His eyes slowly closed and thick brown lashes rested on his cheek. She really wanted the kiss but noisy teenagers jerked Laura back to reality. She moved away from Colton and was swimming toward the other end when Roxie and Dillon made it to the pool’s edge.
“Where are your glasses?” Roxie asked.
“Back in the dressing room. I can see well enough to swim without them,” she answered.
Dillon wasn’t as tall as Colton, but he still dwarfed Roxie. He wore his blond hair cut above his ears with enough left on top to comb over for Sunday or let hang on his forehead any other time. His brown eyes seldom strayed from Roxie, and his smile was genuine and honest. His arms and body testified that he was used to hard work and his hands bore the calluses to prove it. Laura recognized Sunday jeans, boots, and Western shirt and wondered if he was in the same church as they had attended that morning. She didn’t remember seeing him there but there had been lots of people.
The kids had barely made their way to the backside of the waterfall when Andy and Rusty arrived with two of the hired hands. They were already dressed for swimming in cutoff jeans and wasted no time crawling up the ladder to the diving board.
“Hey!” Rusty waved from the end of the board.
Laura made her way to Colton’s side and propped herself on the edge with her elbows. “Water is fine,” she called out.
“We don’t mean to disturb y’all,” Andy hollered.
“We were just getting ready to leave anyway. I’m going to take Laura on a tour of the whole ranch,” Colton said.
“In one afternoon?” Andy Joe’s eyes widened. “That will be one fast tour.”
Laura opened her mouth to say that she would rather stay behind and swim all afternoon but curiosity snapped it shut. Just how big was a billion-dollar cowboy’s ranch, anyway? And what other surprises might be hiding in the barns that he didn’t even consider luxuries? Being alone with him put her in dangerous territory, but she really did want to see the ranch.
Colton poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the dining room table. Roxie was the only other person up and around and she had her nose in a book. From the hunky cowboy on the cover, it didn’t have anything to do with schoolwork.
“Granny know you are reading that?” he asked.
“No, she does not,” Roxie said. “You ought to read it before she does. You old people might need a little refresher course in how to kiss and all that so the acting will be more convincing.”
Colton grinned. “I’m not that old. I think I can remember how to kiss a woman. And what made you so sassy today?”
“I’m not sassy. I’m just statin’ facts. If you know how to kiss a woman then you need to do it and quit just lookin’ at her with moony eyes.”
The smile faded. “I am not lookin’ at her with moony eyes.”
Roxie raised her eyebrows and looked at him over the top of the book. “You just blew the bottom right out of that commandment about not lying.”
“I’m glad you have to go to summer school to make up for all those times you skipped school,” he muttered.
“Me too. I get to see Dillon and enjoy his moony-eyed looks.”
“You use that word one more time this morning and I’m sending Laura and Granny to shop at Tressa’s without you this afternoon.”
Roxie tucked the book in her backpack, slung it over her back as she stood up, and flicked bread crumbs from her shirt. “I don’t reckon it would kill me.” She lowered her voice as she walked past him. “She’s coming in the back door and headed toward the office right now. There it is—your eyes are all dreamy just thinkin’ about seeing her. Remember, this is supposed to be make-believe.”
“I warned you.”
“I didn’t say that word I wasn’t supposed to say.” She giggled. “Good mornin’, Laura.”
“Mornin’, Roxie. I hear the school bus. Have a good Monday,” Laura said.
“I’ll be waiting at school for y’all to pick me up.” Roxie waved over her shoulder.
Laura wore snug-fitting jeans that nipped in at a small waist, a bright blue tank top, and scuffed boots. Colton wished that he’d met her at a NTAA—North Texas Angus Association—dinner or even a cattle sale instead of being thrown together with her in a fantasy world.
“You are runnin’ behind this mornin’. Roxie is sassy. Something tells me it’s going to be a crazy week. Roxie never ever acts like that,” he said.
She shrugged. “Maybe she’s finally finding her rebellious wings. You would do well to hope that she does before she leaves the ranch. You and Maudie will still have a little bit of control while she is here. Once she’s gone to college, if she hasn’t let the inner person out, it’ll be hell to pay.”
“Are you speaking from experience?” he asked.
“Let’s just say that I understand that girl and let it go at that. Where’s Maudie?”
“She’ll be along after a while. She cooks on the weekends, but through the week we have a staff that takes care of the house and cooking so she doesn’t get up so early. Have you met Sally?”
“Did I hear someone call my name?” The door to the office opened and the woman in front of Laura was at least six feet tall. She had the blackest eyes Laura had ever seen on a woman with dishwater blond hair. Her face was round and her shoulders as broad as a Dallas Cowboy linebacker’s. She could be any age from late twenties to early forties.
