Authors: Jennifer Ryan
“It's not for him, but myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. I thought maybe when he saw me he might come up to talk.”
Instead, Colt had turned and walked away and obviously upset Luna.
“Did you two have a fight?”
“No.”
“But he's angry with you?”
“Yes. No. Yes. I don't know.”
“Do you want to explain what happened?”
“Not really.” Luna turned onto the main road to town and gunned it.
Sadie put her hand on Luna's arm. “Hey, slow down. He's not coming after us.”
Luna let up on the gas pedal and sucked in a deep breath and sighed it out. “Sorry. How'd it go with Rory?”
“He's not happy about my plan to pay him back.”
“Is the man ever happy?”
Rory's solemn face came to mind. “No.” She remembered the way he smiled at Kaley and the way it changed his face, made him even more handsome and approachable. “Actually, I did see him smile.”
Luna glanced over at her. “A real smile.”
Sadie chuckled. “He doesn't talk much, but he's got this sincere, softer side that surprises me.”
Luna turned and gaped at her. “You really like him.”
“He thinks I'm beautiful.” Shy about it, she couldn't believe she told Luna that.
“Of course he does. You are.”
Sadie appreciated her friend's kindness. “He stayed. It meant so much to me that he saved me, but it goes so much deeper that he stayed.”
Luna's hand settled over hers. “I would have come sooner if I'd known what happened.”
“I know you would have. I'm glad you stopped by to check on me.”
“When I saw the way he looked at you, the way he refused to let go of your hand, I knew there was something there, but I didn't know if you felt something for him. I left knowing he'd take care of you and get you home, but I thought maybe if you spent time with him you might like him. And you do, right?”
“I think I do. I mean, I only just met him, but there's something about him that makes me look deeper to figure him out.”
“You'd have to look deep to get past his hard shell, that's for sure.”
“That's just it, that's an illusion. I actually think he's kind and warm.”
Luna squeezed her hand. “I'm happy for you.”
“Why? He saved me. I like him. But there's nothing else going on.”
Luna pulled into the diner parking lot and slipped into an empty space. She opened her door, but turned back before getting out, with a bright smile on her face. “Maybe there's nothing going on yet, but give it time. With you working there, right under his nose, something is bound to happen.”
Exactly what Sadie thought when she came up with the plan to work at the Kendrick ranch. She had to repay the debt somehow, but deep down she wanted to see Rory again. She couldn't stop thinking about him. Was there something there? She wanted to find out.
S
adie pulled up in front of her house and stared at the back end of her brother's old pickup sticking out of the empty corral behind the barn. Empty thanks to her brother's thieving. If he'd come home it meant he was in dire straits, probably trying to shake down their father for some quick cash.
She hopped out of the truck and headed inside. She'd meant to stop at home only long enough to check on her father, change out of her diner uniform into regular clothes, and head over to the Kendrick place to do her chores there, make them dinner and another of the breakfast casseroles they liked so much before she came home to try to sleep through her nightmares and do it all over again tomorrow. The weariness building inside her slowly chipped away at her resolve.
She stepped into the house, startling her brother. Connor picked up the gun sitting on the table at his arm and pointed it straight at her.
Pissed off and beyond reason, she shouted, “Go ahead.”
He set the gun down and shoveled in another bite of the beef stew she'd made for her father last night. His
favorite, but in his weak state he'd barely finished half a bowl.
“That's the first smart thing you've done in months.”
“Why are you pissed at me?” he asked, oblivious to anyone's feelings.
The lack of empathy or regret set off an explosion of rage in her gut. “Are you seriously asking me that after what happened?”
“What? You look fine.”
After a week and a half, yeah, the bruises had faded, the cuts healed to red marks, but the nightmare hadn't left her, or the sense of betrayal she felt from her brother.
She pulled up her Crystal Creek Diner T-shirt and showed him the scar on her ribs and the double lines of barbed wire cuts running across her middle.
Connor's eyes went wide with shock. “Holy shit, Sadie.”
“This is only what you can see. These marks run across my back, arms, legs, everywhere.”
“I had no idea.” His head bent, and he couldn't look her in the eye. The same gesture she'd seen when he was a boy and did something wrong.
“You left me with that guy. The one who likes to watch people bleed. The one who left me strung up in a tree bleeding and freezing to death while you stole the Kendricks' cattle.”
His head snapped up and he tried to talk his way out of trouble. Just like when he was young. But this was a lot more serious than him smashing bottles against the side of the barn, or stealing an extra dessert late at night. “You got away. That was one hell of a walk back home though.”
