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Authors: Merry Farmer,Culpepper Cowboys

Tycoon's Tryst (Culpepper Cowboys Book 10) (4 page)

BOOK: Tycoon's Tryst (Culpepper Cowboys Book 10)
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* * *

S
ly rushed
into the house and down the hall to the kitchen to grab the picnic he’d packed that morning before going into town. In the past eighteen hours, he’d flip-flopped back and forth a thousand times about whether to go forward with his lawsuit plan or scrap it for Rachel’s sake and try something new. The problem was one of loyalties. Sure, Rachel was pretty wonderful, and there were definitely sparks there. But Culpepper was his first priority. Culpepper was his home, his world. Could he really throw his big plan away just because he felt sparks with the owner of the company that had made a major dent in Culpepper’s romantic fortunes?

There had to be another way to get what he wanted and to make sure Rachel got what she needed too.

Of course, thinking about what Rachel needed sent his mind straight to places that it really shouldn’t go. Horizontal places. Awesome places. That was the other thing. Something about Rachel told him she needed to be loved thoroughly and often.

Aaaand that was totally the wrong thought to be having as he set about trying to win her over to his side in business.

He adjusted his grip on the picnic basket and headed back out to the porch. Arch was still talking to Rachel.

“…small business spaces, mostly,” he said. “Which is why Sly convinced me to move home. He keeps going on about bringing new businesses to town and insists I should be the one to design them.”

Rachel wore a vague smile and nodded as Arch spoke. The second Sly reappeared, her smile dropped and her lips pursed. Sly felt a stab of jealousy. He wanted to be the one to make Rachel Korpanty smile.

“So you manipulated your brother to your own ends too?” She practically slapped him with the question.

“No, no, it wasn’t like that,” Arch laughed. “I’m one hundred percent on board with Sly’s ideas for building up Culpepper.”

“Mmm hmm.”

Rachel desperately needed to stop crossing her arms like she did. It closed her off and made her seem uptight. Although it sure did emphasize her magnificent chest.

Sly shook his head to dispel the thoughts and did his best to smile. “I thought you came out here so I could have the chance to redeem myself.” Charm. He would have to rely on charm at this point.

Rachel’s lips pursed tighter. Her arms crossed harder. Boy, he had his work cut out for him.

“Let’s take a stroll around the grounds,” he said instead of waiting for her to come up with an answer.

Sly nodded to Arch, who said a quick goodbye to Rachel, then headed back into the house. Sly offered Rachel a hand, but unlike when she stepped out of the car, this time she didn’t take his hand. She did uncross her arms, though. It was a start.

“I might not be the best cook in the world,” he began as he led her across the lush, green lawn and around to the back side of the house, “but I can put together a picnic. I make a mean turkey sandwich.”

“Do you?” Her lips twitched and her brow bounced in and out of a frown. Sly knew someone who was struggling with what they should think when he saw them.

“Yep,” he went on. “I thought you might like a little homage to California, so I made them with avocado slices and a hint of fresh basil in with the lettuce this time. Oh, and just a touch of my secret herbs and spices mixed in with the mayonnaise.”

“You made that for me?” More lip twitching and brow bouncing.

Seriously. How was a woman as gorgeous and powerful as Rachel surprised over a guy like him just making a sandwich for her?

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I’m trying to prove that I’m not a pathetic excuse for a human being, right?”

She opened her mouth to make a reply—something tart, he guessed—but as they rounded the corner of the house, she stopped dead, jaw dropped.

As a special treat for Elvie’s sixteenth birthday, Arch had designed a fairytale gazebo, and their parents had let him and Doc build it. The gazebo overlooked a man-made pond that had taken the four of them the better part of three summers to dig out and landscape. It was little more than a glorified mud-puddle now, but the gazebo was as beautiful as ever. It was currently decorated with long swathes of tulle, and the small, round table in the middle was set with a lace tablecloth, fine china, and a bouquet of late-summer flowers.

“See, I told you I was taking you to the best lunch spot in town.” Sly tried not to gloat as he nudged Rachel to continue forward.

