Audra’s well-shaped head with those bouncy dark red curls jerked around in Rick’s direction. He’d caught her off guard. Her gorgeous blue eyes were filled with so many emotions, it would take hours to sort them all out.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. After I got up to use the rest room, I found my own company depressing and decided to come find you.”
She stared at him across the expanse of the living room. “Considering what a physically active man you are, it must be horrible for you right now. Like you’re in a straitjacket.”
“It’s exactly like that, but then you’re the one person who would know all about it.”
“The difference is, I can still earn my living.”
“Another month without work isn’t going to put me out on the streets.”
“I’m sure that’s true. A sports celebrity of your fame has probably invested enough to keep you financially set whether you ever did another day’s work in your life or not.”
She reached for her crutches and got to her feet. “But everyone still needs a reason to get up in the morning. I’m sorry you had to encounter that snake.”
“It was worth it to see the bluebonnets.”
Her mouth broke into a smile that reminded him of a rosebud opening to the sun. “They are beautiful.”
“Yes” was all he could say because his eyes were filled by the beauty he was taking in right now.
“Would you like an omelette or a hearty soup for dinner?” she called over her shoulder on her way to the kitchen.
He followed. “Eggs sound good.”
“Go back to bed and let me wait on you.”
“I’d rather eat at the kitchen table. It’s easier.”
“Then I’ll hurry.”
He marveled at her ability to function with those crutches. In a few minutes she’d placed a fabulous-looking omelette in front of him. It was filled with ham, green peppers and onions, just the way he liked it.
“Coffee, tea, water or a soda?”
“Do you have cola?”
She nodded and pulled one from the fridge. “I sense an addiction.”
He chuckled. “Guilty as charged. It comes from years of reaching for one from the vending machine at the track.”
After she’d popped the opening, she set it by his plate. Before she sat down with her own omelette, she buttered a couple of muffins and put them on a plate with a dish of applesauce, which she placed near him.
He hadn’t thought he was hungry until he started eating. Suddenly food tasted so good he found himself devouring everything in sight.
“These muffins are fantastic. Where do you buy applesauce like this? It’s so sweet you think you’re eating candy.”
Her eyes lit up. “You’re enjoying the apples from the ranch. Pam and I do a lot of canning in the fall.”
“If this is the way things are going to be while I’m here, the mechanics will have to stuff me into my race car with a crowbar.”
“That would be quite a sight all right. I can see the headlines now. Racetrack Lover Raids Honey Pot Once Too Often.”
Laughter burst out of him.
“Come to think of it, Dad better watch out, or that lean physique he’s so proud of isn’t going to be lean much longer.”
She shook her head. “Two plump Hawkins men? I can’t picture it.”
“I don’t know. Pam’s been teaching him how to cook Tex-Mex. I’ve been treated to one of his meals. He could be in big trouble, no pun intended.”
Her smile turned wistful. “My cousin adores him.”
“If he wasn’t crazy about her, he wouldn’t have married her.”
Audra put down her fork. “I have a strong hunch my uncle would like to get married again, but I’ve been so blinded by the situation around here, I didn’t realize it until I spoke to him on the phone before dinner.”
“What did he say?”
In a few minutes she’d told him the essence of her conversation with David.
“I thought you looked dazed when you finished talking to him.”
“Dazed doesn’t quite cover it, but it will do for want of a better word.”
“That’s the way I felt when I decided to surprise my grieving father and found him in the kitchen embracing Pam like he’d once embraced my mother.”
“That was the first you knew about them?”
“Yes.”
She looked horrified. “Does Pam know?”
“No, thank God. I tiptoed back outside the house, came in again, shut the front door hard so they could hear it, then called out to him.”
Audra’s eyes glistened. “Pam would die if she knew.”
“So would Dad.”
“The day after she met your father, she called me. ‘Audra?’ she said. ‘I met the most wonderful man yesterday morning. We spent all day and evening together. I’m in love with him. He thinks he’s in love with me and has begged me to stay so we can get to know each other. I don’t know what to do. He just lost his wife and he’s got these two amazing sons who worshiped their mother and would never understand in a million years!’”
Rick leveled his gaze on the desirable, vulnerable woman seated across from him. “Pam was right…” His voice trailed off. “Fortunately, it didn’t take a million years to come to terms with the fact that our father had met a woman who made him want to embrace life again. Knowing the history between her and the boys, I’m beginning to understand how tough it was for her to have to walk on eggshells around me and Nate, too.”
“It was tough,” Audra confirmed. “But Pam was willing to walk through fire for your father.”
“Now it’s Dad’s turn,” he whispered.
“Rick—” Her haunted eyes searched his. “Does their marriage still bother you?”
“No.” It felt good to say it and mean it. “What about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“How long did you grieve over losing your best friend to my father?”
