by Becky McGraw
"I love you too, baby girl." He laid back on the bed and gave her a grizzly smile. "So, what made you feed him to the coyotes?"
"I just finally realized what an ass he is, and that he was using me." And probably cheating too, based on his sudden obsession with his text messages. "I guess it took being away from him for me to finally see it." Cassie knew now it had been there all along, his selfishness and snobbery, she had just been blind and stupid.
"Don't guess Luke had anything to do with your decision?" Carl Bellamy's eyes sparkled with hope.
Cassie shook her head. "Nope...nothing at all. He pretty much ripped his britches with me tonight. I'm through with men for a good long while, Daddy. I'm going to stay here with you and raise horses."
"Do what?" Carl sat up straighter and grabbed her shoulders.
"I think we should scale back the cattle to something you can manage, and I'm going to raise and train quarter horses."
Tears filled his eyes and Cassie swallowed. "That would be just fine, Cassie Bee."
"Tomorrow I'm getting a full-time nurse out here to get your physical therapy program going. You've sat around here moping long enough. I need your help."
***
Up bright and early the next morning with a new sense of purpose, Cassie raised her face to the sun when she stepped off the porch and strode to the barn with a spring in her step. Bud and his hands were standing by the bunkhouse hashing out their chores for the day, and she walked right up and shouldered her way into the circle of men.
All eyes moved to her and Bud gave her a warm smile. "Mornin, Cassie Bee."
"Mornin, Bud," she said and then looked at each man in the circle and gave them a head nod. "Morning, guys."
Bud took a step to the center of their group and took off his hat. "Fellas, you haven't had a chance to meet Carls' daughter, Cassie. She's gonna be working with us to get through the calving, while Carl's laid up." They all appeared to be dumbstruck, and none too happy about her helping them.
But they maintained respect as each introduced themselves to her with a tip of their dusty hats. They probably thought she wouldn't be much help, and they'd wind up babysitting the boss's daughter, instead. When they broke up, each heading off to saddle up, Cassie pulled Bud aside to talk to him privately.
"Bud, I'm staying in Bowie...coming home for good."
His face split with a big grin, he told her, "It's about damned time, Cassie Bee. Your daddy's missed you."
Although he didn't come out and say it, Cassie knew he'd missed her too, because he sniffled a minute then pulled his red bandana from his pocket to wipe his eyes and then stuff it back in his pocket.
"I'm going to get a stud and a few good mares and start raising and training quarter horses."
"Damned good idea, darlin'. I'll keep my eye out for some good stock. You might check with Tommy Tucker down at the Rockin' D up near Amarillo, I hear him and his daddy's herd have thrown some mighty fine foals the last few years."
"Thanks, Bud. I'll do that. But first, we have some babies to get born and cattle to get sold," she told him with a smile then turned back toward the house. "I have a few things to do this morning to settle up things in Phoenix and get daddy's therapy set up, so I'll be back out here in a couple hours. Just tell me what you need me to do."
"Go on, darlin'. Let me know when you get done."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Back at the house, Cassie made a list of the calls she needed to make, and then sat down in the alcove. There was a lot of things she could handle by phone, but she'd have to go to Phoenix in a few weeks to tie up loose ends on some of her outstanding real estate deals, and to get her stuff sold, or packed up to move here.
First, she called a locksmith and got the locks on her house changed. Then she called her friend Betsy, a fellow Realtor about her age that she should have gone into business with instead of James. Betsy was very professional, and was named Arizona Realtor of the Year last year. Cassie had been nominated, but Betsy had edged her out for the award.
She thought Betsy would probably jump on the chance to buy her interest in the firm she co-owned with James and had worked her ass off to make a success. Although, she wasn't positive Betsy would be interested. Over the last couple of years James' reputation had suffered from his lack of attention to detail and laziness. Maybe Betsy could whip him into shape.
When Cassie called, Besty wasn't in though, so she left her a message that she wanted her to list her home and that she had a business proposition for her.
Next, Cassie called a mover she knew and set up an appointment for them to pack up James' belongings and move them. She'd arranged for the locksmith to give her assistant a key, then she called Diane and told her what was going on with James and she agreed to meet the movers for the appointment.
Finally, Cassie called a nursing service, and put them on the hunt for just the right nurse with a lot of patience and physical therapy experience to help her dad recover. They assured her they'd find a good fit in the next few days. She'd been trying to get physical therapy set up for him since she'd gotten to Bowie with no luck, so she'd believe it when it happened.
When she hung up the phone, Cassie felt a sense of relief. Like a fifty pound bag of potatoes had been lifted from her shoulders. She went to the kitchen and ate breakfast with Imelda, and told her the good news, before she headed back out to the barn.
