Always Tried and Proven (26 page)

     She looked at him in astonished fascination.

    “Shut your mouth, Callie.”  He ordered.  “You know you’re a sexy little minx, and you think you’ve had me on the business end of the bull whip.  That may be true, but don’t you dare think I can’t swing it as hard as you can!  If I’m taking the beating, it’s only because I choose to allow it.  But
don’t you push much harder
.”

     She couldn’t believe it.  He was absolutely tongue-lashing her!  He watched her in furious frustration, watched the emotions battling in her eyes. 

   “Now, don’t you look at me like that.  You had this coming!  What am I supposed to do with you, you little rogue?”  He sighed, and rubbed his eyes.  “Damn it.  Come here, Callie.  We’re going to get through this.  I love you.  I’m not going anywhere.  What can I do to make you understand?”  he growled.

     “Nothing.  I think I’ve finally got it all figured out.”  She snapped.  She turned to leave again, and he grabbed her arm – none too gently. 

     “No, you don’t.”  he hissed.  “You can’t run from me, Callie, you can’t run from your feelings about me.  And if you ever think you ought to try it, you can remember this.”  He pulled her into his arms and laughed, low and predatory.

    “You make me mad, Callie Anna, but you’re mine.   You are
all mine
.  You belong to me, heart and soul, and I’ll
never
let you go.”

      He lowered his head to kiss her, and she hissed a warning.  “Kiss me, and I’ll bite you.”

      He shook his head.  “Yeah, right.  You’re in worse shape than I am, right now.  Don’t you try to tell me you don’t want me!  I’ll show you the difference.”  He threatened.  The heat of his body and the hardness of his muscles against her caused a spreading fire.  Sam’s eyes devoured her as he lowered his face to hers.

     The kiss was devastating.  Callie whimpered as if it was painful, and in a way, it was.  He was ripping a hole in her defenses, pressing his advantage.  He plundered her until she was helpless and pliable in his arms.  She couldn’t have denied him anything at that point.

    “Mmm.”  Sam growled against her mouth with satisfaction.  He tasted her throat.  “Don’t pretend you don’t know that you belong to me, Callie.  I’ve known it since the first time I saw you.  Do you need more convincing?”

     “No!”  she wailed.  “Stop it.” 

     His kisses were killing her.  She felt totally vulnerable.  He had the power to lay her heart open and filet it, if he wanted to.

    “Callie, I could take you right now.  I could even marry you now.  But I want more than your body, lady.  I want your promise and I want your commitment, for a lifetime.  I won’t have my wife running off whenever I get too close to her heart, or whenever I make a mistake.  I will make my share of them, Callie, but when you’ve made your promise to me, I’ll expect you to stay with me and trust me.”

     “I’d never try to hurt you, Callie.  But I want a partner, and it takes time to build that kind of trust.  That’s the only thing that’s keeping us apart.  I know you don’t understand.  But you will.  Spend some time in the tent, and you’ll understand my world a whole lot better.”

     Sam’s mouth and hands were driving her out of her mind.  Desperation filled her.  She needed him!

     She simply had to feel his lips and hands on her; she had to become one with him, fulfill her need.  She was incomplete.  He alone could fill what she was lacking.  He was the one, the mate she needed.  She wanted him desperately!

    Callie’s lust was incomprehensible to her.  She’d never been desperate for
any
man, but this was completely overpowering.  She was dying! 

     She slipped her hands around his waist and began to stroke him, beg him with her hands.  “Sam.”  She begged.  “Okay, Sam.”

      He looked at her with a glint of steel in his eyes.  “Say you’ll marry me, Callie, and mean it.” He challenged.  “For life.  No divorce possible, no nights on the couch, no driving home to mama, especially without even telling me.  And don’t ever forget, you’re not marrying the tent, you’re not marrying your band again.  You’re marrying
me
.”

     Callie felt as though she’d been soundly slapped.  She felt like a two-year old child in his eyes.  A very spoiled child.  Rage filled her, and she glared up at him coldly. 

