Hardy noticed the amorous Rita watching him from across the room, her expression hopeful. He knew that a simple nod of his head would bring her over, knew precisely where it would lead. That was what he had wanted when he’d walked through the door, simple, uncomplicated sex.
Unfortunately all this talk about Trish had cooled his desire. He knew he’d never get her image out of his head, no matter how wickedly clever some other woman might be. He sighed with regret and forced his gaze back to Laurie and Harlan Patrick. He noted that the man was regarding him with undisguised sympathy.
“You going back into town to help her tomorrow?” Harlan Patrick asked.
“I imagine,” Hardy said reluctantly.
“Maybe we should go, too,” Laurie suggested. “We can make a party of it. I’ll call Val and the others first thing in the morning.”
Terrific, Hardy thought. Not only would he have to contend with the frustration of being around Trish without doing anything about the attraction that was building between them, but he’d have avid witnesses to his resulting discomfort.
Maybe he just wouldn’t go. After all, if she had all that willing help, why did she need him? He wasn’t on her payroll until Monday. He could stay at the ranch and do something physical, something that would wear him out, something that would drive any and all thoughts of Trish Delacourt and her sexy little body and vulnerable eyes out of his head. Then he could take an icy shower for good measure. Maybe if he tamed every last trace of lust, he could get through the next week without losing his mind.
The store was crawling with people, so many that they were getting in each other’s way, then laughing good-naturedly about the ensuing chaos. Trish stood back and watched the various members of the Adams clan scrubbing floors, washing down walls, patching plaster and teasing each other with an affection she envied. Only Kelly was missing. She’d stayed home with Laura once again.
And Hardy, of course. Trish’s gaze shot to the door each time it swung open, but he hadn’t shown up. She kept telling herself it didn’t matter, that he wasn’t obligated to be here today, but she missed him more than she wanted to admit.
“Looking for anyone in particular?” Laurie asked, sneaking up beside her.
“Of course not,” Trish denied, fully aware of the heat that scalded her cheeks.
“Well, if you are looking for Hardy, I think I’m responsible for him not being here.”
“Why on earth would you think that?”
“To tell you the truth, I might have scared him off,” Laurie admitted. “He was in Garden City last night.”
“Oh, really?” Trish said. “With a woman?”
The telling question popped out before she could stop herself.
Laurie grinned. “No, alone. Anyway, we got to talking after one of my sets. I suppose I was prying a little too much. It might have made him skittish.”
“Prying? About what?”
“The two of you.”
“There is no two of us,” she said vehemently.
Laurie chuckled. “Funny. He denied it, too. Almost as emphatically as you just did. Makes me wonder, especially since you seem to be so fascinated by whether or not he was by himself.”
“What exactly are you wondering about?” Trish asked warily.
“Why you’re both protesting so hard. What would be wrong with the two of you getting together?”
“Hardy is not interested in a serious relationship,” Trish said. “He likes chasing women, plural. I’ve just gotten out of one relationship with a man of similar inclinations. I don’t intend to jump back into that particular frying pan.”
Laurie nodded, her expression thoughtful. “Yes, I can see how that could be a problem. Then just be friends. Nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“I don’t think a man like Hardy is capable of being just friends with a woman.”
“Try it. He might surprise you.”
Trish recalled that he had said much the same thing. “I’m at the point in my life where the fewer surprises I have, the better.”
Laurie looked horrified. “Oh, don’t say that. If there are no surprises, you’re settling. You’re not living. Trust me, you’ll be bored to tears in no time.”
“After the past few months, boredom sounds downright refreshing,” Trish countered. She chuckled at Laurie’s downcast expression. “Don’t look so glum. My life is exactly the way I want it to be right now. I have a beautiful baby girl. I’m about to open a new business. What more could I possibly want?”
“Someone to share it all with,” Laurie suggested, clearly undaunted.
“I have all of you,” Trish said. “I feel as if I’ve found a whole slew of new friends.”
“Well, of course, you have, but—”
“No buts,” Trish insisted. “This is for the best.”
The door opened, and her gaze swung toward it. Laurie chuckled at her obvious disappointment when it turned out to be Val and Slade.
“You’re deluding yourself,” Laurie told her with undisguised amusement. “But far be it from me to destroy the illusion. If you don’t mind, though, I think I’ll just sit back and see what develops. My money’s on love.”
Between the conversation with Laurie and a flurry of innuendoes from every other person who dropped by, Trish was downright cranky by the time she got back to Jordan and Kelly’s. She was also convinced that she needed to put some distance between herself and the meddling Adamses.
She headed straight for the portable bassinet Kelly had set up in the living room and picked up her daughter. Thankfully there was at least one person she could count on who wouldn’t be badgering her with questions about Hardy.
“How’s mama’s darling girl?” she asked the sleepy baby.
“She’s been a little angel,” Kelly assured her. “No fussing. Drank every last drop of her bottle and went right back to sleep. I kept hoping she’d wake up so I could play with her, but no such luck.”
“Thanks for taking care of her.”
