Unbridled (16 page)

After she took a shower to clean up, Alex went for breakfast, determined to find Connor and talk about her future at the ranch. She had fit in comfortably doing the books, yet she needed to have an official title, rather than just the prodigal daughter. Her relationship with Connor, or whatever it was, complicated things a bit. Yet she still needed to talk to him as the guy who ran the ranch, oddly enough, about her “job” there. Eventually she would need a salary or stipend or whatever it was called.

Her other option was to sell her half of the ranch and move on. Of course, the will forced her to stay for a year, but she could simply do her time, then take off.

The one thing preventing her from Plan B was the fact that she was happy for the first time in a long time and it was because of being home again. After spending time at the ranch, riding the trails, feeling the power of the land around her, she felt the tug of staying there and making it her home again.

Alex walked into the mess hall to find it full of guests. It was only eight thirty, which meant they were all there stuffing themselves before heading out to play cowboy. She got herself a cup of delicious-smelling coffee and a bagel and found a spot at the end of one of the long tables far enough away so she wouldn’t have to chat while she ate.

“Good morning.”

She wanted to sigh in frustration, but instead she just gritted her teeth and looked up at the man who’d interrupted her solitary confinement.

He was simply gorgeous with salt-and-pepper hair, a hard, lean body in a light green button-down shirt and a pair of jeans that seemed to have been made for him. His cowboy hat was an expensive-looking chocolate brown color with a snakeskin band. His smile was bright and sexy as hell. He reminded her of David, only heterosexual.

Alex swallowed the bite of bagel she’d forgotten was in her mouth. “Good morning.”

He pointed to the chair across from her. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Please do.” She smiled, enjoying the rush of a light arousal as his scent washed over her.

“You’re Alex Finley?”

She nodded, disappointed he was only sitting there because he knew who she was. Perhaps she hoped he’d been hitting on her.

“James Howard, your neighbor.” He held out his hand and shook hers with a squeeze.

“Nice to meet you.” She didn’t know what he was doing there and hoped like hell it wasn’t to welcome her to the neighborhood. “Which ranch is yours?”

“Just west of here, on the other side of the creek.” He sipped at the mug of coffee he’d brought to the table.

“Ah, the Latimers owned that when I was growing up.” They had been grumpy but good folks. On more than one occasion they’d called Alex’s parents and tattled on her for one transgression or another.

“Mr. Latimer passed on about eight years ago and his wife sold it to me, then moved to Colorado to be near her daughter.” He smiled, a sexy, disarming grin. “I wondered if you would appear one day, give Connor a tweak in his, ah, business.”

Alex’s brows went up. So there was a rivalry, friendly or not, between Connor and their neighbor. How interesting.

“What brings you here today, Mr. Howard?” She ate her bagel, not caring what he thought of her cream-cheese laden breakfast. After all, she wasn’t on a date or anything.

“I heard you were here.”

She let that sit in the air for a minute while she chewed, then took a sip of coffee. “And I’m interesting to you?”

“Oh yes, definitely. Grant never spoke of you, so imagine our surprise when half the ranch went to you.” James ran his finger along the rim of the mug and she noted he had beautifully manicured hands for a rancher. Obviously he didn’t work his own property.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was your interest in me inheriting half of Finley’s?” She already knew not to trust the man, and her instincts never let her down. Aside from that fact, she didn’t trust anyone until they earned it.

“I’ve wanted to buy it for years, to expand my property out past the river and double my herd. Finley’s is prime real estate, Ms. Finley.” He smiled again. “You understand that I had to meet the woman I need to convince to sell to me.”

“I only own half, Mr. Howard. It won’t do you any good to convince me to sell if my step . . . Claire won’t sell her son’s portion.” She felt uncomfortable discussing it even if her common sense told her to do all she could to sell the ranch, and obviously this man was interested. More than likely he’d pay her more than market share if he’d been trying to buy it for years.

