You're Gone (Finding Solid Ground) (4 page)

“
I’m being realistic.”

“
I still think he’s scorching hot. No matter what you say, you
can’t
change that fact,” she replied with a sly smile, reaching up to poke Jamie in the ribs.

Tying a Windsor knot was not one of Jamie’s job requirements. However, wearing a suit to the office was status quo. He stood in front of the antique full-length mirror in Charleigh’s bedroom
struggling with a blue Armani tie. It was his bedroom, too, now. Jamie was going to have to get used to calling it that.

Today was his first official day at an architectural firm in Dallas called Crane and Macmillan, a division of Davidson and Associates. Instead of working in the accounting department as he had at the headquarters in New York, Jamie would be working under Daniel Crane as his protege, learning everything he needed to know about the world of architectural development and design. It was a position basically on the nadir. A gofer. An errand boy more or less, but Jamie was happy that he still had a job with his family
’s company.

His family
’s company? No, that wasn’t right. His father was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Davidson and Associates, but Charleigh owned it as far that went, with a controlling ninety-four percent.
Her
parents had dug
his
grandfather out of a hole twenty years before when he decided to take Davidson global. They saved Gerald Davidson from spending the rest of his life turning boulders into pebbles at some federal penitentiary by investing in the company.

Greg had explained the situation at length to him the night of Jenna
’s debutante ball, before his final departure from the city the next morning. Because Jamie was going to propose marriage to Charleigh, his father had felt it was only right for him to know that she would play an important role in the company’s dealings, whether or not she accepted.

Charleigh never mentioned it. Knowing her, it wasn
’t because she wanted to keep it from him, but because she didn’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill. It probaly didn’t even occur to her. She had too many other things to worry about. Like running the feed store. Taking care of his grandmother’s horses, and now her own herd of Thoroughbreds. Planning their upcoming wedding.

He stopped fiddling with the tie to look past his reflection. Charleigh was perched on the edge of the bed beside a sleeping Amos, painting her toenails a deep purple color. A plush, green towel was wrapped around her still damp hair, since they’d gotten out of the shower only a short time earlier. The black, silk kimono hung loosely from her body, and he could see the pink lace of her underwear peeking out.

She could feel Jamie watching her. Tilting her head slightly to meet his gaze, a slight smile spread across her lips. Jamie saw a twinkle in her emerald green eyes, and he wondered what it meant, what she was thinking.

Wordlessly, Charleigh carefully scooted herself off the bed, not wanting to get the polish on the duvet cover or smudge her masterpiece. She came up behind him.

“Need some help with that?” She was standing awkwardly on the heels of her feet.

Jamie’s hands dropped to his sides. “I can never get these knots right.”

Staying where she was, Charleigh slipped her arms beneath his and brought them up to make a perfect knot, with only one try. She brought her arms down to encircle Jamie’s waist and tightened her hold. They stayed that way for a long moment, looking at one another in the mirror. He was full head taller than Charleigh, her head only came up as high as his shoulder.

They were a mismatch pair—
from two completely different worlds— but they were also perfect for one another in so many ways. The couple looked good together. Jamie was tall and muscular, with broad shoulders and chiseled features. Charleigh was average height, with soft, but firm features. Buxom or busty were also good ways to describe her. They were good for one another. They were happy together. Each was that essential, missing piece that complemented the other and made them whole.

Charleigh closed her eyes, breathing in the masculine scent of cologne and soap. It was her favorite scent in the world. And it conjured images in her mind of earlier as Jamie soaped her back in the shower.
             

“Nervous?” She asked. Her eyes lazily opened to meet with his.

He swallowed hard. “Now that you mention it. Thanks, Char.”

“Don’t worry about it. They have to be nice to you because you’re the boss’s son.”

“I’m also the future husband of the head honcho.” Jamie gauged her response as they watched each other in the mirror. For some reason, Charleigh didn’t seem the least bit surprised that he knew. “Are you mad because Dad told me?”

“I
asked
Greg to tell you,” She sighed. “I didn’t want anyone to know at first. I didn’t know anything about the agreement my parents had made with your grandfather all those years ago. Not until the night we went to the club, when the bartender said something that about the firm, and your dad enlightened me on the details. It took me by complete surprise. But up until a week ago, we weren’t together. I didn’t think it made a difference.” Jamie turned to face her.

“It still doesn’t change anything.”

Charleigh shrugged and nodded at the same time. “But you needed to know because I wanted to work with you on a project for my dad. A summer camp. I didn’t know how to tell you about the… I couldn’t find you, and so I talked to your dad.”

“You knew that I was in town, then? Did Dad also tell you what I had planned? About the ring and us.”

“He told me that you were moving to Dallas to work in the offices there. I asked him to tell you. To explain that I didn’t want anything to change with Davidson. I didn’t want on a coup d’état. Like I don’t have enough on my plate already. Running a multi-billion dollar conglomerate is
not
on my list of things to do in my life.” She began to chew on her bottom lip. “I hoped you’d come back because you wanted to be with me, but I didn’t know for sure. I had no idea that you were planning to ask me to marry you.”

“It still doesn’t change anything,” Jamie repeated. He reached out to cup her cheek in the palm of his hand. “I’d still love you even if you were just a millionaire-horse-breeder-slash-shopkeeper instead of a
billionaire
horse-breeder-slash-shopkeeper-slash-multi-national-business-heiress.”

“That’s really nice to know, because I love you, too.” Charleigh touched his hand with one of her own. “But you’re never going to make it to downtown Dallas through the morning rush unless you leave now.”

