The principal looked around in rising panic. “Can’t you see they’re out of control? Jason Hilary is behind this. I know he is. He’s always been a troublemaker.”
“He hasn’t been in trouble for weeks, Mr. Dunlap,” Ann said in the boy’s defense. “Not since Reed began mentoring him.”
“Then it was only a matter of time before he got into even bigger mischief,” the principal insisted.
“Why don’t you tell ‘em Ann’s back on the payroll,” Reed suggested mildly. “That would put a halt to their holiday.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Johnny agreed.
Dunlap sputtered something about bowing to blackmail.
At the back of the crowd, a commotion arose. The plump figure of Clarisa Fipp pushed her way through the students. She planted her fists on her broad hips.
“Officer, I need your help.” She drew several deep breaths before she spoke again. “I have reason to believe Mr. and Mrs. Drummond are planning to kidnap that baby and remove her from the county’s jurisdiction.”
Reed glowered at the social worker. “She doesn’t belong to the damn county. Bets is mine.”
“Your message to my secretary made it clear you were not going to comply with the county’s order to relinquish the child—”
“You’ve got that damn straight.”
“When I didn’t find you at the ranch, I called the police. Dispatch sent me here to find the chief.”
Ann rolled her eyes. Matters were indeed getting out of hand.
She raised her hand, a signal her students recognized as an order for them to be quiet. The adults had less understanding of the signal as Ms. Fipp and Mr. Dunlap kept demanding the chief of police resolve of their respective problems.
Finally, the students were silenced and the adults sputtered to a stop.
“I want to thank you all for your support and encouragement,” Ann said when she had everyone’s attention, speaking loudly enough to be heard at the back of the crowd. “Mr. Dunlap has informed me that I will be back in the classroom on Monday morning.”
The students cheered.
“I believe it would be best if you resume teaching today, Mrs. Drum—”
“I’m taking the day off today—personal business,” she told him in no uncertain terms. To the gathered crowd she said, “I believe I heard the first bell some time ago. All of you belong in your classrooms, not here.” She spotted Marcy McCullough among the onlooking faculty members. “The teachers, too,” she said with a smile.
Grumbling good—naturedly that the fun was over, the crowd began to disperse, the teachers leading the way.
“I suggest the rest of us adjourn to Mr. Dunlap’s office,” Ann said to the remaining characters in this impromptu farce. “I’m sure he won’t mind us using it to get some of these other misunderstandings resolved.”
Although Clarisa didn’t seem thrilled at the prospect of going anywhere with Reed, who was doing his tough—cowboy imitation, Ann got everyone inside and seated around a table.
Johnny quickly announced he’d be dropping all charges against Ann and felt there would be no need to file any against Jodie if the bad checks were covered. Reed promised they would be.
All eyes then turned to Clarisa.
She flushed. “Well, yes, under the circumstances, I suppose I can safely recommend Mr. and Mrs. Drummond be granted guardianship of Betina Shoemaker pending final adoption approval. They both appear to be devoted parents.”
Reed visibly relaxed.
Ann wasn’t quite so relieved, and her nervous stomach registered another tumble.
As the meeting broke up, she and Reed headed for his truck. He sighed. “Thank God that’s over.”
“You got what you wanted.”
He smiled at the baby cuddled in his arms. “I did, didn’t I? Thanks to your help.”
Ann could only hope Reed achieving his goal didn’t signal the end of her marriage, too.
Chapter Thirteen
Reed popped the cork on the champagne bottle.
Ann jumped and turned from her contemplation of the cowboy miniature on the fireplace mantel. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Since you got Bets down and Fiero is set for the night, I figured this was a good time to celebrate.” Not knowing how long Ann would stay, Reed couldn’t be sure there’d ever be another time. He wanted this one to count.
She arched a curious eyebrow. “And you just happened to have a bottle of champagne on hand?”
“I had to go into town for more shingle nails this afternoon. I just happened to go by a liquor store.”
