In Bed With The Wrangler

Five

In Royce’s mind, the issue was far from settled.

The storm had passed, leaving a bright moon behind. He closed the office door behind him for privacy, leaving Amber and Stephanie chatting out on the veranda, puppies scampering around them. He, on the other hand, flipped on the bright overhead light and crossed to the leather desk chair, snagging the desk phone and punching in Barry’s home number.

It was nearly midnight in Chicago, but he didn’t give a damn. Let the man wake up.

“Hello?” came a groggy, masculine voice.

“Barry?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Royce Ryder.”

“Yes?” A shot of energy snapped into Barry’s voice. “Anything wrong, Royce?”

There was plenty wrong. “Were you able to give Amber the information she needed?”

A pause. “I believe I did. Sally can cover anything else in the morning.”

Royce waited a beat. “When I called you earlier, it wasn’t because I wanted her to talk to Sally in the morning.” Full stop. More silence.

“Oh. Well…I assumed-”

“Did you or did you not answer Amber’s questions?” Royce repeated. And he could almost hear the wheels spinning inside Barry’s head.

“I don’t think you did,” Royce said into the silence. “And the reason I don’t think you did is because I was sitting right next to her during the call, and she didn’t get a chance to ask you any questions.” Once again, he stopped, giving Barry an opportunity to either contribute or sweat.

Hesitation was evident in the man’s voice. “Did she…Mmm. Is she there?”

“No. She’s not here. It’s eleven o’clock. The woman’s not working at eleven o’clock.”

Silence.

“Here’s my suggestion,” said Royce. “To solve the problem. You hop on a plane in the morning. The corporate jet is unavailable, so you’ll have to fly commercial. I’m thinking coach.” He picked up an unopened envelope from the desktop and tapped it against the polished oak surface, dropping all pretence of geniality. “You get your ass to the ranch, and you apologize to Ms. Hutton. Then you answer any and all of her questions.”

“I…But…Did you say Hutton?”

“David Hutton’s daughter. But that couldn’t matter less.”

“Royce. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize-”

“Apologize to her.”

“Of course.”

“You’ll be here tomorrow?”

“As soon as I can get there.”

Satisfied, Royce disconnected. Amber only needed to be sure funds would be available in the account. But that wasn’t the point anymore.

He gazed at the envelope in his hand. It was windowed. From North Pass Feed. Typical bill.

Curious after Amber’s concern about his credit rating, he slit it open. Then he glanced through the other piles she’d made, arming himself with some basic information on the ranch expenses.

Half an hour later, he thought he had a picture of the accounts payable situation, so he headed back down the hallway to find Amber and Stephanie in the front foyer.

Stephanie was on her way out the door, and she gave him a quick kiss and a wave before piling into a pickup truck to head for home. As he closed the door behind her, the empty house seemed to hold its breath with anticipation.

Amber looked about as twitchy as he felt.

“You want to talk about Barry?” she asked, moving from the foyer into the great room.

“Taken care of,” he answered, following a few paces behind her, letting his gaze trickle from her shoulders to her narrow waist, to her sexy rear end and the shapely thighs that were emphasized by her snug-fitting blue jeans.

She twisted her head. “What do you mean?”

“He’ll be here in the morning.”

She turned fully then. “I don’t understand.”

“He’s coming by to apologize. And to answer your questions in person.”

Her eyes widened in shock, red lips coming open in a way that was past sexy. “You didn’t.”

“He insisted.”

“He did not.”

Royce moved closer. “I suspect he understood the stakes.”

She tipped her chin. “I don’t need somebody to travel a thousand miles to offer me an insincere apology.”

“But I do.”

She didn’t appear to have a comeback for that, and it was all he could do not to lean in for a kiss. She looked as if she wanted one. Her lips were full, eyes wide, body tipped slightly forward. If this was any other woman, at any other time…

But she’d made her position clear.

And he’d respect that.

Unless and until she told him otherwise.

