Lone Star Woman
Page 19
He thought about irony. Besides the unexpected meeting with Jack Durham, there was the even more unexpected encounter with Mark Howard, one of his former Fort Worth subcontractors and a hunting buddy. What were the chances of running into him at a Denny’s halfway between Fort Worth and Lockett on a Sunday afternoon? He and Mark knew each other well enough for Mark to give him an elbow nudge and ask who Jude was. And Brady had answered with a lie, which was just plain dumb. One lie only led to another. With so many sightings, it seemed almost inevitable that his lost weekend with Jude would get back to the Circle C. He puffed his cheeks and blew out a breath.
A small sound came from Jude, and he glanced at her again. She turned toward him and resettled herself, still sleeping. Her shiny hair fell over her shoulder like a silky waterfall, and the black lace continued to peek at him. Looking on the bright side, if one could be found, maybe he had nothing to worry about. Jack didn’t know Jude, and Brady could think of no reason for him to call up the Circle C’s horse wrangler and discuss her. And Brady was sure she wouldn’t be telling her daddy or anybody else around Lockett where and how she had spent Saturday night. Plus, hadn’t she made it clear she didn’t expect to be seeing Brady Fallon again?
. . . I’m not necessarily looking for a, uh . . . boyfriend.
He should be happy about that. But he wasn’t.
Jude opened her eyes to familiar surroundings. A change in the pickup’s engine noise had awakened her. They had left the interstate, which meant they were approximately a hundred miles from Lockett. She blinked herself awake. “We’re almost home.”
“Good thing you were asleep. Dodging all those semis with my eyes closed was hair-raising. I’ve run off the road four times.”
She looked at him with a start. “You have not.”
“No, but I sure could use a nap. You ever pulled a horse trailer?”
She gave him a thin-lipped scowl. “What do you think? Would you like for me to drive?”
“Would you mind? I’m barely staying awake.”
“I’m refreshed now. I can drive.”
He slowed and eased to a stop on the shoulder, and they switched places. Once they were moving again, he turned on the radio and fell sound asleep.
Jude drove into the 6-0’s driveway in the late afternoon. They climbed out of the pickup to a pleasant temperature, familiar scents of sage and cedar in the air and the ever-present breeze. After standing in the trailer all day with no water and exercising only once since this morning, the horses needed to be unloaded and watered immediately. Brady went about the task, and Jude felt obligated to help. Together, they led the three animals to the water tank kept full by the windmill, and the animals drank long and deeply.
“I want to check the fence one more time,” Brady said, “then I’ll get your truck out of the shed.”
“I’ll help you,” Jude said.
Going in opposite directions, they left the horses to drink and began to walk the perimeter of the small fenced pasture attached to the barn. Part of Jude dreaded the end of the chores and going home. Not wanting to go home was a new and confusing idea. She had never disliked going home to the Circle C.
After he was satisfied with the fence, they returned to the front of the house. He opened the pickup door and lifted her duffel and purse off the backseat. As she took them from him, her heart suddenly swelled in her throat again and she glanced up and caught him looking back at her in an odd way. The air shimmied between them, just as it had the first day she saw him in this very driveway. “I appreciate your going out of your way to take me to Fort Worth, Brady. At least I won’t have to lie to Daddy about the painting.”
“I didn’t mind. Thanks again for helping me in the trailer. But I already told you that.”
Emotions ping-ponged within her. This distance between them was insane. They had spent hours making love. His hands and mouth had been all over her. Hers all over him, too. He had been inside her, had taken her to places within herself she didn’t know were there. “Brady—”
“Don’t, Jude. Neither one of us is looking to get into something complicated. We had a good time, but it would be dumb not to end this right now.”
A good time? She hesitated, fearing she could be on the verge of an all-out breakdown.
“If you’ll give me your keys, I’ll warm up your truck and back it out of the shed,” he said.
She dug in her purse and handed him her pickup keys. He reached out and brushed her cheek with his rough thumb, his eyes holding hers in a gentle embrace. “Remember, J.D. and your grandpa are waiting for you. I’m sure they want to hear all about that pretty painting.”
