“I’ve never seen anyone quite as beautiful,” he said.

“That’s not true but I’m going to say thank you anyway.”

“It is true,” he said. “How can I convince you of what I see when I look at you?”

She shrugged and nibbled on her lower lip, which drew his eyes to her mouth. He loved her mouth. The full lower lip which made him want to lean down and taste her. He wanted her.

No big shock there. She was stunningly beautiful, even though she seemed to have forgotten that. He was here for business, but now he didn’t want to think about that.

Macy dominated every thought.

Dear Reader,

I was so excited to be invited to write another MILLIONAIRE’S CLUB book and to be given two characters who were so juicy! I have always struggled with image issues and when I started creating Macy I was able to tap into that to breathe some real life into her.

The story takes place in the heat of summer and I tried imbuing each scene with that heat. Not just the weather but also the tension between these two characters who are struggling to distance themselves from their own pasts and the relationship they once had.

The story was a lot of fun for me to write and I hope that you enjoy it.

Happy Reading!

Katherine

About the Author

KATHERINE GARBERA is the USA Today bestselling author of more than forty books. She’s always believed in happy endings and lives in Southern California with her husband, children and their pampered pet, Godiva. Visit Katherine on the web at www.katherinegarbera.com, or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter.

The Rebel
Tycoon Returns

Katherine Garbera

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to my sister Linda for always

having my back. I love you, Linda.

One

“Go ahead and look, Macy, you are even more beautiful than before,” Dr. Justin Webb said.

Macy Reynolds held the mirror loosely in her left hand and slowly lifted it so she could see her face, but she closed her eyes at the last second before she could catch a glimpse. Three years ago she’d been beautiful. She’d even been crowned the Rose Queen of Royal, Texas, as an eighteen-year-old girl. But all that had changed in one fateful car accident. She’d lost her looks, her man and her confidence.

This had supposedly been the last surgery she’d need, but her looks, which she’d once taken for granted, were now the bane of her existence. She was never going to be that beautiful girl again.

Dr. Webb put his hand on her shoulder. “Trust me, Macy.”

She wasn’t sure she trusted any man but her daddy. He’d stood by her through everything.

Macy and Harrison were all each other had, but she knew she couldn’t spend the rest of her life sitting in Dr. Webb’s office with her eyes closed.

She thought of the courageous kids in the Burn Unit at this hospital where she volunteered. They weren’t afraid to look in the mirror and she shouldn’t be either.

She opened one eye and then, surprised by her reflection, she opened the other. Her skin was pale and flawless, the way it used to be. No scars marred the surface. Her pixie nose had been restored to its former shape; she reached up and touched it. Her eyes hadn’t been injured in the car accident and her clear green gaze remained the same.

Her lips were the only thing that were really different. A piece of glass had cut her upper lip and now she had a tiny indentation where there used to be none.

“Thank you, Dr. Webb,” she said. Still not perfect, but at least she was done with surgeries.

“See. I was right, you are more beautiful than before,” he said.

She just smiled and nodded. She put the mirror facedown on the bed next to her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Doc, but I’ll be glad not to have to see you again.”

Dr. Webb laughed. “Me too, Macy. I’ll send the nurse in with some paperwork and then you will be free to go.”

He started to leave, but she called him back. “Thank you, Dr. Webb. All your hard work has really made a difference to me.”

“You are very welcome,” he said and then left.

Her cell phone vibrated as she received a text message and she glanced down at it. The message was from her dad.

How did everything go at the doctor’s?

Macy thought about her looks, but she knew she was so much more than just a pretty face now. And Dr. Webb had been a miracle worker to get her face this close to how she’d looked before the accident. She was never going to be exactly the same, but Dr. Webb had done a really good job.

Just fine, Daddy.

I bet you look better than fine. I’ll see you when you get home tonight.

Yes. See you then.

Love you, baby girl.

Love you, Daddy.

She and her father were closer now than ever. After her fiancé, Benjamin, left her while she was in the hospital, she’d had no choice but to lean—and lean hard—on her father. The accident had taken everything from her.

But now she was back to her old self. Or at least she really hoped she was. She was ready to stand on her own and she knew she had to get out of her daddy’s safe little world and back to her own.

She finished up with the nurse and left the office. And for the first time since then she didn’t immediately put on the large sunglasses that covered half her face.

She opened the lobby door and walked right into a man. He caught her shoulders as she tottered on her heels and almost fell over.

“Thank you,” she said, looking up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. Christopher Richardson … her high school sweetheart and the man she’d broken up with when her daddy had demanded it.

It had been almost fourteen years since they’d last seen each other and she … well, she felt as if no time had passed. Chris looked just as handsome as he had in high school and just as tempting.

“Macy. Some things never change and you get more beautiful each time I see you,” he said. There was more than a hint of irony in his voice.

She flushed, remembering how she’d dumped him all those years ago. “You haven’t seen me since high school.”

“True enough. When a woman tells me to hit the road I tend to do that and not look back,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

Should she apologize for what she’d done years earlier? She knew that she owed him way more than a casual “I’m sorry” though. “Um … I had an accident a few years ago,” she said. Dang it, why hadn’t she lied and said she was here for her charitable work with the Burn Unit.

“I heard about that. Are you okay now?”

She nodded. “Better every day.”

“And you, Mr. Big City, what brings you back to Royal?”

“My mom is in the hospital. But I’m back in Royal to bid on rebuilding the Texas Cattleman’s Club headquarters.”

“Oh. I think I heard something about how you’re in real estate like my father,” she said.

“I’m bigger than your father, Macy. In fact, Richardson Development is the biggest developer in Texas.”

“Wow,” she said. She didn’t know how to respond. Did he think that she’d be impressed—that she still measured people by their bank accounts?

So she changed the subject. “I hope your mom is okay,” Macy said.

She remembered Margaret Richardson as a very kind woman who thought Chris hung the moon.

“She’ll be fine. She has a recurring heart problem but the doctors are taking good care of her,” Chris said.

An awkward silence lagged between them. He was standing there in front of her looking very sexy and she felt bruised and battered.

“Where are you living now?” Chris asked at last.

