Behind Closed Doors

by Debbi Rawlins

  Moving her head from side to side with attitude, Beth pointed to her niece and finished the last few lines of the song before taking her foot off the brake and continuing through the intersection.

  Liberty had clapped her hands over her ears. Realizing it was now safe, she lowered them. “You know you can’t sing, right? You’ve been off-key since we left the house.”

  Beth wasn’t sure that was true. Lib was just cranky. She’d been grumbling since Beth woke her up at 8:00 a.m. It was Saturday, so why couldn’t she sleep till noon? Why did she have to go to the Lucky 7 on a weekend? She didn’t like Woody because he wouldn’t let her use her phone and he didn’t give her enough breaks...and on and on.

  Beth waved to a white-haired man driving past them in a blue Chevy pickup on its last legs.

  “Who was that?”

  “I don’t know.” Beth felt her niece’s curiosity burning a hole in the side of her head and she glanced at her. “He waved, so I waved back.”

  Lib frowned. “You got home late last night.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Where were you?”

  “I was with a friend. Besides, I’m not the one on probation, kiddo.” Beth turned up the volume and started singing again. Not just because she liked the song. She didn’t want Lib asking any more questions.

  Yes, Beth knew she was punchy from too little sleep. But the sex had been amazing, so who cared that she hadn’t made it home until after 1:30 a.m.? For all Lib knew, Beth had been out dancing. Turned out, Nathan had remarkable stamina. And holy cow, did that man know how to use his tongue.

  She kept singing, probably getting most of the words wrong, until Liberty leaned over and turned down the volume.

  “If you have to be in a good mood, can’t you do it quietly?”

  Beth met the girl’s glare. “If you have to be a buzzkill, can’t you do it quietly?”

  Lib gave her another strange look, a mix of annoyance and curiosity. “You’re weird.”

  Beth returned her attention to the road. “Look, I have workers showing up in an hour. You know how much trouble I’ve had lining up labor,” she said. “So, no, driving you today isn’t convenient. The least you can do is be civil.”

  Lib’s heavy sigh was the closest thing to an acknowledgment Beth was going to get. That and silence, which was both good and bad. Good because it was easier to daydream about Nathan and everything they’d done last night. Bad for the same reason. She was going to see him in about five minutes. Too late to worry, but she hoped she was a good enough actress and didn’t get all giddy and stupid.

  The second Beth saw the sun’s glare coming off the barn’s green roof, her insides started jumping. They were still half a mile away but she slowed the truck when she felt a body flush coming on. The heat surged up from her belly into her chest and neck.

  The seductive warmth was like an invitation to flash on last night: Nathan’s dark sexy eyes...the lazy, sensual curve of his mouth...him licking his way from her breasts to her...

  “Aunt Beth?” Liberty touched her arm. “Are you okay?”

  Her foot was on the brake.

  Why was the truck in Neutral?

  She blinked and looked into her niece’s worried blue eyes. “Oh, yeah, fine.” Beth pressed a palm to her hot cheek. “Must be getting old. I’m not used to being out so late.” She put the truck back in Drive. “That doesn’t need to be repeated, by the way.”

  Liberty grinned. Beth ignored her and drove.

  The ranch looked semideserted. As usual, a row of vehicles flanked the bunkhouse and an unattended red ATV was parked outside the barn. A pair of beautiful shiny chestnuts roamed the far back corral. Beth’s gaze had immediately gone toward the house. No sign of Nathan, not that she necessarily expected him to suddenly appear, but it was odd seeing no one working with the horses or fiddling with the equipment.

  “Woody did tell you to be here by 8:30 a.m., right?” she asked, glancing again toward the house.

  “Um, yeah...” Lib paused. “You know what...I think I messed up. He said Monday. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here until Monday.”

  Beth cut the engine and gave the little opportunist a warning look. Beth knew she hadn’t gotten the day wrong, it was the start time she was questioning.

