“Do we need to get back?” she murmured, having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
“I do, but you can stay here and sleep if you’d rather.”
“Not on your life.”
“Why not? I like the idea of you being here naked, waiting for me to come back.”
She rolled off the other side of the bed. “And take the chance that one of these other women who try to get your attention steals you from me. No way.”
Quint grabbed her wrist and pulled her back so she sat on his lap. “The last two hours didn’t convince you that no other woman on the face of the earth could catch my eye?”
“I’m not taking any chances. I want you all to myself.”
She stood and walked back to the lavatory where she’d left her clothes, swaying her hips as she went. She was about to close the door when she stuck her head back out. Quint was smiling.
“Um, what should I wear?”
“What you have on right now would be fine by me.”
She smiled back. “Interesting premise, but let’s save that for tomorrow night. Jeans or a dress?”
“I’d love to see you in the sweet yellow dress.”
“Is there any work I need to do to help you get ready?”
“No, darlin’. I’m ready whenever you are.”
She rolled her eyes and came back into the bedroom to grab the dress, a bra, and pants. Quint grabbed her wrist as she walked back by and took the undergarment out of her hand.
“You won’t be needing these tonight.”
Darrow’s eyes opened wide. “Do you not remember how short this dress is?”
“I remember exactly how short it is. It’ll be up to you to make sure no other cowboys get a glimpse of what’s mine tonight.”
“Mmm, so caveman of you.” She went back into the lavatory and turned on the water for the shower. Moments later, she felt Quint behind her. When he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, she knew they wouldn’t be leaving for the rodeo any time soon.
WHEN QUINT WAS REMINDED EXACTLY how short the yellow dress was, he relented on allowing her to wear pants—or panties as he called them.
He also told her to grab a pair of jeans, a shirt, and some other boots. When she did, he tossed them into a bag, zipped it up, and took it out to the truck.
She was headed out after him when she saw he was on his mobile. Instead of interrupting, she looked in the refrigerator to see if there was any food for the morning, pleasantly surprised when she found it well stocked. She’d grown accustomed to having a big American breakfast every morning, and knew Quint would be hungry, only because he was always hungry.
THE CABIN WASN’T FAR from where the rodeo was being held, and when they got back, Darrow saw that the events were already taking place.
Before Quint could come around to open her door, she climbed out. “Go,” she told him, sensing Deck’s impatience even though all he’d done was tip his hat in her direction.
“Hi,” said a woman approaching her. “I’m Kayleigh. Are you here with King-Alexander?”
She smiled and shook the woman’s outstretched hand. “I’m Darrow, and yes, I am.”
“Team roping is up next if you want to come and watch.”
Darrow followed Kayleigh over to the stands. “These are the ranch’s seats,” she said, pointing. They both sat down.
“Do you know much about team roping?” the woman asked.
“Not really. I mean, I see them roping all day long at the ranch, but I don’t know much about the competition.”
“Do you work at the ranch?” the woman asked, looking somewhat surprised.
“I guess you could call it that.” Darrow laughed. “I try to stay out of Quint’s way is probably a better way to put it.”
Darrow caught the slightest movement on the woman’s face, giving her a clue as to what was really going on. “Have you and Quint been together long?” she asked.
“Oh!” Kayleigh gasped. “Um, aren’t you with Quint?”
“I’m a friend of his sister’s actually,” Darrow told her only lying a little by omission.
“Well, Quint and I aren’t together either. I mean we have been, but it isn’t anything serious.”
Darrow raised a brow.
“I got the impression at Big Bend that he’d moved on anyway. That’s why I thought you two were together.”
She heard an announcement over the loudspeaker stating that the roping event was about to start. She looked over behind the shoots and saw Quint looking over at her. When she saw he wasn’t smiling, she blew him a kiss and then turned to Kayleigh.
“Would you be a dear and explain to me what’s happening?”
The poor girl looked downright puzzled, but finally said she would.
Quint and Decker were the fourth team on the schedule. By the time they got in position on either side of the chute, Darrow knew most of what she should be looking for.
She saw Quint nod, watched as the steer broke the barrier, and then saw the two men exit behind it on horseback.
“He always does that,” said Kayleigh when Quint roped the steer’s head.
“What’s that?” Darrow said, not turning her head as she watched Decker rope the steer’s hind legs. Within what seemed a split second, the steer was tied off and the two men on horseback were in position, facing one another. Darrow looked up at the board and saw a time of 3.7 seconds.
“That’s really good,” Kayleigh told her. “They aren’t just the leaders here so far tonight, that’s only two-tenths of a second off the world record.”
Darrow’s focus stayed on Quint until the next team got into position and she couldn’t see where he’d gone.
“You were going to tell me what he always does,” she said, turning to Kayleigh.
“Oh, right. It’s hard to explain unless you’re watching it. I’ll try to show you when the next team goes.”
She didn’t have to wait long before she saw the next header nod. The steer broke the barrier, and the header threw his rope.
