“He needs a father,” Ace said softly.
Now Crystal was the one who was frowning. “We’re fine, Ace,” she said. “No fathers need apply.”
But she knew he wasn’t applying.
“You’re a good mother. I can hear it in your voice, see it when you hold him. Even in the way you take his hand and worry about him so much. I didn’t mean that you, as a parent, were lacking in any way. And no, I wasn’t applying for the post. I wouldn’t be a suitable role model. Fatherhood isn’t my style.”
Her heart hurt to hear that. It was one thing to say that he didn’t want to marry and settle down. It was another to declare himself unfit for fatherhood. But maybe he was right. Not every man was made to be a father. No one knew that better than she did. She supposed Ace knew a thing or two about that himself.
“We’ll be fine,” she promised, and she didn’t know if she was promising herself or Ace or even Timmy.
“I’ll be back after work.”
She blinked.
He smiled and planted a soft kiss on her lips. In answer, her lips parted and he groaned, nudging closer.
She melted against him, feeling the crispness of his suit, breathing in the male scent of him, throwing all caution aside as his mouth moved over hers. She could stay here forever; she could think of nothing more she wanted to do than to make love with Ace Carson.
And then the reality of what she was doing hit her.
She placed her hands against his chest, tore her lips away, backed up. She pressed her fingers to her lips.
“I don’t want to do that with you,” she said firmly.
He studied her, his eyes fierce with desire and denial. Then he gave her a curt nod, shook his head and smiled. “Well, that makes one of us, because I very definitely want to do that with you. But I won’t go where you don’t want to go. I’ll be back.”
“No.”
“Not for this. Just to check up on you. And to feed you.”
“Why?”
He grinned then. “Why not? You have to eat, Timmy has to eat, I have to eat. And I don’t think Nola Warburn is going to begin offering me meals with my room. We’ll go out. My treat.”
She didn’t answer. She watched him walk away from her, tall and broad-shouldered and alone. She wondered how much of his life he’d spent alone.
She wondered if she really was going to have dinner with him. And whether she’d call a halt to things the next time he kissed her.
Seven
Crystal was finishing up some paperwork when her phone rang.
It was Fiona. “Almost ready for lunch?” she asked.
“Just about. Why? You looking for a companion?”
“Something like that. I thought we’d go over to Mission Creek Motors.”
“Fiona,” Crystal said warningly. “Just stop this right now. Ace Carson and I aren’t going to be an item.”
“You’re not even the least bit interested in him?”
“Not a bit,” she lied.
“Then you don’t want to see what happens when Daddy goes to see him at the dealership?”
Crystal sucked in a breath. A vision of the pain that lurked in the depths of Ace’s eyes assaulted her. He tried to hide it behind grins and tough talk, but it was clear that Ace had some unpleasant things in his history, and some of them involved Ford.
“It’s not really any of my business,” she said.
“Um, and Branson Hines wasn’t really any of his business last night, either.”
“What’s your interest?” Crystal wanted to know.
“I think that should be obvious. The man claims to be Daddy’s long-lost son, and Dad’s heart works pretty well since his surgery but he still needs to watch his diet and stress levels. I have a very definite interest. In both of them.”
“Ace wouldn’t appreciate us being there.”
“How do you know that? You don’t even know him.”
“Exactly.” But she knew that this meeting wouldn’t be easy for him. Of course, he’d known that when he’d decided to come here, and he’d come, anyway.
“Anybody who heard what was going on last night will be gathering around. Like buzzards waiting to see blood. We could at least do crowd control.”
“You’re reaching, Fiona.” But Crystal couldn’t help laughing.
“Maybe Ace needs a friend,” her friend said softly. “And maybe I do, too, because I’m going whether you come with me or not.”
Crystal thought about that. She loved Fiona, but two Mission Creek Carsons against one illegitimate Carson? The odds just didn’t seem right.
“I’ll meet you there,” she said. “Heaven knows how this is going to look or how we’re going to explain it.”
Ace was helping a customer when he looked up and saw Ford Carson walk into Mission Creek Motors. Into enemy territory.
He wondered if Ford visited the competition on a regular basis, but when the man turned his way and began walking toward him, Ace had his answer. Ford was only here for one reason: To see him.
For the first time in years, Ace’s palms felt sweaty.
Anger welled up in him. Ignoring Ford’s advance, he turned to his elderly customer. “As you can see, this vehicle not only has all the comforts of home, Mrs. Vedemen, but it also is the exact same shade of blue as your eyes.”
The white-haired lady ducked her head and chuckled. “I didn’t come in here to buy a car, Mr. Carson. I came to see if you were as outrageous and flirtatious as I’ve been led to believe.”
He smiled and shrugged. “I only speak the truth.” And he realized that he had indeed been telling the truth. Louise Vedemen might be close to eighty, but she still had clear blue eyes that held a trace of mischief.
“I believe my friend was wrong about you, Mr. Carson. You’re even more outrageous than I’d expected, but you know, you just might be right about my eyes and this car. I’ve got money and I need some fun. Why shouldn’t I do something bold and silly like buying a car to complement one of the few assets I can still call my own?”
