by Laura Moore
But he couldn’t flat-out tell Erica to stop wasting her breath, not if he wanted to keep the weekend from blowing up and making things awkward for Brian and Carrie. That left him with resorting to avoidance tactics. It wasn’t a strategy he particularly enjoyed but it did have one bonus. It involved keeping Tess close at hand.
He was counting the hours until his hands could actually make contact.
ERICA MARSH, TESS decided, did not improve upon further acquaintance. She just got bitchier. Whenever possible, Tess tried to avoid that vulgar insult; the Wizard of Oz slant to the term “witch” was just so much more colorful. But likening Erica to a female dog—and, in this case, one in heat—sadly fit. How else to characterize Erica’s constant need to assert her superiority over other women and her ceaseless efforts to attract the opposite sex—a certain dark-haired, broad-shouldered alpha male in particular?
It had been a relief the day before when Erica, freshly changed into a sheer gauzy dress that would soon leave her shivering (perhaps part of a plan to get Ward to remove his jacket for her), went off with the men to the winery, leaving Tess and Carrie to spend the next two hours with Ava Day.
But while Erica’s departure was welcome, Tess had found her attention straying during Carrie’s session with Ava, wondering how often Erica was reaching out to touch Ward or press against him.
At least Ava was perfect with Carrie. She’d enthusiastically admired the photo of the wedding dress Tess produced, suggesting an updo that would flatter Carrie’s delicate bone structure and compliment the romance of the strapless embroidered tulle-and-silk gown. To make the hairstyle even more stunning, Ava proposed adorning Carrie’s hair with miniature ivory rosebuds to match the hue of her wedding gown.
For the makeup, she and Carrie had agreed that a natural look would work best. After brushing and curling Carrie’s hair and pinning it into the style Carrie had picked, Ava applied her makeup, using a light foundation to even out her tone and then adding eyeliner, mascara, and a creamy gold eye shadow to highlight her blue eyes. The lightest of rosy blushes and lipstick finished the look.
She stepped back and nodded to Tess, who was acting as her assistant. With a flourish worthy of Vanna White, Tess produced the mirrors Ava had brought with her makeup tools.
“Have a look.” She gave one mirror to Carrie and then stepped behind her with the other.
“Oh my God! I look fantastic!”
Tess nodded, her smile almost as wide as Carrie’s. “You do. You really do. Best of all, you still look like you.”
“Tess is right. I don’t think a groom likes it when his bride is so made up she looks like someone else. He’s nervous enough. Now, Carrie, let me rearrange your hair in another style so we don’t give anything away to Brian.”
“Okay. Just give me another sec to admire myself.” She twisted in her chair and craned her neck to catch all the different angles. “Ava, I just love it. I really do.”
“You have great hair. It’s got lots of body. Just take good care of it between now and June. No crazy diets. Also, use plenty of sunblock.” She tapped the picture of Carrie’s dress. “Strapless gowns and tan lines don’t mix.”
“Thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure I wear sunblock and a hat tomorrow when we ride. Maybe Quinn has one I can borrow.”
“Oh, you’re going riding? The countryside is so beautiful this time of year,” Ava replied.
“It was my stepsister Erica’s idea. I think she wanted to take a trip down memory lane this weekend. She and Ward used to ride a lot.”
“They were engaged, right?” Ava had unpinned Carrie’s hair, and the reddish gold locks tumbled down her back. Deftly she made two French braids along either side of her head and then wrapped the ends in a loose bun at the nape of her neck.
“I like this look, too.” Carrie angled her head, admiring Ava’s handiwork in the mirror. “I could never manage a style like this on my own.” Returning to the topic of her stepsister, she said, “From the minute we climbed out of the car, Erica hasn’t stopped looking at Ward. I think she may be regretting that she walked away from the engagement.”
Although Tess had guessed that much herself, to hear it confirmed by someone who knew Erica so well made her stomach clench in a knot that rivaled the twists and loops Ava had created with Carrie’s hair.
“I would imagine Ward would be a hard man to get over,” Ava said. “Don’t you, Tess?”
