Chapter 3
T he rented livestock trailer rode well behind Avery’s truck, and he was pretty pleased with himself. He’d picked up twenty Angus heifers ready to be covered in the fall, and the guy who’d sold them said he’d be able to come up with a bull by then. He was more excited in that few hours than he’d been in a long, long time. The auction house was fifteen miles away and he’d had to make four trips with the trailer, but that was okay. He’d gotten a good deal on the cows and it was worth it.
When he pulled up with the last trailer full, there was a surprise waiting for him. Out in front of the house, her ankles crossed and leaning against that sleek BMW sedan, was LydiaKinsey, and she looked pretty damn pissed. Avery just drove right on by her and waved as he went, pulling into the corral area in front of the barn where he’d been unloading the cattle. Once he’d jumped out and gotten the gate closed, he opened the back of the trailer and started shooing the cattle out until all five were on the ground. All twenty home safe and sound. He closed the trailer door and then drove the cows through the secondary gate into the pasture before he even bothered to turn back toward Lydia.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she yelled at him from the front gate.
“What the hell does it look like I’m doing? Unloading cattle. What the hell are you doing here?” he called back, more amused than angry. His grin was huge, and he knew it would just infuriate her to see it. That made him smile even bigger.
“You know, you shouldn’t be doing that. You’ll just have to find homes for them when I take this place back,” she spat back at him.
“Good luck with that. My title’s legal and you can’t do a damn thing about it.” Avery just stepped back into the barn and grabbed a broom, then marched right into the trailer and started sweeping cow manure out of it so he could hose it out when she left.
“I’m getting this farm back, AveryHolcomb, you mark my words.”
“Oh! I see you found out my name. Would’ve been nice if you’d been polite enough to at least ask it the first time you came out here threatening me. And by the way, my attorney told me to let him know if you showed up here again and he’d slap a harassment suit on you,” Avery said, his voice measured and steady.
“Is that right? I wish him luck on that, charging me with harassment on my own land,” she growled.
“It’s. Not. Your. Land. Why can’t you get that through your pretty little head?” Avery growled back. He didn’t have to turn around and look to feel the icy daggers she was throwing into the flesh of his back with those piercing blue eyes.
“Because it IS my land. My family’s land. That old son of a bitch didn’t have any right to sell it to you.”
“Hey! Speak of your elders and the dead with respect, half pint!” Avery barked.
Lydia’s stare was smoldering. “How dare you talk to me like that! You don’t know me well enough to take that tone with me!”
Before she could even flinch, Avery was in her face, less than an inch from it and glaring down into her eyes, his big hazel ones bright and challenging. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, shorty. You’d better back off.”
“You threatening me?” she hissed out in a superheated whisper.
“No. Simple statement of fact.” He didn’t move an inch, and he knew she was intimidated, but she’d die before she’d show it. And he loved it. “I’ve chewed up and spit out women twice your size, and twice as smart too.”
“I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with,” she snapped back.
“Oh yeah? I know you want something you can’t have. And I’m not going to even begin to tell you what that is.” The tension between their bodies was electric, and Avery had never felt anything like it before. It was damn near intoxicating. “But you and I both know what I’m talking about,” he added.
Without warning, Lydia planted both hands in the middle of his chest and shoved. Didn’t matter. Avery had anticipated her next move being physical, and he’d been prepared. He didn’t budge an inch, and he could tell it infuriated her even more. “That all you got?” he chuckled.
“Fucking bully,” she growled out and darted around him.
He spun to face her. “I’m no bully. You’re out here trying to bully me into leaving, and it won’t work.” He puffed out his chest and folded his arms across it. “And there’s something else you should know. I’m no country bumpkin. I’m not from around these parts, as y’all would say,” he mocked. “The money I paid your grandpa for this place? It was just a drop in the bucket. I’ve practically rebuilt this house, and I’m just getting started. So if you think I’ll be easy to get rid of, you’d better dig in and cash in all that blue-chip stock, sweetheart, ’cause it’ll take every penny you’ve got, not to mention most of your life and a lot of your energy. Got that?”
“God, you’re irritating as hell,” she groused and headed to her car.
