“Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. You’re just a different kind of girl than I was, Ang. It’s okay.”
“It’s Daddy’s fault, really. Why didn’t he insist I learn all this stuff earlier? Did you know he’s threatened to cut me out of the will if I don’t learn about ranching?”
Catie’s eyes widened. “Really? No, I didn’t know. But Angie, you can’t seriously blame Dad for you not learning this stuff.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not his fault. You’ve been hanging around here since you got out of college. That was ten years ago, for God’s sake.”
“I’ve done stuff.”
“Preparing me to be rodeo queen doesn’t count.”
“I’ve prepared a contestant every year, I’ll have you know. Some of them even paid me.”
“Dad pays for your living expenses and everything, doesn’t he?”
She warmed. Surely her cheeks were turning crimson.
“You haven’t worked either. You went to school, and then you married Chad.”
“If you think I don’t work around here, you’re crazy. I do a load of work every day. I’m up with the birds taking care of horses and taking care of this house.”
Angie rolled her eyes toward Cheryl. “You have a cook, for goodness’ sake.”
“It just so happens that my cooking stinks. That doesn’t mean I don’t pull my weight around here.”
She’d hit a nerve with her sister, clearly. “Where can Chad be?”
“He’ll be in. What did you want to talk to him about anyway?”
Easy. She wanted to tell him that his ranch hand, Mr. Rafe Grayhawk, had behaved unprofessionally toward her and she wanted to have him fired. Chad would do it for her, wouldn’t he? If not for her, for Catie. He’d lose his job, and she’d be the catalyst. No one treated Angelina Bay the way Rafe had treated her. Not without consequences, that was for sure.
An image flashed in her mind—the horrified look on Judy Williamson’s face when she’d botched Angie’s color and Angie had threatened to run her out of business. Judy’s cheeks had reddened, and fear had washed over her eyes.
Angie’d been horrible that day. An emotion tugged at her—not quite sadness, not quite guilt.
Shame.
For the first time, she felt ashamed of her behavior. Ashamed of how she’d treated Judy that day. Ashamed of what she’d come here to do.
She bit her lip. She could have Rafe fired in a minute, but was that what she really wanted? If Rafe left, who would teach her to ride? If Rafe left, how would he earn a living?
And if Rafe left, she’d never see him again.
That thought niggled at her, bit at her like a pesky fruit fly.
He’d taken her to paradise and back. If he were gone, she’d never experience that ecstasy again.
No, he needed to stay put. For his own good and for hers.
His ethics still proved problematic. That’d be a challenge. Course Angelina Bay could seduce an ethical ranch hand sure enough. She’d already done it.
She hadn’t yet had her fill of Rafe Grayhawk. One-morning stand be damned! She’d have as many morning stands as she wanted before she—and she alone—decided it was ov
er.
“Hey, sugar.” Chad McCray sauntered in. “How long till dinner? I need a shower somethin’ awful.”