She managed a casual smile. “Yeah, I think he would be.” She knew it with a certainty that reached down to her marrow and to the depths of her heart.
By Saturday morning the likelihood that Erica was having second thoughts about ending her relationship with Ward was all too clear to Tess. Erica behaved as if every minute should be spent glued to Ward’s side and sulked when she couldn’t. Tess did her best to ignore her but that became next to impossible when Erica began to take her frustrations out on Silver Creek’s staff.
Tess, Carrie, Brian, and Erica had gone down to the corrals for the trail ride Erica had insisted upon. They were to meet Reid and Ward there. Instead, they were met by Frank, who told them that Ward and Reid were running late. A steer, which Tess now knew was a castrated male, had gotten a nasty gash in the side of his neck. Today was a day off for Pete Williams, the foreman, and Gary Cooney was at the veterinary hospital, operating on a dog that had been badly bitten in a fight, so Ward and Reid had to tend to the injured animal themselves.
Just then an angry bellowing had filled the air and they’d turned toward the source. There were Ward and Reid, astride their horses, herding the hurt steer into the corral nearest the cattle barn. Tess had seen the dark red blood matting the steer’s black hide and foreleg, and her stomach had heaved.
Working as a team, the brothers sent their lassos sailing through the air, catching the steer’s rear hooves and bringing him to the ground. With the animal tied, bellowing furiously in anger and fear, Ward held its head down while Frank hurried toward them with the veterinary first aid supplies so Reid could clean and stitch the wound. Tess saw Ward’s lips move, but couldn’t make out what he was saying to Frank. The other man nodded and then jogged out of the corral to where the four of them stood watching.
“Ward said that you should go on and get mounted so that you don’t lose time. He and Reid will be along shortly.”
Erica resisted. “No. I’m going to stay and watch.”
Tess had discovered that she was the kind of person who always had to state her own desires, and make sure everyone understood that they trumped all others.
But Brian wasn’t having any of it. “Listen, Ward’s organized this trail ride for us, and even though he’s in the midst of dealing with an emergency, he’s making sure we get to have our fun. So why don’t we do as he asks and go get on the horses?”
Hearing his words, Tess felt her opinion of Brian rise. She liked him—he had a sweet, freckled, all-American boyish air with just enough Dennis the Menace mixed in to make him funny as well as endearing. She liked him even better now that he was standing up to Erica and sticking up for his best friend.
With an impatient shrug Erica relented. But as they made their way back to the horse barn, she made sure to telegraph her annoyance by maintaining a sullen silence. If only the silence had lasted.
In the corral closest to the horse barn stood four horses, saddled and bridled. They wore halters, too, with ropes attached to posts.
One of the ranch hands—Tess remembered his name was Jim and that he and Quinn were good friends—came out of the barn. He was young, maybe twenty, thin as linguini, and affable, imbued with the good-natured friendliness Tess had discovered was the hallmark of Silver Creek’s wranglers. As Quinn had explained one day when Tess was taking some pictures of the horses being groomed with some special tool that helped them shed their winter coats, the guests helped pay for the four-legged animals on the ranch, so one of the wranglers’ jobs was to keep the guests happy and smiling. Offering great horseback rides along beautiful
winding trails was one way of achieving that goal. Being pleasant and unfailingly polite was another.
“Hey, Tess. Ward told me to saddle Brocco for you.” Turning to Brian, Carrie, and Erica, Jim said, “Hi, you must be Ward’s friends. I’m Jim. We’ve got your horses ready, too. Let’s see.” He checked the white board attached to the side of the barn, which had all the horses’ names written in marker on it. Tess read Brian’s name next to Chili, Carrie next to Major, and her own name next to Brocco. Erica had been given a horse called Nate.
Jim was pointing them out. Chili was a reddish horse, a sorrel, she remembered Reid telling her. Major was almost as big as Brocco but a paint horse, white with brownish black splotches all over. She’d never really looked at Nate before. There were so many horses, it was difficult to know them all. To Tess’s untrained eye, Nate looked pretty nice, his coat a dark gold with a black tail and mane.
