“Is Lena around?”
“No.” Annalisa wouldn’t make direct eye contact with her. “She had to go to pick up our produce because Mr. Vance usually brings it out from San Antonio and he was sick today. She’s supposed to be back before lunch time, I hope.”
“Oh, okay. Well maybe you could just give me the lowdown on things so I know where everything important is at … in case we get a customer or two.”
“Sure, follow me.” Kadence followed her back into the kitchen and listened as she pointed things out. The longer Annalisa was forced to talk, the more uncomfortable she seemed.
“Annalisa, can you and I talk for a minute?” The younger girl reached for her book, holding it in her hands and slightly against her as if clutching a security blanket.
“Okay, what about?”
Kadence cringed at the suspicious tone. Once again, she knew that she deserved it. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since I’ve been back about what a terrible person I was when we were growing up. I treated you so badly, and you never did anything to deserve it. I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry and although I know I can’t go back and change things or even make up for what I did to you back then, I’d like to try and start over. I’d like a chance to get to know you and let you get to know the real me instead of the superficial version of myself that I presented to the world back then.”
Annalisa looked at her face then. Her knuckles were white from clutching the book so hard. She let go with one hand and pushed her glasses up again. For the first time ever, Kadence noticed how pretty her brown eyes were. They were dark brown, but with a strange little blue ring around the irises. “Thank you,” she said, almost in a whisper. She looked like she was trying to think of something else to say but couldn’t.
Kadence didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable than she already was, so she said, “Maybe I could slice some lemons or—”
“Yes! Lemons, that would be good.” Annalisa was obviously relieved that, for the moment anyway, they’d both be in different rooms of the bar. That was okay; Kadence wasn’t looking for instant forgiveness. She was willing to work for it.
CHAPTER NINE
“You want to break for lunch?” Reed asked Brad.
Brad looked at his watch. “Stephanie has a class at the University today so she won’t be home until late. I don’t think Ma will have lunch ready yet.”
“I was thinking maybe we could go to town and have lunch at the Roadhouse.” Reed looked at Luke. His brother rolled his eyes.
“May as well. It’s not like you’re getting anything worthwhile done around here.”
“Come on, Luke, we’ve gotten almost a full day’s work done in four hours,” Brad said.
“If you say so. I’ll drive.”
Reed cringed. “Maybe we should just wait for Ma’s lunch.”
Luke leaned on the pitchfork he’d been using to shuck hay and looked at his younger brother. “Why don’t you want me to go to town with you? Are you still pissed?”
“No, I’m not mad. As long as we have an understanding where Kadence is concerned. Today’s her first day working at the Roadhouse. I don’t want you making her nervous and ruining it for her.”
Luke grinned. “What kind of brute do you think I am?”
“He doesn’t have time to list all that out. I’m hungry,” Brad replied. Luke put the pitchfork down and popped his youngest brother on the back of the head.
“I’ll be the most sensitive son of a bitch you’ve ever seen,” he told Reed with a wink. “Let’s go.” Reed and Brad looked at each other doubtfully, but they followed Luke. It was the way things had been for as long as any of them could remember.
*****
When the three men got to the Roadhouse, it was already packed with the lunch crowd. Reed’s eyes sought out Kadence right away. She was serving a table of teachers he recognized from the high school, and she was smiling. She looked happy, and that simple thing filled his heart with joy. They took a seat at the only empty table near the bar. Annalisa was handing a draft beer across the counter to Harvey Moore, one of the regulars who was also one of the town drunks. He sloshed it on her arm as he grabbed it out of her hand. She barely seemed to notice.
Reed couldn’t help but notice those huge dark eyes of hers were completely focused on Luke, but his older brother wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the little redhead that he’d left with the night Reed and Kadence got married. Reed didn’t know who she was or what she was doing in town, but she was currently flirting with one of the cowboys in town for the rodeo, and Luke looked annoyed that she hadn’t noticed him.
“Hey, Annalisa, would you mind taking our orders?” Her eyes moved from Luke to his brother just in time to miss the intensity as his brother’s gaze landed on her. Reed had always suspected there was something between Luke and Annalisa, but he’d dismissed it more than once as not making any sense at all.
“Sure, Reed, y’all want a menu?”
“I don’t think we need a menu.” Annalisa clutched the pen in one hand and her order book in the other, the whole time keeping her eyes trained on Reed’s face. “I’ll have the club with no tomato, please.”
“Can I have a hamburger with no cheese and the home fries?” Brad asked.
“Sure.” She wrote that down, and Reed could see her visibly shake as she then had to turn her eyes on Luke, who still hadn’t taken his off her, and when her dark eyes met his green ones, he smiled. The look on Annalisa’s face was almost painful.
“Hi, Annalisa.”
She pushed her big glasses up on the bridge of her nose. “Luke. What can I get you?”
Reed was actually shocked as he watched his brother trace the lines of the little librarian’s thin body. When he made it back to her face, he winked at her and said, “What’s your special, Annalisa?” Reed looked at Brad. He could tell by the look on his little brother’s face that he’d found the exchange just as odd.
“We don’t really have one,” she said. “Just the same old stuff.”
