Читать книгу The Doctor Wore Boots - Debra Webb - Страница 11

Dex felt like a character from an episode of a reality TV show.

He was mentally and physically drained, but his first meal with the Coopers was nearing an end at last. The moment anyone seated around the large table made a move signaling the event was officially over, he intended to excuse himself for the evening. His senses were on overload. Too much conversation, too many different voices and personalities. He’d definitely taken for granted the experience of quiet dining. He doubted he would do that again anytime soon. This level of stimuli during a meal couldn’t possibly bode well for the digestive system.

Not to mention he’d ingested more saturated fats in one sitting than he had in a lifetime of eating his usual cuisine. He had to admit, however, that the steak had been more than palatable…tasty even. If what he’d been served tonight was indicative of Cooper beef, then the quality was premium.

He could see now why Ty felt compelled to pursue larger markets. The product was certainly worth the extra effort.

“We’ll clear, ladies,” Chad, or at least Dex thought it was Chad, said as he pushed back his chair and stood.

At this point Dex wasn’t sure of anything except that he had to be alone.

“Why, thank you, honey,” Chad’s wife—Jenny, if Dex remembered correctly—crooned with a wide smile.

Following the example of the other men, Dex stood as well. He knew a moment of panic as he considered what he should do next. He’d never had to clear a table before. How difficult could it be? Drawing on years of experience of eating at restaurants, he reached for his plate and glass like the waiters who’d served him in the past.

“No way, brother,” Court said from beside him. “You’ve got the night off.” Court winked. “Besides, you have company to see to.”

Dex blinked, uncertain what the man meant. What company?

“Oh, don’t be silly, Court,” Leanne chided. She pushed to her feet. “I can see myself out. It’s past time I got home.” She leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Grandmother Cooper’s cheek. “Thank you for having me to supper.”

“Anytime, dear,” she returned. “Anytime. You tell your mama I said hello.”

“I sure will.” Leanne glanced at Dex. “Well, I guess I’ll be going.”

Court elbowed him. “I’ll…ah…see you to the door,” Dex offered, suddenly remembering his manners, and realizing, just as abruptly, that the rest of the family clearly considered Leanne his company.

Still trying to figure that one out, Dex followed her into the front hall. “Thank you again for picking me up at the airport,” he offered for lack of anything else to say.

“I didn’t mind,” she said, turning back to him when she stopped at the door. “I hope something good comes of your trip, Ty. I do know how much it means to you.”

The sincerity in her eyes was so genuine that it moved Dex. Or maybe it was just those big blue eyes that affected him. And all that silky blond hair. For the first time since he’d met Leanne, Dex took a moment to really look at her. She was of medium height, her figure curvy, voluptuous. Nothing like the waif-thin women he usually preferred. The well-worn jeans and button-up blouse were accessorized with scuffed boots and a leather belt that cinched her tiny waist. The smallness of her waist accentuated her womanly hips and particularly full breasts. Dex drew in a tight breath. She certainly had a nice set of…

“Are you sure you’re all right, Ty?”

Her question jolted him to attention. He blinked and dragged his gaze back to hers. Though she looked concerned, he could well imagine what she must think at the moment. He’d blatantly stared at her breasts. Thoroughly measured her body with his eyes. He had no doubt he’d lost his mind. The chances of a speedy recovery looked dim at best.

“I’m fine…really,” he insisted. “Fine.”

She nodded, the doubt clear in her eyes. “Well, I’ll see you around then.”

He felt his head bob up and down though he couldn’t recall issuing the necessary command. “Sure,” he managed to choke out.

She hesitated when she would have opened the door, adding a new layer of tension to his already unbearable state. “I almost forgot.” She stared up at him. “Are we still on for the dance Friday night?”

Dance? Ty hadn’t mentioned any dance. Worry tightened around his throat like a noose. “Dance?” he echoed his bewildered thought.

“The annual barbecue and dance to raise money for the volunteer fire department. You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

Faced with her expression of disappointment and maybe even a little hurt he heard himself say, “No, no. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just too tired to think, that’s all.” He shrugged. “Sure, we’re still on,” he added, using her words.

Her face brightened. The smile with which she gifted him shifted something in his chest. How could a mere smile have such a mesmerizing effect?

“Good night,” she murmured.

“Good night.” Despite everything, he just couldn’t help himself. He felt his lips curl upward as he stared deeply into those wide, blue eyes.

Before he could fathom her intent, she tiptoed and placed a chaste kiss on his jaw then rushed out the door.

