The Tycoon and the Texan (19 page)

“Nick, you don't have to tell me about her. I know all I need to know. Like we agreed, pasts are pasts.”

“I have to.” Nick lifted McCall's chin. “I don't want any secrets between us.” He lightly kissed her before releasing her face.

“Mother tried her damnedest to make me into the Pepperdine type, but I was just as determined to be Berkeley. I never fit into her world. Are you familiar with Procrustes?”

“The cruel highwayman from Greek mythology that forced people who passed him to lie on a long bed and then stretched them to fit it?”

“Yeah. I felt a lot like one of his victims.”

Lifting up on her elbow, McCall rested her chin on her hand, taking in every one of Nick's expressions. She gave him a questioning look.

“I felt like I couldn't be accepted the way I was, but yet I resisted conforming to society. All I wanted was to be accepted, not stretched to meet another person's expectations.”

“Nick, I'm sorry you feel that way. You had everything you needed, a wonderful mother, plenty of money—”

“Everything but what I wanted. A father. Mother saw to that.”

“And then I came along and made you feel like you had to conform to my world.”

“No. For once, I wanted to do it. To prove to you that I'm just a regular old guy who truly cares for you. I have a confession.”

McCall was eager to hear what he had to say. He seemed so serious. “Okay.”

“I didn't cook the meal on the boat. Our chef did and then Harold showed me a few things to do to make you believe I did it.” He shot her a shy grin. “I don't really even know how to cook.”

She smiled and raised an eyebrow as if surprised by his confession, but decided to keep her comments to herself.

“I just care so much about you that I wanted you to think I can do anything I set my mind to.”

“Do you really care about me, Nick?”

“I didn't think you'd have to ask that. I've always cared, but don't know when I realized just how much. Suddenly, I began thinking about building a life with you. Hell, I even had little Dartmouth ankle-biters playing in the front yard surrounded by a white picket fence, neighborhood barbeques, and picking out curtains for the kitchen.”

“Then why didn't you tell me that we'd gone from
I love you
to a true desire to be one?”

“Because I didn't know myself for a long time. Suddenly, I began experiencing something unfamiliar. I think that infection has set in, and I'm on the verge of delirium. That's the reason I'm spilling my guts to you now.”

“You'll be okay. Why did you take Colt's challenge so seriously?” She smiled at him, then added, “Other than male ego.”

“Mainly because I knew I could beat him. One thing I didn't tell you about Jock and the ranch is that I spent most of my summers up there on the Triple J with Jock and his father. That's where I learned to be a man. It certainly wasn't swashbuckling with a doting manservant who I could twist around my little finger and who still calls me Master Dart.” He touched her cheek tenderly.

“I didn't know how it came about, but I figured out when I saw you ride that you knew your way around a horse and weren't trying to show up Colt.” She couldn't resist smiling as she thought back to the look on Colt's face when he landed in a pile of horse droppings. “And, I was glad you slugged the jerk.”

“I was trying to put him in his place because I knew what I was doing, but when he mouthed off, I had no choice but to hit him. A man never allows another man to talk trash about someone they love. All I've wanted since the day I realized how I felt about you is to make you happy. Make you want me as much as I want you.”

“Oh Nick, you didn't have to try that hard, because you've made me very happy. In the last week, I've learned more about myself than I thought possible. You made me see myself differently. Made me face my own feelings and fears.” She fought back tears that clung in her throat.

Somewhere during the conversation, Lauren, along with Nick's intentions to tell McCall about the Triple J acquisition vanished. His business problem could wait. McCall could not.

“Back in LA, I asked you about the hurt in your life. You made it very clear you didn't plan to discuss it. I respect that, but please remember, I'll always be here and have a big shoulder,” Nick said.

“Thanks. I like big shoulders.” She nestled up to his side. “Nick, you've earned the right to know what I'm scared of, too.”

