Catching Calhoun (9 page)

It would, as she knew only too well, be their last night to see each other.

Still, there had been no “last night” with her marriage; one day it was over. No husband, just a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and an unmade bed. Some old clothes left behind. A note that said, “I gotta go. Tell the kids their dad was good to them. Bryce.”

Calhoun started the truck. “First of all, I can afford a stamp, lady,” he said. “I even know where it goes on the envelope. And I know where my mailbox is. Even Jeffersons understand the art of correspondence. One of my brothers constantly e-mails a
lady in Australia. Other brothers use text messages. One has been known to send up a smoke signal. Or maybe that was an accidental fire. But the message was received,” he said with a sideways glance at her. “Your premise is that I won’t follow through.”

“You are a man,” she said unnecessarily, thinking that most men probably didn’t write women they’d just met the day before.

“I am all man,” he boasted. “And a man knows the secret spots for romance.”

Her eyebrows raised. “So, you’ve mapped out the area?”

He gave her a light tweak on the arm, then captured it to hold in his. “Do not try to ensnare me with slyly couched questions. I promise you I am an efficient trap springer. I have done no mapping around here with females.”

“Then how do you know about the romantic spots?” She wasn’t sure if she believed his innocent approach.

“My brothers have done their share of mapping.”

“And you’re merely the cartographer.”

He squeezed her hand lightly between his fingers. “It’s too bad we don’t have longer to get to know each other. I’m certain that a woman who knows a twelve-letter word rarely used in modern-day language is somehow meant to spend more time with me. Slide across this seat next to me so I can rub your legs,” he said enticingly. “I have the idea I should be mapping every centimeter of you.”

Olivia’s eyes widened. “You may be slightly unhinged.”

Calhoun laughed. “I may be very unhinged. Come here.” He pulled her closer to him on the bench seat. “Now I’m happy. Your father would be mad, but I’m happy.”

Olivia caught his hand before it could roam over her knees a second time. “Do you have some issues you need to sort out?”

“Even my issues have issues, Olivia,” he said, raising her hand to press her fingers against his lips. “But where you’re concerned, I’m very trustworthy and issueless.”

She looked at him as they pulled up to a moonlit creek. “This is a nice spot. Very romantic.”

He shut off the engine. “Come walk with me.”

Opening his truck door, he pulled her out the driver’s side with him. “Now, you stand right there and don’t move.” He closed the door and walked away.

Olivia watched him, a tiny frown on her face. “Where are you going?”

“I’m walking away from you.”

“Well, don’t. You’re worrying me.”

Now he was somewhere in the dark and she couldn’t see him. “I’d feel better if I had your truck keys!” she called.

“In the ignition,” he yelled back. “Feel free to borrow my truck any moment you get the urge!”

Olivia crossed her arms. Okay, the cowboy was playing hide-and-seek. But what was his real
game? “Do we know each other well enough to play like this?”

“No,” he said, dragging a bench across the grass. “You can get the other side if you want. If not, I can do it myself. I was trying to be the gentleman, though.”

“Oh,” Olivia said, laughing somewhat nervously. “I thought you wanted me to chase you or something ridiculous like that.”

He straightened, and she could see the strong planes of his face in the darkness. “What would be ridiculous about that?”

She stared at him. Shaking her head, she said, “Nice bench.”

“Good. Come sit down on it. From this vantage point, we can watch the clouds drift across the moon, just up there. And because it’s cold tonight with December’s early chill, I get to warm you up.” He pulled her into his lap. “Now, you keep your eyes on those soft clouds up there.” Moving her hair, he began to kiss along the back of her neck. “I will also keep my eyes up there.”

“You’re not,” she said, laughing. “You sneak.”

“They say that fear and sex are a great combination. Is it true? Did I awaken the physical beast in you?”

