Yours for the Taking (13 page)

“You’re right, it is.” It always came down to dollars and cents with Gina. It didn’t matter whose, she hated to see anyone’s money wasted. She walked ahead of him to the door and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her ass. It would be a real shame to cover that with baggy pants, unfortunately, that’s probably what he was about to do. They entered the store and Ben felt as if he had to literally push Gina ahead of him.

She pointed at the rack in front of her. “If you think I’m going to wear any of that stuff, you’re sadly mistaken.”

He put his arm around her and led her to a rack of convertible cargo pants. “What size are you?”

“Depending on the cut, between a one and a four; but I’m not wearing those.”

Ben pulled out three pairs in her sizes. “Just try them on.” He picked out a few shirts off the rack, gauging her size and added them to the pile.

“God, I’ve died and gone to wardrobe hell.”

Ben shook his head and handed her the pile of clothes. “The dressing rooms are over there. Why don’t you get started and I’ll grab a couple pairs of hiking boots. What size shoe do you wear?”

Gina blew her bangs out of her eyes and looked over at the shoe wall. “A seven. What is it? Do they have some strange law in this state that makes it illegal to use any color but brown and tan?”

Ben gave her a nudge toward the dressing rooms. “You’ll have to ask Trapper about that. He’s the judge.”

Gina huffed across the store and slammed the dressing room door shut behind her.

He asked the sales clerk to get several pairs of hiking boots in Gina’s size as well as a half dozen pair of woolen socks. A pair of pants flew over the door. “Did they fit?”

“No, they fell off me. I’ll try the smaller size.”

A minute later she stepped out and Ben couldn’t believe his eyes. He hardly noticed her. Gina blended into the woodwork. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she looked ill. “Are you okay?” All the color had drained out of her face. “Are you sick?”

Gina rolled her eyes. “No, I just look as if I’ve been dead three weeks in this color.”

He couldn’t deny it. She looked like hell. Not only that, but that hot little body of hers disappeared under all that cloth. She looked as if she was about twelve years old. God, it made him feel like a dirty old man. “Okay, you’re right.”

“I told you so.”

“We’re still taking the pants, but we’ll forego the shirts and buy you a couple of jackets to wear over the shirts you brought.”

Gina smiled with relief as she rubbed her hands together. “Sure, let’s hit the mall. You do have one of those around here, don’t you?”

“Yes, we have a mall with stores and everything, but I was talking about those polar fleece jackets.” He pointed to a round rack beside her. “They have some blue ones. Is that okay?”

Gone was the smile as she turned and stomped into the dressing room to change. “As if you really care what I think. Like I said, you can buy whatever you want. That doesn’t mean I’m going to wear it.”

She shut the door as he leaned against the wall beside it. “If you get cold enough you will. Believe me.”

Gina threw the ugly shirt she’d had on over the top of the dressing room door and it landed on his head. “Ben, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s almost summer.”

Ben reached over the door, waiting for the hanger. “Not in the mountains, it’s not.”

She placed three of them in his hand. “It’s almost summer everywhere in the northern hemisphere.”

“Yeah, you go ahead and believe that if it makes you feel better.” He hung up a shirt and stuck it under his arm. “I’m just going to make sure you have the right clothes when reality hits.”

Gina came out of the dressing room looking like herself again. “Where are you taking me, anyway?”

“To the ranch in Three Whores Bend.” Ben walked back to hang the shirts on the racks.

“Did you just say whores? As in whores on Seventh Avenue?”

He put his hand on her lower back leading her to the boots. “Yup. There’s nothing wrong with your hearing.”

“What kind of name is that?”

“I’m not sure if I should tell you until we get up there. I don’t want you to change your mind about coming.” He handed Gina one of the boots he’d chosen for her.

“I have a choice?”

Ben shot her a warning look and caught her teasing grin.

She passed the boot between her hands. “How much do these boots weigh? Wearing them will be like having cinder blocks tied to my feet. The Cosa Nostra could save a lot of time if they threw people in the East River wearing these.”

