Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set

by Patricia Johns

  “I—” She stopped. “I guess I am out to impress. But why do you care about what my family thinks?”

  He couldn’t have this conversation and drive at the same time. Krista, he was discovering, demanded his full attention. He pulled over and faced her. “Because I want to impress you, Krista. And part of that is impressing your family.”

  “So that’s why you told them about your two sections of land and two hundred head of cattle?”

  Gaffe number four. “I guess I wanted them to know that you hadn’t made a mistake in choosing me.”

  This was where she was supposed to reassure him that they weren’t a mistake, that she didn’t regret her decision and that she was ready to renew their relationship lease. Instead she leaned her head against the headrest.

  “Our entire relationship so far has been about keeping up appearances.”

  “We haven’t really been together for very long.”

  Krista gazed out the passenger window so he couldn’t see her expression when she said, “For ten years.”

  Will’s head hurt worse than his nagging shoulder. “What do you mean? We didn’t date.”

  “And why didn’t we? Not because you weren’t attracted to me, because you admit you were. But because I didn’t fit your picture of the kind of woman you were looking for.”

  “Give me a break. You were hardly a woman. You were sixteen.”

  “And you were twenty. Neither of us was full grown, but you already had the image of the girl you ought to date, didn’t you? Even when it went against what your heart wanted.”

  What did she want from him? “I changed my mind. I grew up. So did you.”

  She tilted her head and her face softened. For a second, he thought she might touch him. He could really do with her hands on him right now. “You know what Phillip said about you?”

  Will scrubbed his face with his hand. “I bet it wasn’t complimentary.”

  “He said you’re no better than him or me. You’re all about appearances. At first I thought he was nuts, as usual. But now...I’m not so sure. Maybe he has a point.”

  There she was, letting that jerk govern their lives. “What do you mean? The promotional videos weren’t my idea but if it weren’t for them, there might not be a charity ride next month.”

  Krista nodded, conceding that much. The campaign had stemmed the withdrawal of sponsors, but there was still the sticky factor of the dolls out there. Phillip had lobbed more nasty memes, more asinine blogs, and his followers had spread them like a virus. Going viral was not always a good thing. But so far, he and Krista and Alyssa were putting up a good fight. Still, it went to show how many people got off on the cruelty of others.

  “Believe me,” he added, “all I want to do is be outside, away from the spotlight.”

  Krista nodded again, this time with a twist of her mouth. “Getting back to the real work of finding a suitable wife?”

  If he’d not had such a nerve-racking evening, he might’ve trod more cautiously. Instead, he stepped right into the muck of their argument. “Nothing wrong with that. You’re the one who believes you don’t fit the criteria.”

  “I don’t,” she said. “But the only way you’re going to find that out is if you see the real me.”

  “What am I seeing right now?”

  “The real me. The one you’re in a fight with. You want more of that for the rest of your life? And the real me is in that family you were on pins and needles with. Are you ready for more of that, too?”

  Yes, the twenty-year-old him would’ve run at this point. The young, rational guy. The older Will, though, stared right back into her blue eyes and said, “Bring it on.”

  She blinked. “And in return, you’re not to go out of your way to impress me.”

  That made no sense. “Krista, so long as we’re together I will always try to impress you.”

  “Try not to.”

  “I will impress you with the real me.” His stomach flipped at the idea.

  “Didn’t you hear a word I said? Be yourself.”

  “I’m always that way.”

  She touched him now, a hard poke to his chest. “You’re always out to impress. You’d still be riding bareback if it wasn’t for your shoulder. You still feel you have to impress.”

  He did miss winning. But it wasn’t buckles or trophies he wanted now. He wanted top ranking with Krista. “What do you want from me, then?”

  “Be Will Claverley as if I’m the only one around.”

  Will wasn’t sure Krista really wanted that guy. That Will popped pills, had never traveled outside the rodeo circuit, thought a horse ride in a pasture was the height of romance. The real him was sore and boring. But if that bought him an extension on his Krista lease, then sign him up.

  “Sure.”

  She touched him again, this time placing her soft lips on his. And it felt very real.

  * * *

  “DON’T LEAN FORWARD,” Will offered from his position astride Blackberry.

  Krista had no idea that she was anything other than straight. She sat back, and up shot Molly’s head. Right, stay easy on the reins.

  Will looked across the pasture they were supposed to arrive at the end of sometime before the snow flew. Well, she’d warned him that she would hand him the real Krista and he’d still insisted on this evening ride for a missing calf.

  “Now what am I doing wrong?”

  “Maybe not quite so far back.”

  Krista tilted forward a titch. “There?”

  “A little more.”

  “There?”

  “Try pulling your feet back.” He watched. “The other way.”

  “Maybe,” Krista said, trying to keep up a smile, “we stop and you show me?”

  He agreed, but that operation happened in fits and starts. First, Krista was worried about pulling too hard on the reins, so Molly kept walking, and then because she pulled unevenly on the reins, Molly turned to face home. “I completely sympathize,” Krista muttered.

