Bet You'll Marry Me (10 page)

“Only a fool would say that,” Wayne said with a wide grin.

“Why?” Billie asked, reaching her hands up to touch the glistening marvel.

“Because this is ‘fool's gold,' ” Jenny explained, realizing her mistake. “See the tiny crystals? Real gold does not form crystals.”

“Are you sure?” Billie persisted. “Maybe we could take it into town and have it evaluated by a professional.”

“I'm sure,” Jenny said, handing the rock over to her. “This is iron pyrite.”

But for one glorious moment, she'd hoped as much as Billie that they'd hit it rich, stumbled on a miracle, or been rewarded with a stroke of luck. For the first time, she'd hoped she'd found a way to save the ranch . . .
without
winning the bet.

N
ICK TOOK THE
train from New Jersey to his office in New York and spent the next three days juggling client meetings and paperwork he'd put on hold during his absence.

He'd talked to Jenny a couple times on the phone, but the tiny Northwest town of Pine seemed so very far, far away.

Collapsing into a chair, he stared at the bottle of victory champagne sitting on the end of his desk. A bottle he'd vowed not to open until he gained hold of the O'Brien land.
Jenny's
land.

Before he arrived in Pine he'd thought a quick marriage to put his name on the property deed, followed by a quick divorce would force her to sell. Now he hoped he could work everything to his advantage
without
a divorce.

How could he keep Jenny
and
save his business? He rubbed his temples, unable to decide on a strategy. Was his business even
worth
the tension stiffening his spine?

For the entire first ten years of his life Nick had listened to his father talk of nothing but the company they would build together. A company bigger and better than any other in the nation. His father skipped baseball games and family outings in order to draw up plans. After his death, it seemed only right for Nick to exert an equal effort to turn those plans into a reality.

Now for the first time he wondered why. Did he think it would bring his father closer to him? Nick didn't feel close to anyone. He felt . . . alone.

He missed Jenny. Missed sparring with her. He'd never known flirtatious combat could be so much . . .
fun.
He missed watching her vivid expressions, missed the emotion behind her words, missed the way she cooed to her horses.

He missed the ranch, too. New York City made him claustrophobic after working in the wide-open fields these last few weeks. He wished he could draw in a deep breath of fresh air from the shadow of the mountains. Wished he could smell the rich, welcoming scent of the pine trees or taste the crystal-clear water of the surging alpine river. After walking the streets of New York again, he even longed for the smell of the cow pasture.

He imagined himself back at the ranch, with Jenny by his side, and a tranquil sensation of utter contentment stole over him. No wonder Jenny loved the place.

It felt like . . . home.

J
ENNY STARED AT
the phone in her father's office, each unanswered ring twisting her stomach in knots. Just another creditor demanding to know when they'd get their money. How could she speak to them when she didn't have any answers?

She still needed to pay Harry's hospital bill. The insurance didn't cover much and the doctor's fee was higher than she'd expected. Perhaps if she had stayed in school and become a veterinarian, she wouldn't have a pile of unpaid invoices on her desk.

Jenny ripped open the top envelope and discovered another offer from N.L.C. Industries to buy her property. She was just about to toss it into the trash when she stopped to see the monetary figure they had in mind. Not enough, she thought as she tore it in two. It would never be enough to make her give up the land she loved.

Frustrated, Jenny left the room and made her way down to the stable.

“Hey, big boy.” She leaned over the half door of Starfire's stall and patted his sleek brown neck. “Who's the most handsome fella in the whole barn? You are, aren't you? Yes, you are.”

“I'd give anything to have you talk to me like that.”

Recognizing the voice, she spun around, and a surge of excitement slammed into her chest at the sight of Nick's smiling face. Why, it had been downright
dull
working on the ranch this past week without him there to trail after her, tease her, and tempt her to think traitorous thoughts.

Nick gave her a searching look. “Did you miss me?”

Why did he always have to be so darn direct? If she said yes, it would reveal too much, and if she said no, he'd know she was lying.

“We all missed you,” she said. “The chores have backed up and there's a lot to do around here.”

“Is that all I am to you, another pair of hands? You could tell me I'm handsome to make me feel better.”

Suddenly, a forceful nudge broke them apart, and Starfire nibbled her cheek.

Nick arched his brow. “Somebody's jealous.”

“No,” Jenny said, smiling. “Just hungry. Can the second most handsome fella in the barn help me feed the horses?”

Nick grinned. “Only if you'll tell me how to become your number one.”

