One-Click Buy: July 2009 Harlequin Blaze

by Julie Kenner

  “So, tomorrow you have to take Harry into Bilbarra. I’ll drive you. I’ll be here at seven sharp. You can take care of your business in town while I stop at the surgery. We’ll drive home in the afternoon and then spend the night at the shack.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea. A Quinn and a Fraser in the car together for four hours.”

  “Dr. Tom Barrett will be taking you to Bilbarra. Your grandfather loves me. I’m the one who saved your horse, remember? And I gave you a discount on the bill.”

  “You didn’t charge me anything,” Hayley said as Teague pulled her T-shirt down over her head.

  He helped her find the sleeves, then gave her a quick kiss. “I prefer to get compensated in other ways.”

  “Where are my panties?” she asked, searching through the pile of clothes.

  “I think a dingo ran off with them.”

  “This is awful. I lose my panties on our first date.”

  “I can hardly wait for the second date.” Teague winked at her.

  “Don’t be so certain. Harry will be coming along tomorrow.”

  “Maybe I can find him a date,” Teague joked.

  TEAGUE FIXED HIS GAZE on the road in front of him. He fought the temptation to glance at the clock on the dashboard. No matter how much he wanted this day to be over, counting down the minutes wouldn’t make it go any faster.

  “Have you seen the horses they breed?” Harry asked. “Scrawny creatures. A wonder they manage to sell even one. But then, the Quinns have always been cheats—every last one of them.”

  Teague gritted his teeth. His jaw was beginning to ache with the effort to remain silent. He’d listened to Harry blathering all the way to Bilbarra. The old man seemed determined to offload every imagined insult and slight that the Quinn family had ever perpetrated against him. Teague was beginning to wonder if Harry knew who he really was and was provoking him deliberately. Likening Teague and his brothers to con men was over the top.

  Hayley sent him an apologetic smile. “How are your new glasses working, Harry?”

  “I don’t need glasses.”

  “Put them on. You won’t get used to them if you don’t wear them.”

  “They make me look like a fool,” he muttered.

  “They make you look very clever,” Hayley countered.

  “What would you know, girl?” “Don’t speak to her like that,” Teague said, staring at Harry in the rearview mirror. “She doesn’t deserve that.”

  “What do you know about what she deserves?” Harry snapped.

  With a low curse, Teague slammed on the brakes. The Range Rover skidded to a stop and Teague twisted around to face Harry. But Hayley put her hand over his. “Nature break!” she said, sending him a warning look.

  She jumped out of the SUV and ran around to Teague’s door. “Come on,” she said, yanking the door open and grabbing his hand. “I want you to watch for snakes.”

  They walked into the brush, Hayley clutching his hand and tugging him along behind her. “What are you doing?”

  “What am I doing? What is he doing?”

  “He’s being Harry. That’s the way he is.”

  “He’s rude. And he treats you like crap. I’m not going to listen to him speak to you like that. I won’t have it, Hayley.”

  “It’s just the way he is,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me. I’ve learned to tune it out.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t have to.” He braced his hands on his hips and shook his head. “You’re not staying on Wallaroo any longer. You’re coming to Kerry Creek with me.”

  “What?”

  “I won’t allow you to be subjected to his tantrums. And you wonder why you’re carrying around so much baggage? Well, there’s one big windbag you can get rid of right now.”

  “He’s family,” she said. “You don’t have any idea what it’s like to have no one. You have two parents and two brothers. I have him. And yes, he can be a pain in the arse at times, but he’s still my grandfather.”

  “He’s also the guy you ran away from ten years ago. And the guy who refused to take you in right after your parents died.”

  “Well, I’ve had time to realize my mistakes,” she said. “And now, I’m waiting for him to realize his.”

  “Why is it so important? He’ll never be what you want, Hayley.”

  “I’m not going to argue about this,” she said, turning to walk away from him. “Not here.”

