Ryder stepped in front of the ladies, sheltering them with his big body, his eyes briefly touching the heart-shaped face of the brunette before he focused on the critical matter at hand—the scumbag cowboy. “It’s not nice to threaten the ladies,” he admonished.
The man unfolded to a near-standing position, a good four inches below Ryder’s six foot two, one hand still guarding his crotch. He sidestepped toward the brunette. “That one there isn’t a lady. Not by a long shot. And mind your own business, buddy. This is private property, so walk your interfering ass outta here.”
Ryder shrugged. “Not a problem. But the ladies go with me.”
“You looking for trouble, man?” he challenged. “Because if you are, you come to the right place.”
“I like trouble,” Ryder drawled, deciding the man’s straight nose and square jaw would make nice targets. “Care for a demonstration?”
The brunette stepped forward. “I’ll demonstrate,” she said, standing by Ryder’s side, her attention fixed on the other man. “If you think for a minute, Hector, that I won’t call the news stations and plaster flyers all over this city announcing you hit her, you’re wrong. Let’s see how long the police will support you once it’s public?”
A hiss slid from Hector’s lips. “And I’ll tell them all you’re just a bitter lover. Bet some of your ranch hands will offer to comfort you.”
She recoiled as if slapped. “You bastard.”
“You betcha, baby,” he said. “Now all of you get off my property.”
He started to back away, and Ryder grabbed his shirt, used his supernatural strength to lift him off the ground. “Touch either of these ladies ever again, and I will show you the meaning of the word bastard.” He dropped him, and the man stumbled, his jaw gaping with shock as he caught himself on his hands and then scrambled backward. A second later, he turned and ran away.
Ryder drew a long breath, somehow certain he would need a little fortification before facing the woman at his side. Slowly he turned, delaying their direct connection as he assured himself that Kelly was safe, finding her resting against the truck, nervously hugging herself.
Then, and only then, did Ryder let his gaze settle on the brunette, on the woman already under his skin, her dark eyes touching his with the same riveting force with which her voice had affected him. The contact danced along his nerve endings with an electric charge. And he knew…she was why he was here. She was the reason this place had called him home.
Chapter Two
Alexis Wright had never been a woman to be blown away by any man, certainly not in the middle of a difficult situation. She’d grown up on a ranch surrounded by big, virile men who were often a bit too sure of their own masculinity. Her father—“Big W” to the rest of the world—had been one of those big virile men until six months ago, when a heart attack had stolen him away. And he’d taught her how to take charge of a situation, even when it overflowed with testosterone. But here, now, today, staring into the eyes of the sexy stranger who’d managed to come to her rescue—despite her best efforts not to need rescuing—she found herself feeling anything but in control. Hypnotized was more like it.
“Are you both okay?” the stranger asked, his voice low, sensual, and good gosh, a bit too distracting for comfort.
Alexis inwardly shook herself and tore herself out of the deep, dark depths of his eyes. Distractions were dangerous when you managed a ranch with debts the size of Texas. “Yes,” she said, her voice cracking a bit, and she couldn’t for the life of her say why. “Thank you.” She glanced at her friend Kelly Parker. “You okay, Kell?”
Kelly nodded. “I’m fine.” Which was a lie. Kelly hadn’t been fine since her cheating husband had driven her into Hector’s abusive arms and then into Alexis’s spare bedroom. Kelly cast the stranger an appreciative look. “Thank you.”
“No thanks needed,” he said, offering a gentle smile that contrasted with the ruggedly masculine features of his face. Thick brows, strong jaw, high cheekbones. A full bottom lip that thinned as he added, “Guys like that one get under my skin.” His gaze shifted and settled heavily on Alexis, heating with contact. His voice lowered. “It was my pleasure to help.” His mouth curved upward again, amusement coloring his voice. “Though I have to say, you didn’t need it all that much. That’s a dangerous knee you got there.”
“My secret weapon,” Alexis said, laughing, realizing she liked this man way too much. “Works like a charm.”
