Baron and Addie took their leave to return to their own house, loaded down with food packages the housekeeper insisted on giving them. Although Addie tried to refuse, Miss Betty stood firm. “Don’t pretend you like to cook, girl. Got to keep Baron strong for all that diggin’ in his trenches.”
Baron frowned. “Trenches are for archeologists. Geologists take core samples.”
“And play with rocks,” Addie said, smiling at him.
“Always did like your rocks,” Miss Betty said, affection in her tone.
Rolf stood by as they departed. He was committed now. He could have kicked himself. Volunteering to go to California. Was he nuts? Tackling all the stress of a major city notorious for overcrowded highways and general craziness.
But Tess needed rescuing.
He’d be okay. He hadn’t had a PTSD incident in months. Plenty of people didn’t like the noise and confusion of big cities. He’d always been a country boy. Growing up on a ranch in Texas had been a far cry from the war zone of Iraq. The Selkirk ranch, in an isolated area of southwestern Wyoming, was the right place for him now.
Addie had noticed him dancing close with Tess on the night of the wedding. Good thing Addie hadn’t seen them slip away from the party. It had been so much more than a dance.
Only three months ago since Baron and Addie’s wedding. Three months in which he’d heard nothing from Tess directly. She would have told him if there were consequences, wouldn’t she? That night, she’d laughed at him, saying he intended a “Texas style proposal—you want to get me pregnant. No way.” She’d insisted she was on birth control.
It was serious on his part, but Tess felt her big acting career came first. When he asked her to stay with him, stay on the ranch, Tess threw him over. “I finally broke free. Now is my chance. I have to do this.”
“You’ve proved your point. You’re a success.”
“I just got started.” She’d stared at him, her dark chestnut eyes wide with pain. “Don’t you understand? I’ve wanted this for years and years. I finally have a taste of it. I want it all. The fame, the awards, the parties, the roles. Everything. It’s my turn.”
Rolf had touched her flesh, feeling his own response and looking for hers. “Doesn’t this mean anything to you?”
“Of course it does,” she’d cried, sitting up and breaking contact with his skin. Her dark hair settled over her breasts and hid them from him. “But my career has to come first. I have to come first for the first time ever.”
“You don’t love me enough,” he’d accused.
“Maybe I don’t,” she’d replied, bowing her head. “Maybe I’m shallow and don’t value you as you deserve.” She sighed. “Find a woman who wants to settle down. I’m going back to Hollywood.”
Tess had returned to the bright lights of Southern California, where she’d been making tabloid news ever since. Her daredevil shenanigans were the talk of L.A. With no parents around and plenty of television money coming in, she could jump out of airplanes, fly in balloons, parasail, hang glide, and more. Seemed like she did it all.
Everything continued as before, except his wanting Tess wouldn’t go away.
He should have dated other women, but that was a fraught process. Rolf didn’t need to explain himself to Tess, who had seen him struggling with a PTSD nightmare the first day he’d been on the ranch. Although women thought a guy who’d seen action in a war was kind of cool, they didn’t much want to deal with the reality that he was likely to jerk awake in bed next to them, tensed to fight.
Tess got him. Tess understood. She also was firecracker crazy and running amok alone in Hollywood. He had to save her.
Chapter 3
Tess slept late, like she used to back in Cheyenne when there was nothing to do but go visit her brother at the VA hospital, get verbally abused by him, and then go drinking later. Her head hurt, and so did her body, but that didn’t matter. Should she turn on the television? Check out one of the gossip websites? Did she want to wallow in her screw-up?
Her ringing phone chose for her. It was Paula. She must have seen the news.
“Tess, what’s going on?”
“I had a little dust-up with a cop last night.”
“Dust-up? The tabloid television people are saying you raced a police car.”
“I sure did. I won, too, and that’s when he pulled me over. Sore loser.”
“Tess.”
She sighed. Paula disapproved. “I was drunk. I messed up. Now everybody knows.”
“They don’t know you’ve done this before.”
