Читать книгу The Rodeo Man's Daughter - Barbara Daille White - Страница 12

Chapter Four

The evening couldn’t have gotten any worse, from Tess’s perspective. She curled up on her lawn chair in the shadowy backyard and tried not to groan.

With the burgers and hot dogs and potato salad long gone, supper had given way to the night’s entertainment.

Caleb.

He’d started in on tales of his life on the rodeo circuit, as if they had all come together to share stories over a cozy little campfire. Next thing she knew, they’d be toasting marshmallows over the grill and singing “Kumbaya.”

Sighing, she wrapped her arms around her upraised knees.

Nate and the rest of the girls sat cross-legged at Caleb’s feet. They stared up at him, their openmouthed looks of hero worship obvious for everyone to see. Even Roselynn and Ellamae had drawn their chairs over to the group, the better to hear his low drawl.

Traitors.

Yet, how could she blame them? Hadn’t he roped her in, too, just with different kinds of stories? Not anymore, though. Never again.

“How did you ever get out of that field?” asked Lissa Wright, Dana’s oldest child and Nate’s best friend.

“Didn’t that bull kill you?” another of the girls asked.

Nate rolled her eyes. “Of course not, silly. He’s here, isn’t he? Right, Caleb?”

“Right.”

Even from across the yard, Tess could see him struggling to keep from laughing.

“As for how I got out of there, it’s like this.” With every word his voice grew more animated, holding the girls enthralled. “I whipped off my bandana and blindfolded that bull so fast, he didn’t know what hit him. Got him so confused, he ran into a fence post harder than his own head. The darned fool knocked himself out.”

Her Aunt Ellamae, always given to plain speaking, responded with a very unladylike snort. “Caleb Cantrell, that’s a lot of bull, and you know it.”

He grinned at her. “He sure was, ma’am.”

Aunt El laughed.

Tess gave in to the groan she’d tried so hard to hold back and put her chin on her knees.

“Mom,” Nate called, starry-eyed in the lamps’ glow, “are you listening to all this?”

“I don’t know if I’m hearing it just right,” she said, forcing enthusiasm into her voice. “It sounds almost too good to be true.”

The real truth was, except for the most exciting moments during his stories, when either Caleb raised his voice or the girls repeated in awestruck tones something he’d said, she hadn’t heard anything at all. From her seat, Caleb’s words came as a murmur. A low, sexy murmur. As much as the sound unsteadied her, she preferred not being able to hear him clearly.

Why would she want to know the details of the bait that had lured him away from her?

In the brief moment when everyone had turned to look at Tess, Caleb stared at her. His eyes shone as bright as Nate’s. Not with the glint of excitement, though. Those eyes, his solemn expression, his stiff shoulders, all showed he had caught the false enthusiasm in her tone.

It seemed to bother him. She didn’t understand why. But she didn’t care.

“What’s the biggest rodeo you were ever in?” Lissa asked.

“Well, let me think…”

Caleb broke eye contact with Tess, the audience focused on their star again, and Tess let her attention turn inward.

She knew nothing about Caleb’s biggest rodeo, but she would never forget his first one....

She’d known nothing about his dreams, either, when they’d first found each other in high school. Two lonely teenagers, they’d held on tight to a relationship made even more precious because it was theirs alone.

Their secret.

Yet a few months later, Caleb had left town—left her—to go off on the rodeo trail. When she didn’t hear from him right away, she told herself not to worry. He had sworn he would call. He would write.

When the weeks went by without a word, it grew harder for her to believe in his empty promises.

And when two months had passed and she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d had nowhere to turn. She couldn’t tell her mom. She’d die before she would confess to Aunt El. And wouldn’t survive if Granddad ever found out.

She couldn’t even risk telling her best friend, Dana.

She had to find Caleb.

And she did.

After weeks of online searches, she had finally tracked him down at a rodeo outside Gallup. She’d had to use most of her babysitting money to buy a round-trip bus ticket that would take her there and back the same day.

She had arrived at the arena just in time to find Caleb flushed with success at his first major win—and with two girls wrapped around him. One giggled into his ear while the other one planted a lipstick-stained kiss on his cheek.

Her own cheeks flaming, Tess had approached the trio.

At first, Caleb looked as though he would deny knowing her. Then, he simply denied that he had any interest in her—by turning to walk away.

She stopped him, saying she had something important to discuss.

“Time to collect my prize,” he told her. “Come and watch, Tess. That’s what’s important. That’s what will save me from going back to some one-horse town with one-horse folks in it.”

Obviously, his statement included her.

Raising her jaw, she stared him down. Sheer willpower kept her from telling him how he’d made her feel. She’d never in her life been so hurt. So humiliated.

Stubborn pride prevented her from telling him about the baby. Instead, she blurted out the news she was getting married.

