My True Cowboy (7 page)

As he was figuring how to answer that one, Susan
jumped in. “Oh, no. Cal's just here to see his father. His father's here for a bit. I'm sorry. Did y'all know each other?”

Mrs. Carriage looked him over as if he were prime real estate. “I've known Calvin for quite a while. And of course I know you by sight, Junior. But I don't believe the two of us have ever conversed.” One eyebrow arched. “Or have I forgotten that pleasure?”

“No, ma'am.”

“How's Trent doing? Still riding bulls?”

Sometimes it took him by surprise, the way everyone knew his family's business. “He is. Doing real well, too. Well, until this past week. A cussed bull named Diablo got the best of him.”

He felt Susan's gaze settle on him. But didn't have a chance to explain because Mrs. Cousins had sidled up in between them. “Oh, dear. I hope he's okay.”

“He's mending. I'll let him know you asked after him.”

“Aren't you a sweetheart? You know, you sure are a lot more polite than your daddy.”

“I've been told that a time or two.”

Turning to Susan, who'd been watching the interplay with a curious expression on her face, he said, “Ready?”

“Oh. Of course. Your dad's just down here.” Ten steps later, they were outside his father's room. In the silence of the hall, he was even more aware of her.

She seemed just as affected. Her eyes rested briefly on his lips. Then she swallowed. “Uh, Cal, please let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.”

Though the words were suggestive, he fought to not read anything into what she was saying. “Thank you. I will.”

“Okay, then. I better let you go so you can have your visit.”

He held out his hand, intending to give her a friendly
handshake. “I appreciate you walking me down here.” Her hand was slim and cool.

She looked him over almost shyly but kept her hand in his. Almost as if she didn't want to leave his side. Then she looked away again. “Okay. Well, uh, if I don't see you later, have a good evening.”

“You, too.” Before he thought better of it, he tugged at her slightly, bringing her a little closer. Close enough to brush his lips against her cheek.

In a sweet way. Almost platonic.

Except he couldn't remember the last time he'd brushed his lips against any woman's cheek.

“Oh!” she said.

He let go of her hand. “Thanks again.”

“You're welcome.” She turned away. He had only a moment to admire the way her slacks curved around her bottom in just the right way, when she faced him again. “You know what? You can actually be nice.”

“That's true. Matter of fact, I've even heard some say that I'm nicer than most,” he added to tease her a bit. She grinned at that, then, obviously tongue-tied, spun and walked away. Suddenly he wished he'd thought to give her a compliment right back.

Because there was a whole lot he could have complimented her on. Her gorgeous hair falling in thick waves halfway down her back. Her figure, which was something out of a 1950s pinup calendar.

Or maybe it was her demeanor here at the Lodge. The way she put up with the many people who seemed to want a piece of her, who needed answers immediately. The way she knew pretty much everyone by name, whether it was the maintenance staff or one of the directors.

The way she didn't complain, and the way she always had a kind word for everyone.

How come he was just noticing these things? Had she been hiding these qualities from him? Or had he been the one who was so stressed that he had only looked for her worst traits?

Right then and there Cal knew Susan Young was someone he wanted to get to know a whole lot better.

A little shocked at the thought, Cal paused before knocking on his father's door. “Dad, how you doing?”

His father was sitting in a wheelchair, looking pissed off at the world. “Worse than you, by the looks of things. You seem almost happy, Junior.”

Cal tried to scowl, but he couldn't. “Is that a problem?”

“Not at all. Just for a while now, I've been starting to think you had given up smiling for good.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

“So what's the reason?”

How could he explain everything he was thinking about Susan—when he wasn't even sure what his feelings really were?

And besides, Cal had come to check up on his dad. To help ease his burdens. “We don't need to talk about me.”

“Sure we do. I'm sick and tired of everyone worried about my body. Come here, boy, and take a seat.”

It was enough of a command that Cal obeyed.

But there was also enough love and care in his voice for Cal to do what his dad asked. Perching on the end of his father's bed, he started talking. “There's this woman… She's becoming a friend.” Did a handful of conversations count as friendship? He shook his head in confusion. “Maybe she's almost a friend.”

His father rolled his eyes. “Sounds serious.”

Cal supposed he deserved that one. “I know I'm not making any sense. It's just that she caught me off guard.”

“And you hate that.”

He did. “I didn't see it coming.”

“So who is this woman?”

There was no reason to lie. “Susan Young. She works here. Do you know her? She's got red hair.”

To his surprise, his dad's expression softened. “I don't know her name, but I'd recognize her anywhere. That girl's a sight for sore eyes, I'll tell you that. Trent would say she's a hottie.”

