She chugged a huge cup of coffee and went to the office to work. But as the day wore on, she kept thinking about how many barrels she’d knocked over, how the single-mindedness she shared with Pepper had taken an ill-timed hiatus. Elly’s mind was just too cluttered with other things.
The hours continued to tick away, and still no call from Will. Had her father made good on his threat and contacted him? Had he scared Will away somehow?
Didn’t matter. She should cancel their date anyway. As much as it chapped her to admit it, maybe Jesse was right. Maybe she didn’t have the capacity to focus on romance and racing at the same time.
The ringing of the phone invaded her thoughts, and she knew who it would be before answering. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what had to be done.
“Cottonwood Ranch.”
“Hey.” Oh, how good his voice sounded, as decadent as a chocolate fountain.
“Hey.”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, surprising her.
“How do you know something is wrong?”
“Your tone of voice. You sound like a different person this morning.”
She closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, making it squeak. “I bet you’re good in the courtroom.”
“I hope to hold my own. Now, what’s bothering you?”
Instead of breaking off their date, she launched into the details of her altercation with Jesse and then the argument involving her father. It relieved some of the pressure in her chest to let it all flow out. She wasn’t used to keeping her emotions bottled up inside. She’d never realized how much she depended on Janie being in her life until she wasn’t there.
“And to top it all off, I had my worst practice in ages today. If I ride like that in Denver, I can kiss the Finals goodbye.”
“One bad practice doesn’t spell doom.”
“No, but it tells me I need to focus more.” She paused, hating the next words before they formed. “I don’t think now is the best time for me to be splitting my attention.”
“Before you finish by canceling our date, let me ask you this—if we don’t go out, will all the other things bothering you disappear?”
“No.”
“So you’ll be left with negative things to distract you instead of something fun.”
She hadn’t thought of it that way. Still, he was a distraction, albeit a very fine-looking one.
“I can’t do anything about what’s going on with Dad and Jesse.”
“But you can avoid me.”
“Will, don’t make this harder than it is.”
“If it’s hard, sounds like you don’t want to do it.”
Of course, she didn’t. She leaned forward, propped her elbow on the desk, and dropped her forehead into her palm.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “One dinner. And if you still want me to back off afterward, I will. No pressure, no arguments.”
It was a kind offer so typical of him, but the idea of him walking away made her heart ache.
“Okay.”
“I’ll pick you up at six.”
When he hung up, probably to avoid her possibly changing her mind yet again, she eyed the clock. Three hours until she got to look into Will’s eyes again. If she could go back and tell her teenage self that Will Jackson would one day have this kind of effect on her, she wouldn’t have believed it.
Her energy renewed, she got more work done in the next hour and a half than she had the entire rest of the day put together. When she shut down the computer, she let thoughts of work, of racing times, of the simmering anger inhabiting her family fade away and went to her room to get ready for her date.
Nothing was going to stop her. Not her brothers, not her own second-guessing. Will was right. She wanted this. And it thrilled her that he evidently did, too.
WILL FOUGHT THE KIND of jitters he hadn’t experienced in years as he drove up the long ranch road leading to Elly’s house. Considering how easy it’d been to be with her on the trail ride and during the barn dance, the sudden attack of the nerves surprised him. They yanked him back to the days when he’d not had the confidence to approach her with more than casual friendship. Maybe the nerves had made an appearance because he knew how close she’d been to canceling this date, that she still might, and remembered how hard it was to hear her say no to his advances.
When the house came into view, he straightened and told the anxiety to get lost. He had no room for it in his life anymore. Elly had probably dated a lot of confident guys—there weren’t a lot of wusses on the rodeo circuit—and he didn’t want to pale in comparison.
Anticipation accompanied him to the front door along with the big bouquet in his right hand. But when Elly opened the door, whatever he’d been planning to say took a bullet train right out of his mind.
She wore a bright pink top, gray slacks that seemed to shine when she moved, and her long, blond hair fell loose around her shoulders. He couldn’t recall ever seeing it down, and no wonder. Any man within view of her would cease being able to function normally.
“Hey, lose your voice on the way over?” she asked.
“You look beautiful.”
Her cheeks pinkened, and he smiled that his words had done that.
“Thanks.”
Another cog turned in his brain, and he lifted the bouquet of every kind of red flower the florist had been able to pull together. “For you.”
“Oh, they’re beautiful. Red is my favorite color.”
“I know.” Perhaps that was too telling, but he didn’t care.
“You do?”
“I read interviews now and then.”
“Rodeo magazines?”
He nodded. He’d tried to avoid them, but every once in a while he’d caved.
“Shut the door. You’re letting all the heat out,” Jesse said from somewhere behind her.
For a moment, her face tensed and her eyes darkened, but she appeared to let the frustration dissolve as quickly as it had formed. “Let me put these in water, and I’ll be right out.”
Will stood on the edge of the porch and looked up at the massive blanket of stars stretching across the wide, black sky. This really was a slice of heaven, and not just because Elly inhabited it.
