by Lilian Darcy
She’d just turned onto the highway when she realized she was behind a shiny black pickup truck just like Sutter’s. Of course, black pickup trucks were hardly an anomaly in Rust Creek Falls, and she chided herself for the instinctive blip in her pulse. But as the vehicle slowed to turn into a driveway, she drew close enough to see the Washington State plate on the bumper.
Washington State plates, on the other hand, were anomalies. As she watched his vehicle bump along the long gravel driveway, she felt as if her heart was being squeezed inside her chest.
Apparently Sutter had decided to take a little detour on his way back to Seattle—to Shayla Allen’s ranch.
* * *
Ten hours later, Sutter finally turned into the drive by the sign that welcomed him to Traub Stables. It was after eight o’clock, so he was surprised to see Jenni’s truck still in the lot. Considering that she was invariably at the stables by six every morning, she was working extra late today.
He found her with Midnight Dancer, grooming the horse she’d helped birth two years earlier. She didn’t seem particularly worried or stressed about anything, but she didn’t seem her usual bubbly self, either.
“So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“You’ll have my letter of resignation tomorrow—consider this my two weeks’ notice.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t stay here, not if it means I have to work directly with Reese.”
“I don’t know if my brain’s a little slow because I drove five hundred miles today or if this conversation just isn’t making any sense to me,” he admitted. “There’ve never been any issues between you before, so why—after three years—do you suddenly have a problem with Reese?”
She met his gaze head-on. “I slept with him.”
These were his friends as well as his employees and Sutter liked and respected both of them, but he couldn’t deny the protective instinct that rose up in him. “Did he take advantage of you?”
She laughed, though the sound was without humor. “No. Actually I probably took advantage of him.”
“Should I be worried about a sexual-harassment suit?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay, you need to give me more information here. Not details,” he hastened to clarify. “Please—no details. Just explain to me how you went from sleeping with Reese to wanting to give up a job I know you love.”
“Because I love him, too.”
“Still not seeing the problem.”
She looked away, but not before he saw the shimmer of tears in her eyes. “Reese said it was a mistake—that he never should have let it happen.”
Sutter winced.
“See? Even you know that’s the wrong thing to say to a woman you were naked with,” Jenni noted. “But instead of saying ‘wow, that was incredible,’ because it was incredible—”
“Details,” Sutter reminded her.
“He’s more concerned with the fact that our actions would be seen as unprofessional.”
“By whom?”
“You.”
“You’re both adults—what you do on your own time is your business and absolutely none of mine. In fact, I’m quite happy to pretend we never had this conversation.”
“I told Reese that’s what you would say, but he was adamant. Which means that I’m either in love with a man who values his job more than he values me, or who’s looking for an excuse not to get into a relationship. Either way, I can’t stay here.”
“Please don’t make any hasty decisions.”
“I’m sorry, Sutter. I know this puts you in a difficult position, but I need to move on.”
“Instead of giving me your notice, why don’t you take a vacation?” he suggested.
Her brows lifted. “That’s your solution?”
“You’ve been working hard for the past few years—and even harder over the past several months. You deserve some time off, a break from the routines.”
“A break from Reese, you mean?”
He shrugged. “Maybe what he needs is some time to think about what his life would be like without you in it.”
“And maybe he’ll decide he likes it better that way.”
“If he does, then he doesn’t deserve you.”
She sighed. “Do you really think it will work?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m probably the last person who should be giving relationship advice.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because it seems that I keep screwing up with the only woman I’ve ever loved—and I actually thought things were back on track.”
“This would be the girl you left behind when you first moved out to Seattle?” Jenni asked.
Sutter nodded. “But only after I asked her to come with me, and she said no.”
“And when you started to get things back on track—and by that, I assume you mean you got her back into bed,” she said drily, “you left her again.”
“Because you called and said I was needed here.”
Now it was her turn to wince. “You slept with her and then left because of a call from another woman?”
“It wasn’t like that,” he protested.
“It sounds exactly like that to me,” she told him. “And I’m sure that’s how it sounded to her.”
Sutter scowled. “Then she wasn’t listening to what I was saying, because I told her I would be back.”
“Did you tell her when?”
“I could hardly give her a firm return date when I didn’t know how long it would take to work things out here.”
“You also didn’t say, ‘I’ll be gone for a few days—a week at most—but I’m coming back to you.’”
“You think that would have made a difference?”
She huffed out an exasperated breath. “You’re as much an idiot as Reese.”
“At least I know what I want,” he said. “Which is why I’m thinking about making a permanent move back to Rust Creek Falls.” His thoughts shifted to his meeting with Shayla Allen—had it really only been earlier that morning? So much had happened since he’d awakened alone in Paige’s bed that he felt as if days had passed.
