Caleb

by Cindy Stark

  She snorted as resignation covered her like a suffocating shroud. Technically, she was free since she no longer had a home. She’d tried to have it all and had ended up losing everything instead. She’d like to say she shouldn’t have lied about Caleb. Most believed he’d defrauded her in order to gain control of her holdings since she’d never come completely clean. Still, she knew she’d do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant keeping her beloved ranch and protecting her employees. Hopefully, Franklin or whoever ended up owning Blackwater would keep them on.

  She lifted the small brushed-silver box from her dresser and half wrapped it in newspaper before she stopped. Bittersweet memories called from inside, begging for one more reminiscence. She couldn’t resist.

  Inside the box, the small diamond ring Caleb had placed on her finger when he’d falsely pledged his love winked from the black velvet. She should throw it away. Better yet, flush it down the toilet.

  But she couldn’t just yet.

  Maybe when she settled in her new home, wherever that might be.

  Perhaps by then, she’d be able to part with it. She should hate it because it should remind her of the heartache she’d suffered during the past days. Instead, memories of their wedding and honeymoon, the love and laughter of that day, haunted her every minute.

  She’d known when she met Caleb, he would push her boundaries in every way possible, and he had. No doubt, she was still angry with him. He should have been one hundred percent positive about his divorce before he’d guaranteed his availability. Her trust in him had cost her everything.

  She could admit, though, that she’d recognized the grief and despair on his face when he’d confessed his marital status to her. Didn’t change anything, but it somehow helped to know he hadn’t willingly been careless with her.

  The majority of the blame lied with her uncle, too. If he hadn’t put her in this position in the first place, she wouldn’t have needed Caleb. Her uncle should have respected her enough to let her live her life without his unneeded influence.

  Rosalie at Conway’s office had lost her job over the clerical error in Uncle Walter’s will, and rightly so. Rosalie had gotten off easy compared to what Rachel had lost.

  Conway had filed a motion on her behalf to challenge the will, but the error had been made with the first version of his will and had continued without, which left her with the weak sword of her word against Franklin’s. She knew very well the document would stand.

  With a heavy heart, she slipped the beautiful ring on her finger. She’d wear it tonight when no one was around. Tomorrow would be the start of her new life. The perfect time to leave all this behind and focus on the future.

  When she’d packed the box as full she could, she taped it and carried it downstairs to place with the others. She was on the second step, headed back to her room, when someone with a heavy-handed fist pounded on her door.

  She glanced at the clock to find the time well after nine. Being careful to stay hidden, she peeked out the window to see who was in her drive.

  The sight of Caleb’s truck sent a shockwave through her.

  She looked wildly around the room as her throat constricted with emotion. The thing that she’d wished for during her darkest moments had been granted.

  She should ignore him, pretend he wasn’t outside while she went on with her business. But, she couldn’t. The man who still held her heart stood on the other side of her door, and despite what it might cost her to talk to him, she would.

  The lock clicked as she twisted it and then opened the door.

  Caleb pulled his hat from his head and met her gaze. Dark circles shadowed his bleak eyes, and he generally looked like hell. “Rachel.”

  “Why are you here?” she asked quietly. As much as she loved seeing him, it hurt like hell, too.

  “I have something for you. I’m sorry it took so long to get it to you.” He thrust an envelope toward her.

  She took it from him, her fingers brushing his, drawing her gaze instantly to his eyes. The damned spark that had always existed between them flared. With quick blinks, she focused on the folded papers she slid from the envelope.

  She drew her brows together. He’d given her what looked like the same deed to Blackwater Canyon Ranch that she’d turned over to Conway. She perused the document again and lifted her gaze to his. “What’s this?”

  “Your home. The ranch is yours. Franklin will not be able to take it from you.”

  Tender hope took seed in her heart. “How? Why?”

  “Because my ex is an idiot. She was wrong when she said we weren’t divorced.”

  Rachel shook her head, not understanding.

  “The reason she couldn’t find the documents after I’d signed them is because she’d asked her friend to take them to the courthouse to file. Apparently, she was drunk out of her mind when she’d made the request and couldn’t remember doing so.”

  Rachel put a shaking hand to her mouth. Could she trust it was real this time?

  He took her hand and buried it between both of his, and she felt like she’d finally come home. “Rachel, I was a fool to not check to be certain I had my divorce decree in hand. I know I broke your heart, and God knows I didn’t mean to. I’m not back here for the money. I’d thought I’d let Conway give you the news and not bother you again with my presence, but I can’t walk away without knowing.”

  He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her for a long moment. Her heart squeezed and left her trembling. He straightened but didn’t release her.

  “I’ve missed the feel of you, the way your hair smells when you’re snuggled up against me. I’m a miserable, lost man, Rachel. The one thing I’ve learned through all this is I can’t live without you. Please, I’m begging for another chance.” He lifted a hand and placed it on her cheek. “I won’t let you down again.”