Luke looked amused. “Okay then, sweetheart, I’ll take the same old thing. Give me one of Luke’s patty melts without the onions. I don’t want to ruin my breath in case opportunity strikes.” He winked at her again. Poor Annalisa looked like she wanted to duck behind the bar. Luke’s exploits with women were famous in town, but a girl like Annalisa wasn’t usually on his radar. Reed wondered what the hell he was doing. Annalisa left to take their order to the kitchen, but before Reed could say anything to his brother, Kadence was standing next to him.
“Hi.” The sight of her once again set his body on fire, and his mind went back to the night before. He still couldn’t believe that Kadence Wright had made love to him stone-cold sober.
“Hi,” she said with a smile that made his insides tingle. “Hi, Brad … Luke.” Brad smiled and said hello.
Luke let the smile he’d had on his face fall off. “Kadence.”
Reed supposed it was a start; they were at least talking to each other.
“Did Annalisa get your order?”
Reed reached up for her hand, and she gave it to him. He could see Luke roll his eyes out of the corner of his. “Yeah, she did. You two are busy. Where’s Lena?”
“She went into town to pick up the produce. She was supposed to be back by now, but she called a little bit ago and said there was a pile-up on the freeway and she was sitting in traffic.” She lowered her voice then and said, “Poor Annalisa hates this. I feel so bad for her.” Reed saw Luke open his mouth. He reluctantly took his eyes off of his pretty wife and trained them on his brother’s face. Luke stayed quiet. When Reed looked back at Kadence, she was tracing his bruised knuckles with her fingers and looking questioningly at his brother’s face.
Reed stood up. “Can I see you in the back for just a second?”
That time he got an audible sigh from Luke. Brad looked amused but slightly nervous. He was probably afraid Reed was going to snap again. As long as Luke kept his mouth shut, he was
safe.
“Sure,” she said as he led her through the crowd, stopping to say hello to a few of the townsfolk on the way. He didn’t miss the looks they got. Some of them were smiles, and others were as cynical as the look on Luke’s face. Once again, Reed couldn’t care less. All he cared about he was holding in his hand. When they got to the little alcove that led to the bathrooms, he stopped and put his hands on her waist.
“I want to kiss you so badly I didn’t think I was going to make it through the rest of the day.”
She laughed. “Well then, I guess you better do it.” He pulled her body against his and melded his mouth to hers. Everything about them seemed to fit so well. It was like she was the piece of the puzzle that had been missing from his soul. She’d been lost but now that she was back, she snapped right into place. He tasted her and played with her tongue and didn’t release her until he was completely out of breath. He pressed his forehead into hers while they both panted air back into their lungs.
When he could talk he said, “Thank you.”
She smiled and put her hands on the sides of his face. Kissing him softly again she said, “Thank you, Mr. McMurtry. Can I ask you a question?”
“Mm hmm.”
“How did you get that bruise on your knuckles?”
“Luke’s face.”
She laughed. “I don’t doubt he had it coming … but it’s hard for me to imagine you giving it to him. What brought that on?”
“He insulted my wife.”
She felt the lump in her throat swell. “I don’t want you fighting with your family because of me.”
“You still don’t get it, do you? You are my family, Kadence. I’d fight to the death for you. I love Luke and Brad and Ma and Stephanie … but from here on out, as long as you’ll let me, you will always come first. Luke is coming around to understanding that.”
“You’re something, Reed McMurtry, you know that?”
“I reckon ‘something’ beats ‘crazy,’ so we’re making progress.” She kissed him again before going back to work. He felt like he was floating. He’d never been so happy, and he prayed that if this was a long, elaborate dream, he’d never wake up.
CHAPTER TEN
THREE WEEKS LATER
Reed woke up to the smell of bacon. It was still dark outside so he figured he was imagining it or one of the guests in the cabins nearby was cooking. He rolled over to cuddle Kadence but realized she was gone and her side of the bed was cold. It was the first time in almost a month that he’d woken up without her, and a feeling of panic instantly seized his chest. Sitting up in the dark he said, “Kadence?”
He heard the door to the bedroom open and looked toward the light that suddenly flooded the room. She was framed in the doorway dressed in one of his long t-shirts. Her dark hair was disheveled and hanging loose around her shoulders. Her long, smooth, tanned legs were bare, and he felt an instant tug in the front of his pajama pants. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Good morning, beautiful. What are you doing?”
“I’m making you breakfast.”
He looked at the bedside clock. It was four-thirty in the morning. “You shouldn’t have gotten up so early to do that. I could eat at the main house on my way out.”
“You could,” she said. “But what kind of a ranch wife would I be if I kept sending you to your mother for your meals?”
“Come here.” He held out his arms to her.
“As tempting as that is, if I come over there you won’t get out of that bed and you’ll be late for work.”
“I don’t care.”
She giggled. “I know. I’ve seen firsthand how much you don’t care every day for the past three weeks. I thought we’d start out our anniversary by turning over a new leaf and getting you out the door on time.”
“Our anniversary?”
“You forgot our anniversary?”
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “One month?”
She smiled. “Yes, you remember.”