“It was my pleasure. Besides, I had some help.”
“Oh?”
“Hardy dropped by.”
Trish stared. “He did?”
“Never really said what he wanted, but I assumed it was to see your precious little one. He fed her and rocked her as if he’d been doing it all his life. They had quite a chat. I tried eavesdropping, but he kept his voice too low for me to hear,” she said, obviously disgruntled.
“Are you sure he didn’t come by to see Jordan or something?” Trish asked.
“Nope. He seemed to know that Jordan was out of town and that you were at the store.” She grinned. “I’ll admit, Laura was wailing and I sort of shoved her into his arms while I fixed her bottle, but when I came back into the room, he was cooing at her like a proud papa. He settled her right down. You should have seen him with her. It would have melted your heart.”
Trish didn’t doubt it. She sank into a chair. What on earth had possessed him to drop by? she wondered. Apparently the fact that he’d delivered Laura had created a more powerful bond than she’d realized, not just with her, but with her daughter. Just as obvious was the fact that he didn’t want her to know about it. He’d deliberately chosen to come by when he’d known she wouldn’t be there, as if he feared her making too much out of whatever attention he paid to the baby.
She glanced away from the baby’s face and realized Kelly was staring at her with a puzzled expression.
“You’re not upset because he spent time with Laura, are you?”
“No, of course not. I’m just surprised.”
“How did things go at the store? Did you get a lot of work done?”
“Yes.” When everyone hadn’t been busy prying into her love life, she thought wryly. “Everyone was wonderful. But I can’t go on depending on all of you for everything. I need to start making my own plans for living arrangements.”
“Absolutely not,” Kelly said. “There’s plenty of room here, and we love having you. Once you get the st
ore up and running, if you want to find your own place we’ll help you. In the meantime, I’m right here to look after Laura while you work. It’s winter, so there’s less for me to do on the ranch. I always get a little antsy this time of year. I’m glad of the distraction. Besides, if you moved now, you’d have to find a sitter. You can’t take Laura with you. She has no business being there while you’re painting.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Trish admitted. “Staying here for the time being does make sense.”
“Of course it does. So, that’s the end of that.” Kelly peered at her. “What brought that up out of the blue, anyway? Too many nosy people trying to run your life today?”
Trish grinned at the assessment. “Something like that.”
“Ignore us. No one means any harm. We just can’t help ourselves.”
“One person I could ignore. Maybe even two,” Trish argued. “But there are so many of you.”
“And we’re all right,” Kelly teased. “Still doesn’t mean you have to listen to us. Tune us out. Make your own decisions. Tell us to take a flying leap, if it suits you. We won’t be insulted. In fact, we’re used to it.”
“Yes, I imagine you are,” Trish said, thinking that however many insults had been hurled at them over the years, they remained steadfastly undaunted when it came to meddling.
“Can I ask one last nosy question before I quit for the night?”
Trish regarded her with amusement. “Could I stop you?”
“Probably not.”
“Then go for it.”
“Are you even the teeniest bit tempted by Hardy? I mean the man is seriously gorgeous. Even I’m not too old to recognize that.”
Trish sighed heavily and admitted, “I’d have to be dead not to be.”
Kelly grinned. “Then we’re not wasting our time. Good.”
Too late, Trish realized that she’d just offered encouragement to an entire clan of matchmakers. Now they’d never in a million years believe that their cause was hopeless.
Hardy finally discovered a serious flaw in Trish. When it came to choosing the wood for her bookshelves, she couldn’t make a decision to save her soul. Unfortunately he found her indecision more amusing than annoying.
She hadn’t been satisfied with the selection at a local lumber company, so he’d suggested a trip to Garden City. Now they were surrounded by samples of maple, pine, oak, cherry and mahogany. She rubbed her fingers over the grain. She sniffed deeply, as if she might be swayed by the fragrance alone. She studied the prices, punched numbers into her little pocket calculator and noted them on the paper they’d brought with measurements. Then she sighed and went through the same routine all over again.
Hardy lounged against a pile of two-by-fours and watched her. When he could stand it no longer, he asked, “Mind if I make a suggestion?”
She blinked and stared at him as if she’d just realized he was along. “Sure.”
“Buy the less expensive wood and stain it to get the effect you want. I’m assuming what you’re going for is something warm. You keep gravitating toward the cherry. A few cans of stain and a little work and you’ll have the next best thing.”
Her expression brightened. Before he realized her intention, she threw her arms around him and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. “You’re a genius! I want the cherry so badly I can taste it, but the cost would really eat into my budget. Do you really think the stain won’t look cheap?”
Hardy couldn’t think at all. That little kiss-and-run gesture of hers had left him reeling. All the hard work he’d done over the weekend to make himself believe that what he felt was nothing more than infatuation was wasted.
“Hardy?”
He swallowed hard. “It’ll look fine,” he assured her. “I’m sure there are samples over there with the stains, so you can get an idea of how it would look.”
“Of course,” she said, and darted off.
