The Tycoon's Tots (14 page)

Groaning deep in her throat, she turned her back to him. “What did I do to deserve this? Why are you deliberately trying to make things…so hard for me?”

The agony in her voice ripped at Wyatt's heart. Stepping closer, he put his hands on the back of her slender shoulders. “Chloe, I love you so much. Don't you know that when you hurt, I hurt?”

Her head bent. “I wish…you didn't love me,” she said, her voice low and choked.

“Then you do believe me? You don't think I want to marry you just for the twins?”

Chloe had lain awake for hours last night, weighing every word, every kiss, every touch he'd ever given her. And she couldn't doubt his love.

“No.”

The one word came out in a painful whisper. Wyatt's hands tightened on her shoulders. His head dipped and he nuzzled his nose against the side of her silky hair.

Chloe closed her eyes and for a moment considered throwing every damn care and caution to the wind. She wanted him so badly, loved him so much. Why not be selfish and keep him? Why not, for once in her life think
of her own wants and needs? But she couldn't. It just wasn't in her to hurt him that way.

“Oh, Wyatt, don't you see that I don't want you to love me? It only makes it that much harder for me to give you up.”

He whirled her round and his eyes met and pleaded with hers. “You're not giving me up! I told you—”

“I don't care what you told me. I'm not going to marry you and ruin your life.”

Ruin his life? What did she think she was doing to it now?

His eyes suddenly glittering, Wyatt said, “I came down here to work. And maybe talk. I didn't come down here for this. But by God, since you asked for it—”

The next thing Chloe knew she was crushed in his arms, his mouth devouring hers.

She squirmed against him, then wilted as a rush of sweet desire poured through every inch of her. It wasn't fair that she wanted him this much, that she ached for him to hold her and never let her go.

“You're not going to give me up! Or this up! So get used to it,” he ordered against the soft curve of her lips.

The idea there was no place to run, or hide, or escape from him, sent desperation clawing at her insides. She couldn't hold up to this! How could she keep on fighting him?

With a choked sob, she tore out of his arms and ran from the stable. Outside, her pony horse, Pablo, was tethered to a hitching post. Chloe grabbed up the reins and leapt into the saddle. By the time Wyatt ran out the door after her, she was galloping away as if a fire were at her heels.

“Dammit all!” He kicked the dirt with frustration, then glanced around him. What in hell was he going to do now?

The sight of her was growing to a small speck on the
western range as Wyatt turned on his heel and headed toward the cattle barn.

Moments later Rose looked up as he entered the dusty dim building. She was spreading alfalfa in a long, low manger. The pungent smell filled his nostrils as he approached Chloe's older sister.

“Wyatt, what are you doing down here? Is something wrong?”

He supposed Rose could tell by the look on his face that all was not well with him.

“Actually, yes. Chloe is…well, she's upset. And I've got to go after her.”

“After her. Where did she go? I thought she was cleaning out the stable?”

“She was. Until I showed up to help her. We had a row, and she took off on a horse hell-bent for leather. That woman's name should have been rawhide instead of Chloe!”

Rose's face remained calm as she continued to spread hay. “What color was the horse?”

“What?” Wyatt was itching to race after her and Rose wanted to talk about the horse?

“The color of the horse Chloe rode off on. Was it sorrel? ‘Cause it sure as heck better not have been Pie. I'll get her good if she cripples him in a rabbit hole.”

“No. The horse wasn't red. At least I don't think so. It was dark. Like brown or black. I don't know what horses' colors are called.”

“Was it dark red with a black mane and tail and stockings?”

“Yes!” Maybe now he could make progress.

“That's Pablo, the horse she uses to pony her racehorse stock. You might be able to catch him if you ride flat out. Then, too, Chloe might cool down and pull up before long. Either way, you really shouldn't worry about her.”

“But I am worried, Rose. She was very upset. We…we've been fighting about getting married. She has this damn notion she can't be my wife because she's unable to have children.”

Rose dropped the last block of hay into the manger and looked at him. “She told you about her condition? How Richard dropped her after he'd already asked her to marry him?”

