Jake smiled then. I’d appreciated his half smiles and his occasional laugh, but being the center of his full smile was like basking in the sun after a long rain. “While I would pay to see that, I don’t think you’d appreciate the sore back.”
“What are you saying?”
His smile widened, and he touched the brim of his hat. “If you forgive me for saying so, Ms. Melanie, a two-hundred-pound sack of manure is tougher to deal with when it’s soaked through than it is when it’s dry. Heavier too, I’d say.”
I laughed. A full-belly, shocked laugh that took us both by surprise. He just called my ex-husband a drunken sack of cow crap. There were limits to my fear, a point at which my temper snaps and I antagonize the thing that’s bothering me. His accurate description of my ex put it in perspective. I’d been willing to fight, ready to dodge a drunken fist or scream until I was blue in the face.
Less than six months ago, that would have happened. Now, this was my ranch. And my foreman just told me my ex-husband wasn’t worth a shit. A spark of old loyalty, the urge to hide the flaws of the man I’d chosen to marry reared its head, but I stomped it back into the box it belonged in. I wasn’t that woman anymore.
“What the hell are you doing here?” David’s voice broke through my laughter. I didn’t cut it off though. I let my laugh die naturally. David scrambled up in the truck bed looking like the hounds of hell had dragged him through the thicket. Twigs and leaves peppered his hair, and the mess of loose clothes around him was stained. He looked like he’d been sleeping in the wild for days, but there was no way of making sure.
That beautiful jaw I’d so admired as a teenager was covered in an uneven crawl of hair.
“Put some damn clothes on, son.” I put my hand against my stomach and wiped the tears from my eyes with the other.
He jerked on his jeans while glaring at me.
I averted my gaze on principle.
“Who is this guy?” He sneered at me. “Your new boyfriend?”
“Jake Taylor. I’m the foreman of Arroyo. Pleasure to meet you.” Jake didn’t hold out his hand, a point that wasn’t lost on me or David.
“Well consider yourself fired. What happened to Brian?” He settled to the edge of the tailgate.
My temper roared back to life. “You have no authority to fire anyone.”
“Hell I don’t. This ranch and everything on it is mine.” He pushed himself off the tailgate with a distinct drunken wobble that made me stiffen immediately. Bottles rolled away and rocked to a standstill in the tailgate’s ridged metal base. Jack and Jim. Two of my biggest enemies. Together, they were a cocktail of madness.
I tried calm. “You left, remember? None of this is yours anymore, but I still have your things back at the house—”
He lunged forward, and I stiffened. Jake stood at my side, body tense and pressed against my arm. I didn’t know what was going to happen next.
David eyeballed Jake with sneering contempt. “Every marriage has fighting. I didn’t sign the divorce papers.” He waved his hand in an emphatic gesture, knocking himself off balance just enough to be comical. I didn’t dare laugh, however. That look in his eyes told me what nothing else did. He was desperate. And in his drunken, twisted logic, all of it was my fault.
I wouldn’t mention that the court had already signed off on the divorce decree on the basis of his thievery, social media proof of debauchery and abandonment of me and the ranch five months prior.
“You don’t look like no foreman.” He spat at Jake. I noticed my foreman didn’t budge an inch. “Didn’t take long to shack up with someone new, did it?”
Because the flood of images on his favorite social media sites in the past six months was something else entirely, ones where he was face deep in enough cleavage to make one wonder if he was able to breathe, much less have the agility to take a selfie. “You’re drunk.”
“Damn straight I’m drunk.” He gestured wildly and spun around. “This is my land, my house, and you—” He pointed emphatically at me. “Are my woman. I deserve to be back running this place.”
My anger boiled over, and I pushed past Jake. “You deserve a kick in the ass for your childish behavior. Your gambling habit ran this ranch in to the ground, and your double dealing cost me my reputation.”
“Your reputation?” He sneered at me in an expression I knew only too well. “What reputation? This place is a piece of shit. I built it up to a great empire. If you’d only signed the damn contract, we would have been set for life.”