“I’m sure you have other assets,” he told the woman. “A cheerful disposition, a winning smile, honesty and directness. Those count.”
“Yes, they do, young man,” she said, turning serious. “And looking out for your fellow man counts, too. I hear that you saved Crystal Bennett from an assault last night. That shows character.”
Her words echoed around the showroom. They reminded Ace that Ford was standing not ten feet away, waiting. The man made no pretense of talking to other customers or salesmen. He simply waited, arms folded.
Ace wasn’t too happy about having last night’s incident reviewed in front of Ford. He hadn’t come here to impress anyone. Besides, thinking of the incident at the ribbon-cutting ceremony only reminded him of what he’d felt when he saw Hines cornering Crystal the day before. The violence of his reaction surprised him even now. “I’m afraid character had little to do with it,” he told his customer. “More like blind anger.”
She lifted one shoulder in a gesture of dismissal. “The result was the same. You saved Crystal. Now, what do we need to do to finalize my purchase of this car?”
“Step over here,” Ace said, and he led her past Ford to a large mahogany desk in the corner. A half hour later he took Mrs. Vedemen’s hand in his own. “Enjoy your car,” he told her. “Have fun with it.”
He watched as she left the dealership. He glanced at Ford, who was standing there chatting with a customer as if he was in charge here, as well as down the street at Lone Star Auto.
He also saw that a small crowd was gathering, and that Fiona and Crystal were a part of that crowd. Ace looked at Crystal and raised a brow.
She blushed prettily and managed to look about as uncomfortable as a woman could. He’d just bet that Fiona had talked her into coming here today. He’d also bet that she was here in part because she was worried about what would happen between him and Ford. She was doing that mothering thing again, as if he needed her as much as Timmy did.
She obviously felt that she owed him something for his actions last night.
A curious warmth spread through him, but he fought it down. He had no business dwelling on the worried look in her eyes or on the fact that he felt a strange desire to go to her, take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be all right.
She’d heard those kinds of lies before and she didn’t need to hear them from him, a man she already knew enough not to trust too far. She was a woman who needed stability like most people needed air, and he was a man who’d spent his life fighting the outward trappings of stability. He’d chosen a wild untamed road where she didn’t belong and would never feel comfortable. It was a road that would be very wrong for a woman with a child. So he had no business zeroing in on her. Besides, he needed all his wits about him to deal with the man who was waiting for him.
He turned toward Ford. As if his glance were a homing beacon, Ford also turned and looked at the man he had fathered thirty-six years ago. He walked toward Ace. When he was three feet away, he stopped.
“Looking for a car, Ford?” Ace asked.
“Looking for you.”
“Why is that?”
Ford shook his head as if shaking off a pesky fly. “I just wanted to tell you… Yesterday when we talked, I didn’t tell you one thing. I do remember her.”
“But she was just one of your women.” Ace couldn’t keep the ugliness out of his voice.
Ford narrowed his eyes. “That wasn’t the way of it.”
“Are you going to tell me you were in love with her? That even though that was true, you got her pregnant and left her alone to face the consequences?”
“We weren’t in love, no. That wasn’t the way it was.”
“For you. It was different for her.”
Ford nodded. “Well then, I didn’t know that.”
“She was your housekeeper. You took advantage of that.”
Silence. “I did.”
Ace wanted to hit him, but this wasn’t like handling Branson last night. And Ford was not a young man.
“Let me ask you one thing. Did you know she was pregnant?” Ace’s voice didn’t waver, though it was shot through with anger.
“Not at first.”
Not at first. Which meant that he had known somewhere along the line.
“She wasn’t good enough for the Carsons,” Ace said as calmly as he could. “That was what your father told her when he overheard her crying to a friend on the phone about her condition. He couldn’t have his son marrying her kind, not the hired help who slept around. Instead, he gave her money and sent her away without a reference. She took it because her mother was sick and needed medicine—and maybe because she knew she had already lost. You didn’t stop it, any of it. Even if you didn’t know what was happening, even if you didn’t know she was pregnant, you must have known there was a chance she was. Especially after she left.”
A muscle twitched in Ford’s jaw. “That’s true. I should have known.”
“And when you did—finally—why didn’t you go to see her?”
Ford shook his head. “No good answer to that, son. None that would satisfy you.”
But as Ace watched the man who had fathered him walk away, he knew the answer. His mother had never been good enough for Ford, just as his grandfather had said. She had been reaching above her “station,” a term he’d heard all his life.
Arriving at the door, Ford turned and looked back. Across what seemed like the miles of showroom he spoke. “I’ve made mistakes in my life. Lots of them. Maybe this was the biggest.”
“And if you could change things?” Ace asked.
Ford turned. He glanced at Fiona, then back at Ace, strain written in every line of his face. “No, I wouldn’t change things. Not in the way you mean.”
And he left the building.
Fiona walked up to Ace, her eyes big and sad. “Eventually we’ll have to talk. You know that,” she said, and then she went out the door after her father.
