Page 26 of Unexpected Temptation

A shiver raced down his back when he caught sight of Wolf lying in the shade of the cabin when he stepped out the back.

He was supposed to stay with Amelia. He whistled for Wolf and started walking toward the woods behind his house.

His eyes scanned the area before cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling.

“Amelia!”

Half an hour later, he was very close to losing it. Where the hell was she? She wouldn’t have gone over to the main ranch without telling him.

Jaylen moved to check in the stables, wondering why she hadn’t come because she certainly had to have heard him yelling for her.

A horrible thought hit him. A sense of her being hurt raced through his mind and twisted his stomach.

“Hey, Boss.”

“Troy, have you seen Amelia?”

Troy wiped his hands with the rag. “No, but that might explain the missing truck.”

“What missing truck?” At that moment, he understood the expression, “feeling like your stomach bottomed out,” because his heart and insides felt like they’d shrunk and solidified into one big ball of misery and terror.

“I was going into town to get that grain you ordered, but when I came out, it was gone. I’ve asked everyone if they knew where it was and were coming to see if you had, by chance, taken it for something.”

A feeling of dread, unlike anything he’d ever felt, hit him between the eyes, almost knocking him off his feet. Amelia had run from him. Somehow, she had come close enough to hear her sister without him knowing it. He thought back to what was said that might have upset her enough to run.

“Boss? Boss?”

Jaylen turned to his man and barked. “What?”

“Do you want me to go get the grain today or wait until tomorrow? I can use another truck.”

“Tomorrow.”

Troy nodded. “Is there anything else I can do?”

“Call me if you see Amelia.”

“Sure,” Troy said as Jaylen walked away.

Jaylen’s phone rang as he was walking in the door. He yanked it out of his front pocket.

“Amelia?” he half-yelled.

There was a pause.

“No. It’s Kane. What the hell happened up there?”

Jaylen fisted the phone so tightly he was surprised it didn’t explode in his hand.

“What do you mean? Do you know where Amelia is?”

“She showed up here a little while ago, distraught. She won’t talk about what happened. She just said her sister was there. She asked me if I would go to the cabin and get all her stuff and her car.”

“Like hell,” he snarled. “Hold her there. I’ll be right there.”

“But...”

Jaylen ignored him and tore out of the house.

His fist tightened around the steering wheel, and he gritted his teeth hard enough to make his jaw ache as one thought kept rolling through his head. She ran from him.

Dammit. She ran from him. He knew he was being irrational at that moment and tried to calm himself down as he drove down the mountain, because the last thing he wanted to do was scare her. But the more he thought about losing her, and because of her sister, made him visibly shake.

His first inclination was to pull her facedown across his lap and remind her with his hand against her ass, who and where she belonged.

He made it down his mountain in record time, slid to a stop outside of Kane’s, and was through the door a second later.

“Where is she?” Jaylen demanded and looked around for Amelia.

Kane moved out from behind the counter and held up a hand. “Whoa, man. Settle down, or you’re going to scare her.”

Jaylen’s eyes pierced Kane’s. “Don’t fuck with me. Tell me where she is?”

Kane crossed his arms. “Listen, you’re my friend, but you didn’t see the look on that woman’s face. She’s devastated. What the hell happened?”

“Her sister showed up.”

“Amelia told me that much.” Kane’s brow bunched together. “What the hell was she doing here?”

“Trying to cause trouble, I suspect. I would like to know how she found out Amelia was here. That’s the only reason she was here.”

“What are you going to do?” Kane asked.

“I’m going to pick my woman’s ass up and take her back home.”

“You need to talk to her before you do anything drastic.”

“Oh, we’ll talk. I’ll talk while she’s over my lap getting her ass blistered.”

Kane snorted. “Yeah, that will go over well. You might want to rethink that strategy.” Kane squeezed his shoulder. “Listen, I’ve never seen you like this. You don’t want to frighten her, right?”

“Damn, I’ve never threatened to spank a woman before.” Jaylen ran an agitated hand through his hair. “Shit. I can’t take it. The thought of losing her is driving me batshit crazy.”

“You’re not going to lose her. That woman loves you more than anything.”

“I won’t believe that until I get her back home and under me. Now, tell me where she’s at?”

“She’s in my office.” Kane watched Jaylen move steadily to the back of the building. “Jaylen, take it easy on her.”