Gone Country (Rough Riders #14)(78)

Rielle stepped back. “I can’t afford a trip like that.”


He tried to curb his offense, but his words came out clipped. “I don’t expect you to pay your way. I was inviting you as my guest.”


“As your guest?” The look in her eyes and her tone made the word guest sound like whore. “Then definitely not.”


“I don’t understand.”


“Neither do I.” She threw up her hands. “Who suggests a Christmas vacation in Paris? Who can just set aside two weeks and go play tourist? Maybe you can, but I sure as hell can’t. I have responsibilities—”


“Here we go. You act like you’re the only one in the world with a job, Ree. Like the entire state of Wyoming will fall into ruin if you’re not around to do your part.”


“That’s not fair.”


“You’re damn right it’s not. You work like a dog. Everybody takes time off once in a while. You never do. So excuse the hell out of me for wanting to give you something you’ve never had.”


“That’s it, isn’t it? You want to show me all I’ve been missing by taking me to a place I’d never be able to afford to go to on my own. Well guess what? I don’t care about any of that. I never have and I never will.” She clenched her hands into fists. “Don’t try and change me, Gavin. I am who I am.”


“This has nothing to do with me trying to change you, or seeing it as an opportunity to rub it in your face that I have a bigger bank account than you.”


“Yeah? Then how come you got so pissed off when you thought Vi was trying to buy Sierra’s affection? How is offering to take me on an all-expenses-paid trip to France any f*cking different?”


“It’s a helluva lot different, but you’re too busy…” Goddammit. Take your own advice. Stop and think before you say something you can’t take back. “It’d be nice if you’d take that damn chip off your shoulder once in a while.”


“I will. Just as soon as you take that silver spoon out of your mouth.”


Fuck.


They were both angry. Breathing hard. Neither willing to back down.


The timer on her watch started to beep. She spun on her heel and left the room without a word.


He shouted, “Nice talking to you.”


That was mature.


He paced. Then he slumped against the wall. Was he really such a bad guy for wanting to spend some alone time with the woman he loved? Not that he’d told her that.


Would he ask her to drop everything and go to Paris with him if he wasn’t going for Sierra?


No.


Good thing that hadn’t come up, because it did put his offer in a different light.


Trying to get any work done in this frame of mind would be pointless. He changed clothes and ran five miles on the treadmill. Then he beat the crap out of his heavy bag until he could hardly hold his arms up.


After a long shower, he felt calmer. In a better frame of mind to tackle the problem, because it wasn’t going away, no matter how much he wished it would.


Paris.


What the hell was wrong with him?


Didn’t Gavin know her at all?


When had she ever let anyone pay for anything she hadn’t earned?


Never.


Being intimately involved with him shouldn’t earn her a trip to France, for Christsake.


Rielle placed the loaf pans on the cooling racks and loaded the next batch of bread into the oven. She glanced at the time. Noon. Where had this day gone? She set her watch and tackled the stack of dirty dishes.


Paris.


Besides, she didn’t have a passport. She angrily scrubbed the dishes. It was mortifying to admit that she’d never been on an airplane. She’d never been anywhere. She and Rory had taken a camping trip to Yellowstone once. She’d been to Denver a number of times. She’d driven into the Rockies. She’d visited the farm and range land in Nebraska. Same with the Black Hills and the prairie in western South Dakota.


So she couldn’t see herself buying luggage and boarding a plane that’d fly over the ocean when she’d never actually seen the ocean.


That is not Gavin’s fault.


Maybe she did have a chip on her shoulder.


Or worse, maybe she had the fear if Gavin took her someplace sophisticated, she’d embarrass him with her wide-eyed wonder. Maybe he’d realize that if she couldn’t live in his world even temporarily, then he couldn’t live in hers either.


Damned if she did; damned if she didn’t.


Once the dishes were done, she updated her short to-do list. This was the slow time of year for her.


Gavin knew that. Was that why he’d suggested taking a trip now? Because he understood how hard she’d be working again in another few months?


Possibly. But she didn’t believe it was a coincidence that Sierra’s mother was living in Paris and all of a sudden he planned a trip there. Was he trying to prove something to his ex-wife by inviting Rielle along? Especially since Sierra had mentioned her mother’s boyfriend?


Another three hours passed. She was thinking it odd she hadn’t seen Sierra or Gavin in the kitchen looking for food, when Sierra walked in.