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“She needs money, Zach.”
“So? Who doesn’t?”
“You don’t, for one, and she knows it.”
“If she wanted my money, she wouldn’t be sneaking off with my bull.” Zach shifted, and winced. “She’d be trying to trap me into marriage, like Chelsea did to you.”
Dallas’s mouth thinned into a grim line. “That’s hitting below the belt, little brother. Chelsea didn’t trap me. I wanted to marry her.”
“You know as well as I do the Beaumonts were in financial trouble. Chelsea didn’t want to give up her heiress ways, so she married money. You.”
“We were in love.”
“Were? Past tense, Dallas?”
“Are. I meant are.” Dallas fidgeted with his Rolex.
Zach knew he’d hit a nerve. “Right. Whatever. Dusty is nothing like Chelsea.” He spied Chad in the doorway with a wheelchair. “Chad’s taking me on an…errand.”
“I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Please, don’t be.” He grimaced as Chad helped him into the chair. Zach didn’t look back as Chad wheeled him out of the room, IV rack in tow.
* * *
“This coffee is awful,” Chelsea said, wrinkling her nose.
“I know. I hate hospitals. They’re full of…sick people.” Angelina examined her manicured nails.
“Right now this one is full of the man you want as your husband,” Chelsea said, “so you’d better get used to being here.”
“I know, I know.” Angelina sighed. “This is turning out to be a more difficult project than I had anticipated. With that little trashy cowgirl hanging around him. And now she’s put him in the hospital.”
“It’s too bad your little trick didn’t work.”
“You’re telling me. That stupid flare gun recoiled and gave me a nasty charley horse in my arm.”
“You didn’t spook the bull?”
“I spooked him all right. And she landed on her butt and just sat there crying. I was afraid she’d really been hurt, and I freaked out a little. I never wanted to hurt her.”
Chelsea scoffed. “Why not?”
Angelina looked at her friend’s perfectly made-up face and saw something she wasn’t sure she liked. Did Chelsea really want to see Dusty hurt? The little cowgirl was trashy, sure, but she didn’t deserve that. “I didn’t stick around to see what happened, but she raced today, so obviously she was fine.”
“It didn’t keep her away from the bull then.”
“No, and consequently, it didn’t keep her away from Zach.”
“Well…you and Zach have a history. Can’t you seduce him?”
“Tried it. I kissed him during the barrel race. I thought he was going to respond at first, but he pushed me away. Said he was sorry, but it was over.”
“Hmm.” Chelsea raised her perfectly plucked brows. “How was he in bed?”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Nothing.” Chelsea grinned, her lined lips curving upward. “I’m just curious.”