  Will dismounted in one easy swing and gave instructions, which were as useful as his earlier ones. His hand flexed in obvious restraint. Eventually with Blackberry’s reins in one hand, he instructed her to let go of the reins and brought the horse to a stop by soft words and a tug on the strap that went behind her ears.

  Still holding Blackberry’s reins, he rearranged Krista’s body.

  “Now stay like that.” He stepped away, as if checking for the squareness of a picture frame. “Shoulders down.”

  “I’ve taken dance classes that don’t require as many adjustments.”

  He rubbed Molly’s neck. “Relax, Krista. Molly’s feeling your tension.”

  “She is? How can you tell?”

  He shrugged. “She’s getting a little tight in the face.”

  Krista had no way of checkingMolly’s face, and she doubted she’d recognize “tension” even if she did.

  “Put your weight into your heels,” he said as he swung himself back into the saddle—no mounting block for him—his right foot arcing through the air and slipping into the stirrup like he’d done it a thousand times. Well, he probably had.

  This evening ride was proving to be every bit as bad as Krista had feared. Silver was on loan to an equestrian stable, so Will had chosen Molly, Laura’s horse. Except Molly was used to being ridden by an expert rider and she was confused by Krista’s mixed signals. And Molly was definitely not used to plodding along. Neither was Blackberry.

  Which didn’t help any of them, horses or riders, feel less tense. If it wasn’t for that poor, shivering calf with its soft pink nose, alone and scared somewhere, she would’ve begged off the second they’d cleared the barn corral.

  Will had tried to ease her into it. He’d taken her out to the grass corral so she could become more comfortable with the horses. But watching
for brown piles and keeping a sharp eye on the horses’ massive haunches that could kick her into Tuesday had only made her jumpier than a rabbit. Will walked around these huge animals as if there was nothing to be afraid of.

  “Aren’t you worried that they’ll kick you?” she’d asked. “I mean, even by accident?”

  “No, you get a sense of where they’re at, and what they’re capable of. Like people, I guess. You must’ve met people and known if they were going to be dodgy or not.”

  “I think it’s already been established I’m a poor judge of people. Men, anyway.”

  He smiled at her, that classic Claverley smile. “Your luck has changed.” He put a bridle around a horse whose hair was a shade of red she’d recommend to clients, and then saddled up Molly to give them time to get to know each other, but Molly must’ve sensed that Krista was nothing like Laura. But would Will listen?

  “If I can make a fool of myself at your family’s, you can make a fool of yourself on a horse,” he’d said.

  Krista decided not to inform him about her family’s conversation the night after the barbecue. Bridget, also stung by Will’s supply of meat, reminded her of the great Claverley Legacy. They were one of the original settler families, they even had a block claimed in the town graveyard, there was a Spirit Lake street named in their honor and, of course, as everyone knew, there was the Claverley Park with its Western-themed playground equipment.

  He cares about you, Bridget had said and then shrugged, but at the barbecue it was clear he also cares about being a Claverley.

  Sneaking a look at Will now, Krista knew that her horsemanship had failed the Claverley seal of approval. Even the horses didn’t approve of her, and she wouldn’t blame them if they voted her out of the barn.

  Nor did it help her confidence that she wore a helmet and a Kevlar vest to protect against kicks and falls, both insisted on by Will. Even Keith let Austin ride with a baseball cap.

  Feeling her body going out of position again, she wiggled. But Molly took it as a signal to break into a trot. Unprepared, Krista jolted along toward the bushes rimming a slough.

  “Will. What do I do?”

  He accelerated Blackberry to come up alongside Molly. “What exactly do you want to do?”

  “First gear. I want her back in first gear.”

  “Okay, relax your thighs, pull back a little on the reins, whoa, whoa, duck—”

  If Will had shouted, his warning might’ve registered but he kept his voice even and the overhanging branch smacked her in the face. She instinctively twisted to the side. Molly pulled away under the unexpected shift of her weight and with a yelp off went Krista, falling between the horses. Hooves flashed at her face; a knock on her helmet; she screamed. Now there were pounding hooves and one seriously long curse from Will uttered even now in a calm, even voice.

  He spoke again, this time above her. “Krista? You okay?”

  Nothing but blackness. She then realized that was because she’d closed her eyes. She opened them to Will’s concerned face. Concerned—and from his flattened mouth, irritated.

  “I’m good.”

  “Do you hurt anywhere?”

  “My dignity is crushed beyond all repair.”

  “If that’s all, then can you sit up?”

  She did. Molly had run off and was now slowing to a walk. “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, well, I should’ve known it wasn’t going to work out. Molly hasn’t been ridden in a week, and she was raring to go. Bad call on my part.”

  He was being kind. “The trouble is that I have no instinct for horse riding. I understand astrophysics better, and I flunked science.”

  “That’s fine.” But from the hard line of his jaw, it clearly wasn’t. “I’ll round up Molly and we can head for the house.”

  “What about the missing calf?”

  Will scratched his face and looked off to Molly. “I might’ve not been totally honest on that point.”

  “Did you not, a mere week ago, promise you’d give me the real Will?”

