Too Hot to Handle (19 page)

She stole another glance in the rearview mirror.

Grace had crossed the yard to Rayleen’s house an hour earlier, and when the two women had reappeared, Rayleen had looked fresh and bright and ten years younger. Her long white hair was pulled into a loose chignon at the base of her neck, and makeup brightened her eyes and softened her skin.

She still wore her standard jeans and boots, but Grace had apparently talked her into a pretty pink gingham blouse. The unlit cigarette, however, was still in evidence, but at least it had been tucked into the breast pocket of the blouse and wasn’t clasped between Rayleen’s tinted lips.

Merry looked up at her own face and wished she’d thought to have Grace help her with makeup, too. She just looked like normal old Merry, round-faced and harmless and plain. And the thing was…she didn’t feel like that anymore. She should look different, shouldn’t she?

She was a covert vandal. A deceptive manipulator. And now…a wild, sexual woman who’d taken a secret lover. But she still looked like the girl you’d hire to housesit for you and walk your dog while you went somewhere exotic and dangerous.

Damn. Maybe eyeliner would have made all the difference. Or maybe she would’ve just looked like plain old Merry who’d gotten into the makeup drawer.

It didn’t matter, she told herself as she drove beneath the Easy Creek Ranch sign and spotted the men standing in the shade of a huge cottonwood tree that nearly filled the space between Easy’s house and Cole’s.

Grace smiled. Merry felt a smile tugging at her own lips as well, but she tried to fight it. She didn’t have an excuse for a goofy, lovesick grin. She wouldn’t be able to explain why her eyes went so bright at the sight of the three men in cowboy hats, each of them with a beer in their grasp. When she glanced at the mirror, she saw Rayleen scowling and felt better. Things weren’t as topsy-turvy as they seemed. She could pull this off. Everything was normal.

But when she parked and got out of the car and met Shane’s eyes, there was no stopping her smile. Oh, God. All she could do was duck her head and pray that everyone else was too wrapped up in their own greetings to notice.

They were. Cole moved forward to kiss Grace, and Rayleen stalked toward Easy. “That beer for me?” she barked.

Easy sighed as if he were already exasperated, but he handed over the open beer.

Shane watched Merry and very slowly raised a hand up to tip his hat in greeting. She blushed. He smiled. “Can I get you other ladies a beer?”

“Yes!” she said too urgently and he winked before he turned to walk to the half barrel that was filled with ice. “Easy, you need another one, too?”

“Apparently,” he groused, but Merry caught him watching Rayleen with a sidelong look. “You ladies look real nice tonight,” he said, including them all, but Rayleen flushed at the words.

Merry wished she had a right to flush herself, but she was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt again, though she had purposefully chosen her Wonder Woman shirt. Men thought Wonder Woman was hot, with her all-American bustier and high-heeled boots. Plus, it was tighter than her other T-shirts, and she wanted Shane looking at her breasts. And her waist. The curve of her hips. He’d liked them okay, hadn’t he? He’d told her she was beautiful. He’d seemed enthusiastic.

“Were you working today?” she asked when he handed her a beer.

“A little. And I went for a ride. I apologize if I look rough. I didn’t have time to stop for a shower. Maybe I should ask Cole if I can use the bunkhouse bathroom.”

“No, you look great. I mean, you look fine.” But he did look great. A little dusty, and his hair looked slightly damp with sweat against his nape. He looked…dirty. Like a gorgeous dirty cowboy who wanted to do filthy things to her in the barn or…

Merry cleared her throat and forced herself to stop staring at the wisp of hair she could see just past the open collar of his shirt. He probably smelled like sweat. Somehow that made her mouth water.

“So,” he said, as if she’d lapsed into silence for too long. “What did you do today?”

“Oh, I was finishing up the brochure. It’s going to be amazing. The board’s meeting tomorrow, and I’m going to make them take a look at it then, and I’m already planning what we’ll say to the reporter about—”

“Reporter?”

“Yes, we’re hoping to get a really solid piece written up.”

“About the vandalism?”

“Oh, God, no.” She felt the color draining from her cheeks. Cole joined them, and Grace smiled to cover her nervousness. “It was no big deal. Just a sign.”

“What did it say?” he pressed.

“Uh. Something like No More Tourists.”

“Huh.” Shane rocked back on his heels. “Any idea who it could be?”

