“Pish-tosh, call me Stella. I just like to play.”
“Right, Mum, this is your full-scale living dollhouse. Admit it.”
David stood. For an instant she imagined a hint of smokiness and a secret smile when he looked at her, but he was all calm business again before she could be sure. The other woman stood. Her height nearly matched David’s, and her elegant navy-blue suit and crisp white blouse hugged a model’s body. Rio might as well have come from slaving in a coal mine for her own rumpled appearance in comparison.
“Hello, Rio, good to meet you.” she said in that incredibly perfect accent. “I’m Katherine Wentworth, a very old friend of David’s. That is, I guess if a former fiancée can be considered a friend. Pleased to meet you.”
Katherine? Of course she was Katherine. She was Kate Middleton, Kate Winslet, and Kate Hepburn all rolled into one stunning package. With an open, inviting smile to top it all off.
But fiancée?
“I haven’t seen Kate in nine years,” David added. “Had no idea she was coming, isn’t that something? She and Mum recently found each other and planned this surprise.” A slight tinge of shell-shocked wideness in his eyes made Rio feel better.
“I assume it’s a good surprise,” she said quietly.
“It’s a dream to see him again,” Kate said. “I’ve been married and widowed since we were together. When Stella told me David was living in the States and had never married but followed in his father’s footsteps, the pull was simply too strong.” She threaded her hands between David’s upper arm and torso and hugged possessively. “I’ll always love this one. It’s good to find out he’s well.”
David extracted himself with a smile. “It’s great to find out you’re well, too, Kate.”
“Although, he’s lost so much of his accent,” she teased. “You sound positively Yank-ish, love.”
“I consider it a compliment, thanks.” He took a step toward Rio. “How did it go at The Loon Feather?”
“Ah . . . great. Actually, I took the job.”
“And it’s something you want? You’ll like the job?”
His questions were so sincere she finally relaxed and returned his earlier smile gratefully. “Everyone there is so nice. Yes. The job will help a lot.”
“All right then.”
A buzz from her back pocket where she’d stuffed her phone made her jump. The earlier text from Hector had been forgotten in this latest surprise. Now she quailed at the thought of another threatening message.
“Sorry.” She pulled out the phone trying to hide her worry.
David’s thick brows knotted.
When she opened the text she laughed in relief. “It’s from Karla Baxter at The Loon Feather. I guess I forgot my sweatshirt there.”
“But you didn’t think that’s who was contacting you.” David held her eyes with his.
At that moment she knew she’d planned to show David the text from Hector. She’d known he would care. Part of her crazy reaction to him from the first moment they’d met was the sense of him, more than the farm, being a safe harbor.
But now there were ripples in the still, safe waters that were David.
“There aren’t that many people who call me,” she said. “I always wonder who it is.”
A five-second stare-down followed and David turned away first, but he clearly hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted.
“Rio, guess what I get to do?” Bonnie stood.
“I’d love to hear.” She looked to the others. “I’d be very happy to make dinner. It’s nearly four o’clock, and you both must be ready to drop. I can do something with the beautiful steaks David bought yesterday and have it ready by five.”
“You don’t have to cook,” David said. “We talked about ordering a good old American pizza. I can go pick one up—it’ll take half an hour tops.”
“You don’t want to leave your mom and Kate. I honestly don’t mind cooking. Your kitchen is fun to work in.”
“I could at least grill the steaks.”
“Okay. That I’ll let you do.”
“Well, thank you.” His eyes lit with their familiar, good-natured sparks.
The give-and-take, the compromise, the teasing partnership all served to calm Rio’s emotions and quell the little bubbles of jealousy still percolating in her chest.
“Let me get cleaned up a little and I’ll be back,” she said. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to grill.”
“Okay.”
“It’s great to meet you both,” she said to Stella and Kate. “I’ll be more sociable at dinner. C’mon upstairs, Bonnie. Tell me your news.”
B
ONNIE FOLLOWED TO
Rio’s room chattering nonstop. She’d gotten to ride in a lesson with Jill, who’d promised she could take more if she’d come back to her place and do some work there, and if she’d groom for her at David’s big show coming up in two weeks.
