by Merry Farmer
Those thoughts managed to happen in a split-second before Nancy gasped, “What are you doing here?”
Doc blinked. He shut his mouth. What was he doing there?
A cough that sounded suspiciously like it was masking a laugh came from his brother.
Doc shook his head and frowned, bringing himself back to his mission. Only now he didn’t feel much like pouring his heart out and asking advice about girls from his big brother. Not when the man wore a smirk like the one he wore now.
“Uh…” He scrambled for another reason to be there. His gaze flickered back to Nancy and her butterfly blouse. She filled that blouse out nicely. Two perfect handfuls that looked like they’d be both soft and pert once he wrapped his hands around them.
He shook his head and tried again. “I just wanted to check with you about…um…the prize money for the Culpepper Stakes.” He breathed a sigh of relief that he was able to come up with something.
Sly’s lips twitched with mirth…the bastard. “What do you want to know?”
“If…um…” Doc risked another look at Nancy, who stood by watching, both confused and curious. She had beautiful, luminous brown eyes. He’d noticed that before when she was there in the spring. He’d noticed her full, soft lips too, as silky-looking as her stockings. Why hadn’t he kissed her back then? Maybe if he had, she wouldn’t have gone home and started dating Stu.
That was the bucket of cold water he needed.
He cleared his throat, squared his shoulders, and said, “Is there some sort of conflict of interest if I win the race? I mean, it’s your money you’re putting up for the prize. Will people talk?”
Nancy’s expression shifted to thoughtful consideration, as if he’d asked a good question. And dammit if that didn’t make Doc feel like he’d accomplished something.
On the other side of his desk, Sly shrugged then stood. “Someone somewhere will always talk. But if your horse legitimately crosses the finish line first, I don’t see how anyone could claim that’s nepotism.”
“Uh, good.” Doc nodded. He sent a sideways glance to Nancy. She was so sweet he could eat her up. That thought brought with it a sudden image of her laid out naked with whipped cream covering certain key areas. Covering key areas and waiting to be licked off.
Heat flooded his face, and he cleared his throat, deliberately looking away from her. If only looking away didn’t mean looking straight at Sly. His big brother was failing miserably at keeping a teasing grin off his stupid face.
“I tell you what,” he said, stepping all the way around the desk. He moved until he could slap Doc on the back. With a little tug, he pulled Doc closer to Nancy and slipped an arm around her shoulder as well. “Why don’t the two of us O’Donnell boys take Miss Nancy Tilson out to supper so that she can tell us more about her plan to interview all of the newbies in town.”
“What?” Nancy’s question sounded more like a squeak. Her cheeks pinked… making Doc wonder if her whole body would flush like that if she was excited.
He mentally kicked himself. It was well past time for him to get his thoughts out of that…well, not gutter exactly, but place they shouldn’t be. Nancy wasn’t here for him. She had a boyfriend.
“We’ll take you out to dinner,” Sly went on, maneuvering them out of his office. “Not that there are many places to eat in Culpepper. I intend to change that, by the way. There’s the diner, though. It’s nice and cozy.”
There was nothing Doc could do but let himself be dragged along, out of the office, down the hall, and out into a balmy Wyoming evening. They were halfway down the block before he managed to ask Nancy, “You’re doing interviews?”
She hesitated, then answered, “Yeah. Grace, Patience, and Felicity helped me to come up with the idea. There are so many new people in Culpepper, and it would be nice for the residents to get to know them all.”
“Hmm.” Inwardly, Doc sighed at his inadequate answer. But hey, at least the two of them weren’t snipping at each other.
“I started asking Sly here a few questions,” Nancy went on, evidently growing more comfortable as they walked. “We didn’t get very far, though.”
She glanced sideways to Sly. Doc followed suit. His brother still wore that smarmy grin. Doc didn’t like it. It meant that Sly was plotting something, and Sly’s plots were never any good.
The only thing to do was ignore it and walk on. The diner was only across the street and one building down. It didn’t take long to get there.
“So who else were you planning to interview?” he asked.