“Yeah, well, you’re just about as arrogant as anybody I’ve ever met. You think you’re God or something, but you’re not. You’re nobody to me,” Avery tossed out.
The look she gave him when she turned back to look at him was something he’d never forget―that wounded, sad look that held a kind of emptiness he could feel in his soul. “Yeah. I see that. No need to spell it out. I get it.” Before he could say anything else, she dropped into the car, started it, threw it into gear, and slung dirt and gravel as she took off down the bumpy little road.
God damn it, Avery, you jackass! All those promises he’d made to himself to treat her with kindness and respect? He’d just broken every one of them. She didn’t know that, but he did. And he wasn’t sure what it was, but he’d just said something that hadn’t had the effect he was going for.
He’d hurt her. He could see it in her face. All the guys were right―there was a lot more going on there than he knew about. He’d probably never get a chance to find out what it was after that little show of testosterone-fed braggadocio, and he knew he should be glad, but he wasn’t. Things weren’t adding up, especially that look on her face, the one that made his heart sink into his stomach.
Hose in hand, Avery washed out the trailer and then pulled it out into the yard beside the garage he’d had built for his truck. The whole time he worked, he thought about Lydia, those big blue eyes and that blond hair, the way the sun shone off of it. He wandered back out to the barn and hitched his utility trailer to his four-wheeler, then gathered up the buckets in the barn, measured out feed into them, and loaded them on the trailer. The cattle all looked up when he drove up to the feed trough and a couple of them darted away at the sound of the motor on the ATV, but they headed right straight back when he started dumping the feed into the long metal bin. In minutes the air was filled with the snuffling sounds and the crunching, grinding music of cattle rhythmically feeding. Avery climbed aboard the four-wheeler and sat for a few minutes, looking at the heifers enjoying their dinner, and wondered if LydiaKinsey had ever taken joy in doing something so simple.
And it hit him like a ton of sweet feed. LydiaKinsey was plainly a woman who didn’t know what joy was. Someone had to change that. And he prayed that someone didn’t have to be him.
* * *
“These cows all look great,” Dr.Tompkins told Avery the next day. “So now they’re up to date on all their immunizations and their paperwork’s all in order. When fall comes, there’s no reason they can’t be bred. You should have a nice herd from this group in the spring. How soon do you need to start slaughtering to live?”
“I don’t. I’ve got money to live on so this breeding program will be fine. I want to get a good herd started before next summer,” Avery said, reaching into the cooler on the back of his four-wheeler and pulling out a bottle of water, then offering it to the vet. Dr.Tompkins took it and nodded his thanks as Avery pulled one out for himself.
“Good. And unless you want to keep one for breeding, which I wouldn’t recommend genetically, of course, the bull calves they have you can get rid of, either sell or raise and slaughter. So you’ll still have a few you can sell. Or trade for more heifers, if you want them.”
“That’s a good idea. I could swap them with somebody. That would work.” The ice water slid down Avery’s throat and he finished half the bottle in one chug, then wiped his face with his bandana. “I appreciate you coming out so fast.”
“No problem. Mac told me you’d probably be calling me. I didn’t know when, but I knew the sales were starting. You got a good deal on these cows. I’m impressed, seeing as how you don’t have a farming background.”
“Mac, Kevin, and Bob have been good to me. Cletus did me a favor pairing me up with them. They talked me out of planting and into ranching, and I think it’s a good decision.” Avery felt ten feet tall as he admired the cattle. They were damn pretty scattered out over the pasture, and the pride he felt was something he couldn’t even begin to convey.
He and Dr.Tompkins loaded up all the vet’s things onto the ATV and headed back to the house. When everything was loaded in Dr.Tompkins’ truck, Avery decided to ask him a question that was tickling at his brain. “So, can you tell me something?” When the vet turned to look at him, Avery asked, “Have you always been around here?”
“Yup. Except for my college years, all my life.”
He gathered up his courage. “And did Sirus always have cattle?”
Dr.Tompkins shrugged. “Yeah. Not many, but a few. Why?”
“Did Lydia spend any time out here at all?”
A splash of wistfulness lit up Dr.Tompkins’ face. “Oh, yes. She was out here all summer every summer. She loved playing out here. One year he let her raise rabbits. Actually, she kept them for three years before he finally sold them off.”
