Natural Born Trouble

by Sherryl Woods

  “He’s been calling again,” Sharon Lynn said. “He brought the girls by over the holidays. Dani cried for an hour after they left.”

  That was all news to Duke. Bad news. He had warned the guy to stay away. The only way to ensure that happening, though, was to get Dani to marry him. Unfortunately, though, he was fresh out of ideas. Aside from acknowledging that what he was feeling these days was love, he was forced to admit that he was stymied. Finding oil where it shouldn’t be was a breeze compared to this.

  “I was hoping you two could make a suggestion,” he said, throwing himself on their mercy. Something told him he could trust them. They both had Dani’s best interests at heart. “You seem to have all the answers.”

  “Now you’re talking,” Jenny said approvingly.

  “Something dramatic,” Sharon Lynn said.

  “Something simple,” Jenny countered. “Dani would be embarrassed by dramatic.”

  Duke thought of Dani’s performance in the motel parking lot, not her singing and dancing, but that sexy slip-sliding game she had played for the room key. She was not half as demure as Jenny apparently thought she was. He thought maybe dramatic would be for the best. Kelly had shared some of the more outrageous things Jordan had done to win her heart. Perhaps he should try a few of those on her daughter. Maybe Dani would be charmed by the nostalgia of it, if nothing else.

  “Thanks for the help, ladies,” he said, climbing off the stool. “I think I’ll take it from here.”

  “But we haven’t come up with a really good plan,” Jenny protested.

  “And you never even got your sandwich,” Sharon Lynn said.

  “That’s okay. You’ve provided plenty of inspiration,” he assured them, grinning at the self-satisfied smirks they exchanged.

  “Keep us posted on your progress,” Sharon Lynn pleaded.

  “Sweetheart, if there’s any progress, I’m sure you won’t need me to drop by and fill you in. With an Adams involved, word will spread like wildfire.”

  * * *

  Ever since her return from Fort Worth, Dani had been dragging around, her mood despondent. She’d been snapping at Maggie at the clinic until the poor girl had threatened to quit unless her boss’s mood improved.

  “You need a man in your life,” Maggie said. “In my opinion, you’re frustrated.”

  Little did she know, Dani thought sourly. She’d never been less frustrated in her life, sexually speaking. Emotionally, however, was another thing entirely. Rob’s impromptu little visit with the girls hadn’t helped, either. They’d all been in tears by the time he packed them up again and took off, her refusal to reconsider their relationship ringing in his ears.

  Apparently, word of her crummy attitude was spreading, too. Everyone in the family was watching her as if they expected her to break out with chicken pox or maybe hives at any second. They were hovering, their expressions alternately sympathetic and hopeful. Well, the whole blasted lot of them could go jump in the creek, she thought miserably. Their lives weren’t on the line. Hers was.

  Duke’s proposal echoed in her head at the most inopportune moments. Memories of the way his hands had molded and shaped her body with intimate precision, drawing ragged sighs and heartfelt gasps, left her feeling so hot and bothered she was tempted to turn the air conditioning on, even though it was barely freezing outside.

  It would be so easy to say yes, so uncomplicated to cave in to Duke’s pressure. If, of course, he’d pressured her. Instead, the man was nowhere to be found. She’d even dropped in on her father at work, hoping to catch a glimpse of Duke. Of course, it had been lunchtime, she consoled herself. He’d probably just slipped out for a sandwich.

  She declined Jordan’s offer to take her out somewhere and wandered down to Dolan’s herself. Sharon Lynn and Jenny had been huddled together at the counter, their expressions guilty as sin when they spotted her.

  “You just missed Duke,” Sharon Lynn said a little too brightly.

  “Was he here for lunch?”

  The question drew another guilty look. Sharon Lynn shrugged. “Not really. He was running an errand for Uncle Jordan.”

  “I see,” Dani said and slipped onto a stool. “Can I have a hot fudge sundae, please?”

  “Now?” Sharon Lynn said as if it were the most scandalous request she’d ever heard. “In the middle of the day?”

