Homeward Bound (3 page)

"I am."

He followed Trevor's gaze to the graceful beauty walking across the lawn towards the other house. Admittedly, the woman had style. Even without a stitch of makeup, and her hair pulled back in that infernal horsetail, she outclassed any woman in the area. That didn't make her a good candidate for a tenant.

"I don't see anything wrong with her. A little flat chested perhaps," Trevor commented.

Incensed that his twin thought with the part of his body below his waist, Jake groaned. "If I want the amusement of seeing a city girl stumble around on the farm, I'll watch reruns of Green Acres. That one won't last here a month, and then we'll be looking all over again."

"So make her sign a lease."

"Forget it. No woman is going to live in my house."

"My house," Trevor corrected. "This is your house. That one's mine. And what do you call Chloe, anyway?"

"She's a little girl."

Trevor turned and scuffed his boot against the floor. "Damn it, Jake. She's fifteen, and you treat her like she's five. She ain't your little baby anymore. She's growing' up, and she needs a woman around to talk to."

He didn't need a woman filling his daughter's head with stories of the big city. One had been more than enough. "Not one like her."

"How do you know? You didn't exchange three sentences with her. And we don't have too many options open to us, Jake. We need that money coming in right now."

"We'll figure something else out. Besides, she probably won't take it. She's already on her way back."

Trevor glanced out the window, and frowned. She couldn't have looked at more than one room. He greeted her at the door and flashed a tentative smile. "If there's something about it we could change...”

Kate lifted her shoulders. "No. It's lovely the way it is. How much is the rent?"

Jake rattled off a figure twice the amount they’d agreed on when they decided to rent the one house to help make the mortgage payments on the farm.

"Negotiable," Trevor quickly added, glowering at his brother.

"No. That's fine. I'll take it," Kate said calmly, shocking both men into silence.

If Trevor couldn't believe his good luck, Jake definitely couldn't believe his bad luck. He never imagined she'd say yes. She could rent two houses in the area for that kind of money.

"You might do better to look closer to the city. I don't think it would suit you here," Jake said when he found his voice again.

"But then, you don't know me. I said I wanted it. What is the problem, Mr. Callahan?"

"The problem is what we do when you get bored playing with the country boys and go back to New York." His stinging comments seemed to have more of an effect on Trevor than her.

Trevor opened his mouth to come to her defense, but she waved him off. "I don't bore easily. I have no intention of returning to New York for at least a year. And I don't play with boys. Since that doesn't seem to be enough for you, I'll pay the full year in advance. If I choose to leave early, you're not out a damn thing. Anything else?"

"Yes," Jake said, and then tried to come up with one logical objection. She offered a solution to their cash flow problems, yet he didn't want to accept. When he saw his daughter walking up the front path, he knew he had to swallow his pride. "I guess not."

"If you think of anything later, have it put in the lease." Kate handed the keys to Trevor and withdrew her checkbook. "Who should I make the check out to?"

Trevor pointed to his brother. "Jake. I owe him the money."

As easily as if she were paying for her groceries, she dashed off a check for more money than he earned in six months. "It takes five business days to clear an out-of-state check. I'll be back for the keys on Monday."

Chloe skipped through the door. Her long braid swung across the back of her overalls, dirty from her afternoon chores. She looked so genuinely surprised and pleased to see another female that Jake wondered if Chloe did need a woman's influence.

"Hello." Kate offered her hand to the young girl.

"My daughter, Chloe," Jake mumbled. He glanced at the name on the check and added, "Kate Costello. She's going to be renting your uncle's house."

"What a sweet face you have, Chloe," Kate said. "Not much like your father, though. You must get your looks from your uncle."

Chloe giggled. "They're identical twins."

Kate looked back and forth between the two brothers and grinned. "Only at first glance."

* * * *

Kate shook her head. No, she wouldn't have trouble telling them apart. Trevor would be the one who smiled at her, and Jake would be the one with a permanent scowl. She got the distinct impression that Jake backed down only because of his daughter.

She thought about the irony. Seeing the child working up in a field had been one of the reasons she had decided to take the house. That and the porch swing. She never stepped inside the front door.

Mr. Callahan might not want her around, but she had no intention of letting him scare her off. He accepted her check, so he had himself a tenant for the next year.

"When are you movin' in? Soon?" Chloe turned a hopeful gaze toward Kate. A blue-eyed waif with sandy blond hair, she appeared to be about thirteen or fourteen. She was a pretty little thing under her dusty overalls and tattered sweatshirt. A true tomboy, skinned arms and all. "Are you staying for dinner?"

Kate suppressed a laugh at the bug-eyed glare Jake sent his daughter. "No. I've already ruined your father's day. I wouldn't want to ruin his meal, too. I guess I'll be seeing you all again on Monday."

Trevor tossed the key across the room, and she reflexively raised her hand to catch it in the air. His boyish grin set him even further apart from his serious brother. "Move in whenever you want, Kate. If the check bounces, I'll fill that little sport coupe of yours full of fresh manure."

She didn't believe Trevor would, but she wouldn't put it past Jake. "Thanks. I'll see you the day after tomorrow."

