Читать книгу Someone to Watch Over Me - Roz Fox Denny - Страница 7

THE MAN’S EYES BORED straight through Isabella, leaving her feeling exposed. The hand holding the cake knife faltered. Why was such a knockout guy attempting to engage her in conversation? The self-proclaimed friend of Colt Quinn’s wore an impeccable gray pinstriped suit, which brought out gray flecks in otherwise lake-blue eyes.

Isabella stood five-nine without shoes. She had to look up to meet Gabe Poston’s eyes. That made him as tall as her brothers, all of whom were over six feet. Poston’s healthy tan spoke of someone who worked out of doors, especially as his light brown hair was also sun-streaked. Yet his hands told a different story.

The men in Isabella’s family—her dad, three brothers and two brothers-in-law—all carved a living from the land. Their occupations ranged from apple farmers to grape growers to sheep men, which meant that their knuckles were permanently scarred and chapped. She loved them all dearly, but she couldn’t help noticing that not one ever had fingernails as clean as the man standing across from her now. Men who looked like Gabe Poston passed through Callanton, but they never stuck around.

That at least came as a relief.

So, the larger issue that loomed on the horizon, beyond his fine physical attributes, was why he’d singled her out. Especially when Summer had invited a score of eligible searching-for-a-mate females to her reception.

She could only assume he hadn’t heard about her. Even folks Isabella had known most of her life avoided speaking directly to her now. Not because they were uncaring but because they didn’t know what to say. Truthfully, what could anyone say?

But this stranger not only spoke, he looked her squarely in the eye and forced her to pay attention. Now that she had, surely he’d see her utter misery, and he’d leave her alone with her pain—like everyone did. Like she wanted them all to do.

Isabella hurt down into the deepest parts of her soul, and she needed to feel every ounce of that rawness. Otherwise she might not have the strength to continue the fight to put Julian Arana behind bars for the rest of his natural life. That was all she lived for. Julian’s lawyer bragged that he’d won a huge victory when the judge ruled out asking for the death penalty. Only the state’s prosecutor and Isabella’s family knew she’d never favored putting Julian to death. Death was too easy an out for a person who had committed his sin.

Her hands shook harder and her stomach knotted just thinking about Julian and the case. Either Poston had no sensitivity, or he was simply the oblivious sort. For whatever reason, he was still smiling at her. A disconcerting smile that revealed tiny laugh lines around his eyes.

“I seem to be your last customer.” Gabe gestured with his cake plate. “The other guests have all gone inside. Presumably to dance. At least I hear the combo that arrived a while ago tuning up their instruments. They have a nice sound, don’t you think?”

Isabella hadn’t seen or heard a band. Of course, she’d ignored everything going on around her except when it pertained to her catering duties. But it was clear that if she didn’t say something, this guy would pester her all evening. “Feel free to take your plate inside. There are TV trays for empties set up near the dance floor.”

Gabe averted his eyes long enough to study the profusion of plates and glasses left strewn about the patio. “Give me a second to finish this, and I’ll help you clean up the mess out here.” He gestured with his plate.

“I…ah…” His offer stunned Isabella. Yet she hated the blush she felt creeping up her neck. Finally, she summoned a grouchy tone. “I have a clean-up crew. You, sir, are a guest.”

“I’m a friend—”

“—of the groom. I know. You already said that. Oh, look. Here are my helpers now.” Isabella cast a relieved glance over Gabe’s right shoulder.

Turning, he saw the two women who’d helped carry champagne in from the parking lot. Both were shaking out large empty trash bags. “Those bags will be heavy once they’re full. Where are the cowboys who carried in the cake for you? You seem to have lost them.”

“Cowboys?” Isabella frowned slightly. “Oh, you must mean my brothers. They went home. They aren’t part of my crew. They’re ranchers.”

“So, they only came to carry in the cake?”

