And she felt shaky because of it.
“Whatever happens, whatever we learn, we will work it out together. All right?”
Her teeth were practically gnawing a chunk out of the inside of her cheek. “I’m not your responsibility, Quinn.”
“Well, now, I’m going to have to disagree, since you seem to be my wife.”
“An unintentional one.”
“Doesn’t make it any less real as far as I’m concerned. And as such, you are my responsibility.”
“Doesn’t that make you my responsibility, as well?”
His thumb rubbed her bare shoulder before falling away. “You can handle it. You handle Vivian, after all. And she’s a lot more to take on than me.”
Despite everything, Penny felt a tearful laugh catch in her throat. “I’d just gotten off the phone with her when you knocked on my door.” Her hand felt sweaty on the door handle.
“How’d you end up working for her anyway? You get tired of working for my dad or something? You worked for him a long time.”
“Ten years,” she murmured. So long that she’d even become Dr. Templeton’s office manager. “I met Mrs. Templeton when she came to see your dad at his office last summer.”
“Bet that went well.” His voice was dry.
She nodded. “They had a shouting match. About what you’d expect. Before she left, she told me that I looked intelligent enough if not for the fact that I worked for her son.”
“Nice.”
“I think the only reason she started calling me to come work for her as her assistant was because she knew it annoyed your father.” She hesitated because she wasn’t sure Dr. T would appreciate her sharing the truth, even with his own son. “Eventually, she offered double my salary. Your dad said I should take it. I started working for her shortly before last Christmas.”
“Just like that. Ten years of loyalty tossed aside for a few dollars more?”
The accusation accomplished what nothing else did. It dried up the knot of tears threatening to break loose inside her.
“He said I should take it for the money, and then he asked me to keep my eye on her for him. No matter what he says about not caring about your grandmother, your dad does care. Very much. And because I care about Dr. Templeton, I did what he asked.”
“You did what my son asked, dear?”
Penny caught her breath and looked out the door she was holding open to see Vivian standing a few feet away in the hall.
How much had she heard?
Vivian’s carefully penciled eyebrows went up as she approached. “Well?”
Penny couldn’t seem to form an answer to save her life. She looked up at Quinn. He looked surprised, but definitely wasn’t at a loss.
“She told him she’d keep an eye on me while we were here in Vegas,” he lied easily. “You know what Dad’s like.”
“Overprotective,” Vivian said crisply. “When it comes to my possible bad influence.” Her bright gaze was running back and forth between Penny’s face and her grandson’s. “Well, I can’t say that’s much of a surprise.” She brushed her hand down the lapel of her chenille jacket as if she were brushing away the thought. “Is that what the two of you are doing together in your room, Penny? Looking after my grandson?”
Penny’s face went hot.
Which seemed to be exactly the response that Vivian was looking for, because the elderly woman gave a faint smile and a sage-looking nod.
If Quinn noticed, he ignored it. “What’re you doing slumming on the fifth floor anyway, Vivian?”
“Now you sound like dear Arthur. He had that attitude about me when we first met.”
“You cured him of it?” Quinn’s voice was wry.
“He cured me of it,” Vivian said simply. “Now, Penny dear. I came down to tell you that we’re starting a new project.”
Wariness coursed through her. Vivian’s latest project had been planning this Las Vegas jaunt.
And look where that had landed them.
“What project is that, Mrs. Templeton?”
“I’ve decided to run for the open seat on the town council.”
Penny blinked. She wasn’t sure she’d heard right. “Weaver’s town council?”
“Well, not Las Vegas’s town council,” Vivian said humorously. “Now, the vote isn’t until September, which gives us a little over six weeks to mount my campaign.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in politics.”
“Oh.” Vivian looked annoyed. “I’m not. But somebody needs to run against that coot, Squire Clay, and since nobody else in town has stepped up to do it, I will. I’m hardly afraid of an old cattle rancher, even if he does think he owns the entire town. Do you know that he actually tried to keep me from building my house where I wanted it? Said I was impinging on the natural view from the town. You can’t even see my house from the edge of town.”
Penny had never met Squire Clay, herself, though she’d certainly heard the man’s name. The Clay family owned one of the largest cattle ranches in the state and as far as she knew, they formed a good portion of the very backbone of Weaver. The Clays were also relatives of the Templetons, though that was a recent revelation Vivian had admitted to only after she’d moved to Weaver from Pittsburgh.
“Vivian,” Quinn offered reasonably, “I’ve heard you and Clay aren’t the best of friends, but—”
“We’re not even the best of enemies.” Vivian cut off Quinn. “He’s as bad as my two sons when it comes to holding old grudges. I can’t imagine how any sister of my Sawyer—illegitimate or otherwise—could have had the bad taste to marry a man like Squire. He was a boor sixty years ago and nothing has changed in the years since. It’s amazing to me that he actually found another woman willing to marry him after Sarah died.” She focused on Penny again. “So, the first order of business is to make sure my name is filed right away as a candidate. I want you to take care of that even before we leave for home. All right?”
