Harlequin Blaze June 2015 Box Set: Midnight ThunderFevered NightsCome On OverTriple Time

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

She didn’t, either, but she still glanced around.

  “Even giving myself a ten-percent margin for bias, your jewelry is terrific. I don’t understand where this insecurity is coming from.”

  Her eyes burned a little at his praise. She wanted to stay right where she was, her face half buried in his chest until they could leave. “I wish I’d had the time and supplies to make better stuff. Some of this goes back to my college days. I only brought them because I was desperate.” She drew back. “Sadie was so nice to rent me a booth. I couldn’t sit here with nothing. But honestly, I really should’ve thrown some of this junk out or donated it by now.”

  Frowning, he took a long considering look at her, and then at the displays. “You’re not seeing clearly. I don’t see any junk here.” He sounded a bit put-off. Probably sick of her self-pity, and she didn’t blame him.

  Clearing her throat, she straightened, smiled. “You’re right. I told you I was being ridiculous.”

  He obviously wasn’t buying her born-again act. A scowl darkened his face. “I’d sure like five minutes alone with the person who did a number on you.”

  “What? No. I’m a very good designer. I know that. For God’s sake, I’ve designed rings and necklaces for celebrities from all over the country. It’s just—” She sighed. “I haven’t done this sort of work in a while.”

  Still troubled, he opened his mouth to say something but someone called out to him.

  “Trent Kimball. I thought that was you. It’s been a long while.” The stout graying woman displaying lovely handmade quilts down the way from them strolled over. “How are your folks doing?”

  “Fine,” he said. “Just fine. And yourself, Mrs. Stanley?”

  “Can’t complain. Retirement has its ups and downs.”

  “I imagine so.” To Shelby he said, “Mrs. Stanley was my sixth-grade teacher.” He made a quick introduction, and Shelby managed to get out a hello before a throng of people coming toward them sent Mrs. Stanley scurrying back to her booth.

  The crowd swelled and thinned for the next three hours. Trent stayed with her a good deal of the time, when he wasn’t being pulled away to the cavernous warehouse-looking building where horses and other livestock were being judged for one thing or another.

  A cute girl in her early teens challenged him to enter the pie-eating contest. He’d only laughed. When her pushing went from cute to bothersome he’d told her, in no uncertain terms, it wasn’t going to happen. Shelby would never tell Trent, but she understood why the girl had been so insistent. Or that half the women at the fair had given him a twice-over. And the other half needed glasses.

  Shelby heard there would be a junior rodeo later in the evening. At the same time tomorrow was the much-anticipated demolition derby with a five-thousand-dollar prize going to the person who took first place. The event was sold out, Gladys had told her, so the crowd would be bigger tomorrow evening. Apparently Gladys’s sales were in line with Shelby’s, as in pathetic.

  The good news was, her stomach had settled down. In the bad news column—out of boredom, she’d eaten a hot dog, half an order of disgusting nachos, a frozen lemonade and three chocolate-chip cookies from the booth on the other side of her. Now she was contemplating a funnel cake. If all that food made her sick, at least she’d have an excuse to go home.

  “Here you are. How are you doing?”

  Shelby turned, pleased to see it was Sadie. “Okay. Did you just get here?”

  “Nah, a couple hours ago.” She inclined her head toward the building. “Putting out fires. You’d think some of those cocky hotheads were putting their private parts on display instead of their livestock.”

  Shelby laughed. “Men.”

  “Amen, sister.” Sadie reached for a pair of earrings and held them up. Dangling from a brass crescent moon, three strings of glass beads caught the late sun. “This is pretty.”

  Biting her lip, Shelby said nothing. The three times she’d seen the woman, Sadie hadn’t worn jewelry. She was just being nice. It made Shelby feel worse.

  “Oh, look at these.” She held up another similar pair, only with a brass sun, and the longer beads a mix of purple and gold. “I’ll take them both,” she said and pulled out money from the neckline of her yellow knit top.

  “You don’t have pierced ears,” Shelby said.

