Texas Heat — Chapter 7
A thin line runs between betrayal and sacrifice. Figuring out the difference could cost a man his heart.
“So, did you buy the old Tucker place, Corey?” Tiffany asked. “The improvements you’re making look good, especially that new front porch.”
“Yeah, I fell through the steps on the old porch the first day, decided I’d better start there if I didn’t want a broken leg.”
“Did you know that it borders Texas Glory?”
“I didn’t think your Daddy’s land reached over to the Tucker place.”
“It didn’t when you lived here before. Over the years, the new owners added tracts of land to the original spread as they came on the market. It’s about a twenty thousand acre package now.”
“What made your daddy give up that place? It was his private kingdom.”
“Yes, well, he didn’t have a choice. He got into a bit of a jam and needed the cash, so he sold it to…”
“Mom,” the boy interrupted his mother. “Bobby Owens is over there with his family. You care if I go say hi?”
“That would be fine. Be sure to tell his parents I said hello.”
The boy scraped his chair back on the planked flooring and cut a path through the tables to join his friend.
“So how does it feel to be the Governor’s daughter? Dang, if that doesn’t make you the Princess of the whole Lone Star State.”
“My princess days, as you call them, ended twelve years ago, Corey. As for my Father, I haven’t seen or spoken to him in ten years, not since the day I married Les Covington.”
The mention of her husband ripped apart his amiable mood. He didn’t want to hear about the man who’d slept beside Tiffany while Corey had shared an eight by twelve-foot cell with one mean-spirited piece of dirt after another.
“Corey, I’d like to explain more about what happened twelve years ago, if you’d let me.”
The hand she moved to rest on his burned his skin like the hot handle of an iron skillet. He jerked his hand out from under hers and leaned back from the table.
“I’m not interested in a history lesson, Mrs. Covington. Let’s just keep this little affair in the present.”
“But, Corey, how can we build any trust and be comfortable with each other again if you don’t understand what happened?”
“Let me make this clear, princess. Where our son is concerned, I agree that we need some kind of working relationship that doesn’t put him in the middle of two warring parents. If you’ve got something more than that on your mind, then you’d better know upfront that the only space in my life with a vacancy at the moment is my bed. And that’s on a strictly temporary basis.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Corey.” Her eyes misted.
The pain in her eyes confused him. It was obvious he couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d wrapped her in barbed wire. Deep breaths lifted her breasts as she fought for composure.
“That settles it then,” he said, rising to his feet to stand beside the table. Dropping some bills to cover the check, he reached over to pick up his hat off the back of his chair. When he looked back, she ducked her head. “I’ll be getting in touch with you soon; it’s time the boy knows who I am.”
“Corey.”
His name was barely a whisper. With her head lowered, he almost missed hearing it. “Yeah?”
“I want to think about your offer.”
“What offer?”
“You said there was only one place left for me in your life.”
If she had stripped naked and danced on the table, she couldn’t have shocked him more. What game was she playing with him now?
He sat back down with a thump. “And why would you do that, Mrs. Covington? Unless you’ve changed more than I thought, you never used to take crawling into a man’s bed as Saturday night entertainment. So why take the big leap now?”
“I didn’t mean tonight,” she stammered. “I meant that I was willing to make some adjustments. Not too quickly, but I’m not going to pretend that…”
He reached across the table, and spanning her chin with his hand, roughly lifted her face. Tears streamed down her cheeks and a mind-bending honesty poured from her eyes. Heartbreak and acceptance were there too. She shielded nothing. He could see all the way to her soul. This woman still loved him. The reality of her feelings staggered him. She was going to bury her pride and settle for a shabby replacement for that love. It was unthinkable the things she‘d’ always been willing to sacrifice for him.
A new kind of fear twisted his insides, gut-wrenching, bone-chilling fear. He didn’t know if he was strong enough to resist her. If he didn’t, he knew what he was offering would eventually destroy her. Why couldn’t he have kept his cussed mouth shut?
He needed to leave before he picked her up and did whatever it took to remove the hurting from those sweet eyes. He needed to breathe fresh air, air free of her lavender scent. He needed to get out before he told her that she had always been the keeper of his heart, that he was nothing without her. That she was one step away from owning him.
He dropped his hand from her face and managed one cowardly phrase before he stalked into the night. “I’ll think about it.”
To be continued…
Read from the Beginning…
