by Sara Orwig
She forced herself to look at his face. “How is Maria?”
“Feisty as ever. How are your folks?”
Georgie didn’t care to broach that topic in detail, and preferred to let Austin assume she still lived at home. That would guarantee he wouldn’t come calling, considering the long-standing feud between both their families, compliments of their competitive fathers. Only one time had a Calloway son entered their abode. Through her bedroom window. She had given Austin everything that night eighteen years ago, including her heart. “Mom and Papa are doing fine,” she said, banishing the bittersweet memories from her mind.
“I’m sure they’re glad to have you back from school. I bet Old George is strutting around like a rooster over his only kid becoming a veterinarian.”
Not so much. Her father was still shamed over having a daughter who’d had a baby out of wedlock, information her family had kept away from the public eye. In fact, she hadn’t spoken to her dad to any degree in years. Luckily her mother hadn’t passed judgment and still supported her when she’d stayed away from the small town and the prospect of gossip. She purposefully lost touch with friends, and now that she’d returned, she’d fortunately been able to find a remote place of her own, even if it was only a rental. But eventually everyone would know about her son because she couldn’t hide out forever, nor did she want to.
When Chance waved, Georgie tried for a third departure. “Well, I better load up and leave before the competition begins.”
A slight span of silence passed before Austin spoke again. “You look real good, Georgie girl.”
So did he. Too good. Otherwise she might scold him for calling her by his pet name. “Thanks. I’ll see you around.”
“You most definitely will.”
Georgie disregarded the comment, turned away and then walked through the gate to retrieve her mare. She lingered there for a few moments and watched Austin leave the arena before seeking out her son. “Let’s go, Chance,” she called as she untied the horse and started down the aisle.
Chance scampered down from the bleachers and came to her side, his face and baseball cap smeared with dirt. “Who was that man, Mama?”
Oh, heavens. She had so hoped he hadn’t noticed. “Austin Calloway.”
“Who is he?”
She kept right on walking as she considered how she should answer. She settled on a partial truth instead of full disclosure as she walked toward her trailer, her baby boy at her side.
“He’s an old friend, sweetie.”
An old friend who’d been her first lover. Her first love. Her one and only heartbreak. But most important, the father of her child.
If or when Austin Calloway learned that she’d been withholding that secret, she could only imagine how he would react—and it wouldn’t be good.
* * *
Austin stormed into the main house to seek out the source of his anger. He found him in the parlor where they’d grown up, his pregnant wife seated in his lap. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Dallas.”
Both Dallas and Paris stared at him like he’d grown a third eye, then exchanged a look. “I think I’ll go see if Maria and Jenny need help with dinner,” Paris said as she came to her feet.
Dallas patted her bottom. “Good idea. I can’t feel my legs.”
She frowned and pointed down at her belly. “Hush. This is all your fault, so complaining is not allowed.”
“You sure didn’t complain when I got you that way,” Dallas added with a grin as his wife headed toward the kitchen.
Watching his brother and sister-in-law’s banter didn’t sit well with Austin. “If you’re done mooning over your bride, we need to talk.”
Dallas leaned back on the blue floral sofa that Jenny had brought with her, draped an arm over the back and crossed his boots at his ankles. “Have a seat and say what’s on your mind.”
Austin eyed the brown leather chair but decided he was too restless to claim it. “I don’t want to have a seat.”
“Then stand, dammit. Just get on with it.”
He remained planted in the same spot even though he wanted to pace. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me Georgia Romero was back in town?”
“Georgia’s back in town?” came from the opening to his right.
Austin turned his attention to Maria, his stepmother, mentor and crusader for the truth, and sometimes intruder into conversations. “So he didn’t tell you, either?”
Dallas’s jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. “I’d forgotten I’d talked to her day before yesterday. Besides, it’s not that big a deal. A drought is a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to your little brother, mijo,” Maria said as she tightened the band at the end of her long braid. “Austin and Georgia have a special relationship.”
Obviously the family was intent on throwing the past up in his face like prairie dirt. “Had a relationship. That was a long time ago.”
Dallas smirked. “You’d take her back as your girlfriend in a New York minute.”
“You have a girlfriend, sugar?”
Enter the blonde, bouncy second stepmom. The woman Austin’s dad had married without divorcing Maria. Jenny was a good-hearted gossip and that alone made him want to walk right back out the door. Doing so would only prolong the conversation, unfortunately. “No, Jen, I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“He used to have a girlfriend,” Maria added. “Georgia and Austin were real close in high school.”
Jenny laid a dramatic palm on her chest below the string of pearls. “I just love Georgia. Atlanta in the springtime is...”
“Focus, woman,” Maria scolded. “We’re talkin’ about a girl, not a state.”
Jenny lifted her chin. “I know that, Maria. You’re telling me about Austin being joined at the hip to his high school sweetheart, who happens to be named Georgia.”
Dallas chuckled. “You’ve got that ‘joined at the hip’ thing right, Jen, but Austin chased her for years before that joining.”
