Kelsey sighed, breaking the uneasy little silence. Tilting her head back, she gave him a rueful smile.
“All I’m trying to say is that I know you have a life apart from Danny and me. I guess these past few years I’ve sometimes forgotten that. You’ve been so good to us, giving me money—”
“I’m paying rent.”
“—and doing work on the house.”
“I live here, too.”
“Looking after Danny.”
“Not exactly a hardship.”
“And now spending your vacation putting up a greenhouse for me.”
“Saint Gage, that’s what everyone calls me,” he muttered. He shifted uncomfortably, wishing she’d stop making it sound as if he were sacrificing his life. He wanted to spend time with Danny. And he liked working on the house. It was a nice change to see a project through from start to finish, even if it was something as simple as replacing a closet door.
“I just don’t want you to think that I think that Danny and I have some kind of exclusive right to your time when you’re home. And I don’t want you to feel like you have to check in with me when you’re out, if you wanted to...stay out all night or anything. I mean, I’m not your den mother, right?”
Gage didn’t return her forced smile. He was trying to figure out just what it was about this conversation that was so irritating. He knew what she was trying to say. She was actually trying to make him more comfortable. A better man would have appreciated her efforts, he supposed. But there was something about having Kelsey give him permission to date other women—to sleep with them even—that touched a nerve he hadn’t known he had.
He spoke slowly. “So, you’re telling me that, if I go out for the evening and don’t come home all night, you’re not going to worry?”
Kelsey opened her mouth to say yes and closed it without speaking. Gage saw the sudden flash of pain in her eyes and knew she was remembering the night Rick had died. He immediately regretted the question. He hadn’t meant to remind her of that.
“I’d worry,” she admitted slowly. “But that’s not your problem. You shouldn’t have to check in with me. I’m your roommate, not your mother. No matter how I may have sounded a few minutes ago.”
“So I should just ignore the fact that you may be wondering if it’s time to call the hospitals and continue having a good time?” He didn’t add anything more. He didn’t have to. He watched as his words sank in.
“Maybe I didn’t think things through as well as I should have,” she admitted after a moment. “Believe it or not, my intentions were good.”
“I believe it. And I appreciate your sudden concern for my love life, but it’s really not necessary.”
“You should just tell me to mind my own business.”
“Mind your own business.” But his teasing smile took any possible sting from the words.
“Could we just forget this whole conversation ever happened?”
“What conversation?”
Kelsey laughed and the awkward moment was over, if not actually forgotten.
A few minutes later, Gage watched her walk back to the house. What had brought on her sudden attention to his social life? His eyes lingered on the gentle swing of her hips beneath snug pink cotton shorts. For such a small woman, she certainly had plenty of curves. And they were in all the right places.
With an effort, he dragged his gaze from her and turned away. Settling into the backhoe’s seat, he reminded himself that Kelsey wasn’t just an attractive woman. She was his best friend’s wife.
But the reminder wasn’t quite enough to banish the memory of how soft her mouth had tasted and how right she’d felt in his arms.
Chapter 7
The week after their discussion was a particularly busy one for Kelsey, which was probably just as well, since it gave her less time to dwell on her sudden, inexplicable fascination with Gage’s social life. Mid-June was a peak harvest season, not to mention weed season. The gardens soaked up as much time as Kelsey could give them. She was grateful that it was work that she truly loved but she wouldn’t have minded spending a few less hours at it.
As if the gardens didn’t keep her busy enough, there was Danny’s trip to prepare for. Every summer for the past four years, the two of them had made the trip to Minnesota to see her parents. This year, with the new greenhouse going up and the gardens bursting with produce, Kelsey hadn’t felt as if she could afford two weeks away from home. But she hadn’t wanted to deprive her parents or her son of the chance to spend time together so she’d decided to send Danny alone.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Danny was six now and sensible for his age. And it wasn’t as if he’d really be traveling alone. She’d hand him over to an attendant, who’d keep an eye on him during the flight, and her parents would meet the plane in Minneapolis. There was nothing to worry about.
But now that the time had arrived, Kelsey was suddenly stricken with doubts. If it hadn’t been for Danny’s excitement at the prospect of doing something so enormously grown-up, not to mention the shameless spoiling he knew awaited him in Minnesota, she would have called off the whole thing. Instead, she wept into the suitcase she packed for him and hugged him so often that he started to give her a wary look whenever she got close to him.
It was a good thing Gage drove them to the airport, because Kelsey was too busy trying to hold back tears to watch the road. Danny, with a heartlessness possible only in a child of six, chatted happily all the way to Los Angeles, delighted at the prospect of visiting his grandparents and showing no sign of apprehension at the thought of traveling alone. Once at the airport and waiting for his flight, he was less interested in savoring the last few minutes with his mother than he was in watching the planes take off and land.
When his flight was called, he shot out of his seat as if propelled by rockets.
“It’s time!” He would have dashed onto the plane unassisted if Gage hadn’t made a quick grab for his shoulder. Kelsey shot him a grateful look as she took Danny’s hand and walked him over to the flight attendant.
“You’re squeezing my hand,” Danny complained loudly.
