by Various
“It was a joke for Carlene,” he said, feeling just a little irritated at both the constant questions and Carlene’s fixation with whoever had just walked in.
“Miss Carlene didn’t laugh.” Shelly’s observation didn’t improve Win’s mood any.
He fixed Carlene with an irritated frown. “No, she didn’t.”
Shelly turned her attention to Carlene as well. “Miss Carlene, why didn’t you laugh?”
Carlene turned to Shelly, making an obvious effort to collect her thoughts. “What was I supposed to laugh at?”
Shelly gave an exaggerated sigh. “Uncle Win’s joke, silly. He said it was funny, but you didn’t laugh.”
Carlene shifted her gaze to Win. He stared back, letting her see his irritation. She let out her own little sigh. “I’m sorry, Win. I missed it. Do you want to repeat it?”
He wanted to know what had her so rattled. “No. Humor lacks something when the spontaneity is missing.”
She winced. “Sorry. Uh, what do you think of your sundae?”
He looked down at the melting whip cream covering a mound of ice cream and toppings he had barely touched. “What is it?”
“French vanilla with hot fudge.” She reached over and dipped one of the napkins in the cup of water. Then, using the wetted napkin, she wiped the dripping ice cream from Jared’s fingers before handing him back his cone.
Then she turned her attention to Win. She reached across the table and picked up his spoon.
After scooping a bite of the concoction in his bowl onto it, she offered it to him. “Here, scaredy-cat. Take a bite.”
He would have told her he wasn’t afraid to try it, but when he opened his mouth she slid the spoon inside, managing to make it feel like a caress in his mouth. He licked the ice cream off the pink plastic spoon and she slowly withdrew it from his mouth. Then, spying a smidgen of fudge left on the plastic, she put it in her own mouth and licked it off.
“It’s one of my favorites. Do you like it?”
The sundae was delicious, but the sight of Carlene licking the spoon was sweet enough to give him a sugar rush. He took another bite of ice cream and swirled it around in his mouth pretending to think about it.
Carlene waited with anxious anticipation on her face for his verdict. He took another bite, making this one last longer than the last one. She seemed mesmerized by the way he ate his ice cream.
“It’s fine.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she couldn’t hide her small, shallow breaths. “Fine? I order you the classic of all classics in ice cream confectionery and you say it’s just fine?”
He kept his expression neutral. “It’s not quite the same experience as a double-scoop cone of Rocky Road.”
She sized him up with her gaze. “I see. I guess next time I’ll let you order your own ice cream.
Some people just don’t adjust well to change.”
He laughed. “Honey, it’s ambrosia and you know it.” Did she know how much he’d enjoyed her feeding him as well?
She must have because every once in a while she’d offer him a bite of her ice cream, or dip her spoon in his and feed it to him. The kids wanted to get in on the act, so Carlene shared hers with them, too. How she managed to be sweet and motherly with his niece and nephew and in almost the same breath turn around and send his hormones raging, he didn’t know. But, man, he liked.
He liked it a lot.
They were finishing their ice cream when he heard his name.
“Win Garrison. That you?”
He turned and looked up. Grant Strickland was striding toward them. Win stood and shook hands with the other man. “Strickland. How’s married life treating you?”
Grant’s new wife, Zoe, had been one of Leah’s friends when they were younger. Win hadn’t gone to the wedding because he actually didn’t know Grant and Zoe all that well. Leah was the one that had actually done part of her growing up and schooling here in Sunshine Springs. He and his sister had moved into Hank Garrison’s ranch home with their mother when Win was seventeen. Grant had been in his class in high school, but Win had been too busy learning the ropes of ranch life from Hank after school to make many friends.
Besides, Win made it a policy to avoid weddings whenever possible.
Grant’s smile was so blissful it was almost painful. “I’m a happy man.”
Win believed him. Maybe marrying your best friend was the one way a man could figure she wasn’t going to grow bored and leave. If she wanted to marry you after knowing you most of her life, she wasn’t likely to change her mind six months down the road.
Grant focused his gaze over Win’s shoulder. “Hey, Carlene.”
“Hi, Grant.” Her voice was quiet.
“You two know each other?” Win asked.
“I met him at the Dry Gulch.”
Win nodded. “She’s working for me now, as my housekeeper.”
Grant’s eyes widened in surprise, but his attention didn’t linger on Carlene. Leaning down, he ruffled Jared’s hair. “Hi, little guy. Leah’s your momma, isn’t she?”
Jared just ducked his head, but Win nodded. “Yep, these are Leah’s little ones.”
“I didn’t realize that Leah was in town. Zoe’ll want to see her.”
Carlene’s smile slipped and Win wondered if she was worried about him telling Grant that she was living at Win’s ranch temporarily while Leah’s kids were staying.
Win shrugged. “Actually, she’s not in town. Leah left the kids with me for a few days.”
Grant didn’t ask any questions as a woman would have. He just nodded. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’ve decided to shift the focus of my ranch from cattle to horses.”
“I heard.”
Leah had told him that Zoe, a vegetarian, got too upset when the cattle went to the stock sale.
