Trouble in Texas (23 page)

“Why did you stop? I want to hear it.”

She looked at him and then went back to reading. “ ‘They say his wife died a year
back. Some kind of a fever that took hold after she gave birth to their baby boy.’
” She swallowed hard. “ ‘He cries sometimes after we’re finished, and I hold him until
he stops.’ ”

Just that quickly, the joy of the morning ended. Pushing back the sheets, Brant swung
his legs over the edge of the bed. But before he could do more than sit up, Elizabeth
had wrapped her arms around him from behind.

She pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades. “I’m sorry.”

The words were simple, but heartfelt. Against his back, he could feel the damp moisture
of her tears. It was his undoing. The pain he’d tried so hard to keep inside broke
free, and tears dripped from the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know how long they
sat there like that, her clinging tightly and him silently crying.

It was Elizabeth who finally pulled away.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she said. “Your back is really burned.” She gently
stroked a hand down his spine before she scrambled off the bed and headed for the
bathroom.

By the time she got back, Brant had pulled himself together enough to enjoy the sight
of her walking toward him completely naked. She had a phenomenal body, breasts full
and heavy with the palest pink nipples he’d ever seen. Her waist nipped in, and her
hips curved out then tapered down to shapely legs. And Brant had always been a leg
man.

He reached out to pull her into his arms, but she sidestepped him

“Later,” she said with a teasing smile. “Right now, you need to lie down so I can
get this on your back.”

“This” turned out to be a face-cleansing cream that instantly cooled the burn and
had him groaning into the mattress. Or maybe the groans came from the feel of her
cool hands gliding over his muscles, or her sweet center against his buttocks as she
straddled him.

“Tell me about your wife and son.”

The request snuck up on him, and he leaned up to end the massage. With a strength
that surprised him, Elizabeth pushed him back down. Still, she wasn’t that strong
or heavy that he couldn’t have easily gained his release.
But maybe he didn’t want to be released. Maybe it was time to talk about it.

“She grew up on a farm only a half mile from my house…”

Once he started, the words slipped out effortlessly. Elizabeth didn’t ask questions.
She just continued to stroke his back and shoulders… and listen. He talked about the
good times. The fun he and Mandy had had as kids, the crazy things they’d done as
teenagers, and the first years of their marriage. He couldn’t bring himself to talk
about Brant Junior so he ended the story at his son’s birth.

A long silence passed before Elizabeth finally spoke.

“It wasn’t your fault, Brant. Even if you had been there, you wouldn’t have been able
to save them.”

“No, but I would’ve died with them,” he said. “And maybe if I had never married Amanda,
she wouldn’t be dead now.”

Elizabeth stopped stroking his back and allowed her fingers to rest at the curve of
his spine. “The curse?”

He rolled to his side, forcing her to move off him. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

She sat next to him, her legs folded to the side. “No. I think you’re trying to make
sense of the senseless things that have happened to your family. And sometimes people
do stupid things to make themselves feel better.” She fiddled with the edge of the
sheet. “Even though my father left before I was born and never once called or came
to see me, after he died I drove all the way to Idaho to see where he was buried.”

Brant reached out and caressed her knee. “I’m sorry.”

Her gaze lifted from his fingers to his face. “Why are you interested in me? You were
right. I am an inexperienced virgin.”

“Were.” He pulled her down next to him. “Now you’re a temptress that has me making
a complete fool out of myself just to get your attention.”

“Well, you have it, Mr. Cates,” she said. “Now what?”

“Now I intend to enjoy it.” Leaning up on an elbow, he kissed her. Her mouth opened
instantly and desire pumped through his veins with each slide of her lips. He started
to press her back down to the pillows when she stopped him.

“I meant where do we go from here?”

It was a discussion he would’ve preferred to have later. Much later. But he also knew
that it would be better to get things out on the table before they went any further.

He pulled back, although he kept a hand on her waist. “I can’t make any promises,
Beth. Marriage and love aren’t things I even consider anymore. But I enjoy being with
you. I like your intelligence and wit.” His finger drew a figure eight on her hip.
“And I like this—a lot.”

