Always a Lady

by Sharon Sala

  “Sure thing, Todd. Just give me the paper. I’ll write down the directions. We were out there about a month ago. Quite a place. They had a barbecue for us when we were there, but the food is a bit strange.” Cole lingered over his warning for effect. “One of the main choices on the menu was calf fries. Ever had them? All they do is...”

  By the time Lily’s brother had handed the paper back, Todd had turned twelve shades of green. Cole Brownfield knew he’d done his duty. He hadn’t been able to punch Todd Collins in the face, but he’d just set him up for something better.

  Todd ran back to his car and slid in behind the wheel. He had it made. Lily had to be desperate. All he had to do was show up. She’d be begging him to take her back. And when he did, it would only be a matter of time before he had that partnership in his pocket.

  Yes, things were finally going his way.

  * * *

  “You’re getting married?”

  Debbie Randall squealed with glee as Lily grinned and pushed the much smaller basket of foodstuff through Debbie’s checkout lane. The extra crew was gone, only one or two of the other men lingered as Duff had them finishing particular jobs. Spring roundup was over, and Lily’s life was just beginning.

  “We called Dad and the boys, but nothing’s been set. However, I doubt if we wait long. Case isn’t into waiting...at least not about...”

  Lily blushed and Debbie grinned. “I’ll just bet,” she crowed as she quickly shoved Lily’s purchases through the scanner. “Oooh, goody!” Debbie cried. “If your family comes back, then that means all your family.”

  Lily rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to laugh. She’d been hearing that line all her life. If it wasn’t one, it was any of the three other Brownfields. Frankly Lily couldn’t see what was so interesting. Cole was bull-headed, Buddy was lost in a world of his own, and J.D. and Dusty didn’t have time for anyone but themselves.

  “Yes, that means the twins are coming back, too,” Lily laughed, assuming that they were the object of Debbie’s delight.

  Debbie cocked an eyebrow, hit total on the cash register, and said, “That’ll be $82.53, and what makes you think I’m talking about the twins?”

  Now it was Lily’s turn to be dumbfounded. “But I thought...I mean they left you that note...I just assumed...”

  Debbie shook her head and smiled secretively.

  “Never you mind,” she said. “I’m just glad they’re coming back.”

  Lily signed the charge slip, watched Debbie pull the next basket of groceries into her lane, and waved a happy good-bye.

  Case pulled up into the loading lane and jumped out, opened the trunk of the car, and kissed Lily soundly as the bag boy stuffed the sacks into the trunk.

  “Case,” Lily mumbled, straightening her clothing as Case reluctantly released her and ushered her toward the passenger side of the car. “Someone will see.”

  He grinned and waved to Debbie who was pointing and laughing at them from behind the wide expanse of storefront plate glass.

  “Someone already did.”

  Lily laughed helplessly, turned and waved, and hastened into the car. The sooner she got Case out of the public eye, the safer.

  “Debbie likes one of my brothers,” Lily remarked, as they drove through the busy traffic and headed for the ranch.

  Case cocked an eyebrow, leaned his head back against the headrest of the car as he drove, and thought for a moment. Then he smiled, turned and sent Lily a look that made her lean over and turn the air conditioner on high.

  “It’s Cole.”

  His announcement couldn’t have surprised her more if he’d claimed it to be her father.

  “No way,” Lily argued.

  “Yep, it’s Cole.” He wouldn’t be budged.

  “So, what makes you think that, O learned one?”

  “They ignored each other. Ignoring someone’s existence is a sure sign of attraction.”

  “Pooh!” Lily huffed. “You didn’t ignore me.”

  Case sighed as they turned into the driveway of the Bar L and headed for home.

  “That’s true, but it wasn’t my fault.”

  Lily’s mouth dropped. She turned at least three shades of red and then she huffed.

  “You’re saying it was mine? That I chased you? That I wouldn’t let you ignore me?”

