The Gentrys: Cal

by Linda Conrad

  Cal cocked an eyebrow at her. "We're her friends. And I'm not rushing her." He shrugged a shoulder. "But I can't seem to help being an absolute jerk around her, either."

  The irritation that sprang to life with Meredith's words went away as quickly as it came. He knew that he'd been the cause of all his own aggravation. And Cal was becoming seriously concerned that he might never be able to figure out the reasons why.

  A man had to do what a man had to do. And some things just weren't manly.

  He fidgeted in the passenger seat once again and swung a look back to check on Kaydie. His leg was killing him, but there was no way he'd mention it at the moment.

  His daughter slept like … well … a baby in her carrier in the back seat. While Bella concentrated on the dirt road that would take them off the Gentry Ranch and onto the blacktop road leading to town.

  She drove slowly and carefully. And Cal thought he might go nuts. When Mrs. Garcia had driven them out there a few days ago, he hadn't minded riding along. But somehow, when it was Bella driving, he felt weak and small. How was he ever going to be able to stand riding with her until the time came when he would drive again?

  "There's no one else that uses this road, sugar," he mumbled and tugged at the confining collar of his dress shirt. "You could pick it up a notch or two."

  She just smiled but didn't make a move to change her speed. "You can relax, Cal. I will get us there in one piece and on time for Kaydie's appointment with the doctor."

  Relax? Now there was a concept. Just being this close to the most erotic woman he'd ever met was keeping his nerves strung tighter than a newly installed timing belt. Add to that the fact that he couldn't remember ever letting a beautiful woman drive his car with him in it before, and nothing at all added up to his being able to simply lie back.

  "Does sitting this long make your knee hurt worse?" She threw him a concerned look. "I can stop for a rest if you need one."

  "Just keep going." The faster she drove the sooner he could get out of this car altogether.

  "Uh, Cal…" she began hesitantly. "Will Kaydie's doctor also be your family doctor? Can he look at your knee and give you something for pain if necessary?"

  "I don't need anything for pain." Even if the damn thing ached like crazy sometimes. "Joe Domingo owns a general practice clinic in town, but I've never been his patient. He's only been in Gentry Wells for about fifteen years. He came here to join old Doc Stevens. But after Doc retired, Domingo hired a couple more doctors to do the work.

  "I'm not positive I trust him," Cal continued. "He's a little too slick for my taste. I intend to watch him carefully while he examines Kaydie. I'm not sure what kind of a doctor he is. He seems more interested in politics. After he got the clinic going, he moved into the old Castillo Ranch next door to the Gentry and ran for the country judge's office a couple of years later. That was right at the time my parents disappeared."

  She blinked a couple of times after he mentioned his parents, but quickly changed the subject. "Will you let me help you with your rehabilitation? I'm very good at physical therapy … and I'll make a great slave driver."

  "Terrific," he muttered. "Another slave-driving therapist. Just what I need."

  But it was just what he needed. And he knew it.

  And what better way to be near to Bella? If she would be helping him with therapy, she'd have to touch him occasionally, wouldn't she?

  "Do you think you can handle Kaydie, the chickens and horses … and me?" he probed.

  "Kaydie and the chickens and horses will be easy."

  They looked at each other, then both laughed out loud.

  "Yeah. I know I wouldn't be a piece of cake to handle," he grinned. "But still you're willing to try?"

  "Of course." Bella slowed the car as they came near the blacktop. "We will take a short break here, I think."

  "Break? I told you I'm fine." He wanted to keep going.

  "This is not for you. I need to change the baby and give her a little water."

  "You need to change her again?"

  Bella smiled that enigmatic smile once more and turned off the ignition. "Sí. It will not take long."

  As she pulled Kaydie out of her carrier in the back and laid her across the seat to change her diaper, Bella asked, "Don't you want to step out of the truck?"

  "Naw. I'm fine." He wasn't really, but he'd be damned if he'd let on. "You're good with Kaydie. I wish her mother had been half as good."

