by Sara Orwig
“Don’t run your own blood pressure up doing it. You’re not twenty any longer.”
“You know me better than that,” Shelby said, with good nature.
“Noah will think you’re doing it just to show Dad that he isn’t necessary because of all your old rivalries.”
Shelby shook his head. “Maybe that’s part of it. That never dies completely, but age changes us. I don’t feel I have to prove anything to Knox. I have a comfortable life. Right now, your dad is overjoyed at the increase in profits. Noah is getting rid of some old accounts that aren’t great and making the company more efficient. You’ve brought in a gem of an account already. It looks good and Knox is pleased.”
“I wasn’t sure he’d even be happy to see me come back into the business.”
“Oh, yes. Is he ever! Especially after the Houston deal. He’s plotting ways to keep you in it.”
Holly stared at Shelby in horror, thinking there was no way Noah could keep her working for Jeff beyond the year she had agreed to be married to him. Jeff looked as unhappy as she felt as she saw anger flash in his gray eyes.
“No. My agreement with Noah is finite. When this year is up, I’m out of it. There is no deal on earth that will change my feelings about it. I’m not staying in the family business one minute longer than I agreed to.” He glanced at Holly. “Holly feels the same. She is less than enthused about working out at my ranch.”
Her face flushed as Shelby turned to smile at her. “Surely you find working with Jeff as interesting and rewarding as working with Noah.” She knew he was teasing and making light of the whole situation, but she still couldn’t joke about it.
“I’m afraid Jeff’s right,” she said. “I’m definitely a city girl. I can’t tell you how much I prefer Dallas to West Texas. When my year is up, I’m heading back to Dallas, wherever I have to work,” she said, replying to Shelby, but looking at Jeff the whole time she answered.
Shelby smiled, leaning closer to her and patting her hand. “I can’t blame you. I definitely prefer London to Jeff’s ranch. That’s not the place for me, either. Give me Dallas, Houston, London, Paris. No wide-open country for me.”
His attention returned to Jeff. “Just be forewarned. If I hear what Knox decides to do, I’ll give you a heads-up, but he has a real knack, as you know, of hitting on the thing someone wants badly. He just did that to you over the family ranch.”
“I know, but I can’t think of anything he can do to make me stay in this beyond that one year. There’s not another ranch and no amount of money would do it. Any change in the Dallas office, Holly will probably know about before I will. She keeps close tabs on the office.”
“Enough about business. Holly, what has Jeff shown you of Paris?”
“Not too much,” she said, blushing again.
“Then I will remedy that this afternoon, if you’d like. I will take you to see the sights of this beautiful city.”
“I’d love it.”
Jeff laughed. “So I’ll trail along.”
“You can do as you please,” Shelby said, smiling at her. “I will have a beautiful young woman to show around. You can come along or whatever. She obviously wants to see the sights.”
“I do and I’d be delighted for you to give me a tour.”
Shelby chuckled. “It looks as if everyone has finished lunch. Shall we get started?”
She had already realized Jeff was not the only lighthearted charmer in the family and she could see why Jeff was so close to their uncle and Noah to their dad. Noah was a carbon copy of Knox as far as she had ever been able to tell when working around both of them. Now Shelby seemed more Jeff’s dad than his uncle.
She was entertained all afternoon by Shelby and Jeff, having a delightful time seeing the gems of the city until Shelby paused the group to glance at his watch.
“I will turn this sightseeing over to Jeff. Make him take you places the rest of the day and night so you get a feel for the charm of this city. I have a plane to catch.”
“It’s been good to see you,” Jeff said, hugging his uncle. Never once had she seen Jeff hug his father, yet Jeff and Shelby seemed spontaneous and natural in their warm manner with each other.
“It was delightful,” Shelby said, turning to her to take her hand. “You’re a wonderful wife for Jeff,” he said, looking at her intently. “May your marriage be blessed and continue to grow stronger,” he said, giving her a light hug and stepping away.