Never leave. Jenny gazed into his eyes but couldn't say the words. Couldn't tell him how bright the sun was shining inside her heart because he was near.

Instead she shrugged. “Well, Starfire is a hard guy to beat.”

N
ICK TRIED NOT
to trip over the piles of presents cluttering the back entry into the house. Boxes of chocolates, dried flowers, stuffed animals, and balloons Jenny had received from the other men while he was away. Most of them looked untouched, but he was irked by the fact she hadn't thrown them away.

What could he give her? He'd bought back her mother's wedding ring, but the gift wasn't original. She'd more than likely remember her mother when she wore it instead of him.

Jenny was different from other women he knew. She wouldn't be swayed by jewels, pretty clothes, or sweet pillow talk. She didn't crave riches, fame, or power. She'd be satisfied just to keep her ranch and have the money to pay her bills month to month.

What could he give her to warm her heart and bring him a step closer to win the bet?

He noticed she didn't have a dog. Harry said they'd had a collie a while back named Rusty, but the dog ran off one night and never came back. Maybe he could buy her a puppy? Except a puppy wouldn't do her any good at this point and she might complain he'd given her another mouth to feed.

What gift, other than money, could he give her that she'd both love and need? A shrill whinny sounded from the stable and he smacked himself on the head.

A horse for the upcoming race.

 

Chapter Ten

F
IVE DAYS LATER,
Jenny loaded three of the pack animals into the trailer to take to the midweek auction. The three horses to which she was least attached. They weren't worth much, but she hoped to get enough money to buy a decent horse she could train for the race.

Nick, Billie, and Wayne were eager to go with her. The following day was the Fourth of July and the whole town of Pine was sure to be bustling with celebratory events. She felt bad about leaving Harry behind. That is, until she discovered Sarah Gardner was coming over with an apple pie.

“Are you going sweet on her?” Jenny teased.

“Me, sweet? Never. A real cowboy doesn't go sweet on anyone,” her uncle replied. “Can I help it if the woman is attracted to me? She sure can cook, though,” he mused, “and she can tell the funniest stories you ever did hear. Why, once she said . . .” He broke off, chuckling. “Well . . . you better get going if you're going to find a horse at the auction.”

“You
are
going sweet on her,” Jenny said, and placed a hand over her uncle's heart. “Could be a side effect from the attack.”

“Could be,” Harry admitted with a grin.

W
HEN THEY ARRIVED
at the East Creek Fairgrounds several horses were already in the main arena with prospective buyers looking them over. Jenny caught sight of a beautiful dapple gray western quarter horse, and after helping Wayne unload the pack horses from her trailer, she wandered over to the mare for a better look. Nick and Billie followed her.

The horse had exquisite conformation, not to mention a beautiful gray mane and tail. Its eyes appeared bright and alert. The mare's teeth were good. Its feet were sound. The strong, muscular quarter horse would make an excellent addition to any barn. An easy sell for the owner. The price tag to a horse like this should have been advertised in magazines. Why would someone want to sell this magnificent animal at an auction?

Just then, the gray mare turned, enabling Jenny to catch a glimpse of the other side of its face.

“
Oh
,” she said, drawing in her breath.

An enormous scar zigzagged across the cheekbone from the mare's nostril all the way back to its ear.

“The animal's worthless,” a man muttered, drawing his wife away. “Only good enough for the slaughterhouse.”

Jenny scowled. People like that didn't deserve a horse. Leaning forward, she caressed the dense, lumpy tissue. Outer beauty wasn't everything.

“She's eight years,” said a bearded man with deep-set eyes. “Could use a bit more training, but she's been in good health since the fall that ripped open her face.”

Jenny walked around to inspect the mare's legs. “Is she fast?”

“Very fast,” the owner boasted. “Kastle beat Kevin Forester's horse, Blue Devil, in a race over the weekend.”

“Kastle,” she repeated, noting the auction flyer he handed her spelled the name with a
K
.
Nice name.
Fitting for the horse's large size.

She gave Kastle a gentle pat. This was the one. She couldn't explain it, but somehow, deep in her heart, she just
knew
this was the horse she'd been searching for. The horse she could ride right into the winner's circle of the Pine Tree Dash.

“I'll make you a deal right now,” she said, unable to hide her excitement. “I'll trade you three excellent pack horses—”

“No trades,” the man said, cutting her off. “I want cash.”

“How much?” Nick asked over her shoulder.

