The Creed Legacy

by Linda Lael Miller

  He rustled up the extras he’d bought days before, but never gotten around to installing, and vaulted up onto the counter to take out the dead bulbs first. The job was tricky—he’d seen these thingamajiggies shatter into a jillion tiny, razor-sharp shards for no sensible reason—so Brody took his time.

  He’d just finished, his eyes still a little dazzled by the glare of three fluorescent tubes, when he heard what sounded like a thump, or maybe a scratch, at the door.

  He got down off the counter. Listened.

  That was when he heard the whimper. It was faint, and almost human.

  A chill trickled down his spine. He sprang to the door and wrenched it open, half expecting to find a person on the other side, injured and bleeding, looking for help.

  Instead, his gaze fell onto the skinniest, dirtiest, most pitiful dog he’d ever seen. It was just sitting there, looking up at him with a sort of bleak tenderness in its eyes.

  Brody, a sucker for anything with four legs and fur, crouched down, so he wouldn’t be looming over the poor critter like a grizzly or something.

  “Hey, buddy,” he said huskily. “You selling something? Spreading the Good News?”

  The dog whimpered again.

  Brody examined the animal. No collar, no tags.

  Fleas were a sure thing, though, and maybe something worse, like ringworm.

  Brody stood up, slow and easy, and stepped back. “Come on in,” he said to the dog. “Nothing to be afraid of—you’re among friends.”

  The stray just sat there for a few moments, as though he might have heard wrong. He was obviously used to fending for himself.

  “Come on,” Brody repeated, speaking gently and giving the dog room.

  Slowly, painfully, the wayfarer limped over the threshold and right into Brody Creed’s heart.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE DREAM WAS disturbingly vivid.

  Carolyn was in a supermarket, surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds, of eager suitors. There were men of every size and shape, color and type, a regular convention for fans of the Village People.

  They nudged at her cart with theirs.

  Some of them carried signs with her modified name printed on them in ransom-note letters, and one wore a sandwich board that read Marry Me, Carol! and Have Free Dentistry for Life!

  “Carol,” all the others chanted, in creepy unison, “Carol, Carol, Carol!”

  Carolyn’s feet seemed to be glued to the floor, but she looked wildly around for an escape route anyway. The freezer aisle was completely blocked, in both directions. She was trapped. Cornered.

  Heart-pounding panic set in, washing over her in sweeping, electrified waves. A man with an elaborate wedding cake teetering in his shopping cart pushed his way past the others, to the forefront.

  Carolyn recognized Gifford Welsh. He smiled his big movie-star smile, and his piano-key teeth sparkled cartoonishly, like something out of an animated mouthwash commercial.

  “You’re already married!” she said, turning her head when Gifford tried to stuff a handful of cake into her mouth. Then, pressing back against the cold door of the ice-cream freezer, she shouted, “I don’t want to marry any of you! You’re not—you’re not—

  “Brody.” She started awake at the name. Could still feel its singular weight on her lips.

  Winston, curled up at her feet, made a halfhearted hissing sound. There was no telling whether the noise was a comment about Brody or annoyance because she’d awakened him from a sound sleep.

  Carolyn’s heart thumped against the back of her rib cage, and her breathing was fast and shallow. She lay there, in her dark bedroom, looking up at the ceiling and fighting tears.

  Don’t be a crybaby, she heard one of her long string of foster mothers say. Nobody likes a crybaby.

  Carolyn had subscribed to that belief ever since, and she blinked until the sting in her eyes abated a little.

  Going back to sleep was out of the question, lest the dream go into rewind, so she got out of bed and padded into the kitchen, barefoot. She was wearing flannel pajamas she’d sewn herself, covered in a puppy-dog pattern, and the fabric was damp against her chest and between her shoulder blades. Perspiration.

  The nightmare had been a doozy, then. Normally, dreams didn’t cause her to sweat.

  But, then, this hadn’t been a normal dream, now, had it?

  You’re not Brody. The words still reverberated through her mind.

