“Nice piece of equipment.” Stalling, she looked at the tractor.
“My son gave it to me.” Pride filled his tone and expression. “He’s a good boy.” The last came out softly, emotionally. “Now,” he cleared his throat and looked over at her. “What can I do for you?” There it was, in full force. Jordan’s easygoing affability.
“I was on my way to Cavendish, but I’ve been told most of its tourist attractions are closed for the season.”
No, no, I can’t lie to this nice man.
She sucked in a deep breath and began again. “No, that’s not true. Mr. Brooks, I presume?”
“That’s right.”
Damn! Now he’s looking at me with full-blown curiosity. He’ll think I’m some kind of crazy groupie…but here goes.
“I’m a friend of your son Jordan. He stayed at my horse farm on Chaleur Bay this past summer, taking riding lessons for his upcoming movie. Jordan and I became…friends.”
“Good lord, you’re Shelby…Dr. Shelby Masters!” He stepped forward to grasp her hand in a quick, firm grip that seemed to radiate the warmth of summer sunshine. “Well, well! At last we get to meet the Shelby we’ve heard so much about. Come up to the house. Ellen will be tickled pink.”
He put an arm about her shoulders and propelled her toward the back door of the farmhouse.
****
“Shelby.” Petite, pretty Ellen Brooks held both Shelby’s hands in hers and smiled. “What a wonderful surprise! Take off your jacket. Sit down.” She released her to indicate the chairs surrounding the big pine table in the center of the warm, sunny kitchen. “I’ve got scones in the oven and a fresh pot of coffee brewing. You arrived just in time for our afternoon break.”
Still overwhelmed by the warmth of their welcome and their knowledge of her, Shelby obeyed, draping her faux suede jacket over the back of a chair. A woodstove in a far corner gave off a comforting warmth in the sundrenched room.
“This place was built by my great-great-grandfather.” Herb Brooks pulled off his mackinaw and sat down. “Been in the family ever since.”
“It’s lovely.” Shelby glanced around the gleaming room, where pine cupboards and finish details maintained the nineteenth-century ambience, right down to a cozy couch in one corner near the woodstove. Shining appliances, granite countertops, and a ceramic floor offered modern convenience.
“Thank you.” Ellen Brooks pulled a pan of golden scones from the oven of the electric range. “You’re just exactly what Jordan needs…a girl who can appreciate what he really is.”
“Now the big question.” Herb Brooks’ eyes twinkled as he looked over at her. “When are you going to make an honest man of our boy?”
“Oh, Herb, just look!” Ellen Brooks had caught the glint of Shelby’s ring as she raised her hand in the sunlight. “It must be soon. Wonderful, wonderful!” She paused with the coffeepot in her hand, a delighted smile lighting up her face.
“I’m sorry.” Shelby felt a gush of shame.
Why didn’t I remove the damn thing before I came here?
“The ring didn’t come from Jordan.”
“Then…someone else?” Ellen Brooks stared at it winking in the sunlight.
“Yes. Jordan and I…our worlds are too far apart. I’m engaged to my neighbor. Jordan is devoted to the boys in his band, and…”
“Yes, Jordan’s devoted to the boys in his band,” Ellen Brooks said softly, her words barely above a whisper.
“I think we’d better tell Shelby the whole story.” Herb Brooks paused and drew in a breath. “Jordan had a younger brother, Kevin. He died in a high-speed car chase with police. All three young lads involved had been drinking and using drugs. The car was stolen. Jordan vowed then and there to do all he could to prevent anything like that from happening to other kids.”
There was a silence when the farmer finished. The clock on a shelf above the woodstove ticked. The farmer stared into space. His wife fingered the handle of the coffeepot, her gaze focused blankly on it.
“I’m so sorry.” Shelby’s words were barely above a whisper. “I had no idea…”
“Kevin left us something precious.” Ellen Brooks blinked back tears and smiled a rainbow over at Shelby. “His girlfriend, we discovered, was pregnant. She was only seventeen, far too young to be a mother. She wanted to get on with her life, so our eldest son Dave and his wife Lisa adopted Kevin’s little boy.”
“Dave and Lisa have a small house about a mile down the road.” Herb Brooks took up the story. “He works the farm and fishery with me. When I retire, we’ll switch houses. He’ll become the fifth generation to run the business. Maybe little Jody will be the sixth.”
