Winter Vows, page 5
Instead, as he walked through the bunkhouse door, he was greeted by Harlan Adams.
“Hey, there, son, you’re just the man I’ve been looking for.”
In all the years he’d worked at White Pines, the owner had never sought him out before. Hardy regarded him warily. “Oh? Why is that?”
“Just wanted to add my congratulations to everybody else’s. You did a fine thing the other night, helping out a stranger. Couldn’t have been easy circumstances, but you kept your head and pulled through for her.”
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate it, but the truth is, I just did what anyone would have done. I’m hardly anybody’s idea of a hero.”
“I doubt you’d get the new mama to agree to that.”
“Oh, she’s just grateful, that’s all.” He noticed that the old man showed no inclination to be on his way. “Is there something else?”
“Well, you could do me a favor, if you have the time.”
“Now?” Hardy asked, trying not to let his dismay show.
“Not right this second, but tonight. Like I said, only if you have the time. I know what a busy social life you have.”
Hardy searched for a hint of censure in his tone, but couldn’t find any. “The truth is I thought I’d skip going into town tonight. It’s been a long day.”
Harlan Adams beamed, clearly ignoring Hardy’s hint that he was exhausted. “Terrific. Then you have some time on your hands.”
“I suppose. What can I do for you?”
“I’d like you to take a ride over to my son’s and have a look at one of the horses.” His expression turned regretful. “I declare, Jordan might have grown up on this ranch, but what he knows about animals wouldn’t fill a thimble.”
“Wouldn’t Slade be better for the job? He’s the expert with horses.”
The old man was undeterred by his logic. “He’s tied up tonight or I’d have asked him. Since you’re free, would you mind? Kelly’s been real worried about a little filly she’s got over there.”
Hardy sensed a trap, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it might be. “Let me clean up, have supper, and I’ll ride on over.”
“Take a shower, if you want, but forget supper. Kelly will have something for you over there. She’s quite a cook. Better than Sweeney any day of the week. She said it’s the least she can do to thank you for taking the trouble to stop by.”
Nothing about this added up. There were a dozen or more men around White Pines who were every bit as qualified to look at that horse as Hardy was, some more so. To top it off, Kelly and Jordan’s daughter, Dani, was a vet. Granted, she dealt primarily with small animals, but she surely could have examined the horse if her mother was so worked up about it. Add in the offer of dinner and Hardy was all but convinced there was something odd going on. He just couldn’t figure out what.
Well, it hardly mattered now. He was committed.
He’d find out soon enough.
“If you speak to Kelly, tell her I’ll be by in fortyfive minutes or so,” he advised Harlan Adams.
“Will do, son. Thanks. It will put her mind at ease, I’m sure.”
He turned and walked off, whistling something that sounded suspiciously upbeat. Harlan Patrick arrived just in time to see him go.
“What was Grandpa Harlan doing here?”
“Beats me,” Hardy said. “Something about a sick horse at your uncle’s. He wants me to take a look at it.”
“And you agreed?”
“Why not? I couldn’t see how I could say no.”
To his astonishment, Harlan Patrick burst out laughing.
Hardy’s gaze narrowed. “Okay, what’s going on? What do you know that I don’t?”
His friend held up his hands and backed off. “Oh, no, I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“In the middle of what?”
“Nothing. Not a thing.” He winked. “You have yourself a fine evening, Hardy. Something tells me it’s going to be downright fascinating. I might just drop on over to my uncle’s myself. Haven’t seen Jordan and Kelly in ages.”
Harlan Patrick’s gleeful response nagged at Hardy the whole time he was showering and changing into something halfway presentable. When he was ready, he hopped into his pickup and made the short drive to the ranch that had belonged to Kelly’s family for years. She had saved it singlehandedly after her folks died, and even though she and Jordan could have built something far more lavish on the property, they had kept the small, original house and simply added a few luxurious amenities to it. Hardy had been inside on a few occasions and admired the lack of pretension. This was a home, not a showplace.
When he pulled to a stop in front, he debated whether he should just go around to the corral, but finally decided on trying the front door first. As he stood on the porch waiting for someone to answer his knock, he thought he heard crying. Something about the sound reminded him of the wails of another baby, a baby he had held in his arms just the day before.
“Why that sneaky old coot,” he muttered under his breath just as the door opened.
“Hardy, you’re here,” Kelly said just a shade too cheerfully. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you had time to stop by tonight. Come on in.”
He stayed right where he was, still stunned by the baby’s cries. “Why don’t I just go on around back and take a look at the horse. No need to go tromping through the house. Sounds as if you have enough commotion in there.”
Kelly sighed. “I was afraid you’d hear that. Laura doesn’t waste any time letting us know when she’s ready for a meal.”
“Laura,” he echoed, his worst suspicions confirmed. “Trish’s baby?”
Guilty patches of color flared in Kelly’s cheeks. Then her chin went up a defiant notch. She might be an Adams by marriage, but she was as brazen as the rest of them. “Yes. They’re staying with us for a bit.”
