“Ben?” Tess asked. “He’s invol—?” She caught herself, took a deep breath, and tried again. “I mean, he’s invited us out to the ranch tomorrow?”
Smiling, Roselynn shook her head. “Not just us. The potluck’s open to the entire town.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Tess said brightly. As the others began walking up Signal Street, she added under her breath, “Just great.”
Only Caleb hung back, looking down at her, his expression unreadable.
She frowned. “What?”
“You got something against potlucks?”
“No, not at all.”
“You don’t care for Ben Sawyer?”
“Of course I like Ben.”
“Hey, Caleb,” Nate yelled from several yards ahead. “You comin’?”
“Be right there,” he called. He turned his attention back to her. “What it is, then? Something’s bothering you about this invitation.”
His emphasis showed he had picked up on the way she’d stumbled over her words. “Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Good. Then you ought to be happy about getting me out of your hair tomorrow. After all, you said you wanted a break.” He turned and left her standing openmouthed on the sidewalk.
She clamped her jaw shut on the words that threatened to spill out this time. Then she shook her head.
If he thought he’d be going off to Ben’s ranch without her tomorrow, he was in for a surprise. She didn’t trust him alone long enough to have lunch with her family. She couldn’t risk leaving him on his own with them all afternoon.
Darn it, why couldn’t Ben Sawyer stay out of this? Why should he feel the need to get involved in anything to do with Caleb? And why hadn’t he mentioned something to her about the potluck earlier this week—when she would have had time to set up any number of appointments to keep Caleb out of town?
She stole a glance up the street.
The group had stopped and stood waiting for Caleb.
The first thing she saw was the satisfied smile on Aunt El’s face. And the first thing she realized was that Ben hadn’t thought of the potluck all on his own. He’d had help.
She had no doubt whatsoever about just who had come up with the terrible idea.
Come to think of it, Kayla Robertson had looked to Roselynn and Aunt El in the middle of her conversation. Sure, Sam might have intended to get in touch with Caleb. But that request from Kayla—for him to help build a chicken coop for their daughter, of all things—had come at a very opportune moment. Accompanied by her comment about Caleb’s handyman skills, how could that request have been a coincidence?
It couldn’t. Grinding her teeth in irritation, she looked at the crowd up ahead again.
Caleb stood head and shoulders above her mom and Aunt El and all the girls around him. He smiled and joked with them as if he didn’t have a care in the world but to keep them entertained.
Well, of course.
He’d been stuck in a car with her almost the entire week while she’d taken him all over the state. He’d probably sat counting the minutes until he would have his audience around him again.
He laughed at something Aunt El said, then turned to listen to Nate.
The smile and the adoring look she gave him made Tess’s stomach tighten. As she watched, he reached out and ruffled Nate’s hair. Even from this distance, she could see the color rush to fill her daughter’s face.
It was nothing compared to the flash of fear that shot through Tess.
Chapter Ten
What a week.
Tess slumped into her swivel chair and rested her head on her hands.
After lunch, Caleb had announced he needed a haircut. She had made sure to see Roselynn and Nate off to the inn in the company of all Nate’s friends. Then she had escaped to her office, desperately seeking a few minutes away from everyone.
It had been bad enough to know she would have to sit down to every breakfast and supper with Caleb.
She hadn’t anticipated how tough the times alone with him would be.
She had envisioned them firmly belted into their separate seats of her car. Or maybe outside, tramping over some of the property she wanted to show, with plenty of wide, open space between them. She hadn’t thought about the long hours beside him in her small car, where the simmering attraction she felt for him only added to the heat inside the vehicle. Between the mileage and her need to turn up the air conditioner, she was spending a fortune on gas.
Yet being nearly glued to his side in front of everyone they’d met this morning had been worse.
And then lunch. After Caleb had offered to treat everyone, she had wanted to run away. But she couldn’t risk leaving him alone with Nate. Or with Roselynn and Aunt El. So she had given in and gone along. And what a meal that had been!
The sound of footsteps on the hardwood floor of the office made her jump. She raised her head and found Dana eyeing her in concern.
“Are you all right?” Dana asked.
“I’m fine. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“I didn’t. I was in the back office.”
Despite her worries, the phrase made them laugh, as usual.
She looked around. Their two oversize desks took up most of the floor space in this storefront room that no self-respecting real estate agent could call anything but tiny.
Beyond the wall behind them lay a minuscule strip of footage their new building owner had dared to label a second office. They’d managed to fit in a drop-leaf table—with both leaves dropped. A two-drawer filing cabinet did double duty as a resting place for a minirefrigerator, a coffeemaker and a hot plate for their teakettle.
“The ‘back office.’” She shook her head. “Ben ought to try selling houses for a living. He’s got such a way with words, you should hire him.”
“No, I should not.” As if to underscore her emphatic response, Dana dropped into the chair beside Tess’s desk. “You look done in. What’s going on with you and Caleb?”
