by Becky McGraw
"You need me, and I need to do this." Leigh Ann leaned forward, her chin lifted a notch, and her lips flattened stubbornly.
"Why?" He couldn't figure out why she would choose to be here when her public was waiting. Maybe she was hiding out again, maybe she couldn't handle her notoriety this time, because it wasn't the good kind. Well, he sure as hell didn't want to be dragged into that circus.
"Because for once in my life, I'm not running. I'm going to do what's right, and finish out here. You gave me a chance, and it didn't work out, but I am not going to leave you high and dry. And I also want to do it to thank you for taking care of me yesterday."
Wes grunted then walked over to the desk and put his hands on his hips. "What if I don't want you here?"
"Too damned bad, Wesley Jepson, you have me. I'm the best you're going to do for the next two weeks." A bright smile, the same one that had stolen his heart weeks ago, only brighter, appeared on her beautiful face. It was the genuine version, not the fake.
Wes stood there dumbfounded at Leigh Ann's new take charge attitude, and salty language. That was as many curse words as he'd ever heard pass her sexy lips. She almost sounded like her rough and ready sister there for a minute.
"Now, go get your ass cleaned up, you look like hell," she ordered with a wrinkle of her perky little nose, as she pushed the button on the answering machine. "Better yet, go get yourself a few hours sleep, I've got this."
With a deep sigh, resignation filled him, and Wes came to the conclusion that she was the best he was going to do for the next few weeks, so he decided to accept her help. "If the press shows up here, you're gone."
"They won't show up, my mother and my press agent are handling it."
"You have a fucking press agent?"
"As of yesterday, I do," she told him smugly, glancing up at him.
Wes wondered what the hell she needed a press agent for, in his estimation a body guard would probably serve her better. Senator Leland Rooks wasn't a man to be messed with, and Leigh Ann had definitely poked that bear by making over the man's wife and parading her around that bar. Maybe things would just get brushed under the carpet though, like they usually did where that man was concerned.
"What do you need a press agent for?" Did Leigh Ann Baker think, because she'd embarrassed a Texas State Senator, she was going to be forever newsworthy? Yeah, the press was all over it yesterday, but tomorrow he would bet it would be old news, if the good Senator had anything to do with it.
"Well, Danielle is actually the press agent for the R & R Ranch now. I'm going to be working there as an image consultant. That makeover I did on Allison Rooks created quite a stir." A smile quirked the corner of her delicious mouth and her cheeks pinkened.
"More like a cylcone," Wes corrected with a harsh laugh.
"Whatever it is, Terri has taken bookings a year in advance, and she's pretty darned excited about how things turned out, and so am I."
Had Leigh Ann purposely created that spectacle at the bar to secure herself a job at the R & R Ranch? Jeopardizing Terri and Joel's ranch, and her sister's job, just so she could be famous again?
If so, she was even more cold and calculating than even his ex-wife. That would take someone desperate to make a name for herself again. Maybe she really was that desperate, who knew. What he did know was that she seemed to be a helluva lot more excited about this new job prospect than she had ever been about being his vet assistant. She'd probably do a much better job at image consulting than she had here too.
It was clear to him now that Leigh Ann had simply been biding her time here, creating havoc in his office and life, while she explored other options to put her name back on the map. Just like Laura had done. The job just hadn't been glorious enough for this woman, or his ex-wife. Neither had he.
"Congratulations, Leigh Ann," Wes said trying but failing to keep the disgust out of his voice. Wes knew he could do better in the way of an assistant, if he just had the time to look around. But he didn't have the time right now to do that and save his business too. At least with her being here, he would have two weeks to find someone else.
But he could make sure she didn't interfere in his life anymore.
"Stay away from Trey," Wes said suddenly. He didn't want his son getting any more attached to his temporary assistant than he already was.
"Why?" she asked and hurt flared in her eyes.
"He's confused, and I don't want him more confused. You're leaving and he doesn't need to get more attached to you," Wes told her firmly then narrowed his tired, scratchy eyes. "And you're not welcome to stay at my house anymore."
"I don't want to stay at your house," she told him with her lower lip trembling. Her chin lifted a notch, then she finished, "Terri loaned me a truck, so I could drive here to serve out my notice. I'm staying at the ranch, but thank you for allowing me to stay here before."
"You're welcome," he said and couldn't stop the wide yawn that took over his whole body. Stretching his arms over his head, Wes told her, "Stay out of trouble, I'm going up to the house to clean up."
Leigh Ann watched Wes walk toward the door, with her heart in her throat. When the door closed roughly behind him, Leigh Ann pushed back her chair and stood on her wobbly legs. Twice during her conversation with him, the old urge to bolt out the front door and never come back had almost overwhelmed her. She was damned proud of herself, because she had fought through it, and even managed to maintain her composure.
It was time to face facts, the man she had fallen in love with hated her. Because of her feelings for him, and her determination to start her new life the right way, Leigh Ann had come back here to help Wes. She could have just stayed at the ranch and jumped feet first into her new job, but she wanted to pay her debt to Wes first. From all appearances, it looked to her like she shouldn't have bothered.
