Tycoon's Tryst (Culpepper Cowboys Book 10) (8 page)

“What condition?” Sly studied her, a sparkle in his eyes.

“Yeah, what condition?” Bev looked far more suspicious.

“The competitors must be men from Culpepper,” Rachel went on, narrowing her eyes at Bev. “I don’t want you bringing in a bunch of Hans’s body-building friends as ringers.”

Bev looked as though she’d swallowed something sour. She pursed her puffy lips and looked as though she would whine about the world being unfair.

“Good point.” Sly backed Rachel up. Simple as it was, it gave Rachel a huge boost in confidence. Sly turned back to Bev. “The competitors can only be Culpepper men.”

“That’s not—” Bev started, then stopped. A wicked grin spread over her make-up-caked face. “Okay, I’ll agree to those terms.” She arched a brow and glanced back to Hans behind her as though the two were already in cahoots over something.

“It’s a deal, then,” Sly said before Bev could back out. “How about we make this competition next week at the rodeo,” he went on. “That’ll give both of us time to assemble a team and train.”

“You’re on.” Bev’s grin was downright nasty. “And I think I already know who I’ll pick for my team.”

“And I’ve got a pretty good idea of who I can pick for ours,” Sly growled right back. He sent Rachel a look of such confidence that for a second she forgot to be terrified of losing everything and honestly believed they could win. “Trust me,” he went on, as if hearing her thoughts. “This will be one doozy of a competition.”

“
T
he key
to a contest of strength like this is to snatch up all of the best competitors before your opponent nabs them,” Sly said as he and Rachel drove out to the Culpepper ranch the next day.

Rachel dragged her eyes up from the email she was reading on her cell phone to peek sideways at him. “Is that cheating?”

Sly laughed and reached over to touch her leg, probably as a gesture of comfort. “Not at all. It’s competitive, and we have the competitive edge.”

“How?”

Sly shrugged. “I know most of the guys in town. I know the Culpeppers, and I can’t think of any guys who would be better than them in a tug-o-war.”

He seemed so sure, so convinced about the rightness of what he was doing. Rachel wished she could say the same. She tried to smile, then went back to looking at the figures in the email her assistant had just sent her.

The numbers all blended together. They shouldn’t have. Korpanty Enterprises was balanced on the edge of making a profit, but things could just as easily go south. On the one hand, the silly competition might not even be necessary if she could pull out a few more zeroes in the next three months. On the other, it might mean the difference between protecting the only thing that mattered to her or losing what basically amounted to her life.

Rachel blinked. Man, everything about that thought was wrong, wrong, wrong. It was sad that a company was the only thing that mattered to her. She stole a sideways look at Sly. He wore a determined grin and kept his eyes on the road as he zipped along the Wyoming road with the top down on his convertible. Was her company the only thing that mattered to her? The easy answer was ‘of course not.’ She had only been married to Sly for three-ish days, but he was her husband. She should love him more than her company.

So maybe she was not just on the brink of losing a thing that mattered to her, but of losing every last shred of her self-respect because she’d just ranked a lifeless business entity above her husband.

He didn’t deserve to be stuck with her. She wasn’t good enough for him.

“Hey. What’s that look for?” Sly asked, his confidence shifting to concern as he pulled into the drive at the front of the Culpepper ranch.

Rachel waited until they’d driven past the bakery and deeper into the ranch toward the stable before mumbling, “Nothing.”

To her surprise, Sly laughed. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart.”

Giant, wriggly worms filled Rachel’s gut. “What? I said nothing was wrong. I know things will be okay.”

Yeah, her voice was a dead giveaway that she was lying.

Sly pulled his car into a gravel parking spot next to a row of huge trucks and cut the engine. Instead of opening the door and getting out, though, he leaned over and gave Rachel a big, surprise kiss. It was so sudden and so good that Rachel let herself get lost in it.

“First,” Sly said in the most delicious, seductive voice once he broke the kiss, “You don’t have to pretend around me. Ever. About anything.”

Rachel opened her mouth to say she wasn’t pretending, but stopped. He was her husband, right or wrong. She owed him honesty.

“Second,” he went on before she could say anything, “we
are
going to win this tug-o-war. We’re going to win the tug-o-war that I suspect has always been going on between you and your sister.”

Embarrassed heat flooded Rachel’s cheeks…because he was right about the war between her and Bev. “It’s not your problem, really.” She tried to lift her burden off of his shoulders.

Sly shook his head. “Consider me reinforcements in a war that you’ve been fighting for a long, long time.”

“But—”

“And if you think you’re imposing on me,” he cut her off with exactly the thing she was most worried about, “then stop it. You should know that I’m a highly competitive person.” His eyes glittered with mirth as he spoke. “This is the kind of thing I live for.”