“Will the tabloids check my records in Cheyenne?”
“I expect so. They won’t find anything.”
“How did you do that?”
“Professional secret. Let’s talk about why you’re drinking again and what you’ve got to do to rein it in.”
“Can’t you come out here to help me?” she whined.
“My doctor told me yesterday to dial my activities way back. I could even be placed on bed rest.”
“What’s wrong?”
“This pregnancy might be in danger.”
They talked about Paula’s difficult pregnancy a while, without touching directly on the two miscarriages her friend had already suffered. After they said goodbye, it hit Tess. She was on her own. Paula couldn’t come to her rescue as she had so many times before.
Didn’t she want to be independent? Wasn’t she sick to death of being under her parents’ thumb, being treated like a girl instead of a woman? Then why did she need help right now? She was twenty-five years old, not seventeen. She could make it all by herself.
She stalked into the small living room of her town house and found the bar. “Hair of the dog,” she intoned, holding up the glass before taking her first drink of the morning.
A few hours later, wearing sunglasses to shield her expression from curiosity seekers, Tess met her current boyfriend, Blake Towne, at one of Hollywood’s trendiest restaurants. She had a decent buzz by now, so his complaints didn’t irritate her the way they usually did.
“You shouldn’t expect me to get entangled in your messes,” Blake said. He was tall, dark, and handsome in a brooding style that made him perfect for the vampire show he helmed. He wore designer casual clothes and a jacket. No shorts and sandals for Blake. He had his sights set on a movie career, so he dressed the part.
Today his careful style annoyed Tess. “Be grateful I didn’t call you from the police station,” she said.
He visibly shuddered. “I should hope not.”
“Then quit complaining.”
Blake aimed a disapproving look at the tall glass Tess lifted. “And you’re drinking again, too.”
“Of course I am. I like to drink.”
The waiter brought their food. Tess asked for a refill.
“You shouldn’t drink, especially today,” Blake said. He cast a surreptitious glance around the crowded restaurant. Hollywood movers and shakers were at nearly every table.
“Why not?”
“People are watching. You’ll be in the tabloids as ‘Drinking again, despite her DUI,’ or something.”
She shrugged. “So what?”
“You’ll get a bad reputation in this town.”
“For taking a drink now and then? That’s ridi—ridiculous.”
He frowned heavily. “You’re drunk right now.”
“I’m going to the buffet for more salad,” she said, looking at her nearly empty plate. “There wasn’t enough food in this pitiful dish I ordered.”
As she rose, Blake hissed, “Let the waiter bring it. People will notice you if you walk around.”
She cast him an incredulous look. “It’s a buffet restaurant. Everybody’s up and down.”
“You shouldn’t eat so much, either. You’ll get fat.” Blake had a few kale leaves and acai berries on his plate.
“I want croutons,” she said firmly. She wove her way to the long tables set against the wall, stopping to compliment a lady wearing really n
ice earrings. A man at the next table was eating with a woman old enough to be his grandmother. She was dressed in a lace gown. They made a cute couple. Tess said, “Aren’t the drinks great here?” The old woman smiled at her and raised her old-fashioned glass.
Finally, Tess reached her goal. She loaded a plate with croutons, bacon bits, and everything else at the salad bar that had some calories. Plus potato salad. When she had it piled high enough, she turned to retrace her steps.
People were staring at her. How odd. Why? She attempted to salute the staring people. The movement of her plate sent some of her food flying. A cherry tomato went down the front of the low sundress worn by a thirtyish woman. She screeched in shock.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Tess said. Trying to keep her plate level, she took another step. Her shoe hit the greasy patch of potato salad and she skidded. Lost her balance. Amid more shrieks, she grabbed at the nearest chair, but it was empty and moved with her. She fell.
Lying on the floor of a posh Hollywood restaurant, Tess couldn’t help the giggles that escaped. So much for keeping a low profile.
A couple of men helped her up. “Are you okay? You didn’t hurt yourself?” the first man asked. He was fortyish and balding, with a long beard.
