She looked down. Oh, Jiminy Crickets! The white tee she’d pulled on that morning had turned totally transparent. The barely-there bra left very little to the imagination.
“I’d better be on my way.”
“Wait.” She reached out, took his hand. She didn’t want him to leave. Despite all the reasons Ty was totally wrong for her, she wanted to spend more time with him. With this man who told his children their mother watched over them from the starry night sky. Who worried about her problem with Nathan.
She had a batting average of exactly zero when it came to picking guys. Yet Ty tempted her. Ty with his three boys. A ranch. Cattle. A man who knew who Tinker Bell was. Knew the words to Disney songs and had a magnificent voice.
Dimples you could get lost in. A mouth that looked like sin itself.
She’d be crazy to tempt fate. Still, she heard herself ask, “Why don’t you stay for a cup of coffee? Get warmed up. I’ll put on a pot right after I change. Before I do that, though, I’ll get you a towel. I’d offer to dry your clothes, but…” She shrugged and held out her hands, palms up. “No laundry here.”
“You sure? About me staying?”
Her mind screamed no. Her mouth said, “Absolutely. Unless you have something else you have to do, somewhere else you need to be.”
“Nope. I’m more than happy right here where it’s dry. For now, I’ll have that coffee and wait for the rain to let up. Don’t think it’s gonna hang around long.”
She hurried into the bath and pulled a couple towels for him. “Here you go. I found this on one of the shelves. My guess is that it’s Cash’s. I’m sure he won’t mind if you borrow it.” She tossed Ty a faded green T-shirt.
He snatched it one-handed out of the air. “Thanks. Now go dry off and change before you get sick. Can’t have a snuffling, sneezing maid of honor.”
While she stripped and toweled off, her mind kept wandering to the fact that only a single wall separated her naked body from Ty’s tall, muscular one.
Quit going there, Sophie London! What is wrong with you?
Taking herself firmly in hand, she reminded herself that Ty was Cash’s friend. He’d seen her out, caught in a deluge, and stopped to help. He didn’t want her sick for the wedding. Nothing more, nothing less. And unless she wanted to make a fool of herself, she’d keep that firmly in mind.
In dry jeans and a blouse, her hair tied back, she walked into the kitchen. Ty, wearing Cash’s old shirt, stood with cup in hand, watching the slow drip of the coffeemaker.
“Hope you don’t mind. I made myself at home. You gonna have a cup?”
“No. I’ll make tea.” She busied herself with the task. “I sure hope you’re right about this rain. Otherwise, Annelise will be one upset bride. The ceremony and reception are both outside. It can’t rain tomorrow.” Her eyes widened. “It can’t rain tonight. We’ve got rehearsal.”
“See, that’s the thing about Mother Nature.” Ty hooked a thumb in his front pocket. “She’s female.”
Sophie raised a brow. “And…?”
He shrugged. “She’s gonna do exactly what she wants, when she wants, darlin’. Regardless of anyone’s plans.”
When she opened her mouth, he held up a hand. “Now, hold on a minute and let me finish. In this case, you don’t need to worry. According to The Weather Channel, tomorrow is gonna be the kind of day every bride hopes for. This front blew in fast, and it’s gonna blow out the same way. By tonight’s rehearsal, we’ll never know it was here. Everything’ll be dried up.”
“I sure hope you’re right.”
“I am.”
She gaped at him.
“Superhero, remember? I know things.” He tapped the side of his head, then nodded toward her computer. “You said you design greeting cards. Do you do that on your laptop?”
“Yes, which is convenient. I can work anywhere.”
“Got some on there I can look at?”
She sent him a smile. “Sure. Dottie actually has wireless here, which makes my life a lot simpler.” She hit power and brought up her website. “I can stay plugged in to everything.”
“Yeah, she wants to be able to Facebook with her grandkids.”
“Do you Facebook, Ty?”
“You kidding?” He grimaced. “I don’t have time. The only books I’m into are the Little Golden Books. Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Doctor Seuss. The Little Engine That Could. I use my computer for work. Period.”
