One Night Rodeo (11 page)

Ronna sighed. “So romantic. You are planning on sticking around? Not going to sell? Because the place is worth a lot of money.”

Josh flipped Ronna’s hood over her head. “Forgive my nosy wife. She’s overwhelmed with pregnancy hormones and says the first thing that pops into her head.”

“I’m ready to have this baby now,” Ronna said, flipping the hood back down. “If Josh will let me out of the house, I’ll bake a loaf of pumpkin bread and bring it up.”

“That would be much appreciated.” Kyle thrust out his hand. “Thanks so much for everything today, Josh. Hopefully you won’t regret having us as neighbors with all the questions that’ll be coming your way.”

“Happy to help.”

When Kyle opened Celia’s door to help her into the truck, he saw her wince as her back met the seat. Her ribs were probably killing her. Just like her not to mention it.

Neither spoke until they parked in front of the house. “Anything else I need to do with the cattle tonight?” he asked her.

“Make sure the water isn’t frozen. If it is, you’ll have to break off the crust.”

“Okay. I’ll load up the woodstove, check that, and then I’ll be in to make sure you didn’t get cow shit in them stitches today.”

“I’m fine. I can help you.”

“No.”

“Kyle—”

“I know your ribs are killing you, Cele. You shouldn’t have been on horseback today. So go inside and take it easy.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

Kyle got right in her face. “In this case, yes, you do. You’re hurt. Now, you either get your ass in the house or I carry you in. Your choice.”

That’s when the tough girl mask dropped and Kyle saw the pain in her eyes. “Okay.”

He almost carried her in anyway.

During the hour it took him to finish chores, Kyle’s insecurities about his ability to run a ranch resurfaced, stronger than ever.

You two make a good team.

Yes, they did. He just needed to convince Celia of that fact.

The warmth of the house soothed him. He heard the shower running and smelled something cooking. Grabbing a beer, he stared out the living room picture window, waiting for her.

The sweet scent of her shampoo drifted toward him and his cock pressed against his zipper. Addressing the issues with a hard-on wasn’t how he wanted to approach this, but he sure wasn’t going to hide how she affected him. Because that was part of this too. He’d never experienced such a burning need for a woman. Not just from lust. He’d been in lust plenty of times in his life. But this? This was different. He’d fallen in love with her before he’d even touched her. Wasn’t that a kick in the pants?

Her footsteps stopped behind him and he faced her. She wore her flannel pajama bottoms and an AFR sweatshirt. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore. The ribs didn’t bother me while we were workin’ cattle, but I definitely noticed them the second we stopped.”

“Did you take a pain pill?”

“No. Last time I took pain pills I ended up married to you.”

Kyle waited for her to say it was a mistake, or something flip, but she just stared at him with those big, beautiful gray eyes. “Celia, we need to talk.”

She nodded.

“Will you be okay sitting on the chairs in the kitchen?”

“Better there than that stanky-ass couch.”

Kyle brought them both a beer. They sat across from each other, not really looking at each another. Celia broke the silence first. “I had a voice mail from the secretary at the Big Bend rodeo asking whether I’m competing this weekend.”

“What did you say?”

“I haven’t called her back.” She sipped her beer. “I also had a voice mail from Hank. Bringing me up to date on the diagnosis for Brianna’s eye, which is good, by the way.”

“Remind me again what is wrong with it?”

“Something with her tear duct. Since birth she’s constantly had eye infections to the point that her eye gets matted shut. Now that she’s old enough they can do a quick surgery that will unplug the blockage.” She shuddered. “I can’t imagine watching them stick a metal wire in my baby’s eye. I’d go ballistic. No matter how many times they say it isn’t painful for the kid.”

“I wouldn’t be able to watch either,” Kyle admitted.

“Abe left a message about their dog, George, who is a holy terror, and said he reminded him of my dog Murray when he was a pup. The last voice message was from Harper. She had a feeling something was ‘up’ with me and was checking to see if I was okay.”

“We have to talk to your brothers tomorrow, Cele.”

“I know.”

“You have any idea what you want to tell them?”