“One step at a time, right?” He glanced at his watch, a nice Cartier with real diamonds, no doubt. “I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight. There’s a lovely Italian restaurant in town and the food is actually quite good.”

Alex still didn’t quite trust the man, but he obviously had money, and going out for food rather than eating in the mess hall had some appeal. Besides, she wanted to hear just how much he would offer for the ranch. If it was enough, she might be willing to do what she could to convince Claire to sell along with her. It was an easy solution to the emotional decision of whether to stay or not.

“Sure. Sounds nice.” Very noncommittal but enough to make him look as if she’d said she would sell the ranch to him.

“Wonderful! I’ll come by and pick you up around seven at the main building.” He stood and took her hand, depositing a dry kiss on her knuckles.

She wanted to yank her hand away but figured it would be a bad start to a potential business relationship. Something about the man bugged her, but she couldn’t say exactly what. “See you then.”

James tipped his hat and headed for the door. Alex saw a man standing there blocking the exit and realized it was Connor. His hands were fisted at his sides and he looked at James as if he wanted to have a smackdown. When Connor’s gaze met Alex’s, she felt the power of it, and her entire body raced with goose bumps. She fought the urge to run.

 

 

Connor managed to keep his temper in check when he faced James, although he wanted to punch the smug son of a bitch in his perfect teeth. The man was a snake with legs whose only thought was how much could he get in his wallet and how fast could he get it.

James had done all he could to try to buy Finley’s out from under Grant more than once. He had even tried to annex a full hundred acres of Finley property, and it happened to be the property with the river that fed the entire water system. The bastard had filed multiple lawsuits, complaints with the health department, agriculture department, even the revenue department. After unsuccessfully trying every legal angle imaginable, accidents around the ranch began to happen. Connor knew in his bones James was to blame for them.

He was a bastard who smiled as he stole the land out from under you.

And Alex had been eating breakfast with him. A surge of pure jealousy and something else surged through him, making him see red. It was unexpected and completely unwelcome.

“What are you doing here?” Connor gritted his teeth to keep the growl from escaping.

James’s grin was almost feral. “Meeting the heiress, of course. Word has it she’s not happy about the guest ranch business and wants out.”

“Bullshit. I don’t know where you’re getting your information from but Alex isn’t selling.” He would make damn certain of that. “If I catch you on Finley property again, I’ll have your ass hauled off to jail.”

“Feeling threatened, Matthews? Tsk, tsk. I thought you were the tough, unmovable one.” James’s smile widened. “I’m glad to see I can shake your tree a bit.”

Connor’s nails dug into his palms as he resisted the urge to punch the asshole. “Get the fuck out of here, now.” There was just so far he would control himself before he opened up that particular can of whoop-ass on the man.

James held up his hands. “I’m leaving, but just be aware I’m picking up Ms. Finley at seven tonight for dinner. Try not to have me arrested for trespassing on our first date.”

With that, the man who’d spent too many years trying to steal Finley’s property walked out of the mess hall, leaving Connor with unfulfilled rage coursing through him.

He walked toward Alex and reminded himself she had no idea what a dick James Howard truly was. She was, however, about to find out.

“What were you doing talking to James Howard?” It wasn’t what he meant to say but that was what popped out when he opened his mouth.

“Excuse me?” Her brows went up and her lips tightened.

“You heard me. Having breakfast with a son of a bitch like that? What the hell were you thinking?” Connor couldn’t seem to stop the flow of stupid from coming out of him.

“I was thinking I was hungry.” She gestured to the half-eaten bagel.

He didn’t give a shit about that. “You will not go out on a date with him tonight—is that clear? You’re working for Finley’s now, not to mention the fact that you own half. That man is not to be trusted.”

Alex rose, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering. “Mr. Matthews, I believe this is a discussion to be had in private.”