That didn’t interest him, either. He’d stood there, not saying a word, the silence hanging between them until, finally, he’d wished her well.

Best of luck, he’d said. Damn him.

Then they’d shouted his name over the loudspeakers, and even before he’d turned his lipstick-stained face from her, before he’d rushed off to claim his all-important prize, her heart had broken.

By the time she had walked away, she’d promised herself Caleb Cantrell would never know what he’d meant to her. And he would never know about their child....

In the glow of the hurricane lamp on the picnic table, someone moved toward her. She jumped. Gone so deeply into her thoughts, wrapped so completely in memories, she hadn’t noticed anyone approaching. She looked up to see Caleb standing in front of her. It took her a long, startled moment to come to her senses.

When she did, she shot a glance past him, to find they were alone in the backyard.

She tried to rise from her lawn chair. Her legs, curled in one position for who knew how long, almost gave way. Staggering slightly, she managed to catch herself. Caleb didn’t seem to notice. Still, to her dismay, she imagined him reaching out to steady her. Could almost feel the heat from his hands washing through her, as cozy and warm as if she had been sitting all that time in front of the campfire she’d thought about. She felt an overwhelming desire to move closer, to have him wrap his arms around her.

Was she crazy? Shaking her head at her own stupidity, she eased away from him.

She’d been burned by Caleb once. Hadn’t that been enough?

Hoping her stiff legs would bear her weight, she moved aside and rested her hip against the nearest picnic table.

“Nice meal,” he said.

She nodded.

“Still got that pecan pie to go.”

“Yes.”

“Good company, too. But you didn’t seem to feel much like joining in the conversation.”

What could she say in response? Nothing Caleb would want to hear. She shrugged, hoping he would leave it at that.

He didn’t. Of course.

“Not into rodeo?” he asked.

Astonished, she stared at him. Could he really have asked that question? Could he have forgotten what happened the one and only time they’d been together at a rodeo? Or worse, did he not even care? She swallowed a bitter laugh. He didn’t care at all. Of course.

Why should she? “I was at a rodeo with you, Caleb. Or I should say, I followed you to one. Once.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” He tucked his thumbs into his belt loops. Not meeting her eyes, he said, “Sorry about that night.”

She shook her head again, this time in stunned disbelief. He’d tossed out the offhanded apology with as much care as he’d tossed paper plates into the trash after their supper.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “That one time was enough for me. I never had much interest in going to rodeos after that.”

“Look, I guess I got caught up in the win and wanted more.”

“More what? Fame and fortune?” Not more time with her. “You got that, didn’t you? And the stories to go with it.” She couldn’t resist adding, “But then, the rodeo didn’t teach you that. You always talked a good line.”

“Tess—”

She raised her hand to cut him off. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Shouldn’t have wasted her breath. At least her apology had held some sincerity.

Caleb hadn’t changed, and she’d been foolish to think he might have. Even more foolish to hope she could ever feel close to him again. “Tell you what. Let’s just leave the past in the past, where it belongs. It’s history.”

“Yeah, but you’re part of my history. And I’m part of yours. No getting away from that.”

No, she couldn’t ever forget it. If he only knew how big a role their past played in her life every day…

A cold chill running through her now, she wrapped her arms around her waist, missing the warmth she’d so recently felt. “I don’t know where you’re planning to go with that, Caleb, but you can just stop right there. I won’t have any more interest in your story than I did in your rodeo tales.” She forced herself to stand straight again, abandoning the support of the picnic table. Then she steeled herself to look up at him. “Yes, I’m part of your history,” she agreed. “The part you left behind.”

EVEN THOUGH he now had his mind and hands occupied with two fistfuls’ worth of playing cards, Caleb had plenty of focus left to dwell on the conversation he’d just had with Tess.

Or tried to have, more like it. She hadn’t listened to what he’d already said and wouldn’t let him get another word in edgewise. He had heard the hurt in her voice and knew part of him deserved the words she’d flung at him. Still, they’d stung.

He’d have protested, would have spoken up in his own defense, if her pint-size daughter hadn’t returned to the backyard to lead him away and into the dining room, where the other girls had gathered around the long table.

Tess eventually joined them. Reluctantly, he could tell.

He had to fight not to crush the cards in his fist.

Yeah, dammit, he’d left her behind. But he’d meant to come back. He’d sworn it. Only things hadn’t worked out that way. Life never did go the way you had it planned. Tess ought to know that. Hadn’t she said as much herself when she’d told him about her marriage not working out?

Besides, she’d come to him first. To deliver her good news.

Slowly, he loosened his grip on the cards. He looked around the dining room again at the scattering of small tables he’d seen earlier, when he’d first arrived and she had brought him into this room. She’d cut him off quick when he’d asked her about business.

She’d lied, too, saying things were fine.

