Author: Lisa Jackson
Category: Suspense
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/lisa-jackson/page,11,586327-distrust.html
Caleb snorted when he saw the determined set of Chase’s jaw. “Going somewhere?” he mocked.
“Out.” Chase reached for the door but the old man’s voice stopped him.
“To find Dani Summers?”
Chase hesitated. “Weren’t you the one who suggested I get to know her better—use my imagination?”
Caleb’s eyes became slits. “She really got to you, didn’t she? So much in fact that you’re willing to hack off your nose to spite your face.”
Chase lifted his chin a fraction and regarded Caleb with cold eyes. “Don’t wait up.”
Taking a sip from the drink he was cradling in his hands, Caleb said, “I wasn’t planning on it. I was waiting to hear just how you think you can handle Dani Summers.”
“Handle her?” Chase repeated, his back stiffening. “Look, not that it’s your business, but as far as I’m concerned I’m not dealing with Dani about her land. Not anymore. Face it, Johnson, the lady doesn’t want to sell. Not you, or me, or anyone else on God’s green earth can get her to change her mind!”
With the intention of letting Caleb stew in his own juices, Chase stormed to the door of the study.
Instead of ranting and raving as Chase had expected, Caleb just smiled smugly to himself and said in a voice loud enough so that Chase would hear, “Well, we’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”
Chase walked out of the house and slammed the door behind him. God, he’d had enough of Caleb Johnson to last him a lifetime, he thought as he jumped into his Jeep.
Through the open window, Caleb watched as Chase ground the gears of his sorry-looking vehicle and roared down the tree-lined lane. Then Caleb put on his reading glasses and searched for a telephone number he’d written on a scrap of paper only two days before. Finding the hastily scratched note, he reached for the phone and dialed, looking distractedly at the cloud of dust Chase was leaving behind him.
Angry with Chase, but knowing be still held the trump card, Caleb balanced the receiver between his ear and shoulder, poured himself another stiff shot and waited impatiently as the long-distance call connected.
* * *
Caleb’s ominous threat hung in the hot summer air and nagged Chase as he drove away from Johnson’s spread. What had the old man meant? His mouth compressed tightly and he squinted through the dust and grime on the windshield and wondered what the devil Caleb was up to. The sun had already set and lavender shadows had begun to stretch over the farmland, but Chase was oblivious to the beauty of the surrounding countryside. His fingers were coiled tightly around the steering wheel and his shoulder muscles were bunched, as if he were spoiling for a fight.
“Relax,” he told himself as he switched on the lights and radio and tried to think of anything but Johnson’s greed or Dani’s precarious position. “Caleb couldn’t have anything to hold over Dani.” But he couldn’t forget the glint of satisfaction in Caleb’s pale eyes or the older man’s knowing smile. “ Don’t let him get to you,” he told himself.
He drove recklessly toward Martinville and the noisy raucous anonymity of Yukon Jack’s. All he needed was a couple of beers, some loud music and the smoky oblivion that the bar offered so that he could forget about Caleb Johnson, Summer Ridge and Dani Summers.
However, forgetting about Dani wasn’t all that easy. As some of his anger dissipated and he eased up on the throttle, his thoughts swirled back to her. Now that Chase knew that Caleb had tried to buy the Hawthorne place for much less than it was worth, he was furious.
And so was Caleb. Chase knew that the old man had wanted to tear him apart after the confrontation with Dani in Johnson’s study. Caleb had been just sly enough to rein in his temper and that worried Chase—a lot. Because whether he liked the fact or not, his concern wasn’t for himself, or his company. Not any longer. Right now, he was worried sick about Dani.
Dani.
Just at the thought of her, unwelcome emotions surfaced and the image of making love to her burned in his brain. In his mind’s eye he saw her skein of honey-brown hair, loose and wild in carefree sun-kissed curls, her face flushed with desire, her green-gray eyes warm with excitement and longing. “Get a hold of yourself,” he said, stepping on the gas again and heading into town. “Forget her.”
