Page 73 of Heart & Hope

Chapter Seventeen

REED

Ruby on my lap on this rough dirt road is a special type of torture. She’s quiet. And I don’t know if it’s the string of hard-ons I’ve had since we left the fence line or something else. But I would do just about anything to see happiness light up her face, so I wheel the Case into the paddock by one of the streams on the ranch.

It’s almost as good as the one at Harry’s. But at this one, it’s only us.

So it’s fucking perfect.

I park by a bunch of trees and let the tractor idle for a minute before shutting her down and pushing the door open. I love my machines, but after hours on end of being cooped up in the cab, even I want out. Ruby jumps down, heading for the stream. She pulls out her phone, taking photos then sliding it into her dress somehow.

I walk up beside her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. “What about this spot?”

She glances up at me, resting her head on my shoulder with a sigh. “It’s beautiful.”

“You wanna go for a swim?” I ask.

She straightens up and wanders away into the trees without a word. Pacing through the trees, she runs her hands through her hair. Something’s not right. She’s strung out.

Shit.

I follow her, leaning on rough bark a few feet from where she is walking a tight circle.

“Rubes, baby. What is it?”

A lump the size of a boulder forms in my throat when her worried brown eyes finally land on me.

“I can’t do this . . .”

I push off the hardwood, air straight-up sucked from my lungs before the next heartbeat can flop. “What are you talking about?”

“This fake marriage, lying to people. It’s not who I am. I can’t do it. God.” She moans through a strangled laugh. “I can’t even manage one decent lie. I’m going to lose my job, Reed.”

Her face is twisted with a fear so desperate it cracks my heart. As if her career is the only thing she has in life worth holding on to. Fucking unacceptable.

I close the distance and wrap her into a hug. “You’re not losing your job, Rubes. You are brilliant at it. And those fuckers are lucky to have you. You can do this. We can do this. Even if it means we have to...”

“Means what?” Her eyes search my face for the meaning of the stupidest, most right thing I have ever thought.

“Even if we really gotta get married, baby.”

She steps out of my hold. “Reed.”

“Sorry, that was?—”

“No, it was generous and kind, and soyou. But I can’t let you do that purely so I get what I want. Besides, it’s a permanent solution for a temporary problem.”

I can’t speak.

Not a single word is able to edge its way out as Ruby wanders back toward the stream. I follow, but I sink to the ground by the nearest tree, leaning back. She pulls off her shoes and tiptoes through the waterline, skirt bunched up in her hands. Her wavy hair dances over her shoulders. She kicks up the water and it sprays my face.

“Hey!” I spring to my feet, tossing my hat off, tugging my boots off one by one. It takes all of three strides before I sweep her off her feet and into my arms. Launching us from the muddy edge, I cannonball into the water. She squeals as we hit the deep stream with athwack.

And my heart all but stops.

We sink into the blue-grey depth, her dress billowing around her, my shirt making the perfect blue button-lined balloon before the air escapes, and we slow under the surface. Ruby’s hands trace the line of my jaw. Her brown eyes locked on mine, her lips part, bubbles racing to the surface. I stay still as her fingers explore my face here beneath the water, where the world can’t find us.

When she dots a kiss to my cheek and pushes upward, swimming her way up, I stare at the blank watery space where she was until my lungs burn. Water churns above me as she makes for the water’s edge. The fire that lances through my tight lungs is nothing compared to the weight crushing my chest right now.

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