by Jillian Hart
In fact, he could kiss that grin into oblivion and back. Oh, the things I could make her mouth say, he thought, if given the chance to get her into his bed. His blood turned hot as lava.
Don't mess this up, Frisco. He steered the boys through the lobby, trying to stop the nerves jumping around in his midsection. He felt the change in him, in his heart, each moment he thought of her. Never had his heart been this vulnerable.
"Pa!" Austin flung open the door and ran into the empty room, cowboy boots thudding a quick rhythm. He stopped to turn back and grab hold of Frisco's hand, holding on tight as he tugged him in, too. "Can Jada come for supper tomorrow, too?"
"Yeah, Pa, because we like her real well. She hasn't even scolded us once. And she's not even pretending to like us."
"Not pretending at all," Austin finished up, letting go of Frisco's hand and giving a puzzled but pleased shrug of his shoulders, a big gesture for such a little man.
"Let's take this courtship one step at a time." His chest swelled with something too rare and precious to name. "Maybe, you boys should let me do it."
"But Grandpop said you'll just mess it up. You aren't the dapper fellow you think you are. You have no hope of catching a good, nice lady like her."
"Grandmama said you were out of your league with her."
"Thanks for letting me know." Biting his lip so he wouldn't laugh (although he could not say they were wrong), he grabbed the pitcher by the handle and poured water into the wash basin in front of the mirror. "Did Grandmama and Grandpop also tell you that you had to be on your best behavior tonight, or Jada will not want to come eat with us again?"
"Yes. That's why we are behaving so perfect." Aiden looked down at the big wet splotch in the center of his chest. "We've been real good so far."
"Real good," Austin agreed.
"Considering the trouble that ensues around you two, I can't say that you're wrong. But whatever you do, keep from doing anything that will make Jada run for the hills and never come back, okay?" Frisco dampened a wash cloth and ran it across the bar of soap sitting on its dainty china saucer. "Are we agreed on this?"
"Pa, I hesitate only because, as Grandmama says, I can't look into the future." Aiden stood still while his pa began rubbing at the stain hoping to catch the worst of it before laundry day. "I have no notion of the wild and random things that can happen."
"Yeah, we don't know." Austin grinned up at him, adjusted his hat, adorable in the light from the lamp that tumbled over both twins, as precious as could be. "Because we want Jada to like you, too. As Grandpop said, it's darn right rare as hen's teeth to find a lady of such quality who would not take a switch to us when we and Chester muddied up her clean floor."
"Yeah, she hardly even frowned or got mad at all. That's the right kind of lady to be in charge of us. Someone has to make us sit in the corner when we misbehave."
"It's practically all we do some afternoons after school."
Frisco gave the shirt one last swipe. "You're to blame for that, boys. You mind your grandmama. I did when I was growing up, and look how I turned out."
"Grandpop says you turned out real fine." Aiden's chest puffed up. "I'm gonna be just like you when I grow up, Pa."
"Me, too. Will you let us run the horse stables with you and train the horses all on our own with you, too?" Austin pleaded, face scrunched up, eyebrows arched with the pure intensity of the plea.
"I'll think about it," he teased with a wink, which always meant yes. Yes, he'd loved to see his boys as fully grown men working right beside him on the land he'd homesteaded and the extra acreage he'd purchased for them one day. Everything he did, in the end, would always be for the ones he loved. Boy, did he love his twins.
But they were a handful, and it would take so little for Jada, so fine, to change her mind about him. And then where would he be? Left in the dust, kicked aside, and having to watch other men stand in line hoping to earn her attention and get notice from her, attempting to decide if he had a chance to beau her, maybe even win her heart.
"It all depends on how good you boys end up being. Then again, you're pretty good." He gave each hat brim an affectionate tug, left the cloth in the hamper and held open the door for them.
"We'll be real good, Pa, every day," Austin vowed, "and especially tonight."
Frisco grinned. Yeah, it was easy to see why.
20
Jada. She glanced up from her menu, the soft tendrils of her rich silky hair, so thick and soft, and made him want to wrap his fingers in it. He'd hold her close for a kiss and then a roll in bed, and not knowing that's what he was thinking, her sapphire blue eyes brightened sweetly when she saw him.