When Nate had taken him to the back of the yard to get more charcoal for the grill, he’d seen the worn-out condition of the shed there and the broken-down fence sagging behind it. When he and the girls had put the card game on hold to rearrange the living room furniture for the sleepover, he’d seen the frayed edge of carpet behind the couch. Roselynn’s business wasn’t fine, and he knew it. He’d also bet real estate didn’t keep Tess as busy as she’d let on.

He would eat this handful of cards if she could prove either of those things to him otherwise.

Well, if she wouldn’t give him the truth, he would get it somewhere else.

She’d just headed into the kitchen to put the teakettle on.

He threw his leftover cards onto the pile on the table. While one of the girls shuffled the deck, he rose to straddle his chair backward, tilting it on its rear legs, moving closer to a small table for two placed against one dining room wall.

Roselynn and Ellamae sat there, polishing off a couple of pieces of Ellamae’s pie. Roselynn turned her attention to him.

“Caleb, may I cut you another slice?”

He nodded. “Just a sliver.”

When she handed it to him, he took a forkful, smiled his appreciation, then said, “The bed-and-breakfast here is new since my time. How long have you had it running?”

“Just a year now.”

“Things going well?”

A slight wrinkle appeared between her brows and she fussed with the pie server. She didn’t have Tess’s flair for avoiding answers, though. “Fair to middlin’, I guess,” she said finally.

Ellamae made a choking sound. “Roselynn, your nose is gonna grow. Fact is,” she said to Caleb, “the inn business is almost out the window.”

“No guests?”

“No guests.”

“We’ve had a few,” Roselynn protested. Then she sighed. “But not for a long spell.”

He couldn’t state the obvious, that Flagman’s Folly didn’t have enough going for it to make it a tourist attraction. She’d have to do something to draw them in. “Are you advertising?” he asked.

“That’s expensive.”

“True. But as people say, sometimes you’ve got to spend money to make money.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Roselynn lifted the empty pie plate. “Excuse me. I’ll just run this into the kitchen.”

When she’d gone, Ellamae chuckled. “Run’s the word, all right. Looks like you’ve just scared her off. Not something you’re used to with women, I’d reckon.”

“They’re usually headed in my direction,” he acknowledged. “Used to be, anyhow.”

“What happened?”

He blinked.

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “I’m nosy. And I’m blunt. You ought to remember that from days past.”

“I sure do.” He laughed.

She was tough, too, and wiry, an older woman with graying hair and snapping dark eyes. Looked like any number of seasoned cowhands he could name. But Ellamae didn’t herd cattle. She had an even more demanding job.

Keeping the peace in this town.

Ellamae worked as the court clerk. As a teen, Caleb had been up at the judge’s bench a time or two, called in for jaywalking and riding with no lights on his bike—minor offenses not regularly requiring a court appearance. But in Flagman’s Folly, things didn’t always run the “regular” way. Another reason he’d left town at the first opportunity and never come back. Until today.

Judge Baylor kept a firm grip on his gavel inside the courtroom and out. And Caleb had always suspected Ellamae, with her direct way of dealing with folks, held as much power as the judge when it came to anything that went on around here.

Maybe that’s why she’d unbent once in a while and let him off the hook when the judge cracked down on him. Maybe it’s why she was conversing so freely with him tonight. And why he somehow felt he could trust her in return.

“We could use some straight talking right now,” he said, thinking of his earlier conversation with Tess. You could tell she and Ellamae came from the same family tree. Tess’s flat responses couldn’t have gotten any more direct, though in a closemouthed way that left him more frustrated than before. He sensed it wouldn’t be the same with Ellamae. But to get from her, you had to give. “As for what happened, I got bored with things. And then I got hurt.”

“Yeah, we heard about it. That bull tossed you six ways to Sunday, didn’t he?”

He nodded.

“I saw you limping some when you got here. Noticed it got worse after you stood at the grill a while. I thought that rehab place fixed you up.”

He shrugged. “After a long day, I get to feeling some aches.”

“Don’t we all.” She gave him a surprisingly sweet smile. “Well, you shoot pretty straight yourself, so I’ll tell you this. Roselynn might come back here ready to chat with you, but she won’t allow you much without a sugar coating on it. Tess won’t allow you anything at all.”

He nodded again.

“Found that out already, huh?”

“Yeah.”

She smiled. “Then, it’s lucky you got me. I’ll flap my jaws in a good cause any day.”

Together, they shot glances toward the doorway. All clear.

“Okay, then.” Caleb tipped his chair forward another notch. “Start flapping.”

TESS PUT THE CARAFE of hot chocolate in the center of the tray and surrounded it with coffee mugs. The girls didn’t need the extra sugar this late, but since they wouldn’t sleep much tonight, anyway, that didn’t matter.

