Chapter Five

 

 

 

 

The reception inside the Cardover Hotel was nothing less than impressive, even when it came to Texas standards for remarkable gala events. There weren’t a hundred people. There were several hundred guests, along with several wedding planners on staff, directing guests to three open bars and a champagne fountain. Leave it up to Rob to downplay his wedding.

Matt entered the lobby and headed straight for liquid intervention. A green cloud of bridesmaids drifted into the hotel and his gaze automatically targeted Carolina. Once more, their eyes locked. It was brief. Hardly half a second before she glanced away. There was some serious chemistry on both sides of the table, regardless of what Dr. Rodriguez claimed.

Underneath that shroud of professionalism, he bet she was a fireball. From what he’d glimpsed earlier, that woman gave as good as she got. At the bar, Matt turned away, a wry twist to his lips.

“Sir?” the bartender inquired.

Matt ordered, “Bourbon, neat.” A clap on his back followed and he turned to face another college buddy.

“McLemore, what are you up to these days?” Bennett Stone said.

“Trouble,” he responded. One word summarized his life. Trouble with his family, trouble with the ranch, and now trouble walked right past him in a green dress that hugged every curve swaying into his imagination. “What about you?”

Ben laughed. “Dude, you missed one hell of a bachelor party last night.”

“Couldn’t be helped. Things have hit a rough patch on the ranch.” Matt traced a curved pattern across the surface of the bar.

“Sounds serious.” Ben frowned. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Naw. Unless you’ve gone from politics and banking into the realm of genome studies.”

“Breeding? Not even close. How’s your father?”

“Stubborn.”

“Aren’t they all. Our parents come from a stock that if they weren’t set in their ways, we’d have to rethink who we were. Am I right?” Ben’s parents were the old-money in Atlanta.

“Don’t get me started.” Matt sipped his bourbon. “Heard you were expanding, going national.”

“More like international.” Ben leaned against the bar, ordering a Scotch with soda and a white wine. “Timing is good, given the economy and what’s going on in D.C. Besides, if not now, when? I can afford the risk, and I’d rather be traveling and campaigning before my marriage, than afterwards. I popped the question just last week. After a conference on the beach.”

“You too? Must be something in the water down here.”

Matt watched Carolina and loosened his bow tie. The woman got to him alright. Just watching her across the room made his pulse ramp up. The tendons in the back of his neck tightened.

This is what he got for relying on Wi-Fi to conduct an interview. He should have required that Dr. Rodriguez come for a face-to-face meeting, instead of relying on Rob’s offhanded remark that she was a straight shooter and knew how to concentrate on business. Her resume and references were substantial and solid. None of her emails indicated the good doctor came with a curvaceous exterior.

Of all the luck. She looked nothing like the ranch vets back home. Instead of sun-baked skin and weathered hands, Carolina was a woman who rivalled those models in a pin-up calendar, featured in a mechanic’s garage. Posters nailed to the wall and every man’s fantasy.

“Getting married has nothing to do with the water, my friend,” Ben scoffed. “I’m thirty-two. It’s time to settle down. What about you?”

“I’m flying solo.” For some reason, admitting it aloud gnawed at Matt. Without thinking, he glanced over his shoulder. Affirmative, Dr. Rodriguez was hot. What he’d give for a night with that little firecracker. He glanced back at his old college buddy, trying to focus on their conversation. “So, when are you getting hitched?”

“Xavia is up for the sooner, the better. She’s got the honeymoon planned.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “How soon are we talking?”

Without trying to, Matt pictured Carolina naked, leaning against a barn, cupping her large breasts and wearing an itty-bitty thong on those curvy hips of hers. On that thought, he tossed the shot of bourbon. The burn of the alcohol didn’t do much to his mood except remind him that he hadn’t eaten since morning. After breakfast at the ranch, he’d driven to Clarkesville and caught a nonstop flight to Miami.

“We’re tying the knot this December,” Ben replied. “My fiancée wants a winter wedding. We’re traveling to Colorado for our honeymoon.”

“Snowbound oasis. You know we’ve got a couple of condos in Breckenridge if you’re interested.”

“Thanks, but Xavia’s family is tight with Randall. We’ve booked a hotel with a good spa. The wedding invitations are going out next month. I expect to see you there.” Ben swirled the liquor in his glass and took a sip.

