Flint (5 page)

“She’ll take it all, Ned. And the fancy boots and both hats.”

She swung around to stare at Flint, who had come up behind her. Under his arm was a large shopping bag that bore the name of Summerton’s Ladies’ Apparel. “I only have $78.00. The work boots cost that much. I’ll wait until I get paid and get the rest.”

Flint lifted his dark gaze to Ned’s grinning face. “Wrap it all up…and toss in two more pair of jeans and three more shirts. Put it on my tab. Did she find gloves?” His eyes slid over the buttery soft riding gloves, and he nodded to them, as well. “Everything she liked.”

Ned’s chuckle brought another mad blush to her cheeks. “At this rate, I’ll never be able to pay you back!” she hissed under her breath as the man bagged her purchases and handed them over the counter to Flint.

“Call it an advance on your first week’s pay…” He flashed white teeth that could have graced a toothpaste ad.

“I don’t think you plan to pay me $500 a week…do you?”

“Depends on how hard you’re willing to work.”

He watched as she fought the words he guessed were just screaming to come out. Turning to lead the way out of the store, he walked down the sidewalk and dumped the bags in the rear seat of the king cab. He pulled the passenger side door open and before she could say a word to protest, he circled her slim waist with big hands and lifted her easily onto the seat, without turning her toward the dashboard. He leaned in slightly, and his hips pressed between her legs, as he let her feel the thick, hard ridge that strained against his buttoned fly.

“Stop fighting me over everything, sweet thing. You’ll only get me hornier.”

He met her wide gold eyes, knowing that she was pretty much as excited as he was. Her breaths came in quick jerks as she visibly swallowed. Guessing what she was about to say, he cut off her tirade as he leaned into the cab and caught her mouth with a silken, hot kiss, his hands on her ass dragging her tight to his front. He prayed she wouldn’t haul off and slug him in the jaw. But when she wrapped her arms around his neck and moaned, he slid his tongue between her lips and tasted every hot sweet corner of her mouth.

When she finally spooked and drew back, her eyes wide, he slid his hands up over her butt to the small of her back. “Don’t worry about the stuff we got you. I’ll take $100 a month out of your pay. How’s that sound?”

He watched her face go bright pink, knowing what she had expected to hear. He rubbed one palm in a slow circle over her spine. “Unless you plan on paying another way…but I won’t press my luck.”

Lily saw the gleam in his dark eyes, and knew he was pushing her buttons as hard as he could. The feel of his hard body pressed into the vee of her thighs was enough to give her heart failure, but she fought to remain in control. “I want you to take all my pay until I don’t owe you anything. I don’t plan on sticking around for months on end. Only until I can get the cash together for a ticket out of Texas.”

“You’ll stay at least until we find out if there’s some way to get your guardianship revoked. If that happens, you won’t have to run anymore. You’ll be back in control of your own life again.” His fingertips caressed her ribs, and she thought her heart was gonna blow a gasket.

“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, it looks like we’re attracting some gawkers, so let me get into my seat belt, okay?”

He moved back a step, and she quickly faced forward, fastening her belt while he closed the door. The small group of interested onlookers went about their business as he slid under the wheel and started the truck. He glanced at her as he backed from the parking space and headed back toward El Diablo. “I took the liberty of getting you something nice to wear to the barn dance next Saturday night. And before you start an argument, it’s not up for debate. Everyone goes. It’s about the only form of recreation we have in these parts.”

“Damn it, Flint! I’m gonna owe you so much I won’t be able to pay it off. Stop doing that!”

“It’s a gift. You don’t have to pay me back.”

“Oh, yes I do. If I let you buy me clothes, that’s just too damn personal. You
will
be paid back, so I want all the receipts to make sure.”

He shook his head and growled. “Damn, woman…can’t you even accept a
gift
? No strings?”

“Not from a virtual stranger. I don’t know you well enough to allow you to buy me personal things.”

“Well, I figure it’s too late to say something like that. And I can remedy that bit about being a virtual stranger. So stop arguing and accept it.”

She glared at him from across the wide seat. “Not on your life…”

* * * * *

Flint carried the bags and shoe boxes upstairs and dumped them onto her bed, standing there for a minute or two as if waiting for her to show him what she got. "I need to put my stuff up, and I certainly don't want an audience. I'll see you at supper."

He shrugged and headed for the door, and she couldn't help but ogle his fine, hard body as he did so. That man had the finest ass and the hottest walk she had ever seen. He paused at the open door and glanced back over his shoulder, catching her in the act, his dark eyes glittering with laughter.

"Sorry...there's no time to do you justice right now, sweetness. We have all the time in the world after supper, though..."

