Page 12 of Rainwater
He still wore the hat and now was wearing the mackintosh, but it had been brushed clean of all the dust. He’d changed his boots for a pair of soft moccasins that reached his knees and were beautifully beaded.
He reached up and removed his hat. “Having second thoughts about dinner, or do I need to wipe my feet?” His tone was filled with teasing amusement and curled around her.
Heat rose in her face and she moved backward, both because of her wicked, unladylike thoughts and because he’d caught her staring.
“No, no second thoughts,” she murmured. “Come in.”
Ellie entered from the dining room and gave her mother that mischievous grin that Jennifer knew so well. “So, Mom, how about that raise?”
Jennifer looked up to the ceiling for guidance.So, this is my parents’ revenge, getting a daughter as impish as I was, she said to herself. She faced Ellie and pierced her with that don’t-mess-with-me-I’m-the-mother look. “It’s going to be pretty hard to spend ill-gotten gains when you’re grounded. We’ll talk about it after dinner,” Jennifer said with a warning in her voice for added measure.
She gestured to Corey and said, “Ellie, this is Corey Rainwater.”
Jennifer watched her daughter size up Corey. “Rainwater,” Ellie mused aloud. “You an Indian or something?”
As is she realized she’d been rude, Ellie’s vibrant eyes widened and she averted her gaze from the stranger’s amused expression.
“Ellie, mind your manners,” Jennifer scolded.
“That’s okay.” Corey smiled and charmed them both. “I’m part Apache.”
“Wow! Those are great boots! Did you make them?” Ellie moved closer into the room, her eyes on the beautiful moccasins.
“No, my grandmother was good at working leather, and my little…sister beaded them,” he responded, his voice subdued.
“So what kind of motorcycle do you have? I could hear it coming up the driveway but I couldn’t’ see it.” Ellie went to the window again and looked out.
“A Harley.”
“Wow, cool!” Wait until I tell Mary Lou! Could you give me a—”
“Ellie, let the man get his coat off, will you?” Jennifer interrupted with a laugh. “She’s not used to strangers coming to dinner,” she explained to Corey.
Jennifer knew that Ellie’s innate curiosity had led her from one question to another, and she hadn’t noticed the painful catch in his voice when he’d mentioned his little sister.
But Jennifer had. His distance was back and she could almost believe that the passionate kiss they had shared had never happened, if it wasn’t for the way he looked at her.
Get a grip, Jennifer. It’s for the best. Tomorrow he will be gone.She didn’t want to think about how the loneliness would swell around her again. She’d enjoy his company tonight and in the morning get back to her routine of running her ranch and finding a foreman. She’d have to go down to the paper and get them to run that ad again.
“Here, let me take your hat and coat,” she said. He handed his hat to her. The band was still warm from his skin. The coat followed. “Can I get you something to drink? I have beer or iced tea.”
“A beer will be fine,” he replied, his eyes traveling slowly over her face.
That sadness was still with him, she noted, and it seemed to intensify every time he looked at Ellie. Jennifer went to the refrigerator and got him a beer from the six-pack she had bought today with the other groceries. She set it down in front of him and popped the lid and took a drink.
“So,” Ellie began, glancing at her mother anxiously, “can I have a ride on your bike sometime?”
“I don’t think so, Ellie. I’ll be leaving tomorrow.” The disappointment he saw in the child’s eyes, eyes so like her mother’s, piercing green and filled with a burning intelligence and the innate straightforward curiosity of the young, bothered him.
“Then I suppose you’ll have to give me one tonight,” Ellie stated firmly. Then she gave him the cutest, most mischievoussmile that had him responding with a slow smile of his own. A kindred spirit in a small child? He would have never guessed.
Hell, it would be too easy to let himself slip into this little family, into that woman who chuckled and turned away. But he couldn’t because of the dark fear that lurked in his subconscious.
He smiled a very wicked grin and watched the amusement filter out of Jennifer’s eyes at his next words. “Only if your mom agrees to a ride, too.” The amusement in Jennifer’s eyes was replaced with a longing, a deep hunger that lasted for a split second. It was enough to twist his insides, nevertheless.
“Will you, Mom?” Ellie asked with a soft, wheedling tone. Corey could easily see what a monumental task Jennifer had in bringing up this child alone. Once again, he thought about Ellie’s father and wondered at his absence. Hell, it was none of his damn business. She wore no ring on her finger, but these days that meant absolutely nothing.
“Yeah, come on, Mom,” he said, using the same soft wheedling inflection.
