Page 12 of Headstrong Cowboy (Montana’s Rodeo Cowboys #2)

R yder found himself driving down a driveway he hadn’t thought he’d be driving down again. Lucinda had called and informed him that the Bloom Flower Farm was going up for sale. She’d also said that until Eunice Bloom had told her daughters about the sale, he couldn’t say anything to anyone.

After the evening he’d spent with Chrissy three nights ago, he didn’t like keeping it from her, but surely her mom had told her by now what was happening with the property.

As much as he’d wanted to spend most of his time with Chrissy, Ryder had kept their interactions to a couple of phone calls and text messages.

Now here he was, about to surprise her with lunch. He glanced at the picnic basket Flo from the Main St. Diner had prepared for him and hoped he could tempt her to join him.

He pulled to a stop out in front of the workshop and sat for a few moments, staring at the building.

What was he going to find when he knocked on the door? Would Chrissy be happy to see him? He hoped she would.

What sort of mood would she be in? Would she be sad knowing that the farm was going to be sold?

If she’d spent most of her life there, he imagined it would be heartbreaking to find out that her home wasn’t going to be hers for much longer.

Ryder sighed. He should tell her he was interested in the property and the reasons why he was. Tell her that whatever financial issues were causing her mother to sell would be solved because of him.

No, he couldn’t say that because he would sound so arrogant, as if he didn’t think Chrissy and her family were capable of running the farm just because her father had died.

A knock on the window had him jumping and he turned to see Chrissy’s smiling face looking at him.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked, her question a little muffled.

There were no signs of distress or sadness. In fact, her brown eyes sparkled in the sunshine.

She didn’t know. Had her mom not said anything to her yet? Why hadn’t she? Was she keeping the information from her daughters deliberately?

Why Eunice was doing what she was doing wasn’t his concern. All it meant was that he had to keep the knowledge to himself for a little longer. Keeping secrets wasn’t what he liked doing, but in this situation, his hands were tied.

He opened his door and stepped out. Ryder wanted to pull Chrissy close and kiss her, but he kept his hands to himself. “Hey, yourself. I came to see if I can tempt you to join me for lunch. Flo prepared a basket for us.”

Her smile dropped a little, and he had to stem the flow of disappointment from consuming him. “I would love to, but I’ve got to help Sunny with an order we got this morning. It’s a big one, and she can’t do it all herself.”

There was a hint of something in her voice... excitement... as if this order was a big deal. “That’s okay. I should’ve called and not just turned up.”

“No, I’m glad you came.” She reached out and placed her hand on his arm. Like every other time they’d touched, his skin tingled, and warmth chased away the lingering disappointment. “I, um, missed you.”

“You don’t sound sure of that,” he said, thrilled that she had been feeling the same way he had. But he’d purposely put some distance between them because what he’d been feeling for her had been too intense and it had been way too soon to feel that way about her.

Her answer was to lean up and press her lips against his, the action momentarily shocking him into stillness. As if she sensed his surprise, she went to pull back, but he hooked an arm around her and kept her close to his chest, taking over control of the kiss.

Her hands clutched the front of his shirt and as her mouth opened beneath his, he deepened the kiss, telling her without saying the words that he’d missed her too.

They broke apart, their breathing ragged as they still held onto each other.

“Wow, that was—” Chrissy shook her head as though trying to form words to express how mind-blowing the kiss had been.

At least, that was how he’d felt about it, so he hoped she did as well.

“I know.”

“I now wish we didn’t have this order so I could spend more time with you.”

“Would an extra set of hands be helpful or a hindrance?” The words popped out without him giving them much thought at all.

Now that he’d said them, he found he actually meant them.

He did want to help her, and he was sure that Flo had packed plenty of food that it could be shared between three people instead of two.

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m really helping Sunny or not. But she can’t do it all herself, even if she thinks she can, so yes, I accept your offer to help.”

Ryder wasn’t sure if this was a good idea or not, but if he got to spend more time with Chrissy, then that was a win for him.

Besides, he was interested in seeing how a flower farm operated.

Not that it was going to change his mind about buying the land.

At least he knew that he would give the Bloom family a fair price, which may not be true about other offers they might receive.

He was a far more motivated buyer than anyone else.

And coming into winter wasn’t the best time to buy, but that didn’t matter to him. “Great, show me the way.”

He grabbed the picnic basket out of the truck and followed Chrissy into the building.

Like previously, the scent of flowers hit him, but this time, it was a lot stronger.

There were rows and rows of cut flowers on one table and on another one were boxes that he assumed the flowers would be stacked in, ready for transport to wherever they were destined to go.

“Sunny, I’ve brought us some more help,” Chrissy called out and walked over to the woman who was busy collecting up a bunch of red roses, their buds just starting to burst open.

“I don’t need help,” she grumbled without looking up. Her brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun, tendrils escaping around her face. He could see the family resemblance even without her looking directly at him.

“We’ve had this discussion, Sunshine. We’re helping. Now what can Ryder do?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Sunshine? You know I don’t like it,” Sunny complained, but looked up to see who was joining them. “Who are you?”