She hurried out the door, now wearing a black coat. “Okay, I’m ready.”
As they walked toward the Yukon, he sensed a tenseness in her and wondered what her brother had said while she was inside. To alleviate the tension, he asked, “So, how many red shirts do you have anyway?”
She chuckled. “Honestly, I’ve lost count. It’s become a running joke, and I get them for birthdays, Christmas, you name it.”
“Well, it looks good on you.”
She glanced sideways at him. “Thank you.”
Once they were seated in his SUV, he started the engine and then entwined his fingers with hers as naturally as if he’d been doing it for years. She didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she settled back in her seat and let out a contented sigh that made him feel very good about himself.
They rode in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until they were out on the highway to Markton. They passed the property where he’d grown up, where he’d too often felt inadequate and unable to live up to his father’s expectations. He hadn’t been back to the house since his mom had moved into the duplex in town. It was easier for her to care for, and she had Judith in the unit next door. It’d been two years since his father’s death from heart disease, and he was glad his mom wasn’t living out on the small ranch alone.
“I’m glad you talked me out of canceling tonight,” Elly said.
He squeezed her hand gently. “Me, too. Otherwise, I’d be eating something I cooked, and let’s just say I’m not getting a chef job at a five-star restaurant anytime soon.”
“Well, I don’t know if I can go out with a man who can’t cook.”
He smiled. “Too late.”
As they rolled into town, he noticed her eyes go to the Feed and Grain. To dr
aw her attention away from her strained relationship with Janie, he turned into a parking spot next to the Sagebrush Diner at the first opportunity.
“Looks busy tonight,” he said.
“Always is. Not a lot of culinary choices in Markton.”
“Guess we’re lucky the food’s good.”
Every pair of eyes in the place turned their way when he escorted her in the front door, his palm against the small of her back. He leaned down to whisper to her.
“You think Hoyt got the word out with a special edition?”
She covered her mouth when she started to laugh. “Slow news day.”
Hoyt Collins, who currently sat in a corner booth, was the one-man show at the Markton Messenger, a one-page, two-sided roundup of local news printed on his own laser printer and placed in stacks on the counters of all the town’s businesses each Wednesday. It was as much gossip as it was actual news, but everyone seemed to gobble them up before the paper cooled.
After they were seated and had ordered, the interest from their neighbors grew less overt but was still very much there.
“Now I know what baby pandas feel like at the zoo.” Elly pantomimed people pressing their faces and hands up against glass, seeking a closer look.
“Well, I hope my steak doesn’t end up being bamboo shoots.”
“What, going off to the city didn’t turn you into a vegetarian?”
“I’m not that much different than I used to be.”
“Oh, yeah, you are. In a good way.”
Will’s pulse leaped at her words, at the appreciative tone.
They spent a few minutes talking about a couple of cases he’d worked on in law school, then about her time at college.
“Did you ever think about not coming back here?” he asked.
“No. Though lately I’ve been wondering about the wisdom of that decision.”
“I know this sounds like a platitude, but this will pass.”
“I don’t see how it can.” Her shoulders slumped as she stared down at the table.
He tried to divert her away from her train of thought. “But you like what you do for the ranch?”
Elly looked up again. “I do. And it works well with my training schedule.”
“Do you think you’ll keep competing after winning the Finals?”
She fiddled with the salt shaker, which was shaped like a cowboy boot. “You’re assuming I’ll win the Finals. I might not even make it that far.”
“You will.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Call it gut instinct.”
“Well, I like how your gut thinks.” She smiled, which always caused a warm, wonderful feeling to envelope him.
One subject of conversation led effortlessly into another as they ate their dinner. Will hated the idea that he would have missed this if he hadn’t talked her out of canceling, if he hadn’t decided to give a relationship with her a second, grown-up chance.
“Do you remember the time Delia nabbed Mr. Childers’s favorite sweater from his classroom and replaced the flag in the front of the school with it?” he asked.
Elly, in mid-drink, nearly choked. “I remember how purple his face turned.”
“She was trying to figure out if it was just one sweater or if he had an entire closet full of the things.”
“She is a sneaky little woman,” Elly said. “Funny, but sneaky. I think it’s cool she’s working in your office.”
“Never a dull moment.”
Elly opened her mouth to say something else but froze. Her gaze was directed behind him.
When he looked, he saw the equally stunned look on Janie’s face. And the stress on Mark Hansen’s. Will might have imagined the suspended conversation around them, but he didn’t think so. In that moment, he realized that word of what was going on with the Codys and the Hansens had somehow gotten out.
Not all the stares when they’d entered the Sagebrush had been because of speculation about their romantic relationship.
Elly reached out and started to say something, but Janie broke eye contact and headed toward the other side of the restaurant. The centrally located bar would block her and Mark from Elly and Will.
