In the Rancher's Arms

Eight



There was a sultry tone to Tori’s voice that caused Eli’s body to harden so fast it left him feeling light-headed. Without a word, he helped her sit up, then pulled her sweatshirt over her head and tossed it onto the couch. Quickly removing her bra, he cupped her breasts and lowered his head to kiss each tightened tip.

“I’m going to love every inch of you and when I’m finished, I’m going to start all over again,” he said, taking one of her nipples into his mouth.

When she moaned and threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him to her, Eli knew she was as turned on as he was. He paid homage to first one of her breasts, then the other, and when he lifted his head, he loved the blush of passion on her creamy cheeks. She didn’t need just any man—she needed him.

The thought sent a surge of heat to his groin and, taking hold of the lapels of his chambray shirt, he unfastened the snap closures with one quick jerk of his hands. Pulling his undershirt off, he sent both garments to join her sweatshirt and bra on the couch.

Tori immediately placed her hands on his chest and the feel of her soft palms caressing his skin made the temperature in the room go up a good ten degrees. Closing his eyes, he reveled in the fact that she was as fascinated with his body as he was with hers. But when she pressed her lips to one of his flat nipples, Eli felt as if his head might fly right off his shoulders.

“I think we’d better slow this down, honey,” he said, feeling as if the oxygen had been sucked out of the room.

“I love touching you,” she said, giving him a smile that reached his soul.

“Let’s get the rest of these clothes off,” he said, wanting to feel her hands on other parts of his heated body, as well. “Then you can touch me all you want.”

Helping her out of her slacks and panties, he quickly shucked his jeans and underwear. Then, laying her back on the rug, he knelt beside her. The flames in the fireplace cast a golden glow over her alabaster skin and he knew for certain he had never seen a more beautiful sight. As he stared down at her perfection, he noticed she seemed just as enthralled with his body.

“You make me want you in more ways than I ever thought possible,” he admitted as he stretched out beside her, cradling her in his arms.

“And I want you just as much,” she said, running her delicate hand along his side.

He could tell she wanted to touch him but was unsure if she should. Catching her hand in his, he kissed her fingertips. “Part of making love is exploring and learning more about each other.”

Facing each other, her eyes never left his as she moved her hand over his hip and beyond. When she found him, Eli ground his back teeth and held his breath as he struggled for control. Her featherlight touch on his heated body was heaven and hell rolled into one as she tested his strength and weight.

“I think we’d better put the discovery phase on hold for a while, honey,” he said, taking her hands in his. He took several deep breaths in an effort to regain control. “Otherwise, I’m going to be embarrassed and you’re going to be extremely disappointed.”

“Please make love to me, Eli.” The desire in her eyes and the passion in her voice convinced him that her need was as great as his.

Moving to sit up, he reached into the pocket of his discarded jeans. After arranging their protection, he lifted her to straddle his thighs. “Put your legs around me,” he said as he eased her down onto him.

Her eyes widened as her body consumed his. “Oh, wow!”

“Are you okay?” he asked, feeling a moment of apprehension.

She nodded as she circled his neck with her arms and rested her head against his shoulder. “I’m fine. I just feel...so...complete.”

He remained perfectly still as he gave her time to adjust and gave himself a moment to savor her tight body surrounding his. But the feel of her intimately holding him and her budded nipples pressed to his chest proved too much for him to resist. He needed to complete the act of loving her or go completely insane.

When he guided her into a gentle, rocking motion, he knew she was feeling the same passionate lure he was when her head fell back and a tiny moan escaped her lips. His focus began to narrow, and he realized that he was close to finding his release. But he was determined to ensure her pleasure before his own.

Kissing the column of her neck and the slopes of her breasts, he deepened his strokes and in no time he felt Tori begin to tighten around him. She was close to reaching her climax and, quickening his pace, Eli felt her body begin to rhythmically caress him as she found her fulfillment. Only then did he let go of his restraint and give in to his own satisfaction.

As they continued to hold each other, Eli knew if he hadn’t already fallen for the woman in his arms, he didn’t have far to go. She was everything he had ever wanted in a woman.

Having Tori at the ranch had been good for all concerned and, although it made him nervous as hell to admit it, he couldn’t imagine life on the Rusty Spur without her. He enjoyed the time they spent working together doing chores and setting up the new system for the ranch records. And lately, he had noticed there was a little more spring in Buck’s step. Since his retirement, Eli hadn’t seen his father as excited about anything as he was about the garden he and Tori were going to plant in the spring. Buck even seemed to have mellowed a little and wasn’t quite as cantankerous as he had been in past years.

