Читать книгу Colton by Marriage - Marie Ferrarella, Marie Ferrarella - Страница 11

“Take the next turn to the—”

There was no GPS in Duke’s truck because he hated the idea of being told where to turn and, essentially, how to drive by some disembodied female voice. He’d been driving around, relying on gut instincts and keen observation, for more years than were legally allowed.

For the last ten minutes he’d patiently listened to Susan issuing instructions and coming very close to mimicking a GPS.

Enough was enough. He could go the rest of the way to the Kelleys’ house without having every bend in the road narrated.

“You can stop giving me directions,” he told her as politely as he could manage. “I know how to get to your place.”

She’d suspected as much, which was why she’d been surprised when he’d allowed her to come along to guide him to the big house in the first place.

“If you didn’t need directions, what am I doing in your truck? “ she asked him.

He spared Susan a glance before looking back at the road. “Sitting.”

Very funny. But at least this meant he had a sense of humor. Sort of. “Besides that.”

Duke shrugged, keeping his eyes on the desolate road ahead of him. “Seemed easier than trying to argue with your mother.”

She laughed. The man was obviously a fast learner as well. “You have a point.”

Since she agreed with him, Duke saw no reason to comment any further. Several minutes evaporated with no exchange being made between them. The expanding silence embraced them like a tomb.

Finally, Susan couldn’t take it any more. “Don’t talk much, do you? “

He continued looking straight ahead. The road was desolate but there was no telling when a stray animal could come running out.

“Nope.”

Obviously, he was feeling uncomfortable in her company. If her mother, ever the matchmaker, hadn’t orchestrated this, he wouldn’t even be here, feeling awkward like this, Susan thought. What had her mother been thinking?

“I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable,” she apologized to him.

Duke spared her another glance. His brow furrowed, echoing his confusion. “What makes you think I’m uncomfortable?”

“Because you’re not talking.” It certainly didn’t take a rocket scientist to come to that conclusion, she thought.

Duke made a short, dismissive noise. Discomfort had nothing to do with his silence. He just believed in an economy of words and in not talking unless he had something to say. “I don’t do small talk.”

She was of the opinion that everyone did small talk, but she wasn’t about to get into a dispute over it. “Okay,” she acknowledged. “Then say something earth-shattering.”

For a moment, he said nothing at all. Then, because she was obviously not about to let the subject drop, he asked, “You always chatter like that?”

Blowing out a breath, she gave him an honest answer. “Only when I’m uncomfortable or nervous.”

“Which is it?”

Again, she couldn’t be anything but honest, even though she knew that if her mother was here right now, Bonnie Gene would be rolling her eyes at the lack of feminine wiles she was displaying. But playing games, especially coy ones, had never been her thing. “Both right now.”

Despite the fact that he had asked, her answer surprised him. “I make you nervous?”

He did, but oddly enough, in a good way. Rather than say yes, she gave him half an answer. “Silence makes me nervous.”

He nodded toward the dash. “You can turn on the radio.”

She didn’t feel like hearing music right now. Somehow, after the memorial service, it just didn’t seem right. What she wanted was human contact, human interaction.

“I’d rather turn you on—” As her words echoed back at her, Susan’s eyes widened with horror. “I mean, if you could be turned on.” Mortified, she covered her now-flushed face with her hands. “Oh, God, that didn’t come out right, either.”

Despite himself, the corners of his mouth curved a little. Susan looked almost adorable, flustered like that.

“That’s one of the reasons I don’t do small talk.” He eyed her for a second before looking back at the road. “I’d stop if I were you.”

“Right.”

Susan took a breath, trying to regroup and not say anything that would lead to her putting her foot in her mouth again. Even so, she had to say something because the silence really was making her feel restless inside. She reverted back to safe ground: the reason he’d been at the cemetery.

“It was very nice of you to come to the funeral,” she said. “Did you know Miranda well?”

He took another turn, swinging to the right. The Kelley mansion wasn’t far now. “Didn’t know her at all,” he told her.

The answer made no sense to her. “Then why did you come? “

“I know you,” he replied, as if that somehow explained everything.

She was having a hard time understanding his reasons. “And because she was my best friend and meant so much to me, you came?” she asked uncertainly. That was the conclusion his last answer led her to, but it still didn’t make any sense. “Something like that.”

But she and Duke didn’t really know each other, she thought, confused. She knew of him, of course. Duke Colton was the twin brother of the town’s only murderer. He was one of Darius Colton’s boys. Each brother was handsomer than the next. And, of course, there’d been that crush she’d had on him. But she didn’t really know him. And he didn’t know her.

In a town as small as Honey Creek, Montana, spreading gossip was one of the main forms of entertainment and there were plenty of stories to spread about the Coltons, especially since, going back a number of generations, the current president of the United States and Darius Colton were both related to Teddy Colton who’d lived in the early 1900s. To his credit, the distant relationship wasn’t something that the already affluent Darius capitalized on or used to up his stock. He was too busy being blustery and riding his sons to get them to give their personal best each and every day. He expected nothing less.