Hardly missing a beat, Nancy said, “Well, the Quinlan Quads, of course. Even though none of them are Quinlans anymore. Their sisters. Patience and Felicity, of course. Jesse and Valerie Savoy, if they’re up for it. I think I’ll leave Valerie’s sister, Rikki, alone for now. She’s been through a lot lately.”
Doc hummed as though he knew what she was talking about. In fact, he didn’t keep up with celebrity gossip at all. But maybe if he was lucky, he could get Nancy to talk a little more about herself. Then maybe she’d give him a clue about why she was dating a dud like Stu.
They stepped into the diner. Brenda, the waitress who had worked there for as long as Doc could remember, came up to greet them.
“Three?” she asked.
“Yep.” Doc nodded.
“Right this way.”
Two steps later, Sly suddenly stopped. His lips were still twitching as he reached into his pocket. “Sorry, I have to get this.” He pulled out his cell phone and held it to his ear. “Hello?”
Doc hadn’t heard the phone ring. He hadn’t heard it vibrate either. His suspicions rose faster than… Well, he wasn’t going to go near that comparison in his current mood.
Sly turned away from them as Brenda led Doc and Nancy on to a booth near the window. Nancy sent a curious glance Sly’s way as she slid into her seat. Doc warily took the one opposite her. He twisted once he was seated to see what was holding his brother up.
Several yards down the aisle, Sly nodded and said, “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh! Well, we can’t have that. I’ll be there right away.” Something was decidedly off about the way he was talking.
“What’ll you two have to drink?” Brenda asked.
“Just water,” Doc answered, distracted. What was Sly up to?
“Iced tea.” Nancy smiled as Brenda handed her a laminated menu.
Sly sauntered up to the booth with a grin that made Doc want to roll his eyes.
“And you?” Brenda asked Sly. “To drink?”
“Nothing, thanks. Turns out I’ve got to go.”
Doc wasn’t surprised. Not even a little bit. “Why?” he drawled.
“Arch—our brother,” he explained for Nancy, “is at the airport in Salt Lake City, but his ride fell through. I need to go pick him up.”
Doc narrowed his eyes. “I thought he wasn’t due in until Friday.”
Sly was utterly unconvincing when he winked and said, “Change of plans.”
Change of plans my ass. Doc sighed. “You’d better go get him, then.” He wondered what sort of excuse Sly would come up with when Arch didn’t miraculously show up until he was supposed to on Friday.
“You kids have fun,” Sly said with a parting thump on Doc’s back. He walked off with a smile so smug Doc had half a mind to get up and chase after him just so he could punch his brother in the face.
Instead, he turned to face Nancy. She was perusing the menu with unusual intensity, her cheeks scarlet.
“This isn’t a date,” he said to put her at ease.
She snapped her eyes up to stare at him as if he’d insulted her grandma. “It isn’t.” Doc couldn’t tell if that was a question or a statement.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He had a hard time figuring out exactly what he wanted to say anyhow. A few more awkward contortions of his mouth, and finally he managed, “We both know it can’t be a real date.”
This time it was Nancy’s turn to flounder and stutter before she fin
ally managed, “Why not?”
Doc’s heart skipped a beat. Did she actually want this to be a date? But no, that didn’t fit. She was dating Stu. Even if he was frustrated with her, he didn’t think she was the kind of girl to two-time anyone.
He was saved from having to come up with an answer as Brenda showed up with their drinks. “There you go.” She sent Doc a knowing smile as she pulled her order pad out of a pocket in her apron. “What can I get you two kids for dinner?”
Doc jumped on the opportunity to change the subject. He took more time than he should have hemming and hawing over the menu, then making suggestions to Nancy as she tried to order. It paid off, in that by the time Brenda took their orders and walked off, the subject of whether they were on a date or not was dead and buried.
It took a few more moments of awkward silence before Nancy asked, “So do you think you can win this horse race?”