Midday sun streaming through the ranch office window, Amber clicked through the headlines of a national news station on the office computer, reflecting with curiosity that she didn’t feel out of touch with the rest of the world. She’d become a bit of a news junkie while finishing her degree, always on the lookout for emerging issues that might impact on her research. Having gone cold turkey in Montana, she should have missed watching world events unfold.

Of course, she had been a little distracted-okay, a lot distracted by a sexy cowboy who was quickly making her forget there was a world outside the Ryder Ranch.

She’d half expected him to kiss her last night.

He’d stared down at her with those intense blue eyes, nostrils slightly flared, hands bunched into fists, and the muscles in his neck bulging in relief against his skin. She’d imagined him leaning down, planting his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into paradise all over again.

But then he’d backed off, and she hadn’t been brave enough to protest.

Now she sighed with regret as she clicked the mouse, bringing up a live news broadcast from a Chicago network. The buffer loaded, and the announcer carried on with a story about a local bridge repair.

She turned back to the desk, lifting the stack that was the day’s mail. Barry Brewster hadn’t arrived to confirm the bank balance yet, so she couldn’t make any progress paying the backlog of bills.

Truth was, she was dreading the man’s arrival. No matter what he said or did, it was going to be embarrassing all around. Royce might think she needed an apology, but Amber had spent most of her life with people being polite to her because they either admired or were afraid of her father or Hargrove. She didn’t need the same thing from Barry today.

“The Governor’s Office can no longer get away with dodging the issue of Chicago’s competitiveness.” The familiar voice startled Amber. She whirled to stare at the computer screen, where a news clip showed Hargrove posed in front of the Greenwood Financial Tower with several microphones picking up his words.

“His performance at the conference was shameful,” Hargrove continued. “If our own governor won’t stand up for the citizens of Chicago, I’d like to know who will.”

Guilt percolated through Amber, and she quickly shut off the sound. She watched his face a few seconds longer, telling herself her actions had been defensible. If she’d stayed, she’d probably be standing right next him, holding his hand, the stalwart little fiancée struggling to come to terms with her role in his life.

He looked good on camera. Then, he’d always had a way with reporters, dodging their pointed questions without appearing rude, making a little information sound like a detailed dissertation. It was the reason the party was grooming him for the election.

A child shouted from outside the window, and Amber concentrated on the sound, forcing her mind from the worry about Hargrove to the seclusion of the ranch. Then another child shouted, and a chorus of cheers went up. Curious, she wandered to the window to look out.

Off to the left, on a flat expanse of lawn, a baseball game was underway. It was mostly kids of the ranch staff, but there were a few adults in the field. And there in the center, pitching the baseball, was Royce. She smiled when he took a few paces forward, lobbing a soft one to a girl who couldn’t have been more than eight.

The girl swung and missed, but then she screwed her face up in defiance and positioned herself at the plate, tapping the bat on the white square in front of her. Royce took another step forward.

Amber smiled, then she glanced one more time at Hargrove on the computer screen-her old life.

As the days and hours had slipped by, she’d become more convinced that her decision was right. She had no intention of going back to her old life. And she owed it to Hargrove to make that clear.

She searched for her cell phone on the desktop, powered it up and dialed his number.

“Hargrove Alston,” he answered.

“Hargrove? It’s Amber.”

Silence.

“I wanted to make sure you weren’t worried about me,” she began.

“I wasn’t worried.” His tone was crisp.

“Oh. Well, that’s good. I’m glad.”

“Your parents told me you were fine, and that you’d taken the trouble to contact them.”

Amber clearly heard the “while you didn’t bother to contact me” message underlying his words.

“Are you over your tantrum, then?” he asked.

She couldn’t help but bristle. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

“I think you’re behaving like a child.”

She gritted her teeth.

“You missed the Chamber of Commerce speech,” he accused.

“I hear you didn’t,” she snarked in return.

Another silence. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Honestly, Amber.”

“Forget it. Of course you gave the speech. It was an important speech.”

Her words seemed to mollify him. “Will you be ready in time for dinner, then? Flannigan’s at eight with the Myers.”

Amber blinked in amazement at the question. She’d been gone for three days. She’d broken off their engagement.