Austin needed to set this part of the record straight. “I damn sure didn’t chase her.” Much. “She hung around all of us when we were kids. I never paid her any mind back then.”
“Not until she came back from camp that summer after she turned fourteen,” Dallas said.
Man, he hadn’t thought about that in years. She’d returned with a lot of curves that would make many a hormone-ridden guy stand up and take notice. Every part of him. She still had a body that wouldn’t quit, something he’d noticed earlier. Something he wouldn’t soon forget. “Yep, she’d definitely blossomed that summer.”
“You mean she got her boobies,” Jenny chimed in. “Mine came in at twelve. That’s when the boys started chasing me like Louisiana mosquitoes.”
Maria waved a dismissive hand at Jen. “No one wants to know when you reached puberty and how many times you got a love bite.”
Austin didn’t want to continue this bizarre conversation. Luckily Paris showed up to end the weird exchange. “Dinner will be ready in about five minutes.”
Jenny turned her attention to Austin. “Maybe you should invite your special friend to dinner.”
Of all of the stupid ideas—subjecting Georgie to an ongoing conversation about puberty. Then again, he wouldn’t mind sitting across a table from her. He wouldn’t mind her sitting in his lap, either. “It’s late and I’m sure she’s busy.”
Paris perked up like a hound coming upon a rabbit’s scent. “She? So that’s what you were discussing in my absence.”
Dallas pushed off the sofa. “Yeah, and boobies and mosquitoes.”
“Don’t ask, Paris,” Maria stated. “Now you boys wash up while we put the food on the table.”
No way would he subject himself to more talk about his history with Georgie. “I’m not staying for dinner.”
“Suit yourself,” Dallas said. “But you’ll be missing out on Jen’s chicken-fried steak.”
Any other time he would reconsider, but not today. “I’m sure it’ll be great. Before I take off, Dallas, we need to finish our conversation.”
His brother shrugged. “I’m listening.”
When Austin noticed the women still hovering, he added, “In private. Outside.”
Dallas sighed. “Fine. Just make it quick. I’m starving.”
He had every intention of making it quick while getting his point across.
After they walked out the door onto the porch, Austin faced his brother. “Look, I would’ve appreciated you consulting all the brothers before you hired Georgie as the ranch vet.”
Dallas streaked a hand over his jaw. “Actually, I did. Houston doesn’t have a problem with it, and neither does Tyler. Worth doesn’t know about it but he trusts my judgment, unlike you.”
Austin’s ire returned with the force of a tornado. “You consulted them but you didn’t bother to ask me?”
“Majority rules, and I figured you weren’t going to be too keen on the idea after the way you two ended it.”
“What the hell does it matter what happened when we were in high school?”
“I meant six years ago, after the reading of Dad’s will.”
“How did you know we hooked up then?”
“Georgie called me a few months later and asked how she could get in touch with you. By that time you’d already married Abby. When I told her about that, she was upset. In other words, you broke her heart. Again.”
Yeah, he probably had, and he’d never been proud of it. “It was just one night, Dallas, and I didn’t marry Abby until four months later, so I wasn’t cheating on either Georgie or Abby. Besides, I married Abby on a whim.”
“A whim involving a woman you barely knew.”
Only a partial truth. “Not so. I’d known Abby for years. I just didn’t date her on a regular basis.”
“But you did date Georgie at one time, and she’s not the kind of woman to take sex lightly.”
He was inclined to agree but decided not to give Dallas the pleasure of knowing he was right. “Georgie and I agreed no promises, no expectations, the last time we were together.”
“Maybe you didn’t have any expectations, but I suspect she did. She’s always loved you, brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if she still did, although I don’t get why she would after the way you’ve treated her.”
He didn’t welcome his brother’s counsel or condemnation. “You’re a fine one to talk, Dallas. You left a trail of broken hearts all over the country.”
“Yeah, but it only took one woman to set me straight.”
“A woman you married because you wanted to keep control of the ranch.”
Dallas leaned against the porch railing. “In the beginning, that was true. But it didn’t take me long to realize Paris could put an end to my wicked ways.”
He’d thought that about Abby, too, but his ex-wife hadn’t been as sure. In the end, they realized they’d had no choice but to go their separate ways after rushing into a marriage that should never have taken place. “I’m glad for your good fortune, Dallas. But I don’t think that woman exists for me.”
Dallas’s expression turned suddenly serious. “If you open your eyes, you might just see you’ve already found her. In fact, you ran into her today.”
With that, Dallas went back inside, leaving Austin to ponder his words. True, he’d always had a thing for Georgie, but he’d chalked that up to chemistry. And she’d always been a beautiful woman, even during her tomboy phase. But he couldn’t see himself with her permanently. See himself with anyone for that matter.
He’d already wrecked one marriage and he wasn’t going to wreck another. He refused to fail again.
That said, if he and Georgie decided to mutually enjoy each other’s company down the road, he wouldn’t hate it. As long as she understood that he wasn’t in the market for a future.
