The Tycoon's Tender Triumph (15 page)

When he arrived at her house, there wasn’t anyone there and it looked like no one had been there for a while.  He thought about waiting for her, but he didn’t think he could stand still for that long. 

He drove over to the
stable
, she wasn’t there either.  Where else she could be, he had no idea.  He tried calling her on her cell phone, but she wasn’t picking up.  She was off the grid, at least for a little while.  But he’d find her, he thought as he drove back home.  She couldn’t hide out forever.

Chloe wished she could just curl up into a ball and hide for the rest of her life.  She wanted so desperately to take back the whole conversation.  The look on Sam’s face when she realized that she was still a virgin was horrible.  She hated that he thought of her in that way. 

Oh, why couldn’t she have just experimented with one of the guys she’d dated?  Why was she so odd now?  It was
back to those college dinners
ago all over again
, feeling like a little kid wanting to play with the teenagers
! 
But this time
she wasn’t going to let him hurt her.  She wasn’t some starry eyed college student, eager to show off what she’d learned that semester at college.  She was a woman seriously trying to start a business, to grow something she’d dreamed of for years. 

Chloe held back the tears for as l
ong as she could but eventually
she was able to find a side road and pull off.  As soon as she was sure she was hidden from view, she let the tears flow.  Why had she said anything?  This was ridiculous how she continued to let her mouth run away from her when she was around Sam.  What was it about this man that made her
sound
stupid and look
inept?
 

For a long time, she didn’t move, just let the tears flow.  She didn’t try and figure out a solution, just wallowed in self pity.  It was the past coming back to repeat itself.  Why could
n’t she learn from her mistakes?
 

After what was probably only a few minutes, but felt like an hour, she looked up and tried to get her bearings.  She had no idea where she was, but she started her engine once again and backed out of the area she’d found to park.  The road was deserted when she finally reached it and none of it looked familiar.  She went in one direction for about five miles, thinking surely she would come across a landmark she recognized.  But when nothing came into view except more
prairie
grass, she thought it was probably wise to turn around and head back
in
the other direction.  She remembered making a couple of turns, but she wasn’t exactly sure where those streets were or which direction she’d turned.  She’d been pretty distraught when she’d headed out of there. 

She turned onto a road that looked vaguely familiar, but wasn’t sure if it would take her back to the ranch or get her more lost than she already was.  She’d been on it for less than five minutes when she started to see houses.  Then the smaller businesses appeared.  And after another mile, she was in a small city with a bustling town square filled with quaint shops and lots of people mil
l
ing about on the sidewalks. 

There didn’t appear to be any businesses other than small art shops and specialty restaurants but she also saw a theatre, two playgrounds, a pool hall and several night spots that were currently closed
because of the daylight hours
. 

Parking on one of the side streets, she pocketed her keys and pulled her purse over her head, enjoying the moment of freedom away from Sam’s too-knowing eyes. 

She wandered through the shops, looking at some of the antiques that were for sale, feeling some lovely, handmade quilts and wishing she could curl up in one of them.  There was a pretty white one with various white patterned fabrics that looked both country as well as elegant.  She rubbed her hand along the silky fabric and her mind wandered to what it might look like on her bed. 

“Dammit!” she muttered when she realized that it wasn’t actually her bed she was picturing the quilt on.  It was Sam’s!  And Sam was in it.  Or more specifically, he was on it.  And so was she! 

She stormed out of the shop and walked quickly down the sidewalk, trying to get the image of Sam, naked and hot for her, out of her mind.  That was never going to happen! 
Not after today and his stunned reaction to her comment. 

Her only salvation was that she hadn’t blurted out her jealousy over the other women.  At least now she could face him and shrug off her comment, lie and tell him that she’d been with other men, but none had made her feel the same way he did.  He’d never have to know that she was a virgin, silly and untouched at twenty five and a complete oddball in a world where sex was taken for granted with dating couples. 

And maybe she could even get out that it wasn’t desire he made her feel that others hadn’t been able to engender within her, but anger, frustration and irritation at how obnoxious he was. 

Or maybe she should just leave it alone, thinking he might challenge her assertion on what he actually made her feel. 
She could just imagine him pulling her into his arms, his eyes determined and ready to take on her challenge. 

She wouldn’t stand a chance, she thought with a shiver. 

Goodness, she just hoped he didn’t go back and have a talk with her father.  That would definitely be embarrassing but her father knew better than to tell her secrets.  Not that he knew how she felt about Sam.  Her father might have wanted something to blossom between his daughter an
d
his neighbor several years ago, but she was pretty sure that dream had died when she’d refused to go out to dinner with Sam after college. 

With her camera bag in hand, she found a small print shop and went to one of the self service kiosks.  When she plugged the memory chip in, she saw several month
’
s worth of pictures she’d taken and smiled at the memories she’d captured. 

