Rocky Mountain Angels (7 page)

Eli turned and looked. “Is it?”

Mari whacked him on the arm, shaking her head, her mouth agape. He laughed then guided her to sit beside him on her wicker settee. He got a pained expression and shifted. “My heavens, woman, where did you get this torture device?”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “It’s not very comfortable, is it? I just liked the look of it.”

“Didn’t you sit on it at least once before you bought it?”

She paused in thought. “You know, I don’t think I did. I got it on a garage sale. I saw it on my way to school, stopped, paid for it, stuffed it in my car, and went on my way.”

“Well, now we know why it was for sale.”

Eli sat silently for a few minutes, and Mari was dying of curiosity. “So...” Mari began, looking at him sideways, “do you have me pegged yet?”

Eli shifted again and crossed his arms. “I can’t until I’ve seen it all.”

She knew there was only one room he hadn’t been in yet, and turn about was fair play. “So go.”

Eli jumped to his feet. “Thank goodness. A few more minutes on that thing, and I wouldn’t be able to feel my legs.”

Mari let him look around by himself for a few minutes then followed and stood in the doorway, much as Eli had done in his bedroom.

Mari’s room, like the rest of the house, was small, but with only a twin bed, a chest of drawers, and one small wooden chair, it didn’t feel cramped. At least it didn’t until Eli was a part of the setting. Suddenly it felt close, warm, and far too intimate.

Eli had no such notion. He grinned, sat on the foot of her bed facing the door, and patted the spot beside him.

“I think I’ll stay here.”

“I promise I won’t touch you.” He scooted to the corner. “Come on. For what I have to say, you need to be sitting down.”

Mari hitched a brow. “Oh really?” She crossed her arms. “I’ll risk it.”

Eli let out a breath and rose. “Suit yourself.” Coming toward her, he grabbed her arm and turned her out of the bedroom. “Now, you did say you have a degree in design, right?”

“I didn’t say that I was any good at it. My grades weren’t exactly stellar; there’s a reason I’m not really using it.”

“Hmm. Well, you have the brightest colors outside of a circus between your kitchen pottery and living room art, which is probably either a reflection of your sunny personality or an attempt to create a sunny personality where none exists. I’m guessing the former from what I’ve seen so far, although I reserve the right to change my assessment as I get to know you better.”

He gave her a wink and led her over to the bookcases. “Since I’ve not had ‘the class,’ I’m not sure whether to chalk this color arranging up to a real design style or obsessive compulsive disorder. Do you actually remember the colors of your books and dvds, so you can find them in this arrangement...?”

She gave a tiny shake of her head.

“That’s what I thought.” He pulled her toward the wicker settee, sat, and pulled her down with him. “Now, beautiful, I’m not sure what to do with this. This is the only thing to sit on in the room, but your TV is literally behind us.”

“I know, but I really don’t watch TV very much, and like you pointed out, this thing isn’t very comfortable. If I want to watch something, I’ll just get some pillows and sit on the floor.”

Eli nodded. “Okay, there’s some logic to that, but why are we facing this way?”

She pointed to the window as if that were explanation enough.

He looked puzzled. “Mrs. Shimmel’s peeling paint across the street is hardly what I would call a grand view.”

“Don’t look so far. That bush at the edge of my yard is a lilac bush. It will be really pretty in May.”

Eli gave her an indulgent smile. “So you’re planning your seating arrangement for a sight that will only last a couple of weeks in the spring.”

She pursed her lips and didn’t answer.

He shifted and got a pained look on his face. “Please save my butt and come sit with me on the bed. I promise I’ll be good.”

She quirked her lips to the side then stood and motioned for him to lead the way. He rose and took her hand as though she had offered it to him and pulled her the few steps to the bedroom. He sat on the side of the bed, close to her pillow, and she hesitantly joined him with a good foot and a half between them.

Eli actually grew seriously serious. “Your style is all over the map. You’ve got quaint cottage going on in the kitchen, a mix of modern and garage sale in the living room, beach towels hanging in the bathroom, and in here, we have renaissance romantic crossed with—where did you get that awful cowboy painting?”

“On a vacation in Texas.”

