by Kadi Dillon
Lane offered his hand and lifted a brow at her hesitation. When Alex took his hand, she found it surprisingly strong and firm. She would have assumed he’d have office hands. Especially since he was Mr. Tanner of Tanner Enterprises.
“Nice to meet you, Alex.” His voice was low and smooth. He had yet to release her hand even when she made hers go limp.
“Likewise.” She noted his eyes were green. Not just any green, but the color of leaves in sunlight. They were heavily lashed beneath dark brows. Beautiful eyes, but dangerous, she decided. She gave her hand a little tug and was relieved when he released it.
“I saw you riding in the field by the road,” Lane mentioned sliding his hands in the pockets of his slacks.
Her eyes widened and her mouth clamped shut. That was her time, she wanted to say and he had no business in it. Not when he came here to take everything. Why couldn’t anyone understand? She wanted to scream.
“What kind of horse were you riding?”
Alex wanted to be kind. Her nature called for it. But in her mind, she knew that this man was the enemy.
“Arabian. I’m going up to shower. I’ll see you in the morning, Mother. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Tanner.” Alex turned to leave but Linda spoke up.
“You haven’t had dinner, Alex. And you never came in for lunch. You should eat something.”
Alex’s gaze whipped to her mother’s. She had never questioned anything Alex did. It was always as if she couldn’t care less. A little unnerved by the sudden show of interest, Alex shrugged.
“I’m tired, but thanks anyway.” With a final nod to Lane, Alex turned and walked up the stairs.
She stripped quickly and stepped into the steamy shower. Dirt was washed off and pooled at her feet. Alex scrubbed her hair and body until it ached, then climbed out to dress in her thin, cotton t-shirt and shorts.
After braiding her hair in two braids, she slipped out of the bathroom and walked quietly down the hall into her bedroom ruthlessly keeping her mind blank.
Chapter Four
“Shut up, Jerk,” Alex mumbled as she burrowed deeper down into the sheets. “It can’t be five yet.”
Jerk let out another screech much louder than usual and Alex bolted up in bed. She then realized she was in the barn. On a muttered oath, Alex swung off the cot and rushed out into the morning.
She was supposed to have gotten up early and changed before Jerk had the chance to wake anyone. She’d moved to her room in the barn when a nightmare woke her a quarter after one. She’d been gasping and shivering so badly, she was afraid she would wake up their guest in the room next to hers. The dream itself was foggy and distant now, but it still left her chilled.
She tiptoed through the house and into her bedroom and changed for the day.
She took down her braids that had become tangled during the night, and braided them again. She yanked up a pair of light blue jeans and slipped on a blue cotton shirt that matched her eyes.
She buttoned the pearl buttons and yawned. Terrible nights made for terrible days, she thought with a sigh. And she had some extra baggage to see to that day.
Tanner. She didn’t even catch his first name. She had been too busy fighting off the knee jerk reaction to ogle. He was undoubtedly the most devastatingly handsome male she had ever seen. His dark good looks were offset by a deep vibrating voice that haunted her in her patchy sleep.
She gave herself a mental shake, finished getting ready, and headed downstairs.
The scent of coffee helped to clear the grogginess she felt as she pulled out a mug. She drank two cups, black before she left the house.
“Good morning, Joy.” She paused to please herself by running her hands up and down Joy’s neck. “Want to ride today? I took Prince yesterday but today, it’s just you and me.”
A high pitched whinny from three stables down had Alex chuckling. She patted Joy once more before moving down to the buff colored quarter horse she called Hope. “Hi, sweetheart.” Alex ran a hand along Hope’s bulging belly. “Couple more weeks now and you’ll be a mommy.” Her voice was soft as she spoke to the horse. “Being a mommy is the most wonderful thing in the world. There’s nothing better than that.”
Hope nuzzled Alex’s neck and she took in the comforting smell. Hope’s foal was due around Faith’s birthday. The idea of it amazed Alex. It brought the feelings of sadness and loss to the surface, but at the same time she was anxious and anticipated new life.
