Cowgirls Don't Cry(67)

                Before she could call him over, the process server called out. “Mr. Barron! I didn’t see you, sir.”

                Mr. Barron? There was a Barron on her property? She whipped her head around to see who the man was talking to.

                One look at Chance’s face and she knew.

                Oh, God. His last name—the one she’d assumed was Chancellor—was Barron. Her heart shriveled in her chest, and she couldn’t breathe. Only sheer stubbornness kept her standing.

                “Chance?” His name tumbled out before she could stop herself. “Please...tell me this isn’t happening.” But she knew. Her head knew even as her heart tried to hide from the pain. His expression said it all. Her stomach knotted, and she swallowed hard to keep the bile rising in her throat at bay.

                “Cassidy.” Her name, a whisper from his lying lips, sighed on the morning breeze.

                God, but she was stupid. Chance. Chancellor Barron. Even in Chicago she’d heard the names of all the Barron brothers. How had she not recognized him? Would it have mattered? She’d wanted him that night in his condo, and again in the barn and every other time they’d been together. She’d wanted him, and she’d allowed herself to fall in love with him.

                “Please, Cassie...” Her name dripped off his tongue like honey, and he tried to look sincere and repentant but she didn’t buy his act for a minute.

                “Please Cassie what? Please Cassie let me steal your home? Or please Cassie let me screw you one more time?” She wadded up the paper in her hand and threw it at his face. She scored a direct hit, but he didn’t even flinch. “Get the hell off my land.”

                He grabbed her forearm and squeezed just hard enough she couldn’t jerk away. Cass stared down at his hand—tanned, strong and belonging to a liar. She was such a fool. One night of mind-blowing sex with him and he’d gotten under her skin—and into her heart. And that one night had turned into so much more. She’d started dreaming—of him, of life with him here on the ranch. She loved him. Or did. Before he betrayed her. Her face flushed with anger as she raised her gaze to collide with his.

                “Please, Cassie. Let me explain.”

                “Move it or lose it, Mr. Barron.”

                If anything, his grip tightened, and for a moment, she got lost in his amber eyes. Then she remembered he was nothing more than a predator. A snake. A...she didn’t want to malign innocent members of the animal kingdom so she called a spade a spade. “Let me go, you bastard. You lied to me. And you cheated me. I...I thought you cared. About me. About the ranch. God, how could I have been so damned wrong about you? About...us.”

                Her voice cracked, and his grip loosened slightly. She jerked her arm out of his grasp, no longer caring that her voice quivered. “Get away from me, Chance. I hate you. I hate everything you stand for. I’ll put a certified check for the full amount of the loan on your desk by five o’clock Friday afternoon. I have a herd of cattle to get to market so get the hell out of my way.”

                She turned on her heel and marched over to Boots where he stood holding the reins of her horse. She snatched them and stood glaring at him.

                “You knew.” Oh yeah, he knew all right. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

                “I was waitin’ for him t’do the right thing.”

                “Seriously? He’s a friggin’ Barron, Uncle Boots.” She dashed at her eyes with the back of her hand. She’d be damned if she shed tears over Chance Barron. Not now. Not ever. “He wouldn’t know the right thing if it walked up and bit him on the ass.”