The moment was lost when Shakira nudged Amanda’s cheek with her damp muzzle.
“Hey!” Amanda jerked back, glaring at the mare and rubbing her hand down her cheek. “Stop that.”
Eli grinned, laughing when Amanda frowned at him. “Sorry, honey. This is the downside of having a horse that likes you. They can get messy.”
“I’m beginning to learn that,” she said wryly, stroking her hand down the mare’s nose. She glanced sideways at him, then back at the mare. “We need to talk, Eli.”
“Uh-oh.” He studied her expression. When a woman said those words, it didn’t bode well for a man. “About what?”
Her hand dropped away from Shakira and she turned to face him, her hazel eyes meeting his directly. “I’m confused about what’s going on between us. And I don’t like being confused.”
“I think it’s pretty clear,” he told her. “I’m attracted to you, and given the way you’re kissing me back, I assume you feel the same. Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re not wrong, but…” She took the cowboy hat off and ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “I’m a little disoriented by your switch from suspicious-almost-hostile-guy mode to…” She waved a hand between them.
“Guy who wants to take you to bed?” he asked helpfully.
Color flooded her cheeks. “I wouldn’t have put it quite so bluntly, but since you said it, yes.” She eyed him. “What made you change your mind? Or is this Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde personality disorder normal for you?”
He laughed out loud, then laughed harder when she glared at him. “I’m sorry for laughing at you, but that’s funny. That’s one of the things I like about you—you have a wicked sense of humor.” He tucked a strand of silky brown hair behind her ear. “It’s not hard to understand, Amanda. I’ve been attracted to you since I almost knocked you down at the Lodge opening, but I couldn’t be sure of your motives when I learned you were digging into Mom’s history for your book.” He shrugged. “But you were right. After I spent time with you, it was obvious to me that you’re a woman with principles. Continuing to mistrust you didn’t make sense anymore.”
“Plus, there was the guarantee of the contract that prohibits my writing about the Coulters after the date of your mother’s death,” she reminded him.
“There is that,” he conceded. “But mostly it’s because once I had no reason to doubt your integrity, I no longer had to consider you off-limits.”
“And that’s why you kissed me.”
He couldn’t tell from either her tone or her facial expression how she felt about that.
“That’s why I kissed you then,” he stressed. “Let’s be clear here. I’ve had a hard time keeping my hands off you from day one.”
She studied him for a long moment before she drew in a deep breath and her whole body relaxed. Eli realized she’d been tense, her hands clenched at her sides.
“All right,” she said with a decisive nod. “I can accept that.”
“Good.” He closed the slight distance between them and reached for her.
“Wait.” She held up one hand, palm out, stopping him.
“What?” he asked, impatient to pick up where they’d left off before Shakira interrupted them.
“I’ve never had a relationship with a man that began with hostility,” she told him. “I’d like to shift gears and go back to the getting-to-know-you part, where we aren’t enemies, but we aren’t kissing friends yet.”
“What?” He frowned at her.
“Seriously,” she told him. “I’m feeling a little disoriented by all of this and need a little time to adjust, okay?”
He sighed and scrubbed his hand down his face. “All right.” But he wasn’t happy about it. Now that he knew how it felt to hold her, it was killing him not to touch her.
“Good.” She smiled sunnily at him. “On a totally different subject…I was thinking that Shakira needs a more glamorous halter. Something that looks Spanish, with silver conchas, maybe. What do you think?”
“It’s not a bad idea.” He narrowed his eyes, considering. “In fact, I’m pretty sure we have a couple of halters with conchas that belonged to Mom.”
“You do? I don’t remember seeing them in the tack room.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. Most of Mom’s stuff is upstairs.”
“Upstairs?” She glanced around the barn, zeroing in on the flight of rough plank stairs just to the right of the entry door. “I assumed you stored hay up there.”
“We do.” Eli patted Shakira’s cheek one last time and cupped Amanda’s shoulder to turn her with him. “But we also store other stuff up there,” he told her as they walked back down the wide aisle lined with stalls until they reached the stairs. “There’s a fair-size room up here filled with Mom and Dad’s horse gear,” he added as they climbed the stairs to the second floor of the barn.
