Staking His Claim (Ranchers of Chatum County 1)

“Yeah, man. It was bad. Janie wanted to give Elaina a birthday party last year on her twenty-first, but there was just no way at the time.”

Raul felt sucker-punched, but managed to ask another question, all the while reeling from the newly acquired information. “When did her mother die?”

“Late July.”

“And then Elaina started college?” Raul knew his voice sounded empty, but it was the only way he could manage to hang onto the conversation at all without losing it completely. He felt his temper rise like volcanic pressure building inside of him, getting ready to blow.

“Yeah, but she hates it, man. She’s not going back.”

“And that’s okay with you?”

“Well, I think she should get an education, but Janie seems to think it’s fine, so what the hell do I know?”

“She can always go back when she decides what she wants to do,” Raul tried for an even tone, feeling his fists clench the whole time.

“Yeah, but for now she needs some time to heal. We never gave her that. We rushed her off to school in an attempt to get her life back on track. I feel damn guilty for that.”

“You couldn’t have known. You did what you thought was best at the time,” Raul responded in a gravelly voice.

“Yeah,” Brian agreed.

“I thought she was still a teenager,” Raul gritted out between his teeth, just as a loud ping ping ping of firecrackers went off outside.

Brian straightened from his position next to Raul to go investigate the noise. “No, man,” his eyes held Raul’s in silent communication for a heartbeat. “She’s twenty-two,” he said in a somber voice before he turned and walked off.

The back of Raul’s head hit the wall and his eyes closed briefly before opening again and staring across the room at Elaina. Fury clouded his brain as he tried unsuccessfully to reason with himself. Yeah, it was a sad story. Yeah, she’d had it rough. Yeah, she was still young. But she had lied to him.

He went over and over their past conversations in his head. Had she lied to him?

He couldn’t come up with shit.

He didn’t know the answer. But he suspected he knew. She’d kept her true age a secret from him.

Why?

He knew he needed the answer to that question. But for now, he couldn’t seem to give a shit. He had only one thought blaring in his brain.

She was twenty-two.

And that meant he could have her.

Now.

****

Elaina stared at herself in the bathroom mirror as she washed her hands. The evening had been a complete blur after she’d had that incredible orgasm. Raul had been amazing, and he’d been watching her ever since like a cat that was just waiting to get the canary.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she opened the door to slip back to the party.

She stopped abruptly when she saw Raul leaning against the wall in the hallway, obviously waiting on her.

Her pulse thundered in her ears.

Her eyes held his in question as he reached out a hand and ran a gentle finger down her cheek. Her breath caught at the soft gesture.

And then he opened his mouth.

“You twenty-two years old?” his voice hissed out in a heated rush of anger.