by Katie Lane
“Your room?” Holden’s mother said after Reba had left. “What room? I thought you were staying here.”
“She is staying here.” Lucas continued to stare at the open doorway. “I refuse to let her go back with that mean old hag Gertrude Dixon.”
Chester laughed. “You didn’t always think Gertie was a mean old hag, Luc. I remember a time when you followed her around like a lovesick pup.”
Devlin couldn’t hide her surprise. “You liked Miss Gertie?”
Lucas glared at his brother. “Speakin’ of people who need to mind their own business. Now, help me get those groceries inside before they spoil.”
“You helping, boy?” Chester glanced at Holden. “There are a few things I’d like you to clear up.”
With a resigned look, Holden followed after Lucas and Chester. Which left Devlin with his mother. She was the last person Devlin wanted to be left alone with.
“I should probably help with the groceries too.” Devlin started for the door, but Marilyn stepped in front of her.
“What exactly is going on between you and my son?”
Devlin swallowed hard. “We’re talking about getting married?” It came out as more of a question than a reply.
“I find that extremely hard to believe seeing as how Holden has always been against marriage.” Marilyn’s gray eyes turned sad. “Something I’m afraid I’m responsible for. I’m not very good at wedded bliss. Holden got to witness that firsthand. But what he doesn’t realize is he’s nothing like me. Holden is kind and loving and doesn’t have a problem showing affection. He would make a wonderful husband like his father. I think he would realize that if he gave himself the chance.”
The list of prospective marriage partners made sense now. This woman wanted her son to be happy and was trying to make amends for her past mistakes. She was going about it in completely the wrong way, but Devlin couldn’t fault her. She knew what it was like to desperately want to fix past mistakes. And telling bald-faced lies weren’t exactly the right way to go about fixing anything. Still, she had made a bargain.
She smiled weakly. “Then you should be happy he’s considering marriage.”
Marilyn arched her eyebrows. “How long have you known my son? When I spoke to him only days ago, he never mentioned you.”
“We met just recently. It was . . . love at first sight.”
“And what makes you so sure it’s love?”
It was a good question. Devlin knew absolutely nothing about love. She hadn’t been in love with Alfred. She wasn’t even sure she’d been in like with him. But she definitely liked Holden. At least, her body did.
“Having never been in love before, I can’t say for sure. All I know is I can’t think straight when your son’s around. And when he touches me, my internal organs don’t function correctly. My heart rate increases and my lungs can’t seem to draw in enough oxygen. I feel feverish. Even my vaginal area feels—”
Marilyn held up a hand. “I get the picture.” She studied Devlin. “You seem to be an odd girl. Certainly not one I would’ve picked out for my son. But maybe that’s what he finds so attractive. He always wants the opposite of what I want. I wanted him to live in Dallas and help me run the family business. He moved to Houston and works for peanuts. I wanted to buy him a car and set up a trust fund for him. Have you seen his apartment and the vehicle he drives? My housekeeper lives better than he does. It’s like he wants to be poor just to get back at me for everything I’ve done to him.”
This certainly made sense from what Devlin had seen. She thought Holden’s reason for not wanting to strike it rich was just that he viewed oil companies as the bad guys. But maybe it had more to do with his mother. From the sounds of things, she hadn’t been the ideal mom. And she was even more blunt than Devlin.
“I’m going to assume that you live at the boardinghouse in Simple and that’s how my son met you,” Marilyn said. “Is that god-awful woman with the walker your relative?”
Miss Gertie had certainly acted like they were related. She had been genuinely worried about Devlin. Which made Devlin feel a little less scared of the woman. Obviously, there was a kind heart beneath the crotchety persona.
“No. We’re not related,” Devlin said.
Marilyn looked more than a little relieved. “So what do you do for a living?”
“I’m a scientist . . . I do research on alternative energy sources.” It wasn’t a lie. She had done research on sustainable energy, and she hoped one day she could do it again.