  “Aw, c’mon. If I said we were going for a ride, you would’ve wanted to turn back after fifteen minutes, so I came up with a good reason to keep going that your big heart couldn’t have refused.”

  “You lied to me.”

  “It was for a good cause.”

  “It wasn’t. It was for a miserable, selfish cause,” Krista said, struggling to her feet. “I hate—no, I loathe—horse riding. It hurts, the horses can’t stand me, I’m sweaty, I feel ugly, and I really don’t consider it fun if my date is correcting how I sit every few minutes.”

  He caught her arm. “I’m sorry. We’ll try again some other time.”

  “No, no, no.” Krista fumbled with her helmet strap and stripped it off her head. The breeze ran through her hair like a kiss from heaven. “I’m not trying again. I’ve tried to be a good sport twice. Once for Laura. Once for you. Both times, huge disasters. I realize that lowers my value in your eyes, but there you have it.”

  He did that long gaze across the pasture again, as if expecting an incoming message from afar. “No, refusing to get on a horse doesn’t lower your value.”

  “But you have to admit this evening didn’t roll out the way you’d hoped.”

  “You’re right about that. You need more lessons than I thought.”

  “You overestimated my ability because you don’t even know people who can’t ride.”

  “There’s your family.”

  “They don’t count.”

  “How about this? I’ll give Molly a quick run to get some of the spit out of her, and then we’ll do what we did at the wedding. You sit and I’ll take the reins.”

  This was humiliating. At the wedding with everyone in their best and everyone watching, it made sense. Now it reeked of failure. And the ride back made for awkward conversation. She’d never been so glad to see a barn.

  Never so glad to have her feet on solid ground again. “You do realize that I never plan to get on a horse again.” She wasn’t joking, either.

  He unstrapped the saddle on Molly and draped it on the railing. “I figured that.”

  “Are we still dating?”

  He met her eyes over Molly’s rump. “You tell me.”

  His sideways vote of confidence in them felt like ointment on her sore muscles. She had shown him her talentless side and he still wanted to be with her. She itched to show him another part of her world. “We are, if you’re ready for round two with my family.”

  “I guess if you got on a horse twice, I can meet your family one more time.”

  “Good. We’re going out on the boat this weekend.”

  Will dipped his head to unbuckle Blackberry’s saddle. “You have a boat?” Was it her or did he sound a little choked?

  “The family does. Well, us and the bank for the next three years. You up for it?”

  “Sure,” he said, “sounds like fun.” There wasn’t a trace of excitement in his voice. Never mind. Nothing was more fun than a day on the lake.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “IT NEVER OCCURRED to you to tell her about your fear of water?” Dana said to Will, as he leaned against the door of her pickup. She was inside the cab, ready to head home with the water tank she’d asked to borrow.

  “It did, but the thing is, I’m already in trouble with her family.”

  “How so?”

  He didn’t want to count the ways again. “Let’s just say that if I refuse, I’ll come across as even more of a snob. They wouldn’t believe that I only like water if it’s coming out of a tap.”

  “They’ll know Saturday.”

  “I might be able to fake it.”

  “How do you intend to do that?”

  “I sit on a boat, don’t I?”

  “You mean like Krista had to sit on a horse?”

  Will’s
stomach churned as if he was already on the water.

  “You could take lessons,” Dana said.

  “Yes. But they happen in places where there’s deep water.”

  “You must’ve drowned in your previous life or something. You’ve always been scared of water. Janet said bath time when you were a kid nearly broke her. Deal, buddy. After all, Krista got on a horse for you, and we all know she’d rather plug staples in her hand.”

  “A horse can’t kill you.”

  Dana raised an eyebrow at his shoulder where the horse had kicked, narrowly missing his head.

  “Fair enough. Maybe I can figure out a way—”

  Dana tensed, her eye on the truck that had just turned in. Keith, back from work early. He moseyed his way up to the house and Dana shifted into drive. “I better go.”

  Will and Dana hadn’t talked about Keith since the wedding, and Keith hadn’t filled Will in on his version of events. That in itself spoke of the rawness between them.

  Krista would use the opportunity to apply salve to the wound. He preferred to leave it alone, except he’d promised Krista he’d talk to Keith and a good three weeks had already passed. She hadn’t prodded him yet. The social media fallout and their own dating disasters were distraction enough. “I take it you two haven’t talked since the wedding.”

  Dana pulled a face. “Plenty about Austin. He texted me about the first word which was good. But if I’d kept my mouth shut at the wedding, he would’ve called me. Now, he mostly texts. And I try to time seeing Austin when he’s not around. Like today.” She played with the wheel, clearly wanting to go. “Anyway, I probably deserve it, right? I threw you over and then he does it right back to me.”

  Keith parked the truck at the house and disappeared inside with bags of groceries. He didn’t look their way, even though he must’ve seen Dana’s truck. He could’ve at least waved. “Not a question of deserving,” Will said, “but for the record, this only proves that I’m the smarter brother.”

  Dana was churning out road dust when Keith reappeared with a box under his arm. The part for the hay binder. Good.

  They reached the broken hay binder at the same time. Keith shook out a pair of coveralls. “Dana short on water?”