Tempted by Trouble

chapter TWENTY-THREE


“What the hell do you want?”

Matt didn’t doubt he sounded like a grizzly bear. He sat on a log, his back against a pine tree. He picked up a bowie knife and threw it into a target of sorts. After tracing the knife’s flight, he got up and removed it from the ground. Sheathing the blade, he turned around to face his brother.

“Shit, do you think running is the best plan?” Brandon asked.

“F*ck off. This is my party.” Matt snapped.

“What’s got you up here?”

“You have to ask?” He eyed his brother.

“I’d like to hear your side.” Brandon swung off his horse.

“I haven’t got a side. Not a thought. Not a heart.”

“Matt, what the hell happened?”

“Hell if I know. I hired Carolina to help out with the cattle dying. One thing led to another and I can’t get enough of her. Shit, she’s a two-headed coin. One side is perfect. And then there’s the other side.” His throat muscles worked. He tamped down the wrenching anguish that lashed his throat shut. He groaned. “Maybe it’s me.”

“Maybe it’s a misunderstanding. I heard about Jeff Welch.” Brandon voice dropped.

“F*ck if I know.” He stared at his brother.

Brandon’s eyes were wide, his brow creased. “Don’t shit me. This has something to do with him.”

“What the hell do you know?” Matt’s voice flat-lined.

“I know you’ve got some idea about Carolina and him. What’s eating you alive?”

“I went to the hotel.” Matt couldn’t even form the words.

“Did you kill him?” Brandon asked.

“Jesus Christ. No.” Matt yelled. “I should have. At least I’d feel better than this.”

“You’re upset because Carolina’s old boyfriend came to town?”

Matt nodded at Brandon. He glanced down at the ground, his voice strangled in his throat. “I went to the hotel. She was there inside his room yesterday. He invited her for lunch and guess what was served.”

“Hold on. You mean you went to the hotel yesterday in the middle of the day? Tell me exactly what happened?”

“What are you sadistic? I just said they were f*cking.”

“You’re wrong. Matt, you’ve got it messed up.”

“Why? Because you can’t believe that perfect Carolina could make a mistake? She’s not perfect. I thought so, but I was so f*cking wrong.”

Brandon exhaled. “That’s not what I mean. She was with me yesterday. All day. F*cking doing something for you. Do you know what an ass you are? She spent all yesterday vaccinating cows and tagging them. Didn’t hand out the syringes and let us do it. She wanted to help. Got rolled. F*ck, I’ve never seen a woman get rolled. I don’t ever want to see it again.”

Matt blinked. Who the hell was in the room with Welch? F*ck, it didn’t even matter. It wasn’t Carolina. His heart bolted. “Is she all right? What happened? Why’d you let her get hurt? Where is she?”

“Simmer down. She got a little worse for wear. Girl went down and got out of the way like a ninja. I’ve never seen someone move like that. She didn’t stay down for the count. No. Not your girl. You would have been proud. Scared but proud.”

“Where is she?”

“About to get on plane.”

“Give me your cellphone.”

“You know there’s no service up here. You want her, you’d better ride like the devil is on your back.”

• • •

He didn’t start sweating until he’d parked and began to run through the airport garage. She was leaving out of Gate Nineteen. Thankfully, this airport was tiny on many scales except when a plane was departing in fifteen minutes. She wouldn’t be in the lobby. He headed straight for the ticket desk. “I need a seat on the plane leaving here and headed for Miami, Florida.”

“Sir, that plane is already finished boarding passengers. The next one is due out tomorrow.” The ticket agent smiled impassively over the counter.

Matt went for broke. “Please. There’s a woman on the plane who’s stolen something of mine.”

The ticket agent’s face looked alarmed. “Security. Do you want to speak to security?”

“They can’t help. She’s stolen my heart. I don’t want it back. I just need to speak to her before she leaves. She’s not coming back if I don’t.”

The agent scrutinized Matt and bit her lip. She blinked her eyes and laughed. “I wish my boyfriend had pursued me with as much conviction.”

She picked up the phone. “Hold flight 2421. I repeat, hold flight 2421.”

Matt took out his credit card. “Thank you.”

• • •

Carolina stopped gazing out the window as soon as the first tear dropped. Her heart kept beating, a million pieces torn apart, but kept beating.

She had packed and waited. Tried calling Brandon, but couldn’t reach him. Sarah had come over along with Wade to wish her well. They thanked her for her help and Sarah enfolded her into her arms. She had whispered to Carolina, “Don’t give up hoping.”

Carolina hadn’t shed a tear. Amazed by her one herculean strength, for all she wanted to do was crumple and sob and try to explain that she loved Matt. Yes, she really loved him. But it was too late.

Sarah pressed a silver cuff bracelet into her hand. “My mother gave this to me before I left for college. She thought it would bring me luck.”

She gazed at the bracelet on her wrist, tracing the filigree lines, and cast a wish.

Carolina inhaled and put her ear buds in and pressed play. She inhaled deeply once more, and the hairs along her neck stood straight up.

At first she’d mocked herself for a flighty imagination. Just because she wished with every atom of her being for Matt, she’d evoked his scent. It filled her and tore at her, surrounding her, and she wanted to wrap herself in the scent before it disappeared. She bowed her head, her eyes stung, and she bit the back of her hand.

“Please,” she whispered, praying that the stabbing in her heart would stop.

“What do you want?”

Warm fingers brushed across her wrist and a strong hand grasped hers. She opened her eyes, disbelieving, wanting it to be true. “Matt?” she breathed.

He was seated next to her on the plane.

God, he was too gorgeous for words. His face was so close to hers and all she had to do was reach out and touch him. Her arms shot forward and she ran her hands up his shoulders. “How’d you — ”

“Baby, you won’t get away this easy,” he whispered. He brushed his thumb against her cheek, wiping away the tear. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. I’m in love with you. You’re mine. If I have to follow you to Miami, I won’t let go of you. Marry me, Carolina.”

“Oh, Matt, I love you. I forgive you. I don’t want you to ever let me go. I’ve been in love with you since the moment we met. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you, Matt. For now and evermore.”