Grant was changing his ranch and the way he made his livelihood to make his wife happy. Win wondered if he’d be willing to do the same thing for Carlene. The thought was so alien it made him frown. He had no plans to marry, not Carlene. Not anyone. She affected him as no other woman had, but he was still in control of his future and that future did not include a wedding.
“I was hoping you’d let me pick your brain on the running of a horse ranch. I’m not going to try to run a stable as well like you have, but I’m real interested in the Mustang herd. You’ve got one of the best reputations in the business.”
Win nodded, not at all flustered by the praise. It was true and he’d worked damn hard to make it that way. No sense denying it. “Come out anytime. I’ll show you around the operation although the ranch is pretty much Joe’s baby now. I’m damn busy with the stables.”
Grant laughed. “That’s what happens when you’re the best at what you do.”
“Or at least in the top ten,” Win said with a smile.
Grant nodded. “Well, Zoe’s at the pizza place. I saw your truck outside and decided to come in.
I’d better not keep her waiting.”
Grant turned to go, waiving a quick farewell over his shoulder to Carlene and Leah’s children.
When Win turned around, Carlene was busy washing Shelly’s face and hands. Jared looked as if he could use a little help too. Win dipped another napkin in the water and went to work on his nephew.
When he was finished, he asked Carlene, “You ready to go?”
“Sure. We’d better get these two in bed soon.” She didn’t quite meet his eyes and he wondered what she was thinking.
Was she regretting her earlier teasing? Did she think he would make her follow through on the offer she’d made in the courtyard before they left? The kids would be in bed soon, but he didn’t know what that was going to buy him.
Sometimes the female mind was too complicated for a mere man to comprehend.
Carlene tucked the blankets around Shelly and prayed that the little girl would sleep through the night.
Leaning down to kiss the soft skin of Shelly’s cheek, Carlene said, “Goodnight, sweet gi
rl.”
Shelly smiled sleepily. “Goodnight, Miss Carlene.”
Her eyes were closed before Carlene had turned to take Jared from Win’s arms. Win had changed the boy into pajamas and night-time underwear in case of accidents. Win shook his head at Carlene. “I’ll tuck him in.”
She nodded and left the room. She hadn’t expected Win to give her such an easy escape after her earlier teasing, but she certainly wasn’t going to make things more difficult for herself by sticking around.
The rumble of Win’s voice as he spoke to Jared trickled down the hall as Carlene made her way to her bedroom. She turned on the light and shut the door, relief flowing over her that she was saved from the confrontation over their relationship—at least for tonight.
What had possessed her to tease Win as she had in the courtyard, and then later at the ice cream shop? She had been playing with fire and Win was right. If she didn’t watch it, she was going to end up good and burned. Kicking off her sandals, she headed to the bathroom to wash off her makeup and brush her teeth.
Seeing Grant tonight had been a shock. She should have expected it. After all, he and Zoe lived on a ranch on the other side of Sunshine Springs. Carlene was bound to run into them once in a while. It wasn’t as if there were hard feelings between them either. She’d been invited to their wedding…and she’d gone. But seeing Grant while she was with Win had been disconcerting.
It made her realize how much of a mistake she’d made with him.
Unclipping her hair, she let it fall to her shoulders in a springy mass of dark curls. She finger-combed it, knowing the tight natural curls would just frizz out if she attempted to brush her hair out now that it was dry.
She had tried straightening it once. Her mother had thought that doing so might give her a more staid appearance, a more acceptable appearance. Carlene had found the procedure and the results less than pleasant. As she finished detangling her hair with her fingers she realized that her mother might never accept her as she was. She looked in the mirror and conceded that after her parent’s refusal to stand by her during the problems she had faced back home, that was no longer as important as it once had been.
However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t accept herself. Life was too complicated as it was without trying to be someone else.
So, who was she?
Was she the woman who had dressed in spandex miniskirts and tended bar at the Dry Gulch or was she the woman who wore her clothes loose and comfortable while tending house and cooking for Win Garrison?
She moved back into her bedroom and took a fleeting glance at the woman in the mirror.
Perhaps she wasn’t either of those women. Perhaps she was the woman standing before her, looking back from the mirror. A woman comfortable enough with her own body that she could wear clothes that enhanced her figure without needing to flamboyantly display every curve.
One thing was certain, she wasn’t the woman who had donned her work gear and tried to seduce Grant Strickland. Her face heated at the memory. Grant had asked her out first. The date had ended in disaster when Zoe’s pet hamster had come running into the kitchen.
Carlene had an unreasonable fear of rodents.
The second date, if you could call it that, had been entirely her idea. Grant had stopped by the Dry Gulch with a dozen red roses and Carlene had assumed that meant he was interested in pursuing a relationship.
Looking back, she couldn’t understand what had prompted her to act like a siren. The only explanation that she could think of was that for a month or two before Grant asked her out, she had become increasingly depressed and lonely, not to mention restless with her innocent and single status.
