Some Like It Ruthless (A Temporary Engagement) (10 page)

He paused the game. “You going to sleep here? We can share the bed.”

She shook her head, yawning.

“Then you’d better go home before you fall asleep.”

She turned her head towards his cheek and said softly, “You were right. This was better than paperwork.”

“And that’s so hard to do. Only really good friends can make video games more fun than paperwork.”

She smiled and he thought about turning his head to meet her, to touch her lips with his. She was warm and relaxed, here in his lap.

Instead he said, “We were really good friends once, Maggie. I’d like that again.”

“You should have made it part of our deal.”

“No. I want to earn it.”

She sighed. “You didn’t earn it the first time. It just was.”

“Maybe that’s why I shit on it. Because I didn’t have to earn it.”

She sat up, crawled out of the chair, and went to her shoes. She pulled them on, looking down and saying, “If it had been anyone but Tanner, would you have broken our deal?”

“If it had been anyone but Tanner, would you have made that deal in the first place?”

He knew she wouldn’t have. He said, “You were a . . .”

He stopped, not so much because of the glint in her eye, but because of his rising blood pressure.

She’d been a virgin. Eighteen-years-old, Margaret Caldwell, and still a virgin. And she’d bargained it away to a Montgomery like it meant nothing. Hadn’t even mentioned it.

He could be forgiven for thinking they’d just have a little bit of fun. But it hadn’t been, for either of them. Not sure either of them had forgiven him for that, either.

He hadn’t
known
, goddammit.

He’d looked down at her blood on him and had stared, uncomprehending. And then when he’d figured out what it meant, he’d puked.

Puked his guts out while the woman he’d just roughly deflowered patted his back and murmured God knew what.

If Tanner fucking Beaumont had been within sight, Cole would have killed him. Would have killed him for being the catalyst to that moment.

Cole took deep cleansing breaths, counted to ten, pictured himself standing at the bottom of a large mountain and pounding it down to dust.

Nothing helped. The rage still ate at him.

He knew it always would. The tips and tricks weren’t meant to dissipate the anger, it was simply meant to occupy himself until the urge to lash out passed. Until he was strong enough to chain the beast back up. He’d spent years trying to excise the beast until, defeated, he realized he was the beast.

The beast was him.

He would spend his life chaining that part of himself back up.

When he looked at Maggie again, she was watching him.

And she laughed, surprising him, making him jump. She shook her head, chuckling, the humor clear on her face.

She said, “We couldn’t have screwed that whole thing up more if we’d been trying.”

His anger dissipated in the face of her laughter and he followed her out the door. She was still smiling when she looked up into the night sky, at the stars sparkling brightly.

He said, “What do you think would have happened if I’d honored my end of the deal?”

“Most likely my father would have found out about us and strung you up to the nearest tree. By the balls.”

“Moving on to the second most likely.”

Her teeth flashed in the moonlight.

She said, “
Your
father would have found out.”

He stood there quietly, imagining that horrifying scenario. He said, “There was just no escaping me swinging by the balls, was there?”

She headed down the stairs, her laughter trailing behind her.

He followed her to her car and when she opened the door, he said, “It would have hurt less, Maggie. I hope you know that.”

“I
don’t
know it. My father and your father both wanting the same thing? Do you think they would have helped each other? Each grabbed a leg?”

Cole shuddered. He said, “Anyone in Dallas will tell you, the only thing worse than the Montgomerys and Caldwells fighting is the Montgomerys and Caldwells teaming up.”

When she smiled her cold smile, he said, “What would you have done after they stopped trying to unman me?”

She cocked her head, looked beyond him. She finally said, “I would have cut you down. We already know I like you best when you’re lying unconscious in my lap.”

“Would you have cried?”

“Most likely. I was pretty attached to your balls at that point.”

He smiled because he remembered it fondly. “And then? Would it have worked? Made us back off each other?”

“I don’t think we know how to back off. We would have just run off together. Left Texas. For California, maybe.”

He looked up at the stars and pictured them in California. He finally nodded. “I’d accept California.”

