“Tonight? I’d have to check my schedule. Maybe I could meet you there?”
“Sure. If you can let me know in the next hour, that would help. I bought six tickets. Two for me and Dawn, of course, and four for others in management. I’d like a strong presence from the resort, just to be sure people are aware that we’re on the scene.”
“Oh! Yes, of course I can go. Anything for the resort.”
“Perfect. I’ll drop off a ticket at your office.”
She felt so relieved she almost didn’t notice the way his eyes tracked down her body as he left. But she was half-dressed and damp. It was a normal guy reaction. It didn’t mean anything.
She’d completely convinced herself of that after another quarter mile on the treadmill when the door to the room burst open again. Even with her earbuds in, Charlie jumped and vaulted off the machine.
It wasn’t an attacker, though. Or not a dangerous one, at least. It was Dawn, eyes blazing and teeth bared. Her gaze speared every corner of the room before her grimace settled into a frown.
“What’s wrong?” Charlie panted.
Dawn shook her head and looked around the room again. “I thought...”
Charlie wiped her forehead. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. I just thought someone else was in here.”
“Who?”
“No one,” Dawn answered dismissively. “It’s nothing.”
Charlie raised a doubtful eyebrow.
“Are you going to be ready at nine? You’re supposed to give me another lesson on the surveillance equipment.”
“Yes,” she said flatly as Dawn turned her back on her and rushed out.
Charlie knew exactly who Dawn had been expecting to find in here. Her husband. She’d spied Charlie on one of the hallway cameras, and then she’d seen Keith going into the workout room a little while later, and she’d thought... What? That she’d catch them having sex on a weight bench?
The woman was delusional.
But Charlie suddenly felt more excited about tonight. A society party would be the perfect place to gather information, to urge people to repeat rumors over bubbling glasses of champagne. Parties made people talk. They wanted to be naughty. Charlie just had to give them the opportunity.
Afraid to take one more step on the treadmill, Charlie gathered her things and headed to her studio, now that she finally had a use for it.
The place felt empty when she let herself in. Dead. Dust motes danced on the sunbeams that snuck through the blinds. She was alone. She knew she was. But goose bumps trailed over her skin as if a cold finger had traced down her back.
A home was a place of safety. A refuge from the uncertainties and danger and heartbreak of the outside world. It was meant to give shelter in every way. But this place sheltered her from nothing. It didn’t even provide the most basic level of privacy. She circled the room slowly, looking for evidence that anyone else had entered, but she hadn’t left carefully enough. She couldn’t remember if that lamp had been moved or if she’d shifted it when she’d packed up so quickly. Her bed was only half-made, but that was normal. Everything looked normal. But she still took her clothes into the bathroom to change there.
The hot shower was a relief after that tense run, and truth be told, the showerhead here was about ten times better than the one at the Stud Farm, but even the oscillating showerhead couldn’t wash all her worries away. She was still a tight bundle of nerves half an hour later when she stepped out of her studio and started for the stairs, but when she looked down the hall, she spotted a familiar figure turning to head down another hallway.
What the hell? Had that been her brother? Why would he be here?
Charlie let the stairway door close and stared down the hallway where Brad had disappeared. Was it possible he’d come to apologize?
She felt immediately guilty for the way she’d left the night before. She’d lost her temper. She’d said some cruel things. She’d stolen a salad.
“Shit,” she muttered. If he wanted to apologize, she’d say sorry, too. She put her shoulders back and set off to find him.
The short hallway he’d headed down was empty, so Charlie followed it past the service elevators to a longer corridor beyond. This one was dotted with beautiful tables that would soon hold fresh flowers. She knew this hallway. The Taggerts’ offices were here. Maybe Brad had only asked to be pointed in the direction of management offices.
Curious, she walked down to the windows at the end, just to be sure there weren’t any other hallways ahead. But she found nothing but closed doors and no Brad.
“Huh.” She headed back to the start of the hallway, then walked toward the lobby. The place was like a ghost town, and there was no sign of her brother.
Maybe she’d imagined it. She’d review the tapes and see. She retraced her steps, but as she passed the management hallway and started past the service elevators, she heard voices. The first sign of life in ten minutes.
Charlie backed up and peeked around the corner, suspicious now. And rightly so. The men’s voices grew louder, and then her brother stepped out of Keith Taggert’s office. Keith followed him out, slapping a hand on his back.
“Well, I do appreciate the effort,” Keith said. “Dinner next week?”
“Sounds good,” Brad agreed.
They shook hands, and Charlie backed around the corner as Brad headed toward her. Unsure why she felt the urge to hide, she hurried past the elevators and straight for the stairwell. After she ducked in, she caught the edge of the door with her shoe and held it open one inch to watch what her brother did. When he stepped out of the short service elevator hallway, he didn’t head toward her apartment. He walked toward the parking garage entrance.
He hadn’t been looking for her. He hadn’t stopped to knock on her door.
Charlie raced down the stairs to the basement where her own office was, just in case, but Brad didn’t appear. He’d come to see Keith.