“No.” She turned to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

“You sounded so scared when I went to get this bench. And now I’m kissing your neck. So I wondered if you’re having heightened feelings for me.
You know, feelings of gratitude, grateful sex, gratuitous quickies—”

“Stop,” she said. “You’re crazy.” But she laughed at him anyway. “You know what? You’re not even trying hard. I finally figured you out. You’re all talk, Calhoun.”

“Hmm.” He shifted his cowboy hat, then hung it on the back of the bench. “You wound me.”

“I do not.” She giggled and scooted out of his lap to sit at the other end of the bench. “But I do, coincidentally, have feelings of gratitude where you’re concerned.”

“Yeah?” He seemed to perk up. “Any feelings of sexual—”

“No.” She peeped at him with a sly smile. “Well, maybe.”

“Really?” He gave a self-satisfied smirk. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to withstand my charm.”

She shook her head, smiling.

He sighed. “So it’s a friendship kind of gratitude?”

“Can you live with that?”

“I think my ego can withstand the pain. So, tell me, and leave out no details, because it sounds like your gratitude’s all I’m going to get from you.”

“Okay.” She took his hand out of his lap, holding it as she turned to face him, one leg crooked onto the bench. “I’m grateful for how you treat my kids. That was an easy one. They wooed you, and you responded in kind. Whether you realize it or not, you were good for them. You could have treated them like
kids, or worse, like pests, and they would have been crushed.”

“Nah.” Calhoun shook his head. “Trust me, those two are wily coyotes. I’m only lucky that they chose me to woo. Because I’ve sure enjoyed being around them. But don’t think I don’t understand the game, Olivia. Another town, another man. I’m nothing special.”

He said it with such obvious forlorn drama that she rolled her eyes. “No wonder you did so well in our show. You’re a master of theater. And that brings me to gratitude number two. Calhoun, thank you so much for saving the show tonight. My kids will remember it always. And so will I.”

“So will Barley,” Calhoun said. “And that’s not an encouraging thought.”

“Poor Dad,” Olivia murmured.

“Poor me,” Calhoun said. “He’s going to show me no gratitude at all.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Olivia said. “Is that weird to say to someone I just met?”

“Not if I made a difference in your life,” Calhoun said cheerfully. “And you know, it is said that we Jeffersons do make a difference wherever we go.”

He snaked a hand around her waist and pulled her over next to him. “That’s better. I was getting cold.”

She laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m getting hot.”

His posture straightened. “It’s about time,” he said. “I’ve been trying to go slow, I swear, but—”

Olivia looked at him.

Calhoun got quiet. “Oh. You really meant hot.”

“Yes.” Olivia shrugged out of her jacket. “See those clouds up there?”

“Yeah,” he said, his tone a little grumpy. “I told you to keep your eyes on them, remember?”

“Not stars, but clouds for us,” Olivia said. “I think that’s romantic.”

“You do?” He watched her, his eyes suddenly intent.

“Yes.” She looked up at him. “Calhoun, I’m hot now.”

He blinked. She saw his eyes linger on her neckline, and then gaze lower. “My body temperature’s moving up, too,” he said. “Amazing we both seem to be having the same symptoms.”

She smiled. “Synchronicity.”

“That’s a thirteen-letter word not often used in daily lingo, Ms. Olivia,” he said. “And now I’m positive I’m going to have to kiss you.”

But she beat him to it, leaning up so that she could get to his lips and wind her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her. Every touch of his lips against hers made her shiver. Olivia felt as if she could drown in the pleasure he made her feel.

I could do this forever.

She pulled away as soon as the thought hit her.

“Oh, no,” he said, “no running away. No second thoughts. This time I am going to be the pursuer. You got away from me in the bar, and I let you go then. You want me until I kiss you, but then you start think
ing. So babe, I’m going to push all those unworthy thoughts right out of your head.”

He kissed her so hard her breath left her, and the worries about forevers that didn’t last and fears of not being sexually compatible disappeared like clouds before the moon. Calhoun kissed her so passionately that she moved up into his lap so she could run her hands through his hair and take her time enjoying the heat spreading through her.

