The Cowboy and the Angel (36 page)

“Go wait at the van,” she muttered to Joe. Joe shot a glare at Derek, clearly not happy about being forced to leave. “Fine, but remember, Gigi, our conversation was confidential. One misspoken word could derail your entire story.”

As if she didn’t understand his warning the first time. How could she convince Derek she wanted to leave with Joe when the mere thought was splintering her heart? “Get out,” Derek warned through clenched teeth, “before I throw you out the window.”

Joe shoved past him and Angela saw the flicker of pain in his eyes as Joe jarred his ribs. Derek shut the door behind him. He didn’t speak as he watched her lift her boxes onto the bed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m leaving.” She tried to appear nonchalant through the tears that were threatening to choke her. “They need me back at the station.”

“I thought you were following up with some of the cowboys this weekend.”

She busied herself with the boxes to avoid looking at him. If she did, she would break down. “I might make it to the rodeo, but I’ve got to get the copy ready and edit the first night’s footage. They need me to . . .”

Derek reached for her hand and pulled her into his arms. “
I
need you.”

She had expected his anger or his hurt, but she hadn’t expected this confession. “I . . . I have to go. It’s my job.”

Derek cupped his fingers at the back of her head, tipping her chin so she was forced to meet his gaze. His thumb traced the line of her jaw as she stared up at him. His eyes softened as he looked down at her. “Angel, I’m not sure how, but somehow you and this beautiful smart mouth have worked your way under my skin. I can’t let you go.”

“Derek,” she began.

She looked at the door, worried that Joe could be standing outside listening. Before she could say anything else, his lips found hers, making her forget everything. His tongue slipped between her teeth and dueled with her own. It wasn’t like the other kisses they’d shared. She could feel his desperation, and her response was filled with the grief and sorrow flooding her soul.

She tasted her salty tears on their lips, mixing with desire. She pulled away from him, turning her back toward him so he couldn’t see her cry. “I’m leaving. I came for a story and I have it.”

“You’re saying that last night and this morning, you lied?” Derek’s voice sounded dubious. “And that’s all you’re leaving with, your story?” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks as he grabbed her waist, spinning her so she faced him. His thumb brushed away the moisture under her eye. “You know you’re leaving with more than that. I love you, Angel. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this way about anyone in this short of a time, but I do.”

“I
have
to go.” She wanted to tell him she loved him, to let him see how her heart soared at his declaration. But she couldn’t allow Joe to destroy his family with his lies. She couldn’t figure out any other way than to go back and report her story instead of Joe’s fake one. She hoped that someday she could tell him the truth and Derek would forgive her and understand that she had done it to protect his family. “I don’t want to, but—”

“Then don’t.” He made it sound so simple. It wasn’t simple. She’d run every scenario though her head on the way upstairs. “Is it your father?”

His question surprised her. “It’s not him. I know I have no right to ask you this, but can you and Mike watch over him? He wants to please Mike, and I’ve never seen him want to please anyone before.” She was still angry at her father, his betrayal stung, but she worried what would happen to him now, without her to watch over his habits and to bail him out of trouble.

“Angel, you can ask me anything.” Derek brushed his knuckles over her cheek. His eyes turned as hard as stone. “It’s Joe.”

She heard the anger rising in his voice and saw his shoulders tense. She couldn’t look him in the eye and lie. She dropped her forehead against the strong wall of his chest, content to draw from his strength for a moment. She could hear his heart beating against her ear, and she wanted to melt into his embrace and let the sound of his heartbeat block out the voices in her head, which berated her for her selfishness for wanting to stay. She wound her arms around his waist.

“Do you want to stay?”

“Yes, but I can’t, Derek. I have to clear up the mistake with the story.” She couldn’t take Joe’s threat lightly. He’d almost killed Derek the last time. “If I don’t go back, I’ll lose my job.”

His arms stiffened around her. “Then you’ll come back after?”

She looked up and cupped his face in her palms, loving the feel of his raspy jaw against her skin. She pressed her lips against his and lost herself in his kiss.

