Taken, Not Spurred

by Ruth Cardello

  Instead of feeling triumphant in the face of her rival’s humility, Sarah felt profoundly sorry for Melanie, and she knew that before addressing her housing offer, there was something that needed to be said. “I am so sorry for what I said to you last week. I was wrong and I was rude. I felt awful about asking for my notebook back from your son. If it wasn’t full of personal information, I would have let him keep it.”

  Melanie’s eyes locked with hers in surprise. “He knows better than to take what’s not his.”

  “Could I buy him a few coloring books before I go?”

  Melanie stiffened with pride. “We don’t need anything.”

  Sarah suppressed a grimace. No matter how hard she tried, she and Melanie just didn’t click. “I know, but it would make me feel better about how I behaved.”

  Lips tight, Melanie said, “I’m not going to poison you. You don’t have to be nice to me.”

  Sarah smiled nervously. “That’s a relief.” Crap, I can’t believe I forgot about that. “Listen, your offer is nice, but we both know it’s not a good idea. The sooner I leave the better.”

  Melanie took a piece of paper out of her pocket. “A friend of yours has been calling all week. Maybe you should call her back. She might be the solution you’re looking for.”

  Sarah took the paper and her lip curled slightly in distaste. Lucy? Seriously? She crumpled the paper in her hand.

  Melanie said, “She called almost every day.”

  She can call until the end of eternity and I won’t call her back.

  “I have to go make lunch. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

  Still feeling badly about the last time she’d seen Melanie, Sarah couldn’t help but ask, “Is your son with you today?”

  Melanie shook her head and looked away. “He was tired today, so he stayed back at the house with David.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Is he okay?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Melanie answered shortly and walked away, disappearing into the hallway that led to the kitchen.

  That seems to be a theme around here.

  Sarah foraged through her purse and found the list of places where she’d stayed on the way down—all horse-friendly bed-and-breakfasts. She called the closest one. No availability for at least a month. Crap. The same answer from the second place she called. Full up.

  I could call Charlie. He’d know what to do. No, I need more time before I face him, before I even begin to try to regain what we’ve lost.

  And I can’t stay here and pretend last week didn’t happen.

  Melanie walked into the living room again, this time with a cordless phone. She handed it to Sarah. “It’s your friend again.”

  Shocked into silence, Sarah took the phone and held it to her ear.

  Lucy gushed a greeting. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I finally reached you.”

  Before this goes any further, it’s time for a bit of honesty. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

  In a much more subdued tone, Lucy said, “I deserve that, I know, but please don’t hang up.”

  Sarah sighed and didn’t.

  Lucy continued, this time sounding a bit desperate. “You don’t know what it has been like here. I had no idea how badly we were doing until right before you arrived. We could lose everything, Sarah. My brother missed five months of mortgage payments. The bank is threatening foreclosure. We’ve been scrambling to sell whatever we can to hold them off.”

  Sarah sat down in the chair behind her. She didn’t want to feel anything but anger toward her old friend. “You should have told me. I could have helped you figure it out.”

  After a quiet moment, Lucy said, “I didn’t want you to see me like this. I was embarrassed.”

  Rubbing a pounding temple, Sarah said, “So the better option was to leave me stranded in a part of the country I’ve never been in before?”

  “Stranded?” Lucy’s voice sharpened. “You said you were staying with friends.”

  I lied, Sarah wanted to scream. Pride makes people say stupid things, apparently. It can even kill what I thought was a solid friendship. Maybe it’s time to just pack up, admit this adventure is a complete disaster, and call Charlie.

  “I had no idea you knew Tony Carlton.” Lucy said his name like he was famous or something. “Do you know what most people would do to visit his ranch just once? He’s a big deal around here.” After another awkward pause, Lucy said, “I know you’re still angry with me, but I need your help. My brother and I both do. Maybe the bank wouldn’t care, but could you ask Tony to call and ask them to give us just one more month? I’m working a deal with someone to buy our herd. It would be enough to bring us up to date. I just need one more month.”

  Dismay filled Sarah. “I can’t do that.” Because there’s a good chance we’re not talking to each other anymore.

  “Please, Sarah. Don’t say no.” Her friend’s voice broke a bit with emotion. “My brother would kill me if he knew I was asking you, but this ranch has been in our family for five generations. Steven gave up everything to keep it going after my parents died. I didn’t know how much it meant to me until I came back to it, and now we’re going to lose it. I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened when you first got here, but I was in shock. I had just gotten the news. Please, one phone call. I made a mistake, and it’s one I deeply regret. Haven’t you ever done something you wish you could undo?”

  Low blow, Texas.

  “How would a call from a horse trainer convince a bank to do anything?”

  “I’m only guessing, but a man with as much money as he has must have it spread around. If he has a good portion of it at our bank, maybe they’d bend the rules to try to keep his business?”

  Resigning herself, Sarah said, “I’ll ask him, but I doubt he’ll say yes.” She remembered his words earlier: I don’t have time for other people’s problems.

