“Rylie—my dear!”
Although they’d never been face-to-face, apparently Noah, or even Ramon, had described her enough to take an educated guess. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry to intrude.”
“Nonsense. I’m overjoyed that you could bring it upon yourself to speak to this rascal again.” After giving Noah a wry look, she reached out her arms to Rylie. “Come give a lonely old lady a hug. It’s so wonderful to finally meet you.”
Warmed by the welcome, Rylie did lean over to do that, but she couldn’t help teasing her, as well. “At least I know where Noah gets his gift of blarney. ‘Old lady’ is seriously stretching the truth. The compliments I’ve heard don’t do you justice.”
“Oh, my friends are kind because they know I’m never going to compete with them for their cosmetic surgeon’s time. But I did want to thank you for taking such good care of my Bubbles, especially after that wound she suffered. Noah said you were so calm and good with her.”
As Audra grasped her hands, Rylie realized where Noah had inherited the shape of his from. She, too, had the long, elegant fingers and the pianist’s reach. It hadn’t been surprising to glimpse the grand piano in the far end of the living room by the fireplace. And Audra’s nails were impeccably cared for. In comparison, Rylie had hands the size of a child’s, only the skin was a bit tougher from wrestling with animals and machinery and having to wash so much. That didn’t make her self-conscious, though. Audra was too accepting and warm to make her feel uncomfortable.
“Bubbles is a delight,” Rylie assured her. “One of my best-behaved clients.”
“Wait until I brag to my friends.”
“Most of them have darling pets, too.”
“Which doesn’t? Oh, I know you won’t tell me,” Audra said, with a wicked smile and wink. “But I had to ask.”
She was fun and it left Rylie with a bittersweet feeling to know she was a shadow of the woman she’d been when her husband was alive. She couldn’t imagine losing the person who made your life whole. Without needing confirmation from Noah or anyone, she believed that was the kind of relationship Audra had shared with her husband.
Rylie turned her attention to the work on the easel and was enchanted at the watercolor in progress. “That’s what you see when you look out these windows? I definitely need to go see my ophthalmologist. How lovely!”
As Audra chuckled, Rylie admired the autumnal scene—still weeks away by the East Texas weather schedule—where amber and russet-colored trees framed a quiet pond where a family of wood ducks swam in absolute contentment.
“That’s actually the pond where I grew up. Noah’s father proposed to me there. It’s easy to paint it from memory.”
Noah must have heard the emotional hitch in her voice as Rylie did, and he stepped forward to ask, “Can I get you a glass of wine, Rylie? Mother, here’s your one chance.”
“You know you don’t have to ask me twice,” Audra replied. “I’d love a chance to celebrate and get to know Rylie better.”
“I shouldn’t.” Rylie saw Noah’s mother deflate and reassured her. “This was meant as a quick trip. I do need to get home, since my uncle is watching my dog and waiting for his truck back. Besides, it will be getting dark soon and I’m not yet familiar enough with the roads to risk driving with only half of my vision.”
Audra nodded, her look sympathetic. “But Noah can lead the way, can’t you, dear?”
“It would be my pleasure,” he assured Rylie.
Chapter Six
“So what did you say?”
It was the following Friday and the week had passed in a busy, but happy blur. Certain that Roy would be talking to her parents soon, Rylie had called her folks during the lunch break to tell them the truth about everything. She’d meant to do it sooner, but either they were tied up with clients, or she was helping Gage on an evening emergency call.
Naturally, her parents were shocked and upset. Her mother had even begun to cry over the fact that her daughter had carried the weight of everything on her own. Their one reassurance was that Roy was there to represent them.
As for the matter of Noah and the warrant scare, they were indignant on her behalf, until she explained that she and Noah had made peace, and were “officially” seeing each other. There was a little commentary on that, but Rylie assured them that they needed to give Noah a chance, as she had. It helped to brag about Haven Land and Audra Prescott’s warmth and hospitality.
“Yes,” she said now. “I stayed for a drink and Mrs. Prescott, Audra, was lovely.” Afterward, Noah had followed her home like a true gentleman, but she’d stopped out front to make sure he left at that point. “Uncle Roy is back there,” she’d explained to him. “He’s still having issues with all of this.”
“If you kiss me good-night, I’ll go without protest,” Noah had said.
Thinking about the kiss, she barely heard her mother now say, “It sounds like he’s sincere—and his mother clearly likes you.”
Rylie could only smile to herself and touch her lips that had held the tingling sensation of Noah’s hungry kiss until she’d fallen asleep. “I think so. My only concern, Mom, is that they’re as well-to-do as some of your Hollywood clients. They might not be of the oldest Texas aristocracy, but they mingle in circles that I don’t.”
“Who’s going to turn up their nose on a young woman who knows almost as much about animals as a licensed vet does? You’re a professional even if you didn’t achieve your ultimate goal. Clearly Dr. Sullivan is seeing your worth. Wait a second, your father is adding his two cents.... Oh, he says it’s not like you to turn chicken.”
Rylie had to smile. Leave it to her father to try to get her back up. “Okay, okay, don’t use reverse psychology on me. I promise to be open-minded about this.”
