by Cora Seton
He remembered the girl she’d once been before the latest round of trouble had torn apart their families. Olivia was five years younger than him, so they hadn’t been in high school together. She was just a cute preteen he used to stumble over in the stacks of the Chance Creek public library now and then when he was doing research for some high school class. He knew she volunteered there, but what he remembered most was her library cart half-full of the books she was supposed to reshelve, and Olivia sitting cross-legged on the ground, so buried in a novel she didn’t look up when he passed. Noah had been raised to think of Coopers as thieves and ne’er-do-wells—his great-uncle’s term for them. Some ne’er-do-well, he used to tell himself with a grin whenever he spotted Olivia like that. She was just a little girl.
Now she was grown up, and she was… stunning.
He still remembered the first time he’d bumped into her when she’d come back to town three years ago. He’d stopped at the hardware store to pick up a few things. Outside, a kid had a box full of puppies he was trying to give away to good homes. Noah had spotted an unfamiliar blonde crouching down by the box, picking up and cuddling first one and then another of the puppies, until she’d given each of them an equal amount of love. When she straightened and turned around, she’d been familiar, but he couldn’t place her face at first.
“You want to take a picture, cowboy?” she’d drawled at him.
Then he’d remembered.
“Olivia? Is that you?” he’d asked, too flummoxed to pretend he hadn’t been ogling her.
“It’s me.” She’d grinned at him, as if she wasn’t a Cooper and he wasn’t a Turner. As if they were merely a man and a woman—and were allowed to flirt.
He wasn’t allowed to flirt with Olivia Cooper, but he’d wanted to ever since. He wanted to pull her close. Touch those curves. Wanted to explore her body with his hands—his mouth—
He dragged his thoughts back to the present. Olivia’s family was about to steal the Founder’s Prize away from his. If the Coopers were allowed to take possession of the Ridley property, they’d control the creek. Which meant just like their forebears, they could divert the water and leave the Flying W dry.
He couldn’t let that happen.
Couldn’t let a Cooper steal their clock, either. Even a really cute Cooper.
Noah stepped into the living room. “Drop it!”
Olivia shrieked and nearly did so, just stopping the clock’s fall with a shove back onto the mantel. She whirled to face him. “Noah—what are you doing here?”
“It’s my house. What are you doing here?” He blocked the door so she couldn’t escape.
“Retrieving my clock.” Olivia squared her shoulders and turned back to gather it up again. “I’ll be out of your way in a jiffy.”
“Like hell.” Noah crossed the room and grabbed it.
Olivia held on. “Give it to me. Noah, I’m warning you—don’t try to stop me.”
“Warning me? What are you going to do?” He gripped the clock tighter and lifted it up, nearly pulling her off her feet.
Olivia tried to wrench it back out of his arms. “I swear to God, Noah. Don’t push me!”
“I’m not pushing you.” Quite the opposite; he was dragging her across the living room now, her high heels unable to get any leverage against the slippery hardwood floor.
She dug those heels in, though, yanked back, slipped, lost her grip on the clock—and her balance—and went down hard with another shriek. Something ripped as she fell.
Noah nearly dropped the damn clock. “You okay?” He set it on the mantel and reached to help Olivia up. That rip—it had to be fabric, right? Not a tendon tearing.
“I’m fine. Go away.” Olivia scrambled to her knees but refused to meet his eyes.
“Let me help.” He tried to take her hand, but she dodged him and managed to get to her feet on her own. She clutched the hem of her dress in one hand. Where a small slit used to expose an inch or two of her right thigh, now a much bigger tear exposed far more.
Noah’s gaze traced the path of that slit up her leg. Her skirt was barely decent now.
In a minute he wasn’t going to be decent, either.
He wrenched his gaze to her face, realized she’d seen him staring and shifted his stance. “We should get back to the wedding.”
“Like this?” Olivia pinched her lips together. “I don’t think so. This night is a bust.”
