Dusty Britches (4 page)

“
Um…Ryder Maddox,
”
Dusty added, realizing she
’
d been standing in awed silence for several moments.

“
Yep,
”
he confirmed. His smile broadened. He chuckled as he studied her from head to toe.
“
You done some growin
’
since I last saw you, Miss Britches.
”

Dusty blushed from the top of her scalp to the
soles
of her feet. The sensation quite unnerved her, for it had been years, literally, since she
’
d experienced it.
Miss Britches
. She
’
d almost forgotten he
’d
called her that. How divine it was to hear him say it again! An
d then Dusty Hunter, the woman—
no longer the fourteen
-
year
-
old gir
l prone to matters of the heart—
pulled her thoughts, feelings
,
and self up short. Stone cold. No feeling. Only irritation.

“
Yes. It happens to us all,
”
she stated flatly, forcing a friendly smile.
“
I
’
d say you
’
re a mite taller yourself.
”

Ryder
’
s brow puckered
. H
e said,
“
I guess so.
”

He seemed to study her intently for a moment, especially her eyes. It made her uncomfortable. He
’
d always made her uncomfortable. Now that wasn
’
t
exactly
true, she admitted somewhere deep, deep down inside her soul.

“
We met up with old Ryder in Tucumcari,
”
her father interjected.
“
He
’
d just finished a drive and was hangin
’
’
round the yards. I talked him into comin
’
on home with me.
”

Dusty looked to her father as he slapped the man on the back. Hank
’
s smile was wide, and his eyes
had a pleasant
, delighted twinkle. Dusty remembered how fond her mother had been of Ryder Maddox. Elly Hunter always said that if she
’
d had a son, Ryder Maddox would
’
ve been the spittin
g
image of him! If her mother had favored the man, it stood to reason her father had too.

“
Well, welcome back to the ranch, Mr. Maddox,
”
Dusty said.
“
If you
’
ll excuse me…I must get to helpin
’
Feller.
”
Turning away from her father and Ryder, she walked to where Feller was spooning his special sauce over the skewered beef.

She felt the unfamiliar, yet all too familiar, sting of tears rising in her eyes. He was perfect! More perfect than she even remembered. And she wasn
’
t. There she stood before him, having just been wrung out of trough water, hair wet, simple brown skirt and calico shirtwaist. Even more infuriating and upsetting was that she cared!

“
Smoke gettin
’
to y
a
, Dusty?
”
Feller inquired innocently
,
noticing the moisture in her eyes. After
all, Dusty Hunter didn
’t cry anymore—e
ver.

“
A bit, Feller,
”
she lied.
“
I
’
m all right. Here…let me do that,
”
she said, smiling and taking the large spoon and pail full of sauce from him. Feller stepped back as Dusty continued to baste the meat.

“
What do y
a
think of that, Dusty?
”
he asked quietly.

“
Think of what?
”
she asked, though she knew full well what.

“’
Bout your daddy pickin
’
up Ryder Maddox along the way home
.
Small world, ain
’
t it?
”

Dusty knew Feller was all too aware of her past concerning Ryder Maddox, but she played the innocent anyway.
“
Yep. Small world.
”

Feller Lance decided not to push his young friend about the matter. His eyes narrowed as he watched her nervously basting the beef. She was a complete emotional mess. He knew her all too well. Th
e
handsome cowboy who
’d
arrived with her daddy had looped her rope entirely. And Feller loved it
!
It was about time Dusty
climbed out of the deep, dark hole she
’d sunk in two years bef
ore when Cash Richardson did her heart in. And Feller knew if there w
ere
a man on earth to dig her out, it was Ryder Maddox.

Feller
’s
and Dusty
’
s heads both popped around when they heard Becca exclaim suddenly,
“
Oh my heck! Ryder Maddox!
”

Dusty fought the painful twinge of regret and jealousy
pricking
her heart as she watched her little sister throw her arms around the handsome cowboy
’
s neck in a warm and welcoming hug. It should
’ve been her place—her arms around him, her body receiving his returned embrace.
After
all, she thought
—
watching Ryder hugging Becca in return, wrapping his arms around her waist
and lifting her off the ground—
it had been her place before. Becca giggled as her feet swayed back and forth like the clapper of a bell.

When they finally ended their rather long embrace, Becca sighed,
“
Ryder Maddox! Where on earth did Daddy dig you up?
”

“
Tucumcari
,
New Mexico
, sweet thing,
”
the man chuckled in his warm, deep voice.

