Susie stepped closer, her bare feet looking impossibly dainty and feminine, right down to the pale pink polish on her toes.
Glaring up at him, she tossed her head, her short silky blond curls flying in every direction. “I don’t need you to rush in and rescue me again just because you’ve concluded—” she tapped his chest with her index finger “—erroneously, I might add, that I am battling rogue cells again. And I certainly—” she tapped even harder “—don’t need pity sex and or conditional friendship from you.” She dropped her hand, stepped back. “So you’re off the hook, Tyler McCabe. Just like with Catastrophe. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve found a safe haven for myself emotionally now. I know what I want.” She began to pace, digging into the carpet with every step. “I know my parents—and believe me this chokes me to say it—are right.” She gestured broadly, the action lifting her breasts. “I have been wasting a huge part of my life, only allowing myself a future when it comes to my work.” Deliberately, she dropped her arms back to her sides. With her chin up, she stared deep into his eyes. “I deserve a whole life. I deserve love and passion and a lot more fun than I’ve been having the last ten years.” She swallowed hard. “So I’m going to go out and get it.”
Tyler moved closer. “That’s great,” he told her, genuinely happy to hear it. He had wanted this for her for a long time.
She regarded him with stony displeasure. “So you can leave.”
This, he hadn’t wanted. Tyler blinked. “You’re kicking me out?”
Susie smiled tightly and continued holding his gaze. “It would appear so.”
Tyler had been brought up a Texas gentleman. Therefore, he had to honor her wishes in this regard.
“Fine,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll go.” He stepped to the side, cutting her off before she could show him the hotel room door. It was his turn to hold up a cautioning hand. “But not before I set the record straight.” When she stopped dead in her tracks, he gently cupped her shoulders with his hands. “What I want from you, Suze, what I am prepared to give,” he told her tenderly, “is about as far from pity sex as we can get.”
She wanted to believe it. He could see it in her eyes. She just…didn’t.
“Then what’s it about?” Susie asked.
Tyler let his open palms drift down her arms, past her wrists, to her hands. “The road not taken,” he explained gently, using up about the only poetry he could remember, but it was all too relevant nevertheless. “All the chances we’ve had and missed.” Seeing he had her attention now, he tipped her chin up to his. “I want to see what we could have, Suze, if we let ourselves.”
Intrigue flickered in her eyes, then extinguished, as suddenly as it had appeared. Once again, Tyler noted in dismay, her guard was up, more solidly in place than he had ever seen it.
Desperate to make her his, he promised, “Whatever your terms, I’ll meet them.”
Susie wet her lips with her tongue. “You’re saying when it comes to the two of us I can have whatever I want from you, whenever I want it?”
Tyler conceded, “Absolutely.”
Silence stretched between them, more intimate than ever before.
After a moment, Susie walked to the door and held it open. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”
“THE MESSAGE LIGHT ON YOUR answering machine is blinking,” Eric Linden told Susie several days later, when he arrived to pick her up for their date. Susie scrolled through the caller history list. Tyler, Tyler, Tyler. Like clockwork, he had called her three times a day since he’d left her hotel room in Dallas. Which made eight calls total now. She hadn’t returned a one. Hadn’t listened to them, either, for fear that if she did she would relent and end up seeing him again and wanting him in her bed.
She was afraid the two of them would start something with all the right intentions, only to have it end badly. She didn’t think she could bear it to have him and then have him disappear on her again. She didn’t care how noble or practical he thought he was being. It had hurt every time they had drifted close then drifted apart. Those feelings had forced her to put her guard up again, kept her from living the way she should have been living. But no more.
She was ready to embrace life again, and Eric Linden, outdoorsman and golf course architect extraordinaire, could be the one.
Bachelor Number Four certainly was cute enough to hold her attention. Blond, blue-eyed, handsome in sort of a Scandinavian way.
Her parents had chosen wisely this time.
