Rocky Mountain Angels (20 page)

While Mari delved into her computer files, Eli was reveling in the feel of her hair, winding a curl around his finger then sliding out of it. Looking at her in profile, he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Even with almost no make-up and crying, she made his heart skip beats. He wondered about her unexpected mood swing but didn’t belabor it.
Probably just a hormone thing.

Once she opened her photo file, she showed him not only the pictures she’d taken of their snow-covered yards, but also some campus shots she’d taken with Ben.
She has a good eye.
He chuckled at Ben’s very serious pose with a piece of modern art. Ben was studying it with one eyebrow raised and a hand to his chin, but even this goofy shot had been framed at an interesting angle that seemed to intensify the feeling. Eli looked at Mari. “You’re good.”

She blushed. “Do you really think so?”

He nodded. “I do.” He slid an arm around her shoulder. “So did the campus tours help you decide on school?”

She let out a breath. “Well, I think I dumped Marketing—too many prerequisites I don’t have. That leaves Photography or Religion. Joe says Religion will be useless.”

Eli looked at her sideways. “Joe said that?”

“Well, not exactly that. He said it would lead to teaching or becoming a Rabbi, and I suppose he’s right.”

“Hmm, I’d like to argue with that just because Joe said it, but I can’t really.”

Mari narrowed her eyes. “What is with you and Joe? I doubt that everything he says is manipulative.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he was discouraging you from Religion merely to point you more toward Marketing.”

Mari shook her head. “Well anyway, I suppose the most practical choice is Photography. I have a nice camera. I have some knowledge and skill already. I just need to take it to a professional level.”

He kissed the side of her head. “Sounds like a plan.”

A gust of wind rattled the windows, and the two got up to look behind the picture window shade. “Wow, is it snowing again, or just blowing?”

Eli studied the view for a moment. “I think it’s a ground blizzard. Glad I’ve got nowhere to go tonight.”

Mari went to the other window and pulled up the shade. “If it weren’t for the lights, I couldn’t even see your house. Maybe you better go home before it gets worse.”

He came up behind and circled his arms around her, nuzzling his lips into the side of her neck. “Or I could stay and keep you warm.”

She leaned her head back against him. “I’ve got flannel PJs and Tawny. I’m sure I’ll be all right.”

He sighed. “Rejected for a cat.”

She turned in his arms and grinned up at him. “Not just a cat. A cat and flannel PJs.”

He bent to whisper in her ear. “Skin to skin is warmer.”

Mari had a flash of her hands in Joe’s and shivered. Eli rubbed her arms. “See, you’re cold even in this thick sweater.”

She pulled back a step. “I’ll make some hot tea.”

“You really want me to go.”

“Ben and I tromped around two campuses for most of the afternoon. I am kind of tired, and I probably overdid it walking. I should put my foot up.”

“All right.” He stepped forward and ran his hands down her bulky sweater sleeves to entwine his fingers with hers before giving her a chaste kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

She nodded, and he released her hands to cross the room to get his coat. He’d been hoping she’d let him stay, but there really was no danger of not finding his way home.
That’s the problem with living next door.

It was actually a problem he was all too happy to have.

***

“Zoos. You want to throw away a year and a half of school—not to mention tuition—to work at  a zoo.”

Ben nodded, his jaw locked.

Joe leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. “Mari wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would she?” His hands went in the air in realization. “But wait, she’s not going to do zoo studies anymore, so why...?”

Ben leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “I’ve always loved working with animals, Joe. I spent every summer on Uncle Al’s ranch. Mari just got me thinking that direction, and I realized the idea makes me a whole lot happier than the notion of spending the rest of my days in an office.”

Joe crossed his arms, more irritated than he cared to admit.
Why can’t anyone just be practical?
“Have you run this idea past Mom and Dad?”

“Not yet. I wanted to tell you first.”

“I doubt Dad is going to be too happy.”

Ben shrugged. “Maybe not, but if he doesn’t want to pay for it, I’ll get a loan and pay for it myself. Like Mari says, it’s my life.”

Joe stood with his hands planted on the table. “See? Mari is behind this. What kind of bullcrap has she been feeding you?”

