by Diana Palmer
“Damn it!”
He shot to his feet, eyes blazing in a rigid face, with a dusky flush creeping along his high cheekbones with all the warning color of a poisonous reptile.
Meredith stood her ground, watching him clench those big fists at his side.
“Rey,” Leo cautioned abruptly, and started to get to his feet.
Meredith went right up to Rey, looking him in the eyes, quiet, still—waiting.
Rey was breathing through his nostrils. His jaw was clenched with fury. But intelligence won easily over bad temper. His chin raised slowly. “You’re testing me,” he said out of the blue. “You want to know if I’ll hit you.”
“It’s something a woman needs to know about a man,” she said very quietly. “And she needs to find it out where she can get help if she needs it.” She didn’t look at Leo, but Rey knew that was what she meant. She smiled gently. “No, you don’t hit,” she said in a soft, quizzical tone. “You do have a temper, but it’s not a physical one.”
He was still breathing through his nose. “If you were a man, it might be,” he told her bluntly.
“But I’m not a man,” she replied.
Her eyes were almost glowing with feeling. He got lost in those soft, warm, grey eyes. He hated the way he felt when he was near her. He’d been fighting it ever since he carried her up to her garage apartment after she’d fainted at the hospital. He liked the feel of her in his arms. He liked kissing her. He liked the way she picked at him and teased him. No woman had ever done that before. As his older brothers had been before they married, he was taciturn and uncommunicative most of the time. His very attitude put most women off.
It didn’t put Meredith off. She wasn’t afraid of his temper, either. She made him into a different person. It wasn’t something he could easily explain. He felt comfortable with her, even while she was stirring him to passion. He could imagine just sitting in front of the television with her and holding hands, late at night.
The image intimidated him. He sat back down, ignoring Meredith, and started putting butter and strawberry preserves on four biscuits.
Leo gave him a measuring look. “Don’t eat all the biscuits.”
“I’m only getting my share. She,” he jerked his thumb towards Meredith, “didn’t make but eight this morning. That’s one for her, four for me, and three for you.”
“And why do you get four?” Leo asked belligerently.
“Because she proposed to me,” he said with pure smug arrogance, and a look that made Leo’s teeth snap together.
“I did not,” Meredith said haughtily, sitting down across from him. “I said I was thinking of you as a marriage prospect, not that I actually wanted to go through with a ceremony.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll have to see how you work out.”
Rey smiled faintly. “That sounds interesting.”
He didn’t necessarily mean what it sounded like he meant. She mustn’t jump to any conclusions here. But her cheeks were getting very rosy.
He noticed that. It was a devilish game they were playing, and he could do it better. He stared pointedly at her soft mouth as he put a cube of fresh pear into his mouth, slowly and deliberately.
She felt very uncomfortable in odd places when he did that. She ate her beef and gravy and tried to ignore him.
“I like having fresh fruit,” Rey said with a slow smile. He speared a grape with his fork and eased it slowly between his lips.
She moved restlessly in her chair. “It’s healthy stuff.”
“No wonder you were trying to get us to eat right,” Leo said, trying to break the growing spell Rey was casting on her. “You teach nutrition, I suppose.”
“In a way. I’m supposed to counsel patients on changing bad habits and making lifestyle changes when they’re warranted,” she explained. If only her hand didn’t shake while she was holding the stupid fork. Rey saw it and knew why, and she hated that damned smug smile on his lean face!
He picked up a piece of perfectly cooked asparagus spear and slowly sucked it into his mouth, using his tongue meaningfully.
“I have to fix dessert,” Meredith choked, jumping to her feet so quickly that she knocked her chair winding and had to right it.
“I saw that chair jump right out and trip you, Meredith,” Rey commented dryly. “You ought to hit it with a stick.”
“I ought to hit you with a stick instead!” she raged at him, flushed and flustered and out of patience.
“Me?” Both eyebrows arched. “What did I do?”
