Hot Westmoreland Nights (14 page)

Unfortunately he did not have Callum’s patience. Starting now he would rev up his campaign to win her over, prevail in getting her love. At least his situation didn’t appear to be as hopeless as Dillon’s had been when he’d met Pamela. At the time she was engaged to marry someone else. But with his encouragement Dillon hadn’t let that stop him.

Now was time to take some of the same advice he’d dished out to Dillon. He knew what he wanted and there was no excuse in his not getting it. He had a goal. By this time next year Chloe Burton would have a permanent place in his bed as his wife.

“Are you okay, Chloe?”

Chloe glanced over at Ramsey. No, she wasn’t okay. Saying goodbye to his men had been the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. And she had fought back tears when they’d given her a going-away gift.

“Yes, I’m okay,” she said, knowing she really wasn’t. Ramsey had helped her to clean up the kitchen after lunch and then she had thrown a couple of items into an overnight bag. When she had stepped outside it was to find a huge RV parked in his yard. He had explained that the modern-day sheepherder believed in living out on the range with all the conveniences of home. Granted most didn’t have anything this large and extravagant. The majority of them did have campers that they pulled behind their trucks and would set up residence without having to sacrifice doing without satellite television, indoor bathroom and kitchen and dining facilities.

The luxury coach Ramsey was driving was his own personal beauty and as Chloe glanced around she was impressed with just how nice it was, and how much an expert driver he was behind the wheel. This was definitely a luxury coach worth owning. It was a home away from home on wheels. His men had already taken the sheep up in the high country, a portion of Ramsey’s land that connected to Dillon’s. Chloe hadn’t been aware of how much property the Westmorelands owned until now.

“The men are going to miss you.”

She smiled. “And I’m going to miss them.”

“And I’m going to miss you as well, Chloe.”

Chloe thought about the words Ramsey had just spoken as she watched him kill the engine of the RV. He glanced over at her and the pull that was always there between them was tugging at her today in the worst possible way. “And I’m going to miss you, too, Ramsey.”

He leaned over and she was there, meeting him halfway over the vehicle’s console. And when their mouths connected she thought that nothing could get any better than this.

He pulled back, but not before taking his tongue to swipe across her lower lip. “Come on, let’s get out so I can show you the rest of the property while there’s still daylight.”

Moments later, holding hands they walked near the area where the sheep were grazing. One of Ramsey’s men, Pete Overton, smiled when they approached. “Now that you’re here boss, I’ll just skedaddle so I’ll be on time for the party.” Pete’s oldest son would be graduating from the university tomorrow and his wife had planned a party in his honor. Ramsey had volunteered to tend to the sheep until Pete came back to relieve him Sunday morning.

“Sure, Pete, and give Pete Jr. my congratulations and best wishes. I know that you and Jayne are proud of him.”

Pete beamed proudly. “Thanks, Ram.” He then glanced at Chloe and his smile got even wider. “The guys and I meant what we said earlier today, Miss Chloe. You’re going to be missed. Nobody makes homemade biscuits quite like you do.”

Chloe returned his smile. “Thanks, Pete.” They then turned and watched Pete get in his truck and leave.

“Pete is a person who doesn’t take to people easily, but it’s plain to see that he likes you,” Ramsey said, wrapping his arms tightly around Chloe’s waist.

She leaned into him. “I know,” she murmured, resting her head back against Ramsey’s chest. “I like him, too. I like all the men who work for you.”

Ramsey introduced her to the four dogs that would be manning the herd and told her the animals made a sheepherder’s job relatively simple. The dogs were the ones who looked after the flock, making sure none of the sheep wandered off and alerted the sheepherder to any mishaps.

After Ramsey gave her a tour of the area where the sheep would be grazing for the next few months, they returned to the travel coach and ate the sandwiches Ramsey had purchased from a deli in town.

Then when it got dark he took out folding chairs so they could sit outside under the stars. They ended up doing a lot more than just sitting under the stars. Ramsey selected a nice spot to spread a huge blanket on the ground where they made love, under the beauty of a Colorado sky. Later when the night turned chilly, they went inside the coach and after taking a shower they tumbled in bed to make love all over again.

The next morning after a breakfast they had prepared
together, they walked the area checking on the sheep. After lunch they curled up in each other’s arms on the sofa and watched several video movies. Chloe could tell that neither she nor Ramsey wanted anything to intrude on their idyllic weekend.

