Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy? (23 page)

She groaned. His fingers hooked the waistband of her boxers and slowly slid them down her legs, kissing her exposed torso until she lay naked before him. He rolled off the mattress and kicked off his boots, then shucked his clothes and with a quick grin, took a condom out of his pocket. She studied his hard, solid body and shivered.

The heat in her eyes urged him to take her quickly, but he held back, wanting to savor every touch, every look, every breath. “Scoot up,” he whispered hoarsly, crawling into the bed beside her.

She did as he said and he splayed one questing hand over her thighs, moving slowly, closer, closer, to that one spot that would make her scream. When he found it, she arched her back, the moan low in her throat. He removed his finger and held her in place with the pressure of his hips while he slowly entered her. He set the primal rhythm, moving his pelvis slowly back and forth, and she matched every move. “You feel so good,” he muttered against her neck.

He pushed up on his hands to look down at her. Her golden hair spread over the pillow, and he needed to touch it. He wrapped his hands through the tumbled strands, the silk of it caressing his fingers. Words were lost as Riley increased the pace of his thrusts and Ainsley kept up with his pace, her nails digging into his shoulders, her breathing coming in short gasps until her body spasmed beneath him. Driven by the aftershocks quivering through her, he shuddered through his own release. Gradually their breathing slowed and he managed to move off her and gather her in his arms.

“Wow,” she breathed, and his rumbling laughter vibrated in his chest. That was a good way of describing it. “I think that was worth waiting for.” They lay in silence, basking in the afterglow until she spoke again. “We have only one more night, Riley. Don’t leave. Spend tonight with me.”

He tensed at her words, but then nodded. One more night to convince her to stay at the ranch. He brushed his lips against her cheek and shifted so he lay on top of her, cradling her body with the length of his. Until someone knocked on the cabin door.

“Leave it,” he whispered, kissing her neck, inhaling that sweet vanilla scent. She wrapped her arms around him and held tight, tilting her head back.

The knocking continued, became more insistent, and Ainsley groaned in resignation. “I’ll be right back.”

“No. Stay.”

She wiggled out from under his arms and he rolled away from her. She pulled on her robe and he listened to the sound of her footsteps going to the cabin door. The pace was much faster when she returned. The door slammed against the wall as she burst into the bedroom, kicking his shirt in from the common room.

“My mother.” Ainsley picked up his jeans from the floor and tossed them to him. “She’s here. You have to go. Out the window.” She picked up her bra, then threw it in her closet along with her robe and pulled on her tank top instead.

“Ainsley?” Her mother’s voice was followed by more knocking.

“Be right out!”

Riley sidestepped the tornado of clothing, but he lowered his voice. “We’re not teenagers hiding from our parents, Fairfax. What’s wrong with me meeting her?”

“No. No no no no no.” She thrust his shirt into his arms, then spun him toward the window with a little push.

“Hey. Wait.”

She stopped her frantic movements, standing in front of him in her tank top and panties. She would have looked damn sexy if nervousness and apprehension hadn’t covered her face. “You don’t know her. She’ll come in here if I wait much longer.”

He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, then leaned in close. “Would that be a bad thing?”

She glanced at the closed door. “I just can’t handle both of you right now. Please, Riley.”

The hell? “I didn’t realize I had to be handled.” He scooped up his shirt and opened the window.

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Ainsley!” Annoyance tinged her mother’s voice. The woman apparently didn’t know the meaning of the word
patience
.

He unscrewed the screen until it came off. “When you figure out what you do mean, let me know.”

He paused in his underwear outside her window, gripping his jeans and shirt. A boot sailed through the air and he dodged it, but the second one hit him in the ass. The window slammed shut. How dignified.

Gritting his teeth, he let his shirt fall and pulled on his jeans. Why did she feel the need to hide him from her affluent family? Shame, embarrassment that she was involved with a man who sweated and got dirty every day instead of getting manicures and wearing a tie? He didn’t know what he’d been thinking before. If she could have been engaged to someone like Edward, no way would she fit in with his life on the ranch. She’d probably laugh at his attempt to give her something he thought she’d love when she really wanted of diamonds and pearls. After playing cowgirl at the Crescent Ridge, she’d go back to her high-quality life and white collar fiancé and he’d be nothing but a vacation fling.