  Leaving the keys in the ignition, she opened the door, got out and looked around. An older man holding a steaming mug walked out of the bunkhouse and nodded to her. She didn’t recognize him, but she’d ask for Woody if she didn’t spot him soon. Past the last corral, two men were coming from the stables. They were too far away to see their faces, but the distinctive bow-legged walk identified Woody. The other man was tall with dark hair, but he wasn’t Nathan. She knew because her heart wasn’t racing.

  She waited for Woody to reach her while she sneaked peeks in the direction of the house. Nathan was probably in his office. Which was good. Better not to see each other right now. That was what she told herself. Disappointment still managed to kick reason in the butt.

  “Morning, Woody.” She smiled and gave the other man a nod. He returned in kind, then kept walking.

  Woody took off his hat and scratched the back of his head, watching sideways as Liberty climbed out of the truck. “How’s Miss Grumpy today?”

  Beth sighed. “Um...yeah. Sorry. I did speak to her about her attitude.”

  The older man chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I don’t pay her no mind.” He stuck his hat back on his head. “She’s a bright girl. I reckon she’ll figure out the more she grumbles, the more I’m gonna ride her.”

  “She is bright,” Beth said softly, glancing back at her niece, the scowl on her face made worse by the Goth makeup she’d recently adopted. “It breaks my heart.”

  “Aw, I wouldn’t worry about it. She’s still wet behind the ears. You shoulda seen Nathan at her age,” he said, getting Beth’s attention.

  She studied the man’s weathered face, wondering if he was baiting her. All she saw was kind concern in his eyes. “I can’t imagine him being a problem child.”

  “Nah, nothing like that. But talk about headstrong. I’d swear on my mama’s grave that boy knew what he wanted by the time he learned to talk.” They both smiled at the exaggeration. “Once he got something in his head, you couldn’t convince him otherwise.”

  Even with what little she knew of Nathan, she could understand what Woody meant. She was so tempted to see what else she could learn, but Liberty was getting restless. “I hope he passed on how much I appreciate you working with Lib,” she said in a low voice. “She hasn’t had much adult supervision, I’m afraid.”

  “Well, now she has you, and that makes her pretty darn lucky from what I can see.”

  Beth was unprepared for the sudden lump in her throat. The sincerity in Woody’s voice had gotten to her. She was doing her best, but she just wasn’t sure. Sometimes her niece seemed to be getting worse instead of better.

  She noticed Liberty moving toward them and asked, “Do you have an idea when I should pick her up? Or do you want to just have her call me?”

  “You can’t leave me here all day!”

  At her raised voice, they both turned.

  “Excuse me,” Beth drawled the words into a warning.

  At the same time Woody pinned Lib with a steely eyed glare and growled, “Watch your tone, missy.”

  Liberty blinked. For a second she looked startled, then a bit worried. Which was awesome. But she recovered quickly and some of the attitude was back on her face. Though not all, so that was something.

  Beth and Woody exchanged private smiles.

  “Thank you.” Beth started backing toward her truck. “I’ll wait for a call.” Impulsively she walked over to Liberty, hugged her and kissed her cheek. “I love you, Lib,” she whispered. “With all my heart.”

  The girl’s eyes widened, and then she shuttered them and murmured, “Me, too.”

  “Okay. Call me.” Beth saw the faint sheen of tears and quickly stepped away so
Lib could regroup.

  She hurried to the truck and, as she opened the door, caught Lib furtively dabbing at her eyes. Woody was being terrific. He’d turned his back and was pretending to watch the horses in the corral.

  While she regretted making Lib feel awkward, Beth wasn’t sorry about the hug. As a child she would’ve given anything to feel she mattered. She remembered once being told her mom loved her. The words hadn’t actually come from Paula herself, but from a kindhearted neighbor who’d found Beth crying and sporting a red welt from the back of her mother’s hand. She’d just turned seven but learned quickly to stay clear of her mom whenever a guy dumped her.

  As she drove back to the highway, Beth decided she would be more demonstrative with Liberty. And then, without warning, that small child, the one who’d desperately needed a hug all those years ago, wondered if Nathan might be avoiding her.

