Gus stepped up and laid out his plans for a bachelor auction to benefit pancreatic cancer research. And while he talked, Caleb glanced around the room. A few of the men his age looked intrigued by the idea, which Caleb did not understand. Damned if he’d put himself on the auction block for a night out on the town.
James’s expression didn’t give away what he was thinking—but of course as president, he’d be in the auction, too. Just another reason to not be on the board. Daniel Clayton appeared to hate the idea, yet in the next second, he was announcing that his grandmother was insisting he take part and so should everyone else.
Caleb couldn’t be persuaded to enter, but after a back-and-forth discussion, it was decided to go ahead with the auction. Gus looked happy about it, James looked resigned and most of the younger members were downright eager. Took all kinds, Caleb thought.
* * *
A few hours later, Shelby was wide-awake. Her bedroom was dark and outside the night was quiet and still. She saw headlights spear through the blackness and knew that Caleb had gotten home from his meeting. She was tempted to go and find him, tell him to talk to her. Find out what exactly was going on with him.
But the truth was, she didn’t want to know. How could he have gone from the world’s greatest lover to a distant, cool stranger in the blink of an eye? Was it possible that the fire between them had already burned out?
Or was he deliberately pouring water on it?
“You’re being ridiculous,” she told herself, her whisper lost in the empty room. There was no relationship here. She’d only known the man for a week. But a voice in her head argued, Yes, but what a week it’s been. True, they’d been through a lot in just a short amount of time. But the moment his family showed up, he tossed her aside. He couldn’t have made himself any more clear.
She heard the click of the doorknob turning and her breath caught as her bedroom door swung slowly open. Shelby’s heart gave a hard thump in her chest as Caleb walked into the room.
Moonlight drifted through the window, illuminating everything in a soft glow. He was wearing black slacks, a white shirt, open at the neck, and his hair looked as though he’d been shoving his fingers through it.
“Sorry,” she said wryly. “I didn’t hear you knock.”
He walked to the foot of her bed and stared down at her. “Yeah. That’s because I didn’t.”
He stared at her for a long minute—long enough for Shelby to shift position uneasily. It seemed he was finally ready to talk. Whether she wanted to or not.
“How was your meeting?” She didn’t care about the meeting, but she couldn’t stand the strained silence another moment.
“What?” He shook his head. “Oh, that. Fine. How was your night?”
“Aren’t we polite?” she murmured and had the satisfaction of seeing one of his eyebrows wing up. “My night was fine. Quiet. I organized the pantry in your kitchen.”
“The pantry?” He frowned.
“Where the food is?” The longer this went on, the more impatient Shelby became. “Did you really come in here to talk about nothing?”
“No,” he said abruptly and shoved both hands into his pockets.
“Then why are you here, Caleb?” Shelby threw the duvet off and climbed off the bed. Foolish or not, she felt better, more sure of herself, standing on her own two feet. “You ignored me all day. Left tonight without a word and then walk into my bedroom unannounced. What’s going on with you?”
The moonlight accentuated the grim slash of his mouth and the frown etching itself between his brows. Ridiculous that what Shelby most wanted to do was soothe him. She should want to kick him.
“It’s you,” he said abruptly. “Damn it, this is all about you, Shelby.”
There went the softer instincts.
“No,” she said, firmly shaking her head. “You don’t get to blame this on me.” She walked around the side of the bed to stand right in front of him. “You’re the one who changed, Caleb. The minute your family showed up, you turned into the Iceman.”
His scowl deepened and she wouldn’t have thought that possible.
“So you just don’t want them to know that we—”
“We what, exactly?” he interrupted. “Slept together? Nobody’s business but ours.”
“Then what is it?”
He looked down at her, staring into her eyes with such concentration, it felt as if he were looking all the way into her soul. “I can’t get my mind off of you,” he admitted finally.
“And that’s a bad thing?” she asked.
“It is,” he said flatly, and his eyes flashed with temper she knew was directed internally. “I don’t want to want you, Shelby.”
She huffed out a breath to disguise the hard lump that had settled in her throat. Honesty might be the best policy but it was a bitch to hear it.
“That’s very flattering, thanks.” She folded her arms across her chest in a defensive posture. After the night they’d spent together, to hear him dismiss her like that was more than hurtful. It was devastating. And it shouldn’t have been.
She never should have let herself care. Let herself be pulled into a situation that she had known wouldn’t last. But it had happened anyway. Shelby couldn’t even pinpoint exactly when she had fallen for him. Maybe it had all started that first day, when she’d raced into his arms and he’d helped her when he hadn’t had to. Maybe it was when he’d trusted her with his late mother’s treasures. Or when he’d kissed her out on the range. Or when he stood between her and Jared even when she hadn’t wanted him to be some shining knight in armor.
Whenever it had happened, Shelby now had to deal with the fallout. She’d come to Texas to marry a man she hadn’t really loved. Now she was in love with a man who didn’t want her. She was really batting a thousand in the romance department.
What she felt for Caleb dwarfed what she’d thought was love for Jared. Shelby hadn’t wanted to admit even to herself that she was falling in love with Caleb, because that would only make it more real. But now, staring into icy-blue eyes, she knew it was true.
