Roxy walked into the bathroom expecting it to be as barren as the bedroom, only to be pleasantly surprised. A vase filled with fresh pink roses sat between the double sinks on the white marble countertop. Dark wood cabinets contrasted with the white marble floor. Deep blue towels were folded neatly by the sink and hanging on the bars. A glass-enclosed shower stood in the corner, sparkling clean. A huge Jacuzzi tub sat beneath a glass block window. She liked the simplicity.
Curious, she pulled open a few drawers and cupboards and found most empty, except for cleaning supplies, first aid necessities, wrapped bars of soap, and spare towels.
She returned to the bedroom, found her bathroom supplies, and brought them back with her. She turned on the shower spray, peeled off her clothes, grabbed her soap, shampoo, and conditioner, stepped into the big stall, and set them down. The hot water sluiced over her hair and face and down her body. Nice and hard. She leaned forward and let the water work on her tired back muscles.
It took nearly every hour of the last seven days to put her life in order back at the Ranch and move herself here. She still had some loose ends to tie up, but for the most part, this was day one of her new life.
Soaped, shampooed, and rinsed clean, she stepped from the shower and wrapped herself in one of the thick towels. Steam fogged the mirrors above the sinks. She found the switch for the overhead fan and flicked it on. Should have done that first, she thought, trying to get used to her new surroundings.
While she waited for the mirror to clear, she emptied the duffel bag with her hair dryer, curling irons, hair spray, perfumes, makeup, and other miscellaneous stuff. She put everything away where she wanted it and left her brush and perfume bottles on the counter. She plugged in the dryer and flipped her hair over her head. Bending at the waist, her hair hanging almost to the floor, she dried the long strands and used her brush to help speed it along. Once nearly dry, she stood and flipped her hair back over her head and finished drying it. Done, she used a little spray to hold the waving curls in place.
She stood in the bathroom doorway surveying the bedroom. Someone, probably Mary, had polished all the antique wood furniture. The crystal lamps next to the bed sparkled. She walked to the stone fireplace and picked up the single framed photo on the mantel. Her father stood beside one of the fences, a huge white-and-black-spotted horse beside him with his head over John’s shoulder. John had his arm hooked under the horse’s head, and he smiled at the camera, his golden eyes bright and happy.
It made her sad she didn’t know the side of her father who loved this place and his horses. She never got to see him at home, where he was happiest.
She didn’t have a single photo of them together.
“I’m here, Dad. Now what?”
She turned to her bags. “Might as well unpack and make myself at home, right?”
Before she put her clothes away, she walked to the dresser and picked up her father’s hat. She caught her reflection in the mirror and slipped the hat on her head. Not such a bad fit. She smelled him. A mix of the outdoors, aftershave, hay, and horses. Her eyes shone bright with unshed tears and she held them back as she thought about Big Mama’s words.
John may not have been brave enough in life to bring her here, but in death he’d found a way to take her from Candy and not suffer the consequences.
She set the hat back on the dresser and went to her bags, emptied them, and filled the drawers and closet.
Dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, her hair long and loose, she made her way downstairs over an hour later. Nervous, she found her way to the kitchen. The smell of fresh coffee washed over her when she entered. Relieved to find only Mary in the room, she skirted the breakfast bar and entered the spacious cooking area.
“Mind if I steal a cup of coffee?”
Mary jumped, spilling eggs over the side of a pan onto the stove.
Roxy frowned. “Sorry.”
“No problem. I spaced out, thinking about the day ahead. And John. I apologize. I left last night without making up the bed. I’m so sorry.”
“No trouble. I’ve lived on my own for a long time. I don’t expect you to wait on me. Uh, maybe you should tell me what it is you do for the family, so I don’t unintentionally step on your toes.”
“That’s very thoughtful.” Mary beamed. “I cook all the meals and do the grocery shopping. Anything you want, please add it to the list on the front of the fridge. I also clean the house. I’m usually off on weekends, but Noah asked me to stay on last weekend and this one, since John passed, to make sure Annabelle isn’t alone too much.
“I used to do John’s room and laundry on Monday. If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep that schedule. If not, I can switch you with Annabelle’s Thursday.”
“Monday is fine, but I don’t expect you to clean my room and do my laundry. If you show me where the laundry room is and the cleaning supplies, I can do it myself.”
“Nonsense. You pay me to take care of the house.”
“I do?”
Mary laughed. “You and Noah and Annabelle. There’s a house account I use for the groceries and John paid my salary, along with all the others out of the ranch account. You’ll learn everything once you dive into that pile of paperwork.”
“Noticed that, did you? Noah’s passive-aggressive when it comes to being angry at women.” If she was a guy he’d probably be more assertive.
“You got that right,” Mary confirmed. “I expect he’ll be off-kilter for a while longer until he settles into his new role, too. It’s Annabelle I’m worried about.”
“Kid’s taking things hard. Lots of changes and her dad’s gone. Her mom’s a real piece of work.”
“Lisa’s not done yet. You can bet on that.”
“I don’t bet against a sure thing,” Roxy replied. “Where is Annabelle?”
