The Art of Love (The Windswept Saga) (6 page)

Taylor nodded, taken aback by the
change in conversation, the shift in personality.  Chandler was trying excessively hard to hide his feelings, and it wasn’t working.  Who was she to judge?  She was doing the same damned thing.  There was enough unsaid between them to fill a book.

“Saturda
y would be fine.  Will you always need me to work Saturdays?”

He shook his head.  “I was thinking I’d only keep the place open five days a week, for now.  We’ll see how it goes.”  He tapped his fingers nervously on the desk.  “Invite your mom, too.  I’d lo
ve to see her.”

“Of course.”  She looked his way, found Chandler deep in thought.  “What’s on your mind, cowboy?”

He replied with a short laugh, and trailed his hand over his face, shielding his eyes.  “Remember that time we went horseback riding and…”

“Oh, my God,” she said, her face crinkling under the weight of her smile.  “We stopped to water the horses, and mine ran away.  Nice. 
Give your girlfriend the most unreliable mount in the entire stable.”  

“He’s still alive, you know.”

“Seriously?”

“Swea
r to God.  Little Chase learned to ride on him.”

Taylor slapped a hand over her mouth, laughed through her fingers.  Chandler joined in a second later, a wonderful, virile sound that originated deep in his chest.  “
I needed that,” she announced.  “I needed a good laugh.”

“Me too,” he confessed.  He held out one hand and she shook it, not wanting to let go when she felt warmth of his palm, the gentle yet firm touch of his fingers.  “Ready to get to work?”

“Absolutely,” she replied, defogging her brain in the process.  Long after she’d left his office and found her place behind the counter, she felt the heat of his palm on her hand—and if she closed her eyes, just for a second, she could feel it rest over her heart, too. 

*** 

Chandler leaned back in his hair, rested his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes.  He drifted back through time to another day, a happier, more naïve era.  Alison stuck her head through the door and whistled.  His thoughts had been inappropriate for the workplace, even if he was the boss, and he reddened considerably.

“I’m headed home,” Alison mentioned quietly.  “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied once he’d gotten his bearings.  “Just thinking.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Sure,” he said wearily.  “Taylor’s gone home for the day.”

“You’d like to relight an old flame,” Alison guessed with frightening accuracy.

Chandler cleared his throat.  “She’s not ready.”

“And neither are you, honestly.”  She walked toward his desk, sat down on the corner closest to him.  “What you’re feeling is
part nostalgia, part knight in shining armor.  Listen, you two were kids when you fell in love, and now you’re adults.  You’ve both done a lot of living and you’re not the same.  Those emotions are still there but, buddy, they’re far more complex now.” 

“
And it’s really not fair to distract myself away from the gallery—or your store, for that matter.”

Alison smiled crookedly.  “I’m not going to go broke, and neither are you.  Don’t worry about me.  Focus on yourself for a change—you’ve earned it.”

Chandler sighed.  “Have I?”

“Hell yes.  After years of being worried about your family, take five minutes for yourself.  Christa would tell you the exact same thing, so think of me as sister by proxy.”  She extended her finger and pointed it not quite into his che
st.  “I’ll send CJ down here.  He’s better than this man-to-man crap anyway, and he’s been missing you.  There’s no one to pick on now.”

Chandler smirked.  “Can’t wait.”

She kissed him on the cheek.  “Take it easy.”  He wished her a goodnight and she was gone, locking up her side of the building and leaving him alone.  He stood and stretched, wandered toward the front door and checked that it was bolted.  He turned down the lights and locked the outer door of his office so he wouldn’t have to worry with it again for the evening.  He resumed his position at the computer and scanned his usual websites before returning to his gallery duties.  He yawned loudly and leaned back in the chair. 

“I’ll just doze for a few minutes,” he muttered dreamily.  He was the o
nly soul there.

“Why would you want to date me?”

His lips curved into an easy smile.  “Because you’re just about the best looking thing I’ve ever seen, outside of my Dad’s palomino horse.”  She laughed at his apparent jesting.

He grinned playfully, and she
responded by sliding her hand around the nape of his neck. “We’ve been friends for a long time.  Why would you want to ruin that?”

“Kissing makes everything better.”

She laughed.  “I had heard that.”

He gripped her gently at the waist and pulled her into his arms.  He brushed her lips softly at first, and as his pulse raced kissed her a little more
firmly.  She jerked in surprise but didn’t stop him.  She melted into his embrace—relaxed, easy, and most importantly, loving.  Chandler understood, for the first time, what those intense feelings his siblings had already experienced could produce; that strange sense of ownership over another’s love, possessing their heart as strongly as they possessed yours.  It felt simultaneously antiquated and brand new.

Her eyes met his, reflecting back an emotion he was seeing for the very first time.  “Yes,” she said quietly. 

He dipped his head and shot her a cheerful smile.  “Really?”   

“Yes, really.  I’d like to b
e your exclusive, personal, one and only girlfriend.”

“Good,” he replied, placing his lips to her forehead.  “Because I’d like to be your one and only boyfriend.  Just promise you’ll go out on a date with me this weekend.”

She stared at him quizzically.  “Time and location?”

“Big I Ranch, Saturday.”

“You want me to come over to your house for a date?  Sounds like the wrong way to start a relationship.”

He squeezed her body to his.  “Horseback riding, Miss Holt.  A gentleman’s pursuit.  What kind of cowboy d
o you think I am?”

“Please accept my apologies, Chandler.  I’d love to go riding with you.”

His eyes opened slowly, as he became cognizant that he was no longer a wiry, lanky teenager.  The realization hit him hard, and he cursed.  Taylor’s homecoming had knocked that confident buckaroo flat on his ass, and hiring her had been a major lapse in judgment.