Heaviness took over his body, leaving a tightness in his chest. One problem with that: He wanted her to stay. And he had one more day to convince her he was worth it.

W
ith her heart beating a nervous rhythm loud enough to be used as a metronome, Ainsley slipped into the common room to properly greet her mother. And, for the love of a pizza, Edward sat on the sofa, looking decidedly uncomfortable. The sight of him only strengthened the stirring inside her that hinted she could be losing her heart to Riley. And losing her shop to her mother. If she hadn't already. And what the hell was Edward even doing here again?

He rose when she entered, panic flashing in his light blue eyes. She hadn’t seen him in the brief second when she first opened the cabin door but she was ready to cut him down if he even thought about again proclaiming some misguided love for her. A frown covered her mother’s face from her plucked eyebrows to her chin.

“What are you doing here, Mother?”

“When you didn’t come home with Edward, I thought for sure you were being held captive. How could you want to stay in this tiny town and work with farm animals instead of going home with him? I had to come and see for myself that you were here willingly, although God knows why.” Sophia studied her daughter from the top of her hair to her bare toes. “It’s a comfort to see that you’re all right.”

Ainsley had been much more
all right
before her mother had shown up. “Why wouldn’t I be?” The euphoric relaxation she had experienced after being with Riley faded into nothingness, and her stomach churned instead. She kissed her mother’s cheek, enveloped in her floral perfume, hating how passively she accepted her mother’s invasion of her time and space. A wicked idea formed and she grinned at Edward. “Have you talked to Cecelia?”

Two red spots brightened his pale cheeks and he cast a quick glance at Sophia. Was it panic? Nervousness? “Not tonight,” he mumbled. Silence followed, which Ainsley was perfectly happy to let happen while she fought to keep her mouth straight. After all, she hadn’t invited her mother to Wyoming. She waited.

Finally Sophia sighed and glided to the door. “Since you’re all right, we’ll leave you for now. It is a little late, but we’ll see you in the morning, Ainsley. For breakfast. We’re at a hotel thirty miles away. I am not going to pay to stay in a dingy little cabin with little hope of running water.”

A tiny bit of relief at the unexpected liberty surged through Ainsley. She didn’t want her mother or Edward anywhere near her if she could avoid it, but she did agree to having breakfast. Anything to get her out the door. “Good night, Mother. Edward.”

Edward kissed Ainsley’s cheek. “I need to talk to you in the morning,” he whispered. “I’ll call you.” The door clicked shut behind him before she could answer. He had a different look this time. It wasn’t the over-confident you-love-me googly eyes he’d worn for the past two years. Hope blossomed within her. Something was about to change.

The ringing phone woke her the next morning and she fumbled for her cell. “Hello?” she mumbled, brushing her disheveled hair off her forehead. Sleep weighted her eyes and she blinked, trying to focus on the clock.

“Your mother can be a real slave driver when she wants something,” Edward’s voice came clearly into her ear. “I’m coming to get you for breakfast. Can you be ready in half an hour? I tried to tell her you could call a taxi, but I guess she wants to make sure you get here. As if you wouldn’t be able to do this on your own?”

“Oh, Edward. Welcome to my world.” She yawned and slipped from beneath the blankets.

“Coming here wasn’t my idea,” he stressed. “I want you to know that. I finally understand everything you’ve said to me over the years and I’m sorry I put you through so much.”

“As long as you’re making it right.”

“I’m trying. I told your mother about Cecelia and she was adamant that I wasn’t thinking clearly. She thinks you’re my true soulmate. And insisted we come to Wyoming to settle this. I knew you wanted me to stay away, but I thought Sophia being here alone would be worse.”

A floating, blissful sensation danced over her body. Not only had he realized they were never meant to be together, he also saw he and Cecelia were. Ainsley wanted to cheer and jump around her room. “Listen to your heart, Edward. Don’t let my mother convince you of anything else. Her world has to travel a certain path, and you and Cecelia are definitely a detour.”

He let out a quick breath and she could feel his relief come through the phone. “So what about you? How are you feeling about this cowboy of yours?”

Memories of Riley’s hands caressing her body momentarily threw her out of the conversation but she regained control. “I’m kinda liking this cowboy of mine.”

