The Cowboy and the Lady Page 4

  “Will you, Jace?” she’d persisted meekly.

  “Maybe,” was as far as he’d commit himself. He’d wheeled the horse without another word, leaving her to stare after him in a hopeless, disappointed daze.

  The amazing thing was that Jace had come to the party with Duncan, dressed in immaculately stylish dark evening clothes. He looked like a fashion plate, and, to Amanda’s sorrow, he was neatly surrounded by admiring teenage girls before he was through the door. Most of her girlfriends were absolutely beautiful young debutantes, very sophisticated and worldly. Not at all like young Amanda, who was painfully shy and unworldly, standing quietly in the corner with her blond hair piled on top of her head. Her exposed throat looked vulnerable, her pink lips soft, and her brown eyes stared wistfully at Jace despite the fact that Duncan spent the evening dancing attendance on her. She’d looked down at her green-embroidered white organdy dress in disgust, hating it. The demure neckline, puffed sleeves and full, flowing skirt hadn’t been exciting enough to catch and hold Jace’s eye. Of course, she’d told herself, Jace was twenty-five to her sixteen, and probably wouldn’t have been caught dead looking at a girl her age. But her heart had ached to have him notice her. She’d danced woodenly with Duncan and the other boys, her eyes following Jace everywhere. She’d longed to dance just one dance with him.

  It had been the last dance, a slow tune about lost love that Amanda had thought quite appropriate at the time. Jace hadn’t asked her to dance. He’d held out his hand, and she’d put hers into it, feeling it swallow her fingers warmly. Even the way he danced had been exciting. He’d held her young body against his by keeping both hands at her waist, leaving her hands to rest on his chest while they moved lazily to the music. She could still smell the expensive oriental cologne he’d been wearing, feel the warmth of his tall, athletic body against the length of hers as they moved, sense the hard, powerful muscles of his thighs pressed close to her even through the layers of material that made up her skirt. Her heart had gone wild in her chest at the proximity. New, frightening emotions had drained her, made her weak in his supporting arms. She’d looked up at him with all her untried longings plain in her eyes, and he’d stopped dancing abruptly and, catching her hand, had led her out onto the dark patio overlooking the night lights of Victoria.

  “Is this what you want, honey?” he’d asked, crushing her against him with a curious anger in his voice. “To see how I rate as a lover?”

  “Jace, I didn’t—” she began to protest.

  But even as she opened her mouth to speak, his lips had crushed down on it, rough and uncompromising, deliberately cruel. His arms had riveted her to the length of him, bruising her softness in a silence that had combined the distant strains of music with the night sounds of crickets and frogs, and the harsh sigh of Jace’s breath with the rustle of clothing as he caught her ever closer. His teeth had nipped her lip painfully, making her moan with fright, as he subjected her to her first kiss and taught her the dangers of flirting with an experienced man. With a wrenching fear, she’d felt his big, warm hand sliding up from her waist to the soft, high curve of her breast, breaking all the rules she’d been taught as he touched and savored the rounded softness of her body.

  “It’s like touching silk,” he’d murmured against her mouth, drawing back slightly to stare down at her. “Look at me,” he’d said gruffly. “Let me see your face.”

  She’d raised frightened eyes to his, pushing at his hand in a flurry of outrage and embarrassment. “Don’t,” she’d whispered.

  “Why not?” His eyes had glittered, going down to the darkness of his fingers against the white organdy of her bodice. “Isn’t this why you asked me here tonight, Amanda? To see if a ranch hand makes love like a gentleman?”

  She’d torn out of his arms, tears of humiliation glistening in her eyes.

  “Don’t you like the truth?” he’d asked, and he laughed at her while he lit a cigarette with steady fingers. “Sorry to disappoint you, little girl, but I’ve gone past ranch hand now. I’m the boss. I’ve not only paid off Casa Verde, I’m going to make a legend of it. I’m going to have the biggest damned spread in Texas before I’m through. And then, if I’m still tempted, I might give you another try.” His eyes had hurt as they studied her like a side of beef. “You’ll have to round out a bit more, though. You’re too thin.”