  Teague followed her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face him. “We’re not getting in that car until you agree to come to Kerry Creek and stay with me.”

  “Then we’re going to be out here all day and night, because I’m not going to Kerry Creek. Do you think I’ll be any more welcome under your brother’s roof than I am under my own?”

  “You won’t even give us a chance, will you?”

  “What is that supposed to mean? What do we have to do with me coming to Kerry Creek?”

  “No matter what I do, you’re never going to need me. You’re too scared to need anyone, Hayley. That’s why you ran all those years ago. And that’s why you’re still running right now.”

  “Don’t try to analyze me. You’re no good at it.”

  “I know you better than anyone in this world.”

  “You used to know me,” she said. Hayley turned and walked toward the road. She got inside the Range Rover and slammed the door behind her.

  Teague cursed, then kicked the dusty ground in front of him. Hayley was the most beautiful woman in the world, but there were times when he wondered what the hell he was doing with her. She stubbornly refused to acknowledge she might deserve a bit of happiness in her life. The closer he tried to get, the more she pushed him away.

  Last night, under the stars, he’d felt as if they’d finally gotten past her insecurities. But then, hours later, she’d found a way to sabotage what they’d shared. They were running around in circles and he was getting dizzy.

  Teague walked back to the SUV and got inside. He threw the car into gear and pulled out onto the road. The problem was he and Hayley would never get things right between them if there was always someone standing in the way. His brother, her grandfather and Hayley herself.

  He glanced over at her and found her staring out the passenger-side window. Maybe trying to reestablish a relationship with Hayley wasn’t worth the trouble, Teague mused. They’d be going their separate ways in a few weeks. The more time they spent together, the more they seemed to be at odds with each other.

  The rest of the ride passed in silence. When Harry made a move to speak again, Hayley quickly shut him down. To Teague’s surprise, the old man followed her order, slumping in the rear seat with his arms crossed over his chest. He’d seen that posture from Hayley too many times. Maybe they were closer than he’d thought.

  When they reached Wallaroo, Teague pulled up in front of the house. Harry shoved his new glasses onto his nose and peered out the window. “Jaysus,” he muttered. “That house needs to be painted.” He got out of the SUV and walked up to the porch, examining the peeling paint, then disappeared around the corner of the house.

  “Come home with me,” Teague said.

  “I can’t. Thanks for the ride. I know he can be a horror sometimes. But I can handle him now. He doesn’t bother me.”

  “You deserve better.”

  She forced a smile, then nodded silently. A moment later, Hayley jumped out of the truck and closed the door. She gave him a little wave, before turning and running into the house.

  As the Range Rover bumped down the road, Teague tried to put the day in perspective. Life couldn’t always be perfect. They weren’t kids anymore and there would be differences between them. But he knew more now than he had ten years ago. It wasn’t easy to fall in love or to stay in love. Sometimes the differences between two people were too large to overcome.

  There was an upside to staying away from Hayley. He wouldn’t have to think about her 24/7. He could get his work done without having
to hurry home so he might spend the night with her. And he and Callum would be on better terms.

  So that was it. He’d given seeing Hayley a go and it hadn’t worked. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he muttered to himself. Would she be that easy to give up? Though it would be a challenge to stay away from her, he was determined to try. He had calls to make tomorrow and the next day, he’d promised to fly Gemma and Payton to Brisbane so they could do some shopping.

  He wouldn’t have time to even think about Hayley until Sunday. By then, maybe he’d be ready to forget her and go on as if nothing had happened between them. “Right,” he said, knowing that was all but impossible. His attempts to stop thinking about Hayley would only lead to more thoughts about her.

  All the way home to Kerry Creek, Teague tried to figure out a way around the walls Hayley had constructed. If anyone could breach them, he could. But as he was furiously taking them apart, brick by brick, she was frantically building them thicker on the other side.

  It was her move, Teague decided. He would wait for her to come to him. She couldn’t run away if he refused to chase her.