She jumped again. “Wh-what?”
“Caleb. You know, our client? The one you’re showing properties to? How’s it going?”
“Oh.” She began rearranging the office supplies on the desktop. “Fine—except for today. He wanted to stay in town. We walked the length of the business area and back again, stopping in at every store and office along the way.”
Dana frowned. “What for?”
She shrugged, recalling all he had told her but not feeling a bit certain he’d shared his real reason with her. “He said he wanted to see the sights. While we were at it, I took care of handing out our promo.”
“That’s good. We need to drum up some business.”
“I know.” Guilt ran through her yet again. At the feelings she shouldn’t have for Caleb. At the secret she’d kept from him for so long. At the worry her refusal to show him property close to town would ultimately hurt her best friend.
The wasted day today had only increased her distress.
As if she had picked up on Tess’s thoughts, Dana said, “You didn’t go out of town with him, then?”
“We didn’t even get off Signal Street.”
“You’ve been doing your best. Just keep at it.” Her eyes sparkling, Dana leaned forward. “Seems to me he’s dragging his heels with you about looking at property. What’s he up to?”
That’s what she had asked him.
And now she had stirred Dana’s interest—exactly what she needed to avoid. “Nothing much. He just wanted to relive old times, I guess.”
“And catch up with you?” Dana asked. “That’s what he said when he came in here that first day.”
She hurried to change the subject. “Everywhere we turned, we found Nate and Lissa and crew w
aiting for us—no matter how often I tried distracting them with the idea of going somewhere else.”
“He’s certainly caught their eye.”
“Uh-huh.” She sure hadn’t. He’d asked her about leaving Flagman’s Folly the next day. Because he wanted to find his big, expensive ranch property.
Not because he wanted to be alone with her.
Why did that thought hurt so much? Especially when she didn’t want to be alone with him, either. Not after that episode at the store. But she had to do something to get him out of town. Nate’s reaction to him had proven that.
Roselynn and Aunt El had made her goal impossible, at least for tomorrow. Once Caleb had heard their grand plan to reintroduce him to folks at Ben’s potluck, he seemed to have lost all interest in leaving town.
Glancing down, she swept a handful of paper clips from the desktop into her palm and clenched her fingers around them. “Having Caleb around Nate is the last thing I need right now,” she muttered.
“Why?”
For a long moment, she sat frozen. Then she opened her fist and let the clips trickle into her pencil drawer. She had almost forgotten Dana, who now looked even more interested. Worse, she had almost slipped. Had come close to blurting out a truth her best friend had never known. One no one knew.
Easing the drawer closed, she searched frantically for a response that would take them off this dangerous topic. “Well…I’m having enough trouble with Nate as it is. We’ve always gotten along fine, always acted like two of a kind. But lately, she seems to go out of her way to disagree with every word I say.”
“Lissa’s the same. It comes with being a preteen. They have to go through that confrontational stage. We did, too.”
“I suppose.” She’d told herself that many times. But even armed with the knowledge, she’d been helpless to stop the tension between them. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Much as she hated to admit it, her daughter’s rebellious streak matched her own at that age—as her mom had seemed all too eager to tell their guest at breakfast that first morning.
As if she didn’t have enough on her mind, now she had Caleb to contend with. Despair made her cheeks flush as she faced what she’d been trying to deny. His presence made her more short-tempered. Stretched her nerves nearly to breaking point. And added a whole new layer of tension to her life.
A shiver rippled through her at the memory of their conversation alone at the store, ending with his cheek close to hers and his words whispered into her ear.
I’ll bet he doesn’t turn you on…
“—Caleb?” Dana asked.
“No! Not Ca—” She broke off in confusion. “What?”
Dana frowned. “What’s gotten into you, girl? You’d said having Caleb around Nate was the last thing you needed. I repeat, what’s Nate got to do with Caleb?”
“Everything.”
“Really?” Dana looked more interested than ever.
She clutched the arms of her chair. “One major thing, anyhow. He might be off the rodeo circuit now, but as far as Nate and all the girls are concerned, he’s still a walking, talking reminder of it. They’re more eager than ever to get to a rodeo. And you know what that means.”
“I sure do. Money we don’t have.” She sighed. “Who knew we’d come to this, Tess?”
The office phone rang. Dana went to her desk to answer it. Tess held her breath, hoping this would be a call from a new client. A moment into the conversation, she could tell it wasn’t.
She thought again of Dana’s question. Who knew we’d come to this? She’d meant more than just their current financial dilemma, bad as it was. She was thinking about how different she’d expected her life to be. So had everyone else.
All the while they’d been growing up, even in high school, quiet, bookish Tess had been the one without a steady. Without boyfriends. Without any dates at all. Until…
Another topic she’d better stay away from.