She pictured hitting him across the jaw with the biggest frying pan she had. It was very satisfying. Pity she couldn’t do it for real.
She went to the cupboard and drew out the ingredients for an instant reduced fat pudding. She had some low-fat whipped cream in the freezer that she could top it with. Meanwhile, Rey would finish his meal and stop using fruits and vegetables to torment her with. She could have kicked him.
Behind her, Rey was talking comfortably to Leo about some new equipment they were ordering, and about routine chores that had to be completed before Thanksgiving this month and the Christmas holidays next month. Most of the ranch hands would have Thanksgiving, the day after, and that weekend free. Next month, they’d have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day free, along with four days before or after, depending on the schedule. Some of the men had families in far-flung locations and they had to travel a distance for the holidays. The Harts made a practice of giving the men time off to go home during the holiday season by staggering work schedules, so that there was an adequate crew here to work when days off were assigned.
Then they moved on, naturally, to a discussion about Thanksgiving dinner.
“You’re going to stay until after Thanksgiving, aren’t you?” Rey asked Meredith.
She had her back to them. “Yes, I’d like to,” she said, because she’d already been planning special menus and light, noncaloric desserts for it. “Unless you’re planning to go away for it,” she added quickly.
“The family has a Christmas party, when we all get together. We sort of save Thanksgiving for just us, so the others can have the day with their wives and kids,” Leo told her. “It’s been sort of hit and miss since Mrs. Lewis has been plagued with arthritis. As you know, we got her to come back to work just briefly, but her hands won’t hold out to make bread and do any scrubbing with them, despite medicine. She has her children up from Corpus Christi for the holidays and cooks for them. We sort of got leftovers.”
She grimaced. “Well, I’ll make sure you have a big Thanksgiving dinner this year,” she said gently. “With all the trimmings. Including biscuits,” she added when they both looked her way.
She finished whipping the pudding, and put it in bowls in the refrigerator to chill before she sat back down. “That will make us a nice dessert tonight,” she commented. “I don’t suppose you want it any sooner?”
They shook their heads. “I’ve got a meeting with our marketing staff in half an hour,” Rey said, checking his multifunction watch.
“And I’ve got to go over the new equipment list with our mechanic and see if we’ve got everything ready to order,” Leo added.
“How about a nice Greek salad for supper?” Meredith asked. “I make it with feta cheese and black olives and eggs. I bought the ingredients yesterday at the store. Except for the eggs, of course. I’ll get those out of the henhouse.”
“Sounds nice,” Leo said with a grin.
“Watch where you put your hands,” Rey murmured without looking right at her. “I haven’t seen my pet snake in the barn lately.”
She gave him a cold look. “If I see him, I’ll get him on a stick and put him right back in the barn,” she said with pure bravado.
Rey glanced at her with dancing dark eyes. “I’d pay real money to see you do that,” he chided.
So would I, she thought, but she didn’t say it. She just smiled smugly.
The brothers finished their last swallows of coffee and went out the door still talking bu
siness.
Later, Meredith went out to the henhouse to gather the eggs, with her straw basket on her arm. Rey had unnerved her with his comment about the damned snake. Now she was sure it was in there, waiting for a gullible victim to frighten.
She took a deep breath and walked carefully into the dim confines of the henhouse. She bit her lower lip and approached the nest slowly. She stopped dead. There was actually a snake in there. He was wrapped around the eggs. He was licking his snaky lips.
She shivered with fear, but she wasn’t going to let the stupid thing make her a laughingstock twice.
She saw a long, thick stick on the straw-covered floor. She put her basket down, still watching the snake, and picked up the stick.
“It’s okay, old fellow,” she said to the snake. “It’s okay. I’m just going to ease you out of the nest. Don’t get mad, now. I won’t hurt you. It’s okay.”
While she was talking, softly, she eased the stick under its coils and very carefully lifted it. It was very still, not moving its head except to hiss. So far, so good. She had it up on the stick. It was heavy.
