Swelter

by D. Jackson Leigh

  Teal smiled but shook her head. “They’ll call you that crazy woman rancher who’s too soft to make any money.”

  “Nah. They’ll call me that fancy-pants rancher who sells her beef for crazy-high prices to yuppie idiots in Ca-LEE-for-NI-yay and NU-york Ci-TEE.”

  Teal laughed so loud at her exaggeration that the herd startled, most raising their heads, and some moving a safer few yards farther away to graze.

  August’s smile was blazing under the gray clouds.

  “I think you’ll be a huge success,” Teal said. She meant it.

  August tilted her hat back and scanned the clouds again. “We should head back. An open prairie isn’t a good place to be during a lightning storm.”

  “Not up to storm-chasing on horseback?” Teal wasn’t ready to go. She’d just gotten August to open up a little. But the sky was looking a little scary. “It’s so humid, let’s keep it slow unless it starts to rain.”

  They mounted up and walked the horses side by side. August kept sneaking glances at her. “What?”

  “Nothing.” August shrugged and smiled. “The hat looks really good on you.”

  Teal tugged it lower on her brow and straightened her shoulders in exaggerated cowboy style. “Why thank you, ma’am. You’re pretty fetchin’ yourself today.”

  August laughed again. Teal loved the throaty sound.

  “I told you about my plans for the ranch,” August said. “Your turn to tell me something about yourself.”

  Teal hadn’t expected this. What could she say without revealing too much? “I don’t really know what my future holds. I’m going to work for my cousin for a while, and then I think I’ll head back to the city…a different city and take a similar job, but I’m not sure what. I like organizing and making things happen.”

  “I bet you’d be good at running a nonprofit.”

  “Mmm. I don’t necessarily want to be in charge. I prefer being the wizard behind the curtain.”

  August frowned. “You don’t seem shy to me.”

  “Maybe it’s a holdover from my awkward-farm-girl upbringing.”

  “Were you home-schooled or something?”

  “No, nothing that radical. But my father was…is very strict. We never went hungry and always had adequate clothes. But we weren’t allowed to waste money on brand-name clothes, electronic games, or buying books when we could check them out from the library. Things like that.”

  “That’s not such a bad thing. Too many kids today have their heads in those electronic games or their smart phones all the time.”

  How could she explain her father? “My mother had a scholarship to a small but prestigious art program at Earnhardt College in Virginia. She was very good. In fact, she’d just won a special fellowship to spend the summer studying in Italy after her junior year. Then her mother died. Her father, who always thought her aspirations as an artist were silly, demanded that she come home and help raise her four younger brothers. Her scholarship and fellowship went to other eligible students. She was little more than a house slave to her father and her four brothers, so when my father proposed, she jumped at the chance to marry and get away from them.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the air felt like humid slurry they were wading through.

  “So, did she paint again after she married? Did you inherit her talent for art?”

  Teal shook her head. “No. I didn’t.” Her mood was darkening with the clouds. “And she didn’t paint. My father agreed with her father. He wouldn’t let her spend the money for paints because he thought it was a frivolous expense.”

  Thunder sounded again, closer this time, and the horses’ ears worked nervously back and forth. They picked up their pace to walk faster, but August reined her mount back, and Teal’s bay automatically slowed again to match the stallion’s pace.

  “Mom would sketch little things for us kids on scrap paper or in our notebooks sometimes. So one Christmas, my sisters and I decided to pool our money and buy Mom some paints and a canvas as a gift. She was so surprised, she cried.”

  August smiled. “What’d she paint? Wait, I bet she did a portrait of you and your sisters.”

  Teal didn’t smile back. “My father made her return the paint supplies to the store for a refund. He said the money would be better spent on something more practical, like a new dress or shoes.”

  “She should have told him to fuck off.”