But he didn’t regret it.

Chapter 5

CJ stuck his head through the apartment door and grinned.  “You awake?”

Chandler dragged a shirt over his chest and
shook his head.  “Nope, I’m sleepwalking.  Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you later.”

“The funny
bone is working overtime, man, and I know what that means.”

He arched an eyebrow at his brother and frowned.  “And?”

“And nothing.”

Chandler groaned.
“I had a rough night, bro—so cut to the chase, Chase.”

CJ laughed.  “Sorry, man. 
It’s been a while and I just wanted to check in with you.”  He pursed his lips together in a flimsy smile.  “The ranch isn’t the same without you, bud.” 

“I can’t get Taylo
r out of my head.  Can’t stop wanting her.  Can’t stop needing her.”  He massaged some tension from his neck and coughed.  “Feels like I’m objectifying her, and I never meant for that to happen.”

CJ yanked off his hat and jacket, hung them up and followed
Chandler to the couch.  “It sounds normal to me.  You loved her way back when—really loved her, and not in the horny teenage way.”  He chuckled.  “I can tell the difference.  Anyway, she’s been through some tough times and you’re all alone, by choice, so why wouldn’t you wanna…”  He trailed off, putting his words together judiciously.  “You’d like to hold her in your arms and take the pain away, even though in her case it’s just not possible.”

Chandler looked away from his brother, wanted to censure him, bu
t couldn’t find it in his heart to fib.  “Maybe she’s back in my life for a reason.  I don’t mean that fate or whatever dealt her a bad hand just so I could be happy, but…CJ, what the hell am I trying to say here?”  He threw his hands up in frustration.

CJ
gripped his shoulder firmly.  “Stop worrying so much and let the pieces fall into place.  Or as Dad might say, ‘Steady, cowboy, steady’.  His advice usually works in any situation.”

“Everything that spills from your mouth these days is the cold hard truth
.  It’s a world gone mad,” Chandler joked.  He struggled to rub the sleep from his eyes.  “Can you keep a secret?”

“You can count on me and Mark, always—but my wife, and that sister of ours,
can’t hold water.  In other words, yeah, spill the beans and I’ll keep them locked up tighter than a drum.”

“I’m worried that this art gallery in this small town was a fool-headed idea, an
d I’m in up to my neck.”

CJ lifted his brow, scrunched up his entire forehead.  “Would Dad have cosigned on a fool-headed idea?  I’m
thinking hell, no.  Besides, you worry too much, always have.  That why you’re having trouble sleeping?”

He nodded, reluctant to admit the truth.  “That, and I keep dreaming about Taylor.  Not her as she is now but…I dream about the past.  Dating, kissing,
that kind of thing.”

“You buried it all pretty deep, and now it’s come back to the surface.”  CJ waited for Chandler to meet his eyes before venturing further.  “Sometimes you hold onto something so tight than it slips right out of your hands.  Work on ge
tting back to your old self and leave this mopey fella in the dust.  You’re better than all that, bro.”

Chandler grimaced at the insinuation, mainly because it was spot-on.  “What would I ever do without you?”

“Hell,” CJ retorted, “you’ve got a better head on your shoulders than I ever thought about having.”  He grinned and laughed, and finally winked at his younger brother.  “Why don’t you let me take one of those paintings off your hands?”

Chandler’s mouth upturned.  “Really?  You’ve already got a nice on
e over your mantel.”

“And I might like one in every room in the house before I’m done.”  He lost himself in thought for a moment, coming up so fast that he caused Chandler to
nearly jump out of his skin.  “Oh!”

“You okay?  You scared me.”

“Yeah man, I’m fine.  Listen, you remember that arena where that damned horse nearly broke my back?”

Chandler winced.  “How could I forget?”

He smiled sympathetically, aware that his rodeo days had put an emotional strain on his family that they’d never admit to.  “The museum down there rotates Western artwork and I bet I could put out some feelers and get you to the head of the line.” 

He had the sudden urge to pull CJ into a big hug, but he let it pass.  That’d work better on another day.  “That would be cool,” he said
with feigned nonchalance.  “Actually, it’d be incredible.”  He swallowed back the sentiment rising up through his innards.  “I’d be honored to have my name up anywhere that yours is.”  

“Hmm,” CJ said, smiling that same grin that’d made him a popular ride
r.  “What if they’ve forgotten me?”

“You?” Chandler replied in a mocking tone.  “Perish the thought.”

CJ glanced at his brother thoughtfully.  “I know you and I butt heads sometimes, but you’re just about the best brother a man like me could ask for.”

“We’re a lot alike,” Chandler proposed.  “Both too headstrong, even on our worst days, and too damned stubborn to ever take no for an answer.”

“Okay,” CJ said, clearing his throat and poking Chandler playfully in the chest, “if I come back here again and find you sullen and frowny-faced, I’m kicking your ass up one side of the street and down the other.”

Chandler grinned.  “I’d like to see you try.”
  He smiled at his brother with admiration.  “So I’ll see you at the grand opening this weekend?”

“Yeah man, I
wouldn’t miss it for anything.”  He stood and replied with a crooked grin.  “And I’ve gotta pick up something at the feed store, so if you’ll excuse me.”

“Sure.”  Chandler laughed.  “Take it easy, man.”

CJ slipped back into his jacket and pushed the cowboy hat over his forehead.  “Later, tater.”  Chandler listened and smiled as his brother clomped down the stairs, whistling the whole way.  His life was about to get really complicated, and really busy, but his new resolve was to enjoy every minute of it.

**
*

“You’ve never…”

“Never.”

“Never?”

“Ever.”

“Not even once?”