Willow Smoke (Riders Up Book 3)

by Adriana Kraft

  She entered the kitchen running a brush through her tangled hair. Underwood sat at the card table sipping coffee. He took one brief look at her and spewed coffee from his lips. Quickly, he grabbed a paper towel to clean up the mess. Daisy continued brushing her hair, ignoring his discomfort.

  “Geez, kid, if you’re going to put on a show, save it for a guy your own age. Can’t you find anything that’d cover up your belly button? I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep all the guys from pawing you, if you go out like that.”

  “I’m used to taking care of myself.” Daisy set the hairbrush down and poured herself a cup of coffee. She hid her smile. She had his attention. Was Nicholas Underwood as aware of his arousal as she was? “I didn’t ask you here. If I’m too ugly for your taste, you can leave now.”

  “Holy shit. I never meant to imply that you’re ugly. You’re too damn gorgeous for my heart.”

  She sat down, crossed her legs and followed his eyes as they took in the view. Nonchalantly, she wiggled her toes.

  He gasped.

  Thank God for those tapes on seduction. Nicholas Underwood was going to be easier than she’d thought. If he got any hotter, his glasses would steam over. But not yet. No, there were still things to be done. She wasn’t ready for the momentous event. Soon, but not now.

  “So, I take it you’re a Cubs fan.”

  He nodded, shook his head and seemed to regain his equilibrium. “My neighbors think I’m a traitor. If you live on the South Side, you’re traditionally a White Sox fan; if you live on the North Side then you root for the Cubs.”

  “But you’re not a traditionalist.”

  “Hardly.”

  “So where do you live?”

  “Kenwood.”

  “Ah.”

  Nick frowned. “I believe I detected a little reverse classism. Yes, I have a lot of money. Yes, I live in a big house. Yes, I give to a lot of good causes. Yes, I’m hooked on...race horses, for the moment. I want to talk to you about how I go about buying some more, but not today. That sounds too much like work. This is your day off. It’s the Cubs.”

  “How do you know I didn’t have other plans?”

  “I guessed. Maybe it was a hope more than a guess.” He scowled. “But maybe it was a mistake. You look different here in your own space. More domestic. More at home. More...”

  “More woman, maybe?”

  Nick blew out air and coughed. “Oh, I’ve not missed that fact.” He righted his glasses on his nose. “I’ve got to use the head, and then we better think about driving to the ballpark. It’ll be good to be in a crowd. You’ve got a nice pad here, kid. Nice library. You could use a better computer, though. The one in your office area is ancient.”

  “It’s what I can afford.” She stood and placed their cups in the sink.

  “Didn’t mean to make you defensive.”

  Daisy rinsed the dishes while Underwood used her bathroom. Did Underwood have a maid? He probably did, as well as a gardener. Well, her space was adequate for her needs. She hadn’t invited him here. That would never have occurred to her.

  “Only one toothbrush,” he said, coming up behind her.

  She spun around to face him. “What did you expect?”

  “There you go getting your back up again. I wasn’t expecting anything. I was just commenting. One toothbrush looked lonely, but I liked it that way.”

  “I guess I’m pleased I didn’t disappoint you.” He was standing too close. She could hardly breathe.

  He brushed a lock of hair back off her forehead and ran an index finger down the length of her nose before pressing it against her lips. His eyes flared with passion and then immediately cooled. He backed away. “We’d best be going,” he said, gruffly. “Before I make a fool of myself,” she heard him whisper under his breath. “Put shoes on, grab a bag or whatever. I’ll wait for you outside. I need some air.”

  Tingling from toe to crown, Daisy hurried to find her best sneakers. She wet her lips, avoiding where his finger had been. Even the videos couldn’t do justice to the kinds of electrical charges that’d coursed through her body when his finger had made its way slowly down her nose to settle on her lips.

  She’d thought he was going to kiss her. She was more than a little disappointed that he hadn’t. But there was no question that he now regarded her as a woman. He was probably still hung up on age, but age didn’t matter for her purposes.