“A scientist? Well, at least you’re educated. And if you can make my son happy, that’s all that matters to me. He claims he’s happy now, but happy people don’t work themselves to death. Believe me, I know. Only people with unhappy lives hide in their jobs. And Holden is hiding. I have to wonder if he’s still grieving Amanda’s death.”
“Amanda?”
Marilyn looked surprised. “He hasn’t told you about his sister?”
His sister passed away? Devlin was speechless. How hard would it be to lose a sibling? She would be devastated if she lost one of her brothers.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Marilyn said. “He took Amanda’s death extremely hard. Even though they were half siblings and he was nine years older, he adored her from the first day I brought her home from the hospital. He called her Munchkin, and when she started to talk, she called him Ho-ho.”
“How did she die?” Devlin asked.
Marilyn took her time answering. When she finally did, Devlin could hear the pain in her voice. “She caught a virus when she was two and got a rare lung infection. By the time she was four, she spent most of her time in the hospital. Holden would go after school and on the weekends to play with her until visiting hours were over. When she passed a year later, he was inconsolable.”
Marilyn looked away and dabbed at her eyes with a finger. “Still, I should’ve tried harder to console him. I should’ve understood why he was acting out and got expelled from his private school. Instead, I punished him by sending him here. Surprisingly, that’s the one thing he doesn’t hate me for.” She sniffed and glanced around the barn. “For some reason, he loves this place. Maybe it will help him forgive me.”
She glanced at Devlin with tears glistening in her gray eyes and smiled. “Or maybe love will.”
Chapter Ten
“You’re lying to your mama?” Lucas stared at Holden in disbelief, and Holden realized that there was no way he was going to get Lucas and Chester to go along with his marriage charade. He should have known better. He was just so desperate to get his mother out of his life that he hadn’t been thinking clearly. He was still desperate.
“It’s only for one night,” he said. “She’ll leave in the morning.”
“Lyin’ to your mama is lyin’ to your mama. It don’t matter how long you do it. There’s no excuse for it.”
“There is if your mother happens to be mine. For some reason, she has decided she wants to see me happily married. And you don’t know her. When she sets her mind to something, she won’t stop until she achieves her goal. I refuse to let her ruin my life.”
“It doesn’t sound like she wants to ruin your life, boy,” Chester said. “It sounds like she wants her only son to be happy.”
Holden laughed snidely. “Marriage never made her happy. Why would she think it would make me? She manipulated every man she ever married. She won’t manipulate me—or stick me with some woman who will.”
Chester continued to study him as Lucas hopped back into the conversation. “Then you tell her that. You don’t lie to her about you and Devlin getting hitched. And not just her, but Reba and that she-devil aunt of hers. The way Gertie gossips, I’ll be surprised if the entire town hasn’t already heard about you and Devlin. And what do you think they’ll do when you two don’t end up at the altar? I’ll tell you what they’ll do. They’ll blame the Double Diamond bad boy.”
He did have a good point. The news of Devlin staying the night at the Double Diamond certai
nly had traveled fast. There was little doubt that he and Devlin thinking about getting married would too. And Miss Gertie had been pretty ticked when she thought he was taking advantage of Devlin. She’d be even more ticked if she felt like he’d broken her heart.
“Maybe we can say it was all Devlin’s idea to break off the engagement,” he said. “Miss Gertie made Devlin realize what an evil Double Diamond boy I am.”
Lucas pointed the spoon he’d been stirring his chili with at Holden. “So now you want us to lie to the entire town? Didn’t we teach you any morals at all, boy?”
“Now don’t act like you’ve never lied, you old coot,” Chester said. “You lie every time you tell the story about staying on Hell Bent for the full eight seconds. I was there when you rode that ornery bull and I know you barely stayed on for two.”
“It was at least six. When you rode him, you didn’t even clear the gate.”
“A lie is a lie. Six isn’t eight. And I’m thinkin’ that this time lyin’ might not be such a bad thing.”