“She goes to the highest bidder.”

Jenny walked back to her own horses but her gaze kept straying toward the big gray quarter horse.

The bidding at the auction block began an hour later. She was fortunate all three of her pack horses sold early, although she didn't get as high a price as she'd hoped. Still, it had to be enough to buy Kastle. She and Nick were recounting the money when Billie ran toward them.

“The bidding for the gray horse is about to start.”

Jenny squeezed the thick wad of bills in her hand and took a seat between Nick and Billie in the outside auction arena.

“Where's Wayne?” Jenny asked, glancing around.

“Busy looking at tractors.” Billie searched the entranceway. “He said he'd be here soon.”

Billie's aloof expression turned to one of hope, making Jenny smile. It was clear the tomboy was attracted to the sandy-haired ranch hand and didn't quite know what to do about it.

Wayne, on the other hand, had been giving Billie more attention than he'd given any woman since Michelle left, but still only treated her like a pal.

“If he doesn't meet us here, he'll catch up with us in town for lunch,” Jenny assured her. “I told him we'd eat at—”

She broke off distractedly as Irene Johnson stepped up behind Nick's chair and began to knead his shoulders with her fire-engine-red fingertips.

“Hi, handsome,” Irene purred as Nick turned his head. “What are you up to?”

“Just placing some bids,” he answered. “Jenny, do you know Irene?”

“Yes,” she said, her body tensing as she eyed the blond-haired vixen. “
Everyone
knows Irene.”

Nick gave her a curious look and then glanced over his shoulder at Irene's saucy expression and lifted his brows.

“It's a small town,” Irene confided, leaning down and waving her over-stuffed bosom next to his face. “Jenny and I went to the same school, joined the same clubs, got engaged to the same man . . .”

“You were never engaged.
I
was,” Jenny said, glaring at the woman. “You just slept with him.”

“You were engaged?” Nick stared at her, as if he wanted to ask her a thousand questions and didn't know where to start.

She averted her gaze. “It was six years ago.”

“I didn't know you were engaged,” Nick said, his voice lacking the usual deep confident edge. “What happened?”

“The poor guy got cold feet before the wedding and came running to me,” Irene said, raising her voice to a near shout.

Jenny narrowed her eyes on the blond witch, who was deliberately trying to cause a scene, and clenched her fists in her lap. She wanted to spring from her chair and deck the woman but she'd already made a fool of herself in public twice before. She didn't want to do it again. No, as much as it killed her, this time she wouldn't be impulsive. She'd hold on to her dignity.

“Better get back to your own seat, Irene,” Billie warned, “or they'll mistake you for an old mare and start auctioning you off.”

“Very funny.” Irene scrunched her nose and withdrew her hand from Nick's shoulder. “Catch you later, Nick, if you're free.”

Jenny waited for Nick's reply but instead of responding, Nick pointed toward the front of the auction block.

The gray quarter horse with the large zigzag scar was brought out and the auctioneer started the bidding at three thousand dollars. Jenny raised her hand. So did four others and the bid was raised to five thousand in less than a minute.

“It's going too fast,” she muttered.

“One of the other men just backed out,” said Billie.

“The bid is being raised to six thousand. Are you going for it?” Nick asked.

“Of course I am.” She raised her hand.

“Another man backed out,” Billie reported, and craned her neck to look around. “The bid is down to you and two others.”

“Do I hear six thousand? Do I hear seven thousand?” the auctioneer called.

Jenny bit her lip as the two men bidding against her raised their hands. She raised hers as well.

“Do I hear seven thousand, five hundred?”

She held her breath as she raised her hand once again.

“Only one man raised his hand,” Billie told her. “He looks like he has money. He's wearing a suit and tie.”

Nick glanced at Jenny. “It's the bank manager.”

Jenny turned her head toward the back of the crowd, where Stewart Davenport stood. He didn't have a good reputation with animals. He didn't ride. He didn't even own a barn. Why would he want Kastle?

She gasped. “Davenport wants to stop me from entering the race.”

“Eight thousand. Do I hear eight thousand?”

The bank manager watched her, and when their gaze met, he smiled. She couldn't let that devil of a man buy Kastle, but she had no choice. “It's over,” she said, her voice choked. “I don't have any more money.”

Suddenly Nick raised his hand and the auctioneer took his bid.

“What do you think you're doing?” she exclaimed, as the bank manager backed down.

Nick took out his wallet. “Buying a horse.”

