Sweet Talking Cowboy (2 page)

Slade sensed her nervousness and didn’t want to upset her
any more than Mike’s illness already had, so he hoped to keep the conversation
between them neutral.

The silence stretched across the room, growing until it
threatened the tension sharing the same space.

“Where’s Poog?" he finally asked.

“Home.  Gerald had to make her go.  He’s worried about her.”

In the window, she saw him lean forward, resting his elbows
on his knees, his eyes focused on the coffee cup in one hand.  “Poog’ll be
alright.  It hurts her, seeing Mike this sick, because she knows how much he
hates the weakness,” he said.

“She said, Gerald told her not to expect him to go home
again.  He can’t last over a few days.”  Briann was speakingto herself as much
as to Slade.  Knowing Uncle Mike wouldn’t be coming home from the hospital
again was something she hadn’t come to terms with herself and her restraint showed
in the tight control she exercised in her flat voice and shackled emotions.

“I was sorry for what you were going through when I heard
you lost your husband.  I’m sure that was a bad time,” he hesitantly offered
what condolences he could.  He hoped his resentment of the man wasn’t obvious. 
When he’d heard she was married he’d stayed drunk for almost a month, but it
was during that time that he’d finally learned she was living in Atlanta.  He’d
been tempted to go up there and find her, even if she was married to another
man, but Mike helped him understand that they both had to live with the choices
they made.  Nothing he could do would make things any better.  Briann had made
a choice for her life and Slade just had to let it be.

She nodded.  “Thank you.”  It came out stiff and chilled,
but she couldn’t help it.

You leavin’ after the funeral?”  He sensed she was observing
his reflection in the window and looked into her reflection to meet her eyes.  She
looked away swiftly.

Hoping to avoid the question, she glanced at her watch and
sighed deeply.  “What is taking so long?”

“It’s only been a few minutes, Bri.  Relax.”

“Don’t call me that!” Briann snapped.  Slade was the only
one who had ever called her Bri and hearing him say it again after all the
years that had passed evoked memories she didn’t want to remember.  He’d only
used in in moments of passion and she couldn’t let herself think about those
moments.

“I’ve kinda gotten used to thinkin’ of you as Bri.  It’d be
hard to start callin’ you anything else.  I guess you’ll just have to endure it.” 
Slade sat back in the chair again, crossing one booted foot over his other knee,
one finger scraping absently at a blemish in the stiffly starched denim of his
pants leg.  He didn’t care if she was uncomfortable.  In fact, he found it
interesting to know his presence still had that power.  His eyes took in every
detail of her back and her long hair pinned up into that blasted knot on the back
of her head made his fingers itch.  He wanted nothing more than to pull the
pins out and see if those rich brown, silken strands would still make the long,
thick braid that used to hang between her shoulders.  “I’ve got a colt you’d like. 
He’s by that stud your daddy had when…before the accident.”

For the first time, she turned to face him, her brown eyes
meeting his pale ones steadily.  “You’ve got a colt by Flash?”

He nodded.  “Mike had a few straws of semen frozen before
the old horse died and I had my best mare artificially bred with one of them.  My
colt’s a two-year old now.  I think he’s got the old horse’s temperament.  Got his
color too.  Deepest red I’ve ever seen.  When the sun hits him, he looks like he’s
on fire.”  When he spoke of his horse, pride sparked in his pale eyes.  “He’s
gonna make a hell of a reining horse.”

Realizing she was lowering her guard, Briann turned back to
face the window.  “That’s nice.  You always liked Flash.”  Horses were one subject
they needed to avoid, she decided.  Horses had been the base of every memory of
Slade.  They’d both spent their lives involved with horses and that shared
interest might lead to open conversations and unguarded moments.  Moments she
couldn’t afford. 

He stood up and walked over to stand behind her, his eyes
catching hers in the window.  Fingers twitching to pull out those damned pins
holding her hair back, Slade’s nostrils flared, eagerly pulling in the smell of
her.  He struggled to keep from pulling her into his arms.  He ached to hold
her again.  “How’re you doin’, Bri?”  His voice was low, its coarseness
caressing her ears gently, producing memories of his warm breath feathering
against her flesh.

