Million Dollar Cowboy (Cupid, Texas #5)(94)

Until Kaia.

Now here she was, giving him a giant case of the feels.

When it came to Kaia, he was neither distant nor emotionless, let alone self-contained. All he wanted was to fuse with her, meld into her body, make her his forever and ever.

The very thought of being with her blazed a fire of burning desire through him so all-consuming that it left room for nothing else. He didn't care about work. He had more than enough money to last a lifetime. The desire to best his father had completely disappeared. All he felt for the old man was pity.

So go to her. Tell her that.

His pulse quickened at the prospect. But it had happened so fast. He felt crowded. Claustrophobic. Terrified.

It was nearly dark when they landed. Almost nine. Ridge came around the side of the Evektor to help his father out.

"I'm fine." Duke swatted at Ridge. "I can walk. I ain't no cripple."

"No, but you've been in bed for two weeks." Ridge took his arm anyway, dodged the next swat. "You're weak."

"Like you give a shit." Duke snorted. "You're only here because you feel guilty."

Ridge tamped down a sigh. Would it always be like this between them? "You got that wrong. I don't feel guilty about a damn thing. I'm here because I'm your son and you need help."

"Oh yeah? If you're such a great son, where have you been for the last ten years?"

"I'm as good a son as you are a father," he retorted.

"Hmph." Duke grunted, but stopped fighting to pull away.

"Yeah, that's right. Even Steven."

He got Duke into the house, but when he tried to direct him to the bedroom, Duke balked. "I wanna go to my office."

"It's nine o'clock at night."

"So what? I need to get back in the saddle."

Ridge knew when to pick his battles. This was not the time to buck the old man. "Okay," he said, and guided Duke into the office Ridge had been using, just as Phil Rhonstein phoned for their nightly conference. 

He left Duke in the office and went outside to take the call.

"How are things today?" he asked, looking up at the wide expanse of stars, feeling the full impact of the night sky. The majesty of it still took his breath away. "We any closer to getting this sewed up?"

"Things are . . ." Phil hesitated.

"What?"

"Stalled."

Ridge jammed a hand through his hair. "What's the holdup?"

"Liu Yan," he said, referring to the Beijing silver mine owner, "is suspicious because you're not here. He thinks we're trying to pull something over on him. Now he's hired a new team of international lawyers to comb through the contract again. We're in wait mode."

His chest knotted up, and fangs of frustration sank into him. Honestly, he hated not being there, not being in control of the negotiations. Ridge huffed. "My dad's out of the hospital. He's doing better. Give me three days and I can be in Beijing."

"That's not necessary."

"Yes it is. I should have been there from the beginning. Billions are at stake."

"I know, I know," Phil said. "But we can work things out on this end. Stay put. Look after your father. You've got enough on your plate."

The last thing he wanted was to linger in Cupid when his Beijing deal was going to hell in a hand basket.

Well, except for Kaia. He would go see her before he left. Talk things through. Make things right so that when he came back from China in six months . . .

What? You're going to ask her to wait six months for you? How fair is that?

"There's nothing more important than family," Phil said.

Yeah, maybe for Phil, maybe for most people, but not for Ridge. In his entire life, the only people he'd been able to truly count on were the Alzates.

"Tell Liu Yan I'll be there on Tuesday," Ridge told Phil.

"What the fucking hell!" Duke's voice boomed from inside the house. "Where are you, you snot-nosed sonofabitch?"

"What was that?" Phil sounded alarmed.

"Family." Ridge sighed. "I'll call you later. Tell Liu Yan, Tuesday. I'll be there for sure."

"You really don't have-"

But Ridge was already hanging up.





Chapter 27




Ridge pocketed his cell phone and reached for the handle of the sliding glass door, just as Duke yanked it open.

A vein throbbed at his father's temple, and his nostrils flared like a crazed bull charging a matador. Duke snarled. Lips curled back over his teeth. "What did you do?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't start that crap!"

Ridge shook his head. "Didn't learn a thing from the heart attack, huh? Take a deep breath, calm down."

"How can I calm down when the minute my back is turned you stage a coup!"