Chastity could tell by both of their body language that it wasn’t a pleasant conversation, and she sped toward them. As she got closer, she could hear her mother’s raised voice insisting that he leave. That was enough for her, and she cleared her throat.
“Excuse me,” she said, moving past him on the porch to insert herself between him and her mother. “Do you have business here?”
The man was a strange one, she realized now that she was standing close to him. His features were pleasant enough, but there was a cold sort of deadness behind his eyes and a viper’s kiss to his smile. He looked both stiff and sleezy at the same time, something Chastity hadn’t thought was possible until that moment. His light, blond hair was slicked back like a helmet, and his blue eyes were downright frigid.
“Yes, with Mrs. Parker. I work with several financial institutions and need to speak with her directly.”
Financial institutions? Crap.
“Well, I’m Ms. Parker and her power of attorney. My mother is under a great deal of stress right now, so you can direct any questions you have to me.”
“Is that so? How convenient for you to show up when you did then.” He set his briefcase down on the rail and pulled out a manila envelope, which he handed over to Chastity. “I work for First Stone Bank, and we have helped your parents manage their debt in the hopes to pay it off with less interest. However, after the passing of the account holder, I’m afraid that our previous arrangement is no longer in effect. We would like to work something out with Mrs. Parker and open an account in her name. However, her nearly non-existent credit history prevents us from giving her the same variables Mr. Parker had.”
Chastity felt her cheeks burn as her temper whipped up. Because, of course, this had to happen now. “Really? My father died less than a month ago and you’ve come to badger my mom about money?”
“I give my condolences and realize that this is, indeed, a difficult time. But it is imperative that we get ahead of this so that their debt doesn’t balloon with late fees and other penalties.”
Chastity sighed. At least this guy was polite. Sure, his timing was a bit cruel and he looked like he was dipped in sleaze and rolled around in a crumble of underhanded, but he was just doing his job.
“Look, my mother is ill—”
“What? No, I’m not! I’m just mad that this suit from some city came onto my porch, badgering me about your father’s affairs.”
His tone turned sharp as he addressed her mother over her shoulder. “For the last time, Mrs. Parker, I apologize for the poor timing, but it is just one of the things—”
“This isn’t necessary,” Chastity cut in. “Let’s step away, shall we? Like I said, my mother isn’t exactly herself—”
“Not myself? He’s a dirty scoundrel!” That made Chastity’s head whip in her direction. In all her years of life, she had never heard her mother talk to anyone that way. And sure, it was pretty low on the filthy-mouth totem pole, but it was still bizarre to hear. “And stop treating me like a child.”
“Please,” Chastity repeated at the man, feeling what little patience she had slip. “Let’s talk a bit away, okay?”
But he stood there like a rock, his bright eyes boring into Mrs. Parker. “I am here to help you. I would appreciate if you treated me with the same respect you would give any professional.”
“I’ll show you respect, you—”
“Sir!” For the second time in a few moments, Chastity found herself interrupting a string of expletives from her mother. When all of this was over, she needed to remember to put this in her mother’s health journal, because she was pretty sure that late afternoon or evening aggression was a sign of sundowning. “Please!”
She placed her hand on his arm, internally pleading with him to stop engaging with her mother and go deal with things far enough away to be productive. But instead of budging, his hand covered hers.
“Your mother is quite rude,” he sneered, his expression darkening. “Tell me, are you more polite than the woman who raised you?”
“I told you, she’s ill. She’s not normally like this.”
“What she is normally like doesn’t so much matter as what she is now.” His fingers curled around hers, and she suddenly found herself unable to pull away. “Honestly, I’m liable to go to the bank and tell them just how inhospitable she is. Unless… you were able to convince me otherwise.”
Chastity stared at him with wide eyes, wondering if she was hearing what she thought she was hearing. “Pardon me?”
His fingers tightened, pinching into her tanned skin. “I am a forgiving man. I can think of one, or perhaps two things that might motivate me to forget that my conversation with Mrs. Parker even happened.”
Oh.
Oh no.
He was saying exactly what Chastity feared he meant, and all she could do was stare at him in shock. He wanted her to sleep with him?
This couldn’t be real. People didn’t do this in small towns like this, did they?
He took a step toward her, closing the gap between them, and suddenly Chastity found herself faced with a decision that she never thought she would come across. Part of her wanted to haul off and punch him with all of her might, but another, very small and scared part of her was wondering what all the consequences were if she were to say no.
“Well, Ms. Parker?”
13
Ben
Ben watched as water poured over his hands, some of it splashing up over the side of the small bathroom sink as he wondered just how he had ended up back at the Parker house.
It was borderline pathetic really. It had been a week since he had last seen Chastity, and he couldn’t get her out of his head. She ran through his thoughts on a nearly hourly basis, anything and everything reminding him of her. From the faint scent of vanilla from his mother baking cookies, to her favorite morning glories blooming with the sunrise, even to the way his horse Gertie would wuffle for treats. Goodness knows how much Chastity had spoiled his last mount with carrots, sugar cubes, and apples.