Ramsey told her about how he’d grieved after the deaths of his parents and his beloved aunt and uncle. He explained how he’d had to put aside his grief to care for his siblings.

She was touched that he’d shared details about that heartbreaking moment in his life. She was tempted to share things with him as well. She wanted to tell him that although she was too young to remember much about her mother, what she had recalled while growing up was the sadness that always appeared in her father’s eyes on her mother’s birthday, their anniversary day and during the holidays. That was one of the reasons she was glad for the happiness in her father’s life now. But there was no way she could tell Ramsey that without telling him everything and he’d made it known he wasn’t ready for any hard-and-heavy discussions between them.

Later that night they showered again together. The moment he pulled her inside the shower with him and water began spraying down on their naked bodies, Ramsey turned her into his arms and kissed her, while pinning her back against the wall.

He reached up and turned off the water and then getting down on his knees, he spread open her thighs to get the taste he always seemed to want and was intent on getting whenever he could.

The sensations he could evoke with his tongue inside of her had Chloe moaning and it took all she could not to scream out loud. Ramsey had introduced her to lovemaking in its richest
form; positions that were so erotic her knees weakened at the thought of some of them.

She did scream when his tongue delved deeper into her and she gripped tight to his shoulder. And just when she thought she couldn’t take any more, he eased up, lifted her to wrap her legs around his waist and then he plunged into her.

With whipcord speed he began thrusting inside of her as another scream from her filled the shower stall. She then heard herself begging and pleading for more, for him not to stop and to do it harder. Those were words she never thought she would utter, which proved just how over the edge she was. Just how Ramsey’s lovemaking had torn up her mind.

Her legs tightened around his waist even more, locked him inside of her as much as possible. He threw his head back and let out a curling snarl that sounded like pain, but the look of his face showed it was definitely one of pleasure.

His features distorted in sexual gratification were a mirror of what she was feeling. And when she felt him explode inside of her, she felt her world get rocked as he continued to pump inside of her as impassioned heat rushed all through her body. And then he leaned closer to her and captured her mouth in his.

His kiss snatched her breath and, combined with the shudders ripping through her, was almost too much. His kiss was hungrier than before, just as intense. And when he finally released her mouth, she slumped against his wet chest. Regaining strength to lift her head, she met his intense gaze and it took everything within her to hold back from telling him that she had fallen in love with him.

Pete returned to relieve Ramsey early Sunday morning. Ramsey couldn’t wait to get back to the ranch so that he and Chloe could have a serious talk. If he had any doubts in his
mind that he loved her, then this weekend only confirmed it. He hoped he would be able to put into words how he felt and why he wanted them to continue what they’d started.

He glanced over at her. She’d gotten quiet on him and he would allow her this private time. He’d come close twice this weekend of telling her how much he loved her. But he’d held back, not wanting to screw things up.

He drew in a deep breath when they pulled into his yard. Butterflies were going off in his stomach. He’d never been nervous around a woman before. Hell, he’d practically raised three of them. But this was different. It wasn’t every day that a man poured out his heart the way he planned to do. But he had to be careful how he did it. He didn’t want to run the risk of scaring her off.

“Will you be talking to Nellie before she returns tomorrow, Ramsey?”

Her question broke the silence that surrounded them in the RV. He turned off the engine and leaned back in his seat. “Yes. She’s supposed to call today.”

“Good.”

Ramsey couldn’t help but smile. He found it amusing how loyal she was to his men. He parked the RV on the side of the barn and when they got out they walked to the house holding hands. For him it seemed such a natural thing to do.

Ramsey opened the door and once inside Chloe said, “How would you like a cup of coffee?”

“I’d love one. Thanks.”

At that moment the phone rang. “That’s probably Nellie calling. I told her I’d return this morning around eleven.”

Chloe nodded as she headed for the kitchen.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Westmoreland?”

Ramsey didn’t recognize the feminine voice. “Yes?”

“This is Marie Dodson of the CDS Employment Agency and I regret we were unable to serve your needs before. However, if you’re still in need of a ranch cook, I have someone who might work out for you, and she’s—”

“Whoa,” Ramsey said, cutting in, confused by what the woman was saying. “You did serve my needs. The woman you sent to us two weeks ago worked out perfectly and—”

“There must be some mistake. We didn’t send a woman to work for you.”

