“But you came.”
He studied her for a moment, his eyes dark and mysterious. “Yeah, Kentucky Girl, I came.”
They turned for the door but Mama cut them off. Her blue eyes wide and smiling as if her horse had won the Derby. “You’ll never guess what just happened. The man from the Department of Agriculture asked me to come to Lexington to talk to him and his associates about my remedies for the sick horses.”
Had Mama ever been this excited in her life? If so, Charity hadn’t witnessed it. Mama continued, “They’re actually interested in what I have to say.”
Charity swallowed a groan. She didn’t want to rain on Mama’s parade, but she hated to see her go and suffer at the hands of the know-it-all vets who had put her down earlier.
“That’s wonderful, Mama.” Charity smiled. “Puck should go with you.” Puck would clobber anyone who hurt Mama. “The wagon’s not safe for that distance and…and you won’t get lonely, and you’ll have fun together in Lexington and—”
Mama giggled. Her mother actually giggled?
“That’s just what I thought. I’ll ask him as soon as we get home.”
Mama’s grin dropped a notch. “But who will help you with the horses? And the wedding. What about all the final preparations for that?”
“Everything’s almost done. Savannah can handle the rest and Patience can help her.”
Mama took Tanner’s hand. “Tanner will help you if you need anything. He sure came through for me today.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, dear. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Red inched up Tanner’s neck and he swallowed.
“Don’t think anyone ever said that to me in this room before.” He laughed, but it didn’t sound like a happy laugh.
Charity put her arm around Mama. “Go. Show those hotshots a thing or two.”
Mama looked at Charity then Tanner. “You really think I should go?”
Tanner chuckled. “I sure do. If Charity has a problem, you and Puck will only be a couple of hours away.”
“Then I’ll do it. Puck and I will need to leave tonight.”
Everything would be okay. Puck would make sure of that. Savannah had Nathan, Mama had Puck. Charity realized she never had any man to care about her like that. Tanner was the closest, he had given her his jacket. Her life was pathetic.
TANNER WATCHED MAMA join the vets, then took Charity’s arm and propelled her out the doorway, down the steps and onto the sidewalk. She looked at him. “Do you want me to give you a lift back to the plane? Mama might be here awhile making arrangements.”
“What’s Savannah doing here?” He hitched his chin at the house.
“Serving refreshments?”
He folded his arms. “I thought the plan was to keep her away from Nate, not help him. She was supposed to realize he didn’t have time for her, remember?”
Charity put her left hand on her hip, her very shapely hip, and pursed her lips, her very kissable lips, then said, “Perhaps you want me to lock Savannah in her room and swallow the key.”
“If that’s what it takes.”
Tanner looked back at the doorway. How could he be in this state of arousal—again? Because just thinking about Charity’s lips and hips, after spending the night with her in a gaping blanket, would be enough to drive any man over the edge. Hell, at this point he could get excited over a toenail if it belonged to her. Now that he thought about it, she did have cute toenails. Hot-pink.
Damnation. Every muscle in his body—especially the muscles right below his belt—were as hard as baked brick. He looked at Nate and Savannah standing in the doorway of the house as Charity said, “They sure look like the happiest couple on the Ridge.”
Tanner shook his head to clear his mind and caught a whiff of…Charity. He’d know that scent anywhere, better than magnolias or fresh rain or fried chicken. He had a sudden lust attack, and not for chicken.
“What couple?”
“Savannah? Nathan? At the front door talking to friends? I think that moonshine corroded your brain. The two of them look content. Maybe it’s a sign that they do belong together.”
“No way.” He collected his thoughts about the wedding and kicked out the ones about Charity. At least, he tried to. “Okay, Savannah helped this time, but she needs to realize the horses will always come first with Nate. Can you think of anything she needs him for? You know, some last-minute plans or the guest list or anything at all?”
“Tonight one of Savannah’s friends is throwing them a couples’ shower.”
