Eli took a step toward his brother. “And what makes you think I wouldn’t want a woman like that?”
Ben rose to meet the challenge. “Maybe because you spend all your time with women who are shallow, stupid, and just good for a tumble—women you don’t have any intention of staying with for long. And even if you changed overnight, Mari deserves better than someone who’s done it all with every skirt in town.”
Eli had heard enough. Turning, he started up the stairs, only to meet Joe coming down. “Eli, I forgot about the plans. We still need to go over them.”
Eli pushed past. “Knock yourself out. They’re on my desk. I’m heading for bed.”
Joe turned to follow him back up the stairs. “You’re coming with me to the meeting in the morning, right?”
“I’ll be ready, brother. Just like always.”
***
Dressed in melon-colored flannel Pajamas, Mari crawled into bed with her pillows stacked behind her back and settled her laptop on top of the blankets. She had the itch to write in her journal, and since Ben had helped with the unpacking, she felt no guilt in letting herself scratch it. She re-read some of the last few month’s entries and paused on a poem she’d written.
Drifting.
Wandering.
A wayfarer in the dark.
The path is hidden.
The way is lost.
Despite Eli’s skepticism, she truly hoped she had finally found her path with Zoo Keeper Technologies. True, her whole family thought she was crazy, and her father had even suggested she try her hand at writing, since she spent so much time journaling. Her mother had agreed and collected information on journalism.
But journalism wasn’t a field Mari needed to try out to know it wouldn’t be a good fit. She wasn’t a “just the facts, ma’am” kind of writer. And daddy hasn’t read anything I’ve written since I was about ten. He just doesn’t know. She thought about some of her early poetry and smiled. Well, I have improved. Just not enough to get published.
She had started writing seriously in her teens. The frustrations and anxieties of those turbulent years had provoked her to vent with her word processor, and she had found it both therapeutic and addictive. She had written nearly every day since.
Scrolling to a blank space, She let her fingers fly, writing about her adventures so far in kind of a heightened journal. She was never satisfied with just jotting down the happenings, she described everything in detail—the sights, sounds, smells, as well as her personal thoughts and reactions.
And the Rhodes men had given her plenty to describe. She felt her pulse racing as she sought to communicate their combined allure. She closed her eyes and let her mind meander over her new neighbors. Words swirled in her head as she thought of each one, but for some reason, she lingered on Joe’s eyes. Blue wasn’t at all adequate to describe them, and she struggled to find the precise language. Smoky, soft, comforting, kind... She shook her head, irritated at her inability to capture them.
Ben’s eyes were blue, too, but they told a different story. Clear, bright, sparkling, searching, enthusiastic, zealous... She smiled at his willingness to help her. Sweet.
She didn’t know Eli well enough to call him the black sheep of the family, but he certainly seemed different than the fair-haired Rhodes boys. His eyes were nothing short of mesmerizing. They reached out and grabbed you and made you believe they’d never looked at anyone else in exactly the same way. Dark, sexy, confident, penetrating... dangerous.
When she had tweaked the wording to her liking, she smiled and sighed, knowing that no one would ever see it. She never showed her writing to anyone; it was her secret pleasure. She had been collecting character descriptions for years and had written a number of pages on a book, but she was convinced she’d never be able to finish it with any finesse. She had read enough great literature to know she was not up to the task.
Mari closed her laptop and set it on the floor beside her bed. She laughed thinking how bards of old would have probably put her whole purse rescue into a multi-verse song. Sliding down and adjusting her pillows, she started to hum, pondering the raw masculine beauty next door, and before long, she dozed off with “The Ballad of Ben, Eli, and Joe” adding sparks to her dreams.
***
Mari was awakened the next morning by a thud on her front porch. Curious, she slid up and around Tawny, who was curled up on top of the blankets between her knees, and slipped on a pair of pig slippers that looked for all the world like they were devouring her feet. Pulling a fuschia sweater over her head that clashed horribly with her melon PJ’s, she shuffled her pig feet to the front door to look out.
