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CHAPTER25
Tanner had grabbed a suitcase, and this time, he was filling it with T-shirts and jeans and anything he wanted to wear. He would leave for two weeks, and hopefully, if he returned, the memory of Emily would be gone. If not gone, then at least erased to some degree, or maybe he would never return.
He was tired of trying to meet the demands of Aunt Rose while the rest of his cousins skated by. Enough.
Travis knocked on the door and entered.
“You’re making a huge mistake,” he said.
“Yes, well, it’s my mistake to make,” he said as he continued packing.
None of them understood his plight. None of them realized the danger he posed to them. None of them knew how the episodes were physically and mentally draining. And when he returned from one, he often lay there in a stupor willing it all to go away.
No woman deserved to be with a man like that. Especially Emily. Sweet Emily. When he’d learned about Travis and Samantha’s unplanned pregnancy, he knew he had to end it with Emily.
Still he worried she could be pregnant. They had unprotected sex and he could not risk being near her again. He would not make a good father. He could not keep his hands off her.
“Please, don’t go off and leave me. You know the other cousins don’t work near as hard as we do. I need you here to help with the dude ranch. Tomorrow night is the finale for this week and we have to prepare for a new round of guests on Sunday.”
“Nope,” he said. “Maybe she can help you. She can make certain the horses are saddled and ready to ride. She can clean out the horse stalls or maybe even show them how to hold a roundup. Oh, and be sure to let her run the rodeo. She can keep a mad bull from charging the fence. Take it up with Aunt Rose.”
He’d had enough.
“What are you going to take up with Aunt Rose?” the old woman said.
They both turned and she was standing there inside his small cabin. Just what he didn’t need.
“Did neither one of you hear the announcement to come to my office,” she said.
“I heard it and ignored it,” Travis said.
“I’m packing to get off the property for two weeks just like you said,” Tanner replied, done talking to her.
Travis all but growled at the woman. “And I think I’m going to leave for two weeks because you know as well as I do who will have to take care of both his job and mine. You can get one of the cousins to do both of our jobs for once,” Travis said. “Including running the rodeo.”
She walked farther into the room, her cane thumping on the wooden floor. “Sounds like I have a mutiny on my hands.”
“Push me any further and I will not return,” Tanner said. “I’m done.”
“If he doesn’t return, I’ll be leaving. Don’t need the money I make here. It’s only to help out the family. Samantha and I could travel a while before we settle down.”
Suddenly the smell of lavender filled the air and Tanner moaned. Just what he didn’t need. The ghost that had caused so much trouble.
“Eugenia,” Aunt Rose said. “It’s been many years since I’ve seen you.”
“Rose,” Eugenia said, drawing out her name. “I hear you don’t like sleep.”
“What are you talking about?” Aunt Rose said, frowning.
“You suspended my grandson, you’ve prohibited him from seeing Emily, and basically broke them up, and interfered with my matchmaking,” Eugenia said, her voice growing louder. “Oh, and that damn bull escaping yesterday was because of me. I wanted my grandson to rescue Emily, hoping it would make this stubborn boy realize how much he was falling in love with her. But these Burnett kids are just as stubborn as my boys.”
Rose frowned. “You caused the bull to crash through the fence? Did you not think of the danger to others?”
“Yes, I did,” Eugenia said. “He wasn’t going to hurt anyone. That poor cow is scared to death of me. So he ran, all the way back to his pasture.”
“You could have hurt someone,” Rose said. “That was a dangerous stunt to pull.”
“No one got hurt. I would not have let them.”