She shook her head. “I keep hoping Lainie slipped up and already told Hank. He’d tell Abe and I’d just have to do damage control and we could go from there.”

“That answer makes me feel better.”

“How so?”

“It’s better than you sayin’ you plan on denying everything that’s gone on between us and chalking it up to one drunken night.”

“I don’t think I can do that, because it would be a lie.” She looked at him almost shyly.

Kyle reached for her hand. “I have an idea. Hear me out before you interrupt me.”

“I don’t interrupt you.”

He raised a brow and she hid her smile behind her beer bottle. “I know you want this marriage annulled. Maybe I was poking your buttons a little just to be contrary when I said I didn’t want an annulment.”
Such a lie, Kyle.
“But everything changed after that phone call from my mom.”

Celia silently picked the label off her beer bottle.

“You know everything about ranching and I know nothing. Less than nothing. I felt like a fucking idiot today. And you? You were absolutely in your element. Don’t deny it.”

“I’m not.”

Kyle gathered his courage to get the next part out, and hoped like hell she didn’t reject his suggestion. Reject him. “The truth is, I need you. Your ranching expertise. I need you to teach me. I need you to help me. I cannot do this by myself. I don’t
want
to do this by myself. And I’d be willing to offer you a deal. Stay and help me for the next six months. After that, if you still want an annulment or divorce or whatever it is at that point, we can call it quits. You mentioned going to trade school—I’ll pay for everything starting with the fall semester.”

Celia’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

“Completely. Because if you don’t stay and help me, I’ll have no choice but to sell this place.”

“You could always hire a ranch hand,” Celia pointed out.

“I remember what Bran went through with that. He had no takers. Harper was a last resort. Although neither of them are complaining now.”

“True.”

Kyle sensed her withdrawal, so he laid it on the line. “You haven’t been happy on the circuit the last year. And it had nothin’ to do with your relationship with Breck goin’ south. You’ve been struggling for a while. I suspect everything you own is in your horse trailer. You rarely go home to Muddy Gap, a place you’ve always loved. You don’t spend time with your family. I want to know why.”

Celia kept her gaze locked on his. “I stayed on the road because I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Happy that she’d given him the truth, Kyle brought her fingertips to his lips for a kiss. “I’ve felt the same way. Havin’ a P.O. box in Rawlins as my home base. Crashing with my mom a couple times a year. Sleeping in my camper or a cheap motel.”

“So you do understand.”

“Yes. I’ve been working so fucking hard to make money so I could buy a place of my own and quit the CRA. Now that I’ve got what I always wanted? I don’t know what the hell to do with it.”

Celia laughed softly.

“So say you’ll help me. Please, Celia. Stay. I need you.”

She tugged her hand away from his and drained her beer. “Give me some time to think about it.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

Celia wandered to the living room and he followed her. He leaned against the doorjamb and watched her, a little disconcerted by her abrupt need for space. She pulled on her outerwear and slipped outside without a word or a backward glance.

Then Kyle returned to the kitchen, beating a path in the cracked linoleum from the window to the doorway, watching for her return. Half worried that she would come inside, pack her paltry belongings, and leave for the rodeo in Big Bend.

An hour later the front door slammed. He waited in the kitchen, trying not to look nervous and desperate. Although he was both and she probably knew it.

He glanced up to see her leaning against the counter opposite him, mimicking his stance. “I’ve thought about it.”

“And?”

“And I’ll stay for six months. That’s it. Then we will have this marriage dissolved. In exchange for my ranching help during that time, I’ll take your offer of payment of full tuition for the entire course. Not just the first year. But I have a couple of other conditions.”

“I figured you would.”

Celia squared her shoulders. “First, you need to trust me with the ranch work. We tend to argue a lot, Kyle, but I need your word that you’ll really listen to me. You’ll understand that in this, I know what I’m doing.”

“That won’t be a problem, trust me.”

“Good. If we’re staying together as a couple, then I want everyone to believe we got married on the spur of the moment because we were wildly in love.”

Another problem solved, being he was already wildly in love with her. “Why?”