  She folded her arms across her chest and glared out the window as they came to a stop. Case leaned over, opened the glove box and pushed a button inside. The trunk of the car automatically popped up. Case looked wickedly up at Lily’s fuming expression.

  “Hell, honey! What was I to do? You waited until there was a tornado overhead, hail raining down like bullets, and me helpless and wet. And that bed... well...it just wasn’t my fault. I didn’t have anywhere to run.”

  The expression on her face was priceless. Case laughed all the way to the house, but when they got inside, he was left alone to put up their foodstuffs while Lily stomped off to her room. Case grinned. He knew Lily. She wasn’t really mad. She just didn’t have a real argument to refute his teasing.

  He slammed the refrigerator door shut, put the last can of peaches into the cabinet, and neatly folded the paper sacks that had come from the market. He heard a sound behind him, and turned.

  The breath whooshed out of his lungs in the flash of a heartbeat. He dropped the paper sack on the floor, as he was mesmerized by the sight of Lily standing before him wearing the sheer pink nightgown he’d purchased for her days earlier.

  Her hair hung down upon her shoulders like sunny silk, her feet were bare, and if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, so was everything else beneath that passion in pink.

  “Here I am, cowboy,” Lily said softly. “And there’s three doors in this house and all the sunlight you could want. Either run or do your duty.”

  “Oh my God!” Case groaned, as his body reacted to the sight of all that pink...and Lily.

  “I’m waiting,” she teased gently.

  “Not for long,” he muttered, as he swept her into his arms and headed for her bedroom.

  “Case...darling...I had something else in mind,” Lily whispered in his ear. “I just love making love...on that black satin on your bed.”

  Case groaned again. Black satin indeed! He would be lucky to make it down the hall to her bedroom, let alone climb a flight of stairs first.

  “Later, love,” he muttered, as he laid her down upon her bed. “Later. Right now, I’ve waited far too long as it is.”

  Lily smiled. She watched Case shedding his clothes like water and knew by the condition he was in when he came down to her that he was speaking the truth.

  There were no lingering touches, no whispered words of endearment. Only Case sliding the pink silk up as he slid into Lily. She moaned once, and then all was silent as Case covered her mouth with his own. It was swift, and sudden...a flash of heat burst through her as Case thrust wildly, arched his back, and shuddered as he gave up to the madness.

  And then there was silence in the room as Case came slowly back to earth, sanity returning with a calmer heartbeat, and the gentle, assuring stroke of Lily’s hands upon his back.

  “What just happened?” Case groaned against her breasts, as he buried his face in their ivory cushion.

  “Case, darling,” Lily said softly against his ear.

  “What?” he muttered as his bones quietly turned to mush.

  “You’re real good at duties.”

  He grinned.

  “Thank you, Lily Catherine.”

  She smiled to herself as he nuzzled against her and closed his eyes with a sigh.

  “You’re very welcome,” she said.

  * * *

  Lily watched Case walking toward his pickup truck and knew that he was going to be away from the ranch for at least a couple of hours. She wrung her hands nervously and knew that if he suspected what she had in mind, he’d kill her. After all the preaching he’d done about loving her the way she was, he would think she didn’t believe a word he’d s
aid. But that wasn’t it. Lily knew now, if she knew nothing else in life, that Case Longren loved her.

  But Lily wanted to know. She needed to know. She watched him driving away and made a run for the den. She wanted some privacy when she made her call.

  She’d snuck the first of her trips to a local plastic surgeon during a trip to the market. The second of her visits had coincided with a trip to the beauty shop. She had only a phone call to make before she decided if there would be a third trip.

  She dialed, identified herself, asked to speak to Dr. Calloway, and then waited. When he came on the line, Lily held her breath, and then a smile began. First in her eyes, then on her face, and finally in her heart, until she feared she would burst from the joy.

  She was ready! Her face was healed enough that he strongly recommended some corrective surgery. And although he was professionally cautious, he predicted wonderful results.

  She hung up the phone with a promise to get back with him. First things first. Now she knew it could be done. She just had to convince Case how important it was for her to feel the best she could be, not because she feared he wouldn’t love her, but because he did in spite of it.

