Page 5 of Taking Charge (Lone Star Burn 4)
She walked over to one of the boxes the postman had delivered and rested a hand on top of it. Am I an idiot to think I can do this? Or that I should do this? My mother would say she raised me better.
But she left me, too.
Sorry, Mom, you forfeited the right to lecture me.
She ripped one of the boxes open and took out the tablet that rested on top. After researching the profit margins of many online franchises, she’d come across a start-up that had been looking to partner with a woman willing to market their inventions. The opportunity had everything she was looking for. There was very little up-front investment required; it had substantial potential for large monthly earnings, depending on how well she marketed the items; and the orders would be filled directly from the company. She would be both a partner and a salesperson working on commission. The goal of the company was to be cutting-edge, revolutionizing the market, and to gain a strong following of female clients.
Lucy picked up a bra that had been fashioned to look like a remote control for a video game. Both sides hosted colorful controls that looked functional as well as decorative. She held it to her chest and tried to imagine not slapping a man’s hands away if she actually wore it during sex. A laugh erupted from her, but more from nerves than humor.
I can call Ted and tell him my grief confused me. He’d probably take me back.
Or I can do this and prove to myself that I am the person I was back in New England.
I’m smart and I am not beaten yet.
Not by a long shot.
She replaced the bra and took out a set of glow-in-the-dark dildos. Assorted colors and sizes. She read the label. Three settings for light options: “Constant,” “Flashing,” and “Disco”?
Disco?
She shook her head and tossed the package back in the box. Then she picked up the tablet.
If I leave this ranch, it will be because I choose to, not because I don’t have what it takes to hold on to it. You hear that, Mom and Dad? I might not have been the daughter you dreamed you’d have, but you always told me to get up when I fell down. Well, this is me getting up.
She turned the tablet on. An icon for Technically Anonymous Pleasure filled the screen. Lucy scrolled through the table of contents: Company History, Company Contacts, Tax Forms, Product Description.
She took a deep breath and pressed the link to the last section. If I’m going to sell high-tech sex toys online, I’d better figure out what the heck people do with them.
Lucy shook her head at her own thought.
Of course I know what they do with them; I just need to learn the particulars of how.
David led a quarter horse through the center aisle of a barn and handed him off to Lucas, who was trying to hide a smile but wasn’t quite succeeding. “Lucas, an intelligent man knows when his thoughts are best kept to himself.”
Revealing his youthful overconfidence, Lucas tipped his hat back and looked his boss in the eye. “Just not sure why we bother saddling horses when we know they won’t be ridden.”
David didn’t answer the question because he didn’t have a polite answer. He liked Lucas. Over the years, the young man had proved himself to be both reliable and good-natured. David’s present situation, however, was too much for even those who respected him to contain their amusement. “I’ll be in my office.” David walked away, retreating into the small, hot barn office he now considered a haven of peace every Thursday.
Life had changed drastically on the Double C Ranch in Fort Mavis. In years past, the ranch had been closed to all outsiders. Tony Carlton, the man who owned the ranch, had purchased it as a place to hide and drink himself to death. After taking over as his ranch manager, David had talked him out of the second part of that plan, but it had taken a sweet Yankee to change Tony’s stance on the first part. The pair had married and participated in a variety of high-profile fund-raising events that had opened the doors of the ranch to people of all walks of life. On paper, it sounded like it was for the best, but in practice it had put David into more uncomfortable situations than he cared to reflect on.
A few of the public events had involved Kimberly Staten’s father. Regardless of how civil he was, there was nothing pleasant about looking into the eyes of a man who had once fired David for trying to protect his daughter from the horse that ultimately—even being trained by Tony—had killed her. Funny how life tended to circle back to something, no matter how much a person didn’t want it to.
Facing Kimberly’s father had felt a bit like the first time a reporter had asked him how he’d come to training horses as a career. David had given a vague answer that had satisfied the reporter temporarily, but the question had resurfaced within his circle of friends. He’d told them there was nothing to tell about his life before he’d taken the job with Evan Staten, and then he’d changed the subject. He preferred not to think about the past.
Evan Staten wasn’t the reason David dreaded Thursdays, though. No, the fault for that lay squarely on the shoulders of Melanie, Tony’s ex-housekeeper, and Sarah, Tony’s wife. The two had taken it upon themselves to cure him of his bachelorhood, although they hadn’t used those words exactly. They’d asked him if he would give riding lessons on Thursdays as a way of raising funds for the local children’s hospital. A man would have to be mighty hard-hearted to refuse such a request, so David had agreed to do it. What he hadn’t anticipated was that each Thursday his schedule would be full of women who had very little interest in the only kind of lesson he was offering.
It wasn’t that David minded female companionship, but his heart wasn’t into dating. The women who showed up each Thursday were looking for a husband. Some were brazen enough to say it. Sarah and Melanie had practically taken out an ad proclaiming him single and financially stable, and in some parts of Texas, that was enough to cause a stampede.
David didn’t welcome the attention. Not on Thursdays and not through the fund-raising that was now a regular part of life on the ranch. He didn’t want to be the face that was shown when the Double C promoted an event. He’d often accused Tony and Melanie of hiding out on the ranch, but truth be told, he’d withdrawn from the world himself. Life had been much more comfortable when everyone had kept out of each other’s business.
David didn’t know how much longer he could stay if something didn’t change. Lately he’d been thinking it was time to move on. To where, though? Not knowing the answer to that question held him back. All he knew was he was no longer where he wanted to be. Something was missing.
“Knock knock,” Sarah said cheerfully as she entered his office without pause.
David turned and tossed his Stetson on his desk. “Not one of the women who came for a riding lesson today was interested in getting on a horse.”
Sarah shrugged and smiled. “They paid, though. Think of the good you’re doing. Your lesson program brings in thousands every month.”
“Thousands?” David arched an eyebrow. “How much do you charge the women to come here?”
With a shameless grin, Sarah said, “I keep raising the price, and they keep agreeing. Does it matter? It’s for charity, after all.”
David shook his head. “You’re misleading them, Sarah. I’m not looking for a wife.”
“I tell them that, but they all want a chance at being the one who changes your mind.”
David ran a hand through his hair in frustration and sat on the wooden chair by his desk. “I’ll never understand the female mind.”
Sarah plopped onto the other wooden chair in the small room. “Speaking of women you don’t understand, I spoke to Lucy today.”
David kept his face deliberately blank. “How is she?”
“Single again. She said she called off her engagement to Ted.”
David stood and frowned. If that bastard did something to hurt her. “What’d he do?”
“Nothing. She doesn’t love him, David.” Sarah tended to blurt things out as fast as she thought them. It was something David had become used to ov
er time and occasionally appreciated. On a ranch where most people spent years avoiding talking about anything of significance, Sarah was a bubbling well of information—welcomed or not.
David walked to the door of his office and folded his arms across his chest. “Getting engaged to him suggests otherwise.”
David took a deep breath. It was far too easy to give in to his memories of Lucy Albright. He remembered every accidental touch, every brush of her skin against his, the way she smelled like lavender and soap, the desire in her eyes when he’d almost kissed her. Seeing her at Sarah’s wedding had been torture. They’d been forced to be in the same room often enough for him to be sure he was still powerfully attracted to her.
