Читать книгу A Winchester Homecoming - Pamela Toth - Страница 10

David Major was headed in the general direction of Denver with classic country cranked up on the stereo and the car windows rolled down to let in the rush of warm air. Idly he glanced at the fields of dried stubble on either side of the road, the barren expanse occasionally broken by a cluster of jutting buildings before it marched to the distant horizon. Each fancy new hotel complex, set well away from the main road and dwarfed by the empty prairie surrounding it, managed to appear as out of place in flat, rural Colorado as satin panties on a sow.

Who would have thought a decade ago when he’d first moved here from noisy, smelly, crowded L.A. that he’d grow to appreciate the open spaces, the distant mountains and the clean, dry air? That he’d find work he enjoyed and a home he loved on a cattle ranch, of all places?

Up ahead of him appeared the jagged line of manmade white peaks that topped the Denver airport terminal. They were supposed to symbolize the Rocky Mountains, but looked instead more like a row of oversize canvas teepees than anything found in nature.

Adam Winchester had broken his leg the day before, so David was here in his stepfather’s place to meet Kim’s plane from Seattle. It was hard to believe that she’d been David’s first real friend in Waterloo, where he’d felt as out of place at the rural school as a sports car at a tractor pull, or to remember that at sixteen he’d been on the brink of a hormone-driven adolescent crush. She had looked beyond his dyed hair and bizarre clothes, much to her father’s initial horror, and befriended him.

Their bond had been broken when she’d left a few months later without saying goodbye, to live with the mother she barely knew. Since her father had married David’s mother, Kim was technically his stepsister, but he’d only seen her a couple of times over the years. The woman he was meeting today was a stranger. He just hoped her flight was on time.

He followed the sign directing him to visitor parking and speculated on how her appearance might have changed in the five years since he’d seen her. Did her dark hair still fall past her shoulders? Was her figure still slim? Not that he cared, except that picking her out of a crowd would be easier if she hadn’t colored her hair or put on a lot of weight.

He parked the car, which he’d borrowed from Adam instead of driving his own pickup truck, and headed for the terminal and baggage claim. Would she be disappointed to see him waiting for her instead of her father? Of course she would, even though her visits home had been few and she’d always come without her husband, the overworked preppy attorney.

David wondered why she was here now, and traveling alone once more. He hadn’t asked Adam how long she was staying. Not his business.

Following a young family through the doors into the slightly cooler main terminal, he allowed himself one bit of curiosity. Would Kim treat him like an old friend or the stranger she’d made sure he had become?

Kim doubted that she had ever been so tired in her life. It seemed as though she’d been exhausted ever since she and Drew had first separated over three months before. She went to bed tired, but she didn’t sleep all that long or well, so she woke up tired, too. Just getting through the day wore her out, even though she didn’t do much. She supposed that she would have to find a job when she got home, but she hadn’t even started looking. Maybe the clean, dry air of Colorado would revitalize her, restore her spirit.

Heal her.

She hadn’t yet told her father that she’d left Drew, which she had convinced herself wasn’t the kind of news you gave over the phone or in an e-mail. Of course it also relieved her of having to make explanations. Between her husband and his family, she’d already had enough drama to last for a lifetime. When she’d called to ask her father if she could come home for a while, he hadn’t even wanted to know why.

If he’d been curious, he’d kept it under wraps, just as he always had hidden his feelings behind a stern mask. After Kim’s mother left, he had been a single parent to Kim. When she became a teenager he still treated her like a child, so they had frequently butted heads. Since his marriage to David’s mother, Emily, he had started opening up, but for Kim it had been too little, too late.

She would have to admit, at least to herself, though, that he was always there for her when she needed him. Until now she just hadn’t allowed herself to need him.

She smothered a yawn behind her hand as she marched up the toasty warmth of the jet way and headed toward the baggage area. For once she actually looked forward to her father’s reticence, if it meant that he wouldn’t pelt her with questions all the way home.

Tears misted her eyes as she walked. To be fair, his quiet strength was just what she needed.