“You aren't listening, dumbshit. I didn't get away. How could I when that asshole friend of yours strung me up with barbed wire?” She held up her hands to show him the scars and bruises still circling her wrists.
“Fuck me. He did that to you?”
His ignorance and the way he'd gone on about his life oblivious and uncaring to what happened to her after he left set off another wave of anger. “What did you think he was going to do to me? Smack me around. Rape me. Murder me. Which of those things was okay for you to live with, because you had no problem with him stripping me and punching me in the face,” she shouted, letting her anger get the better of her.
“Sadie, honey, you're home.” Her father walked out of his room, leaning heavily on a thick stick she'd never seen.
Sadie sucked in a breath, calmed herself, and tried her best to appear composed for her father's sake. “Dad, are you okay?”
He stared down at the stick. “My legs aren't working quite right. I stumbled earlier, so I thought I'd give this a try. What are you two fighting about now?” Her father glanced at Connor. “Did you miss school again today?”
Connor's gaze collided with hers, his confusion clear to see. “Uh, Dad, I haven't been in school for years.”
“Why not? Does your sister have to ride you every day to get you to do what you're supposed to?”
Connor looked to her for an explanation.
“You only think about yourself. You never see what is right in front of you. You didn't see the threat that man posed to me. You don't see what is happening here.” She held her hand out to indicate their father,
a man who didn't look anything like he did just a few short months ago.
“Don't you see the truth that is right in front of you?” She didn't want to let their father know they were talking about the fact that he was dying right in front of them.
“Sadie, I can't get out of it. I'm in too deep. I didn't know . . .”
“You don't care.” She spoke the sad truth. He only cared about himself.
“You don't understand . . . the people I'm involved with . . .”
“Nearly killed me. But you don't care about that, not really. You don't care about us, the things we've sacrificed for you. The love we pour out, trying to get you to see and do the right thing, but all you do is wreak havoc in our lives. Do you have any idea what you've cost us this time?”
“Sadie, if I didn't take the cattle and pay some of what I owe they were going to kill me.”
Sadie shook her head. “But it would have been okay if they killed me, so long as you got the cattle. It's okay that I had to turn over all the horses to the Kendricks to put even a small dent in what we owe them. It's okay that I spend hours over there cooking and cleaning to repay the debt when I should be here with our father, spending what little time I have left with him. It's okay that I make things right when you're the one who's done them wrong.”
“You don't owe them shit. They've got the money to buy more cattle.”
“That is not the point. You stole from them.” She fisted her hands at her side, trying not to stoop to the
level of wrapping her hands around his neck and shaking some sense into him. “You steal from your own family. You treat us like what we want and need doesn't matter. You take and take and take and leave nothing but destruction in your path.”
Connor slammed his hands on the table, making the bowl, glass, and silverware rattle. “They'll kill me if I don't do what they want.” The glimpse of the boy she remembered disappeared behind his anger, justifications, and the drugs that even now muddled his mind.
“Sadie, honey, what is going on?” Her father looked back and forth from her to Connor. “I don't understand what is going on?” The confusion in her father's voice broke her heart.
“I'm sorry, Dad, but Connor has to go.”
“It's time for school?”
“Yes, Dad. He needs to go and learn something.”
“Okay.” Her father walked into the other room, sat in his favorite chair, and turned on the TV.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Connor whispered from the table. “He's wasting away to nothing, and this talk about school? I'm twenty-one, not twelve.”
“Then act like it. If you'd been here these last months instead of crashing on your buddies' sofas and doing wrong at every turn, you'd know that he's been sick and getting worse.”
“What can I do?” He didn't really mean he'd do anything at all. He always offered when things got tough. Maybe he'd help out by putting in a halfhearted effort, but he never saw anything through. He never put them first.
“End this now before you get yourself killed. Turn
yourself in and beg for leniency. Pray the Kendricks don't get their hands on you first.”
“You know I can't do that.”
“You won't do it. Instead you come here and risk me and Dad getting arrested for aiding and abetting? Get out now, or I will call the cops and tell them you're here.”
“You wouldn't.”
“Don't make me.”
Connor picked up the gun, stood, and pushed the chair back with his legs. He tucked the gun in his jeans waistband.
“Do you really think that gun will solve anything? If you can't see that even having that in your possession is another nail in your coffin, then you are stupid and have a death wish.”
“I need it.”
“You need your head examined.”
Maybe she did, too, because wasn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result? Well, she wanted off the Connor crazy train.
