“Mr. Lanigan, I’m pleased for you.” She bounced on her feet and let out a happy sigh that made her seem like a little girl. I often forgot she was barely twenty, younger than my niece Rori. “Maybe there will be a wedding and babies.”
The wistful tone of her voice made me wonder if she was as lonely as I had been. “Do you ever regret coming here? There’s nothing for you here, other than taking care of a boring, middle-aged man. There’s no night life, or young people. Nothing really, other than a ski area.” Which was thirty minutes away.
Effie poured batter into a cake pan. “I won’t be getting on two wooden sticks to slide down a mountain and break my head. No sir. And you know I’m through with love. I can’t go home with my tail tucked between my legs and face my father. He was sure I’d gone daft when I followed an American man half way round the world. Turns out he was right, now wasn’t he? I couldn’t stay in San Francisco unless I wanted to live on the streets. Coming here was a blessing from God.”
I’d known from the first interview that San Francisco was no place for a girl with no money or family. The city would eat her alive.
“I worry you’re lonely for people your own age,” I said.
Most nights, after she served my dinner and cleaned up, she went off to her room to watch television or read. Sometimes, I heard her crying.
“I’ve my nights out with Moonstone and Sam,” she said.
“Moonstone told me a young man asked you to dance last week, but you said no.”
“That wanker?” She shook her head with such force that her hair swung back and forth. “He’s the son of a rancher. Do I look like a nutter? Getting involved with a bloke like my father? I’ve had enough of that, thank you very much. You know what farm life is, Mr. Lanigan?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Mud, dung, and afterbirth.”
I winced and laughed. “When you put it that way.”
“My mother had nine babies. Nine. Being oldest, I’ve changed enough nappies for five women. If I never hear another wobbly, I’ll die happy.”
“Wobbly?” Often, I had to have Effie translate her slang.
“A toddler’s fit. Like your mother had yesterday.”
“Ah, yes. A wobbly. Do you miss your family, though?” I asked. “Aside from the mud, dung, and afterbirth?”
“I miss them. However, I’ve become myself here. I can think here without the voices of the little ones drowning every coherent thought from my daft head. Would I like to meet a man and fall in love? Yes, but I don’t want to leave here and lose myself again. Do you see the problem?”
“I do. I have the same one. I could live anywhere in the world, but I want to be here. What woman would want to live here? I mean besides you.”
“You mean Charlotte?”
“She was afraid of the elk. I might have to make a grand gesture.”
“A grand gesture?”
“In books, when people fall in love, one has to offer something really big in order to have that person. Leaving here to live in the city would be about as grand as it gets for me.”
“She might learn to love the elk,” Effie said.
“I have to meet her where she is. Trying to change someone never works out.”
“Sometimes we overcomplicate things that are actually quite simple.” Effie smoothed her hand over the front of her apron. “You know what my mother used to ask me when I’d come home all moony faced? ‘Is the sound of two hands clapping still a noise if no one is there to hear it?’ ”
Effie often said things that made no sense. This was a good example.
“What I mean, Mr. Lanigan, is if she’s your soulmate, you won’t care where you live.”
Chapter Seven
Charlotte
* * *
I woke to the sound of birds chirping outside the window. When I opened my eyes, I expected to be at home in my apartment. Instead I was in the pink and black bedroom. I burrowed deeper under the comforter and stretched my bare legs against the softness of the five-million-thread-count sheets that cradled me in softness. I sniffed the air and smelled coffee and maybe a cinnamon cake. Was I in heaven?
Images from yesterday flooded my consciousness. Blue Mountain at twilight. Mrs. Lanigan’s trembling hands. The letters. Effie’s tears. Elk. Then, Ardan’s face just before he kissed me. Would today bring another kiss? He said he had to earn them. How exactly would he do so? Whatever it was, I hoped it would be accomplished today. I wanted another kiss.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My laptop was closed on the bedside table. After Ardan had left me last night, I’d written for a solid hour until my eyes stung with fatigue. The words came easily in the quiet house. Before I fell into a sound sleep, I’d decided I would swim first thing in the morning before Mrs. Lanigan woke. After I cleaned up, I’d bring Mrs. Lanigan her breakfast.