    “I’ll tell you a secret, you bullying tyrant.”  She said vehemently.  “I don’t need you!  And
now
, I won’t have you!  I won’t marry
you
, or your tent, or
your band.
  You can take the whole, bloody mess along with your holier than thou demands, and go straight to Hell!  And if you think I’m waiting around here like a fool for you any longer, you are sadly mistaken.” 

    “The next time you think of me, you think of me in the arms of some other man, because that’s exactly where I’ll be!  You have no idea how many men are just waiting for a call from me, all of them extremely eager to deliver everything you don't know how to!  And, I'll be glad to let them.” 
     “Frankly, one man is as good as another.  I'd really prefer to have sex out of wedlock, and plenty of it.  It's all about the pleasure, for me!  I'm not waiting around one minute more, for you to decide whether I'm good enough to deserve your holy intimacy!”

     “Now, why don’t you just go?  I wouldn’t marry you now, if you were the last man alive!”

      Sam closed his eyes, and shook his head.  He sighed, and then he looked at her, again
.
  There was sadness and yet, a steely sureness in his eyes. 

     “Callie; for you, I am the last man alive.  You know you wouldn’t be satisfied with anybody else.  Trying to prove me wrong is just going to make you miserable.  And me, too!  I know I’ve made you angry.  You’ve made me angry, too.  Why don’t we just …” He sighed, and thought. 

     “Let’s take a walk, and calm down.  Or take a couple of hours to think about this, and then talk?  I don’t want to leave without you, Callie.  I can’t afford to keep running back here.  Sweetheart, please!  Forgive me for going too far.  I’ve been on the raw edge.  Let’s work this out, and then we’ll go to Vermont.  You know that's really what we both want.  Please?”

     Callie saw the earnestness in his eyes.  She was furious!  How dare he think he could just beat her up verbally, and then immediately be forgiven?  She didn’t have to take it from him!  She could have
plenty
of other men!  She squared her shoulders. 

     “I’m not interested in you, or your tent.  Now, if you will excuse me, I want you to leave.”

     Sam gave her a narrow, calculating look.  She was making him angry again

    “Callie.” Sam warned.  “Think twice, before you do this.  There is a whole lot at stake.”

     Callie’s eyes were full of furious fire.  “Not for me.  It’s all over.  Goodbye.”

    Sam sighed heavily and closed his eyes.  “Callie.”  he said quietly.  “Callie, please.  I love you so much, Sweetheart.”

    “That’s too bad for you.  So do a number of other men.  Believe me, I can have my pick of any number of men who don’t have your ridiculous hang-ups.”

     “I’m sure that’s quite true, Callie.  But you don’t love any of those men.  You love me.”

     “Did.  I thought I did love you.  I’m getting cured quickly, and seeing the light.  Infatuation is fleeting, actually. Suddenly, I am thoroughly convinced that marriage to you would be an uptight, unsatisfying, religious pain in the ass.  You turned my head with your strong come-on.  That's all.  The more I see of you, the more I know that you don't even have the guts to make a commitment.  And yet, you pretend I'm the problem!  And believe me, you are not the only fish in the sea.  If I were inclined, there are plenty of men who’d marry me today.  I’d just have to say the word.”

      Sam shook his head.  He was almost amused.  “But if you were inclined to do so, you’d have done it already.”

    “I’ve been tempted.  If it will get rid of you, it will be well worth it.”  she snapped.  “And it will make Gregory’s day.  He’s been after me to marry him for three years.  He’s handsome, and rich and he adores me.  I think he’ll do nicely.”

      Sam sighed.  “Callie, stop this.  You are going to be
my
wife.”

     “But, Sam.”  She protested sweetly.  “That’s just the point you have so aptly been making.  I am
not
your wife.”

     “You are, Callie.  We just haven’t had the ceremony.  You are, in spirit.  You love me, Callie, and I love you just as much.  You’re the one God has for me, and I’m not letting you go.” He challenged her, with pain in his voice.

