What She Wants Tonight

by Jillian Neal

  So, he was getting through then. He shrugged. “That depends entirely on whether or not my mother likes you, and she’ll never really say one way or the other so your guess is as good as mine.”

  Meridian smiled like the cat that had cornered the canary. “Since I don’t really care if your mama likes me or not, I’ll just take them anyway.” She seemed aware he was trying to scare her off. Dammit.

  “She’ll have my father send you a bill for them.” He raised the ante.

  “I assume since I am doing you a huge favor that things like robes and towels will be covered by you.”

  Girl was good, and she knew it.

  Jack wasn’t taking the bait. “She’s sending one of the Lears to pick us up Saturday morning.”

  She appeared unaffected everywhere except those all-telling whiskey eyes that widened for a split second. “You…don’t sound like you appreciate that.”

  “I think Lear jets are clichéd, pompous, and in this case, ridiculously unnecessary.”

  “Then I guess I’m glad I’m going as your date and not your mother’s.”

  “The wedding and all of the events leading up to it will be black tie. We’ll be there for a week. You’d need three or four designer gowns minimum. Gloves, hats, the works.”

  “I’m not wearing gloves, but I’ll send you a bill for the rest.”

  Jack’s jaw clenched so tightly his molars staged a protest. “You know, for once in your life, you could just back down for your own good.”

  She threw her head back in laughter. When she was finished, she flipped through the files on his desk. “We’ve been working together for years. Surely you know me better than that. I’ve got what I came for. I’ll be packed and ready Saturday morning. I just need to make sure I’m caught up on work for next week since I’m going on this impromptu vacation.”

  “Vacation?” Now it was his turn to laugh. “We’d have a better time if we visited Satan’s summer home.”

  “We’ll save that for our next trip.” She winked at him and whisked out of his office.

  Chapter Three

  Meridian rushed back to her office lest she break out in a victory dance in the middle of the paralegal corridor. Jack was almost always pressed, polished, and put together. Seeing him so ruffled delighted her.

  It was terribly unfortunate that he was so freaking good-looking. Her reproductive organs loved the idea that maybe someday she could be the one that thoroughly undid him.

  But that was not why she’d made her offer. Bill Marsden had been a thorn in Holder Ranch’s side since he’d purchased the small parcel of land that ran the southwest border of the ranch. He’d already made a claim and a fuss over water rights a couple of years ago that had gone nowhere. Last Christmas he’d bitched to Meridian’s Uncle Barrett that the snow runoff was killing his grass. One time a few of the Holder’s cows had pushed down one of the fences and ended up on his property. He’d taken that to the sheriff who’d laughed him out of the station. If you decide to buy land next to a cattle ranch, you’re going to end up with cows on your land at some point. Getting the Holders fined for something seemed to be Marsden’s life goal. This claim that the mustangs housed on the ranch weren’t being properly cared for was just another lie that Marsden was hoping to profit from somehow. Only this time, he’d gone for the jugular. He’d filed the suit against Holder Land and Cattle instead of grievances against the Holder family, hoping to access even more money, Meridian was certain.

  She refused to let the likes of Marsden come after her family or after the mustangs they housed out on Holder Ranch. She’d burn him at the stake and make certain that every other surrounding ranch knew no one messed with the Holders and walked away unscathed.

  Meridian was just a little girl when Holder Ranch had become one of a few dozen ranches in Oklahoma that had agreed to take on and house some of the overpopulation of mustangs in the area. The mustangs had been destroying crops and making life difficult for Midwesterners due to their wild nature and the vast overpopulation. The Bureau of Land Management had teamed up with state officials to gather them up and get them to ranches that had land to care for them. The mustangs were one of Meridian’s favorite parts of the ranch. She loved the horses and that she got to help feed and care for them. The program had run beautifully for decades. Her family traded land they would use for raising cattle to house the mustangs instead, and they were paid by the state to care for the horses.

  But now, the state government had decided that the cost was too high, and they wanted to destroy the horses instead. Meridian couldn’t stand the fact that this ridiculous lawsuit claiming that her family wasn’t taking proper care of the horses might bolster their arguments against keeping the mustang program going.

  And there was so much more to this case than Jack would ever understand. If the Holders brushed off one lawsuit, there would be others. There would be an endless line of people eager to take advantage, eager to prove that the state shouldn’t waste money on the wild horse and burro program. She had to make certain Marsden was charged with the legal fees and a hefty pain-in-her-ass tax to keep anyone else from getting any bright ideas about taking on her family or the horses. The Holders took excellent care of every animal that lived on their ranch. They prided themselves on it. They even checked the turtles that lived in their ponds to make sure they were okay.

  There was only one issue with the timing of this lawsuit. None of the Holders knew how they’d ended up with four pregnant mares in their last delivery of horses but they had. Now they had to figure out if it was the fault of one of their studs, or if the mares had been pregnant when they arrived on the ranch. The state always made certain that mustang mares and mustang studs were sent to separate ranches, so those were the only two choices—they were pregnant when they arrived, or the Holders were in trouble. They needed to figure that out before the Bureau of Land Management sent out a state inspector to check up on the Holders, to make certain they were caring for the horses. Because of this ridiculous case that Marsden had dreamed up, the state inspectors wanted to come sooner than later.

