Page 11 of Spilling the Tea

He hesitated for a moment, and then he said, “Yes, there is someone. My great-grandmother. Our family spread, Whispering Pines, is less than thirty minutes from here and has been in our family for generations. Mama Laverne is in her nineties, but her memory is as sharp as a tack.”

“Do you think she’d be willing to talk to me?”

“I don’t see why not. Not today, though, since I don’t know where she is. She travels around quite a bit.”

“In her nineties?”

His lips twitched as if amused, and although it had been rather quick, seeing it had her pulse racing. “Yes. To my great-grandmother, age is nothing but a number. Give me that business card of yours again. I’ll contact you when a conversation can be arranged. How long will you be in the area?”

“For however long it takes to piece together my memory. I don’t have to return to the hospital I work at until September; I have the entire summer free. I plan to use that time to learn as much about my maternal family as possible.”

She took the business card from her purse and presented it to him again. “I would love to speak with your great-grandmother.Here is my business card,” she said, giving back the card he’d returned earlier.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Zoey that, although he now had her contact information, she didn’t have his. He hadn’t offered it to her. For all she knew, he might have a jealous girlfriend or something.

He slid her business card in the pocket of his shirt before standing. “Now, I’ll show you to the door.”

“You want me to leave?”

A scowl appeared on his face. “Any reason you think you should stay?”

“I was hoping I could look around.”

He seemed taken aback by her words, and his tone was rather frosty when he said, “I won’t have time to give you a tour, Zoey. Neither will Ms. Cate.”

In other words, he was letting her know that although he might believe her story, he had no intentions of letting her roam through his house alone. “I don’t recall asking you to do so, Chancellor.”

“Then what are you asking?”

He was glaring, so she glared back, refusing to let him intimidate her. “I understand that neither you nor your housekeeper have the time to give me a tour of your home. However, I would appreciate it if you allowed me to look outside. I promise not to get in your way, and I will be gone before you know it.”

He stared at her, and although his eyes hadn’t moved beyond her face, she felt the intensity of his gaze on every part of her body. She thought he would deny her request, but then, in that same frosty tone, he said, “Fine. Follow me.”

Chapter Four

Chance watched Zoey out of the corner of his eye while trotting his horse, Ambush, around the corral. The woman was moving around his backyard like one of those insurance inspectors who were there to examine his property before issuing a policy. She wasn’t missing a thing.

But then, neither was he.

That was why his attention was focused on her whenever her full attention was on something she’d found of interest. For a while, she seemed fixated on that tree in his backyard. He recalled her saying something was familiar about the big oak in his front yard. Was there something about this one that was familiar as well?

And why did she have to stand there, with her hands positioned on her hips, in a pose that looked way too damn sexy for his peace of mind? If that wasn’t bad enough, the wind had risen, causing her hair to whip wildly around her face. In defiance, she had pulled a hair clip from her small purse and used it to secure her hair back. He preferred it flying free in the windand was tempted to get off his horse, cross the yard, and pull the clip from her hair.

What the hell?! When had he begun caring how a woman wore her hair or what she did with it? Why was this woman getting to him? More importantly, why was he letting her? Where was all that control that he was known to have when he needed it? It had failed him yesterday when he’d first seen her, and it was trying to do the same today. But he refused to let it.

Okay, checking out a good-looking woman was normal. Something he did often. No harm was done, as long as the woman didn’t get under his skin, which was the one thing he wouldn’t ever let happen again.

Chance forced his gaze from her and tried giving his horse his full attention. Ambush was the first horse he’d ridden after being able to do so again, so they had a special bond. As he trotted the horse around the yard, he couldn’t help but recall what Zoey had told him. He wished he could say he hadn’t believed a word she’d said and that her story was too farfetched to be believable. However, he knew that it was.

He’d watched her closely while she’d been talking. Chance had seen the pain in her eyes, the haunted look that had been there while reliving the days of that car accident that had spared her life but taken her parents. She’d been a mere child of eight, but she’d been a fighter, and he would admit he admired her strength. Like him, she’d had to endure both physical and emotional challenges. The likes of which most people would never know or experience. He’d done so as an adult. She’d only been a child—a little girl who’d lost not only her parents but her complete memory of them.

Right at that moment, something about her pulled at him, and it was more intense than just a physical interest. It had been her life’s story for the past twenty years. It was so different from his, yet similar. In a way, they were two of a kind. He had felt her pain and understood her need to become whole again regardlessof the fight she’d faced after her accident. Just like him, she’d overcome the obstacles and beat the odds.

Who had been her Mama Laverne? The one person who hadn’t given up on her? Had encouraged her to keep fighting on those days when she wanted to give up? The one person who’d championed her? Had it been her aunt? He had a feeling it hadn’t been. He’d listened to what she’d said and read between the lines. It had been easy to detect there were some things she’d deliberately left out of her narrative. Her aunt hadn’t approved of her father marrying her mother for some reason.

Even if that was true, that didn’t excuse her aunt for lying to her about this ranch. Why had she done this when the truth might have helped recover her memory? He could only imagine how she felt when she discovered that her only family member had deceived her. If you couldn’t trust your family, then who could you trust?

She deserved to have her memory restored, and he hoped that it would eventually happen. Had she seen anything else on his land that may have triggered it? He wished he didn’t own the ranch that could be the key to regaining her memory. He didn’t like that one damn bit.

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