Cowboy 12 Pack
Page 103
Making love to Jamie every night.
She leaned her head back against the wall, closed her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek. It was the life she’d dreamed of growing up. The man she’d dreamed of these past two years.
Now it was time to put all of that behind her. Time to cut all her ties to the past and march forward into a new and brilliant future. So why did the thought of purchasing that round-the-world-cruise make her want to cry?
Because she wanted to come home. Needed to come home.
Mom.
If only she was young again and her mother was smoothing her hair back from her face. Once upon a time Aria had loved her. Had kissed away her tears and tucked her in at night.
Mom.
What she would give to go back to those innocent days.
She forced herself back to her feet, put the ring on the counter and washed her hands and face. She couldn’t go back, but she wished someone would advise her what to do next. She wanted to stay on the ranch and wanted to spend time with Jamie. The safer choice was to go on her cruise right away.
What would Aria do?
Claire smiled lopsidedly at her reflection in the mirror. Her mother never held back. Whatever she wanted, she went after full-bore.
When tears threatened to fall again, she grabbed the ring, jammed it back on her finger and fled the room.
Chapter Four
‡
“SO, THE WEDDING’S on Labor Day?” Rob asked, leaning against the stable door.
“Yep.” He hoped. Jamie kept on his inspection of the horses in their stalls.
“Claire really agreed to marry you after all? She looked pretty pissed yesterday.”
“Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. But I’ll marry her in the end.” He stroked Storm’s head, hoping she knew how proud he was of the way she’d stolen Claire’s heart. Getting Claire back on a horse was just the first step in making her fall back in love with ranch life. But it was an important step.
“Hmm. I don’t know, buddy. I think Claire might be out of your league. I bet she worms her way out of it.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jamie straightened, angry that Rob’s words reinforced his own doubts. “You want to sweeten that bet we made?”
“Two hundred bucks?” Rob took a pace toward him.
“Five hundred.” Jamie met him halfway.
“Whew—high stakes. You sure you can afford it?”
“Can you? I know your Daddy don’t pay much allowance.” Rob winced and Jamie knew he’d scored a point. It wasn’t any secret that Rob still lived at home and received a pittance for the work he did around his father’s ranch.
“I can cover it,” Rob said, shaking hands, then turning on his heel. “I’ll see you around.”
THANK GOODNESS, A parking spot.
Claire zipped her Honda Civic close to the curb several blocks from work, grabbed her purse and her briefcase and sprinted for the front door of Ledstrom Designs. In the seven years she’d worked here, she’d never been late before now. She still couldn’t believe she’d slept with Jamie during Ethan’s wedding reception—or that she was still wearing his ring and keeping up this farce of an engagement. She didn’t want to examine too closely why the ring still graced her finger. Instead, her mind kept filling with memories of her time with Jamie under the stars.
They hadn’t even seen Ethan and Autumn leave for their honeymoon. By the time they got back to the Big House, even the guests had begun to leave. The next morning she felt like a zombie as she put Autumn’s mother, sister and friend Becka back on the plane, then spent the rest of the afternoon setting everything back to rights after the wedding. Thank goodness Jamie hadn’t come around to help. She’d been as jumpy as a cat waiting for him to stroll over the knoll that hid his cabin from the Big House and bunkhouse, but he hadn’t and she was thankful for that. She might not have been able to resist him if he had. Or she might have dropped everything, turned tail, and run.
She wished she could run back into his arms.
A memory surfaced of a sunny day back when they were teenagers when they’d lain on the banks of Chance Creek listening to the water bubble past and talked about their plans for the future. Both of them wanted a rodeo career back then. She’d been teasing him that she’d beat him across the boards.
“Men and women don’t even ride in the same events,” he said, unperturbed, and she’d felt a flash of something—impatience, interest, and a tug of feeling below the belt she didn’t know fully how to interpret in those days. She’d pushed away the sensation, like she always did, telling herself Jamie had nothing on Mack.
Now she realized in a burst of insight she’d picked the man who was out of reach because she wasn’t ready for the man within reach. At seventeen she wanted a boyfriend the same way she wanted a fancy dress or pair of earrings—to show off to her friends and decorate herself with. Mack wouldn’t touch her, but Jamie sure would have. As much as the idea of that had fascinated her, she simply wasn’t ready to see it through.
She was now.
Stifling a groan, she picked up her pace. No—she wouldn’t ever sleep with Jamie again, no matter how earth-shattering the experience had been. No matter how he’d made her blood sing and her nerves tingle.
No matter what he said, he didn’t feel the same way. He wasn’t capable of it. So now she needed to plan a strategy to get through the next six weeks and then go back to living life without Jamie or the ranch.
She wished the prospect didn’t make her feel so flat.
Focus. It would be a month at least before Autumn and Ethan were ready for paying guests and she needed to fulfill her promise to spend a week helping with trail rides. Meanwhile she’d work on the interior design for Jamie’s house while she took steps to shut down Ledstrom Designs. Whenever she had the opportunity she’d take revenge on Jamie.
She had just reached the glass double door entrance to Ledstrom Designs when it opened and a man walked out.
