Heartstrings (8 page)

“You never told me that you knew him personally.”

She shrugged, not wanting to think about just how personally she knew Seth Kendall. “My ex-husband and Seth were best friends when we were all kids. I was kinda the tag-along. Our ranches all border each other.”

Something unreadable passed over his eyes as they bore into hers, but he covered it with another mega-watt grin. “Then I left town and Abby married my best friend.”

Jenny Lynn glanced at her, and Abby read the question in her eyes. Jenny hadn’t missed the undertone in his voice, but covered it by smiling again at him. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Kendall. I’m sorry about your daddy.”

“Thanks for your kind words, Miz Cooke.”

Jenny Lynn gathered her things. “See you later, Abby. Hope they all behave for you.”

“Have a good night, too, Jen.”

Jenny Lynn moved through the door into the staff lounge, then he said, “So, where’s Emily while you’re working here?”

He sucked the air right out of the room. Although she’d never wanted to see him again, she’d often wondered how the experience of being near him would affect her. She didn’t like the effect in the least.

She stared into those fathomless eyes. She’d drown in them again if given the chance. He had a power over her. Despite his betrayal, she wanted to feel the breathless, frantic passion she’d felt that night on the beach.

Damn, she had to get a grip. He didn’t want her, and she sure as hell shouldn’t want him.

“She’s with Mike this week.” She busied her hands with rearranging the charts on the desk. “He has joint custody of her.”

“Doesn’t sound like she likes Tammy Jo.” Seth leaned on the top shelf surrounding the counter.

Finished with rearranging the charts, she braved another look at him. Big mistake. Why did he have to be so sexy? “Emily is a fourteen-year-old girl who doesn’t understand the adult world.”

“Meaning she blames Tammy Jo for breaking up you and Mike. But what Emily doesn’t understand is that he started cheating on you four years ago when she came home.”

His words caused her belly to do a somersault. How had he figured it out so easily? She narrowed her eyes on him and moved out of the station as another nurse entered. She wasn’t about to have this conversation now or ever. “Follow me. I’ll show you to Mr. Harris’s room.”

He smiled at the other nurse before following her away from the station. “Thank you.”

She led him down the wide corridor to a private room at the end of the hall. At the door, he gripped the frame and turned toward her. “I’d like to come over to your place tomorrow. I promised Emily I’d go riding with her.”

She stepped away and looked over her shoulder at him. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. She already idolizes you. I’d hate for her to get hurt when you leave.”

“What if I don’t plan to leave?”

“You will. Emily will be busy tomorrow. ’Bye, Seth.”

* * * *

Abby quick-stepped it down the hall, and Seth followed the swish of her long, glossy braid as it moved with her, brushing the top of the curve of her perfect ass. He wanted to run his fingers through all that luscious hair and caress all those wonderful curves. How could any woman look that sexy in that God-awful pink getup?

He tapped the doorframe with a fist and fought the fire roaring through his veins.

They’d see about him leaving. But not before he got to know his daughter.

Entering the room, he frowned at the utilitarianism of his grandfather’s space. He sent his mother’s brother money to make sure his grandfather had a private room, but even so, it wasn’t very homey. His first mentor sat in a faux leather chair staring out the window into the gray sunlight.

Seth sat in the chair opposite him. “Granddad?”

There was no recognition in his brown eyes when Granddad looked at him and smiled. “How’s it goin’? Do I know you?”

“Yeah, Granddad, it’s Seth.”

“Uh, that’s good.” He looked back out the window. “I was hoping to see George today.”

George? Ah...his great uncle who had died in World War II.

“He’d promised to come by and take me fishing this afternoon.”

He wasn’t sure what to say, so he sat there and didn’t speak at all.

Granddad studied him and pursed his lips. “I wish I knew who you were. You’re such a fine young man. But I’m tired now. I think I’ll go to bed.” He pushed on the arms of the chair, but fell back into the seat.

Seth went to him and supported his weight around his waist. Steven Harris had once been a rodeo champion when he wasn’t playing guitar and singing with his family band. He broke broncos and wrangled bulls.

His heart twisted at seeing the once-proud man so frail. “Let’s get you into bed, Granddad.”

The old man smiled at him and patted his hand with one crippled with arthritis and wrinkled with age. “I wish you could stay until Suzie comes home. She’d like you.”

He stopped dead in his tracks. Wednesday, during the funeral, had been the first time in years he’d given his mother much thought. He swallowed hard. “Suzie was my mama, Granddad.”

A deep frown pinched his wizened forehead, and he shook his head. “Not possible. She’s just a little girl. What kind of trickery is this?” He struggled against him. “Get away! Get away! You’re like the rest of ’em. Get away, I said!”

“Granddad, it’s me, Seth. You taught me how to play guitar when I was ten. Don’t you remember?”

“No!” The old man shook his head, and as tears came to his eyes, flailed at him. “Get away!”

“Please, Granddad, calm down.”

Afraid he’d fall out of bed, Seth held onto him, instantly worsening the situation. Over his shoulder, he called toward the open door, “Nurse! Nurse, I need help!”

A middle-aged woman dressed in light green scrubs rushed into the room and pressed a button near the bed. She took over holding the hysterical, fragile man. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kendall, but you’ll have to leave.”

