Do You Take This Enemy?

by Sara Orwig

  “I’ll bet you remember me the same way.”

  She cocked her head. “No, actually, I had a crush on you for a few years there. Does that surprise you?”

  “Yes, it does,” he answered.

  “It was a long time ago. Just figure—you were exciting because you were forbidden. And you were older.”

  “Don’t rub it in. I’m thirty-three. How much younger are you?”

  “I’m twenty-eight. Plus, you were captain of the football team—you and Wyatt Sawyer were chosen by the girls in my class as the best-looking guys in Stallion Pass High School.”

  “Maybe tonight won’t be so bad after all.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” she said, laughing. “I grew up. I’ve dated and my values have changed, and you’re no longer forbidden.”

  “For a minute there my hopes were soaring.”

  “We’ve got a long drive into town. Why don’t you start telling me your plans now?” she suggested.

  “Relax, Ashley,” he said. “I won’t bite. Let’s get to know each other. Tell me about your job in Chicago.”

  “Well, if you really want to know, it was just typical ad agency stuff. I was involved with thinking up ideas and dealing with clients.”

  “Do you miss it?”

  “Terribly sometimes, but I’m needed here.”

  “Do you plan to go back to it?” he asked, half thinking about their conversation and what she had just told him. She had had a teenage crush on him. That meant she hadn’t always hated him. And she thought he was good-looking. Sparks danced in the air when he was around her, and he was drawn to her in a way he hadn’t been for a long time. Maybe there really was some hope for his proposal. And yesterday morning with Julian…Ashley and Julian had taken to each other instantly. That was a bonus that made this union far more important to him.

  “Ashley, I was thinking about that crush you had—”

  “Don’t let that go to your head. I was a kid.”

  “Well, I wish I’d paid more attention then—”

  “No, you don’t. Remember, skinny, braces, five years younger. I don’t think so.”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “You’re right. You were a scrawny little squirt. But you aren’t now.”

  “Thanks for that bulletin,” she snapped with sarcasm. “Seven months pregnant is far from scrawny.”

  “I meant that in a nice way.”

  “Then thank you,” she answered quietly, wondering whether she could really trust his answer, yet liking his compliment.

  “So are you going to take over running your ranch now?” he asked.

  “I’ve taken over the books—but I don’t know the things my Dad does about breeding or training.”

  Gabe studied her intently. “I’m surprised you’re not dating.”

  “No, I’m definitely not interested in anyone around here.”

  “Are you still in love with some guy in Chicago?”

  “No, I’m not,” she answered in a frosty tone. He was surprised to find her so self-possessed and cool. He shot another glance her way, looking at her profile. He had started this to acquire land, but now he was more intrigued with the woman sitting beside him, a turn of events that stunned him because he was still in love with Ella. He didn’t want to be caught up in a situation where Ashley expected love. Whenever he thought of Ella, he hurt and he knew that wasn’t going to change. Gabe realized Ashley had been speaking to him.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “What did you say?”

  “Where are we going to eat?” she asked. “We could still run into someone we know in San Antonio.”

  “I’ve thought about that. It seems to me that the least likely place is a sort of generic hotel. It might not be the best dinner you’ve ever eaten, but it will be private. Not many locals will eat in the hotels and it’s unlikely we’ll know the out-of-towners.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “Now if you want real seclusion, I can rent a room in the hotel and have dinner sent—”

  “Not in the next two lifetimes will I go to a hotel room with you! Nice try.”

  He shrugged. “Fine with me. You’re the one who’s more worried about who will see us.” He glanced at her. “Are you scared to go to a hotel room with me?”

  “Hardly.”

  “I swear I won’t make a pass.”

  “I’m sure you won’t,” she snapped, and he could hear the annoyance in her voice. Gabe knew he needed to quit teasing her, but when he could get such a passionate reaction out of her, he couldn’t resist. He wondered how passionate she would get over long, steamy kisses. He drew a deep breath and knew he’d better stop following that line of thought.

