Читать книгу Betting On The Maverick - Cindy Kirk, Cindy Kirk - Страница 11
ОглавлениеThe Crawford home on the Shooting Star property was beautiful, a two-story white clapboard on a double lot. As it was early October, the grass in the yard surrounding the house with its wraparound porch had already gone dormant. Someone, likely Brad’s mother, Laura, had put up an autumn display that included stalks of corn, colorful gourds and a huge pumpkin.
Though Margot couldn’t recall ever being inside the house, she remembered attending several outdoor barbecues when she was young.
Margot had always been envious of the Crawford family with their six kids. Brad’s youngest sister Natalie was three years older than Margot, so they’d run in different social circles. But she knew Natalie and liked her quite a bit.
“Will Natalie be here?” Margot asked as Brad pulled the truck to a stop behind a car she figured must belong to one of his parents.
“It’s Friday night,” Brad said as if that answered her question.
“Thanks for orienting me to the day of the week.” Margot shoved open the door to the truck, even as he was still rounding the front. “But that wasn’t my question.”
Brad shot her an easy smile. “She’s young, single and it’s Friday night. You connect the dots.”
“Well, I’m young and single and I’m having dinner with your folks. What does that say about me?”
He grinned. “That you’re holding on to the false belief that you can get me out of the house by luring my parents over to your side.”
“Oh, look,” Margot said, grateful for the distraction, for any distraction. “Your mother came out to greet us.”
“Great,” Brad muttered. When he’d asked if he could bring Margot, he’d made sure to clarify to his mother that Margot had just gotten into town. He hoped his parents would convince her that running a ranch was too much for a woman recovering from a head injury.
Sometime during the course of the evening, he would pull his matchmaking mother aside and make it clear he wasn’t interested in Margot Sullivan, other than as a casual bed-partner. Even though, to his way of thinking, that fact never belonged in any mother-son discussion.
“Margot.” Laura Crawford moved forward holding out both of her hands in welcome. “I’m so glad you could join us.”
Seeing Margot warm to her instantly, Brad had to admit his mother had a way. Laura was a pretty middle-aged woman with blond hair cut in a stylish bob, blue eyes and a friendly smile.
But Brad knew from personal experience the woman could be tough if the situation warranted it. You didn’t raise four boys and two daughters without a spine. The eyes in the back of her head helped immensely. Of her six children, only Natalie resembled her, both in coloring and in stature.
Tonight his mom wore khakis and a blue checked shirt. Though in her late fifties, she looked much too young to have grown children. When his dad had snagged her, he’d gotten himself a gem. Nearly forty years later, they were still happy together.
That lifelong love, devotion and trust had been what Brad had hoped to have in his marriage with Janie.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked as he followed his mother and Margot up the steps to the porch.
“Inside changing. He wanted to wear jeans and that old flannel shirt.” Laura smiled at her son. “I said that while that may be good enough for dinner with you, it’s not appropriate when we have guests.”
“Oh, Mrs. Crawford, jeans and a flannel shirt would have been fine.”
“Please call me Laura.” His mother patted Margot’s arm. “Believe me, it doesn’t hurt any of us to go outside our comfort zone every now and then.”
They’d barely stepped inside the front door when Todd Crawford came clomping down the stairs in navy pants and a sweater, grumbling with each step.
The disgruntled look on his face was replaced with a smile when he caught sight of Margot.
“Well, this is a pleasure,” Todd said. “It’s been years since you paid us a visit.”
“Hello, Mr. Crawford.”
Todd gave a laugh. “It’s Todd, honey. When I hear Mr. Crawford I always think of my granddad.”
Too bad, Brad thought, they didn’t have any bees hovering around. The honey couldn’t melt in his parents’ mouth. It bordered on sickening. But he wouldn’t complain.
He thought of how differently his parents—his mother especially—had reacted when his sister Nina had begun associating with Dallas Traub and his kids. Thankfully, now that Nina and Dallas were married, both of his parents had come around.
“What’s for dinner?” Brad asked. “I’m starving.”
“We’re having pot roast,” his mother said easily, but he caught her warning glance. “I thought it’d be nice if we had a glass of wine in the living room before we ate.”
Because he’d been warned and because, small though she might be, his mother was definitely a force to be reckoned with, Brad didn’t say he preferred beer to wine. And his hunger would be put on hold, until his mother deemed it time to eat.
