In Debt To The Cowboy (Miller Brothers 0f Texas Book 2)

by Natalie Dean

  A long lunch, too. At the insistence of Frenchie. Of course Solomon was so infatuated with his girl that he basically let her do anything she wanted. Silas tried to ignore her, to not go to the kitchen on Tuesday afternoons, but he still found himself running into her just as often as he didn’t.

  Silas grunted as he went into another set of reps on his bicep curls. He was about half an hour over his normal Thursday morning workout, but he was feeling pent-up, like too much energy was under his skin and he might burst at any moment. Thoughts were pinging around his head nonstop. He hoped that he could exhaust himself enough where they would give him a break for a minute.

  But they didn’t, and his thoughts went right back to Teddy.

  And Sterling.

  His twin was weirdly into flirting with the mechanic every chance he got. Which normally wouldn’t be that strange considering that Teddy was a gorgeous woman, but Sterling never showed interest in women for the most part. Like most of the Miller brothers, Sterling had a hard time trusting that a woman wanted to date him for reasons other than his money.

  Sterling didn’t trust anyone, let alone people outside of the family. He had watched his other rich friends get used, and even the ones that dated honest people often still ended up heartbroken. He wanted no part of it and had told Silas multiple times that he would marry some middle-aged church lady when he hit fifty just to shut Mom and Dad up.

  Silas’ arms were starting to quiver with all the weight he had been lifting, so he switched to a leg press. He should probably stop, but he didn’t want to until his spinning thoughts did.

  Everything was so weird. How Sterling was acting toward Teddy. How Frenchie was acting toward Teddy. Even how his own mind kept returning to her over and over again. Eventually, something had to give.

  But after another half hour of working out, it was his muscles that waved surrender, not his thoughts. Heaving a sigh, he grabbed a towel from the shelf and draped it over his neck before heading out of his family’s personal gym.

  Technically, it was the secondary personal gym. His parents had one, but their equipment was different, most of it meant for rehabilitation and maintaining function. Dad had made it when Silas was quite young, and a freak accident with Mom had left her with three cracked vertebrae. She was alright, obviously, but it had been a long recovery, and the whole family wanted to make sure she had whatever she needed to stay mobile. And nearly twenty years later, the only thing she usually suffered from was stiff lower-back muscles and aches when it rained. They’d all been lucky that day.

  Silas was so caught up in the memories, in recalling what it had been like to come home from school and hear that Mom had taken a bad fall, that he didn’t quite realize where he was going until there was a sharp gasp from right in front of him.

  But that brought him back real fast, and he blinked to find himself standing in the hall, Teddy just a few feet away from him.

  Her green eyes were wide, and her face was shock-white. Her posture clearly conveyed how startled she was, far too startled considering the situation. It wasn’t like he was naked. He was in a pair of gym shorts and a tank top. Sure, he was pretty sweaty, but—

  Oh.

  He was wearing a workout tank. Which meant his scar was on full display, dark and red against the only slightly tanned skin of his chest.

  Which meant she could see it.

  “I-I-I was just trying to find the bathroom,” she sputtered, reaching out to the doorknob beside her. Except that wasn’t the bathroom either. It was a study. “Frenchie was on her phone and I didn’t want to interrupt her, but I got kinda turned around.”

  Oh my goodness, she was staring at him like he was a monster. He knew the scar was an ugly thing, jagged and bubbled, but she didn’t need to look at him like that. She was a mechanic and old enough where she’d had to have seen some gnarly things in her life… right?

  But her gaze still roved over him, and finally he found his words again.

  “Sorry about the scar,” he grumbled, irritated that he had to apologize at all. This was why he always wore a polo or button-up. No one liked to look at that mess. It was gross.

  She swallowed. “What scar?” she asked, almost sounding distracted.

  Wait… what?

  He didn’t know what to say to that. It was right there in front of her, practically glowing like a beacon. Ugly and twisted. “Bathroom is back the way you came then to the left. Third door.” And then he was turning and walking away. He could still feel her intense stare as he beat a hasty retreat, and he didn’t stop until he was in his personal bathroom in his room.

  He looked at the large mirror next to his shower. Yeah, his scar was still there, veined and hideous, reminding him how he had been so stupid as a kid. But the more he thought about the stunned expression that had been on Teddy’s face, the less it seemed like she had been looking at him with revulsion.

  No, it’d been something else written across her features entirely.

  His heart thudded and he didn’t know what to think about that, so he didn’t think about it at all. Turning to the shower, he turned on the spray and told himself to forget all about her and the unfortunate run-in.

  Easier said than done.

  13

  Theodora

  Teddy reread the manual of the compact tractor she was working on for the third time, her eyes glazing over about halfway through the paragraph.

  Again.

  Grumbling to herself, she stood and took the lap around the inside of the garage, trying to clear her head. She was beginning to realize, as someone who had worked for her dad her entire life, she’d never had to worry about her employer being hot.

  And boy, Silas was hot.

  It was infuriating. She found herself distracted by him whenever he was around. That chiseled chin, the quiet sort of intelligence he had. The broad set of his shoulders. The way so many thoughts would flit behind those dark eyes of his. She wanted to know what he was thinking. She wanted to know him.

