Ryan (7 page)

Chapter Eleven

If
there was ever shock on a woman’s face it was on Gracie’s when he’d told her
about what he’d done. Her mouth had widened and her jaw dropped. She hadn’t
said a word for a couple of minutes. Ryan decided to break the silence.

“So
you still want me?”

She
put her hand on his arm. “I don’t think you could possibly kill another human
being. I think you’re just saying that.”

“It’s
true. I shot a man five years ago in St. Louis.”

“Then
you must have had good reason to do it.”

He
got up and walked to the window. He’d have to tell her the whole story and it
was the most painful one he ever told.

“I
was married. My wife’s name was Ruth. One night I came home and found out that
a man had been to the farm while I’d been at the store…” He stopped and wiped
the tear from his eye. “He’d forced himself upon her.”

“Oh Ryan.”

Gracie
came up behind him and put her arms around him.

“She
told me she didn’t want me taking revenge or anything like that. She thought
maybe it was her fault as she’d invited him in because he said he needed a
drink of water after being on the road all day.”

Gracie
put her head down on his shoulder.

“She
seemed to be okay but then one day I came home and found her…”

Ryan
put his head down and looked at the floor. No matter how long he lived he’d
never forget the image of her.

“She’d
hung herself in the barn.”

He
turned around and looked at Gracie. She was now crying too. “She left me a note
saying she couldn’t live with the memory and this was the only way out.”

Gracie
bit her lip. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you felt. How you still feel
about her death.”

“I
was beside myself. Blamed her for a while but then one day I woke up and realized
the man that raped her was the one who’d really taken her from me. It took me
six months to find him. He lived in St. Louis. I went up to his door and when
he opened it I shot and killed him.”

“Anyone
would have done the same. My own father would have done that had a man raped my
mother.”

“I
went to jail, Gracie. I was a criminal and they were going to hang me but
someone pleaded my case. The judge said he could understand what would drive a
man to do such a despicable thing but I wasn’t in town. I left and came here.”

“Do
people in Grantsville know what happened?”

Ryan
nodded. “They’re the most caring and understanding people I ever met. Can you
imagine they even made me their sheriff?”

“Just
because you did a bad thing doesn’t make you a bad man.”

“But
in my mind I’ll always be a criminal and a nice girl like you deserves better.”

She
ran her hand down the side of his face. “I stole some cookies once…when my
mother wasn’t looking and we were in the store, I took two cookies.”

Ryan
did manage to smile. He knew what she was trying to do for him.

“Stealing
cookies and killing a man
are
hardly the same thing.”

“I
know but I did something wrong. I broke the law.”

He
put his hands either side of her face. She did excite him in a way that Ruth
never had and that upped the guilt factor for him too.

She
put her hand on his cock, turning it hard in an instant. She leaned over and
kissed him.

It
was true he wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman before. He set her flat
on her back, pushing her legs apart and putting his finger on her clit. She had
wide hips, just right for childbearing. Children were something that he and
Ruth hadn’t gotten around to producing. He wanted to be a pa one of these days.

Gracie
wigged and groaned as he circled her nub making her legs shake until she found
release. She slid his cock into her, loving that she was relaxed just still
tight and hot.

She
pulled her finger down over his chest to his stomach as he began to ride her.
Her hair lay like the rays of the sun across his pillow. Her blue eyes
sparkled. He drove harder and faster hearing her
catch
her breath.
 
She grew more beautiful the
closer she got to her climax. Her cheeks blushed and her lips seemed to grow
fuller.

Gracie
tightened her pussy around him as she cried out and held his arms. He was sure
he could hear her heart beat as he took got lost in the moment and found
relief.

He
slid out of her and then lay by her side.

She
turned to look at him. “You are not bad man and you are not too old for me.”

“Gracie…”

She
put her finger on his mouth and he burst out laughing.

****

Gracie
knew this was what it felt like to be in love. Ryan had shared his deep dark
secret with her. She’d been shocked at first but when he’d told her the reason
he’d taken another’s life, she’d understood.
 
She headed to Maggie’s.

She
heard Ryan’s voice coming from inside the saloon and straightened her hat.
“Have you asked my permission to come courting Gracie?” asked Maggie.

Gracie
smiled. Maggie was so funny. She loved her like she was her own mother.