Dex stared after her as she hurried away. He didn’t close the door until the tail lights of her truck had disappeared around the bend. He touched his jaw where she’d kissed him and he felt weak with something he couldn’t name. What was it about this woman—this place—that made him feel so strange? He couldn’t recall ever having felt so flustered, so uncertain of who he was.

“Dex Montgomery,” he murmured. “You’re Dex Montgomery.” He had to remember that.

“Ty.”

Dex turned to find Grandmother Cooper waiting near the bottom of the stairs. He smiled automatically, which was not his custom. He couldn’t say for sure whether he intended the gesture or if he’d simply done it so she would smile back at him. There was something about her smile.

“I know you’re worn out, son,” she said kindly. “Why don’t you call it a night? You can tell us all about your trip in your own time.” She winked covertly. “I left a present for you in your room.”

Dex felt weightless as he watched her walk away. His grandmother had gotten him a gift. Why that should give him such pleasure, he had no clue. But it waited for him in his room.

Dex stilled. No. It was waiting for him in Ty’s room.

Where the hell was Ty’s room?

HOW COULD SHE have kissed him?

Leanne slammed on her brakes and skidded to a frustrated halt a few feet from her own front porch. She shut off the lights and engine and heaved a disgusted sigh.

She’d kissed Ty. At least it had been only on the cheek, but she’d kissed him nonetheless.

She had undoubtedly lost her everloving mind. Why else would she have behaved so irrationally? Been so forward? There was no telling what he thought.

Depressed now more than disgusted, she laid her forehead against the steering wheel and considered how she would ever face him again.

Warmth spread through her as the brief meeting of her lips and his stubbled jaw played through her mind once more. Though always clean-shaven, Ty’s dark features left him with a five o’clock shadow every evening. She’d always imagined that beneath that darkly handsome exterior beat the heart of a truly sinful lover. A man who could please a woman. The details of his muscular chest ran through her mind. Never had the idea of Ty’s virility or masculinity intrigued her so.

Leanne straightened, frowning. She’d seen Ty shirtless hundreds of times. He was a strong, well-built man. She felt certain he would make some woman very happy some day. But not her. She loved him like a brother. Not once in her entire life had she felt even remotely sexually attracted to him.

Not once.

Until today.

The moment their gazes had locked at the airport she’d felt something…something different. She shook her head and climbed out of her old truck. The Coopers as well as her own mother had been trying to push the two of them together for as long as she could remember. She knew they meant well, wanted their children to be happy. But Leanne had other plans. She wanted to fall head over heels in love with a man who would sweep her off her feet. And she wanted to be financially independent.

“Yeah, right,” she grumbled as she trudged up the steps to her house. Just how was she supposed to meet Mr. Right and be financially independent when she was barely keeping her head above water in more ways than one?

She unlocked the front door and went inside. Being careful not to make any more noise than necessary she closed and locked the door behind her. The stairs to the second floor proved a bit trickier when it came to her efforts to be soundless. But Leanne knew all the spots to avoid. She didn’t want to wake her mother. Lord knew, sleep was the only peace she found.

Joanna Watley suffered with debilitating weakness and often a great deal of pain. Dr. Baker had done everything he could for her, to no avail. She needed further testing and a specialist or maybe even a team of specialists. But there was no money for such extravagances that would likely do no good, her mother insisted. Without medical insurance the burden of cost fell squarely on Leanne and her mother’s shoulders. A burden Leanne was ready to accept if her mother would only allow it.

Leanne paused outside her mother’s bedroom door. She slept soundly. Leanne eased into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed to watch her sleep. She was a truly beautiful woman. Long blond hair, peppered with a little gray, and blue eyes. The same blue eyes Leanne had inherited. Leanne’s father used to say that she and her mother looked more like sisters than mother and daughter. He’d always known how to bring a smile to her mother’s lips. It just didn’t seem fair that he’d died four years ago, and then last year her mother’s debilitating illness had struck. Leanne blinked back her tears. She loved her mother dearly and she would do whatever she could to help her.

Joanna Watley had a stubborn streak a mile wide, though. Leanne had begged her to sell the ranch and use the money for whatever medical treatment she needed. Joanna refused. She insisted that they hang on to the ranch no matter what. She’d be all right in time, she always said.

But that time never came. She only got worse. Leanne felt a burst of desperation in her chest. How would she ever convince her mother to listen to her? She probably couldn’t, which left Leanne with only one choice. She had to make the money herself. She couldn’t leave her mother alone all day to get a job in town. And anyway, Leanne had no real skills. With her father’s ill health, then his death, and now her mother’s illness, she’d been taking care of the ranch since she’d graduated high school. There’d been no time or money for college.