“Sweetheart, your house is schizophrenic. You need to pick a direction.”

Mari was peeved. “Would you have said that if I hadn’t told you about all my different areas of study?”

Eli nodded. “I would. If I were trying to find your personality in your space... that was what you did in my room, wasn’t it?... I’d say you were fractured, confused, searching for something.”

Mari rose and walked to the window.
You pegged me very well, Eli Rhodes.

Eli gave her a minute then came up behind her. “Did I hit a sore spot? For what it’s worth, you were right about me hiding, and you were right about my heart not being in my work.” He gently laid his hands on her shoulders and slid his thumbs up her neck under her hair. He felt her tense, but he continued the caress until she relaxed. After a minute or two, Eli knew he could pull her back against him, and she wouldn’t resist.
And her bed is just three steps away.
He gave her shoulders a squeeze and stepped back.

“So, what you need to do is decide which part of your house and your life you like the best and build around that.” He sat again on the foot of the small twin bed.

Mari turned, half-smiling. “Well, thank you, professor Rhodes. Just pick, you say.” She shook her head. “Don’t you think if it were that easy, I would have done it by now?”

He patted the spot beside him, and she crossed to him and sat. “Why is it so difficult?” He thought a moment. “I know, close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“You’re obviously a very visual person. So let’s try an experiment.”

“You’re not going to kiss me, are you?”

Eli took in a breath and let it out. “No, I promise I won’t kiss you.” He paused, a smile blossoming on his face. “Today. Now close your eyes.”

She complied, and all Eli could think about was kissing her. He shook his head. “Okay, now picture me taking that wicker seat and carrying it out of the house. How does that make you feel?”

Mari giggled. “Actually pretty good.”

“Thank heavens,” Eli chuckled. “I’ll be glad to take it outside and set it on fire.”

Mari giggled again, and Eli wanted so badly to take her hand lying on her thigh but gripped the canopy pole beside him instead. “Okay, so picture me dismantling this bed and chucking it out the window.”

“No!”

“All right, the bed’s a keeper.”
Hallelujah, I like the bed.
“What about the passionate bright red chenille bedspread?”

“Well, I like the color... I’d be sad to see the color go.”

“How about your mosaic-tiled table and chairs in the kitchen?”

“Those belonged to my late aunt, so they stay.”

“Do they have to stay in the kitchen, or could they go outside where they belong?”

Mari opened one eye and gave him a look. “I’m just a poor college student, you know.” She opened both. “Okay, I think I can do the rest of this evaluation by myself.”

“Can you? I mean, seriously, this sappy cowboy painting... what do you like about it?”

“I like the colors in the sunset. I guess I just block out the silhouette of the cowboy and see that dark spot as counter-balancing the oranges and pinks.”

By her expression, he guessed that she was as baffled by the way she saw the world as he was. It seemed to be all about color.
Okay, we can work with that
. “So, do you even see the styles, the textures, the design?”

She closed her eyes again, bending her head and clasping her hands under her nose. “Yes.”

“But it’s hard work?”

She opened her eyes and dropped her hands.“Yes, and I have to admit, I’m a spontaneous shopper. If it grabs my eye and makes me smile, I’ll buy it.” Her shy sideways glance nearly stopped Eli’s heart.
Are we still talking about shopping?

Eli took a deep breath as her gaze fluttered through him. “I’d be glad to help you. We use the colors you love and just get them into one style—one theme—and who knows, maybe getting your house pointing in one direction will help you in other areas. Are you also a spontaneous shopper when it comes to college courses? I’d hate for you to waste more time getting a degree you won’t use.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “A degree that’s like that cowboy painting over there—pretty, but useless to the over-all theme.”

He rubbed his hand over her upper arm and held his breath. She didn’t pull away.

“You and my dad, both. But I don’t consider all of my time in school a waste. I’m just not using it to make money. I don’t think I’m spontaneous, really, when it comes to school; I was interested in every field I studied. They just didn’t pan out to be what I want to do with the rest of my life.