Tori might have a few secrets that she hadn’t divulged when he’d interviewed her, but he seriously doubted they would amount to much. Besides, who didn’t have a few things in their past they’d rather forget? He hadn’t told her about his college girlfriend, and the scam she had tried to pull off. If he hadn’t wised up when he did, he would have lost a lot more than his pride. He would have lost a sizable chunk of the Rusty Spur, as well as the Laughlin fortune.

But Tori was nothing like the barracuda his former girlfriend had turned out to be. It was past time for him to stop looking for her to slip up and accept that Buck’s assessment of her was right on the money. Tori was a good person and there was no reason to continue looking for something in her background that wasn’t there. He’d call Sean tomorrow and call off the investigation.

When he leaned back to look at her, he smiled. “You’re amazing, Tori.”

“I was thinking the same thing about you,” she said, nodding. “That was incredible.”

Lifting her off his lap, Eli reached for a couple of throw pillows and the plush throw from the couch. Then, lying down, he pulled her back against him and covered them both with the throw.

They were quiet for some time, and Eli liked that they were content just to be with each other. But as he stared at the crackling flames in the fireplace, something kept bothering him. Tori had given him her best over the past week and he hadn’t really done anything nice for her in return. She had done chores around the ranch practically from the moment she’d arrived, cut his deskwork time in half and kept his father off his back by planning a garden for the spring.

And what had he done for her in return to show his gratitude? Treat her to a night in front of the television? Help her build a snowman and put her in danger of freezing to death by letting her ride a horse he knew full good and well she didn’t know how to control? Hell, he hadn’t even let her plan her own wedding. He was the one who’d made all of the arrangements for their brief marriage ceremony.

A slow smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. That was the one thing he could do something about. He could give her the wedding of her dreams.

With his mind made up on what he intended to do for Tori, he relaxed and felt himself start to drift off to sleep. “Let’s go upstairs to bed, honey.”

“There’s something we need to talk about,” she said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. “I wanted to tell you last night, but—”

He yawned. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

“Never mind. You can barely hold your eyes open,” she said, shaking her head. “We can talk tomorrow when we’re both more awake.”

As they gathered their clothes and walked upstairs to his bedroom, Eli decided that Tori wasn’t the only one with something to discuss. He had something he wanted to talk over with her, as well.

Under the circumstances, as weddings went, theirs had been a rushed affair with little celebration, and she deserved better. He needed to tell her to start planning the wedding of her dreams, and this coming summer, they would invite the whole damned state to witness the renewal of their vows.

* * *

The next morning when she entered the kitchen, Tori found Buck whistling a tune as he made breakfast. “You must have won some money at the poker game,” she said, smiling.

“Good morning, Tori-gal,” he said, grinning as he reached for a cup and poured her some coffee. “No, I actually lost a couple of hundred dollars.”

“And you’re happy about it?” she asked, taking the mug of coffee he handed her.

“Easy come, easy go.” He shrugged. “Sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t. It’s just the nature of the game.”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it,” she said, setting her cup down at her place at the table. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Nope, I think I’ve got everything just about ready.” He frowned. “Where’s Eli?”

“He’s taking his shower.”

“No, I’m finished,” Eli said, walking up behind her. He surprised her when he put his arms around her, then kissed the side of her neck. “What’s for breakfast, Buck? I’m starved.”

Until that moment, Eli had refrained from showing her much affection in front of Buck. That he did so now sent a clear message to his father that they intended to make their marriage permanent.

She watched a twinkle of approval in Buck’s dark eyes as he looked from her to Eli. “I’ve got the usual,” he said, his grin wide. “Just have a seat, and I’ll get it dished up for you.”

Tori’s chest swelled with emotion when she realized that she had finally found the place where she belonged. For the first time in her life, she felt that she was part of a family and it felt absolutely wonderful. Buck treated her like a daughter, the way she always wished her father had done. And although Eli hadn’t told her how he felt, she knew he had feelings for her. It was enough for now. In time, maybe he would even come to love her the way she loved him.

