“You don’t have to apologize for him. It’s as much my
fault. I suppose I encouraged him.” Celia admitted, wringing her hands together. She was nervous because she was excited, she had wanted this for so long…just to be able to speak to Wilder. To be this close to him and alone with him again.
“Why did you encourage him, Celia?” He asked her. She hung her head low and then looked up at him again.
“Because I was mad at you. Because I thought you didn’t want me. I suppose I wanted to make you jealous, or teach you a lesson…I don’t know. I was wrong, whatever I did.” She replied. Wilder was still looking at her. His blue eyes had softened. He wasn’t wearing his hat, and his sandy blonde hair fell thickly around his neck. His beard was still growing; he hadn’t shaved in days. Celia had crane her neck up to look at him, he was much taller than her.
“You succeeded then, Celia. Because I was very jealous, and very angry.”
“I know what happened with your wife.” She cut in. Wilder raised his eyebrows, but he wasn’t upset to hear her say it.
“I know what she did, what Conrad did…why did you force her to leave and allowed him to stay after that?” She asked.
“Because he’s my brother. Katherine was an outsider, a girl I knew only for a few months. She had married me for the money, I had always known that. And I married her because I wanted an heir for the ranch.” Wilder explained. Celia watched him intently as he spoke, he didn’t seem angry any more. It was like a dam inside him had burst open and all of this was just spilling out of him. He wanted to tell her, he believed that she needed to know.
“And Conrad was foolish, and jealous of me and arrogant. But I couldn’t just kick him out. He would have nowhere to go. Our father had left him with nothing.” Wilder continued.
Celia hung her head, ashamed that she had misjudged Wilder for a different man.
“So you don’t hate all women? You don’t hate me?” She managed to ask, meeting his eyes with a bite of her lower lip.
Wilder took a step in her direction and she saw the smile form on his face.
“Of course I don’t hate you, Celia. I wanted you with a burning desire from the moment I saw you at the train station. I hated myself for wanting you. I wanted to stop myself but I couldn’t.” Wilder was speaking in words that Celia had never imagined he could use. She stepped towards him and reached for his face tenderly. He was looking down at her, her lips began to quiver.
“Wilder, I want you too. Don’t listen to anything Conrad says. I want you. I love you.” She couldn’t hold herself back any more, she stood up on her toes and kissed him.
Wilder’s hands enveloped her small waist as he held her to himself, kissing her, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Celia sighed as she kissed him back. This was all she ever wanted. She explored his chest with her fingers, dropping her hands to his groin where she could feel a growing bulge.
This time he didn’t stop her, he thrust himself towards her and Celia pulled away from him and smiled.
“I thought you didn’t want me. I thought you were incapable of wanting anyone.” She whispered to him. Their foreheads were knocking against each-others, she was breathing in his air. Wilder smiled at her.
“I love you Celia. Of-course I want you. That first night happened because I couldn’t control myself. I can always control myself.” Wilder insisted, his hand now beginning to explore the front of her dress. She could see the desperation in his eyes again. She knew what he wanted, she wanted the same. He needed to be inside her so that they could feel whole again. This time apart had made them both desperate. They needed each other.
“What is going to happen with Conrad?” She asked him, pulling her face away from him as he was about to kiss her.
“He is going to go fulfill his dream. I’ll give him the money he needs. He can go back to New York and try making a living there again. He’s unhappy here, bored and lonely. And I don’t need him here.” Wilder said, running his large hands through her own unruly curls. He seemed to be enjoying feeling the soft texture of her hair, he looked at her face and then grabbed both her cheeks. Wilder kissed her on her lips before she had the opportunity to say anything to him again. When Celia pulled away, she licked her lips and smiled at him.
“You are a good person, Wilder. You are a good brother and you are a good man for taking care of my grandfather for so long.” She said and placed her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating and she smiled again. Her first instincts had been right. This was a man who she could get to know, spend her life with. This wasn’t a man she needed to be afraid of.
“Thank you Celia. You know, nobody has ever said that to me? Cowboys deserve some kindness and compliments too.” Wilder said and Celia burst into a laugh. She couldn’t help herself. Wilder was laughing too. They were sharing their first laugh as a couple and Celia knew that she had never been happier. Her grandfather was right, nobody around him understood Wilder Moore for the man he was. But she was determined to, he was right, even cowboys needed to be understood.
BOOK 2 : COWBOY TWIN’S ROMANCE (PART 1)
Ivy was sitting on the porch of her father’s pub, with her feet up on a stool and a file to her finger nails. It was blistering hot now by noon and the pub had just opened up. Being the only watering hole in the village, it was also where people came to get a mid-day snack or just meet up with friends.
She had nothing else to do but kill time. At twenty-one year’s old, Ivy had dropped out of college in North Carolina and returned to her home town to help her father with his business instead. Ever since her mother passed away, and she being the only child; she felt like she had a responsibility to care for her father. He was glad to have her back too, but she had always been the apple of his eye, the spoilt daddy’s daughter. So, he never entrusted her with any real work, and now instead of actually helping him set up the pub to open to customers, Ivy had nothing else to do but just sit around and file her nails.
“Daddy.” She called out to him, jumping off the chair on the porch and rushing inside. Her father was behind the bar, polishing the glasses.
“Can I help?” She asked him, pouting her lips. She had been back home from college for over two weeks now and he still hadn’t allowed her to do anything around the house or the pub.
“I don’t need any help here, Ivy. Why don’t you go see what your friends are up to?” Her father turned his kind gray eyes to her. Ivy shrugged her shoulders and sighed.
“What friends? I don’t have any friends here any-more. They’ve all left.” She said, following her father’s every movement with her large green eyes. Her father smacked his lips, and continued polishing the glasses.
“You shouldn’t have quit college, Ivy. Look, I’m fine here, I don’t need your help. You should have stayed on and made something of your life.” He said, shaking his head at her. Ivy sighed with a huff and turned from him.