He said it in such a low, victorious voice that shivers of excitement ran up and down Rachel’s spine. They shouldn’t have, but they did.

“Okay.” She forced herself to take a deep breath and accept that Sly wanted to fight this particular fight.

She almost believed it.

At last, Sly opened his door and got out. Rachel did the same before he could come around and hold her door open for her. They met at the back of the car and walked on to the enormous Culpepper stable together.

“Hey, Karlan,” Sly greeted the oldest of the Culpepper brothers as he stepped out of the office to see who the visitor was.

“Sly.” Karlan strode over to shake Sly’s hand in greeting. “What brings you out here in the middle of the week?”

“I bet I know.” Chris Culpepper popped his head up from one of the stalls, currying brush in hand.

“What?” Karlan asked him.

“It’s that big tug-o-war thing that’s going down at the rodeo, isn’t it?” Chris came out of the stall to greet Sly and Rachel. He wore an eager expression, like a kid jumping up and down and dying to be picked for a team for capture-the-flag.

“Oh yeah, I heard about that,” Karlan said.

“Heard about what?” This time, it was a woman’s voice that came out of the office. A second later, Hope Culpepper, Karlan’s wife, waddled around the corner, one hand rubbing her pregnant belly.

A jolt of longing and joy zipped through Rachel. There was just something so reassuring about seeing a happily ever after right in front of your eyes.

“There’s going to be a big tug-o-war at the rodeo,” Karlan explained. He met his wife halfway and looped his arm around her back, bending to kiss her forehead.

A whole other kind of jolt passed through Rachel. This one was prickly and filled with guilt. That was the way a husband and wife should interact with each other. She sent a quick sideways look to Sly. Did he feel gypped because she wasn’t the kind of wife that Hope was?

“Oh, that!” Hope laughed. “That sounds like a lot of fun, actually.”

“I’m sure it will be,” Sly said, grinning from ear-to-ear. “We’re going to wipe the floor with whoever is foolish enough to join Bev’s team.”

“Who has she recruited?” Chris asked. He, Karlan, and Hope glanced to Rachel.

Rachel was forced to shrug. “You know, I have no idea.”

“She hasn’t asked any of you guys yet, has she?” Sly asked.

Karlan and Chris exchanged glances, then shook their heads.

Karlan walked to the door at the far end of the stable then called out, “Hey Angus!”

“Yeah?”

A second later, Angus MacFarlane strode into the barn, Cooper Culpepper with him. They were both dressed in old, dusty clothes and wore work gloves and beat up old hats. Rachel’s hopes for the tug-o-war began to rise. Maybe Sly had the right idea by coming here to look for competitors after all.

“Has anyone approached you for the tug-o-war yet?” Sly asked him.

“No.” Angus shrugged and looked to Cooper.

“Me neither.”

Sly’s grin was downright triumphant. “Then consider yourselves asked. All of you.”

Chris laughed out loud. “You’re on.”

The others nodded and smiled and even exchanged high fives, like they’d just formed a major league soccer team.

“Think we can count on Kolby to join the team too?” Sly asked on.

“Oh, absolutely,” Karlan said.

“We’ll make him if he tries to say no,” Chris added.

“Which he won’t,” Cooper finished.

“I bet ye can convince Marcus and Ryan to join in as well, if you’re looking for two more,” Angus added.

“Allen as well,” Cooper added. “Might as well get all of the Mr. Quinlans involved.”

The guys all laughed. Yep, they definitely liked this whole team idea. Rachel wondered if Culpepper would suddenly end up with some sort of amateur sports team after this.

“I know Doc will join in too. And Arch,” Sly added.

“Wait, doesn’t that make eleven?” Chris asked.

Sly shrugged as if it wasn’t a problem. “We’ll have an alternate, just in case.”

“Perfect.”

The guys exchanged a second round of high fives. Hope caught Rachel’s eye, then rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You’ve just made a bunch of guys very happy,” she said, shifting to stand closer to Rachel’s side. “Do you want to come down to Linda’s house for lunch as thank you? We’re all getting together.”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t impose, I—” Rachel tried to argue, but Hope wasn’t hearing it.

“Nonsense. It’s not an imposition at all. I’ve been looking for an excuse to invite Culpepper’s latest couple over to hang out with the rest of us.” She sent a smile Sly’s way.

Sly took Rachel’s hand, looking as though the invitation was completely natural. “We’d be more than happy to accept.”

“Good. I hear Linda’s making her famous layer dip,” Karlan added.

That was the beginning and end of that. It was lunch time, so they all left the stable and walked down to Linda’s house together. Still, Rachel couldn’t shake the feeling that she was some sort of interloper. Maybe lunch with family was a normal thing for the Culpeppers and the O’Donnells, but it certainly wasn’t normal for the Korpantys.