It bothered her that she still hadn’t found the right way or the opportunity to tell him about her past. Eli deserved to know everything and she wanted to tell him. But last night when she realized how tired he was, she knew that it wasn’t the right time. But today, she was determined to rectify that. Before they proceeded with their relationship, she needed to tell him whom he had married and she hoped with all of her heart that he would understand why she had handled things the way she had.

With her mind made up, she listened to Eli and Buck talk about what they had planned for the day and couldn’t keep from smiling. Their relationship had improved greatly over the past week and she enjoyed seeing them more relaxed around each other.

Remembering Grandma Jean’s words the day they were married—that it wasn’t right that Buck refused to attend the ceremony—Tori realized that she had been the source of the tension between them. Buck had probably objected to Eli finding a wife on the internet and as outspoken as the older man was, had no doubt told Eli so. But being as stubborn and independent as his father, Eli had defied Buck and asked her to join him on the Rusty Spur. She didn’t have a clue what she had done to change Buck’s mind, but he seemed perfectly content with her and Eli’s arrangement now and that was all that mattered.

“What do you want me to do today, besides feeding Daisy and Buttercup?” she asked.

“Now that all of the men are fully recovered from the flu, there’s really no reason for you to be out in the cold,” Eli said as he finished his breakfast. “After you take care of the bucket babies this morning, why don’t you come back to the house and help Buck make lunch?”

“In other words, you want him to teach me how to cook,” she said, laughing. Her steak the night before had been just as charred as his, and she knew Eli had only eaten it to keep from hurting her feelings.

“Honey, you bake a great frozen pizza,” he said, grinning. “But as steaks go, there’s room for improvement.”

Rising from the table, she took her plate and his to the sink to rinse them. “It was pretty bad, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t worry—you’ll get better at it,” he said, walking over to put his cup in the dishwasher. Lowering his head, he gave her a kiss that curled her toes. “I’ve got some things to take care of this morning, but I’ll see you at lunch.”

After Eli put on his coat and hat and left the house, Tori’s cheeks heated when she turned to find Buck staring at her with a wide grin. “Looks like we’d better start makin’ some concrete plans for that garden and your flower boxes,” he said happily.

* * *

Just as Eli reached the horse barn to check on the mare and her foal, the phone rang in the feed room. What did Buck want now? he wondered as he picked up the receiver. He had just told his father his plans for the day not fifteen minutes earlier.

“Sean Hartwell just called and wants you to call him back as soon as you can,” Buck said when Eli answered. “He told me to tell you it was real important.”

Eli’s heart stalled then began thumping against his ribs as if he had run a marathon. “Thanks. I’ll give him a call as soon as I feed the mare and foal.”

“What the hell is he callin’ about this early in the mornin’?” Buck demanded.

Eli closed his eyes as he tried to hang on to his patience. He wasn’t as irritated by Buck’s question as he was nervous that Sean had found out something about Tori. He understood more than ever the meaning behind the saying “Don’t shoot the messenger” because at the moment, that was exactly what he felt like doing. Dead men couldn’t tell tales and everything could go on as they had been for the past week.

“I had him check on something for me,” Eli answered his father.

“Dammit, son, you had Tori investigated, didn’t you?” The anger in Buck’s voice was undeniable.

“Yes.” Before his father could start in with a tirade about knowing Tori had good reason for whatever she’d done, Eli added, “We’ll talk about this later, Buck.”

As he hung up and started scooping oats into a bucket, Eli knew in his heart he wasn’t going to like what Sean had to say. Why else would the man have insisted on Eli calling him right back if he didn’t have bad news to report about Tori’s background? He couldn’t think of a single positive reason for Sean to be calling him at six in the morning. By the time he finished taking care of the mare and her baby, Eli wasn’t any more ready for his upcoming conversation with Sean, but he couldn’t put it off any longer. It was time to find out what the investigation had turned up. Then he could decide how to proceed.

Picking up the phone, he dialed Sean’s number. “Sean, Eli Laughlin here. What did you find out?”

“You’re never going to guess who you married,” the man said. Was that a touch of disbelief he heard in Sean’s voice?

“Why don’t we dispense with the guessing games and you just come right out and tell me?” Eli asked, angered by the fact that Sean had found anything at all in Tori’s background.

“You married Victoria Bardwell.” Sean paused as if waiting for Eli to digest that bit of information before he continued. “She’s the only child of John Bardwell, the single most hated man in the history of the financial industry. And up until he was arrested, she worked as a financial planner at the Bardwell Investments Agency.”

