Her sister sighed. “I’m glad you were able to meet Cody.”
At the mention of the other man’s name, Christy abruptly looked away, feeling uneasy. She hadn’t had the chance to tell Taylor and Russ about her engagement to James Wilkens. Unfortunately the diamond ring James had given her was still at the jeweler’s being sized. If she’d been wearing the ring, it would’ve been a logical introduction to her announcement. She’d meant to surprise her sister and brother-in-law with the big news as soon as she’d arrived, but it had been so late and everyone was exhausted. Then, before Christy knew it, it was morning and Taylor had gone into labor.
Now the timing was all wrong. Tomorrow, she promised herself, she’d tell Taylor. Everything would be less hectic then. But even as she formed that decision, Christy hesitated, not fully understanding why.
Her head spun and her thoughts skidded to a halt. Who did she think she was fooling?
She did know why.
Cody Franklin had hugged her when Russ had come to tell them about Eric. Now, an hour later, the way she’d felt in his arms still caused her pulse to accelerate. He’d pulled her close, and the feeling of being held by this man was completely and utterly natural, as instinctive as breathing or sleeping. It was as if they’d known each other all their lives. As if their relationship was one of long standing.
Without his saying a thing, Christy knew he’d experienced the same lavish range of sensations. They’d stared openly at each other, neither speaking. If Russ hadn’t been there, Christy couldn’t help wondering what would’ve happened. What they would’ve said to each other. If anything.
But Russ had been there, and after an awkward moment, Cody had released her. He’d dropped his arms with a reluctance that sent blood pounding through her veins until she grew dizzy simply remembering.
James was her fiancé! Yet she had to struggle to bring his image to mind. Her parents had been thrilled with the news of their engagement, but Christy had known they would be. Her father had told her often enough that James, an attorney, would make her an excellent husband. They’d been dating on and off for nearly two years, almost from the first week Christy had been hired as a paralegal at James’s law firm. Their relationship, however, hadn’t turned serious until three months ago. Until then, their dates had been casual get-togethers with mutual friends. Then they’d started working together on an important case. It had been a real coup for James to be assigned to defend Gary Mulligan against the Internal Revenue Service, and if everything went well, it could mean a partnership for him.
“Christy?”
She turned to her sister. “Sorry. Were you saying something?”
“Just that I’m glad you met Cody today.”
“He…seems very nice,” Christy answered, and sighed with relief when the nurse walked into the room, distracting her sister’s attention from the subject of the sheriff. The woman brought in a huge bouquet of red roses in a tall crystal vase.
“Oh, my,” Taylor breathed, reaching for the card. She tore open the small envelope and read the message. Immediate tears filled her eyes. “They’re from Russ.”
“How sweet.”
Taylor smiled softly as a faraway look came into her eyes. Christy speculated that her sister was recalling the first time she’d met Russ and all that had happened since. Russ might not have been the man her family would’ve chosen for Taylor, but one fact had been clear from the instant they flew to Seattle to attend their parents’ anniversary party. Russ Palmer loved Taylor. Beyond question. Beyond doubt. Whatever reservations Christy and her brothers held regarding this marriage had been quickly dissolved.
Footsteps from behind Christy told her Russ and Cody had returned.
“Russ…” Taylor held out her arms to her husband. “The roses are so beautiful. Thank you.”
Christy’s brother-in-law walked across the room, and his eyes closed as he took his wife into his arms. He whispered something in her ear; Taylor smiled and nodded. The scene was an intimate one, and Christy felt like an intruder. She backed away, not looking at Cody until it was impossible to avoid him.
“Hello, again,” he said. His voice was low and his smile contained a warmth and depth that multiplied a hundredfold all the sensations she’d experienced earlier, the very feelings she was trying to put out of her mind. Once again Christy was struck by the possessiveness she felt looking at him, studying him. For the past hour she’d been trying to understand why she should feel anything toward him. Nothing had come to her. No insights. Nothing.
They were barely more than strangers, and yet she felt completely comfortable with him. At the same time, he rattled her composure unlike anyone she’d ever met. It seemed absurdly ironic to be so flustered by a man and still feel so sheltered.
Cody glanced toward Russ and Taylor. “Would you like to go down to the nursery to view our godson?”
She nodded, gladly accepting an excuse to leave husband and wife alone.
Together she and Cody walked down the familiar corridor until they stood in front of the large nursery window. But it wasn’t the newborns that captured their attention. They made comments about little Eric and the other babies, but what interested them most was each other. After a while they gave up the pretense of looking at the newborns.
“Russ phoned the ranch and is having a couple of his hands drive a car over for him,” Cody said after a while. “He’s planning to spend the day with Taylor.”
Once more Christy nodded. It seemed all she was capable of doing. Being this close to Cody felt like being trapped in a magnetic force field. It didn’t matter how much she resisted, she was drawn to him.
With a determined effort, she diverted her attention to Eric again. The infant was sleeping, swaddled in a pale blue receiving blanket. A long-sleeved T-shirt covered his tiny arms and fists. He was so small, so adorable.
Cody’s eyes followed hers, and when he spoke, his voice was filled with astonishment. “He’s really something, isn’t he?”
