by Day Leclaire
“Oh.” She brightened at that little tidbit. “That would be lovely. How much is the rent?”
White hot anger shot through him. He managed to control it through sheer dint of will. Barely. “Maybe you better take Miz Mopsey and go wait in the pickup,” he advised softly. “Hutch and I will move everything over.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Her eyes widened in alarm and he knew it was just dawning on her that he was a hairbreadth away from thoroughly losing his temper. “Are you upset about something?”
“I’d be happy to discuss it with you another time.”
She planted her hands on her hips, compelling him to jump clear of her elbows. “Is it because I wouldn’t go home with you initially?”
Since Cassidy was intent on discussing this out on the sidewalk, he’d empty the pasture. No point in innocent bystanders getting injured in the ruckus when they locked horns. Ty caught Hutch’s eye and jerked his thumb toward the pickup. “Hutch, you wait in the truck with Miz Mopsey.”
Hutch looked from one to the other with interest. “You and Mom gonna fight?”
“Discuss, boy. We’re discussin’ the situation.”
“You might want to discuss, but I’ve seen Mom like this before. She wants to fight”
“Hutch!” Cassidy and Ty rapped out in unison.
“Fine. But you’re not fooling me.” Hutch stared pointedly at Ty. “I warned you I was smart. It doesn’t take a mental giant to see you two are ready to rumble.” With that astute observation, he gathered up his dog and trotted toward the pickup.
“There. See what you’ve done?”
Ty drew a deep breath. Patience. If he could just manage to hang on to his patience, he’d have the future Mrs. Merrick safely almost-tucked in his house. The cabin was just a few short steps away. No doubt an excuse would arise that would bounce the stubborn woman from there into his anns—and into his bed.
“Apparently, my eyesight isn’t that great,” he allowed, hustling Cassidy to the far side of the tree he’d been leaning against—and more importantly, out from under Hutch’s watchful eye. “What have I done?”
“You’ve upset my son.”
“Your son is not upset”
“You made me yell at him.”
“He handled it amazingly well.”
“I never yell at him.”
“He’ll live. Now, are you going to help load these boxes, or would you rather wait in the truck with Hutch?”
Her chin made a reappearance, poking in his direction. “I think it would be best if you drop us off at a motel.”
He’d had all he could take. Striking with a speed that would have done a rattler proud, he snagged her around the waist and yanked her up against him. He avoided her pinwheeling arms and a wayward knee with practiced ease. Her size ten sandals were another matter. Why the hell did the heels on women’s shoes have to be so damned pointy? Fortunately, his boots were tough and her accidently tromping on him didn’t hurt much more than when he’d broken his leg. He decided to ignore the crunching pain, especially since kissing her made it well worthwhile.
Their mouths collided, then joined in complete accord. Her lips were soft and moist beneath his, eagerly parting at the touch of his tongue. She wrapped around him with all the warmth of lamb’s wool on a frigid night and he returned the favor by easing into her with the same sigh he used slipping into a steaming hot tub after a hard day of wrangling.
His reaction to her touch was stronger than before. The closest he’d come to the sensation was when he’d slammed back a double shot of whiskey. The liquor-driven wildfire had shot from his throat straight to his gut and left him feeling both powerful and sucker punched, all at the same time.
Cassidy hit harder still. She also brought out every primitive instinct he possessed and every protective one, as well. He needed her in his life with a desperation he couldn’t mistake. Now all he had to do was convince her that she burned just as fiercely for him.
He pressed her against the tree trunk, leaning into her. Hell, he fell into her. His mouth moved more forcefully on hers and he filled his hands with her soft, plump breasts, thumbing the kemeled tips. She must have liked it. With a low groan, her nails climbed his back, carving deep, loving half-moons into his flesh. She even stopped grinding into his toe long enough to clip his ankle, wrapping a long leg around his. He only prayed he lived long enough for her to love him to death in bed.
The honking of a nearby truck horn forced him to release her.
