The Royal Wager

by Kristi Gold

  “We’ve both lost our mothers.”

  “True.” Their shared loss had made him feel even closer to her. “What else?”

  “We like to dance.”

  “Friends don’t dance, at least not as close as we do. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  She sat silent for a moment, then snapped her fingers and pointed. “I’ve got it. We both know about the breeding process.”

  Mitch couldn’t help smiling over Tori’s obvious chagrin. “Yeah, we do.”

  “You know what I mean. Anyway, I think if we build on that friendship, then when I leave here, we’ll both be the better for it.”

  In other words, she was saying she wanted nothing more than friendship. That should have been okay with Mitch, but for some reason, it wasn’t. “I’ve never really had a woman friend before.”

  “You and Mary Alice weren’t friends?”

  He could’ve gone all night without Tori mentioning her. “Maybe years ago, when we were younger. But basically, we didn’t talk all that much.”

  “I see.”

  Mitch was surprised by her sober tone. “Mary Alice and I are over. We should’ve been over a long time ago.”

  She leaned back on her bent elbows, thrusting her breasts forward and adding to Mitch’s increasing discomfort. “Why did you finally break it off after nine years?”

  He wasn’t sure he needed to go there, either, but it would be better if Tori knew up front his opinion on the subject wasn’t bound to change. “She wanted to get married and as I’ve told you, marriage isn’t something I plan to undertake.”

  “Did you love her?” Mitch could tell she regretted asking when she looked away and said, “Never mind. That’s none of my business.”

  No, it wasn’t, but he wanted her to know the reality of his relationship with Mary Alice. Taking a huge risk, he sat on the edge of the mattress, keeping his hands clasped together between his parted knees. “She didn’t want me exactly. She wanted my money and my name. She’s always been that way. When I didn’t bend to her will, she went looking for someone who would, namely Brady Stevens.”

  “Now he’s quite a catch.”

  “Yeah. He always kind of reminded me of an anemic perch.”

  Tori’s laughter started out as a chuckle then grew into a full-fledged guffaw. Mitch tried to refrain from joining her, but he couldn’t.

  “Cut it out in there!” came the very irritable voice of Buck.

  Tori slapped her hand over her mouth until she recovered. “I’m so sorry. I forgot about your grandfather.”

  “Don’t worry about him. In fact, I’m not sure he’s really awake. He’s been known to talk in his sleep.”

  “Does he walk in his sleep?”

  “No. And if you’re worried, neither do I.”

  “I’m not worried.” She glanced at the bedside clock. “Speaking of sleep, it’s past one. We both need to go to bed.”

  “I’m all for that.”

  “Alone.”

  Double damn.

  Mitch rose from the bed then faced her. “I’ll think about the friends thing.” When he wasn’t thinking about making love to her.

  “It’s not going to be that difficult, I promise. In fact, I’ll prove it.”

  Taking Mitch by surprise, she came off the bed and wrapped her arms around him. “See? We’re hugging and that’s all it has to be.”

  He kept his frame as stiff as a split-rail fence post and his arms loosely around her. Right now it would take him a split second to back her up and lay her down on the bed so he could try a little urging.

  She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “Good night, Mitch. Sweet dreams.”

  The sweetest dream was in his arms, but he wouldn’t make a move now. If she wanted to be friendly, he could do that. At least tonight. He swept her bangs away and kissed her forehead. “’Night, Tori.”

  Again, neither of them moved away, same as it had been earlier that day. And the real shocker came when Tori, who’d insisted on friendship only a few moments earlier, grabbed his neck and brought his lips to hers.

  As far as kisses went, this one had little to do with simple friendship. Simple need, yes. It was hot. It was deep. It was killing Mitch not to take it further.

  Tori pushed away first and Mitch held up his palms. “That was not my fault.”

  She slid both hands through her hair. “I know. It was mine. It won’t happen again.”

  Mitch headed for the door but before he walked out, he turned to her and said, “You just keep telling yourself that, Tori. Maybe then you’ll start to believe it.”

