Willow in Bloom (8 page)

“And everyone knows to be careful?”

“Yep.” Once more Bram aimed his gaze at Tyler. “They better.”

Willow rolled her eyes, but neither of the men saw it because they were staring each other down.

“We'd better let you get back to work,” she said to her brother then.

Tyler took her lead and said, “Glad we met.”

“Uh-huh,” Bram answered curtly. Dismissing Tyler by turning to Willow, he said, “Make sure
you're
careful, too.”

“Don't worry about it.”

“I do worry about you.”

“Well, stop it.”

Bram just shook his head.

Willow said good-night, then headed for the Feed and Grain again, Tyler at her side.

“So that's one of your brothers,” he said when they were out of Bram's earshot, but still under his scrutiny as he watched them go.

“I told you my brothers could be intimidating.”

Tyler grinned. “Who said I was intimidated?”

She had to admit that he hadn't seemed to be. Not in the slightest. “I'm just saying that…” She didn't know what she was saying, so she murmured, “I'm sorry that Bram wasn't friendlier.”

“No big deal. If you were my sister I'd be doing the same thing.”

Willow was inclined to point out that she
wasn't
his sister, though. Especially since she was a little worried that that might be how Tyler was thinking of her, since he hadn't so much as tried to hold her hand all evening. But she refrained, and just relaxed and enjoyed the comfortable, quiet walk with him.

She still didn't want to end their time together when they reached the Feed and Grain, so as they neared the outside staircase to her apartment she said, “I
made some fresh lemonade today. Would you like a glass?”

“I would,” he answered, as if he'd had no intention of calling it a night yet, anyway. “It's so nice out, why don't we have it sitting on the steps?”

“Okay,” Willow agreed, liking that idea.

She had to make a pit stop in the bathroom again—one of many she'd made throughout the evening. She hoped he didn't know enough about pregnancy to guess that that was what was causing it. But whether he did or not, she wanted to be able to slip away without him knowing that's where she was headed, so she said, “Why don't you stay out here and enjoy the stars, and I'll pour the lemonade?”

“Okay,” he echoed, and when they made it to the top of the stairs he sat down with his back resting against the railing.

“I'll just be a minute,” Willow said as she let herself into the apartment.

Once there, she deposited the stuffed animals and the bud vase on the kitchen table, then she speeded through her bathroom visit and pouring the lemonade.

She managed to be back with Tyler within minutes, but even so the sight of him struck her anew, as if it had been months. His handsome features were bathed in milky moonlight, and she couldn't believe how terrific looking he was. Or that a man like him had been attracted to her once upon a time.

“Cheers,” she said, after she'd handed him his lemonade and joined him on the top step.

“Cheers,” he repeated, touching his glass to hers.

For once she was glad the landing was so narrow, because it allowed them to be separated by mere inches. And if he wasn't going to touch her—which she knew was for the best, but regretted just the same—at least she could be close enough to feel the power and presence that emanated from him.

“Tell me how you got to own the Feed and Grain,” he said after he'd tasted his lemonade and judged it good.

“It's been in the family a long time. My great-grandfather started it and passed it down to my grandmother when he retired. I worked here as a teenager, then left for college in Tulsa, and when I came back, Gloria, my grandmother, passed the day-to-day operations over to me.” After a sip of her own lemonade, Willow said, “What about you? How did you choose rodeo as a career?”

“Pretty much the way you ended up in the feed and grain business. My dad competed some and got my brother and me doing it early on. Not the bronc riding. He started us out with roping competitions mostly, calf roping as a team. Just being around the circuit put us on the sidelines watching the other events, and the older we got, the more we wanted to try our luck at it.”

“And were you lucky at it? I mean, before the accident that ended things for you?”

“I'd say I was. It takes skill to compete, but it takes a lot of luck, too. It'd be hard to consider myself un
lucky to have won three World Champion buckles in my career.”

“Three?” she parroted, impressed.

