Authors: Starr Ambrose
She refused to believe the other footnote that had popped up, the one that said Reese might be different. He had strong ties to Barringer’s Pass. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t leave.
Right, and maybe the sun would rise in the west. If she believed either one, she was an idiot.
T.J. told herself she wasn’t stopping by Michael Barringer’s house in hopes of seeing Reese again. She’d promised to keep him updated, and she hadn’t heard what he’d decided about the trailer. But she couldn’t deny a small twinge of disappointment when the black Porsche wasn’t there. Reese must have stayed late at work. Or gone out to dinner with friends.
Or had a date.
She wanted to kick herself for thinking it. She wasn’t going to turn into some obsessed,
Fatal Attraction
chick just because he’d kissed her a couple of times. That didn’t imply a relationship. He could go out with whomever he wanted.
Firmly shutting Reese out of her mind, she rang the doorbell.
Mike was in the living room this time, his leather recliner hemmed in by two end tables. T.J. smiled at the cluttered tabletops—two remotes, a cell phone, two pill bottles, three books, a sandwich plate littered with crumbs, a water bottle, an open bag of chips, nail clippers, and a pair of binoculars.
“You ever get out of this chair for anything?” she asked him.
“Just the bathroom. Warden Camille won’t let me pee in a bucket.”
Camille must have been the lady who’d answered the door and shown her to the living room with the announcement, “Hey, grumpy, you’ve got company. Be nice.” She took it to mean Mike was not handling convalescence well.
“Pull up a chair,” he told her. “I need some friendly company.” He said the last part loudly, with a meaningful glance over his shoulder in case Camille was within hearing range. “This house feels like a damn prison. Tell me everything you’ve been doing.”
I’ve been kissing your son,
she thought as she moved a chair closer and sat facing him. She’d skip that one.
“Tad Prescott has progressed to galloping around the corral. And I took Reese on the trails today for the one-hour and two-hour rides.”
He gave her a puzzled look. “Reese got on a horse?”
“That’s kind of required for checking out the trails.”
“Why did he do that?”
“Because you asked him to.”
“I did?”
She drew her eyebrows together. “Didn’t you?”
“Oh. Yeah, I did. I remember now. Sorry, it’s these damn pain pills, can’t think straight when I take them.” His face brightened with interest. “So what did he think?”
“He said it was great.” She smiled, but it was because of the distracting thought she didn’t say out loud, that kissing her had been his favorite part.
“Well, whatdaya know? I mean, I’m glad to hear it. So when are you taking him on the rest of the trails?”
“Sunday, actually. He wants to do the all-day ride.”
He grinned. “Really?” When she narrowed her eyes, he added, “I thought he might need a few more days to recover. I don’t think Reese has ridden since he was a kid.”
“It didn’t seem to bother him. He looked pretty good.” She pictured Reese’s strong legs, his firm butt, and the broad chest she’d pressed against when she kissed him. He looked more than good.
She glanced at Mike, who had an oddly amused look on his face. “I mean, he didn’t look sore. Or stiff.” She stopped dead as the word
stiff
conjured up a whole new image. She blinked at Mike. He watched placidly as she did a mental scramble to come up with a phrase that didn’t have a double meaning. “I don’t think it bothered him to be on a horse for a few hours.”
“Good.” He nodded happily. “That’s good to know, because I meant to ask him to do the overnight ride with you, too.”
She started to attention. “Overnight?”
“Absolutely. Have to make sure everything is the way I want it, and I sure as heck can’t get on a horse anytime soon, so Reese is gonna have to do it for me.”
Her mind stumbled over the idea of spending the night with Reese in a small tent, with no one else around. The images she’d tried to dispel came rushing back, especially the
stiff
one. She swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in her throat. “You have photos of the trail, and you helped lay it out.”
“But there’s nothing like riding it yourself, experiencing exactly what our guests will experience. It’s all about them, you know. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get paid extra for your time, and you’ve hired those new stable hands, right? You don’t have to be there for feeding and watering the horses. This will be a good dry run to see if they can handle the work without you before you turn it over to the new stable manager. Have you found one yet?”
She scrunched her eyebrows and concentrated, trying to catch up. “Uh, maybe. I have a couple of applicants I’d like to talk to before I send them to you for the final decision.”