She looked away again. “I’ve never been the girl the guys pant after. Listening to Ronna today reminded me how shy I’ve always been. I never
even had a date in high school. With the exception of Harper, I spent more time with my horses than with my classmates. I’ve come out of my shell the last few years, but that shell is always there, waiting for me to crawl back into it. I couldn’t stand for my family or my friends to know the only way a guy like you married a woman like me was because we were drunk.”

“Hey.” Kyle curled his hands around her face. “Don’t say shit like that. You are a beautiful woman, Cele.”

“You don’t have to say that,” she protested.

“I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.” His thumbs stroked her cheekbones before he let his hands fall because he sensed her pulling away.

“So I told you my fear about people finding out the truth about our marriage. What’s yours?”

“I’m afraid once people find out I inherited this ranch they’ll say you gave up a promising career as a barrel racer to become a rancher’s wife because you felt sorry for me.”

“What? I don’t feel sorry for you. That never even crossed my mind.”

They stared at each other for several long moments.

Kyle spoke first. “Did Tanna tell Lainie we were ridin’ high on the tequila express on our way to the wedding chapel?”

“I don’t think so. She claims our being hammered led us to finally expressing our true feelings for each other.”

He couldn’t argue with that. “So no one ever has to know that the reason we stood at the altar was from too much free booze at a Devin McClain concert.”

“And that I was buzzed on prescription painkillers.”

They said, “Unless we tell them” at the same time. They both laughed.

“I sure as hell don’t wanna tell anyone. It’ll be our secret. As will the fact that we haven’t consummated our marriage.” He grinned. “Yet.”

She retreated and gave him a speculative look. “That leads me to my next stipulation. While we are married, I expect we’ll be husband and wife in name only.”

“No.”

Celia stilled. “No?”

“No.” Kyle loomed over her. “Not only no, but
hell
no.
Fuck
no. That is my stipulation. We will be man and wife in every sense of the word.”

“Meaning…we’ll be having sex?”

“Oh, yes, little wifey mine, we’ll be having sex. Lots and lots of sex. Sweet sex, raunchy sex, shower sex, sex on the floor, sex against the wall, sex in bed, sex in the truck, sex in the barn, sex on the tractor, and sex on this table.” He smacked it hard.

Her silver eyes went wide.

“And in case that wasn’t clear, I’ll say it plain. I like sex. A lot of sex. Morning, noon, and night.” He leaned closer. “It about killed me, laying next to you the last couple nights, not touching you. Not even able to hold you,
my wife
, in my arms. I want you, Celia, want you like fucking crazy. Make no mistake that I’ve waited for you for a long damn time and I’ve held off. But now that you’re legally mine and we’ll be playing house for the next six months? I won’t hold back. We will be intimate on the most basic level. As often as possible.” Kyle was breathing hard by the time he finished.

Celia didn’t appear to be breathing at all.

“Say something.”

“All right. If we’re having sex I expect you not to have sex with anyone else.”

Kyle bit back a snarl. She really believed he’d cheat on her? Then it hit him. Breck had always played around on Celia. Why wouldn’t she expect that he’d do the same? Especially since he’d once had a reputation for being as much of a horn-dog as Breck was?

But this was different. They were married. “Celia, I promise to be faithful to you. You’re my wife. Even if this marriage has an expiration date, I would never disrespect you that way. I promise to honor our wedding vows. I’m not like Breck.”

“I know that. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

He attempted to lighten the mood. “So you’re giving me the green light? I can seduce you at will, sexy wife of mine? I can put all my fantasies revolving around you into play?”

“Yes. But I have one other condition.”

Don’t groan
. “Which is?”

“I want a new bed,” she blurted out. “And all new bedding that is ours before we have any sex. Because a used bed is just nasty.”

Kyle grinned. “Done.” He ran his knuckles down the side of her face. “I’m dyin’ to touch you. Dyin’ to show you how it can be between us. But I can tell every time you move how sore you are. So despite my earlier statement about being all over you, all the time, I won’t be exploring this heat with you tonight.”

She licked her lips and granted him a come-hither look that made his dick hard. “So now you’re being a gentleman?”

“Gentleman?” He kissed the line between her eyes, then her succulent mouth. He brushed his lips across her ear. “Not. Even. Fucking. Close.”