Tempting the Rancher

by Brenda Jackson

  “But you will admit that you love her?” Garth asked.

  Walker closed his eyes as if in pain. “Yes, I love her. I love her so damn much. God knows I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t. These past three weeks have been the best I’ve ever had. I thought I could live my life as a bitter and lonely man, but she’s made me want more, Garth. She’s made my house a real home. And she likes Hemlock Row.”

  “Then, what’s the problem?”

  He met Garth’s inquisitive stare. “The problem is that I can’t compete with her family. She needs them more than she could ever need me.”

  “Are you sure of that?”

  “Yes. She’s been homesick. I honestly didn’t expect her to stay in Alaska this long. Already she’s broken one of her rules.”

  “Maybe she had a reason to do so, Walker. Maybe you’re that reason.”

  “I doubt it.”

  Garth was about to say something else when there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”

  Sloan entered. “Charm just left with Bailey.”

  Walker raised a brow. “Left? Where did they go? Don’t tell me Charm talked Bailey into hitting some shopping mall tonight.”

  Sloan shook his head. “No. It seems Bailey got a call from some family member and had to leave. I don’t know all the details but Charm is taking her to the airport. Bailey is booking a flight back to Denver. Tonight.”

  Chapter 16

  “Ma’am, please buckle your seat belt. The plane will be taking off in a minute.”

  Bailey nodded and did what the flight attendant instructed. She’d arrived at the Fairbanks airport with no luggage, just the clothes on her back. Charm had promised to go to the hotel and pack up her things and ship them to her. She would do the same for the clothes Bailey had left behind at Hemlock Row.

  Luckily Bailey could change her ticket for a fee. And she didn’t care that she had two connecting flights before she reached Denver, one in Seattle and the other in Salt Lake City. All she cared about was that in twelve hours she would be back in Westmoreland Country. She hadn’t even called her family to let them know her change in plans. She would get a rental car at the airport and go straight to Gemma’s house. She needed to be alone for a while before dealing with her family and their questions.

  She drew in a deep breath, not wanting to think about Walker. But all she could remember were the words he’d told Garth. So he would be glad when she was gone, would he? Well, he was getting his wish. She had been a fool to think he was worthy of her love. All he’d thought was that she was a hot body to sleep with.

  But then, hadn’t he told her up front all he wanted from her was a meaningless affair? Well, tonight he’d proved that what they’d shared had been as meaningless as it could get. Knowing it would take at least two hours before the plane landed in Seattle, she closed her eyes to soothe her tattered mind. At that moment she hoped she never saw Walker again.

  * * *

  “Damn her,” Walker growled, taking his clothes out of the drawers and slinging them into the luggage that was opened on his bed. He intended to fly back to Kodiak Island tonight. There was no need to hang around. Bailey was why he’d left Hemlock Row to come here in the first place. And then what did she do? She hauled ass the first time she got a call from home.

  However, now he knew that even that was a lie. Thinking she’d had a real family emergency, he’d placed a call to Dillon, who didn’t know what he was talking about. As far as Dillon knew, nobody had called Bailey.

  So now, on top of everything else, she had lied to him. She couldn’t wait until Monday to leave? She had to leave tonight? Hell, she hadn’t even taken the time to pack her clothes. What the hell was he supposed to do with them?

  But what hurt more than anything was that she hadn’t even had the decency to tell him goodbye. He felt like throwing something. Why did falling in love always end in heartache for him?

  He continued to throw everything in his luggage when he heard a knock on the door. He hoped it wasn’t Garth, trying to talk him out of leaving. There was no way he could stay. He wanted to go home to Hemlock Row, where loneliness was expected. Where he could drown his sorrows in a good stiff drink.

  When the knocking continued, he moved to the door and snatched it open. Both Garth and Charm stood there. “I’m leaving tonight, Garth, and there’s nothing you can say to stop me.”

  Garth and Charm walked past him to enter the hotel room. “I agree you should leave tonight, but not for Hemlock Row.”

  Walker looked at Garth. What he’d said didn’t make any sense. “Then, where the hell am I supposed to go?”

  “To head off Bailey. Stop her from making it to Denver.”

  That statement came from Charm. He glared at her. “And why on earth would I do that?”

  Charm placed her hand on her hip and glared back at him. “Because you and Garth are the reason she left. I don’t know what the two of you said about her while huddled in that room together tonight, but whatever you said, she overheard it and it had her in tears. I thought Dad was in there with you and figured he’d said something rude and gave him hell about it. But he said what Bailey overheard must have been a conversation between the two of you,” she said, shifting her furious gaze between him and Garth.

  Walker frowned. “For your information, I didn’t say a damn thing that would have...”

  He stopped speaking, swallowed hard and then glanced over at Garth. “Surely you don’t think she heard—”

  “All that crap you said?” Garth interrupted to ask, shaking his head. “I hope not. But what if she did?”

  Walker rubbed a hand down his face. Yes, what if she did? “Damn it, I didn’t mean it. In fact, later on in the conversation I admitted to falling in love with her.”

