Chapter Six
As Arturo turned the truck onto the long, winding dirt road that wound up the hill to the Torres family ranch, Carl’s phone began to buzz. He checked the screen, and when he found it was Virginia calling, he reluctantly answered.
“What is it, Virginia?”
“Where’s my presentation?”
Carl sighed. “I’ve pulled a lot of it together,” he assured her, “but I’ll need to work with your architect to finalize it.”
“Then you’d better get back here—today!”
“I can’t come today. But I promise I’ll be there in time to get the presentation done.”
“I’m beginning to think your promises are worth less than the paper they’re written on.”
“I haven’t written them on any paper,” Carl pointed out.
“Exactly.”
“Virginia, I’ll be there as soon as I possibly can.”
“No presentation, no ranch,” she reminded him.
“Believe me; I know.” Carl hung up. He was glad Camila’s father was coming tomorrow and that Ximena had agreed to give him the mask. Carl needed to leave tomorrow right after the party, make a quick trip back to Chance Creek, soothe Virginia’s ruffled feathers, talk to her architect and then hightail it out to California.
“When are we going to tell them the good news?” Arturo asked when he pulled up to the house and killed the truck’s engine.
“Tomorrow, when everyone’s here. Can you keep the secret overnight?”
“Of course. They’ll be so surprised.”
After Carl had leveled his accusations at Valenzuela last night, the man had consented to sit down with him and Arturo. They’d ended up being some of the last guests to leave the party after talking long into the evening, Carl mediating while the two men explained their perspectives.
He and Arturo had learned the ranch had been an acquisition early in Valenzuela’s career, before he’d moved out of agriculture and focused his business more squarely in the energy sector. The ranches that Valenzuela still technically owned were now under the management of one of his partners. He’d admitted, with some embarrassment, he had no idea he even still owned the Torres ranch.
Carl had been indignant until he realized he often stretched himself just as thin, meddling in affairs all the way from Silicon Valley to Acapulco.
Once they were all three on the same page, they’d put their heads together to come up with a new plan. Carl hoped the rest of the family would like it.
“Thanks for all your help,” he told Arturo, dropped his bag in his room and made a beeline for the kitchen, where he suspected he’d find Camila. Her face lit up when she saw him, and a weight slipped off his shoulders. His trip had been worth it if it made her life better.
“Hola,” she said.
“Hola.” He cleared his throat, finding it difficult to go on. He’d meant to simply say hello and make sure things were okay with her, but now that they were close, he wanted much more than that. He moved closer, waited until Ximena was busy stirring something in a pan and whispered, “Meet me out back in five minutes.”
“But—”
“Five minutes,” he repeated and escaped out the door again. He’d had enough of waiting. Tomorrow Camila’s extended family would arrive, including her parents. Who knew when he’d get this chance again.
He had the horses ready by the time she slipped outside.
“I told Ximena I’d be back in a few minutes,” she said, eyeing them askance.
Carl didn’t answer. Instead he laced his fingers together, held them out for her to step on and lifted her into the saddle of a midnight-black mare.
“I mean it,” she said again when they set off down the hill. “I can’t be gone long.”
“I’ll get you back soon enough.”
Just as soon as he’d claimed that kiss circumstances kept denying him.
Why hadn’t she done this sooner?
Camila followed Carl down the side of a hill, the wind whipping her curls behind. She relished the fresh air and motion after the hours she’d spent in Ximena’s kitchen. They slowed when they approached the woods, picking their way along a narrow winding trail. After the constant bustle of the ranch house, the quiet of the forest calmed her. When they reached a river, Carl dismounted and helped Camila down, too.
She thought he’d kiss her then, but instead he sat down, slid off his boots and dipped his feet in the cool water. Camila followed suit and moaned with pleasure. It was beautiful here, birds chirping overhead as the water slid by. When Carl touched the back of her hand, she turned to him, taking in his grave expression.
“I want to be with you, Camila,” he said. “You know that, right?”
She nodded.
“I had a meeting with someone important yesterday,” he went on. “And that’s a problem.”
“Why?”
“Because every meeting feels important. There’s always another deal. Another problem to solve. Another old friend who needs me.”
“I understand; that’s who you are. A businessman.”
