by Helen Conrad
Something nagged at her, something wouldn’t let her decide it had to be true. Maybe it was only her strong desire to deny it. Maybe it was something else. But whatever it was, she welcomed it. She didn’t want Joe to be Trevor’s father. She didn’t want that at all.
They all helped with clearing the table and doing the dishes, and finally the kids were in bed and Millie and Trevor were leaving through the kitchen door. Carly stood beside Joe as they called out their last good-nights. He closed the door and turned off the lights, and they started back through the darkened kitchen toward the lighted hall, but before they got there, Joe reached out and stopped her with a touch to her shoulder.
She swung around to face him, her silky hair flying out and settling about her shoulders.
“You were saying?” he said, head cocked to the side as he looked at her. Even in the dim light he could see that her cheeks were flushed. She’d been looking that way all evening. Why did she have to be so damned pretty anyway?
She was staring at him blankly. “What?”
“Before we were interrupted. About whether or not you were in the way.”
“Oh.”
She didn’t seem to have anything to add and he shifted his weight restlessly from one foot to the other. This was it, his opening. He should tell her now—tell her she had to go, tell her things weren’t working out and she should look for another place to stay.
But he wasn’t going to tell her that at all. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t know what he was going to do with her if she stayed, but he was sure he didn’t want her gone.
“Why don’t you stay,” he said simply, blocking out all the rest.
She stared at him without saying anything for a long moment, then frowned. “I need to know the truth, Joe,” she said, moving closer as though she wanted to see his reactions better, see beyond the shadows. “Are you and Millie... are you getting married soon?”
He frowned, searching her face. “Why do you keep asking me about Millie?” he countered.
“Because—‘’ she took a deep breath “—I met your mother today. She told me...”
He laughed shortly, turning away. “Don’t listen to my mother. She’s been trying to get me to marry Millie since the day they brought her home from the hospital as a baby. My mother has some crazy idea that we’ve been betrothed since childhood.”
He looked back at Carly. Her hair looked like spun gold in the hazy light. He knew in one stabbing moment that he was going to regret not sending her away—and yet he also knew he couldn’t do what ought to be done.
“Don’t pay any attention to that talk. Millie and I are not getting married.”
Carly wet her lips with her tongue. She believed him. Maybe she was a crazy fool, but she believed him. Still, there was more to it than that. She had to try and find out the truth. She couldn’t come right out and ask him if he was Trevor’s father. Subtle questions would have to do.
She took another deep breath and dived in. “Did you and Millie ever date much—say, in high school?” Subtle as a blowtorch. But she saw no other way to do the digging she had to do.
He didn’t seem to mind. He shrugged. “Sure. Now and then. But that was a long time ago.”
“About seventeen years ago?” She held her breath and braced for the explosion.
But there was none. Joe nodded, his eyes clear, not surprised or insulted by the question. “Yeah, about that. Why?”
Carly blinked and went back to breathing. This was not the reaction of a man tortured by guilt over having left a pregnant lover to fend for herself in the world. Either he wasn’t Trevor’s father—or he had no conscience whatsoever.
“I just want to get it straight. I don’t want to... to get between the two of you...” Oh Lord, there was no delicate way to say this, was there?
“Between me and Millie?” That got a reaction. First he looked incredulous, then wary. He’d moved closer, so close she knew that if she let herself, she would be able to feel the heat of his body. When he finally went on, his voice was low, husky, mocking.
“What are you talking about, Carly? How could you get between Millie and me? Just exactly what are you planning?”
She looked up at him and all she could see was his mouth, his full, smooth lips, the way his teeth flashed in the dark. Her heartbeat skipped and she felt her cheeks heating up again. What would it be like to kiss him? Excitement shivered through her and she was breathless as she forced her gaze away.
“I—I’m planning to take care of your children,” she said huskily, looking everywhere but at him, trying to pretend she hadn’t just been staring at his mouth. “That’s all.”
His grin twisted knowingly. “Meaning you have no plans to take care of me?” he asked softly.
He was teasing. She knew he was teasing. Still, his words, the sense of his body so close, the soothing sound of his voice, all made her terrifyingly lightheaded. She had to get out of here, quickly, before something happened.
She couldn’t answer him. Wordlessly, she backed away and turned, heading for her room. When she reached the stairs, she glanced back, sure that he’d be laughing at her. His eyes were following her progress, but there wasn’t a hint of humor in their cloudy depths. And that shook her even more.
She hurried to her room, not allowing herself to think until she’d stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Then she leaned back, eyes closed, and tried to put things into perspective.
Why did the man keep doing this to her? She’d never been like this with Mark. They’d dated and laughed and worked together and there had always been a warm sense of sharing between them—never this wild, tingling excitement she felt just looking into Joe’s eyes.
Physical attraction. That was it. He was certainly attractive and she was just responding in a natural way to what her hormones were telling her when he was near. She took a deep breath and threw herself on her bed. That was it. Pure chemical reaction. Had nothing to do with anything real or lasting. She would get over it soon, as she got more used to him.