“No!”

Cole frowned. “That’s really strange. There are people who oppose new development here, obviously, but I’ve never heard about anything like that. And it doesn’t make much sense. Why post a sign where no one’s going to see it? Usually people just send a letter to the editor of the paper.”

“Maybe it has to do with the lawsuit!” she said, throwing that poor guy under the bus when she’d vowed not to do it. But she couldn’t handle pressure. She felt like there was a bright light shining right on her and every nervous blink of her eyes was giving her away.

“Lawsuit?” Cole asked.

Shane cleared his throat and started to say something, but Merry was in full-on babble mode.

“I’m sure it’s not that, either. The guy who inherited the rest of the land is suing over the money left to Providence. It’s no big deal. Standard stuff, I’m sure. No vandalism.”

“Right,” Shane interrupted. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But you need to be careful out there from now on, okay? No more working with your earphones on.”

She nodded, and then grabbed on to the first out she could think of. “Oh! We left the food in the car. I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll help,” Shane volunteered.

Cole was frowning at him, seemingly suspicious about Shane’s quick offer to help, but Shane just started toward her car. Merry followed, relieved the interrogation was over.

“We brought pies. And Rayleen brought potato salad. None of it’s homemade, I’m afraid. Grace and I are a little hopeless in the kitchen, and Rayleen said she hadn’t worked her whole life so she could slave over a kitchen stove to please a bunch of clueless cowboys. Oh, sorry. I’m sure she didn’t mean you.”

“No?”

She met his smile. “Okay, she probably did.”

“So you can’t cook? Have you been living in your mom’s basement your whole life?”

“No! Of course not! Why would you think that?”

He blinked at her response and shook his head. “I’m just wondering what you eat.”

“Oh.” Right. He didn’t know she was a slacker loser with no career path. “Sandwiches. Salads. I can cook up some mean nachos if I need to. And by ‘need to’ I mean every Friday night.”

He laughed. “You sound like a few cowboys I know. Aside from the salads, I mean.”

“Can you cook?”

He shrugged. “A little, but I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy. I’ll make you pot roast sometime if you’re nice.”

“Then I’ll be nice.”

“Yeah?” He waited as she opened the trunk, and as soon as it swung up and blocked the others’ view, Shane stepped closer and rested his hands on her hips. “Damn, I’ve been wanting to touch you since I saw you.”

“Oh.” Her pulse hammered, pushed on by the danger of being seen and the thrill of him wanting her.

“You look so…”

She waited for him to say sexy. Or hot. Or beautiful.

“Sweet.”

She shook her head.

“You do. You look cute and untouchable. Like someone I shouldn’t think dirty thoughts about.”

God, what was she supposed to think about that? She wanted to be sexy and hot and beautiful. She didn’t want to be sweet and cute like a cozy little friend. But his hands tightened on her hips and he kissed her, and what the hell did she care how she turned him on, as long as she did? He shouldn’t be doing this, shouldn’t be touching her here, only a few feet away from everyone, but he couldn’t resist.

Merry smiled against his mouth and he pulled back.

“Damn, you’re adorable,” he said, answering her smile. “I guess we’d better get this food?”

“I suppose it shouldn’t take quite this long to gather up potato salad.”

“Maybe.” He touched her jaw, brushed his thumb over her mouth, then dared one last quick kiss before he let her go. When he closed the trunk, Merry expected everyone to be looking at them, but no one seemed to have noticed their strange behavior. No one except Cole, whose intent gaze made her cringe.

But Cole wouldn’t say anything. He wouldn’t want his best friend neutered.

And after that one close call, the barbecue was lovely and fun. The men were adorable, sitting down at the table and taking off their hats, looking half naked without them.

Even Rayleen seemed on her best behavior, complimenting Easy on the ribs and only complaining about the bright red highlights in Grace’s hair three times.

Easy told stories about Cole as a boy, and Grace hung on every word, looking so soft and happy that Merry curved an arm around her waist and hugged her.

Grace laid her head on Merry’s shoulder. “What is it?” she whispered.

“Nothing. This is just so nice. So…right. It feels like home here, doesn’t it?”

Grace was quiet for a long moment. They both watched Easy as he told a story about a snowstorm that dumped four feet of snow in one night. “Yes,” Grace finally said. “It does.”

