by Lori Wilde
“What do you think you're doing?” he yelled at whoever was on the other side. This better not be Elvin stopping by just to snoop.
“I'm checking on my little brother,” the answer came back. “His truck is outside, so I can't figure out why he isn't answering his front door.”
Max. Travis felt like an idiot. That's right, Max and his new wife, Paige, were due back in town. He just hadn't expected them to come home today and especially not this early.
He cast a quick look at the living room. Although the sofa cushions were on the floor right next to the knickknacks from the coffee table, it didn't look too bad. Well, that was if you kept one eye closed.
When Max started shoving on the door again, Travis pulled it open.
Max barreled into the room the way he did everything in life—with intensity. Although the timing stunk, Travis was glad to see him and returned the bear hug Max gave him.
“How you doing, Trav? Been taking good care of our horses?” Max asked.
Sometimes life refused to give a guy a break, because before Travis could say a word, Dani wandered out from the bedroom wearing one of his old T-shirts. The shirt was so big on her, it became a really long dress.
She skittered to a stop when she saw Max and Paige, then with a weak smile, said, “Oops.”
Max looked from Dani to Travis, then back at Dani. “Hello, Dani. How have you been? Haven't seen you since high school.”
To give her credit, Dani regained her composure quickly. She extended her hand and shook Max's. “Good to see you again, Max. You look well. And the case is going fine. Travis is doing a wonderful job. I'm really pleased.”
The second she said the last sentence, everyone froze. Travis rolled his eyes and said to his brother, “Shut up.”
“I didn't say a word,” Max said, although it was obvious he was trying not to laugh.
Travis turned to Paige, who was watching the whole scene with amusement equaling her husband's. “Hello, Paige. I don't know how you can stand that jerk of a brother of mine. You deserve so much better.”
Paige laughed and went to stand by Max. “He's not a jerk. He's just easily amused.” She smiled at Dani and introduced herself. “I'm Paige Walker, Travis’ sister-in-law.”
After shaking hands, Dani said, “Dani Karlinski. My grandmother may be sued, so I'm trying to get her out of trouble. Travis is working for me.”
This time, Max laughed loud and long. “Hey, I tried,” he said when Travis shot him a dirty look. “But there's only so much a man can take.”
Paige sighed and patted Max on the arm. “I'm going to take my husband here and we're going to go get breakfast, so you two can have a chance to...” She glanced at the living room, then back at them. “A chance to wake up.”
Then, without giving Max time to protest, she took his hand and said, “Come on. We'll go get food, and then we'll bring it back.”
With a sigh, Max followed her to the door. Right before he walked out, he looked at Travis. “While we're gone, don't do anything I wouldn't.”
“In that case, there's a heck of a lot that I can do,” Travis said.
Max would have said something else, but Paige tugged him through the front door and then shut it behind them. Once his brother and his wife were gone, Travis turned to look at Dani.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
He had no idea how she was going to react. A lot of women would have gotten upset, but after studying first the living room and then the T-shirt she was wearing, Dani looked at him and said with a laugh, “I think we made an impression on them.”
Glad that she was okay, Travis smiled. That was another one of the things he liked about Dani. She always kept her cool.
“Yep, I don't think there's any doubt that at this moment, Max and Paige are talking about us.”
Dani walked over and slipped her arms around his waist. “Will he get mad at you for having earth-shattering sex with a client?”
Travis chuckled and brushed a kiss across her lips. “He won’t care. We don’t have the business anymore, plus he can't say a word even though he might want to. See, Paige was a client when he met her.”
Dani flashed him a knowing smile. “Oh. Then you're right. He can't say a word.”
She snuggled against him and started drawing seductive little patterns on his chest. As tempted as he was, he knew time was limited.
“As much as I'd like to oblige,” he told her, “we don't have enough time. We have to get dressed before my brother comes back.”
She gave him a flirty, sexy look that did nothing to calm his libido. “I know. So I suggest that to save time we take our shower together.”
Without waiting for an answer from him, she headed down the hallway toward the bathroom.
Knowing this might take a while, Travis locked the front door and slipped the chain in place before following her.
Max and Paige would have to wait. A man had to have his priorities in this world.
“I THINK IT'S ROMANTIC that your grandmother makes people fall in love,” Paige said as they ate breakfast at the dining room table.
Dani looked at the other woman. She liked Paige. She was kind and obviously hopelessly in love with her new husband.
“My grandmother doesn't really make people fall in love,” Dani explained. “She makes what she calls romantic suggestions to these people, but I'm sure when she does these suggestions, the poor recipients feel as though they've been cursed rather than blessed.”
Paige took a muffin from the group of pastries she and Max had brought back to Travis’ house and said, “Maybe the people feel like that at first, but don't they fall in love afterward? Travis, didn't you say that they're all very happy? That doesn't sound like people who've been cursed.”
“The three people we've talked to so far seem happy,” Travis said, leaning back in his chair. “But Paige, that's the problem. We can't stop the suit if everyone is thrilled to have been cursed.”
“I'm sorry it doesn't help the case, but I still think it's romantic,” Paige said. “Your grandmother must be a special lady to be able to bring other people happiness. That's rare in this world.”