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  Six

  She could not believe she’d been such a fool.

  That was the first thought that entered Tori’s mind when the sun streaming into the window hit her face. She’d been a complete and absolute idiot last night. What had possessed her to kiss Mitch after she’d been so adamant about establishing a friendship with him? Well, that was obvious. Mitch had possessed her since the night she’d met him. The little devil.

  Rolling to her side, she checked the clock, then bolted upright. Almost noon. Why hadn’t Mitch woken her? Probably because he was determined to avoid her after her behavior last night. She sure as heck couldn’t blame him. But on the other hand, she wasn’t going to let him. She still had a job to do.

  After a quick shower, she completed her morning routine and then slipped on a plain gray sweatshirt and a pair of Stella’s low-riding, pre-pregnancy jeans. They were a little loose, but they would have to do since Tori hadn’t brought enough casual clothes to last through the week.

  After slipping on a pair of sneakers, she hurried into the living room to find it deserted. The kitchen showed no signs of life with the exception of a couple of coffee cups and a discarded copy of the weekly Quail Run Herald on the dinette table. Although she was sorely tempted to peruse the news and find out if anything had been added to the usual gossip, she didn’t have time. Her next stop would be the barn in hopes that she could catch a few minutes with Mitch.

  Tori left the house and walked the path at a fast clip, admittedly driven by anticipation and excitement over seeing him again. When she caught sight of several men gathered in the arena adjacent to the barn, she pulled up short. She walked to the pen and propped one foot on the bottom rung, shading her eyes against the sun to survey the activity. Two cowboys on horses turned profile conversed with the other onlookers standing near the roping chute. One of those cowboys happened to be Mitch Warner.

  His long leg, the one she could see, dangled at the horse’s side, bypassing the stirrup. He had one large hand draped casually on the saddle horn, the other resting on his thigh encased in faded jeans. He wore a black felt hat, a pair of brown rough-out boots and a confidence that couldn’t be ignored, even at this distance. Tori cursed the fact she still hadn’t retrieved her camera because this picture was definitely worth a thousand words.

  Old West magnificence. Raw machismo. Undeniable magnetism.

  Mitch Warner was all those things and more.

  Tori tried to overlook the sudden rush of heat, the heady bout of chills, the desire for him that never seemed to let go. In her head, she knew it would be best to return to Stella’s and wait until later to catch up with him. In her heart, she knew she couldn’t leave. Not yet. Not until she had a longer look, before someone noticed her presence.

  Too late, she realized when Buck sauntered around the pen and headed toward her with a bowlegged gait.

  “Hey, missy,” he said as he stood next to her, one ragtag boot propped on the rung not far from her foot.

  “Hey, Buck.” She nodded toward the gang who so far had failed to heed her appearance. “Are they about to brand a calf?”

  “Nope. They’ve been playin’ all morning. Breakaway roping just for the fun of it.”

  “I’m not sure I understand the ‘breakaway’ part.”

  “They rope the calf, then let go of the rope. Then a man
goes into the pen, takes the rope off the calf and they do it all over again. Best time wins.”

  “What do they win?”

  “Braggin’ rights. That’s about it. Most of those boys don’t have all that much. Mitch employs as many as he can full-time. Sometimes he gives the others part-time work when he has something extra he needs done. Next week, they’ll help him move the rest of the herd in closer to the barns before winter sets in. Easier to feed them that way.”

  Tori surveyed the motley crew, men of all shapes, sizes and ages. Then she noticed the twenty-something man on the horse next to Mitch, a ruggedly handsome man with massive shoulders, longish golden hair and a winning smile. But her attention was soon drawn to what he was missing—his right arm below his elbow. “Does he work here?” she asked Buck, pointing to the cowboy.

  Buck chuckled. “Yeah. We call him Bandit, for one-armed bandit.”

  Tori frowned. “That seems kind of cruel.”