  Having four unreported pregnant mares could potentially strengthen Marsden’s false claim that they weren’t taking adequate care of the horses, even though they checked them daily. If the foals were the fault of a Holder stud, Holder Ranch could end up buried in extensive fees that might force them to have to sell off land to pay the fines. It seemed impossible that one of their studs could’ve gotten to the far pastures where they housed the mustangs, but it was still something she had to consider. She needed to state inspectors to stay away until they knew what they were dealing with and had secured the funds to pay the fines if that was going to be required.

  What did Jack know about horses anyway? He was a trust-fund baby born with a silver spoon firmly planted up his ass. Looks aside, he wasn’t going to stand in her way. As always, she ordered herself not to focus on the fact that he was a damn good lawyer and an awfully good guy. He was also brilliant and always fought for the underdog. Dammit. She needed to stop admiring him like this. They were coworkers. That was it.

  Even if she wouldn’t mind finding out a little bit more about Jack Denton. In her experience, most men ruined their good looks by speaking. That wasn’t the case with Jack, but that didn’t mean that after meeting his family and his former fiancée she couldn’t come up with something to end this ridiculous crush she’d had on him for years.

  According to him, she was going to have to acquire a few more outfits for their upcoming travels if she was going to play her part. She glanced at the planner on her desk and then at the stack of file folders all representing cases she was working on. She’d needed a vacation for years, but necessity did not create opportunity very often.

  Quickly assessing the calendar, she decided what she could delegate, what she could put off indefinitely, and what she’d have to work on in Kentucky. While she was figuring, she called her cousin Harper. She’d always been the sister Meridian didn’t have, si
nce she’d been stuck with three stupid brothers instead.

  “Hey, you never call me from work.” Harper sounded flattered, and Meridian felt bad for how little she got to hang out with her family. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good. I think. I might’ve done something a little bit stupid, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”

  Harper chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to need more info on this stupid thing you may or may not have done.”

  It wasn’t until she’d said the words out loud that Meridian began to really consider what she’d volunteered to do. Oh well, she was already in for way more than a penny. “I volunteered to go to Kentucky with Jack for some kind of family wedding, or an almost family wedding. I don’t know. Whatever you call the wedding where his former fiancée gets married to someone else.”

  Harper was silent for far too long.

  “Say something,” Meridian demanded.

  Instead of speaking, the phone filled with Harper’s hysterical laughter. Life had been tough on her cousin ever since her husband had passed five years earlier, so Meridian loved to make her laugh. However, this time she did not appreciate it. “Stop laughing.”

  Harper audibly choked back more laughter. “I’m mostly laughing at whichever part of your brain thought this was not stupid.”

  Meridian made a face at the phone. “Okay, you know what, I’ll just have to save our mustangs by myself without your help. I was going to see if you wanted to come to Tulsa with me tonight, because I need dresses that make Jack drool, but I’ll go alone.”

  “You are so not going alone. This is the most fun I’ve had in years. I’ll see if Chase can watch the boys. But what does this have to do with the mustangs?”

  Meridian quickly explained that if she couldn’t delay the Marsden case that the state would be required to send a representative out to the ranch before the foals were born. That tamed Harper’s humor. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry I said it was stupid. I mean, really, it’s so benevolent of you. You’re a real saint. Volunteering to go all the way to Kentucky to pretend to be the, what, the girlfriend of your boss? Who is also the guy you’ve been drooling over ever since he came to work with you. Mother Teresa would be proud.”

  Meridian refused to speak. Childish? Yes. Did she regret it? No.

  “You’re telling me to fuck off in your head, aren’t you?” Harper knew her too well.

  “Several times.”

  That got her another round of laughter. “Oh, and this has to be illegal.”

  “It is not illegal. We are just…colleagues doing each other a favor.”

  “I think what you mean is that you’re just going to be colleagues doing each other. The last two words were unnecessary,” Harper goaded.

  “Now I’m flipping you off in my head.”

  “Mm hmm, because you know I’m right.”

  “You are not right. This is me doing something for him, so that I get to make certain that Daddy and Uncle Barrett don’t get into trouble over those foals, and we aren’t swimming in fines from the state. And so I can make sure that Marsden doesn’t give anyone else any bright ideas about our land and our horses.”

  “All right, fine, what time shall I be ready? I’ll pick you up at the courthouse so we can have more time to shop.”

  “I think I can get out of here by four, but we’re going to have to work quickly. I can’t leave early any other night before our trip.”

  “How fancy are we talking for these dresses?” Harper inquired.

  “Old Kentucky money fancy. Gloves and, hell, I don’t know, maybe even corsets and bonnets.”

  “And you think we’re gonna find that in Tulsa?”

  “Do you have any other places in mind?”

  “No, but you are aware that in Blue Blood, Kentucky, an Oklahoma cowgirl is gonna stick out like a goat on a cattle ranch, right?”