She took her time. “I can’t answer that question. It’s all mixed up with my grief over my uncle, who’s sacrificed his adult life for all of us at great cost to his own.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Rick drawled. “He’d already been married and had children before tragedy struck. If he had it to do over again, I have no doubts he’d have made the same choice. He’s an extraordinary man.”
“I know. He deserves all the happiness in the world now.”
Rick frowned. Her uncle’s decision to stay in Austin had thrown her in ways he suspected David wasn’t aware of.
“Audra, maybe it would be better if we both moved back to the main house. I’ll phone Dad right now.”
“No!” she cried. “You can’t! It would ruin everything for Pam and Clint. If Uncle David found out, he’d come right back. He believes I’m all right as long as you’re here with me. I wouldn’t take that away from him for anything.”
Meaning what?
“Are you uncomfortable to be alone with me?”
“Of course not,” she said too fast. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“Nothing!”
A redhead couldn’t lie without it showing. Her cheeks filled with color before she got up from the chair and reached for her crutches.
Interesting.
“I’m going to bring you a pain pill. After you take it, I’ll do a little singing for you until you’re ready for bed.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
NATE TOOK his cell phone from the dresser. “Sweetheart?” He leaned down to kiss Laurel. “While you nurse Becky, I’m going to try and reach Rick again for an update before we go to bed.”
She kissed him back with equal hunger. “Give him my love.”
It felt as if they were on an eternal honeymoon. He never wanted it to end.
After leaving a peck on Becky’s soft cheek, Nate padded out of their room to the guest bedroom, where he could talk without disturbing the baby.
Sinking onto the side of the bed, he phoned his brother. To his chagrin, Rick’s cell was still turned off. Nate didn’t like bothering his father or Pam, but he had to know Rick was all right.
It wasn’t quite ten o’clock Texas time. He imagined they were still up. After several rings his father answered.
“Dad?”
“Nate—I was about to call you.”
He frowned. “Has Rick had a setback of some kind?”
“Anything but.”
“That’s good to know.” Nate felt his body relax. “I’ve tried to get him several times today, but he’s turned off his phone. Do you think he’s asleep right now?”
“I doubt it.”
“Then he needs heavier painkillers.”
“No, he doesn’t. He’s got everything he wants right where he is.”
Nate blinked. “That sounded cryptic. Wait—you’re talking about Audra.”
“I’m glad to see marriage to Laurel hasn’t dulled your wits completely. How is the love of your life, by the way?”
He grinned. “Wonderful.”
“And my little granddaughter?”
“Thriving and hungry at the moment.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
“I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to touch base with Rick.”
“When he’s ready to talk, he’ll call you.”
“Dad, you’re sounding mysterious again.”
“Maybe it’s because I’m as in the dark as you are.”
“What do you mean?”
“When we brought Rick home from the hospital today, Pam’s uncle walked up to the car. It seems Audra suggested that Rick live at the bungalow with her to recuperate so Pam and I could be alone.”
“You’re kidding! Rick says she’s still in a cast.”
“That’s right. To make this tale even more intriguing, Audra thought her uncle would be staying with them, too. Instead, he made a last-minute decision to check himself into the Cattlemen’s Club in Austin.
“His old rancher friend Harry Moore has been living there. Apparently he’s been urging David to join him until David’s retirement condo is ready for occupation.”
Nate sat forward. “So Rick’s out at the bungalow now?”
“Yes.”
“Knowing my brother, he wouldn’t put himself in a situation like this unless it was exactly what he wanted.”
“Oh, he wanted it all right. I never saw anyone so eager to take a near stranger up on her offer. If I weren’t delighted at the turn of events, my feelings would be hurt to think he didn’t give his old dad a second thought.”
At this point Nate started to get excited. “I haven’t met Audra, but something tells me she wouldn’t have extended the invitation if she’s still dying of a broken heart. What does Pam think?”
“She’s not saying yet. That’s her way.”
“Under the circumstances, I don’t imagine he’d like the family descending en masse for a while.”
“I’m with you. Let’s not try to fix something that isn’t broken.”
Nate burst into laughter. “What an irony, when she’s in a leg cast and his arm and shoulder are taped and trussed.”
His father chuckled. “They make quite a pair.”
“Wouldn’t it be something if that was really true,” Nate murmured on a more sober note.
“If she should turn out to be the one, I’ll have to remind him of something he said to me on our ride.”
“What was that?”
“I asked him if he’d ever really tried to find the right woman. He said no. If she didn’t come along in the scheme of things like your mother or Laurel, then he’d just as soon stick to racing.”
“I can relate.” Nate let out a troubled sigh. “If Audra only knew it, Rick’s every bit as fragile as she is.”
“No matter what happens, I’m glad he’s out there.”
Nate picked up on a different nuance in his father’s voice. “What’s going on?”
“At dinner the other day she told her cousins she’d like to stay in the bungalow until her cast comes off. Now they’ve given her an ultimatum. They want her out by tomorrow evening.”
