by Day Leclaire
He shot her an infuriated glance. “If you value your life, don’t go there. I don’t expect you to pay for a damned thing. Clear?”
She studied the glittering shards of their wineglasses dotting the carpet. “Clear as Waterford crystal.”
“I’ll have a little chat with Hutch in the morning and get this nonsense straightened out. In the meantime, I think there’s a dish or two on the cart that hasn’t been dumped. Why don’t we shower and meet back down here in ten minutes?”
Sensing it was wiser to agree than argue, she acquiesced with a nod. “Though I would like to suggest we try paper plates.”
There was a moment of absolute silence and then a reluctant laugh from Ty. “With plastic knives and forks?”
She grinned. “And foam cups for the wine.”
He gave her a gentle push toward the door. “Go on and get cleaned up. And don’t worry about the mess, okay?”
“I’ll try not to worry too much.” She hesitated in the doorway. “By the way...thanks for filling up the gas tank. It was sweet of you.”
“I didn’t want you to run out,” he said with more than a touch of irony. It only took a second for her to catch the double meaning.
The instant she had, she did precisely that. She ran.
“What do you mean, we’ve run out?” Cassidy coasted her car to the side of the road in the nick of time. The engine gave a final coughing sputter and died. “How can we be out of gas? I topped off the tank on my way back from San Antonio three days ago.”
“Let’s see, three days ago...” Ty frowned in mock concentration. “Oh, right. That would’ve been the day you went into town to do...things, as I recall.”
She folded her arms across her chest and locked gazes with him. “Exactly. Things.”
“Well, one of the things you might have considered doing was filling up the tank.” Ty pointed at the gauge, flicking it with his finger. “When that needle points to the big E, it means you’re sucking fumes. Or didn’t Hutch ever explain that to you?”
“Oh! I’m telling you I topped off the tank on my way back to the ranch,” she argued. “I should have a full tank. See that F at the top of the dial? Hutch told me that means full and that’s what the damn tank should be.”
He grinned at her sarcasm. “Why, I do believe my sweet Southern belle just said a naughty word.”
“Damn it all, see what you made me do? I never swear.”
“It’s all my fault, right?”
“Hey, you’re the one who insisted we take my car into town.”
“With good reason, if memory serves. I wanted my mechanic to check it out while we picked up groceries for Edith. If you’re still bent on driving this thing all the way to Georgia, I’d feel a lot better if it had a chance of actually getting you there.”
“Thanks a lot. Instead we’re out of gas in the middle of nowhere like a couple of teenagers on their first date.” She glared at him, her gray eyes as stormy as a weather front. “Why did you have to live in the middle of nowhere? What’s wrong with civilization anyway?”
He shrugged, planting a booted foot against the inside of the door. “I like some space between me and my neighbor,” he said, giving the door a good hard kick. It reluctantly creaked open, allowing him to escape. He reached into the back and plucked out the plastic bags of groceries. “You coming?”
She wasted several seconds shoving at the door on her side before giving it up as a lost cause. Wiggling out from behind the steering wheel, she tumbled headfirst through the open window. “How far is it to the ranch?”
“Not far. Fifteen, twenty miles. If we hustle, we’ll be there by dinnertime.” He tried not to chuckle at her expression. “I’m kidding, honey.”
Relief blossomed across her expressive face. “It’s not fifteen or twenty miles?”
“Oh, it’s that far all right. But I expect we’ll get a lift before we’ve hiked too many hours.”
“Thank heaven.”
He pointed his boots toward home and kicked them into gear. “And when we get there, I’m going to have to kill your son again.”
“Hutch? What does he have to do with...?” She slowed to a stop, then turned around to glare at her car. “Oh, he didn’t!”
“Odds on he did. Like teenagers on a first date, remember? Running out of gas is a classic.”
With an exclamation of fury, she caught up with Ty, relieving him of some of the grocery bags. “You’re not killing him,” she announced in no uncertain terms.
“I’m not?”