Parting the faded beige curtains, she saw a rolled up paper in a plastic sleeve. I don’t have a subscription yet. Maybe the last renter did. She turned the lock on the doorknob. It would be nice to get a feel for the city. She stepped out into the frosty morning air that nearly took her breath away and immediately noticed Joe and Eli getting into Joe’s truck next door. She picked up the rolled up paper and waved.
Both men waved back, and Mari spun around to get inside before she froze her thinly clad legs off. She grabbed the knob and stepped forward in anticipation, but it wouldn’t turn. She tried again, harder. She dropped the paper and used both hands, but the knob wouldn’t budge. Panicked she turned back to her neighbors’ driveway, but Joe’s truck had already backed out and was starting to move away. Maybe Ben’s home. She stepped off her porch and ran across the lawn.
***
“Hold on, Joe.” Eli was looking in his side mirror. “Something’s up with Mari.”
Joe stepped on the brake and craned his neck around to look at her house. “Where? I don’t see her.”
“She’s on our porch, and she doesn’t really look dressed for being out.”
Joe took his foot off the brake. “Well, she is out, and she’s dressed. I guess she’ll figure out soon enough if she didn’t dress warm enough.”
“Stop, Joe, something’s wrong.” He started to unbuckle his seatbelt. “She doesn’t even have any gloves.”
“Ben’s home. Ben can take care of it.”
Eli scowled his direction and reached for the door handle.
Joe grabbed his arm. “If you get out of this truck, we’re going to be late.” He slanted his head back toward their house. “There, you see? Ben let her in. I’m sure he can take care of whatever trouble our little neighbor has gotten herself into this time.”
Eli glanced back and slowly re-buckled his seat belt. The meeting with the Marshalls could last all morning. Whatever problem Mari was having would most likely be solved by the time he got back.
By Ben.
He couldn’t help thinking about what Ben had said the night before, even though he had already thought about it late into the night. Does Mari deserve better than me? He had been taken back by Ben’s vehemence on the subject. He hadn’t realized his younger brother saw him that way.
And it bothered him.
Eli freely admitted he wasn’t as pure as either of his brothers, and he certainly wasn’t as spiritually devoted, but he had never thought of himself as undeserving of something good. He knew the women he usually dated weren’t keepers, but did that disqualify him from ever having one that was? He had never considered that he could ruin something innocent merely because he had experienced too much. His eyes widened as he realized that he had never wanted “innocent” before. Innocent required time, patience, care.
“Can I do that?” he muttered aloud.
Joe turned down the radio. “What?”
Eli shook his head. “Nothing.”
Joe turned his attention back to the road, and Eli let his head fall back against the headrest.
I’d sure like to try.
***
Mari leaned back in the kitchen chair where she had sat two nights previous with a hot mug of coffee and two doting males. “Ben, that was the best Belgian waffle I have ever eaten. I should get locked out of my house every morning.”
<
br /> Ben started to rise from his seat across from her, pushing the sleeves up on his gray long-sleeved pullover. “Would you like another one? There’s still some batter.”
Mari shook her head and patted her stomach. “No thanks, that was way more than I usually eat for breakfast. I’m stuffed.”
“Okay, then,” —he started for the door with a tool box he’d gotten out of a broom closet by the refrigerator— “you sit tight and stay warm while I go see about your door.” He slipped on his coat and paused with his hand on the knob. “You can look around if you like. This house was a real dive when Joe bought it. We work on it on the weekends. This floor is finished and most of the second. The third still needs a lot of work.”
Mari smiled. “Thanks, I’d love to look around. It’s a wonderful old house.”
Ben went out the door, toolbox in hand, and Mari rose in anticipation of scoping out the Rhodes bachelor pad. She looked to the right toward the room off the kitchen and pushed away from the table to investigate. A large dining room or perhaps a parlor, it was round and didn’t have any furniture yet. She knew from the outside that this turret went up the entire three floors, and wondered what the other rooms in this shape were being used for.
