She turned her head slowly. “That came out of nowhere.”
“Yep, it did.”
“Your family is great. Love Mesa and her independence. Your sisters are very different, but then so are their husbands. And what did Mesa mean by that last remark?”
Wil frowned. “I hoped you didn’t hear that.”
“I did. What did it mean?”
“It’s the hair.”
“Mine or yours?”
“Yours.”
“What’s wrong with my hair? I washed it so it doesn’t stink. Hell, I even shaved my legs.”
Wil didn’t want to spoil the day, but the look on Red’s face said that she would have an answer and he might as well spit out the real one as tell a lie that would come back to bite him on the ass later that day. Besides, he’d hated that damned awkwardness in the truck with them before. He wanted everything to be up-front and honest because he was falling fast for Pearl Richland.
“It’s red.”
“Is that a major sin in the Marshall family? Do they tar and feather red-haired women or stone them to death? That’s why your mother kept giving me funny looks across the table, isn’t it? I thought I had sweet potatoes on my face and damn near wiped my freckles off with that napkin trying to figure out where the mess was. She looked like she’d been sucking on a lemon.”
“I’m sorry.” He grinned.
Even his sexy slightly lopsided smile didn’t miraculously make everything all right.
“What’s wrong with red hair?”
“Who knows? Maybe she had a red-haired cousin she didn’t like. Kind of like those cousins that called you Red and you didn’t like them. But every time my sisters brought home a new boyfriend she’d start in before he got to the door that she hoped to hell he didn’t have red hair.”
“I wouldn’t want to bring tainted blood into your royal family.”
“It’s no big deal. She’ll get over it when she gets to know you.”
“It’s a big deal to me. And I don’t give a damn if she gets over it because I probably won’t ever see her again.”
It started as a chuckle and grew into a guffaw that came close to busting out the windows of the truck. “You are one ball of fire when you are mad,” he said between laughter and catching his breath. “And tell me, red-hot lady, what about this annulment?”
“It was a long time ago. My boyfriend broke my heart and another guy stepped up to the plate. It didn’t work and I’m glad. You got any past wives or almost wives?”
“Hell, no!” He laughed. “Not a single one. Never met anyone who could get so fired up as you can, either!”
A grin tickled the corners of her mouth. He even laughed in a Texas drawl and his brown eyes were twinkling, but she’d crawl up on a rusty old poker and ride it to hell before she laughed with him. She pointed her finger at his nose and said, “And don’t you forget it.”
“How could I forget after all the hot sex we’ve had?” He turned her finger toward the window and whispered, “Look!”
“Oh!” she gasped, forgetting in an instant that she had abominable red hair. Two fawns stood on spindling legs and romped around close to a doe that was grazing just inside the fence. “They are so cute.”
“And over there?” He pointed the other direction where three Angus calves frolicked in the pasture, kicking up their heels and butting heads.
“Black Angus, not red.”
Wil choked back a sigh. The day wasn’t supposed to be like this. His mother was supposed to take one look at Red and hear wedding bells, not see visions of red-haired grandchildren.
Don’t beat an already dead horse. Aunt Pearlita’s voice came through so loud that Pearl looked in the rearview mirror to see if her aunt was in the backseat. Why do you care anyway? Is it because you are falling in love with Wil?
Pearl crossed her arms over her chest and argued with her aunt’s voice inside her head. Helluva lot of good it would do me if I was falling for him. He’s Momma’s pretty baby and she hates redheads.
He stopped the truck and opened his door. She looked up to see a small log cabin nested in a copse of dormant pecan trees. By the time he rounded the front of the truck and opened her door, she had the seat belt undone and was scooting across the seat.
“Who lives here?”
“No one. We use it in deer season. This piece of land goes back several generations. My many-times-great-grandparents built this place as their home. It’s kind of like the Marshall historical marker.” He laced his fingers through hers and led her up the thick slab wood steps to the porch.
She forgot all about the red hair the minute his hand touched hers.
He opened the door and stood to one side. “We never lock it. No way to get to it except past the house and few people even know it’s back here anyway.”
She stepped in and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. It was one big square room with a set of bunk beds pushed up against the wall to her left and another set to her right. Straight ahead was the kitchen area with an old black potbellied stove and small dorm-sized refrigerator. Cabinets had no doors and she could see stacks of plates, cups, and saucers as well as grocery staples. Above the sink a squeaky clean window looked out over the naked trees. Crispy white curtains had been pushed to the sides to allow sunlight to flow in the room.
“I’ll make a fire to take the chill off,” Wil said.
“We can stay that long?”
“You over twenty-one?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
He grinned. “Are you?”
“You know I am.”
He pulled a patchwork quilt from a bottom bunk and wrapped it around her shoulders. “So am I, so I guess we can stay as long as we want, can’t we?”
“Thank you,” she muttered seconds before his lips found hers in a scorching kiss. The quilt and kiss knocked the chill right out of her body.
“Cuddle up on that sofa. It’s older than Noah but it’s comfortable. It makes out into a bed. I’ve slept on it dozens of times since I got old enough to come back here with Dad and his brothers and all my cousins on hunting trips.”