  “I think her father and brothers had already taken all the fight out of her.” Teal looked at August. “But I swore I would never be that woman my mother had become. I never talked to my parents about college. I just applied, lined up my scholarships, and when the day came, I packed my suitcase and walked out the door. I told my sisters and mother good-bye, but I left before my father came in for lunch.”

  “You’ve never gone back?”

  “At first, I’d try to go home for holidays, to see my mother and sisters. But my father would make the time so miserable for all of us, I went less and less. I haven’t seen my mother in five years. My sisters have visited me, or I’ve arranged to meet them somewhere for a weekend now and then.”

  They were quiet for a while, nothing but the soft sound of hoofbeats and the rumble of thunder intruding into the silence.

  “Do you have any siblings?”

  “One brother. But we aren’t close.” August offered a tight smile. “He’s exactly what my parents want in an heir. My parents, my brother…they love the urban environment, cutthroat business, and Dallas society. They hated Gus, this ranch, and anything to do with horses and cattle. I never fit in with them. I felt more at home with Gus and Julio.”

  “If you aren’t close to your family, why’d you go back to Dallas after you graduated law school?”

  The muscle in August’s jaw worked for a long minute, and Teal was about to withdraw her question when she finally spoke.

  “Because Christine insisted that our best chance at starting a successful law practice would be in a city where there were plenty of criminals to defend.” She paused. “And I guess I wanted to prove something to my parents and flaunt Christine in front of my brother.” August’s expression was guarded.

  Teal realized that although the attraction between them screamed, neither had admitted her sexual orientation yet. In fact, she’d deliberately misled them to think she was straight, so August was waiting for her reaction. “Christine was more than your law partner then? She was your lover?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m guessing that didn’t go over well with your parents?”

  “No. It didn’t. They weren’t especially religious, though, so they tried to ignore it as a phase and allowed my brother to torment me over it.”

  “My sister, Gray, came out to my parents, and they forbid her or any of us to speak about it again.”

  August nodded. “I wish it’d been that easy in my family. My parents sent us to a private prep school where my brother was captain of the boys’ lacrosse team and I was captain of the girls’ soccer team. There was this one girl he found out I was crushing on, and he persuaded her to pretend she was interested until I made a move. Then she told everybody that I was a pervert who tried to kiss her. It made high school miserable for me, so I tested out of as many classes as possible and left for college early.”

  “That’s where you met Christine?”

  “I dated a lot of women as an undergraduate. Then I met Christine our first year in law school at Duke. Barrett, my brother, practically drooled when he saw her.”

  Teal grew uneasy as August’s expression hardened, her mouth a tight, grim line. Was this a side of August she’d been blind to, like she’d apparently ignored Lauren’s real personality? Had August used Christine?

  “You dated her to get back at your brother.”

  August jerked as though Teal had hit her, and then her shoulders slumped. “No. I loved her.” She looked away, and Teal could no longer see what was in her eyes.

  “How long were you together?” she ask
ed softly.

  “About ten years.” August shifted in her saddle but didn’t look at her. “Until a couple of months ago.”

  The rumble of thunder grew louder, and a fat drop of rain hit Teal’s forearm. She could see the ranch complex in the distance now. Another boom of thunder was accompanied by a flash of lightning tearing across the sky.

  “Better make a run for it,” August said, kneeing the stallion hard without waiting for Teal.

  They were both drenched by the time they made it into the wide corridor of the huge main barn. The dark storm clouds seemed to have followed August inside as she hooked the stallion into crossties and wordlessly unsaddled him. Clearly, their discussion was over. Teal wished she hadn’t brought up Christine. On the other hand, she was glad the ice was broken. Maybe they could get past it after August stewed a bit.

  She put her saddle and bridle in the tack room to clean later and lost herself in brushing down her horse. What was his name? If she was going to ride him every time, she should know him as more than the big bay horse. She unclipped him from the ties and put him away in a clean stall, making sure the water bucket was full. The stallion and August were gone from the wash stall when she stepped back into the corridor. Given August’s mood, Teal decided to clean her tack and head inside. A cool shower and a good book sounded pretty good.

