Heart of Texas Vol. 2

  “How does it feel?” he asked, taking the reins and leading Atta Girl into the corral.

  “I didn’t realize I’d be this high off the ground.” She gripped the saddle horn with both hands. Once they arrived at the fenced area, Cal gave her the reins, and Jane held on for dear life.

  Cal had her ease Atta Girl forward in a slow walk. Not bad, she decided. In fact, it was kind of exciting.

  “This is great!” she called out. Some of her excitement must have communicated itself to Atta Girl, because the mare in creased her speed.

  “Ride the horse, not the saddle,” he reminded her.

  “I know,” she shouted back. His advice, however, did little good. Try as she might, Jane felt her rear bouncing hard on the unyielding saddle. She’d bounce up and slam down against the leather with a force powerful enough to jar her molars. Fearing she was about to lose her hat, she held on to it with one hand.

  “Are you sure I’m doing this right?” she shouted to Cal, certain she wouldn’t be able to maintain her balance another minute. The ground looked a long way down.

  Cal mounted his own horse and rode next to her, circling the corral. She envied the grace with which he rode; it was as if man and beast moved as one, just the way those cowboy books said. Jane at tempted to work her body in unison with Atta Girl’s movements, but couldn’t find the appropriate rhythm, despite her efforts.

  “How…am…I…doing?” Each word vibrated as she rebounded against the saddle.

  “You’re a natural,” Cal assured her. He slowed the gelding’s pace and Atta Girl followed suit. Jane’s rear end was grateful, not to mention the rest of her. She would never have guessed that her teeth would hurt after a riding lesson.

  “Will I ever feel as comfortable in a saddle as you?” she asked, envying his skill and grace. She marveled that he hadn’t so much as worked up a sweat.

  “Give it time,” he said.

  Together, side by side, they circled the corral, keeping to a walk. By the time Cal guided her to the gate and helped her dismount, she’d begun to feel like a real rider.

  Except for the fact that her legs almost went out from under her when her boots touched the ground. She waited for the numbness to fade, adjusted her jeans and took her first steps. Once she was assured that her teeth were intact and her head wasn’t in danger of falling off, she was able to talk.

  “I hurt less after a forty-mile bicycle ride,” she said, rubbing her derriere with both hands.

  “You’re still a tender foot.”

  “It isn’t my feet that are tender,” she countered.

  Cal threw back his head and laughed, although she didn’t think she’d been that funny. “I don’t know anyone who makes me laugh the way you do,” he said.

  “I just speak the truth,” she muttered, and he laughed again.

  He helped her remove the saddle and rub down Atta Girl, then invited her to the house.

  For a bachelor’s place, the house was meticulous. The kitchen countertops were spotless. Either he didn’t cook or he cleaned up after himself. Judging by the guys she’d known in medical school, he was a rare man if it was the latter.

  “Thirsty?” he asked, opening the refrigerator. “Want a drink?”

  “Please.”

  He took out a couple of cans of soda and handed her one. They sat at the kitchen table, Jane wincing as her rear end made contact with the hard wooden seat.

  “You doing anything Friday night?” Cal asked casually, then took a deep swallow of soda.

  “Nothing important,” she said, thinking he was asking about her next riding lesson. “What time would you like me to be here?”

  “Here?” He frowned. “I was inviting you to dinner.”

  At first Jane was too stunned to answer. Cal Patterson was asking her out on a date. A real date. It’d been so long since she’d been asked that she didn’t even recognize it when she was. “I’d be—” she flashed him a smile “—delighted. I’ll look forward to seeing you Friday night.”

  When he walked her to her car a few minutes later, he told her that her riding was progressing nicely.

  She grinned. “That’s because I’ve got a great teacher.”

  Cal opened her car door. “I’ll pick you up at seven,” he said. “That okay?”

  “Seven,” she agreed and hoped he didn’t hear the nervousness in her voice. She had a date, a real date. With Cal Patterson.

  Maybe Texas wasn’t so bad, after all.