Ace stood there as seconds ticked by, unable to move, or even to think. Finally he turned toward Crystal. There were unshed tears in her eyes. He felt a bit like crying himself, but that wouldn’t help a thing. One thing he knew. He didn’t want Crystal feeling sorry for him. He didn’t want her to be sad at all.
So he drew on old resources. He forced a smile and walked up to her. “Looking for a car? I can offer you something with white leather seats and all the luxuries of home,” he teased.
She pasted on her own smile. “You haven’t seen much of the inside of my home. Luxury wouldn’t be your word of choice. Any one of these cars probably exceeds the cost of my total worldly assets.”
“Ah, so you didn’t come looking for a car? Maybe a little social work? Taking care of the stranger in town?”
“I doubt that you qualify as a stranger anymore. I hear you’ve been flirting with all the little old ladies and that you sold Louise Vedemen a car.”
“She’s a nice woman.”
“Yes, she is, and in spite of her money, she doesn’t get enough attention. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. It wasn’t as if I didn’t get anything out of the deal. She bought a car.”
“And if she hadn’t?”
He shrugged. “She would still have been nice. Money doesn’t make the woman.”
“Good to know.” She gave him a small smile.
“Well, we both know that I admire you greatly, even if one of these cars is worth more than your worldly assets. You do know that, don’t you? I wouldn’t use you for my own purposes.”
She almost flinched. She supposed he was telling her that he wasn’t like his father. “I’ve known Ford a long time,” she said. “Something isn’t right here. And I can see that he wants to get to know you. He wants the past to be different. Fiona already considers you a Carson.”
He shook his head. “I’m not, not in the way she is, and I’m not going to be. I didn’t come here to try to worm my way into the Carson family.”
No, she thought. He had come here to let the Carsons know that he existed and obviously to humiliate them a little, judging by his choice of occupation and living quarters. Ford had to know that, and yet he’d come here and had this very public meeting with Ace. A meeting in which Ford had not shown particularly well. Something wasn’t at all what it should be. For either Ace or Ford. Both of them appeared to be hurting.
Crystal didn’t like her friends to hurt, but at least Ford had his family. All of it.
She was afraid of getting too close to Ace, but as she remembered that exchange from a few minutes ago, as she realized what it must have been like growing up without a father and then coming to the town where that same father was practically a god, she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to maintain the distance she needed.
“So everything is working out here at Mission Creek Motors? If Louise is any indication, business is going well,” she said casually.
He laughed then. “I’m not hurting because I’ve decided to take on the Carsons in a very public way, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “But it’s going to get even better. J.D. has a good product. He just needs a little innovation, some incentive to bring people in.”
After today’s scenario, Crystal thought that people might come in for a day or two just to get a look at Ace, but she knew that wasn’t what he meant.
“You have ideas, I take it,” she said.
“A few. This Saturday we’re having the first family day at Mission Creek Motors. Strolling musicians, a display of autos through the ages, a petting zoo, food and a fireworks display at the end of the evening.”
She widened her eyes. “J.D. agreed to this?” J.D. hated to spend money.
Ace shrugged. “It’ll set him back a few bucks, but it’ll get people talking and coming in for a long time to come.”
“How did you organize this so fast?”
He grinned. “Some people just like to be persuaded. I did some persuading.”
That I-feel-like-I
’ve-known-you-forever-darlin’ charm of his, she was guessing. Ford should be proud of his son. She hoped he could see beyond Ace’s anger. More than that, she wished there was some way to change the past and mend what appeared to be unmendable.
“Will you come?” he asked. “And bring Timmy?”
She smiled. “How could I miss it? I love petting zoos. Especially if there are rabbits. I love rabbits.”
“I’ll make sure we have some.”
Crystal turned to go.
“Hey, darlin’,” he said, gently catching her hand.
She looked back over her shoulder and he reeled her in slowly, in front of all the customers and sales-people in Mission Creek Motors.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
He shrugged. “For being here.”
She blushed. How could she tell him that she hadn’t been able to stay away from him? “It was Fiona’s idea,” she said a bit lamely. “She practically dragged me here.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” Ace said, “but Fiona’s long gone and you’re not.”
She gave up any hope of pretense. “I don’t even have a good reason for that.”
“And I don’t have a good reason for being glad. But I am.” And he leaned forward and kissed her. Slowly.
Someone gave a low whistle. “Do all the female customers get one of those today?” one woman called out.
Ace raised his head. “This lady’s not a customer.”
But as she left the showroom, Crystal wondered, What was she to Ace? And what was he to her?
Well, she knew the answer to the second question. He was a man she shouldn’t be kissing.
But if the opportunity rose again, she was pretty sure she would take it. As long as she didn’t let things go any further than kissing, she would be all right. She hoped.
Family Day at Mission Creek Motors had been going just fine, but all the time Ace was welcoming people, inviting them to have some refreshments and serving as guide and baby-sitter, he was very aware that something was missing.
Her Sweet Talkin' Man Page 8