“That’s perfect. Nate will be too busy with the horses tonight to go anywhere, and Savannah’ll want him to go to the shower. She’ll throw one of her hissy fits, the kind she has when things don’t go her way. Then Nate will be upset that she’s upset. I’ll point out to him this is the way it’s always going to be—Savannah being demanding. You point out to Savannah that she’ll always take second place to the horses.” He looked at Charity. “Why are you shaking your head? Better for them to find out now this is the way life will be once they’re married. Right?”
“Savannah’s changed, she won’t throw a fit. Nate’s changed. The world doesn’t revolve around his business twenty-four/seven. He realizes there’s room for something else, like a life, like love.”
This time Tanner shook his head and looked at her, hair dancing in the breeze, skin fresh as the spring time around them. “Care to make a little wager on how this plays out?”
Her eyes darkened a shade, desire sparked deep inside. “Wager? What?”
Damn, he was going to bet the pie. But after a look like that, to hell with pie, a night in her arms seemed a great wager. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to win that wager. But, no, a night with Charity would only be a one-night stand and that was a bad idea. There’d be too much entanglement, too much emotion, too much to walk away from, and everybody would get hurt when he left. They’d already had this discussion, and that’s why they’d spent the night sleeping in chairs.
“Pie.”
Her eyes shot wide open. “Pie?”
“Alvena Cahill’s.”
“Pie?”
“You ate it, didn’t you? I knew it.”
“It’s at the house, in its entirety. Some of us, unlike others—” she arched her brow in his direction “—have willpower.”
“I have willpower, just not when it comes to pie.” He watched her smile, could almost feel her in his arms. His willpower waned and it wasn’t for pie.
“Then it’s settled,” he continued. He held out his hand and she took it. Not a swift move on his part. Touching Charity made his head swim and his heart race. If he felt this way now, what would happen if he kissed her again?
No kissing, just pie.
He dropped her hand as if it were a hot coal. “Pie it is.”
FOUR HOURS LATER, after he’d retrieved the biplane, he walked to the stable, looking for Nate and still thinking about that pie. Actually, he was still thinking about Charity, but if he could lie to himself often enough maybe he’d begin to believe this fabrication.
He found Nate mixing feed for the horses, but before he could say anything, the phone rang and Nate picked it up.
At first Nate’s face brightened. However, after a few minutes and no talking on his part, Nate hung up, his brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong? More horses sick?”
Nate sighed. “It was Savannah. We were supposed to go to a shower tonight. She reminded me earlier, but with all the commotion around here and the horses…” He waved his hand across the feed. “I forgot.”
Yes! This was it. “Was Savannah mad?”
Nate stroked his chin. “Said she’d come over later. Said we needed to talk.”
Well, hot damn! Needing to talk was always bad news for a relationship—or in this case, good news. These kinds of talks usually went something like, “We can still be friends, but…” or “You’ll always be special to me but…” But always came in there somewhere and right
now that’s what mattered.
Tanner put his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine. It may be a little rocky for a while but things will straighten out.”
He hated seeing his brother so miserable, but it was for the best. He and Savannah were as different as peas and apples. Tanner nodded at the barrel of feed. “Want me to help you out here? If you mix it, I’ll give it to the horses.”
“I told the boys to take a couple hours off. Everyone’s been working like mad. If you could give me a hand, that would really help.” He passed Tanner a bucket of some concoction. “Add this to what’s in the stalls. Mama Kay said it keeps toxins from being ingested. Watch out for Buckshot and Tinsel. They’re cantankerous, especially around strangers.”
Tanner grinned. “And I bet they’re fast as greased lightning.”
Nate’s exhausted features pulled into a grin. “Faster.” He wiped the back of his hand across his wrinkled brow. “Thanks for pitching in. I know working around horses isn’t your thing.”
“If you need help, I’ll help. Just say the word.” Tanner took the bucket from Nate, left the feed room and started his rounds of the stalls. The sound of his boots on concrete mixed with the soft nicker of the horses. He’d almost forgotten the smells of fresh hay and oats in these barns and he waited for the distaste for it all to well up inside him as it always had. But it didn’t.