Squeezing his hand? It was all she could do to keep from snatching him into her arms and rushing from the airport with him. Why had she agreed to this? Why hadn’t she told her parents that they’d just have to wait until later in the year when she’d be able to accompany him? What kind of a wretched parent was she?
“He’s going to be fine,” Gage said from beside her as the flight attendant led Danny into the jetway.
“He’s so little,” Kelsey whispered. “What if he gets scared and I’m not there?”
As if on cue, Danny turned and waved cheerfully just before walking out of sight. Kelsey promptly burst into tears.
Gage put his arm around her shoulders and led her to an out-of-the-way corner.
“He’s going to be just fine,” he told her again.
“I shouldn’t have let him go,” she muttered into his shirtfront.
“The airlines take good care of kids traveling alone. They’ll spoil him all the way to Minnesota.” He patted her back soothingly.
“I should have gone with him.”
“You’ve got a business to run.”
“It shouldn’t come ahead of Danny.”
“Time and beets wait for no woman,” he intoned solemnly, but Kelsey was momentarily beyond appreciating his humor. Wallowing in maternal guilt, she was not so easily distracted.
“I’m a terrible mother,” she said tragically.
The extravagance of that claim gave him pause. “Because you’re sending Danny to be hopelessly spoiled by his grandparents?” he asked, arching one brow in question.
Kelsey shook her head as she drew away from him. Opening her purse, she began to dig through it, looking for a tissue. “Because I was actually...looking forward to him being gone for a...a little while.” Her breath hitched on a sob. “I thought I’d enjoy some time a...lone.” She sniffed and rifled her
purse more urgently. “What kind of a mother looks forward to getting rid of her six-year-old son?”
“One who values her sanity,” he said dryly. When she didn’t smile, he sighed and took a more serious approach. “It’s not like you’re sending him to work on a chain gang. Your parents aren’t going to tie him to the bed and feed him bread and water, are they?”
“N-no.” She sniffed harder and dug deeper into her purse. If she couldn’t find a tissue, she’d settle for a crumpled napkin. “They’ll spoil him rotten.”
“Then what’s your problem?” Gage tugged her fingers out of the way and reached into her purse to pull out an only slightly crumpled napkin bearing the insignia of a fast-food restaurant. “Blow your nose and wake up and smell the coffee. You’ve got two weeks of freedom. Two weeks without having every meal critiqued by someone who thinks Oscar Mayer is the world’s greatest chef and a bologna sandwich is the height of culinary achievement.”
That drew a choked laugh from her. “He’s not a very adventurous eater, is he?”
“An understatement, to put it mildly. I’ve seen rocks with better taste.” Gage waited while she dried her eyes and blew her nose. “Feeling better?”
“Yes.” She managed a smile that wavered only slightly around the edges. “I suppose you think I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah. Lucky for you, I like idiots.” He slung his arm around her shoulders and turned her toward the windows. “Once he’s in the air, let’s blow this joint. On the way home, let’s have dinner someplace where they put real silverware on the table.”
“No plastic?” she asked wistfully. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten in a place where the food didn’t come in paper bags.
“No plastic,” he vowed.
It could have been the promise of eating real, grown-up food that enabled Kelsey to watch Danny’s plane taxi away from the terminal without shedding more tears, but she thought it more likely that it was the warmth of Gage’s arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head against his shoulder and thought again that she was lucky to have him.
* * *
It was the first time that Kelsey could remember the big kitchen actually feeling crowded. But there probably weren’t many rooms that could hold Gage and his brothers without getting just a little cramped. They were so...large. And loud.
Keefe, Cole, Sam and Sam’s wife, Nikki, had arrived before the sun, prepared to spend the day put- ting up her greenhouse. An old-fashioned barn raising, Gage had said when he told her what he had planned. Kelsey had been touched that his family would be willing to give up their weekend for her. But she was starting to think they had less interest in put- ting up a greenhouse than they did in the round of good-natured arguing that had been going on since their arrival.
Cradling mugs of coffee, they stood around her kitchen, arguing about what was the best way to start the day’s job. If she’d thought there was only one way to raise a greenhouse, she was rapidly disabused of that fantasy. Apparently there were at least four ways.
“I say we assemble the sides on the ground and then set them in place,” Cole was saying. Fair haired and dark eyed, he resembled Gage only in height and general bone structure.
“That’s why you’re a pilot and not a builder,” Keefe said bluntly. “That’ll never work.”
“And I suppose you know a better way?” Cole asked with heavy sarcasm. “Last I heard, you’re a rancher, not a contractor. This isn’t a cow we’re branding.”
“We put up a barn on my place last year, and it hasn’t fallen down yet.” Keefe lifted his mug and took a swallow of coffee. Kelsey found Keefe Walker a little intimidating. Tall like his brothers, with nearly black hair and eyes the color of bittersweet chocolate, there was an air of reserve about him, as if he kept a certain distance between himself and the world.
“One barn doesn’t exactly make you Frank Lloyd Wright,” Sam said with a grin.
Keefe raised his brows and gave his older brother an inquiring look. “I suppose being a cop has given you extensive experience in putting up greenhouses?”