The sound of Elly’s fork hitting her plate brought his attention back to her. He could almost see the shield going up around her, protecting her from the pressing attention of those around them.
He slipped enough cash from his wallet to pay for the meal and a generous tip, then took her hand. “How about we have something your mom made for dessert?”
She didn’t answer or nod, just allowed him to lead her out of the restaurant.
He wanted to kick himself for not taking her to Cody, or maybe even to Sheridan for their night out. Not a place where every living soul knew everything about her from the day she was born into the area’s most prominent family.
“I’m sorry,” he said when they reached his vehicle.
“Not your fault.” She sounded so distant, like she’d turned a switch on her feelings to the off position.
He touched her shoulder, turned her so that she faced him. When he saw her chin quiver, he pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. He wanted nothing more than to have her in his arms forever.
But not like this.
Chapter Eight
When Will’s strong arms wrapped around her, shielding her from the rest of the world, Elly thought she might love him. She couldn’t imagine being held by anyone else who could make her feel like life wasn’t falling down around her. She never wanted him to let her go.
But he had to, of course. They couldn’t very well stand outside the Sagebrush all night. Not that the tongues could wag any more than they already were. What had she been thinking when she’d said the Sagebrush was fine? Hell, it was right across the street from where Janie worked.
Though she didn’t want to, she stepped back from Will. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t grill her with inane questions like, “Are you okay?” He knew she wasn’t and didn’t manufacture stupid conversation to fill the silence.
As he drove her home, she stared out into the surrounding darkness.
“If you want to talk about anything, I’ll listen,” he said.
She didn’t respond at first, but something deep inside her told Elly that if she unburdened herself, her chest might not hurt so much.
“I just keep thinking about the look on Janie’s face.”
“She was surprised. You both were.”
“It was more than surprise. It was like…I’d stabbed her in the heart or something. I’m not the one who kept the secret for months.”
“No. But I’m guessing she knows what I’m doing and seeing you with me has her questioning everything.”
“Questioning our friendship? We’ve been like sisters.”
Will reached over and took her hand in his, squeezed it. “I think she’s in probably as much shock about the situation as you are. She thought Mark was her full brother almost her entire life. And he’s the only sibling she has.”
“He might be her full brother.”
“He might.” But Will didn’t sound like he believed it.
She turned toward him, watched his face in the dim glow of the dashboard lights. “Have you found out something?”
“No.” He didn’t elaborate, and she wasn’t in the frame of mind to push, afraid of what she’d hear if she kept picking at the scab.
She went back to watching the darkness outside and tried to put herself in Janie’s shoes. How would she feel if she suddenly found out one of her brothers wasn’t wholely hers, that he was Tomas Hansen’s son? Would she have been able to tell Janie, or would she have borne the horrible, painful secret alone, hoping it never came to light? Would she keep quiet for fear she’d lose her brother to the Hansen family?
Janie and Mark had always been close, and she knew Janie well enough to know this had to be hurting her, scaring her.
“You’ll work it out,” Wi
ll said. “It might take some time, but you and Janie have been best friends too long for that to all go away.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I usually am.”
Now the low light revealed the barely contained smile on his face.
“I see you picked up an ego somewhere along the way.”
He glanced at her and winked. “Not ego if it’s true, sweetheart,” he said in a truly bad Humphrey Bogart imitation.
“Tell me again why I went out with you.”
“Because I’m irresistibly good-looking and charming?”
She snorted, but inside she couldn’t agree more. It was a minor miracle she’d gone from heartbroken to laughing in the space of a few miles, but she had—thanks to him.
When he pulled up next to the house and shut off the engine, he hopped out and came around to her side of the vehicle. She was all for women doing things for themselves, but she still sat until he opened the door for her. She didn’t think a little chivalry spelled the death of female empowerment. Sometimes it was just nice.
They walked in together as if it were the most natural thing to do, and Elly was glad to see Jesse wasn’t at home.
“So, would you like German chocolate cake, orange-cranberry scones or key lime pie?”
“Have you opened a Cottonwood Bakery, too?”
She moved toward the coffeemaker. “It’s Mom. Baking is her coping mechanism when she’s upset.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“Though compared to some coping methods I’ve seen people use, baking is a good one.”
“Yeah, but we all get fat.” She set the coffee to brewing. “So, which one?”
“Cake sounds good.”
Elly sliced two pieces as Will wandered around the room. She glanced at him when he stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf.
“Lot of travel books. Have you been to these places?”
“Only a couple.” She poured two cups of coffee and placed them beside the cake slices on the table.
“Then you have a poorly concealed guidebook fetish?”
She smiled. “Perhaps.” She slid into her chair, and Will followed by sitting across from her. “Running the Web site and blog for the ranch has allowed me to get to know people around the world. People who just like to read about the daily activities here, ones who have visited, ones who plan to visit. Even a couple of writers who come to me with research questions about ranching and Wyoming in general. I get interested in where they’re from and buy travel books.”
Elly: Cowgirl Bride Page 9