“They weigh about two pounds, they’re hardly cinder blocks. Once you break them in, they’re like wearing bedroom slippers. Come on, let’s try them on.”

Gina backed away from him. “I don’t see you trying anything on.”

“I have a good pair of hiking boots. You don’t.”

“I have several good pairs of boots. Just not ugly ones.”

“Gina, would you please sit down?” He pointed to a chair. “I’m going to buy you boots so you might as well stop arguing.”

“Only if you tell me about Three Whores Bend.”

“Fine,” he muttered as she sat. He threw her a pair of socks. “Put these on.”

When she did, he took the chair beside her and tried to figure out what exactly to tell her. She began lacing the boots the wrong way. He took them from her and did it correctly, moving over to the seat across from her.

“Three Whores Bend was on a trail that ran between two mining towns back in the late nineteenth century. The whores would make the trip from the mine in Atlanta, across the pass to get to the mine in Rocky Bar every payday.”

“Makes sense, you gotta follow the money.”

“Exactly.” He pulled her sock up tight, making sure there was no loose material and helped her step into the boot. He took her booted foot, stuck it between his knees, and finished lacing it. “So one day in May, the three whores, Dutch Em, Annie, and Ann, headed toward Rocky Bar and a freak spring blizzard hit. Two of them froze to death just outside what is now Three Whores Bend. Annie had her dog with her. The dog kept her warm enough that she only lost her leg.”

Gina’s eyes went wide. “They froze to death? What, they couldn’t start a fire?”

“I guess not.” He helped her into the other boot and continued. “When the men found them, they had to cut Annie’s leg off and get Dutch Em and Ann back to Atlanta for burial. They carried Annie down and the others built a toboggan and laid Dutch Em and Ann’s bodies on it like logs, tied them to the sled, and headed down the pass.”

“Those poor women. You know, that doesn’t happen in New York.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Right. Anyway, the guys were going down the pass. Sliding the bodies down on the toboggan wasn’t such an easy thing to do. The trail follows the river and is really steep. They were slogging through four feet of snow and ice. The story goes that close to where the country club is, at a sharp bend in the river, the trail went right, the toboggan went left, and the whores flew over the cliff and into the river. They never found the bodies. From that day forward, that area was known as Three Whores Bend.” Ben finished tying her boots and set her foot down.

Gina didn’t move. “You’re shitting me, right?”

Ben stood and pulled her out of her chair. He’d forgotten how short she was without heels. The boots probably added another couple of inches to her height, but it wasn’t the four or five he was used to. “Nope, that’s the God’s honest truth. One of Annie’s customers made her a makeshift wooden leg; they called her Peg Leg Annie after that. It’s even on her gravestone. A few years ago, I found an old miner’s diary. He was one of the men who brought the women down to Atlanta. I can show it to you when we get home.”

“Sheesh, what a story.”

She was acting awfully upset about two women who died over a hundred years before. He took her hand and stepped away from the chair. “How do the boots feel?”

“What?” She looked down and stared at her feet as if she’d forgotten she even had them on. “They’re fine.”

“I picked out a couple others that would work. If you hate them less, we can try them on. The ones you have on are the best, though.”

“Can we just go? Shopping is no fun when I don’t get anything I want.”

“What do you want?”

“Other than condoms, nothing comes to mind.”

“I need to pick up a few things at the liquor store for Del and there’s a drugstore right down the street.”

“Can I take these boots off before we go?”

“Yeah, sit down. I can take care of that for you.” Ben expected her to say she’d do it herself; instead, she just sat and held up her booted foot.

“Fine, take them off.”

When they returned to the house, Ben said he was going to pack for their trip to Three Whores Bend. He was a lot more eager to leave Boise than Gina was. She hoped the name of the town wasn’t a bad omen. She’d seen firsthand what happened to whores, but when she asked to hear the story, she expected it to be a comedy, not a tragedy. What a total psych-out that had turned out to be. At least she knew they had a country club, so the place couldn’t be all that bad. She hoped not anyway. She wasn’t sure she’d fit in at a country club, but she’d pulled off her first dinner at Tavern on the Green so it shouldn’t be too much worse than that.