“I’m not trying to flatter you,” he snapped. Pulling his hands from his pockets, he grabbed her shoulders and held on, pulling her close while still, somehow, keeping her at a distance. “I’m trying to be honest, here. There can’t be anything between us, Shelby.”
“Oh, you’re making that clear,” she said tightly and squirmed to get out of his grasp.
He held on more tightly. “I don’t want to want you, but I have to have you.”
She went absolutely still. His eyes were fire now, ice melted away in a passion she recognized and shared. It was so stupid, she told herself, even as her body hummed into life. Why should she sleep with him when he’d made it plain he didn’t want to care? But how could she love him and not?
“You’re making me crazy, Shelby,” he ground out, his gaze moving over her, his hands sliding from her shoulders to cup her face in his palms. “Can’t stop thinking about you.”
She covered his hands with hers and took a deep breath. “Why do you want to?”
He bent his head, kissed her, then stared into her eyes again. “Because it’s better for both of us.”
“You’re wrong,” she said. “And I can prove it to you.” Shelby went up on her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him as she’d been wanting to all day. Her lips parted over his and her tongue swept in to claim his. He reacted instantly, jerking her close, holding her so tightly to him she could feel his heartbeat pounding against her. Breathing was fast and hard.
His mouth devoured hers and she took everything he offered and returned it to him. His hands snaked up under her tank top and cupped her breasts, his thumbs and fingers tweaking and tugging at her nipples until everything in her melted into a puddle of need. Her fingers stabbed through his hair, holding his head to hers, his mouth to he
rs.
Shelby’s entire body was throbbing, her heart was racing and her blood felt thick and hot as it pumped through her veins. When he stripped her top off and bent his head to take one nipple then the other into his mouth, she swayed unsteadily and kept a tight grip on his shoulders to balance herself.
Caleb tipped her back onto the bed and she went willingly, eagerly. Shelby tore at his shirt, sending tiny white buttons skittering across the floor. She didn’t care. She wanted to hold him, feel him.
“I missed you today,” she admitted, kissing his shoulder, trailing her lips and tongue along his heated skin until she found the spot at the base of his throat that she knew drove him wild.
He groaned, tipped his head to one side and gave her free access. Shelby lavished attention on him, licking, nibbling until he stabbed his fingers through her hair and pulled her head back. “I missed you, too.”
His mouth covered hers as she shoved his shirt off his shoulders and down his arms. Her fingers went to his belt and undid it, then unhooked the waistband of his slacks and slid the zipper down. She reached for him and sighed when her hand closed around the hard, solid length of him.
His hips rocked into her hand and he threw his head back and hissed in a breath. She half expected him to howl and everything in her fisted into tight knots of expectation. Anticipation. She stroked him, rubbed him, caressed the tip of him with the base of her thumb until he trembled and Shelby thought there was nothing so sexy as a strong man being vulnerable.
“Wait, wait,” he ground out and pulled away from her.
“Come back,” she said, coming up onto her knees to crook one finger at him.
He sighed. “Oh, yeah.” Then he stripped, pausing only long enough to grab a condom from the pocket of his slacks. “Stopped at my room before I came here.”
“I like a man who thinks ahead,” she said and slowly shimmied out of her tank top. Moonlight pearled on her skin and she loved the flash in his eyes as he stared at her.
Then he was back on the bed with her and he was pulling her sleep shorts down and off, running his hands over her behind, stroking the hot, damp core of her. Shelby was writhing, twisting in his grasp and as the promise of another earth-shattering climax hovered closer, she reached for him. “Inside me, Caleb. Be inside me again. I need to feel you.”
“What you do to me,” he said, shaking his head as he watched her. “All I can think about is being with you. In you.”
“Then do it,” she demanded.
Nodding, he flipped her over onto her stomach and before Shelby could even manage a response, he was lifting her hips until she was kneeling. She looked over her shoulder at him and felt fresh need grab her by the throat. He looked dark, dangerous and deadly sexy. His skin was tanned, his body rock hard and as he smoothed on the condom, her heart leaped into a gallop.
Then he was behind her, sliding into her and Shelby cried out his name. He held her hips in his big, strong hands and rocked in and out of her in a fast, breath-stealing rhythm. She had no choice but to follow his lead. She curled her fingers into the sheet beneath her and held on.
She pushed back against him, moving with him, taking him higher and deeper than she would have thought possible. He became a part of her. Shelby didn’t know where she ended and he began and she didn’t care. All that mattered was what he was doing to her, making her feel. Her body erupted and she turned her face into the mattress to muffle the scream torn from her throat.
Shelby was still trembling, still shaken when Caleb shouted out her name and his body slammed into hers, giving her everything he was and promising nothing.
Nine
The Courtyard shops were a few miles west of downtown Royal. It used to be a ranch, but when the owners sold off, the property became an eclectic mix of shops. The latest was a bridal shop and Shelby had taken a moment to look through the window. In just ten seconds she’d seen five prettier gowns than the one she’d been forced to wear to her disastrous almost wedding.
A large, freshly painted red barn housed Priceless, the antiques shop, plus a crafts studio where people could come in and try their hands at everything from painting to ceramics and more.
