“Hmph!” Presley Ann Woodworth turned her nose up and strutted away proudly in her five-inch stiletto heels. She wobbled awkwardly on the first stair step but continued down the stairs.
Lydia stood there watching Chance. Based on his comments, she knew they’d both heard almost the entire exchange, including Lydia’s declaration. He opened his arms, and her cheeks were suffused with heat as she ran to him.
The front door banged shut, and Presley Ann Woodworth’s BMW ripped a black stripe on the circular, concrete driveway outside.
“Sorry about your helper, baby,” Chance murmured as she stood still in the circle of his arms. She closed her eyes in relief and breathed in his clean, crisp scent, like laundry that had been dried in the sun. Chance squeezed her tight and said, “I missed not being able to hug and kiss on you anytime I wanted to, the last couple of days.”
She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Me, too, handsome. I couldn’t listen to her for one more minute, especially when she came right out and told me her plan. To be so cold and calculating about snaring one of you, and the fact that it didn’t matter which one she got, made me see red. I’m sorry you heard us. I imagine I sounded awful, yelling like that.”
“Why would we think that?”
“Because I basically claimed you both,” she replied as Clayton came back down the hallway. Chance released her, and she turned to his brother.
With a chuckle, Clayton encompassed her in his arms and said, “Yes, we heard. That’s awful news. We’re terribly vexed. Let me show you how much.” Clayton chuckled as he dipped her back over his arm, making her squeal, and laid a kiss on her that she was sure would curl her hair to the roots.
Clayton chuckled as she sighed when he stood upright with her and said, “Actually, Lydia, I found the exchange very…illuminating. You’re very protective of us and the ranch. I like that a lot.”
“Me, too, baby,” Chance said. “The house feels more peaceful now without her here. Speaking of her being gone—Clayton, don’t forget to call her aunt.” He turned back and added, “And don’t let Mrs. Perkins send anybody else out here. Lydia makes those calls from now on.”
Lydia smiled, “I already have something up my sleeve. Can I use the house checking account to make an online purchase?”
“Sure.”
“Good. I just need all the information so I can set it up. I have the perfect helper in mind. After I’m done I might make you a snack.”
“What kind of snack?” Chance asked playfully as he kissed her temple.
“You’ll get apple fritters that are the best tasting thing you’ve ever eaten. I promise.”
Clayton shook his head and said, “They might be a close second, Lydi. The sweetest thing I ever had in my mouth was this morning.”
“Oh! Well—All right!” She giggled and felt her cheeks get hot at his reminder. Her pussy warmed at the thought, too.
Clayton stroked her cheek with his knuckle and said, “Thank you for trusting us, Lydi.”
“The pleasure was all mine,” she murmured.
Chance replied, “That all depends on your perspective, baby. We’re going to get back to work. See you in a bit.”
They both kissed her on the lips, and she smiled as they walked out the back door. Lydia swiped her fingertip across the touch screen of her cell phone and looked through her contacts list. When she found the number she needed she selected it and listened as it rang and then a cheerful voice came on the line.
“Are you missing me already? How are those handsome cowboys treating you?”
“LuAnn, have I got a deal for you.”
* * * *
Freshly iced apple fritters cooled on a large piece of wax paper on the kitchen counter. Once the confectioner’s sugar icing dried, she loaded them into the basket and took them out to the men.
All of the men came running when she approached with the covered basket in her hands.
“Good morning, Miss Lydia,” Robert Martin said as he reached her first. She smiled because he and several of the others insisted on such formal address in a day where it was unheard of.
“Good morning, Robert. I brought you all apple fritters. There are napkins, so you won’t have to use your bare hands. They might be a little sticky.” She pulled the dish cloth back so they could see the contents. The scent of apple fritters wafted up to the men and they groaned softly.
Jim Cappell said, “My mouth is watering.”
Lydia thanked him as the men helped themselves. Kade Parker watched from the barn entry, and she waved him over. Nobody could accuse her of being unfriendly or unforgiving. Maybe he really misunderstood the nature of her relationship with the Carlisle brothers.
She was coming to understand that polyamorous relationships in the area were fairly well accepted within certain circles. Being new in town might have made it difficult for him to wrap his mind around her being involved with two men. The fact that he must’ve viewed her as the ranch “slut” didn’t exactly endear him to her, but everybody made mistakes, some bigger than others. Perhaps he just needed the opportunity to begin again and hopefully be polite this time.
He grinned and started to approach but scowled and disappeared into the barn when Chance and Clayton both walked up and kissed her cheeks. She put Kade Parker from her mind. If he couldn’t get over himself it was his loss. The ranch hands all dispersed after thanking her, and she spent a couple of minutes talking with Chance and Clayton while they ate.
“My new helper will be arriving in two weeks,” Lydia announced as they ate. “I called LuAnn and she jumped at the opportunity.”
“LuAnn from the Oasis Café?” Chance asked with a big grin as he took another bite of his apple fritter.
“Uh-huh.”
Clayton chuckled and said, “Oh, boy. The ranch hands won’t know what hit them. Between you and her they’re all going to be smitten, Lydi.”