“Brooding in her room, I imagine. She hasn’t come down. Noah and Robby will be in soon for breakfast. I’ve got eggs, bacon, and hash browns warming in the oven. If you’d like something else, I can make it for you.”
“I’m good with coffee. About the bed,” she began.
“The last time anyone bought new sheets and spreads, Lisa was married to John.”
“She’s responsible for that horrible living room,” Roxy remembered.
“And a whole lot more,” Mary confirmed. “Annabelle’s room is a pink palace. Noah told me he hates his room, as well.”
“Perfect,” Roxy answered, and got a strange look from Mary. “I need a way in with Annabelle. I’ll take her shopping. We’ll bond over retail therapy.”
“I’m here with her a lot, but I don’t always have time to do the things I think she’d like to do.” Mary had a job and although she loved Annabelle and would probably do anything for her, she wasn’t her mother.
Roxy put her hand on Mary’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry. Both Annabelle and Noah love you very much. I’ve seen it in the way they treat you. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a closet decorator. I redid my cottage two years ago after I spent four months combing through magazines and swatches. A couple of bedrooms and that hideous living room will be fun. It’ll give me a chance to make this place feel a bit like mine and not so much theirs.”
“Only half this place is yours.” Noah walked into the room from a mudroom off the back of the kitchen.
Roxy took a deep sip of coffee and gazed at Noah’s irritated whiskey-colored eyes over her mug. Not so sweet and nice this morning.
“Noah!” Mary reprimanded with just his name.
“What? Am I wrong?”
“Not at all.” Big mistake for Roxy to back down now or show any kind of weakness. Noah would take advantage. If she didn’t stand up for herself, he’d walk all over her. He was pushing to see just how much control she was trying to exert over him. This would probably go on for a few weeks until they stopped dancing around each other and discovered just how the other one worked. Well, he was going to learn that she wasn’t a pushover.
&nbs
p; “Since half the house is mine, I’m taking the living room. Got a problem with that?”
Noah shrugged. “Take it. It’s hands down the ugliest room in the house. Well, maybe Annabelle’s room comes close.”
“I’m going to fix that today.”
“You are?” Surprise filled his voice and narrowed his gaze. He moved closer and took the coffeepot from beside her, pouring himself a mug. She stood her ground and leaned against the counter. When his arm brushed hers, she ignored the zing of awareness that shot through her. He smelled of hay and horses and fresh-cut grass.
God, did he have to smell so good all the time?
“I’m taking her shopping for new bedding.”
“It’s going to take more than that to fix her room.” Noah stared down at her, standing entirely too close. “This some kind of girlie bonding thing?”
“It’s my way of getting to know her. You two are close. I walked into her house a week ago and became legally responsible for her, which gives me the right to tell her what to do and how to act. I’m not her mother, or her sister. I’m not trying to be. I want to be her friend, someone she can trust and count on.”
“You think a shopping spree is going to accomplish that?”
“It’s a start, since I was never allowed to even visit my father and be part of your lives,” she shot back.
Noah’s hostility evaporated, so she dialed back her anger.
“Don’t you think she’d like to redo her room? Or maybe you think she doesn’t want to spend time with me?” Maybe Noah thought she was trying to take Annabelle from him, or at least get her on Roxy’s side. Then again, last night he’d made sure she saw Annabelle and reassured her that she’d arrived on time.
“I just don’t see how shopping is going to make her trust you.”
“You must not spend a lot of time around women,” she retorted, only half joking with him. She wanted to needle him for his condescending attitude.
“Oh, honey, I’ve spent plenty of time with women.”
“Yes, but have you actually talked to any of them, or just tumbled them into bed, and then shoved them out?”
Mary gasped and spun around to stare at them.
Roxy kept an innocent look on her face, but noted the anger in Noah’s eyes. He didn’t like what she implied. Score another one in the nice-guy column, along with him covering her up last night, bringing up her bags this morning, and the way he loved his sister.
“I don’t treat women like plastic utensils.”
As in, use them once and dump them in the trash when I’m done.
The intensity of his voice shook her. The blazing anger in his eyes shot fire into her soul. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings.
“I’m sorry, Noah. That was unfair and uncalled-for. I’ve had a hell of a week and I took it out on you.”
Everything about him changed in an instant. His eyes softened and a slow smile spread over his face. He was so handsome, she could only stare. The longer she did, the bigger his smile. “You sleep like the dead,” he blurted out.
Taken off guard, she took a sip of coffee to steady herself. “Yeah, well, a week wasn’t a whole lot of time to clean out my office and tend to some other business. I had to get the horses settled and say my goodbyes.”
“Horses?” Noah asked.
She didn’t want to lie, but she held back some of the truth. “I live on a ranch in a small town outside of Las Vegas. John sent me several horses over the years.”
“Really? How many?”
“Twelve. Out of them, I bred four more.”
“So, you ride.”
She dismissed the skepticism in his voice that she was any good at it. “Practically every day,” she confirmed.
“Maybe you won’t be useless around the ranch after all.” He tried to rile her again.
She didn’t take the bait. “I bet I can outride you.”
“Anytime you want to put your ass in a saddle against me, I’m ready.”