There was another door on the same wall that led into the living room. They had done a lovely job with furniture in this room—it all looked very Victorian. And even though the recliner was a bit anachronistic, it was a stately leather chair that seemed to fit in anyway. Walking through the living room, brought her out into the front entry by the stairs. She started toward it. While she loved this floor, it was the upstairs she really wanted to see. As her hand slid up the smooth oak railing, she felt absolutely sinful at how fast her heart was beating. And there’s no one even here.
The first room she looked into seemed pretty utilitarian, although she could see the appreciation for fine craftsmanship in the headboard and chest of drawers. An old pair of work boots set next to the open closet. She guessed it to be Joe’s room.
Above the dresser was a blown up antique photo of an old-fashioned barn raising. Mari wondered if it was a family photo or if Joe was just an old-fashioned kind of guy. Or maybe it’s all about building something. Over the bed was a modern painting that didn’t seem to fit in at all. The dark brooding colors seemed to fight each other for attention, giving the eye no where to land. Mari frowned. I do not like that.
She blinked and let her eyes meander over his navy and rust striped comforter that looked like it had been hastily tossed over light blue sheets that were hanging out on the side. She couldn’t help picturing him sitting on the side of the bed, looking at her with those smoky baby blues. She turned quickly to the hallway, feeling suddenly overheated.
The door across the hall had Denver Broncos posters on the walls and a stack of textbooks and papers haphazardly stacked on the floor beside an unmade bed. Ben. Such a nice guy. She smiled a half-hearted smile, hoping she wouldn’t be breaking his heart in the near future.
The furniture here looked like mismatched thrift store bargains. Did each guy buy his own? She supposed, as a student, Ben didn’t have a lot of money. He had told her that their parents lived in Loveland, and when Joe bought the house, he’d made an offer of free rent to his brothers in exchange for their help in fixing it up.
Mari looked closely at the wallpaper and wood details as she moved on down the hall. They do good work. She wanted to remember all the particulars so she could write about them later.
The next room was a bathroom with a an old claw foot tub, pedestal sink, and peeling wallpaper. Guess the boys haven’t gotten around to this yet. She smiled. If there had been a woman in the house, it would have been the first room finished.
She continued to the door at the very end of the hallway and found herself in the second floor of the rounded “tower,” which also seemed unfinished. It didn’t have a lot of furniture in it—just a beige overstuffed chair and a drawing table. Only two doors remained, and they were both closed. She opened the one closest to the end of the hallway, and her suspicions were confirmed when a narrow stairway came into view. That meant the other door next to Joe’s room led to Eli’s.
Mari had enough manners instilled in her growing up to know she should walk away from a closed door she was not specifically invited to open, but she also possessed enough female curiosity to stand there debating it. She placed her hand on the knob and paused, her heart racing. She knew she shouldn’t. Just because Ben said I could look around doesn’t mean Eli would like me snooping in his bedroom. Joe’s door had been standing open. I just looked in from the hallway. She realized that Joe might not have appreciated that either. Feeling guilty, she pulled her hand back.
“You’re not going in?”
Mari screeched and jumped. Turning, she pressed her back against the opposite wall, her hand to her heart.
Eli.
Embarrassment coloring her cheeks, she tried to explain. “I locked myself out, and—”
“Of my room?” Eli queried with a twinkle in his eye.
“No, my house, and Ben went to see if he could get in, and—”
He stepped toward her. “And you thought to have a look around.”
“Yes. I mean, no! I didn’t just go snooping in your upstairs. Ben told me how you all have been working on it, and he told me to look around.”
He took another step toward her. “You know what they say about curiosity.”
She swallowed. “I’m sorry,” she said, barely above a whisper. “I should go.”
She tried to move past him, but he caught her around the waist. “Mari, I don’t mind, and you can’t go yet. Ben is still working on your door. Please. Let me host the rest of the tour.”