“I think you’re mistaken,” Eli insisted, clinging to the hope that the man was wrong, but knowing deep down that he wasn’t. “My wife’s maiden name is Anderson.”

“She had her name legally changed after her father died of a massive heart attack five months ago. I checked with one of the people who wrote her a letter of reference—” he heard the sound of Sean shuffling papers “—a judge by the name of Byron Stiers, and everything checked out fine. But I hadn’t been able to find her other reference until yesterday evening when I tracked her down in a nursing home just north of Charlotte. Marie Gentry is recovering from a stroke and has some short-term memory loss, but her long-term memory is quite clear. She was Victoria’s nanny and told me all about your wife’s mother dying when she was born and how Victoria had spent her life doing everything she could to win her father’s approval.”

A knot the size of his fist twisted at Eli’s gut. When he’d talked to Marie, she hadn’t told him any of that. She hadn’t been in a nursing home, either. She’d probably had the stroke after he’d talked with her about Tori.

“Did you find out anything else?”

“Yeah,” Sean said hesitantly. “When she left Charlotte, Victoria was dead broke and close to being homeless after her condo and car were sold to help pay some of her father’s clients.”

A throbbing began to pound at his temples and Eli felt like the biggest fool ever to walk on two legs. “Is that it?”

“There are a couple of other things I’m going to check out, now that I have her real name,” Sean said. “But I thought you would want to know about this as soon as possible.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

When he hung up the phone, the knot in Eli’s gut began to turn into a burning ball of outrage. How could he have been so damned stupid? Why had he let his guard down, knowing from the day they’d met that Tori was hiding something?

He had let his desire for her get in the way of his good sense, and even with the prenuptial agreement, the cost of his mistake was higher than he could have ever imagined. The money he would owe her when she left the ranch didn’t matter to him. It paled in comparison to the price he was going to pay when she walked away with his heart.

* * *

As she finished feeding Daisy and Buttercup, Tori thought about the past week and how everything had worked out. Now there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that she had done the right thing by accepting Eli’s offer of marriage. She’d found the home and family she had always wanted and a man that she loved with all of her heart.

Hopefully her happiness would be complete once she told him who she really was.

Sighing, she absently scratched the calves’ backs as she stared off into space. Husbands and wives should be aware of each other’s secrets and especially one the magnitude of hers. She only hoped that he would understand and realize that the only thing she had lied to him about was her knowledge of the rural way of life.

“Tori, we need to talk.” Eli’s voice brought her out of her disturbing introspection and back to the present.

Smiling, she turned to find him standing a few feet away. He looked furious.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, opening the gate to the calves’ enclosure.

“We’ll talk when we get to the house,” he said, his voice tight.

What could have happened in such a short amount of time to alter his mood so drastically?

Tori practically had to jog to keep up with his long strides in the newly falling snow. When they entered the house, she barely managed to get her coat removed and hung on one of the pegs before Eli took hold of her elbow.

“Don’t disturb us,” he ordered as he hurried her past Buck on the way to his office.

Had he discovered her secret? Was that why he was so angry?

She couldn’t imagine how that was possible. When she’d sought legal counsel about changing her name for reasons of protection, she had been assured that her true identity would be kept completely confidential. She had even been issued a birth certificate, driver’s license and social security number under her new name, and the court records had been sealed to ensure her privacy. Unless she told them, no one was supposed to know who she really was.

“Have a seat,” Eli said, pointing to one of the armchairs in front of his desk.

Fear clawed at her insides as she shook her head. “I don’t think—”

“Sit,” he commanded. Although he hadn’t raised his voice, there was a steely edge in his tone that warned her he wasn’t in the mood to be defied.

“What is this about, Eli?” she asked as she perched on the edge of the plush leather chair. It was easier than arguing, and she wasn’t sure her shaky legs would support her.

She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that her worst fears were about to be realized. Eli had somehow found out who she was before she could tell him.

“Were you ever going to tell me that I had married a fraud?” he asked pointedly. “Or were you going to let me believe you were everything you seemed to be right up until you decided to move on to greener pastures?”

“I—I’m not a fraud,” she said, shaking her head. It felt as if her world were crashing down around her and there didn’t seem to be any way to stop it. “And I did try to tell you who I was before we made love the first time, and then again last night.”

“You should have tried a little harder.” He clearly didn’t believe her.