Imelda had burst into tears and then hugged the breath out of her. The people on this ranch were the ones who truly cared about her, loved her for who and what she was. She wasn't leaving them again. This was her home.
Cassie walked with purpose to the barn and stepped into the dimmer light, then walked toward Bud's office. It took her eyes a moment to adjust, but when she got to the door of the office, she didn't need her eyes to recognize the voice she heard inside, talking to Bud, who was bragging about her plans. Luke was here.
The smile that had been pasted on her face all morning fled, and she put her back against the wall, hoping they didn't see her. No such luck.
"Cassie Bee?" Bud called out to her.
With little choice, because he had indeed seen her, Cassie pushed away from the wall and went into the small room. Her eyes flickered over Luke sitting in the chair by Bud's desk leaning back casually with his hat tipped up and his elbows propped on the arm rests, his long legs crossed at the ankles in front of him. The sleeves of his black t-shirt accentuated the roundness of his well-defined biceps and the color made his eyes look almost as black, while he studied her with some strange emotion reflected there.
Her still raw heart felt like someone poured salt over the open wound in her chest. Time and distance from him was what she needed for it to get better, but it didn't seem like he was going to give her that.
She dragged her eyes away from Luke and looked at Bud, then tried to work up some saliva in her suddenly dry mouth. "Yeah?"
"I've been talking to Luke and he's got a proposition for us. I think you might wanna hear him out."
She looked back to Luke with a raised brow and said, "Oh, yeah?"
Luke uncrossed his legs and sat up in the chair then said, "Yeah, I want to buy the herd and lease some acreage."
"You want to be a cattle rancher?" Cassie said incredulously with a snort.
His eyes glittered angrily as he drawled, "Looks that way doesn't it?"
"Five hundred head? That's a lot to chew for a newbie, Luke." She wondered if he'd suddenly hit the lottery, or where the hell he was getting the money it would take him to pull off his plan.
"Cole and I are going to be partners. He's got the inheritance from the sale of his daddy's land, and I've got the experience, as well as some cash."
"But you have a full-time job. How the hell do you think you're going to have enough time?"
"My term as Sheriff is up in a year, I can swing it until then. Bud knows a good manager I can hire."
It looked like Luke had put a lot of thought into the idea, but she still didn't think
he realized the enormity of what he was undertaking. "I don't know, Luke."
"I'm going up to the house to talk to your daddy," he told her and pushed up from the chair.
Luke was evidently determined to do this, no matter what she had to say about it. If her daddy agreed, there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it, and he knew it. She'd have to see him every day...the last thing she wanted for her new lease on life.
"You'll have to build a new barn and bunkhouse, because I have plans for this one," she said firmly. If he did that maybe she could minimize having to see him.
"Not a problem." His firm lips quirked up at the corner. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, I don't want you in my way over here. I'm going to be busy."
"So, I've heard," he said and his eyes moved over her hotly. "Good luck, darlin'. Glad you're coming back." His fists clenching and unclenching at his sides didn't escape Cassie's notice.
Something strange was going on with Luke, but she didn't have a damned clue as to what. He looked determined, but there seemed to be anger simmering right below the surface of his determination. What the hell did he have to be angry about? Well, Cassie didn't have time to worry about it. She had plans to make now that it looked like her horse farm was going to become a reality quicker than she anticipated.
"Thank you, but I don't need luck. I know what I'm doing, so I'll wish you good luck," she said nastily then spun on her heel and walked out.
Watching Cassie's stiff back as she stomped out of the office, Luke dragged in a deep breath trying to calm himself. His epiphany last night might have given him an understanding of why she'd treated him like shit since she'd come back to Bowie, but her attitude was beginning to wear out his patience, because he didn't deserve her apathy.
Well maybe he deserved some of it...after what he'd done last night at the restaurant. He'd been a total ass and made a fool of himself to boot. And he should probably apologize, but her attitude didn't put him in a real remorseful mood.
But that single instance shouldn't be compounded by imagined sins she'd laid at his doorstep ten years ago, that he had cheated on her. Luke planned to confront her about it, but he was going to do it on his time. He wanted to settle things with Carl first, and get over his anger at her lack of faith in him.
Luke turned to Bud who was now standing behind the scarred old wood desk with his hands on his hips. "I don't know what's gotten into that girl."
Luke knew what was wrong with her, or thought he did, but he wasn't going into it with Bud. "Don't worry about it. I'm going up to the house to talk to Carl. I'll let you know what he says."