“He seems a decent guy.”

“He is.”

“I’m coming to get you. I’ll see you soon.”

She rubbed her eyes and peeked at the clock and groaned. Seven-thirty. The disbelief and indignation on Riley’s face had haunted her all night. Working on only a few hours of sleep was not the best time to hold her own with her mother. Deciding she needed reinforcements, she picked up her phone again while she rooted around for a pair of pants.

Her sister answered on the first ring. “Ainsley! You’re the very best sister in the entire world. Did you know that?”

“I did, actually. And it’s about time you figured it out. So what happened?” She found a purple shirt and changed out of her nightclothes.

“I went over to Edward’s house and yelled at him for being emotionally bound to the idea of a woman even if the actual woman wasn’t his ideal. And then I kissed him.”

How did she do it? Her sister had never been one to just let things happen, and in one week had managed to break through years of preconceived ideas and get her man. “Yay, you! I’m buying birdseed as soon as I get home.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Cecelia said. “Not only has he not proposed, but I don’t know if I’m ready to get married yet. I need to make sure his feelings are real and not a reaction to being displaced by you.”

“I’m sure they’re not.” Excitement rose through her, as if the mayor of Charleston had just signed on as one of her clients. She padded to the bathroom. A quick once-over in the mirror showed skin tanned from working outside, and her mother’s lecture on keeping her complexion creamy filled her head. “Don’t take too long. I wouldn’t want him to wonder what you’re waiting for and come back to me. He arrived here safely, by the way.”

She spun on her heel and left the room without putting on any makeup. Silence came through the phone and she pictured her sister tugging a lock of hair and putting it in her mouth.

“Edward?” Cecelia asked.

“He’s here. I figured you knew.”

“No,” she said with a small catch in her voice. “I told him to wait for me before seeing Mom, but I guess he went ahead anyway. What’s he doing there?”

A light knock sounded on her door and Ainsley pulled back the curtain. Edward waved at her through the window. “Right now, he’s waiting to take me to breakfast. I’ll call you later.”

“Take care of him for me, okay?”

“I will. I’m the best sister in the entire world, remember?”

Ainsley hovered outside Meagan’s door, hesitant to knock in case her roommate was still sleeping. Finally, she rapped softly and waited for a response. When she got none, she eased open the door. Meagan’s bed sheets were pulled tight on the empty bed, like she had spent the entire night elsewhere. Ainsley scribbled a hasty note saying she’d be back as soon as she could.

Her mother waited for them at an outside table at a small café called The Golden Bridge. She ran a critical eye over her daughter and frowned before taking a sip of coffee. The quaint restaurant was located on the outskirts of Little Falls and took advantage of the natural landscape for its mountain scenery. The Teton range rose in the distance, the large peaks glowing in the morning sun.

“Good morning, Mother.” Ainsley enveloped her in a hug and kissed her cheek, still reveling in the giddiness of Edward’s pronouncement.

“You’re making a scene, Ainsley. Sit down.”

Ainsley studied the empty patio but said nothing more as she took out a menu. “So to what do I owe this delightful surprise?” she asked after ordering a mound of French toast.

“It wouldn’t have been a surprise if you had answered your phone when I called,” Sophia said.

“You could have left me a message,” Ainsley replied.

Her mother sipped her black coffee and Ainsley waited for the direct, no-nonsense delivery of Sophia Fairfax wisdom. “Your being here is your sister’s influence, isn’t it? You can’t let her destroy what you and Edward have, Ainsley.”

Ainsley’s features tightened with the suppressed need to tell her mother exactly why she’d hightailed it to Wyoming instead of going on the cruise. Instead, she curled into her chair and looked at the glass of orange juice she no longer wanted, feeling the retreat of the self-confidence she had found on this trip. Fear of losing her shop kept her mouth closed and she gave her standard response, even though she had no intention of following through. “Yes, Mother.” Sophie would figure it out soon enough anyway.

“We’re booked on a private flight that leaves this evening,” Sophia said, “so you’ll have time to say good-bye to the little friends you’ve made, and thank the Pommers for their hospitality.”

