Gambling on a Secret (29 page)

His eyes darkened. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Keep it up, and I’ll forget what I’m bidding on. You’ll end up with those alpacas we saw, instead of cattle.”

She inched her hand up a bit, leaned over, and purred in his ear, “I trust you to make the right decisions now. And later when I get you home alone, cowboy.”

She squeezed the flesh to the inside of his thigh bare inches from the bulge his hardening erection made.

“Now stop. They’re starting and people are staring.” He took hold of her hand and pinned it farther down on his lean leg, near his knee. In a voice that got progressively huskier as he spoke, he whispered in her ear exactly what he intended doing to her when they got home.

The day suddenly got a whole lot hotter, causing her to squirm on the metal bleacher. She didn’t care if he bought the sorry-looking alpacas, just as long as he hurried up.

By the end of the auction, she was the proud owner of a hundred head of Angus, fifty Herefords and two registered bulls–an Angus and a Hereford. The cattle would be delivered Wednesday. She groaned as she wrote a whopping check from the business account. He was right. If she was serious about raising cattle, she had to stop playacting.

“What do you think of Zeus and Jupiter?” she asked on the drive home.

He glanced at her. “Please tell me we’re having a conversation about astronomy or mythology, and you aren’t thinking up names for something.”

She smiled. “The bulls. I’d like to name them, just for fun. The Angus can be Zeus and the Hereford Jupiter.”

“Why not something like George or Bubba?”

“Those are so boring. Actually, the names are for the same god. Zeus is Greek and Jupiter is the Roman version, but either way, he was the father of most of the other gods, plus heroes like Hercules. Besides, it seems appropriate to name my bulls after a god who liked to transform into a bull to seduce human women.”

He looked at her with his mouth slightly ajar. “You’ve got to be kidding?”

“Nope. I personally don’t see the allure. But, hey, maybe ancient Greek and Roman women were a little desperate or something.”

“Or more likely were into bestiality.” He let loose with a belly chuckle that had her laughing with him. Once he was able to get a breath again, he said, “Okay, you can name the bulls after some horny Greek god, but for the love of God, promise me you won’t name our kid after some mythological person.”

His words stilled her heart, and they locked gazes for as long as possible considering the traffic. She swallowed the lump in her throat. He believed her baby was his.

“I promise, as long as you don’t insist on Bubba.” Her voice cracked despite her best efforts to keep it light.

“Hey,” he smiled and his voice was gruff, “Bubba is a noble name.”

She rolled her eyes at him and laughed, and the tension shattered.

It was almost six o’clock when Dylan drove over the bridge to the clearing in the trees. The sun shone directly over her house. The glow looked like a crown on an aging royal holding court with the various ranch buildings set off to the side and behind.

This was the home she hadn’t had in a long time.

His amused voice cut through her sentimental ponderings. “Get ready.”

“What?” she asked a little wobbly while he’d parked the truck beside a red Taurus.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and jerked his hat brim toward the porch. Tracy stood between the porch pillars with her arms crossed over her chest. Her right foot tapped an agitated tattoo at the top of the steps. Bobby, Dylan’s ten-year-old nephew, was at the edge of the lake, but as soon as he noticed them getting out of the truck, he raced up the yard, weaving around the garden beds.

“Hey, sprout,” Dylan called to his nephew and led the way through the open gate of the picket fence.

“Hi, Uncle Dylan!” Bobby tacked on a sing-songy, drawn-out warning, “You are in so much trouble.”

Tracy came off the porch as Dylan ruffled the boy’s dark hair affectionately. “Is that so?”

“Is that so?” Tracy parroted, all puffed up like a prizefighter despite her willowy figure. At six feet, she was as tall as her brother. She faced Dylan, and for a moment, Charli actually thought she was going to deck him. Then she caught the delighted twinkle in Tracy’s gray eyes. “Why is it I had to learn my big brother has moved in with his boss from Sally Miller?”

