Texas Hope: Sweetgrass Springs Stories (Texas Heroes Book 16) (19 page)

Brenda set down the bowls and filled the mugs of coffee. “Do you want cream for your cobbler? Or ice cream? We make our own.”

“You can’t eat like this and look like that,” Laken said to Pen.

“Sure I can. I have a hot fire chief who helps me work it off. The works, Brenda—and thanks.” She turned back to the woman still eyeing her. “Oh, man, this is funny. You’re me a year ago.”

“You’re cooking in a diner in stilettos. With a bluetooth.”

Pen stuck out her foot. “Great stilettos.”

“Oh, yeah.” The reverent tone made up for the stick up the other woman’s butt. “But…why?”

“If Bridger wasn’t tied up with training, I’d show you the eye candy I live with. Thanks, Brenda.” She dealt each of them a big dollop of ice cream to top the steaming cherry cobbler. “Scarlett brings a Parisian note to country home cooking. Try it. You’ll die.” She took her own bite. Except first thing in the mornings, she ate like one of Rissa’s horses. “Oh, baby…” She closed her eyes reverently.

“Oh. My. God. I think I just had an orgasm,” Laken moaned.

“Maybe I’ll decide to like you, after all.”

They grinned at each other.

“You seriously can’t eat like this all the time.”

For the next eight months I plan to
. But aloud she only said. “A good man will help you work it off. Michael’s a good man. Hot, too. Mmmm…”

Laken’s eyes narrowed.

“Gotcha,” Pen exulted. “Once we finish our religious experience, I’ll take you to see him.”

“Who says I’m here for him? I just want my dog back.”

“That darling puppy is yours?”

“Shared custody,” Laken sniffed.

“Hot guy and super-cute puppy. Girlfriend, what the hell are you waiting for?”

Laken tensed visibly. “I have a busy practice in Austin.”

Pen knew she’d better stop tweaking this woman who was so acutely uncomfortable before she screwed everything up for Michael. She sure wanted to laugh, though. Michael was this woman’s Bridger, whether she accepted it or not. Once Pen, too, had believed she could never leave the city or her high-flown career.

Thank her lucky stars she’d learned, if too slowly and nearly by losing him. She tapped her bluetooth and spoke. “Dial Rissa.”

Her sister answered.

“Hey, sis, is Michael still there?”

“No, he’s gone to Ian’s to look at a mare. He didn’t answer his phone?”

“I didn’t call. I have a surprise I think he’ll like a lot.”

Laken frowned at her.

“Oh? Come on, dish the details, Sissy.”

“Can’t right now. Thanks, Ris.” She disconnected. But later, ooh yeah. She would dish. “When you’re finished, I’ll take you to see Michael.”

“I said I’m not here for him.”

“Then you’re not as smart as you look.” Pen rose to go talk to Henry and make sure all the dinner prep was in order.

Chapter Seven

“S
he’s a stunner,” Michael said reverently.

“Cleopatra is my pride and joy.” Ian grinned, arms propped on the same fence railing. “So you agree she’s ready to breed?”

“Oh, yeah. You already got the stud selected?”

“Mackey has one he’s bringing in from his spread in California. Sixteen hands, excellent conformation, smart and strong.”

“Lungs and heart that won’t quit,” Mackey said. “Bravo cost me the earth, but he was worth every penny. I’m going to keep him here now. He’s had his fill of California, too.”

“Yeah, you and Rissa aren’t traveling as much lately, I’ve noticed.”

Mackey’s grin was sly. “Not gonna be either, not for at least seven months.” He cut them both a glare. “If you breathe a word, Rissa will have my head. Don’t know what the hell she’s waiting for. I’m ready to climb on rooftops.”

Ian laughed and socked him in the shoulder. “Congrats, Daddy.” He shook his head. “Who woulda thought it? Wiz has three kids, I’m on the way to my first and now that Wild Mackey Boy…what on earth has become of the Four Horsemen?”

Mackey laughed, then caught Michael’s confusion. “Folks around here seemed to think the three of us and our buddy David Butler were alternately the scourge of the Hill Country or some kind of superheroes.” He shrugged. “We might have gotten in a little trouble growing up.”

“Usually your idea,” Ian added.

“What can I say? I was an energetic kid.”

“And a damn fine athlete,” Ian supplied.

“We all were. Your bro here was the quarterback, with the sweetest hands this side of the NFL. Top recruiters wanted him bad, but Rancher Rick here went to Texas Tech instead.”

“Hey, great agribusiness program.”

“You wanted to travel the globe. You should have.”

“Couldn’t leave Dad. He needed my help.”

But Michael could see a trace of longing.

Before he could pose a question, however, Ian shook his head. “I wouldn’t be anywhere but right where I am. If I hadn’t been, there’d be no Scarlett McLaren in my life. Things work out as they should.”

Michael thought of the small boy and wondered if Ian really meant that.

“Looks like we got company,” said Ian’s dad Gordon, emerging from the barn. He shaded his eyes.

Ian tensed. “Penny. She’s supposed to be running the cafe for Scarlett. If Scarlett wakes up from her nap and sees Penny here—”

But just then the passenger door opened, and Michael’s heart thudded to a halt. “Laken…”

The dogs went racing, and she bent to scoop up a delirious Ajax, her laughter floating on the breeze.

“So that’s your vixen, son?” Gordon asked.