“With my dad on our ranch.” It had been a hard time when she’d had the accident, and moving back to the ranch had been her only option.

“I never suspected you’d stay with your daddy, but I guess that makes sense,” Chris said.

“I moved back to town a little while ago,” she said. She didn’t have to justify her choices to anyone, but Chris made her feel as if she should explain.

“Go figure. I guess I always thought you’d find a nice rich boy and settle down,” Chris said. He rubbed a hand through his shaggy blond hair and gave her that charming grin of his that made her want to melt.

“I did. But he ran away when I proved not to be the Texas beauty queen he’d hoped for,” she said, and thought she didn’t sound bitter at all.

“Loser,” Chris said.

She laughed. “He was a very respectable man from a good family.”

“If he couldn’t make you happy then he’s a loser. I always loved your spirit.”

“Why, thank you, Chris. I think you are just what the doctor ordered.”

“While I’m here, I could use the insight of someone who’s been living here. Maybe you can tell me a little about what’s going on at the club. Would you join me for dinner tonight?”

She thought about it for a minute, but she knew she wanted to go. “I will. If you’re lucky I will introduce you to the next president of TCC, Ms. Abigail Langley.”

“I’d heard all the wives and daughters were campaigning for Abby. That’s the kind of information I need before I put in my bid to do the development,” Chris said.

“We are. It’s about time women had an equal stake in the Texas Cattleman’s Club. My father and his cronies aren’t sure what they are going to do. It completely threw them when Abby’s husband died and for the first time since Tex Langley founded the club a hundred years ago they didn’t have a male-Langley heir as a member. That’s the only reason Abby’s an honorary member.”

“That’s not my fight. I’m just the developer they’re thinking of hiring. What do you say to six-thirty? If you’re staying with your dad, I have the address.”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you then.”

Macy walked away very aware that Chris was watching her. The confidence she lost when Benjamin left her was finally coming back. She wanted to pretend that it was because the last of her surgeries was over, but she knew that it was because of Chris.

Chris Richardson had been on the high school varsity football team, which had made him something akin to a god in the tiny town of Royal, Texas. And it hadn’t taken Macy too long to set her sights on him. She was used to getting what she’d wanted back then, so he was hers just as junior year ended. They dated over the summer and through homecoming, but then her father had put his foot down.

Harrison Reynolds didn’t want his daughter dating a boy whose dad worked for the oil companies instead of owning one. A man who wasn’t a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, ensuring his son would never be one either.

Looking back now, Macy wished she’d been a different sort of girl and had maybe stood up for Chris. But she hadn’t been and she wondered sometimes if the accident was what it had taken to really shake things up for her.

One thing she knew for sure was that she’d never really gotten over him and she was glad he was back in Royal.

Chris watched Macy walk away. The sway of her hips and those gorgeous legs going a long way toward reminding him why he’d gone after her in high school. It hadn’t mattered to Macy’s dad that he was a star wide receiver back then, because he came from the wrong side of town.

But today he was here to visit his mom and to do a little work on the Texas Cattleman’s Club project. It was one of the most exclusive luxury country clubs in Texas. Only families with the right pedigree and the right amount of money could get in. And Chris’s working-class dad hadn’t provided either for Chris; though today he had more than enough money to buy himself a place in Royal’s exclusive club.

He took the elevator to the sixth floor and asked at the reception desk for his mom’s room. He walked down the hall to her room and opened the door to see her sitting up in her bed watching TV.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Chris! I didn’t think you were ever going to get here,” she said.

She fumbled around for the remote, but he was at her side before she found it. He leaned down to give her a big bear hug and a kiss. Then handed her the remote. She muted the television, which had been at high volume. Her hearing wasn’t as good as it used to be.

“This is extreme, Mom, even for you. Falling down so I’d come and visit you. You knew I’d be here on Texas Cattleman’s Club business this weekend.”

She shook her head and smiled at him. “I guess the good Lord thought I needed to see you before then. What took you so long to get up here?”

“I ran into Macy Reynolds.”

His mom sat up a little straighter. It had never sat right with her that Macy had dumped him just before the senior prom.

“What did you say to her?” Maggie asked.

“Just chitchat. I’m having dinner with her tonight,” Chris said. He tried hard to sound casual, but this was his mother and she knew him better than anyone else in the world.

“Is that wise?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. But it will definitely be fun. She’s changed.”

“I heard about the accident,” Maggie said.

“What happened?” Chris asked as he pulled a chair up close to his mom’s bed. She had the same thick blondish hair he did, but she wore hers straight. It hung around her pretty face in a fashionable style. Her eyes were blue like his, but she had a pert little nose and a full bow mouth.

“It was all over the news. Her little BMW convertible was hit from behind in traffic and her car slammed into an eighteen-wheeler. The car was engulfed in flames. She’s lucky to be alive. But horribly scarred. At least that’s what I heard down at the Royal Diner.”

“That place is a hotbed for gossip, but it doesn’t mean that any of that is true,” Chris said. The diner had the best greasy food in West Texas, but some of the stories to come out of there weren’t always the whole truth.

“It was real enough. She had to move back in with Harrison and has spent the past few years having a series of surgeries. It was heartbreaking, Chris, to see that pretty girl in bandages. She couldn’t walk for the first six months.”

Chris felt weak in the stomach at the thought of Macy in so much pain. He shook his head. “She seems much better now.”

“I think she is,” Maggie said. “But what about you? Tell me about your work with the Texas Cattleman’s Club.”

“There isn’t much to tell right now, Mom. I’m going to meet with Brad Price and then start working on my bid to develop and build a new headquarters for the Cattleman’s Club. I have a basic idea of what they want, but that’s it.”

“Are you going out there today?” Maggie asked.

“Yes, I am. I’ve been granted full privileges to the club while I’m working on the project.”

“Where are you staying?” she asked.

“With you. I think you might need someone at home with you when you get out of the hospital. Plus, the doctors still can’t figure out why you have these episodes,” he said with a grin.

“Good. You don’t have to stay with me, but I’m glad for the company. I miss you, Chris.”

He stood up and smiled down at his mom. Her face so familiar and dear to him, he brushed a kiss over her forehead and then tucked the covers more closely around her body. “I’ve missed you too, Mom.”