What mattered was what she needed, and that was to get rid of Caleb. To safeguard her peace of mind. Her sanity. And maybe to protect her heart. Something inside still hurt after that unfeeling apology he’d given her.

Roselynn came into the kitchen and set the pie plate on the counter near the sink. “Need any help?”

“No, I’ve got it, thanks.”

She looked over at the carafe. “You have enough for Caleb to have a cup of chocolate, too, don’t you?”

“Yes, Mom. But I would imagine he’ll be leaving any minute now.”

Leaving…as he’d done so long ago.

She tightened her grip on the handle of the carafe. How could that one word, that one thought, fill her with both bitterness and longing at the same time?

“I don’t know,” her mother said.

Tess started, afraid she had spoken her question aloud.

But Roselynn stood looking through the doorway. “It appears he and El have settled in for a nice little chat.”

“Oh, have they?” Tess grabbed the tray. If there was one thing Aunt El was known for, it was believing she knew what was best for everyone—and not hesitating to tell them.

Tess didn’t want to think about the earful Caleb might be getting. But she certainly wanted to put a stop to it. “Can you bring the napkins, please?”

“Tess…” Roselynn frowned.

“What’s wrong, Mom? Headache?”

“No…nothing. I’ll go get some more napkins from the pantry.”

In the dining room again, Tess saw her mother had been right. Caleb and Ellamae had their heads closer together than two sticky buns in a breadbasket.

She sailed across the room and plunked the tray on the table between them. Caleb backed off just quickly enough to keep from getting hit in the head.

A head that was as hard as that bull’s he’d been talking about earlier. She ought to know.

“Hot chocolate!” Nate yelled.

The girls dropped their cards and clustered around the smaller table. Tess kept busy pouring drinks and passing out not-quite-filled mugs. No sense inviting spills. Upholstery and rug cleaning were expensive.

She looked through the doorway of the room to the grandfather clock in the hall. Almost nine. The girls would be up for hours yet, if they ever did get to bed.

She’d had to laugh. All those empty guest rooms upstairs, and they had chosen to sleep on the couches and floor in the living room.

“It’s getting late,” she told them. “Time to go off to the other room, now.” At least that put them closer to their sleeping arrangements for the night.

“Come on in with us, Caleb,” Nate said.

Tess could have won money on that being her daughter’s next step. “No, Caleb’s going to be leaving.” Again, that word caught at her, made her want to sigh. Her voice shook just a bit as she added, “You girls go on.”

Up went the stubborn jaw. Another step in her daughter’s attempt to get her own way.

“But Mo-om,” Nate wailed. So predictable. “He’s drinking his hot chocolate, too.”

“He can drink it here.”

“Why can’t he come with us?” Nate’s bottom lip jutted out.

Tess gripped the edges of the tray. “Anastasia Lynn LaSalle,” she said evenly.

Lissa poked Nate in the ribs. “C’mon, Nate. When it’s all your names, you know you’re in big trouble.”

Before Nate could say another word that would get her in deeper, before Tess could add something she might regret, Caleb spoke up.

“You run off, now, like your mama says. I’ll see you girls in the morning.”

Tess turned to him. Bad enough her own daughter was trying to make the rules around here. She didn’t need him attempting to call the shots, too. She didn’t need him at all.

“I don’t think so, Caleb,” she said, her chin as high as Nate’s had been. “From now on, if we need to discuss any business at all, we’ll meet at the office.”

He smiled, took a sip of his chocolate, licked whipped cream from his top lip.

Tess set her jaw and glared at him.

“Fine by me,” he replied.

She narrowed her eyes. She’d never known him to give in so easily.

“Business. Office. Got it.” He smiled again and set the mug on his table. “But I will see the girls tomorrow morning, anyhow. At breakfast.”

“What?”

He swept his arm out, gesturing at the space around them. “This is a bed-and-breakfast. I assume your mama serves breakfast to her guests. As I’ve just decided to take a room here for the rest of my stay in town, I reckon that qualifies me for the meals.”

The girls broke into cheers loud enough to make the mugs on the tray rattle.

Or maybe that came from Tess’s suddenly shaking hands. She clutched the tray, wishing she could hold it against her like a shield. She needed some kind of armor against Caleb—because obviously no one else in the room planned to help her.

The girls were too occupied in high-fiving Caleb and each other. Aunt El was too busy smirking over the turn of events she’d probably brought about herself. And her mother…

Her mother was standing there smiling quietly, eyes aglow at the idea of a paying guest.

Tess swallowed a sigh verging on a sob of despair.

Much as she wanted to kick Caleb out of their home, she knew full well her mom couldn’t afford to turn away any source of income. And as she gazed into his shining green eyes, she realized he knew it, too.

Caleb had himself a room at the bed-and-breakfast for as long as he wanted it.

And Tess had hold of a time bomb with an ever-shortening fuse.