D
EREK KISSED
A
NGELA
back. His arms tightened around her, causing his ribs to twinge with pain, but he ignored it. If she walked out the door, she wasn’t coming back. She didn’t have to say the words, he knew in his gut something was wrong. Derek couldn’t shake the suspicion there was so much more to this situation. The tears brimming in her eyes, the fear he’d seen on her face, all indicated that she was worried about far more than simply returning to the newsroom to report a story. If that were the case, all he had to do was call her and they could see each other. This rang with a finality he couldn’t explain.

She wouldn’t look at him, hadn’t responded the way he’d expected when he told her he loved her. He knew she cared about him; she’d admitted it last night as she fell asleep. But he wondered if he were a fool for believing a slumberous declaration if she couldn’t say it in the light of day. Every nerve in his body was on edge, vibrating the way they did when a lightning storm approached. Trouble was brewing, he could feel it, but he couldn’t figure out how to stop it. She pulled away from him with a tortured groan.

“I have to go,” she insisted as she reached for a box and headed out the door, leaving him no option but to follow her down the stairs.

“Okay,” he agreed, deciding to take a different approach. “Then I’ll call you tonight.”

“No!” She spun to face him on the stairs. “You can’t.”

She sounded horrified, and he’d never heard this tone in her voice before. “Why not?”

She sighed and hurried out to the van. The blood drained out of her face when she saw Joe waiting for her. Derek could almost feel the despair radiating from her as she loaded the boxes into the back of her car and rushed past him to grab another. He couldn’t let her leave with Joe. He saw his brother and Robert standing on the porch. Scott waved him over as Angela headed back to her room.

“Provoke him. He’s blackmailing her.”

Derek looked at Joe leaning against the white van beside the car, gloating. He would kill him.

“We have proof, just be careful.” Scott nodded at Robert who pulled out his cell phone, holding it at his side, out of sight.

Derek didn’t need the details. The fact that this snake would threaten Angela was enough to rile him to violence.

“What the hell did you say to her?” Derek said, approaching Joe.

“Just reminded her of the truth, pal.” He pushed off the van and stepped up to Derek. He was either extremely brave or knew about Derek’s ribs, giving him overconfidence in his abilities to fight Derek right now. “I tried to warn you that she’d use you. You wouldn’t listen. But, hey, thanks for the great story.”

Derek held his hands up, taking a step backward so that he was no longer chest to chest with the smaller man. “You seem awfully sure that’s what she’s doing. But maybe she isn’t, and you can’t stand it that she chose me over you.”

“Cowboy, I’m warning you. You better take another step back or someone is going to get hurt.” Joe stepped forward and punched Derek’s chest.

Derek grimaced as pain exploded through his ribs. Stars danced in his vision as he fell to his knees. He heard the box hit the porch.

“Stop, please!” Angela ran down the stairs toward them.

Derek felt the second impact from Joe’s foot against his jaw.

“I warned you.” Joe laughed breathlessly as he took a step back.

Angela shoved Joe away from Derek as she kneeled by his side, coming between them. “Scott!” she yelled. His brother rushed to his side, helping him stand while Robert walked toward them, his cell phone pointed at the group in plain view.

She spun toward Joe. “What is wrong with you? I’m packing the car. Can’t you just leave? I’ll be at the station tonight.” Angela turned to look into Derek’s eyes as he struggled to breathe. She didn’t take her eyes from Derek’s face. “Are you okay? We need to get you back to the hospital.”

“You know, this video should come in handy if you decide to press charges, Derek,” Scott commented with a laugh.

“What video?” Joe looked from one face to another and spotted the phone in Robert’s hand. “Robert?”

“I’ve seen you manhandling her enough. I’m not letting you blackmail her, too,” Robert warned.

“Well, isn’t that heroic coming from a lying drunk?” Joe reached for the phone but was surprised when Robert deftly shifted it from his reach. Joe glared at the older man. “Give me the phone.”

Scott took the phone and held it up, continually videotaping Joe. “Why don’t you come through me to get it?”

Joe turned to Angela, glaring at her. “Is this your choice then?” Derek stood to his full height in spite of the pain in his ribs and put his arms around her protectively. “I’m going to destroy you both.” He pointed at them.

