One Night with the Wealthy Rancher

by Brenda Jackson

  He and Kevin began talking about the update he’d gotten on the fire at the Brody refinery. Darius was listening to Kevin’s take on why he thought Alex Montoya was responsible when he heard footsteps on the tile floor. He glanced up to see Summer walking out of her office. He was standing behind a pillar, so she didn’t have a full view of him, which to his way of thinking was a good thing. That way he could check her out at his leisure.

  She walked over to a row of file cabinets and he quickly recalled that he’d always thought her walk was a turn-on. There was a sexy sway to her hips with every step she took. She was wearing a pair of brown slacks and a light blue blouse. The lush curves of her hips and the firm swell of her breasts were outlined to perfection by her outfit. He couldn’t help standing there staring, taking in everything about her. He easily picked up on the differences in her, differences that, considering everything, he still couldn’t help but appreciate.

  She seemed a lot more self-assured, had taken ownership of her life and didn’t easily back down from a fight. She certainly didn’t have any problems trying to put him in his place earlier. The key word was trying. As far as he was concerned, when it came to her, he didn’t have a place, especially not one she could put him in.

  He should not have kissed her. But in all honesty, he could not have not kissed her. And now that he had, he wanted to kiss her again. Hold her in his arms. Take her to bed.

  Darius tightened his hand in a fist at his side, not liking the way his thoughts were going and liking even less that he wanted to do those things with the same woman who had crushed his heart. But her response to the kiss had caught him off guard—her complete surrender had made him hard in a way he hadn’t been in years.

  He had forced himself to end the kiss before he’d taken a mind to do something stupid like take her on her desk. He had been that far gone and she had been right there with him, although she’d gotten a little hot behind the collar later.

  “Darius? You still there?”

  His concentration was pulled back into the phone conversation, and he was trying like heck to recall what Kevin had just said. “Look, Kev, I’ll get back with you later. There’s something I need to do before it gets too late.”

  “Sure, man.”

  After snapping the phone shut, Darius walked toward Summer. She glanced in his direction with a surprised look on her face. “I thought you had left.”

  He forced a smile. “I’m sure you were hoping so, but I’m not the type who takes off without letting a person know why, unless there is reason outside of my control. Not like some people.”

  She glared at him. “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

  “Think about it. When you do, it won’t take you long to figure things out. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  Without giving her a chance to say anything else, he walked away.

  Darius tried to keep his composure as he eased his long legs into his car. Moments later, after he’d driven away from the shelter and was headed toward home, he let out the expletive that he’d been holding back. Summer was certainly playing the innocent act well, having the gall to pretend she hadn’t a clue what he was talking about when he’d thrown out his dig. He couldn’t help but wonder what else she was concealing. For all he knew she could very well know about his vast wealth or his membership in the TCC.

  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Despite the deep animosity he was feeling toward her, his body refused to deny that it wanted her. She could stir embers of passion within him without saying a word. All it took was a look, her presence or her scent to bring his libido to full awareness. He had to do something about her. She had invaded his comfort zone. His space.

  For six years he’d been living in Somerset, enjoying peace and harmony. Of all the cities for her to relocate to, why Somerset? Avoiding her wasn’t an option, although it would make his life a whole heck of a lot easier. Her very presence unsettled him in the worst way.

  He breathed in deeply and fought back the anger that was getting him riled all over again. If she wanted to pretend, then two could play that game. He was in a position to teach her the very lesson she deserved to learn. She’d wanted a rich husband and in his own way, he would let her know just how she’d lost out on one. He would bide his time, get on her good side and then, when she assumed things were going great between them, after he’d gotten her back in his bed, he would do the very same thing to her that she had done to him.

  Walk away without looking back.

  Three

  The following morning, with butterflies floating around in her stomach, Summer swiped her security card through the scanner before stepping into the shelter, hoping she was early enough to have arrived before Darius. He was the last person she wanted to see. She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and he was the reason. She’d been unable to get the kiss they’d shared yesterday out of her head.

  As she made her way toward her office, she refused to even consider the reason why she’d taken more time getting dressed this morning than she usually did. Why she had spent a good ten minutes more putting on her makeup and why had she pulled out the curling iron for the first time in weeks.

  When she stopped at Marcy’s desk, she checked her watch. Marcy wasn’t due in for another hour or so. Summer unlocked Marcy’s desk to retrieve a clipboard that listed all her appointments and meetings for that day. Perusing the clipboard, she began to see what her day was going to be like.

  “You look nice today.”

  Summer didn’t bother to turn around. She didn’t have to. She had left home with a made-up mind that no matter what, she was not going to let Darius rattle her. She was not going to allow him to make her come unglued and she would not look for condescension in his every word. So with that resolve, she would take his compliment in stride and assume he meant no more by it than what was said.