“I had my name legally changed to Victoria Anderson because I had to,” she said, hoping he would allow her to finish her explanation.

“I’m sure you did,” he said, his tone cutting. “The Bardwell name has become one of the most recognized in the country because of your father’s embezzling from his clients’ accounts. You wouldn’t have been able to carry out your own scam if you’d gone by your real name.”

“No, that isn’t it at all.” She had to get him to listen to her. “I had nothing to do with his illegal activities.”

“You’re telling me that you worked for him and didn’t know what was going on?” His emotionless smile chilled her all the way to the bone. “I’m not buying it, Tori.”

“I honestly didn’t know what he was up to until just before it all began to unravel.” Tears began to spill down her cheeks, but she impatiently wiped them away with the back of her hand. Her heart felt as if it were shattering into a million pieces. “I was the one who—”

“Save it,” he said, jerking open one of the drawers in his desk to pull out a checkbook. When he began to fill it out, he added, “I’d rather not hear you try to justify your actions. You obviously decided to hide out here for a while until things cooled down and you could move on to something bigger and more lucrative.” He tore off one of the checks and shoved it across the desk at her. “But I suppose you made out well enough. By making sure we consummated the marriage, you get a nice cool million with your divorce papers, instead of the ten thousand you would have gotten for an annulment.”

A cold like nothing she had ever known spread throughout her body. “Keep your money,” she said, rising to leave. His mind was made up about her and there wasn’t anything she could say or do that was going to change it. It was the same as when her friends found out about her father. The same as when anyone heard her last name. Eli was no different. “I don’t want it.”

“Take it,” he insisted, coming around the desk to stuff it into her hand. “There’s a flight back to Charlotte this evening. I want you packed and ready to leave by this afternoon.”

“Didn’t our lovemaking mean anything to you?” she asked as tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks. “How can you so easily forget what we shared? How can you forget about us?”

“Oh, I remember what we shared, but I don’t think we have the same perception of what it meant.” He shook his head. “I should have known better than to let desire get in the way of what’s best for the ranch.”

“Was desire all that you think it was, Eli?”

He stared at her for several long moments before he finally nodded. “What else would it be?” Before she could answer, he motioned toward the door. “Now, if you’ll get your things together, I’ll see that someone takes you to catch your flight to Charlotte.”

He wasn’t even going to take her to the airport himself?

Straightening her shoulders, she sniffed back a fresh wave of tears. She might be penniless and once again alone in the world, but she had her pride.

“I’m not going back to Charlotte,” she said, tossing the crumpled check onto his desk. “There’s nothing left for me there.”

“Where will you go?”

“That’s really no longer any of your concern, now is it?” she asked, knowing that he really didn’t care as long as it was nowhere near the Rusty Spur Ranch.

He shrugged. “I just need to know where to ship your things.”

“I’ll let you know when I get there,” she said, walking to the door. Turning back she added, “And if I don’t get back to you, feel free to dispose of them however you see fit.”

* * *

As Tori folded the clothes she intended to take with her, she had to stop frequently to wipe the tears from her eyes. How could everything have fallen apart so fast?

This morning she had awakened in the arms of the man she loved more than life itself and within a few hours he had essentially told her he never wanted to see her again. He wouldn’t even listen to her tell her side of what happened and why she had taken the measures she had to obliterate Victoria Bardwell in order to become Tori Anderson.

She briefly wondered how Eli had discovered her secret. But it really didn’t matter. He had found out and as hard as it was to face, he had tried and found her guilty before he’d even bothered to confront her about it.

But what upset her more than anything was the fact that they had decided to make their marriage a real one, and at the first sign of a problem, he was ready to give up. The least he could have done was acted like a real husband and sat down with her to try to work out their problem. But he had his mind made up and wouldn’t listen to anything she said.

A knock caused her heart to skip a beat until she heard Buck quietly say her name. “Tori-gal?”

Walking over to open the door, one look at the older man with his arms spread wide to gather her to him, and she dissolved into a torrent of tears. She had not only lost the man she loved, she had lost her newfound family.

“There, there, gal,” Buck said, moving them over to sit on the side of the bed. Patting her on the back as she sobbed against his shoulder, he added, “It’s going to be all right.”

Shaking her head, she leaned back to look at the man she had come to think of as her adopted father. “Eli wants me to leave, Buck.”

“He told me,” Buck said, nodding. “But don’t worry. You’re not going anywhere for a while.”