***

             
Charleigh was sitting in her office when Dillon came to see if she could lend him a hand. Sam Gregory had brought a load of bull calves into the clinic that he needed to be wormed and cut.
Oh, lovely!
It was her most favorite—
Yeah, right!
— task to perform on any male animal. Especially on ones that weighed twice as much as she did.

“
Where’s Sidney?” She asked, taking off her glasses. Invoices and paperwork were a close second on the list.

“She’s working in the OR with Jared. Somebody brought a stray dog in that got run over. They’re having to amputate one of the front legs.”

“Preston?”

“He’s in with Everett. Emergency Caesarean on Amelia Rowan’s Dachshund.”

“Eric?”

             
“Same.”

She went down a long list of employees. Dillon had an answer for everyone. “There’s no one else?”

“Expect for John or the office staff, there’s only you.” He smiled when Charleigh rolled her eyes.

“Okay.” She shook her head, rose from the chair. “Okay, let’s go. You owe me, Dillon Hodge. You owe me big time.”

“Fine,” he said over his shoulder, “Just tell me where you’ve registered for wedding gifts. The biggest, most expensive item is on me.”

“I haven’t registered yet, but I’ll keep that in mind when I do. Thanks.”

There were twelve calves. It took two hours to wrestle the poor, scared, crazy things into the shoot and do what needed to be done. By the time it was over, Charleigh was sunburned. She’d been stepped on and fallen on. Cow manure was smeared all over her scrubs. Luckily it was high noon, time for lunch, when they stepped back into the cool, air-conditioned building. Unfortunately, she had no appetite for food.

“I was wondering what you and Jamie had planned for an engagement party?” Madie asked when she came into the office in her horse stable. She found Charleigh leaned back in the chair, with her feet propped up on the desk, eyes closed.

“I, uh…” The young woman wasn’t asleep, but she was pretty close. Charleigh put her feet on the floor, taking a moment to clear the clouds away from her mind. She yawned, “We haven’t thought about it. We haven’t even talked about a date for the wedding yet.”

“I know it might be a little soon, but Lenore, John, and I have tossed around a few things. We want to host the engagement party here at the ranch, if neither you nor Jamie minds.” Madie sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “Talk about a date and what you want, and we’ll take care of the rest.”

“It’s not a big deal. Something simple would be fine, Madie.”

“It certainly is a big deal, doll. My oldest grandchild is getting married. Unfortunately, we’re going to want both sides of the family there, though.”

Charleigh’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think Claudia knows about…”

“Well, probably not. I’m sure we would’ve heard from Greg if she’d had a stroke.” The older woman shrugged. “It doesn’t make a difference, at any rate.”

“You better believe she’ll have something to say about her son marrying ‘that girl,’ Madie. Claudia
hates
me. She—”

“She is an awful woman, Charleigh. I’ve never understood what my son saw in her.”

“Oh, well. I guess I’ll have Jamie call his mother. Maybe he can get Kevin or Jenna to tell her.”

             
“I wouldn’t count on that, dear. She scares those poor kids to death.” Madie laughed, standing up.

Just as Madie was leaving, Charleigh’s cell phone began to ring. She looked at the caller id to find that it was Jamie.

“Hi, there,” she answered it. “How’s it going?”

“Terror-ific, focusing on the terror part.” Jamie sounded just as much. “I went to lunch with my bosses, and I told a bad joke. You can guess what happened next.”

“Dead air, huh?”

“Nothing. Not even a courtesy laugh. It was humiliating.”

Charleigh got up from the chair. She walked out into the main corridor of the stable and looked around. She was completely alone. “Luckily for you that you’re banging the boss, then.”

“Yeah. No kidding,” he sighed.

“Oh, don’t worry so much about it. I’m sure you’re doing better than that.”

“I don’t have as much confidence in myself.”

Charleigh could hear the frustration in Jamie’s voice as she walked down toward the rear stalls. Cassiopeia, a sorrel brooding mare, was the only horse still in the stable because she was nearing her due date. Charleigh didn’t like the idea of the horse getting out in the pasture somewhere when she began to foal.

“It’ll all come out in the wash, honey. Don’t worry, okay?” She gently ran a hand down the horse’s face.

“Yeah, I guess. I got to go. See you at home later?”

The sound of the large back door opening made Charleigh turn around to see who it was. She’d expected to see Cordell or one of the other ranch hands. It was like a punch in the solar plexus to see the person who was standing in the open doorway. Why did Gavin come there? What did he want? She turned and retreated back to the office.

“Charleigh? Charleigh, are you still there?” Jamie asked, thinking the cell phone reception had been cut off.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m still here. I’ll see you at home.” She was almost breathless.

“I love you.”

At that moment, Gavin appeared in the doorway, holding a halter and lead rope. His face held an expression that made Charleigh squirm uncomfortably.

“I love you, too.” She snapped the phone shut, looked at Gavin.

“I can’t find the saddles,” Gavin spoke up. “Gram said they were all in the new tack room, but I’m not exactly sure where that is.”

What was Charleigh supposed to do? She wasn’t quite sure what to say to him. After everything, she’d come to understand that they just weren’t meant to be together, and she was happier with Jamie than she’d ever been with Gavin, but could they really be civil to one another? After all the schemes the man had pulled? Maybe if a miracle occurred, but Charleigh wasn’t holding her breath.

She could only nod, standing up to lead him toward his destination. They walked in silence to the tack room. Gavin followed a few steps behind. Charleigh wasn’t sure what to say to him.
Did
she have anything to say to Gavin?

When they reached the door, she opened it, standing back to let him go inside.

“So, I hear you and my cousin are getting hitched,” Gavin said as she went to walk away.

“Yeah, I’m hoping this one will stick.”
Oh, God! Did I really say that out loud?

“Maybe. At least one of us deserves to be happy, you know.” He looked over the saddles.