The Reluctant Texas Rancher (Harlequin American Romance) Read online

  A long silence fell. “You really feel for the guy.”

  Liz forced herself to concentrate on driving, instead of on the handsome man in the passenger seat beside her. “I’ve always had a thing for the underdog, in any situation. You know that.”

  “I’m not sure I’d call J.T. an underdog,” Travis countered quietly.

  Liz frowned at the red light, her foot on the brake pedal. “He’s at a disadvantage because of his distraught emotional state. He’s picking battles no one in their right mind would ever expect him to win.”

  “Which is why you’re so drawn to him,” Travis concluded as the light changed and the SUV began to move again. “Because you think you can claim victory.”

  Feeling the heat of his gaze like a physical caress, Liz turned at the next street. “Not in the sense of getting him a tropical haven in his front yard. But if I could help him put his life back on track, and keep him out of serious legal trouble in the meantime, I’d be happy.”

  Travis didn’t take his eyes off her. “You really care about him.”

  Liz was suddenly feeling a little too aware of Travis. “I do. And I owe him.” She turned into a parking spot, cut the engine and turned to Travis in all sincerity. “A few years ago, my mom and grandmother were driving a truck full of baby calves to a ranch thirty miles north of the Four Winds when the truck broke down unexpectedly. It was a brutally hot day. They were out in the middle of nowhere. And there was nowhere they could safely put the cattle while they went for help. Nor could they just leave them in the blistering interior of the cattle car....”

  She drew a deep breath, shook her head. “Angels must have been looking down on them, because right then J.T. drove by. He was on his way to a job himself—as a satellite installer—but he stopped to help. Not only did he get another cattle truck out there within minutes, he helped transfer the calves and then stayed with our truck until the tow service arrived. Had he not been there, had he not known just who in that particular area to call for help, we might have had a very different outcome.” Liz paused to let her words sink in. “J.T. is a good guy. He’s just going through a rough patch.”

  Travis studied her, a combination of respect and admiration on his handsome face. “He’s lucky to have you in his corner.”

  Liz warmed at the compliment. “Let’s just hope I can do something for him.”

  “NO WAY,” RIO VASQUEZ SAID. “He’s spending the night in a holding cell. He can go in front of the judge in the morning.”

  Liz squared off with the arresting officers. “Guys, come on....”

  Kyle McCabe stood firm, too. “It’s for his own good. Besides, you saw him, Liz. J.T. was practically pleading with us to bring him in.”

  Maybe, Liz thought, so he wouldn’t have to spend another night alone in the house he had shared with his beloved Cyndi.

  Travis put a hand on her shoulder. “They’re right.”

  Liz knew it. She just didn’t want to admit that everything she had said to J.T. about his behavior so far had been ineffective. She lifted a hand. “Fine. I’ll be back first thing tomorrow.” The hours in between would give her time to think about what she wanted to say to the judge.

  Travis and Liz walked out of the sheriff’s station. “So what now?” he asked, suddenly looking almost as restless as she felt.

  She consulted her watch. It was only nine-thirty.

  “It’s Friday evening,” Travis continued. “Do you have somewhere you need to be? Someone you need to see?”

  His lack of subtlety was not lost on her.

  He was trying to figure her out, the same way she’d been trying to get a handle on him. And his current legal problem.

  Figuring it might help convince him to confide in her if they lightened up a little, she allowed herself to tease him back. “Why, Counselor, are you asking me if I have a date?”

  He grinned at her exaggerated Texas accent. “I didn’t see any photos of a boyfriend at your office.” He paused, his eyes opaque. “Or the homestead, for that matter.”

  Liz let out a long, careful breath. She slowed her steps, delaying the moment they would get back into her SUV. Suddenly, the space felt a tad too intimate.

  She lifted her chin. “That’s because I don’t have one.”

  “Which means what?” His eyes narrowed, he stepped close enough that she could smell the leather-and-soap scent of his hair and skin. “You’re not dating?” He reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You’re opposed to dating?”

