Buckskins, Boots & Bondage (Cowboy Kink) (11 page)

“What a coincidence,” Justin said, unable to hold back the sarcasm. His hands tightened into fists as he fought for control. “There’s something
we
want to talk to
you
about.”

She held up a hand. “Me, first.” She took in another long breath and let it out, then brushed her hair back from her face in a nervous gesture. “Okay. Okay. You guys are about to have a problem.”

“We know.” Justin exchanged a glance with his brother. “You’re a little late getting to us with it, aren’t you?”

“B-but…but…” She looked at the two of them, bewildered. “I just found out about it myself? How could you know already? Who could have told you?”

“Apparently,” Justin spat, “the word got out on the street faster than it did to you. That fancy law firm of yours must not think all that much of you.” He shook off Tucker’s hand on his arm. “Our
friends
are concerned about us.”

“Justin.” Tucker’s mild voice again. “Give her a chance to say what she came here for.”

“You bet.” He barely had himself pulled together. The past was like a devil’s pitchfork poking its hot tines into him. Just when he thought he’d buried the past and killed the last of the pain, here it was again, biting him in the ass. He saw history repeating itself, just as he’d expected. “I’m damned interested in what she has to say.”

The silence that dropped over the room was as thick as a rug.

“I shouldn’t even be here talking to you.” Her voice was firm, even though her hands shook. “My firm is representing Bart Engler and my boss is the lead attorney on the case. I could get fired for telling you anything about the case.”

“Then why are you here?” Justin demanded. “Shouldn’t you be back at your office, sucking up to your boss?”

“Jesus, bro.” Justin could feel Tucker’s disapproval, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

“My first thought was to let you know so you could retain counsel as quickly as possible.” Angel clasped her hands together tightly, an obvious effort at self-control. Her gaze moved from Justin to Tucker and back to Justin again. She wet her lips and let out another breath, as if she’d come to a momentous decision of some sort. “And because…because I love you both and I didn’t want you to be blindsided. There. I’ve said it. I love you.” She paused and stared at both of them.

“What a crock of shit,” Justin exploded. “There is no such thing as love.”

“That’s enough, Justin,” Tucker told him in a warning voice. “Dial it down.”

Angel’s face paled. “Wait a minute. What’s going on here? Are you guys
mad
at me? I’m not sure what I did wrong here.”

Justin turned away from her, but Tucker finally answered. “I’m not sure mad actually describes it, Angel. But if your boss is handling the case, that means you’ll be working on it, too. Right? We just got this news before you got here, and it’s kind of hard to deal with you on the other side of the fence.”

“No, I—”

“Not hard.” Justin turned back to face her. “Try impossible. You toss the love word around pretty easily. And that’s all it is. Just a word. Easy to say. Easy to take back.”

“What?” She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “What are you talking about?” She looked at Tucker. “Can you explain to me why your brother is so off the wall here?”

“Justin has some…issues here, honey. He—”

“I don’t have fucking issues,” Justin practically shouted. “I’m talking about the fact that despite you saying you
love
us, you came here to tell us you’ll be representing the man who’s suing us. Who can cost us a bunch of money. That doesn’t sound much like love to me.”

Angel shook her head vehemently. “No, no, no. Please. Listen to me. That’s not what I came here to say. I’m trying to tell you that I told my boss I wouldn’t work on this case. He should take me off the team.”

“That’ll certainly put a crimp in your plans for your big career,” Justin said in a scathing voice.

Angel pulled herself up to her full height, obviously trying to make herself as tall as possible. A mixture of emotions splashed across her face—pain, despair, then finally anger.

“So that’s it. Just like that. Without any chance for me to tell you how…to let you know…After everything we’ve…” She looked at Tucker. “Please, Tucker—”

“Tucker feels the same way I do.” Justin answered for his brother, shutting down the conversation. Her anguish clawed at Justin’s chest, nearly ripping it open, but his own pain was greater.

“Now I think it’s best if you just leave.”

Angel stared at him. “I thought we had something special going here. Something that also involved trust. Trust that went both ways. But if you’re willing to turn on me this quickly, to lose what we have because for whatever reason you don’t trust me…” She stamped her foot, angry now. “Oh, fuck it. If that’s the way it is, you two aren’t worth the loss of one night’s sleep.”

She stomped out of the house, slamming the door and leaving the brothers staring after her.

“Don’t you think we were a little too quick there, bro?” Tucker’s tone was mild, but Justin could sense irritation seething below the surface. Didn’t he understand what happened? “I mean, she did come and tell us.”

Justin shook his head. “But after Reece did. Besides, she works for the enemy. From now on, we have to consider
her
the enemy, too. It’s just like I told you, Tuck. History repeats itself and that’s what’s happening now.”

Tucker shook his head. “I disagree with you. This was a shock, sure, but she did come racing out here to us. You let your temper get the best of you, and now everything’s fucked. You’re letting one event in your life color everything else.”

“I was right then,” Justin pointed out. “And I’m right now. I told you ever since that disaster with Holly, you just can’t trust women that easily. I have no plans to let myself in for that kind of pain again.”

He was the one who’d been the most committed in the relationship. And the one who’d been hurt the worst. Maybe because while he gave physically with ease, he wasn’t so free with his emotions. When he gave them, it was without reservation. To have had them stomped all over had nearly destroyed him.

“We need to take a step back and really evaluate what’s happening,” Tucker said. “I think you’re painting Angel with the wrong brush.”

Justin shook his head. “Trust me. I’m not. You may be disappointed, but you’ll thank me later.”