  She stared at him while her heart roared with happiness. Her mind, however, threw caution flags left and right. “I don’t know.” She knew what she wanted to say to him, but her world had been tipped again, and she couldn’t think straight.

  He took her left hand and knelt before her. “God knows I don’t deserve a second chance, Rachel, but I’ll beg if I have to.” He ran his thumb across the backs of her fingers and then abruptly stopped and dropped his gaze.

  “You’re still wearing my ring.” He stood, looking at her as though he’d caught the thief who’d stolen his heart.

  “I…” She couldn’t find words to explain why.

  “Do you love me, Rachel?” His expression was so earnest and damned sexy.

  She wanted to lie, wanted to deny and protect her heart. Months ago, Elle had warned her he was a huge flirt, but she’d come to know the man behind all that. The man she admired and still trusted despite everything. The man she loved.

  “I do,” she whispered. Speaking those words opened a floodgate of emotions inside her. She didn’t want to question him or the future any longer. She was ready to meet it head on no matter what came. “I know what it feels like to lose the things and people I love. I don’t want to feel that way anymore.” Not if she didn’t have to.

  He took her face in his hands and searched her eyes. “Really? You could love a man like me? I don’t have much to offer you. I’m divorced with no house, no property.”

  She shook her head as happiness welled in her eyes. “That’s not true. You’re not divorced. You’re married. To me. And we have all this.” She glanced around the room and beyond his shoulder to the land surrounding them. “It’s so much more than one person can handle. I need you in my life, Caleb. Not only that, but I want you.”

  “I don’t deserve you.”

  She wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. “Really? Because I think I deserve you, a man who’s strong and capable, who has the capacity to make me happier than I’ve ever been. Stay with me, Caleb. Let’s build on this crazy life we’ve started together.”

  Moisture gathered in his eyes. “I would love that, Rachel. I wou
ld love to stay and build the most wonderful life with you.” He captured her lips in a passionate kiss that brought her to her toes. “I love you more than words can say.”

  She grinned. “You’re just trying to butter me up so I’ll let you stay.”

  He smiled in return. “Whatever it takes, my love. Whatever it takes.”

  The End

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  Love small town romance? Read on for an excerpt from I’M WITH YOU (Book Nine in the Aspen Series).

  Excerpt from I’M WITH YOU (Aspen Series #9)

  Chapter One

  Zoe Cassidy glanced down each aisle of Randall’s Western Outfitters as she walked the country store, searching for packing tape. Mr. Randall had an odd way of categorizing items. Power tools hung next to women’s socks, and apparently, adhesives and toilet plungers belonged together. The citizens of Aspen often joked about his system, but Zoe was sure it was Mr. Randall’s way of keeping people in the store longer, hoping they’d buy more stuff.

  “Ha,” Zoe muttered when she spied the adhesives and turned her cart in that direction. If the day went according to plan, she’d have everything except her big furniture moved into her new, turn of the century house by evening. Finally, a place she could call home, a luxury she’d never enjoyed until now.

  She was halfway down the aisle when Asher Campbell entered from the opposite way, and she screeched to a halt.

  Why?

  She asked the same question each time she had the unfortunate experience of running into him. In a town as small as Aspen, she should probably consider herself lucky that she didn’t bump into him more often. But every time she did…ugh.

  She might have gotten over past hurts and her damned attraction to him if he’d gone bald or gained a gut during the ten years since high school, but he hadn’t. If anything, he looked better. Ripped jeans showcased powerful thighs. Dark hair peeked from beneath a dusty ball cap. His broad shoulders could certainly carry the weight of the world if he wanted.

  And those eyes. Those stormy gray eyes that peeked from beneath his lashes when he’d watched her. Probably dreaming up the next awful remark he’d say to her.

  Didn’t matter. He didn’t matter. She was beyond that era of her life. She’d get her tape and leave. No need to speak a word to the obnoxious man.

  The moment she moved faster down the aisle, he glanced up.

  She quickly shifted her gaze as though she hadn’t noticed him and focused on her targeted supplies, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught him striding purposefully toward her.

  Why couldn’t he leave her alone?

  Their carts nearly collided as they both stopped in front of the packing tape. “Afternoon, Zoe. Long time, no see.” Even his voice was sexy with deep resonating sounds that affected her more than she cared to admit. She truly hated him.

  With a quick glance in his direction, she acknowledged his presence. She couldn’t find anything nice to say, so she said nothing at all. Instead, she snatched two rolls of tape and dropped them in her cart.

  “Are you finally moving out of Olga’s basement?” Asher asked when she didn’t answer. “What a dump. I don’t know how you stood to live there that long.”

  She frowned as his insult bored deep into her soul. It wasn’t like she’d enjoyed living in a dark hole with a crazy lady as a landlord, but a single girl whose mother had taken off to God-knows-where many years ago couldn’t afford to be too choosy. Emotional words clawed their way up her throat, and this time she opened her mouth.

