Читать книгу Tall, Dark, Texas Ranger / Once Upon A Christmas Eve - Patricia Thayer - Страница 10

LILLY tried to ignore him, but how could she ignore a shirtless man right in her line of sight? And that was exactly where Noah Cooper was. It was only eight o’clock the following morning, and the man stood on a ladder scraping the peeling paint off the back of the house.

Finally giving in to the old adage “What was the harm in looking.” And that was exactly what she did. Look.

She leaned a little to the side of the kitchen sink to get a better view. To see how his faded jeans fit across his nice rear end. How those muscles over his back and shoulders bunched with his movement. The tiny beads of sweat that gathered along his spine and ran down into the back of his Levi’s.

She blew out a breath. Whoa, must be the heat getting to her. She turned away. She didn’t need to get all worked up just noticing a man, especially not a man who’d just arrived in town.

One thing for sure, she didn’t need any more complications in her life, or in her kids’ lives. After the disaster with Michael, she couldn’t risk it.

The man she thought she loved and respected had seemed to change overnight. Something she couldn’t believe at all. She’d known Michael Robert Perry since grade school. They’d gotten together in high school and then went to the same college. There had never been anyone else.

She thought she knew the man she’d married at twenty. Until he turned into a stranger and he started keeping secrets and then finally left her and the kids. It was still hard to believe that man she’d loved and shared two children with had abandoned his family.

Worse, after the divorce, he refused to even see his own children. Gave her full custody. He did pay child support for a while, but she soon discovered that he’d mortgaged their house for the business. She couldn’t afford the payments.

Thank God she could come back home to live with her mother. Her kids needed the stability of having their grandmother there when she couldn’t be. And they helped each other out financially.

Even after all that, Lilly kept praying that the old Mike would return and want his family back. But he never showed up, never spent time with Kasey and Robbie.

For the past two years, she had to deal with the aftermath of two kids losing a parent, then the finality of his death a few months ago. Robbie seemed to be doing fine, but not Kasey. She’d always been Daddy’s little girl. Now, she was sad and angry.

Lilly could still remember when the sheriff came to tell her about Mike’s death. He said it was suicide.

That day part of her died, too. For the man who’d been such a big part of her life. The man who she’d vowed to love, honor and cherish. Mike’s desertion from his family had ended that long before his death.

“What happened, Mike?” she breathed, unable to stop wondering if she’d been the cause. “Why did you change? What made you stop loving us?”

Lilly glanced out the window again to see Coop. Why was she drawn to him? Okay, it had been a long time since she’d had a man’s attention. And Noah Cooper was easy to look at, in a rugged male sort of way. He wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty. She felt heat rush through her as he climbed off the ladder. He went to the hose, turned it on and raised the spray over his head, allowing the water to run over him.

“Oh, my,” she groaned as the water dripped over his chest and ran down to his waist. He reached for a towel and she couldn’t look away from the erotic scene as he rubbed the towel over his muscular chest and arms. Already the sun had bronzed his skin, contrasting with the white line along his waistline.

He turned and exposed his wide back and she caught a dark mark on his left shoulder. A tattoo. She squinted but couldn’t make it out.

“What’s so interesting?”

Lilly jumped as her mother came into the kitchen. “Nothing, just Mr. Cooper working on the house.”

Beth glanced out the window and grinned. “And what a nice view, too.” She sighed. “Oh, to be young again.”

Lilly tried to concentrate on her coffee. “Mother, at your age.”

“At any age,” she countered. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying looking at a man, Lilly. You’re a healthy, young woman.”

“And I’m a mother and a school principal. I have to set a good example.”

“Then show your kids that you haven’t shriveled up and died. Get out there and live.”

Before she could put up any argument, the back door opened and Mr. Sexy walked in. He’d put on his shirt, but it wasn’t buttoned yet.

He nodded. “Mornin’, ladies.”

Her mother smiled. “Good morning, Coop. I see that you’ve already started working.”

“Wanted to get an early start before the heat really hit,” he informed her as he went to the coffeepot and poured some into the mug.

“Then you’re in time for some breakfast. Lilly is about to fix hers.” She turned to her daughter. “You wouldn’t mind cooking up some eggs for Coop? With Jenny out with the baby, I promised to help out at the Blind Stitch this morning.”

