“It’s taken us a good three weeks, but that bitch is nearly done. I’ll tell you, I’m beginning to wonder about Uncle Jonathan,” he said quietly.
“Because he told us we needed to see to all the fences before we even considered getting cattle, or any more horses?”
Chase nodded. “Cattle, horses—breeding stock, that is—or even so much as a dog, is how I believe he put it. I think he was giving us the gears, just a little.” Chase didn’t often have to explain himself to his twin, but their twin-dar communication was neither absolute nor perfect.
“You mean, sort of along the same vein that saw Matt come out, all serious-like, to warn us about the high occurrence of cattle rustling in this part of the state?” Brian pulled his horse up equal with Chase’s.
“Yeah. I get the feeling that there are some members of our family who don’t seem to have much faith in our ability to cut it as cowboys.”
“Actually,” Brian said, “there are quite a few of them, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Well at least Steven’s on our side. That’s gotta count for something, as he runs the primary Benedict Ranch.”
“He is, but mostly because he took exception to those comments Rick made at the Docs’ party when we first told everyone what we wanted to do.”
Chase grinned. “Biggest brother did piss our cousin off, didn’t he? But regardless of why, that’s one on our side.”
“Point taken,” Brian agreed.
“And Jake and Adam, even though they’ve left and are on their honeymoon, they’re on our side. Grandma Kate, too.” Chase chuckled. “Actually, Grandma believing in us and going to bat for us with the Town Trust more than balances out all the rest of the ones who don’t.” He turned and met Brian’s gaze. “Of course the only ones that really matter are you and me. And you know what? I don’t care if Uncle Jon does want to make us jump through a few hoops, just to test our mettle.”
“Me, neither.” Brian slapped him on the back. “We’ll just shut up, quit our bitchin’, and get ’er done.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Chase said.
“I’ll tell you what, though. What with all this introspection that being here and doing what we’re doing has brought on for the both of us, I’m not going to make the mistake of thinking that Carrie is Sarah.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Chase took a moment to adjust the reins in his hand. “The similarities are there.” They hadn’t spent a great deal of time talking about Miss Carrie Rhodes. They’d taken one look at her, and known she was the one for them. But he’d been watching her and puzzling her, and he’d come to one conclusion. “I think someone’s gunning for her—metaphorically, at least, if not literally.”
“Yeah, I’ve caught that vibe, too.” Brian shrugged. “It’s like she responds to our flirting, but then she remembers something, and pulls back.”
“There’s heat there, and a strong attraction. But, yeah, something stops her from responding to us.” Chase didn’t know what her problem could be. He had caught her wearing an anxious look, and checking over her shoulder from time to time.
About the only thing Chase could be certain of was that she wasn’t in trouble with the law. Jake had a file on her, and the fact that Kelsey went ahead and hired her said there were no red flags of that kind in her background.
After his sister Julia’s kidnapping, the decision had been made to ensure that new folks coming to town wouldn’t be a threat to the families. The Town Trust had commissioned Jake to do what was necessary to ensure the protection of its citizenry, but also to guard the privacy of everyone, even the newcomers.
If he and his brother wanted to find out Carrie’s secrets, she’d have to tell them herself, because Jake would never violate that trust.
“It’s lunchtime,” Brian said.
They’d been at work without a break since before dawn. They split their days, physical work in the morning, business plan and strategizing in the afternoon. They were nearly done with the latter, though. Soon the real work of being ranchers would begin.
He brought himself back to the moment. “It is, and Carrie is working today. Course, you know she rarely helps out in the dining room. Mostly she’s in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, but I was thinking that with Ginny on her honeymoon, she’d be lending a hand. Steven said that last waitress Kelsey hired didn’t work out, and she’d had to let her go on Friday.” Brian shook his head. “Our cousin is close to pulling her hair out about the situation. I feel bad for her, I really do.”
Chase shook his head. Brian’s smile completely belied his words. “You don’t let Kelsey see you grinning like that at her failure to find a good waitress, brother, or your ass is gonna be sautéed and fricasseed. That woman our cousins married is small, but man, she’s mighty.”
“I’m not stupid, brother.” Brian grinned. “Our cousins are lucky sons of guns. So are our older brothers, though you’d have to inflict pain before I’d let them know that.”
“I’m with you there.” Chase grinned. He really liked Maggie, his future sister-in-law. He had to admit she’d done a world of good for Rick.
They’d worked their way back toward the ranch house, so it was a simple matter of a short ride back to the barn, and then taking care of their horses. Inside the house, they took only a few minutes to wash up and change their shirts. Then all they had to do was jump into their Ford F-150 and head into town.
Chase was very aware that their habit of going into town for lunch a few days a week likely played into the sense some of the family had that he and Brian weren’t serious about the ranch.
We’re serious, all right, but working two goals at a time can look like we’re distracted at best, and flighty at worst.
Chase didn’t care if they appeared that way, and he really didn’t give one good damn what anyone else thought, with one exception. “You don’t suppose Carrie thinks we’re just a couple of trust fund babies playing at being cowboys, do you?”