  When she didn’t answer, he met her gaze. “It’s nothing I couldn’t easily find out from someone else. I just thought…” His voice dropped another notch, in a way that sent heat slashing through her. “If the story is that we’re resuming our friendship, we ought to know the basic facts about each other.”

  The woman in her wanted to keep up all the barriers. The attorney in her knew he was right. Plus, she was curious about him, too.

  She resumed walking toward the parking lot behind the sheriff’s station while gazing up at the stars shimmering in the black velvet sky above. “I had a serious relationship a few years ago, when I was working in Dallas.” She shook off the unhappy memories. “We broke off our engagement by mutual agreement.”

  Travis cocked his head and ran his gaze over her like a caress. “Are you still friends?”

  “Not really.” She rummaged in her pocket for her keys, then hit the electronic keypad. The locks clicked; the interior lights went on. “It’s kind of hard to come back from something like that.”

  He opened the driver’s door for her, stood waiting for her to get in. “And since…?”

  The intensity of his regard had her whole body tensing. Liz adapted the casual attitude that perfectly summed up her nonexistent love life, the one that had the women in the family so worried she would never fall in love, never marry, never have a baby to carry on the Cartwright bloodline. “I’ve had the occasional date here and there.” She forced herself to meet his probing gaze. “What about you?”

  He shrugged. It was, Liz thought, his turn to skillfully evade.

  “I’d like to date. In theory. I just never seem to have the time.”

  A lament voiced by many an associate at big law firms. “Not part of your one-, five- and ten-year plans?”

  “Actually, marriage and family is. If I could ever figure out where I would work it in.”

  That was a surprise, Liz thought. Travis had been so focused on his career, she hadn’t expected this was something he would want. She sized him up, wondering which allure would turn out to be stronger, his desire to live a more authentic, not so big-city life, or his desire to redeem his name and regain his former glory. “So when this is over, you plan to go back to working eighty-hour weeks....”

  He shrugged, not about to commit yet, either way. “It is the norm for an associate in any big or midsize law firm,” he offered casually. “No matter where it is located.”

  Liz knew that.

  Lawyers in Lubbock who wanted fame and fortune—and the bank accounts that went with them—worked as hard as attorneys in Houston.

  Fortunately, she had learned there were other, more important things in life.

  Like feeling you made a difference.

  She bit her lip, admitting, “Too many long hours are exactly why I quit my job at that firm in Dallas. I wanted more of a life outside the office.”

  “And yet,” he murmured, playfully tapping the end of her nose, “here you are at 9:45 on a Friday night…lamenting your lack of a love life, same as me.”

  Liz stiffened. Honestly, the man was taking far too much for granted. “I didn’t say I missed it,” she returned archly. Even if I have been wondering all evening long just how it would feel to kiss you....

  “Really.” He lifted his eyebrows and waited for her gaze to meet his.

  Indignation flushing her cheeks, Liz asserted, “I can live without sex.” Could he?

  Travis grinned, as if he would like nothing more
than to wear her down. “How about this?” he asked her softly. Grasping her waist, he tugged her against him. Threaded one hand through her hair, tilting her face to his. His mouth lowered seductively. “Can you live without a kiss?”

  Chapter Four

  Her mouth went dry. The practical side of Liz said Don’t kiss him. The romantic side of her insisted there was no harm in finding out if Travis Anderson still had the power to take her breath away as he had back in high school.

  So instead of rebuffing him, she stepped into the fray. Allowed him to keep right on coming and lower his mouth to hers.

  The first touch of their lips was astonishing. Electric. And oh so sweet. The first hint of subtle pressure was even more intoxicating.

  Before Liz knew it, she had surrendered to the moment and moved all the way into his embrace. Her breasts brushed the hardness of his chest and her arms slipped around him.

  Travis moved forward, too, sliding his palms down her hips and holding her against his body. Her softness melded to his strength and the kiss took on a quiet intensity that turned her whole world upside down.

