Chase 'n' Ana (15 page)

off himself.

“Then what is it?” she asked a split second before an ugly thought entered her

head. “It’s me, isn’t it? You’re embarrassed because of me. You didn’t want me to meet

your father. You’re…you’re ashamed of what’s happening between us.”

75

Ciana Stone

“No!” He turned and grabbed her by both arms. “No, Fancy. No. I’m not ashamed

of you. I’m ashamed of him.”

“Oh, Chase.” She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her face against his bare

chest. “There’s no need. People are who they are. I know that. And it doesn’t matter to

me who your father is or what he does or has done.”

“You don’t know him,” Chase replied. “He’s a hard bastard, Fancy. Wants to

control everyone’s lives. Make all the decisions.”

Ana drew back to look up at him. “Maybe. But he did one thing right, Chase. One

thing you have to be grateful for.”

“Yeah?”

“He gave you life,” she said softly. “And whether or not you appreciate that, it’s

something I’m more grateful to him for than I know how to say. Because without him

there would be no you.”

Chase stared at her for a long time, his thoughts turned inward. Finally the veil

lifted from his eyes and he leaned down to kiss her softly. “I know this isn’t the most

romantic time, Fancy, but it’s what we have and I have a need to say something to you.”

“What?” she whispered, her heart rate increasing and moisture dampening her

palms. Was he about to say he wanted her to leave?

“I love you and I don’t want to spend one day of the rest of my life without you. I

want to make a home with you, have a family with you and grow old with you. Will

you marry me, Ana?”

Ana’s heart literally skipped a beat. “Oh, Chase.” She stroked his face lovingly.

“More than anything I want to say yes.”

“But?” he asked.

“Well, technically I’m still married to Giovanni.”

Chase grinned in relief. “Whew! That’s all? Well, hell, that’s why God invented

lawyers, Fancy. And thanks to Charlie, I happen to know a real dilly of a lawyer.”

Ana threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Chase. Now take me inside to

have breakfast with my future father-in-law.”

Chase shook his head and hugged her tight. “One day you might cuss me for doing

that.”

“Well, then we’ll have some really good make-up sex once we’re finished hollering,

won’t we?”

Chase laughed and released her to take her hand. “Fancy, you are definitely one of

a kind.”

* * * * *

Chase’s father and his brothers were sitting at the kitchen table, while Chase stood

at the stove, flipping pancakes when Ana entered the room.

76

Chase ‘n’ Ana

“Hmmm, pancakes,” she said with a grin and went over to give Chase a kiss. “Just

what I’ve always dreamed of. A man who cooks.”

Chase grinned and nuzzled her neck, earning hoots from his brothers. “Perverts,”

he tossed over his shoulder at them then directed his attention to Ana. “Don’t guess you

want any bacon.”

“Most definitely not.” She shuddered and extricated herself from his embrace to

pour a cup of coffee.

“Good morning.” She smiled at the men seated at the table. “You don’t look worse

for wear,” she directed her comment to the brothers.

“Neither do you,” Cole replied with a grin. “You should’ve seen her, Pop. Riding

the bull.”

“The boys tell me that your granddaddy was Jonas Stillwater,” Charlie commented.

“Yes,” Ana replied with a smile and sipped at the coffee.

“Hell of a bull rider,” Charlie said. “I remember the nationals back in ‘62. He was

riding this mean sumbitch called Jed’s Revenge. No one had stayed on that bastard for

more than three seconds. Then Jonas came up. What a sight. He stayed on that bull for

the full eight seconds and then some. Never saw anything like it.”

“He was something,” Ana agreed.

“So Jonas passed on?”

“Um-hmm. Ten years ago.”

“Shame. How’d he go?”

“Trampled by a bull teaching some young bucks how to ride.”

Charlie shook his head. “Damn shame. But probably fittin’.”

“Probably,” she agreed.

“So you followed in his footsteps, did you?”

“No, not really.”

“But the boys said you were tearing up that mechanical bull last night.”

