“I know, right? She’s going to fit in great with the other girls. But, you know, there is something familiar about her. I wonder if I’ve met her somewhere before.”
“It’s funny you should say that. I felt the same way. She’s going to be at The Dancing Pony tonight, since it’s Saturday. You going?”
Grace groaned. “Ugh. No. I’m going to bed early tonight. Rose Marie kept me up all night.”
“I guess it’s just going to be me and Eli then. Goody. I’ll have Lydia all to myself. Sort of.”
Grace chuckled and slowly walked back to the kitchen for a drink of water before getting to work.
* * * *
Lydia sighed happily with the simple pleasure of slipping into a brand-new, snug-fitting pair of blue jeans. Maya had introduced her to Rosemary Piper at Cheaver’s Western Store, and Rosemary had set her up with several outfits and a gorgeous, new pair of cowboy boots in a dark turquoise color. She slipped into the sexy western top that coordinated nicely with the tooled, embellished belt and the boots. Looking in the mirror, she anticipated her men’s reactions to her appearance.
She thought they might also like the little treat she’d had done for them at Madeleine’s Spa. Lydia was eternally grateful to Maya for stopping by there to drop off some brochures for the fabulous ladies’ boutique they’d visited earlier in the day. They’d discovered the waxing tech had a cancellation just a few moments before. Maya had giggled and told Lydia it was meant to be. So she’d gotten waxed, too.
They were taking her to The Dancing Pony, which was evidently the hub for social activity in the area. Turning to look at herself in the side mirror, she wondered if Ace and Kemp frequented the hot spot. If she showed up with Chance and Clayton on the same night they decided to go out to The Dancing Pony, she supposed she deserved whatever reaction she got from them. She promised herself she’d call them in the morning.
She did a little happy dance as she hung up the rest of what she’d bought that day in her walk-in closet. At Discretion, she’d stocked up on panties, bras, and all kinds of lacey underthings.
When she’d checked out, she’d discovered that Chance had already covered the cost of her purchases from his own funds. Rachel had chuckled when she told Lydia, seeming completely unsurprised by that turn of events.
After fixing her hair and makeup, she inspected herself in the full-length mirror on the closet door. Satisfied, she grabbed her new purse and went downstairs.
Movement drew her attention to the bottom of the stairs.
“Put it up, here she comes,” Clayton murmured as they stood by the last step. Chance hid something behind his back as she took the stairs slowly.
“Damn,” Chance muttered in an admiring tone.
“Holy crap,” Clayton whispered as she made the turn on the landing, slowing further, and feeling pretty damned good about herself.
She smiled at them and made eye contact as they finally came into full view and she took the last few steps. “Mmm-hmm,” she murmured as she stepped a slow circle around them, taking in their appearance just as appreciatively. “What handsome cowboys.” Running her hands over their chests simultaneously, she added, “I’ve got my hands full with a good twin and a bad twin. What in the world am I going to do with all this handsome cowboy hotness?”
Clayton wore a black felt Stetson and a jet-black Western shirt unbuttoned at the neck so his sexy chest hair was barely visible. Chance wore a white felt Stetson and a crisp, white shirt, also unbuttoned at the neck. They both had on freshly starched and pressed blue jeans and their dress cowboy boots. With their broad chests and handsome physiques they were literally a wall of hot, rugged masculinity, or at least that’s what the hot pulse in her cunt was telling her.
Smiles broke out on their faces, and Chance said, “You’ll think of something, baby.” Glancing at Clayton, he said, “We’ve got something for you.”
Lydia assumed Chance referred to the long box in his back pocket. “You do?”
“Yeah,” Clayton said as they closed in on her, one in front and one behind. Clayton’s hands were gentle as he swept her hair back and placed a warm kiss at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
Chance held out the box to her, and she smiled from one to the other. “You went shopping today, too, huh? Thank you.” She pressed a quick kiss to both their lips before lifting the lid from the box. “Oh! This is beautiful!”
On a bed of velvet rested a wide, silver, multistranded choker. Hanging from the chain was a large, round, silver pendant about the size of a half-dollar, made up of concentric circles. A polished silver star graced the center, surrounded by a row of clear crystals, a row of twisted silver rope, and finally a wide band that resembled the designs of tooled leather, only done in silver. A twisted rope edge graced the outer rim. She lifted the heavy pendant and chain from the velvet and marveled at the weight.
The stones caught the light and sparkled with many facets, and she looked closer. She glanced at Chance and Clayton and then back at the stones. She’d never seen crystals like these before. A gasp tore from her throat when she looked up at Chance and he nodded.
Her voice was strained when she whispered over the lump in her throat. “Diamonds?” Chance nodded and Clayton murmured his assent. She stood there dumbstruck and felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.
Sounding a little concerned, Chance wrapped his arm around her waist as she started seeing stars in the outer corners of her field of vision. “Come sit, baby. Maybe we should’ve sat you down before we gave that to you.”
“You’re…you’re giving me diamonds?” she asked in a small, weak-sounding voice. Her heart galloped in her chest like a racehorse and her mouth went dry. “You’re giving me diamonds?” she asked again, feeling like a loon for repeating herself.