Hottie? Never again did he want to hear that word come out of his dad's mouth.

And he didn't appreciate his father even commenting on Susan's looks, either. “You know, there's a whole lot more to her than looks.”

“I imagine so,” his father said drily.

Cal tried again. “Susan's a nice lady. I met her when I was visiting you at the hospital. She's got a son who was just diagnosed with diabetes. I'm afraid we got off on the wrong foot.”

“Ain't hard to do in the hospital,” his father said softly. “Being in those sanitized, bare rooms puts me in a bad mood just about the minute I get there. I have a feeling you might be the same way.”

“Maybe that was it. I don't know.”

“But now?”

“Now we just had a halfway-decent conversation. It was nice.” It had also brought forth a whole host of feelings he hadn't realized he was still capable of feeling.

Tenderness toward her. Protective instincts. And, well, good old-fashioned lust. He ached to kiss her.

But he wasn't sharing any of that with his dad.

Standing up, he shook his head. “Dad, I know you don't need me to be going on and on about a woman. How about we take a turn around this place?”

“I'd rather hear about the woman.” He paused. “Truth
is, I'd just about decided that you were going to live out your life as some kind of lone wolf.”

“Lone wolf, huh?”

“You have to admit, it's been a while since you've mentioned any woman. Any woman besides Christy.”

“Christy was trouble.”

“She was. With a capital
T.
I know she hurt you when she dumped you for another man—but you can't give up on life, Junior. I mean, take your brother.”

Still trying to keep his expression impassive after his father's extremely succinct review of his love life, Cal said, “Jarred or Trent?”

“Jarred, of course. Now, he and Serena are real happy together. Nothing wrong with that, you know. Maybe you should think about finding a gal.”

“I don't have time.”

“But this Susan…”

“She's just a friend. That's all. Come on, Dad. Let's get out of this room. I want some coffee.”

“I'll agree to that, as long as you help me find Rosa Ventura. I intend to razz her every chance I get.”

Now, there was a story. “My pleasure.”

Cal Riddell Jr. was way too attractive for his own good. Nearly everyone at the Lodge seemed to be charmed by him.

To make things even more perplexing, Susan was fairly sure the cowboy was completely unaware of the power of his charisma.

As they'd walked around the halls and spoken with both residents and staff, he'd been nothing but polite. Not the least bit flirty—not even with Paula.

However, he'd acted far differently toward her.

Yes, with her, he'd given his full complete attention. She'd seen it in the way he had patiently waited for her to speak. With how he'd kept pace with her stride, never rushing her. He'd held doors open for her and had stood politely when one or more people had needed her attention. As though he'd had nothing else to do but see to her needs.

And she'd felt his gaze, heating up just a little bit too much when she'd playfully leaned against the wall. Her cheek still felt tingly from where his lips had brushed it.

For a while there, she'd felt beautiful.

Oh, her mirror had always let her know she wasn't ugly. Susan knew she had pretty hair. And she'd always been partial to her green eyes, as well.

But sometime over the past few years, she'd become more and more insecure about herself. Worse, she'd started to doubt her worth in the relationship department. And Hank's dad had made damn sure she had lost most of her trust in relationships. Since then, she'd always been so unsure about her looks, and about men's motives around her. Over time, she'd immediately assumed that the problem had been at least partly her fault.

But some of those insecurities had slowly begun to fade when she was around Cal. His complete masculinity made her feel feminine. His innate confidence bolstered her pride.

To her surprise, Susan found herself smiling back at him when they were walking together down the hall. The barbs they'd traded had made her laugh, not hurt.

And even though he made her nervous—because she was suddenly feeling things she hadn't thought she could feel anymore—Susan felt more at ease with him than she could ever remember feeling with any man.

Which was really pretty scary. It wasn't as if they had anything going on between them. At all. They were simply cautious acquaintances.

Well, maybe a little more than that.

 

A
S SHE SAT BACK BEHIND
her computer screen, Susan felt antsy. She was sick of entering information on the database. What she really wanted to do was check to see how Cal was doing with his dad.

She bit her lip and stared as the rows of columns blurred, making her head pound but her spirits lift.

Her body was telling her that she
needed
to get out of this chair.

She almost smiled.

“Susan, I'm leaving for the day.”

Startled, she looked up to spy her boss standing in the doorway with her purse in one hand and a glow in her eyes. “All right,” she said. Tilting her head to one side, Susan examined Kay more closely. “Hey, you look happy.”

“I am. My husband and I are going to the movies and dinner tonight.”

“Well, I hope you have a good time.”