Eli’s hand at the curve of her waist caused a sensation like warm honey inside her, and she couldn’t help comparing it to Ben’s touch just the day before when he had hooked her in almost the same way. There really was no comparison. Ben’s touch didn’t relieve her of breath—didn’t make her heart race—didn’t make her feel every inch a woman.
She slowly turned, and Eli let his arm fall away. She couldn’t bring herself to look into those dark penetrating eyes so close, so she spoke more or less to his chest. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
Eli couldn’t believe his good fortune. First, the Marshalls had canceled their meeting due to a family crisis of some sort, and they hadn’t gotten the message sooner, because Joe had left his phone on his nightstand again. And second, Ben was working on Mari’s door with the drill and didn’t even seem to notice when Joe dropped him off back at the house. Lastly, he’d come across the lovely Mari right outside his bedroom door.
Grabbing her around the waist had been an impulse, and he had to fight the urge to kiss her when she turned shyly back to him. But he reminded himself that Mari wasn’t a singles bar hook-up. If he truly wanted to have a relationship with her, he’d have to do things differently.
He turned the knob on his bedroom door and waved her inside. As she passed him, he smiled at her state of disarray and realized that she must have locked herself out shortly after getting up. Her hair was a tad frowsy, there were no traces of make-up, and if she took off that crazy bright pink sweater, she’d be standing there in his bedroom in her pajamas. His smile turned into a grin as his eyes continued on down to the pig slippers on her feet.
“You know,” he said from where he still stood in the doorway, “I think those hog’s head slippers you’re wearing may even be more useless on the ice than those boots of yours.”
Mari looked down and back up and finally seemed to relax a bit. “Yeah, well, I didn’t really intend to put them to the test. My run across your lawn was—”
“Spontaneous?” Eli quipped. “I love spontaneity in a woman.”
Mari smiled. “Unexpected was more the word I was looking for, I think.”
“How did you manage to lock yourself out?”
She threw up her hands. “Heck if I know. I unlocked it to get out, so I do
n’t have a clue. For some reason God seems to think I need to look like a complete idiot in front of you guys.”
Eli bounced his hip off the door frame and stood square, loosening the designer tie he wore over his silver gray dress shirt. “Hmm, so you think it’s a lesson of some sort. What has it done for you so far—all this embarrassment?” He unbuttoned his top shirt button.
“Well... I guess I got to meet you guys right away. With the cold, I might have just seen you in passing for months.”
“And that would have been a shame, so keep those embarrassing moments coming, ma cheri.”
Mari blushed and turned back to the business of room inspection.
Eli took a step into the room. “So what do you think? How would you peg me after seeing my space?”
A corner of Mari’s lips twitched up, and he glimpsed a sparkle in her eye. She began to walk around the perimeter. “Well, the style of your comforter is classic; the colors are warm. The deep red shows passion, although the brown would seem to indicate a lack of growth. You’re not one to look to the future. The lines of the furniture are very masculine but not heavy like Joe’s. They have a clean style that is a little more modern.”
She looked at him across the queen-sized bed. “Your bed is much neater than your brothers’.” She dropped her gaze. Like it’s waiting for company. “You care about appearances.” She shifted quickly to the wall opposite the bed. “The heavy shades keep out the sun, though.” She looked him in the eyes. “They let you hide when you want to.”
Eli was stunned into silence.
She wandered back around the bed to stand in front of him. “And if that unfinished office is yours at the end of the hall, I’d say you’re not really doing what you want to do. You’re putting in your time, but your heart’s not in it.”
Eli cocked his head at her, and Mari let a smile slip out. “How’d I do?”
Putting a hand behind her neck, he guided her into the hallway. “Let me show you the third floor.”
She grinned up at him. “That good, huh?” He opened the door to the stairs without answering, and she paused, looking concerned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. You can come over to my place and peg me if you like.”
Rocky Mountain Angels Page 4