“Mac, you don't have to—”

“Yes, I do. I'm scared of rattlesnakes. I hate to throw up. And the worst, I'm horrified of getting one of those viruses that get under your toenails. You know the type you see on TV where the little ogre-looking thingy lifts up a toenail and looks at the yuck under it?”

Nick chuckled and rolled toward her. “Now tell me what your heart is scared of.”

“It's terrified of the thought of losing you like I've done everybody in my life. Paw-Pa, Daddy, and then Mother. All the people I ever loved, except for Granny and Lola Ruth. And, yes, I was afraid of you, too. Of my feelings. I think that's why I acted like I did on the island. I wanted you to go away, so then I wouldn't take the chance of getting close, of feeling, of loving you.” McCall peered up into his eyes. “I was afraid I'd run you off, if I got too close.”

“I'm not going anywhere, Angel Eyes.” He slipped his hand behind her head and pulled her down to him. “How do you figure it's your fault that you lost your parents and grandfather? That's a big burden to carry for a young woman.”

“I should have been able to do something to help them stay safe. Make Daddy take better care of himself. Make Mother strong enough to stop smoking and save her from being ravaged with cancer. And to stop Paw-Pa from tangling with that stallion the day he got trampled to death. I should have been able to do something. I guess that was why I was so angry at you for taking such a risk in the corral. I was so mesmerized by your talent that I couldn't leave, but knew you could end up dying in the dirt and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.”

“That was beyond your control, Mac. You don't have to save the whole world. I'll be here to shoulder some of your burden. And there's one thing for sure, you can't get rid of me that easy. I'll be there for you.”

“I'm glad. Where do we go now?”

“To a place where it rains while the sun shines. Do you have your passport?”

“Yes. I don't know what possessed me, but when I found out we were going out in the Pacific on your boat, I put it in my bag.”

“Good. I always have mine with me. Can you be packed by morning? I'll have the jet readied.”

She nodded and settled her head on his broad chest. “But we still have a lot to talk about. I want to know about the land deal you're working on, what is going on with your construction firm, have you scouted for a new pitcher?”

“We have a lifetime to talk.” He grew silent and pulled her closer to him. “Right now I want to focus on us. Business comes second to you.”

“I know you spend a lot of time on your iPhone,” she said. “Are you sure we don't need to go back to LA?”

“No. That's why I have the best managers money can buy running my businesses. Plus half the calls are from Mother. I hate to admit it, but if she continues checking up on me, I'm going to begin ignoring her calls.”

“Shame on you, but okay. No more questions for the time being.”

Together they gazed into the sky, feeling closer to the heartbeat of the universe than they'd ever felt.

The stillness of the prairie settled around them as they lay cocooned in one another's arms, in their own universe, far, far away from the pressures of the world. Far away from the clouds that churned in the west like boiled Armageddon.

McCall snuggled closer to Nick and they watched as ominous clouds erased the sun.

“Slugger, as much as I'm enjoying our outing, we'd better head for the house.” She motioned her head toward the west.

They sprang to their feet when random jolts of wind lashed against their faces. Lightning danced across the soundstage of the sky as throbbing green-black clouds threatened and coursed their way toward them. A wagonload of thunder rumbled.

Forgetting the fishing pole and tackle box, they raced through the pasture, trying to outrun a wall of rain.

Feeding heifers raised their heads as though checking the severity of the storm and formed a single file, ambling toward shelter.

“Damn it, McCall, hurry.” Nick grabbed her hand and pulled her close to his side.

“This isn't much of a storm. It'll pass in a bit and you'll see the most gorgeous Texas sunset you've ever seen.”

“It isn't the storm I'm worried about. I promised Lola Ruth that we'd be back by dinner. Don't want to miss her homemade ice cream. And I'll be the judge of whether it's the best sunset I've ever seen.”

The next afternoon, the turn and descent of the Learjet woke McCall. She looked out the plane's window as it approached the Niagara Falls International Airport. Within what seemed like only minutes after landing, a car shuttled them to their hotel.