Blessing his lucky stars that she’d picked a neutral topic, he nodded. “Absolutely. I used to race with my siblings when I was younger. I may not be a fancy Kentucky jockey, but this isn’t a fancy Kentucky race.”
“Why did your brother organize it?” she asked, sounding like a reporter digging out a story.
Doc shrugged, growing more comfortable by the minute. “Sly has big plans. Sly always has big plans. He might tell you he doesn’t like being out in the middle of nowhere, but he loves Culpepper. It’s his hometown. He wants to build it up the way he’s built up other towns.”
“And what do you think about that?”
A rush of self-consciousness flushed through Doc. Nancy sure had a way of looking at you like she could see through all of your pretenses—and some of your clothes—when she had a mind to.
“I guess I’m okay with it,” he said. “It’ll be good for business, and if the businesses in town prosper, we all prosper.”
“What about your vet business?” she asked on.
Doc tried to shake off the feeling that he was getting the third degree. “It’s thriving. In fact, if Sly really does succeed in bringing more people out here, I’ll need to expand.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, of course.” He leaned back in the booth, his face relaxing into a smile. “I specialize in large animals—cattle, sheep, horses—but it’d be nice to bring someone on board who could take care of household pets so folks didn’t have to drive all the way over to Haskell.”
“That would be nice.” Nancy softened into a smile as well, and her posture relaxed. Anyone passing by might think they actually were on a date.
No, he had to push that thought from his mind.
“My sister, Elvie, is a small animal vet,” he went on. “I’d love to have her out here working with me.”
“Yeah, Sly mentioned her earlier. He mentioned you and Elvie were twins.”
Prickles raced down Doc’s back. “What was Sly doing talking about me?”
He hadn’t meant to ask that question out loud, and as soon as he heard it, he winced.
“I was asking about your family,” Nancy confessed. Her lashes fluttered down and she pressed her lips together as though she’d said something wrong.
But that was silly. She had no reason to feel anxious about talking to his brother. Just like he had no reason to feel like such an idiot for sitting across a diner booth from her. They weren’t kids. They could handle a simple dinner together. It wasn’t a date. It wasn’t.
“Yep.” He forced himself to go on. “Elvie is my twin sister. Sly is the oldest, then the two of us, then Arch. Like I said, I’d love to bring Elvie out here to expand the vet business, in spite of that slippery fiancé of hers, and I’m pretty sure Sly plans to twist Arch’s arm until he moves to Culpepper to design an entire new town center.”
“The whole family back together again.” Nancy smiled and sipped her tea.
A funny, fluttering feeling filled Doc’s heart. It would be nice not only to bring the entire family back together, but to add to it too. So far, all of them were single, but if they played their cards right, if he played his cards right…
If only Nancy were available. If only she hadn’t given him a fake number.
If only he had the balls to do what Chastity suggested and just approach the question openly.
“So I guess if you won the horse race, you could use that prize money to have your brother Arch expand your office, and to hire your sister to come work with you,” Nancy said before he could ask anything.
“Yeah, I could.” He smiled. Maybe the Culpepper Stakes could be about more than just pulverizing Nancy’s jerk of a boyfriend.
That was it. He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Nancy.” He leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. “Why did you—”
“Here you go, folks. Order up.” Brenda chose exactly that moment to come back to the table with their dinner. She placed a heaping burger in front of Doc and a gigantic grilled chicken salad at Nancy’s place. “Enjoy, and let me know if you need anything else.”
“Thanks.” Nancy smiled up at Brenda. It was a smile that broke Doc’s heart for several reasons. Not only was Nancy beautiful, she was kind to Brenda. You could always tell a lot about a person by how they treated their server at a restaurant.
The only problem with that smile and that moment was that it sucked all of Doc’s courage right out of him. He reached for the ketchup for his fries and had taken a big bite of his burger before any sort of conversation could get started again.
Evidently, they were both hungry. Neither said much of anything for a good five minutes, and then it was Nancy who broke the silence.