“And call your brother to tell him what’s happened,” Denise Quinn instructed. “You know he was crushed when you dropped out of school, too.”
So much so that he’d kept his distance for months. That had hurt Rylie, but she couldn’t forget they’d been as close as “blood kin,” as Uncle Roy would call it, until then. “I will,” she assured her mother. “He’s next on the list, but as I said, we’ve been swamped here. Speaking of...it’s time to prepare for my next client. Talk soon. Love you, bye.”
As she pocketed her phone and returned inside with MG and Humphrey, who’d been enjoying the respite out back, she saw Roy coming through the breezeway from the front. “I just spoke with Mom and Dad as you urged, and they send their love.”
With a satisfied nod, he asked, “How did they take the news?”
“About as you would expect, but with you here, they’re not as upset as they might have been.”
“You think Dustin is going to take it as well?”
Her adopted brother was only five years older, but he could act three times that. “Nope. So I warned them not to say anything until I have the time to call him myself.”
At the busy inference, Roy said, “That’s why I came looking for you. Gage needs you in Room Two. I’ll receive your next appointment and get things ready for grooming.”
And so went the afternoon. Fortunately for her, she got to breathe a little easier when they locked the doors at five o’clock. But while she could finish up some things, Gage was already out on calls.
When her cell phone rang, she was relieved and delighted to see it was Noah. “I thought you’d still be in court.”
“I’m about to be. We’ve been waiting on a jury to come in with a verdict and just got word that they’ve reached one. On that good news, I wanted to see if I can talk you into dinner.”
Rylie would pretty much drop anything for him—short of helping Gage if he’d asked for her assistance. “But you know you have at least another hour before you’re free,” she reminded him, “and I’ll be cleaning up in here that long, t
oo, and then need a shower.” Their schedule had been that way since they’d last parted. But they had talked every day and often just before bedtime, and their conversations were growing more and more flirtatious and intimate.
“Imagine me washing your back. Then your front. All of you.”
Feeling her body heat in response, Rylie whispered, “Noah! I hope you’re not where someone can hear you.”
“Barely.” He cleared his throat. “I meant dinner tomorrow. If memory serves, you’re only open a half day on Saturdays.”
“Oh.” She really was dead on her feet, but the idea of having to spend one more day without seeing him was a disappointment. “Yes, that’s true.”
“I thought I would come get you at three and bring you to the house for that tour Mother wanted you to experience last week. Then we could have a leisurely early dinner with her, and finally have some time alone.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she said. Particularly the alone part.
But only seconds after she hung up, her nerves kicked in. “Okay...” she said to herself. “So what do you wear for an occasion like that?”
* * *
Noah’s heart was pounding with excitement on Saturday afternoon, and he kept catching himself going over the speed limit on his way to Sweet Springs. Thankfully, he reached the animal clinic without seeing a police vehicle, and he drove around to park beside the RV. For the past twenty-four hours, he had been thinking of little else besides the pleasure of Rylie agreeing to see him again. He felt like a high-school kid going out on his first date. True, he hadn’t exactly dated much since returning here, but he knew that had nothing to do with what he was feeling. This was all about the whom, not the what.
He’d barely shut off the car’s engine when the RV door opened and Rylie descended. Noah’s throat went dry. She was dressed in an emerald-green sheath with a silk shawl in shades of blue, purple and green draped casually around her for the coming coolness of the early October evening. But as she began to close the door, MG squeezed her way outside, too.
“No, MG. You know you have to stay here this time. Get back in.”
Instead, MG planted herself at Rylie’s feet and gazed up at her with adoration. When that didn’t get her the response she wanted, she raised her paw and offered a soft, “Woof.”
“Looks like she wants to go, too,” Noah observed as he emerged from his vehicle.
“I know. Sorry. That’s what comes from letting her go almost everywhere with me,” Rylie replied. “Give me a second. She’s usually very good about obeying. MG—”
“Bring her along.” The words were out before Noah realized he’d said them; however, he felt rather proud of himself that they came so naturally.
For her part, Rylie could only stare. “Have the pod people replaced you with an alien? Open the trunk! I know my curmudgeon is in there probably stunned by a ray gun.”
Accepting her teasing, he explained, “Mother loves animals, not just Bubbles. She was an excellent horsewoman, and being restricted as she is has denied her the company of other creatures, as well. She used to ride the pastures to enjoy seeing the new calves. Anyway, I’ve seen enough of MG to know she’s a well-behaved dog. She’s certainly been good around Bubbles.” He leaned over and asked MG, “You don’t even care that Bubbles has a title and you don’t, do you?”
MG uttered something throaty that sounded agreeable and with impressive civility offered her paw.
Noah smiled up at Rylie. “See? We’re in agreement.”
Crossing her arms, Rylie replied, “Cute. What about your expensive leather seats?”
He had already noted that she kept MG’s nails trimmed. “I overreacted with Bubbles, you know that. If you have a blanket or towel we could set down for her in back, that should take care of things.”
“I do. Just a second.”