So, after several nights of unsatisfied sleep and roaming thoughts, he had convinced himself to visit—if only to check on Mrs. Parker and deliver some fatty foods that he had asked Ma to make if she had the free time.
Of course, Ma was pleased as punch that he was heading over there. He had the feeling that her heart had never closed to the idea of him and Chastity being together, even though Ben had told himself for years that he would never be with her again. She had always referred to the young woman as her future daughter-in-law and had been quite upset when they had broken up. Ben wanted to tell her that nothing was happening between them now, but he hadn’t. Instead, he took the warm, packaged-up meals from her and hopped in his truck.
But when he arrived, straightening his plaid shirt before picking up the food and knocking on the door, he soon found out that Chastity was out for an hour or two.
For a moment, Ben had figured that it was a sign and he should let sleeping dogs lie, but then his mouth had been moving and he offered to make some tea for the smiling Mrs. Parker. Naturally, she happily accepted, and he crossed over to the fridge to put the food away.
He didn’t like the sight he had been greeted by. The fridge was practically empty, with only half of a casserole and some condiments in the door. Turning back to Mrs. Parker, he had asked if they were running short.
She seemed much more lucid than at her trip to the doctor’s office, and she happily explained that Chastity was out buying groceries. Apparently, they’d been so busy that they had completely forgotten about them until they had run out a few days ago. Ben wasn’t sure how much he believed that, but he didn’t want to argue the point and instead went about making tea.
“What am I even doing here?” Ben asked himself, squirting some of the soap into his hands and lathering up. He made sure to get under his nails where dirt and grime from working liked to stick. While he didn’t mind getting filthy for his work, his mother had drilled into him how importa
nt it was to have clean hands in front of company.
But his mind was already back to retracing his steps. They had been sitting down at the table, chitchatting about the old times. She seemed to remember all of them and who he was. It really seemed as if she was an entirely different woman from the one he had taken to the doctor.
Eventually, however, the tea grew cold in his third cup and he had excused himself to the bathroom. Now he found himself staring at the mirror with water still pouring over his hands.
Yelling sounded from down on the first floor, and Ben quickly turned off the faucet, wiping his hands on one of the neat towels hanging from a rack. The shouting only increased as he struggled with the bathroom door for a moment. It had a habit of sticking back when he and Chastity were in high school, and apparently, it was still just as stubborn.
When he was finally out and down the stairs, he could hear Mrs. Parker rattling off an obscene string of swear words and a man answering her. He strode for the entrance, completely baffled, and words started to reach him.
“Unless… you were able to convince me otherwise.” That was the unknown male voice. Ben knew instantly that he didn’t the sounds of that. It was somewhere between oil and ice, with little pricks of calculation in it.
“Pardon me?” That was Chastity. He knew her voice in an instant. She sounded completely surprised, which made him wonder what exactly the man was asking her to convince him of.
Ben was almost to the door when he got the answer. “I am a forgiving man. I can think of one, or perhaps two things that might motivate me to forget that my conversation with Mrs. Parker even happened.” There was a beat of silence, and Ben realized exactly what he was asking. His cheeks burned red, and suddenly the entire world shrank down as his anger swelled up inside of him. “Well, Ms. Parker?”
He could hear Chastity stammering something, but that was all she managed to get out before he was out the door. He crossed the distance, spotting the man’s hand wrapped around Chastity, and he ripped it from her.
“Can I help you?” he said, iron to his voice.
He took in every feature that he could about the man, unwilling to forget what he looked like. While Ben was not a violent man, he could feel rage seething below his skin, urging him to throttle the guy right in the nose.
“I don’t know who you are, sir, but I am here on business with the Parkers. Unhand me, now, before I feel the need to get the authorities involved.”
“Authorities?” Ben spat. The gall of this man. He knew this type; he was a city slicker, so drunk on power and greed that he thought he could order people this way and that while he gloated from his lofty position. “I’m sure they would be interested in the fact that you were propositioning a customer. You know soliciting sexual services is illegal here, no matter how big your pocket books are.”
“I recognize that your hillbilly pride no doubt compels you to solve everything with your fist, but I assure you that is not the wisest course of action.”
Ben took a step closer, still gripping the man’s hand. “If I wanted to strike you, I would. Now I suggest you get off this property before I lose my restraint.”
“How typical. It seems that you and Mrs. Parker are cut from the same cloth. So much for Western kindness. We’ll see how well your proclivity for vulgarity will do when calculating her new repayment—”
He never finished his sentence, but that was probably because a fist struck him right across the face, sending his head whipping to the side. Ben let go, staring in wonder as Chastity threw yet another punch that hit him in the chest.
“How dare you!” she cried, her eyes blazing with a righteous anger that Ben hadn’t seen since she was a freshman fending off a school bully. “You come to my home, you agitate my mother then insult her, you talk to me as if I’m some sort of prostitute, then you have the audacity to threaten my mother’s livelihood!”
The man righted himself and looked at Chastity with complete and utter surprise. While Ben was astounded too, he at least had seen her like this once before. A whirling tempest of a woman, a force of nature, staring him down like some sort of mighty, ancient deity from myth.