“Groom?” Rio asked.
“Help her by getting her horses ready and taking care of them after she rides. And helping her get ready, too. Watching and helping is a great way to learn how to show. I want to do a show later in the fall.”
Rio’s heart lurched. She was excited for her sister and, as always, envious of her extroverted personality. But she didn’t want Bonnie to take any of this for granted. They simply weren’t going to be here that long. Just long enough to . . . She took a deep breath.
“That’s awesome,” she said. “It’s fantastic you’re able to work off what they’re letting you do. But don’t get too invested in things here, Bon. We can’t stay that long.”
“I’m just having fun,” she said. “I know as soon as things are cleared up with the house, we’re going to move.”
“Still want to?”
“Well, sure. It would so cool to create a place like this. I really like English riding.”
The bed creaked when Rio sank onto the mattress, her heart in her throat. “I have something to tell you,” she said quietly. “It’s not good news, and you’ll be really angry with me.”
“Heck, I’m always mad at you.”
“No, this is more serious than me telling you what to do when you don’t appreciate it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Last month, a final balloon payment came due on a second mortgage Dad took out before he died. I’ve been paying that off just like everything else, and it’s been fine. But I couldn’t quite swing the huge amount, because I also had to make the insurance premium payment, so I made a choice. I let the insurance payment on the house lapse until I got all the house payments caught up. I was going to pay the insurance up this week.”
Bonnie could be immature socially, but she had brainpower to spare, especially when it came to numbers. She grasped Rio’s meaning immediately.
“You’re telling me our house wasn’t covered by insurance?”
Rio nodded. Tears threatened the corners of her eyes. As aggravating as Bonnie could be at this age, she was all Rio had. Nothing in the world could have made Rio hurt her on purpose, but the pain on her sister’s face blossomed swiftly.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Rio said. “When we were at the shelter, I used every spare minute to talk to the bank, to the insurance company, to the city. I haven’t quite given up yet, but it’s not looking good. There might be some assistance to help pay off the property taxes for the year, and I’ll have to try and sell the lot, although in that neighborhood it could be tough. I don’t know, Bons, we might have to find us a really inexpensive place back in the city and start over again.”
“No.” Tears slipped from Bonnie’s eyes first. “It can’t be true. You’ve promised this for so long.”
“I know, I know. I told you you’d be really disappointed in me.”
“I . . .” Bonnie plopped onto the bed next to her and covered her face with her hands.
She sobbed quietly, and Rio didn’t move to comfort her or make any excuses. No words could remove the sting or fix the hurt. Rio, not Bonnie, had screwed up this time.
And then Bonnie did the most extraordinary thing. She gave a last sniff and straightened, wiping her face with the back of one hand.
“Shit happens, you know?” she said.
“What?”
“You didn’t do it on purpose. This tanks your dream, too. So why don’t we just stay here?”
“Here, as in this house?”
“Sure.
“No, no, that’s not a good idea at all!” Crazy visions of the two of them doddering around with David, his mother, and his ex-fiancée for the next twenty years while Rio scrimped for dream money hit her like a bad smell.
“I’m sure David would let us work off room and board.”
“Bonnie, that’s not what he’s in business to do. Besides, we need to get you back so you can finish school.”
“They have schools around here, too. Kim is my age, I’ll bet she goes to school.” She rode the line between teasing and sarcasm. “And we don’t know where Hector is. Can I really go back to South? Wouldn’t he find me there if we go back?”
Of course she was right. Rio shivered again when she thought about the text from Hector.
I’ll find you and Bonnie before you find me.
Since she’d made it a day of disclosure, Rio sighed, pulled out her phone, and showed the text to Bonnie.
“I can’t believe I thought he was a closet nice guy,” Bonnie said. “It’s just, he wasn’t mean to me, ever.”
“How many times did you go out with him?”
“Four.”
“Anyone can play nice for four dates. I only hope Paul didn’t know his plans from the start.”
“I don’t think he did.”
“You need to stop being merry sunshine over everything.” Rio breathed a little easier. “You trust too much and never see the negative.”
