A Moment To Love (9 page)

Cord’s unwavering stare compelled her to continue, to let him know that sometimes the death of a loved one wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. “My mother was beautiful and spoiled. My father gave her the best of everything, but when she got bored of playing mother and wife, she ran off with an associate of my father’s. She never looked back, unless you consider the legal battle she waged to try to strip my father of his company.”

“Surely she saw you. You’re her daughter. What about visitation?”

“She didn’t want to be bothered. I tracked her down when I was a teenager, but she gave me a list of excuses why a visit wouldn’t be convenient. She was preparing for her third marriage, and her future husband didn’t like kids. You see, you aren’t so bad off. At least your parents loved you and would be here if they could. My mother is alive and wants absolutely nothing to do with me.”

His arms lifted as though he was going to hug her. She was surprised by the powerful wave of anticipation that washed over her at the thought of being held in his powerful arms. Something told her that once she was held securely in his embrace, nothing could or would hurt her—at last she’d be safe.

As though he’d sensed the scary direction of her thoughts, he stepped back. “I…ah… don’t know what to say.”

Disappointment flooded her body. “You could admit my idea for protecting the cemetery is reasonable and agree to the sale.”

He cleared his throat. “I can’t. I promised my grandfather I’d always protect Haggerty. It’s all that’s left of my heritage, of my family.”

Their gazes locked. She found herself drawn in by his chocolaty depths. The more she worked past his prickly defenses, the more she liked him. She’d never imagined that they’d have so much in common. If this was another time, another place, they might be able to build on that connection—

She had to get a grip on her rambling thoughts. Cord wasn’t any more interested in a relationship with her than she was with him. She had to stay focused on her plans for the resort and not on how much she enjoyed his touch. And now that she understood Cord’s ties to the land, her initial excitement over the prospect of building the resort dimmed considerably.

When had Cord begun to matter so much to her?

CHAPTER EIGHT

V
oices of the past murmured in the breeze. The whispers teased Alexis’s imagination, conjuring images of what Haggerty might have been like more than a hundred years ago. Her fantasy contained a street full of powerful horses with nostrils flaring, the rattle of buckboard wagons, and the hum of conversation between muscled cowboys wearing dusty hats and chaps.

She cast Cord a sideways look. He was a modern-day cowboy, but something told her that he could have toughed it out with the best of them in the good old days. She, on the other hand, was quite happy with indoor plumbing and electricity. Very happy indeed.

They strolled down the dirt lane past the broken hitching posts and came to a stop in front of the crumbling remains of a building. The lines of Cord’s tanned face had eased. Perhaps he’d be willing to share more about the town’s history. She’d have all sorts of things to report back to her father to hopefully placate him for a while. And it would keep her mind from wandering into dangerous territory—thoughts of what it’d be like for Cord to pull her close and kiss her.

She walked closer to the barely-there structure. “Do you know what this used to be?”

“A church. My great-great-grandparents were married here.”

He certainly hadn’t exaggerated about his strong ties to the land. Her heart thudded against her ribs as she imagined being married out here in a flowing white dress while holding a fistful of wildflowers—and staring up at Cord’s smiling face.

Wait. This wasn’t helping her to focus her mind on business. What was the matter with her? It must be a side effect of the desert sun’s strong rays. She ran the back of her hand over her warmed forehead. Her life was in New York—in the city—a place where this cowboy wouldn’t fit in. And at this critical juncture with the business, there wasn’t time for distractions—no matter how good they looked.

She stepped through the gaping hole in the sidewall. She crossed the dirt floor, stopping next to the crumbling wall that now stood only waist-high. After brushing aside some loose pebbles and a bit of disintegrated adobe, she tested its sturdiness. Surprised to find the wall solid, she leaned back and took stock of her surroundings.

On the far side, stones were still aligned for the fireplace, although time and weather had eroded most of the chimney. A sorrow came over her when she thought of all of the people, including Cord’s ancestors, who’d sacrificed everything to conquer this land but had ended up losing their savings, their dreams, and some even their lives.

A movement caught her attention. She focused on the round stones by the fireplace. She squinted into the shady corner and spotted a coil of red rope. Strange—what would it be doing here? She stepped closer, only to find herself face-to-face with a snake.

She jumped back. A lungful of air rushed up her throat and erupted in a scream. Cord’s large hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off the shriek. His other muscled arm wrapped securely around her middle. She pressed back against his solid chest. Her gaze never strayed from the snake.

