Authors: Teresa McCarthy
She
had been having second thoughts about his outburst today regarding her and
marriage.
There isn’t going to be one. Ever.
Maybe he was tired of his
family interfering in his life. Maybe those were just words spilling from his
mouth, and he didn’t mean them at all. Maybe he did love her, just a little.
“He’s
downstairs, sugar. He had to get of his wet clothes.”
“Oh.
But his cuts.”
“Nothing
but scratches. You hop into bed and rest. I’ll see what’s keeping him. You had
me scared out there.”
She
was so tired. The bed did look inviting.
“I’m
sorry about not listening to you, Max. You and Rafe saved my life. It’s just
that I don’t like people telling me what to do. I thought you were taking
orders from Rafe, and after the food poisoning the other day, he’s been acting
like my personal doctor.”
Max
broke into a wide smile. “Personal doctor, eh?”
Candy
blushed as she leaned against the wall. “You know what I mean.”
“Oh,
yeah, I certainly do. You just take it easy now, get some rest, and we’ll talk
later.”
Candy’s
lips curled upward. A minute later she slipped into bed, pulled the covers over
herself and fell fast asleep.
Before
he left the room, Max glanced back at a sleeping Nurse Richards and smiled. “You’ll
do, sugar. You surely will. Or Rafe’s the stupidest man this side of the
ocean.”
Gazing
up at the mountains from Tanner’s Colorado home, Fritz reclined in a
comfortable hammock, a webbing of ropes and canvas he designed himself, set
between two large trees.
Smiling
contently, he turned his head to watch Jeremy and Hannah play in the pool. Their
cries of joy made his heart swell. Ah, two more grand babies. This is what life
was about. And he’d be darned if he wasn’t going to have more grand babies just
because two of his three sons were as stubborn as mules hauling two barrels of
lead.
Dang
it all. Rafe and Candy were meant to be together. Max, he would work on later.
“Well,
Tanner, I think sending Max down to the islands was a good idea of yours. I’ll
bet that boy is ready, willing, and able to follow through with your
plans."
Tanner
sat up from his redwood recliner and shot his father a cool glare. “My plans? When
did all this become my plans?”
Fritz
peered over the rim of his glass of lemonade. “When? Why you were the one that
told Max if he didn’t fly down there and do something to get those two
lovebirds hitched, you would never forgive him for missing your wedding.”
Tanner’s
jaw dropped. He stared at his wife floating on her back, then shifted his gaze
back to his father and lowered his voice. “I never said any such thing.”
Fritz
placed his glass on the table next to him. “Hmmm, maybe not exactly, but you
did make it pretty dang clear to Max that he better hightail it to The
Bahamas.”
“I
never threatened him,” Tanner said firmly.
“No,
but I did,” Fritz said, leaning back and closing his eyes. “And I’m telling you
if you don’t go along with me on this new plan of mine, I’m going to have to
tell Hannah about your call from Sally Justin the other day.”
Wide-eyed,
Tanner slipped off the end of his seat. “Sally was drunk when she called me.”
Fritz
raised his right eyebrow and shook a finger at his son. “Drunk as Henry Picks
on a Friday night. But that gal had enough information on you that could have
you sleeping on the couch for a long time, Tanner boy.”
Tanner’s
lips thinned. “I never saw Sally after I met Hannah, and you know it.”
“Oh,
I know it, but you know women.” Fritz shrugged and sipped his lemonade, letting
his gaze sweep across the pool. “They’re like elephants, son. They never forget
a thing.”
“Elephants,”
Tanner laughed. “You better not tell Hannah that in six months.”
Fritz
frowned. “You with me on this?”
Tanner
closed his eyes and took in a deep, agonizing breath. "All right, what do
you want me to do?”
Fritz
sat up. “Now, you’re talking. You call Max and see if we have to send in any
reinforcements.”
Tanner’s
eyes widened in disbelief. “Reinforcements? Don’t expect me to go down there
and mix myself up in your little scheme.”
“Now,
son, you’re hurting my feelings. Call Max first, and then we’ll see what we
need to do.”
Max
was in the kitchen when his cell phone rang.
“Max,
are you still alive?” Tanner asked.
Max
laughed. “Is Rafe still alive in the love department, you mean?”
“Just
tell me how it’s going down there?”
Max
smiled as he sat back in one of the kitchen chairs and stretched his long legs
beneath the table. He put his cell phone on speaker and took a sip of his beer.
“Is this a trick question?”
Tanner
groaned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Max
couldn’t help but chuckle. “Tell me the truth. Did Dad have you make this call,
or is this a brother to brother talk of your own free will?”
“What?
I was only wondering how everyone is doing down there?”
Max
glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice to a bare whisper. “Rafe’s head
over heels for this one. To tell you the truth, I’m more of her bodyguard than
a matchmaker. No telling what Rafe might do if I weren’t here.”
“That’s
it. Send Candy home, now,” Tanner commanded.
Max
scowled. “Now, now. I know she’s like a sister to you, but it isn’t like that
at all with Rafe. He’s scared to death of commitment. But he’ll come through,
you’ll see.”
“See?
What the hell do you know about commitment?”
Max stiffened.
“I don’t like the way you’re talking. I have committed myself to my ranch and
my horses more than you’ll ever know.”
“Horses
are not people, Max.”
A
grunt from the living room caught Max’s attention. “Listen, Tan. Have to go.”
“I’m
trusting you on this, Max. Don’t blow it.”
Max
laughed to cover his annoyance at the trouble created by his father. “When have
I ever let you down?”
“You
want a list?”
“Never
mind. And by the way, I wouldn’t worry about Sally’s phone call.”
There
was dead silence on the phone.