“Buck, that’s sweet of you, but I can’t stay where I’m not wanted,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’ve had to live that way most of my life and I can’t do it anymore.”

“I can’t fault you for feelin’ that way,” he said, his eyes filled with understanding. “But you can’t leave now because the snow we’ve been gettin’ all mornin’ has turned into a blizzard. And once it stops, we won’t be able to get out of the valley until the men can fire up one of the tractors and blade the road over the ridge to the main highway. That’ll take several more days.”

Her heart sank. She couldn’t think of anything more uncomfortable or heartbreaking than being stranded with the man she loved when all he wanted was to have her out of his life for good.

“This is terrible, Buck,” she said, rising from the bed to go over and look out the window. Snow was falling so hard and the wind gusts were so strong, she couldn’t even see the barns. “Does Eli know?”

Buck shrugged. “Hard to tell. He’s been holed up in the office with the door closed for the past hour.”

“He won’t be happy about this,” she said, feeling more miserable by the second. She wasn’t sure what would be worse—having him send her away or having to stay with him and see the contempt in his eyes.

“Give him a little time to cool down,” Buck advised. “Right now, he’s about as friendly as a pissed-off wolverine. He won’t listen to anybody, and it’s best we leave him alone for a spell.”

“I doubt he would give me the chance even when he does calm down,” she said, shaking her head. She wasn’t sure how much Eli had told Buck about her, but it no longer mattered. “He doesn’t want to hear about my father or the reason I had to change my name and leave Charlotte.”

Buck held up his hand to stop her. “I don’t know anything about it and, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter. I know that you did whatever you felt you had to do.” He smiled as he rose from the side of the bed to leave. “Eli’s the one you need to talk to first. Then, if you want to tell me, I’ll listen. And if you don’t, it won’t change my opinion of you.”

Long after Buck left to go back downstairs, Tori stared out the window at the falling snow. The older man’s feelings for her were unconditional. He had decided that she was a good person and that whatever she’d done wouldn’t change his opinion or make him feel differently about her. Why couldn’t his son give her that same consideration?

Deciding there were no answers, she returned to the dresser to remove her clothes and continue packing. At least when the snow finally did let up, she would be ready to leave as soon as someone could drive her out of the valley. Then she would purchase a ticket to wherever her meager funds could take her.

* * *

Sitting in the dark, Eli poured himself another shot of whiskey as he stared out the window at the moon rising over the new-fallen snow. The winter blizzard had moved on a couple of hours ago, but he hadn’t felt the need to leave the sanctuary of his office. If he did, he might run into Tori and that was something he wanted to avoid. He didn’t need to be reminded that he had fallen yet again for a deceptive woman with an agenda to make a fool of him.

At least he’d caught on to his college girlfriend before he’d got in over his head. She had tried her damnedest to get him to partner with her “brother” and develop part of the Rusty Spur into a resort or dude ranch. At the time, he’d been so enamored of her that he had considered trying to talk Buck into making the man a partner in the ranch.

Eli shook his head and muttered a guttural curse. He could still remember the disillusionment and betrayal he’d felt when he’d discovered that the “brother” she had been so fond of was actually her fiancé and that they were con artists. Had he not taken a step back after she’d visited the ranch, he might not have realized that things weren’t the way they seemed, until it was too late.

But Tori had gone above and beyond with her scam. She had changed her name and married a complete stranger in order to get ahead.

He had thought he had all the bases covered this time around. He had done a fairly thorough background check on her, spoken with the authors of her letters of reference, and as far as he could tell they were on the up-and-up. Then he’d had an iron-clad prenuptial agreement drawn up to protect his assets before he married her.

The only thing he hadn’t counted on was being fool enough to fall for her and not having the willpower to keep his hands to himself long enough for Sean to complete his investigation.

“So much for your foolproof plan, Laughlin,” he muttered as he downed the whiskey, then poured himself another shot.

Given his track record, he would probably do well to swear off women altogether and make provisions in his will to leave the Rusty Spur to the state for a park or wildlife habitat. Doing that was probably his best option. Just about anything was preferable to the hell he was going through now after learning the truth about Tori.

Tossing back the shot, he rose to his feet to go upstairs to bed. There wasn’t enough whiskey in the world to numb the pain of falling hard and fast for a woman, only to learn she was just as nefarious as the rest of her gender.