“I was going for four when I got thrown.”

“It seems like a punishing way to make a living.” Willow had been amazed by what a brutal beating most of the riders had taken at the rodeo she'd seen that day before she'd met him.

“It's a tough sport,” Tyler conceded.

“Had you been hurt before that last fall that gave you amnesia?”

Tyler laughed. “Once or twice.”

“Meaning a lot.”

“I've had some broken bones. Some sprains. Some dislocated knees and shoulders and elbows. Goes with the territory.”

“Do you miss it?”

He laughed again, this time wryly. “So damn much I could spit. But I'll get over it. There're gettin' to be more and more redeeming qualities to being here, now.”

He said that pointedly, his eyes on her and a small smile on his face that sent a rain of something sparkly throughout her being.

Then he added, “For instance, I have a couple of apple trees right out my back door that I've never had before. And if I could find somebody with the know-how, I could have fresh apple pie one of these days, since they're chock-f of fruit.”

This time it was Willow who laughed. “Is that a hint?”

Tyler grinned. “It is if you can make pie.”

“As a matter of fact I can. Crust and all.”

“I'd do the picking and the peeling. And maybe even throw a couple of steaks on the barbecue that we could have before we eat the pie.”

“Are you asking me to your place for dinner?”

He grinned a wickedly delicious grin. “Guess I am. Are you free tomorrow night?”

Willow was sure a more experienced woman would have played harder to get. But not only wasn't she that experienced, she was also pregnant. A pregnant woman who wanted nothing more than for the father of her baby to like her enough so that when she told him the news he wouldn't completely freak out.

“I'm free tomorrow night,” she said.

“Think you'll feel like makin' a pie?”

“Maybe.” That was as coy as Willow knew how to be. “As long as I don't have to climb a ladder and pick the apples first.”

He nudged her shoulder with his own. “Why? Are you afraid of heights?”

“No, of ladders. I don't like ladders.”

He laughed. “I promise I'll have all the apples picked by the time you get there.”

“And peeled, don't forget. That was part of the deal. Then soak them in some apple juice in the refrigerator.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

With their plans for the next night firmly in place and the hour getting late and their lemonade long gone from glasses that had found their way to the landing behind them, that seemed to bring the evening to a close.

“I'd better take off and let you rest up for the pie baking,” Tyler said then.

Willow didn't agree or disagree. She knew it was time for him to go. She just didn't want him to.

“Tonight was fun,” Tyler added.

“For me, too.”

“Thanks for the lemonade.”

“Thanks for the carnival prizes.”

“Sure,” he said with another smile, but this one seemed so sexy Willow was hoping he didn't stand up right away and expect her to, too, because her knees were a little weak.

But he didn't stand up. He stayed where he was, looking into her face, into her eyes.

Willow didn't mind. She was enjoying the view of him too much herself. Of the carved planes of his oh-so-masculine face.

And suddenly she knew he was going to kiss her. She didn't know how she knew it, but she did. It was as if it was just in the air between them. The perfect way, the only way, to end this night.

Then he did. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that was soft and sexy and all too short.

And when it was over, without moving away, he closed his eyes as if he were trying to distinguish a
certain flavor, and in a low, intimate voice said, “Hmm. I've never kissed a boy, but I don't think that's what it's like.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your brother called you Will—a boy's name. But you're definitely a girl.”

Tyler opened his eyes and studied her face. “And you're too pretty to be a boy, too,” he added. “Way, way too pretty.”

Then he got to his feet in one lithe, graceful movement and went down the stairs with a bit of a hop to his step.

“Come out to the ranch whenever you're ready tomorrow,” he said as he did, without looking back.

Then he reached the sidewalk and disappeared around the building.

And still Willow was sitting on the landing, feeling the heat that lingered on her mouth from his kiss, and the warmth that swelled inside her at the idea that he thought she was pretty.

Too pretty to be a boy.

Too pretty to be called Will.