Lilly didn’t like this. “Sure.” She went to the stove, grabbed the skillet, then went to the refrigerator to take out the bacon and eggs. “How do you like your eggs, Mr. Cooper?”

“Any way is fine.”

Lilly cracked the eggs into a bowl. “Scrambled.”

“Well, I better get going,” her mother said. “I’ll be home for lunch. Anything you need from the store?”

“No, Mom, I can’t think of anything.”

“Okay, bye.” She was out the door and Lilly was left alone with the first man who, in a long time, made her aware of the fact she was a woman. She didn’t need this right now.

Coop watched as Lilly Perry stomped around the kitchen. He knew she wasn’t happy about him being here, but he had no choice. He had a job to do.

“Here, let me help.” He went to the stove and took the bacon from her and began to lay strips in the flat skillet.

“You don’t need to do this. You and my mother have a deal.”

He looked at her, catching her pretty blue eyes. “That’s right, your mother and I made a deal. You had nothing to do with it.” He felt a stirring and glanced down at the sizzling bacon. “This is your vacation, Lilly.”

“I have children, Mr. Cooper. I don’t get a vacation, summer or otherwise.”

“Okay, then I don’t want to add to your chores.”

“Cooking breakfast isn’t going to kill me.”

He stopped her. “What’s the problem? No one can help you?”

She stiffened. “It’s easier to go it on my own.”

“Sounds like you’ve been let down a lot.”

They both held the standoff until the bacon began crackling. He turned down the flame.

“You’ve made it clear you don’t want me here,” he told her. “And I’m not sure why.”

“I don’t know much about you. And with you being around my kids and mother … I need to watch out for them.”

“I’m only here to do a job, Lilly. I swear I’m not going to hurt you or the kids.” Not physically anyway. But she’d already been hurt by the man she loved. “Do you really think Alex Casali would hire me to work for him, if he wasn’t sure that I’m reputable?”

Lilly glanced away and concentrated on cooking the eggs. “The past few years haven’t been very good ones for my kids. Their dad left them, and he never even came to visit.” She looked up at him again. “I don’t want Robbie to get attached to someone who’ll be leaving, too.”

“That’s understandable, but you can’t stop your son from making friends with people. That isn’t healthy, either.”

She turned off the stove and took two plates out of the cupboard, then split the eggs between them. He placed the bacon on the paper towel as she made toast. Once the job was complete, she carried the plates as he grabbed two filled coffee mugs, then followed her to the table.

She sat down across from him, but she refused to look at him. He knew Lilly would be a tough sell.

“Would you rather I move out of the cottage?”

Her fork stopped halfway toward her mouth. “Would you?”

“If you can’t trust me around your mother and kids. Yes.” He was taking a big chance here. “I’ll leave, Lilly. The last thing I want is for you to think of me as a con man … or worse. I’ve done nothing to cause you to think like that. So maybe the solution is to just leave and move into the motel out on the highway.”

He took a bite of his eggs then found it was difficult to swallow. He realized that he didn’t want Lilly to think the worst of him. But her husband had made sure that she had a hard time trusting.

“I can’t ask you to do that. It’s my mother’s choice to rent to you.” She put down her fork. “You’re right, Mr. Cooper, you haven’t done anything to cause my rude behavior. Please accept my apology.”

“I’ll accept it under one condition.”

She waited.

“You better start calling me Coop, or I’ll have to call you Principal Perry.”

She fought a smile and lost. “Okay, Coop. What brought you to Kerry Springs?”

“Plain and simple, a job.”

He watched as Lilly began to eat and that helped him relax a little. “I’m from El Paso, Texas. Born and raised there.”

“Any family?”

He shook his head. “Not much. My mother took off years ago. My father left long before that, before my birth. I had a half brother, but he was killed a few years back. He left a wife and a baby daughter behind.” They were the reason why he wanted Delgado. And he was going to get the bastard. “I keep in touch with them.”

She looked concerned. “I’m sorry. How did your brother die?”

“He was a police officer shot in the line of duty.”

He pushed his plate away and began to stand. “I should get back to work.”

Lilly reached across the table and touched his arm, causing him to pause. The warmth and softness caused a reaction. His throat grew dry and his gut knotted in need. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?”

A dozen different pictures shot through his mind. He never thought of a school principal being sexy, but that was until he ran into Lilly Perry.