  “Nah. He’s the one that started it. It kind of describes his way with the ladies. He’s been known to steal their…. Well, never mind about that.”

  Tori laughed. “He sounds like an interesting guy.”

  “He’s a good guy. Back when Gus came to visit during the summer, he’d follow Gus around like a pup looking for a teat. After Rand—that’s his real name—lost his arm when he was sixteen, Gus kind of adopted him, taught him how to rope with one hand and his teeth. It’s the strangest sight you’ll ever see.”

  Rand, the software developer Mitch had mentioned yesterday. “He’s the computer expert?”

  “Yeah, but he wanted to be a horse vet. Even went to school and came close to finishing before he quit. He said it wasn’t for him, but we figure it was too much for him to handle, with his missing arm and all.”

  Tori suspected there was quite a story there, but she had to concentrate on the one that presently needed her attention. “Why do you call Mitch ‘Gus’?”

  “At first I called him ‘Grumpy Gus’ cause he was so grumpy as a boy. Damn serious from the day he was born.’ Course, I could make him laugh by showing him my teeth.” Buck thrust a partial containing his top two teeth out with his tongue, then shoved them back in the same way.

  “Ouch,” was all Tori could think to say.

  “Don’t hurt a’tall. Now when that horse kicked me in the mouth, it hurt somethin’ fierce.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I can imagine.”

  She could also imagine why Mitch was so fond of this man. Buck was salt of the earth, as good as gold, and those kind of men were hard to come by in this day and time. Obviously his grandson had picked up some of those same traits, considering he was inclined to hire the down-and-out from town. That must have been what Mary Alice had meant when she’d said Mitch was kind to the common folk. To look at him now, he appeared just as common. To know him as she was beginning to know him, he was anything but common—in appearance, in personality, in his ability to mesmerize, as he was doing right then when he rode around the pen, looping the rope with both hands and guiding the horse with the sheer strength of his legs.

  She was vaguely aware that Buck had said something, but in her daze, she hadn’t heard a thing. Tearing her gaze away from Mitch, she said, “Huh?”

  “I said he’s a good man.”

  “I’m sure he is.” She knew he was.

  “All he needs is a good woman.”

  Tori continued to watch Mitch in an effort not to appear too interested as he chased after a calf someone released from the chute. “I’m sure he’ll find one eventually.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder. He wasted nine years on the wrong woman.”

  Only then did she turn to Buck. “You weren’t disappointed when it didn’t work out between him and Mary Alice?”

  “Nah. She’s too prissy. Gus needs someone who understands him. Not too many gals around here to choose from.”

  She gave her attention back to Mitch. “I’m sure that’s true. It’s a small town.”

  Tori sensed Buck staring at her in the moments of passing silence before he said, “How long do you plan to stay?”

  “Until Sunday.”

  “I couldn’t talk you into staying longer?”

  She glanced at him briefly. “I have a job and an apartment waiting for me back in Dallas.”

  “You got a boyfriend?”

  She dropped her foot from the rung and leaned one shoulder against the rail to face him. “Now, Buck, you know you’re much too young for me.”

  In his grin, she saw a glimpse of his grandson. “Yeah, but you ain’t too old for Gus. He could use a woman like you, someone to keep him grounded.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “I know you well enough, Tori. You’re like him. You’re smart and you hung in there when people weren’t so nice to you.”

  “Why do you think people weren’t nice to me?”

  “I know about your mama and how she never got married. I heard a few people talk, but I was never one to pass judgment on anyone. You don’t know a person’s situation till you’ve walked in their shoes.”

  She lowered her eyes and studied the dried grass beneath her feet. “It wasn’t bad all the time. I have a few very good memories. But I’ve since moved on. I don’t intend to live here permanently again.”

  “This town ain’t so terrible, as long as you have someone to lean on when the going gets tough.”