As she pulled it out of the nest, she noticed that it was really quite long. It really didn’t look much like that black and white one Rey had put in the barn. This one had a pretty brown pattern on its back and had a white underbelly. But, then, it wasn’t striking at her or anything, so she wasn’t worried.
She held it far out in front of her and stepped carefully out of the henhouse into the bright light. As she did, the snake hung from the stick, looking rather bored by the whole thing.
She carried it through the yard and out toward the barn. One of the men was standing by a truck, watching her progress. His jaw fell. She wondered what was wrong with him. Maybe he’d never seen a woman carry a snake around before.
“Nice day,” she called to him.
He didn’t answer. She shrugged and kept walking.
The barn was empty, except for the bales of hay that were stacked neatly on the bottom and the loft of the huge structure. Over against one wall there was a corn crib with stacks and stacks of dried corn, and a machine that shelled them.
“Here we go, old fellow,” she told the snake. She eased him over the wooden box and slid him down into the piles of unshelled corn.
He drew back in a threatening pose and hissed at her again.
Odd, the shape of his head, she thought, frowning as she studied him. It looked like an arrowhead. That other snake’s head had been rounded.
Well, it might be some other species of king snake, she supposed. Weren’t there several?
She walked back out of the barn into the daylight, whistling softly to herself as she started back to the henhouse. She was so proud of herself. She’d gotten the snake on the stick all by herself, without screaming once, and she’d carried him all the way to the barn and put him in the corn crib. She wasn’t afraid of the snake anymore. As Rey had said, they were beneficial. It wasn’t right to kill something just because you were afraid of it, she told herself.
The man who’d been standing by the truck was nowhere in sight, but the truck was still running and the driver’s door was standing wide-open. She wondered where the driver had gone. He must have been in a hurry for some reason.
Meredith went back to the henhouse, put the stick down, picked up her basket and went to gather eggs. There were no more snakes, but there were plenty of eggs. She could boil several to go in her nice Greek salad. The spinach she’d bought to make it with was crisp and cold and almost blemishless. The brothers would love a salad if it had enough eggs and cheese and dressing.
She got the last egg into the basket and walked back out again, pausing to reach down and pet one of the big red hens who came right up to her and cocked its head curiously toward her face.
“Aren’t you a pretty girl?” she said, smiling. She liked the way the chicken felt. Its feathers were very smooth and silky, and the chicken made the sweetest little noises when she petted it. She’d never been around farm creatures. She found that she enjoyed the chickens and the cattle dogs and the endless cats that hung around outside begging for handouts.
Two other hens came up to her, curious about the tall creature in jeans and tank top. She petted them, too, laughing as they crowded close. But then one started to peck the eggs, and she stood up again.
She turned back toward the house, her mind on the snake and her bravery. She’d have to remember to tell Rey and Leo about it…
“Meredith!”
The loud, urgent deep voice sent her spinning around. Rey was running toward her, bare-headed, with the cowhand who’d been next to the running pickup truck at his heels.
“Hi, Rey,” she said hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”
He stopped just in front of her. He caught her a little roughly by the arms and took the basket away from her, setting it aside, while he looked at every inch of her bare arms and hands. He was breathing rapidly. He seemed unnaturally pale and tight-lipped.
“It didn’t bite you?” he demanded.
“What?”
“The snake! It didn’t bite you?” he snapped.
“No, of course not,” she stammered. “I just got it on a stick, like you did, and put it in the corn crib.”
“Get my Winchester,” Rey told the other man in a harsh tone. “Load it and bring it back here. Hurry!”
“I don’t understand,” Meredith said with noticeable confusion. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you need a gun?”
“Oh, baby,” he whispered hoarsely. He pulled her against him and bent to kiss her in view of the whole outfit, his mouth hard and rough against hers. “Baby!”