She tried to laugh, but her nose was suddenly so plugged, she could scarcely draw a good breath.
“I’m gonna go get your truck,” he said. “You gonna be okay?”
She nodded and looked away.
He walked off, and soon she heard the clatter of her pickup’s diesel engine.
He drove the Dodge over to where she stood and stepped out. A corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. “Guess I’ll get initiated tomorrow. J.D. said they’re starting to wean the spring calves. Do you help with that?”
She let out a shaky breath. “No. Daddy and Grandpa won’t hear of it. Grandpa says a woman doing that kind of work is unladylike. Never mind that his mother did it. And Daddy says it’s dirty and dangerous.”
“I’d say that’s all true.”
“Please. Now you sound like them. Those are only surface excuses, anyway. The real reasons go much deeper.”
She managed a pathetic laugh. “They don’t think I’m totally worthless, though. They let me buy bulls, so in a way I’ve got some control.”
“If a man’s in the cattle business, the bull buyer’s pretty important.”
“Yeah, I know.” She climbed behind the wheel and buzzed down the window. The thought of driving out of the driveway and parting from him filled her chest with pain. Why couldn’t she just simply go home and tell Daddy she had found someone she wanted to be with, someone she enjoyed more than she had ever enjoyed Webb Henderson or Jason Weatherby? What was wrong with that someone being a ranch hand?
But those were silly questions. She knew what they would find wrong. She had heard it from both of them since she was old enough to know the difference between girls and boys.
Brady hooked his hands on the windowsill. “You take care, you hear?”
She looked him in the eye. “You, too.”
He stepped back from the door. She buzzed up the window and drove away. She took forty minutes to make the twenty-minute drive from the 6-0 to the Circle C. Doing it without tears had to be one of the greatest feats of will she had ever accomplished. By the time she reached home, through sheer willpower, she had gotten a handle on her emotions.
It was nearly suppertime when she parked in the garage, but she wasn’t hungry. What she really wanted to do was slink up to her room, bathe and bury herself under the covers, but trying to escape supper without hurting Grandpa’s feelings was more trouble than it was worth. She pulled down her visor and checked the whisker burns on her face again. They were much less obvious now. The cream she had used this morning had helped. For supper, she could cover them with makeup. Then it dawned on her: She had no bags and boxes from a shopping spree. Damn. Now she had to make up another lie.
Daddy and the aroma of Tex-Mex spices met her at the back door. Daddy was smiling and happy to see her. He pecked her cheek, but she broke away from him without a hug, fearing he would detect that she smelled like sex.
“How was your trip?” He took her duffel from her hand.
“Exhausting.”
“Where’s your loot?” He looked around her, obviously seeking something else to carry for her.
“Oh, we didn’t go shopping. There was a good movie playing, so we did that.”
She started for the stairs, and he accompanied her. “You saw the painting, though?”
She was more grateful than ever that she had aske
d Brady to take her to Fort Worth—and that he had been willing. “Yes, we did. And it’s beautiful, Daddy. You’ll have to be sure to go over there to see it. I brought you a flyer. We went out to the Amon Carter, too.” Being able to tell the truth, even if only a half-truth, almost chased away her fatigue.
“You can tell me about the Boren later. It’s nearly suppertime. Hurry and get dressed. Clary’s gonna eat with us.”
That information almost froze her in place, but she managed to breezily say, “Okay.”
She showered and shampooed, dressed in a cotton eyelet prairie dress and tan huaraches, then went downstairs to the kitchen. Irene had made enchiladas, and Windy had fried tortilla chips and put together a black bean salad to go with them. He told her that Daddy and Clary were in the office and Daddy wanted her to join them for a drink. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted to do less, but she set her jaw and made her way to Daddy’s office. As soon as she entered, her father and Clary stood.