Before Paige could wrap this whole idea up in pretty paper, Dani said, “I love my grandmother, but she doesn't have magical powers. The only power she has is the power of suggestion. I think when she places these romantic suggestions on people, they're so startled or surprised or freaked out that what she says sinks into their subconscious. Once it's there, they end up doing what she said they'd do.”
Paige frowned, obviously not liking Dani's reality-based theory. “I don't agree. Didn't you say most of them didn't even remember what she'd said? If it's such an important part of their subconscious, you'd think they'd at least remember something about it.”
The other woman had a point, but Dani didn't believe in magic. She didn't want to argue with Paige, so she said, “Well, whatever the reason, now I have to find a different way to help my grandmother. Travis is going to find out specifically what the man did wrong to cause his business to fail.”
“Yeah, romantic or not, these people being madly in love doesn't help our case.” Travis was sitting next to Dani and now she glanced at him. He looked so sexy and cute this morning, and despite what they'd shared an hour ago in the shower, she found herself wanting him again.
Max was out in the kitchen toasting a bagel and he started to curse. “Trav, what's wrong with this thing?” he hollered at his brother. “You need to buy a new toaster. This one is broken.”
Travis sighed. “Excuse me,” he said to Dani and Paige, and then he headed toward the kitchen, muttering about bozo brothers as he went.
Once he was out of earshot, Paige said to Dani, “So tell me, when are you going to tell Travis you're in love with him?”
Dani froze. She couldn't have heard that right. “What?” she finally managed to say. “We're not in love. We're just friends. Close friends.”
Paige didn't look convinced. In fact, s
he looked downright unconvinced. “Did your grandmother place a romantic suggestion on you and Trav?”
Staring at the other woman, Dani couldn't believe what she was saying. They weren't in love. Far from it. Sure, they liked each other. And sure, they had great sex. But that was it.
“No, she didn't place a romantic suggestion on us, but even if she had, it wouldn't have done a thing. More importantly, you're misreading us. Travis and I aren't in love.” Dani said the last sentence firmly, wanting to make certain she didn't mislead the other woman. “We’re simply friends.”
Paige continued to look at her with a doubtful expression. Finally, she said, “Oh. I guess I misread the signs. I thought the way you two looked at each other and held hands and shared smiles meant you were in love. Guess I'm wrong.”
“Well, we do like each other, and we are involved, but it's just short-term,” Dani explained. “I'm moving to New York in a little over a week to start a new job.”
“Congratulations,” Paige said. “Then I guess it's a good thing you and Travis aren't in love. It would cause real problems when you move away. Long-distance relationships rarely work.”
Dani would have answered her, but the fighting from the kitchen caused Paige to sigh and head off to help the men before they killed each other over the toaster.
Knowing they didn't need any additional help, Dani stayed behind at the dining room table. The view out the window was magnificent, but she hardly saw it.
Instead, she was thinking about what Paige had said. Did she and Travis really look at each other like people in love? She knew they laughed a lot and that they understood each other, but they had been friends for a long time.
But liking someone and getting along with him didn't mean you were in love. It just meant you were friends. And in their case, really good friends.
She and Travis were nothing more. They weren't in love, and they never would be. She was positive of that.
Wasn't she?
THE SECOND HE STEPPED into the barn on Monday morning, Travis knew he was in for a rough day. Not only were he and Dani meeting with Carl Whitley, the man who was considering suing her grandmother, but Max was already at work, and from the look on his face, an inquisition was about to happen.
“Hey, Trav. Did you have a nice weekend?” Max asked.
“Cut to the chase,” Travis said. “Dani will be here in about an hour, so I don't have time for games.”
“Okay, no games.” Max folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against a horse stall. “What's going on with you and Dani?”
“You know what's going on with us. You saw it with your own eyes. Next question.”
He'd hoped being direct with Max would wrap this up quickly, but no such luck. His brother looked like he was settled in for a long conversation.
“Paige thinks you two are in love,” Max said. He raised one eyebrow. “What do you think?”
“We're not,” Travis said. He and Dani had spent the weekend together, and she had told him what Max's wife thought. “We're not interested in anything long-term, so drop it.”
Deciding he was through with this conversation even if his brother wasn't, Travis headed toward the back of the barn. Why was it that people in love insisted the rest of the world be in love, too? Why couldn't they just leave everyone else alone?
But apparently they couldn't, since Max followed him.
“You sure you're not in love with her?” Max said when Travis headed inside one of the horse stalls. “I didn't realize I was in love with Paige for a long time. You may be in love with Dani and not know it.”
That stopped him. Travis frowned at his brother. “No offense, but how in love could I be with Dani if I didn't know it? Aren't you supposed to be breathless and obsessed when you're in love? And don't you walk around annoying everyone you see by insisting they be in love, too?”
“Cute,” Max said. “It's not like that.”
Travis grabbed a brush and slowly brushed the mare. “Could have fooled me, especially about the annoying part.”
Rather than being offended, Max laughed. “Yeah, I guess I am kind of a convert. Up until I met Paige, I didn't believe in love. But I do now.”
