Unbridled, page 12
“May I join you?”
“Um . . .” Alex wasn’t sure she was ready to face Claire across a table yet. She had to understand she represented everything wrong with Alex’s past.
“I just wanted to talk to you about Daniel again.” Claire’s dark eyes pleaded with her to listen.
Alex sighed and leaned against the desk. He seemed like a good kid from what she’d seen of him, but that didn’t necessarily mean she wanted to hang out with the kid. “I’m listening.”
Claire stepped into the office. “It’s been over a week since you got here. He’s so excited to have a sister, someone he can look up to and emulate. Unfortunately you haven’t been—or rather, you’ve been busy since you arrived, and he hasn’t had a chance to get to know you.”
Alex knew what was coming and dreaded it. She didn’t want to be around kids, least of all the one who reminded her of her own failings as a child and as a woman.
“I’m working on the accounts now, so I don’t have a lot of spare time.”
“Just a ride or two a week is all I’m asking for. He’s a really wonderful boy. Please.” Claire obviously loved her son very much. Alex could hear it in her voice and it resonated within her. She remembered hearing the same tone in her own mother’s voice.
Alex wasn’t a cruel person, or one who enjoyed making others feel bad. She had no experience with children and didn’t know whether Daniel would even like her when he got to know her. But the crux of the problem was that Alex had never been the boy Daniel now was and she damn well knew it. He reminded her of all she wasn’t.
She knew it wasn’t his fault, but it was so hard to simply dismiss those deep feelings.
“I’m not trying to aggravate you, Alex.” Claire looked down at her shoes. “I know Grant left a mess behind and I just want you to understand that my son and I are not the enemy. He left us behind in that mess too.”
With that, Claire left Alex alone in the office with a churning gut instead of a rumbling stomach. She sat back down, her appetite gone. The conversation with Claire hit Alex in an elemental way.
She wanted to continue thinking about how much she’d been hurt and how she was suffering. It was a bitter pill to swallow to think of someone else in the same boat she was—especially if that someone else was on the “to blame” list.
Alex wasn’t a kid; she was a grown woman who could see right from wrong, yet she hugged her wounds to her. They were hers to wear, and the scars would last a lifetime. It didn’t seem quite fair to allow anyone else to have the same privilege. It would likely sound petty to someone like the perfect Connor Matthews, but it was reality to Alex Finley.
“You’re still here, I see.” Thinking of the devil, Connor stood in the doorway, a smug expression on his handsome face.
“Where else would I be? The guy who runs this place is a disorganized slave driver.”
That wiped the smugness off his face. “I’m not disorganized.”
“Okay, then, an amateur accountant with haphazard tendencies and nearly nonexistent auditing abilities.” She folded her arms and sighed. “What do you want anyway?”
“Way harsh there on my accounting. I did the best I could. It wasn’t like I went to college or anything.”
Now, that was extremely interesting. He didn’t go to college, yet he ran this entire operation? What or who gave him the power to do that? Well, she knew who it was, but wondered what set Connor apart that he would be left in charge.
“That’s what I’m here for. It’ll take time to untangle the last two years, but as you can see I’m working on it.” She gestured to the pile of files on the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“Organizing your receipts, invoices and tax records so you actually have your paperwork in order.”
“Oh. I guess you’ll need a filing cabinet in your office, then.” He peered at the only one in his office, a four-drawer putty-colored behemoth. “That won’t fit. I’ll have to see if we can get one of those smaller two-drawer ones.”
Alex stared at him. “Connor, have you been drinking?”
“What? No, of course not. I’ve been finding a place for you to work.” The smugness crept back on his face.
That did not bode well for Alex.
“Where, pray tell, is this place?”
“Down the hall past the sitting room. It’s been cleaned up and furnished already. But I forgot about the filing cabinet. I’ll need to see if I can find one of those.” He frowned at the folders as if they were to blame for him losing his mind.
“Why don’t you show me this new office, then?” She rose and forced a smile to her face. “My day can’t possibly get any worse.”
Only minutes later, Alex chewed on those words and they tasted like old socks.
The “office” had been a linen closet when she lived there. Somehow Connor had decided the closet would be a great place for her to work. It was gloomy enough in there that she could hardly see.
“Is there a light or am I to work in the shadows like a scribe of old?” She peered in, unable to see clearly.
“There’s a lamp. Wait; I’ll turn it on.” Connor stepped in and a snick sounded, the soft glow bathing the closet, or rather her office, in a warm glow.
He moved out of the way and Alex’s breath caught in her throat when she saw the furniture. It was her mother’s writing desk, a treasured antique that had belonged to her great-grandmother. As the story went, the desk had been a wedding gift from her husband, a carpenter and craftsman who had made it with his own hands.
Tears sprang to her eyes as she touched the newly polished top. The inlaid roses were in perfect condition, the quality of the furniture still evident even after a hundred years. Her fingers trembled as she traced the wooden flowers.
“Alex?”
She shook her head. “Where did you find this?”
“Um, up in the attic. It was covered in dust but in great shape. I thought it looked sorta feminine, and it was free.” Connor sounded guilty, damn him. If only he was a complete ass and treated her like shit, she could ignore him. He had to go and be a gentleman again.