So what if she didn’t feel that jolt of sexual attraction she felt whenever Tyler was near? Those kind of sparks had proven not to be good for her. Instead, they disrupted the equilibrium of her life and heart.
Eric Linden appeared concerned about Susie’s distracted state.
“If you want me to step outside on the porch while you listen to your messages, I’d be happy to do so.”
“Thanks but this is nothing that can’t wait.”
She’d made a vow to move on without Tyler, at least for now, and she planned to keep it.
Susie smiled and grabbed her purse and keys. The November day was warm enough to leave her jacket behind.
She and Eric walked out to his low-slung sports car.
In keeping with her new attitude, Susie had decided to make this a real date. Hence, she’d let Eric decide the specifics. He was taking her out to the site of the new Laramie County Parks and Recreation Community Golf Course.
While Eric drove, he explained the basic layout of the design and the surveying that was currently going on.
Susie listened. Or tried to listen. She wasn’t a golf fanatic, so many of the intricacies were lost on her. When they turned into the site and parked next to a host of other construction worker vehicles, she asked, “How long will you be in town?”
Eric held her door and because the seat was so low to the ground, assisted her out of the vehicle. “I’ll be staying in Laramie for the next six months or so, until all eighteen holes are completed and the course locker rooms and restaurant are built. Then I’ll be on to my next job, which is in Central Florida.”
“So you move around a lot.” Susie fell into step beside Eric, her long skirt swishing around her calves.
Eric nodded. “As you can imagine, that makes it kind of hard. A lot of women don’t want to get involved with someone with such a transient lifestyle.” Then he paused and watched as her eyes followed a very familiar pickup truck turning into the makeshift parking area on the grass.
Susie’s heart did a cartwheel in her chest.
She felt the blood drain from her face, then come back in a rush.
Eric looked at Susie. “Do you know him?”
She only wished she didn’t. Ignoring the flush heating her cheeks, Susie nodded reluctantly.
Looking as though he owned the place, Tyler strode toward them, a welcoming grin on his face. “Hi, Suze.” He winked at her sexily before turning to her date. “You must be Eric Linden. I’m Tyler McCabe.”
Eric shook Tyler’s hand. Eric frowned, perplexed. “That name is familiar.”
Tyler wasn’t surprised. “I’m on the Citizen’s Planning Board. We were instrumental in getting Laramie County to appropriate the funds for the course you’re designing.”
Eric snapped his fingers. “Of course. That’s where I read your name. Did you come out here to witness the surveying of the property?” he asked cheerfully.
“Actually,” Susie interrupted, deciding to end this little game here and now, “I think Tyler is here to annoy me.”
Tyler gave her a rakish grin. He kept his eyes locked with hers as he allowed casually, “Susie’s a little peeved at me right now.”
“With very good reason, I might add,” Susie interrupted, aiming a lethal look Tyler’s way.
Tyler shrugged his broad shoulders and turned to Eric, man-to-man. “Sadly, she does not approve of my unflagging interest in local gossip. You know. Who’s dating whom. Who slept with whom. Who’s leaving whom.”
> “Guys talk about that kind of stuff here?” Eric looked amazed.
The corners of Tyler’s mouth twitched. “Oh yeah. Incessantly. It’s a small town. There’s not much to do except discuss other people’s private lives in great detail. Of course a lot of that is boring. Who wants to know that the Nedermeyers argued over whether or not to have chicken fried steak or chicken fried chicken for dinner. But occasionally, something really—” here Tyler whistled “—happens and some irate father takes off after his daughter’s lover with a loaded shotgun and a pack of dogs, and well, let’s just say, that can get pretty exciting.”
Abruptly, Eric Linden’s face was as pale as his white silk shirt. “The sheriff doesn’t step in?”
“Eventually, sure,” Tyler confirmed with an insufferable grin. “But first they’ve got to hear about it and get there and by then, well, usually all the real fireworks are over, and it’s just about cleaning up the mess.”
Eric looked a little green around the gills. “I need to talk to the surveyor. I’ll be right back.” He hurried off, his expensive loafers sinking in the tall grass.