Stay away from Trey. Her heart wiggled in her chest. That one statement told her all she needed to know about how Wes Jepson felt about her. He thought she was a bad influence on his son, and he couldn't care less about her. You're only temporary. In his life and in his bed. And now she knew that her feelings for Wes could only be temporary as well.
Leigh Ann would just have to harden her heart and move on. Forget about him and the little boy she had fallen head over heels in love with. After that, she would never have to see them again. That was the only thing she could do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
A week later, Leigh Ann was elbow deep in the bills scattered on Wes's desk, trying to make head or tails out of which ones were due. The task was overwhelming, so when he came through the office door, she was glad to get a break from it.
"Do you know where my travel kit is?" he asked with a frustrated breath.
"The back of your truck?" she suggested.
"Nope, and it's not in the closet. I've got to get out of here, Liam Johnson called and his mare is in labor."
"Did you look up at the house?" she suggested, then folded her hands on the desk to look up at him. "Maybe you left it up there after a call?"
His hazel eyes widened and he raised a finger. "Ah, I didn't check there," he replied then he spun on his heel.
"Wes, wait...I have a question," Leigh Ann shouted behind him and he stopped then walked back through the door.
"I'm in a hurry, Leigh Ann." Frustration was in every line of his lean body as he faced her with his hand on his hip.
"I know, but I want to know if you have these bills in a ledger somewhere. I haven't ever done the payables before, it's the end of the month, and they're due right?"
"Yeah, they're due," he replied brusquely. "But just leave them alone, and I'll work on them tonight."
"I have time, I'd like to help." All this paper on his desk, and the monumental amount of work involved had to be as overwhelming to him as it was to her.
"I don't want your help, and I need to go." With that Wes turned and stomped toward the front door. His nastiness knocked another notch out of her heart, but she used her determinatio
n to plug it up, so she could move forward.
It's only another week. And his attitude is just helping you realize he isn't the right man for you. You don't love him, he just isn't...loveable. Every day she told herself that when he said or did something mean or disrespectful, but she didn't believe it yet, because behind the nastiness he always apologized or did something sweet. Damned confusing man.
Whether he wanted it or not, she was going to help him straighten out the mess that his office was in, before she left. Leigh Ann picked up the phone and called her sister. Luckily Roxanne answered her phone. After a few minutes of talking, Roxanne guided her through the billing system, and she found the payables ledger.
Victory shot through her as she clicked it open, and scrolled to the bottom of the spreadsheet. A fist clamped her throat as she saw the incredible disparity between the incoming column and the outgoing. Leigh Ann wasn't an accountant, she wasn't even a bookkeeper, but even she realized Wes was in deep shit, and it was all going to land on his head very soon.
With a trembling hand, Leigh Ann clicked the mouse to print the ledger, then started reconciling the bills on the desk with the spreadsheet with a highlighter. Most of the bills were at least three months past due, and it looked like they were going to be four months in arrears at the end of the week.
She opened the receivables section of the billing program and printed out the ledger, then scanned it. A helluva lot of people owed the man money. If he collected it all, he would be a rich man, and wouldn't have a problem paying his bills, but like the payables sheet, all the incoming payments were seriously behind.
Anger surged through her and she slapped the mouse on the desk, then jerked the rolodex with the client numbers toward her. This was ridiculous, these people needed to pay up, so Wes could pay his own bills. Leigh Ann had just found her mission for the rest of the week. If she had to personally drive out to the farms, set up payment plans or whatever, these people were going to pay him, and they were going to do it before she left on Friday afternoon.
Finding the number of the first offender on the list, Leigh Ann picked up the phone and purposefully punched the buttons.
***
"Wes, I can pay a hundred dollars or so on Friday, but that's all I have right now. I know I owe you a ton, I'm sorry," Clem Toliber's rough voice echoed through the office as Wes listened to his messages when he got back to the office.
Leigh Ann wasn't there, and he wondered where in the hell she had gone.
There were at least five more messages on the machine saying basically the same thing. Wes hadn't heard from these folks in months, some almost a year. When he made collection calls to them, they didn't even answer the phone, and now they were all calling him to tell him they either couldn't pay, or were sending in money?
It was just weird...full moon strange. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he wasn't going to kick a gift horse, that was for sure. He needed that money badly, and hoped they followed through with their promises.
After he finished listening to the messages, Wes got up and went into his office to tackle the payables again to figure out what he could shuffle this month, and to see if there would be room to pay himself anything.
At the door to his office, Wes noticed his clean and organized desk and groaned. Those piles he had left on his desk represented five hours of work last night, and five the night before. He had sorted them, knew where everything was and was finally ready to do the monthly shuffle. Now, the clean desk mocked him, and he knew he would have to do it all again, before he could even get started on writing checks.
Leigh Ann Baker and her attempt at efficiency had just cost him his business most likely. He would never catch up by Friday now. She just needed to get the hell out of here and leave him alone. She was trying, damned hard, and that's the only reason he hadn't sent her packing yet. Well, not the only reason, but the main one.