“I'm sure we will.” But Kay only made it two steps out the door before backtracking. “Oh, please don't forget to check in with the kitchen staff when you make your rounds.” She bit her lip. “And there were some nursing issues that were supposed to be resolved. You might need to check with them.”

“I will.”

A wrinkle formed between her brows. “And Joan in the gift shop looked like she might need a visit today. She's a volunteer, you know, but I don't think anyone's thanked her for a while.”

Standing up, Susan gave her boss a little wave. “I'll do that. Now, I'll see you tomorrow.”

Susan practically held her breath as she and the receptionist watched Kay exit the building, race out toward the parking lot, get in her car and finally leave. Only then did she exhale.

“I didn't think she was ever going to actually leave,” Paula said with a relieved smile.

“I'm glad she did. I think she worked sixty hours last week.”

Still looking out the window, Paula asked, “Where did Kay go off to in such a hurry? Did she tell you?”

“She did,” Susan said with a smile. “She's going out on a date with her husband.”

“That's sweet.” Though her phone was blinking, Paula leaned back in her chair and continued to look out the
window. “She's only recently remarried. Did you know that?”

Susan was floored. “Not at all.”

“Yep. She married Scott just eight months ago.” Paula frowned. “Oh, her first husband was such a jerk! He had an affair. We were all heartbroken for her.”

Completely sucked in to the story, Susan leaned against the receptionist's desk and settled in. “So she tossed him out?”

“Uh-huh. But she was just devastated, I'll tell you that. For a while there, we didn't know if she was ever going to recover. She worked here nonstop, hardly even smiling the whole time.”

“I bet that was difficult for you.” Susan knew how hard it was to work with someone who was in a permanent bad mood.

“It was. Kay wasn't terrible to work for, she just wasn't happy, you know? There was a gloom settling over this place that even Mr. Price, the owner, was worried about.”

“But then she met her husband?”

Paula grinned with all the confidence of someone in the know. “He came in with his aunt and he and Kay immediately hit it off. It was something to see. Within days of their first date, she was glowing.”

“And now they go on dinner dates.” Susan did her best to act as if she wasn't in the slightest jealous of her boss's romantic story.

Paula looked her up and down. “Speaking of all that, Cal Riddell is still here.”

“Oh?” Susan had no idea why Paula thought she would care.

“Oh, yes.” With a grin, the blue-eyed blonde made a shooing motion with her hands. “Since you're finally off
your computer, you might as well make sure you stop by to see how he's doing.”

Susan wanted to see him…but she didn't want to be a pest, either. “I think I'll wait a bit. After all, he's here to see his father.”

“But he's in the game room with him. One of the residents just told me that boy is pure magic with his dad.”

“How so?”

“He's somehow managing to make that father of his almost pleasant to be around. Halfway social.”

“That's quite an accomplishment. Well, then. I guess I had better go take a walk around. Just to see how he's doing.”

Susan tried to pretend that she was calm, cool and collected, but she knew she was fooling no one. Not even herself.

After a cursory tour through the kitchens, where she found out that they would, indeed, need to hire three more servers, and a visit to the nursing director, she stopped by to see Joan at the gift shop.

For the next few minutes, Joan told Susan all about her two sons and their busy families. Susan was genuinely interested and even chuckled at a story Joan told about her oldest son's set of twins.

She found Cal sitting at a table nursing a cup of coffee while his father played gin with Rosa Ventura.

So far, very few of her conversations with the older Riddell had been enjoyable. Calvin Riddell Sr. was smart as a whip, and had a tongue just about as sharp, and that was a fact.

Cal Sr. looked up when she approached, and grunted.

His son, on the other hand, smiled. “Hey. I was wondering if you were going to stop by.”

“I probably should be in a chair behind my computer, but I get tired of sitting in that room.”

“I know I would.” Oh, darn! There was that slight zing between them that set her toes on fire.

Feeling as if both Rosa and Mr. Riddell were watching them with interest, Susan turned away. “Hi, Mrs. Ventura. Hello, Mr. Riddell. How are you two doing today?”

“Well enough,” Rosa said.

Mr. Riddell skipped the pleasantries. “Well enough to be stuck playing with someone who cheats.”

Rosa narrowed her eyes. “Pardon me?”

“You heard,” Cal Sr. barked as he discarded. “Don't try and pretend you didn't.”

Susan sucked in a breath as Rosa looked ready to explode.

“I do not cheat,” she said huffily as she rearranged the cards in her hand.

“You must. There's no other way to explain why you've been beating me.”

“There's the obvious,” she blurted as she drew another card. “You're not very good at gin.”

Cal Jr. pulled forward a chair and motioned for Susan to take a seat. “They've been this way for almost an hour,” he murmured. “It would be entertaining if I wasn't afraid they were going to kill each other.”

