by Starla Kaye
The man with incredible hearing countered, "Yes, I am." He turned to head in her direction. "You've got to the count of five to lay down or I'm coming back up there. Five. Four. Three."
She plopped back against the pillows. "I really don't like you, Cade Calloway."
He chuckled and had the nerve to say, "Yes, you do. And that's what really makes you mad." With that said, he left the house.
Chapter Three
Shawna sat propped up by a stack of pillows in her bed, realizing she actually felt better than she had in what seemed like forever. The fever that had hung on for so long finally had broken yesterday. Her ribs still hurt like the devil from so much constant coughing, but the coughing, too, had eased up. After spending nearly all of the last three days in bed, she was healing but her full strength had yet to return. She was among the living again. Now she needed to quit lazing about and get back to work. It might take her longer than usual to accomplish anything, but she had to pull her weight around the ranch. Her pride demanded it.
She blew out a frustrated breath. Unfortunately every blasted man on the ranch didn't want her back at work yet. Scott and Alan both had threatened to haul her right back to bed if she even set foot on the porch, and tie her there. Most bothersome, though, Cade Calloway had promised to roast her butt if she so much as left her bedroom. Roast her butt! Lord help her, the man was a real burr in her life.
She scowled at the empty doorway he'd stormed back through only moments ago after coming up to check on her and finding her headed for the closet. He'd had the nerve to scoop her up, tote her back to the bed, and toss her back in it. Oh, they'd shared some words! Now she felt a little ashamed about what she'd said since he'd been taking care of her all this time--whether she wanted him to or not. But really...this had to end. She had to stop feeling all tingly excited when Cade shifted into Alpha-in-charge mode. She had to quit remembering how good he smelled, how nice it had felt being held in his arms. Most important, she needed to forget that one time he'd kissed her...and stop wanting him to do it again.
Sighing, she tried to force those unwanted thoughts aside. He was so far out of her reach. They were polar opposites: she all about the country, he all about big cities; she... Stop! Stop! Stop! You have a job to do, a job where he is your boss. For now. It was the whole "for now" thing that was the biggest problem. Pretty darn soon she and her buddies would be tossed off the ranch with little more than the shirts on their backs. They would be out of work and without a home. Unless she could find a miracle way to save it all.
Cade Calloway--big shot entrepreneur--was IMPOSSIBLE in huge, capital letters. No doubt about it. Sure, he'd played diligent nurse all this time, put up with her cranky crap, and he'd even slept the first night in a torturous chair next to her bed. How sweet was that? What? No, no, no! He wasn't sweet. He was bossy. He was demanding. He was heartless. After all, he was stealing away her home and still refusing to give her past the first of February to beat the other offer.
She heard the sounds of him moving about downstairs and wondered what on earth he was doing now. Why didn't he just leave? Why did he stay around to annoy her? Did he get off on that? She'd told him at least a hundred times in the last three days that she didn't like him. Did he care? Clearly no.
With a huff, she slid her legs over the side of the bed and immediately felt lightheaded, which really irritated her. As she sat there a moment, she heard the familiar footsteps climbing the stairs. To her disgust, anticipation swirled through her. Her heart did a funny little skip. You are such an idiot! Forget what a handsome hunk he is and how he lights every fire within you. He is ruining your life!
Cade moved into the doorway, carrying a tray of food. The smells of eggs, bacon, and hot biscuits drifted to her. Her stomach rumbled.
"I'm not hungry." She was used to fending for herself and felt uncomfortable with his constant attention.
Cade locked gazes with Shawna for yet another battle of wills. He had heard her stomach rumbling and knew she was lying, probably out of pure stubbornness. No one had ever tested his patience as much as she did. Oddly, he liked being challenged, at least some of the time. But he would win this challenge.
"You need to eat." He easily held the tray, saw the way her nose sniffed at the smells. She wanted this food, but for some bizarre reason she wanted to fight him on the act of bringing her breakfast. "You're going to eat."