He grinned, approval in his expression as he offered her his hand. “I’m Ryder.”
Alexis swallowed hard, her gaze somehow touching his mouth before she jerked it downward, across a broad forearm to his extended palm. “Alexis Wright,” she said, sliding her hand into his. It closed instantly over hers, big, warm, possessive—as if he claimed her in some way. She swallowed hard as warmth spread up her arm. Her attention slowly traced the broad width of his shoulders and lifted to his face, to the strong chin with the tiny dimple in the middle. “Kelly is my friend.”
“Nice to meet you both,” he said, reluctantly releasing her hand. “Hate that it had to be under these conditions, though.”
“We should go,” Kelly said, interrupting with an urgent quality to her voice. “Before Hector comes back.”
Which was true. Alexis wouldn’t put anything past Hector. “She’s right,” she agreed. “We should go.” The memory of Ryder lifting Hector off the ground flashed in her mind. “Somehow, I doubt Hector’s ego is faring very well. You tossed the man around like a wet noodle. He might come back with baseball bats and some extra hands.”
A baffled expression flashed across Ryder’s face. He scrubbed his jaw, the rasp of newly formed whiskers scraping on his palm. “Like a wet noodle, huh?” he asked, appearing more interested in her silly words than the prospect of Hector’s return.
“It was one of my father’s million or so crazy sayings,” Alexis explained.
His brows dipped, seriousness flickering in his gaze before fading, as if he caught the past tense but decided not to ask questions. “Sadly,” he commented, “I am not sure how qualified I am at the particular craft of noodle whipping, but I’ve bred horses for years and wrestled a few stallions that make bullies like that guy look like kittens.”
“You train horses?” she asked, surprised, but then not so surprised. He had a way about him, a soothing quality that seemed to fit such a calling.
“Yep,” he said. “I oversee the breeding operation for Jaguar Ranch.”
“Jaguar Ranch,” she said, eyes going wide. “As in the Jaguar Ranch in Brownsville?”
He nodded. “You’ve heard of it?”
“Who hasn’t?” she said. “Isn’t it like ten thousand acres big or some insane size like that?”
“Twenty,” he said. “And one of the biggest horse-breeding operations in the country.”
“Twenty,” she repeated. “Makes my little family-owned ranch look like a kiddie ride.” Alexis would have said more, but a big drop of rain smacked down on her nose. She swiped at it, expecting another, but found none. “I guess that’s our sign to depart before it really starts raining,” she said, tossing the keys to Kelly so her friend could get inside the truck. “We really should go.”
Ryder didn’t immediately respond, his gaze lifting, scanning the area. Something in him seemed to change, shift, but she couldn’t put her finger on what. “I’m going to be here a few weeks,” he commented. “Hate to stay locked up in a hotel room. Don’t suppose you’d have room and board at that ranch of yours, in exchange for an extra set of hands?”
Kelly called out, “Yeah, she does,” as she unlocked the passenger’s side of the truck.
Alexis would have glared at Kelly if her friend hadn’t ducked into the vehicle to avoid her wrath. It wasn’t Kelly’s place to speak on her behalf, and Kelly knew full well Alexis was trying to downplay her struggles at the ranch since her father’s death.
Intent on dismissing Kelly’s words, Alexis opened her mouth to spe
ak. Ryder interjected before she could, taking Kelly’s claim and running with it. He held out his arms. “I’m your man,” he declared. “Put me to work.” He grinned. “Teach me how to give a proper noodle whipping, and I will teach your men how to tame a wild beast.” He laughed. “Or I can rope and wrangle cattle. Whatever you need.” He shook his head. “Well. I might draw the line at shoveling shit, but then, a good meal can convince a man to do a lot of things.”
She tried not to read anything into the “I’m your man” statement, but it was hard not to. Maybe because he was the first man to get her attention in too long to remember. She was more than attracted to Ryder; something about him made her comfortable. But none of this changed the bottom line. She didn’t have any extra money. Heck, she was barely keeping her current crew fed and housed.
