“Could you have them on your property?”
“I could, but I’ll monitor how things go with the cat first. As you discovered, I can disappear into my work and animals need a routine.”
“I think you could figure that out.”
“Probably.” He glanced at her. “By the way, Cade will be eating with us. Lexi’s conducting a riding clinic down in Casper.”
“Catch me up on that situation. Are they engaged or not?”
“Not yet. Cade wants to get married but she’s reluctant until he proves that he’s domesticated and won’t expect her to handle what used to be considered women’s work. That’s why he was buying art three weeks ago.”
“Fascinating.” Sapphire grinned. “Too bad Lexi won’t be here. Back in high school she treated him like a god.”
“Yeah. She’s over that.” He reached for his door handle.
“Wait. Before we go in, what’s the plan?”
“Oh, right. I got caught up in nostalgia and forgot to tell you. Cade and I worked it out on the phone this afternoon. His cabin’s a short walk from here. After we say hi to everyone, he’ll suggest going up there to show me how it looks. Instead we’ll unload the sculpture.”
“What about me?”
“You can go with us or stay and talk to Rosie and Herb.”
“I’m going with you, cowboy. If I stay with Rosie, she’s liable to ask some pointed questions.”
“She might, but she means well.”
“Of course she does. She loves you and wants the best for you. I just don’t want to be asked about my intentions.”
“Then you can say you’re dying to see how the artwork looks in Cade’s cabin.”
“I actually am now that I know he bought it to prove he’s domesticated.”
“He’d probably take us up there for real after dinner if you want. I just thought you might want to head back to your house.”
In the soft twilight she turned to gaze at him. She couldn’t see his face very well but she could feel his heat. “Now that you mention it, I’m not that curious to see the inside of Cade’s cabin.”
He smiled. “Me, either.”
They were halfway to the porch steps when Rosie came out the door followed by Herb. Short, plump and blond, she looked fairly harmless, but Sapphire had heard things over the years. You didn’t want to get on Rosie’s bad side and the quickest way to do that was by hurting someone Rosie loved.
“I thought I heard your truck, Grady Magee!” Rosie hurried down the steps. “But then you didn’t come in, so I had to find out what was keeping you!”
“We got to talking.”
“That’s nice.” Rosie smiled as if she liked hearing that. “Now come here and give me a hug, you rascal!”
As he leaned down and gathered her into his arms, Sapphire knew she was already in trouble. Rosie likely had put her own spin on Grady’s “We got to talking” comment and had concluded they cared about each other. She wasn’t wrong. Watching Grady hug his foster mom warmed Sapphire’s heart and tightened her throat. She’d failed to maintain an emotional distance from this man.
Grady moved on to embrace Herb, a wiry guy with thinning hair, and Rosie turned her attention to Sapphire. “I’m so glad you could join us tonight!” She took Sapphire’s hands in hers. “Thanks for coaxing our boy to come up for your fund-raiser.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Cade came down the steps grinning all the way. “It’s always a treat to see your ugly mug, Magee.” He exchanged a bro hug with Grady.
“And I’m so happy about this event, Sapphire.” Herb came over and shook her hand. “I really admire what you’re doing. I became a large-animal vet because the overpopulation of dogs and cats broke my heart. Had to work in a different area.”
“Needless to say, Herb and I will be there Saturday night,” Rosie said. “We’re putting Cade in charge of the kids.”
Cade laughed. “Yeah, we’re going to do drugs and rent porn. It’ll be epic.” He clapped Grady on the shoulder. “Hey, I was just thinking you haven’t seen how the artwork looks in the cabin.”
“Sure haven’t, but I’d love to.”
Sapphire picked up her cue. “I wouldn’t mind checking that out since I was the one who sold it to you.”
“We could make a quick trip up there right now.” Cade turned to Rosie and Herb. “Unless dinner’s ready.”
“The meat loaf needs another fifteen minutes,” Rosie said. “If you want to take Grady and Sapphire up to see your cabin, go ahead.”