Susie slammed her hands on her hips. She had feared all along that Tyler would not cease and desist when it came to interrupting and or ruining her dates. Steeling herself to take all the orneriness Tyler McCabe could dish out—and right now he appeared prepared to dish out plenty—she said through gritted teeth, “You can wipe that self-satisfied smirk off your face right now, Tyler McCabe.”
Tyler tipped back the brim of his black hat so she could better see his eyes. “Gotta hand it to your folks,” he pointed out sagely. “Bachelor Number Four is hot.”
It was all Susie could do not to roll her eyes. “He’s nice, Tyler,” she corrected, color flowing into her cheeks.
Tyler ran a hand across his jaw. “A mite skittish, in my opinion. But then what do I know, I’m just a dumb, unsophisticated country boy.”
She batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously. “Who’s as full of beans as can be.”
“Actually, I had a fajita salad for lunch, if you must know.”
Susie stiffened. His arrogance was infuriating! “I thought you were going to stop interfering with my dates!”
He stepped so close she had to tilt her head back to see his face. “Suze, I haven’t begun to interfere with your dates.”
Susie resisted the urge to run before they ended up doing something reckless and foolish, like kissing again. She held his gaze defiantly. “It’s not going to do you any good.”
“That remains to be seen. I think I just cleared the playing field a little bit.”
“Exactly my point,” Susie said with indignance. “This isn’t a game, Tyler.”
He arched his brow. A sense of purpose glittered in his hazel eyes. “If it weren’t, you’d give me a fighting chance.”
Susie’s heart gave a nervous kick against her ribs. “Give me one good reason why I should!” she demanded.
“Because—” Tyler stepped forward, took her in his arms and kissed her soundly on the lips before slowly lifting his head once again “—you owe me at least that much.”
“I most certainly do n—”
Susie’s protest was cut off by a second, searing kiss. And unlike the first, this one did not come to a swift end.
Tyler knew she didn’t mean to be kissing him back, any more than he meant to be kissing her here and now. And somehow that made the culmination of their mutual desire all the more pleasing. Groaning, he drew her ever closer, so her breasts were flattened against the hard wall of his chest, her lower half pressed against his. He felt her tremble, and shudder. He deepened the kiss all the more, exploring her soft, sweet mouth and the play of her lips against his. Never passive, she took the lead, kissing him back, wreathing her hands through his hair.
And it was then that they heard the discreet cough behind them.
Reluctantly, Tyler let her go.
Susie turned to her date, her face hot with embarrassment.
Eric Linden stood there, waiting. He looked more annoyed than jealous. “Something I should know about you two?”
Tyler had an inkling how the other man felt. It was always a pain to realize you were wasting your time.
“Yes,” he said, figuring the guy deserved to know where he stood with Susie, which was nowhere, at least as long as Tyler was in the picture, and he intended to stay in the picture. “If you want a chance at this gal’s heart,” he told Eric, “you better get your track shoes on.”
Susie glared at Tyler and stepped away from both men. She smiled at Tyler sweetly. “I guess that means you’re out of the running, Tyler McCabe,” she said, pointing at his feet, “because you’re wearing cowboy boots.”
“See what I mean?” Tyler said to Eric with a disparaging shake of his head. “She encourages this kind of rivalry.”
Susie’s mouth fell open. “I do not!”
Tyler scoffed, playing the moment for all it was worth. He closed the distance between them, not stopping until he towered over her once again. “Then tell Eric here how many men you have vowed to date,” he commanded.
Susie clamped her jaw shut, glared up at Tyler. “That was a private argument, Tyler.”
“See?” Tyler turned back to Susie’s date, hands spread wide. “She’s afraid to tell you, Eric.”
Susie tossed her head. “I am not!”
Tyler enjoyed the sight of her, so pretty and mussed in that just-been-kissed way. In the way that said that soon she would be his. And not just temporarily or as the result of some crisis this time. “Then?” he prodded.