He drove straight to the bar, parked the Jeep, stuffed his keys into his pocket and walked into the dimly lit room where he took a table in the corner and ordered a beer. He sat alone, ignoring speculative glances from some of the women patrons, and nursed his beer while pretending interest in a dull game of pool.
The conversation around him didn’t spark his interest until he overheard one brawny, bearded man—one of the two men shooting pool—trying to convince his friend that Caleb Johnson’s Summer Ridge was the best thing that had happened to Martinville in years.
Chase heard only snatches of the conversation over the clink of bottles, click of billiard balls and spurts of laughter.
“Yep. Think of the value of your old man’s farm,” the bearded man was saying. “. . . double in price within the year. Same with the price of mine. A few years ago, I couldn’t give that rock pile away. Now, thanks to Johnson, it’s worth a fortune!” He grinned, showing off a gap in his teeth, while he chalked his cue. “No more cleaning barns and fixin’ fence for me, no-siree-boy. I plan on spendin’ my time in the Bahamas countin’ my money!”
His friend laughed and offered a quiet reply that Chase couldn’t hear.
“Oh, she’ll sell, all right,” the brawny man insisted, signaling to the barkeep for another beer and finally getting off his shot. “Six ball in the corner pocket.” He waited until the ball had rolled across the green felt into the appropriate hole. “The way I see it, Dani hasn’t got much of a choice . . .”
Chase’s every muscle tensed, but he continued to lean back in his chair and eye the two men from beneath the brim of his hat.
“. . . no one’s yet managed to stop Johnson. Remember Red Haines? He fought Johnson, too, and look what happened. One minute Red’s all set to fight the zoning commission and what-have-you, insisting that Johnson’s a crook and the next thing ya know, he’s changed his tune. If ya ask me, Red was just holdin’ out for more money—same as Dani Summers . . . nine ball in the side—”
Chase scraped his chair back just as the ball banked away from the pocket.
“Damn!”
“So you think Dani’s just waitin’ for a better price,” the skinny friend prodded as he eyed his shot.
“’Course she will. She always was a smart one, y’know. She’ll come around to Johnson’s way of thinking, you wait and see. And then watch out!”
His teeth clenched, Chase left some change on the bar and walked outside, taking in the clear night air. As he walked back to his Jeep he uncurled his fists and relaxed the muscles that had tightened while he had listened to the conversation at Yukon Jack’s.
“You’re losing your grip, old boy,” he told himself as he drove out of town. When he reached the rutted lane leading to Dani’s house, he slowed the Jeep and with a curse at himself, yanked on the wheel at the last minute. The wheels slid a little on the sparse gravel, but Chase held the Jeep steady up the rutted lane to Dani’s house.
* * *
Dani was still sitting on the back porch when the sound of an engine cut through the night, disturbing the gentle drone of insects. Her heart started to pound expectantly when she realized the engine probably belonged to Chase’s rig and that he was driving up the lane toward the house. She took the final swallow from her glass just as she heard the engine die.
Please, Chase, go away, she prayed, though her pulse raced with excitement. She heard him knock loudly on the front door of the cabin. Steadying herself, she stood and walked around to the front of the house.
He was standing under the porch light. His face was taut, his lean features harsh under the soft glow from the solitary lamp. His shirt sleeves were rolled up his arms and he held his hat in one hand.
“You don’t hav
e to wake the neighbors,” she said, climbing the two steps to the porch.
“Neighbors?” His gaze cut across the ghostly fields. In the distance, lights winked from houses positioned across the main highway. Somewhat closer, the lights from Caleb Johnson’s large house burned in the darkness. Chase’s lips drew together in a thin, determined line. “Impossible.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, leaning one shoulder against the house.
“And if you’re talking about Caleb, I don’t really give a damn if I wake him or not. Besides, he’ll probably drink himself to death before the night is over.”
“I don’t suppose he’s too happy with what happened this afternoon,” Dani observed.
“I’d say he’d like to kill me,” Chase said. “He seems to think I owe him my life.”