Within hours, the temperature shot up. Alex had discarded her shirt and was in her plain white sleeveless top and jeans while she carried lumber from the truck in front of the house to shed she had been repairing.
Mr. Tanner would see that things on Morgan were going on as normal and he would know that Alex had no intention of letting her mother sell. With that in mind, she hammered the morning away. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around to a grinning Jack.
“What are you doing, sneaking up on me that way? Shouldn’t you be working?” she snapped, but ruined her tirade and chuckled.
“Called your name a few times. Guess you were too involved to hear me.” Jack took his cowboy hat from his head and wiped his brow with his forearm before replacing it. “I can see you disappearing before my eyes, child. Go in and eat some lunch.”
“I will as soon as I finish up with this pile.” She motioned toward the piled lumber she had just stacked.
Jack stalked away muttering to himself.
Alex shook her head in exasperation when he came back out carrying an apple. He tossed it at her and she caught it with one hand. “Thanks.” She smiled as Jack strode away still muttering.
She managed to avoid Mr. Tanner for almost the entire day. She didn’t go into the house, even once. Instead, she took her dinner in her room in the barn where she stuck cheese and crackers in the cooler that held medication for the horses.
After she washed up in the small half bathroom attached to her barn room, she wondered if she ought to just sleep there tonight. The portable radio was on for company and Alex absently hummed to Aerosmith while she dried her hands on a rag. She walked outside and into the corral that held a tan and white paint Alex had deemed Crazy Horse.
He was young, barely three and Alex had bought him while he was a yearling from the same man who had sold her Joy—a man who liked to use a whip on him.
It had taken her months to earn Crazy’s trust and even longer to earn his love. But after many bumps and bruises, Alex had finally tamed his wild and frightened heart and only had issues with him when a stranger was around. Until recently, that had been very seldom.
As soon as Crazy Horse heard her coming, he huffed out a breath and stuck his head through the iron bars.
“Hello, Crazy.” Alex climbed the fence and made herself comfortable on the top bar. “Did you miss me?”
He had been gone for three days after cutting his leg on a barbed wire fence. Despite Alex’s attempts with ointment and cleanings, it became infected and she had been forced to call Doc Davis to come to the rescue. Doc, deciding the infection needed to be watched closely, took Crazy Horse and boarded him at the vet clinic in town.
After a three day stay, observation, and treatment; she now owed more money to the veterinarian than she spent on Crazy Horse when she bought him. And it had been completely worth it.
She checked the bandage high on his back leg and clucked her tongue.
“You’re worth every penny though, Crazy Horse.” She murmured to him, stroking his cream colored mane. “Want to go for a ride tomorrow? I haven’t been thrown on my ass in days.”
“Isn’t the point of riding to stay on the horse?”
Alex whirled around at the deep voice, almost losing her balance. After steadying herself, Alex blew a few stray strands of hair from her eyes and squinted into the sunlight. She didn’t need to look to recognize that baritone voice. She looked anyway, to buy her time.
“Sorry,” he grinned. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Alex shook her head then swallowed. ‘Startle’ wasn’t really an apt term for what he did to her system.
“It’s all right.” She forced her lips to curve. “I was just ah…” What was she doing?
“Talking to your horse?” he supplied with lazy amusement.
“Yeah.” Her chin came up in defense. “He’s been gone for a while.” She reached out and continued to stroke Crazy. Vaguely, she noticed the sun had begun to set, casting shadows throughout the corral. The air outside was cooler, but inside Alex was burning up.
Lane climbed up the fence and sat beside her on the top rail. Alex tried not to admire the way his muscles bunched and strained under his cotton shirt. Instead, she watched his wide-palmed hand reach out and his long, narrow fingers stroke Crazy Horse on his mane. The horse shied a little at his touch but was soothed when Alex murmured to him.
“He likes you.”