“Of course.” Penny had no clue whatsoever what was involved, but she knew how to pick up a phone and ask questions.
“Very good.” Vivian smiled, running her gaze approvingly over the bathing suit that Penny had reluctantly purchased at her boss’s insistence. “Now, run along, you two. Get to the pool. The manager here has invited me to join him for dinner, so you’ll be on your own this evening. We’ll all have breakfast in my suite before we check out of the hotel, so I’d appreciate you arranging that, Penny. Quinn, make sure Delia drags herself to breakfast, also. Until then, I trust you’ll find something to entertain yourselves.” Smiling slightly, she turned on her heel and strode away.
Neither Penny nor Quinn spoke until the old woman was out of sight.
“So that tumor is making her crazy now,” he finally said.
“She’s definitely not crazy.”
He was silent for a moment. A moment in which she became painfully aware of the warmth of his shoulder where it brushed against hers.
“My old man really asked you to keep an eye on her?”
She moistened her lips. Little prickles of sensation were springing to life beneath her skin. “He really asked me.” If Quinn would move even an inch, she could have slid past him back into the safety of her hotel room instead of standing there in the opened doorway.
But he wasn’t moving.
Not even an inch.
She tugged at the knot on her scarf, tightening the slick fabric once more. Ali had been the one to insist the bathing suit was perfect. But Maddie had tossed in the scarf, obviously understanding that Penny didn’t feel comfortable parading around in a suit that left so much of her butt exposed.
“He’s suspicious of her. That’s why he wants you watching her.”
It was easier to focus on her impatience than the fact that her stupid h
ormones were acting up. She refused to believe that simply standing near Quinn was turning her on.
“Your father wants me to keep an eye on her health. He gave me a whole list of things to watch out for. None of which I have seen in the past eight months, mind you. You might as well believe me, because I have no reason to make it up.” She braced herself and brushed past him once and for all, crossing the entire width of the hotel room just to put some space between them.
The marriage certificate was still lying on the bed where he’d left it.
She turned her back on it and looked out at the oh-so-enticing roof view. The shiver dancing up and down her spine had her imagining his intense gaze centered right between her shoulder blades.
“You’re right,” he said quietly.
Then she heard the door close softly and her pulse ratcheted into high gear.
She swallowed and moistened her lips, certain beyond certainty that he was silently making his way across the plush carpet toward her.
Her knees felt weak. She pressed her forehead against the windowpane.
Considering the blazing sunshine, the glass ought to have felt at least warm. But it was cool. Thickly insulated against the elements.
It was only inside her belly that she felt hot.
She closed her eyes. “Quinn. I don’t want to make this situation more complicated than it already is.”
He didn’t answer.
She finally turned to look his way.
The hotel room was empty.
He’d closed the door all right. But after leaving.
Her breath oozed out shakily and she pressed her hand to her pounding chest and sank down onto the bed.
Vivian Templeton wasn’t crazy.
But Penny was more than a little afraid that she was.
She could feel the marriage certificate crumpled beneath her hip and she tugged it free and tossed it onto the floor where she couldn’t see or feel it. Then she grabbed the bed pillow and buried her face in it, wishing she couldn’t feel anything at all.
She’d lost everything that mattered in her life the day that Andy had died. The only thing that had kept her from wanting to crawl into the box in which they’d sent him back to her, had been Dr. Templeton’s unceasing nagging for her to show up every day at work. He’d given her work. He’d gotten her to take college classes online.
She’d kept on living. She’d kept on breathing.
But she’d stopped feeling.
Until today.
Until she’d wakened in Quinn Templeton’s arms.
It was a painful realization. Knowing that she hadn’t lost the capacity to feel anything at all. Much less that it would be because of someone like Quinn.
She couldn’t have chosen someone more unsuitable if she’d tried.
* * *
Housekeeping had visited his suite by the time Quinn let himself back into the room after leaving Penny’s.
His head was still pounding like a jackhammer and he opened the minibar and popped open a can of cola. It didn’t matter to him that it wasn’t cold. He needed caffeine and he drank it straight down.
Then he crumpled the can and pitched it into the trash and chased the soda with a full bottle of water.
Then he fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
The ache in his side was nothing compared to the ache in his head. But that one would abate. It was only a matter of time.
The one in his side?
He wasn’t so sure about that one.
He dropped one arm over his face. But every time he closed his eyes, he saw Penny.
The situation would be a helluva lot easier if he wasn’t so attracted to her.
It wasn’t just physically, though she’d always been a looker.
It was something inside that head of hers that he couldn’t get out of his head. Something deep behind her brilliantly blue eyes.
The phone rang, jangling through his thoughts.
He considered letting it go, but habits died too hard for a soldier and he rolled over and snatched it off the hook. “Templeton.”
