Hold your head high.
Cassie plastered a smile on her face and walked down the steps and toward them as the couple exited the vehicle.
“We’re looking for the Denton place.”
“This is it.” Cassie gave her name and then felt compelled to explain the situation before they jumped to the wrong conclusion. “I am an artist friend of Lucas’s. My cabin and studio burned to the ground last month, and he’s been nice enough to give me a place to stay until I can find a new home.”
The wariness on the woman’s face faded, and she smiled, extending her hand. “I guess Luke told you to expect us.”
Well, more or less.
Cassie cast a glance at Lucas’s father, but he didn’t seem as warm as his wife, and Cassie decided to let him make the first move.
“I’m Penny Denton, and this is my husband, Bill.” The man had come around the front of the Jeep by now and extended his hand to her. His grip was firm and confident. She pulled her hand away sooner than he probably would have wanted to stop pumping hers.
“Pleased to meet you, Cassie.” His accent was not as strong a drawl as Lucas’s. Actually, neither of them had much of an accent, which made her wonder where they were from originally.
“Lucas is out back splitting wood. Would you like something to drink or help bringing in your things?”
She realized she had to be sleeping where he intended for them to stay—his bedroom. Was that why he blew up at her this morning? He was too nice to kick her out, so he hoped to drive her away instead.
“Just give me a little time to clear my things out of his bedroom.” Oh, that didn’t sound good. “He has been sleeping in his workshop since I arrived.” Mostly. Did her explanation sound as if she was making excuses to cover something up? Oh, what did it matter? She knew nothing inappropriate had happened with Lucas. If his parents did not believe her, that was their problem, not hers.
Penny cast a worried glance toward her husband and then returned her gaze to Cassie. “Having us both under foot here might be too disruptive. We had no idea he had company already.”
Lucas spoke about his mother fondly, but had made no mention of his dad that Cassie could recall. Did he not get along with his father?
If Cassie had anywhere else to go, she would pack and leave today. Feeling like a fifth wheel and wanting to escape, Cassie started toward them. “Let me take you to him, Mr. and Mrs. Denton.” Once she delivered them into his hands, she planned to go on that long walk. Her mind was jumbled up with too many problems right now. She needed time. Quiet time. Perhaps even meditation time.
“Momma, you made it!” A bare-chested Luke dropped the ax and crossed the yard. “I’d give you a hug, but I’m hot and sweaty.” He grew more serious when he turned to face his father. “Dad, you’re looking well. Glad you could make the trip, too.”
Indeed, he was. Sweat glistened off his chest, rolling down in rivulets between his pecs. Cassie realized she was staring and turned away. Whatever possessed him to chop so much wood on a hot July day?
“Get over here and give me a hug, Luke. I don’t mind a little sweat on a hardworking man.” Cassie glanced back at him as Lucas wrapped his arms around his mother.
“Great to have you here, Momma.” His words were heartfelt, and he wrapped his strong arms around her. She stood nearly a foot shorter than Lucas.
After a moment, Lucas released her and turned to his dad. Cassie noted less enthusiasm when it came to his father—Bill, right? They merely shook hands. “How’ve you been, Dad?”
“Can’t complain, although this retirement shit is for the birds.” Bill turned to Cassie. “Pardon me, ma’am.”
Cassie smiled. “You are fine.”
“Bill’s been driving me a little crazy, too. Be sure to put us to work while we’re here.”
“I can always use an extra pairs of hands, but before I do that, why don’t I help you get your things inside…” His voice trailed off, and he glanced at Cassie.
“Don’t move a thing,” his mom said. “We aren’t staying.”
Rather than seeming relieved that the house wouldn’t be overcrowded with two more guests, Lucas glanced first at his dad and then his mom.
His mother stared down at the ground. “We checked into the hotel near the frontier museum this morning.” The gazes of mother and son met, and a silent message passed between them. “I think it will make for a better visit all around.”
