The Tycoon's Tender Triumph Page 0,5
machine. Instantly, his voice came through the speakers and Chloe almost groaned as she heard his voice explain that he’d be coming into town to talk with her. If she’d only listened to his message, she could have been gone tonight. And all the other times he tried to contact her.
Accepting defeat, she leaned back against the kitchen sink and crossed her arms over her chest. She couldn’t quite force herself to look at his face, so she let her eyes rest on his chin. “Okay, so I haven’t opened the mail and I haven’t listened to your messages. I know it was rude but I didn’t think there was anything important enough to bother. I spoke to my father two weeks ago and he’s fine,” she said, irritated at the lump that formed in her throat at how much she missed him, “so there’s really nothing more for us to discuss.”
“Except that he’s not fine as of ten days ago. He fell off the roof of his stable and broke his leg,” he said casually. “Go pack a bag, Chloe. My plane is standing by and you’re coming with me.”
“What?” she squeaked, her body instantly tense, her mind terrified of the words he’d just spoken. “Why didn’t he call me and say something? I should have been there. Is he okay now? What was he doing on the roof?” she demanded.
His face was completely devoid of humor as she squirmed under his direct, intense gaze. “He’s fine now but he couldn’t get to a phone for a long time so he was out in the elements. I went over to talk with him about something the afternoon it happened but he’d already been on the ground for several hours out in the rain.”
That stunned her. “No!” she denied, already feeling horribly guilty for not answering his calls now. Why hadn’t her father called her himself? He should have let her know!
Chloe couldn’t believe her ears. She felt as if she were in some sort of dream world with a wicked, teasing twist. “Of course I’ll come back to take care of him. Why didn’t he call and tell me himself?”
“Because he didn’t want you to worry. You’re father has a great deal of pride and he doesn’t want to rely on me to get him through this. I owe him though so I’m not going to let anything happen to him.”
“Does he have any horses housed in the stable right now?”
“Yes. And you’d know that if you’d just opened my letters.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Horses. She loved riding. Besides being with her father and seeing Sam each summer, riding the horses he’d raised had been the best part of her summers with him in Texas. She’d go out early each morning and ride through the plains, watching the sun rise as she cantered along the tall, early summer grasses that quickly faded to crackling straw by the end of the summer.
“He really has some horses to ride at his ranch?” she asked, a smile breaking out on her face as the news broke through her disbelief.
Sam’s arms crossed over his chest once again and, instead of answering her, he simply raised his dark eyebrow as if to say that she shouldn’t ever question his word.
Sam watched as Chloe came to terms with the fact that she now had a great deal of responsibility. Now he just had to get her back to Texas and get her settled. Getting her there wouldn’t be a problem, he thought. Keeping her there…well, that’s going to be the trick.
Glancing at his watch, he pushed away from the wall, assuming he’d given her enough time to absorb this latest news. “Go pack a bag, Chloe. We need to get airborne before midnight. Otherwise, you’ll be dead on your feet in the morning and too tired to see your horses.
“Bag?” she asked. “Pack?” She blinked and looked at him. “I can’t leave here. My father will have to come up to New York to recover,” she said.
“No, you’re coming back to Texas,” he countered, as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
She shook her head, knowing that she’d be fired if she left for a vacation without notice. “I can’t. My agency is in the middle of a huge ad campaign. They won’t let me go right now. I’ll be terminated and they’ll replace me with someone else. This is New York, Sam. The competition is fierce for my