Heart of Texas Series Volume 1: Lonesome Cowboy\Texas Two-Step\Caroline's Child (21 page)

The fact was that in four years they'd never so much as held hands—which should say something. He simply enjoyed Ellie's company, and she enjoyed his. Anything romantic would ruin one of the best damn friendships he'd ever had. Ellie felt the same way. Okay, so they'd never openly discussed it, but then there was no reason they should. They understood each other. An unspoken agreement.

Yes, that was it; he felt better for having analyzed the situation. “Ellie and I have an understanding,” he explained with a sense of satisfaction. Cal wouldn't argue with that. “It's like the way you and I never talk about Bitter End.”

Cal's eyes narrowed. Only a small number of families in Promise knew about the ghost town hidden in the Texas hills. Few ever mentioned it. Once, as teenagers, Grady, Cal and Glen had decided to look for the town themselves. It was supposed to be a summertime adventure. Something they could brag about to their friends. It'd taken them weeks to find the place, but eventually they'd stumbled on it. The town, with its abandoned buildings and eerie silence, had terrified them so much they'd never gone back. Not only hadn't they returned, they rarely spoke of their experience.

“What's Bitter End got to do with Ellie?” Cal demanded.

“Nothing. What I mean is, you and I don't discuss Bitter End, and Ellie and I don't talk about our relationship because it's understood that neither of us is interested in a romance. Why's that so hard to accept?”

“Fine,” Cal said with a snort of disbelief. “You believe what you want and I'll pretend not to notice the truth.”

Glen was fast losing patience. “You do that, big brother.” He didn't know what made Cal think he was such an expert on women. He was tempted to say so, but restrained himself. “I'll see you tonight sometime,” he said, eager to set off. Ellie might act as if clearing out her childhood home was no big deal; Glen knew otherwise.

“Whenever,” Cal said without apparent interest.

Glen eased Moonshine into an easy canter and headed toward the ranch house. One of these days Cal would find the right woman and that would shut him up. Glen had never been too impressed with Jennifer Healy; as far as he was concerned, Cal had made a lucky escape. Unfortunately his older brother didn't see it that way. Being ditched by his fiancée had made him cynical about women.

Switching his thoughts to Ellie, Glen smiled. He could almost see the quizzical smile she sometimes wore, could almost hear the sound of her laughter. That was what Ellie needed now—a reason to laugh. Laughter was a great emotional release, and she'd kept her feelings hidden inside for far too long.

He'd shower first, Glen decided, make himself something to eat and be on his way. Cal could sit in front of the tube if he wanted, but Glen had other plans. Much better ones.

***

Grady Weston's throat felt parched as a dried-up creek bed. He walked into the ranch house and straight to the refrigerator. His sister, Savannah, made a tall pitcher of iced tea for him and Laredo every afternoon. Not bothering with the niceties, he reached for the glass pitcher and drank directly from that.

“Grady!” Savannah admonished him, coming into the room. Her dad's old dog, Rocket, followed her, his movements slow and awkward. She carried an armful of fresh-cut old roses, their pungent scent filling the kitchen.

He finished one last swallow and set the pitcher down on the counter, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Where's Richard?” he demanded, not wanting to hear about his lack of manners.

Okay, he should've taken the time to grab a glass, but damn it all, he was tired and thirsty. He added
irritated
to the list the moment he glanced out at the drive and saw that his pickup was missing. If it turned out that his no-good brother had absconded with his truck, his irritation would quickly turn to fury.

“I...don't know where Richard is,” Savannah answered, and lowered her gaze. The way she avoided meeting his eyes was a sure sign that she had her suspicions but wasn't willing to share them.

“He took the truck, didn't he?”

Savannah shrugged, then nodded.

“I figured as much,” Grady growled, his anger mounting. Six years earlier Richard had stolen all the family's money and promptly disappeared. Savannah and Grady had been left to deal with the aftermath of their parents' deaths, the inheritance taxes and all the legal problems, while Richard was busy squandering every dime on God only knew what. Then, this past spring, he'd shown up, down on his luck and needing a place to live until the severance check from his last job arrived. Or so he'd told them. Savannah chose to believe Richard's story, but Grady wasn't going to trust him again. Not by a long shot.

