Justified Deception (Prequel: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) Read online

  "Annie doesn't use crude language."

  "Maybe not in your book, but telling Seth she'll 'shove her biscuit up him where the sun don't shine' is definitely crude language in my book, not to mention very poor grammar, which you should have corrected, though the entire sentence should have been scrapped." Lifting her chin, sparks of anger flaring in her eyes, she added, "And speaking of Seth, I can't believe you just sat there while he said what he did to Annie. Heaven knows if she'll ever wear a dress again. The least you could have done was to tell Seth to leave her alone. But you said nothing."

  His temper simmering just below the surface, Matt said, "I don’t need you telling me how to handle my men, and Annie doesn’t need to learn etiquette. What she needs to learn is how to ride well, shoot straight, and boss a bunch of bullheaded men. Someday this ranch will be hers, and if she can't hold her own against Seth's teasing she'll never be able to stand up to an ornery cowboy who doesn't want to do what the boss lady says."

  "She's only six years old, for crying out loud!"

  "The younger she learns the better! And a closet stuffed with dresses won't do her a hell of a lot of good either, when what she needs are boots, chaps and rain gear!"

  Ruth glared at him. "Your problem is you can't accept the fact that she's going to grow up to become a woman, not a cowhand!"

  "She's going to grow up to become the owner of the Kincaid Ranch!"

  "Maybe she won't want to take over this place and spend the rest of her life eating dust, chasing cows, and having to deal with—" Ruth jabbed a finger in the direction of the dining room "—the likes of that bunch in there! They're not exactly role models!"

  "Let me tell you about that bunch in there," Matt hissed. "When Annie came face-to-face with a cougar last year, Seth threw himself between the two of them. He was more dead than alive by the time Deke killed the cougar, and Seth has the scars to show it. And Tanner climbed down a cliff to fetch Annie's dog when it got stuck in a crevice. The only reason he didn't shoot the dog was because he couldn't bear to do it in front of Annie, so he risked his life instead. So don't get on your high horse about my men, because any one of them would lay down his life for Annie in a heartbeat, and don't you forget it. And here, take this—" he grabbed Ruth's hand and slapped the bag with the bathing suit against her palm "—I won't be using it."

  He left to rejoin his men.

  ***

  Butterfly net in hand, Annie ran in random circles, darting this way and that, while trying to catch a butterfly as it flitted among the wild flowers growing in the meadow near the swimming hole. The butterfly disappeared into a thicket of underbrush. Annie dropped the net and bent down to pick a yellow snap-dragon-like flower and a couple of blue ones, then skipped over to where Ruth sat cross-legged on an oversized towel while sketching pictures of flowers with her colored pencils.

  Annie handed the tiny bouquet to Ruth. "These are monkey flowers," she said, pointing to the yellow flowers, "And these are monk’s heads." She touched a blue flower. "But Daddy and I call them knight's heads because they look like little helmets."

  Ruth added the flowers to her spray of scarlet columbine, purple shooting stars and pink coltsfoot. "Thank you, sweetie," she said. "When we get back to the ranch we'll press them all between the pages of a book, and when they're dry, you can arrange them and paste them into a bouquet picture for your daddy, and the next time we go to town I'll buy you your own set of colored pencils and show you how to draw pictures of flowers. I think your daddy would like to have that too."

  "I have crayons," Annie said. "I draw flowers with those."

  "Yes you can," Ruth agreed. "And I'll show you how to look for light and shadows on the flowers when you draw them. Did you know I went to college to learn how to draw and paint?"

  Annie looked at her, like she didn't quite understand, and said, "I already can draw and paint so I don't need to go to college for that. I'll draw a picture with crayons of lots of flowers when we get back and show you, and Daddy can hang it in his bedroom. Do you think he'll like that?"

  "Of course. He'll like anything you make him." She set her drawing pad and colored pencils aside. "I'm getting hungry so while you collect a few more flowers, I'll see what Edith packed for our lunch." While Ruth fetched the backpack with the food, Annie busied herself collecting flowers. After sharing a lunch of cold fried chicken, tomato wedges, Edith’s special Kincaid Ranch potato salad, and freshly baked oatmeal cookies, Ruth felt satisfied and lazy. She stretched her arms and laced her hands behind her head, quietly content. The hike up the mesa had been pleasant, the meadow was bright with flowers and butterflies, and the day was mild enough to enjoy the warm water in the swimming hole. And Annie had been a pure delight. Not once had they locked horns. Unlike her bullheaded, inflexible father.

