Ryelee's Cowboy

RYELEE’S COWBOY

Kathleen Ball

Erotic Romance

Secret Cravings Publishing

www.secretcravingspublishing.com

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen Ball

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A Secret Cravings Publishing Book

Erotic Romance

RYELEE’S COWBOY

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen Ball

E-book ISBN: 978-1-61885-351-6

First E-book Publication: August 2012

Cover design by Dawne Dominique

Edited by Penelope Woodstocking

Proofread by Rene Flowers

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by
Secret Cravings Publishing

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Dedication

I dedicate this book to my wonderful
group of Marine Moms who have been there every step of the way.
Love you Mammas!!

I also dedicate this novel to my Son,
Steven, PFC Ball. I'm so proud of you Steven.

Thank you Kelly Yeakle for being such
a great friend!!

A very special thank you to Penelope
Woodstocking for her amazing editing skills and for her sense of
humor.

And as always I dedicate Ryelee's
Cowboy to my guys Bruce, Steven and Colt because I love
them.

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RYELEE’S COWBOY

Kathleen Ball

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Clint Maloney ran toward his screaming
daughter faster than if the hounds of hell were snapping at his
heels. She tearfully pointed up into the heavily foliaged, white
ash tree. He expected to rescue a stray cat, but to his
consternation, he spotted Ryelee Snyder, his live-in nanny and
housekeeper, high up in the tree.

He looked up at her and frowned. The
poor redheaded girl seemed to be stuck, and tears formed in her
cornflower-blue eyes. Clint shook his head. He seemed to be
constantly saving Ryelee from one scrape after another. If it
weren’t for the devotion she gave his daughter Rheenie, he would
have given her the heave ho long ago.

“You’re not looking up my dress are
you?” Ryelee asked.

Clint wanted to laugh and roll his
eyes. “Not something I’d like to view,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“I said I’m coming up after
you.”

Clint handed his tan Stetson to his
four-year-old daughter Rheenie and climbed the tree. He had enough
work to do without constantly rescuing twenty-year-old Ryelee. He
couldn’t fathom why she had climbed the tree in the first place. He
climbed toward her, branch by branch. Clint knew she wasn’t afraid
of heights. One day he had found her on his roof trying to reach a
Frisbee that Rheenie had thrown. Positioned just under her, he
motioned to her to climb down.

“I can’t,” she called down. “My dress
is stuck on the bark of the tree and I can’t get it
free.”

Ryelee looked to be holding on for
dear life, and the front of her faded blue dress had
snagged.

Clint shook his head. “Just rip
it—it’s an old dress anyway.”

Ryelee shook her head. “I can’t rip
it. I need it,” she yelled.

Clint cursed. “It’s only a dress, for
crying out loud!”

Ryelee bit her bottom lip and looked
away.

Clint climbed up the next branch, glad
it seemed sturdy since it held them both. Carefully, he reached
around to where her dress was caught on the tree. It shocked him
when he touched her breast. In fact, he hadn’t noticed that she had
any, but he felt definitely more than a handful. He ignored her
gasp. The sooner he got her out of the tree, the sooner he could
get back to work. Carefully, he disentangled her dress. Her curly
red hair blew across his face and he breathed in her scent.
Vanilla, she always smelled like vanilla. It was a sweet comforting
scent and he liked it.

“Can you get down now, or do you still
need help?”

She turned a bright shade of red. “I
can do it myself.”

Carefully, they both climbed down.
Clint immediately picked up his black-haired, brown-eyed daughter.
He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Everything’s okay now, pumpkin.”
He rubbed noses with her then put her down so she could hug
Ryelee.

Clint finally smiled as he watched the
tall, gangly redhead pick up his daughter. He could see the
inseparable bond between them, but he wasn’t quite sure he
approved.

“Why were you in the tree in the first
place?”

“Rheenie climbed up in it. I didn’t
expect her to climb so high,” she answered.

Clint glanced down at his daughter and
frowned. Rheenie wore a leg brace, and he couldn’t imagine her
climbing a tree.

“I climbed very, very high like a
birdie, Daddy.”

Clint shook his head. Ever since
Ryelee had joined his family, Rheenie had become more daring. He
wasn’t sure what to think about it. On one hand, he liked that she
wasn’t sitting around due to her injury, but on the other hand, he
didn’t want her getting hurt.

“No more tree climbing, young lady.”
Grabbing his Stetson from the ground, he slapped it against his
jeans a few times and put it on his head. He turned to Ryelee
again, but she looked away. She never looked at him, and it was
awkward.

He knew he could be grouchy, but he
tried to make Ryelee feel at home.

Life had become a whirlwind of
activity, and truthfully he wasn’t sure which way was up half the
time. Glancing at his daughter, he could see that something
troubled her. Her bottom lip began to wobble. Clint knelt down and
pulled her into his arms. “Hey, why the long face?”

“Me and Ryelee are in trouble again.
Daddy, you be too mean.”

Clint hugged her and looked up at
Ryelee. It surprised him that she looked back. It was rare for him
to see her expressive, blue eyes. “I’m sorry. I know it’s been hard
since Mommy died.” He kissed Rheenie’s cheek and stood up. “I’ll do
my best to be nice if you do your best to be careful.”

“It’s a deal. Rye, you’re supposed to
shake hands when we make a deal.”

Ryelee smiled at her. “It’s your deal.
You shake hands.”

Clint shook his head. He shook
Rheenie’s hand and kissed her cheek, but he had to reach for
Ryelee’s hand since she wasn’t participating. Her hand felt so
unexpectedly right in his. He expected her to snatch it back, but
she didn’t. He started to smile at her, but she turned
away.

At least she had looked at him before.
He couldn’t quite read her. She had a will of steel, yet she seemed
to take too much to heart. She was more than capable, yet she
lacked self-esteem. Ryelee certainly was a puzzle.

Clint tipped his hat to them and
turned around. He walked to the barn wondering how to become
friends with Ryelee.

* * * *

Ryelee watched him walk to the barn
and sighed. She had to be more careful. She couldn’t afford to lose
this job. It was this or the streets. Clint’s boss, Annie Dawson,
had generously given her the job here at Dawson’s Haven when she
had no other place to go. Her drunkard father had thrown her away.
She just needed to stay out of Clint’s way. If she could manage
that, she would be fine. Her work as housekeeper and nanny never
came into question. She gave it her all. She didn’t know why, but
Clint wasn’t too fond of her. Somehow, being around him put her on
edge and she found herself acting uncharacteristically shy. He was
too good for her she knew that.