She jutted her chin out and shook her head. "I said I'm not hungry." Her voice was still raw sounding, but better.
"Do you have to battle me on everything?" They'd argued about her taking the prescriptions he'd brought. They'd argued about the cough medicine, cough drops, and every other thing he'd brought. He'd won most of the battles, but not all of them. He was tired of arguing with her. Actually, he was flat out tired. Acting nursemaid was exhausting.
She held his gaze and defiantly stood, and then swayed, forced to slump against the side of the bed. That did it! He'd had enough of these childish games of hers. He growled under his breath and moved to the long dresser to set the tray down. She would eat it cold, but, damn, she was going to eat. But first...
Her eyes rounded as he strode across the room. He was certain his intentions were clear in his expression. She'd pushed his buttons too much already. Without hesitation, he took her arm and spun her around to face the bed.
She stiffened and hissed at him, "You're not really going to..."
He pushed her forward until she stopped herself by resting on her forearms. Her pajama-covered bottom was in just the position he wanted, except he wanted it nice and bare. While she glared back at him, he pushed her top out of his way and then tugged the bottoms and panties down to her knees. "I most definitely am going to burn your sweet bottom. I warned you earlier to stop being a brat, which you have been for days."
Fury sizzled in her emerald eyes. "I've been sick. I'm not at my best when I'm sick. Nobody is."
"True enough, but you've been exceptionally bratty. There isn't a man on this ranch who isn't ready to find a way to change your attitude." He planted a hand on her back when she tried to get up. "I'm the one who is going to handle the problem. I'm the one who is going to give you the spanking you've been begging for."
He shot a hand down against her cool flesh. The loud slap echoed around the room.
She pushed up on her arms in an attempt to wriggle free. "I would never beg for a spanking. Nobody would."
"Maybe not in actual words, sweetheart." Cade swatted her heart-shaped bottom over and over, pleased with the quickly blossoming color. "Your actions have said a lot."
"Have I mentioned how much I despise you?" she questioned on a hiss of pain.
"Repeatedly." Frustrated by that, too, he got down to serious business. "I have given up valuable time to come here and take care of you."
She sucked in a breath when he decided to turn his attention to her sit spots. Finally she gritted out, "I never asked you to do it. I was perfectly fine--"
Remembering how sick she'd been when he'd talked to her on the phone and even worse when he'd arrived here, he sent a wicked Smack! to the middle of her butt cheeks. She yelped and craned her head to look back at him through teary eyes. "You were scaring your friends with how sick you had become. You scared me. You were not 'perfectly fine.'"
For a second they locked gazes. He was not backing down on this. He'd never been so frightened in his life. Then her lower lip wobbled and she burst into sobs.
"I'm an awful person," she sobbed out, dropping her head to the crumpled bedding. "I hate being sick. I hate being helpless."
Cade straightened, surprised. All of his irritation had disappeared. He didn't know what to do.
She thrust her red bottom out at him and pleaded in misery. "Go ahead. Spank me more. I deserve it. I've made everyone worry for no good reason."
At the moment spanking her was the last thing he wanted to do. Not that he regretted burning her bottom, because she had definitely acted the brat for too long. But now he
wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and comfort her. No. He wanted to slide into bed beside her and comfort them both, in a very intimate way.
Instead he tugged her clothes back into place as gently as he could and pulled her to her feet. As she faced him, her face red in embarrassment, tears trickling down her cheeks, he fought hard not to reach for her. He wanted her as his lover even more now than before. But not now.
He drew in a steadying breath and walked over to get the tray of now cold food. Cold or not, she needed to eat to regain her strength. He heard her climbing into bed, heard her wince as her tender bottom rubbed the mattress. He steeled himself before facing her once more.
"I don't suppose you're going to say you're sorry for..." she said quietly.
"I'm not sorry." He carried the tray over as she squirmed uncomfortably into a sitting position against the stack of pillows. "You deserved a spanking and you got it. End of discussion."