They sat her down and perched on either side of her, and Clayton said, “Yeah. A friend of ours made it. He’s a jewelry craftsman.”
“Really?”
Clayton nodded. “Yeah. His name is Clayton, too, but he goes by Clay.”
“Oh. I’m blown away, guys. You really surprised me. It’s so pretty.”
Chance took it from her and said, “Let’s see what it looks like on you.” Clayton accepted the opened choker from Chance and clasped it at the back of her neck and then kissed her there again.
She put her fingertips to the pendant, noticing again the weight of it and walked to the mirror hanging on the wall in the entryway. Sunlight shone in through the thick panes of glass in the door, and she gasped as it shimmered and sparkled.
She turned to Chance and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
Chance squeezed her as she trembled, still in shock. “You’re so welcome, baby. I love you.”
“I love you, too, handsome.”
He released her after a few seconds, and she immediately turned to Clayton and wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her and lifted her clear of the floor as she gasped and said, “Thank you, cowboy.” She willed away the prickling tears, not wanting to ruin her appearance for their first night out. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome, Lydi. You’re my heart. You know that?”
He set her down, and she gazed up at him as a tear leaked out anyway. “I am?” The truth was in the intensity of his gaze and the emotions reflected in the blue depths of his eyes. With certainty, she saw it and murmured, “I am.” She understood the trust he’d gifted her with as she tried to still her wobbling chin.
Clayton stroked the tear from her cheek. “Yes. You are.”
They stood there smiling at her, their hearts in their eyes, two totally identical men who were completely different. Chance, who was her sunshine and air. The one who had saved her. And Clayton who was her moonlight and passion. Her lover.
Chance broke the silence first. “Let’s take you out dancing before we change our minds and take you back upstairs, baby. The way you’re looking at me right now is setting me on fire.”
Chapte
r Twenty-Two
Clayton groaned as he and Chance sat at their table in The Dancing Pony, watching as Lydia followed Rachel Wolf to the dance floor. That Big & Rich song that was practically the girl’s anthem was playing as Lydia and Rachel joined Rosemary on the dance floor with the other dancers.
Clayton growled. “One of these days those girls are going to start a riot. Oh shit, she can move, can’t she?” He didn’t need this evidence to know that for a fact. He remembered her dancing in the kitchen and could tell by the way she moved with them last night that she had good rhythm.
“Let’s just hope it’s not tonight. At least it’s just the three of them and not the whole gang.”
“Yeah,” Clayton said, looking around. “Not many of the group is here tonight.” He was distracted from conversation, watching as Lydia’s hips gyrated and she moved on the dance floor. His cock hardened, and he remembered the feel of her as she moved like that on him. He smiled when Chance scrubbed his hands over his face.
Clayton’s attention was drawn to several men seated at tables on the edge of the dance floor who watched Lydia and the others with admiration. Knowing from experience that Eli was somewhere nearby, Clayton shifted his attention back to his woman. She nodded at something Rachel said to her and kept dancing to the beat.
“Thanks for picking the necklace up for her,” Chance said a couple of minutes later as he took a sip from his beer bottle. “Everything else go okay?”
“No problem. I tied up all the loose ends. It’ll be a week or so.” He wondered if he’d be able to wait that long. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face.
“Great. Here she comes,” Chance said as he slipped out of his chair. “I’m going to ask her to dance. Order another round?”
“Sure.”
Chance approached Lydia as she made her way from the dance floor, and her face lit up when she saw him. Clayton marveled that he didn’t mind it when she looked at another man like that. He supposed that was because the man in question was the one person in the world that Clayton had been closest to, up to that point.
Lydia had no idea how she’d bowled them over earlier that evening. The outfit she’d worn tonight made her pale-turquoise eyes glow even more vividly. But her response to the gift was what really caught him off guard. Over the years they’d encountered a lot of gold diggers and manipulators. She was neither. Her reaction proved it when she’d looked about ready to faint.
Clayton watched as she smiled up at Chance and slipped her arm around his waist as he led her back to the dance floor. The lights moving on the dance floor illuminated the strands of her dark-brown hair against the white sleeve of Chance’s shirt. Over the speakers, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood’s song “Remind Me” began to play.
He grinned remembering her reference to their clothing earlier that evening, with Chance playing the part of the good twin and him as the bad twin. While he knew she didn’t mean good and bad in the literal sense, he did understand what she was getting at. Chance had always tended to be more optimistic and upbeat, while he was more introverted and pessimistic. In that sense, they were total opposites, like black and white. Lydia must have been able to see that.
“Well, hello there, cowboy,” a sultry voice said from behind him.
He didn’t like anybody else calling him that, except Lydia. Irritated at the intrusion, Clayton resisted the urge to curl his lip and didn’t even bother turning to see who it was because he already knew. He recognized the voice and the sexy tone she’d used. This was a booty call in the making, or at least he was pretty sure that’s what she thought.