“You’re hot,” he told her. “Sexy hot.” His fingers ran under her hair, down her back, and then up the back of her shirt. “Fiery hot mama.”

His fingers brushed over her bra under her shirt, and Olivia felt every nerve in her body tense with pleasure.

“Too bold?” he asked her.

She stared down into his eyes. Her nipples were so erect that all she could think about was Calhoun, and making love, which she knew would be different—and crazier—than what she’d known before. She wanted him to make love to her; she wanted him to wash away the bad memories. God, he was so sexy and so manly and everything a woman wanted in a man.

She kissed his mouth, lingering over lips, pressing herself against his hands.

When they broke apart, breathless again, he looked into her eyes. “Am I getting a yes?”

Slowly, she shook her head, her gaze never leaving his. “No.”

“Because?” he asked lazily, running his fingers under the back of her bra strap.

“It’s been years since I’ve been with a man,” she said simply. “I have no birth control here at Barmaid’s Creek.” She kissed his mouth again. “And I seem to recall that the Jefferson family is already expecting one unexpected bundle of joy. This is a very bad time of the month to try my luck.”

“I—”

She laid a finger over his lips. “Calhoun, before you say something gentlemanly like ‘Jefferson men always come prepared’ let me just play Pollyanna here and say I’d rather not know that. In spite of how wonderful a man you may claim to be, you do seem to have an amazing knowledge of the female form.”

“Purely coincidental,” he said, rubbing her back under her shirt. “Those paintings are not women I’ve known, Olivia.”

She felt immeasurably cheered by that. “Still, you can see my hesitation. We don’t really know each other, and…while a one-night stand would cure me of a lot of bad memories, it’s not really what is best for me. It’s not me. The only man I was ever with was my husband.” She skipped saying sex wasn’t something she’d enjoyed.

He rolled her shirt back into place. “I understand. You’re right. Although I want to throw you on your back and take you right here, I do get where you’re at. I told myself patience was the key with you, and maybe a little freestyle hard-to-get, but I can also ac
cept sweet rejection. I think.” A sigh escaped him as his gaze ran across her shirt one final time. “My dad used to say that the treasure lies within. That’s where yours is, Olivia. I’ll miss getting to know you better.”

“Thank you,” she said, touching his chin lightly. “If I was going to fall for a cowboy, it might be you.”

He held her against his erection, sliding her against him for just a moment. “If you were going to fall for a cowboy, Olivia, it
would
be me.”

She raised a playful eyebrow. “Maybe.”

“It’s too bad we don’t know each other better,” he said, settling her into his lap so that her head was against his chest and his arms were tight around her, “because I would have given you a hell of a memory, babe.”

“You did,” she said.

And that’s the real thing I’m grateful for,
she thought,
but I wouldn’t ever want you to know that.

Olivia fell asleep in Calhoun’s arms, under the cloud-chased night sky. It was early morning when she awakened to the sun caressing their faces.

Calhoun’s arms were still tight around her. Olivia tried to shrug out of his embrace so she could sneak off to relieve herself since there were no accommodations around, but then she realized Calhoun’s eyes were open and staring at her.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

Olivia felt herself blush. They didn’t know each other well enough for her to tell him she just needed a quick second behind a bush. “I need to get back,” she said, which was true.

“I understand.” He sighed, then grabbed her to him for a quick kiss. “Thanks for spending the night with me.”

Self-consciously, she tucked her hair behind her ears. She had to look terribly unkempt, nothing like the gorgeous women in his paintings. “You’re the
only man, besides my husband, that I’ve slept with, in the nonbiblical sense.”

“Well, we are getting somewhere, then.”

They started walking toward his truck. “Olivia,” Calhoun said, “despite your father’s misgivings about me, I do think you should invite me to your home sometime.”

She laughed. “You’ve seen our motor home.”

“I mean your real home. I feel awkward letting you walk out of my life like a traveling circus leaving town.”