He almost wished Natalie was here to run interference. But then he realized that would be playing with fire. Nat was likely to side with Margot and then his mother would join them, leaving him and his father outnumbered. At least this way, if it came to choosing sides and they went by gender, it would be a draw.
“Would you like a glass of wine?” Laura asked Margot, already lifting a bottle they’d had breathing on a side table.
“Absolutely.” Margot took a seat in a chintz-covered chair, leaving Brad no choice but to sit on the sofa beside his father, who didn’t smell nearly as good as Margot.
“Margot has a blue heeler,” Brad said to no one in particular, once they all had their wine.
“Really?” His dad actually looked interested. “Now, that’s a dog. Not like—”
“Watch it, Todd,” Laura warned.
Margot took a sip of her wine, watching the interaction with undisguised interest.
“We’re babysitting my friend Lucille’s dog. Lucy lives in Missoula and she’s very ill,” Laura explained. “We promised to keep the dog—”
“You promised to keep her,” Todd said pointedly.
The remark earned his father a scowl. Brad wanted to empathize but he kept his expression impassive. He’d quickly learned no one, but no one, dissed the Maltese.
“Brandie Sue,” Laura called out in that sugary sweet voice usually reserved for young children and the elderly...and white balls of fluff.
Seconds later, tiny toenails could be heard clicking across the hardwood. A small dog that couldn’t weigh more than five pounds trotted in. Her pristine white hair was long and flowing and a pink ribbon adorned the top of her head.
“There’s my baby girl,” Laura simpered.
“She’s adorable,” Margot said, sounding surprisingly sincere.
For some reason Brad hadn’t expected a woman who rode horses, had a blue heeler and seemed more comfortable in jeans and boots to be into frou-frou dogs.
Brandie Sue paused and cocked her head, ignoring him as usual, her gaze totally riveted to Margot. If there were justice in the world, the animal would bare those little white teeth at her.
Instead BS, as Brad privately thought of her, swished her plume of a tail from side to side and approached Margot.
“She likes you.” Laura couldn’t have looked any more pleased when the dog sprang into Margot’s lap. “She won’t go near Brad or Nate.”
A hint of a smile formed on Margot’s lips. “I believe animals can sense whether you truly like them.”
Laura nodded. “What does your dog think of Brad?”
Margot stroked Brandie Sue’s fur and gave what Brad thought of as a Mona Lisa smile. “No comment.”
Laura laughed, clearly delighted. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“Viper.”
Margot shot Brad a disapproving look. “Vivian.”
His mother frowned.
“Her name is Vivian,” Margot repeated. “She’s a real sweetie.”
Brad hid his snort behind a cough when both women stared at him.
“She’s about two weeks from having a litter of pups. Father unknown.”
“Once they get older, if you need any help finding homes, I can ask around,” his dad offered. “Herding dogs are always in demand.”
“Thanks.” Margot took another sip of her wine.
“Have you heard anything from your father, dear?” Laura asked, her blue eyes filled with concern.
“Not a word.” Margot lowered the glass, her expression now troubled. “I called Gage. He sent that detective of his—Russ, I guess?—out checking, but he had nothing new to report.”
“Did they ever find out who purchased the train ticket for your dad?” Todd asked.
Margot shot a sidewise glance in Brad’s direction before answering. “No leads.”
“I don’t know who’d do such a thing.” Laura reached over and patted her son’s knee. “I’m proud of Brad for keeping the place going while your father is gone.”
Todd nodded. “A ranch doesn’t run itself. The Leap of Faith has been limping along ever since your ma died.”
“I didn’t realize how bad things had gotten,” Margot said, but something in her downward glance told Brad she’d suspected and felt guilty over staying away.
“Brad has done a lot of work these past couple of months, getting it ready for winter.” Todd winced when Brandie Sue hopped off Margot’s lap, pranced a few feet then hopped into his.
“Looks like she’s taken to you, Dad,” Brad said.
“All the women like me,” his dad drawled, then grinned at Laura. “But there’s only one woman for me.”
Brad and Margot exchanged glances.
“Speaking of the Leap of Faith...” Margot paused as if gathering her thoughts.
“How long will you be staying, dear?” his mother said, pulling her besotted gaze from her husband.
