Bucked Off: A Fake Fiance Romance (Ryker Ranch Book 2) Page 2

  I looked at the contract, taking in the large number, seeing the possibilities. We could invest it, set aside a healthy amount for Mama. Even with what I’d pay the girl I propositioned, it would be enough for a lot of things. “Fine. I’ll do it. Do I have to get her to sign something?”

  “Is she not here? Not living on the ranch?”

  “She’s moving in next week. Just gotta get some things settled.” I was digging myself a hole I couldn’t get out of.

  “Perfect. We’ll set up a meeting with the two of you and get her signature on a few things. You’re going to be the sweethearts of Ryker Ranch, and America is going to love you.”

  I fought a sigh. Just fucking perfect.

  Penny

  My shoulders ached after a long day of back-to-back massage appointments. I’d been booked solid all day, my schedule at Aldercreek Resort’s spa so full I’d worried I wouldn't have time to transition from one client to another.

  "Kate, I told you I need more time between appointments." I rolled my neck and groaned.

  "I'm sorry.” The petite woman blinked large brown eyes up at me from her desk. “I just thought you'd want to stay busy with the increase in rent Mr. Huff just announced."

  My stomach churned. I hadn't had time to read the letter in my inbox, but now I knew exactly what it would contain.

  "Increase?" I asked, a lump building in my throat.

  Kate’s eyes filled with sympathy. "Twenty percent."

  God, I couldn't afford that. Not if I wanted to continue saving for my own space, my very own spa. My chest tightened, and tears of frustration threatened to spill. No. I would not cry about this. It wasn't insurmountable. I'd figure something out.

  "Thanks, Kate. I'll see you Monday."

  She lifted her brows. "Monday? Mr. Huff scheduled you for the whole weekend."

  My teeth clenched hard enough my jaw ached. “I’m coming off ten days straight. There’s no way I can handle another solid week without time off."

  "Then I suggest you go ahead and pack up your stuff, Miss Callahan." The low rumble of Mr. Huff’s voice sent ice through my veins.

  I turned to face the man. His shiny belt buckle and over-the-top hat made him seem like a cowboy to the unsuspecting masses, but I knew the truth. He came from money and hadn't spent an hour in the saddle. Not a day in his life. His boots were too clean, his hands too soft. All hat and no cattle.

  "Are you serious?"

  "There are ten more of you girls in the wings just waiting for a chance to get in here." He looked me over. "Younger and prettier too."

  My cheeks flamed. He’d been hitting on me regularly since I started at the spa, and I turned him down every time. This wasn’t about rent and clients. This was a vendetta. I was done. "Well, best of luck to them. If you treat them anything like you treat me, I’m sure you’ll have a lawsuit on your hands by the end of the year. I quit.”

  He stared with both arms crossed over his barrel chest, fury playing across his features. “Get your shit and get out of my spa."

  “With pleasure," I said, fighting the wobble angry tears put in my voice. I moved toward the door to my massage room, but he stepped in front of me.

  “On second thought, I’ll have your things sent to you. Kate, call security and have Miss Callahan escorted to her car.”

  "I don't need an escort. I'll gladly get out of here." I stormed away, heading down the hall and into the open lobby of the hotel. This was where the rich and famous came to pretend they lived normal lives. Where they imagined themselves true outdoorspeople or came to get in tune with nature so they could find their center. Little did they know it was more manufactured here than anywhere. I wouldn't put it past Mr. Huff to lace the cucumber water with Xanax.

  I walked through the employee only corridor and to the parking garage, my steps loud in the cavernous cement space. My little red car sat waiting, the crack in my windshield a reminder of yet another thing I needed to take care of. What was Clara going to think? The whole reason I moved in with my sister was to help take care of her kids after she and her husband split, but they’d reconciled, and I had to move…fast. Bennett didn’t want me there while they worked things out.

  I was happy for them, but the quick change was frustrating because it threw a wrench in my plans. I was trying to save some money so I could buy my dream house, open my spa there. I had goals. Now I’d gone and given up my only source of income.

