“You are handling those crutches like a pro,” Magda said.
“He ought to be,” KC said. “He’s driving the entire family nuts walking around.” She imitated her brother. “Clump. Swing his cast. Clump with the crutches. Swing his leg.” Looking over her shoulder at Reno and Darren laughing, she said, “Laugh now. Call me in a week when he’s driven you crazy.”
“Need help with his stuff?” Reno asked.
“Sure.”
KC and Reno headed outside, leaving Darren and Magda in the kitchen. “Want something to eat? Drink?”
He shook his head. “Just a place to land. I think I’ll head to the living room.”
“Where is he?” Reno asked, walking in with a couple of bags.
“Living room. Where’s your sister?”
“Gone. Said she had a long drive home and a hot husband waiting.” Reno gave a dramatic shiver. “I don’t even want to think about that.”
Magda laughed and took one of the bags. “Clean or dirty stuff?”
“No idea. Hey, Darren.”
“Yeah?”
“Stuff in the bags clean or dirty?”
“Clean. Olivia said to tell Magda that she owed her.”
“Thanks, Darren,” Magda called. “Go on and dump his stuff in the bedroom. I’ll unpack his bags while you two catch up.”
Chapter Fourteen
The phone calls from women for Darren started within an hour of his arrival home. First to his cellular, and if that was busy or there was no answer, they called the house phone. Magda had never heard of any of the women. Sarah Jane. Delene. Tina Marie. Porchia. Tanya. Paula. Who were all these women? Darren treated each caller the same…as though the woman and her call were the only things keeping him alive.
By the fourth call, Magda rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen to bake cookies for the week. But she did fix a special dinner of all Darren’s favorite foods to celebrate his homecoming. Meatloaf. Mashed potatoes. Glazed carrots. Black-eyed peas. Yeast rolls. A gallon of sweet iced tea. And for dessert, a blueberry cobbler and ice cream.
Reno was scraping the last of his cobbler off his plate when he said, “Tell you what, bro. You go away again and come back. Best meal I’ve had since your accident.”
Magda glared at him, but when he winked, she chuckled and tossed the kitchen towel she was holding at his head.
Darren gave both of them a hard look and then apparently decided nothing was amiss and dug back into his ice cream. “Yeah, well,” he said around a mouthful of cobbler, “next time, you break your leg and I’ll stay home.”
Reno snorted. “You have no idea what it was like without you.”
“He damned near worked himself to death,” Magda said, picking up her plate and carrying it to the sink. “Thank goodness for Zack Marshall.”
“Why thank goodness for Zack?” Darren asked.
“Had to have some help. What I learned, much to my regret, is that I missed your ugly mug around here. And although your work was pretty slack and sloppy, this is not a one-man ranch.”
Darren’s phone trilled. He looked at the caller ID and answered. “Hey, babe. I was just thinking about you.” He looked at Magda and winked. “Yeah. Yeah. I’ve been missing you loads too. Can you hold on a minute? I’m going to move to somewhere more private.” He put the phone in his shirt pocket and collected his crutches. “See you in the morning.” He gave a fake yawn. “I’m exhausted.”
As he left the room, Magda looked at Reno. “Exhausted from all his phone calls is what he means.” She rolled her eyes. “You cannot believe all the women who have called here.”
“Sure I can. I’ve lived here longer than you.”
It was then that Magda realized that in the month or so she’d been there, she hadn’t had one woman call asking for Reno. But he did have a cell phone and he was gone all day. It was more than possible that he’d gotten a few calls that way.
Since the ice storm had brought Magda and Reno together, they had been sharing the evenings. Now that Darren was home, they’d gone back to separate lives after dinner. Reno would usually head back to the barn or find something that needed fixing. On a ranch of this size with him as the only fulltime employee, there was always something needing attention. By eight most nights, he was headed up the stairs, which wasn’t all that surprising since his days started so early.