He left his dishes for her to clean up. Like always. He moved around the table and stared into the other room at their father glued to some old Western on TV. He'd become partial to the shows these last months. She wondered if he watched them to relive his days here on the ranch the only way he could now. He barely left the house anymore.
“I wonder if he'll still be here when I come back.”
“Don't come back, Connor.” The words stuck in her throat, but she pushed them out anyway. Watching
Rory and his brothers with their grandfather this past week showed her what a real family should be like. They worked together, joked and teased one another, helped one another without complaint or even so much as having to ask in most cases. They shared their lives and did so with respect.
“You don't mean that.”
“You've gone too far. I can't get you out of this. I can't help you anymore.”
Connor's eyes narrowed with anger. He lashed out at her, yanking her purse off her shoulder and down her arm. He turned his back and dug through it.
She smacked him between the shoulder blades and on the back of his head. He shoved her back, found the cash in her purse, all her tips from work the last two days, and stuffed it in his front pocket.
“Give it back.” She felt like they were ten and five and he'd stolen her favorite toy just to be a brat. This time, she couldn't let it go. She needed that money. She refused to let him take anything more from her.
Connor turned on her, grabbed her arm, twisting and yanking it up her back. He slammed her into the wall and held her there. “You want me out. You don't get to fucking tell me what to do anymore.”
“Lot of good it did, you always do what you want to do anyway and blame others when it all goes to shit.”
“You think you know everything. Well, smarty, if Derek finds out you ratted him out to the cops about the cattle and messing you up, then you better watch your back. He'll come after you and shut you up for good.”
The threat sent a wave of panic through Sadie that made her gasp and stop breathing. She couldn't believe her brother would threaten her like this, but it didn't
really surprise her. Still, the memory of what Derek did to her made her whole body tremble.
“Watch your back, sis. I'd hate for something to happen to you.”
Connor shoved her hard into the wall, hurting her still healing shoulder, let her loose, and stormed out the door. She held her bruised arm to her chest and stared out the open door until he drove past in a cloud of dust. It made her feel guilty as hell, but she hoped the cops patrolling past the house every hour or so caught him.
R
ory stepped into the corral and latched the gate behind him. He'd kept Sadie's horses here the past week because, well, they refused to go anywhere else. Every time he tried to lead the stallion out so that his harem of fillies would follow, they all cowered in the back of the corral. Today he meant to get them moved out into one of the bigger pastures. Maybe he'd take a couple into the stables and get them settled with the other horses.
Ford let out a catcall whistle, which meant Sadie finally showed up to work. Both his brothers whistled at her like that to say hello and piss Rory off. He hated that they found it so easy to talk and joke with her. He wished she didn't tie his insides in knots and fry his brain every time she was in the same room.
Over an hour late, he wondered what kept her. He looked up and caught her staring at him. She raised her arm and waved. He waved back, feeling like a damn fool. He didn't want to wave at her. He wanted to go to her, take her in his arms, and kiss her. Maybe then the knot in his gut he carried around with him the last week like a lead weight would unwind and he'd be at ease. He rolled his eyes. Not likely. She avoided him.
He swung the rope and lassoed the stallion, pulling him out of the herd. The damn horse whinnied and stomped, letting Rory know he wasn't happy about this situation. Rory wasn't either. He'd like the animal to act like he should and lead his lovely ladies out of here.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
God, her voice would forever be imprinted in his mind.
“I'm trying to get your stubborn horses out of here.”
“You won't do it that way.”
Rory glanced over at her for the first time. His gut went tight seeing her in the white T-shirt tied into a knot at her belly, showing off just a hint of skin above her tight jeans. He swallowed and tried to focus on her face and not the swell of her breasts pressed against the T-shirt's thin fabric. “These guys are his. They should follow him.”
Sadie shook her head. “Just like a man to think so. He's not the leader of this group.”
“What? He's the only male.”
She pressed her pretty lips together, walked to the gate, came through, and closed it behind her. “Mind if I show you a thing or two about women and horses?”
Rory eyed her. “I'm pretty sure I've got a handle on both.”
“Says every guy until a woman proves him wrong.”
He chuckled. “Show me what you've got.”
Sadie stared at him. “Did you actually smile at me?”
He frowned. “What of it?”
“You should do it more often.” She held her hand up to the horse he had on the rope. “Let him go.”
“But . . .”
“Let. Him. Go.”
