Page 15 of River Legacy
Since there were no flights anywhere near thetown of Powder Crossing, he rented a luxury SUV on Wen’s dime. But in no hurry to get to the ranch, he looked on a map and decided to drive down to Yellowstone Park and treat himself to a much-needed vacation.
He recalled with a smile that Victoria didn’t have her phone or any money. She also didn’t have her clothes or her makeup, things he knew she couldn’t live without. He highly doubted that in Powder Crossing she would be able to find the expensive, hard-to-find brands that she only wore. So no social media, no shopping, nothing but cowboys like Ryder with manure on their boots?
His smile broadened. Maybe there was a chance that she might actually be glad to see him when he finally showed up, he thought. He wasn’t worried about her falling for the cowboy. Like Wen had said, it was only a ploy. By now, she could already be missing the big city and her so-called friends, those hangers-on who loved the attention of being seen with Wendell Forester’s high-rolling daughter. By the time he showed up to rescue her, she could be begging him to take her away.
And if she wasn’t happy to see him when he arrived at the ranch?
He ground his teeth at the thought of her still being that snooty brat he’d have to deal with. Victoria needed something to bring her to her senses, he told himself as he drove south to Red Lodge and the Cooke City entrance to the park. When the plan came to him, he immediately rejected it. Too dangerous.
Except that the more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him. If he couldn’t win her away from the cowboy, then he really didn’t have any other choice.
But first he was going to see Yellowstone Park.
After that wade in the river, Ryder and Victoria rode their horses back the long way, stopping on a rise that overlooked both the badlands in the distance and a long stretch of the river.
“There’s so much... sky here,” she said in a kind of awe. “It’s so... blue.”
“Is this your first time in Montana?” Ryder asked as he watched her wide-eyed wonder at the huge expanse of sky and open land.
She nodded. “I couldn’t understand what my father had found to be so enamored over about the state.” She laughed. “He said there were more cows than people out here.”
“There are.”
“But he never said how breathtaking it was.” She huffed. “He probably didn’t notice.” She was looking out across the ranch again. The look of astonishment on her face when he told her how many acres they ran made him smile. He’d thought she would hate this country and be bored by now. Maybe she wasn’t as shallow as he’d thought she was and felt a pinch of guilt. He’d expected her to be the princess the media wrote about in less than glowing terms. A pretty, spoiled-rotten young woman looking for her next party.
She glanced over at him as if feeling his intent gaze. “What?”
“You. I thought you’d hate this,” he said. “I got the impression you only liked glitz and glamour, cared only about what to wear to your next party and who to be seen with on social media.”
“Ouch! I like to think there’s more to me than how I’m portrayed in the tabloids and social media,” she said. “After all, I have my MBA from Harvard and graduated with honors from Sarah Lawrence.”
He couldn’t help his shocked expression.
“I’m not sure how to take your surprise,” she said with a chuckle. “And no, my father didn’t build them a new library to make that happen, although he had thought he was going to have to.” She snickered. “Like a lot of men, he underestimated me. My father never mentions my degrees because he thinks it intimidates the kind of man I need to marry.”
Ryder laughed, not about to touch that. “Business administration, huh?”
“Business and art,” she said. “Admittedly, the business part was my father’s idea, but I actually enjoyed it. I have ideas for starting a variety of small businesses to help other women achieve their dreams.”
Ryder found himself trying to reconcile the different images he’d had of Victoria Forester. The young woman at the airport offering him money to be her fiancé, the party girl online and this young woman next to him on the back of a horse besidethe Powder River who wanted to help other women start their own businesses.
“I would think that your father wanted you to major in business so you could work with him, but that doesn’t explain why he would try to marry you off,” he said.
“Doesn’t it?” she said. “He wants to keep me close and married to one of his clones so he can control me and yet not worry about me. For my father, everything is about money and business. If he wants this ranch, it’s just to take its treasures.”
Ryder knew she was probably right. Montana had a history of men like Wendell Forester coming in and mining the riches and leaving a mess behind them. Now called Big Sky Country, Montana had originally been known as the Treasure State.
“So your property runs to the mountains in all directions?” she asked as if wanting to change the subject as much as he did.
“Not quite. As I said, we border the McKenna Ranch. The two ranches, though, run from mountain to mountain and beyond. You need a lot of land to raise cattle here. The only thing that divides the two ranches is a creek and section of the river.”
“Where your mother used to rendezvous with the handsome rancher next door,” she said as she grinned and shifted to meet his gaze, her arm brushing his. He felt an electrical current arc between them.
“So you were listening last night,” he said. They were so close, he could see tiny gold flakes in hergreen eyes. The scents of summer seemed to fill the air, mixing with a hint of something sweet. His gaze went to her lips, and he felt a pull that had him leaning toward her for a kiss—even as his common sense warned him against it.
It had seemed like the most natural thing she’d ever done. The summer sun warm on her skin, the cloudless blue sky overhead, the scents of pine and saddle leather in the air—all making the moment perfect as her body gravitated to Ryder’s for the kiss. A warm breeze stirred the air between them. She could barely hear it rustling the cottonwood leaves over the pounding of her heart.
Only their lips touched softly. Breaths intermingled for what felt like a mere instant before he drew back. His surprised gaze locked with hers, and she saw that he had felt it too. Something almost magical had passed between them.