“It was my mother’s.” Her voice was very soft.
There were a few moments of silence and then a breath gushed out behind her. “Shit, I’m sorry. I had no idea. I really was trying to, um, find you a place to work.”
“I know you were. You don’t want me camped out in your office and you saw a way to solve the problem. It’s kind of small.” She managed a strangled chuckle. “I might have to step outside the room just to change my mind.”
“So will you use it?”
He sounded hopeful, annoyingly so. She should refuse it, considering he was putting her in a closet. Yet the desk, well, that was a lovely surprise. It was a piece of her mother she could use every day. Of course, she could still annoy him as needed by simply walking down the hallway to his office.
“Yes, I’ll use it, provided I can still come to you when I need to ask a question.” She hoped she sounded innocent enough.
“Fine, and I’ll see to putting a phone and a filing cabinet in there.”
Alex turned to him and smiled. “I guess this is our first official agreement, then.”
He looked startled. “I guess it is.”
Her stomach picked that moment to yowl again. Connor didn’t laugh but he did raise his brows. “Lunchtime?”
“Yeah, since I can’t squeeze in a soda and a sandwich in my new closet, er, office, I’m going to the mess hall.” She stepped out into the hallway where Connor stood. Alex didn’t know whether or not to invite him to go, but he took the decision out of her hands.
“Me too. All that cleaning made me hungry.”
Alex stifled the chuckle that threatened. No need to let Connor know she actually thought he was amusing. That was dangerous territory.
CHAPTER SEVEN
After two weeks at the ranch, Alex developed a routine that included rising early and going for a ride. She felt confident enough to take harder trails with each passing day and always returned with a grin on her face and a bit less pain in her behind.
Alex was now comfortable with taking care of the saddle and tack herself. The staff knew her on sight and she got to know everyone’s names. Although she didn’t want to like anyone, they made it hard not to. The one person she was still off center about was Connor. Until she was ready to deal with her feelings about the dude ranch and her father, she couldn’t seem to pinpoint why the man occupied her thoughts so much.
And her dreams.
She’d had nothing but erotic, heart-pounding dreams that made her wake up with a wet pussy and aching nipples. Each morning she’d pushed aside the thoughts and gone riding instead. However, she knew it was a temporary solution, and the fact she’d already had sex with Connor made her a coward.
After she took a shower to clean up, Alex went for breakfast, determined to find Connor and talk about her future at the ranch. She had fit in comfortably doing the books, yet she needed to have an official title, rather than just the prodigal daughter. Her relationship with Connor, or whatever it was, complicated things a bit. Yet she still needed to talk to him as the guy who ran the ranch, oddly enough, about her “job” there. Eventually she would need a salary or stipend or whatever it was called.
Her other option was to sell her half of the ranch and move on. Of course, the will forced her to stay for a year, but she could simply do her time, then take off.
The one thing preventing her from Plan B was the fact that she was happy for the first time in a long time and it was because of being home again. After spending time at the ranch, riding the trails, feeling the power of the land around her, she felt the tug of staying there and making it her home again.
Alex walked into the mess hall to find it full of guests. It was only eight thirty, which meant they were all there stuffing themselves before heading out to play cowboy. She got herself a cup of delicious-smelling coffee and a bagel and found a spot at the end of one of the long tables far enough away so she wouldn’t have to chat while she ate.
“Good morning.”
She wanted to sigh in frustration, but instead she just gritted her teeth and looked up at the man who’d interrupted her solitary confinement.
He was simply gorgeous with salt-and-pepper hair, a hard, lean body in a light green button-down shirt and a pair of jeans that seemed to have been made for him. His cowboy hat was an expensive-looking chocolate brown color with a snakeskin band. His smile was bright and sexy as hell. He reminded her of David, only heterosexual.
Alex swallowed the bite of bagel she’d forgotten was in her mouth. “Good morning.”
He pointed to the chair across from her. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Please do.” She smiled, enjoying the rush of a light arousal as his scent washed over her.
“You’re Alex Finley?”
She nodded, disappointed he was only sitting there because he knew who she was. Perhaps she hoped he’d been hitting on her.
“James Howard, your neighbor.” He held out his hand and shook hers with a squeeze.
“Nice to meet you.” She didn’t know what he was doing there and hoped like hell it wasn’t to welcome her to the neighborhood. “Which ranch is yours?”
“Just west of here, on the other side of the creek.” He sipped at the mug of coffee he’d brought to the table.
“Ah, the Latimers owned that when I was growing up.” They had been grumpy but good folks. On more than one occasion they’d called Alex’s parents and tattled on her for one transgression or another.
“Mr. Latimer passed on about eight years ago and his wife sold it to me, then moved to Colorado to be near her daughter.” He smiled, a sexy, disarming grin. “I wondered if you would appear one day, give Connor a tweak in his, ah, business.”
Alex’s brows went up. So there was a rivalry, friendly or not, between Connor and their neighbor. How interesting.
“What brings you here today, Mr. Howard?” She ate her bagel, not caring what he thought of her cream-cheese laden breakfast. After all, she wasn’t on a date or anything.