Clary nodded to her. “How’re you this ev’nin’, Miss Jude?” Clary Harper was a middle-aged man who had a deep voice and a strong Texas twang, as did most of the local people. For supper with Daddy and Grandpa, he had slicked his hair back and put on a starched white shirt and a blue silky neckerchief. Familiar surroundings with familiar people. Little by little, Jude was starting to feel comfortable in her own skin again. “Good, Clary. What exciting things are going on with the horses?”
“Just makin’ sure our mounts are all in good shape for the weanin’.”
Daddy handed her a drink of whiskey diluted with water and she sipped it. “That’s good. Wish I could go with you.”
“Now, you don’t wish that, Miss Jude. It’s a man’s job. Bein’ out in that ol’ sun all day would just cook yore pretty skin, and that ol’ wind would grind that swirlin’ sand clear through you.”
“I’ve told her the same thing, Clary,” Daddy said, smiling at her. He held a chair for her.
She sat and he moved to his desk chair. “The new man’s starting tomorrow,” he said to Clary, and Jude felt a little prick in her intestines. “He’s a good-size man, so he’ll need a couple of strong mounts. He looks stout, and he’s no greenhorn. I expect he can handle a strong horse.”
Misery settled within Jude along with a memory of Brady throwing himself onto Sweet Sal’s back. Indeed he could handle a strong horse, and he was anything but a greenhorn.
Clary Harper behaved no differently from how he always had. She became convinced that Jack Durham hadn’t rushed home and called him to discuss the woman who sat beside him at the horse sale in Amarillo. As much as she was in no mood for company, Jude was glad for Clary’s presence. With company for supper, no one would spend too much time asking about her trip to Fort Worth.
Supper ended early in anticipation of rising early to load the gear and horses for the thirty-five-mile trip to the north pastures and the weaning pens. There, roughly three thousand head of prime Circle C mother cows and their calves lived—close to half the ranch’s herd. Even Grandpa would be going. He no longer participated in separating the cows and calves, but he could still sit his old horse, and he liked to watch the work.
He made no mention of an evening walk, which suited Jude fine.
15
Jude had been at the 6-0 almost an hour, time enough to walk to the barn and the pasture behind it and look at the horses. A month had passed since she had seen Brady Fallon. He hadn’t attended the Circle C’s Fourth of July picnic, held every year for the ranch hands. Jude had almost not attended herself, for fear of running into Brady. She couldn’t keep from wondering if he hadn’t come because he didn’t want to run into her.
But not seeing him did not mean he hadn’t been a presence in her life. His face with its intense eyes had loomed like a specter in her restless nights. His pickup, parked in the same spot in the big barn’s parking lot every day, sat there like a permanent monument. Nightly at supper, Daddy extolled his praises. Daddy thought the man hung the moon, said he was the best hand he had ever hired.
Through all of Daddy’s acclimation of Brady’s worth, Grandpa had rarely commented or even asked questions, which was unusual. He had always voiced his opinions. She hadn’t walked with him much in the past month. The weaning had taken two weeks, and he had been too tired in the evenings. Lately he had complained of not feeling well.
Still, they had walked some, but no matter how much she tried to tactfully pry, he said nothing about Brady or the 6-0. His restraint was starting to make Jude worry about what he might be up to. She hadn’t forgotten the first conversation they’d had about his interest in the 6-0 land. All of it reminded Jude of how alone Brady was in his struggle to keep and rebuild his aunt’s old ranch. And this was what had brought her here today.
She had taken extra care with her appearance—bathed in skin-softening body wash, washed her hair with cucumber-scented shampoo, taken extra pains with her eye makeup. Luckily, she didn’t have to explain why to anyone, because she couldn’t really explain it to herself.
Now, attempting to escape the afternoon heat while waiting for Brady to come home, she sat in the shade on the Victorian house’s rickety front porch overlooking the caliche driveway. She studied the traces of white paint left on the gingerbread trim that spanned the eaves, letting snippets of her last conversation with Brady tumble through her mind.
. . . I’m not necessarily looking for a, uh . . . boyfriend. . . .
I wasn’t holding up a sign saying I was looking for a girlfriend, either. . . .