No bad boy, cowboy, or any kind of boy had ever affected her like Wil did. His touches, his kisses, and everything about him was oh so right. She settled into the corner of the sofa, pulling the quilt tighter around her body like a shield against all the emotions and feelings that bombarded her from every side. She couldn’t see him building a fire but she could hear every movement and he was whistling “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” an old Elvis tune.
The door to the old stove shut with a bang and suddenly he was on the sofa right beside her, tugging at the quilt and melting up against her for warmth. “It’ll be warm in a few minutes, but right now I believe this place could put icicles on Lucifer’s nose.”
“That’s pretty cold.”
He tucked the quilt in, making a cocoon with the two of them in the center. Then one hand slowly snuck out and cupped her chin. “I believe we were in the middle of a making out session when I felt you shiver.”
She shut her eyes and braced herself for the zing.
His thumb teased in that soft, sensitive area below her ear and suddenly she could hear a whole orchestra behind Elvis as he sang the song Wil had been whistling. He teased her mouth open and did a flirting dance with her tongue. The room began to warm from the fire but Pearl didn’t need it anymore. She and Wil were generating enough heat that the quilt hit the floor with her shawl soon following it.
Without breaking away from her delicious lips, he picked her up and carried her to the nearest bunk. He meant to lie her down gently but wound up tumbling into the bed with her, their bodies plastered together without enough room for a beam of sunlight between them.
Need took precedence and she forgot all about the argument or the fact that the door didn’t have a lock or anything else. She and Wil tore at each other’s clothes as if they had to prove that nothing could keep them from each o
ther.
When they were naked, he pulled the quilt from the upper bunk and wrapped it over them as he covered her face in hot kisses and sunk himself inside her to prove that she was still his woman even though they’d argued.
It wasn’t like anything they’d shared before. It was furious, fast, hot, and quick with both of them panting when it was over. He rolled to one side and held her tightly.
“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely.
“For what? I wanted it just like that. I had to know right then that you…”
He waited while she struggled with the words. “That I love you. I do, Red. I know it’s too soon to tell you that but I do.”
She pulled his mouth over to hers and whispered, “It’s not too soon. I love you too, but…”
He finished the sentence for her. “But we’ve got to slow this wagon down or it’s going to burn to the ground with the heat.”
“Does that mean an encore is out of the question?” she asked.
“Hell, no! Give me a minute to catch my breath,” he said.
Chapter 19
Dusk was settling around the motel when Wil walked her to the lobby door and waited while she fished her key chain from her purse.
“Tomorrow night?” he asked.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and rolled up on her toes for a kiss. “No,” she said just before their lips met.
When he broke the kiss, he asked, “Why?”
“You said it, Wil. We really do have to slow things down. You aren’t going to back out on going with me on Sunday, are you?”
Lucy yelled from the other end of the motel. “I saw you comin’ home. I’d run up to my room to get a bite of supper while there was a quiet minute but I kept an eye on the place in case someone needed to check in.”
“Hi, Lucy,” Wil said and then whispered to Pearl, “I won’t back out.”
Pearl nodded, but she wasn’t convinced. His momma didn’t like red hair. In a week’s time that could change the whole course of the universe.
Lucy unlocked the door.
Wil dropped a quick kiss on Pearl’s forehead and whistled all the way back to the car.
“We had a slow evening but…” Lucy clamped a hand over her mouth. “You went to bed with Wil. I can see it in your eyes. How did you manage to do that at his momma’s house?”
“We took a drive and there’s a cabin.”
“What’re you goin’ to do now?”
“We’re going to dinner at my folks next Sunday, if he doesn’t find some excuse not to go.”
“But that’s a whole week,” Lucy said. “When me and Cleet were first in love we couldn’t hardly go a whole day without seein’ each other.”
Pearl had told Wil that she loved him but she wasn’t ready to admit it to anyone else. “You don’t have to be in love to have sex.”
“I agree.” Lucy nodded. “After I found out what kind of man Cleet was I had lots of sex with him, but I dang sure wasn’t in love no more. Didn’t his momma know when you got back to the house? Lord, it’s written all over your face.”
“We didn’t go back. Wil called and said that I had to get back to work and Lucy, she don’t like red hair so she’s not going to like me.”
“Bullshit! She can get over that part, and if she can’t then that’s her tough luck. You are a wonderful person and don’t you forget it. You hungry?”
“Starvin’,” Pearl said.
“Why don’t you run up to the Sonic and get yourself a hamburger and let me take care of things here? It’ll do you good to ride a spell. It did me. Don’t bring your supper home. Sit up there and watch the people. Turn on the radio and listen to some good old country music and you’ll get out of them blues.”
Pearl stood up and picked up her purse from the counter where she’d dropped it. “You’re right, and thanks, Lucy. How many guests we got tonight?”
“Three so far. Get on out of here and go get a burger or one of those steak sandwiches. After what you been doin’ you got to be hungry,” Lucy said.
“Thanks. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Pearl said.
“Hey, take your time,” Lucy yelled as Pearl crossed the lobby.
