Texas Hellion (3 page)

“Cami get back here.” I dropped the bullets and nabbed her before she could take another swing at the girl, wondering the whole while where this hellcat had come from. Now I’ve seen her do some crazy teenage shit back in the day, but nothing that came even close to this. Breaking curfew and joyriding around my land fast enough to scare my animals, or bringing a group of friends home when her parents were out of town to have an out of control party was wild teenage stuff, this was something else altogether. I’m not even gonna think about the time I caught her bare ass naked on my land.

It’s as though she’s been having an out of body experience in the last few weeks or so, with one fuck up after another, or at least that’s what I’ve been hearing through the grapevine from my latest ex whatever she had been. If I didn’t know better I’d think she was on drugs or some shit, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t it. But the stories did seem to be getting crazier and crazier with each one a little more outlandish than the last.

“You little idiot are you trying to get yourself arrested?” Her friend came over to help me keep her quiet while Joel got Sandra in the car and drove off. I noticed that neither he nor Cami had said anything to each other in this whole exchange. “Let’s get you out of here, no doubt unless those two come up with a good story the sheriff’s gonna be at your door soon.” She muttered something unintelligible and I smelled the alcohol on her breath. That too pissed me off. She’d not only been driving, but operating a firearm while drunk. If her daddy didn’t take a switch to her ass I will.

She started to move towards her car but I pulled her over to my truck. “Where the hell are you going?” If looks could kill I’d pretty much be dead, but I wasn’t Joel so she didn’t scare me. That got me to thinking about those two. There’s no way she could convince me that she was head over heels for that wimp, so why the hell was she about to marry him?

“Hey, I can’t leave my car here.” She tried pulling away from me before I nabbed her around the middle and braced her against the side of my truck before she broke her damn fool neck on those stilts she was so fond of wearing. She was fit to be tied for sure, and the little tussle didn’t seem to have calmed her down any, which meant I was going to have hell on my hands. I hope her daddy hurries up and get here soon; I don’t have time for this shit.

“I’m not letting you alone, who knows what the hell else you’d get up to, and your daddy asked me to look after you ‘til he gets back. Now put your ass in the front seat and zip it.” Of course I had to manhandle her into the front seat and buckle her in. I had to bite my tongue so as not to let loose half of what I was thinking about her hair-brained behavior here today.

When she took a halfhearted swing at me I just gave her a look to settle her ass down, but there was blood in her eye. “You need to calm the hell down, you’ve already made enough of a nuisance of yourself for one day don’t you think?” I hope she didn’t feel my dick on the hunt between us. He would choose now to make his presence known. What’s with him and this cantankerous female anyway? You’d think he’d have enough sense to duck and hide by now.

“If I’m such a bother then why are you even here?” Now she sounded close to tears, which for me was a big fucking no-no. Cami in tears was one of those things I was sure I wouldn’t be able to handle. I’ve always been a sucker for a woman’s tears, and this little one had me tied up in so many knots already that would just be the icing on the cake. “Don’t start that shit.” I pointed my finger at her, figuring pissing her off was better than having her fall apart on me and me in turn giving in to the feelings that were way too close to the surface.

Her bottom lip trembled and she looked so pitiful I was all but ready to wrap her up in cotton to make sure nothing ever hurt her again. I wanted to pull her in close and tell her that everything was going to be fine but I didn’t dare. Whereas before I’ve always been able to avoid such close contact, for some reason tonight it seemed like all my barriers were down. I pulled my phone about to get someone to come out after her car. “Let me call one of the hands to come get your car home…”

“I’ll call my brother and his friends to come drive her car home Mr. Grant, thank you so much for coming after her, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t.” I’d almost forgotten poor Mary-Joe, which wasn’t surprising. Most people tended to fade into the scenery when this one was around, or at least for me they did. Poor Mary-Joe, I’m thinking they ought to canonize her for the shit she’s had to put up with over the years dealing with the hellion.

