Drifter's Darling (Culpepper Cowboys Book 12)

by Merry Farmer

  Elvie blushed so deeply that Evan’s pants suddenly felt uncomfortably tight as she took the bouquet. She breathed in the scent, closing her eyes the way Destiny had. The sensations that pumped through him at Elvie’s look of bliss were much, much different than anything a teenage girl could inspire in him. In fact, Destiny was still standing right there, drinking the whole thing in like a soap opera. He’d better get his act together and behave.

  “Thank you so much.” Elvie smiled as she opened her eyes. “I can’t remember the last time anyone brought me flowers.” Her comment came with an oddly frustrated tweak to her mouth. A second later, it was gone. Elvie turned to Destiny. “Would you mind finding something to put these in? And could you put them on my desk?” She turned back to Evan to say, “I want to look at them all day while I’m working and think of you.”

  She followed her sweet sentiment with a tiny gasp, as though she shouldn’t have said that out loud. Destiny rushed forward to take the flowers.

  “As long as you’re not thinking about me while fixing some poor puppy, we’re good,” Evan said to lighten the mood.

  Fortunately, Elvie laughed. Destiny did too, but Evan hardly noticed. He only had eyes for Elvie. Yep, risky or not, he’d made a great decision to come back to Culpepper.

  “You hungry?” he asked, offering his arm.

  Elvie took it and they started out of the clinic. “Starving.”

  “Where do you want to eat?”

  “I would suggest Bob’s Burger Barn, but that’s where I had lunch. Is the diner okay?”

  “It’s fine with me.”

  “Sly has been working to lure more restauranteurs to town, but that requires more building, which requires permits, which takes time,” she went on, chatting happily. Evan felt like a million bucks as he strolled across Culpepper’s main street with Dr. Elvie O’Donnell on his arm.

  No, on second thought, “a million bucks” was a terrible phrase to use when talking about how he felt. It reminded him of how close he was to losing everything, how deeply wedged into a corner he was simply by being there, falling in love.

  That was no way to let his thoughts roam when he was out with Elvie, though, so as he held the diner door for her, he pushed it all aside. At the same time, he couldn’t think of anything to say until well after they were seated in a quiet booth in the corner and the waitress had come to take their order. Even then he struggled to come up with a conversation starter that would steer clear of all of the things he really didn’t want to talk about.

  “So, did you really come back to Culpepper just so you could take me to dinner?” Elvie asked, grinning like she’d won a prize.

  So much for questions with difficult answers. “I did.” He reached for her hands across the tabletop, smile in place. He needed to think of something else to say. Really and truly. Shoot, why was it always so hard to just talk to a girl he liked?

  “Where did you go after you left the first time?” Her grin grew as if she knew how hard he was trying to be smooth and cool when he felt anything but. The way she was rubbing her thumbs over his knuckles didn’t help.

  “Uh…” Where had he gone anyhow? “I was up near Yellowstone for a bit. Did some camping. Then I had a job over near Casper.”

  Her expression lifted in surprise. “That’s a lot of traveling for one month.”

  Evan shrugged, trying not to look for signs that she disapproved or thought he was weird. Because he was weird, whether he wanted to be or not. Aunt Kissie had seen to that. “I’ve sort of been taking the summer off, drifting around, trying out different sorts of work.” There. That was a good answer. Or did it make him look unstable?

  Elvie’s smile broadened. “And you came back here for one dinner with me?”

  “Not just one, I hope,” he said before he could stop himself.

  For whatever reason, that snapped the ridiculous tension that had been winding him up. He chuckled, letting his shoulders loosen and his breathing deepen. “You probably think I’m all kinds of shifty and suspicious for showing up again after knowing you for one day last month.”

  “Actually, I’m honored.” She glanced down, almost bashfully, as she spoke, then looked up at him through her long, dark lashes. “I’m not used to having guys think of me as something special.”

