His by Valentine's Day (9 page)

Shawna looked down at the tabletop and ran a finger over a long cut in the wood. How many meals had she eaten on this table over the years with the men? How many times had she sat around the table and shared a beer with them, played poker with them, laughed with them? Her eyes filled with tears. She swallowed hard. She hated giving up on anything, especially this matter.

"We've accepted the inevitable. We're all ready to move on, start again. Start somewhere smaller," Scott said, sounding determined.

Move on...somewhere smaller. She knew they were right, but, God, it hurt to accept what they saw as inevitable. She sat there miserable, feeling sorry for herself and hating that.

Alan interrupted her musings, his voice gentle and determined, too. "The Double D is for sale, like the banker told us. It's--"

She looked up; blinking away the tears she refused to shed. "Even the Double D will cost more than we can pool together now." But she could come up with more money. All she had to do was stop being selfish and set her mind fully to this matter. Well, and get her heart on board, too.

The men looked determined. "We're still working on some details," Scott admitted, but she knew he wouldn't give up just yet.

She didn't want to talk about the other ranch. "Calloway hasn't signed..." But she stopped the words. He might not have signed the papers to sell the ranch yet, but he would. He'd told her he missed her, but he'd said nothing about changing his mind concerning the business of destroying her life.

Pity for her inability to accept what was happening filled Scott's expression when he looked directly at her. "You've got to let this go, sweetheart. We are." He stiffened his shoulders and glanced at Alan. "We are going into town to talk to the banker again today. You should come with us."

Shawna felt nauseous. She'd looked over the Double D a couple of times with them already. It was a decent ranch, much, much smaller, but it would do. The asking price was fair. And there seemed to be a possibility that the current owner would negotiate some more on the sales price. But she didn't want to deal with that today. She was just too tired, too heartsick. This dream was finished. She needed to accept it and move on, but not today. She shook her head. "I've got bookkeeping to do, bills to pay, chores to do." Sad excuses, yes.

Alan frowned. "Burying your pretty head in the sand over this isn't going to change things. It's all but a done deal, the selling of this ranch, I mean."

Scott patted her shoulder and gentled his tone. "We'll go ourselves this time. You take care of what you need to."

"But she--" Alan protested.

"We'll go alone, like I said," Scott stated firmly.

"I need you to stay here another couple of weeks," Adam Harrison said, sitting across from Cade at breakfast.

Cade had just finished telling the man that he wanted to leave tomorrow, several days earlier than he'd told Shawna. He gaped at Adam over his raised cup of tea. He was tired of tea; he wanted a good cup of strong coffee. "Impossible."

"Then give me at least until the end of the week, as you'd originally said."

Cade set his cup down. "I originally said a couple of days. I've been here five days longer than that already." He thought about his call to Shawna, about the sadness in her voice. He needed to get back to her. He needed to talk to Scott and the others. He just might have a plan.

Adam's brow creased in distress. "I need just a little more help with the management. We're getting closer to understanding each other, but they respond so much better to you." He blew out a breath. "Two more days. I'd settle for two more days."

Cade knew the problems his friend had faced with the management team he'd decided to keep on. They had made some headway in compromises on focus of the business in the last couple of days, with the team feeling less abandoned and less threatened now. But they had a ways to go before things would run smoothly. He wanted to let them work it out on their own, but for the first time in all of his business sales he didn't want to just walk away. He'd finally started to see how his moving in coldly on a failing business and then selling it quickly for a profit without thinking of the effect on the others involved didn't make him feel good anymore. These new feelings only made him feel worse about selling the Rolling Hills Ranch.

"Two days, but that's all." His gut told him something either was happening back at the ranch that he didn't know about, or was about to happen. Something he wouldn't like.

Shawna sat at her desk in the corner of the foreman's house staring at the monitor without really seeing it. She'd been sitting her for over an hour, wasting time. Her mind tumbled with chaotic thoughts. What was keeping Cade away so long? Why the heck did she care? There was just over two weeks until The Deadline Day: February 1. She and her friends had a snowball's chance in Hell for coming up with anything close to the necessary downpayment. Why was Cade being such a stickler about this deadline? Because all of this was only business, including playing around with her. She was just a bonus while he spent time here at the ranch. An easy lay.