The second, dark-haired and very nattily dressed, brushed down her dress with his napkin. “There you go. Better?”
A waiter cleaned the potato salad off her shoe and the floor.
“Thanks,” she said, and asked everybody’s names. A minute later, she returned to her table with her escorts.
“Blake, this is Gerry,” she nodded at the older of her gallant rescuers, and “you’re Ed, right?”
“Close. I’m Ted.”
“Oh, right.” She turned back to Blake. “They came to my rescue when the potato salad tried to kill me.” She grinned at her new friends. “Who knew getting a few croutons would lead to an adventure?”
Blake scowled. Tess invited the guys to join them and called for more drinks. “This is more like it,” she said, when the attentive waiter handed her a full glass. “Now we’re having a party. I like parties instead of long faces.” The waiter also replaced her plate of salad. She popped a crouton in her mouth.
Blake threw his napkin on the table and stood. “Then stay here with your new friends and make more of a spectacle of yourself,” he sneered. “I’m leaving. I won’t be coming back.”
Through the pleasant haze of her ebullient mood, Tess said, “You didn’t finish your kale.” Then she spoiled it by giggling. Her new friends didn’t quite laugh at Blake, but they looked amused, too. Had she introduced them all? Blake was so career conscious. If Blake had stayed, he could have made a connection. He was all about the connections.
An hour later, Tess parted with her new best buddies amid promises to get together again. “We must go bar hopping,” Gerry said. He was a producer for a major film company. He gave her his card with his private number.
Ted, his partner, took Tess’s card and promised he’d see if his company had anything for her. “You’re too charming to be wasting your time waiting for roles. I’ll talk to your agent.”
Tess’s good mood lasted until her driver took the turn for her condo.
“Let’s not, Max,” she said. “Take me to the beach. I don’t want to be alone on such a nice afternoon.”
After a few rounds of beach volleyball, which she played barefoot with her skirt hiked up, Tess was sober again, but exhilarated. It was another sunny day in California, and she was having fun. Blake had broken up with her, but he was a small loss. She had plenty of friends.
Hours later, when the sun finally began to set, Max came up to her and said, “I’m off the clock in an hour, miss. The kids are bringing the grandchildren over for dinner. I could take you home, or do you want me to call someone else from the agency?”
The other volleyball players were packing up. This beach closed at dusk, but she could find one of the all-night beaches. Or she could go out partying with the volleyball crowd. But that led to disappointing or fighting off some guy.
“You can take me home, I guess. I hate for the day to end.” She sighed as she took her place in the back seat of the vehicle.
Max sent her a consoling look in his rear view mirror. “The beach will be here tomorrow. You can come back.”
At her condo, she looked at her phone, which she’d turned off hours ago. Messages from her older brother. Messages from Paula. Even one from Blake. Nothing from her agent. Dang. Waiting around to hear about possible work was the pits.
Tess restlessly prowled the condo. She’d texted some friends on the way home, but they hadn’t replied. She could go to a movie, but nobody talked to you at the movies.
Maybe Gerry or Ted would give her a movie role. That had been a pure chance meeting, but they were okay guys with a sense of humor. Not like Blake. Who expected an actor to be so stuffy?
If she did movies instead of television, on a night when she was bored like this she could watch herself.
She went to the bar to pour herself a drink. She could take a taxi over to the casino. The casinos never closed. Or she could drive there herself. No. Hadn’t her lawyer told her not to drive for a week or two?
She slammed her empty glass on the bar. “Casino time.”