Gina decided to spend a little time exploring the house. So far, all she’d seen was Ben’s bedroom, the hallway, Joe’s office, and the kitchen. All the rooms were nice, but not extraordinary. She would have thought a guy worth seven billion dollars would live in a castle. Not Joe Walsh. No, he was as down-to-earth as they came.

When Ben took her through the front door into the foyer, she couldn’t believe what she found. There were three, three-quarter life-sized statues of geishas and two horses made of what looked like ivory inlaid with beautiful stones she figured had to be jewels. After all, why would somebody glue plastic on ivory? The statues were stunning, etched, and bejeweled. Gorgeous. She’d never seen anything like them, not even at any of the museums she and Tina always visited whenever they had time.

The house itself was huge. When she saw it in the daylight, she realized how very large it was. It stood like a sentry on the top of a foothill overlooking the city of Boise. It had beautiful views from every window. Last night, after Ben had fallen asleep, Gina stared out at the lights of the city for what seemed like hours before she could stop thinking about her search for Rafael, and quiet her mind enough to finally curl up next to Ben and sleep.

The fact that she used to be an independent woman and now she was kept bothered her more than she thought it would, and she had expected it to bother her a lot. She kept telling herself that finding Rafael would be worth the mess her life had become since she met Ben. Still, there was no telling how long it would take to find him, or if she even could.

The thought of marrying for money had her riding the sharp edge of panic. Now that she and Ben were having sex, everything had gotten worse. Somehow not sleeping with him meant she hadn’t crossed the line in the sand that separated her from her mother. It made her feel less like a whore. Last night had changed that. And to make her even more uncomfortable, ever since last night, she’d caught Ben looking at her as if he were trying to read her mind. For his sake, she hoped he was unsuccessful. He wouldn’t like what he found there. Hell, she wished she could take a mental vacation from it herself. She was a total hypocrite. She’d always looked down at her mother and now was following in her footsteps. She just hoped it was worth it.

Gina explored the front rooms of the house and found what looked like priceless works of art everywhere. She stared at a small Monet in the dining room, and she was sure it wasn’t a reproduction from the Frick Museum.

“Taking inventory?”

Gina turned to find Kate taking her measure like a brawler fishing for her next victim. “Excuse me?”

“Ben told me all about your plan. I know why you married him.”

Gina crossed her arms to keep from fidgeting. “Because he asked?”

Kate took a step toward her. “Because he’s paying you.”

Gina smiled; she liked Kate even if the woman hated her. “When you’re right, you’re right. I’m not going to belabor the point.”

“If you hurt him, you’re going to have to answer to me.”

Gina stood her ground. “I’m not going to hurt Ben. We have a contract, he gets what he wants, I get what we agreed to. Nothing more.”

“Do you know he proposed to Karma first? He only asked you because she refused him.”

Gina didn’t let her astonishment show. She was getting so good at hiding her emotions, she sometimes wondered if she had any emotions at all. “I guess that’s her loss, and by the way you’re talking, yours too. I’m sorry if she let you down. I met her last night. She was really nice.”

“She didn’t let me down. I don’t want anything from Ben or Joe Walsh. But I’ll be damned if I’ll stand by and let you take them for a ride. I wish Karma had married Ben. Anything would have been better than marrying a total stranger who’s just doing it to pad her bank account.”

Gina heard Rosalie’s annoying voice in her head telling her to be nice. “Look, Kate, I know why you’re doing this, and I understand where you’re coming from. You love Ben, that’s obvious. I can tell you not to worry about him, but since you don’t trust me, it would be meaningless. I stand warned. Can we just leave it at that and go on with our lives?”

Kate looked shocked.

“What? Is there something else you wanted to say?”

Kate’s brows furrowed. “You’re not going to defend yourself?”