He relented, letting her do her thing. He hadn't had any luck the last week; he doubted she'd do any better. He'd keep an eye on the dangerous stallion and make sure he didn't get any ideas about protecting his ladies and trampling Sadie.
The second the rope came off the big guy, the horse trotted back to the group, and the mares circled around him.
“Now, cowboy, you want to move this herd, you need the true leader to come forward.” Sadie whistled like a bird and her palomino walked forward and nudged Sadie's hand as she held it up to the horse. Sadie rubbed her hand up the horse's long nose to scratch at the white patch on her forehead. “Hello, Sugar.”
Sadie turned to him. “How about a leg up?” She moved to the horse's side and held up her leg. He grabbed hold and boosted her up. She sat atop the horse, then leaned down and gave her old friend a hug. “Hello, baby. I miss you.”
“You're the one who left them here,” Rory pointed out.
“I pay my debts.”
Rory rolled his eyes. “I'm not doing this with you anymore. If you want to ride, you're welcome to do so any time you like.”
“You mean it?”
“Why wouldn't I?”
“That's really nice. Thank you.”
“Why do you think I'm not nice?”
“I don't. It's just . . . I don't know . . . You don't seem like you want me here.”
“I don't want you paying off debts that aren't yours. Doesn't mean I don't like you here. I do.”
“Yeah, your brothers can't stop talking about my cooking.”
“Best food we've had in years around here.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You never say anything about my cooking.”
“Who can get a word in with my brothers tripping over themselves to beg you to cook even more?”
“They've got some hearty appetites.”
“Yeah, well, so do I.”
She cocked her head to the side and stared down at him. Yeah, she got his meaning.
He let his gaze drop to her thigh in front of him and her hand resting over the place she'd been cut. He wanted to ask if she got her stitches out, but the red marks on her forearm caught his attention. He took her hand and held it in front of him, tracing the marks lightly with his fingertips. “What happened?”
She tried to pull free, but he held on. “It's nothing.”
“This isn't nothing, sweetheart. Who did this?”
She put her free hand over his. “Rory, please, let it go.”
It hit him all at once. “Your brother did this to you.” He looked her up and down. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
She squeezed his hand. “I'm fine. He was at my house when I got home.”
“That's why you were late.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Fuck sorry. He hurt you. Where the hell were the cops? They're supposed to drive by your place several times a day.”
“They can't watch me and my house every second of the day.”
Rory brushed his fingers over her arm again, offering comfort, but noticing it made her tense, then settle again.
She didn't let go of his hand. “I made him leave.”
“He didn't go willingly.” Rory indicated the marks on her.
“Not without stealing the money out of my purse.”
“What the hell?”
“I know. I begged him to turn himself in. He refused of course. When I told him to leave or I'd call the cops myself, he got a little physical. He won't be back.”
“How do you know that?”
“He's not stupid when it comes to saving his own ass.” She slipped her hand from his and set it on his shoulder. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
“Seems to be my favorite thing.”
“Why?” she asked, a shyness in her voice he'd never heard.
It took him a second to get the words out. “I like looking at you.”
“It might help me to believe that if you smiled.”
“You smile at me and I'll smile back.”
Skeptical, one of her eyebrows went up. “Because you want to, or because I'm asking you to.”
“Every time I think about or see you, I'm smiling on the inside.” He set his hand on her thigh in front of him and squeezed softly. This time, he didn't look away, but stared into her pretty eyes. “Which means I'm smiling on the inside all the time, because I can't stop thinking about you.” The gruffness in his voice probably told her that admission didn't come easy.
“Um, I don't know what to say. You barely speak to me, and when you do, you say that.”
“Tell me it's just me and I won't say anything like it again.”
Her hand contracted on his shoulder. He leaned in closer. She bit the inside of her bottom lip. The way it twisted her mouth made him want to kiss her even more.
“It's not just you.” The shyness in her words didn't dim the reality of what she'd just admitted.
Those words hit him square in the chest. She liked him. She felt something for him. Taking a chance for once in his life, his next words tumbled out of his mouth quicker than he expected. “Would you like to go to a movie tonight?” He held his breath, hoping she said yes.
“A date?”
“Yeah, you know, one of those things where we go out, get to know each other better without being watched by my brothers and grandfather.”
She looked past him. He had no doubt Ford and Colt had stopped unloading the feed to stare at them. His grandfather was probably staring out the top-floor window.
He didn't care. He was tired of looking at her from afar. Right now, he was a foot away. Still too far for his liking, but he'd take it over watching her in a store, from across the street, or from the booth at the back of the diner.