Grim faced, Wyatt nodded. “It doesn't matter about any of that, Rose. I've tried to tell her that she and the twins are all I need, but she refuses to listen.”

“She's afraid, Wyatt,” Rose said simply. “She's afraid you'll say it's enough right now. Then later it won't be. And losing you like that would be far worse for her.”

Wyatt let out a heavy breath. “Is that what you think I'd do?”

“No,” Rose answered. “But Chloe probably does. She's always vowed she will never marry. She thinks she's unworthy of being a wife.”

“She's so wrong.”

Rose nodded. “I know. And I guess it didn't help matters this morning when I told her I was pregnant.”

Wyatt was happy for Rose. She and Harlan deserved another child together. Just as Justine and Roy did. But oh, God, how empty and left out Chloe must be feeling at this moment. His heart ached for her.

“Congratulations, Rose. I'm very pleased for you and Harlan.”

She smiled and patted his arm. “I know you are. Now what do you plan to do about Chloe?”

“I thought you. might help me saddle a horse so I can go find her.”

“Have you ever ridden before?”

His expression sheepish, he said, “Once in summer camp when I was twelve years old.”

With a soft laugh, Rose motioned for him to follow her out of the barn. “I'll let you ride Pie.”

“But he's
your
horse!”

“He is. But if I tell him to treat you well, he will. Chloe doesn't want a husband with a broken neck, and that's what any of those hot-blooded horses of hers would do to you.”

Wyatt swallowed his sudden uneasiness. “I'll do my best not to hurt him.”

Rose laughed again. “I'm sure Pie will be in good hands. You just make sure you pick out some landmarks on the way. Otherwise, if you go very far you're gonna be as lost as a goose flying south in the summer.”

Wyatt glanced toward the western horizon where Chloe had disappeared. “Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

“Which way did she go?”

“West over that ridge.” He pointed in the direction he'd last seen Chloe.

“There's a windmill and water tank a couple of miles over that way. She'll probably head toward it. But she'll gather herself together after a while and come home, Wyatt. Why don't you just wait for her here?”

He shook his head vigorously and nudged Rose on toward the stable. “No. She's hurting, Rose. I don't want her out there like this. I've got to find her.”

Minutes later, aboard Rose's sorrel cow horse, Wyatt headed out across the range. The feel of the horse and saddle beneath his legs felt strange and awkward. Rose had given Wyatt a five-minute riding lesson, but he wasn't sure he remembered half of it.

Keep his feet in the stirrups. Lay the reins against the side of the horse's neck to tell him which direction to go. Pull gently back on the reins to stop him. It sounded easy enough, Wyatt supposed. But Pie seemed to have the idea that walking was boring. He wanted to travel at a bonejarring
trot. If Wyatt pulled on the reins to slow him down, the horse stopped completely. When he relaxed the reins, Pie went right back to a trot.

By the time Wyatt had ridden a half a mile, he was sure his pelvis bones were permanently damaged and his teeth were shaken loose from his gums. But he dared not stop. He still hadn't caught a glimpse of Chloe and he wasn't about to give up finding her now.

You have to show her you love her.
Harlan's advice ran through Wyatt's thoughts as he searched the horizon in front of him for a sign of Chloe.

How could he show her? Kisses hadn't done it. Words didn't seem to sink in with her. He'd tried to help her on the ranch in all the ways he could. He'd done his best to assure her the twins would always remain hers. What more could he do? What did she want him to do?

The answer to that question left him colder than the high desert wind blowing in his face.

For the past hour Chloe had sat on a rocky ledge watching the cattle graze in the distance and listening to the rhythmic creak of the windmill a few yards behind her. It was a lonely, but soothing sound and Chloe's heart had grown much calmer than when she'd first ridden away from the ranch. But the ache was still there in the middle of her chest, heavy and sad and refusing to go away. Chloe supposed it was something she was going to have to get used to.

Oh, Wyatt, she silently groaned. What was she going to do? How could she live with him? How could she not?

