Page 30 of Headstrong Cowboy
That was the problem Chrissy was talking about.It had nothing to do with a potential sale.He allowed himself a momentary second of relief that there was still a chance he could get the property before tamping it way down.Somehow, the urgency to connect to his family’s history was waning every day, the silent promise he’d made to his mother, a mother he couldn’t remember all that well, not seeming as urgent as it had been when he’d first arrived in Marietta.Because something more important—someonemore important—was becoming the focus of his life.And whatever this disaster was.Whatever she needed, he’d help her through it.
Two repair vans indicated that something was seriously wrong.The last thing Chrissy needed was to be stressed about something like this a few days out from a big competition—the first one she’d entered in a long while.
Collecting up the Copper Mountain Chocolate Shop bag, he opened the door and stepped out.The sun was surprisingly warm for September, and he savored it, knowing that he could be experiencing his first Montana winter soon and it was going to be completely different from the winters he’d spent in Texas.
He ate up the distance between his car and the workshop in double quick time.The second he pulled opened the door, he could see the problem—a layer of water on the floor about an inch deep.While he logically knew that water would be supplied to this building, considering he’d filled up hundreds of little tubes for flowers to go into, he was still surprised to see the clear liquid everywhere.
Chrissy was talking to a man, her hands waving in the air erratically as if she was trying to argue a point.He wanted to stride over there and tell the guy who she was talking to, to listen to her, but he didn’t.Doing that might undermine her ability to deal with the issue, and the way the guy was looking at Chrissy, it was exactly what would happen.The man either wasn’t listening, or he didn’t believe what Chrissy was trying to explain to him.Which was ridiculous, considering the evidence was all around them that something major had happened.
“Why do all repairmen think because we’re women, we don’t know what we’re talking about?”
Ryder whirled around, ignoring the squeeze of pain the action caused.Standing before him was a woman he’d not seen before, but he could tell she was a Bloom sister.Her resemblance to Chrissy was in her pert little nose and her mouth stretched into a grimace he’d seen on Chrissy’s face once or twice before.“You must be Tilly.”
A ghost of a smile hovered, but the worry was evident in her eyes.“That’s me.How did you know?”
“Chrissy’s there...”He hitched a thumb in the direction she stood.“And I’ve met Sunny before.I’m Ryder Chamberlain, a friend of Chrissy’s.What’s going on?”
Tilly canted her head as if she wanted to delve into how well he knew her sister, but instead glanced at Chrissy and sighed.“I’m not sure what exactly went wrong.All I know is there’s water here and in one of the greenhouses.Sunny’s attempting to move the flowers from the flooded one to one of the other buildings.I was helping her, but I came here to see if Chrissy had sorted out the problem, which is clear she hasn’t, but she will.My sister won’t stop until she gets what she wants, but the financial hit is going to be a big one, which isn’t what we need,” she finished, and her eyes widened as if she realized she’d said something she shouldn’t have.“Um, I need to go.”
She sloshed through the water, which created a little wave that washed over Ryder’s boots.He wasn’t worried that some water would ruin them.They’d seen worse things.
Ryder noted that the conversation Chrissy was having with the repairman was over, and he was heading out the same door that Tilly had exited through.Chrissy’s head hung down between her slumped shoulders.Depositing the bag of chocolates on the nearest workbench, he made his way over to her, saying nothing, but pulling her close.A shudder ripped through her as her arms closed around his waist, and she rested her head against his chest.
“Hey,” she muttered.
“Hey, yourself,” he said, rubbing his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.Questions were brimming, but he contained them.The most important thing was to give her whatever she needed in terms of support, and if that meant holding her close, he wasn’t going to argue or complain.
Another shudder went down her spine before she pulled back and looked up at him.Worry clouded her brown eyes and he wanted to kiss it away.Wanted to come in and solve all her problems.It would be so easy to do—he had the money to fix whatever was going on.How could he do that when she didn’t know how wealthy he was?
“It’s a disaster,” she started as she looked around.
“I can see that.Want to tell me what’s going on?I’m not a plumber, and it looks like you’ve got that taken care of, but I can listen.”
“One of the pipes that supplies the water here and to one of our greenhouses sprung a couple of leaks.Apparently, this happened a year ago, but because my Dad happened to be in the greenhouse at the time, he was able to turn the water off and get it fixed before something like this happened.The guy I was talking to told me that when he’d come out to fix it, he’d told Dad that the whole system needed to be replaced, as the pipes were old, and warned him it could be worse the second time around, but Dad said just to patch the leak.Obviously, he was right...it was worse the second time around, because it happened overnight, and instead of just the greenhouse, like last year, disaster struck here too.”
By the time she’d finished, Chrissy had pulled herself out of his hold and was now pacing around in the water, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to stave off a headache.
“I’m sorry, little flower.How can I help?”He came up behind her and massaged her shoulders.
“You didn’t come here to sort out my problems.If I recall correctly, you were in the middle of some deep thoughts too.”Again, she pulled away from his touch.“Are you leaving today?”
She may have tried to sound upbeat with her question, but she’d failed miserably.There was no missing the corners of her mouth drooping down in unhappiness.Sure, it could be because of the disaster she was in the middle of, but Ryder knew differently.
“That was the plan, but plans change.”He held up his hand when it looked like she was going to interrupt him.“I’d already changed my mind before I left my hotel room.It has nothing to do with what’s going on here.I’m staying in town.”
“During the rodeo?”
“Yes, especially during that.”Even though she’d shaken off his touch two times, he hadn’t taken it personally.The first time had been agitation as she’d relayed what was going on and the second was because she was trying to be brave.This time, when he touched her, the only reason he was going to give her to pull away from him was because she would need to breathe.“I want to see you compete and I want to take you to all the social events.Will you be my date for the rodeo, Chrysanthemum Bloom?”
“I’d love to be your date, Ryder Chamberlain.”
“Perfect,” he said before he captured her lips.
Her acceptance was everything he wanted it to be.Her body sagged against his, like it had when he first arrived, and her mouth opened up beneath his, allowing him to deepen the kiss.They were standing in the middle of a flooded floor, and Ryder couldn’t think of a better place to kiss her.He wanted to show her that no matter what, she could count on him when she needed him.Like he knew he could count on her.After all, she’d picked up on his distress earlier.
They were attuned to each other in a way that he never thought he would be with another person.
Shadows hung over them, but he believed that they could make their way through the darkness and into the sunshine.
