by Tina Leonard
She didn’t want to think that his concern meant anything more than his sharper moments did.
“You’re my guest. I do have to worry about you.”
She shook her head at him. “Not much longer. I’ve called a taxi.”
“A taxi!”
“Sh!” She indicated that she didn’t want Delilah and Jerry involved in their conversation. Laredo and Tex had left the moment Jerry went over to talk with Delilah by the stove and deftly chop peppers for her.
“Why did you call a taxi?” he demanded in a hushed but urgent tone.
“Because I want to go home, of course.”
“I’m not letting you go home in a taxi. I can drive you back myself.”
“No need, thanks. They’ll have the outgoing roads sanded by now, I’m sure.” She shook her head at him, not wanting to feel her heart tremble at his concern for her. “Frisco, you held my baby all night, and I got the best night of sleep I’ve had in well over three months. I feel rested enough to go home and face my life.”
“You mean the chicken-hearted weasel.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” He looked away, ran a hand through his hair, turned back to gaze at Emmie, then looked Annabelle in the eyes. “What about the vacation with the other women? The hunt for jobs?”
She shrugged. “I’m being selfish. I’m being inconsiderate of Emmie. I thought that going with Delilah and all my friends would be a nice change, but I realized several things during the night.” Shyness crept over her, but Frisco was listening intently, so she continued. “I can’t run away from my problems. It’s not fair to Emmie, when she could be home in her comfy crib.”
“She slept on my comfy chest just fine, thank you. Didn’t you say that was the first time you’ve been able to sleep all night? And that she usually cried no matter what you did for her?”
“Yes, but she can’t sleep on your comfy chest every night, Frisco.” Annabelle lowered her gaze, thinking that comfy chests were hard to come by and Frisco’s was a great place for any woman to lie. Steadfastly, she went on with her points. “I can’t run away from Tom.”
“Does he care where you are?”
“Thank you for pointing that out, but no, he doesn’t. My point was that I am running away from him, and I can’t, because he is Emmie’s father, and so she is always going to remind me of him. Leaving town isn’t going to solve that.”
He took a deep breath. “Are you still in love with him?”
She shook her head. “I got over that a long time ago. But Frisco, it doesn’t change the facts of my life.”
He drummed his fingers on the table, which fascinated Emmie because she stopped sucking long enough to glance his way before resuming.
“Let me take you back,” he said gruffly. “A taxi is going to be expensive as hell.”
She smiled. “It’s all right. Thanks.” Frisco was so handsome, and he seemed determined to look out for her. She’d be blind not to recognize why the Lonely Hearts women had returned for her last night: They knew that she, of all of them, had the most vulnerable heart. They’d been determined that she would not be left in a place where so many temptations roamed. So they’d come back for her.
She really didn’t want everyone to have to keep looking out for her. A broken heart didn’t make her unaware; in fact, it made her stronger in some ways. “Thanks all the same, Frisco. But I’ve got to do this on my own.”
The front door burst open, and though she’d expected to see more brothers pile in for breakfast, Mimi and what looked to be the county sheriff strolled in.
“Hey, Mimi,” Frisco said. “Sheriff Cannady.”
“Hi.” Mimi barely glanced at Frisco, Annabelle noticed. She indicated the sheriff standing next to her. “Dad says they just closed the roads out of Union Junction on all sides for today. The entire day, at least.”
Annabelle sat up straight, her heart pounding.
“What’s up, Sheriff?” Frisco went to shake his hand.
The sheriff nodded at Delilah and Jerry. “This constant deluge washed out the old pipes coming down from the dam. They burst in the night, flooding highways and roads. In fact, they flooded Union Junction square. There’s not a store in the town that’s dry.”
Delilah gasped. “Is anyone hurt?”
“No, but there’s a lot of damage. I don’t think the feed store or the general store’s gonna see their floors for a while. I’m afraid of more ruptures if we have another hard freeze tonight.”