“Thank you,” she answered, puzzled by his parting statement because he knew how temporary and shallow their marriage actually was.
Jeff draped his arm across her shoulders as they stood and watched Shelby flag a cab and climb in to wave farewell to them.
“He makes me want to go out and lose a couple of prime accounts so Dad will get off my back about trying to keep me at Brand beyond the agreed time,” Jeff said.
“No. You can’t do that to Noah,” she said, horrified that Jeff would even jest about such a thing.
“I know and I won’t. Noah is innocent in Dad’s nefarious schemes. I’m not staying longer and neither are you.”
“That’s true, Jeff,” she replied fervently.
They strolled, stopping on another bridge over the Seine.
“It’s beautiful, Jeff,” she said, taking pictures until he reached for the camera to snap a picture of her.
As soon as he was finished, she turned to look at the water and the city lining the banks. “This is beautiful. I’ve dreamed of being here and seeing this, but I always thought it would be so far in the future.”
Jeff turned her to face him, placing his hands on the bridge on either side of her. Wind tugged locks of his hair away from his forehead and her pulse skipped as she gazed into his warm gray eyes.
“Now, we can go to another delicious restaurant or we can go to our hotel room and have room service.”
“If you’ll leave the hotel tomorrow and we can continue sightseeing then, I vote for returning now,” she said.
He slipped his arms around her waist. “Here’s something else to remember about Paris.” He pulled her close and leaned down to kiss her long and passionately.
Locking her arms around him, she returned his kiss, finally hearing someone whistle. She leaned away, looking at him and seeing the desire she felt mirrored in the depths of his gray eyes.
“Hotel room,” she whispered.
“Ahh, once again we’re on the same page. See, it does happen.”
She smiled at him. “Today has been good,” she said. “This morning when I checked my calls and e-mails, things were quiet at the office. That’s good, too.”
“You just can’t forget the damn office,” he said, shaking his head and smiling.
Whatever the future held, she would never forget Paris with Jeff.
The instant they stepped back into their suite, Jeff kicked the door closed and pulled her into his embrace. Clothes were shed from the door to the bedroom as they kissed and caressed each other and soon he was over her, gazing down with desire blazing in his expression.
They loved through the rest of the day. It took until late afternoon before they finally left their suite for some more sightseeing and a dinner out.
The week passed and she was enveloped in passion, bonding with Jeff and finding a common ground where they could agree often in spite of being opposites in so many ways.
She slept as they flew home over the Atlantic. She was held close against Jeff, dreaming of Parisian nights and rich French pastries.
Flying to West Texas in Jeff’s jet over miles of open land, she could feel her reluctance return. She wanted to go home to Dallas, to a city. She reminded herself that she had no choice in the matter. She was now married to Jeff and that changed everything. Their hot nights of passion would make up for some of the drawbacks of the slow pace of life in West Texas.
She turned to look at her handsome husband, reminding herself, as she did daily, to avoid falling in love with him. Jeff was a charmer deluxe. An
d that meant constantly guarding her heart.
Sunday evening Jeff got a call. She barely listened to Jeff’s side of the conversation. Afterward, he turned to her. “One of the cows is calving and having difficulty. I’m going to try to help. It’s a great night. Come ride with me in the truck. I don’t think I’ll be there long.”
“Isn’t this cow in the barn?”
“Nope. Normally, she would be, but they didn’t catch the signs today, so she’s in a pasture.”
“Sure,” Holly said, enjoying his company and not giving much thought to what he was going to do. She stood. “I’m okay in shorts?” she asked, looking at her cutoffs.
“You’re gorgeous in shorts,” he replied, looking at her bare legs.
“Let’s go, cowboy,” she said.
They drove with windows down and cool night air blowing in. Beyond a clump of bushes she saw two lanterns set up and two ranch hands bending over a cow.
“There are two men here already. Why do they need you?”