Matt motioned to the bartender for a refill. “Man, I’ve been out of the loop. How long have you been dating?”

“A couple of months and don’t worry about it. Dude, you’ve got your hands full. What in the hell is Stephen up to?”

“Besides blowing up things? Same old, same old.” Matt shook his head. His younger brother was a demolition engineer. Stephen blew into town and helped out on the ranch, then disappeared for weeks at a time. But when push came to shove, Matt was tight with all his brothers. They had each other’s backs. That would never change. Ironically, maybe that was part of the problem. The flipside of tradition and grit, unbending loyalty and determination meant everyone was set in their ways. “Can’t get my father to agree to bring in modern vet medicine. Not after he allowed the agricultural college to get involved. Old buddies of his who weren’t up on technology. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.”

“What are your options?” Ben asked.

“You know my father. He’s hard-headed and proud. But I’m not about to stand around and keep counting dead cattle. Something has got to give.”

“Sorry to hear.”

“Man, if you’ve got a crystal ball, give it up.” Matt lifted his glass to his lips.

Ben reached out to a young woman, pulling her close to his side. She was blonde, tan, and resembled Ivanka Trump. The resemblance was uncanny.

“Matt, here she is. My fiancée, Xavia Silver.”

“Miss Silver, it’s my pleasure.” No wonder she seemed so familiar. Matt recognized the last name immediately. The Silvers were banking icons in Manhattan and hailed from Boston. He put his drink down to shake Ben’s fiancée’s hand.

From the periphery, he noticed that Carolina had entered into the ballroom where dinner would be served. Instead of relaxing, Matt tensed at the thought of her sitting next to one of Rob’s single friends or single family. At the thought of any of them charming Carolina, he found himself clenching his jaw. She kept making a point of slinging the term of ‘professional’ around—yeah, those Bostonian types were probably right up her alley when it came to eligible dates.

It wasn’t news that the easiest place to get lucky was at a wedding. Their brief encounter had lit him up. Except, like an idiot, he had stridently fought to convince Dr. Rodriguez that their relationship would be nothing except professional. The challenge of spending the next two weeks together with Carolina, rode rough-shod over Matt.

Ben kissed his fiancée full on the lips. Matt looked away and noticed Dr. Rodriguez in her form-fitting gown and gloves coming back through the doorway of the ballroom, accompanied by several women, laughing and smiling. Most men in the room had stopped to watch this flotilla. Miami was too hot to handle.

The irony that Carolina caught his eye at the exact moment that thought materialized in Matt’s head no longer seemed surprising. Their gazes collided and she swerved, changing course, taking the long way around the fountain to a bar in the corner of the lobby. Captivated, he watched her alright. She was like a beautiful present wrapped up and how he’d like to undress her. Layer by layer until she was bared to him. Naked, on her back, with her incredible long legs splayed. The things he’d enjoy doing to and with Dr. Rodriguez might take their whole night and then some.

In that moment, it seemed like Matt’s whole world tilted. His lips curved at the shock in Carolina’s wide steel gray eyes as she turned and found him staring. An electrical current tore a path through him, jolting to the point of action.

Always one for a challenge, this ought to be good. No use denying that his body was attuned to the little firecracker, even if his business sense punched him in the gut. A flagrant reminder that one screwed-up relationship was all a man should have to live through. Matt gripped his glass and knew his next move was regret in the making.

Languidly, he let his gaze drift down her body. Every inch of that woman seemed to call to him. What would it be like to take those pins from her hair? He’d let the thick curtain fall in rippling dark waves around her tanned shoulders. He’d brush her hair from her lovely face, on his way to tasting her incredible full, sensuous lips. This was pure unadulterated torture.

Since he couldn’t ignore the good doctor, he’d confront her head-on. Matt downed the rest of his drink.

“Xavia and Ben, best wishes on your engagement. I’ll catch up with you both, inside.”

“Take care, Matt.” They said in unison.

Yeah, that’s what he intended to do if his idiot imagination had any say in the matter. Then an idea hit him between the eyes. Carolina might have a boyfriend or be engaged. That would be ironic. Attracted to another woman who was taken. Then why was she alone? Had been alone in that cargo van and parked all the way in the corner of the church lot. He’d found it not only unusual but he’d wanted to find out why? Not that it was his business except for some inane reason, he wanted to uncover all Carolina’s secrets.