  Sadie snorted. “They aren’t for me. I don’t wear jewelry. My daughter and granddaughter will love ’em in their Christmas stockings. Purple and gold are Julie’s school colors. How much do I owe you?”

  Shelby forced a smile. “The price should be on the back of the card.”

  Sadie turned it over and frowned.

  “Too much?” Shelby searched her pockets for the pen. “I can reduce it.”

  “Had to cost you more than this for the material.” Sadie passed the earrings to her. “Better check the others. Make sure you didn’t make a mistake with them, too.”

  Shelby stared at the price. “I guess I wasn’t thinking,” she murmured. “Please. Pay me what’s marked. That’s fair.” She quickly wrapped the earrings in white tissue paper. “I’ll check the other prices.”

  “Be sure that you do,” Sadie said, with a glance toward the parking area. “These first few hours are always slow. People are knocking off work about now and trust me, pretty soon they’ll be here in droves.” Sadie accepted the wrapped earrings and passed over the money. “It’s the correct amount. No change. See you later, hon.”

  Shelby fisted the bills, knowing full well that Sadie had paid her too much. But calling her on it would likely create a scene. Last thing Shelby wanted. The sun was sinking, leaving her to decide on a new spot for her folding chair.

  She thought about Sadie’s advice on the pricing, and admitted she was probably right. Shelby was out of touch with the real world. People who had money rarely cared about what baubles cost, especially if they were meant to impress.

  First she found her pen, then quickly scanned the stickers and tried to make reasonable price adjustments. Something made her look up. Trent was headed toward the booth, tall, posture straight and looking ridiculously hot in dark jeans, a tan Western-cut shirt and brown Stetson.

  Of course someone stopped him to talk, but in less than a minute he was walking right to her, a smile on his handsome face. Just watching him made her skin tingle.

  “Better be careful, young lady,” he said, his voice low and gravelly, moving in so close he forced her to tilt her head back to look at him. “Eyeing a man like that could give him the wrong idea.”

  “Or the right one.”

  Grinning, he pushed back the rim of his hat and briefly kissed her. “How’ve you been doing?” Without waiting for an answer, he swooped in for another brush across her lips.

  Sighing, she drew back, her gaze fastened to his. “People are probably watching.”

  “Let ’em.”

  She ducked back, placing a refraining hand on his chest. “I should tell you...I signed you up for the chili cook-off.”

  His confused frown quickly turned into a smile. “Very funny. I seem to remember you cleaning your plate.”

  “I’m not complaining. But you’re a much better kisser than a cook.”

  “There you go.” Their lips barely touched.

  “Trent Kimball, quit bothering that poor woman and let her sell her wares.”

  Evidently he recognized the voice. “Rachel McAllister,” he said, before turning to the woman with gorgeous auburn hair. “Still causing trouble.”

  “It’s not McAllister anymore, smart-ass.” She was about Shelby’s age, close to the same height. Her laughing eyes and friendly smile made Shelby like her instantly.

  “That’s right. I heard you roped some poor bastard into marrying you.”

  “Poor bastard,” Rachel repeated in a deadpan voice. “Matt’s the lu
ckiest guy in the world.” She jerked a thumb at the building. “Go ask him.”

  The blonde woman accompanying her smiled, but kept sifting through the necklaces.

  “He must be helping out with the junior rodeo tonight,” Trent said, then as an aside to Shelby, “I don’t know if you follow rodeo. Matt Gunderson is a champion bull rider.” He introduced her to Rachel.

  Then Rachel introduced the blonde woman as Jamie. She was married to Cole, Rachel’s older brother. Trent seemed to know the whole family. They mentioned the Sundance, which sounded familiar, and then Shelby remembered it was the dude ranch Abe at the variety store had mentioned. Had it really been two weeks already? Wow.

  “I would’ve invited you to the wedding, but I didn’t hear you were back until a week later.” Rachel was saying when Shelby rejoined the conversation. “Why didn’t you tell anybody?”

  “I got here in March, just in time for that last snow. The Eager Beaver needed a lot of work before I could settle in. I barely had time to breathe.”

