Drew (The Cowboys) (23 page)

Cole nodded. “So now you’re trying to pay them back by adopting all the Wild West Show’s castoffs.”

“I’m not adopting them.”

“You might as well be if you mean to let them live on your ranch.”

“If any of them do want to live on the ranch, I’m sure they’ll be able to do something to help support themselves.”

“Such as?”

“I’m not going to worry about that yet.”

“That’s because you don’t have any answers.”

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you come up with one?”

“It’s not my problem.”

“Good. Then neither of us has a problem.”

“Then there’s no reason you can’t have dinner with me tonight.”

His invitation was so unexpected, she could almost believe she’d heard him wrong.

“What do you mean, will I have dinner with you tonight?”

“You know, eat food together.”

“When you ask somebody to
have dinner
with you, you mean more than that. Why?”

“Do I have to have a reason?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you so suspicious?”

“You drift into my life like a dandelion seed, but you stick to me like a cocklebur. You think up tricks for my act, buy me dresses, and harass me until I rope a goat. You say you’re just wandering around, amusing yourself, but no drifter I ever knew works as hard as you do. And you still haven’t told me where you got the money to pay for those dresses, dinner, the balls and candles for the act.”

“You’re not a very trusting person.”

“I prefer not to be a fool.”

“I told you I like you. I think you’re pretty. When you give yourself a chance, you can be charming, too.”

“Oh, I forgot. You’re a liar as well.”

He grinned again. She had to get him to stop that. She wondered why the scamps and scallywags of this world had to have all the looks and charm. Why couldn’t they be ugly and mean-tempered?

“Considering what you think of me, I’m surprised you agreed to ride with me,” Cole said.

“You
are riding with
me.
And I feel safe because I can shoot better than you. Look, are you serious about dinner?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re hardly ever serious about anything. Why should this be any different?”

“Because I’m serious about convincing you men find you attractive.”

“Why should you care?”

“Because I like you.”

“So now you’re a Good Samaritan?”

“Dammit, Drew, why are you so difficult? All I asked you to do was have dinner with me.”

“That’s not true. You asked me to believe you like me, that I’m pretty—at least when I wear that pink dress—that I can be charming and desirable.”

“I didn’t say desirable.”

“Sorry. A slip of the tongue.”

“But I was working up to it,” Cole said. “I didn’t think you’d believe that until you at least thought you were pretty.”

“I’m glad to see you’re not totally stupid.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” His tone was sarcastic.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Look, Cole, Isabelle had a very large mirror in her bedroom. I saw myself in it more than once. I know what I look like.”

“Not to me.”

“Why should I look any different to you?”

“For the same reason a mother thinks her child is beautiful when everybody else thinks it’s an ugly little pug.”

A spurt of laughter escaped Drew. “So now you’re looking at me like a mother. Really, Cole, you have depths I never suspected.”

“Me either. Only I’m referring to homicide. If you don’t stop intentionally misunderstanding me, I’m going to choke you and leave your body in that field back there for the goat to abuse. Not everybody sees things the same way. I bet Isabelle used to tell you that you were pretty.”

“She was my mother. She’s supposed to say things like that.”

“I got the feeling Isabelle wasn’t the kind of woman to mouth empty phrases.”

“She’s not. She’s—All mothers think their children are beautiful and smart.”

“Look, are you going to have dinner with me or not?”

Drew wanted to dine with Cole. She wanted to believe all the things he said, but she didn’t dare.

“I’ll have dinner with you if you promise not to tell me I’m pretty, charming, or desirable.”

Cole laughed. “I’ll bet this is the first time in history a woman has agreed to dinner on those terms.”

“Take it or leave it I intend to swallow nothing more than my food.”

“Okay, on your terms. But only for tonight. I give you fair warning that before the show leaves New Orleans, I’m going to make you believe you’re much more than pretty, charming, and desirable.”

“What more is there?”

“Beautiful, enchanting, and irresistible.”

Much to her chagrin, Drew discovered that beautiful, enchanting, and irresistible were exactly what she wanted to be.

At least to Cole.

“This has been a very nice evening,” Drew said to Cole.

“Is this your way of telling me it’s over?”

They’d had dinner in the small hotel that served the town of Norton. Cole had apparently spoken earlier to the waiter to reserve a quiet corner table, and to the cook to guarantee beef of sufficient quality to satisfy her Texan taste buds.

He had dressed in a black suit, white shirt, and bow tie. It was very plain dress, nothing like the fancy clothes Earl wore when he went on the town, but Cole looked absurdly handsome. Drew had given in to a fit of vanity and worn Cole’s blue dress. And shoes instead of boots. She was pleased to see the look of heightened interest in Cole’s eyes. He’d better like the way she looked. He was the one who’d goaded her into taking a chance that men really could find her attractive.

If she failed, it would be his fault, and she’d never forgive him.

“We’ve finished our meal, had dessert, I’ve had coffee while you had a brandy,” Drew said. “What else is there? And what’s a drifter doing drinking brandy?”

Cole laughed softly. He’d been doing that a lot this evening. She wished he wouldn’t. He looked like a man who took life as it came, enjoying the good and ignoring the rest. As much as that went against her beliefs, Drew couldn’t help wishing once in a while she could be like that.

“Most no-goods have expensive tastes. Fine women, fine food, fine liquor. It’s what keeps us broke.”