Why? Sure, they knew each other, but what were the chances of Brad showing up here the day after she’d spoken to him about the Taggerts?
She stood in the hallway for a long moment, face crumpled into such a confused frown that she finally had to shake it off in fear of getting a headache. But still...
“What the hell?” she muttered as she ducked into her office and closed the door. Overwhelmed by the ridiculous stupidity of this whole situation, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes.
When had her life become a Scooby Doo mystery? Everything had been so damn normal up until nine months before. She’d been doing everything right. Making the right choices. But somehow it had all fallen down around her. She’d lost her job, her reputation, her security. She’d even lost her life savings on hiring a criminal defense attorney. At least that had paid off. The charges had been dropped. She wouldn’t even have to testify in the trial. She’d been fooled so thoroughly that she didn’t have anything to contribute to the defense or the prosecution.
Charlie made her shoulders relax. She took deep breaths to force her pulse to slow. The only reason her brother could’ve been here was to help her. To speak to his old friend about how she was being treated. To ask if there was anything going on with Dawn that would make her behave badly to Charlie.
Brad had come here to help. He’d felt bad about their argument, and he’d decided to make it up to her. It was the only logical explanation.
Charlie felt bad about the argument, too. He’d deserved her anger. He’d said awful things. But part of her anger hadn’t been about Brad. She’d thrown it all it him, but part of it had been for herself.
Because she’d lied a little. She hadn’t known her boss was married. He’d kept that a secret, separating his work and personal life with purposeful precision. Not so hard to do when you supervised nearly a hundred people at a giant resort. But she had known when she’d started flirting with her boss that it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to like her. When it had gotten more serious, when she’d slept wit
h him...it had felt like a triumph in more than one way. So she had lied to Brad. Sleeping with her boss had probably contributed to her promotion, and she’d thought there was no harm in that, because all that had mattered was she’d known she could do the job.
She’d been so damn wrong. If she’d been qualified to do that job, she would’ve realized something was going on. And if sleeping with him had really been uncomplicated, his betrayal wouldn’t have destroyed her quite so thoroughly.
So despite what she’d said to Brad, she hadn’t done everything right. She’d screwed up, and she’d compromised herself, which had been a sign that she could be taken advantage of. And so she’d been taken advantage of.
She’d call Brad tomorrow and feel him out. See if he had anything to say about the Taggerts.
Today, all she really wanted to do was get through the day and then head back to her new apartment, to her new friends. To one new friend in particular.
But now she had a charity function to attend. Damn. She’d hoped to finally give up her play at being a tease tonight, but she supposed it would have to wait one more day. But tomorrow... Tomorrow she’d show Walker just what he’d been waiting for.
“It’ll be worth the wait,” she said, trying to psych herself into feeling better. It wasn’t exactly a glitter cannon at a pop concert—yet—but she did feel a little better. That was good enough for now.
CHAPTER TEN
WALKER’S HEART BEAT hard as he looked over the beautiful women surrounding him. He took in their bare arms and soft smiles. The shiny hair spreading over tanned shoulders. He’d missed this kind of contact. The knowledge that he had a role to play. That they needed him. He enjoyed that. He always had.
The gelding tossed its head, letting Walker know he was holding the reins too tensely. He relaxed and tipped his hat at the nearest lady. “Anyone want a ride?”
Yes. They did. He helped a thin redhead onto the very gentle gelding and mounted his own horse to lead her out of the barn and around the inner fencing of the ranch.
“You look very comfortable, miss. Are you a rider?”
“Oh, no.” She giggled. He’d guess she was over forty, but her skin was flawless and she didn’t have the tight-lipped restraint of a lot of rich women. Each of the riders had paid a hundred dollars to charity for the privilege to ride a tame horse around the yard for five minutes. None of them were riders, but everyone loved the romance of being on horseback.
“Do you work here?” she asked.
“Not regular, miss,” he said, playing up the cowboy talk to give her her money’s worth as he rode alongside her. “I fill in on occasion when they need another hand.”
This place was the first dude ranch he’d ever worked at. He’d dropped in to let the manager know he was working up on the cattle ranch now, but that he’d really like to move down to the lodge. He’d volunteered that he was up for anything, and this charity event was about as anything as it got. Leading society ladies around on a pony. Hauling tables and stages behind the scenes. Posing for pictures when someone wanted to post a photo of a Genuine Cowboy to a Facebook feed.
Most of the hands hated this kind of work. He loved it. It was a party. He got to hang around with pretty ladies and listen to music and pilfer the occasional fancy finger food. And then he got paid. How could anyone hate that? Plus, if tonight’s gig got his foot back in the door, he couldn’t regret it.
“I’m from New Jersey, but we’re thinking about buying a horse property here,” she said.
“It’s a beautiful place. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love it here. Unless you’re looking for wild nightlife, I guess. We throw a good party, but it’s pretty quiet around Jackson after midnight.”
“Oh, no!” She laughed. “I’m not a party girl. And I’ve always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. So thank you.”
He tipped his hat. “All in a day’s work.”
“So...when people buy a horse, do they hire a cowboy like you to take care of it?” She blushed as she asked it.
