Page 8 of River Legacy
He hurriedly ordered baked chicken and another drink. “Make it a double. It seems we’re celebrating tonight.” He waited until their drinks came before he had to ask. “I’m trying to understand why you’re happy about this.”
“About my daughter threatening to marry into a family that owns a ranch I want? What’s not to understand?”
Claude frowned. “You really think they’re engaged?”
Wen laughed and shook his head. “I should get so lucky.”
“Tell me about the ranch,” Victoria said after he’d pulled through the first fast-food drive-through he’d spotted on the way out of Billings. Two burgers, two orders of fries, two chocolate milkshakes and two apple pies later, they were headed east to the Stafford Ranch.
“Remember, you were going to call your father,”Ryder reminded her as she finished her meal, stuffing the packaging into the bag the food had come in.
“Daddy will be at dinner. With Claude. That alone would have put him in a bad mood—not to mention you and me not showing up. And I don’t have my phone.” She mugged a sad face.
“You never planned to call him, did you?” he said with a groan.
She smiled and added, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to email him. Later. After he’s eaten his dinner and had a few drinks, the pain of spending time with Claude might mean he’ll be numbed some by then.”
Ryder had to laugh. She was enjoying this. He couldn’t blame her. He was glad he hadn’t had to sit through a dinner with her father and Claude, and maybe a little happy that he’d saved Victoria from the same fate. Not that she couldn’t have held her own. But he hated the thought that her father and Claude would have tried to gang up on her. He couldn’t imagine her marrying Claude under any circumstances, but who knew what her father would do to get what he wanted? Look how relentless he’d been about purchasing the Stafford Ranch.
Victoria Forester was way too much like her father and far from being Ryder’s type, but he still wouldn’t have wanted to make her spend an insufferable weekend with either her father or Claude, never mind both.
Though, he had to question what the hell he was doing taking her home with him—not to mention what her father might do when he realized whereshe’d gone. She was probably expecting this weekend to be like going to a dude ranch, though he doubted she’d ever even been to one. He hoped to make her time on the ranch as unlike anything she’d ever experienced, he thought, smiling to himself.
He pulled out his phone and handed it to her. “Text your father. I don’t want him thinking I kidnapped you.”
“Kidnapped. I like the sound of that.” She grinned until she saw his expression. “I’ll tell him I’m having a lovely weekend with my fiancé at his ranch.” She glanced at him, attempting to look innocent. He was way beyond believing that.
She thought for a moment, then said, “How aboutTalked Ryder into taking me to his ranch for the weekend to avoid Claude. BTW we aren’t engaged. I’d never laid eyes on him before earlier at the airport. Stop trying to set me up. I’m not ready for marriage. Your loving daughter.’’
“Sounds good to me,” he said.
She laughed. “If I sent that, he’d know I’d been kidnapped.” She tapped the keys for moment, then hit Send before handing back his phone. He worried about what she’d sent. Maybe, if she made her father angry enough, he’d send a chopper for her sooner rather than later.
Ryder had no desire to see the man again—especially on his ranch. Yet if truth be told, he was enjoying the drive back to Powder River. Victoria was clearly more intelligent than he’d first thought, and she could be quite amusing. She was nothinglike he’d expected after what he’d seen online. She was much more down-to-earth and quite charming. He figured Wendell Forester was proud of her. No wonder he wanted someone special for her. Too bad he thought Claude was that man.
She picked up his Stetson on the seat between them and put it on.
He thought of that old cowboy superstition.Never let a woman wear your hat unless you’re planning to take her home.
“Come on, tell me about the ranch,” she said as she settled into the seat, looking full and relaxed with her bare feet on his dash.
“Not much to tell,” he said as he drove east to Hardin, then took 212 toward Broadus where he would eventually turn south. “We raise cattle.”
“Do you have horses?”
“We do.”
“You saidwe,” she pointed out. “I never even asked if you had a woman in your life.”
He shot her a look. “What if I did?”
“Oops. Daddy would be so upset,” she teased.
Ryder shook his head. “It’s a family ranch. My mother is the matriarch, though she’s on an extended vacation right now. My brother Brand and I work the place. Our sister Oakley’s married to a ranch hand from the McKenna spread. Our older sister, Tilly, is married to Cooper McKenna. They both live on McKenna land next door.”
“Is it really right next door?”
“Not in the city sense. You have to cross a creekand a wide patch of country to go from door-to-door. Holden McKenna’s made that trip a few times. My mother too.” He instantly regretted opening that door. He could feel her gaze on him.