  Teal was mentally thumbing through the contents of her ebook library to decide her next read, when she stepped from the brightly lit corridor into the dark tack room and smacked right into August. “Oh.” It was like running into a wall, a wall with soft breasts and smooth, bare arms that Teal gripped to keep her balance. “I didn’t see you.” They stood there for several long seconds. “Why are you in the dark?”

  “I just turned the light out, then remembered I put my hat down over there.” August gestured with a tilt of her head but didn’t move away. “Then when I started out again, you smacked into me.”

  Teal didn’t move either. August’s eyes, gray as the sky outside, bored into hers. Was August going to kiss her? If she didn’t, Teal would. But August stepped back and the moment was gone.

  “I’m going to clean my tack,” Teal said. “You don’t have to wait for me if you’re done.”

  “I wiped down both. Pops will give them a good cleaning tomorrow.” August looked down the corridor to the barn’s open end. “Looks like the rain has let up. Let’s make a run for it.”

  They made a mad dash for the house, then shook droplets from the water-resistant Stetsons and shucked off muddy boots to leave on the porch. When Teal paused breathless just inside the door, they once again were standing close and alone in a semi-dark room. The air was thick with anticipation, apprehension, and possibilities neither was willing or brave enough to voice.

  August took a step backward. “I’ve got some things to go over in the office.”

  “I think I’m going to grab a shower and climb in bed with a book. Those chickens get up early for their breakfast.” Teal lifted the hat she held in her hands. “Thank you for the hat. I love it.”

  “You’re welcome.” August looked like she wanted to say more, but then she gave a curt nod. “Good night, Teal.”

  Two quick, unthinking steps and Teal’s hand was on August’s cheek, her lips brushing August’s in a quick caress. “Good night.”

  *

  Teal quietly closed her bedroom door and collapsed against it. Why the heck had she done that? She hadn’t had the courage to look into August’s eyes to judge her reaction. She’d just spun on her heel and escaped down the hallway. August might still be standing there in the dark living room. Or she might be in the office right now, telling BJ that he had to put her on the next bus to New Mexico.

  She remained slumped against the door for several minutes. What was she waiting for? Did she think August was going to come knock on her door, then kiss her senseless when she opened it? This wasn’t one of those romance novels she was always reading. Things didn’t really happen that way. Nobody was that romantic in real life.

  She pushed off the door with a sigh and tossed her new hat onto the bed. It was sweet that August had bought it. On the other hand, you could think of it as creepy that she was checking up on Teal’s browsing history. Too bad August used a personal log-on so Teal couldn’t check her history.

  After her shower, she slid into some soft boxers and a thin racer-back tank. She’d taken her time, enjoying the soapy lather, washing her hair, shaving her legs. Those small physical pleasures always made her feel better when her mind was littered with unresolved mental and emotional detritus. Still, a small headache was beginning across her forehead, probably her sinuses swelling from the humidity of the storm. She found her decongestant tablets, but she needed a bottle of water from the kitchen. Maybe she should throw on a shirt over her thin tank top. Nah. She’d be quick. Everybody else was probably in bed by now.

  Teal opened her bedroom door and slipped into the hall, only to come face-to-face with August, still in her damp jeans and sleeveless shirt white against her tanned arms. The yellow glow of a lamp filtered through the partially open door of August’s bedroom behind her. Her blond hair, barely darkened by the rain, was slicked back to fall around her collar.

  Clutching the pills in her hand, Teal felt nearly naked as August’s gaze roamed over her bare legs and very short boxers. She wondered if her nipples were visible under the thin, white ribbed tank, because she’d swear she could feel them harden as August’s eyes lingered there. She opened her mouth to say something.