  When Teague got to the station, he didn’t bother stopping at the house. Instead, he drove directly to the landing strip. He had a few hours left until sunset. If he stayed on the station, he’d only be tempted to ride out to the shack. He’d have to put some space between himself and Hayley.

  He’d fly back to Bilbarra. Once the sun went down, he couldn’t land on the station. He’d be stuck where he was. He’d spend the evening getting pissed at the Spotted Dog, sleep it off on Doc Daley’s office sofa and then make his calls tomorrow.

  It was a decent scheme, with no room to make a fool of himself. And that’s all he really wanted from here on out—to keep from playing the fool.

  5

  HAYLEY WOVE Molly’s reins through her gloved fingers, then turned the horse away from the stables. With a gentle kick, she urged her into a slow gallop. The early-morning air was chilly, the breeze whipping at her hair. But a ride was exactly what she needed.

  She’d spent the last two nights wide-awake, fighting the temptation to ride out to the shack and see if Teague was waiting for her. Her therapist would probably say she was reverting to the self-destructive patterns of her childhood, making a bad decision simply to punish herself. But Hayley knew it was something more than that.

  Was she trying to test him? To see how deep his affection ran? Or was she trying to drive him away before he had a chance to leave on his own?

  Her stomach fluttered as she thought about what she’d say if he was waiting for her. She managed to stay away from the shack partly because of the fear that he might not be there. If he wasn’t there then he didn’t care and it was all over. She’d half expected him to stop by the station with the excuse of checking up on Molly, even though the horse had recovered completely. And he hadn’t come. In two days, no word from the only person in the world who claimed to care for her.

  She urged Molly to gallop faster and faster. Hayley’s legs ached and her breath came in shallow gasps, but she didn’t want to stop. As she came over a small rise, she saw the shack in the distance. Two horses were tethered out front.

  Drawing a deep breath, she headed toward the shack. Had he been there all night waiting? When she reached the porch, Hayley slid out of the saddle and dropped softly to the ground. She walked up the steps, then rested her hand on the doorknob. As she opened it, the hinges creaked. “Teague?”

  Hayley froze as she saw the two naked bodies intertwined on the small bed. She felt her world shift, the ground moving under her feet. Teague had brought another woman to their special place. How could he have done this? Was he trying to punish her?

  With a soft sob, Hayley turned and ran down the steps. She heard a voice call out behind her, but her heart was beating so hard and fast that it obliterated every sound around her.

  She fumbled to put her foot in the stirrup, frantic to escape before he discovered her here. She swung her leg up and over the saddle, then reached for the reins.

  “Wait!”

  Hayley glanced up, tears swimming in her eyes. Slowly, she realized the man who stood on the porch wasn’t Teague at all. Though the family resemblance was obvious, she found herself looking at a man who could only be Teague’s younger brother, Brody. She’d only seen him once, when he was much younger, but she knew it was him.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, her voice shaky and her hands trembling.

  “We needed a place to sleep,” Brody explained. “This was close by. Was Teague supposed to meet you here?”

  “No,” she snapped, keeping a tenuous hold on her emotions. “Why would you think that?”

  He shrugged, then shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. “It was almost as if you were expecting him,” Brody said, his eyebrow arched.

  Hayley swallowed hard and tried to steady her voice. “I saw the Kerry Creek horses and I thought it might be him. But I was mistaken. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “Should I tell Teague you were looking for him?” Brody asked.

  “Why?” Hayley shook her head, unwilling to reveal her true feelings to Teague’s brother. “No. You don’t need to tell him anything.”

  A moment later, a woman joined Brody on the porch, her eyes sleepy and her long mahogany hair loose around her shoulders. He turned to her and smiled, slipping his arm around her shoulders. “Morning,” she said, nodding to Hayley.

  “Payton, this is Hayley Fraser,” Brody said. “Her family owns this place. Hayley, Payton Harwell.”

  Payton smiled warmly. “Thank you for letting us stay here. I got lost last night and wasn’t really prepared to sleep outside.”

