Page 32 of River Legacy
Victoria couldn’t believe how hungry she was, even though she’d had that huge breakfast. Maybe it was the fresh air and exercise, or maybe it was being here with Ryder instead of her friends who were always watching their weight—and hers too.
She ate with abandon, looking up to find Ryder grinning at her. She recognized that look in his eyes and wasn’t surprised when he said, “Want to go dancing after dinner? The Deacon Brown Blues Band should be startin’ up over at the bar by the time we finish. It’s a band out of Wyoming. I was thinking we could make a night of it.”
Victoria broke into a huge smile. “Saturday night in Powder Crossing. I want to experience it all with you.”
That was what Ryder was afraid of. Experiencing it all, as he later pulled Victoria into his arms on the dance floor at the bar. He worried about how hard his heart beat with her in his arms. At the café, he’d looked over at her and realized that he never wanted this night to end.
But it would end. Tomorrow. He wasn’t sure how she would get back to Billings. Maybe he’d take her. He could imagine what Brand would say if he took off with Victoria tomorrow. He tried not to think about it as they moved to the music. Just as he tried not to think too hard about how she felt in his arms.
Maybe what worried him the most was that this woman who’d sneaked into his life had practically met his entire family even though he’d hoped she wouldn’t during her short stay. His family was going to make more of this than it was. She would be leaving tomorrow.
Maybe.
He assumed that her father would send someone for her.
The thought of her leaving filled him with a strange kind of dread. He’d been ready to send her packing the next morning. Hell, he’d thought she’d be on the phone calling her father to come get her. Now he realized he didn’t want her to leave.
The thought rattled him. Right now, holding her this close, smelling that girly scent in her hair, swaying to a slow song, she felt too right in his arms. Her bare skin felt warm from the sun as their armsbrushed. Her green eyes were as bright and inviting as a dip in a mountain lake. He kept thinking of how excited she’d been when she’d mastered driving the flatbed truck. She’d done better than he’d expected.
A thought hit him like a cold drink of water from the creek. Maybe like the horseback riding, she already knew how to drive a stick shift. How could he tell what was real and what was a con? After all, look who her father was.
He’d told himself to just enjoy the weekend. Like now. The problem was that he was enjoying it too much, enjoying her too much. He could already imagine the hole she would leave when she left.
And she would leave. This wasn’t her life.
Her eyes sparkled like emeralds as she looked up at him and he felt a hard tug at his heart. Be careful, he warned himself. But even as he did, he knew that what Brand had said before he’d left was true.
“She’s having fun on the ranch, but you know she’s not staying, right? This isn’t her life. It’s a kick for a few days, but ultimately that old life is going to call her back. You don’t want to fall for this girl.”
“I know that,” Ryder had said, irritated at his brother for thinking he needed to be reminded. “I’m counting on her leaving so I can get back to work.”
“Me too,” Brand half joked. “I could use the help. But seriously, I’ve seen the way you look at her. She’s getting to you. I just don’t want to see you get your heart broken.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” he said glibly.
“Yes, it would,” Brand said seriously. “None ofthe girls you’ve dated ever had you looking at them like this.”
“You’re wrong. I know this is temporary. I’m just enjoying myself. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone showed up tomorrow to take her home,” Ryder had said, realizing how true that was. Like he’d told Victoria, he’d been waiting for a helicopter to land, and just like that she’d be gone.
All that had been easy to say to his brother, but now with her in his arms, Ryder didn’t kid himself. He could fall so easily for this woman—at least the one he’d glimpsed today on the ranch. She’d been so different from the one he’d met at the airport, the one he’d seen on the social media posts. Except that party girl, big city Victoria was still her deep down. This weekend was just a blip, only a glimpse of her in his life. Like his brother said, she was enjoying herself because it was only for a couple of days.
Cursing silently as the song ended, he told himself to enjoy it while it lasted. He’d deal with whatever came tomorrow. But tonight, he just wanted this time with this beautiful, sexy woman. It had been too long. Just the scent of her and the way she smiled at him had his pulse pumping. He never wanted this night to end.
The two of them ended up closing down the bar, laughing on the way out with their arms around each other. In the pickup on the ride home, they’d joked about the day and night they’d had. Ryderfound himself questioning if he’d ever felt so close to any woman before. He hadn’t. He kept thinking about his brother’s warning, wondering if it was already too late.
He’d barely known this woman twenty-four hours. Was it possible to fall for someone that fast? He knew what his sister Tilly would say and smiled to himself at the thought that Oakley would understand even if Tilly wouldn’t.
As he drove up to the house, they both fell silent. Yes or no? The answer hung between them. Ryder had never fallen into bed with a woman on the first date. Often not even the third date. He wasn’t playing hard to get. He just didn’t get intimate unless he felt something deeper. Often, he didn’t. He thought about Brand, with all his good advice. Hadn’t he slept with Birdie not long after she’d climbed in his bedroom window?
He parked in front of the house and turned off the engine, the battle going on inside him. One voice was sayingGo for it.You only live once.The other was sayingYou’ll regret it because you’ll only get more involved and it will hurt more when she leaves.And she would leave.
Ryder opened his door and hurried around to open Victoria’s. On the doorstep before they headed inside to go to their separate parts of the huge house, he stopped her, turning her to him. She’d said at the airport that she’d never kissed a cowboy. He didn’t want her only cowboy kiss to be the one from earlier, as electrifying as it had been.
The moon bathed the night in a silver glow. He could hear the breeze in the cottonwoods along the river, feel the humidity rising from the water and smell the fertile earth as he pulled her to him. An owl hooted at them from a nearby tree. Farther away he could hear a horse whinny from the barn.
His gaze locked with hers in the shine of the moon. What he saw sent his heart pounding and his body responding. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he wasn’t going to kiss her. He slowly lowered his mouth to hers, felt her arms encircle his neck as she moved closer, pressing her body to his, making him catch his breath. The kiss was all heat and passion and unresolved desire.
When the outside light flashed on, Ryder jerked back, then swore under his breath.
