Clay: Armed and Dangerous (6 page)

He eased up behind her. “Hello, Rylie Thorn.”

Rylie gave a small shriek and whirled around. She clenched the rake to her chest,
her big brown eyes wide. “What the hell did you sneak up on me for?” She raised her
chin and took a step back. “You like to have scared the crap out of me.”

Damn, but she was cute, right down to the sprinkling of freckles across her nose,
and Clay couldn’t help but grin. “You gonna hit me with that thing?”

She glanced at the rake handle and back at him. “Depends.”

Clay raised an eyebrow. “On what?”

“If you ever do that again.”

As she stared up at the man, Rylie took a deep breath and tried to calm her scattered
thoughts and the pounding of her heart. It
was
him last night. That incredible voice and those mesmerizing crystal green eyes...
she was definitely in lust.

“Why don’t we try this again?” His mustache twitched as he smiled and held out his
hand. “It’s good to see you again, Ms. Thorn.”

“ ‘Ms. Thorn’?” She propped the rake against the stall door, pulled off her gloves,
and tucked them into her back pocket. “Don’t you think we’re a little beyond that,
Sheriff Wayland?”

“Yeah.” He took her hand, and damn if his touch didn’t send tingles straight to where
it counted. “After last night, I hope you’ll just call me Clay.”

His eyes swept over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts and her thin T-shirt.
She didn’t feel the need to wear a bra all the time, and right now she felt almost
naked under his gaze.

Rylie, who had never found herself at a loss for words around a man, once again couldn’t
think of a thing to say, just like the first time she’d met him in his office. Her
body vibrated with awareness and need, and all she wanted to do was get naked with
him. Now.

“Well?” He released her hand and brought his fingers to her face. She felt him lightly
brushing dirt away from her cheek. “What do you say?”

She leaned into the touch of his hand against her face. “Yes.”

Clay cocked an eyebrow and cupped her chin with his hand. “Yes... what?”

“Whatever you’re asking,” she murmured, her eyes focused on his, “the answer’s yes.”

A slow, sexy smile crept over his face, and his voice dropped to that seductive pitch
that made her knees weak. “If I wanted to kiss you, that’d be all right?”

Rylie brought her hand up to the copper sheriff’s star pinned to his shirt, and traced
it with her finger. “Damn straight.”

He moved closer, so that his muscled body was a fraction from hers, so close she could
feel the heat of him through her T-shirt and jeans. “What if I said I wanted more,
Rylie? Right here in the barn. You’d say yes?”

She kept her gaze locked with his as she placed her hand right on the bulge beneath
his jeans, giving him his answer. He sucked in his breath as she trailed her fingernails
up and down his impressive length. God, he was big, and did she ever want him.

Clay dropped his hand from her face as he fought to control the lust building up within
him. “If you’re not careful, little wildcat, I might just take you up on what you’re
offering.”

“Oh?” Rylie’s chocolate-brown eyes sparkled with sensuality. “What’s stopping you?”

“Only the fact that I’m on the job.” He resisted the urge to taste those sweet lips
that pursed into a sexy smile. “And the fact that your brother and someone else are
real close to walking in on us.” He jerked his head toward the barn door to where
he heard the sound of voices coming closer.

“Oh.” She lowered her hand from his crotch and grinned. “Works for me.”

“About that ‘yes’...” Clay stepped away, putting some distance between them before
unwelcome company arrived. “Dinner tomorrow night. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

She didn’t even hesitate. “What should I wear?”

And neither did he. “Short skirt. Tight shirt. No underwear, if you’ve got the guts.”

Dear God.

Rylie shivered as Clay moved away from her to the barn door to talk with Levi and
the man she had formerly lusted over, Luke Denver, the Flying M Ranch foreman. Rylie
couldn’t help but enjoy the view as she watched the gorgeous sheriff talk with Luke
and Levi. Luke really was an example of prime U.S. male with dark brown hair, blue
eyes that could make a woman beg, a Bruce Willis adorable grin, and a sexy drawl.

Yet now after she’d met Clay Wayland, Rylie didn’t even feel a twinge of lust for
Luke anymore. Well, that was strange. She’d never had any problem maintaining multiple
lustings before.

“Some assholes tried to steal Skylar MacKenna’s truck,” Luke was saying to Clay. “Damn
near caught the bastards red-handed, but they got away.”