  Liz moaned, tilting her head to give him better access, relishing the sure sweep of his tongue tangling with hers.

  She knew she had wanted him years ago, even if they were too young, too reserved, too focused on everything else to fully explore that yearning.

  Turns out, the schoolgirl passion she’d experienced back then was nothing compared to what she felt now that they were all grown up.

  Holding him like this, letting him hold her, was magic. And she knew if they kept it up—if they let this recklessly wild kiss continue—there would be nothing but regrets for both of them.

  Shuddering, she clasped his shoulders and pushed him away. “We can’t do this.”

  “Actually,” Travis teased, kissing her temple, her cheek, the lobe of her ear, “I think we were excelling in this venue....”

  With her body still tingling everywhere they had touched—and everywhere they hadn’t—Liz took another step back and tried to regain her composure. “You’re my client.” She emphasized every syllable of every word.

  He grinned sexily, not at all repentant. “Lucky for me. It’s the one good thing, besides a temporary job, I’ve got going for me at the moment.”

  That was Travis all right, Liz thought in exasperation. Charging headlong into whatever awaited. Letting nothing stand between him and his goal.

  Her heart racing, she tried again to talk sense into him. “We were kissing.” She held up a hand before he could interrupt. “And you and I both know that crossing the line this way will lead to nothing but trouble.”

  His expression solemn, he gazed at her. “I agree,” he told her in a husky voice. “If we let this impact the way we conduct ourselves in terms of the business at hand, it will bring us bucketfuls of heartache. But that’s not going to happen over a kiss, Liz.” He leaned closer, his breath fanning her neck. “And you know why? Because we’re both lawyers. And we’re smart enough to be able to separate our private lives from our professional alliances.”

  She had certainly thought that was the case up till now.

  She’d never even been tempted before. But Travis had thrown her emotions into chaos, by kissing her for just a few minutes.

  Deliberately, she put her lawyer hat back on. “Which makes our actions all the more foolish,” she retorted. “You have to know that.”

  His gray eyes darkened. He looked a little bemused, and a lot cocky. “Actually,” he drawled, letting his gaze drift slowly over her face, “if you want to get technical—and it sounds like you do—there’s nothing in the Texas Bar Ethics Code or Texas law preventing me from having a relationship with you outside of your work on the lawsuit. Besides—” he shrugged, still not ready to give up on pursuing her “—with you at the helm, this case will be over before you know it.”

  Liz appreciated Travis’s faith in her even as she worried that her success meant he would soon be leaving Laramie County.

  Wishing her lips weren’t still tingling, she looked him straight in the eye. “That doesn’t mean it’s wise for us to revisit past mistakes. We’ve been down this road before.”

  “As kids.”

  Past hurt rushed to the fore. That didn’t mean they hadn’t crashed and burned. Or that she hadn’t felt incredibly dejected and cried into her pillow for weeks afterward.

  Her lower lip trembled. “You broke up with me, Travis.”

  He stood there, patient and ready, raring to turn back the clock. “Because there was too much of an age difference.” Exasperation colored his low tone. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “And we weren’t right for each other then.”

  “We’re still not.” She stepped back, not about to put her heart on the line, only to have it smashed to pieces. Again. “So let me be clear.” She slayed him with her best don’t-mess-with-me look. “I’m very happy to represent you. I’m glad you will be temporarily assisting my family and working on the Four Winds. But that, Counselor, is as far as it goes.”

  “AT LEAST LET ME SEND YOU off with a cup of coffee and a couple of breakfast tacos,” Faye Elizabeth insisted at six the next morning.

  Studiously ignoring the big male interloper sitting at the breakfast table, Liz simultaneously pulled on her suit jacket and checked her BlackBerry for messages.

  She’d been up half the night, revisiting his kiss and her response to it, as well as everything that had happened years ago.

  Travis, on the other hand, looked like he had slept great.