He chatted with her for a few more minutes but then had to leave. He was due to meet Brad. Brad was determined to be the next president of the Texas Cattleman’s Club and, given his background as the son of one of Royal’s banking families, most people thought he was a shoo-in to win. Chris wanted to take a look at the existing buildings and the property so he knew exactly what he was working with on this project. Everyone who’d grown up in Royal was aware of the club, but Chris wanted to get up to speed on the details of the property.

“I’ll stop by tonight before my dinner date,” he said to his mom.

“Perfect. Good luck with your business,” Maggie said.

Chris left with the impression that his mother had no idea how successful he was at what he did. But that didn’t bother him. He was really only interested in making sure that Macy and Harrison knew how successful he was. And before he went back to Dallas, the Reynoldses definitely would.

As soon as he stepped out of the hospital he was reminded it was August in West Texas and hot as Hades. He loosened his tie and pulled out a pair of sunglasses and hit the remote start button on his Range Rover HSE. He was having his Porsche transported to Royal so he could use that while he was in town.

He wanted the locals to know that Chris Richardson was back and he had plenty of money this time. He may not be a full-fledged member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club, but he took a lot of pride in knowing that he had enough money in his bank accounts to be one if he pushed.

He wondered what kind of car Macy drove. He should have asked a few more questions about her accident. It was hard for him to imagine the girl he’d known, who’d lived a decidedly charmed life, having to go through that kind of painful recovery. But then life seldom turned out the way that most people thought it would. Chris had proved that by making a success of himself in the same field as Harrison Reynolds. And tonight he’d be sitting in the dining room of the Texas Cattleman’s Club with Macy. Life was sweet.

Macy couldn’t stop looking at herself in the mirror and she knew that was a recipe for disaster, so she forced herself away from it and back to her computer. She had a lot of work to get done before her dinner with Chris.

Chris Richardson. Dang, she’d never expected to see him again. She wished she could say that the years hadn’t been good to him, but they had. If he’d developed a beer belly and lost some of his hair maybe she wouldn’t be quivering in anticipation waiting for six-thirty to roll around.

The doorbell rang and Macy sat up a little straighter, leaving her home office. She heard Jessie, her dad’s housekeeper, talking to someone. Macy rose from her chair, and went out into the hallway. She smiled at Abigail Langley.

Abby and Macy went way back to high school, but they had really become closer after Macy’s accident when Abby had become her rock. Then last year, unexpectedly, Abby’s husband had died of a brain aneurysm and Macy had had a chance to return the favor.

Abby had long wavy red hair and bright blue eyes. She was pretty and tall and walked into the room as if she owned it. Macy envied her friend that confidence. She’d thought the surgeries that restored her looks and her ability to walk would be enough, but this afternoon she’d realized they weren’t.

“Hi, there, Abby,” Macy said.

“Hello, gorgeous! You look wonderful. No need to ask how the doctor’s appointment went.”

Macy flushed. “I still don’t look like me.”

Abby wrapped her arm around Macy’s shoulder. “Yes, you do. This is the new you.”

“You are right. So … guess who I ran into at the hospital?” Macy asked as she led Abby into the den. The room was richly appointed with deep walnut paneling and oversize leather couches and chairs. This was where her father hosted football parties for his college buddies and where, when Macy had turned sixteen, she’d hosted her first boy-girl party.

On the wall was a portrait of her that her father had commissioned when she was eighteen, and Macy took a seat that deliberately kept her back to the picture. She hated looking at old pictures of herself. She didn’t like being reminded of who she used to be.

“Christopher Richardson,” Abby said with a twinkle in her eye.

“How did you know?”

“I have my sources. What did he say?”

“Nothing much. We’re going to dinner tonight so I can catch him up on all the gossip about the club. He’s in town to consult on developing the new clubhouse.”

“Well, that’s news to me. I’m going to have to have a little discussion with Mr. Bradford Price.”

“I wasn’t sure if you knew about it or not,” Macy confessed. Abby was rumored to be the descendant of infamous Texas outlaw Jessamine Golden and was making history herself as the first female member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club.

Abby and Macy had bonded over their shared tragedies. When Macy had been so badly injured and struggling to recover, Abby had been there for her, something Macy would never forget.

Abby didn’t say anything else, and Macy was a little worried about her friend. She suspected that Abby was using the connection and campaign to become the next president of the club to distract herself from the fact that Richard was really gone.

“Whose house are we placing the flamingos at next?”

“Mrs. Doubletree has been selected, but we are going to hit TCC first.”

“Great. What time and when?”

“Tonight, but if you can’t make it due to your dinner date, I will understand. In fact, I think we might be moving them while you are dining. You can help out the next time.”

Macy hated to miss out on helping Abby with the flamingos. Since she’d been so badly scarred and had frequently had bandages on to help her healing body stay infection free for the past three years, helping place pink flamingos in the yards of wealthy community members under cover of night had been the only thing she’d really felt comfortable doing to help out.

They placed the flamingos in the yards of different community members, and then the recipient of the flamingoes paid at least ten dollars a bird to have them relocated to another yard. The money was being raised for Helping Hands, a women’s shelter run by Summer Franklin in nearby Somerset.

Macy had always been big into causes, having been on the board of the Reynolds Charitable Trust since she turned twenty-one. But normally she just wrote checks and organized galas. Actually getting out and doing things was new to her.

“I will try to make it. It’s the only thing I’ve really been able to do to help,” Macy said.

“You’ve done more than that,” Abby said. “You’ve been helping me out a lot with my campaign.”

“I think it’s about time that the Texas Cattlemen had some women in their ranks. The shake-up last year helped change it from Daddy’s stuffy old men’s club into something that our generation can really be a part of.”

“I agree. And when I become president of the club, that’s not the only change we will be making.”

“Good to hear it,” Macy said. She and Abby chatted a few minutes longer before Abby had to leave.

After her friend’s departure, Macy went upstairs and had a long bath. She didn’t want to be nervous about tonight, but it was the first date she’d been on since her fiancé had left her. And that made it important.

She thought about her scarred body and how she still felt like the mess she’d been after that first surgery. She didn’t want to stare at herself in the mirror, but her psychiatrist said that she had to accept what she looked like now if she was ever going to move on.