Now Ramsey was
really
confused. “Sure you did. Chloe Burton.”

There was a slight pause and then, “There’s no Chloe Burton working for us. The woman we had planned to send you was Constance Kennard. Because of a mix-up, she was sent to another job by mistake. I called myself that Monday morning around nine-thirty to inform you of what happened but was told you weren’t available. The woman who answered your phone said she would make sure that you got the message about what happened.”

A knot tightened in Ramsey’s stomach and a frown settled between his brows. What Marie Dodson was saying didn’t make sense. Chloe had shown up that morning. She’d been late but she had shown up. And there was no doubt in his mind that Chloe could cook. Every single man in his employ could attest to that. But if what Ms. Dodson was saying was true then…”

“Mr. Westmoreland?”

Ramsey pulled in a deep breath. “I’m going to have to call you back Ms. Dodson.”

“Oh? Well, okay.”

No sooner had Ramsey hung up the phone, Chloe walked
in with two coffee cups in her hands. Ramsey stopped her in her tracks when he asked in a fierce and angry voice. “Who the hell are you?”

C
hloe was knocked speechless by Ramsey’s question. Pulling in a deep breath she thought it best to place the cups of coffee on the table before spilling them all over herself. Her hands were shaking because she had an idea why he’d asked what he had.

She exhaled a nervous breath before she spoke. “That’s a crazy question, Ramsey. You know who I am. I’m Chloe Burton.”

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “And you work for CDS Employment Agency?”

“No.”

He lifted a brow. “No?”

She nodded. “No. I don’t work for CDS.”

He frowned. “Well, who do you work for then? I didn’t contact any other employment agency for a cook.”

“I work for myself.”

She could tell her answer surprised him. “Yourself?”

“Yes, and while I’m at it, I might as well tell you that I’m not really a cook. I enjoy cooking but normally do so for pleasure.”

Ramsey didn’t say anything for a long time, he just stared at her with an intense look in his eyes. He was angry to a degree that she had never seen before in him. Even when they’d been at odds with each other during that first week, he hadn’t been this angry.

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he said through gritted teeth. “Who are you? If the employment agency didn’t send you and you’re not a bona fide ranch cook, then who are you and why did you pretend to be Nellie’s replacement?”

Her hands nervously clenched into fists at her side. Now she wished that she had been more insistent when she’d wanted to tell him the truth a week ago. There was no doubt in her mind that now he would think the worst of her.

She stared at him, saw the hard, cold look in his eyes and knew it was too late. She cleared her throat. “I saw you last month in downtown Denver, going into a feed store. I thought then that you would be perfect.”

“Perfect for what?” he almost asked in a snarl.

She swallowed deeply. “To be on the cover of
Simply Irresistible
magazine.”

She watched the expression on his face as the implications of what she’d said became clear. “Do you mean to tell me that you work for that magazine?”

She shook her head. “Not exactly.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then what exactly?”

She nibbled on her bottom lip. “I don’t work there exactly. I own the magazine.”

The next thing Chloe thought was that if looks could kill, she would definitely be dead…but not before getting sheared first. She watched Ramsey’s lips tighten, his jaw clench and the eyes that glared at her appeared to be dark orbs. “And just what were you doing here that morning?”

“I had come to talk to you about being featured in my magazine,” she answered.

“Why?” he said in a tone so sharp it almost made her flinch. “I’d told the person who called I wasn’t interested.”

“I know, but I wanted to meet with you personally. Try to persuade you to change your mind.”

He shook his head. “So instead you decided to pretend to be my cook and sleep with me?”

She did flinch at that. “No. That’s not true. I tried to tell you the reason I was here, but you were in a hurry to leave that morning and you left me here with your front door wide open.”

“Because I assumed you were the cook,” he snapped.

“I never told you I was the cook, Ramsey. And you assumed wrong. Once I walked inside your house, the phone rang. It was the lady from the employment agency who said that the cook you were expecting wouldn’t be coming. I could have left you in a hot mess, especially after you indicated you would have twenty hungry men to feed come lunchtime. But I decided to help you out.”

“Why? So I could feel I owed you something and do that damn cover?”

“Initially, yes. I’d even planned to squeeze an interview out of you as well.”

