April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) (20 page)

Raven propped herself up on an elbow and looked down at him. “Bran said there was some new technology to help the cattle when they get lost. My grandfather apparently looked into it, but you know how stubborn he was. He never gave it a chance to work. I was going to try looking it up online today but got sidetracked.”

“I wish I could help,” he told her. “I’m not much better with tech stuff than your grandfather was. All I know is it seemed like a hopeless situation back when your grandfather was playing with all that new high-tech equipment.”

“It probably only seemed hopeless because none of you guys understood how it works. I don’t understand the ranching business and that seems hopeless to me every day. But I do understand computers and technology. If I can put the two together, I think I can save the ranch.”

Connor laughed. “I think I see your problem. It’s like you hold one piece of the puzzle and the guys on this ranch hold the other piece. You have to find a way to make them come together somehow.”

“You’re right. So far I haven’t been able to figure out how to do that.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to research on that computer of yours this afternoon,” he told her, sliding his body away from hers and sitting up in bed. “I have to get back to work, and something tells me you won’t see Tyler for the rest of the day.”

She sat up next to him on the bed. “It’s going to feel different being alone all day.”

“I could always come back tonight.”

She smiled and thought how much she would like that. “I’m tempted,” she told him, giving him a kiss. “But I can’t. I think I should spend some alone time with my computer and try and find some answers that will get us out of this bad situation. I only hope I can find them before it’s too late.”

That night, Raven worked on her computer. She learned more about ranching from numerous web sites devoted to the cattle industry. She also tried to start figuring out the cattle futures market where her herd would ultimately be sold on. She searched for ranches plus technology together and got quite a few hits, but she couldn’t put it all together because she still didn’t understand enough about the fine details of the ranch, and it was hard plucking those details from the information available online.

A thunderstorm was rolling over the plains outside. The electrical storm interfered with the speed of her wireless connection, and it took minutes instead of seconds for her pages to load.

“Shit!” She cursed the computer and felt like hitting the screen. Just when she had been going good and had a whole night to herself to work, and now it was mostly wasted because of the storm.

She looked out the window at the storm. Lightning illuminated the trailer yard. She saw four of her guys gathered outside under an awning from the rain, shooting the breeze and relaxing from a hard day on the range with the cool weather the storm was bringing.

When they were all together like that would be the perfect time for her to go to them and start quizzing them for all that they knew about the inner workings of the ranch. Why did the cattle on their ranch get lost? Why didn’t the fences they had up provide adequate protection? What methods did they currently use to try and stop this problem?

It was useless because she found she couldn’t force herself outside to go to them. She cared about them all as individuals, but the group scene was something else entirely. Frankly, she was terrified to think of all these big, muscle-bound guys lusting after her at the same time. She was pretty sure she could not handle that.

When she kept their relationships compartmentalized it was just like she had a normal relationship. One guy and one girl. There was no jealousy and no lies. She could tell each man about her experiences with the others. They all cared about her, and she cared about them, only singularly.

A part of her really did want to run out of the trailer to them right now and take them all on this minute. The other part of her was not only scared of that encounter but also embarrassed and humiliated by merely the thought.

How could she face Chip and the pure and gentle feelings she had for him when Roy stood right next to him, and her feelings for him were totally the opposite—hot and aggressive, downright mean. Or how could she square the facts if Connor and Bran were both standing before her at the same time. Connor with his beautiful face and body that caused her to go wet when she only thought about him, and Bran’s giant frame that was the perfect male body, making her hot and lust filled with a need to reach out and touch him each time he was near.

Someone was knocking at her door. She roused herself from her reverie and went to open it.

“I need to talk to you, Raven.” It was Tyler outside. “Can I please come inside?” He was wet from the rain, had not even bothered to cover up with a jacket.

“Sure, Tyler, come on in.” Raven greeted him, not certain if she was happy to see him or not. “Look at you, you’re soaked.”

“You still have your grandfather’s bar stocked up over here.” Tyler motioned to a little counter in the kitchenette.

“Sure do.”

He ran his fingers through his thick, black hair to dry out the rainwater. “All right if I go over and make us a couple of drinks?”

“Yeah, what are we having?”

He walked over and got out two minibar-sized bottles and two glasses. “Something strong, if that’s all right?”

“Sounds good after the night I’ve had on this damn computer.”

He filled the glasses with ice and whiskey and handed hers over. “I need to apologize to you. I’m not dealing with my life well, and I’m taking it out on anyone who happens to be unlucky enough to be around me.”

She took her drink and went over and leaned against a chair, taking a sip. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said.”

“Don’t think about it. I was wrong to say that to you.”

“You were wrong about me being a whore.” She laughed and took another sip of her drink. “I wouldn’t make a very good whore. I only sleep with incredibly gorgeous guys.”