For the first fifteen years of her life, he had been her entire world. Then she’d walked in on him with Emily. Jealousy and betrayal had sent Kim running to the mother she hardly knew. Pride and obligation kept her there until she broke away and married Drew.

Absently Kim touched the scar on her cheekbone. She had paid for her choices, but part of her still felt guilty for hurting her father. On her wedding day, he had unbent enough to say he loved her, but he hadn’t said he was proud of her. At least now she had outgrown the need for anyone’s stamp of approval, but it was still nice to be home.

Stopping to hunt for a tissue in her shoulder bag, she didn’t immediately scan the waiting crowd for her father’s tall figure, perhaps topped by the Reba cap Kim sent him last Christmas.

“You cut your hair.”

The voice at her elbow made her jump. Her head jerked up, snapping her teeth together. She stared into a pair of familiar brown eyes as her fingers strayed to the short hair at her neck.

“Where’s Daddy?” Exhaustion and disappointment combined to make Kim’s tone sharper than she had intended, but she didn’t try to soften it. As she looked past David Major, he shifted his weight from one hip to the other and pushed back the brim of his Stetson. His smug expression made her bristle. How long had he been watching her search the crowd for her father?

Cowboy wannabe, she thought with a mental curl of her lip.

“Adam couldn’t make it,” David drawled, rocking back on the heels of his boots and tucking his thumbs into his belt. The buckle, she noticed, was a flashy silver oval, probably something he’d won at a local rodeo. At least it didn’t have his initial outlined in turquoise stones.

Since she knew darned well David had spent his formative years in southern California, she wanted to ask where the drawl had come from. Before she could, his words registered and a band of fear closed around her throat like a hangman’s noose.

Her father wouldn’t have disappointed her, not if he had a choice.

“What do you mean, he couldn’t ‘make it’?” she mimicked, hiding her concern. If there was anything she’d learned over the past few years, it was the wisdom of keeping her emotions hidden. She must not have been entirely successful, because David’s cool expression relaxed slightly and he touched her shoulder with his hand. Before she could prevent herself, she stiffened and pulled away.

Immediately his expression hardened again.

“Don’t worry,” he said gruffly. “Adam broke his leg yesterday, that’s all. The doc says it’s clean, just a hairline fracture, but he didn’t think the ride here would help any.” For a moment, a grin tugged at David’s mouth. “Not that Adam didn’t do his damnedest to change Doc’s mind, but he didn’t stand a chance once Mom got involved.”

Part of Kim’s mind resented his proprietary comment about her father. David wasn’t even related, except by his mother’s marriage into the Winchester family. Was he trying to show Kim that she didn’t belong here anymore?

“How did he break it?” She ignored his smile. “And don’t tell me Daddy was thrown from a horse. I wouldn’t believe that if I’d been away for a hundred years.” The horse that could unseat Adam Winchester hadn’t yet been foaled.

By unspoken consent, she and David had both started walking toward the baggage carousel that was already spitting out a steady stream of luggage, cardboard cartons girded with tape and various pieces of sporting equipment.

“It was actually one of the new ranch hands who got thrown,” David explained. “He managed to land square on Adam and knock him down. The rest, as they say, is history.”

She stopped to gape at David. “Daddy must have been furious.”

“Livid. Turned the air blue.” David’s gaze was on the carousel, his chiseled profile a sharp reminder of how much he had changed. The cute boy had become a ruggedly attractive man, and this was the longest conversation she’d had with him in years. Good thing she was immune.

“Which one is yours?” he asked without bothering to glance her way.

His disinterest reminded her that she, too, had changed. Besides her chopped-off hair, she’d lost weight. Not a bad thing, since Drew had been telling her she was getting too fat, but now her slacks and top hung on her and there were probably circles under her eyes, right next to the fairly recent scar on her cheek.

Lovely. Not that she cared what David thought, anyway.

Kim searched the carousel and then she pointed. “That big one and those two by the skis.”