  I drove the long way home, past the gates of Ryker ranch, following the line of constantly maintained fencing that spanned the thousands of acres. It was my favorite way back when I needed time to think. Eventually I’d drive past Winchester farm, the place I’d worked every summer while I was in high school. I loved helping with Mr. Winchester’s horses, caring for them and riding them. But I also loved the house itself.

  The ranch property ran on and on, acres upon acres of land. Beautiful really. Sometimes, if I were lucky, I'd get a glimpse of a couple of cowboys out on their horses, checking fence or rounding up cattle. There was just something about a man in chaps and spurs that did it for me.

  A dark blob on the horizon had me slowing to a crawl before I could make out the five brown heifers standing across both lanes of the road. I stopped my car and got out, stomping toward the animals with nothing more than righteous indignation in my chest.

  “Go on. Get!” I shouted, waving my arms like a crazy person.

  The cow closest to me gave me the eyeball, but went right back to chewing her cud and ignoring me along with her girlfriends. Even cows moved in cliques. “Girls, get out of my way. I’ve had a really shitty day, and woman to woman, I need a glass of wine and a bubble bath in the worst way. It might actually be a Legends of the Fall night, if you know what I mean.”

  All I got was a low moo from the same indifferent cow who’d glanced at me. “Ugh. Come on! Get going. You’re not even supposed to be out here. Go home before someone hits you and turns you into hamburgers.”

  I pushed at her rump, trying to get her to move. If one started, the rest would follow. Like lemmings. But moving a cow who didn’t want to move wasn’t something most people were successful at, myself included.

  “Need a hand?” A gruff male voice caught my ear, pulling my attention from the ass end of the cow I was shoving.

  I glanced up and locked eyes with a rugged cowboy, and my heart fluttered. His hat was tipped forward just enough to keep his face shaded from the late afternoon sun, but those piercing blue eyes of his were unmistakable. Buck Ryker. The cowboy to end all cowboys. And he was talking to me.

  I started to speak, but the cow in front of me flicked her tail and I ended up with a mouthful of her hair instead. Backing away, I wiped my face and tried to pull myself together. “I’m fine.”

  “Don’t look like it to me, sugar.”

  Warring emotions sent indignation and excitement through me at the same time. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Tell me your name and I might stop.”

  Excitement squashed, I frowned. “If you don’t remember my name, you don’t deserve to know it.”

  He adjusted his hat and furrowed those brows of his. “We haven’t slept together, have we? I’d remember if I spent a night between the sheets with someone as sweet as you.”

  I blew the hair away from my face and turned my attention back to the cow in front of me. Pushing hard, I shouted, “Move your ass, cow,” and the stubborn heifer took one step before stopping.

  Then she lifted her tail, and Buck said, “I’d get out of her way before—“

  The cow began shitting as I backed up, the pile narrowly missing my foot. “Ugh,” I groaned and flicked my gaze to him. “Thanks.”

  “You ready to admit you need my help now?”

  I sighed. “Fine.”

  He held his horse’s reins loosely, casually, and stared at me as though waiting for more. “Any time now.”

  “Any time, what?”

  “You can ask.”

  I growled in frustration. He was toying with me. “Will you please help move your goddamned cows out of the road before I call the police to come take care of them?”

  He smirked but tipped his head in a slight nod. With a click of his tongue, he walked his horse forward. “Better back up, sugar.”

  I took a few steps away from the small grouping of cattle and watched as he moved them back toward the ranch’s property line with ease. Shaking my head, I tried to ignore the spark of desire at the sight of his hips rolling with the saddle and his broad shoulders in his blue plaid shirt. He glanced back at me and lifted his gloved hand to the brim of his hat.

  “There you are. Drive safe.”

  I swallowed and worked to slow my racing heart. “Thanks, Buck.”

  “My pleasure, Penny.”

  He rode off without another word, and I leaned on the hood of my car, watching him go. So he did remember me. “Damn hot cowboys.”

