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“Like hell!” Clint bit out, not believing what he was hearing.
“Like hell or heaven, it doesn’t matter,” Hightower said, throwing a document on the desk. “Thirty days. Toner has agreed to grant an annulment to your and Barkley’s marriage in thirty days.”
Neither Clint nor Alyssa said anything for a long moment, both figuring it was best not to, otherwise they would say the wrong thing. Instead they decided to keep the anger they felt inside. But then finally, as if accepting the finality of their situation, Alyssa spoke. “I don’t like it, Hightower, but if nothing can be done about it for thirty days, there’s little Clint and I can do. It’s been five years without me even knowing I was a married woman, so I guess another thirty days won’t kill me,” she said, glancing over at Clint.
He frowned. Although it wouldn’t kill him, either, he didn’t like it one damn bit. He enjoyed being a bachelor although unlike his brother, Cole, he’d never earned the reputation of being a ladies’ man. But Alyssa was right, they had been married five years without either of them knowing it, so another thirty days would not make or break them. There was nothing in his life that would be changing.
“Fine,” he all but snapped. “Like Alyssa, I’ll deal with it for thirty more days.”
“There’s one more thing,” Hightower hesitated a few moments before saying.
Clint’s frown deepened. He had worked with the man long enough to detect something in his voice, something Clint figured he wouldn’t like. Evidently, Alyssa picked up on it, as well, and moved away from the door to come and stand beside him.
“What other thing?” Clint asked.
Hightower shrugged massive shoulders nervously. “Not sure how the two of you are going to feel about it, but Toner wouldn’t back down or change her mind about it.”
“About what?” Clint asked in an agitated voice.
Hightower looked at him and then at Alyssa. “In order for the marriage to get annulled after the thirty days, there is something the two of you must do.”
Clint felt his heart turn over. He felt another strange sensation slither up his spine. He knew, without a doubt, that he wouldn’t like whatever Hightower was about to say. “And just what does Toner want us to do?” he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
Hightower cleared his throat and then said, “She has mandated that during those thirty days the two of you live under the same roof.”
Chapter 2
It didn’t take much to figure out that Clint Westmoreland was one angry man, Alyssa thought, glancing over at him. They had left Hightower’s office over twenty minutes ago, and now Clint was driving her to a place where she assumed they would grab a bite to eat. But he had yet to say one word to her. Not one. However, that didn’t take into consideration the number of times he’d mumbled the word damn under his breath.
Sighing deeply, she decided to brave the icy waters and said, “Surely there’s something we can do.”
He speared her with a look that could probably freeze boiling water and his mouth was set in a grim line. However, to her his lips still looked as delectable as a slice of key lime pie. “You heard what he said, Alyssa. We can try to appeal, but if we’re not successful we will still have to do the thirty days, which will only delay things,” he said.
Do the thirty days. He’d made it sound like a jail sentence. And since he would have to share the same roof with her, she wasn’t sure she particularly liked his attitude. She didn’t like what Hightower had said any more than he did, but there was no reason to get rude about it.
“Look,” she said. “I don’t like this any more than you do, but if we can’t change things then we need to do what Toner is requiring and—”
“The hell I will,” he said almost in a growl when he looked back at her. He had pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant and had brought his truck to a stop. “I have more to do with my time for the next thirty days than entertain you.”
She immediately saw red. “Entertain me? From saying that, I guess you’re assuming if we do decide to live together for the next thirty days it will be here at your place.”
He shrugged as if to ease the tension in his shoulders and said, “Of course.”
She frowned. He sounded so sure and confident. She would take joy in bursting his bubble. “Wrong. I have no intention of staying here in Austin with you.”
His eyes narrowed into slits as he continued to glare at her. “And just where do you assume you’ll stay?”
She glared back. “It’s not where I’ll stay but where you’ll stay. I’m returning to Waco and if you want to fulfill the terms of Toner’s decree you will, too.”
If she thought he was mad before then it was quite obvious he was madder now. “Look, lady. I have a ranch to run and I won’t be doing it from Waco.”
“You’re not the only one who owns a business, Clint. I’m not going to drop everything that’s going on in my life just to come out here to live with you.”
“And neither will I drop everything I’ve got going on here to move to Waco, even temporarily. That’s as stupid as stupid can get.”
She had to agree with him there, but still that didn’t solve their problem. According to Hightower, they needed to live under the same roof for thirty days, which meant that one of them had to compromise. But she didn’t feel it should be her and evidently he didn’t think it should be him, either. “Okay, you don’t want to move to Waco and I don’t want to move here, so what do you suggest we do to get that annulment?” she asked him.
He pulled his key out of the truck’s ignition and said, “I don’t know, but what I do know is that I think better on a full stomach.” He opened the door to get out. “Right now I suggest that we get something to eat.”