A familiar man.
“Daniel?” A wash of dizziness overtook her, leaving her grasping for something to steady herself. Her fingers raked the faux-stone exterior of the building, scrambling for a handhold. No. It couldn’t be.
“Claire.” He tipped his sunglasses up to the top of his head and stared frankly down at her. “Look at you.” He glanced at his watch. “Late. That’s not the Claire I know.”
She gaped at him. How the hell could Daniel be here? Wasn’t he off on some foreign island sipping Margaritas with that idiot, Edie?
“What are you doing here?”
He grinned, and she fought the urge to slug him. “I’m the owner. Where else would I be?”
“No, you’re not. You left. You…you stole my money!”
“I enjoyed the money you gave me,” he corrected her. “I don’t remember you asking me to pay you back.”
“Of course I did!” She couldn’t believe he had the gall to stand here—right here on the streets of Billings—and pretend he didn’t rob her blind.
“Where’s the proof? Show me the loan agreement.” He shrugged. “As much as I’d like to stay and catch up on old times, I have to go—I’ve got a client meeting in 10 minutes. Since the police never contacted me I’m assuming you never pressed charges. You can try to now, but I wouldn’t if I were you. Waiting a year to file a complaint against me makes you look like the liar, don’t you think?”
He pushed past her, then turned back. “Oh, and I expect your things gone by the time I return. While the cat’s away, the mice will play, I suppose, but now the cat’s back. Your services are no longer necessary.”
“This isn’t your company anymore!”
“Really? My name’s still on it.”
Words failed her as she watched him walk away. Numbly, she pushed through the doors into the office and found everyone gathered around Edie, who sat at her old desk. Celia, the receptionist she’d hired soon after Daniel and Edie absconded, stood at the back of the crowd, her expression bewildered.
> “I know it wasn’t the best way to break things off with Ted,” Edie was saying. “But Daniel’s so impetuous. He couldn’t wait any longer. We got married and we traveled around the world for an entire year. You wouldn’t believe all the things we did.”
“So why are you back here?” Claire said and cringed as everyone turned to stare at her. Was that strident sound really her voice?
Edie sat up straight and pursed her lips. The other employees eased away to their own cubicles. “Life can’t all be fun and games. It’s time for us to get back to work.”
This couldn’t be happening. Daniel couldn’t just march in here and take things over. These were her clients now—it was her business.
But was it? The building’s owner had been all too happy to transfer Daniel’s lease to her when Daniel left, and most of the clients were thrilled to learn their projects wouldn’t be disrupted. As lead designer, she’d been their contact at the company, anyway. But did that make the business—the clients—hers? She had no idea what a court would say.
Just turn around and walk out the door. You don’t need the money. You were about to shut it down anyway, she told herself, but her fingers curled into fists as she scanned the office. She’d taken over Daniel’s desk while he was gone, but now it was bare, her personal things piled into a box. Shit—her computer was gone. “Edie?”
“No need to shout, I’m right here.”
“Where the hell is my computer?”
“You mean Daniel’s computer? He took it with him. He needed it for his meeting.”
His meeting. Claire realized Edie meant her meeting—with the Wilcoxes. “He’s taking my meeting?”
“You’re not employed here anymore.” Edie lifted an eyebrow in obvious distaste. “We went on vacation, Claire—we didn’t hand you our company lock, stock and barrel. Now we’re back and you’re not needed. Thank you for stopping by and picking up your things.” She focused on a pile of paperwork on her desk, but Claire knew every other eye in the office was turned toward her. Watching her reaction. Waiting to see what she would do.
Claire’s stomach gave an uneasy lurch. What the hell should she do? Daniel had stolen her money, but she couldn’t prove it. Once he was gone, the office by all rights should have closed. She kept it open. Did it cross the line for her to take his clients and profit from them? She wasn’t sure. All she knew was if she stayed and made a scene she might lose whatever credibility she had in this town now that she’d been fired from Ledstrom Designs. Finally, she found her voice. “Fine, I’m out of here. You can have your stupid client list and your stupid building. Wherever I set up my office, the clients will find me.”
Clients? What clients? Wasn’t she planning to walk away from interior design?
Not anymore.
“Whatever, sweetie. Just remember—all your current contracts are property of Ledstrom Designs.”
Claire started toward the door. She had to get out of here before she did something stupid—something violent. Like heaving Edie through the front plate-glass window.
She barged out onto the street, fury propelling every step. She’d earned those contracts, every one of them. Even the projects that started back when Daniel was boss were all her work. Daniel couldn’t just take them from her.
Except he had.
She came to a stop on the sidewalk outside the building, nearly colliding with a man hurrying by with a briefcase in his hand. After all her hard work, late nights, and worry over the bottom line, Daniel was going to screw her over. He was going to win.
She couldn’t let him do that.
Not again.
Chapter Five
‡
JAMIE LOOKED UP from mucking out Walter’s stall late Monday morning to see Claire standing near the stable door. Dressed in her city things, she looked pale and strained, with dark smudges under her eyes. He dropped his shovel and moved toward her, but she held up a hand.