He nodded, backed toward the door and stared at his grandfather as the nurse cooed soothing words. A moment later, Abby rushed past him with a hypodermic needle in her gloved hands.

She glanced over her shoulder at Seth, then gave his grandpa an injection, speaking in a soft, calming voice and holding the old man’s hand.

His grandfather calmed down, and Abby came to stand beside him. “I gave him a sedative. He’ll go to sleep now and will be back to what’s normal for him in a few hours.”

He dragged his gaze from the bed to meet her brandy eyes as she washed her hands at the sink by the door. “He doesn’t even know who I am. The last time I saw him was about three years ago in Austin. He remembered me then.”

She motioned for him to move through the door. When she took a breath, her smock top tightened over her breasts under her jacket. “Alzheimer’s is a difficult disease. It steals a person’s memories, his life, and confuses and saddens his family. Some days he remembers, but mostly he regresses into the past and is oblivious to anything current. Eventually, he won’t even remember the past.”

“He was talking about wanting to go fishing with his brother George. What upset him was when I told him I was Suzie’s son. He thinks she’s still a little girl.”

“I know it’s hard to understand, but when he’s stuck in the past, it’s better to go along with him.”

“You mean pretend I’m someone else?” As they moved down the wide corridor, he looked around at the patients wandering the halls. None of them paid them much attention.

“No, not exactly. Just don’t try to force who you are on him. That’s what upsets him. He feels like you’re trying to trick him.”

They stopped at the nursing station, and she went behind the desk. She leaned over the keyboard and began typing. He stood on the other side of the counter and stared at her. He’d just witnessed a side of Abby he’d never seen before. She’d always been so shy and unsure when they were growing up–a byproduct of being called names until he and Mike put a stop to her tormenters. But now, she exuded take-charge confidence.

“You’re very good. I couldn’t take care of people like this.”

Without looking up at him, she said, “My first job after nursing school was in the ER. After a year there, I moved to the ICU.” She met his eyes and the corners of her lips turned upward. The sight of that first smile hit him in the chest and sent a jolt straight to places better left forgotten. “Mike calls me a freak because I enjoy high-stress jobs.”

“Who took care of the ranch, your daddy, and Emily?”

“What?”

“While you went to nursing school? Wasn’t your father and the ranch the reasons you couldn’t go to Nashville with me?”

“Not that it’s any of your damned business.” Abby looked at the computer screen. “I went to school after Daddy died. Emily was in preschool, and Mike had finished up with the police academy. We hired a manager to run both the Circle R and Crawford Creek.”

He forced his jaw to relax. The last thing he wanted to do was sue Abby for his rights. It would be a tabloid feeding frenzy if it got out that he had a teenage daughter. He also had no desire to hurt Carolann and Frank–or Emily. Which suing Abby for custody would definitely do.

Just remember you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.

If he wanted to get close to Emily, he had to first get close to Abby.

Smiling at this new angle, he reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. She glanced up as he jotted a number on the back of a business card. When he held it out to her, she stared at it for a moment.

He chuckled. “It won’t bite, I promise. I’d like you to give this to whoever arranges activities for the residents and staff here.”

“Oh?” She took the card, read the information, and then met his eyes.

“The front of the card has my manager’s and agent’s numbers. What you’ll need is my cell number on the back. Have the activities director give me a call by Wednesday.”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to put on a private show for the folks and staff of the home to personally thank y’all for the work you do.”

While she pocketed the card in her jacket, he donned his hat. Turning on the charm he knew worked on the ladies, he drawled, “Goodnight, Abigail.”

He turned and moved down the hall toward the elevator with a swagger he’d long ago learned women enjoyed watching. At the elevator, he glanced back at Abby and grinned when he caught her staring. Tipping his hat, he entered the car and lost the smile.

So, they were still attracted to each other.

What could he do with that?

By the time the elevator doors opened on the first floor to greet a bunch of surprised nurses, he’d found his smile again.

“Howdy, ladies.”

He could do a hell of a lot with Abby’s attraction.

If he was willing to risk his heart
.

* * * *

Seth strummed a melody on his guitar and sang a few words. “Well, that sucks.”

He looked out over the river and thought about the words a moment. This time when he sang the words with the melody, he liked the phrasing and jotted it in his little notebook.

The horse he’d ridden to the riverbank whinnied, and he looked behind him. Squinting against the blaze of the late morning sun, he peered to the east. A rider and horse were making their way up the southern bank of the Salt Fork.

He stood, set his guitar against the rock he’d been sitting on, and stepped out from the shade of the live oak. He’d come out to the Double K early that morning. Johanna wanted him to go to church with her, but he wasn’t ready for that much immersion into the community of McAllister.

Although he avoided entering the house, he liked to take one of the horses and ride over the ranch. Today, he’d brought his guitar. He only had a few months to start writing songs for his next album, and the lazy river bordering the north side of the ranch had always provided great inspiration when he was a teenager.

When the rider silhouetted by the sun came close enough for him to make out who it was, his heart skipped a few beats.

Emily approached at a trot. As she stopped next to his gelding, she smiled brighter than the sun riding the sky above her. Her long ponytail flamed under the brim of her cowboy hat, making her appear ethereal.