“Hey, Brooke!” He broke away from his parents and ran toward her.
She leaned down to look him in the eye. “Hey, yourself.” She tapped the front of his cowboy hat, a miniature version of his father’s. “You’re looking mighty handsome tonight.”
She couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought his cheeks turned pink at her words. That made her smile even wider.
“So, you want to be my date tonight?” she asked.
“You’re not with Uncle Ryan?”
Brooke froze and refused to look at Ryan, whom she could sense was standing close by.
“Evan,” Grace scolded, a horrified edge to her voice. She stepped up behind her son as Brooke stood. “I’m sorry about that. I don’t know where he gets these ideas.”
“Mom, I got it from—”
“Shush.”
From his mom? Grandmother? Why in the world would the entire Teague clan be trying to set Ryan and her up? They barely knew her, couldn’t possibly know if she was a good match for him.
Grace gave Brooke an awkward grin. “Glad you could join us tonight, Brooke. I hear this excursion is really pretty.”
Brooke eyed the western sky, deciding to pretend the matchmaking undertones weren’t obvious. “It’s going to be a lovely sunset.”
Grace seemed relieved by the change in subject. During her few interactions with Grace, Brooke had sensed a kindred spirit and wondered why.
Brooke held out her hand toward Evan. “Shall we?”
After a quick glance toward his uncle, Evan lifted his hand and took Brooke’s. Together they headed toward the gangplank onto a small version of a paddlewheeler with Lady Fleur painted in flowing script down the side. She’d swear Evan grew a couple of inches beside her he stood so tall. She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at his effort.
When they reached the boat, a tall, white-haired man she assumed was Lon extended his hand. “Welcome to the Lady Fleur,” he said.
She retrieved her hand from Evan and shook hands. “Thank you.” After stepping to the side, she looked down at Evan. “And thank you for helping me on board.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, even trying to sound more like a man than a boy of six years.
She caught Grace’s gaze again, but this time there was laughter in her expression as Nathan scooped up his son, causing a riot of giggles.
“I’m guessing he watches every move his dad and uncles make, doesn’t he?” Brooke asked Grace.
“Like a hawk. I have to constantly remind them to be careful what they say. They’re still getting used to having a kid around the ranch.”
In the bustle of guests coming on board, Brooke and Grace separated themselves from the rest of the Teague contingent and strolled toward the bow. Though she wanted to glance back, to feast her eyes on Ryan again, Brooke resisted. No need to feed the fires of speculation.
“So you haven’t lived at the ranch long?” Brooke ventured when she felt the need to fill the silence between them.
“Just a couple of months.” She looked back toward where Nathan likely stood. “Nathan and I just found each other again after several years apart. Guess you could call it a second-chance-at-love thing.”
“That’s romantic.” Despite everything, her romantic-at-heart nature miraculously hadn’t been extinguished.
“Yeah,” Grace said with the dreaminess of a woman deeply in love.
Brooke tried to guard against the pang of loss and loneliness but wasn’t too successful.
“You like Ryan, don’t you?” Grace asked out of the blue.
Brooke stopped in her tracks and was helpless to keep her mouth from dropping open.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here to push you or to share that little tidbit with Mama Matchmaker.”
“So I wasn’t imagining that?”
“Merline?” Grace laughed. “No. It seems one of her new missions in life is to marry off the other two boys and fill the ranch with hordes of grandchildren.”
“I knew I should have taken that job at McDonald’s.”
Grace laughed as she stopped at the railing and looked out across the lake. “Don’t let it bother you. She might be eager, but she won’t go too far. She’s a big believer in people being with their true love.”
“I’m not even sure there is such a thing.” Brooke hadn’t known she even felt that way until the words came spilling out. When she considered how happy Grace and Nathan looked together, she backpedaled. “For me, at least.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Grace drummed her fingers against the metal railing. “Not so long ago, I was convinced I’d be alone all my life, too.”
Too? Could Grace see more than Brooke had thought she was showing to those around her? Or was she simply basing her assessment on Brooke’s own words, words she should have kept to herself?
“I know someone who has built a protective shell when I see one,” Grace said. “I had a pretty thick one myself until Nathan slowly pecked away at it and made me believe in a bright future again.”
Brooke leaned forward, intrigued. “How did he do that?”
“By gradually replacing bad memories with good ones.”
Those words, the idea of them, soaked into Brooke like water trickling through rocks in a stream. “That sounds wonderful.”
“It was, is. I still can’t believe what a different person I am now than when I came here.”
But Brooke was already a different person now, wasn’t she? How many different incarnations could she have in one lifetime?
However many it took to be happy and safe again.
“Why are you telling me this? You barely know me.”
“And yet I liked you the moment I met you.” She smiled. “And I like Ryan. If you two were to get together, that would be wonderful for both of you. But that’s up to no one but you two.”
