A Cowboy's Temptation

by Barbara Dunlop

  “A month is a long time,” Marta responded. “If he’s feeling it, too, he might get over the disappointment.”

  “He might,” Darby agreed, trying not to let her hopes rise. “I never knew I could feel this way.”

  Marta considered her for another long moment. “Are you already in love with him?”

  Darby emphatically shook her head. “I don’t know him well enough to be in love.”

  Marta chuckled. “Is there a gauge of some kind?”

  “Something between one and one hundred millibars,” Darby joked in return.

  Then her mind wandered off, trying to assign a number. Seventy? No, not enough. Maybe an eighty, or a glorious ninety.

  Marta picked up her phone. “I bet there’s an impartial quiz available that can help you decide. Maybe something by a women’s magazine.”

  She clicked her way through the screens, while Darby tried to convince herself Seth wasn’t already a hundred.

  Then Marta’s expression darkened, her eyes narrowing, lips going thin. “Uh-oh.”

  “Can’t find a quiz?” Darby asked.

  “I just got an email from one of our railway street team members.”

  Darby’s mood took a downward turn. “Did something happen?”

  “He heard from a friend in Denver, whose girlfriend works at the state courthouse. A decision came down today. It referenced Lyndon Valley and the railway referendum.” Marta scrolled along the screens. “Crap!”

  “What?” The pit of Darby’s stomach convulsed.

  “The city appealed the District Court’s decision to the State Court of Appeals.” Marta looked up at her, expression grave. “They won.”

  Darby’s nerves turned to fear. “What does that mean?” she asked slowly.

  “The judge’s decision to grant the referendum was declared void and thrown out. There’s not going to be a referendum.”

  Darby shot her way down the length of the couch, peering over Marta’s shoulder. “How can they do that? Why weren’t we told?”

  “Technically,” said Marta, scanning the screen, “we weren’t a party to the original decision.”

  “It was our petition.”

  “The petition didn’t trigger the referendum. The judge decided that based on the mounting local protests.”

  “That’s not fair.” Darby removed the phone from Marta’s hand and read her way through the brief article.

  “Morally, no,” Marta agreed. “Legally, yes.”

  “He went behind my back,” Darby ground out.

  “We’d have gone behind his,” Marta replied.

  “It says the decision came down at four o’clock today. That’s before I met Seth at City Hall. The whole time, the entire time we were together tonight, he already knew it was over.”

  “Looks like he did,” Marta agreed.

  “He knew I’d lost,” Darby continued, her anger building. “He knew I was leaving town, yet he—” She resisted an urge to throw Marta’s phone across the room.

  Obviously sensing her angry instinct, Marta pried Darby’s fingers from her phone and tucked it away in her pocket.

  “That’s pretty stone-cold,” said Marta.

  “It’s pretty stone-cold,” Darby agreed.

  Marta put a comforting hand on Darby’s shoulder. “Maybe he’s not, you know, exactly how he presented himself.”

  “You think he was acting all this time?” Darby couldn’t help but think back over their conversations, their lovemaking, his confession about not liking the mayor’s role. Had they all been lies? Had she been a colossal fool?

  “By romancing you, he kept you distracted,” Marta pointed out.

  Darby’s anger was rapidly being replaced by mortification. There was a good chance Seth had played her. He’d played her better than she could ever have hoped to play him.

  “I agreed to tone down the rhetoric,” she stated in self-disgust. “Was it all part of his master plan? Keep me busy, keep me distracted, all the while coming at it from the state level?”

  “With no more public protests, there was no reason for the court not to overturn. He’s good.” Marta’s tone was laced with reluctant admiration.

  “He beat us,” Darby said.

  “Because we underestimated him,” Marta said, obviously going deep into thought.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Darby asked, a small measure of hope coming up at the calculating expression on Marta’s face. “Can we appeal the appeal?”

  “We can’t,” said Marta. “Without the referendum, the permits all become instantly valid. He’s already expropriated your land. I think they can start building the railroad tomorrow.”

  Darby’s entire body slumped. “We lost. And I was completely taken in by a con artist.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, I think he’s a world-class con artist.”

  “It doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  Darby was heartsick. She was about to lose Sierra Hotel. There was never going to be anything between her and Seth. The magical evening they’d just shared had been an illusion.

  Who knew how many lies he’d told. While he was stroking her cheek and kissing her mouth, he was probably thinking about all the money his family would make shipping cattle on the railroad.

  She’d given herself to him—completely, freely, honestly. She’d let him past every defense she had, and he’d been faking his feelings the entire time. He’d only run for mayor to help his community? He didn’t get a chance to focus on the big issues? He might not even run again? Ha!

  He’d brought this big issue home in a way that absolutely guaranteed his re-election.

  “I feel like an idiot,” she whispered to Marta.

