Heart of Steele (20 page)

She smiled. “I had no doubt it would be.” A
little burst of jealousy flooded her. When her father died, her
mother had sold their little house and moved into an even smaller
apartment in town. All Tracy’s things were boxed up and stuffed
onto a shelf in her mom’s garage.

He headed down the hall. Pointing toward the
right, he said, “Val’s room.”

She’d have to do some snooping later. It’d be
fun to know if Val was the princess type, the sporty girl, or all
country.

At the next door on the left, he flipped on
the light and let her walk in ahead of him. “Your room. You’ll
share a bathroom with me.” He gestured to a door on their left.

The room was cute, the hardwood floor was
partially covered with an oval braided rug, and the iron bed
enticed her with a colorful handmade quilt and a half-dozen
pillows.

“And I hope you’ll share my bed, too.” He set
her packages on a long, low white dresser.

She turned away, not wanting to insult him,
but it didn’t feel right being with him while his father was
fighting for his life.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms
around her. “Just sleep together, Tracy. Nothing more.” He rubbed
his cheek against her hair. “I need to hold you.”

She turned in his arms. “Of course.” She
cupped his cheeks. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

After kissing her softly, he stepped back. “I
have a couple things to do, but I’ll be right back.” He walked away
and Tracy collapsed onto the bed. She had so much thinking to do,
but her mind was too fuzzy to tackle anything right now.

She forced her tired body up off the bed, and
opened her suitcase. “Darn it.” Those cookies were calling to her.
“Just one, girl, plus a five mile jog tomorrow.”

She kicked off her shoes and tiptoed down the
hall then crept down the stairs as quietly as she could. What was
she doing sneaking around? Grinning, she kept tiptoeing slowly down
the steps.

Halfway down, she heard Steele’s voice and
stopped. Was there someone else in the house? “...and they’re going
to run more tests tomorrow.” He paused. He must be on the
phone.

“I’ll head down there in a few hours. I need
some sleep.” Silence. “No, and I haven’t seen the new baler,
either. I’ll call you when I’m in the barn. We can discuss that
personnel issue, too.” Another pause. “Thanks, Sam, and hey, could
you send a couple hands up to the house right away in a truck? One
of them needs to drive that red truck sitting on the garage apron
to the hospital in Crockett. The other hand can follow him and
drive him back.”

Why did he need the truck driven back to
town? He must have borrowed it from someone.

“Yeah, thanks. The keys are in the ignition.
Just have him park it in the south lot and bring the keys in to the
intensive care unit and give them to Ryder Landry.”

Her knees wobbled and she plopped down on the
step behind her. Ryder was here? Steele didn’t mention it. Was he
waiting until they’d both gotten some sleep to discuss it with
her?

Steele laughed. “Yeah, I got friends in high
places.”

Getting to her feet, she quietly walked back
upstairs. At the top, the floorboard creaked.

“Tracy?”

She turned around and clomped down the steps.
“I changed my mind about those cookies and...” She put her hand
over her mouth.

He still held the house phone up to his
ear.

She mouthed, “Sorry.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Hanging up the phone, he
dropped his head.

“Everything okay?”

Steele pulled off his boots and set them
neatly by the door. He padded over to the counter and pulled the
wrap off the cookie plate. “Just a lot going on right now.” He held
the plate toward her and she took a cookie. “Milk?”

She nodded. “Gotta have milk.”

He poured two glasses and set them on the
counter.

“Want to talk about it?” She bit into the
most scrumptious chocolate chip cookie she’d ever tasted.

Heaving a sigh, he crossed his arms. “Not
right now. But after a few hours of shuteye, I’ll give you the
whole story.”

A weight lifted from her heart, and she
smiled. “I’d like that, Steele.”

He gave her an odd look, then selected a
cookie. “It’s not gonna be pretty.”

Tracy stepped in front of him and leaned
close, sliding one hand around his waist. “That’s okay. I don’t
always need pretty, Steele.”

His gaze took in her whole face. “Can’t think
of anything right now but gettin’ you in my bed.”

Baring her teeth, she took a nip out of his
cookie and chewed, raising one brow. “Still want me in your
bed?”