He frowned now, realizing that although it hadn’t been days, a lot of hours had passed and he still hadn’t heard from Paige. She hadn’t returned any of his calls or responded to any of his text messages, which wasn’t really surprising. Based on the letter she’d left for him, she was trying to cut all ties between them. He had no intention of letting that happen.
“What would you do in Rust Creek Falls?”
He gestured to encompass the stables. “Something like this.”
“Then you’ll need a trainer there,” she noted hopefully.
“Probably. But I know I need a trainer here.”
She shook her head. “I’m going to check online for an all-inclusive in Maui.”
Though it wasn’t what he wanted to hear, he figured it was a compromise he had to accept—at least for now. He couldn’t imagine Traub Stables without her, but if she insisted on leaving... “Would you really be willing to move to Montana?”
“I’d prefer Florida,” she said. “But Montana would suffice.”
“Why Florida?”
“Because it’s as far away from Seattle as you can get while still staying in the country.”
“Okay, then. I’ll figure out what’s going on in Montana and let you know.”
“She must be one special lady,” Jenni noted.
Sutter had no doubt that she was, even when she was driving him completely crazy. “I’ve never known anyone like her,” he admitted.
“So who’s going to handle things around here if I suddenly decide to take a trip to Maui?”
“I will.”
“I thought you were anxious to get back to Montana?”
“I was,” he agreed. “But I’ve decided that someone else needs some time to think.”
* * *
Paige’s cards had been sent, her cookies were baked and her house was decorated—aside from the tree, which she would get two weeks before Christmas. Though she spent the day with her family, she still liked to put up her own tree. Christmas was her absolute favorite time of the year—she loved everything about the holiday, especially the fact that she had all kinds of things to keep her busy and absolutely no time to waste thinking about Sutter Traub. But that didn’t stop her from thinking about him anyway.
She went shopping in Kalispell with Lindsay. She’d invited both of her sisters to make the trip with her, but Lani had already committed to babysitting for a friend who needed to shop without her kids in tow.
“When’s Sutter coming back?” Lindsay waited until they were resting their feet after a marathon trek through the toy store and savoring gingerbread lattes before she asked the question that Paige had been anticipating all day.
“I don’t know that he is.”
Her sister frowned. “Haven’t you talked to him?”
“Not since the day after Thanksgiving.” More specifically, not since the morning after they’d made love, but she wasn’t going to share that information with Lindsay.
“He hasn’t called?”
“He’s called,” she admitted. “Every day.”
“You’re not taking his calls,” Lindsay guessed.
“I don’t know what to say to him.”
“How about ‘I love you. Please come home’?”
“Except that Seattle is his home now,” she reminded her sister—and herself.
“You wouldn’t know it from the amount of time he’s spent in Rust Creek Falls over the past four months.”
“Yeah, it fooled me, too,” Paige admitted.
“You fell in love with him again, didn’t you?” Lindsay said, her tone just a little wistful.
She sighed. “I don’t think I ever stopped.”
“And yet you’re still here when he’s in Washington?”
“I have a job here, responsibilities I can’t just abandon.”
“Then why are you mad at Sutter for not abandoning his?”
“I’m not mad at Sutter.”
“You’re not taking his calls,” Lindsay reminded her.
“I’m...confused,” she admitted.
“Probably not half as confused as he is.”
“Why would he be confused?”
“Because less than a week ago he was in your bed and now you’re giving him the silent treatment.”
Paige’s jaw dropped. “He wasn’t— I’m not—” She blew out a breath. “How did you know?”
“Are you kidding? When you left with him on Thanksgiving, the heat between the two of you was practically melting your clothes away before you were out the door.”
“Okay, yes, he spent the night with me.”
“So what really happened to cause this one-eighty?”
“He got a phone call from his trainer and practically leaped out of bed to race back to her.” If it had been a genuine crisis at the stable—a sick horse, a disgruntled client, an employee embezzling funds—she would have understood the urgency of the situation. Instead, it was his trainer. His beautiful, blond, female trainer.
Not that he’d described Jenni to her in that way. In fact, he hadn’t given her any details about the woman he claimed was a friend as well as a valued employee. So Paige had looked her up and discovered that Traub Stables had its own website, including bios and photos of the employees—and that Jenni Locke was undeniably gorgeous.
Paige had never had any reason not to trust Sutter. In high school there had been a lot of girls who’d liked him. All of the Traub brothers had been popular and had drawn attention wherever they went. But while she and Sutter were together, Paige had never doubted his commitment to her.
Everything was different now, though. The fact that they’d slept together didn’t mean there was a commitment between them, especially when he’d left the state the very next morning.
