Captive of the Cattle Baron (Selkirk Family Ranch Book 1)
Page 17
“Served me right.”
She flew into his arms. They kissed and touched and took inventory. “I shouldn’t do this,” she said, between the kisses she rained on his lips and his cheeks and wherever she could reach on his tall, solid body. “I should make you grovel,” she said, punching at his chest. “You big bully,” she said, kissing him with everything she had.
Despite the bandages, he picked her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. “Where’s your bedroom?”
***
“You should have made me crawl,” he said, rebuttoning his western shirt.
She looked up from cinching the belt of her jeans. “Who says I won’t?”
“You’re mighty feisty for a girl who just—”
She put a hand on his lips, which parted to kiss her fingers. “Stop there, at feisty. I’m on my own territory now. I’m in charge.” She continued, with a sly smile, “After days of ordering you around and restricting your freedom, maybe I’ll lock you up someplace.”
“Don’t,” he said. His expression was bleak. “For the longest hour of my life, I thought you’d burned to death.”
She hugged him with all her strength. He shuddered in her arms. “I couldn’t find you,” he said in a low, hoarse voice. “I knew your death was on my hands.”
“Your poor hands,” she said, gently holding one bandaged paw. “You burned yourself.”
“I had to find you.” He drew the back of his other hand across her cheek. The soft gauze caressed her skin. “I turned over every stick of wood, every piece of roof, everything.”
“I was gone before the fire happened. I was never in danger.”
“You were. I put you in that cabin. I had no right. I couldn’t have lived with myself if you’d come to harm,” he said.
“I didn’t.” She caressed his cheek. “I must have accidentally started the fire when I set some soup on to boil. It was one of my surprises in case you came back in a bad mood,” she said, finding humor in it now.
“I’ll bet.” His mouth quirked a little.
“In the excitement of escaping, I forgot about the pot on the stove. I’m sorry I destroyed your property.”
“Be serious.” He broke away from their embrace and took an unhappy turn around the room. “That cabin was the scene of the worst behavior of my life. It’s only right that it should be consumed by fire. I wish I could forget as easily.”
“I should have told you flat out why I had to testify at Caz’s trial. Revealed my past instead of hiding it,” she said, all teasing gone.
“Then the memory of how Hollywood destroyed Julie would have come between us.”
She nodded. “Which is exactly why I never told you.” She led the way out of the bedroom, to the kitchen, where she pulled a coffee machine forward on a counter.
“You were amazing in court,” he said.
“You watched?” She glanced back at him.
“You handled that D.A. so smoothly. I would have blown up at him.”
She turned to face him, bracing her hands behind her on the counter. “What are you going to do about your temper?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Stop pretending I’m cut out to be a leader of men. You got the worst of it, and I’m sorry.”
“You kept trying to control me because the ranch hands didn’t obey you?” She raised an eyebrow. “That can’t have been the only reason.”
“Julie, too.” He took a turn around the room. “You know how my thoughts went about your situation seeming to be like hers.”
“Unfortunately, I do.”
Baron said, “I’m going to learn how to control my anger.”
“Go on.” She cocked her head. “I’m listening.”
“Things are going to change on the Selkirk ranch.” He indicated the bandages on his hands. “As soon as these come off, I’m heading for Cheyenne to lay it on the line with my father.”
She nodded. No need to drag his parents into their personal drama. “What will you tell him?”
“That the current setup isn’t working.”
“Then what? Will you leave the ranch?” she asked.
“I’ll stay, if he returns. Remember that sandstone cliff? I want to develop it. Look for dinosaur bones. I’d still help on the ranch when needed, but I’d be a geologist again.”
“What if your father refuses?”
“I’ll hire a ranch manager, and walk away. Forget that cliff. Return to geology elsewhere. I’m not cut out for running a ranch.”
“That might fix your ranch issue,” Addie said, nodding. She turned and pulled out two mugs from an upper cabinet. After she set them on the counter next to the coffee machine, her hands stilled. She took a deep breath and faced him again. “What do you plan to do about your anger problem?”
“I’ve signed up for anger management therapy. Already had my first two sessions.” He paced around the island, then sent her a wry look. “I want the old me back. I want to be a man you have no reason to fear.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she said. “I never have been.”