“How fortuitous.”
“I thought so.” He smiled as he poured wine into the glasses he’d brought from the kitchen. Not exactly crystal goblets but they’d do. He set the bottle on the end table next to the couch and handed Ann one of the glasses. “Here’s to beating the bureaucrats.”
Her eyes sparkling more than the champagne, she touched the rim of her glass to his. “I’m not sure we beat anything. More like they finally were forced to see the truth.”
“Having your twin show up was pretty damn convincing, all right.”
“And having a boy like Jason on my side certainly makes an impression.” She laughed. “I swear I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or turn him over my knee and give him a good spanking. Or better yet, adopt that youngster and give him the kind of home he deserves.”
“Ms. Fipp would probably flip out if we tried that,” he said with a low—throated chuckle.
They both sipped from their glasses. Reed could barely taste the fruity liquid. Instead he wanted to taste Ann. All day he’d been thinking, one last time and then he’d be able to let her go—let her get the annulment she’d talked about. Now he wasn’t so sure.
She had her hair pulled back in a loose pony tail and some of the strands had escaped to lie against her cheek. With his fingertip, he smoothed the wayward strands back behind her ear. Her eyes flared and she drew in a soft breath. Reed’s body reacted with its own tightening low in his groin. He inhaled her scent, wildflowers and something difficult to define that was uniquely her own.
“How ‘bout a fire?” he asked, his voice thick and husky. In his fantasies, he’d pictured Ann naked and golden in the firelight while he made love to her. He couldn’t wait till winter for that dream to come true. She’d be gone by then, and he fought the des olate sense of loneliness that nearly swamped him at the thought.
“I’d like a fire.” She held her glass with both hands, her delicate fingers curling around the tumbler the way Reed wanted them to curl around him.
She brought the champagne to her lips again, sipping slowly. “One of the reasons I bought my house in town was because it has a fireplace.”
He gritted his teeth against the ache that rose from deep in his jeans. “It can get pretty damp and cold around here in the winter.”
“Yes, I know. A fire is cozy.”
Cozy wasn’t exactly what he had in mind as he set his glass aside and knelt to lay the logs on the grate. He lit a match to the newspapers he’d stuffed in the cracks, but the flames that shot up couldn’t compare to the sensual fire that was burning in his gut. One last time, he told himself.
Still kneeling, he extended his hand to her. She took it, joining him on the carpet in front of the fire. They leaned back against the couch, and she set her glass aside to watch the flames coil up the chimney. The sharp scent of woodsmoke crept into the room as the log caught.
“I still can hardly believe I have a twin. I think she and I are going to become friends.”
“It figures you’d have a lot in common.” He loved when Ann wore her hair back, baring the vulnerable column of her neck. Lightly, he stroked the soft, downy skin at her nape.
“I…” Her voice caught. “I like Harley, too. He seems very…Reed?”
“Hmm?” Leaning closer, he brushed his lips to the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
“Are you…ah…” A fine shudder wen
t through her. “Seducing me?”
“That’s my plan.” One last time.
“How nice.” A tiny smile quivered at the corners of her lips.
He found her ear and circled the delicate shell with his tongue, heat spiralling through him as he did. “Very nice.”
With a sigh, her head fell back, giving him easy access to the sweet hollow of her throat. “You do this very well,” she murmured.
“I have a willing subject.” Only his own body was betraying him. He wanted this to last, to linger over every silky bit of Ann so the memories would be embedded in his psyche. As he undressed her, slipping her shirt off over her head and removing her bra, he gave particular attention to the rosy nipples she thrust up at him, tasting their creamy flavor, memorizing the beaded texture.
Her breathing deepened. When he looked at her, her eyes had fluttered closed, her mouth was open and a faint glow of pleasure colored her cheeks. Fierce, masculine pride shot through him at her erotic response to his ministrations.