She turned to leave the room, and he said, “Kadence, if I skip breakfast we’d have time.”
“Time for what?”
“To um … consummate our anniversary.”
She laughed. “Come on, cowboy, your breakfast is getting cold.”
“Kadence?”
“Yes, handsome?”
“We haven’t really talked about this marriage thing lately. Are we going to have more anniversaries? Like the ones that come by the year?”
She did walk over to the bed then. She sat down next to him and said, “There are two things I was planning on doing today. One of them is telling you that if you’ll still have me, I’d love to be your wife … forever. I love you, Reed McMurtry.”
There was a parade in Reed’s head to match the chaos in his pants. Kadence loves me. That beautiful rodeo queen who had looked at him like he was nothing but an annoying, dirty-faced kid all those years ago was in love with him. It was what he’d lived his whole life since then to hear. He held on to her with one hand so she couldn’t leave and reached across her to the nightstand on his side of the bed. He stuck his hand way in the back until it made contact with the velvet box he’d hidden back there two weeks ago. He saw her pretty green eyes go wide when he pulled it out. “What is that?”
“Anniversary present,” he said. He left her sitting there and rolled out of the other side of the bed. He walked back around to her side and dropped down in front of her on one knee. “Kadence, the only regret that I have in my life today is that I didn’t do this right the first time. I’d like to do it right now if you’ll let me. Will you marry me, Kadence … again?” He flipped open the box and saw her eyes fill with tears as she looked at the antique silver ring inside. It had a tiny, delicate band and a solitary round diamond that was surrounded by a deep-green-colored stone. He heard her suck in a breath.
“It’s beautiful, Reed.” She moved her eyes from the ring to his face. Taking it between her hands she said, “Yes, I would love nothing more than to be your wife … again.” He drew up on his knees and pressed his lips into hers. God, he loved kissing her. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never like anything more. When he broke the kiss, he slid the ring out of the box and on her finger. It was a little big.
“I reckon the other McMurtry women were a little stouter than you.”
“The other McMurtry women? This is a family ring?”
He nodded. “It was my grandmother’s ring. She left it to Luke, since he was the oldest. He gave it to me, to give to you.”
The tears filled her eyes now. “Really? He knew you were going to give it to me?”
Reed laughed. “He’s coming around.”
“I guess so. God, I love it, Reed. I love you.”
“I love you too, Kadence. I always have.”
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything.”
“Will you meet me at the creek tonight when you finish work?” He felt a pang in his chest that he hadn’t felt in years. He hadn’t been to the creek since that night. Those were almost the exact words that she’d said to him fourteen years ago.
“Why?”
“Do you trust me?” she asked.
“With my life.”
She smiled and kissed him softly. “Good, because there’s something I need to do before I can marry you again.”
“Okay … I’ll be there.”
*****
Halfway through the day Brad noticed how distracted Reed was. He wondered at first if Luke was giving him a hard time again, but Luke seemed caught up in his own head. They were up on the ridge herding loose cattle back to the pasture so Stephanie had packed them a lunch. When they sat down underneath a tree to eat it, Brad said, “Nice day.” He got a grunt from Luke and an almost imperceptible nod from Reed. “Look at that cloud. It looks like Elle McPherson’s breasts.” That got him another grunt from Luke who didn’t look up from his sandwich. Reed actually glanced at the cloud and rolled his eyes before taking a bite of his. �
�Okay, what’s going on? What are you two keeping from me?”
Reed and Luke looked at each other like they’d just noticed the other one was there. “We’re not keeping anything from you. I don’t know what’s going on with our older brother. I was just thinking about Kadence … I gave her the ring today.”
Brad smiled. “Great, so when’s the real wedding?”
“Soon, I hope.”
“Why don’t you look happier?” Luke asked. “This is what you’ve wanted for over a decade.”
“I’m happy, just a little confused.”
“About what?” Brad opened the iced tea Stephanie sent and poured them each a cupful.
“She wants me to meet her at the creek tonight.”
Both of his brothers froze. Luke stopped chewing. Brad had been taking a drink of his tea and the cup was now frozen on his lips.
“Why?” Luke finally said.
“She won’t tell me. She just asked me to trust her.”
He saw his brothers look at each other, and Brad was the one to finally say, “You know I’m not usually a suspicious one … but you don’t think she’s been … I mean, she wouldn’t …”
“Pretend to like you so that she could torture you one last time?” Luke said.
Brad shot him a dirty look. “No, I don’t think so,” Reed said. “She says she loves me and I told her that I trust her with my life and I meant it, and I think she meant it too.”
The three of them were silent then, and Reed wondered if his brothers were remembering that night too.
*****
The sun was just beginning to go down when Reed parked his truck next to Kadence’s little car in the parking lot above the park that led down to the creek. He sat there for a few minutes with butterflies in his stomach before telling himself that he was being ridiculous. Kadence didn’t have any intention of hurting him again.
He forced himself to get out of the truck and walked down the grassy hill that led to the river. He could just make out her silhouette near the riverbank. She was facing him, and the creek was in the background, as well as the bridge her friends had stood on that night.
To Love And Honor A Cowboy (Cowboy Nuptials Book 2) Page 6