His dark brows lifted. “Three bags?” He didn’t try to hide his smirk. “Gee, is this all?”

“For now.” Head high, she walked toward the exit, the fingers of one hand wrapped tightly around the strap of her shoulder purse as she left him to struggle with her luggage. Served him right for thinking she was a clotheshorse.

As soon as she’d taken a dozen steps, her burst of bravado was replaced with a new wave of exhaustion. Feeling dizzy, she sank gratefully into an empty chair and let her head fall back.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” David demanded as he caught up with her and dumped her bags to the floor.

Opening her eyes or answering was too much of an effort, as was shaking her head.

“Stay here,” he ordered her in a bossy tone. “Put your head between your knees if you feel nauseated. I’ll find you some water.”

Panic swirled around her. “No!” she finally croaked out, forcing open her eyes. Relieved to focus on his concerned face. “Don’t leave me.”

She hadn’t meant to say that. Biting her lip in self-punishment, she watched his expression change from concern to something more difficult to read. Angry tears over her slip blurred her vision, but she blinked them away and glared up at him.

Immediately he squatted down next to her chair, his gaze level with hers as he took her hand in his larger, stronger one. His warmth was a welcome surprise. She was so cold, always cold.

“Your hand is like ice!” he exclaimed.

She pulled away from his loose grasp. “It must be the air-conditioning in here. They always overdo it.”

“Actually, it’s fairly warm,” he contradicted. “When’s the last time you had anything to eat?”

“On the plane.”

He leaned closer. “Kim, what’s wrong with you?”

She wondered if he realized it was the first time he’d called her by name since she arrived.

“I cut my hair several years ago,” she said, hoping to distract him with a reply to his initial question. “It was just too much of a nuisance, and long hair’s gone out of style on the coast.” It wasn’t really true, but he wouldn’t know that.

She’d hacked it off to pay back Drew for being overly friendly with a short-haired paralegal in his office. He’d been furious and he had, of course, retaliated against Kim’s rebelliousness. Besting him, however briefly, had nearly been worth it, even though she’d never worn the yellow diamond pendant he’d eventually bought her as a peace offering. It had gone into her jewelry drawer, along with several other nice pieces she had acquired under similar circumstances.

Nor had she ever grown her hair long again, despite Drew’s insistence. But of course she didn’t tell David any of that while his unreadable gaze stayed on her like some kind of laser.

“Water would be nice,” she said when he didn’t comment. “Chilled, if you don’t mind, and bottled, not tap water.”

He straightened, a shutter sliding down over his expression, and tugged at his hat brim in a gesture she figured was more mocking than polite. “I’ll be right back. Stay here with the bags.”

She watched him walk through the crowd, his long strides eating up the distance to the nearest vendor, as if he couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

Well, why should he be any different? she asked herself silently on another trembling note of self-pity. What was there about Kim Winchester Sterling for anyone to like or admire?

As usual, not one thing came to her tired mind.

After Kim had gulped down the chilled bottled water David brought her and surprised him by stepping out of her ice-princess role long enough to thank him, he escorted her out to the car. She had spurned his suggestion of a wheelchair and he, in turn, had refused her offer to help with her bags. As he stacked two of them and hiked the strap of the third on his shoulder, she dug sunglasses out from her purse and slipped them on like a shield to hide behind.

“I’ll bet the weather seems different from what you’re used to,” he said conversationally as he wheeled the largest bags behind them.

“I grew up here, remember?” She pressed her lips together and turned away, as if she regretted her comment.

“I haven’t forgotten,” he replied. He might have said more, but instead he let the silence hang between them for a moment. When she didn’t lift her head, he shifted the bag on his shoulder and kept walking.

On the drive back to the ranch, he thought she might ask about her father or their mutual half brother, Jake, who was nine, and sister, Cheyenne, eight, or the rest of her extended family, but she didn’t.

“The old church on Dammer Road burned down,” he volunteered, his gaze on the road ahead. “They’re rebuilding already, brick instead of wood this time.”

