Heart & Hope (Rosewood Ranch #2)

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

RUBY

L ouisa is like the mother I never had. Except I have a mother—a shitty one. A thousand percent sure I’m going to hell for that thought. But I swear, this is the first time in my life that I have ever had companionship with an older woman that I enjoy. The first time I have wanted to share my thoughts and life with a family member. Period.

Not counting Addy, that is.

Reed appears at my side. He smells divine. Not that I am letting myself take notice. He’s a first-class goof. And despite his constant presence when I’m here at the ranch, I like having him around, which has surprised me more than anything else.

It has been a long, long time since a guy has been able to claim that title: Non-Annoying Male Presence. It’s a start, I guess, to my new, more relaxed semi-vacation.

“Done already?” I glance at him.

He leans on the counter and glimpses the wine in my hands. His eyes wander from the bottles to my face and back. And I wonder what is going through that gorgeous head of his.

“Yup. What’s next, Captain?”

I chuckle and point to the stack of boxes bulging with strings of warm white fairy lights. “I want those gorgeous old trees all lit up, Reedsy.”

Surveying the trees outside as he leans on the counter, he groans and drops his head on my shoulder. “Fine, you want Tarzan, little lady? I’ll be your monkey.”

When his head pops back up and his green eyes find mine, I cant my head, giving him the go on look.

“Lucky you’re cute, little miss.”

I pull a face at him, and he chuckles and wanders to the boxes, hauling two onto his shoulders. His biceps bulge under his shirt and his forearms flex, and I snap my attention back to the boxes in front of me. Wine, beer, and whiskey.

I stack the alcohol into the oversized wine fridge Harry bought for Louisa three years ago, making sure each bottle is stacked with its own category of wine. I close the door after one last count. The catering arrives in an hour, so I reshuffle the double refrigerator to make room for the platter and trays of food for the menu Louisa painstakingly created.

She’s a stickler for her food. The size of this kitchen should have given that away, but she is a foodie and cook of decades, and this woman knows her way around a menu. Addy’s mom and Louisa would get on like a house on fire. Right now, she is chopping away in a frenzy of speed that would put Martha Stewart to shame.

The entire house smells divine with the entrées Louisa insisted on making herself.

“Ruby, sweetheart, can you taste this for me?” She holds out a wooden spoon with something steaming in it. I wander over, and she nods to the sauce she has ladled up. I dip a finger into it and pop it into my mouth.

Oh. My. God.

I swallow the hot, delicious liquid. “Lou, this is incredible.”

Shit, that just slipped out. But, in my defense, I’m so comfortable with Reed’s mom. And the smile that beams on her face warms my heart. It’s a somewhat foreign feeling, being with family that talks, interacts, and includes you, but it’s growing on me. Real fast.

“Try some more,” she says. Her gaze shifts behind me for a second. I don’t hesitate, plunging another finger into the liquid. More this time. And when the flavor hits my tongue, I moan and close my eyes, sucking my finger clean.

A throat clears behind me. Snapping my eyes open, I spin back to find a flustered Reed looking anywhere but my face as he starts to say something but shoots a hand up and hightails it out the door.

When I turn back to Louisa, the shit-eating grin plastered on her face is too much. I burst out laughing. She totally set me up. Now I know where her son gets his sense of humor.

I slap her arm. “Lou!”

She doubles over in a fit of laughter, and I try and fail to tamper my own chuckle.

I’m certain Reed Rawlins has never been flustered around a woman in his life. And the revelation on his gorgeous face was priceless. But when Louisa stills and her mouth gapes, I turn back to see what or who she is gaping at.

A guy with similar features to Hudson stands in the doorway. But he’s different from the cowboys, dressed in Levi’s and a Tommy Hilfiger polo and loafers. A leather overnight bag swings in his hand.

“Oh, my lord!” Louisa springs around the counter as he drops the bag and opens his arms.

“Hey, Mama.”

She lets him fold her in tight as he drops his head into her wavy dark blonde hair. All I can do is stand and watch, gawking at the love that is shared between them. The way he holds her, as if she is the most precious person on the planet.

This scenario isn’t something I’ve ever had with either of my parents. Or sisters, for that matter. The air leaves my lungs, stolen by emotion. I spin back, refusing to stare or be seen choking on my own inner childhood grief.

“Ruby, this is my second eldest. Lawson.”

I plaster a smile on my strained face as I turn around and move closer. He steps forward, hand held out. I take it, and he shakes it, his firm grip all warmth.

“Hi, good to meet you. Reed has told me a little about you,” I say, a little breathless.

“Where is that little brother of mine? Or any of them, come to think of it...”

“Ruby has them all off working on the party.” Lou opens her arms, as if to say check out what we’ve done .

“Wow, anyone who can get Reed to toe the line has my instant respect.” Lawson chuckles. “Do I have a job, too, ma’am?”

“Go hunt down Tarzan.” I nod to the yard outside. “He’s going to need backup and the rest of those boxes.” I wave at the boxes of fairy lights still sitting in the center of the living room floor.

