Cowboy Take Me Away (22 page)

A hand closed over his shoulder. “Chase, please.”

His lips curled back as he dug his fingers hard into the railings beneath them. “Back the fuck off, Hope. I mean it.”

Her hand disappeared, the softness of her touch gone as quick as it had arrived. Chase listened to her move away, waiting, not wanting to so much as see her traitorous face.

“You know what, Hope?” he said, changing his mind and furiously turning around, looking into eyes the color of the ocean, eyes that he'd once wished he could look into every single night. “Back then, I fucking loved you.” There, he'd said it.

He watched as she gulped, her throat moving as she hugged her arms around herself even tighter than before, looking more fragile girl than strong, successful woman. “And now?” Her voice was barely audible.

“Now?” He laughed, a cruel noise that cut deep between them. “I don't know you at all, Hope, so I sure as hell can't love you. Because the Hope I thought I knew wasn't such a complete bitch. But then I never really knew you, did I?”

Chase knew he'd hurt her, but whatever pain he was causing her was nothing on how he was feeling right now. She'd made a decision for him that she'd had no right to make, and the only way he could take control was to figure out how the hell he was going to deal with Harrison.

Harrison King.

His own son had been living in Texas for weeks, and he hadn't had a fucking clue.

 

Chapter 12

There was nothing she could do. Hope stood and watched Chase walk away, her hands shaking as she curled her arms even tighter around herself.

She'd never wanted to keep Harrison a secret from him, but telling him had seemed impossible at the time, and then as time went on it had become even harder. But his words cut deep. He was Harrison's father and she shouldn't have kept it from him, but if she had her chance all over again?
Damn it.
Maybe she would have done the same. She could say, hand on her heart, that her son was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her marriage, losing the ranch, everything she'd been through—it was nothing compared to the thought of not having Harrison. She loved him more than anything, and she'd never wanted Chase to have to be a dad, feeling forced into playing a role he didn't want. So she'd come home, reunited with a guy she'd known since they were kids, let him think she'd gotten pregnant straightaway, and everything had seemed okay. Like she'd made it all work. Until the day Harrison had been born, hardly a month after their wedding, and she'd blurted out the truth to him. She shook her head, hating going back in time, to the day her husband had started to treat her like the liar she was.

She reached into her pocket for her phone, stared at the screen as her mom's number ran through her head. Hope bit down hard on her lip, staring into the distance and refusing to shed more tears. For the first time in her life, she was alone. Her mom was no longer on the end of a phone line, waiting to hear from her only daughter; her dad was long passed now, and her husband had betrayed her. She'd slowly lost contact with most of her friends except one, been busy being a working mom trying to make a future for herself and Harrison. And her former best friend? She shook her head and stared after him. She'd just lost him, too. Chase had once been her rock, the one person in her life she'd truly loved and trusted, and instead of repaying that trust he'd given her, she'd betrayed him.

She pushed her phone back into her pocket, determined to deal with the situation on her own, allowed herself a few deep breaths as she wiped beneath her eyes to remove any trace of her tears, and forced her feet to move. She had a job to do. A job she loved. She had a son to care for. A son she loved
.
That's all she needed.

Hope walked through the barn and emerged into the bright sunshine, tilting her face to let the heat wash over her. Being back in Texas and reconnecting with Chase could have been amazing. Instead it had only made her heart break all over again.

Her phone rang and she yanked it out, eyes still shut as she answered.

“Hope?”

The gruff, deep voice on the other end shocked her eyes into popping straight back open.
Chase?

“Yeah, it's me.”

“We have a problem. Meet me in the office.”

Chase hung up before she could answer, leaving her to square her shoulders and make her way back to the main building. Whatever it was must be urgent, because she was certain she was the last person he had any intention of talking to ever again. Although, personal feelings aside, he still had a business to run, and she doubted the King empire would ever grind to a halt. Not for anything. Nate would never drop the ball when it came to ruthlessly acquiring property and balancing the books, and Chase would be riding his land and breeding top-quality cattle till his last breath, of that she was certain.

*   *   *

“Chase?” Hope called out, still uncertain about coming face-to-face with him after what had happened between them. His words still echoed through her mind, the feel of his anger, almost tangible, like a metallic taste in her mouth she couldn't get rid of. It was even worse because she was starting to second-guess what she'd done all over again.

“In here.”

She followed his voice and found him with his arms spread, palms planted on the table in front of him.

“What's going on?” she asked.

“Look,” he said, voice so low that it sounded even more angry now than it had earlier.

Hope followed his gaze and saw two canisters lying on the ground.
Shit.
Any other time it might have been amusing to see the ground covered in sticky cow semen, except for the fact that each canister had cost King Ranch a small fortune. And it was the same semen she was preparing to inseminate his cows with.
Now
.

“Who did this?”

“Fucked if I know,” Chase muttered, standing up to his full height and raking his hands through his hair. Now that he wore it longer she noticed that he did that a lot, especially when he was stressed about something. “But when I find the son of a bitch I'm gonna kill him.”

Hope took a deep, shuddering breath. The look in his eyes was wild, the menacing way he was staring at the turned-over canisters enough to tell her that he might just do exactly that when he found the culprit. Chase was big by any standards, his shoulders wide, biceps thick; there was no man alive who'd want Chase pissed with him. And the fact that she'd already infuriated him meant he wasn't in a mood to be crossed.

“Let's be practical here,” she said, stepping closer and seeing that each cane of semen had been smashed so that there was nothing usable left. Not that she'd be able to use something that had been compromised anyway, but she was frantically trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. “Who would even want to do this to you?”

