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“Ooops, I’m sorry.” The quick apology came on the heels of the elbowing.
“No harm done.” Ty shrugged off the incident with barely a glance at the buxom girl with blond hair skillfully bleached the platinum color of flax.
But she sidled closer, forcing his attention to her. “I’ve heard about you,” she declared with a sidelong look. “You’re Ty Calder, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” He absently studied her, noting the expensive look of her clothes and jewelry.
“Your father is supposed to own some big ranch up north.” She pretended to recall the information.
“In Montana.” The faint smile that touched his mouth was edged with irony. The elbowing had simply been a ploy to meet him, not an accident at all. She had likely checked him out thoroughly before coming over.
“Montana, that’s right.” She nodded and continued to smile at him like a purring Persian cat, all feline and sexy. “I suppose that makes you something of a cowboy. I always did go for cowboys. There’s something earthy about them.”
“Is that a fact?” His laconic reply merely deepened her smile.
“You shouldn’t be standing here drinking all alone. My name’s Dott.” She leaned against the wall so her shoulder touched his and the plumpness of her full breast brushed the sleeve of his shirt.
At the same moment, Ty noticed Tara being guided to a darkened area of the large room where there were less than a handful of couples swaying to some slow music. A hard physical need crowded his insides as he watched her being enveloped in the muscular embrace of the bullnecked Schroeder.
“Let’s dance.” His arm hooked the blonde around the waist and drew her along with him to the dance area. They left their beer cans at the first table they passed.
It was to assuage the throbbing soreness of his want that he gathered the amply curved Dott tightly to his length—and maybe a little to show Tara there were other girls available to him. While their feet shuffled an indifferent rhythm to the music, the platinum blonde took the initiative and began nuzzling the corded muscles in his neck. With so much passion held in check and needing a release, it didn’t take Ty long to forget Tara and follow the lead of his partner’s long, starkly hungry kiss.
His hands moved over her firmly packed bottom and pressed her against his grinding hips. Her full breasts were mounds of ripe flesh pushing against his chest. Dragging in a breath, Ty pulled away from her lips a fraction of an inch.
“What did you say your name was? Pat?” At the moment, he didn’t give a damn who she was. He only wanted the satisfaction her eager flesh promised.
“Dott.” Her moist and shiny lips parted, waiting for him to reclaim them.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, Dott.” His tongue felt thick and hard in his throat.
“Whatever you say, cowboy.”
When Tara observed Ty departing with the buxom blonde hanging on his arm, she seethed with anger. Dott MacElroy’s reputation was well known to her, since she was both a sorority sister and a member of Tara’s social sphere. It came as no surprise to see the two of them together. She remembered too well the look of longing that had been in Ty’s gaze. It was half the reason she had kept her distance from him. He stirred her more than most men did.
In certain regards, her upbringing had been very strict. This was her first real taste of freedom, and she intended to savor every minute of her four years at college. Only in numbers was there safety from serious, possessive relationships. She could be just as ruthless and single-minded as her father when it was necessary, so Tara was determined that Ty would never be more than one of many boyfriends.
She knew she had aroused him sexually and driven him into Dott MacElroy’s arms. Knowing this didn’t upset her. However, she was affronted by Ty’s crudeness in so blatantly letting his intentions be displayed to her. A gentleman would have arranged to meet Dott somewhere, rather than be seen leaving the party with her. Everyone knew it was only the MacElroy oil that spared Dott the label of tramp. Considering her father’s comments on how primitive the Calder attitude was at times, she should have anticipated such crude behavior from Ty.
It was doubtful that she would see him until after the Christmas vacation was over, since he wouldn’t be coming to the house this weekend. She’d straighten him out then. There were subtle ways a woman could make her displeasure known, and Tara knew them all.
* * *
While Ty was home for the holidays, nothing on the ranch seemed to have changed except his little sister. Her vocabulary had expanded, and with it her talkativeness. She’d grown a couple of inches and lost some of her chubby baby fat.
Other than that, he could have been coming home from school instead of college. Every day his father had a list of ranch chores for him to do. After the mildness of a Texas winter, it had taken him a couple of days
to adjust to the brutal cold of Montana.
There had been no big welcome for him, no indication that he had been missed—except by his mother, and Ty expected that. But it was from his father that he wanted it. Four months of college hadn’t changed anything.
Maybe that was the cause of his depression, Ty reasoned. He was sprawled in the big armchair in front of the stone fireplace, slowly turning a snifter of brandy in his hand. Or maybe it was the huge pile of Christmas presents under the tree in the living room, a long-needled pine cut and brought down from the mountains on the edge of Calder land. Little Cathleen was finally old enough to understand what Christmas and Santa Claus were all about. Virtually all the gifts under the tree were for her, thanks to a toy-shopping splurge his father had in Denver. His mother had laughed and told Ty all about it when he remarked on the number of presents under the tree.
He rubbed a hand across his forehead. All the holiday festivities seemed to be for Cathleen’s benefit, and he resented it. He was the one who’d been away, but no fatted calf was being killed on his return. Damn, but she didn’t realize how lucky she was to grow up in these surroundings—to be a part of it from the beginning. He’d never had that head start. Instead, he’d come to the ranch as a teenager, completely green to the ways of the western land and its people. He’d been struggling to catch up ever since, and it worried him that maybe he never would. Sometimes he couldn’t help envying his sister. She’d have an easier time of it than he had.
When he lowered his hand, his glance ran to the telephone. Maybe his dejection was caused by neither of those things. Maybe it was Tara Lee. Lord knew, her image haunted him, his mind doing cruel things to him, recalling too vividly her loveliness, the pride and strong will she showed him. Ty didn’t want to be in Texas with her, but he damned sure wanted her here with him.
The party at the fraternity house hadn’t ended right. Although he’d found the sexual gratification his flesh had craved, it had left a bad taste in his mouth. It was Tara he’d wanted, and Ty was irritated with himself for settling for less. Somehow it seemed to have cheapened his feelings toward her. If he could just explain to her, maybe he could make it right. The memory of her soft, cultured drawl made the urge stronger.