  “You should’ve called,” Rachel said. “You know my brothers. They would’ve been right there to give you a hand.”

  Shelby felt her chest knotting. She didn’t know how much longer she could last keeping Violet’s claim from Trent. Aware of Rachel’s gaze on her, Shelby wasn’t sure if she’d turned as green as she suddenly felt or if it was just curiosity on Rachel’s part.

  “These are really nice,” Jamie said, holding up a necklace. “Did you make these, Shelby?”

  She nodded, glad for the diversion. “That’s an older piece. I didn’t know about the fair in time or I would’ve had a better selection.”

  “Are you kidding? These are great.” Jamie set the necklace aside and picked up another one.

  Rachel’s attention turned to the jewelry. “Turquoise.” She reached around Jamie for the silver heart-shaped earrings with the turquoise center. “I went to school in Dallas. I love all the turquoise and silver they have in Texas. Wow, these are heavy but really terrific.”

  Jamie glanced over at them, looking seriously interested.

  “Sorry,” Rachel told her. “I’m buying them.” She scanned the other two tables and picked up another turquoise-and-silver combination.

  “Okay, now you’re just being a pig,” Jamie said, and Rachel laughed. Though Jamie seemed a bit annoyed.

  While they continued looking, Shelby slanted a glance at Trent. He stood back, arms crossed, a satisfied smile on his face. Catching her gaze, he winked. If he’d orchestrated this whole thing she was going to kill him.

  The two women attracted more shoppers. Within minutes all three tables were crowded with lookers, most of them sifting through the jewelry and asking questions about the different material and stones Shelby used. Whether they bought anything or not, the women all had very nice things to say about Shelby’s work.

  She kept casting glances at Trent. Most of the time he was engaged in conversation, sometimes with a guy he’d gone to school with or a friend of his parents. Even an old girlfriend of his had stopped to chat. She had a baby on her hip, and two more little ones trailing after her.

  The whole time they spoke Trent kept unconsciously loosening his collar, looking more and more like a man relieved he’d dodged a bullet. When the woman finally moved on, he stared after her with an expression of mild shock.

  “Do you want kids?” Shelby asked before she’d considered how the question would sound.

  He blinked at her, then narrowed his eyes.

  She felt a blush and gestured vaguely in the direction of the woman and her children.

  “Oh.” He removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “I think two would be enough.”

  His gaze intensified when he met her eyes, and she was really, really glad to hear someone say, “Excuse me, miss. I have a question.”

  For the next two hours, the crowds steadily increased. Trent had wanted to help but there was nothing for him to do except handle the money. He knew so many people, several he hadn’t seen in years, so Shelby encouraged him to go catch up with his old friends.

  As soon as the rodeo started, the crowd thinned. Shelby had sold a lot and was deciding on whether to follow Gladys’s lead and shut down the booth for the night when Rachel showed up.

  “Oh, I think Trent’s inside,” Shelby told her.

  “I know. I saw him.” She pursed her mouth, looking hesitant. “I have a favor to ask, and if you say no it’s fine. I promise. No pressure.”

  “Okay.” Shelby maintained a blank face, convinced things were about to get awkward. Of course this had to do with Trent. “Ask away.”

  “Would you mind giving me a peek at the rest of your stuff? You know, the jewelry you’re putting out tomorrow.” Rachel gave her a sheepish smile.

  “Um, I—”

  “I’m really not being a pig.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s for Christmas presents. For Jamie and my other sister-in-law. Or I wouldn’t ask.”

  Shelby was speechless. Was this Trent’s doing? While she appreciated his good intentions, she would kill him.

  Rachel sighed. “I’m sorry. Pretend I didn’t open my big mouth.”

  “No. Wait.” What if she was wrong about Trent? “I’m hesitating only because I don’t have anything else. This is it.”

  Rachel glanced at the dozen or so pairs of earrings, the lone necklace that was left on the table. The other two tables had already been folded up and put away thirty minutes ago.

