Ryland (10 page)

“But the money never stopped. Why didn’t
you hire help later, after Dad passed away?” She shrugged. “Mom? Why not?”

“I knew that someday you’d find yourself
a mate. I had hoped, I suppose, that she’d want to keep me around to help out,
you know, sort of cook and stuff for her and you. Then as the years went by and
you never seemed to want to find her, I decided that I’d simply care for you
for the rest of my days.” He started to tell her that he’d never want that when
she continued. “I know that it sounds so silly, but my point is that I wasn’t
any better at being a mate than you think you might now be.”

“How so? You raised us boys while Dad
was away. You went to all the little league games, practices, and plays. Why
did you think you weren’t a good mate?” He looked at her when she turned toward
him. “You think you failed Dad, not us.”

“Yes. He was so…he loved to go to those
fund raisers. I hated them. He loved being with the people who knew him. He was
a good man, a wonderful father, but he was a good deal more sociable than me. I
think he was disappointed in me.”

Ryland stood up and went to the office
his dad used. He used it now that he was here more. He took his mom with him. He
sat her at the desk and pointed to the pictures. “What do you see there?” There
were perhaps a dozen or so pictures on the desk, all of them of in varying
stages of their lives. He noticed that there were a few recent ones, some that
had been added after his father had died. That’s when he realized that he had
pictures on his desk at work. Of his parents together with him. Of him and his
brothers on a fishing trip. There was even one of them at the zoo as they stood
in front of the tiger exhibit.

“Your father and you boys.”

He looked at the pictures, picked up the
same one he had on his desk, and was pretty sure it was on his brother’s as
well. He handed it to her. “This one. What do you see here?” She ran her
fingers over the glass reverently and smiled. “He’s looking at you as if he is
the happiest man in the world. And he is looking at the woman he loves.”

The picture was of the two of them. They
were at one of the socials that she said she hated so much. They were looking
at each other and laughing at what looked to be something just the two of them
would understand. His dad had his arm around her and she had hers tucked into
his shoulder. They looked so happy.

“He told me once that he loved seeing me
all dressed up. He gave me those pearls that night and told me that I would be
the loveliest woman there. He said that it wasn’t because of the necklace, but
because he loved me.” She looked up at him. “You treat Bronwyn half the way
your father treated me and she’ll be as happy as the two of us are in this
picture.”

She stood up and kissed his cheek. When
she handed him the picture he sat down and looked again at the others there. He
wanted to see his mate there with him, children of his own. He looked up at his
laptop and moved the mouse. He’d been looking at houses and had stopped on this
one. Ten bedrooms and five baths, it would hold his family and any children
that he and Bronwyn had together. He took out his cell and called the realtor.