He stopped scooping the mixture into Buckshot’s feed and gently stroked the stallion. Maybe he felt the way he did because this time he wanted to be here. Somehow that made all the difference.
“Hey, Tanner,” came Nate’s voice from outside the stall.
Tanner gave Buckshot one last pat and closed the half door to the stall behind him. Nate handed him a cell phone. “Savannah’s here.” He pulled in a deep breath. “I’ll only be gone about twenty minutes or so. Do you mind holding the fort? I really, really need to…talk to her now. The rest of the staff isn’t due back for fifteen minutes or so and I don’t like to leave the horses when I don’t know what’s going on around here. I could wait till the others get back, but I don’t want to.” He nodded at the phone. “If you have a problem, hit three on speed dial.”
“Your private line?”
“Barn manager. He’s having dinner, but if you need him he’ll be here in a flash.”
Nate raked his hair and Tanner said, “It’ll be okay. Savannah isn’t the only woman in the world, if she wants to break up over a silly shower and—”
“Break up?” Nate’s eyes widened by half.
Tanner put his hand on Nate’s shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. “She’s not here to discuss the weather. She’s pissed as hell you missed the shower. She doesn’t understand that you have work to do and these horses are your life.”
Nate put his hand on Tanner’s shoulder and a sly smile crept across his face. “Actually, Savannah’s in my room taking a bubble bath. Something about a fragrance called Ravish.”
Nate reddened, his tired eyes danced, he licked his lips and stretched his arms out in front of him, hands clasped in reverse, cracking his knuckles in a ready-for-action gesture. “She wants me to come join her.”
“You’re kidding,”
Nate grinned like a tomcat on the prowl. “Do I look like a man who’s kidding?”
Tanner watched Nate head for the main door of the stable, not quite believing what he saw. Nate Davenport was leaving his horses for a bubble bath. A bubble bath in Ravish! He thought of Charity and the perfume store and Ravish and how he’d nearly taken her right there in the front display window and made passionate love to her in front of Savannah and the salesladies and the whole damn population of Bluegrass Ridge, Kentucky. Dang, he should have told Nate that twenty minutes wasn’t near long enough.
Tanner looked around the stable. Something seemed wrong with this picture. He was feeding horses while his brother was having a bubble bath with his intended. And to top it off, Tanner now got to tell Charity MacKay she was right, Savannah didn’t have a hissy. ’Course he’d need to wait till Nate came back from his Ravishing bubble bath to tell Charity that.
He thought of her and the perfume on her wrists. His insides burned like Hades, and that’s exactly where he’d be if he started anything with her. They’d get more involved and it couldn’t go anywhere.
But he really liked her…her flame-red hair, her green eyes, her sexy shape and her determination and tenacity. How could he not like her? But he could do nothing about it…except eat pie.
Chapter Seven
Charity eyed Mama’s four-poster bed covered with old, out-of-style clothes and Charity exchanged looks with Patience, who sat on the far end of the bed. Together they watched Mama fold a ten-year-old sweater into a twenty-year-old suitcase.
Patience asked, “When are you and Puck going to Lexington? The vets just talked to you this afternoon, they can’t expect you before tomorrow.”
“We’re going to take off as soon as we get packed, dear. We need to do something as quickly as possible. If we get there by tonight, we can start in the morning. You’ll help Charity while we’re gone, won’t you?”
A faded skirt followed the sweater and Patience bit back a frown. “You should go shopping in Lexington, Mama. Get some new things.”
Charity added, “We can afford it.”
Mama shrugged. “Nonsense. My clothes are fine and dandy. I just add that string of your grandmother’s pearls to anything I put on and it looks wonderful.” Mama picked up a pair of black heels, the scuffs touched up with magic marker. “Maybe I should put these in a bag first. Don’t want to get my nice things dirty.” She laughed. “I hate to pack for a trip. Always have. Now I think I forget how, been so long and all.”