“That’s the one.”

“Think you might stop moping now?” Ian asked.

“Those are some mope-worthy legs,” Mackey observed. “Not that I noticed.”

Michael didn’t answer any of them. He was too busy drinking her in.

“Damn,” Ian said. “I think you’ve lost both your dogs, and mine looks pretty smitten, too.”

Michael couldn’t seem to make his feet work right, so he just watched as Penny turned a blinding smile his way.

And winked.

After accepting overjoyed puppy kisses, Laken ruffled Monroe’s fur and extended a hand toward a spotted dog with odd blue eyes squeezing in for his own petting. Finally, though she wanted to keep Ajax as a shield, she set the puppy down and rose to look at the line of men arrayed in front of the fence. “Wow.”

Pen turned. “Yeah. But the best one isn’t here right now. It gets better.”

“I don’t see how.”

The older man crossed to them first, a slight limp in his gait. “Well, don’t just leave your guest standing there, Penny. Welcome to the Double Bar M. I’m Gordon McLaren. I’m guessing you’re Laken.”

Ian’s father. The man Michael’s mother had abandoned. He seemed amazingly relaxed, given that evidence of his wife’s betrayal stood nearby.

“This is Laken Foster, Gordon. She’s a little bit overwhelmed by Sweetgrass, I think. She heard Harley and Arnie’s trading post first thing when she walked into Ruby’s.”

Laughter greeted her remarks.

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Foster. Don’t let Harley scare you off. Not everyone in Sweetgrass is eccentric.”

“That’s a matter of opinion,” said a woman’s voice from the porch. “Everything okay at the cafe, Penny?”

“You’re supposed to be napping.” The tall man who was so clearly Michael’s brother strode to her side.

“Stop hovering, Ian.” But Laken noted how she leaned into him and how his body curved protectively.

“Everything is just fine. I’m only here delivering Laken while things are quiet. Dinner prep is nearly done, and your new waitress showed up early.”

“Chrissy? She’s supposed to come tomorrow.”

“She said she wanted to work with Jeanette a little. They went over to Dreams to scope things out.”

“I should go—”

Before Scarlett could finish, Ian had swept her into his arms and was turning to head inside with her.

“Ian! Let me greet our guest, you big oaf.”

He turned halfway. “Hi, Laken, I’m Ian. This is Scarlett. Welcome to Sweetgrass. Scarlett will enjoy visiting once she’s had her nap.” Then he turned back and shouldered his way inside.

“Not that our boy is a little overprotective or anything. Hi, Laken, I’m Mackey. I’m married to Penny’s sister Rissa. Welcome to Sweetgrass.” He shook her hand, and Laken couldn’t help but think that most of the women she knew would sigh over the sheer mass of male perfection she’d run across in this tiny burg already. “Pleased to meet you.”

He held onto her hand. “My man Michael will recover his powers of speech anytime now, we’re hoping.” He grinned, and she swore women all over the world stifled a sigh.

Finally she let her attention rest on the man she’d traveled to see.

Their gazes locked, and memories swamped her.

“Michael, you’ll bring her to town, right? I need to get back,” Laken heard Pen say.

But all she could see was Michael, his brown eyes both warm and watchful.

“We’ll make it happen,” Mackey said when Michael still didn’t speak. “Gordon, you had a colt you wanted to show me?”

“What? Oh…yes. Hope to see you soon, Laken.” He clapped Michael on the shoulder as the two men walked away.

Leaving her alone with him.

“Hi. I, uh—” Ajax yipped and distracted her.

“Why are you here, Laken?”

“You stole my dog.”

“You don’t want a dog, remember?”

“Well, maybe I—” She exhaled. “Maybe I owed it to you to come see the place. You said just one weekend,” she reminded him.

The tiny spark of hope she’d seen quickly fled. Then the familiar easygoing Michael crowded to the fore. “Sure thing. Let me show you around.” He turned. “This is Ian’s place, as I imagine you—”

She touched his arm. “Michael.”

He tensed beneath her hand.

“I’m sorry.” She had to be sure he understood. “I—I don’t have any answers. I wish I did. But you were right. I was afraid. I am afraid. I don’t know how to—”

He looked back at her, so very careful now. Too careful. “What I said was unforgivable.”

“No. I’m a stone bitch. I know that. You’re the one who doesn’t. You keep thinking there’s gold beneath the stone. I’m pretty sure there isn’t.”

A little of the warmth she’d missed so terribly crept over his features. “We can agree to disagree.” Then at last he smiled a little, and she took her first deep breath.

So she made herself give him something. “I missed you.”

His eyes smiled then. “Yeah?”

Finally,
finally
he faced her fully. Lifted a hand to her cheek. “I missed you, too.”

Because he was being so blasted careful, she took matters into her own hands. Rose to her toes and kissed him.

His arms closed around her like iron bands.

Faintly she thought she heard the puppy yipping. Maybe even a chuckle on the wind.

But all she could do was slide her arms around his neck and tear her mouth away for a second to warn him. “I don’t know what this means. Don’t get any ideas.”

“Laken.”

“Yes?”

“Stop talking and kiss me.”

“I just don’t want to disappoint—oof!”

He yanked her into him, then delivered the hottest kiss to date, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.

And just like his brother, as if it were some demented family tradition, he scooped her into his arms and started walking toward his truck.