  The crowd scattered and headed away in all directions, while Mitch dismounted and started toward the barn. Tori saw that as an excuse to avoid any further matchmaking attempts by Buck, as well as her chance to finally talk to Mitch. She patted Buck’s shoulder and smiled. “Got to get some work done now. I guess I’ll see you later.”

  “You can go with me to the fair if that grandson of mine won’t take you.”

  “Fair?”

  “The Harvest Festival. You remember that. Happens the same time every October and ends with the rodeo this weekend.”

  Once more, Tori was thrust back into her past. She’d been conceived following that rodeo almost twenty-eight years ago, the only thing she knew about how she had come to be, and her father—a roving rodeo bum. “I remember, but I hadn’t thought about going.”

  “You need to go. Best barbecue and beer in the state. Not that I touch the stuff.”

  Tori grinned. “You expect me to believe that?”

  “Nope, but you do need to believe one thing.” He pointed at the barn and closed one eye as if preparing to take a shot. “That boy in there has it bad for you.”

  Tori couldn’t think of any response, so she gave him only a friendly goodbye as she walked away to seek out Mitch.

  Mitch had it bad for her? Not hardly. Maybe her body, but that was it. On the other hand, she was starting to have it bad for him, and that might not be so good.

  But it could be so good, if she continued to weaken in his presence. And if the devastating cowboy kept pressing the issue, she had no doubt her resolve would eventually wane.

  After rinsing Ray off, Mitch stepped out of the wash rack to find Tori leaning back against the opposing stall. She had her hair pulled into a ponytail high atop her head and the sweatshirt she wore looked like a jogger’s reject. The jeans were too big, and if she wasn’t the cutest thing he’d ever seen, he’d eat his roping saddle for lunch.

  She lifted her hand in a flat-palm wave. “Hi. Got a few minutes to spare?”

  He’d give her a few minutes. Hell, he’d give her hours if she would just give it up and acknowledge they wanted each other. He could see it in her dark eyes, feel it in his bones. The heat between them was so fierce that it could fry the shavings in the stalls.

  “Sure. I’ll just leave Ray tied up until he dries. We can go into my office.”

  Tori followed behind him, keeping her distance even after they were tucked away behind a closed door. She hadn’t noticed that he’d locked it, but if she had, he would offer the explanation that anyone was bound to come in, and he didn’t want
to interrupt the interview. That sounded logical, even if it was a stretch in the truth department.

  He’d stayed up most of the night, literally up, hard and aching for her. That ache had yet to subside, nor would it until he made love to her again, this time with slow precision, until he’d convinced her that answering their mutual need was only natural.

  While Tori stood with her arms folded tightly over her middle, Mitch claimed a seat on the edge of his desk.

  “Did you sleep well?” he asked, thinking that was the most innocuous thing he could say at the moment.

  “Obviously. You should’ve gotten me up earlier.”

  He’d wanted to rouse in ways that she could only imagine but had resisted with the little scrap of will he had left. “I figured you needed your rest. Besides, this is the only time I’ve had a break since dawn.”

  She nodded at the computer. “What are you doing there?”

  “Tracking the herd and adding in a couple of new calves into the program. They all have numbers.”

  “They should have names.”

  “If you can come up with twenty-three, then have at it.”

  “That could be a challenge, I guess.”

  The challenge right now came when she wet her lips. Mitch had to grip the edge of the desk to keep from grabbing her and kissing her into mindlessness. “Anything else you want to know about the business?”

  Her gaze shifted to the diploma hanging on the wall to her right. “I’m sure I’ll think of something, but first, I want to apologize for my behavior last night.”

  He was tired of both hearing and voicing those words. Tired of fighting their attraction. “When’s it going to stop, Tori?”

  She centered her gaze on him. “It won’t happen again.”

  “I meant our apologies for wanting each other. Maybe it’s time we just quit saying we’re sorry and accept the fact that this thing is stronger than both of us.”

  “It’s not, Mitch. We’re adult enough to control ourselves.”

  “This has nothing to do with how old we are. It has everything to do with how hot we are for each other.”