She let the towel drop and stood in front of the mirror, letting her gaze drift down her own body. She saw the scarring on her right side, then the muscle she’d lost on her inner thigh.

She felt tears stir in her eyes and she bit her lower lip. Her body wasn’t going to get any better. This was how she’d always look. She glanced back at her face and for a moment almost resented the fact that her face was back to “normal” because the rest of her wasn’t. Not even inside was she the same woman she used to be.

She didn’t dwell on the fact that the date was with Christopher Richardson. He’d been her first love and she wasn’t sure she’d ever really gotten over him. She’d been young and impetuous when they’d met and he’d been forbidden fruit. She’d wanted him because her father hadn’t wanted her to have him. It wasn’t lost on her that she’d used him and now she was going to have to apologize. The girl she’d been pre-accident would have handled it with her normal panache, but Macy wasn’t that woman anymore and she suddenly dreaded the coming evening.

Two

Macy had driven herself to the Texas Cattleman’s Club because she was meeting Abby later to move the flamingos. But also because she didn’t want to be too dependent on Chris getting her home. The dining room was traditional Texas with lots of big heavy dark wood pieces and portraits of the founding members on the walls.

She went to the bar area and ordered a glass of Chardonnay while she waited for Chris. She hated being alone in a public place. It didn’t matter that she’d grown up coming to this club. She felt so exposed because of her accident.

She felt as if everyone was watching her and whispering behind her back. She knew it was her imagination. But Royal was a town that was given to gossip and she hated to be fodder for it. When she’d been younger—before her accident—she’d tried to do daring things to make people notice her, but now she just longed to be invisible.

“Macy?”

She glanced toward the end of the bar where her father stood with one of his business partners. Her dad was one of the old guard at the club. But he was fighting to remain loyal after the scandal involving Sebastian Hunter a few years ago. His friend’s embezzlement had shaken him. Sebastian had tried to sabotage the very club he’d been a member of.

“Hello, Dad,” she said, turning to give him a kiss when he approached.

He lifted her chin and she knew he was looking for the scar that used to run the length of the left side of her face. Her dad had been the first one to see her after the accident. Her fiancé, Benjamin, didn’t think he could handle seeing her that way. So her father had come in and held her hand and told her that she was still his princess.

“Beautiful,” he said. He kissed her forehead.

She blinked back tears. “Thanks, Daddy.”

He handed her a handkerchief. Then pulled her close for a hug. She hid her face in his shoulder the way she used to when she was little and didn’t want to face something.

“What are you doing up here, Mace? Did I forget a dinner date for tonight?” Harrison asked.

“Actually, no. I’m meeting someone,” she said. She had no idea how he’d take the news that she was having dinner with Chris. So she decided to keep his name to herself. Chris had certainly changed since high school, but tonight she wanted the fairy tale. She’d felt like the Beast locked away for so long. Now she wanted to feel attractive and to enjoy being out on a date with a good-looking guy. She and Chris Richardson had always made a stunning couple.

“That’s good. I wanted to take you out to celebrate the removal of the last bandages, but you know how it is with work. I don’t keep banker’s hours.” She and her dad had been alone since her mother had died when Macy was a toddler. They celebrated things in their own way and on their own time. She knew he’d make it up to her.

“You never have,” she said. Macy was very aware of how hard her father worked. He owned one of the largest construction companies in Texas. And flew from Royal to other parts of the state most weeks. He also had his weekly poker game in Midland and a twice-yearly fishing trip with his college buddies.

The waiter called his name and he hesitated. “Do you want me to wait with you?”

She smiled at him. “No, I’m fine. Go on. I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow.”

He hugged her quickly and then walked away. She turned back to the bar just as her wine arrived. She took a sip before glancing around the bar. Chris waved at her as he walked toward her.

“Sorry if I kept you waiting,” Chris said. “I’ll have a Lone Star beer,” he told the bartender.

“Right away, sir,” the man said.

“You didn’t. I was a little early. Since the accident I … I drive a little more slowly,” she said. There really wasn’t any part of her life that hadn’t been affected by it.

“You will have to tell me more about what happened. Mom knew some of the details,” he said. “Let’s grab a booth while we wait to be seated for dinner.”

She nodded and he led the way to one of the small intimate booths in the corner. Macy slid in and then waited while Chris did the same. He sat directly across from her and put his elbows on the table.

“So what happened? Mom said you’d been burned,” he said.

She shrugged. “No one’s really ever asked me about it before, because it was on the news.”

“Not in Dallas,” he said. “But then most of the stuff that happens here doesn’t make the headlines there.”

“I don’t know what to say except my car was hit by a long-haul trucker and that it was a mangled mess … all the rescuers said I was lucky to be alive.”

She held her hands loosely together, taking off the ring on her right hand and playing with it before putting it back on. She didn’t like to talk about the accident. To be honest, she remembered so little of it.

“I’m glad that you are such a lucky woman, Macy,” he said.

The bartender arrived with his beer. She studied him as he took a swallow from it. He hadn’t changed at all since high school—well, that wasn’t really true. He’d matured into his features; if anything, he was better looking today than he had been back then.

He arched one eyebrow at her and she flushed. “The years have been good to you,” she said, trying to find the words to ask him to forgive the immature girl she’d been.

“I can’t complain,” he said. “I’ve been working hard building my company, but I play hard too.”

“You mentioned that you are here for business.”

“That’s right. I’m doing consulting work for the expansion of the buildings here on the grounds.”

Macy tipped her head to the side and studied him. “Who asked you to do that?”

“Brad Price. We went to college together.”

“You went to UT Austin?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I thought you were going to get the hell out of Texas,” she said.

“Plans changed. I graduated at the top of our class … so it was cheaper for me to go to a Texas state university.”

“I forgot about that. Beauty and brains,” she said.

“Ah, no, you were always the beauty,” he said.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. That other girl she’d been was as foreign to her now as the thought of living anywhere other than Royal. “I was a little intolerable back then.”

“Not at all. You were pretty and confident. Every boy in school wanted you.”

“Not anymore,” she said. “And there was only one boy I wanted.”