But in the meantime, it was playing havoc with her ability to think about Mark and her future with the man who had asked her to marry him. She had only been here for a little over twenty-four hours. What was her state of mind going to be like after another few days?
CHAPTER EIGHT
A WEDDING, RANCHO STYLE
Saturday morning, Joe came back in from patrolling the orchards and had a surprise for them all.
“Want to go to a wedding?” he asked Carly.
“A wedding?” She turned from the waffles she was making for Jeremy and looked at him questioningly. “Who’s getting married?”
“My cousin Shawnee Carrington. She’s marrying a Santiago. It’s going to be major.” He glanced at the children who were eyeing him suspiciously, not sure a wedding was something fun to do. “I was just going to leave the kids with you and run over and pay respects and come right on back.” Looking up, he favored her with a crooked grin. “But then I thought—hey, I bet Carly would get a kick out of this thing.” He shrugged. “You wanna go?”
She thought fast. “The kids….”
“Can come too. I’m telling you, from what I’ve heard, it’s going to be more like a carnival than a wedding.”
Carly looked at the children. They looked at her. “Shall we go?” she asked them.
Jeremy stuck out his bottom lip and shook his head. But Beth’s eyes were very wide. “A wedding,” she said in a certain childish awe. “I’ve never been to a wedding.”
Carly turned back. “We’ll go,” she told Joe, feeling happy as a lark all of a sudden. He wanted her along. Well, maybe he wanted his kids along and she made it possible. But still….
They were on the road an hour later and Joe filled her in on some of the background of the wedding couple. “The Santiago’s horse ranch is called Rancho Verde. It used to belong to Shawnee’s family, once upon a time. But her people weren’t the best ranch managers around and they had some bad l
uck and had to sell. The Santiagos bought them out. And the two families have been at war ever since.” He glanced at her and then back at the two children sitting behind them in the extended cab of the truck. “The funny thing is, the Santiagos used to own the ranch before the Carringtons did, back almost a hundred years, and they lost it to them the same way.” He shrugged, murmuring, “Everything old is new again.”
Carly stole a look at him and then she couldn’t look away. “And now this marriage will bring peace and love to all?”
“I guess. At least as far as David and Shawnee go.” He shook his head, a smile showing off his dimple. “The minute I saw the two of them together I knew it was a done deal.”
“Really?” she grinned. “Who knew you were a romantic at heart?”
The look he gave her was pure skeptical amusement at the concept, but he didn’t protest.
The ranch was only a few minutes away and soon they were driving up the long driveway toward a beautiful Spanish-style home that looked like something out of a history book of early California mission culture. Carly could imagine what it looked like inside the private compound—high ceilings down long corridors, oil paintings on the wall, interior courtyards with fountains and lush tropical plants.
But the celebration was out on the green lawn that spilled from the house down into the pastureland. They parked and as they walked toward where the crowd had begun to gather, Carly understood why he’d called it a carnival. There were tents everywhere with colorful banners flying. Inside, brightly dressed girls handed out cotton candy and tacos, hot dogs and lemonade, burritos and churros, sticks of grilled satay and chunks of watermelon--snacks galore. Other tents were for game playing and contests, or displays of baked goods or canned fruit—just like a county fair.
“Oh my!” Carly said as she gazed about in wonder, noting the magicians performing for small crowds and the young man making balloon animals for the kids, along with the girls doing face painting for anyone who wanted it. “I’ve never seen a wedding like this before.”
“The ceremony is just for the immediate family in the chapel on the other side of the house,” Joe told her. “Once they exchange vows, they’ll come out and do the receiving line thing and I’ll introduce you to the happy couple.”
Over the next half hour he introduced her to a lot of people, mostly his Carrington cousins who seemed to be everywhere. It was fascinating. They were a beautiful family and she was amazed at how friendly they were as well.
But Beth and Jeremy were getting restless. She’d already learned the danger signs. And after Joe had to raise his voice to Jeremy twice before he minded, she knew it was time to take the children somewhere to play.
“Come on,” she said, leading them by the hand, “We’ll let your Dad talk to his friends. Let’s go see the horses.”
The horses were stunningly beautiful. There were so many of them and quite a few were interested enough in the goings on to stand near the fence and let the children rub their noses. A handsome young Carrington named Tag joined them, bringing along a five year old named Meggie, and now the children had someone to play with. Others came up, and pretty soon there was a whole herd of youngsters, most of them Carringtons, and all of them full of energy and mischief. Carly had to laugh. She’d never been surrounded by so much happy noise before.
But she wasn’t sure just what Joe was planning.
“Can you keep an eye on my two for a minute?” she asked Tag.
“Sure,” he answered. “I’ll be wherever Meggie is.”
“I’ll be right back.”
It took more than a minute to find Joe. He was in deep, intense conversation with a handsome, dark-haired man dressed in a beautiful Spanish riding outfit that reminded her of portraits she’d seen of caballeros from the Nineteenth century. They were talking closely and didn’t notice her arrival at first.
“How many horses can you take?” the dark stranger was saying.