Lydia chuckled and said, “LuAnn needed a change, too. I hope it’s okay for her to stay here until she’s settled. We have extra rooms and she won’t make a nuisance of herself.”
After swallowing, Chance said, “That’s your domain, baby. She can stay here permanently if it makes you happy. She’s a nice gal. I don’t doubt for a second we’ll be seeing more of the hands up here at the house once they meet her, though.”
“No doubt,” Clayton chimed in before eating the last bite of his fritter. She smiled at that notion, as long as Kade Parker wasn’t one of them. She made a mental note to warn LuAnn about him.
Lydia wanted to reassure them. “LuAnn won’t be disruptive or anything like that. She would’ve been here sooner, but she wanted to give her two-week notice.”
“Will you be able to manage okay in the meantime, Lydi?”
“Sure. I handled working at the Oasis Café. This will be a piece of cake compared to that. I’ll enjoy the quiet and probably accomplish more by myself than I did in the last two days. So what did you think? Is it the best thing you’ve ever eaten?”
Both men smiled, and Chance replied, “Second best, baby.”
Clayton’s lips were sweet as he gave her a kiss after his brother, and they both returned to their work. She spent the next two hours in a cleaning frenzy, making up for lost time. Upstairs was spotless and fresh smelling when she was done, and she still had time left to fix lunch. She knew it was probably old fashioned but she loved taking care of things for them and cooking in their nice, big kitchen felt more like play than work. Once lunch was in the oven, she raided the big pantry for all the ingredients to make enchiladas for supper and realized she’d forgotten to get dried guajillo chiles for the sauce.
Over lunch, Clayton told her he would run her into town for whatever she needed. Somehow they got on the subject of the ranch, and she asked whether they had any other animals beside their horses or the cattle.
Clayton said, “We had a black Labrador named Rudy. He lived to be twelve years old before he died last spring.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.
Do you miss him?”
Chance nodded. “Sure, he was a good dog. We’ve just never looked into getting another. He’d be kind of hard to replace.”
Clayton nodded in agreement. “How about you, Lydi? Did you have a lot of pets growing up?”
Lydia nodded to the men. “Yeah, we all had pets. My parents believed that it taught responsibility. I had this Great Pyrenees puppy…he was wonderful. The best dog I ever had. He was also the last dog I ever had.”
Lydia remembered the way her puppy Jake used to follow her everywhere she went with adoration in his little brown eyes. Thinking of Jake still made her misty, and she felt herself blush self-consciously when she noticed both men gazing at her with compassion in their eyes.
“What happened to him?”
“He disappeared from our yard one day while I was at school. The locked gate had been forced open and someone had taken him.”
“Sorry, baby,” Chance said.
Lydia tried to shrug off the sadness that thoughts of Jake always inspired. “It was a long time ago. Since I moved out on my own, I’ve never been someplace where I could have a large animal for a pet.”
Lydia rose from the table and rinsed her plate at the sink. She noticed that Chance yawned widely and asked, “How are you both doing? You must be really tired.”
Chance replied, “All of us are dragging our asses today.”
“I’ll bet.”
Clayton joined her at the sink and said, “Unfortunately, when it’s as dry as it has been this summer, grass fires are a fact of life.” He rinsed his dish and placed it in the dishwasher for her and then kissed her. “Don’t work too hard this afternoon, baby. Save some energy for us tonight.” His blue eyes ignited a low flame inside her, promising more passion like she’d experienced that morning.
In a daze, Lydia replied, “I will. I mean, I won’t. I mean…oh, you know what I mean.” Clayton nodded and kissed her again.
“I know what you mean, Lydi. I’ll see you in a bit,” he replied and then left through the back door.
She took Chance’s plate from him when he brought it to the sink.
“See you in a little while, baby,” Chance murmured then pressed a kiss to her temple. She looked into his eyes and saw love there, pure and simple, and she wanted him to know she felt it, too. The words slid from her lips without a second thought. “I love you.”
Chapter Seventeen
The little lurch in Lydia’s chest wasn’t one of fear but excitement, because it felt so good and so right to say it. She giggled at the way Chance’s expression shifted from surprise to joy. Looking in his playful blue eyes, Lydia felt like her heart would burst with the feeling.
“Well, that’s music to my ears, baby. I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and gladly allowed him to lift her off her feet and hold her, with her legs around his waist and her ankles locked at his lower back. He supported her with his hands on her ass, and she rubbed her nose against his nose as he squeezed her to him. “I love you, too.”
She smiled and closed her eyes as he kissed her lips, and her body hummed with a wonderful mixture of desire and happiness. Work had to be done. Otherwise she gladly would’ve allowed him to carry her up the stairs to his big bed right that very minute.
She wondered now why she had waited to make love to Chance. Wanting him, and his brother, definitely hadn’t been the issue that first night on the ranch. Did she really think she was a loose woman if she went to bed with them now, not even a week after arriving in their home? Would they think she was? Was she just going through the motions? Clayton came to mind.
“Will you tell your brother?”
“Want me to?”
“I don’t mind if you do. We can talk on the way to town later, if he wants to.”
