"Just promise me you won't bring it up."
"Fine," he said. "But what if she brings it up?"
"Trust me. She won't." The only person trying harder than her to outrun the past was her mother.
#
Dylan looked around the room filled with big hair and big money. What was he doing here? Nana had winked at him from the dance floor. Lucy and Reed were back at the Pekingese table, and he hadn't missed the looks of warning Reed was shooting at him as he chatted up Lucy's step-father. He didn't belong here. He'd only accepted Nana's invitation because he knew it would give him more time with Lucy. Despite everything, he hated that he'd hurt her by going after the job she'd already staked as her own.
At least she was speaking to him again. It didn't help that she looked gorgeous tonight in that dress. It was blue as the night sky and seemed to be begging him to kiss her. He longed to wrap his arms around her again, feel her skin and the pressure of her mouth against his.
He shook off the thought. She was here with Reed, and she hated Dylan. He was only torturing himself.
"Good evening, everyone," Nana crooned from the microphone attached the podium at the front of the room. She still held her little dog in one hand. "Thank you all for coming to support this wonderful cause. We're about to begin dinner, so please take your seats."
Luckily dinner was not as awkward as he'd expected, thanks to Nana's eccentric presentation, which included a slideshow of Penelope in different ridiculous outfits and a twenty minute speech by Nana during which she listed the benefits of dogs eating an all organic diet. She'd probably think old Red was abused because of her nightly supper of cheap dog food and scraps.
After dinner, a band played oldies, and the dance floor quickly filled up with couples sporting unique ways to showcase their wealth and varying degrees of rhythm.
Lucy's stepfather, who sat on the other side of his wife, leaned toward Dylan. "So I hear you're catering the Tornsten wedding with our little Lucy."
Dylan glanced across the table at his "little Lucy," looking great with hair already starting to slip out of the twist in the back. "Yes, sir. The groom, Wyatt Lawrence, is an old friend of mine."
Kenneth swirled his drink in its tumbler. "And how do you know each other?"
"Through the rodeo circuit. My sister is a pretty good barrel racer, and I do a little team roping and some occasional bronc riding."
Lucy's mother pushed away from the table. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a look at the silent auction."
Dylan watched her disappear through the crowd, feeling like he'd said something wrong. Lucy's brow wrinkled, her eyes full of accusations even though she was sitting too far away to hear the exchange over the music.
Reed brushed a finger against her bare arm, stealing Lucy's attention from Dylan, and they left the table for the dance floor. Dylan blew out a frustrated breath. Why did he let this guy bother him so much?
Kenneth slid into the empty seat next to Dylan. "I appreciate that you're a young man with a goal."
Dylan waited for the "but" he knew was coming.
Kenneth took a sip of his drink and leaned forward. "But let me make something clear."
Here we go.
"This job would be good for Lucy, and I'm going to make sure she gets it. I won't let anything stand in my way."
Dylan realized it wasn't Reed or Lucy's mom he should have been worrying about tonight. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. The truth was, Dylan could bow out now and search for another job. But something told him that wouldn't be doing Lucy any favors. He wasn't convinced that running J.T.'s restaurant is what she really wanted. Maybe in the end she'd see living her life to please everyone but herself wasn't worth. Maybe she'd even give Dylan another chance. Or maybe he was only kidding himself.
"I understand you're looking out for Lucy, and I think that's great. She's talented and may very well out-cook me and get hired."
A smirk crawled across Kenneth's face. "That's a nice fantasy, kid, but it's not how things work around here. I didn't get where I am today because of talent or luck. It's who you know, and young man, I know everyone in this town."
#
Lucy's toes ached as Reed led her across the dance floor. She wasn't usually one for dancing, as the blisters she could feel forming on her toes would show, but she had been desperate to escape that table.
They reached an empty spot on the crowded floor where she had a view of Nana dancing with her little dog as it licked her right on her lips. Reed took Lucy's hand in his and draped his other hand around her waist. She was suddenly very aware of how thin the silk of her dress was. When he pulled her close, she resisted the urge to step away.
Reed swayed to the big band music. "I'm so glad we did this."
With each step, her feet screamed at her to stop, but she pasted on a smile. "Me, too." She and Reed hadn't spoken much since the breakup, but it seemed like he had changed. Reed was even making a bigger effort to get to know Kenneth, whom he'd chatted with most of the evening. "I know your work keeps you busy."
"It does, but events like this are great networking opportunities."
Apparently, not everything had changed. His blatant ambition felt like sandpaper against her frayed nerves. Although Reed had probably never let his pride and stubbornness get him fired from a job like she had. No matter how embarrassing the dismissal, she didn't regret what she'd done. "So what's new at work?" Sticking with a topic she knew he loved.
Always light on his feet, he led her with ease. "If I could bring in a few more big name clients, I'm sure I could make partner even sooner. I'm right on the cusp of being the youngest in firm history."
Lucy glanced over his shoulder at Dylan who was now talking to a stunning redhead. A stab of unwelcome jealousy hit her. "You mentioned that. That's great."
"Which reminds me, I was hoping to set up a meeting with your stepfather. I want to discuss our firm doing some work for his business."