Once he was gone, and the hallway door was closed, Lily drew a shaky breath and sank down next to the bags. Curiosity was killing her as she reached for the bag he'd gotten at Summerton's. Hot color filled her cheeks when she dumped the bag onto the comforter, and realized that he'd bought far more than just a dress. Her jaw dropped as she lifted a batch of silken underwear...lace thongs...satin and lace bras...a satin garter belt and half a dozen pair of silky thigh high stockings. The dress was a confection of softly flared skirt and fitted bodice that would undoubtedly show far more than she wanted to show.
Holy shit!

A pair of high heeled, open toed pumps and a handful of rainbow-colored satin ribbons obviously meant for her hair finished the treasure trove of goodies. She hung the dress away, and put the shirts on hangers, as well. The jeans and undies fit neatly in one of the big oak bureaus that stood along one wall, and the boots and shoes were left in their boxes and pushed under the side of the bed. The personal stuff went into the big bathroom, and after another glance at her watch, she realized she had only a quarter hour to get ready for supper. A quickie shower and a change into one of the new pairs of jeans and a dressier pearl-buttoned shirt that she didn't recall seeing Ned ringing up. She blushed as she put on one of the new bras. The damn thing lifted her girls to a new level, and gently shaped them to perfection. She brushed her hair back from her face and tugged on that fancy pair of tooled boots, before standing to stare into the mirror. The tailored cut of the shirt made her look a lot more feminine than the work shirts she'd bought. Damn! She hardly recognized herself.

Amazing what a nice set of clothes could do.

Flint couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear as he thought about his prickly little “guest”. She had given him an earful on the drive back to El Diablo, had pretty much told him he had wasted his money buying her a dress and those fancy boots, but she
would
wear them, if he had to hide every damn thing she owned except those things. He would see her in that outfit if he had to dress her himself…which wouldn’t be such a bad thing…

Neither he nor Curley could concentrate on supper with her sitting across the table from them in that pretty shirt and those tight jeans. Dora filled their plates and sat down at the foot of the table across from her husband, Fred. The rest of the hands were eating in the cook shack, as always. Henry Gillis was their crew cook, and the only folks Dora had to manage were seated at the big oak table in the dining room.

Lily ate quickly and hungrily, not saying much unless spoken to. Flint and Curley watched in wonder as she wolfed down enough meatloaf and mashed potatoes to keep a full grown man filled up. Both men thought about throttling the bastard that had starved her half to death. It was more than obvious that she hadn't had a decent meal in a long time...not just the three days since she'd run.

When supper was eaten, she helped Dora clear away the leftovers and the dishes, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the older woman while they quickly cleaned up the mess. Flint and Curley headed out to the porch to figure out some way to make sure Jacob Proctor never set eyes on the woman again. But short of finding and stomping him through the ground, all they could do was sit tight and see what Max Daly had to say about things.

Chapter Five

It took until morning before he got the call from his attorney. He spent an hour on the phone with Max Daly, listening to everything the attorney had managed to find out about his guest and her predicament. "She's wanted for
what?
"  His anger ratcheted up a few more notches.

"Attempted murder and grand theft auto. As well as burglary and malicious mischief." Max's voice sounded taut. "You really need to call the cops and get her the hell off your hands."

"That son-of-a-bitch beat the shit out of her, Max. She is covered in bruises. And she worked all one summer to buy that truck herself before Proctor had all the titles on the house and vehicle transferred over to his name after he married her mom. She was only seventeen at the time. The only reason she didn't call the cops herself was because he's fed them a line of bullshit a mile deep and twice as long, and has the local boys convinced she's mentally deranged."

"How do you know
she's
not feeding
you
a line of bullshit?"

"Have I ever been wrong about anything, for as long as you've known me, Max?"

"There's always a first time. And if she's as attractive as I think she must be for you to have taken her side in this, you could be heading for a whole shitload of trouble with this."

"Well, thanks for the insights, Max...now earn the money I pay you, and find out every damn thing you can about her step-dad. He may have murdered her mother and made it look like an accidental overdose. He took over everything the family owned. Sounds like one of those assholes that pick up recently widowed women and get them to put everything in their name. It may have happened before. Start digging."

"It's your dime. I'll see what I can find out. Keep her out of the public eye, Flint. Her photo is on the newswires, and on TV. There's an APB out on her. Get photos of her bruises. Get an affidavit regarding the truck and the lock box she took off with."

Swearing foully under his breath, Flint glanced at his watch and headed outdoors to find out about that lock box she hadn't mentioned. She hadn't told him nearly enough...

He had assigned her a few jobs out in the barns, and had asked Dora to find a few things for her to do in the house or yard. Currently, she was on her hands and knees in the flower beds in front of the house, weeding.