“He’s not going to expect you to say that to him before you’re ready, baby,” Chance said reassuringly as he looked into her eyes.
Lydia nodded, knowing it was a matter of when she told Clayton she loved him and not if she told him. Clayton’s uncharacteristic playfulness as he’d bent her over his arm earlier that morning to kiss her came to mind. Clayton was usually more serious, and he’d surprised her when he’d done that. More than anything she wanted to get to know them both on a deeper level. In her heart she wanted to go further.
“Maybe we’ll have time to talk before supper.”
“We’ll also have this weekend to spend some time together. I’d better get to work.” He kissed her lightly again and set her on her feet.
* * * *
Clayton steered the truck through the ranch entry and took the first incline slowly. A serene smile lit her face. “I’ll never grow tired of this view. It’s heavenly.”
Gazing at her, he said, “I agree.”
It hadn’t surprised Clayton at all when Chance quietly mentioned to him earlier in the afternoon that Lydia had told Chance she loved him. It was obvious in the way she looked at his brother. Clayton was in love with her, the same as Chance, but he wanted to find a way to show her rather than just telling her. Clayton still felt like he needed to prove himself to Lydia.
She’d needed to go to the store for a missing ingredient for tonight’s meal and had offered to drive herself, but Chance had suggested she let Clayton and he’d jumped on the opportunity. They were on their way home now, after picking up the dried peppers she’d needed.
“You made Chance a happy man today when you told him you loved him.”
“It felt right to tell him. While I was still in Fort Stockton, those times he came in to have a meal and visit were often the highlight of my week. When you came with him, it made it even better, Clayton.”
Clayton smiled at her and was taken aback by the love he saw in her soft, turquoise-blue eyes and knew that it was just a matter of time for the two of them. After being bachelors for so many years they had just about given up on finding the right women, much less right woman. Now, here she sat next to him. “Lydi, you’re really something.”
Lydia looked down at her feet and blushed. “I’m looking forward to this weekend.”
Clayton took her hand in his and turned it palm up. He could see the wear and tear of her labors there and pressed his lips to a small cut on her pinky finger. “I don’t want you working all weekend, okay? You need to rest and relax, too.” He took his foot off the brake and continued down the driveway.
“I promise I will. I might like to do a little shopping. Has there been any word about my car?”
Clayton shook his head. “No. Not yet. But we should hear something soon.”
Checking the clock on the dashboard as he pulled to a stop in front of the house, Clayton said, “Looks like you’re getting a bit of a late start. I’ll stick around and help you.”
Lydia beamed at him and said, “I’d like that.”
Clayton enjoyed watching Lydia work her magic in her kitchen. Lydia turned on the radio and danced and wiggled her ass to the songs on the classic rock station until it damn near drove him nuts. She had no idea how adorable she was.
Mountain’s “Mississippi Queen” was playing as she stood in front of the stove, stirring the roux for the enchilada sauce, and he could no longer stand it. She looked back at him and grinned as she actually began to grind, leaning back and rolling her shoulders a little as he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
He brushed her hair off her shoulder and whispered, “You’re torturing me.”
“Am I?” she asked with a giggle. “Will you dance with me?” she asked as she turned the heat down to simmer after adding the other ingredients and covering the pan with its lid.
Clayton grinned ruefully and slid his hands over her gently swirling hips. “Lydi, I can twirl you around the dance floor in a waltz, or a two-step, or any of a number of country and western dances, but I can’t move to music like that.”
Afraid others would laugh at him if he did, he’d always been a little less willing to try new or different things when growing up.
; “Maybe you just never had the right teacher, cowboy.” She stopped dancing, which he almost found sad, but looked up into his eyes and caressed his chest. Proving how intuitive she was, she said, “If you ever wanted to dance with me to a rock song I wouldn’t laugh or make fun of you. I’d love it.”
“We should take you to The Dancing Pony this weekend. Ethan and Ben usually mix in some rock and pop music with the country and western songs. Do you like to dance?”
Lydia nodded enthusiastically as she regarded him. “And you would dance with me?”
“Of course.”
“I hope we can do that.”
She set him to work dicing up tomatoes and chopping lettuce while she finished putting the enchiladas and side dishes together.
Once the enchiladas were in the oven, Lydia blotted her forehead and her neck and looked very satisfied with her work. Clayton removed two beers from the refrigerator and took her by the hand. He drew her into the family room, set the ceiling fan above them on the highest setting, and sat down in the big cushioned recliner, still holding her hand.
He got comfortable, patted his knee, and said, “Come sit in my lap. We have twenty minutes before they’re due. That’s plenty of time for you to cool down and take a breather.” At her uncertain look he added, “Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me.”
“I’m just not used to sitting in someone’s lap.”
“Well this someone would very much like you in his lap.”
Clayton slid his arms around her hips and pulled her closer as he rocked the recliner back. The chair tilted, and he allowed gravity to help her find her spot, and she curled into his side. She scooted around, eventually getting comfortable, and he rocked her and took a sip from his beer. She let out a long sigh and took a sip from hers as well.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 75