“You were the victim of my unhappy, empty life today, and I can never tell you how sorry I am for that.”

“A part of what you said did strike a chord in me,” she admitted. “When I think about what I’ve been doing, sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy. I feel like I should have just picked one of you and taken him back to the city with me, and said to hell with the rest. If I had done that, my life would be a whole lot easier right now.”

“You couldn’t do that because you’re George Spencer’s granddaughter.” He took a swallow of his drink and ran his hand back through his wavy hair. “He raised you to be an uncompromising hellcat just like he was.”

Raven stepped outside the screen door and watched it rain. “Funny thing is, I don’t even remember him that well. I know I was real close to him when I was a child. After that I think I wrote to him a few times a year, maybe sent him a picture of me doing something crazy in college once or twice, and called him on the holidays.”

“He sure did miss you when your mother took you away to the city.”

“I never had a father. He left momma and me when I was a baby, and I never had any brothers or sisters. When my mother died I was right in the middle of the
trying to be popular at college
phase, failing miserably at it, too, I might add. I was too stupid back then to realize that granddad was all I had left after my mother died. I never tried to get close to him again. He used to ask me to come out here and visit him in every letter he’d write to me, but I never did. Now I’ll never get the chance to know him again.”

“When he died, he left you in a real bad situation out here. I think he would have been proud of the way you’ve been trying to fight your way out of it ever since.”

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that.” Raven laughed, although it was without humor. “He was from the old school. One woman with five men…he probably would have thought about me what you were thinking today.”

He came and stood next to her at the screen door. The night outside the trailer was silent except for the steady rain. “I told you I didn’t really think that about you, and I never have. But I can tell you what I was trying to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Push you away,” he said. “I wanted to push you away because I’m so damned attracted to you. You’re so beautiful and strong and smart. You have so much energy, you think you can tackle anything the world throws at you, and you have so much courage you just about can.”

She smiled and turned to face him. “Thanks, Tyler. That’s nice, but I don’t think I deserve it.”

Tyler laughed with her. This is the first time she had heard him laugh. “I don’t know if you do or not. I’m just letting my emotions speak for me. I haven’t cared about or felt attracted to a woman since…”

He couldn’t even finish. Even now, years later, the pain of just mentioning his wife was too much for him to bear. She saw there was a tear in his eye, and his face had taken on a painful grimace.

She turned to him. “Tyler, I don’t want to take the place of your wife. No one can ever do that. And I can’t promise you children because I don’t know if or when this crazy five-way relationship will ever produce children. But you are such a handsome, sexy, strong man, and you have so much to offer a woman. You need to let a woman in your life again before you grow old and turn into a sour old man.”

He reached out for her, to take her in his arms, and she allowed him to do so. She put her arms around his broad shoulders and held him. He buried his face in her long, black hair and started crying. For a long time she held him like a baby and gently rocked him.

He composed himself but still let her rock him in her arms. “Can I spend the night?” he asked her.

“Are you
really
ready for that?” She was not at all certain that he was.

“I don’t know.” He cleared his throat. “I think I am. I guess there’s only one way to find out for sure.”

She reached up and kissed him on the forehead. “Wait for me in bed. I’m just going to take a minute to get ready.”

Raven went into the tiny bathroom of her trailer and shut the door. She quickly undressed and stepped into the sheer red nightie she had purchased in town with Chip the other day and matching panties.

She came out of the bathroom and turned off the overhead light. The sound of the rain beating against the metal roof of the trailer was peaceful. Tyler was already under the covers waiting for her. He pulled back the covers and reached out his hand for her. She accepted it and crawled under the covers with him. She went into his arms and he quickly covered them both up. Under the blankets he was wearing only his boxers. His erection throbbed against her thigh.

“I don’t know if I’m ready yet,” he told her. “But this still feels damn nice just to have you like this in my arms.”

“Just give it time, baby. We have all the time in the world. We don’t have to rush.”

“Raven, if we lose the ranch and I lose you…well…” his voice choked.

“Yeah, I know it looks bad right now for us. We’ve run out of money and credit, and we can’t seem to keep the herd together well enough to turn a profit.”

“Sounds like you’ve been doing your homework.”

Raven laughed and gently stroked his chest. “I still don’t get the ranching business,” she told him. “But I understand our problems a lot better now.”

“Come up with any solutions?”

“Not a one so far.”

“Don’t give up.”

“I’m not going to.” She put determination in her voice for him, but wasn’t really certain she felt it in her heart. “Do you know anything about ranching technology…like high-tech ranching equipment?”

“I’m sorry, I wish I did. But that’s your line of work isn’t it?”

“It is,” she admitted, shifting her body against his beneath the blanket. “If I was in an office or a lab I could probably think of something. But I’m out of my league out here. I don’t know anything about what goes on, and I can’t figure it out.”