9781631053566SpringsDelightBallNC (11 page)

The lilac, white and yellow
crocuses were even prettier up close, and she couldn’t help the huge grin that
graced her face. She hoped some of the other flowers beginning to sprout were
daffodils, her favorite. The air smelled fresh and clean, and she closed her
eyes turning her head to the sun, feeling comfort from the warm glow.

A twig snapped from behind,
and she opened her eyes and turned. Her perfect moment ended with Colt’s scowl.
He was a gentle soul, but she couldn’t help the fear that was inside her every
time he was mad.

She gave him a tentative
smile. “Hi.”

“What are you doing out here?
You scared me half to death! I have better things to do than look for you while
you’re looking at flowers.” His frown deepened, and her heart dropped.

It hurt knowing she was merely
an inconvenience. Somehow, she thought their friendship was on solid ground.
“Sorry.” She tried to walk around him back to the house, but he gently grabbed
her arm.

“I would have taken you if you
wanted to see them.” His brown eyes glittered, and his voice was gruff.

“I know.” She pulled away and
started walking. How was it possible to feel such joy one minute and sorrow the
next? Her shoulders slumped. Grateful is how she should be instead of annoyed
but it was hard to remember.

“Hey wait!” Colt ran until he
was beside her. “I didn’t mean to be an ass. I’ve gotten so used to watching
out for you. I couldn’t stand to lose you too.”

Spring stopped, her mouth
formed an O while she stared at him. “Then it’s me who should apologize. I
never looked at it from your point of view. I mean I know you’ve been getting
less work done with me here, and since you don’t have the extra time to teach
me the bookkeeping right now, I was thinking about going into town to look for
a job…”

Colt turned her toward him,
stared into her eyes, and she could see all the anguish he carried. He leaned
toward her as he turned his stare to her lips. Her heart beat faster in
anticipation, and she leaned forward.

“Oh, hell, I’m sorry.” Colt
turned away and began to walk to the house leaving her puzzled and sad.

It would have just made things
awkward between them. She really didn’t want him to kiss her, though a test run
would have been nice.

* * * *

Colt strode into the barn,
went straight to the tack room and closed the door. What kind of man takes
advantage of a sweet girl like
Spring
?

Really, who does that? Knowing what she’s gone through.
He
sat in his work chair and banged his fist against the wooden table. This was
plain crazy, and he needed to get a grip on his emotions before he scared her
off.

Finding her gone had put him
in full panic mode, and he hadn’t meant to wipe the joy off her face. She’d
looked like a fairy nymph standing there among the flowers with her head tilted
toward the sun, and he ruined her moment of happiness. It was official: he was
a jerk. He knew better than to approach a filly that way.

Maybe
Summer
is right, you can’t equate women
with horses.
In the past he just smiled at women and called them
darlin’ yet he never really had a serious relationship.

It had been a couple weeks,
and Billy hadn’t shown his face in Carlston. Maybe it was time to loosen the
reins. Damn, now he’d gone and equated
Spring
with a
horse again. This was going to take some practice.

“Boss?”
Bibbs knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Bibbs appeared in the open
door, his face flushed and shuffling his feet back and forth.

Colt’s eyes narrowed. “What’s
wrong? Did you two get thrown off your horses again?”

“No,
nothing like that.
You see,
Spring
asked me to drive her into town to find a job. I had to say no.”

“You did the right thing.”

Bibbs held his hat in his
hands, running his fingers along the brim in a circle. “Glad you agree because
there will be no dinner tonight and tomorrow is debatable.”

Colt laughed, a deep rumbling
laugh, and Bibbs visibly relaxed. “Well,
don’t that
beat all? I’ll talk to her, but I can’t guarantee she’ll cook. I’ll make us
something if worse comes to worst.” Colt laughed again. “She really said that?
She’s got spunk.”

Bibbs smiled. “She sure does.
You going
in to talk to her?”

“Hell no, I’m going to wait
until she cools down.”

“Good choice, Boss.”

An hour later, he felt as
though he was on an even enough keel to talk to
Spring
.
Crying women he could hold, riled women, he didn’t have a clue. Now if she was
a horse… He smiled. He needed to remember women were not horses.

Walking into the house, he
found
Spring
sitting on the couch, with her feet up,
watching TV. She hadn’t really watched much TV the whole time she’d been there.
She glanced at him with blazing, blue eyes. He gave her his most cocky smile,
confident she’d smile back. It didn’t happen; instead, she looked back at the
TV.

He frowned. “Hi, how’s it
going?”

There was no response at all,
and he began to doubt himself. Maybe a riled woman was better than a silent
one. “Listen if you are waiting for an apology for not allowing you to go into
town, I’m not going to give you one. I think Billy might not be such a threat,
but until we talk about it, you and I, I don’t feel comfortable with you
leaving the ranch.”

Her chin lifted and her eyes
widened. He had her full attention. “Allow? You didn’t just say that did you? I’m
not your
problem,
I’m not your property, so where do
you get off allowing me to do anything? And you can stop smiling at me!”

“If you live under my roof—”

Her mouth hung open. “Fine, I’m
sure I can find another roof. I’m not without skills you know. I’m not some
little waif you took in. I’m a woman with her own mind, and I refuse to allow
anyone to tell me what to do again!”

Maybe a silent woman was
better after all. Her hands clenched and unclenched as her mouth formed a taunt
line. There was fear in her eyes. He would bet she hadn’t yelled at anyone in
sometime. Perhaps he could gentle her. “Damn.”

“Damn what?
Damn
me, Damn you?”