“I couldn’t pay you what you are worth,” she said, unwilling to confess her inability to pay. She didn’t need that getting around and spooking her men. If the ranch faltered in even the tiniest way, she was liable to lose it.
“Keep me away from the confines of the local motel,” he urged, “and that’s payment enough.” She hesitated, and he added, “Save a cowboy, Alexis.” His voice lowered. “Save me.”
Awareness swirled in her limbs. Why did she feel as if they were talking about something more than keeping him out of a motel? Save him? Good gosh, his expertise might help save her. Still. As much as she needed help, this was too good to be true. “I doubt my little ranch even begins to compare to what you are used to. You might prefer a motel.”
“Try me,” he pressed. “You might be surprised.”
She already was. Surprised she was entertaining this idea as seriously as she was. He reached for his cell phone, yanked it off his belt and punched a key. “Talk to my boss back at Jaguar. He’ll tell you I’m trustworthy.”
Her eyes went wide. “No. No. That’s okay.”
Ryder hesitated, studied her a moment. “You have a fax machine, right?” She nodded. “I’ll have my references faxed over. I insist.” She hesitated, and then gave him the number, watching as he punched it into his cell phone memory. “Save me from motel hell, Alexis. Give me a bunk with the guys and a big, wide-open sky. Make Round Rock bearable.”
Alexis shook her head and smiled at his insistence. The man could be very persuasive. And Big W didn’t raise no fool. The experience this stranger had gained working in an operation like Jaguar’s might bring something they were missing to the table. And she needed that something before the bank foreclosed on the ranch. And bringing on a new hand would send a signal to the crew that things were good. “You’re here for personal business, you said. Only a few weeks?”
“I won’t outstay my welcome,” he said. “If that’s what you’re worried about.”
She wasn’t worried he’d outstay his welcome. She was worried she’d start depending on him, and then he’d leave. She inhaled, her chest suddenly tight with emotion she didn’t want to feel. Her gaze lifted to the sky as the rain began to fall. The rain she hoped would wash away the damn tears she didn’t want Ryder or anyone else around her to see.
Chapter Three
Ryder maneuvered his truck past the wooden gates of Big W Ranch, trailing Alexis as she drove the bumpy dirt path. He remotely remembered Big W Ranch. Remembered his father mentioning Big W’s little girl—Alexis. She had been a toddler when he’d been attacked. An innocent child who might have been a victim as easily as anyone else. And now, life had come full circle. Demons—Darkland Beasts as they were known to the Knights—had found their way back to Round Rock, hunting innocents again as they had hunted him. Perhaps they’d find Alexis this time if he didn’t stop them. He’d picked up their scent back at the bar, his senses raw with the taint of their presence, his nerves on edge ever since.
He reached up and flipped the windshield wipers on high; the rain pounding on his windshield created more unease within Ryder. Huge droplets melted into each other one after another, crashing over metal and glass, erasing his chances of properly evaluating his surroundings.
Following Alexis’s lead, Ryder pulled into a circular drive in front of a two-story house, its beaming floodlights fighting the darkness of the storm. He killed the engine and watched Alexis and Kelly exit their vehicle. Alexis waved him forward, but he didn’t move. Instead, he watched the two women run toward the high porch a few feet away, rain drenching their clothes and hair. At the top of the stairs, they paused under the cover of the overhang, glanced in his direction and talked together, both fumbling with wet hair and clothes as they did.
More than happy to give them space to talk, Ryder took a moment by himself to consider his next move. Because with each passing moment, the circumstances he’d come upon grew more complex, more in need of careful evaluation.
He could damn near taste the stench of Demons. They were close. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel, gripping so he wouldn’t reach for the saber shoved beneath his seat. The Demons were here, inside this ranch, eating it away from the inside out—Demons that would not die without decapitation, without the use of his sword. Yet, to stay near Alexis, to keep her and her people safe, he could not make a rash move and scare her—and getting out of the truck with blades strapped to his body qualified as rash.