Her response was a noncommittal hum in her throat as she looked out the window. Frustrated, David fell silent. She had grown up in Elbert County, but if she wanted news, she would have to ask.

Traffic wasn’t especially heavy and the road didn’t demand much of his attention, which left him free to speculate about the reason for Kim’s visit, her first in several years, and to wonder about the absence of a wedding ring. Perhaps she had lost it or was having it repaired or just didn’t wear one. Unlike some women with successful husbands, she wasn’t flashing a lot of fancy jewelry.

Back in school she had been a pretty girl with a warm smile and a budding figure. Now her face was all cheekbones and angles, big green eyes behind the tinted lenses and a scar she kept touching with her fingertip. Slim tan pants and a long-sleeved pink shirt made her look thinner. Her short hair bared her neck and ears.

He’d stuck his tongue in her ear once, but she had squealed and pulled away, embarrassing them both. He liked to think his technique had improved since then.

She’d had issues when he’d known her before, rebelliousness against her father’s strictness, possessiveness of the only parent she’d known up till then and jealousy of David’s mother. He had figured Kim found what she had needed in Seattle, but now he wondered.

For a woman who had it all, she seemed more brittle than content, and she looked tired. Remembering how she had once bothered to search behind his own prickly shell, he tried again.

“Did you know that Cornell Hobbs and Bonnie Gill finally tied the knot?” he asked. “They’ve been together since high school, so it was no surprise.”

When she didn’t answer, he glanced in her direction, expecting to see her staring out the side window with a bored expression. Instead her head had tipped forward. Her eyes were closed, her full lips slightly parted, and the rise and fall of her breasts was slow and regular.

Apparently, his fascinating conversation had lulled her right to sleep.

The gentle bumping of the car across the cattle guard at the entrance to Winchester land woke Kim from a jumble of dreams. She took a deep breath and sneaked a glance at David, but he was looking at the Appaloosas grazing in the near pasture. Whenever she saw a horse with the breed’s distinctive markings, she thought of her father and the ranch.

“You okay?” David asked as he slowed to allow a Jeep to pass from the other direction and returned the driver’s wave.

Her first reply was a rusty croak, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for meeting my plane.”

“No problem.”

They passed a traditional two-story farmhouse, painted light blue with fresh white trim. The backyard jungle gym was new, as was the weather vane on the roof. The familiar riot of brightly blooming pots and hanging baskets on the wide front porch was a testament to Aunt Rory’s green thumb, but the driveway in front of the matching garage was empty.

Kim was relieved that they didn’t have to stop and say hello to Uncle Travis and his brood. There would be time enough to visit later, after she had reassured herself that her father was really all right except for his leg.

She couldn’t wrap her mind around the image of him on crutches. He was too powerful for that, too strong, just like the large immovable boulder in the northeast section of the range.

“Mom’s cleaned your old room for you,” David added as he took the fork in the road that would lead them to the big house where Kim had grown up. “She and Adam are looking forward to seeing you.”

The idea that Emily would be as eager as Kim’s father to see her was ludicrous. Although the two women got along, they weren’t close.

Was David sending up a trial balloon to test Kim? To deduce what her attitude toward his mother might be?

“That was nice of Emily,” she replied quietly, slipping off her sunglasses and tucking them into her purse. They had been expensive, but she couldn’t seem to care whether or not they got scratched.

The light glinted off her birthstone ring. Self-consciously she touched the bare spot where her platinum wedding set had been, wondering if David had noticed its absence.

Drew certainly had when she’d first removed it. He had gone ballistic.

Determinedly Kim pushed aside the memory as the car rounded the familiar last curve. Despite her catnap, she was still tired. Maybe she would have time for a real rest before dinner. Even though her dad and Emily had two more kids, they’d kept Kim’s bedroom available for her. It was the one refuge in the large house that hadn’t been taken over by her stepmother.

“Are you still living at the Johnson place?” she asked David. Even though Emily had bought the small spread from Ed Johnson when she and David first came to town and it had since become part of the Running W, everyone still referred to it by the name of its previous owner and probably always would.

