Wyoming Rugged Read online

  Todd went back out quickly, before his friend even knew he was there. The look on his face, unguarded, had told him everything. He was in love with Niki. Desperately in love. And fighting it with his whole heart.

  Janet tried to brighten things up at dinner with party talk and jokes. He was still upset about Niki’s encounter with the drug dealer. But he didn’t want the girl forever. He’d made that clear. Janet still had a chance, and she was going to take it.

  After dinner, while they walked on the beach, she told him about the conversation with Niki, adding that the younger girl had said she was going to make a play for Blair and see if she could lure him into marriage. That was why she’d worn the seductive bathing suit.

  Blair didn’t say a word. He took her hand in his and asked how the commercial she was making was going.

  Janet felt a twinge of guilt. Niki was frail and couldn’t really hide how she felt about Blair. But this was war. Janet had seen him first, so to speak, and she wasn’t giving him up without a fight.

  * * *

  NIKI LOOKED AROUND for Tex at the Billings airport, on the Rimrocks. It was a small airport, but very modern, very nice. She had a suitcase with wheels, easy to roll. She was feeling miserable and just wanted to go home.

  Tex came around the corner, smiling from ear to ear when he saw her. “Well, hello, kid,” he teased, using his pet name for her. “Glad to be home in civilized surroundings again?”

  “Civilized and cowboys aren’t words that go easily together,” she said on a laugh. “Thanks for coming to meet me.”

  “Your dad was worried. Weren’t you supposed to fly home with him and Mr. Coleman on Monday?”

  “I had a bad experience on the beach,” she said, averting her eyes as they walked. “It spoiled the trip for me.”

  He put the suitcase in the back of the big, black Ford truck he drove and turned to her, pushing his Stetson back over thick black hair. “What sort of bad experience?” he asked, his pale blue eyes flashing in his tanned face.

  “A drug dealer on the beach made some...vulgar remarks to me and tried to get me to go to his room with him,” she said.

  “Damn! I hope your father has the police lock him up for the rest of his miserable life!” he said harshly.

  She smiled gently. Tex was only a few years older than she was, but mature and kind and patient. She liked him a lot. “Thanks, Tex. So do I.”

  “Odd that Mr. Coleman didn’t punch him,” he mused when they were in the truck headed home. “The way he did that stupid football player a while back,” he added on a chuckle.

  “He was busy at the time,” Niki said, making sure her voice sounded normal. “He and Dad were in a business meeting with some Mexican officials. I went to the beach alone. But Blair’s old girlfriend showed up and made the man leave, with some help from one of the hotel stewards. She’s nice. I guess if Blair married her, it wouldn’t be so bad. At least she’s far and away a better match for him than that vicious ex-wife of his who left him sick and refused to give up a party to come see about him!”

  “You get hot about him, don’t you?” he mused as he drove. “He’s a good man. One of my friends works for him. He’s a drill rigger. He said that Mr. Coleman would shed his fancy suit jacket and get right out there to work with the men when there was a problem with one of the rigs. He’s fair and honest, and he treats his workers well.”

  “That’s what Dad says, too,” she agreed. The casual remark that she got hot about him was true, but she didn’t want to talk about it.

  Tex drew in a breath when he glanced at her and saw her expression. “Harry has a sister who works at the restaurant downtown,” he said. “She mentioned that she saw you and Dan Brady there.”

  “Yes,” she sighed. “I ordered fried fish, and the battle began.” She glanced at him. “You know, anything that tastes good is especially bad for you. We should all be eating alfalfa sprouts and taking herbal supplements.”

  He scowled. “You got a fever or something?”

  She chuckled. “That was Dan’s attitude. I have asthma because I don’t exercise enough or eat the right foods.” She glanced at him from under her eyelashes.

  “A man who wants to change you doesn’t love you,” he replied.

  She smiled gently. “You’re very perceptive, Tex.”

  “I’m a student of human nature,” he replied. “Plus, I did a few courses in psychology when I went to college, after the military.”

  “Gosh, you never mentioned that you were in the military.”

  “Never talk about it,” he said. “I was in Iraq.”

  “I see.”

  He glanced at her. “The fighting was pretty brutal. Some things get to you.”

  She studied his lean, handsome face. There were more lines in it than she’d realized. He wasn’t as young as she’d first thought. “I thought you were only a couple of years older than me. But you aren’t, are you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m pushing thirty-four.”

  She grinned. “Old and ancient, aren’t you? Do your poor old bones creak when you move?” she teased.

  He laughed. “They do. I was in an armored vehicle when the lead vehicle in our convoy was hit by an IED.” His breath let out slowly. “We all caught some shrapnel. I got mine in the hip. So I can tell you really accurately when it’s going to rain,” he added. “Bone injuries lead to arthritis in the joints.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...”

  “Stop that,” he chuckled. He looked at her with warm, soft eyes. “Everybody has scars, kid. Some are deep.” The smile faded. “Heart deep,” he added, as if he knew how she felt about Blair.

  She turned her purse in her hands and stared at it instead of him. “Yes,” she confessed. “Some are...very deep.”

