Page 21 of The Runaway and the Rugged (Dusty Meadows #1)

EMELIA

W aking up was the last thing I wanted to do.

Even with a steam of light pouring into the space, directly crossing over my eyes, I did everything in my power to remain asleep.

And it seemed to be working after I rolled onto my stomach, but just when I was about to drift into complete numbness, the faint sound of knocking jolted me awake.

“Five more minutes, Mom,” Clarke grumbled under her breath.

The soft knocking went on again, sending my feet to kick the blanket off my form and rise off the bed.

Who could that be? Garth?

A rush of butterflies expanded in my gut, and when I peered down at a softly snoring Clarke, I realized I was on my own to answer the door.

Hair clinging to my cheeks, and an outfit three times the size of my body, I padded my way over to the door.

Using my fingers to comb through the knots in my hair I tried to make myself look more presentable, but I knew I needed much more than just a quick brush through my copper locks to meet that goal.

Then with tentative movement, I gradually swung open the door, expecting a tall, handsome cowboy to greet me, but instead, a smaller, much more adorable version of Garth greeted me.

“Whoa.” The small girl watched me with wide, searching eyes. “Aunt Greta wasn’t joking.”

Long, dark hair and a face that resembled Garth’s, it suddenly dawned on me that this was his daughter standing before me. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a cute purple top, she stared at me as if I were some foreign entity that just landed on this property.

Hell, I probably looked the part too.

“Uh, good morning?” I stepped a foot out the door and peered in both directions, searching for a sign of someone else who may have accompanied her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

She shook her head.

“No, I just wanted to see if Aunt Greta was telling the truth. She said we had a runaway bride stayin’ on the ranch and I wanted to get a look for myself.”

Oh. Wonderful.

“Don’t worry, you don’t need to be embarrassed.

She said the man you were goin’ to marry was a real jerk.

” She rocked back and forth on her feet with a lifting smile that really showed just how closely she resembled her father.

“I’m Grace, by the way. My dad is Garth, the one who found you yesterday. ”

It was nearly impossible to not find her charming. She was a beautiful young girl, maybe twelve or pushing thirteen with the sweetest little dimples and big, brown eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you, Grace.” I returned her smile, and stepped outside onto the front porch with her. “You can call me Emelia.”

“Emelia,” she tested out my name. “That's a pretty name.”

“The name Grace is much better, if you ask me.” I winked.

She giggled.

“You have nice hair too. Maybe my dad will let me get red in my hair since he’s seen how pretty yours looks.”

The idea of Garth thinking that I have pretty hair made me feel more giddy than I had expected.

“Red is overrated,” I teased. “Besides, your hair is perfect, I’d give anything to have curls and that shade of dark brown.”

Her grin widened as she ran her palm down a thick chunk of her beautiful hair.

“I could curl your hair like this one day if you want me to?”

My heart twisted hearing the hopeful tone in her voice. She probably assumed I was staying here longer but instead of letting her down, I opted to give her some reassurance.

“Yeah, maybe someday soon. First, I need to get back on my feet and figure out what I’m doing with my life.”

I didn’t want to sound so grim, especially in the presence of a preteen but luckily my smile was enough to throw her off my overwhelmed state.

“Dusty Meadows is the perfect place to do that! We have everything. A coffee shop, a bar that Greta loves to go to, shopping areas, what more do you need, right?”

I laughed.

She sure did love it here.

“It does sound like the perfect place. Unfortunately, I probably should go somewhere more… feasible.”

She scrunched her nose.

“Where are you from?”

“New York. Pretty far from here and a lot different.”

Her eyes went wide.

“New York? Wow. You are far from home,” she mumbled under her breath. “Maybe a change of scenery will be better for you? It’s too loud and busy there anyway.”

Curling her lip in dislike, I was unable to hold in my laughter. It was busy and loud there, but it was all I knew.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” I peered off into the distance, a quiet thrumming of birds chirping and a sunrise made for major motion pictures laid right before my undeserving eyes.

It was a breathtaking view I would never tire of seeing.