“I’m fine.”  Briann didn’t care if her voice sounded
snippy.  This was much too close!  She slipped to the side and walked over to
settle in a chair setting alone against one wall, next to a table.  Now he
couldn’t invade her space, but his scent had already invaded her senses.  Her
blood was heating up and her heart was racing like crazy.  How, after all this
time, could he have this effect on her?

Slade turned as she moved away, his pale eyes following her
graceful stride with interest, a smile tipping his lips, causing the grooves at
the corners of his mouth to deepen.  The easy movement of her dress pants
shifting across her buttocks as Briann walked caused an uncomfortable stirring
deep inside him.  “You should come see my colt.  I’ve been on him a couple of
times and he’s real athletic.”  He looked out the window quickly hoping to
distract his own wayward thoughts, but his eyes were drawn to her reflection.

She tried to look bored, her eyes scanning the tips of her
fingernails, but she didn’t manage to pull it off.  “I seriously doubt that
will happen.”

Slade considered her image as she crossed one leg over the
other, the leg of the brown slacks, pulling tight across the knee, the ankle at
the end of her crossed leg jerking nervously.  He walked back to the chair he’d
been setting in before and looked at it for a measured second, before turning
and settling his big frame into it again.  He had contemplated pulling the
chair over next to her chair, if only to find out what she’d do, but decided against
the idea.

“Bri,” Slade said from across the room, the soft, caressing
voice bringing memories to life that she preferred not to remember.  “You
always were a beautiful girl, but Gerald was right.  You’ve become a breath
takin’ woman.”  He knew he shouldn’t say the words, but he couldn’t stop them.

Briann stood up and without another word left the room, her
steps controlled and steady, contradicting the panic growing inside.  Slade didn’t
follow her.  He needed time to think.  He’d known she’d be at the hospital sooner
or later, but hadn’t been prepared for the way her presence affected him.  She’d
moved on with her life and started a family, so what had been between them was past. 
His nose detected the clean, slightly sweet, flowery smell of her cologne and he
smiled in spite of himself.  At least for her it appeared to be a thing of the
past.  Just these few minutes had him longing to touch her, to find out if she would
react with the fire and passion he remembered so well.  The same fire and
passion that still burned in him.

Briann hurried down the hall to Uncle Mike’s room, planning
to stand outside the door and wait, but as she approached, Dr. Franks stepped
into the hall.  “Come to my office so we can talk,” placing a strong hand
between her shoulders he guided her through the corridor.

When she was seating in a comfortable chair across the big
desk from him, he sighed wearily.  “I’ve known your family for years, so I know
how hard this is for y’all.  Mike and I have caught more fish together than I could
ever count.”  Gerald Franks paused and she saw him swallow.  When he spoke
again, his voice was hoarse.  “He’s decided he’s through fighting.”

Tears filled Briann’s eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

“He told me you’re home to stay?”

She nodded.

“It comforts him to know you’ll be there with Poog when he’s
gone.”  Dr. Franks pushed a box of tissues across the desk so she could more easily
reach them.

Briann pulled several from the box and wiped her eyes.

“He’s…giving up?”  She asked, her voice tight, a sob
breaking her words.

Dr. Franks nodded.  “He said he’s tired of fighting a
disease he can’t beat.  He’s ready to go.”

Her shoulders shook as her tears flowed.  “How much time
will we have?  Aunt Poog will want to be with him.”

“Let Poog rest for a couple more hours.  If Mike starts
becoming unresponsive before she gets back, we’ll call her.  I expect she’ll be
back up here as soon as that sedative that I gave her wears off anyway.”

Briann nodded.

Gerald Franks got out of his chair and walked around the
desk before he dropped to kneel beside the chair she was occupying.  “I told Mike
we’d keep him comfortable, but the medicine will make him groggy and he won’t
ask for it, but if you think he’s in pain, step to the Nurses’ Station and tell
them.  They’ll take care of it.”  He patted her shoulder, offering what comfort
he could under the circumstances.  “Take as long as you need in here, and then
go back to Mike.”

Briann didn’t take long.  She dabbed her eyes dry and blew her
nose before washing her face and hands at the sink in the adjoining bathroom.  It
wouldn’t be good for Uncle Mike to be alone for long.