She felt wetness on her cheeks. Tears. When had she started crying? She dashed them away and called herself a thousand kinds of fool. Only fools kept after a dream that was long gone. Only a foolish woman let a virtual stranger have his way with her. Okay, so she'd enjoyed the sex, too. Beside the point. Absolutely beside the point. She was needy that way, that was all it meant.

The sound of a vehicle driving into the ranch yard, of the gravel crunching beneath tires, drew her attention. She glanced at the clock across the room. It couldn't be Scott and Alan back already from town. The rest of the hands were out on the ranges checking on cattle and fences. Who the heck could be coming here now?

She pushed back the chair and stood, stretching her tired muscles for just a second. Then she walked over to look out the front window. Her brow furrowed and her stomach tensed with unease. Two well-dressed men climbed out of a sleek black car that probably cost as much as she made in a year, or more. They took a brief glance around the main part of the ranch yard, and then back at her house. They looked unsure where to go or what to do.

With a sigh, Shawna grabbed her coat from the hook by the front door. She was in charge here, at least for now. It was her duty to deal with ranch business and anyone visiting the ranch. Resigned, she stepped onto the porch and was hit by a blast of cold air. "Can I help you?" she called out.

The taller man with thinning hair, dressed in a wool, knee-length over-coat quickly looked in her direction. He smiled, but it didn't give her a good feeling. "Are you by chance Shawna Donley?"

Before she could answer, the other man, slightly shorter and a good fifty pounds heavier, glanced toward her as well. He seemed to look her over and didn't look as if he approved of what he saw. His expression was nothing close to being friendly. His attitude rubbed her wrong.

She glowered right back at him and straightened to her full, untimidating height. "I am. Who's asking?"

The tall, younger man's face pinched for an instant in annoyance. "I'm Griffith Stockton. I'm Cade Calloway's real estate attorney." He nodded at the other man. "This is Sam Arnold, president of the corporation buying the Rolling Hills Ranch. We came to take a quick look around before we finalize the deal."

If she hadn't locked her knees, Shawna might have collapsed right there on the porch. Finalize the deal? Oh, God! It was really happening. She wished Scott was here now; she needed his support. No! You can handle this.

"Calloway didn't tell me you were coming," she stated, making it clear she wasn't pleased to see them.

"He doesn't know," Arnold said, obviously not caring for her opinion. "I was in Kansas City on other business and decided that I wanted to take a look at the property."

"I'll just give him a quick call," Shawna didn't want these men here, didn't trust them. Arnold's comment about Cade not knowing about the visit here rubbed her wrong.

"You can call him later." Arnold sent her a hot glower and glanced at his watch. "I don't have a lot of time. So just show us around this main part of the compound. Starting with the business office."

Since the "business office" was in her home, she wasn't all that excited about showing it to him. And she wasn't of a mind to do anything for him, not with his arrogant attitude. She let her stubborn mode have full rein. "Tell you the truth, since I don't actually know either of you, or have even heard your names, I'm not comfortable with showing you around. Not until I talk with Cade...I mean Calloway."

Both men bristled, but it was Arnold who took a step in her direction. His eyes narrowed. "I've changed my mind about keeping you on as a trail guide. I think--"

"Trail guide? You have changed your mind?" She moved to the end of the porch and snarled down at him, "What the hell makes you think I would even consider working for you?"

"Because you need the job. Because Calloway told me you would do anything to continue living here."

Nope, she definitely didn't like this man. She curled her hands into fists and shoved them into the pockets of her coat. "Well, he was wrong."

"Look, Ms. Donley," Stockton interrupted, stepping next to the shorter man. "All we want to do is look around."

Shawna shook her head. "Not happening. Not until I get a verbal approval from Calloway."

Arnold looked ready to explode at being thwarted. He turned abruptly back to the luxury car. "Never mind. I don't have time to put up with the likes of her."