Amanda followed him across the rough planks of the flooring toward the far end of the big space.
“I thought this would be filled with hay,” she commented.
“It will be in the fall,” he told her. He pointed at the huge double doors that took up most of the wall ahead of them. “Those doors open out and we off-load hay bales straight into the loft.”
They stopped in front of a normal-size door. Amanda turned slowly, taking in the expanse of wide bare boards beneath the steep pitch of the roof.
“It must take a lot of hay bales to fill this space. It’s huge.”
Eli ran his fingers along the top ledge of the door and found a key. He glanced at Amanda. “It holds a lot of hay, but not enough for all the cattle we used to run on the Triple C. We have a second hay shed in back of the barn.”
“A ranch is really like running a family-owned manufacturing company, isn’t it?” she asked him.
“It definitely involves a lot of the same business practices and concerns,” he agreed. “I like most of the work, except for the financial details, like bookkeeping. Luckily, Zach not only enjoys finances, but he’s good at them.”
“It sounds as if between you and your brothers, you have all the different talents needed to run a successful business—or in this instance, a successful ranching operation.”
He nodded. “I’d say so.” The lock gave under the key, rasping as the mechanism slowly moved, as if rusty from lack of use, and Eli pushed the door inward. “Here we are.” He flipped the light switch on the wall to the right of the doorjamb and stood back to let Amanda enter the room first.
“Wow.” Her voice held astonishment.
Eli hadn’t been in the room since he’d returned to the Triple C, and as he scanned the walls and floor, he understood Amanda’s stunned exclamation.
Like the tack room downstairs, the rough board walls were lined with rows of leather bridles and headstalls, halters and chaps. There were also riding quirts and longer whips used for driving teams of horses. All of the tack was fancier than the everyday things kept in the room below.
And row upon row of sawhorses lined the floor, holding saddles and blankets.
“Did your parents actually use all of this?” Amanda asked.
Hands propped on his hips, Eli slowly turned in a half circle, scanning the items on the walls and floor. “Yeah.” He nodded finally. “They did. When Mom was alive, she and Dad loved doing what they called ‘treasure hunting.’ If something was old and historic, Mom wanted to buy it and bring it home. They gathered multiple collections, one of which was old West wagons, buggies, stagecoaches, that kind of thing. Mom not only rode, but she loved to hitch up horses to a buckboard or buggy and take us kids on a picnic. So most of this stuff—” he waved a hand that encompassed the contents of the room “—was used by her at one time or another. And apparently, like the rest of her things, Dad kept the collection intact.”
“Are all the old buggies and wagons still here on the ranch as well?” Amanda asked with interest.
“As far as I know, they are. Dad put up a building especially to house them. Cade and Zach don’t
want to unlock it until Brodie gets home so we can all go in together.”
“When do you expect Brodie to come home?” she asked, running a testing hand over the smooth wool of a nearby Pendleton blanket.
“That’s the million-dollar question. None of us have the answer.” He didn’t tell her he wasn’t sure Brodie was ever coming back to the Triple C. Instead, he started across the floor to reach a group of bridles and halters hanging on the wall. “Mom was partial to this bridle.” He slipped the web of connected black leather straps decorated with tarnished silver conchas off its peg. “And this halter.” He moved a step to the left to reach a matching halter. He walked back to Amanda with the leather tack. “They don’t look so great now, but once we clean the tarnish off the silver and oil the leather, they’ll be good as new.”
“Excellent.” She smiled at him. “I’ll help clean them. Are you taking them to the studio?”
He fought the urge to bend his head and cover her mouth with his. Instead, he started toward the open door. “Might as well. Are you ready to leave?”
She nodded and they went back downstairs. Eli followed her out of the barn and into the sunlight. He wasn’t sure how the hell he’d been conned into a situation that required him not to touch her again.
“How long is it going to take for you to get adjusted to us being more than friends?”
