His Hometown Cowgirl (6 page)

"Kelsey?" Pete's rugged voice held a note of
worry. "What's the matter, honey?"

Kelsey jerked her head back and stared up at
the man still holding her in his arms. Her breath stalled in her
lungs. Pete had never called her honey before, always kid or
kiddo.

Pushing herself from his embrace, Kelsey
stumbled back. Pete caught her arm to keep her steady. "Why are you
crying? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. It's me. I . . . I can't
do this."

"Do what? It was only a dance, honey."

There it was again.
Her chest felt
like an anvil had smashed down on it. She couldn't catch her
breath. She pulled her arm free from Pete's strong clasp.

"Thanks for the dance," she managed to say.
She didn't wait for his reply, but turned on the heel of her boot.
She suddenly realized she had an audience standing on the dance
floor and beyond. Great. Just great.

Her dad started forward. "Kels? Are you
okay?"

She shook her head, tears blurring her
vision. As she blindly made her way toward the house, she ducked
her head, ignoring everyone, just wanting to be alone.

She needed to be alone.

****

Pete began his descent from high in the sky,
preparing to land on runway three at the Lone Star Wings airfield.
He'd been flying applications for the better part of the day; he
still had two more to fly before quitting time. He needed to refuel
the Piper and prep the hoppers, before taking off again.

As the landing strip came into view, Pete
pulled down on the throttle, eased the plane into the right
trajectory, lowered the landing gear, and prepared to land.

The day was clear, the West Texas sky bluer
than blue, the wind not too strong. All and all, a perfect day for
flying. But then again, every day he was privileged to take one of
the planes up in the sky was a perfect day for Pete. He lived to
fly. Nothing compared to the exhilarating feelings engendered up
high in the sky with man and machine going one on one with nature.
It was better than sex.

Pete grinned to himself.
Right.

Nothing was better than sex. That thought
reminded him that it had been too long since he'd experienced that
exquisite pleasure. Way too long.

And
that
thought made him remember the
feel of Kelsey in his arms last night when they'd danced
together.

Pete gripped the yoke tightly. He still
couldn't believe how good she'd felt snuggled up against him. His
whole body had been on alert, humming with heated anticipation,
every nerve sensitized to the feel of Kelsey leaning against him,
moving with him to the rhythm of the music.

Damn, she'd felt good, perfect. He couldn't
remember any of the women he'd dated feeling that good, that right
in his arms.

And as if all that wasn't enough to make him
uncomfortably horny, his gut clenched painfully when a wayward
thought exploded in his overheated imagination: If she felt that
good in his arms just dancing, then how much better would she feel
beneath him naked in bed making love?

Pete swallowed hard. Enough already. Wasn't
going to happen.

Even though the chances were slim to none
that he would ever ask Kelsey out sometime in the distant future,
last night extinguished even that snowflake's chance in hell. After
she left him in the middle of the dance floor,
crying for
Christ's sakes
, the angry clan of McCade men immediately closed
ranks and surrounded Pete, ready to beat the crap out of him.

He'd had a hell of a time explaining he had
no clue what had made Kelsey cry. Damn, they'd just been dancing.
He'd done nothing to cause her anguish that he knew of. He'd had no
purpose of dancing with her other than to erase the hurt in her
eyes when she'd thought he wasn't going to accept her
invitation.

He would
never
do anything to hurt
Kelsey.
Never.

Pete set the Piper down on the tarmac in a
smooth practiced three-point landing and taxied toward the hangar.
Once there, he unbuckled and climbed out of the plane.

And
that
was the number one reason he
would never ask her out. He wouldn't be able to
keep
from
hurting her: Kelsey McCade was the marrying kind. He wasn't.

End of discussion.

"I don't want to discuss it anymore." Kelsey
turned back to her computer and totaled the columns on the
spreadsheet for the fifth time, but her numbers would not add up.
Her mind was definitely not on her work.

Just give it up, Kels.

"But he must have done something to make you
cry." Molly tapped a pencil on the desk, a frown furrowing her
forehead. Her cousin never was one to easily give up on a
mystery.