She stared up at him, her gray eyes silver in the moonlight. “Are you trying to kiss me into submission?”
“Is it working?”
She hesitated. The instant he started to lower his head again, she broke into speech. “I think that was Hutch honking. Maybe we’d better load those boxes.”
“And where am I taking you?”
She cleared her throat, offering a tentative smile. “Would you be willing to put us up for a day or two?”
“And how much is the rent?”
“I believe...” She moistened her lips—plump, damp, delicious lips. Lips still carrying his taste, he was willing to bet. “I believe you offered to have us as your guests.”
“Now was that so hard?”
“I’m not used to having someone else in control. I’m usually the one who manages everything.”
“You think I’m trying to take over, is that it?”
“It sure feels that way.”
“Well, I’m not. I admire strong women. Hell, Willie’s about as tough as they come. The only time you’ll get a fight from me is when you’re choosing the most difficult path just to be ornery.”
“Going to a motel was not—” One look in his direction and she broke off what she’d been about to say and closed her mouth. Skirting the tree, she grabbed her precious rosebushes from the trunk of the car and trotted toward his pickup.
“At least life will never be dull,” he muttered to himself.
Depositing the potted bushes in the bed of Ty’s truck, Cassidy glanced at him over her shoulder, offering a dazzling smile. Uh-oh. “I have an idea. I can help around the ranch in exchange for room and board. How about that?”
He restrained himself from responding. It was tough, but he did it. “Nope,” he said beneath his breath. “It’ll play hell with my self-restraint, but it won’t be the least dull.”
Ty stood at the door of the cabin, his arms folded across his chest. “How did this happen?”
“I’m sorry, Ty,” Hutch said with a big show of contrition. “I musta left the door open when I took our clothes over to your laundry room. I guess the stupid critter snuck right in. Thank goodness we hadn’t unpacked your pickup yet.”
Cassidy sniffed, her expression clearly one of disgust “A skunk!”
“Don’t scrunch up your face like that, Mom,” Hutch whispered. “It’ll give you wrinkles.”
Ty’s foreman, Lorenzo, stuck his head in the doorway then swiftly withdrew. “Damnedest thing I ever heard of boss.”
“Isn’t it though.” Ty pinned his gaze on the shuffling ten-year-old beside him.
“There are six different types of skunks indigenous to Texas, you know,” Hutch volunteered, a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice. He fingered his glasses, nudging them higher on the bridge of his nose. “It coulda been a western spotted skunk. They favor rocky bluffs like this area around here.”
“Think so?” Ty asked very, very softly.
“Maybe.” The boy blinked rapidly. “I know it wouldn’t be the eastern spotted. We’re too far west for them. Or the hooded skunk. They’re pretty darned rare. And they tend to be farther south, as I recall.”
“You seem to recall quite a bit.”
“Well, I do remember a few facts from the books I’ve read. Like...” He swallowed, darting Ty a nervous glance before doggedly continuing. “Like it could also have been a striped skunk. ’Cept they’d rather be in the woods.”
“You read some we
ird books, kid,” Lorenzo offered “Ever tried comics?”
“No, sir. Not since I was three. As for the skunk...it could also be the common hog-nosed.”
“Don’t have any rooter skunks around here,” the foreman explained kindly. “Wonder what made him spray?”
Ty fixed his gaze on his soon-to-be son. “Or why he’d be out exploring during the day. Most skunks are nocturnal.”
Hutch swallowed visibly. “Gosh. Who knows? Maybe he has insomnia. That might have made him upset enough to spray.”
Ty glanced at Cassidy, his mouth tightening into a grim line. She looked like hell. No doubt she felt like it, too. Right now, she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders and this latest incident was one more crisis she didn’t need.
“Did it ruin anything?” she asked, tension vibrating through her voice.
“We were real lucky, Mom. None of our clothes got it since we had all that wash to do. And I hadn’t unpacked my computer yet.”