“I heard you were here.”
She let that sit in the air for a minute while she chewed, then took a sip of coffee. “And I’m interesting to you?”
“Oh yes, definitely. Grant never spoke of you, so imagine our surprise when half the ranch went to you.” James ran his finger along the rim of the mug and she noted he had beautifully manicured hands for a rancher. Obviously he didn’t work his own property.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what was your interest in me inheriting half of Finley’s?” She already knew not to trust the man, and her instincts never let her down. Aside from that fact, she didn’t trust anyone until they earned it.
“I’ve wanted to buy it for years, to expand my property out past the river and double my herd. Finley’s is prime real estate, Ms. Finley.” He smiled again. “You understand that I had to meet the woman I need to convince to sell to me.”
“I only own half, Mr. Howard. It won’t do you any good to convince me to sell if my step . . . Claire won’t sell her son’s portion.” She felt uncomfortable discussing it even if her common sense told her to do all she could to sell the ranch, and obviously this man was interested. More than likely he’d pay her more than market share if he’d been trying to buy it for years.
“One step at a time, right?” He glanced at his watch, a nice Cartier with real diamonds, no doubt. “I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight. There’s a lovely Italian restaurant in town and the food is actually quite good.”
Alex still didn’t quite trust the man, but he obviously had money, and going out for food rather than eating in the mess hall had some appeal. Besides, she wanted to hear just how much he would offer for the ranch. If it was enough, she might be willing to do what she could to convince Claire to sell along with her. It was an easy solution to the emotional decision of whether to stay or not.
“Sure. Sounds nice.” Very noncommittal but enough to make him look as if she’d said she would sell the ranch to him.
“Wonderful! I’ll come by and pick you up around seven at the main building.” He stood and took her hand, depositing a dry kiss on her knuckles.
She wanted to yank her hand away but figured it would be a bad start to a potential business relationship. Something about the man bugged her, but she couldn’t say exactly what. “See you then.”
James tipped his hat and headed for the door. Alex saw a man standing there blocking the exit and realized it was Connor. His hands were fisted at his sides and he looked at James as if he wanted to have a smackdown. When Connor’s gaze met Alex’s, she felt the power of it, and her entire body raced with goose bumps. She fought the urge to run.
Connor managed to keep his temper in check when he faced James, although he wanted to punch the smug son of a bitch in his perfect teeth. The man was a snake with legs whose only thought was how much could he get in his wallet and how fast could he get it.
James had done all he could to try to buy Finley’s out from under Grant more than once. He had even tried to annex a full hundred acres of Finley property, and it happened to be the property with the river that fed the entire water system. The bastard had filed multiple lawsuits, complaints with the health department, agriculture department, even the revenue department. After unsuccessfully trying every legal angle imaginable, accidents around the ranch began to happen. Connor knew in his bones James was to blame for them.
He was a bastard who smiled as he stole the land out from under you.
And Alex had been eating breakfast with him. A surge of pure jealousy and something else surged through him, making him see red. It was unexpected and completely unwelcome.
“What are you doing here?” Connor gritted his teeth to keep the growl from escaping.
James’s grin was almost feral. “Meeting the heiress, of course. Word has it she’s not happy about the guest ranch business and wants out.”
“Bullshit. I don’t know where you’re getting your information from but Alex isn’t selling.” He would make damn certain of that. “If I catch you on Finley property again, I’ll have your ass hauled off to jail.”
“Feeling threatened, Matthews? Tsk, tsk. I thought you were the tough, unmovable one.” James’s smile widened. “I’m glad to see I can shake your tree a bit.”
Connor’s nails dug into his palms as he resisted the urge to punch the asshole. “Get the fuck out of here, now.” There was just so far he would control himself before he opened up that particular can of whoop-ass on the man.
James held up his hands. “I’m leaving, but just be aware I’m picking up Ms. Finley at seven tonight for dinner. Try not to have me arrested for trespassing on our first date.”
With that, the man who’d spent too many years trying to steal Finley’s property walked out of the mess hall, leaving Connor with unfulfilled rage coursing through him.
He walked toward Alex and reminded himself she had no idea what a dick James Howard truly was. She was, however, about to find out.
“What were you doing talking to James Howard?” It wasn’t what he meant to say but that was what popped out when he opened his mouth.
“Excuse me?” Her brows went up and her lips tightened.
“You heard me. Having breakfast with a son of a bitch like that? What the hell were you thinking?” Connor couldn’t seem to stop the flow of stupid from coming out of him.
“I was thinking I was hungry.” She gestured to the half-eaten bagel.
He didn’t give a shit about that. “You will not go out on a date with him tonight—is that clear? You’re working for Finley’s now, not to mention the fact that you own half. That man is not to be trusted.”
Alex rose, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering. “Mr. Matthews, I believe this is a discussion to be had in private.”
He glanced around, realizing that everyone in the mess hall had stopped what they were doing to watch his tirade. Shame crept through him, temporarily displacing the anger. “You’re right. Let’s go.” Connor took her arm, but she shook it off.