Even Grace turned her head and watched the horizon with appreciation.

“Maybe all your troubles could be fixed here?” she said sweetly, damn near melting my heart. “I know when I have troubles, I like to ride my horse Peaches and watch the sunset. It makes the bad days not so bad anymore.”

With her gaze fixed on the sunset, I found myself observing Garth’s daughter. Wondering how someone so young, with little to no life experience, carried herself with such quiet depth. It amazed me, truly, and just when I was about to speak, a loud voice poured over us.

“Grace!” a worried voice, layered over anger, shouted off in the distance of Garth’s home.

My eyebrows slanted inward.

“Please tell me your dad knows that you’re here and he’s just yelling your name because he wants you back home.”

Her face contorted into a wince.

“Not exactly?” She tried to smile, but it fell when her name was called out again. “I’m twelve, dammit. I should be able to wander around the ranch whenever I want to and not have to worry about my psycho dad tripping over his feet to find me.”

Oh great, I could already tell where this was headed.

Every part of my body broke out in a sweat as the faint hum of an engine kick-started to life. Soon, the sound of the motor grew more intense as a roaring ATV emerged from the distance, approaching the cabin with an urgency that had me tensing.

“Oh boy, here we go.” Grace rolled her eyes as she stomped down the steps and placed both hands onto her hips.

Seconds later, the ATV came to a screeching halt just beside her and a very pissed-off, very shirtless Garth stepped off and rounded toward his daughter.

“What the hell are you doing, Grace? You can’t just leave the house without tellin’ me where you’re at.” He appeared nearly at his wits’ end with her. Without a hat on, his longish hair was in disarray, as a pair of jeans sat low on his hips.

“I’m not a kid anymore, Dad! Quit treating me like I’m ten! All I did was walk a few feet down here to the cabin to meet Emelia.”

His eyes snapped to mine and immediately my body reacted to his burning gaze. I definitely didn’t want to be tossed into the middle of whatever father-daughter dispute was going on, but his stare confirmed to me that I was.

“Christ, Grace. How the hell did you manage to pass elementary school with that kind of math? A few feet?” He scoffed disapprovingly.

“Just because you’re twelve, almost thirteen, doesn’t mean you can just walk out of the house without telling me where you’re going!

Even at eighteen you’ll be tellin’ me where you’re at! ”

“It’s not like I was doing anything bad! Ask Emelia, she can vouch for me that all I wanted to do was meet her.”

Both sets of eyes zeroed in on me, and if the floor opened up and swallowed me, I’d be more than happy to disappear entirely.

“Um, well…” I mumbled, distracted by the hard, endless planes of muscles and curves that my mouth physically began to dry up. He even had a trail of hair that disappeared into the waistline of his jeans, making me wonder exactly where it led.

Snap out of it, Emelia!

“See! She clearly needed someone to check on her!” Grace defended, shaking me from the absurdity of my thoughts and back to the real world.

Garth’s eyes shot back to his daughter with an unamused glower.

“It’s fine. She’s fine coming here, I mean,” I stammered out. “But you’re right about her telling you where she was. She should have told you.”

Oh god, what was I even saying? Both were watching me with furrowed brows and confusion.

“Okay, what I’m trying to say is, I shouldn’t be talking at all and that I should go back inside.

” I took a step back toward the door, all the while both Grace and Garth continued to study me.

“It was nice officially meeting you, Grace, hopefully our paths cross again someday and I’ll be counting on you to curl my hair. ”

Her face slowly broke out into a smile, erasing the traces of embarrassment lingering in my gut. And just as my hand went to reach for the handle of the door, I was abruptly stopped with the sound of Garth’s voice.

“You sleep all right?” he asked over the sound of the steady hum of the motor running.

My stare latched on to his.

“Yeah, like a baby.” I nodded as his eyes drifted over his shirt that swallowed me whole.

“No mice?”

I laughed.

“No mice.”

He nodded while dragging a palm through his hair.

“Good,” he grumbled, then turned to Grace. “Come on, let’s go,” he nodded subtly, signaling for Grace to hop on the ATV.