  “You love her?” Charm asked, smiling.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I doubt she heard that part. In fact, I’m one hundred percent certain she didn’t. She was crying as if her heart was broken.”

  Walker checked his watch. “I’ve got to go after her.”

  “Yes, you do,” Garth agreed. He then looked at Charm. “Do you have her flight information? I’m sure she has a connecting flight somewhere.”

  “She has two,” Charm answered. “The first is in Seattle and then another in Salt Lake City.”

  Garth checked his watch. “I’ll contact Regan and have her get the jet ready. If we act fast, you can get to Seattle the same time Bailey does. Maybe a few minutes before. And in case you’ve forgotten, Ollie is director of Seattle’s Transportation Security Administration. Knowing the top dog of the TSA might prove to be helpful.”

  Walker nodded. He, Garth and Oliver Linton had served in the marines together and the three had remained good friends. “You’re right.” Walker was already moving, grabbing his coat and hat. Like Bailey, he was about to fly with just the clothes on his back.

  * * *

  Bailey took a sip of her coffee. She hated layovers, especially lengthy ones. She had another hour before she could board her connecting flight to Salt Lake City. And then she would have to wait two more hours before finally boarding the plane that would take her home to Denver.

  Home.

  Why didn’t she have that excited flutter in her stomach that she usually had whenever she went on a trip and was on her way back to Denver? Why did she feel only hurt and pain? “That’s easy enough to answer,” she muttered to herself. “The man you love doesn’t love you back. Get over it.”

  She drew in a deep breath, wondering if she ever would get over it. If it had been Monday and she’d been leaving because her time in Kodiak was over, it probably would have been different. But hearing the words Walker had spoken to Garth had cut deep. Not just into her heart but also into her soul. Evidently, her time at Hemlock Row had meant more to her than it had to him. All she’d been to him was a piece of ass during the
cold nights. He’d practically said as much to Garth.

  After finishing off her coffee, she tightened her coat around herself. For some reason she was still feeling the harsh Alaskan temperatures. She hated admitting it, but she missed Hemlock Row already, although she refused to miss Walker. She wished she could think of his ranch without thinking of him. She would miss Willie, Marcus and the guys, as well as Ms. Albright. She would miss standing at Walker’s bedroom window every morning to stare out at Shelikof Strait. And she would definitely miss cooking in his kitchen. When she finally got around to designing her own home on Bailey’s Bay, she might steal a few of his kitchen ideas. It would serve him right if she did.

  “Excuse me, miss.”

  She glanced up into the face of an older gentleman wearing a TSA uniform. “Yes?”

  “Are you Bailey Westmoreland?”

  “Yes, I’m Bailey Westmoreland.” She hoped nothing was wrong with her connecting flight. She didn’t want the man to tell her it was canceled or delayed. She was ready to put as much distance between herself and Alaska as she could.

  He nodded. “Ms. Westmoreland, could you please come with me?”

  She stood. “Yes, but why? Is something wrong? What’s going on?” She didn’t have any luggage so there was no way they could have found anything in it. And her ticket was legit. She had made the proper changes in Fairbanks. As far as she was concerned she was all set.

  “I’m unable to answer that. I was advised by my director to bring you to his office.”

  “Your director?” She swallowed. This sounded serious. She hoped she and some terrorist didn’t have the same name or something. Oh, crap. “Look, sir,” she said, following the man. “There must be some mistake.”

  She was about to say she’d never had done a bad thing in her life and then snapped her mouth shut. What about all those horrific things she, Bane and the twins had done while growing up? But that had been years ago. The sheriff of Denver, who was a good friend of Dillon’s, had assured him that since the four of them had been juveniles their records would be wiped clean, as long as they didn’t get into any trouble as adults. She couldn’t speak for the twins, and Lord knew she couldn’t vouch for Bane, but she could certainly speak for herself.

  So she did. “Like I said, there must be a mistake. I am a law-abiding citizen. I work for a well-known magazine. I do own a gun. Several. But I don’t have any of them with me.”

  The man stopped walking and looked over at her with a keen eye. She swallowed, wishing she hadn’t said that. “I hunt,” she quickly added, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. “I have all the proper permits and licenses.”

  He merely nodded. He then opened a door. “You can wait in here. It won’t be long.”

  She frowned, about to tell him she didn’t want to wait in there, that she was an American with rights. But she was too tired to argue. Too hurt and broken. She would wait for the director and see why she was being detained. If she needed an attorney there were a number of them in the Westmoreland family.

  “Fine. I’ll wait,” she said, entering the room and glancing around. It was definitely warmer in here than it had been at the terminal gate. It was obvious this was some kind of meeting room, she thought, shrugging out of her coat and tossing it across the back of a chair. There were no windows, just a desk, several chairs and a garbage can. A map of Washington State was on one wall and a map of the United States on the other. There was a coffeepot on the table in the corner, and although she’d had enough coffee tonight to last her a lifetime, she crossed to the pot, hoping it was fresh.

  That was when she heard the door behind her open. Good, the director had arrived and they could get down to business. The last thing she needed was to miss her connecting flight. She turned to ask the man or woman why she was here and her mouth dropped open.