“I’m not coming to dinner,” she told him carefully.

He gave a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “Is this about the Switzerland trip?”

“Of course not.”

“I explained why I had to go alone.”

“This is about a fundamental concern with our compatibility as a couple.”

“You sound like a self-help book.”

Amber closed her eyes and counted to three. “I’m breaking our engagement, Hargrove. I’m truly sorry if I hurt you.”

A flare of anger crept into his tone. “I wish you’d get over this mood.”

“This isn’t something I’m going to get over.”

“Do you have any idea how embarrassing this could get?”

“I’m sorry about that, too. But we can’t get married to keep from being embarrassed.” She flicked a gaze to the baseball game, watching two colorful young figures dash around the bases.

“Are you trying to punish me?” asked Hargrove, frustration mounting in his tone. “Do you want me to apologize for…” He paused. “I don’t know. Tell me what you think I’ve done?”

“You haven’t done anything.”

“Then get ready for dinner,” he practically shouted.

“I’m not in Chicago.”

He paused. “Where are you?”

“It doesn’t-”

“Seriously, Amber. This is getting out of hand. I don’t have time to play-”

“Goodbye, Hargrove.”

“Don’t you dare-”

She quickly tapped the end button then shut down the power on her phone. Talking around in circles wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

She defiantly stuffed the phone into her pocket and drew a deep breath. After the tense conversation, the carefree baseball game was like a siren’s call. Besides, it was nearly lunchtime, and she was tired of looking at numbers.

Determinedly shaking off her emotional reaction to the fight with Hargrove, she headed outside to watch.

Stephanie was standing at the sidelines.

“Looks like fun,” said Amber, drawing alongside and opening the conversation. She inhaled the fresh air and let the cheerfulness of the crowd seep into her psyche.

“Usually it’s just the kids,” Stephanie told her. “But a lot of the hands are down from the range today, and Royce can’t resist a game. And once he joined in, well…” She shrugged at the mixed-age crowd playing and watching.

A little girl made it to first, and a cocky, teenage boy swaggered up to the plate, reversing his baseball cap and pointing far out to right field with the tip of his bat.

Royce gave the kid an amused shake of his head, walked back to the mound and smacked the ball into the pocket of his worn glove. Then he shook his head in response to the catcher’s hand signals. Royce waited, then smiled, and nodded his agreement to the next signal.

He drew back, bent his leg and delivered a sizzling fastball waist high and over the plate. The batter swung hard but missed. Royce chuckled, and the kid stepped out of the batter’s box, adjusting his cap then scuffing his runners over the dirt at home plate.

“That’s Robbie Nome,” Stephanie informed her. “He’s at that age, constantly challenging the hands.”

“How old?” asked Amber, guessing sixteen or seventeen.

“Seventeen,” Stephanie confirmed. “They usually settle down around eighteen. But there’s a hellish year there in between while their brain catches up to their size and their testosterone level.” She shook her head as Robbie swung and missed a second time.

“Royce seems pretty good,” Amber observed, watching him line up for another pitch. She knew she was staring way too intently at him, but she couldn’t help herself.

He was dressed in faded jeans, a steel-gray T-shirt and worn running shoes. His bare arms were deeply tanned, and his straight, white teeth shone with an infectious grin.

“He played in the College World Series.”

“Pitcher?” asked Amber, impressed.

“First base.”

Royce rocketed in a third pitch, and the batter struck out.

The outfielders let out a whoop and ran for the sidelines. The shoulders of the girl on first base slumped in dejection. Royce obviously noticed. He cut to her path, whispered something in her ear and ruffled her short, brown hair. She smiled, and he gave her a playful high five.

Then he spotted Amber and Stephanie, and made a beeline for them. Amber’s chest contracted, and her heart lifted at the thought that his long strides were meant to bring him closer to her.

His gaze flicked to Stephanie but then settled back on Amber.

“Impressive,” she complimented as he drew near.

He shrugged. “They’re kids.”

Stephanie held out her hand, and Royce smacked the glove into her palm. “You want to play?” she asked Amber.

