“Penny for your thoughts,” Loreli said.
Jake shook himself free. “Just thinking about Matt Peterson.”
Loreli doubted the passion she’d seen in his eyes had anything to do with Matt Peterson, but she didn’t challenge him. “Will you have some time today to tell me about the farmer’s union? We didn’t get around to it last night.”
His jaw tightened.
“Forget about what happened last night. I have.”
“That’s easy enough for you,” he said.
“No it isn’t, believe me.”
He searched her eyes. “It was that bad for you?”
“Some of it, yes. Some of it no. It was a little too fast to tell.”
His eyes went cold.
“Oh, don’t get mad. That was a joke, nothing more.”
He leaned down then and kissed her with such slow authority she thought she might melt.
“That slow enough?” he whispered as he drew away.
Loreli swore she saw stars. “Why, Jake Reed, I do believe you’ve mastered your first lesson.”
His mustache twitched. “Audacious woman. What number is taking you across my knee?”
“Number two if you like,” she replied saucily.
The sensual force of her words seared him to his core. “Lord,” he whispered, shaking his head with wonder, “what’s a man like me supposed to do with a brazen woman like you?”
“Anything he wants—within reason, of course.”
Then, throwing him a sly wink, Loreli went back to finish her meal with the girls.
As she walked away, Jake was mesmerized by the tempting sway of her hips beneath the green skirt. Her playful innuendos had left him hard as a beam. He was beginning to understand the basics of this two-player game she wanted him to learn, and although he didn’t want to admit it, he was more than beginning to enjoy it.
After breakfast, Loreli helped the girls with the dishes. While they worked, Bebe asked, “Do you think a girl should be allowed to ride in The Circle?”
Loreli glanced at her.
“What’s The Circle?”
“It’s a horse race.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, after harvest there’s a fair, and part of the fair is the Circle. Uncle took us to it last year.”
“Why is it called the Circle, is it held in a ring?”
“No, you race in a big circle around town.”
“I see. Are children allowed to enter?” Loreli asked.
“Yes, but there weren’t any girls last time.”
Loreli washed another plate. “Is there a rule that says girls can’t?”
Bebe shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
Dede looked up at Loreli. “Tell her no, Loreli.”
Loreli studied Dede. The little face, framed by lopsided braids, appeared distressed. Loreli set Dede’s reaction aside for a moment and turned her attention back to Bebe. “Is this a lead-in for permission to ride in this Circle?”
Bebe shrugged. “I guess so.”
Dede tugged on Loreli’s sleeve. “She’s going to get hurt and die just like mama.”
Bebe leaned in angrily. “Stop saying that. I’m not going to die!”
“Yes, you are!”
“No, I’m not! You’re the only baby who’s scared of horses!”
Loreli didn’t want to hear another word. “Beatrice Case, apologize to your sister, right now.”
Bebe’s eyes were flashing and her lip was poked out. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.
Loreli cocked a hand against her ear, and said firmly, “I can’t hear you, Beatrice.”
Bebe looked up at Loreli, then told Dede in a louder voice, “I’m sorry.”
Dede just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest.
Loreli shook her head. She’d fooled herself into believing the twins got along all the time, but now knew how ridiculous that thinking had been. Children living together were bound to bump heads. Well, I guess the honeymoon’s over, she thought.
Loreli said to Bebe. “I don’t ever want to hear you making fun of your sister that way again. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now. Have you talked to your uncle about riding?”
“No.”
“Well, don’t you think you should?”
Bebe stared at the floor.
“He’s going to say no.”
“He may not.”
“I thought I could just ask you,” Bebe said sullenly.
“You can, but your uncle has the last word.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s your uncle.”
“But—”
“Ask him, Bebe. Then if he says no, we’ll go from there.”
“I hope he says no,” Dede snapped.
“Shut up!” Bebe yelled.
Loreli shook her head. “How about we talk about something else?”
Both girls looked sullen now.
“Okay, then how about you get to the rest of your chores?”
They hung their heads. “Okay.”
And off they went, but they didn’t walk side by side as they usually did.
Loreli went back into the house and found Jake seated at the table going over his accounts.
“The girls are fighting,” she told him.
“You sound surprised,” he said without looking up.
“I suppose I am. I thought they got along real well.”
“They do, but not always. What’s it about this time?”
“Bebe wants to ride in something called the Circle?”
That got his attention. “She does?”
Loreli nodded. “She thinks you’re going to tell her no, though.”
“She’s right. She’ll only get hurt.”
“You sound like Dede. She’s afraid her sister will get hurt and die, but I think Be rides very well for her age.”
“Yes, she does, but girls don’t race in the Circle.”
“Why not?”
He went back to his ledger. “They just don’t.”
“Is it illegal, or in the rules…”
He looked up at her. “Well, no, but—”
“Do other children ride?”
“Boys, yes. Girls, no.”
Jake could tell by the flash in her eyes that she was raring up for a fight over this issue. “Leave it alone, Loreli.”
She looked at him with the most innocent of faces. “Leave what alone?”
“The trouble you’re getting ready to stir up.”