  11

  NATHAN STOOD AT the window until the truck disappeared from view. He’d seen Beth hug her niece and sensed the awkwardness between them when the girl dabbed at her eyes and Beth hightailed it to her truck as if she was running from a fire. Damn, he hoped whatever was going on had nothing to do with last night. No reason to think it did, though he’d likely find out soon enough.

  His fifth mug of coffee had started to cool, but he chugged it down anyway. He didn’t need the caffeine. He was used to not sleeping much. But getting worked up just from looking at a woman? He hadn’t experienced that kind of physical craving since he was a teenager. One little taste of Beth was all it had taken to draw him out of hibernation.

  Lousy time for him to be having doubts.

  Doubts he couldn’t ignore, because maybe he’d been wrong about her. Maybe Beth wasn’t the type who could handle a relationship based solely on sex. He’d seen her looking toward the house, probably wondering why he hadn’t gone outside. That alone wasn’t what worried him. Hell, he had no room to talk. He’d been rooted to this vantage point from the moment she’d driven up.

  But Beth...she wasn’t used to casual sex and she was in a vulnerable place. She had her hands full with her niece. And last night...

  Jesus, he hadn’t expected last night. His body was already hard. He didn’t need to be thinking about how she tasted and smelled or how soft her lips were. The sex had been hot. Hotter than anything he’d ever experienced. Yeah, she knew her way around a man’s body, but there’d been those moments of hesitation. She might be more worldly than most women he knew, but she hadn’t gotten around as much as he’d assumed.

  And he liked that. Call him a pig, but that was the truth. Just listening to her startled gasps and soft moans, feeling her shudder in his arms when he’d slid into her, had pushed him close to climaxing. Didn’t hurt that she was tight.

  Now so were his jeans.

  Shit.

  He took the last sip of cold coffee, hoping to blunt his lusty thoughts. The possibility he was fooling himself aside, last night hadn’t been just about sex. They’d connected in some way.

  Which wasn’t part of their understanding.

  Watching Liberty trail Woody toward the barn, Nathan let out a long exhale. Between Beth’s family issues and renovating the boardinghouse, she had a lot going on. She was under the kind of pressure that could tear down a person’s defenses. Or lead to slipping up and being indiscreet. Maybe trying to juggle something outside her comfort zone was just another stressor she couldn’t handle.

  Hell, he was grateful she wanted to keep quiet about what was going on. Frankly, if not for that, he wouldn’t have asked her out at all. He didn’t need to be the center of more rumors and gossip.

  Nathan rubbed behind his neck. Between the coffee and too much thinking, suddenly he wasn’t feeling so hot.

  * * *

  IT SEEMED NOTHING in life was simple anymore. Not one blessed thing. Beth had picked up Liberty from the Lucky 7 ten minutes ago. They were almost to town, and Beth told herself she could do this. Get her niece safely home. Strangling the little chatterbox would be in bad form, considering Beth had told her just this morning how much she loved her.

  Beth knew it wasn’t her niece’s fault Nathan hadn’t come out to see her. Though she knew he’d been home because Liberty had barely been able to stop talking about him.

  Lib turned down the volume and looked at Beth. “Do you know how the Lucky 7 got its name? Nathan explained it to me while he helped me paint.”

  “No, I don’t.” She had to be careful and not admit she knew the story. That would require some explaining. “By the way, what happened to calling him Mr. Landers?”

  “He told me to call him Nathan. He’s really kind of cool,” Lib said, her grudging tone indicating she hadn’t decided whether to be pleased or feel betrayed. “Okay, so Nathan’s grandfather left him and his brothers each seven acres of land for them to do whatever they wanted with it. Nathan knew right away he wanted his own ranch, so he worked odd jobs and saved his money, raised a stallion that ended up making him a lot in stud fees, then he majored in animal science in college—”

  The abrupt silence had Beth glancing at the girl. “What’s wrong?”

  “He kinda slipped and told me something he shouldn’t,” Lib said. “He asked me not to repeat it.”

  “I don’t think he meant you couldn’t tell me.”

  After another prickly silence Beth again took her eyes from the road to see Lib watching her with open curiosity. And perhaps with a tiny bit of suspicion.