What the hell! He was doing a body slide, and might as well clear the air with the dark-haired beauty. It made sense, in the realm of business. Matt strode across the room as his eyes locked with Carolina’s. Yeah, keep telling yourself, this is strictly business.

“It seems I can’t escape you,” he said, coming up next to her at the bar.

“You enjoy stalking is more like it, Mr. McLemore,” she huffed.

“This is nothing but my attempt to set things right. Look, I apologize for coming off so gruff before. Carolina, I wasn’t prepared for you.”

Her eyes widened at his words, then she rapidly blinked. Good, he finally got one over on her and didn’t offer to smooth the way. He wanted to figure out what they had going on, but it required that she put away her claws. For a couple of beats, neither of them spoke.

She seemed to consider his apology. “Prepared? What does that mean?”

It was the proverbial moment to show his cards. He leaned his forearms on the oak bar and laced his fingers together. “I expected a different type of woman, that’s all. Certainly not the type to make a man forget himself.”

“Does that mean you aren’t going to honor our work contract?”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m fully able to put the past behind me. The question is, can you? I doubt what we did, out in a church parking lot, rocked either of our boats. It’s hardly a blip on the map. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Her eyes were the color of a stormy sea and her mouth resembled a pink moist flower. Damn, he wanted to kiss her.

“You called me a ferret!” she hissed, glaring up at him like an angry panther.

He almost laughed. “Ah, now there you’re wrong. I said you reminded me of one. It isn’t the same thing. Christ, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve laid eyes on in months. Whether or not we work together, that fact isn’t going to change. But I’m not an animal. Why can’t you accept my apology?”

“Because it doesn’t sound like one.” She turned to leave.

Matt caught her wrist, feeling her delicate bones between his thumb and forefinger. “Woman, how do you manage a large animal without getting hurt?”

She tried to pull her arm away and he refused to let go. “I don’t rely on brute strength to get the job done.”

“Carolina, I bet you could whistle the winds to comply with your every wish. I know I’m under some spell,” he murmured. “I can’t make it any clearer. I’m sorry if I said something to offend you. Tell me what it is, so I can make amends.”

“Respect me. Stop seeing me through some lens.”

“Done,” Matt assured her, but he wasn’t entirely sure he could put aside that she was a beautiful woman. It wasn’t as easy for him to turn off what he had believed was a mutual attraction. He let go of her slender arm. A twinge stabbed him between the ribs. A larger truth loomed. He’d seen large burly men get kicked in the head, tossed about like a cork, and trampled when trying to corral cattle. Beautiful or not, Carolina was a woman. A woman who could easily get broke in half if a bull got ornery. “Talk to me about how you manage a bull. It’s our summer breeding season on the ranch. Dr. Rodriguez, I don’t doubt you could bewitch a beast. I just don’t want you getting hurt before you finish your job. Have you ever been to a Texas cattle ranch? I don’t suspect there’s much raising beef and hay on the beaches down here.”

She smothered a laugh behind her wine glass and rolled her glimmering eyes. “Central Florida has plenty of ranches. You aren’t my first cattle client. I sent you my resume. Didn’t you have time to read it?”

“Of course,” he replied. “It was the reason I hired you.”

Carolina’s expression morphed into a study of concentration. “There is such a thing as sophistication and behavior management to approach a fifteen-hundred-pound animal. From what I’ve gathered your operation is pretty sophisticated. That means you’ve got the pens and stables where samples can be collected.”

“Go on,” he prompted Carolina. “Any luck with bovine diseases before?” He had not only read her resume, it was her genetic research that had intrigued him. Apart from her education, the one reason he had selected Carolina Rodriguez was her extensive experience in diagnosing disease in breed cattle using the latest in pathological analysis methodology. He’d checked her references and each client he’d spoken with reported her exceptional ability to treat dire cases. But being in a lab and out on a ranch were light years apart.

“From what you’ve explained, after some blood sampling and DNA analysis, we’ll have an answer, pretty quick. Just so you know, I don’t think it’ll be too hard to get to the bottom of your cattle problem.”

“Sit with me,” he said. “I’d like to hear about what you propose to do. No one else has talked about DNA before and had an actual failproof plan. We had some researchers who looked for disease strains that infect all cattle. They focused on a generic illness, not the cattle themselves.”