“May
I court your lovely girl, Gracie?” asked Ryan taking off his hat and placing in
in front of his chest.

“You
sure can but have her home safely by dark.”

Gracie
stepped into the saloon.

“And
there she is,” said Maggie. “Now you two have a lovely ride on this beautiful
afternoon.”

Gracie
kissed Maggie on the cheek and Ryan offered Gracie his arm.

She
took it and the two headed outside where Ryan had left the carriage.

He
helped Gracie up on the seat and then got up and took the horse’s reins.

“After
Pa died I didn’t think I could ever be happy again,” said Gracie. “But you and Maggie
have made me smile.”

Ryan
looked at her. “I’m so glad to hear that.”

He
encouraged the horse to go faster as they headed out of town. “By the way I
enjoyed that cake you baked. Did you really make that?”

“I
did. I used to watch my mother make cakes and biscuits, bread too. You wouldn’t
go hungry with me as a wife.”

Ryan
gave her a sideways glance. “What have I told you about letting me be the one
who does the courting and maybe the proposing….now I’m just saying maybe.”

“I
haven’t forgotten. Do you like being sheriff?”

“Yes,
yes, I do?”

“What
did you do back in Kansas?”

“I
had land and worked it.”

“You
didn’t want to do that here?”

“A
man really has to have a wife and children to do it successfully.”

“I
guess so.”

Some
clouds gathered overhead and a splash of rain fell on Gracie’s cheek.

“Well,
that’s a shame, it was so beautiful in town,” she said.

“Let’s
take our picnic into that barn over there.”

Ryan
pulled the reins on the horse and stopped it close to a fence. He tied it up
and then helped Gracie down. He grabbed the picnic basket and the two of them
hurried inside.

“Let’s
set down the blanket over there and maybe the rain will end soon,” said Ryan.

Soon
they were sitting with their backs on a bale of hay and enjoying the sandwiches
that Gracie had put together for them.

“You
can even make a sandwich taste mighty good,” said Ryan.

“Thank you sir.
That day you
found me in the ravine. What were you doing there?”

“I
like to ride and get away from everything and everyone.”

“Do
you still think of your wife?”

She
shouldn’t have asked that because she guessed it made him sad. However, Gracie
was wise enough to know that maybe Ryan’s reluctance to see her as a potential
wife might be because he still saw Ruth as his one and only.

“Of
course I do. I don’t think I’ll ever forget her.”

“How
long were you married?”

“Two
years.”

“And….

“Gracie,”
he said. “I know what you trying to figure out and no, I don’t think of you in
the same way I thought about her.”

Gracie
bit her lip. Guess it was true he was still in love with Ruth and there would
never be another spot in his heart for her.

She
took a sip of the soda, having to push it down now because of the lump in her
throat that had formed when her heart sank. She’d never met Ruth and the poor
woman had been raped and then killed herself. She could hardly call the woman
lucky but nevertheless Gracie was jealous of her. She wondered what it would be
like to have Ryan Doyle love you.

Chapter Twelve

Ryan
knew it was wrong to be doing this after saying something like that to Gracie.
He still wasn’t convinced that he should be courting her. Bottom line was when
he was with her, she made him smile.
Her enthusiasm.
It was as if she knew exactly what she wanted.
 
And her happy nature despite
her tragic loss.
And those eyes when he looked at her. The mouth that
he’d just kissed. She tasted of the strawberries he just placed next to her
lips right after he’d undressed her. She now lay naked in front of him,
stretched out on some hay.

He
kissed his way down her belly, stopping to run his fingers around her
navel.
 
He let his lips travel lower
while pulling apart her legs. He smelled her arousal, her juices so sweet that
it made him grow hard within seconds.
 
Ryan
put his lips on her opening and began to flick his tongue against it. He
glanced up seeing Gracie’s nipples turn into hard peaks, her cheeks turn pink,
and her eyes flutter.

****

Gracie
hadn’t been sure what Ryan was about to do when he’d parted her legs and his
head went down toward her pussy but whatever you called it she liked it, liked
it a lot. His tongue went deep and flicked against the pussy opening making her
legs shake, making her nipples pull and ache.

She
lifted her butt feeling him dig his fingertips into her thighs and dear lord,
she saw squiggles of light, dancing stars and bit down on her fist because it
felt so good.