“That’s what we are,” she said simply. “Traveling, and something of a circus. I could tell you my address, Calhoun, but you’d never visit. We both know that.”

He stared at her, and she could tell he wanted to refute her statement. But he didn’t.

“You’re very busy with the ranch,” she said, wanting him to have an excuse, and yet also wanting him to insist that she was not just a traveling attraction that had momentarily caught his fancy.

“Come on,” he said gruffly. “Let’s get you back to your trailer. I’ll call my brothers right now and see what time they’re bringing the children back.”

She nodded. “Thanks. I need to get over to the hospital and check on Dad. Hopefully, he can go home.”

Calhoun made a quick call to his brothers. Olivia sighed, looking out the window while he spoke, then giving in to the urge to watch his lips move while he talked on the cell phone.

He was so handsome.

A second later, he hung up. “They’ll be here
shortly to bring Kenny and Minnie right to the motor home. They said the kids have had an absolute blast. Also said they never knew kids could be so much fun.” He grinned. “I was a little surprised.”

“That’s sweet. Thank you.”

Calhoun nodded after a moment. “Hey, do you need me to help you pack everything up? Hitch the truck to Gypsy’s trailer?”

She shook her head. “We’ve done this many times. Have it down to an art.”

They got into Calhoun’s truck. “So, who drives the motor home and who drives the truck pulling Gypsy?”

“I drive the motor home. Dad wouldn’t let anyone haul his precious cargo. That horse is practically his best friend.”

Calhoun nodded. “One of my brothers has a horse named Curious George that he feels that way about. Curious George is his prize companion. Funny thing, my brother married a woman who was terrified of horses.”

“What happened between them?”

He smiled. “Curious George and Navarro went to live in Delaware. They are inseparable, and Nina couldn’t bear for Navarro not to have his sidekick. Nina has since learned to love both George and Navarro.”

“I like happy endings,” Olivia murmured. “Thank you for bringing me back.” Her eyes were big as she said, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and my kids, and even my dad.”

“It was my pleasure, Ms. Olivia.” He kissed her fingertips to say goodbye.

“I think…I was serious when I said that if I ever fell for another cowboy, it might be you,” she said, her heart strangely twisting inside her. This was really goodbye, and it seemed strange that they’d never see each other again.

“Another cowboy?” He shook his head. “It’s okay, honey, you can just cross him off your list. You haven’t had a real cowboy till you’ve been a Jefferson’s girl. We are the real deal.”

She smiled. “Goodbye, Calhoun.”

“Bye, my lady.”

Hesitantly, her gaze locked with his; she closed the truck door. And then she headed for her motor home to call the hospital.

Although something about Calhoun’s turn of phrase—
a Jefferson’s girl
—kept tugging at her mind.

Somehow he made it sound so good.

M
INNIE AND
K
ENNY
sat behind the two cowboys taking them home. They each had a lunch bag to snack from, though the drive was short, only a bit over two hours. Bandera and Archer had given them horse rides, and they’d let them play with the golden retriever, who fetched very well. They’d been allowed to throw rocks into the huge pond out back of the house.

And the Christmas lights strung on the house were amazing. Minnie couldn’t stop thinking about all the
lights she’d seen. If Santa ever wanted to live at a ranch, she was certain he’d pick Malfunction Junction.

Not to mention the fussy old housekeeper Minnie had barely been able to understand. She’d fussed over Kenny and Minnie, almost like a real grandmother. And they’d eaten something called potato pancakes for breakfast, which Kenny had adored. There was a lady there named Valentine who had baked delicious bread because she worked in a bakery now, she said. Then she’d curled Minnie’s hair beautifully and tamed Kenny’s bird-perch cowlick, because she said she’d learned how to do those things in a beauty salon a long time ago.

Minnie thought everyone at the ranch was wonderful. “All that ranch needs,” she told Kenny softly in the back seat, “is two little kids.”

“Huh?” Her brother looked at her funny.