Rylie’s attention snapped from thoughts of the sheriff to concern for her friend and
her friend’s ranch. She walked up to the men, feeling like a pixie in the land of
the giants. “Is Skylar all right?”

Luke looked down at Rylie and gave her that grin of his that used to make her knees
feel like gelatin. “Hey there, Rylie.” His friendly smile vanished as he answered
her question. “Yeah, Skylar’s fine. She’s not even here. But that’s the second attempt
this week on our vehicles. We’re setting up cameras and doing guard duty in shifts.”

He turned back to Levi and Clay. “Skylar left town for a week with her new husband
Zack Hunter, and my wife Trinity went with them to do a little shopping in Bisbee,
to get some clothes for our honeymoon. My thinking is that the thieves knew they were
out of town, so that’s why they picked last night to strike, not counting on me being
around.”

“Their trip sure was sudden-like,” Clay murmured.

Levi shook his head, laughter in his blue eyes. “Well, if you’d seen those two before
they left... my guess is they’ve found themselves a hotel room and won’t be seeing
daylight for a while. I don’t know what Trinity’ll be doing with herself.”

Luke snickered. “Spending lots of money on clothes I won’t let her wear longer than
five minutes.”

Rylie had to laugh, too. The last time she’d seen Skylar was at dinner a couple of
nights ago, and Zack couldn’t keep his eyes off of her even though they were sneaking
up on their six-month anniversary.

When the two lovebirds couldn’t stand it any longer, Levi, Luke, Trinity, and Rylie
had been left alone to finish dinner and clean up the mess—not that anyone complained.
The men were more than happy to polish off every bite of the enchiladas.

Later, Skylar had called briefly to say that she and Zack were going on a little trip
to Bisbee, with Trinity tagging along to hit the shops, and she’d call when they returned.

Clay smiled, but his expression went serious again. “So there’s a good chance that
thieves are people who hang around enough to know what’s going on at the ranch.”

With a nod, Luke replied, “Yeah. But the question remains: is this Guerrero or some
other shithead with a plan?”

The mention of Guerrero’s name turned Clay’s smile to a frown. He cut a quick look
at Rylie, and she felt it like an ominous warning.

He’s worried I’m going to act like an idiot again.

She wondered if she should be offended, then blew it off. It was kind of cute, how
he was concerned about her. Clay Wayland would learn soon enough that she could take
care of herself. In fact, she might enjoy teaching him.

“Sooner or later, Guerrero will make a mistake big enough to take him down.” Levi
took off his Western hat and ran a hand through his thick blond hair. “His boys will
screw up and leave a trail, and we’ll get them all.”

Luke’s scowl came close to matching Clay’s. “They didn’t screw up last night. I couldn’t
even follow their tracks more than a mile. They know the land, and they know what
they’re doing—and what law enforcement might look for and find.”

“Why don’t I head over to the MacKenna ranch with you?”

Clay stroked his hand over his mustache and Rylie imagined what it would feel like
to have that hand stroking her instead. “I’d like to check everything out myself.”

Luke said, “Suit yourself. Check out whatever you want, but I’ve given it a real thorough
once-over.”

Check out whatever you want.
Rylie studied Sheriff God-bod.
No shit. Can’t wait to check out every inch of that.

Clay’s eyes met Rylie’s and for a moment she was sure he’d read her mind. He smiled
and tipped his hat. “See you later, Rylie Thorn.”

“Finally? Seriously?” Rylie nearly dropped the phone onto the kitchen floor in mock
surprise.

“I know, I know.” The excitement in Skylar’s voice was unmistakable. “We know it’s
late for a reception, but we got married so fast in such a small ceremony; it’s time
to celebrate with all of our friends.”

Rylie relaxed against a counter, unable to stop grinning. Skylar sounded so giddy
and happy. “So when? Where?”

“We haven’t decided on a place or day yet. I just wanted to know you’d be on board.
It wouldn’t be a party unless you showed up.” Rylie was sure she heard Zack in the
background, murmuring something like “Party with me. I’m the desperado.”

Rylie pulled her pocketknife from her jeans and flicked it open and closed. Open and
closed. “Honey, if it’s a party, you know I’ll be there. It’s just... I still can’t
get used to the idea that you’re married.”

