by Janice Lynn
Nita, Harry’s wife, chatted a mile a minute about the one time she’d visited New York and how she’d like to come along for his mother’s suggested shopping trip, too. His mother busied herself with hostess duties. His brother had kicked back and was watching all the commotion with a lazy grin on his face. Their eyes met and they shared a grin.
Ty’s heart squeezed. This was his family. He’d missed them a whole lot more than he’d acknowledged. He should have come home a long time ago, been here for the holidays, been here where William wouldn’t have had to rely on the multitude of family photos all over the house to remember who his long-lost uncle Ty was.
But he knew the moment his father got home he’d recall all the reasons he’d left, that within seconds he’d most likely be ready to hop on the first plane back to New York.
“Ellie.” His mother used the name she’d heard Ty call her by, concern in her voice. “Is your food not to your liking, dear? I’d be happy to cook something else for you if there’s something you’d prefer.”
Ty’s mind jerked to the present, stunned to realize that he’d demolished every scrap of his mother’s delicious home cooking but Eleanor had barely touched her food.
Looking a little pale, she shook her head. “Everything is delicious. I just wasn’t that hungry. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, child.” His mother’s eyes softened as they regarded Eleanor. “If you’re not hungry then you’re not hungry.”
William nudged his mother’s arm. “See, Momma, I shouldn’t have to clean my plate when I’m not hungry. Grammy says so.”
Leaning forward, Harry winked at his son. “You’re a growing boy and need your meat and potatoes to make you grow up strong like your old man.”
“What he means is like your uncle Ty,” Ty corrected, but his eyes never left Eleanor. Her skin had grown pasty, almost a pale gray. “You okay, darlin’? Is your stomach acting up again?”
Bright red color splotched her cheeks as she lifted pleading eyes to him. Eyes that begged to get her somewhere private pronto. Purplish smudges darkened beneath them, almost as if her skin was bruised, and guilt hit him. He’d been so self-absorbed that he’d totally missed that she still wasn’t feeling up to par.
“A little,” she admitted. “I’ve never traveled well. Sorry.”
His mother must have read her look accurately, too, because before Ty could do more than reach for her hand, she jumped in. “Ty, take this poor girl to your room and let her rest for a bit. She looks exhausted.”
His and Ellie’s gazes met as realization dawned. He hadn’t really thought about where his brother had put her bags. Not in one of the guest rooms as there would be more family coming in for the rodeo and the house would be at full capacity, as would the guesthouse and the bunkhouse. Harry had put her belongings in Ty’s room.
Because everyone had assumed she was his girlfriend and that that was where he’d want her sleeping.
That was where he wanted her sleeping. With him.
Of course, if Ellie was in his bed, neither of them would be doing much sleeping.
Then again, with how frail she looked at the moment, he should keep his hands to himself. And other wayward body parts that had a predilection for her.
As much as he wanted her, at the moment he just wanted to take care of her.
“Come on,” he said, standing from the table and taking her hand. “Let’s get you upstairs for a nap. It’s been a long day already since we left LaGuardia this morning.”
“I …” she started to argue. He knew that was what she was about to do because her phenomenal etiquette would think it rude to disappear so quickly. But she stopped, which told him just how poorly she felt. Another wave of guilt hit him. How could he have been so lost in his own homecoming misery that he’d been oblivious to her exhaustion and just how much effort she was making to hide how ill she really felt? He felt a grade-A jerk.
He was a grade-A jerk.
Because when he’d not been lost in the past, he’d been thinking about the night they’d shared and how he’d been wanting a repetition ever since.
“After our trip this morning, resting for a short while would be heavenly. Thank you.” Still, she turned to his mother. “Can I help you clear the dishes before I go?”
His mother beamed at her perfect manners, shot Ty a thumbs-up, I-like-this-girl look. “No, Carmelita has already taken care of everything else so there’s only these. She and I will get everything cleaned up in a jiffy. Nita will help.”
