Ride a Cowboy (10 page)

why did you leave?”

“I went back to my place to pick up the tools I need to start work on the eaves

today. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t want to wake you. I’m sorry now, I didn’t

tell you.”

She hugged him hard and pressed her face against his neck. He was apologizing to

her, and she was the one who should be ashamed. But she held onto her silence for just

a moment longer, savoring the feelings that washed over her. Love enfolded her as he

rocked her in his arms.

“Strange as it sounds, Katelyn, you hardly know me, and I don’t know nearly

enough about you. Why should you trust me? How ‘bout we talk? I know there’s

something bothering you, but there can’t be anything so terrible we can’t face it

together.”

It hurt so much to look into his face and see the love shining in his eyes.
How do I tell

him?
She shook her head, knowing what she was about to say would make a difference.

“I’m married…”

It didn’t take more than a moment for him to react. It was as if a shutter closed over

his face. He drew away from her emotionally, even before his hands lifted her off his

lap and left her body.

Panic flared and stilled her heart. “Daniel, please let me explain.”

“I think you summed it up just fine, ma’am,” he said. He rose to his feet, turned on

his heels and marched toward his truck.

She ran after him on bare feet, heedless of the stones in the driveway, “Please,

Daniel. Wait!”

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He slammed the door to his truck and started it up. She stood beside his window,

but he wouldn’t look at her.

“Daniel, let me explain.”

He began to drive away, but she ran beside him, desperate now for him to hear her.

“I’m separated— I’ve already filed for divorce. Daniel, wait.” The truck pulled away,

and at the end of the drive, he gunned the engine.

Slowly, she became aware that she had been standing there a long time, staring at

the empty road. She wiped her tears on the sleeves of her robe, and turned back to the

house.

She had plenty of work to do. She would get through this pain the same way she

always had. She just needed to keep busy. Never mind this time the agony cut so much

deeper than her husband had ever managed to do.

* * * * *

Hours later, she paused to wipe the sweat from her forehead. She dropped her

scrub brush into the dirty water and decided to get a fresh bucket before she tackled the

last window.

She heard a footstep behind her and spun on her heels.

Daniel stood there. His face was pale and his mouth a tight line. His expression was

harshly etched.

Afraid she would just break down and cry in front of him, she turned away and

dumped the bucket of water.

“We need to talk,” he said, his tone hard, the pitch deep and strained.

She added soap to the bucket and began to fill it with water, ignoring him. He

wouldn’t listen to her before, why should she listen now? She reached for the pail, but

his hands stopped her. They settled on her arms and clasped her tight.

He stood so close she could feel him against her back. “Katelyn, stop.”

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“Let me go, Daniel. I have work to finish up here.”

“We’re gonna talk. I shouldn’t have left the way I did earlier. I’m sorry for that.”

As strong as the relief that sang in her heart, anger blasted hot and furious. “Sorry?”

She shook off his hands and turned. “You didn’t even give me a chance to explain.

Where was your trust? You demand it from me, but the first time yours was tested—”

“I had to get away…to think. I was too mad to make sense of anything you wanted

to tell me. I needed a little time.”

“Well, now you have plenty of it,” she snapped. “I’d like you to leave.”

“I’m not goin’ until you settle down and talk to me.”

“I don’t have to do what you tell me to. There’s nothing left to say, and I have work

to do.” She turned her back on him, picked up the pail and stalked toward the window.

She heard a muttered, “Dammit, Katelyn,” just before she heard the sound of him

walking away. That made her even madder. His affections could only be a pale thing

compared to hers if he could give up so easily.

Well, it’s better to know now
, she told herself. Convincing herself it was better this

way, she closed her mind to the pain and scrubbed the dirty window.

Weary and heartsick, she finished up and decided she’d had enough for the day.

Too little sleep the night before, and too many emotions that morning, had left her

exhausted.

She entered through the back door and headed straight for the shower. The water

soothed her aching muscles, and she let her tears mingle with the spray jetting down on

her. After she dried off, she went in search of fresh clothing. She had just pulled an agesoftened T-shirt over her head when the sound of banging from the front of the house

registered.

Every admonition she’d given herself earlier, trying to convince herself she was

better off without a man—especially one who quit when the going got rough—

disappeared. She’d been lying to herself.

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Delilah Devlin

Heart pounding, she walked through the house and looked out the front window. It

was Daniel. He was there on her porch, prying a board free. He hadn’t walked out on

her after all.

But was he here to finish the job or because he wanted another chance? She

suspected the answer was up to her.

He must have sensed her watching, because he looked up. She couldn’t read his

expression before he turned his attention back to the crowbar and the board he’d almost

worked free.

Unsure how she’d be received, she hesitated. She prayed she hadn’t been

misreading him all along. If he returned even a small portion of the love she felt for

him, it would be enough.

Pushing open the screen door, she took a deep breath and walked out onto the

porch. He ignored her now, and kept working. She didn’t mind, deciding it would be

easier to get through the explanations without him looking right at her.

“I’m sorry I shouted at you earlier,” she said softly. “It was childish of me. I wanted

to hurt you like you hurt me when you left this morning.”

A board creaked ominously before it split. Daniel tossed down the crowbar and

began to pull at the board with his hands.

He wasn’t going to make this easy for her. And she knew she deserved it. She had

been the one to lie. Or at the very least, omit an important piece of information.