“But sometimes I wish you could see the positive. I wouldn’t mind going to school around here. We could make it work. If we can’t stay at Bridge Creek, maybe someone else has a room. There’s always a solution.”
She stared at her sister. “When did you get so wise?”
“When you stopped treating me like a little girl and told me the truth. And listened. So, about five minutes ago.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. I don’t want you to put your heart on the line here. If they do find Hector, going home might be the best thing.”
“Maybe. Meanwhile, you could take the same advice. I’ve seen how David follows you around with his eyes.”
“He doesn’t.”
She only shrugged. “I just wish Dawson would do what David does.”
Oh no, he’d better not.
Rio was careful, this time, not to say out loud the words screaming through her brain. She forced teasing into her voice. “I think my first idea about leaving here sooner rather than later is the right one.”
“C’mon. Dawson isn’t like Hector. I know that for sure.”
Rio remembered the moments in the woods before Chief Hewett had broken up the trail ride party, when Dawson had been so sweetly flirting with all the girls.
“Maybe. But can you blame me for being gun-shy?”
“Don’t be. You know his dad is Gray Covey, right?”
“Excuse me? Gray Covey, the singer?”
“Yeah! He married Kim’s mom about two years ago.”
Gray Covey was one of the most popular rock stars in the world. He wasn’t considered all that current with kids, but he had a widespread fan base and plenty of decent songs. Rio shook her head in disbelief. This place grew more Wonderland-like with every passing minute.
“I’ve changed my mind again,” she sighed. “Just marry Dawson—he must be coming into some rock ’n’ roll money pretty soon.”
“Okay. Deal.”
Bonnie laughed, and although Rio’s heart still didn’t know the answers, it was temporarily lighter.
R
IO.
R
IO
. R
IO.
Rio. Rio. David couldn’t get her name or thoughts of her out of his head. He hadn’t been able to since their kiss on the deck the morning before, but he hadn’t had one minute alone with her since.
He strode toward the barn, hoping no one in the house but Bonnie had seen him leave. She’d told him Rio had already gone outside. Which was odd, he thought. Then again, from whipping up delicious meals spur-of-the-moment, to disappearing at 6:30 a.m., to kissing him senseless and then seeming embarrassed by it, Rio defined unpredictable. For the life of him, he couldn’t say why that quixotic trait attracted him, but he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything except his reactions to her, even after his mother had driven in from the airport with the shock of a lifetime.
And Rio’s face yesterday when Kate had introduced herself . . . Kate wouldn’t have caused more shock if she’d claimed to be a three-headed alien and then proved it. He understood. Nobody was more flabbergasted by Kate’s presence than he was. More unnerving yet was the fact he’d thought of her out of the blue only days before.
Kate had clung to him like a shadow last night, through dinner, dessert, and the entire evening until Rio had excused herself and headed for bed. Kate apparently intended to spout memories the whole of the six weeks she planned to stay.
Thanks a million, Mum.
“She’s lonely, love,” his mother had confided, after Kate had retired to the room Rio had rejected that first day. “She’s going to help me at the bed-and-breakfast back home to get away from her memories. She jumped at the chance to visit the States, and you should have seen her eyes light up when she heard you’re single.”
He’d nearly let her have an earful at that, but his mother was nothing if not brilliant at ignoring him. She was here after all, at the busiest time of the year. From the end of August until October, David had no time to entertain even family. And there was the matter of his unhappy financial state, which he’d reluctantly admitted to his mother the last time she’d gone off on her latest decorating ideas.
“I know things are tight for you in the economy here,” his mother had said last night. “Maybe Katherine is a godsend.”
Since Kate’s father and husband were both gone now, she’d been left a wealthy woman.
He knew his mother didn’t intend to sound like she was pimping Kate out for her money. Stella Pitts-Matherson was no stranger to shoestring budgets and hard work. But still, David cringed at the thought of Kate thinking he’d ever be after her pocketbook.
The instant he entered the barn he heard the gentle swish and thud of shavings hitting a wheelbarrow. Andy wasn’t down yet, but Fred trotted down the aisle, his tail like the rotor of a helicopter that might just carry him away in excitement.