Watching the conversation curiously, Ty’s sister-in-law nodded her agreement.
“You go and rest so you will be refreshed for the rodeo this weekend and meeting the rest of the family. They’re all looking forward to meeting the first woman Ty’s ever brought home to meet us.” As if she couldn’t stop herself, his mother pulled her into her arms for a big hug. “We are so glad to meet you, Ellie, and to welcome you to our house and family. This is just wonderful.”
Eleanor bit back both her wince at Ty’s mother’s use of “Ellie” and the nausea she’d been fighting from the moment she’d smelled food. What was wrong with her? Usually her bouts of nervous stomach didn’t last so long.
Then again, usually her bouts of nerves weren’t triggered by a trip to Texas with a gorgeous hunk she’d spent a night naked with several weeks ago.
Ha, it had never been triggered by that until Ty and this trip. She’d truly believed he’d have invited someone else or have gone alone.
Not that he’d been linked to anyone since her.
Or if he had, she hadn’t gotten the gossip memo.
Since Ty seemed to be Linda’s favorite topic of conversation these days, Eleanor was positive she would have heard if Ty had so much as looked in another woman’s direction. He hadn’t.
Why hadn’t he?
He led her up a majestic curved gleaming oak staircase to the second story of the sprawling Texan mansion that spoke of wealth, functionality and family.
Because unlike the magazine picture-perfectness of her parents’ various homes, the Donaldson mansion was filled with love, with family photos and knickknacks that, without asking, Eleanor knew had special meaning. The house was lived in and full of love.
“I like your family,” she said when they were almost to the top of the stairs.
Holding her hand tightly in his, Ty snorted. “You may want to withhold judgment until you meet my father. He’s the scary one, remember?”
Eleanor’s heart squeezed at the pain she heard in his voice. All her life she’d lived knowing that she didn’t quite fit in with her family, but never had she doubted that they loved her in their own way. Even Brooke had her loving-family moments such as when she’d insisted upon helping Eleanor pack yesterday and had given Eleanor a pair of bright red designer boots for her trip to Texas. Ty’s voice didn’t convey that same knowledge of love. Not where his father was concerned.
“You want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. “No, I just want to get you into bed.” He waggled his brows and grinned. “For once not so I can take your clothes off you. Seriously, Ellie, you should have told me you still weren’t feeling well. We didn’t have to do the whole family thing right then. They can be a bit overwhelming. You could have rested first.”
Although she knew he was purposely distracting her from the conversation he didn’t want to have, she let him. If he didn’t want to tell her about his relationship with his father, what right did she have to pry? After all, she was only the date he had bartered with her father for.
Plus, she really did feel exhausted and so nauseated that she really might throw up again. She hoped not. How embarrassing would that be?
“Honestly, I felt better until we walked into the kitchen. When I smelled the food I just …” She paused, realizing what she’d said and feeling horrible. “I didn’t mean that there was anything wrong with your mother’s cooking, just that—”
He grinned. “Relax, Ellie. I know what you me
ant and it’s okay.” He winked, then opened a door and stepped back for her to enter first.
Immediately on stepping into the room, she was overwhelmed with Ty. With his past and his present. There were all sorts of paraphernalia from his life scattered throughout the darkly masculine room. Obviously at some point his mother had thought the room needed updating to her grown son’s tastes, but she hadn’t been willing to let go of her little boy either.
“You used to compete in the rodeo?” she asked, walking up to a shelf that was filled with various trophies, plaques and photos of Ty on horses, of Ty roping a calf, of a teenage Ty sliding onto the back of a monstrous-looking cow. “I thought you said you were too tall.”
Although he’d paused on stepping into the room, his room, which he hadn’t been in for years, that crooked grin of his slid into place. “I’m a true, full-blooded Texan, darlin’. Of course I competed in the rodeo. Besides, I wasn’t always this tall.”