Amber shook her head. “I need to get back to work.” Then, as Stephanie trotted toward the outfield, she confided in Royce. “I’ve never been much of an athlete.”

His gaze traveled her body. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“Pilates and a StairMaster.”

“I bet you’d be a natural at sports.”

“We’re not about to find out.” She’d never swung a bat in her life. There were eight-year-olds out there who would probably show her up.

“I’d lob you a soft one,” Royce offered, beneath the cheers and calls from the teams.

“Think I’ll stick to bookkeeping.”

He sobered. “You worked all morning?”

She nodded.

“Anything interesting?”

She shook her head. Actually, she’d found a couple of strange-looking payments in the computerized accounting system. But they were probably nothing, so she didn’t want to bother Royce with that. And she sure wasn’t about to tell him about her conversation with Hargrove.

“You surprise me,” he said in an intimate tone.

“How so?”

“I had you pegged for a party girl.”

“No kidding,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at his understatement.

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

She looked him straight on. “Yeah, you did.”

He raked a hand through his sweat-damp hair, giving a sheepish smile. “Okay, I did for a while. But I got over it.”

She paused, debating for a few silent seconds, but then deciding she was going to quit censoring herself. “So,” she dared, with a toss of her hair. “What do you think of me now?”

His eyes danced, reflecting the color of the endless summer sky. “It could go one of two ways.”

“Which are?”

“Royce!” someone called. “You’re on deck.”

He twisted his head to shout over his shoulder. “Be right there.” Then he turned back, slowly contemplating her.

“Well?” she prompted, ridiculously apprehensive.

His hand came up to cup her chin, his thumb and forefinger warm against her skin. “You’re either shockingly ingenuous or frighteningly cunning.” But his tone took the sting out of the labels.

“Neither of those are complimentary,” she pointed out, absorbing the sparks from his touch.

His tone went low. “But both are very sexy.”

Then his hand dropped away, and he turned to the game, trotting toward the batter’s box as a player took a base hit.

Amber skipped down the staircase, recalling Royce smacking a three-base hit, bringing ten-year-old Colby Jones home to win the game by one run. She and Stephanie had decided to dress up for dinner, and she wore a white, spaghetti-strap cocktail dress and high-heeled sandals. She rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs and caught sight of him in a pressed business suit. He was even sexier now than he’d been this afternoon in his T-shirt and jeans.

And he didn’t look out of place in the rustic setting. She was glad she’d gone with the dress.

His gaze caught hers, dark and brooding, and she faltered on her high heels. This afternoon, he’d been almost playful. Had she done something to annoy him?

And then she caught sight of the second man, nearly as tall as Royce, somewhat thinner, his suit slightly wrinkled at the elbows and knees. The man turned at the sound of her footsteps, and she knew it had to be Barry Brewster. His jaw was tight, and beads of sweat had formed on his brow.

“Ms. Hutton,” Royce intoned. “This is Barry Brewster. You spoke to him on the phone last night.”

Amber fought an urge to laugh. The whole charade suddenly struck her as ridiculous. “Mr. Brewster,” she said instead, keeping her face straight as she came to a stop and held out her hand.

“Barry, please.”

“You can call me Amber.”

“No, he can’t.”

“Royce, please.”

But Royce didn’t waver, shoulders square, expression stern.

“Ms. Hutton,” Barry began, obviously not about to run afoul of his boss. “Please accept my apology. I was rude and insulting last night. I am, of course, available for anything you might need.”

The irritation in his eyes belied the geniality of his tone. But then she hadn’t expected him to be sincere about this.

“Thank you,” she said simply. “I do have a couple of questions.” She looked to Royce. “Should we sit down?”

“Unnecessary. Barry won’t be staying.”

“This is ridicul-”

Royce’s hard expression shut her up, and she silently warned herself not to get on his bad side.

“I was hoping you could tell me the balance in the ranch bank account,” she said to Barry. “There are a number of unpaid bills, so I wondered-”

“You don’t need a reason to ask for the bank balance,” Royce cut in.

