This was something new and exciting for Colin, even a little scary, given the extent he was allowing himself to be vulnerable. He trusted Noelle. For the first time, he trusted a woman enough to change.
Colin pulled the covers up around them. He kissed her, then settled back on the pillow. She snuggled up under him and he liked that. He could get used to this really fast.
Contented, they slept with the fire crackling in front of them.
For the first time in his life, Colin was in love.
Colin woke up when the cell phone rang. Thinking it was his, he picked it up absentmindedly and pressed the talk button.
“Noelle. It’s about time you answered your phone. I’ve been calling and calling you. Why haven’t you returned my calls?” It was Cindy Jamison, and she was talking so rapid-fire he couldn’t identify himself. And Noelle, he noticed now, wasn’t beside him. “I hear it’s snowing there. You must love that. But I need to talk to you, girl. Mr. Avery was talking to Dad and he seems to think you and Colin are a couple. Didn’t I tell you to stop? Why aren’t you listening? Mr. Avery likes you. Now that you’re on the farm, you need to break off that relationship with Colin. It wasn’t supposed to go this far. What’s wrong with you? I worry about you, girl. You don’t need him anymore. He’s bad news and you know he’s a player. But as usual I suspect you’re being hardheaded.”
She paused then, but Colin couldn’t speak. “Noelle…Noelle? Are you listening to me?”
Colin hung up.
His heart fell into his stomach. He sat frozen in place. He’d been the worst kind of fool. And like a fool, he’d fallen in love with Noelle—and she was playing him. Why? To get on the farm? And what was her connection to George?
Leaving the blanket on the floor he went searching for her. Looking graceful and beautiful in lounging pajamas, she came down the stairs like some fifties movie star. He waited for her at the foot. Her smile set his teeth on edge.
“You’re finally up. You must have really been tired,” she said. She smelled sweet, as if she’d used scented soap.
“Who are you and why are you here?” he asked bluntly.
Clearly puzzled, she tilted her head slightly to the side. “What?”
“Why are you here?” he repeated. “Why did you use me to get on the farm?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. “Why are you asking me this?”
“Stop the innocent act. There have been enough lies between us. If you wanted something, why didn’t you come right out and ask? Are you here to destroy one of the animals, or to destroy the farm?”
“Of course not,” Noelle said. “Why would you even think such a thing?”
“Because people are paid to do those things. So if you’re not here to destroy us, why are you here? Because it certainly isn’t because you love me,” he sneered.
“Just tell me why you are asking me this,” she repeated.
“Your friend Cindy wants you to leave me the heck alone because you got what you were after.”
“Cindy?” She closed her eyes briefly. “Oh my gosh.”
“I answered your cell phone thinking it was mine.”
She sighed. Silence followed, before she said, “It’s not like that, Colin. I wasn’t playing games with you. I never expected to feel this way about you. I would have gotten on the farm without your assistance. My grandparents were friends with the Averys.”
“Stop beating around the bush.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“And that’s your answer? After all we’ve been through? After all we’ve shared, that’s all you have to say?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
He shook his head to clear it. Didn’t last night mean anything to her? How could she tell him it had nothing to do with him? Time seemed to stand still as he stared at her before he told her, “You’re not welcome on the farm any longer. Don’t come back, because you won’t be admitted.” He moved down the hall to the dryer and quickly dragged on his clothes. Then he slammed out the door without saying another word to her.
Damn it. He couldn’t believe this. The one time he’d let his guard down, it was with someone who was only using him. The vibes were all one-sided.
Stomach roiling, Colin slammed into his truck and drove the couple of miles to his house. He hit the wheel. Damn it. He’d known it had to be too good to be true. Anger hurt less than pain. He wouldn’t let himself go there yet.
She was only pretending to like him. How could she make love to him like that and pretend? What kind of woman was she? And why had she been hanging out at Brent’s place? Why hadn’t Brent warned him? Obviously he hadn’t known what kind of woman his daughter was bringing home. After all, Colin had known Brent for a long time. The man didn’t suffer fools.
The last thing Colin wanted to do was sit at his desk and do paperwork, but it had to be done. Sensing his bad mood, his secretary had taken one look at him and closed his office door. But his curtains were open and he saw William’s SUV pull into the drive.
Voices mingled outside his office. Colin could only hope the secretary had William on his way, but then he heard a knock at his door before it opened. The woman peeked in.
“Mr. Bowden is here to see you.” She left and William sauntered in. Colin leaned back in his chair.
“I hear Uncle George is in Florida,” William said.
“He is.”
“Came by to see if he’d come home with me for a couple of weeks. Spend some time with Mama.”
“He doesn’t like to leave the farm except for races,” Colin said.
William looked around his office. “I also got a buyer who’s interested in this place.”
“Did he ask you to find him a buyer?”
“He’s not doing much here,” William said with a smug look.
“Why don’t you just leave him alone? We both know you’re only here for what you can get. You don’t give a damn about George.”
William quirked an eyebrow. “And you do?”
“Yeah, I care.”
