Billionaire's Baby Bind

As the thought crossed his mind, he remembered Lucy again and shook his head. He wasn’t going to cry for the wife he’d lost or the family that had been broken. Not now and not in front of this strong, sunny cowgirl.

“Run,” he said.

“Just the answer I was hoping for. Follow me. I’m going to start slow and then build. This part of the ranch is safe enough for a run.”

She took off and he sat there for a moment stuck in the past until she glanced over her shoulder, her long braid flying out to the side, and smiled at him.

“You coming?”

This ride was just the thing he needed to draw him out of the gloom of the past.

“Hell, yes.”

* * *

Riding had always been Amberley’s escape. But with Will riding by her side, she felt more fenced-in than free. Clay had asked everyone at the Flying E to make Will feel welcome and she tried to tell herself that was all she was doing now. He was just another guest, a city boy, at that. He was here temporarily. She didn’t like to think about her past or about the guy she’d fallen too hard and too quickly for. But there was something about Will that brought that all up.

Mostly, she realized it was superficial. They were both outsiders to her way of life. But where Sam Pascal had been looking for some sort of Western fantasy, it seemed to her that Will was looking...well, for a cyberbully but also for some sort of escape. There was a sadness that lingered in his eyes and when he thought no one was looking she could see that he was battling with his own demons.

Something she battled herself.

She heard him thundering along behind her and glanced over her shoulder. He sat in the saddle well and moved like he’d been born to ride. It was hard to keep him shoved in the city-slicker box when she saw him on horseback. She turned to face the field in front of them, taking a moment just to be glad for this sunny October day.

It was good to be alive.

The air had the nip of fall to it and the sky was so big it seemed to stretch forever. She slowed her horse and waited for Will to catch up to her.

He did in a moment and she glanced over to see a big smile on his face.

“I needed this.”

Two (#u1b0747a9-992b-5b30-b2ac-ab5251a22f2a)

“Not bad for a city boy,” Amberley told him as they allowed their horses to walk and cool down after their run. “I’m sorry I was judgmental about your skills.”

Will couldn’t help but like his riding guide. She was blunt and honest and it was refreshing. At work everyone treated him like he was the walking wounded and, of course, at home his nanny only discussed Faye. Rightly so. But Amberley didn’t. She’d been treating him like a regular guy.

He hadn’t realized how much he needed to get away and be with people who didn’t know the personal details of his life. There was something freeing about being with Amberley on this sunny October afternoon. He felt for a moment like his old self. Before Lucy.

He felt a pang. Shook his head to shove the feeling from his mind.

“I didn’t realize you were judging me,” he said.

She tipped her cowboy hat back on her head and turned to gaze at him with a sardonic look. Her face was in shadows beneath the straw cowboy hat, but he could read her body language. She was sassy and funny, this cowgirl.

Distracting.

“I was judging you and it wasn’t fair. It’s just the last time I was around city folk was when I worked on this dude ranch in Tyler and a lot of them were...well, not very good riders. So I lumped you in with them. I should have known Clay wouldn’t have told me to give you free rein if you didn’t know what you were doing,” she said. She held the reins loosely in one hand, and pushed the brim of her hat back on her forehead with the other.

Her eyes were a deep brown that reminded him of the color of his mocha in the morning. They were pretty and direct and he was almost certain when she was angry they’d show her temper. Will wondered how they’d look when she made love.

Then he shook his head.

This was the first time lust had come on so strongly since Lucy’s death. And it took him by surprise.

He shook his head again. “To be fair, I’m not sure he knew my skill level. I think Max asked him to make sure I get the full Texas experience.”

“The full Texas? That’s funny. Well, this might be about it,” she said, gesturing to the pastures.

He skimmed his gaze over the landscape and then settled back in the saddle. It reminded him of some of the places he’d visited growing up. His family had some property in Montana and there was a similar feeling of freedom from the real world here.

“I’m sure riding across the open plain isn’t the only thing that’s unique to Texas,” he said. “You mentioned Tyler—did you just visit that dude ranch?”

“Nah,” she said, looking away from him. But before she did he noticed a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“I worked there when I was in high school in the summers. Clay offered me this job after...well, when I was ready to leave my family’s ranch. My daddy said I was losing myself by mothering my brothers and sisters and he wanted me to have a chance to have my own life. I’m pretty good with horses. My daddy has a nice-sized ranch in Tyler. What about you? Where are you from? The Northwest, right?”

“Yes. Seattle area. Bellevue, actually. It’s a suburb,” he said. He’d never wanted to live anywhere else growing up. He loved the mountains and his waterfront property, but after Lucy...well, he’d been struggling to make Bellevue feel like home again.

“I’ve heard of it. I think Bill Gates lives there.”

“We’re not neighbors,” Will said with a laugh.

She shook her head and laughed. “I’ll jot that down. You ready for a ride back or you want to see some more?”

“What’s left to see?”

She rocked back in her saddle, shifting to extend her arm. “Out that way is the south pasture—there’s a creek that runs through it. Down that way is the—”

“Let me guess—north pasture.”

“Ha. I was going to say castration shed. We do that in the spring,” she said.

He shook his head. “I’ll skip that.”

“Guys always say that.”

She was teasing him and he observed that her entire countenance had changed. Her relaxed smile made him realize how full and lush her mouth was, and the way she tipped her head to the side, waiting for his response, made him want to do something impulsive.

Like lean over and kiss her.

He slammed the door on that idea and sat back in his saddle to be a little farther away from her. There was just something about her easy smile and the wind stirring around them. And he was on horseback in Texas, so far away from his normal world, that he wanted to pretend he was someone different. A man who wasn’t so tired from not sleeping and hoping he was making the right choices all the time.

He knew that nothing would come of kissing Amberley. He wasn’t here to hook up. He was here to do a job. Besides that, he wasn’t ready for anything else. He knew that. But for a moment, he wished he were.

“Back to the ranch.”

She didn’t move, but just stared at him—there was a closed expression on her face now. “Sorry, sir, didn’t mean to be inappropriate. Follow me. You want to run back or walk?”