It's only until the end of the week, he reminded himself. He was looking forward to that day, but dreading it too. After Friday, he would probably never see her again. For some reason, that thought, every time it occurred to him, made his stomach hurt. He needed her to leave so he could get back to his life. Boring as it was, it was peaceful before she came along, and he looked forward to regaining that peace.
Wes sat down behind his desk, and opened drawers until he found all of his paperwork again, then began the process of sorting through it all again. A couple of hours later his stomach rumbled, and he threw his pen down on the stack and glanced at the clock. He hadn't realized it was already after five.
No wonder he was hungry, he hadn't even stopped long enough to go up to the house and make himself a sandwich. Five o'clock also meant that Trey was home from school, so he wondered why his son hadn't stopped into the office to say hello like he normally did. Pushing back his chair, Wes headed for the door to go check on him, and grab a sandwich so he could work more.
Leigh Ann hadn't come back to the office, so he figured she had either quit again, or had just gone back to the ranch. Whatever she was doing, he was thankful for the few hours without her in his space. On the way to the front door, he passed her desk, and stumbled when her honeysuckle scent carried to him on the currents from the air conditioner in the wall behind her desk. He stumbled, then stopped to stare at the softly humming machine.
It was no wonder working in the confines of the office with her this last week had been absolute hell. The unit was pumping her perfume throughout the whole office. He wouldn't be surprised to find out she'd sprayed it on the filter.
Before now, his office had smelled antiseptic clean, now it reeked like a brothel. It was driving him crazy. She was driving him crazy. From her perfect ass in those tight blue jeans she wore, to her sweet melodic voice, coming out of that sexy as hell mouth, it made him rock hard every time she spoke...or walked...or breathed.
Every time that scent hit him, his mind tumbled back to the night they made love. It made him think about kissing and licking that sensitive sweet skin behind her ear that brought about soft moans from her that made him crazy. Wes shivered as memories and lust slammed into him. He couldn't even get away from that scene when he laid down in his bed at night to pretend to sleep. His pillows smelled like her, echoes of those moans and the sweet sound of his name on her lips when she came floated in his head. Wes ached for the woman he had become addicted to, and his damned heart felt like it was shriveling up in his chest with each day that passed. One day closer to her leaving him for good.
Laura leaving had been like ripping off a band-aid, but Leigh Ann leaving him was more like slowly bleeding to death. He almost wished she hadn't come back.
That is why he'd been an asshole to her the last week.
It was his feeble attempt to distance himself from her, and it beat the alternative, throwing her over his desk to bury himself inside her luscious body. Doing that might distract him from his current problems, but it would also create a multitude of others. He would probably beg her to stay.
How in the hell had that happened?
Even though Wes swore it wouldn't happen, Leigh Ann Baker had wormed her way into his stone cold heart, and embedded herself there like a screw worm. She countered his asshole act with nice every single time. Her blue eyes welled with tears, but she just smiled and told him everything was fine. So, he found himself apologizing to her, or helping her, because the damned pain in his chest, the guilt, wouldn't go away until he did.
If she was fooling him, if her genuineness was an act, she was a helluva lot better actress than his ex-wife had been, and deserved an award of some kind for her performance. Maybe sainthood for putting up with him. One of them would be up for sainthood by the time she left here, he was sure of that.
Even considering the riot she had caused at that bar, Wes fought the feeling that he'd misjudged her. Because Leigh Ann was a beauty queen, used to being admired and adored by the public, he assumed she was just like his ex-wife. That she would be pandering to the media, b
ecause she had that opportunity. Instead, she was here helping him, and he hadn't seen one single reporter on his doorstep, even though he had heard about her on the news nightly, and in the newspaper in the morning.
He was having a harder and harder time though throwing her into the same category as Laura. A conniving, self-serving and narcissistic bitch, always looking to be the center of attention, just didn't fit the loyal, nice woman he was coming to know.
The front door knob jiggled, and Wes looked over to see Leigh Ann's blonde head bent as she tried to work the door open. It flew inward and she gasped, then lost her balance sending the things in her arms scattering across the floor. Like confetti, papers flew everywhere, and she scrambled to her knees trying to gather them up. Wes ran over and dropped down to the floor to help her. After picking up a few of the scraps of paper, something caught his eye and he stopped to examine it. What he had in his hand was a check! Every piece of paper cluttering the floor around them was a check.
"What the hell?" he gasped, clutching it in his hand. His eyes flew to hers and she looked a little guilty, but her cheeks were flushed with excitement too.
"I think we almost have enough to pay your bills. I'm going to pick up more tomorrow, that should get us closer," she told him.
"What? How?" Wes stuttered with a shake of his head. He blinked a couple of times, then flipped through the checks in his hands.
"I paid the farmers a little visit," she told him with a satisfied smile.
"But I've called--" he started, but she put a finger to his lips to shush him.
"It's all in the approach," she told him with a bright smile. "One thing I'm good at is dealing with people. A little honey-coated guilt trip, and checks started falling from the sky."
That's not all that could have fallen from the sky. Although most of the farmers and ranchers he dealt with were good upstanding people, there were a handful who were not. She could have gotten hurt out there if she'd pulled her little act on the wrong man.
