“Nothing happened. I delivered a foal. End of story.”
“I hardly think so,” her sister asserted. “I know what Eli Dalton looks like. He’s hot.”
Hadley kept silent.
“Not only is he hot, but you were cooped up with him for hours, and not only for hours, but overnight. Are you going to tell me again that nothing happened?”
The nothing that had happened had been a very surprising kiss. The other nothing that had happened had been her cuddling in Eli’s arms. But she wasn’t about to reveal either of those to Claire, just as she wasn’t going to reveal what had happened in Las Vegas three years ago.
“Nothing happened,” she said again, trying to make her sister believe it. “Eli felt the birth wasn’t going right. That’s why he called Brooks and Brooks called me. So I went out there. At first nothing seemed amiss, but as the mare began to deliver, we saw it was a breech birth. I had to give it a little assistance. We had a lot of time waiting around, and then being snowed in. We couldn’t even get the barn doors open, not until we were plowed out this morning.”
Claire gave her a long, level look. “I think you’re leaving something out.”
This was her sister after all, so Hadley grudgingly gave her something. “I will admit, Eli Dalton isn’t what I expected. He’s different from other cowboys I’ve met.”
“How so?”
“He’s self-taught, but knowledgeable in many subjects. He has a wide range of ideas. He doesn’t seem mired just in his own thoughts or in a narrow point of view.”
“Like other cowboys you’ve met?”
“Right.”
“And just how many cowboys have you dated?”
Hadley shrugged. “A few.”
“There’s something you’re not telling me. There’s something that’s kept you from seriously dating for a very long time. Don’t you think you should spill what that is?”
Claire had this fine habit of making Hadley feel guilty. Yet Hadley knew once she let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, she could never live down her impulsive mistake. Her family would pounce on it. They’d want to fix it. They’d want to fix her. They’d want to hook her up with somebody eligible so she could settle down and begin the life they wanted for her.
But she wasn’t exactly sure of the life she wanted. She didn’t want to be poked or pressured or coddled...or looked at as a foolish woman who’d leaped into a situation without using her head. She just wanted to be treated like a normal woman who was finding her way.
“Claire, I’m fine. I have nothing to say. Everybody’s dating habits are unique.”
“Are you going to date Eli Dalton?”
“No. The subject never came up.” Just because when they touched, she tingled. Just because when he kissed her, she swooned. Just because his gaze on hers made her feel like melting... No, the subject had never come up.
“There is something I didn’t tell you,” Hadley revealed.
Claire was all wide eyes and smiles now.
“I found a momma cat and kitten. I took them to the clinic and had them cared for, and Eli took them back home with him. The Circle D now has a momma and kitten as residents.”
Claire swatted Hadley’s arm. “Go get a shower and change. I’ll pave the way for you downstairs and tell everybody that nothing happened.”
“Thank you,” Hadley said sweetly as she went to the shower. She knew Claire was frustrated with her, but she also knew as sisters they’d get through the frustrations. When Hadley returned to Bozeman in less than two weeks, she would no longer have to worry about spilling a secret she didn’t want her family to know.
* * *
“I always thought Hadley Strickland was kind of standoffish.”
Eli loved his brother Derek. He even liked him most of the time. But maybe not right now. They were sitting in the kitchen of their family home on Wednesday since the house was closer than his cabin. He’d just stopped in for a mug of coffee to warm him up before he continued checking fence lines that might have been damaged with the snow. Derek had come in about the same time.
“What do you mean she’s standoffish?” Eli asked. “How do you even know her?”
“I’ve chatted her up,” Derek admitted. “Weddings are a good place for that,” he said with a wink. “But she acted all guarded, like I’d stepped on her toes or something.”
“Did you try to ask her out without even having a conversation first?”
Derek gave a little shrug and a wicked grin. “Maybe.”
His brother thought he could pretty much date any woman he wanted. Therefore, he figured there must be something wrong with Hadley if she wasn’t interested in him.
“She’s a smart woman, bro. She probably saw through your...charm.”
Eli could see Derek was about to protest.
The truth was, he himself had seen a reserve around Hadley. In his experience, that kind of reserve usually came from having been hurt in a past relationship. In spite of himself, he wanted to know more about Hadley’s past relationships, and more about the woman herself.
His past serious relationship had affected him. Out of high school, he and Elaine had dated for two years. Two years where he’d had dreams of owning his own ranch someday, building up a herd, having a family. But she’d broken his heart because she’d wanted a career in Chicago. She’d expected him to leave the ranch where he’d grown up, leave his family, friends and his heritage. He’d known then she’d never have the time and space in her life for what was important to him. He’d ended the relationship. That was the only thing he could have done.
That had been twelve years ago. Oh, sure, he’d dated since then, but not seriously. Never seriously.
