by Regina Duke
Taylor objected. “But I really need to do this. I’m trying to insure Jackson’s future.” And get that corner office and a big, fat salary, even if I have to drag it out of my brother’s clutches, she added to herself.
Axel eyed her curiously. “I have one more question.”
Taylor gulped. “Okay,” she said warily.
“My father hired you to come out here and help me write this book. But how can you afford to keep a horse in New York City and wear Armani on a secretary’s salary?”
“I’m not a secretary in real life,” said Taylor. She was so relieved that his question was that easy to answer that her tongue took over and rushed on with, “Besides your father didn’t hire me. Mine did.” Then she gasped and covered her mouth with one hand when she realized what she’d just said.
Axel’s jaw dropped.
Taylor pressed her lips into a thin line, hoping she wouldn’t make another stupid mistake. But the cat was out of the bag.
Axel stood up and began to pace. “Let me get this straight. Your father sent you out here…but my father told me he was sending you…so your father and mine must be in cahoots on this deal.”
Taylor winced. “Sort of. I guess. All I know is that my dad suggested me to your father when Lester wanted to send someone out here to help you write this biography.”
“Why?”
Taylor slumped in her chair. She didn't want to tell Axel she was supposed to spy on him, but on the other hand, she didn’t want to jeopardize the bond that was growing between them. Finally, she gave up. “Oh rats. All right. I’ll tell you.” She took a deep breath and began. “My dad, Pembroke Hazen, is trying to work a merger with one of your dad’s companies, but lately, your dad has been dragging his feet. So my dad decided he should send me out here to get some dirt on your dad so he’ll have leverage to use against Lester when they meet next Friday to finalize their deal.”
Axel stared at her in disbelief. “He sent you out here to spy on me?”
Taylor made a puppy dog face. “I’m really sorry. That’s how it started out. But I don’t care about that anymore. Besides, Daddy betrayed me. He told me he’d give me the vacant vice presidency if I did this for him, and all the time, he was just trying to get me out of the way so he could give the job to my brother Don while I was gone.”
Axel went to the cupboard and took down one of the several bags of cookies that now crammed his shelves. With his other hand, he reached into the small cupboard above the refrigerator and pulled down a pint of vodka. He set them both on the table. “I think we need fortification,” he said. “Do you drink?”
Taylor’s eyes widened. “Not really.”
“That’s okay. Cookies have the same effect, if you eat enough of them. But just in case…” He poured a dollop of vodka in her coffee, then a double dollop into his own. “Try it. You’d be surprised how good those cookies are with vodka. Besides, I need to tell you what I think is going on. Because frankly, I think our fathers have teamed up to pull a dirty trick on both of us.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Axel began by telling Taylor the story of the November wedding and his father’s quasi-intoxicated toast.
Taylor munched a frosted animal cookie and washed it down with vodka-laced coffee. By the time Axel got to the part about the big fight on the ride home and his decision to take off for Colorado, Taylor was on her third cookie and had emptied her coffee mug.
“So you see,” said Axel, adding a dollop of vodka to her mug with one hand and filling it with lukewarm coffee with the other, “I think we are both being manipulated by two masters of the art form.”
Taylor chewed fast and swallowed more coffee so she could speak. “You mean, they wanted to throw us together on a long-term project so we would fall for each other and get married?”
“I don’t have any proof, but I wouldn’t put it past my father to do something like that. It has Garrison written all over it.”
Taylor was beginning to feel a buzz from the vodka. She took another swallow, smacked her lips, then banged her mug on the table. “We can’t let them win,” she said.
“I agree.” Axel took three cookies, two white-frosted elephants and a pink-frosted giraffe, and made a sandwich out of them. He crunched and munched and washed it all down with the last of his own coffee. He poured more vodka into his mug, then said, “I’m out of coffee.”
Taylor shoved her mug toward him, sloshing some of its contents on the table. “Have some of mine.”
He did so.
