Some Like It Ruthless (A Temporary Engagement)

by Bryce, Megan

  Maggie came through the kitchen door slowly, looked at the four of them, and said, “Does Maggie know what?”

  Ginny said, “Tanner and I are starting our own business. I’m leaving Caldwell.”

  “You still vote half of Daddy’s shares.”

  Ginny nodded. Maggie looked at Cole for a long moment, then said to Ginny, “I know Caldwell doesn’t mean the same to you as it means to me. It never did.”

  “It would be hard for Caldwell to mean as much to anyone as it means to you. You love it, are dedicated to it.”

  Maggie looked at Tanner and said, “Yeah. Dedication. Love. You’ve spent yours on someone instead of something.”

  She smiled at Ginny, pecking Rosa’s cheek as she handed off a cup of coffee. “What are you going to name the new company?”

  Tanner let out a silent breath and Ginny relaxed against him. She said, “We haven’t decided yet.”

  Tanner squeezed her. “Yes, we have.”

  “We’re not calling it that.”

  He smiled and didn’t say anything and Ginny muttered, “We’re not calling it that.”

  Maggie raised her eyebrows in question and Tanner said, “Forgin. For Ginny.”

  Maggie and Ginny shook their heads.

  Tanner grinned, thinking they could have so much fun with that. If they were going to start something together it should be fun.

  Maggie said, “It’s sweet, though.”

  Ginny said, “We’ll work on it.”

  Cole said, “Maybe that’s what I can give you in return for working around my issues. I’ll call the new house Formag.”

  Maggie shook her head. “That’s not going to do it.”

  Cole said to Tanner and Ginny, “I have issues with Jackson Harwood she’s trying to work around.”

  Tanner pretended he didn’t know what Cole was talking about but Ginny turned to Maggie and said, “We know. We helped Cole buy the loans from him.”

  Maggie looked between Tanner and Ginny, then turned to Cole. “I guess you can get my sister on your side.”

  “Only when it’s not going to hurt you.”

  Maggie walked over to Ginny and Tanner jerked his head, standing up quickly. Ginny just stood there, waiting for whatever Maggie would dish out to her.

  Maggie said, “You would never betray me. I know it. And you didn’t betray Tanner. You did what was hard, what was best. So I know with this you did what was hard, what was best. Even if it isn’t what I would have done.”

  “Best for me or best for you?”

  “Best for you, at no cost to me.”

  Cole said, “Oh, really.”

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “You would have done it even if you couldn’t have got my sister to go along with it. I’m not going to be mad at her about it.”

  Cole grinned at Ginny. “You’re welcome.”

  Ginny said, “Sisters forever.”

  Maggie nodded. “That’s how it works.”

  Maggie hugged Ginny hard and whispered, “You’re still a Caldwell. It’s just spelled Beaumont now.”

  Maggie and Ginny ate their pancakes and Tanner and Cole watched them.

  Cole said, “You like video games? We could bring over the flatscreen and hook it up,” and Tanner thought it might not be as bad as he’d thought to be related to the man.

  Ginny cocked her head and said, “What do you think about TVB? Tanner Virginia Beaumont.”

  He kissed her before following Cole out the door and said, “We’ll work on it.”

  Samuel Caldwell died early the next morning. The hospice nurse was called, the mortuary alerted, and Ginny and Maggie sat with him until they came for his body. They held each other’s hands and tried not to cry. They told stories of him, and despite how it hurt, they knew it was better for him now. His suffering would be over and he would be with their mother again.

  Ginny said, “Heaven’s in for a rude awakening.”

  Maggie smiled. “Maybe that’s what he was waiting for. To give Mother enough time to argue him in.”

  After the funeral, Cole and Maggie left for Midland in separate vehicles. Cole had hated it, had tried to get her to change her mind, but it was more practical to have two vehicles. She wouldn’t feel so stuck, wouldn’t have to plan taking the truck out around when he needed it. She sold him on taking her car when she said she’d leave it in Midland permanently, drive back with him on the weekends. If they even decided they needed to come back at all.

  They’d ordered recliners, a TV would be delivered the next afternoon. What did they need to drive to Dallas for, after all?

  They spent the days working, the nights shopping online, and before Monday rolled around, they had a new washer and dryer, fridge and microwave, along with Cole’s white kitchen table.

  Maggie’s desk was arriving later that morning. The second bedroom had been turned into a closet/dressing area/office. She’d shown him the desk she’d wanted when he’d picked out his kitchen table and Cole had said, “You have a desk in my office.”

  “I can’t get anything done in your office.”

  “You can’t?” And then he’d proceeded to prove just why exactly she couldn’t get anything done.

  They lay curled together in their king-sized bed, his nose still pressed into her neck despite all the room they had now.

  She said, “You’ll get a lot more done if I’m not there distracting you.”

  “I don’t mind you distracting me.”

  “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get our work done and then come home for dinner? Have some time together without sneaking past Paul?”

  “You really want to work out here alone? I thought I wasn’t ever going to let you out of my sight.”

  “I could work here in the mornings and then come out to you for lunch, work with you the rest of the day. That way we can at least finish half the things we need to get done.”