Frisco was already shrugging into a jacket. “I’ll go into town and see what I can do.”
The sheriff nodded. “Be honest with you, Frisco, Mimi told me you had guests at the ranch. I was hoping maybe you could haul the ladies—forgive me, ma’am, for asking this while you’re on your vacation, but since you can’t leave town, I’m going to beg for your help on this matter—into town so they can help with the clean-up. It’s going to take probably two days to sweep out all that damn water.”
“I’ve got plenty of hands to bring with me,” Delilah said. “Let me feed this crew right quick, and we’ll hop in the trucks.”
“No need,” Jerry said. “I can haul all the women into town in my rig. That way we can load into the trailer anything you need hauled out, like trash and ruined flooring. And the men can get themselves and their trucks wherever they’re most needed.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” He shook Jerry’s hand gratefully. “Then I’ll take the Jefferson brothers out to the dam with me and see if we can lay enough bags and such to keep the water back if it comes up tonight.”
“And I can haul bags for them to lay down.” Jerry tossed the peppers into the sauté skillet and grabbed plates. “Frisco, call your brothers and let’s get this crew fed. Annabelle, call the ladies and make sure they’re dressed for extremely chilly weather.”
“You can’t go, Annabelle,” Delilah said, turning from the stove even as she swiftly stirred eggs into the peppers.
“I know. I’ll stay here and clean up the kitchen.”
“That’ll take a couple of hours with just you doing it. I don’t want you getting tired out.”
“I’ll be fine,” she told Delilah. “And then I’ll make dinner.”
Everyone turned to look at her. “I can read a recipe,” Annabelle insisted. “Don’t look so horrified. Truly. I’m happy to do it.”
“I’ll pull out something easy,” Delilah murmured. “It’s a good plan, Annabelle. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
Emmie had finished her bottle, so Annabelle put her up on her shoulder to burp as she walked out toward the den. Frisco was piling logs beside the fireplace. “Don’t let this fire go out,” he told her. “You and Emmie stay warm.” He scribbled a number down on a piece of paper. “This is my cell number. If you need anything, call. I can be here in twenty minutes.”
She took the paper, her fingers touching his so that she practically snapped her hand back as if static had sparked between them. “Frisco, you don’t have to take care of me.”
He looked at her as he shoved wool-lined gloves into his jacket. “I don’t have to help take care of the town, either, but I will.”
So she was a responsibility, a guest in his home he had to care for as host. “I see. Well, consider me fully cared for.”
His lips twisted at her in a wry smile. “You’re the most difficult woman to understand I have ever met. Besides Mimi.”
She raised her brows. “And I never met a man before who made a study out of being hard-headed.”
He filled a thermos with hot coffee from the entry table. “Eleven of my brothers fit that description. I’m the gentle one. If I don’t get a check-in call from you in four hours, I’m coming back.”
“I’ll call you!” she agreed hastily. “Goodness, Frisco. You don’t have to worry about me so much!”
“I’m worried about you burning dinner. You may need instructions for turning on the stove.” With a mischievous wink, he went out the front door.
&nbs
p; “Devil!” she said under her breath to Emmie.
“But you’ve gotta admit,” Delilah said as she refilled the coffee pot, “he’s a handsome one.”
“I don’t have to admit that at all.” And she wouldn’t, either. The disaster that had hit Union Junction didn’t deter her from her course of action. She might not be able to leave, but she sure wouldn’t let her heart get away from her again, either.
She crumpled up the paper with Frisco’s number, and then remembered his words. She put it carefully into her pocket.
Four hours. She glanced at the clock, marking the time so that she’d call at the right hour. No way was she giving Frisco any reason to come back to check on her.
Emmie protested a little when Annabelle laid her on the bed, but it was such a sweet sound that she smiled down at her baby.
Tom had never called to check on his newborn daughter, and he’d never called to see if Annabelle was feeling all right during her pregnancy. As soon as she’d told him about the baby, it seemed his heels had caught on fire with his rapid departure.
