Beauty and the Brit (16 page)

“They get fed after we’re done with the horses. They’re trying to hurry us up.”

“Do they ever come into the house?” Bonnie took a break from graining to sit on a hay bale and scoop up a gray-and-black tabby. “Hello, baby.”

“Nope, strictly barn cats. They’re all happier outside. They have food and an ample supply of mice.”

“Living mousetraps. Could have used one myself on occasion.”

At that moment one of the mouse-trappers in question leaped onto the cart, sending Rio back with a surprised squeal. The little mottled cat meowed with much more lung power than should have been possible for its size, and Rio laughed.

“Hello to you, too. You’re a unique little thing.”

“Sort of a smashing cat with that tortoiseshell black-and-orange mix,” David said. “She’s one of an abandoned litter we found just down the road about six months ago. There were five and we found homes for all the others. Thirty-one here never interested anyone. She’s got a pretty devilish personality.”

“Thirty-one?”

“Short for October thirty-one,” he replied. “She looked so Halloween-ish when her coat started to gloss up, and she’s always up to something tricky. Cliché names like Goblin or Spooky were nixed.”

“But a number?”

He shrugged “It stuck.”

The cat was a stunner. The Halloween colors were evenly striated across her body except for solid black around her nose and two funny patches of orange-stripe over her eyes. Rio touched its head, and the half-grown cat lunged, wrapping its front legs around Rio’s hand. As soon as its claws came out, however, they retracted almost immediately, and Thirty-one meowed and pressed her head into Rio’s palm.

“Look at you, goofball,” she said. “Are you trying to trick me into believing you’re a tough cat? I think you’re a little faker.”

She scratched behind the dark ears and worked her way under the cat’s chin. A purr vibrated up through her fur.

David’s brows lifted. “In all this time that may be the longest anyone’s petted her.”

“That can’t be true.”

“You’ve usually got about thirty seconds before she turns on you. You must have some sort of touch.”

The little Halloween cat seemed to be melting under Rio’s fingers. She slid onto her side and closed her eyes.

“You’re making it up. I have no knowledge of cats. Am not a cat person at all. She seems perfectly sweet.”

“I’m telling you, it’s a miracle,” he teased, and went on to his next horse.

Rio picked up the cat, nuzzled it for a few seconds, and put it on the floor. “Go on, now.” She finished the next horse. Seconds later the little cat sprang back up on the cart. “Goodness, hello again. What’s this about?”

Two more attempts to get Thirty-one to stay on the ground failed. By the time Rio was done with the first row of stalls, her new friend was a permanent passenger. When all the feeding was finished, the cat trotted beside Rio like a dog. Something about that pleased her inordinately. She’d never had time or money for a pet even though she loved animals. The idea that maybe an animal might adopt her was another heady experience.

Like David’s kiss.

Dang. The floodgates opened again, and she looked to where David stood with Bonnie, discussing a horse over its stall door. Her stomach danced like one of her maternal ancestors’ Irish jigs. Usually a man who looked like David—tall, dark-haired, perpetually outdoorsy with a physique like a fine-tuned instrument, knew he was attractive. This man was sexy without trying.

And she was out of her element.

By the time Andy showed up at eight o’clock on the dot, the horses had been turned out and the cats fed. Thirty-one no longer followed Rio looking for food, and David had put muck forks in their hands and set them to work cleaning stalls.

Rio was busy reminding herself to watch what she wished for when Andy Manning, a fit, thirty-something man with a limp, a blond buzz cut, and slow, deliberate speech, greeted her cheerfully. He leaned over a stall door to watch her fork clods of manure clumsily into a wheelbarrow.

“Does this mean I can quit my job now?” He grinned.

“Please don’t,” Rio groaned, her muscles crying after just two stalls. “I’m so not good at this.”

“It takes time to get fast. But I’m kidding. You don’t have to do this as your job. David said he’s just letting you see how to run a barn.”

“Do you normally do all these stalls by yourself?”

Andy nodded. “Twenty-six stalls take me three or four hours depending. It’s good work. I like it.”

He spoke like a man with a slightly less-than-average IQ, yet his eyes were quick and intelligent.