“I’m not sure.” She glanced sideways, her gaze focused on his mouth. “Not too long.”
“Thank God,” he muttered.
“Where’s your truck?” she asked.
“In the machine shop.” He pointed at the building, half the size of the barn, to their right. “I’ll meet you down at the studio.”
“All right.” She walked away toward her car.
Eli stood still, staring after her, following the sway of her hips in the snug jeans, the sun glinting off gold streaks in her brown hair beneath the straw cowboy hat.
“Damn.” He sighed. He hoped to hell she got used to the truce between them and soon. He doubted he’d make it very long before kissing her again.
Chapter Ten
Over the next few days, Eli tried to exercise patience and give Amanda space. Each day they walked to the Lodge to have lunch and he found himself relaxing, watching how well she fit in with Mariah, Cynthia and Jane. They took Harley to see the puppies several times, and just as Amanda had fallen in love with Shakira, she seemed to be equally enthralled with the eight rottweiler puppies.
At noon on a Tuesday, they walked to the Lodge for lunch as had become their habit.
“Do you think it will rain?” Amanda asked him, tilting her head back to look up at the gray clouds piling up on the horizon.
“Not today,” Eli told her. He glanced sideways at her. She seemed remarkably calm while he was growing more short-tempered by the day. He loved spending time with her, but keeping a leash on his desire was growing increasingly difficult. Cold showers weren’t doing anything to cool his need for her. Her hair shifted over her shoulder, leaving the curve of her arm and the tender nape of her neck bare. He drew in a deep breath and fought down the urge to bend nearer and touch his lips to the soft skin. Distracted, he struggled to remember what he’d been planning to say. “But maybe tomorrow. I hope it pours for a couple of days. The pastures and fields can use the rain.”
They reached the Lodge and entered the kitchen.
“Eli says it could rain tomorrow, Jane,” Amanda said. “You might not have to water the garden for a day or two.”
“That’s good news.” Jane moved from stove to counter, carrying steaming bowls. Amanda, Mariah and Cynthia joined her while Eli filled a pitcher with ice-cold water.
The conversation was brief until plates were emptied and they sat with coffee, hunger sated.
Zach walked into the room, wiping grease from his hands with a towel.
“Eli,” he said with a grin. “You’re just the person I need.”
“What’s broken?” Eli asked, eyeing the black streaks on his brother’s shirt.
“One of the pipes in the upstairs hall bathroom has a leak. Come help me figure out which one.”
Eli groaned. “Why is it I’m helping you again? You hauled me out of bed at four this morning to chase cows that were out of the pasture. Couldn’t you drag Cade up here to help you with plumbing?”
Even as he spoke, he was standing and carrying his plate and utensils to the sink.
“I won’t be long, Amanda,” he told her as he joined Zach and the two left the room.
Cynthia’s smile was warm as she sipped her coffee. “It’s so nice that Eli’s here. Zach insisted he wasn’t worried, but I know he was relieved when the detective finally located him.”
“I didn’t realize his brothers didn’t know he was working in Spain,” Amanda said.
Mariah shook her head. “They normally kept in touch every few months or so, if not in person, at least by phone, but evidently Eli didn’t check in when he was out of the country.”
She gave Cynthia a sympathetic look. “Cade was worried about not hearing from Eli, too.”
“I can’t imagine not calling and talking with my sister at least once a week,” Amanda commented. “Maybe guys just don’t feel the need to stay as closely connected to their siblings.”
But if infrequent and sporadic contact equaled staying in touch to Eli and his brothers, what did that say about his ability to connect intimately with anyone? With her?
Worry pinched her heart and she realized that if she were to see or hear from Eli only every now and then, it would devastate her.
Mariah shrugged. “Hard to say. Men can be a real puzzle.”
“Now, there’s an understatement,” Cynthia said dryly.
The back door of the kitchen, which led to the deck, opened suddenly. The man just outside stood motionless, framed in the doorjamb. The sun at his back haloed his body with gold and dazzled Amanda’s eyes. All she could make out was the familiar tall, broad shape of a man with coal-black hair.
