The Texas Bodyguard’s Proposal

by Karen Rose Smith

  Chapter Eleven

  “What’s in the folder?” Rafe asked Gabby as they climbed the steps to his mom’s screened-in porch.

  To say the atmosphere between them had been awkward ever since their episode in the pool last night would be a gross understatement. Today they’d taken polite conversation to an art form.

  “I have the listings for three houses I chose in the Tuscany area. When I talked to your mom about the idea, she sounded as if she might be interested. I thought she’d like to see them.”

  “Is that what you were doing on the plane?” She hadn’t spoken to him on their trip back to Dallas. But what had really gotten to him was the way she’d avoided direct eye contact, too.

  Now, however, her gaze met his and held for the first time all day. “Yes. If you had spoken to me on the plane, I would have shown them to you.”

  “You weren’t a chatterbox, either,” he grumbled.

  “I didn’t think you wanted to talk.”

  “Okay, I didn’t,” he admitted, knowing this wasn’t the time to have the discussion, but jumping into it anyway. “Our little interlude in the pool was embarrassing for both of us. I never should have let it happen.”

  “I was there, too. And the truth is, Rafe, a lot more might have happened.”

  She was right. It might have. “Until you started Twenty Questions.”

  “Are you upset because I stopped what was happening or because you don’t want to think about Connie—you don’t want to think about moving on?”

  Rafe was actually surprised that thunder didn’t rumble and lightning didn’t strike. There was that much electricity in the air.

  The door to Lena’s house opened and his mother stood there, smiling at them. “Well, are you going to come in? You’ve been standing out here a good five minutes.” She looked from one to the other. “Or do you want me to shut the door and go inside and wait until you’re finished?”

  “Of course not,” Rafe replied, not even checking with Gabby. “We came to see you.”

  “How was your trip to Houston?” Lena asked sweetly.

  “Fine,” they said in unison, and his mom laughed.

  “Oh, I can see it was very fine. Come on in. I made one of Rafe’s favorite suppers—barbecued baby back ribs, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and salad. For dessert, his favorite chocolate cream pie.”

  Rafe gave his mother a hug. “It sounds wonderful.”

  Inside the house, the kitchen air conditioner was running, but Lena motioned Gabby to follow her. “Let me show you my chairlift. It’s absolutely wonderful. Rafe tells me it was your idea.”

  Gabby glanced over her shoulder at him. “It was his, too.”

  Lena sank down in the seat, pressed the button and she was on her way up the stairs. “I just swivel and get off,” she demonstrated easily at the top. Then she sat down again and pressed the button to descend.

  When she was once more at the bottom, Gabby asked, “And how are you feeling?”

  “I use my cane when I go out, but I’m fine around here. I just can’t do anything stupid again.” She motioned to the folder in Gabby’s hand. “What’s that?”

  “Pictures of houses. I’m thinking of choosing one of them.”

  “I can look at them while we’re having dessert. Come on. Everything’s ready.” After Lena sat down at the kitchen table she asked, “So, what’s going on with the two of you?”

  “Going on?” Gabby looked startled.

  “We’re just tired, Mom,” Rafe replied, trying to keep his tone casual. “Gabby had a meeting this morning before we flew back. You know the toll traveling takes.”

  “Not on you. And I suspect not on Gabby, either. Both of you are used to it.”

  “Let’s drop it, Mom, okay?” His voice lost its casual quality.

  “I suppose you want to drop it, too?” she asked Gabby.

  “That would probably be best.”

  Lena shook her head. “No. Talking is better than silence. But the two of you haven’t learned that yet. You will, if you spend enough time together.”

  Rafe didn’t think talking would be what happened if he spent much more time with Gabby. Talking was definitely low on the priority list.

  Supper was delicious, as always, and Rafe complimented his mother more than once. Over chocolate cream pie, Gabby showed her the printouts of the three houses. It turned out Lena liked Gabby’s favorite, too. It was more of a cottage than a villa and closer to her parents’ home than the other two.