“There’s not much to say, is there? I didn’t go looking for this. Ben approached me. If I had to do it all over again, I’m not sure I would.” So far, it had been a complete bust, Tina refused the money, and Gina still hadn’t heard one encouraging word about Rafael.

Kate put her hands on her hips and looked down her short nose at Gina. “What do your parents think about this?”

Gina was quickly tiring of this conversation. She wanted to tell Kate to stuff it, but she was really trying to be nice. “I don’t have parents. They’ve been gone for a long time.”

“I’m sorry.”

Gina shrugged. “I’ve been taking care of myself and my sister since I was a kid. I put myself through school, got my masters, and a career I love. I don’t need Ben. He needs me.”

“What happened to your parents?”

Gina took a step back. “Look, Kate. I’m really trying not to be rude. My best friend just gave me a lecture this morning about practicing being nice. So don’t take this the wrong way but it’s none of your business.”

“Fair enough. Ben said he’s taking you to the ranch. I’m just concerned because he’s never taken a woman to the ranch.”

Oh, that’s just great. Either he’s doing this to torture her or he’s doing it to get closer to her. Neither of which she was interested in exploring. “Yes, he’s packing now. I thought I’d take a look around the house. It’s not quite what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know. It’s a whole lot different than the house Ben twisted my arm to buy. It’s a five-story Romanesque Revival mansion. It looks like a museum. This house is homey, comfortable. Ours, not so much.”

Kate nodded. “Ben’s always had expensive taste. I don’t know where he got it. When he left for NYU, you wouldn’t have been able to tell him apart from my three boys. He came back wearing clothes with designer labels and Italian shoes. I blame the girl he met on campus; she was all about clothes making the man. Ben even minored in art history to be close to her. The relationship didn’t last long, but Ben fell in love with art and he’s never been the same. He really likes New York. Not that he’s willing to give up his life here, but he wants both. His parents were never like that. That’s why they turned their back on the family business and moved up to the ranch. Joe wasn’t happy about it, and he lost his only son because he was too damn stubborn to let him lead his own life. I don’t want to see Joe make the same mistake with Ben.”

Gina wasn’t the most demonstrative person, but she found herself reaching out to touch Kate’s arm. It seemed to shock Kate almost as much as it shocked her. “Ben loves Joe, you, and your whole family. He’s not going to let this or anything else get in the way of that.”

“I hope you’re right. Thanks.” Kate let out a sigh and patted Gina’s hand. “Don’t think for a second just because I like you that I trust you. I’m keeping my eye on you.”

“I’d expect nothing less.”

Kate walked back toward the kitchen. “I have more coffee on if you’re looking for another cup. I know how you New Yorkers love your coffee.”

Gina smiled and followed Kate back to the kitchen. A cup of coffee sounded good, she just wished they had an espresso machine. She could really go for a caramel macchiato after this run-in. Hell, she’d rather face down an angry Rosalie before she’d face down Kate again.

***

Ben finished packing his clothes and threw his duffel bag by the door. He laid out all the clothes he bought Gina on the bed and went in search of her.

Since Del had called to tell him the bridge was passable, he wanted to get a move on. It was a three-hour drive and he wanted to make it to the ranch before nightfall. Driving along the Middle Fork of the Boise River on a one-lane road with no guardrails and hundred-foot drops was no fun after dark.

Ben went to the kitchen to pack a cooler. He’d asked Kate to buy enough food to last them a couple of weeks. She’d gone shopping while he and Gina were getting clothes, booze, and condoms.

He shook his head thinking how stupid he’d been to push Gina that morning. He knew she was skittish, and he’d gone ahead and pushed anyway. In his mind, going without a condom didn’t make a difference as long as they were both healthy and she was on the pill. Obviously, her mind was wired differently. He wasn’t sure why that bothered him, but it did. He wished he knew why. He thought she would trust him enough to know he wouldn’t lie about something as important as his or her health, but then he’d lied about being gay. He wanted to kick himself for about the hundredth time for that one. He should be thanking his lucky stars she hadn’t held it against him. Not much anyway, or maybe just not yet. With Gina, he never knew. She made no sense to him. He wondered if that was a woman thing, or just a Gina thing.