But Erica apparently found something lacking. “Nate’s a beginner horse, isn’t he?”
Jim looked surprised and Tess immediately felt sorry for him. “Nate’s the greatest, a good—”
“I’m not a beginner. I have no intention of plodding at a walk for two hours. I want a real horse to ride, not a La-Z-Boy recliner on four legs.”
Erica probably wasn’t the first rude person Jim had been forced to deal with at Silver Creek, but he probably hadn’t expected one of Ward’s friends to behave this way. He raised his cowboy hat and ran a hand through his ginger hair before settling the hat back on his head. The gesture provided crucial time to formulate a tactful response. “Ward picked these horses, so—”
“He was being overly cautious. I can handle a horse with a little personality and drive. Really.”
Even with the brim of Jim’s hat lowered, Tess could see the ranch hand’s unhappiness. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then asked, “And when was the last time you rode?”
Erica didn’t skip a beat. “Two weeks ago.”
“Really?” Carrie asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Carrie, you can’t expect me to tell you everything I do.” That blasted smile was back. “Darryl and Pam Welch invited me to ride at Glenoaks. Pam takes lessons there.”
“Oh, I thought you went cruising with them.”
“We did both. They’re like me—they love challenging themselves.” Dismissing her stepsister, she fixed her attention on Jim. “Please saddle another horse for me. I refuse to ride a horse that looks like he has one hoof in the grave.”
“Erica, there’s no call to be rude,” Carrie said.
Erica ignored her.
Tess looked at Nate. He was standing with his eyes half closed, having a pleasant doze in the spring sunshine. She wished he’d wake up and bite Erica in retaliation for her snarky comment, but he seemed supremely unaffected by the humans’ presence. And Tess bet Ward didn’t let horses who bit anywhere near Silver Creek’s guests.
“Don’t worry about Ward. I’ll explain the switch to him,” Erica’s lady-of-the-manor tone was breathtaking in its presumption.
Stiff-legged, Jim stalked over to the relaxing equine and uncinched the saddle, pulling it off his broad back.
“You can ride Ziggy.” He gave a terse nod toward a white horse that was tied to the post as well, but unsaddled. Ziggy had his nose to the ground, his wide nostrils blowing as he searched the ground for stray bits of hay. “I just finished brushing him.”
Ziggy must have passed whatever equine test Erica felt qualified to give. Personally Tess thought it just as likely she was satisfied with the new horse because she’d decided she’d look better perched on top of a snowy white steed than a dark gold one. Erica paid a lot of attention to accessories that enhanced her looks.
When Erica gave her stamp of approval with a careless nod of her blond head, Tess breathed a sigh of relief. At least now Erica would quit treating Jim so insultingly. She wondered how Erica thought she could possibly maintain such a posture around Ward. Had she never noticed the respect and appreciation the Knowleses showed all the employees at Silver Creek, from the upper echelons of the guest lodge’s management to Lexi Carter, a high school sophomore who worked after school and on weekends, helping Quinn with the goats and the kitchen garden?
Jim made quick work of tacking Ziggy, then led the horse over to the mounting block. After checking the cinch, he waited while Erica climbed the wooden steps, put her booted foot into the wooden stirrup, and swung her leg over the saddle. Then Erica gathered the reins in her right hand, clucked, and guided Ziggy into the center of the corral. Without a word of thanks.
Jim watched her and the horse walk away and gave a short shake of his head.
He turned to Carrie. “You’re going to be riding Major. He’s a super nice horse.”
“I’m sure of it.” Carrie’s tone was effusive, making up for Erica’s rudeness. “Thanks for getting the horses ready for us, Jim. And I’m sorry about my stepsister. She is a pretty good rider.”
“As long as Ward’s okay with the switch, no harm done.”
WARD’S AND REID’S booted feet rang along with their horses’ hooves on the drive as they walked up to the horse corral.
“Cooney may have to insert a stent into that cut to drain it,” Reid said.
The vet would be coming after he’d finished operating on the dog. “Maybe, maybe not. The wound looked pretty clean by the time you finished sewing it up. You did a good job,” Ward said.