“Yep.” He turned into the wide driveway and pulled up next to a bike lying on its side.

Toys had never been left out when Kim was small. Fighting the mixed emotions crowding up into her throat, she unbuckled her seat belt with hands that trembled. Swallowing hard, she focused on her simple relief at being here. All the rest—the questions, the explanations, the decisions she needed to make—could be sorted through and dealt with later. For now, she would just enjoy.

Even though David hadn’t honked, the front door burst open and her half brother and sister spilled out as though they had been watching through the window. They were followed by her father on his crutches.

The sight of him brought tears to Kim’s eyes. He was bareheaded, his thick, black hair laced with more silver than she remembered. His face, creased now by a wide grin, was weathered by a life spent out of doors. Hunched slightly over his crutches, he appeared older than he had the last time she’d seen him, when he had insisted on flying out to Seattle for her birthday.

Hovering at his elbow was Emily, looking trim and perky. She even managed to appear pleased by the arrival of her uninvited houseguest.

Instantly the snide thought made Kim feel guilty. As always, Emily’s smile was cordial. Even after Kim’s outburst in the stable when she’d caught the two of them making out like teenagers and her father had been so angry at her, Emily had pretended to be understanding. If she had done so to impress her new boyfriend with her niceness, it had certainly worked.

Kim had desperately needed his reassurance, so she’d lashed out like a jealous lover. When he’d taken Emily’s side against her, she’d been totally humiliated. The memory of her bratty attitude still embarrassed her, but the important thing was that Emily made him happy.

Kim would have to try harder to like Emily while she was here. Her father would be pleased to see the two of them getting along.

“Hi, Kim!”

Jake and Cheyenne’s headlong dash and noisy greetings reminded Kim a little of her mother-in-law’s cocker spaniels. She dragged up a big smile, feeling as though her cheeks would split.

“Hey, how are you two?” she asked, holding out her arms.

They’d both grown a lot since the last time she had seen them. Cheyenne, blond like her mother, threw her arms around Kim in an exuberant hug. Jake, with their father’s dark hair, skidded to a stop, hands jammed into his pockets. With a young boy’s wariness, he appeared ready to bolt if Kim even tried to hug him. She patted his head instead and he rewarded her restraint with a grin.

“How long are you staying?” Cheyenne demanded, grabbing her hand.

The blunt question caught Kim by surprise. She hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“Why don’t you and Jake help me with the bags while she says hi to your folks?” David suggested, opening the trunk.

Kim’s attention turned to her father who’d been waiting patiently.

“Hey, princess,” he said, balancing on one crutch as he held out his free hand.

“Hi, Daddy.” With a little sigh of relief, she wrapped her arms around his waist while he gave her an awkward hug. When he let her go, she and Emily exchanged air kisses near each other’s cheeks.

“Welcome home,” Emily said gently.

Kim’s guilt increased tenfold. She had stopped being jealous years ago, and Emily was way nicer than her own mother, so what was Kim’s problem other than a whisper of disloyalty?

Before she could puzzle it out, David and the younger kids joined them with the bags.

“I guess you didn’t have any trouble finding her,” her father said to him.

“I haven’t changed that much!” Kim protested.

“You’re thinner,” her father replied with typical male bluntness and a frown she knew stemmed from concern.

His implied criticism still stung, making her cheeks go hot with embarrassment.

“Some people say a woman can’t be too thin or too rich,” Emily commented smoothly, dispelling the awkward moment with a hostess’s effortless smile. “Come inside, Kim, and we’ll get you settled.”

Even though she appreciated Emily’s tact, part of Kim felt like insisting that she would rather stay outside, just to be contrary. And maybe she could throw herself down in the driveway and drum her heels on the pavement, just to show her maturity.

“Thank you,” she said instead.

“You might like a nap before dinner,” Emily continued. “It’s just the five of us tonight.” She glanced at David. “Unless you’d like to join us, honey?”

To Kim’s relief, he shook his head. “Thanks, Mom, but I’ve got stuff to do back at my place.”

