Nita groaned and let her head drop to the arm of the chair. So much for him not being stubborn. And here she’d actually felt sorry for him. The man obviously knew nothing about the inner workings of the female mind. If he thought Jane was going to come crawling back to him, he was in for a surprise.
If Will wouldn’t go after Jane, maybe Nita should. Maybe Jane would swallow her pride, come back and listen to what Nita’s daddy had to say. Short of hogtying her daddy, throwing him in the truck and taking him to Odessa against his will, she didn’t see a solution to this.
Something had to be done.
She left her daddy sulking in front of the television and set out to find Connor. He’d been outside talking with Jimmy when she went inside with the paper, so she headed through the kitchen to the back door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Connor snapped from behind her.
She turned to find him standing in the mudroom doorway, arms folded over his chest, face pinched with irritation.
“I was coming out to look for you,” she said.
“Uh-huh. Sure you were.”
She felt like smacking him upside the head. “What, you think I’m lying?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time you tried to sneak away from me.”
“I thought you were still outside, and I was coming to talk to you.”
The look of accusation didn’t waver, nor did his aggravated tone. “Whatever you say.”
No doubt about it, male PMS. That’s what she got for trying to help him the other night. Silly her, she’d thought he would be grateful, or at least start acting human. And she was going to spend an hour in the car with him driving to Odessa?
Don’t think so.
If he was so determined to believe the worst, that’s exactly what she would give him. When the opportunity presented itself.
She folded her arms over her chest, imitating his stubborn stance. “Well, Mr. Crabby Pants, if you’d like, you could put a collar and a leash on me. Or how about an electronic ankle tether? Then you would always know where I am.”
Connor tried to work up the will to be angry at her, since that seemed to be what she was aiming for, but all he felt was tired and frustrated. He knew he’d been difficult the past couple of days, and he had no right to take it out on her. Kind of like shooting the messenger considering, thanks to her, he’d come to realize his life was total crap.
Well, not total crap. He had the Cattleman’s Club, and a brother who, despite Connor’s persistent bad attitude and bitterness, still loved him and wanted what was best for him. And he had Nita—a woman he was falling hard for. But she didn’t want a relationship. She only wanted him for sex.
Great.
“I’m going outside to work,” Nita told him. “Is that okay with you?”
Since he didn’t figure she expected a reply, he didn’t bother to give her one. He just followed her as she stormed out the back door, contemplating the irony of the situation. Because of her, he could finally see the mistake he’d made living his life to please everyone else, and he was ready to take something for himself. Yet, once again, happiness evaded him. He’d spent the better part of his life distancing himself from women, taking only what he wanted and never letting anyone too close. Now the tables had turned on him. Apparently he was getting his just deserts. And he couldn’t deny he deserved it.
That didn’t make it any easier though.
Nita disappeared into the stable and Connor leaned against the fence. He closed his eyes and turned his face up into the sun, absorbing its heat, contemplating his next move. The one thing he knew he had to do, the thing that would be the most difficult, would be telling his father he was leaving the engineering firm permanently. He wasn’t sure how the old man would take it. He was used to Connor doing what was expected of him. There would be shouting and disappointment. Nothing Connor hadn’t heard before, and nothing he couldn’t handle.
Short of that, he wasn’t sure what he planned to do with the rest of his life. But of one thing he was certain, he wouldn’t be making a decision until he was damned sure he was doing it for himself.
He heard a loud curse from the stable and snapped to attention. That was definitely Nita, and something was wrong, he could hear it in her voice. He broke into a run and reached the stable door just as she was limping out, her face a pale mask of pain.
He caught her under one arm. “What happened.”
“Adonis got spooked and stomped on my foot.” She cringed. “Damn it all, that smarts.”
“Let me take a look.” He knelt down beside her and gently pulled on her boot.
She gasped and yanked her foot away. “Hurts too much.”
“Can you walk at all?”
She tried to put weight on her foot and shrieked in pain. She shook her head.
“Sounds like it’s broken. I’d better get you to the hospital.”
“I can’t have a broken foot,” she wailed. “Who’s going to run the farm?”
“Until you’re back on your feet, I will.” The words came out before he had a chance to think it through, but he realized, he didn’t mind. And not because it was the right thing to do. He really enjoyed working the farm. Working with the horses. It was…fun.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” Nita said.
“You didn’t ask me. Let’s worry about it after we get you taken care of.” Connor lifted her as though she weighed nothing at all and Nita wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as he carried her to his car.
“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling only slightly guilty as his strong arms cradled her. He was being a lot sweeter about this than she’d anticipated. It would be a whole lot easier if he was annoyed with her. If he didn’t smell so good.
“No need to apologize.” He pulled his keys from his jeans pocket and unlocked the car door, then he opened it and sat her gently on the seat. When she was settled in, he jogged around and climbed in, starting the car.
“Wait!” she said. “My insurance card. I have to have it.”
“Tell me where it is and I’ll go grab it.”
“Upstairs in my room, on my dresser. And we have to tell Daddy what happened. He’ll be worried.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Nita waited until Connor had entered the house, then she tore the keys from the ignition, flung the car door open and ran like the devil was after her to the truck. She tossed Connor’s keys on the front seat and yanked hers from her pocket, then she hopped in, shoved the key in the ignition and gunned the engine. She’d just like to see him catch her this time.
Spraying gravel and dust, she took off, glancing in the rearview mirror just in time to see Connor emerge from the house. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he had to be furious.
Somebody give the girl an Academy Award because she’d sure fooled him. She hoped he was kicking himself for falling for her phony broken foot routine.
She took a sharp right onto the road and floored it, buried the needle at seventy, giving herself a nice long head start. That’s what he got for thinking he could outsmart her. By the time he found Jimmy, got the keys for the other truck then figured out where she was headed, she would be halfway to Odessa.
Grinning to herself, she hummed along to the song playing on the radio. She reached the first in a series of curves in the road and hit the brake, but the pedal felt soft,