“No. Because I’m gonna do it first.”
“You know why he’s pulling all these stunts, don’t you?”
Cassidy blew out a sigh. “I know. But that doesn’t mean he can keep setting us up like this. The bedroom incident was bad enough.”
“Actually, I liked the power outage best.” To his delight, a blush licked across her cheekbones. “That one came closest to working, don’t you think? Of course, if we’d gone much further, one of us would have ended up with glass in our—”
“Talking to him hasn’t helped,” she hastened to cut in. “Perhaps if we simply ignored him? Once he sees it’s not working, maybe he’ll stop.”
“And is it?”
“Is it what?”
“Is it not working?”
Cassidy quickened her pace. “No,” she said emphatically. “It’s not.”
“Okay. Is it working now?”
Cassidy sagged to the floor of the saddle house, anger warring with her sense of the absurd. It had been close to a week since the incident with the car and they’d both hoped Hutch had given up on his little attempts to throw them together. Apparently, they were wrong. “I’m not so easily won over. You should know that.”
“You’d think I’d have bought a clue by now,” he muttered. He tried the knob to the small wooden building for the fiftieth time. It remained as solidly locked as the last time he’d attacked it. “Just what the hell did that kid think we were going to do in here anyway?”
“Talk?” she suggested. “Settle our differences?” Kiss? She played with the leather reins of a bridle dangling from a peg on the wall. The metal bit clunked overhead and she hastened to let go of the reins so the whole dam thing didn’t fall on top of her. “Who can say with him? I haven’t been able to follow his thought processes since he was four. I’m not likely to figure it out now that he’s ten.”
“What about Lonnie?” He skirted a pile of saddle blankets and ropes and joined her on the floor, dropping his Stetson onto his bent knee. “How did he handle Hutch?”
Her mouth thinned. “He handled his son the same way he handled everything.”
“He ran.”
“As fast and as far as his wallet would allow. Which was rarely too far since we were always broke.”
“Did Hutch’s brilliance intimidate him?”
“You might say that.” She looked up at him. “Does it intimidate you?”
Ty tipped his head back against the wall, exposing the long, tanned line of his throat. “Hutch asked me that a number of times. Asked if it bothered me that he’s so smart.”
“And does it?”
“Not a lick. The only thing that bothers me is that he won’t stop this nonsense. I thought you said ignoring it would help.”
“I guess it’s going to take a bit more ignoring.”
“Or a few more chores to keep the boy too busy for mischief.”
She gave a ladylike snort. “How long does it take to send me out here on a fool’s errand and lock the door as soon as I step inside?”
“Wily little brat.”
“He’s certainly determined. Which makes me think...” She pulled her legs tight against her chest and rested her chin on her knees. Ty wouldn’t like this next part. Heck, she didn’t much like it herself. But she had to do something to put an end to this nonsense. “This is getting out of hand. It’s time I made a serious effort to find a job and a new place to live.”
“I thought you were goi
ng to stay here until after the Fiesta.” His voice rumbled like a threatening volcano. “Staying here saves your having to pay rent and—”
“And gets Hutch’s hopes up. It can’t be good for him to spend so much time and energy throwing us together. Eventually, he’s going to get frustrated. And angry.”
Ty thrust a hand through his hair. “I think we were better off when we were ignoring the kid,” he muttered. “Where the hell did all this talk of leaving come from?”
“You know it’s always been in the works.”
“Look...as long as we’re here, we might as well put the time to good use. You keep saying you don’t want to get involved again, but we already are.”
“No—”
“The real question,” he said, cutting her off, “is why you’re so afraid to admit it. What harm will it do to confess having feelings for me?”
What harm? It would destroy her, that’s what harm it’d do. When the passion died, as it was bound to, it would leave two strangers sitting in a room staring at each other. Perhaps there’d be other children by then, in addition to Hutch. More children to be made miserable when Ty got itchy feet or grew tired of seeing her face across the breakfast table each morning.