  Ruth was still miffed about their angry exchange the previous day, though she felt some remorse over her comment about his men. Still, Matt had to understand the importance of teaching Annie modesty. But for now, Matt was out of sight, and out of mind, and Annie was her focus. Mimicking Ruth, Annie lowered herself to the towel and rested back, hands behind her head, one leg cocked, a slight smile on her lips.

  Gazing up at the billowing clouds moving overhead, Ruth pointed, and said, "I see a fat bear eating an ice cream cone. What do you see?"

  Annie's mouth spread in a wide grin. "Daddy and I play this game too." Pointing toward a different cloud formation, she said, "I see Lorinda sitting on a horse. I know it’s Lorinda because she’s got big boobs and she’s galloping across the sky so all the men can see them." She glanced at Ruth and added in a knowing voice, "Men like to look at women’s boobs, you know."

  Ruth didn't even want to think about having this discussion with Matt, but knew she'd have to. The men could not continue the kind of talk they did around Annie. Looking askance at her, she said, "You can’t believe everything the men say about women. Most of time they’re just bragging the way men do. They say lots of silly things that aren’t true."

  "Like when they talk about wanting hot women with big tits?"

  Ruth looked at Annie, dumbfounded. "They say things like that around you?" She and Matt would definitely have this out.

  Annie shrugged. "They don't say those things around me, but I hear them talking when they don’t know I’m there. Sometimes I hide to hear what they say because they say funny things."

  "Well, you shouldn’t be listening in on the men's private talk," Ruth said, "It’s wrong, and it’s certainly not ladylike."

  Annie rolled onto her side and reached for the etiquette book. "Can we read some more stuff about being a lady?"

  "Sure," Ruth said, relieved to be off the subject of hot women, and pleased with Annie's enthusiasm over her first etiquette lesson. She raised herself to a sitting position and adjusted the glasses she'd worn in anticipation of swimming, and Annie moved beside her and handed her the book. Ruth flipped the pages to the one marked with a cottonwood leaf. "So, when a young lady sits down," she continued where they’d left off, "she either holds her knees together or crosses one knee over the other, that is, if she's wearing a dress—"

  "I'm not gonna wear a dress again," Annie groused.

  "Why? Because of what Seth said?"

  "That and what the guys were thinking."

  Ruth tucked a finger under Annie's narrow chin, and said, "The truth is, Annie, men say many stupid things when confronted with a pretty girl."

  Annie's brows gathered in a contemplative frown, and after a moment, she said, "Daddy doesn't say stupid things."

  "You're right," Ruth agreed. "He really thought you looked pretty in your dress. He even said so. You heard him."

  "I’m still not wearing it."

  "Maybe you’ll change your mind later," Ruth said. "We’ll leave the dress hanging in your closet for now."

  Annie flattened the cottonwood leaf against her leg, looked at Ruth, and said, "Does Daddy tell you that you look pretty?"

  Ruth laughed lightly. "Why on e
arth would he do that?"

  Annie shrugged. "Because you look pretty in your bathing suit, just like Barbie. Wait’ll Daddy sees it."

  Ruth felt self-conscious wearing the scanty yellow suit, but she knew Annie was pleased she'd bought the one she picked out. It was a small price to pay to win Annie's approval. "Your Daddy won't be seeing see me in it," she said. "I don’t make a practice of displaying myself in such a provocative way. I bought the suit, on a whim, to please a very special little girl."

  Annie twirled the leaf between her fingers. "What does procative mean?"

  "The word is provocative," Ruth said, "and it means, well, that a woman uncovers certain parts of her body that should be covered, in order to get a man’s attention."

  Eyebrows pinched in a frown, Annie looked at Ruth, and said, "Then why won't you let Daddy see you in your suit? He'd see you really do have boobs. He'd like that."