“And sometimes even if the interest was there, the talent wasn’t.” She looked at him, a hint of blush to her cheeks. “I have no illusions about my abilities in decorating, even if I do have a degree. I chucked it and started over in psychology. And” —she sighed— “I had to be honest with myself about psychology. While I found a lot of it fascinating, I soon realized I didn’t want to be a practicing psychologist, nor did I want to do research. I should have dropped out of that program halfway through.”

He was drawing lazy circles on her shoulder with his thumb. “Why didn’t you?”

“My parents were really invested in that particular field. They thought I had finally chosen well, and I think they were proud to tell their friends I was going to be a ‘doctor.’”

Eli wondered why she was struggling so hard to find a direction. “What are your passions, Mari?”

He let his hand fall away from her shoulder as she turned her whole body toward him, sliding her bent leg up between them. She seemed almost bursting to say something, her eyes bright, but then he watched as she swallowed whatever she had been about to tell him. She may as well have turned a key on her lips. He couldn’t keep himself from taking her hand resting on her knee. “Are you passionate about zoos, Mari Baker?”

“I love animals.”

“As visually oriented as you are, I bet you could sit and look at them all day, but are you also passionate about feeding animals? Are you passionate about cleaning up after animals in all kinds of weather? It’s not quite as easy as scooping a litter box for your cat.” She didn’t say anything, and Eli knew he was right. Zoo studies would just be another degree in a box—if she even made it that far. He stood. “Tomorrow we’re going shopping for your house, and Friday we’re going to the zoo.”

Mari looked alarmed. “To the zoo? In this weather?”

Eli looked at her with eyebrows raised. “I don’t care if there’s a blizzard, I’m taking you to the zoo on Friday.” He turned and left the room, grabbing his coat off the standing rack right outside the door. He wondered what she had been going to say earlier but decided not to press. “Be ready by noon tomorrow for shopping—we’ll grab some lunch first.”

Mari followed and put her hands on her hips. “Well, aren’t you bossy, all of a sudden.”

Eli turned back at the door and smiled. “Yep. You can thank me later.”

Chapter 5

Eli rang her bell right at noon the next day, and Mari went to the door, her heart pumping. She had disappointed Ben a half hour ago when he popped by to see if she wanted to go out for lunch, and now she wasn’t sure if she should be going with Eli. She had never in her life been the object of two men’s attention before, and certainly not two brothers. She didn’t want to cause conflict in their family and was ready to tell Eli that when she opened the door. Except the smile that greeted her so disarmed her she could barely breathe, let alone form a coherent argument.

Eli stepped in and closed the door. “Ready?”

She nodded and grabbed her coat off the rack. Eli took it from her and helped her slip it on over her rust cable knit sweater and jeans. While she buttoned, he plucked her scarf from the rack and wrapped it around her neck several times. He took a step even closer and pulled her hair out of its confines. Mari looked up into his dark eyes, and he smiled. “I don’t want you to get cold.”

“My hands are the main problem. Sometimes my toes.”

“Warm socks?”

“Yes.”

“Gloves?”

She pulled them out of her pockets. “Yes.”

“Okay,” —he waited for her to put her gloves on then took her hand and pulled her toward the door— “let’s shop!”

“Eli, I’m afraid we’ll just have to window shop today,” she protested as they moved down the sidewalk to the curb where Eli’s sporty red car was idling. “I really am a poor college student.”

He opened her door, and she slipped into the black interior, finally noticing the car and how much it suited Eli. “Oh my, this is nice.”

Eli grinned, still holding the door. “It didn’t cost me nearly as much as it was worth. I just happened to fall into the deal of a lifetime. A fellow moving overseas needed to unload it and sold it for a song.”

He shut her door and ran around to the driver’s side. Mari couldn’t help noticing how excited he seemed to be about shopping. I 
thought men hated to shop.

After he was settled and had adjusted the heat settings, he turned to her. “I know you’re short on funds. Anything we see that we just can’t live without will just be a housewarming gift from me.” He put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

“Oh, Eli, I can’t let you do that.”

“Yes, you can.” He stopped at the stop sign at the end of their block and gave her his full attention. “When I got up today, I actually couldn’t wait to get going. You were absolutely right when you said my heart isn’t in my work. Designing big, impersonal buildings has taken the fun out of architecture. Doing this for you will get me back to what I loved about designing houses—personal touches.”