  He’d reluctantly agreed and she knew he was just as behind as she was.

  Maggie kissed Cole goodbye and worked at the kitchen table until her desk was delivered and placed just so in the little bedroom.

  It was quiet, there was no dust, and she missed Cole. But she did get a lot of work done.

  Her cell rang and she answered it, briefly glancing at the caller ID, thinking it would be Cole checking up on her.

  Instead, it was a banker and he said, “Ms. Caldwell, we received your mortgage payment. I just wanted to personally let you know that the paper’s have gone through and your mortgage has been transferred. Would you like me to forward your payment or shall I destroy the check?”

  Maggie froze. She felt the twinge in her stomach, the clang of alarms going off in the back of her head, and she said slowly, “Who bought it?”

  There was a long pause and he finally said, “I thought you knew. MOC.”

  Maggie stood in the kitchen, staring at the white kitchen table.

  She’d liked this little house. Had liked living here with him because it had felt like an us. Not his, not hers. Theirs.

  But he’d bought her mortgage. It was only half her fault that she couldn’t trust him.

  He’d have a reason for buying it, a good reason. And she’d forgive him. Again and again and again.

  Because he’d keep pushing. He didn’t trust her either; he wanted to own her. He wanted to own enough of her that she couldn’t ever leave.

  Maggie knew now what she wanted from Cole. She knew now he wasn’t ever going to give it to her.

  Maggie walked out to her car slowly, drove over to the offices even slower. She would do what was hard, what was best, and would put her sunglasses on to hide the truth.

  Paul was typing and talking into the phone when she passed his desk and he gave her a brief smile.

  When Cole saw her, he smiled. “Did your desk get delivered?”

  Maggie kept her sunglasses on and held out a check to him.

  He took it, flicking his eyes down and back up. “What’s this?”

  “Mortgage
payment.”

  “Shit.”

  She almost smiled.

  She turned away, breathing deeply, keeping her eyes wide open.

  He jumped out of his chair. “It’s not what it looks like.”

  Maggie cleared her throat and said, “It looks like MOC bought my mortgage.”

  “Okay, it is what it looks like.”

  She closed her eyes. “Ginny’s shares. My loans with Harwood. The house. It’s exactly what your father did to the Beaumonts. He just kept buying them up until he had everything. Until he owned them and could do whatever he wanted with them.”

  He touched her elbow and said softly, “Why would I do that to you?”

  She looked up at him, wishing for her heels, wishing for her short skirt, wishing she could make him want her enough to make him stop thinking. She whispered, “Because you’re a Montgomery.”

  “I’ll always be a Montgomery, Maggie. I can’t do anything about it.”

  “I know.”

  “Is this you trusting me?”

  “You mean like last time? How I knew I could trust, how I never doubted, not even for a second? I can’t do it again, Cole. It hurt. This time it will rip my heart out. This time I love you. This time I can’t let you do it, I can’t even give you the chance to do it.”

  “You love me.” He latched on to that, the first time either one of them had said it.

  Maggie said, “And what does that mean? When we can’t give each other what we want, what we need.”

  “It means everything, Maggie, because I love you.”

  He said the words but she’d already known. And he’d had to have known that she loved him. But that hadn’t stopped him from buying up pieces of her. It didn’t stop her from being afraid.

  She said, “I thought that I would give you anything. That I didn’t care what it cost, so long as I could stay with you. So long as I didn’t have to be alone again.”

  “Magg–”

  “But now I think what about when you stop loving me? What about when something happens and you just react? You hold everything of mine. And I can’t trust you, I don’t dare to.”

  “So, what, you’re testing me? Walking out now to see what I’ll do? See if I’ll destroy you?”

  “No. That’s not what I’m doing. This isn’t a test, this is not a drill.”

  She turned away and he said, “Maggie?”

  She paused, her hand on the doorknob. She didn’t turn around, didn’t look at him. Just looked at her hand, looked at his ring on her finger.

  He said, “You can’t think of one other reason why I would buy your mortgage? Not one?”

  “I can, Cole. I can think of lots of reasons why you would, maybe even why you did. But I can only think of one reason why you wouldn’t have. Why you would have left it alone. And that’s not what you did.”

  She did turn then. Looked at him. His black hair mussed, his blue eyes cold and angry and hurt.

  He was hard, cold, beautiful. She loved him. But she couldn’t fall again.

  She left without saying another word.

  Twelve years ago

  Maggie had kept the window open for him. The window open and the lights off. The door locked.

  She waited for him in the dark, knowing he would be there soon. He’d gone to meet with Mr. Beaumont and then he was coming back here afterward. To celebrate. To laugh at his bastard of a father with her.

  Cole’s head popped up and she jumped up to unhook the screen. He boosted himself through and she deftly fitted the screen back in, closing the window and lowering the blinds.

  They’d been caught once and she didn’t want that to happen ever again. She didn’t know why Rosa hadn’t told her parents but she hadn’t. Maggie didn’t want to do that to Rosa again, force her to keep that kind of secret.

  Cole crowded in behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her hair.

