Bad In Boots: Colt's Choice (23 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Colt strode past Jason and headed straight for the stables. Saddling Scout, he mounted his horse and took off at a fast gallop toward the open pastures. As the hot wind whipped against his face, rage welled inside him, making his chest burn and his stomach tighten painfully.

He’d never felt so frustrated, disillusioned and…scared. Slowing his horse down to a trot, he realized just how terrified he was of the idea of Elise deserting him, leaving him behind. What if she left with Jason? His gut clenched at the idea that she and Jason had a past. He didn’t want to think of her making love with anyone else.

Jason had known her for years and had pretty much spelled out her nomadic ways. The longer she’d stayed, the more Colt had held onto the hope she planned to live in Texas permanently. But the knowledge there was a real possibility she’d get bored and want to move on hit him hard.

While he was grappling with that and then heard Jason encourage her to sell her half of the ranch to Riley, he thought for sure he’d lose it right then and there. Not only was the man trying to take his woman, but his livelihood too? Being hit with this all at once was like a one-two punch. Colt’s shoulders tensed as he gripped the reins until his knuckles turned white.

When Elise first came to Texas he’d offered her everything he could afford to buy her out. Now that she needed cash, he didn’t know if he could compete financially with Riley. Frustration mounted as he gazed up at his house sitting atop the hill. Well, almost everything.

* * * * *

On Monday, Elise sat in her office staring at her computer. She’d had several false starts on putting the final touches to the virtual store she’d created. Her mind was definitely elsewhere. After Colt left her on Saturday, she’d gone back to Jason and told him unequivocally she had no plans to move back to Virginia. He’d tried to give her a guilt trip, but she sent him home, telling him she’d meet her financial obligation for the charity in a few days time. Then she’d spent that evening and the entire next day alone in her apartment. Missing Colt.

Every time the phone rang she jumped to answer it. Poor Josh. He’d called to return her phone call to him that she’d made while he was at his conference. She’d thanked him for calling her back but couldn’t muster much energy for lively conversation with him. He’d even tried to get her to go out again, but she’d refused his offer.

After hanging up with a disappointed Josh, she decided to just let the answering machine get it if it wasn’t Colt. She’d even avoided her father’s phone call that way. Colt had never called.

Elise let out a deep sigh and shook herself out of her sad musings. What a sucky rest of her weekend. She glanced at her watch for the hundredth time, wondering where the heck Colt was. It was almost lunchtime and not at all like Colt to show up on the ranch late. Mace had taken off to travel with the rodeo for a couple of days to make sure George was up to speed on running the paraphernalia stand. She and Mace had agreed to hold off on starting up the online store until right before the last few rodeos so they could use those as beta tests. That way she’d be ready when the rodeo started up again next year.

With the men gone and Mabel taking the morning off to attend her grandson’s play, Elise had never felt so lonely.

Her heart jerked when she heard the office front door open. Elise immediately placed her fingers on the keyboard and began typing rapidly. She didn’t care what she wrote, so long as she looked busy. It had to be Colt. When his heavy footfalls sounded outside her door, she took a minute to glance up as if engrossed in her work. There was no reason to let Colt know just what a miserable couple of days she’d had without him.

Colt stood there, looking tired, but still sexy as hell. Today he wore dark blue jeans, a white button-down cotton dress shirt, black boots and a black cowboy hat. He was definitely the most dressed up she’d ever seen him and damn if he didn’t look good enough to eat. The stark contrast of the white shirt against his tanned skin made him look even more rugged and handsome in her mind.

He didn’t say a word but just stared at her for a long moment. The silence between them was finally getting to her. Elise opened her mouth to speak when he walked in the room and set down a manila envelope in front of her on the desk.

“Here’s the answer to both our problems. It’s more than generous. Read it. Sign it and let’s move on with our lives,” he finished in a brusque, cold tone before he turned on his booted heel and walked out of her office.

Her heart sank at the finality in his words, but it wasn’t until she opened the envelope and pulled out the documents with their official seals, stamps and signatures that her spirits plummeted to deeper depths.

Colt was once again offering to buy her half of the ranch, but what made her stomach feel as if she hadn’t eaten in a week—that empty, nausea in the pit-of-the-stomach feeling—was the copy of loan papers he had included to show her just how serious he was. He’d taken out a loan against his personal home and property in order to increase his offer to buy her out.

Elise knew how much Colt’s home meant to him, how he’d coveted that property as his and his alone. Knowing that, along with the fact he rarely brought women there, told her he saw his home as his personal haven. Now he’d taken a loan against his property, knowing full well he needed money to replace the entire fence around the Lonestar ranch next year along with other improvements.

Rubbing her temples, she stared at the papers, trying to understand how he could so easily throw away what they had and for what? An assumption, she
might
one day sell her half of the ranch to Jackson Riley?

Elise was so lost in her miserable thoughts she jumped when her phone rang. Grabbing the handset, she put it to her ear. “Hello?”