Isabella sighed. Apparently Gabe Poston was a talker. “Most wedding receptions I cater are in town, which means I can slide the cake board out onto a cart and wheel it inside whatever hall the bride’s rented. Logistics here at the Forked Lightning necessitated a change in my usual routine. Really, thank you for offering, but my sisters and I have everything under control.” Closing down again, Isabella set the cake knife aside, then deftly skirted the table, and joined the two women.

Taking time to scrutinize their features, Gabe did see a vague family resemblance. But he thought she was by far the most attractive of the three. If not for eyes filled with pain and shadows, he’d call her beautiful.

Gabe continued to eye the trio while he finished his cake. As he forked up the last bite, he suddenly saw two of the women returning his frank stare. It took a minute for him to tumble to the fact that he was being discussed by them.

He strained to hear but couldn’t make out what they were saying, as they weren’t speaking English. He knew Basques didn’t speak Spanish, although a word or two sounded familiar. Caliente meant hot, didn’t it? This didn’t seem to be a reference to the weather, however, since it wasn’t hot on the patio. The late-spring sun had already dipped behind the mountains and a stepped-up breeze seemed downright chilly. Probably why Summer and Colt had planned to have the dancing inside.

Gabe considered edging closer to the sisters in hopes of deciphering more of their conversation, only Marc Kenyon opened the screen door leading from the house and called out, “Yo, Gabe! Moss and I need to get back to the Inn to collect our bags. If you’d rather stay and dance, Tracey said he’d drive us to town, then on to the airport.”

“I’ll take you. Who knows when I’ll see you two again.” Backtracking to the cake table, Gabe set his empty plate atop a stack of others.

Marc moved out onto the patio and peered around. “Why are you out here all by your lonesome? I swear, Gabriel, you’ve been acting weird all weekend.”

“Is it weird to eat cake like a civilized human being instead of swallowing a chunk whole like you guys did?”

“So now your friends aren’t civilized.” Marc grabbed Gabe and knuckle-rubbed his head as he dragged him inside via the sliding glass door.

FROM THE PATIO, the three sisters watched the byplay. “Like I already asked you once, Bella, who’s the hot guy? The one wearing the gray suit.” Sylvia Oneida, Isabella’s twenty-nine-year-old sister, left off speaking in Euskera, the language of the Basques, to badger her in English. Most of the family called her Bella; friends were more prone to shorten her name to Izzy.

Trinidad Navarro, known to all as Trini, was twenty-five, and very involved in the local dating scene. She’d long since checked out all the single men at the reception. “According to Megan Ward, his name is Gabriel Poston. He was a Marine, along with Summer’s husband. And he’s an accountant plus lawyer. There’s speculation that he’s got a fat bank account. Oh, Megan also said hands off.”

“Trini,” Sylvia gasped. “It’s mercenary to care more about a man’s wealth than his personality.”

Isabella, who’d already begun scraping plates, paused with a plate held over the trash container. “Lawyer? What kind? Is he opening an office in Callanton? The prosecutor assigned to Julian’s case is too busy to answer my questions. I wouldn’t mind having someone I could retain to help me understand all the legal jargon.”

The younger sister, still pouting over the scolding she’d received, answered Bella nonetheless. “He and Marc Kenyon, the guy who just came and got him, both work for Save Open Spaces. That’s the agency Summer’s husband recently left. Oh, and there’s a third friend. Sylvia and I passed him on the road when we helped you carry in the champagne.” Trini gave a disgusted groan after a blank expression crossed her sister’s face. “Honestly, Bella, you’ve gotta snap out of it and start noticing what goes on around you.”

“Ignore Trini,” Sylvia said briskly. “She doesn’t mean to be callous. It’s another stage she’s going through, I think.”

“I am not.” Trini flung her arms around Isabella. “I’m sorry, Bella. We all loved Antonia and Ramon. I hate Julian for his selfish, heartless stupidity. I just can’t bear seeing you so…so consumed. I think the fact that a Rob Lowe look-alike singled you out is the perfect opportunity to get your mind off the tragedy. Even if it’s only for an hour or two.”