When it came to Georgia May Romero—and his ever-present attraction to her—keeping his hands to himself would be easier said than done.
* * *
“How’s your first day as the Calloway vet going, Georgie girl?”
Fine...until he’d walked into the main barn dressed in chambray and denim, looking like every gullible girl’s dream. Yet when she decided to accept Dallas’s job offer, she’d known seeing Austin would be a strong possibility. In fact, that had been part of her reasoning to sign on as the resident veterinarian—to size him up, but only when it came to his life, not his looks. However, she was still a bit shaken over their encounter yesterday, and she was bent on ignoring him today.
For that reason, and many more, she continued putting away her equipment in the duffel without looking at him. “I was just vaccinating the pregnant mares.”
“At least we only have four this year, not ten like in years past.”
“True.” Georgie straightened and patted the bay’s muzzle protruding through the rail. “I remember when this one was born, and that had to be fifteen years ago. We’re both getting on up there in age, aren’t we, Rosie? They should really give you a break from the babies.”
Georgie sensed Austin moving toward her before he said, “She keeps churning out prime cattle horses, but hopefully Dallas will decide to retire her from the breeding program after this year.”
“Good, although I’m sure she’ll have no trouble foaling this year. Dallas did ask me to be here when Sunny foals since she’s a maiden mare. I told him I’d try, although horses have given birth without help for centuries. Of course, I expect to have to pull a few calves in the future.”
When he didn’t respond to her rambling, she faced him and met his grin. “Do you find some sort of warped humor in that?”
He braced his hand on the wooden frame and leaned into it, leaving little distance between them. “No. It’s just strange to see you doing your animal doctor thing.”
Boy, did he smell good, like manly soap, as if he’d just walked out of the shower. She imagined him in the shower...with her. Slick, wet bodies and roving hands and... Good grief. “Are you worried I’m not qualified?”
His come-hither expression melted into a frown. “I have no reason to believe you’re not qualified since you went to the best vet college in the country. I guess I’m just used to you riding horses, not giving them shots. It’s going to take a while to adjust to the new you.”
“I’m the same old me, Austin.” And that had never been more apparent than when she continued to react to him on a very carnal level. “Only now I have a career that I’ve talked about since we were climbing trees together.”
He reached out and tucked one side of her hair behind her ear. “Do you remember that one time we were in the tree near the pond on your property? You were twelve at the time, I believe.”
What girl didn’t remember her first kiss, even if it had been innocent and brief? “If you’re referring to that day when you tried to put me in a lip-lock, I definitely recall what happened next.”
His grin returned. “You slugged me.”
“I barely patted your cheek.”
“I almost toppled out of the tree. You didn’t know your own strength.”
He hadn’t known how much she had wanted him to kiss her, or how scared she had been to let him. “That kind of thing was not at the top of my to-do list at that time.”
“Maybe, but I found out kissing had moved to number one on the list that summer after you came back from camp.”
She felt her face flush. “I was fourteen and you were fifteen and a walking case of hormones.”
He inched a little closer. “You had hormones, too. They were in high gear that first night we made out behind the gym after the football game.”
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She shivered over the recollection. “Big deal. So you managed to get to first base.”
His blue eyes seemed to darken to a color this side of midnight. “Darlin’, I got to second base.”
“Your fumbling attempts weren’t exactly newsworthy.”
Oddly, he didn’t seem at all offended. “Maybe I was a little green that first time, but I got better as time went on.”
Her mind whirled back to that evening full of out-of-control chemistry. She didn’t want to acknowledge how vulnerable she’d been that particular night, and many nights after that when they’d met in secret. How completely lost she had been for three whole years, and she hadn’t been able to tell one solitary soul. “We were so reckless and stupid and darn lucky. If my father would have ever found out I was with a Calloway boy—”
“He would’ve shot first and asked questions later. He’d probably do that now.”
Time to turn the subject in a different direction. “I’d hoped that after J.D. died, my father would’ve buried the hatchet and been more neighborly to you and the brothers.”
“Ain’t gonna happen,” Austin said. “Last month he called the sheriff when one of our heifers ended up on his property. He blamed us for not maintaining the shared fence line when it’s his responsibility, too.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“I’m surprised he approves of you working for the enemy.”
“Actually, he doesn’t know because I haven’t told him.” Just one more secret in her arsenal.
Austin pushed away from the wall, giving her a little more room to breathe. “That’s probably wise. It’s not fun to suffer the wrath of George Romero. But he’s bound to find out eventually.”
She shrugged. “Yes, but it really doesn’t matter. I’m all grown up now and I make my own decisions, not him.”
He winked. “Yep, you’re all grown up for sure.”
Her heart executed a little-pitter patter in her chest. “I need to get back to work now.”
“Me, too. If I don’t get busy soon, I’m going to suffer the wrath of Dallas.”
If she didn’t leave soon, she might be subjected to another journey into their shared past, including their sex life. Former sex life. “I’ve got a very busy day ahead of me, so I’ll see you later.”