  She turned around and her hands automatically tightened on the clipboard the moment she did so. She then swallowed deeply as the nervous sensations stirring in her stomach escalated. How was it possible that he looked even better today than yesterday? He was casually but impeccably dressed. A different pair of jeans and a different shirt, but the utterly breathtaking look was still there. All lean. Well-defined muscles. Perfect abs. And with the tan-colored Stetson sitting on his head, tilted at an angle that shadowed his dark brows, she couldn’t help but admit he was truly a fine, handsome specimen of a man.

  “Thank you for the compliment. You look nice, also,” she heard herself say, determined not to get in a sparring match with him. “Will you need to be in my office today?”

  “No, I’ll be working in the other offices the majority of the day, other than when I start setting up the accounting for the TCC. It will be a while before I start on that.”

  She nodded, not wanting to prolong her time with him. “Then I guess I need to let you get started.”

  “How about lunch?”

  She stared up at him, certain she had misunderstood. “Excuse me?”

  He smiled and she felt a semblance of heat stirring in her blood, through her veins, in a number of other places she didn’t want to think about. “I asked if you wanted to do lunch with me.”

  “Why?” She couldn’t help but ask.

  “Why not? You gotta eat and so do I.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we have to share a meal,” she pointed out.

  His smile widened and the heat stirring in her blood intensified. “No, but it would mean that we’re trying to put the past behind us and move on,” he said. “
It’s not like we’re going to become bosom buddies, because we aren’t. But I’ll be hanging around here for the next couple of weeks, so we might as well learn how to get along. I’m not going anywhere and I doubt you are, either. So, what about lunch?”

  “I’m not sure that would be a good idea, Darius.”

  “What was it that you said yesterday? Oh, yes, your very words were, ‘We’re professionals and are mature enough to make the best of it.’”

  Summer breathed in deeply. Yes, those had been her very words.

  “I promise not to bite.”

  She opened her mouth to say something and changed her mind, quickly shutting it. A twist of emotions rumbled in her chest and she knew why. Darius was offering the olive branch, the chance to move on and put what they’d once shared behind them since there was no way it could ever happen again. And deep down she knew she needed that.

  She couldn’t continue carrying the bitterness of the last seven years. If they were doomed to live in the same town and would be running into each other on occasion, at least they could be civil to each other. But there was no chance of them ever getting back together. For her, the pain had gone too deep.

  “Lunch will be fine,” she heard herself say, hoping she didn’t live to regret it.

  “Great. You pick the place, just as long as they sell good hamburgers.”

  She couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. Some things evidently never changed and his love for hamburgers was one of them. “Too much ground beef isn’t good for you,” she said, quoting what she’d told him over a hundred times in the past.

  And as expected, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know, and the key words are too much. I’ve become a physical fitness addict, so I don’t indulge in too many things that aren’t good for me, but there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a big, juicy hamburger every once in a while.”

  Summer decided not to say anything more on the matter. It was evident by his perfect body that he was into physical fitness. “I guess not. I’ll be in the lobby at noon.”

  Darius stretched his neck to work out the kinks as he leaned back in the chair, away from the computer. He glanced up at the clock. It was almost noon.

  He stood and stretched his entire body, refusing to acknowledge the anticipation he felt over joining Summer for lunch. Instead, he tried convincing himself that his nerves were the result of knowing he was slowly but surely breaking down her defenses and in good time, he would have the upper hand.

  He was leaving the small office when his ears picked up the sound of commotion coming from the front of the building, near the lobby. He quickened his stride and when he rounded the corner, he saw a man standing outside the building with a baseball bat in his hand, threatening to break the glass door if he wasn’t allowed to come in to get his wife and children. Summer, Darius saw, was talking to the man on the intercom, trying to reason with him.

  He watched her, amazed at how calmly she was speaking to the man, clearly determined not to get ruffled by the vulgar language he was using and the threats he was making.

  He glanced over at Marcy, who was sitting at her desk. “Have the police been called?” he asked, shifting his attention back to the scene being played out a few feet away. “And where the hell is security?” he continued, keeping his gaze fixed on Summer. She continued to appear composed as she tried to settle the man down and convince him to go away.

  “The police are on their way. Our security guard called in sick this morning.”

  Darius looked at Marcy. “They didn’t send a replacement?”

  “Not yet.”

  Darius frowned. Huntington and his group had voted against the idea of Darius’s firm being in charge of all the security for the shelter. Instead, Huntington had recommended a security company the TCC had used in the past, claiming it was top-notch. The majority of the members had gone along with him except for Lance, Kevin, Mitch and Justin. When they had been outvoted, as a compromise, they had pushed for the club to consider Darius to handle the security for all the computers and to set up the billing system.