“I’d need to look it up,” said Barry, shifting from one black loafer to the other. He flexed his neck to one side and straightened the sleeves of his suit.

“So, look it up,” said Royce.

“I don’t have access to the server.”

“Call someone who does.”

Barry hesitated. “It’s pretty late.”

“Your point?”

“I guess I could try to catch Sally.” With a final pause, Barry reached into his pocket for his phone.

While he dialed, Amber moved closer to Royce, turning her back on Barry.

“Is this completely necessary?” she hissed.

“I thought you wanted the bank balance.”

“I do.”

“Then it’s completely necessary.”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“Let me handle this.”

She took in the determined slant to Royce’s chin while Barry’s voice droned on in the background.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked.

“No.”

“You can be a real hard-ass, you know that?”

“He insulted you.”

“I’m a big girl. I’m over it.”

“That’s not the point.”

She fought against a sudden grin at his need to get in the last word. “Do you ever give up?”

“No.”

Barry cleared his throat, and Amber smoothly turned back to face him.

“Sally is looking into the overdraft and the line of credit to see where-”

“The balance,” said Royce.

Barry’s neck took on a ruddy hue, and he tugged at the white collar of his shirt. “It’s, uh, complicated.”

“I’m an intelligent man, and Amber has an honors degree.”

Barry’s gaze flicked to Amber, and she could have sworn she saw panic in its depths.

“I’d really rather discuss-”

“The balance,” said Royce.

Barry drew a terse breath. “At the moment, the account is overdrawn.”

There were ten full seconds of frozen silence.

Stephanie entered the room from the kitchen, stopping short as she took in the trio.

“Say again?” Royce widened his stance.

“There’s been…That is…” This time when Barry glanced at Amber, he seemed to be pleading for help. There was no help she could give him. She didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Royce’s voice went dangerously low. “Why didn’t you transfer something from corporate?”

Barry tugged at his collar again. “The China deal.”

“What about the China deal?” Royce asked carefully. “Was the transfer held up?”

Barry swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing, voice turning to a raspy squeak. “The paperwork. From Cheng Li. It didn’t make the deadline.”

Stephanie’s eyes went wide, while Royce cocked his head, brows creasing. “They assured me the fax would go through.”

“It did. But…well…”

Royce crossed his arms over his chest.

“Our acknowledgment,” said Barry. “The time zone difference.”

“You didn’t send the acknowledgment?”

“End of day. Chicago time.”

“You missed the deadline?” Royce’s voice was harsh with disbelief.

“I’ve been trying to fix it for thirty-six hours.”

Royce took a step forward. “You missed a fifty-million-dollar deadline?”

Barry’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“And you didn’t call me?” Royce’s voice was incredulous now.

“I was trying to fix-”

“Yesterday,” Royce all but shouted, index finger jabbing in Barry’s direction. “Yesterday, I could have called Jared at his hotel. Today, he’s on a sailboat somewhere in the South Pacific. You have…” Royce raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know how much money you’ve lost.”

“I-”

“What in the hell happened?”

“It was the time zones. Technology. The language barrier.”

“You are so fired.”

Amber’s gaze caught Stephanie’s. She felt desperate for an exit. She didn’t want to witness Royce’s anger, Barry’s humiliation. She wanted to be far, far away from this disturbing situation.

“You’re done, Barry,” Royce confirmed to the silent man.

Barry hesitated a beat longer. Then his shoulders dropped. The fight went out of him, and he turned for the door.

The room seemed to boom with silence as Barry’s footsteps receded and the car pulled away outside.

Stephanie took a few hesitant steps toward her brother. “Royce?”

“Cancel his credit cards,” Royce commanded. “Wake up someone from IT and change the computer passwords. And have security reset the codes on the building.”

“What are we going to do?” Stephanie asked in a whisper.

Royce’s hands curled into fists at his sides. He looked to Amber. “I have to call Beijing. If we don’t fix this, the domino effect could be catastrophic.”

Amber nodded. “Just tell me what you need.”

“Can we talk to Jared?” asked Stephanie.

Royce shook his head. “Not a chance. Not for a week at least.”