“Sold them off?”
The vet nodded. “Yeah. Lydia loved those rabbits, but Sirus saw everything as livestock, even his old dog. When the rabbits had been around for awhile, he sold them off for meat.”
Avery shuddered. “And Lydia?”
“Oh, she was heartbroken. Didn’t come out here that summer, she was so upset. Of course, Sirus just said, ‘Girls. Whadda they know about farmin’?’” Dr.Tompkins shook his head. “She was back out here the summer after that, but she was different. It was like the light in her eyes had just flickered out. But she still loved this farm.” He tipped his head to the side and eyed Avery. “Why would you ask?”
“Just wondered, that’s all.” Avery dragged the toe of his boot back and forth in the dirt. “You know she’s giving me trouble, right?”
“Oh, the whole town knows she’s giving you trouble after yesterday.” When Avery’s head snapped up, Dr.Tompkins laughed. “Yeah, she went straight to the diner in town and found somebody she could rail at about you. She was kicking up quite a fuss!” he said, laughing.
“’Zat so? And exactly what did she say?” Avery asked, grinning.
“That you were the most exasperating man she’d ever met!” Dr.Tompkins answered, laughing even harder. “You must’ve made quite an impression on her!”
“I’m guessing I did.” Avery grinned from ear to ear. LydiaKinsey had gone straight to town to bitch about him. He hoped she showed up again. He’d give her hell for sure.
* * *
“We’re getting ready to cart out the old cabinets. Got everything you need?” Mike, the foreman of the construction crew, asked Avery on Friday morning.
“Sure do. Have at it.” Avery watched as the guys took sledgehammers to the kitchen and started busting cabinets, but he was interrupted in his viewing pleasure by a knock at the door.
A deputy stood there and when Avery opened the door, the officer handed him an envelope. “I was asked to bring this to you.”
“What is it?” The deputy shrugged, so Avery opened the envelope and almost fell over. “Are you serious? This can’t be right!”
“What is it?” the deputy echoed, and Avery turned the document around for him to see. “That’s not valid here. It’s signed by some judge in Dallas. Let me get on the horn and see what I can find out about this. You got an attorney?”
“Yes.”
The man gave Avery a sad look. “Then I’d suggest you give him a call ASAP.” As he retreated to his cruiser, Avery pulled out his phone and dialed FrankMartin’s number.
As soon as Avery finished reading the document to Frank, the attorney laughed. “A cease-and-desist? To keep you from working on the house? Are you kidding ? What lame-brained judge did she manage to get to sign that?”
“It’s somebody in Dallas,” Avery said. “What do we do?”
“I’ll call JudgeBennett. He’ll call the judge. Can you run that down here to me?”
“Consider me on my way,” Avery said and hung up the phone. Everything in his body hummed with fury. How dare she pull a stunt like that!
By the time Avery got to the attorney’s office with the letter, Frank was already on the phone with JudgeBennett. He read the document to the judge, who said he’d call the judge in Dallas and find out what the hell was going on. Ten minutes later, he called back and Frank put him on speaker. “I just talked to JudgeGarrett,” he said.
“And?” Frank asked as Avery sat and listened to the conversation on speakerphone.
“He said he’s thinking about having her brought up on contempt charges. Apparently she flat-out lied and told them Mr.Holcomb’s a squatter. I faxed him the copy of the title and he’s pissed. Of course, I told him he should’ve been looking up land records instead of looking at her tits.”
“You didn’t!” Frank said, howling with laughter, as Avery sat and tried hard not to make a sound.
“I did. He fumbled and sputtered and told me to go fuck myself. But he’s pissed at her, and she won’t be able to do anything like that again. The cease-and-desist is rescinded and you don’t have to worry about it. Tell your client it’s all fine.”
“Thanks, Ernest. I appreciate it.” FrankMartin ended the call. “Well, that’s that. I bet that little lady’s in hot water now.”
“No, she’ll probably just wink her way out of it,” Avery said, shaking his head. “I can’t believe that judge did that to me without even checking to see if her story was true.”
