Reunited with the Rancher (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 3)

away swiftly. “You close up,” she said over her shoulder and kept going.

He wanted to seduce her. Even knowing that it would cause a world of pain later and complicate his life, that he would have regrets because nothing was going to change between them, he wanted to make love to her all night long.

He’d known when he told her he was going to stay with her until they caught Maverick that he was walking straight into more heartache. He kicked one of the paint cans and it rolled across the floor and hit a wall. Why did she have to be so damned sexy? She’d always appealed to him, and that had never changed no matter what kind of heartaches they had between them.

And she wanted to make love. She was at war with herself and trying to maintain control, but he could tell what she wanted. When he touched and kissed her, her response was instant and intense.

He looked at the ladder; it was a piece of junk. He gathered it up along with the paint cans and took them out to the big trash barrel. He went back to close the garage door and fasten the lock. As he walked back to the house, he wondered if he could seduce her. He had a sleeping bag and she had a cot. He didn’t care if he had to stand on top of the car, he wanted her. “Stay away from her,” he said aloud. “Leave her alone. She’s trouble. Pure trouble,” he added.

He didn’t find her downstairs, but before he could go up to the second floor to look for her, she appeared at the top of the stairs. She wore a long-sleeved T-shirt and jeans and had her hair in a pigtail.

She came down fast and paused on the bottom step. “Now I should look much more ordinary and unappealing. Less...something.”

“Go ahead and say it—less sexy. You’ll never look unappealing to me and there will never be a time you are not tempting. But I know we have things to do, so I’ll try to avoid looking below your chin or at your cute butt when you walk away. I’ll warn you, no matter how you dress, my thoughts are wicked and sinful.”

“I believe that one,” she said, smiling, and he smiled in return.

“I’m glad we can still get along, Emily.”

“Time helps,” she said, and she sounded earnest. All the playfulness left her voice. He felt as if there was a very thin veneer of joy and fun and sex appeal, of what they used to have together, and in this rarefied atmosphere, they could enjoy each other’s company again. But beyond that, nothing had changed—their close, loving relationship had ended long ago.

Tom’s friend came from the alarm company and Tom joined her while they settled on the alarm system with the stipulation that it would be installed Monday...

At noon, they decided to take a break from their errands and went to the Royal Diner again for another burger.

“Yesterday when we left here, I didn’t think I would ever be here again to eat a burger with you. Here I am less than twenty-four hours later. I didn’t think that would be possible,” Emily said.

“Just goes to show, expect more and maybe you’ll get more.”

“Right.”

After a few minutes, he smiled at her. “I’m glad your photography is going well.”

“I like it and I’m getting customers from other towns. I may just move to Dallas if business continues to grow. I’ll keep Uncle Woody’s house—”

“Em, it’s your house now. You can stop calling it Uncle Woody’s,” Tom said, but his thoughts were on her moving to Dallas. When she said that, he felt another stab of loss. Instantly, he knew that was ridiculous because when their divorce went through, he and Emily would go their separate ways. He tried to avoid thinking about the future and pay attention to what she was saying to him.

“It’s difficult to remember that this is my house now. Frankly, it’s still Uncle Woody’s to me even though I own it.” She sipped her malt and after a few minutes asked, “Do you miss the military?”

Tom shook his head. “No. I’ve served and I’m glad to be on the ranch now. Life hasn’t turned out the way I expected it to, but I love the ranch. Frankly, Em, losing Jeremy took it out of me. That one hurt more than the others. Maybe it’s because of losing Ryan and because I’m older now, but I’ve had enough of death and my buddies getting hurt.”

“You were patriotic serving your country,” she said, placing her hand on his. Instantly, he inhaled. She blinked and started to jerk her hand away, but he covered it and held it between his.

“That’s nice. Don’t pull away,” he said softly.

“We’re both doing things that will make it worse. We’ll be hurt all over again because our future hasn’t changed and isn’t going to.”

He felt a pinch to his heart and released her hand. “You’re right,” he said. “If I pass the sheriff’s office and Nathan is there, I’ll see what I can find out. I’m sure nothing eventful has happened or we would have heard something.”

“We’ll have the meeting at the TCC Monday morning.”

“I hope this balmy spring weather holds, because we can keep the house aired out as we paint.” He nodded and they lapsed into silence as they finished their burgers and then left to get her painting supplies.

* * *

When they returned to the house, she propped the front door open. “Tom, the paint fumes will be awful. There’s an attic fan that will draw fresh air through and take out the fumes. I want to open the windows that are left and turn it on.”

“That’s fine with me. Another thing—I’ll do the ceilings. Let me do the high stuff and you stay off the ladder.”