He expelled a breath. “I don’t deserve your trust, but I’ll work to earn it.”
“What about Julie? If you see her ghost every time you look at me, we’re still in trouble.”
“You’re different. There’s no stardust in your eyes,” he said.
Addie shrugged. “There’s nothing so special about acting.” She set the coffee brewing. “Let’s check on Whitey.”
As they walked to the paddock, she told him about her friendship with Caz, and about Caz’s anxiety over his reputation. Baron showed no sign of jealousy or anger.
At the paddock, Whitey acted nervous. Addie called to him and began to coo in a low tone. The stallion responded instantly with a whinny. He raced to the paddock fence. Addie extended one arm and stroked White’s neck under his mane, all the while making soothing noises.
“I’m envying the horse.” Baron said.
She leveled an inquiring glance at him.
“I want you to coo at me that way, Addie,” he said, open longing in his voice and on his face. “I want to feel that you care for me.”
She stopped petting Whitey’s neck. “We neither of us have said it, have we?”
“Said what?”
“I love you, that’s what.” She moved closer and put one palm on Baron’s chest. “I do. I do love you, Baron. That’s why it hurt so much when you acted like a crazy bully.”
He gathered her into his arms. “I love you, too. I loved you from the moment I saw you stumble in the elevator. You were so beautiful.”
“So sick.”
“I wanted to protect you and take care of you,” he said.
She gave him a disbelieving look.
“And make love to you then and there, but caring for my woman and protecting her is a large part of it. Yet I treated you badly and put you in danger. I regret that. I’ll always regret that.” His eyes showed his sadness.
“I forgive you,” she said. “Now you must forgive yourself.”
Epilogue
Baron touched base with his ranch by phone. After he was done, Addie welcomed the opportunity to chat with Miss Betty.
“Well, how you doin’?” came the older woman’s voice. “That boy treatin’ you right?”
She leaned back in Baron’s loving arms. “Yes, he is, Miss Betty. He’s treating me just fine.”
“We miss you down here. Has he popped the question yet?”
Addie held her hand over the phone. “She wants to know if you’ve proposed yet,” she told Baron.
“No, I haven’t…” He leaned closer to speak into the phone. “…and don’t go spoiling any of my surprises, either.”
When the joking call ended, Addie turned to Baron and asked, “What surprises, besides giving me Whitey?”
He stood. “You haven’t made me crawl yet, so I’m starting on my own.” He dropped to one knee and pulled out a ring box. He didn’t open it, but placed it in her hands.
> “Adrienne Jelleff, ex-actor, professional horse whisperer, captor of my heart, will you consider opening this box a year from now?”
Her breath caught. Her lips wanted to smile but her eyes were suddenly wet with tears.
“There’s an engagement ring inside,” he said, pressing her fingers around the blue velvet box.
When she said nothing, he added. “I won’t ask you to take a chance on me today.” He held her hands in his, so they clasped the ring box together. “It took me a year on the ranch to turn into an idiot. I figure it could take me another year to straighten up. After that, I’m hoping you and I have a future together. Will you think about it?”
His heart was in his eyes as he waited for her answer.
Finally, she nodded, as the tears leaked from her own eyes. “I will.”
A Note from the Author
Thank you for reading Captive of the Cattle Baron. If you enjoyed this book, please tell your friends, and consider reviewing it wherever you like to post reviews.
Click here to check out Saving the Soldier, the next installment of the Selkirk Family Ranch series, available now.
If you'd like to be notified when my next story comes out, click this link or go to my website, irenevartanoff.com, to join my mailing list. I promise I'll keep your info private and only contact you when I am announcing a new story.
Acknowledgments
In fine tuning and polishing this story I benefited from the valuable advice of numerous anonymous writing contest judges (Captive of the Cattle Baron has won awards in several writing contests), plus the reactions of several beta readers, including Kenya Brunson, Kathy Richardson, and Cris Warner. Author/editors Kathryn Johnson and Tom King devoted much time and effort to telling me in detail what ought to be fixed and what I could leave for readers to enjoy. I thank everyone for their help.
Irene Vartanoff
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
A Note from the Author
Acknowledgments