The Price of Passion (Texas Cattleman's Club: Rags to Riches 1)

Darren laughed. “Same as every year at this time. About sixty-five and cloudy.”

Right now, Cam thought with a glance at the cloudless, brassy sky, the June Gloom of Southern California sounded great.

“Are you frying in Texas already?”

Damned if he’d admit to that with it only being June, so Cam changed the subject. “You call to talk about the weather?”

“Not really. We got an offer to expand our line of tools into the biggest home improvement hardware outlet in the country.”

“Yeah?” He grinned and leaned back against the truck. They were already in a nationwide department store, but this offer would seriously put their tools into the hands of do-it-yourselfers across the country.

“Tell me the details.” While the other man talked, Cam let his gaze wander across the house, the land and the future he planned to build there.

Beth used to love this house, he remembered. They had talked about buying it one day, raising a family here. But that was when they were kids and the future looked big and bright and the only problem he had was keeping his hands off her whenever they were together.

Back then, Cam had had no money but lots of dreams. Now he had enough money for ten men, but no dreams.

He’d come home to change that.

* * *

So much for taking the day off.

Beth hadn’t been able to stand it. If she was going to be seeing Cam on a regular basis, then she wanted to lay down some ground rules. She’d practically run from him at the bank and that really bothered her. Why should she run? He should have turned around the moment he’d seen her. But, no. Cam Guthrie did what he wanted, when he wanted. Always had.

Well, she promised herself, until now.

Which was why when they’d finished lunch, she’d left Gracie in town and steered her car toward Cam’s new ranch. If her stomach was dipping and rolling at the prospect of being near him again, she ignored it. Eventually she’d get used to having him in town, right? All she had to do was get past the first rush of whatever was driving her crazy.

The road stretched out in front of her, and Beth realized she could have driven to him in her sleep. She knew every dip, every curve and every damn oak lining the road. Just as she’d once known Cam—or thought she had, anyway.

“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “The past is gone, this is now.”

Even as she thought about it, that past roared into life in her mind. The images tumbling through her brain were so vivid, so real, she had to shake her head to dislodge them or risk driving her car right into a tree. It didn’t matter that she could remember how Cam had smiled at her. How he would swoop in to kiss her and lift her off her feet as he turned her in a slow circle while their mouths fused. Didn’t matter that he’d left her because of one fight.

That he’d turned to Julie overnight and married her as if Beth hadn’t meant a thing to him after all. How much time had she wasted wondering if there’d been signs all along that he didn’t really love her? Had he been cheating on her with Julie behind her back? She wanted to know—and she didn’t. Just like she didn’t want to revisit her old relationship with everyone she bumped into just because Cam was back in town.

He’d been gone a long time and she’d been here. Building her life. Her reputation. She wasn’t going to risk any of it just because Camden Guthrie had decided to return to Royal.

She punched the accelerator and was suddenly glad she’d left the top down on her bright scarlet BMW. Yes, her hair would look like hell when she got to Cam’s place, but hopefully, the rushing wind would push all memories out of her mind.

No such luck.

Because as she made a left into the wide drive, those memories flooded into her consciousness whether she wanted them or not.

Oaks still lined the drive, though of course they were bigger now. Flowers grew wild and tangled in the once tidy beds, and the drive itself needed to be regraveled. But the house at the end of the drive was as she remembered it, if in need of some fresh paint on the storm shutters and the front porch. Beth had always loved this place, but now she wondered if it was only because Cam had lived here.

“Doesn’t matter,” she assured herself.

His truck was parked out front. As she tore up the drive, Cam opened the front door and moved to the edge of the porch to watch her approach. Her heart did that frantic, racing beat again, and as much as she fought it, Beth was half-afraid this would always be her reaction to him. But that didn’t mean she had to act on it.

“For God’s sake, remember that,” she muttered as she threw her car into Park and turned off the engine. Quickly Beth ran both hands through her hair, then opened the door and stepped out. The air was breathless—or maybe that was just her.

She looked up at him. “Hello, Cam.”

He nodded. “Beth. Didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.

“Yes, well,” she answered honestly, “I didn’t expect me here, either.”