Wrangling Letty Read online

  “‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’, Jeramy…”

  Letty was giving him the speech as they drove the last few miles back to the ranch. She’d been repeating that mantra since she stormed out of the bathroom, tossed him his clothes, and told him it was “time to saddle up and ride out, Hoss.”

  She’d been singing that same tune as she drummed her fingers against the steering wheel of her Ford truck. The sunlight caught her wedding ring and nearly blinded him. It wasn’t until they crossed the state line between Texas and New Mexico and switched drivers for the umpteenth time, that she looked him in the eye, smiled sadly, and pulled off the ring. Standing there on the side of the road, she tucked it into her pocket and laid her plan on the line, just like she’d suggested five years earlier: they wouldn’t tell anyone they were married. No one, that was, but his uncle. They’d stay married for a year and see how it went. In the meantime, he’d collect the money he needed to buy her cousin’s share of the ranch and then he and Letty would each be able to pursue their own dreams of breeding and training horses.

  Jeramy wanted to tell her no. It was the right thing to do, but then a little hope started to bloom in his chest. What if he could spend a year convincing Letty their marriage of convenience could be the real thing? Sure, they’d try to keep it a secret, but if he played his cards right and he knew Letty as well as he thought he did, this could be the perfect opportunity to start something magical. But he couldn’t keep his feelings off his tongue or in his mouth. What if she started dating? No, that just wasn’t an option.

  He pinned her gaze down with his own and swallowed several times. “If we do this, you’re mine. And I’m yours. For the duration. No other people. No dating.”

  “WHOA! WHOA! WHOA there, cowboy—”

  “No. Try to deny it if you want to, Letty, but there is something between us. It’s been building for a while. And I am not just talking about the midnight romps in the tack room we’ve been having for the last five years. To the outside world we’d just look like a couple starting out. No one has to know we’ve tied the knot. We just spin a little tale that we’ve secretly been seeing each other and decided to take it to the next step.”

  “Let’s don’t forget that I’m your boss.”

  “No, you’re not. We’re partners. We tell Regina I want to buy in. I put up what I have now and pay out the rest at the end of the year. Who knows, by that time you may be head over heels for me.”

  “Don’t think with your little head, cowboy.”

  “We’ve had sex on nearly every square inch of Texas, so you can’t pretend you aren’t attracted to me, Letty.”

  “Just because we’ve had lots of sex doesn’t mean we are meant to be married.”

  “So, my clothes in your closet means what? All the dinners we share means what? WE already live in the same house.”

  “It’s because you are the assistant foreman, your room is on the other side. The fact that you keep leaving your drawers in my room doesn’t—”

  “Don’t say anything else. We’ve been slipping in, keeping our stuff secret anyway, the only person who thinks we’re hiding something, is you.” Jeramy pointed at her, his obvious anger spilling over. He watched as she shoved her hands into her pockets and dipped her head, hiding her face under the brim of her hat and the waterfall of her raven locks. Jeramy had panicked then. Swallowing deeply, he reached out for Letty and pulled her to him, crushing his mouth over hers. The kiss was hard and fast and soul-searing. When she sighed into his mouth, letting him taste the heady twang of the peppermint gum she’d been chewing, he nearly took her right there in the bar-ditch. Pulling back, he’d stared deeply into her eyes, willing her to bend to him.

  “We are married, Leticia Cloudwalker-Saldana, and I am happy about that. If you need this year to wrap your head around the idea, then I will give you this year, but at the end of it the gloves come off. But make no mistake, you’re my wife.”

  The breath was knocked out of him when she’d slowly nodded her head. A smile bigger than Texas spread across his face as he jumped up and let out a holler that carried across the open sky before snatching her up in his arms and kissing her deeply. He helped her into the passenger side of the truck before racing around and getting in and making the drive “home” in record time.