I padded over to my bathroom in bare feet and brushed my teeth. The tile on the floor was warm. A heated floor? I was in heaven.
After tying my hair into a ponytail, I pulled on my bathing suit and robe, then grabbed my goggles and swim cap. I followed the scent of coffee to the kitchen. When I arrived, Effie was taking a cake out of the oven. The scent of cinnamon and butter made my stomach growl. “Do you ever sleep?” I asked as I helped myself to coffee from the pot on the counter.
“I could ask the same of you,” she said. “I heard you typing away as I passed your room.”
I poured cream into my coffee and smiled. “The muse was good to me last night.”
“Pardon me?”
“I mean, I was on a roll, in the flow—whatever you want to call it. The Idaho air must be good for my brain.”
“Earnest Hemingway must have thought so.” I turned to see Ardan slouched in the doorway dressed in swimming trunks and nothing else. I swallowed and avoided eye contact. My cheeks burned hot. There was no need for a second look. The image of his practically naked body was now seared into my memory. He had the torso of a swimmer, with wide shoulders and a tapered waist. I’d love to explore the sprinkling of hair on his chest with my fingers, then dip under the elastic of his trunks to see what prizes waited for me there.
I leaned against the counter for support. I hadn’t known it was possible for one’s legs to go completely numb in a matter of seconds.
“Hemingway?” I asked, sounding as breathless as I felt.
“He lived in this area for part of his life,” Ardan said.
“Yes, of course.” I’d temporarily forgotten due to the naked man in front of me. “He liked cats.”
A puzzled look crossed his face, like I was either amusing or strange. Maybe both.
“Or was that just his Florida period?” I asked.
“No, I think he liked cats here too,” he said.
“Great. I’m off for my swim,” I said, anxious to leave before I made a complete fool of myself.
“Without breakfast?” Effie sprinkled powdered sugar over the cake.
“She’d sink with a piece of your coffee cake in her stomach. But I’ll take one.”
“Maybe later, Effie,” I said. “Now I need to get to it before Mrs. Lanigan needs me.”
“I took the cover off the pool,” Ardan said. “It’s time to enjoy some warmer weather.”
I said my farewells and escaped to the patio. My bare feet grew cold as I walked across the stone patio. Idaho spring mornings were brisk, despite the sun that rose from the east. When I reached the pool, I dipped a toe in. Nice and warm. Maybe too warm. Like me. Ardan’s hotness must warm up the water.
After I’d secured my swim cap and slipped out of my robe, I swam a half mile, my mind numbed into silence by the rote exercise. When I was done, I hopped out of the water. The sun had risen above Blue Mountain and shed light over the yard and patio. Steam rose from the pool. I shivered, suddenly cold in the crisp morning air.
“Hey, Charlotte. Come join me?” Ardan grinned at me from the hot tub.
Into the hot tub—with him? That would be way too close to his mostly naked body. But, I mean, he
offered. I couldn’t be rude and say no.
I ambled across the patio. My bare thighs rubbed against each other. My thighs would jiggle all over the place when I stepped into the tub. “I thought you’d be showered and dressed by now.” I paused at the bottom of the tub’s steps and looked up at him.
“I love to watch the sun come up over the mountain from here.”
I shrugged out of my robe. How could I walk up the stairs with the least jiggle? I sucked in my stomach and wished I could do the same with my boobs. Why had I eaten that bread last night? Or the bread of the last twenty years?
There was no choice. I had to walk up the steps and get in the water. Don’t be ridiculous. You want to spend time with him. Now’s your chance.
I took one step and then another and I was in. Nothing like parading around in a bathing suit to trigger every insecurity.