He picked up a chunk of blue and gold stone and turned it over in his hand. “Pretty. What is it?”
“Lapis lazuli. It promotes creativity. Fires up the imagination.”
He shrugged and laid it on the table.
“You don’t believe in the power of crystals?” she asked.
“Whatever floats your boat, Tink.”
She studied him. Did he realize what a mass of contradictions he was? How could he stand there and call her Tink, yet deny the magic of crystals?
Turning back to her laptop, she scrolled down the page to show him samples of her cards.
“Nice. Your artwork is spectacular.”
“Thanks.”
“You draw—or paint—them all yourself?”
She nodded.
“Impressive.” He moved closer to the screen, squinted, then scrolled to another and then another. “I see lots of fairies, Sophie.” He glanced at the sun catchers he’d noticed in her window. “Kind of like those.”
“I put at least one on every card. My signature, sort of.”
“Interesting.”
A ping sounded, signaling a new e-mail message. She frowned.
“Go ahead and check it. I’m gonna freshen up my coffee.” He glanced out the window. “Looks like the rain’s slowing down, so I’ll hit the road here in a minute.”
Though a piece of her sighed in disappointment at that, she logged on and pulled up the new message. “Oh, phooey.”
“A problem?”
She started. She hadn’t heard him move behind her.
“No.” She chewed her lip, wishing she could confide in him. It might help to simply talk this over. Independence was great, but at times it would be nice to have someone to lean on. “Maybe,” she added. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Okay, then. I’m gonna be going. The sun’s trying to peek through the clouds. Gotta get that medicine home to Ray or he’ll be madder than a hornet.”
He stopped at the sink and rinsed his cup.
Admirable, she thought. A man who cleaned up after himself. But, then, he’d probably had to learn, hadn’t he? Maybe he missed someone to lean on, too.
“Thanks for the coffee, Tink.”
“Thanks for the ride.”
Hand on the doorknob, he hesitated, turned back. Nodding at her laptop, he said, “Guess you’ll be next to walk down the aisle.”
“Me?” She shook her head. “No way.”
“Your boyfriend might think differently.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Ty looked skeptical. “You sure about that?”
“Oh, yes. Very.”
“He’s the one who called yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Seems the two of you have some wires crossed. I’m guessing he still thinks you’re a couple.”
“Because he’s not listening.”
“Hmmm.” With that, he closed the door gently behind himself.
Hmmm? What the heck did he mean by that?
If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she detected a touch of jealous in there. But that was ridiculous. Since there was nothing between them, there was nothing to be jealous of.
And if Nathan was her boyfriend, she’d never have danced with Ty the way she had the other night. The memory of his strong, work-roughened hand on her bare skin caused an instant heat wave, and she fanned herself.
What if Ty was her boyfriend? But he wasn’t and never would be. All things considered, that was probably a good thing. No, not probably. Was a good thing.
<
br /> Wasn’t it?
Tempted to run after him, to ask him what he’d meant, she forced herself to walk to the window instead. She watched as he hurried through the still misting rain. His truck rumbled to life, and he backed out of the drive.
Sophie glanced at her laptop, and her mind shifted to Nathan. Would distance and time be enough to turn the trick?
*
Who the hell was Nathan? Ty drove toward his ranch, his new Toby Keith CD for company. He could have sworn Annie’d told him Sophie wasn’t with anyone. Sophie herself had said she wasn’t with anyone. If that was true, why would this jerk keep calling her? Send love notes?
He’d had no business reading her e-mail. He knew that. And he honestly hadn’t meant to. But it had been right there when he’d come up behind her.
He couldn’t help himself. He’d stood there, coffee in hand, breathing in her scent. She’d pulled that incredible blond hair into a damp, stubby ponytail.
Then he’d looked down at those hands, so delicate, so dainty. She wore a single thin, golden ring, several colored stones winking from it, on her right-hand thumb. Her fingers had stilled on the keyboard, and he simply hadn’t thought. Had read the message before he could stop himself. And hated it. Hated that Nathan had a place in Sophie’s life.