“Maybe you do,” she said gently. “Two-hundred-thousand dollars is nothing to sniff at.”
One corner of his mouth lifted sardonically. “I know you probably won’t believe this, but I can’t be bought.”
“Does Caleb know it?”
“Not yet.”
Dani sighed and ran her fingers through her long hair. “Don’t let him know it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt.”
“Like you?”
“I do okay.”
He chuckled and as he gazed into her eyes he felt as if he’d finally come home after a long hard-fought battle. “Yep,” he agreed. “I suppose you do.”
“And you?”
“I can handle myself.”
“Even with Caleb?”
“Especially with Caleb.”
“I hope so,” she said, glancing anxiously away.
He offered her a lazy smile. “Do you?”
Dani lifted a shoulder and the strap of her sundress slipped. “I don’t want anyone to get caught in Caleb Johnson’s trap.”
“Including me?”
“Yes. Including you,” she admitted honestly.
“Then we’re friends?”
“Of a sort, I suppose. I don’t really know . . . but . . .”
“But what?”
“But sometimes I’d like to think so,” she admitted, adjusting the wayward piece of fabric.
Chase reached forward and helped her place the strap back on her shoulder. His fingers lingered against her neck and Dani shivered unexpectedly.
“What about now?” he asked. His expression became less cynical and his eyes darkened as he stared at her. “Are we friends now?”
Nervously she lifted a brow and then swallowed. “You mean, because of this afternoon, when you came rushing to my defense against Caleb?” She paused and bit her lower lip pensively. “Well, yes, I guess I’d have to say that tonight we’re definitely friends.”
His gaze softened and he offered her his most engaging smile. “Then why aren’t you inviting me inside?”
“Good question. And one that I don’t have a good answer for,” she admitted, taking a step backward. “Probably because I’m not sure it would be such a good idea to be alone with you.”
“Why not?”
“I thought we settled ‘why not’ at the creek . . . and again, in Caleb’s house.”
Chase let out a sigh and rolled his eyes heavenward. “And just two hours ago, I thought I’d never darken your doorstep again. But here I am.”
“Why?”
“Maybe to apologize,” he said thoughtfully, his voice as low and seductive as the cool breeze blowing from the west.
“And maybe to try and wear me down so that I’ll sell my land to Caleb.”
“Do you really believe that? After this afternoon in Johnson’s study? If you don’t remember who was on that white charger—”
She shook her head and laughed. The lamplight caught in the long, silken strands of her hair, turning the soft brown to gold. “Like I said, I really don’t know what to believe. Not anymore. But I’ve got to hand it to you, McEnroe, you don’t give up easily.”
“Not when something is important.” He lifted his hand to touch the bottom of her chin, forcing her gaze to meet his.
She swallowed against the dryness settling in her throat. “And this is?” she asked. “Is it that important to get your company back?”
His finger slid sensually down her neck to rest on her shoulder, near the strap of her sundress. “It was,” he admitted, his eyes following the path of his finger. “But I’m afraid it’s gone further than that.”
“Oh?”
“Much further.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
His eyes centered on her lips. “This whole mess is driving me out of my mind. And it isn’t just my business anymore. Hell, I’m not sure I really even give a damn about it, not after all the trouble I’ve had with Johnson. But you. You’re something else again. What was important to me is all confused and the damnedest thing is that all I can think about is you. And me. Together.”
She licked her lips and waited, her heart hammering so loudly it drowned the other sounds of the night.
“You’re what’s important to me. You, Dani.”
Hating herself for asking, she took a step backward to break the intimacy of the moment and whispered, “Why, Chase?” Her voice was raspy with emotion. “Why am I important? So that you can get your company back? So that you can get your job with Caleb completed and go back to Idaho?” She inched backward until she felt the rough siding of the house.
“If only things were so simple.” He ran one hand over his face and leaned his back against the screen door as he stared into the night. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, he rotated his head between tense shoulders. “Everything was so cut and dried a few weeks ago. Black and white. No gray. Now everything’s a mess.” He looked at her and saw the skepticism in her gaze. “I just know that nothing’s been the same since I met you.”
