The Crown Jewels (46 page)

“I love you, Crit,” she whispered in my ear, her soft voice like a caress on my heart.

I slid out of her carefully, lying next to her as I caught my breath. Pulling her over to me, I wrapped my arms around her as her head fell on my chest. Our breath fell together, perfectly in synch, as we lay there peacefully.

“I love you, Ruby Rae,” I whispered, as I realized just how sacred these moments were.

It’s about time to ask this girl to marry me,
I thought.
To hell with every one else. There’s no reason in hell I needed to keep this a secret anymore. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be spending every night with this amazing woman in my arms.

All I had to do was deal with getting my farm back, and then everything was going to fall into place.

It had to. I wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

I pulled Ruby a little closer, and kissed the top of her head, her curls brushing against my face as I inhaled her sweet scent.

She smelled like home.

***

At some point, I must have fallen asleep. The shrill sound of Ruby’s phone on the table next to my head broke through the fleeting peacefulness that I had found, that I always found when Ruby was naked and in my arms. My arms that were now empty.

I raised my head and looked around her messy room, wondering for the millionth time why every female’s bedroom I had seen looked like it had been hit by a Texas tornado.

Her phone buzzed again, and I glanced at it. The display was lit up, and I froze when I read the text she had received from Lincoln.

‘Dinner tonight, beautiful?’,
it read.

I groaned out loud, my voice echoing in her empty bedroom.

This motherfucker thinks he’s going to take everything from me
, I thought.

My veins filled slowly with rage. I sat up and threw my clothes on. I was pulling on my boots when Ruby walked back into the room.

She padded over to me, sitting next to me and kissing my cheek. My jaw clenched as I stood up and faced her.

“That was amazing,” she purred, smiling up at me. She was wearing a pink silk robe that opened to a deep v in the front, her beautiful breasts that had only moments before been pressed against mine peeking out invitingly.

My eyes grazed over her body, and my cock stiffened in my jeans, if it had even softened at all. The urge to throw her on the bed and take her again was overwhelming, but so was the furious rage that was so strong it created a wall inside of me that nothing could penetrate.

Not even Ruby.

“I gotta go,” I said, as she stood up. I grabbed her arms and pushed her away.

“Now?” she gasped. I wanted to kiss her and tell her that I was going to fix everything, and as soon as I did, that we would be together and everything was going to be alright.

But words are cheap.

And in order for everything to be alright, I had to take action. If I came to her on bended knee now, my hands would be empty. I had nothing to offer her.

But once I got Lincoln LaCroix out of the way, then I could be the man that a woman like Ruby Rae Rust deserved.

She followed me down the hall. Her father was passed out in the living room, and once I reached the front door, I turned back, our eyes crashing into each other.

I don’t know what she saw in mine, but the raging storm of confusion, love, and lust that I saw in hers did nothing but motivate me further.

She was mine.

And nobody else was getting in the way.

I kissed her, hard, the familiar feel of her lips settling deep inside me, digging in and lassoing my heart like a skilled roper.

She was mine.

But, even more than that, I was hers.

I broke away from her, thundering out her door, everything I needed to do clearer than ever.

Ruby

The smell of Crit was still on me, on the sheets, in the still air of my small bedroom. But that was all I was left with. His smell. And the feel of his hands, lips, skin, cock, caressing my memory like a ghost.

He waltzed in like a prized thoroughbred, throwing his irresistible studly charm around like a secret weapon, a weapon that had worked perfectly. I hadn’t hesitated to open my arms, and my legs, with enthusiasm at the drop of his belt buckle. But there was no surprise there, hell, I’d never been able to say no to Crit.

And he knew it, goddammit.

But hell if he wasn’t as confusing as all get out! One minute he’s yelling like an angry mare at me on the phone, the next he’s making love to me like it’s the end of the world, and then he just leaves like it’s no big deal, as if he couldn’t wait to get away, as if it was some casual roll in the hay.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt.

Sure, I was the happy-go-lucky Ruby Rae Rust, always up for a good time kind of girl, but I had feelings too.

And the feelings I had for Crit Hope threatened to be the devil of me. Every wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am that I experienced with him cut me wide open, and just when I thought I might be healing a little, that the scar tissue might have grown tough enough to resist him - he always found a way in.

Was there any way I could protect myself from getting hurt by him?

Maybe if I didn’t love him so goddamned much.

But how do you get over someone like that?

I laughed bitterly when I realized that if someone else asked me that question, I would tell them the quickest way to get over someone is to get under someone else.

But I couldn’t really follow my own advice, could I?

I thought of Lincoln, and turned over in my bed. The light on my phone was flashing, and I grabbed it off the table.

“Dinner tonight, beautiful?
” Lincoln had written.

I hesitated before responding, inhaling the lingering scent of Crit, for the millionth time engraving it upon my memory. The image of him storming from my room - and then kissing me so hard it almost hurt before leaving without any explanation, without any promise or indication of a future for us - filled my head.

My heart sunk as I came to the conclusion, for the hundredth time, that maybe Crit and I were just not meant to be any more than what we’ve been all these years. Some crazy mix of friend and secret lover that had no label, no commitment - no real foundation.

I texted Lincoln back before I could change my mind, and then threw the phone on the bed, jumped up, and wiped my tears.

When I saw Lincoln’s reply, I took a deep breath and turned my phone off completely.