* * *
By the time the waitress had taken their order, Clint was convinced that somebody up there didn’t like him. If they did, they would not have dumped Alyssa Barkley in his lap. The woman was too much of a tempting package and someone he didn’t have time to deal with. The thought of her living under his roof, or for that matter, him living under hers, was too much too imagine. But he had been a Ranger long enough to know just how tangled red tape could get. Someone had screwed up. Otherwise they wouldn’t still be married—at least on paper. As she’d told Hightower, the marriage hadn’t even been consummated. It had been an assignment, nothing more.
“You’re a triplet, right?”
He glanced at her over the rim of his glass. “Yes. How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “It was common knowledge among the Rangers. I met your brother, Cole, once. He was nice. I also heard you have a sister.”
“I do,” he said, thinking about Casey, who had gotten married a few months ago. “If you go by order of birth, then I’m the oldest, then Cole and last Casey.”
“Is Cole still a Texas Ranger?”
He figured she must feel a little more relaxed to be asking so many questions. “Yes, he is.”
He didn’t know her well enough to reveal that Cole’s days with the Rangers were numbered. Like him, Cole planned to go out on early retirement; however, Cole hadn’t decided what he’d do after leaving the force. Clint wasn’t even sure if Cole planned to stay in Texas. His brother might take a notion to move to Montana like Casey had done to be near their father. The father the three of them thought was dead until a few years ago.
He took a sip of his coffee. In a way he knew what Alyssa was doing. She was trying to get his mind off the gigantic problem that was looming over their heads. But the bottom line was that they needed to talk about it and make some decisions. “Okay, Alyssa, getting back to our dilemma. What about you? Do you have any suggestions?”
She took a sip of her coffee and smiled before saying, “I guess I could go back to Waco and you remain here and forget we ever found out we were married and leave things as they are. As I said earlier, marriage isn’t in my future anytime soon. What about yours?”
“Not in mine, either, but still, having a wife isn’t something I can forget about,” he said. Several things could happen later to make him remember he was a married man.
For example, what would happen if she decided, as his wife, that she was entitled to half of everything he owned? His partnership with his cousin and brother-in-law was going extremely well. Not saying that she would, but he couldn’t take any chances. He had bought out Casey’s and Cole’s shares of the ranch and now it was totally his. The last thing he would tolerate was a “wife” staking a claim on anything that had his name on it.
And then there was the other reason he wouldn’t be able to forget he had a wife. She was too damn pretty. Her features were too striking and her body was too well-stacked. Even now sitting across from her at the table he could feel his temperature rise. Since he figured she hadn’t gotten that way overnight, he wondered how he had missed noticing how good she looked five years ago. The only excuse he could come up with was that at the time he’d been too heavily involved with Chantelle and only had eyes for one woman. Too bad Chantelle hadn’t had eyes for just one man.
“There has to be a way out of this,” she said, interrupting his thoughts with a disgusted look on her face. Disgusted or otherwise, her frustration didn’t downplay how full and firm her lips were, or how her eyes were so dark they reminded him of a raven’s wing. He wondered if her copper-brown hair was her natural color and he felt a tug in his gut when he thought of the one way he could easily find out. He shifted in his seat. His jeans suddenly felt a little too tight, especially in the area of his zipper.
Evidently she was waiting for him to respond, because her dark eyes were staring at him. He leaned back in his chair. “There is a way. We just have to think of it.”
* * *
Alyssa could feel Clint checking her out the same way she was checking him out, which only solidified her belief that living under the same roof with him wouldn’t work. There was a strong sexual attraction between them, she could feel it. The thought that she drew his interest was something she couldn’t ignore. Nor was it something for her to lose any sleep over. Plenty of women probably drew his attention. He was a man wasn’t he? Hadn’t Uncle Jessie explained after finding out what Kim and Kevin had done that when it came to women all men were weak? They often made decisions with the “wrong head.” Of course, he couldn’t come up with an excuse for Kim’s behavior because she was his daughter.
“What sort of business do you own?”
She glanced up from studying the contents in her coffee cup to stare into Clint’s cool, dark eyes. “I design websites.”
“Oh.”
She frowned. He’d said it as though he considered her profession of no importance. Granted it wasn’t
a mega-million-dollar operation like she’d heard he owned but it was hers; one she’d started a few years ago with all the money she had. She enjoyed her work and was proud of the way she’d built up her company. She had a very nice clientele who depended on her to keep their businesses in the forefront of the cyberspace market. Over the years she had won numerous awards for her website designs.
“For your information I own a very successful business,” she said, glaring at him.
He glared back. “I don’t recall saying you didn’t.”
No, he hadn’t. But still, she really didn’t care much for his attitude. “Look, Clint. You’re agitated about this whole thing and so am I. I think the best thing for us to do is sleep on it. Maybe we’ll have answers in the morning.”