“Did you see all those Christmas lights?” Minnie got a warm glow just thinking about it. “Red and white all over the house. And a stocking for every brother, each one hanging up the staircase. I want a stocking on the staircase with my name on it,” Minnie said wistfully.

Kenny looked into his snack bag. “Minnie, a popcorn ball!”

She gasped, looking inside her bag. “I never saw one of those!” Pulling hers out, she stared at it in awe. “I’d rather have this than cotton candy any day,” she said, thinking of the spoiled little girl with the pink sugar on her plump cheeks.

“Me, too,” Kenny said. “I’m never eatin’ it. I’m saving it
forever.
”

Minnie thought about that for a minute. “I don’t think it would last,” she said quietly, “but Kenny, if Momma could just see Malfunction Junction, I bet she’d change her mind about cowboys. I just know she would!”

Kenny’s eyes got round. Then he carefully put his popcorn ball back in the paper sack. “You’re going to get in big trouble, Minnie,” he said. “Momma said no more cowboys.”

Minnie looked at the back of Archer’s and Bandera’s heads. Their hats were big and dusty. But she was used to that. Real cowboy hats looked that way. They were kind. Country music played, louder in the speakers up front. Occasionally Archer sang a little, completely off tune. But Minnie liked to hear him try to sing.

“I bet Calhoun can’t sing a lick,” she told Kenny.

“But he can paint.”

Minnie folded her lips. “I don’t think Momma liked that very much.”

“Maybe she’d like him better if he sang.”

Minnie sighed.

“Hey, Thinker and Stinker,” Archer said, turning around, grinning kindly.

Minnie’s eyebrows shot up. “Thinker and Stinker?”

“Yeah. You’re the Thinker and Kenny’s the Stinker, because you two are always up to some
thing. The back seat’s too quiet. What are you two hatching back there?”

Kenny giggled. “Minnie wants to live at Malfunction Junction.”

Archer looked at her. “You do?”

Minnie nodded solemnly. “I want a stocking with my name on it, just like yours. One for Kenny, too. And one for Momma and one for Grandpa.”

“And I want to eat potato pancakes every morning,” Kenny said.

“Maybe you should tell Santa Calhoun that,” Bandera muttered.

“It won’t make any difference,” Minnie said. “Momma doesn’t like cowboys.” She thought about that for a minute. “I don’t know why, because Grandpa’s a cowboy. He’s got lots of horses back home, and a windmill in the backyard. ’Course it doesn’t really work.”

“Does he?” Archer asked.

“Yeah. But Gypsy’s his favorite horse,” Kenny said.

“Did Grandpa get well?” Minnie asked, suddenly wondering what Gypsy would do if Grandpa couldn’t ride her anymore.

“I think he’s much better,” Archer said.

“Good.” She took a deep breath. “Everyone thinks Grandpa’s so mean, but he’s not that way at all.” Since Archer was still smiling at her, and because she saw such interest in his big eyes, she said, “He reads us bedtime stories every night. And we’re the only kids who get to travel in a show. No kid has a rodeo
clown for a grandfather, ’cept us.” Then she burst into tears.

“Pull over,” Archer told Bandera. “Thinker’s overheating.”

Bandera eased the truck off an exit ramp, parking in a Dairy Queen parking lot.

“Don’t cry,” Archer told Minnie. “Everything’s going to be fine.” Under his breath, he said, “Call Calhoun. Tell him to meet us here, because we’re stopping for a Blizzard. Tell him not to drag his boots, either.” He got out of the truck, opening the kids’ door. “All right, Minnie. Come here. You, too, Kenny. We’re going to fly in the face of all those parenting magazines Last has been reading, the ones that say comfort food is a bad thing. Let’s go get happy the DQ way!”

A
N HOUR LATER
, Calhoun met his brothers at the Dairy Queen. “Are they all right?” he asked Archer, who came out to meet him in the parking lot.

“They’re fine.” Archer shrugged. “Worried about their Grandpa.”

Calhoun shook his head. “I believe he’s going to be fine.”