She could tell her answer, as honest as it could get, only
made him angrier. She saw it in his features to such a point where she actually felt her heart in her throat. “But like I said, that was at first, Ramsey. Once I got to know you—”

“Spare me. Lady, you have some nerve. Pretending to be someone else and—”

“And what? Helped you out for two weeks? I tried to tell you the truth a few days ago, but you wouldn’t listen. You said we would put off any serious talk until today. So you can’t hold that against me.”

Ramsey snorted at that and the scowl on his face deepened. “I can hold it against you and I do. You should never have been here under false pretenses in the first place. As far as having a cook, I would have worked something out. You didn’t need to do me any favors. And regardless of what you did for me, I still would not have posed on the cover of that magazine, so your plan wouldn’t work.”

“Once I got to know you, Ramsey, the cover didn’t matter anymore,” she implored, thinking she had never met a more bull-headed man.

“And you expect me to believe that?” he asked in an angry tone.

“Yes.”

“Is there anything else you’ve failed to tell me?”

She shrugged. “My father is a senator from Florida. Senator Jamison Burton. My mother died when I was two and my father raised me by himself. My home is in Florida.”

Ramsey stared at her, not believing what little he’d known about her.

“And the reason I could not deceive you any longer, the reason I wanted to tell you the truth that day after we’d made love was because I knew I was falling in love with you.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “If being dishonest is
your idea of falling in love, Chloe, then you need to keep your love to yourself because I don’t want any part of it.”

He breathed in deeply and grabbed his Stetson off the rack. “I’m leaving and I want you packed up and out of here by the time I get back.”

And then he walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Ramsey’s hands tightened on the steering wheel of his truck as he drew in a deep breath, not believing what had just taken place. What he had just walked away from. And just to think he’d intended to pour his heart out to Chloe, tell her how much he loved her, and all it had been for her was nothing more than a sinister plan to get him to pose on the cover of that damn magazine.

A part of him felt torn up inside, absolutely wrecked. Anger, the likes he’d never known before, was consuming him. He was driving with no particular destination in mind. It was Sunday, and most of his family had gone to church. Dillon and Pamela had left for the airport that morning to return to Gamble, and Callum and Zane had driven to see a rodeo in Oklahoma. Maybe it was for the best because he sure as hell didn’t feel like socializing with anyone right now.

He pulled over to the side of the road and hit his fist against the steering wheel. How could he have been so stupid to let his guard down? Why was he always the last to know anything about a woman’s trickery? It hadn’t been any different with Danielle. Although he’d been relieved she’d ended the wedding, the fact still remained that she had made a fool of him.

He pulled back into the road. He’d meant what he said. Chloe had better be gone by the time he got back. And he hoped like hell that he never saw her again.

“Here, drink this,” Lucia said, handing Chloe a cup of herbal tea. “It will help your headache.”

Chloe glanced up at her friend, not wanting to tell her it wasn’t her head that was hurting as much as her heart. “Thanks,” she said, accepting the cup of hot tea.

“And now you need to go take a shower and get into bed.”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Lou, it’s the middle of the day.”

“Yes, but a nap might make you feel better.”

Chloe shrugged. “I doubt it.” She knew nothing would make her feel better unless Ramsey was to walk through that door and tell her that he believed her, that he knew she truly did love him, and that even though she had planned on making him indebted to her initially, she had discarded that plan once she’d fallen in love with him.

An hour later Chloe still sat curled up on Lucia’s sofa. Lucia had finally left to go have Sunday dinner with her parents. Chloe felt she needed this time alone to go back over and over in her mind what happened earlier that day at Ramsey’s house, and everything else that had transpired from the moment she’d driven onto his property over two weeks ago.

She thought of the angry words he had spoken to her before he’d left his home, ordering her to pack up and leave before he got back. A part of her had wanted to rebel and be there when he returned to have it out with him. But then there was nothing she could say that she hadn’t already said.

And he hadn’t believed her.

It had been a teary ride from Ramsey’s ranch all the way to Lucia’s home, and now she knew she couldn’t remain in Denver. It was clear as the nose on her face that there was
nothing here for her anymore. But a part of her refused to run.

Chances were her and Ramsey’s paths would not cross anytime soon, so that would give her the time she needed to recover from a broken heart.

His men were watching him and Ramsey was well aware that they’d been watching him off and on for the past couple of weeks. Today he would do something he usually didn’t do. Ignore them.