Knowing that pictures looked different in print than on a computer screen, she selected several of the best shots and sent them to print out.   While waiting for the pictures to be processed, she leafed through several magazines, but wasn’t really able to remember anything she’d read.  By the time her number was called to pick up her photographs, she was a nervous wreck. 

She ducked into a cute little restaurant and took a deep breath. Pulling the envelope out of her purse, she closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.  Hopefully, the pictures turned out like she wanted them to but she was never certain. 

The waitress arrived and
Chloe
hid the pictures while she ordered a sandwich and sweet tea, grateful when the waitress left and she could once again flip through her pictures. 

Holding her breath, she glance
d through the first few photo
s
.  As her eyes took in the scenes on the small pieces of photo paper, she was relieved, even excited, when she realized that most of the pictures had captured exactly what she’d wanted.  There was the man on the ridge, sitting on his horse as the sun set behind him.  The man and horse were black while the sunset behind him had the sky on fire with pinks, reds and yellows.  The man’s head was bowed slightly, making him seem sad, almost despondent.  In reality, he’d probably been sleeping or looking at a weed, but the picture didn’t know that and she smiled as she continued looking. 

There was another woman sitting on a park bench in New York, her eyes lonely and sad while people bustled all around her.  It represented the way she’d felt all those months in the city, being surrounded by people moving around her but no true connections being formed.  She smiled as she saw the picture of the field of wildflowers, all periwinkle and happy flower faces and she could actually feel the wind in the picture.  But what stood out was the one soft yellow flower in the middle of all the periwinkle.  She had thought it represented rebellion and assertion of one’s spirit despite an overwhelming tide of pressure to conform.  There were others as well and Chloe sifted through them slowly, remembering how she felt while trying to capture each scene. 

“
Hey Joe
!” the waitress
called out loudly
from behind Chloe’s left shoulder. 

Chloe quickly grabbed all the pictures, trying to hide
them but several of them fell
onto the table and floor in the mad scramble. 

“
Come
over here,
Joe
!” the waitress called out, setting Chloe’s sweet tea on the table while picking up several of the wayward photographs, looking at the details. 

A man came out of the back, wiping his hands on a huge apron as he walked through the restaurant, clapping some people on the back, nodding to others. 
The man had a head full of r
ed hair that she suspected he dy
ed to a more shocking color, but it
could possibly
be natural.  His
solid black
tee shirt
had white words that read
, “Never Underestimate The Power Of A Sick Mind”. 

“
What’s up, Debbie?” he asked as he approached.  His eyes automatically went to the pictures, taking them out of
Debbie’s
hands. 

“Please, can I have those back?”
Chloe
asked, her voice strangled with embarrassment. 

“Not so fast,”
Joe
replied and held the picture up higher
so Chloe couldn’t snatch them out of his hand
. 
After looking at several, he turned to look down at Chloe, obvious interest and respect shining through. 
“Do you have more like this?”

“Please, these are very personal.  I’d rather…”

“Well of course they’re personal.  They’re amazing!”  He took a seat across from
her, nodding to Debbie.  “Yep, this is exactly what we were talking about.”

“What do you mean?”
Chloe was starting to panic now that others were seeing her private work.  She’d never intended for anyone to see these pictures and here were two strangers peering down at something so private it was as if she’d been stripped naked in front of a crowd. 

“
Joe
likes making things a bit quirky around here and he thought that he could balance things like that dinosaur over there,”
Debbie explained
, pointing behind her to a
seven foot
metal
dinosaur
with different colored fins running down
its
back
and an Elvis wig and sunglasses
, “with some
intellectual
art that he could put up on the walls.  You name the price and we’ll get the customers in here
to buy them
.”

Chloe’s eyes went back and forth between the
strange looking
man sitting across from her and the pretty blond waitress standing beside him with her hand on the big man’s shoulder. 
“You want to put them on display?” she asked, trying to take the pictures out of
Joe’s
hands but he simply pulled them away and picked up a few more.  “
You
can’t!”
 

Joe
shook his head, denying Chloe her pictures as well as her claim that they shouldn’t be on display. 
“Honey, these are really good.  You
’ve
got to
put them on display.  And what better place then here?  I get all sorts in her during the week for lunch.  There’s the business people
from Dalla
s
who rush through and grab their lunch as fast as possible, but they’re standing in a line going out the door and need something to look at as they rush through my line.  Then around one thirty, all the debutants come through for their
leisurely
lunch and they’d get a kick out of seeing something original, a new artist
they can say they discovered.  Around three or four
o’clock
, that’s when the shoppers come by, especially Friday through Sunday.
They come in, have a cup of herbal tea
and reminisce about all the stuff they bought, and they’d just love to top off their shopping expedition with a new photograph
if an unknown artist
.”  He put the other pictures down and looked across the table at Chloe.  “
What
do you say?”