  Evan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head in disbelief. “Well that’s just wrong. You’re the most special woman I’ve ever met.” Instantly, he winced at how overeager he sounded. He shifted back in his seat, letting her hands go for a second. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m trying really hard not to sound like a heavy-breathing creep here.”

  Lucky for him, Elvie laughed. “I don’t think you’re creepy at all.”

  Thank the Lord in Heaven above!

  “In fact,” she went on, “I knew we had chemistry from the instant we met.”

  “Really?” His heart sped up. This was his lucky day.

  “Yeah.” She was absolutely, completely desirable when she looked all vulnerable like she did, especially knowing how strong and confident she really was. “I mean, I don’t go around kissing guys in stables every day.”

  He laughed. “Neither do I.” He let a beat pass before saying, “Why, I’ve never kissed a guy in a stable.”

  Elvie burst into a snorting laugh. “I guess that’s fortunate for me.”

  With that, the initial awkwardness was over. Their food came, and in no time they were chatting away like two friends who had known each other for years, the way they had the day of the rodeo.

  “You sure did order a lot of food.” Evan nodded to Elvie’s plate of ribs as she dug into it.

  “I grew up with three brothers,” she said, chewing and swallowing a bite. “I can throw a ball like a guy, argue like a guy, and eat like a guy.”

  “I like it.” He grinned and bit into his burger.

  “You’re not exactly eating light yourself.” She pointed her fork at the extra side of hash he ordered to go along with his burger and fries.

  “I’ve been working hard all day on the Culpepper ranch,” he explained. “A man builds up an appetite when he works like that.”

  Her expression turned suddenly curious. “Is that what you do? Ranch work?”

  He swallowed awkwardly and had to reach for his glass of water to keep from coughing burger all over the table. Her question was innocent enough, but it was the kind of thing that led to all sorts of other questions and all the things he didn’t want to talk about. He wasn’t sure how to talk about this.

  “I grew up on a farm in Colorado,” he answered, figuring if he stuck to the distant past enough he wouldn’t have to answer questions about the present. “I’ve been earning my appetite since I was old enough to pick up a rake to muck a stall.”

  “Ooh.” Elvie sat straighter. “What kind of farm?”

  Evan shrugged. “The usual. We grew a little bit of wheat, a little sorghum.”

  “What do they even use sorghum for?”

  That was the kind of question he could answer, no problem.

  “It’s a grain and can be used for all sorts of things. We sold most of ours to a feed company.”

  “So does your family still own the farm?” Elvie asked on, tearing into another rib.

  “Yep. My pop still runs it, and mom still serves up enormous suppers every night.”

  Elvie giggled. “I love that you call your dad ‘Pop.’”

  Evan grinned. “I can’t imagine him being anything else. My Aunt Cassie always used to say…” He bit off the end of his sentence, losing his smile.

  Elvie’s expression lit with curiosity. “What did she always say?”

  The last person Evan wanted to talk about was Aunt Kissie-Cassie. He hid his slip by taking a huge bite of burger.

  Too bad for him, Elvie waited patiently until he had chewed and swallowed and taken a drink. She continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer.

  “Everyone used to say that Pop was so old fashioned he’d be more at home driving a horse
and buggy instead of his old Ford.” There. That would throw her off the track.

  “He sounds like someone I need to meet.”

  Just like that, Evan was back to feeling all warm and fuzzy. “I’d like that.”

  Now it was Elvie’s turn to blush again. “I think I would too.”

  They ate in silence for a few more minutes. Evan hated lulls in conversations. They made him feel like he’d failed to be interesting. Elvie still smiled at him as she finished up her ribs.

  At last, she said, “So what made you want to travel all over, doing odd jobs?”

  Evan’s heart sank. She couldn’t possibly know she’d just asked the most difficult and painful question that she possibly could. As much as he hated it, he was going to have to lie.

  “I just felt like I needed a change, is all.” He stared down at his plate, avoiding her eyes, poking his fork in the coleslaw that came with his meal.