“Can’t.” Ainsley shook her head. “I’ve already RSVPed for the evening’s entertainment and it would be unforgivably rude to just leave. The Pommers invited their friends and neighbors to a barbecue tonight as a way of saying good-bye to their guests, but I’m sure they’ll extend their hospitality to include you and Edward.” She stifled the smile that threatened to blossom, spurred by the spark in her heart. Her mother would have to agree. After all, she was a Fairfax and appearances and etiquette were extremely important. Now Ainsley could have her last evening with Riley. The thought was bittersweet.

She could tell him how she felt. Take a chance, take the risk, take a leap of faith for her heart and her life. The worst he could do was say no and she’d be no worse off than she already was. But would he want her around for a week? A month? Would losing her shop be worth the time they had?

Her mother nibbled on her dry toast. “I’m not going to dance with any cowhand,” she stated.

“So noted, Mother.”

Sophia gave a long-suffering sigh and pushed her plate away. “You and Edward will make a lovely couple. You can show everyone how well you dance together.”

“What do you say, Edward?” Ainsley said flippantly. “Ready to boot scoot boogie with me?”

Edward’s skin turned five shades lighter than his normal pale glow. “Can’t we dance to a waltz instead?” He gave her a lopsided grin from across the table, worlds away from his usual love-stricken face. What made it even better was the frown that deepened Sophia’s mouth when she saw it. Ainsley laughed, enjoying this lighthearted version of the man who would one day be her brother-in-law.

He would have to find a way to charm her mother. That’s all there was to it. Even if he could still feel the imprint of the boot on his ass.

Riley buttoned the cuffs of his striped shirt and tucked it into his jeans. The blessed last day had finally arrived. He’d get the chance to formally meet Ainsley’s mom. There had to be something about her that kept Ainsley focused on returning to South Carolina. And he had to tell her he wanted her to stay—not only in his bed, but in his heart. Even if his stomach churned whenever he thought of saying the words. But it would be worth it. She was worth it.

He pulled on his boots and pictured Ainsley lying naked on his bed, turning him hard in an instant. She could move into the guest room for the sake of Seth and Jeanne. They wouldn’t know where she spent her nights. Long, hot nights with nothing but the two of them, and days filled with laughter and companionship and someone who understood him. His sisters’ crazy meddling had actually done some good. He could maybe see a future with this woman.

His mood lightened as she shuffled down the stairs. This would be the last morning the interlopers would invade his home. Breakfast smelled good—his favorite sausage fried on the stove top and the scent of fresh biscuits warmed the air. “Good morning, ladies.”

Instead of fawning over him like every other morning that week, the women clustered around Leigh, who was facing away from the door. She had one hand covering her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist. Disgust covered Jewel’s beautiful features. Robin wore a similar expression. At the kitchen table, Meagan sat alone, tapping her fork against the side of her plate.

He threw a quick glance to his sisters at the sink, who stared back at him with identical confusion. Robin nudged Leigh and the dark-haired woman turned around. “Oh. You’re here.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll notice someone else isn't.”

Should he admit he knew Ainsley’s mother was here? He tried to read Meagan, but her whole body turned away from him. Something was going on.

“I saw her this morning,” Leigh continued with a toss of her straight hair. “She was driving with that accountant man who came to the ranch that one night. The one who sent her flowers before.”

No wonder Meagan avoided him. She lifted her thin shoulders. “Ainsley left me a note saying she went to breakfast with her mother and Edward and she’d be back late morning.”

“What is her mother even doing here?” Robin asked. “And her boyfriend?”

Riley stiffened at the term. Good question. And one he didn’t have an answer to.

The women took their seats, and Ainsley’s empty space screamed at him throughout the meal. The accountant. The one she swore wouldn’t show up again. Maybe Riley really was a way to pass the time before her wedding. And he’d fallen for it all. This was the last time. The padlock he placed around his heart made him sure of that. He shoveled eggs into his mouth, eager to get out of the kitchen and away from his ruined future.

“Can you believe she’s flaunting her fiancé in front of Riley?” Leigh asked Robin. “Why is she here when she has a boyfriend?”

“Maybe she wanted to get dirty mucking stalls and fixing fences,” Riley answered.

Leigh opened her mouth to say something else, but Molly interrupted the conversation. “I think we are here to show everyone our best attributes. If you can’t raise yourself up without tearing someone else down, then perhaps you would better employ your time somewhere else.”