At Wolf Ranch (11 page)

“That’s right, you oversaw the people who packed everything. Thank you, Gabe, for everything.”

He turned and walked into the kitchen.

“What are you doing now?”

“Making dinner. If I don’t feed you, I’ll need to buy you a smaller size. Lord knows there’s barely anything of you to look at as it is.”

She laughed and retorted, “Is that why all the sweaters have V-necks, because I’ve got nothing for you to look at?” She pointedly looked at her full breasts and up at him.

His gaze blazed a trail from her face to her breasts. “Sweetheart, I like looking at everything there is about you.”

The heat in that look promised a hell of a lot more than looking.

Chapter 12

G
abe watched Ella from the kitchen while he prepared dinner. Nothing special, just a couple of pork chops he picked up at the store. He put them in the cast-iron skillet to fry along with the onions he’d chopped earlier.

He could still feel the heat of her touch on his arm. The kiss surprised him. Not that the simple kiss sparked something inside him, but the intensity with which it spread through his system and made him crave more. It took everything he had not to grab hold of her and crush his mouth to hers. She tasted sweet, like his favorite strawberry pie.

He bought Stacy a pair of gold earrings once. Something special for her birthday. He didn’t remember feeling this damn good about giving her the present as he did seeing Ella’s eyes light up when she saw the boots and sweaters. Nothing special. Just what he owed her and something to protect her feet. Still, you’d have thought by the look on her face he bought her diamonds. Men probably had in the past. She said she liked to have fun with the guys she dated, nothing serious. Judging by the photos of her out on the town on the TV news reports, he had no doubt she didn’t spend many nights alone. That thought stopped him cold. Then he thought about it again and the shy way she’d kissed him and touched his arm. Not practiced or seductive, but a real and true show of affection for what he’d done for her.

He thought of their argument earlier and the angry kiss she planted on him, a strange punishment for the stupid thing he said. Every minute he spent in her company, he got to know her better, and with every new thing he learned, he wanted to know more. He’d even told her about Stacy. He’d never talked about what happened with anyone. Not even his brothers.

The longer she spent with him, the more she let her guard down and began to trust in him. She’d have plenty of time to get to know him over the next couple of days. One hell of a storm was rolling in and they’d be lucky if the snow didn’t bury them up to their necks. He hoped the satellite didn’t go out, but with thick clouds covering the sky, no doubt they’d lose service. He hoped to keep track of what was happening with the murder investigation through the news and Internet. He didn’t want to get caught in any more of her uncle’s surprises.

The salad went together in a matter of minutes. He flipped the pork chops in the pan and grabbed the cornbread muffins he bought at the store. He turned the oven to warm and put four muffins on a baking pan and set them in to heat.

Ella surfed the Web, looking for information on the detective and ties he had in the department and community. She moved her back this way and that to ease the pain etching lines in her forehead. Her discomfort disturbed him on a level he didn’t want to evaluate too close. The whole thing with the sweaters already made him think he’d gone mad.

Unable to watch her squirm in pain, he pulled the jug of iced tea from the fridge and poured her a glass. He went to the cabinet by the phone and pulled out the bottle of ibuprofen he kept there for those nights when working in the stables left him aching and sore.

She stood and limped toward him. He met her halfway in the dining area. “Here. If you won’t take those pain meds, take these. They’ll take the edge off.”

“Thanks.” She popped the pills in her mouth and downed three quarters of the glass of iced tea and let out a huge sigh. “I was really thirsty.”

“Let’s get something straight. You’ve got nowhere else to stay because your house is empty. I’m happy to let you stay here as long as you like. This is the kitchen.” He indicated with a sweep of his arm. “I keep the food in here. If you’re thirsty, get something to drink. If you’re hungry, grab something out of the fridge or cupboards. For God’s sake, help yourself to whatever you want.”

“Why are you mad at me?”

“I’m not,” he snapped. “I’m mad at me. It’s nearly seven at night, and you’ve had nothing to eat or drink all day. How do you exist without any coffee in the morning?”

“That accounts for the raging caffeine withdrawal headache.”