Brian had just come out of the house, town hat in hand. “God, I hope not. Crap, I never thought of that, but that might be a problem. She might think we’re just working bankers’ hours, because all she knows is what she sees. It’s not as if she’s out here, seeing the progress.”
“And we’re sure as hell not working bankers’ hours. Except for shooting into town a couple times a week just to see her, we’ve been at this nearly nonstop.” Chase headed toward the truck, keys in hand.
An idea hit him, and he stopped and turned to his brother. “What we need to do is find a way to get that woman out here, on our turf. Away from town, from people and distractions, we might be able to make a bit more headway with her.”
“Great idea. Just one question. How the hell do we do that?”
Chase grinned. “Just leave it to me, little brother. I have the perfect plan. Get in the truck and I’ll tell you all about it.”
* * * *
“Carrie, I don’t know how to thank you.” Kelsey looked to be on the verge of tears.
Carrie hadn’t been around a lot of pregnant women, but she was learning quickly that mood shifts could be dicey. In this instance, Carrie understood her boss was simply reacting to the frustration of being unable to find another waitress that would last.
The last one had been the laziest woman Carrie had ever met. Hell, she was delighted to pitch in just so she didn’t have to deal with that bimbo, who was long gone not only from the restaurant but from town, too.
“You don’t have to thank me, boss. I hired on to be a cook, but I always figured if I worked in a place, I ought to be ready to just pitch in wherever I was needed.”
“You’re a gem, Carrie, you really are.”
Carrie grinned, and then shrugged. “Hey, the tips aren’t bad, either.”
“Do you have a sister? Someone who can move to Lusty and join our team? I can hire a couple girls for the summer, and I likely will. But that leaves me in a hole come August when school starts back up.”
“Not to mention all the u
pcoming maternity leaves.” Tracy Alvarez-Kendall placed a tray of cream puffs into the dessert oven, set the timer, then turned and leaned against the counter.
Carrie just shook her head. “I really hope this pregnancy thing isn’t contagious!”
“Let me put your mind at ease,” Kelsey said. “You can’t catch it from taking a drink from my glass of tea. I promise.”
“That’s a relief.” Carrie grabbed one of the waitress aprons that hung, clean and ready to wear, on a hook. It took her only a moment to grab an order pad and a pen. “I better get out there and give Michelle a hand.”
Carrie turned to head out to the dining room, but then stopped. Each day she felt more and more as if she’d finally found her place. The friendships she was building here in Lusty felt real. But they could only be as real as she was herself. They could only be as solid as she was willing to let them be.
So she turned back to her boss and Tracy. “I’m sorry, I never answered your question. I do, in fact, have a sister. She’s older than me by six years. Her name is Chloe, and she works as an esthetician at a day spa, over in Divine.”
“Now that’s what we need in town,” Kelsey said. “A day spa.” Then she grinned. “Being an esthetician is a few steps away from waiting tables.”
Carrie mentally sighed in relief. She knew that was the first solid information she’d ever offered about herself in conversation. It pleased her that neither of the two women she’d just confided in had made a big deal out of that fact. To Kelsey, she said, “I don’t know that they’re all that many steps apart. Both are service occupations, after all.”
Kelsey smiled. All hints of hormonal mutiny had vanished from her face. “You’re right. They are.”
Feeling lighter than she had in some time, Carrie swung through the doors that separated the dining room from the kitchen.
A quick scan of her section showed her she had a few customers waiting for service. Michelle had already given them menus. That was a good thing, because otherwise folks might get a little irate, having to wait so long to be served.
Carrie looked again at her section and blinked. With a bit of a shock, she realized that she recognized every single person sitting there.
So not like the life I used to lead in Dallas.
No, life in Lusty wasn’t anything like life in Dallas—or anywhere else for that matter—at all. For one thing, everyone there was likely aware not only that Ginny was on her honeymoon, but that Kelsey’s last new hire hadn’t worked out. Folks here wouldn’t get irate about experiencing any delays in service. They’d just wait.
Maybe it was time for Carrie to fully accept she wasn’t in the big city anymore. Maybe it was time for her to become less like the woman she’d been there, the woman she’d become after…well, just after.
Maybe it was time for her to become the woman she truly longed to be.
Carrie knew exactly where to start with this new attitude toward life, too.
Moving in a pattern that would take her last where she wanted to be the most, Carrie began greeting customers, taking orders, and chatting. Everyone seemed to want to say something good about the Commitment Ceremony on Saturday. Carrie listened, and agreed, and understood that Ginny really had become a part of the fabric of this town in less than a year.
Lusty, apparently, had a communal heart as big as all of Texas.
She looked up once and saw Michelle sending her eye signals. Clearly her friend thought she hadn’t noticed the brothers Benedict, sitting at a table in the back of the dining room.
She had, of course. So she simply smiled at Michelle, and carried on.
Finally, she got to the table that had been her primary goal. She’d never been one to flirt, and she didn’t have any real idea whatsoever how to draw the attention of a man—or two—that she liked.
She kept her fingers crossed that these two hunks in denim would stay true to form today as they had most days they stopped in.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Carrie and I’ll be your server today.” She laughed when they chuckled. Huh, I guess I do know how to flirt after all.