“See right there, how he missed? Well, Quint does that, or he makes everyone think he’s missed, and in the last possible millisecond, he flips that rope so precisely that it catches the steers head. They call it fishing.”
“Ah,” said Darrow, nodding her head and smiling.
A few minutes later, she saw Quint on his way toward her in the stands.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said, leaning down to kiss her. “Hi, Kayleigh.”
“Uh, hi, Quint,” the other woman said when he put his arm around Darrow’s shoulder and pulled her close to him.
“Whatcha think? Did Kayleigh here explain it all to you?”
“She did,” said Darrow, smiling at the other woman. “She even explained fishing.”
Quint’s smile broadened. “I told you it would be more interesting if you saw it instead of having me explain it to you.”
“Excuse me,” they both heard Kayleigh say as she got up and left.
“You wanna tell me what that’s all about?” he asked Darrow, his smile still stretching across his face.
“She introduced herself and offered to explain team roping to me.”
“Huh.”
“She also told me that at the Big Bend rodeo, she got the impression you weren’t interested in her anymore.”
“Listen, we were just—”
“Before you say another word, know that if you tell me anything whatsoever about Kayleigh, you will be forced to listen to the same details about Axel.”
“Axel? That’s his name?”
Darrow nodded. “Although many people, my brothers included, call him Pinch.”
“Stop right there. I don’t want to hear another word, and we can also forget talking about ol’ what’s her name.”
Quint leaned forward and captured her lips in a sweet kiss, which she deepened.
“Mmm, what’s that for?” he asked, pulling back just slightly. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Two-tenths of a second off the world record.”
15
Q uint took a lot of ribbing from the other cowboys, but he didn’t care. He’d never had so much fun at a ranch rodeo, and it was all because of Darrow. Looking at things through her curious eyes, made everything feel new to him again.
The fact that she picked up on the things he told her so quickly made it challenging to keep up. Some of the questions she asked were about details he’d never thought about before.
All too soon, it was time for them to go home, and when they got there, he had no idea what to expect, and guessed she didn’t either.
They’d spent the last two nights in each other’s arms, albeit without much sleep. He wasn’t one to stay in a woman’s bed after sex, so he wasn’t sure how well he’d sleep anyway. By the time they finished ravaging each other’s bodies, they’d both fallen to sleep out of sheer exhaustion.
They were an hour out from the ranch when he decided to broach the subject. “The bed in the room you’re sleeping in is bigger than mine.”
She lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled. “Are you fishing for an invitation, cowboy?”
He laughed. She’d managed to work that word in wherever she could at least a dozen times.
“Sure as sugar am, sugar.”
“Consider the invitation open, then.”
She put her head back on his shoulder, and he squeezed her thigh with his fingers where his hand rested.
“What’s wrong, Darrow? You tensed up.”
“Perhaps we should take Wren’s feelings into consideration before our sleeping in the same bed becomes a foregone conclusion.”
Quint looked out the driver’s side window. Darrow was right, but he couldn’t imagine having that conversation with his sister. He hoped Darrow wouldn’t mind handling it.
WHEN THEY WENT INSIDE, Wren was nowhere to be found. Quint walked through the house, calling her name. When he got to the last room, what had been their mother’s library, he saw her asleep in a chair.
“Where is she?” Darrow asked from behind him.
“In here,” he answered, switching on the lights.
Wren covered her eyes.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked.
“I must’ve dozed off looking at pictures.”
Darrow walked over and picked up the photo album that had fallen to the floor. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped, setting the heavy leather book on a table. “That’s my mother and father.”
“Seriously?” said Quint, looking over Darrow’s shoulder
“Look, Wren,” she said, pointing.
“I didn’t realize Z knew the duke,” his sister answered, looking over Darrow’s other shoulder.
“Of course he did. My father was the one who helped Z get the job with SIS.”
Quint watched as Wren’s eyes met Darrow’s and his sister covered her mouth to stifle a gasp.
Seconds later, Wren left the room.
“Who is that?” Quint asked.
“That’s my father, although in this photo, he looks just like my brother Sutton.”
“Maybe you should talk to her,” Quint suggested.
“I will.” Darrow stood on tiptoes and kissed him. “Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend, and thanks for not turning into Ebenezer Scrooge on the drive home.”
He smiled, smacked her bottom when she walked away to find his sister, and studied the photo album sitting on the table. His father looked so young in the pictures, but his mother didn’t look much different than the way he remembered her. Not that he remembered much. He and Wren were so young when she died. He often wondered if his sister remembered her at all.
He couldn’t imagine being in his father’s shoes when it happened. Not only did he have to care for his beloved wife as a horrific disease spread through her body, but he had two young children to watch over at the same time. Tee-Tee had stepped in to help as much as she could, but he remembered wishing so much that it was his mother reading him a story before bedtime instead of the woman with the thick Hispanic accent.
When he looked back on it now, he realized that they all would’ve been lost without her.