  She hadn’t been able to find the right words, and Duncan had appeared to rescue her before she had to. She’d never invited Jace to another party, though, and she’d gone to great lengths to stay out of his way. That hadn’t bothered him a bit. She often suspected that he really did hate her.

  * * *

  That night, Amanda slept fitfully, her dreams disturbed by scenes she couldn’t remember when she woke up early the next morning. She dragged herself out of bed and pulled on the worn blue terry-cloth robe at the foot of her bed, her long blond hair streaming down her back and over her shoulders in a beautiful silver-blond tangle that only made her look prettier. She huddled in the robe in the chill morning air that blew the curtains back from the window. She’d opened it last night so that she could drink in the fresh clean country air.

  A knock at the door brought her to her feet again from her perch on the vanity bench, and she yawned as she padded barefoot to the door. Her eyes fell sadly to the old robe, remembering satin ones she used to own that had dainty little fur scuffs to match. Her shoulders shrugged. That life was over. It was just a dream, washed away by the riptide of reality.

  She opened the door, expecting Maria, and found Duncan grinning down at her, brown-eyed and boyish.

  “Good morning, ma’am,” he said merrily.

  “Duncan!” she cried, and, careless of convention, threw herself into his husky arms. They closed around her warmly and she caught the familiar scent of the spice cologne he’d always worn.

  “Missed me, did you?” he asked at her ear, because he was only a couple of inches taller than she was—not at all as towering and formidable as Jace. “Not even a postcard in six months, either.”

  “I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me,” she murmured.

  “Why not? It wasn’t my bull you ran over.” He chuckled.

  “No, it was mine,” came a rough voice from behind Duncan, and Amanda stiffened involuntarily.

  Tugging away from Duncan, she shook back her wealth of soft, curling hair and glared at Jace’s set face. He was dressed for work this morning, in expensively cut but faded jeans and a gray shirt that just matched his cold, narrow eyes. Atop his head was the old black Stetson.

  “Good morning, Jace,” she said with chilling sweetness. “So sorry I forgot my manners yesterday. I haven’t thanked you for your warm reception.”

  Jace threw up an eyebrow, and there was something indefinable in the look he gave her. “Don’t strain yourself, Lady.”

  Her face burned. “My name is Amanda. Or Miss Carson. Or hey, you. But don’t call me Lady. I don’t like it.”

  One corner of Jace’s hard mouth went up in a taunting smile. “Brave in company, aren’t you? Try it when we’re alone.”

  “Make sure your insurance is paid up first, won’t you?” she said, smiling venomously.

  “Now, friends,” Duncan interrupted, “this is no way to start off a beautiful morning. Especially when we haven’t even had breakfast.”

  “Haven’t we?” Amanda asked. “Your brother’s had two bites of me already.”

  Jace cocked his head at her and his eyes sparkled dangerously, like sun on ice crystals. “Careful, honey. I hit back.”

  “Go ahead,” she challenged bravely.

  “On my own ground,” he said with the light of battle kindling in his face. “And in my own time.” He looked from Amanda to Duncan. “What came out of the meeting?”

  “Jenkins is interested,” the younger man replied with a smile. “I think I hooked him. We’ll know tomorrow. Mean-while, has Black explained what the ad agency can do for us on that Florida development?”

&nb
sp; “Briefly, but not in any detail,” Jace replied.

  “What do you think?” Duncan persisted, his brown eyes questioning Jace’s gray ones.

  Jace stared back. “I’ll have to hear more about it. A hell of a lot more.”

  “Sounds like we’re in for a long week.” The younger man sighed.

  “It may be too long for some of us,” came the curt reply, and a pair of silvery eyes cut at Amanda. “And if Lady here doesn’t get that chip off her shoulder, Black can damned well take his proposal back to San Antonio without my signature on any contract.”

  Amanda hated him for that threat. It was all the more despicable because she knew he meant it. He’d carry his resentment of her over into business, and he was ruthless enough to deny Terry the account out of sheer spite. Jace never bluffed. He never had to. People always came around to his way of thinking in the end.

  “Now, Jace,” Duncan began, mediating as always.

  “I’ve got work to do,” Jace growled, pivoting on his booted heel. “Come on down to the Kennedy bottoms when you’ve had breakfast and I’ll show you the young bull I bought at the Western Heritage sale last week.”