“Did y’all have a chance to look at the menu and decide on what you’d like for lunch?”
“Hello there, sugar.” Chase Benedict’s deep voice brushed against her skin like high-quality velvet. “May I say I’m delightfully surprised to find you in the dining room instead of the kitchen today?”
Nope, they weren’t going to disappoint her. She responded with her usual cheek, and she realized her exchanges with these men had always been flirtatious—just in a form of flirting that appeared to be unique to them. “Reckon you may, since you already did say it.” And then, not her usual response, she smiled.
Both men inhaled sharply. Totally unexpectedly, the air around them suddenly felt supercharged, as if the attraction she felt toward them and that they obviously returned somehow condensed in the atmosphere.
“I’m partial to the pulled pork sandwich,” Chase said, his gaze locked on hers. “Salad with ranch dressing instead of French fries, please. And sweet tea.”
It was hard, but Carrie pulled her gaze away from him and looked at his brother.
“I’d like the chicken sandwich, darlin’, with French fries, because I worked harder this morning than Chase did, so I can afford to indulge. And I’ll also have the sweet tea.”
Carrie quickly wrote the orders and then slipped her pad into her pocket. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes with your tea.”
“Don’t rush, sugar. We can see you’re busy. We can wait.”
She nodded and turned away from them even as a shiver worked down her spine and straight on to her pussy. Oh, but the way they called her sugar and darlin’ really did feel more than fine deep inside. Their voices dipped low and stroked her flesh with the soft, basso timbre of intimacy, and Carrie thought she could listen to them talking to her just like that all night long.
She let herself imagine for one moment listening to them croon to her while they made love with her.
Panic sliced through her and Carrie wondered what the hell she was doing. She had never been one to date or carry on with a man, let alone act as if she was considering taking on two men at the same time.
The truth was these two cowboys got to her in a way no man ever had. Something about them touched something in her that she hadn’t even known was there. Between one heartbeat and the next she had the answer to her own question. She understood exactly what it was she was doing.
I’m daring to stop marking time and start living my life, and live it to the fullest.
Yes, she was. She was going to move on instead of simply existing, instead of merely hiding.
As she headed back to the kitchen to place the orders and load up her tray with glasses and a pitcher of tea, she asked herself something she’d never asked herself before.
If George Lockwood hadn’t happened, would she have been open to the offers of those two very lusty cowboys before now?
The answer of course was yes. She likely would have been more receptive to them.
Carrie entered the kitchen, and keyed the orders into the computer terminal, using the ordering program Kelsey was testing out.
“You look as if you’ve decided to take the bull by the horns,” Tracy said.
Carrie couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “No pun intended, but yes, I have. I’ve decided that if those two cowboys ask me out again today, I’m going to say yes.”
“Is that due to residual romance hormones from the ceremony on Saturday?” Kelsey’s question made Carrie raise one eyebrow. Her boss had been gently encouraging her to give Chase and Brian—both of them her husbands’ cousins—a chance.
Carrie appreciated the question. It was nice to know that despite the fact the woman was playing matchmaker, that she put Carrie’s interests and well-being ahead of her cousins’ quest, if she could even call it that.
“I did start thinking about things on Saturday, yes. What I started thinking was t
hat Lusty is beginning to feel safe.” Maybe that was too much information. She shook her head as if she hadn’t said precisely what she meant. “It feels like home.”
Kelsey met her gaze. On her face, Carrie read compassion and another emotion she couldn’t quite identify. “I’m glad you feel at home here, Carrie. And you should know that Lusty takes care of her own.”
“I got that impression at the ceremony.” Just thinking about little Benny Rose—soon to be Kendall, too, because Adam was going to legally adopt him—made her smile. “It was the way the whole town seems to have adopted Benny.” After the actual ceremony, the almost seven-year-old had gone around, from table to table, visiting with everyone. Ginny had told her how everyone had rallied to donate clothes and toys for her son, when she’d left him behind at the restaurant, to protect him.
Ginny had also told her how they’d pretty much done the same for Benny’s mom as well, when Kelsey, Matt, and Adam had fetched her back to Lusty.
“Mind you, the folks here can sometimes be a bit sneaky when they’re doing their whole caretaker thing.” Kelsey’s smile softened, and she placed a hand on her baby bump. “Samantha Kendall, who’s the magistrate, made me Benny’s temporary guardian after Ginny left him here. My men were courting me at the time and had pretty much figured out there were issues from my past I hadn’t dealt with. I’d built a pretty formidable wall around myself after my husband and son were both murdered. My men had already weakened it, but Benny Rose finished the job of tearing it down in just a few short hours.”
When Carrie had answered the ad in the Waco paper, she’d conducted an online search on the restaurant, and its owner.
She’d come across the article in the Waco paper that had raved about the eatery and delved into Kelsey’s tragic past.
Now she wondered, for just a moment, if Kelsey was giving her some sort of warning. Perhaps she was, in a generic kind of way.
There’d been no newspaper article about her past. As far as the authorities were concerned, the only thing that had happened ten years ago was that a foster kid had run away from her foster home, never to return again.
Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Cowboys [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3