“I’m Sally and I just cleaned that pigpen of an office. Tell Mr. Andy that I’m going to clean twice a week from now on whether he likes it or not. I hear you work in there too. Is there anything special that you like done?”
“I’m Laura and I…”
“I know who you are, missy. I hear you’re keepin’ company with Colton and y’all done been over at the snow cone stand and you’ve sat together in church two Sundays. I thought I’d run across you before now but you been holed up in that office with Mr. Andy all the time. You just remember one thing, girl. You can’t keep one thing from Sally, so don’t even try. I wasn’t here last week because I was off down to Whitewright visitin’ with my sister, but I’m back now and I’ll be here every day.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Something in those dark eyes said that Sally could smell a lie a mile away.
Sally looked hard at her, starting at her boots and traveling all the way up to the top of her head. “You’ll do but you sure ain’t what I figured he’d come draggin’ home. You let me know if you want something special done in that office.” She whistled all the way up the stairs, but when she opened a door the whistling stopped and grumbling began.
“She’s in my room. You’d think I was thirteen the way that she and Granny treat me,” Colton said.
“It wasn’t easy to lie to her,” Laura whispered.
“It’s because we’ve had it so easy this whole week. Hardly crossed each other’s paths until yesterday and then it was just an hour in church,” Colton said. “But so many people are aware of it now that Granny thinks you’d better start having supper with the family every night.”
“Well, shit!” Laura mumbled.
Colton bristled. “Hey, if it’s that big of an imposition, I could always bring supper out to your apartment and we could eat there.”
“Hell, no! Do I have to get dressed up every night?”
“Just whatever you wear to work that day is fine. We don’t stand on formality around here,” he said.
He threw an arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. When he whispered in her ear his breath was warm and seductive even if the words were nothing more than information. “Sally helps Chester in the kitchen and she’ll know if you aren’t here for supper. They set the table before she leaves and sometimes Granny even invites her to eat with us before she goes home.”
“Starting tonight?” Laura asked.
“That would be nice. Now you don’t work too hard, darlin’, and I’ll see you at supper,” he said.
“Colton Nelson,” Sally leaned over the railing and yelled. “I’ll be cleaning your room twice a week from now on too.”
“Was she…” Laura asked.
“Oh, yes. They all are paying close attention,” Colton whispered as he brushed a kiss across her lips.
Laura raised her voice slightly. “Has Sally worked here a long time?”
“She was the first person that Granny hired when we bought this ranch. She used to work at the school with Granny.”
“How many more folks work in the house?” Laura asked.
“Chester, the weekday cook, and Molly, a lady who comes in four hours a day to help Sally. If you didn’t stay so cooped with Andy Joe, you would have met them before now, but that’s one of the things I love about you—your dedication to work.”
Laura narrowed her eyes and gave him a drop-dead look. Love was a strong word that did not have room in a fairy tale world.
“Gardeners?” Laura asked.
“One comes twice a week to take care of the pool flowers,” he said.
“Could I start working in the yard in the evenings?”
Their eyes met and Colton could feel the moony, so Roxie would have seen it for sure. Laura worked hard, complained very little, and she was asking for more work. She might be up to her pretty little nose in a scam, but if she was, she was damn good at it.
“Sure, I’ll even pay you extra if you want to tinker around out there. Just keep up with your hours and tell Andy to add them to your paycheck each week.”
“Thank you. You said that you had to get going. What’s on your agenda today?”
“I’m going to round up the new calves and vaccinate them.”
“Four-wheeler or horses?” she asked.
“Four-wheelers.”
She gave a brief nod. “Poor little critters. They probably don’t like shots any better than I do. Is that all they have to suffer through today? No working ’em or taggin’ ’em?”
“You’ve done that?” he asked.
“If it has to do with cows, pigs, chickens, gardens, tractors, milking, or mucking out, I’ve probably had a hand in doin’ it,” she answered. “But right now I’ve got a whole day’s work to do in three-quarters of a day because Maudie says that Roxie and I are going shopping for things to wear to some party that’s going on. Want to explain what that’s all about?”
Colton settled a straw hat on his head and started for the front door. “Ask Andy. He’s the producer of this blockbuster film that we’re starring in.”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Sally asked from the bottom step.
“It’s a joke between me and Laura. Andy kind of introduced us when he hired Laura to help him so we have this inside joke about him creating a love story out of our lives,” Colton said quickly.
***
Laura ducked into the office and covered her bright red face with her hands. She’d kicked the door shut with her foot and something darted across her foot, something with fur and soft feet like a mouse. She threw her hands in the air and landed in Andy’s office chair. A shadow of something as big as a possum darting under the desk sent her to the top of his desk and trying to climb through air to the ceiling.
Andy heard her squeal and he rushed into the office with Colton right behind him. They took in the scene with one glance and Colton said, “Snake?”
