Page 89 of The Honorable Texan
She rubbed her hip self-consciously.“I fell on that side, the night Dad hit me,” she told him.“The floor’s pretty hard.”
“There’s a whirlpool bath in your bedroom,” Rey reminded her.“It’ll help the soreness.”
“I discovered that,” she said, grinning.“What a luxury!We only have a shower at home, and it’s temperamental.”
Rey gave her a long look.“When we’ve had time to catch our breath, I’ll see what I can find out about your father, if you’d like.”
Her face brightened.“That would be nice.”
He smiled slowly, liking the way her pale eyes seemed to glow when she was pleased.She wasn’t bad-looking at all, and her figure was just about perfect.He wondered how she could have remained single for so long, with her homemaking skills, not to mention her sweet personality and that knockout body.
She was watching him with equal appreciation, and totally unaware of it.He had a lithe, powerful physique that made her think of rodeo.He walked with a unique sort of grace, and he didn’t stoop or slouch, ever.She liked his eyes best of all.They were almost a liquid-brown, and they had black rims around the pupils.He was rugged and sensuous, and she looked at his wide thin mouth and wondered for the first time how it would feel to kiss it.
Her thoughts horrified her.She dragged her eyes away and excused herself in an absolute fluster to go make coffee.
Leo lifted both eyebrows and stared at his brother after she was out of earshot.“Well, well,” he murmured.“You do seem to be making an impression on her.”
“Cut it out,” Rey said testily.
“And vice versa,” came the irritating reply.
Rey made a rough sound in his throat and stomped off down the hall to his room.He put down his suitcase, took off his suit and dress shirt and got into jeans and achecked long-sleeved work shirt.He glanced at himself in the mirror as he buttoned it, his eyes blank as he recalled the wild flush on Meredith’s cheeks.It shouldn’t please him.He didn’t trust her.She could be trying to play them all for suckers.But he smiled, just the same.
* * *
Meredith had coffeeand cherry pie in saucers on the table by the time the brothers were changed and walking into the kitchen.
“Coffee’s fresh,” she said.
“Aren’t you having any?”Rey asked.
“I have to get the clothes into the dryer,” she excused herself with a quick smile.“Yell if you need anything.”
She was gone in a flash.
Rey stared broodingly at his pie and frowned.She didn’t want to have coffee with them.Why?
“You make her nervous,” Leo said, answering the unspoken question.“She knows you don’t trust her.”
Rey frowned as he nibbled at his pie and sipped coffee.“I don’t know her,” he replied.He gave his brother a speaking glance.“We’ve always done background checks on employees,” he added firmly.“I don’t think we should make an exception of her, even though she’s temporary.”
“Translated, that means you want to know more about her than you do,” Leo drawled, grinning.
“Maybe I do,” Rey confessed.“But she’s in a position to do a lot of damage if she isn’t what she seems.You could have been killed, or suffered brain damage,” he added quietly.“If she’s in cahoots with the guys who mugged you…” He let the sentence trail off meaningfully.
Leo grimaced.“I don’t like poking into peoples’private business,” he replied.“But you’re right.It’s risky not to check her out.”
“I’ll get the agency on it first thing tomorrow,” Rey said.He took another bite of the pie.“She’s a hell of a good cook,” he murmured.
“Makes good coffee, too,” Leo commented.
They looked at each other and grimaced.It was going to upset Meredith if she found out what they were up to.But it was too much of a gamble not to find out what they could about her background and character.On the other hand, Leo promised himself, he was going to intercept that background check before Rey had a chance to see it.If Meredith had secrets she was hiding for a good reason, he wasn’t going to give her away to Rey.
* * *
It took severaldays for the private detective to get to the case and send a report to the Harts.
Rey was out of town at a one-day seminar on a new spreadsheet computer program the brothers were using for herd records when the report arrived.Leo carried the report into his office and closed the door while he read it.
