West Texas Match (The West Texans Series #1)

by Ginger Chambers

  “That’s enough!” he thundered. “Shep! Get over here!”

  The dog instantly let go, his quick action mirrored by Jodie and Rio scrambling to their feet.

  Shannon had no idea if Rafe knew she was there or not. He gave no sign. His full attention was on the pair across the way and the dog who’d hurried over to him, limping slightly from the altercation.

  Jodie’s expression was stricken. Rio tried to act as if he’d done nothing wrong. His hands went into his back pockets, his chin jutted out, and he seemed to bounce lightly in place.

  “Just what the hell’s going on here?” Rafe demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Jodie said. “We were— Shep just came over and attacked Rio!”

  “Dog’s gone loco in his old age,” Rio claimed, bending down to rub his right calf.

  “Only ones loco around here are the two of you,” Rafe replied. “Shep must’ve thought you were in trouble, Jodie.”

  “We weren’t doin’ nothin’ wrong,” Rio said.

  “Looks like the only reason you weren’t was Shep!”

  “Rio and I were just fooling around a bit. We weren’t— We wouldn’t— Not here. Not now. Anyway, nobody saw us.”

  Jodie looked at Shannon and pleaded for support with her expressive eyes. For the first time, Rafe acknowledged her presence.

  “Gwen and Wesley saw you,” Shannon said quietly. “I sent them home.” She thought it only fair to warn the girl that they had been seen by others, who might or might not keep quiet about it.

  Jodie grimaced.

  “Scaring little kids and animals,” Rafe said harshly. “Isn’t that the definition of doing something wrong?” He shook his head. “Jodie, I thought you had better sense. What do you think would be happening right now if Aunt Mae had been the one to find you? You know she’s after Rio’s job. Do you think I’d be able to stop her then?”

  “You’ve stopped her up to now.”

  “Only because I thought it was the right thing to do.”

  “We love each other, Rafe!” Jodie cried, running over to her cousin and pressing her bright head against his chest. When she lifted it, she looked at Shannon. “Tell him, Shannon.”

  Shannon examined the girl, then Rio. There was something about the young cowboy that made her remember what Harriet had said about how some cowboys weren’t very good husband material. That was the distinct impression she had about Rio. It also didn’t help to remember the suggestive way he’d looked at her before—not what she’d have expected from someone deeply in love and ready for commitment.

  “Leave Shannon out if it,” Rafe ordered much to her relief. “She’s a guest here, not a referee.” He turned his glittering gaze on Rio. “And you. I think it’d be a good idea for you to get back to work, don’t you?”

  Rio collected his hat and jammed it on his head. “You’re the boss,” he said.

  “We’ll get along just fine if you remember that,” Rafe answered with a meaningful edge. “Oh, and Rio...don’t ever do anything to hurt Shep again. If you do, I’ll come looking for you.”

  “Shep was biting him, Rafe!” Jodie said in Rio’s defense.

  “That’s the only reason I’m not doing anything right now. Now get on with it, both of you. And be more careful in the future.”

  Jodie ducked her head and hurried to the door, pausing a second to straighten her blouse before going outside. Rio followed with a swagger, reclasping his belt as he walked. When he crossed in front of Shannon, he had the arrogance to wink at her.

  Luckily for him, Rafe had bent to check Shep’s leg and didn’t see him. But the action added to Shannon’s growing uneasiness about Rio and the sort of person he was.

  Chapter Nine

  “How is he?” Shannon asked.

  “Just a thump,” Rafe said, straightening. “Rio’s going to feel it more than Shep.”

  “Did Shep actually bite him? I didn’t see any blood.”

  “It was through denim, so I doubt he did much damage.”

  Shannon petted the dog’s head when he came over to her for sympathy. “Poor boy,” she cooed. Shep ate it up. He even lifted his abused leg to show to her. Shannon stroked his paw and continued to sympathize.

  “I didn’t expect to run into you,” Rafe said after a moment, his tone level.