  Here Comes the Bride

  He couldn’t take his eyes off the back of the barn as the music began to play. She made her way down the makeshift aisle; he couldn’t help the smile that split his face, even though there was a twinge of pain at the secret they’d been hiding. Jeramy Saldana watched his bride slowly walk forward, pausing in front of the minister before turning to take her place as maid of honor.

  Once she was in place, she raised her eyes and shot him a conspiratorial wink. Jeramy’s heart raced like it did every time he saw Leticia. He had to force himself to focus as Regina walked down the aisle to exchange vows with Tyce. A small amount of jealousy was dancing in his blood at the easy way they were able to publicly display their love. Someday he and Letty would be able to do the same. When that day came, he would make sure the level of PDA was so over the top no one would dare question the validity of their love.

  Two weeks they’d been married, and in a way Jeramy felt cheated. Moreover, he felt like he’d cheated Letty out of everything she deserved. He looked over at his wife again. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to fix that, and he was pretty sure he had the right idea.

  Letty stood as still as she could next to Jeramy while Tyce and Regina prepared to cut their wedding cake. She couldn’t help trembling in her designer cowgirl boots as Jeramy grazed his thumb over the exposed skin of her lower back. It was a relief when Regina called her forward to hold her bouquet. Letty was barely able to stand with two people between her and the seriously hunky assistant foreman, accomplished horseman, and object of her every desire. Lifting her eyes to his, she smiled to cover the way the flowers trembled in her hand. She wasn’t cold, by any means.

  The shivers that raced through her had everything to do with aftershocks of the mind-blowing lovemaking she and Jeramy had been engaged in mere hours earlier. If she were honest, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on sneaking about the way they were. Part of her wanted to shout to the heavens that his man was her husband. She felt as if at any moment she’d just burst out in song. In fact, she was about to mouth words of love to him when she received a face full of sweet confection.

  It took a full minute before the laughter really filtered in through her shock. Tyce and Regina had smashed cake in each other’s faces, and the whole wedding reception was hooting and clapping with glee. Letty wiped the fallout from her face and grinned as Regina leaned in close and whispered, “If you don’t stop staring at that man like he is a prime side of beef, everyone is gonna know what you to were really up to in the tack room.”

  Letty just smiled bigger and watched Tyce and Jeramy exchange hugs and fist bumps with big grins. She couldn’t keep the love off her face. Her grin got even wider when T’Zara Martin strolled over and handed her a damp towel to finish cleaning up. “So, when are you going to tell everyone?”

  “We aren’t, at least not until this business with Jeramy’s uncle is settled.”

  “You know your secret is safe with me and Jason. It was good seeing you guys in Vegas even though I was shocked to see y’all stumbling out of that little vestibule. When y’all get ready to do it up big, let me know. I am thinking a yummy butter pecan would be a great cake choice for y’all.”

  Again, Letty was overwhelmed by the love and devotion of her good friends. She didn’t want to hope this marriage would be anything more than what it was—a convenience—but her heart wanted more. Her heart was hoping Jeramy found a way to make her believe in forever.

  The Love We Make

  Letty’s thighs trembled; her next climax would send not only her over the edge but Jeramy as well. The glow of the lightly scented candles warmed their skin, lending them a golden hue. Jeramy thrus
t deeper, hitting the spot that caused her breath to rush from her body and her spine to curve. A stiff wind blew through the window and the fresh scent of rain mingled with the smell of their lovemaking.

  “Look at me, Querida, watch me,” he panted as he thrust over and over and over again.

  Letty opened her eyes and stared as Jeramy’s abs contracted. His hips pistoned back and forth; his shaft drove in and out of her. Her moans of passion couldn’t be held back, and then, just before she went over the edge, Jeramy stilled. His body trembled under the effort to hold back not only his own release but hers as well.

  A frustrated moan tangled with the sigh of relief that moments before clung to her throat, ready to burst from her lips in testament to her orgasm. Wrinkling her brow, she stared up into those passionate amber-green eyes. What she witnessed there both warmed and scared her. The pool of tears gathering there nearly choked her to death.