Maybe chances were good, after all. Not that he was used to opening up like this, risking taking the steel bars off his heart and letting his libido take a hard rise at the sight of a well-shaped and well-put-together woman. And if he didn't do something about that tender and very rare feeling taking root in his chest, it would grow stronger, strong enough to choke out every bit of common sense he had. That's what the right woman could do to a man.
Maybe he should follow his brother's advice and forgo this one, pick a woman who was less risk to his heart, and live in charge of his feelings and his heart forever. That was the best way to do it, to insure his heart could never again be shredded beyond repair.
"I see the shirt could be saved." Jada's true blue gaze latched onto his.
Ignore the heart kick, ignore the rise in blood pressure, he told himself. He approached the table handily, easy-going, as if he wasn't about to either risk everything and throw caution to the wind and let himself hunger for her, or choose the sensible option and see if he could live without her. That's what his brother would do. That's what a wise man in control of his heart would do.
"We were lucky it wasn't beet juice," Frisco quipped, dropping into his chair. "Or tomato."
"Or pickle juice," Aiden added.
"Or onion slices. Those also have juice on them," Austin informed them, hunkering into place until his chair legs squealed just for a moment on the few inches of hardwood showing between carpets. "Once we accidentally spilled sauerkraut all over our shoes."
"Everywhere we walked, we left a smell. Everyone wrinkled their noses." Aiden grasped his glass with both hands this time and he was successful in not spilling a drop as he took another sip of the bubbly goodness.
"I had to buy new shoes," Frisco leaned in close to tell Jada. "There was nothing else to do but to throw the old pairs away. They smelled up the house so bad, we could barely stand to breathe."
"I see what you mean about calamity and trouble finding the boys." Her eyes laughed warmly at him, so very warm and inviting. His groin kicked, his blood heated and he just wanted to melt right into her.
Someone cleared his throat. Bartholomew glared down at them, narrowed eyes, disapproval hard on his gentle features. He held a pencil at the ready, notepad in hand. "Would you like to order? What can I get you, Miss?"
"Oh, I didn't expect to go first." Jada glanced around the table. "Maybe I should go last, I'm still torn deciding between two meals."
"I'll have the steak, medium, baked potato and a side of baked beans." Frisco grabbed the menus from the boys before they could hit each other accidentally with them. "Boys, do you want the same thing?"
"Yes, please," they chorused sweetly. "And can we get some apple dumplings?"
"Good idea." Frisco winked at Jada, and the way she sparkled back warmed him to his toes. "Let's give them plenty of food to keep them busy. So far, we've had only one minor disaster. Things are going good."
"I have every confidence in these boys that they will continue to behave wonderfully." Jada's confidence in his sons won. The steel bars guarding his heart wobbled very hard, threatening to give. "I'll have the same, no dumplings, please."
Bartholomew made a notation. "Very well. I will return and I expect no funny business from you boys. You, twin! Did your hat move?"
"Not on it's own," Austin
explained, eyes wide with true innocence, full of truth.
"I'm relieved," Frisco whispered to Jada. At least there would be no repeat of the leaping frog incident. The previous waiter involved, so gentle in his retrieval of the frog, was smart enough to take the tables at the other end of the dining room. Although, the amused look in his eye was something Frisco liked very much.
Yep, these were the good years, golden all the way through, while his little boys were young.
"I think the hat moved and not on its own," Jada leaned in to whisper to him, her breath warm and sweet feather-soft against his skin.
He got hard. And then harder. With a gulp, he gave thanks for the hem of the tablecloth that draped him good enough to hide his obvious arousal to the woman, cleared his throat and hoped his voice didn't sound too bedroom-husky. "I checked the top of his head, every pocket and in the hat itself before I let either twin outside to get into the buckboard. I'm no dummy."
"Good. I hope it worked."
"So far, so good. That's the best I can do, or anyone can do, when it comes to twins."
"You're a good pa."