***
Honey's coat glistened after all the brushing Cassie had given her. The beautiful mare had just stood there munching on the treat Cassie had given her, while Cassie brushed out all of her anger and frustration at Luke along with the bits of mud and grass caught in her coat. She patted the mare's neck lovingly then threw the body brush in her grooming kit to pull out the tail and mane brush.
She should be doing other things, but this relaxed her, and she deserved a break. Since her feet had hit Bowie, Texas dirt two weeks ago, she'd been busting her ass and battling problems. It was a gorgeous clear day, hell she might even go to the lake later this afternoon and swim. At the last minute before she'd left Phoenix, Cassie had tossed her bikini in the suitcase right before she'd zipped it up. She was glad now that she had and would enjoy the cold fresh water after how hot it was today.
Maybe tonight, she'd call up an old girlfriend or two and see if she could find someone who wanted to go out for a beer. It would take her a while, but Cassie was determined to reclaim her life in Bowie.
Cassie was hot and sweaty after she finished cleaning the horse stalls again. It was nearly three o'clock when she made it back to the house and went upstairs to change. A swim in the lake was going to feel fantastic, she thought as she stripped then donned her bikini. She put on a pair of old cut off shorts and slid her feet into rubber flip flops wiggling her toes to let the air cool off her hot feet. Boots were good for working, but they sure didn't allow any airflow.
She grabbed an old romance novel off the bookshelf in her room and then got a towel from the bath and shoved both into a canvas tote she'd found in the closet. Smiling, she pulled down a big floppy straw hat with a huge hot pink flower on the front from the top shelf of the closet and plopped it down on her head. The flower matched her bikini. Imelda had packed her a lunch and snacks with some bottled water, and she put that bag inside the tote as well. Once she was well-equipped for her excursion, she headed downstairs and across the yard to her truck.
Glancing over at the barn, then the bunkhouse, Cassie saw the door open and Luke come striding out smiling. When she saw him notice her, she looked away and hurried her steps to the truck then opened the door and threw her bag across the seat before she hopped in. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to him.
Cassie grabbed her sunglasses from the dash and shoved them on her nose, then cranked the truck and threw it in reverse then forward and hit the gas. The trail of dust behind her was so thick when she glanced in the rearview she couldn't even see him.
Good, she didn't want to see him. Let him go find that tramp he was with last night--or Becca Harvey, for all she cared--if he wanted female company, she was sure either of them would accommodate him.
A strange, but familiar, pain darted through her chest and then went away. You've been through this before Cassie, it'll get better, she reassured herself. Today, she was one day closer to getting over him...again.
At the lake, Cassie parked her truck by the road along the trees and grabbed her bag then headed down the well-worn path she'd traveled many times before. She inhaled the rich-earthy smell of the woods once she stepped inside the dim canopy of trees. A cool breeze ruffled the hair at her shoulders. Carefully, she picked her way along the trail and slowed when she reached the steep decline that led to the spot she sought. A spot that held too many memories for her, but one she couldn't resist revisiting to prove that she truly was moving on.
The first clue she was almost there was the sound of waves lapping against the shore, then the air got thicker with moisture right before she walked out onto the wide rocky ledge into the bright sunshine.
Even with her sunglasses on, the brightness blinded her for a moment and she shaded her eyes staring at the wide blue expanse of water. She saw a sailboat or two in the distance, then a motor boat pulling a skier. The traffic on the lake wasn't busy today, since it was a weekday. This weekend would be a different story. She dropped her bag to the ground and slid to her knees pulling out her towel and sunscreen.
Laying the towel in a flat spot, she sat down and then smoothed sunscreen over her body and face, then she pulled out her book and laid back. Later, she'd take a hike down to the dock and go for a dip, but she wanted to relax a little first. She opened the book and quickly forgot everything around her as she became engrossed in the love story. After a while, she became sleepy and laid the book beside her and closed her eyes.
A whiff of warm air fanned over her skin and she opened her eyes lazily then stretched and yawned. Cassie glanced to her left and saw a towel was spread down beside hers, and standing on it she saw a pair very large male feet. Her eyes traveled up long muscular legs covered in soft dark hair, over navy swim trunks that led to a slim waist, then followed a tantalizing happy trail upward over a ripped abdomen and firm chest to a square jaw bristled with a five o'clock shadow framing a blinding white smile and sexy brown eyes filled with desire.
"I thought I'd find you here," Luke told her in a low intimate rumble.
The vision of his perfect body and that voice, smooth as dark chocolate, wrapped around her libido and all the moisture left in her body flooded southward. She pushed up to her elbows to glare at him. "What are you doing here, Luke?"
"Sunbathing, relaxing...looking for you," he said then sat down on the towel beside her.
