by Mari Carr
“Fuck. Don’t you think I’ve taken enough shit from Colby and Lucy? Focus. We’re not talking about me. JD’s favoring his side and his coloring is off. Kinda like his perma-tan faded into a weird orange since the last time I saw him.” His brother cursed softly. “Caught him hacking up blood too.”
“Jesus. Get him to the damn doctor.”
“I tried arguing with him. You know how much good that does.”
“Yeah, works about as well as it does on you. Two peas, both of you.”
“I even threatened to sic mom on him.” Silas groaned. “He promised to kick my ass, and he meant it too. The only time I’ve ever seen him really look worried. Look, it’s not like I can throw him over my shoulder and hobble to the doctor on these goddamn crutches.”
Seth ran a hand through his hair, his mind trying to process the idea of his larger-than-life father falling sick. He’d never had a cold that Seth could remember, never mind something…so severe. “I’ll come home.”
“I know you have shit hitting the fan down there…” Silas released a loud sigh.
“Yeah. And you wouldn’t ask if you didn’t have to.” Seth dropped his face into his hand. “Thanks for calling when you needed someone this time. I’m not a kid anymore. I’ll figure it out.”
“Sooner would be better.”
“Yeah,” Seth said. “I’m getting that.”
“Call me when your flight is booked. I can’t drive and Colby’s gotta hang around here for some welcome home thing Mom’s planning for tomorrow afternoon, but I can send one of the hands to the airport.”
“No worries. I’ll rent a car. Be there as soon as I can.”
“Thanks, Seth.”
As Seth closed the cell phone, he sat on the step, letting the silence envelop him. JD was sick. He was going home. Part of him wanted to wake Jody, wanted to soak up all the comfort he knew he could find in her arms.
The two days was over. She’d been true to her word and tomorrow he’d have to set her free to make her decision. He wished he knew for sure she’d choose him, but unless he could find a loophole in the will, she’d feel honor-bound to abide by the promise she’d made to Paul. Besides, how could he ask her not to marry the man when it was clear there was so much good that could come from it?
He thought about Silas’s description of JD’s illness. What if his father had cancer? What if Paul’s research facility found the cure that could save JD? He rubbed his eyes wearily. When had his simple ranch life become so complicated?
He rose tiredly and returned to the cabin. Finding a piece of paper and a pencil, he sat at the kitchen table to leave Jody a note. He needed to get home to his family, and she needed time to think. As much as it killed him to do so, he had to let her go, give her space to decide her own future. He wrote the words written on his heart and prayed they would be enough to convince her to give them a chance.
Propping the note up on the kitchen table, he quietly packed up his stuff and loaded it in the truck. Returning to the cabin, he stood by the bed to take one long, last look at the woman who held his heart in her hand. He’d let her sleep. One last, peaceful night of sweet dreams. Tomorrow would be here too soon.
Locking the door behind him, he climbed into the truck, unaware of the slight breeze from the open window that blew his note off the table and under the couch.
Jody climbed into the truck, riding back to the ranch house in silence. She’d been surprised to discover herself alone when she’d woken up. She’d dressed, searching inside and out for a sign of Seth, but there’d been nothing. All his things were gone, as well as the truck. He’d left her without a word. She hadn’t had more than a few minutes to process that horrible realization when a horn honked outside.
Smiling, thinking he’d returned, she’d rushed to the door only to find Scotty, one of the ranch hands waiting to take her home. A few quick questions proved that her escort didn’t know anything more than Seth had asked him to pick her up.
As the Texas landscape passed by her at fifty miles an hour, she wondered about Seth’s sudden desertion. The closer she got to home, the more obvious the answer became. She’d run him off with her power play. She’d tied him to the bed intending to show him that she was strong enough to be his woman.