“That’s hardly the same as the real thing.”

“True. So what do you do, Miss Stillwater? And what brings you to these parts and

most specifically to my son’s house?”

You could have heard a pin drop. Ana didn’t think a single one of the boys even

breathed and Chase had gone completely still.

“Well, right now I’m in between jobs, Mr. Russell. I’ve done a lot of things, but

haven’t really settled on any one thing in particular. And I’m here because I ran away

from home and my car broke down on Highway 70. So I walked to town and Chase ran

over me with his truck and—”

“What?” Charlie bellowed.

“It isn’t like it sounds.” Chase turned from the stove.

77

Ciana Stone

“Then what the hell is it like?” Charlie’s voice took on a demanding tone.

“It was an accident,” Ana jumped in, speaking quietly.

Both men glared at one another for a moment then Charlie turned his attention to

her. “I wasn’t really paying attention,” she explained. “I was reading the job ads and

crossing the street, and Chase was trying to get his cell phone from Cody and we kind

of…collided.”

“So Chase runs over you and you just hop up and go play house with him?”

Ana didn’t care for the tone of Charlie’s voice. The previous good-natured countryboy charm had disappeared to be replaced by a rude, demanding tone and sour face.

Chase didn’t like the change in his father, either.

“Ana’s here at my asking,” he said in an angry voice. “And I won’t have you

insulting her either, you—”

“It’s okay, Chase,” Ana interrupted, and when he looked like he would argue,

added. “Please. I can fight my own battles.”

“Fine.” He turned back to the stove.

“It wasn’t anything like that, Mr. Russell.” She kept her voice low and calm, despite

the spiking tension in the room that was starting to claw at her composure. “I was taken

to the hospital where Chase was kind enough to sit with me until I regained

consciousness. Realizing that my purse had not been sent with me and was nowhere to

be found, I was without means and he graciously offered to let me work for him until I

earned enough to get my car repaired and—”

“That’s what you call what I saw?” Charlie barked. “Work?”

His tone and rudeness ate into her resolve to be nice. “Of course not. What you saw

was—”

“Was some whore fucking my son on a horse, thinking she’d get her hooks in him

and take what I’ve worked goddamn hard to—”

The dishes on the table started to rattle and jump. Cody barked and ran to Ana’s

side, lowering his head and growling menacingly at Charlie. Ana stood, her fingertips

resting on the table.

“Mr. Russell, I don’t know about the world you live in, but where I come from we

believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt. It’s true that I’m living in your son’s

house, on his charity and I’m grateful for that. And yes, it’s true you happened upon a

moment between Chase and me this morning that you weren’t supposed to see. But

what you saw was not a service being provided. It was a healthy expression of sexuality

between two consenting adults and only someone with a very dirty mind and

mistrustful nature would think otherwise.”

“I saw what I saw and heard from your own lips, missy,” Charlie bellowed and

started to rise from his chair. “And if you think for one red-hot minute that I’m—”

78

Chase ‘n’ Ana

“Shut up!” Chase stood, challenging his father. “This is my house and my life. I

make my own way and don’t answer to you for who is or is not welcome in my home.

And she is. So, you don’t like it, old man? Then get out.”

Charlie opened his mouth as if to argue then looked at Chase’s brothers. “I ‘spect

you at work in an hour.” With that he stomped out.

“Chase, don’t let him leave like this,” Ana pleaded. “Please, I can’t be the cause of

the rift between you getting wider.”

“Leave it be, Ana,” Chase said in a firm but resolute tone.

She didn’t argue, but got up and left the room. It was not over. Not by a long shot.

There was trouble to come, and she had to decide whether she needed to stay and fight,

or walk and prevent the pain that was headed their way.

Ana went to her room, closed and locked the door, leaning back against it and

closing her eyes. “Somebody help,” she whispered. “I don’t want to cause Chase pain.

What do I do?”

A soft, unfamiliar voice whispered in her mind and Ana’s eyes flew open. Suddenly

she knew who the things in the room belonged to and where she would find help. The

question was how to go about it without anyone finding out.

