the throng of traffic that slowed his trip. “Not at all. I’ll make sure no one burns the joint down before you return.”
“I wasn’t worried about no one. I was worried about you.”
“Well, I won’t burn it down, either. Nor will I give it away or send it into bankruptcy before the week is out. Next week, however, might be a different story, so you better take that time now and hurry on back.”
His brother laughed. “Marah and I are on the plane as soon as I can get her packed. Thank you. I owe you one.”
“Yes, you do,” Matthew answered. “Send me a postcard.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll bring you back some sand so you see what you missed.”
“I love you, too,” Matthew said with a wry grin plastered across his face. “Talk to you later!”
As he disconnected the call, Matthew guided his car toward the interstate leading to the ranch. He suddenly felt like riding his favorite black horse. It had been that kind of day.
* * *
“Why?”
Katrina took a deep breath, filling her lungs with warm air. Collin had just about pushed her last nerve and it was taking all her resolve not to explode. “Because I said so,” she answered, her tone firm, the stern look she gave her son emphasizing that it was in his best interest to end their conversation.
“It’s not fair!” the boy exclaimed instead, pouting profusely, as though he were five and not fifteen.
“Me spending my entire day in court over your nonsense wasn’t fair, either, Collin. I had something else I would have liked to do, too. But you took that option away from me. There are consequences for our actions. You stole a car. You wrecked that car. You could have been injured. You could have injured someone else. Punishment for that is going to last you some time.”
“But I’m being punished. The court is making me work for that man. It’s not fair for you to punish me, too!”
Katrina chuckled. “You’re lucky I don’t go get me a switch from that tree out there. Then I’d show you just how unfair life is. Now, you are not going to the mall with your friends. You’re not going today, and you won’t be going tomorrow or anytime next week, so don’t ask. In fact, if you don’t go to your room and give me a moment of peace, you may not see your friends or the inside of a mall for another six years. Then you can tell me how unfair your sweet, spoiled life is. Do you really want to try me?”
She stood with both hands clutching the lean line of her waist. Her neatly arched eyebrows were raised high, her expression challenging. Collin heaved a deep sigh, then turned an about-face, muttering under his breath as he headed back up the staircase toward his room.
“And leave your phone on the table,” Katrina called. “I told you no cell phone, no television, no nothing, and I meant it.”
The boy paused. The look he tossed his mother was harsh as he came back down and dropped his new Droid onto the hall table. Minutes later, loud music echoed from upstairs, the boy’s stereo turned up high. Calling his name, Katrina waited for a brief moment before silence filled the space.
She wasn’t naive, though. She knew her son had only plugged headphones into the sound system. She’d give him until she herself climbed the stairs to her bedroom before she ordered him to turn it off, reminding him that “no nothing” included his beloved stereo system.
Moving into the kitchen, Katrina peered into the refrigerator for something to drink. It was way too early for her to have a glass of wine, but she truly wanted a tall glass of chardonnay. She hadn’t eaten anything, though, and wine on an empty stomach would not serve her well. She should have stopped for lunch like she’d planned, but everything about the morning’s events had thrown her right off course.
She reached for a pack of pepperoni and some slices of pepper jack cheese. Katrina mused that a light snack with that wine would constitute lunch and that couldn’t be so bad. She popped a loaf of crusty French bread into her oven just before uncorking the bottle and filling a crystal goblet with the elixir. Savoring that first sip, she took another deep breath of air, dropping down into a cushioned seat at her kitchen table.
If she were honest with herself, she would admit that dealing with her son hadn’t been her greatest challenge that morning. She was accustomed to dealing with kids who’d made mistakes, testing the limits of whatever authority ruled their daily lives. She’d always known there would be moments with her own child, although car theft had never crossed her mind. She hadn’t, however, imagined herself fighting the emotions that a certain man had incited.
Matthew Stallion. Katrina took a gulp of her drink, a large swig that was better reserved for shots of tequila, Jack Daniel’s or a hearty beer, not the delicate wine that filled her glass.
The man’s reputation had preceded him. In fact, because of her own investment interests, Katrina had been closely following the recent events surrounding the failed attempt at a hostile takeover of his family’s business. Social Services and the legal community had many good things to say about the advocacy programs the Stallions had in place to assist families in need, especially the mentoring programs for students. She’d been hopeful that she herself would be able to avail herself of their services for some of the cases she knew she would likely have to preside over in her new district.
Rising from her seat, she moved to the cherrywood cabinets and pulled open a bottom drawer. Reaching beneath a stack of papers, she lifted out a magazine hidden inside. The full-color image stared up at her, Matthew’s seductive smile gracing the cover.
Texan Magazine had named the thirty-five-year-old man Bachelor of the Year, and he was looking every bit the part in the engaging head shot they’d captured. She imagined that he had garnered much attention from the honor. Katrina figured that a man like Matthew Stallion probably had no need for any help in that department, though, musing that he was clearly not a man who lacked female attention.
Reaching for her glass, Katrina took another sip, then remembered the bread, which was just a heartbeat away from being burned toast. Pulling the loaf from the oven, she dropped it on the countertop. She suddenly didn’t have much of an appetite.
She sighed, blowing warm breath into the air. Katrina hadn’t given any man a second thought since forever. The fact that she was giving Matthew a second, third and fourth thought completely unnerved her. But the man had been engaging. She’d been impressed with how he’d handled her son, seeming genuinely interested in the boy’s well-being. Being someone that young men could look up to seemed foremost in Matthew Stallion’s mind.
That enigmatic smile of his had caused her heart to race, her stomach to do flips as if she was on a roller-coaster ride. As they’d parted, he’d shaken her hand again, clasping it between both his palms, and the current of electricity that had rushed up her spine had left her breathless.
Katrina shook the memory from her mind, draining the last of her wine from the glass. This is crazy, she thought to herself, reaching to refill her glass. She was not interested in any man and particularly not in that man. Stuffing a slice of cheese into her mouth, Katrina shook her head from side to side. Convincing herself that she wasn’t interested in Matthew Stallion was certainly proving to be the biggest challenge of her day.
Chapter 4
Matthew