Chatty, ready-to-be-liked Dana had been the one with a longtime steady. A boy who had always loved her. Who had become her husband and the father of her children.
And now Paul was gone.
Everyone in town had been touched by his death. Caleb had seemed affected by the news, too. She couldn’t forget his stunned expression or the bleak look in his eyes when she’d told him. He’d probably never considered the idea of someone they knew—someone their age—dying.
Dana hung up the phone and stared out the front window for a moment. After a sigh, she looked at Tess and returned immediately to their previous conversation. “It bothers me, Tess, always having to deny our kids everything.”
“We don’t,” she said earnestly. “It’s only the extras we can’t give them, and only for now. That will change. Soon.”
“Yes, it will.” Giving a decisive nod, Dana pushed herself away from her desk. “Just as soon as you make a sale to Caleb.”
Tess slumped in her chair and tried to swallow her groan.
LATER THAT EVENING, after getting whupped by Nate more than once over a checkerboard, Caleb gave in and suggested they move outside for some fresh air. While she ran up to her room with the game, he went outside to the wooden porch swing.
Roselynn followed a moment later, carrying a tray with a couple of glasses and a pitcher of lemonade. “Thought you might like something to wet your whistle.” She poured a glassful and handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He took a sip of the drink. On the sour side, the way she’d discovered he liked it. The way he’d had to fight to keep from feeling tonight. Sour and cranky and…
Jealous.
While the rest of them had eaten their supper, Tess had gone off for her date with old Joe.
As Roselynn entered the house, Nate came out and took her usual seat on the porch. She leaned back against the railing, one leg stretched out across the front step.
The sun threw the lengthening shadow of a pine over them, cooling the air a little.
It had been a good while since their noon meal at the Double S. But not nearly long enough for him to forget Tess’s attitude. Or her words.
He took another swig of his lemonade, trying to quench his thirst. And to drown his irritation.
When her aunt had announced the plan of having him get together with folks, Tess had shown all too plainly how little she liked the idea. And at lunch, she had outright told him to keep his promises to himself. She couldn’t have made it any clearer that she didn’t want anything from him. She didn’t even want him around.
Hell, was she still ashamed to be in his company?
The thought riled him.
“Caleb, you’re rich, aren’t you?”
He started at Nate’s question, unexpected in the quiet moment and unnerving in its bluntness. She had more than a little of her aunt Ellamae’s personality in her.
When he looked across the porch, he found her with her head bent over her glass as if she were analyzing the contents. “Well…” He paused, wondering how to respond. Honesty ought to work. “I’ve got more money than some people have. And not as much as others.”
“Do you have as much money as Mr. Harley?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t rightly know how to answer that. I wouldn’t know how much money he has.”
“Lots.”
“Yeah, so I gathered.” Hand over fist, Nate had said at breakfast the other day, quoting Ellamae. Then she’d added the man wanted to marry her mama. He thought she intended to pick up on that again now, but she threw another question at him.
“Are you dirty?” she asked.
He looked down at his jeans, then whacked his good knee with his free hand, brushing the fabric. “Nope, no dirt on me.”
“Not dirt. Like, dirty rich.”
He had trouble keeping his eyebrows from climbing. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“Aunt El says people who are dirty rich don’t have a lick of sense.”
“Oh.” He smiled. “‘Filthy rich,’ you mean?”
“Yeah. Like I said.”
“Uh-huh.” Unable to help himself, he asked, “She was talking about me?”
“No.” She shook her head so firmly, her curls bounced. “Aunt El says you’ve got plenty of sense.”
He raised his cup to his mouth to hide another smile. The compliment pleased him more than it should have. Too bad Tess didn’t have as good an opinion of him.
“She says you just need some direction.”
Caught between a laugh and swallowing his lemonade, he wound up coughing. When he could finally catch his breath again, he asked, “Your aunt Ellamae said that to you?”
She shook her head again, her eyes hidden by her curls. “I listened in the hallway when she talked to Gram.”
“I see.” He sat there weighing his options.
First off, he could—and probably should—say something against her eavesdropping. He couldn’t hold back a small smile, just imagining how Tess would take it if she learned he’d disciplined her daughter. And judging by Nate’s chattiness, it wouldn’t take long for Tess to find out.
At the same time, he hated the idea of stopping the flow of conversation—even if it made him feel like a heel for merely thinking about getting information from a nine-year-old.
He’d deal with the talking-to later. For now, curiosity won out.
“So…this filthy-rich person with no sense. Was your aunt talking about Mr. Harley?”
“No, somebody on TV.”
“I see.”
“But she said rich people look down on other people.” She lifted her chin, finally making eye contact with him again. “You don’t do that, do you?”
Now it was his turn to shake his head. If she’d only known the irony of that question… “No, I try not to look down on folks.” Too bad everyone didn’t do likewise.
The Rodeo Man's Daughter (Harlequin American Romance) Page 10