Carolina’s chin snapped up. “You’ve already alluded to the issue. I’m in agreement. I believe the answer is in your breeding methods. What did you do with the carcasses?”

Matt stiffened. “Disposed of each one off-site. Another cow was found this morning. Its calf most likely will expire by tomorrow. Each day, I pray our logs are free of suspected cattle. No such luck.”

“Is that why you were so upset today?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as if trying to get a read on him.

God, he’d been more than upset. The cow they’d lost he’d raised from a calf. He’d almost hurled his laptop out of the car window. His temper sometimes got the better of him and lately, it was happening more and more. What would Carolina do if he admitted, some days it was like fighting a losing battle. “I don’t take kindly to news of deaths on the ranch.”

“Nor should you,” she murmured, nodding and glancing down at her own hands.

Matt let his gaze follow the outline of her face and then lower, down her neck to a point that pulsed. A vein under her skin throbbed, captivating his focus. Carolina was standing on the point of a pin.

Here was a woman, who without even stepping foot on his property presented a solution that no one else was willing to entertain. To speak of breeding, insinuate there was a flaw, you either had balls of steel or were very, very hard-nosed in the cattle business. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on breeding cattle that included stock lines traced not a hundred years, but since the time the west was won. Carolina Rodriguez had no idea that uttering these words could get her in serious trouble. His father would bust a gut if her proposition were shared.

“We’ll need a tissue sample from the bulls and a cow from the herd,” Carolina said in a low voice. She glanced up and met his gaze. “For DNA comparison required in pathological testing. I’m betting breeding samples are faulty and I promise, we will know in short order.”

He leaned over closer, half-expecting her to pull away. She didn’t. “For all our sakes, don’t ever say that to anyone but me,” he whispered into Carolina’s ear.

“Why would I? There’s confidentiality between a vet and their clients.”

Matt’s cheek brushed against her hair. He inhaled the perfume off her skin. It was all he could do to back away from her. Their eyes met and fused. Her lips trembled and she moved closer, infinitesimally, but he noted her non-verbal message.

“Carolina, I’m not doubting your ethics,” he murmured in a hoarse voice. “In the cattle business, money talks and everything else walks. Too many people can be bought. I come from a long line of ranchers. Not one would want to hear their lines were less than strong. It’s a macho thing. Get my drift?”

“Completely, not that I agree,” she replied.

“We’re going to need a change of plan. I can’t bring you in and tell everyone what you’re doing. Not if you suspect breeding. I’d already considered having you work at night and in the fields, miles away from the main house. I can see you’re going to need access to the outbuildings, barns, and stables.” A host of places. Free access and free rein and without arousing anyone’s suspicions.

“That’s the routine.” Carolina’s brow arched in question. “I’ll also need access to all the ranch files. Even your stock samples. Logs, records, basically everything that deals with breeding. Is there a problem?”

“That depends.”

“On what?” She stood close enough for him to notice the swell of her breasts bunched up against the bar.

“The files are in the main building. Right next to my father’s and uncle’s offices.” Matt clenched his jaw, unwilling to open his family’s dynamics at this juncture. “Do you want another drink?”

“No,” she said. “I’ve had enough. I want something far different. There’s something you aren’t saying. What is it, Mr. McLemore? I can’t help you unless you’re completely open with me. I get this vibe that you’re holding back.”

She was reading him like a book. Their breaths warmed the air between them. This was impossible. He needed her insight and veterinary services. He wanted to take her into his arms and latch his mouth onto hers, tasting her in a long, drawn-out kiss.

“Everyone has secrets, Carolina.”

“But we aren’t talking about everyone, Mr. McLemore. There’s only two people in this equation.”

“Checkmate,” he gritted out.

“Either you’re straight with me, or forget it. If it means hearing from your attorneys, so be it. I can’t do my job if I’m blindsided. I won’t be traveling to Annona unless you give me full disclosure.”

“And if I do, then come hell or high water, I expect you at the ranch on Monday. Do we have a deal?”

Dr. Rodriguez possessed two things he wanted very badly. Her ability to save his family’s failing cattle ranch and a promise of a night he’d remember for years. Taking one would mean giving the other up, because he couldn’t have both. This wasn’t the type of woman a man could take to bed, then work next to as if nothing had happened.

Carolina held out her slender hand and he took it, clasping her palm to his in a gentle handshake. “Agreed,” she said.