Foolishly, she’d fallen asleep before telling him she’d made her choice. She wanted Seth Compton. Wanted to spend a lifetime with him. However, after one silly, impetuous action, she’d driven him away. He’d tweaked her pride the first day they’d spent together, insisting that he owned her orgasms and body. While she certainly didn’t mind commending those things to his oh-so-capable hands, she wanted an equal share. She wanted him—all of him, body and soul.
When did it go wrong? When they’d drifted off to sleep, she’d been so sure of their love. Their happiness. Why did he leave?
Sadness gave way to confusion and as they turned onto the lane that led to her home, confusion gave way to rage and hurt.
The truck pulled up in front of the ranch house and Jody wearily rubbed her hand over her face, frustration and fury whirling inside her.
“Jody,” her father said, coming out on the front porch as she emerged from the truck.
She had to bite back her anger. Her father had given Seth his blessing. Let the man kidnap her away from her home, miss her wedding. And for what? So he could simply abandon her when things didn’t work out.
She glanced over her shoulder toward the foreman’s cabin. Seth’s truck wasn’t there. She needed to find Paul. To explain why she’d missed the wedding and ask for his advice. She could use a friend right now.
Then, she was going to find Seth and demand answers. If the jerk thought he could leave her without a hi or bye, he had another think coming. She’d show him.
“Where’s Paul?” she asked brusquely as she passed her father without accepting his proffered hug and walked into the house.
“Well,” Thomas rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t really know.”
Jody whirled on her father, her fury flying out. “What do you mean you don’t know? You sent him away, didn’t you? It wasn’t enough that Seth had to fuck up my wedding plans, you decided to add your own piece to the pie by forcing him to leave.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Thomas said, raising his hands in surrender. “Nobody sent anybody away. Paul vanished the morning of your wedding day. I went to tell him you were missing, only to find him gone. Chase is AWOL too. Haven’t seen hide or hair of either of them in two days.”
“He’s missing?” Jody felt the fight leave her. She was drained, tired, bewildered and depressed.
Thomas nodded. “Yeah. What happened with Seth, honey?”
She shrugged, wishing she knew. “I guess it didn’t work out.”
Her father frowned. “I don’t believe that.”
“He’s gone. He left me in the cabin alone without a word.”
Thomas put his hands on his hips. “He left without explaining why?”
Jody looked at her father and suddenly she realized he’d talked to Seth since last night. She nodded, unable to hide the pain any longer. “He was just gone. What did he tell you? Where is he now?”
“He’s flying to Wyoming.” Her dad consulted his watch. “In fact, his flight is probably just taking off.”
“He’s going home?”
Thomas nodded. “There was an illness in the family. He was needed back there.”
Jody worried for a moment that something had happened to Silas. She’d thought Seth’s brother was on the mend, but maybe he’d suffered a relapse. Even so, that didn’t explain why he left her without a word. “Did he leave a message for me? Maybe a note?”
Thomas shook his head slowly. “I assumed you knew he was leaving.”
“He didn’t tell me anything. Just slunk away like a thief in the night.” She sounded like a bitter, angry woman, but she couldn’t rein in her resentment and pain.
“It was a misunderstanding. It had to be.”
Jody shook her
head, but her father wouldn’t listen. “He’ll land in a few hours. Get some rest. Calm down, then call him. Talk to him. I’m telling you right now, there’s gotta be a logical explanation.”
There was no way she could tell her father about the truth behind Seth’s desertion. There could be no other answer. She’d come on too strong, pushed him away. She couldn’t be the woman he wanted. He wanted a good, little submissive and she’d failed the test. “No,” she said at last. “He made his decision. He’s gone.”
Her father’s temper snapped. “God dammit, girl. For once, can’t you swallow some of that damn pride? Call Seth.”
She narrowed her eyes and leaned closer. “All I’ve done is swallow my pride where Seth is concerned. If one more mouthful goes down, I’ll choke. Seth Compton is history. And I’m going to bed.”
Thomas fell silent, his shoulders sagging. She turned toward the front door, rather than have to see his concern and the worried lines on his face.