And to her, at that moment, there were very few prizes in the world—carnival or otherwise—better than that.

“H
ey.”

Willow looked up from reading her menu, surprised to see Bram at the restaurant the next day, when she was expecting the love of his life instead.

“Hi.” Willow answered, with a question in her tone.

“Jenna had a home visit to do this morning and it's taking longer than she expected. She tried calling you at the store, but they said you'd already left, so she sent me to tell you she'll be here a little late,” Bram explained as he pulled out the chair across from Willow and sat down.

“Okay.”

Willow waited for the other shoe to drop. All morn
ing at the store she'd been expecting her brother to show up, to talk about the previous night and meeting Tyler and what she was doing with him. She figured Bram had just been detained for some reason and had come to grill her now.

But that wasn't the topic he brought up.

“I've been looking into this Kenny Randolph character,” he said instead.

Willow didn't breathe a sigh of relief. She knew that even if Tyler wasn't the first subject of conversation, her brother would get around to him. And even though she wanted to say
Oh, you're not fooling me, just get it over with,
she didn't.

She said, “Did you find out anything?”

“Randolph has a record. Mostly minor stuff in California. Petty theft. Vandalism. Two drunk-and-disorderlies.”

“So he isn't an upstanding citizen.”

“I could tell that just by his attitude toward me. But no, he isn't an upstanding citizen. I also called Rand Colton first thing this morning. He said he'd never heard of Kenny Randolph and didn't know anything about him. I wasn't sure I believed him until he offered to look into it himself, and called me back about half an hour ago. It seems that Kenny Randolph may have been hired by someone named Graham Colton.”

“And Graham Colton is…?”

“Rand's uncle—one of two of Teddy Colton's sons by that Kay woman he was engaged to and ended up marrying after his fling with Gloria in Reno.”

“The two sons who have thought all their lives they were legitimate and now find they aren't.”

“Right. The two sons who also thought they were Teddy Colton's legal heirs up until now. Rand Colton says that's no big deal to his father, Joe, because he's made his own way just fine. But it's a different story with Graham. Rand didn't say anything against him, but he was hedging. He did say that Graham Colton always has money problems and that finding out he's not Teddy Colton's heir and that there's even one Colton holding—”

“The property in Washington, D.C.?”

“The property in Washington D.C.” Bram nodded. “Anyways, Graham finding out he's not Teddy Colton's heir, and that there's even one Colton holding he won't have claim to, is likely a very big deal to Graham.”

“A big enough deal to hire some thug to come here and ask questions about us and break into the newspaper office and set fire to the town hall?”

Bram shrugged. “Rand didn't state that outright, but like I said, he alluded to the possibility. He says the party line he tapped into revealed that Graham Colton just hired Randolph to disprove that we have any claim to anything. But you have to figure breaking into the newspaper office would have given whoever did it covert access to old newspapers that might have announced Gloria's wedding to Teddy Colton—something Graham Colton could be hoping isn't a matter of public knowledge. And a fire at the town hall could
have destroyed Dad's and Uncle Thomas's original birth certificates—”

“And the main proof that they were Teddy Colton's sons and therefore his legal heirs.”

“Exactly.”

“Is this Washington property so valuable it's worth going to all this trouble?” Willow asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. But it's something else we should find out. For now, though, I'm more concerned with this Kenny Randolph guy. And you.”

Here it comes,
Willow thought, convinced her brother was changing the subject to Tyler.

But again she was mistaken.

“I don't know how, but word has leaked out around town that you found proof of an inheritance,” Bram said.

It took Willow a moment to realize they were still talking about family matters and hadn't switched to Tyler, after all. But when she did realize it, she said, “The gossip is spreading already?”

“Somebody must have overheard something somewhere along the line. I warned the family to keep it under their hats, and I doubt if any of them let this out—”

“But maybe someone got wind of it at the bank when you had the papers locked up,” Willow postulated.

