My Kind of Trouble (10 page)

"Unconscious in the tack room. Luke beat the
shit out of him," Cassie said and snickered.

Cole's eyebrows raised and then said
sarcastically, "Nah, Luke wouldn't do something like that. I'm sure
he just used enough force to restrain the ass--
suspect
.
Isn't that right, Luke?"

Luke grumbled then nodded. "Of course. He
resisted, so I didn't have a choice. Now lock the asshole up and
call Judge."

Cole saluted him and then turned to walk
toward the barn and they all followed. Once inside the tack room,
Cole stopped and looked back over his shoulder at Luke. "Hog-tied,
Luke? Really?"

Laughter rumbled up from his toes and then
Cole bent over when it consumed him. "Nice law enforcement
maneuver, Sheriff. They teach you that at the academy?" He howled
again and before long they were all laughing. Everyone except Luke.
His eyes were angry and his fists clenched at his side.

"Cut the shit Cole and get him out of here
before I decide to finish the job," he told his deputy gruffly and
turned to walk out the door.

Cassie grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"What's wrong Luke?"

"Nothing," he said and shook off her hand.
"I'm going home."

She followed him almost having to jog to
keep up with his fast movement toward his truck. "Wait,
Luke..."

He didn't stop, but she finally caught up
with him when he opened the door to his truck and climbed inside.
She stepped up on the running board to stand between him and the
door then leaned inside and got right up in his pinched face. "What
the hell is wrong with you?"

She saw a muscle working in his jaw, but he
didn't say anything. His knuckles were white where he was gripping
the steering wheel, staring out over the top of it. Cassie didn't
know what had put a burr under his saddle, but she knew she wasn't
letting him leave until she got it out. She leaned close to his ear
and whispered. "C'mon, baby, tell mama what's wrong," then moved
her hand to rub his thigh. She kissed his cheek then the corner of
his mouth, her hand moving a little higher on his thigh.

Moving to his ear, she flicked out her
tongue and circled the lobe, then sucked it and released it. She
thought she heard him groan, and noticed that his breathing was
faster than it had been. A flush stained high up on his chiseled
cheekbones.

"You're playing with fire, honey. Move so I
can leave."

"What if I don't want to?" She nuzzled his
neck and put a butterfly kiss over the pulse pounding there. Her
head spun when he jerked her inside of the cab between his muscled
chest and the steering wheel right before his mouth slammed down
over hers in a kiss that sent her pulse from zero to sixty in 2.6
seconds.

Luke slid his hand under her tank top and
rubbed it along her ribcage up to cup her breast. When his thumb
found her nipple, desire ripped through her like a summer wildfire
and she linked her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss,
letting out all the pent up frustration that had been building in
her since she laid eyes on him again.

Cassie moved her hip to stroke his
steel-like erection which was nudging against her, then opened her
mouth to tangle her tongue with his. Moving her hand down to the
hem of his t-shirt she tugged it out of his jeans, then slid her
hand over his hard abs up and up to his pecs. His heart beat like a
sledgehammer against his ribs, just like her own. Cassie flicked
his nipple with her fingernail and he groaned, then put his hand
over hers.

"We need to stop, Cassie," he told her
breathing heavily then pulled her all the way inside the cab and
sat her on the passenger seat.

Hot and bothered with her brain muddled with
passion, Cassie looked over at him dumbfounded. Breathlessly she
said, "What the hell?"

"We have an audience."

She looked outside the truck and saw Cole
and Bud holding the battered and bruised almost rapist between
them, with wide grins on their faces. Cassie dropped her head back
against the seat and groaned. "Aw, shit...not good."

Luke looked over at her curiously and said
in a slightly hurt tone, "Felt pretty damned good to me."

It was beyond good, Cassie thought. Kissing
Luke was spectacular...being with him again would be heavenly.
Something she wanted more than her next breath right now. But that
was the problem. She shouldn't be feeling what she was feeling with
Luke...shouldn't be doing what she was doing.

"I'm engaged Luke and when my daddy finds
out about this he's gonna give me hell."

"Why's that?"

She hesitated. How the hell could she tell
him her daddy had been trying to hook them up since the day she got
here? "Um...you'll just have to trust me on that one."

He looked over at her and his brown eyes
were dark and intense, full of passion. "Cassie, there's something
going on here between us. The way you ran off left us with some
unfinished business. We need to get it out of our system, so we can
move on."

The temptation to agree with him was
enormous, but she resisted. "Luke, we can't go back...we'd both
just wind up hurt again. And James would wind up hurt too."

Luke leaned over and grabbed her shoulders.
"Fuck, James. How the hell can you marry him when you want me?"

Cassie felt the sting of tears behind her
eyes and took a deep breath then forced sincerity into her voice,
"I love him," she lied hoping it would end this discussion.

Luke growled and let go of her shoulders to
put his hands back on the steering wheel. Without looking at her he
hissed, "Get out, Cassie."

She slid away from him toward her door and
opened it, but stopped to look back at him. His jaw was clenched
and his lower lip was trembling with the effort.

"Luke, I'm sorry."

"Just get out, Cassie, and think about what
I said. If you change your mind let me know, but in the meantime
keep your damned hands off of me," he told her his voice deep and
raspy.

"Okay," she said sadly then shut the door
and stepped away from the truck. Luke turned the key in the
ignition violently then hit threw the truck in gear and peeled out
of the driveway leaving a dust cloud behind him.

Bud had evidently headed back to the
bunkhouse, but Cassie saw Cole stuffing his prisoner inside the
SUV. She needed to bawl like a baby, but she wasn't doing it in
front of Cole. Cassie lifted her arm and swiped at the tears that
had slipped from her eyes, then turned and ran toward the
house.