“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper. “And to think we could’ve ended up delivering him.”
“We?” Cody joked. “In all my years of law enforcement I’ve been spared that. Thank God.”
Standing behind her, Cody’s large hands held her shoulders, as if he’d been holding and touching her for a lifetime. It felt right and good to have this man so close. A small shudder skimmed down her spine at the innocent contact.
Cody must have noticed it, because he turned her around to face him, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re trembling.”
She couldn’t deny it. This man she hardly knew confused her, bewildered her. The worst part was that she couldn’t understand why. She’d met and dated any number of attractive, compelling men before. Yet none of them had ever overwhelmed her the way Cody did.
“Are you cold?”
“No,” she answered quickly, flustered by his questions.
“What’s wrong?”
How could she possibly explain something she couldn’t grasp herself? “Nothing.”
His eyes found hers, and she could’ve sworn they went several shades darker. “Does this happen often?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Does it to you?” Christy swallowed, astonished she’d had the courage to ask him such a personal question.
“No,” he answered after a moment. “Never.”
She pulled her gaze away, baffled by his openness. His honesty. It was exactly what she’d longed to hear. And what she’d feared.
“I…I need to get back to the ranch,” she said, seeking an excuse to do something, anything to end this heightened awareness between them. “Taylor asked me to make some phone calls for her.”
Cody lowered his eyes to her lips, his look, unhurried and sensual, as intimate as a kiss. Christy’s stomach became a churning mass of doubts, mingled with an abundance of misgivings. She wanted to blame this feeling on the chaotic events of the day.
Slowly, almost unaware of what she was doing, Christy raised her ow
n eyes to meet Cody’s. He didn’t look too comfortable. In fact, he seemed as perplexed and hesitant as she.
“I need to get back myself,” he murmured.
Not until that moment did Christy realize the only way she had of returning to Cougar Point was with Cody. A sinking feeling assailed her. She couldn’t possibly avoid an hour or more with him in the intimate confines of his vehicle.
Cody Franklin had no idea what was happening between him and his best friend’s sister-in-law. To be honest, he hadn’t paid Christy Manning much attention until they were in the hospital waiting room. She’d been terribly agitated, flipping through one magazine after another. Cody doubted she’d read a single word.
Then Russ had appeared and said that Taylor was ready for the delivery room, and Cody had watched as Christy started to completely unravel.
He’d suggested they take a short walk in an effort to help her relax. He didn’t know how much comfort he’d be to her, since he was a stranger, but the least he could do was try. He knew from his years as a lawman that some physical activity might help take her mind off her sister.
It was when they’d stopped to look at the babies in the nursery that Cody had felt the faint stirring of something more. Faint stirring, hell, it was like a fist to his gut!
From that moment on, some emotion had started to awaken deep within him. He experienced a lost sensation, as if he were charting unknown land, and each turn led him farther away from all that was familiar. He was suddenly at a loss for words; he’d planned to involve her in conversation, occupy her with inane chitchat about Seattle and her job to keep her from thinking about Taylor, but he hadn’t asked a single question.
Every time Cody started to speak, he got lost in her eyes. He’d never seen a woman with eyes quite this blue. They reminded him of the coldest days of winter, when everything around him seemed to anticipate the promise of spring. When she smiled, those same blue eyes brightened even more, and it was like watching sunshine emerge after rain.
She’d look at him, and Cody swore he could see all the way to her soul. She was guileless and genuine and so lovely, it was all he could do not to stare at her, something he’d already apologized for once that day.
Twice he’d placed his hands on her shoulders. It wasn’t his habit to comfort women with physical gestures, and he didn’t understand his own actions. When he’d first held her, she’d obviously been shaken by Russ’s news about Taylor, and he’d reached out in an effort to steady her.
The moment his hands had closed over her shoulders, his heart had begun racing like a runaway train. That hadn’t happened since he was thirteen and had kissed a girl for the very first time.
Twenty-two years had passed, and the impact now was nearly as strong. Every minute with her he learned something new about himself, and every emotion he discovered only bewildered him more.
“I’m sorry if it’s an inconvenience for you to take me out to the ranch,” Christy said, sliding into the front seat of his four-wheel drive.
“It isn’t a problem.” The only difficulty it created was of his own making. He was caught in some mysterious web of yearning. Perhaps, in some strange way, this all had to do with Russ and Taylor. He couldn’t help envying the happiness his friends had found. Taylor was the best thing that had ever happened to Russ Palmer, and now Russ was a father.
Cody paused, half expecting to feel a twinge of jealousy or resentment. When he was introduced to Taylor a year ago, he’d wanted to date her himself, but she’d already met Russ and it was clear that she was falling in love with him. Cody had stood on the sidelines and watched their romance unfold, amused at the way they’d both fought it so hard.
No, jealousy hadn’t prompted these feelings; he was convinced of that. His only reaction was happiness for his friends—a pure sense of shared joy.
The drive, which had seemed like four hundred miles earlier in the day with Taylor and Russ in the backseat, went quickly on the return trip. Christy said little, but neither seemed uneasy with the silence. Occasionally Cody would look over at her, and their eyes would meet. Each time, some magic would pass involuntarily between them, some entrancement. After a while it became a challenge to discover what fascinated him about Taylor’s sister, and he found his gaze repeatedly drawn to her as he attempted to analyze his attraction.