“We need a plan,” said Taylor, enunciating her words carefully.
Axel nodded and chewed and swallowed and kept nodding until he could speak again. “I’ve got one. And I think it will serve them right.”
Taylor blinked up at him. “Do tell.”
“We’re going to let them think their plan is working.”
“It is working,” said Taylor. “We really like each other.” She belched. “A lot.”
Axel belched louder, unable to resist the challenge. “I know. It’s incredibly inconvenient, too, because I have a book to write.”
“And I thought I was going to get a nice big fat salary and an office and a staff and buy a big farm upstate for Jackson.”
Axel waved a hand. “I have eighty acres, and this is horse country. You’ve seen the barn. There’s plenty of room. We’ll bring Jackson out here so you can see him every day.”
Taylor’s eyes bulged. “Do you mean it?” Then her face fell. “I can’t quite afford it, I’m afraid. Flying stables are expensive, and Daddy insists I work for mailroom wages.”
Axel wagged a finger. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll pay for it.”
“But, but, but I thought writers don’t make any money.”
“Remember my mother? Before she died, she made provisions for me and my siblings in her will. She brought her own money into the marriage. How do you think I was able to come out here and buy acreage and rescue livestock? I’d be happy to bring Jackson out for you.”
Taylor bounced with excitement. “That would be wonderful! Oh, thank you so much.” She sprang out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Axel.
He returned her embrace, and they stood there for several seconds, hugging and rocking back and forth. Taylor looked up at him and Axel looked down at her, and a second later, he leaned over and planted a soft kiss on her sweet lips. He wondered if she always tasted that good, or was it the vodka-and-cookie combination? It didn’t matter. When she pulled his head even closer, inviting a deeper kiss, he suddenly realized that the biggest problem he was going to have would be refusing to get married within his father’s time frame.
Then Taylor froze. “Wait. If I’m only going to be here another week, it’s too much to bring Jackson out.”
Axel rubbed her arms. “Now that I know he’s a horse, I frankly want to have my competition where I can keep an eye on him. What’s the stable’s number?”
“My phone is in my purse. I left it in the car. I’ll go get it.”
On her way, she questioned the wisdom of bringing her horse to Colorado. She’d been so anxious to get back to New York. But that was because she missed Jackson. And now that her father had given her vice presidency to Don, what was the hurry? She would stay in Colorado a while longer than planned. Maybe a lot longer. And if her father didn’t like it, too bad. Maybe it was time for her to start making her own decisions.
They spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone, making arrangements to transport Jackson to Eagle’s Toe. Before Axel drove her back to town, they assessed the barn, deciding what Taylor might want to pick up at the Feed and Grain the next morning.
“I’ll call the owner,” said Axel. “He’ll open up early for a big order.” He scuffed his feet against the barn floor. “I guess I have to drive you back to town now.”
Taylor was as reluctant as he sounded about leaving. “We did say we can’t let them win. I guess we’ll just have to be strong.”
Axel cupped her cheek in
one hand. “At least until we come up with a different plan of action.” He marveled at how quickly this adorable thorn in his side had managed to work her way into his heart.
Taylor giggled.
A moment later, they were kissing again. When they came up for air, Taylor asked, “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”
“Our vodka was hours ago. I’m fine. The only buzz I’ve got is coming from you.”
Taylor stamped her foot and pretended to whine. “This isn’t what I’d planned at all. I was supposed to dig up some really good dirt on your father and go home to a big salary in the City and be a pampered equestrian princess.”
Axel rubbed his nose against hers. “Don’t worry. You can be a pampered equestrian princess in Colorado. And as for dirt on my father? Let me give that some thought.” He felt a flicker of an idea forming in the back of his mind, but with Taylor within kissing distance, he couldn’t think straight. “I’ve got to get you back to the hotel before we do something that would make our fathers very happy.”
Taylor laughed out loud. “That sounded so totally twisted, I can’t even argue with you.”