Susie harrumphed. “I said I would date as many guys as possible until I found someone I could be happy with.”
“The way she’s going, she could reject hundreds of guys who just aren’t right. And in the meantime, she’ll keep stringing along the guys like me who’ve been around forever.”
“I don’t know what is going on between the two of you but it is clear that something is, so Susie, lovely as it was to meet you, our date is over.”
“Does that mean I can take her home?” Tyler asked, glad Eric had been so quick to see the light.
Scowling, Eric waved his hand as if showing them both the exit. “Be my guest.” Eric strode back down the hill to the surveyor.
Tyler turned back to the woman who was now his date. “You going to ride with me? Or walk?” Tyler asked.
Susie aimed a lethal look his way. “Oh, you’re driving me home, all right. And that is the last place you are ever going to drive me!”
“THIS ISN’T THE WAY BACK to town,” Susie observed, minutes later.
“I have to stop by Healing Meadow first, to check on Catastrophe.”
Forgetting for a moment her hurry to distance herself from Tyler, Susie asked, “How’s the horse doing?”
Tyler’s expression turned serious. “We’re still watching for signs of complications, but so far there are none.”
Susie exhaled in relief. “Poor thing. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be suspended like that.”
Tyler shrugged. “It’s not the most comfortable position in the world, but we’re giving him medicine to keep him as relaxed and calm as possible.”
Minutes later, when they entered the hospital barn and walked down to the stall where Catastrophe was being treated, Susie couldn’t help but admire the big stallion with the glossy brown coat and silky black mane and tail. Catastrophe was still in the harness that kept the weight off his healing leg but the horse looked straight at Susie and Tyler, lifting his tail, circling his head, and nickering softly. All positive signs, she knew.
Tyler talked gently to the horse, as he examined him, then patted him affectionately and gave him a slice of apple.
Watching, Susie smiled. There was no doubt about it. Tyler had a magic touch for animals and humans alike. “How is his injured leg?” she asked.
“It’s healing nicely. Complications can still develop, but so far, so good.” Tyler cut another piece of apple for Catas
trophe and handed it to Susie.
Susie offered it to the stallion. “He’s lucky he had you,” she murmured to Tyler. “Otherwise…”
“He’d be history,” Tyler guessed what Susie was about to say.
Susie nodded. “Right.”
Tyler paused to speak to the vet tech, then he and Susie walked out of the hospital barn. Too late, Susie realized she had let her guard down once again. Unwise, given the fact that Tyler was who he was, take it or leave it. And what they had offered each other in the past had not been nearly enough. She wanted to move on, she wanted to expand her hopes for the future, without getting her heart broken once again. She didn’t want to be the prize in a testosterone-driven competition. She didn’t want to be rescued or comforted. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to be desired for mutual physical pleasure or turned into a friend with benefits. What had sounded intellectually sophisticated and physically practical at the outset, no longer seemed so simple. She was beginning to see she couldn’t rein in her emotions any more than she could shut them down entirely. Tyler McCabe had the capacity to break her heart. And then some. And that alone was a risk Susie didn’t want to take.
Tyler inclined his head to the side. “I have to go inside the house for a minute and check my messages.” His gaze roved her face with leisurely appreciation. “Want to come?”
“No.”
“Suit yourself,” Tyler said with a grin, “but I’m fairly sure there’s an ice-cold root beer with your name on it in there.”
Susie thought about standing outside. Then decided what the heck. She had a few things she wanted to say to the big lug in any case.
She followed him inside to his study and watched as he sat down on a corner of his desk and got right to work.
Deciding a cold drink wasn’t such a bad idea while she was killing time, she wandered into his sparsely outfitted kitchen and helped herself to a bottle of her favorite root beer from the fridge. It was gone by the time Tyler was finished talking.
She lounged in the doorway of his study, trying not to think how relaxed he looked in the oak-paneled lair, with the massive desk, state-of-the-art computer and filled bookshelves.
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