“It would cause too much pain when the relationship ended. And it would cause Hutch irreparable harm.”
“Who says it’s going to end?”
She leaped to her feet. “I do. And it will. It always does.”
“That’s the biggest load of bull—”
The door swung open and Lorenzo walked in. He took one look at Ty and Cassidy and the expressions on their faces, did a quick one-eighty and hustled back outside.
“No, wait!”
Cassidy erupted toward the door. Along the way, she somehow managed to snarl her feet around a coil of rope and did a header straight for the floor. Ty caught her at the last possible instant. With a sigh, he tossed her over one shoulder and thrust the door open with the other.
“Sorry to be so clumsy,” she told his back in a tiny, subdued voice.
“Clumsy? You?” Ty scooped his Stetson up off the floor and crushed it down on top of his head. “Hadn’t noticed.”
Ty stood on the porch and gazed out over his property with intense satisfaction. The past two and a half weeks had been the most interesting, frustrating and pleasurable he’d ever experienced. He’d become accustomed to having Cassidy nearby and—despite Hutch’s antics—found the boy’s inquisitive nature and undisguised enjoyment of their time together more fulfilling than he could have imagined. It fueled his soul.
Cassidy joined him on the porch, carrying a pair of steaming mugs. “It’s chilly this morning. I thought you could use this to take the edge off.”
“Thanks,” he said, accepting the coffee. “But don’t let this April cold snap fool you. It’ll warm up soon enough. By this afternoon, it’ll be on the high side of eighty-five.”
“Wish I owned a swimsuit.”
He grinned. “Not necessary for my benefit. I can make sure you have the pool area all to yourself and you can enjoy the fine art of skinny-dipping. I’ll even give you a few pointers if you want.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He sidestepped her elbow and even salvaged most of his coffee. Sheer self-protection had taught him to stay fast on his feet these past weeks. With a few years under his belt or a decade or four, he’d have a black belt in Cassidydodging. He looked forward to it. “Don’t forget about our Fiesta date,” he thought to remind her. “We’ll be leaving after lunch today and staying at the Menger for a couple of nights.”
“I had forgotten,” she admitted. He could tell something was bothering her by the way she gnawed on her lower lip. She finally turned the poor thing loose, leaving it plump and red and tempting as hell. “Is this really necessary? Can’t we have our dates here instead of going to the expense of a hotel?”
“Here everyone’s watching. There I’d have some privacy with you and wouldn’t have to spend all day checking over my shoulder to see what stunt your son’s about to pull.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue the point. “Give it up, Cassidy. Hutch bought the Fiesta special and that’s what he’s getting. The reservations are already made and Willie agreed to stay with the boy while we’re gone. She’ll arrive in time for lunch.”
A frown formed between her brows warning that she hadn’t given up the argument quite yet. “I don’t know, Ty. I think we should talk about th—” She broke off, shading her eyes against the early morning sun. “Speaking of Hutch...what’s he doing?”
Ty squinted. No question, the kid was up to no good. He was busily passing something from hand to hand as he slipped across the yard. As focused as he was on whatever he held, he hadn’t noticed them yet. The boy stepped into a patch of sunlight and Ty caught a flash of yellow and red.
“Oh, sh—” He vaulted over the porch rail and loped toward Hutch, fighting for calm so he wouldn’t frighten the boy.
Progress Report
Everything’s proceeding right on schedule. Well...maybe a little slower than on schedule. But I have high hopes. Just a few more experiments and I should have Mom and Ty right where I want them. Married and living happily ever after.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Experiment #8: Writing this one up ahead of time. Haven’t finished with experiment seven yet, but this is it! Time is running out.
Goal: Mom needs to tell Ty everything. I don’t think he knows she has a secret. Heck, she didn’t even squeal to me about it. Not that she had to. I figured it out a long time ago. But I think she’s afraid to tell Ty. Afraid he won’t love her.
Procedure: Slip the letter that came for her today into her suitcase without her seeing.