“What do you mean, you old fart? You think it’s okay for Holden to lie to his mama and the entire town?”
Chester thought for only a moment before he nodded his head. “Yep, I do. Our mama died when we were knee-high to grasshoppers, but I remember when she set her mind on something there was no getting around her. And I would hate for Holden here to be forced to marry a woman he doesn’t love just to make his mama happy. It’s much better if he gets to make the choice himself.”
“I’m not interested in getting married.” Holden wanted to make that perfectly clear. “Ever.”
“Of course you ain’t. You’re just like Lucas and me when we were your age.” Chester glanced at Lucas. “Ain’t he, Luc? And we both know how well staying away from wedding chapels worked for us. So I think it’s only right that we help Holden here out. Confirmed bachelors need to stick together. Like I was saying on the ride into town, Holden has convinced me that he’s quite content with his life.”
“What are you talkin’ about? You didn’t say that. You said just the opposite.”
“Either you’re losing your hearing, you old coot, or your mind. Any fool could see that Holden is thrilled to be living the single life in Houston.”
“But you said we needed to try—” Lucas must’ve suddenly remembered their conversation because he cut off and smiled brightly. “You’re right, Chess. My old brain don’t work like it used to. You did talk about how lucky you thought Holden was livin’ the single life in Houston. And if tellin’ a fib to his mama will help him hang onto that happy life, then I guess we don’t have a choice.”
Holden released the breath he’d been holding. “Thank you. I owe you both.”
“You don’t owe us anything, “ Chester said. “Well, except for your word that you won’t take advantage of Devlin McMillian. I agree with Gertrude Dixon that she’s naïve and I wouldn’t want her to get hurt from this little charade.”
Damn. He had just accepted his sexual attraction to Devlin and here Chester was putting a chastity belt on her and making Holden lock it and throw away the key. But Chester was right. Devlin did appear to be naïve where relationships were concerned. No matter how much he wanted to roll her in the hay, he couldn’t take advantage of that naïveté. Especially when she had agreed to help him.
“I promise to keep my distance from Devlin.”
“You can’t do that,” Lucas said. “Otherwise your mama won’t believe you want to marry the girl. You’ll need to act like the doting lover—just without the benefits. Which brings up another point. Where are you plannin’ on sleepin’?”
Holden hadn’t given it any thought until now. “I guess I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“No you won’t,” Chester said. “If you want to fool your mama, you’ll have to sleep in Devlin’s room.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Holden said. Especially if he was supposed to keep his hands off Devlin.
A sly, annoying smile spread across Chester’s face. “I’m sure you can restrain your carnal side for one night, boy. Now you better go check on Devlin. If your mama is as tough as you say she is, she’s probably already gotten the truth out of that girl.”
Holden had been so worried about getting Chester and Lucas to agree to his plan, he hadn’t thought about his mother interrogating Devlin. He hurried out of the kitchen and froze when the front door opened, and his mother and Devlin stepped through. Since his mother didn’t look mad, he figured Devlin hadn’t caved. But something had happened in the barn. Devlin was looking at him strangely.
“What happened?” he asked.
“We had a little chat,” his mother said. “And while I didn’t see you and Devlin as a good match before, I see it now.” She gave Devlin a once-over. “Although we definitely need to do something about those ghastly clothes. They look like they would fit Holden. If there’s a mall nearby, I’ll take you shopping tomorrow.”
“There’s no need for that, Mother. I happen to like the way Devlin dresses.” That wasn’t a lie. He liked her in jeans and a simple t-shirt with her hair in a messy ponytail and her glasses perched on her nose. She looked so much more approachable than she did in her business attire. He pulled his gaze away from her and looked at his mother. “Besides, you’re leaving in the morning.”
His mother’s eyebrows lifted. “We’ll see about that.”
Before he could argue the point, Lucas called from the kitchen. “Chili’s ready. Come and get it!”
His mother rolled her eyes. “Oh goody. Chili. Please tell me there will be plenty of cocktails to go with it.”