Once he had tried to deny himself the pleasure of this fiercely sexual woman. In the future he’d have to do so again. But for now she was his—in this minute, in this place, he would have her. Later he’d lock away the memories and bring them out only when he was feeling particularly strong.
“Reed…” Moaning, she twisted her hips and tried to slip her slacks off. “Too many clothes. Help me.”
“My pleasure.”
In minutes their clothing had been cast aside and Ann was stretched out on the floor beside Reed, naked and beautiful. He caressed the flatness of her stomach, kissed the indentation of her belly button and slid his hand through the golden—brown curls that protected her secret heat. The striking contrast between his tanned skin and her fair complexion was deeply erotic. When he dipped his fingers lower, she bucked against him.
“Oh, Reed…”
“My sweet sugar—Annie.” He tasted her heat, laved it until she arched and cried out his name, her whole body shuddering. His name, by damn. He never wanted her to forget it.
Then he knelt between her legs, spread them and invaded her with tender savagery, taking them both where they would never go again. He watched her, the golden firelight dancing across her face as she reached toward her peak. He plunged into her again, this time letting her draw him ever more fully inside. The wood crackled in the fireplace, sending up sparks. The tension in him rose to an unbearable pitch then exploded in final release as her body pulsed around him.
He stayed inside her as long as he could. Resting on his forearms, he kept his weight from crushing her. But drained of strength and hope, a deep melancholy overtook him, and he finally had to roll away. He knew he had to be the one to call an end to what he’d started only weeks ago. If he allowed her to walk away first, Reed’s pain would be too great to endure. If he was going to survive, he’d have to protect himself.
“We’ll talk to Marvin Hutch next week,” Reed said. Only a tiny flame continued to lick at the charred log in the fireplace. “He’ll know how to go about getting us an annulment.”
Blinking, Ann came out of her sensual haze in a blaze of disappointment and pain that quickly turned to fury.
“Hutch will do what?” she repeated, doing all she could not to let her voice rise to a screech.
“Arrange our annulment.”
She scooted away from Reed so she wouldn’t pound him into oblivion with her fists. With the adrenaline surging through her veins, she’d have the strength to kill him if she let herself go. “You make the most incredible love to me I’ve ever experienced and two minutes later you’re talking annulment? I don’t believe you!”
“It’s what we agreed to. There’s no rush, of course.”
“No rush?” she mocked. “I’ll show you rush.”
Scrambling to her feet, she snatched up her clothes, which were scattered on the floor near the couch. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t give her heart to a man and then allow him to toss it back in her face.
She’d thought—she’d believed—Reed loved her, even when he hadn’t said the words. Hadn’t he just showed her how much he cared? It was more than lust, damn it! He’d stuck with her when she’d been arrested, when being married to her might have cost him custody of Betina. Now he was ready to toss her—and their love—out on her metaphorical ear.
She’d been lying to herself. The worst kind of fool. He’d said from the beginning that marriage stinks. That’s what she should have believed.
No rush, he’d said. The hell with it! And him!
She wasn’t going to stay around here waiting for a lightning bolt to strike him and bring the arrogant cowboy to his senses. If he was too dense to believe they could have a life together, then so be it. She would not stay one second longer with a man who didn’t recognize and respond to love when it hit him right smack between the eyes.
With her gone, maybe he’d recognize what he’d lost—what they’d both lost.
Belatedly, Reed came to his feet. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving you. What does it look like?” Hugging her clothing to her chest, her butt as naked as the day she was born, she marched out of the living room and down the hall. In the bedroom she yanked her suitcase out of the back of the closet.
“You don’t have to leave right now,” Reed said from the doorway. He didn’t have anything more on than she did.
“You’ve had your last roll in the hay with me, Reed Drummond, unless you can give me a damn good reason to stay.”
“It’s getting late. You shouldn’t be out driving—”
“Not good enough, Drummond.” She opened a drawer, grabbed an armload of undies and dropped them into the suitcase. “I’ve been driving after dark since before you came along. I think I can still manage.”