“Don’t.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t know where else to go, but so help me God, Jamie, if you touch me I’m leaving.”
What the hell? Jamie leaned his shovel against the stall. Whatever had happened in the past twenty-four hours had shattered Claire and he longed to pull her into his arms and comfort her. Unfortunately, he knew too well that look in her eye. She didn’t want that kind of comfort. “What happened?”
She scanned the back wall of the stable like maybe the answers were written there. “He came back. Daniel came back.”
Jamie’s jaw tightened. “Ledstrom?”
She seemed surprised he knew the name. She really had no idea how much energy he’d put into knowing as much about her as he possibly could. He’d seen their picture in the paper several times last year—Claire and Daniel at a charity auction in the city. Claire and Daniel at an art gallery opening. Then he’d read in the paper that her weasel-faced pretty-boy boss had suddenly left town with his ditzy secretary. Ethan had come to him then, worried about his sister, but Claire had taken over Ledstrom Designs and carried on her work without missing a beat. Jamie had breathed a sigh of relief, figuring she didn’t care for Daniel, after all.
Now the bastard was back.
“What’s he want?”
“My business.”
“He can’t take your business away from you.”
“Yes, he can.” Claire’s eyes were huge in her face. “Because it’s actually still his.”
“If he walked out on his clients he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
“You don’t understand. I took over all his contracts. I kept working just the same way we always had. I even kept his name on the business—I couldn’t afford to make up a new sign, get a new website and all that. It was just easier to keep it. I just never thought he’d come back!”
“Why not? Because he stole another man’s wife?”
She turned away. “He stole something else, too.”
“What?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to tell you.”
Jamie balled his fists. She didn’t have to. It was as plain as day—Daniel Ledstrom had stolen her heart.
And now he was back. He had to act fast or the bastard might coerce Claire back into his bed. Now that he’d slept with her, Jamie had no intention of letting another man near her. She was going to be his wife. He planned to spend the rest of his life with her. Ledstrom wasn’t going to screw that up.
“I thought you were quitting interior design. You said you were shutting down the company anyway.”
“I was, but…not like this.”
No, not like this, Jamie thought. Not when the bastard she’d loved but left her was coming back to steal the business from her. Her competitive spirit was rearing its head again. He knew Claire. She could walk away from a business, but she could never stand to have it taken from her. If he didn’t side with her, she’d count him as an enemy. He thought hard.
“I was never his client.”
“What?”
“He can’t say I was on his list. I knew you way before you ever went to Billings. Design my house, and start over again. New company, new name. Clients will line up to work with you based on your merits alone.” At the end of the day he didn’t care if she designed interiors or organized trail rides. He just wanted her close by.
“What if no one wants to work with me anymore?”
Jamie forced himself not to take a step and pull her into his arms. He kept his voice even. “You’re terrific at what you do—everyone will want to work with you. You’ll be fine.”
“There aren’t enough clients in Chance Creek—I need to be in a city like Billings.”
“There are plenty of clients here—real clients with real houses, not fancy-schmancy condominiums.” He spit out the word like it tasted bad.
Claire shot him a look. “I live in a condominium.” She tapped a finger against her arm. “No, it won’t work—there isn’t enough money around here to keep a design business afloat.”
; “Then work with me on the ranch,” he said desperately. Damn it, why did Ledstrom have to come back now just when he was getting somewhere with Claire?
She turned on him. “No—don’t you see? That’s exactly what he wants. To eliminate his competition. I can’t let him do that.”
Jamie ached to pound Daniel Ledstrom into pulp. Instead, he said carefully, “What are you going to do?”
She tapped her finger some more.
“The Whitfield contract.”
Jamie raised an eyebrow.
“Carl Whitfield’s building a huge log mansion for Lacey. He’s going to need an interior designer. I planned to go after the contract before you guys bought me out. I’ll go after it now.” She smiled triumphantly. “I can use your house as a practice run. Go get me your blueprints. I’m going to design the best log home interior Montana’s ever seen, show it to Carl, and nail that contract.” She turned fever-bright eyes toward him. “And then I’m going to bury Daniel and Ledstrom Designs.”
Chapter Six
‡
CLAIRE CHECKED THE mirror in her ensuite bathroom to make sure she looked neat and professional. A millionaire like Carl Whitfield was used to dealing with the best of the best.
For the last two weeks she’d lived in the Big House on the ranch, spending most of her time at the huge table in the great room with Jamie’s blueprints scattered about her, along with fabric swatches, sell sheets and her own handwritten notes. She’d pecked away at her laptop, creating a 3-D rendering of her designs in a CAD program. It turned out Jamie had been planning for years for the day he bought land and began to build. The minute he signed the paperwork with Ethan, he got on the phone to the contractor he wished to use. Luckily, Tom Bends had a gap in his schedule he was all too happy to fill in this slow economy, and construction started right away. Jamie already had ideas for the flooring, and in many of the rooms wanted the huge log walls to remain visible, but he had left the kitchen appointments and many other details to her. Plus he had asked her to pick out most of the major furnishings.