“So I’ve been told that ‘Doc’ isn’t your real name.” She said it with such a sparkle in her eyes that Doc nearly choked on a fry. Especially when she leaned over with a conspiratorial grin. “If it’s not ‘Doc,’ then what is it?”
Doc winced. He finished chewing his fries, then took a long gulp of water. To tell or not to tell? She’d give him grief about it either way. It all depended on what kind of grief he wanted. Of course, if he told her, that would build something between the two of them. Boyfriend or no boyfriend.
“Promise you won’t laugh?” He grinned as though she was as single as a game of solitaire.
The light that caught in her eyes made his heart beat faster. “I promise.”
He could love this woman. Really and truly love her. Not just fling-love either. Forever love.
“Elmer,” he muttered.
“What?” She leaned closer as if she hadn’t head.
“Elmer,” he repeated. “My given name is Elmer.”
She burst into a fit of giggles, covering her mouth with her hand. “No way.”
“Yep,” he drawled, wincing.
“I didn’t realize people actually named their children something like that.”
“Our parents had a thing for old-fashioned names.”
“I’ll say.” She was still laughing, in spite of promising not to. Doc couldn’t blame her. “So what’s Sly’s real name?”
Doc shook his head, reaching for the last of his burger. “Nope. I can’t tell you. We made a pact never to reveal each other’s given names to anyone. Only Sly—or Arch or Elvie, for that matter—can reveal their real names.”
“But can I assume that Elvie’s real name actually does start with an ‘E,’ since the two of you are twins?” She paused, then added, “Elmer.”
Doc sighed, shaking his head. “Yes, Elvie’s real name starts with an ‘E’ too, but that’s all I’m saying.”
Nancy continued to eat and giggle. “Elmer,” she said, then burst into another fit as she stabbed at her salad.
Doc chewed his last bite of burger, took a drink, then added in a low voice, “Kids used to call me ‘Fudd’ in school.”
That sent Nancy into a full-on, out-loud laugh. A few people at nearby tables looked up to see what was so funny. Doc caught himself beaming from ear-to-ear in spite of everything. She was just so beautiful, so funny, and so perfect. Yep,
the Culpepper brothers were definitely on to something with their whole quick wedding thing. He’d ask Nancy to be his in a heartbeat…if it wasn’t for Stu.
But then again, Stu was a jerk. Someone like Nancy wouldn’t stay with him for long. Maybe he should stop stressing about the whys and wherefores of Nancy dating the guy. Maybe if he was just nice and interesting and behaved like a gentleman, all of her reasons for giving him a fake number and dating Stu wouldn’t matter. Maybe he could win her over with charm alone.
That thrilling hope carried him through the end of dinner and the rest of their conversation. He paid for the meal before Nancy could say anything about it, then offered to escort her back to her hotel, which was also in walking distance. Date or no date, he would treat her the way he would want his sister to be treated.
“Okay, I know it wasn’t an official date,” Nancy said once they reached the hotel property. The sun was setting, and everything was cast in long shadows. “I know it wasn’t a date,” she repeated, “but I had a good time. Thanks for that.”
“Any time.” Doc smiled.
“You mean that?” She eyed him with playful suspicion.
Doc’s heart thumped so fast and hard he was sure she could hear it. “Absolutely. Any time you need feeding up, come to me. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Thanks, Elmer.” She snorted and giggled.
He was ready to drop to one knee and promise her the world. They were already standing close together on the shady path that led to the hotel’s front door, but he inched a little closer. Then closer still. It wouldn’t take much to sweep her into his arms and plant that kiss on her lips that she should have given her back in the spring. One little movement and he could do it.
He inched closer still. Nancy continued to smile. She tilted her face up to him, her eyelids dropping to a seductive blink. He dipped close enough to smell the gentle sweetness of her perfume, to feel the heat radiating off of her skin.
She had a boyfriend. He reminded himself of that as if kicking himself in the pants and straightened. He could want to kiss her, want to win her, until the cows came home, but she still had a boyfriend. And even though he couldn’t stand the guy, he would respect Nancy’s choice and not kiss her. Even though every fiber of his being wanted to.