Patience stood and took the shoes. “You should see how Puck’s doing, and Charity and I will take care of your packing. It’s already after six. You don’t want to be driving through the hills in the dark.”
Mama smiled. “You know, the university is putting us up in a fancy hotel.”
Charity took Mama’s hand. “That’s the least they can do for you. You have all the answers. They need you. They should treat you like a queen.”
Patience kissed Mama’s cheek. “We’re so proud of you, we could pop.”
Mama giggled. “Me, too. And I’m so excited.”
She scurried from the bedroom like a teenager on her first date, and Patience turned to Charity, pointed to the bed and groaned. “Whatever are we going to do about this? We can’t let Mama go to Lexington looking vintage.”
“Grab some towels from the linen closet.”
Patience’s eyes widened. “You want Mama to wear towels? Have you lost your mind? You’ve been spending too much time with those horses. Your brain has gone to seed.”
She leveled Patience with a steely look, the kind granted big sisters from birth.
Patience threw her hands in the air. “Everybody’s always ordering me around. Think they can tell me what to do because I’m the youngest and—”
“We don’t have a whole lot of time for the woe-is-me game, Patience. Just get the darn towels, will you?”
Charity went into her own bedroom and pulled the credit card from the checkbook. The card was for business and emergencies. She thought of Mama’s clothes. Emergency. Charity went back into Mama’s room, grabbed a nightgown and toothbrush, took out the old sweater and skirt and said to Patience, “Put the towels in the suitcase.”
“You’re nuts.”
Charity dropped the nightgown and toothbrush on top of the towels, then the credit card on top of that. “Now Mama will have to shop.”
She shut the suitcase and Patience stared at it a moment and grinned. “She’ll think she has clothes and she won’t. I take it back, you’re brilliant.”
“Now if I could only have that in writing.”
“Dream on, sister dear. Such declarations are only made in private with no witnesses or tape recorders.” She snatched up the suitcase and Charity followed her down
the stairs and out the front door to the station wagon. Puck put the suitcase next to his in the back and got in the driver’s side, next to Mama. He poked his head out the open window. “Call if you need help.”
He and Mama waved as they took off down the drive, then Charity said, “Hope Mama and Puck find time to have a little fun in Lexington. They deserve it.” She yawned. “I’m going to spend the night with the horses, I’m beat.”
Patience laughed. “Guess last night wore you out, huh. Heard you and Tanner spent the night in his granddaddy’s cabin.” She winked.
Charity folded her arms and retrieved her big-sister look from before. “We got caught in a storm. Period. Nothing more.”
“Well, if that’s the truth—which I sincerely hope it isn’t—you aren’t nearly as brilliant as I said. In case you haven’t noticed, men like Tanner Davenport don’t come around every day, especially on the Ridge.”
Charity stared at Patience as she headed toward the back door. All day she’d told herself she’d done the right thing by staying out of Tanner’s arms, away from his kisses and out of his bed. They’d agreed on a noninvolvement policy.
Well, guess what? She was already involved, at least the lusty side of her was. She wanted Tanner right now, naked in her arms, and she’d work out the details later. Except not even the UN could work out these details. It couldn’t move Alaska to Kentucky, make her love flying and adventure, make him love horses and horse farms and help both of them be on the same side, to make this marriage between Nathan and Savannah go through without a hitch.
And that brought up another wrinkle. If Tanner ever found out how she’d been working against him to stop the wedding when she was supposed to be his partner, he’d have her guilty hide made into slipcovers for his plane. This was not the stuff relationships were built on.
Now that she’d straightened herself out, she’d spend the rest of the night in peace, away from Tanner and with her horses. She checked Silver Bell, who still wasn’t eating much, but she was eating something. That was more than could be said about some of the other sick horses on the Ridge. Charity checked on Misty Kay, then took a blanket from a chest, where she stored extras along with a pillow and a few books. This wasn’t the first night she’d kept watch over horses. It wouldn’t be the last.
The Wedding Rescue Page 10