Ben rose to stare at him across the table. “She just gave me the info she had gotten from the community college. But only after I told her what I’d been thinking.”

Joe started around the table, his ire building. “Is Eli still over there? I think I’d like to have a chat with our neighbor. She doesn’t need to be butting into your education when she can’t even figure out her own life.” Joe didn’t know why exactly, but it felt good to be mad at Mari. At any rate, it beat pining for her.

Ben stood and blocked his path. “I told you she had nothing to do with it.” Then he lifted his chin. “She seems to think, though, that you maneuvered me into the business manager program just for your own benefit. I told her she was wrong, but now I’m beginning to wonder. Maybe your attitude is more about you than me.”

Joe stared down at Ben with narrowed eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“You. You losing your business manager for Rhodes Construction.”

“That’s absurd. I only suggested it, so you’d have a job when you were through school.”

“That’s what I thought, too, so why are you getting so upset?”

Joe didn’t have a ready answer.

Ben turned and left the kitchen.

Joe followed a few steps and yelled after him as he headed up the stairs. “So is that it? You’re going to let that little snip of a woman change your life completely after knowing her a week?”

Ben stopped halfway and looked over the rail. “Sometimes change is good, Joe.” He took another step and stopped. “Oh, and Mari sent a message. She said to tell you ‘to stick that manager degree where the sun don’t shine.’”

Joe’s eyebrows launched to new heights as Ben stomped the rest of the way up the stairs. Joe put his hand over his heart, feeling as if he’d been physically stabbed. The hurt festered for a moment or two then turned into anger.
How can she think she knows anything about me?
He started toward his coat on the hook. I 
don’t care if Eli is there or not, that woman is getting a piece of my mind.

He hadn’t gotten completely buttoned, however, before the door opened, bringing Eli in with a swirl of icy wind and snow. Someone followed him in so bundled up he couldn’t tell who it was, but the white fur-edged coat suggested femininity.
Too tall for Mari.

Eli stomped the snow off his shoes. “You’re not going out, Joe. It’s terrible out there. And besides,” —he pulled the gal behind him forward by the arm as she struggled to pull the red scarf down that was wound around her face under her hood— “guess who I found walking up our sidewalk.”

She pulled it below her chin and smiled.

Beth.

Chapter 16

Joe stepped toward her. “Beth, what are you doing out on a night like this?” She unzipped her coat, and Joe helped her out of it. He passed it to Eli, who was hanging up his own.

She unwound the scarf from around her neck. “Well, the wind didn’t come up until just a little bit ago, and I’ve been in town most of the day.”

Eli had moved to the kitchen, so Joe ushered Beth into the living room after slipping back out of his coat. “Why were you in town, and why didn’t you call?”

She turned and slipped her arms around his waist. “Can I get a kiss before the interrogation?”

Joe hesitated just a moment then place his hands gently on her back and bent to do her bidding. He felt like an ass when he realized he was hoping for just a tiny bit of the electricity he felt when touching Mari.
Why would it start now?

Sitting on the sofa, she ran a hand through her short hair a couple of times and smiled, patting the spot beside her. Joe sat and looked at her expectantly.

Her brows pinched. “You don’t have to look like my father awaiting an explanation for bad behavior.”

Joe shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’ve got lots of other things on my mind. That’s probably what you’re seeing. And I just... I just wasn’t expecting you.”

She turned on the sofa and brought her bent leg up between them. Taking his loosened tie in hand, she pulled him toward her. “Well, come into my world for a minute, Joseph Rhodes, I’ve got something to tell you.”

He couldn’t help but smile at the sparkle in her eyes. “Okay, you’ve got me. Now tell me.”

“Sheri and I got an apartment together here in the Springs.” She put a finger to his lips. “And before you go into one of your budgeting lectures, I want to add that it is very reasonable—my share will be just $20 more, and I can make that up in the gas I’ll save not being stuck in Denver traffic.”

He took hold of her hand still on his lips and gently pulled it down to her knee. Stroking his thumb over her knuckles, he struggled with what to say.