  Shannon looked up. “Shep and I stopped for a few minutes to rest.”

  Rafe nodded. She didn’t need to explain further.

  A silence once again settled between them. To fill it, Shannon rushed into speech. “Jodie and Rio...I understand you think he’s reliable. Does that mean you approve of them being together?”

  “No.”

  “Then why...?”

  “Jodie’s too young.”

  “So you agree with your aunt?”

  Rafe didn’t answer.

  Shannon straightened away from the dog. “Jodie seems very mature in some ways, but in others...”

  “...she’s not. I know.”

  “Just now...”

  “Just now she showed how young she is.”

  “What about Rio? Doesn’t he bear some kind of responsibility?”

  “Rio was doing what comes naturally.”

  Shannon’s eyes flashed. “And she wasn’t?”

  His gaze held hers. “Sure she was,” he agreed.

  Uneasily Shannon realized that the subject of their conversation had shifted—to themselves.

  “It must be nice to be so sure of everything,” she said crossly.

  Rafe laughed. “Is that what you think?”

  Shannon shrugged.

  Rafe rubbed his hip.

  “Are you hurt, too?” she asked, willing to grasp at any conversational crutch.

  “Horse didn’t do me any favors. We’re quite a crew, aren’t we?” he murmured, smiling faintly.

  Shannon stared at him, then she saw the situation as he did. She had an injured leg, Shep had an injured leg, and Rafe had an injured hip. She couldn’t help it. She smiled. “A doctor’s dream. That’s the way I felt when I was in the hospital.”

  “Things were pretty bad?”

  “I almost died. There were times, I was told later, when—”

  “But you didn’t,” he interrupted her.

  “No,” she answered flatly, “I didn’t.”

  “You sound disappointed.”

  Shannon dropped her chin. “Sometimes I am.”

  She sensed his frown. It was a disturbing admission. It disturbed her, but it was the truth. It was also something she’d so far avoided talking about to anyone.

  “Everyone died in the plane crash but you,” he said.

  She stayed silent.

  “And you blame yourself for surviving,” he went on. “Do you think your father would want you to feel that way? Do you think any of them would?”

  He didn’t know the full story. None of them did, except for Mae. She inched toward the open bam door.

  “Shannon?” he said. Her name sounded different on his lips.

  He erased the space between them, placing himself between her and the door.

  Shannon knew that tears were shimmering in her eyes, and she felt the throb of a headache. She hadn’t had one for several days now. She’d hoped she was over them for good, but that was expecting too much too soon. Recovery, as she knew very well, was a back and forth thing.

  Rafe looked unsure of what to say.

  “It’s all right,” she murmured, falling back on her old habit of reassurance. “I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not.” He was the first person ever to contradict her. “Look, if I’ve—”

  She broke into his belated apology. “You haven’t done anything.”

  “If there’s anything I can—”

  “You can’t do anything either. What happened...”

  “...happened for a reason,” he completed.

  Shannon stared at him, her expression bruised. “Are you saying that my father, that Ja—” Her throat closed on the name. She couldn’t ta
lk to him about James, not after what had happened between them.

  “They died because it was their time. You lived because it wasn’t yours.”

  “How can you say that? You don’t know...” she sputtered angrily.

  “When you live close to the land, you learn there’s a natural cycle. People, animals are born, they live their lives, then they die. Some die sooner than others, some manage to hang on to life for a long time. You can’t question it. You can’t fight it. It just is.”

  “That’s easy for you to say! You haven’t—”

  “Nothing’s easy out here. If you go down out in some lonely spot, have some kind of bad accident and can’t get back, someone’s going to have to come find you. And if they can’t, your bones’ll be found bleaching in the sun on some far-off day, just like we find cattle and other animals that don’t make it. When screwworm was a problem out here, I can’t tell you the number of calves that had to be put out of their misery because they were too far gone to help. And right next to them was another calf that was fine. Other times, the key to survival is as simple as finding a drink of water.”

  “What happened to me is different,” Shannon claimed, not wanting to absorb the truth of his words.

