“I thought you had plans later.”
“You let me worry about my calendar, sweetheart.”
He watched her flinch at his overt sarcasm. For a moment, he was ashamed of baiting her. But he shored up his anger. Lucy deserved his antagonism and more.
The silence grew in length and breadth, thick with unspoken emotions. If he listened hard enough, he thought he might even be able to hear the rapid beat of her heart. Like a defenseless animal trapped in a cage of its own making.
“Lucy?” He lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t have all day.”
“You could write me a check this instant,” she protested. “Why make me jump through hoops?”
“Maybe because I can.”
He was being a bastard. He knew it. And by the look on Lucy’s face, she knew it, as well. But the opportunity to make her bend to his will was irresistible.
The fact that each of them could still elicit strong emotions from the other should have been a red flag. But then again, that was the story of their relationship. Though he and Lucy had grown up in the same town, they hadn’t really known each other. Not until she’d come home to Royal for a lengthy visit after college graduation.
Lucy’s parents had been dead by then. Instead of bunking with her cousin Kenny, Lucy had stayed with her childhood friend and college roommate, Kirsten. One of Kirsten’s friends had thrown a hello-to-summer bash, and that’s where Jeff had met the luscious Lucy.
He still remembered the moment she’d walked into the room. It was a case of instant lust...at least on his part. She was exactly the kind of woman he liked...tall, confident, and with a wicked sense of humor. The two of them had found a private corner and flirted for three hours.
A week later, they’d ended up in bed together.
Unfortunately, their whirlwind courtship and speedy five-month trip to the altar had ended in disaster. Ironically, if they had followed through with their wedding, two days from now would have been their anniversary.
Did Lucy realize the bizarre coincidence?
She stood up and walked to the foyer. “I have to go.” The words were tossed over her shoulder, as if she couldn’t wait to get out of his house.
He shrugged and followed her, putting a hand high on the door to keep her from escaping. “I don’t want to make a trip out to the farm for nothing. So don’t try standing me up. If you want the money, you’ll get it on my terms or not at all.”
Six
Lucy hurried to her car, heartsick and panicked. Why had she ever thought she could appeal to Jeff Hartley’s sense of right and wrong? The man was a scoundrel. She was so angry with herself...angry for approaching him in the first place, and even angrier that apparently she was still desperately in love with him...despite everything he had done.
During the past two years, she had firmly purged her emotional system of memories connected to Jeff Hartley. Never once did she think of the way his arms pulled her tight against his broad chest. Or the silkiness of his always rumpled hair. At night in bed, she surely didn’t remember how wonderful it was to feel him slide on top of her and into her, their breath mingling in ragged gasps and groans of pleasure.
Stupid man. She parked haphazardly at the farm and went in search of her cousin. She found him in the barn repairing a harness.
Kenny looked up when she entered. “Hey, Luce. What’s up?”
She plopped down on a bale of hay. “How much would it take for you not to sell the land?”
He frowned. “What do you mean? Are you trying to buy it for yourself?”
“Gosh, no. I’d be a terrible farmer. But I have a gut feeling you’ll change your mind down the road. And I’m willing to keep things running while you sow your wild oats. So I’m asking...would twenty grand be enough to bankroll your move to LA and get you started? It would be a loan. You’d have to pay back half eventually, and I’ll pay back the other half as a thank-you for not letting go of Peyton land.”
The frown grew deeper. “A loan from whom?”
Kenny might pretend to be a goofball when it suited him, but the boy was smart...and he knew his grammar.
“From a friend of mine,” she said. “No big deal.”
Kenny perched on the bale of hay beside hers and put an arm around her shoulders. “What have you done, Luce?”
She sniffed, trying not to cry. “Made a deal with the devil?”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”