“He doesn’t know how adorable you are,” she told the baby as she removed the wet diaper. “He doesn’t know how precious.”
But Frisco seemed to know it. And he had no reason to care.
Yet he seemed to.
“Can I get you anything, Annabelle?”
She turned to see Mimi looking around the door. “No, thanks, Mimi. You go ahead and help with the clean-up. I’ll hold the fort here.”
Mimi blinked at her, then glanced at the baby in Frisco’s bed. “If you want to stay at my house tonight, you know you’re welcome.”
“Oh. Thank you. I may do that.” She’d planned on leaving; maybe going to Mimi’s house would allow Frisco to stop feeling as if she was his guest, and therefore, his ward.
“I’ll leave the back door open in case you find there’s something you need for cooking dinner that Mason doesn’t have here.”
“Is that safe?”
Mimi smiled. “No one messes with the Jefferson brothers. Too many hair-trigger tempers.”
“Oh, dear.” Annabelle wasn’t certain if she was comforted or worried by that piece of information.
“Besides, the ice is going to make it impossible for normal vehicles to travel. It’s going to be trucks and sanding equipment on the road today. But if you need anything, you just go out the back door, walk across the stone steps—be careful of the ice—and the steps lead right to my back door.”
“Thank you.”
She wondered why sadness seemed to flash over Mimi’s face, but the blonde recovered, smiling brightly. “Well, I’m off to mop up.”
“It’s going to be a cold job. I don’t envy you.”
“And I don’t envy you the stacks of dishes in the kitchen. I estimate thirty-four people grabbed something to eat here, including my father, who’s never passed up good huevos rancheros in his life.” She raised her brows with a teasing smile. “Hope you like washing dishes.”
“It’s fine. Emmie’s going to take a nap, and then I’ll get started. Aren’t you going to nap, sweetie?” She sat on the bed, rocking the baby as Emmie’s eyes began to close.
“What is it like?” Mimi asked softly, her body arrested in the doorway.
“Heavenly.” Annabelle smiled at her. “The best thing that ever happened to me. Emmie’s all I’ve got, actually, but she’s everything I could ever have dreamed of.”
Mimi jerked her head in a nod of recognition. “I would have liked a baby.”
She left before Annabelle could reply, but it occurred to her that Mimi was expressing a wish that she didn’t seem to think would be fulfilled.
Chapter Seven
“I never did figure out how Annabelle ended up in your bed,” Laredo said as he heaved a bag of sand down from the back of Jerry’s rig.
Frisco tossed the sandbag onto the dam they were trying to build before looking at his brother. “I think she simply picked the room closest to the hall.”
“It wasn’t that she had designs on you?” Laredo asked with a grin.
Frisco shrugged, knowing nothing could be further from reality. If anything, Annabelle seemed to avoid him. There was certainly a firm wall there, firmer than this sandbag wall they were laying. “If she has designs on me, it’s a design I don’t recognize.”
“I wish she’d chosen my bedroom to move into.”
Frisco gave him a steady eyeing and took an extra minute before accepting the heavy sandbag his brother was trying to hand him. “Why?”
“She’s cute. And I like her.”
“Don’t waste any time thinking about it.”
Laredo grinned. “Why? You staking a claim?”
Frisco refused to let Laredo’s dig get to him. “She’s still talking about Emmie’s dad. I don’t think either of us has a chance.”
“Don’t tell me she’s still in love with him. Let me guess, he got what he wanted, left her high and dry, but she thinks he’s coming back any day now. Once he figures out his little daughter needs him.”
“I don’t think she’s that delusional. Or that she wants him back. I think she’s trying to figure out being a new mother and a single parent, though. She’s not really thinking about another man. Seems the one she had was enough for a while.”
“It’s such a shame when bad men mess up women for the rest of us.”
