Rocky Mountain Angels (2 page)

Eli shrugged. “Just hot-blooded, I guess.”

Mari wondered what that said about her. She looked down at her fingers—mostly pink now but mottled with a few remaining white spots.

Eli took them in his hands and held them close to his chest, his voice suddenly as sultry as mid-summer in Dallas. “I think you need a bit of heat in your life.”

Mari couldn’t believe the chutzpah of her charming new neighbor, and she couldn’t resist messing with him just a bit. She leaned in. “Is that the answer to my question? Is that how you have me pegged?” She could see him deliberating an answer as he gazed into her eyes. Mari couldn’t help studying the details of those eyes. The shade of brown was so dark, they were almost black, and yet there were lighter highlights creating shimmers in the iris.

Finally he spoke, rubbing his thumbs across her knuckles. “I think I’d be a fool to try and peg you at all.”

The door opened, and Mari pulled out of Eli’s grasp as Ben appeared with the cat carrier in hand. She rushed to meet him in her stocking feet, noting that her toes felt almost back to normal. Tawny was howling pitifully. She took the carrier, set it on the floor, and sat down next to it. Sticking her fingers through the grated door, she allowed the frenzied ball of fur to rub on her until she calmed down. “Poor baby! It’s been a long day, hasn’t it? Hopefully we’ll be in our new house soon, and I can let you out of there.”

Eli squatted down beside her. “You also mentioned something about your purse down the drain?”

Mari sighed. “I slipped on the ice and threw my purse in the air. I probably couldn’t do it again in a million years, but it flew right into the storm drain. It’s got everything I need in it—keys, money, phone. I knew I couldn’t spend the night in the truck—I’d be a popsicle by morning—so I...” She paused and wondered if she should tell them the whole story. She plunged ahead. “So I prayed for God to show me which house to go to for help, and just then your porch light came on.”

That bedeviled smile spread across his face, and he rose and slapped Ben on the back. “See, Ben, I told you there’s a God.” Then he spun on his heels and made for the stairs.

Mari scrambled to her feet. “Where are you going?”

He paused half-way up. “To get a flashlight and some socks and shoes. Even a guy as hot as me can’t do twenty degrees barefoot for as long as it might take to rescue your purse.” He gave her a wink and continued up the stairs.

She looked at Ben, wide-eyed, who rolled his eyes and headed toward the stairs, as well. “You know,” he said, never slowing down, “I’m the one who’s always telling him that there’s a God.”

***

“So can you see it?” Mari was standing over Eli, who was stretched out on his stomach in the street, shining the flashlight down the storm drain with brother Ben beside him in similar form. They were both wearing rugged fleece-lined denim, so she supposed they probably weren’t too cold, even lying on the ice-covered street. She, however, was already starting to scrunch up her toes inside her boots and fist her hands inside her pockets.

Her mittens and scarf were still wet, so Eli had taken great care—a bit too much care in Mari’s opinion—to dress her in gloves and a stocking cap of his. The gloves were too big, and she was sure she looked a fright with her mangled curls sticking out of the tight cap, but she hoped the dark hid that fact.

She took the opportunity to look around at her new neighborhood by the light of the moon, stars, and streetlights. When she was searching for a place on-line, the older homes a bit off the beaten path had appealed to her more than a tiny apartment in the middle of Colorado Springs, and the older home rental price had fit her budget.

Now that she was here looking around, she was so glad that the “closed deal” on the little bungalow had fallen through, and she had gotten a call about its sudden availability just minutes before she was ready to say yes to another place. She liked the old-fashioned neighborhood feel with fully mature trees and the Colorado feel of pines and aspens.

She knew from pictures that her small rental was tan with caramel-colored trim. Where the porch light illuminated the Victorian next to it, she could see that it was sage green with a rose door, but trees and shadows hid any additional trim colors. She could see, however, that it was the most impressive house on the block, with a wrap around porch and a turret on the side. Her house looked drab and miniscule by comparison.

“There it is!” Ben’s voice brought her back to the reason for their winter excursion.

Mari squatted down and leaned in until she was practically on top of them. “Can you reach it?”

Before anyone could answer, a white pickup turned onto the street and slowed. Ben popped to his feet. “That’s probably Joe. If we can’t get it, I bet Joe can.”