  She turned her eyes to the pasture as they approached the turnoff to the ranch. They didn’t speak again.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  BLAIR AND TODD showed up at the Ashton ranch on Monday, but Niki was nowhere in sight.

  Todd called Tex at once. “Where is she?” he asked.

  “Went to work,” he replied on a sigh. “Said even if her boss was gone, there was some work she needed to catch up on, so she wouldn’t have so much overtime when he came back.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Tex.”

  “I hope they get that lowlife drug dealer,” Tex said coldly. “And shut him up in jail for the rest of his miserable life.”

  “So do I, frankly. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Got the purebred calves through the process?” he asked, because his breeding herd dropped calves in late spring.

  “Almost,” Tex replied. “We’ll finish up by tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of calves to brand and vaccinate and tag,” he added on a chuckle. “That’s not a complaint! Nice to have the pastures full again, after that winter nightmare we had a couple of years back.”

  Ranchers had lost almost a hundred thousand head of cattle in the worst winter storm in years over the territory two years ago. Todd’s ranch had suffered along with many others.

  “I certainly agree,” he told Tex. “If you need anything, pick it up at the hardware and charge it to my account.”

  Tex knew that, but he didn’t say a word. Mr. Ashton was obviously worried about Niki and not thinking straight.

  “Will do, boss.” He hung up.

  Blair’s eyebrows were arched.

  “She went to work,” he told the other man. “I suppose she didn’t want to sit around here and brood.”

  Blair drew in a long breath. “Then I should go home...”

  “Stay the night,” Todd replied. “We’ve had a long trip. Don’t push it. You need rest.”

  Blair hesitated, but he gave in. He wanted to see Niki. Wanted a chan
ce to explain, to make things right with her, if he could. Hurting her wasn’t an option. He’d done enough of that already.

  * * *

  DAN BRADY COULD be good company, but today he was driving Niki to distraction.

  “Listen, I appreciate your interest in my health,” she told him finally after ten minutes of nonstop prompting about the herbal remedies he wanted her to take. “But I really am allergic to a number of herbs. Do you want to explain to my father why I went into anaphylactic shock because I took some herbs that my allergist didn’t know about?”

  He just stared at her. “How can herbs cause you to go into shock?” he asked, exasperated. “They’re there to help you!”

  “They won’t help me if I’m allergic to them!”

  He threw up his hands. “I give up. You won’t even try!”

  “Dan,” she said, pretending a patience she really didn’t feel, “you can’t prescribe substances for anyone without risking a lawsuit, don’t you know that? You don’t have a medical degree, for God’s sake!”

  He started to reply when Mr. Jacobs came in from the parking lot, looking worn and disheveled. He overheard part of the conversation and gave Dan a cold look.

  “I agree with Miss Ashton,” he said at once. “Doctors prescribe, Brady. Doctors!”

  Dan glared at both of them and walked off without another word.

  “Sorry,” Niki said when they were in Mr. Jacobs’s office behind a closed door. “He was getting rather agressive.”

  “Don’t you listen to him,” he cautioned. “Herbs can be beneficial, I agree. But there are specialists if you want to go that route. I wouldn’t risk my health or my daughter’s on the say-so of some...quack who thinks he knows what he’s doing!”

  “Thanks, Mr. Jacobs,” she said, and smiled. “He really cares about people, I think. He just goes overboard.”

  He cocked his head. “Do you want to know what sort of person he is, Miss Ashton? He’s the sort who will let you drown in the river, and then be the first to come to your funeral and criticize the way you drowned.”

  She had to muffle a laugh. She turned it into a cough. “Sorry.”

  He chuckled. “Since you came in early, and I came in early, we might as well get a little work done. How was Cancun?”

  “Hot,” was all she said.

  He nodded. “Beautiful, though. Did you get to see the ruins?”

  “I ran out of time,” she replied, without explaining how.

  “Well, perhaps another time.”

  “Perhaps,” she agreed.

  * * *

  DAN HOVERED BY the front door when Niki was leaving the office. “Listen,” he said, “I sort of hammer things to death, you know? I just want to help you. I don’t mean to be pushy about it.”

  She smiled at him. “It’s okay. It’s not a bad thing to be passionate.”

  “Of course it isn’t. You’re coming on the hike week after next, right? You promise?”

  She drew in a breath. “I’d like to.”

  “Great! We’ll talk about specifics closer to time. You going straight home?”

  “I have to,” she said. “My father will be getting home.”

  He frowned. “I thought you went together.”

  She hoped the flush didn’t show. “His meeting ran over, so he had to stay an extra day,” she prevaricated.

  “Oh, I see.” He smiled. “Well, catch you tomorrow. Have a good evening.”

  “You, too, Dan.”

  * * *

  SHE DROVE HOME SLOWLY. She dreaded having to talk to her father. She couldn’t tell him what had really happened. That would have been too involved anyway. But she had to come up with some excuse that would placate him.

  The story about the drug dealer on the beach would be enough. Surely Janet had gone to dinner with Blair and her father, after cajoling an invitation out of Niki, and she would have told them all about the incident.