Several other buildings on the property showcased local craftsmen such as artists, glassblowers and soap and candle makers. Local farmers rented booths to sell their fresh produce and canned goods and there was even a local cheese maker who always had a long line of customers.
Shelby loved it all. Actually she pretty much loved everything about Royal. Small town life really agreed with her. She wasn’t looking forward to moving back to Chicago once she got her money from the Goodman family.
Which should be soon, since the sheriff had told Caleb that he was going out there today to take care of things.
And that left her exactly where?
Shelby sat at a small, round table outside the tiny coffee shop and sipped at a tall glass of iced tea. August hadn’t cooled off any and she couldn’t help but wonder what winter in Texas would be like.
But she didn’t think she’d be finding out.
Watching people stroll past her, some hand in hand, Shelby sighed a little. Last night, she and Caleb had come to a détente of sorts. He didn’t want to care for her and she couldn’t care for him. It didn’t matter how she felt because he wouldn’t want to hear it.
“What a mess.”
“Excuse me. You’re Shelby Arthur, right?”
The woman was blonde, with big blue eyes and a wide smile. She wore a pale green summer dress that showed off tanned, toned arms and legs.
“Hi, yes.”
“Do you mind if I sit down and talk to you for a second?” Without waiting for consent, she pulled out a chair and sighed as she sat. “I’m Alexis Slade and thanks for sharing the shade under your umbrella.”
“No problem.” Shelby smiled at her. “Didn’t I just see you at Priceless?” She had been at the antiques store, to talk to Raina Patterson about the last load of crystal and glass they’d taken in. Raina already had buyers for most of the items and the others she would sell in her shop and pay Caleb when they sold.
She should have felt a lot of satisfaction for how Caleb’s house was turning out with a little organization. Instead, she was sad because it seemed that her time in Royal was quickly coming to an end. But she shook off those feelings and concentrated on Alexis.
“Yes. I was there to talk to Raina about a fund-raiser the TCC is going to be putting on.”
“Oh.” Shelby nodded. “Sure, the bachelor auction. Everyone here is talking about it.”
Alexis rolled her eyes, set her cream-colored bag on the table and dug out a notebook. When she flipped it open to an empty page she sent Shelby a wince of embarrassment. “I know. Paper and pen. I’m practically a cave person. But it’s so much easier for me to just write things down.”
“I do the same thing,” Shelby assured her as a hot wind blew through the courtyard, tossing her hair across her eyes. She plucked it free, then asked, “But what did you want to talk to me about?”
“I’m not ashamed to admit that I need help,” Alexis said, smiling. “You know, I run our family ranch, the Lone Wolf, with no problems at all. But running this auction and getting things like invitations and sponsors for prizes and the bachelors all lined up is giving me a headache.”
“I can imagine.” She tried to sound sympathetic, but Shelby couldn’t help but feel a quick zip of excitement. There was nothing she liked better than taking over a confused mess and bringing order to it.
“Raina was telling me what a great job you did out at Caleb’s ranch, organizing his mother’s collection...”
“It’s been challenging,” she admitted, “but yes, it’s all coming together.”
“Well,” Alexis said with another smile, “I figured if that didn’t scare you off, then maybe I could find a way to coerce you into helping me
get this auction off the ground?”
A little boy careened past the table, trailing a helium balloon in his wake. His giggles floated like soap bubbles on the air. A waitress came out with a fresh glass of tea for Shelby and one for Alexis, though it hadn’t been ordered.
“Thanks, Ella,” Alexis said on a sigh. “You’re a lifesaver.”
The young woman grinned. “You want your usual salad, too? Or something else?”
Alexis looked at the brownie on the table in front of Shelby and winced. “I’ll have one of those, please, and screw the calories.”
Shelby laughed and Ella said, “In this heat, you’ll burn them right off as soon as you eat them.”
Once they were alone again, Shelby said, “I’m happy to help, but I don’t know how long I’ll be in town.”
Alexis sipped at her tea. “So you’ve decided to move back to Chicago when you get your money back from Jared?”
Shelby’s jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. “Wow. Small town grapevines are really impressive.”
“Yeah, sorry.” She smiled and shrugged. “But I was at the wedding that didn’t happen.”
“Oh, God.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Alexis said and reached out to give Shelby’s hand a reassuring pat. “I totally understand. I mean, I know you and Caleb are together and how could you marry Jared when you loved someone else?”
“Oh, Alexis, we’re not—” God, she had to clear this up. People were talking and that wasn’t fair to Caleb, even though he was the one who’d said it, feeding Margaret’s gossip until it had become a huge blob of innuendo with a life all its own.
“I felt the same way, you know?” The friendly woman leaned back in her chair, crossed her legs and said, “Back in high school, Jared asked me out constantly, but I didn’t go out with him because I was crazy about someone else...” Her words trailed off and a thoughtful frown etched itself briefly on her features.
She knew how Alexis had felt. Shelby was crazy about Caleb. And crazy for letting her emotions get so deeply involved. It was one thing to make a mistake unknowingly. But when you walked right into one with your eyes wide-open, that had to be nuts.
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