“No, you’re not. You’re in a strange mood, but I’m hoping you’ll be back to your old self by the time we finish our conversation.”
“Must have been some understanding you came to.”
She shrugged. She didn’t speak, just waited. From the way her eyes were glued to his plate, he figured she was waiting on him to eat. He took a bite. As if on cue, she started talking. “Ever since we married, you’ve been taking care of me.”
He shrugged, hampered to do more by a mouthful of food.
She didn’t seem to mind his lack of response. “After I got over my mad this morning, I started thinking on what kind of man you are.” She patted his hand. “You’re a taking-care-of man. You handle everything by yourself. You always have. It was unreasonable of me to expect that, just because we’re married, you’d automatically understand you no longer have to do things on your own.”
“I don’t?”
“No,” she said gently, as if she thought this was going to hurt. “I blame it on a lack of family life that you don’t know you’re supposed to treat your wife like a partner rather than a child.”
“And your family taught you this?”
She shook her head “No. Millie and Doc did.”
“And I need to follow their example?”
She nodded earnestly. “Yes.”
And she thought he was in a strange mood. She sat there across from him, looking as delicate as a flower in a white lacy-necked blouse tucked into a blue serge skirt, and she didn’t want him to protect her? The woman was clearly out of her mind.
“You spent all morning thinking on this?”
“Yes.” This time, after she patted his hand, she ended the motion by curling her fingers around his. “We can do this, Asa.”
He stared into her earnest face. Her beautiful green eyes framed by their sooty lashes glowed like gems in the lamplight. She was the most beautiful thing in the world, and, for a few precious weeks in his life, she’d shown him heaven, but she was looking for a hero. God, he hated to be the one to break the news to her. “You were right when you said there aren’t any heroes.”
She looked confused.
He pulled his hand from hers before she could do the rejecting. “I promised you I was going to save this ranch, Elizabeth, and I aim to do it.”
“I know you will.”
He pushed his plate away, his dinner half-eaten. “This isn’t one of your books, Elizabeth. You’ll keep the ranch, but it won’t be clean or pretty. There are going to be sacrifices.”
She frowned at his plate, then at him. “I told you, Asa. I’m not a child. I understand responsibility and sacrifice.”
“Even if your pal Aaron is one of those sacrifices?”
She sat back in her chair, guard up. “What are you talking about?”
“In order to save your ranch, I’m going to take Aaron down.”
“What does Aaron have to do with anything?”
“He’s the one who’s been driving the Rocking C into the ground.”
She bristled immediately. “That’s absurd. Aaron is my friend.”
“I know you see it that way, but, as I mentioned before, with friends like him, you don’t need to be hunting up enemies.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Darlin’, the one thing I know is that, if you’re counting Aaron as a friend, you’d best start packing something against snakebite.”
“You don’t know him as well as I do.”
“I know him well enough.”
Her hands balled into fists. Her voice dropped from warm to icy politeness. “I know you’ve always been jealous of our closeness, but you’re going too far.”
Her withdrawal struck him like a slap. He shook his head. “Got to disagree with you there. I’m saving that for tomorrow.”
Fact was, he was saving a lot for tomorrow. Including his goodbyes, because, sure as hell, when he called out Aaron for his back-stabbing, Elizabeth wasn’t going to waste a lot of time sending her husband packing.
She interrupted his thoughts. “I know from your notes in the books that you suspect someone of sabotaging the Rocking C.”
And she wanted him to tell her he didn’t suspect Aaron. He ran his hands through his hair. “There’s no sense dancing around the subject. Aaron’s the one behind the Rocking C’s troubles.”
“My father made some mistakes…?” Her hands disappeared from the tabletop. He assumed from the way her spine was razor-back sharp, she was clutching her fingers in her lap. “Number one being taking Aaron on as a partner?” she asked, and then went on before he could answer. “Do you have proof?”
She looked at him. It was clear in her eyes she was hoping against hope that she wasn’t going to lose another dream to reality. He swore long and hard. Why did he have to be the messenger? Why couldn’t her father have had the brains God gave a rock, and seen Aaron for the snake in the grass he was?
“Nothing the law would cozy up to,” he hedged.
“Which means you don’t have proof.”
Christ, he could feel the knots that bound them together unraveling. The small part of him that hoped she’d believe him, despite her lifetime belief in Aaron, started to die. “I’ve got the facts. Whether they’ll hold up in a court of law isn’t the point.”
“It is to me.”
“Yeah. I figured that.”
“What are these facts?”
“First off, Aaron’s set to lose everything without the water rights you grant him.”
“So? He knows those aren’t in danger.”
“He set you up to lose the ranch by furthering that bank note when any prudent advice would be to hold tight while you were solvent.”
“I don’t agree.”
The last drop of hope in him died. “No shock there.” Wanting this over, he pushed on. Words fell over words as he let the explanation spew forth. “Then this fancy pants Brent comes along. Man goes out of his way to hunt you up and, from what Old Sam says, seemed to know exactly what to say to you to make you tumble like an old stack of hay.”
