Who Wants to Marry a Cowboy? (10 page)

“I thought he was great,” Daisy laughed. “Good kisser, too.”

Ainsley stumbled a bit. No. She didn’t care. Riley could kiss whomever he wanted and it didn’t matter one bit. A quick moment of shocked silence happened before the women started throwing questions at Daisy.

“Oh, my God, he kissed you?” asked Leigh.

“How was it?” Jessica asked.

“He does look like he knows how to kiss a woman,” Meagan mused.

Daisy tittered a little, and Ainsley swore the hairs on her arm rose in protest of the sound. “Let’s go back to my cabin and I’ll tell you all about it. The anticipation, the build up—it’s all part of the experience.” Daisy’s eyes sparkled with her secret as she eagerly took in each member of her small captive audience.

The women decided to meet in Daisy’s cabin soon, where she would regale them with the tale of Riley’s lips.

Ainsley shuffled to her cabin with Meagan. “To think he kissed her after only five minutes! She must be something special.” Meagan practically bounced into the common area before heading into her bedroom.

“Mm hmm,” Ainsley said. So he was attractive. Big deal.

“I mean, she certainly was dressed to kill, and it must’ve had the desired effect on him,” her roommate continued, her voice coming through the half-open door.

“Dressed to inspire lust in the hearts and penises of men everywhere,” Ainsley muttered, kicking off her shoes.

Meagan poked her head out, her face a picture of suppressed humor. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

“Oh, no. I don’t think I could be jealous of someone who wears body glitter all over her chest.” She flopped down on the brown sofa and flung a leg over its arm. “You go ahead. I’m going to stay here. I hear there’s a good movie on tonight.”

“Ainsley, there’s no TV here.”

“I’ll go find one.”

“Please come,” the other woman pleaded. “It will be fun. We’ll have something to drink, get to know the other girls without the pressure of a man nearby… it will be great.”

Ainsley sighed. She had planned on some time alone to squash the pull she felt for the cowboy, but her roommate looked so excited about going that she had to agree. “Fine. I’ll go. But if Daisy gives her little high-pitched laugh again, I’m leaving.”

Daisy, Jessica, and Robin were already talking and drinking wine in Daisy’s cabin by the time Meagan and Ainsley arrived. The layout was similar to the one the two women shared, but Ainsley was overwhelmed by the cloying odor of jasmine. She searched the room for the climbing vine since there was no evidence of it outside. Was it even the right season and climate for jasmine? Daisy flitted by in a pair of baby blue fake silk pajamas and Ainsley gasped for breath. The scent came from her.

“So how did it happen?” Robin demanded once everyone had received their libations and sprawled around the cabin, sitting on the maroon sofa and wooden chairs. The women had changed out of their more dressy clothes and lounged around in jeans and t-shirts. Ainsley sat on the floor, her back against the couch. Meagan was right. This might be a good way of getting to know the other ladies.

“We just had this instant connection, you know? We even danced around the room together.” Daisy wrapped her arms around herself and swayed as if reliving the moment, her eyes closed and a rapt expression covering her features. Ainsley looked at her roommate so she could roll her eyes but found Meagan captivated by the story.

“What did you talk about?” Jessica asked. She sat cross-legged on the floor, finger-combing her curls.

“Talk?” The tittering started again, and Meagan put a light, restraining hand on Ainsley’s arm with a quick grin. “We didn’t need to talk.”

“We talked about cooking,” Jessica muttered. Several other women nodded.

“Oh, no.” Daisy made sure the attention was focused back on her. “After we danced, he held me in those strong arms of his. The air between us was so hot, so charged, and…well, the kiss would have been deeper if his sister hadn’t interrupted us.”

“Wow. Sounds really romantic,” Ainsley said, hoping she sounded as sincere as she didn’t feel. Daisy flashed her a big smile, glowing from her happiness. A thorn of disappointment prickled her. Maybe there had been something. Maybe Daisy was what Riley wanted in a woman.

“I hope you girls aren’t too devastated that he kissed me first. Well, almost, anyway. I mean, we only just met him and all, but I have a feeling I’m in this for the long run. This was such a fairy tale evening. I should have left a shoe behind.”

Okay. That was all the romance she could take. She had to get out of there. And it had nothing to do with jealousy.