She blinked away her tears and grumbled, "Well, I'm not happy about it."
Cade found himself smiling. After she straightened the quilt over her lap, he set the tray down. "You need to eat every bite."
She looked rebellious for a second and then forked up some of the scrambled eggs. They were no doubt cold, but she gave a satisfied moan of pleasure. "These are amazing."
"I thank you, ma'am." It pleased him to know she appreciated his cooking. Few people knew that he actually liked to cook and was really good with certain dishes, breakfasts being his specialties.
Her gaze shifted up. "You? You made this? Not the cook for the ranch hands?"
His cell phone chirped in his pocket and interrupted the awkward moment. After glancing at the caller ID, he turned toward the door. "Sorry, I've got to take this call. Business."
"Right. Business. Like taking away someone's home," Shawna grouched.
He hesitated, feeling like he'd lost more ground with her. And it would be even more if he admitted the call was from his friend Pete and probably the conference call he'd been expecting with the potential buyer for the ranch.
"I'll come back for the tray." He flashed her a look that he hoped warned she'd better still be in bed when he came back.
She ground her teeth and gave a curt nod.
* * *
Cade hurried down the stairs toward the kitchen, which was the farthest point in the small house from Shawna's bedroom. He didn't want her catching even a snippet of what was said. He basically chit-chatted as he walked until he stopped and leaned against a counter.
"Okay, talk to me now."
"Is something wrong? Is your lady worse now?" Pete asked in concern. "I thought you told me yesterday that she was on the mend."
His lady? Wouldn't Shawna hate hearing herself referred to that way? The notion made him smile as Cade answered, "No, she's much better. Thank God. So much better she's back to giving me hell." His smile grew even bigger. She was so much better that she challenged him on each and every thing. She'd pushed him so much that he'd finally spanked her.
Pete chuckled and pulled him from those thoughts. "That sounds like the little cowgirl I know."
This wasn't the first time Cade had noted a special warmth in Pete's tone when he talked about Shawna. Oddly, this time it bothered him. Jealousy laced his words as he briskly asked, "Are we moving forward with everything?"
Instead of Pete responding, Sam Arnold stepped into the conversation. "I'm prepared to sign the papers tomorrow. The sooner I get control of the Rolling Hills Ranch, the sooner my men can move in and take control."
"Move in? Take control?" Cade asked uneasily. He'd never before questioned what a buyer had planned for a business he sold. The ranch was just another business. Right? Right.
Arnold confidently explained, "My corporate partners have decided to turn a large chunk of the ranch into a guest ranch. If done right, there's potentially big profit in that of business." He took a breath before adding, "We'd like to have most of the work done by spring. So we need to get this deal closed ASAP."
Cade had to ask. "The men currently working here?"
"I'll give them all a nice severance package," Arnold said, annoyance tingeing his words.
Cade's gut tightened. Shawna had been right: he'd been naive about how it would all turn out. "And Ms. Donley?"
"We have heard that she's a real looker. She even has something of a reputation as a barrel racer. Our PR people tell us she could be a good draw for the new business." Arnold took a second before saying, "We thought we'd see if she wanted to stay on as a trail guide or something."
Cade clenched his free hand in disgust at his side. No way in hell she would ever lower herself to do that. Trail guide! Nor should she have to. She might not have shown him lately because she'd been so sick, but he knew--from what the men said and from what he'd researched--that she was an exceptional foreman. The enormity of what he was doing to her and the ranch hands he'd come to know and respect finally hit him. He was every bit the ass she'd accused him of being.
"I've got to go," he said suddenly, needing to end this conversation and do much more thinking about the situation.
"But I'm ready to--" Arnold protested, sounding irritated.
"Are you okay?" Pete pressed him.
No, he wasn't. He'd never been faced with this kind of dilemma before. He bought a business, made a few improvements, and sold it for a profit. The same would happen with this sell. Except that now it didn't seem right.