“I’ve almost finished three, and I think if I had to clean this whole place by myself I’d finish at midnight and have to start right over again. You have my undying respect.”

He beamed as if she’d given him a medal and went on to talk to Bonnie. Rio heard her sister laugh and Andy tell her she was doing a fine job. He seemed like a nice guy, and he was easier on her equilibrium by far than David. She wasn’t sure where David had gone, but it was almost a relief to have him out of sight.

She’d finished five stalls by the time he showed up again. He startled her like Thirty-one had, but he with a silent, sudden presence, leaning casually against the open door of the stall she was finishing.

“My gosh,” she cried. “What are you, ninja barn owner?”

“Sorry.” The tightness from that morning was gone, yet he stared at her as if he’d never seen her before.

“What?” she demanded.

It was her turn to be less than cheery. Now any muscle that hadn’t hurt from riding screamed at her if she moved. She stank like horse poop, and she had stripped to the tank top she’d put under her T-shirt. Oddly enough, the horse smell didn’t bother her. The angry muscles, however, no longer felt like badges of accomplishment.

“They’re actually quite pretty, aren’t they?” A curious smoky veil faded out the blue of his eyes.

She stared back. “If I knew what you were talking about, I could agree or disagree.”

“The tattoos.”

“Oh!”

She stared down to where the delicate white, blue, and lavender-shaded feather along the inside of her right breast swooped up from beneath the rounded neckline of her tank top.

“I’m sorry.” He hesitated, measuring his words. “I was unkind yesterday.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to like tattoos.”

“In the army I saw plenty of, how should I say it kindly? Unfortunate ones. It wasn’t fair to judge by those standards.”

“I was picky about mine. I knew I wanted beautiful art. They represent a lot of savings and, some would say, wastefulness.”

“How many do you have?”

She hesitated. “I have six.”

His eyebrows twitched a fraction higher, but he nodded and scratched his nose self-consciously. He looked positively cute in his awkwardness.

“Are they showable?”

She smiled and couldn’t help arching her own brow. “Not all of them.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. Warmth flooded her cheeks.

“I expect that was a rude question considering my actions last night. I never apologized.”

She looked instinctively down the barn aisle.

“It’s all right,” he assured her. “I sent Bonnie back to the house to get something to drink. I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

“We’re adults. I didn’t exactly run screaming, David.”

“No. And I was glad you didn’t. Although tell me nothing happened during that kiss and I’ll feel a lot better.”

Over the two days they’d known each other, the only thing she’d grown slightly self-confident about was teasing him, and suddenly she couldn’t even do that. So
much
had happened during the kiss she didn’t dare open her mouth.

He nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

“It was a stupid thing for us to do.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I hate to call it stupid. Impulsive, yes.”

“It was that.”

“I meant what I said. I don’t make a habit of kissing women who didn’t ask to be kissed. I want you to think I took for granted I thought it was something I could do.”

“Thank you.”

What else could she say? That she wanted him to kiss her again, but even harder and more deeply? Because she did. Standing there alone it would have been easy for either of them to step forward. She could do it just as well as she could wish for him to do it . . .

For a long, anticipatory moment she held her breath.

He stepped back and the tension dissipated.

“I actually came to ask if you want to take Bonnie into town and show her around. She didn’t get a chance to get oriented yesterday.”

“Yeah, I guess. If we can move well enough to get there.”

“I’ll drop you at the pharmacy. You can hobble in and buy yourself some muscle rub.”

“You’re so thoughtful.”

“My middle name—as they say. Stop mucking now and let Andy finish. He’s bored.” He turned away, then back. “Rio?”

“Yes?”

“What I really wanted you to know is that you’re safe here. Bonnie is, too. I don’t want to have jeopardized that feeling on your first day.”

“Oh David. You didn’t.”

He nodded his thanks. “We can leave in half an hour if that’s enough time.”

“Sure.”

He walked away, leaving her heart wishing he’d left her feeling just a little less safe.

S
ENIOR CITIZENS WITH
walkers could have beaten her and Bonnie in a race up Main Street, Rio thought, as they limped past the small-town shop windows hoping nobody thought they were wounded homeless. They passed a yarn and fabric shop with gorgeous quilts in the window called Sew for Ewe. They spent a relaxing half hour in Grandy’s Book Store, right next to the boutique Rio had seen yesterday. She showed Bonnie the tattoo parlor, and they squinted through the window. There wasn’t much to see except one wall of tattoo art and a table with a pile of notebooks on it.