“HEY, boy,” Ty said quietly. “Nice snake.”
Startled, Hutch looked up, a guilty expression creeping across his face. “I found it,” he said, moving to hide the reptile behind him.
“Whoa there! Don’t do that.” Ty spoke more sharply than he’d intended and fought to moderate his voice. “Hutch, listen to me. I want you to put the snake down. Nice and easy.”
“It’s just a longnose.” He held out his hands, allowing the snake to wriggle from one palm to the other. “I found it on a rock. I think it was after some sun cuz it’s so cold this morning. Did you know that a longnose—”
“You can tell me all about it after you put it down,” Ty interrupted with an edge of desperation.
Cassidy joined them, flinching back when she saw what Hutch was holding. “Oh, yuck! Why did you pick that up? You know how much I hate snakes.”
Hutch’s gaze skittered away. “Longnoses are really interesting, Mom. And pretty. I wanted to study him for a bit before letting him go.”
Ty glanced at the barn and saw a few of his wranglers headed toward them. If he couldn’t convince the boy to get rid of the snake fast, all hell would break loose and someone would end up on the wrong side of a set of fangs. “Hutch, listen carefully. If you don’t put the snake down right this second, I’m going to start talking to your mom about caliper switches and eviction notices.”
It worked like a charm. Hutch tossed the snake aside. The closest wrangler saw it, let out a holler and began stomping his 13D Justin mulehides all over the fleeing reptile. With loud shouts, the others followed suit. Ty grabbed Cassidy and her son and hustled them from the scene of the massacre.
“Did you see what they did?” Hutch demanded indignantly. “Why didn’t you make them stop?”
“Because if they hadn’t killed it, I would have. That was no longnose, boy.”
“Not a—” Hutch skittered to a halt, his face paling. “That was a coral snake? I thought they were nocturnal.”
“They’re poisonous, aren’t they?” Cassidy asked uneasily.
Hutch nodded vigorously. “They’re a member of the cobra family. And I actually picked one up. Cool! Heck, if it had bitten me, I’d probably be—”
Ty caught the boy in a bear hug, effectively muffling what he’d been about
to say. “Sorry. You’d have been real sorry. No harm done, Cassidy.” She didn’t look terribly convinced. He strove to sound casual and came close enough to pass muster if no one was listening too carefully. “Hey, would you mind rustling up some more coffee? I’m afraid I spilled mine.”
“But the snake...?”
He risked a quick glance over his shoulder. “Not likely to bother anyone any time soon.” He made a mental note to make sure the few grisly pieces the wranglers had left behind were cleaned up before Cassidy returned. Fortunately, she didn’t realize how bad the situation might have been if corals weren’t so docile or if this particular one hadn’t been fresh out of hibernation and too cold to kick up a fuss at being handled. If she’d known, she and the boy would undoubtedly be packed and gone within the hour. “Er... the coffee?”
“Okay,” Cassidy said with a shrug. “I’ll get it.”
“Thanks.” The instant she disappeared inside, Ty confronted Hutch. “You’ve really done it this time, boy. I’d talk fast, if I were you.”
“I didn’t know it was a coral. Honest.”
“Kid, you know everything. How could you not know that? You must have heard the expression, ‘Red and yellow, kill a fellow. Red and black, can’t hurt Jack.’ If the red and yellow bands are together, keep away from it. Got it?”
Hutch nodded. “Sorry, Ty. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Well, you did. If anything had happened to you...” Ty’s jaw worked for a moment. “I would’ve had a hell of a time getting your mom to lay off the waterworks,” he finished gruffly.
“Yeah. She would’ve been upset.” Hutch hesitated. “Lonnie wouldn’t have been, though.”
Ty frowned. Where the hell had that come from? “Now why would you say such a thing?”
The boy made a face. “He didn’t like me much. That’s why he and Mom broke up, you know. Because of me.”
“I thought it was over June July.”
“April Mae.” A brief grin flashed. “Naw. She wasn’t the real reason. It was my fault.”