  Buck

  I walked through the bunkhouse door and found five of our hands playing Texas hold ‘em at the big round table in the center of the kitchen. Tucker grinned and held up a beer as I made my way through the room.

  “We getting up to any trouble tonight, Buck?"

  I shrugged and adjusted my hat. "Don't know what kind of trouble we’ll find. I already spent most of my day rounding up cows you idiots didn't know were missing."

  Tucker's brows rose. “Where? I counted them myself when we moved them to pasture nine.”

  "Five heifers found their way through some fence and were blocking traffic across the back road down by nine.”

  "You handled them alone?" I didn't want to tell them about the fiery little redhead with the beat up red car and enough spirit to spook a horse.

  "Passerby helped wrangle them.”


  Tucker sat back and folded his hands behind his head. “Lucky they had you there to get them moving."

  "Sure, sure. She was doing a fine enough job on her own."

  Tristan chuckled. "There it is. She. I knew you were keeping your cards close to the vest about something. Who is she?"

  "Just a woman driving through.”

  “You didn't get her name?"

  "It was Penny Callahan."

  Tristan sat up taller in his chair. “As in Tracy's sister?"

  "Yep. I'm surprised she helped at all considering how much Tracy hates you."

  "That girl should hate him. It’s a good thing she's not a witch. She'd have cursed your dick to fall off, Tristan." Carl stood and walked to the fridge, grabbing himself a beer. "She had every right. Finding you in bed with her sister."

  Tristan held up both hands. "They're identical twins, and Tammy told me she was Tracy. I still can't tell them apart.”

  Carl laughed. “Well, you still had it comin', boy. No two ways about it."

  Justin glanced at my brother over his hand of cards. “You ever...you know...both at the same time?"

  "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell." Tristan looked down at his cards.

  "I don't see no gentlemen here." Justin grinned.

  “Fuck off, Jus. It was a long time ago."

  I glanced at my brother and caught his eye. Jerking my head toward the door, I waited for him to finish out the hand he was playing, then the two of us left the bunkhouse.

  "What's up, man?” Tristan asked.

  "You know how you suggested I make myself unavailable?"

  He chuckled as I pulled a smoke out of my pocket. “Yeah."

  "I did."

  “Good, so the focus is on someone else?"

  I nodded. “Yeah, you."

  Tristan grinned. "They don't want me."

  "That's not the biggest issue. I told them I was getting married."

  His brows rose high enough I couldn't see them under his hat. "You really went whole hog, huh?"

  "Hell, I didn't know what else to do. They kept pushing. I just knew Clint was engaged and they didn't press him." I lit my cigarette and took a long drag.

  "Who’s the lucky lady?" My brother was practically shaking with laughter.

  "Not sure yet."

  “Guess we are goin' out tonight, then."

  I sighed, pinching the smoke between my thumb and forefinger. “Where you have in mind?"

  His grin widened. "The Silver Spur, where else? You'd best find yourself a girl who can ride. What better test than to watch the ladies ride the bull?”

  I thought back to our past nights at the Spur. Many of those had led to a fair number of mistakes, a lot of bar fights, and more than one broken heart.

  "Where are we going?" Sera asked, bounding down the path to meet us. Now that she’d graduated college, she was determined to be one of the ranchers, not just our little sister. That meant tagging along everywhere we went.

  "Nowhere," I said, giving Tristan a sour look in hopes he wouldn't invite her. It wasn't that I didn’t want her. It was that I didn’t want to fail her as a protector should something happen.

  “I heard you. You’re going to the Silver Spur. I want to ride the bull.” Sera popped her hip and from the set of her jaw, I knew there was nothing I could say to stop her.

  I cocked a brow and gave her a stern look. “You sure a night out with a bunch of cowboys is something you're ready for?"

  She put both hands on her hips and gave me a look that could have peeled the paint off the side of the house. "Cowboys I can handle. It’s the musicians I never want to be close to again."

  I nodded. "Noted. Hop in my truck. I'm driving."

  Her smile was nearly painful, it held so much hope. She pulled out her phone and tapped furiously on the screen.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Inviting Ever and Clint."