Axel was beaming when he pulled under the Cattleman’s portico. “We can get Jackson’s stall ready tomorrow. The Feed and Grain is across the street. When I pick you up in the morning, we can collect whatever you need and take it with us. How’s that sound?”
Taylor looked thrilled. “How can I ever thank you?” She leaned across the seat and planted a warm goodbye kiss on his lips. “See you tomorrow.” She hefted her purse and computer bag and got out of the SUV.
When she turned at the entrance to wave goodbye, Axel was still staring after her, one hand pressed against his mouth. He was stunned by the fire that Taylor’s kisses had lit inside him. He hadn’t felt this way about a woman since…well, he couldn’t remember anything similar to this, not since high school and those first mad crushes on the cheerleading squad.
He drove away from the Cattleman’s and headed for The Nest, the little burger joint west of town. The cookies he’d consumed gurgled ominously inside. He needed real food. And he wanted to make a phone call. He needed information, the kind he could only get from his family.
He and his siblings had expended a great deal of energy telling their father how unwise he had been to marry Bambi. But none of them had ever seriously inquired about why he’d done it. If Lester had shared his reason with any of them, they hadn’t listened. But Axel was pretty certain their father had clammed up when his children rebelled at his choice of a wife. Regardless of how he felt about his father’s second marriage, it was time to call him and ask what the heck was going on where Taylor was concerned.
He wasn’t prepared to have Bambi answer the phone.
“Hello? Garrison residence.”
Axel sat for a moment, mouth open, trying to decide what to say.
“Axel? Is that you? Or did someone steal your cell phone?”
“Oh, uh, sorry, Bambi. I thought my father would answer. It must be eight o’clock there.”
“He’s not home yet. He has some big business meeting. Again.” She sounded less than pleased. “Has he always been this obsessed with work?”
Axel grunted an affirmative. “Short answer? Yes. Didn’t he warn you about that before you married him?” He fought to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, but didn’t entirely succeed.
Bambi sighed heavily. Axel could visualize her on the other end of the line—tall, model thin, dark wavy hair probably drawn back in a low ponytail, hiding her beauty under sweatpants and a tee shirt. When she went out with Lester, she always dressed to the nines, but Axel had been surprised to discover that at home, she pulled on the fastest, easiest, and most comfortable apparel. He waited for her to berate him for his sarcasm.
She surprised him. “Look, Axel, I don’t want us to be enemies. Remember, your father came after me. I didn’t have any plans to marry anybody when I met him. Let’s not hate each other, okay? I can’t help it if he charmed my socks off.”
Axel frowned at his phone. Was she holding out an olive branch? Maybe discovering that Lester was still committed one hundred and ten percent to his business interests had jolted her. Maybe she’d thought he would love her more than he loved his money. And maybe Axel’s reindeer would fly next Christmas Eve.
“Sorry, Bambi. I don’t want to be enemies either. It’s just a shock to have your father marry a woman young enough to be his daughter.”
“I can understand that,” said Bambi. “And I admit, I thought we’d be spending more time together. Sometimes I feel like the fun part for him was the chase. Once we were married, he dove right back into his business. I was hoping we’d get to travel a bit, you know, maybe go somewhere interesting a few times a year? But after our honeymoon, that was it. He was all work and no travel.” She paused, as if realizing her words might get back to Lester. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very happy being Mrs. Lester Garrison. But like you said, there’s a big difference in our ages. I guess I didn’t think that part all the way through.” She laughed softly. “But hey, you called for a reason. What can I do for you?”
Axel thought about hanging up and dialing his father’s office, but he didn’t want to ruin this chance to actually learn a few things from Bambi. “Did he tell you I’m writing his biography?”
“Oh yes, he mentioned something about that.”
“Well, he sent me an editorial assistant who keeps asking questions I don’t have answers to. Maybe you could help me with that.”
“I’ll help if I can.”