“Are you coming to the pool or not?” It was Greer. Behind her was the sound of music and voices and laughter. “We’ve been saving a lounge chair for you and we’re getting some seriously dirty looks.”
Noise was exactly what he didn’t want.
But he wasn’t thrilled being stuck with his own thoughts, either.
Is Penny there?
He wanted to ask but didn’t.
There’d already been too many knowing looks tossed around from his family when it came to him and Penny, and he wasn’t going to add fuel to that particular fire. “Give up the chair,” he advised. “I’m going to the fitness center.”
“He’s going to work out,” he heard her tell someone. “You just won me twenty bucks, cuz,” she told him with a laugh. Then she hung up.
“Glad to be of service,” he murmured and dropped the phone back on the cradle.
Then he rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom, muttering a curse as his stiff muscles protested.
He forgot that annoyance, though, when he noticed the shining wedding band tucked against the zipper of his shaving kit.
He looped the ring over his little finger. It didn’t even pass his first knuckle as he studied it. The channel-set diamonds caught the light.
Disjointed puzzle pieces floated inside his memory. They were so close he could almost put his finger on them. Almost fit them into place.
But even if he never could put them together, nothing was changed.
He’d married Penny Garner.
* * *
As had been the case when they’d flown to Las Vegas, Vivian and her crew flew back to Wyoming in a private, chartered jet.
Vivian kept Penny occupied well enough. She spent half the flight brainstorming her next trip with her grandchildren, and the other half strategizing her new town council campaign. Which left Penny with several pages of notes as she’d scrambled to keep up with the woman’s rapid ideas.
It was a relief when they finally landed at Braden’s bare-bones airport, which consisted of two runways, a hangar and a flight service station. Penny tipped the flight crew while the others got off the plane, then hurried after them to pile into Vivian’s outrageously out-of-place Rolls Royce that had been parked in the dirt parking lot for the past few days. With Quinn behind the wheel, they dropped off his cousins first at their place, then Delia at her apartment.
Then it was time to let off Quinn.
Instead of his parents’ place, Quinn drove to a house that Penny wasn’t familiar with and parked on the street at the curb. She got out of the backseat where she’d been riding, prepared to take his place behind the wheel.
It was to everyone’s benefit that Vivian be kept from driving as much as possible.
It wasn’t that she was incapable. But Vivian had a tendency to jump curbs and run over trash cans. She hadn’t ever hit anything more serious, and everyone wanted to keep it that way.
He’d opened the trunk to remove his duffel bag and he stepped in her path when she was rounding the back of the luxury vehicle. The trunk lid wasn’t tall enough to hide them from view of Vivian still in the vehicle, and Penny gave him a wary look.
“What’s your address?” His voice was low.
There was no point in not telling him. He would be able to get it from any number of people if he asked. She reeled it off and he nodded before handing her a folded envelope.
“What’s that?”
“Your wedding ring.”
She paled, remembering the diamond band she’d yanked off her finger the day before. “I don’t want it.” She shoved the envelope into the mesh pocket on the side of his duffel.
Hi
s lips thinned. “You think I do?” He shut the trunk.
He walked back to the driver’s door and waited until Penny had gotten inside before shutting the door.
Then he leaned down through the open window and Penny felt her breath catching in her chest.
But all he did was tell her to drive safely, before looking past her to his grandmother. “Vivian, it’s been a memorable trip.”
“Yes, it has.” His grandmother smiled benignly. “You come and see me again before you go back to duty. That’s an order.”
His smile was faint but he nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Then his eyes met Penny’s briefly before he straightened and walked toward the house, the long strap of the duffel bag hitched easily over his shoulder.
“He reminds me so much of Sawyer,” Vivian murmured. “I so wish he weren’t in such a dangerous profession.”
“Did your first husband serve in the military?” She realized she still didn’t know what exactly Quinn did for the air force. The term PJ meant nothing to her, unless it was a nickname for pajamas.
Something that Quinn hadn’t been wearing when she’d wakened in his bed.
Vivian’s voice broke into that particularly vivid memory. “Sawyer’s father’s money bought him out of it. Then our money bought David and Carter out of it.” Her smile turned sad for a moment.
Then her shoulders lifted and fell in a deep breath and she patted Penny’s hand with her heavily jeweled fingers. “Let’s go home, dear. One adventure is done, but we’ve got lots of work ahead of us for the next.”
Penny adjusted the seat closer after Quinn’s longer legs and put the car carefully in gear before driving away from the house.
In the rearview mirror, though, she could see Quinn standing on his porch, watching them go.
And she knew the adventure with him had a long way to go before Penny would be able to consider it done.
Chapter Five
“What do you think about this?” Penny turned the computer screen toward Vivian. On it was a display of the “Templeton for Town Council” campaign poster Penny had been laboring over.
To say she wasn’t an expert when it came to campaign materials was an understatement. But she’d found a bunch of images on the internet and had been running her version of them past her boss all morning.
Vegas Wedding, Weaver Bride Page 5