Since Richard had rejected her, she'd had her life all neatly planned out. And up until Wyatt had come along, she'd found it rather easy to live without a man. She had her work. And later, she had hoped to adopt a child of her own. Many single women did nowadays.

But then the twins had virtually been dropped from
heaven and into her lap. Then Wyatt had followed. She loved all three. And more than anything she wished Wyatt could live here with her, be her husband and a father to the twins. But in the end, she knew she would be doing wrong to marry him, to take away his chances of ever having his own family.

She was trying so hard not to hurt Wyatt. But she knew she was. Each time she pushed him away, she could see the pain on his face. And it was killing her. Cutting her to the very bone. But she was doing it for his sake. Why couldn't he see that? Why couldn't he understand that she loved him so much she wanted him to have everything?

Suddenly several yards off to her right, a slight movement in the sagebrush caught her attention. She stared hard for long moments and was about to decide she'd imagined the whole thing when out came two coyote pups. Their scrawny little legs were tottery but they managed to scamper down a small ravine. Seconds later two adult coyotes appeared. A male and female. Obviously the pups' parents.

Chloe remained very still, watching the small family, who had not yet picked up on her presence. Mother and father sniffed the air, gave each other a few loving nips and nudges, then together went down the ravine to join their little ones.

Before long, all four coyotes were out of sight once again, camouflaged by the high stand of sagebrush. Yet the animals remained in Chloe's mind. Mother, father, babies. A family for as long as they could survive in the wild. The parents would protect each other and their offspring. Fighting to their death if need be to save their loved ones.

The whole idea brought a fresh spate of tears to Chloe's eyes. She was wiping them away, telling herself to quit feeling sorry for herself when a few yards away, Pablo lifted his head from a patch of grama grass and whinnied softly.

Sensing along with the horse that someone or something was behind her, she looked over her shoulder, than gasped out loud.

It was Wyatt on Pie! Both hands were gripping the horn as he flopped from one side of the saddle to the other.

Dear heaven, how had he ridden this far! Why was he out here?

Too stunned to move from her spot, Chloe watched him dismount awkwardly, then gingerly flex his legs. His head was bare and the wind had ruffled his black hair. With both hands, he thrust it back from his forehead, then climbed the short ledge to where Chloe sat with her knees drawn up beneath her chin.

“I didn't think I'd ever find you,” he said, his voice a bit winded. He sat down beside her and drew in a long breath. “Damn, this place doesn't have any oxygen.”

A wan smile touched her lips. “The elevation is about seven thousand feet here. It takes people like you awhile to get used to it.”

He looked at her. “People like me? You mean, greenhorn city people?”

“No. I mean people who live in low elevations like Houston.”

He stretched his legs and tried not to groan at the stiffness already gripping his muscles. “You're a long way from the ranch.”

“Not that far,” she murmured. The sight of him made her heart thud with pain and longing.

“Rose let me ride her horse.”

The pride in his voice very nearly made her start crying all over again. “I guess you realize she bestowed an honor on you. She won't let anyone on that horse. Not even Harlan.”

“She was afraid one of yours would break my neck.” He looked away from her. “She didn't want me to come out here after you. But I told her I had to.”

“Why?”

He gave her a sidelong glance and Chloe could see love all over his face. Dear God, how could she not be selfish? How could she not grab him and hold on for life?

“You know why. You were angry and hurting and I…don't want you to…I want things between us to be right.”

The cold wind had given his dark skin a ruddy hue. Chloe longed to lay her gloved hand on his cheek, warm his lips with her own. She knew it had been a physical ordeal for him to ride this far. And he'd done it for her.

“Rose was right,” she said, her thoughts making her voice husky. “You shouldn't have come out here. You could have fallen off and broken a bone. You could have gotten lost. Do you have any idea what it would be like out here in the dark, with the temperature dropping?”

“In other words, I was a fool for coming after you.”

She couldn't look at him as tears collected in her eyes. “Reckless, maybe. But I'd never call you a fool.”