Hot in the Saddle (Heroes in the Saddle Book 1) (5 page)

“Wow. Treven.”

Kissing her temple, her forehead, he just groaned.

“How soon can we do that again?” She nipped at the skin of
his pecs.

A low rumble came from his chest, a laugh filled with so
much sensuality, her core tightened at the sound. “Darlin’, you rest a bit
right there, then we’ll see about an encore. Or two.”

“Mmmm. Two, please.” She felt herself drifting, but wanted
to stay awake to enjoy every minute of this.

“Wait, say that in a duck voice.” His chest shook as he
laughed.

“Oh, no. I don’t know you well enough yet to use that voice
during sex.” They both laughed then snuggled quietly, and soon his breath came
deep and rhythmic. Smiling, Delta let herself follow him, deep and quiet.

Chapter Five

Treven woke as Delta jumped out of bed and ran to her room.
Was that her phone making a noise like squealing tires? He grinned and sat up,
sliding his legs over the edge of the bed. Knowing Delta, that’d be her
ringtone.

The sun just peeked over the trees. Last night had been
amazing. They’d made love and played and talked until they both crashed somewhere
around four in the morning.

He used the bathroom then pulled on his stretch pants and
wandered down the hall toward her bedroom.

“You’re serious?” Her voice was quiet.

He stopped just past her door, not sure if he should walk in
to lend her support.

She was silent for a few minutes, then repeated it. Another
bout of silence, and she groaned. “Have you told my uncle yet?”

Another pause.

“This is bullshit.” The sound of her bare feet pacing the
floor reached him.

He hated to eavesdrop, but he was worried about her. It was
an emotion he hadn’t experienced in a long, long time.

“Yeah, thanks. I will. G’bye.” More pacing. “Steven, I just
heard from Kellan. Someone sabotaged my cars. Both of them.”

Treven froze, his heart stopping for a few beats. Sabotaged?

“Yes, that’s right. Trying to kill me.” She let out a fast
breath. “Oh God. I’m so confused.” Her voice held the threat of tears. “Who
would want me gone?”

“Okay.” She went silent for a time, still pacing. “No one
knows I’m here but Kellan.”

Treven would invite her to stay as long as she needed to
hide out with him. Should he hire a security company to—

“Yes, I know, Steve. But buying the land is the least of my
worries right now.”

Buying the land? What did that mean? Treven moved a step
closer to the door.

“Yes, I realize it’s why I’m here, but jeez, did you even
hear me? Someone is trying to kill me? How do you expect me to concentrate on
land deals when my life is in danger?” Her voice went shrill, then the bathroom
door closed, and her loud, echoing words were no longer clear.

But what came through loud and clear was the fact that she
was here to buy land.

She was not here for him. The realization thrust a hot poker
directly through his heart.

Walking back to his room, he told himself there had to be a
good explanation. He closed his door behind him and pressed the remote to shut
the shades then lay on his bed. Alone.

Why wouldn’t she tell him she was here to buy land? And what
did she need the land for?

A few minutes later, his door opened, lasering light across
the bed. Treven closed his eyes, not ready to confront her on this. He didn’t
have all the facts.

She silently closed the door and a few minutes later, he
heard the distinctive squeak of the barn door opening. She’d gone out to do
chores.

Now was the time for him to hear the facts. He sat up and
dialed the operator, asking her to connect him with Pennington Racing, Inc.
When they answered, Treven had to clear his throat a couple times. “Steven
Pennington, please.” The words came out choked. This was not going to be easy.

A half-hour later, Treven stood in the dark kitchen, leaning
back against the countertop.

Delta came in and flipped on the light. “Oh.” She jumped a
little when she spotted him. A smile broke across her face. So beautiful, so
sexy, so deceitful.

“I have something for you to look at.” He ground out the
words as he pointed to the island where an eleven-by-seventeen color diagram
sat. He’d printed out the picture Steven had sent him, detailing Pennington
Racing’s plans for the area. Three more racing ovals spread around a forty-acre
area. Hotels, resort cabins, golf courses, water parks, an amusement park, a
man-made lake.

The smile left her face at his tone, and her brows dropped.

Yeah, he had to sound like a real ass, and he felt the tightness
in his face, but he couldn’t help that. He was pissed.