    She gave him a cold look.  “You’re wrong.  You have no hold on me, whatsoever.  And I don't have the same feelings about marriage you do.  Obviously.  I'm going to do what I bloody well please, from this moment on.  That includes sex, Tarzan.” she threatened, with narrowed eyes.

     He shook his head.  “No, I’m not wrong.”  He said quietly.  He silenced her retort with a penetrating kiss.   When he pulled away, Callie stared defiantly up into his face.

     “Your caveman tactics won’t change anything, Mr. Stringer.  One more time, I will ask you to leave.  I am not coming to work in your tent, and I must ask you to relinquish any crazy idea you have, that I belong to you and that we are going to be married.  It simply is not so!  From this moment on, you are out of my life.  And you have no one to blame but yourself.  Take your big, sanctimonious mouth, your uptight puritanical ideals, and get lost!”

     Sam raised his eyebrows, and sighed heavily.  Those words hurt.  He knew he'd be hearing them over and over again, through the nights ahead.

     "Are you
very sure
you mean that?" he asked quietly.

     She couldn't look into his eyes.  The pain she saw there, made her want to cry.  "I've told you once before I wouldn't marry you.  You shouldn't have so much trouble with the concept, should you?" she answered coldly.

      "You had good reason, then."

    "And I do now.  You deserve this, you self-righteous snob."  She sneered.  "Get away from me.  Get out of here, and don't come back.  You are not God's gift to women.  Now, get lost!" She snapped coldly.  The venom in her eyes was real, and staggering.  Sam had never seen anything like it in her eyes.

    “Dear heaven, Cal!  What’s happened to you, honey?” he asked quietly.  “Can’t we argue without it coming down to goodbye?  Can’t I let off steam, when I get upset?  Maybe it’s foolish, but every now and then, it happens.”

     She laughed at him coldly.  “Oh, now we’ll just make light of it, shall we?” She taunted.  “Slap the spit out of her, and then say we just needed to let off a little steam?  Here’s the deal, dear Sam.  Your good looks swayed me, I’ll have to admit it.  But this thing happens when I’m around men for awhile.  They always remind me before too much time passes, why I’ll never marry
any
man!  Your flagrant, ego-boosting, woman-bruising, nasty tactics always show themselves.”

     “Your self-centered, patronizing abuse, and your self-serving ways make me sick! You can find the nearest cliff and jump off, because your charm isn’t working anymore.  You’re nothing but a
bore
who doesn’t know when his welcome’s worn out.  Get
away
from me, and don’t bother me again!” She snapped.

     He just looked at her, with confusion and hurt in his eyes.

    “You still can't get it through your thick head?  I mean it.  I’ve come to my senses.  You almost had me fooled into thinking you were different.  You’re not.  You’re boring and ridiculous and puritanical, and I’m sick of your crap.  Sick of
you
.” She hissed.  “I hate your religious guts, preacher!  You may have been able to catch my eye, but that’s all you’re going to get. I’ll be in bed tonight with a hot stud, who thinks I’m wonderful.  This time you will find out.  I’m not some spoiled child you can verbally slap around!  I deserve a little respect.”

     Sam just watched  her for a moment, quietly.  “Yes, you do, Callie.  And so, incidentally,  do I.  We’ve both said things we don’t mean, and that is regrettable.  I’m sorry that I made you so angry, and that I’ve let you down so.  I didn’t mean to, love.  But people will do that sometimes, you know.”

     He waited, but there was no thaw in the icy shield, no acknowledgment of anything he had to say.

    “All right, Callie.  If you ever change your mind, you know where I am.  Say goodbye to your delightful mother for me, will you?”  he said evenly.  He looked at her for a long moment, but she simply continued to glare at him, with lips pressed tightly together.

    As soon as Sam walked down the steps, Callie went into the house and locked the door behind her.  She went to the window and watched him, with cold anger in her heart.  He got in his van and put his head on the steering wheel, eyes closed.  He shook his head slowly.  Then he started the engine and drove away.