“You think you own this place with Uncle George out of commission? Things are set up just the way you want them, aren’t they? But let me give you a warning. Uncle George isn’t going to be handling this for long. And who do you think will eventually handle his affairs? Me, that’s who. Uncle George owns fifty-one percent of this place. You won’t be able to do squat without my permission.”
Colin stood, shoving his chair back. “You don’t own shit now, so get the hell off this property before I throw you off.”
“I’m going. But you’ll have to deal with me one day.” He grinned his slick snake-oil-salesman grin. Colin wanted to pop it right off his face. “And I can’t wait.” Turning on his heels he left the office without a word to the secretary. Once outside, he gazed back through the window at Colin before he got in his truck and drove away, leaving behind the pall of his dire warnings.
If George didn’t pull himself together, Colin wouldn’t put it past William to have him declared unfit.
Night had fallen. For most of the day, Noelle had run on self-righteous anger. After all she and Colin had shared, didn’t he know her at all? How could he believe she’d destroy his animals or do anything to harm the farm?
She ached with disappointment and regret. She couldn’t tell him the reason she was here. This was one she couldn’t win. If she told him George was her grandfather he’d accuse her of being another money grabber like William and the woman who’d pretended she was George’s granddaughter.
It didn’t take long for the anger to completely abate and for acute loss to stab her. She’d fallen for Colin in the worst possible way. Which was why she couldn’t leave him the way Cindy kept encouraging her to do.
Her phone rang and she answered it immediately.
“What the heck is going on? Why didn’t you respond when I called you?” Cindy asked. “I’m talking into thin air and the phone disconnects.”
“Bad connection.” N
oelle didn’t see any sense in explaining things to Cindy. Her and her big mouth. But it wasn’t Cindy’s fault.
“How is it going with lover boy?”
“It’s not.”
“I’m glad you finally ended that,” Cindy said with apparent relief. “How’s the snow?”
“Beautiful.” Noelle wanted to cry after her beautiful morning of play and lovemaking. Colin had taken the day off to spend with her. A precious day when his work meant so much to him.
“I saw Mr. Avery at the track. He had dinner with us last night. I couldn’t help noticing that you have his eyes,” Cindy was saying. “He’s a nice man, Noelle.”
“Yes, he is. Uh, Cindy, I have to go. I’m sleepy. It’s late.”
“Oh, sorry. But you never went to bed early.”
“I’ve been working hard. As soon as I get the time I’ll call, okay?”
Sinking onto the couch and holding the blanket to her face to get a whiff of Colin, Noelle shut her phone. She didn’t feel like talking to anyone right now. The bottom line was, she’d hurt Colin and she never meant to do that. He didn’t deserve that.
All day she’d tried to come up with a solution to her dilemma. She owed Colin an explanation even if he thought she was after George’s money. She dialed Colin’s cell phone, but was immediately thrown into voice mail. She hung up. Ten minutes later she called again. This time she left a message apologizing and asked him to call her.
That night, when Noelle got into bed, she smelled Colin on the sheets. She should change them, but she missed him.
Hugging his pillow tight against her chest, she knew she’d never be able to sleep tonight. She got up and inserted an action movie in her DVD player. She couldn’t stand to watch a romance.
With reception on only a couple of channels on TV she really did have to call the satellite people.
While waiting for Colin to return her call, Noelle fell asleep, her cell phone within reach on the bedside table.
After William left, Colin went to the stables and worked until he was too tired to do anything except shower and fall into bed. His workers had kept a weary distance. Even the horses had picked up on his sour disposition.
He’d felt his employees watching him as he mucked stalls—something he rarely did anymore—and worked beside them. The usual chatter had been missing. He’d heard only the nickers from the animals. He’d needed the physical labor. He thought he’d worked it out of his system until he’d exited the barn around one that morning and crunched through the snow.
He’d cursed under his breath, got in his truck and driven home. Why the hell hadn’t anyone cleared the path yet? He’d been tempted to get somebody out of bed. Suddenly, reason set in. He couldn’t take his temper out on the employees.
Yet now, unable to sleep, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Noelle had tried to reach him several times, but he didn’t want to talk to her.
He started to drift off until he pictured her face smiling down at him in the snow. The image brought him wide awake again. And suddenly he was thinking of them making love for the first time, and of loving each other in front of the fireplace.
Damn. Would she ever stop plaguing his mind? He punched the pillow and lay back down.
Why the heck was he working himself half to death? William had been on the money. He’d get control of George’s property eventually. And he’d sell it.
Noelle awakened around six the next morning. Glancing at her phone, she saw that Colin hadn’t returned her call.
She got up, showered and dressed for the day. She wasn’t really hungry, but she ate cereal anyway.
Carp came by at seven. He pulled his hat off. “Wanted to tell you, the electrician is coming by today. He’s going to look over all the buildings.”
“They have to be a mess after all these years.”
“That about nails it.”
“How are you doing, Carp?”
“Better than ever. I talked to my ex last night. To the kids, too. Told her I was coming to town on the weekend. She said the kids had games, but I asked if I could take them. And she agreed.”
“I’m so happy for you.”
“I haven’t broached the possibility of them spending some weekends with me, but that’s a start.”