“No problem I’ll see that she gets home safe.” I stored the gun in the backseat of my truck and got in beside her. She was still fuming but at least she was unarmed. I really had no interest in whatever story she had to tell, so I didn’t ask. The more I distanced myself from this mess, the better off I’ll be, it never paid to get mixed up in anything to do with this one. That’s the way I’ve always chosen to deal with anything where she was concerned, but somehow I got the very bad feeling down to my soul that this time it wasn’t going to work.

She never ceased to confuse and amaze me so I shouldn’t be surprised. My only question now was what was I going to do about this new turn of events. Just because she was free didn’t mean that I should just jump in there. There were still a lot of good reasons why I maybe shouldn’t go there, one being that either she or I would kill the other within a week. Besides I may not wish to acknowledge it, but she might be really broken up by this bullshit.

Out the corner of my eye I saw the set of her face. Whatever she was her heart wasn’t broken. I know, she’d be surprised at how well I know her and her many moods. She was pissed and maybe her feelings were hurt a little, but her heart hadn’t been engaged, thank fuck. Something inside me relaxed for what felt like the first time in weeks. Ever since I’d first heard about her upcoming wedding to be exact. I pulled myself up and back from where my thoughts were going. Still I couldn’t help but be pleased that at least her heart hadn’t been involved.

Why that should matter to me I didn’t want to look at too closely. I’d put that shit behind me once and for all and wasn’t in any hurry to revisit, that way lies trouble. All I want to do is get her home and go back to the safety of my own abode where I can forget this little encounter in a glass of scotch. Please just let that be the way it goes. I totally ignored the little voice in my head that told me this was it. I chalked it up to being tired and overworked. There was no way that in my right mind I would even contemplate what I was. Hadn’t I promised myself a long time ago to never go there?

I’d had a bitch of a day with a sick calf on my hands and we were right in the middle of breeding season, maybe that’s why my defenses were so low. As she sat silently beside me, her face mutinous and her hands clenched, I felt my ire rise. I didn’t have time to be rescuing daddy’s little princess who’d got her feelings hurt because the boy she wanted, wanted someone else. I wanted to yell at her to grow the hell up, but there was no real justification for my anger. Well not any that would make sense to her or anyone else anyway. For me I knew only too well form whence my rising anger stemmed. She’d been about to marry another man.

For the first time since I’d heard the news I let myself dwell on it for more than a second. Would I really have let her go through with it? What the fuck kinda question was that? I was afraid I knew only too well. Why now? Why was this shit coming to a head and in such a way? I’d been prepared to let her have her life, to never muddy those waters so to speak. But here lately it seems that life has been conspiring against me.

I didn’t like that she’d been hurt, I should kick Joel’s ass for messing her over like that. See, ten minutes in her company and I’m already stupid. What business was it of mine? She wasn’t my responsibility, what she did with her life had nothing to do with me. Yeah Grant, and she’d been ready to marry another man just remember that. But this couldn’t be easy for her, not for a girl with her pride; a girl accustomed to getting her way in life.

If she was deserving of this I wouldn’t have even come after her, but for all that she’s a royal pain, she didn’t warrant the humiliation this was gonna cause her. I knew enough about my little girl to know that she took things very deeply and something like this could really throw her. I didn’t know the whole story though, and it’s always been my experience that when dealing with Camille there was always more than the eye could see.

Joel was an ass to begin with, no way he wanted the little librarian over this one, but then again everyone has a type. And come to think of it, he seemed genuinely concerned for the girl back there so it might be more than just a case of getting caught with his pants down. Maybe he really did have feelings for the girl, but in that case, he shouldn’t have asked this one to marry him. And none of that has anything to do with you Grant, stay the hell out of it.

I wish to hell it was that easy, but as I sat there next to her doing an illegal ninety on the highway, I somehow knew that the winds of change had shifted. Even my thoughts were working against me, because they kept circling back to her and what this could all mean. After years of fighting it, it seems I was now painted in a nice little corner.