“Then I will. Come on, guys. We’ll take a secret route to avoid running into any teenagers along the way.”
Sapphire lifted the wine bottle she held. “Before we leave, let me give you this, Rosie. But if you’ve already opened something to serve with dinner, no problem.”
Rosie looked at the bottle. “I haven’t opened anything yet and red goes great with meat loaf. I’ve never tasted this one, so thanks! We’ll try something new tonight.” She and Herb walked back into the house.
Cade watched them go inside. “Give them a few minutes. Let them get involved in setting the table and opening the wine.” He glanced over at Sapphire. “I could be mistaken, but that looked like a bottle I decided was out of my league.”
“It was a gift. I could never find the right time to open it but tonight seemed like the perfect situation.”
“That’s very cool. And even cooler that you didn’t tell them it was expensive stuff. Now, let’s get the masterpiece out of the Torch Man’s pickup.”
Sapphire laughed but Grady rolled his eyes.
Cade moved closer to Sapphire and lowered his voice, but not by much. “I think he secretly likes us to call him that but he pretends not to. It got started at the wedding and you know how these things go.”
“Which is forever.” Grady lowered the tailgate, climbed in and began untying the ropes. “When it comes to running something into the ground, nobody does it better than the Thunder Mountain guys.”
“Not guys.” Cade looked pained. “Thunder Mountain Brotherhood.”
“I remember that from high school.” Sapphire had thought it was touching that the foster boys had come up with a way to reclaim a sense of family. “It was you, Damon and... Who was the third one?”
“Finn. He’s a brewer up in Seattle now. It used to be just the three of us, but we’ve expanded the name to include everybody. Torch Man here keeps forgetting.”
“Torch Man is ready to take this thing out of the truck whenever you finish working your jaw, Gallagher.”
“Excuse me, sweet lady. Time to use my impressive muscles.” Cade rounded the back of the truck. “Where’re we going with it?”
“I thought you had a spot picked out.”
“I sort of do.” He vaulted into the truck. “Tell me the dimensions again.”
“Five feet, seven and three-quarters inches long, three feet, two and a quarter inches high.”
“Okay.” Cade hopped down and began pacing along the front of the house.
Sapphire didn’t think it belonged in front of the house at all, but this wasn’t her decision.
“Here.” Cade gestured toward a spot beside the porch steps.
Grady shook his head. “We can’t put it there.”
“Why not? It’ll show up real good.”
“Rosie likes her little flower bed.”
“Then maybe at the far end of the house. Or how about on the porch?”
Grady blew out a breath. “Definitely not on the porch.”
“The far end?”
Sapphire finally couldn’t keep her suggestion to herself any longer, and besides, they were running out of time. “Under that pine tree in the side yard,” she said. “It would be perfect there.”
Both men looked at her. Then they turned in unison toward the side yard.
“She’s right,” Cade said.
“Yeah, she is.” Grady resettled his Stetson. “It’ll be more natural instead of sticking it somewhere out front. Thanks,
Sapphire. Listen, while we get it off the truck, would you walk over and scope out the most level spot?”
She gazed up at him. “Wouldn’t you rather back the truck over there so you don’t have to carry it so far?”
Grady glanced at Cade and they both started laughing.
“Yeah,” Grady said, wiping his eyes. “That would be the intelligent way to do it. Cade, why don’t you and Sapphire find the spot while I back the truck over?”
“Of course, there’s the chance Rosie will hear the truck,” Sapphire said.
“She might.” Cade scratched the back of his neck. “Hell, we need to get this done without giving ourselves a hernia. Let’s risk it.”
In moments she and Cade had found the spot and Grady backed right up to it. Then he and Cade used the carpet to pull the wrapped sculpture partway out. With much grunting and groaning, they lowered it to the ground.
“Heavy sonofabitch,” Cade muttered.
“That’s the idea.” Grady was breathing hard, which could be a combination of effort and excitement. “That way it’ll stay put. Let’s—”
“What in God’s name is going on out here?” Rosie walked around the truck with Herb right behind her. “Are you fixing to bury a dead body under my pine tree, Grady Magee?”