Should've kicked him off the ranch the first day.
He would have, in fact, if it hadn't been for his softhearted sister. In the weeks since, Grady had called himself every kind of fool. Opportunity after opportunity had presented itself to send Richard packing, but he hadn't taken advantage of a single one.

Grady had tried to reason it out in his own mind, especially after Richard had thrown himself a welcome-home party and stuck Grady with the bill. Deep down, Grady recognized that he
wanted
to believe Richard had changed. Even when every bit of evidence claimed otherwise. As the oldest he felt a responsibility to make everything right. He looked for ways to honor the memory of his parents. Ways to hold on to the ranch.

Their mother had spoiled Richard; her youngest son had been her favorite. She might be partly to blame for his self-centered behavior, but regardless of what he'd done, she'd have expected Grady to give him shelter. Even now, six years after her death, Grady found himself seeking her approval.

“Where'd he go this time?” Grady asked, disgusted more with himself than with his brother. Richard was a master when it came to manipulating people. He was charming and a clever conversationalist, unlike Grady who was often loud and brusque. He wished he'd inherited some of Richard's success with the ladies, but he was too old and too stubborn to change now.

Savannah slowly shook her head.

“Does that mean you don't know where Richard went or you don't want to tell me?”

“A little of both,” she confessed.

Despite his anger, Grady smiled and sat down at the table. “I probably would've given him the keys if he'd asked,” he admitted with a certain reluctance.

“I...didn't actually give him the keys, but I told him where they were.”

Savannah sat down across from him. It struck Grady how beautiful his sister was. As little as six months ago he would never have thought of her that way. She was just Savannah, his kindhearted younger sister. A woman who rarely raised her voice, rarely disagreed. A picture of calm serenity, while he struggled to contain his explosive temper. A woman who'd always been happy with her quiet low-key life.

Then one day, out of the blue, his sister had changed. No, he corrected himself, she'd always been strong in ways that made others seem weak, but he'd failed to recognize or appreciate those qualities in her. It had been quite a lesson she'd given him. She'd begun to assert her own needs; she'd made him aware that she wanted more from life than he'd realized or been willing to acknowledge. These changes came about because of Laredo Smith, a drifter who'd stumbled into their lives. A cowboy. A godsend. Grady and Laredo were partners now. The wedding had taken place a few weeks earlier in her rose garden, with only a few close friends as guests. In time the newlyweds would be building their own home and starting a family. Grady looked forward to having children on the ranch.

Falling in love had transformed his sister into a woman of true beauty. It was as if all the goodness inside her had become outwardly visible. He wasn't the only one who'd noticed, either. A couple of months ago she'd cut her hair—formerly waist-length—and begun wearing jeans instead of those long loose dresses. All at once other men had started to take heed. Too late, however, because her heart belonged to Laredo.

“What time did he leave?” Grady asked, rubbing his face tiredly. The problems with Richard just seemed to multiply. The money he'd claimed was coming had yet to arrive, although he'd managed to reimburse Grady five hundred dollars.

Grady had serious doubts about any so-called severance pay owed to Richard. He suspected the money was just the beginning of a long list of lies his brother had been feeding them.

To Grady's relief, Savannah no longer actively championed Richard's cause, and he knew she felt as troubled as he did about their younger brother. Neither was comfortable at the thought of kicking him off the ranch entirely. Besides, Richard occasionally made himself useful, running errands in town and making token efforts to help around the ranch.

“He left about three this afternoon.”

“He didn't go into town, did he?”

Savannah hesitated. “I don't think so, but then, he didn't tell me where he was headed.”

“I could have used an extra hand this afternoon,” Grady murmured.