"Cassie Wait!" Cole slammed the back door of
the SUV locking his prisoner inside and caught up with her right
when she stepped up on the porch. "What happened, honey?" He yanked
her back against his chest, but she kept her face down and didn't
turn around to face him.

"Let me go, Cole. I need to be alone."

Cole leaned close to ear and whispered as
his hands squeezed her shoulders. "He still loves you, you know? If
he's acting crazy, that's why."

"He doesn't love me," Cassie heard her voice
waver and flinched.

"He does...he always has...since the first
moment he met you. I thought he was going to rip my head off when I
said I might ask you out." Cole chuckled and put his arms around
her waist and led her over to the swing at the end of the porch. He
sat down and dragged her down beside him. "It's always been you for
him, darlin' and probably always will be judging by the way he's
acting since you've been back."

"That's not true, Cole. He might want me,
but he doesn't love me. The night I left, he proved it to me."

Cole kicked the swing and started it swaying
back and forth then slid his arm around her shoulders. "Why do you
think that?"

"It's not important now. It's been ten
years, and it's water under the bridge now. I'm engaged and I owe
it to my fiancé to nip this in the bud. I'm here to help my daddy,
not rekindle old fires with Luke."

Today's exhibition had been all her
fault...any flames fanned today were ignited by her. She'd pursued
him, kissed him, touched him, because she'd been through so much
since setting foot back in Texas, and because he'd been there to
catch her every time she hit a slick spot. Cassie was determined to
avoid any more slick spots while she was here, so she wouldn't need
saving or helping.

"You owe it to Luke to talk to him, Cassie.
You weren't here to see the state he was in after you left. He was
a mess...still is. I told him to stay away from you, but he didn't
listen."

Cassie's eyes flew to his and she swiped at
new unwelcome tears. "Luke had his chance Cole, and he blew it. So,
if he's a mess, it's not my fault. He'll have to work it out
himself. I'm gonna get my daddy back on his feet then I'm going
back to Phoenix."

Cole looked at her intently, then stopped
the swing and stood up to face her. "You're making a mistake,
sugar. But it's yours to make. If you need to talk, give me a
call." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card
handing it to her. "My cell's on the back."

She watched Cole until his SUV was reduced
to a cloud of dust in the distance, then got up from the swing and
went into the house to go find her dad. She needed to talk to him
before he got any crazy ideas from what happened between her and
Luke just now.

***

It was Friday, Cassie was cleaning out the
horse stalls, and Luke hadn't shown back up at the ranch in a week.
Not since the scene in his pickup. And Cassie missed him a lot.
She'd get over it though, she kept telling herself.

Just like last time ten years ago, each day
would get better, and she'd miss him less. The hole in her heart,
which felt like a double-barrel shotgun wound right now, would
eventually heal to pellet size. How the hell had she let herself
care about him again? She didn't know how it happened, but Luke had
managed to get a toehold inside her heart again, and she had been
teetering on the cliff again, had almost fallen over the edge. The
same one that had landed her flat on her face and heartbroken last
time.

She needed to be thankful he was staying
away, not sad. His absence was making it harder to manage the daily
chores on the ranch, but much easier for her to untangle the briar
bush of emotions clogging her head and making her forget how much
she loved her life in Phoenix...and James. But even though Luke
hadn't been around to remind her, when Cassie lay down at night,
his parting words tossed around in her head like a broken record.
"How can you marry him when you want me?"

With a sigh, she lifted the heavy shovel of
manure and tossed it into the wheelbarrow by the door, before going
back to repeat the process. When it was full, she pushed it out of
the barn and headed toward the pile at the edge of the pasture. She
was halfway across the pasture when she saw a familiar silver BMW
convertible ease down the rutted driveway toward the house.

Cassie let out a whoop, dropped the
wheelbarrow and took off running. She took a shortcut and hopped
the fence near the house, running to meet the car as it pulled to a
stop. Cassie was sweaty, dirty and probably smelled like horse
poop, but she didn't care. James was here and he would make her
feel better. Help her remember that she loved him.

Out of habit, her thumb went to stroke the
diamond engagement ring on her finger, and encountered nothing but
smooth skin and a faint ridge. She sucked in a breath and tucked
her hand in her pocket. Because of the attack by the ranch hand,
and then their argument in the truck with Luke, she hadn't ever
made it back out to the tree or fence to look for her ring again.
She swallowed hoping James wouldn't notice it was missing, before
she found it.

He opened the door and eased his long lean
frame out of the car, then pocketed her keys and stretched. "Hi,
sweetheart. Surprise!" he said his eyes moving over her from her
dusty boots to her misshapen straw hat. He leaned forward and
gingerly kissed her cheek without touching her anywhere else. "Wow,
you sure look like a country girl. Gives me all kind of hayloft
fantasies." He winked at her then stuffed his hands in the pocket
of his sharply-creased khakis.

Okay, she hadn't seen him in almost two
weeks, had talked to him maybe two times on the phone, and this was
the best greeting he had in him? "I'm a little dirty. Come on in
the house, while I shower and change," she walked away from him
toward the house.

She was sure he didn't want her to muss up
the expensive green polo the same color as his eyes, or his chinos,
but still...the man played golf, he'd seen sweat and dirt before,
surely.

"I'd like to take you out to dinner tonight.
Is there anywhere good around here?" he said and she realized he
hadn't moved to follow her.

She looked back over her shoulder and found
him bent over dusting his loafers, so she stopped and faced him
again. "There's a decent steak house in Bowie, but nothing to write
home about, and a Mexican place." When he stood up and pocketed his
shoe shammy, she turned and walked with him up to the porch and
opened the door for them.

Cool air rushed over her skin as she stepped
inside the entry then took a few steps toward the kitchen. "Have
you had lunch?"