  Dani scowled at her. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No, of course not,” her cousin declared and rushed to scoop up the ice cream. She added extra hot fudge and enough whipped cream to clog the arteries of half the population of Los Pinos.

  She and Jenny watched uneasily as Dani silently ate every single bite.

  “Man trouble?” Jenny inquired eventually.

  “Who, me?”

  “Yes, you,” Jenny said impatiently. “What’s with you and Duke?”

  “Nothing,” Dani said, noting the amused look the two exchanged. “Okay, what’s up? Do you know something I don’t?”

  “Not a thing,” Jenny responded.

  “Absolutely nothing,” Sharon Lynn concurred.

  Dani didn’t believe either one of them. There was some sort of scheme afoot. “I hope you’re not interfering in this,” she said, regarding first one, then the other intently.

  “Absolutely not,” they assured her dutifully.

  “Because if I find out that you have been, I will…” She couldn’t think offhand of anything quite dire enough.

  “What?” Sharon Lynn prodded, an impudent, teasing glint in her eyes.

  “Yes, what will you do?” Jenny inquired, clearly fascinated by the threat.

  “I will deliver entire litters of kittens to your doorsteps in the middle of the night,” she warned.

  “You do that anyway,” Jenny said. “White Pines is crawling with them.”

  “So’s our place,” Sharon Lynn agreed. “Dad’s still trying to figure out how you manage it.”

  Dani sighed at the failed threat. “Okay, forget the kittens, but I will make you pay. Remember that. And I will do it when you least expect it.”

  She slid off the stool and headed for the door. She was pretty sure she heard them chuckling when they thought she was too far away to catch them at it. There really were times when having a family that knew you so well could be a nuisance, she thought as she barely resisted the urge to slam the drugstore door behind her.

  Since the clinic was already closed for the afternoon, she decided to take a drive out to White Pines. Not that she couldn’t expect more of the same taunting from Grandpa Harlan, but at least he usually managed to impart some wisdom along with his teasing.

  She found her grandfather in the paddock along with Cody and one of the hands. They were going over a horse that appeared to be lame. She would have offered to check him out herself, but Cody knew every bit as much as she did about this kind of thing. She had some expertise, of course, but small pets were her forte. She was called in to treat large animals only when the vet in the next town couldn’t be reached.

  Waving to the men, she went into the stables and saddled up the pinto, which had turned out to be a surprisingly quick learner once it concluded that no one here was likely to harm it. He’d put on weight and no longer had that wild look in his eyes.

  “You’re my pal now, aren’t you?” she whispered as he nuzzled her pocket for one of the sugar cubes she invariably kept there for him. She took out two. “Here you go.”

  Maybe a good, long ride was what she needed. It would clear her head.

  The bottom line, she concluded as she raced straight into the wind, was that she wanted desperately to trust her heart. She wanted to admit that she had fallen in love with Duke, but how could she? She kept coming back to the boys.

  She knew from her own experience with Jordan that being a stepkid could be just fine, better than fine. But Jordan and her mom had been committed to each other for years, even though it had taken him a long time to recognize what was in his heart.

  S
he and Duke didn’t have that same long history. There was every chance that they would fail at making a relationship work. She had thrown herself heart and soul into her relationship with Rob and look at what a mess she’d made of that. They’d even had a four-year foundation to build on. By comparison, this thing with Duke had been a whirlwind courtship.

  She was so lost in thought that her grandfather had ridden up beside her before she was even aware he was in the vicinity. He dismounted and walked over to sit beside her on the fence rail.

  As his warm gaze settled on her, she saw the worry lines that were clearly etched in his forehead. “You okay, kiddo?”

  “More or less.”

  “Problems with Duke?”

  “Nothing but problems,” she conceded. “Ever since we came back from Fort Worth, he’s been avoiding me. Other than a glimpse or two in a crowd here over the holidays, I never even saw him.”

  “Maybe he’s just giving you time to think.”

  “I suppose.”