Not entirely, Noah thought. At least he’d gotten a few minutes alone with her. This close he could see the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her full mouth enticed him, and her gray eyes made him want to keep her here all night. Ask her a million questions.
Kiss her.
Hell, he could kiss her now. Despite himself, he leaned in.
Olivia stiffened, but she didn’t move away. She seemed mesmerized by his approach. Waiting.
Watching him.
Noah moved closer still. They were alone. They’d witnessed a wedding. No one could blame them for letting the moment take over.
“Noah.” Olivia’s whisper felt somewhere between a warning and a plea.
He decided it was a plea. He closed the distance between them and brushed his mouth over hers.
So sweet.
So—
Noah jumped when something vibrated against his leg.
Olivia jumped, too, reached for the tiny blue purse hanging from an equally tiny strap over her shoulder and pulled out a phone. She sighed. “Hold that thought.” Turning her back, she answered the call. “Virginia? What’s wrong?”
Noah tried to get himself under control. He’d kissed a Cooper. And she’d let him. She’d told him to hold that thought when they were interrupted.
Did she want to pick up where they left off when she finished her call?
Noah ran a hand through his short hair. What the hell was he doing? He wasn’t supposed to kiss Olivia. Couldn’t get involved with an enemy.
Was it Olivia’s fault she’d been born into the wrong family, though? She wasn’t the one who—
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he slapped a hand over it, startled all over again. He pulled it out reluctantly. It was his uncle Jed calling.
“Jed, what’s up?”
“Get your ass over here, and get me out of this hellhole!” Jed shouted down the line.
“Hellhole? You still at the wedding?”
“Liam dropped me here at the Prairie Garden ten minutes ago. Took off back to the wedding like his ass was on fire.”
“Probably didn’t want to miss the fun.”
“Fun? Watching Camila betray us and marry that wannabe Cooper? More like getting stretched on the rack, if you ask me.”
“So what’s wrong now?” His uncle had moved to the assisted living facility several years back, and for the most part he liked it, especially since women outnumbered the men there. He hadn’t been doted on like that for years. He was able to call the shots, with a bevy of ladies oohing and aahing over his prowess. The only thing he disliked about the Prairie Garden was Virginia’s presence.
“I’ve been kicked out! Can you believe it? Kicked out when I pay damn good money to be here! I’ve got twenty-four hours to vacate my room.”
“That can’t be right.” Even if he’d misbehaved, wasn’t there a whole mediation process to go through?
“Kicked out!” Jed repeated. Noah heard a crash on the other end of the phone. Someone screeched. “Get out of my room, you harpy!” Jed shouted back.
“Virginia? Virginia, what’s going on?” Olivia cried behind Noah. “Who’s that shouting at you?”
Another crash. Jed hooted. “Nice try! You couldn’t hit the side of a barn!”
“Virginia, did you drop something?” Olivia cried, just as Noah hollered, “Jed, who’s throwing things at you?”
Olivia turned to face him, and Noah replayed in his mind what they’d both just said.
“Well, shit,” Noah told her. “Your great-aunt is beating up my great-uncle!”
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“I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around!”
Noah wasn’t sure about that at all. Virginia might be eighty-four, but she was a tough customer. “Jed’s been thrown out. He’s got to leave tomorrow.”
“I’ve got to leave tonight,” Jed hollered into his ear. “You come get me right now. I’m not spending another second in this swamp!”
By the sounds of it, Virginia was giving Olivia an earful, too. “She’s been kicked out as well,” Olivia confirmed. “Damn it, Noah—what did your uncle do to make this happen?”
“How do you know Jed started it? Maybe it was your aunt!”
“Who are you talking to?” Jed demanded.
Noah hung up on him. “Leave the clock where it is, and go get in your truck,” he told Olivia. “I’m going to lock up, and then I’ll follow you. We’d better sort this out.”
“Fine!” Olivia blew out a frustrated breath. “I’ll pick up my clock another day.” She followed him to the front door and waited on the stoop for him to lock it behind him.