  “How?” he challenged.

  She shook her head, angry with him for not retreating from the subject like other people did.

  Something moved across her hair—his hand! He let some of the fine yellow strands run through his fingers.

  “It’s such a waste wearing yourself out asking questions that don’t have answers,” he said.

  His touch, along with his low words, ignited unwanted sensations in Shannon. Sensations she could do nothing to stop. Her eyes partially closed, her breathing quickened. “I—I have to go,” she whispered, but couldn’t make herself move.

  He leaned closer in order to inhale the fragrance of her hair. “Mmm. Such a waste.”

  Shannon had a vision of herself and Rafe in exactly the same position as the younger couple—prone, on the scattered straw, their bodies entwined... She broke away.

  Without looking back, she ran out the door to the pathway, slowing her pace only when she arrived at the family compound.

  ~*~

  Rafe’s hand fell to his side. Her hair had smelled of flowers and sunshine. Fresh. Sweet. Haunting. Even when she was no longer there, he could recall the scent. The strands had slipped through his fingers like liquid silk. And her eyes—huge, blue and beautiful—the color of a summer sky after a cleansing rain.

  For the first time he wished he had a talent like Gib’s. So that he could capture with oils and brush all the shifting nuances of her lovely fragile face—the strength, the vulnerability, the sweetness, the sadness.

  Shep woofed close beside him, making Rafe start, and he realized that for the past few minutes he’d forgotten everything, including where he was.

  When the dog woofed again, Rafe shook his head and laughed. “I’m the one who must’ve been grazing in the locoweed, huh, boy? It’s a good thing you’re the only one here to see me.”

  Shep circled him.

  “All right,” Rafe said, “let me get what I came for, then we’ll stop by the office and get you a treat. Anyone hurt as badly as you deserves something, right?”

  The dog wagged his tail avidly, having already forgotten his temporary handicap.

  ~*~

  Shannon’s appetite at dinner that night was minimal. So, too, it seemed, was Mae’s. Both women did little more than pick at their food, and Marie carried their dishes back into the kitchen with a series of disappointed tsks.

  “I almost forgot,” Mae said as they waited for their after-dinner coffee. “You had a telephone call. Someone named Julia. You were out, so I took the message. She wants you to call her back.”

  “Julia? But how did she...?” Shannon had made a special effort to keep her destination a secret, at least for a time. She didn’t want visitors or telephone calls or baskets of fruit and flowers. She’d come to the Parker Ranch to get away from all that.

  “I asked. She told me she bribed a nurse. I asked her the nurse’s name, but she wouldn’t say. Swore on a stack of Bibles she won’t tell anyone else. Not that I care. You want company, you can have company. There’s another guest room right next door to yours.”

  Shannon was shaking her head before Mae finished speaking. “No. I don’t want company.”

  “Getting along just fine without it, eh?” Mae examined her closely. “You know, you really do have a little color back—I don’t just mean the tan. And I’d swear you’ve put on a pound or two, as well.”

  If she had put on weight, Shannon couldn’t see it, but the idea seemed to satisfy Mae.

  “I’ll, ah...I’ll call Julia tomorrow. She and her boyfriend usually go out most evenings.”

  “Do you miss that?” Mae asked, silently thanking Marie for the cup of coffee she’d placed before her.

  “Miss what?” Shannon, too, acknowledged Marie’s efforts. “You mean, going out?”

  Mae nodded.

  Shannon needlessly stirred her cup, using the time to weigh her reply. “I miss being with James.”

  “I meant going to the theater, to the symphony, to restaurants. That kind of thing.”

  Shannon frowned. Why was the woman probing? She answered carefully, “I went to those places, but they weren’t an important part of my life.”

  “Movies, dancing...”

  Shannon shrugged.

  “So it’s not driving you crazy to spend a long period of time in an isolated place like this?”

  “No, I quite like it.”

  “You might change your mind in a few weeks.”

  “I doubt it.”