"Not even close. You should hear the criticism. I get plenty of helpful advice from just about everyone. See? What is it, Mayor?"
"Did you know the boys were seen in the general vicinity of my wife's newly plowed vegetable garden?" The important man gave the lapels of his expensive black jacket a tug. "I can't say whose pony tracks went right down the center of where she intended to plant rutabagas, but not many folks in these wild parts have themselves a pony."
"Can't argue with you there, sir. Boys, did you do this to the mayor's wife's garden?" He arched a brow at them, not surprised that neither of them blanched.
"Not exactly, Pa." Aiden held out both hands, palms up, helplessly. "Although we were out riding Chester."
"It was my turn to steer," Austin piped up. "But things went wrong."
"Chester took off after a rabbit and we couldn't stop him." Aiden grabbed the first roll out of the bread basket that the returning waiter set down. "So, we left a whole quarter to pay for the damages."
"It's true, Pa. It was our carefully saved money." Austin caught the roll his brother tossed at him. "We would have stopped to apologize, but Chester wouldn't pay any attention. He chased the rabbit right into the next yard and snuffled at him from beneath the bushy hedge."
"Finally, he stopped." Austin sighed, as if relieving the moment, relieved and not apologetic at all. "Did you find the quarter, Mr. Mayor?"
"Aye, my wife did. She thanks you, and so do I. If you're ever in the neighborhood again, we hope you learn how to stop your pony and come help weed for a bit. You might earn that quarter back."
"Okay!" the boys chorused.
"We're saving up to buy another pony."
Jada's warm laughter rolled like a gentle piano trill, cutting straight through him, rocking him to the core. The stern-faced waiter bit his bottom lip, attempting not to laugh right along with Frisco as he began placing their meals around the table.
This was the happiest he'd been in a long time.
* * *
"Jada, Grandmama said to always show courtesy and never allow the conversation to lull!" Aiden seized his fork and stabbed at a piece of meat he'd just finished cutting with his knife. "Isn't that right, Austin?"
"Exactly so." Very proper, Austin gave a thoughtful chew so that he was not speaking with his mouth quite so full of steak. "Grandpop said politics are bad for the digestion but good for showing a lady how smart and current with the times you are. So, what is your opinion of our current legislation in the senate, and what do you suppose our president will say about it? Will he veto?"
Jada swallowed her bite of buttery baked potato. "I'm not sure I'm as informed as I need to be on the goings on in Washington. But I did read the paper last week."
"What did you think of it?" Austin leaned in, face schooled with seriousness. "Whatever you think, I think so, too."
Aiden gave a huff of frustration. He turned to his twin. "That's not the way it's supposed to go. We went over this with Grandmama. We're supposed to not tell Jada that part."
"About always agreeing with whatever she says, even if it's a crazy notion of an opinion like Grandpop said, so she'd like us better."
"We're supposed to be honest and sincere, though." Aiden sighed. "This helping Pa court a woman is no easy task."
"What is it you boys are doing?" Jada's curious gaze roamed from the boy's big dark eyes to the top of his head, where his hat still sat in place, against custom and courtesy, which was a suspicion of its own.
But it didn't move. That had to be a good sign.
She tried to dim her smile a bit so as not to encourage them, but it was impossible. That's how cute they were. "Aiden, did your hat move?"
"No, I accidentally bumped the brim. That made it twitch." Austin sat up straighter in his chair. "You don't keep up on current events, then?"
"Grandmama said to ask about your hobbies," Aiden interrupted, to the rescue. "What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?"
"We like to ride our pony and collect rocks," Austin chimed in.
"I like to read and crochet."
"So does my mother." Frisco stole the conversation, the deep timbre of his voice rumbling through her as if it were her own. Her belly contracted, low and deep, in a unmistakable sexual pull.
What am I going to do about that? she wondered. How on earth would she ever stop her attraction and desire for the man from growing?
"I'm not sure what to say about the boys." Frisco leaned in so that the warmth of his breath fanned the sensitive shell of her ear, making her shiver, making her belly pull harder, deep within.
