Colt’s gaze dropped to Jason’s hand, his stare emotionless, deadly. “Remove your hand, Yank, or I’ll remove it for you.”

  “Colt!” Elise admonished, shocked at his tone and rude behavior. Her stomach had tightened into a hard knot at the complete change in Colt’s demeanor. Granted, Jason was pissing her off and his comments were probably making Colt wonder, but sheesh! What was up with these men?

  He released her arm, his expression stony as he turned and walked away. When Colt rounded the barn’s corner, she glanced at Jason. “I’ll be back in a minute. While I’m gone you’d better come to terms with the fact once and for all I’m not going to marry you.”

  Her heart raced as she walked at a brisk pace to catch up to Colt. No way was she going to run to find him. He could stew for a minute or two.

  When she came around the corner of the barn, Colt stood there, his arms crossed, an impassive look on his face. Her heart lurched as she feigned a relaxed position against the barn. She felt anything but calm, but she didn’t want him to know how much his current attitude scared her. “What’s got you all riled up?”

  Before she could blink, Colt closed the distance between then and pressed his hands against the barn wall on either side of her, caging her in. Stormy blue eyes locked with hers and he demanded, “What the fuck is going on? I knew I should’ve trusted my instincts to stay away from you. Not only are you pretty much promised to another, but you’ve been playin’ screw the cowboy in more ways than one, haven’t you?”

  Outrage swept over her, making her cheeks grow hot. Elise balled her hands into fists and before she realized what she was doing, she punched Colt in the gut as she hissed out in a low voice, “How dare you accuse me of anything but good intentions, Colt Tanner.”

  Colt let out a grunt when she punched him, but he still managed to rile her even more as he continued as if he weren’t affected by her hit, “I call ‘em like I see ‘em, Princess. Playtime is over. You can go back to your fiancé now.”

  Princess? If he was back to calling her that, it wasn’t a good sign. “What the hell do you mean ‘I’m trying to screw you’?” She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning up at him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Riley’s offer?”

  Understanding dawned and she shrugged. “There was no reason to tell you. He contacted me in Virginia and I just assumed he wanted to buy the land. When I turned him down, I had no idea the large role the Lonestar land played in the history between you and your neighbor until Nan filled me in on the details the day May sabotaged the fence.”

  “And your fiancé? How’d that tidbit slip your memory while you were sleeping with me?” he bit out, his tone rough, accusing.

  “Because there was nothing to tell,” she replied with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “Ever since Jason and I were kids, our fathers wanted us to marry, to merge the family businesses. Yes, Jason and I dated several years ago, but that’s the past.” She paused, then said with conviction, “I don’t do something just because I’m expected to. I never have and I never will.”

  Meeting his gaze head-on, she decided to throw her own question his way. “Not that I had to tell you all that, but what this all boils down to is…you either trust me or you don’t. Which is it going to be?”

  Colt narrowed his eyes for a second before he turned on his heel and walked toward the stables, leaving her leaning against the barn.

  Her heart sank that he could mistrust her so completely. Obviously, she understood where his distrust came from, but she’d be damned if she’d be the brunt of it. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she took deep breaths to calm herself as anger and deep hurt flowed through her.

  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.”