“Please just listen, Daniel.” She eyed his back. His head was cocked to the side, and

his motions slowed, so she knew he was listening. “I was wrong not to tell you about

my marriage,” she began. “I don’t consider myself married anymore. My husband and I

have been apart for more than a year. Our marriage wasn’t a good one.”

Pausing, she realized it was easier to say what she had to without him looking at

her, but she needed to read his expression. She didn’t know if she was reaching him.

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“My husband was very controlling. And while he didn’t ever hurt me physically,

he made me feel…small and stupid. He also made me feel very
unsexy
.” She heard him

snort and she rushed to continue. “And there were other women. A lot of other women.

Chris said he needed them because I wasn’t woman enough for him.” She turned away

and stared sightlessly at the expanse of rugged buffalo grass before her.

“I believed him for the longest time. I don’t know what changed in me, or when it

occurred that I didn’t have to take it. I moved out. And at first I thought I was doing it

to punish him, and make him see how much he had hurt me. But then, I started to

realize I liked my life better without him. That was when I decided to leave Atlanta. I

couldn’t really let go of my past if I stayed there.”

He didn’t stop working, and she started to feel anxious that maybe none of what

she was saying mattered to him or excused her.

“When I came out here to Texas, it was to get as far away from my old life as I

possibly could. The last thing I wanted was another man. And trust one? I didn’t think I

ever could again.”

The board came free in his hands, and he tossed it on top of a growing pile next to

the porch. He picked up the crowbar, and inserted the end between two old splintered

boards high in the eaves over the porch. The muscles in his arms and shoulders

bunched and sweat dampened the back of his shirt.

Needing to be closer to him before she could say what she needed to say next, she

stepped behind him and put her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to the wet

circle between his shoulder blades.

He stilled immediately.

“Daniel…” Squeezing him fiercely, she whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I felt

that if I shared this, somehow I wasn’t being strong. And I didn’t want you to know

how stupid I’d been. You’ve shown me more about passion and what love is supposed

to be in the past days, than I ever experienced in years of marriage to him. Every time

you pushed, it wasn’t just because you wanted something from yourself. You were

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giving me the world, but I was too scared to accept or see that.” Frightened because she

didn’t sense any change in his rigid stance, she went for broke. “But I want you to

know…
I trust you.
And I love you with all my heart.”

She felt his chest expand as he took a deep breath. He lowered his arms and set the

crowbar on top of the rail. Then he placed both hands over hers and squeezed them

gently. They stood there for long minutes, relaxing, savoring.

“You’re not wearing a thing under that T-shirt are you?”

The question, and his deep smoky voice, made her smile. She bit him playfully on

the back, and she felt his response in the ripple of his stomach muscles beneath her

hands.

Pulling free of her grasp, he turned quickly, grabbing her around her waist. Before

she had time to even gasp in surprise, he sat her down on the porch rail and stepped

between her thighs. Their faces were level now, his gaze spearing into hers.

“No more secrets,” he said firmly.

“No more secrets,” she promised, and her heart began to expand with hope.

“We will be married, Katelyn.”

It wasn’t a question, but she nodded a moment before his mouth pressed against

hers, and his hips pushed against the part of her that ached to be filled.

Pushing the T-shirt up her body, Daniel’s lips left hers only long enough to pull it

over her head and fling it the ground. “I need to be inside you.”

She understood. He needed to stake his claim.

Her hands were just as busy, opening the snap of his jeans to free him. He lifted her

from the rail, and her arms clung to his shoulders as her legs wrapped tightly around

his waist and he lowered her onto his cock.

He took a deep breath, and rested his forehead against hers. “Dammit, Katelyn.

You’re more than enough woman for me. I won’t ever play around on you.”

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Her eyes grew damp again. “Daniel, I believe you. But right now no more talk, you

have to move.”

“You keep telling me that. Thought all you women liked to talk.”

Katelyn wound her arms around his shoulders and leaned her forehead against his.

“This one likes talking just fine, but right now, I can’t think. Fuck me, cowboy.”

His mouth twisted in a wicked grin and he tilted his hips to stroke his big cock all

the way inside her. “One cowboy coming up, ma’am.”

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About the Author

Delilah Devlin dated a Samoan, a Venezuelan, a Turk, a Cuban, and was engaged to

a Greek before marrying her Irishman. She’s lived in Saudi Arabia, Germany, and

Ireland, but calls Texas home for now. Ever a risk taker, she lived in the Saudi Peninsula

during the Gulf War, thwarted an attempted abduction by white slave traders, and

survived her children’s juvenile delinquency.

Creating alter egos for herself in the pages of her books enables her to live new

adventures. Since discovering the sinful pleasure of erotica, she writes to satisfy her

need for variety--it keeps her from running away with the Indian working in the cubicle

beside her!

In addition to writing erotica, she enjoys creating romantic comedies and suspense

novels.

Delilah welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave

Publishing at 1056 Home Avenue, Akron, OH 44310-3502.

Also by Delilah Devlin

Ellora’s Cavemen: Tales from the Temple III
anthology

Fated Mates
anthology

Lion In the Shadows

My Immortal Knight: All Hallows Heartbreaker

My Immortal Knight: Love Bites

My Immortal Knight: All Knight Long

My Immortal Knight: Relentless

My Immortal Knight: Uncovering Navarro

Garden of Desire

Nibbles ‘n’ Bits
anthology

Prisoner Of Desire

Silent Knight

Slave Of Desire

The Pleasure Bot