  When he risked peeking up, she was studying him and chewing a fry. Oh boy. Now she was going to figure he was hiding something and kick him to the curb. It served him right, but he dreaded it all the same.

  “If it were me, I’d’ve gone to Hawaii or someplace like that,” she said.

  It took Evan a minute to realize she might not have caught on to the fact that he was trying to hide something. “I’m a simple man,” he shrugged. “I like hard work, but I also want to see things, meet people. I’m not fancy enough for Hawaii.” All of that was true.

  “I can see your point.” She tilted her head to the side. “But a little adventure now and then is a good thing, right?”

  “Right,” he answered. He wasn’t so sure, though. She might change her mind if she knew how much ‘adventure’ was chasing him around the West. “So what’s the biggest adventure you’ve ever been on?” If he couldn’t talk about himself, then he would get her to talk all about her life.

  Elvie grinned. “Well, a couple years ago, when I was living in Denver, some friends and I decided to try snowboarding.”

  As she launched into her story of her ill-fated attempt to tame the mountains, Evan finally relaxed. They definitely had a connection. He could feel it, and he was pretty sure she could too. All he needed to do was ride things out, keep his head down, and he might just be able to make something of this promising beginning.

  Without the looming threat of disaster that hung over him getting in the way.

  3

  The date was going really well. Like, really, really well. Sure, there were a few awkward moments when neither Elvie nor Evan knew exactly what to say, but that didn’t detract from the excited jiggle in Elvie’s middle. In fact, it kind of added to it. Evan was sweet and modest. He was the kind of man that made her want to take him home and bake him cookies…then jump his bones. In fact…

  “I had a lovely time tonight,” she commented as the two of them walked back to the clinic from the diner, hand in hand, looking for an opening to ask the ridiculously scandalous question she wanted to ask.

  “Me too,” Evan answered, all modest grins and shy blushes.

  “Glad you came back?”

  He caught his breath ever so slightly, then relaxed into his smile. “Yep.”

  Elvie felt a giggle rise up in her throat, but she swallowed it. What a change it was to be with a man of few words. Her brothers had always talked up a storm. Granted, there was something in that hitch of breath. There had been something behind his eyes and in the way he hadn’t looked at her while talking about himself a time or two. He was hiding something. But honestly, how dire could that secret be when Evan was the epitome of kindness and the salt of the earth.

  “It seems like a shame to end things so early in the evening,” she commented, trying to seem off-hand.

  “It does, doesn’t it.” Evan went along with her, slowing their steps once they crossed Main Street, and sauntering on toward the clinic.

  “I know I’d like to spend a lot more time getting to know you.” If she beat around the bush enough, maybe she’d get to her point by next Thursday.

  “I know the feeling,” Evan said, glancing off to the sunset on the horizon, color filling his cheeks.

  “I mean, dinner is one thing, but personally, I’d like to try to recreate a few of the moments we shared on rodeo day.”

  She peeked up at him. The sunset picked out warm highlights in his light brown hair. It accentuated the lines of his jaw and cheekbones. She caught herself wanting to trace her fingertips over those lines and planes, and more.

  “I think that would be a fine idea.” He switched his grip on her hand so that their fingers intertwined. His hands were so big that it was almost uncomfortable. Of course, she knew what those hands could do, and there was nothing at all uncomfortable about that.

  They reached the clinic parking lot all too soon. The lights in the front had been turned out, although the overnight attendant had the back lights on. Her old, blue sedan looked perfect sitting next to Evan’s worn truck.

  “So what do we do?” Elvie asked, turning to face Evan and taking his other hand.

  Evan continued to tease his fingers through hers, with both hands now. “We could make ourselves comfortable in the clinic?”

  Elvie shook her head. “Not with Ted lurking around the corner.”

  “Ted?”

  “He’s a local college kid who sits with the animals that are being boarded at night.”