  She recalled leaving her bathing suit in the trash can. If her father had seen that, he’d know for himself that she’d been upset over the beach. With any luck, he’d never realize that her bad experience had more to do with Blair’s coolness than her encounter with the drug dealer.

  * * *

  SHE PULLED INTO the garage at the ranch, parked her car and went slowly into the house. She was tired. The trip home had been uncomfortable enough, without going into work so early. And the pollen was already getting to her. It was so thick that the sidewalk leading to the front porch was yellow.

  She started into the door and almost walked right into Blair Coleman.

  A scarlet flush bloomed on her cheeks. She swallowed, clutching her purse. “Blair,” she began, nodding as she tried to go past him.

  It didn’t work. His mouth made a thin line as he caught her arm and led her back outside to his rental car. He put her inside, got in himself and drove off.

  Niki didn’t say a word. She couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t make a bad situation even worse.

  He pulled up at a roadside park, cut off the engine, helped her out and walked down to the wide, shallow river with her. A stand of lodgepole pines sheltered the cleared area from the road. He stuck his hands in his pockets and stared out over the river.

  “Janet told us what happened to you at the beach,” he said, with his back to her. The eyes she couldn’t see were stormy. “Your father and I sent the authorities after the drug dealer. He’ll be caught and sent back to jail. No matter what it takes,” he added bitterly.

  She wasn’t surprised that her father had wanted revenge on the man. But Blair’s attitude was curious. She crossed her arms tightly around her chest and stood quietly beside him, watching the river flow by.

  She said, “I bought that new bathing suit because it was so beautiful. It looked sophisticated and I thought...” She ground her teeth together. “It’s a mistake I won’t make twice. I’m...sorry, about wearing it out on the beach...” She couldn’t go on.

  He groaned, deep in his throat. His hands, in his pockets, were balled into fists. “No. It was my fault,” he said curtly. “I should never have touched you.”

  So he regretted it. What had she expected, that he’d say he had no regrets? That was the stuff of romantic films, romantic books, not of life.

  “I threw it away,” she said, hoping to placate him.

  He closed his eyes on a wave of pain. She’d looked so beautiful in it. He’d carry the picture of her like that for the rest of his life, and he couldn’t, didn’t, dare tell her. He’d crossed the line with Niki. Now he had to control himself. It wasn’t going to be easy.

  He drew in a long breath. “I’m not going to be around for a while,” he said, without looking at her. “I have divisions I need to visit in person, conferences I need to have with my managers. I’ve let things slide in the business since the divorce.”

  “Janet is very nice,” she said, averting her eyes. “I liked her a lot. She was kind to me. She gave the drug dealer what-for and ran him off.”

  “I know. She told us,” he said absently. “I’ve known her for a long time.”

  “She said your mother liked her.”

  “Yes. She was fond of Janet.”

  She swallowed down bitterness. “She’s a brunette, too,” she said, trying to smile. “You’re fond of brunettes.”

  “I always have been.” It wasn’t the complete truth. He had a passion for a beautiful young blonde woman who was an arm’s length away but might as well have been on Mars.

  The sound of the river flowing by, watery and soothing, was all they heard for a few minutes. Then Niki spoke.

  “Janet said the two of you were very close.”

  “Is that why you invited her to dinner with us, then got on the first plane back home?” he asked with faint bittern
ess.

  “I thought it would make you happy,” Niki replied. “After all, you took her to dinner the previous night.”

  Yes, he had, trying to avoid Niki and what was going to be inevitable if he spent any time around her. Especially after the taste of her he’d had on that Mexican beach. Just the memory of it almost brought him to his knees.

  Niki drew in a breath. “I’m really sorry...about what happened,” she said through her teeth.

  “Not your fault,” he returned. “You can’t help it if idiots make stupid comments about your choice of bathing suits. He’ll be found, and dealt with, no matter what it takes!”

  She turned, hesitant. Her cheeks colored. Eyes the color of an August fog looked up into his black ones. “I meant, what happened in the ocean...”

  He looked down at her. His broad face hardened. His eyes glittered. She was wearing a beige suit with a pale yellow blouse. It wasn’t low-cut or even suggestive, but her breasts under it had hard little peaks. The sight of them hurt him. She was attracted to him, violently attracted. She couldn’t hide it because she didn’t have the experience. It flattered him, maddened him, because there was no way she could fake her reaction. He was years too old for her. He was going to have to make her believe he felt nothing...

  “Oh, God,” he groaned. He drew her against him, swallowing her up in his hard arms, her head in the crook of his elbow, his eyes stabbing down into hers. She was already having trouble breathing. He could feel her heart hammering against him. His eyes fell to her soft mouth. “I tried...” He whispered huskily as he bent his head to hers.

  She felt the hunger in him even before his warm, hard mouth slowly covered hers. He was a little rough, because desire was riding him. But he was slow and patient.

  She didn’t even protest when one big hand smoothed up her rib cage and swallowed her small breast.

  He nipped her upper lip tenderly. “Help me,” he ground out.