Page 76 of Backlash

Chapter Eleven

Tessa flung off the covers, snatched her robe from the foot of the bed and glared at the clock. Four-thirty. She’d gone to bed at eleven and hadn’t slept a wink.

Where was Denver? she wondered. Still in Helena? Cinching her belt tightly around her waist, she walked to her open window. Streaks of gray rimmed the mountains surrounding the valley floor, casting the buildings of the ranch into black shadows. In a few days, she realized, these old buildings, the equipment, the acres of land and the cattle and horses would all be hers.

If the bank approved the loan.

If Denver located Colton.

If she could stand to stay here without Denver.

“If, if, if,” she said to herself as she hurried downstairs and thought about her future—a future without Denver.

She heard Marsha mewing at the back door. “I’m coming,” she called, unlatching the lock and opening the door a crack as the old cat trotted to her milk dish. “So where’re your babies, hmm?” Tessa asked as the calico rubbed against her bare leg. “Still hidden?”

Marsha mewed loudly again and followed Tessa into the kitchen. After starting coffee, Tessa poured some milk into a clean dish and set it on the back porch. “There you go, girl,” she whispered, petting the cat’s arched back.

The sound of a car’s engine cut through the early-morning stillness. Denver!

Clutching the lapels of her robe together, Tessa hurried outside. Denver parked the rental near the garage, and Tessa ran down the path barefoot. She reached the car just as he opened the door and stretched out.

He looked as if he hadn’t slept in the two days he’d been gone. His jaw was dark with shadow, his eyes sunk deep into his head and the lines near his mouth seemed to have deepened.

“I thought you’d be asleep,” he said when she flung her arms around his neck.

“I couldn’t. I missed you,” she said in a rush, glad just to be in his arms again.

His hands clasped behind her back and he held her close, his breath fanning across her hair. “I missed you, too,” he admitted. “Maybe I should leave more often.”

“Maybe you should stay.” She could hear his heart drumming, feel the warmth of his body surround her. A slight breeze, cool from the night, played with her hair and ruffled his.

“Van Stern caught up with me. He needs me in L.A.”

“He called here, too.”

“I know. There’s a problem with a project at work.”

“So that’s why you came back,” Tessa said, disappointed.

“That, and the fact that I couldn’t let you off the hook. You owe me, Kramer.”

Cocking her head to look up at him, she asked, “Owe you what?”

His teeth gleamed in the dark. “A trip to L.A.”

Tessa groaned. “I hoped you’d forgotten.”

“No way. A bet’s a bet.” His arms tightened around her. “I’ve come to collect.”

“Now?”

“Now. Get ready. We’re leaving in”—he checked his watch—“less than an hour.”

“But I can’t—” she said, suddenly panicked. Though she longed to go with him, this was too soon. She couldn’t just abandon the ranch—a ranch she’d worked so hard for. Nor could she leave her family for the sake of a whim ... or a bet.

“Sure you can. I’ve already bought the airline tickets. Come on, Tess, it’s only a few days.” He took her face between his hands, forced her to stare up at him, and the laughter died in his eyes. “Come with me, Tessa. See how I live—stay with me.”

Her throat closed. Hadn’t he asked her once before to leave this ranch and follow him to Los Angeles? On the afternoon of the fire, he’d begged her to go with him, and then seven years later he’d told her that the love they’d shared, the love she’d cherished, had meant nothing to him.

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