“You’re safe.” He spoke softly next to her ear. “If I let go, will you promise no more screaming?”

She nodded, but she refused to take her gaze off the scaly reptile. Goose bumps raced down her arms. Had she forgotten to mention how much she really, really despised snakes?

Cord moved his hand from her mouth. His other arm lingered around her waist, and she didn’t rush to pull away. Slowly, they backed away. Once safely by the doorway, she turned to find him smothering a chuckle, which necessitated a playful punch to his solid bicep. “This isn’t funny. What if we’d been bit?”

“He isn’t going to hurt us. There’s a saying you should learn. ‘Red and yellow kill a fellow, but red and black is a friend of Jack.’”

“What does it mean?”

“Remember how the snake’s red and black stripes were side-by-side?” When she nodded, he added, “That particular snake isn’t poisonous.”

“Who’s going to stand here long enough to check the coloring?” She grabbed his hand. His rough calluses rubbed over her palm as she pulled him back to the dirt road.

“Are you reconsidering putting a resort out here? Venomous or not, your guests might not take well to meeting up with all the critters slithering through the desert.”

Amusement twinkled in his eyes as his lips lifted, showing the dimples in his cheeks. How could one man be so sexy and at the same time so frustratingly annoying?

“If you think this is going to change my mind, think again. No snake is going to scare me off.”

“Really? Looks like it just did.”

She glared at him. “I need a drink.”

The smile lingered on his lips as she marched past him toward the vehicles. She grabbed a couple of water bottles from the cooler in the SUV and offered him one.

“You came well-equipped,” he said, peering into her vehicle. “A flashlight. A medical kit. You must have bought out the Hitchin’ Post. I bet you made Sam real happy.”

“I like to be prepared.” The snake may have caught her off guard, but when it came to business, she planned for the unexpected. “And Sam was quite helpful.”

She took a long, slow drink, swirling the fluid around in her mouth before swallowing and soothing her scratchy throat. The water tasted so good, she took another large swallow before screwing the lid back on and tossing the bottle into the backseat.

Refreshed, she followed Cord around Haggerty as he indicated the buildings in various stages of destruction, beaten by weather and time. In some instances, the only evidence a structure had ever existed was the foundation popping out from the ground.

“At one point in time, this was the General Store and the Pony Express stop. The most popular place in town, next to the saloon.” Cord paused in front of a dilapidated hitching post.

This setting definitely suited Cord. He’d make a sexy old-fashioned cowboy. In her mind, she added a holster with a pearl-handled revolver on each lean hip as a set of leather chaps trailed down to a pair of dusty boots with silver spurs on his heels.

She pictured him all dressed up and modeling on the resort’s billboard. Once they fixed this place up to resemble its former rustic charm, it’d be the perfect backdrop for the ad campaign. She took a couple of steps back to take in the full scene.

“Hey. Be careful.” Cord lurched forward, grabbing her arm and yanking her toward him.

What in the world? The unexpected collision of their bodies knocked the air from her lungs. She glanced up at his intense brown eyes. Her heart somersaulted.

“What’d you do that for?” Her gaze lowered to his lips, inches from her own.

“I didn’t want you to fall.”

Too late to worry about that.

He continued to hold her close. A fluttering sensation returned to her stomach. She didn’t move, didn’t turn away. She continued to stare at him, willing him to kiss her. It wasn’t logical, but she didn’t feel like being sensible at the moment. For once, she wanted to live in the moment.

Cord cleared his throat, breaking the spell. Realizing he was talking about something totally different, she swallowed hard. “What?”

“Turn around.”

With him still holding her arm, she pivoted around and saw some rotted wood planks covering a big hole in the ground.

He released her. “The mine preceded the town, so make sure to keep your head down and stay alert for cave-ins. In an old mining town, you never walk backward, or you might end up falling down a mine shaft.”

She worried her bottom lip as she looked upon Haggerty with a renewed respect for the dangers lurking in the shadows. Her investors and insurance company wouldn’t be happy about this discovery. Still, HSG had overcome bigger obstacles. Her father’s motto was,
If there’s a will, there’s a way
. She’d definitely find a way to make this work.