Rachel’s eyes grew bigger and bigger as she took in the scene. She pored over every inch of the gazebo, turned around to study the view. Sly zipped ahead and began to quickly lay out the food from his picnic basket. It wasn’t the first time he’d had lunch with a girl at the gazebo, but it was certainly the first time he’d pulled out all the stops, decorated, and done all the cooking. It wasn’t just that he was trying to impress Rachel for business reasons. There was something about her that he genuinely liked.

Loved?

No, that was silly. It was too fast to fall in love.

And yet, Culpepper had set a trend this year with falling fast and hard. He wondered how Rachel would feel if he dropped to one knee and proposed. He could argue with her that all of the fashionable couples in town married straight out of the gate.

“This is amazing,” she told him as she stepped into the gazebo. Her voice was hoarse and she blinked a little too rapidly.

Sly quickly left off arranging the sandwiches, chips, and soft drinks he’d brought out with them and rounded the table to meet her. “Amazing doesn’t make people look like they’re about to cry.”

“It’s nothing.” She shook her head, rubbing her eyes as if to stop from crying, and sniffing.

“It’s not nothing.” Sly gently took her arm and led her to one of the chairs at the table, holding it out for her and helping her to sit. That was when she broke into tears in earnest. “Really, I’m not trying to ruin your life or destroy your company or even trick you into letting me get away with anything by seducing you with lunch,” he insisted.

“It’s not that.” Rachel sniffed harder. She picked up the carefully-folded cloth napkin at her place and dabbed at her eyes.

Sly crouched beside her chair. “Tell me what it is, then.” He spoke softly so that his words didn’t come off as demanding.

“It’s…it’s…it’s…” She swallowed.

Sly rested a hand on her knee, praying he came off as comforting and not groping. “You can tell me.”

She dabbed her eyes again, then took a few deep, calming breaths. Then she dragged her eyes to meet him.

“No one has ever been nice to me.”

Sly blinked. His heart did weird things that left him wanting to hold her close while simultaneously nuking anyone who hadn’t been nice to her.

She shook her head and sniffled, then smoothed her hair back as though attempting to recover. “No, that’s not true. People
have
done little nice things for me. Holding doors, letting me have a seat on the train when there was only standing room, inviting me to galas and things. But all of those things were impersonal. This.” She nodded to the table, sent one quick glance around. “This is personal. And it’s nice. And…”

He waited, barely daring to breathe. When she didn’t go on, he said, “You can tell me.”

Her eyes fixed on his again, and he smiled. “You’re supposed to be a horrible, heartless, corporate ass. You’re supposed to be one more challenge to my authority and my competence as a businesswoman. You’re not supposed to do sweet things for me. You’re suing me.”

Sly thought that maybe he was beginning to understand. “Like I said, maybe there’s a way we can work around this lawsuit. I didn’t know about the contingencies placed on your company when I came up with the idea.”

“So will you drop it?” Her face lit with hope.

In that instant, Sly knew that not only would he drop the lawsuit like a glass ball at midnight on New Year’s Eve, he would jump through hoops of fire to make sure Rachel’s sister never laid a finger on her company. Even if he had to pose in Rachel’s underwear himself.
Her
underwear, not the stuff the company sold.

So why was it so hard for him to say a simple, “Yes?”

“What exactly are the terms of your father’s will again?”

Evidently that wasn’t the answer she was expecting. Her expression collapsed into a combination of disappointment and renewed anger. “I had five years to make Korpanty Enterprises turn a profit. If I failed, Bev would get the majority shares in the business. She plans to sell it the second that happens. I’ve only got one financial quarter left, and unless something spectacular happens—and unless you drop this stupid lawsuit—that’s it. Game over.”

“Hmm.” Sly straightened and slipped into his chair. “What kind of profits do you need in this last quarter?”

He put a sandwich on her plate and opened a soda bottle to pour some into the crystal glass by her plate. Rachel reached for the sandwich, a little on the sulky side, and took a bite. Her brows inched up as she chewed.

“This is actually good.”

“Like I said, my specialty.” He poured soda for himself and risked saying, “Rescuing towns and companies that are in trouble is my specialty too.”

Rachel stopped chewing. “I don’t need you to rescue me.”

He wasn’t going to argue that one. He would win the argument, but she didn’t need to deal with that right now.