In a flurry of movement, his mother came into the kitchen. She was plump with gray curly hair that framed her face. Spry and energetic, she always had something planned for her day. Today he saw baking pans were greased and floured on the counter. He also noticed that she’d set out a couple of pie plates. That gave him an idea.
She came over and gave him a hug. “I haven’t seen you for a couple of days. Where have you been keeping yourself?”
“There was lots of snow to shovel, and I had to make sure the cattle had feed.”
“I suppose you did,” she said, going to the sink and washing her hands. “But I also heard that you have a cat and kitten living at your place. What’s that about?”
“They were living in the barn office, but since I have to put eyedrops in the kitten’s eyes, it seemed best to keep them at my cabin.”
His mother arched a brow. “Permanently?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Derek cut a glance his way, then went to the refrigerator for the carton of milk.
“Are you baking pies today?” Eli asked his mother.
“Probably tomorrow morning. I’m baking a couple of cakes today. With Thanksgiving coming, we’ll need those cakes and I can freeze them. And the pies... I imagine everyone here will lay into them as fast as I bake them. It’s just a matter of what you want—apple, pumpkin, chocolate cream?”
Eli didn’t care what pies his mother made. They were all good. “Do you think you’ll have an extra?”
She picked up the flour canister and brought it to the counter. “You want to take one to your cabin?”
“No. It’s a thank-you present for Hadley Strickland. She wouldn’t take any money for helping with Amber. I thought a pie might be a nice gesture.”
Now his mother gave him the same probing look that Derek was giving him. “I suppose it could be. What kind do you want to take her?”
“Apple would do just fine.”
His mother gave a nod. “Your favorite, too. That’s convenient if you want to share.”
Eli could say he would or wouldn’t. On the other ha
nd, he considered the best thing to do in this situation was just keep his mouth shut.
* * *
The next afternoon, carrying the basket his mother had insisted he use to hold the pie, Eli went to the door of Strickland’s Boardinghouse. A minute or so after he knocked, Melba herself came to the door.
When she saw him, she was all smiles. “Hello, Eli. It’s good to see you. I thought I might have a stray guest coming in for the holidays.”
“From what I hear, you have a houseful of family.”
“Yes, I do, and it’s wonderful. What have you got there in the basket?”
“This is a thank-you gift for Hadley. Is she here?”
“She’s up in her room with that e-reader of hers, reading veterinary journals.” She shook her head. “I thought this would be a vacation for her.”
“That’s why I particularly want to thank her. She cut into her downtime to help me out.”
“Come on in out of the cold,” Melba invited, motioning him inside. “I’ll go get her.”
Eli felt a bit ridiculous standing in the foyer with the basket until Hadley came running down the stairs. Then he didn’t much care how he looked. She was dressed in black leggings and an oversize blue-and-black tunic sweater. Although it was roomy, it hugged her when she moved. He had to smile at the furry slippers with embroidered paw prints.
When she saw him glance at her slippers, she said, “What can I say? I have a pet theme going on.”
As she approached him, he felt as if he needed to rid himself of his coat. Instead he held the basket out to her. “That’s an apple cranberry pie to thank you for your help. I wish I could say I baked it, but that was my mother’s doing.”
Hadley smiled at him. “So is the pie from you or your mother?”
“Oh, it’s from me, and Amber.”
Just then Bekka, Claire and Levi’s three-year-old, came running into the foyer and threw her arms around Hadley’s legs. Afterward, she turned and headed for the kitchen, where Eli could hear babies crying. He supposed they were Tessa and Carson’s twin babies.
“Things are a bit noisy here,” Hadley told Eli with a smile. “That’s why I was in my room.”
“Do you want to take a walk so we can talk?” he asked. He hadn’t intended the invitation to spill out, but it seemed like a good idea.
“Sure. Just let me take the pie to the kitchen and I’ll grab my boots and coat.”
He couldn’t tell from Hadley’s expression if she was glad to see him or if the stroll would be anything more than a walk down the street. Just what did he expect from the walk except frostbite?
He was still contemplating that when Hadley met him at the door. After they went outside, she pulled gloves from her pockets and slipped them onto her hands. At the base of the steps, she asked, “East or west?”
“Let’s go west. It looks as if the sidewalk’s completely clear that way.”
Some of the mounds along the curb were four feet high, but the pavement cut a swath through the snow that was just wide enough for the two of them to walk. Their arms brushed as they breathed in the cold and walked half a block in silence.
Finally, Eli broke it, knowing exactly what he’d expected from this walk. “We should talk about that kiss.”
After a few footsteps, she cut a glance at him and asked, “You mean at least three kisses, don’t you?”
He wasn’t going to quibble. He thought about it as one long kiss, but they had come up for air twice.
“I see you’re a detail person,” he teased, not feeling as light as he sounded.
Her boots crunched on snow that had fallen from the mounds alongside the walk. “It was the situation we were in,” she claimed. “That’s all. I mean, haven’t you kissed someone before because you were excited or relieved or...”