She had no idea what was wrong, but she loved the faint tremor in his hard arms as they crushed her against his body. And she loved the way he was kissing her, as if he couldn’t get enough of her mouth. He’d called her “baby…”
She held on and moaned under the crush of his lips.
He drew back. “I’m sorry. It was such a shock. I was scared out of my wits, I didn’t even stop to grab my hat when Whit came into the office…!”
Her mouth was pleasantly swollen. She looked up at him dreamily and smiled.
“You don’t have a clue, do you?” he asked huskily, searching her soft grey eyes.
“Mmm. About what?” she murmured, only half hearing him.
The other man came out with a rifle. He handed it to Rey. “Safety’s on,” the man advised.
“Thanks, Whit.”
He moved back from Meredith. “I’ll go kill it.”
“Kill it?” Meredith exclaimed. “You can’t! It will eat the rats, it’s harmless…!”
“Sweetheart,” he said very gently, “you were carrying a copperhead moccasin.”
“Yes?” She stared at him blankly.
“It’s one of the most poisonous snakes in Texas!”
She stood looking after him with her mouth open and her heartbeat choking her. She’d been carrying the damned thing on a stick, with it hissing at her. She felt the blood leave her head. Seconds later, she was lying on the hard ground. Fortunately she missed the basket of eggs on the way down.
CHAPTER NINE
“You’re making a habit of this lately,” Rey murmured as he carried Meredith up the stairs to the garage apartment. “I never figured you for a fainter, Meredith,” he added dryly.
He was still bare-headed, but he wasn’t grim now. He was smiling.
“Of course I fainted! I picked up a poisonous snake!” she gasped, still in shock.
“Well, you’ve got guts, woman, I’ll give you that,” he said with a slow smile, shifting her a little closer. “Picked up a poisonous snake with a stick and carried it all the way to the barn, and it didn’t bite you. Now I’ve heard everything.”
“It did hiss a little,” she recalled, shivering.
“It had eaten three eggs,” he murmured. “Probably it was too busy digesting to care where it went at the time. Lucky for you.”
She laid her cheek against
his broad, strong shoulder and held on tight. She had a sudden thought. “It didn’t bite you?” she asked worriedly.
“It didn’t get the chance. Didn’t you hear the shot? I got it as it was crawling down from the corn bin onto the floor.” He chuckled. “If I hadn’t gotten it, though, Bandit would have. King snakes are natural enemies of any poisonous snake. They eat them. I hate to kill even a copperhead, but we can’t have poisonous snakes around the livestock, or the men. Or, especially,” he added with a warm glance at her, “in the henhouse. At the very least, a bite from one can put a man in the hospital.”
She shivered, and her arms tightened around Rey’s neck. “I was so proud of myself,” she murmured. “I had no idea I was taking my life in my hands. It didn’t look exactly like the other snake, but the patterns were sort of similar. I know about snake bites because I’ve helped treat them, but I don’t know one snake from another unless I see pictures of them!” she added defensively.
“You’ll learn.” He kissed her forehead with breathless tenderness. “My brave girl,” he whispered. “You’ll never know how scared I was when Whit came running to tell me what you were doing.”
It made soft little ripples of pleasure run through her body when he said that. He was being protective about her. She closed her eyes and drank in the warm nearness of him, the easy strength of his arms as he carried her. She felt safe as she’d never felt in her whole life. It was nice to lean on somebody strong, just for a little while.
He felt the vulnerability. He told himself that he wouldn’t take advantage of it, but who was he kidding? She was soft and cuddly like this, and it was almost an involuntary action when his mouth slowly moved over hers as he reached her door.
The pressure was light, comforting. She sighed under the warmth and delight of it, and her lips parted, just the least little bit.
His whole body contracted with desire at that faint response. He looked down into her half-closed, misty eyes with growing hunger.
The look was as new as the tenderness. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from that dark hunger in his. She forgot the snake, the scare, the people outside in the yard, everything. He bent back to her, and she met his mouth hungrily with her own, her arms clinging fiercely to his shoulders.