He swore and went back to the fridge and pulled out a soda. “Drink this. It’s full of caffeine and should help.”

“Thanks.”

“Stop thanking me. If you want something, don’t stop to ask, just grab it.”
If you want me, grab me. I won’t mind.
He’d never wanted any woman as much as he wanted her.

“Thanks. I took one of your spare toothbrushes already, but the soda and that food are really what I need.”

“I should have fed you.”

“It’s not like you stopped to eat today either.”

“I ate a huge breakfast before you got up and drank three cups of coffee while I waited for you. I ate a sandwich and half a bag of chips on my way home from the store.”

Gabe went back to the stove and took the meat off the burner. He pulled the pan of cornbread from the oven and set it on the stove.

“That smells like heaven. You’re a really good cook.”

“You haven’t even tasted it yet.”

“If it tastes half as good as it looks, I’ll love it.”

“So you really don’t know how to cook?”

“Not really. We have Mary. She’s an amazing cook. And I eat out a lot.”

He wanted to ask her with whom. Thoughts of her out at the nightclubs flashed in his mind, those skimpy outfits he’d seen her in on TV this morning. But he remembered what she said about how he didn’t know her, so he asked, “Really? I bet they’ve got some great restaurants in New York. Got a favorite?”

“Several. My sister and I loved this Italian place called Mama’s. This little hole-in-the-wall most people would walk right by, but we loved it there. Family-owned, Mama’s cooks the best lasagna in the city. The Florentine fettuccine Alfredo is to die for.”

He smiled, liking her this way. “What else did you and your sister like to do?” Genuinely interested, he kept his gaze steady on her, prompting her to keep talking.

“Broadway.”

“Really?”

“We loved the plays. Our mother used to drag our dad, but I think he secretly liked it. They took us all the time. We still go. Kind of a tradition. Especially the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Every year. We never miss it.”

She caught herself talking about her sister in the present tense. Like they’d go see a show next week.

“Sit at the table, sweetheart. I’ll just be a minute with the rest of dinner.”

She took the seat facing him in the kitchen and put her sore foot up on the chair across from her. He grabbed a plastic bag from the drawer and went to the freezer. He filled the bag, took it to the cutting board, used the meat tenderizer to smash the ice cubes into bits, sealed the bag, and took it to the table.

“Here, I can do that.”

“I’ve got it.” He reached under the table and undid the straps on the brace and carefully slipped it off. He placed the bag over her swollen ankle over her sock. “Better.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. According to the news this morning, Lela attended school. Something about getting her MBA from Columbia, right? What about you?”

“I finished mine through the University of Indiana’s online business program last month. I’ve taken a few more classes at NYU.”

“Seriously? The University of Indiana?” He set her plate and his on the table and went back to the kitchen and grabbed the silverware and napkins.

“Don’t turn your nose up at Indiana, Mr. Texas A&M. They are the top-rated online business program in the country. It may not be Columbia, but it’s a great program.”

“Why do it online? I imagine you went to the same private schools with your sister and got a top-notch education.”

“All true, but Lela went right out of high school. What can I say, I like having fun with my friends, but it’s not like the press makes out. Plus that life gets boring real fast. I was eighteen, young, and having fun. Then I remembered Lela and I are a team and I owed my parents better than that, so I went back to school and spent most of my time trying to catch up to her. You see, in order for us to inherit at twenty-five, we each have to have either an MBA, or have worked for the company full-time for five years.”

“So your sister went the traditional college route, attending classes and working part-time at the company. You worked full-time at the company and did your classes online.”

“Exactly. My sister attended school and worked in the executive offices. She played the part my parents wanted for us and my uncle expected. Over the last five years, I’ve worked in almost every department from the mailroom up. Never more than three months, I take whatever position is open in the other department that would be a step up from the last. That way, when we took over, we’d understand how the company worked from the ground up. We’d go to dinner once a week and talk about the company, how things were being run by the managers in place, what needed to be changed or tweaked, and we’d bring those items up to the executive staff. We never wanted to take over the company from the people my father left in charge of running it, we wanted to contribute and be a real part of the team.”