“
You got so big,
”
Becca said.

“
And old,
”
Ryder added.

“
And
handsome
,
”
Becca
added
. Dusty flinched at her sister
’s innocent flirtatious honesty—
though somewhere in her mind she knew where her sister had learned it and tried to forget.
S
he wanted to crawl into the
roasting
pit with the intended supper when Becca added,
“
Did y
a
see Dusty? She
’
s grown up too since last time we saw you.
”

“
Oh, yeah,
”
Ryder agreed.
“
Both you girls have…changed,
”
he admitted, drawing out the last word for emphasis.
“
Makes me feel like an old man.
”

“
Think on how it makes me feel,
”
Hank chuckled.

Old.
The word echoed through Dusty
’
s mind
hauntingly. She did feel old—l
ike she
’
d lived for more than nineteen short years on this green earth. And Ryder? He would be
,
what
,
twenty-fiv
e by now? A true man, in years—
a man who
’
d
most likely lived a lot of life—
a man who
’
d undoubtedly had women in that life. Dusty shook her head, turned
,
and handed the sauce pail back to Feller.

“
We
’
ll be needin
’
more forks,
”
she mumbled. She left quickly and
tried to keep from running too headlong
toward the shelter of the house.

Once inside
,
she said,
“
Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
”
S
he had to quit thinking of him—had to block the
memories of her youth and Ryder Maddox. She had to remind her heart wha
t a man could do to your life—w
hat he
’
d done to her life! And with new resolve
,
she went to the silver drawer to get more forks.

But as she rummaged through the drawer
housing
all manner of eating utensils, she could not keep her thoughts
from him. Everything—
every moment of those days so long ago
—
seemed to be rushing back into her mind. There were too many
things to remember all at once:
visions of
Ryder
snappin
g his whip as he herded cattle—
images of his
walking toward her, smiling the delicious,
mischievous smile he owned.
Sounds echoed through her mind:
the low intonation of his chuckle, his voice. She fancied she could actually hear him singing in the barn as he tended the milk cows during the dark morning hours. She could almost, not quite but almost, smell the scent of soap and saddle leather
clinging
to him. It was
incredible! For just an instant, for just a breath of time,
she closed her eyes an
d was fourteen years old again—
fourteen years old and untainted
by the disappointments of life—f
ourteen years old and completely in love with her daddy
’
s favorite cowhand.

Forcing her eyes open,
Dusty
remembered the rest. She felt her eyebrows pucker into a frown as familiar
pain pricked her heart—
reminding her how it had ended and of what had gone on years afterward. Grabbing a fistful of forks, she slammed the drawer shut, spun around
,
and stormed out of the house. As she stomped her way toward the
roasting
pit, her mind filled with angry, hateful thoughts—any thoughts that would harden her heart and stop her confounded memories from being so sentimental and sappy. Because she was being hateful and determinedly unhappy, she didn
’
t hear the wild drumming of unrestrained hooves. She was so set on mounting her defenses against anyone
’
s offer of kindness
,
she didn
’
t hear her daddy shouting,
“
Dusty! Watch out!
”

It wasn
’
t until she looked up
to see
Ryder Maddox in a dead run toward her
—
her daddy and several other
cowboys at his heels—
that she stopped dead in her tracks. Only then did she hear the approach of a runaway team and a woman screaming.

Dusty looked to her left
to the team pulling a wagon,
heading straight for her
and entirely out of control!
In those few seconds
,
Dusty noted Miss Raynetta McCarthy bouncing about on the wagon
’
s seat like a cricket in a frying pan
. Ho
lding on for dear life now and again
,
the woman was
screeching for help at the top of her lungs.

Suddenly, Dusty
’
s breath was violently driven from her. For a moment, every inch of her body throbbed with pain as she was thrown backward to land hard on the ground.
The horrible panic and pain of not being able to inhale a breath kept her silent.

Ryder Maddox raised himself from on top of her and mumbled,
“
Who saved your bacon when I wasn
’
t around anymore?
”
Dusty watched in painful, breathless silence as he stood. He turned to watch Dusty
’
s father and several hands struggling to
control
the team some distance away.
Turning
back to her, he smiled, offered a hand to assist her to her feet
,
and said,
“
I see Miss Raynetta is still a wild hare.
”