  “Oh.” Evan lifted one of her hands, bringing it close to his lips but not quite kissing it. “Linda’s place is out. That’s where I’m staying. I wouldn’t want to impose on her, though.”

  There was a certain light in his eyes, the kind of light that held hope for what she would say next. Well, she wasn’t going to disappoint him.

  “We could drive out to my place.” Arch was there, but he wouldn’t bother them. He might even be just the thing she needed to stop her panties from ending up in the ceiling fan. There was nothing like a brother to keep you on the straight and narrow.

  “Sounds like a great idea.”

  He underlined his comment by letting her hands go and working his arms around her back. One hand cradled the small of her back while the other dropped to the curve of her backside. He pulled her close—close enough to press up against him from thighs to chest. She spread her hands across his chest and tilted her head up in expectation. When his lips met hers, it was pure bliss…and incredibly frustrating at the same time. She wanted a tonsil-hockey kiss, but he only indulged her with a light brush before letting her go.

  “So whose car do we take, yours or mine?” he asked, his voice rough.

  It took Elvie several long, blinking seconds before his question penetrated past the haze of desire around her.

  “Um…” She bit her lip and watched something hot and enticing flare in his eyes. “We should probably drive out separately. That way you can drive home later.” Or not. She’d be just fine with not.

  “Sounds good.” He took a step back, that honest look of respect in his eyes. Elvie both loved it and hated it. A very naughty part of her didn’t want him to get the idea that the evening would end at all, that he would stay over. It was so hard being a good girl sometimes.

  “Okay then.” She let out a breath and fished in her pocket for her car keys. “You can follow me. It’s not far.”

  It seemed very, very far as she drove the lonely, country roads out of Culpepper proper and into the surrounding ranchland. Every minute that she spent not in Evan’s arms, wrapped around him with those hands working their magic across her curves, felt like an eternity.

  “Be good, be good, be good,” she repeated to herself, gripping the steering wheel as the landscape around her fell into twilight, then mystical, magical darkness. “You are not Chastity Culpepper. You are a respectable woman.”

  Okay, that might have been stretching things. She’d been around the block a time or two. There was no harm in a little youthful wild oats sewing. And she’d been engaged to Andy for years and years, although that had start
ed out with a bang and fizzled to very little banging.

  “Ugh, stop thinking about that loser,” she scolded herself as she turned onto the final road leading out to the O’Donnell ranch. “You’ve got something a thousand times better now.” She checked in her rear view mirror to remind herself. Sure enough, Evan’s truck was just a short following-distance away.

  As she turned down the drive and headed toward the pretty but modest house she’d grown up in, she checked for Arch’s car. It would have been really, really nice if he’d decided to find something else to do that night. Her only remaining unmarried brother needed to start dating or something so that she could have an evening alone with Evan to get into trouble.

  Her thoughts stopped abruptly as she spotted a car parked alongside Arch’s close to the house. Her first thought was that her brother had had the same idea to bring someone home that she had.

  Two seconds later, recognition dawned.

  “What the heck?” she muttered, all thoughts of naughtiness and misbehavior gone.

  She pulled into the space beside the familiar car and cut her engine. Evan pulled into the spot beside her, but she was too irritated to acknowledge him as she leapt out of her car and stomped toward the house. Sure enough, there he was, lounging on one of the wicker chairs on the lit-up front porch.

  “Andy, what are you doing here?” she demanded.

  Andrew Ball, Elvie’s ex-fiancé, jumped up from his chair and stepped to the edge of the porch. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  Elvie froze as she reached the edge of the porch. She fought the wave of guilt that hit her. She shouldn’t feel an ounce of guilt. Maybe she had walked out on Andy without word, but that was over three months ago, and this was the first time she’d seen him since then.

  “I live here,” she answered him.

  “Yeah, about that.” He crossed his arms, fixing her with his best lawyer scowl. “Imagine my surprise when I showed up at your apartment only to find some Japanese businessman living there.”

  “I told you we were through. I told you I was moving home,” she argued. “Several times.”