Ryelee's Cowboy (18 page)

Clint laughed at her on the way home.
He said he had asked perfectly natural questions. Finally, he got
her to laugh too.

Clint parked the truck and quickly
went to Ryelee’s side to help her out. He surprised her by carrying
her to the house. “I never got to do this on our wedding day,” he
said as he carried her over the threshold.

Ryelee’s heart filled. Clint was the
cowboy she’d been waiting for all her life, and it soothed her soul
to be on good terms again. “If you’ll let me down, I’ll see about
Rheenie.”

“Oh no, Mrs. Maloney, we have the
whole afternoon to ourselves.” He held her closer to
him.

“What?”

“You and I are going to have a wedding
afternoon. We’ve missed too much, and I can’t wait any longer. I’m
sure that God has given me a lot of points toward sainthood for the
last couple of weeks.”

Ryelee giggled as Clint put her back
on her feet. Their bedroom had never looked better to her. She
noticed the vases of roses around the room. “Just how many people
know what we are doing this afternoon?” she asked
suspiciously.

Clint grinned at her. “Only Burke and
Annie.” He shrugged. “I had to have some help.”

Ryelee sat on the bed and studied her
handsome husband. “Okay, take off your clothes.”

“Why?”

“Why? You know why. Besides, I want to
see you as naked as I was last night. I want to stand in front of
the mirror looking at you.”

“Fine,” he said in a tight
whisper.

He stood in front of her and slowly
unbuttoned his tight western shirt, revealing the dark hair on his
chest. He took the shirt off, and Ryelee wanted to gasp at his
bulging muscles and six-pack abs. She just looked at him
hungrily.

“Okay, mirror time,” she said
gamely.

Ryelee got off the bed and led Clint
to the full-length mirror. She had to step a bit to the side since
he was too tall for her to be behind him and see the mirror. She
lightly stroked his chest, loving the feel of his black hair under
her fingers. She touched one nipple then the other, pleased by his
sharp intake of breath. She ran her hands up and down his powerful
arms. He was one fine man. His jeans hung low on his hips, and she
grew interested in the line of hair leading from his belly button
down beneath his jeans. She touched it, she ran her fingers over
it, and she wanted to see where it led.

“Take off your pants, cowboy.” The
huskiness of her voice surprised her.

He slowly unbuttoned his jeans and
pulled down the zipper. He started to let the pants fall, and she
gasped.

Ryelee didn't know he wasn’t wearing
underwear. She did his laundry. He always wore underwear, except
for today. She grinned and looked her full, but she felt leery of
touching him. He looked big, and it made her nervous. She backed
away with her hand over her mouth, not knowing what to do. The last
man that had done that to her…Well, she remembered the pain of the
rape.

“Ryelee, what is it? You’re trembling,
for God’s sake.”

Ryelee just backed away from him.
“Don’t hurt me,” she said in a shaky voice.

“Hey, hey, babe, you know that I’d
never hurt you,” Clint said, soothingly. “Ryelee, please tell me
what is going on in that pretty head of yours.”

Ryelee sighed loudly. “I’m scared. I
thought it would be okay, but when I saw you, I remembered that
other man.”

“Ryelee, please let me hold
you.”

She glanced at the mirror, her doubt
reflected in her face. “I feel like such a fool,” she whispered
miserably.

Clint put his pants back on and
approached Ryelee. “Let me hold you. I won’t hurt you.” He moved
closer to her. “Shhhh, it’s okay, babe. It’s me, just me. I’ll
protect you. I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Ryelee stepped into his embrace and
wrapped her arms around his waist, his brawny chest beneath her
cheek. She knew she was being childish. “I’m sorry to be such a
baby.”

“We should have talked about your past
experience. I should have known that it would affect
you.”

Ryelee began to run her hands over
Clint’s chest. It fascinated her. She loved the black hair that
covered it. “Let’s try it again.”

Clint frowned down at her. “Are you
sure?”