Isabella aimed an awkward pat at Trini’s back. “I know I’m not pleasant to be around. I hope you know I couldn’t have survived without my family. I want you to find a good man, one who’ll make you happy, Trini. But please don’t expect me to get on with any type of normal life until after I see the state lock up Julian and throw away the key.” Her voice caught, and pulling back, Isabella blinked dry eyes. She never understood why she couldn’t shed tears when she hurt clear to the very bottom of her soul.

Sylvia cast furtive glances at the door through which the men had disappeared. “He’s gone. Maybe for good, Bella. I heard the one who came to get him say something about an airport. At any rate, Trini isn’t going to mention his name again.” She shot a warning at the youngest member of the large Navarro clan.

It was well known that Trini had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Snatching up a garbage bag, she announced, “Gabriel Poston is a hunk. Furthermore, he smells yummy. It’s too bad our Bella caught his eye first. If he does hang around town, you can bet if I get an opportunity I’ll bring him home to meet Mama and Papa.”

As always—unless their oldest sister, Ruby, was around—Sylvia had to have the last word. “Who cares how he smells? You bring home a man who’s twelve or thirteen years older than you, some ordinary Joe Sixpack at that, and Mama will send you out to cut a willow switch that sings through the air like she did when we were kids who’d misbehaved.”

“Oh, your husband’s exalted just because he’s Basque? He grows grapes, makes wine and smells like yeast, for pity’s sake. Ruby’s husband and Papa come home smelling like sheep dip. Why shouldn’t I want a man in my bed who smells nice?”

“Our men are all good and hardworking. Papa never should’ve sent you off to college in California, Trini. You came home with the idea that you’re too good for any of our local boys.”

“Stop, you two.” Isabella stepped between them. “What if a guest hears us bickering? You know my business depends on word-of-mouth referrals.”

Bella’s sisters both wore guilty faces. Isabella gave each one a bracing hug. “Let Trini spread her wings, Syl. I know for a fact that being born Basque doesn’t guarantee a good man. If community pressures and expectations hadn’t been what they were, I might not have married Julian. I shouldn’t have married him.”

“Oh, Bella!” Sylvia’s brows drew down in distress.

“I’m not after sympathy, Sylvia. I hate the pity I see on people’s faces. If anything, that’s the one nice thing about Mr. Poston. He didn’t avert his eyes when he spoke to me.”

Audrey Olsen, Summer Marsh’s longtime housekeeper, poked her head out of the kitchen. “There you ladies are. I wanted to let you know I cleared a place in the freezer for the top layer of Summer and Colt’s cake. She insists they’re going to eat the stale thing on their first anniversary. Beats me why anybody would want year-old cake. Summer said you provide a special box, Isabella?” The last was more a question than a statement.

“A tin. It’s airtight.” Isabella left her sisters to make her way across the uneven brick. “Most brides save the smallest layer of their wedding cake to celebrate their first anniversary. I designed these tins to seal in as much freshness as possible.” She handed the older woman a silver canister trimmed with white wedding bells. Her bakery’s name was printed neatly on the side. The couple’s names adorned the top.

Audrey took the tin. “Well, isn’t this nice? I suppose Summer told you I offered to fix food for the reception. After seeing all the work, I’m so grateful she decided to hire you, Isabella. Land sakes, weddings are sure more involved now than in my day. Virgil and I just drove down to the county courthouse and said our I dos.”

“I cater anniversaries, too,” Isabella said casually. “Summer said you and Virgil have a fiftieth coming up in a few months.”

Audrey laughed. “I was fifteen when I set my sights on that man. The day I turned eighteen, I followed him out on a round-up. He’ll tell you he couldn’t shake me so he married me. We’ve stuck together all these years, but neither of us makes any to-do over anniversaries. They’re just days that come and go.”

“Fifty years living with the same man is something to crow over in my opinion.” Isabella eased a business card out of the pocket of her blue cotton dress. “I can go simple for family and a few close friends, or hog-wild feeding half the town like we did today. Thanks to good friends like Summer, my weeks are getting booked fairly fast, so if you change your mind, phone me next week. I promise I’ll work up something that won’t threaten Virgil’s masculinity.”