“If he is, then rigor mortis has already set in,” Herb said.
Rosie eyed Cade. “I thought you were taking them up to your cabin.”
Cade went over and put an arm around her. “That was what you call a subterfuge. We’re trying to do something special here, so how about you and Dad go back inside and we’ll call you when we’re ready?”
She turned to Herb. “Are you in on this?”
“I know nothing about it, Rosie. I’m as clueless as you are.”
She continued to stand in the circle of Cade’s arm while she stared hard at Grady, who had laid his hand on the wrapped sculpture. Suddenly she covered her eyes and began to cry. “It’s my sculpture! That’s what it is! Oh, my God.”
Cade sent a pleading glance Herb’s way and he took his sobbing wife in his arms.
“I won’t look,” she wailed as she buried her wet face against Herb’s shoulder.
“I won’t, either.” Herb bowed his head. “Finish up with what you have to do and tell us when.”
Sapphire hurried over to pull the tarp away while Grady and Cade lifted the sculpture. She bundled it in her arms and went closer to watch as the two men wrestled with the base until Grady was satisfied with the angle.
“That’s good,” he murmured.
Cade stepped a couple of feet away. “Wow,” he said quietly. Glancing over his shoulder at Sapphire, he mouthed the word again.
She nodded. Her heart pounded as she wondered what Rosie would say. She’d bet Grady’s heart was beating as fast as hers.
His hand trembled as he picked off some fibers left by the tarp. Moving away so he wouldn’t block Rosie and Herb’s view, he took a deep breath. “You can look.”
Herb raised his head and Rosie turned in his arms. They both gasped and Rosie began to cry again. But this time she rushed into Grady’s arms. “It’s b-beautiful!” She hugged him tight and he hugged her back. “A mama wolf with her pups! How did you know that’s what I’d want?”
His voice was thick. “Good guess.”
“Oh, Grady.” She gazed up at him, tears streaking her face. “I’m sorry if I spoiled your wonderful surprise.”
He smiled. “You didn’t.”
Sapphire had to work hard to keep from crying herself. Grady had nailed it. Instinctively, she knew that of all the sculptures he’d created, some immense and worth untold amounts of money, this relatively modest one he’d made for Rosie was the most important piece he’d ever done.
She wanted to hug him, too, but that wasn’t appropriate. She could congratulate him later, when they were alone. For now, she could watch with a full heart as Herb joined Grady and Rosie’s embrace. Rosie had to examine every inch of the sculpture while she raved about the cleverness of each part and the beauty of the whole. Herb contributed his share of praise and kept patting Grady on the back.
Finally, Cade walked up and pulled Grady into a bear hug. “Incredible job, Torch Man. You impress me, big guy.”
“We’ll need a spotlight,” Rosie said. “A low one.” She turned to Sapphire. “Would you consider helping us set that up? You must have lots of experience with lighting artwork.”
“I’d love to. We might have to wait until after Saturday, though.”
“That’s fine! I just want to be able to see it at night, but I can wait until next week. The beam needs to be positioned so it shows the wolves to the best advantage. I love that little one with his paw over his nose! That’s so adorable. How do you think of such things, Grady?”
“I didn’t.” Grady smiled at Sapphire. “It was Sapphire’s idea.”
Rosie looked over at her. “You got to watch him make this, didn’t you?”
“I sure did. It was inspiring.”
“I can imagine.” Her attention went back to the sculpture. “I could look at it forever. I hate to go in.”
“But the meat loaf’s not getting any younger,” Herb said.
Rosie sighed. “That’s true. If we don’t take it out of the oven pretty soon, it’ll be all dried up. Let’s go eat. Later we can come back out with a flashlight and look at my wolves some more.”
Everyone followed Rosie back to the kitchen. Sapphire discovered that was where they ate unless they had a crowd. They all helped get the food on the table and Grady opened Sapphire’s wine. To her surprise, he held out the cork.