She was pretty, but no prettier than any number of women he’d dated. Not as beautiful as Becca. He paused, surprised that he didn’t immediately feel a jolt of pain as he thought about her. It had been three years since Becca had turned his life upside down. He tried not to think of her at all, tried to ignore her memory as though he’d never known her at all. For the most part he succeeded…For the most part.
“Would you like to stop and get something to eat?” Cody asked as they neared Cougar Point. He wasn’t hungry so much as reluctant to leave her.
He should’ve been exhausted. He’d had only a couple of hours sleep in the past forty-eight. Instead he felt alive. Reborn.
All he knew was that he’d met a woman, a warm, caring, generous woman, and he felt as if his life was starting over again.
“I’m starved,” Christy said enthusiastically. “I was so concerned about Taylor this morning that I forgot to eat breakfast.”
“I haven’t had anything, either.”
“I got you out of bed when I phoned, didn’t I?”
Cody nodded. Hell, he’d give his right hand to have her wake him every morning. “I worked the graveyard shift last night.”
“You must be exhausted.”
On the contrary, Cody had never felt more energetic. “Not at all,” he said, mustering a smile to reassure her. “There are a couple of decent restaurants in town, but if you’re interested in breakfast, the best place to eat is the bowling alley.”
“Great.”
Cody had expected her to laugh or to question his choice. She was, after all, a city girl, and he doubted that anyone in Seattle had ever taken her out to eat at a bowling alley. But she accepted his choice enthusiastically.
Since it was midafternoon by this time, the parking lot was nearly deserted. Christy didn’t wait for him to come around and open the door for her, a fact that didn’t surprise him. Taylor hadn’t waited for him to open her door the one time he’d gone out with her, either.
Cody chose a booth toward the back of the restaurant and slid into the red vinyl seat. Christy sat across from him and reached for the menu, which was tucked between the sugar bowl and the salt and pepper shakers.
“Howdy, Cody,” Mary Andrews said as she came over to the table, carrying two water glasses. She glanced curiously at Christy.
“This is Taylor’s sister, Christy Manning. Christy, Mary Andrews.”
“I don’t suppose Taylor had her baby, did she?” Mary asked.
Christy’s eyes softened as she nodded. “This morning. Eric Russell Palmer weighed in at eight pounds, three ounces.”
Mary grinned from ear to ear. “That’s terrific. You don’t mind if I let folks know, do you?”
Christy shook her head. “Please do.”
Still grinning, Mary pulled a small pad from her apron pocket. “What can I get for you two?”
“I’ll have the breakfast special,” Christy said, closing her menu. “With coffee.”
“So will I,” Cody said, sliding his own menu back into place.
Mary wrote down their order, then walked back to the kitchen.
For a long time Cody said nothing. Partly because he didn’t know what to say and partly because he didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with small talk. He was comfortable with Christy. He hadn’t felt that way with any woman, ever. He looked over at her and wondered if she was experiencing this same sense of serenity, and instinctively knew she was. “What are you thinking?” he asked as Mary filled two cups with coffee.
Christy added cream to hers, took a sip and smiled. “If we’re Eric’s godparents, does that mean the two of us are related?”
A grin lit
his face. “I suppose it does. I’m just not sure how.”
“Me, neither.”
One thing he did know: the idea of being linked to Christy pleased him immeasurably. “Tell me about yourself.” He wanted to know everything there was to know about her from the time she was in preschool to the present.
“I’m the youngest of five.”
“Spoiled?”
“Terribly.”
He deliberately drew his gaze away from her mouth, which had fascinated him for several minutes. Beyond question, he knew he was going to kiss her. He didn’t know when. Soon, if possible. Nor did he know where. Only that it was quickly becoming an obsession.
“What about you?” Christy asked, pulling a napkin from the holder and spreading it across her lap, taking time to smooth it out. She seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him. That didn’t surprise Cody. He’d been blatantly staring at her every chance he got. Her mouth enthralled him as nothing ever had. Soft. Pink. Moist. Just right for kissing.
“What about you?” she repeated, and the question seemed to echo.
“I was born in Miles City,” he said, focusing on his coffee. “In the same hospital as Eric, as a matter of fact.”
“Was your father a rancher?”
“No. He was a lawman, just as his father was before him. The Franklins have a long tradition of upholding law and order in Custer County.”
“Did you always want to work for the sheriff’s department?”
“Always. For as long as I can remember I dreamed of wearing a badge.”
“They must be proud of you,” she said in a way that made his heart quicken. What she was said was true. But his father and grandfather would never know he’d been elected sheriff; his two younger sisters were the only family he had left.
Cody didn’t want to talk about himself, not when there was so much to learn about her. “What did you want to be when you were a kid?”
“Not a paralegal,” she said, then looked away, as if the words had slipped out before she could stop them. “I didn’t even know what they were until high school. Sad to say, my dreams were far more traditional. I wanted to be a mommy.”
The Manning Sisters Page 21