Kelsey blew out a deep sigh. It had been one
week since Grams' party. One week since she'd danced with Pete. One
week since she'd made a complete and utter fool of herself in front
of God and everybody.

It felt much longer than a week.

She glanced at the clock on the wall.
Quitting time. Thank goodness. "Give it a rest, Molly. I've told
you over and over:
It wasn't him; it was me.
I obviously
haven't worked through my grief for Chris. I know, I know. I'm
trying. Really, I am. You of all people should understand how
difficult it is to lose someone so close. I'm working on it. I
thought dancing with Pete would shake things up, and boy, did it.
But it backfired. And that's all I'm going to say about it."

Molly stabbed the pencil into the ceramic
rooster-shaped pencil holder and pushed back her chair. "Okay,
okay. Listen, Maddie and I are going to Billy G's tonight. Wanna
come along?"

Kelsey shook her head. "Damn, have you
listened to even one word I just finished saying?"

"Yes, yes," Molly said. "But you're not going
to work out your grief hiding in the house. I know you, you'll put
on your nightshirt, make some popcorn and watch old movies. You
need to get out, Kels. You need to mingle with people."

"I mingle with people every day. What about
our customers? They're people, aren't they?"

"They don't count. That's business and work.
Going to Billy G's is personal, entertainment. You need to chill,
Kels."

Kelsey shut down her computer. "Well, Miss
Know-it-all. For your information, I am getting out of the house
tonight."

Molly opened her eyes wide. "Really? Where
are you going?"

"Stone Creek. It's picture night for the
kids' soccer teams--"

Her cousin frowned. "Kind of late in the
season for photos, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Kelsey grabbed her bag and made for
the door. "But Mitch Defalco's been down with that flu going
around, and his studio has the contract for team pictures. So
tonight's the night, and I promised Daniel I'd help out. He's
getting to that age where he doesn't want to be seen with his
parents if he can help it. So, I'm taking him, Michael, Courtney
and Ruthie Mae in my truck. Aunt Caitlyn's bundling the rest of the
kids into her SUV. No use in everyone going. It'll be crowded as it
is. We're meeting at Aunt Jessie's house and going to leave from
there."

Molly sighed. "Okay, don't get me wrong. I'm
glad you're not playing hermit tonight. But this doesn't really
count. It's almost the same as working and entertaining
customers
. Unless
you're going to eat dinner at Defalco's
Italian Restaurant, and that still doesn't count as a night on the
town, not with all the kids with you." Molly closed her eyes and
tilted her head back. "God, I love Defalco's. Best pizza in West
Texas.
Are
you taking the kids there?"

"Of course," Kelsey said with a smile. "Can't
go to Stone Creek without stopping at Defalco's. But it'll be
pictures first, then dinner. With seven kids, it would be a
disaster to eat first. They'd be sure to spill drinks or drop pizza
on their uniforms."

Molly nodded. "Maybe I'll come with you."

"Sure, you're welcome to join us, but you'll
have to bring your truck. And what about you and Maddie going to
Billie G's?"

"Oh right. I forgot. That's how much I love
Defalco's. My mouth's watering just thinking about it. Maybe Maddie
and I'll stop by on the way to the honky-tonk. If we go early,
we'll miss the avalanche of soccer players sure to descend on the
place." Molly wagged her finger at Kelsey as she followed her
cousin outside. "But this does
not
count as mingling,
Kels."

Kelsey grinned as she locked the door to the
main building of Farmtime Trails. "Sure it does. Just think of
those two unattached Defalco brothers. They'll be there for sure.
You have to admit they're hot."

Molly nodded her head. "Oh, yeah. They are
smoking hot. And now that Mitch is married, maybe Paul and Marco
will think about settling down. Not that you care. Maybe you
are
a lost cause."

"Maybe." Kelsey hunched a shoulder. "Does
this mean you're finally going to quit hassling me about my
personal life?"

Molly tossed her long black curls over her
shoulder and shook her head. "Don't you wish, cousin? Don't you
just wish?"

