Leigh waved a greeting and turned the gray mare into the corral.Then she wandered ever to the hitching post as Freddy and Ry dismounted.“Have a good ride?”she asked.
“Ry decided to test-drive Destiny through a herd of critters,” Freddy said.
Leigh gave Ry a startled look.“You stayed on him?”
“No.”Ry swung down and tipped his hat back as he talked to Leigh.“And I’d like to arrange a few riding lessons, so I’m ready for him next time.”
As they discussed scheduling, Freddy pretended to be engrossed in unsaddling Maureen, but her attention remained on Ry.She was amazed at how much he looked like a cowboy now.He’d picked up the mannerisms, the walk, even the aggressiveness of cowboy lovers, she thought as heat rose to her cheeks.She hauled the saddle and blanket into the wing to the right of the barn, an old stone structure reserved for the tack used by the hands.Equipment for the dudes was segregated and kept in the newer tin wing on the opposite side of the barn.
As she started back out, Ry came through the door with Destiny’s saddle and blanket.Duane had sponsored Ry’s entry into the hands tack room.She moved aside to let him pass and then started out of the shed as he settled his blanket and saddle on a wooden stand.
“Freddy.”
She turned, and before she realized what he meant to do, he’d stepped forward and swept her into his arms.His lips came down quickly, stifling any possible protest, and in seconds he’d shattered her carefully built defenses.
Then he released her.“Think about that,” he said.“I’m catching a ride up to the house with Leigh.”
Long after he’d left the tack shed, Freddy stood in the same spot where he’d left her, fingers pressed to her love-sensitized mouth.Ry might be lacking riding skills, but his kiss needed no refinements whatsoever.She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted a man, almost more than she’d ever wanted anything...including the ranch.
ChapterThirteen
All the way back to the ranch house, Ry questioned Leigh about her team roping.The more he heard, the more he wanted to try it.Finally, he asked her if she’d teach him that, too.
“Let’s improve your horsemanship first,” she said with a dry chuckle.“You have to learn to walk before you can run.”
“How long do you think it will take before I can start learning team roping?”
“Ambitious son-of-a-gun, aren’t you?”
“Always have been, Leigh.”
She nodded.“How are things going between you and my sister?”
Ry gazed out the window into the darkness.“She doesn’t trust me.”
“Should she?”
He couldn’t answer that because he didn’t know the answer himself.He wouldn’t ever run out on a relationship, but that wasn’t the issue with Freddy.She wanted a guarantee that she’d always be able to live on her ranch, and he couldn’t promise her that.Life involved constant change.Invest too heavily in a certain future and you were bound to lose.He should know that more than anybody.
Leigh parked at the side of the house where Duane was still working on the other ranch vehicles.Ry thanked her for the ride and left her there conferring with Duane about the state of her truck’s tires.A country line-dance lesson for the guests was in progress in the main room of the ranch house, the music and laughter spilling onto the wide front porch.A shadowy figure sat in a chair with another shadow at its feet.As Ry came closer, moonlight glinted off an aluminum walker next to the person in the cane chair.
Ry’s boots clunked hollowly on the wooden porch as he crossed it — a nice sound.“Mind if I join you?”he asked Dexter.
“Nope.”
The neighboring cane chair creaked as Ry sat down, and the black-and-white dog raised his head.Dexter didn’t speak, just reached down and put a hand on the dog’s head.
“Is he yours?”Ry asked.
“Yep.A mare.No, a girl.”
“The dog’s a female?”
“Yep.”
“Oh.What’s her name?”
“Don’t know.Used to know.”