“They probably don’t, but I thought I’d check and see how things are going.”
“Have you ever delivered a calf before?”
“Yep, I have. If you want, you can sit in the truck—the back of it is out in the open and cool. Or if you’d like, come and I can show you how this is done.”
“No thank you,” she said, beginning to wonder if she would regret riding along with him. “I’ll stay here, but I’ll sit outside where it’s cooler.”
In minutes the men moved away to give Jeff room and Holly had a clear view of him as he put something all over his arm before hunkering down to thrust his arm into the cow.
Holly closed her eyes briefly. She went to the back of the truck to face away from Jeff and the laboring cow. Why he liked working on a ranch, she couldn’t imagine.
He stayed until the calf was born. When he wanted to show her the new calf, she had no interest and felt a slight revulsion.
“After checking and helping a little, she had that calf in a normal manner,” he said as he started the truck again. “We got a call that a fence is down. On the way home I want to go see if anyone has gone out to fix it yet. You don’t mind being a little later getting back, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” she replied, thankful it wasn’t another cow and calf problem. They left the road and bounced over rough ground along a fence row. Finally, two men straightened to face him as beams from the truck headlights splashed over them.
Jeff stopped by to get out and talk. In only minutes he was back in the truck. “They’ll take care of the problem here.”
“Are there perpetual problems?”
“Sometimes it seems so,” he said.
“I absolutely can’t fathom why you like this life. It’s hard, tedious, sometimes dangerous, out in the elements, physical.”
“I think you just listed all the reasons I prefer it,” he said. “We’re headed home to a fun time now that we can both agree on,” he added in a huskier voice.
The next Monday in Dallas, she looked up to see Jeff enter the office. He always wore a business suit to Dallas and he looked handsome and far more professional. The boots were ever present and when he left the office, the Stetson returned to his head, but most of the time here, he looked like a businessman—an enormous improvement as far as she was concerned.
He sat in a chair across from her and stretched out his long legs. “Have a minute?”
“Yes. What’s up?”
“I’ve had a phone call from the president of Western Living. They want to meet with me.”
“Jeff, that’s wonderful,” she said, knowing it was another prestigious line like the Houston line.
“I’ll go to Phoenix. I want you to go with me. I think it was an asset to have you along in Houston.”
She was flattered and pleased with the prospect of being included. “Thanks. I’d love to.”
“Let’s take an extra day to stay and enjoy Phoenix.”
“I see no point in that,” she answered. “That’s just goofing off.” The minute the words were spoken, she saw amusement flash in his expression. He stood and rocked back on his heels. “R & R. You don’t even know what that is or how to do it. Just give it a try. I’ll find something that makes Phoenix really interesting and worth your time.”
“Whatever, Jeff,” she answered, her patience beginning to fray with his casual attitude.
“I’ll get the arrangements made and let you know,” he said.
She met his gaze and longing stirred as she looked into his eyes. He stood on the other side of her desk, yet she could feel desire, palpable and hot enough to make her breath catch and drive all other thoughts out of mind.
“Another hour and we can leave here. Want to get a hotel room here, eat out and drive home in the morning?”
“I’d love it. I haven’t been back to it, but I still have my condo. We can stay there.”
“You kept your condo?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“Yes,” she replied. “I can afford to now and if I want a place to stay when I’m in Dallas, I have it.”
“Good. That’s what we’ll do. Five o’clock and we’re out of here.”
She nodded, knowing he wanted the same thing she did. At the moment five sounded a long time in the future, but it was only an hour away. She watched him walk out of the room, remembering their lovemaking of the past night and wanting to be out of the office and in Jeff’s arms.
It was impossible to keep her mind on work for the next hour and at half-past four, she began to close up. By a quarter to five, she was ready to go and when Jeff appeared in the doorway, her pulse jumped with eagerness. “Let’s go.”