  “Will you have enough room there?” Rafe asked, trying to ignore the way his heart jumped when her gaze met his.

  “It has one bedroom downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs. I think that’s plenty. It’s not as if I have parties with lots of guests. Most of all, I like the hand-painted tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, the little stone-walled courtyard with its gate, the trellises in the back beside the patio.”

  “The price seems fair.”

  “It’s off the beaten path, and I like that. I’d have my privacy. And the road beyond the olive groves behind the house would lead directly to my parents’ villa.”

  “I think you’ve already made up your mind,” Lena said with a twinkle in her eye.

  “I think so, too, unless something’s drastically wrong with the place. Unless the pictures were taken in such a way that they hide all its quirks and problems. I’ll have to inspect it myself.” She pushed away her dessert dish. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to freshen up in the powder room.”

  “Down the hall to your left,” Lena told her.

  Gabby followed his mother’s directions and Rafe could hear the door shut and lock.

  “Earth to Rafe,” Lena said, amusement in her voice.

  He hadn’t even been aware he was watching Gabby leave. “I’m right here, Mom.”

  “No, I don’t think you are. I think you’re lost somewhere between the past and now. Did you tell Gabby about Connie?”

  “Yes, I did. But that was a mistake.”

  “Why? Surely she understood how painful that was?”

  “Oh, I think she understood that.”

  “Then what didn’t she understand?” his mother asked perceptively, not letting him off the hook.

  “She doesn’t understand that I can’t pretend that Connie never existed.”

  “That can’t be what Gabby wants.”

  “She might not even know what she wants. A month ago, she was involved with someone else.”

  “Has she talked about that?”

  “Yes, she has. It wasn’t pleasant. She made a bad choice.”

  “So, maybe now she’s trying to make a good choice. But you have to open a door for her, Rafe. If you keep yourself closed off, you’ll never find love again.”

  “We’re different, Mom. We came from different upbringings. She’s always had everything she ever wanted.”

  Lena clucked her tongue. “Don’t underestimate her. She’s had material possessions. But you know they don’t always make a person happy.”

  “Gabby’s happy. She just feels restricted sometimes by her lifestyle. But I don’t think it’s a lifestyle she’d want to give up.”

  “How do you know that, Rafe? Really know? Maybe you don’t know it at all. Maybe you just want to believe it. That way, you don’t have to make a decision of your own.”

  His mother couldn’t be right, could she?

  “I thought your bodyguard might stay and come in here, too,” Eleanor teased Gabby with a soft smile. The sauna at the Yellow Rose Spa gave the women privacy.

  Gabby wasn’t sure how to respond. She’d had to convince Rafe the hotel security was good and she’d be fine, even safe, with her aunt and Katie. Gabby and her aunt had always been close, but they hadn’t had much time together lately and Gabby felt a bit out of touch. She was glad Katie had joined them. She felt comfortable with her. She’d been Tate’s girlfriend for a long time.

  “You don’t have to comment, if you don’t want to,” Gabby’s aunt said
.

  “He’s very protective, but I’m sure he’ll be glad for a day off so he doesn’t have to watch over me. He has family in the city. He can spend time with them,” Gabby remarked offhandedly.

  “I see.”

  After an awkward pause, Katie asked, “Why is talking about men-women relationships so difficult?” Her brown eyes were a bit sad. She had fastened her dark hair on top of her head with a clip, just as Gabby had.

  The three of them sat wrapped in white, fluffy towels on benches in the sauna, Gabby on the top level, Katie and her aunt on the lower level.

  “Maybe it’s hard because we make fools of ourselves,” Gabby offered.

  “Fools of ourselves. Isn’t that the truth!” Eleanor agreed. “And it doesn’t even matter which generation we’re talking about.” Her aunt’s voice was filled with sadness. Gabby had been able to hear the pain there, and she suspected what that was from—her aunt’s torn relationships with her children.

  Gabby thought about spotting Penny with Jason. Should she say anything to her aunt? No, better to keep quiet for now. “How are you doing with Blake, Tate, Paige, Penny and Charlie? Or would you rather I didn’t ask?”