Kim’s father patted her shoulder before his hands returned to the grips on his crutches, his gaze steady on hers. “I’m glad you’re here, Kimmie,” he said quietly.

“Me, too.” Her chin wobbled, so she turned away to give David a bright, blank smile. “Would you mind taking my bags up to my room before you leave?”

“Sure thing, princess,” he drawled with a mocking grin.

Ignoring his jab, Kim followed her father up the front steps. Despite his height and bum leg, he took them with surprising agility, but he’d always been a natural athlete.

Feeling a little like a spectator at a play about family dynamics—or perhaps a TV sitcom—David hitched up the strap of Kim’s shoulder bag as Jake and Cheyenne both began tugging on the handle of the wheeled suitcase. To head off a skirmish, David dug his keys from his pocket.

“Who wants to lock the car?” he asked, dangling them like the proverbial carrot.

Both kids missed the irony of his question. The chance of anyone stealing the sedan from the boss’s driveway was right up there with the likelihood of the two kids being able to get the heavy suitcases up the stairs. Kim must have it filled it with rocks from Puget Sound.

Jake’s hand shot up first. “I’ll do it!”

When David tossed him the keys, which he caught with a triumphant shout, Cheyenne’s eyes filled with tears.

Thinking fast, David grabbed the handle of the largest suitcase. “Honey bun, would you hold the front door open for me?”

The brewing thundercloud on her face was replaced by instant sunshine. She was going to be a heartbreaker. As her oldest sibling, he would have to stay in shape just to keep the boys in line.

The idea of testosterone-driven adolescent males sniffing around her at some point in the not-too-distant future was enough to make his head ache.

“Sure thing,” she crowed, running up the steps.

Jake opened his mouth, but David froze him with a warning stare. “Don’t lose my keys,” David told him, turning away.

He might be a childless bachelor, but he’d spent enough time baby-sitting his half siblings to learn a few tricks, he thought as he noticed that his mother was waiting for him in the entryway.

“Nicely done,” she said after he had thanked Cheyenne for holding the door and she had skipped ahead.

“You taught me all I know,” he replied, shifting the bag on his shoulder. A fresh flower arrangement sat on a side table, no doubt from her own garden. Adam and Kim had gone into the spacious living room. “I’d better get these right up to sis’s room, in case she needs them in the next couple of minutes.”

His mother smothered a chuckle. “Behave yourself,” she scolded softly. “And you know the two of you aren’t actually related.”

“Thank God,” he muttered back, leaning down to peck her cheek. He rolled the suitcase across the tiled floor. “I’ll come back for this.” Once he had, he planned to sneak out through the kitchen.

He would have liked to say something encouraging to his mother, since he knew how hard she worked at being the perfect stepparent. It burned him to no end that she blamed herself for coming between Adam and his daughter and sending her away. It wasn’t true.

“Kim!” Adam exclaimed from the living room, the urgency in his voice drawing both David’s and his mother’s attention.

He turned in time to see Adam struggling to his feet as Kim slid gracefully to the floor.

“Is she dead?” Cheyenne shrieked as David dropped the suitcase and ducked around his mother.

“No, dear,” Emily replied calmly. “I think she’s fainted.”

Adam’s frustration at his temporary limitations was easy to read on his contorted face. “Kim!” he shouted again.

When David bent over her, she was as pale as milk, but already her eyes were beginning to flutter open. The others gathered around to see if she was all right as David bent down and scooped her into his arms. Compared to bucking hay bales and wrestling livestock, lifting her was easy. He was surprised at how little she weighed. No wonder she’d gone down like a heart-shot buck.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, already starting to struggle. “Put me down!”

He was about to make some smart-alecky comment in order to lighten the tension when he got a look at her face. He’d expected to see confusion, embarrassment, perhaps even annoyance at the proprietary way he had hauled her up. What he read instead in her wide green eyes made him set her carefully back onto her feet.

In the instant before she managed to hide it, her face had been filled with fear.