“Wait a minute,” he said, suddenly putting two and two together. “You share miles of common fence with the Circle B. Are you saying Tom never helped you?”
“Tom’s first loyalty was always to Ty. He’d never refuse to help me, of course, but he didn’t exactly go out of his way to make things easier on me either, so I never asked him.”
“You shouldn’t have had to ask,” Zac said. “Helping when someone needs it is just being neighborly.”
“Maybe, but most of my ‘neighbors’ around here want me to fail and go back to Houston.”
“Was Tom among them?” Zac asked.
“Maybe. I know for certain his foreman was one of them.”
“You mean ol’ Bart?”
“Yeah. Bart. That mean ol’ fart made no secret that he doesn’t like me. That’s why I tried never to ask for anything.”
“But Bart doesn’t like anybody, me included. He also doesn’t run the place anymore,” Zac said. “If you need something, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks for the gesture,” she said softly. “I appreciate it.”
“It’s not a damned gesture,” he almost growled. “I mean it. If there’s anything you can’t or don’t want to handle, Delaney, I want you to call me.”
“Thank you, Zac. If there’s anything I can’t handle, I promise I’ll call. I really have to get back to this fence. Was there a reason you phoned?”
Her question brought him back around to his purpose. “Well, yeah. I called because I’m going to look at some bucking bulls for Ty. There’s a big herd reduction at an outfit just north of Laredo. I hear they’ve been producing some pretty rank stock by crossing some bucking lines with fighting bulls. Any chance you’d like to come along?”
“To Laredo?” She hesitated, calculating the distance. “You’ll probably stay overnight, won’t you?”
“Yeah. If you wanted to go, I thought we could spend a night in San Antonio. We can get separate rooms if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I don’t think so, Zac,” she finally replied. “I appreciate the offer, but I really can’t get away right now. Too much work to do.”
“Do you want me to take a look at the prospects for you? You’d probably do better if I negotiate for you anyway.”
“Why’s that?” she asked, bristling with resentment. “You think I don’t know a good prospect when I see one?”
“Don’t be so defensive, Delaney. I only meant they might try to take advantage of you, given that most people know you have a lot of money to throw around.”
“Oh. I thought you meant—”
“I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, Zac. I’m just so used to people misjudging me.”
“Really? How ironic,” he mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing all along with me?”
“How?” she asked.
“First, you blamed me for your divorce. Then, at the auction, you assumed I was stealing your heifer. Since then, you’ve implied more than once that I have the morals of an alley cat. You don’t think a whole lot of my character, do you?”
“I’m sorry, Zac. I admit that I thought you only wanted sex, but there’s no reason for you to go to such ridiculous lengths for it. Maybe I jumped to a few conclusions.”
“It’s time to stop jumping, Delaney. I’m not one of those people who want to see you fail. I respect what you’ve accomplished.”
“You do?” Her tone rose in surprise.
“Damn straight,” he replied. “I’m in your corner and I intend to stay there.”
“You really mean that?”
“I say what I mean.”
“I appreciate that, Zac,” she said softly.
“Call you again when I get back?” he asked.
“Sure,” she replied. “I’ll be around.”
Delaney hung up with mixed feelings. Maybe she’d been too hard on him, but it had only been a few days since all this started, certainly not long enough to prove anything. Part of her had wanted to accept Zac’s invitation, but what she really needed right now was some distance and objectivity. Every time he even looked at her, she felt herself weakening just a little bit more. He’d made it clear he was determined to wear down her resistance. Laredo was over eight hours away. How much resistance would she have left after spending the better part of two days and one night with him?
Pocketing her phone with a sigh, she turned back to the job at hand. She hated pulling wire, but with Zac planning to buy bulls, it was time to reinforce the woven wire fence with a strand of barbed wire. The last thing she needed was for one of his bulls to come through it into her herd.