When Ben made it into the kitchen he found Gina sitting with Kate drinking coffee. “Hey Gina, I don’t mean to break up your coffee klatch, but you might want to go finish packing. We need to leave.”

She stood up and gave him the evil eye. “What do I need to pack?”

“Everything.”

“Then why did you have me unpack this morning?”

Kate got up and grabbed the cooler from the mudroom. “Ben, why don’t you go and help Gina, and I’ll get started in here.”

Kate and Gina gave each other a look that mystified Ben. He knew all of Kate’s looks, and this was a new one on him. “Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I don’t mind. You two go on.”

Ben followed Gina back to the bedroom and when he entered, she turned on him. “You could have warned me that Kate was in on this whole matrimonial fiasco. I don’t appreciate being blindsided by your surrogate mother.”

“What?”

Gina tossed her clothes out of the drawers and onto the bed. “You heard me.”

“I didn’t think she’d say something to you. Kate figured it out on her own. I should have known I couldn’t get anything past her, and I couldn’t lie to her.”

“You probably should have thought about that before you proposed to Karma. And that’s just one more thing you blindsided me with, or Kate did.”

“Whoa, I told you I asked a family friend.”

“Yeah, but Karma is a whole lot more than a family friend and you know it. Is there anything else I’m gonna get hit with? If there is, you’d better tell me now because I’m quickly losing my patience.”

“No, that’s it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s no wonder Kate hated me on sight. Men like you should come with warning signs.”

Gina began throwing all her clothes from the drawers into her bag. With everything he’d bought her earlier, her bag was way too small, not that she seemed to notice or care.

“Here, let me give you a duffel bag to use.” He rummaged through the closet and came out with a bag and the jeans she’d hung up earlier. He felt like a real ass. He hadn’t expected Kate to say something to Gina and wished he knew what went down. He’d ask Gina, but she didn’t look like she was in the mood to do anything except maybe make his life miserable. Not that he blamed her.

Ben took over folding her clothes and placing them neatly into the duffel bag while she went to retrieve her toiletries. By the time she returned, he’d re-packed most of her things. She tossed her makeup bag on top of her clothes and he grabbed her before she could get away from him. He pulled her close and she stood board straight, with a don’t-fuck-with-me look pasted on her cute little face. He wanted to kiss it right off, but since she looked as if she might bite him, and not in a good way, he didn’t. “I really am sorry. I screwed up. All I can say is I’ll try not to do it anymore.”

“See that you don’t.” She turned away from him and zipped the duffel closed. “I’ll go help Kate while you pack the car.”

Ben took her hand. “You don’t have to.”

Gina just raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I do. I like Kate. I’d feel better if she didn’t hate me. Just let me go and help her, okay?”

“Sure, but Gina, she doesn’t hate you. She’s probably more pissed with me than anything.”

Gina shook her head. “She might be pissed with you, but she loves you. It’s different, she doesn’t know me from Adam, and now she thinks I’m a whore trying to separate you from your money. I didn’t sign up for that.”

“Hey, Kate would never think that.”

“Yeah, right. Think about it, Ben—what makes me so different from any other whore?”

“Everything. I came to you. It’s a business transaction. Besides, I had to talk you into it.”

Gina nodded. “Yeah, and I put up a hell of a fight, and now…” She shook her head. “Before, you were gay and I wasn’t sleeping with you. I had my own reasons for taking the deal but now, even
I’m
questioning my story.”

Ben wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, it’s not like that. You’re not a whore. You’re my wife. We’re legally married. You’re getting no more money than any woman I married would and it’s not as if I’m leaving it on the bedside table. I’ve never had to pay anyone to sleep with me.”

Gina blew her bangs out of her eyes. “Don’t worry, cowboy. You’re rep is safe and sound. No one has accused you of being a John.”

“If anyone insinuated that the only reason you’re sleeping with me is because I’m paying you, that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

“No, Kate said I married you because you paid me. It’s not the same thing.”