He glanced around, realizing that everyone in the mess hall had stopped what they were doing to watch his tirade. Shame crept through him, temporarily displacing the anger. “You’re right. Let’s go.” Connor took her arm, but she shook it off.

“I will finish my breakfast, whether or not you approve. You can either sit down and behave like a civilized human being or leave until I’m done.”

She sat back down and picked up the bagel. Connor wanted to strangle her. The woman was pure cussed stubborn through and through. He sat down heavily across from her, not missing the fact that he was sitting in the same seat James Howard had just vacated.

She sipped her coffee, which he watched with avid interest since she pursed her lips each time she blew on it. It seemed that passion and anger were strange bedfellows, but they were there together wrestling inside him.

Connor wanted to sit there and wait for her to finish, but he couldn’t. He rose abruptly, startling her in midbite.

“We’ll talk later. I’ve got work to do.”

She held up her finger and pointed to her mouth but he left before she finished chewing. Connor could not allow himself to lose control again and that meant keeping away from Alex for a while. He slammed out of the mess hall and headed for his office, aware her gaze followed him.

 

 

Alex stared at her meager collection of dresses and tried to find one that didn’t look five years old. In truth she hadn’t done much dating in the last ten years; it had been more of a casual relationship phase for her. As such, she’d gone to baseball games, parks, to the beach and to private homes.

It had been a dog’s age since she’d actually gone on a date to a restaurant with a man. She and David would eat out weekly, but those weren’t dates and the restaurants were never the kind she’d dress nicely for.

As a consequence, her wardrobe was woefully inadequate for the evening’s event. Part of her wanted to find James’s number and tell him she couldn’t go. The other part wanted to thumb her nose at Connor’s high-handedness and make as big a production out of the dinner as possible.

She chose to thumb her nose at him.

The standard black slacks and a royal blue blouse were presentable, along with a pair of black strappy heels. She put on makeup, a first since the funeral, and brushed her hair. Ready as she would ever be, Alex left the cabin and headed for the main building at ten minutes to seven.

She fully expected Connor to be waiting there like a guard dog, ready to light into her for consorting with the enemy. It was obvious there was bad blood between the men, but she simply refused to be the rope they played tug-of-war with. Alex fully intended on telling both of them that as soon as she had a chance.

She’d avoided Connor during the day and had a feeling he did the same. After the scene in the mess hall, he was likely embarrassed by the whole thing. She definitely was, considering he shook her like a recalcitrant puppy and tried to order her to stay home. Alex would not stand for it.

By the time she had made it to the main building, she’d built up a head of steam, ready to do battle with Connor, but he wasn’t there. He also wasn’t in his office; it was dark and empty. That left Alex vaguely disappointed; plus she hadn’t been able to nail down her job with him either. Truthfully, he stirred her like no man had ever done, even when they were arguing. There was a lot of passion between them no matter how they interacted.

She went back out to the front of the building and found James standing beside a beautiful black Lexus sedan with a smile.

“Good evening, Ms. Finley. You look good enough to eat.” His blatant come-on line nearly made her roll her eyes.

“I hope not, because I’ve heard silk gets stuck in your teeth.”

He laughed softly, although there had not been an ounce of humor in her tone. “I’ll remember that.” James opened the car door and ushered her inside, shutting it behind her.

The car was plush, with leather seats—heated, which she discovered quickly—and every gadget imaginable on the dashboard. She recognized the man had money and obviously enjoyed the finer things in life. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there weren’t many ranchers who could afford that type of lifestyle.

“Hungry?”

“Actually, yes, I am.” Alex put her seat belt on as he slid in and started the car.

With the wonderful low purr from the engine, they drove off into the twilight toward town. James made small talk about the weather and the changing leaves on the short drive into Lobos. It was pleasant if not boring and she wondered if he would do more than chatter aimlessly.

They pulled up to the restaurant and he again opened the car door for her, assisting her in getting out. She wondered if he did that all the time or if he was trying to impress her. Alex wasn’t sure which she preferred.