And for good reason. They wanted something he could not deliver. They wanted Chloe back. Nellie had returned and although he’d had a talk with her before allowing her back in his kitchen, after one good week she was sliding back into her old ways. The men, like him, were comparing what they had now with what they’d had for two weeks.

A part of Ramsey wanted to shout at them, to tell them that although Chloe’s cooking skills were superb, she was not a cook. She had done it for fun. It had been all a part of her deliberate scheme to get him indebted to her.

His cell phone rang and he welcomed the excuse to leave the table and answer it in private. He had stepped into the living room when he spoke into his cell after checking the Caller ID. “Yes, Dillon?”

“I was asked to call and talk to you. To try and convince you to get that chip off your shoulder you’ve been carrying around for almost ten years but has gotten most noticeable the last two weeks.”

Ramsey rubbed his hands down his face. He could imagine which one of his relatives had called Dillon. It could have been any one of them. He hadn’t been in the best of moods and they all knew it. And they had no idea as to why.

“I don’t need this, Dillon.”

“Okay, but can I ask you one thing?”

“Yes.”

“Do you love her?”

The question, to Ramsey’s way of thinking, came out of the blue. It was one he definitely hadn’t expected. But with Dillon he would be honest because even now, his very heart, every part of his body, knew the true answer.

“Yes, I love her.”

Dillon was silent for a moment and then he said, “She might have set out to deceive you. However, you did admit that she wanted to confess all, but you talked her out of saying anything.”

“Yes, but only because I assumed she wanted to talk about something else.”

“Does it matter? I can’t help but remember the woman who for two solid weeks got up before five o’clock every morning and cooked two meals a day for your men. She befriended them. And when you think about it, she really could have left you in a bind. Even you admitted the guys worked harder while she was there and that they broke all kinds of shearing records.”

Ramsey threw his head back. “Is there a point you’re trying to make, Dillon?”

“Just a suggestion.”

“Which is?” Ramsey said in a hard tone.

“Basically the same one you gave me a few months back. You were the one who told me that in some things you need to know when and how to adjust your thinking, to be flexible. Especially if it’s a woman you want.”

“I don’t want, Chloe. At least not in my life.”

“You’re absolutely sure about that?”

Ramsey knew that, but now, he wasn’t sure. When it came
to Chloe, the woman still had him tied in knots. And he wasn’t sure about anything, other than the fact that he still loved her.

He pulled in a deep breath. The truth of the matter was that he hadn’t been able to adjust his thinking when it came to Chloe. It had been a while since he’d had a woman in his life and over the years he’d gotten pretty set in his ways. But what Dillon said was right. She hadn’t had to hang around preparing those meals for his men for two weeks. She could have bailed after the first day. But she hadn’t.

She had told him that she loved him, but he’d never told her that he loved her as well. Instead he had asked her to leave. What if she’d left town? Suddenly he didn’t want to think about that possibility.

But he did. He thought about it a lot. He was still thinking about it later that evening when he and Callum got together to shoot a game of pool over at one of the local pool halls they frequented. The thought that if she were to leave Denver he would not be able to find her grated on his mind. As well as the thought that he needed to let her know that he had appreciated what she’d done for two weeks, feeding his men good food, letting them know they were appreciated. She had gone out of her way to put a little sunshine in their days.

All right, he would be the first to admit he probably did still carry around that chip on his shoulder that might have caused him to overreact. After all, she had tried telling him something that day, but he hadn’t wanted to hear anything she’d had to say, fearing the worst and not wanting to deal with it. And although her original intentions might not have been honorable, she had stayed around, hung in and made a difference.

His thoughts shifted back to the possibility that she had not
remained in Denver. Not being able to take not knowing any longer, he turned and handed his pool cue to Callum. “I’m going after her.”

Callum accepted the cue stick and merely rolled his eyes. “About time.”

Ramsey raised a brow. “And you think you can talk?”

Callum gave him a sly smile. “Yes, now that I’ve made up my mind about something.”

Ramsey would have taken the time to inquire just what that
something
was had he not been so eager to head out the door.

Chloe pushed away from her desk and glanced out the window. It was hard to believe it had been three weeks since she had left Ramsey’s ranch. Three solid weeks and this morning her suspicions had been confirmed. She was pregnant.