  “Do you always have to be such a jerk?”

  He widened his beautiful eyes as though surprised by her remark. “I didn’t mean it like that, Zoe.”

  That’s what he always said after insulting her in whatever fashion suited him at the moment. It was like some weird bait and switch routine he used on her. Insult her and then deny it. Not this time.

  She tossed her invisible shield between them and curved her lips into a chilled smile. “Have a nice day, Asher.” She turned and walked away.

  Dammit. She’d sworn the last time she’d encountered him that she wouldn’t allow him to push her buttons again. Even so, he’d managed it so easily. Why?

  What was it about him that gave him power over her, that allowed him to cut her so easily with careless words?

  She shook off her annoyance and focused on the day ahead. She needed to get to her new home and start cleaning. Old Man Jenkins hadn’t left it in the best state, and she had work to do before she could move in. Still, if she put her frustrations into her work, she’d be too busy and too tired to think of anything or anyone else.

  First, she had one more stop to make before she headed home.

  Home. Her home.

  Yes.

  ****

  “Dammit.” Asher watched the one woman who stirred his blood like no other walk away. Why?

  Zoe’s loose blond curls swayed as she walked with a grace that contradicted her backwoods, redneck upbringing. Even in their younger years when she’d been all knees and elbows, she’d exuded a natural beauty that he hadn’t been able to ignore.

  Unfortunate that she’d turned out to be full of piss and vinegar instead of sugar and spice and everything nice. Not that he could blame her, but…

  “I see you’re still charming the ladies,” Seth Moore said as he approached.

  “Whatever.” Asher fired a glare at him before he pulled a roll of packing tape from the shelf.

  Thank God, he’d finally found somewhere to live. Luckily, he wouldn’t need to pack much. Most of his stuff was still in boxes from months ago when his ex-wife had kicked him out of their home. She’d needed to make room for the new man in her life, and Asher had been in the way.

  He still couldn’t quite stomach that.

  “You’re the only guy I know who’s managed to piss off a woman just by existing,” Seth said with a chuckle.

  “Right?” He turned to his long-time friend and recent business partner. Together, they’d started their own business and had currently built nearly a third of the new houses in town that year. “What the hell is up with that? She’s hated me for years, and what did I ever do to her?”

  Seth shrugged as he readjusted his ball cap, giving Asher a glimpse of flattened blond hair. “Women. Who can figure them out?”

  He opened his hands in a show of frustration. “Not me. That’s for damn sure.”

  His friend tested the weight of the hammer he carried. “Honestly, I’m not sure why you care. If she can’t be nice, who needs her?”

  Asher stared at his friend, letting his words drill home. “You’re right. I’ve tried to be friendly. If she can’t do the same, something’s wrong with her.” Even as he said it, he regretted it. He’d known of her struggles through childhood and had admired the strength she’d shown when others had made fun of her because her clothes were outdated or when she was late because her mom had been too wasted to drive her to school. She’d let the teasing roll right off her back and get on with whatever she’d been doing.

  He scrubbed the short whiskers on his chin, remembering the many times he’d fought hard to gain enough courage to talk to the elusive, quiet blond beauty, to tell her what he thought of her. But his tongue had always tripped him up and he’d say some stupid shit like he had just now, and she’d leave him standing like a lone fool.

  Different variations of the scenarios played through his head, all with the same outcome. Maybe he’d never un
derstand women. That was evidenced by his recent divorce. Really, what the hell did he care about any of them?

  “What time do you want me to show up tomorrow?” Seth asked.

  Asher had been camping in Milo’s spare room for the past few months, but he’d grown tired of intruding on him, his wife and their new baby. When an old friend of his mom’s mentioned he’d thought of selling his place, Asher had been all over that. Quiet, on the outskirts of town. Perfect to mend a broken heart. “Around nine?”

  “You got it, buddy.” Seth lifted his chin in a decisive nod. “By the way, I saw Dana the other day. She wanted me to ask you to back off on making her pay you for your share of the equity in the house.”

  Anger scratched at him like a bare tree branch in a windstorm, constant and annoying. “What did you say?”

  “I told her it wasn’t my business, and I wouldn’t get involved.”

  Asher paused and then nodded. “Thanks, man.” The thought of his ex-wife and their messy divorce was still a potent source of pain for him, and any mention was a cattle prod in an open wound.

  He’d aired the dirty trash left over from his marriage to Seth and Milo many times over too many beers. They’d supported him like brothers.

  Then he’d realized he could bitch about it all he wanted, but it wouldn’t change anything. What was done was done. Continuing to talk about and dwell on how badly Dana had treated him only served to bleed his pain and prevent his heart from healing.

  Seth clapped him on the shoulder. “Hang in there. Having your own place will make it better. You can sit around in your boxers all day and drink beer, and no one will say a word.”

  A semblance of a smile hit his lips. “Yeah.” There was that to look forward to.

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