“I never said you were no good.”

“As good as.”

“I’m sure you could be quite successful if you wanted to.”

“What makes you say that?”

She wished he’d stop demanding explanations of nearly everything she said. She didn’t want him to know she’d spent enough time thinking about him to be able to come up with answers.

“You say you’re a drifter, but you’ve worked very hard since you’ve been here. Earl says you’ve been a godsend when it comes to getting the show from one place to the next. And even though I don’t like to admit it, you keep coming up with good ideas for my act.”

She thought he looked a trifle disconcerted.

“That’s the closest you’ve come to saying something nice about me. I’ll have to invite you out to dinner more often.”

Now it was her turn to feel uncomfortable.

“I didn’t say that as thanks for dinner. I don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing. I suppose you have a reason, though it’s been my experience men seldom need a reason other than wanting to do something.”

“For a woman who keeps insisting she loves her brothers, you sure have a low opinion of men.”

“I never said a man had to be perfect for me to love him.”

“I’m glad to hear that. For a minute there I just about lost hope.”

The bottom fell out of her stomach. He’d been saying ridiculous things all evening: that she was pretty, enchanting, irresistible. She knew they weren’t true, but she’d let herself think they might be.

But she wanted nothing to do with love. It scared her to death. Her parents had vowed they loved each other passionately, that they couldn’t stay apart. Yet they made each other miserable. Drew had never found a man, no matter how handsome or capable, who didn’t irritate her within twenty-four hours. She had no intention of making her parents’ mistakes.

She forced herself to smile as if she were sharing a joke. “If you’re going to fall in love, you need to find somebody with money. That way you won’t have to work at all, and you can have all the fine food and whiskey you want.”

“How about women?”

“I imagine you could find a woman who’d let you run about on a pretty loose rein just to be able to call you her own.”

“I don’t suppose you’d be that kind of woman.”

“I’m not the kind to fall in love. If I were, I’d expect my husband to be faithful.”

“You do mean
husband,
not lover?”

Drew wished she’d gotten up five minutes ago. “If I were to get involved with a man, it would have to be marriage. I can’t imagine putting up with some man for years, or months, and having him up and walk out just when I’d gotten him into decent shape.”

“You wouldn’t do the same?”

“I told you, I’m not getting married.”

“But suppose you loved a man.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Just suppose, for the sake of argument, that you did.”

“If I did, for the sake of argument, I’d be faithful to him. Falling in love is a stupid thing to do. But if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.”

“And right is getting married and being faithful to each other for the rest of your lives?”

“Yes.”

“Like Jake and Isabelle.”

“Well, yes.”

“But not like your parents.”

“I suppose they were faithful, but they were mismatched in just about every way. My husband would have to like all the things I like, want all the things I want, think about things the way I do.”

“Wouldn’t that be boring?”

“Since it’ll never happen, there’s no point worrying about it. Now, I’m ready to go. You’re welcome to sit here for the rest of the evening.”

“I suppose your husband would have to be ready to leave the table when you wanted.”

She stopped. For the first time, she truly thought about the answer. “If I really loved him, I’d probably sit and listen to him all evening even if he were talking drivel. Which is another reason I don’t intend to fall in love. I would hate myself if I were to turn into a silly female who nods agreement with every statement that comes out of a man’s mouth regardless of how inane.”

“I can’t imagine that happening to you.”

Cole stood and held Drew’s chair while she got up. That hadn’t happened in a long time. It was nice.

“It didn’t happen to Isabelle,” she said as they left the restaurant. “She adores Jake, but she will argue with him for weeks if she doesn’t agree with something he’s doing.”

“Does Jake give in?”

“Sometimes. He respects Isabelle’s opinion, but he’s pretty strong-minded himself.”

“It sounds like a lively household.”

“It is.” They reached the lobby. She turned. “Thank you for a lovely evening.”

“It’s not over yet. Accepting a man’s invitation for dinner automatically implies acceptance of a walk along the river afterwards.”

Drew wasn’t about to fall for something that obvious. “A gentleman never extends an invitation and intentionally leaves part of it unspoken.”

“Who says I’m a gentleman?”

“It’s written all over you. You couldn’t be more proper if you’d been born and bred into an old Southern family.”

He clearly didn’t like that. She wondered why. Probably because he
had
been born into a Southern family, and they’d thrown him out on his ear.

“I forgot there was going to be an exceptionally fine moon tonight.”

Drew couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter. “You can think up a suitable lie for any occasion, can’t you?”

“I’m hurt,” Cole said, his eyes dancing with mischief. “You there,” he said to the clerk at the desk, “what kind of moon do you have tonight?”

“A full moon,” the man answered. “Half the town will be walking along the river tonight.”

Cole turned back, smiling in triumph, but Drew wasn’t going to be drawn in that easily. “I’d rather judge for myself.”

“You’d better get your coat,” Cole said. “Once you see that moon, you won’t want to come back to get it.”

“I’ll take my chances,” Drew said.

But the moment she stepped outside, she was struck by the biggest, brightest, most romantic full moon she’d ever seen.

“Now may I talk you into a walk along the river?” Cole asked, his voice soft and entreating.

She’d challenged him and lost. It was only sporting to give in. “For a little while.”

“You won’t need your coat,” he said when she looked back at the hotel. “I’ll keep you warm.”