“I suppose he never thought someone would make something like that up. But she’s going to get herself into trouble if she doesn’t stop it. She hasn’t been back to your place, has she?” As Frank waited, Avery could feel his cheeks heating up. “She hasn’t, has she?” Frank asked again.
“Well, yeah. Monday afternoon. I’d brought in the cattle that I’d just bought and I looked up and there she was when I came in with the last load.”
Frank shook his head. “You should’ve told me. I might’ve seen this coming if you had. I would’ve called her attorney and we could’ve stopped this before it happened. Why didn’t you say something?”
“I don’t really want to get her into trouble. I just want her to leave me alone,” Avery said in way of explanation.
Frank’s expression turned to something Avery couldn’t identify, and he finally said, “Well, she’s looking for trouble if she keeps this up. You promise me you’ll let me know if she comes back, okay?”
“Okay. I promise I will.” But deep down inside, Avery wasn’t sure he could keep that promise.
He wanted Lydia to come back out to the farm. Something wasn’t adding up. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he was damn sure going to try to find out.
* * *
It only took her until the following Tuesday to turn up again, and she was loaded for bear. “What the hell did you do? You damn near got me jailed for contempt!” she screamed at Avery as soon as he came to the door.
“I did what anybody with any sense would do. I went straight to my attorney,” he answered, fighting a smile with everything he had.
“Why didn’t you just follow the order?”
“Because it’s MY house! What is it that you don’t get about that?” As she glared at him, he added, “I can tell just by talking to you that you’re not stupid. You know better than to do what you did. Why the hell did you do that?”
“You just don’t get it! This is MY farm! I can do with it as I like!” she shrieked.
Something hit Avery and in a split second, he felt sure he knew what was going on. “What? Sell it off parcel by parcel? Subdivide it?”
Her eyes burned into him and her words were laced with venom. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do with it. Just like you, I’m no country bumpkin. I may have grown up here, but I’m not from here.”
He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms across his chest. “Like you didn’t spend summers here?”
A hardness came over Lydia’s face that surprised Avery. “This conversation is over. If I can’t stop you one way, I’ll just try another.” She wheeled to walk away, but Avery grabbed her arm. “Let go of me!” she screamed and yanked away from him.
Avery lost his grip and she staggered backward before tumbling off the porch. “Jesus, Lydia! What the hell?” he yelled as he jumped off the porch and crouched beside her.
“Get away from me!” she screamed, rolling around and holding her arm. “You broke my arm!”
“I didn’t break your arm! You broke it yourself when you jerked away from me!” Avery barked, trying to get her still. “Let me look at it, for god’s sake.”
“No! Don’t touch me!” she whined. “Please!”
“For god’s sake, I’m not going to hurt you. Let me look at it.” When he finally coaxed her into sitting up, she was holding the arm he hadn’t touched. “I didn’t do this. You fell on this arm when you fell off the porch. And that’s quite a drop. Can you move it?”
A big tear rolled down Lydia’s cheek. “N-n-n-no, I don’t think so.” Avery put a hand on either side of her elbow and tried to pull her arm away from her body. “Owwww! That hurts! Stop!” she cried out.
“I don’t think it’s broken. I think it’s dislocated. Let me get my wallet and I’ll take you to the hospital.” Avery stood and wiped his hands down his jeans. “I’ll be right back.”
“No! I don’t want to go anywhere with you!” Lydia called back.
“You can hate me later. Right now I need to get you to the emergency room.” He darted down the hallway to grab his wallet and when he got back, she was nowhere to be found, but her car was still there. “Lydia?” When she didn’t answer, he called again, “Lydia? Where the hell are you?” He waited a few seconds and listened. Sure enough, there was a sniffling sound around the corner of the house and he found her there, leaning against the siding. “Come on. Let’s go. We’ll take your car and I’ll find a ride back so you don’t have to be around me any longer than necessary.”
“Don’t be an ass,” she hissed out.
He just shook his head. “Get in the damn car,” he ordered, pointing toward the BMW. With a huff, Lydia headed that direction.
He helped her get into the car and then did his best to buckle her seat belt, but she fought him the whole time. “Would you stop? Quit! No, don’t do that! What are you doing?”
“Can you possibly be a little more difficult and combative? You haven’t blacked my eye yet and I’ve still got all my teeth,” Avery snapped. “Stop fighting me. I’m just trying to get you there in one piece.”