  She took a mug from the cupboard, this one a souvenir of Cheyenne, Wyoming, filled it with water, added an herbal tea bag and stuck the works into the microwave to heat.

  A dog, she thought peevishly, would have gotten up when she did, to keep her company, lend silent reassurance. Winston, by contrast, did not put in an appearance, sympathetic or otherwise.

  That was a cat for you.

  Not that Winston was her cat—he was a frequent boarder and no more. Just passing through.

  Somebody else’s cat.

  Somebody else’s house.

  Everything in her life, it seemed, belonged to somebody else.

  Including Brody Creed. Whenever Joleen Williams blew into town, she and Brody were joined at the hip. It was probably only a matter of time before Joleen roped him in for good.

  He was building a house, wasn’t he? A big house, obviously not meant for man to live in alone.

  The bell on the microwave dinged, and Carolyn carefully removed the cup. Took a sip.

  The tea had the usual placebo effect, and she calmed down a little.

  In need of something to occupy her mind, but scared to log on to the computer again, lest more men should pop up, in search of her alter ego, Carol, she flipped on the light at the top of the inside stairway and made her way down the steps.

  The shop looked magical in the moonlight. Like some enchanted workshop, where elves ran up ruffly cottonprint aprons on miniature sewing machines and made more goats’ milk soap whenever the supply was low.

  Carolyn gave a little snicker at the thought.

  She made the aprons, and they bought the soap from a woman who ran a small goat farm a few miles out of town. A few elves would certainly come in handy, though, even if it wasn’t Christmas.

  She loved the shop; it grounded her, like sewing and riding horseback usually did, and she loved the twinkling quiet surrounding her.

  A shaft of silvery light struck the batik of the Native weaver, high on the wall, illuminating the image as though to convey some message.

  There was no message, Carolyn thought. Not in the picture, at least.

  The dream, now? That had clearly been a manifesto from her subconscious mind.

  As usual, she wanted what she couldn’t have.

  Right or wrong, for better or worse, she wanted Brody Creed.

  She gave a loud sigh of frustration, set her mug of tea down on the glass top of the handmade-jewelry display and shoved all ten fingers into her hair, pulling just a little.

  Why couldn’t she just let go? It had been over seven years, after all, since that awful morning when she’d awakened in a guest-room bed at Kim and Davis’s place to find Brody gone.

  At the time, she’d figured he was merely out in the kitchen making coffee, or even whipping up some breakfast. He was a fair cook, and he seemed to enjoy it.

  She’d gotten out of bed, pulled on a robe and headed for the kitchen, in search of the man she loved.

  Instead, she’d found the note.

  Have to go, Brody had written. Something came up.

  That was it.

  Have to go, something came up.

  The tears that had threatened before, after the dream, sprang up again. Carolyn hugged herself, chilled, and gazed at her own woebegone face, reflected in the big mirror behind the counter.

  “Nobody likes a crybaby,” she told her image.

  And then she cried anyway.

  “WHERE’D YOU GET the dog?” Conner asked the next morning, with affable interest, as Brody carefully lifted the bathed, brushed and still-
skinny critter down from the passenger side of his truck, onto the grassy stretch of ground between the main ranch house and the barn.

  “His name’s Barney,” Brody replied. He’d hung that handle on the stray after taking him by the vet’s office that morning for a checkup. And he’d been so glad over the dog’s clean bill of health that he’d named him after the doctor. “He showed up at my door last night, in pretty sorry condition, so I took him in.”

  Conner grinned and crouched to look the dog in the eyes, much as Brody had done the night before, when Barney turned up on his doorstep.

  “Well, hello there, Barney,” Conner said, putting out his hand.

  To Brody’s mingled amazement and irritation, the dog laid a paw in Conner’s outstretched palm.

  Man and dog shook hands.

  “I’ll be damned,” Brody muttered, impressed, then worried. Maybe whoever had taught Barney to shake hands was out combing the countryside for him, right now. Maybe somebody loved him, wanted him back.

  Conner, meanwhile, stood up straight again. “I guess Doc must have checked for a microchip and all that,” he said.