Ardan hadn’t turned on the jets. Without having to ask, I knew he liked to enjoy the sounds of the morning. A bird chirped from one of the pines just outside the confines of the yard. Several branches of a tall pine shook, but I couldn’t spot a bird.
“The bird’s song is the sound of spring,” I said, forgetting my self-consciousness. “When I was a kid, the first morning I woke to the sound of birds chirping, I knew it was spring.”
“For me, freshly cut grass is the smell of spring,” he said.
“What about taste?” I asked.
“Strawberries. Your turn.”
“Touch? That’s a hard one.” I thought for a moment. “Morning sun on my face.”
“Good one. What do we have left?” he asked.
“Sight?”
“Right. Let’s see.” Using his index finger and thumb, he flicked water at me. “I’ve got it. Wild flowers in the meadow.”
“After my initial fear of being killed by a herd of elk, I did notice them,” I said.
“Elk would not kill you. Some believe they’re a spiritual animal.”
“I’ll take that under advisement, Mr. Lanigan,” I said. “Do you think there’s a sixth sense?”
“I do. I know someone who sees things before they happen.”
“Really? Like a psychic?”
He nodded. “Her abilities are just one example of how there’s so much more than what we experience through our five senses.”
We quieted and listened to the love languages of birds.
“You swim well,” he said.
“You watched?” Which meant he’d seen me get out of the pool too. Every part of me exposed in the bright morning sun. Great.
“I could spend every last moment of my life watching you do just about anything.” The tone of his voice was tender, teasing. Utterly sexy.
I was stunned into silence. A drop of water raced down the muscle that ran down the side of his neck.
“Did I embarrass you? I can’t seem to keep my mouth from misbehaving when I’m around you.”
“You didn’t embarrass me. I’m flattered. I’m not really the type of woman a man would watch walk out of the ocean.” I surprised myself with my honesty.
His brow furrowed. “Like a Bond girl, you mean?”
I smiled. He gets me. “Yes, like a Bond girl.”
“You’re wrong. Come here.” He put out his hands. When I gave him mine, he pulled me toward him. “I can’t keep my eyes off you. Here, there, anywhere you go, I’ll follow.” Our knees came together like magnets. A current of electricity so intense passed between us I feared the water might electrocute us. “And last time I checked I’m all male.”
“Yes, you are.” I breathed in just as he yanked me onto his lap and captured my mouth with his. I wrapped my legs around his waist. From what I could feel, his maleness was on full alert. Our mouths crashed against each other, hard and intense.
His hands explored my legs. Those thighs I’d hated just minutes before turned into silk under his touch.
“You’re beautiful. Everything about you is perfect.” He trailed kisses from my ear to my collarbone.
“To you, maybe.”
“Not to be arrogant, but I’d like to be the only opinion that matters.”
If I could have wriggled out of my swimsuit, I would have in a second. Instead, I placed my hands in his damp hair. “This is not like me.”
“Me either. I’ve never been this way with anyone, ever.”
“Like what?” I traced his bottom lip with my thumb.
“Bold. Flirtatious. Alpha.”
“What’s happening to us?” I asked.
“Everything good.” He put a finger in one of my ringlets. “These curls. They never give in, do they?”
“They’re resilient, like me. Always spring right back up.”
“An excellent quality in a curl and a girl.” He removed his finger from my hair and grinned. “I promised no more kissing until I earned it. I’ve already broken my promise.”
“What do you have to do to earn more kisses?” I asked.
“Take you to dinner tomorrow night?”
“If that’s a question, then the answer is yes.”
He groaned. “Is it tomorrow yet?”
“It’s not even breakfast.” Like pulling apart the aforementioned magnets, I unwrapped my legs and stood. “I have to go check on your mother.”
With a hand on each side of my hips, he gazed up at me. “For our first date, it should be low key, like the bar and grill in town. If that goes well, we’ll fly into the city for dinner.”