“Unless you consider beer a cocktail, I’m afraid you’re out of luck.” He stepped to the side to let his mother and Devlin precede him into the kitchen. When Devlin passed by, he took her hand and stopped her. “You okay?”
She nodded and smiled weakly. “I’m fine.”
But she didn’t seem fine. During dinner, she didn’t join in the conversation or offer up one honestly blunt comment. Of course, she couldn’t be honest or blunt when he’d asked her to lie. He felt bad about that. But not so bad that he was willing to tell his mother the truth. Especially when his mom seemed to be keeping such a close eye on him and Devlin as if waiting for one of them to screw up. Which forced him to play the doting boyfriend.
It wasn’t that hard.
He enjoyed sitting close to Devlin and breathing in her scent. She smelled like his shampoo and Lucas’s laundry detergent. He enjoyed touching her, whether placing his hand on her waist as he followed her into the living room after dinner or taking her hand and stroking the soft inside of her wrist as they sat on the couch listening to Lucas and Chester’s old rodeo stories.
Maybe it wasn’t touching her that he liked as much as watching her reaction to his touch. Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink and her breath grew labored and her pulse throbbed beneath his fingers in a quick, steady beat that he felt all the way to his toes. By the time Chester got up and declared it was time for bed, Holden’s body was responding to touching Devlin too. He felt flushed, couldn’t catch his breath, and his heart beat rapidly against his ribcage. And they hadn’t even made it to the bedroom they were supposed to spend an entire night in.
Alone.
He was in trouble.
“Bed?” His mother glanced at the clock on the wall. “But it’s only eight thirty.”
“Here in the country it’s early to bed and early to rise,” Chester said. “But you’re more than welcome to stay up and watch television if you’d like. We don’t have cable and one of the regular channels don’t come in real good, but Cru did replace our tape player with one that plays those discs and we’ve got plenty of old westerns you could watch.”
“Oh, Good Lord.” His mother got up and walked out of the room.
Holden couldn’t help but smile. Between the chili, no alcohol, and early nights, she would be more than happy to leave in the morning. Now all Holden had to do was get through this night.
“What
are you doing?” Devlin asked when he followed her into the guestroom.
“If we’re going to make my mother believe that we’re a couple, I need to sleep in here tonight.” When she glanced at the bed and her eyes widened, he quickly added, “On the floor.”
“Oh.” Was it his imagination or did she sound disappointed? Or maybe it was just wishful thinking.
He shook the thought away and toed off his cowboy boots. “You can have the bathroom first. Lucas got you a toothbrush at the store. I left it on the counter by the sink.”
“Thank you. Would you mind if I borrowed another shirt to sleep in?”
He opened the second dresser drawer and pulled out a white t-shirt and handed it to her. It was only after she returned from the bathroom wearing it that he realized his mistake in not giving her one of his long-tailed western shirts instead. The hem of the t-shirt hit high on her bare thighs, displaying almost every inch of those deliciously long legs. Try as he might, he couldn’t look away as she bent over to place the black orthopedic boot and her cowboy boot next to his. As the t-shirt slipped up to the very top of her thighs, all he could think about was being in the space between them.
He quickly got up from the bed. “I better get the bathroom before my mother does. She’ll hog it for hours.”
He took his time in the bathroom, hoping that Devlin would be sound asleep with those mile-long legs tucked securely under the sheets when he got back to the room. But when he walked in, she was on her hands and knees on the floor in a position that made him groan.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, you’re back.” She stretched over even further to smooth out the quilts on the floor, giving him a glimpse of her butt in a pair of satiny panties. He squeezed his eyes closed.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making you a bed. You can’t sleep on the cold floor. There. All done.”
He opened his eyes and was relieved to find her standing. She had taken off her glasses and released her hair from the ponytail. The tousled strands fell around her face and shoulders in inky waves that made his fingers twitch with the need to touch. He folded them into tight fists.