  Huntington had fought hard against it, saying Darius was too new to the club to take on such tasks, but he had lost the fight when Alex Montoya had sided with them instead of Huntington’s group. Darius got the feeling that in addition to the bad blood between Alex and the Brodys, there was bad blood between Alex and Huntington. But then it seemed Huntington had a beef against anyone under the age of forty who joined the club.

  The sound of breaking glass recaptured Darius’s attention and in a flash he raced forward and placed himself in front of Summer just as the man who was wielding the bat forced his way through the broken glass toward her.

  “Be a man and hit me instead of a woman. I dare you,” Darius snarled through gritted teeth, not trying to hide the searing rage coursing through him.

  The man evidently thought twice about following through on Darius’s offer and dropped the bat, taking a step back. Within seconds, the shelter was swarming with police officers. Two of them quickly came through the broken glass door to apprehend the man, who didn’t put up a fight.

  Darius turned to Summer. “Are you all right?” he asked in a low voice. He hadn’t realized just how angry he was until now. If that man had harmed a single strand of hair on her head, Darius would have gone ballistic.

  In a way, Darius wished the man had taken him up on his offer. That would have given him the excuse he needed to flatten him. The man had just proven what a coward he was. He was willing to take a bat to a woman, but had wasted no time backing away instead of squaring off with a man equal to his size and weight.

  He watched Summer breathe in deeply. “Yes, I’m fine. It’s not unusual for a husband to show up wanting to see his wife and children, and when we tell them they can’t, most move on. Once in a while, we get someone like Mr. Green who refuses to abide by our rules and causes problems. Usually when that happens, security handles it.”

  Darius nodded. He would be calling a special meeting of the TCC to make sure something like this didn’t happen again. He didn’t want to think what could have happened had he not been there. There was no doubt in his mind that the man intended to use that bat on someone.

  Before he could say anything, a police officer approached them to obtain their statements. After recording all the facts, the officer advised Summer that she would need to go down to police headquarters so formal charges against the man could be filed.

  No sooner had the officer walked away than a woman Darius recognized as a staff member walked up. “Excuse me, Ms. Martindale, but some of the women are upset. They heard a man was trying to force his way inside.”

  Summer nodded. “Okay, I’m on my way to meet with them.”

  She then turned back to Darius. “Thanks for your help. I really didn’t think he would go so far as to break down the glass. I was hoping that I’d be able to talk some sense into him.”

  She glanced at her watch. “I need to calm down the women and then go to the police station. I guess lunch is off now.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s not. Go meet with the women and then I’ll drive you to headquarters. Afterward, on the way back, we’ll grab something to eat.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” She started to walk away and then glanced at all the glass around the door.

  “Go on. I’ll make sure this mess is cleaned up and get the glass replaced,” he said.

  She gave him an appreciative smile before hurrying off with the staff member.

  When she’d rounded the corner, Darius released a
curse and pulled the cell phone from his belt, hitting the speed dial for Lance’s number. His best friend answered on the first ring. “Hey, what’s up, Darius?”

  “There was an incident here at the shelter and security was not in place. We need to call a TCC meeting.”

  “I thought we were never going to get out of there,” Summer said as they left police headquarters. Darius led her over to his car.

  After calming down the women and children, she’d had to meet personally with Gail Green to let her know what her husband had done. Then Summer had to assure Gail that the shelter wouldn’t be putting her and her two children out because of the incident.

  Gail and her two little boys had arrived at the shelter three days ago after fleeing from their home in the middle of the night. The bruises on her body were evidence enough that she’d been in an abusive situation, but like a number of other women who sought refuge at the shelter, she had refused to press charges.

  “I thought they handled everything in a timely manner,” Darius said, smiling faintly as he opened the car door for her.

  She rolled her eyes. “Spoken like a true ex-cop.”

  He chuckled before closing her door and moving around the car to the other side. The clock on his console indicated it was after three and they still hadn’t eaten lunch.

  “Where to?” he asked when he got settled behind the wheel with his seat belt in place. “And don’t say back to the shelter because it won’t happen. I’m taking you somewhere so we can grab something to eat. I’m hungry even if you’re not.”

  As if on cue, her stomach growled and Summer couldn’t help but grin. “Sorry. I guess that means I’m hungry, too. Have you tried that café around the corner from the shelter? The Red Sky.”

  “No. I’ve passed by it a few times but have never eaten there.”

  “Then I guess this is your lucky day because that’s where I want to go.”