When Briann got back to the room, Slade appeared comfortably
seated in a chair he’d pulled up next to the bed.  Uncle Mike appeared to be
sleeping, but it was hard to tell.  She walked to the other side of the bed,
reached out one hand and pushed the thin graying hair back from his forehead.

“Where did you go?”  Slade asked, his voice barely above a
whisper.

She frowned at him.  “I don’t answer to you.”  Her whispered
retort was short and her eyes flashed with yellow fire.

“I don’t remember….y’all fighting much.  Hope it doesn’t…upset
Poog.”   Mike’s voice sounded like a whisper too, but it wasn’t intentional.

Slade’s blue eyes snapped with a spark of humor.  “I think
we can control it, but there are things that Briann and I need to talk about.”

Briann chose to ignore both their remarks.

She looked at Uncle Mike.  “Is there anything you want done
a special way, or something I can do for you…later?”

He smiled up at her, knowing she was asking if he had any posthumous
requests.  “Just keep….Poog busy.  She’ll be lost…for a while.  Don’t let her…get
depressed.”

Briann nodded.  “If you think of any other things, just let
me know.”

He winked at her.  “There is something…that needs doing, but
I don’t…have to tell you…what it is.”

She didn’t allow any reaction to show on her face, but her
heart lurched wildly.  “Some things are better left alone.”  There was no need
to look up but Briann knew Slade was paying close attention to the soft
exchange.

Mike lifted one hand to caress her cheek gently and she
closed her hands around it, keeping it close to her face.  “I got a…pup last
year,” he managed.  “A blue-heeler.  Smart as most…people.  I want your…..little
girl to…have him.  Name’s Speck.”

Briann nodded.  “She’ll love it.  She’s been begging for a
dog.”

The swishing of the door opening drew their attention and
Aunt Poog bustled into the room.  Slade stood and returned the warm hug she
gave him.  “Glad you made it home,” she said patting his lower chest, after she
hugged him.

He kissed her cheek briefly.  “I’ll be here,” and then he stepped
back so she could get closer to Mike.

Briann stayed beside the bed on the other side so he moved
across the room to stand before the window.  Although it was pouring rain, Poog
didn’t seem to have a single drop of moisture on her.  Slade had always
marveled at the older woman’s neat appearance.  She never showed any effort to
do so, but she never had a hair out of place, or a smudge of dust in her
house.  He turned and watched as Mike perked up once he realized the love of
his life was there.  Slade swallowed a lump that tightened in his throat and
turned back to the window.  The next days would be hard ones.  He was as close
to Mike and Poog as he was his own father.  He’d been so young when his mother
died and now he had to dig out her pictures to even remember what she looked
like.  When he met Poog, she had sensed his need for family ties.  She and Mike
had filled that void for him and in return he’d given them the gift of
unconditional love.  Then when Briann’s parents got killed, they moved in to
take care of her.

Mike and his brother, Brian, married sisters and always
lived in separate homes on the farm that belonged to their father.  Briann was
the only child Brian and Sarah had while Mike and Poog never had any.  Even
after they moved into the house to take care of Briann, Slade spent at least as
much time with them as he did at the big farm his father’s family lived on.  Slade
and Briann become almost like brother and sister.

As a small boy Slade and his mother lived on the Arapaho
Reservation in Texas, near his grandparents until they died.

Slade was thirteen when his mother found out she had
cancer.  She’d contacted his father whom she’d thought had deserted her instead
of marrying her.  In spite of her own hurt at having to bare her pregnancy
without a husband, Mela never stopped loving Slade’s father and she couldn’t
allow the man she’d later married to raise Hank’s son.  Charlie Two Trees wasn’t
a bad man, but he became an alcoholic and she couldn’t trust him with the
responsibility of a growing teenager.

Once she located Hank and explained her situation to him, he
flew to Texas and brought both his son and Mela back to Florida with him.  One
of the first things Hank had done when they arrived in Florida was to have Slade’s
name changed to Slade Butler.  Slade hadn’t understood it at the time, but over
the years, he learned of the bitterness that had caused between Hank and his Caucasian
family.