“Yes. It took me months to earn his affection. He doesn’t give it easily.”
“Oh?” Lane lifted a brow. “Any reason?”
She didn’t sigh, although she wanted to. She didn’t want to be making pleasant conversation with him. Nonetheless, she found herself explaining. “He was abused before I bought him. He was just a yearling and his owner couldn’t break him. Small wonder. He’s an ass anyway.” Alex shrugged referring to Gary Fuller. “I gentled Crazy in four months. The only reason it took me that long is because he was scared to death anyone touching him.”
“Sounds to me like that guy has no business owning horses.”
She was surprised by the sincerity and hints of anger in his voice. He was dressed in jeans with a button up shirt but he still emitted city to Alex. She looked up to find his gaze on her. “He doesn’t own them anymore.”
“Good. So, back to my original question, why do you want to be thrown off Crazy?” He had yet to take his eyes off her. She wanted to squirm, but squared her shoulders instead. She wasn’t going to let some pompous city boy—with beautiful eyes—make her feel insignificant.
“It’s our tradition. I usually get thrown off when I try to take him up the hills. He has a phobia.”
“Interesting.”
Why was he looking at her this way? And why wasn’t she aware that he was so close before? Funny, she mused. Now his eyes had darkened. They were the same green as before only now shaded. She wouldn’t recognize it as desire, she simply couldn’t know. But when he started to lean his head toward hers, she straightened abruptly.
“Mr. Tanner,” she began uncomfortably.
“Lane.”
“Lane, I have things to do before the sun goes down.” She slipped off the fence and started back to the barn trying not to notice the way his muscles moved beneath his shirt as he climbed down as well.
“Alexandra.”
She turned slowly, not at all liking the way he drawled out her name. He was standing with the setting sun to his back, his hands tucked casually in the pockets of his jeans. She let out the breath she’d been holding and said, “Yes?”
“Your mother and I wish to speak with you at your convenience.”
A shiver raced up her spine before she could control it. His voice had taken on a husky quality. She swallowed. Danger. She recognized it in Lane Tanner.
“Tell her I’ll be there soon.”
By the time she managed to pry herself away from the horses, she knew she was a mess. As she rounded the side of the house, she yanked her hair out of the braids and fluffed out tangled mess. It wouldn’t do any good to look like a naïve farm girl, Alex thought dispassionately. She pulled the unruly nest into a tail once she had smoothed some of the tangles out. She hoped there weren’t any pieces of straw attached.
Surely he hadn’t meant to kiss her. That’s just absurd. He doesn’t even know me. She thought of the way his eyes had held hers. How they’d changed from a bright green to dark emerald in a flash.
She stood on the back porch and dusted her clothes off before going in. She followed the muted sounds of conversations into the den. She realized she hadn’t been in the room since she and her mother had fought the day Linda told her she was thinking about selling Morgan.
She wondered if there would be another fight tonight.
“You wanted to see me?”
Two pairs of eyes lifted to hers as she walked into the room.
“Yes, Alex. Please have a seat. There’s some business we need to discuss.” Her mother placed her folded hands on her lap.
Alex took her seat across from Lane and her mother and waited. She tried not to appear anxious, but she worried her bottom lip and stared straight ahead.
“As you know,” Linda began calmly, her voice smooth as honey. “Tanner Enterprises is interested in buying the ranch. Lane has given me their offer and I’ve decided to sell.”
Lane watched Alex’s face the entire time. He saw a variety of emotions play in her brilliant blue stare; anger to fury to devastation.
“You’ve signed the contracts?” she asked quietly with thick emotion coating her voice.
“Not yet. I’m sending them to Tucker tomorrow. He’s going to have a look at the contracts and we’ll meet there in two weeks.” Linda passed a look to Lane. “Two weeks is how long the bank draft from Tanner Enterprises will take to be transferred.”
Alex’s blank stare switched to Lane’s. He only lifted a brow.