  “Who cares? I don’t need these people to like me. I just need Jack to assign me that case and walk away.”

  “That might be what you think you need, but I’d bet my portion of this big ass ranch we live on that isn’t gonna be all you get.”

  Chapter Four

  Like everything regarding his family, having a potential date to this ridiculous wedding was a double-edged sword. He’d pay more than the obscene amounts of money his father had hidden away in dynasty trust funds just to witness his mother attempt to hold court with Meridian Holder. The Denton prized Regency clawfoot dining room suite wouldn’t survive the carnage Meridian would inevitably leave in her wake, and that wasn’t even a quarter of what his family deserved.

  To be able to watch her inevitable amusement at the half-wit debutante-wannabes that circled around him like he was injured prey every time he was home would be worth the entire Denton estate.

  And yet, there was no way he could really allow her to come with him. He couldn’t do that to her. Mixing his old life with the one he’d fought to find and keep just wasn’t something he could allow himself. It would never work. It would be like two planets trying to share a single moon. The inevitable nuclear collision would create something that would eat them all alive.

  And yet…

  He still hadn’t marched himself into her office to explain why she could not come with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t have the balls to tell Meridian Holder no, unlike most men. His balls were a part of the problem however.

  He’d worked so hard to become a reformed manwhore. But, dammit, his old ways still sang for him on occasion. Maybe…just maybe, he could show Meridian all of the best parts of Kentucky, the façade of the estate that so beautifully covered the malignant business practices that kept his family on Forbes lists and running in elite social circles. Perhaps if he played all of his cards right, managed to keep his temper in check when dealing with his parents, he could be the guy that got to see the way she looked in those photographs she’d failed to hide.

  For a solid week after seeing them, he’d convinced himself that she’d left them in a conspicuous location on purpose. Meridian was too calculated, too precise, to have made a mistake like that, but that was a pipe dream of delusion.

  Scraping the last few drops of resolve he’d managed to locate in his weary frame, he made it outside of his office door and headed toward hers. One foot in front of the other. He would not subject her to his family. If he ever wanted a chance with her, taking her to Louisville was sure as hell not the way to go about getting it. Besides, Meridian was too real, too genuine to be wooed by something as stupid as Derby horses, luxury whiskey, and posh parties.

  He brought his fist to her door, a duplicate of his facing the opposite direction, and hesitated. You are a weak motherfucker just like your old man. That thought did it. His fist connected.

  He knocked again when she didn’t answer after a full minute. Still nothing. His heart pounded out a ridiculously stupid staccato beat as he told himself that he was allowed to open her office door. He was her boss, after all.

  He leaned his head in, trying and failing to be nonchalant, but found the office empty. His determination and self-loathing had blinded him to the fact that the office was dark. She’d gone home early but had forgotten to lock up.

  Shock and bitter disappointment fought for dominance over relief that he didn’t have to tell her she couldn’t go with him. Meridian was every bit as much a workaholic as he was. They were almost always the last two left in the courthouse. He’d bitten entire holes in his tongue to keep from asking if she’d like to accompany him to Rusty’s, the local honky-tonk, after work several nights a week. On the rare occasions that they had a business dinner, it was always with clients or legal staff.

  He’d even invent excuses to work on cases with her. It was ridiculous. He’d never had to work for female attention before, but something about her made him willing to do whatever it took, no matter how incredibly stupid it was, to be close to her.

  He considered heading to Rusty’s to see if he could find her. Then he remembered that it was highly unlikely
that she would be there, but he sure as hell would find either one of her brothers or one of her many, many male cousins. He’d learned a few things about cattle ranchers in his time in Oklahoma reinventing himself. One thing he knew for certain was that cowboys had a very low tolerance for men they considered unworthy making plays for their sisters or cousins. And he would never be anything but unworthy of her.

  Saving him from his own thoughts instead of his mother this time, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Meridian’s name splashed across the screen, and he almost dropped the damn thing on the marble floor in an effort to answer.

  “I’m standing in your office. I…didn’t know you were leaving early.”

  “Shopping.” She sighed. “So, listen, Harper thinks I need more guidance on what I need clothing-wise for our trip to Kentucky.”

  Jack’s stomach sucker punched his sternum. “Uh…right. About that…”

  “Are you going to let me have the mustang case?”

  That would go against every promise he’d run on, every ethic he clung to in his job, and she knew it. “I can’t let you have it even if you do come with me. I won’t let you hang this up in court and ruin your reputation for something you know isn’t going to fly.”

  “You just let me worry about my reputation, okay? Friends do favors for friends all the time. This is just a favor and then you are giving me that case.”

  “This is substantially more than a favor. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy much less you.”

  She railroaded through his lack of substantial argument. Of course she did. “Now, you said black tie for the wedding itself, but what else am I dressing for? I like to be prepared for anything.”

  To her shock, Jack actually knew quite a bit about the dress code for this week-long wedding thing. She imagined if some woman had called one of her brothers with the questions she’d asked, they all would’ve made some jackass comment about not caring what the female in question wore as long as she was naked when they got home.