  The man who walked into the room was not the TSA director. It was the last person she figured she would see tonight or ever again.

  “Walker!”

  Chapter 17

  Walker entered the room and closed the door behind him. And then he locked it. Across the room stood the woman he loved more than life itself. She’d overheard things straight from his lips that had all been lies, and now he had to convince her he hadn’t meant any of what he’d said.

  “Hello, Bailey.”

  She backed up, shock written all over her face. “Walker, what are you doing here? How did you get here? Why are you here?”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. He heard the anger in her voice. He also heard the hurt and regretted more than ever what he’d said. “I thought we had a conversation once about you asking a lot of questions. But since I owe you answers to each and every one of them, here goes. I came here to talk to you. I got here with Garth’s company jet. And I’m here because I owe you an apology.”

  She stiffened her spine. “You should not have bothered. I don’t think there’s anything you can do or say to make me accept your apology.”

  He recalled when he’d said something similar to her the day she’d shown up at Hemlock Row. “But I did bother, because I know you heard what I said to Garth.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, I heard you. Pretty loud and clear. And I understood just what I was to you while I was at Hemlock Row and how you couldn’t wait for me to leave.”

  “I didn’t mean what I said.”

  “Sure you did. If nothing else, I’ve discovered you’re a man who says exactly what he means.”

  He leaned against the wall, tilted his hat back and inhaled deeply, wishing her scent didn’t get to him. And he wished she didn’t look so desirable. She was still wearing the outfit she’d worn at the Outlaws’—black slacks and a bronze-colored pullover knit sweater with matching jewelry. She looked good then and she looked good now, four hours and over two thousand miles later.

  But he liked Bailey best when she wasn’t wearing anything at all. When she lay in his bed naked, with her breasts full and perky, the nipples wet from his tongue, and her feminine mound, hot, moist and ready for—

  He sucked in a sharp breath and abruptly put an end to those thoughts. “Can we sit and talk?”

  She frowned. “I honestly don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

  “Please. Both times when you apologized to me, I accepted your apologies.”

  “Good for you, but I have no intention of accepting yours.”

  She was being difficult, he knew that. He also knew there was only one way to handle Bailey. And that was by not letting her think she had the upper hand. “We are going to talk whether you want to listen to what I say or not. I locked that door,” he said, removing his hat to place on a rack and then crossing the room to sit in one of the chairs. “And I don’t intend for it to be opened until I say so. I forgot to mention that the director of the TSA here is an old marine friend of mine.”

  She glared at him. “You can’t hold me here like some kind of hostage. I will sue you both.”

  “Go ahead and do that, if you desire. In the meantime you and I are staying in here until you agree to listen to what I have to say.”

  “I won’t listen.”

  “I have the time to wait for you to change your mind,” he said, leaning back in the chair so the front legs lifted off the floor. He closed his eyes. He heard her cross the room to the door and try it. It was locked. He didn’t reopen his eyes when he heard her banging on it, nor when he heard her kick it a few times.

  He knew the exact moment when a frustrated and angry Bailey crossed the room to stand in front of him. “Wake up, you bastard. Wake up and let me out of here.”

  He ignored her, but it wasn’t easy. Especially when she began using profanity the likes of which he’d never heard before. He’d heard from one of her cousins that she used to curse like a sailor—worse than a sailor—as a teen, and Walker had even heard her utter a few ch
oice words that day in his bedroom when he’d pissed her off. But now, tonight, she was definitely on a roll.

  He would let her have her say—no matter how vulgar it was—and then he would have his. He would tell her everything. Including the fact that he loved her. He didn’t expect her to love him back. It was too late for that, although he doubted it would have happened anyway. Bailey loved Westmoreland Country. She was married to it.

  It seemed her filthy mouth wouldn’t run out of steam anytime soon, so he decided to put an end to it. He’d gotten the picture, heard loud and clear what she thought of him. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at her. “If you recall, Bailey, I once told you that you had too delicious a mouth to fill it with nasty words. Do I need to test it to make sure it’s still as delicious as the last time I tasted it?”

  She threw her hair over her shoulder, fiery mad. “I’d like to see you try.”

  “Okay.” He grabbed her around the waist and tumbled her into his lap. And then he kissed her.

  She tried pushing him away, but just for a minute. Then, as if she had no control of her own tongue, it began tangling with his, sucking as hard as he was. And then suddenly, as if she realized what she was doing, she snatched her mouth away, but she didn’t try getting off his lap.

  “I hate you, Walker.”

  He nodded. “And I love you, Bailey.”

  She’d opened her mouth, probably to spew more filthy words, but what he’d said had her mouth snapping closed. She stared at him, not saying anything, and then she frowned. “I heard what you told Garth.”

  “Yes, but if you had hung around, you would have heard him say that I was talking bull because he knew how I felt about you. He’s been my friend long enough to know. And then I admitted to having fallen in love with you.”

  She stared at him, studying his face. How long would it be before she said something? Finally she did. “You can’t love me.”