I looked in the mirror, the same mirror I had been looking into for most of my life, the edges of it filled with mementos from the small town life I had led. Pictures of me and George at the state fair, a picture of me and my mom and dad when I was a little girl, a sad, crooked Christmas tree in the background - it was the only picture I had of the three of us. Barrel racing ribbons hung from the top and in the center of it all, was a picture that George had taken of me and Crit at the rodeo in Houston a year ago - all remnants of a life that was long gone.

It was time to move on. It was time to go down some new roads, meet new people, experience the world. I’d spent my whole life in Sugar Hill, and a good chunk of it was spent chasing after Crit Hope.

It was time I expanded my horizons.

Even small town girls have to leave the nest sometime.

I tried to make my hair look a little less unruly, pulled my dress back on, and gathered my purse and keys.

I had just a few hours before I had to be ready for my date with Lincoln, and I had absolutely nothing to wear.

I left a note for my dad that I was out shopping, and hopped in my hot car. As Loretta Lynn sang I Want To Be Free, her voice flying out of my window as I drove down our old dirt road, the sweet smell of Crit hit me again, his sexy musk drifting off my skin in the hot sun.

I turned the stereo up, and forced myself to think of Lincoln as I sang along with Loretta.

Everything is free, everything but me…

I’m going to take this chain from around my finger…

and throw it as far as I can sling her..

‘Cause I wanna be free….

Crit

By the time I arrived back at the farm, I was seeing red. I intended to lay it all out for Mr. New York City and tell him exactly how things were going to turn out.

This might have been business before, but now it was personal.

He was already there, as indicated by the same black Mercedes from the diner that was once again parked in my parking spot.

He was making a habit of this
, I thought to myself. I pulled up next to him, opening the door to my pick-up with more force than necessary, smiling with satisfaction when I saw the ding in his door.

He rounded the corner of the barn, his smug grin plastered on his face like some badge of honor.

“This place is beautiful,” he said, as I sauntered up to him. My fists clenched at my side, and my jaw was aching from being flexed the entire drive from Ruby’s. I had talked myself down along the way, insisting I could settle all of this with this fella like a man.

Meaning, with direct and open communication. If that didn’t work, well, let’s just say I was open to other methods. For his sake, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use them.

“Thank you,” I replied, my voice tense, my jaw clenched tightly.

“I saw my uncle’s property earlier. It’s quite the spread. Of course, that dilapidated old house needs to be demolished, but the land looks very valuable.”

“Your uncle loved that house. It has good bones. Most of the work it needs is cosmetic.”

“You can’t even drive to it,” he replied. “I’d have to remove a half mile of trees to make a road to the place to sell it with the house there. No,” he said, his eyes raking over the expanse of my sprawling farm, causing me to feel violated all over again as he continued. “I’ll have to demolish the house, then just sell the property as is. It’ll be quicker that way. Of course, in an insignificant backwoods town like this, I’ll probably never find a buyer.”

My hands clenched again at my side, and I stared him down.
LaCroix’s property isn’t your business
, I reminded myself. I had to pick my battles and that wasn’t it.

“I reckon you’ll figure out what your uncle wanted and do right by him,” I said. “Maybe Barnard Johnson can help you with that.”

“I suppose,” he replied, sighing beside me. He started walking into my barn, and I was glad my horses were grazing in the pasture. I didn’t want him anywhere near my herd. It was bad enough he was on my property.

“How much is this property appraised for?” he asked, as he swept his gaze around the barn, slowly walking past the stalls, picking up a halter, or a bridle to inspect as he passed.

“I couldn’t tell you. It hasn’t been appraised in quite a while.”

“No? I bet it’s a lot more than a hundred grand, though.”

“Of course it is,” I said, my voice lowering, threatening to growl at this piece of shit.

“So, do you have the money?” he asked, turning to face me, that smug bullshit smile still spread across his face.

“You know I don’t. There’s got to be some sort of arrangement that can be reached, Lincoln. You obviously don’t need the money.”

“A hundred grand? Seriously? That’s nothing to me,” he scoffed.

“Then let me just pay it off, honor the agreement that your uncle made with my folks, and we can go about our business. I’ll have you paid off in a few short years.”

He hesitated, once again trailing his eyes around the barn, soiling everything our family had built with his greedy gaze.

Finally, he turned back to me, his nose raised in the air, whatever sense of power he was trying to convey to me lost completely by the sheer ridiculousness of his gesture.

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

“Right now, I have to go,” he continued, “I have a hot date later with a slutty red head that I intend to fuck into next week,” he snarled, hitting me with his elbow in some imagined sense of male bonding. I swallowed hard, using all my willpower not to knock his teeth out.

I knew he was talking about Ruby, and I wanted to kill him. And for fuck’s sake, had she agreed to have dinner with him after I left? Why in the world would she do that after sleeping with me?

“Yeah, about that,” I growled, bringing my face within inches of his. “I need you to stay away from Ruby.”

“Ruby? The red head? Oh, she’s as good as fucked, my friend,” he laughed for a second, then stopped short, squinting his eyes at the look on my face. “Wait a minute! Is she your girl? She told me she was single.”

He threw his head back, his laugh bellowing off the walls of the barn.

“Oh, this is classic,” he said through his laughter. “The hot headed cowboy with the slutty saloon whore. I love it!”

“I’ll tell you something, though, cowboy, she sure is a wild one! As soon as she saw my private plane the other night, she practically dropped her panties right there on the runway. Tell me - do the curtains match the drapes? I can’t wait to see for myself,” he sneered nastily, arrogantly, taunting me with a wink.