His gaze captured Kelly entering the house, leaving Alexis alone, waiting on him. Ryder quickly shoved open the truck door, no less reluctant to exit without his weapons than moments before, but accepting that he had no choice. And certainly he was not reluctant to be near Alexis again.
Alexis. She set him on fire; she called to him in a soul-deep way. He felt what she felt—ached from the loss of a father who she had not admitted losing, worried about the loss of a ranch that she had not admitted was in danger. She was his mate. There was no other explanation.
The wind thrust rain against his body, soaking him within moments of his feet touching the ground. Heaviness settled in his heart, even as the anticipation of being near Alexis made it pound faster, harder. There were Knights who were centuries older than he, Knights who struggled without a mate, slowly eroding from the inside out. For each Knight had been touched by a Beast, and that taint lived forever on their soul—until a mate bound the darkness within, the Beast within, and freed him forever. It was a struggle Ryder hadn’t experienced yet, still young and in control. So what made him, a Knight only twenty-five years, worthy of salvation over them?
He knew nothing of the answer, but nevertheless, as he charged up the steps toward her, he could not deny the protectiveness she summoned from him, nor the fierceness of her emotions as they wrapped around him, flowed through him.
Only a few steps separated them as he drew to a halt under the lighted enclosure, her wet hair plastered to her lovely face, showing her true beauty. Long, dark lashes framed worried brown eyes. Only a foot separated them, and that was too much. He wanted to protect her, but he wanted more than her safety. He wanted her.
Alexis tilted her chin upward, her gaze searching his, heat sparking between them, borne of a connection that went beyond desire. Possessiveness flared in him, a primal burn that reached beyond the man and stirred the Beast within. “Come inside,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
He didn’t argue. Inside, close to her, was where he belonged. In her bed was where he belonged. Ryder followed her through the door, and forced down the Beast that pressed him to grab her and pull her close. To kiss those wet lips dry. Because making love to her might be as rash as getting out of that truck with swords drawn. She might pull him close now and push him away tomorrow.
And that wasn’t an option. Not now. He hoped not later. But deep down he knew there were complications, reasons that might defy the bond of mates. Reasons she couldn’t leave, reasons he couldn’t take her with him.
Alexis was thankful to have Kelly home safely, but in the process of bringing her home, she’d also brought home Ryder. Growing up on a ranch, she’d certainly seen many a cowboy exchange labor for room and board. Sh
e’d learned not to ask questions, to be glad for the help. But Ryder wasn’t one of those men; he was different in ways she had yet to understand.
Shoving open the front door of the house, Alexis walked inside, her hand resting on the door as she welcomed Ryder inside, her mind processing her intense reaction to him.
He hesitated on the doorstep, eyeing his boots and then her. “I’m pretty muddy.”
“As am I,” she said, waving her hand at her own feet and pointing out the trail of mud on the floor. “It appears Kelly was, too.” She eased farther behind the door to allow his entry. Memories floated through her mind, an image of her father that stabbed painfully in her gut. She shoved it aside. “This house has seen far worse than a little mud.”
Thunder rumbled directly overhead, the walls of the house shaking, as if urging him forward. “Come in,” she encouraged, a chill making her shiver as the air conditioning kicked on, the vent above her head spraying her wet skin with chilly air.
Ryder obeyed, stepping into the narrow hallway leading to the rest of the house. The potency of his presence was instant, intense. Alexis inhaled, Ryder’s big body close, his impact on her more devastating to her senses than she thought possible. She wanted him. God, how she wanted him. As if he somehow reached inside her and flipped a switch from off to on.
She swallowed hard and turned away from him to shut the door. Mentally she locked out the storm with her actions, realizing, with overwhelming completeness, how much she wished she could truly lock out the world. For just one night, she didn’t want to be the Big W boss lady. She didn’t want to worry about being judged by the men who worked for her, by the bank that threatened foreclosure. She didn’t want to pretend she was Superwoman on the outside, when inside the steel was melting. Didn’t want to miss her father so much. She wanted an escape. But she didn’t dare allow herself such a thing. Not when this man would soon be among her crew.