  Teddy let out a growl of frustration as she paced. She wasn’t some naïve maiden. She’d dated plenty of times from when she was sixteen until about three years ago, but it never really got that serious. She always had her mind on the shop and her future and family. Even some of the really nice guys she had dated ended up feeling like a second fiddle and broke things off.

  Which was fine. She appreciated them knowing what they needed and knowing that she couldn’t give that to them. And after that, she’d been pretty fine with not dating at all. Especially once the sharks started sniffing around the area. She had too much on her plate to consider dating, or even really being attracted to anyone.

  And yet… she was definitely attracted to Silas.

  Ugh, what a terrible cliché. He was rich and basically had an indentured servitude contract with her, and she was the one who had the idea for the whole deal in the first place. Having a crush on him was the absolute worst idea she could have.

  It was all such a mess. How was she known for being put together when she was capable of making such a mess? None of it made sense.

  Well, pacing wasn’t doing her much good, so she returned to the manual and tried to read again. She was pretty sure she knew what she wanted to do on the mid-sized equipment, but she just wanted to be sure before she ruined something. It wasn’t a super important machine; the workers had told her. But it was one they liked to use on smaller projects or repairing chunks of the fence. And the workers were nice, for as little time as she spent with them, so if they liked it, she wanted to fix it right for them.

  “Hey, you there. What’re you up to?”

  Teddy was no longer startled by Frenchie’s voice, but she did let out a small sigh. She’d been about to get her concentration back.

  “Trying to work on this compact tractor,” Teddy answered honestly. “Not doing so well. What’re you doing here on a Saturday?”

  “Solomon convinced his parents to go on this really nice cruise, so they’re away from the
manor for a couple weeks. Sal is at this power-lifting convention. The youngest brother is staying at college for a co-op opportunity this summer, and Samuel is still up with his aunt and uncle, so I’m spending a few days here. I wasn’t sure if I’d find you, but since I did, I wanted to ask if you’d like to come see the horses with me.”

  “Horses?”

  Frenchie nodded. “Yeah. I like ’em a lot. They’re real sweet.”

  It was still before she would normally take her lunch and Teddy chewed her lip, wondering if she was taking advantage. “Should we maybe wait until my break?”

  “Nonsense,” Frenchie said with a laugh. “I asked Solomon first if it would be okay, and he said I could haul you wherever I wanted as long as I don’t badger you. So if you wanna go, you can. But you don’t have to, of course.”

  Teddy cracked a smile. “He really lets you do whatever you want, doesn’t he?”

  “Hardly,” she scoffed. “But he has a real vested interest in me being happy, so he does maybe suggest that I goof around a bit more than I should. We’re still finding a balance.”

  Frenchie held out her hand, and that was the first time Teddy noticed the thick callouses on the insides of her pointer and middle finger as well as spatters of color. Was Frenchie an artist? She’d never heard about it.

  “So, ya wanna come?”

  “I’m not gonna pass up horses. Sure, lead the way.”

  Frenchie did her jump-clap thing and then they were off, heading once more to her golf cart. It was actually a shorter ride to the stables, although it was out to the eastern side of things where she rarely went.

  But of course, as they arrived at the stables, the sound of hooves came up from beside the building and then Silas was trotting into view.

  Of course.

  Of freaking course.

  She couldn’t just sit in the golf cart, so she got out after Frenchie and tried to act natural. Except it seemed like she had completely forgotten what acting natural entailed. Where was she supposed to put her hands? Was she breathing too hard? Blinking too much?

  “Oh, hey there,” he said, nodding to the two of them. “I was just finishing up. I’ll be out of your hair soon.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Frenchie said, waving her hand and opening the barn doors for him. “I’m just showing Teddy around. Neither of us is ready to ride around on our own.”

  He nodded and then he was going in, leaving Teddy to follow after. Gosh, her footfalls were so heavy. Why did she walk so loud? Was she walking loud?

  She was staring down at her feet, so she didn’t notice Silas getting down off his horse until she almost ran into his leg as it swung down. Thankfully, she caught herself and pulled up short.

  “Sorry. I should have been more careful,” Silas said as he landed.

  Her mind immediately went to the last time she had seen him, all glistening from what had been either an intense workout or a full hour of him running for his life. She could feel the flush rising up her neck, which in turn only made her blush worse.

  She felt like it might have been a bit rude the way she’d ogled him, but she’d been so surprised. He had been so shiny, and surprisingly ripped beneath the button-ups he normally wore. It was so unexpected, and then he’d said something about a mark or a scar—she hadn’t really been listening—and then he was running away from her like she was a real creep.

  Gosh, she was so lucky that she hadn’t been fired.

  “Oh, it’s alright. I was distracted by…” the image of your insane biceps and glistening clavicle “…all the horses.”

  “They’re a beautiful lot, aren’t they?” he said with a smile. “They’re all pretty sweet too.”

  “Yeah, they have to be, considering they’re tolerating me,” Frenchie said with a laugh, her hand in her pocket as she pressed kisses to the snoot of another horse.