  “Can I bring Amanda?” Duncan asked with calculating eyes.

  Jace’s broad shoulders stiffened. He glanced back angrily. “I’d like to keep this one,” he said curtly, and kept walking.

  Amanda’s face froze. She glared at the long, muscular back with pure hatred. “I wish he’d fall down the stairs,” she muttered.

  “Jace never falls,” he reminded her. “And if he ever did, he’d land on his feet.” He grinned down at her. “My, my, how you’ve changed. You never used to talk back to him.”

  “I’m twenty-three years old, and he’s not using me for a doormat anymore,” she replied with cool hauteur.

  Duncan nodded, and she thought she detected a hint of smugness in his eyes before they darted away. “Get dressed and come on down,” he told her. “I’m anxious to hear about the ad campaign you and Black have worked up.”

  “Do Tess and her father have to see it, too?” she asked suddenly.

  “Tess!” he grumbled. “I’d forgotten about her. Well, we’ll cross that bridge later. Jace and I have a bigger investment than the Andersons, so we’ll have the final say.”

  “Jace will side with them,” she said certainly.

  “He might surprise you. In fact,” he added mysteriously, “I’d bet on it. Get dressed, girl, time’s a-wasting!”

  She saluted him. “Yes, sir!”

  * * *

  Later in the day, Duncan took his guests out for a ride around the ranch on horseback, taking care to see that Terry—an admitted novice—got a slow, gentle mount.

  The ranch stretched off in every direction, fenced in green and white, with neat barns and even neater paddocks. It was a staggering operation.

  “Jace’s computer stores records on over a hundred thousand head,” Duncan told Terry as they watched the beefy Santa Gertrudis cattle graze, their rich red coats burning in the sun. “We’re fortunate enough to be able to run both purebred and grade cattle here, and we have our own feed-lot. We don’t have to contract our beef cattle out before we sell them. We can feed them out right here on the ranch.”

  Terry blinked. Ranch talk was new to him, but to Amanda, who knew and loved every stick and horn on the place, it was familiar and interesting.

  “Remember how that old Brahma bull of your father’s used to chase the dogs?” Amanda asked Duncan wistfully.

  He nodded. “Mother always threatened to sell him for beef after he killed her spaniel. When Dad died, she did exactly that,” he added with a shake of his head. “Over a hundred thousand dollars worth of prime beef. We actually ate him. A vindictive woman, my mother.”

  “Didn’t Jace try to stop her?” Amanda asked incredulously.

  “Jace didn’t know about it.” He chuckled. “Mother dared me to open my mouth. And he was off the property so much checking on the other ranches, he didn’t notice the animal was missing.”

  “What did he do when he found out?”

  “Threw back his head and laughed,” Duncan told her.

  Both eyebrows went up. “All that money…!”

  “Strange how different Jace is with you,” he remarked. “He’s the easiest man in the world to get along with, as far as the rest of us are concerned.”

  Amanda turned away from those probing eyes and looked out across the range. “Did you mention something about showing us the new bull?” she hedged.

  “Sure. Follow me.” Duncan grinned.

  * * *

  It was roundup at its best, and hundreds of calves were being vetted in a chuted corral with gates opening into paddocks on all four sides. In the midst of the noise, bawling cattle, dust, yelling cowboys and blazing sun was Jace Whitehall, straddling the fence, overseeing the whole operation. His interest in ranch work had never waned, even though he could have gone the rest of his life without ever donning jeans and a work hat again. He was rich now, successful, and his financial wizardry had placed him in a luxurious office in a skyscraper in downtown Victoria. He didn’t have to work cattle. In fact, for a man in his position, it was unusual that he did. But then Jace was unconventional. And Amanda wondered if he hadn’t really enjoyed ranch work more before it made him wealthy. He was an outdoor man at heart, not a desk-bound executive.

  He caught sight of Amanda at once, and even at a distance, she could feel the ferocity of his look. But she straightened proudly and schooled her delicate features to calmness. It wouldn’t do to let Jace know how he really affected her.

  “Don’t let him rattle you, Mandy,” Duncan said under his breath. “He picks at you out of pure habit, not malice. He doesn’t really mean anything.”

  “He’s not walking all over me anymore,” she returned stubbornly. “Whether or not he means it.”