“I’m sure he will.” A respectful silence followed. Then Shelby stood. “I really have to be going. Probably I shouldn’t have come, but I felt I had to know more about Jordan, more about…”
“Shelby.” Ellen Brooks rounded the table and caught her by the hand that wore Andy’s diamond. “Are you sure about this?” She indicated the ring. “I mean, if you were really sure, if you really loved this man, you wouldn’t have taken the time and trouble to come here, to meet Jordan’s parents, to learn more about him.”
“Now, Ellen, don’t go interfering.” Herb Brooks looked down into his coffee cup, frowning. “Shelby’s a smart young woman. She knows what she’s doing.”
“Do you, dear?” Ellen Brooks looked into Shelby’s face with such intensity Shelby wanted to wriggle like a guilty child. She knew—this lovely, kind woman knew she loved Jordan, not Andy.
The ring winked again, and she came back to her senses. She and Jordan had no future together. She and Andy Crowell did.
Get sensible, Shelby.
Gently, she freed her hand and turned away.
“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. It’s been a pleasure meeting you.”
****
The beautiful afternoon had vanished into a dull overcast. The sky held that ominous grey-white color that meant snow wasn’t far off as she left the Centennial Bridge and headed north. She pushed the old truck to the top of the speed limit and hoped she’d get home before it started.
Her visit to Jordan’s family home had only made things worse. Now she understood the man better, knew he could be happy on a farm in New Brunswick, but more importantly she understood his dedication to his band. She couldn’t expect him to abandon what he saw as a way to help other young men and keep them from suffering his brother’s fate.
As she drove through a small town in the darkening late afternoon, a streetlight blinked on and made the diamond on her finger flash. A wave of nausea wafted over her. How could she marry a man she wasn’t in love with, simply to cement their businesses? It was medieval.
Please, please, give me a sign, any sign, just so long as it shows me what I should do.
In an effort to relieve her roiling feelings, she snapped on the radio. The station was playing a Jordan Brooks tune. Was this the sign? Hardly, when most of the country music stations in North America were constantly playing his tunes.
The first few snowflakes of winter began to tickle her windshield. Weariness plagued her back and shoulders. She’d been crazy to take on this long drive alone simply to see Jordan’s birthplace and meet his family. She’d made her decision. She was going home to Andy, and that was it.
Suddenly, the idea of going back to his stable, reassuring presence buoyed her up. No more crazy dreams about country music superstars. She changed the radio station to an all-news one and settled back to listen.
****
It was snowing steadily, slanting into her windshield, mesmerizing, as big, splattering flakes assaulted her windshield and turned the road ahead to a solid sea of white. Her headlights cut a narrow path through the nasty night and she couldn’t make out the edge of the pavement.
Don’t let me hit the gravel shoulder.
Her back ached, her arms were stiff, and her vision blurring. Maybe tonight would be the night she’d let Andy sleep over. Maybe tonight would be the night she’d let him ease her tension with lovemaking. Maybe tonight would be the night he’d wash Jordan Brooks out of her heart and soul forever.
She struggled to concentrate all her attention on her driving. Yes, tonight would definitely be the night she let Andy push that counterfeit cowboy out of her life and dreams once and for all.
The snow had turned into an all-out storm by the time she reached the lane leading to her house. Through the driving flakes and buffeting wind she saw Andy’s SUV parked at the steps. Good old reliable Andy. He’d come to see to her stock and stayed when he saw a blizzard developing. He wouldn’t risk their getting snowed in without feed and water.
The wind howled around the corners of the old house as she braked to a stop and stepped out into the bitter cold. It would be good to snuggle up with Andy in front of a roaring fire. She wrapped her arms about her body, ducked her head against the gale, and ran for the steps.
****
“Andy, I’m back…”
The words froze in her throat. Stripped to the waist, her fiancée held a naked Michelle Latton in his arms beside the kitchen table.
He whirled. The bluster of the storm must have drowned out the sound of her arrival.
“Jesus!” Andy’s face registered a shock like a lightning bolt. “Shel…”
“Hello, Shelby.” Michelle, cool as ever, smiled and reached for Andy’s blue chambray shirt hanging over a chair back. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you to knock? We were just getting a couple of beers. We need to…” She shrugged into the garment. “Cool off.” A smirk raised the corners of her mouth.