  “I do not, now or ever, want to go to a hotel room with you.”

  “Why does that come out as another inviting challenge?”

  “I was thinking more as a threat. You’re not helping your case.”

  “Okay. Back to a neutral subject. Where would you like to eat?”

  “A hotel dining room sounds fine.”

  Thirty minutes later they were seated in a beige-and-green dining room of a hotel half a mile from the River-walk. The room was quiet except for piped-in music that played softly in the background. They were in a corner. She prayed they would not see anyone from Piedras or Lago counties.

  Gabriel ordered wine for himself and water for her. Shortly after their drinks came, they ordered dinner. As soon as the waiter left, Gabe sipped his red wine and studied her. “Ashley, you have the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re very pretty.”

  “Thank you, but that isn’t why you asked me out tonight. Get to the point.”

  He was amused at her dogged insistence on keeping the evening impersonal. “You know that kind of reaction from you just makes me all the more interested.”

  Surprising her, he leaned forward suddenly and took her hand. She tried to pull away, but he held her firmly, his thumb on her wrist. She was acutely aware of his touch and of his dark-brown eyes boring into her.

  “Your pulse is racing. I think we should pursue getting to know each other for more reasons than saving your ranch and expanding mine.”

  “You’re adept at smooth-talking to get what you want,” she answered, realizing that he had admitted feeling an attraction to her and that he was still holding her hand. She was reacting to him in ways she didn’t want to, and she found him exciting. Every time he fixed her with one of his piercing looks, his dark eyes took her breath away.

  “I’m just observing what’s happening here.”

  “All right, I’ll admit my pulse is racing,” she said, “but I chalk that up to not dating in a long time, my crush on you as a kid, and your sexy looks. We’re not friends, and I barely know you, so whatever I feel when I’m with you is not significant.”

  “I don’t agree. Does it happen with every guy you go out with?” he asked with great innocence.

  “That’s none of your business! You can cause my pulse to pound, but you also can cause my temper to rise. Now stop flirting with me.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  She took a deep breath, and he grinned.

  “Let’s talk about getting married,” he said softly.

  He made everything sound sexy. There was nothing about his offer that made Ashley feel she was considering an impersonal business decision. “I don’t see any way we can work out this marriage of convenience.”

  “Sure, we can,” he said, releasing her hand and leaning back in his chair, pushing open his coat while he studied her. He looked dashing in his dark suit, his eyes not missing anything. “I think there are vastly more possibilities here than I imagined. A marriage between us would mean financial help for the Triple R. It would let me get started with expansion. I’ll have to admit, it would give Julian a mother and I would be there for you when the baby comes.”

  She laughed. “I don’t need you when the baby comes. You’re not part of me and my baby.”

  “I could be.” He paused inf
initesimally, then said, “Your dad’s health isn’t good, is it?”

  To hear Gabe say that about her father hurt, and she looked away. “Ashley,” Gabe said in an incredibly gentle voice that surprised her so much it brought her attention back to him. “I don’t mean to upset you about your dad. I’ve lost too many people I’ve loved, and it hurt to lose them.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, hearing the pain in his voice and seeing it cloud his eyes. A muscle worked in his jaw, and she realized he was still grieving his losses.

  “You have to face the truth. Your dad has health problems and he may need more help as time goes by.”

  “We have our foreman, Gus,” Ashley protested.

  “I’ve heard that in two years he’s going to retire and move to Wyoming where his son and grandkids live.”

  The waiter came with their salads, and for a moment they ate in silence.

  “I know Dad needs help—that’s why I’m sitting here listening to you, but marriage is just impossible,” Ashley said, wondering if she was arguing with herself more than him as she had done with her father the night before.

  “It isn’t at all. I wouldn’t make demands on you. There wouldn’t be anything physical unless you wanted there to be.”