“Sure thing, let me change into my old clothes before I start scaling trees.”

Louisa watches the two of us. A string of curses comes from somewhere high outside.

“Excuse me. Sounds like Tarzan could use Jane’s help.”

I jog outside to find Reed hanging upside down, cable between his teeth as he ties the lights to the branch below. God, how fit is this man?

“Reed Rawlins, don’t you dare fall from there!” I call up the tree.

His head jerks in my direction and he smiles, the cable still between his teeth. I shake my head at him, huffing a laugh.

“Lawson will be out to help you in a minute, please don’t kill yourself over the lights.” Concern lines my every word.

“Laws is here?”

“Yeah, just got here. Getting changed. He’s nice.”

Reed’s face slackens for a second before he glances back up the tree and curls up, grabbing the branch with his hands and sliding his legs from the one they were hooked around. When he comes to rest sitting on the lower branch, he stares down at me.

“Need some cold iced tea, Rubes?” He studies my face, and it takes me a moment to understand his meaning. Oh, he thinks I’m into Lawson.

“I don’t need cooling down from meeting your brother, thank you. But you in that tree? Now, that could have me hankering for something...”

When his mouth gapes, I stifle a giggle and walk back across the yard, leaving him hanging. Literally. That was too easy. I chuckle to myself. Leaves rustle behind me before something heavy hits the ground. Footsteps lope, catching up to me, and I stop, staring inside the house. Louisa putters around the house as I force air in and out of my lungs.

Nope.

Not going there. I close my eyes. But all I see is Reed hanging in that tree, muscle-bound and happy. Internalizing a groan, I open my eyes and start for the house.

When a warm hand wraps around my wrist and spins me back, the last of the breath falls from my lips as Reed’s green eyes drop to them.

He’s too close.

I’m too close.

His hair is all ruffled up from climbing trees like an utter child.

But the place it cracks deep inside me feels like nothing else. This wild and free man—the opposite of everything I have ever been, ever wanted—has me coming apart at the seams with one sweep of his hand through his unruly hair.

He opens his mouth to say something but closes it again. And when he doesn’t say anything, standing impossibly still, I rest a palm on his old shirt, sleeves rolled up, scattered tree debris on the worn fabric. “Those lights ain’t gonna hang themselves, cowboy.”

“Sweet drawl, baby.”

He messes up my hair with a languid look before turning back to the tree.

Rooted to the spot, I can’t take my eyes off him as he springs back up into the tree, arm and back muscles working. My gaze drifts to his ass, and I clear my mind with a shake of my head. I have details to attend to. Party ain’t gonna make itself, Ruby Jane Robbins.

I roll my eyes at my own stupid southern talk. My parents would be appalled.

When Louisa meets me at the door, she glances over my shoulder as Lawson walks past and toward the tree Reed is hanging in again. Louisa laughs as he screeches like a monkey and scales the tree like his younger brother did.

God, these people have no idea how lucky they are.

“How’s the entrée coming along?” I ask.

Louisa’s eyes snap back to me. The love and adoration on her face for her sons transfers to me as she wraps an arm around my shoulders. “All done. You want to climb a tree, too, hon?”

I huff an indignant laugh. “Not likely, Lou.”

“You can, you know. Out here, you’re free. And we love having you around, Ruby Robbins.”

I can’t look at her. The burning behind my eyes is too much. She squeezes my shoulders and rests her head on mine for a moment.

When Harry pushes through the white gate followed by Mackinlay, Louisa releases me and wanders back inside.

“Ruby, how’s things comin’ along?” Harry says.

His rugged features are an older version of his eldest son. And the man has intuition like I have never seen before, even in the events and planning business, where it is our job to anticipate what other people need without saying. He makes us come across like a bunch of hacks.

“Good, Harry. You get that little task sorted?”

He winks at me. “All set, darlin’.” He glances at his wife inside and then to his youngest son hanging in the tree. “Mum’s the word.”

Mackinlay, quiet as always, dips his hat and follows his father. He’s an enigma, that one. I know Reed loves him dearly. Every story he has told me so far has had his closest brother in it. I know Addy thinks highly of Mack.

When monkey sounds let loose in the trees again, I turn back to find the lights all done. Every ancient oak and willow is adorned with strings that will illuminate them into something like pure wonder in a few hours. Lawson jumps down from an old oak, brushing off his jeans and shirt as he goes.

He shoots me a smile as he heads inside. I wait for Reed. When he doesn’t appear like his brother did, I wander over to the last weeping willow and push my way through the curtain of swaying green. I don’t see him at first. Legs stretched along a branch, he’s sitting, leaning on the old trunk.

“Hey?” I call up.

A sad smile brushes his lips as he dips his head. “Hey, baby.”

It should be weird that he calls me that. But for whatever reason, it doesn’t bother me; it simply feels like something we have. This friendly banter that is sweet and casual.

“You coming down? We have a few other things to finalize.”

“Nope.”

“Reed, I need your help.”

He doesn’t respond, resting his head back on the trunk and closing his eyes.

Oh boy.