“If she wants to ride, she should be able to.”
“She’s going to get hurt.”
“Why, because she’s a girl?”
He sighed. “Look, it’s a very rough-and-tumble race. Anything might happen.”
“Yep, your niece might actually win the damn thing.”
Jake closed his eyes and prayed for strength. “No.”
“Jake—”
“No.”
Loreli sighed this time. “Okay, I’ll leave it alone.”
“As if I believe that.”
“No?” she asked playfully, sidling closer to his chair.
“Not for a minute.”
Their eyes held. Loreli was enjoying both the banter and him.
Jake could feel his body’s natural reaction to the warmth of her nearness. “I’m supposed to be working on these bills.”
“I’m not stopping you…”
Jake’s eyes brushed her sweet mouth. “No, but you are distracting me.”
“Me?” she asked. “I didn’t think anything could distract you.”
Loreli swore she saw a smile peep out from under the mustache, but it disappeared so quickly she decided it must have been her imagination.
“Go away, and let me work.”
“How am I going to seduce you if you won’t even look at me?”
Jake began coughing. In a strangled voice he asked, “Seduce me?”
“Yes, Jake, but not until we replace that bed
of yours. It’s hardly big enough for one, let alone two.”
His coughing fit worsened.
“Would you like some water?” she asked with mock concern.
Jake met her knowing temptress eyes and shook his head.
“Okay, well, I’ll let you get back to your accounts.”
When she walked out, he was still coughing. That ought to give him something to think about! Loreli thought, smiling.
Alone now, Jake finally pulled himself together. Seduce me! He’d never heard such an outrageous boast from a woman before in his life. How was he supposed to respond? The logical parts of himself assumed she was just teasing, just pulling his leg, but the man in him wasn’t so sure. At his age, Jake Reed could feel his staid, simple life spinning out of control like a runaway top. The twins’ arrival had been the first adjustment he’d had to make, and now a cyclone named Loreli Winters had swept into his world, blowing around his beliefs, ripping away his views like the roof off an old barn, and buffeting him with winds so sensually strong he found it hard to breathe. She’d called him stagnant. Well, at least stagnant was ordered. This woman was not, and Jake had no idea what to expect next.
Putting aside thoughts of Cyclone Loreli and how aroused he continued to be by her brazen ways, Jake went back to his books but found his mind drifting to Matt Peterson. The revelation that Susan had threatened to leave her husband over his refusal to accept Loreli’s gift had been a surprise to Jake; Matt too, by the looks of him. Jake had never known Susan Peterson to challenge her husband on anything, let alone issue him ultimatums. Jake thought back in an effort to remember if Loreli had had a chance to speak to Susan privately during yesterday’s visit. He was positive that she’d been at his side the whole time, so he couldn’t lay Susan’s sudden show of backbone at Loreli’s door. Firing up a woman as downtrodden as Susan would’ve been right up Cyclone Loreli’s alley.
The outrageous declaration she’d made a moment ago filled his mind. He knew there were women who routinely seduced men, though he had no personal knowledge of such ladies. He always assumed women like that were whores. Jezebels, as his father used to call them. Women bent on seduction were not fresh-skinned, beautiful women who smelled of violets or wore fancy dresses and even fancier hats. Jezebels didn’t care about children. They most certainly didn’t skip rope or buy deeds for destitute farmers. What kind of woman was this? Cyclone was an appropriate metaphor for her, he decided, and as the winds around their relationship gathered speed, Jake didn’t know whether to run for the cellar or stand and let the storm’s full force carry him away.
He tried to go back to the accounts, but realized that working on the ledgers would take more concentration than he could muster at the moment. He closed the book, set the pen aside, and went outside to see what his ladies were doing.
Out back, he saw Loreli hitching her horse to the carriage she’d driven over in. As she went about the task, she appeared to be instructing the girls on the procedure. Both of his nieces were peering and pointing and Loreli was responding to their questions patiently. He enjoyed the scene. Rebecca would never have offered the girls such lessons, mainly because Rebecca had never hitched or saddled a horse in her life. In her world, his world, women left such chores to their menfolk. Apparently, Loreli had not been reared in such a world, and if she had, life had changed her views. She was as independent as any man, and confident enough for two. The girls could have worse models, he told himself. Much worse. They could have been Rebeccas. That might have seemed fine before Loreli came into their lives, but now Jake sensed just how limiting such a traditional life might have been. He wanted the twins to have the best life possible, and now, thanks to Loreli, they were learning that it was possible to achieve their goals, and as she’d so succinctly declared, without a man’s approval, permission, or interference. From where he stood, women doing for themselves was a radical idea, almost as radical as farmers banding together in a union, but he liked it, and silently thanked Bonnie’s spirit for placing Loreli in their lives.
When Loreli was done hitching the horse to the buggy, she let Bebe drive the short distance to the back porch. Loreli and Dede sat on the seat beside her. Loreli kept one eye on the driving and the other on the critical face of Dede.
“Why’re you letting her drive?” Dede asked.
“Because everybody has to learn sometime.”
“I don’t want to learn.”