“That sounds like a very good plan for learning the business and understanding all the working parts.”

“Exactly. How could we spend all our time in school and then take over one day, having no idea what the company did and how to manage it? Just because we had the degree didn’t guarantee we knew what we were doing. Our father worked hard to build the company out of next to nothing. He deserved for us to take the opportunity he gave us and do it right. We owed that to the people who have worked for him and after him to keep the company running and prosperous. Everything we have is because of them and we didn’t want to walk in one day, take over, and make anyone think we didn’t appreciate everything they’ve done.

“People in the company are skeptical when I start in a new department. I mean, I don’t give them a choice about my taking the job, but once they see I’m serious about learning how to do it and how they run the department, they come around and are encouraging.”

“Do you tell them why you’re working in all the departments?”

“No. Not outright. At first they think I can’t make up my mind about what I want to do. That, or that I’m just doing the bare minimum to get what’s mine.”

“They don’t believe that for long, though, do they?”

“No. I seem to have a hard time pulling back from doing what is necessary. I take every job seriously. I want to do it right. Mediocre just seems . . .”

“Half-assed,” he supplied.

She smirked and nodded her agreement. “Yes. Still, my uncle thinks I’m nothing but a waste.”

“When you take over, is he out?”

“No. That’s the thing. Nothing would have changed for him, including the massive salary he’s paid. He’d still answer to the executive staff. We join that team, but no one person holds all the power in the company. This whole bizarre plot is about money and power and control. It’s just so stupid and ridiculous. If he wanted more money, Lela and I would have given it to him. He sold the paintings probably for millions. He stole the money you paid for the ranch. Why? How much is enough? Does it have to be everything?”

Gabe didn’t get it either. Ella and Lela by all accounts were kind women. He believed if their uncle wanted more, they’d have given it. For nothing more than because he was family.

He changed the subject back to the business. “Is the company public?”

“No. It’s privately held. We own more than seventy percent of the business.”

“How is it that your company does small appliances; restaurant, farm, and manufacturing equipment; and botanical cosmetics? That’s an odd mix.”

“If my father had lived, I don’t doubt he’d have added several other odd enterprises. He bought the restaurant appliance business a couple of years after he started running it for my mother’s family businesses. You know all those coffee houses with cappuccino machines that spit out lattes and caramel macchiatos? My favorite, by the way. Well, most of those machines are Wolf. We also make ovens, freezers, refrigeration units, stuff like that. My father expanded the business by partnering with another company that made small appliances. They made quality items, but lacked the business leadership to mass-produce and market their goods.”

“Your father steps in and Wolf appliances are sold in every major department store in the country. I have one of your can openers and a coffeemaker.”

“I noticed.”

“Yet you can’t cook.”

“I can make the coffee and open a can. I know how to use every product we sell.”

“What about the makeup stuff?”

That earned him a smile and a giggle. “We started the makeup
stuff
. I vacationed in Vermont with friends and found this cute little shop in a small town. I needed some lotion and lip balm. It’s cold there, like it is here.”

“Dries out the skin,” he finished for her.

“Exactly. I loved the products and spoke with the owner. Turns out to be two sisters who started the company, making the products in their kitchen. Everything is organic, high-quality, natural ingredients.”

“The two sisters reminded you of you and Lela, so you made them an offer,” he guessed, earning him another of her elusive smiles.

“Yes. They didn’t have the capital to bring the business into the mainstream and compete with other major companies. We launched the products in a few markets last year and sales are booming in those areas. We have a huge marketing campaign and rollout of the products scheduled for the week of our birthday.”

“Your coming-out party.” Gabe hated the way her eyes went soft and sad, filling with more unshed tears, thinking about everything her sister would miss. They’d worked together to create their own niche in the company, add to it like their father did before them. Just when they were about to announce their new product and take their place at the company, Lela was murdered, leaving Ella to uphold the family dreams by herself.

“You wanted that business.”

“I like it and enjoy working on the products. The colors and scents.”

“Seems right up your alley. The news showed you at Fashion Week in New York and Paris.”

“With my friends, it’s hard not to get caught up in fashion and makeup and all the trends.”