  Hayley nodded, still suspicious of Brody’s friendly attitude. She knew what Teague’s brothers thought of her, what his whole family thought. She was trouble, a girl who didn’t deserve a brilliant boy like Teague. His parents had tried to put an end to their friendship early on and when Teague had been forbidden to see her, they’d simply snuck around, taking whatever time they could find together.

  “I—I have to go,” Hayley said. “Stay as long as you like. I won’t say anything to my grandfather.”

  Hayley couldn’t contain her humiliation as she rode back to the house. Once again, tears flooded her eyes and she brushed them away with her fingers. What was wrong with her? She’d never been this emotional before. This was what romance did to her—it caused her heartache and pain.

  But mixed with the humiliation was a large dose of frustration. She’d been the one to mess everything up. Teague had done nothing but offer her his friendship and affection and she’d thrown it in his face. He was right. She didn’t owe anything to Harry. If it came down to a choice between Teague and her grandfather, she should have chosen Teague.

  Harry may be family, but Teague was something more. Teague was a true friend. Hayley sighed. No, he was more than a friend. A lover. “A lover that I don’t love.” She groaned. A soul mate? Was that it? The notion seemed so sentimental, but it came the closest to describing how she felt.

  There was no one in the world she trusted more. Considering she usually trusted no one but herself, that was saying a lot. And there wasn’t one other man with whom she’d rather spend an evening. He knew what she was thinking before she said it, as if he could see right into her mind. And Hayley was certain that no matter how much time had passed, she could depend on him if she needed help.

  As she approached the stable, Hayley noticed Teague’s truck parked nearby. Her heart leaped and she kicked Molly into a quicker pace. When she got inside the stable, she saw him sitting on a bale of straw at the far end. He glanced up at the sound of Molly’s hooves on the concrete and then got to his feet.

  Hayley jumped to the ground and took a step toward him. For a long moment, they stared at each other, and then a tiny sob racked her body and Hayley ran toward him. Teague gathered her in his arms, lifting her off her feet as he kissed her.

  “
I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he whispered between kisses.

  “No, I’m sorry,” Hayley said. “I was such a bitch to you. And you didn’t deserve that.”

  “I need to be more patient,” he said, setting her on the ground. He held her face in his hands and kissed her again. “I’ve been miserable these last few days. All I could think about was you. I was in Brisbane yesterday and I was walking through David Jones and everything I saw reminded me of you. I wanted you there with me.”

  “You went shopping to get your mind off me?” Hayley asked. “Don’t men usually go to a pub and get themselves drunk?”

  “I did that on Thursday night. Saturday I took Gemma and Payton shopping in Brisbane.”

  “I met Payton,” she said softly. “I rode out to the shack this morning and she was there with Brody.”

  “So that’s where they ended up,” Teague said with a soft chuckle. “I guess that’s not our private place anymore.”

  “She seemed nice,” Hayley said. “Very pretty.”

  “I’ve never known Brody to be this far gone for a girl before and he’s had lots of girls. And Cal, he’s got a sweetheart, too. Though I’m not sure he knows what the hell to do with her. Her name is Gemma and she’s a genealogist from Ireland. Things have changed at Kerry Creek in the past week.”

  “Is that why you asked me to come and live with you? So you’d have someone there, too?”

  “No. And I shouldn’t have asked. I know how you feel, and Cal and Brody haven’t ever done anything to get to know you better. But that’s going to change.”

  “How? Are you going to beat them up if they say anything nasty about me?”

  “Yes,” Teague said, nodding his head. “I will thoroughly thrash them to defend your honor. But before I do, I’m going to give them a chance to get to know you. I want you to come to Kerry Creek tomorrow. We’re having a little celebration for the queen’s birthday, a barbecue. And I’m inviting you to be my guest.”

  “I don’t know, Teague. If I come, Callum and Brody will be upset and I’ll ruin everyone’s good time.”