“How many have you got?” Joe responded. “We can take them all up there, it’s just going to be tricky. The feds have been sniffing around and….” And then he saw Carly. He straightened and blinked, and she got the distinct impression he was shutting a door to make sure he didn’t say anything else on that subject. “Hey, Carly,” he said. “Anything wrong?” His gaze darted toward where his children were playing with all the others.
“No, not a thing,” she said quickly. “I just wasn’t sure what you’re game plan was and I thought I’d come check with you.”
He nodded as though she’d done exactly right. “They just announced that the bride and groom are arriving any minute,” he said. “We ought to mosey on over to get in the receiving line.” He glanced at his companion. “Carly, this is Rudy Santiago, the groom’s cousin. As you can see, he’s quite a fancy dude with all his Spanish regalia here.” He grinned at the man and was rewarded by a hearty laugh coming back at him. “How much did that get-up set you back, Santiago? Or did you inherit it from your abuelo?”
“Hey, Carrington, you only wish you had a heritage like mine.”
“Yeah, right.”
Carly laughed and shook the man’s hand. It was obvious the two were good friends. “Nice to meet you,” she said.
He made a dramatic bow. “The pleasure is all mine, senorita. Beautiful ladies are what I live for.”
“Oh brother.” Joe made a face. “Hey, let’s grab the kids and go on over. They’re going to be cutting the cake and I know Beth is going to want a piece.” He put a hand in the small of her back as though to guide her, but she knew immediately that he was really showing Rudy that she wasn’t open for male attention. “I’ll give you a call,” he told the man. “We’ll talk.”
Rudy nodded, tipped his wide sombrero to Carly and gave her a wink. “I hope we meet again, lovely lady,” he said, and she could tell by the twinkle in his eye that he was hoping to annoy Joe.
Fat chance, she thought to herself as they gathered up Beth and Jeremy. Though it was interesting that he’d wanted to warn Rudy off.
The bride and groom were radiant and both as gorgeous as any pair she’d ever seen. Shawnee gave her a warm hug once they were introduced.
“You’re the one! I’ve heard about you. You’re helping Joe with his children. We’re all so glad you showed up. You wouldn’t believe the dismal hired hands he had doing for his kids before you came into the picture.”
Into the picture? Was she really in the picture? And what was that picture all about, anyway?
“Everyone is grateful. Joe’s such a good guy. He deserves only good things.”
“What?” David turned from someone he’d just been hugging and grabbed his new wife by the waist. “Who’s a good guy?”
“My cousin, Joe.”
He shook his head firmly. “Nope. Not today, my gorgeous bride. Today, the only good guy in your life is me.”
Shawnee laughed and shook her head in mock exasperation. “I signed up for years and years of this?” she said, and Carly was laughing as she moved on down the line.
A part of her was aching with jealousy. How lovely to be married. How sweet to love your new spouse so much. Would she be that happy married to Mark? She tried hard, but somehow she couldn’t quite picture it.
She didn’t get a chance to ask Joe what he’d been talking about with Rudy until they were in the car and driving home and the two younger members had fallen instantly asleep in their car seats—a sign they’d had a really good time. The words she’d overheard were bothering her a bit. Something about that conversation—or what she’d heard of it, anyway—had hit a bad note with her. Surely Joe wasn’t involved in anything illegal. Was he?
She couldn’t come straight out with her curiosity, so she beat around the bush a bit, but he knew what she was after, and he told her to give it up.
“It’s just business,” he said gruffly. “Nothing you’d be interested in.”
“But…is it dangerous?” she asked. It was something she had to know for some strange reason.
“Dangerous?” He scoffed, but in a way that made her think that was exactly what it was. “No, not really.” He hesitated, then grimaced and told her a bit more. “We’ve got a federal agent at land management who’s a punk trying to throw his weight around, that’s all.” He glanced at her as though to see if that was going to satisfy her curiosity, then said, “Ever seen wild horses, Carly? Ever seen a herd of them charging majestically out of a canyon and heading for higher ground?”
She thought for a moment. “You mean really wild? Nobody owns them?”
He nodded. “That’s what I mean.”
“No.” She was a little confused, not sure what he was talking about. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll take you where you can see them someday,” he said softly. “Then you’ll understand.”
They were home, coming up the driveway, and Beth was awake. Too late to ask what he was talking about. Too late for anything else, and Joe disappeared for the rest of the evening, leaving Carly to puzzle over his words. If he wasn’t actually involved in something illegal, he was involved in something unwise. All the signs were there. She remembered some close calls with Mark, such as the time he was accused of taking a bribe. She’d stood by him. He’d been cleared—sort of. And her faith in him had been shaken at the time.
She didn’t like to think about those days and she didn’t like to think Joe was in any way doing something underhanded. But she couldn’t get away form her suspicions. She only hoped they were baseless.
It was a few days later. Carly was putting the children to bed.
“And the grouchy old bear sent Billy home with hugs and kisses for his entire family.’” Carly closed the book and smiled at Beth, snuggled down into her snowy covers.
“And they all lived happily ever after,” Beth chanted.