She stepped to the island and looked at the paper, loudly
sucking in a breath. “Treven.” Turning, she stared at him. “I should have told
you.”

His hands fisted. “Yes, you should have.” Her uncle had been
exceedingly glad to hear from him—once Treven had gotten past the receptionist
by stating he was a landowner in Wild Oak, Texas. And Steven Pennington had
voiced his pride in his niece, who’d finally convinced someone to sell their
land. “Steven says ‘Hi.’ And he thanked me for saving your life.” Which, her
uncle had done only as an afterthought.

Grasping the edge of the countertop with both hands, Delta
opened her mouth to speak, then shut it with a snap.

“No excuses?” He crossed his arms, not thinking about how
much it would hurt his hands. He’d skipped his morning pain meds so he could be
clearheaded for this conversation. This confrontation.

Stepping toward him, she held out her hands, palms up. “I
didn’t do this…” She glanced around the kitchen. “Didn’t come to the Rusty
Horseshoe to convince you to sell your land. I came because I wanted to help
you.”

He raised a brow. “But how convenient for you, that you made
yourself look like a saint in front of my neighbors and friends, whose land you
also want to buy.” He gestured to the printout. “That’s a lot of acreage, and
with mine smack in the middle, somehow you had to be sure I’d sell. And girl,
you found the perfect way to do it.”

Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. “No.”

Treven didn’t care for the taste in his mouth, the
bitterness of what he hated to think—and worse—say out loud. “Had to go all the
way and sleep with me to lock it in, right?”

“No.” Moving closer, she set her hand on her chest, over her
heart. “Treven, I realize it may look that way. We barely know each other, and
we’ve…” She pressed her lips together for a few seconds. “But despite what my
uncle said, I was not here to buy land.” Delta flung one hand wildly. “I don’t
even agree that we should move ahead with this project. It’s the family’s big
plan.”

He waited, but she didn’t say more. Treven took a painful
breath. “I think you should go.” The words stung like bees on the way out.

Her shoulders rounded and she walked past him. “I guess I’d
better. There’s no way for me to convince you that I’m not that woman. That
spoiled rich girl who does what it takes to get what she wants.”

Before he could process that, her bedroom door closed.

“Shit.” He’d expected a fight, a confession, an apology,
then, maybe, in his wildest fantasy, she would stay and they would work it out.
This, though, was totally out of his capacity to deal with. She’d just given
up, walked away. That proved her guilt, right? So why did he feel like the
guilty one right now? Just like he had when his wife had left him. Why was he
cursed to fall for women who deserted him?

Her door opened and she brushed past, carrying her purse and
her duffle bag. “I called Clint and told him I had to leave. He’s going to
arrange people to help you.” Yanking open the back door, she stopped and looked
his way. “Don’t sell, Treven. Your home is beautiful and if
you
don’t
sell, they won’t be able to get anyone else in town to sell. Fight it.” Her
voice broke. “You belong here.”

Treven sucked in a breath as his chest seemed to contract.

She left, quietly closing the door behind her.

Was he crazy for wanting to run after her? Wanting to ask
her to come back and talk to him, help him understand why she’d done it? Or had
she? Her behavior was unlike any woman he’d met and subsequently broken up
with. This was unlike his ex-wife’s desertion, because he’d asked Delta to go.

Her yellow car passed the window on the way down the
driveway.

Panic gripped him. Nothing made sense. There were so many
questions he wanted to ask her. He didn’t have her phone number, though. Treven
looked at his hands. He couldn’t even drive to chase after her. Why had he let
her go? And he’d forgotten—someone was out there, wanting to kill her.

He was an ass. A moron. A man not worthy of a woman like
Delta. How could he make this right?

****

Four weeks later, Delta cruised the last dozen laps of a
Florida race. She’d already been lapped by the lead cars, so no sense risking
her life to get a better position. Hell, she didn’t even remember the name of
the town, so this race couldn’t be too important, could it?

The last weeks had been torture on her. Walking away from
Treven—at his request—had nearly put her into the ditch a mile from his house.
The tears had blinded her and made her pull to the side of the road, crying like
her world had ended until a passing vehicle stopped next to her.

Such nice people in Wild Oak. They didn’t deserve to have
her company buy them out at cut-rate prices just so they could build a racing
world resort that would serve only to put millions more into the company’s
already overloaded bank accounts.

