Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
Sly’s truck was running on fumes when he pulled into the gas station Sunday afternoon. He wasn’t the only driver in need of fuel, and the only available pump happened to be the one adjacent to where Tim Carpenter was about to fill his truck. Talk about awkward. “Hey,” Sly said with a terse nod.
Carpenter scowled at him. “Don’t ‘hey’ me.
You can sue me to hell and back, but it won’t change the fact that I didn’t do a damn thing to your cattle.
I won’t apologize for something I didn’t do, and I’ll die before you get a dime out of me.
Stick that up your fancy lawyer’s butt. Better yet, I’ll let my lawyer do that. ”
His voice had grown steadily louder. People were staring now.
So Carpenter had hired himself an attorney.
He needed one. Sly raked his hand through his hair and strove for calmness, but he was seriously pissed.
His neighbor’s nastiness only made things worse.
He shook his head. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that being an ass is a sure way to make your life miserable? ”
“You’re the ass.” Carpenter’s fist shot toward Sly’s nose.
Sly dodged the punch and caught hold of the man’s wrist. “I wouldn’t try that again if I were you,” he warned in a low voice.
Narrowing his eyes, Carpenter wrenched free and spat on the ground. “I’ll get my gas someplace else.”
He jumped into his truck and roared off.
Nearby, a man Sly didn’t know shook his head. “He’s got a temper on him, that one.”
Gus Jones, a fellow rancher, left his Jeep at the pump and joined Sly. “Tim Carpenter has never been an easy man to deal with, but that was the worst I’ve ever seen him. You okay?”
Aside from his near miss with Carpenter’s fist and a big adrenaline rush, Sly was fine. He nodded.
After filling the tank and paying, he left.
When he got home, he was still so rattled, he jumped bareback on Bee and gave her free rein.
Before long they were flying across the ranch, with the wind at their backs and nothing to see but livestock and acres of his rolling fields. Eventually he calmed down.
That evening he called and updated Dave Swain.
“After the rains we had last weekend, one of the lower pastures flooded,” he explained.
“I need the money Carpenter cost me for my new drainage system, and I need it now. I want you to add a penalty to the lawsuit, so every day Carpenter delays the settlement, it costs him more.”
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Dave said. “It’d be like rubbing salt into the wound and could make things even worse.”
Thinking it over, Sly had to agree. “Okay, so now what do we do?”
“Sit tight,” Dave said, “and let us lawyers earn our fees.”
Sly didn’t enjoy playing this particular waiting game. Especially now, during the rainy season. Every day Carpenter delayed put the ranch in more jeopardy.
The rains were heavy over the next week, and Sly divided his long days between spring calving and digging new ditches.
The old system worked only sporadically now.
Though the ditches diverted some of the water and reduced the danger of flooding, copious amounts of mud clogged every low-lying pasture.
Cattle got stuck in the stuff. Fortunately, as yet none had fallen or sustained injuries, but they had to be moved.
Sly, Bean, and Ollie herded them to higher ground.
Between that and the usual ranching chores, they were all stretched thin.
With so much on his plate, Sly barely had a moment to grab a decent meal, let alone think about Lana during the day.
But at night when he should’ve been dead to the world, he lay in bed, wanting her.
They were as mismatched as a flip-flop and a cowboy boot, and getting involved with her would only lead to trouble.
Regardless, his desire for her continued to grow, until he had to kiss her again or lose his mind. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t enjoy the kiss half as much as he remembered. Then it’d be easier to forget about her.
That Saturday he spent a wet morning checking for new calves and looking for signs of heifers in labor. Around noon, the rain stopped. He was about to head home and change into dry clothes when he came across a black heifer. She was in labor and lying on her side, pushing hard.
He stayed nearby, not too close, but within reach in case she needed help. Using his phone, he snapped a couple of photos. It was an easy birth, and mama cow did fine by herself. Finally, something to grin about. “Way to go, you two,” he said in a low voice that wouldn’t startle them.
His first thought was that Lana would enjoy these photos. Covered in mud, he showered, changed, wolfed down a sandwich and then headed for her place.
She lived in a town-house community that was well maintained. Flower boxes underscored every window of her two-story place, just as they did at the daycare.
Bushes lined both sides of her little yard, some already fat with buds on the verge of blooming. A pot of colorful tulips decorated the little stoop beside the door.