“Where are you taking me? I don’t wanna go home.” Her shrill voice broke me out of my reverie in time to see her about to start her shit.

“Get your hand away from there, are you crazy?” I had to forcibly remove her hand from the door handle while trying to keep the truck on the road. “Listen, I’m taking you home, your maid is there isn’t she? She can look after you until your daddy or mama gets home.” And take you the hell off my hands because I am so not in the mood for this bullshit. Yeah Grant and you’re full of shit.

“I don’t need taking care of, just drop me off at the Honky-Tonk.” She must’ve lost her damn mind. There was no way I was taking her to one of those places, especially not with her being so vulnerable. Every swinging dick within a five-mile radius would be on her before I even cleared the parking lot.

I took her all in with one up and down glance. Her pretty pink toes in their white stiletto sandals that probably cost more than most people made in a week, the too tight jeans with the lace and satin top in the palest yellow, that made her tanned complexion look lush and vibrant. The rock on her left hand wasn’t half bad, but if she were my woman I would’ve gone with something a little softer. Not smaller, just…rounder I guess. What the hell are you thinking?

This is one of the reasons, the main reason I steered clear of her for the last couple of years. Without fail, whenever I got within shouting distance of her something strange happens to me. It’s like I lose all sense and every brain cell heads south. I knew damn good and well what it was, but like I said there was too much involved for me to even go there.

It was a horror when she was a teenager and I first realized what she did to me. I spent many a sleepless night hating myself for it. It didn’t matter that she was out of high school, or that she was mature for her age. All I saw was the number eighteen. Thank fuck the shit had held off for two years after we first met or I’d have really been in deep shit.

I tried losing myself in others; it was the best thing for me at the time. I couldn’t run away like I’d wanted to. My grandfather had passed away just a couple years back, leaving me his ranch, his whole legacy, everything he’d worked for his whole life. I’d made the commitment to take over the reins, but that was before the change. A change that came totally out of left field and took my ass by surprise. That’s the story of my life when it comes to her though so I shouldn’t be too shocked.

The first time I met her at sixteen, things hadn’t been so bad. She was a kid, beautiful yes, but since I wasn’t interested in teen girls I never paid too much attention to her in those first few years. I was learning the lay of the land, getting my feet wet, as I threw myself into the ranch, trying to learn every aspect of the operation.

I knew my dad had been a disappointment to the old man when he was alive, I couldn’t fail him in death. I’d already given up the cushy top floor office and the seven-figure job to come back west and raise cattle, so I figured I might as well be the best damn rancher in the state.

All in all it wasn’t a bad deal. The money was good and I worked for myself. Gramps hadn’t left me with any debt or uncomfortable loose ends to tie up. I owned the place free and clear, and there was a trust set up for contingencies and another for taxes and other expenses.

It looks like the business mind ran in the family; only gramps was old school. Low risk and high returns, he knew where to put his money to get the most use out of it. Brady had been a big help in those early days, always there to lend an ear or a hand whichever was needed.

In the beginning it didn’t matter that he took his little girl with him wherever he went. In the early days she was just a kid who liked to go visit the horses while her daddy and I talked shop. I had pegged her the hellion early on for some of her hijinks, but other than that we stayed out of each other’s way; that all changed the night of her eighteenth birthday.

I’d been extremely busy the last six months or so before her birthday, going back and forth out east to deal with my sick mother, so I had missed the big change. I happened to be back in town when the invitation to the party came and though I had no real interest in a teenager’s soiree, it had been some time since I’d seen my old friend so I thought, what the hell.

I hadn’t recognized her at first, and it was more than the adult dress she was wearing that night. There was something different about her, and about the way she looked at me with those big dark eyes, that made me think of diving in. I’d watched her all night because I found I couldn’t do anything else once she was in the room, but I’d avoided her, staying clear across the room at all times.