Thrown into the mix was his own sense of betrayal. Not on Sophie’s part. On his own. For the first time since Julia died, he found himself attracted to another woman. He felt disloyal. Felt like a cheating SOB. He’d never quit feeling married.
Yet here he was with all these emotions, and he didn’t know what to do with them. It was like someone had rammed a stick down his throat and was stirring everything up.
Part of him said to stand down. Another part wanted to test the water. But if Sophie had a boyfriend, he’d back off, no questions asked. Whoa! Back off? From what? There was nothing, absolutely nothing, between himself and Ms. Sophie London. Nothing to back away from.
Not yet.
So why this storm raging inside him, one almost as violent as the one that had dumped two inches of rain on them? What was he feeling? Jealousy? Stupid! He pounded the steering wheel.
He nearly drove off the road as a flash of fear ripped through him. Fear of loving someone, of losing that someone.
He wouldn’t survive it again.
Wouldn’t, ever, put himself in a position where he’d have to. He couldn’t.
Tink had to be strictly off-limits from here on out.
*
The rehearsal went well. Ty had wanted to cry off but knew he’d be out of line. His pal was getting married tomorrow, and he owed it to him to do his part.
The rain, as he’d promised, was only a memory.
Rosie, Cash’s housekeeper, rode herd on the boys while they went through the drill. Annie and Cash had decided to marry right here on the ranch under the hopefully rainless blue sky rather than in a church. As they ran through the practice a second time, relatives and friends milled around, watching or simply exploring. He guessed for a lot of them, this was their first experience with a real, honest-to-goodness, working Texas ranch.
Annie’s life before she’d landed in Maverick Junction had been board meetings, power suits, and elbow-rubbing with the rich and famous. Her great-grandfather, Digger Montjoy, had hit pay dirt when he’d discovered the biggest oil field in the state on his land. About a year later, he’d hightailed it to Boston with his money to avoid a scandal…and to separate his wife and mistress.
Annie might have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but Ty had watched her, day after day, dressed in boots, jeans, and tees shoveling manure with the best of them.
He flat-out admired the woman. Cash was one lucky bastard.
And from the look on his friend’s face when the preacher said he could now kiss the bride, no doubt Cash knew it.
Hoots and whistles sounded as the kiss continued.
“Okay, you two,” Brawley drawled. “Save something for the wedding. And the wedding night.”
The rehearsal dinner, rather than an expensive catered affair or a sit-down in some stuffy, out-of-town black-tie restaurant, was a down-home buffet served in the farmhouse dining room. Guests spilled onto the wraparound porch and outside onto picnic tables scattered across the yard.
Plate in hand, Sophie came up beside him. “I’ll never get everyone straight. I know Babs and Matt, Rosie and Hank, Maggie, Brawley, and Mel. I met Kinsey at Christmas a couple years ago.”
“Speaking of Kinsey, glad she made it,” Ty said. “Annie was more than a little nervous about her flight, with the weather and all.”
“I know. And Kinsey had to be here. Without her, it’s doubtful any of this would have happened. She and Annelise were sorority sisters in college, and Kinsey took her in and gave her a much-needed rest during that infamous cross-country motorcycle trip.”
Ty added a healthy portion of potato salad to his plate. “Want some?”
She nodded. “Not that much, though.”
He scooped up a spoonful. “Good?”
“Perfect.”
He plopped it onto her plate. “Annie’s grandpa seems like a great guy.”
“He is.” Sophie’s eyes misted. “It’s a miracle to see him well again. Thanks to Cornelia.”
“And Annie,” Ty said.
“Yes, and Annelise.”
“You don’t ever call her Annie?”
Sophie’s forehead creased. “No. She’s always been Annelise. I never think of her as Annie.”
“Hmmm.” He scanned the room. “Guess it’s situational. In the boardroom, Annelise probably fits. Here on the ranch, Annie’s just right.”
They were all here, Ty thought. All the people who meant so much to the bride and groom. Cash’s mom and dad, his sister and her husband and kids, Annie’s parents and grandfather, and her newfound great-aunt along with their best friends.
“Want to sit outside?” he asked.
“Definitely.”