“We’d start fresh, no father’s shadow to break free from, to climb out from under. I would have been Margaret Caldwell instead of one of those Caldwells. And you’d have been Cole Montgomery instead of the son of that Montgomery.”

It sounded so nice he didn’t know why he hadn’t done that anyway.

He said, “We would have got married. You’d have been Margaret Montgomery.”

She put her nose in the air and said imperiously, “I would have never been a Montgomery, even if I’d married you.”

“Caldwell-Montgomery?”

“Never.”

He imagined them in California, starting fresh, just the two of them. “You think we would have really gone?”

“Yes. There would have been nothing left to stay for.”

“Because Tanner had chosen your sister.”

She said the ugly truth. “Yes. And because my father would have disowned me.”

He felt the punch in his gut. “You think you would have stayed with me even then?”

She said softly, “I would never have left you, Cole. Only way off that cliff was to be pushed.”

She climbed into her car, shutting the door with a
thunk
. Cutting the past off with a
thunk
.

He wasn’t sure he believed her. But he’d been right, swinging by the balls would have hurt far, far less.

He watched her taillights until she turned a corner, the trees and bushes blocking his view.

Stood there and pictured where they’d be now if he’d only chosen differently.

Five

Maggie shouldn’t have sat in his lap.

Either time.

But Cole had put those strong arms around her and Maggie had felt safe. Warm and safe and protected. And yes, wanted. It had been a long time since she’d felt any of those emotions.

Oh, there had been other men since Cole. But those had been, as he’d so delicately put it, a scratch that needed itching.

Not since she’d lain in Cole’s arms twelve years ago had she felt that she was with someone who wouldn’t falter.

Whatever came, he could deal with it. Whatever she brought, he could deal with it.

High maintenance? She’d heard herself described as such a time or two. And she couldn’t argue with it.

She liked Cole’s word better. Hard.

A hard woman?

No, hard wasn’t much better than high maintenance. Even if both words described her accurately.

Maggie pulled into her driveway, noting an unfamiliar Mercedes.

She turned off the ignition and sat in the dark.

All she wanted was to take a shower and go to bed. She was so full, so relaxed. Her stomach didn’t hurt, a miracle all its own, and she wanted to lay in bed and remember what it felt like to have Cole wrapped around her. Because she wouldn’t do it again.

She only had so much self-control. He’d make one invitation too many and she’d say yes.

And where would that leave them?

Right now she was thinking it would leave them pretty happy and she couldn’t quite remember why that was bad.

Come on, Maggie. Remember what happened when you mixed up your friend with your enemy.

It was hard to remember with Cole. Partly because she didn’t want to believe he was her enemy.

She hadn’t wanted to believe it twelve years ago, either.

She would just have to walk that fine line. Forgive, but not forget. Use him to help her, just keep those arms away from her.

Keep that hard chest, those long fingers, away from her.

And not sit in his lap.

She glared at the Mercedes keeping her from a cold shower, trying to connect it to a face, a name. If she knew who was inside, she could go in prepared. As it was, she was debating whether to go in relaxed and unkempt or to tuck in her blouse and tidy herself up.

She finally decided she didn’t care enough to make the effort. And her untucked blouse would hide the fact that she’d eaten more today than she had in the last week.

She took out her ponytail, fluffed her hair, and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked soft and relaxed, not hard at all, and Maggie smiled humorlessly.

Caution: objects in mirror are harder than they appear.

Once inside, she found Ginny and Tanner entertaining Jackson Harwood. They all stopped talking at her entrance, eyeing her. Ginny blinked a few times, then smiled. Tanner blanked his face and Maggie realized he was sober.

Jackson was not. He said, “I guess that answers that.”

Maggie sat, crossing her ankles and for once wishing her skirt was longer. “I didn’t realize there was any question.”

“You and Cole haven’t been seen together in years. And then, boom, you’re engaged?”

She nodded. “I guess it does seem unlikely.”

“Especially considering what he did to Tanner here.”

Maggie looked at Tanner, at his clear, if hooded, eyes. She said, “It hasn’t been easy on him.”