"I'll get back to you both later. Maybe tomorrow." With that he disconnected and tossed his cell phone on the counter. He would have been happy to see it break as mad as he was, but it didn't.
He leaned against the counter again, rolled his head back and closed his eyes. What the hell was he going to do now?
* * *
"Your guard dog is tough to get by," Scott said in irritation several hours later from her doorway.
Shawna scooted up in bed, wincing at the still minor tenderness on her bottom. She'd been dozing off and on ever since she finished the amazingly good breakfast. Cade had been right, she'd needed to eat. Already she was feeling stronger. And she was definitely ready for visitors--ones that didn't act so bossy.
"I assume you're talking about Cade Calloway." She tucked the covers around her waist, wondering what he'd been doing while she'd been napping. Probably buying and selling some other business over the phone. Someone else's dream being bought out from under them...like hers.
"Are you all right?" Scott walked next to the bed, his face pinched in a frown of concern.
It annoyed her that he'd noticed her wincing. But no way would she say it had been only a small reaction to still having a sore bottom from being spanked. So she ignored the question. "Did you get the broken fence mended?" He'd mentioned the other day that a large piece was down in the far north range.
He frowned at her obvious avoidance of his question. "Three of the men are working on it even as we speak. Getting out there in the snow has been tough."
Snow? That wasn't usually a big problem, unless... She glanced toward the nearby window, surprised at seeing what looked like almost a foot of snow. When had she last looked outside? Before Cade had shown up? She felt guilty for not doing her job as foreman, for not being aware of what was happening around her. All she could say was, "At least there aren't any cattle on that field now."
"Speaking of cattle," Scott said uneasily.
The clear worry in his tone had her closing her eyes for a second before turning back to face him. Her stomach was knotting in dread. The tightness in his expression only made the knot grow tighter. "Something has happened, hasn't it?"
Dammit, she was responsible for what happened on this ranch. The buck stopped with her. And she'd been lax in her duties, all because she'd been sick. No, all because Cade Calloway wouldn't let her get out of this stupid bedroom. Okay, maybe that wasn't fair, but still...
Beneath his well-worn, wide-brimmed hat, Scott's brow furrowed in anger. "Don't beat yourself up about this becau
se there was nothing you could have done. Nothing any of us could have done."
At the moment she was glad to be sitting down. She was certain whatever had happened was serious. She pulled in a breath and raised her chin. "Tell me. Now."
He hesitated, cursed under his breath, clearly reluctant to tell her. "We had some rustlers."
"What! When?" She shoved the covers aside and flung her legs over the side of the bed. Her head felt like it was spinning, but she couldn't let a little thing like dizziness stop her. This was bad. Big time bad.
Scott had started toward her, obviously noticing how wobbly legged she appeared. Darn it, she hated looking weak in front of him, in front of anyone. She put out a hand to stop his progress. "I'm fine. Just let me get dressed and we'll go--"
"You are not going anywhere!" Cade commanded from the doorway. The hardness in his brown eyes and the firm set of his strong jaw told her he'd not only seen her action but also that he'd heard what Scott said. He nodded toward her second-in-command. "Terrell and I will handle the problem."
Scott looked from Cade to Shawna and back to Cade. His entire body had gone stiff.
Before he could say anything, Shawna attempted to regain control of her noodle-like legs. "I'm capable of--"
Cade pinned her with a knowing look. "You're capable of what? Of taking two steps and falling flat on your face? Or maybe you'll manage to not wear yourself out, get dressed, storm out of the house intending to take control, and then collapse in front of your men?"
To her horror, tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away, mortified that the men had seen them. Darn it all. Cade was right. She was of no help now. The realization only hurt her bruised ego more and made her lash out at Scott. "I asked you before, when did this happen?"
He barely even flinched at the fury in her tone. "Yesterday."
Yesterday? And he hadn't come to tell her until now? "What took you so long to come to me?"