****

Pete gripped the steering wheel of Caitlyn
McCade's SUV as it ate up the twelve miles between the Diamondback
Ranch to Salt Fork. Damn, he wished he'd had a valid excuse to
decline the request, but he hadn't been able to think quickly
enough when Caitlyn asked him to take the kids to Stone Creek for
team photos. Two-year-old Jamie was down with an ear infection, and
Tyler hadn't returned from Amarillo where he'd gone to pick up an
order of pesticide for applications.

Trouble was, Pete never could refuse a damsel
in distress. Even an older damsel.

Probably came from being raised in a
household full of women. They'd pounded it into his brain to always
act respectful and gentlemanly around females. Like he'd act any
other way. He liked to think he was one of the good guys.

Only, he'd made Kelsey cry and it was eating
him up. What had he done? He was at a complete loss. He hadn't seen
her this past week, but he was about to see her now. She was
driving the other half of the McCade brood to Stone Creek for
pictures. Most of the McCade and Garza kids were on soccer teams
this year. Hell, there were enough kids to field a team
themselves.

Pete smiled and shook his head at that mental
image. The age range would make for some interesting games. But it
would be far simpler for sure. Transporting all the kids to their
various games took a strategy far beyond what he was capable of
planning. At least once a month, Pete was roped into hauling this
kid or that one to some Saturday game being played in a
one-hundred-plus-mile radius from the Diamondback Ranch.

He didn't mind helping out so much, and the
McCades understood when he had to decline. But he didn't like to
let them down too often. He enjoyed the feeling of being part of
the ranch and them treating him like family.

Most of the time. When it came to anything to
do with Kelsey, Pete was on his own. It was him against the
McCades. They'd made that crystal clear at last week's party. They
could have saved their collective breath. No matter what they
thought, he had no intention of acting on the strong attraction he
felt for Kelsey.

The SUV passed the city limits and four
minutes later, Pete pulled to a stop in front of Cameron and
Jessie's big Victorian house in the middle of Salt Fork. They were
the only McCades who didn't actually live on the ranch so far.
Cameron was the resident doctor and Jessie still operated Kincaid's
Garage, although she now had two mechanics working for her, so she
only worked part-time. Even after all these years, the woman still
loved to work on engines.

He could relate to that. If he wasn't flying
applications or fighting wild fires, or hauling little McCades
somewhere,
or
driving the tractor for Kelsey, Pete enjoyed
working on engines, too.
Airplane
engines. He preferred
repairing and maintaining the small, but expensive fleet of
aircraft belonging to Lone Star Wings. He'd always had a special
knack for that kind of work, and he certainly didn't mind getting
his hands dirty.

"Are we going to just sit here? Or are we
getting out?" asked ten-year-old Zach McCade who was riding
shotgun. Before Pete could answer, Dallas McCade's oldest boy
unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of the SUV.

"Hey, wait a minute."
Too late, Zach
was already in the yard punching his cousin Daniel's shoulder in a
display of masculine affection.

Pete turned toward the back and pointed
sternly to the rest of the occupants. "All of you, stay put! We
don't have time to unload and then load back up."

The kids in the back seats nodded and
grinned. "Okay, Pete. Whatever you say."

Just to be on the safe side, he jerked the
key from the ignition before exiting the vehicle. One time, he'd
forgotten to do that, and it hadn't been pretty when one of the
kids had jumped in the driver's seat
just to listen to some
music
while waiting. But the kid had moved the stick shift and
the SUV had started backing down toward the street. Pete had barely
had time to avert the near catastrophe. He'd learned his lesson
after that.

On the whole, the McCade and Garza children
were well behaved, but once in a while they could pull some real
doozies. It was excellent training,
if
he ever decided to
marry and have kids of his own. But that seemed highly improbable
at this time in his life and his track record with women.

Tires crunched on the gravel drive, and Pete
watched Kelsey pull her truck behind the SUV. She hopped out and
smiled and waved to Daniel and Zach who were still roughhousing
with each other near the front porch.

When she saw Pete, her smile faded.