“No argument here,” she replied breathlessly, gathering her things and hurrying to join him.
The minute they entered her condo, Jeff pulled her into his arms. Their loving was frantic, even though it hadn’t been twenty-four hours since the last time they made love.
Two hours later she was in his arms, sated, lethargic, content. He held her close and when he talked, she could feel the slight rumble in his chest beneath her fingers. “I’ve thought about you all day. This afternoon, I wasn’t worth much as far as work was concerned,” he said. He twirled a long lock of her hair around his finger.
“I have to admit to the same problem. This is better now.”
“We could have something delivered and stay right here.”
“No. You said you’d take me out. We will have to eat at home all week at the ranch. Tonight we go out if you want to win any points with your wife.”
“Out it is,” he said in a good-natured manner. “Name the place.”
“That’s risky, you know.”
“Go ahead. I’ll splurge. Especially if you promise loving again after dinner.”
“We’ll rush right back here.”
“You have a deal,” he said, turning her on her side to face him and smiling at her. “This is so very good, Holly. I hope you think so, too.”
“There is a limit on this marriage and then it’s over.”
“You got that right. I’ll tell you what, love, I’m never going to live in a city.”
She gazed into his wide gray eyes and knew he meant every word, just as she did. “We never planned for this to last. This is a doomed marriage,” she said.
“Not doomed, just exactly what we contracted for it to be—temporary. No strings, no heartbreak because no one’s heart is involved.”
Something hurt deep inside with his words. She knew it was ridiculous to hurt because he was right. Yet he sounded callous and uncaring even though he had described exactly the arrangement they had. Was she guarding her heart—or was that an illusion because Jeff was becoming important to her? Was it sensuality and lust that stirred her constant longing? Or were real feelings beginning to grow for him?
She ran her finger along his jaw, unable to decide what she truly felt, wondering how important he was to her. It was a shock to think that her feelings toward him were changing.
She still didn’t like so many things about him—his work attitude and methods, that laid-back approach to life, his love of the ranch and horses. Jeff was her total opposite. On the other hand, there were new impressions she had after watching him win clients for the company. She had to admit, there were moments when she had been impressed and her opinions of him had improved. There still couldn’t be a danger of falling in love with him.
As he drew her closer to kiss her, she forgot about her worries over the future.
Later that week they flew to Phoenix where they went out with three clients, the CEO and two vice presidents of a prestigious Western store that had outlets in five cities. Jeff got an agreement with them to carry Cabrera products. Later that night when they returned to their hotel suite, he picked her up to swing her around as he let out a jubilant whoop.
Grabbing his shoulders, she shrieked in surprise and then laughed. “Jeff, stop whooping. They’ll throw us out of the hotel.”
“No, they won’t. We’re in the most expensive suite they have and believe me, it is expensive, although I could do just as well in a motel because all I want is you and a bed. Tonight was incredible. You’re great with these guys and I can tell they’re always shocked someone so beautiful knows so much about the facts and figures of the lines. Thanks for coming with me.”
“It was a marvelous evening. Jeff, you did an excellent job,” she admitted, once again impressed with what he had accomplished. “I wish we were going straight back to the Dallas office. Noah will be jubilant.”
“Hey, have you forgotten, we’re staying to discover Phoenix? To hell with the Dallas office.”
“I’ll never understand you,” she said, meaning it totally. “How can you be so good at this and at the same time not care at all? You don’t care what Noah thinks, or your father’s opinion, or even the entire office. I can’t understand your attitude.”
Becoming somber, he leaned close to look her in the eye. “That’s because I don’t like the corporate life. That’s what you can’t understand. That’s what you’re really married to, Holly. Not me. It’s work. You love working. That’s the most important thing to you. I guess I get some of that about ranching, but never Brand Enterprises. We’ll never be on the same page on that.” For a moment there was a tense silence and then she could see the change in his expression as he smiled at her again. “To hell with business. You were wonderful tonight.”