Talk moved to how hard it was to find a good man and other reasons the women had applied for the invitation to help out with the market research on turning the Crescent Ridge into a singles ranch. Ainsley studied Daisy through the corner of her eye. She was pretty enough when she wasn’t tramped out, but that wasn’t who Riley saw. She gave herself a mental shake. Why should she care who Riley ended up with? If he wanted to go for superficial instead of substance, that was his business. She’d be gone in a week.

After listening to Daisy rehash her special time with Riley for the seven millionth time, the mystery novel in Ainsley’s suitcase started to become more and more appealing. She ran through a litany of excuses to leave the cabin. Some women were trying to compete with Daisy’s tale, but Ainsley kept her mouth shut. An evening being accused of manipulations was nothing to brag about. And even if something had happened, even though nothing was ever going to, she wouldn’t have lessened its meaning by spreading it among the other wife wannabes.

Mary Ellen poked her head in and a spark of inspiration came to Ainsley. The other woman would make a good diversion in her grand plan to escape. “Hello, ladies. I’m looking for Leigh.”

“She’s not here.” Daisy raised a bottle of red wine in Mary Ellen’s direction, but she shook her head at the offer.

“If you see her, tell her I’m looking?” she asked. The other women nodded and she left.

Two seconds after the door closed behind her, Ainsley bolted upright. “Oh, I meant to ask her something.” She sprinted out of the cabin.

Oh, sweet blessed freedom. She picked her way down the illuminated path, enjoying the calm after the night of tumultuous chatter. She passed the herb garden, the aroma of rosemary and—she sniffed again to be sure—chamomile reaching her as she strolled to her cabin. Definitely no jasmine.

Safely in her room, she pawed through her clothes to find a new set of pajamas. Thecotton pants had been worn to exhaustion, so she settled on a pair of boxers. After she changed, she stretched out on the sofa with her book and a glass of water by her side. She was engrossed in the race against time to find the lost child when Meagan returned. A frown creased her roommate’s forehead, the first time she seemed to display any negativity at all.

Wary anticipation spread through Ainsley. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’m glad the first elimination isn’t for a bit,” Meagan said. “Riley’s been so nice but I don’t feel a connection to him yet. Maybe given time I will. I hope I get that time.”

“Nice” was not the word Ainsley would’ve chosen. “Why are you so anxious about it now? It’s only been one day.”

“Well, I listened to Daisy talk all night about the strength of his lips. I saw the sparks between the two of you at the brunch, and how he talked to Jewel, too. I don’t think he sees me as a potential lover.”

Ainsley froze, her heart thundering in her ears. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sparks? What sparks? You saw no sparks. There were no sparks to see. At all. It was completely sparkless.”

Meagan laughed. “Right.” She went into her room. Ainsley frowned at her retreating back and tried to smooth out the goose bumps that had prickled her skin. When the other woman came back to the common room, she had exchanged her flowing blouse for a plaid shirt and her cowboy hat sat firmly on her head.

Ainsley studied her with curiosity. “Where are you going?” Meagan mumbled something that she couldn’t quite hear. “You’re going to bake cookies?”

The other woman suddenly found her feet interesting. “Cookie invited me to the barn to see Scarlet and Montgomery.”

“Who are they?”

“Cookie is the ranch foreman, and Montgomery is Scarlet’s newborn colt.”

“Oh.” She kept her eyes on her roommate, who avoided Ainsley’s gaze. “Are you blushing?”

“No,” Meagan denied, bringing her hands up to hide her cheeks. Ainsley snorted her laughter. “Okay, fine, but I was there when the foal was born. I have a vested interest in his well being.”

“It’s late, though.”

“I know. Montgomery will most likely be sleeping, but I’m not sure when I’ll get another chance to see him. We’re going to have some busy days coming up.”

“You’re not sleepy? Listening to Daisy alone was enough to tire me out.”

“Actually, no,” her roommate said. “I get more wired at night than I do during the day.

Cookie said I’d only have a few minutes to visit with Scarlet, so I have to leave. He’s so knowledgeable about horses. It was really interesting being with him when the horse was born. Such an amazing experience.”

“Is Riley going to be there, too?” Ainsley thumbed through her book, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“I really don’t think so. I don’t think I would go if he was. It would seem unfair, you know? Seeing him at an undesignated time when none of the other girls were there.”

“I don’t know about that. You probably get a better feel for the person at an unstructured meeting.” Like in a greenhouse.