"Oh," she said, unable to hide her shock. "Is Kenneth considering making a change?" The attorney who worked with her stepfather in business dealings had been around for years. He was practically an extended member of the family.
"Not yet, but I was hoping you could help me with that."
Lucy laughed. "I don't get involved in Kenneth's business dealings." She knew little about that part of his life. Attending a few company Christmas parties and family dinners with business associates was where her role in his career ended.
"But if my uncle gave you the executive chef job, it would only be fair for you to at least mention it to him."
Her feet fumbled underneath her, sending a sharp pain through her toe.
Reed tightened his arm around her. "You okay?"
She got her feet back under her and forced herself to keep dancing. "I'm fine, but these shoes are beginning to get the best of me."
He ignored her statement about her shoes, gaze flicking back to Kenneth again. "It doesn't have to be anything formal. Maybe you, me, Kenneth, and your mom could all go out to dinner to discuss it. And I'll keep trying to squash my uncle's crazy ideas about hiring Yosemite Sam over there."
She shook her head. "Is this why you came tonight?" Is that why he was being so friendly to her parents? "So that I'd help you get my stepfather as a client?" All the reasons they broke up came crashing back to her.
"Of course not. We have a history, Lucy. You're beautiful, and we have a great time when we're together."
As much as she wanted to believe what he said, she suspected if she wasn't Kenneth Morgan's stepdaughter, he might be dancing with someone else. "I think it's best if we keep our careers separate from our"—she searched for the right word—"friendship."
His shoulders tensed. "I see."
Nana's high-pitched laughter in the distance cut through the silence between them.
"If that's what you really want..."
"It is."
With the last note of the song, he stepped away from her. "Thanks for
the dance. I think I'm going to head back to the bar. It looks like another attorney has spotted my future client."
She nodded. "Sure. I'll be at our table whenever you're ready to go."
The band struck up an upbeat song as she headed back toward her seat. She walked around the edge of the dance floor but stopped when she saw Dylan twirling the pretty redhead on the dance floor.
"You two make a great pair."
Lucy looked behind her to see Nana standing there, still holding Penelope in her arms. "Excuse me?"
She pointed one of the dog's paws toward the bar. "You and Reed. I saw you dancing with him. Such a nice looking couple."
Reed. She tensed. "Thanks, but we're just..."
Nana's bony elbow poked at Lucy. "You should snap that one up before someone else does. He's a real catch."
Chapter Fourteen
Lucy kicked the comforter toward the foot of the bed and rolled over with a huff. The blocky green letters of the alarm clock taunted her with three-fifteen. In a few hours she'd have to drag herself out of bed to meet with clients for another catering job. Circles under her eyes the color of eggplants didn't scream trust me with your big day.
She threw the sheet off and pulled a sweatshirt over her tank top. She stomped by the open door of Paige's room, jealous of the steady rise and fall of her sister's shoulders.
She opened her laptop on the kitchen counter. Maybe fifteen minutes of pie recipes online would trigger her brain to shut up and let her sleep.
Her insomnia had disappeared with no warning and then reappeared a few nights ago. Why had it come back?
She pulled herself onto the wooden bar stool and scanned through the list of ingredients for a key lime cheesecake. This familiar ritual of middle-of-the-night Internet searches had returned as quickly as it had disappeared. Her mind spun trying to remember when it had ended.
Memories of the low rumble of Dylan's truck, the rattle of the chuck wagon behind them, and the warmth of Red curled up in the seat rushed over her. Dylan. She pressed her forehead into her hands. This couldn't have something to do with him, could it? She refused to let him have that kind of control over her.
She straightened. It had to be the movement of being in the truck or maybe it was Red. Maybe she needed a dog.
She slammed the lid of her computer and paced in the small living room. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep when she couldn't get her mind off Dylan.
She moved over to the box of photographs on the glass coffee table. Paige had explained that she'd snuck the photos out of the house because she was putting a slideshow together for Kenneth's sixtieth birthday. Lucy turned on the lamp and picked up the box that had once held an expensive pair of golf shoes.
She sat on the couch with the box on her lap and began flipping through the pictures. Many of them were of Kenneth golfing, on a beach vacation somewhere, or with Paige with big bows in her hair when she was a little girl.
His appearance had remained the same except for the wrinkles around his eyes and the streaks of gray in his hair that men like Kenneth were somehow able to pull off.
There were photos of Kenneth and her mom's wedding day. Her mom had worn a simple satin wedding gown and looked content and happy. It had been hard for Lucy to understand how she could remarry so soon after her father had passed away. Lucy had still been grieving the death of her dad while her mother was celebrating a new life with Kenneth.
As she went through the photos, she piled them in neat stacks beside her. It had been a good life with Kenneth. A nice house. Fancy schools. Exciting vacations. Her mom and Kenneth never fought like her parents had. Sure there were tense moments, times when one glance from Kenneth would silence her mother, but there was no yelling or slamming of doors like in her childhood. Her parents had married young, and their marriage had been one of extremes. When they were happy, it was all winks and laughs between them. When they were fighting, the house was filled with the sounds of shouting and smashing glass.