  "Your wife had difficulty with the baby?"

  "My wife had difficulty with everything … mostly with me." It pained him to admit it. Had never occurred to him to even say it out loud before.

  Bella shot him a confused look. "You were very much in love with your wife?"

  "No." He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "I never loved Jasmine. And I doubt that she ever loved me … or Kaydie."

  "But then, why…?"

  "Why'd we get married?" God, he'd wondered that himself so many times. "I'd known Jasmine a long time because she hung around the tracks. The groupie women like her who follow the drivers are known to everyone. And she was gorgeous … in an obvious sort of way.

  "After a big win at Texas Speedway, I got a little carried away with the celebrating and she and I … well. I'm not particularly proud of it. But I insisted we get married when I found out Kaydie was on the way."

  "Ah … I think many marriages begin that way, no?"

  Cal had always thought so. "Maybe. But in our case the wife and mother was the one who felt trapped. She made it very clear she had no intention of settling down and becoming domesticated, as she put it.

  "I had plenty of money to hire caretakers for the baby, so I thought we'd be okay anyway. I'd been careless, but I was determined to make up for it by making her happy. I figured I'd hire the nannies and all of us could travel the racing circuit together."

  "But this did not work out?" Bella questioned.

  He shook his head but couldn't bring himself to tell her the rest of it. Couldn't bear to put a voice to the fact that he'd been the faithful one and his wife had been the one to cheat.

  Maybe he shouldn't have told Bella about his loveless marriage. Meredith might've been right. Was he pushing this new relationship too hard?

  But Bella had been so open, so easy to talk to.

  Ha! Easy relationships with women seemed to be his specialty. Perhaps he should rethink this one.

  Cal thought about Jasmine and both of the times he'd been careless with her. He'd already made a huge mess of several lives. He swore never to go down that road again.

  Care and time, he reminded himself. He still wanted Bella. Hurt from the want, in fact. But he would be careful with her. Never again would he be casual about an affair.

  As it turned out, Dr. Domingo wasn't in his office when they arrived. He'd been called away to an emergency meeting of the County Commission. Cal convinced Bella that they could do their shopping, and when one of the other doctors in the clinic was free, the receptionist would call them on the cell phone.

  Within an hour they'd bought the pack that Meredith mentioned. Cal removed his khaki blazer and red tie, slung the pack over his shoulders and had Kaydie snuggled safely inside before Bella could laugh at the idea of the tall, masculine man carrying a papoose.

  He dragged Bella by the elbow through the store toward the women's clothing department. "Come on," he urged. "Let's see what they have, at least."

  "I'd rather not, please. I don't have any U.S. money right now and I need to—"

  "My treat," he said, beaming.

  Bella tried to dig in her heels but found herself sliding along the slick flooring instead. "I do not need your charity. I will earn my own money and pay my own way."

  Ignoring her, Cal came to an abrupt halt directly in front of a mannequin of a women dressed in a long gauzy skirt with a white peasant blouse casually draped off her shoulders. The skirt was multicolored in shades of sage green and deep purple. It was feminine and yet looked practical, as we
ll.

  Bella coveted the sensual outfit the moment she looked up and saw it. But still…

  "There. Now that looks just like something you should wear. Why don't you try it on?"

  She shook her head, but the words to deny herself wouldn't come.

  Cal took her by the shoulders, turned her to face him. "You won't take money from me to be Kaydie's nanny. And you won't take new clothes from me…" He scowled and raised an eyebrow. "Even though I would be giving them to you as a gift with no strings attached.

  "How about we make a deal?" His face lit up in a wide grin. "I'll hire you to become my physical therapist. I promise I'll do whatever you tell me to do with no complaints. But you have to promise to take a salary for doing it. Deal?"

  "Well…" She couldn't think of anything wrong in the proposal, but it still seemed a little like charity.

  "Great! Now go try that on and I'll look for some work clothes for you. Will jeans and flannel shirts be okay?"