When she reemerged with a thick flannel blanket, he was at the door to take hold of her waist and help her down. Any excuse to get near her now. But her high heels gave him pause. “I guess you forgot that we were going to take a tour?” he asked, although he liked the taupe slingbacks on her. Her feet were as slender and small as the rest of her.
“I don’t expect you to take notice of the purse,” she said, nodding to the taupe shoulder bag on her shoulder. “To know me is to know I have to be crossing state lines to carry one—or going farther yet. My sneakers are in there.”
Satisfied, Noah took the blanket from her and escorted her and a prancing MG to the car. If he’d been wondering how to win over Rylie’s four-legged companion, he received his “pass” quickly. She was delighted to climb into the backseat, and even seemed to realize the gesture by the way she daintily sat down on the blanket, a big smile on her face, followed by a soft growling sound, clearly meant to hurry them up.
Once he and Rylie were seated and fastening their belts, she said, “You’ll get comments when the people who detail your car notice the nose prints and saliva spots on the back windows.”
Although that gave him a moment’s pause, Noah mentally shrugged it off, as well. “This will be a good test to see if they’re doing everything I pay them for.”
“You know I’m only teasing you about being fussy, don’t you? Brooke told me she was the same way about having Humphrey in her BMW. That’s how Gage arranged to see more of her—he insisted on bringing Humph to the clinic every day in his truck, so she could focus on the shop and her aunt.”
“They seem to have built something special between them.”
Rylie looked at him with new respect. “I like that—built, not found. It’s true that relationships take work. That’s part of what makes the results all the more precious.”
Nodding again in agreement, Noah shifted into reverse. “I’m late in saying it, but you look beautiful.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far.”
He found her near shyness endearing. “You want to argue? Already?” Noah kept his tone teasing, but he was curious, too. “You always look fresh and appealing. Tonight you’re a Rylie I’ve never met, and she’s even more intriguing.”
She dropped her gaze to the hands clasped in her lap. “Thank you.”
“Surely you’ve been told you’re beautiful before?”
“It’s my brother’s favorite word to me. But he’s clinically prejudiced.”
“Sounds to me like he knows what he’s talking about. How much older is he?”
“Five years. My parents had tried to get pregnant for the first ten years of their marriage and nothing was happening. Only weeks after adopting Dustin, my mother discovered she was pregnant with me. We’ve been as close as blood relatives—in some cases more so, considering what some friends and classmates told me about squabbles with their natural siblings.”
“My mother kept miscarrying,” Noah replied. “She was almost thirty-seven when she became pregnant with me. Her doctor point-blank ordered her to bed. He said if she wanted to carry me to term, she needed to stay there, and that’s exactly what she did.”
“I’m sure she didn’t regret one day of that.”
He glanced at her profile to note her serene expression and saw that she was wearing more makeup beyond the touch of sable-brown mascara and lip gloss that she usually restricted herself to. The smoky eye shadow and liner made her eyes more mysterious, and the slightly darker-toned lipstick enhanced the tempting bow of her mouth. That she had great bone structure, he already knew. That she had the cutest nose, he’d only just realized.
“Do you want to pull over and let me drive?” Rylie asked, although she didn’t take her eyes off the road.
Noah grinned. “Okay, I’ll be patient. Just don’t complain once we get to the house and I don’t want to take my eyes off of you.”
“Please don’t embarrass me in front of your mother.”
Dear God
, she made him want to pull over and haul her onto his lap this second to kiss her until she said yes to anything and everything. “I suspect that’s impossible,” he drawled, “unless you disrobe at the table and dash in your birthday suit for the pool.”
“Considering that I know you have staff, I wouldn’t do that even if I thought we were alone.”
“What I’m saying is that she’s utterly delighted that you’re coming,” Noah continued, unable to stop smiling himself. “She could barely settle down enough to take her nap, what with all the excitement, and believe me that’s heartening, because while she puts on a good show when someone other than myself or staff is in the house, she struggles to show any genuine enthusiasm for anything.”
“Can you confide what her prognosis is?” Rylie asked. “I’d like to be as supportive as I can, but at the same time not stick my foot in my mouth.”
“She broke her back in two places and almost her neck. By rights, she should have died in the accident, too. She’ll never walk again, and although we try to buy her time with the pool therapy and massages, there’s chronic pain, and there’s no expectations that she’ll reach the normal life span for a woman. She has days when she wishes it was all over. That’s when Livie and I—Olivia Danner is Mother’s live-in nurse—have to be extra watchful of her alcohol intake.” After a pause, he added, “And we never, ever keep her medication where she could get at it herself.”
Rylie sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, Noah, I’m sorry. That’s a challenge for all of you, not just her. Now I’m doubly glad that your mother has Bubbles, and tries to stay interested in her painting.”
Noah couldn’t resist the impulse to reach over and cover her hands with his. “You’ll be good for her. You’re an optimist as much as a nurturer.”
“I suppose I am, given my preference to work with animals. I haven’t really thought about it. I just know that I don’t like contention for silly or immature reasons. That happens easily enough without manufacturing it.”
“I wasn’t being exactly mature in my reactions to you at first.”
Groomed for Love Page 13