“
Zack.
Not now.” Skylar giggled and Rylie rolled her eyes, imagining the sickly sweet, almost-newlywed
crap going on at the other end of the line. “I know what you mean,” Skylar continued
into the phone, “I keep thinking I’ll get used to it too, but so far it’s still one
giant head-rush.”

Even though she was dead-set against marriage, Rylie crammed her pocketknife in her
jeans and tried to muster up joy for her friend who sounded so happy, and put a smile
in her voice. “Tell that cowboy he’d better take good care of you, or I’ll kick his
ass.”

“I’ll let him know.” Laughter bubbled up from Skylar. “What do you think about our
having the reception next Saturday? We could have a barbeque and dance here at the
ranch. Trinity will already be gone, but I think the timing would work for everybody
else.”

“Sounds perfect.” Rylie held the phone with one hand and tugged at her earlobe with
her other as she did her best to put some enthusiasm into her voice. “And don’t worry
about me and all my rules against marriage. You know I wouldn’t miss it. I’d never
let you down, Skylar.”

“Great. Be here at noon.” Skylar sighed, a sound of contentment. She was so damn happy
that Rylie couldn’t help but feel pleasure for her friend. “What’s new with you, sweet
pea?”

Rylie’s body warmed at the mere thought of the sheriff.

“I’m going out tomorrow night with Clay Wayland,” she said aloud.

“The sheriff?” Skylar’s voice perked up. “I’ve met him—talk about one hell of a sexy
man. I just knew you’d find him hot. Promise to give me all the juicy details.”

“Don’t I always?” Rylie’s smile was wistful. Their night-long girl gabfests had come
to an abrupt end with Skylar’s getting shackled. She didn’t see them cranking back
up anytime soon. That’s what marriage did to a person. Isolated them. Took them away
from their friends and family. It started out all sweetness, but it would end with
yelling and distance and pain.

After they said their good-byes, Rylie punched the phone off and set it on the countertop.

Married.
What the hell had Skylar been thinking when she eloped last October? Rylie shook
her head. It had been good to hear Skylar’s excitement all these months, but Rylie
just hoped her friend had made the right decision and would be happy next year and
the year after that. Skylar deserved that and more.

But as far as Rylie was concerned, marriage was a mistake she was damn sure she would
never make. Happily ever after was a long damned time, and till-death-us-do-part,
that was too much to even consider.

She did her best to shake off the trapped feeling she got whenever she thought about
marriage, then headed out to saddle Sass for a quick ride of the ranch boundaries.

Less than half an hour later, she and Sass moved along the fence line, blue sky stretching
endlessly above them and wavy thick grass shimmering in a hot breeze. The day smelled
like fertile ground, leather, and horse, and that was fine by Rylie. Riding was the
ultimate freedom, and riding her own stretch, land that she’d worked and suffered
for—nothing beat that.

Except maybe wild sex with a certain larger-than-life sheriff...

Rylie sighed and gave Sass’s reins a gentle tug, turning toward the back quarter of
the ranch. She so didn’t need to go there, back to obsessing about Clay, but it was
hard to avoid. The ranch’s farthest corner at the base of the Chiricahua Mountains
seemed so peaceful and quiet she didn’t have much to keep her mind anywhere else.

Sass’s hooves made soft clop-clops on thy dirt path as Rylie scanned the fencing,
looking for holes or tears. So far, nothing. She hadn’t even seen any tracks in the
dirt that didn’t belong.

She rounded another corner, the hot breeze making its way over her face—

Rylie pulled Sass to a halt, and sat ramrod straight in her saddle.

She sniffed the air again, just to be sure she hadn’t imagined the smell that snapped
her back to full alert.

There it was. A fruity, almost bitter scent. A man’s cologne, expensive, but jarring.
Unpleasant.

Rylie squinted, searching the shadows around nearby brush and trees. She knew that
smell. She remembered it. Before she could get hold of herself, images rushed at her,
grabbing her mind and forcing her heart to full gallop.

Hands grabbing her...

Reggie’s toothy leer as he held her down in the backseat of that putrid old car...

Torn leather digging into her shoulders, her arms as she fought him...

“You’re gonna enjoy this, bitch. You’ve been asking for it…”

Rylie swore and ripped herself out of the past. Her fingertips flew to her cheek,
which was somehow stinging from the slap Reggie gave her all those years ago. He’d
ripped off her shirt, yanked down her pants, and he was working on getting his jeans
off when Levi showed up.