  “First thing he did,” Brody replied. “No chip, no identification of any kind.”

  “You gonna keep him?” Conner ventured, as Valentino trotted out of the back door, joined the group and sniffed Barney from head to tail.

  “Yeah,” Brody said. “I’ll keep him. Unless his original owner tracks him down, anyway. Doc’s assistant took his picture, and she’ll upload it onto several lost-pet websites, just in case…”

  “But?” Conner prompted.

  “But my gut says he’s in need of a home.”

  “Mine, too,” Conner agreed. He had been frowning until then, but suddenly, the grin was back. “It’ll be good for you,” he preached. “The responsibility of looking after the poor critter, I mean.”

  The words, though he knew they were well-meant, raised Brody’s hackles a little just the same. Was he going to be the Irresponsible One for the rest of his life, while Conner got to play the Good Brother?

  Before he could figure out a way to answer, Davis came barreling down the hill in his truck from his and Kim’s place. Kim rode beside him, her smile visible even through the dusty grunge covering the windshield.

  “Kim’s pinch-hitting for Tricia today at the shop,” Conner said.

  Brody felt a pang of alarm, remembering how tuckered out his sister-in-law had seemed the day before. “Tricia isn’t having trouble, is she?”

  “No,” Conner replied, raising a hand to greet the new arrivals. “She just enjoyed yesterday so much that she wanted today to be just like it.”

  Brody chuckled, partly amused and partly relieved.

  An instant later, though, the worry was back. Women were fragile creatures, it seemed to him. Lisa, for instance, couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and ten pounds sopping wet; she hadn’t stood a chance against two tons of speeding steel, not driving that little car of hers.

  He’d always had access to his inheritance and his share of the ranch profits, even when he was staying as far away from Lonesome Bend as he could. Why hadn’t he gotten her a sturdier rig to drive?

  “Brody,” Conner said suspiciously. “Where’s your head right now?”

  “You know where,” Brody replied, as Davis parked the truck and he and Kim got out of the vehicle and started toward them. Kim was wearing a lightweight sweater with big pockets, where her impossibly small dogs, Smidgeon and Little Bit, were riding.

  Barney whimpered and moved behind Brody, leaning against the backs of his legs. He could feel the animal trembling.

  Seeing that, Kim smiled, crouched down and set the two Yorkies on the ground. Ignoring Valentino, who was probably considered old news by now, they wagged their stumpy little tails and one of them growled comically.

  “Now, come on out here,” Kim cajoled, addressing Barney. “Smidgeon and Little Bit aren’t going to hurt you.”

  Kim definitely had a way with animals, and Barney’s reaction was proof of that. Probably drawn by her gentleness, as well as his own curiosity, he came out of hiding to stand at Brody’s side. His plume of a tail wagged once, tentatively.

  The Yorkies nosed him over and then lost interest and tried to start a game of tag with Valentino. They were absolutely fearless, those two. Or maybe their brains were just so small that they couldn’t grasp the difference between their size and Valentino’s.

  “Come have supper with us tonight,” Kim told Brody, when she was standing upright again. “You look a little ribby to me, like this dog.”

  Brody’s mouth watered at the mere suggestion of Kim’s cooking, not to mention a chance to avoid another lonely evening.

  “Is this a setup?” he asked good-naturedly. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that everybody was hoping he and Carolyn would get together.

  “Of course it is,” Kim replied with a laugh, looking at Brody but slipping an arm around Davis’s waist and giving him a brief squeeze. “Why fight it?”

  Brody laughed, too, despite the little thrill that quickened in the pit of his stomach at the thought of being in the same house with Carolyn. He folded his arms and countered, “Why not?”

  Kim punched him. “You’re just like your uncle,” she said.

  Whatever that meant.

  That he was a stubborn cuss, probably.

  The quality came free with the Creed name, one to a customer but guaranteed for life.

  Conner and Davis, meanwhile, moved off toward the house, where Tricia surely had a pot of coffee brew ing.