“And what about the ranch?” she asked him directly. “What are your plans for Morgan?” She told herself she wouldn’t ask. It would only add insult to injury, after all. Now, she found that she had to know.
“Tanner Enterprises is in the business of buying large quantities of land for theme parks, resorts, and other recreational purposes. This is my project and I have some ideas of what I’d like to accomplish here.”
“Project?” Alex’s voice was still deadly calm as she rose. “This is nothing but a project to you?” She whirled around to her mother before he could answer and her anger became full fury. “And it’s nothing to you except means to an end! Do you not care that I’ve worked this land my entire life? Do you not care that if I leave this place I will have lost everything that means anything to me?”
“I think you should go lie down Alex. You’re tired and you’ve been skipping meals again.”
“Oh, stop it!” She interrupted her mother’s soft, infuriating voice. “You don’t give a damn about what I do so just stop it. You can’t just throw away our life, Mother. You can’t just sign it away.”
Linda swallowed audibly, but kept her composure. “I can. And I will. It’s my decision and my decision only.”
“This isn’t fair.” Alex felt the tears stinging her eyes and fought them back. “You know what I have here.” She was speaking of Faith and of her animals. “You know why I can’t lose the ranch. You know how important this is to me!”
“I’ve already told you—”
“For once will you at least try to see it through my eyes? Try to see what this is going to do to me? Please. Give it time. Give me time, I’ll match their offer. I’ll buy the ranch from you.”
“The offer I’m accepting from Lane is far too high for you to meet.” Linda told her dispassionately. “I told Lane you’d be difficult.”
“Difficult? Damn right, I’m going to be difficult! I spent the last six months bringing this ranch back and now you’re just going to sell it to someone who’s going to make a theme park out of it.” Alex bit down on her trembling lips and tried once more to be calm. “I have some ideas. Would you please just listen to them?”
Linda was a stony wall of silence.
Alex whirled around to stare out the window and into the now black sky and fought for control.
“The contract is going to Tucker Cole’s office tomorrow,” Linda said referring to the town’s lawyer. “In two weeks, Lane and I will sign the contracts for the sale of the ranch. You have two weeks to get used to the idea, Alex. It’s final.”
“Then I guess there’s nothing I can say.” Her voice
was low and calm as she shut the feeling out. There had to be something she could do, but now wasn’t the time to plan. She needed to be cold and unfeeling right now instead of burning with anger.
With the conversation over, Linda rolled her wheelchair out of the room after a murmured good night to Lane. It cracked the last grip of control she had managed.
Lane watched Alex. Her back was still to him and it was rigid and trembling with fury. He knew when she turned around, the color of her eyes would match her shirt perfectly, even if they were shooting fire at him.
He wasn’t disappointed. She whirled around to him and he felt scorched. “Have you considered that five men are going to be out of a job in two weeks?” she asked him hotly.
He understood her passion. He even admired her for it.
“I’m prepared to offer them a job for the reconstruction on a temporary basis of six months. That will give them plenty of time to relocate. If their work pleases me, a permanent position may be offered.”
“How considerate of you,” she snapped. “How completely thoughtful.” A single tear fell and rolled down her cheek. Cursing it and Lane Tanner, Alex turned toward the window again.
“You may not be able to comprehend this, Mr. Tanner, but some people work for what they have. I’ve worked very hard to keep this ranch and I’m not letting you take it without a fight.”
“Oh, I can comprehend,” he said silkily. “What I don’t understand is why in the hell you’re blaming me.”
“You had to call her and put it in her head.” Alex’s fingers dug into her arms as she hugged them.
“It’s my job.”
“Nothing personal?” With her tone abruptly lighter, she turned around and dropped her arms.
Lane ignored the punch in his gut that he knew to be pure lust. That was something he would have to think about later.
“No, it’s nothing personal.” He raised a brow at the flash in her eyes.
“You’re an imprudent fool,” she hissed. “And that is personal.”