Audrey grinned and read the card in her hand before sliding it into the pocket of her slacks. “You’d better start eating some of the goodies you fix, Izzy. Goodness, girl, you’re wasting away.”

Isabella raised an unsteady hand to rub her throat. She found it almost impossible to make herself eat, ever since her children’s deaths. And now she couldn’t force a response past the lump that seemed to stay lodged in her throat. When would the mere thought of losing Toni and Ramon quit causing her problems with swallowing and breathing? Molly, her psychiatrist, said it would eventually ease.

“Oh, darlin’. Shut my mouth. I didn’t mean to remind you…of…” Audrey clamped her lips closed. “I, uh, maybe I will throw a little party to commemorate fifty years with that old buzzard.” Outwardly flustered, she hurriedly withdrew into the kitchen again.

Isabella felt bad. She drove people away. And that hurt, too. But she couldn’t help it. Molly said the mind was an unpredictable thing.

As Isabella soberly went back to her work, she urged her mind down a different road. She tried to picture what her life would be like fifty years from now. She didn’t particularly like the vision she conjured up—a wizened, skeletal version of the unhappy woman who gazed back at her each day from the bathroom mirror. Trini was right. They were all right. She couldn’t go on as she was. But how could she not be the spokes-person for her silent children?

Her icy lips formed the mantra she began and ended each day with. “When I see Julian properly punished, I’ll worry about getting my life back.”

GABE SETTLED back into the soft leather seat of his luxury SUV and let Marc’s and Reggie’s endless talk swirl around him. They knew each other so well, Gabe could almost predict the path of their conversation. Reggie would talk for a while about the injured livestock he’d healed. Then Marc would jump in and expound on the virtues of the latest sports cars out on the market. Once they’d exhausted those subjects, their interest would undoubtedly veer toward women.

He grinned when their conversation did exactly that.

Moss, who’d changed from his suit into worn jeans and a short-sleeved plaid shirt, stretched his lanky frame across Gabe’s middle set of seats. “So, Marc. Are you really serious about tying yourself down to Lizzy Woodruff?”

Marc darted a quick glance at Gabe before he turned sideways in his seat to see both his friends. An oddly dreamy expression softened his pewter-gray eyes. “Lizzy’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.”

“How do you know?” Gabe jerked his eyes off the road long enough to frown at Marc.

From the back, Moss guffawed. “You said it yourself, Gabe, when you pointed out that little Lizzy’s daddy owns a string of car dealerships.”

Marc bolted upright. “That’s a dog-faced lie! Granted, I met Lizzy at one of her dad’s dealerships, where I went to scope out a car. But cars have nothing to do with why I’m going back to Utah to take our relationship to the next level.”

“I’m serious, Marc,” Gabe said. “How do you know Lizzy’s the one and only?”

“How did Coltrane know Summer was it for him?”

“I have no idea.” Gabe smacked the steering wheel. “Especially since he bombed completely back when he married Monica.”

“Now, she was a piece of work,” Reggie said.

“Yeah. But I remember envying Colt back then. Hell, we all did.”

“Our priorities were different, I guess,” Marc muttered.

Mossberger jumped in again. “In the Corps, we had stuff to prove. But even then we had each other. When Colt married Monica, it was like we lost something.” He shook his head. “Before he was captured in that operation that went bad, we thought we were invincible. Suddenly we were ordinary. Men with shortcomings. That changed us.”

Marc’s brows drew together over the bridge of his nose. “Jeez, Moss, you make us sound like a bunch of losers.”

Gabe sneaked a peek at Reggie in the rearview mirror. “I think Moss is trying to say that when we were faced with our own mortality, we woke up. On some level, we all knew Monica was a user. But tough guys like us were supposed to bag a trophy wife.”

“Yeah. Two by two is nature’s way. All God’s species come in pairs.”