Brooke glanced back through the crowd, looking for Ryan. “I’m not sure—about anything.” She redirected her attention to where the boat was drifting away from the dock. Why did she have to feel so mixed up inside? She’d come to Blue Falls in hopes of a life without drama, without complications, at least for a while.
Grace squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to figure out whatever it is right this minute. Let things flow naturally. Maybe you’ll just be good friends, nothing wrong with that.” Grace paused for a couple of seconds. “Nothing wrong if it ends up being more, either.” With that, Grace patted Brooke’s hand and walked away, probably in search of her own handsome cowboy.
Nothing since she’d arrived at the Vista Hills Ranch felt quite real. Merline had welcomed her into her kitchen as if they’d been friends for years. Brooke had felt a connection with the youngest Teague brother from the moment they’d locked eyes, and everyone else—except perhaps Simon—thought that was grand. She shook her head as the wind off the water cooled her cheeks and lifted her hair. This kind of stuff didn’t happen, not in real life. She fully expected to wake up to find it had all been an incredibly vivid dream.
She shivered. If she woke from this to find she was still in Virginia, still within Chris’s grasp, she didn’t think she could stand it.
“Cold?”
She jumped at the sound of Ryan’s voice, but she hoped she covered it by shifting from one foot to the other. “A little cool. Hard to believe after how hot it’s been.”
“You haven’t seen hot yet. Summer’s still a month away.”
“Then you all might be looking for another cook when I melt into a puddle of goo.”
He leaned toward her from his spot next to the rail and spoke in a faux whisper. “We have this new-fangled thing called air-conditioning.”
“Really? How progressive of you.”
They fell into silence and
watched as the sun dipped lower behind the hillside, casting a pinkish-orange glow across the surface of the water. The boat turned toward the waterfalls she’d only seen from a distance.
“It really is beautiful out here,” she said.
“When we were kids, we used to come down here in the summer and jump into the lake from up there.” Ryan pointed toward the top of the falls.
“That sounds like fun. We had a creek on our place growing up. My sister and I spent countless hours wading and chasing minnows.”
“Where did you grow up?”
Brooke hesitated, more out of habit than any cautionary instinct about Ryan. “West Virginia.”
“Long way from Texas.”
In more ways than one.
Once they passed the falls, the announcement that dinner was ready saved her from further questions, if he had it in his mind to ask them.
He offered his arm. “Shall we?”
When she met the light in his eyes, one she hadn’t seen in their short acquaintance, she couldn’t say no. She slid her arm through his. As they walked toward the glass-enclosed dining area, for a moment she felt as if she was being led into some fancy ball on the arm of a handsome gentleman.
And she liked it.
RYAN WAS VERY much aware of the eyes on him and Brooke as he led her to the table and pulled her chair back for her, but he didn’t acknowledge them. Maybe if he didn’t act as though anything out of the ordinary was going on, he could pretend that he wasn’t treading on dangerous ground.
But she’d been so beautiful standing out there in the glow of the sunset, her hair drifting in the breeze. She’d reminded him of the figureheads carved into the bows of old sailing ships.
He probably shouldn’t have gone to stand with her, to add to the speculation he could feel flowing through his family like a current. They didn’t need to speak for him to hear their questions.
Did he like Brooke?
Would he ask her out?
Was this the thing that finally pulled him out of his self-imposed hermit status?
What everyone seemed to forget was that he hadn’t exactly been the brother who tore up the dating circuit before he’d put on a uniform.
As he took his seat beside Brooke and listened to Amelia welcome everyone to the launch of a new season on the lake, he only half heard her. Most of his mind was focused on one question: was his attraction to Brooke just a natural reaction to his dry spell, or was more going on? Another question followed on that one’s heels. If more was going on, did he want to saddle Brooke with a guy who was a bit of a time bomb, who never knew what might set off his post-traumatic stress disorder? One who had ugly things in his past.
For now, he liked being in her company. Maybe he’d just remember his former physical therapist’s advice and take it one step at a time.
With her sitting next to him, he at least could keep himself from staring at her all night. If she’d been sitting across the table, he wasn’t sure he’d have been able to say the same. And his mother would be imagining wedding bells again almost before Nathan and Grace’s had stopped ringing.
“So, when do you think you’re going to be able to play again?” Simon asked him from his seat on the other side of the table.
Ryan eyed his bandage. “Not sure. Week, maybe.”
“Play?” Brooke asked.
He made the mistake of looking at her, getting stunned by the nearness of the woman who was short-circuiting his brain. “Uh, fiddle,” he managed to mutter. He’d swear he heard muffled chuckles from his brothers, but he ignored them.
“We’re in a band, the three of us,” Nathan said, motioning between himself, Ryan and Simon.
“Really? What kind of music do you play?”
“Reggae,” Simon said.