Noah realized he’d just lost his moment alone with Olivia, which was far more important than who should own the damn clock. Who knew when he’d get another chance to be with her.
What the hell, he thought. Make hay while the sun shines. Or the moon, as it happened. He bent down, pulled Olivia in tight and kissed her.
Noah Turner had just kissed her—twice.
Olivia struggled to keep her eyes on the road as she drove to the Prairie Garden, all too aware that the handsome cowboy was following close behind her. Noah had been on her radar since she’d moved back to town. They’d had a couple of run-ins, and she enjoyed flirting with him. The fact that he was a Turner added a little zing to the back and forth. Still, she’d never thought things would go this far.
Never thought a man like Noah would even notice a woman like her.
Though, if pressed, she had to admit she was pretty sure she was his type. Noah was a practical guy, but when she got near him, he got a certain look in his eye. A look that told her he might abandon his careful way of thinking things through if it meant he got to be with her.
Like tonight.
She was pretty sure he’d made a conscious decision to throw caution to the wind when he kissed her, but Noah wasn’t one to let his emotions rule the day. That innate caution would return, and that would be the end of that.
Disappointment coursed through her at the thought, but that was the kind of day it had been, she reasoned. Virginia had been in high form since this morning, furious at Carl for betraying the Coopers and marrying Camila. She’d insisted Olivia steal the clock today, and Olivia had thought she had a good chance of managing it during the wedding reception. She’d meant to place it on the mantel at Thorn Hill and wait for everyone to come home and see it.
Thwarted again.
But Noah had kissed her.
God, he looked good today. His black jeans snug in all the right places. Dress shirt showcasing his strong body. Casual jacket making his shoulders look a mile wide. What would it be like to be with a man like that? Someone so secure with his standing? Someone who always did the right thing? Noah Turner was an upstanding citizen, respected in Chance Creek. A man who was going places.
If they were together, could she turn around the mess she always made of things? Break the pattern of bad luck that always kept her family down?
She glanced in the rearview mirror. Noah’s headlights bumped and flashed behind her as they traveled the old country highway.
She probably wouldn’t get the chance to find out.
Not only was Noah an upright, solid citizen, but he was a parole officer, too. She’d never broken the law herself—but her father’s time in prison tainted everyone in her family. Noah might have slipped up and stolen a kiss or two just now, but tomorrow he’d pretend it had never happened, and he’d be one more person to avoid when she went to town.
“Ready for this?” Noah asked when she met him at the front door of the Prairie Garden some minutes later.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” She hardly allowed herself to look at him. She had to stay strong. He’s your enemy, she told herself. Pull yourself together.
Inside, the receptionist looked about as unenthusiastic as Olivia felt.
“You come to get your crazy relatives?” she asked.
“You’re not supposed to talk about people that way,” Noah told her.
“If they really had psychological problems, I wouldn’t,” the receptionist retorted. “Your uncle and your aunt, however, are completely sane, which means they don’t have any business causing this kind of trouble. They’ve each had more than their share of warnings already. Get them out of here.”
“Warnings?” Olivia asked, surprised.
“First I’m hearing of it,” Noah said.
The receptionist shrugged. “You taking them or what?”
“That’s why we’re here.” Noah was clearly irritated, but Olivia couldn’t blame the woman for her bad attitude. Virginia was always cantankerous. She’d probably created her share of difficulties here.
They paced down the corridors, then split up, Olivia turning right, Noah going left.
“Good luck,” Noah said.
“Sure. You, too.” She waited for him to say something about that kiss. When he didn’t, she gave up and went to find her aunt, knocking twice on her door and calling out, “Virginia? You in there?”
“I’m here. For now.” Virginia was sitting on her throne, as Olivia liked to call the stiff, decorative chair her aunt had always favored. She liked it because sitting upright helped her back, but she looked for all the world like a diminutive queen sitting in state on the formal piece of furniture.
“What’s all this trouble you’re in?”