Luke glanced at his dad and then nodded. Apparently these two men did not have much love lost between them. Cassie could not imagine there being anyone with whom Lucas could not exist in harmony.
The older man’s eyes were hidden by sunglasses, but his gravelly voice had a hard edge to it when he spoke. “We’re only staying the week, son. Hard to be away from things much more than that.”
Cassie imagined he had been a stern father. Is that what caused the strain between the two? Lucas was so easygoing and laid back. Whatever their problems, they were between him and his father.
“Sure, Dad. I understand.” The hurt in his voice made her wonder if perhaps he really had wanted them to stay longer, even though clearly their arrival had caused him some serious anxiety this morning.
Cassie wanted to go over and hug him, but that might send the wrong message to his parents. Not to mention to her. She’d hug a girlfriend who was hurting. She just wasn’t used to having male friends.
They all went inside, and Luke pulled out a couple of beers for himself and his dad and some of Cassie’s sun tea for her and his mom. Feeling like she was intruding on a family moment, Cassie tried to steal away to take the walk their arrival had interrupted, but Lucas insisted she stay. Maybe her presence helped ease some of the tension.
“Dad, I can’t wait to show you my horses. Why don’t we go out to the barn?”
Penny set her glass on a coaster on the coffee table. “Don’t think you’re leaving me out of this tour. I’ve been dying to see those horses since you told me about them this winter.”
Perfect time to extricate herself. “Lucas, I am going to take a walk.” To his parents, “I hope everyone will excuse me. It was great meeting you both, and I am sure we will see a lot of each other this week.”
Penny spoke for the both of them. “You can count on it. I love meeting Luke’s friends.” She looped her hand around Lucas’s elbow. “Now show me those horses.”
Cassie watched as they left the house, Bill bringing up the rear. When they closed the door, their voices trailed off. She breathed a sigh, not realizing how tense she had been during the visit. Picking up her camera again, she folded the poncho over her arm and headed out the kitchen door, wanting to avoid running into them in case they were still in the yard.
The sun was warm on her face, even though the wind off the mountains had a bite to it. Today she planned to go in a new direction. Lucas said there was a stream near a line of trees toward the mountain where she lived. She wanted to take some slow shutter speed photos of the rushing water for a possible series of paintings that had been bouncing around in her head since she’d come to Lucas’s place. She also wanted to take some time to connect with three of the elements of nature—earth, air, and water.
She had had enough of the element of fire for a lifetime.
The country-music song Luke had been singing to O’Keeffe played through her mind as she walked. I Know How the River Feels. She’d never known a man to sing love songs to his horses before. Cassie smiled. He did so love his horses. Maybe that’s what made her so comfortable around him.
Cassie would miss those horses terribly when it came time to leave, whenever that would be. Now that she understood Lucas’s outburst this morning, she assumed he was not yet sick of her.
She glanced back at the house and barn as she continued to walk, hoping Lucas would have a good visit with his folks. He was lucky they would take the time to make the visit. Her toe caught in some ground vines, but she righted herself without dropping her camera and decided it might
be best if she kept her focus on where she was headed and not where she had been.
Good advice for living, too.
The sound of water drew her to a line of cottonwoods apparently growing along the banks of the stream Lucas had told her about. The closer she drew to the rustling trees, the louder the bubbling sounds of water tumbling over the rocks, the spring snowmelt from the mountains.
She had been so tense this morning, but everything faded away when she arrived at the bank of the stream.
Oh, Goddess, she wished she had brought her sketchpad instead of the camera.
* * *
“Picasso here was my first rescue. He’s been a great SAR horse for me. Even helped me find Cassie when her mountain caught fire.”
“Oh, no!” Momma’s gasp of horror led him to put her mind at ease.
“She made it out just fine, along with her five alpacas that are grazing in the pasture now. Lost her cabin and belongings, though.”