  August stepped forward, gently grasping Teal’s nape and pressing her against the door she’d just closed. Before words could come, August’s lips were on hers, hot and insistent. Yes. Teal hooked her fingers in the belt loops of August’s low-riding jeans and held on. August still smelled of horses and saddle oil, sun-warmed flesh, and cleansing rain—things that were real and honest. Teal hummed as she opened to August’s hungry, exploring tongue. Sweet Jesus, her knees were actually going weak. She clutched fistfuls of August’s shirt to steady herself, then jerked the shirt’s tail from August’s jeans. She wanted to feel her, to feel the hot skin of her long, firm back.

  Suddenly August’s hands were on Teal’s, gently breaking Teal’s grasp on her shirt as she withdrew, sealing the kiss with a final soft caress of her lips against Teal’s. She touched Teal’s cheek. “Good night, Teal.”

  Teal watched, disbelieving, as August quietly went into her bedroom and closed the door. The dark of the hallway was pierced only by her heart pounding in her ears and thumping against the wall where her nearly bare shoulders were still pressed, until the flicker of a hallway night-light startled her.

  “Good night, indeed,” she whispered to the empty hallway.

  Chapter Eleven

  August sat in Julio’s office chair, the padded leather soft and worn with age, and stared at the framed photo of him and Gus. They were young men in the photo, dressed in chaps and long-sleeve Western shirts with their hats tilted back on their heads. Julio’s was a stylish flat-brimmed favored by Hispanic cowboys, while Gus wore a practical fedora. They stood smiling side by side under a new arched gate that proclaimed White Paw Ranch. Gus held the reins of a black Quarter Horse; Julio the reins of a beautiful Appaloosa. Between them sat the ranch’s namesake, a black half-wolf with one white forepaw.

  “I wish you guys were here to tell me what to do,” she said to the photo.

  After a sleepless night, she’d deliberately been late to breakfast, showing up after she knew Teal and BJ had started eating. She’d been pleasant but quiet. Teal had watched her, so she didn’t avoid her, speaking or looking at her when necessary, but didn’t engage her either. She’d eaten hurriedly and then excused herself—supposedly to make phone calls before she headed out with BJ and the crew.

  She was such a pathetic coward, hiding in the office. But she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what she wanted. She knew what she shouldn’t want.

  She closed her eyes. She shouldn’t h
ave paused when she started to close her bedroom door, but she could still feel Teal’s lips touching hers in the living room. God, she couldn’t remember wanting to kiss someone so badly. Was it like that when she and Christine first met? It must have been, but their long years together had probably dimmed that first flush of meeting. Then Teal was there, a few steps away, with long bare legs that August wanted to run her hands down, to feel wrapped around her. Her areolas were dark under the white, ribbed tank, her nipples hard knots stretching the thin material. Her mind had blanked white hot, and her next awareness was of Teal’s lips, warm and soft, her tongue hot and tasting of mint. Her dark hair was silk against August’s palm. She smelled of cocoa butter.

  What was she thinking? Well, obviously, she wasn’t thinking…at least not with her head.

  She punched in the number for her computer security guy, Steve. It was still ungodly early, but the guy never seemed to sleep so she didn’t worry about waking him.

  “Yo, August Reese, my favorite attorney. You’re logging in early.”

  “Ranchers get up before the chickens, Steve, but I’m not logged on the computer yet.”

  “Figure of geek speech.”

  “Oh. Sorry. I’m not geek cool sometimes.”

  “It’s a small, exclusive club.”

  She liked Steve. He was off-the-charts smart and always in a good mood. “So, tell me what you know.”

  “Good news is that I’ve got your man—actually, it’s a woman—who’s the leak in the DEA office. Walker wants hard proof that will hold up in court, so we’re setting a trap to catch her hand in the cookie jar.”

  “That’s great. That could be a big nail in Reyes’s coffin if she rolls over. Judges don’t take influencing a federal agent lightly.”

  “Confirmed. However, now that we’ve located the leak, Walker wants those hard-drive copies pronto. He’s starting to make noise about impeding a federal investigation.”