“That's what I'm figuring, too. Anyway, however it happened, two separate people have asked me about the inheritance this morning and mentioned you in the
process, and the fact that you found it in Gloria's things in the apartment.”

“Great,” Willow said facetiously.

“Yeah. So I was thinking maybe you ought to come out to my place and stay until I get this whole thing under some kind of control.”

Willow appreciated his concern. But she wasn't about to do that. Her pregnancy wouldn't be a secret for long if she were in close proximity to her brother every morning. Besides the fact that there would be no way she could see Tyler or make any headway with him.

“Thanks, but I'll be all right at the apartment,” she said. “I'll just be careful.”

Bram scowled at her disapprovingly. “I knew you wouldn't listen to reason.”

“There's no
reason
to believe Randolph will even be privy to town gossip, or that he'll think I still have the letter and the documents if he is. I'll be careful, but I'm not going to let the possibility drive me out of my home.”

“I'm trying to keep tabs on Randolph, but I don't have the manpower to watch his every move. It would be a lot easier if you'd just agree to get out of harm's way.”

“I'm not in harm's way. If it was someone at the bank who found all this out and spread the word, then they've probably also spread the word that the papers are all locked up tight in the vault and nowhere near me or the apartment anymore.”

“I made that clear to the folks I talked to this morning, but that isn't the juiciest part of the story, Willow. It may not be repeated.”

“I'll be fine,” she reiterated. “I jammed chairs under the doorknobs last night before I went to bed, and I'll keep doing that. But I'm not leaving the apartment.”

Bram gave her a hard stare, as if that might change her mind. But Willow held her ground.

“Lord, you're stubborn,” he said after a moment.

“I had some good teachers.”

A small silence fell then and Willow was sure Bram was finally going to bring up Tyler, so she braced herself.

But he merely got up from the table.

“Here comes Jenna,” he said with a nod toward the restaurant door. “I'll leave you two to your lunch. But be careful, Will. I mean it.”

“I will,” she assured him, stunned that he was leaving without so much as a mention of the night before or of Tyler.

How could that be?

But that's the way it was, because her brother headed for the door to meet Jenna as she came in. He exchanged a few words with her, touched her hand and gave her a small kiss before continuing on outside, as if the previous evening had never happened.

“I'm so sorry I'm late,” Jenna said in greeting as she took the chair Bram had just vacated.

Willow was a little slow on the uptake, wondering
what her brother had up his sleeve. But then she said, “It's okay. Bram was just filling me in on this whole Colton-heirs thing.”

“He's worried about you,” Jenna said.

“I know. But I'll be fine.”

Their waitress was a teenage girl they both knew well, and after asking about her family, Jenna ordered the tuna melt special.

Willow ordered a bowl of soup and prayed the smell of tuna fish from across the table wouldn't set off her stomach again.

“What's this I hear about you and the new guy in town?” Jenna said when the waitress had left them alone.

So that was why Bram hadn't said anything about Tyler. He'd sent Jenna to do it, probably figuring Willow would be more candid with her.

“What are you hearing?” Willow asked, debating about whether or not to be honest with Jenna. On the one hand Jenna was her best friend and she was dying to tell her everything. On the other hand, Jenna was seriously involved with Bram and might relay it all to him. And that was something Willow couldn't have happen.

“I heard you were picking out furniture with him the night before last, and Bram said you were together after the carnival last night.”

Both things were true and had been witnessed by other people. Willow could hardly deny them, so she acted as if it was no big deal. “Sounds like you heard
right.” But she knew that had seemed too defensive, and resolved to curb her tone.

“I understand his name is Tyler,” Jenna said, like a teenager hungry for information about her friend's juicy new romance.

“That's right. Tyler Chadwick. He bought the old Harris place.”

“And is it a coincidence that he was a rodeo rider in Tulsa in June, and that you had a fling with a rodeo rider in Tulsa in June?”

Maybe it was better to have friends who
didn't
listen to what she said.