“Mouse or maybe a possum or could be King Kong,” she said in a shaky voice.
He eased over to the desk and looked under it. “Dammit! I hate snakes.”
Andy stayed by the door. “If you see one, I’m out of here. I’ll get Rusty to bring something to kill it.”
“Two big strong men to protect me. My world is complete today,” she mumbled.
“Hey!” Andy said. “At least we’re not standing on top of a desk.”
“Only because I haven’t figured out how to get up there,” Colton said.
A pitiful wail came from the corner and a big yellow cat strutted toward Andy. He chuckled as he stooped down to pet the animal. “It’s just Daisy. She brushed against your leg. I bet you scared the devil out of her when you sprouted wings and flew up on that desk.”
“Are you sure? That cat is yellow. I swear what I saw was gray.” Laura scanned the floor and glanced up and down the draperies.
“You saw a moving shadow probably,” Colton said.
Laura hopped down off the desk and did another visual sweep of the floor. “Why haven’t I seen her before?”
“It’s a big house and she’s got free rein, both inside and out. She might have been visiting the bunkhouse. The guys all love her. But she’s here now so come on over here and make her acquaintance. She’ll probably show up in your apartment. When I lived there she came to see me about once a week,” Andy said.
Colton bent over and scratched the cat’s ears. Her purrs were loud enough that they echoed off the office walls. “You wouldn’t let a nasty old mouse in our house, would you, sweet baby girl? Where is Donald? I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.”
“Who is Donald?” Laura asked.
“That’d be her best friend and Donald is a duck.” Andy laughed.
Laura rubbed her ears and accidentally brushed her hand against Colton’s arm. Sparks jumped around the room that had nothing to do with static electricity from the cat’s fur. She wasn’t even surprised. Colton was a fine-looking cowboy and she’d always been attracted to men with green eyes. Too damn bad they hadn’t met in different circumstances, but then if they had he would have taken one look at her and thought she was after his money.
“You’ll get all the scholarship funds in place before the weekend, right?” Colton said to Andy as he raised up and started for the door.
“That’s what I’m working on today. You want to increase the donation this year or keep it the same?”
“Increase it to include one more senior but make it for two years instead of a four-year ride. We’ve had a couple of dropouts after the first year. Let’s make it for two years and then optional depending on grades for that last two,” Colton said.
“That seems like a sound plan to me. You going to bring that idea up at the meeting?”
“Thought I might. Right now I’m off to ranch. Daisy, you could stick around a few days and scare any mice off that might wander in from the fields.” He tipped his hat at Laura. “See you at supper. Chester is making prime rib tonight and it’s better than any you’ll ever get in a restaurant. And I understand Sally is putting together one of her fresh peach cobblers.”
“Sounds scrumptious,” Laura said.
Daisy left Andy and purred until Laura picked her up and carried her to her desk. “You can sit in my lap while I work, but if you get all squirmy, you’ll have to go. What’s this about a scholarship meeting? I thought there was a party this next weekend.”
Andy sat down behind his desk, hit a few computer keys, and waited until his screen came up. “I’ve been meaning to tell you about that party. Had to convince Colton first but he’s on board with the idea.”
“What idea?”
“It’s time for you two to take this relationship out into the public if it’s going to work. Y’all did real well in church again last Sunday. After two Sundays, I don’t think there’s any doubt that you’re really dating. Even Ina Dean believes it now. That first Sunday you were caught by surprise but I got to hand it to you, last Sunday was a stellar performance. Now it’s time to take it a step further. The party is in Dallas on the fourth weekend in June every year. It’s a weekend affair that Colton always attends. You’ll be the first girlfriend he’s taken to it so it’ll be a big thing.”
She gasped and the cat jumped off her lap. “You have got to be joking! When were you planning to ask me? And now that you have the answer is no. Not just no, but hell no and spelled all in capital letters. Pretending here in Ambrose is one thing. In Dallas at a formal affair? I don’t think so, Scooter!”
“They put him up in a penthouse suite with two bedrooms so you’ll be fine. Maudie and Roxie are going shopping with you over in Sherman to buy a new dress or outfit of some kind for the formal dance and dinner. Maudie is happy as a drunk in a winery that she doesn’t have to go this year. The ranch will foot the bill for whatever you buy to wear so have a good time,” he said.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said no!” she yelled.
Andy put a finger to his lips. “Shhh! Sally has real good hearing and she’s everywhere.”
Colton eased the door open and Daisy darted out. “Not going so well, is it, Andy? I told you she wouldn’t go for it. I’m not her type. She said so.”
She grabbed an ink pen from her desk and lobbed it across the room at him. It bounced off the door frame and rolled across the floor. He laughed aloud. “Our first fight brings out the worst in her. Hope that Sally’s cobbler softens her up tonight. See you later and good luck convincing her that it’s time for us to go public.”