  “Blake’s so angry and bitter,” Katie murmured. “I wish he could get over it, for his sake, as well as yours,” she empathized, turning toward Eleanor.

  “How is Tate doing?” Gabby asked Katie.

  “I absolutely don’t know these days. He’s shut me out. He’s a different man now than he was before he left for Baghdad and I don’t know if I can…be with him anymore. I’ve always wished he could be a little bit more like Blake. Blake’s so confident in what he wants. And he actually listens when I talk to him.”

  Katie was staring at the wall and didn’t seem to want to be pressed any further.

  Eleanor took the hint, too. “My children are all complicated, but Paige and Blake do seem to be having a terrible time with this. And Charlie, bless him, who should be having the worst time of any of them, spoke to me yesterday about the possibility of meeting Rex, finding out what his biological father is truly like.”

  “Why did you decide to say something now, Aunt Eleanor?” Gabby asked.

  “With Devon gone, the time had come.”

  The heat of the sauna, the scent of eucalyptus and redwood, the privacy of their enclosed cubicle led to sharing. “Do you feel like talking about it, or do you want to keep it to yourself?” Gabby asked.

  Eleanor looked from Gabby to Katie. “I would tell any of my children if they wanted to know. Charlie hasn’t even asked what the whole story was. Maybe he’s afraid to hear.” Eleanor sighed. “I fell in love with Rex when I was sixteen. We saw each other almost every day for three years! Then one night we argued. I wanted to get married and start having children. But he insisted we should wait. He wanted to be financially secure. I was hurt and questioned his commitment to me, so I walked out. When he didn’t call, I accepted a date with Devon. He’d been phoning for months, trying to convince me I should be with him. That night with Devon, I was still angry with Rex. I let things get out of hand and they went too far. I should never have gone out with Devon, let alone allowed anything to happen.”

  Gabby placed her hand on her aunt’s shoulder. “Aunt Eleanor, I’m so sorry.”

  “The infidelity would have been bad enough, and yes, I considered it that. But I found myself pregnant…with Blake. That sealed the deal. Devon asked me to marry him, and I accepted. What else could I do? At least that’s the way I felt back then. Now I know I should have gone out on my own, raised the child by myself until I made a good decision. But I didn’t. I had a terrible time bonding with Blake, maybe because I thought he took me away from my one true love. Our relationship was never what it should have been. But then the others came along. I tried to convince myself I had the life I wanted. But Devon and I were never close—not like Rex and I once were.”

  Katie asked, “How did Rex come back into your life?”

  Eleanor looked down at her hands in her lap. “As the years passed, Devon was away more and more. I suspected he wasn’t faithful and I was so lonely. I often thought about those years with Rex. So I separated from Devon for a while and called Rex. I found out he still had feelings for me, too. We had an affair. But for the sake of the children, I ended it.”

  “But you were pregnant with Charlie?” Gabby asked.

  “Yes. And to keep my family intact, I told Devon the baby was his. Love makes us do such foolish things.”

  Eleanor had opened her heart and Gabby respected her for that. She also felt she should be honest about that tabloid photo that had probably embarrassed everyone in the family. “I know all about doing foolish things. I guess you were wondering if that tabloid photo was the real thing.”

  “Only if you want to tell us,” Katie offered with empathy.

  “It was real, all right.” Gabby told the women what had led up to that picture. “Afterward, I knew I never really loved Miko. Not the kind of love my parents had. I left London without looking back. The whole situation was my fault because I didn’t see the signs. I didn’t want to see the signs. And now that I’ve met Rafe—” She stopped, not knowing how much she wanted to say.

  “And now that you’ve met Rafe?” Eleanor prodded.

  “Rafe is a man like my father—true and loyal. He cares about his family. It’s so obvious he’s a good man. There’s no pretense, no dishonesty. And the feelings I have for him…they scare me. In such a short time, they’re so strong. So I have to wonder if I’m being foolish all over again.”