As his father explained the details, Nate’s mouth thinned in anger. “Rick will put a stop to that.”
“I’m sure he will.”
“Dad, if you need reinforcements, I’ll be there.”
“I know that, but these are early days. You’ve got a job to do training pilots. Once the boys cool off, everything’s going to be fine.”
By now Nate was on his feet. “What if you’re wrong and it doesn’t get better?”
The whole situation was surreal. Like one of those range wars in an old western, where the good guys had to round up a posse to chase after the bad guys.
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
“I don’t know.”
“According to Pam, this is nothing new.”
“Yes, it is. You bought the family home. You’re a live target, Dad. One angry man can cause trouble. Three angry men can start a revolution.”
“They can try…”
When Nate was a boy, the steel in his father’s voice as he delivered a righteous rebuke could shape him up in a hurry. It still could. Hopefully it would put the fear in Pam’s cousins.
“Promise you’ll call me tomorrow and keep me posted on everything?”
“Of course.”
“If I don’t hear from you, Laurel and I will be flying down to find out why. Good night.”
He clicked off and felt a pair of arms slide around him from behind. “What’s wrong, darling?”
He turned to the woman who’d transformed his life. “I’m afraid all hell’s about to break loose on the Jarrett Ranch.”
WHILE AUDRA had been playing her guitar for Rick in the semidarkness, the pain pill seemed to have done its job. He lay on the twin bed with his eyes closed. When she listened to his breathing, it sounded as if he’d finally passed out.
But like a baby you thought had gone to sleep but cries to be held again the second you walk away, she decided not to chance it.
“I’ll play one more song. Then it’s time to sleep.” She turned on her backup tape and picked up her guitar. “This one’s called ‘You Should Have Asked Your Mama.’”
You should have asked your mama,
Before he played you for a fool.
She would have told you, darlin’?
In the end they’re always cruel.
Never trust a man,
Who looks deep into your eyes.
He’s setting you up,
To believe all his fancy lies.
Always walk away,
From his devil-may-care smile.
Cut a swath around him,
That’s at least a country mile.
Don’t try to find him,
Where he says he’s going to be,
’Cuz tonight he’s somewhere else,
You just wait and see.
He doesn’t love you, doesn’t want you, doesn’t need you desperately.
It’s a story, it’s a myth,
One you made up in your heart.
It’s a painful fabrication,
Of which he has no part.
You’re forgotten, you’re a joke,
You’re a fire without the smoke.
Are you starting to understand?
You can’t clap without a hand.
You should have asked your mama,
Before he played you for a fool.
She would have told you, darlin’?
In the end they’re always cruel.
Carefully lowering her guitar to the other twin bed, she shut everything down, then slid off the stool and reached for her crutches. Halfway out the door she heard, “Who hurt you that badly, Audra?”
She kept on walking to her bedroom. She didn’t want to talk about Boris. He hadn’t mattered to her for a long time.
After getting ready for bed, she lay down on top of the sh
eet in her black-and-white prison-striped, oversize nightshirt.
Before she’d started singing for Rick, she’d placed ice water and a couple of pain pills on the nightstand near his right hand. Though she doubted he’d need anything else, she left her door open to listen for him.
As she lay there, her mind played over the day’s events for what seemed like hours. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that when Rick had first seen Pam and Clint together, his pain had gone marrow deep.
Audra’s mother and father were a vague memory. She had no idea what it would feel like to see her father kissing another woman. But the look in Rick’s eyes, the tremor in his voice, all had given her a strong idea of what that experience would be like. The sense of betrayal had to have been of staggering proportions.
That was what Pam had tried to tell Audra. No wonder her cousin had been so frightened to get involved with Clint. But Audra had been too excited for her cousin. She hadn’t understood.
What Clint’s sons had gone through was far worse than Boris’s betrayal of Audra. She’d only known him for a season. She hadn’t loved him her whole life the way Rick and his brother had loved their parents.
Audra had written that song after coming home from Europe. At the time, she’d believed she was hurting more than any other woman alive. With hindsight, she could see that Boris had needed to be admired by women who made him their whole world.
Audra had represented competition. He couldn’t stand anyone making a fuss over her when he was around. She understood that now. In light of today’s revelations, it seemed so trivial.
Her uncle’s pain. Could anything have been worse than that? To lose his entire family…
What about Clint’s pain? To learn that his beloved wife had died in an avalanche, when it was the snow that had brought them together?
How did Laurel Hawkins ever get over losing her first husband, whose jet malfunctioned and crashed? She’d been carrying his child…
Tonight Audra felt as if she’d received a university education in the study of bereavement. Exhausted under the weight of it, her eyes closed. The next time she was aware of her surroundings, she heard a banging sound followed by a man’s groan coming from the hall.
Rick.
Her heart started to run away with her. “Rick,” she cried out. “I’m coming!”
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