  I chuckled. "Doubt they'll be leaving the house tonight."

  "Why not?"

  "Just a guess. Time alone’s been hard for them with the show about to start."

  Her phone chimed, and she sighed as she read the message.

  “Called it."

  Tristan laughed. "Those two are gonna have a shotgun wedding if they keep it up."

  Sera let out a soft sound of happiness. "Oh, I love babies. We could use a sweet little face on the ranch."

  Tristan groaned. “Come on. It’s time to get out of here and find me some entertainment for the next few hours.”

  An hour later we were seated at the bar, a bucket of cold beers between Tristan and me as Sera took her turn on the bull.

  "You have any clue who you’re gonna get to…you know?' Tristan pointed to his left ring finger.

  I shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I don't care who she is as long as she can make it believable."

  He grinned. "So... anyone. Literally any woman?"

  Unease curled in my gut. He was up to something. “Anyone who’s single, straight, and at least eighteen."

  "Jackpot," he said, a devious smile on his face. “Leave it to me." He got off his stool and wandered into the crowd, women stopping him every few steps. The guy was like a honey trap.

  "This seat taken?" A soft feminine voice caught my ear and pulled my attention from my brother. Penny Callahan stood next to Tristan's vacated seat. I grunted and pulled a beer from the bucket, offering it without a word. She slid onto the stool and took the offered bottle.

  "Cheers," she said. I raised my own, mimicking her before we both took long drinks.

  "Run into any cows on your way here?" I teased.

  She shot me a look that nearly made me regret my words. "Save it, cowboy. It’s been one hell of a day, and the last thing I need is your particular brand of charm."

  "Sorry, "I said on a chuckle. "Wanna talk about what’s got you so riled?"

  She shook her head. “What would be the point?"

  "I might be able to help."

  Amusement sparkled in her eyes. “Unless you can conjure a job for me in the next five minutes, I think we're done here."

  A job? My heart lurched as she moved to get out of her seat.

  "Thanks for the beer, and for getting your cows out of my way. I'll see you later, Buck."

  My hand shot out and encircled her wrist. "Wait. What if I told you I might know how we can help each other?"

  Penny

  “How in the world do you think you can possibly help me?” I stared at Buck like he just proposed marriage.

  “Well, you just said it, you need a job. I happen to have one for you.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Marry me.”

  I nearly choked on my beer. He had just proposed marriage. Kind of. “I’m sorry, I think I’m hallucinating. Did you just ask me to marry you?”

  “I did.”

  He appeared completely at ease about this, as though he propositioned women to be his wife all the time. “Why?”

  “I sorta told the network execs on this damned reality show that I couldn’t participate in something they wanted from me because my fiancée wouldn’t appreciate it.”

  Sitting back in my chair, I assessed the man. It was starting to make more sense now. “You need me to be your fake wife?”

  “Fake fiancée, technically. We won’t really get married.”

  “And what do I get in return?”

  “I’ll pay you.”

  Anger lit in my blood. “You think I’m a whore?”

  Eyes going wide, he held up his hands. “What? No. No, that’s not what I meant at all. But you need money, right?”

  “I need a job. There’s a difference.”

  “So…if I can offer you a job on the ranch?”

  Snorting, I grabbed my beer and took a swig. “Look, I like horses as much as the next girl, but I’m not a ranch hand. If I wanted to be, I wouldn’t have gotten my massage therapy license.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I heard you been giving rub downs with happy endings to the rich and famous over at Aldercreek.”

  “Massage. No happy endings.”

  “Well, I’m sure you know the ranch has been converted to a fucking dude ranch for this show. We need a massage therapist on staff. In fact, we need a couple. So, agree to be my fake fiancée, and I’ll make sure you have a job on the ranch that doesn’t include shoveling horse shit.”

  I stared down at the rim of my beer bottle. This was a good opportunity, a great one in fact. Ryker Ranch was scheduled for two seasons of this reality show and they had full occupancy already booked for two solid summers and falls because of it. If anything, I could make enough money to buy Winchester Farm and start my own practice.