“You punched me!”
“You bet I did!” she snapped. “And I’ll do it again if you don’t go back to your bank in the city and work out a deal that will help my mother. I don’t want your charity, but you fight as hard as you can to get her a similar arrangement like you gave my father, and I won’t file a report that you tried to solicit sexual services from me. You got that?”
“You’re in no position to order me—”
Chastity lunged toward him, and Ben quickly strode forward and caught her, his strong arms wrapping around her middle. For a moment, he allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of her form against his once more, but he quickly shoved it out of his head. Now was not the time.
“If you think First Stone Bank is—”
Now it was Ben’s turn to interrupt. He would almost feel bad that the man hadn’t been able to finish a sentence in minutes, but he was far too much of a sleaze ball. “Wait, did you say First Stone Bank?”
The man straightened himself and looked surprised by the question. “Yes. What of it?”
“Oh, my family has several accounts with them. Perhaps you know of us. Does the name Miller sound familiar to you?”
All the color drained from his face, and he looked to Ben with wide eyes, completely ignoring how Chastity was still straining against him to possibly rip the man’s face off.
“Millers as in, uh, the Miller Ranch?”
“Yeah. Exactly,” Ben said, feeling the dynamic shift. “I’m Benedict Miller, to be exact. The eldest son. But if this is how your bank treats its patrons, I think it might be time to move our accounts elsewhere.”
“Now wait a minute. I—I see there has been a misunderstanding. Ms. Parker, I will make sure they are convinced to reinstate your father’s arrangement. We want to make everything as comfortable for you as we can in this time of need. Please, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you,” Ben said, barely withholding his smirk.
The man picked up his briefcase, which he dropped before picking it up again, and rushed off, leaving Ben still holding Chastity.
“Are you going to let me go?” Chastity asked after another moment.
“Oh. Right.”
Ben reluctantly released his hold on her, and they both turned to the door only to see Mrs. Parker standing there breathlessly, her hands on her hips.
“Now what in the good Lord’s name was that?” she said sternly, reminding Ben of the time she had caught him and Chastity making out on her bed. “I know that man wasn’t right with God, but that’s no excuse for violence. Chastity. When did I teach you to use your fists instead of your words?”
“Sorry, Mom,” Chastity said, calming down from her previous furor. Ben was surprised that she didn’t argue further, but a quick glance in her direction showed that she looked both embarrassed and tired. He wondered if her shopping trip had been especially stressful for her.
“Well, I suppose it can’t be helped. I—I think I might have used some language I shouldn’t. I...” Suddenly the imposing woman wilted a bit. “I’m awfully tired. I think I should go lie down. Will you two be all right?”
“We’ll be fine, ma’am,” Ben said quickly. Judging by the woman’s pale face and red cheeks, she looked like she should indeed go lie down.
“Please, call me Auntie Parker, like you used to.”
Ben nodded, and she wandered back into the house, leaving only Chastity and him on the front walkway.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” Chastity groaned, holding her head in her hands.
“I can’t believe you just punched a guy.”
“I can’t believe I only punched that guy,” she said with a smirk. “He deserved a lot worse.”
“Yeah, and if I wasn’t here, you might have given it to him.”
“You bet I would have.”
&n
bsp; They both shared a laugh, the stress of the situation fading away. Suddenly, all the walls were dropped, and Ben found himself unable to deny how amazingly attracted he was to this woman—whether she was pensively looking out of a window, her dark eyes swirling with concern, or whether she was punching a man in the face, rage radiating from her like a legendary fury.
From the moment their eyes had locked in that funeral home, he’d been caught up in the wonder that was Chastity Parker all over again. He was like a fly in a web, but there wasn’t anywhere else he wanted to be.
“Hey Chastity,” he murmured. She turned her head, and once more he was swallowed up by those perfect, onyx eyes.
“Yeah?”
His heart thundered in his chest, and his blood seemed to rush too loudly in his veins. Part of him, the one that had spent the past ten years shutting himself from the rest of the world and his heartache, told him to keep his mouth shut and go home before he made the same mistake he had made as a teenager. But there was another part of him, the one that he had tried to keep shut away for all these years that urged him onward.
“Wanna go on a date?”
14
Chastity
Chastity brushed her hair up into a tight ponytail, regarding the mirror as she wrangled her long tresses into a sleek but hopefully effortless-looking shape. Her makeup was done, complete with pouty dark lips and eyeshadow, and her outfit was spread out on her bed. She was practically ready, if only her hair would just cooperate.
Wanna go on a date?
Ben’s words echoed through her mind, and she looked to her reflection conspiratorially. She knew that nothing good could come from this idea, and yet—for some reason—she had agreed.
It wasn’t like anyone could blame her. The way he had come barreling out of the house, ripping that man’s hands away from her had reminded her about everything that had first made her fall in love with him. His kindness, his morals, the way he had always tried to protect her, but never treated her as if she was weak herself. He was like a knight in shining armor, but one who also handed her a sword when she needed one.
Her Second Chance Cowboy: Brothers of Miller Ranch Book One Page 8