Z was only twenty-eight years old when his wife and mother of his children had died, three years younger than Quint was now. He couldn’t imagine dealing with a loss like his dad had. He hardly knew Darrow, yet if she became ill with a terminal disease, he’d be devastated.
Darrow found him later, still thumbing through the photo albums.
“Tell me about her.”
“I don’t remember much. Little things.”
“Like?”
“Her voice more than anything else. She always spoke so softly. She was a real lady.”
“My mother is like that. I know my brothers wish I was more like her.”
Quint pulled her over to sit on his lap. “I like you just the way you are, Darrow.”
“You haven’t known me that long.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said something to that effect, and it bothers me.”
“See? You’re finding things already.”
Quint frowned. “That isn’t what I said.”
The smile left her face, and she tried to get up from his lap, but he wouldn’t let her.
“I like you just the way you are, Darrow,” he repeated.
“Thank you, Quint.”
“See? Was that so hard?”
She rolled her eyes and tried a second time to get up.
“Where am I sleeping tonight, sugar?”
“With me?”
“I wasn’t sure the timing was right for you to discuss it with Wren.”
“Discuss it with Wren? We’re adults, Quint. I can’t quite imagine how a conversation so ridiculous would go. Are you truly thinking we need your sister’s permission?”
He shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Come on, cowboy, let’s go to bed.”
16
“I love that place,” Darrow said as she and Quint drove home from the Long Branch. She’d learned not to order her own meal, instead getting Quint to share his, although tonight he brought some home with him.
“Gotta save room for Thanksgiving dinner,” he told her when she’d expressed surprise at his diminished appetite.
“It’s my first Thanksgiving,” she said, almost clapping her hands. There were people in England who celebrated it, her family included, but she doubted it was anything as authentic as what they did in the States.
“It’ll be different this year with Wren home and you with us. In years past, all the cowboys would gather in the bunkhouse and eat cafeteria-style. Then again, everything is different, having you here.” Quint leaned forward and kissed her before helping her out of the truck.
The last two months had been a dream. Between her relationship with Quint and her friendship with Wren, Darrow had never known such happiness. Every day, she looked forward to the new things she’d learn and experience. Most days, she rode out with Wren, but at some point, they’d meet up with Quint and Darrow would spend the rest of the day with him.
“When you’re with Wren, I miss havin’ my pretty little shadow followin’ behind me.”
He said it so often that that’s what he started calling her, and she loved it.
Soon it would be Christmas, the first she spent away from the UK. Part of her felt guilty for not wanting to spend it with her family, although there had been plenty of holidays where either one or both of her brothers had begged off.
They walked inside, arm in arm, chatting and laughing until they saw Wren doubled over at the bar in the kitchen, sobbing.
“Wren, what’s happened?” Darrow asked, racing over to her with Quint right on her heels.
“Is it Z?” he asked.
Wren shook her head.
“Please, Wren. Tell us,” said her brother.
“It was Wilder,” she said between sobs.
Darrow covered her mouth. “What’s happened?”
“
It’s Wellie.”
“Oh, God, no. Not Wellie.” Darrow grabbed the back of the barstool, almost doubling over herself.
She was so selfish, so thoughtless. She’d just been thinking about how happy she was that she wasn’t going back to England for the holidays, and now the man who was like a second father to her was gone, and she hadn’t talked to him in weeks.
The pain of losing Wellie was the worst she’d felt since her father died.
“I’m so sorry to worry you this way,” Wren said, standing to put her hand on Darrow’s shoulder. “He’s ill, and Wilder has asked that you please come home as soon as possible.”
Quint took Darrow in his arms, and she rested her head on his chest.
“I have to go to him,” she said between her tears.
“Of course you do.”
“I’m so sorry, Quint.”
He leaned back and cupped her cheek with his hand. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. I only wish I could go with you, but I can’t, sweetheart.”
“Why can’t you?”
“God, I feel terrible, but it’s fall calving season. We’re at risk of losing too many calves if cold weather kicks in as it is. Without me here, I can’t fathom how bad it could get.”
“It’s okay. I’m going home. I’ll be fine.” She wiped at her tears. Again she was thinking of herself when the only person who she should be considering was Wellie.
THE NEXT MORNING, Quint drove her and Wren to the airport. Darrow’d told them both that it wasn’t necessary for Wren to go with her, but neither would relent.
She’d spent much of the last few hours crying and didn’t have it in her to argue.
It was harder than she imagined it would be to say goodbye to Quint. She wished she could beg him to come with her, but she knew she couldn’t. Again, that would be so incredibly selfish of her. He had a ranch to run.
“Call me as soon as you can,” Quint told her, kissing her goodbye. “If you have to stay, I’ll come as soon as it looks like Deck and the crew can handle the calves on their own.”
Darrow clung to him. It was silly, but somewhere deep inside, it felt like she’d never see Quint again. She knew it was only because her emotions were so raw with worry over Wellie.
He kissed her one last time when Wren said they needed to get through security, and then he was gone.
Shadow (Military Intelligence Section 6 Book 4) Page 8