It wasn’t exactly his best speech, but he’d given worse. Of course, he hadn’t cared
if the other women told him to take a hike. He cared if Elizabeth did, but he still
wasn’t willing to lie in order to keep her in his bed.

Fortunately, Elizabeth was a logical thinker.

Maybe a little bit too logical.

Her eyes scrunched up in thought. “So we’ll sort of be like friends with benefits.”

“I wouldn’t exactly say that.”

She tipped her head. “So what would you call it?”

Brant stumbled around in his mind for an answer, but he couldn’t find one. She laughed
at his stunned silence before she leaned over and gave him a kiss that curled his
toes into the satin sheets.

“Friends with benefits it is.”

“W
HAT HAPPEN TO THE WABBIT,
Miss Mow-fee?”

The words pulled Elizabeth out of her daydream, and she realized she was sitting in
the middle of the reading pit with an open book in her hands and a group of children
circled around her feet.

Brody Cates leaned up on his knees with a naked Barbie clutched tightly in his hand
and continued to talk in a voice too deep to belong to a three-year-old. “Did he get
away from Mistow McGregow?” His eyes narrowed. “That McGregow is a mean one. Almost
as mean as my Uncle Bwant.”

It was ironic that the child had brought up the same person who had caused Elizabeth
to zone out in the middle of story time. Although her daydreams weren’t about the
mean “Bwant” Cates who never smiled and who had tried to close down Dalton Oil. Her
daydreams had been about a hot, sexy cowboy who had told her funny stories about his
childhood while sitting with her in Miss Hattie’s huge bathtub. A sweet lover who
had fed her Baby’s pumpkin pancakes, helped her get dressed, and then
walked her out to her car where he’d given her a kiss that left her faint and giddy.

Four days later, she was still faint and giddy.

“Isn’t Uncle Bwant mean, Mama?” Brody yelled back at Shirlene Cates, who was sitting
at the edge of the reading pit with the other mothers. Of course, Shirlene looked
nothing like the rest of the mothers in her designer jeans, diamonds, and sky-high-heeled
boots.

Shirlene flashed a brilliant smile at her son. “Now where would you hear somethin’
like that, honey?”

Brody looked confused. “Fwom you.”

Shirlene’s smile drooped only slightly before she glanced around at the other mothers.
“Don’t kids say the darnedest things?” She shifted a sleeping Baby Adeline to her
other shoulder. “Now turn around, Brody. Your constant chatterin’ is gettin’ Ms. Murphy
all flustered.”

Flustered was an understatement. Elizabeth was more than just flustered. She couldn’t
eat. She couldn’t sleep. And she couldn’t even read a children’s book without images
of the man flashing through her mind like a PowerPoint slideshow.

“I don’t think it’s Brody who has her all flustered,” Sue Ellen said as she tried
to get her cell phone away from her toddler. “I think she’s worried about catching
a husband.”

“No need to worry about that, Ms. Murphy.” Missy bounced the newest addition to the
Jones clan. “Not with the entire town on the hunt. I have a great-uncle who would
be perfect for you.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth said, “but I’m not really interested in getting married.”

The women exchanged knowing looks before Darla spoke.

“Of course you’re not. That’s why you knocked Twyla out of the way to catch Shirlene’s
bouquet.”

“Now, y’all stop teasin’ Ms. Murphy,” Shirlene said. “She can catch a man without
any help from us.” She looked over at Elizabeth and winked. “Got anyone in mind, honey?”

Elizabeth had someone in mind all right. But there was no way she would catch him.
And maybe that’s what had her all flustered. The man she had her eye on was way out
of her league. Brant was handsome and rich and could get any woman he wanted. Elizabeth
had just been convenient. She had called their relationship
friends with benefits
. But she shouldn’t delude herself. Brant wouldn’t be contacting her for conversation…
or sex.

She just needed to realize it and move on.

It was easier said than done. Her mind had a will of its own. She got through the
Peter Rabbit story, but couldn’t seem to focus on anything else. She was standing
behind the counter, checking out Brody’s books when Shirlene reached out and took
a book from her hands.

“You’ve scanned that six times now, Ms. Murphy. I’d say it’s checked out.”

Elizabeth looked down at the monitor screen. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Maybe
I have the flu.”