  “Jones is the man,” Nick declared. “He carries this team when he has to. And he’s a team player when that’s needed. He’s the kind of person I like on my team.”

  Daisy nodded, biting down on a soft pretzel. The batter Nick pointed out didn’t look any different than any other player, but he must be. At that moment, Nick’s player swung. The bat made a cracking sound that surprised Daisy. She watched the ball sail over the leftfield bleachers onto Waveland Avenue. Now that was power. It was like watching a horse determined to get to the wire first over any and all challengers. And Nick Underwood clearly loved the game of baseball.

  “Okay, that was the power game. Now watch this next batter. He needs to get a hit. One out. He may even try to bunt to get on.”

  “Ball one,” cried the ump.

  “Did you see that?” Nick asked, without taking his eyes off the batter. “He faked the bunt. Now the third baseman and first baseman are edging in toward home plate. The infield is getting smaller, making it easier for him to hit away.”

  Daisy wasn’t certain she understood everything Nick was telling her, but she enjoyed watching the tension rise. They sat in the third row between home plate and first base. She could see the batter trying not to give away what he was going to do.

  On the next pitch he swung and lined a ball over the third baseman’s head. Nick stood and cheered wildly. For a man who was reasonably quiet at the race track, he sure made a lot of noise at a ballgame. As if sensing her question, he sat back down. “Hope I’m not embarrassing you. This is different. Money is involved with the horses. This is pure and simple recreation. Nothing is on the line for me.”

  “I didn’t realize there was so much strategy involved in baseball. Games were on the TV at the group home, but I never bothered to watch. Looked too boring.”

  “Boring! There’s as much strategy in baseball as in horse racing. Hell, there’s strategy in anything worth pursuing.”

  Daisy grinned broadly, reached over and squeezed his thigh, then placed her other hand on his neck and her lips close to his ear. “Old man, you overwhelm me with wisdom far beyond my years. I’ll bet there’s a lot more you could share, if you wanted to.”

  Covering her hand with his, Nick lifted it and returned it to her lap. His fingers brushed her inner thigh; he jerked away as if he’d been singed by a blazing fire.

  He awkwardly rose from his seat. “I’ve got to make a call. You want anything more to eat?”

  “No, I’m fine. You’re not going to leave me here alone for long are you?”

  Nick sighed; his shoulders slouched. “Kid, I don’t have the faintest idea what I’m going to do with you.”

  - o -

  Stomping up the stairs toward the restrooms, Nick hoped his erection wasn’t too damned obvious. What the hell had gotten into Willow today? There was no question what she was after. At least he didn’t think there was. Though the only truth about women he’d learned was that not one of them was predictable.

  She was too young. But dammit, he was a man. Why would she want to risk their partnership with romance? The only place romance ended up was broken hearts or strained goodbyes.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t find her attractive. She was damn sexy. There was no difficulty imagining her body entangled with his. Earlier, at her apartment, he’d wanted to run his tongue over her lips and explore the interior of her mouth. That slight overbite intrigued him. It had possibilities that only made him grow harder.

  So what was holding him back? Age. Pure and simple. But if it didn’t matter to her, why should it matter to him? He had no an
swer. When he looked at her, he only saw Willow: vibrant, bright, captivating. What did she see when she looked at him?

  Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to drop by her apartment. He’d wanted to see her laugh. He chewed a fingernail. Damn, the track was a safer place.

  - o -

  “You better stand aside unless you want to get soaked.” Daisy, up to her armpits in soap suds, sprayed water over the bay gelding’s back and down his flanks. He’d just run second in a claiming race for horses who had not won three races in their lifetime.

  Nick moved away from the splattering water. “So should we try to claim a horse like him?”

  Daisy straightened and assessed the horse as if for the first time. Without glancing at Nick, she returned to her task of bathing the animal. “Depends on how much you want to spend and at what level you want to compete. This guy is a twenty thousand dollar claimer who is earning his keep, barely.”