Merry hadn’t formed bonds here as deep as Grace’s but she felt that, too. That sense that these people liked her for herself and didn’t expect something else. They certainly liked her more than her own cousins ever had. Cole was like a big brother to her now, the kind of role she’d always wanted Crystal’s brother to play. And hell, Grace had always been like a sister.

And despite the fact that they’d never even dated, Rayleen and Easy perfectly fit the role of quirky grandparents. Even as she thought that, Rayleen was poking at Easy. “I bet there was nothing to do but fiddle and fornicate for days!” she said.

Easy shook his head. “Weren’t any women on the ranch. It was just us cowhands.”

“That’s what I meant. Don’t tell me you never got up to a little bunkhouse slap and tickle.”

Easy’s face turned bright red. “Woman, there are ladies here, even if you don’t qualify.”

“Well, they’ve got all the parts, I guess, but they’re the ones laughing.”

Merry tried her best to stifle her giggles when Easy shot them a look of accusation, but she couldn’t. In fact, her laughter escaped on a muffled snort that made Grace collapse in hysterics. Easy shook his head and turned to glare at Rayleen.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Then maybe you’d better go on and find yourself someone corrigible to play cards with!” she snapped. “Because I’m damn sure tired of hearing about it.”

They glared at each other so long that Merry’s giggles finally faded away. She cleared her throat. “Do you play the fiddle, Easy?”

“Just campfire style,” he muttered.

“Will you play? I love fiddle music.”

“Oh, no one wants to hear that.”

They all urged him to play. Finally even Rayleen said, “Just go get it, you old coot.”

Easy looked at her one last, long time, then nodded and headed for the house. Cole lit the fire in the pit and passed out beers, and they settled in to listen to Easy play through his repertoire of Western jigs and range ballads. It was beautiful. A perfect night with the last red glow of the sun outlining the dark crags of the Tetons. Merry’s only unanswered wish was that she could lean against Shane the way Grace had snuggled into Cole’s arms.

But it wasn’t like that for them. Not really. Though it was nice to look over and catch him stealing a glance of her. She blushed and felt awkward in the very best possible way.

Rayleen leaned close. “I think that boy’s about to stamp your ass with a brand, Christmas.”

Merry choked on her beer and leaned over to cough as Rayleen pounded her back. “No,” she gasped.

“Oh, he wants it,” Rayleen insisted. “I’d bend over and let him call me Sally if I were you.”

“No! Whatever that means, I’m not going to bend over and…anything!”

“Your loss, Christmas. You young girls don’t know how to jump on a red-hot opportunity.”

Merry rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure you should be the one telling me that.”

Rayleen snorted, but her eyes went to Easy as he finished his last song with a flourish. “Hell,” she murmured. “I’d break his hip.”

“Then maybe you should jump softly.”

For a moment, her eyes went a little…sad. But then she shook her head and raised her chin. “Not bad for an old fart,” she called out. “You all worn-out, Easy, or do you have enough energy to get your butt kicked at rummy?”

“Lady—” he sighed “—I’ve got enough energy to make you eat those words.”

“Once again, you’ve forgotten what a woman’s mouth is for, old man.”

“Damn it, Rayleen,” he groused.

Rayleen howled. Easy stalked off to get the cards, muttering something about loose old women.

Shane stood, drawing Merry’s eye. “I’ve got an early day tomorrow. I hope you all won’t mind if I head on home.”

Her brain spun. She wanted to go with him, but she couldn’t. She’d driven Rayleen and Grace here. He must know that.

So maybe Shane didn’t want her with him. Maybe he was tired and he wanted to go home and sleep.

Crap. She perched on the edge of the bench and tried not to scowl.

“Anyone want a ride back?” he asked.

Merry looked around, but Grace was clearly planning on spending the night with her man, and Rayleen was settling into her seat, ready for a game of gin rummy with Easy.

Shane raised his eyebrows and cut his eyes toward his truck.

“Oh. I…I’m actually really tired. Rayleen, can you drive my car back for me when you’re ready? I’m gonna head home now.”

Rayleen was in the middle of shuffling cards, and paused to wave an impatient hand. “Sure. Go on. I’ll put your keys in the mailbox.” Luckily she was too focused on gearing up to beat Easy to make a dirty remark or encourage Merry to get laid. And even Grace seemed too content and happy to be suspicious.