Jody climbed the stairs to her bedroom, slowly. Realization dawned hard. She’d lost Seth and in the process, she’d lost herself. Closing her door and locking it, she crossed the room and collapsed on her bed, giving in to the tears she’d held at bay since waking up.
Seth climbed out of the rental car he’d picked up at the airport. After Silas’s call, he’d returned to his cabin, packed his bags, and booked a flight on the first plane headed to Wyoming. He landed in Casper and drove the two hours to Compton Pass in record time. Throughout the trip, he thought about Jody. The way she looked when he’d left her.
He prayed he’d made the right decision. He’d asked her for two days and dear God had she given it to him. He’d spent the best forty-eight hours of his life lying in her arms. The time had only solidified his belief that she was the only woman in the world for him.
Silas’s call had put a period on that. The idea that JD could be sick—hell—that he could be dying cut through Seth’s gut like a machete. His father was indomitable, larger than life. He’d grown up knowing there wasn’t a force on earth that could take down his rugged father.
He looked across the yard at the crowd of people. He’d shown up just in time for a party he vaguely recalled Silas telling him about. It was in full-force. He hadn’t made it two steps from the car when his mother’s excited yell reached his ears seconds before she engulfed him in a long, hard hug.
He smiled. He was home.
“Hi, Mom.” He smiled down at her.
“Two of my boys home,” she said, her hand resting lightly on his cheek. “And it’s not even my birthday.”
Silas hobbled up behind Vicky. Seth tried to keep his face implacable, though it was hard to see his sturdy brother looking so broken as he crossed the yard on crutches.
“What a surprise,” Silas said. His tone cued him in that, while Silas had called him home, his parents weren’t expecting him. Obviously JD was still pretending all was well.
“I wanted to come home when I first heard about your accident. Mom told me to give you time to settle back in.” It wasn’t a lie and it helped smooth over his unexpected arrival.
“Seth?”
He turned to see JD standing behind him and he felt like the breath had been knocked out of him. Silas was right. It was bad. His father’s skin tone was off and there were distinct lines around his eyes and mouth that bespoke pain.
“Hey, JD,” he said. He embraced his father, the hug lasting a shade longer than their usual greeting. Seth didn’t want to pull away and he sensed JD didn’t either. This wasn’t going to be easy.
He let his mother drag him around, introducing him to new arrivals to the ranch and neighborhood, while forcing him to reacquaint himself with countless others.
His heart wasn’t into the party. His mind wrestled between two worries, Jody and JD. While it felt good to be home, he knew Compass Ranch was in for some big changes. And without Jody, he wasn’t sure he was ready for them.
Chapter Eleven
Jody sat in the living room, staring at the television, not caring that it wasn’t even on, when she heard a commotion in the front foyer. She’d hidden in her room for four days, struggling to pull the pieces of her shattered heart back together. Her father had tried to console her, tried to convince her to call Seth, but she wouldn’t play the fool for him again. Never again.
Glancing up, she was surprised to find Paul in the doorway. “Hey,” she said with a forced smile.
Paul’s genuine grin faded as he looked at her. “What the hell happened?”
She chuckled at his question, the sound quickly turning to a sob. Paul was across the room in an instant, sitting on the couch and pulling her into his comforting embrace. “I screwed up everything,” she said, between gasping cries.
“I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. I pushed him away.”
“Seth?” Paul shook his head. “No way. You couldn’t push that guy away from you with a two-ton truck.”
She looked up at her beloved friend’s face and realized she needed to get out of Texas, away from this place where she was surrounded by memories of Seth. “Let’s run away. Go to Vegas right now. We can elope.”
“Jody. No.”
“Paul, please. It’s the answer to both of our problems. I can’t stay here.” She started to rise. “We can pack up and be on the next flight to Nevada before the sun sets.”
Paul tugged on her hand and pulled her back to the couch. “I can’t. Hell, even if I could, I would never do that to you. Running away isn’t the answer.”