Laura would have been horrified to realize Margot hadn’t yet finished speaking, but Brad could have kissed his mother.
Margot blinked, clearly caught off guard. “Six months,” she said. “Or less.”
“Brad said you’d had some sort of injury,” his father interjected.
“Yes.” She folded her hands in lap and relayed the story she’d told him, including more detail.
“Oh, my dear, a skull fracture is serious.” Laura breathed the words.
“Should you have been on a horse today?” Brad asked, more sharply than he’d intended.
“I’m to avoid any activity where I could fall and hit my head.” Her lips quirked up. “I haven’t fallen off a horse since I was a toddler. I tried to tell the neurologist that the risk in the ring is also minimal for injury but he insisted it would be unwise.”
“You must be relieved to have Brad around,” Laura said. “I can’t imagine doing all that heavy ranch work would be good for you, in your condition.”
“What condition is that?” Natalie asked, breezing into the room.
She was pretty and blonde, an angelic face with a mischievous streak a mile wide. Brad adored her.
“Hey, brat,” he said in lieu of greeting. “I thought I was going to be able to get in and out of this place without seeing you.”
Natalie stuck her tongue out at him then smiled at Margot.
“Ohmigod,” she shrieked the second she recognized their guest, moving in to give the redhead a hug. “It’s been ages.”
Margot blinked, appearing stunned by the effusive welcome. “It’s nice to see you.”
Brad was seized with the sudden urge to protect, to step between his sister and Margot. Recognizing that as a ridiculous impulse, he remained seated.
Natalie, dressed in a jean skirt that showed way too much skin—what was his father thinking, letting her go out that way—and a blue shirt at least one size too small, studied Margot through lowered lashes.
Brad was suddenly seized with a bad feeling, the same type of feeling he got years ago just before she beaned him over the head with one of her Barbie dolls.
“Rumor is you’re shacking up with my brother.” Natalie offered a sympathetic glance. “Sweetie, you could do so much better.”
“Natalie,” Todd ordered. “Apologize this instant.”
His sister’s head jerked back, her eyes widened. “Why?”
“You’ve insulted a guest in our home, and your brother.”
“I did no such thing.” Natalie gave her blond hair a little shake.
“Natalie.” His father’s voice held a warning.
Brandie Sue, who’d been napping, chose that moment to awaken. Almost immediately she began to bark, as if wanting to add her two cents to the fray.
His father started growling at his mother to shut the dog up while his mother cast censuring glances in her daughter’s direction.
“What?” Natalie threw up her hands. “I was teasing. Letting Brad and Margot know what’s being said around town.”
“I appreciate it.” Margot sounded surprisingly sincere. “I can’t believe the gossip has already started. I haven’t even been here twenty-four hours. Up to now, I’ve only seen Brad and Russ.”
Her gaze shifted to Brad. “Do you think Russ said something?”
Brad considered, nodded. “Probably mentioned to someone you’re back. They would have asked about me, or where you were staying. And the story took off from there.”
Natalie inclined her head. “Are you really going to stay out there with my brother?”
“It’s my home,” Margot insisted. “If anyone should leave, it should be him.”
“You could move back in with us,” Laura told her son and hope flared in Margot’s green eyes.
“That isn’t feasible.” Brad forced a reasonable tone. “Not with winter around the corner. I need to be there to see to things.”
“You could drive over every day.” Margot’s voice took on a hint of desperation. “It’s not all that far.”
Brad knew that he had to put a stop to this kind of thinking right away. Before his mother or—God forbid—his dad jumped on that bandwagon.
“You’re a Montana girl,” Brad said with feigned nonchalance. “You know what the winters can be like. Ten miles away might as well be across the continent when drifts close the road. If anyone should live somewhere else, it should be you.”
From the way her eyes flashed and that stubborn chin tilted, it was exactly the wrong thing to say.
“I’m not moving out.”
“Well, neither am I,” Brad shot back.
Natalie grinned, bent over to kiss her mother’s cheek. “I’m almost sorry I have to leave. This is getting interesting.”
Brad scowled.
Natalie laughed and wiggled her fingers. “Ciao.”
The four sat there in silence while the door slammed shut.
“I’m thinking it might be nice to have a second glass of wine,” Laura offered finally.
On this point, it seemed, everyone could agree.