“Funny, no one mentioned that to me.”
The color in her cheeks faded, and she actually managed to look totally innocent as she said, “Really? It was hardly a secret.”
“Just tell me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you really have a sick horse?”
“Well, of course I do,” she declared with a touch of indignation. “Surely you don’t think I’d lie about a thing like that.”
“Lie? Maybe not. Shade the truth a little? Now that’s a whole different kettle of fish. As for your father-in-law, it seems to me he might flat-out fib if it suited his purposes.”
“Yes, Harlan does have a way of shaping the world around him to his own ends,” she admitted. “The rest of us prefer subtlety.”
She met his gaze directly, “Are you coming in? Or are you going to go away mad?”
He wanted very badly to turn around and stalk away in a huff, but listening to Laura bellowing had reminded him of just how many times he’d thought of her in the past 24 hours. As for her mama, she’d been on his mind a lot, too. What could it hurt to stop in and make sure the two of them were doing okay? A quick little visit didn’t mean anything.
“I’ll stay,” he said finally. “Just long enough to say hello to Trish and take a look at that horse. No dinner, okay?”
“Whatever you say,” she agreed with a beaming smile. “Whatever makes you comfortable. Can I get you something to drink? Some coffee maybe? It’s downright frigid out there and I know you’ve been outside all day.”
“Coffee would be fine.”
Kelly nodded. “Go on in the living room and say hello, then. I’ll bring that coffee right in.” She gave him a little shove as if she weren’t entirely certain that he’d go in on his own.
Hardy stood just outside the living room and watched as Trish tried to soothe the baby, whose howls were showing no signs of letting up. Trish’s hair was a tangled mess, as if she’d been combing her fingers frantically through it. Her complexion was pale. He wondered just how long she’d been pacing with the irritable baby.
“Sweetie, I don’t know what else to do,” she whispered, her voice filled with frustration. She looked as if she might burst into tears. “You’ve had your dinner. Your diaper’s been changed.”
“Mind if I give it a try?” Hardy asked, taking pity on her. He wasn’t much of an expert, but at least he could give Trish a break so she could get herself together before she fainted from pure exhaustion.
She shot a startled gaze in his direction. “Hardy! I had no idea you were here.”
“Then we’re even,” he said dryly. “What?”
“Never mind.” He held out his arms. “Hand her over.”
She hesitated for an instant, then placed Laura in his outstretched hands. “I can’t imagine what’s wrong with her.”
He held the baby in front his face for an instant. “Hey, there, missy. What’s all the fuss about?” he inquired. “You’re giving your mama a tough time.” The cries died down. The baby’s gaze wandered as if trying to search out the source of this unfamiliar voice.
“Better,” he soothed. “But let’s try to stop altogether, okay, sweet thing?”
He put the baby on his shoulder and rubbed her back. Before long, a huge belch filled the air. He grinned.
“Oh, my,” Trish murmured. “That’s all it was? She needed to be burped?”
“Could be.”
Trish sank into a chair and stared at him miserably. “I’m lousy at this. What on earth ever made me think I could be a mother?”
“For starters, you’re a female,” Hardy reminded her. “Even though you got yourself into a pickle the other night out on that road, you strike me as being smart enough. You’ve only been at this a couple of days now. Give it a month. If mothering is still eluding you then, we’ll talk again.”
“What will you do? Take over?”
He chuckled. “You never know. I might have a knack for it.”
“Look at her,” Trish said. “She’s sound asleep. I’d say you definitely have a knack for it. Come on, I’ll take her and put her down.”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Hardy said, reluctant to give up the baby. She felt right in his arms, as if she were something he’d been missing without even knowing it. “I did the hard work. Now I get the payoff.”
She regarded him with amazement. “You want to hold her.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I just figured you might want to get on with whatever you came here to do.”
Hardy remembered the horse. He also remembered the coffee that Kelly had never brought. He had a hunch he was already doing exactly what he’d been lured here to do.
“How did you end up here, anyway?” he asked Trish.
“I think Lizzy had a hand in it. I’m pretty sure she talked to Kelly and Jordan. He and my father are business associates. I think they’re pretty uncomfortable with the fact that I don’t want my father to know I’m here, but they invited me to stay a while anyway. It’ll just be for a few days.”
He settled into a chair with the baby, then asked, “And then what?”
“I’ll move on.”
“To?”
“I’m not sure.”
“But you won’t be going home?”
“No, that’s one thing I know for sure. I won’t be going home.”
“Why not?”
“If you knew my father, you wouldn’t have to ask that. He’s the ultimate control freak. Add in my mother, who is horrified by my decision to have the baby on my own, and it seems like home is the last place for me to be.”
Hardy thought over what she’d said, then recalled something he’d heard on the news earlier about some Dallas bigwig’s missing daughter. “Delacourt? Your father wouldn’t be Bryce Delacourt, would he? The oilman?”