  * * *

  Six

  « ^ »

  "We don't have to do anything special," Cal insisted as they walked through the kitchen door later. "Meredith and Abby will bring more food than you can imagine. And Cinco promised he'd bring the ice and beer."

  Cal had sprung the family "poker" night on her when they'd only just arrived at the cabin from the doctor's visit. "I have to check on the chickens and the horses," Bella fumed. "How can we have visitors when I haven't even had a chance to settle the baby down yet?"

  The man was annoying the devil out of her. She'd only arrived at this cabin three days ago and she barely knew her way around. How could she help him entertain when she hadn't even had a chance to clean house?

  "No sweat, sugar," he said with a breezy grin. "They aren't visitors. They're Kaydie's and my family and they won't care a bit whether she's settled down. They'll probably rile her back up when they get here anyhow."

  He was so attractive and charming when he wanted to be. The sight of those gray eyes alive with energy and pleading his case caused a jolt down her spine.

  She thought back to their shopping trip and his joy at buying clothes for her and Kaydie. He'd looked so handsome in his white shirt, tie and coat. But when he'd bought the baby a little pink jumpsuit that had yellow ducks and rabbits on the bib, Bella thought her heart would crack.

  The yearning to be someone that he truly cared about nearly doubled her over with want. But she knew better than to wish for impossible things, and she was sure Cal would always be a womanizer just like her father. So she pushed the need out of her mind and buried it deep inside.

  "If you'll put Kaydie down in her crib for a nap, I'll feed the horses and check the chickens," she suggested as she handed the baby over to his waiting arms. "I'll be back in a few minutes to clean the house. I'm anxious to meet the rest of your family. And I suppose this poker game tonight will be as good a time as any."

  "Sure. Okay," he said with little enthusiasm. "I'll manage with Kaydie if you promise to have some fun tonight."

  Later, with the poker game underway, the kitchen and the front room of the cabin were lit up and the sound of laughter and family could be heard clear across the range. Bella had happily greeted Cinco and Meredith, who'd flown all of them there in a helicopter for the evening's game.

  But to Bella's great surprise, Cal's sister, Abby, turned out to be a rather petite but sturdy ball of energy. The young woman's hands were calloused from hard work, and her nose was freckled with the obvious signs of being outdoors. Bella liked her instantly.

  She was slightly less easy around Abby's new husband, Gray Wolf Parker. A dark and imposing Native American, Cal's brother-in-law was solemn as he scrutinized her.

  But Gray warmly took her hand when they were introduced. And later she noticed how he gazed at his new wife with an all-consuming look of love in his eyes. A little jealous stab pulsed through Bella but she quickly banished it, the same way she'd shoved aside the need for Cal earlier.

  How could she not like Gray or anyone else who loved with such great passion? As a matter of fact, she liked all of Cal's family.

  "Ray … he's our family attorney, tells me the INS has agreed you can stay in the country temporarily," Cinco told her privately when he came into the kitchen for another beer. "They weren't thrilled about you staying on the Gentry, but now they're looking at this as a good place for short-term asylum."

  He grinned at her. "We sort of … convinced them it was the right thing to do." Cinco opened the longneck beer bottle and took a swig. "Meanwhile, the sheriff and the Border Patrol are working together, trying to find those coyotes … and figure out how they knew enough to travel across Gentry Ranch property."

  "Did you find where they came through your fences, señor?"

  He took the bottle from his lips and tilted his head. "It's Cinco, remember? And no, the fences on this side of the ranch were still all in one piece." He looked thoughtful a moment then smiled again. "I'm surely grateful for that, too. Meredith would've had a fit if it turned out she'd missed a downed fence when she was on her rounds."

  He took another swig and swallowed. "And if she's unhappy—I'm absolutely miserable." He chuckled and then focused on Bella. "Don't worry. We'll be patrolling that section of fence at night. If the coyotes are going through there and repairing it themselves, we'll find them."

  Bella saw the look of deep love in Cinco's eyes when he talked about his wife. Once again a tiny prick of jealousy stabbed at her heart.