Did he know what he was doing to her? The effect he had on her? Breathless, she stared directly into the deep dark pools of his eyes, his pupils so dilated that she could hardly see any blue at all.
"The boys?" she said vacantly, unable to make a single brain cell work. She gulped, mesmerized, just mesmerized by the man.
"They really must like you. They think they're helping. Apparently my parents gave them some good advice and I'm not sure if it's driving you to want to toss down your fork and race to the door to escape me or if I'm right and you're taking it with good humor and a whole lot of good humor."
"Why, nothing horrible has happened yet. No frog. No pony running into the dining room intent on finding them. Despite your warnings, this evening has been truly calm and peaceful, considering the dire story you told. The boys have been lovely."
"I'm glad you think so, and I'm glad they are behaving. Did you hear that, boys? Keep behaving or no desserts for you for a week."
Jada rolled her eyes, as charming as could be. "That is cruel and unusual punishment. Whatever you do, never punish anyone by refusing to buy baked goods. I run a bakery, remember?"
He chuckled. Oh, he loved that twinkle in her big, expressive eyes as she laughed. That was a good sign, right? She wasn't smacking him in the head with her handbag and dashing from the hotel eager to escape, for instance. She wasn't launching into a lecture about what ill-behaved children he had, unlike many people, including strangers, had. He liked that about her. She wasn't gullible; she was generous-hearted.
"Pa, you're doing it all wrong," Aiden informed him, fork in mid-air, jabbing it at Jada. And a piece of steak flew off the end and landed in the middle of her half-eaten baked potato.
Crud! Frisco leaped up, fork in hand, panic beating through him. He stabbed the stray piece of meat with the tines, despite the heart palpitations, cutting his gaze sideways, waiting for her reaction. He couldn't bear to breathe as he dropped back into his chair.
"Oops," Aiden commented. "Don't worry, Jada, that didn't have hardly any spit on it at all. Just from the part of the fork that was in my mouth, that's all."
"Then I won't worry about it a bit." She turned her blue gaze to Frisco. Held back laughter made her dazzle, made her shimmer.
Heaven help him, he was captivated. If he
wasn't careful, she would pull down the iron bars around his heart and let herself in. He reached across the table to drop the rescued sliced piece of meat back onto Aiden's plate, well practiced at it. "May I say, a lot of women might not have such a great positive attitude about flying food, so that makes you tops with me."
"That's all it takes? You're too easy, Frisco. You don't know me that well."
"Not yet."
"Pa, you gotta ask her questions to get to know her," Austin advised as he filled his fork with baked beans, which plopped immediately onto the leg of his trousers. "Oops."
"Are you going to the rescue with your fork there, too?" Jada looked up at him, full of laughter.
"For beans, I use a spoon." He reached for the spoon at rest on the tablecloth, not surprised to hear another "Uh oh!"
"The poor carpet," he muttered, napkin in hand, bolting out of his chair to visually inspect the damage.
"I'm a little nervous," Austin confessed.
"We never beaued a lady before," Aiden informed her. "You're the very first one."
"We're bound to get better courting with practice." Aiden scooted his chair loudly backward and spooned the beans off his trouser knee on his own. "It's okay, Pa, I cleaned it up."
"Don't even try it with the carpet. Boy, I'm one step ahead of you for a change." Frisco knelt down, gave the carpet a swipe. "Whew! Not even a stain. Just two beans hit the floor. Bartholomew, luck was with us."
"I'm delighted, I'm sure." The waiter paused at the edge of the table, droll and stern, although his mouth twitched upward in the corners. "If you boys are interested, I keep abreast of current events and I am very much in favor of our president's view."
"Us, too." Aiden answered, eyes serious. "Have you ever courted a woman, Mr. Bartholomew?"
"Once, and it was an abysmal failure, but fortunately she married me anyway. May you have such luck. What is that smell?"
"What smell?" Aiden blinked his eyes, far too innocent.
"Hmm. Maybe I imagined it." Bartholomew let his solemn eyes flicker with humor for just a second. "Never mind, don't answer that. Would you be interested in dessert, coffee and hot chocolate after your meal?"