“You
want to ride me Gracie?” She opened her eyes and hadn’t realized he was now
naked beside her and lying on his back. His cock was rigid and waiting for her.
He offered her his hand as she straddled him.

“Just
lift yourself up and put your pussy down on my shaft.”

She
did just that and loved the feeling as he slid inch by inch inside her.

“You’ve
ridden a horse before haven’t you Gracie?”

“Sure
I have.”

“Then
pretend you’re in the saddle and ride me like that horse.”

Gracie
remembered back to the last time she’d been on a horse. She put her hands on Ryan’s
chest and began bouncing up and down, feeling his member go deeper as it bumped
against the back walls of her pussy.

“Just
let yourself go,” said Ryan. “You won’t hurt me.”

She
did just that, using her thigh muscles to lift
herself
up and then down. Her breasts began bouncing, holding Ryan spellbound as he
watched them. She’d always had big breasts even as a teenager. In fact, she’d
always been a curvy girl but Ryan seemed to like that. As if he knew what she
was thinking he put his hands on her hips as she rode him faster, feeling the
onset of her climax building on each movement of her butt and hips.

She
lifted her hands in the air, knowing she was going to come and she might even
shout. Despite being on the outskirts of Grantsville, the whole town might hear
her.

She
pussy pulled and then it was like it was being tickled by a thousand hands.
She’d never felt anything quite like it before.

Gracie
fell toward Ryan but realized he hadn’t found release like he always did. No
warmth spreading throughout her pussy this time.

“You
didn’t get any pleasure from that.”

“It
was all about you not me.”

She
got up and walked over to one of the bales of hay. “I remember that night you
thought I was Annabeth and you said you wanted to take her from behind and to
bend over the bed. Take me like that.”

****

Gracie
was quite something. Her cute butt was quite something too. When he parted her
cheeks the sweet smell of their last union drifted up to his nostrils, exciting
him even more. The sight of her wet and pink pussy opening sent him into to
overdrive. He slid his cock into her channel knowing, and somewhat disappointed
with himself, that he probably wouldn’t last longer than four maybe five
thrusts at most.

He
moved his legs toward her, their skin kissing and the sound of their bodies slapping
filling the silence of the barn. He held her breasts, pinching her nipples as
he drove hard and fast until he cried out and found the sweetest release of his
life. He kissed her shoulder.

“We’d
better get back to town before Maggie wonders what I’ve done with you.”

****

Maybe
it was because he was the sheriff but he always sensed when something was wrong
and when he took Gracie back to Maggie’s saloon, he guessed something bad had
happened.

“Oh
Gracie, Sheriff Doyle, I’m so glad you’re back,” said Annabeth. She had tears
in her eyes and he knew it was to do with Maggie. Everyone loved Maggie and
only something happening to her would result in tears.

“Whatever
is it?” asked Gracie.

“Maggie
took a terrible tumble down the stairs.”

Gracie
put her hand over her mouth. Ryan expected Annabeth to tell them Maggie had
died but she should have known despite her advancing age, Maggie was one tough
lady.

“Doc’s
with her now but she’s broken her leg and scraped up her head real bad. She’s
going to be laid up for a long time.”

“I
have to go see her,” said Gracie. “She looked after me and now I have to do the
same for her.”

There
was no stopping Gracie and all Ryan could do was follow her back through the
curtains and along to Maggie’s room.

Gracie
knocked on the door and then went inside. Ryan stood in the doorway seeing Doc
closing up his bag.

“Hi Gracie.
Guess you heard
that Maggie’s been damaging the stairs with her body.”

“Will
you listen to him,” said Maggie.

“Sheriff,
why don’t you and I go
get
ourselves a drink and let
these ladies visit.”

“If
there’s anything I can do you let me know.” Ryan touched his hat to Maggie and
left with the doctor.

“Just
how old is Maggie?” asked Doc.

“I’m
not sure. I’m guessing she’s not much younger than sixty.”

“Yeah,
that’s what I thought. Anyone else wouldn’t have survived that sort of fall but
she’s one of a kind is our Maggie.”

“That
she is.”

“And
Gracie looks so well now. Maggie does love that girl. She told me that she
wants her to take over running this place.”

Ryan
stopped in his tracks.
Gracie running the whorehouse.
Over his dead body.