“I was stupid.”
“You were set up.”
“Who says?”
“I do, and so do the men.”
“What do you know?”
“More than you, apparently, because there was no danger of you losing the ranch until you married me.” He shot her an amused glance. “Appears you spiked their guns when you took matters into your own hands. The way Cougar and I figure it, they couldn’t be sure I’d continue to allow the water, so they had to drive it under.”
“They called in the note.” Desperation entered her voice.
“Yeah. They delivered the news when you and I were in town that day. And guess who was walking out of the office right before I walked in?”
“Aaron, but that’s not surprising. It is the only bank in town.”
“It’s mighty strange that, a week before, they were willing to extend the note until spring with my savings against the balance. But, when I brought the money in, all I could manage was one month.”
“That doesn’t mean Aaron had anything to do with it.”
“No, it doesn’t, but it does point a finger that way.”
“But Aaron—”
He didn’t want to hear her defend good old Aaron. He cut her off. “As soon as it looked like I was going to get the cattle rounded up for the railroad deal, I got bushwhacked.”
“That could have been anyone.”
“Except that foreman of Aaron’s was there when I made the deal.”
“It’s still supposition.”
Asa threw his napkin on the table. “Yeah. Just like today, when I went to deliver the cattle a week early, and I find the railroad is wary of taking them. Seems a rumor’s been spread that the reason I want to bring them in early is because they’re sick and I want to unload them before it becomes obvious.”
Her rigid posture collapsed. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah. Oh, no.�
�
“What are we going to do?”
They weren’t doing anything. “Tomorrow, I’m going into town and settle this.”
She caught his arm as he was trying to pass. “You’re not going to do anything foolish, are you?”
“Depends on what your definition of foolish is.”
“Asa…” All the uncertainty in the world rested in her gaze. He felt her lack of faith like a blow. Not because he expected her to believe in him blindly, but because she’d believed in him at all. He’d been a fool reaching for rainbows. He’d had no business taking her with him.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I should have negotiated a sale for you.”
She looked at him, confused. “That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“It should have been. One look at the books and I should have done the right thing.”
She stood. Her hands on his chest prevented his leaving. “You did what I wanted.”
“Yeah, that’s the hell of it. I used what you wanted to lasso a dream.”
“Asa.”
He stepped back. “You were right to distrust me.”
She stared at him for a brief moment, leaving him feeling like he hung over a cliff with nothing to break his fall. “No. I don’t think so.”
He shrugged, facing the inevitable. “You will tomorrow.”
“Because you’re going to confront Aaron?”
“Yes.” She wouldn’t be safe until the man was out of the picture. By the time she realized it, he’d be gone.
“Asa, I don’t believe Aaron would betray me like you say, but I agree it looks bad.”
“Uh-huh.”
The breath she took was audible. “I want to be there tomorrow.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not safe.”
“Even if you thought Aaron would hurt me, which he won’t, what do you think is going to happen with people all around?”
“I don’t want you there.”
“Tough.”
She caught his arm before he could slip out the door. “I’m going to be there.”
“I’m not arguing with you.”
She didn’t seem put off by the finality in his tone. “You can be a bear, Asa MacIntyre.”
“You’re not the first to tell me that.”
Angling out the door, Asa heard her footsteps behind him as he headed up the stairs. The woman was as tenacious as a badger. He paused outside their bedroom door. Somehow, it seemed wrong to sleep with his wife when he knew she’d be kicking his sorry butt out the door in the morning. Two heel clicks and he knew she was right behind him. Asa could smell her scent—woman, vanilla, and a touch of something he had never figured out—as he wrenched open the door to their room. To hell with the right thing. Asa wanted one last night. He’d be paying the rest of his life anyway, what was one more infraction? She wanted a hero? Give him a feather tick and he could be all the hero she needed. It was outside the bedroom he was having trouble.
She was right behind him as he entered the room. No doubt high on indignation. A smile tugged. Sometimes the woman didn’t know when to quit.
He turned and scooped her into his arms when her momentum would have caused her to shoot on past. “There’s a point when you ought to pull back and regroup.”
There was nothing of the turbulence he expected to see on her face. Just a bone-deep satisfaction that softened the edge of her determined smile. “Why?”
Now there was a question he didn’t want to answer. “Because, sometimes, it helps you to see things clearer.”
She looped her arms around his neck. “And here I thought you were going to pout.”
“Men don’t pout.” They pounded walls, or even took advantage of sweet, misguided women, but they never pouted.
“I’m glad to hear it.” She snuggled closer. “Everything’s going to be fine, Asa. When you talk to Aaron, you’ll see.”
“And if I don’t?”
He felt her shrug all the way up his body. “It’ll still be fine.”
He wished he could be so sure. His body reacted predictably to the closeness of hers. His hands, instead of putting some distance between them like he told them to, encouraged her to arch so her hips matched his better. He really was sinking to an all-time low. He hummed as she snuggled closer. “You got something on your mind?”