  FRIDAY NIGHT CAL SHIFTED the hangers from one side of his closet to the other, looking for a decent shirt. He didn’t know what in hell had prompted him to invite Jane to dinner.

  Then again, he did know. He liked her. Fool that he was, he’d allowed her to get under his skin. He blamed Ellie for this. Blamed and thanked, de pending on how he felt at any given moment.

  He could add Grady Weston’s name to the list of trouble makers. First, his brother decides to marry Ellie. Then not a month passes before Cal’s best friend from child hood announces he’s engaged, too. Grady was going to marry Caroline Daniels, the postmistress. Cal shook his head. The men in Promise were deserting bachelorhood in droves.

  Cal had no intention of joining their ranks. Asking Jane to dinner might be misconstrued as romantic interest in the town’s new doctor, but that wasn’t the case. He liked her, enjoyed her company, but considered her safe. She was a California girl, born and raised. A city girl. In three years’ time, she’d be heading back where she belonged, where she fit in. What appealed to him was the way she could make him laugh. And hell, stuck as she was in small-town Texas, he felt sorry for her.

  That was it, Cal decided as he jerked a clean shirt off the hanger and put it on. He knew she was all alone down here; he was just being nice to an out-of-state girl, inviting her to share a meal and a few laughs. After that he wouldn’t see her again, he vowed. Except for their riding lessons, of course.

  He hadn’t actually expected her to show up for the second lesson, not after the way he’d reacted to her fall off the saddle. A smile touched the corners of his mouth as he remembered her Butch Cassidy roll beneath Atta Girl’s belly. My, oh, my, could that woman move. Which led to thoughts he immediately censored….

  He fastened the shirt snaps and eased into a clean pair of Wranglers. He wasn’t going to a lot of trouble for this dinner, no sir. Nor had he mentioned it to his brother. Glen would make more of it than was there, and he’d for sure tell his wife. Cal did not want Ellie to know about this.

  A Johnny Cash tune drifted into his mind and he whistled along—until he realized what he was doing and abruptly stopped. He hadn’t whistled in years. What the hell was happening here?

  The forty-minute drive into town was accomplished in no time at all, or so it seemed. He’d take Jane to dinner as promised, then the minute they were finished he’d escort her home, head to Billy D’s and meet up with his friends. On Friday night Billy’s was always packed.

  Another thing he’d do, Cal determined as he walked the short distance from the curb to Jane’s front door, was have a little heart-to-heart with the doc. He had to explain that while this evening was a pleasant diversion, this was not a relationship with a future. It wasn’t a relationship, period.

  As gently as he could he’d tell her that he wasn’t interested in her romantically. There wasn’t any point in it, seeing that she’d be returning to California and he was staying here. Being the kind of guy he was, honest and straight for ward, he didn’t want to mislead her into believing something could develop out of this. It was just a dinner. One dinner.

  He rang her doorbell and waited. He might even say something right away. Get it over with quickly.

  The door opened and Cal’s jaw dropped. Wow. Jane was beautiful. She wore a two-tone blue denim ankle-length skirt with a matching blouse. The buttons were big silver-dollar coins. With her spark ling blue eyes and short blond hair, she looked sophisticated. Western and so phisticated. Sort of L.A. meets San Antonio. It was all he could do
not to slobber.

  “I’ll be ready in a moment,” she said, holding open the screen door.

  Cal removed his hat when he walked into the small house. He remained standing while she reached for her purse and clipped the beeper onto her black leather belt.

  “I’m on call,” she said, explaining the beeper.

  “You clean up real good,” he said once he found his voice.

  She smiled. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Any place special you’d like to eat?” he asked.

  “You choose.”

  Not that there was much choice. The Chili Pepper was the best restaurant in town, but they’d eaten there the week before. The café in the bowling alley served damn good chow, but it wasn’t the type of place to take Dr. Texas, especially with her dressed to the nines. That left the Mexican Lindo, which he suggested.

  “I’m game,” she said.