“I would love to see a movie with you, but . . .”
“Can we stop with the buts?”
She laughed and he smiled up at her. One of her eyebrows shot up. “There it is.”
“What?”
“Your smile.”
She did something completely unexpected and touched her fingertips to his cheek. “You're really handsome when you smile.”
“And when I'm not smiling?”
“You're a whole lot of intimidating.”
“I've perfected it over the years, I guess, trying to keep my brothers in line.”
“I know how you feel. You've done a much better job than I ever did.”
“That's because I'm bigger than you, little bit.”
She laughed again and the knot in his stomach loosened up again.
“I noticed.” Her gaze slid over him.
Heat spread through him like wildfire across a dry field, igniting something inside him he hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. God, how he wanted her.
“What is the but?” he asked, trying to keep things on track and get her to accept a date with him.
“I need to stop by my place after I finish up here and check on my father. I don't like to leave him these days. His confusion is getting worse.”
“I'm sorry, sweetheart. If you want, go on home and watch over him. I'll pick you up later.”
She shook her head. Stubborn woman.
“You're not going to give up paying me back, are you?”
“No. I owe you, plus . . . It gives me a reason to see you.” She shrugged like that should be obvious to him. It hadn't occurred to him that she'd set this up to get to know him better. “I kind of got used to having you around at the hospital.”
“I had a hard time leaving you at your place.”
“Then stop trying to send me away all the time.”
He smiled up at her. “Stay, but you don't have to work here.”
“Here I thought you liked my cooking. I was going to make you some of those fried potatoes you liked so much the other day.”
“Oh God, I will be your slave for more of those.”
She laughed again and slid her hand from his shoulder up his neck to his hair. Her fingers toyed with the strands, sending a shiver of electricity down his spine. He stilled beside her; his hand on her thigh contracted.
She stopped her fiddling and pulled her hand back. “Sorry. I, uh . . .”
“It's fine, Sadie. Don't stop. More. All you want.” He smiled to keep things light. He teased, but not really. If she saw that he could be fun and lighthearted, all the better. She made him want to be that way.
She let out a nervous laugh. “Um, where do you want these horses?”
“Running away?”
“Stopping the show.” She tilted her head up toward the house. “I'd rather we keep this between us.”
“Just so you know, Sadie, whatever happens between us is up to us. It has nothing to do with my family, or yours.”
She nodded, but he didn't think she really believed him. This thing with her brother weighed heavily on her. She didn't like that her brother wronged Rory's family. She wanted to make things right. He got it. If it had been one of his brothers, he'd have done the same thing. He had to respect her for that.
“Take the horses past that first gate to the second one that's open.” He pointed down the fence line for her to see where he meant her to go.
“Got it. Watch this, cowboy.” Sadie gave her horse a soft kick and turned her back to the herd patiently waiting behind them.
Rory moved out of the way and went to open the gate for her to take the horses out. She circled around the corral once and picked up about five of the horses. They followed her around one more time, gathering another eight horses. The dust kicked up as Sadie and her followers passed him again. This time, she rode out of the corral with all the horses following, the stallion at the back, watching over his ladies. He had to hand it to her, she'd trained her horses well. She thought her palomino was the alpha in that group, but he saw deeper to the love the horses had for their mistress. They followed Sadie.
God, she was a sight, riding bareback along the dirt road and straight into the pasture he'd pointed her toward. Once all the horses ran through the gate, Ford closed and latched it. Sadie didn't quit; she ran the horses in a wide circle around the grass, letting them get their run on.
Rory stood beside Ford. Colt joined them a minute later. They stood side by side as Sadie passed them, a huge smile on her face, her blond hair flying on the wind just like the palomino's mane and tail.
“Damn, that's a pretty sight.” Colt nudged Rory's arm.
“She's beautiful.”
“Did you finally ask her out?” Ford eyed him, one eyebrow cocked. “Because if you wait any longer, I'm going to.”
“Not before me,” Colt added.
Rory stood in the middle of them, planted one hand on each of their shoulders, and shoved them away.
They stumbled sideways, righted themselves, and came back to slam into his shoulders, squishing him between them. “Keep this up and someone's going to get punched.”
His brothers laughed. All in good fun. This is how life had been since their parents died. He appreciated the normalcy of it all when his world felt like it was about to change, because of the woman on the back of a horse flying across the field.
“We're going out to a movie tonight. Please don't give her a hard time about this. It's new and could fall apart any second. We barely know each other. This thing with her brother is still between us.”