A small body slammed into his leg as he stepped out the door, and two arms wrapped around it. Jonah. He hunkered down so they were eye-to-eye.
“What’s going on, partner?”
“Josh was crying, so Rosie gived him a cookie. She gived us one, too.”
“Is Josh okay?”
“Yeah, he falled down but he didn’t bleed.”
Sophie laughed. “That’s the standard? No blood, no injury?”
Ty shrugged. “For the most part, yeah. What can I say? We’re a household of guys.”
He ruffled his son’s dark hair, freshly trimmed for tomorrow’s wedding. That in and of itself was a minor miracle. Taking three little boys—and himself—into the barber. Cliff had been doing hair, though, since forever and handled them well. Ty himself had sat in the man’s chair when he was his sons’ age.
“Well, then, no harm, no foul,” he told Jonah.
“But, Daddy, we already had a cookie. This makes…” He raised two pudgy fingers. “Two.”
“That’s okay.” Ty chuckled. “It’s a party.”
“So I can eat this?” He held up the sugar cookie, its pink icing coating his fingers.
“Absolutely.”
“Want a bite?” he offered.
“No, thanks, bud. I’ll get one later.”
Jonah’s little face broke out into a huge grin. “Thanks, Daddy. It’s okay,” he yelled to his brothers across the yard. “Daddy says it’s okay! We can eat ’em.”
He tore off through the grass to join his siblings.
“Must make you feel omnipotent,” Sophie murmured.
“What?”
“Having your word observed as law.”
He chuckled and, catching a strand of her pale hair between his fingers, gave it a tug. “Oh, if only that was true, Tink. If only. You have no idea how many times they overrule me. One-on-one, or three-on-one. There are days when I truly wonder who’s running the zoo.”
He took her arm. “Come on. I’m hungry.”
Together, p
lates loaded, they sat at a little table under an oak tree. This was good, he thought. Very good. The temperature was Texas perfect. Nobody could ask for better. The day’s rain had dried up and left a clear sky. Stars blinked to life in the heavens, his boys, stuffed with cookies, rolled around in the yard with Staubach, and he was sharing dinner with a beautiful, if off-limits, woman.
He was suddenly very glad he’d changed his mind and come tonight.
Chapter Ten
Stumbling into the kitchen, Sophie raised the window over the sink. The trill of a bird caught her attention. Must be that early bird. The one that caught the worm. Well, he could have it. For herself, she’d rather do brunch. Mornings weren’t her favorite thing.
Nights sure could be, though, when they included dreams like the one she’d had last night! Starring in it with her? Ty Rawlins. The supersexy cowboy. Whew! Sophie fanned herself. Now there was an interesting man.
And today, Annelise would marry her cowboy. As maid of honor, Sophie had a thousand and ten things to do.
But before she started on any of them, she intended to indulge herself in a much-needed cup of tea. Last night’s rehearsal dinner had been…well, like a dream, too. Who’d have thought a late evening picnic could be so romantic? Even with all those people milling about, enjoying themselves, it had seemed so intimate.
Through her open window, Sophie heard a neighbor mowing his lawn. From the sounds of it, he’d just run the machine through a mound of gravel.
Settled at the kitchen table, she dunked her tea bag and let her mind wander over the evening.
Ty stoked her hormones into an intense storm. She’d like to blame part of that on the foreignness of her situation. Being here in Texas. Living in this strange apartment. All the new people she’d met. In all honesty, she didn’t know that she could.
Still, they’d eaten under the huge oak tree and talked about nothing, about everything. They’d laughed.
His boys, dirty and thoroughly worn out, had joined them one by one. Josh had been first. Tired and more than a bit cranky, he’d crawled onto Ty’s lap.
Intrigued, she’d watched as he’d cajoled the boy out of his foul mood by feeding him birdlike bites of Rosie’s coconut cake. Then he’d leaned across the table and handfed her a piece. When a flake of coconut stuck to her lip, he’d thumbed it off, then eaten it himself, his eyes holding hers.
Nearest Thing to Heaven (Maverick Junction) Page 9