  “Why do you say that?” Lib asked, frowning slightly.

  “Well, even though I’m not your mother, he knows I’m your aunt and I care about you. And that I’m here hoping to be a stabilizing influence in your life.”

  “How would he know all that stuff?”

  Beth smiled at her. “We had a long talk in his truck, remember?”

  She nodded as if everything now made sense and she shouldn’t worry.

  Beth, on the other hand, felt like a traitor. Or at least the most horrible aunt on the planet. No, she had a right to her privacy, and she had a duty to protect Liberty. It was terrific that she was taking to Nathan. Maybe he’d end up being a positive male figure in her life. “So what did he say?”

  Lib muttered a mild curse that Beth decided to let slide. “You can’t tell him I told you.” She waited for Beth to cross her heart. “Nathan didn’t finish college. He left with only one semester to go. And don’t worry, he made sure I understood that school is important and I should never think about dropping out.”

  Beth kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t about to weigh in, since she’d also dropped out after two years to work for Fritz.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me why he did it?”

  “Why?”

  “He played football and the team was in the locker room when their coach told them a pro scout might be at their next game. Everybody was excited and making jokes about staying in one piece so they’d be able to play. Nathan said it dawned on him that if he got hurt too badly, there went his plans for the Lucky 7. He didn’t really need a degree, but he needed a strong back. That was smart of him, don’t you think?”

  Beth nodded. “He does seem to be successful.”

  “Yep, and Woody said he was a good football player, too. Good enough he might’ve gotten picked up by a professional team. But Nathan had always wanted to ranch. Now he’s looking into breeding Arabians.” Liberty paused, looking pleased with her fountain of information. “He has two already. Ask him to show them to you. They’re beautiful. Or I can ask for you. When he gets back.”

  “Back from where?” The sharply spoken words were out of Beth’s mouth before she could stop them. She knew Liberty was staring at her and she avoided her eyes.

  “I don’t know. A business trip, I think.”

  “I hope that doesn’t mean you can’t finish your painting.”

  “No, I’m supposed to be there on Monday after school.”

  Beth took a deep breath and nodded at the radio. “Mind turning that up? I like this
song.”

  Liberty cranked up the volume. Too loud for Beth to hear herself think. Not necessarily a bad thing. Inside her head wasn’t a fun place to be right now. Why hadn’t Nathan mentioned he’d be away? While she didn’t expect an itinerary, it would’ve been nice to know what was happening so she didn’t get crazy wondering why he hadn’t called.

  She sighed. She was being ridiculous. They weren’t going steady. They weren’t doing anything except having sex. He owed her nothing. Except an orgasm. She had every right to expect that. If they ever got together again.

  He hadn’t said...

  But then, neither had she.

  * * *

  BY LATE MONDAY afternoon, Beth was hanging on to sanity by a thread. The day had started out great. All the scheduled workers had shown up. But then the plumber discovered he’d ordered the wrong pipes, which set him back two days, and three rooms had mysterious electrical problems.

  After waiting a week for Mike Burnett to present the bid he’d put together for the carpentry work, Beth had to postpone their meeting so she could provide taxi service for Liberty because Candace had bailed at the last minute.

  The good news was that Nathan was expected home in the afternoon. So before returning, Beth had changed from her grubby work clothes to a pair of killer jeans that made her butt look good and a cute Stella McCartney button-down blouse. Rather than go overboard, she chose medium-heel ankle boots.

  She did a quick mirror check as she approached the Lucky 7. Her heart rate sped up when she saw a big dark green SUV parked close to the house—the one she’d seen in his garage Friday night. She hoped that meant he was home, and if he didn’t come out, she had an excuse ready to justify knocking on the front door.

  She didn’t see Liberty or Woody as she got out, though she was ten minutes early. Still no sign of Nathan. She rounded the truck bed, too busy admiring a pair of playful roans in the corral to watch where she was going. Her heel sank into something squishy.

  Mud. Thick and disgusting. It dragged on her boot when she tried to lift her foot.