“Fine, I’m coming up.”

With that, his eyes snap open, and by the time his mouth opens to object, I’m on the second branch. I kick off my shoes and slide my sleeves up to my elbows as I find the next branch with one hand and push up with a manicured foot wedged in the fork below me.

As I reach the branch he sits on, his hand drops down and I slide mine into it. It’s warm and covers my own completely. Butterflies take flight deep in my belly, and I will the heat that has flooded my face to take a fucking hike.

Gentle hands guide me to the branch beside his and I plant my ass on it, not letting his hand go.

“You good?” he asks.

“Yes, thank you.” I let my gaze wander around the inside of this magnificent nature palace. It’s beautiful. The breeze that sways the soft tendrils of green adorning every single thin branch hisses. It’s magical. “This is epic, Reedsy. I love it.”

He chuckles. “Yup, one of my favorite spots.”

“I can see why.”

The silence that hangs between us is comfortable. I lay my head back and close my eyes. The overwhelming feeling of the world turning without me crashes in, and I snap my eyes open a heartbeat later.

“Thanks for doing this for Ma. She deserves it.”

His face is soft, eyes studying my face.

“You’re most welcome,” I breathe.

“Every year we always have big plans to make it special, but the five of us ain’t exactly party planners. Or that organized, come to think of it.”

“I’m sure she loves whatever you guys create.”

“Yeah, she always does.” He sounds wistful.

“Reed? You have no idea how lucky you are to have a mom like Lou.”

“Lou, is it? You two are gettin’ on like fire, then?” He chuckles.

“Huh, yeah, I guess.”

Happiness fills me up. And when his hand reaches across, I don’t flinch or pull away. Only meet his gaze. His chest hollows out in a second. His thumb rubs the back of my hand before he flips my hand over and traces a finger over my palm and down my wrist.

“Rubes.”

I swallow hard.

Rule number one.

Rule number one.

Rule nu ? —

“How can I ever repay you for all this?”

And for whatever reason, my brain flicks back to the inn. Mary-Sue’s ridiculous rules about working women being married. Olive’s insistence that I figure this out on my own. So, I need a fake husband.

No. That’s a fucking stupid idea. I refuse to play a role in their outdated, insane, old-fashioned mindset. But then I say . . .

“Be my husband.” The words blurt from my mouth like vomit.

Reed stares at me, stunned.

I pull back my hand like a hot coal.

Fuck.

“No, I mean—I need a fake husband, for work at the inn. My client has these stupid old-fashioned ideas about working women having to b?—”

“Sure, I can be your husband, Ruby Robbins. Or should I call you Ruby Rawlins?”

I gape at his cheeky face, the way he so confidently slung those words out. Uncertainty flashes through his eyes, so fast anyone not paying attention would have missed it.

“Are you sure? We don’t have to make out or anything. Only need you to be my marital plus one for a week or so when I’m at the inn. The first event is when I come back.”

“Come back?” His voice is raw.

“Yeah, after your ma’s party, I have to go home for a few months. But I’ll be back for the gala and grand opening. Then again for the Christmas bash they want now. That is an add-on that needs to be ironed out back home.”

“Not an email kind of meeting, hey?”

He sounds disappointed, and I can’t tell if it’s because I’m leaving or the fact that I’m staying longer than planned.

“Not an email. But hey, we might find time for that ride in your spectacular hills?”

“Anything you want, Ruby Rawlins.”

He grins at me like a Cheshire cat. My seat aches against the hard wood of the branch and I shift uncomfortably.

“Actually, it’s Reed Robbins. Mary-Sue thinks my married name is Robbins.”

He screws his face up for a second before canting his head. “I’m surprisingly okay with that. Either way, I’m all yours. Let me know when you need me, baby.”

“First, please get me out of this tree.”

He chuckles and swings off his branch, clinging to the trunk with both hands as he nods behind him. “Hop on, wifey.”

I shake my head. “Uh-uh.”

“Come on. If you’re gonna be my wife, Ruby, you’re gonna have to trust me.”

I groan and hang my head. “Fine.”

The moment I’m pressed against his back, the air leaves my lungs. I close my eyes as he descends the tree. I’m sure my grip is way too tight. But he doesn’t say anything, and when we hit the ground, his head turns. “You can let go now.”

His words are breathy and soft, making me never want to let go.

But my rules and my head override that sappy thought, and I drop to the ground.

“Time to wash up, Reedsy. Oh and, can we keep this fake marriage thing between us? I don’t want to annoy your ma. She’s so sweet.”

“You got it. Happy wife, happy life.” He winks at me and walks inside.

Oh god.

I’ve created a monster.

How the hell am I going to keep this professional?

I straighten my shoulders and suck in a breath.

You got this, Ruby. Keep your play inside the rules. Rule number one. And rule number three .

That won’t be hard; I’ve done it all my life.

But my life was never out here, in this place, with these people.

My heart flings against my ribs as Reed disappears down the hallway, pulling his shirt over his head. His back muscles move, and his arms are all ropey veins and bulging tone from climbing trees.

Fuck.