“I would die before selling the ranch to a slime ball like Clayton Clark.”
“I refuse to accept that as a reason. Clayton is a good businessman.”
Bullshit. “I don’t care what you’ll accept, David. The fact remains that I will not sell this ranch to anyone. Why did you come back? To bring back the truck you stole? Return my mother’s jewelry?”
“Stole? Everything I took was my right as your husband. Community property state, baby, or did you forget. I get half.”
“Half doesn’t mean all, does it? And the truck belongs to the ranch, not you or me. You stole a business truck. I wonder what the courts would think about that.” I don’t know if I was thankful or unhappy that I hadn’t reported it as stolen like they’d suggested I do.
His manner changed instantly. Gone was the dangerous drunk, and in its place was the petulant expression that I’d come to hate almost as much. I pressed my fingers against my temple in the hopes of easing the headache playing jackhammer destruction on my brain. I didn’t miss this drunken roller coaster.
“Come on, baby, don’t you miss me?”
“I have no use for thieves.”
Anger flared to life in his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you have my mother’s jewelry?”
“The jewelry was my due after putting up with your spoiled rotten ass.”
I was in his face before I could stop myself. “Spoiled?” The logical part of my brain shut off completely. “The only reason you didn’t stay around was because you couldn’t pay off the high-interest loans you signed off on. You are a coward, a thief, and I told you when you left to never step foot back on my prop—”
He moved before I could blink. His fist swung out and down without the usual pull back I’d expected. I clenched my jaw, and despite the shaking in my body, refused to move. Hell, only an idiot wouldn’t be terrified. But I was angry, too. Furious.
This one was going to hurt.
Chapter Three
The fist never landed. Jake was there, shoving me to the side with his lean strength. I fell back on my ass and stared up in shock. He blocked the punch intended for my face and countered with a gut punch that whooshed the air out of David’s lungs.
The sounds of fists on flesh echoed in the night, and it was over in three hits. My palms stung from where I’d caught myself in the fall. I wanted to get to my feet, and would have, but Jake’s expression held me spellbound. Fury lined his face, and his beautiful blue eyes were hard and icy as they glared at David. “You ever think about hurting Ms. Melanie again, and you’ll be spending some quality time in the local emergency room.”
“Ms. Melanie? Don’t make me laugh.” David spat blood and gripped Jake’s hands where they tangled in his shirt. “You’re real tough when your boss is watching. Think she’s pretty, don’t you? Nice piece of ass in tight jeans, right? Spoiled little daddy’s girl.” He slurred the insults, sneering at Jake through blood-stained teeth and lips.
“I’m warning you, Moore. Say one more word and I’ll break you in two.”
Mortification burned through me. To hear David talk about me like that. Is this the way he saw me for all those years?
“She looks like a helluva piece of ass, but she’s the ice queen in be—”
Jake decked him, and David dropped. I had my hand at my throat, not realizing I’d risen to my feet. My heart pounded in my chest, and the sick twist in my stomach l
urched into intense nausea.
“Are you okay?”
My mind couldn’t stop whirling.
“Melanie, are you okay?” His voice was whip sharp and jerked me to action.
“I’m fine.”
“Ms. Melanie, I’m sorry for knocking you to the ground, and for...” Jake’s voice trailed off as he stared down at the ground with his hands clenched at his sides.
“Don’t worry about it. I appreciate you moving so quickly.”
“That wasn’t the first time he raised his fist to you.” Jake’s voice was like steel, and I noticed he didn’t ask.
“No.” No point in lying. “What gave it away?”
“He didn’t hesitate, and you didn’t recoil. I expected a shout, and you just stood there.”