Jackson leaned forward. “But maybe it’s not so surprising considering what you did to him.”

She didn’t look at Tanner again. “Birds of a feather.”

“A pair of vultures, you mean.”

“I could say the same of you.”

Jackson snorted, though not because he disagreed with her. “And just how much is it going to cost Cole to buy himself a respectable name? Maybe he doesn’t know that quality has suffered the last couple years and Caldwell isn’t worth what it once was.”

Maggie would cut off her right hand before she showed Jackson how that hurt.

Cole was right. The truth was pretty ugly.

Jackson looked down at her legs, at her shoes. “Or maybe it’s not your name he’s buying.”

Maggie imagined kicking him in the teeth. “Whatever it is you think Cole is buying, know this: he prefers to get others to pay.”

When he looked back up, she smiled at him. She said, “People like you.”

“Seems like I’ll have to pay whatever he wants since I don’t have a pair of thighs he can slide between.”

“You do. I’m just not sure he’d take you up on the offer.”

That seemed to quiet him for a minute and Maggie pictured Jackson Harwood sitting in Cole’s lap playing video games.

She’d always wondered if perhaps her sense of humor was a little off-kilter because the thought made her chuckle a little.

Jackson leaned forward, an ugly look on his face. “If he did, it would be because he was trying to warm back up.”

Maggie settled back in her chair, Jackson’s refrain on her coldness in bed familiar ground.

“Jackson, you are drunk. I’m not sure you’re even going to remember this conversation. I’ll have to remind you of it, sometime when Cole is around to hear.”

Jackson’s face turned red and he flung his arm out. “He’s going to crush me anyway!”

“True. But now he’ll crush you with his fists as well.”

“What do you want, Margaret? I don’t want to end up like Tanner here.”

Maggie looked at Tanner and wanted to crush Jackson herself.

Tanner shook his head at her, his eyes still shuttered. Ginny went to stand behind him, her hands on his shoulders.

Maggie said, “First, an apology.”

Jackson closed his eyes, put his head in his hands. He whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Maggie’s eyes widened and she was glad Jackson wasn’t looking at her to see it. He must be afraid indeed if he would capitulate that quickly.

Made Maggie wonder what else she could get him to do.

She was not above being petty but there was a better way of making him pay.

Maggie said, “And I want my rate down to two percent and a one-year moratorium.”

Jackson blanched, opening his eyes to stare horrified at her. “You know I can’t do that.”

She smiled, remembering Cole saying she didn’t want anyone to agree to her terms. Here, at least, he was right.

She stayed silent, letting Jackson Harwood come to his own conclusion about whether he wanted to take his chances with Cole Montgomery.

It didn’t take him long to decide. He said, “And you’ll keep Montgomery off me?”

She nodded, wishing she could say otherwise.

He sighed deeply, then nodded in return. “Deal. I’ll have the papers ready first thing Monday morning.”

“Excellent. Now get out of my house.”

He stood shakily. “If you weren’t such a bitch, if Montgomery wasn’t every bit his father’s son, this would have gone differently.”

She huffed out a laugh. “That’s probably true, Jackson. It also would have gone differently if you weren’t such a pig.”

Tanner stood, stepping between them and grabbing Jackson’s arm, leading him to the door.

Ginny said, “We called a car for him. His is still at the club, not that he could drive it anyway.”

Maggie nodded, and when the door closed behind the men, Ginny said, “Ugh. Why do we deal with him?”

“Business is war. Sometimes you have to work with those you’d rather be shooting.”

“My only consolation is he probably feels the same about us.”

Maggie pushed away the ugliness, tried a little laugh. “He does now.”

Ginny’s eyes wandered to Maggie’s untucked blouse, up to her loose hair. “You seem pretty okay with throwing Cole’s weight around.”

“I use the tools at my disposal.”

“Mm-hm. If that were true you would have told Jackson that heat wasn’t a problem with Cole.”

She could have. But she liked to think she’d matured in the last decade.

And she knew Jackson hadn’t forgotten the first time she’d compared him unfavorably. Not entirely her fault since he’d been telling anyone who would listen how frigid she was in bed.