  She turned in his arms and found his mouth, hot and urgent. His hands went under her shirt, ripping it over her head. She laughed, loving that he wasn’t being gentle with her, that she wasn’t having to make him lose control. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him until he pushed her away and tore at his jeans. She kicked hers off and they fell to the bed.

  It was fast and furious and out of control, and she reveled in it. They lay together, limbs tangled, sweaty. She slipped her fingers through his and thought there would be no one else for her, ever. Not even Tanner Beaumont could make her leave Cole. Not even Tanner Beaumont could make her want anyone but Cole. Tanner might have been golden and good but Maggie had to admit, to herself at least, that she loved the fire, the darkness.

  They lay happy, together. No words had been spoken and none had been needed. She knew what he would be feeling after defying his father.

  Triumphant.

  Nervous, even if he wouldn’t ever admit it.

  You didn’t turn on Rich Montgomery, not even if you were his son. Maybe especially if you were his son. But she would stand next to Cole, get her father to protect him if that was needed.

  Not that Rich could do anything. Maggie and Cole had poured over the contracts and everything had been put in Cole’s name. They were his to do whatever he wanted with them.

  She laughed and said, “I think both our fathers are going to have a surprising morning tomorrow.”

  He pulled away from her to swing his legs over the edge of the bed and put his head between his hands. He said, “I didn’t do it.”

  She turned on the bedside lamp. “You didn’t meet with Mr. Beaumont?”

  He turned to her, his blue eyes nearly engulfed with black, and she reached for the sheet to cover herself.

  He said, “I didn’t give them more time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He jumped up, shoving his legs into his jeans, pulling his shirt back on.

  Maggie shook her head. “But. . .you said you would help them, Cole. We shook.”

  They’d done a whole lot more than that.

  She whispered, “Please don’t do this. You can still undo this.”

  He sneered. “I’ve always wanted to hear a Caldwell beg.” He looked down at her naked legs, at the sheet clutched to her chest. “Outside of the bedroom.”

  He went out her bedroom door, slamming it behind him, and Maggie stayed rooted to the bed. Frozen.

  He would come back. He just needed to cool off. Needed to figure out how to fix this.

  He wouldn’t do this to her, to them.

  Even if he was a Montgomery.

  Her stomach clenched and she shook her head again. She jumped out of bed, tangling in the sheets, falling to the floor.

  Cole wasn’t a liar. Not a cheat. That was his father, not him.

  He wasn’t a bastard. Only a bastard would make this kind of a deal and then break it.

  And he wasn’t. No matter how his father had tried to make him one. No matter that everyone thought that’s what he was.

  She’d never doubted, not for an instant, that he would honor his end. It hadn’t even occurred to her, despite the fact that he was a Montgomery.

  Because he was Cole first. Her Cole.

  She’d had his back since the day she met him. He’d had hers. They were more than friends, had always been more than friends. They’d been soldiers behind enemy lines, depending on each other, always trusting.

  He wouldn’t do this to her.

  He wouldn’t. . .

  A tap at the door made her jump up, rush to the door. “Col–”

  She gasped when it was Rosa on the other side and she grabbed for the sheet, wrapping it back around her.

  Rosa looked at Maggie’s pale face, the shocked look on her face, and said, “Oh, mija.”

  Maggie shook her head. “No. He’ll be back.”

  Cole would make this right.

  Rosa pursed her lips and shooed her back inside the room. She shut the door, closing her eyes at Maggie’s clothes littering the floor, the rumpled sheet.
>
  Rosa said sadly, as if it explained everything, “Es el hijo del diablo.”

  He is the devil’s son.

  Maggie shook her head but her knees gave out and she sat heavily on the bed.

  Rosa sat beside her, taking her hand, holding it in silence as if in mourning. As if something was dying in that room and all she could do was sit in vigil.

  Maggie waited, wide-eyed, unbelieving, for Cole to come back.

  She waited. And he never came back.

  Go after her, you stupid shit.

  Cole watched her make her way slowly across the dirt drive. He watched her and knew he should go after her.

  But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t take one more kick in the balls.

  He’d left her this morning happy. Wondering how long she’d really last before she showed up telling him she had a scratch that needed itching. How long before they ended up back in his trailer, curled up together napping when they should be working.

  And now it was over? Ended just like that?

  MOC had bought her mortgage. He’d known she would hate it, he’d known how she’d take it. But he thought he’d get a chance to explain why he hadn’t done what he’d promised. Why he hadn’t riled her up before.

  They’d been happy. And he’d wanted to surprise her. He didn’t want her mortgage, he didn’t even want her house.

  He wanted her to trust him, wanted her to trust him no matter what he did.

  She wouldn’t. He didn’t know if he could accept that from her.

  Maggie didn’t even look in his direction. She got in her car and left and never looked at him.

  He watched her little red car drive slowly away until it turned onto the highway, heading toward Dallas. Watched for the tiniest pause, the smallest hesitation.

  Watched hopeless because he knew it would never come.

  Maggie had made up her mind.

  When she was gone, he sat, unseeing, unfocused.

  He finally rose, opening the door to his office.

  Paul looked up. “You okay, boss?”

  When Cole nodded, Paul said, “Oh sure. Everyone’s okay when a woman like that leaves crying.”