“Why did you leave Daisy’s, anyway? I turned away for a moment and you weren’t there anymore.”

A small bit of envy tugged at Ainsley’s gut and she avoided a direct answer. “I figured Daisy would go on all night.” She took a drink of her water and settled back into the sofa. “Give the little horse a big kiss from me.”

“I will.”

Meagan’s interruption had broken Ainsley’s concentration on the story and her mind kept wandering to the wonderful fragrances in the herb garden. One was a bitter, spicy scent that she couldn’t place. It wasn’t anise or cloves. And it would bug her until she found out, but so would leaving this chapter unfinished. She flipped forward in the book to see when it ended, then breezed through the remaining three pages. The garden beckoned from outsie and she grabbed her blue sweater and headed into the darkness.

A
insley’s cell rang in her pocket, breaking the stillness of the night. She fished it out and frowned at the unfamiliar number, her phone vibrating against her hands. Usually she ignored numbers she didn’t recognize, but tonight curiosity won her over. “Hello?”

“Men are pigs.” Her normally cheerful, glowing sister sniffed in the most sorrowful voice Ainsley had ever heard. “I hate them. All of them.”

She had to stifle a snort. “I thought you and Edward were having a great time.” She stepped carefully around the rocks that bordered the small garden and sat on one of the many stone benches surrounding it. She’d never before been in a place that held so much peace. The herbs sat in neat green rows with the occasional pop of white or yellow where flowers had bloomed, nothing like the jumble of decay she’d seen earlier in the greenhouse.

“We were. We were talking about you at dinner with the other people at our table, laughing and having fun. I told him I was excited about seeing you after our trip and he just stopped.” Cecelia’s voice grew hushed. “His breathing got funny and he had such a strange look on his face, like he didn’t expect me to be there, like he didn’t know me. It was awful. And he gripped his hands together and got all reserved again and avoided looking at me.”

Oh, for the love of orange soda. She mentally cursed Edward, agreeing with her sister’s porcine statement. “So then what happened?”

“As soon as he considered it proper and polite, he excused himself. He left me sitting in the dining room at a table full of people I didn’t know, with them looking at me all sympathetic. I pretended to finish my dinner still having a grand ol’ time and went back to the cabin as soon as I could. He wasn’t there. Ainsley, what happened?”

“I don’t know, honey. Maybe Edward forgot what it was like to relax and have a good time and your gorgeous sexy self scared him.” Coward, she amended.

Cecelia took a deep, steadying breath. “I’ll tell you one thing. If he thinks I’m going to slink around avoiding him, he’s more wrong than someone thinking Mom spreads sunshine and happiness.”

“Good for you!”

“We’re going to leave this ship as a couple and everyone else be damned!” Her renewed determination came through in her voice.

“That’s right!”

“But first I have to find him.”

Ainsley gave a small chuckle at Cecelia’s show of humor and grit. Her sister would get what she wanted. For all her rebellious activities, she always knew the right thing to do. “I’m still counting on pelting you with birdseed.”

“How’s the cowboy?”

“He’s… tall.” She wasn’t going to complain about some guy—or analyze her rapid heartbeat—when Cecelia’s heart was breaking. She got up from the bench and stretched, then took a few steps away. “Too melodramatic. Not really my type. Good thing I’m not really here to catch me a hus—”

“Watch out!” Ainsley heard the warning a split second before the sound of hoof beats pounding into the earth thundered in her direction. She threw herself into the herb garden as the ground beneath her shook from the force of the hooves. She covered her head to shield herself, her heart echoing the vibrations and drowning out all other sound. Dirt filled her nose and she got a mouthful of basil, but she stayed prone on the ground. Fear of the pain she would feel when she got trampled kept her from moving. Plants rustled next to her and she whimpered a little, but the cause was human and not equine. And smelled like pine and hay.

“Ainsley!”

She tentatively lowered her arms and risked a glance upward. Riley crouched next to her, concern spread over his face. “Are you all right?”

Anger roiled through her. “What the hell, Cowboy? Is this how you treat people out after curfew?” She ignored his outstretched hand and got to her knees, pointedly spitting out dirt.

“Ainsley! What happened? Ainsley?”

Her sister’s panicked voice came from somewhere in front of her. She blindly groped the ground and found her phone. “I’m fine, Ceece. Just took a little trip, that’s all.” She glared at Riley.