And really, that little voice whispered to her, wasn’t the big problem not that she didn’t deserve any of this, but that she didn’t know how to be part of it?

“Come on in and sit yourselves down wherever you like,” Linda greeted them as the whole, noisy bunch walked into her house together. Kolby and the other Culpepper wives were all there already. “Would you like some sweet tea?”

“Yes, please.” Rachel put on her best manners. They’d been drilled into her by her nasty step-mother back in the day—although how Bev escaped those lessons was anyone’s guess—but Linda was someone who Rachel actually didn’t mind behaving at her very best for.

“Psht!” Linda waved away her formality. “Consider yourself at home now. Flop wherever you’d like.”

“I saved you the best seat in the house,” Sly called from the living room, patting the sofa next to him. His smile was so contented and his body language so open to her that Rachel drifted into the living room and sat by his side. She even felt a comforting thrill when he put his arm around her.

“I think this tug-o-war could be loads of fun,” Kolby said, as if they were in the middle of discussing the whole thing.

“It definitely sounds like something you guys would get really into,” his wife, Joy, replied with a raised brow. She rubbed the bump of her stomach as she stood by Kolby’s side.

The other Culpepper wives exchanged knowing grins.

“I, for one, can’t wait to watch it.” Chastity Culpepper skipped over to Chris’s side and looped her arms around him. “All that sweating and bulging muscles and sweating.”

“You already said sweating,” Faith pointed out.

“Mmm, it’s because I like it when my hubby sweats.” She laid a big, wet kiss on Chris’s mouth. It sent Rachel’s brows shooting to her hairline with its intensity.

The others mumbled or made noises of fake disgust, but laughed at the two of them all the same. It wasn’t like anything Rachel had ever seen before. People in her world just didn’t react to each other that way. Not with so much affection, so much…love.

She peeked at Sly. Would the two of them ever be like that? A sudden blossom of longing filled her chest. That’s what she wanted more than anything. But would she actually get it. Was she even capable of that?

As the Culpeppers continued to discuss the competition, Sly turned suddenly and stared Rachel in the eyes as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking.

“Do you have an off-switch for that?” he asked.

Rachel blinked, flushed from the shock of being caught…thinking. “Huh? An off-switch?”

“For your worry.” Sly’s grin turned teasing.

Teasing. Right. She could do this.

She attempted a smile and swatted Sly’s arm. “I’m not worrying. Unless it’s about who will sweat more, you or Chris Culpepper.” There. That was pretty good as far as banter went.

Sly leaned closer. “Oh, it’ll definitely be me.” His voice was as warm and rich as liquid caramel. “I thought I’d proved to you how much we can both sweat these past two nights.”

Rachel’s face burned bright red. Yep, they sure had! But it wasn’t something that she wanted to discuss in front of the entire Culpepper family. It wasn’t something she was convinced she shouldn’t be crippled with guilt about either.

“Soup’s on,” Linda announced as she walked into the room with a glass of sweet tea. She handed the tea to Rachel—who smiled in thanks—and when her boys all leapt up to rush toward the kitchen, she held up a hand. “Guests first! That means you, Rachel.”

More than honored to be a guest in Linda Culpepper’s house, Rachel got up and headed to the kitchen. She half expected a plate of sandwiches and a bowl of chips, but Linda obviously loved cooking. Not only did she have a huge container of her layer dip set out, there was fried chicken and cold cuts and three kinds of vegetables too. Rachel fixed herself a small plate, but before she could carry it back into the living room, Linda made a face at her and filled her plate up even more.

“So this is what real families are like,” Rachel whispered as she took her seat next to Sly in the living room after he’d loaded enough food on his plate to feed an army.

“Yep,” he answered. She flushed. She hadn’t intended to speak loud enough for him to hear. “And I’m pretty sure Linda would want you to consider everyone here your extended family.”

“Huh.” It was the only answer Rachel could think of. She’d have to chew on the concept—along with the best fried chicken she’d ever had—for a while to see how it fit. She had a lot to learn.

“So where exactly at the rodeo do you plan to have this competition?” Karlan asked once they were all seated and eating.

Sly shrugged and sat forward. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

“What about the field next to the arena?” Cooper asked.

“Wait, there’s a rodeo arena in Culpepper?” Chris asked.

“We converted the field where the Culpepper Stakes was run this year into an outdoor rodeo arena,” Sly told him. “I’m planning to have a facility constructed to enclose it over the winter. My brother Arch is designing it right now.”

“Good old Arch,” Marcus, Grace’s husband, who had come out to the ranch from his law office in town, said with a grin. “You should see the design job he did on the bakery.”