A month since they had said those words in his pickup.
Soon the tan Silverado turned off the highway and started up the driveway. Her heart lifted. The pickup came to a stop in front of the house, and Brady climbed out, one limb at a time. His languid movement told her that he was worn-out.
She watched without moving as he lifted chaps out of the pickup bed, slung them over his shoulder and came toward her in his loose, long-legged gait. With the afternoon sun at his back and his hat set low on his brow, she couldn’t clearly see his face, but through shimmering waves of heat and dust, she could see his long, lean body. The late afternoon breeze molded his long-sleeve shirt to clearly defined biceps. A red neckerchief sagged around his neck. Dirty blue denim swathed his slim hips and muscled thighs. His spurs clanked with every step. He was all cowboy, all the time, a man of the West who more than talked the talk. The awareness of that fact and his potent masculinity sweetly squeezed her most secret places. She recognized it now for what it was. She had felt it every time she had seen him. She thought of that day in Stephenville when he had jumped on Sal’s back. Her stomach involuntarily twitched.
He was almost to the porch before she could see his eyes, and when she did, her heart turned over.
“Hey,” he said in his soft, deep voice. He sat down beside her on the porch, his shirtsleeve touching her arm. He untied his neckerchief, slid it off and dropped it on the porch. “What’s up?”
She detected no antagonism. In fact, she thought he behaved as if they were friends who had seen each other only yesterday. Relief flooded her. She hadn’t known what to expect when he came home and found her sitting on his porch. He leaned forward and began unbuckling his spurs, his shirt stretched tight across his wide back, emphasizing the flex of his powerful shoulders.
His boots and wash-worn Wranglers were covered with a layer of West Texas red dust. A wide swath of brown stained one side of his blue chambray shirtfront. Jude recognized it as dried blood. “What’s up with you? You’re bloody.”
He looked up at her over his shoulder. That mischievous, knee-buckling grin that made creases at the corners of his sky blue eyes and showed his perfect white teeth filled her with warmth. It was even more devastating coming from a dirty face and dark-stubbled jaws. “One of the heifers had a problem. But we fixed it.”
She nodded. “Naturally.” She looked around. “What’s been going on around here? I walked back and looked at the horses. They look to be all
settled in.”
He lifted his mangled straw hat and ran splayed dirty fingers through sweat-dampened hair. His hair was longer now, she noticed. It curled over his collar. “I’ve ridden them a couple of times.” He set the hat back on and tugged the brim low. “But I’ve been working in the barn, mostly. When I’ve had time. Right now, getting the barn fixed up is more important than anything else.”
“We didn’t see you at the picnic.” A fishing question, probably obvious.
“I went to Fort Worth to see my boy.”
“Oh.” She nodded. “You got through the weaning okay? None of Grandpa’s horned Hereford mothers hooked you or anything?”
He chuckled, a low rumble that made her shiver. She remembered the sound from Stephenville. “Nah. Sure is something to see, though. Horned Herefords. Not too many of those old girls around these days.” He dropped the spurs onto the porch deck with a clunk.
“I know. They’re all purebreds, too. Grandpa loves them. The only things he loves more are the longhorns he keeps as pets. I suppose you’ve seen those by now.”
He nodded and straightened.
“Those Herefords are a mark in time, but they’re part of what should be changed. The crossbreeds thrive better and have less trouble calving. Daddy’s letting me buy some Angus bulls, so little by little black baldies are starting to show up, but it hasn’t been easy with Grandpa’s attitude.”
“I’m glad to see you.”
The words, unexpected, sent a thrill all the way up her spine. He reached up, lifted her sunglasses off her nose and gingerly pushed back strands of her hair that had strayed to one cheek. A proprietary gesture. She didn’t even care that his hands were filthy. She smiled. “Me, too.”
“But what are you doing here?” He set her sunglasses back on, and the thrill vanished.
“I came to offer you my help.”
He looked down, scratching one eyebrow with his thumb. “Lord, Jude. Your help gets risky. What is it you’re wanting to help me with?”