He leaned toward Charli. “Tom’s wife, another notorious town gossip. Thrives on
juicy grapes.
”

“Ah.” She smiled at Tracy. “I’m beginning to wonder who doesn’t.”

“So...” Tracy looked from her to Dylan. “Is it true?”

Taking her hand, Dylan passed his sister. Her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide. As they headed up the steps to the porch, Tracy squealed, “You are living together!”

Charli unlocked the front door. They entered the coolness of the large entry and headed down the hall.

He ushered his sister and nephew toward the kitchen. Tracy stopped in the arched doorway and gaped at the room, slowly taking it all in. “Wow! This is beautiful.”

“Mom, can I go back outside?” Bobby asked in that whiney way of little boys.

Tracy blinked and turned to her son. “Sure.”

Bobby instantly bolted to the front door.

Tracy called over her shoulder, “But stay away from the lake. There’re snakes in it.”

Her reply was the door closing with a bang.

Charli turned to Dylan. “See! You are the only one who seems to think those snakes are harmless.”

“They are.” He tossed his hat on a hook by the back door. He went to the sink, washed his hands, started a pot of coffee, then retrieved the baking pan with the steaks they’d planned to make for supper out of the fridge.

She motioned for Tracy to sit at the table. “Would you like to stay for supper? Dylan’s making steaks.”

“Okay.”

He grabbed another package from the freezer and tossed it into the microwave to thaw.

While he put four potatoes into the oven to bake, she fetched mugs and the fixings for the coffee. When he finally came to the table and poured the dark brew, Tracy quivered like a kid at Christmas deprived of opening her gifts until everyone else woke up.

Dylan sat beside Charli and met her gaze briefly. She smiled in reply to his silent question. He looked across the table at his sister. “Yes, I moved in. But it only happened today.”

“What brought this on?”

She took a deep breath. “Dylan and I are gonna have a baby.”

Tracy stared at them for a moment as if she didn’t quite comprehend. When it sank in, she opened her mouth, quickly covered it with both hands, and let out a squeal louder than the one earlier. She leaped out of her chair and into his open arms and fiercely hugged him.

“I’m so happy for you.” Tracy hugged her. Tears glistened on her cheeks, and she fanned her flushed face with her hand. Dylan grabbed the Kleenex box from the shelf on the corner cabinet, and Tracy plucked several tissues from it to wipe her face. She sat down and noisily blew her nose. “I’m sorry... I’m just... Oh...” At last, she found enough composure to ask, “When are you due?”

She smiled and shrugged. “February, I guess. I just found out.”

* * * *

Dylan knew what Tracy’s next question would be probably before his sister did. Just as the microwave beeped to announce the steaks were finished defrosting, Tracy expectantly looked from Charli to him. “When’s the wedding?”

He let go of Charli’s hand and stood, wanting to put some distance between the women and himself at the moment. He took the steaks out of the microwave. “There isn’t going to be a wedding.”

He could feel Tracy’s eyes boring into his back. “What? Why not?”

“Because.” He faced the two women. “We decided not to get married. Marriage doesn’t make a family, Tracy. You of all people should know that, considering how bad yours turned out.”

If the jibe about her ill-fated train-wreck of a marriage bothered Tracy, she ignored it. She glanced at Charli and crossed the kitchen to stand across the island from him. “Dad and Mom won’t like you not getting married.”

He shrugged, then put the two extra steaks in the dish of marinade and turned to a cabinet for a platter. After facing his sister again, he spoke more casually than he felt. “When did that ever stop me from doing what I wanted? If I remember correctly…” He flipped the additional steaks a few times in the goop and locked gazes with Tracy. “They were none too happy I got married the last time.”

“That’s because Mom pegged Brenda from the first time she’d met the selfish bitch. I remember Dad telling you it wouldn’t last.”

He could remind her that their father had said the same thing about her and Jake Parker, too.