  “Declaring war?” he teased.

  “With all batteries blazing,” she returned. She put up a hand to push a loose strand of her silvery hair back in place.

  “I came to see the calves,” Duncan called to his brother.

  Jace leaped gracefully down from the fence and walked toward them, pausing to tear off his hat and wipe his sweaty brow on the sleeve of his dusty shirt. “Did you need to bring a delegation?” he asked, staring pointedly at Amanda and Terry.

  “We did think about hiring a bus and bringing the kitchen staff,” Amanda agreed with a bold smile.

  Jace’s glittering silver eyes narrowed. “Why don’t you come down here and get cute,” he invited curtly.

  “Grass allergy,” she murmured. “Dust, too. Horrible to watch.”

  Duncan chuckled. “Incorrigible child,” he teased.

  “How do you stand the dust and the heat?” Terry asked incredulously. “Not to mention the noise!”

  “Long practice,” Jace told him. “And necessity. It isn’t easy work.”

  “I’ll never complain about beef prices again,” Terry promised, shading his eyes with his hand as he watched the men at work sorting and tagging and branding.

  “Hi, Happy!” Amanda called to an old, grizzled cowboy who was just coming up behind Jace with his sweaty hat pushed back over his gray hair.

  “Hello, Many!” the old cowboy greeted her with a toothless grin. “Come down to help us brand these little dogies?”

  “Only if I get a nice, thick steak when you finish,” she teased. Happy had been one of her father’s foremen before…

  “How’s your mama?” Happy asked.

  Amanda avoided Jace’s mocking smile. “Fine, thanks.”

  Happy nodded. “Good to see you,” he said, reading the hard look he was getting from Jace. “I’d better get back to work.”

  “Damned straight,” Jace replied curtly, watching the older man move quickly away.

  “It was my fault, Jace,” Amanda said quietly. “I spoke to him first.”

  He ignored her soft plea. “Show Black the Arabians,” he told his brother. “They’re
well worth the ride, if he thinks his anatomy will stand it,” he added with an amused glance at Terry, who was standing up in the stirrups with a muffled groan.

  “Thanks, I’d love to,” Terry said through gritted teeth.

  Jace chuckled, and just for a moment the hard lines left his face. “Don’t push it,” he advised the younger man. “It’s going to be tough walking again as it is. Plenty of time.”

  Terry nodded. “Thanks,” he said, and meant it this time. “I’ll pass on the horses today.”

  “We’ll head back, then,” Duncan said, wheeling his mount. “Amanda, race you!” he called the challenge.

  “Hold it!” Jace’s voice rang out above the bawling cattle.

  Amanda stopped so suddenly that she went forward in the saddle as a lean, powerful hand caught at the bridle of her mount and pulled him up short.

  “No racing,” Jace said curtly, daring her to argue with him as he averted his gaze to Duncan. “She’s too accident-prone.”

  Duncan only looked amused. “If you say so.”

  “I’m not a child,” Amanda protested, glaring down at the tall man.

  He looked up into her eyes, and there was a look in his that held banked-down flames, puzzling, fascinating. She didn’t look away, and something like an electric shock tore through her body.

  Jace’s firm jaw tautened and abruptly he released the reins and moved away. “If Summers calls me about that foundation sale, send somebody out to get me,” he told Duncan, and then he was gone, striding back into the tangle of men and cattle without a backward glance.

  Duncan didn’t say a word, but there was an amused smile on his face when they headed back to the house, and Amanda was glad that Terry was too concerned with his aching muscles to pay much attention to what was going on around him. That look in Jace’s eyes, even in memory, could jack up her heart rate. It wasn’t contempt, or hatred. It was a fierce, barely contained hunger, and it terrified her to think that Jace felt that way. Ever since her disastrous sixteenth birthday party, she’d kept her distance from him. Now, finally, she was forced to admit the reason for it, if only to herself. Fastidious and cool, Amanda had never felt those raging fires that drove women to run after men. But she felt them when she looked at Jace. She always had, and it would be incredibly dangerous to let him know it. It would give him the most foolproof way to pay her back for all his imagined grievances, and she wouldn’t be able to resist him. She’d know that for a long time, too.