“Or much of the truck, by the look of things.” Ty stepped through the doorway of the cabin and inhaled deeply. The pungent aroma had already started to dissipate. Interesting. He’d never known skunk stink to be quite so accommodating. “Guess that only leaves us with one option.”
Cassidy nodded stoically. “Sure does. If you wouldn’t mind driving us to a motel, I’d be grateful.”
“No! We can’t! I mean—” Hutch broke off and shrugged awkwardly. “I was hoping we could move into the bunkhouse instead. I’ve never stayed in one before. It sure would be educational.”
Ty shook his head. “No way. That’s a men-only bunkhouse. And your mom doesn’t come close to qualifying.”
“Oh,” Hutch said with a return of last night’s angelic innocence. “Where could she stay? Hey! I know. How about in the main house?”
“I don’t think—” Cassidy began.
“Great idea.” Ty gave Hutch a hearty slap on the back. To his credit, the boy only staggered a little. “Cassidy, you can stay up at the main house, and Hutch can sleep in the bunkhouse with the wranglers. Hope you like getting up early, kid. My men roll out around five-thirty.”
“Five,” Lorenzo corrected with a wicked grin. “And since you’re off for spring break, chico, you can lend us a hand. See what wrangling’s really about. What do you say?”
Ty didn’t wait for the little genius to come up with an excuse. “Glad we have that settled. Lorenzo, get some of the men to move these boxes up to the main house. Hutch, you lend a hand.”
“I’m not sure about this,” Cassidy tried again.
“What could be better?” Ty wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll have a place to stay while you look for an apartment and a new job. And we can get all those pesky dates out of the way. It’s a win-win situation.”
“I guess....”
“Would you mind helping Edith direct traffic? She’ll show you the rooms you can use and you can tell the men which boxes go where.”
She brightened right up, just as he’d hoped. Figured. No doubt she found the idea of telling people where to put things too appealing to resist. Oh, yeah. It was going to be a very interesting marriage. He slanted Hutch a quick look. Once he explained who was in charge of this little party. He caught the boy by the scruff of his neck before he could scamper off, ignoring his desperate little wiggles to break free.
“While you help Edith, I’ll get Hutch settled,” he informed Cassidy with a winning smile, praying she wouldn’t notice her son squirming beneath his hold. She didn’t, and the minute she’d escaped hearing range, he addressed her son. “Give it up, boy. You might be able to talk rings around half of Texas, but you don’t have a prayer of talking your way from under my hand.”
Hutch scuffed a well-worn sneaker in the dirt, the fight draining clean out of him. “Okay. I won’t run.”
“You have something to tell me, boy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get to it.”
“It wasn’t a skunk that made that smell. I did it with some chemicals.”
“You mean you lied. Again.”
Hutch gulped. “Yes, sir.”
“What did I tell you about lying?”
“You don’t abide it.”
“No, I don’t. You have something more to tell me?”
Hutch attempted a smile, the angelic devil back for an encore. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“Don’t bother shoveling that line of bull with me. Unlike your mother, I know a cowpatty when I’m about to tromp through it. I’m talking about the apartment and the car.”
Hutch’s face collapsed into lines of defeat. “We were evicted. Honest. That much is true. But...” His chin wobbled briefly before he brought it under rigid control. “But only after I walked Miz Mopsey past Mrs. Walters’s door once or twice. Or maybe a bit more.”
Ty bit down on his tongue. Hard. “What about your mom’s car?”
“I disconnected the battery cables,” Hutch whispered.
“Why?”
“So you’d take us home with you. That way, you and Mom could...you know.”
“Oh, I know all right. But you sure as hell shouldn’t.”
Ty thumbed his Stetson to the back of his head as he mulled over his options. He had half a mind to clue Cassidy in on the whole sad story. But the stress he’d seen lining her face gave him pause. If he told, pride would force her into a motel. Not only would it add to her financial burden, but...damn it all. He’d only just gotten her here. He didn’t want her leaving. So, what the hell should he do?
Hutch echoed Ty’s thoughts. “What are you going to do?”