  It figured.

  She forced a smile and an attitude of nonchalance. “That would be wonderful.” Liz gave her grandmother a hug. “Thank you.”

  Reba frowned, looking from Travis to her daughter and back again.

  “What’s going on with the two of you?” she asked.

  He kissed me and I responded, Liz thought. My goodness, how I responded…

  It was a wonder she hadn’t melted into a puddle right there in the parking lot.

  But not about to tell her family that, she shrugged, accepting with a murmur of thanks the breakfast her grandmother had packed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Liz fibbed.

  “Something happened,” Tillie concurred, a matchmaker’s gleam in her eyes.

  “And why were the two of you in town together last night, anyway?” Reba pressed.

  “How did you hear that?” Travis asked.

  Liz had heard him say he had gone off to get his belongings. Which he had eventually done, after collecting his vehicle.

  “One of my friends saw the two of you coming out of your office, late in the evening,” Reba declared.

  Small towns. Nary a secret anywhere. At least that’s how it seemed....

  “I want Travis to sign a temporary employment contract with the Four Winds,” Liz said, in all honesty.

  He looked at her, in lawyer mode, as able to roll with the punches as she hoped. “I think it’s a good idea, too.”

  Faye Elizabeth regarded them suspiciously. “You couldn’t have done that here?”

  Clearly, she hoped to keep them apart, or well chaperoned as much as possible to prevent any further romance from developing.

  “It’s easier doing business in my office,” Liz said.

  Especially with all three other Cartwright women looking over their shoulders, speculating on what was and wasn’t happening between her and Travis.

  “Unfortunately,” Travis interjected with a beleaguered smile, “Liz had an emergency with another client that called her away, and we didn’t finish. So we’ll have to go back to it at some point soon.”

  They would, Liz realized reluctantly. Which would mean even more time spent alone with him.

  Only this time there would be no kissing. She would make certain of it.

  “That won’t keep you from checking the new calves in the pastures this morning, will it, Travis?” Reba asked in alarm.

  “Not at all.” He finished his co
ffee and stood. “I’ll get right on it. Thanks for the fine breakfast. Ladies…” He grabbed his hat and strolled out.

  “My oh my,” Tillie sighed, her hand fluttering above her heart.

  “I quite agree,” Reba said, sizing up his departing image the same way she sized up the procreating powers of a bull for hire. “Having a man like that for your baby’s daddy…”

  “Mom!” Liz said, flushing hotly.

  “I’m just saying....” Reba eyed her matter-of-factly, in that instant every bit as goal-oriented as Travis. “You’re not getting any younger and we need a new generation of Cartwrights. Travis is here. He’s hot. He’s available.”

  “Why not just go ahead and say it—he’s a stud!” Liz interrupted sarcastically.

  “And he’s from prime breeding stock,” Reba continued, without skipping a beat. She lifted a palm. “The two of you wouldn’t even have to marry—”

  “Of course they would marry,” Tillie exclaimed, her romantic sensibilities offended by the notion of them having a baby and not living happily ever after.

  “A romance with a man who’s not going to stick around for the long haul is the last thing Liz needs,” Faye Elizabeth grumbled.

  Tired of having her life decided for her, by everyone but her, Liz sighed and grabbed her briefcase and her breakfast. “I’m out of here,” she told one and all grouchily.

  To her consternation, by the time she reached the parking area, Travis’s pickup truck was disappearing down a dirt road that traversed the ranch.

  Figuring she could talk to him later, she headed for the Laramie County sheriff’s station.

  “You have to stop picking fights with people,” Liz told J.T. when they met up in the courtroom.

  Disheveled and exhausted from a night spent in the holding cell, he remained defiant. “People,” he returned cantankerously, “need to stop waging battles with me.”

  “This isn’t what your late wife would want for you.”

  He ignored her reference to his beloved Cyndi. “I want that pool.” He peered at Liz. “And I know you can figure out a way for it to happen.”