“Excellent.” He beamed. “Sounds like you’ve got everything under control.”
It didn’t feel under control to her. In fact, it felt like she wasn’t even in the driver’s seat.
“You know,” Mike mused happily, “I’m glad you dropped by. You’ve made my whole day better.”
Too bad she couldn’t say the same. The thought of the overnight ride made her nervous, and already had her blood surging hotly. There had never been any doubt in her mind that the physical attraction between them would be impossible to resist, but she’d hoped to have a little more time to prepare for it. Like three more weeks. By then he’d be getting ready to leave and she wouldn’t have time to fall in love with him. She figured the falling was as inevitable as the sex, it was just a matter of how much of her heart he’d rip out when he left.
* * *
“Come on, go to lunch with me, T.J. We’ll do something fun afterward.” Tad stroked his horse’s mane as they stood outside the stall, a soft, sensual fingering of the coarse hair that she was sure Misty didn’t fully appreciate. That didn’t matter, since the sensual part was for her benefit, another exaggerated attempt to tease her into a date.
She smiled tightly and shook her head, a bit tired of the game. “No thanks, but Misty might be interested if you do that down her back and chest.”
She realized too late she’d given him a perfect setup. Tad’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I’d rather do
your
back. And chest.” His gaze went there and lingered.
The line between flirting and harassment might be blurry to Tad, but not to her. She snapped her fingers at his face. “Hey, buddy, eyes up here.”
He didn’t look the least bit abashed. “What’s the problem? Where I come from, admiring a woman’s body is a compliment.”
“Let me give you a tip, Tad. That has nothing to do with where you’re from, it’s who you hang out with.”
“Are you saying I need to hang out with a better class of women?”
“No, I’m saying you can’t blame them for your lack of manners.”
“Obviously you need to save me from myself.”
“I don’t think it’s possible.” If there’d been the tiniest bit of aggression in his approach, she’d be furious, but Tad acted as harmless as a puppy, so she had to conclude that he was merely obnoxious. Still, a leash, a choke chain, and a few pointed corrections were tempting. She handed him Misty’s halter. “Here, cross-tie her and untack before you leave.”
He laughed. “No thanks, I only do the riding part. And if you’re going to force me to find another woman, I need to get going.”
She folded her arms. “Uh-uh. When you take lessons from me, you learn everything about taking care of your horse. You’ll be a more convincing cowboy if you’ve lugged a few saddles and groomed a few horses.”
“You just want to see me sweat.” He arched an eyebrow and cocked his head. “Will it turn you on?”
“Sure, nothing’s better than a sweaty man who smells like a horse.”
“Kinky.” A slow smile spread across his face and his eyelids lowered with the sexy, bedroom look his fans sighed over. “I love kinky women.”
She rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”
He dropped the seductive look, watching her as he slipped off Misty’s bridle. “You’re a tough one, T.J., but you play a good game. I’m not giving up.” He replaced the bridle with the halter and snapped the cross ties on. As he moved to Misty’s side to loosen the cinch, he glanced at her. “You know, when you keep saying no, some guys take it as a challenge.”
“And some guys actually take it at face value, the way it’s meant.”
“Some guys give up too easily. If I did that, I’d never have made it in this business. No, you’re my ultimate goal now, T.J. My Everest. I can’t quit until I conquer you.” He slid the saddle off, grunting at the sudden weight, then flashed a smile. “Is this what does it for you, T.J.? Marlboro men who toss saddles over their shoulders? ’Cause I could do that.” He boosted the saddle up, and tried to do a casual one-handed hold, nearly dropping it. “Damn, that’s hard,” he said, shaking pinched fingers. “How do you do that?”
She chuckled. “I don’t. But if you have to show off, turn it around, like this.” She helped him balance the saddle over his shoulder, then shook her head as he faked a bowlegged swagger toward the tack room at the far end of the aisle. Still obnoxious, but she had to admit he was funny. She hoped his upcoming movie was a tongue-in-cheek comedy, because he’d be pretty good at it.
“Why are you always such a bitch?”