She gestured to the vast display of awards. “Looks like you were pretty good.”
His grin widened and mischief twinkled in his eyes. “Was there ever any doubt?”
She gave him a small smile. “Never. I bet you always won the cow-riding events.”
He burst out laughing, slid his hand around her waist and turned her toward the bed. “It’s bull riding, darlin’,” he corrected her. “Come on. You can check out all this stuff Mom keeps out later. Right now, I want you resting.”
He led her to the king-size bed that suddenly dominated the room. They both stopped, stood staring at it.
“You grew up sleeping in this giant bed?” Had her voice just broken?
He shook his head. “Early on Harry and I shared bunk beds. Later, when we went into rooms of our own, I got this furniture. Guess Mom expected us to keep growing.”
“She’s tiny, so your dad must be a giant of a man.”
“He is.”
Ty’s soft words twisted her heart, made her want to wrap her arms around him and hold him tightly to her.
“You look exhausted, Ellie.”
She did feel worn out, which was unlike her. It was probably that she hadn’t slept well due to nerves the night before and the travel sickness on the plane had also taken its toll. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to climb into Ty’s bed so she stood, staring at the big bed.
“Here, let me.” He yanked the deep brown comforter back, then gently pushed her down onto the bed in a sitting position.
What he did next surprised her. More like stunned her.
He dropped to his knees, slipped her shoes off her feet and set them aside. His hands slid up her calves, massaged along the way, paused at her knees, leaning forward and kissing each one, then, over her skirt, up her thighs, her hips, to her waist.
He placed his palms against her upper arms and gent ly guided her backward. “Lie back, Ellie, and take a load off.”
She did, letting him pull the covers around her and tuck her in as if she were a small child, then he straightened, stood staring at her with an odd look in his eyes.
Suddenly she felt terribly alone in the big bed.
“Ty, hold me.”
His brows went together in a surprised V, but he kicked off his shoes and slid into the bed next to her.
He wrapped his arms around her, held her close to him in spoon fashion and dropped a kiss on her hair. “Now, close your eyes and be very still, Ellie, or else we’re going to have a problem.”
It only took her a second to realize what he meant. Giddiness bubbled up inside her. She twisted around to face him, stared into his beautiful eyes and couldn’t keep from smiling.
“You really find me attractive, don’t you?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “Why wouldn’t I find you attractive? You are a beautiful, amazing, sexy woman, Ellie. Any man would have to be blind not to find you attractive.” He slid his palm over the curve of her hip. “Of course a blind man would have to feel his way. Then he’d know how hot you were firsthand, too.”
Eleanor’s insides melted. Unable to stop herself, she stretched forward and closed the distance between their lips. Just a soft brushing of her lips against his. It was the first time they’d kissed since the night of the fund-raiser. Instantly, longing shot through her. Longing for the way she’d felt that night. Longing for the way she felt at this very moment, touching him.
“Now you’re just tempting fate,” he warned in a low voice. “You’re supposed to be resting.”
She blinked at him, not so innocently. “What if I don’t feel so very tired anymore?”
Amazingly, she didn’t. That was crazy, as moments before just holding her head up had almost required too much effort, but lying in Ty’s arms, kissing him, energized her, cured her finicky stomach.
His brow arched, a boyish grin on his face, his eyes twinkling with delight. “Darlin’, were you playing possum to get me into bed and take advantage of me?”
Her gaze not wavering from his, she shook her head and with great clarity knew exactly what she wanted. “No, but kiss me, Ty. Kiss me as if you mean it.”
His expression growing serious, his eyes darkened. “I do mean it, Ellie. When I kiss you, I mean every touch.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant by his words or even what she’d meant by her request. Not until his lips touched hers.
Then she knew.
He kissed her softly and slowly, yet with an undercurrent of urgency that let her know he wanted more, that he struggled to keep from deepening the kiss. His hands ran over her body just as softly and slowly, as if she were a prize to be treasured.