She seemed to run out of words, and he filled in for her. “Or very attracted to them?”
When he turned toward her, she looked troubled. Just what was going through her head? What held her back from telling him what she was feeling? Something was. He knew it in his gut.
He was absolutely certain of it when she suddenly changed the subject. “Has your household returned to normal? Everyone back safely from Missoula?”
So she wasn’t going to talk about their attraction. He’d try again later. “They’re all back. With cousins helping out, the workload is lighter. It’s what I like most about ranching—the teamwork.”
“Teamwork,” she repeated. “I’ve mostly flown solo.”
“But you said you cover for the other vets.”
“I do. But the truth is, I have more of a relationship with my furry patients than with the other veterinarians.”
“That’s telling,” Eli said before he thought better of it.
“Telling about what?” Hadley asked defensively.
Just because she wasn’t going to be open with him didn’t mean he couldn’t be open with her. “I think that says you believe you don’t need anyone else and no one else needs you.”
She vehemently shook her head. “That’s not true. My sisters count on me.”
“But do you count on them?” he asked.
She went silent.
He stopped and faced her. “Hadley, I didn’t mean that as criticism. Self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing. But now and then it’s okay to admit you need somebody, don’t you think?”
“I think you think we know each other better than we do.”
He realized immediately she was distancing herself again. “Two people confined together for a day can get to know a lot about each other.”
She didn’t dispute that as they came to the end of the street. But he could see she didn’t move to cross either way. So he turned to face her. “What are you afraid of, Hadley?”
It was probably the wrong thing to say because her shoulders squared, her chin went up and there was fire in her eyes. “I’m not afraid of anything.”
She was full of bravado, but he didn’t think it had any substance behind it. “And you believe that kiss was just about being thrown together unexpectedly.”
“Sure. I mean—You’re a sexy guy, Eli.”
“And you’re a sexy woman, Hadley.”
She looked startled for a moment as if she might not believe him. He took advantage of her surprise. “But you don’t want to talk about any attraction between us.”
She blinked. “No, I don’t. There isn’t one. I mean, there’s nothing between us.”
He gave her a long probing look, then he took a step closer to her. “No attraction between us?”
She had that deer-in-the-headlights look, and he almost felt sorry that he was trying to prove a point. But he wanted to know what made Hadley tick. He wanted to know why she wouldn’t admit to the attraction.
As he leaned a little closer, she sucked in a breath. The cold air must have shaken her back to reality because she said, “I have to get back to the boardinghouse. I’m going to babysit Bekka this afternoon while Claire runs errands.”
“And the others won’t be around?”
She shrugged. “Everybody has something to do.”
She’d turned back toward the boardinghouse and he did, too, walking beside her once more. “Do you like kids?”
“Sure I like kids. I’m just not as aware of my biological clock ticking as some women. And my sisters, my grandmother and even my mother don’t understand that.”
“You have a lot you want to do and see,” he suggested, feeling a sinking sensation in his stomach.
“Exactly. Once I get my pilot’s license, all sorts of opportunities might open up for me.”
“And you don’t want to be tied down.”
She looked him directly in the eyes. “No, I don’t.”
Though she said the words, a
nd she said them with some vehemence, he didn’t quite believe her. Yet he knew from experience that a woman with dreams and goals like Hadley had would bring only heartbreak to a man like him.
They walked until they reached the steps to the boardinghouse. There Eli said, “Enjoy the pie.”
“I will. Thank you for bringing it, and thank your mom, too.”
That crazy devil inside his head made him say, “You can thank her yourself sometime. You’re always welcome at the Circle D.”
Hadley looked as if she wanted to respond, but she didn’t. She just gave him a fake smile, a wave and went up the steps and inside.
Eli felt as if more than the door to the boardinghouse had closed behind Hadley. She’d built a fence around herself with no gate. It was obvious she wasn’t letting any man jump over that fence into her corral.
The night they’d spent together and that kiss were now only shadows from the past.
Chapter Six
The following day, Eli was grooming a bay gelding when he heard the barn door open and someone called, “Hello? Eli?”
“Over here,” he called back, surprised to hear Hadley’s voice.
She came down the walkway to him and said, “Derek told me you were in here.”
“I’m surprised to see you,” Eli said honestly.
“The pie was delicious. I was going to write your mom a note, then I thought I’d just come by and check on Amber and Coco.”
Write his mom a note? Did anybody do that anymore? Apparently Hadley had some of the old-fashioned girl in her.
“Maybe the momma and the kitten, too,” Hadley added, looking around the barn toward the tack room.
“I took the cats to my cabin,” he explained. “That seemed better than leaving them alone in here. And there’s too much activity at the main house. I was afraid they’d get scared and confused. When I went online and checked cat care and kittens, I read they do better in a confined space with someone around.”
“You’re right about that,” she agreed, looking impressed.
“You can come over to my cabin and check them out after you examine Amber and Coco.”
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