Walker winked at her. “That calls for more of a stable hand, miss.” Not that it was the first offer of its kind he’d gotten. “Or a trainer.”
“Oh. Of course. That makes sense.”
“Look at that.” As they rounded the lodge, he pointed toward the Tetons. “You’ve caught the very last of the sunset.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful!” She gasped, her embarrassment forgotten. “Oh, my God.”
“It never stops being beautiful. If you buy out here, you won’t regret it. And we have more riding instructors than we know what to do with. You’ll be a pro in no time.”
“You really think so?”
“Absolutely. Look at you!”
She looked out over the fading panorama, totally relaxing into the horse. Walker did the same. They’d reached the quietest part of the inner yard, past the teaching corral where a gate headed into trails that snaked through the hills.
God, he hoped like hell he could get hired on again here in the spring. But for now, he’d enjoy this one night of going round and round, making people feel special.
“Thank you,” the woman said a few minutes later, offering him a sincere hug before she made way for the next rider.
“Have a good evening, miss,” he said in farewell, then tipped his hat to the next woman. Two hours later, his pockets were overflowing with tips, and Walker was damn near overjoyed he’d been offered this gig. Shit. Even if it didn’t lead to a permanent job, it’d been damn fun and damn profitable.
Now that the charity auction and dinner were done, it was time for the dancing. Walker led the last horse away just as the band swung into a Rascal Flatts song. On his way back, the event manager of the ranch grabbed his arm.
“You’re done with the horses?” she asked, looking over the clipboard in her hand. She’d worked here for twenty years, he’d never once seen her smile and the woman was probably capable of running the whole state single-handedly. “Can you dance?”
“Pardon?” he asked.
“Dance.” She gestured toward the barn. “Two-step.”
“Of course I can two-step.” What the hell kind of cowboy couldn’t two-step?
“Okay. Get in there and mix it up a little. These fancy men don’t know what to do with themselves on the dance floor and their wives want to dance.”
“Sure,” he said, not sure at all. “So I’m still on the clock?”
“Yes!” she snapped as if his stupid question was holding up the festivities.
“And all I need to do is dance with ladies?”
“Jesus, Walker, just get in there already.”
Sounded fair to him. Walker headed for the tack room first, to wash his hands and scrub a damp towel over his face and neck to catch any stray dust or straw. He took off his shirt and shook it out for the same reason, then sniffed to be sure he still smelled decent. But leading horses around in a circle was hardly strenuous activity. He still smelled fine, thank God, so he shrugged his shirt back on, made sure he looked presentable and headed off to dance for money.
“I’ll be damned,” he murmured. He’d never thought this would be on his résumé. At least he wasn’t dancing for tips, though. He assumed.
The barn was darker inside now, and more sparkly, but it didn’t take him long to spot an older woman in a lacy dress tapping her foot next to the dance floor. “Ma’am,” he said as he approached. “Care for a turn around the floor?”
Three dance partners later, he spotted a miracle. It was Charlie, of all things, standing only a few feet away in a stunning low-cut silver top, laughing at something with the man beside her. Walker nearly stumbled during the waltz, but caught himself just in time to make a joke to his partner about tripping over his own boots. She patted his butt in response. Fair enough.
When the song ended, he wound his way back to the spot where he’d seen Charlie. She was gone, but he caught the flash of her silver top moving through the crowd and followed as she made her way toward the bar.
She swung toward him, the shirt clinging now, reminding him of the shape of her body beneath her clothes. “Walker?” Her face lit up and she jumped forward to give him a hug. “What are you doing here?”
“Working. What are you doing here?”
“The same. Networking for the resort.” The flowing sleeve of her shirt started to slide down her shoulder.
“Here.” Walker slipped it back up, watching his rough fingers against her smooth skin, entranced for a moment. “It’s good to see you.” He smoothed his thumb over her collarbone, fascinated by the contrast. She was so soft. So damn soft. It was as if they weren’t even the same species.
Her hand came up to cover his and hold his fingers there.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“Right now?”
“It’s just a two-step.”
She shook her head. “I’m working.”
He didn’t want to take no for an answer. “Me, too. Come on.” He tugged her toward the dance floor as she laughed.
“Maybe one dance.”
“Just follow me,” he said, but before moving any farther, he stopped, pulled her against him and kissed her. It didn’t occur to him that he had no right to. Not until she stiffened against him and he thought she might pull away. These were her people...coworkers and potential clients and people in higher social circles than he’d ever be. She couldn’t be seen kissing the help. But before he had time to regret it, Charlie relaxed, and her hand curled around his wrist, and she kissed him back.
The relief that swelled inside him felt surprisingly close to his heart. He’d never be her man, but at least he could have this for a while. That was enough.
* * *
WALKER’S MOUTH BRUSHED hers again, and Charlie sighed against him. She wanted to melt into him. She wanted to slide his hand down to her breast and open her mouth for his tongue and make him wild. She couldn’t even believe he was here, and now she was weak-kneed and wet for him, before even a minute had passed.
So Tough to Tame Page 10