  He cupped a hand under her chin and forced her to look at him. “So, when are you going to put that boy out of his misery?” he demanded. “He’s going around looking like a lovesick puppy and you don’t look one bit better. It’s time to fish or cut bait, darlin’ girl.”

  “Oh, please,” she muttered. “Duke Jenkins couldn’t look pitiful if he took acting classes for a lifetime.”

  “It’s true. Jordan says he can’t keep his mind on work, either. That’s a sure sign a man’s in love.”

  “You know what happened with Rob,” she reminded him. “The girls still haven’t gotten over it. How can I take that chance again? It wouldn’t be fair to Joshua and Zachary, especially since Duke can’t even bring himself to admit he has any feelings for me at all.”

  “Have you admitted you’re in love with him?”

  The question made her pause. “No,” she conceded eventually.

  “The way I hear it, he has asked you to marry him. Is that true?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “But what, darlin’ girl? No man asks a woman to marry him and takes it lightly.”

  “He hasn’t said he loved me. We can’t start off a marriage like that.”

  “Maybe he just has a hard time getting the words out, same as you.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded, considering the possibility for the first time. Duke wasn’t the sort of man who would want to risk rejection by putting his heart on the line, not with a woman who’d already turned down his marriage proposal.

  “Let me ask you something else. Are you going to love those kids of his one bit less if you don’t marry their papa?” he inquired slyly.

  Dani heaved a sigh. It was true. Despite her very best intentions, she adored Joshua and Zachary. They were a never-ending delight. Just like their father. If she held her ground, if she refused to marry Duke, would the hurt be any less than it would be at some future date that might never come? No, she concluded thoughtfully.

  She grinned at her grandfather. “You’re a very smart man, you know that?”

  “Well, of course, I am. It’s about time somebody around here acknowledged it. Go on, gal. Tell the man. Somebody’s got to jump into this thing feetfirst or we’ll never get the show on the road. Seems to me like no Adams has ever been chicken to take a chance when something really mattered to them.”

  “I could drown,” she pointed out, even though her mind was already made up.

  “Not a chance, Dani girl. I’ve seen the way the man looks at you. He’ll be there to catch you. There’s not a doubt in my mind about that. Not a single doubt.”

  Dani wished she could be as sure, but in the end, it didn’t really matter. Rob had taken the control of her destiny out of her hands. For way too long now, she had assumed that someone else would have to prove themselves before she would ever dare to put her own heart on the line. That wasn’t any way for an Adams to live.

  She gave her grandfather a fierce hug. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For making sense. For being you.”

  “Don’t thank me. Just be happy. That’s all the thanks I’ll ever need from any of you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Despite the resolve he’d reached after talking to Sharon Lynn and Jenny, Duke knew he was only a heartbeat away from giving up in pure frustration. Dani had made her feelings plain enough in Fort Worth and after. How many times could a man ask a woman to marry him without making a total fool of himself? He had a hunch he was already way beyond the limit. He could go to his grave someday consoling himself that he’d tried.

  It was thinking about all the lonely days from now until then that had him vowing to give it one more valiant effort. A last hurrah, so to speak. Something worthy of Kelly and Jordan Adams’s daughter.

  Of all the legendary tales he’d heard, he liked the one about the airplane dropping rose petals best. It was dramatic, romantic and appealed to his sense of the outrageous.

  Working up his courage, he walked into Jordan’s office a few days before Valentine’s Day and asked if the small company plane was available.

  “You need to check out a site?” Jordan asked, barely glancing up from his work. “You don’t need to ask, you know that.”

  Duke cleared his throat. “Actually, this is personal,” he admitted, earning Jordan’s immediate attention.

  “Really? Does it have anything to do with Dani?” His gaze narrowed. “I won’t have an elopement. If the two of you get married, it will be right here with all the family around.”

  “Actually, getting a quick yes and hauling her off to Vegas might be the safest way to go,” Duke responded thoughtfully. “But the truth is I don’t need the plane so we can elope. She hasn’t budged off ‘absolutely not, never’ yet.”

