Under Pressure

UNDER PRESSURE

2014 Rhonda Lee Carver

Copyright © 2014 by Rhonda Lee Carver

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States

Published by Rhonda Lee Carver

Cover Art by Samantha Holt

Under Pressure (Book 1, Rhinestone Cowgirls)

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidences are a fabrication of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.

Dedication:

                                                           To Ava and Lilly

Chapter One

SCANNING THE CROWD in the country bar, Two Step, Jewels Stone took a sip from her beer. She set it back down with a loud
clang
and her irritation amplified. She wasn’t much of a drinker, but the less attention she got, the better. Sitting alone in a bar made her the target for every horny man in the place. At least the alcohol made it tolerable. And, she’d gotten the stink-eye down pat, and that seemed to work at keeping men at an acceptable distance—at least most men.

Feeling eyes on her, she lifted her chin.
The cowboy sitting at the next table watched her in beady-eyed curiosity. A grin erupted over his expression as he leaned forward, almost falling from his chair.

Oh
Lordy!
She was probably the only sober one left in the building.

Drunken
Cowboy slithered his gaze to the low neckline of her shirt, sweeping his tongue across his bottom lip hidden by a wiry beard. His smile widened and he winked—ego enlarged by alcohol. “Hi there, honey-pie,” he slurred.

Jewels
cringed and turned, shielding her cleavage from his view.

Sighing, she glanced
at the mirrored clock on the wall
. Eleven P.M
. Hope faded as she searched the room again, noticing a couple dancing. They were staring at each other. The man swept his hand along the woman’s cheek and she slipped her arms around his neck, looking up at him with complete trust. It was a scene straight from a romance novel.

Jewels
shook her head and moved her gaze elsewhere, feeling a heaviness in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t believe in love—at least not any longer.

An
upbeat song drifted from the jukebox and, hoping to ease her tension, she rolled her shoulders to the beat, thrumming her fingers on the polished table and tapping her foot. She hummed along until the singer crooned about cheating men and younger women—hitting too close to home.

Groaning and downing the rest of her
warm beer, she didn’t need to be the last sober person standing.

Eleven-ten.

Sliding deeper into the wooden chair, she stretched her legs, hooking her heels on the chair across from her. The neon sign above the door blurred as she stared. The one-hour stakeout had oozed into three long hours. Her aching bottom had finally turned numb, and she realized private sleuthing wasn’t a job she was cut out for. She’d stick with photography, although here lately, even that had fizzled. Right down the hatch with everything else in her life these days.

Eleven-fifteen.

She should be home, tucked in the comfort of her blankets, and yet thinking of crawling into the big bed alone made her chest tighten. She’d spent more nights curled up on the sofa than in her bedroom.

Moving back to her childhood home, the
Rhinestone Ranch, at least she’d managed to get more sleep than ever, but her self-esteem certainly had suffered.

Although
her father welcomed her, and she enjoyed being close to her sisters and the horses, living in his house was taking her further away from her pursuit of independence. She’d lived on her own for ten years but she’d never quite found what she was looking for.

Jewels guessed her
father liked having his three grown up daughters under his wing. Protective and sometimes overbearing, Joshua Stone had every reason to be the heavy-handed father. Losing his wife while his youngest daughter was still in diapers and becoming a single father of all girls must have been a great hardship for a tough cowboy with rough edges. Her mother dying of cancer had stripped everyone’s life of something. Each year that passed, her mother’s beautiful eyes and jovial laughter seemed to slip more and more from Jewels’ memory.

However, her father sitting her down on that dark, stormy night and telling her that her mother had passed would forever stay in her heart.

Jewels had suddenly become caretaker for her sisters, and had grown up practically overnight.

Looking back, she realized
her habit of taking care of everyone had spiraled into the demise of her relationship. Two years ago, as Kiefer was walking out of the apartment they were sharing, suitcases in hand and a guilty expression marring his model good looks, he’d told her, “You’re the only mother I know who doesn’t have any kids.”

She g
uessed the twenty-year-old he moved in with must have been a relief after Jewels apparently suffocated him with her ‘motherly’ ways.

Once
he moved out, the luxurious apartment had become a museum, displaying things that no longer mattered.

Needing
a place to go for peace, or rather hide, she came home.

“Hello, Jewels.”

Lifting her chin, she met the
friendly gaze of a cowboy. He didn’t wait for an invitation, but pulled out the empty chair and straddled the seat, leaning his elbows on the back.

Heaving
her mind out of useless musings, she looked at him closer, thinking he looked familiar. Doing a quick mental journey through her muddled brain, she came up blank. “Can I help you?”

“You can put me out of my misery and share
a dance with me.” He pushed his hat farther back on his forehead.

“Do we know each other?
You knew my name.” She sat up straight and leaned her elbows on the table.

“
The name’s Pete.” His eyes twinkled in the neon light flashing on the wall behind her.