Max
grabbed his beer again. “Tan, you still there?”
“How
do you know about Sally’s phone call?”
Max
heard Rafe shuffling toward the kitchen, and he knew he had to make the call
quick. He rose from his seat. “Hannah told me. She and Fritz were laughing
about it the day I left. Gotta go. Bye.”
“Max?
Max?” Tanner let out a growl and hung up the phone. “Dad,” he shouted. “I need
to speak with you. NOW!”
Rafe
had cleaned his wounds and put on a pair of long, dark-colored pants to hide
the cuts. He didn’t need Candy to see every scrape and bruise from calf to
thigh. He wanted her love, not her pity.
“You
clean up pretty well,” Max said, leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking
a beer. “Can you cook, too?”
“Yes,
I can cook. What do you take me for?”
“Selena
is staying with Joe tonight, then?”
Rafe
scowled. “Joe wouldn’t let poor Selena out of his sight. He’s been living on
pork and beans the last few days.”
Max
pushed himself off the counter and frowned. “You’re serious? You mean to tell
me, you really are cooking tonight.”
“That
or takeout. Your choice.”
Max
lifted a dark brow. “There isn’t a choice here, partner. Takeout is the only
way I’m going. Chinese is fine with me.”
“You
order it then. I don’t think you’ll find many Chinese restaurants around here.”
Max
yanked the phone book off the counter. “We’ll see.”
Rafe
shrugged and reached inside the refrigerator to grab a beer. “So,” he said,
looking Max up and down. “You think I clean up pretty well? What about you? When
are you going to shave that piece of fuzz off your gruesome little chin?”
Max pulled
at his beard and grinned. He took another gulp of his beer. “When I find a gal
as sweet as Candy, I reckon.”
Rafe
narrowed his eyes. “Don’t get any ideas.”
Max
laughed, raising his beer bottle in the air. “Hey, she’s yours. No need to show
me your muscles.”
Gritting
his teeth against the pain in his legs, Rafe took a seat. He downed a few
swallows of his beer and looked at his brother. “Okay, why don’t you let me in
on your little scheme? What’s Dad planning next? A double wedding? Me and
Candy, you and...” He raised his brows suggestively. “Someone?”
Max
let out a lighthearted laugh. “That’ll be the day. Dad would never think to
push some lady off on me. He’s not that sadistic. Anyway, I thought you weren’t
interested in marriage to that sweet little thing upstairs.”
Rafe
leaned back in the chair and smiled. “That’s none of your business or Dad’s, and
don’t you forget it. But I’d be wary if I were you. If you think Dad’s going to
stop with me, you’re dead wrong.”
Max
guzzled down his beer. “It’ll be a cold day in you know where before I marry. Now,
you Rafe, you seem ready to settle down with that gal up there. You’ve known
her for over a year, I hear. That’s plenty of time to make up your mind.”
“Like
I said, none of your business.”
Max shrugged
and took a seat at the table. “Okay, fine. Let’s change the subject. What are you
fixing to do with the old Banter House? Dad said I was supposed to get you to
back down from that plan of yours.”
Rafe
dropped his bottle on the table with a clunk. “Dad, Dad, Dad. For crying out
loud! Is nothing sacred around here? I bought that Banter house for myself. Is
that so hard to believe?”
“Believe,
yes. Understand, no. But hey, it’s your funeral.” Max tilted his head toward
the guestroom, and his voice dropped in volume. “The story is, you kicked her
the hell out of that deal.”
Rafe’s
mouth tightened in anger. “That’s a crass way of putting it.”
“Then
how would you put it? You swept that house from under that sweet little thing
with no hesitation at all.” The bitterness in Max’s words wasn’t lost on Rafe.
Turning
his back to his brother, Rafe rose and pulled a few crackers from the cupboard.
“It’s a business deal. Just leave it at that.”
Max
snorted. “Business deal, my foot.”
Rafe
turned around slowly, measuring his brother with a cool, appraising look. “Like
I said, it’s none of your business.”
Blue
eyes met gray in a challenging glare. “You can have a house ten times that size
with your money, Mister Doctor Man.”
“I
don’t want any house. I want that house. I had the money. She didn’t. It’s as
simple as that.”
Max
shook his head in disgust. “I hear that’s the only thing the lady ever wanted.”
Rafe
realized that this entire conversation was coming back to his father. “I don’t
have to ask where you got your information, do I?”
Their
voices were getting louder.
“You’re
a fool, Rafe. At times like these, I’m embarrassed to be called your brother. When
are you going to tell her?”
Rafe
folded his body into his chair. “Like I said, that’s none of your business.”
“So,
you like yellow houses or something? Or are you just plain yellow yourself?” Max’s
attack was delivered with just the right amount of sarcasm that infuriated
Rafe.
Rafe
shot from the chair, his eyes two slits of anger. The cuts on his legs were
nothing compared to his brother’s sneer. “Are you calling me a coward?”
Max
rose and glared at him, unbuttoning his shirt. “If the boots fit.”
Candy
froze midway down the stairs as Rafe’s angry words drifted to her ears.
“I
bought that Banter house for myself. Is that so hard to believe?”
She
clung to the handrail, barely able to stand. Max and Rafe were shouting at each
other, but she wasn’t listening. Her legs felt like seawater. She couldn’t
believe it.
Rafe
had bought her house!
She
was too stunned to cry. Rafe had bought
her
dream house? How could he
have done such a thing?
He
knew she had wanted that house! She had told him that fact at the casino, and
he’d said nothing about it.
She
wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She pressed her hands to her face in
shock, her heart feeling violated once again.
What
had happened to those sweet kisses in the moonlight? What had happened to those
candid talks? What had happened to those soft gray eyes that seemed to devour
her with just one look?