Tempted by Trouble

chapter TWENTY


“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Jeff said.

Carolina answered the phone without considering the incoming number. She didn’t have Jeff in her contacts and no caller ID showed. His voice annoyed her.

“Uhh, just forget it. I have.”

“Please let me make it up to you. I’m mortified that this might mean our professional relationship — if we even have that — is damaged. I think we’ve done well on that front. Carolina, I was out of line. Totally. I had hoped we could go back — ”

“We can’t. Ever.”

“I know that now. That’s why I’m calling. Please, just lunch. I want to show you I haven’t lost my mind. Yesterday, on the plane, I had too much to drink. I was working on the Evermore report, actually, and it got me thinking about us. I got off in Dallas and had a crazy thought. I wanted to see you again. Really needed to see you again. I treated you wrong yesterday. Throughout our whole relationship.”

“Jeff, it’s over. So over that there’s no way I’m meeting you. I don’t trust you. Can you understand it’s not about being hurt, it’s about how underhanded you’ve been and still continue to be?”

Over the phone, Jeff’s words evoked nothing in her except the desire to be done with the phone call.

“Jeff, I’m busy getting ready to ride out and treat some cattle. I won’t be back all day so don’t, I repeat, don’t call me again. I won’t be taking my phone and don’t want some excuse that you called a million times and then showed up because you thought I was hurt or something. I’ve already had the pleasure of those days. Jeff, you have stalker tendencies and right now, I think you need counseling. I made a mistake by calling you. It was wrong. I opened a door now I wished had been left closed.”

“F*ck, Carolina. You don’t have to be so black and white. I remember exactly why we didn’t make it as a couple. You haven’t changed. Still as cold as ever. Lovely to look at, but shallow. Sweetness, you’re nothing but frigid — ”

She hung up. There was nothing to listen to that she’d not already heard him say. She had worked hard to shut out all his sick ramblings. He was disturbed in the area of women, or at least, her. With Matt, she had finally dispelled the preconceived notion of being less than a woman, a deeply sown thought planted seed by seed from Jeff’s poisoned words. At that moment, she knew he no longer held her prisoner. His words found no place to root. She had firmly shut the door on Jeff and her past.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Brandon stood at the door.

“Yes. I don’t have much time. Thanks for your help.”

“You’re the one helping us. The horses are loaded. Don’t forget a hat. We’ll be out all day. Once we’re past the south gate, there aren’t any trucks. Heck, there’s no cell service.” He looked at her as if she needed to consider these aspects.

“We’ll vaccinate those we can and tag them. If the meds work, you can inoculate the others during the season.”

“I think we should tell my brother. He won’t be happy not knowing. Don’t you think he’ll miss you, especially leaving like this?”

“I’ve got that covered. Just give me a sec. I’ll meet you outside.” She left him a note stating that she’d gone into town. Shopping for trinkets for her family. He’d not question her knowing she had countless women who might expect a present from her trip. In reality, she never brought gifts home for her friends from her business trips but Matt didn’t know that and she wanted to surprise him with the means to protect his cattle and the future of his family’s ranch. She’d be gone in a day. Matt was working his fences to keep the coyotes out. He’d not said much after last night.

Her heart condensed into a tiny pit in her chest, locked and tied up, and she didn’t want to sit around and think about what it would take to get on a plane heading back to sunny Miami, alone.

“Let’s ride,” she said aloud and crammed the hat on her head. She glanced back from the doorway toward the desk. A couple of paperclips were still on the carpet from their first time making love and her first time climaxing. There should be a neon sigh detailing that event.

She was pulled back to the moment; Matt’s arms, his hands, his mouth, his cock. She arched her neck and opened her eyes, struggling, falling, clutching despair on the way down.

Her body alternated between icy chills and flashes of heat. She closed her eyes, desperate to keep calm even though she was a hairsbreadth from breaking. She tasted bitter metallic, she tasted hell.

The rushing of desire mixed with anxiety came at her from all directions, making her thoughts swim as if riding the crest of a tsunami, pulling her higher and higher. Tomorrow she’d crash into forever without Matt. A muffled cry caught inside her throat. She had to get out of the building, away from the inevitable. Just as Brandon had said, she was ready to ride hard. Escape.

She met him outside, sweaty and panting. Bright dots sprinkled her vision from looking up at the sun. Blinded, temporarily, she walked slowly. The smell of earth, horses, and cigarette smoke filled her lungs, grounding her, and she stopped fighting. She was calmed by the dancing movement of the saddled horses, leather rubbing against leather, as she reached up for the saddle horn, upward and over the back of Take Flight. She patted the horse and firmly planted her feet in the stirrups. Her legs gripped either side of her horse, her knees pressed, and they were moved, a rolling swaying walk out the gate.

Once free of the outbuildings, she gave into the trot, letting her body follow the rhythm of her horse, her mind lost in Zen contemplation, and the sun warming her skin.

Brandon wasn’t one to talk much. None of the McLemore had much to say. Spoken words were saved. Matt used a whole different language, one she’d mastered and her fluency marked her. She didn’t want to think if she’d ever feel like this with another man. The idea tore at her and she pushed away such thoughts.

The sun continued to rise, hours before its zenith, and sweat beaded and trickled over her body. The dry sauna outside fried away any sense of humidity. The air burned to breathe, a good feeling except for the times when dust stormed and she choked, blinking and coughing.

Up ahead, a pen had been set up and men worked to corral the cattle inside. Brandon dismounted, looked back at her with a questioning look, and she dismounted, taking the canteen he offered, wiping the back of her arm across her forehead. No wonder these guys wore pieces of material around their necks or shoved into pockets. Sweat abounded out here.

“Whenever you’re ready, we can begin,” Brandon offered. “Over there. We’ll bring each one of them to you. Rory will handle them. I know you’ve got experience but these out here on the range can get feisty. Mind their back hooves.”

“Got it.”

She didn’t argue. Not after witnessing the kicks and jostling McLemore men took in stride, a daily event, tales laughed and retold, marking them as tough or immune to physical complaint.

The cattle, for the most part, threaded through the makeshift stall. She shot hides and pierced each ear with a metal tag. This would be the perfect way to complete DNA finger printing if only she was staying. The possibility of keeping DNA records for breeding and future study.

Resigned, she stopped those thoughts.