“I wouldn’t mind if you’d keep some iced tea handy.”

“That’s all I can do for you?”

She didn’t want to know what he wanted her to do for him. She’d throw him off the property.

“That’s all for now.”

Two hours later, Coop moved his work area to the shaded porch. It wasn’t much cooler, but at least the sun wasn’t frying his back.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Coop glanced down to see Robbie behind him. “I’m trying to get your grandmother’s house ready to paint.”

“Oh,” the boy said. “Did she say you can do it?”

“Yes, and she’s happy about it.”

The kid kicked the floor with the toe of his shoe. “Can I help?”

Coop got off the stepladder. “Well, that depends on how hard you want to work. I don’t like quitters.”

“I’m not a quitter.”

“Good, ‘cause I pay a good wage and I want the best workers.”

Those big eyes widened. “You’re gonna pay me?”

“Sure.” He looked around. “I could use someone to sweep up all the paint chips.”

“I can do that,” he announced.

“Okay, you’ll need a broom and dustpan. And I have a trash can at the side of the house.”

Robbie took off, calling out, “Be right back.”

Smiling, Coop went back to work, but was quickly distracted when a work truck pulling a trailer stopped at the curb. The vehicle had the lettering Perry’s Landscaping on the side door.

Coop felt the rush of adrenaline. “Okay, it’s time to do my real job,” he murmured and climbed off the ladder.

Two Hispanic men got out of the truck and took the mower from the back of the trailer. It looked like they were here for the yard service. Then he spotted the driver as he climbed out.

Also Hispanic, he was above average height with a slender build and thick coal-black hair. He might have been dressed in a work uniform, but Coop doubted he was a day laborer.

He took a closer look at the man. Since he’d studied Delgado’s actions for a few years, he recognized this man’s familiar features. And this guy could be his twin.

And it looked like he was going to get the opportunity to speak with him as the worker walked to the porch.

“Hey, man, are you painting the house?”

“You could say that.”

“Good.” He studied Coop for a second or two. “Rey Santos.”

Coop didn’t offer his hand. “Noah Cooper.”

“Where’s your crew?”

“You’re lookin’ at it.”

Santos frowned. “You need men? I can get you some workers. At a good price, too.”

He bet he could. “No, thanks, I work solo.”

The two studied each other when Robbie came back with the broom and pan. He stopped on seeing Santos.

“This guy here is all the help I need,” Coop said.

Santos nodded. “Is Mrs. Perry around?”

“No!” Robbie said. “She had to leave.”

Coop could see the boy’s fear. Why? Had Santos been bothering the family?

“I’ll catch her later.”

Robbie waited until the guy left the porch, then went to Coop. “What is he doing here?”

“Doesn’t he work for the lawn service?” He knelt down in front of the boy. “Is something wrong, Robbie? Did that man do something to you?”

The boy shook his head. “No, he yelled at my mom once. She told him to go away. And a long time ago he worked with my dad. He got mad when I was there with my dad.”

Coop hated to pump the boy for information, but he didn’t have a choice. “Is it a secret?”

“Kinda. I promised my dad I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Tell anyone what?”

Robbie was silent, but fear showed on his face. “It’s okay, Robbie.” He needed to know if Santos had threatened him. “You can’t get into trouble now.”

“One day I was supposed to stay with Kasey, but she got mad at me and made me stay in my room. I sneaked out and went to see my dad at work.”

Bingo.

The kid looked frightened. “Don’t tell my mom. She’ll be sad again.”

Coop gripped the boy’s shoulders. “We don’t want to make her sad. Just tell me one thing. Did Santos see you with your dad?”

Robbie shook his head rapidly. “No, Dad made me hide when the man came in his office. They were yelling and I got scared. After that man left, my dad said it wasn’t a good idea for me to come back. Then he … died.”

The boy’s tears tore at Coop. “I know it’s hard to lose someone you love. I lost my brother.”

The boy’s lip trembled. “Did you cry?”

Coop didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, I cried a lot. He was my only family.”

“My sister says boys aren’t supposed to cry.”

“She’s wrong. Everyone cries when they’re sad. It helps to heal your heart. And you know what else helps?”

The boy wiped his nose with the back of his hand and Coop gave him his bandanna to use. “No, what?”