Ryelee smiled at him. “Yes, I want you
to make me your wife in every way.”

“We’ll take it slow,” Clint promised
before he swooped down for a kiss.

Ryelee welcomed the kiss. Clint’s
kisses were one of life’s pleasures. She groaned when he put his
tongue in her mouth. He tasted like coffee, and he smelled like the
spice cologne he sometimes wore. His kisses reached deep into her
soul. She kissed him back, aggressively, deeply.

She took a step back. “My turn in
front of the mirror.”

“Is that what you want?”

“Mmmmm yes, please.”

Clint stood behind her as they gazed
at each other in the mirror. He slowly ran his hands over her
breasts and stomach through her pink maternity top.

“Take my clothes off,” she
pleaded.

* * * *

Slowly, Clint undressed her, caressing
each newly exposed area. He cupped her breasts. Her nipples were
dark from her pregnancy, and he knew that they would be sensitive.
He took the beaded nubs between his fingers and rubbed them. Her
moans made him crazy with desire.

He led her to the bed caressing her
all the while, trying to gentle her, kissing her as he sat her on
the bed. He quickly shucked his jeans while his mouth distracted
her.

Clint took her into his arms and
kissed her neck and shoulders. He rolled them both over so that she
straddled him. He smiled as he noted her confusion. “Doctor’s
orders.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Whatever feels good,” Clint answered
in a tight voice.

“Like what?”

“For God’s sake, Ryelee, just put me
inside you and ride like the wind.”

“Oh.” Gingerly she put her hand
between them, locating him, touching him. Slowly she put him inside
her, taking him deeper by degrees.

Clint moaned in pleasure. “It doesn’t
hurt, does it?”

“No, I’m surprised that you fit and
that it doesn’t hurt.” She smiled into his eyes as she started to
move up and down on his shaft.

“You look like a goddess with your red
hair hanging down.” He raised his hands and gently grabbed her
breasts and squeezed them.

She rode hard. He grabbed her hips
trying to slow her pace, but she refused. She rode fast and hard
until she tipped her head back and yelled in abandon as she
convulsed all around him. That was all it took to send Clint flying
too.

Ryelee’s eyes were wide with
astonishment as she looked down at Clint. He gave her a lazy
sensual grin that made her blush, and as she grew red, he
laughed.

Clint was still buried deep inside
her, still hard. She began to move up and down but Clint groaned
and grabbed her by her hips and stopped her. He held her hips and
turned her over, withdrawing from her.

“I don’t want to wear out you or the
baby. That was… I could say wonderful but that doesn’t even come
close to describing how good that was.”

Ryelee reached up and grabbed his
head, pulling him down for a kiss. She kissed him leisurely and
tenderly. It felt so right.

“You need to rest.” He had her lie on
her side so he could spoon her.

* * * *

Dinner was filled with love, laughter,
and some very long looks. Rheenie was doing her best to be the most
important person in the room. “Burke says that I should spect more
mushy stuff around here.”

Both Ryelee and Clint laughed at the
same time. “That could be the case,” Clint said in an easy
manner.

“Mama, do you love Daddy?”

Ryelee looked right at Clint smiling.
“With all my heart.”

“All? What about me?”

“Oh, Rheenie, never doubt I love you
with all my heart too.”

Rheenie ate a piece of carrot and
thought for a minute. “You love me first, right?”

“Of course she does, pumpkin,” Clint
replied. “Your Mama has a great big heart, and she has a lot of
love to give.”

Apparently satisfied with Clint’s
answer, Rheenie quickly finished dinner and wanted to go out to see
the horses before bedtime.

“Let’s all go,” Clint suggested,
looking at Ryelee.

“All right,” Ryelee agreed, “but
everyone bundle up. It gets cold at night.”

Clint carried Rheenie in one arm and
held Ryelee’s hand with the other. Ryelee hadn’t been down to see
the mares in a while, and she was anxious to see how they were
doing.