“Not today, cowboy. I’m taking your sister shopping.”
Noah cocked his hip. “You know we actually do real work around here. You’ve got a job to do.”
She hadn’t forgotten the pile of papers in the office. “I know.” She walked out of the kitchen. The mail and paperwork on the desk in the study seemed to have grown overnight. Noah had dropped both her computer bags by the desk. Apparently, he really meant to assign her the paperwork and financials for the ranch and leave himself with the horses and breeding program. She’d give him his way for now. No doubt when he got his way, he’d start after her about doing some real labor around the ranch.
Isn’t he lots of fun?
Chapter Twenty
Mary smacked him on the arm with a pot holder. “Noah! How could you speak to her that way?”
Noah had to admit, he’d nearly forgotten Mary was standing behind him. When Roxy was near, everything inside him focused on her.
“I don’t know what John was thinking. I run this ranch. I don’t need her coming here and changing things.” He really should stop picking at her for what John did.
“Some things could use a change.”
“She’s been here less than twelve hours and it’s already starting. Pretty soon, she’ll be telling me how to raise horses and train them.”
“Sounds like she might know a thing or two about both,” Mary grumbled under her breath.
“Great. So John didn’t think I could handle things on my own and brought her here.”
“Noah, stop. He thought no such thing. Do you know why he wanted her here? I don’t. Did you ever think it might have something to do with her life and taking her away from something John wished he’d saved her from long ago?”
“If he wanted to bring her here, why didn’t he?”
“Yes, why didn’t he?” Mary reiterated the question with a punch of anger behind it. “You might follow her lead and take some time to get to know her the way she’s going to try to get to know Annabelle today.”
“You want me to take her shopping?” he asked with mock horror, knowing she meant nothing of the sort.
“She rides. Take her for a tour of the ranch. Show her how you do things. Most of all, show her what John loved about this place. You had John practically your whole life. She can probably count on her fingers and toes the number of times he stepped into hers. She didn’t ask to come here, or for any part of the ranch. She asked for his hat. I’ve thought about that. Something he wore every day of his life. That’s all she wanted.”
“It’s easy to want something so small when he gave her so much anyway,” he shot back, letting his anger slip the reins.
“What has gotten into you?”
“Her,” he answered without thinking.
Mary gave him a knowing smile and it took everything in him not to squirm or shift under her matchmaking gaze.
“We don’t know anything about her. Who’s her mother? When and where did John meet her? Why didn’t John tell us he had a daughter? Why didn’t he bring her here if her mother is as bad as Roxy claims? She cleaned out an office. What does she do for a living? She’s got a ranch with a dozen of our horses and more. Who’s taking care of them?”
Noah didn’t want to think about a boyfriend staying behind to care for the horses and Roxy leaving five days a month to shack up with him. Or worse, the guy showed up here to live with her. His hands fisted at his sides, and anger reigned over his thoughts and threatened to smother him.
“Noah.” Mary’s voice took on that soft and coaxing tone she used to calm him when he got worked up, but he didn’t want to simmer down. He wanted to rage. “He loved you. You are his son. If he raised her here with you and Annabelle, would it have surprised you that he gave her half?”
“It just shows he thought more of her because she’s his blood than he did for all the blood and sweat I put into this place.”
“That’s not true and you know it. I’ve never seen a man more proud of anyone as he was of you.”
“Did you ever think he gave her the bigger split because he felt like he owed her and the only way he could pay her back for what he did to her was to give her half this place?”
“Why did he keep her a secret? Why didn’t he trust me enough to give me the truth?”
Why the secret at all?
“He trusts in you to keep this ranch running. He trusts you to raise and care for Annabelle. He trusts you to do both with Roxy beside you. I don’t know why he kept her a secret. John isn’t here to tell you. Ask her.”
“When John and I went riding that last day, he opened up. We talked about my mother. I think losing her and the baby really hurt him.”
“He was never the same after your mother died,” Mary confirmed. “For a while, he didn’t seem to care about anything, except this ranch and you. He went from one woman to another. I think he was trying to fill the hole your mother’s death left inside him.”
“One of those women is Roxy’s mother,” Noah said, thinking out loud. “When Annabelle was born, I remember the look of deep disappointment on his face. He really wanted his own child.”
“He was happy with you and Annabelle.”
“I understood what he meant. I’d been thinking along the same lines myself lately.”
“Really? You’d like a family? You’d make such a wonderful father,” she complimented. “Oh God, please tell me that’s not why Cheryl keeps calling.”
“Hell no!”
“Thank God. The last thing we need around here is another woman, who . . . Oh, I’m sorry, Noah. You like her.”
“We’re over. The thing is, in one of the few lucid moments John had in the hospital, he asked me to take care of Roxy. He said she’d never had anyone else. He made me promise. At the time, I thought he meant Annabelle. But now . . .”
“You think he meant Roxy.”
Noah shrugged, sure that’s what John meant, but unwilling to admit it.
“You see. You said it yourself, he’d never been that open with you. He did trust you, Noah. He was trying to tell you about her. He never got the chance to finish.”
Dirty Little Secret Page 13
