Page 37 of River Legacy
But she hadn’t led him on the way he’d insinuated, and she’d certainly never encouraged him when it came to marriage. That had never been on the table.
But with Ryder, it had started as a fluke. She’d suspected her father was to up something when he’d told her she needed to meet him in Billings at the airport. She’d complied, hoping it had nothing to do with getting her married off. But she’d feared that was exactly what her father had in mind.
So when she’d seen Ryder standing there in hisStetson, she’d done what came naturally: trying to beat her father at his own game and using the handsome cowboy to help her.
She’d just never thought it would turn out like this or that she would feel like this when it came time to leave. This was all her fault. How could she have thought that she could have a fling with a man like Ryder? Other men might have been happy for only that, but not this cowboy. She’d seen how deeply he felt about life, his ranch. Shouldn’t she have known that he didn’t take intimacy lightly?
Victoria had thought she could protect her heart even as he’d taken her in his arms. She’d been such a fool. She’d gone too far. She’d fallen in love with the rancher. Last night she’d given away a part of herself, a part she’d never shared before. Last night making love with Ryder had left her shaken by its impact. Her feelings for him ran so much deeper than sex. Then waking up in his bed and racing out to see the birth of the foal. She felt invested in not just Ryder, but the ranch and this life. It was as if in such a short time she’d become part of it.
But he was right, she thought, her heart breaking as she watched Ryder walk away. Their deal was just through the weekend. She had known this would end, but she hadn’t wanted it to end like this. Tears burned her eyes. She’d come to know this cowboy. Last night had meant something to him too. She’d looked into his eyes, and she’d felt their connection, something as strong as his love for the ranch and her love for him.
She loved him.She’d expected that admission to come as a shock, but it didn’t. She thought of the way he’d touched her life. Neither of them had been expecting this. But that didn’t make it any less true.
With a silent curse, Victoria turned around to face Claude and snapped, “Wait for me in the car.” Then she headed for the house to get her things. All she had were the clothes she’d been wearing when she’d left Billings with Ryder. She thought about that night, the beginning of what she’d hoped would be an adventure she could tell her friends about. But it had turned into so much more.
What she hadn’t expected was that she would feel the way she did right now. She didn’t want to leave. She knew that was ridiculous. This wasn’t her life. It had always been just a weekend adventure with a recall date stamped on it. So why did it hurt so bad to see Ryder’s disappointment and feel her own so painfully it made her want to double over? Worse, she knew she’d never see him or this place again once she left. Even if her father got what he wanted, she would never come back to Stafford Ranch because Ryder and his family here would be destroyed. Wendell would destroy it out of greed, and Ryder would always believe that she’d helped him do it.
In Tilly’s room, she took a moment to catch her breath before she stripped down, took a quick shower and, finding the clothes she’d worn here, changed back into the woman who’d hitched a ride with a cowboy. When she was finished, she stoodin front of the mirror. She didn’t look any different, but she certainly felt as if she wasn’t the Victoria Forester she’d been before and never would be again.
At the sound of a car honk, she gritted her teeth. Was she really going to get into that vehicle with Claude after what he’d done to her?
What choice did she have? She still didn’t have her purse, so no money or credit cards or phone. She could call her father on the landline downstairs, but her pride wouldn’t let her. Also, she had a feeling he would just tell her to catch a ride with Claude or walk. She’d run out of options.
As she went downstairs, she hoped she wouldn’t have to face Ryder or Brand or anyone else in the family before she left. Fortunately, she was spared. There was no one around as she stepped outside.
Claude was waiting impatiently behind the wheel as she climbed into the passenger side of the SUV and slammed the door. “About time.”
“Aren’t you afraid that I might kill you?” Victoria asked as she put on her seat belt. “You should fear for your life.”
“Take it up with your father,” he said as he started the engine. “I’m just doing my job.”
“What are you talking about?” she demanded. “He told you to come here and humiliate me?”
“No. He suggested I try to win you over. He even promised that if I did, he would let me out of my contract with him. But screw that. I never wanted you, spoiled princess. I despise you. I only wantedthe money. So ruining your chances with Ryder Stafford was just the fun part for me because what your father really wanted was the Stafford Ranch. Now there is no way in hell he’ll get it. As for you...” he raked a disgusted look over her “. . . you get your comeuppance from a cowboy.” He laughed. “Ironic, isn’t it?”
“When I tell my father what you did—”
“Honey, I have nothing to lose. Your old man has taken my dignity and my honor and my self-respect. Now he’ll take my money and ruin my life. I’d like to kill him, but disgracing his daughter will have to do. At least for now.”
“You are such a bastard,” she said as he drove away from the Stafford house and down the lane to the country road. As they passed through the stand of cottonwoods, she tried to see the Powder River. She caught glimpses of it in the rays of sunshine cutting through the trees. Her heart ached because the river seemed to symbolize Ryder in her mind. She would always remember the feel of the sun as she and Ryder sat on the rock in the middle of the river, the sparkling water all around them on the perfect summer day.
She closed her eyes, hating the tears that welled behind her lids. This shouldn’t hurt as much as it did.
“You’re just going to let her go?” Brand asked as Ryder came deeper into the barn. He could see where his brother had been shoveling out one of the stalls. Grabbing a shovel, he swore under his breathand stepped into the next stall. Of course Brand had heard every word that had been spoken.
“Don’t want to talk about it.”
“She really got to you, didn’t she?”
He kept shoveling, hearing his brother stop to lean on his shovel.
“I was skeptical at first,” Brand continued. “But even if it was planned, you got to her too.”
Ryder stopped shoveling for a moment. “It was never going anywhere. We come from two very different worlds. Not to mention if we got together, her father would have what he wanted from the beginning—the Stafford Ranch.”
“That’s the part that doesn’t make any sense,” Brand said. “If Forester sent his flunky here acting as a catalyst like he said, then it didn’t work. He drove the two of you further apart, not closer.”
Ryder shook his head. “All I know is that I don’t trust the man, and she’s a lot like him.”