Mari looked toward the truck that had now pulled into their driveway, cutting the engine and lights.

Eli slowly rose with a sour look on his face. “And what makes you think Joe can do this any better than you or me.”

“Joe’s got tools,” Ben threw over his shoulder as he jogged to where another denim-clad man was emerging from the parked truck.

Eli yelled back to him. “We don’t need Joe. All we need is a coat hanger to snag it with, for Pete’s sake.”

Mari watched her overconfident new friend sink into sullenness. He seemed to sense her studying him and met her gaze. “What?”

“I take it you and Joe don’t get along very well.”

He snorted. “Oh, we get along just fine as long as I don’t stray too far from the role he wants me to play.”

He had turned away from her, so Mari edged around him until she could see his face again by the street light. “And what role is that?”

He looked at her for a moment longer, his irritation evident; then he switched gears, and looking over her shoulder, broke into a smile. “Joe, I guess Ben filled you in on our new neighbor’s dilemma.”

Mari spun to see the object of Eli’s scorn approaching with a crowbar in hand. His lips turned up in a friendly smile, and Mari’s insides turned to butter. If the first two Rhodes brothers had been molded from heaven’s light, this one was surely spun from God’s glory, himself. He was sandy-headed like Ben with dimples like Eli, yet taller, broader, with eyes like blue smoke. His hair was longer than Eli’s, but well-groomed and styled with a bit of a swoop to one side, one wisp of which had parted company with the rest and pointed toward his right eye.

Joe spoke, and the deep timbre had that butter swirling. “So you lost your purse down the gutter? Must be smaller than most bags I see women carrying.”

Mari swallowed. “Yes, well, I like things small and compact.” She couldn’t keep her eyes from traveling over the wide set of his shoulders. “Usually,” she added under her breath.

Eli pivoted and headed back to the house. “Well, I’m sure you’ve got this, big brother.”

Mari pulled herself away from the heavenly vision before her to watch Eli striding determinedly across the yard. “Eli, wait!” He turned, and she jogged after him, but just as she reached him, she hit a patch of ice. She threw out her arms as her feet slid but missed catching Eli.

Luckily, Eli caught her.

Grabbing onto the front of his coat with the too large gloves, she struggled to get her feet underneath her while Eli smiled down at her with a good grip on her arms. “Relax, I’ve got you.” Mari stopped spinning her feet on the ice, and Eli lifted her up until she was standing solid again.

He slid his hands down to her elbows, and Mari released his coat to grasp his forearms. His smile warmed her more than it should.

“Is there something else I can do for you, Mari?”

With his hands gripping her elbows, his eyes burning into hers, and their breath an icy fog between them, Mari couldn’t remember what she had wanted to tell him. Her eyes migrated away from his penetrating stare. “Your ears are getting red. You should take your hat back.”

He raised a brow as his perfect lips turned into a lop-sided smile. “You rushed over here to tell me that as I’m heading back into the house?”

Mari broke out of his hold, nearly slipped again, and stepped off the sidewalk into the snow. “No, I... you have a way of making me forget things. I was going to thank you for the coffee and... and everything.”

He slid his hands into his coat pockets. “You’re welcome. It was the least I could do after Ben tried to drown you with carrot water.”

Mari couldn’t help laughing. “Carrot water? So that’s what I’ve been smelling.”

“Yep. Maybe we’ve discovered a new beauty treatment.” He paused and let his gaze skim over her face and settle on her lips. “Not that you need one.”

Mari took a step back and waved a hand toward Eli’s brothers, face down in the street. “Well, I guess I better see if they’ve gotten it yet. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.” She started moving toward the street.

“Mari?”

She turned back.

“You are coming back to get her aren’t you, or would you like her delivered?”

“Her?”

Eli just grinned.

“Oh! My cat! Yes, of course. I’ll get her just as soon as I have my key.”

A shout of triumph at the curb reminded Mari of why they were all out there freezing their hineys off. Shifting her focus, she saw Ben lifting her purse high in the air.

Mari smiled. Maybe it hadn’t been such a bad start after all.

Chapter 2

Once she had the house open, Joe and Ben had insisted on moving her bed in then Ben had insisted on putting it together. While he was occupied with this task, Mari looked around her new space.