“But I don't, and I'm not,” Travis pointed out. “It's terrific that you and Paige are happy, but I need you to back off. Dani has worked for years for this job in New York. I want to focus on this ranch. We're good, and we understand each other.”
Max slowly nodded and then stood. “Message received. I'll leave you two alone and so will Paige. But I'm going to say one more thing to you and I want you to remember it—don't throw away something great just because you're too much of an idiot to appreciate it. Realize when you've found something special.”
With that, he walked out of the stall. Travis stared after him, half annoyed, half amused. Man, his brother sure had changed since meeting Paige. He wasn't the same guy Travis had grown up with. He was different. Better in some ways, and yeah, maybe worse in some other ways. But definitely different.
Showed you what kind of trouble a man could get into when he started believing in love.
DANI SURVEYED THE MAN across the table and formulated her plan. Carl Whitley was an unhappy person. Based on the wrinkles on his face, he may have always been an unhappy person. She half suspected he enjoyed being unhappy since he'd already complained about everything in his lawyer's meeting room right down to the carpeting.
No wonder he wanted to sue Freda. This man obviously liked to cause trouble.
Dani glanced at Travis, who was sitting on her right side. He'd dug up a lot of information about Carl's business, which was really going to help them.
Nana Freda sat on her other side. She was dressed in her fanciest dress, and even though Dani had suggested several times that a simple dress would work, Freda had insisted on what she called her “party gown.”
On the other side of the conference table sat Carl Whitley and his lawyer, Roger Abner. Roger had been the one to call this meeting, saying that he thought Freda and Carl could work this out if they just sat down and talked.
Dani suspected the man had decided he couldn't win this case, so the best he could do was find some sort of settlement. That worked perfectly for Dani since she also didn't think it was possible to win this case if they sued. So rather than a formal lawsuit, both sides had agreed to try to reach an agreement without this getting any messier.
“I want to start,” Carl said loudly, too loudly for the small room. He shot a frown at Freda, who in turn, simply smiled at him. His anger made the blood vessels in his forehead stand out.
“I appreciate that you're willing to try to settle this,” Roger said, glancing around the room. “If this became a lawsuit, it would take a long time to go to trial, and no one wants that expense.”
“She can pay,” Carl muttered. “She has money.”
“No, I don't. I've told you, my son has money. I don't.” Freda leaned back in her chair. “You need to listen better. You should wear your hearing aid.”
Dani looked at Travis, who seemed as surprised as she was that Freda knew the man wore a hearing aid.
“I can hear just fine. And I don't think there's anything to talk about,” Carl said. “She placed a curse on me, and it ruined my business. Now she needs to pay.”
Dani looked at her notes and then asked, “Have you always believed in curses and magical spells?” She paused long enough to let him consider the question, and then she added, “You don't seem like the type to believe in the supernatural.”
“I don't think Mr. Whitley is claiming to believe in the supernatural as much as he's saying it was unnerving,” Roger said.
Wanting to hear what Carl actually felt, Dani looked directly at him. “So is that what you felt? Unnerved? Unnerved to the point where you started closing your shop early?”
Carl's face turned bright red. He looked like a tomato about to explode. “That woman pointed her ugly finger at me and cursed me.”
“Calm down
and drink some water before you have a stroke,” Freda said, pushing the pitcher of water toward him. “Did you take your blood pressure medicine today? I bet you didn't.”
This time, everyone in the room looked at Freda.
“How do you know he takes blood pressure medicine?” Roger asked.
Freda laughed, which only seemed to annoy Carl more. “I've been going to his dry cleaners for fifteen years. We talked every time I was in there.”
Dani turned her attention back to Carl. “If you've been talking for fifteen years, did you know about my grandmother's romantic suggestions?”
Her grandmother had told her that Carl did, but Dani wanted to hear what the man himself said. More than likely, he was going to deny it.
But instead, he said, “She mentioned them a few times. You know, in passing she'd say something.”
“How did she explain them? What exactly did she say when you talked about these romantic suggestions?” Dani asked.
Carl blew out a loud breath. “I don't remember exactly what she said. But I knew what she meant. She was telling me she had a way to make people do what she wanted them to do by putting a spell on them.”
That was what she wanted him to say. Dani glanced at her notes, letting Carl's words sink in for everyone in the room, and then she asked, “So you believed that these suggestions she made worked? You didn't tell Mrs. Karlinski ‘that's just a load of bunk’ when she explained what she did?”
Carl suddenly made a big procedure out of pouring water into his glass. After that, he took a bottle of pills out of his pocket and fumbled with the lid. “I need to take my pill.”
When he obviously wasn't going to get the medicine bottle opened anytime soon, Freda reached out her hand. “Give it to me. You never could open that thing. You should ask for the ones that aren't childproof.”
To Dani's amazement, Carl handed the bottle to Freda without comment. “The ones that aren't childproof aren't safe.”
Freda handed the now-open bottle back to Carl. “They're only not safe if you have small children in your house. You don't have small children or grandchildren running around your place, Carl.”