  Mae smiled approval. “I sensed that about you the first time we met—when you were ten. You weren’t like other ten-year-olds.”

  Shannon laughed. “I drove my parents crazy for Barbie-doll clothes and a pony—just like every other girl that age.”

  Mae waved away her answer. “I mean in the ways that count. You were quiet. You thought about things.”

  “One of the curses of my life.”

  “Thinking’s not a bad thing.”

  “Sometimes it is,” Shannon disagreed, her smile disappearing as she mentally added, When you think too much, when you feel too much, pain doesn’t go away easily. The mind isn't as simply diverted.

  “It’s only bad if you let it be,” Mae observed.

  Shannon frowned. “What are you trying to say, Miss Parker?”

  Mae grimaced at the formality. “I thought we were well past that. Call me Mae, Shannon. Like everyone else.”

  “You still—”

  “I haven’t answered your question. I know.” She smiled faintly. “I’m not trying to say anything. I was merely agreeing with you.”

  Not quite, Shannon thought. There was something there, just beneath the surface. It could relate to Mae’s plans for her and Rafe, or it could be something else entirely. But she was coming to understand Mae well enough to know that the older woman wouldn’t explain herself if she didn’t want to.

  ~*~

  A knock on Shannon’s bedroom door interrupted her shortly after she’d sat down to read. She still hadn’t finished the detective novel she’d started. She was having trouble with her concentration. It wasn’t the book’s fault, but her own. And she knew that Julia would ask about it when she phoned her the next day.

  “Jodie!” Shannon exclaimed, surprised to see the girl standing in the hall. “Come in,” she invited, opening the door wider. “You look...”

  “Awful!” Jodie supplied. “But then, I feel awful, so it isn’t any wonder.”

  Shannon’s gaze moved over her caller. The girl’s eyes were red and swollen, the tip of her nose was pink, her skin was splotched, as if she’d been crying ever since she’d been caught with Rio earlier.

  “What’s the matter? What’s happened?” Shannon asked in concern.

  “Oh, nothing,” Jodie answered tightly
as she crossed the room and threw herself dramatically onto Shannon’s bed. “Just that Rio doesn’t want to see me anymore.”

  “Did he say that?”

  “As good as.” Jodie reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand and extracted a handful, which she then balled up and held over her mouth.

  Shannon came closer. From the little she had seen of Rio, she didn’t think this the catastrophe that Jodie did. It was hard for her not to share in the family’s misgivings. Still, Jodie’s feelings needed to be respected.

  “What did he say?” Shannon asked, sinking onto the foot of the bed, her arms curving around a carved post.

  “It’s not so much what he said as the way he said it! He doesn’t want to make Rafe mad.” The words were muffled, but audible. Jodie struggled upright enough to support herself on her elbows. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “He’s afraid he won’t have a job on the ranch anymore, and if he doesn’t have a job here, we won’t be able to see each other.”

  “Is that true?” Shannon asked.

  “It would sure make things harder! The ranches around here are so spread out. And if he wanted to, Rafe could make it impossible for Rio to get a job at any of them. Rio’s talked about going into the rodeo, but I know he doesn’t want to, not really. It’s the money he wants. So we can get married.”

  “You’ve discussed marriage?” Shannon asked, alarmed but trying not to show it.

  Jodie nodded, her hazel eyes brimming with more tears. “That’s why I want to make money, too. But how can I, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere? I wish we lived in a town. Then I could get a job at a store or something.” She sat forward, taking Shannon’s hand and squeezing it. “I haven’t told this to anyone but you. You’re the only person who knows. Promise me you won’t tell Aunt Mae, or Rafe, or even Daddy. Telling Daddy would be the same as telling everyone!”

  “I won’t tell a soul,” Shannon promised, hoping she wouldn’t have cause to regret it. “But marriage, Jodie! Don’t you think you’re too young?”

  Jodie yanked her hand away and jutted her chin. “I’m seventeen, almost eighteen. That’s an adult in the eyes of the law.”