That was how he made her feel, how he’d made her feel that night. Like she was the most important woman in the whole world to him. Like she was the only woman.
For now that was enough.
That was everything.
CHAPTER NINE
EELEANOR’S NOSE WRINKLED even before they stepped inside the long sheet-metal building they were headed toward, which Ty called the main barn. There was a definite outdoorsy smell to the cold, crisp February Texas air. Fortunately, her nausea had completely passed.
As had her fatigue.
Amazing what phenomenal sex did for a person.
And the sex had been phenomenal. Part of her had wondered if her recall of how fantastic Ty was had been due to too many glasses of the champagne she’d consumed.
Definitely not.
They’d napped for an hour or so afterward. Now she just felt great.
She snuggled more fully into the thick coat Ty’s mother had insisted she wear when they’d headed out the door and she’d only had her overcoat. His mother had also found her a pair of boots to put on so she didn’t have to worry about soiling her shoes.
“I like your family, Ty.” Not that she’d met his father yet. The great man had yet to return from the arena where the rodeo was being held. Her breath made a puff of smoke in the crisp air.
“Good.” He clasped her gloved hand. “They like you, too.”
Her gaze cut toward him as they continued their trek toward the barn. “Am I really the first girl you’ve brought home?”
Staring at her from beneath the cowboy hat he’d donned before they’d left his bedroom, he feigned a sigh. “Caught that, did you?”
“What can I say?” She smiled, despite the frigid air stinging her face. “Smart chick, remember?”
He turned to look at her, his eyes like molten chocolate. “I remember everything about you, Ellie.”
At the warmth in his voice, her insides lit.
“But to answer your question, there were a few local girls during high school who came to the ranch. But during college and afterward …” he shrugged beneath the heavy work coat he’d donned “… I just didn’t meet anyone I wanted to bring to Swallow Creek.”
“You brought me.” Her heart slammed against her rib cage. She knew it didn’t mean anything, that she’d only been a convenient, uncomplicated buffer between his family and the circumstances under which he’d
left Swallow Creek.
Only more and more her relationship with Ty wasn’t feeling convenient or uncomplicated.
Sex complicated everything.
“A wise decision on my part.”
Uncertainty hit her. “Because of what happened in your room?”
He pushed an aluminum door open, pulled her inside the building. Warmth swamped her as she stepped onto the concrete floor. Her idea of a “barn” was nothing like the extensive heated metal building in which they stood. This was more like a minibusiness complex. She supposed it was. At the far end she could see areas that appeared to be stables, but at this end there were office spaces and everything was quite meticulous.
Ty shed his gloves, unzipped his jacket and pulled it off. “What just happened was fantastic, but that wasn’t what I meant. I meant because I enjoy being with you—your company, your smile, just holding your hand.”
“Oh.”
Grinning, he rubbed his finger across her cold nose. “Yeah … oh.”
After taking her coat, gloves and scarf and hanging them, along with his, in one of the small offices, he took her hand and showed her around the main barn, one of several barns on the Triple D, apparently. He introduced her to some of the hands, let her feed an apple to a mare, then proudly showed her his stallion, Black Magic.
“Why have a horse when you’ve not been home for years, Ty?”
He stared at the horse, his expression contemplative. “He’s a Thoroughbred and a champion, so he brings a high stud fee.” He’d shown her a room earlier where those stud fee samples were kept frozen. “That more than pays for his upkeep, but maybe you’re right. Maybe I should sell him as I’m not around.”
Eleanor glanced back at the magnificent animal that snorted and grunted as if giving his own feedback to his long-gone owner. Something in Ty’s tone said he didn’t want to let the horse go, that really he was ready to heal past wounds, but perhaps Ty himself wasn’t even aware of what she heard.
“Or maybe,” she suggested softly, hoping she wasn’t overstepping the boundaries of their tentative, confusing relationship, “you should come home and ride him more often.”