“It’s not my fault that man’s so touchy. Just told him he’d missed a spot or two when he was shaving today. You’d think I’d pointed out how ugly he is.”
“Virginia.” Olivia assumed she was talking about Jed Turner. Who else? Jed was the only person Virginia mentioned on a regular basis even though Olivia knew Virginia spoke to everyone else at the Prairie Garden. Interrogated them, more like it. Virginia liked to keep her finger on the pulse, and she terrorized all the other residents into coughing up their secrets.
“Called me an old bag,” Virginia complained. “Maybe I lost my temper after that.”
“I just bet you did.”
“Don’t get snippy with me, young lady. You aren’t any saint yourself, are you? All our family’s troubles start with you. Look at you, dressed like a harlot. You going out to make some money after taking me home?”
Olivia counted to ten. She didn’t need this tonight. “Virginia, pack a bag. I’m taking you to Thorn Hill for now. We’ll find you a new place tomorrow.”
“Oh no, you won’t. From now on I’ll stay at Thorn Hill, where I belong. And I’m not leaving here without my things. All of them. This place is chockablock with thieves.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
“I don’t care what you think. Start packing. All of it.” Virginia waved a hand.
Olivia sighed. “We would need boxes—”
“I’ve got boxes.” The receptionist appeared as if by magic and handed over a stack. “I’ve got tape and a marker, too. You can label them. Pack her belongings. We can send the furniture later, if necessary.”
“You’re not keeping a stick of it!” Virginia called after her as the receptionist slipped away again.
It was going to be a long night, Olivia thought, but there was nothing for it but to get to work. Once Virginia’s mind was made up, there was little chance of changing it. “Pack your clothing in your suitcases,” she told her aunt. “I’ll get busy on the knickknacks.”
An hour later they’d barely made headway, but a stack of boxes was making it difficult to move around the small apartment. Olivia decided to haul them to her truck. It was getting late. The wedding should be winding down. When she was out
side she’d call her brothers and get them to come and help.
Not for the first time, she envied Tory, who’d left all this behind and never looked back. Maybe she had the right idea…
Olivia picked up the box nearest the door and began the trek to the facility’s front door.
“Damn it, Jed, I’m doing the best I can,” she heard Noah yell when she was halfway there. He appeared around a corner hauling a large box. Maybe the receptionist had supplied him with a stack, too.
“Well, your best is pretty pathetic, isn’t it? What have you got to show for yourself? A man your age. No wife. No girlfriend, even. When are you going to grow up and settle down?”
Noah kept walking even as Jed pursued him, easily putting distance between himself and his uncle. He didn’t point out Jed had never married, either. When he got close to Olivia, he made a face she found all too easy to interpret. He was putting up with Jed, just like she was putting up with Virginia, because they were family and that’s what one did.
“That looks too heavy for you,” Noah murmured to her.
“I’ve got it,” she assured him. They both turned for the front door. The receptionist scuttled out from behind her desk and rushed to open it for them.
“That’s what I like to see,” she said. “Keep it going.”
“Jesus,” Noah muttered under his breath.
Olivia bit back a laugh. Outside, after the door swung closed behind them, they stopped, having left their respective relatives far enough behind to get a moment to themselves.
“Great night, huh?” Noah said, shifting the box in his arms.
“Pretty sweet,” she agreed sarcastically.
“Well, it was for a minute there. Olivia—”
Another truck pulled into the parking lot, followed by a second and then a third. Olivia watched helplessly as her brothers parked and made their way toward her, followed by the rest of Noah’s family. What would Noah have said if they hadn’t been interrupted? Was he actually interested in her?
Her oldest brother, Steel, strode over and grabbed the box from her arms. “Heard there was trouble with Virginia.”
“You got that right.” She followed him to his vehicle without another glance at Noah, figuring he’d understand and approve. No sense stirring up another fight between their clans; things were bad enough already. She wished they’d been able to finish their conversation, though. “She’s moving home. Isn’t that wonderful?”