She opened her mouth to ask about his phone calls but snapped it shut. Their fling was just that…a lapse of judgment brought on by being iced in the house and him almost freezing to death.
Yeah. Just keep telling yourself that.
Reno went to bed and Magda finished up downstairs, set the timer on the coffee maker and went to her new room at the front of the house. Darren’s room was considerably larger than her old room. The view was better too. The bathroom larger. Her few belongings looked sad hanging in his big closet. She’d left his summer clothes hanging since he’d be back in his room before then, so at least one side of the closet was still full.
Flipping off the lights as she made her way through the house to the stairs, she yawned and stretched. Each step creaked as she climbed up to her new room. Upstairs, she turned to the right. She hesitated for a moment and glanced over her shoulder toward Reno’s door. Closed tight. No light seeping around the edges. She whirled her head back around. Just as well. Cold-turkey was the best way to break a bad habit.
Her room was dark when she entered. The light switch would turn on a ceiling light, which she didn’t need. She stripped, leaving her clothes piled on the dresser. Fumbling in the top drawer, she found an old T-shirt and dropped it over her head. She pulled back the covers, climbed in and ran into a hot, muscular body.
“Eek.” She scooted back and turned on the bedside lamp. Reno, lying on his back, grinned up at her. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked in a whispered hiss.
“Waiting on you, obviously.” He pulled her over on top of him.
Struggling to sit back up, she said, “Darren’s downstairs.”
“Sorry. I don’t swing that way and I don’t share.”
She poked his chest. “Not funny.”
He gave her a grin that she knew he’d probably used for years to get out of trouble and into a girl’s panties. “Aww, come on, babe. That was funny.”
She shook her head. “We really need to stop this.”
He pulled her down again and rolled on top of her. “Okay. We will.” He kissed her, working her mouth like a professional. He knew all her hot buttons, and with his mouth and hands moving, he was hitting them all. He took a breath and looked at her. “After tonight.” He held up a strand of condoms. “I come bearing gifts.”
Well, who could argue with that, said her throbbing center.
The house settled back into a routine, albeit a new one. Reno would head out in the morning to meet Zack Marshall when there was field work to do. Darren would mope around the house, talk on the phone to his women and generally be a pain in the butt. After two days of listening to him whine that he was bored, Magda decided it was time for him to learn to cook.
“Darren,” she yelled. “Come to the kitchen.”
She heard his thump as he made his way from his bedroom.
“Yeah?”
“I think it’s time you learn to cook.” The aghast look on his face made her laugh. “It’s not that bad.”
“Why?” he asked, a frown etched in the deep grooves of his forehead.
“I’m not going to be here forever. This was supposed to be a temporary job until Zeb got to feeling better. When I saw him this weekend, he was looking and acting like his old self. I’m thinking he doesn’t really need me hovering over him, especially with Blanche in the picture. If nothing else, I’ll feel better leaving if you and Reno know how to cook more than hot dogs and popcorn.”
“Why?” he asked again,
the confusion evident in his tone.
“Because you love cookies and you don’t know how to make them.”
He nodded. “That’s true.”
“Plus, women think it’s very sexy when a guy can cook for her.”
“An even better reason,” he said, a broad grin on his face.
She assembled the ingredients for Snickerdoodles, one of the easiest cookies to make. Darren sat on a stool ready to watch her work. She laughed.
“No way, buddy. I’ll handle the pans, but you’ll be handling the mixing.”
He did pretty well for his first time, and only argued with her when she wouldn’t let him drag the measuring cup through the flour to fill it. He was rolling the dough into balls when Reno came in for lunch.
“What are you doing?”
“Makin’ cookies,” Darren said with a growl. “She made me.”
Magda bit her lip and met Reno’s gaze.
“Really?” Reno said. “Are they any good?”
“Hell, yeah, they’re good.”
Magda passed Reno a cookie from a stack on the counter and he took a bite.
“These are good, bro. Good job.”