“To remember good things about that person.”

The kid looked thoughtful. “You mean like how much my dad liked peanuts. He used to hide a jar, but he’d share with me.”

Coop’s chest tightened. Mike Perry sounded like a decent guy. So what the hell happened?

“That’s a good one,” he said. “I remember that my brother used to get into my baseball cards. I yelled at him because he used to get them dirty and bend them. A few years ago for my birthday, Devin found me a rookie Nolan Ryan baseball card.”

The boy grinned. “Dad liked him, too.”

“Well, maybe … we can go to a game sometime.” Coop stood, knowing this conversation was getting far too personal. “Right now, we better get to work.”

Lilly walked down the hall to close the front door to block out the noise from the mower, and keep Santos away. That was when she heard her son’s and Coop’s voices.

She hadn’t planned to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t stop when Robbie started talking about his father. Since her ex-husband’s death, both children had clammed up and refused to say anything. So to discover that Robbie had gone to see Mike was a shock. She also learned what she’d suspected—that Mike had been involved with Santos. She didn’t want to think about that. Mike was gone, and she and the kids had to deal with the aftermath.

Lilly’s focus turned back to the man who seemed to be getting through to her son. She liked how Coop handled the situation by telling his own stories. She’d known from their breakfast conversation that Noah’s brother had died. Maybe that was what he and her son had in common.

She felt her chest tighten. She wasn’t the only one who had lost. She might have misjudged Noah Cooper. Over the past couple of years, she had a lot of anger to deal with and she’d been lousy at it. She hated the fact that the entire town knew her business. Thanks to Mike, aspects of their divorce were made public. Yet that didn’t make it right to take it out on every man who came into her life.

She pushed open the screen door and stepped out on the porch.

“Hi, Mom,” Robbie called. “I’m working for Coop. And guess what, he’s paying me, too.” He returned to sweeping paint chips as if proving he could do the job.

“That’s good, son. Since you’re working so hard, why don’t you go and get you and your boss some bottles of water?”

“Okay.” He dropped the broom and ran into the house as Lilly turned to Coop.

“Thank you for working with Robbie. He hasn’t had much chance to be with many men.”

“It’s easy. He’s a great kid. I take it that he didn’t have much time with his father.”

She didn’t want to go into it, so she just shook her head.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry.”

“It’s true. Robbie and Kasey hadn’t had much time with their father the past few years.” She swallowed hard. “I made it nearly impossible.”

Coop took a step toward her, but she raised a hand. “I was too demanding after he’d left us. I made all kinds of rules and stipulations about his visitation. Finally Mike stopped showing up at all.”

She heard Coop curse. “Did the custody agreement give him a fair amount of time with the kids?”

She nodded unable to speak.

“Well, then, if he loved his kids, he would have found a way.”

Suddenly they weren’t alone. Rey Santos walked out from beside the house. She shivered as the man smiled at her.

He turned in her direction and came up the steps. “Mrs. Perry. I would like to speak with you.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the time right now.”

“This will only take a moment. Stephanie wants to know if you have gathered up the rest of Mike’s things.”

Lilly’s sigh was audible. “Tell my sister-in-law that there is nothing left of Mike’s in this house. I left anything that was his behind.”

Rey Santos didn’t look happy as he took a step closer. “If you are keeping any paperwork about the business, Stephanie has the right to them.”

Lilly felt Coop’s presence. She hated the fact that she liked having him close. “I suggest you tell Stephanie to talk to the sheriff. He took all I had in for evidence.” She made that up.

“I will relay the message,” Santos said.

“And tell her I no longer need the lawn service,” Lilly said. “The cost is too high.”

Something flashed in the man’s deep-set eyes. It was almost threatening. “Si, sigñora, I’ll relay the message to her.”

He spoke in Spanish to his crew and they climbed into the truck and drove off.

Lilly released a breath as her body sagged against Coop’s. For a second she let herself feel safe and cared for. And a whole lot of things she shouldn’t be feeling. Reality quickly returned and she moved away.

“Want to talk about it?” Coop asked.

Lilly shook her head. She couldn’t let this man get in. To make her feel again. “Anything you want to know is public record. Ask anyone in town.”

His dark gaze met hers. “Maybe I only want to hear your side of the story.”

“I wish I had one, but it’s still all a mystery to me.”