  She couldn’t keep from raising an eyebrow and giving him a look. “So if I said let’s hop in bed, you’d be ready and willing?”

  Putting down his fork, he smiled, and she drew a swift breath because it made him even more attractive. “Ashley, you’re a beautiful, appealing woman. I’m a guy. That’s all it takes.”

  She shrugged. “Why should I have been surprised?”

  Amusement flashed in his eyes again.

  Their entrées came and they were silent a few minutes as they ate, yet her mind was seething with conflicting thoughts. Over it all was the replay of his velvety voice telling her that she was beautiful and appealing.

  “Ashley,” he said, lowering his fork, “for the next hour, why don’t we just pretend that you’re Ashley Smith and I’m Gabe Jones. You’d see me a whole new way.”

  “That’s like trying to pretend the rattlesnake a foot away from you is a kitten. That’s not possible.”

  He grinned again, and she wondered how many female hearts he had melted with that smile. The man was wickedly handsome. This whole affair would be easier if she didn’t have this constant prickly awareness of how sexy he was.

  “A rattlesnake?” he asked with another arch of his brow. He leaned across the table. “Isn’t that a little harsh?”

  “All right. Maybe not a rattlesnake, but I can’t pretend you’re not a Brant. I’m far too aware of who you are.”

  “And I’m incredibly aware of you.”

  “That wasn’t what I meant,” she protested with amusement. He was fun to flirt with, exciting to be with. Ashley knew she was on dangerous ground. She barely knew him. She needed to keep things impersonal and keep her wits about her.

  “Will you answer something truthfully?” he asked.

  Surprised, she set down her water glass. “Sure, unless it’s too personal.”

  “I don’t think it’s personal at all. If I were really Gabe Jones, would you consider my proposition?”

  She had walked into that one. She wanted to say no to his question and all other similar questions, but she had promised to be truthful. “I haven’t for one second considered that you’re anything other than a Brant.”

  “Okay, while we eat, think about it that way. Just for the next hour, see me as Gabe Jones. If you were really Ashley Smith, I’ll tell you, I’d be a whole lot happier about all this.”

  “I’d hate to see you want this any more than you already do,” she said. “All right, I’ll try to think of you as Gabe Jones, but that’s a stretch.”

  “It shouldn’t be. You don’t know any Brants and never have. And if you think about it, this is an irresistible proposition.”

  “That’s because it’s your idea and it’s been irresistible to you from the start,” she retorted.

  “Au contraire. I’ve had a difficult time getting around the Ryder factor.”

  “You hide it well.”

  He touched her cheek. Her skin was soft and smooth as silk. “I’m glad you have a sense of humor.”

  “I think it falls more under sarcasm than humor. You’re rather thick-skinned, aren’t you?”

  “When I’m after something,” he agreed, and his dark eyes riveted her with a look that, under other circumstances, could have implied much more. “Now, remember, think Gabe Jones.”

  Ashley sighed and looked around the almost empty dining room. To her relief, the only people she saw were strangers. A popular old ballad played softly, what her father called his “elevator music”, yet music he liked, and she wondered if every time she heard it played, she would always remember this evening.

  While she took another bite of salmon, Gabe cut another bite of his juicy steak. The dinner was good, and the man across from her was exciting. She still couldn’t believe she was here with him. She glanced swiftly at him and then away. Why couldn’t she see him as an ordinary man instead of someone extraordinarily handsome and dashing?

  Her gaze ran over planters of artificial greenery that served as dividers for part of the dining area. It was a hotel she had never been in before and would never be in again after this one unusual night that might set her on a course to changing her life.

  “You aren’t using all your land, are you?” Gabe asked, breaking into her thoughts while he took a sip of his water.

  “Not all,” she answered.

  “There, you see? You aren’t using the land—I could expand on a quarter of your ranch and it wouldn’t interfere with your family or your horses. In exchange, you would have—”

  “I know, help for Dad. And a hubby in name only. That is about as useful as a heater in July,” she replied.