I shrugged and dusted the dirt off my ass. Suddenly, the grass beneath my boots became very interesting. “It would have made it worse.” I sighed. “Well, a woman’s shame is her own to deal with Mr. Taylor. I—”
He strode across the space between us and grabbed my upper arms. I hated the way I shied away from him as he approached. Hated the twist of fear snaking through my body. Instinctively, I knew Jake wouldn’t hurt me, but dammit, if I didn’t feel completely out of my element at the moment. “It is his shame. Not yours. No man should ever raise his hand to a woman.”
Anger glared at me from Jake’s normally neutral expression.
I shivered under his touch. Not from fear but from the sincerity burning through Jake. “I can take care of myself, Mr. Taylor. I’ve been doing it for a very long time.”
“Do you think I would have brought you out here if I’d have known?”
“It was none of your business.” I didn’t shrug out of his hold, and he held me with solid and gentle strength. I doubted I’d even have a red mark if he let me go.
“Your safety is my business, Melanie.” My name falling from his lips shocked me almost as much as the pleasure spiking through me. Until tonight, he’d never once used my name without an honorific at the front. Hell, it took over a month to get him to stop calling me Mrs. Moore. He’d finally come around to Ms. McHugh once my divorce was final but never just Melanie.
“I’m safe now, and he’s passed out on the ground.”
He breathed slowly and then let me go. The day seemed colder without his warmth near me. I watched the muscles bunch in his jaw as he stepped back. “What do you want to do with him?” Jake wouldn’t meet my gaze.
I considered the options, and truthfully, my mind was ridiculously blank. “What do you think we should do? I think leaving him here and taking back my property is as good an idea as any.”
“Ms. Melanie, he won’t be staying on the ranch.”
There it was. The wall was back up between us, and I found that I didn’t want it there as much as I once had. “He can sleep it off in one of the summer cabins.” We used them for our summer ranch camps. I always kept two or three ready for guests, just in case.
“With all due respect, I’ll have to disagree. Who knows what kind of damage he could do when he wakes up.” His jaw bunched again, and I watched his fists clench and release at his sides.
“I can call his sister to come pick him up.”
“I’m not letting him around any women in that condition.”
“He wouldn’t hurt his sister.”
“He shouldn’t have hurt his wife either.” Iron coated his tone.
All the tension inside me snapped. “Well, what do you suggest then? I could drive him—”
He was less than breath away from me in an instant. “Don’t finish those words. I’m barely keeping it together as it is. If you want him off this property, he leaves in my care or in the back of the sheriff’s car. Fire me if you have to, but you won’t change my mind.”
Shock numbed my temper. He’d been dead set against letting anyone know about this situation earlier. “I thought you didn’t want to make a scene.”
“The moment he raised a hand to you, this stopped being about reputation. I would have never brought you out here if I’d known his personality. The men talked about his fun-loving nature when he drank. They never mentioned a temper or that he was prone to violence.”
“No.” I sighed. That had always been part of the problem. Who would believe someone so easy going and likable would hit his wife in drunken rages? “He saved that side show for behind closed doors.” I put my hands on my hips and stared up at the night sky. I was suddenly so damn tired of dealing with David. Tired of feeling like I was in a hell of my own making, that somehow this was all my fault. I spoke before I thought it through. “The first time they hit you, you think it’s a mistake.” I couldn’t look at Jake. “Next time, you wonder what you did wrong. By then, you don’t want to tell anyone the truth.” My chest constricted. I hated feeling this way. “The last time he raised a hand to me, it ended with a shotgun pointed at his chest. That was seven months ago.” I walked past David toward the truck. Why was I telling Jake all this?
“Where are you going?” Jake was at my heels.
“I’m going to see what he’s done to my truck.”
I hauled open the driver’s side door and slid the bench seat forward. Disgust twisted its way inside, festering the shame I couldn’t shake. I’d intended to see if he’d found the tiny nest egg I’d stashed away; instead, I found a used condom and some nasty piece of tacky lingerie. Good to know what went on in my truck. I wondered if taking a torch to the inside would ever help me scrub this moment from my mind. I doubted it.
“If he wakes up, brain him again.”