  “Are you kidding?” Rachel seemed genuinely shocked. “You have nothing else. The fair runs two more days.”

  “I wasn’t prepared,” Shelby said, miserable and embarrassed. “I had no business taking up a booth when I didn’t know a thing about this fair.”

  “Oh, no, it doesn’t matter.” Rachel waved away the concern. Nose wrinkled, and staring off, she gave the impression she was thinking hard. “This is your main business, right? How you make your living?”

  “Now.” Shelby nodded. “Yes.”

  “I have an idea. How about you hang onto whatever you have left here...I’ll even loan you the pieces I bought. I’ll get Jamie to do the same,” she said, waving a hand as if it was a done deal. “So you can at least take orders and make the jewelry after the fair. What do you think?”

  Stunned and seriously touched, Shelby gaped for a moment. “That you’re brilliant,” she said finally.

  Rachel laughed. “We’ll get along just fine.” She held out her bags. “Feel free to pass around the part about me being brilliant.”

  Her thank-you came out choked.

  “Oh, Shelby.” Rachel dropped the bags on the table and came around to give her a hug. “It’s nothing. We’re a small, friendly town. We help each other. Well, most of us do. I can think of a few people I would love to kick in the tush, but hey...”

  Shelby laughed and blinked several times before she embarrassed herself. No tears had actually fallen and she wanted it to stay that way.

  Rachel released her. “I’ll talk to Jamie, but I’m sure she’ll be on board. She’s inside with Cole and my other two brothers. Maybe you’ll meet them later. If not, someday.”

  Shelby nodded. “You really are brilliant.”

  “I know.” Rachel grinned. “Don’t look now but the kissing bandit’s coming.” She stepped back. “Trent’s one of the good guys. I’m glad he’s come home. And that he has you. I bet you and I will be friends.”

  Shelby just nodded. Her eyes still burned and if she tried to speak she’d be toast. Rachel was right. This was Trent’s home. And Shelby was nothing but an interloper looking for an easy way out of her old life.

  16

  THE FAIR ENDED after three successful days. Shelby had seemed to enjoy herself, and hadn’t minded a bit when he’d had to run home to take care of Griffin. Trent had mad
e it a point to be there for the tear-down, but enough people had volunteered that he didn’t feel guilty leaving early to get Shelby home. Poor woman was exhausted.

  They weren’t too far from the Eager Beaver. Neither of them had spoken in a while. Thinking she might’ve dozed off, he glanced over at her snuggled down in the passenger seat.

  She had her whole body turned toward him, her cheek resting against the back of the seat. “I have a confession to make,” she said.

  He felt his gut clench. She hadn’t been quite herself the past two days. He’d chalked it up to exhaustion. After a jarring silence, he took a curve in the road, then glanced back at her. She was yawning hugely. He smiled.

  “You know that first day when I met Rachel and Jamie?” she said, and he nodded. “I thought you put them up to it.”

  Trent frowned. “Put them up to what?”

  “Saying all those nice things about my jewelry. Buying all that they did.”

  “Why would I have done that?”

  “Because you felt sorry for me. You knew I was worried my jewelry wasn’t any good.”

  “Yeah, but I also knew that wasn’t true. And that you’d see for yourself soon enough.” He reached across the console for her hand. “Tell you the truth, I was a little worried. I knew people would snap up your stuff fast and then you’d be upset when you sold out.”

  Her hand felt cool and limp, and she didn’t respond. Even though the road was tricky for a couple of miles, he had to take a quick look at her.

  She blinked and turned her head.

  “Shelby?”

  “Careful. There’s a deer up ahead on the right.”

  “I see her.” He watched the doe hover at the side of the highway, then bound into the woods. He was more concerned with the suspicious glassiness in Shelby’s eyes. And the fact that she’d pulled her hand away. “Something bothering you?”

  “You mean other than I’ve been sleepwalking for two days and I have a ton of orders and no idea how I’ll ever complete them before Christmas?”

  “You will. I have faith in you.”

  She sniffled. Turned sharply to look out her window.