Axel began to think he’d misjudged Bambi. Maybe she wasn’t the evil gold digger they all thought she was. “Great. The question is…I hope you’re not offended by this…why did Lester marry you? Sorry, I know that sounds terrible. But—”
“No problem.” Bambi cut him off. “I know exactly why he married me. He fell in love with me the first time he saw me.”
That hurt. Axel supposed his father still had enough life in him to love again after losing their mother, but he’d barely waited a year before he marched down the aisle with Bambi.
“Axel? Are you still there?”
“Yeah. My thoughts ran straight to my mother. It all just seemed to happen so fast.”
“I can’t argue with that,” said Bambi. “Like I said, he swept me off my feet. But I know why. I figured it out the first time I saw your parents’ wedding photo.”
Axel tried to pull the image out of long-term memory, but all he could see was his mother that last week in the hospital, her head swathed in bandages, her face swollen and bruised from the plane crash. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Bambi’s voice softened. “When your mother was my age, she looked exactly like me. Your father didn’t stand a chance. When he met me, he fell in love with your mother all over again.”
Axel was stunned. “I wasn’t expecting that answer. My memories of my mother…. I can’t get those last few weeks out of my mind. She was so badly injured.”
“I understand. At first, it freaked me out. But Lester assured me that he loved me for more than my looks. I just hope that was true. He’s been so distant lately. So wrapped up in his latest deal. He’s constantly in meetings, and when he’s home, he keeps getting business-related phone calls, some from a guy named Mulligan, some from his brother, and some from a guy with a weird name, like ‘peanut’ or ‘hazelnut.’ No. Hazen. That’s who he’s dealing with. Some billionaire named Hazen.”
Axel nodded. “Yes, I know. I’m sort of acquainted with his daughter.” He’d been right all along. His father was trying to get him hitched, and Axel had no doubt what the supposed merger was all about.
“Do you want me to have him call you when he gets home?”
“No, that’s okay. You’ve answered all my questions.”
“He could call tomorrow. I know he wants to make up after that big fight you two had.”
“I’m expecting a horse tomorrow night.” He recalled Karla’s description. “A
flashy warmblood named Jackson. So I’ll be busy in the barn all day.” The old man was planning a merger with Hazen, eh? Well, Axel would have a few things to say about that. “Don’t worry. I plan to call Dad on Monday. I have a surprise for him.”
Yes, indeed. Lester was in for a big surprise.
CHAPTER TWENTY
After Axel dropped her off, Taylor floated across the lobby. She couldn’t decide what she was happier about, knowing that Axel returned her feelings or that Jackson would soon be with her in Colorado. Once she reached her suite, she ordered filet mignon and chocolate mousse from room service, then poured herself a tall tonic water on ice before settling in her favorite spot to watch the sunset. She was in a celebratory mood. The only thing better would be having Axel there to celebrate with her, but they’d agreed that they needed to be very careful about their time together. Taylor had never felt about a man the way she was yearning for Axel. Things could get very heated very fast, if they weren’t careful.
Darn his father and that stupid wedding toast! If not for that, they could give in to their feelings whenever they wished. But maybe it was a good idea to wait a bit. She barely knew Axel, and yet she felt like they’d known each other all their lives. She just wanted to be wrapped in his arms all day. And all night. She found herself humming that old song, “I Only Want to Be With You.”
As the sun painted the clouds orange over the western mountains, she pondered Axel’s words in the barn. He’d been on the brink of a brilliant idea, she was sure. And she’d loved it when he said she could be a pampered equestrian princess in Colorado. She sighed and marveled at how much more beautiful the mountains looked this evening.
She heard a knock at the door. Her dinner had arrived. It was Cody again. He clearly wanted to be sure to bring her dinner every time since she’d given him that big tip the other night. After he left, grinning like he’d won the lottery, she settled on her sofa. She wasn’t really hungry. She was still full of those afternoon cookies, but filet mignon seemed the thing to order when one was celebrating.