Angela slipped from Derek’s arms. “I have to go,” she whispered, looking sorrowful, as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. Derek was sure his face registered the shock he was feeling.

“I’m not letting you go anywhere with him.” Derek looked from Joe to Angela. “What is he talking about?”

“You’re an idiot for inviting her here. I have enough footage that I can bury you. I can make it look like you’re doing your animals, abusing them . . . whatever I want it to look like. I even have the drugs planted here.”

Derek took a step back and looked at Angela. Scott laughed. “By all means, keep talking. You do realize this is all still being videotaped, right?”

Angela laid a hand on Derek’s chest, and he could see the tears forming. “I refused to do the story.”

“She’s lying,” Joe argued. “She made sure Skip had all the footage he needed. Who do you think planted the drugs?”

“You mean this?” Mike pulled the vial from his pocket. “Robert already told us how you wanted him to plant it.”

“I don’t know where they got the footage or how. It’s not even of you.” Angela glanced from Derek to Scott and back to Joe.

“But he wants to make it look like us,” Scott predicted. Angela nodded, the tears spilling onto her cheeks. “And if you went with him?”

“He promised to bury the falsified story and let me report mine. He was going to ruin Findley Brothers.”

Derek ran a hand through his hair and down his face, his fingers resting on his swiftly bruising jaw. “And you believed him?”

“I couldn’t take a chance, Derek.”

He placed his hands on her shoulders. “When are you going to trust me? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“I couldn’t. He said that if I told you . . .” She couldn’t meet his gaze. “I was doing it for you. Please understand, Derek. I had no choice.”

“You.” Derek pointed at Joe, looking far more confident and smug than he should. “You’re going to leave and there will be no story at all. Nothing. If I so much as hear the word rodeo mentioned on your station, I’ll take the video I have, clearly showing your face, to the police.”

A dark cloud of fury settled on Joe’s brow. “You can’t do that!”

“Watch me. I can and I will.” Derek looked at his brother. “I don’t think we ever signed a release for any video of our rodeos to be used, did we?”

“Nope,” Scott answered with a smile, shaking his head. “I think the paper is still lying on my desk at the house. Now that you mention it, I don’t recall ever seeing a press pass on this guy either.” He clicked the button on the phone, turning off the video.

“You know, none of this would ever hold up,” Joe warned.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Derek said, shrugging. “But I’m sure the other stations around here would love to have footage of you beating up an injured cowboy and to hear how you’ve assaulted your own reporter. And there’s always the accusation of sexual harassment.”

“What accusation?” Joe narrowed his eyes at Angela. “You’re finished,” Joe threatened, pointing his finger at her. “Not only are you fired, but you’ll never work at another station again.”

“I have a feeling that once our lawyers contact your station, you’ll be the one looking for a job, not Angela.”

Joe edged toward the front of the van. “This isn’t over. Not even close.”

“Don’t ever threaten her again,” Derek warned as he stepped toward Joe. The smaller man jumped backward, in spite of his earlier sucker punch, and hurried to the driver’s side of the van. Derek could see the worry creasing Angela’s forehead as the van backed up and headed down the driveway toward the road. He brushed his thumb over her forehead, smoothing out the lines.

“When are you going to learn to trust me?”

“I do,” she insisted. “But he said . . .”

“I don’t care what he said. Open book means you don’t hide
anything
from me, Angel.” Derek noticed that Silvie, Jen, and Sydney had found their way onto the porch, probably at some point during his fight with Joe. “Or them.”

“Derek, he’s not going to let this go that easily.”

Derek looped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “We’ll take care of Joe. First, you need to kiss me and thank me for rescuing you.” He bent down, taking her lips hostage, tasting her. Robert cleared his throat.

“Yeah,” Scott agreed. “Thanks for making that awkward for the rest of us.”

“All right,” Mike teased. “Show’s over. Let’s all go back inside and get some food. You guys
do
still work, right?”

As everyone headed back into the house, Angela remained on the porch. Derek wrapped his arms around her waist as they stared out over the corral.

“Actually, I don’t,” Angela said. She looked discouraged as she glanced at her father, who was retreating into the house. “For the first time in my life, he has a job and I don’t.”