Page 37 of The Wrong Ride Home (Wildflower Canyon #1)

elena

“ I can’t find Hunt.” Duke came into the makeshift Wilder Ranch office, which was behind the main barns—a temporary setup thrown together for the rodeo.

All the big ranches had such a space. It was nothing fancy, just a converted storage room with a battered wooden desk, a few mismatched chairs, and a metal filing cabinet shoved against the wall.

A whiteboard leaned precariously in the corner, covered in names, ride times, and notes scrawled in red marker.

The air smelled faintly of stale coffee that had been sitting in the pot too long, which it had been. A rodeo schedule and a wrinkled map of the grounds were tacked to the wall, alongside a clipboard stacked with entry forms and payout sheets.

“He took Widowmaker to the vet. She was favoring a leg,” I explained.

Duke nodded. “I have to go. ”

“Okay.”

He looked angry. Furious. His hair was mussed up like he’d raked through it a few times.

“I have to go to Dallas.”

“Okay.”

He sighed. “That’s it?”

I shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

Are you coming back? Will I ever see you again? Will it be another ten years before I do?

I realized that even when he looked at me with hate, it gave me pleasure because he was at least looking at me. The past weeks had been torture, but they’d also been bliss because my man was around, and I could steal glances of him, filling up the empty spaces inside of me.

Why didn’t love die? Our love had become sick and toxic, but it was still alive—throbbing, painful, alluring.

The air all but crackled with energy when he took a step toward me.

“I ended things with Fiona.”

He did?

“She called Mama.”

Of course, she did. I could see Fiona getting along well with Gloria. They were two peas in a pod if the pod was for manipulative bitches.

“And Mama is freaking out. She told her I was…with you.”

“Why would she say such a foolish thing?” I tucked my hands in my jeans so he couldn’t see they were shaking. He was close. So close. A couple of steps, and I would be in his arms. It had been so long since I’d been in the arms of someone who loved me.

He doesn’t love you, Elena. Stop daydreaming.

“I…she’s threatening to…and….”

He’d told me of the two times Gloria had tried to kill herself.

I had been heartbroken for him to have to go through something like that and hated Gloria for being so selfish and hurting her own child this way.

I didn’t know then that she’d not tried to kill herself because Nash left her—it was because she wanted to leave Nash with Duke, and he wasn’t going to let that happen.

But that woman always found a way to get what she wanted by screwing around with the men in her life. Frail and fragile, Gloria. My ass.

“I’m sorry, Duke. That’s a huge burden for you to carry.”

He took another step toward me, and my breath rattled in my chest.

“I don’t want to go.”

He looked like the boy I loved.

“I don’t want to go back, Elena.” We lay naked by the river, our last night before he left for Dallas since his summer break was over.

“We’ll stay in touch, mi cielo.” I kissed his chest as I lay my head on it and heard his beating heart.

His arms were around me, and I felt safe. Oh, so safe. The safest I’d ever been. Loved. Cherished. Happy.

“Will you…ah…come back?”

He had the last time for a day only to topple my world. I thought I’d tell him about the pregnancy and… .

“Yes.” He took another step and cupped my cheek.

My whole body went still.

“I’ll come back, and we’ll talk.”

I wanted to push his hand away. I really did, but I was starved for him, and I wanted so desperately to feel the way I had for that short time when we were together that I let myself indulge and all but nuzzled his hand.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I whispered.

“You feel it, too.”

I closed my eyes.

“I want you,” he growled out the words.

I licked my lips and found my spine. I moved away from his touch. “As a horse trainer.” I tried for levity. It fell flatter than a dry creek bed in August.

“As you .”

I shook my head. “That wasn’t a question, Duke, that was a statement. I’m here to sell your horses. Speaking of which, I have an offer from Kincaid Farms for Copper for one-fifty.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Why is he willing to pay so much?”

I gritted my teeth. “Oh, I don’t know because I gave him a blow job to go with it. My blow jobs are seriously that good.”

I expected him to lash out. Instead, his eyes crinkled with amusement. “I think they are, but I doubt you’re sucking his cock. I’m just surprised ‘cause that’s a lot of money.”

“Were you there or not when he won?”

“I was there when you did,” he said huskily .

Okay, Twilight Zone alert! What the fuck was going on?

“He also wants Whiskey Rush and?—”

“Don’t sell.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Huh?”

He smiled. “Don’t sell.”