“A good start.”
“Kind of looking forward to seeing my boy play basketball. My daughter’s a cheerleader. Think I’m going to town to pick out some presents for them,” he said, clearly looking forward to the event. “Been getting a lot of work done. I have to hire a couple of guys to help out for a few days, but I should be able to do most of it on my own.”
Noelle nodded.
“Weatherman’s talking about more snow next week. Hope it doesn’t snow any more before the weekend.”
Noelle didn’t want to hear about snow. “Let me get you a cup of coffee to warm you up before you go back out there.”
“I’d appreciate that. Colder today than usual.”
“Come on in the kitchen and warm up. Why don’t you have breakfast with me?”
“Coffee will do. I ate earlier.”
She poured him a cup then got out a thermos and filled it.
“Thanks,” he said and left. “I’ll drop this by on my way home.”
Noelle glanced outside. She hoped the roads were plowed well enough for her to drive her car. She bundled up in her coat and left for the farm. Obviously it was the only way she’d talk to Colin.
Unaccustomed to driving on snow, Noelle drove cautiously. A couple of times she was so slow her car eased backward down the hill. She realized she had to give it some gas to make it up. Puttering along, she was almost at the ranch when she slid into a ditch.
Just what she needed.
She tried to reach Colin again, but, of course, he wouldn’t pick up. Leaving her hazard lights on, she got out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the ranch.
She waved to the guard and kept walking past, but he stopped her.
“Excuse me?”
She’d spoken to him every time she came through.
“Sorry, ma’am. Orders.” He looked apologetically at her. “I can’t let you in.”
“Well, will you call Colin and tell him I need to talk to him? And please let me know if he’s coming. After I call AAA to get my car out the ditch, I’m walking back to it.”
When he closed the door to radio up to the house, Noelle dialed Information for the number for AAA. She was dialing the number when the guard opened the window.
“We’ll get you out of the ditch, ma’am. AAA will take hours getting here. When it snows, seems like a million cars need help,” the man said.
Five minutes later a closed-cab tractor came lumbering down the lane followed by a pickup truck. The tractor stopped beside her.
“Where’re you stuck?” the man asked.
“About a mile down the road,” she said, tightening the coat around her. Her body clearly wasn’t acclimated to this weather yet. She wondered if it would ever be. She felt half-frozen. The lining in her boots did little to warm her toes.
The tractor drove on, but the truck stopped beside her. A thin, wiry looking brown-skinned man with a roadmap of wrinkles on his face lowered the window. “Hop in,” he called out.
Opening the door, Noelle eagerly got into the warm cab and rolled the window up. “Whoo. Really cold out there.”
He grinned. “That it is, ma’am.”
“It’s much warmer in here. Thank you. Where’s Colin?” Noelle asked. Why hadn’t he come to pick her up? She needed to talk to him.
“He’s occupied right now. Said he’ll get back to you later.” The man’s face darkened in embarrassment. Colin had probably given him an earful of choice words about her in the meantime.
Well, if he wanted to act stupid and refuse to talk to her, there was nothing she could do but let him stew. She was angry herself by now.
“Give him a message for me, please?” she said as sweet as she could manage.
“Sure
, ma’am. Be glad to. What is it?”
“Tell him to drop dead.”
The man threw his head back and laughed. “I like you. I think he’s met his match. Finally. You’ve got spunk.” He extended a hand. “I’m Ron by the way.”
His hand nearly swallowed hers.
“Been on the farm a long time,” he said. “Knew Colin since he was a little one. And I’ve got to say I’m very pleased to meet you.”
Noelle smiled.
When they approached her car, the man on the tractor was hooking a chain to it.
“Give me your keys,” Ron said. “You stay in the truck where it’s warm and toasty. We’ll have you out of the ditch in no time. The road’s a slippery devil right now.”
Noelle handed over her keys and a blast of cold air rushed in when Ron exited the truck. He hunched his shoulders against the cold. But inside, he’d left the heater on and she was quickly warm again.
The men worked quickly and within minutes they had her car out of the ditch. Ron entered the cab rubbing his hands together. He slipped her a piece of paper with a telephone number. “Just in case you get stuck again. You drive home carefully, hear? And as soon as the weather breaks, get yourself some all-weather or snow tires.” He nodded toward her car. “What you have now isn’t worth crap in this weather.”
“Thanks, Ron.”
Once he drove away, Noelle realized there was no sense in going back to the farm. The guard would only tell her to move on.
She decided to head home. By now she was really ticked off with Colin. Maybe she hadn’t been completely up front in the beginning, but her feelings for him were real. The least he could do was hear her explanation, not that that was going to ingratiate her with him.
Chapter 9
Drop dead. Ron had the nerve to laugh in Colin’s face. “She’s got spunk,” he said.
“You got her out of the ditch okay?” Colin asked, ignoring his comment about spunk. He was tired and sleepy. He’d finally fallen asleep when it was almost time to get up.
“Took no time at all. She was nearly frozen by the time we got to the guard stand. Had her standing outside. Why would he do a thing like that? Not like she’s a stranger.”
His Tempest Page 11