  * * *

  Todd Collins turned back onto the main highway and sighed in disgust. That was the fourth wrong turn he’d made trying to find this damnable Bar L ranch where Lily was supposed to be.

  If it was anything like the last two at which he’d stopped, she’d run over him trying to get to the car. He’d never seen so much dust and livestock in his life.

  The last stop he’d made, the dog had nearly torn his arm to shreds. And he thought he’d heard glass breaking when the dog had jumped at the headlight of his car. All he’d done was stick his arm from the window to try and get the owner’s attention. People shouldn’t be allowed to have such vicious animals. It was his fervent belief that things that barked and growled should be no more than twelve inches tall and could be held in one’s lap. Not large enough to eat one’s headlights. But, he muttered to himself as he started back down the highway, at least he now knew where the Bar L was located. He watched the road for the landmark the rancher had indicated and turned into the long, narrow, graveled road with something akin to relief. He was almost there. It would be none too soon when he got Lily back to L.A. with him where she belonged, and pulled his life back into the order he so desired.

  Lily heard the car coming down the drive. It didn’t sound like Case’s Ford. She smiled to herself as she started toward the window. She was becoming a real rancher’s woman, recognizing vehicles by sound and not sight.

  The sedan was covered in dust, a headlight was broken, and the sun glared down onto the windshield so that Lily couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman inside.

  She walked out onto the porch, stepped down on the first step and shaded her eyes with her hand as she propped her other on the curve of her hip.

  Todd was shocked at the pull of lust he felt as he saw Lily standing tall, and tanned, waiting for him. A vision in pink and white. She looked so...he couldn’t believe it...but she looked wonderful!

  Oh my sweet Lord! Lily muttered to herself. It’s Todd!

  And then a slow, burning anger began, and it spread throughout Lily’s body until she felt as if she’d just been flashfired and tossed aside. How dare he!

  “Lily! Darling!”

  Todd made what he assumed was a romantic dash toward Lily who stood obviously awaiting his ascent to the steps.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she snarled.

  Todd couldn’t have been more surprised. Lily didn’t talk like that. The Lily he’d known didn’t curse, or glare...or...God help him, double up her fists. What had happened to the sweet, pliable young thing he’d known?

  “Now, Lily,” he began. “I know you have reason to be angry, but I’ve reconsidered our relationship and...”

  “We don’t have a relationship,” Lily said quietly. “You decided that...remember?”

  Todd’s gut kicked into low gear. This wasn’t going exactly as he’d imagined.

  “I know, and I’m just devastated,” Todd said with what he hoped was heartfelt abjectness. “All I can say is...I must have been in shock. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I know why I’m here. I’m going to take you away from all this...all this...”

  He waved his arms, unable to put words to the thought of her working as a drudge for a bunch of ruffians.

  * * *

  Case’s pickup topped the hill above home, and he frowned at the sight of a strange car parked in the yard. The closer he got, the more certain he became that Lily was involved in some sort of confrontation. He pressed on the gas. He knew that Lane Turney was gone for good. He couldn’t imagine who...

  Sunlight bounced off of perfectly groomed, sun-bleached blond hair, tanned skin, and a mouthful of teeth that had to have been capped. Case could see them from here. He climbed out of the truck, shoved his hat down firmly upon his dark hair, and stalked toward Lily. Blue fire burned.

  Todd turned. He forgot to breathe, and then when he did, his question came out three octaves higher and in one long rush.

  “Who’s that?” he squealed.

  “That’s what you want to take me away from,” Lily drawled, and knew that justice did come to those who wait.

  Every plan, every dream, every hope Todd Collins had for a better tomorrow just hit the dust with his guts. He didn’t know whether to stand or run. Either way, his hope of taking Lily Brownfield away from “all this” just disappeared.

  At least six and a half feet of pure fury was stalking toward him with malice aforethought. He could see it in the blue shards piercing his soul.