And now, McCall felt safe and secure with Nick's arm around her shoulder as they stood in the gleaming sunshine of Niagara Falls. They enjoyed the tapestry of turbulent waves and billowy foam when the river thundered over the spectacular waterfalls. The allure of the town known for romance, coupled with the mystery of the cascading falls, washed away any remaining misgivings the couple had about their relationship. They were in love and eager to explore their future.

“Come sit with me.” Nick guided her to a park bench. “Did your Grandmother really fire Colt?”

“Oh yeah. She's wanted to send him packing for years because of his attitude, but she had promised his dying father that she'd see after the kid. He was lucky and had inherited his dad's gift for recognizing rank stock, which made the ranch a lot of money.”

“Then it wasn't all because of our altercation?”

“No. Granny didn't have a problem with a good ol'-fashioned buckin' competition, but would have preferred it with trained rodeo stock. I think deep inside she was happy that you sent Colt over the top rail of the corral, but of course, she couldn't admit it.” McCall laid her hand on Nick's thigh. “It's been a while since there's been a good ol'-fashioned fistfight on the Jacks Bluff. But when she discovered that Colt put you both in danger by foolishly using Mesa's wild mustangs, Granny had had enough. She won't let anyone put the ranch in jeopardy for any reason.” McCall patted his leg. “I just wish I'd seen more of the fight.”

“Glad you didn't. There were three blows, two of them mine.” He smiled shyly and tucked her closer to his side. “Sure wasn't my finest hour.”

“Nick, I'm happy he's gone.” She reached up and caressed his knuckles. “It was time, and thanks for defending my honor.”

“You're welcome, ma'am. Insulting a woman in Texas is purt near a hangin' offense, I heard.”

She nodded and smiled. “You've been reading the book on Texa-sisms, huh?”

A sheepish smile crossed his lips. “Yep. Trust me, ma'am . . . it was the Texas thing to do.”

“Just as long as he drew first.”

“In a manner of speaking, he did. I wouldn't be much of a man if I'd ignored him.”

“Nick, I need to clear up a misconception about Colt.”

“I told you before, Mac, you don't owe me any explanations. Remember, our pasts are our pasts.”

“I think you have the idea that Colt hurt me, and he didn't. He's just a natural born idiot and blowhard who wanted to get your goat. Honestly, if anything, he was a bit protective of me. We never had anything going, but it wasn't because he didn't try.” Her heart beat out of control while she scrounged up the courage to confront the demon of her past, and tell Nick the secret she'd kept buried in the cemetery of her past. She continued. “This isn't easy. It's something I've told nobody, especially Granny. She'd probably have gone for her Winchester if she'd known what happened.”

Nick looked at her questioningly. His brow creased with obvious concern, and he took her hand.

“I was touched inappropriately. No, I wasn't just touched. I was raped when I was eight.” She looked up at Nick and fought for the courage to continue. Telling him the truth was much harder than she ever imagined. “And, yes, I told my mother, but she didn't believe me.”

Miserable, utter chaos exploded within Nick. His temples pounded and his throat constricted in anger. A primeval instinct to protect the woman he loved wrestled with rationality; he knew that he must remain calm. Words formed on his lips but seemed unable to come forth.

McCall hushed his response with her fingers. “Please, don't say anything. This is hard enough. Nick, I don't want sympathy, but you need to know why I seem to have a need to sabotage things every time you get too close.”

Tight-jawed and trembling, Nick fought for control. Angry with his inadequacy to comfort her—to say the right thing, to make it all right—he listened.

Yesterday's clouds hung heavily over today's sunshine as McCall told about being stalked by a refinery worker who her father called a friend. One night, after one of her dad's weekly poker games, the man followed her to the barn. Instead of leaving the ranch for home, he attacked her.