Beth frowned. “Why aren’t you excited?”

He squeezed her hand. “I am, I am. It’s just a lot to take in.”

“Joe, sometimes I think you’re thirty-four going on ninety. It’s so hard for you to switch gears. You just need to loosen up and go with the flow.”

He smiled at her peeved expression and chided himself for raining on her parade and not sharing her excitement. “You’re probably right.” He reached for her and pulled her close. He hadn’t held her in his arms for three days.

It felt good.

This thing I feel for Mari will pass. And anyway, it’s obvious the only feeling she has for me is contempt
. He kissed the top of Beth’s head, and with his arms wrapped around her, he ran his fingers down the curve of her waist.
This is real. This is where I’m supposed to be.
“It will be nice to have you closer.”

She pulled back just a bit to look into his eyes. “Just ‘nice’?”

Joe’s dimples popped as he smiled down at her. “A little better than nice.” Covering her lips with his, he tried to convince
them both.

***

Joe was standing in his backyard listening to the wind blowing through the trees. Not a steady wind, it blew in strange short bursts. Leaves gusted to the ground, and birds took flight with every pulse of air. He felt it on the back of his head and wished for a cap to keep his hair from blowing. Then it stopped completely, and a vine coiled his waist. Joe struggled to free himself, but it continued to wrap around him until he couldn’t breathe.

Joe woke with a start, grabbing at his chest. The thick vine was easy to pull off, and he scrambled out from under the covers, disoriented, his torso bare above dark gray lounge pants. As his vision cleared, he saw Beth blinking up at him by the light of the nearly full moon shining in his window.

She yawned. “Joe, what’s wrong? Were you dreaming?”

“Yeah.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I guess.”

She rotated her shoulder. “I think you nearly pulled my arm out of its socket.”

“Oh, Beth, I’m sorry.” He slid back into bed and began to massage her shoulder. “I’m just not used to having someone in bed with me.”

She huffed out a breath then said slowly, “Neither am I, Joe.”

Joe didn’t need much light to tell she was irritated. “He moved his hand to her hair. I didn’t mean to imply that you were.”

“I’m sorry.” She adjusted her pillow. “You just made such a fuss about us sleeping in the same bed, I felt like a slut for suggesting it.”

Joe slid his hand down her arm. “Just trying to avoid temptation.”

She rolled to her back and was silent. Joe felt like he needed to say something more, but he had no idea what. The whole sleeping arrangements discussion had been thorough enough without rehashing it. He’d volunteered for the sofa, but Beth wouldn’t hear of kicking him out of his bed, and his suggestion that
she
take the sofa had gone over even worse.

He’d finally given in, and rather than his usual bed attire of boxers only, had dressed in lounge pants and a t-shirt, although the t-shirt had proved to be too hot, and he had shed it sometime in the night. No matter how hot the pants got, however, he vowed to keep them on.

“Beth?”

Her only response was the even breathing of slumber. He rolled onto his back and shook his head in the dark.
Evidently she isn’t miffed enough to keep her awake.
Beth’s moods could shift so fast, at times he just couldn’t keep up.

He thought about her having an apartment in town and living with those moods on a more regular basis. He linked his hands behind his head.
Good grief, Joe, you’re going to marry her. That’s 24/7.
He blew out a breath.
Well, nobody said marriage was easy
. And maybe he had overreacted to the idea of them sharing a bed. Beth did seem to be right; they hadn’t been overpowered by temptation just lying next to each other.

His mind drifted to Mari. With Beth’s sudden arrival, he hadn’t had the time to process what Ben had said. For the life of him, he couldn’t understand her contemptuous comment.
I
 
rescued her purse.
I
 
installed her disposal, took her to get an x-ray on her foot, scooped her walk... What did I do to make her despise me?
He rubbed a hand across his forehead.

Maybe she’s not as artless as Ben thinks.

Turning on his side, he propped up on an elbow and considered the woman in his bed. Her blonde hair was mussed and her rosy lips were slightly parted.
Maybe I don’t feel the same sparks with Beth, but at least she has always been truthful with me. I know what I’m getting
.