The Rebel Tycoon Returns

“And shop at the big stores?” he asked.

“Not recently. I … I really haven’t left the house much,” she said, putting a hand up when he would have interrupted. “I’m not saying that to make you feel sorry for me. I just read Vogue and Cosmo and InStyle and dreamed of a time when I’d look in the mirror again.”

He reached over and took her hand. Holding it in his bigger one. He stroked his thumb over her knuckles as a wave of strong emotion washed over him. Macy wasn’t putting up any barriers between them. He was getting the real woman and that made him want to protect her. To make sure that the vulnerable woman who was slowly rediscovering herself had the chance to grow. And he knew he would have to tread carefully with Harrison because he didn’t want Macy’s father to be an obstacle between Macy and him as he had been in the past.

“Surely you don’t have those doubts after today,” Chris said.

“I … I wish it were that easy, Chris, but to be honest, a part of me is still afraid of seeing the scars when I look in the mirror. Not sure I believe the reflection I saw was real.”

He reached up and stroked her cheek, though he knew better than to let this go too far in public. There was something fragile … almost broken … about Macy and he couldn’t let it go. No matter that she’d broken his heart in the past, he saw that she was a different woman now. “Let me tell you what I see.”

She nodded and held her breath, her pretty white teeth biting her lower lip as he stared at her face. And he wondered how bad her scars had been before the plastic surgery. He’d never met anyone who’d been in a life-threatening accident before.

He traced the high line of her cheekbone over her smooth alabaster skin. Her eyebrows were dark blond. “I see skin like the palest marble, so pretty and smooth.”

He moved his finger over her lips. They were full and plump, utterly kissable, and he longed to taste her again. “I see a mouth so pink and delectable it’s all I can do to resist kissing you.”

He rubbed his finger over the line of her jaw. “This strong jaw tells me that you still haven’t lost the stubbornness that’s always been a part of you.”

She gave him a little half smile. He ran his finger over the arch of her eyebrows—first one then the other. “These pretty green eyes watch me with a combination of weariness and curiosity. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

She captured his hand and held it to her cheek. “Thank you, Chris.”

He knew whatever else happened between the two of them that he wasn’t leaving Royal until Macy was the beautiful flirt she used to be. Confident of herself and her ability to attract every man in the area—especially him.

Three

Macy left Chris after dinner to powder her nose. He was a little intense and she wasn’t as ready for him as she might have been, say, four years earlier. Chris had changed in his time away from Royal and her. And she hoped she’d changed as well, but she had the feeling that her changes hadn’t taken her as far forward as Chris’s had taken him.

“Macy?”

She glanced up in the mirror and saw Abby standing in the doorway. Her friend looked fabulous as always and Macy knew she should stop comparing herself to every woman in the room at some point, but she had no idea when and if that would happen.

“Hello, there. What are you doing here?” she asked Abby.

“Promoting myself to become the next president. I can’t let any time slip by. How’s dinner?” Abby asked.

She shook her long red wavy hair. Her blue eyes had always made Macy envious. She’d always wanted pretty eyes like that instead of the green ones she had. But after her surgeries she was very happy with her eyes now.

Macy blushed and then shook her head. “Nice. Dad stopped by and read Chris the riot act for not using his company, but Chris calmly stood his ground. I’ve never seen anyone handle Daddy like that.”

Abby laughed and slung her arm around Macy’s shoulders. “It’s about time. You okay?”

“Yes,” Macy said, then realized that she was telling the truth. She hadn’t felt like this in a long time. She wanted to laugh for no good reason and just shout at the top of her lungs that life was good. “I really am.”

“Good,” Abby said.

Macy left the ladies’ room and went back to their table. She saw that Chris was talking to a tall handsome African-American man that Macy didn’t know. She wasn’t sure if she should approach the table because they seemed engrossed in whatever they were discussing, but Chris glanced up and waved her over.

“Zeke, this is Macy Reynolds, Harrison’s daughter, Macy this is Zeke Travers. He and I went to college together.”

Zeke Travers was solid and muscular with a shaved head and dark brown skin. He had kind eyes and smiled when he glanced over at her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Macy said, holding out her hand.

“You as well,” Zeke said. “I’ll let you get back to dinner. Drinks tomorrow?”

“You’re on,” Chris said.

Zeke left and Macy watched him go. Brad Price walked straight up to Zeke, and Macy could tell he wasn’t happy. The sounds of raised voices could be heard throughout the room and everyone watched them.

“What is going on with them?” Macy asked. She couldn’t help herself—she was naturally curious about the spectacle the men were making. Brad pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at Zeke.

“I have no idea,” Chris said. “I’ll try to find out more from Zeke tomorrow when we have drinks.”

“I sound like a small-town gossip, don’t I?” she asked. She wished she wasn’t nosy, but she always had been. She liked knowing what was going on in other people’s lives.

“It’s the nature of Royal to talk,” Chris said. Brad looked beet-red with fury. Whatever was upsetting him it had to be serious. She’d never seen Brad in such a state before.

“I hope he’s okay,” Macy said. She and Brad weren’t close friends or anything, but she knew him from Texas Cattleman’s Club events when they were children.

“Who is?” Abby said, coming up to their table.

“Brad,” Chris said, gesturing to the two men who were arguing.

“He’s probably just learned that I am making serious inroads to becoming the next president of the club,” Abby said with a confident grin.

“Are you?” Chris asked, arching one eyebrow at her and giving her a hard stare.

“Indeed I am. And you are …?” Abby asked.

“Forgive my manners,” Macy said. “Abigail Langley, this is Christopher Richardson. Abby is going to be the next president of the club. Chris has been asked to come up with a development plan for the new headquarters building. He owns his own development company out of Dallas.”

Abby and Chris had run in different circles in high school. Well, to be honest, Abby and Macy had run in different circles. Macy’s life had been cheerleading and parties at TCC and Chris had fallen in with her crowd by being a football star. Abby and she hadn’t had much in common then.

The two shook hands and Abby took a seat in the chair recently vacated by Zeke. Of the three people they’d had at the table she was happiest to have her good friend there now. She wanted Abby’s opinion on Chris. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her instincts when it came to men—wait a minute, it was exactly that she didn’t trust them.

She’d been engaged to a man who’d left her the minute she wasn’t the Texas beauty she’d always been. She didn’t want to chance getting hurt again.

And though this was only a dinner date, it was with Chris Richardson. The boy she’d defied her father to date. He’d always been attractive to her. Not just physically, though there was that.

“Macy?” Abby asked, startling Macy out of her thoughts.

“Yes?”

“I asked if you thought that Chris and I would work well together when I’m president,” Abby said.

She had to give it to Abby for being persistent and determined. There wasn’t a person in Royal who didn’t know what Abby’s intent was. She was focused one hundred percent on becoming the first female president of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. “Yes, I do.”