He spanked her butt once. “Yeah. I want you
laying there eating cookies and drinking milk right next to me,
sugar.” The silly words came out in a sexy, low tone.

She laughed and grabbed her milk glass,
heading toward the stairs. “I’ve never heard that pickup line
before, but damned if it ain’t working for me.”

His laughter followed her up the steps.

Tracy woke deep under the covers in Steele’s
big oak bed. The space next to her where he’d held her while she
slept was empty.

Sitting up, she stretched. He’d closed the
drapes and the room was dark. When she pulled open the curtains,
bright sunlight burst through the window, blinding her for a
moment. The sun was high in the sky, and she checked her phone on
the bed beside her. Three calls? She’d silenced it before they
crawled into bed.

Eleven-fifteen. She’d slept longer than she’d
planned to. She checked her call log. Three calls from her mother.
That couldn’t be good.

As she dialed her mother’s number, she walked
through the bathroom into the guest room.

“Tracy, where are you dear?” Her mom sounded
happy, not anxious.

“I’m in Texas right now. What’s going
on?”

“Didn’t you listen to the voice messages?
Good news. Donny’s parole came through. He’ll be released in a
week.”

Tracy’s stomach revolted and she had to grab
the bedpost to steady herself. “Mom, is that good news?”

“I wish you would just get over whatever
happened between you two in the past. He served his sentence and
now he deserves a fresh start at a new life.”

She paced the room, the floor creaking in
places as she walked. “Will it be different this time? He’s been in
and out of jail since he was a teenager. What miracle happened
during this sentence to make him an upstanding citizen?” She hated
the sarcasm in her own voice, but she didn’t want to go through
this all again. Her mother’s high hopes, her brother’s failing to
live within the confines of lawfulness, the trials, the lawyers,
the drain on her mother, financially and physically.

“Sometimes, Tracy, I think you don’t want him
to succeed.” Her mother’s voice held the warble of impending
tears.

“No, that’s not it.” She heard a noise in the
hall, waited, but heard nothing more. “I don’t want you to get your
hopes up. It’s the same thing over and over and I hate seeing the
hurt in your eyes when he fails over and over again.”

“Well, this time will be different. He’s
moving in with me and I’m going to help him more this time.”

Tracy wanted to bang her head on the wall.
Her mother worked the evening shift at the grocery store, barely
made enough to live off of, even with her dad’s social security
death benefits coming in. “Don’t do it. He steals from you, he cons
money from your friends, and he has no idea that what he’s doing is
wrong.”

“That’s the past, dear, he’ll—”

“It’s not the past, it’s a pattern. Isn’t
there a halfway house he can go to? At least for a while until he
can acclimate to real life again?”

Her mom tsked. “He said all the subsidized
ones are full, and he has no money to pay for the regular
ones.”

That didn’t sound right. “Have you talked to
his parole officer, or a social worker to confirm that?”

“Why would I?” Her mom had no clue the level
of deceit Donny was capable of.

Tracy couldn’t let her mother shoulder this
whole burden. “Listen, I’ll get on a flight to Montana tomorrow or
the next day and help you make arrangements, okay?” She would leave
today, but she needed some time to work through things with
Steele.

“But your life is so busy, dear. You don’t
have to come all this way—”

“I want to. Don’t do anything, don’t agree to
anything, until I get there and talk to some people, okay?”
Silence. “Promise me?”

“Yes, yes, I promise.” She sighed. “It’s just
that it’s been so lonely here with both you kids gone, and your dad
in heaven.”

Or hell. Tracy shook her head. Neglecting
one’s family in favor of his love of alcohol probably wasn’t a sin
worthy of eternal damnation, but what Donny had done to her, and
was about to do to their mother—again—probably was.

“I’m sorry, you’re right.” Tracy deserved
every mile of that guilt trip. “Just promise me you won’t make any
permanent decisions, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Okay, dear.” Her voice sounded light and
happy again. “I’ll get the spare room ready for you.” Had Mom heard
anything she’d said?

She’d call later with her flight info and
would remind her to put everything on hold. “Bye, see you
soon.”