“Eli?” Surprised, she stared at him, squinting against the bright sunlight. “I thought you and Zach went upstairs.”
The man didn’t respond. Instead, he stepped across the threshold and into the kitchen, stopping abruptly.
“You’re not Eli.” Amanda stared, frowning as she assessed the black hair and craggy features, the green eyes. His shoulders were broad, but the Western, pearl-snapped cowboy shirt he wore hung a bit loose on his frame, as if he’d lost weight since he’d bought it. He wore jeans on his long legs, the faded denim worn white at stress points, and black cowboy boots on his feet.
He held a carved wooden cane in one hand.
Recognition swept Amanda.
“You must be Brodie.”
He nodded, thick-lashed green eyes narrowing over her. “I’m looking for Eli or Cade.” He scanned the kitchen, his gaze flicking over Jane, standing still and silent at the stove, and then Mariah and Cynthia, perched on stools at the counter. His impersonal stare seemed to dismiss them before it returned to Amanda. “Or Zach. Are they here?”
“Zach and Eli are upstairs.” Cynthia slipped from her stool. “I’ll get them.”
“Would you like to sit down?” Amanda ventured as Brodie started across the room, apparently following Cynthia.
“No.” The word was brusque.
“But…” Amanda wanted to tell him he should rest, that Cynthia would bring his brothers to him, but the look he gave her stopped the words in her throat. His green eyes were so dark they were nearly black, and they rejected any overtures. He clearly didn’t want sympathy. But watching him limp, leaning heavily on the cane, was painful. She wanted to jump up and lend her shoulder for him to lean on.
He was almost to the hallway door when Eli and Zach returned with Cynthia.
“Brodie.” Eli grabbed him in a hard male hug, his face wreathed in smiles. “Damn, why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
“Hey, bro.” Zach waited until Eli stepped back before wrapping his arms
around Brodie in a brief hug. “Yeah, you should have called us. I would have killed a fatted calf.”
Zach’s allusion to the prodigal son being welcomed home brought a fleeting smile to Brodie’s face.
“You’ve probably already got a couple in the freezer,” he said dryly.
“True.” Eli pulled out a stool at the counter. “Sit down and tell us about the trip.”
Brodie eased his hips onto the tall seat, stretching out his stiff left leg and hooking the cane over the edge of the tiled counter.
“Not much to tell. I left California a week ago. A friend helped me load my truck and he did most of the driving until I dropped him off at his place in Idaho two days ago.”
Eli whistled, a soft, low sound. “Your doctors said you could ride over a thousand miles in a truck? The leg must be a lot better.”
Brodie’s half smile was part grimace. “I wouldn’t say that. But,” he said with a shrug, “it is what it is. I couldn’t stay in a convalescent hospital forever.”
“We’re glad you’re here,” Zach told him. “Are you hungry? We just had lunch but I’m sure Jane could whip something up for you.”
Brodie shook his head. “No, I just wanted to check in and let you know I’m here. I’m guessing there’s room for me to stay at the house?”
“I’m the only one there most nights,” Eli told him. “So there’s lots of space.”
“Good. I’ll head on up there.” Brodie gathered his cane and stood.
Amanda didn’t miss the flash of pain that moved over his features before his face became blank. She flicked a quick worried glance at Eli. In a barely perceptible movement, he shook his head, warning her away.
“Eli and I will go with you,” Zach said. “I need to track down Cade and talk to him about some work he wants done on the tractor.”
Brodie nodded briefly and headed for the door, his limp more pronounced than when he’d entered. Amanda wondered if sitting had made the leg stiffen more.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Amanda?” Eli asked. She nodded and his eyes warmed before he followed Brodie, holding the door open for him. Zach halted when Cynthia stopped him with a hand on his arm, going up on tiptoe to whisper in his ear. He nodded and pressed a quick kiss on her mouth before following his two brothers.
A Coulter’s Christmas Proposal Page 13