“I’m almost ready for another tat,” Bonnie said. “But I don’t know what I’d get.”

“Then wait. They need to mean something so you really love them.”

“I guess.”

“Ready to meet David and Chase at the café?” Rio asked.

“It would feel good to sit down.” She rubbed her hip.

“Still want to have our own barn?”

“I’d like to have this one. Holy crap—it’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah.”

“Kim says it’s impossible to make money boarding horses. She thinks even David struggles sometimes.”

Rio sighed as they approached The Loon Feather’s corner-facing door. She’d like to have David’s struggles. He didn’t have to tell Bonnie—very soon—that there’d be no money from the house with which to pursue a ranch. He didn’t have to tell Paul that because of his stupidity there was no place for him to live. No place for any of them to live even once Hector was no longer a threat.

They entered the cool, blue-and-green interior of the café, and a clear wolf whistle rang through the entryway. Bonnie glanced around herself, confused. Rio laughed.

“Check this out, it’s pretty cool,” she said.

They were cooing to the two cockatiels when the gray-haired woman Rio had met the day before greeted them.

“Rio! You’re just in time to beat the lunch rush. Welcome back.”

“Hi. Claudia, right?”

“Right. And this must be your sister?”

“I’m Bonnie.” Always gregarious, she stuck out her hand for Claudia to shake.

“Can I get you a table?”

“We’re meeting David. Along with Chase Preston.”

“Wonderful. Two handsome men dressing up the place. And good ones, too. That new doctor of ours is about the nicest man I know. And David? They just don’t come any more ethical or good-hearted. Or fun, for that matter.”

“They’ve helped us a lot,” Rio acknowledged.

Claudia led them to a table with a brightly colored cloth patterned in lighthouses. She took their drink orders and disappeared behind the counter.

“This is nicer than where you used to work,” Bonnie said. “Everything’s so clean.”

Rio laughed at the exact words she’d said to David yesterday. Slowly she relaxed. Long hours weren’t foreign to her, but work this physical was. It had hurt to sit in the chair at first, but she’d finally stopped feeling like she couldn’t even lift a fork.

She roamed the room with her eyes, and they lit on a printed sign beside the cash register across the room. The fine print wasn’t readable, but the “Help Wanted” across was clear. All the tension returned to Rio’s body.

It didn’t make any sense for her to think about a job here. She wasn’t going to be in Kennison Falls long enough to be a worthwhile employee, since there were only five weeks left until Bonnie needed to be back in school. Nonetheless, the idea of having at least a little seed money was as enticing as water to a desert traveler. What harm would there be in getting some information?

“Hullo, girls!”

David’s cheery, accented “
gerls”
snapped Rio back to attention. She smiled as David, Chase, and Jill trooped in and took seats. Claudia headed for them, too, a Diet Coke and a lemonade in hand.

“The gang’s all here,” she said. “Taking drink orders. What’ll you have?”

“So you really are pulling yeoman’s duty, Claudia,” Jill said. “I’m so sorry about Effie. Chase went to visit her this morning.”

“How’s she doing?” Claudia asked.

“She’s uncomfortable,” Chase said. “But you know Effie, she’s like you and your sister. Tough Norwegians the lot of you. She’ll do just fine after the hip replacement.”

“How are you doing with all these hours?” David asked. “You’ve got all your own projects at home.”

“Oh, we’re fine for now.” Claudia swung her long gray braid over her shoulder. “Gladdie did the supper shift yesterday so I could get my gardening done. Karla’s doing double duty. The kitchen’s okay with Vince and Bud cooking. I have to say, I don’t know how Effie does it. She must have the stamina of three Vikings. We’ve advertised for help. Karla only has three weeks left, and Gladdie can’t work as many hours because she watches her grandson two afternoons. It would be nice to have one more set of hands.”

“I could help.”

Five pairs of eyes turned to Rio, and she winced inwardly before turning to Claudia. The offer had simply slipped out.