Instead, she spent every spare moment attempting to complete what her father had begun—turning their ranch into a dude ranch. Dude ranches were wildly popular, and this area of Montana was particularly attractive to tourists. No one else in the vicinity had one. It would be a gold mine, if only Leanne could finish the job.

The guest cabins had been constructed. The pool was pretty much complete. If Leanne worked hard enough, saved every cent possible, she could get it up and running. With the dozen horses they had kept and the guest cabins and pool ready, she could prepare to open this fall. She might not make much in the beginning, but her reputation would build. Then she would have the money to send her mother wherever she needed to go without selling the ranch.

But that seemed a lifetime away. Though Dr. Baker didn’t feel her mother’s symptoms were life-threatening, it was definitely debilitating, leaving her with a miserable existence.

Leanne blinked back a fresh wave of tears. She didn’t want her mother to suffer like this. But she was an adult, Leanne couldn’t make her go to a specialist.

“You home already?”

Leanne produced a smile at the weak sound of her mother’s voice. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I’m glad you came in to say goodnight.” Her mother frowned. “But you shouldn’t have hurried home.”

“I didn’t want to stay out too late. You feeling all right?”

Her mother dredged up a smile from a source of strength Leanne could only imagine possessing. “I’m just fine. How did Ty’s trip go?”

“He won’t know for a while.” Leanne looked away. She didn’t want to get into a discussion of Ty with her mother. Not tonight.

“Is something wrong, Leanne?”

Her mother read her too well. “Oh no,” she assured her. “Everything’s fine.” But it wasn’t, she thought, remembering the way he’d looked at her in the truck on the way home and then at the door when they’d said goodnight. Something was definitely different.

Her mama’s hand closed over hers. “I wish I could make you see, child, what a good husband Ty would make. I don’t know why you don’t trust your mama’s instincts.”

Here they went again. Leanne sighed. “I know he’d make a fine husband, Mama, that’s not the problem.”

Joanna shook her head. “You’ve read too many of those paperbacks. You keep expecting some knight in shining armor to come take you away. Well, that ain’t the way it works. You know Ty and his family. They’re good folks. Marrying Ty is the right thing to do.” She squeezed her daughter’s hand. “It’s the only way you’ll ever save this ranch.”

There it was, the bottom line. The weight of saving the family ranch fell squarely on Leanne’s shoulders. “I know all that,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t feel that way toward Ty.” At least she hadn’t until today. Maybe that was just a fluke.

Her mother sighed wearily. “You’ll see, Leanne. Everything will be fine. You’ll learn to love Ty that way. He’s a good man. It’s what we all want.”

Leanne arched a skeptical brow. “You might be counting your chickens before they hatch considering he hasn’t asked yet. Maybe he won’t.”

Joanna smiled. “Oh, he will. The Coopers have wanted to combine this land with their own for two generations.” Her mother patted her hand. “He’ll ask. It’s just a matter of time.”

Opting not to argue the issue further, Leanne kissed her mother’s forehead. “Goodnight, Mama.”

Leanne left her mother’s room and headed toward her own. According to what her mother had told her eons ago, the Coopers had been disappointed when their only daughter, Tara, hadn’t married the only Watley son, Leanne’s father. Instead, she’d married the son of the Cooper family’s archrivals, a Montgomery. Tara and her husband had died in a tragic accident just one year later, leaving their infant sons, one of which had died shortly thereafter.

Now, the sole Cooper heir and the Watley heiress were once more being groomed for merging the two properties.

But that wasn’t the kind of merger Leanne was looking for.

After dragging off her boots, she stripped off her clothes and slipped into a warm flannel gown. It was May, not quite summer yet, and nights were still a bit chilly. She crawled beneath the covers and tried without success to block Ty Cooper’s image from her mind.

Being Ty’s wife wouldn’t be such a chore, she admitted. He was handsome, broad-shouldered and a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. She remembered well her first day in kindergarten. The school bully had made fun of her on the playground. Ty had come to her rescue. Though nine years her senior, he seemed always to be there, taking care of her.

She heaved a weary breath and flopped over on her side. But she didn’t love him, and she doubted he loved her. The Coopers already leased part of her grazing land. In fact, that lease money was all that stood between the Watleys and the poorhouse. Two or three times in the last year, they’d skated far too close to foreclosure for comfort.

No matter, Leanne didn’t want to get married because it made financial sense. The lease appeared to be working for both families without a marriage to seal the deal. Why didn’t they just leave it at that? Even if she somehow managed to bring life to her father’s dream, it wouldn’t prevent the Coopers from continuing to run cattle on her land. On the contrary, the cattle would add Western ambiance to her dude ranch. But her mother wouldn’t hear of it. She intended Leanne to marry Ty.