  Ruth let out a short, nervous laugh. "Annie, my love, you know far too much for a six-year-old. Besides, you shouldn't be having thoughts like that." But the fact was, Ruth almost wanted Matt to see her in the suit, if only to make him eat his words about her being flat chested. A dangerous notion, she realized. The thought of Matt's eyes scanning her body made her chest feel tight and her stomach fluttery. Shifting her mind to less dangerous thoughts, she said, "Shall we go on with our etiquette lesson?"

  "Yes," Annie said, enthusiastically. She shifted into a cross-legged sitting position. "Go to the part about the little forks."

  "Those are cocktail forks," Ruth said, thankful for the diversion. Of late, she'd been having far too many carnal thoughts about Matt. She paged through the book, and finding what she was searching for, pressed the pages open.

  Annie edged closer and looked down at the picture, and said, "Maybe we should get Tanner a fork like that. He uses his knife to eat little fish that come in funny-shaped cans."

  Ruth looked down at Annie. "You mean sardines?"

  Annie peered up at her. "Yeah. They're gross and still have eyes." She wrinkled her nose in disgust... And Ruth's heart skipped a beat. In her mind flashed a little face, four years younger, when offered a serving of squash, and making the very same face. It wasn't the mannerism—most children wrinkled their noses about the same way—but the way the little scar gathered into a wavering line. "Beth?"

  Annie looked at her, puzzled.

  Ruth wasn't sure why she'd said the name, only that she'd been driven to get a response from Annie, who was, she was all but certain, truly Beth.

  "Why did you say that?" Annie asked.

  "I guess because you reminded me of a little girl I once knew. She looked like you too, and would be about your age now."

  "Her name was Beth?"

  Ruth nodded.

  "Where is she now?"

  "I don't know. She... umm… moved away."

  In the distance came the thrum of hoof beats. Annie cupped her hand to shade her eyes from the sun, and cried, "It's Seth and Daddy!"

  Ruth looked up to find two riders approaching fast, leaving behind a haze of dust. She started to rush for her clothes, but seeing how quickly the men were coming, decided against it. Displaying herself while reclining was one thing. Prancing in a bikini across the wide clearing to where her clothes lay was quite another. Hopefully, the men would get on with what they were about and be gone. The men reined in.

  Matt looked down at Annie, and said, "Jeb's at the house and he brought the pups. If you head back now you can take your pick. Seth will see you home. You can ride double behind him." He swung his leg over his horse and hopped to the ground.

  "Yippee!" Annie yelped. Reaching for her clothes, she yanked her tee shirt on over her bathing suit, tugged on her jeans and pulled on her socks and boots. A moment later, she was hanging onto Seth's arm, who pulled her up behind him, and moments later, she and Seth disappeared in a cloud of dust, leaving Matt staring down at Ruth. The gleam in his eyes told her he was very much aware of her scanty bathing suit, and she realized what a naive fool she'd been to believe he'd stay away. She looked up at him and said, "Seth could have come alone to get Annie, so I assume you're here for a reason."

  "You're right." Matt started toward her, an odd look in his eyes that she couldn’t interpret. All she knew was, the thought of being alone with a man who stirred her blood, while wearing next to nothing, had a decidedly unsettling effect on her.

  Standing over her, with a look on his face that Ruth could only perceive as contrite, Matt said, "I wanted to square things away with you about last night."

  For a moment, Ruth was too taken aback to speak. Matt didn't seem a man who'd admit he was wrong. But clearly, he'd come to apologize. But she'd have her say first. She owed it to him. "Before you start, I want you to know that my comments about your men were uncalled for, and I apologize."

  "I've never regretted the day I hired any one of those boys," Matt said. "They don't come any better." For a few moments he remained standing while looking down at her, his gaze clearly taking in the skimpy suit that barely covered her. Then he squatted down. Hat clasped between his hands, eyes roaming over her, he said, "Now, about that bathing suit..."