  Marta gave a heartfelt sigh. “It turns out you’re too trusting for your own good.”

  “I never wanted to be trusting. I wanted to be tough. I wanted to be smart, and I wanted to be realistic.”

  “You’re all of those things.”

  “Not when it counts.”

  “This is a big loss,” Marta agreed, in the usual no-nonsense tone that Darby had always admired. “But it’s done.”

  Darby forced herself to square her shoulders. “It’s done.”

  “Nobody died.”

  “Nobody died,” Darby agreed. Only her hopes and dreams….

  Marta wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed tight. “We learn from our mistakes, and we soldier on.”

  Darby gave a sharp nod.

  “Maybe you replace Sierra Hotel somewhere else,” Marta continued.

  “I can’t afford to replace it.” Darby was going to have to sell. She’d have to sell before construction started and she lost all of her customers and her income.

  “Or maybe there’s something else in your future, something exciting, meaningful and positive.”

  “I could reenlist,” Darby speculated.

  Private psychology practice in an office didn’t appeal to her. And there were certainly plenty of women on the front lines who could use her help.

  “They would take you back in a heartbeat,” Marta agreed.

  “I’m not going to let him know he did this,” Darby stated with determination. “He might have played me better, but he’ll never know I wasn’t playing, too.”

  “That a girl.” Marta approved.

  “Rat bastard.”

  “That a girl,” Marta repeated with conviction.

  Eleven

  Seth had waited three days to hear from Darby. At first, he’d hoped she would forgive him. Then he hoped she’d at least come yell at him. Then he wondered if maybe he should make the first move. In the end, he began to fear he should have made the first move three days ago.

  He hadn’t wanted to
gloat, he’d rationalized. And she’d never been one to keep her thoughts to herself. It had been perfectly reasonable for him to expect her to show up when she was ready to have it out.

  He wasn’t sorry he’d won. It was the best thing for the town, and Lyndon was definitely in a celebratory mood over the decision. The detractors had either changed their minds or were keeping a low profile now that the deal was done.

  The Mountain Railway brass were in town today for both a celebration and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The press would be out in force, and there would be photo ops along with a formal thank-you to the mayor for making the project possible. Finally, it was Seth’s big moment. He’d done what he’d set out to do two years ago. He’d succeeded. He’d made a difference in the town and in the entire Valley.

  Construction would start in the spring, but a lot of the detailed surveying and planning work could take place over the winter.

  For now, he tied the bow tie on his tux, glancing at his watch while a regional news show played in the background. He was hosting a VIP dinner at the town hall tonight after the press conference, thanking Mountain Railway and welcoming the senior construction managers to the city.

  If he didn’t hear from Darby tonight, he decided, he’d head up to Sierra Hotel in the morning. Or maybe the dinner would break up early, and he could drive up tonight.

  Sure, they were adversaries. But he thought she’d understood the rules. He knew she’d understood the rules. If she’d had the same chance as him to win fair and square, she’d have taken it in a heartbeat. She’d have to admit that. She’d also have to admit that they couldn’t simply walk away from what they’d shared in his bed.

  He blew the bow tie knot once more, swore out loud and started over.

  His suite door opened.

  “They’re fifteen minutes away,” said Travis. “You need to get down to the receiving line.”

  “I’ll be ready,” Seth confirmed, fumbling and swearing once again.

  “You need help?” Travis asked.

  “I’m not in high school.” Seth forced himself to slow down and concentrate.

  “You heard from Darby?”

  “No.”

  “You call her?”

  “No.”

  Travis didn’t even attempt to hide his mocking tone. “You haven’t even tried to apologize?”

  “Back off.” Seth didn’t need another condemning voice inside his head.

  “I don’t believe I will back off. You’ve been storming around here like a wounded grizzly bear for three days, when you should be celebrating with everyone else. It’s confusing for the citizens.”

  “I am celebrating,” Seth insisted. “I’m posing for pictures. I’m making speeches. I’m toasting with champagne. Look at this. I’m dressing up in a tux, for God’s sake.”

  “And you seem genuinely thrilled about it.”

  Seth finally got the tie right. “I am genuinely thrilled about it. I won. She lost. The woman is going to have to deal with it.”

  “You should tell it to her exactly like that.”

  Seth turned to glare at his brother.

  “Or maybe you should beg her to forgive you for being such an ass.”

  “I wasn’t an ass. I’m not going to apologize for winning.”

  “You should apologize for sleeping with her while keeping her in the dark about the appeals court,” said Travis.

  “It would have been a conflict of interest for me to tell her.”

  “You could have kept your hands to yourself.”

  Seth knew he could have, he should have. Would things be better right now if he had?

  “Do you think she’d like me to apologize?” he found himself asking.

  “It might be too late.”

  Seth stilled. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, she’s put the place up for sale. Listed it today.”