“Why can’t you? We’re running out of time. Your father’s will—”
“Has been satisfied,” Paul interrupted. “I’ve met the stipulation. You’re free of your promise.”
She tried to process his words, understand what they meant. “How?”
Paul smiled, the happiness he obviously felt, busting at the seams. “I found the loophole. The will only said I had to get married. It didn’t say my spouse had to be a woman.”
The pieces fell together and suddenly Jody understood Paul’s absence. “You eloped.”
He nodded.
“With Chase?”
He laughed and nodded again. “Oh my God, Jody. He’s perfect. Sexy and fun and amazing.”
“You’re in love with him.” She’d never seen her best friend fall for anyone. To see him in such high spirits made her happy and miserable at the same time. Did Paul think she wouldn’t keep her promise? If Seth hadn’t abandoned her, would she have followed through? No. She wouldn’t have. She’d made that decision in the hunting cabin. Even so, she hated that her friend had reason to doubt her. “Did you think I wouldn’t marry you?”
Paul gave her a rueful grin. “I was afraid you would marry me. Terrified you’d sacrifice your future to keep a promise to me. I want you to be happy. You’re my best friend, Jody. I love you. You’re never gonna be happy without Seth.”
“Great. Nice to know what my future holds. Eternal misery.”
Paul frowned. “Where’s Seth?”
Jody blinked hard, brushing away her tears. She couldn’t believe she had anything left inside her to cry. “Wyoming.”
“Why?”
She shrugged, unable to find the words to explain.
“Maybe you should start at the beginning,” Paul prompted.
“He kidnapped me from my bachelorette party and took me to my dad’s hunting cabin.”
Paul smiled. “Holy shit, that’s romantic.”
Jody laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I guess it was. We, um, well, we had sex.”
“I figured as much. And?”
“And it was amazing. Earth-shattering. Perfect.”
Paul nodded slowly. “I’m not hearing the catch yet.”
Jody rose, pacing around the room, wondering how she could explain. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she understood. “He left because of me. I think I came on a bit too strong.”
“Define too strong.”
Jody leaned against the li
ving room wall and took a deep breath. “I tied him to the bed. Made a few demands.”
Paul burst into laughter.
She crossed her arms over her chest, her anger building. “Glad you find this so amusing.”
“No,” he said, sobering up. “It’s not funny. It’s a misunderstanding.”
She rolled her eyes and slammed her hand against the wall at her back. “Why does everyone keep saying that? He’s not here. He left without a word, without a note right after I tied him to the bed. I told you what he wanted, Paul.”
“A sex slave?”
She shook her head. “A submissive woman.”
“Did you let him take control of you in bed, Jody?”
She started to point out the fact that she’d tied him up again, but Paul stopped her with a wave of his hand. “Besides your one so-called lapse in judgment, did you submit?”
She considered her actions, the way Seth had controlled her orgasms, pulled her hair, spanked her. At the time, it had all seemed sexy, hot as hell, but now she realized she had submitted to him. She’d handed her body over to Seth because she trusted him and knew he’d never hurt her. “Yes. I did.”
“And you’re convinced his departure isn’t a misunderstanding.”
She nodded sadly. It was no mistake.
“Well, then. He’s a fucking asshole,” Paul said, rising, his voice laced with fury.
His words sparked the anger that had been buried deep beneath her pain. “Yeah,” she agreed. “He’s a prick.”
Paul walked over to her, pointing his finger at her face. “That jerk owes you. You’ve spent years saving yourself for him. Does he seriously think he can abduct you from your own bachelorette party, steal your virginity and then saunter off into the night without a goddamn word?”
“You’re right!” Her fury exploded and she suddenly felt stronger than she had in days.
“He owes you, Jody. He owes you an explanation and a fucking apology.”
Paul’s anger and uncharacteristic use of foul language spurred her on and suddenly her path was clear.