“Love you, Tracy.” She hung up.

Her mother did love her. She set down her
phone and looked at herself in the dresser mirror. The skimpy
nightgown she’d put on last night had kept a thin but effective
barrier between Steele and her. Love. How did someone know they
loved someone else? Her feelings toward her mother were ambiguous.
When Tracy was a child and Donny was beating her, Mom had
practically ignored her pleas for help. Could she love a person who
favored one child over another to such an extreme extent?

The loose floorboard at the top of the stairs
creaked.

She stepped out into the hall.

Steele strolled toward her, his blue T-shirt
tucked into his jeans. “Hi. I heard you moving around up here.”

“Hi.” Her insides warmed as he approached
her. Was this love? The feeling that she never wanted to be apart
from him? Someone she could share her secrets with, and be trusted
to keep his secrets? She wanted to rely on him completely, just as
she’d prove herself worthy of his trust. She rushed toward him and
flung her body full-length against his, her arms tight around his
neck.

“Wow. Ain’t this a nice greeting.” He picked
her up and turned her in a circle. “It’s good having you here.”

They kissed, slow and gentle, tasting each
other, teasing with their tongues, and nibbling gently at each
other’s mouths. Between their bodies, his cock hardened and pressed
against her.

When they were both breathless, they broke
apart and stared at each other.

“I’d like nothing more than to take you back
to my bed, but...”

She nodded, cooling herself, ignoring the
urgency in her belly. “I know. How’s your dad?” She led him back to
her room.

As she changed, he talked about the tests the
doctors had performed, but had still found nothing. His dad had
been moved to a regular room, but was making noise about going
home. The doctor wanted a few more tests so Angus was stuck there
another night.

Together they created a big breakfast of
eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast, and sat at the table sipping
dark, rich coffee. “And your sister?” Tracy guided the discussion
toward his brother.

“She’s good. She and...she’s going to be with
Dad today. I’ll go in tonight for a few hours, just to keep him
settled down.”

Tracy waited, eating slowly, but he went on
to a different topic. Once they’d finished their late breakfast and
cleaned up the kitchen, he opened the door, letting in a warm
breeze. “I want to show you the ranch.”

She slipped into her shoes and walked out
with him. An all-terrain vehicle sat where the red truck had been
earlier—the truck he’d sent back to Ryder.

Steele got on the ATV and held out his hand
to her. “My gas-powered horse.”

She slid on behind him and wrapped her arms
around him. “Where’s your truck?”

“What?” He looked toward the garage.

“The red one we rode in yesterday.”

“Oh. I borrowed that from a friend. Sent it
back with a ranch hand.” He started the motor, and that was the end
of the conversation.

Maybe he was waiting until later to sit and
talk to her about Ryder. The tour of the ranch took three hours. He
showed her every barn, each building, the vegetable garden, the
orchard, the chickens, turkeys, and cows.

They stopped on a ridge overlooking the
buildings, and he shut off the motor. Sitting sideways on the seat,
he pulled her onto his lap. “Dad wanted us to be more
self-sufficient, so he put in the dairy building and hired a crew
to milk the cows, make cheese, milk, sour cream and ice cream for
the entire operation.”

She’d seen the ranch hands’ dining hall and
the bunk house. “That has to save you a lot of money.”

“Yeah, it does. We’d thought he’d gone nuts
at first, but it turns out Dad’s a smart old coot.” He blinked a
few times. “The chickens lay eggs and the old hens get eaten, we
get a turkey dinner once a month, and you’ve never tasted anything
like the sour cream that comes out of those cows.”

She laughed at his excitement. “I’m partial
to ice cream. Got any in the freezer?”

He kissed her. “Sugar, we’ve got a freezer
full in the pantry. You name your flavor, it’s probably in
there.”

“What about the rangeland?”

“We’ve got a few hundred thousand acres, and
it abuts a state park, so we get a lot of wildlife.” He winked at
her. “Freezer’s full of game meat, if you’re interested in trying
something...wild tonight.”

At his dark look, a burst of lust shimmied
through her, but she kept it light. “If you know how to cook it,
I’m up for trying it.”