“Yikes,” she whispered. Just as Rosa called out “gin” and Mr. Riddell slammed his cards on the table and let out a few choice curse words.

Susan found herself blushing, though Rosa simply raised her eyebrows. “I never knew that maneuver was possible, Cal. Maybe you should demonstrate it.”

“Maybe I should,” Mr. Riddell retorted. “It would serve you right.”

“Oh, boy,” Susan murmured.

After looking at her, Cal cleared his throat. “Dad, you can't talk like that around here. There're ladies present. Behave yourself.”

“I'm behaving.”

Rosa sniffed. Cal scowled.

“I'm behaving well enough,” Mr. Riddell amended. He drummed his fingers on the table as a new gleam entered his eyes. “So when I haven't been losing at cards, I've been trying to get some information out of my son about you.”

Across from him, Rosa calmly picked up the cards and shuffled. “He's been relentless,” she added.

“Not so much. Just curious.”

“What have you found out?”

“Well, for starters, Junior here told me you have a son.”

“I do.” As always happened when she thought of Hank, she smiled. “He's seven.”

“Good boy?”

“The best.”

“Shame you don't have a man for him. Every boy needs a man in his life.”

She leaned forward. “Excuse me?”

“It's true,” Mr. Riddell said, all bluster. “Boys need men to show them how to get on in the world.” He turned to Cal, who'd been clenching his teeth next to her. “Don't you think so, Junior?”

“I think Susan's boy is no interest of ours.”

As Rosa continued to shuffle, Cal's dad crossed his arms over his chest. “Or maybe you do have a man? Junior said the two of y'all have become close.” Looking her up and down, he murmured, “How close are y'all?”

Susan sputtered, “Not very. We just met.”

Right in front of her eyes, Cal looked embarrassed as could be. “Dad—”

“Don't fuss. I'm just askin', Junior.”

Rosa clucked. “Cal, enough.” Far more kindly, she said, “Susan, why don't you pull up that chair and join us for another round of cards.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, we could play poker.”

Suddenly, Mr. Riddell looked as handsome as his son. “Rosa, that's the best thing I've heard all day. It's about time you said something worthwhile.”

Holding the deck in between her palms like a Vegas dealer, she said, “Texas Hold'em?”

“I'm sorry. I can't stay here much longer,” Susan said. “I'll have to pass.”

Warily, she looked Cal's way. To her astonishment, he got to his feet, as well. “I'm going to need to leave soon, too.” Cal looked her over. “By the way, how's your day been?”

“Great right now. Being with residents is the favorite part of my day.”

“She works hard,” Rosa told Cal Sr. “Sometimes too hard, I think.”

Mr. Riddell glanced at her. “You could use some color on your skin. What you need, missy, is some time out in the sun.”

“Maybe this weekend,” she said. No way was she going to tell these Texans that she couldn't take the September heat.

“Junior, has Susan been out to the ranch?”

“No, sir.”

Susan might have been mistaken, but she could have sworn his eyes twinkled with amusement.

“You ought to invite her,” his dad barked. “Take her on a walk out in the fields. Show her the horses. Better yet, take her for a ride. Do you ride, Susan?”

“Bikes. Not horses.”

“It's time you took a horse out for a spin, then. Junior, you need to teach her that.”

Just imagining how embarrassed she'd be, attempting to ride next to him, made her shake her head. “Really, I don't think so.”

“Horseback riding is good exercise,” Mr. Riddell practically growled. “You have a problem with that?”

“Oh, brother,” Rosa murmured.

“Not at all.”

“Good. Now, riding horses is good for your soul. You best make plans to do that, and soon.”

Darting a look Cal's way, she noticed he was looking just about anywhere but at her. Now feeling terribly awkward, she edged away. “It really is time I went. I need to check on a few more things….”

Cal turned to his father in obvious exasperation. “I can get my own dates, Dad.”

“Not very well.”

Susan attempted to give Cal a way out. “That's a very nice offer, but I'm afraid I couldn't accept, anyway. I don't ever leave Hank to go on dates.”

“Well, shoot. That's easily solved. Bring your boy along,” Mr. Riddell boomed. “He's going to love the ranch.” Nudging Cal, he said, “I can't do no more for you.”

“Susan, would you care to come over to our ranch this evening?” Cal asked stiffly. “With your boy, of course.”

She knew he was embarrassed. So was she. She knew he was only asking out of obligation. She got that.

“Thank you, but it's just not a good idea. I really better continue on my rounds.”

Cal frowned. “Wait—I'll walk out with you. Dad, I'd better head on home, now that we might have company coming over and everything.”