Grant was the first man that she had any real interest in for so long that she went for it. She acted out the part she assumed he had been expecting when he asked her out, that of the seductress. She didn’t seduce him. She succeeded in humiliating herself and causing a rift between Grant and Zoe. In her own defense, she had not realized that the two had become a couple. They’d been friends so long, no one, including Carlene, thought they ever would.
She didn’t think that mid-life crises occurred at twenty-six, but she didn’t have a better explanation for her behavior. It certainly bore no resemblance to her refusal to sleep with Win.
It wasn’t as if she had asked Grant if he were interested in marriage either. So, why make such a big deal out of it with Win? Why refuse herself and Win the sensual relief they both craved because of their lack of a future? It wasn’t as if she’d been sure she could have a future with Grant Strickland.
In a moment of stunning clarity she realized that although she had been attracted to Grant, she had been in no danger of falling in love with him. Their lack of a future hadn’t bothered her because she hadn’t necessarily wanted one with him, but she did with Win. She knew instinctively that if she gave herself to Win, she would be opening herself up to heartache beyond anything she had ever experienced—even the rejection of her parents.
She plopped down onto the side of the bed, unable to accept what her heart was trying to tell her. She could not allow herself to love a man who believed the solution to life’s problems lay in a no strings attached, short term affair. She couldn’t.
The only problem was that she had a horrible feeling that she already had.
She was so overwhelmed by her thoughts that she only vaguely registered the knock on her door. It wasn’t until the door swung open and Win walked into the room that she forced her scattering thoughts back into a pattern she could identify.
That pattern filled her with irritation.
“Win! What do you think you are doing just walking into my room? I could have been getting dressed, or something.”
His brow lifted in sardonic amusement. “Since we know the only ‘or something’ you are going to be engaging in will be with me and you are still decently covered, you might as well relax, honey.”
She shot to her feet, channeling all her tumultuous thoughts into the safer venue of anger.
“That’s not the point and you know it. I am your employee, not your wife, and I deserve some privacy.”
His frown at the word wife only underscored the differences between them. “Listen, honey, right now you’re a woman that has me tied up in knots. I’m definitely not thinking of you as my employee.”
She crossed her arms under her chest. “Well, maybe you should and save us both a lot of trouble.”
He shook his head. “Uh uh. It isn’t going to work. You aren’t built anything like my other employees.”
“Just what is that supposed to mean?”
He made a placating gesture with his hand. “Calm down, Carlene. I didn’t come in here to start the next range war.”
She harrumphed. “Then why did you come in here?”
His sigh would have parted her hair if he were two feet closer. “I came to invite you to join me for a nightcap.”
Chapter 8
CARLENE’S eyes filled with shock. “A nightcap? You want me to come have a drink with you?”
Her voice came out a high squeak and Win wondered why she sounded so disbelieving. She didn’t think he was going to let her get away with avoiding him for ever, did she? They had things to work out and that wasn’t going to happen with her hiding in her bedroom every time the kids were asleep.
“I opened a bottle of wine and it’s waiting in the living room.” That should please her. Women thought wine was romantic. Given his choice, he would have preferred a nice glass of Macallan scotch on the rocks.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We both have to get up early and Shelly will probably wake up again in the middle of the night, needing to be rocked back to sleep. I don’t want to miss hearing her because I’ve anesthetized my brain with alcohol. We’ve just had ice cream. It isn’t a good idea to mix alcohol with a big sugar rush, I’m sure.” She talked so fast, she sounded like the auctioneer for the Cattleman’s Association annual fund-raiser.
Maybe she t
hought if she said it fast enough, he wouldn’t find her excuses downright bizarre.
He laughed out loud. “Honey, you’re being ridiculous. One glass of wine isn’t going to dull your senses to the point that you won’t hear Shelly if she wakes up. As for mixing sugar and alcohol—”
She didn’t let him finish. “Never mind that. We both still have to get up early. I need my sleep.
You said so this afternoon.”
She stood next to her bed, her hair a wild mass around her shoulders, looking triumphant. She thought she’d made an iron-clad argument. He reached for her and hooked her wrist. If he didn’t get her out of the vicinity of her bed very soon, he’d be making his arguments with his body, not his mouth.
“You can take a nap while the kids are sleeping again tomorrow, if you want. It’s not that late and I want some company,” he said as he pulled her from the room.
“So, what you want is all that matters?” She lowered her voice as he pulled her past the kids’
door.
He sighed with irritation as he pulled her down the stairs to the courtyard. She gave a low exclamation.
He turned around. “What’s the matter?”
She glared at him, her face illuminated by moonlight. “I stepped on something.”
He looked down at her feet and realized for the first time that she’d already taken off her shoes.
If he’d waited a few more minutes to come to her room, there was a strong possibility he would have found her already undressed. The thought was too damned tempting to contemplate for very long. He swung her up into his arms. This time instead of fighting him, she put her arms around his neck and held on.
He liked this way a whole lot better.
He carried her through the courtyard into the living room and reluctantly let her go. Turning to the tray he had brought in before going to get Carlene, he asked, “Wine okay?”
“I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t throw me over you shoulder and carry me in here like a sack of potatoes again,” she said, her feisty nature asserting itself.
He remained silent, waiting for an answer to his earlier question.