“Come on, sugar. Be reasonable. You’re upset—”
“How clever of you to notice.” She dragged armfuls of clothes out of the closet. One by one, she tossed aside the hangers and crammed the dresses and skirts into the suitcase, not caring about the mess they’d be in by the time she unpacked them. All she wanted to do was get out of here. Get away from Reed. Lick the wounds to her pride. It didn’t pay to love a man who didn’t know how to love in return.
Except he knew how to love Bets, Ann thought, with a painful twist in her chest. And so did she. If Ann left, for the second time she’d be losing a child she’d come to love. She’d be leaving behind another big chunk of her heart.
A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it down. She had no more right to Bets than she did to Reed.
She had to retreat now while she still had something of herself left to hang on to.
To get dressed, she had to rummage through the suitcase again for clothes she’d just stuffed in there—the ones Reed had removed with such seductive skill less than an hour ago. Though her vision was blurred, she noted Reed had found some clothes to put on, too. She wished to high heaven he’d learn to button his shirt. He was too damn sexy for any woman’s peace of mind with his broad chest on display.
Not that she cared at the moment. Surely her fury, her humiliation, had squelched any resemblance of sexual attraction she might feel for Reed.
Yeah, right. In my dreams!
But she’d get over him. Broken hearts mended, or so she’d been told. And sex, in general, was seriously overrated—except when performed by a master craftsman. Like Reed.
She slammed her suitcase closed and zipped it shut. Or tried to. A summer top and one of her skirts was sticking out the side. She didn’t give a damn.
“You don’t have to do this,” Reed said.
He was doing his silent cowboy imitation, she realized, the tough guy, the one without a heart. At least not a heart Ann could touch.
She hefted the suitcase off the bed. “I’d like to drop by to see Bets once in a while.” Ann couldn’t face that particular goodbye right now. She needed a reprieve and maybe some glimmer of hope for the future.
Reed’s eyes were da
rk and unreadable, his brows drawn low. “Sure. No problem.”
“Great. I’ll call first.” Snatching up her purse from the dresser, she shoved past him out the bedroom door. Her throat was tight with tears as she walked by Bets’s bedroom, the nightlight glowing a soft yellow. Reed had only loaned her his baby. Now Bets belonged to him again.
Shoving out the front door, she could barely see through her tears well enough to get down the porch steps.
Arnold came running, no doubt surprised by all the activity this late at night.
“Take care of him, boy. Bets, too.” She ruffled his long fur and scratched him behind his ears. “And if he gives you a hard time, you come find me, you hear? I love…” She walked away because her throat had closed on the emotional lump that had formed, one that would very likely be a permanent impediment to speech.
Ann didn’t know how she made it back to town and to her house. A darkness enveloped her that lasted the entire weekend. By Monday morning when she tried to eat some breakfast before leaving for school she realized why her emotional reactions had been so volatile, her tears so near the surface…and her stomach so queasy.
She was pregnant with Reed’s child.
Chapter Fourteen
Reed was changing Bets’s diaper when he heard the knock on the front door.
“Come in,” he shouted. Closing his eyes momentarily, he tried to will the caller to be Ann. He’d had a lousy weekend and he didn’t think Monday was going to be much better. He’d burned the damn coffeepot dry and there hadn’t been any milk for his cereal. Damned if he hadn’t gotten used to Ann fixing him bacon and eggs or pancakes for breakfast. Worse, Bets had been fussy since Saturday as if she knew something was wrong, and he hadn’t been getting more than two hours of sleep at a time.
God, he’d missed Ann when he’d gotten back into that cold, lonely bed.
More than once in the past two days Reed had made it as far as his truck, planning to drive down the hill to her house and drag her back to the ranch, back into his life.
But they’d agreed to only a temporary arrangement. She’d fulfilled her part of the bargain. He had to let her go. He didn’t have to like it.
Daddy's Little Cowgirl Page 17