Before he could come up with anything else to say, she went on with, “I’m just about breaking even right now. One good marketing campaign would be enough to fulfill Dad’s will. I’m so close I can feel it.” The last bit was delivered with so much passion that Sly felt his blood pumping to a couple inconvenient places.

“Okay.” He nodded. “So all we need to do is get Korpanty panties a boost of publicity.”

Her expression went rock hard. “By bringing a dumb lawsuit against the company?”

Sly chose to ignore her biting sarcasm. “No, by shining the spotlight on the power of the panties.”

She looked at him like he had grown another head, but Sly was on to something.

He suddenly sat straighter. “I’ve got it! Maybe not a lawsuit per se, but if we drive home the story of how most of Culpepper’s women threw off all the local cowboys for your underwear models, then we can sell the idea that Korpanty panties contain such powers of attraction that women changed their lives to get with a man wearing them.”

He thought his idea was amazing. Rachel continued to stare at him as if a third head had popped out of his shoulders—complete with warts and dreadlocks.

“Okay, first of all, they’re not called Korpanty panties. The brand name is Bold Briefs for the men’s line and Tender Touch for the ladies’ line.”

“I like that.” Sly smiled. “In fact, I think I’m wearing your undies right now.”

Rachel blushed. “Don’t you even start about wearing my underwear.”

He held up his hands—a sandwich in one—laughing. “Okay, okay.”

“Second,” she went on, morphing into a strong businesswoman in front of him, “I’m not going to manipulate poor, unsuspecting men who have a hard time with the ladies into thinking that wearing our brand will turn them into some sort of chick magnet. That’s misleading at best and lying at worst. I’m not a liar.”

Sly suddenly smiled. “I like that in a woman.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“In a person,” he corrected. “But my point is that there has to be a way to turn the situation into something that will benefit both of our interests.”

She stared at him for a long time, chewing another bite of sandwich, before saying, “Maybe.”

They continued to eat lunch, and Sly steered the conversation in as many other directions as he could. There were so many things that he wanted to know about Rachel, and once she had a little sandwich and some chips in her, she was willing to talk. He didn’t ask about anything deep, just about where she lived in L.A., what she did on weekends, and, as subtly as he could, if she was seeing anyone. He nearly fist-pumped when she revealed that she hadn’t seen anyone seriously for years.

As soon as lunch was finished, he stood and offered her a hand.

“Where are we going?” She narrowed her eyes, but took his hand and stood.

“I thought we could just stroll around. You need to take a closer look at our pond.”

“What about all this?” She gestured to the table.

Sly shrugged. “I’ll clean it up later. I thought we could walk off some of the calories first.”

She smiled at that, and Sly considered it a great victory. He grinned right back at her and helped her step down from the gazebo and walk over to the pond.

“It’s seen better days,” he explained as they edged their way around the muddy bank. “It tends to dry out in the summer, but we had the great idea of trying to fill it up again last week.”

“We?”

“Me and Arch and Doc,” Sly explained. “We thought we could get it looking nice for when Elvie got to town. But as you can see.” He held out a hand like a museum tour guide to the big, muddy hole.

They continued to walk around the perimeter, where the freshly watered grass met the wide, muddy lip of the pond.

“How do you keep it from filling back up again?” Rachel asked.

“We have to dig parts of it out every few years.” He started to steer her around a particularly slippery spot. “I keep telling the others that we need to bring in some concrete or something and make it an official pond, not just a muddy hole, but so far I’ve been outvoted.”

“I’m surprised that someone like you would be so democrati—”

She ended with a yelp as her feet slid out from under her. A few scrambling steps later, and she’d stumbled into a patch of deep, slimy mud up to her ankles. She pitched forward, arms spread as if to brace herself as she splatted into the mud. Sly jumped into action and caught her. All he managed to achieve was shielding her as he dropped, back-end first, into squelchy mud.

Sly couldn’t help but laugh. They were both splattered from head to toe. A big plop of mud had landed on Rachel’s cheek. He reached up to wipe it away. Something about the way Rachel’s arms were wrapped around him, the way she clung to him, her chest rising and falling in fast, startled breaths, overwhelmed him. This was exactly how he wanted her—tangled up with him, heart racing.

BOOK: Tycoon's Tryst (Culpepper Cowboys Book 10)
7.33Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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