“Believe?”

“Well, without talking to a doctor or getting today’s update, I can’t say. But last night, Olivia indicated the doctors thought he was suffering from a bit of stress.”

“Unexpected stress?”

Calhoun looked at his brother. “Perhaps a little stress brought on by me. We’d had some words.”

“And then
we
had words with him,” Archer admitted. “Nothing much, just a little ‘cool it, dude.’ No more, no less than we give anybody else. I’ll admit his territorial approach riled us.”

“Yeah, he’s not the kind of man that would ever change his mind.” Calhoun rubbed his chin. “I swear, it seemed like he hated me before he ever met me.”

“He did.” Archer glanced inside the DQ, where he could see Bandera tossing M&M’s into the air and catching them in his mouth, to the delight of the children and a few nearby diners. “Minnie wants to live at Malfunction Junction.”

“She does?”

“Yeah.” Archer scratched at his neck. “She also says Pops is grossly misunderstood and that his reputation is undeserved. He’s a very nice rodeo clown.”

“Ah. Under the makeup and attitude is a lamb. I’m not sure I buy it.”

“So, is there a thing between you and Olivia or not?”

“Not,” Calhoun admitted. “She disliked me before she ever met me, too.”

Archer shook his head. “The old man’s worried someone’s going to take his family away from him, I guess. He’s not willing to give anyone a chance. And that’s probably been drummed into Olivia’s head.”

“The thing is, she’s crazy about me, I just know it,” Calhoun said.

Archer laughed. “Aren’t all women?”

“No.” Calhoun looked at his brother. “Women get crazy about the ranch, or about what they think a cowboy should be, or our money. But that’s what all our other brothers did right—they found women who were crazy about
them.
”

“You could always go visit her,” Archer said. “Though I think Pops would shoot you on sight.”

“Nah,” Calhoun said. “I asked her for her address and she cleanly dismissed that. I could tell she didn’t believe I’d come her way. That little girl got burned bad when she got burned.”

“Yeah, and single moms have different issues. Just like single dads, and brothers who have to become single dads,” Archer mused. “No wonder Mason’s always been such a pain in the ass.”

“Heard from Last?”

“Hell, no. Hey, those two kids in there?” He looked at Calhoun. “Much as I hate to say it, those two have more grit than Last. They’re tough little pieces of rawhide, I’ll give ’em that.”

“Yeah?” Calhoun looked at him.

“They could grow on me,” Archer said.

“Funny,” Calhoun said. “They could probably grow on me, too.” Thing was, he wasn’t one hundred percent certain that they hadn’t already grown right into his heart.

But with a grandfather who despised him and who might blow a fuse every time he saw him and a mother who didn’t want a man in her life, what chance did Calhoun have, except for heartbreak?

“Dude, if you’re going to try for it, you’re going to have to stiffen up. You’re going to have to dig deep and be brave.”

Calhoun sighed. “I come from a divided family tree. Half of us winners, half of us wienies when it comes to emotional issues.”

“That’s right,” Archer said. “And those two little kids in there, they need a man who plays on the winners’ team.”

Calhoun ground his jaw. “I need a Blizzard.”

“Comfort the roadside way,” Archer said cheerfully. “My advice is you order double M&M’s. You’re going to need them.”

“And you can close your advice column now,” Calhoun said testily. “I’m going to call Olivia and invite her and her father to the ranch.”

“I admire your game plan,” Archer said. “Though I suspect you’ve lost your mind.”

“It wasn’t much to lose,” Calhoun said, dialing the hospital, “but I feel like being a hero to those kids once again. I sure did like them clapping for me at the show the other night. I got a kick out of their faces when they saw their portrait.”

“Good,” Archer said, nodding his head. “You just go right ahead and lose your heart. It’s the Christmas season. If you fall, the rest of us are safe.”

“Who made up that addendum to the rule?” Calhoun said crossly.

Archer grinned. “I did. Because I wouldn’t want to be in your boots for nothing!”