Chapter Two

Jake stood at the Dutch door and watched in astonishment at the number of boxes and bags Kate Costello managed to pull out of that little red sports car. She must have jammed every inch of available space in the two-seater with her personal belongings. He even noticed a ratty-looking stuffed animal. The barn cats dragged home better-looking things than that offensive keepsake. Ms. Costello was one strange woman.

A damn fine-looking one, too. He could kill Trevor with no provocation at all. He had a half-day's work left, and he stood there spying from the door like some infatuated adolescent nursing a crush on the prom queen. He could understand if Trevor dated her type, but his twin preferred a woman with a little less between the ears and a little more filling out the front of her sweater.

As he watched her stride gracefully between the car and the house, he tried to figure out why she had come there. Women didn't bury themselves in rural towns like Tannersville. They ran away, as far and as fast as their little feet would carry them.

Damn! He had to stop this. He got hot watching her, and it had nothing to do with the air temperature. The April chill could be felt everywhere but in that kitchen. He stormed out the door and across the lawn in the direction of the barn.

"Mr. Callahan."

He stopped and turned back. People often addressed him by his surname since they couldn't distinguish between him and Trevor from a distance. Evidently Kate had the same difficulty. "I'm Jake."

She crossed the yard and stopped directly in front of him. "I know."

"I'm busy. What did you need?"

She handed him the folded lease. "I signed it."

He glanced at her signature and slipped it in his pocket. "Is that it?"

"No. I need the name of the electric company to have the bills switched over to my name. And the phone company." She paused and looked down at the list in her hand. "The heat? Is it oil or gas?"

"That's part of the rent."

"Oh. It didn't say that in the lease. That's very generous."

Jake shook his head and laughed. "Not at all, Ms. Costello. I charged you twice as much rent as I originally planned to ask for the house."

She flashed her straight white teeth in a beautiful smile. "I know that, too. But it was half as much as I expected to pay. So now you can feel you took advantage of me, and I can feel I got a bargain. Everybody's happy."

"Ecstatic," he grumbled. "You can take the phone book from my kitchen to get those numbers you need. Anything else?"

"One more thing. What is the address? There are no numbers or street names."

"Do you plan on having callers?" Jake silently cursed himself. He sounded like a jealous schoolboy. If she wanted to entertain the entire male population of New Mexico, why should he care?

She arched her perfectly tweezed eyebrow. "Is it forbidden to have guests? I didn't notice it in the lease."

"No. But I do have a teenaged daughter whom I try to set an example for. I hope you'll try to do the same."

Instead of getting angry, she smiled again. "I'll keep it in mind. I wanted the address so I could have the rest of my things delivered."

"Oh," Jake mumbled. He'd been put in his place quite nicely, with no effort on her part. "Have it sent care of Trevor, Rural Route 12,

She wrote it down in her notepad. "Thanks."

* * * *

Jake nodded curtly and strode away, leaving Kate standing by herself. The two days hadn't changed his opinion of her. He still didn't want her there, and he didn't bother to hide his feelings. She could accept that. She knew where she stood, and she could deal with him accordingly.

She shrugged and headed back towards the house. Her house, at least for the next year. The thought made her warmhearted and lightheaded. She paused to admire a cherry tree, sprinkled with new green leaves and tiny buds. The first sign of the long winter's end.

She returned to reality and learned her first lesson of farm life at the same moment. She had to watch where she walked or her foot would end up in something completely offensive to the nose and destructive to her designer sneakers.

"Oh, yuck!" A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed her suspicion that Jake had witnessed the accident.

Nice to know the man could laugh, even if she was the source of his amusement. "Get used to it, Kate. You'll be doing it often."

Get used to it, she would! She found the rolling farm lands a relaxing change from the city. This minor incident was a small price to pay. Years of psychoanalysis wouldn't have had as much of an effect on her frazzled nerves as her five days in New Mexico had.

When she’d come to see the house the other evening, she hadn't realized the Callahan’s ran a dairy farm. She just assumed they raised produce, like so many of the other farmers in the area. Now that she had a chance to look around in the daylight, she noticed the many cows grazing in the green pasture behind the houses.

She scraped her sneaker against the grass and left the pair by the back door before she entered the house. The open, airy kitchen had been built for someone who loved to cook. The drab avocado color dated back to the seventies, but she had plenty of time to make cosmetic changes. Anticipation started her creative juices flowing, and she sat down at the drop leaf table to make a list of things to do. Unpacking could wait.

"Hello?" a soft voice called from her back door.

Kate dropped the pen on the table and went to answer. "Hello, Chloe. Come on in."

"I can't. I have work." She held a small basket of eggs towards Kate. "They're fresh. I didn't know if you had time to go to the store yet."

Kate took the offering and placed it down on the table. "Thank you."

"Did you ever see cows being milked?" Chloe asked.

"On television."

Chloe pursed her lips together and waved her hand in the air. "That's not real. We use machines. Do you want to watch?"

Although she would have liked to, she thought better of antagonizing Jake on her first day. "I think your father might get angry."