  Ruth wanted to crawl into a sack, away from Matt's pointed stare. "I don’t usually wear suits like this," she said in a nervous, almost giddy voice, "I just got it because Annie picked it out because it was like the one her Barbie wore and I wanted to please her and at the time it seemed the right thing to do and besides I never expected anyone except Annie to see me in it and certainly not you or—"

  "Relax, honey. I’m not talking about the whistle and string you’re wearing, I’m talking about the fancy pants you bought me. I know you meant well, and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it just doesn't work for me. When I swim, I also bathe, and after spending a long hard day in the saddle, the last thing I want coming between a cool, clear stream and what aches most is a bathing suit. Besides, a suit covers the parts of me that need bathing the most. If you were a man you'd know that when you're in the saddle all day with your male parts rubbing—"

  "Stop," Ruth said, raising a hand and cutting him short. "You've made your point."

  "Yeah, well, that's how it is." Matt tossed his hat aside and stretched out alongside her, propping his upper torso on one elbow. A smile played about his lips.

  "What are you doing?" Ruth asked, wary of his casual, sprawled position.

  "Looking at you."

  Her heart began to hammer. "I'd rather you didn't"

  "Why? Because it makes you as aware as I am, that you're a woman?"

  "Don't you have fences to mend or cattle to chase or something?"

  "The boys are taking care of that."

  Ruth turned and looked in the direction of her clothes, deciding it would be far more embarrassing to march over there and get them while wearing no more than a whistle and a string, than to stay put. Aware of the tight breathless feeling in her chest, she said, "I really wish you'd go and leave me be."

  "I want to talk to you."

  "About what?"

  "You." Matt snapped off a tall bare stem with a small cluster of tiny white flowers at its tip and trailed it up her arm. "I told you I want to know what makes you tick." The weed moved over the curve of her shoulder.

  "I'm afraid you'll be greatly disappointed because there's really not much to tell. It's pretty much, what you see is what you get," Ruth said, aware of the high-strung edge to her voice, the path of the tiny flowers having a decidedly unsettling effect on her.

  "What I see is a hell of a lot of woman, and every inch of her looks good to me." Matt trailed the flower across the swell of her breasts exposed above the skimpy top, sending her nerves humming. She caught the light that flared in his eyes as they followed the path of the flowers. "Please don't do that," she said.

  Matt put the stem between his teeth, and chewed thoughtfully. "Was he your first love, this man you're still pining for?"

  Ruth looked at him with a start. She hadn't expected the conversation
to lead to the fictitious lover. Still, she'd already begun weaving a web of deceit and she couldn't let it unravel now. She shrugged. "I suppose."

  Matt mulled that over for a moment, the wispy flowers moving up and down with his idle chewing. "It's said one never loves as deeply as the first love." He fixed his gaze on her and waited for her response.

  Ruth shrugged. "I think every time one loves anything and loses it—a person, a pet, a prized possession—a little piece of the heart is torn out that can't be replaced."

  "So the question is," Matt said, while trailing a finger along her arm, "is it better to have a whole heart untouched by love, or a frayed one that's known rejection and is stronger for it?"

  Raising her eyes to meet his, Ruth said, "Life gives us little choice, it seems. But I have no intention of letting it happen again."

  "If life gives us little choice, how can you stop it?"

  Finding Matt's steady gaze unsettling, Ruth looked at the swimming hole and replied, "Because, this time I'm in control. And I assure you, it won't happen again."

  "Honey, if you were in control you wouldn't have broken eye contact with me to tell me you were in control," Matt said, while brushing her knuckles back and forth with the tip of his finger. "You just don't want to concede you're also a woman in need of a man's love."

  Ruth refused to look into his eyes, focusing instead on the broad expanse of his chest defined by his snug western-cut shirt. "That's fanciful nonsense. I don't need a man in my life to be contented," she said, wondering how those muscles would feel beneath her touch. It seemed to take little movement on his part to make them flex.

  "Maybe you don't need a man to be contented," Matt said, "but you do need one to be fulfilled. Every passionate woman does."

  Ruth's heart ached with a steady beat. He thought her passionate? Perhaps she had been once, but after Sebastian's betrayal, she felt numb to further relationships. But as she held Matt's gaze, her breath grew shallow, her chest felt tight, and an urgency began building, until she became very much aware that she was a woman with a need, and he was a man who could fill that need. Beware, little fly. This web is sticky. "And, miracle of miracles, you just happen to be the man who can release me from my pent-up passion," she said. "How lucky I am that you happened along today."