  Katie swiveled around, her feet up on the bench, her arms wrapped around her knees. “It sounds to me as if you’ve learned the difference between a man of pretense and a man with integrity. That’s a good thing, Gabby. Don’t be afraid of those feelings. See where they’ll lead you.”

  “I guess I really have nothing to lose, do I?” Gabby asked.

  “Only your heart,” Eleanor replied.

  Only her heart. That was the bottom line. Was she willing to risk it all over again?

  Gabby gave Rafe a bright smile when she saw him sitting in the lobby of the Yellow Rose Spa. She’d missed him. The seaweed wraps, the apricot scrubs and her time in the sauna with Eleanor and Katie had been terrific. But she’d really missed Rafe.

  He stood when he saw her coming toward him. He was dressed in a suit because he was taking her to the TV station for an interview. In the Western-cut jacket, bolo tie, black slim trousers and black boots he couldn’t have looked sexier.

  “Have you been waiting long?” she asked.

  “Nope. I got up, had breakfast and here I am.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “What time did you drive in from the city?”

  “I was in the room next to yours last night.”

  “Rafe. Why? I told you I’d be fine here with Eleanor and Katie.”

  “I just made sure.”

  She didn’t know whether to be exasperated with him or to hug him. “I’m glad Katie and Eleanor didn’t know you were there. They would have felt spied on.”

  “Mrs. McCord knew. We happened to go for ice at the same time last night. She just winked and put her finger to her lips.”

  Gabby shook her head. “You might as well have told me. I mean, after all, you could have joined us for a pedicure.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Too cute. I thought it was better if you didn’t know, so you’d feel freer.”

  “I guess freedom is all in perception, isn’t it? I thought I was on my own and the whole time, I was being watched.”

  “Not watched, protected. There’s a difference. After all, I did stay out of the sauna.”

  She imagined Rafe with her in the sauna, the steamy heat, the towels that could have so easily slipped, the cocoonlike feel of the room that could have led to emotional intimacy, as well as physical intimacy.

  His thoughts must have gone the same place as hers. “You were in there a long while.”

  “We were having a profound discu
ssion.”

  “Private?”

  “Very. Women have a tendency to bare their souls when they’re being pampered.”

  “I’ll have to remember that.”

  Their gazes locked and held.

  “When do men bare their souls?” she asked, really curious.

  “Maybe never. I think our layers of protection are thicker. I have a feeling men in saunas discuss sports scores.”

  “Don’t you have a good friend you really let your hair down with?”

  “I once did.”

  Now she was afraid to press him further. Maybe he’d had a good friend when he was in college. Maybe when he was in the Secret Service. Maybe it had been his wife. For the past twenty-four hours she hadn’t thought about Rafe’s revelations. She’d only thought about whether or not they might have a future beyond these few weeks. But his past, just like hers, was always with him.

  “Did you take advantage of any of the amenities while you were here?” she asked flippantly.

  “Room service. I really could get used to that. When I get back to New York picking up takeout won’t be nearly as convenient.”

  Was he looking forward to that? To being done with her?

  “Are you involved in the New York scene?” she asked, curious about his life there. “The shows, the clubs, the restaurants?” He couldn’t work all the time.

  “A show when my mom or Julie come to visit. But as for the rest—I belong to a gym. I can walk for hours, appreciating the idiosyncrasies of New York, the variety of people who live there. It’s a city like no other. I really have a boring life, Gabby. Not at all like yours.”

  “Until you have an assignment. Until you fly to L.A. to update security or to Atlanta to test a new security system. I imagine you have meetings with the top people in the industry so you can provide the McCords with the most up-to-date systems. I don’t think your life is as boring as you want me to believe it is. You’re always pointing out the differences between us, Rafe. I guess I should just take the hint.”

  His brows drew together. “What hint is that?”

  “The hint that you don’t really want to be involved with me. That this is really just an assignment. That I’m no more important to you than one of the billionaires you used to cover on a business trip.”