79

Ciana Stone

Chapter Eleven

Ana watched Chase’s truck until it disappeared from sight then turned to go back

inside. The past week had been rough for him and she had tried not to make it rougher.

The rift with Charlie gnawed at him more than he wanted her to know, but she’d

wakened too often in the middle of the night to find him staring at the ceiling to believe

that it didn’t matter.

He had been moody, quiet, and now was on his way to a rodeo in Sedona. He’d

invited her to go but she had declined, saying that she wasn’t feeling all that well.

Which was not entirely a lie. She wasn’t physically sick, but she was starting to be

worried sick about him.

Chase offered to stay home but she encouraged him to go and told him it would do

him good. Besides, she’d told him that Clay had entered the bull-riding competition

and it would be good for Chase to be there to cheer him on.

In the end he had given in, promising to be back the next day. Ana assured him she

would be fine.

Now she ran for the phone, fumbling in the pocket of her jeans for the phone

number.

It rang twice before Cole answered. “Yeah?”

“Hey, it’s Ana.”

“Hey there, sexy. Let me guess, Chase just left and you can’t wait for me to

skedaddle on over there.”

She laughed at his carrying-on. “So now you’re psychic, eh?”

“A man can dream,” he said and laughed along with her. “So you ready to put Plan

A into effect?”

“As ready as I’ll get.”

“Good deal. We’ll be there inside an hour.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

She hung up and looked around. The place was as neat as a pin. Nothing out of

place, so nothing to straighten up. To keep busy she watered the horses, again, played

fetch with Cody and Fergi for half an hour then went inside, took a quick shower and

dressed in one of her most conservative peasant blouses and skirts with a wide leather

belt secured around her slim waist.

She was finishing tea when she heard the vehicle. Ana ran to the door and stepped

out onto the porch. True to his word, there was Cole, helping a very attractive middleaged woman from the truck.

80

Chase ‘n’ Ana

He grabbed a basket from the seat and escorted the woman to the house. Ana saw

the woman sizing her up as she approached, and stepped down off the porch to greet

her. “Miss Mahoney,” she said with a smile. “Thank you for coming.”

Clara looked Ana straight in the eye and held her gaze for a long time. She hadn’t

been sure at all about meeting the Jezebel Charlie had been cussing and stomping about

for the past week. If she was half as bad as Charlie claimed, Clara might just have to

shoot her. No one preyed on her boys, and while he might be a grown man, Chase was

as much her boy as any child could be.

Had it not been for the twins and Caleb, Clara would have found a way to run Ana

out of town behind Chase’s back. But the other boys swore Ana was a stand-up woman

and nothing like Charlie claimed. Clara figured she owed it to Chase to find out for

herself.

Clara nodded to Ana and gestured to Cole for the basket. “I brought apple spice

cake and a blueberry pie you can put in the freezer for Chase. It’s his favorite.”

“Thank you,” Ana replied and gestured to the house. “Come in. I’ve made tea.”

They all went into the kitchen where the tea service was sitting on the table. Ana

saw Clara pause when she saw the service. She’d found it in the pantry, wrapped in

cloth in a box. When she asked Chase about it, he’d told her that it had belonged to his

mother. Clara had told him that the one civilized thing about Charity Hawks was her

appreciation of good tea. Apparently they had made a habit of sharing tea before

Charity died.

“Please.” Ana gestured to the table and took a seat herself. “That apple spice cake

smells like heaven. Do you mind if we have some with tea?”

“Fine,” Clara said as she took a seat.

“Cole, would you get a knife from the rack?” Ana asked as she poured the tea. She

passed a cup to Clara.

Clara sniffed at it and looked up at Ana in surprise. “Bewley’s?” she asked.

“Hmmm.” Ana smiled. “I hope that’s okay. I find it to be the most satisfying

breakfast tea I’ve ever had. Chase was kind enough to special order it for me.

“Oh, thank you,” she said with a smile as Cole put the knife on the table. “Miss