“We’re here to sell the fuckin’ horses, Duke.”

“Prize money. Let’s make money. Don’t sell the horses.” He kissed my forehead.

My spine softened… just like that . The man was confusing the hell out of me.

“Just because Fiona isn’t warming your bed doesn’t mean I will.” I took several steps away from him and hit the wall of the storage room.

“Don’t sell the horses. We’re still going to make a profit thanks to how well you’ve trained the riders and their rides.” Duke’s voice was gentle, laced with an affection that only baffled me further. “And when I’m back, we’ll talk.”

I wanted to. I really did. But what was left to say?

I couldn’t move past what had happened, and I doubted he could either—no matter how he was acting right now.

I understood the shift. Nash and Mama were gone. The past was…well, past. But sometimes, the past wasn’t just something you left behind. Sometimes, it was prologue, and I wasn’t about to rewrite my story by diving headfirst into a chapter I’d barely survived the first time.

No, thank you. I was moving forward .

He took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles. “Miss me, okay?’

No. Not okay!

I pulled my hand away. The man had lost his marbles. “Did you fall off a horse or something?”

He laughed. “Something,” he agreed and kissed my cheek this time. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”

He left after that, and I slumped against the wall.

What the fuck was that?

A few hours later, I was eating brisket and cornbread and drinking beer when I felt a familiar presence drop into the chair beside me.

The barbecue had been set up behind the main barns, where the rich scent of mesquite smoke drifted on the breeze.

Long folding tables, covered in checkered cloths, were lined with trays of slow-cooked meat, buttered corn, and cast-iron pots of baked beans.

A few metal tubs filled with ice and sweating beer bottles sat at the ends, already half-empty.

Near the pit, a couple of old ranch hands stood, turning slabs of brisket and racks of ribs over open flames, their faces flushed from the heat. Someone had rigged up a few strings of lights between the fence posts. In the distance, a cowboy had pulled out a guitar, so we had live music.

Laughter rose from one of the tables, loud and loose, the result of a long day and a few too many drinks. This was how rodeo nights ended—plates full, boots kicked back, and the kind of exhaustion that felt good.

“Tell me it ain’t true, darlin’.”

“There are so many truths to tell Knox. Which truths are you lookin’ for?”

Knox Lawson was a legend in country music, with a voice like whiskey and gravel, a reputation for buying only the best damn horses, and the kind of charm that could talk the devil into a dance.

Knox shook his head, his long, silver-streaked hair falling around his face. “That you’re leaving Wildflower Canyon, and you haven’t called me yet.”

I set my beer bottle down. “Not sure where I’m at, Knox.”

He gave me a knowing look. “Bullshit.” He leaned and shook hands with Hunt, who was sitting next to me. “She bullshitting me, ain’t she, Hunt?”

Hunt let out a laugh. “She knows where she’s at. She’s going to help me start up my place.”

“Heard that Nash left you some prime land. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Knox.”

“You know I need someone like you, Elena. Someone who knows horses better than half the trainers I got on payroll,” Knox said, what he always did in his attempt to hire me away from Wilder Ranch.

I took a slow sip of my beer. “I don’t know if I want to work for you, Knox. You’re disorganized as all get out.”

Knox grinned. “Who said anything about workin’ for me? You’d be workin’ with me. And you can help me get organized.”

Knox had thirty thousand acres outside of Austin.

Hunt raised a brow. “That sounds like an official offer, Elena.”

Knox tipped his hat at me. “It’s the official ‘ I’ll pay you whatever the hell you want’ offer.”

I laughed, but it didn’t quite reach my chest.

“Don’t sell.”

“Miss me, okay?”

“We’ll talk.”

Son of a bitch! Here was a great offer, and Duke had fucked it up for me because now I wanted to know what the hell he was up to. He’d dumped the bitch and now….

You don’t want that man anyway, Elena.

Like hell, I didn’t.

Knox patted my shoulder. “You let me know when you’re ready, darlin’.” And with that, he left me to think about it.

Hunt watched me over the rim of his bottle. “Well?”

I swallowed hard, looking out at the rodeo, at everything I had built. “Duke doesn’t want me to sell any more horses. He came by before he left for Dallas.”

Hunt nodded. “Yeah, he called me.”

“What’s he up to?”

Hunt shrugged and then grinned. “I have a feeling he’s seduced by the land and the lady.”

I rolled my eyes. “Who you callin’ a lady?”