glimpse of him. He probably wasn’t the typical parental figure she met with. He was wearing his big, black leather, biker jacket, heavy jeans, and a pair of bad-ass, black boots, while his face was covered in thick, black, scruffy hair.

“Hey, Charlie’s Teacher, I’m Shane Rydell.”

He flashed an obnoxious grin when she visibly gnashed her teeth. Nonetheless, when she spoke, her tone was polite and serene, “Yes, Mr. Rydell, I know. We already met at Charlie’s third grade play, and his graduation from third grade, as well as all the days you picked him up early when he got sick.”

Shane narrowed his gaze, and didn’t recall any of that. Charlie had her for a teacher before? Huh. He didn’t realize that. “Mr. Rydell is Jack. Call me Shane.” He flashed another grin as he took a seat beside the teacher’s desk and sprawled his long legs out before him. He had very long legs. Nothing was small on Shane. The trunks of his thighs hung over both sides of the small chair.

She stiffened as she cleared her throat. “Okay, then, Shane. We should get started, as I have another student’s parents due here in less than twenty minutes.”

She sat down stiffly, keeping her back ramrod straight as she took out a folder and opened it. After laying several sheets on the table before him, she pointed with her finger. Shane was captivated by the blood-red nail color on the teacher’s fingernails. He would have guessed her to be a pale pink or soft-hued peach type. Not a red, fuck-me color. He liked it though, and glanced up at her with a grin. She blinked as if shocked to find him staring at her.

“Did you hear me?”

“I’m sorry… What?” he asked, still smiling and now thinking how good those nails would look raking across someone’s back. His, for instance. He could get into the good, little schoolgirl thing. She could wear one of those plaid skirts and official blazers like they did at private schools. She could put that orange hair into two long pigtails. He liked pigtails when they were done just right. And shoes. Big, stilt-like, spiky heels with lots of straps.

“Mr.—I mean, Shane, don’t you need to tell Mr. Rydell that?”

“What? Charlie’s brilliant. Brings home all kinds of good shit. We put them up on the fridge.”

“Yes, I realize Charlie is a good student. But he’s had a bit of difficulty grasping some of the standards and basic premises of the new core curriculum. He hasn’t been able to—”

Shane’s eyes surely must have glazed over. He stared back at the seductive nails she was currently tapping on the sheet of paper that she felt was so important. Maybe she was wearing red underwear to match. Maybe she was one of those prim school marms on the outside, but all nasty, sexy girl on the inside. That would have been nice. It would be so much fun to peel off all the layers of the prissy, schoolteacher.

Didn’t she realize she was only teaching the fifth grade? Come on, it was basically no more than ABCs and 123s. She wasn’t exactly responsible for securing nuclear codes, or masking the identities of secret operatives. Though playing super-sexy spy with her and those red nails would have been fun too.

“Charlie, would you mind running down to the office and grabbing me some more attendance sheets from Mrs. Danvers? I’m running a little low.”

Charlie hopped up and nodded as he ran out. “Walk, Charlie,” she called after him. Her fetish for upholding the rules was starting to irritate Shane.

“Lighten up. Let him run. Little boys need to run. That’s what’s wrong with schools nowadays. They don’t let kids be kids. They need to run and play and thump each other. Shit, I used to get in at least one fight a day just to work out all my anxiety. Charlie punched a kid last year and got suspended for three days.”

The teacher pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers and shut her eyes while taking a deep breath. Her rack rose up and down under the loose, frumpy blouse she wore. It might have hidden some impressive assets, but Shane wasn’t sure yet.

“Shane, you haven’t listened to a single word I’ve said. Charlie is having some serious trouble this year. That’s new for him. He’s used to understanding the concepts in school, so it’s upsetting him. He doesn’t want to disappoint his father. I don’t think he’s told him yet. I didn’t realize until today, that Jack was on his honeymoon. If I’d known, I certainly would have rescheduled this. But you’re here. Do you think you could give me the courtesy of listening to what I’m saying?”

Shane dropped his foot from the edge of the chair in front of him where he rested it, and sat up a little straighter. He hadn’t been scolded like that in a good half dozen years. He felt a grin curling up the corners of his mouth, but saw her mouth setting into a furious, grim line. He feared he might be pushing it if he smirked, especially when she looked so earnest and conscientious. He would have felt like a real ass if he totally embarrassed her.

“So what does Jack need to do?”

She sighed. “Fine. We’ll skip the explanation. Here’s a packet of stuff I’ve put together. Charlie needs to do these at least twenty minutes a night. Most of it is like a game and allows him to interact with it, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Things have changed a lot since you were in elementary school, Shane. Actually, they’ve changed quite a bit even since Ben was here. Some of the teaching standards that used to be covered in seventh grade, are now being taught in fifth. That isn’t funny. If these kids fall behind, there isn’t near enough time for them to catch up.”