  The restaurant was less than five blocks away and the weather was accommodating, so they walked. They were led to a corner booth and Cal felt grateful for that, since it afforded them a measure of privacy. They’d barely sat down when the waiter delivered a bowl of corn chips and fresh salsa. Jane glanced at the menu and quickly made her decision.

  “Cheese enchiladas,” she told him before he could ask.

  Cal selected chili verde, one of his favorites.

  He asked for a beer, and because she was on call, Jane ordered an iced tea. They were just beginning to relax when Jane’s beeper went off.

  She removed it from her belt and read the code. “There’s an emergency,” she said. “If you’ll wait a couple of minutes, I’ll phone the service.”

  “Sure.” This was what he wanted, Cal tried to tell himself. She was offering him a perfect out, and he should be thankful. He hadn’t stopped to think about the questions their being together were sure to raise. Lots of questions, especially from his family and friends.

  Jane was gone only a couple of moments. “It’s Jeremy Bishop,” she said, hurrying back. “Nell thinks he’s broken his arm. She’s driving him to the clinic now.”

  “Is it bad?”

  “I won’t know until I see him. I’m sorry, Cal, but I have to go.”

  “I understand,” he assured her.

  Her eyes showed her regret before she turned and walked quickly out the door. As soon as she was gone, he realized she’d be alone at the clinic. Nell was an emotionally strong woman, but Jeremy was her son and she might need someone to talk to while Jane dealt with the boy’s injury.

  Cal signaled the waiter. “Can you bring me the bill?”

  The young man was clearly flustered. “But you haven’t eaten yet. If there’s a problem…”

  “There’s no problem,” Cal said. “Dr. Dickinson had an emergency and I’ve decided to leave myself.”

  The waiter nodded gravely. “Your order just came up. Would you like a takeout box?”

  “Sure,” Cal said. He hadn’t thought of that.

  When the waiter finished transferring the dinners to card board containers, Cal paid for them and made his way to the clinic.

  He arrived at the same time as Nell, Jeremy and Nell’s other child, Emma. Nell looked pale and distraught. She’d wrapped Jeremy’s arm in a pillow; he was obviously in pain and his face was streaked with tears.

  “Hello, Jeremy,” Jane said, taking charge immediately.

  Cal wasn’t sure she realized he was there until she turned. “Oh! Hi, Cal.”

  “I thought I’d keep Nell company in the waiting room,” he said.

  “Good idea.” She thanked him with a smile. Cal put their dinners on the reception desk and guided Nell to a chair, while Jane slid an arm around Jeremy’s shoulders and steered him toward the examination room.

  “I want to be with my son,” Nell insisted.

  “I’ll come for you in a few minutes,” Jane promised, “but first I need an X-ray to see what we’re dealing with here.”

  Nell accepted the decision and sank into her chair. She stared straight ahead, her features sharp with fear. “I found him by the tractor,” she whispered.

  Cal wasn’t sure she was talking to him, but he understood the significance of what she was saying. Nell had been the one to find her husband trapped beneath a tractor. The vehicle had turned over on him and crushed him, and she’d been powerless to do anything but hold his hand while he died.

  “Jeremy climbed up on it even though I’ve warned him repeatedly to stay away.”

  “Seems to me he’s learned his lesson,” Cal said. “I don’t think you’ll have any problem keeping him away from now on.”

  Nell smiled, and Cal wondered if he should stick around or head over to Billy D’s. To his surprise he discovered he had no real desire to join his friends. He’d much rather stay right where he was and help Nell—and Dr. Texas.

  CHAPTER 5

  “IN A MONTH YOU’LL BE HUSBAND and wife,” Reverend Wade McMillen said, leaning back in his leather chair in the study.

  It didn’t seem possible, but the wedding date had sneaked up on her. Caroline had discovered that putting together a wedding, even a small one involving just family and a few close friends, had demanded every spare moment she had.

  “A month,” Caroline repeated, glancing at Grady. They’d been attending counseling sessions with Wade for the past few weeks. Even now, Caroline had a difficult time taking it all in. She’d loved Grady for years, but had hidden her feelings behind a prickly attitude. It used to be they couldn’t stay in the same room without sparks flying and tempers flaring. They ignited fire works now, too, but for other reasons.