  “Ik houd van u.” The soft Dutch was barely a whisper leaving his lips.

  “Je t’aime,” he repeated in French, then, “Ti amo,” in Italian. He spoke the words she longed to hear over and over in languages she only knew because he whispered them to her in times like these. Stolen moments when their breathing was the only sound in the universe.

  “You’re my heart and my life. Tomorrow, I go to my uncle and I declare myself free. Free to love you and to be who I am. No barriers. Just you and me. Man and wife.”

  Letty couldn’t stand it. The tears fell from his eyes to her heated skin as if his love were too great for him to hold inside a moment longer. Clinging to him, her legs around his waist and her arms fastened on his neck she lifted herself to kiss the thick column of his neck, the angle of his jaw and finally the soft curves of his lips.

  Rocking back and forth, she pulled herself along beneath him, drawing them both to that place that was Nirvana. Tomorrow he would face the man who sought to keep them apart. She knew the courage and the patience it would take. But for tonight, here and now, they were together. And nothing could be more perfect.

  The stars collided and the earth shook, lightning danced in the distance and the roar of thunder praised their passion before softly melting away, whispering them a lullaby and leaving them, limbs intertwined and deep in a sated sleep.

  Love on the Run

  One year later…

  “So, let me get this straight. You and Jeramy have been married for the last year, but you weren’t legally married, and now you have to get married to get the money to finish paying for his half of the ranch?” Regina asked Letty, her face set in a confused look.

  “Pretty much,” Letty answered.

  “This whole year, you’ve lied to me about him buying into the ranch and y’all being partners?”

  Letty waved her hands through the air. “God, no. NO. NO. Jeramy really is trying to buy your share of the ranch so you and Tyce can be free to move back to his spread. It’s just that, without his inheritance, he can’t afford it, and I can’t afford to buy you out.”

  “Now you have to get married legally so he can inherit?”

  “Exactly.” Letty nodded.

  “But instead of getting married, you are going to run away and make him chase you, and then when he catches you, you’re going to do what?”

  “I’m gonna make him sweat. Then I’m gonna tell him to kiss my ass. Then I’m gonna make him marry me.”

  “So, the whole deal with you two not keeping your hands off each other and shaking up and stinking up my barn with your fornication...that part is real?”

  “Um, okay, a little harsh on the descriptions there, but yes, Jeramy and I really did start a relationship, and I really do love him. God, is he good in the hay...”

  “Letty, are you sure you want to do this?” Regina sat with her feet propped on the edge of a chair, her rounded belly distended.

  “What the hell kind of question is that? Yes, I want to do this. That man has had me pretending to be his boss, his friend, even his agent for a year to appease his crusty-ass old uncle so he could get the money he needs to buy his share of the ranch. Now we find out the man is dead, and we ducked and dodged for no reason because we weren’t even legally married! Girl, please, if that man wants any more of this goodness he is gonna have to work for it.”

  “So why aren’t you calling a Justice of the Peace and getting this shit legalized?”

  “He has to be punished for that fake-ass Elvis.”

  “Explain to me why you feel the need to ‘punish’ him, when you were the one who insisted that he not tell anyone?”

  Letty pointed a finger at her cousin. “Listen, I didn’t ask you for facts and examples...I asked you to help me pack and deliver the message.”

  “But I’m just saying...”

  “Just saying, my ass. Look Gina, I fucked up. I haven’t been honest with Jeramy about how much I really want this to work. It’s not just about the ranch, or the money, or any of that. This last year has been so much more.”

  Regina shot her a look. “Then why not just tell him that?”