***
Rolf waited impatiently for JD to return to the ranch. Even with some of the property and its buildings now turned over to be veterans’ homes, it was still a huge ranch that required constant supervision. His family’s ranch in Texas was good-sized, but nowhere near what the Selkirks owned. He’d gotten used to checking out various parts using the ranch helicopter, because that was the practical way to cover the distances involved. When he went back to Texas to visit, he felt how small the old place was. He didn’t go often. Maybe a couple of times a year, to see his sister and her family. She and her lawyer husband were busy with their two kids and their work. She ran the ranch, which she’d taken over from their father. Rolf didn’t mind. He’d been in Iraq ducking IEDs when his father had needed to retire. She’d been on the spot. Once she and her husband got it all squared away legally, they’d started buying Rolf out. The extra money coming in gave him a sense of being on equal footing with the Selkirks, although none of them put on airs about their wealth. They were country rich, not splashy, although Baron did like to dress up in Armani suits when he took Addie to town. Needless to say, the former actress cleaned up real nice. JD’s wife, Paula, came from money, too, but not land ownership. Her father owned banks. She exuded the confidence of a woman who has always worked but never had to scrounge. Owned and flew her own plane, too, although not as often lately for health reasons. He hoped those reasons weren’t likely to keep them in Cheyenne much longer. He wanted JD to return.
Rolf finally called JD to ask when he was coming back, using a thin excuse.
“I’ll be there tomorrow.” JD broke the news that he’d be driving, turning around, and heading back to Cheyenne almost immediately.
“You okay with me heading out to California today to check on Tess?’
“Why bother?”
“Baron threatened to go out there and drag her home. Didn’t sound like a good idea.”
JD made a disgusted noise. “Don’t see the need, but go if you want to.”
He should ask JD why he seemed not to care about his sister’s welfare, but that could wait for another time. “I’ll alert Davis to step up overseeing things.”
Rolf used the old-fashioned house line to call the ranch hands’ chow house, looking for Davis. Sometimes Davis turned off his cell, which was an odd behavior. Davis was a man who kept his story close to the chest. True to Robert Selkirk’s way of doing business, there wasn’t even a file folder with any details on where Davis had worked previously, or if he had next of kin, or anything personal. To an astonishing degree, Davis was an unknown in an era where everybody had a trail. He didn’t. Rolf got the impression that if he pushed Davis to reveal anything about himself, the man might up and
quit.
Davis was reliable and he was a good assistant manager. He kept the working ranch hands in line. When Rolf first took over, Davis had tested him, which Rolf allowed because he was also testing Davis. They each concluded the other was serious about cattle ranching. He sensed Davis had a story similar to his. Had Davis seen service, too? Rolf knew better than to ask. Davis wouldn’t spill.
Rolf didn’t have time to think about it right now. He was crazy to hope that Tess would want to come back to the ranch and stay with him. She was a success in glamorous Hollywood. What did she need with him or the family ranch?
Tess. At first, he’d thought of her strictly as his buddy’s kid sister, and off limits. After Tess had caught him under the mistletoe and laid a sizzling kiss on him the first Christmas he’d been on the ranch, Rolf had changed his mind. But Tess hadn’t. She wanted a Hollywood career. She wouldn’t even take his phone calls because she didn’t want him to try to talk her into coming back.
She dated other men. She was seen often with that dark-haired actor who played a vampire on television, Blake Something-or-other. Rolf and Tess had gotten into it that second Christmas. He’d accused her of selling out, and a lot of nonsense fueled by his jealousy of her vampire actor boyfriend. She’d ignored Rolf’s disapproval.
Rolf had thought he might have a chance at last when she came for Addie’s wedding. The Selkirk family had turned it into a big family reunion and laid on accommodations for a large number of cousins in addition to all the friends and neighbors invited. By the time they’d all arrived, the ranch was like a small town.
Tess had taken the ranch by storm, setting up a carnival area that blew his mind and kept every child and most of the adults busy every day and night. It had been a huge success. Some of her old friends had come, too, and so had Baron’s geologist pals. Rolf had never seen anything like it, but Tess orchestrated everything and it all went down with incredible smoothness. She’d made all the carnival activities available to the veterans, too, on a couple of special days reserved for them alone. They could stroll the grounds without people staring at their scars or missing limbs. If a few children sneaked into the carnival during those days, they all behaved well and no one came away with a bad feeling.
Cowgirl Rescue (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 3) Page 2