Maybe Leanne could work up the nerve to talk it over with Ty. She couldn’t imagine that he liked this matchmaking business any better than she did. Surely he would see reason. Then they would both be free to look for their own true loves.

That warm sensation that had bloomed in her middle when she’d kissed Ty suddenly swirled inside her once more. She remembered the searing heat in his eyes when he’d looked at her, as if for the first time, before she’d said goodnight. She shook her head and hugged her pillow. It was ridiculous. He wouldn’t be able to make her feel that way again. She was sure of it.

Spending time with him at the dance on Friday night would prove it.

The dance.

Leanne sat straight up. She had absolutely nothing to wear to the dance.

She mentally ticked off every dress in her closet. It didn’t take long, she only owned three. She couldn’t wear any of those old flour sacks. She chewed her lower lip. But she sure hated to spend the money to buy something new. Though she supposed that it was time she bought a new church dress. The whole congregation was likely tired of looking at the same old three over and over.

Funny, she mused with growing self-deprecation, she hadn’t worried about anything new to wear to the dance until tonight. What was it about Ty this evening that made her suddenly feel so strangely attracted to him? What made this day any different from the thousands of others they’d shared in the past twenty years?

Leanne dropped back onto her pillows. She couldn’t answer that question. She would just have to wait and see if that zing of desire happened again.

Probably not, she decided. Lightning never struck the same place twice.

Did it?

DEX HAD FOUND Ty’s room with only a couple of false starts. Fortunately no one had been around to see those blunders. The whole Cooper clan had gathered in the family room to watch television after he’d excused himself.

Dex felt immensely grateful for the reprieve. His feet were relieved as well. He simply couldn’t imagine what made cowboys believe that boots were comfortable. Apparently their feet had been molded for the footwear since birth.

How would he endure the ill-fitting get-up he was supposed to wear for the duration of this ruse? He wondered then how Ty was faring in Atlanta. The notion that Grandfather Montgomery was probably completely fooled pleased Dex entirely too much. He knew he should feel some regret, but he didn’t. Not in the proper sense anyway. He regretted wearing the boots. He didn’t look forward to pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Yet, he savored the idea of the discoveries he would make. He would learn about his mother and the people who’d turned their backs on him as a mere infant.

And he intended to teach the Montgomerys a little lesson as well. He and Ty were the victims here. No one could call any part of this entire sham fair. Their whole lives were based on one huge, bogus negotiation strategy.

Was Ty lying in Dex’s bed in Atlanta and wondering how the Montgomerys could have chosen Dex over him?

It wasn’t a good feeling. Dex knew first-hand.

He thought of his Grandmother Cooper and the way her smile did strange things to his heart. He glanced at the unopened gift waiting on the bureau. A part of him wanted desperately to open it, but it wasn’t really for him. It was for Ty. Dex looked away. It was all for Ty. Even the smiles that made Dex feel as if he was looking into an expression his mother would have freely offered.

The bottom line was, he wanted to know more…to somehow understand. Besides, the elder Coopers intrigued him. He wanted to know what made them tick. What had precipitated the choices they’d made all those years ago? And before he returned to Atlanta, Dex would have the answers. He was very good at getting to the bottom of things.

Surviving in the shark-infested waters of HMOs and high finance had taught him a good many things. Not the least of which was survival of the fittest.

But nothing he’d ever learned or experienced had prepared him for the attraction brewing between Leanne Watley and him. Dex mentally reviewed every moment of the time they’d spent together. He decided it was her innocence, her naïveté that drew him. He’d never known a woman quite like her. She also intrigued him. Ty had likened her to a sister. But the vibes Dex had gotten from her were in no way sisterly.

He scowled as he considered the dance he was supposed to escort her to on Friday night. Had he imagined it or had she seemed excited at the prospect? Then again, it could have been him who was excited.

Dex closed his eyes and banished thoughts of Leanne.

He was a stranger in a strange place. He didn’t know what he was feeling. If there was something between Leanne and Ty, Dex had no place in it. He’d have to ask Ty about her when they spoke. And he’d have to find a way to avoid her for the next few days. The last thing he needed was a case of lust for his brother’s woman.

Brother. The word still felt alien, but it was an undeniable fact. He had a brother. He had another family. The question was, what on earth would he do with them when he had the answers he wanted?

Better yet, what would the Coopers do when they discovered he’d pulled the wool over their eyes?

He pounded his pillow with a fist and tried to get comfortable. Getting comfortable was as impossible as finding any kind of resolution to this quandary.

It was a lose-lose situation.

There would be no winner when he and Ty revealed their true identities and returned to their respective homes.

Maybe trading places hadn’t been such a clever idea after all.