Delta wanted to do something else with the money. Do
something that would make a difference in the world. She had no idea what, but
she’d bet any money Treven would. He’d be a great resource for knowing any kind
of organization that would help firefighters, fire safety education, maybe
in-school classes for older kids who might be interested in becoming
firefighters or paramedics.

But he’d never even tried to contact her, and she’d come to
the realization that he’d been serious. She laughed a bitter croak. He was one
mega-serious man, so when he’d asked her to leave, that was the end. No going
back on that one.

Passing her pit area, she saw Kellan’s old whiteboard being
held out for her by someone in a white hat. When she got closer, she could see
the word.

Sorry.

“Strange. What was that for?”

Since learning that her crash and the brake line failure had
been sabotage, Kellan had laid off—with pay—the entire pit crew until the
investigation could be completed. He’d hired on people he knew and trusted from
the old days. Retirees who’d been so out of practice, there’d been no way she
could have possibly placed near the top of the three races she’d run since
coming back after her near-deadly crash.

And now they’d gone back to communicating with her on the
old white-board signs? Great. Things were just getting weirder and weirder.
She’d lost so much of her love of the sport since the fiery spinout in Wild
Oak, that nothing shone anymore. Everything seemed dull. Or was it the
aftermath of losing Treven?

Coming around the turn again, she spotted the same person
holding that goofy sign. This one was different.

Forgive me.

“No.” She craned her neck as she sped past, but at that
speed, she couldn’t see a face. When her heart skipped a beat and her lips
curved up into a smile all on their own, she knew it was him.

Her cowboy.

Nine laps left. She saw no sign, no man in a white hat for
the next few laps, then he was there again, holding out the whiteboard.

I was a real.

She blinked. “A real?”

Then next lap, three letters, written so big, they took up
the whole board.

Ass.

Delta laughed and went two laps trying to blink the tears
from her eyes. On her last lap, she spotted the man in the white cowboy hat,
not holding anything this time, and she pressed the palm of her hand to the net
over the window.

He raised his hat and whipped it in a circle above his head.

Glancing heavenward for a second, a chill raced through her.
“Thank you.”

The checkered flag marked the end of the race and she
cruised into her pit area.

Her team helped her out of the car and she tugged off her
helmet and hood. “Where is he?”

Kellen hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “By your trailer.”
Her pit chief shook his head and stomped away. “Kids.”

She didn’t care what anyone thought of her or Treven. This
was something real for her, something she wanted more than anything, even
racing. Delta ran for her man.

There he was, halfway to her little trailer, his hat in his
hand. Standing next to…her uncle?

Oh, hell. She slowed and got her heart back into a normal
rhythm, strolling up to them. “What’s the story here?”

Treven stared at her as if he couldn’t get enough, a frown
on his lips telling her he had some serious talking to do once they were alone.

Her uncle, though, he looked like he’d been invited to his
own funeral. In his expensive gray suit, his usually-perfect brown hair blowing
in the breeze, he almost looked as if he’d been crying. “Delta, hon, I need to
apologize, sincerely, and assure you I knew nothing about this.”

Her gaze flicked between the men’s solemn faces. “Give it to
me fast and straight.”

Steven let out a breath. “Your aunt and I are separated.
Divorcing.”

Delta frowned. She’d known for a while that they weren’t
very happy, but hadn’t realized it had gone this far.

Her uncle rubbed a finger along the bottom of his nose.
“She’s been on medication. Strong medication. For a while.”

“Okay.” Delta nodded, not sure why this had to be done in
person, and in front of Treven.

Treven turned to her uncle. “You want me to tell her?”

Steven nodded, his face growing red. “Would you?”

What was this? Delta narrowed her eyes.

“Your aunt.” Treven’s fingers worked his hat in a circle in
front of his thighs. “She bribed a man on your pit crew.”

Tipping her head, she tried to make sense of the words. Then
it hit her. “Hired him to fix the car to…kill me?” Her voice grew shrill.
“Steve?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, hon.” Her uncle looked small, defeated,
shrunken inside his suit.

Delta had practically grown up with her cousins, in her aunt
and uncle’s house. This couldn’t be right. “Why?”

Steve let out a shaky breath. “Like I said, the medications
were too strong, they made her a little unstable.”