“After you tried to kill me by throwing me off the porch?”
Avery stopped and stared at her, thinking of all the things he could say. Finally, he just stood and looked down at her there in the passenger seat, clutching her arm, her face blotchy with unshed tears. “Tried to kill… You know what?” He glared at her. “I give up. I thought I felt something for you, some, I don’t know, measure of humanness .” Suddenly, complete sadness fell over him and he found it hard to breathe. “I don’t wish you any harm. I haven’t done one damn thing to you. And yet you treat me like shit, torment me, cuss at me, accuse me of things. Take yourself to the hospital. I don’t care anymore. I’m tired of this shit. From this point on, you’re trespassing when you come here. Come back and I’ll have you jailed. I’m done.”
Without another glance, Avery turned and headed back to the house. He’d tried, he really had. Everything in him had sprung into action when he realized she was hurt, and all he wanted to do was take care of her. But not if she was going to do everything in her power to hurt him. No. All he’d gotten from his own family was hurt, betrayal, and disrespect. He hadn’t driven all the way from Clarksville and spent a chunk of his trust fund money to relive it all, and if that’s all she was going to do, she could damn well stay away. He’d post signs on the property later that afternoon. She’d have no excuse once he’d done that, and he’d just have the sheriff pick her up next time. And yes, he’d press charges. She could sit in a jail cell for all he cared. At least there she wouldn’t be making his life miserable.
Slamming the door behind him, Avery picked up an apple on his way through the living room and snatched a bottle of water from the cooler there. God, he’d be glad when the kitchen was done! The TV was on, so he turned it off before making his way down the hallway to get a shower. And that was when he heard it.
That ever-so-soft knock on the door. At first he thought he’d imagined it, but the second time, he was sure of what he was hearing. Tiptoeing back to the living room, he could still see the BMW sitting in the driveway. The knocking happened again, and he finally took a deep breath and opened the front door. “What do you want?” he snarled from under his furrowed brow, knowing full well what she was about to say.
“Um, Avery, I can’t drive. I’m sorry. Could you please take me to the hospital?” she asked, her voice so soft he could barely hear her.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I can’t drive.”
“No, not that part. The other part,” he goaded.
“About taking me to the hospital?” she asked, blushing.
He shook his head. “Nope. That’s not it either. There was something else.”
She let out a big sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“I can’t hear you.”
Her face contorted. “I said I’m sorry,” she repeated a little louder.
Avery took a good look at her. That blond hair was disheveled, and her eye makeup was running from the tears that had escaped. But her arm was swelling at an alarming rate. One look at it and he wasn’t concerned anymore with whether or not she meant what she was saying. “Let me get my wallet and I’ll help you get back into the car.”
In a couple of minutes, he had her back in the car, and this time she didn’t fight him when he tried to fasten her seat belt. He slipped behind the wheel into the driver’s seat and headed down the long drive, never looking at her, and he made no attempt to talk to her on the way. She only spoke twice, once to say, “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just get out,” and the other, “I know you didn’t push me, but it’s still your fault.” Avery said nothing. He was finished arguing with her. He’d take her to the hospital, find a ride home, and be done with her.
When they got to the emergency room doors, he helped her inside and got her situated in the waiting area, then took her car and parked it. Once he got back inside, he got the clipboard from the clerk at the window and helped Lydia fill out the forms. “My insurance card’s in my purse,” she said, motioning to her bag that Avery had brought inside.
“No. You fell off my porch. It’s going on my homeowner’s coverage. I’ll call them as soon as I leave.”
“You don’t have to?—”
“No. I don’t. But I’m going to. And this is it, Lydia. I’m posting signs on my property when I get home. Don’t come back. I’ll have you arrested, I swear. I’m finished with this.” He stood to go and was almost to the door when he heard her call his name.
“Avery? But you don’t have a ride home.”
He turned and glared at her. “I’ll find one. I’m sure they’ll be better company.” Before she had a chance to say another word, he strode out the door.
Fuck her. He was done. If she came back, he’d have her jailed for trespassing. But AveryHolcomb was through with LydiaKinsey. His patience had officially run out.