  Lucy let out a shaky sigh that was laced with tears of relief. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

  “I’m not promising anything,” Sarah warned.

  Lucy’s voice was thick with tears. “I understand and I know this doesn’t mean that everything is okay with us again, but I really am sorry.”

  “I’ll call you when I know something,” Sarah said, and hung up.

  That might take a while, though. I’m not sure I know anything anymore.

  Sarah found Tony outside, giving Scooter fresh water in his paddock. Her heart warmed at the sight until she remembered the many reasons she wanted to kick Tony in the shin.

  He said, “Did you sort it out with Melanie?”

  Sarah nodded. “She was very nice and seemed to sincerely want me to stay with her, but I said no.”

  There was a beat of silence, then Tony asked, “You staying in the spare room, then?”

  Shaking her head, Sarah said, “No, I can’t see how that’s a good idea, either. I’d head out tonight, but the places on the way back are booked for now. I’ll probably leave Scooter here for a few days if that’s okay and find a place in town. I’m sure I can find something if I can use your phone.

  Tony looked as grim as she’d ever seen him but said nothing.

  What do I have to lose? “I do have something I wanted to ask for, though. A favor. I know you don’t like getting involved, but this could really help someone I know.” Amazing how those green eyes can look right through a person and hide so much at the same time. Sarah looked down at her white sneakers in a protective move of her own. Okay, here goes nothing.

  “Remember my friend Lucy?”

  “The one who ditched you the first day you were here?”

  “Yeah, that one. Well, we talked, and it sounds like she did it because she’s in a rough spot financially. I don’t know why she thinks that a phone call from you would convince her bank to give her and her brother mor
e time to settle what they owe, but she asked me to ask you.” Sarah raised her eyes from studying the toes of her sneakers to meet his. “So, I’m asking you. Would you do that for me?”

  Let’s play a game.

  How many ways can a cowboy say “I don’t care about other people?”

  In five, four, three . . .

  Tony closed the gate behind him. “I’ll make that call for you.”

  Sarah almost sank to her knees in shock, but she steadied herself by holding on to the railing of the paddock.

  Tony pulled her away from the railing and into his arms. His lips hovered over hers, his eyes glittering with a passion she’d begun to believe had died when their trip had ended. “On one condition.”

  “Yes?” Sarah asked, and licked her lower lip.

  He buried a hand in the back of her hair and tipped her head up until her lips parted for him. “You stay. In my room, in my bed. Mine, whenever I want you.”

  Sarah swayed in his arms, wanting to deny him even as her body begged for his touch. He was so close to being the man she knew he could be. Softly she said, “You could simply ask me not to go.”

  His hand tightened in her hair. “I don’t want to date you. I don’t want to discuss what we have. But I do want you. You’re all I can think about.”

  Sarah stiffened in his arms. Or you could continue to be a complete ass. “The only way you could make this worse is if you offered to pay me.”

  “I can if that’s what you want. I could pay off whatever your friend owes, and it wouldn’t make a dent in what I still have from my old career.”

  Sarah saw red. “How can you be so nice one minute and then such a jackass the next?”

  His kissed her with such need that she forgot why she was angry. She forgot everything except how it felt to be with him, on him, beside him in his bed. Her body quivered with want and her hands clung to him feverishly.

  He pulled away from her and smiled, a devilishly cocky smile. “I’ll call your friend and get the details. I’m sure her number is saved on the phone.”

  He walked away, heading to the house, looking happier than she’d seen him since their return. She called after him, “I didn’t say I was staying.”

  His laugh echoed back to her, and she made a silent promise to his retreating back.

  She muttered to herself, “Mine. In my room. In my bed. Whenever I want you.” What an asshole. A hot, sexy, blow-your-mind-because-the-sex-is-so-good asshole.

  So why am I still here? Why not throw his conditions back in his face?

  Because I want more than anything to believe that regardless of how he asked me, he did so because he doesn’t want to lose me.

  Because the more I understand myself the more I believe I can save him.

  He wants more time and I don’t have the strength to deny him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sarah looked around the bedroom and was happy to see her high-heeled cowboy boots. Tony had brought all her things to his room, and from the near grin on his face when he’d rejoined her on the porch, it seemed he’d enjoyed the act immensely. Then he’d given her some lame excuse about having to get some work done but added he’d see her that night.

  She could just imagine him now, gloating to the other men. “For all of you who think I don’t understand women, don’t worry. I got this one.”

  She had fumed and stomped into the house and up the stairs. Feeling pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you, Tony? She whipped open the zipper of another piece of luggage. Think you have the upper hand?

  She smiled when she came across the denim shorts she’d impulsively purchased for the trip, imagining she might one day have the confidence to wear such a revealing pair.

  She searched through Tony’s closet until she found a blue-plaid cotton shirt and tied the bottom of it in a knot just below her breasts. She buttoned it, then smiled mischievously at her reflection in the mirror and unfastened two more buttons than she’d ever dared to.

  You shouldn’t have taught me poker.