She returned his gaze ruefully. “Afraid so.”
“Oh, boy.”
She immediately looked alarmed. “What?”
“He’s got the whole blasted country looking for you. This may be a tiny place, but you’ve made a big impression. It won’t be long before word leaks out that you’re here. Don’t you think it would be better to call him, so he knows you’re okay? He might call off his dogs then. It also might be easier on Kelly and Jordan. I suspect he won’t like the fact that his friends kept your whereabouts from him.”
“No, he won’t,” she admitted with a sigh. Then she regarded him intently. “But I can’t tell him. You can’t, either. Promise me, please.”
“Look, darlin’, I’m not in the habit of ratting out my friends, but not everybody’s going to feel that way, especially if that reward he’s offering gets much bigger.”
Trish looked horrified. “He’s offering a reward? As if I’m a common criminal or something?”
“More like he’s a desperate father,” he replied reasonably.
“Oh, no. You don’t know Bryce Delacourt. This isn’t about desperation. This is about him being ticked off because I slipped out and he can’t find me. It’s about him not being able to control me.”
She took four agitated strides across the room and grabbed up the phone. She punched in the numbers with enough force to have the phone bouncing on the table.
“Miriam, it’s me. Is my father around?” Her foot tapped impatiently as she waited. Her eyes flashed sparks of pure fury.
Even from halfway across the room, Hardy could hear a man he assumed to be her father bellowing out a string of questions. Trish waited until he fell silent.
“Are you through?” she asked quietly. “Good. Because I am only going to say this once. Call off the detectives. Tell the media that I’ve been found and that I am perfectly fine, that it was all a huge misunderstanding and that you’re terribly sorry for having sent everyone on such a wild-goose chase.” She listened for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I am not coming home. No, I am not going to tell you where I am. I am fine. So is your granddaughter, in case you’re interested. We’re both doing just great. If you ever hope to see either of us again, you will give me some space now. Are we clear?”
Whatever her father said to that was too softly spoken for Hardy to hear, but her expression softened finally. She sighed.
“Yes, Daddy, I love you, too,” she whispered. “I’ll be in touch. I promise.”
When she turned around, there were tears streaming down her cheeks. Hardy stood up, put the baby into the nearby carrier, then went to her. He touched a finger to her cheek, brushed away the dampness.
“You okay?”
She managed a watery smile. “Better now,” she said.
“Remind me not to tick you off.”
She gave him a full-fledged grin. “Oh, that. Sometimes yelling is the only way to get through to him. Delacourts tend to be stubborn.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I got that part.”
“Thank you for warning me about what was going on, so I could stop him from turning Los Piños into a circus.”
“Do you honestly think he’ll give up the search?”
“If he wants to see his granddaughter he will. And he knows I meant that, too. He may be difficult, but he’s not stupid. Now that he’s certain I’m okay, he’ll give me some space.”
“For how long?”
“Until he thinks it’s time to come charging after me,” she admitted. “I figure I’ve got a month tops to find a place to settle down and get my new life on track. I have to have every little piece in place or he’ll run roughshod over me until he gets his way.”
“What exactly does he want?”
“He wants me to come home and marry Laura’s father.”
Hardy was surprised by just how deeply he detested that idea himself. “And you disagree?”
“Oh, yes,” she said fervently. “It won’t happen. Not now. Not ever.”
Because relief flooded through him at her response, Hardy knew it was time to go.
“You going to be okay?” he asked, grabbing his jacket off a chair.
“Sure.”
He nodded. “Keep your chin up, darlin’. Something tells me everything is going to work out just the way you want it to.”
“Do you carry a crystal ball around in your pocket?”
“Nope, but anybody hearing you stand up for yourself just now would put their money on you.”
She seemed startled by the comment, but a smile began tugging at her lips. “Thanks, I think.”
“Oh, it was a compliment, sweetheart. Make no mistake about that.” He winked at her. “Tell Kelly if she checks, I suspect that horse of hers is just fine now.”
Trish stared at him blankly. “What horse?”
“Just tell her. She’ll understand.”
He took off then, before the yearning to stay became so powerful that he forgot all the million and one reasons he had for getting out before he landed squarely in the middle of emotional quicksand.
Five
Hardy had actually paid her a compliment, Trish thought, staring after him with what was probably a ridiculously silly grin. She’d finally been exposed to a sampling of that famed charm of his, albeit little more than a couple of softly spoken endearments. She could see how it might be totally devastating if fully unleashed.
There were the dimples, for one thing. For another, his eyes shot off sparks like a live wire, turning the amber color to something closer to an unusual glittering bronze. And there were the occasional glimpses of his wit. She could see how the combination could be wickedly seductive.
Of course, she was immune to all of it. She’d been down that path all too recently. She’d sworn off men with good looks and glib tongues. Since that was the case, why did she feel as if she’d finally passed some sort of a test?