“You had me, if that’s what you meant. Why aren’t you confident now?”

She realized that she was feeling a little bit funky tonight. Almost blue. She wasn’t about to say out loud that she was no longer pretty. Not to Chris. Especially when she realized that he might want a little revenge against her for the way she’d treated him back then.

“Just not as shallow as I used to be. After my accident, I started working with the kids in the hospital’s Burn Unit and I came to realize that true beauty has nothing to do with physical appearance.”

“What has it got to do with?” he asked, taking another long swallow of his beer.

“I can’t define it, but I do know that it comes from deep inside. I think it’s how a person deals with others,” she said.

He shook his head. “You sure have changed.”

His name was called for dinner before she could respond. She slid out of the booth and Chris put his hand on the small of her back as they walked toward the dining room. His hand was big and warm through the fabric of her sundress and she was very glad that she’d run into him today. Being with Chris tonight made her realize just how much she’d been missing.

Chris spent the evening realizing why he’d fallen for Macy in the first place. She was funny and lively and had the kind of dry wit that made him laugh. She was also very intelligent and just a little bit shy. The shyness was new. She used to be a different girl.

He guessed that was what the difference really was. Macy was a woman now and life had handed her more than a few surprises. He was almost afraid to trust the woman she was tonight. He’d been burned by her once before.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she asked, taking a sip of her wine.

“You aren’t what I expected you to be,” he said, opting for the truth, as he usually did. When he’d first gotten into the development business he had run into vendors who’d say anything to make their company sound good. And Chris had set Richardson Development apart from them by always being up front and never promising what he couldn’t deliver. He did the same thing in his personal life.

“In what way?” she asked, leaning forward as if his answer was something she wanted to hear.

“Well, to be honest, when you dumped me I had sort of hoped the years would be unkind to you and that you’d get fat and sort of dumpy.”

“Are you disappointed I’m not?” she asked with a laugh. She had an effervescent laugh that made him smile. Just the sound of it was joy. Though to his ears it sounded a bit rusty. As if she hadn’t had much to laugh about in recent years, which he knew she hadn’t.

He shook his head. How could he wish for her to be anything but the beautiful, sexy woman he saw in front of him? Even in the August heat, she looked cool and untouchable.

“Not at all. But that’s not really why I was staring at you. When we were teenagers you seemed like a girl who was going to lead a charmed life, and I was noticing that you don’t seem bitter that you haven’t.”

She shrugged one delicate shoulder and a strand of her honey-blond hair fell forward; she reached up and tucked it back behind her ear. “I can’t change what happened, so there is no use lamenting it, right?”

“Not everyone would see it that way.” He realized she didn’t see anything special in the way she was, but he did. Nothing she said would convince him that she wasn’t heroic. He liked the way she seemed to have adjusted to the changes in her life and he was very glad he was the first man to take her out after her surgeries were complete.

“It’s just the way I am now. Plus, if not for the accident I wouldn’t have started working in the Burn Unit at the hospital.”

“You mentioned that before. Are you in the medical profession now?” he asked.

“No. But I’m the administrator of the Reynolds Trust.”

“What is that?” Chris asked.

“It’s a charitable organization that my father established after my mother died. They give money to different organizations, some relating to medical research and providing care for the uninsured. I took over after college. After I started volunteering in the children’s Burn Unit, I added it to one of our charities at the trust. I am also a financial analyst and work at my dad’s company.”

“You sound very busy. Do you enjoy your work?” he asked.

“I do. What about you? What is it like being a big real estate developer?”

“I do a fair amount of work around the state.”

“More than a fair amount. Every time I open the business page there’s a new project with your company’s name on it.”

“Do you think about me whenever you see them?” he asked.

“Maybe.”

“Never thought I’d make good, did you?” he asked. He’d spent more than a few late nights over the years thinking about Macy and wondering what she’d make of his success.

“I was young, Chris. I really didn’t think much about you and me, or the future.”

“We were both young.”

“I wasn’t sure enough to stand on my own … despite how confident I may have seemed at school,” she confessed.

He took a deep swallow of his beer, not wanting to comment on it. No matter his age, he’d fallen hard for Macy. “And now?”

“I don’t know, Chris. I’m just starting to figure out who I am. The accident made me reevaluate my life.”

“I can see that,” he said. “And now you’re one of the rabble-rousers trying to get the club to admit women to its roster.”

“Yes, I am. I think it’s time we shake things up in this part of Texas.”

Chris laughed at the way she said it. His business was headquartered in Dallas, which wasn’t at all like this part of Texas. Here, attitudes were slower to change and men were still men.

“It will be interesting to see what happens,” Chris said. He had a hard time imagining women as full-fledged members of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. The traditions of the club were part of what made it so exclusive.

“I think we will win. Women have always had a certain advantage when it comes to negotiating with men,” Macy said with a tip of her head and a wink.

Macy had always known how to get her way. Which was probably how he’d ended up dating her to begin with. But now he was older and wiser. He should know better, but he was still turned on by this woman. It wouldn’t take much manipulating on her part to make him want to please her.

“True enough. And the women in Royal know how to use it to their advantage.” He had experienced her powers of persuasion when they’d been in high school. He’d never been able to deny her a thing. Even when she broke up with him he hadn’t been sure it wasn’t his fault.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she said.

“It’s not,” he said. Since the beginning of time women had figured out how to get men to do what they wanted and that was the beauty of the opposite sexes. “I always liked seeing you smile, so if I have to do something to make that happen again then I guess I’d do it,” he said. Even walking away from her, he’d done that to make her happy because her father had been making their lives hell back then.

“What about now? Still like my smile?” she asked. “My teeth have been professionally whitened and straightened and Daddy has always said I could charm the whiskers off a cat with this smile.”

He leaned in closer and put his hand under her chin, tipping her head to the left then the right, studying her very pretty mouth. “Can you frown for me?”

She chuckled but then pouted for him. He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “Now smile.”

She did and it was like taking a punch to the gut. He’d forgotten how powerful his reaction was to a true smile from Macy. And this was a true smile.

“Yes. I think it’s safe to say you still have some power over me with that smile.” Even after all this time. No other woman that he had met had affected him the way she had. He didn’t want to admit it, but he’d thought of her often over the years, and being here with her tonight was very fulfilling.