“Thank you?” Tucker shook his head. “Highly doubtful. You’ve got to get past this hang-up. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life just looking at
your
naked ass. I have a bad feeling we’re making a mistake here.”

“The biggest mistake we could make is not hiring a shark and end up losing everything.” Justin pounded his fist on the filing cabinet, his rage barely controlled. “If it turns out we’re wrong about Angel, we can always try to patch things up later. And that’s a big if.”

“Here’s another one,” Tucker told him. “
If
she’s still interested.”

****

Angel drove back to the office so blinded by tears she could hardly see where she was driving. But the tears were nothing compared to the sharp pain in her heart. She could hardly believe they’d been so quick to turn against her. Where was the trust, she’d asked them, Apparently, all on her side because if the situation were reversed, she’d believe in them. If only they’d given her the time to tell them they meant more to her than any job. She was a good attorney. She could quit Martinez & Devlin. She was sure other firms would hire her.

But Justin, the deepest of the twins, had let his anger get the best of him and that was that. There had to be something more behind his stubborn refusal to listen, but she hadn’t been in any mood to beg and plead with them for answers. They had their pride, and she had hers. Right now, hers was in shreds. This was far worse than the Brad and Hal episode. Because this time she was
really
in love.

She managed to get to her office without anyone stopping her, closed her door, and collapsed on the couch. She just couldn’t seem to stop crying, a totally foreign situation for her. And she was still a sodden crumpled mess when Kari barged in more than an hour later.

“Jesus, Angel.” She stopped in front of the couch and stared at her friend. “What the hell’s going on? Masterson said you were supposed to see him in his office, and he’s been raising holy hell. I was in there just now, going over some depositions with him, and he finally all but ordered me to come find you. I didn’t dare tell him you’d left the office. What’s the deal?”

Blowing her nose and wiping her eyes, Angel explained in halting sentences what had happened with the lawsuit and the scene with the twins. She couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down her face.

Kari brought her a glass of water from the pitcher near her desk and sat down next to her on the couch. “First of all, I think you should go home. To hell with Masterson. I’ll tell him you’re sick. You certainly look like it.”

“But—”

“No buts.” Kari’s voice was firm. “And I’m taking you out the back way. No argument,” she added when Angel started to protest. “Are you okay to drive?”

Angel nodded. “I’m not
that
far gone.”

“Okay. Go on home. I’ll cover things here. And fix yourself a good strong drink. That always helps.”

But Angel knew it would take more than a drink to fix this mess. And to mend her broken heart.

Chapter Eight

“I just don’t know what to do.”

Angel sat in the living room of the Halliday ranch with a very pregnant but sympathetic Katie Reece and an equally sympathetic Liz Wright. These women had become her close friends so she turned to them in her anguish. She’d called into the office to tell them she was sick, not caring if Masterson had a fit or not. The truth was, she really was sick. At heart.

Kari had stopped by every day, but she didn’t have the kind of advice Angel needed. She needed to talk to people who knew Justin and Tucker. Who understood the complexities of the the two men and could give her good advice on what to do next. So she’d swallowed her pride and called Katie, who had told her to come out to the ranch at once.

“I guess,” Liz said, sipping a glass of wine, “it all depends on which you want more—the guys or your career.”

“A few days ago I would have said I wanted both, but I think my entire perspective has changed.”

“So what do you want now?” Katie asked.

Angel took a fortifying swallow of her wine. “I still want to practice law but…differently.” She gave them a weak smile. “I already decided to resign from Martinez and Devlin. If the price of the partnership is being on the opposite side of a lawsuit from Justin and Tucker, then I don’t want to practice that kind of law. And Masterson wouldn’t cut me any slack.”

“Have you told him yet?” Liz asked.

Angel shook her head. “He’s left several messages on my answering machine. I just didn’t pick up when he called. But I made an appointment with him tomorrow morning to hand in my resignation.”

“You’re sure that’s what you really want?”

“Yes. It is. Well, actually, what I really want is a life with Justin and Tucker, but this has to be the first step. I don’t know how we’ll ever get past that awful scene at their house, but there has to be a solution somewhere.” She looked pleadingly at the two women. “I love them and I really believe they love me. But there’s something besides this lawsuit at work here and I don’t know what it is. Or what to do next.”

“I admire you for resigning,” Liz said. “It takes guts to walk away from something like that. But what’s next on your agenda.”

Angel took a healthy swallow of her wine. “I keep hoping if I show them I can take this step, we can talk about what’s really wrong here. Get everything out in the open and rebuild from there.”

“So what will you do?” Katie asked.

“That depends on whether or not I can put things back together with the twins. I have to find a way to make them talk to me.”

“Give them a day or two,” Liz said. “Then call Tucker. He’ll be a lot more receptive.”

“I hope you’re right.” She finished off the last of her wine and set the glass on the coffee table. “Tell me honestly, guys. If we can patch this up, do you think the three of us living together will hurt their business? Are the people around here so uptight they’ll pull their cattle?”

Katie shifted to a more comfortable position. “I think there are enough of us living some form of the lifestyle that you’ll have plenty of support. And not to brag, but the Wrights and us carry some clout around here. People might fuss and gossip for a while, but eventually it will all settle down.”

“Besides,” Liz added, “they’ve owned that feedlot a long time and helped every rancher who contracts with them get top dollar for their beef. Despite what Bart Engler would like to think. People are funny. They might make some noise, but they aren’t going to cut off their noses to spite their face.

Angel sniffled again. “Then my only problem is how to fix this. Make them understand they come first in my life. I have something to tell them if I can ever get them to listen to me again.”

Katie and Liz looked at each other. “It just so happens we have some ideas about that.”