  “I see,” Jordan said, his disappointment plain. “Then why do you need the corporate jet?”

  Duke bit back his embarrassment and said, “Remember the rose petals?”

  That brief mention was enough to bring a smile to his boss’s face. “Oh, yes,” he said, then shook his head. “Didn’t work, though. Kelly was a stubborn one.”

  “I have to try something,” Duke insisted. “This is the best I can come up with.”

  “I suppose it’s worth a shot. Dani always did love that story. She was furious she wasn’t around the day I did it.” He grinned. “The jet’s yours. When are you going to do it?”

  “Valentine’s Day.”

  Jordan nodded. “Nice touch.”

  Duke spent days making the rest of the arrangements. Dani had been surprisingly agreeable to the date. He hadn’t had to do any clever persuading at all. In fact, he realized after he’d hung up, that she hadn’t even asked what he had in mind.

  Just the same, he had every detail worked out. He was going to take her out for an expensive, romantic dinner, then suggest a drive. If the weather cooperated, there would be a bright moon and lots of stars. Just in case, he intended to pop half a dozen romantic CDs in the car, along with a bottle of champagne. He was tempted to drag the boys with him when he went to pick out the ring, but he feared he would only be setting them up for disappointment if his scheme failed and Dani continued to refuse to marry him.

  He spent Valentine’s Day in one business meeting after another. None of them had gone well. His mind hadn’t been on business. He’d finally had his secretary cancel the last two meetings on his calendar. He’d gone home and paced the floor in relative privacy. Only the cats had been there to regard him sympathetically. Five-thirty finally came.

  This was it, then. He put on his best suit, tucked the ring into his pocket, made one last call to the pilot to make sure the plane was set and drove over to pick Dani up promptly at six-thirty.

  He stood on her doorstep and stared at her in openmouthed shock. She looked gorgeous in some sort of red velvet dress that skimmed her shoulders and hugged her waist. A single diamond winked at her throat, drawing his attention to the creamy expanse of bare skin exposed where the dress plun
ged to a deep V.

  “You look…” Words failed him. She didn’t help him out. She just kept her gaze fixed on his, waiting. “Spectacular,” he said finally.

  “Thank you.”

  He had to drag his gaze away before he reached out and followed the neckline of that dress with his finger. Only then did he notice the huge picnic hamper at her feet.

  “What’s that?”

  “Dinner,” she explained, watching him nervously. “I thought we could have a picnic.”

  He stared at her in astonishment. “In February?”

  That drew a defiant jut of her chin. “Why not? It’s a beautiful night.”

  “It’s also forty degrees.”

  She’d apparently considered all of his likely arguments and readied responses. “We can eat in the car, turn the heater on,” she said at once.

  “And die from inhaling all that carbon monoxide.”

  She actually laughed at that. “Trust me. We’re not going to die.”

  He thought of his own dinner reservation, then dismissed it. What the heck. Since he’d long since given up on trying to deny her anything she’d set her heart on, he drove to the place she designated, shared the gourmet meal she’d brought along and sipped the champagne she’d provided, ignoring his own bottle which was chilling in the back seat. All the while he regarded her with mounting suspicion.

  “What are you up to?”

  “What makes you think I’m up to something?”

  “Experience.”

  “You think you know me so well, don’t you? Well, you don’t, Duke Jenkins. I am just as capable of impulsive, spontaneous actions as the next person.”

  “Oh, really?” he said just as he heard the sound of a small plane flying low overhead. He glanced up in time to identify Jordan’s corporate jet. At least something was going according to plan.

  Then he took another look and his mouth dropped open. Trailing in its wake wasn’t a cascade of flower petals, but a banner lit with what appeared to be colorful, twinkling Christmas tree lights.

  “What the heck?” he muttered. A banner and lights weren’t part of the plan. Maybe they’d been Jordan’s idea. He glanced over at Dani and noted that she was watching his reaction expectantly. Maybe this particular trick had been up her sleeve.