  “Um, because I really want the big show. A preacher, and flowers, and all that stuff. If I just say, “let’s get married” we’ll end up back in Vegas with another fake-ass preacher in a lime green, rhinestone Elvis suit. I’ve spent so much time being about the low-key, I want him to promise not to rush me to the altar, but to let me have the blow-out-to-end-all-blow-outs. It has to be something that erases the fucked-up way we started this. Plus, the sex is so amazing when he is all angry and macho and stuff. I intend to give my little peanut a playmate pronto.” Letty finished her speech by rubbing Regina’s growing belly as if she were ruffling the hair on the small child that was tucked safely away there. Both ladies giggled as the little bundle kicked excitedly.

  “But to ransom yourself off…”

  “Am I not worth two dozen pralines? Besides, after all the bullshit we’ve been through, we deserve a break. All that man can talk about is how he is going to do this, that and the other with them damn horses. I don’t want to hear anything else about no damn horses. I want to hear about how he is going to do this, that and the other TO ME.” She nodded her head empathically before tossing her now-nonexistent tresses over her shoulder.

  “Wow, still haven’t gotten used to not having all that hair.”

  “And you really think cutting your hair off, and then running away to Vegas, before skipping off to God knows where, is the best way to get that man’s attention?”

  “Gina, I planted my ass on this dining room table butt-naked three nights ago.”

  Letty stabbed her finger against the wood of the antique dining room table hard enough to rattle the dishes laden with the hearty lunch she and her cousin were sharing. “And he kissed me on my forehead before sitting down and falling asleep with his head on my knee. I thought for sure I was about to be a feast for a king. He couldn’t even keep his eyes open. The man is working himself to death, damn Dutch-Spaniard. If I don’t make him come find me, he is not going to leave this ranch. This is the only way.”

  “Well, first of all, you could’ve told me that before I sat at this table and ate from these plates. Did you even do dishes, or is this the leftovers?” Regina commented with a frown, before pushing back from the table and studying her hands. “Secondly, when he catches your ass and spanks the brown off it, don’t call me crying.”

  “Where are you going? I need you to help me pack.”

  “Oh, no, ma’am, I am going to fill my husband in on the plan in case that Spaniard of yours goes crazy and tears up my ranch. Then I’m calling T’Zara so we can start planning your wedding cake. I’m thinking red velvet.”

  Letty pulled Regina as close as she could and hugged her. “Just don’t have my nugget before we get back. And remember, when he reads my first note he is going to be pissed, so don’t expect him to speak straight English when he finally makes it to your door.”

  “Pissed is not going to be the word to describe that man when he finds out you’re gon
e. I was in the stables when he found out your fake Elvis was also a fake priest. I don’t think I’ve ever in my life heard any one cuss like that.”

  “I know, right. I am just hoping he channels all that rage into the part of him that does good stuff for that special part of me.”

  “That’s nasty. You know that, right?”

  “Says the woman who’s had to replace three headboards in under a year…”

  “Hey, I am legally married.”

  “That ain’t even right.”

  Regina sighed. “You’re right, I’m sorry. But that’s what you get for eloping after a night of sex and alcohol to begin with. Now hurry and pack so we can get your ass to the airport. Don’t come back without having your last name hyphenated. Don’t want you being a bad influence on my babies.”

  The Queen’s Ransom

  Jeramy tore through the foreman’s house with a speed born of fear and rage. He’d searched the house and the yard before racing down to the barn and finally going to his friend and boss’s house, only to get laughed at. Tyce had looked at him with something like pity and Regina had hugged him as close as her big belly would allow while laughing.

  “This is what you get for not telling anyone you and Letty got married in Vegas a year ago.” Regina handed him the note and kissed him on the cheek. She didn’t wait for him to open the note before she waddled her way up the front staircase, muttering about how this baby needed to hurry or she was putting in an elevator.

  He’d ripped the note open and nearly fainted. It smelled of Leticia’s perfume. Something sweet and spicy that went straight to his dick. His hand trembled causing the paper to flutter. His mouth went dry with fear. Mindful of his audience, Jeramy took a deep breath and began to read.