There was no point in denying the truth, but only an idiot would actually voice it aloud. If he got Carolina between the sheets, he’d want to do it over and over. They needed a cover for a variety of reasons, but namely to keep this woman safe. Some seemingly innocent reason for her to be at the ranch, but not as an employee.

He scrubbed his hand over his face. For a brief second, he studied Carolina — the woman and the doctor. Acutely, Matt was aware of what he hungered to do didn’t mesh with what he had to do. Where Carolina was concerned, his personal and business worlds were on different planes. Unless, he could find a way to meld them both into a workable solution. He forked his fingers through his hair, searching for an answer.

If a breeding solution was proven with black-and-white facts, not a suggestion, it wouldn’t matter if she was green, polka-dotted, and part mermaid. His father, Wade McLemore, would accept Carolina’s diagnosis without a qualm. It was getting from this point to that point that muddied Matt’s thoughts, unless he put the burden on Carolina, to keep her distance.

In a flash, it came to him. Matt grinned and almost laughed out loud at the audacity. It was crazy and perfect.

“Look, what do you say if you came home with me and we pretended to be dating?”

“Are you off your rocker?” she huffed.

“Not in the least. A couple of times, maybe more, you did mention that you were a professional.”

“Ha-ha,” she quipped. “This isn’t a laughing matter.”

“I’m in agreement. Tough times, demand tough answers. What you’re suggesting is dangerous. Stock lines once deemed faulty affect Wall Street prices. People do all sorts of insane things when stock lines become problematic. You’re suggesting we’ve got a breeding problem. It’s what I’ve thought. Not said. Can’t openly admit without solid proof.”

“Do you mean we have to do this in secret?”

At the moment, Matt wasn’t thinking of covert ranching activities. Carolina’s pouty lips held his attention and he wondered what it would be like to kiss her into submission.

“Not in secret, just under wraps. For now. We don’t want someone fearing for their livelihood. Trust me on that one. At Evermore, we generally breed by stock lines from other ranches. That’s someone’s reputation we’d be casting doubt on.”

“Genome studies are common. This type of analysis I’ve done isn’t something out of a science fiction movie. I don’t understand why a ranch would go to pieces if we found a flaw in a breeding line.”

“Throw around a suggestion concerning a bad seed or poor seed, that’s how ranch fires occur. I won’t have my cattle set on fire inside our barns. You get my meaning? This isn’t just a bunch of sophisticated gentlemen we’ll be questioning. Ranch workers will get laid off. These are folks who work to pay a note on their home, feed their family, and hope to God that there’ll be work next year. Those men who sit around in the Gentleman’s Cattle Club will turn in an insurance claim without blinking. Don’t think for an instant that this is the type of news we can release and then take back.”

Carolina’s eyes had grown to the size of plates. “I understand the serious nature of this. But why can’t you just say I’m your friend?”

Matt’s mouth tightened into a grim line. He stared into her stormy gray eyes and growled, “For one, I haven’t got any female friends. And I sure as hell couldn’t pretend with you. Not that I’m alone in this attraction we’ve got going on.”

Carolina’s face flushed bright red. “Why do you keep harping on that!”

“Because it’s true. Don’t bother to lie about our mutual attraction. Baby, both of us want to roll around in the sheets. I just can’t risk a whole ranch over a good time.”

To her credit, she didn’t look away. “We’re just going to show up at your ranch, hook up, and hang out. That will take some real acting.”

He leaned in closer again. “Darlin’, it’s not like we don’t want to do it. You could always pretend to be old-fashioned. A woman who wants to wait. I hear there’s a couple, still left in the world.”

Fire leapt into those eyes of hers. “You’re incorrigible. Really full of yourself. Well, just so you know, I could pull it off. I’m a profe—”

“Yes, I’ve heard,” he muttered. “You’re a professional.”

“It isn’t against the law. And, I take it that I’m your last resource, Mr. McLemore. Aren’t I?”

Stunned, Matt stared at her. It was the truth and it hit home. “If you’re as good as you seem, you are.”

“Okay, then. I’m happy to oblige.” She tipped up her precious nose into the air as defiance and self-satisfaction clearly danced in her expression.

“Seems like from where I stand, you’re using that banner of professionalism to hide something. Not that I’m asking what or why. Just know, I’m a good listener, Dr. Rodriguez.”