“Well, you see Pete, I don’t dance with
strangers.” Fact was, she hadn’t danced in years. Kiefer never like to.

“There’s a first time for everything.”
He wriggled his brows. “And I’m not really a stranger.”

“Wait, I
do
know you. Didn’t you work at Rhinestone?” Many hands had come and gone over the years, but she always remembered a face.

“Back a few years ago.
Until I took on something else.” He tugged his hat, shading his eyes.

“You mean until you were fired.
Hmm…yes…I remember clearly. You and my youngest sister went out a couple of times.” She couldn’t be sure because of the poor lighting, but his face had lost some of the rancher’s tan.

“It wasn’t my fault.
Emerald asked me out.” The charm dissolved in his voice.

“But you see, Pete, my father can’t fire his daughter, but he
can his ranch hands. Joshua Stone is a stickler for rules, especially when it comes to his daughters and his employees.” She clicked her tongue and relaxed back in the chair. Poor Pete wasn’t the first who’d learned the hard way.

He
opened his mouth as if to say something, but the bartender approached the table and bent close to Jewel’s ear. “That man you’re looking for, Spark Ryder? Well, he just walked in and took a seat at the end of the bar. You can’t miss him. He’s the tall, handsome cowboy.”

“Thanks, Delta.”

“Don’t mention it.” Delta gave Pete a smile and cracked her gum loudly. She then laid her black painted nails on his arm. “Care for another round for you and your friend?”

“Sure. Put it on my tab,” he said
, charm returned. “Now, how about that dance, pretty lady? I’m no longer an employee.”

“Sorry, Pete.
My date just walked in the door.” She stood up and grabbed her purse.  A sad expression covered Pete’s face, and a sliver of guilt splashed through her. Jewels couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the young man who’d not only lost his job for Em, but soon after, she’d jilted him. Her sister had gotten good at lovin’ and leavin’.

“Too bad.”
He stood up.

“
You should ask one of the ladies sitting at the table by the door. The brunette in pink looks very lonely.”

Some twinkle returned to his gaze.
“Alrighty.” He stomped off in Brunette’s direction.

Taking a deep breath,
Jewels moved toward the bar and the cowboy who she planned to enlighten before the night was over.

He deserved whatever he got!

Jewels had turned livid when Em told her the story of how Spark Ryder had charmed his way into her bed for a weekend of fun and promises, only to dupe her with his lies come weekday sunrise. Em was far from innocent, but no one ever played Jewels’ baby sister for a fool and got away with it.

This cowboy needed a
taste of his own medicine, and Jewels planned to deliver. She was sick and tired of men thinking they could walk all over a woman without reprisal.

Anger shot through her, giving her the bravery
and motivation she needed to carry out her plan.

Sliding on the empty stool next to him, she got Delta’s attention and ordered another beer
, on her own tab and not Pete’s.

Placing her purse on the bar,
Jewels tilted her chin and casually targeted Cowboy in her radar. She got a good look at his profile—strong and rugged. The silver hair dipping below his hat and the slight creases at the corner of his eye made her question his age. She guessed he was in his mid-thirties and didn’t remember Em mentioning that he was older.

The older man seduces the younger woman
to add another notch to his bedpost.
Jewels gritted her teeth but forced her jaw to loosen.

She could just give him
a piece of her mind, right then and there, but that would be too easy. He’d shrug her lecture off and continue charming his way through women like a bulldozer destroying ant hills. A verbal thrashing wouldn’t work. A man like Spark Ryder needed a good lesson.

So
, she put on her best smile and oozed in for the kill.

Delta
winked then put the beer in front of Jewels. She brought the bottle to her neck, smoothing the glass lip along her heated flesh and over her collarbone. The condensation cooled her skin. “It’s hot in here.”

He
didn’t even acknowledge her.

There were pitfalls to her plan. Would she even gain his interest?

She also wondered if he would see the similarity between Em and her. If he did, her strategy would be blown out of the water.

How does a woman
break the ice with a man? She’d forgotten how flirting worked and Googling ways to falsely seduce a man had only confused her. She realized it was best to be herself—as much as possible.

“Have I seen you around here before?”
she asked.

Slowly, he turned his cheek, pushed back his hat and their gazes met.

Her heart skipped ten beats and her mouth went dry. He had the deepest, greenest eyes she’d ever seen. If she had a pillow, she’d fall asleep in the dreamy orbs.

“I don’t think so. I don’t com
e here often.” She knew he lied because Em said he came into Two Step every Wednesday, but it was hard to concentrate on the truth when his thick Texas drawl sent her treacherous pulse beating a heavy metal rhythm.

Yeah, s
he could see why her sister slid into this man’s saddle.

The sleeves of his flann
el were rolled up to tanned, thick biceps, and the two powerful arms leaned on elbows on the edge of the bar. Attached to the strapping limbs was one sexy, brawny cowboy. Following cow-wrangling broad shoulders and chest, the top three buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing a patch of crisp, dark hair that matched the dusting on his arms.