“I’d be upset, too, if that’s what really happened,” Lindsay said. “But I’ve seen the way Sutter looks at you—the man’s as head over heels as you are—and if he raced back to Seattle, it was because his trainer needed him to be there and not because a woman crooked her finger.
“But if that’s what you really believe,” she continued, “why not just cut your losses and move on? Why are you so miserable without him?”
“I know I should move on. My head is telling me to forget about him, that this emergency that called him back to Seattle was a timely reminder of the fact that we have separate lives, in separate cities. But my heart—” She sighed again. “My heart refuses to let go.”
“Then maybe it’s time you started listening to your heart,” her sister said gently. “Go to Seattle, tell Sutter how you feel and figure out a way to make this work.”
Paige wished it was that easy. But when he’d decided to go back to Seattle without even talking to her, she’d realized that she wasn’t as important to him as his business. Even if he did love her, he didn’t love her enough to put her first, so she shook her head.
Lindsay shook her head. “You were happy with him, and you’re obviously miserable without him. If I was in your situation, you can bet I’d do whatever was necessary to be with the man I loved.”
“There’s one other thing I didn’t tell you,” Paige admitted now.
“What’s that?”
“He didn’t race straight back to Seattle. He made a detour first.”
“What kind of detour?” her sister asked curiously.
“To Shayla Allen’s ranch.”
“Well, that is interesting.”
“Interesting?” Paige said skeptically.
Shayla Allen was a young widow who didn’t know the first thing about ranching, and most people in Rust Creek Falls had assumed she would sell off the property her husband had left to her when he died. So far she’d avoided doing so, and there seemed to be a regular parade of handsome cowboys stopping by the ranch to help her with one thing or another.
“Really, Paige, green is not your color,” Lindsay chided.
“Because there’s got to be a reasonable explanation for Sutter’s visit to her ranch?” she challenged.
“There could be,” her sister said. “It’s not common knowledge yet, but Shayla has decided to sell the ranch and move back East. So it’s possible that Sutter wasn’t there to check out her assets but her real estate.”
Chapter Fifteen
After she dropped Lindsay off with her assortment of packages, Paige’s stomach was rumbling. Because she didn’t feel like cooking, she decided to stop by the Ace in the Hole to grab a quick bite. She didn’t usually venture into the bar on her own, but she hadn’t been in the mood for any more company tonight—especially not the company of either of her sisters. Since Sutter had left town, Lani’s smug “I told you so” attitude had been more than a little obnoxious. Lindsay was more empathetic, but her quiet understanding and sincere sympathy made Paige want to cry—and she’d done enough of that already.
She walked into the Ace in the Hole and realized there wasn’t an unoccupied table in the whole place. There were a couple of empty stools at the bar, but she wouldn’t feel comfortable sitting there with a bunch of men she didn’t know.
And then she saw Alex.
He, too, seemed to be alone, but he’d managed to find a table. She took two steps in his direction before she changed her mind. She didn’t want to put him in the awkward position of having to offer her a seat if he preferred solitude. Except that he looke
d up then and caught her eye, and immediately beckoned her over. The complete lack of hesitation in his response assured her that there wouldn’t be any awkwardness between them, and she made her way over.
“Busy place tonight,” Paige commented.
He nodded. “I managed to snag this table as a group of people was leaving. There’s plenty of room if you want to join me.”
“Thanks.” She slid into the seat across from him. “Have you ordered already?”
He shook his head. “I was thinking about the nachos grande, but the platter’s too big for one person.”
“Nachos grande sounds good to me.”
Alex ordered a beer; Paige stuck with soda. They chatted as they ate—about business at the mill, the progress at the school and various other local issues. It was casual and easy and Paige wondered how she’d ever thought they might have a future together when her feelings for him had always been so equable.
It wasn’t until they were almost finished with the nachos that Paige noticed Dallas Traub was at the bar, deep in discussion with another man she recognized from the Triple T. A few minutes later he stood up, shook the man’s hand, then turned and looked directly at her.
Paige lifted her hand to wave; his only response was a scathing glance before he headed to the door.
“Excuse me for a minute,” Paige said to Alex, grabbing her jacket and hurrying after Sutter’s brother.
She pushed open the screen door and stepped out. “Dallas, wait!”
He halted, then reluctantly turned back to face her. “If you want me to lie to my brother about what I saw tonight—forget it.”
She was taken aback by the vehemence of his tone as much as the implication of his words, but she hadn’t chased after him to have an argument in the parking lot. “While I have to admit to some curiosity about what you think you saw, I just wanted to give you something that I picked up in Kalispell today.”
She shoved her arms into the sleeves of her coat as she started toward her car, and though Dallas still looked skeptical, he followed. Paige rifled through the assortment of bags in her trunk until she found the biggest one—from the toy store. She pulled out the box she wanted and handed it to Dallas.