“Why?”
“Just do it,” I muttered as I used a pen to toss the condom and obviously used panties out of my way. I slipped my hand under the seat and found the small catch. I unlocked it and in my hand fell a small container.
“What’s that?”
“My daddy had my truck fit with several hidden boxes for ammunition and my pistols. I’ve had a permit to carry concealed since I turned eighteen.”
“I didn’t know that was possible in Texas.”
I stood up and cradled the container against my body. “Well, Daddy could get all kinds of things done. He had a way about him that made you want to be in his good graces.” I held up the canister and was so tempted to open it. Inside was my small stash of running money. If things got too dangerous, I’d planned a way out. Not that I’d be able to leave my ranch for long. Just until things settled down a bit. Of course, David running off with the truck had thrown a wrench in my plans. Six months ago I could have seriously used this money, and now, I feared he’d found it and spent it.
David groaned and Jake turned away to deal with him. I flipped open the canister. Relief was a harsh and immediate friend. It was there. Most of it if not all.
I doubted a single bill would have remained had David found it.
Jake was at my shoulder again. “You seem happy about something.”
I closed the canister with a smile and slipped it in my jacket pocket. “My ticket to freedom. The way to save the ranch. Where is David?”
Jake gestured behind him, and I took that opportunity to get as far away from the dirty underwear and proof of my ex-husband’s wild times as possible.
“Still sleeping it off. How is this going to help save the ranch?”
I ran my fingers over the surface of the canister and shrugged. I told myself it wasn’t Clayton’s comments about Jake that had doubts snaking through my brain. I needed to talk to the owners of the Lazy K as soon as possible. “We’ll talk about this later. Right now, we need to figure out what we’re going to do with him.”
“Let me take care of it. You just get back to the house and away from him.”
I narrowed my gaze at Jake. “You’re not going to do anything illegal, are you? He ain’t worth it if so.”
That humor was back in his gaze for an instant. “Not to worry, Ms. Melanie. I will deliver him safely, and unharmed, to a location in which
he can sleep off his drunken stupor without harming another soul.”
My gut instinct reared its head at that long-winded statement. “I do believe that’s the longest amount of time you’ve spoken in one breath. Your vague references and double talk won’t work on me, Taylor. Tell me what you have a planned, or I’ll go back over there and pick his ass up myself.”
“I made a quick phone call to Charles Mason. He’s David’s cousin and one of our town’s police officers.”
I knew Chuck. He was one of David’s family who’d broken away and a key witness at getting my divorce finalized. “You’re having him arrested. He didn’t hit me, so we don’t have a case. And I never went to the hospital so there are no records.”
“You sure thought this through, Ms. Melanie. But no, Charles is going to throw him in the drunk tank with a drunken disorderly warning.”
“What good will that do?”
“It will ensure you’re safe tonight and keep me from putting him permanently in the ground if he tried to raise his hand to you again.”
I couldn’t help the strange surge of feeling coursing through me at his words. “Well, it shouldn’t come to that. He’ll likely drink this off and wander off into the next sunset.”
Jake said nothing, and I realized he didn’t care where David went as long as it was far from here. Truthfully, neither did I. He’d be back to this again once money was in hand. And I wasn’t going to be around to deal with it.
“Have Chuck call me when he has David locked up.”
“Will do, ma’am.”
I nodded once and turned on my heel. There was a lot of work ahead of me. My fingers brushed the stainless steel rim of the canister. And I finally had a way to fix the mess my blind trust in David had created.
Chapter Four
I leaned back in my office chair and stretched my arms above my head. With the nest egg I’d recovered, the future of Arroyo was secured through the first quarter. It wasn’t as much as I’d have liked, but I’d be able to repair some pretty hefty profit leaks. The bank would be open first thing, so I’d run down and deposit the lot of it. Of course, it would all be gone within twenty-four hours, but at least I could sleep at night.
Romancing the Sweet Side Page 19