Momma patted his shoulder. “You’re good to give her a place to stay until she’s back on her feet again. She seems like a real sweet girl. Where’s she from?”
“Peru originally, but she’s been in the States since college.”
Dad walked up to Picasso and pushed his upper lip back to inspect the horse’s teeth. The man knew how to judge horseflesh, although Pic was annoyed at the invasion of his personal space and tossed his head and mane before snorting and taking a step back.
“How many horses do you have now?”
“Four.”
“How many do you think you can keep up with and still meet your subcontracting obligations?”
Luke hadn’t told his dad he wasn’t doing a lot of cabinetry jobs these days. He actually had more orders for furniture—both household and kink—than he could keep up with, and as word of mouth spread, he was able to name his price, making it more lucrative than the work he’d done as a subcontractor on house renovations.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’m doing okay. I know my limits.”
“Didn’t say you didn’t.”
“Now, boys, let’s not get our backs up first thing.” Momma took Luke’s elbow and led him to the next stall. “Tell me about this beauty.”
“She’s Fontana. And that next stall is Cassatt.”
Momma giggled. “I can see a pattern here.”
“Fontana is the most gentle if you want to take a ride while you’re here, Momma. Dad, you can ride Picasso, if you’d like.” Pic might not appreciate being loaned out, but he’d remember his training and probably behave better than Cassatt.
“Where’s the fourth horse?”
“O’Keeffe’s out in the corral. She doesn’t like being cooped up. I’ll introduce you to her later on—from a distance.”
Last thing O’Keeffe needed was for his dad to come charging up and touching her.
“Why don’t I give you a tour of the house and my workshop first?”
Damn. His studio would be another bone of contention between him and his dad, but might as well get it out of the way. As they entered the building, Luke scanned the room from a vanilla perspective, but didn’t see anything too kinky that might lead to some embarrassing moments.
Until Dad walked up to the mahogany spanking bench he was finishing for Adam’s playroom in their new house.
Dad ran his hand down the bench. “Smooth. Good work.”
“Thanks, Dad.” In an effort to steer him away, Luke tried to refocus his attention. “I’m also working on this bed.” He moved away from the bench, but Dad just kept looking at it.
“Doesn’t look very functional, though. Kind of low.”
“Yeah, well, you have to give the customer what he wants. And those were the specs.”
Dad shook his head, but finally moved on. Jeezus. Good thing he didn’t have any St. Andrew’s crosses in the works. Not sure how he would have explained that away. His dad might never understand Luke’s chosen career, but as long as he thought whatever he was doing had a functional, rational purpose, he approved.
As expected, Dad wasn’t too sure what to think about the headboard he was working on for Cassie, but Mom saved the day.
“Would you look at that?” Momma ran her hand over the symbols he had carved, and then she homed in on the flat part of the headboard. The scene depicted a newborn Millie standing on shaky legs, with Luke and Cassie looking on like proud parents.
Momma faced him with tears brimming in her eyes, and Luke felt a lump in his throat. “That’s precious. Something tells me there’s more to tell about you and Cassie than that you’re simply helping out an artist friend in need.” She hooked her arm in his elbow. “You can tell me all about it while I’m working on dinner.”
Luke wished he could tell her Cassie was more than a friend, but even with vows spoken and a marriage certificate on the books, their relationship would be too complicated to explain. “Don’t go matchmaking, Momma. I’m a grown man. I can handle this.”
Momma chuckled and led him toward the door. “Well, I can’t wait to get to know her better, but so far, I heartily approve. She’s easier to talk to than Maggie. No disrespect to your late wife, but she never did warm up to me.”
That Momma thought the usually closed-off Cassie had warmed up to her surprised him. He’d missed their initial exchange but maybe Cassie was letting her guard down a little bit. Luke hoped so.