  Smidgeon, Little Bit and Valentino ambled along after them, leaving Brody and Kim in the yard, with Barney.

  “Carolyn’s probably wise to your tricks, Kim,” Brody ventured, serious now, his voice a little husky. “She’ll know you’ve invited me to supper, and she’ll think of some excuse to get out of it.”

  Kim, still a striking woman in her mid-fifties, shook her head and mimicked his stance by folding her own arms. “Could you be any more negative, Brody Creed?” she asked. “You and Carolyn are perfect for each other. Everybody seems to know that but the two of you.”

  Brody recalled kissing Carolyn the day before, and an aftershock went through him. When it was over, she’d looked as if he’d slapped her, and he’d made some smartass remark about not being sorry for doing it.

  Oh, yeah. He was zero-for-zero in Carolyn’s books, no doubt about it.

  Kissing her had only made things worse.

  He just hadn’t been able to resist, that was all.

  “Brody?” Kim prompted, evidently reading his face.

  He smiled, laid a hand on Kim’s shoulder. “I’m all right,” he told her. “Stop worrying about me, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said, in a tone of bright irony. “Are you coming to our place for supper tonight or not?” Not waiting for an answer, Kim added, “Six-thirty, on the dot and don’t be late.” She looked around, parodied a frown. “If Davis Creed thinks he gets to keep Smidgeon and Little Bit with him while I’m in town, covering for Tricia at the shop, he’s got another think coming.”

  With that, she turned and headed resolutely for the house.

  Brody watched her go, one side of his mouth quirked up in a grin. It was anybody’s guess whether Carolyn would accept Kim’s supper invitation or make up some excuse to get out of it, but he sure hoped it would be the former.

  He wanted to see Carolyn again, even though the idea pretty well scared the crap out of him.

  “Women,” he told Barney ruefully.

  Barney gave a little yip of agreement.

  Brody chuckled, bent to ruffle the dog’s ears and the two of them started for the house, where the others were gathered and the coffee was on.

  “YOU HAVE DARK CIRCLES under your eyes,” Kim announced, the moment she stepped over the threshold at the shop. “Aren’t you sleeping well?”

  Carolyn smiled as her friend took the pair of tiny dogs from her sweater pockets and set
them down carefully on the floor, where they proceeded to romp like a couple of kittens.

  Winston, long since resigned to the occasional presence of the canine contingent, ignored them.

  “I slept just fine, thank you very much,” Carolyn lied, in belated reply to Kim’s question. She’d eventually managed to get to sleep again the night before, but she’d promptly tumbled right back into a variation of her dream. This time, with the added fillip of Brody riding through a conglomeration of suitors and shopping carts on horseback, reaching her side and then leaning down to hook an arm around her and haul her up into the saddle in front of him.

  The dream hadn’t stopped there, either. With no noticeable transition, Brody and Carolyn were alone in a forest, both lying naked in a stand of deep, summerfragrant grass, making love.

  She’d awakened in the throes of a very real orgasm, which was downright embarrassing, even if she was alone at the time.

  “I don’t believe you,” Kim said, moving behind the sales counter to put away her purse.

  Smidgeon and Little Bit were rolling across the center of the floor now, in a merry little blur of shiny fur and pink top-knot ribbon.

  Carolyn, thinking of the spontaneous climax, was blushing. “Would I lie to you?” she retorted, with an attempt at a light tone.

  There weren’t any customers in the shop yet, and she’d been keeping her mind off the nightmare/dream by catching up on the bookkeeping on the store’s computer.

  “Depends,” Kim replied mischievously. “How about joining Davis and me for supper tonight? I’m thawing out a batch of my world-famous chicken-and-pork tamales.”

  A bar of that old song “Suspicion” played in Carolyn’s head. “Hard to resist,” she admitted. Kim’s tamales were fantastic. “Are Conner and Tricia coming, too?”

  Kim nodded, but she averted her eyes and was busying her hands rearranging costume jewelry in the glass case.

  “And Brody?” Carolyn asked, rather enjoying herself, despite all her nerves being on red alert.