  “If he hits me, I’m suing,” Todd shrieked, and pointed wildly toward Case, who was coming nearer and nearer.

  It was the last straw. Lily lost sight of reason. She wouldn’t have Case threatened in any way. She growled low in her throat, doubled up her fist, and came flying off the porch steps.

  “Then sue me, you jerk.”

  Todd didn’t see it coming, but Case did. He knew by the look on her face that Lily had lost it. And, he knew that he’d never get to her in time to stop it from happening.

  Todd’s nose scrunched beneath her knuckles, and he staggered, falling backward into the honeysuckle. He started to yelp when blood began oozing out from his left nostril, but then he gasped instead. “You bloodied my nose!” Todd couldn’t believe it had happened.

  “And I’m going to do it again,” Lily shrieked. She fell down upon him, fists flailing the vines and the blooms, as Todd’s moans of pain and his shrieks of panic were lost in her anger.

  Case grinned. This was the best medicine Lily could have ever received. This would heal the scars inside her heart as nothing else could. He stood back, hands on hips, arms akimbo, and watched with pride as Lily got in several more good blows. Finally, he decided it was time to save Todd Collins. After all, there had to be enough of him left to ship back to L.A. He didn’t want to have to bury the sonofabitch here on the Bar L. Knowingly contaminating land was against the law.

  “Lily! Darlin’! Let him up,” Case muttered, as he bent down and grabbed her shoulders, dodging a wild fist as he pulled her up and out of the honeysuckle. When Lily could no longer attack Todd with her fists, she went after him with words.

  Todd had never heard so many curse words, at one time, from one woman, in his life. And the look of fury in the cold blue eyes of the man who’d just saved him from a fate worse than death didn’t assure him one iota that he was safe yet.

  Case cast one wary eye toward Lily and the other at the sodden lump crawling out of his honeysuckle bush. The perfectly combed hair was no more. Instead it hung limply in his eyes. Leaves were stuck in the collar of his blue Polo shirt and in his hair, and grass stains graced both knees of his white Calvin Klein slacks. Dirt smudges were all over his elbows and face, mixing marvelously with the steady streams of blood that dripped from his lips and nose.

  “Are yo
u all right, darlin’?” he asked quietly, and turned another anxious look Lily’s way.

  “Is she all right? Is she all right? Have you lost your mind? Look at me! I’m the one who needs attention!”

  Todd crawled to his feet and then knew retreat would have been the better part of valor.

  “You want attention?” Case asked quietly...too quietly.

  Todd shook his head, but it was too late. Attention had already come.

  “You think you’re the one who’s been harmed here?”

  Todd shook his head again, and began backing toward his rental car. He knew he was never going to make it. It was too far to L.A. and the big man was too close for comfort.

  “I’ll show you harm, you slimy weasel,” Case muttered, as he picked Todd up by the collar and dragged him backwards toward his car, slammed him up against the door and bent down and whispered in his ear.

  Lily saw Todd take one panicked look up at Case’s face, and then he all but crawled through the open window of his car. He scrambled inside.

  A laugh began so deep inside her that Lily knew that every pain she’d ever had since her accident was going to come out with it. She remembered what Case had promised to do if he should ever meet her ex-fiancé. She absently wondered if Case’s boot would actually fit, as Todd’s little rear disappeared into the car. He drove off in a fit of panic.

  Case turned around. The sound behind him was like nothing he’d ever heard.

  Lily was laughing.

  Not smiles, not the gentle giggle he’d heard from time to time. It was a roll on the grass, head back, belly laugh that sent her to her knees. Tears streamed out of her eyes, running little clean tracks through the dirty smudges on her face as she wrapped her arms around her middle and doubled over with uncontrolled mirth. Several times she’d point down the road, mumble something through her hysterics, and then sink back on her heels, helpless to do anything else but give way to the release that her body needed.

  “Oh, Lordy,” she sighed, as she struggled to crawl to her feet. “Help me, you moose. I’m too weak to stand.”