“I thought a little distraction might be in order.”
Damn. When had she learned to purr like that?
“Distraction?” he asked. He tried to revive his honor, but, as fast as she was slipping buttons through the holes on his shirt and undershirt, he didn’t think honor stood a chance. Elizabeth could be mighty determined.
“All right, not a distraction.” She sighed in satisfaction as she spread his shirt and long johns off his shoulders. “More of a reminder.”
“Reminder?” That hoarse croak wasn’t much of a deterrent, but damn, she was a quick study when it came to pleasing him.
“Yes,” she answered, her voice strong and confident. “You’re in a strange mood. I don’t like it.”
“You figured seducing me would fix that?”
“Maybe.” She smiled a witchy smile that sent his blood surging through his veins. “But it will surely remind you where you belong.”
As if he needed reminding. He stroked her hair. Her bun slipped to the side. He undid a few of the hairpins as she pressed her lips dead center on his chest. Her hair tumbled down. Her tongue touched his flesh. His breath hissed between his teeth. He dropped his good intentions like a hot potato. “I should be reminding you that things don’t always work out like we plan.”
She kissed her way to his navel. “But?”
“But I’ve never been that long on honor.”
“Uh-huh.” She dipped her tongue into his belly button. His stomach jerked inward.
“Hey! That tickles.”
She grinned. He could feel her lips stretch across his stomach. “Sorry.”
“You don’t sound sorry.” His hands, in direct contradiction to his words, were urging her to do it again.
“If you promise to be quiet, I’ll apologize.”
Her lips wandered further south.
“If you’re planning on what I think,” he croaked, “you’d best save your apologizing until I get a wall at my back.”
She shook her head emphatically. Her fingers worked the buttons on his denims. “You’re just going to have to stand tall, Mr. MacIntyre.”
The last button popped free. With a move he had no idea she knew, she slid his pants down his thighs. Her breath brushed his straining cock through his long johns, setting fires raging. “Because I’m not giving up until I get what I want.”
God help him, she sounded as stubbornly petulant as a kid refusing to leave a candy store. “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of something you like,” he countered.
Letting go of her hair, he unfastened the buttons on his long johns. He wished he could see her expression, but she was staring hard at his hands, her hands on her thighs, her fingertips twitching as if she wanted to be doing the job.
When he had the last button on his fly free, he cupped the back of her head in his hand. With the other, he eased his painfully hard cock into the light.
“Oh, my goodness.”
He hoped that note in her voice was awe. With steady pressure, he urged her forward. Her breath reached him first. Warm and moist, it blew over the sensitive head in a sensual caress. The vertebrae in her neck were a delicate ladder beneath his fingers. The flesh under her chin, soft as down as he applied pressure, tilting her head back.
The look she sent him was questioning.
“I want to see,” he explained. From this angle, he wouldn’t miss a thing.
“How do I do this right?”
He couldn’t believe she was turning shy after taking the bull by the horns. “I don’t think you can do this wrong.”
She sat back on her heels. “You don’t think?”
“
I’m as green at this as you.”
Her small smile told him that pleased her to no end. “Do you like it when I touch you?”
“He’d be mighty grateful.”
She ran two fingers down his shaft, stopping when they collided with his fingers.
“He?”
He shrugged. “Nothing that ugly could be female.”
“Oh, he’s not ugly.” She stroked him again, her voice as soft as her touch. A featherlight caress that had him gritting his teeth. She paused again when she reached his hand. “Does he have a name?”
He slid his hand over hers, showing her he liked a bit more pressure. “Johnny.”
“Why Johnny?”
“Cause when I was of an age to be naming things, he had a tendency to be always jumping up.”
He couldn’t believe how good her laugh felt against his skin.
She leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on the tip of his cock. “Hello, Johnny.”
He shuddered as fire shot down his shaft and spread like a conflagration up his spine. Sheer pleasure drew his balls tight.
The smile she gave him left him in no doubt that she knew what she was doing to him. A drop of pre-come beaded the tip of his penis.
Elizabeth eyed it speculatively. “You liked that.”
“Yeah.”
His reward was a squeeze of her hand. “I could do it again.”
He had to struggle to find his voice. When he found the words, they came out as more growl than drawl. “We’d be obliged.”
This time, the kiss wasn’t so chaste. This time, she used her tongue, sweeping it around the swollen crest, lapping up all the creamy moisture she found there. When she pulled back, her expression was considering.
Though he knew he might regret it, he had to ask, “What?”
“You taste good.” She ran her tongue over her lips as if searching for more. The expressions that crossed her face traveled the distance from surprise to interest.
It was the interest that had him throbbing in her hand.
Shit! She was going to kill him for sure.
“What else would you like?” she asked.
Now, that was a loaded question. Another bead of come appeared on the head of his penis. As much as he loved the feel of her tongue lapping him with the delicacy of a cat, he had another fantasy he’d like played out.
Promises Linger (Promise Series) Page 32