Lily swiped her forehead with the back of her arm as she sank back onto her heels, her face flushed from the exertion of cleaning out weeds and clipping dead growth away. The look on Flint's face made her swallow hard.
Now what?

"I need to know what is in that lock box you took when you ran off. Your step dad reported you for grand theft auto, malicious mischief, and theft of personal property, on top of attempted murder."

She fell onto her butt on the grass, and stared up at his stern face. "Oh my god!" Her throat closed on a sob. "I don't have the key, so I don't know what's in it." Her head spun. "Is he really charging me with attempted murder?
After he nearly strangled me
? I've got to get out of Texas!" He was on her feet and rushing for the front porch, but he managed to wrap an arm around her thin waist and keep her from fleeing.

"The lock box? Let's see what's in it. And if you still have his wallet, you need to get rid of it fast." Flint set her back on her feet and marched her into the house and up the stairs. She winced at the firm grip he had on her wrist.

She pulled the  lock box from her back pack and put it on the bed, and in less that a minute, he had it open with a small penknife. Her eyes widened as he dumped it out onto her comforter. As she'd thought, the bastard had her birth certificate and ID, all the insurance papers, and her mom's small stash of jewelry.  He also had put the deeds to the property in it. When she read the insurance policy he'd taken out on her the prior year for a hundred fifty thousand bucks, she cringed. She was worth far more to the son of a bitch dead.

A cry caught in her throat, and arms wrapped firmly around her from behind, dragging her back into a solid, warm body. "Hush...it's going to be all right. From what I can tell, there's nothing in that box that you didn't have a right to take. What did you do with his wallet and cards?"

Lily scrubbed her face hard with both palms before whispering huskily, "I buried them in the mud in a creek bottom about fifteen miles out of Austin. I weighted them down with a big rock. There's a big stand of oaks along the creek there. The one that is mostly dead is where the rock is."

Flint turned her in his arms and pressed her face to his shoulder, feeling her body shake with fear. He leaned his chin against the top of her head and closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of rich earth and clean woman. "Max told me to get photos of all your bruises. Just in case."

She pulled back from him a little and bit her lower lip. "You...want me to...strip?"

He nodded, then realized what she was thinking. "I'll have Dora take the pictures. As much as I'd love to get you naked, I'm not one to press. You can go hop into the shower and I'll send her up with my digital camera."

He stepped away from her, releasing her almost reluctantly. Her jerky nod was all he got before she grabbed clean underwear from her dresser and backed toward her bathroom, clutching the silk and lace scraps he'd bought her to her chest in shaking hands. His mouth went dry, and his thoughts went to hell in a handcart.

Sweet Lord
.  He watched until she was inside the bathroom and the door was firmly shut before he exhaled his pent up breath and whirled to find his camera and his housekeeper. No fucking way would he trust himself to just take pictures if he got her naked.

When Dora knocked on her door, Lily was wrapped in a damp towel, her cheeks hot with embarrassment. When the housekeeper started taking photos from different angles, she heard the woman curse impressively. "I'd like to get my hands on the bastard that did this to you, Miz Thomas. I'd skin him alive, I would!"

"Um...just call me Lily. There's a big bruise on my breast, but I don't think I want you to take pictures of that one. He sort of squeezed it real hard. Do you have to?"

"Every last one. And don't you go worryin' over who sees these. Flint is gonna upload them to his legal file and e-mail them soon as he can. Ain't no man on this ranch who'd get his jollies lookin' at what that sum bitch did to you. Lordy, but I'd love to take a cattle prod to the bastard's balls..."

Lily nodded jerkily and lowered the towel so that Dora could snap a couple of pictures. The boot mark in the middle of her spine was another cause for Dora to burst out in rage, and by the time all the bruises had been photographed, Dora was clamping her lips tight to keep from saying much more.

"I think we got them all. You get dressed, honey. Supper'll be on the table in an hour and a half. I'll take the camera down to Flint's office."

Less than an hour later, Flint hit the send key on his laptop, shooting the digital photos of all those livid bruises, the laid-out contents of the lock-box, and a lengthy e-mail to Max, praying that the lawyer would be able to come up with some kind of strategy to help Lily. He was closing his laptop when he sensed her close to him, and he lifted his head to meet that golden gaze, sparkling with unshed tears.

"Why are you being so nice to me? What's in this for you?" Her cheeks were white, but a rosy blush was beginning to rise from her collar. He rose slowly from his desk chair and frowned as she took a quick step back.

"No need to be jumpy, sweet thing. Nothing is going to happen under this roof that you don't want to happen. You have my word on that." He watched warm color race over her face, and an answering heat raced through his body. "Nobody will touch you unless you want to be touched."