“If I was smart, I’d tell your mother about all the stunts you’ve pulled.”
“Hey, Ty? Since you don’t mind that I’m smart, I don’t mind if you aren’t,” Hutch offered generously.
Ty suppressed a laugh. Fixing a fierce scowl on his face, he said, “Don’t get cocky, kid. That’s three times you’ve hung me up with your lie. There better not be a fourth incident or you’ll live to regret it.”
“No, sir. There won’t be.” Hutch peeked up at him, for the first time looking far younger than his ten years. “Are you going to punish me?”
“There’ll be consequences, that’s for sure.” Maybe if he kept the boy busy, he wouldn’t have time for mischief. Doubtful, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. “First, get that cabin aired out. Then clean it from top to bottom. Edith will tell you where to find the supplies.”
“I’ll take care of it right away. Anything else?”
“Yeah. Just to make certain you don’t have the energy to come up with any more clever ideas, the next two weeks you’re going to learn all about wrangling. Lorenzo will be happy to teach you.”
Hutch grinned. “I can? Really?”
“Don’t get too excited. It’s hard work and long hours.”
The boy shrugged. “I’m used to that,” he said with heart-tugging sincerity. “I don’t mind.”
“Tell me that at the end of the two weeks and I might believe you. And finally, I want your word of honor that you’re through lying.”
“I am. I promise.”
“Not so fast.” Ty propped his size fifteen boot on the first step of the cabin and leaned down so he and Hutch were at eye level. “You take a minute to think about what I’m asking. A man’s word might be all he has to offer someone. You don’t give it lightly. And once given, you stick to it, no matter how tough it might prove to be.”
Hutch stared solemnly through the glinting lenses of his glasses. “No fudging, huh?”
“None.”
“Okay. I give you my word. I won’t tell any more lies.”
“Fair enough.” Ty held out his hand, engulfing the boy’s in a man-to-man shake. To his surprise, Hutch didn’t rush off but stood shuffling his feet some more. “All right, kid, spill it,” he prompted with a sigh.
“Well...” The boy adjusted his glasses for a moment before continuing. “Since we’re being so honest, I th
ink there’s something you should know.”
Just great. One more lie to keep from Cassidy. “What’s that?” he asked warily.
“It’s about the reason I bought Mom those dates....”
Ty waited, not quite sure where this latest confession was headed.
“You see...I went to Miss Willie’s because I wanted to get myself a dad,” Hutch revealed in a rush.
Okay, that wasn’t so bad. It merely confirmed what Ty had long suspected. “Yeah, I guessed as much. I wouldn’t consider that a lie, so don’t sweat it.”
“Thanks, but there’s another reason I bought Mom all those dates.”
That figured. “Go on.”
It took three more minutes of foot scuffing and throat clearing before Hutch managed to spit it out. “Mom’s planning on moving back to Georgia.”
Damn. “I hope you’re joking, kid.”
“I wish I was. You see, Mom’s aunt and uncle live there. They’re the ones who raised her. When she got married, they weren’t real happy about what she’d done. But now she wants to move back there so she can mend fences and put down roots. At least that’s what she said.”
Ty swore beneath his breath. He’d hoped to have time to slowly court Cassidy, to break down the barriers she’d spent so many years erecting. But it looked like their leisurely courtship was about to turn into a whirlwind romance. And unfortunately, it would take a hell of a lot more than sweet talk and kisses to persuade a certain wary divorcée to walk down the aisle with him. She wouldn’t be easily wooed back into the marriage bed, no doubt about that.
“When’s she planning to move?” he demanded.
“As soon as she’s saved enough money to make the drive and completed one last goal she set for herself.”
“Goal? What goal?”
Hutch shrugged. “Never said. But I know it’s important.”
“Okay. Thanks for warning me. I’ll take care of it.”
“What are you going to do?”
Ty glanced toward the main house and sighed. “Why don’t you let me worry about that particular problem? Maybe I can offer her some incentive to stay put for a while.”