Alexis continued looking around until she found herself standing once again outside the mine entrance. If it weren’t so dangerous, she’d love to sneak a peek inside the mine shaft. Her father had always teased that she was a daredevil, but climbing into a hole beneath the earth’s surface with untold hazards was just plain stupid. Not to mention the thought of running into more snakes or bats. The thought had her quickly retreating.

“Tour’s over,” Cord called over his shoulder as he headed for the vehicles. “I’ve got work to do, and we have that stop to make at the sheriff’s office.”

She pursed her lips as her gaze strayed to his very fine backside. She grew frustrated with herself for noticing his finer assets when he was once again threatening to make trouble for her. He was just trying to get her worked up. He wanted a little fun at her expense. Except it wasn’t going to work this time.

“We both know you aren’t serious.”

“Sure am. I don’t want you getting any other foolish ideas about coming out here alone. Anything could happen to you, and no one would know.”

She had to take twice as many steps to keep up with his long strides. “And if I promise not to come back alone, can’t you promise to drop the trespassing thing once and for all?”

“Why should I? You’ve wasted a large chunk of my day already.”

“You’re really enjoying dangling the sheriff thing over my head, aren’t you?”

He flashed a small grin. “Something like that. I’ll make up my mind when we get back to town.”

“Of course you will.”

He grabbed a couple of bottles of water from his truck and tossed her one. “Here.”

He was right. She was letting him get her riled up over nothing. He wasn’t going to press charges. Thank goodness. She could just imagine the headline: HSG President Arrested For Trespassing. New York City could be a very small place at times—almost as small as Whistle Stop.

She twisted the top off the bottle and took a long swallow. Time to change subjects. “I love this place,” she mused. “I can now see the appeal of being a landowner. And having all of this to explore.”

“You don’t own any land?”

She shook her head. “Just a condo in New York. Although I’m home so little since my father had his latest heart attack that I barely remember my own address.”

The concern reflected in Cord’s eyes made her realize her slip of the tongue. She wanted to kick herself for not being more careful around him. Cord made it easy for her to let down her guard and be herself. Still, she and her father had agreed to keep his health condition under wraps for business reasons.

“Sorry to hear about your father. Will he be okay?”

She nodded. With the proverbial beans spilled, she didn’t have anything to lose by confiding in him. She’d longed to talk to someone about her concerns. Back in New York she had a couple of girlfriends from college with whom she still kept in contact, but she rarely confided in them. She’d learned at an early age that most things were better kept to yourself or they’d come back and bite you. But she got the distinct feeling that her secret would be safe with Cord. And he appeared to be a good listener, as long as she avoided the subject of buying Haggerty.

“During my father’s last attack, his heart was damaged. The doctors have warned that he can no longer work the long hours his job demands. Nor can he deal with the stress. The thing is, I can’t convince him it’s time to retire.”

Cord’s eyes filled with understanding. “Is that why this deal is so important to you? Because it’s important to your father?”

“Yes. He raised me as a single parent, but that didn’t stop him from working morning till night. As far back as I can remember, I did my homework at the table in his conference room. In fact, I swear I spent more time at HSG than I did at our town house. His administrative assistant became a surrogate aunt to me.”

“Doesn’t sound like an easy childhood.”

“My father did his best,” she said defensively. “For the longest time, I believed he put in all of those long hours and avoided a personal life because he was a workaholic.”

“I take it with you being on the other side of the desk that you’re seeing things differently.”

She nodded. “This job will swallow you whole if you aren’t careful.”

“Has it swallowed you yet?”

“Not quite.”

“That’s good. Just be careful it doesn’t. There’s so much more to life than work.”

She eyed up Cord, a down-to-earth man. She considered revealing how she had an escape plan should she ever need one—her trust fund. The account held sufficient funds for her to start over anywhere—not that she’d ever bail on her father.

What would this rancher think of her if he knew she was a trust fund kid? He’d probably get an even worse impression of her. Spoiled. Snobby. Those were just a couple of adjectives that came to mind. She wanted Cord to like and respect her, so she kept quiet. Besides, it wasn’t as if it was a slush fund for parties and vacations. She’d specifically earmarked its use for emergencies only.

“Enough about me.” She turned to him. “What do you enjoy when you aren’t working?”

He rubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. “I like to end the day kicked back on my front porch. There’s beauty in a sunset and grace in the silhouette of a horse racing along the horizon.” He hesitated as though embarrassed to be letting on that he wasn’t a roughened cowboy, but rather a man who could appreciate the simple things in life.