"Wouldn't it be safer for you if I just left? My step dad is a mean, nasty, conniving bastard who would take everything you had if he thought he could get away with it. I don't want to have him coming after you for harboring a criminal runaway."

Flint shook his head and ran a lean hand through his hair. "No one is going to hurt me or mine. And since I consider you mine, that includes you, darlin'."

Lily felt as if a hand had closed around her heart, hearing his words. "No one...no one has ever said anything like that to me before. Exactly what do you mean by that, Flint Calderon? That you own me? Or that you are in control of me like he was?"

She watched his eyes darken as he moved a slow step closer. Sweet Lord...the vibes that man was sending could have stopped a horse in full gallop. She felt his lean hands slide around her narrow waist as he pulled her very gently against his taut body. As their hips met, his eyes flared.

"No. I mean that you sneaked into my motel room and I decided right then and there that you belonged to me. If I hadn't made a promise to keep my hands to myself unless you wanted me, I would be stripping off every stitch on that little hide of yours and making you know exactly how much I want you."

His nose nudged aside the hair at the side of her cheek, and she shivered in pleasure as his lips pressed into the skin of her throat.

"You don't play fair, Calderon..." her voice was strained and breathless as every nerve in her body lit up like a firecracker.

"Who said I'm playin'?"

She stepped back and lifted shaking hands to her throat and the place where his lips had been. His eyes were nearly pitch black with something that left her breathless.

"This isn't just because you feel pity for me?" Her voice was raspy.

"Pity is not the correct word for what I'm feelin' about now, darlin'. And I can see that what I'm feelin' isn't welcome at the moment, so if you'll pardon me, I'll finish up a few of the chores I left hangin' earlier before supper. Dora could use some help in the kitchen, if you're lookin' for somethin' to do."

She watched as he turned toward the door and reached for his Stetson, which hung on a hat rack beside the bookshelves. Unable to find words that would make it past her closed throat, she stood numbly staring at the closing door.

I just stood here like a stupid fool when that man made a real, genuine pass at me? What the hell was I thinking?

Maybe she was so damn screwed up by her hellish existence that she couldn't respond to a hot, delicious, and thoughtful man. He had made it plain that he wanted her...that he'd wanted her from the get go. And Lily wasn't some timid, innocent virgin who couldn't see how the man felt or responded to her. True, she wasn't a terribly
experienced
non-virgin, but she'd been around the block...once. Almost twice, but she'd chickened out that first time with Brad Farraday. The jackass figured she owed him for a nice dinner and a movie, and she'd disagreed. It had been a damn long five-mile walk back to town.

It was high time Lily Thomas picked up her shattered life and started putting one foot ahead of the other. She'd remained in limbo for too long. If Flint Calderon was willing to take her in, protect her from the shit storm that she knew was coming, and cared enough about what happened to a virtual stranger who'd broken into his life, what the hell was she shying away from? That man was the first one she'd ever had such an instant attraction to for as far back as she could remember, and here she was acting like he was no one special.

Stepping out of the library, she hurried up the curving stairs to her own room. Lily walked to the armoire, and pulled out what she planned to wear down to dinner that night. Yep. It was high time she pulled her head out of the sand and started using her head for more than a hat rack.

* * * * *

Curley glanced up at Flint with a frown. "You got a burr under your saddle, or what, boss man?" His blue gaze searched Flint's expression. "I take it you haven't gotten beyond first base with that little spitfire yet?"

Dark eyes slid his way, and Flint's lips tightened. "What the hell do you expect? Her asshole of a step-father has soured her on men completely. I don't want to push her into a corner. That might make her hate me. Takin' my time here..."

"Betcha I could get her to forget her asshole of a step-father within 24 hours. Wanna place a wager on it?"

The look on Flint's face was his answer, and Curley howled with laughter. "Just pullin' your leg, boss-man. Loosen up and just go for it. No way in hell will that filly refuse to give you whatever you ask from her, my friend. I've seen the way those big ol' gold eyes light up when she doesn't think you're lookin'. Don't regret your inaction. You need that woman more than you need air."

Flint scowled at the man, but couldn't help but grin after a minute. Curley and he had been sidekicks since they had been too short to see over the paddock fence. Curley's parents had left him with Flint's folks for a short stay...and had never come back for him. When it had become apparent that the gangly waif with the straw-colored thatch and the wide blue eyes had been abandoned, Frank Calderon had filed legal papers for guardianship, and he'd raised the kid with his own son. The boys took it in stride, already feeling like brothers, they'd sealed the bargain by poking their thumbs with barbed wire and becoming blood brothers. And when his dad had died, he'd left a few acres of ground and a small nest egg to help Curley be independent.