“Spoken like a veterinarian,” Marc jeered. “This conversation’s getting too deep for me. Lizzy’s nothing like Monica. She works and she takes care of her grandmother. Best of all, she has a great sense of humor.”

Gabe grabbed Marc’s arm. “Wait. Maybe Moss is onto something. Guys usually get along when we hang out together. Once the pack breaks up and we’re shuffling around on our own, loneliness forces us to start searching for a mate. Someone to keep us company.”

“Marriage is about more than companionship,” Marc said. “Don’t either of you ever think about having kids?” he ventured hesitantly.

Leaning forward, Reggie planted his bony elbows on his knees. “I do. The old vet I trained under worked closely with the area elementary schools. He kept a petting zoo where city kids come to learn about animals. Some kids, well, they got to me, ya know? You guys’ll probably laugh me out of the car, but…I’ve been thinking about adopting. Not a baby. An older kid. I don’t have any prospects for a wife, but I ask myself, do I need a wife to make a home for a kid who has nothing and no one?”

Gabe tugged at his ear. “I’m not gonna laugh, Moss. Growing up, I kicked around the streets fighting hunger in my belly too often. After Russ Poston threw me out, a home like you’re talking about would’ve seemed like heaven.”

“Still, if you’d had your druthers,” Marc argued, “wouldn’t you have preferred having a mom and a dad? I sure want a kid of mine to have both.”

“Aha! So when’s the wedding?” Gabe drawled. At the same time Reggie whooped and said, “Is Lizzy pregnant?”

Marc turned bright red. “It’s not like that with us. She, uh, we aren’t sleeping together…yet,” Marc qualified, growing ever more crimson.

“Whoa! I believe our ol’ buddy is dead serious about this little gal.” Moss slumped again. “Man, before long I’m gonna be the only one of the fearsome foursome who’s still single.”

“When did I get booted out of the club?” Gabe asked.

“You think I didn’t see you making cow eyes at that babe today?”

“What babe?” Marc’s flush subsided and a gleam flickered in his eyes. “What’d I miss? Gabe’s yanking my chain over Lizzy when he’s hot for some Callanton babe?”

“It’s true,” Moss declared over Gabe’s vociferous denial. “You mean you didn’t see him stalking that tall, black-haired caterer with his tongue hanging out?”

“Keep it up, Reggie,” Gabe warned, “and you’ll be out on the roadside hitching your way to the airport.”

“I see! You can razz me, but your woman’s off limits? No fair! Give with the details, pal.” Marc wasn’t about to let it go.

Gabe clammed up as he curled his hands around the steering wheel and kept his eyes on the road.

“She served us cake at the reception,” Reggie supplied for Marc’s benefit.

“I don’t remember even seeing her. You might’ve tipped me off,” Marc grumbled to Reggie. “So what’s her name?”

“You won’t drop this, will you?” Gabe blew out a stream of air, watching both men lean toward him. When they only continued to leer owlishly, he reluctantly supplied her name. “Isabella. Isabella Navarro.”

When nothing but silence followed his admission, Marc gave another nudge. “How long have you two been dating? Jeez, Gabe, talk about me working fast. Colt said you were in and out of Callanton in a matter of days when you closed the agency’s deal on Summer’s ranch.”

“I’m not dating anyone.” Gabe’s head snapped around. “I…find her…attractive, that’s all. She gave me the brush-off. Now enough’s enough.”

“So what’s wrong with her?” Reggie queried. “She engaged or something?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong.” Marc echoed. “Women never brush you off, Gabriel.”

“She has good reason, okay?” Stalling, Gabe finally capitulated, and in fits and starts relayed the awful thing Summer had told him.

“Holy shit!” Marc and Reggie chorused, their voices laced with horror.

“Exactly. So now you see why it’d be plain stupid for a guy to even try and get anything going with her.”

“Why do I have a feeling you’re gonna do it anyway?” Reggie shrugged. “Otherwise, you’d have packed your bag and come to Idaho with me.”