Relief poured through Shawna, until he faced her a final time while opening the passenger door. "I want you and all but a man named Scott Terrell off this ranch by the end of the week. My men will be here by then. Terrell can show them around before he leaves as well."

"End of the week? This week?" Her stomach knotted again; her heart pounded. "I thought Cade said we had until the first of February."

"I'm tired of his little game of putting off the closing. I'm signing the papers on my end today. Stockton will get the papers to Calloway to complete the deal." Satisfied that he'd finished things as far as he was concerned, he climbed into the car and shut the door.

Shawna blinked back tears but managed to send Stockton a murderous look. Her heart was breaking. Her world was ending. "We'll be gone tomorrow. All of us. Tell the pompous jackass in the car that he can send his men immediately...or not. Doesn't matter to us. We'll be gone."

Now Stockton looked worried. "But the deal won't be finished by tomorrow. Someone needs to--"

"Do I look like I care about your problem?" She spun on her heels and marched back into her house, slamming the door behind her. Her knees finally gave out and she sank to the floor, shaking with silent sobs. It was time she took charge of her life again. Time she stopped acting like an idiot. Time she forgot about Cade Calloway and what could never be between them.

Cade stepped out of the shower and sped into the bed area of his hotel room, snagging his ringing cell phone from the nightstand. It was too early for Adam to be calling and too late for anyone back in the States. Puzzled, he said, "Calloway."

"You sonofabitch!" Scott Terrell snarled, sounding seriously angry. "If you were here, I'd pound you into next week."

"What the hell are you talking about? Why are you calling this late? I thought all you ranch people would be long in bed by this time of night." Cade dabbed at the water dripping off him with the towel he carried, and then tossed the towel to the floor.

"Shawna took off. She left us a damn note, telling us not to worry about her." Scott bit out a stream of curses that nearly burned Cade's ears over the phone line. "Alan and I came back from making arrangements with the banker--"

Cade gripped the phone in his hand so tight his hand hurt. "What do you mean Shawna took off? What's in the damn note?" He pulled in a breath that didn't come close to calming his racing heart. "Making what arrangements, with what banker?" Shawna is missing. Damn! He couldn't get past that little bomb Scott had dropped.

He heard some rustling and Alan broke into the conversation. "Her note said to tell you that your fancy lawyer showed up today with your--and I quote--'jackass buyer.' She didn't think you knew about their coming here, but she was still pissed."

His lawyer had gone to the ranch? Griffith Stockton? And Sam Arnold? Damn the men! Shawna was right; he didn't know anything about the visit there. He'd already warned Stockton that he was rethinking the ranch sale. Of course, Stockton had sounded like he was only humoring him when Cade had said as much. Clearly he'd decided if he moved forward more quickly on the sale, then Cade would just go along with it. Wrong! He was going to fire Stockton asap. The man had been pushing things with him for too long.

Scott grabbed the phone they were obviously sharing and bit out, "She's done with this whole business, you selling her home out from under her. You sonofabitch."

"You already called me that," Cade mumbled, trying to come up with a way to lessen the damage Stockton and Arnold had already done to his relationship with Shawna and her friends. He needed to deal with this in person.

"Worth repeating," Scott snarled again.

Cade ignored the name calling. It wasn't important. "Where did she go? I need to talk to her." To hell with Adam and his management problems. Cade would be on the first plane back to the States and then he'd get to the ranch as fast as he could.

"Why do you care?" This from Alan, who didn't sound at all pleased with Cade asking about her.

"It's between Shawna and me." He walked to the closet and jerked out his suitcase to toss it on the unmade bed.

"Well, we don't know. Her note only said she'd be back." Alan rustled what Cade assumed was paper and added, "Her words exactly: 'I've got something important to do. Be back in a week or so. We're done at this ranch. Tell the banker to get the papers ready on the Double D. And tell Calloway...'"

Cade didn't have time to sort through all of what Alan had said. It irritated him--hurt him, truthfully--to learn Shawna had left without calling him and giving him hell about his lawyer and the buyer. She gave him hell about everything else. But now she backed down? Now she gave up? On the ranch. On him. His chest hurt at the thought.