The confused look on Brooke’s face caused everyone on their end of the table to laugh.
“Country, old and new,” Ryan said.
“Well, that makes more sense,” she said, prompting another round of laughs.
That laughter released some of the tension he hadn’t fully been aware had built within him since the moment his mother had announced they were all spending the evening together on the boat. Gradually, it eased even more as the night went along and one conversation flowed into another. By the time the boat had docked at the end of the cruise, he was more relaxed than he’d been in a very long time.
“You seemed to have a nice time tonight,” his mom said as everyone walked back to their vehicles.
“I did.” He kept his answer simple, without much inflection.
She slowed beside him, forcing him to do so as well when she slipped her arm through his. “Any particular reason?”
He didn’t have to look at her face to know she’d glanced several feet ahead to where Brooke was climbing into the back of the truck.
“Good food, good weather, good conversation.”
His mom sighed a little. “I think she likes you.”
“Mom, she barely knows me. And I barely know her. At best, we’re friends.”
“Friendship is a good place to start.”
“Or stay.”
Yes, he was wildly attracted to Brooke, but his mind was still way too muddled regarding her. He suspected if he ever gave in to that temptation that it wouldn’t be like any time he’d gone on a date before. Something deep inside told him that one step down that road and the attraction would only grow.
They reached the truck before his mom could probe any further, and he held her hand as she lifted herself into her seat then slipped into his own.
Nobody talked much on the ride back to the ranch, and that was fine with him. He was content to stare out the window and replay all the laughs, smiles and words connected to Brooke throughout the cruise.
He’d gotten the sensation that he was watching the peeling back of a couple more layers, getting closer to the person Brooke really was. Because she was hiding something. He didn’t have to be a cop like Simon to figure that much out. People didn’t just up and move halfway across the country to a small town where they knew no one, had no place to stay and didn’t even have a job if they were happy where they were.
If he hadn’t had such a supportive and determined family, he wondered if he might have done the same thing after being discharged from the hospital and the army.
A buzzing sound came from the other side of the backseat. He looked over in time to see Brooke pull a phone from her purse. She clicked it to read a text message. He sensed more than saw her go rigid, but the fall of her loose hair hid her expression from him.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
She seemed to spring back into action, as if someone had paused her and now had hit the play button again. She dropped the cell back into her purse. “Yeah, just a message from my sister.”
She shifted her attention out the window. She might only be tired, but his instincts were telling him it hadn’t been a welcome message.
When they reached the ranch, he hated the idea of the night ending. But with his mom watching his every move, he squirmed at the idea of spending any more time with Brooke.
Until he saw the look on her face.
Chapter Eight
Chris called looking for you. I told him I didn’t know where you were.
The text from Holly ruined what had been a lovely evening, slapping Brooke with the reason she was here in the first place. Why she couldn’t get too close to anyone, no matter how much she might want to.
Brooke had never been afraid of the dark, not even as a child. But as she looked down the road she had to walk to reach the bunkhouse, an all-encompassing fear swamped her. It burrowed its way inside her mind and formed images of Chris lunging at her from the thick blackness of the trees.
No amount of telling herself that the likelihood of Chris lurking in the shadows was minuscule managed to dispel the fear, and her legs refused to propel her forward. And she hated him all over again.
“Are you okay?” Ryan asked her, speaking low as though he didn’t want his parents to hear. For that she was grateful.
“Yeah.” She didn’t know how she managed to voice the word when it felt like hands were crushing her throat, cutting off her air. But she made the mistake of looking up at him and saw that he knew she was lying.
“Good night,” he said over his shoulder to his parents, then nodded slightly toward the road to the bunkhouse.
She knew it was weak, was frustrated with herself for needing it, but she grasped the lifeline and fell into step beside him.
Even with Ryan’s strong presence next to her, she shivered a bit as they neared the trees. She had to get past this, because she couldn’t exactly only come out during daylight hours like some sort of anti-vampire.
Something moved in the brush, and she yelped, backing up until she bumped into Ryan. His hands grasped her shoulders and steadied her. Embarrassed that she’d overreacted to what was likely no more than some animal scurrying through the bushes, she forced herself to calm down and step away from him. But even when she broke contact, she still felt the warmth of his hands lingering on her shoulders.
She scrambled for an excuse for her reaction, reminding herself that if Chris was calling Holly to try to find her then he obviously didn’t know where she was. And wasn’t hiding in the woods to jump out at her like the bogeyman.
“Sorry about that. Guess you can tell it’s been a while since I’ve lived out in the country. I got too used to streetlights everywhere.”
Hoping he wouldn’t question her, she started walking again and resisted the irrational need to constantly check the layers of darkness along the road. Ryan didn’t even mention the incident as they approached the bunkhouse. Instead, he walked up to her car and opened the back door.
Cowboy to the Rescue Page 9