“Geez, Ains, I heard the horse and thudding and thought maybe you got trampled. Don’t scare me like that again.” Cecelia’s breath sounded short, as if she’d gone through the experience with her sister.

“I’m fine. Call me later and let me know what happens. Even though these calls must be costing you a fortune.”

“Oh, come on. Sophia’s paying. You sure you’re okay?”

“Like a flower on a summer day.”

Cecelia gave a snort of laughter and hung up. Ainsley shook her phone to clean it before putting it into her back pocket. She crossed her arms and glared at Riley, waiting for him to explain himself.

“You got a little smudge there.” His finger brushed the mess on her cheek, his gentle touch making her nerve endings tingle in its wake. Heat rushed over her body when she imagined his big hands on the rest of her. The moonlight caught a bit of glitter on his neck, shining like a beacon to quench any desire when she remembered Daisy’s story of their heated almost-lip lock.

“Oh, stop it, Cowboy.” She swatted at his hand working its ineffective task, and this time took the offered support when she stood up, missing the feeling of his fingers touching her enflamed skin. She brushed the dirt from her clothes, berating herself for this apparently one-sided attraction, while Riley went to check his horse. “What do you have against this sweater? Really.”

“What?” His brows lowered, creasing his forehead.

“The last time this sweater was in your presence, it ended up on the ground of the greenhouse. Now here you are again and I had to take a nosedive into the herb garden. It’s going to end up smelling like dirty tomato sauce.”

He ran a hand through his thick dark hair. “I didn’t expect anyone to be here. I was on my way to fix a sink in one of the cabins.”

“Really?” Ainsley brightened at the chance to do actual work instead of parading around like a beauty queen. So what if earlier she’d thought he was insane? So what if he probably thought she was a nuisance? “Need some help?”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Riley stiffened and avoided her face before clearing his throat. “It’s messy and wet work. You don’t want to go.”

“I wish you’d stop telling me what to do and what I want, Cowboy. How do you know I don’t want to get wet and messy?”

His mouth quirked and she became grateful for the layer of dirt hiding the blush suffusing her cheeks. She stayed still, letting him get the immature images out of his mind. Finally, he gave her the barest of nods. “We’ll share a mount. No need to bother any more horses tonight.”

His shirt tightened over his flexed muscles when he mounted his horse. She put her foot in the stirrup and used him to pull herself up behind him, his rough, calloused hand surprisingly gentle. Her legs embraced his and she wrapped her arms around his waist. The slightly musky scent of sweat mixed with the smell of outdoors and drifted to her nose. His back was as stiff as a plant stake, his muscles rigid, to allow for as little body contact as possible.

The trotting made her bounce around, her posterior hitting the horse’s hard back, and the saddle’s skirt rubbed her thighs through her cotton pants. She should have changed clothes first. Riley’s stonewall body made it near impossible to move with the animal. “Why did you agree if you didn’t want me to go?” she muttered into his blue shirt.

“What was that?”

“Kitchen or bathroom?” she asked, shifting slightly to get some comfort from the friction but only managing to brush against the cantle. Her legs were going to hate her in about five minutes.

“Kitchen.”

“Is it a washer or an O-ring problem?” She tamped down her surge of satisfaction in the silence that followed as he adjusted to the fact that she might actually know something about fixing leaky faucets.

“I’ll know when I get out there and look at the sink.” His body loosened just a smidgen, but Ainsley took the small victory.

Riley slowed down Westley, allowing the woman behind him a little more comfort instead of bouncing her around like a sack of grain. The knotty pine walls of the cabin rose up in front of him about half an hour later and he pointed them out to her. Sitting on a horse’s rump was never comfortable, but she had become a good traveling companion. Plus he enjoyed having her lithe body wrapped around his.

He stopped in front of the building and held out his arm so she could use it for balance. “Throw your leg over the horse,” he instructed her. She didn’t move, and he frowned. He couldn’t see her face since her head was buried in his shoulder blade.

“I don’t think I can move.” Embarrassment tinged her voice and her grip tightened.

“Okay. Hold on a minute.” He swung his leg over the pommel but he couldn’t turn with the vise around his waist. “You’ll have to let go.”

“I’ll fall.”

“I won’t let you.” His voice came out a little huskier than he would have liked.

Her grip loosened. She had trusted him without question.