“G’day, mate. And in just what century did you plan to call me back?”

Elise straightened in her chair at the sound of Alex’s upbeat voice. She really needed a friend right now.

“Ah, Alex, you were supposed to call me, but I’m not complaining. You always know just when to call,” she sighed into the phone.

“That’s not sounding so good,” Alex’s tone turned serious. “What’s wrong?”

“Hold a sec,” Elise got up and closed her door, then returned to the phone to tell her friend the entire story.

After listening to Elise talk for forty minutes straight, Alex answered as she always did, to-the-point and full of honesty, “Sounds to me like you need to give Colt exactly what he wants.”

Elise’s entire body tensed at the advice she didn’t want to hear. “But-but, I don’t want to sell the ranch. I’d have no reason to stay… I love him, Alex.” And she did, damnit, even if that was the first time she admitted it aloud.

“Exactly my point,” her friend countered.

Confused, Elise frowned. “Um, I don’t get—”

“Give the bloke
what
he wants, Elise,” Alex insisted.

Alex always was more like a man in that respect, saying as little as possible to get her point across. Elise listened to the inflection in her friend’s voice and she finally got what Alex was trying to say.

She nodded as the hint of a smile tilted the corners of her lips. “Have I told you how much I miss not having you around?”

“Not in a while,” came her friend’s dry response, though Elise could practically “hear” the pleased smile that spread across her face.

“Then we’ll have to remedy that situation soon. Thank you for listening with an unbiased ear.”

“Any time, babe. Let’s not make it so long between talks next time, okay?”

“Maybe slow down on the world gallivanting then,” Elise teased back. Sobering, she promised with a smile, “Agreed,” before she hung up the phone.

* * * * *

The next day Colt entered the office exhausted. He hadn’t slept a wink last night and the two nights before that, he tossed and turned in bed until he gave up on sleep and got up in the wee hours of the morning.

Damn, he missed Elise. He missed her soft skin, her sighs of contentment when he pulled her close. More than anything he missed her company, her infectious laugh and her sassy smile.

The more he thought about missing her, the angrier he became with himself. He knew walking away now was the best thing for him, but damnit, she was the one woman who almost made him forget the wall he’d spent years building around his heart.

He didn’t even know for sure if she’d be in the office on Monday. For all he knew, she’d left with Jason. Yet he couldn’t help the skip in his heartbeat when he saw her car sitting outside the office yesterday. She’d stayed.

When he’d handed her the envelope and saw the look of unexpected confusion in her eyes, he’d almost yanked it back and tucked it under his arm. But before he gave in or said something stupid like, “I missed you last night,” he forced himself to leave the documents and walk away. And spent an entirely shitty day and night alone.

He hadn’t seen her car in its normal parking space outside the office this morning. Nodding to Mabel as he hung up his hat, he asked, “Have you seen Elise? She’s usually here by now.”

“She left the office around one-thirty yesterday,” she paused and gave him a puzzled look. “She hugged me and said ‘goodbye’ like…like she wasn’t coming back.”

Feeling tense, Colt continued into his office. Nothing was on his desk. Not a note. No signed papers. He poked his head back out to ask, “Did Elise leave anything for me? Any paperwork?”

Mabel didn’t look up from the letter she was writing. “No, nothing.”

Where was she? Had she really left already? he wondered as he turned back into his office. Damn he was tired. The whole lack of sleep over the weekend and then last night was getting to him. He’d been up since two this morning.

Maybe it was because he was going on fumes, but to hear that Elise hadn’t been back to work yesterday and then hadn’t come in this morning, the sense of panic that gripped him, the thought she’d left for good, that he might never see her one last time, made him feel sick to his stomach.

He sat down and rubbed his hands over his jaw to shake himself out of this melancholy mood. He’d tried to prepare himself by pushing her away instead of waiting for the day she might decide to leave on her own, but being faced with the reality of her absence… God, he’d never felt so alone. His house was achingly quiet, his bed too fuckin’ big. He missed her touch, her enticing smell, everything.

Crumpling some papers on his desk into a tight ball, he threw them in the trash and pushed thoughts of Elise to the back of his mind in order to concentrate on the office work that needed to be done.

After a frustrating and unproductive two hours, Colt glanced at the clock on his desk for the umpteenth time and finally gave up on the bills he’d been trying to work on. There were chores that still needed to be done around the ranch. He’d get those done and then, when he was too tired for his mind to wander, he’d get back to this paperwork. As he stood up he realized…if Elise really had left, he’d have to hire a webmaster to keep up with everything she’d done on the website. Another reason to miss her. Well, shit. Couldn’t he go more than five minutes without thinking about her?

Colt grabbed his Stetson and put it on his head as he closed the office door behind him. He’d just started to walk toward the stables when he looked up to see an Express carrier truck driving down the driveway leading to the ranch.

The driver pulled the red truck to a stop and hopped out, a friendly smile on his face. “Hi, I’m looking for Colt Tanner. I have an overnight delivery for him.”