  “What if I wanted to buy four more horses to go along with Blaze? Using her as the foundation, let’s think of two horses better than she is and two maybe not as good. Diversification is the key to the stock market; I don’t know about the horse business.”

  Daisy walked over to the spigot and turned off the water. Returning, she began scraping excess water from Rocky’s coat. “Probably as good as any strategy. You’d be competing at different levels, maybe trying to find your niche.”

  “How do I start?”

  “You already have. You’ve been studying pedigrees and watching horses work on the track. I imagine you wouldn’t want to go below thirty-five-thousand dollar claimers. A horse will go up or down the claiming ranks. He may become an allowance horse, or he may wind up running for a five thousand dollar tag and we’ll hope someone claims him. But...”

  “That’s horseracing.”

  “Exactly. As far as the upper end goes, it really depends on how much you want to spend. I would recommend easing into the game. If Rainbow is worth a hundred thousand, maybe you could double that.”

  “Or triple it. Remember you always bet a little light from my perspective.”

  Daisy dropped the scraper in a bucket and glared at Underwood. “Don’t count on that.”

  Nick pursed his lips and squinted at her.

  Aware of his confusion, Daisy smiled inwardly and wondered if maybe she was learning a few things about seductive repartee. He’d certainly been quiet when they’d returned from the Cubs game. He hadn’t even bothered to come into her apartment but begged off, saying he had to get back to his factory. No matter. She was beginning to enjoy this game. She’d heard people tell stories about landing a big fish. Maybe Underwood was her big fish.

  “I need to get back over trackside,” she said, drying her hands and arms on a towel. “Cassie has a contender running in the seventh. Do you have time to come along?”

  “Sure. Is Travers a possible source for buying some horses?”

  “Maybe. Her husband certainly is. That’s pretty much what Clint does full time. He buys yearlings, trains them and then sells them as two-year-olds or three-year-olds.”

  “Sounds like a guy I need to meet.”

  - o -

  “Hurry,” Daisy shouted, grabbing Nick’s hand, nearly dragging him through a throng of people. “We don’t want to be late for the picture.”

  “Do you always go to the winner’s circle when your friends have a horse that wins?”

  “Of course,” she said, over her shoulder. “And they’ll come when Rainbow wins. That’s the way it is. It’s family.”

  They both were covering a lot of ground with long strides when Daisy pulled him through the winner’s circle gate.

  Cassie Travers, her auburn hair glistening in the sunshine and her smile as wide as possible, waved. “Hi there,” she said, beaming at Daisy. The woman’s eyes lowered to take in Daisy clutching the strange man’s hand. Her smiled turned pasty.

  Daisy dropped Nick’s hand and stammered, “Cassie, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. Nicholas Underwood. Nick, this is Cassie Travers.”

  Nick pumped Cassie’s hand. “Heard a lot of great things about you. Congratulations on your win.”

  “Everybody, look this way,” the photographer said.

  On cue, everyone in the winner’s circle smiled. Then the groom led the winner toward the test barn. Cassie joined Daisy and Nick as they walked back toward shedrow. “You’ve been a stranger, girl. Why don’t you drop by when you’re not busy?” She cast a meaningful look at Nicholas Underwood.

  “I’m sorry. There’s so much to tell you. I’ll try to catch up with you later in the week.”

  “All right.” Cassie scowled. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Underwood.”

  “Same here,” Nick replied.

  As Cassie returned to her barn, Nick stuffed his hands in his front pockets. “Why do I get the feeling that woman doesn’t like me?”

  Daisy put her arm through his and tugged him toward her barn. “Don’t worry about Cassie. She can be overprotective, particularly of me or her kids.”

  “Guess I can understand that. Is that why you don’t work for her anymore?”

  “In part. We both knew it was important for me to try out my wings with another trainer. I’ve learned a lot from Cassie, and she was a big help in my landing the job with Sam.”

  “But.”

  “But she can be smothering. And she’ll readily admit it. She can’t quite believe I’m grown up and on my own now. Even though that’s what she wants for me.” Daisy stopped walking and turned to face Nick. “Cassie and Clint are terrific. Once they get to know you, they’ll love you, and they have horse people contacts all over the country.”