“I’ll have to remember that. How long are you in town, Chris?”

“At least the rest of August. I have a project that I have to oversee in Dallas that I will need to return to for September. Why, anxious to see me leave?” he asked.

“Not at all.” She leaned forward and rubbed her index finger over his knuckles. Then she looked up at him, her green gaze meeting his, and he felt everyone else in the dining room disappear. There was just the two of them.

“I would miss you if you left today,” she said. “I’m sorry we didn’t keep in touch when you left Royal. I think I missed out on seeing the best of you as you matured into the man you are today.”

“Me too,” he said. “I would have liked to see you before your accident so I would be able to tell you how much more beautiful you are now.”

He lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across the back of it. That little display of affection was really all that this conservative community would allow, but he wanted so much more from Macy, and this time he wasn’t going to leave without taking what he wanted.

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Richardson.” A booming voice jarred him back to the present. He looked up just in time to see Harrison Reynolds barreling down on their table like a Texas longhorn on a rampage.

He was a tall man with a big stocky build and he wore his success well with his nine-hundred-dollar boots and a Stetson on his head. If anyone looked as if he belonged in the club, it was Harrison.

Reluctantly, Chris let go of Macy’s hand. It seemed more than one thing hadn’t changed since he’d left Royal all those years ago. He wondered if he’d ever have enough money or be influential enough for Harrison to accept him. Because it was very clear to him that no matter what he’d done so far, Harrison Reynolds still didn’t believe Chris was good enough for Macy.

Macy glared at her father. Couldn’t she have one night that wasn’t marred by … what? Her father didn’t know that this was a date. He probably thought she and Chris were here discussing club business.

“What about, Harrison?” Chris said, turning that affable grin on her father.

She hadn’t realized that his smile was just part of an act and now she did. Was he playing her to maybe get back a little of his own after the way she’d dumped him? That hardly seemed likely since high school was eons ago, and Chris didn’t strike her as the kind of man to hold a grudge.

“Your prejudice against Reynolds Construction. Is there a reason why we aren’t good enough to win a place on any of your projects?” Harrison asked. He grabbed a chair from a neighboring table and sat down with them.

“Hello, Macy.”

“Hello, Dad,” she said.

“I’m sure you must have been high when you bid with us. I don’t give anyone preferential treatment,” Chris said.

“Bull. You and I have had past dealings, thanks to Macy here.”

“Harrison, I would never let anything stand in the way of making money. You should know that better than anyone. I’m sure your bids were too high. Stop by my office tomorrow and I’ll run through the records and see what we can find.”

Harrison nodded. “I’ll be there. I hear you are in the running to rebuild the headquarters and other parts of the club. I’d like a piece of that.”

“Dad,” Macy said, sounding extremely exasperated. It was clear she didn’t want to be sitting here with him while her dad tried to talk about business.

“Macy. Leave this to me and Christopher,” he said.

She rolled her eyes and once again tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ll be happy to, but you are intruding on my date. My first date in nearly three years, so I’d appreciate it if you’d move on.”

Her dad turned to her and she realized what she’d said. “Wait a minute. Did you say date?”

“Yes, I did,” Macy said a little defiantly.

“With Richardson?”

“He is the biggest developer in Texas, Daddy,” she said.

And just like that, Chris knew that, as the son of a working class man, if he hadn’t made something of himself, he wouldn’t be sitting here with Miss Macy Reynolds.

He shook his head. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.”

“Dad, don’t even think about saying anything else. This isn’t up for debate,” Macy said.

“Fine. We’ll discuss this tomorrow, Richardson.”

Her dad stood up and walked away as quickly as he’d joined them, and Macy could only watch him leave, incredulous that he’d managed to talk about business and threaten Chris in one breath. She never quite got used to her father and his larger-than-life business persona.

“Um … sorry?”

Chris laughed. “I don’t think anyone can apologize for that man. It was nothing. If my company is showing a bias against him then I need to know about it.”

“Okay. But what about us? I don’t want …”

“Things to be like they were before?” he asked. He didn’t have to be on CSI to figure out what she wanted. He wanted the same thing. A chance to date her and get to know her without her father and all of Royal looking on.

“Yes. I mean, I know they aren’t, but I wanted to make sure you knew. I’m sorry for the way I broke up with you,” she said, biting her lower lip as she waited for him to respond.

He nodded. “I am too.”

He smiled at her. He really liked this woman and her honesty. She was refreshing compared to the women he’d been dating lately who were always trying to be what he wanted them to be instead of just being themselves. Macy wasn’t like that.

“Not a problem. So, where were we? I believe you mentioned that you’d miss me if I weren’t here,” he said.

“Did I? I can’t remember. Why would I miss you?” she asked.

“Because we didn’t have a chance to really get to know each other when we were kids,” Chris explained. She’d always been the one girl he’d never been able to forget. He hadn’t spent the years pining over her or anything like that, but Macy would just pop up in his thoughts from time to time. Like in fall when the bluebells would blanket the fields near his office, he’d always remember the first time he kissed her and how sweet and innocent that kiss had been.

“You might be right. You were really into football back then,” she said. “I remember because that is how I first noticed you. Catching all those passes and making touchdowns. You gave me something to cheer about.”

“I remember you cheering me on to many touchdowns.”

“I sure did. My squad was the best … That sure was a long time ago. I thought the sun rose and fell on Royal and that the rest of the world was missing out on something,” she said.

“Did you ever leave?” he asked, and realized aside from the accident he didn’t really know much more about the “new” Macy.

“No. I like it here. I guess I’m just a small-town Texas girl at heart. I probably seem a little unsophisticated for the likes of you now that you’re a city slicker.”

“No one would ever call you unsophisticated,” Chris said. He thought that Macy hadn’t left Royal because she hadn’t needed to. She had always been part of the upper crust and she’d had more opportunities than he’d had.

“Well, I do read all the fashion magazines,” she said with a slight flush.

“And shop at the big stores?” he asked.

“Not recently. I … I really haven’t left the house much,” she said, putting a hand up when he would have interrupted. “I’m not saying that to make you feel sorry for me. I just read Vogue and Cosmo and InStyle and dreamed of a time when I’d look in the mirror again.”