Colt nodded. “I’m Colt Tanner.”

The young man smiled and handed him a clipboard for him to sign the paperwork. Once Colt signed, he passed him a bulky envelope.

Colt stared at the envelope as the driver started his truck and headed back down the driveway. Why did he feel like he was about to open divorce papers? His heart jerked when he saw the return address. Elise had sent the package from Virginia. Damn. She’d gone back home. To Jason.

His chest tightened and his stomach tensed as he leaned against the fence and opened the envelope. When he pulled out the paperwork and saw the counteroffer Elise had made on his original offer, he didn’t know what to think. She’d marked through his numbers and changed the sale price to one dollar. She’d sold her half of the Lonestar property back to him for a buck and had already signed over the ownership papers. Attached at the top of the paperwork was a short note from her.

Now that you are the sole owner, Riley will have no one to pit against the other for ownership of the Lonestar. I hope that gives you some peace from his antics.

The realization that the Lonestar was finally his, paled in comparison to his concern for her own financial situation. Where’d she plan to get the money she needed? The thought that she might have gotten the money from Jason made him clench his fist, crushing the papers in his hand.

Stay calm
, he thought.
She’s no longer yours
. You
let her go. Hell, you practically pushed her into Jason’s arms
, he berated himself.

When he started to put the paperwork back in the legal-sized envelope, Colt saw a smaller envelope inside it. Putting the documents inside the package, he withdrew the smaller envelope, then tucked the package under his arm.

On the outside of the sealed envelope, Elise had written his name. He felt something bulky inside the envelope and his hands shook as he ripped it open. Pulling out an antique, silver pocket watch, Colt frowned in confusion. Then he saw a folded note inside the envelope. Hoping the note would explain the watch he opened it.

Colt,

This silver pocket watch belonged to your mother’s father. Your mother gave it to me the day she left. She asked me to make sure you received it. She was afraid if she tried to give it to you, you’d refuse to accept it.

Damn straight
, he thought as he tossed the watch back inside the envelope, annoyed. But he read on, hoping Elise had left him a personal note since they didn’t get to say goodbye.

There’s something else I thought you should know. Your mother told me the one regret she had was that she gave up trying to see you and your brothers. She’d asked to see you several times, but your father had refused her, saying, “It’s not fair to the boys to see you unless you plan on staying.”

Call your mother, Colt.

Elise

Colt pulled the pocket watch back out of the envelope and opened it. His grandfather’s name was inscribed on the inside. Closing the watch, he gripped it in the palm of his hand as he looked out over the rolling hills of the Lonestar ranch.

His emotions ran the full spectrum from anger to resignation as he came to terms with the fact that he’d spent his whole life thinking his mother didn’t care a lick. One thing would never change…his mother had hurt his father, badly. He didn’t know that he could ever forgive her for that, but to know he and his brothers weren’t totally rejected by her for all those years made him feel a little less militant toward her.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts he didn’t see Marie drive up in her car until she shut her car door. The sound drew him out of his reverie.

Marie walked over and leaned on the fence. Tilting her head to the side, she glanced at the Express envelope tucked under his arm and said, “Elise came to see me yesterday to tell me what she planned to do with her inheritance. I don’t disagree with her decision. You deserve to own the Lonestar outright, Colt. You’ve paid your dues.”

Colt looked at her, confused by her statement. “Then why did you give your half to her in the first place?”

Marie turned to look out into the pastures, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Because she needed it and so did you,” she finished as she met his gaze once more.

Colt looked away, not wanting Marie to see the deep emotion in his expression. “Yeah, but she’s gone now. Back to Virginia.”

“You and my niece are well suited for each other.”

Surprised to hear her vying so much for them as a couple after he’d practically pushed Elise away, he gave a heavy sigh. “She went back to Jason, Marie.”

“And you’re just going to let her go? Give up on the woman you love that easily?”

At her assumption he loved Elise, Colt jerked his gaze back to her, frowning, ready to deny it. But he’d denied his feelings for long enough. Giving her a wry smile he replied, “I do love her.”

“Then either you stay here, keep that wall you’ve built around your heart and be miserable. Or you go get my niece and
tell
her how much you love her. It’s your choice, Colt.”

“She’s never said she loved me,” he said absently, not at all sure what kind of reception he could expect from Elise.

“All you had to do was see the way she looked at you,” Marie answered with confidence. As she turned to walk toward the ranch house, she finished, “I’ve been around the ranch long enough to know how to help out while you’re gone. Plus, Nan told me Mace is due back today, so between the two of us and Rick, we can hold down the fort. Don’t let her slip through your fingers.”

Colt’s gaze followed Marie as she entered the kitchen. When the door closed behind her, the impact of her words washed over him. Did Elise love him? She’d acted as though he meant a great deal to her. One thing he knew for sure…they
were
right for one another. No way in hell was that Yank getting his woman.