  “It doesn’t seem possible,” Grady said, his gaze holding Caroline’s.

  “You’re as ready now as you’ll ever be,” Wade said, grinning at them. “I’ve counseled a lot of couples in my time. I often get a feel for the relationship before the vows are spoken. And I’m confident the two of you are going to have a strong secure marriage.”

  Grady reached for Caroline’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “I feel that way, too.”

  Caroline nodded, her love for Grady clear to see.

  “No problems with Maggie?” Wade asked.

  “None,” Caroline assured him. There’d been a time when the child had been terrified of Grady’s booming voice, but no longer. Her six-year-old was enthralled with him. Caroline had no doubt of his love for her daughter. The day Maggie had disappeared, kid napped by Richard Weston, Grady had proved how deeply he cared for the child. And for her.

  “She isn’t showing any bad effects from the time she was missing, then?” Wade went on.

  “Not that we can tell,” Caroline replied. “She seems to be sleeping better these days. She hasn’t woken up with nightmares recently, either.” Caroline frowned, shaking her head. “No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn’t get her to tell me about her dreams—or what happened when she was gone. Then over night, the bad dreams stopped. She’s her normal cheerful self again.”

  “She talks about me becoming her daddy and seems genuinely excited about it,” Grady added.

  Wade looked at him. “You were worried you were somehow the cause of Maggie’s night mares?”

  “Yeah, but now she’s more accepting of me and more affection ate than ever.”

  Caroline nodded; she was pleased that Grady had started the adoption process. “I’m convinced that whatever was troubling her is somehow connected to the time Richard had her.”

  “Richard,” Wade repeated, his brow furrowed. “Has anyone heard anything from him or about him lately?”

  “Not a word,” Grady said. “I know the sheriff’s pretty frustrated. It’s like Richard’s disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  A chill raced down Caroline’s spine every time she thought about Grady’s brother. He’d hurt a lot of people, but what infuriated her more than anything was how he’d used and abused his own family. He’d run off with the ranch assets the day the Westons laid their parents to rest, creating untold hard
ship for Grady and his sister, Savannah. Six years later he’d returned, down on his luck. Grady and Savannah had taken him back in, tried to help him, and once more Richard had proved he couldn’t be trusted. After charging thou sands of dollars’ worth of goods, Richard had disappeared again.

  Grady, being honorable and decent, had paid those bills himself rather than have the local businesses absorb the losses. While it meant they wouldn’t be starting their marriage with any substantial savings, Caroline loved Grady for being the kind of man he was.

  “Shall we schedule the wedding rehearsal?” Wade asked.

  Brimming with excitement, Caroline and Grady nodded; soon after, their session was over.

  Grady tucked his arm around her waist as they left the church and headed toward the parking lot.

  “Have I told you today how much I love you?” Grady asked. He kissed her as he opened the passenger door.

  “It’s something I’m not going to tire of hearing,” Caroline said. Grady’s love was a blessing she hadn’t expected to receive. She was coming to this marriage with a child and a lot of emotional baggage. Much of that was thanks to Richard, who’d fathered Maggie during a brief and ultimately meaningless liaison. So meaningless he didn’t even remember it. Caroline had been terrified that this would make her and Maggie a burden for Grady, another mess of Richard’s he had to clean up. She’d been convinced it would be better to let Grady walk out of her life—but he’d refused to let that happen. He loved her and Maggie. When she told him about Maggie’s father, his initial reaction had been shock—because she’d kept the truth from him. But he’d recovered quickly and said that the man who raised and loved Maggie would be her real father, and that would be him. In the weeks since their engagement Grady had proved his devotion to her and to Maggie over and over again.

  “Do we need to pick up Maggie right away?” Grady asked now.

  Dovie Boyd had volunteered to baby-sit the little girl during the counseling sessions with Wade. “What do you have in mind?” she asked, leaning her head against his shoulder.