He lightly bumped her shoulder with his. “But you don’t want to be with a businessman. You want a rancher. Someone who stays in Chance Creek.”
Camila sucked in a breath. “That’s not fair. I’m not trying to dictate your job. I simply want assurances I won’t have to move.” If only he could see inside her heart. Know how much she loved him even if she was terrified that doing so meant she’d someday have to leave Chance Creek.
“I get that.” Carl took a moment to find his words. “And I am going to be a rancher in Chance Creek, one way or another.”
One way or another? Camila realized he’d never updated her on his progress buying the Simmons’s ranch. Was he worried the deal would fall through?
“But I’m always going to be a businessman, too. A ranch is a business, and I’m always going to be looking for ways to improve our cattle operation. That’s who I am. That’s what interests me. I want to put you first, but my business life is going to intrude sometimes. How do you feel about that?”
Camila leaned back, resting her weight on her wrists. How did she feel about that? She knew how important it was to her to be with Carl, but she also worried his love of business would one day lead him away from Chance Creek.
When her silence went on too long, Carl touched her knee. “Let me put it another way. How do you want to spend your time?”
“Running my restaurant,” she said immediately.
“Is there anything else you want to do?”
She laughed. There was hardly enough time in the day already.
“Will you cut back your hours so you’re home for dinner every night if we marry?” he asked.
Camila straightened. “How could I possibly do that? Dinner is our busiest time.”
“But you’ll take weekends off?”
She doubted it. “I take Mondays off.”
“But if I need you, I can call you up and you’ll come right home?”
“Carl!” She knew what he was doing. Knew it was only fair. But still—
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything more. He was an exasperating man sometimes. A sexy, exasperating man.
She forced herself to think the situation through. They were both busy people, and their schedules were never going to be consistent. And just when they’d found a ranch, she’d been the one to send them on a wild goose chase to Texas—and then Mexico.
“I’ve been asking for the moon, huh?” she asked. “I’ve been making this impossible.”
“No. Not impossible. But hard.” Carl picked up a stone and tossed it in his hand. “I’m wondering if there’s another reason—besides wanting to be sure you get to stay in Chance Creek.”
“Another reason?”
“For setting the bar to date you so high. Maybe I’m not really the man you want.”
Camila turned on him. “Carl Whitfield, I want you,” she told him, “so just shut your stupid mouth.” She flushed when she realized what she’d said, but Carl only chuckled.
“Glad to hear it.” He grew serious again. “Maybe it’s something else, then. Maybe you’re not ready to marry.”
Camila opened her mouth to deny it, but nothing came out.
Carl shifted. “We don’t have to rush things, you know.” But she could tell he wished she’d answered differently. Camila let the water run over her feet and tried to put her thoughts in order.
“I think—I think you’re right,” she said slowly. “I wasn’t ready for a serious relationship—or marriage—the first time we went out. Don’t get me wrong,” she added quickly. “I’d already fallen for you back then. Hard. But we went straight from nothing to everything. We talked about marriage on our first date!”
“And we’re doing it again,” he said ruefully. “I asked you to say yes to a ranch—as if you’d already said yes to me.”
“We can’t hide how we feel about each other,” Camila said. “We just… work together. But back then…”
“Back then?” he prompted when she didn’t go on.
“Back then I was just getting started at Fila’s. I’d always worked for my father. Lived with my parents. Got bossed around by my older brother. For the first time I was getting to run my own life. You’re older than me, Carl. You’re already a successful businessman. It would have been way too easy to slide right back into an old pattern and let you take the lead. That’s not what I wanted. I still don’t want that.”
He cocked his hat back. “I thought it might be something like that.”
“Are you angry?”
“No. I get it, actually. As a young man, I had to move away from home to take control of my life; otherwise I’d have looked to my father to make the decisions. You needed to find your feet.”
“Exactly.”
“How about now?” Carl asked, tossing the stone in his hand again.
“Now I think I’m ready. Although I’d still like a date or two before we get any more serious.”
“Doesn’t this count as a date?”
“I guess so.” She made a face. How much of a date could it be if they didn’t even kiss?
Carl must have read her mind. He reached for her—
But the sound of hoofbeats had him scrambling back.
“Carl? Camila?” Luis called as he reined in his horse. “You’re needed up at the house.”