“Better or worse?”
His smile was easy, lazily stretching over his tanned skin. “A little of both maybe.”
“It couldn’t be all that bad because you’re still here, when I told Caleb I didn’t want any of his men on my land.”
Chase ran a tired hand over his chin. “I’m not one of ‘his men.’ If I were, I wouldn’t have saved your neck today.”
Dani’s chin jutted forward a bit. “Saved my neck?” she repeated. “I was doing fine—”
“You were losing control.” Chase moved and sat on the railing of the porch, while his gaze cut across the fields to the hill on which the Johnson house stood. “Caleb had you just where he wanted you and—”
“And?” she asked, defiance sparking in her eyes.
He glanced back at her. “—and you’ve got a gorgeous neck.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then you’re being an arrogant, chauvinistic male.” But she couldn’t help but grin, exposing the hint of a dimple.
“I’m being honest. And that kind of insult went out in the seventies.”
“You are, without exception, the most frustrating man I’ve ever met.”
“I hope so, lady,” he whispered, his eyes lingering on her mouth. Reaching forward, he placed his hands on either side of her waist and drew her nearer so that she stood facing him, close enough to feel the heat from his body, smell the liquor on his breath, see the shadows in his eyes.
She had to swallow and lick her suddenly dry lips. “So, why are you here?”
He shrugged, but his gaze never left her face. “I thought maybe I’d take you and Cody to dinner. You know, as sort of a peace offering for trespassing on your land earlier in the day.”
“Cody’s at a friend’s for the night.”
“Too bad.” But his grin widened.
“I can see you’re heartbroken,” she mocked.
“Don’t get me wrong, I like your son . . . but I can’t knock the chance to be alone with you. Since Cody’s already gone, how about just you and me?” He reached up and brushed a wayward strand of hair from her
cheek. “Maybe it’s time we got to know a little more about each other.”
“I thought you said that you were partners with Caleb.”
Chase frowned. “I still am. Whether I want to be or not. Does that brand me?”
She wanted to smile but couldn’t. “In more ways than one, I’m afraid.”
“How about what happened at Caleb’s house this afternoon?”
She tried to pull away from him, but his fingers closed tightly over her waist “I’m not sure I understand what happened.”
“I found out that Caleb tried to cheat you.”
“Is that the evidence you were talking about at the creek,” she said and then stopped. “No, it was the water samples. What do they have to do with Caleb trying to buy out my property?”
“I wish I knew,” he admitted. trying to put together the pieces of the strange puzzle. “Maybe Caleb is just playing games.”
“With my water?”
Chase’s eyes grew cold. “Believe me, what’s happening with your water isn’t a game,” he said. The lines around his mouth deepened into sharp grooves. Unless it was a deadly game and if it was, Caleb would have more than Summer Ridge to worry about. . . .
“Chase . . .” Dani’s brow was puckered, her eyes concerned. “What is it? There’s something you’re not telling me . . .”
Deciding that worrying her needlessly would cause more harm than good, Chase tried to forget his suspicions, at least for the night. He offered Dani a lopsided grin and touched his nose to hers. “There’s a lot I haven’t told you,” he said. “And a lot you haven’t told me. Let’s discuss everything over dinner.”
“I don’t know—”
“Afraid to fraternize with the enemy?”
She lifted a shoulder and grinned. “Something like that”
“Just once,” he said slowly, his eyes delving into hers, “I want you to let all your defenses down. Okay? Forget that I have anything to do with Caleb Johnson or that Johnson even exists.”
“That’s a pretty tall order.”
“Come on, Dani. Just take me at face value.”
She looked at the lines of honesty creasing his skin near the corners of his eyes and mouth. She studied the hard but clean angles of his face. And she stared into his eyes. Dear God, those vivid blue eyes would be her downfall; they seemed to cut clear to her soul. On looks alone, she couldn’t doubt him, and for the first time since she’d met him, she didn’t try.