T.J. started at the voice behind her and turned to find Beth frowning at her. Tad’s assistant always seemed to lurk nearby, but T.J. hadn’t noticed her until now. She was sorry she had. “Excuse me, did you just call me a bitch? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Beth glowered, hands fisted at her sides, and T.J. was reminded of the phrase,
if looks could kill
. If Beth had her way, T.J. would be a smoking cinder right now.
Tad’s assistant blew aside a strand of hair, the better to glare at her. “It means you think you’re so special you can turn down a date with Tad Prescott. I’m tired of hearing it. Thousands of women would kill to be in your place, and you toss him aside as if he’s no one, when the truth is, he’s too good for you. You’re arrogant, disrespectful, and rude. That makes you a class-A bitch.”
T.J. blinked at the venom in Beth’s words. The girl had never looked friendly, but she’d been quiet, giving no indication of the animosity she obviously felt. Her first instinct was to ask, “
Are you crazy?
” but staring at the angry splotches of red on Beth’s cheeks, it occurred to her that maybe she was. Or close enough that she didn’t want to piss her off more.
“Tad’s a good-looking man,” she said carefully, noting that it didn’t win her any points. “And I’m sure he’s a good actor. That doesn’t mean I want to sleep with him.”
“Why not? One time, and he’ll forget about you and move on.”
My God, she really was crazy. “That’s not a plus. I’m not sleeping with a man just to get him to leave me alone.”
Beth’s eyes narrowed to evil slits. “As if you could do better,” she scoffed. “Tad is so much more than you’ll ever know. He’s kind, and funny, and smart, and possibly one of the most talented actors ever.”
T.J. might have agreed with the first three points, but thought the last one was an exaggeration. But what did she know? Not enough to argue it, especially with an obsessed lunatic. “Tell you what, Beth, if you like him so much,
you
sleep with him.”
For a brief moment pain flashed across Beth’s face, and T.J. felt her blood turn cold. Oh, shit. She’d scored a bull’s-eye without even trying. Tad had probably never looked at Beth that way, and never would, despite the fact that no one wanted him more. The girl had turned her unrequited love into a mission to win Tad’s favor in whatever way she could, which apparently included helping him procure the women he
did
desire. Even the ones she hated.
A second later the pain vanished from Beth’s face, replaced by a stony disdain. “I would, but for some unfathomable reason, he wants
you
.”
“Tad doesn’t have to get everything he wants.”
Beth’s answer was flat and decisive. “Yes, he does.”
T.J. hardened her expression. Maybe she should placate Beth and pretend to waver, but treating men like gods wasn’t in her DNA. “Not this time.”
The side of Beth’s mouth curled into a sneer. “Because you’d rather suck up to your boss.”
Caution prickled T.J.’s scalp and warned her to choose her words carefully. In some twisted way, Beth was jealous on Tad’s behalf, and that was weird enough to make T.J. want to keep her distance. “I don’t suck up to anyone.”
Beth barked out a derisive laugh. “I’ve seen the way you and Reese look at each other. If you aren’t doing him yet, you will be soon.”
The crude language pushed the limits of her tolerance. Through gritted teeth, she said, “First, Reese Barringer isn’t my boss. And second, my private life is none of your business.”
Beth’s gaze was distant and calculating, as if T.J.’s words hadn’t even registered with her. Tad’s happy whistle did though, as he walked up the aisle toward them, and the girl lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. “You don’t even care about people, do you? It’s all about your job. Do you actually think you’ll get a raise if you spread your legs for him? He’ll drop you like the little whore you are, and never think twice about it.”
T.J. recoiled at the language, and at the transformation from unassuming assistant to full-blown nutjob. Beth’s laugh was low and bitter, sending goose bumps over T.J.’s arms. “You’re just a stable hand, T.J., and that’s all you’ll ever be. A stable whore.”
T.J. narrowed her eyes, giving Beth the same look she would have given a scorpion had one suddenly materialized in front of her. You didn’t try to reason with something that poisonous, you just got rid of it.
“Get out,” she hissed between clenched teeth. “Get out of this barn and don’t ever come back.”
The last of her words was drowned out by Tad’s enthusiastic call. “Hey, Bethy! Did you see me do that flat-out run-and-sliding stop in the arena?”
Beth’s face morphed instantly into an expression of pride. “I did! You were fantastic!”