  I’ll see your blackmail and raise you one deliberate seduction.

  In your bed whenever you want me? Sarah arched her back and widened the open collar of the shirt a bit more, revealing just a tease of her lace bra.

  Really?

  Oh, you’ll want me.

  And then I’m going to help you.

  Whether you want me to or not.

  No ponytail—this called for a bit of hair tousling. She teased and sprayed her long curls until they hung wild and free in a casual, sexy style that looked natural, slept on. She applied just the right amount of makeup, including pink lipstick to accentuate her full lips, and studied her reflection again, kicking up one heel in mock flirtation. She put a hand over her mouth and rounded her eyes with forced innocence. Perfect.

  She made a quick phone call, then with her head held high, she walked down the stairs, past an openmouthed Melanie, and out the front door of Tony’s house. She saw him in the distance, talking to David near one of the round pens. Without sparing them more than a glance, she walked into the barn.

  Her ego received a boost as all activity instantly ceased. All five young men stood absolutely still, as if they were animatronics whose power source had just been pulled. She walked to where they were working, and hid a laugh when one of them dropped the pitchfork he’d been holding and didn’t take his eyes off her to retrieve it.

  She’d never felt particularly beautiful, but the past week had brought a side of her alive that she’d never expected. For once, she was aware of the power of her femininity.

  “I’m looking for Tony,” she lied huskily, almost bursting into laughter when none of them moved except for one red-haired young man who pointed wordlessly toward the side door. I’ve spent twenty-five years dressing fashionably and have never gotten this reaction. No wonder women do a little flash-and-tease now and then. Holy crap, men are easy.

  “Sarah,” Tony growled from the main door of the barn.

  Sarah didn’t turn to face him. Instead, she bent slowly at the waist to pick up the pitchfork that the redheaded man had dropped. She was fully aware how high her shorts rode up her ass cheeks during that move and the view it probably gave him.

  He was beside her in a heartbeat, and Sarah smiled up at him before slowly straightening. His eyes were flashing with a mix of passion and anger. She leaned against him, loving how his eyes were drawn to the cleavage she’d purposefully revealed. “I was looking for you,” she said, laying a hand on his tense forearm. He knew she’d seen him outside before she’d entered the barn. Her words hung like a playful taunt between them. “But luckily, you found me. Now we can invite them together.”

  His eyes narrowed and between gritted teeth he asked, “Invite who—where?”

  Sarah looked around at the rapt audience. “Do you remember how we talked about how nice it would be to have a dinner to thank everyone who helped search for Scooter the day he got loose? Why not tonight? Melanie and I can throw something together.” Sarah asked the young men around her, “Would you be able to make it on such short notice?”

  The men looked to Tony as if their responses depended on his reaction to her offer.

  And for a painfully long pause, everyone waited.

  Tony’s hired hands all knew that he didn’t want them in his house. Hell, some of them had worked at the Double C for years without being this close to him. This was the exact opposite of the way he ran his ranch, and his temper rose even as he bit back the initial impulse to shoot her idea down without discussion.

  It wouldn’t change anyone’s opinion of him in the slightest if he gave Sarah a verbal thrashing right in front of everyone for suggesting this. In fact, that was the behavior the men expected from him.

  And Sarah knows it.

  This is her attempt to stick it to me.

  Let her have her one
dinner. It won’t change a thing.

  And it won’t bother me because it doesn’t matter.

  She’s here until I work her out of my system, until I dull the edge of my need to kiss those pink lips she’s pursing so seductively at me right now. Let her invite whoever she wants to dinner. Knowing that I can sink my teeth into that ripe little ass she’s deliberately wagging in my face right now will more than make up for the aggravation.

  Stone-faced, Tony addressed the men. “Y’all be at the house tonight at seven.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said, practically in unison, then continued to stare at him wordlessly.

  “Now get back to work,” Tony ordered and almost smiled as the men scrambled to do just that. One paused in front of Sarah as if he were about to ask her for the pitchfork, then changed his mind and hurried off.

  When they were alone, Tony pulled her into his arms, his hands instantly claiming the curve of her ass just above the high hem of her shorts. Her soft flesh felt just as good as it had looked, and he claimed her mouth hungrily, impatiently wishing they were somewhere more private. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed herself wantonly against him, and moaned in pleasure. He kissed the side of her neck and threatened, “You put me in a difficult position there. You’ll pay for that tonight.”

  She rubbed herself against him, sending a throb of need through him in a punch of lust. “I’m counting on it,” she murmured, throwing her head back and moaning softly.

  He bit the lobe of her ear in gentle chastisement and said, “You need to learn who is in charge here. I don’t mind putting time into training you.” She froze in his arms, then relaxed, and he chuckled. “Good girl. You’re starting to understand, Sarah. Don’t challenge me again. You won’t win.” He kissed her deeply, not stopping until she was sagging with need against him. Then he said, “I’m going to enjoy making you beg for your orgasm tonight. Beg until I forget how deliberate this setup was.”