“How could you do this to me?” Jenny cried.

He knew she wanted this horse and to buy it right out from under her wasn't just mean, it was painful. Maybe he thought if she didn't win the money from the race, she'd be forced to marry him. Well, she wouldn't. She could never marry anyone who would deliberately hurt her.

Pushing out her chair, she ran out of the arena.

N
ICK JUMPED UP
to go after her, but Stewart Davenport stopped him.

“Are you out of your mind?” the bank manager demanded. “Why did you bid against me?”

“Jenny needs that horse for the race.”

“And you plan to give it to her? If she wins the money she needs to pay her bank debt, we'll never get our hands on her property!”

“If I give her the horse that wins the race, we will.”

“You're losing it, Chandler. You're losing it for both of us, not to mention your sister. I thought you wanted to win the bet you made with Miss O'Brien. If Jenny wins the race, she'll wave a fond farewell and never look back. You'll lose her, the bet, the land. Everything. Is that what you want?”

Nick put a hand on his shoulder. “Sometimes going in the opposite direction is exactly what you need to do to get ahead.”

“You're crazy, Chandler. Don't say I didn't warn you.”

Nick pushed him aside and hurried out of the auction area to find Jenny. He might be crazy, but he was determined to give her the horse to win her heart. It had to work.

Because he could not fathom a fond farewell in his future.

J
ENNY HAD ALMOST
made it back to her horse trailer in the parking lot when Nick caught hold of her wrist, and spun her around to face him.

“Why are you so upset? I bought the horse for
you
.”

“I can't accept her,” she said, shaking off his hand.

“Why not?”

“I refuse to be indebted to you. I already owe you for buying back my mother's wedding ring. I don't want to owe you for this, too.”

“Agree to marry me and you won't owe me anything.”

Her heart leapt at his words, but her head focused on the fact that Nick wanted to win the bet as much as she did.

“You can't buy me, Chandler,” she warned, “no matter how much money you have.”

“I'm not trying to buy you. The horse is a gift. You accepted presents from the other men,” he reminded her.

Jenny thought of the stuffed animals, candy, and flowers she'd received and planned to donate to the hospital.

“Those gifts didn't cost eight thousand dollars. Where did you get all this money from anyway? It must be nice to be able to lay down ten thousand here, eight thousand there . . .” Her voice cracked and her eyes began to sting. “I bet you don't know what it's like to want something and not be able to get it.”

“As a matter of fact I do,” he countered, drawing closer. “After my parents' death my grandfather raised me and put a roof over my head, but there wasn't any extra money for college. I spent my summers traveling around the rodeo circuit winning the money I needed to go to school and start my own business. I needed to grab the bull by the horns in more ways than one.”

“What are you saying? That I don't know how to ‘grab the bull by the horns' to get what I want?”

She inched away, her pulse quickening, as he moved in on her, closer, and closer, until his face was directly in front of hers. She could see each individual eyelash framing his intense silver-gray eyes. Feel the heat of his breath on her face. Smell the fresh leather scent clinging to his clothes.

“You won't even
admit
what you want,” he said, taunting her.

“Which is?”

“
Me.
”

“You think too highly of yourself, Chandler,” she said, her voice rising as she forced herself to step away from him. “What I
want
is to save my ranch. Just watch as I grab the horns on your arrogant bull-head and win the bet on July thirteenth!”

Nick's superiority faded and an earnest expression crossed over his face, as he reached a hand out to her. “Jenny—”

The sudden change stopped her in her tracks. “Yes?”

“Please take the horse.”

She wished he wouldn't look at her like that. As if he adored her and had only her best interests in his heart. It broke her concentration and made it harder for her to stay mad at him. The catch in his voice didn't help either.

Her gaze fell on the horse trailer, empty inside, with nowhere to go except back home again. A home that could be signed over to someone else within a fortnight if she didn't win the race.

“All right,” she said, and a smile escaped her lips. “But there must be something I can give you in return.”

She expected him to ask for a kiss, or a date, or if his arrogance returned perhaps he'd dare to ask for something more . . .

“Your boot knife,” Nick said, brushing a strand of her hair away from her face and hooking it behind her ear.

“No, not my knife. I need—”

“I'll protect you,” he promised. “Trust me.”

Jenny swallowed hard. What he was asking for was much more than a steel blade. Could she really rely on him? She wavered indecisively for a full minute before bending down to remove the boot knife hidden beneath the bottom cuff of her jeans.