  “Hope you’re right.” Nick ran the back of his hand across his mouth. “First impressions can be quite misleading.”

  - o -

  “What do you mean you know what you’re doing?” Cassie Travers pursed her lips, pacing rapidly back and forth in front of Daisy, who was lounging on a hay bale in Cassie’s shedrow area. “The man’s old enough to be...” She threw up her hands.

  Daisy gave Cassie a lazy smile that she knew drove her up the wall. This brought back group home memories; she knew how to play that game well. Passive disinterest. That was the face she’d put on, and Cassie’s Irish temper was in danger of raging out of control.

  “I know what you’re trying to pull. If you get me torqued off enough, you think I’ll apologize and give you credit for having more brains than you actually have.”

  The small spitfire of a woman was about ready to wear down. At last she came to a halt in front of her. Cassie tried to glare and then a broad smile overtook her ire. “You say the man has made you part owner of RainbowBlaze.”

  Daisy nodded.

  “He’s not showering you with all kinds of other gifts

  “Nope.”

  “I know how much Rainbow means to you; you must be walking on air.”

  “I am.” Daisy crossed her legs at the ankles. “Being part owner puts a new perspective on the whole business.”

  Cassie nodded. “I just worry for you, girl. I know how much family means to you. Every time you think you’re getting close to someone, they die or kick you in the groin.”

  Daisy shuttered her eyes.

  “Don’t try to hide from me, Daisy Ann Matthews. I know you better than anyone on this earth. You’re up to something. And I’m not sure I like it. I saw how you looked at him and how he looked at you. If you’re not in the sack with him yet, it won’t be long.”

  Daisy blushed, but remained silent.

  “I just don’t want to see you hurt again. Okay. Enough social work and mom stuff. I can see I’m not making a dent. What is it that you like about him?”

  Drawing her knees up under her chin, Daisy shrugged. “I’m not totally sure.”

  “He must have a lot of money.”

  “Yes, but that’s not it. I don’t see us having a future, if that’s what you mean. I’m taking care of my emotions.”

  Cassie�
�s eyebrows shot up. “If that’s true, it will be the first time.”

  “He’s fun. He treats me like I know something. I think he respects me for who I am.”

  “You sure he’s not just trying to get into your pants?”

  Daisy wrinkled her nose. “I wish he was. He’s too bothered by our age difference.”

  “As he should be. Does he know how old you are?”

  Daisy shook her head. “And don’t you dare tell him. If you do, I’ll never forgive you.”

  Cassie leaned against her tack room doorway. “I might like to interfere, but I won’t. You know that. I guess there’s some big lesson for you to learn in all of this; I just hope it’s not the same old one.”

  “Which is?”

  “You can’t make family out of a mirage.”

  “I’m not looking at him as family.” Daisy stood. Her fingers curled into fists and rested rigidly on her hips. “Nicholas Underwood is a nice man. He’s experienced. He’s too old, and that makes him safe.”

  Cassie studied Daisy for a long moment and then she glowed. “Well, I’ll be damned. Do you mean you’re looking at Nicholas Underwood as a sex object? Why, you calculating girl, you!” She paused. “You may be right. If he’s as gentle and good as you think.” Cassie pushed away from the doorway and resumed pacing.

  Again, she stopped in front of Daisy. “Just be careful, Daisy. You’re dealing with a lot of emotions that you haven’t ever touched. And you’re dealing with another human being. I don’t want you hurt, but you don’t want to hurt him, either.”

  “Are you telling me that you didn’t have relationships with men without assuming they would lead to wedding bells?”

  Cassie folded her arms across her chest. “Okay, you win. You’re right. It’s hard for me to let you go. But you will, whether I want you to or not. Just be careful. Practice safe sex. Give me a call if he turns out to be a louse. Clint will take care of him if it comes to that.”

  “Cassie!” Daisy scolded. “I’m hoping you and Clint will help Nick find some good horses to buy.”