  Seth gave Travis his complete attention. “How do you know that?”

  “Abigail talked to her.”

  “When did she and Abigail become friends?”

  “I don’t know,” said Travis. “But I do know that Darby is selling, and she’s thinking about reenlisting.”

  Seth gave his head a little shake. “Repeat that last part.”

  Travis gave a pitying shake of his head. “I thought Abigail might call you. Turns out, Sierra Hotel wasn’t a ladies’ retreat. It was a place for female service members and law-enforcement personnel who endure high-risk, high-stress jobs to get a little R & R with their peers before they go back to risking their lives in defense of their country or their community.”

  Seth reached out to grasp the back of a chair, several things coming clear to him all at once. The most important of which was that Darby might reenlist.

  “She once told me the women came there to get away from loud, sudden noises.”

  “I imagine they did,” said Travis.

  “I accused them of having delicate sensibilities.”

  “Well,” Travis responded. “I doubt that part is true.”

  “Why didn’t she say something?”

  “Would it have changed your mind?”

  Seth knew it wouldn’t have. What was right for Lyndon Valley was still right for Lyndon Valley. Though he was sorry it ruined Sierra Hotel.

  “Tell me she hasn’t reenlisted yet.”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “I have to go talk to her. Right now. Right this second.”

  Seth had to go now. Lyndon City and the Mountain Railway brass would simply have to live without him for tonight.

  “Why now?” asked Travis.

  “What do you mean, ‘why now?’ The woman’s about to rejoin the army.”

  It would take her away from Lyndon Valley for years, probably forever. And it would take her away from Seth. And Seth realized he couldn’t let her go.

  “So? That won’t stop you from apologizing,” Travis pressed.

  Seth stopped cold.

  His heart was beating hard in his chest. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his system. Every instinct he had told him to take action. Every instinct he had told him to stop Darby from walking out of his life.

  “I don’t want her to go,” he answered lamely.

  Travis took a step toward him. “And what do you expect to do with her if she stays?”

  It felt like a trick question to Seth. The quick answer was hold her hostage in his bed for about the next year. But he knew it wasn’t that simple. He also realized what Travis was getting at.

  “I don’t want to hurt Darby. I don’t want to cause her one minute of pain.” As he said the words, Seth couldn’t help but wonder how long they’d been true. They were so true.

  “Then you better make up your mind exactly what you want from her. And do it before you talk to her.”

  “I know what I want from her,” Seth confirmed.

  He wanted her to love him back. He wanted her to agree to put this mess behind them. He wanted her to figure out the rest of her life in a way that included him.

  “Good.” Travis gave a sharp nod. “I’ll help entertain the Mountain Railway people. You go see Darby before she faxes new enlistment papers to the recruiting office.”

  * * *

  Darby hadn’t decided for certain that she wanted to reenlist, but it was definitely at the top of her options list. She planned to sell the furnishings and equipment, even the linens and dishes with Sierra Hotel. Whether back to the army, or on to someplace else, when she left Lyndon Valley at the end of the month, she’d be traveling light.

  In her office, she taped up a box of paper records for the business. Everything was backed up electronically, but the originals she’d put in storage in a facility in Denver. She also had some books a
nd photographs she wouldn’t need right away, and there were a few of her great-aunt’s possessions that she’d keep forever. Everything but her day-to-day essentials could be stored until she had a place of her own at some point in the future.

  She wouldn’t keep a single memento of Seth. Not that she had anything to keep. But if she did, she wouldn’t want it. She’d been struggling for days not to think about him, because every time her mind went in his direction, she felt as if her heart was being crushed inside her chest.

  Deep down, she was forced to accept that the man she’d fallen in love with didn’t really exist. But he’d seemed so real at the time. He’d seemed so incredibly real that her subconscious didn’t want to let go of the fantasy.

  At night, she dreamed about him, waking up alone and upset, aggravated by her overwhelming longing to hear his voice once again and to feel his body pressed up against hers.

  He was gone.

  It was done.

  She was stronger than this.

  “Darby?”

  She whirled around at the sound of his voice, half expecting him to be an illusion.

  He wasn’t. He was standing in the doorway of her office, looking as sexy and handsome as ever in a tux, causing her heart to thud in her chest and her traitorous body to lurch involuntarily toward him. She stopped herself just in time.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, proud of her even, dispassionate tone. There was no way in the world she was going to let him see how badly he’d hurt her.

  He took a pace into the room. “I thought we could talk.”

  “About what?” And why here? Not here. The first time they’d made love was in this room.

  “The same thing we’ve been talking about for the past few weeks.”

  She looked him up and down, struggling hard to keep her expression from giving away how desperately she’d missed him. “There’s nothing left to talk about. You won, I lost, game over.”

  He moved closer still. “Darby.”

  “Stay right where you are, Seth. I didn’t invite you to come in.”