Nick struggled to hold his temper and his tongue in check while something rancid and wrong swathed his heart.

Just telling Nick that much had unraveled her courage to a single hair-like strand of steel, but she continued digging through the hostile valleys of her memories, feeling naked and exposed. A patchwork of humiliation and frenzied emotions brought tears to McCall's eyes. They mingled with relief that she had finally uttered the words kept hidden in her soul way too long. She could now release herself from a self-imposed sentence of shame.

Shrinking back into her past, she told Nick about the secret she harbored, the guilt deep inside, and how she'd tried to figure out what she had done to provoke the attack.

For weeks after the incident, she had withdrawn from her family members, feeling insecure and shameful. After weeks of turmoil, she tried to talk to her mother—seek guidance from the one person who would protect her. But her mother refused to listen, telling McCall that accusations of that sort would ruin her father's career and that she would tell
nobody
. McCall had retreated from the house and for weeks spent every spare moment fishing or riding, wondering what she had done wrong. Each night she climbed in bed carrying a burden of guilt that no child should have to. The word
nobody
repeated itself daily. Nobody, no doubt, meant her grandmother and teachers, but especially her father.

Being so young, McCall didn't understand the judicial system, but years later she always thought that if her own mother wouldn't believe her, then why would anyone else? She swore to keep her secret . . . and had done so, until today.

Determined to turn her back on the past, McCall said, “Now I know he'd groomed me. Made me think he was my friend. Took me to town for ice cream. He'd go riding with me and always told me how much he loved me when he'd hug me.” Humiliation and embarrassment shrouded her being. “The worst part—my own mother hadn't believed me. I had been violated, lost my innocence, yet I was the one to feel the shame. I asked myself for years—if my own mother didn't believe me, then why would anybody else?”

“I believe you, baby. I truly do.” Nick's expression was a mask of stone. Anger seethed in his eyes.

“Nick, you have no idea how it makes me feel to have this burden lifted. Of knowing that I told the truth and somebody believes me.” She snuggled deep against his shoulder. The cursed past was behind her and she could applaud the future. “You have brought me full circle.”

Nick didn't say anything for a while, but from the look on his face he was trying to put his own feelings into words, digging deep inside to find the right ones. “Rape is an act of power and dominance. Survival depended on compliance and submission. You were too young to understand, but it's never, never a victim's fault, McCall. Never.” She felt sure by his responses that her story disturbed him because he only whispered, “I love you, McCall. I truly do. I won't push you into an intimate relationship until you're ready.” He looked deeply in her eyes. “I promise to be here when you are.”

“You have no idea how much I've prayed for this day, and with your understanding, I know I can learn to love, give of myself completely.” She kissed him. “I know one thing. I will never feel unprotected ever again. I'm free, Nick. Truly free for the first time in my life.” McCall looked into his eyes.

She should have felt spent and exhausted, but instead it was as though she had been freed from the guilt and shame just by having someone believe her.

Breaking loose, she pulled off her raincoat, tossing the heavy cloth in the air. Shaking out her hair, she lifted her face to the sky and let the mist from the falls pepper down on her.

“Isn't the mystique of the rapids awesome? Come play with me,” she said.

“Oh yeah, I'll come play with you.” Following suit, Nick dumped his slicker and joined in. “Look across to the farthest brink. It's twenty-five hundred feet wide and way over there is the Canadian side.”

“Oh Nick, you really did bring me to a place where it rains while the sun is shining—and I can see a foreign country at the same time.” McCall smoothed his hair with her fingers, and loved him with her eyes. “Thanks.”

He smiled a thank-you and winked. “This is nothing. Come on.” He grabbed their raincoats, took her hand, and pulled her toward the trolley stop.

After a short ride around Goat Island, across the bridge over the American Rapids, and through the Great Lakes Garden, they exited the trolley.

Still holding her hand, Nick half dragged McCall down the winding path toward the Rainbow Bridge. “Come on, hurry.”