Darren’s shoulders, which had been tense as though ready for a fight, fell into a relaxed position. “It wasn’t that hard. Magda’s a good teacher.”
“He was bored,” she explained. “And I told him I won’t be here forever, so it might be a good idea if you guys knew how to cook a little.”
“Bored, huh? There’s a butt load of work that needs to be done around here.”
Darren held out his leg. “Little tough to climb on Archie right now.”
“There’s always tack that needs to be repaired or cleaned. Lots of stuff like that.”
Darren smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”
Reno snapped his fingers. “Forgot why I came up here. Saw Porchia Summer’s car turn on the road. She should be here any minute.”
“Damn.” Darren got from the stool back onto his crutches. “I wasn’t cooking,” he said over his shoulder as he disappeared into the living room.
“Whatever.” Magda shook her head. “You hanging around?”
“Sure. I like Porchia.”
His words poked the jealousy dragon that lived in her gut. She fought to keep it under control. After all, she had no claim on Reno, and besides, there were probably a lot of women he thought were nice. That didn’t mean he wanted to sleep with them. Throwing a wet blanket over the fire-breathing creature inside, she asked, “Want some lunch?”
The growl from his stomach was like a gunshot on a quiet night…impossible to miss. “I was going to say I wasn’t hungry but…” He shrugged and gave her a sexy smile. “Can you throw together something?”
“How about a pulled-pork sandwich with coleslaw?” Magda turned toward the refrigerator at the same time a knock came at the front door.
“Sounds great.”
“Ah. Porchia’s here.” Magda set the cold pork on the counter, not sure she liked the bright smile on Reno’s face. “I don’t think I know her, do I?”
“Probably not. She’s a couple of years older than we are. Total knockout. She only moved here this summer, so sounds like your paths never crossed.”
“What does she do?”
“She opened up that new bakery in Whispering Springs.”
“Why Whispering Springs? It’s kind of small. Family in the area? Move here with a husband and five kids?”
Reno laughed. “Husband and five kids. That’s funny.”
A second knock on the front door had Reno moving. “I’ll get it.”
The green dragon inside her shook off the wet blanket and blew a puff of jade-green jealousy through Magda’s system. Once again, she shook it off. She had no right.
The delight in Reno’s voice when he opened the door made Magda twist the dishtowel she held into a tight knot.
“Hi, Reno,” a deep, sexy female voice said. “You’re looking better than my latest batch of cream-filled doughnuts.”
Reno laughed. “I’m hoping that’s what’s in the box. I’ve been dying for something sweet.”
Magda looked at the pile of baked cookies and gritted her teeth. She was seconds from raking all of them into the trash when Reno’s voice stopped her.
“Come on in. The bad driver is soaking in all the attention from the sofa. Magda, come here and meet Porchia.”
Magda froze and then looked down. Her jeans had flour on them from one of Darren’s blasts with the mixer. The spots on her shirt looked like she couldn’t eat without spilling everything down the front of her. And she was wearing fuzzy slippers. She was just positive this Porchia woman would look ready to take the Miss Texas pageant stage.
The timer on the oven buzzed, buying her a short reprieve. “Be there in a second.”
As she lifted the cookie sheet out, she tuned in to the conversation in the other room. The three of them joked and laughed like life-long friends. As always in her life, she was the outsider.
“Hey. You coming?” She looked toward the doorway between the kitchen and living room where Reno stood.
“Sure.” She set the hot baking pan on the stove and brushed her hands off on her ass.
Porchia was so much worse than she’d feared. Tall, thin and blonde, the woman’s blue eyes sparkled. Her smile lit up the living room. Dressed in tight jeans, boots and a white oxford tucked into those skinny jeans, she was every woman’s worst nightmare. And then it only got worse.
“Hi,” Porchia said, holding out her hand. “You must be Magda. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“If it was bad, these two are the biggest liars in the world,” Magda said, shaking hands in a firm grasp. “If it was good then it was probably true.”