Ryder controlled his smile at her snarkiness. “Ryder Chamberlain, ma’am. I’m here to help in any way you need it. Even if it’s just fetching you a drink and food.” He held up the basket, hoping that promise of sustenance would soften her feelings toward his presence.

“Fine, you can stay. But only because I recognize that basket as one from Main St. Diner and hope that Flo’s fried chicken is in it.” She picked up a box from the table and held it out.

He took it and looked at its contents. It was full of little plastic tubes, along with a clear bag, which he assumed were the toppers that went over the tubes.

“You can fill these with water,” Sunny stated. “Think you can handle that?”

He saw the challenge in her eye. She expected him to demand to do something different. Something manly. But he was fine with this small task. “Pretty sure I can.” He pulled one of the tubes out and studied it. “Fill it up to here?” He indicated to the faint line marked on the inside.

“Yes, and then put the topper on,” Sunny said before turning back to what she was doing.

“I’ll take the basket from you and put the cold stuff into the fridge,” Chrissy murmured.

Ryder handed the picnic basket over, noting the glint of humor in her eyes.

It was as though she’d enjoyed him sparring with her sister.

Growing up in foster care, Ryder hadn’t allowed himself to get too attached to the other kids.

It was easier that way. He didn’t get hurt if they ended up being adopted or moved to another home.

In the end, anyone he got close to always left him, but he stayed, so it was easier to ignore them.

Even when he’d settled on the ranch, he kept mostly to himself.

The fact he had no one he could call on, no one he was close to, hit him hard when he was injured.

He hadn’t had any visitors after that night he’d been hurt and transported to the hospital.

The guys he knew from the circuit had all moved on to the next rodeo.

They’d wished him well, but that was about it.

Ryder couldn’t blame them. If he’d been in their shoes, he’d have done the same thing.

“You okay, Ryder?” Chrissy asked, and he realized she hadn’t moved and he’d been staring into space.

He mustered up a smile. “Yep. All good. Shall I fill them up over there?” He pointed to the sink in the corner.

“Yes, but are you sure there’s nothing wrong? That you still want to help?”

Ryder tucked the box under his arm and with his other, he stroked Chrissy’s cheeks with the back of his knuckles. “More than sure. And yes, I still want to help, little flower.”

Pink bloomed in her cheeks at the endearment he’d given her. He didn’t know why he called her that, only that he thought it suited her. “I’ll be right back,” she said and headed into the office at the back of the workshop.

He sighed when she disappeared from view.

Even though she let him off the hook, he sensed that she hadn’t quite believed him when he said he was fine.

He’d deal with that later, but first he had a task to perform and while it may not have been his intention when he arrived, he was glad to be helping the Bloom women.

“You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to,” Sunny said quietly as she deftly dethorned a rose and placed it on the growing pile.

“I know, but I want to. You need to get this done and I don’t have anything else that needs my urgent attention today.” He had a lot of free time on his hands now that he didn’t have an oil company to oversee. Or a rodeo to get ready for.

“What brings you to Marietta?” Sunny asked. “You here for the rodeo?”

Ryder absorbed the punch in the gut the perfectly innocent question caused. He shook his head. “My rodeo days are over.”

“Will you watch? Chrissy is going to compete. She was amazing when she was a junior. She could’ve made it far if she hadn’t...” Sunny clamped her lips shut. Ryder wanted to ask her to continue, but he had a feeling there was no way Sunny would break her loyalty to her sister.

Ryder was intrigued at the tidbit of information Sunny had let slip, though. The first time he’d seen Chrissy ride, he’d been impressed with her skills and thought she would do well competing against the other barrel racers.

What had caused her to give it all up?

Or who?

“I’m guessing that’s a story Chrissy has to tell me?” he asked after a few seconds.

“Yeah.” Sunny gathered up a few of the flowers and brought them over to him. “Once you’ve filled the tubes and put the toppers on, you can slide the roses into them.”

When he’d seen the tubes, he assumed that was what was going to happen. It was the only thing that made sense to him. “Sure. Chrissy said this was for a big order, but she didn’t say who it was for.”

“It’s for a hotel in Bozeman. We are supplying the flowers for a big event they’re having.

It’s the first time we’ve been asked to do something like this,” Chrissy informed him as she returned to the main area.

“I started reaching out to hotels a couple of days ago and lucked out when this hotel said their supplier had let them down and could we do a super quick order for them. There was no way I was going to say ‘no,’ and so here we are.”

“Still not enough,” Sunny muttered, and Ryder didn’t miss the glare Chrissy sent her sister’s way.

That was interesting. Had one of his assumptions been right that the reason for the property being up for sale was financial?

It didn’t matter. He could afford to pay any price they asked.

“It’s a start, Sunny. It’s a start.” Chrissy steadfastly ignored him, and he kept his attention on filling the tubes.

He would bide his time and when the moment was right, everything would fall into place. At least he hoped it would.