Whether they were ready or not, the steaks were finished marinating, and he plopped them onto the platter. He needed out of this conversation as fast as possible. The last thing he wanted was to discuss his ex, or how right their father always was, or his feelings for Charli. “I guess General Robert Quinn was right about that and a few other things, too. Your marriage lasted what–four years?”

So, he’d gotten his jab in anyway. What kind of respectable big brother would he be if he hadn’t? Tracy narrowed her eyes on him, but she didn’t say anything else on the matter.

He picked up the plate of steaks. Heading for the back door to the porch, he glanced at Charli, who seemed riveted by the conversation. He wasn’t having any more of it in front of her. He smiled and winked in a way that he hoped would let her know this was how things usually were between him and Tracy.

As he went about getting the grill ready, the doors, both the solid and screen, closed and he glanced over his shoulder. Tracy had followed him out and watched him with her bottom lip sucked between her teeth.

He took a deep breath and fiddled with the gauge on the front of the grill to set the correct flame, then closed the lid and faced her. Before she could say anything about hearts and flowers and happily-ever-afters, he pinned her with a no-nonsense glare. “Look, Tracy, I don’t really give a damn what Mom and Dad think, or anyone else for that matter. I’m going to do everything I can to be a decent father and the man in Charli’s life for as long as she wants me. I was a husband once, and according to the former Mrs. Quinn, I wouldn’t’ve won a husband of the year award. Maybe shacking up is the way to go. That way if Charli decides she’s had enough of me, she can just kick me out and be done with it.”

Before she came out of her surprise at his frankness, he said, “Why don’t you go help Charli with the salad she’s fixing. I think this conversation has gone on long enough, don’t you?”

Tracy let her shoulders fall a bit as the fight went out of her and probably the hope, too.

“And Tracy, I don’t want Mom and Dad to know about this until I’m damned good and ready to tell them. Got it?”

She opened her mouth to protest, but instead, bit her lower lip again and nodded agreement, then went back into the house.

After the grill was hot, he placed the steaks over the flame. As he waited for them to cook, he leaned over the railing and looked out over the spacious backyard without seeing it.

Yeah, sis, I’m in love with her. But I’m too much of a coward to marry to her.

Chapter 16

Charli rolled over onto her side and ran her fingernail down Dylan’s sternum. He shivered, but he was far from cold. Only a touch from her set him on fire. He looked up into her face and smiled.

“So, what are we going to do today?” She shifted until she was directly above him.

“I could think of plenty of things I’d like to do, but I have horses to feed and cattle to check on.” Rolling with her, he reversed their positions. He’d put that pink glow in her face just a few moments ago.

After kissing her so thoroughly Charli moaned, he shifted his weight off her and sat up. She sidled up behind him, hugged him from behind, and kissed his shoulder. “It just keeps getting better.”

“It sure does.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. Her liquid eyes and the long, auburn lashes veiling them entranced him. He’d never seen eyes like hers, and when they were soft and satisfied, he could get lost in them. He shook his head. “Horses. I have to feed the horses.”

Charli moved away and stood. Once she’d retrieved a bra and pair of panties from the dresser, she went into the walk-in closet. When she returned, she leaned a naked hip against a wing chair with her clothes dangling from a hand.

Damn, she was beautiful. He prayed she never got tired of him.

“You didn’t answer my question. What are we doing today?”

He shrugged and stood to pull on a pair of jeans. “It’s Memorial Day. I know there’s a parade in town. Tracy’s church has some kind of bazaar which usually includes lots of baked goods and homemade quilts.” Grinning, he looked her up and down. “Or we could spend the day like we did most of yesterday. Right here in this room.”

She headed to the bathroom. “As much as I enjoy having sex with you, Dylan Quinn, I’d also like to do something else with you.” Charli paused at the door. “When Tracy and Bobby were here Saturday, she told me about the banquet tonight for veterans.”