Embers of need flooded his nerve endings, making them tingle, but he quickly cut off the sensation. There was no reason to act like a puppy because some woman trusted him enough not to let her fall. Big deal. He slid off his horse, then turned and moved his hands to her thigh, stopping short of touching her.

He curled his fingers before shifting his gaze to her face. “I’ll need to hold on to you.”

She nodded and he splayed his hands against her hips, focusing his mind on getting her safely to the ground instead of how good and warm she felt through her thin pants. “Swing your leg over Westley’s rump. You’ll start to fall but I’ll catch you.”

She did as he instructed, her body sliding backward down the length of his, inch by agonizing inch. As soon as she was on the ground, he moved away so the sudden and uncontrollable hardening in his jeans wouldn’t poke her in the back. Her legs were about as supportive as straw, so he guided her the few steps to a chair on the porch, thankful for the distraction. After he saw her safely sitting down, he hobbled his horse and stripped off the bridle, his back to her. He shifted around in the dark, hoping to get less friction on his erection. “Sorry.”

“What was that?”

“I shouldn’t have let you come wearing those ridiculous pants.”

“Oh.” She gave a muffled laugh. “I’ll be fine.”

Good, she wasn’t one of those whiny women who wanted his attention for every little thing. Now that he had his unwanted reactions under control, he made sure the generator was working before he turned on the lights to the cabin and helped Ainsley inside. She stretched at the waist, groaning. Riley tried not to watch her slender curves, but gave it up for a lost cause when she put her fists behind her and arched her back, the material of her green tank straining against her perfectly formed breasts.

How do you know I don’t want to get wet and messy.
Her voice echoed in his ears and a sharp longing drove straight to his gut. He had to concentrate on the job at hand, not the woman in front of him, even if he didn’t think she wore a bra. Stale, damp air surrounded him when he hunkered down under the sink. Good. Something to take his mind off his runaway lust. Her legs brushed his as she crouched next to him.

“Is the water off yet?” she asked.

“Doing that now.” The old handle didn’t want to move and he fought with it for a minute before it twisted. She turned the faucet handles to get rid of the water already in the pipes, then twisted one to remove it. She stood with her legs firmly apart, but he suspected it was more from the friction burn than a need for leverage.

He got started on the other handle. When he was finished, she handed him a screwdriver. He glanced at its head, then at the screw. “So you know your way around a toolbox.”

“Yeah.” She took a step back, giving him the space he needed to twist out the screws. The air around him cooled when she moved away. “I own my own store. Saves a lot of money when you can fix things yourself.”

He grunted in response, having to use some strength to remove the screws. He palmed them and stepped back. “What next, Ms. Fix-It?”

Her answering smile knocked him back a couple of feet. It was genuine and natural. His blood pulsed through his body like racing hoofs. Despite his earlier doubts, he knew this woman wasn’t acting, wasn’t using this as an excuse to get close to him. If anything, she was more interested in the plumbing. Too bad for him.

She peeked into the faucet and poked around a bit, then got a flashlight to see better. “Pliers, please.”

He obliged, handing her the tool she requested, and held the light while she did the work. Her trim body stretched over the sink and bent beside it. Her delicate hands maneuvered the tools with confidence and experience. Soon she had removed and replaced both O-rings and was putting the stem assembly back together.

“That was fun,” she said as he tightened the handles and checked the water flow. She propped herself against the wall, her green eyes giving a sexy glint when he turned back to her. “And not nearly as wet or messy as you’d led me to believe.”

No way was that statement an innocent mistake this time. “We’ll have to find something like that for you next time, then.” He had trouble controlling the timbre in his voice and he leaned into her, inhaling her sweetness. The subtle vanilla imprinted on his brain like a duckling to its mother. He wanted to see if her lips tasted like she smelled. He wanted to know if her skin felt as soft as fleece. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair, to brush the silky strands that had caressed his cheek while they rode.

He touched her fingers and her heartbeat pulsed in her throat. He caressed her hand before gliding up her arm and confirming the softness of her skin. She could say no. She could stop him with a word or a look or a step away. Slowly he lowered his lips and she raised hers to meet him. He kissed her gently, softly, making sure this was what she wanted, too.

Her hands crept around his shoulders, erasing all space between them. Her breasts pressed into his chest and he longed to touch them. Instead, he increased the pressure of his lips and wrapped an arm around her waist. Her mouth opened beneath his, her tongue darting against his in response.