“Naw,” Marc insisted, frowning at Reggie. “Gabe’s got more brains than any of us. You’ll be driving back to Sun Valley tomorrow, right? To kick back and get in a little spring skiing before Marley needs you to close my deal in Utah.”

“Well…this is great country. Maybe I’ll hang here until Marley phones.”

Reggie smacked a hand down hard on the back of Gabe’s seat. “I knew it. You’re gonna make a play for the caterer.”

“Am not.”

“Are too,” Reggie shot back.

“No. But I may stay a few days. Maybe see what kind of ranch property’s come on the market since Coltrane thwarted those developers and arranged for SOS to save Summer’s ranch.” Gabe winced at what sounded like a lame excuse even to him.

Naturally, Reggie jumped right on his friend’s statement. “Hell, Gabe, you’re a banker. What do you know about ranch land? Or ranching, for that matter. I’ll bet you don’t even know which end of a horse to bridle.”

“I’m not a banker, you idiot. I’m an accountant.”

“Close enough. Shoot, I just can’t picture you mucking out stalls.”

“So? Land’s always a good investment.”

That statement seemed to appease Gabe’s friends for the time being. They moved on to talk of other things until Gabe parked at the small yet bustling airport.

Marc and Reggie were booked on the same flight to Boise. From there, each would go his separate way. With the new heightened security, sans luggage or a ticket, Gabe wasn’t allowed to accompany the men beyond the passenger terminal. As the three longtime friends prepared to part, it again became evident that their lives were changing. No one wanted to say what all were patently aware of—this might be a more lasting goodbye. All cleared their throats awkwardly.

It was Gabe who finally threw up his hands. “Hell,” he growled, dashing at a sheen of moisture in his eyes. “Moss, take care, buddy. And phone.”

“And you e-mail me. I wanna know where you end up if you decide to chuck the job with SOS.”

Marc punched Gabe’s upper arm in manly fashion, but he’d grown strangely quiet.

Gabe, always the leader, grabbed first Reggie, then Marc, and gave them fierce short hugs. “Kenyon, I’ll see your ugly mug whenever Marley transfers funds for me to deal on that Utah ranch. Plan on me taking you and Lizzy to dinner someplace nice.”

Not waiting for Marc’s response, Gabe jammed his hands in his pants pockets, lowered his head and stalked out into the inky night. Dammit, hadn’t he learned by the age of two that tears made a man weak?

Both Reggie and Marc stepped to the entrance and hollered after Gabe. He tossed off a backward wave and hustled out to his vehicle, fast. This felt like an ending. But of what? An era? A good one to be sure. So, why did he feel as if he’d been cut adrift? Was it because his friends’ lives had seemingly fallen into place while he floundered back at square one?

That wasn’t true, either. He had money in the bank and two college degrees. And three staunch friends who’d lay down their lives for him. He had contacts in business if he wanted to make a career move. Last time he’d been at square one, he’d been a street punk living by the seat of his pants. It so happened that his proficiency with math came at an early age. By ten he was making book on the back streets of Houston. Successfully, too. Although in those days he’d lived with a permanent empty hole in his stomach.

At thirty-eight, he’d come too far and gone through too much to still feel like that scared kid with a big chip on his shoulder. Gabe thought back to the walls he’d scaled since. The motto he’d learned to live by flashed in his head. Forgive and forget.

His steps faltered when the next image that popped up was a sad-eyed Isabella Navarro. He hadn’t lied to his friends. A woman like her should be avoided at all cost.

Except…her haunting image lingered as he clicked the remote to open the doors of his Lexus. Nor did he shake the vision as he rolled down the driver’s window and breathed in the loamy scent of new-tilled fields as he drove back to his empty room at the Inn. Isabella’s face followed him to bed.

Gabe knew, long before sleep claimed him, that he would make the effort to see her again. And in spite of his own good sense and the unspoken agreement of his friends that she was trouble with a capital T, he planned to see her soon.

Tomorrow.

Surprisingly, his stomach felt better when he’d made that decision.