He drew in a deep breath and tried to reclaim his composure before he followed her to the next aisle. She was already holding up little blocks of wood and examining them this way and that. When she caught sight of him, she beamed, and his heart did another of those annoying little flips.
“Look,” she enthused. “It will work, don’t you think? You can’t tell this isn’t really cherry.”
“That’s the idea,” he pointed out. “If it didn’t work, no one would do it.”
She frowned at him. “Okay, smarty. Just order the stain and the wood,” she said, handing him the sheet with their measurements before bounding off.
“Where are you going?”
“To see about renting a sander and polisher to refinish those floors. They’re going to gleam by the time we’re done.”
Hardy seriously doubted that anything short of sandblasting would clean the grime off those floors, but he shrugged and went to order the lumber. By the time he’d finished, Trish was at the checkout counter with her own purchases, which included two huge concrete flower planters.
“What are those for?” he asked.
“On either side of the front door. I’ll fill them with different flowers, depending on the season. They’re going to deliver the potting soil with the lumber.”
Hardy had never been able to see the sense in planting and tending flowers that served no useful purpose. A garden was meant to be productive. All that work ought to result in tomatoes, peppers, corn and beans, at the very least. It was just one more difference between them. Practicality versus daydreams.
“Do you have a problem with flowers?” she asked, regarding him with amusement.
“Not on principle,” he said. “Besides, you’re the one who’s going to have to take care of them.”
“Exactly,” she said, then wrote a check for the staggering total without even batting an eye.
Even after they were in his truck, Hardy couldn’t shake his unease about the amount of money she was throwing around. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’re paying as you go, just so Harlan can’t get at the bills. Are you sure you’re not spending too much on fixing the place up?”
“Absolutely not. It has to have the right atmosphere from the very beginning. You can’t make up for a poor first impression.”
Hardy wondered about that. He and Trish hadn’t exactly gotten off on the right foot, but he’d pretty much forgotten her snippy attitude, attributing it to temporary stress. Now he couldn’t seem to shake the effect of all her good points.
Of course, the same couldn’t be said for her. She’d been holding tight to her first impression of him, probably because it was getting reinforced at every turn.
“Obviously you know what you’re doing,” he said eventually. “What’s next?”
“Are there any antique shops nearby?”
“Probably downtown. That’s the historic district. I seem to recall passing a few in that area.”
“Show me,” she commanded as if he were a tour guide she’d hired for the day.
He scowled at her. “You know, darlin’, you might not have liked being the pampered baby in the family, but you seem to have developed a real fondness for behaving like a princess.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “Excuse me?”
“The high-and-mighty tone,” he explained.
“You’re the one who asked what I wanted to do next.”
“So I did. Forget it.”
“No. I think we should talk about this. Aren’t you the one who insisted that this whole project was strictly business, that you were doing a job, not a favor?”
He didn’t like where she was heading with this one little bit. “Yes. So?”
“So that makes you my employee for all intents and purposes.”
“And you think that means you get to order me around like some loyal subject?” he demanded, ignoring the fact that he’d told her to do that very thing on Saturday.
“Of course not,” she said, her complexion flushed. She heaved a sigh. “Hardy, sometimes I don’t know what to make of y
ou. I have no idea what you really want.”
Hearing her confusion, it was his turn to sigh. “Sometimes I’m not sure myself.”
He gazed into eyes the same shade of blue as the brilliant winter sky. “Except for this,” he murmured, bending his head to capture her lips beneath his.
Oblivious to their surroundings, oblivious to everything except the feel of satin under his mouth, he threw himself into the kiss.
He didn’t touch her, didn’t put a hand on her, but the swirl of heat from the kiss alone was enough to melt steel. His blood roared through his veins. His heart pounded. The mysterious, exotic scent of her teased his senses. He sank into the kiss, dragging her with him until they were both unsteady, both all but gasping for breath.
Her eyes were wide with shock when he finally pulled back. Her lips were swollen with the look of a mouth that had just been thoroughly, devastatingly devoured.
“Oh, sweet heaven,” she whispered, touching her trembling fingers to her lips as if she couldn’t quite believe how they had betrayed her.
“This isn’t supposed to…it can’t be…”
Hardy grinned at her incoherence. “Darlin’, I know you’re quite a talker, but I don’t think you can talk this away. Words aren’t going to change anything. And I don’t think supposed to has anything to do with it.”
Her gaze narrowed. He caught the quick rise of temper.
“Are you pleased with yourself because you managed to get a physical reaction out of me?” she demanded.
That was one way of putting how he felt, Hardy supposed, but he sensed that he’d be smarter to deny it. “I enjoyed kissing you, there’s no question about that,” he said carefully. “You going to deny you enjoyed it?”
She looked as if she wanted to, looked as if the denial were on the tip of her tongue, but she was too innately honest to pull off the lie.
“Okay, it was a great kiss.”
“Just like the last one,” he suggested.
She scowled. “Don’t push it. The point is, a kiss is just a momentary phenomenon. In our case it also represents a lapse in judgment.”
The Cowboy and the New Year's Baby Page 11