  She drew a long breath but didn't say anything.

  "By the way, sugar," Cinco began. "I've been meaning to tell you how glad I am that you stumbled in here. The family has been real concerned about Cal and the baby … mostly about Cal, I guess. Your coming here has already changed him … made things easier. Hell. We're just happy to have you here."

  "My being here has changed Cal?" she asked. "I don't understand. How?"

  He shrugged a shoulder. "I shouldn't have said anything." Cinco's expression seemed sincere. "Cal hasn't been much for family ever since our parents disappeared. And then after Jasmine's death he walled himself up in solitude. In the hospital he didn't want to see us. And it was a good month before he even asked about the baby."

  He shook his head and continued. "I suppose when life beats you up long enough, you stop letting anything get close." Cinco took one last swig from the long-neck. "We were amazed when he decided to come home to the ranch to heal. But instead of wanting to be with the family, he installed himself out here in this cabin that Abby and Gray had just fixed up, and refused all of our efforts to help."

  Slightly surprised by some of his words, Bella thought back to what she'd overheard on her first morning. Cinco had said something about Cal running away from life because he couldn't face his parents' death. Perhaps a few things made more sense now.

  Cal loved his family and Kaydie, Bella was positive about that. But there were still so many questions.

  "Now that you're here, my brother's a little looser somehow," Cinco told her. "For instance, he let us bring all that equipment and other stuff out here. And this poker game… Well, he never would've agreed to something like this if it weren't for you."

  Bella simply smiled at Cinco, then mumbled her excuses, saying she needed to check on the baby. Cinco so clearly cared about his brother. She was jealous of that family tie, too, but at the same time she was glad Cal had someone to love him like that.

  She knew now that Cal was injured in ways that weren't so obvious when she'd first met him. And more than ever, Bella was determined to find a way to heal him before she had to leave the country.

  Cal banged his good shin on the edge of a chair and cursed the darkness. Something, some noise or quiet disturbance of air, had awakened him at this early-morning hour, so he'd come to check on Bella and Kaydie. And he vowed no damn out-of-place chair would keep him from it.

  It might've helped if he'd turned on the lights. But that hadn't seemed like the prudent thing to do at the time. If some
thing was wrong—if the coyotes had discovered Bella and were just outside the door—well, Cal didn't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily.

  The poker game had been over for hours. As much as Cal had loved to be around his family again, he'd been grateful when the last goodbyes were said. He couldn't have stood another sympathetic glance from any of them. He loved them, to be sure. But he just didn't want to deal with the raging emotions his entire family had brought with them.

  He was having enough trouble figuring out what he wanted when it came to Bella. He'd tried desperately to tell himself it was just lust. That after that mind-blowing kiss they'd shared, all he wanted from her was her body.

  It wasn't the truth, of course, but lust was something he could manage. On the other hand, trying to sort through his "feelings" was a downright impossible task. Just look at what a bad job of it he was doing when it came to Kaydie.

  The moon suddenly peeked around a passing cloud. Moonlight flooded the front room of the cabin and Cal finally got his bearings.

  He hesitated in the doorway from the kitchen, surprised to see Bella sitting on the sofa feeding Kaydie in the dark. What a tender sight they made together.

  His baby seemed sleepy and contented as she drank from her bottle. Bella looked like a perfect mother as she whispered softly and rocked Kaydie in her arms.

  For some reason the vision made him feel lonely. His own mother had whispered to him in that exact same way, he remembered, and a yawning chasm of memories threatened to envelope him in the dark. He shook them off and set his jaw.

  He needed to get his equilibrium back. Bella put him off balance. There had been no memories, no loneliness, no yearning before Bella came. She'd stirred up something inside him, and he wanted his peace back.

  Cal figured once they gave in to their attraction, that would be the end of it and he could get back to the way things had been. And it couldn't be too soon to suit him.

  "Ouch!" The damn corner of the wall reached up and slammed him in the bad knee, causing the exclamation to escape from his lips before he could stop it.