Chase smacked his fist against the table, then folded his arms, walking toward the open door and staring out in the distance. She had the distinct feeling of being a caged animal, ready to bolt through the door the instant she felt trapped. Only right now his anger wasn't directed at her, which meant she was safe. Temporarily.

“We've employed the same guys for years here, and hardly any of them even know what we're doing, or how goddamn valuable the canisters even were.”

Hope shut her eyes, played back all the workers she'd met so far on the ranch. His brothers? No chance. They might like to play jokes and give each other shit, but they wouldn't compromise something so important, not to mention valuable. When she opened her eyes, she cringed before speaking her mind.

“I know you trust him, but have you ever considered your foreman?”

Chase turned around, laughter dancing in his gaze. “Randy? You've got to be kidding me.”

“Sometimes it's the ones we least expect,” she muttered. “Who else knows?”

Chase raised an eyebrow, his mouth turning downward into a frown. She knew exactly what he was thinking—that maybe he had no idea who to trust anymore. “I trust Randy. Believe me when I say it wasn't him.” His laugh was hollow. “Although I would have said you'd have my back, and I couldn't have been further from the truth.”

“Look,” she said, folding her arms, “who did this doesn't matter right now, Chase. What matters is what we do next. We have a limited window that we need to use to our advantage, so the next few hours are crucial. Agreed?”

Chase grunted. “You stored the other canisters at the lab at your work?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I tested one straw out of each canister in the lab, so we still have enough to proceed with a smaller herd of heifers.” Hope found herself nodding, calculating. “It's better than nothing, and if I leave now I can be back without us losing any time.”

He turned away again, but his body was rigid, the muscles of his arms visible as he folded his arms tight across himself. Her fingers itched to touch him, to comfort him, wanting to feel her skin against his and go back in time. She should never have told him the truth. Or maybe she should never have hidden it from him in the first place.

She took a few steps closer to him, near enough to inhale the faint tanginess of his cologne, her hands at her sides. They hovered, then she dropped them, knowing the last thing he would want was her touching him now.

“Are you going to contact anyone from law enforcement?”

He grunted. “And tell them some semen from King Ranch has been tampered with? They'd think that was damn funny, I'm sure.”

“It's a valuable product,” she affirmed.

“I'm going to go tell Nate, let him and Ryder know what's going on,” Chase said, heading out the door. “I'll call in law enforcement if and when we need it, but we have our own way of dealing with assholes who fuck with our stuff, if you get my drift.”

“Chase…” she began, not sure exactly how to say what she wanted to tell him, or whether she should be scared of him, too.

He paused and half turned back toward her. “Don't,” he said. “We talk business and that's it. Got it?” He ran his fingers hard through his hair again. “As far as I'm concerned, once this is done, we're through.”

“I'll take Harrison now.”

“No, you won't. He can stay here.”

Hope raised her chin, stared him in the eye. “He's my son, Chase. I'll leave him here to keep playing, but don't go telling me what to do.”

They stared at each other, neither giving in. “Just leave him here and come back when you have the straws.”

She nodded, bottom lip snapped firmly beneath her teeth. She got it loud and clear. Trouble was, if she knew Chase, then she knew he wasn't going to just forget what she'd told him. He had a son, and there was no way in hell he was okay with having a child out there who didn't know the truth about his dad.

She watched him walk away from her for the third time that day. Chase King had broken her heart into a million pieces five years ago without even knowing it, and it was starting to splinter all over again right now. She didn't blame him—he'd had no idea that she'd fallen pregnant, so it wasn't like it was his fault—but still. There had only ever been one man capable of truly hurting her, because she never let anyone else close. Her husband had stung her financially, but he hadn't been even close to shattering her heart.

Hope grabbed her phone and speed-dialed work, walking briskly back toward her vehicle. It was a Sunday, but she knew the place wouldn't be empty and her call would be redirected to the after-hours mobile.

“Hey, it's me,” she said when Kate, one of the other vets, answered the phone.

They chatted for a second, laughing about something Kate's new dog had done, before Kate got around to asking her what she'd phoned in for. They'd both been involved in all the lab work this week, so Hope knew she'd be able to help.

“I need you to check on something for me, just for peace of mind,” Hope said, speaking more quietly when she spied Chase's foreman tying up a horse near her vehicle. She lowered her voice again. “Just a second, Kate.”

Hope waved to Randy and smiled, jumping behind the wheel of her truck before continuing her conversation. As far as she was aware, the only two people on this ranch who knew about the additional canisters were her and Chase, and that's the way she wanted it to stay. Chase might trust his second-in-command, but she wasn't convinced.

“I have two canisters stored in the lab,” she told Kate as she started the ignition. “They're both clearly labeled King Ranch, and I need you to do a quick check to make sure they haven't been tampered with in any way. I'll be back within the hour, but it's kind of urgent. Can you call me back as soon as you can?”

She said good-bye and drove slowly past the main homestead, admiring the immaculate post-and-rail fencing and a herd of mares with foals grazing together. She'd had a ranch not so different from this back home, a ranch that she'd always dreamed of owning, and of raising her own children in the home and on the land where she'd grown up. Now she'd lost it all—she was more in debt than flush with money, a single mom to a gorgeous son. And her son could have had all this. If only she'd stayed in Texas, things might have turned out differently. Maybe her family ranch would still be hers, too.

She shook her head and reached forward to crank up the music, looking straight ahead instead of reminiscing about the scenery.
What if
s were dangerous thoughts, she knew that better than anyone.

Nate was looking after Harrison, and she owed it to the whole King family to do what she could. Their empire was the biggest in Texas, but she wanted no part in them sustaining any kind of financial hit, not if she could help it. The stakes were too high, and the sooner she could walk away, the better.

*   *   *