“How rich are you?”
He smiled. “You’ll still like me even if I’m part of the one percent?”
“I’d like you if you were the ninety-ninth percent. But it’s nice you’re not.”
“So shallow, Charlotte Wilde.”
I tossed my curls. “I can’t be perfectly virtuous all the time.”
Mrs. Lanigan was awake and sitting up in bed when I arrived with her breakfast tray. Effie had put together a slice of coffee cake, a boiled egg, and a half-dozen strawberries. We went over where everything was on the plate, then I fixed her a cup of coffee with cream and a little sugar, per her request. She successfully brought the cup to her mouth and sipped without spilling.
“How about a few bites of coffee cake?” I asked. “Effie made it this morning.”
“Terribly fattening. I hope you didn’t have any.”
“I didn’t.” I went to the windows and lifted the shades. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“You’re the one who said you were fat. I’m simply looking out for you.” She took another sip from her coffee cup.
“Eat your breakfast, you mean old thing,” I said.
“This is what happens when you try and help a person. They don’t listen.”
I laughed as I put away newly washed laundry Effie had left in a basket outside the door.
“What are you doing?” She brought a strawberry up to her mouth and took a bite.
“I’m putting away your clean laundry.”
“You don’t know where things go.”
“It’s not that hard to figure out.” Effie had obviously organized the drawers by types of clothing. “Would you like me to tell you where everything is?”
“Not now. I’m eating.”
“You need to learn how to get around your room by yourself. Ardan told me you sent the consultant away.”
“That person was an imbecile.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She spoke to me like I was a child,” Mrs. Lanigan said.
“Were you misbehaving?”
“I was most certainly not. It’s just her methods were ridiculous. She wanted me to use a cane.”
“Wouldn’t a cane be helpful?” I asked. “The sight impaired have used them for a long time.”
“If I use a cane, everyone will know I can’t see.”
“Who are you trying to hide it from?”
“Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”
Ardan showed up in the doorway. He’d showered and dressed since I’d
left him in the hot tub. Now, he wore loose-fitting jeans and a striped t-shirt.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“What do you want?” Mrs. Lanigan asked.
“Morning, Mother.” He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.
“Are you checking up to see that I’m eating?”
“Yes. Are you?” he asked. “I don’t see much eating.”
She sniffed. “It’s coffee cake. How am I supposed to stay slim if Effie keeps making this nonsense?”
“Mother, you don’t need to worry about calories right now. You’re too thin.”
“One can never be too rich or too thin,” she said.
“Weren’t you just telling me young ladies are too thin these days?” I asked.
“I was saying that to make you feel better,” Mrs. Lanigan said with a wicked smile.
“You really are a mean thing,” I said.
“Mother, I have something I wanted to run by you.”
“Don’t tell me. You’re in cahoots with Pollyanna here and want me to use a cane.”
“I am indeed in cahoots with Charlotte, aka Pollyanna, about the cane and many other things.” He winked at me.
I blushed and stifled a nervous laugh.
“She and I both agree that having someone come out and help you get accustomed to things here at my house would be a good thing, especially since you’re going to be here a while.”
“The more independent you are, the sooner you can get rid of me,” I said.
“Yet another reason to live,” she said. “Fine. I’m a prisoner here, so I might as well learn how to stumble around using a cane.”
“As luck would have it, Miranda from the association for the blind had a cancellation and said she could come out later,” Ardan said. “This is a different person than before. She refused to come out again.”
“What did I tell you, Charlotte? The woman was a twit.”
“She’s probably in some facility for post-traumatic stress disorder,” Ardan said.
Mrs. Lanigan rolled her eyes. “Everyone’s so sensitive these days.”
Ardan and I exchanged a triumphant smile. Moving Mrs. Lanigan toward acceptance and independence was an inch by inch kind of job. We’d just moved her another inch in the right direction.
Blue Ink Page 9