“Want this?” His brown eyes relayed a challenge.
She shook her head. “You can toss it.”
“Maybe we should save it,” Rosie said. “After all, this is a red-letter day.”
“Then take it with my blessing.” Sapphire’s gaze met Grady’s. She knew that look by now. He wanted to kiss her. And that was just for starters. This kitchen was cozy and welcoming, but she could hardly wait to leave it.
14
“THAT WAS A real high, giving the sculpture to Rosie and having you there with me.” Grady had pleaded exhaustion in order to get out the door with Sapphire rather than stay for a game of poker and more viewings of Rosie’s wolves. Technically, he should have been worn-out, considering how little sleep he’d had recently. Instead he was strung tight as a hunter’s bow.
They were finally on the road and he fought the urge to pull onto a side road and make love to Sapphire. But the cab didn’t have enough room to do it right and the bed of his truck was a mess. She’d worn a skirt with bright red hibiscus flowers on it and a red blouse, neither of which should be scrunched up in the cab or subjected to the grime in the back.
“I’m so glad I asked to be there.”
Her musical voice stroked his already sensitized nerves. He wanted to hear that voice urging him on as he thrust into her. He passed narrow dirt roads that he’d used as teenage make-out spots. Back then he’d outfitted the bed of his truck with a self-inflating air mattress that he could deploy at a moment’s notice.
“Rosie loved those wolves, Grady.”
“I do believe she did.” Part of his desire for sex was a response to everyone’s admiration of his work. He needed to let off steam and dispel the nervous energy that successfully completing and delivering a project created in him. He liked having sex at moments like this, but sometimes that hadn’t been an option, so he’d made substitutions—downing a couple of six packs, maybe taking a nude swim in an icy lake or going on a midnight run through the pines.
Tonight he had the option with a terrific woman who might actually understand the untamed emotions pumping through him. He also had a condom since he’d made it a practice to carry one at all times this week. All he lacked was a viable horizontal surface. Hell, he’d settle for a vertical surface but his truck needed a wash, so he wasn’t going to take her up against the fender.
He was approaching the last
secluded dirt road he knew about when he remembered the blanket he’d rolled up and tucked behind his seat. He’d found it on sale at least a year ago. It was more a plush throw than a blanket and for some reason the leopard spots had appealed to him.
After buying it, he’d tucked it behind his seat and forgotten about it. Why would he remember? He’d had no girlfriend in the past year and no emergencies where he’d been stranded in icy winter conditions. But he had an emergency now. He turned off on the dirt road.
“Grady?”
“There’s something I have to do.”
“If you need to answer nature’s call, go right ahead. I won’t look.”
“I want to answer a different call from nature, more a call of the wild.” He searched for a break in the trees. There. A clearing he remembered from the old days. With luck, it would still have some grassy spots. He pulled off the road.
“Is this about sex?”
“Yes, ma’am. I just remembered I have a blanket behind my seat. It’s not very big but it’ll protect you from the cold ground.” He switched off the engine and glanced at her in the darkness. “Unless you don’t want to.”
“I want to.” Lust added a dark, rich flavor to her words.
He let out a breath. “Thank God. Let me scout around and find a place for the blanket.” He laid his hat on the dash and shut off the dome light. He’d learned early in his make-out career that nothing ruined the mood faster than the harsh brilliance of a dome light coming on when he opened the door. He’d never expected to use that information again, but here he was. “I’ll come back for you.”
“All right.” Her voice was breathy.
Unsnapping his seat belt, he leaned over and cupped the back of her head. “I’m going crazy from wanting you. I’m a danger on the road.” He captured her mouth and kissed her hard. Then he released her, climbed out and grabbed the blanket.
After letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, he scanned the clearing. His teenage instincts came back to him and he made his way to one of the few grassy areas. Spreading the throw over the ground reawakened that seventeen-year-old he used to be and his arousal strained against his fly.
Cowboy Untamed Page 15