He reached over and took her hand. Holding it in his bigger one. He stroked his thumb over her knuckles as a wave of strong emotion washed over him. Macy wasn’t putting up any barriers between them. He was getting the real woman and that made him want to protect her. To make sure that the vulnerable woman who was slowly rediscovering herself had the chance to grow. And he knew he would have to tread carefully with Harrison because he didn’t want Macy’s father to be an obstacle between Macy and him as he had been in the past.

“Surely you don’t have those doubts after today,” Chris said.

“I … I wish it were that easy, Chris, but to be honest, a part of me is still afraid of seeing the scars when I look in the mirror. Not sure I believe the reflection I saw was real.”

He reached up and stroked her cheek, though he knew better than to let this go too far in public. There was something fragile … almost broken … about Macy and he couldn’t let it go. No matter that she’d broken his heart in the past, he saw that she was a different woman now. “Let me tell you what I see.”

She nodded and held her breath, her pretty white teeth biting her lower lip as he stared at her face. And he wondered how bad her scars had been before the plastic surgery. He’d never met anyone who’d been in a life-threatening accident before.

He traced the high line of her cheekbone over her smooth alabaster skin. Her eyebrows were dark blond. “I see skin like the palest marble, so pretty and smooth.”

He moved his finger over her lips. They were full and plump, utterly kissable, and he longed to taste her again. “I see a mouth so pink and delectable it’s all I can do to resist kissing you.”

He rubbed his finger over the line of her jaw. “This strong jaw tells me that you still haven’t lost the stubbornness that’s always been a part of you.”

She gave him a little half smile. He ran his finger over the arch of her eyebrows—first one then the other. “These pretty green eyes watch me with a combination of weariness and curiosity. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

She captured his hand and held it to her cheek. “Thank you, Chris.”

He knew whatever else happened between the two of them that he wasn’t leaving Royal until Macy was the beautiful flirt she used to be. Confident of herself and her ability to attract every man in the area—especially him.

Three

Macy left Chris after dinner to powder her nose. He was a little intense and she wasn’t as ready for him as she might have been, say, four years earlier. Chris had changed in his time away from Royal and her. And she hoped she’d changed as well, but she had the feeling that her changes hadn’t taken her as far forward as Chris’s had taken him.

“Macy?”

She glanced up in the mirror and saw Abby standing in the doorway. Her friend looked fabulous as always and Macy knew she should stop comparing herself to every woman in the room at some point, but she had no idea when and if that would happen.

“Hello, there. What are you doing here?” she asked Abby.

“Promoting myself to become the next president. I can’t let any time slip by. How’s dinner?” Abby asked.

She shook her long red wavy hair. Her blue eyes had always made Macy envious. She’d always wanted pretty eyes like that instead of the green ones she had. But after her surgeries she was very happy with her eyes now.

Macy blushed and then shook her head. “Nice. Dad stopped by and read Chris the riot act for not using his company, but Chris calmly stood his ground. I’ve never seen anyone handle Daddy like that.”

Abby laughed and slung her arm around Macy’s shoulders. “It’s about time. You okay?”

“Yes,” Macy said, then realized that she was telling the truth. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. She wanted to laugh for no good reason and just shout at the top of her lungs that life was good. “I really am.”

“Good,” Abby said.

Macy left the ladies’ room and went back to their table. She saw that Chris was talking to a tall handsome African-American man that Macy didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if she should approach the table because they seemed engrossed in whatever they were discussing, but Chris glanced up and waved her over.

“Zeke, this is Macy Reynolds, Harrison’s daughter, Macy this is Zeke Travers. He and I went to college together.”

Zeke Travers was solid and muscular with a shaved head and dark brown skin. He had kind eyes and smiled when he glanced over at her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Macy said, holding out her hand.

“You as well,” Zeke said. “I’ll let you get back to dinner. Drinks tomorrow?”

“You’re on,” Chris said.

Zeke left and Macy watched him go. Brad Price walked straight up to Zeke, and Macy could tell he wasn’t happy. The sounds of raised voices could be heard throughout the room and everyone watched them.

“What is going on with them?” Macy asked. She couldn’t help herself—she was naturally curious about the spectacle the men were making. Brad pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at Zeke.

“I have no idea,” Chris said. “I’ll try to find out more from Zeke tomorrow when we have drinks.”

“I sound like a small-town gossip, don’t I?” she asked. She wished she wasn’t nosy, but she always had been. She liked knowing what was going on in other people’s lives.

“It’s the nature of Royal to talk,” Chris said. Brad looked beet-red with fury. Whatever was upsetting him it had to be serious. She’d never seen Brad in such a state before.

“I hope he’s okay,” Macy said. She and Brad weren’t close friends or anything, but she knew him from Texas Cattleman’s Club events when they were children.

“Who is?” Abby said, coming up to their table.

“Brad,” Chris said, gesturing to the two men who were arguing.

“He’s probably just learned that I am making serious inroads to becoming the next president of the club,” Abby said with a confident grin.

“Are you?” Chris asked, arching one eyebrow at her and giving her a hard stare.

“Indeed I am. And you are …?” Abby asked.

“Forgive my manners,” Macy said. “Abigail Langley, this is Christopher Richardson. Abby is going to be the next president of the club. Chris has been asked to come up with a development plan for the new headquarters building. He owns his own development company out of Dallas.”

Abby and Chris had run in different circles in high school. Well, to be honest, Abby and Macy had run in different circles. Macy’s life had been cheerleading and parties at TCC and Chris had fallen in with her crowd by being a football star. Abby and she hadn’t had much in common then.

The two shook hands and Abby took a seat in the chair recently vacated by Zeke. Of the three people they’d had at the table she was happiest to have her good friend there now. She wanted Abby’s opinion on Chris. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her instincts when it came to men—wait a minute, it was exactly that she didn’t trust them.

She’d been engaged to a man who’d left her the minute she wasn’t the Texas beauty she’d always been. She didn’t want to chance getting hurt again.

And though this was only a dinner date, it was with Chris Richardson. The boy she’d defied her father to date. He’d always been attractive to her. Not just physically, though there was that.