Frisco gave him a narrow stare. “I don’t remember you being a helluva catch yourself, bro. Weren’t you the one blabbering about moving east? Hearing what your name sounded like from the mouths of girls in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York? All those different accents you wanted to study in the flesh?”
Laredo coughed. “I might have been bragging a bit.”
“Just a bit. Considering I never thought the girls in all those states would be dumb enough to let you experiment on them. Only way I figured you’d hear their accents was when they said, ‘You gotta be kiddin’, cowboy.”’
“Anyway, so what about Annabelle? Is it a hands-off kind of thing?”
Frisco quit heaving sandbags altogether to stare up at his brother. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
Laredo shrugged. “She’s sweet.”
Frisco stared at him for a long moment. Then he went back to work. “Knock yourself out.”
“I don’t want there to be any hard feelings or anything.”
He shook his head. “There wouldn’t be. I’m not in the market for a woman. A wife doesn’t interest me, especially not with the added responsibility of a baby. I’ve got enough on my hands with the ranch. If I’m lucky, Mason won’t saddle me with buying the new cattle in the spring.”
“What’s up with you and Mason, anyway? The two of you have been at each other all winter.”
Frisco declined to reply.
“Is the ranch doing all right?”
“It’s doing better than we expected with the last two summers being so hot and beef prices being low. We were lucky corn and wheat prices stayed high enough for us to make a profit.”
“So what’s the deal with you two? You’re always quiet, and he’s always annoyed with you.”
“He’s got a lot of responsibility on him,” Frisco said mildly. “I understand that. There are twelve of us, and though everyone’s old enough to take care of themselves, he considers himself the father figure and trustee.”
Mason had been the father after Maverick left. Taking his place had made Mason more authoritarian. In a way, Frisco was the first-born child, then, ready-made to want everything to go just right. He wanted to make changes, make the ranch better if possible. Mason wanted everything to stay the same, the way they’d always known it, under control.
Frisco wanted to do some things his way. Make his own mark. It made for instant conflict.
“Mason might like it if we all started settling down,” Laredo pointed out.
“Be my guest. I’ll throw rice at your wedding.”
Laredo held back the next sandbag so t
hat Frisco had to look up at him. “You really aren’t interested in her, are you?”
Frisco shook his head.
Laredo sighed, handing him the bag. “Guess trying to make you jealous won’t work.”
“No.”
“I kind of thought Annabelle had a little shine in her eye for you.”
“That was a fleck of baby powder. The last thing Annabelle wants is a man. She’s trying to sort out her own life. And the last thing I want is a woman. I have enough fun watching Mimi and Mason try to survive each other. There’s enough vicarious pleasure in that battle to put me off marrying for good. I mean, it just shows that no matter how many years you know a woman, you really don’t know her.”
Laredo laughed. “Mimi’s just Mimi. Different.”
Frisco grunted, going silent as he worked. Once upon a time, he’d wondered if he would ever find the right woman. He turned thirty-six and realized he was too old to be a real father. Just thinking about being a father turned his stomach inside out anyway. His role model was basically Mason, and they argued too much for normal sanity. He loved his brother, but they had two different ways of seeing life. Mason was careful. Frisco wanted to branch out some, test his mettle.
Yet, like the pipes that had burst, everything could change in a matter of seconds. He supposed Mason was right to be careful. There were ten younger brothers to think of, and though none of them were kids, they didn’t dare squander the family fortunes on experimentation. In his mind, he knew Mason was probably right, but the caution grated on him. “So, what about going east? You still thinking about it, Laredo?”
“Sure. I want to do something big in my life. I can’t really do that with three older brothers. If Mason doesn’t clamp me into place, you or Fannin will.”
“Not clamp exactly.”
“Clamp exactly. The Jefferson ship is a pretty tight one.”
Tightly run where the business was concerned; wild as wolves where everything else mattered. It was as if they all came together to run the business and fell apart when personal matters rose to the surface. They womanized. They caroused. Sometimes they drank to excess. They’d been known to hold a grudge and sometimes to exact revenge.