Not long after that night in Tulsa, Willow had complained to Jenna that she was smothering under the overprotectiveness of her brothers. Jenna had suggested she break free a little, that she go a little wild, and Willow had confided that she already had. But she hadn't given Jenna any details. Or any idea of the consequences of that night. She'd only said she'd already gone a little wild. With a rodeo rider. In Tulsa. In June.

“How did you know Tyler was a rodeo rider?” Willow asked, rather than answering her friend's question.

Jenna made a face. “Don't get mad, but since Bram heard you were with him at the furniture store the other night he's been asking around about him.”

“Uh-huh.” No surprise there.

“I didn't tell him that you had had a fling with a rodeo rider, or where or when, so you don't have to
worry that I've blown your cover—if you have a cover. But I
have
to know—
is
it just an incredible coincidence?” Jenna persisted.

Willow still wasn't sure how much to let her friend in on.

But wanting to tell someone something got the better of her. Willow segued into the topic by saying, “I don't want Bram or the rest of my brothers doing their usual routine.”

“And scaring the guy off. I don't blame you.”

“If I tell you, you have to promise me you won't tell Bram. Under any circumstances.”

“Hey, I'm on your side when it comes to this. Your brothers, Bram included, are big pains in the neck about you having a life of your own. Especially a life that involves the opposite sex. And I know it. I've already gone round and round with Bram about this new guy. Bram wanted to get your brothers together and go have a talk with him first thing this morning, and I wouldn't let him. I didn't even let him call your other brothers about it, and I threatened him with extinction if he so much as said a contrary word to you about this.”

So Bram hadn't said anything at all.

“You can tell me anything,” Jenna continued. “I won't let out even a nugget of it to incite your big lug siblings.”

Their lunches were served then, allowing Willow a moment to consider what her friend had said.

She knew Jenna well enough to know she wouldn't
be playing secret spy for Willow's brothers even if she
was
in love with one of them.

But still, once their waitress had left them alone again, Willow said, “You'd have to give me your solemn oath not to repeat anything I told you. I know my brothers, and just my being interested in a man is always disastrous.”

“I'll go you one better. Not only will I keep any information to myself, but I'll try to convince Bram that you're just showing a new customer around a little. That it's good business. And if necessary, I'll keep him in line by threatening him again.”

Still Willow hesitated, concerned about Jenna's connection to Bram. But in the end she decided that she didn't necessarily have to tell Jenna
everything,
but maybe it would be all right to tell her a little.

“I'm trusting you,” Willow warned.

“You can,” Jenna assured her.

“Okay, then yes, Tyler is the guy I met in Tulsa in June.”

“And he moved here to be with you?”

“Not exactly.” Willow tasted her soup and tried not to breathe too deeply as the odor of warm tuna fish wafted to her. “He doesn't even remember me,” she confessed.

Jenna stopped short of raising half her sandwich to her mouth, and her expression reflected both curiosity and alarm. “He doesn't remember you?”

“I know. It sounds bad, doesn't it? But there's ac
tually a medical explanation for it.” Willow told her about the rodeo accident and Tyler's amnesia.

“I know from a neuropsychology class I took in nursing school that the memory functions of the brain can be complicated. Does he have any other problems that way?” her friend asked worriedly.

“I don't think so. I believe the only other problem he has is that he gets really severe headaches.”

Jenna frowned once more. “So you met him in Tulsa and had your fling with him, and now he's moved to Black Arrow and you're seeing him again, but he doesn't know he even met you before, let alone that the two of you had a fling in Tulsa?”

“Right. And I'm kind of glad he doesn't.”

“Why?” It sounded as if Jenna really couldn't believe that.

“Because in Tulsa he didn't even know my right name. Becky has always called me Wyla, and that was how she introduced me to Tyler. And that night
Wyla
was a whole lot different than the real me. I decided that if Tyler can't remember
Wyla
I might as well use that to my advantage and see if I can get him to like Willow.”