“Thanks. I hope Frank and Carlos can find whatever cut him. I don’t want to play tailor again any time soon.”
With Sirrus and Rio huffing and snorting behind them, they walked in companionable silence. “So, you feel like taking the lead on this ride?”
Reid laughed. “That’s a good one. You mean so I can have the pleasure of riding with Brian and the delightful Erica? After yesterday’s extravagant display, do you really think she’s going to let you get away with hanging back with Carrie and Tess?”
Embarrassment washed over Ward. At the winery they’d visited, Erica had given “obvious” a whole new meaning. It hadn’t taken long for Ward to begin hoping the tasting room’s manager would think that Erica simply couldn’t hold her alcohol, ignoring the fact that they were sipping the vineyard’s cabernet rather than seriously imbibing.
“Okay, Romeo,” he drawled. “Time to quiz the expert on women. So what’s with Erica’s nonstop giggling and hair flicking?”
“You left out the lip licking and the finger trailing down the V of her dress. Those are dandy, too.”
“Don’t remind me.” Ward gave a heartfelt groan. “She never did this stuff when we were engaged.”
Reid shrugged. “Never had to. She had you right where she wanted you, ready to walk down the aisle to happily ever after. Then something shinier must have caught her attention and she decided to go for it.”
“That would be the Silicon Valley techie. Where the hell is he when I need him?”
“My guess is that he slicked away.”
Ward laughed at the term. His laughter faded at his brother’s next words.
“Or she came to her senses and realized that you were pretty and shiny after all. A worthy pursuit. That video of you did show you at your silent cowboy best. It’s amazing what women will project onto an appealing male form.”
“You going to night school in female psychology? I thought you were more focused on the female physique.”
“Both are fascinating,” Reid replied easily. “Whatever Erica’s motivation, you, brother mine, are most definitely in her sights.”
“It’s embarrassing.”
“I imagine it would be. And I feel really sorry for you. But not sorry enough to forgo the pleasure of riding next to your other woman—and, oh yeah, given Erica’s competitive personality, I’d have to posit that Tess may be yet another reason why Erica’s determined to show you the love.” He laughed and shook his head. “Damn, I’m glad I’m not in your boots.”
“Fuck you,” Ward said mildly. �
��Someday all that smooth loverboy charm’s going to come back to haunt you. And when it happens, I’m going to be the one laughing my ass off.”
They’d reached the corral. Brian, Carrie, and Erica were already mounted. Ward’s gaze sought out Tess, finding her by the corral’s railing, talking to Jim. At the sound of their approach, her head turned in his direction. Her expression was a mix of pleasure and worry.
“All set?” he asked, wishing he could wrap his arms about her and kiss away her nervousness. At the end of their ride on Thursday, he’d thought she was gaining more confidence in Brocco and in herself.
“Oh, yes, I was just about to get on Brocco. Is the steer all right? It looked and sounded like he was in a lot of pain.”
“The cut was nasty,” Ward conceded. “But most of that bellowing was probably to tell us how insulted he was by my sitting on his head and Reid jabbing him repeatedly with a needle. No self-respecting steer will tolerate a double insult like that.”
“Then I guess it’s safe to say that steer possesses a healthy dose of self-respect.”
He smiled. “Yeah. So, we’re good to go?” His gaze swept over the corral. Brian and the women had walked their horses over to the water trough. But instead of Nate’s buckskin haunches standing between Major and Chili, he saw Ziggy’s white coat and silver tail.
“Why’s Erica on Ziggy, Jim?”
“I’m really sorry, Ward. Nothing I said seemed to convince her.”
He sighed. Christ, he didn’t want to deal with any bullshit this morning.
His silence gave Jim the wrong impression. “I know I shouldn’t have switched horses for her, but she insisted you’d be fine with it.”
Of course. Why should Erica stop being a pain in the butt just because they were about to go for a trail ride, the activity she’d lobbied for? Jim shouldn’t have given in, but chewing him out wouldn’t help matters.
