Heart of Texas Volume One (42 page)

In the morning another check of his brother's room showed that Richard hadn't been home that night.

“Have you seen Richard lately?” he asked his sister when he went downstairs for breakfast.

Savannah shook her head. “He's probably still sleeping.”

“His bed is empty.” Grady used his fork to grab a pancake from the stack in the middle of the table. “When you see him, tell him I need to talk to him, all right?”

“Problems?”

Grady didn't want to involve Savannah in this, but she knew him too well not to realize something was wrong. He tried distancing her with another question. “Did Laredo leave the house already?”

“What's Richard done?” Savannah asked, ignoring the question.

Grady sighed and set down the jar of maple syrup. “Max Jordan talked to me last night about some money Richard owes him. Apparently our dear little brother has charged a few things at Max's he hasn't bothered to pay for.”

Savannah didn't comment, but he saw sadness on her face.

“It makes me wonder if he's been doing the same thing with anyone else in town.” Grady grabbed another pancake and picked up the syrup again.

“He has,” Savannah confessed in a small voice.

“And you knew about it?”

“I…” She bit her lip. “I just found out about it myself. Millie Greenville talked to me last week. She suggested that perhaps we could trade something for the money Richard owes her. My roses, for example.”

Grady slammed the syrup jar down. “You didn't agree to this, did you?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“But—”

“I won't hear of it, Savannah, and neither will Laredo. Richard's the one who owes that money, not you and not me. He's going to repay it, too, if it's the last thing he ever does. Every penny.”

“I know,” she said. “Laredo and I've already discussed what to do, and he's as adamant as you are.”

Grady's fork sliced viciously across the pancake. He forced himself to relax, knowing his anger would ultimately hurt him far more than it would Richard.

Laredo had saddled the horses and was waiting for him outside when he finished his meal. Savannah walked out, too, and with an agility Grady envied, her husband leaned over his horse's neck and kissed her.

“If Richard shows up, tell him…” Grady paused, then shook his head. “Don't tell him anything. Let me do the talking this time.”

Savannah nodded. “He's been making himself scarce lately.”

“Now we know why, don't we?”

The sadness was back in his sister's eyes before she turned away and hurried into the house.

 

R
ICHARD DOMINATED
G
RADY
'
S
thoughts for the rest of the day. By the time he got home, he was ready to read his brother the riot act. To his surprise Richard was there waiting for him.

“I understand you want to talk to me,” his brother said.

Grady was so angry he needed every bit of self-control not to explode with it. “Damn right I want to talk to you.”

“It's about the stuff I charged in town, isn't it?”

“Yes. I can't believe you'd take advantage of our good name to—”

“Listen, Grady, you've got every right to be mad, but I don't need a lecture.”

“That's too bad because—”

“Before you get all bent out of shape, let me say something. I've been sick with worry about those charges. Ask Savannah if you don't believe me. I have some money owed to me, quite a bit as it happens—you know that. It was supposed to have been mailed to me long before this.” He frowned thoughtfully. “It must have been misdirected. I've spent weeks trying to track it down.”

If anyone knew what it was like to be low on cash, it was Grady, but he wasn't falling for his brother's lies again. He opened his mouth to tell him so when Richard continued.

“I figured I'd have those bills paid off before now. I haven't charged anything in weeks.”

“What about the suit?” Grady flared.

His brother's expression became pained. “That was a…mistake. I was tricked into thinking Ellie had agreed to marry me and didn't learn until later it wasn't true.” He inhaled sharply. “In my excitement I went down and bought myself a decent suit for the wedding.”

“Max said he'd let you return it.”

Richard smiled slightly. “As it happens the money was at the post office when I picked up the mail this afternoon. The first thing I did was pay off all the bills.” He slid his hands into his jeans pockets. “I realize it was a mistake not to discuss this with you earlier.”

“Yes, it was.” Grady's relief was tremendous. The problem was solved and the family's good name redeemed. And none of the business owners was losing any money.

“I'm sorry you had to find out about it the way you did.”

While reassured that the money matters had been properly dealt with, Grady wasn't willing to make any further allowances for his brother. Richard had worn out his welcome. “Now that your money's here, you'll be reimbursing me—and then moving on, right?”

“Yes. I appreciate you letting me stay this long. I know it's been an inconvenience, but I didn't have anywhere else to go. We've had our problems over the years, and I'm hoping we can put those behind us now.” He held out his hand for Grady to shake.

Grady accepted it, glad to see that his brother had revealed the maturity to confront him man to man.

Perhaps there was hope for Richard, after all.

 

E
LLIE HAD BEEN RESTLESS
all day. With the big Fourth of July weekend coming up, business was slower than it had been in weeks. She found herself waiting, watching, hoping to see Glen—and was furious with herself for caring.

She was finished with men, Ellie told herself. She'd rather herd goats than be married, but even as she entertained the thought, she realized it was a lie. Although she was fond of Savannah's goats, she was more than fond of Glen Patterson. Not that he deserved her affections!

Once the store had closed for the day, she returned home. The afternoon heat was intense, so she made herself some iced tea. She tugged her shirt free of her waistband, propped her bare feet on the coffee table and let the fan cool her. But it was going to take more than a fan and a glass of iced tea to revive her sagging spirits.