“It looks more like man-itis to me,” Shirlene said as she placed the book in the bottom
part of the stroller where Adeline slept. “Brody,” she called to her son, who was
kneeling on the floor in the children’s section, “don’t be sticking Naked Barbie in
the heating vents. Remember how upset you were when you got purple marker on her leg?”
She looked back at Elizabeth and smiled. “So I guess you did mean to catch my bouquet
after all.”

“No!” Elizabeth said much louder than she intended.

“Now don’t go gettin’ your panties in a bunch. All of us have been there.” Her perfectly
plucked eyebrows lifted. “Some more than others. You’ll either get over it or succumb.”
Her green eyes moved over to the doorway where a tall, lean cowboy had just entered.
“As for me, I succumbed.”

For a moment, Elizabeth’s heart stopped. It started again when the man pulled off
his black Stetson and ran a hand through his chestnut hair. Still, the similarities
between Billy Cates and his brother had her face flaming. Especially when his gaze
settled on Shirlene and turned to smoldering heat. He strutted right over and pulled
her into his arms.

“Hey, Shirley Girl, want to run away to a Caribbean island?”

Shirlene smiled. “We just got back from a Caribbean island.”

He gave her a quick kiss. “Then I guess I’ll have to settle for lunch at Josephine’s.”

After Shirlene and Billy left, Elizabeth had an even harder time keeping her mind
on her work. She would no sooner start a task than she would catch herself daydreaming
about Brant, and she had to wonder if maybe Shirlene was right. Maybe there was such
a thing as man-itis. Of course, she refused to succumb to it. She would treat it like
a cold and let it run its course.

With that thought in mind, she made herself a strong cup of hot tea and sat down at
her desk to e-mail some reminders to delinquent patrons. She had just sent off a reminder
to Kenny Gene for
Scooby-doo and the Zombie’s Treasure
when her cell phone started to buzz. She
dove for the phone like a drowning victim for a life vest, splashing tea onto her
wool skirt and her keyboard.

“Hello,” she said, sounding more breathless than she had ever sounded in her life.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Brant’s deep, sexy voice that came through the receiver.

“Are you sick, Elizabeth?” her mother asked. “Is that why you haven’t returned my
phone calls?”

Elizabeth cringed and mentally kicked herself for not checking caller I.D. before
she answered the phone. All she needed was another lecture from her mother. Unfortunately,
it looked as if that was exactly what she was going to get.

“I thought I taught you common courtesy, but I guess I was wrong. It seems you’ve
turned into one of those women who completely ignore their mothers, who spent hours
in labor to give them life.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mother. I’ve just been a little busy lately.”

“With what?” her mother asked. “Or maybe I should say with whom?”

Elizabeth choked on the sip of tea she’d just taken.

“Sit up straight, Elizabeth, and clear your air passages,” her mother directed. “Do
you have any water around?”

She grabbed her water bottle and took a few sips until she could breathe again.

“What are you talking about, Mother?”

“I’m talking about the man you’ve been shacking up with.” This time Elizabeth choked
on nothing but air as her mother continued. “Don’t act so surprised. You can’t keep
things from a mother. We have our sources.”

“Minnie.” Elizabeth assumed she’d just thought the word until her mother gasped.

“Minnie? How do you know Minnie?”

“Uhh…” Elizabeth scrambled through her brain for an answer, but all her brain cells
had been spent dealing with man-itis, and there wasn’t one left to deal with her mother.
So she told the truth.

“I’ve talked with the hens,” she said, purposely leaving out the part about inheriting
the henhouse. It was a good decision seeing as how contacting the hens was enough
to send her mother over the deep end.

“How could you, Elizabeth!” she ranted. “Didn’t you learn anything? Those women are
nothing but a bunch of immoral prostitutes. And I have little doubt that they are
responsible for ‘the cousin’ Wilma Tate said she saw at your house. Did he hurt you?
Do we need to call the police?”

“He didn’t hurt me, Mother,” she said. “And we certainly don’t need to call the police.”

But her mother was no longer listening. The mention of Minnie had sent her into a
downward spiral of craziness. Or maybe her mother had always been a little crazy.
Something Elizabeth was just now realizing.