But they both knew Richard's answer to that. He was never cut out to be a rancher, which was the reason he'd given for fleeing with the family money—his share of the inheritance he called it, since he wanted no part of the ranch. The excuse stuck in Grady's craw every time he thought about it.

“He's been keeping himself busy,” Savannah said, and held his gaze a moment longer than usual. Neither one of them was entirely sure what he did with his time. He disappeared for hours at a stretch without telling anyone where he went or who he was with. Normally Grady wouldn't care, but considering Richard's history, it was worrisome.

“I heard him talking to Ellie on the phone earlier,” Savannah told him. “He invited her to Ruth's birthday party.”

This didn't give Grady any cause for celebration. He'd noticed his younger brother's growing interest in Ellie Frasier. The fact that she'd recently inherited the family business hadn't escaped Richard's notice, and Grady worried that his brother's interest might be leaning more toward that feed store than to Ellie. She'd dealt with enough grief to have anyone exploit her now.

“She doesn't know, does she?” Savannah asked.

Grady shook his head. Few people in Promise were aware of Richard's crime. It was something Grady preferred not to share. No one wanted his friends and neighbors to learn that his only brother had robbed him blind. Only a handful of folks knew Richard had run off with every penny in the family coffers the day they buried their parents. Vanished for six years until he'd needed help himself.

Grady cursed under his breath and waited for Savannah to chastise him.

She didn't, and Grady soon realized why. The screen door opened and Laredo walked into the kitchen. The wrangler's gaze immediately met Savannah's and they exchanged a tender look.

They fascinated Grady. His sister and her husband were so deeply in love he doubted either one remembered he was in the room. Savannah stood and poured Laredo a glass of iced tea, which the man accepted gratefully. After downing the contents in four or five gulps, Laredo set the glass aside and hugged her close.

Grady watched his brother-in-law's eyes drift shut as he savored holding Savannah. In all his thirty-five years, Grady had never seen any two people more in love. Watching them lost in each other's embrace was almost painful, reminding him how alone he was. He realized he wasn't an easy man to love—he knew that—and he doubted any woman would put up with him for long. Yet he couldn't watch Savannah and Laredo and not wish for that kind of contentment himself.

Grady had never felt lonely before, never given much thought to marriage.
Someday
was about as close as he'd gotten to thinking about any future romance and then only if he could find a woman willing to look past his very noticeable flaws.

There hadn't been
time
to give any consideration to his marital status and romantic hopes—such as they were. It'd taken him six years of backbreaking labor to dig the ranch out of debt. If all went well with this year's herd, they'd be completely in the black once again.

“Caroline's coming over later,” Savannah murmured.

Grady wasn't sure who the comment was meant for. Probably him. Nor was he sure whether she intended this as a warning or as...something else. Caroline Daniels was Savannah's best friend and the town's postmistress; he couldn't seem to get along with her, but he was afraid Savannah still had matchmaking ambitions concerning them. A completely hopeless and wrongheaded idea. Lately his sister and Caroline had spent a lot of time discussing and designing house plans, and while that didn't affect Grady one way or another, he often found himself in the company of Caroline's five-year-old daughter, Maggie. He'd been gruff and impatient with the girl not long ago, and she would barely look at him now. Grady felt bad about that.

And it irritated him no end that Maggie had taken to Richard, and being the smooth-talking charmer he was, his younger brother soon had the kid eating out of his hand.

Grady considered his squabbles with Caroline more her fault than his. He admired people who spoke their minds, but Caroline did it a little too often for his liking.

“Are you going to Ruth's birthday party?” Savannah asked.

Grady hesitated, but only for a moment. “Probably not.”

His sister's eyes flared briefly and he knew that wasn't the response she'd wanted.

“Why not?”

He wasn't accustomed to explaining his decisions, but Savannah had that look about her, and he knew it was better to deal with the subject now than postpone it.

“Do I need a reason?”

“Laredo and I are going,” she said, wrapping her arm around her husband's waist. “Ruth's a sweetheart, and it means a great deal to Nell that there be a nice turnout.”