Just when I thought she was going to counter back, she surprised me by listening to her dad. A drop of her shoulders and a sigh later, she threw a small wave over her shoulder in my direction.

“Nice meeting you, Emelia.”

“You too.” I smiled as she jumped inside the passenger seat.

“Come on, Outlaw, you too,” Garth called out, paralyzing me to the spot. “We got breakfast, coffee, everything you need up at the house.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” I shrugged off the offer. “Clarke’s sleeping inside and I don’t want to leave her here alone.”

“Just come up and grab some food for the two of you to bring back. Besides, I know Greta’s wanting to talk to you for a minute.”

I chewed on my bottom lip, contemplating, but there was no way I could say no. Not after them letting me stay here for the night, and Garth… a protector by nature getting rid of Nathaniel and handling the chaos I ultimately brought upon the Ranch.

“All right, okay.” I nodded, watching the excitement pour from Grace’s expression as she beamed wide. I then went to get shoes, but remembered I only had my heels, and there was no way with the amount of blisters I had I was pushing my feet into those.

It only took a moment of hesitation for Garth to catch on to my dilemma and move in my direction. His gaze dropped to my bare feet and as he started to close the distance between us, I realized what he was about to do.

Swiftly stopping him with my outstretched palm, he ran directly into it with his hard chest.

“No need to pick me up, I promise I’m okay to walk barefoot,” I stammered out quickly, my mind going in all sorts of naughty, unspeakable directions as I let the feel of his body sink into my bones.

His eyebrows dipped, along with his eyes as he hooked them onto my palm.

Morning Garth might be my favorite version.

Shut up, Emelia.

“I’m fine, they barely hurt this morning,” I lied, my voice too high-pitched and out of tune to come off as believable. But before he could argue, I dropped my hand and sailed past him with urgency until I was beside the ATV door. Grace then swiftly swung it open to let me inside.

“My dad has a crush on you,” she whispered with a devious grin that nearly had me tripping into the vehicle.

I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t in earshot, and thankfully he wasn’t.

“Your dad tolerates me. He doesn’t have a crush,” I mumbled quietly while taking the spot beside her.

She giggled.

“Want to make a bet?” she asked as Garth started to climb down the steps of the porch. I gave her a quick side-glance.

“Not particularly.”

Garth’s eyes found mine through the windshield, sending my heart into a frenzy.

“Come on, please?” she begged. “Better hurry up and decide before he gets in here.”

My eyes instantly expanded.

This adorable little shit was making me say yes.

“Okay, fine, sure, let's make a bet.”

She wiggled in the spot excitedly.

“My dad is going to invite you to stay here longer,” she said matter-of-factly with a smirk the size of Texas on her face. Every part of what she just said prompted me to scoff in disbelief. “I guarantee it. At breakfast he’s going to end up asking you.”

My stomach flipped.

Garth was now almost to the driver's side door.

“Okay, if by some chance that happens, what do you want?”

“A girls’ day. Hair, makeup, nails, shopping, I want to do it all,” she laid out as if she already planned it out.

I had no money, no makeup, nothing to make any of that possible for her, but, honestly, what were the chances she was right about Garth asking me to stay? Slim to none, right?

“Fine, and if he doesn’t, no more leaving your house without telling your dad.”

Her shoulders sagged in reluctant acceptance.

“Okay, deal.” She stretched out her hand to seal the deal, and with a smile, I placed my hand in hers.

“Deal.”

Moments later, Garth was jumping inside, his gaze dipping down to his daughter and me. He pulled his eyebrows together, watching in confusion as we slowly lowered our hands.

“What did I miss?” he asked slowly and hesitantly, drawing out each word.

“Nothing!” I blurted out in a shout a little too hastily.

Grace sent me a conniving little grin while Garth just stared. Unblinkingly and utterly confused. Then with the shake of his head and a few muffled words under his breath, he put the gear shift into drive and tore up toward the house.

Grace then whispered into the air, her voice steady and confident, “Nothing at all, Dad.”