At Wolf Ranch(107)
Blake laughed. “I thought his name is Bo.”
“That may be his name, but that’s not what he is,” Gabe grumbled. He’d done a lot of that lately. “How’re things with Bud and Dee at Three Peaks Ranch?”
“Get this, Bud found his granddaughter. She killed her father.”
“No shit!”
“Bud’s trying to get her to come home to the ranch.”
“She’s not in jail?”
“No. The way I hear it, it was self-defense. Her dad went drugged-out-nuts on her.”
“I hope she’s okay.”
“I’ll find out soon. She should be here in a week if things work out. Everything good with you?”
“Tell Mom everything is fine.” Blake’s eyes held the light of innocence, but Gabe didn’t buy it. “Yes, I know that’s why you came here to get the horse, instead of me bringing it to you tomorrow.”
“Why the hell don’t you just call her?” Blake asked.
“Leave it alone,” Gabe warned.
“I don’t understand why you broke things off with her. She’s running around New York. You’re here. You two own this place together, but you don’t talk to her and she isn’t here. It’s been two weeks.”
“Thanks for summing it up.”
“Don’t you love her?”
Gabe grabbed hold of the stall gate, gripping it so tight his fingers ached. Of course he loved her. More than anything or anyone, but he couldn’t ask her to leave her life and live his. She’d resent him. Eventually, she’d hate him. The thought turned his stomach even now. Better to hold on to the beautiful memories of what they shared than to tarnish them with the bitterness that would build with each day she stayed with him when she’d rather be at work, with her friends, back in New York with everything and everyone that mattered most to her.
“Well, since you didn’t go after her, looks like she came after you, big brother.” Blake cocked his head toward the open barn door.
Gabe couldn’t believe his eyes. The car skidded to a stop and Ella got out, slammed the door, and walked toward him with a pissed-off scowl and fury flashing in her eyes. She’d never looked more beautiful.
“I want to talk to you.”
He wanted to grab hold of her, kiss away the feral look on her face, and never let her go again. But she didn’t belong to him. She never really did. So why did she come back?
“City girl, what are you doing here?”
“I own eighty percent of this place, or did you forget?”
“Hard to forget when it’s your name on the gate and the brand.”
“Hey, honey,” Blake said.
Gabe shoved Blake toward the doors. “Get out.”
“You staying for dinner?” Blake pressed, smiling like an idiot.
Gabe almost cracked a smile when she opened her mouth to answer, but closed it and glared harder at him. Blake looked from her to him and shook his head, walking out the doors without another word.
“You left me.” Some of the pain that flashed in her eyes wiped out the anger in her words.
“I didn’t leave you. I came home.”
That took the wind right out of her sails. He hated to see the uncertainty in her eyes.
“You said you’d always want me,” she said more boldly than the unsure look on her face conveyed.
“I wanted you the second I saw you. I want you every second of every day.” He wanted the truth from her, so he gave her the truth he lived with day in and day out missing her. “Doesn’t change the fact this is never going to work, city girl.”
“Stop calling me that. You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand. You don’t belong here. Look at you. It’s thirty-something degrees out and you’re in a silk skirt, a short-sleeve sweater, no coat, and high heels that you ruined traipsing through the snow.” Seeing the ruby heart bracelet he gave her for Valentine’s Day on her wrist made his heart melt. “You’re standing in the stables when you should be standing in a conference room conducting a board meeting.” Gabe didn’t want to say the words, but he did so anyway. “Go home, city girl. You don’t belong here.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. Just the sight of them almost made him cave. Everything inside him ached, but his heart broke into a thousand pieces, a band around his chest tightened until he couldn’t breathe, and he held his breath and waited. She didn’t disappoint. Ella’s fingers curled into tight fists, the unshed tears cleared from her eyes, and she took a menacing step toward him.
“Do you have any idea how many planes it takes to get here from Paris? How many hours it took me to cross half the globe? You tell me you’ll always want me with one breath and tell me to go home with the next. Well, cowboy, I’m not going anywhere until you answer one question.”