The goddess laughed, a sexy from-her-gut laugh. “You have these two figured out then, I see.” Porchia gestured toward an open white pastry box on the coffee table. “I brought doughnuts, but seeing as how Darren has already got one stuffed in his mouth, I guess you figured that out.”
Reno snatched a doughnut from the box. “I’m starving.” He inhaled half a chocolate iced doughnut in one bite. “That’s good. You want one, Magda?”
“I’m fine. Thank you.” Her voice was cool and calm, which was nothing like what she was actually feeling.
First, she felt like a slab of concrete next to a marble statue. And second, the two idiots she worked for were gobbling down doughnuts like they hadn’t eaten in a week.
“Can I get anyone some coffee?”
“Not for me,” Porchia said. “I’ve had my daily two-gallon allowance.”
“I was just putting together some lunch. Can you stay?”
Porchia shook her head. “I can’t, but maybe some other time.” She looked at Darren. “Can we have a word?”
“Nice to meet you,” Magda said.
“Good to see you,” Reno said and gave Porchia a kiss on the cheek. “Come back when the weather’s better and I’ll get you back on Layla. We’ll take a different route to the river for lunch. A little longer, but I think you’ll enjoy the views.”
Magda turned away to shield any emotions that might be on her face. Porchia had been here before. Had ridden the horses here. Who had she been with though? Reno or Darren?
“Thank you, Reno.” Porchia’s voice vibrated with interest. “I’d love it.”
Reno followed Magda to the kitchen. Once they were alone, he wrapped his arms around Magda from behind and pulled her back up to his front. “Isn’t she great?” he said, giving her a kiss on her neck. “I think she really liked you.”
Magda stiffened her back, pulled his hands off her stomach and stepped out of his embrace. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She stepped over to the pork and began piling some on a plate. After covering the plate with a paper towel, she slid it into the m
icrowave and hit start. When she turned around, Reno was staring at her.
“What?” she said.
A grin spread slowly across his face. “You’re jealous.”
“I am not,” she sputtered.
“Oh, babe,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to be jealous of Porchia. There’s nothing going on between us.”
“I’m not.” She could hear the lie. She wondered if he did too.
He looked toward the living room entry and back at her. “Coast’s clear.” He kissed her. “I think I like you being jealous of another woman.”
“I’m not jealous,” she hissed at him through clenched teeth. “I’m not.”
He just smiled and nodded. “Lunch ready?”
She huffed out a sigh and turned back to the beeping microwave. She wasn’t jealous, she told herself even as the dragon inside puffed out another gush of green smoke.
Before she could finish putting together a sandwich, she heard the front door slam and Darren came hobbling back into the kitchen.
“Hungry?” she asked. “Pulled-pork sandwiches.”
“Nah. Ate too many doughnuts. I’m going to go to my bedroom and lie down. My leg’s throbbing.”
“Can I get you an aspirin or something?”
“Thanks, but no. I’ll be fine.” To Reno he said, “I’ll tackle the tack and repairs tomorrow, okay?”
Reno shrugged. “Sure. Fine with me.”
He waited until Darren had left before asking, “What’s bugging him, do you think? Five minutes ago, he was fine, and now he’s acting like someone ran over his dog.”
“No clue. But I bet he’ll tell you later.”
Later arrived in two days. The three of them had been invited over to Mitch and Olivia’s house for Sunday dinner with the entire Montgomery family. As in the past, Magda had tried to beg off. She wasn’t a Montgomery and she didn’t belong at their dinners. However, once she discovered that her dad and Blanche would be there, she jumped in Reno’s truck to go.
Dinner was sixteen adults, three toddlers and one rumbustious seven-year-old crammed around a table for fourteen, but somehow it worked. The talk was loud and fast-paced. It was all Magda could do to try to follow any one conversational train. Finally, she sat back to soak it in.
Texas Bossa Nova (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 5) Page 13