“Fine. I noticed you only brought an overnight bag,” he said, leaning back in his chair.
“Yes. I thought that ending our marriage wouldn’t take more than a day at the most. I planned to fly home in the morning.”
“You’re welcome to stay at my place tonight. I have plenty of room.”
She appreciated the invitation but didn’t think it was a good idea. “Thanks, but I prefer staying at a hotel.”
“Suit yourself,” he said, easing back up to the table when their waitress placed a plate full of food in front of him. Alyssa watched him dig in. He’d said he could think better on a full stomach, but was he really going to eat all that? She couldn’t imagine him eating such hefty meals as the norm, especially since he had such a well-built body that was all muscle and no fat.
“Why are you staring at my plate?”
She shrugged. “That’s a lot of food,” she said when the waitress placed a sandwich and bowl of soup in front of her.
He laughed. “I’m still growing. Besides, I need all this to keep my strength up. What I do around the ranch is hard work.”
“And what exactly do you do?”
He smiled over at her. “I’m a horse tamer. I have some of my men stationed out in Nevada. They capture wild horses then ship them to my ranch for me to tame. Once that’s done, I ship them to Montana. My cousin and brother-in-law own a horse-breeding company. My sister works for them as a trainer.”
“Sounds like a family affair.”
“It is.”
Alyssa intentionally kept her head lowered as she ate her sandwich and soup. She didn’t want to risk looking head-on into Clint’s eyes again. Each time she did so made every cell in her body vibrate.
“I’m thinking of getting one of those.”
She raised her head and gazed at him, trying not to zero in on his handsome features, while at the same time ignoring the sensations that flowed through her. “Getting one of what?”
“A website.”
She lifted a brow. “You don’t have one already?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Why would I?”
“Mainly to promote your business.”
“Don’t have to. Durango and McKinnon are in charge of bringing in the customers. We have a private clientele.”
“Oh. Who are Durango and McKinnon?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin before answering. “Durango is my cousin and McKinnon is married to my sister, Casey. They are my partners and the ones who started the horse-breeding company. Now it has grown to include horse training and horse taming,” he said.
She nodded. “If you did just fine without a website before, then why are you thinking about getting one now?”
He actually looked like he was tired of answering her questions. His tone indicated that he was only answering her in an attempt to be polite. “Because of the foundation I recently started.”
“What foundation?”
“The Sid Roberts Foundation.” And as if he was preparing for her next question, he said, “He was my uncle.”
Her eyes widened. “Sid Roberts? The Sid Roberts? Was your uncle?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes,” he responded, seemingly again with barely tolerant patience. And then as if he’d had enough of her questions he said, “Why don’t you finish eating. Your soup is getting cold.”
* * *
At least he had gotten her to stop talking, Clint thought, taking a sip of his coffee. Although he noticed what she was eating wasn’t much. He’d thought Casey was the only person who considered soup and a sandwich a full-course meal.
Clint leaned back in his chair. The food was great and he was full, so now he could think. Yet he was far from having an answer to their problem. Part of him wanted to start the appeal process and see what would happen. But if the appeal failed, they would have to do the thirty days anyway.
“You didn’t say why you are establishing a foundation for your uncle.”
He glanced over at her. “Didn’t I?” he asked tersely. He couldn’t recall her being this chatty before. In fact, he remembered her as a mousy young woman who didn’t seem to have the fortitude for her job as a Ranger. Although truth be told, he would be the first to give her an A for her acting abilities during their assignment together.
He couldn’t help noticing how the sunlight shining through the window hit her hair at an angle that gave the copper strands a golden tint. He felt a sudden tingling sensation right smack in his gut. He didn’t like the feeling. Since becoming partners with Durango and McKinnon nine months ago, he had placed his social life—and women—on hold.
“No, you didn’t,” she said, breaking into his thoughts and seemingly not the least put off by his cool tone.
He didn’t say anything for a while and then asked, “What do you know about Sid Roberts?”
She smiled. “Only what’s in the history books, as well as what my grandfather shared with me.”
He lifted a brow. “Your grandfather?”
“Yes, he was a huge Sid Roberts fan and even claimed to being a part of the rodeo circuit with him at one time. I know Mr. Roberts was a legend in his day. First as a rodeo star then as a renowned horse trainer.”
“Uncle Sid loved horses and passed that love on to me, my brother and sister. In my uncle’s memory, we have dedicated over three thousand acres of land on the south ridge of my property as a reserve. A great number of the wild horses that are being shipped to me are being turned loose to roam free here.”
“Why go to the trouble of relocating them here? Why not leave them in Nevada and let them run free there?”
He frowned. “Mainly because wild horses are taking up land that’s now needed for public use. Legislation is being considered that will allow for so many of them to be destroyed each year. Many of these wild horses are getting slaughtered for pet food.”