He threw back his head and laughed as McCall stopped to catch her breath. “I thought you were in better shape than that,” he said.

“I'll show you who's in shape.” She darted to the bridge entrance and slowly picked up speed, battling the uphill walkway. A few feet ahead, she stopped and looked behind to see Nick's long legs eating up the concrete.

McCall halted, leaned over with her hands on her knees and inhaled deeply.

“Back up about three feet and face me,” he ordered when he caught up with her.

She complied. “Now what?”

“Take one big step forward.”

She did.

Nick stepped in front of her and took both hands in his. “Angel Eyes, you're standing in Canada and I am in the United States. My heart is pounding like the six billion pounds of water rushing under this bridge a minute. I have a dilemma.”

“A dilemma? You're scaring me.” McCall swallowed, her heart pounding at four billion pounds a minute.

“I don't know whether to ask you to marry me in Canada or the United States.” The warmth of his smile echoed in his voice.

She tilted her head and caught the look in his eyes. “Come here.”

Nick stepped forward. “Will you marry me, McCall Elise Johnson?”

He took one step back, bringing McCall forward one step.

“Yes, I'll marry you, Nicodemus Dartmouth.”

Nick asked her to marry him in Canada, she accepted in the United States. They bound together in an international kiss.

 

In disbelief, two hours later, McCall disconnected from her iPhone, after talking briefly with her lawyer's paralegal.

Wave after wave of shock slapped at her.
A horse ranch!
The words were barely audible over the pounding of her heart. “Daddy really did make an investment and didn't lose everything on gambling.” She sat at the desk in their hotel suite and took a deep breath trying to settle her racing pulse.

She walked to the window and stood hugging herself, trying to absorb the news. For months—no, years—she had questioned her father's business venture. Now it had come to fruition. She had been so astounded at the news she failed to ask where the ranch was located or who owned it.

Think McCall! Think! What did the lawyer's assistant say?
The best she could recall, in all of her excitement, someone had seen the creditor's notice and come forth, notifying her parents' estate through her attorney that they held money in her father's name. She was so caught off guard that she didn't even ask where the ranch was located or even how much money was involved. It could be a few dollars or a million.

And there was already someone who wanted to buy her out.

Everything hadn't been lost after all. With Nick in her life, she had someone to love and cherish, and could finally lay the loss of her parents to rest.

McCall thought back to her and Nick's visit to the Triple J when he told her that he'd like to relocate from LA and buy a ranch. He had certainly proven his prowess on a horse.

Now she could give him the perfect wedding gift. His own horse ranch . . . wherever it might be.

McCall stopped and listened for any stirring in Nick's bedroom. All quiet. Apparently, he was still soothing his bronc-busting aches, bruises, and a fishing hook mishap.

Capitalizing on her privacy, she redialed her attorney's office. Excited at the possibility of surprising Nick, she impatiently tapped her fingers on the desk while she waited for an answer. After being told her lawyer was in a deposition, she held a brief conversation with the same woman as before. McCall disconnected, smiling outwardly.

She had left instructions for her lawyer to inform the buyers that she'd reconsidered and did not wish to sell her share. “Dang it—” She snapped her fingers. She was so excited. Once again, she'd failed to ask where the ranch was located. As long as it was a ranch of some sort it'd be the prefect wedding present for the man who got everything he wanted.

Her excitement could no longer be contained. She slipped into Nick's bedroom.

In the hearth, burnished cinnabar and umber-tinged flames blazed from crackling logs, taking the chill out of the air, making the hotel room cozy. She fed the fire another log. Hissing, tiny blazing embers shot forth.

Two half-empty glasses of Dom Pérignon sat on the table, reminders of their afternoon together making plans for their future.

The excitement still churned in her being. She could wait to tell him the good news that she could finally settle her parents' estate, but tonight . . . tonight she planned to make Nick make love to her until he hollered uncle.