Sly pushed the doorbell. Seconds later, she answered. Wearing jeans and a ragged, paint-smeared sweatshirt, with her hair banana-clipped off her face and a smudge of paint on her cheek, she looked cute.
With that, he silently admitted that he was here for more than a few photos. He wanted to kiss Lana and find out if she was as sweet as he remembered.
“Sly,” she said, her surprised expression almost comical. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to show you something.”
“You obviously know where I live. I’m guessing you also have my number. You couldn’t call and give me a heads-up you were coming?”
He’d figured she’d tell him to stay away. “You asked me not to call,” he said. “I thought I’d surprise you.”
The couple next door, whom he judged to be about his age, stopped their yard work and stared openly at him.
Lana waved at them, then widened the door. “Come in.”
After wiping his boots on a welcome mat that resembled a giant sunflower, Sly stepped into a house that felt warm and welcoming.
More flowers filled a vase on the end table in the living room.
She obviously had a thing for flowers—and bright colors.
The whole place was painted in cheerful colors that couldn’t help but lift the spirits.
“Nice place,” he said.
“Thanks. I bought it after the divorce and have been fixing it up ever since. Do you want something to drink?”
“I’m fine.” He shrugged out of his denim jacket and draped it over a nearby chair.
She angled her head slightly, her expression curious. “What did you want to show me?”
“This morning I came across a heifer giving birth and I snapped a few photos.” He pulled out his phone and showed her pictures of the heifer licking her baby and nudging it to stand.
She studied each photo, her lips forming a provocative O that almost did Sly in. “Aww, so sweet.”
“I figured you’d want to see them,” he said, desire making his voice rough.
Oblivious of his need, she handed him back the phone. “You could’ve forwarded these to me and saved yourself the trip. You still should, so I can show the kids at the daycare.”
“I will. I didn’t send them because there’s another reason I stopped by.” He slid the phone into his back pocket. “There’s something I forgot to give you last Saturday.”
She frowned. “Oh?”
He stepped closer and stared into her beautiful eyes.
“Unless you stop me, I’m going to kiss you again.
” In answer, she went up on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
She was fine-boned and barely reached his shoulders.
Yet as small and delicate as she was compared to his big frame, she fit as if she’d been made for him.
He’d imagined he remembered how good she tasted, but he hadn’t realized she tasted quite like this.
Sweet and cinnamony and something indefinable.
She was intoxicating, and he wanted to kiss her forever—and a lot more.
He urged her lips apart and tangled his tongue with hers.
She made the sound he remembered from their night together, a mixture of a moan and a sigh that drove him wild.
She wriggled closer. God above, he wanted her. Smart or dumb, right or wrong, he definitely wanted to keep doing this, keep seeing her. Sliding his hands down her spine, he cupped her hips, bringing her tight against the part of him that was already rigid with desire.
Suddenly she tensed and pushed her hands against his chest. “Stop, Sly.”
Reluctantly, he stepped away.
“What was that for?” she asked, frowning but looking thoroughly kissed and sexy as all get-out.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since the afternoon at the daycare.” He ran his finger over her lush pink bottom lip, watching with satisfaction as her mouth opened a fraction and her eyes lost focus. “I’m glad I did.”
Though she attempted to hold on to her stern expression, she didn’t appear to be sorry, either.
“Dani says you two scheduled a get-together,” he said.
“That’s right, in a few weeks.”
Lana didn’t invite him to sit down, and he guessed she was about to ask him to leave. “You probably heard what happened at the gas station last weekend,” he said, wanting to talk about it before she kicked him to the curb.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Your cousin tried to punch me out.”
Her eyebrows arched in surprise. “He didn’t.”
“Yep.” Remembering, Sly scrubbed his hand over his face. “Our lawyers have been going back and forth.” He hoped things got resolved and settled quickly, because he needed that money yesterday.
Not wanting to get into that, though, he sniffed the air. “I smell paint.” He nodded at the smudge on her cheek. “That’s a nice shade of green.”
Lana touched the spot. Her cheeks reddened. “Why didn’t you tell me there was paint on my face?”
“I had other things on my mind.” His gaze dropped to her mouth, and damned if he didn’t want to kiss her again.
Swallowing, she glanced away. “I’ve been working on the spare bedroom, making it into the nursery.”
“I’d like to see it,” he said.
“Sure. Follow me.”