  “Frenchie,” Silas said without looking, “you’re not about to give Anabelle another sugar cube, are you?”

  The girl stiffened, and the timing of it struck Teddy as particularly hilarious. “…why do you ask?”

  “There are apples in the fridge. Go get one of those and cut it up for everyone.”

  “Fine. Spoilsport.”

  “You only think that because you’re spoiled yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah, keep raining on my parade and I’ll go tattle to Solomon on you.”

  “Hey, let’s not pit brother against brother,” Teddy cut in, surprised at herself. But as the minutes passed, she was feeling less and less awkward. “We don’t need a civil war.”

  “I dunno,” Silas said with a wink. “Might be one anyway between my uncle and dad any time now. Especially after Samuel.”

  “I’ve heard that name a couple of times now. Did something happen there?”

  “It’s a long story. Nothing you want to hear about now.”

  “But what if I do?” she challenged. She didn’t know why she was feeling saucy, but she wasn’t going to question it.

  “Well, I guess it’ll just have to remain a mystery.” He finished getting all of his equipment off the horse and hanging it up, then went about brushing the pretty mount’s coat. Teddy gave him a look, but he just continued on blithely.

  “I guess you would need to rely on mystery if you have a boring personality,” she said.

  “Did you just call me boring?”

  “I dunno. I guess it’ll have to remain a mystery.”

  He laughed and it was such a nice sound. “I suppose I deserved that one.”

  “You said it, not me.”

  Frenchie came up behind them and grabbed her arm gently. “Come on, let’s see some of my favorites.”

  Teddy almost wanted to protest, but she figured she couldn’t without sounding strange, so she let the other woman pull her along.

  Still, it wasn’t so bad as Frenchie enthusiastically introduced her to several of the mighty steeds. Or mares. Teddy wasn’t really sure on that part. She wasn’t a horse girl.

  But not too much time passed before Silas joined them, pressing more apple pieces into her hand. “Go on. They were fed this morning, so you’re not spoiling their appetite or anything.”

  Maybe it was because of her crush, but the hand-off seemed… significant, so she curled her fingers around the pieces carefully. “Thanks.”

  “Of course. No problem.”

  The time slipped by quickly, and before she knew it, all the apples were gone, and she’d met a good number of the horses. The mood was so lovely that they were all jolted when Frenchie’s phone began to ring.

  “Sorry about that,” she said sheepishly before answering. The conversation was quick, and soon she was walking off, leaving Teddy and Silas alone.

  And there came the awkwardness, rushing right back in like someone had left a window open. They stood there for a moment quietly, the only sound between them the not-so-soft sound of the horses munching on their apple pieces. Teddy knew she should say something, but by the time she opened her mouth, Frenchie was coming back.

  “Hey, Solomon wants to go on a picnic, so he’s gonna come pick me up. Silas, will you drive Teddy back to the garage and make sure the cart gets back to where it’s supposed to go?”

  Silas’ eyebrows shot up, but he managed not to look horrified so that was good. “Sure, I can do that for you.”

  “Thanks, bro. I’ll catch y’all later.”

  And just like that, Teddy was going to have to be alone with Silas for an extended period of time.

  What was that about acting natural?

  Her tongue was too heavy in her mouth and was she sweating? She felt like she was sweating. She was normally so poised and in control. She had to be to deal with some of the folks in her neighborhood. But it seemed the more time she spent with Silas, the more he affected her.

  That couldn’t be good.

  They rode back the short way to the garage in relative silence, with Silas pointing interesting things out every now and then and Teddy trying to answer li
ke a normal human.

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something, but I’m afraid it’ll come across as rude.”

  That broke her out of her canned answer and she swallowed harshly. Something personal? “Oh, what’s that?”

  “What’s with the white streak in your hair. Is that like, some sort of comic book thing?”

  Oh, whew. That wasn’t that bad at all. “Are you telling me that you’re familiar with comics?”

  “Not particularly, but one of my cousins was super into them, so I always got a large dose from him every time we ended up seeing each other. And nice dodge of the question.”

  Ah, he’d caught her. “It’s not a comic thing.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Why does it have to be anything?”

  He seemed to think about that for a moment, and goodness did contemplative look real nice across his strong features. “I suppose it doesn’t, but you’re not the type of person who seems to do something for no reason.”

  “Huh, I think that’s almost a compliment.”

  “Oh, it most definitely is.”

  They had reached the garage, but neither of them got out of the cart, just sat there, chatting.

  “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said finally. But she liked the curious look that he was giving her, like he was trying to puzzle her out. Maybe with anyone else it would have been invasive, but with him it was… it was…

  Thrilling.

  “I lost pigment in that part of my hair. But I like to hear all the reasons people tell themselves I’ve got a white streak at my temple,” Teddy said.

  “Lost your pigment? What, like an albino?”

  She nodded.

  “But, you’ve got your pigment everywhere else?” he asked.

  Another nod.

  “Is this like… a really specific form of vitiligo?”

  Now that startled a laugh out of her. For some reason she hadn’t expected him to know about that. “No, not vitiligo. It’s poliosis.”