“Just like those tryouts for the National Equestrian Team, isn’t it, Michelle?” Shelby’s voice trembled with outrage. “You didn’t really want the spot. You never continued a career in that direction. You got your father to buy that fancy horse just so you could beat me. And now you don’t really want a dairy farmer, do you, you—”
“Hey, what the hell! I’m standing right here!” Andy tried to step between them, but Shelby shoved him aside and confronted the woman wrapping the shirt around her nakedness.
“So take him!” She pulled the diamond from her finger and slammed it onto the table. “You’ve actually done me one very large favor.” She yanked open the door to let in a gust of snow and cold night wind. “Take him and get out.”
“I’ll get my things…”
“Oh, no, you won’t!” Shelby, strong from wrestling animals, grabbed Michelle’s arm and propelled her out the door.
“There’s snow out here!” she screamed as the door banged shut and locked behind her. “Shelby Masters, you let me in right now!” She pounded on the door.
“Jesus, Shel!” Andy Crowell tried to get past her. “Let her in! It’s freezing out there.”
“The only way I open it is if you’re going out…now.” She grabbed a set of keys she recognized from the table and flung them at him. “Load your whore into that fancy SUV and get the hell off my property. You obviously came here together, intent on making a mockery of me and my home.”
“No, Shel, you’ve got to believe it wasn’t like that, not planned at all.” He caught the keys. “Michelle turned up at my place wanting a drive to town. Her sports car can’t handle snow. We started out in my SUV and I decided to take one last check on your stock. I drove down to the barn, but when I came out my vehicle was up at the house, the lights were on in the kitchen, and no sign of Michelle. When I came inside, I found her—”
“I know, naked as the day she was born, with a couple of bottles of wine. You don’t have to continue. I get the picture. Now get out.”
“Okay, okay. But if either of us gets pneumonia…”
“I doubt you will want to explain the circumstances.”
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that, Shelby? Stiff as a board. This was just a little pre-marital fling. You’re a fine one to go bitching about something like that after you spent the summer with the rhinestone cowboy, after he showed up at our engagement party and enjoyed the night with you!”
“So what was this supposed to be? Getting even for what you imagined I did with Jordan? I thought you said you trusted me, believed me when I told you nothing happened after our engagement party.”
“Now, why do I get the idea you’re dancing around the facts, Shelby?” He glared at her. “Nothing after the party, but what about all summer long, what about…?”
“Damn it, I’m freezing out here!” The pounding escalated.
Shelby unlocked the door, yanked it open, and gave Andy a mighty push outside. Before he could turn back, she’d slammed and re-locked it.
****
Two empty wine bottles and a pair of long-stemmed glasses decorated the coffee table in the living room. A fire embered to its death on the hearth.
Shelby grimaced. Had they been making love on her couch? No. No clothing strewn about. They must have used one of the bedrooms. Incensed, she rushed upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.
She flung open the door of her room and snapped on a lamp. Andy’s boots and socks lay beside a pair of designer jeans, while a cashmere sweater, a thong, and a bit of lacy bra too small to be worthy of the name “support garment” lay scattered over the floor. A box of condoms decorated her nightstand. The woman had come well prepared.
She backed out and stood for a moment, gulping in deep breaths. The feelings raging through her body weren’t what they might have been, not if she’d been in love with Andy Crowell. Still, his blatant betrayal disgusted her, made her stomach churn.
She went down the hall to the guest room, the one Jordan had used. Exhausted, she pulled off her clothes and crawled naked into the bed. Burrowing her face into the pillow, she imagined she caught his scent.
“Jordan, I love you. I really, really do.”
She drifted off to sleep, making a vague mental note to houseclean her room top to bottom and buy a new mattress—damn it, an entire new bed.
****
Okay, she’d finally allowed herself to admit she was in love with Jordan Brooks. But being in love, in this case, wasn’t enough.
She padded to the living room window in PJs and fuzzy slippers to watch the horses frolicking in the newfallen snow, Jordan’s gift albino among them. Their beauty brought a lump to her throat. Nothing, nothing on earth could rival their beauty. Her hands tightened around the cup of coffee in her hands. She could never leave this place.