On their way back to the house, Luke glanced around to see if Cassie was close enough to join them. She’d been gone for hours now, but there was no sign of her bright red poncho. Maybe she wanted to give him privacy with his family, but he couldn’t wait to show her off, even if he couldn’t reveal their arrangement.
Still plenty of time for that. This was only the first day.
But if Cassie wasn’t back in a couple more hours, he’d take Picasso out to check on her.
* * *
Cassie spent the day photographing water tumbling over rocks, fascinating moss-covered stones, and the cottonwoods with their leaves quivering in the wind. Feeling the call to connect with the water, she removed everything but her bra and panties, and waded in.
Goddess, this water is cold!
Her nipples reacted to the temperature difference immediately, and she instinctively folded her arms over her chest to warm them. One of the things she had loved about living on her secluded mountain was that she had been able to commune with nature while in her hot tub without the barrier of clothing.
After a quick survey of the banks of the stream, she became confident no one was around. Might as well lose the underwear, too. She flung the white bra onto a bush near her other clothing. The panties, now wet from the stream, soon followed. She’d hang them to dry before putting them on again.
Later.
Centering her mind on the flow of the water through her legs, she breathed deeply and then released the air, pausing a few seconds before repeating it several more times. She surrounded herself in the white light of protection and offered thanks for the many blessings in her life, including her temporary home with Lucas.
When she had exhausted her gratitude list, she asked the Universe for a sign as to which way she should go to rebuild her life after the fire.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Her breathing became more shallow as she went deeper into meditation, her hands stretched out comfortably by her sides, thumb and middle finger together to keep the flow of energy coursing through her body. She felt grounded with the earth through her feet. The wind blew over her body, particularly cold where the rushing water had left the skin on her calves wet.
Earth. Air. Water.
Floating. Her soul absorbed the pure energy and peace that had eluded her since the fire’s devastation. It was as if the other three elements wanted to make amends for their destructive brother. For the first time since her home had been destroyed, she reconnected to the Universe.
Raising her arms to the heavens, she repeated the words of a song in her native Quechua she had not tho
ught about for a very long time. Tarukaq mosqoyning. As if hearing and understanding the foreign words, a deer came to the bank of the stream and watched her. Her eyes remained closed, but she saw it with her third eye. She repeated her words in English:
Little deer, little deer, you have come this far.
You are sad like me, remembering the mountains of your home.
Confused, Cassie wrinkled her brow. She had not one but two mountain homes.
“I can neither return to my mountain home here nor the one of my birth.”
The deer sighed, explaining as if speaking to a young child. “When we return to the mountains, we will sing and dance with our herd.”
The wind increased, raising gooseflesh on her upper body. Something brushed her ankle, perhaps a minnow or tadpole being carried by the swift current, probably not expecting to find a person in its path.
Cassie opened her eyes and blinked. The spell broken, she felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end and turned to survey the bank. She saw no one, but could not shake the feeling of being watched. Then she saw movement and turned to watch as the white tail of the doe swished as she made her retreat.
Something niggled at her giving her the feeling that the deer portended a need for her to return to Peru, not to her mountain pass here in Colorado.
An overwhelming lethargy descended upon her. She hoped she was not sinking into depression again. Not after making progress the past few years. More than likely, her sluggishness stemmed from the lack of sleep last night. She missed having Lucas in the house and had spent most of the night reading about the fiber art techniques of Shibori in a book she purchased in Denver. The cloth-dyeing technique could also be applied to her alpaca fleece. She was anxious to begin and the book even described how a small table could be used to prepare the fibers. She could work in Lucas’s kitchen.
She sighed. Emotionally drained, perhaps she would indulge in a nap before she headed back to the house. On the bank of the stream, she hung her panties on a bush to allow them to dry. She toweled herself off with her poncho before rolling it into a pillow. Not comfortable without her bra and shirt, she put them on again before stretching out on a large flat rock near the stream. Sleep claimed her immediately.
Nobody's Dream (Rescue Me Saga #6) Page 45