They talked for over an hour. He knew
that Bronwyn was going to murder him, and more than likely his mom too, but by
end of business tomorrow if everything went the way he’d planned, he’d have his
own home. He set the picture down on the desk again and smiled. Now he had to
go and tell Bronwyn.

~~~

She heard the door open and waited for
them to speak. It had taken her nearly ten minutes to get in here and she
wasn’t leaving until she felt clean. She wondered how much water that would
take. And there were some of her own clothes on the counter. Clothes that Sindy
had had in her bag when she’d left for work that morning to bring to her if she
found her.

She shivered when she thought of what
she’d learned from her friend. It was her fault. Bronwyn should have been there
to protect her. But Ryland had saved her, his brothers and him. Even Sandra had
helped and, according to Sindy, had had a good time too. When someone knocked
on the door, she stuck her head out of the shower.

“I’m almost finished. Who is it?” She
heard him laugh and knew it was Ryland. “Go away. I’m feeling really good and I
don’t want you to spoil it for me.”

“If you hurry a little more, I want to
take you outside and show you the new kittens that were born yesterday. And Mom
is making her famous lasagna. She has garlic cheesy bread too.” Her belly
growled and she knew he’d heard it. “If you’re really good, I’ll give you my
second helping.”

She pulled her head back into the shower
and washed up. She’d taken off the bandages before getting in and she looked
down at the wounds. They were healing nicely and, while she had numerous scars
already, she didn’t think these would be so bad. Someone had done a good job of
stitching them up. She was bruised too, but those were fading now and she only
looked slightly like a battered woman now rather than one that had a few rounds
and came out on the bottom.

Getting out, she dried slowly. She was
tired again. Her body was still recuperating, but she could at least move
without feeling like she needed a nap every foot or so. She was pulling on a
pair of her jeans when someone knocked again. She nearly told him to fuck off
when Sandra spoke.

“I’ve come to see if you need help with
the bandage, dear. Ryland said that you were in the shower and I thought you
might need some juice as well.” She opened the door and smiled. “Oh my, your
hair is much longer than I… goodness, it’s so lovely.”

“It’s a pain in the as…butt. I’ve wanted
to cut it all off for years, but every time I got to a barber there’s a long
line and I don’t want to sit and wait.” Sandra took the brush and asked her to
have a seat. She brushed her hair for her and Bronwyn felt stupid, but also loved
the feeling of the smooth strokes along her head which seemed to relax her.

“It’s a stylist. For a woman, it’s a
salon or a stylist. And I wouldn’t cut it. It’s so beautiful.” The strokes were
very hypnotic and she found herself relaxing. “What did you do at the hospital,
if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I was a nurse.” The brush paused then
continued. Bronwyn looked at her in the mirror in front of her as Sandra
continued. She waited for her to tell her she wasn’t smart enough or give her
hell for quitting, but she did neither.

“I would imagine that it was difficult
to give up. I can’t imagine how long it must have taken you to finish med
school then all that time working toward it only to have to it taken from you. I’m
sorry for that.”

Bronwyn turned, took the brush from her,
and stared at her. “Why?” Sandra looked confused at her question. “Why are you
being so nice to me? I can’t understand any of you. Your sons have been in here
twice a day, each of them, and asked how I was feeling. I was offered a laptop
to play on and magazines to read. Jules even offered me his reader, telling me
if I wanted anything other than what was on there, he had a credit. Why? Is it
because they think that I’m going to be their brother’s mate or something? I’m
not.”

“Why not?” She started to say that she
couldn’t answer a question with one when Sandra continued. “Is there something
wrong with him? Do you think he’ll beat you? Hurt you? Or is it because you’ve
lumped all males together because of a select few?”

“All the men in my life have shit on
me.” She started to stand when Sandra told her to sit. “I’m not going to be his
mate. I don’t want to be anyone’s mate.”

“Has he?” The softly asked question
startled her. “Has Ryland shit on you? Has he hurt you? Sold you to that man?
Given you to anyone as a plaything?”

“That doesn’t mean he won’t.” She
flushed when she realized what she said to his mother. “He’s bossy and loud. He’ll
expect me to do his bidding, clean his house, and cook. I won’t…I don’t know
how to do those things.”

Bronwyn turned to her when she laughed. It
took her a few minutes before she could ask her what the hell she’d found so
funny. Bronwyn was ready to have her committed when she finally told her.

“He won’t expect you to do any of those
things, dear. Not unless you want to. He can cook and is quite good at it. He
can clean a bathroom like there’s going to be surgery done in there. As for him
being bossy and loud? You do all right in that department as well.” She stood
up and headed for the door. “I have dinner about ready. Come down and eat with
us. You’ll see that they’re animals when there’s food involved, but also the
most loving men I know.”

She decided to go down. It was that or
stay in this room and go stir crazy. If she was honest with herself, she was
bored. She’d not been bored since…well, she didn’t know if she’d ever been
bored before. She had never been in this part of the house before that she
could remember and followed the sounds to the kitchen. She nearly backed out
again when it looked like they were having fun.

“Come here.” She was pulled into the
room by Ryland, who kissed her on the mouth. She was so shocked by it that she
had been handed a handful of silverware and pushed to the dining room before
she could think. She was still standing there with it when Neal came in.

“We can use that better if you put it
with the plates. Unless this is your plan to keep all the lasagna to yourself.”
He looked at her oddly. “Are you okay? You look sort of…like someone has hit
you.”

“He kissed me.” He grinned at her and
she flushed. “I don’t know why he’d do such a thing. Especially in front of…I
don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. He’s just not going to be my mate. Or
me his.”

He nodded as she started slamming forks
and knives onto the table near each place setting. He walked behind her and
straightened them out. She turned to glare at him when they were halfway around
the table.

“You need to vent. I’m just making it
neat. Nice trade off, don’t you think?”

His grin, she supposed, could be
considered charming. She wanted to slug him. “Does that work for you? This
charming good-looking bit, does it get you what you want? I don’t have anything
you want, I promise you.” He nodded and took the rest of the silverware away
from her. She thought maybe it was a smart move because she was thinking of
using it on him.

“Does this hard ass thing you have going
work for you?” She stood there as he finished the table. “The way I see it is
this. You’re his mate whether you want to be or not. He wants you…well, you’ve
made it clear that you don’t. Why?”

“I hate that question. A lot of people
have asked me that. I don’t have an answer. I just can’t, that’s all.” He
nodded. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you that you can’t, not that
you won’t.” She looked at Ryland who stood in the doorway behind her. “Neal,
could you tell Mom that I need a few minutes? I want to talk to Bronwyn.” He
held out his hand to her. She knew that if she took it something would change. And
she was afraid of the kind of change he wanted. He didn’t grab her like she’d
expected him to do when he stepped close to her, but wrapped his arm around her
and took her out on the deck. It was a beautiful night. “I told you I’d show
you the kittens.” She walked along with him and wasn’t really sure why she was
letting him lead her out here. “There are seven of them. It’s sometimes hard
for a human to tell the sex of a kitten at birth, but as a cat myself, I can
tell.”

He opened the barn door and led her to
the back. She was being as quiet as he was and when he moved to a small area
just behind a bale of hay, she looked to where he pointed. The smallest bundles
of fur she’d ever seen were all huddled together and what she thought was there
mother was nearby watching them. As soon as she saw Ryland, she purred.

“She knows you.” He nodded, sat down,
picked up one of the kittens, and handed it toward her. “I can’t. I don’t know
anything about animals and less about little tiny ones.”

He pulled her down to the hay and sat
her onto his lap. Before she could protest or even move off him he cupped her
hands around the tiny fur ball. Her heart melted.

“She’s beautiful.” He looked at her with
a smile. “I can’t tell them apart either, but she knows what she is. And she
wants to be like her mom.” She tried to put her back with the others when one
of the others brushed against her hand. She picked him up and rubbed him
against her cheek.

“Have you ever had a pet before?”

She shook her head and picked up another
one. This was a male too. She held them both close to her as she explained. “I
wasn’t allowed one as a child. My mother said we couldn’t afford one. I suppose
not if she was using all the money for drugs. Then later, when I was in the
foster care system, I couldn’t then either. When I got old enough to have one,
it was too much trouble and I didn’t know how to care for one anyway.” She
shrugged as she put both kittens down. “It would be hard now, too, with me on
the run all the time.” She looked at him when he said her name. She turned
slightly and looked into his eyes. She could see that he was aroused, feel it
under her bottom as a matter of fact, but when she licked her lips, he stared
at them as if he wanted to devour them. “Your family is waiting.” She didn’t
recognize her own voice; it was husky and low. “They’re going to wonder where
we are.”