  “Let’s just talk—try the Jones-Smith approach. Tell me more about your life.”

  “It’s pretty simple. I went to California to college and then got a job in advertising in Chicago.” Silence stretched between them.

  “Want to tell me about the guy you left behind?” he asked.

  “No.” She took a sip of water and considered Gabe’s life. “You seem to have a good relationship with your son.”

  “I think I do. And don’t worry, if we marry I won’t let Julian be a burden to you.”

  “I told you, I like children.”

  “Julian is a good kid. He’s too quiet,” Gabe said solemnly. “The pediatrician tells me that she thinks he’ll outgrow it.”

  “He wasn’t quiet yesterday,” Ashley said.

  “He liked you. You have a way with kids, evidently.”

  “He might not want you to remarry,” she said.

  “He’s too little to have many ideas on the subject.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Gabe said, “For all we know the old legend of Stallion Pass could come true. I’ve seen that white stallion on my land and on yours.”

  “Well, the legend of the white stallion is foolishness,” Ashley snapped.

  Gabe chuckled. “I agree, according to the legend, love comes where the white stallion lives,” he said. “It started way back with the first settlers battling the Apaches. A warrior fell in love with a cavalry captain’s daughter. The captain learned about it and was going to force her to marry another soldier. The warrior and his love planned to run away and marry. The night the warrior came to get her, he was killed by the cavalry. His ghost became the white stallion, forever searching for the woman he loved.”

  “And she ran away to Sacred Heart Convent that’s just outside Stallion Pass—I think the convent was an old mission originally. From the convent, on moonlit nights, she could see the white stallion, yet she didn’t know it was the ghost of her warrior,” Ashley finished.

  “What’s fueled the legend is the number of wild white stallions seen in this area off and on through all the years. I heard my grandfathe
r talk about one,” Gabe said. “Whoever captures the white stallion is supposed to find true love. Right now there’s one running on your place, so Ashley, maybe I’m bringing true love.”

  She laughed. “You’re thirteen years too late. There was a white stallion in these parts when I was growing up and had that crush on you, and I knew the legend and took that stallion for a sign of love coming, but alas, what a disappointment. You never noticed me.”

  “I’m sure as hell noticing you now.”

  She smiled and shrugged. “Too late. Now I know the legend is just a silly story. And right now, that white stallion that’s running on our land, and yours, is upsetting my dad. That stallion had bred on some of our fine mares—something Dad never intended to have happen, so we’d be glad to be rid of him.”

  “I’ll see if I can catch him and give him to someone who can use him. I’m not about to be stopped by the old legend,” Gabe replied.

  They had both finished eating, and he sat back to watch her, sipping his water as he talked. “I’ve given you excellent reasons why we’d make a good match. The fact that our families have fought for generations doesn’t hold much weight against all these reasons to go ahead and marry.”

  “At this point in my life, I don’t want a relationship, much less some kind of paper marriage. And you won’t want a paper marriage. You’re healthy and virile and you’ll want sex.”

  He almost choked on his water and he put down his glass.

  “Right to the point as always. So, okay,” he said. “If we have a marriage of convenience, I won’t make any physical demands on you. You can put that in a prenuptial agreement. Now if you want sex—I told you before, you’re pretty and I’m a man.”

  “Gee, thanks. I’m not interested. It’s not strictly a physical thing for me. Never has been, never will be. Besides, sex with a Brant is sort of like contemplating climbing into bed with an alligator,” she said with a smile.

  “That’s something I haven’t ever been told before.” He leaned close to touch her, drawing his fingers lightly along her cheek down to her mouth. He traced her lips with his forefinger, and she couldn’t get her breath. She was drowning in his brown eyes, unable to stop her reaction to him.

  “See what we do to each other,” he said softly. “I’m getting more curious by the moment about you. And more interested in pursuing you than in pursuing this paper marriage.”