Loreli said assuringly, “That’s okay, pumpkin, but you may change your mind once you’re older.” She could see that Dede didn’t agree, but Loreli didn’t press the child any further.
Bebe was concentrating very hard on keeping the slow-moving horse in the direction she wanted him to go. When she pulled back on the reins to halt the carriage beside the porch, she excitedly called out, “I did it, Uncle! Did you see me?”
“Sure did, Be. That was some mighty fine driving.”
“So can I ride in the Circle at the fair?”
The question caught Jake off guard. “Well—”
Before he could say, no, Bebe rushed into a plea. “Loreli will help me practice if I ask her—I know she will. She knows a whole lot about racing horses, she told me so.”
Jake looked at Loreli.
“It’s up to you, Jake, but truthfully, I rode in races at her age. I didn’t win many, but my pa let me ride.”
Bebe said, “Please, Uncle. I won’t let the lessons interfere with my lessons or my chores. I promise.”
He studied her, then Loreli.
Dede was slumped back against the seat. “She’s just going to die.”
“I’m not going to die!” Bebe said firmly. “If I don’t race, how am I going to make Anthony eat crow?” she asked Dede.
To Loreli, this issue suddenly sounded like more than just the opportunity to compete. “Who’s Anthony?”
Bebe said, “Mr. Diggs’s son. He’s a fat toad.”
Loreli was so surprised by this statement she chuckled. “Excuse me? A fat toad?”
“The fattest,” Dede said. “And always saying, ‘Girls ain’t worth nothin’!”
“Oh, really?” Loreli responded. “And this is why you want to get in the race, Bebe?”
She nodded.
Loreli looked up at Jake.
And all Jake could think was, Oh, lord. Here we go. Jake knew that Loreli would take Anthony’s wrongheaded thinking as a personal affront and decide to train Bebe for the race whether Jake agreed or not. In reality, Bebe didn’t stand a chance at winning. Anthony had beaten all the young riders for the past two years, but Jake understood Bebe’s desire to shut the boy up. Anthony Diggs was a bully, and used his family’s wealth and position to lord it over all the other children. Maybe getting beat by an eight-year-old girl would teach the ten-year-old Diggs boy not only some manners but humility as well. The way things stood now, Anthony had neither.
Jake came to his decision; in reality, the only one he could make. “Okay, Bebe, you can ride, and Loreli can help you get ready. Harvest is still a couple of months off, so there’s plenty of time.”
Bebe jumped out of the carriage and ran over to her uncle. She gave him the biggest hug an eight-year-old could muster. “Thank you, Uncle. Thank you.”
Holding her tight, he kissed the top of her head. “You’re welcome.”
She then walked back over to the carriage and looked at her despondent twin. “De, I’m sorry I poked fun at you this morning. I didn’t mean it.”
“I know.”
“I’m not going to die. I promise.”
Dede still didn’t look convinced. “Okay.”
“You can help me practice, if you want?”
Loreli knew then and there how much the girls loved each other.
Dede eyed her sister and asked, “What can I do?”
“I don’t know.” Bebe looked to Loreli. “What can she do?”
Loreli put an arm around Dede’s thin shoulders and hugged her gently. “You can be my assistant, how about that?”
r /> Dede asked her, “What’s an assistant do?”
Loreli thought for a moment. “Well, you can do the counting to see how fast she and Phoebe can ride around the house, and you can make sure she gets to practice on time. Being the assistant is a very important job.”
Dede asked Bebe. “You really want me to help?”
“Yes.”
Dede smiled. “Then I want to be Loreli’s assistant.”
Bebe grinned and got back behind the reins, and drove slowly around to the front of the house. Walking beside the buggy, a thoughtful Jake was again pleased that Loreli had come into their lives. She seemed to have an intuitive way of handling the girls that came from her heart. For Dede to decide she wanted to help was a big step in light of how she felt about horses. Maybe being a party to this would help her master her fears. He was just about to ask Loreli if she was taking the girls with her to town when he spied Rebecca’s old buggy coming up the road. He wondered what she wanted.
“Company?” Loreli asked, not recognizing the carriage.
Dede look out at the buggy. “Nope. It’s just Rebecca.”
“Oh,” Loreli said. “Are you girls going to ride to town with me or stay here with your uncle? I need a bath and to change my clothes.”
“May we go?” Dede asked him.
Jake absently nodded as Rebecca’s carriage reached the house.
“Well, run and wash your face and hands, and we’ll go,” Loreli told the girls.
They didn’t have to be told twice. Racing off, they disappeared around the back of the house.
Jake walked over to the carriage and gave Rebecca a hand down from the buggy. “Rebecca.”
“Jake.” Her cool eyes swept Loreli, but Rebecca didn’t offer a greeting.
Loreli knew how disappointed and angry Rebecca must be at being set aside by Jake, but Loreli didn’t think it a reason to be rude. “Afternoon, Rebecca.”
Rebecca met Loreli’s steady gaze, then grudgingly replied, “Afternoon.”
Jake was admittedly uncomfortable in the middle of this situation, but his decision was made. He was not going to marry Rebecca. “What brings you over?” he asked.