“No I promised my friend
Summer I’d stop thinking of women as horses. I saw her the other day.”

Spring’s eyes narrowed as she
flipped her long red hair behind her shoulder. “Good, you can have
Summer
cook your meals from now on. I’m leaving in the
morning. It took every ounce of courage I had to leave Billy, and I refuse to
live with a controlling man again.”

“I’m not—”

“Oh, yes you are.” She stood,
walked to her room, promptly slammed the door and the lock clicked.

How did he get to be the bad
guy? Everyone said he was easygoing, fun to be around, dependable. He sighed.
He was all those things before Caleb died. His heart twisted once more at the
thought of his brother, pain still as sharp as the day of the accident.

He went to the refrigerator
and took out everything he needed to make sandwiches. Maybe she would change
her mind in the morning.

Who was he kidding? She wanted
to be as far away from him as she could.

* * * *

Spring was never so happy to
see the sunrise. She dozed on and off all night, listening to the sounds of the
house. The argument with Colt shook her hard. She couldn’t believe she blasted
him like that. The need to stand firm outgrew her fear. Being
on her own
was best for all involved.

She’d just wait until Shady
arrived. He’d give her a ride or she’d walk. Either way she intended to leave.
She had no malice toward Colt, but she couldn’t take the risk after his
outburst yesterday. She knew all about men and how they changed from nice to
wicked. She just couldn’t take that chance after finally getting away from it.

Grabbing her suitcase, she
walked out of her room and out of the house. Shady’s truck had just pulled up.
She went and talked to him for a minute, and shortly after, she was on her way
to Carlston. It felt wrong not to say goodbye to Colt, but it couldn’t be
helped.

Carlston was a small town but
it had a few diners and restaurants where she hoped to find a job. If anything,
she was a damn good waitress. As far as where to live, she prayed an answer
would come to her. If not, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to sleep in
the street.

Shady hardly said a word the
whole drive to town. He let her off in front of Lucy’s Deli, tipped his hat and
drove off. Loneliness washed over her, but she was here to find work, not to
feel sorry for
herself
.

Lucy’s looked like a likely
enough place to start.

Three hours later, she sat on
a park bench in front of the community center, wired from too much coffee.
Everyone had been nice but no one was hiring. A few businesses didn’t open
until afternoon so there was still hope.

Sighing, she watched the
townspeople go about their day, visiting the general store or stopping into Rex’s
Barbershop. In fact, it looked as though Rex’s was a town hot spot. At least
the weather was nice.

A woman with neon green hair
and matching nails walked by, stopped and came back her way.
“New
in town?”

Spring nodded.
“Looking for a job.”

The woman sat down next to
her. “I’m Mindy
Sue,
I work part-time at the
veterinarian’s office while I go to school.”

“I’m
Spring
,
it’s nice to meet you.”

“Colt’s
friend?
Where are you staying, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Yes, I know Colt. And I guess
I’ll figure out where to stay after I find a job.”

Mindy Sue smiled. “Come with
me, I’ll make a few calls and see about a job. A place to live, I’m not sure
about, maybe Holden will know.”

“Holden?
You
work for Holden?”

Mindy Sue cocked her head to
one side. “Sure do, he’s the best vet around.”

“I met him briefly. He’s a
friend of Colt’s.”

“Come with me. Colt wouldn’t
take kindly if I left you out here you being his woman and all.”

Stunned,
Spring
stared at Mindy Sue.
“His woman?”

“There I go putting my foot in
my mouth again I didn’t mean anything by it. Come on the least I can do is
get
you a cup of coffee.”

Spring nodded tentatively. It
was the only offer she’d had all day. She could do without more coffee but she
accepted.

The animal clinic was small
and inviting. Holden must be a busy man considering all the horses she’d seen
at Colt’s that needed medical attention. “I really don’t want you to go to any
trouble. If you could just give me a few leads about jobs, I’ll be out of your
hair.” She quickly glanced away. Why did she mention hair?

“I change my hair color at
least once a week, you’ll get used to it. I’ll need to make a few calls. I like
to think I have my finger on the pulse of this town, but it’s not true. I can’t
keep up with it all. What type of work are you looking for?”

“Waitressing is what I do
best, although Colt was going to teach me how to do the bookkeeping for the
ranch. I already applied at Lucy’s Deli, Carlston Diner, Frank’s Place.”

“Here,” Mindy Sue said as she
handed her a cup of coffee. “Take a seat this might take a while.”

“Really I can do it—”

“Do what?” Spring turned her
head and realized Holden had come into the clinic. His dark hair and eyes gave
him a dreamy type of look.

“Hey,
Holden.
Spring needs a job, and I was going to call around to
see what’s available.”

His gaze pinned
Spring
to her chair. “Why aren’t you at Colt’s? Did
something happen?”

“No, no, I just thought it
might be better if I did things for myself.” Her face heated.

“Smothering you was he?”

“No, I just wanted a change.”

Holden leaned against Mindy
Sue’s desk and crossed his arms in front of him. “Colt sent you away?”

“No.”

“I have to tell you he’s one
of the most upstanding guys I know, and
Summer
loves
him to pieces.”

A chill went through her.
“Summer?
He did mention his girlfriend. I haven’t met her
yet.”

Holden grinned. “Damn, I hope
that rumor isn’t true. Summer is my wife.”

Spring closed her eyes and
shook her head. Nothing made sense anymore. She opened them.
“Your
wife?”
She put her coffee on the table next to her chair and groaned as
she rubbed the back of her neck.