It truly was small, with one bedroom and one bathroom in addition to the living room and kitchen, but she loved the hardwood floors, the somewhat retro kitchen, and the cozy feel of the place. She appreciated the wide woodwork all around the tall windows, and she knew Tawny would appreciate the deep ledges.

After Ben completed the bed frame and bid her a good night, she and Tawny had curled up on top of the mattress without sheets, blankets, or pillows and never moved until the sun was pouring in her bare windows the next morning.

She stretched out, still dressed in yesterday’s clothes, and thought about the “angels” next door. Any one of them could make her heart race, but all three together was better than zumba for a cardio workout. She reached over to pet Tawny, who stretched and meowed a “good morning.”

“It could be interesting, Tawny girl.”

Rolling out of bed, she dug through her suitcase for clean clothes then padded toward the bathroom. She didn’t think it possible that her hair could look worse than it had the night before after removing Eli’s stocking cap, but it most definitely did. With her hair reaching new heights of frizziness, she couldn’t wait to jump in a hot shower and hit the reset button.

***

Joe was reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee in hand while Eli pored over a set of blueprints. Both men sitting at the kitchen table wore blue, although Eli was wearing a t-shirt, and Joe a button-down with the sleeves rolled up a turn or two. Ben, in a maroon University of Colorado sweat shirt poured himself a glass of orange juice and set it beside his plate of eggs and toast. Sitting, he picked up his fork and cleared his throat, drawing the attention of his older brothers. “So,” he began stiffly, “what do you two think of our new neighbor?”

Eli’s eyebrows rose while Joe’s collided. Joe laid his paper aside. “She seems nice enough—a bit ditzy, though.” He chuckled. “I can’t believe she threw her purse down the storm drain before she even had a chance to open her new front door.”

Ben jumped to her defense. “She slipped. It could happen to anyone.”

“That wasn’t half as ditzy as our brother, here, throwing water in her face when she came to our door,” Eli put in.

Joe looked to Eli. “Huh?” Then back to Ben. “Why would you do that?” His eyes widened. “Is that why her hair was so... crazy?”

Both men started to answer at once.

“The sink was clogged, and I think she’s pretty.”

“Crazy? I happen to like curly hair.”

Joe raised a hand. “Okay, boys, I see how it is. Good thing I’m not interested. This could get ugly.” He rose with his breakfast dishes in hand.

“Who’s interested in what?” Eli defended. “We were just being good neigh—”

“I’m interested,” Ben broke in. “I’m real interested, and I’m going to ask her out.”

Eli rose, his hands planted on the table. “Now wait a minute. Don’t you think you’re a bit young for her?”

Ben took a bite of eggs. “I don’t know. How old do you think she is? She said she was just now enrolling in college, so I thought we must be about the same age.”

“You don’t have to go to college right out of high school, idiot. Sure, she dressed sort of like a college girl, but she didn’t strike me as being that young. Women in their late teens or even early twenties are easier to...” Eli trailed off and began stacking his dishes.

Joe turned back from loading the dishwasher. “Easier to what, Eli? Did you try to put moves on her last night? When you just met her?” Joe’s indignant expression was just about to leap off his face. “When she was in trouble?”

Eli gave him an icy glare. “No.”

Ben, however, was nodding while he ate his toast.

Eli stared him down. “If I had put moves on her, Benjamin, she wouldn’t have been sleeping in that little house with just her cat for company last night.”

Joe shook his head and started out of the kitchen toward the front door. “Well, don’t kill each other over her. Eli, I’ll need those blueprints to show the Marshall’s by tomorrow.”

Eli’s jaw was tight. “They’ll be done.”

Sitting at the bottom of the stairs to pull on his high-top work boots, Joe glanced out the window by the door. “The one who wants to score points with our new neighbor had better hop to and help her unload her truck. Looks like she packed her things in boxes too big for her to carry.” He shook his head again as he rose and plucked his coat from a hook by the door. “Ditzy,” he muttered, reaching for the knob.

Ben shoveled the last of his eggs in his mouth even as he rose and walked his plate to the dishwasher. Eli was not as obvious, but he, too, was suddenly on the move, rolling up the papers he’d been studying.