“Not exactly. But it’s given me problem-solving skills that the rest of you don’t have.”
His brothers promptly booed him into silence. He shrugged, not in the least disturbed by their lack of appreciation. “You always did resent me because I was the eldest.”
“We resented you because you were the most obnoxious,” Gage told him.
“Pure jealousy,” Sam said sadly. He shot a martyred look across the room at his wife. “You see what I’ve put up with?”
“You’re a sad specimen,” Nikki agreed without noticeable sympathy. “A bit overwhelming, aren’t they?” she said to Kelsey as the four men began to squabble again.
“A bit,” Kelsey admitted, smiling at her. This was the first time she’d met Nikki Walker but she already liked the other woman.
“One of them is almost too much. When you get all four of them together, it’s downright frightening. All that testosterone in a confined space—” She shuddered. “If the surgeon general ever finds out about it, he’ll probably forbid them to gather in groups of more than two.” Nikki’s green eyes sparkled with humor.
Kelsey chuckled. “Maybe he’d just slap a warning label on them.”
“Prolonged Exposure Can Cause Heart Palpitations And Dizziness,” Nikki suggested. “I can testify to that,” she said softly, giving her husband a look that made it clear she didn’t object to the symptoms.
Kelsey’s eyes drifted to where Gage stood, one hip braced against the counter as he listened to his brothers argue. Dizziness and palpitations? She could certainly imagine Gage’s causing symptoms like that. Those electric blue eyes of his were alone enough to make a woman’s pulse beat a little faster. Not to mention a body that would have made Michelangelo itch for a chisel and a hunk of marble.
She realized that Nikki was watching her and shifted her gaze from Gage’s tall figure. Kelsey met the speculative look in the other woman’s eyes and flushed a little. On the pretext of reaching for the coffeepot, she turned away. The fact that she noticed Gage’s attractiveness didn’t mean what Nikki’s expression said it meant, she thought, feeling a little defensive.
Despite popular opinion, it was possible for a man and a woman to be friends. Even when the man in question was devastatingly good-looking and had a smile that was pure charm.
“You’re all wrong.” Gage’s announcement pulled Kelsey’s attention back to him.
“According to whom?” Cole asked, arching one brow.
“Me. I’ve already got everything figured out. We can get started as soon as you guys are done arguing.” He drained his coffee cup before setting it on the counter.
“Why should we do it your way?” Sam asked.
“Because I’ve built a lot more bridges than you guys have,” Gage said.
“That would be pretty impressive if we were put- ting up a bridge,” Keefe drawled. “But a greenhouse isn’t exactly first cousin to a bridge.”
“True.” Gage nodded as if that hadn’t occurred to him until now. “But I have something none of you have. Besides wit and charm, of course.”
The chorus of disgusted groans that followed had both Kelsey and Nikki grinning.
“What you’ve got is a swelled head,” Cole muttered.
“Maybe. But I also have something more useful.” Gage waited a moment, his mouth curving in a grin that held pure devilment. He picked up the manila folder lying next to him on the counter and waved it tauntingly. “I’ve got the instructions from the manufacturer.”
* * *
It had to be a hundred degrees in the shade, Gage thought. He said as much to Cole, who was sprawled in the redwood chaise longue next to his.
“Ninety,” Cole corrected him, squinting at the big round thermometer Kelsey had hanging on the back porch.
Gage shook his head. “Gotta be hotter than that. I’m too wiped out for it to be under a hundred.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t h
ave eaten that second serving of strawberry shortcake,” Keefe suggested without bothering to open his eyes. “A man eats too much, it’s likely to make him sluggish.”
“I didn’t notice you exercising much restraint,” Gage retorted. “How many sandwiches did you put away, anyway?”
The three of them were resting in the shade of a huge live oak. Sam and Nikki were walking through Kelsey’s gardens, but since they were holding hands and their heads were bent close together, no one was fooled into thinking they were admiring the produce.
It was Sunday afternoon, and the greenhouse was nearly complete. A day and a half of work had left everyone pleasantly exhausted and well satisfied with the results of their labor.
“Does she always cook like that?” Cole asked.
“She likes to cook,” Gage said by way of an answer.
“It’s a good thing you’re gone most of the year. If you ate like this all the time, you’d weigh three hundred pounds,” Cole said. “I feel like a turkey, stuffed and ready to go in the oven.”
“Nobody told you to take that last sandwich,” Keefe countered.
“I didn’t see you turning anything down.”
“I’m not dumb.” Keefe shook his head. “I’m not much of a cook, and Jace can burn boiling water. We survive on TV dinners. I’m going to enjoy this while I can. It may be the last decent food I eat between now and Thanksgiving.”
“Maybe you should take a doggie bag home for Jace,” Gage suggested. Jace Reno was Keefe’s partner on the Flying Ace Ranch.
“Better not. One taste of Kelsey’s cooking and he’ll probably hotfoot it down here and offer to marry her,” Keefe said.
“Somebody ought to marry her,” Cole said. “Any woman who can cook like that is a woman worth marrying.”
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