Blake Shelton’s voice singing “The Baby” came through the speakers of the old work truck when she fired up the engine. Evidently Lucy liked the country music channels too. She remembered Wil’s sisters saying the song had been written about him. As the song played she agreed that it fit him perfectly. He might not have been all those things that Blake mentioned, but there was no doubt he’d always be his momma’s baby.
Just like you, her conscience yelled.
“Yes, I am, but I’m not spoiled as bad as he is.”
She drove west into town and pulled into a spot at the Sonic. She rolled down the window and pushed the button, ordered a steak sandwich, large fries, and chocolate malt. A tinny voice came through the speakers telling her the amount she owed. She dug around in her purse and brought out two five-dollar bills.
The wind had picked up and swept across her face. She quickly rolled the window up and looked around just in time to see Wil crawling into the passenger’s seat. Her eyebrows shot up.
“What are you doin’ here?”
He leaned across the seat and kissed her. “I was hungry. Should’ve asked you if you wanted something before I left you. Sorry about that.”
He reached across the seat and laid a hand on her shoulder. If only he could hug her tightly and never let her go, but there was something that scared the holy hell out of him. He’d found his soul mate, but what if she hadn’t? What if in a year or two or three, or after a child or four or five, she decided she wanted to party again?
She wanted to undo his shirt, run her fingers over that broad chest, and dig her nails into his back; to nibble on his lip and watch his eyes go soft and dreamy when he looked at her. It felt right. Matter-of-fact, it felt damn good. But what if it really was a flash in the pan and when the heat died out she was left with nothing but a heart full of ashes?
“There’s my order. See you on Sunday. Alright if I call you during this wake?” she said.
“What wake?” he asked hoarsely.
“The death-of-an-attraction wake.”
“Yes, you can call.” He smiled and brushed a soft kiss across her lips. “Good night again, Red.”
“Good night, Wil. You really aren’t just putting the brakes on so you don’t have to go to my folks’ place, are you?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Red,” he said.
He paid for his order and drove away, leaving her sitting there, the only car in the entire parking lot. It was a very lonely place to be, especially when her heart wanted to follow him out to the ranch.
Chapter 20
Wil hiked a leg on the fence and looked out over his cattle grazing on big round bales of hay that he’d grown on his land the previous spring and summer. The ranch was prospering and there was still a nest egg in the bank from his rodeo days in case of a bad year. He hadn’t had to go to the bank for an agricultural loan yet, and as long as the land supported itself he’d be in good shape.
The ranch had been his dream since he’d been big enough to ride a stick horse all over the front yard, but that morning he wanted more than land and cows. The yearning to have someone to share his life with had become so strong in the past few weeks that he felt like poor old Rye had when he’d gone love drunk over Austin.
He heard the rattle of a truck before he could actually see it. He tipped back his hat and watched the truck come into sight. He was disappointed when it was Ace Riley and not Red’s little hand-me-down truck.
He and Ace, along with Rye, Dewar, and Raylen O’Donnell, had all lived close together and had grown up at rodeos and ranch sales. Ace crawled out of his truck, shook the legs of his jeans down over his work boots, and started toward the pasture fence. Wil was several inches taller than Ace, who topped the chart at five feet ten inches tall, making him the shortest of the five men who w
ere fast friends. He had blond curly hair that looked like he’d been dipped in a DNA pool over in Africa. He wore it short and didn’t attempt to tame it other than slapping an old felt hat on his head that made his head sweat in the summer and the curls even tighter. His eyes were blue as a robin’s egg and he had a barbed wire tat around his upper left arm just like Rye O’Donnell had.
Wil smiled when he thought about the tat. He and Rye and Ace were finally all twenty-one years old. They’d been to a rodeo down in Mesquite, Texas, and had far too many shots with beer chasers after the dance at the end of the rodeo that night. Rye was whining about his woman running off and leaving him and how he’d never trust another female. Ace was driving, even though he couldn’t have passed a Breathalyzer test from six feet away. Wil was almost asleep when the truck stopped dead and Ace told Rye to get out.
Wil had looked up to see the flashing neon sign of a tattoo parlor and Ace telling Rye that he was tired of listening to his bitchin’.
“We’re goin’ to go get us some barbed wire around our arms. Our left arms,” he’d said with a slur. “You comin’, Wil?”
Wil had asked them why they were getting a tattoo in the middle of the night.
“Me and Rye ain’t made for marryin’. We’re goin’ to put a barbed wire tat on our left arm right up next to our hearts and never let a woman get past it, ain’t we, Rye?”
“Damn straight!” Rye’d said.
Now it was eleven years later. Rye was married and he and Austin were happy as a couple of kittens in the milk house. Ace still swore the tat was his guardian angel and he’d never marry, not even if she was rich and beautiful.
Since Wil had met Pearl Richland, he wasn’t so quick to vow that he wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship, with or without barbed wire tattooed around his arm.
“On my way over to Wichita Falls to pick up a tractor part. Tryin’ to get everything in workin’ order before spring hits and we don’t have time to breathe,” Ace hollered as he made his way toward Wil.
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