She took the last photo from the box. Her mother and Kenneth on a dance floor. Their arms wrapped around each other, and her mom's mouth open in an obvious laugh. She looked young and in love.
Her mom's hair cascaded down her back in big waves.
Lucy's grip tightened on the photo. Her father had loved those long curls. After a big fight over a rodeo, she'd chopped it short to get back at him. She'd kept it in a conservative bob ever since then.
In the corner of the photograph, a date was printed in blocky numbers. As Lucy read it, her pulse sped. Her eyes fixed to the date—six months before her father died. Almost a year before her mom had said she'd met Kenneth.
Lucy sank into the couch, her mind spinning, searching for an explanation. Looking for any other conclusion than the one she kept coming back to.
But apparently Lucy wasn't the only one in the family with secrets.
Chapter Fifteen
Dylan dragged a bag of feed from the bed of the truck and carried it to the corner of the barn. After last night, he needed this day working on the ranch to clear his head, but even the ache of his muscles didn't keep him from replaying the night over and over again.
He threw the bag on top of the last one he'd carried in, and it landed with a thud. Dust drifted into the air. Men like Lucy's stepfather and Reed Shaw didn't bother Dylan. He'd dealt with plenty of men with big egos through the years, from the angriest old cuss to the big shot owners on the ranch who had more money than they knew how to spend. What bothered Dylan was watching Lucy try to keep them all happy. She'd carried that secret for years for fear of what her mom and stepfather might say.
As he stepped from the shadow of the barn back out to the truck, his dad approached. His father pulled his hat off and wiped the sweat from his head with the back of his hand. "You want to talk about it?"
Dylan slung the heavy bag over his shoulder. "Talk about what?" He turned back to the barn.
"You've been stomping around this place all day." His dad pulled a bag of feed from the bed of the truck. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"
Dylan glanced back at the 50 pound bag in his father's arms. "Did the doctor give you the okay to carry that much weight?"
"You're not going to be around here much longer to help me with the heavy lifting." His voice was strained under the weight. "Might as well start getting used to it."
Dylan slammed the bag down on the concrete. "I'll be living here forever if you hurt yourself again and have another surgery. The doctor said your back needs time to heal." He took the load from his father and dropped it on top of the pile.
"I feel fine, and you're trying to change the subject. Is this about the girl?"
Dylan headed back toward the truck. "You always think it's about a woman."
"Well, is it?" his dad asked, following him again.
Dylan stopped outside the barn, knowing his dad would keep pestering him until he told him the whole story. While Lucy's family seemed to be experts at keeping secrets, Dylan's dad was an expert at getting them out of people. "You know how I'm up for a big restaurant gig."
His father gave a short nod.
"It's the same job she's been fighting for."
"Is the job worth competing against her?"
Worth it? To pay his dad's medical bills? To give his father some peace? But his father didn't need to hear all Dylan's reasons. He had too much pride to accept an honest answer. "I want to show Jentry that I can do this."
Looking unconvinced, his dad frowned. "So this is about proving something to your sister."
That was part of it, but it wasn't just about her or his dad. It never had been. "I also want this for me. I could run one of those fancy restaurants and I could be great at it. Lucy needs to see that."
"You mean Jentry?"
The slipup felt like a smack across the face. He had to get Lucy out of his head. "Of course I meant Jentry." Trying to get the job to impress Lucy didn't make any sense. She hated him for it.<
br />
His dad rubbed his hand against his lower back. "Maybe once you do that, you'll feel like you deserve this gal. But I'm telling you right now, if it's meant to be, you two kids will end up together whether you're the chef of some highfalutin place or a dishwasher at the Dairy Queen."
Dylan would never understand how his dad could have such a hopeful view of Dylan's relationships after what he'd endured in his own marriage. "Even if I did give up my shot at the restaurant, she's not interested in me." He lifted himself into the bed of the truck to move the bags against the cab to the tailgate. "Said she could never date a cowboy."
His dad grabbed the bag and pulled it toward him. "You've never had trouble getting a date before. I thought women liked the cowboy thing."
Resigned to the fact that his dad wasn't going to stop heavy lifting, he took a pair of gloves from the toolbox and tossed them to him. "I'm sure it has something to do with her father, but I also get the sense that her family has put all these ideas in her head about who she should be and what she should do. I'm not sure she'd even be happy in the job."
His father pulled the leather gloves on his hands. "So who does she date, neuroscientists?"
"Last night she showed up with her ex-boyfriend, the nephew of the restaurant investor. He's some hot shot lawyer in the city."
His dad let out a slow whistle.
"I can't compete with that." No matter how egotistical Reed was, he had one thing Dylan could never have—her family's approval.
A grimace of pain flickered across his dad's face as he pulled the heavy feed into his arms. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You have the cooking thing going for you too."
Dylan grabbed another bag and walked with his dad. "Lucy's different, and she's an honest-to-goodness chef. She's not easily impressed by a good chicken fried steak."
"Then why let yourself get all bent out of shape over her?"
Kiss the Cowboy Page 12