Because of the fan's drone she didn't hear her doorbell. When she finally realized someone was at her door, she got to her feet and hurried across the room. She threw open the door and on the other side of the screen was the largest bouquet of flowers she'd laid eyes on. While she couldn't see the man behind it, she could easily identify him by his boots.

Glen.

He waited a moment, then peeked behind the flowers and beamed her a smile. That slow sexy smile of his, capable of melting the hardest hearts, the strongest wills.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, his smile growing wider. “Aren't you going to let me in?”

Wordlessly she unlatched the screen door and opened it for him.

He carried in the flowers and set them in the middle of her coffee table. They towered over it, filling the room with a profusion of glorious scents. Then he kissed her cheek and said, “I'll be right back.”

When he returned, his arms were laden with gifts. She noted the chocolates, the basket of exotic fruit, the bottle of champagne. He set everything down next to the flowers and added three wrapped gifts.

“What's all this?” she asked, glancing at the table and then at him.

“Bribes,” he said, looking very pleased with himself.

“For what?”

“I'll get to that in a moment.” Taking her by the shoulders, he guided her back to the sofa. “Sit,” he instructed.

She complied before she realized she should have made at least a token protest about being ordered around, but curiosity won her over.

“Here,” he said, handing her the smallest of the wrapped gifts. “Open this one first.”

Christmas didn't yield this many presents. “Don't think you can buy my love, Mr. Patterson.”

“I don't need to, Ms. Frasier,” he said confidently. “You already admitted you love me.”

For the fleetest of seconds Ellie wanted to argue, tell him she'd been emotionally distraught at the time, but it was the truth—she did love him.

Inside the package she found a pen. An attractive-looking ballpoint pen. Puzzled, she raised questioning eyes to him.

“Do you like it?” he asked.

“It's very nice,” she said, puzzled but nevertheless excited. Before she had time to say anything more, he thrust another package at her. “This one is next.” He knelt on the floor beside the sofa while she unwrapped a shoe-size box.

“Are you going to tell me what this is all about?” she asked. She tore away the paper and stared in utter amazement at the mismatched items inside.

The first thing she pulled out was a Cal Ripken baseball card. Next she removed a shoelace, followed by rose-scented bath salts from Dovie's store, and last, an ordinary key. Ellie examined each thing again, wondering what she was missing. As far as she could tell, the items weren't linked in any way.

“Is there a reason you're giving me one shoelace?”

He grinned. “It's blue.”

She would have described it as a dark navy, closer to black— but that was beside the point. “The key?” she asked, holding that up next.

“That's to Bob Little's vacation home on the Gulf.”

“Why do you have it?”

“I borrowed it,” he replied as though that answered the question.

“I see.” But she didn't. Changing tactics, she reached for the pen. “What about this?”

He gazed into her eyes. “The pen is for something special. I was hoping we'd use it to write our names in that old family Bible of yours. Maybe Wade should do it for us after the wedding ceremony, but then—” He stopped abruptly and leaned back on his heels. “I'm doing this all wrong again, aren't I?” Not giving her time to answer, he continued, “I spoke with Dovie earlier and she advised me how to go about this, but now I've forgotten almost everything.”

“You spoke to Dovie?”

He ignored her question. “Honest to goodness, Ellie, I don't know what I said that was so terrible when I asked you to marry me before, but whatever it was I couldn't be sorrier. I love you. I mean that.”

“I know.” She felt tears brimming in her eyes. She'd waited a long time for Glen to tell her how he felt.

“You do?” His relief was evident. “Dovie said I needed to tell you that, but I was sure you already knew. And I want it understood that my proposal doesn't have anything to do with the bets Billy D's taking over who you're going to marry.”

“I'd forgotten about that.”

“I had, too, until Dovie reminded me. I love you, Ellie,” he said again.

“I know, but it doesn't hurt to say the words every now and then. Or to hear them.”

“Dovie said the same thing.” He brightened at that, then clasped both her hands in his and got back on his knees. “Will you marry me, Ellie?” he asked solemnly.

When she didn't immediately respond, he reached for the box she'd just opened. “I wanted to be kind of traditional about this,” he said. “The baseball card is something old. I've had it since I was in junior high. The scented bath salts is something new. The key's something borrowed, since Bob said we could use his house on the Gulf for our honeymoon. And the shoelace is something blue.”

“Oh, Glen.”

“I'm miserable without you. Nothing seems right.”

It hadn't been right for her, either.

“I know Dovie said I shouldn't mention this, but I want you to know that even though we've waited two months for the farrier's appointment, I'd cancel it if you decided Tuesday was the day you wanted to get married. I'm that crazy about you.”

“You're sure this isn't because of Richard.”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “Very sure. Although I'm grateful to him, otherwise I don't know how long it would've taken me to realize I love you.”

“Then I'm grateful to Richard, too.”

“We'll buy an engagement ring together, anything you want. Only please don't make me wait much longer.” His eyes filled with such hopeful expectation she couldn't have denied him anything. “Ellie, you're my friend, the best friend I've ever had. I want you to be my lover, too. My wife. The mother of my kids. I want us to grow old together.”

Rather than respond with words, Ellie wrapped her arms about his neck and lowered her mouth to his. She'd yearned for this from the moment he first kissed her. She understood now, with all her heart, what poets meant when they wrote about being completed by a lover, a spouse. She felt that. He completed her life.