“Brittany,” he said, by way of greeting. He hadn’t talked to her in five months and wouldn’t have given her any attention even if he wasn’t already caught up in watching his beautiful woman dance with Chance.
She moved to stand beside him, and he shrugged off the hand that she placed on his bicep, making it seem like he was just shifting in his seat to get more comfortable. He didn’t appreciate her proprietary gesture.
“How have you been, Clayton?” Her eyes were limpid, seductive pools of pale green that didn’t inspire the minutest of responses in him.
“Fantastic, Brittany. How about you?”
Her overly glossed, pale-pink lower lip pooched out in a pout, and she said, “Lonely.”
“Lonely for what?” He already knew the answer but couldn’t resist, recalling that Brittany wanted whatever she couldn’t have. She’d attempted to “cheat” her way into a threesome and Clayton had no tenderness left in his heart for her, remembering her unkind words at The Pony after their breakup.
“You, baby.”
“Sorry, Brittany, but I’m unavailable.”
“Since when? You’re here with Chance and his date.”
“Guess again, Brittany. I’ve been claimed, too.”
“By who?”
The song had ended and Chance and Lydia now made their way toward the table. “By our woman.”
He had eyes only for Lydia as she beamed at him, but could hear Brittany sputtering. Her mouth and brain were evidently having a hard time getting traction on his statement.
“Your—”
Lydia came to Clayton, and he slipped his arm around her shoulders as he said, “Lydi, I’d like you to meet an acquaintance of ours. This is Brittany. Brittany, this is Lydia.”
“She’s your—” Brittany’s eyes bounced like a ping-pong ball between the three of them, and she didn’t even pretend to be cordial.
Chance answered for him. “Yup. Actually it would be more appropriate to say that we are hers, but whatever.” He evidently had a pretty good idea of the direction their conversation had been taking.
Lydia eyed Brittany curiously but smiled at the same time and then looked up at Clayton. “I want to dance with you.” She turned her gaze on Brittany and said, “It’s nice to meet you, Brittany. Will you excuse us?” Clayton was a bit surprised that he liked it when she told him what she wanted, rather than asking. He wanted very much to give her whatever she wanted.
Brittany sputtered some more as Clayton rose from the chair and said, “It was nice to see you again, Brittany. Take care.”
Clayton turned his attention to Lydia as he escorted her back to the dance floor. The lights made the diamonds in her choker pendant sparkle brilliantly and he was proud that they were able to give her such a nice gift which she obviously loved, judging by the way she caressed it from time to time.
“Do you really like our gift?”
Lydia nodded vigorously, “I do. Are you sure you secured the catch really well? I’m afraid of losing it.”
“I was careful when I clasped it. You don’t have to worry about it. And if it ever gets lost it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We’ll just buy you something else.”
“I never want to lose it, Clayton. It’s so pretty. You spoil me.”
“Yeah, because it’s in my job description.”
He turned to her and pulled her into his arms as Blake Shelton’s “God Gave Me You” started to play. The love in her eyes, coupled with the lyrical guitar melody of the song intro, brought a sappy lump to his throat and he leaned down to kiss her right there on the dance floor. Her fingertips crept up to his cheek, and she kissed him back, her eyelids sweeping closed, making her oblivious to anyone who watched them. He wrapped his arms around her and led her in the dance.
“I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be”
He accidentally bumped into someone and grinned when he looked up and noticed it was Evan and Rosemary Garner. Evan chuckled and muttered, “Get a room, lovebirds.”
Rosemary giggled and waved, giving him a not-so-subtle thumbs-up and pointed at Lydia who didn’t see the gesture. Clayton smiled at Rosemary and then turned his full attention back to Lydia, who had pressed her cheek against his chest.
“There’s more here than what we’re
seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
And I’ll be the flattered fool
And I need you”
Clayton had never had a girlfriend with whom he’d had a deep enough connection that they actually had a song that was their own, like an anthem. But listening to those words, he knew that he was hearing “their song.”
“On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you…”
He kissed the top of her head, breathing in her unique, womanly scent, and hoped she would come to understand how precious she was to him.
“And for when I think I’ve lost my way
There are no words here left to say
It’s true
God gave me you, gave me you
He gave me you”
Lydia smiled up at him, and he wondered if her thoughts weren’t along the same lines. He didn’t care what anyone thought when he wrapped his arms around her middle and lifted her so she was eye level with him and kissed her. She caught his hat as they knocked it askew with their kiss and put it on her own head as she kept kissing him. Her luscious body pressed against his from her breasts to the toe of her boots was all he needed in the whole world.
Finally she broke the kiss and breathlessly said, “I love you, Clayton. You make me so happy.” Dancers moved around them as the song ended and another began.
“I love you, Lydi. I want to love you forever.”
Tears glimmered in her eyes and his heart pounded so hard she had to be able to feel it, as tightly as they were pressed together.
* * * *
Chance pulled a chair back as Rachel and Eli Wolf walked up to his table while Clayton and Lydia were on the dance floor. Eli helped her into the chair, and Chance smiled when she placed her hand on her little bulging abdomen and gently stroked.
The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 3 Page 80