“Macy?” Abby asked, startling Macy out of her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“I asked if you thought that Chris and I would work well together when I’m president,” Abby said.

She had to give it to Abby for being persistent and determined. There wasn’t a person in Royal who didn’t know what Abby’s intent was. She was focused one hundred percent on becoming the first female president of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. “Yes, I do.”

Abby smiled at her friend and then reached over to squeeze her hand before getting up. “I’ll leave you to your dinner. It was nice meeting you, Chris.”

“You too,” Chris said.

Abby left and Macy sat back in her chair. “I’d forgotten what it’s like to come to dinner at the club. It’s such a hub for everyone.”

“You really haven’t been out for a while?” Chris asked. He took a sip of his drink and leaned forward when he talked to her. It was a very intimate thing to do and made her feel as if they were the only two people here tonight.

“For years.” At first she’d been horrified and so traumatized by everything that had happened that she’d been afraid to leave the house. Then she’d wanted to go out, but the few forays she’d made had shown her that people stared. She hadn’t been strong enough for that.

“Well, how do you think it went then?” Chris asked. “Your first dinner out in years.”

“I think it went well,” Macy admitted. “It’s also my first date in years.”

She’d been hiding away at her father’s ranch trying to pretend that she’d just moved from her hometown. It had been hard being so badly injured in a place where she’d known so many people. She had needed to just blend in and that wasn’t possible in Royal, so she’d started staying home.

“I’m glad,” Chris admitted. “I’m not happy about the circumstances that led to it, but I’m very honored to be the first man you’ve been out with.”

She didn’t want to let this mean too much. Chris wasn’t in town looking for a small-town girl as his wife, and she knew she was vulnerable right now. But she had enjoyed herself and their date and, if she was honest, she’d have to say she hoped he’d ask her out again.

“I’m glad it was you too,” she said. “You have made my night, and celebrating my first day free of bandages couldn’t have been nicer. Thank you, Chris.”

“It was truly my pleasure, Macy.”

The feeling of being in a fishbowl when he went out in Royal was very different from what he usually felt in Dallas. In the big city, no one noticed who he was with, but tonight he was very aware that most of the town knew he and Macy had had dinner together. The gossip had defined who he was and had served to make him want to be better than his dad. He’d been only too happy to shake the dust of this town from his feet.

“I’d kind of forgotten what Royal was like.”

“I bet. Don’t miss it much, do you?” she asked as he paid the bill and they sat for an extra minute to talk and drink the Baileys that Chris had ordered for them.

“I miss my mom,” he admitted. “She’s Royal born and bred. I’ve tried to get her to move up to Dallas but she won’t do it, keeps trying to make me move back here instead.”

“What about your dad?” Macy asked.

“Nah, he was a Yankee,” Chris said with a laugh. “East Coaster who fell in love with the oil industry thanks to the movie Giant. Mom used to tease him that he came to Royal looking for Liz Taylor.”

“Your mom is pretty enough. Did he think he’d found her?” Macy asked.

“Yes, I think he did. They had a happy marriage until he passed.”

“I was sorry to hear about your loss,” Macy said. “Did you get the flowers I sent?”

“I don’t know. Mom handled all that,” he said. That entire time was still a blur for him. He hadn’t been old enough to have made his peace with his dad. He had been getting closer to forgiving the old man for all the things he hadn’t done for him. Things that a boy had wanted but a man knew weren’t really important. “Why didn’t you come to the funeral?”

His dad had died when Chris had been a junior in college. It had changed his perspective and sharpened his desires to make his life different. He’d stopped being such a frat boy and focused more on his studies.

“I didn’t think I’d be welcome,” Macy said. “But I remembered meeting him and how sweet he’d been to me. He was a nice man. Your parents were always so funny at dinner, teasing you and treating you like … the apple of their eye.”

“Only when we had company. They had plenty of fault to find when we were alone.”

Unlike her dad, who’d forbidden Macy to see Chris, his parents had adored her and really treated her well when she’d come to dinner at his house. But Chris and his dad had butted heads a lot, something his mom had said was due to the fact that they were both stubborn as mules. Chris suspected it was more likely that they both wanted different things for him.

“Ready to go?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I guess so. I’ve really enjoyed tonight, Chris,” she said. In fact, she couldn’t remember a date she’d enjoyed more in her adult life. Benjamin had been a coworker of hers and they’d kind of fallen into dating because all their friends were coupled up. They had found each other by default, she thought. Maybe that was why they hadn’t lasted.

“Me too,” he said, his voice a rich deep baritone that brushed over her senses like a cool breeze on a hot summer’s day.

He put his hand on the small of her back as he directed her through the dining room toward the outer doors of the club. He liked the feel of her under his hands. They’d been too young when they’d dated before to get into anything other than heavy petting. And he remembered her teenage body in a bikini from the summer, but that was all. He wondered what she looked like now.

She stopped and started laughing as she saw the sea of pink flamingos.

“What’s so funny?” Chris asked.

“The flamingos. I can’t believe they showed up here,” Macy said. No one was supposed to know who exactly had placed the birds, so she had to pretend she didn’t know. The lawn of the club was dotted with gaudy pink flamingos and Chris had a chuckle as well.

“I guess it was the club’s time,” Chris said. “Mother said one of her neighbors had them a few weeks ago.”

“It definitely is the club’s time to have them here. I think they’re cute,” she said.

The conversation trailed off and he could do nothing but stare at her in the moonlight. He took her hand and led her down one of the many paths and out of sight of prying eyes. Her thick honey-blond hair hung loosely around her shoulders.

“Why do you keep looking at me?” she asked.

“I’ve never seen anyone quite as beautiful,” he said. It was the truth, and all that he knew about her had just been enhanced tonight.

“That’s not true, but I’m going to say thank-you anyway.”

“It is true,” he said. Years ago her question would have been blatant flirting, but today he sensed her genuine unease about her own looks. “How can I convince you of what I see when I look at you?”

She shrugged and nibbled on her lower lip, which drew his eyes to her mouth. He loved her mouth, even with the tiny scar on her upper lip. The full lower lip that made him just want to lean down and taste her. He wanted her.

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