“Daddy, how come Sybil looks so
skinny?”

Clint closed his eyes for a minute. He
had forgotten to tell Rheenie that Sybil lost the baby. He looked
into Rheenie’s confused eyes. “Sybil isn’t going to be a mama this
time around. It happens sometimes.”

“What about Mama? Is she still going
to be a mama?”

Ryelee took her from Clint’s arms and
kissed her. “I’m already your mama, and yes, I get to be a mama to
my new baby too.”

“Do you think that Sybil is
sad?”

Clint whistled and Sybil came running
over and butted his shoulder with her head. Seeing Rheenie, Sybil
made a beeline for her. She waited patiently while Rheenie petted
her head. Sybil kept nuzzling Rheenie until Rheenie was laughing.
Ryelee laughed as Rheenie took out a sugar cube from her coat
pocket and fed it to Sybil.

They were having so much fun that they
hadn’t heard Cletus approach them until he stood right next to
them.

Ryelee gasped and held Rheenie
tighter. “I thought you were in jail,” she said, shocked to see her
father’s friend.

Cletus smiled an almost toothless
grin. “Ain’t made a jail yet that I can’t get out of.”

Clint quickly stood between Cletus and
his family. “What are you doing here?”

He sneered. “I have some business with
you, Clint old boy.”

Ryelee began to panic. “Clint, let’s
just go in and call the police,” she pleaded.

“I wouldn’t do that unless you want
your pretty little wife in the cell next to me.” Cletus spit out
some of his chewing tobacco.

Clint gave Ryelee a level stare. “Go
to the house.”

“But—”

“Ryelee, take Rheenie into the house
now!”

Fear clutched her heart. She knew that
all she held dear was about to be taken away. She took Rheenie into
the house and got her ready for bed.

* * * *

“Tell me what you came to tell me and
then get lost,” Clint said with a threatening edge in his
voice.

“That little honey you’re sleeping
with is up to her skinny neck in our rustling, and I think that
knowledge would be worth a big wad of cash.”

“My wife has nothing to do with you
and Oscar’s Christmas fiasco.”

Cletus smiled a big broad smile.
“That’s not the time I was talkin’ about. Think back to
Thanksgiving. Does that ring any bells?”

“Just tell me what you came here to
tell me. I’m not in the mood for any games.” Clint folded his arms
in front of him.

“You have a spy in your bed. Ryelee
gave us the info about where the cattle would be that night. She
also told us that there weren’t no guards neither.” Cletus smiled
at Clint again.

“Now to my way of thinking, either you
can pay me, or I could tell Bubba. He seems to have a hard-on for
your gal.” Cletus laughed. “The way he talks about Ryelee is just
low-down disrespectful, if you catch my meanin’.”

Clint’s mind was spinning out of
control. Damn her! “You know what, Cletus? You do whatever the hell
you want. I don’t care anymore. Take Ryelee with you. I don’t care
anymore. I’ve had enough!”

“What do you mean? You’re not
paying?”

“No, there won’t be any money. Not one
cent from me!” Clint wanted to plant his fist in Cletus’s face.
“Don’t come back,” he said, over his shoulder as he strode to his
house.

Chapter Eleven

Ryelee walked down the stairs as the
door swung open, but she stopped when she saw Clint’s angry face.
She didn't think she’d ever seen that particular expression before,
and it frightened her.

“I need to talk to you in the study,”
he ground out, stomping off.

Ryelee put her hand to her pounding
heart. This was it. The other shoe had dropped. Maybe she could
convince him she felt threatened and afraid. She wanted to run out
the front door. She didn't want to have to face him. She wouldn’t
be able to stand seeing his anger and disappointment.

Slowly she walked to the study, stood
at the doorway, and watched Clint pour himself a whiskey. Too bad
she was pregnant. She could have used one right about now. They’d
been so happy this afternoon, and now it was all ruined.